Customer Reviews

Pi

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"PI" was certainly one of the strangest films I had ever seen, and I am a fan of strange movies. I have seen all of David Lynch's movies, so when a friend told me that "PI" was like Lynch's "Eraserhead," that piqued my curiosity. I picked up a copy and thought "migraine headache instigated by intense lighting, complex evocative story, and excellent assembly all throughout." The movie was a harsh experience for me...so much that I watched it twice a day for a week just to sink it in.

What gripped me most besides the visuals was the music. For a film as eccentric as this, the soundtrack is just as erratic. Who would have thought that a deeply philosophical message could be conveyed through danceable ambient electronica? I certainly didn't, and I was very impressed.

Clint Masnell's music is some of the best score music I have ever heard for a film. The combination of songs by Massive Attack, Orbital, Aphex Twin, Roni Size...all giants in the field of modern electronic music. Their music just evokes the raw emotions of tension and insanity of the movie through a sheer beauty of sound. I'd go so far as to say this was a better soundtrack than that for "The Matrix." Definitely one of the finest assembled soundtrack albums of all time. Hear the madness, share in the mayhem, buy this soundtrack!

Insane electronic music is what i call it. The soundtrack is just as trippy as the film was. The Clint Mansell dialouge really takes you back to Pi with his ambitious saying, "there are patterns in everyday nature." Some tracks begin with a dialouge by the crazed character, then the music begins. By far the Aphex Twin track, "Bucephalus bouncing ball," is the most amazing. You can actually feel the vibrations coming out of your speakers. The whole track is the sound of a ball bouncing making rhythmic sounds. Its incredibly done. Other amazing acts include Massive Attack with their song, "Angel," taken from their Mezzanine album, the trip-hop group Gus Gus, and the electronic groups Autechre, Orbital and Roni Size Reprasent. The album should be listened to as a whole to get the full effect. You'll feel like your inside Max Cohen's head and about to explode. Its a great listen to in the dark, when your driving, and when your on your computer. Do yourself a favor and don't pass this up. It can change your life.

Blending elements of Clint Mansell's amazing score with a whose who of electronic music artists this album is a stand alone piece of work.

I saw the film (a must see) and ran out picked this up and it exceeded my expectations.

The selection of tracks including selections from Orbital, Autechre, Aphex Twin, Roni Size, Massive Attack, David Holmes, Gus Gus, Banco De Gaia, Spacetime Continuum, and Psilonaut? is truly well thought out.

I guess I'm a fan.

Usually we are plagued with (espcially in Europe), one dimensional trance cheese beat excuses for an album. Anybody for Minstry of Sound Chilled Trance Ambient Loser Volume 24. Pi on the other hand is the best of the lot, even better than Coldcuts Journeys by DJ lp (which is highly recommended to the D'N'B heads among you).

What this album has is a combination of IDM (Aphex Twin), Semi-Ambient Soundscapes (Spacetime, Autechre), Beat-Beat Driving Chamber music (Oribital), Drum'n'Bass (Clint Mansell), World Dance (Third from the Sun)aswell as mega accomplished artists like Roni Size, David Holmes and Massive Attack.

I was very impressed by Clint Mansell's tracks. His performance on the more classical and trip-hoppy 'Requiem' Soundtrack was amazing, but his D'N'B was really good aswell. Track 7 is one of the albums best tracks. I urge all Pi lovers to watch Requiem and for the more embracing listener, i suggest the soundtrack as it shares just a few similarites.

Oribitals P.E.T.R.O.L is an absolutly devastating piece of bigbeat and the Roni Size remix is truly excellent. Massive Attacks 'Angel' sounds slightly boring next to it. Aphex's 'Bouncing Ball' is the only let down as it just sounds stupid. Autechre's effort isn't as engaging as the excellent Spacetime Continuum, with its deep bass and moody soundscapes.

All in all this the best (and darkest) electronic compilation lp out at the moment. Usually electronic music sounds to repetitive and processed to listen to while completely capitive (i.e. at night while half asleep), however this album is perfect for just that, and that it an acid test to show if music is really engaging or just for the background. The other place to listen to this is obviously while driving. Just make sure you don't crash!

I really like this CD. It's the only electronic stuff I have ever been able to listen to. However, I know a lot of people with otherwise similar tastes who think of this as nothing more but electronic garbage. So, be careful before buying it, unless you know you already like this kind of stuff. Otherwise, borrow a copy first and listen.

This album, much like the movie, causes your mind run wild with excitement and enthusiasm! Bouncing Ball by Aphex Twins is remarkiable. This album is mainly Treble, however, the lack of Bass is definitely not missed.

"Pi" is a creepy film that feeds off of its lack of polish and directness of approach. This music is the same way. The soundtrack moves effortlessly from hard beats to wicked electronic styles, well off the mainstream of popular taste.

I'm a classical composer (as well as an aficionado of techno and electronica) and hear lots of sounds that would be right at home in the "musica concrete" of the middle of this century. But I also hear lots of things that would be right at home in a Brooklyn rave, around 4 AM. This album couldn't be more worth listening to - it's a real creative effort from top to bottom. Go see the film, too.

Unlike most soundtracks, this album manages to seamlessly mix music produced especially for the film with licenced tracks. Whats more the original tracks outshine most of the old stuff on here by a long way. The first three tracks fit together so well you barely notice the joins and the whole first half races by. The second half tales off slightly with only the Clint mansell tracks standing out. This album acts as a good sampler for the artists featured on it and has led to me buying more stuff by Autechre, Aphex Twin and Roni Size. However I would say it should be lisened to before you buy it as most of my friends refuse to be in the same room as it, even though they are electronic music fans.

I'm a careful fan of "electronica" -- so much of it sounds like sequencers on autopilot, and modern studio technology makes it blissfully simple to turn out atmospheric, pulsing goo. But this recording....wow!!

Actually, I think Clint Mansell's tracks are the weakest on the record; he sounds like he is trying to match the complexity and vitality of guys like Roni Size, Orbital and Banco de Gaia, but can't quite think that fast. So his stuff ends of sounding really derivative, and doesn't satisfy. Better, but still middling, are Gus Gus' "Anthem" and David Holmes' "No Man's Land", both of which stay in their nice little aural boxes and don't dare come out. But then this record turns to greatness and doesn't let up -- the combination of P.E.T.R.O.L., "Watching Windows" and "Drippy" is enough to change your entire musical sensibility, bump up your neurons AND rock you -- and how much music can ever do that?

It's funny -- this record had almost the same effect on me that Wendy Carlos' "Switched-On Bach" had 25 years ago...pioneers will out, and we are occasionally luck enough to hear them like this.

Get this record if you possibly can -- it's wonderful.

The movie was a "low budget" production, but certainly not a "low budget appeal" film. I loved this dark surrealistic film. I love films when the main character is narrating throughout the film. Max Cohen is sharing the madness of the mental processing of information going on in his mind. Forcing his brain to come up with absolute answers involving numbers and patterns. And he suffers serious migraine headaches, as a result from it. So what do you get from a film which combines super intelligence with insanity? A soundtrack of IDM music.

All this music represents intelligence and madness. It may not impress alot of kids because it does have some softer, but yet nerving instrumental passages that build up to a more intense outcome. I think this movie and soundtrack is for older people to understand. Perhaps a "college nerd" may relate to the concept here. On this concept, perhaps those 30 years old or younger may appreciate the techno intelligence of the three "Hackers" soundtracks (artists like Prodigy, Leftfield, and Moby may be more what they could relate to.)

Dark ambient electronica. I guess that's what I would call this soundtrack of "Pi". This CD is a great introduction to the IDM artists available here.

Since I've seen this movie, and bought this (hard to find) CD, I've bought some other CD's from some artists here. I have become an "Autechre" fanatic. I have everything that they've possibly done. I've bought alot of Aphex Twin, and I have investigated other works from the other artists on this album soundtrack.

I think this soundtrack is out of print. I can't even find it "used" anywhere. When you can't find a CD "used" at a used CD store, you know it's got to be really good. People are holding on to it.

Using my own typical deductions, I have learned that, if you wanna see if a new album is any good, see how many copies of that particular album is available in the "used" bin at a used CD store. If there are many, you will know that it's proven to be undesirable. Each copy that you see in the "used" bin, is like seeing a negative review.

"Pi" is a classic! It may take a couple of listenings before you truly embrace the message behind this collection. Even I didn't take to it right away when I first heard it, but that was because I was totally unfamiliar with this kind of music. Now, I absolutely love it! It is, in fact, my favorite soundtrack CD. Only, "The City of Lost Children", "Cat People", Midnight Express", "A Clockwork Orange", "Escape From New York", and maybe "Phantasm", could be a close second, and third, etc. I love "horror" soundtracks. "Pi" is horror through intelligence. If it's dark and disturbing, I will embrace the darkness that it conjures.