As any Beatsmith worth their MPC2000XL will tell you, soundtracks are a producers best friend.

From the schticky patriotism of the Rocky theme (sampled by Brand Nubian amongst others) to the sublime funk work in Lalo Schifrin's Enter the Dragon S/T (sampled by Alkoholiks and Dre etc etc.) it seems that some soundtracks refuse to go away. One S/T in particular that has consistently entertained and alarmed me in equal measure is Alain Gorageur's work on the French/Czech animated Science Fiction epic Le Planete Sauvage, originally released as a novel by French writer Stefan Wul

Released in 1973, the film is a dystopian view of an alien world inhabited by meditating blue fishy-lookin' extra-terrestrials known as Draags who keep humans (Oms) as pets and treat them as inferior species.
Its a bit like Planet of the Apes, incidentally also originally released as a French novel, but less Roddy McDowall and more RUDDY WEIRD.

But I digress. The soundtrack, which is composed by Alain Gorageur consists of over twenty-five short primarily funky tracks, all based around the same spooooky melody, but with differing instrumentation and feeling depending on the mood of the corresponding scene in the film. At times, the music is quite unsettling but mostly its totally gnarly.

Fist sampled by Big Pun (I think) on his track Boomerang, from 1998's Capital Punishment although it is Stone Throw's Madlib who has taken Gorageur's work to the masses with his first Quasimoto album, The Unseen. In interviews Madlib has professed his love Gorageur's work and admitted that the atmosphere and sound of The Unseen were heavily inspired by the Le Planete Sauvage S/T.

Le Planete Sauvage is a lot easier to get hold of now here in the UK, with the original subtitles of course. I advise you to get it, you probably won't regret it.


Alain Gorageur - Deshominisation (II)

Quasimoto - Come On Feet

Finally I would like to share with you this quote from multi-millionaire Hip-Hop mogul P. Diddy. It is comforting to know in these unstable economic times, that we are ALL feeling the pinch.

"I want to give a shout out to all my Saudi Arabian brothers and sisters and all my brothers and sisters from all the countries that have oil, if you could all please send me some oil for my jet I would truly appreciate it."