VARÈSE SARABANDE ANNOUNCES THE 25^TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION RELEASE OF THE MATRIX SCORE

 

The expanded album is set for release on LP, CD and digital formats

 

Vinyl editions will be available in “Cyber Swirl Green,” “Blue Pill”

and “Red Pill” variants

 

Click here visit the online media kit

Click here to pre-order / stream The Matrix (Original Motion Picture Score)

Los Angeles, CA (September 10, 2024)—Varèse Sarabande and Craft Recordings are thrilled to announce a 25th anniversary edition of Don Davis’ iconic score to The Matrix. Due out November 15^th and available for pre-order today on LP, CD, and digital formats, The Matrix (Original Motion Picture Score) features an expanded 18-song tracklist curated by Davis himself from key tracks previously only available on the complete edition of the score, and brand-new artwork by acclaimed illustrator Yuko Shimizu.

 

In addition to CD and digital, fans can find the album on several exclusive vinyl colorways including “Cyber Swirl Green” on VarèseSarabande.com, while a “Blue Pill” pressing will be available via Barnes & Noble. International Matrix fans will be treated to a “Red Pill” edition. Each version features brand-new anime-inspired illustrations by artist Shimizu, depicting two of the iconic bullet-time moments from the film. All formats and variants are available to order/pre-save here.

 

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The Matrix, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano opened to widespread acclaim from critics, who praised the film’s innovative visual effects, action sequences, cinematography and screenplay. The film was a box office success, grossing over $460 million on a $63 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film of 1999 and the fourth highest-grossing film of that year. The film received nominations at the 72nd Academy Awards® for Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Sound Editing, winning all four categories.

 

As FilmTracks pointed out in their review, “It was a project that Davis referred to as a dream assignment, for it allowed him, as he stated, to rely more heavily on the ‘postmodern works that are being done now on the concert stage.” Davis looked towards the experimental music community making waves in the late 1990s to find inspiration, as opposed to creating something to fit into the traditional film score canon. The end result is a score that remains one of the most unique soundtracks in modern filmmaking.

 

Davis’ score needed to work on two levels: to help support the film and to highlight the sheer complexity of the images on the screen. It’s the rare musical accompaniment that needs to be affecting at times and purely secondary at others—while still being entertaining as a standalone piece of art. As Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote in his AllMusic review, “There are long quiet stretches that are quite eerie, even without the film to support the music, and he employs dissonance and quick, powerful staccatos quite effectively. And when he turns to grand, sweeping themes, it’s hard not to get caught up in the momentum of the piece.”

 

In a recently unearthed interview that Davis conducted on the 20th Century Fox Scoring Stage while recording The Matrix for Soundtrack Magazine, Davis spoke about the ideas that would eventually make the film score one of the most celebrated in film history. In the 1999 conversation, he explained: “The biggest challenge was one of approach. When you’re dealing with a film that’s as ground­breaking as this, you can’t accept the tried and true, and taking a post­modern idea and making it into a film score doesn’t mean that you can’t write music that doesn’t function as a film score.” As such, Davis had to balance an avant-garde approach with one that would suit the film, that wouldn’t distract from the mind-boggling images and knotty narrative.

 

“There are still things that it has to do, it has to play the tension, it has to add energy to the chases and the fights. I had to be pretty judicious about where I was applying a technique,” he added. In The Matrix score, Don Davis has created a world within one of the most expansive universes to ever grace the cinematic language. Despite the grand nature of the film he was scoring, Davis managed to make a body of work that both accents the movie and stands on its own. Twenty-five years later, that statement is, remarkably, truer than ever before.

 

 

Click here to pre-order or stream/download the 25th anniversary edition of The Matrix Score.

 

 

Tracklist (Vinyl):

 

Side A

1. Main Title (from The Matrix) / Trinity Infinity
2. Unable To Speak
3. Switched For Life*
4. Switched At Birth*
5. Switches Brew*
6. Nascent Nauseous Neo*
7. A Morpheus Movement*
8. Domo Showdown*
9. Bring Me Dinner*
10. The System

 

Side B

1. The Hotel Ambush
2. Ignorance Is Bliss / Cyber Cyphernetic*
3. Exit Mr. Hat
4. The Cure*
5. The Lobby*
6. Dodge This*
7. Ontological Shock
8. He’s The One Alright*

 

* Previously only available on The Complete Score

 

Tracklist (CD):

1. Main Title (from The Matrix) / Trinity Infinity
2. Unable To Speak
3. Switched For Life*
4. Switched At Birth*
5. Switches Brew*
6. Nascent Nauseous Neo*
7. A Morpheus Movement*
8. Domo Showdown*
9. Bring Me Dinner*
10. The System
11. The Hotel Ambush
12. Ignorance Is Bliss / Cyber Cyphernetic*
13. Exit Mr. Hat
14. The Cure*
15. The Lobby*
16. Dodge This*
17. Ontological Shock
18. He’s The One Alright*

 

* Previously only available on The Complete Score

 

About Varèse Sarabande:

Varèse Sarabande is one of the leading and most prolific producers of film and television soundtracks. The label was formed as a merger between Varèse International Records (named for composer Edgar Varèse) and Sarabande Records (named after a musical dance form). Initially a classical label, Varèse Sarabande has released thousands of soundtracks and new recordings of classic film scores conducted by celebrated composers with the world’s best-known orchestras since 1977. The label upped the ante for fans by creating the Varèse Sarabande CD Club—releasing exclusive limited-edition deluxe soundtracks featuring rare and long-requested titles. The CD Club ran initially from 1989–92 and was restarted in 2001, and Varèse continues to create Deluxe Editions of cherished scores that might otherwise never see a release.  Since joining Concord in 2018, Varèse Sarabande continues its mission to release new scores, high quality vinyl and Deluxe Edition soundtracks.

 

For more info, visit VareseSarabande.com and follow on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

 

About Craft Recordings:

Craft Recordings is home to one of the largest and most essential collections of master recordings and compositions in the world. Its storied repertoire includes landmark releases from icons such as Joan Baez, John Coltrane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Celia Cruz, Miles Davis, Isaac Hayes, John Lee Hooker, Little Richard, R.E.M., Joan Sebastian, and Traveling Wilburys. Plus, the catalog recordings of celebrated contemporary acts including A Day to Remember, Evanescence, Alison Krauss, Nine Inch Nails, Taking Back Sunday and Violent Femmes, to name just a few. Renowned imprints with catalogs issued under the Craft banner include Fania, Fantasy, Fearless, Musart, Nitro, Panart, Prestige, Riverside, Rounder, Specialty, Stax, Vanguard, Varèse Sarabande, Vee-Jay and Victory, among many others. Craft creates thoughtfully curated packages, with a meticulous devotion to quality and a commitment to preservation—ensuring that these recordings endure for new generations to discover. Craft is also home to the Billie Holiday and Tammy Wynette estates which preserve and protect their respective names, likeness and music through day-to-day legacy management of these cultural trailblazers.

 

Craft Recordings is the catalog label team for Concord. For more info, visit CraftRecordings.com and follow on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

 

About Don Davis:

A native of Anaheim, California, Emmy winning composer Don Davis began playing trumpet and piano at the age of nine, and started writing music at twelve. After graduation from high school, Davis furthered his study of music at UCLA, majoring in music theory and composition, playing trumpet in college jazz ensembles and orchestras. UCLA introduced Davis to a new world of musical possibilities, and before long he’d begun to plan his future as a composer with an eye toward film music. Davis immersed himself in this new medium, and at the age of twenty-two, accepted a job as one of composer Joe Harnell’s orchestrators on “The Incredible Hulk”. Davis is best known for his collaboration with The Wachowski’s on their debut film Bound, and most famously, The Matrix trilogy. Davis also composed the music for blockbuster films like Jurassic Park III, House on the Haunted Hill, Universal Soldier: The Return, Behind Enemy Lines, and more. He currently resides in Southern California and British Columbia, Canada.

 

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