Of ik gek ben
Kyteman
" For the score Kyteman and his orchestra sat down in a studio for a week, watched the film numerous of times and improvised what they felt clicked with the images on their large screen. "Written by Joep de Bruijn - Review of the regular release
The Dutch 2016 film Of ik Gek Ben (As If I'm Crazy) marks the debut of Frank Lammers as director. The film tells the story of Benjamin who has committed a horrible crime, but has lost all memory of any such act. He is convicted to a sentence which he must serve in a psychiatric clinic, in hope of recovering. What follows is an insight into the extremely absurd and ruthless environment of such a clinic and Benjamin' own psychic. Colin Benders (stage name Kyteman) was attracted to provide an improvised score to the film. He's a well respected artist who makes use of mixtures of different genres, such as jazz and hip-hop, and has is own Kyteman Orchestra. I can't say it's the kind of music that appeals to me, but he has done one great track ''So sorry'. In this track he displays his wonderful gift of being a terrific soloist on the trumpet, while his orchestra adds another dimension to this powerful melancholic piece of music.
For the score, Kyteman and his orchestra sat down in a studio for a week, watched the film numerous of times and improvised what they felt clicked with the images on their large screen. At the end of the week, there was more than 25 hours of improvised music to choose from, from which Colin Benders selected the final score. I suppose that after a few takes, you can get a bit more comfortable and stick with some musical ideas you improvised earlier on. The final score doesn't even sound like it was all improvised.
But what does the score sound like? The opening cue displays some rather fine woodwind solo's that bathe you into an air of morbidness, while also hitting your emotional buttons. There is also a sense of eeriness and suspense as the solo instrument iarecombined with moody synthesizers and some small dissonant brass layers. On top of that, there are some fine rhythmic elements, played by a few different musical tools, that really enhance the dramatic progression of the cue. Some other fine woodwinds performances can be heard in the evocative and surprisingly gentle cue "Schuldig". This is a particular cue that takes all the time, and some pauses, to slowly develop something humble and does so in a more classically traditional form. These two cues really give you a sense of someone who knows how to write (or improvise) film music.
The remainder of the score does solely reflect the (comical) madness of a psychiatric institution and it does so with great confidence. Kyteman does not back down on using all sort of sounds to set that kind of mood and the result is quite interesting. He uses everything; from screeching sounds, to mellow and disorientating electronics, electric guitars, muted drum sticks and so on. I found the amount of playfulness that surrounds these pieces of music appealing, regardless of their 'musical quality'. There are outrageously nerve wrecking pieces of music, which really come to a climatic end in the out control cue "Eindsprint". But at the same time, other cues can be surprisingly small in scope, ranging from the hitting of sticks and drums "Kwestie van Tijd", some moody synthesizers "Huisbezoek", or the ''sleeping on narcotics'' sound of the end titles cue "Aftiteling".
Some portions of the score will certainly have a much wider appeal, while others may sound reasonably all right or even appalling to your ears. It is this kind of mixture that I have sometimes found reflected in some Giallo scores and can feel, depending on the score, some appreciation for that. But beware, I suspect some will most likely find Of ik Gek Ben to be mostly a lot of uninteresting noise. In context of the film I personally could not have thought of more fitting music than this and it's rather fun to listen to. The release is available as download only.
Tracklist
1. Opening (4.50)
2. Kunstinhoudelijke Discussie (5.22)
3. Brandblusser (2.09)
4. Ik ben Rustig (4.25)
5. Schuldig (3.05)
6. Kwestie van Tijd (2.06)
7. Huisbezoek (4.51)
8. Eindsprint (8.32)
9. Aftiteling (2.26)
Total Length: 37.46
For the score, Kyteman and his orchestra sat down in a studio for a week, watched the film numerous of times and improvised what they felt clicked with the images on their large screen. At the end of the week, there was more than 25 hours of improvised music to choose from, from which Colin Benders selected the final score. I suppose that after a few takes, you can get a bit more comfortable and stick with some musical ideas you improvised earlier on. The final score doesn't even sound like it was all improvised.
But what does the score sound like? The opening cue displays some rather fine woodwind solo's that bathe you into an air of morbidness, while also hitting your emotional buttons. There is also a sense of eeriness and suspense as the solo instrument iarecombined with moody synthesizers and some small dissonant brass layers. On top of that, there are some fine rhythmic elements, played by a few different musical tools, that really enhance the dramatic progression of the cue. Some other fine woodwinds performances can be heard in the evocative and surprisingly gentle cue "Schuldig". This is a particular cue that takes all the time, and some pauses, to slowly develop something humble and does so in a more classically traditional form. These two cues really give you a sense of someone who knows how to write (or improvise) film music.
The remainder of the score does solely reflect the (comical) madness of a psychiatric institution and it does so with great confidence. Kyteman does not back down on using all sort of sounds to set that kind of mood and the result is quite interesting. He uses everything; from screeching sounds, to mellow and disorientating electronics, electric guitars, muted drum sticks and so on. I found the amount of playfulness that surrounds these pieces of music appealing, regardless of their 'musical quality'. There are outrageously nerve wrecking pieces of music, which really come to a climatic end in the out control cue "Eindsprint". But at the same time, other cues can be surprisingly small in scope, ranging from the hitting of sticks and drums "Kwestie van Tijd", some moody synthesizers "Huisbezoek", or the ''sleeping on narcotics'' sound of the end titles cue "Aftiteling".
Some portions of the score will certainly have a much wider appeal, while others may sound reasonably all right or even appalling to your ears. It is this kind of mixture that I have sometimes found reflected in some Giallo scores and can feel, depending on the score, some appreciation for that. But beware, I suspect some will most likely find Of ik Gek Ben to be mostly a lot of uninteresting noise. In context of the film I personally could not have thought of more fitting music than this and it's rather fun to listen to. The release is available as download only.
Tracklist
1. Opening (4.50)
2. Kunstinhoudelijke Discussie (5.22)
3. Brandblusser (2.09)
4. Ik ben Rustig (4.25)
5. Schuldig (3.05)
6. Kwestie van Tijd (2.06)
7. Huisbezoek (4.51)
8. Eindsprint (8.32)
9. Aftiteling (2.26)
Total Length: 37.46