Personnel: John Zorn (saxophone); Andy Haas (didjeridu); Carol Emanuel (harp); Anthony Coleman (piano, keyboards); Jason Baker (Synclavier synthesizer); Marc Ribot (guitar, banjo); Cyro Baptista, Jim Pugliese (percussion); David Shea (DJ, samples).

Recorded in May & June 1992.

Unlike the other volumes of his film works, which compile various shorter scores that John Zorn composed over the years, Film Works, Vol. 2 presents one longer score, written for a Walter Hill film. So, unlike the others, there is a consistent mood throughout the entire release. Overall, it is very atmospheric, with sections of drawn-out tones that slowly build theater mists in the background of a deserted sense of waiting. Balancing stretches of this kind are sections of bent, mellow country. Marc Ribot's guitar and banjo trickle along the score, as the didjeridu steadily pushes through. Later comes a percussive-oriented dance track with prepared piano, a theme that recurs sporadically through the last third of the score. Lacking contrast, this one is definite background music, and although well done, it is also probably the least interesting of Zorn's film scores. ~ Joslyn Layne

John Zorn is quite a character-a saxophonist; a bandleader and composer; a player of hardcore thrash, bop, free jazz, film music, klezmer, and avant skronk; a musical anarchist; and a participant in a thousand different groups and projects. This disc, subtitled "Music For An Untitled Film By Walter Hill," is one in a series of Zorn's film music releases on his outstanding Tzadik label. As usual with Zorn, one can expect the unexpected on this outing. Though there are 36 listed tracks, it becomes quite difficult to distinguish one from the other as the listener is sucked into the darkly ambient world generated by Zorn's seven-piece ensemble.

There are no splatter-core assault dynamics or saxophone duck calls here, just a continually metamorphosing soundscape that seduces the listener into a thickly textured, deeply unsettled state. The instrumentation includes Brazilian percussion, didjeridu, banjo, turntables, and samples, and Anthony Coleman and Marc Ribot are among the musicians. The notable absence is Zorn himself, who composes and produces but does not play. FILMWORKS II once again proves Zorn's genius as an architect of the unexpected.