Though director David Lynch chose composer Angelo Badalamenti to score his ultra-trippy "Lost Highway," he selected Barry Adamson to add several tracks of noirish, big-band arrangements to the mix. Adamson continues that style on "As Above So Below" -- a spiritual walk on the wild side that is equal parts Mickey Spillane and Frank Zappa.
Adamson contemplates the imminent fall of heaven and earth in songs like "Come Hell Or High Water" and "The Monkey Speaks." "Jazz Devil" is an all-out underworld fantasy complete with massive brass attacks and madly slicing strings. Though much of the CD features a mixture of hip-hop and jazz stylings, the intensely escalating "Still I Rise" stands out as a neo-punk capsule of pure emotional defiance.
"As Above So Below" stands out as a refreshingly anti-commercial trip into the styles of Movieland.
