Film + TV
Hear an album made entirely from Star Wars sound effects
by Jesse Locke
February 9, 2016
The ultimate Star Wars tribute has arrived from Rick Rubin, Flying Lotus, and J.J. Abrams.
Producer Rick Rubin is known for his calm and methodical approach, acting as Obi-Wan Kenobi to everyone from Johnny Cash to Jay Z to Rage Against the Machine. Now, the bearded Jedi behind the boards has traveled to a galaxy far, far away (but currently close to fans’ minds) with an electronic album composing new songs from clips and sound effects found in the Star Wars films.
Star Wars Headspace features contributions from force-strong electronic artists such as Flying Lotus, Kaskade, Baauer, Shlohmo, Rustie, Bonobo, Röyksopp, and Breakbot. Rubin himself has composed a song, along with Shag Kava (a.k.a. Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams and Hamilton star Lin-Manuel Miranda).
Noted sci-fi fan Flying Lotus appeared on Beats 1 Radio to promote the album, explaining that artists were granted access to the series’ entire library of sound effects, and given full creative control (as long as they left John Williams’ original score alone).
Check out a few songs built from the samples of Darth Vader’s heavy breathing, Chewbacca’s growls, and R2-D2’s bleeps that could pass for a regular Brainfeeder production. The full tracklist is below.
Star Wars Headspace:
1. Kaskade: “C-3P0’s Plight”
2. GTA: “Help Me!”
3. TroyBoi: “Force”
4. Baauer: “Cantina Boys”
5. Shag Kava: “Jabba Flow: Rick Rubin Re-Work” [ft. A-Trak]
6. Claude VonStroke: “R2 Knows” [ft. Barry Drift]
7. Rick Rubin: “NR-G7”
8. Bonobo: “Ghomrassen”
9. Röyksopp: “Bounty Hunters”
10. ATTLAS: “Sunset Over Manaan”
11. Flying Lotus: “R2 Where R U?”
12. Shlohmo: “Druid Caravan of Smoke”
13. Rustie: “EWOK PUMPP”
14. Galantis: “Scruffy-Looking Nerfherder”
15. Breakbot: “Star Tripper”
Star Wars Headspace awakens February 19 as a digital release with physical copies on March 18 from Hollywood Records/American Recordings.
