High Fidelity: Beneath’s Favourite Soundtracks

You probably wouldn’t necessarily associate the type of brooding dread of DMZ releases with the words ‘UK funky’, but then a cloudy mood and a direct and thick presence of bass seems to work whatever the tempo – just look at the work people like Ekoplekz, Emptyset or Roly Porter. Much like ‘Croydon House’ - aka the moment Tectonic boss Pinch buckled from his staunch support of 140 and went down 10 bpms - the music of Beneath manages to inject that same menace and atmosphere of traditional dubstep into beats that exemplify the infectious snares of the [kind of shortlived] UK funky movement. Across two self released EPs on his No Symbols label, Beneath’s quietly been pushing his own agenda from his Sheffield base and ever since London’s WIFEY rave put the internet on to his minimal and stark take on rhythmic, house influenced dance music last year a lot of the right people have started to take notice. That includes the afore mentioned Pinch, who’s enlisted Beneath for the forthcoming Tectonic takeover of Room Two on Friday 18th May. After sparking a dialogue with him ahead of the show he revealed to us that he has a degree in film sound, a thing that makes perfect sense when you go back and listen to the build of his tracks. So naturally, being keen to learn, we let him indulge a passion so here is a selection of some of his favourite soundtracks… The Killers, 1946, Robert Siodmak. "Noir films are full of big orchestral pieces. Even though not much is happening on screen at the beginning of the film, the music is quite dramatic and sets the mood." Pi, 1998, Darren Aronofsky. "The soundtrack is electronic, dark and weird and it has breakbeats. Sounds sort of like Source Direct doing a film soundtrack I guess." Taxi Driver, 1972, Martin Scorsese. "Scorsese always comes with a good selection of music in his films but I think the images of Travis gliding through New York in his taxi at night are taken to another level by the music. Classic." Shaft, 1971, Gordon Parks. "The music from the opening credits of Shaft are so fitting of the films attitude and the times it was made in, it would be wrong not to include it in the list. Iconic." Once Upon A Time In The West, 1968, Sergio Leone. "Amazing use of music in this film. If you’re a fan of Kill Bill you will hear where Tarantino ripped some of his ideas." The Sopranos - 1999-2006, David Chase. "Chase and his music editor Kathryn Dayak do an amazing job choosing music for the show. You can’t deny that the intro song and the images of Tony driving through New Jersey make for probably the best opening to a TV show ever." Pulp Fiction, 1998, Quentin Tarantino "I couldn't really not mention a Tarantino film. I wasn't sure which one to pick but the song I always remember the most is when Vincent Vega is shooting heroin." Catch Beneath making his fabric debut in Room Two on Friday 18th May.