How Oscar-nominated ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ made a star of the most ear-popping song of the year
Wallpaper* meets ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ favourites Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, whose cover of 50 Cent's ‘P.I.M.P’ muscles its way into the Oscar-nominated courtroom drama
![Anatomy of a Fall makes a star of a track by Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, whose record sleeve artwork is pictured](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/PAvwPPa6nQhKWncviC5FCP-415-80.jpeg)
Since the triumph of Oscar-nominated Anatomy of a Fall at 2023’s Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d’Or, the critical volume around director Justine Triet's French film has been deafening. Almost as deafening? The independent feature film's signature song.
A steel pan-based cover version of 50 Cent’s ‘P.I.M.P.’ plays a key role in the narrative. Early in the drama, it’s played loudly, provocatively, repeatedly by the husband of writer Sandra, played by Sandra Hüller (German star of another awards-season darling, The Zone of Interest), as she’s in the middle of an interview with a journalist.
Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band’s version of 50 Cent’s ‘P.I.M.P.’ plays a key role
This film still became the Anatomy of a Fall poster image
This noise abuse foreshadows the difficulties at the heart of their marriage. After he’s found dead, later that day, in the snow outside their chalet, the song becomes a critical part of the court proceedings. As the prosecution puts it, this ‘deeply misogynistic’ 2003 song by the American hip-hop star is played ‘so aggressively’ by Sandra's husband, indicating something rotten in their relationship.
The Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band's witty 2009 version of ‘P.I.M.P’ features on the album 55, available at Big Crown records
Removed from the context of spousal oppression, the 2008 cover by German funk ensemble Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band is something else entirely: an avant-garde classic, and one totally in keeping with the Hamburg-based musicians’ iconoclastic approach to their repertoire.
Reinventing everything from Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’ and ‘Love$ick’ by Mura Masa & A$AP Rocky to the theme to Stranger Things, they bring a playful, inventive wit to their covers. BRSB subverts our perception of the original songs and makes us hear them anew, no matter your feelings about 1980s-inspired, synth-heavy, sci-fi soundtracks.
BRSB, Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band's latest vinyl album offering is released on Big Crown records this month
This noise abuse foreshadows the difficulties at the heart of their marriage
Happy memories: husband and wife Samuel and Sandra played by Samuel Theis and Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall
Musing on their approach to song selection, the band’s leader Björn Wagner says, ‘“P.I.M.P.” was one of the first numbers we covered. That was a pretty obvious choice, because the original was a big hit. And there was a fake steel pan in it – a programmed thing that you play on a keyboard.
'So that for me was pretty clear: let's do this one with a real steel band. But whenever I do a cover, I have to take it somewhere – and not just by replacing the instrument with a steel pan. We do a lot of hip-hop covers, and I expand on them by taking the loop, playing it with the band and spinning it further. That's very important to me. Otherwise, it could be a kind of novelty thing if you just cover anything. The selection is important.'
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
The band is rooted in vinyl and DJ culture
And so is the presentation. Both with their own releases, via New York’s Big Crown Records, and on the music he puts out on his own Mocambo label, Wagner is intent on celebrating – fetishising even – the seven-inch vinyl single and the accompanying sleeve design.
'We actually come from a funk ’45s background more than we are a cover band,’ says the musician ahead of the release this month of a fourth album, BRSB. 'We were brought up in that world. That's the foundation to what we do. And Big Crown are also rooted in that vinyl and DJ culture.'
And, thanks to their lucrative, profile-raising and, well, killer sync in Anatomy of a Fall, the band now have a bit more to play with, and to play for. A year ago, ‘P.I.M.P.’ was being played 10,000 times daily on Spotify, with ten million streams in total. Since the film’s release, that daily tally has jumped to 25,000 and the track is heading towards 14 million plays.
The filmmakers originally wanted to use ‘Jolene’, but Dolly Parton declined
A typically enigmatic Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band Album cover
'It’s been interesting for me to watch a song that I did 15 years ago, and without any movie in mind, do this,' Wagner admits. 'I also thought, because they have to clear both 50 Cent's publishing and our recording [rights], they would not clear it that easily with him. But apparently they did!'
Certainly far easier than the song the filmmakers originally had in mind: ‘Jolene’. But Dolly Parton declined, and the rest is the most ear-popping soundtrack of the year.
BRSB is released this month. Bacao Rhythm & Steele Band play the Jazz Café, London, on 30 March 2024
London-based Scot, the writer Craig McLean is consultant editor at The Face and contributes to The Daily Telegraph, Esquire, The Observer Magazine and the London Evening Standard, among other titles. He was ghostwriter for Phil Collins' bestselling memoir Not Dead Yet.
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Tour the Natural History Museum’s new gardens, a Jurassic lark in London
The Natural History Museum in London has unveiled two new gardens, with resident dinosaurs, after a transformation led by architects Feilden Fowles
By Bridget Downing Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Toys, fantasy and the US immigration system: inside Julio Torres' debut film, Problemista
Julio Torres writes, directs and stars in Problemista – now on digital release – where the nightmare of US immigration is given a surreal spin
By Hannah Silver Published
-
First Fraenkel Film Festival in San Francisco: what to see
The Fraenkel Film Festival, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, sees ten Fraenkel gallery artists choose films that impact their work
By Lauren Cochrane Published
-
Paul B. Preciado on his Orlando film: 'There is no trans question'
Paul B. Preciado interprets Virginia Woolf’s work in 'Orlando, My Political Biography'
By Sam Moore Published
-
The story behind Arcadia’s mechanical dragonfly: a Falklands helicopter turned dance stage and Glastonbury’s newest addition
At this year’s Glastonbury festival, its newest addition celebrated the earth and the bringing together of people – as well as putting on one hell of a party. Wallpaper* was invited for a tour.
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
At Glastonbury’s Shangri-La, activism and innovation meet
Glastonbury’s south-east corner is known for its after-dark entertainment but by day, there is a different story to tell
By Rhian Daly Published
-
Remembering Rusty Egan's Blitz Club: a place to 'avoid the mob and the homophobes', where the New Romantics were born
As he releases new vinyl boxset, 'Blitzed!', Wallpaper* meets DJ Rusty Egan to talk about London's scene-building Blitz club – the antidote to the late 70s punk scene and a hot-bed of experimental fashion
By Craig McLean Published
-
David Lynch's mysterious new project reignites a long-standing collaboration
David Lynch and Chrystabell are releasing a new album – listen to the first song, out today
By Charlotte Gunn Published