Danny Elfman goes back to his roots

When you include the commercial releases of his film scores, Danny Elfman has issued more than 100 albums. When you narrow it down to solo studio LPs in a pop format, the number is three. The third of which, released this month, is a remix version of the second.

“Big Mess”, an uncompromising industrial art-rock record, was released last year. Its new sibling, “Bigger. Messier.”, features collaborations with stalwarts of alternative music ranging from garage rock to electronica: Iggy Pop, Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails), Blixa Bargeld (Einstürzende Neubauten, The Bad Seeds), Squarepusher, Xiu Xiu and more. This might seem a startling new direction for one of the most celebrated film composers of recent decades. In truth it’s quite the opposite: a return to his pop-music roots.