Various Artists: Bored to Death Soundtrack

Jason Schwartzman’s latest solo musical endeavor, Coconut Records, starts off this indie rock soundtrack for his quirky HBO comedy Bored to Death. The song, also called “Bored to Death”, aptly conveys the show’s detective premise with its plodding bass and horns. Fourteen other songs from some lesser known artists, like Tobias Fröberg and Sean Hayes, sidle up against major indie acts, like Lykke Li and TV on the Radio. But save maybe the title song, none are exclusives and this seems like an unnecessary tie in.

Frequently, songs are followed by some funny bits of dialogue from Schwartzman plus Zack Galifianakis or Ted Danson. But for some reason, these snippets are not given separate tracks and are instead tacked onto gaps after songs. This makes it difficult to excise a single song from the array of musical acts presented as the iPod generation shall tend to do.