Reading Pitchfork’s review of the Kill Bill Vol. 2 soundtrack (which is off base in a bunch of ways in my opinion) after hearing it for the first time in one sitting today was interesting. My favorite song on the soundtrack, and I don’t expect many to agree with me, was the reviewer’s pick for the only bad song there.

And, you know, I sympathize. It’s a cover of an old Zombies song, done in a trip-hop stylee. It’s got a Play style sample from an old blues song. And it’s by Malcom McfrigginLaren. But I still like “About Her”, and not just a little. I think both volumes have great soundtracks, but “About Her” was honestly the only bit of either movie where I sat bolt upright and went “What the hell is this?” Some of the other great stuff (”Twisted Nerve”, “Battle Without Honor Or Humanity”, “A Satisfied Mind”, etc) had me grinning, but nothing else captured my attention in quite the same way.

And given how I normally feel about this sort of thing, that means McLaren has done some sort of weird alchemy here. Which is cool, but utterly unexpected, which makes it even cooler.