NEWS ARCHIVES

MUSIQUE FANTASTIQUE NEWS ARCHIVES – Expired Postings from Our News Pages

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  • A Plea For Unity Against Injustice: Composer Michael Abels (GET OUT, US) Teams with Singer Rhiannon Giddens to recreate her “Cry No More” video

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  • Interview: A Darker Emotional Language: The Horror Scores of Ronen Landa

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  • New Book on John Carpenter Films Includes Chapter on Carpenter’s Film Music

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  • A Song In The Key of X – A Lyric to THE X-FILES Theme, Sung by the Cast & Crew

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  • Intrada Announces TIME BANDITS World Premiere Soundtrack

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  • International Film Music Critics Association Award Nominations Announced

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  • Amblin’s Revival of AMAZING STORIES TV Series Debuts March 6 – Composers Lined Up

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  • First Teaser Trailer for Marvel’s BLACK WINDOW movie released.

  • New Soundtrax Column features interviews and reviews on a number of genre film scores & composers

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  • WINTERSKIN Soundtrack Coming Up From Lakeshore

  • MARTYRS & GHOSTLAND – Two Modern French Classic Horror Scores Announced from Omega Prods – CD and Vinyl

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  • Interviews with Joseph Bishara, Richard H. Band, and Sharon Farber highlight latest Soundtrax column

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  • Seth McFarland’s ORVILLE s.f. Series Gets a Soundtrack Album

  • Short Suites Represent Short Film Scores in New MSM Soundtrack Release – fantasy, drama, horror, sci-fi, more!

  • Supernatural Shipwreck Score: Oscar Fogelström’s AURORA Soundtrack Leaves Port via Screamworks

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  • Behind the Music – Interview with George Shaw: Scoring THE 716th [Amazon Prime sci-fi short] and ESCAPE THE NIGHT [quirky fantasy Youtube series] – incl. trailers & soundtrack links

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Musique Fantastique Book News

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  • Wendy Carlos, Synth Pioneer, Turns 79 Today (vintage interview link)

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  • Remembering Francis Lai (1932-2018), Beloved French Film Composer

  • Inon Zur, Internationally Renowned Film, Television & Video Game Composer, Signs to Sony Music Masterworks as Recording Artist

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  • October Soundtrax column features interviews with Mark Isham (ONCE UPON A TIME finale), Jesper Kyd (TUMBBAD), and a number of genre-associated album reviews & news

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  • September Soundtrax column features interviews with Sean Murray (DEEP BLUE SEA 2) and Rael Jones (HARLOTS), reviews of THE PREDATOR, BATMAN NINJA, COLOSSUS THE FORBIN PROJECT, more. Link to the column here.

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  • R.I.P. Stelvio Cipriani – Italian Composer a Master of All Genres and Profoundly Moving Music

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Remembering Beth Krakower

The film music community is mourning the loss of publicist Beth Krakower, who sadly lost her courageous battle against cancer Wednesday, September 5th, at the age of 46. Beth was a great friend to film music, representing composers, music supervisors, record labels, and music festivals around the world with tireless enthusiasm and commitment…
Continue reading at Soundtrax
Watch Beth’s Celebration of Life at Soundtrackfest.

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  • Asian Ghost Story THE HOUSEMAID – Jerome Leroy’s Score Released by Rosetta Soundtrack

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December 30, 2017

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December 24. 2017

_Dom Frontiere with screen credit

December 14, 2017

Jack Cookerly obit banner image

Read story here

December 9, 2017

Alan Silvestri Scoring Spielberg’s READY PLAYER ONE

Ready-Player-One-logo

Read the story here

New Marvel Animated Film SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE Debuts December 14

animate spider-man Into the Spider Verse

Read story here

November 26, 2017

Doctor Who theme’s co-creator honored with posthumous PhD

[click on link above to access story]

_Delia Derbyshire fromTheGuardian crop

Delia Derbyshire, under-appreciated electronic music pioneer, honored by hometown university

November 15, 2017

Harry Gregson-Williams Scoring Aardman’s Early Man

EARLY MAN posterAardman Animations co-founder Peter Lord  confirmed on Twitter that Harry Gregson-Williams is currently recording his score for the upcoming animated feature Early Man. The music is being recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. The movie is directed by Nick Park (Chicken Run, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit) and features the voice talent of Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Timothy Spall and Richard Ayoade. The film tells the story of a courageous caveman and his best friend as they unite his tribe against a mighty enemy and his Bronze Age City to save their home.

– via filmmusicreporter

For more information and to view the film trailer, see: http://www.earlymanmovie.com/

November 9, 2017

Pinar Toprak Unites with Justice League

Justice League banner with Pinar

November 5, 2017

Dudley Simpson, Australian Composer Known for Doctor Who, Has Died

October 28, 2017

Sample Danny Elfman’s “Hero Theme” from JUSTICE LEAGUE

October 26, 2017

Jared DePasquale scores exciting JONATHAN PARK AUDIO ADVENTURES

Jonathan Park albums (samples)

The Jonathan Park Adventures is a kid-friendly audio drama – a film for your ears, if you will. Jared DePasquale has composed 21 scores for the Jonathan Park Adventures to date, with seven soundtrack albums containing music from three episodes each, available to purchase from his web site. “Jared bolsters the adventure series’ scores with an especially sturdy main theme. Introduced by exotic patterns from ney and oud, the powerful theme propels itself forward from horns over a bed of strings and a scramble of percussion that suggests the galloping of camel hoofs. This main theme is carried through a number of varied interpretations as the story follows the exploits of Jonathan and his compatriots. Maintaining a vivid instrumental timbre keeps the adventure fast-paced and fraught with exciting peril and eloquent compassion.” – Randall D. Larson

Click here to read full story at musiquefantastique.com

October 18, 2017

Jóhann Jóhannsson and Rupert Gregson-Williams main winners at World Soundtrack Awards, David Shire received Lifetime Achievement Award

Read full story here.

Oct 24, 2017

Freddy’s Spinning – with this 8-LP Vinyl Box Set

Mondo BOX OF SOULS

Death Waltz Records announces a massive 8-LP box set containing the music for seven of the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET scores packed into a gorgeous vinyl box set they’re calling BOX OF SOULS.  Music by Charles Bernstein, Christopher Young, Angelo Badalamenti, Craig Safan, Jay Ferguson & J. Peter Robinson. Exclusively distributed by Mondotees, the box set goes on sale at noon Central Time Wednesday Oct 25.

Jump to our story here.

Oct 23, 2017Str Things S2 crop

Stranger Themes 2

Digital double album set for STRANGER THINGS Season 2 released – CD and Vinyl to follow.  Read details here.

Oct 20, 2017

Notable Recent Genre Soundtrack Releases

Oct late releases boxed

Bear McCreary’s WALKING DEAD Score Album has Crashed Through the Walls

The long-awaited soundtrack album containing Bear McCreary’s score to the hit TV horror thriller THE WALKING DEAD is finally here from Lakeshore Records, digitally, and McCreary’s own boutique label, Sparks & Shadows, on CD. For this long-awaited release, McCreary selected his personal favorites from the first seven seasons, along with those most frequently requested by fans. He said that “narrowing down the highlights from seven years of work was a tremendous challenge.”

Classic Thriller Score THE BAD SEED Premiere CD Release

La-La Land Records, Warner Bros. and Sony Music present the world premiere official CD release of the original motion picture score to the 1956 classic feature film chiller THE BAD SEED, starring Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack and Henry Jones, and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. “Legendary composer Alex North (A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, THE ROSE TATOO, DRAGONSLAYER) expertly crafts a heady mix of heart-melting lyricism and sharp-edged dissonance,” writes the label, “creating a musical masterwork that escalates all the tension and drama within this acclaimed tale of lethal evil lurking within a seemingly perfect child. The release is limited to 2500 units.

Beltrami’s icy chiller falls in from Backlot Music

Marco Beltrami recently scored the new macabre mystery thriller, THE SNOWMAN, which opens today in theaters. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer and J. K. Simmons, and follows a detective who tries to find the identity of a killer who uses snowmen as his calling card. A digital soundtrack album is now available from Backlot Music.

Marvel’s Latest THOR hammers in digitally – CD to follow

Marvel Music/Hollywood Records have release a digital soundtrack album of Mark Mothersbaugh’s score to the next Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, THOR: RAGNAROK. A physical CD soundtrack will be available on November 10. The movie, directed by Taika Waititi (Hunt For The Wilderpeople, What We Do In The Shadows) opens on November 3. Mothersbaugh recorded the score at London’s Abbey Road Studios. “I was aware of Taika’s work before I got the call from Marvel, and was excited about the chance to collaborate,” said Mothersbaugh. “He’s a true artist, and I think he brings a lot to the Marvel franchise. We both share an interest in retro synths and I was delighted to dust off a few vintage keyboards from the DEVO days to mix in with the Abbey Road 100-piece orchestra to create our own take on the sound of Marvel.”

Classic Band, Classic LaLoggia from Intrada

Intrada Records has released the limited CD premiere of Richard Band’s cult horror soundtrack to Empire Pictures 1986 TERRORVISION. Directed by Ted Nicolau (SUBSPECIES series) and exec produced by Charles Band, the film is a comic sci-fi horror movie about a wacky monstrous energy substance which is “received” by new satellite dish in Putterman family’s backyard – monstrous mutation hijinks ensue! “Band tackles scoring not simply with expectant synthesized beeps and bleeps but with surprisingly sophisticated (for 1986) electronic writing,” writes the label. “The music at times takes on character of fully-scored composition [while] Band and orchestrator-associate Christopher L. Stone… evoke a 60’s style scoring vernacular in modern (80’s era) dress. Intrada’s CD also contains the ever-present rock songs from The Fibonaccis that partnered with Band’s score on the 1976 restless records LP soundtrack. All tracks have been remastered f4rom the original session masters to completely re-assemble all of Band’s score, including numerous previously unreleased tracks of score. For more details and sample tracks, see: http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.11292/.f?sc=13&category=22848

Also new from Intrada is a reissue of director/composer Frank LaLoggia’s music for his eloquent 1995 ghost film, LADY IN WHITE. Originally available on a limited 1995 CD on Netherlands label SouthEast Records, Intrada’s new edition features the same musical content but has been completely remastered for better audio dynamics. The album includes two early electronic versions of LaLoggia’s music as well as a second CD entitled “Frankie Goes to Tuscany” which is devoted to original music LaLoggia composed for listening that he describes as “a film score in search of a movie.”

October 17, 2017

Just in time for Horrorween:
1970s Spanish Horror Scores Debut on Quartet Records

Quartet Eurohorror released Oct2017 wide

Click here to read story.

October 15, 2017

Unreleased Fridays & New Super Hero Scores From La-La Land
F13th Part 2-3 LLLCD sidebyside

LLLCD Blake Neely Super Hero

(click here to read article)

October 10, 2017

Newly Announced Horror & Fantasy Soundtracks from Quartet Records

Quartet 2017 Oct-Nov genre releases

Quartet Records of Spain has announced some intriguing genre soundtracks for this month’s offerings. In October the label will release Victor Reyes’ score for the horror film COLD SKIN, directed by Xavier Gens (FRONTIER(S), THE ABC’S OF DEATH [X]. The story is set after World War I, when a steam ship drops a young man on the edge of the Antarctic Circle, to take the place of a worker there, but instead finds a deranged castaway and a mounting horror. MARROWBONE, a horror tale involving a young man and his four younger siblings, who have kept secret the death of their beloved mother in order to remain together, who become plagued by a sinister presence in the sprawling manor in which they live; the score is by Fernando Velzaquez.  And the animated French/Belgium fantasy-comedy ZOMBILLENIUM features a score by Éric Neveux. Coming in November is a special 10th Anniversary soundtrack of Fernando Velazquez’s score to J.A. Bayona’s hauntingly beautiful and heartbreaking ghost story, THE ORPHANAGE. Details on track list and extra content will be forthcoming.

For more information, see quartetrecords.

October 9, 2017

Blade Runner 2049 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is Out

_BR 2049 mp3Zimmer and Wallfisch sought implemented vintage synths such as a Yamaha CS80 from the late seventies as well as modern technological innovations, yielding a rich sonic palette that congeals effectively with the audio-visual vision of director Denis Villeneuve.

“First of all, I realized that Denis is a director who has a vision; he has a voice,” said Zimmer. “Remember, I’ve done a lot of movies with Ridley Scott. So, it was important that this was an autonomous piece of work. Let’s just be honest. Ridley is a hard act to follow — as is Vangelis.”

Click here to read full story.

Oct 8, 2017

Warner Bros. Records & DC To Collaborate On “Dark Nights: Metal” Soundtrack

Dark Knights_Metal

Composer Tyler Bates (Watchmen, 300, Guardians of the Galaxy) patners with Warner Bros. Records Senior VP of A&R Mike Elizondo to produce 6-track EP featuring songs inspired by DARK NIGHTS: METAL, the blockbuster comic book reuniting the best-selling BATMAN talent team of writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo.

Click here to read full story

October 7, 2017

New Animated Batman Soundtracks Available from Dynamic Music Partners

Batman_Harley-and-TwoFace_Sdtk_Banner_website_1170x500px_01

WaterTower Music has released two new soundtrack albums for the DC animated universe: BATMAN & HARLEY QUINN and BATMAN VS. TWO-FACE. Michael McCuistion, Lolita Ritmanis and Kristopher Carter, collectively known as Dynamic Music Partners (AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, JUSTICE LEAGUE, etc.), have composed the music for both titles.

Click here to read full story.

Happy-Death-Day-movie-soundtrack

October 4, 2017

Bear McCreary Wishes Moviegoers a Happy Death Day

Soundtrack coming from Back Lot Music. Click here for more details.

September 30, 2017

New DOCTOR WHO soundtrack series bookends 1963’s “The Daleks” with 1989’s “Survival”

Silva Screen has released two vintage DOCTOR WHO scores in a new series of eight expanded soundtracks from the show’s original episodes. First to embark, reasonably is Tristram Cary’s electronic score for the December 1963 episode, “The Daleks,” which first introduced The doctor’s greatest extraterrestrial enemies. Cary was a pioneer in the field of electronic music who combined a career at the cutting edge of experimental music with works for cinema (THE LADYKILLERS, QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, aka FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH), television, and radio. The Daleks made their debut in Doctor Who just before Christmas 1963 and Cary’s music was composed to script as a number of atmospheric pieces for specific scenes and situations. These were then played live into the studio recording, alongside effects tracks. This new release of the soundtrack expands on a previous issue and includes music from all seven episodes plus unreleased material and extended cues.

doctor who - daleks & survival

Released concurrently is Dominic Glynn’s score to the 7th doctor episode, “Survival,” in which Sylvester McCoy seeks to solve a number of disappearances in which he faces a race of cat like creatures called the Cheetah people – and an old adversary from the Time Lords past.

These scores are from the electronica period of DOCTOR WHO when early scores like Cary’s tended to be more sound effect than musical in nature (Cary addresses this in a composer’s note from 2003 included in the album booklet: A ‘theme’ in electronic music is not necessarily melodic – it may be a special way of attacking sound, or a distinctive combination of tone colors. In The Daleks,” with few purely electronic sources, the largely atmospheric tracks are mostly made by manipulating real sounds mechanically and/or electronically.

In Glynn’s case, his use of electronic gadgets included more musical devices like electric and acoustic guitars, analog synths, keyboards, and a mélange of various interactive electronic sounds, not to mention a few acoustic instruments like acoustic guitar, squeaky violins, flute, and live percussion. A few tracks from the series appeared on the Doctor Who 50 compilation but the rest are all previously unreleased.”

The first two releases are now available digitally and on CD; Silva will issue vinyl editions of both on November 24th.

Sept. 25, 2017

Extended Edition of E.T. coming next week from La-La Land

ETpresentationE.T. SHIPPING NOTICE: La-La-Land reported they have discovered a manufacturing error with DISC 1 of E.T. and this disc needs to be repressed before the factory can finish production. This has delayed the customer start shipping date to 10/3. “We are extremely sorry for this unforeseen delay, but we need to make sure we do not have defective product. E.T. will start shipping on 10/3. Thank you for your patience.”

For more details, see our updated report here

Sept. 19, 2017

Silva Screen Records Presents DON’T LOOK NOW soundtrack reissue Pino Donaggio’s memorable score to Nicolas Roeg’s classic supernatural thriller.

DON't LOOK NOW SilvaIn February 2017, Time Out magazine polled actors, producers, directors and movie mavens to create a list of the top 100 British films of all time. Forty-four years after its release, Nicolas Roeg’s horror thriller DON’T LOOK NOW was a comfortable winner. Time-Out defined the film as “a movie whose every glorious frame is bursting with meaning, emotion, and mystery, and which stands as the crowning achievement of one of Britain’s true iconoclasts and masters of cinema.” Based on a Daphne Du Maurier short story, Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland play a couple who travel to Venice after the tragic death of their daughter only to find a dark world of murder and supernatural activity.

As well as composing the score, Pino Donaggio performed a substantial portion of it himself. He played the piano pieces, despite the fact that he was not very accomplished at playing the instrument. These pieces are usually associated with Christine in the film, and Roeg wanted them to have an innocent sound reminiscent of a little girl learning to play the piano. Donaggio claims that since he was not very good at playing, the pieces had an unsure style to them, perfect for the effect they were trying to capture.

“Sounds fade in and out, magnified and brought forward, then diminishes to a whisper. Pino Donaggio’s score twists and traps, echoing character emotion.” – Movie Reviews UK

The song – “I Colori Di Dicembere” – was recorded by Iva Zanicchi and released on her 1974 album “Amare, Non Amare”. It is not heard in the film and was only included on the Italian pressing of the soundtrack where it was released as “A Venezia… Un Dicembre Rosso Shocking”. This new edition of Donaggio’s classic score reinstates the song and reverts to the original track sequence and edit.

DON’T LOOK NOW was Pino Donaggio’s debut film score after which he went on to compose music for THE HOWLING, CARRIE, BODY DOUBLE, DRESSED TO KILL, PIRANHA, SEED OF CHUCKY, and much more, becoming a specialist in the genre throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s.

The new album cover was the winning design by artist Benio Urbanowicz in a competition organized by Creative Review and BFI Publishing for the 20th anniversary of the BFI Film Classics book on the film.

Silva Screen will release the score digitally and on CD from amazon UK on October 27, 2017.

Sept. 17, 2017

Sony Classical Releases Two Soundtracks Celebrating The Music From the new MTV Series TEEN WOLF

Sony Classical proudly announces the release of two albums celebrating the MTV original series TEEN WOLF – one featuring the classic indie rock and electronica songs used throughout the series, from artists including Young the Giant, Mikky Ekko, Fink, and the haunting cover of “Bad Moon Rising” performed by Mourning Ritual feat. Peter Dreimanis. The TEEN WOLF – Original Television Score features original music written by composer Dino Meneghin (TAKING THE STAGE, EYE CANDY) including “Teen Wolf Main Title.”

teen wolf albums

Loosely based on the 1985 film of the same name, MTV’s TEEN WOLF and stars Tyler Posey as a teenager named Scott McCall, who is bitten by a werewolf and must cope with how it affects his life and the lives of those closest to him, and Dylan O’Brien as “Stiles” Stilinski, Scott’s best friend. TEEN WOLF first premiered in 2011, and is currently airing its sixth and final season Sundays on MTV in the US and on various channels internationally.

“You can hear over time how the show really developed a sound of its own,” said composer Dino Meneghin.

Working on all six years of the series allowed Meneghin the opportunity to develop his themes. “Some of them became much broader in scope and importance than they were originally intended to be,” he described. “Scott and Allison’s love theme is a good example; it started as a love theme for two characters, but we still used it even after Allison’s death to call back to something fundamental about the show. It really came to represent some of the heart of the show, and whenever we’d bring it in, it was very powerful.”

The Teen Wolf Soundtrack and score albums are now available digitally and on CD.

Sept. 9, 2017

TIME WALKER, Vintage Richard Band, debuts on CD from Dragon’s Domain

Time_Walker-CoverRichard Band’s TIME WALKER glides into its premiere soundtrack release on CD from Dragon’s Domain Records. One of last early Richard Band scores to finally achieve soundtrack release. Just announced from Dragon’s Domain Records, this is an early hybrid orchestral/synth score by Richard Band for a cheesy low budg sci-fi thriller from 1982 that grows from eerie textural sound design to a sparkling John Williams resolution. A limited edition of 1000/c.

See: http://buysoundtrax.stores.yahoo.net/tiwaorsobyri.html

August 30, 2017

The Fury of CHRISTINE Arrives on Remastered Vinyl from Varèse Sarabande

Varèse Sarabande will release John Carpenter’s classic score for CHRISTINE on LP available September 29, 2017. The album has been has been fully remastered and features fantastic new art from award-winning movie poster artist Gary Pullin (“Ghoulish Gary”), and is being released on blue vinyl.

CHRISTINE vinylIn the past few years, there has been a tremendous upsurge in interest for John Carpenter’s signature score compositions following the success of the Carpenter’s Lost Themes and Lost Themes II albums, and subsequent tours.  The rare director-composer combo, Carpenter’s scores for his classic horror films are a favorite of electronic music aficionados.

Chris Alexander of ComingSoon.net rated Christine as #3 of the top 10 John Carpenter scores, saying, “Pulsing, moody, dread-filled, this is a car-centric and pop-tinted progression of the Halloween score and it’s probably this writer’s favorite of all the Carpenter soundtracks.”

Fact Magazine says Christine, with “its soundtrack is another synth-heavy masterclass, and again finds Carpenter teaming up with Alan Howarth. ‘Obsessed With The Car’ is one of the score’s most low-key cues, and is noteworthy simply because of its beautiful, unhurried simplicity.”

To complement the remastered audio, Award-winning artist and leading designer in the world of alternative movie posters, Gary Pullin was commissioned to create original artwork for the packaging. “I’ve always loved Stephen King’s novel and the cover is a stunner – a stylized hood ornament with a screaming skull, Christine in chrome as it blazes across the hard cover,” he explained. “For the films’ score, I wanted to feature the Plymouth Fury logo front and center, in a simplistic and new way. The shape of the V reminded me of devil horns – she’s the car from hell! The blue glow represents the supernatural force living under the hood and inside her evil grinning grill. I often go for atmospheric designs when creating artwork for movie soundtracks and the art seemed like a perfect fit for the electronic score that Carpenter and Howarth created to drive the film’s suspense and bring the fury of Christine to life.”

Available from amazon, ships October 4th.

August 25, 2017

WaterTower Music presents IT – the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Score by Benjamin Wallfisch

IT soundtrack cover

August 21, 2017

Bernard Herrmann’s JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH is unearthed as Varèse Sarabande’s latest “500 Series” release

_Journey Center Earth Varese-500 edition

August 18, 2017

John Paesano’s MARVEL’S THE DEFENDERS Soundtrack Out Digitally

TheDefenders_Cover

August 17, 2017

Lakeshore Records to Release Remixed & Remastered HELLRAISER: 30th Anniversary Soundtrack Edition

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SHARKNADO 5: Digital Soundtrack now Available from BMG

BMG Soundstage has released a soundtrack album for the Syfy original movie SHARKNADO 5: GLOBAL SWARMING. The album features the film’s original music composed by Christopher Cano & Chris Ridenhour who previously scored the last three installments in the SHARKNADO series. Also included are songs by Quint, New Day Dawn, and Geno Lenardo & Ryan T Hope. The soundtrack is now available to download on Amazon; click the link to purchase or to listen to audio samples. The sequel premiered on August 6th on Syfy and is now available on demand via Amazon. For more details, see official SHARKNADO 5 movie website.
– via filmmusicreporter.com

Johan Söderqvist’s score for THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM due out from Varese Sarabande Sep 8th

Varese Sarabande Records will release a digital soundtrack album of the score to THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM by Johan Söderqvist (LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, THE KING’S CHOICE) on September 8th. The British horror thriller, directed by Juan Carlos Medina (PAINLESS) concerns a series of murders that has shaken a local community to the point where people believe that only a legendary creature from dark times – the mythical Golem – must be responsible. Composer Johan Söderqvist adds a new level of terror in his orchestral score.

Mondo’s IRON FIST Vinyl Soundtrack joins Daredevil, Jessica Jones, & Luke Cage OST Vinyl Series

Last November Mondo Tees released a trio of vinyl soundtracks and posters for Marvel’s street level heroes – Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage – featuring stunning artwork by Matthew Woodson. Today, just in time for MARVEL’S THE DEFENDERS to come together on Netflix, Danny Rand joins the ranks with Mondo’s new vinyl and poster release for MARVEL’S IRON FIST!

The soundtrack and poster will be available beginning at noon time on August 18th at https://mondotees.com.

The new Netflix series, which brings the super heroes from their own Netflix series together as a team with MARVEL’s THE DEFENDERS on Netflix August 18th! Original soundtrack available August 18th.

Composed by Trevor Morris (EMERALD CITY, CASTLEVANIA, VIKINGS), the score continues the tradition of giving each of THE DEFENDER’S their own sound and feel. MARVEL’S IRON FIST delivers moody, ominous synth cues with frantic, pulsating percussion that attack and release in powerful bursts.

As with the previous releases, this also features all new original artwork by Matthew Woodson. Pressed on 180 Gram Green Vinyl (also available on 180 Gram Black Vinyl).

MARVEL’S IRON FIST soundtrack is also available as a digital download from Marvel Studios through most digital music platforms.

August 8, 2017

Game of Thrones Season 7 Soundtrack Coming in on CD Sept 29th

game-of-thrones-S7WaterTower Music will release a new soundtrack album for the HBO hit series GAME OF THRONES. The album features selections of the music from the show’s seventh season composed by Ramin Djawadi. The soundtrack is currently set to be released physically on September 29, 2017 – via filmmusicreporter.com

August 3, 2017

German Composer Klaus Pfreundner Scores A New BLOOD FEAST

Digital Soundtrack to BLOOD FEAST Remake Released

August 3, 2017

ANNABELLE: Creation Soundtrack Due Out On Cd Aug 25

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July 28, 2017

Patrick Doyle’s EMOJI MOVIE soundtrack out today

_The Emoji MovieSony Classical will release of Patrick Doyle’s score to animated feature film THE EMOJI MOVIE on July 28, concurrently with the opening of the movie. Directed by Tony Leondis (LILO & STITCH 2, IGOR), THE EMOJI MOVIE unlocks the never-before-seen secret world inside your smartphone. Hidden within the messaging app is Textopolis, a bustling city where all your favorite emojis live, hoping to be selected by the phone’s user. In this world, each emoji has only one facial expression – except for Gene (T.J. Miller), an exuberant emoji who was born without a filter and is bursting with multiple expressions. Determined to become “normal” like the other emojis, Gene enlists the help of his handy best friend Hi-5 (James Corden) and the notorious code breaker emoji Jailbreak (Anna Faris). Together, they embark on an epic “app-venture” through the apps on the phone, each with its own wild and fun world, to find the Code that will fix Gene. But when a greater danger threatens the phone, the fate of all emojis depends on these three unlikely friends who must save their world before it’s deleted forever.

Patrick Doyle is a classically trained composer of film, television, theater and radio with a long pedigree of outstanding film scores in nearly every genre – including such notable animated features as Disney’s BRAVE, Leondis’s IGOR, and QUEST FOR CAMELOT, as well as notable fantasy scores for THOR, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, and HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE. His music for THE EMOJI MOVIE is a fun and up-beat hybrid of orchestra and electronics that plays on the idea of the pixilated computer graphic characters that people the story.

Watch THE EMOJI MOVIE trailer here:

July 28, 2017

THE DARK TOWER scored by Tom Holkenborg – Soundtrack on Digital & CD

July 26, 2017

tomandandy’s Tooth-Grinding Horror Score for 47 Meters Down – Digital Soundtrack Out July 28

July 8, 2017

Final copies of limited, double-LP STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE vinyl album available from La-La Land Records

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La-La Land Records’ 2-disc collector’s vinyl release of Jerry Goldsmith’s STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE score returns for the rest of its limited run at the end of this month. Originally issued in March, the final opportunity to grab the last of label’s 1500-unit vinyl edition comes up at the end of July. The album features colored 180 gram vinyl and a 12-page, full-color insert booklet (with iconic Bob Peak cover art), housed in a stunning gatefold jacket showcasing original art by Daren R. Dochterman. Produced by Mike Matessino and Bruce Botnick, mixed and mastered by Bruce Botnick, restored, edited, and assembled by Matessino, the album will sell out quickly. Pre-order now at lalalandrecords.com

July 6, 2017

Sample a Track from Trevor Morris’s CASTLEVANIA score

Hear the new track, “The True Science”, from the forthcoming Castlevania soundtrack, out Friday, July 7 on Lakeshore Records!  Described as an “eerie ode to the game,” get a taste of Trevor Morris’ highly-anticipated score exclusively now at Nerdist. Click here.

Michael Giacchino’s New APES Score Released by Sony

_War for the PoA Album ArtworkSony Music is releasing the soundtrack to WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, with music by Grammy® and Academy Award®-winning composer Michael Giacchino. A digital release comes out tomorrow, July 7th to coincide with the premiere of the film, while a CD release is scheduled for August 4. The movie is the third chapter to the 2011 & 2014 films RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, both of which Giacchino scored… [click here to read full story]

June 29, 2017

Trevor Morris’s CASTLEVANIA soundtrack coming out from Lakeshore

castlevania_netflix 1200The soundtrack album to the forthcoming Netflix animated series CASTLEVANIA will be released by Lakeshore Records, digitally on July 7th, and via CD on August 4th. The latter is up for pre-order on Amazon now. The music has been composed by Emmy Award-winning composer Trevor Morris (Marvel’s IRON FIST, VIKINGS, IMMORTALS). The film is based on the popular Konami video games, a vampire hunter who fights to save a besieged city from an army of otherworldly beasts controlled by Dracula himself.

The show premieres on Nextflix on July 7th.

-via filmmusicreporter.com

Extra: Listen to Morris’s Main Title theme now – exclusively on bloodydisgusting.com

Shie Rozow’s mesmerizing soundtrack to horror film JASMINE coming out from Varese Sarabande

_JasmineVarèse Sarabande will release the soundtrack to the forthcoming horror film JASMINE digitally on July 14. The album features the film’s original music composed by Shie Rozow (#FOLLOWFRIDAY, BALLISTICA). “This was my first time doing an all-electronic score, and in many ways the score also needed to double as sound design,” explained Rozow.  “I took various orchestral sounds and effects and processed them very heavily to turn them into something very electronic and quite different. And in order to really get the emotion I wanted, I felt I needed a bowed instrument. There’s something about how a bow pulls across a string to generate a sound in a way that no other instrument can. Since I wanted to stick to the electronic palette I used an electric cello that is also quite processed, and that’s featured throughout the score.”

The film’s synopsis: A year after his wife’s murder, once-successful Hong Kong businessman Leonard To (Jason Tobin, THE FAST AND THE FUTURE: TOKYO DRIFT) is still reeling from the tragedy. Having lost his job, friends and all sense of order in his life, Leonard becomes obsessed with a mysterious stranger (Byron Mann, THE BIG SHORT) he sees at his wife’s grave, believing him to be responsible for her death.

Shie Rozow composer
Composer Shie Rozow

“The film is called JASMINE, yet we never actually see Jasmine in the movie,” said Rozow. “We see a couple of photos of her, and her gravestone. But she died before the film even begins. So one of the tricks was to create a ‘Jasmine theme’ that would emotionally connect our main character, Leonard, with her.”  In addition to Jasmine’s theme and variations, “we also have Leonard’s motif, which is just a four note ascending line that sometimes plays as counterpoint to Jasmine’s theme. And we have the therapy theme, which comes back whenever we see Leonard in group therapy.”

Born in Israel, Shie Rozow has worked on films as a musical editor since the late 1990s, including such major releases as AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, HUSTLE & FLOW, and 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS, while also emerging more recently as a composer in his own right.

For more information on the composer, see: http://shierozow.com

June 26, 2017

Stuart Hancock scores quirky UK Horror Comedy CRAZYHEAD – soundtrack now available on digital platforms

CRAZYHEAD soundtrack MovieScore MediaMovieScore Media returns to the small-screen with an electrifying Stuart Hancock score balancing between a teen comedy and a horror film. CRAZYHEAD is created by BAFTA-winning Howard Overman whose previous big hit MISFITS detailed the lives of teenagers blessed (or cursed) with superpowers. The new show’s six episodes chronicle another unorthodox coming-of-age story as our two heroines, Amy (Cara Theobold) and Raquel (Susan Wokoma) navigate their way through the choppy waters of their early twenties whilst simultaneously kicking the ass of some seriously gnarly demons. Originally shown on UK’s Channel 4 in October 2016, CRAZYHEAD is now available worldwide on Netflix.

“As a composer, scoring Crazyhead was a new stylistic departure for me.” explains Stuart Hancock about his 80s inspired, retro cult sound for the show. “I had previously worked with the team at Urban Myth Films to create the soundtrack for ATLANTIS, which had an epic orchestral sound, whereas CRAZYHEAD called for a grungy, more electronic sound world with a nod to the classic retro horror scores of the likes of John Carpenter. It was a whole lot of fun to explore this style, and to contrast subtle emotional underscoring with a bold, eyeballs-out brutality for the action and horror.”

For more info and audio samples, see:
http://moviescoremedia.com/crazyhead-original-soundtrack/

June 22, 2017

Sharks Behind Bars! Cirino’s Prison Shark Massacre Soundtrack Makes CD Premiere

Kritzerland has announced the world premiere CD release of the soundtrack by Chuck Cirino for Jim Wynorski’s 2015 sharksploitation mash-up: SHARKANSAS WOMEN’S PRISON MASSACRE. When the SyFy Channel called writer/producer/director Jim Wynorski and asked him, “Do you have anything like Sharknado?” being the resourceful and clever fellow he is he immediately made up something with a shark – and instantly pitched SHARKANSAS WOMEN’S PRISON MASSACRE. With a production schedule not much longer than it takes a shark to swallow an escaped prisoner – well, fifteen days – Wynorski had the film in the can, ready for his composer of choice, Chuck Cirino, to give it the final musical magic.  “Jim comes from a time when making movies was nothing but a fun adventure, and Chuck understands that sensibility perfectly,” noted Kritzerland’s Bruce Kimmel. “Chuck is a fine composer and understands these films and knows just what kind of music they require – as Jim Wynorski says, ‘Heartfelt and pulse-pounding melodies.’ It’s truly a fun score.”

For more details, to order or hear audio samples, visit http://www.kritzerland.com/sharkansas.htm

Return of Sky Pirates – Australian Composer Brian May’s Exciting Orchestral Score Reissued

Dragon’s Domain Records, distributed through buysoundtrax.com, announces a sparkling newly mastered reissue of Australian film composer Brian May’s long sold-out score to the science fiction-adventure thriller SKY PIRATES. The movie is an exciting tale in the vein of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and ROMANCING THE STONE, about an Australian Air Force pilot and his newfound love interest who rush to find a set of ancient stone tablets that hold the key to arcane knowledge and power before a self-serving villain can acquire them for nefarious purposes. May’s boisterous and colorful musical score gives the movie a thoroughly exuberant dynamic. SKY PIRATES is immersed in bold gestures, large orchestral adventure, and heroic measures that are expressed in energetic and exciting terms. Based on melody, mystery, and motif, May’s orchestral score is one of his finest, buttressing the film very well and more often than not subverting the movie’s logistical failures with the diversion of thrilling adventure. For more details, or to hear audio samples, see buysoundtrax.com

June 20, 2017

tomandandy’s wistful, scary score for THE MONSTER comes out for download this week

Lakeshore Records will release tomandandy’s score for THE MONSTER, the suspenseful and scary 2016 film from by horror filmmaker Bryan Bertino (THE STRANGERS). The film, which after a limited release last November was released to home video in January, is about a mother and daughter who must confront a terrifying monster when they break down on a deserted road. The pair’s potent score for THE MONSTER ranges from the opening reflective piano motifs through to large blocks of synthesized sound, interacting with the constancy of the music’s piano foundation to creates a haunting, frightening, and occasionally violent accompaniment that retains its focus on the character situation with which it started.

The soundtrack will be available digitally on June 23th. Tomandandy’s latest horror film scores include 47 METERS DOWN, released last Friday, and WISH UPON, which premiere’s July 17.

June 16, 2017

Update: Gerrard-Orr Score to 2:22 on Digital June 30, CD forthcoming

Varèse Sarabande will release the original motion picture soundtrack to 2:22 – digitally on June 30 (revised from original July 14 announcement) and CD later this year. The album features the original music composed by Lisa Gerrard and James Orr. “The director was very sensitive to sound and tone,” described Gerrard.  “There was scope in the score for a main theme for the two principal characters, Dylan and Sarah. This is played briefly at the beginning of the film with piano, and then resurfaces throughout in various different guises, culminating in the orchestra in the finale.”

The film, directed by Paul Currie, follows a man whose life is permanently derailed when an ominous pattern of events repeats itself in exactly the same manner every day, ending at precisely 2:22 PM.

“The theme itself was one element, but the nature of the sound that produced it was very important to him. It needed to fit in with the idea of it being something contemporary and fresh,” Orr added.  “We experimented a lot with recording both organic and synthetic sounds – voice, piano, guitar, strings – but manipulating them in a way that twisted them more to an electronic feel. The voice was key throughout, but it’s often used in a way that morphs the sound into something else, and is often a textural component and not a lead.”

“Time and memory are two very important themes in the film, and the characters are in a constant state of uncertainty and unpredictability about future events,” Gerrard concluded.

June 9, 2017

Song CD & Score Download Coming June 16 for Disney·Pixar’s CARS 3

As Lightning McQueen heads to the big screen alongside his new tech-savvy trainer Cruz Ramirez, Disney•Pixar’s CARS 3 fuels two soundtrack releases – both available from Walt Disney Records on June 16 as the film opens in theaters nationwide. The CARS 3 Soundtrack [I’ll call it a songtrack album] features eight tracks—including original songs by Dan Auerbach and ZZ Ward, four covers by various artists (including The Beatles’ “Drive My Car” performed by Jorge Blanco, and Aretha Franklin’s “Freeway of Love” performed by actress Lea DeLaria), and two instrumental tracks from Brad Paisley. The CARS 3 original score album features the music composed and conducted by Randy Newman, reuniting the CARS franchise with its original Oscar®-winning composer.

Newman, who was behind the Oscar®-winning music in Disney·Pixar’s TOY STORY 3 and MONSTERS, INC., composed the score for the first CARS movie and penned the Oscar®-nominated song “Our Town.” For CARS 3, Newman created a score that reflects the heart and high-octane action of the film – 21 tracks are included on the soundtrack. “Randy has a real connection to the ‘Cars’ world,” says MacDougall. “His ability to capture the feeling of this film, its characters, locations and the Americana theme throughout is extraordinary—the music is so naturally fluid and inspired. It really feels like Randy is coming home with this score.” Newman used a 110-piece orchestra to record the score. The CARS 3 score by Randy Newman is available digitally June 16 from Walt Disney Records and can be pre-ordered from Disney Music here.

June 6, 2017

Back Lot Music will release Brian Tyler’s score to Universal’s new THE MUMMY digitally on June 9th, with a CD to follow at an unspecified date. The movie is the in Universal’s new Dark Universe revival of its classic monsters, shows in theaters the same day.

Michael Giacchino’s score to SPIDERMAN: HOMECOMING will be released on CD by Sony Masterworks on July 7th. In addition to Giacchino’s original score, it will include the theme from the 1960s’ SPIDER-MAN cartoon series by Paul Francis Webster and Bob Harris.

The soundtrack for Luc Besson’s grandiose fantasy adventure VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS, with music composed by Alexandre Desplat (THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, GODZILLA [2014]) will be released on CD on July 21 by EuropaCorp. In addition to Desplat’s original score, the album will include four songs, including the film’s opening credits song, “Space Oddity” by David Bowie.

On June 13, Back Lot Music will release a digital soundtrack album for the fantasy adventure DRAGONHEART: BATTLE FOR THE HEARTFIRE, composed by Mark McKenzie. This is the fourth film in the DRAGONHEART franchise – McKenzie scored the the first and second sequel, DRAGONHEART: A NEW BEGINNING and DRAGONHEART: A SORCERER’S STONE, after Randy Edelman scored the first DRAGONHEART in 1996.

June 2, 2017

Rupert Gregson-Williams: WONDER WOMAN Soundtrack Released on CD & Digital

WaterTower Music has released the WONDER WOMAN soundtrack, which features an original score by composer Rupert Gregson-Williams and the powerful end title track, “To Be Human” sung by Sia, featuring Labrinth. The soundtrack to this epic action adventure film from director Patty Jenkins is now available both digitally and on CD.

“Patty and I worked together to find the themes for the movie,” Gregson-Williams related. “She has a great ear, and guided me early on to colors she felt had an affinity with the characters.”

“Engaging with the emotional language of music is a part of the filmmaking process that I deeply cherish, and its importance cannot be overstated,” Jenkins explained. “With WONDER WOMAN, we had an exceptional undertaking at hand: bringing a legendary character to life with a score befitting one of the greatest super heroes of all time, while musically bridging three entirely different worlds. Not a small task for anyone, but not beyond the beauty and elegance of Rupert Gregson-Williams. He embraced the challenge and created an entire world of themes and textures that organically grew with Diana’s storyline. He found her voice, her hope and all of her dreams, and brought them to life around her.”

On his philosophy of the merging of the music with the storyline, Gregson-Williams expounded: “Wonder Woman is an origin story; we meet Diana before she understands her powers, so her theme needed to reflect her innocence and naiveté. She moves from young girl to a woman who knows her path through the journey of the film.

“I used a hybrid of orchestra and ethnic drums and vocals for the origin story, and as the character grew I introduced electric cello and more electronic colors,” he continued. “By the end of the movie I brought in orchestra, full choir, percussion, and a large palette of electronica.”

“I am immensely proud of the score Rupert created and so grateful he was able to bring such integrity and beauty to the movie through his music,” Jenkins elaborated. “He is a special and unique talent, whose art sings throughout our film.”

Listen to Gregson-Williams score track, “Angel on the Wing:”

Listen to the End Title song, “To Be Human,” by sung by Sia with Labrinth”

May 31, 2017

It’s 2:22 Again – Lisa Gerrard & James Orr Score Fantasy Thriller

The romantic fantasy thriller 2:22 will be released on CD by Varese Sarabande on July 14th [see update, June 16th, above], and is available now for pre-order on Amazon. A digital release is said to be forthcoming in a couple of weeks. The film, directed by Paul Currie, follows a man whose life is permanently derailed when an ominous pattern of events repeats itself in exactly the same manner every day, ending at precisely 2:22 PM. The album features the film’s original music composed by Dead Can Dance’s Lisa Gerrard and James Orr, plus three pop songs used in the film.

Watch the film’s trailer on IMDB here.

-via filmmusicreporter.com

May 19, 2016

New PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN Score Arrr-ives on May 26

Geoff Zanelli’s score to fifth film in the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN franchise, DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES, will be released on May 26, 2017 by Walt Disney Records. The film also opens the same date. Zanelli (DISTURBIA, INTO THE WEST, THE PACIFIC, HITMAN, THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN) is a protégé of Hans Zimmer, the lead composer for the series, and contributed additional music to the first four movies in the franchise, so one can expect a degree of musical continuity in the new score. “What Hans did for the PIRATES movies redefined the sound of the entire genre, it has been very fulfilling to work alongside him and [producer] Jerry [Bruckheimer] on the past four films,” Zanelli said in an August 2016 interview with Andrew Barker for Variety. “DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES enlarges the PIRATES universe with many new, unique elements, and I’m building a distinctive sound for this film that springboards off of many years of collaborating in the Pirates world.”

For more details, including track list, see filmmusicreporter

See the official movie website for updates on the film.

May 18, 2017

Brian Reitzell Scores AMERICAN GODS – Soundtrack due June 16th

The score to the eclectic and mercurial Starz cable TV series AMERICAN GODS was composed by Brian Reitzell (LOST IN TRANSLATION, HANNIBAL). A soundtrack album will be released digitally on June 16th  on Milan Records (with a vinyl and cd edition to follow later in the summer). AMERICAN GODS was developed by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green for Starz based on the novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman – it’s about the conflict between the old gods of mythology, whose powers have waned as their believers have decreased in number, and the new American Gods who are manifestations of modern life and technology, such as the Internet, media, and modern means of transport.

The soundtrack album includes 15 tracks from Reitzell’s score and five songs heard in the series, including the original “Queen of the Bored” composed by Reitzell and sung by Shirley Manson of Garbage (listen to it here in Soundcloud), as well as classic covers sung by Mark Lanegan and Debbie Harry of Blondie, who joins Manson for a powerful take on Persiansinger Googoosh’s “Tehran 1978.”  Similar to BIG LITTLE LIES, GAME OF THRONES and STRANGER THINGS, AMERICAN GODS features music front and center as an essential element of the show. Each week Milan Records is releasing a digital single in conjunction with the airing of new episodes.

Sample Reitzell’s Main Theme from AMERICAN GODS at Milan Records’ site here.

The first of eight episodes of AMERICAN GODS Season 1 debuted via Starz on April 30th. Check out the AMERICAN GODS official site

or Milan Records for more info.

3-CD POLTERGEIST II reissue from Intrada

Intrada Records has produced a totally remastered and expanded “specially-priced” 3-CD reissue of its own very first Jerry Goldsmith release, POLTERGEIST II. Goldsmith anchors his sequel score with not one but two new themes associated with Taylor, the Native American character played by Will Sampson: the first is lean, sinewy idea over sparse open chords, while the second is a powerful, major-key theme typically heard from the French horns and trumpet. For portions of film dealing with evil Kane, Goldsmith introduces dynamic satanic choral writing plus disturbing hymn variants. The first movie’s “Carol Anne’s Theme” makes judicious appearances here, but then wraps up the entire score in gentle fashion. For this definitive edition of POLTERGEIST II, Intrada presents both alternate digital album mixes in their entirety, plus the analog film mixes, allowing the listener to choose their preference. CD 3 presents an abundance of extras including, for the first time ever, Goldsmith’s complete initial version of the massive final confrontation, “Reaching Out/The Astral,” which was dropped in post-production and re-scored by the composer.

For full details, see: Intrada

May 15, 2017

Sneak Preview of Daniel Hart’s A GHOST STORY score

Via Indiewire: Music plays an appropriately haunting part in David Lowery’s Sundance hit “A Ghost Story,” which stars Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck as they attempt to navigate love, loss, and the afterlife. The film hits theaters on July 7, along with an evocative soundtrack as intimate, haunting, and elegant as Lowery’s stylish and riveting direction. The film’s soundtrack has been crafted by violinist Daniel Hart, who has toured and recorded with his bands The Physics of Meaning and Dark Rooms, as well as other notable artists.

The A GHOST STORY soundtrack is being released via Milan Records on both CD and digital on July 7, with a special 180 gram white vinyl coming up on July 14.

Listen to this exclusive sample of the first track from Hart’s soundtrack, “The Secret In the Wall,” at indiewire, here.

May 5, 2017

Netflix series SENSE8 digital soundtrack released today

WaterTower Music has released the first soundtrack album for the Netflix original science fiction series SENSE8. The album features selections from the show’s original music composed by Johnny Klimek & Tom Tykwer; also included are songs from the first season (the ratio is 10 score tracks to 4 songs). Audio samples available on amazon.

For more details, see filmmusicreporter

Paul Leonard-Morgan’s soundtrack to the video game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War III due on May 9th – CD to follow.

Sumthing Else Music Works, the premier record label dedicated to releasing video game soundtracks, Relic Entertainment, and Games Workshop, proudly present the official soundtrack for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III, the long-awaited third installment of the critically acclaimed real-time strategy franchise. Featuring the game’s original score by BAFTA award winning, EMMY and Ivor Novello nominated composer Paul Leonard-Morgan (LIMITLESS, BATTLEFIELD: HARDLINE, DREDD 3D), the official soundtrack will be released May 9 via digital and streaming outlets worldwide, with a physical CD release to follow.

(For more information on the composer, see my interview with Leonard-Morgan from in my Feb 2016 Soundtrax column here.)

May 3, 2017

Warner Bros.’ Water Tower Music will release Rupert Gregson-Williams’s score to the forthcoming DC Extended Universe feature film WONDER WOMAN on CD June 2nd. Pre-orders available on amazon  and elsewhere.

May 1, 2017

Lakeshore Records Presents Two Companion EPs For THE RISE OF THE SYNTHS

Lakeshore Records will be releasing two official companion EPs for the upcoming documentary THE RISE OF THE SYNTHS this spring.  THE RISE OF THE SYNTHS EP 1 features tracks from Giorgio Moroder & Raney Shockne, Dance With The Dead, OGRE, Lazerhawk, Mega Drive, Voyag3r, and Carpenter Brut’s “Night Stalker”, which was released earlier this year.  The EP will be released exclusively through Lakeshore Records’ Bandcamp site on May 1st and through all digital providers on May 12th.

THE RISE OF THE SYNTHS is a documentary film project exploring the synthwave music scene. The filmmakers are interviewing both new artists and classic composers who helped to create the genre.  The film is currently in production after a successful Indiegogo campaign.  THE RISE OF THE SYNTHS EP 2 will be released in June.

– Via The Krakower Group

Coming May 9th: 3-CD Set of Wonder Woman Goodness from La-La Land Records

La-La Land Records, Warner Bros., and DC continue the celebration of 75 years of Wonder Woman, with a very special, limited edition 3-CD SET featuring original scores from the classic 70’s WONDER WOMAN TV series starring Lynda Carter.

Composers Charles Fox, Artie Kane, Robert Prince, Johnny Harris, Robert O. Ragland, Angela Morley and Richard LaSalle were the maestros who propelled this iconic superhero through her thrilling adventures, spanning three seasons and two exciting time periods with a breathtaking meld of traditional orchestra, rock, pop and jazz. Among this set’s musical highlights are the original TV movie score, the 2nd season premiere score, a dynamic selection of episode scores (The Bermuda Triangle Crisis, The Deadly Sting, Hot Wheels, and Skateboard Wiz, among others!), all three season variations of the immortal main titles (music and lyrics by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel), and more.

Produced by Neil S. Bulk and mastered by James Nelson from 3-Track WB studio vault elements, this limited edition of 3000 units also features a 28-Page booklet with exclusive liner notes by writer John Takis and a forward by Wonder Woman comic author and authority, Andy Mangels. Heroic art design by Dan Goldwasser helps spin this celebratory release into action!

– via La-La Land Records

April 30, 2017

Omega productions announces the world premiere release of LE LAC DES MORTS VIVANTS (1981, aka ZOMBIE LAKE) on CD – the melodious and audibly spooky score by Daniel White from the famous (and unintentionally hilarious) French horror movie by genre auteur Jean Rollin. The album will be remastered for the first time ever, with the help of Daniel Lesoeur, producer of the film and director of Eurociné. It will contain 22 tracks (+ bonus track: music from the film trailer), including some short sound design/effects elements (the “Bird’s Song,” “Peasant Terror”), and a couple short dialogue excerpts. The CD will be limited at 500 copies, in jewel case. Pre-orders of the soundtrack album on CD are now available, and include an instant download in MP3, FLAC, and other formats plus streaming via the free Bandcamp app. The CD is intended to ship on or around June 22, 2017. Special thanks to the label for making this significant genre soundtrack available on CD instead of just in digital format, which is often the case with specialty releases like this!

For details or to pre-order, see: omegaprods.

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April 27, 2017

Adam Taylor’s score for the new HULU series THE HANDMAID’S TALE will be released digitally by Lakeshore May 5. The series is a speculative science fiction story based on the novel by Margaret Atwood, about a dystopian society wherein women are considered property of the state. Taylor is a film composer known for his subdued, emotional, and minimalistic scores.

For more details, see the report in Genre Film Music News.

April 21, 2017

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 Music: Marvel Music/Hollywood Records has released the digital versions of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2 songs-only album and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. original score album by composer Tyler Bates (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, JOHN WICK CHAPTER 2, WATCHMEN) today. The film opens in U.S. theaters on May 5, 2017. The Awesome Mix Vol. 2 will also receive a physical CD set for release on April 28th; no word yet on a CD release of the score album.

For more details, see the report in Further Examinations.

April 20, 2017

Jed Kurzel’s soundtrack to Ridley Scott’s ALIEN COVENANT will be released by Milan on May 5.  On the same date, Disney will release Geoff Zanelli’s score for the fifth PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movie, DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES.

James Newton Howard has been signed to compose the score for MGM’s new TOMB RAIDER film. The film, scheduled for release in March 2018, is directed by Roar Uthaug, known for the 2015 Norwegian disaster film THE WAVE, and stars Alicia Vikander (JASON BOURNE, EX MACHINA) as Lara Croft, and Daniel Wu (GEOSTORM, WARCRAFT) as Lu Ren.]

March 24, 2017

Trevor Morris’s score to EMERALD CITY coming to CD in May from Lakeshore

Lakeshore Records will release a soundtrack album for the NBC fantasy-drama EMERALD CITY, featuring selections from the show’s original music composed by Emmy Award winner Trevor Morris (IMMORTALS, THE TUDORS, OLYMPUS/LONDON HAS FALLEN, THE BORGIAS, IRON FIST). The soundtrack CD will be released on May 26th and is currently availiable for pre-order on amazon

– Via filmmusicreporter.com

March 18, 2017

Horror Bites: Death Waltz Releases Michael Yezerski’s THE DEVIL’S CANDY

Death Waltz Recording Co. (A division of Mondo Tees) released last Friday via Bandcamp/iTunes/Spotify the original score to THE DEVIL’S CANDY from Australian composer Michael Yezerski. A physical vinyl release will come in May.

Yezerski’s approach to scoring THE DEVIL’S CANDY is forthright and simple: “Doom. Metal. Opera,” he stated. “Sean Byrne [writer/director], Jessica Calder and Keith Calder [producers] are visionaries. We had several deep discussions so I felt that my role was clear. I needed to provide a pervasive sense of claustrophobia and ambient doom inspired by the world of black metal and noise rock. The blending of tones had to be seamless.”

In THE DEVIL’S CANDY Jesse, a struggling artist, moves with his wife and daughter into their dream house in rural Texas, the price driven down by the property’s dark past. Their lives soon begin to unravel as the demonic forces lurking in the house take hold of the young family. Jesse’s paintings take a satanic turn while the family is plagued by Ray, the deranged son of the former owners. Soon it becomes clear that Jesse and Ray are both being influenced by the same dark forces and that Jesse and his family aren’t safe from its former inhabitant or indeed from the devil himself.

“I played strings on this score. I am not a string player,” Yezerski joked.  “My wife kindly lent me her violin and I tortured the crap out of it. That should tell you something about the nature of the string writing. Let me just say that it was perfect for a horror film.”

Composer Michael Yezersky

The cue “The Swing” contains the DNA for the rest of the score.  Yezerski described, “It is a deceptively simple construction, but keep in mind that often the simplest pieces of music are the most difficult to write – I needed to figure out how to create tension, build momentum without expanding the instrumentation or the style. It took a few goes to find the answer, but when I did, that track really opened up the rest of the score.  We discovered that a sound, any sound, can often be at its most powerful when it is unobstructed by other tones. There is a certain beauty in allowing these found sounds to breathe on their own and not to over-produce the resulting score.”

From the gripping and contemporary, to the subtle and emotional, Michael Yezerski has displayed a unique voice in film music. Recent works include Peer Pedersen’s WE DON’T BELONG HERE and ONLY THE DEAD SEE THE END OF WAR, the searing documentary feature from Michael Ware and Bill Guttentag. Michael’s first feature film projects were the critically acclaimed THE BLACK BALLOON (dir. Elissa Down) and THE WAITING CITY (dir. Claire McCarthy); he wrote both score and songs for these films. Since then, Michael has written the scores for over fourteen feature films and has been nominated four times for Australia’s highest film honor – the AACTA award for Best Original Score.

For more information on the composer, see his web site: https://michaelyezerski.com/

– Via The Krakower Group, March 17, 2017.

September 29, 2017

Two Brand New STAR WARS: FORCES OF DESTINY Half-Hour Specials Coming to Disney Channel on October 1st and 29th

starwars_forcesofdestiny

Emmy and Grammy nominated composer Ryan Shore continues his successful streak in Animation with the Lucasfilm-Disney collaboration STAR WARS: FORCES OF DESTINY web series. FORCES OF DESTINY focuses on the untold stories of Rey, Jyn Erso, Sabine Wren, Princess Leia, and many more noted characters through a series of two-to-three minute vignettes. Shore created several themes and an original score that accompanies John Williams’ iconic STAR WARS.  Shore details his experience on FORCES OF DESTINY: “I’m honored to be on board one of the most beloved franchises in the history of cinema. It’s especially rewarding to score these groundbreaking stories featuring the female heroines of Star Wars.”

Disney launched FORCES OF DESTINY this summer primarily as a way to shine a light on the female characters in the Star Wars universe, but Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy rightly pointed out that the short films are “for anyone who has been inspired by Leia’s heroism, Rey’s courage, or Ahsoka’s tenacity.”

Disney launched FORCES OF DESTINY this summer primarily as a way to shine a light on the female characters in the Star Wars universe, but Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy rightly pointed out that the short films are “for anyone who has been inspired by Leia’s heroism, Rey’s courage, or Ahsoka’s tenacity.”

A new trailer has been released, previewing the two 30-minute TV specials coming to the Disney Channel with never-before-seen content. FORCES OF DESTINY part shows at October 1st at 8:00pm ET/PT, while Part Two can be seen on October 29th at 8:00pm ET/PT.

Earlier this year, Shore scored the Animated Virtual Reality (VR) short ARDEN’S WAKE for producer/director Eugene Chung of Penrose Studios, a timely tale about rising sea levels and a young woman’s quest to find her missing father under the perilous ocean waters. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival to rave reviews, with critics describing Penrose as the Pixar of VR Animation.

Read our interview with Ryan about scoring STAR WARS: FORCES OF DESTINY here

For more details, see Disney’s FORCES OF DESTINY website

September 15, 2017

Examining Wallfisch’s IT score in depth

A notable analysis of Benjamin Wallfisch’s score to IT has been posted on youtube – watch it below:

After watching, click on this link to a longer analysis, here.

September 13, 2017

Latest DC Animated Universe feature, BATMAN VS. TWO-FACE debuts at New York Comic Con Oct. 8th 

Dynamic Music Partners, also known as Lolita Ritmans, Michael McCuistion, and Kristopher Carter, have scored the stunning music for this new animated adventure. The composer trio has been scoring Batman animated properties for decades, from BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES to BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE and their thrilling, modern score for BATMAN AND HARLEY QUINN. Their soundtrack for BATMAN: RETURN OF THE CAPED CRUSADERS earned them an Annie Award nomination.

Batman_vs_Two-Face_coverBATMAN VS. TWO-FACE finds the dynamic trio composed back in classic 1960s action, protecting Gotham City from some of the most nefarious villains in comics history. But when the mutilated master of multiplicity, Two-Face, begins staging a daring crime wave across Gotham, the Caped Crusaders must work double-time to discover his mysterious secret identity before they can halt his evil-doing – all the while combating the likes of Catwoman, Joker, Riddler, Penguin, Bookworm, Hugo Strange, and King Tut! The late Adam West leads the star-studded cast in his final performance as Batman – playing opposite fellow pop culture icon William Shatner as the criminally conflicted Harvey Dent/Two-Face, and alongside his longtime pal Burt Ward, supplying more “holy” fun as the Boy Wonder himself, Robin.

September 9, 2017

Jóhann Jóhannsson Ousted from BLADE RUNNER 2049, Zimmer & Wallfisch will compose.

Academy Award Nominee and Golden Globe winner Jóhann Jóhannsson is no longer attached to the film Blade Runner 2049. He was announced as the film’s sole composer in August 2016, and in July this year, it was reported that Hans Zimmer would join him due to Jóhann’s busy schedule.

The film’s latest poster now only shows Zimmer’s name (IMDB still shows his collaborator Benjamin Wallfisch (IT) attached as a composer). Jóhann’s agent has confirmed to Fréttablaðið that the Icelandic composer is no longer involved with the film in any capacity, though he is prohibited from saying anything at this point due to his contract.

September 5, 2017

City of Prague Philharmonic performs 2018 German LITTLE WITCH score

The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Miriam Nemcova recently recorded the large orchestra score for DIE KLEINE HEXE (The Little Witch), based on the German’s children classic. The music was composed by Diego Baldenweg with Nora Baldenweg & Lionel Vincent Baldenweg (aka Great Garbo Music), with orchestral arrangements by Diego Baldenweg.

Jonas Zellweger served as orchestrator, with Michael Künstle serving as assistant orchestrator. Stanja Vomackova provided translation and session music assistance, with Tadlow Music’s James Fitzpatrick on hand as an orchestra consultant, and Benjamin Gut as the sound engineer, with the assistance of Smecky Music Studios in Prague, Tadlow Music, and Idee und Klang Studio.

DIE KLEINE HEXE will be released in 2018). The film is directed by Mike Schaerer, and is based on Otfried Preussler’s popular radio play comes to the big screen as a magical live-action movie adaptation. The little witch (Karoline Herfurth) is only 127 years old and so much too young to dance with the other witches. When she tries to creep in, she is discovered. For punishment, she has to memorize all spells from the great book of witchcraft within a year, and show that she is a good witch. But diligence and ambition is not her strength, and the evil weather witch Rumpumpel (Suzanne von Borsody) tries to prevent her from doing so.

Watch German-language trailer below:

August 8, 2017

Jóhann Jóhannsson scoring Aronofsky’s horror thriller MOTHER!

Mother trailer logo screen grabDarren Aronofsky (NOAH, THE BLACK SWAN) has completed his latest film, a  scary horror thriller about a young couple (Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem) whose cozy relationship in their remote country home is challenged by a mysterious couple (Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer) who arrive and lodge with them, disrupting their tranquil existence and possibly threatening their safety. This will be Aronofsky’s first film without composer Clint Mansell’s involvement. The film is scheduled to open on September 17th.

Watch the trailer for MOTHER! here.

Bear McCreary Scores Futuristic Smart-House Thriller TAU

TAU 2017 scifi thrillerBear McCreary (COLOSSAL, THE WALKING DEAD) has composed the music for Federico D’ Alessandro’s upcoming sci-fi thriller TAU. The film stars Maika Monroe as Julia, who falls victim to a serial kidnapper who has designed an advanced artificial intelligence that inhabits and automates a futuristic “smart house” in which Julia is held captive. Julia faces a battalion of drones and other automated functions of the house as she must race against time to bridge the boundaries between man and machine by connecting to TAU and win her freedom. D’ Alessandro is a former storyboard artist and animatics director who worked on the latter two NARNIA movies and most of Marvel’s superhero blockbusters since THOR. In addition to composing the music, Bear McCreary has also produced, conducted, and orchestrated the score (assisted by Sean Barrett on the latter function).
– via comingsoon.net

Nathan Barr assigned to score FLATLINERS

FLATLINERS

Nathan Barr (TV’s TRUE BLOOD, HEMLOCK GROVE, THE AMERICANS) is scoring the upcoming sci-fi thriller FLATLINERS. The film is directed by Niels Arden Oplev (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, Hollywood version) and is based on Joel Schumacher’s 1990 feature of the same title (which James Newton Howard scored), which follows five medical students who embark on a daring and dangerous experiment: by stopping their hearts for short periods of time, thus triggering a near-death experience intended to give them a firsthand account of the afterlife. In spades. (Originally, composer Jacob Groth was assigned to the project; No word as to what transpired to make the change in composers). The film is scheduled for release on
Sep. 29.
– via filmmusicreporter

Watch the FLATLINERS trailer at imdb here.

August 3, 2017

Lakeshore to Release Horror Musical Soundtrack to THE LURE

THE LURE ost

John Powell To Score Untitled Han Solo Movie

July 27, 2017

JohnPowell IMFCA imageComposer John Powell, who may be best known for his memorable soundtracks to Matt Damon’ BOURNE series, SHREK, KUNG FU PANDA (1 and 2), and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (1 and 2), will be lifting the baton to score the upcoming young Han Solo movie, due in theaters next year.

Powell, a London native, has written music for dozens of films since moving to the US in 1997, earning an Academy Award nomination for his stirring score to HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON.  Powell is only the third composer to be welcomed into the exclusive family of STAR WARS live-action music writers, which includes the legendary John Williams (the eight Skywalker saga movies) and Michael Giacchino, who scored last December’s ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY. The untitled Han Solo movie will be scored in the style of the original STAR WARS movies but retain Powell’s distinctive voice.

The untitled young Han Solo movie, which is being directed by Ron Howard, will be released on May 25, 2018.

-via starwars.com

July 5, 2017

Ryan Shore Scores STAR WARS: FORCES OF DESTINY

  • Ryan Shore expands his travels through Disney’s Sci-fi universe with STAR WARS:SW FoD sneak peek screen grab FORCES OF DESTINY, premiering on the Disney Channel later this month. The show is an original series of animated shorts which explore the untold stories that helped shape the destinies of Rey, Jyn Erso, Princess Leia, Sabine Wren, Padmè Amidala, Ahsoka Tano and others… [click here to read full story]

June 29, 2017

Joseph LoDuca is into some child’s play with Don Mancini’s CULT OF CHUCKY

Cult Of Chucky posterJoseph LoDuca has been brought on to compose the music for the upcoming sequel, CULT OF CHUCKY. Written and directed by Chucky’s creator Don Mancini, the film stars Alex Vincent, reprising his role as Andy Barclay from the original CHILD’S PLAY movie, with Jennifer Tilly, Tiffany, and Fiona Dourif. Brad Dourif returns to provide the voice of the cursed doll. LoDuca previously scored Mancini’s last Chucky sequel, 2013’s CURSE OF CHUCKY. The new film will be released straight to Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD on October 3, 2017 by Universal Home Entertainment.

-via filmmusicreporter.com. For more details, and to watch the film trailer, click here

June 26, 2017

DESPICABLE ME 3 soundtrack out today from Back Lot Music

GRAMMY winning musician and composer Heitor Pereira, who has scored all of the films in Illumination’s DESPICABLE ME franchise, returns to score DESPICABLE ME 3, which arrives in theaters on Friday, June 30. This fourth film in the franchise (after DESPICABLE ME, DESPICABLE ME 2, and the spinpoff film MINIONS, continues the story of Gru, Lucy, their adorable daughters, Margo, Edith and Agnes, and the multitude of Minions when a mysterious stranger shows up to inform Gru that he has a long-lost twin brother – a brother who desperately wishes to following his twin’s despicable footsteps – one former super-villain will rediscover just how good it feels to be bad. Pereira played more than a dozen instruments for the score including: guitar, bass, piano, drum Despicable me 3 score albummachines, ukulele, mandolin and a “bucket base” (one string on top of a bucket). Two days of the recording sessions were spent on percussion with drummers, with Alex Acuña, Bernie Dresel, and Mike Shapiro playing simultaneously on complete drum kits. Pereira then had them play orchestral percussion on ethnic instruments including taiko drums, African jun juns and Brazilian Surdos.  The addition of 60 members of a choir – who sing through tin foil – created a distortion complementing  Pereira’s original ‘80s sounding synth score to match Balthazar Bratt’s style. Bratt’s persona is displayed through ‘80s pop hits along with the unique score. Pereira’s score also represents the themes of family to highlight the brothers’ relationship, as well as Lucy and the girls, and of course, the mischievous Minions.

From Back Lot Music, the score album releases digitally day & date with the film. A songtrack album featuring songs from the movie is coming out from Columbia.

Pereira has a reputation for bringing a unique sensibility to his film scores, ones built from his solid foundation of musical craftsmanship. See my interview with him in my April Soundtrax column, here.

June 22, 2017

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and the new SUSPIRIA score

Director Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Dario Argento’s classic giallo SUSPIRIA (1977) is slated to be scored by Thom Yorke, an English musician and composer best known as the singer and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Radiohead. The film’s director issued a statement to Variety last month, saying that having Yorke on board was “a dream come true.” He added: “Our goal is to make a movie that will be a disturbing and transforming experience: for this ambition, we could not find a better partner than Thom.”

In clips from an upcoming BBC Radio 6 interview quoted at spin.com, Yorke discussed writing the score, calling it “absolutely terrifying.” He said the new SUSPIRIA would be a “very different film” from the original, but clarified that, in keeping with the music from the 1977 movie, we shouldn’t be expecting Jonny-Greenwood-esque string arrangements from Yorke. “It’s hard because I’m way out of my comfort zone, and I can’t read music so it’s not like I’m writing for orchestra,” he explained. “I’m building it all myself.”

Not that he’ll be following in his footsteps, particularly, but Yorke also described how Vangelis’s music for BLADE RUNNER inspired him in terms of what can be done with electronic soundtracks: “Vangelis, it’s his hands that made that. Which encouraged me. Because that was the thing I was finding most daunting. Normally [scoring] a horror movie involves orchestras, these specific things. But Luca [Guadagnino], the director, and Walter [Fasano], the editor, are very much, like, find your own path with it. … I just have to find a way into it.”

SUSPIRIA recently wrapped filming and is currently in post-production, noted Variety in its May 10 report. The production’s Music Supervisor Robin Urdang (HOLLOWS GROVE, HORNS, PIRANHA 3D) played a key role in negotiating the deal to secure Yorke’s involvement

June 16, 2017

Sneak Preview: Michael Giacchino’s SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING Suite Shared

Michael Giacchino has been nice enough to share via Twitter a six-minute-plus suite of music and themes from his score for Marvel’s upcoming SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING movie. The composer’s mastery of elegant themes and rhythmic, adventurous melody seems to serve the score very well. The official score soundtrack album will be released by Sony Masterworks on July 7.

June 15, 2017

Syfy has announced that SHARKNADO 5: GLOBAL SWARMING will premiere on Sunday, August 6, 2017 at 8:00 P.M. The plot of this one involves a “global sharknado” arriving to obliterate the entire planet.  Anthony Ferrante once more directs, with Chris Ridenhour and Christopher Cano supplying the score (they’ve composed all the films starting with SHARKNADO 2 – read my interview with Chris Ridenhour about scoring SHARKNADO 2 here)

June 14, 2017

Danny Elfman to score JUSTICE LEAGUE; Junkie XL moving to TOMB RAIDER; James Newton Howard moving to…?

According to a breaking news report this afternoon in The Hollywood Reporter, Danny Elfman has been signed on to compose the score to JUSTICE LEAGUE. It’s likely related to Joss Whedon  having replaced Zach Snyder as director after Snyder stepped aside due to a family tragedy (Whedon worked with Elfman, along with primary composer Brian Tyler, on THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON).

Junkie XL (Tom Holkenborg) has been signed to score JL but is now reportedly moving over to score TOMB RAIDER (which had previously announced James Newton Howard as its composer, so it looks like this move has caused some assignment shuffling in major projects this week.

Read the full story here at The Hollywood Reporter

UPDATE: Tom Holkenborg sent this tweet out in his Twitter page:

June 8, 2017

Rise of the Classic Movie Monsters: A Glimpse Into Universal’s Dark Universe

IMDB Originals has posted a short video all about the Dark Universe, Universal’s franchise of rebooted classic horror characters that include the Mummy, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Phantom of the Opera, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Invisible Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and more. It’s like the Marvel or DC Cinematic Universes only with the classic Universal monsters that launched the horror movie boom in the 1930s and ‘40s. The video lays out Universal’s plans for reboots of their classic monster films over the next four or five years, starting with this month’s THE MUMMY (2014’s DRACULA UNTOLD was to have launched it but plans were changed and it was left as a standalone feature). With Brian Tyler’s terrific score for THE MUMMY offering both a homage to classic mummy movie motifs and a theme-driven score in the classic mold, the forthcoming movies may bold well for orchestral horror movie music. We shall see.  But color this spiritual child of Ackerman looking forward to it all.  -rdl

Watch the IMDB Originals short video The Dark Universe Explained here.

May 23, 2017

Giona Ostinelli: From CARNAGE PARK to TV’s THE MIST

Giona Ostinelli is composing the music for the upcoming Spike TV event series THE MIST, based on the Stephen King novella. With a career spanning over a record number of 120 film festivals, Ostinelli is a frequent guest at Sundance, Tribeca, Cannes and SXSW. Over the last few years he has been acclaimed for scoring a number of festival favorites, including the 2016 horror film CARNAGE PARK, Screen Media’s 2016 horror film DARLING starring Lauren Ashley Carter (soundtrack released by Lakeshore on CD & digital, Mondo on vinyl; Dread Central described it as “One of the most effective scores of recent times.”) and 2015’s POD – each of which was directed by growing genre fave Mickey Keating (as was 2013’s RITUAL, Ostinelli’s first score for the director). His efforts on these scary movies gave him a pedigree that was ideal for THE MIST’s incarnation as a 10-episode series.

giona ostinelli

With THE MIST, King’s novella, first filmed by Frank Darabound in 2007, has been reimagined for television by executive producer and writer Christian Torpe (RITA) and produced by the Academy Award winning Weinstein Company, starring Frances Conroy (AMERICAN HORROR STORY, SIX FEET UNDER),Alyssa Sutherland (VIKINGS) and Morgan Spector (ALLEGIANCE). The series focuses on a small town family, recently victimized by a brutal crime. As they deal with the fallout an eerie mist rolls in, cutting them off from the rest of the world and harboring something unknown within its foggy vapors. THE MIST will premiere on June 22, 2017 on Spike TV. The newly-released trailer can be seen here.

For more information on the composer, see www.gionaostinelli.com

May 18, 2017

Mark Isham to Score Marvel’s CLOAK AND DAGGER

The upcoming series CLOAK AND DAGGER, created for Freeform by Joe Pokaski, is based on the Marvel Comic Characters of the same name, and follows the story of two teenagers from very different backgrounds who find themselves burdened and awakened to newly acquired superpowers while falling in love. Isham has created critically acclaimed scores for over 100 films, including CRASH, THE MIST, and A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, for which he received a Best Original Score Oscar® nomination. Isham’s recent films include the Ben Affleck action drama THE ACCOUNTANT and upcoming film projects include Christopher Jenkins’ DUCK DUCK GOOSE, an adaptation of Lauren Kate’s #1 New York Times bestseller Fallen and Megan Leavy, the story of a young Marine Corporal whose discipline and relationship with her military combat dog saved many in Iraq.

May 1, 2017

IT COMES AT NIGHT: Brian McOmber (Ex-Dirty Projectors) Scores Upcoming Horror Film
Synths Meet Lonesome Strings & Percussion On Unsettling Score

Imagine the end of the world— Now imagine something worse.

IT COMES AT NIGHT is an upcoming horror film directed and written by award-winning filmmaker Trey Edward Shults. The original score was composed by Brian McOmber, the former drummer of Dirty Projectors (who played on albums such as Bitte Orca and Rise Above, among others).

The soundtrack will be released on June 9th from Milan Records

IT COMES AT NIGHT is a horror film following a man who learns that the evil stalking his family home may be only a prelude to horrors that come from within. Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, the tenuous domestic order he has established with his wife and son is put to the ultimate test with the arrival of a desperate young family seeking refuge. Despite the best intentions of both families, paranoia and mistrust boil over as the horrors outside creep ever-closer, awakening something hidden and monstrous within him as he learns that the protection of his family comes at the cost of his soul.

McOmber’s score utilizes synths, lonesome strings, and thundering percussion, which conjure a kind of primal darkness in the music that is both foreboding and deeply unsettling. Having previously collaborated on Shults’s 2015 debut feature KRISHA, McOmber is a rising presence in the film score world. “After shooting the film and as it evolved in the edit, we started to think about melodic and textural themes and how these themes could reoccur at different times throughout the film,” McOmber said. “And even though it was to be a horror film score that would indulge some genre-specific musical approaches, we wanted to expand the music beyond the realm of horror. We wanted the music to also be beautiful, sad, hopeful, and painful… not just scary.

Brian McOmber (via Terrorbird Media)

“We had talked about incorporating strings early on, but I also started to send Trey videos of musicians who I thought would be a great fit for the score. From there, I set out to assemble a small group of core collaborators, as I prefer to work directly with musicians early on in the process. Typically, I like to start by working in a loose, improvisatory setting and let the music take shape as we go. We didn’t do this for all of the music, but many of our themes came about by accident, where a musician played something off the cuff that later – through editing and processing – became an essential element of the score.”

IT COMES AT NIGHT is set for release in theaters on June 9th, with the soundtrack being released the same day on Milan Records. A vinyl edition will follow in the summer.

– via Terrorbird Media

Watch the trailer below:

For more details, see: https://a24films.com/films/it-comes-at-night

IFMCA Award Winners 2016 Recognize Many SF/Fantasy Genre Scores

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The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) has announced its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2016, in the 2016 IFMCA Awards: James Newton Howard’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” wins for best sci -fi/fantasy/horror score; Jóhann Jóhannsson’s acclaimed score for the sci-fi hit THE ARRIVAL (a score disqualified for an Oscar) won Score of the Year; and Michael Giacchino won composer of the year, in recognition of four sci-fi/fantasy scores – DR. STRANGE, STAR TREK BEYOND, ZOOTOPIA, ROGUE ONE. Christopher Young’s Asian fantasy score for THE MONKEY KING 2 won for best Action/Adventure/Thriller, and GAME OF THRONES won for best television score; while La-La Land Records won for best archival collection for John Williams’ Jurassic Park Collection.

For details, and full list of all winners, see:
http://filmmusiccritics.org/2017/02/ifmca-winners-2016/

For full list of 2016 nominees, see:
http://filmmusiccritics.org/2017/02/ifmca-award-nominations-2016/

SOUND OF FEAR to Examine Horror Film Music Via Podcast – Crowdfunding Sought for Ongoing Series

sound-of-fear-podcast-crowdfunding-announcement

Everybody loves scary movies, and one of the most important elements of a good horror movie is the music. But where does the music come from and why is it so effective? Charlie Brigden, film music journalist writer and a former editor on Films on Wax and allows us to dive into the sonic scary with THE SOUND OF FEAR, a series of podcasts that looks at the scores behind the scares, from Alien to Zombie Flesh Eaters.

“I was inspired by seeing a documentary series on BBC about film music and it made me think that horror music (and films) always get a short shrift despite sound being so important – traditionally few respect the genre,” Brigden told us. “Music and sound is so crucial to horror being effective and suggestive, so I wanted to highlight that as well as give some time to some really wonderful music.”

The first episode is already completed and is available to view as a proof of concept on Brigden’s Patreon site that hosts his crowdfundung campaign. Brigden hopes the campaign will bring in some additional funding here and there “to be able to turn this into an ongoing series.”

Currently, the initial run of THE SOUND OF FEAR is set into six episodes, which will look across some broader areas of the horror genre including the Universal monsters, slasher films, science fiction in horror, and more. “If this series is successfully completed then we can look to concentrate on some of the music we’ve had to skip over, including specific episodes on composers and franchises, as well as producing some bonus material such as interviews with composers and directors.

“So what we’re asking is for money to go towards the running costs of the podcasts.”

For more information, to watch Episode 1, or to support THE SOUND OF FEAR, see: www.patreon.com/soundfearpod

Basil Kirchin: The forgotten genius of UK music

BBC.com has posted a very interesting profile of UK composer Basil Kirchin, best known in film music circles for scoring THE SHUTTERED ROOM (1967),* THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (1971),** and THE FREAKMAKER (1974; aka US: THE MUTATIONS)*** but was far more prolific in recording experimental and ambient music.  Read the profile at bbc.com

Basil Kirchin horror soundtrack albums
Basil Kirchin horror soundtrack albums

* Kirchin’s SHUTTERED ROOM score remained an obscure non-release until 2012 when England’s Trunk Records released a prestige vinyl edition of Kirchin’s score in an expensive limited edition of only 29 copies.

** At the time of its release in 1971, a vinyl LP was released by American International Records, that contained songs from the film plus 5 minutes of music in three tracks from Kirchin’s score. In 2003 Perseverance Records, in association with the composer, released the first score album of the PHIBES music (now sold out).

***Kirchin’s avant garde music for THE FREAKMAKER was preserved on an extremely rare 19-track digital album from Master Cylindar Records (no date), described as a mixture of “straightforward film score music, messed-the-hell-up film score music, and electronically treated/created proto-dark ambient pieces.”

May 15, 2017

Binary Reptile Scores New Cinematic Experience Audiostate™ Sound Book Horror Story.

Lakeshore Records will release CRAWL INTO THE NARROW CAVES, the soundtrack to The Narrow Caves, an “Audiostate” ™ sound book available on Bandcamp May 16th, and through all digital providers and amazon Manufacture On Demand on May 19,th featuring music by Binary Reptile (composer Jeff Herriott and writer/director S. Craig Zahler).

The Narrow Caves is the first Audiostate™ ever released, a new product that is essentially an audiobook meant to recreate the intimate sound of a cinematic, “ear-movie” experience. Adapted from a script by award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and director S. Craig Zahler (BONE TOMAHAWK, WRAITHS OF THE BROKEN LAND), The Narrow Caves features voice acting by Vincent D’Onofrio, Will Patton, Lili Simmons, and Wyatt Russell. Binary Reptile provides an eerie score that contributes to the cinematic feel of this haunting piece. Crawl into the Narrow Caves is the original music used as the score to The Narrow Caves.

Versatile composer Jeff Herriott’s first film score was Zahler’s BONE TOMAHAWK (released by Lakeshore in 2015). Harriott is also a noted composer of classical and experimental music and is a member of the metal band RealmBuilder. He is a Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, where he is the coordinator of the Media Arts and Game Development Program and teaches courses in audio, multimedia, music technology, and composition.

Sample the opening track “Charred Remains” here at DreadCentral.

April 27, 2017

Adam Taylor’s score for new HULU series THE HANDMAID’S TALE to be released digitally by Lakeshore May 5

Lakeshore Records will release the soundtrack to THE HANDMAID’S TALE, an original HULU series digitally on May 5, 2017. The album features the series’ original score by composer Adam Taylor (AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, MEADOWLAND).

“In creating the score for THE HANDMAID’S TALE, I recalled a conversation with series creator Bruce Miller where he describes a world which is dark, but hopeful,” said Taylor.  “That description shaped how I approached the creation of a theme that would emotionally connect the audience to the various systems at play in the series.”

Adapted from the classic novel by Margaret Atwood (previously filmed in 1990), THE HANDMAID’S TALE is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly the United States. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted fundamentalist regime that treats women as property of the state.  As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred (Elisabeth Moss) is a Handmaid in the Commander’s household, one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world. In this terrifying society where one wrong word could end her life  Offred navigates between Commanders, their cruel Wives, domestic Marthas and her fellow Handmaids – where anyone could be a spy for Gilead – with one goal: to survive and find the daughter that was taken from her.

Watch the series’ trailer here

“The systems are the antagonist of the series, a relentless and indifferent force that is slowly disfiguring society and the inhabitants of Gilead,” Taylor explained. “I thought about it like waves of sound, waves that slowly grew in volume and dissonance until it overcame the senses. This led to what we landed on as the opening theme, and also how we approached the dynamics and shaping of the orchestral elements of the score.”

Taylor continued, “We knew from the start that we wanted to use classical instruments, as well as synths and atonal elements. One idea for the score was to reiterate sounds and instruments through processes that would create a loss in fidelity, like a poor quality photocopy… much like how life in Gilead was a distorted replica of normal life.”  He experimented with an old tape echo to achieve this sound. “I went as far as tracking an instrument, then changing the speed of the tape to ‘fake’ melodic changes. It took some time to get right, but was worth it in the end – and ended up being crucial to making, what was essentially a two-note theme, sound emotive and interesting.”

Taylor is a film score composer based in Long Beach, California known for his subdued, emotional, and minimalistic scores.  Taylor began his career scoring documentary and short films when Editor Stephen Mirrione enlisted his talents for John Wells’ August: Osage County.  Since then, Taylor has become a prominent and sought after composer in the indie film space, most recently scoring BEFORE I FALL from director Ry Russo-Young. For more information see the composer’s web site here

April 21, 2017

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Score + Awesome Mix Albums Released Today 

March 13, 2017

James Newton Howard to Score new TOMB RAIDER film

Multiple Oscar-nominee James Newton Howard has been signed to compose the score for MGM’s new TOMB RAIDER film. Howard is best known most recently for his scores to FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM, MALEFICENT, THE HUNGER GAMES franchise, and co-composer of BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT.

The film, scheduled for release in March 2018, is directed by Roar Uthaug, known for the 2015 Norwegian disaster film THE WAVE, and stars Alicia Vikander (JASON BOURNE, EX MACHINA) as Lara Croft, and Daniel Wu (GEOSTORM, WARCRAFT) as Lu Ren.]

– via tombraidercollection

BATMAN V SUPERMAN Composer Hans Zimmer “Officially” Retires from Superhero Movies

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Moviegoers may not be feeling superhero fatigue, but composer Hans Zimmer is. After scoring Christopher Nolan’s DARK KNIGHT trilogy, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2, MAN OF STEEL, and now BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, Zimmer declared in an interview with BBC’s HARDtalk: “I have officially retired from the superhero business … I did BATMAN BEGINS with Chris 12 years ago, so THE DARK KNIGHT trilogy might be three movies to you, to me it was 11 years of my life,” he said in part. “This one was very hard for me to do, to try to find new language.”

Read full story on COLLIDER.com here  

Christopher Lennertz & Agent Carter get their Big Band Swing on  

Watch segment on clip below – Digital Single out March 18


Lennertz collaborated with Tony Winner David Zippel to create a swingin’ original song for MARVEL’S AGENT CARTER which featured last Tuesday night on ABC in the episode “A Little Song and Dance.” Called “Whatcha Gonna Do (It’s Up To You),” the song features a unique and fun blend of swing, jazz and vocals reminiscent of many hit Broadway musicals.

AgentCarter logo

Since the show’s premiere last year, Lennertz has scored the entire series (see my interview with Lennertz about scoring the original AGENT CARTER “one shot” film here). “It was such a thrill to collaborate on a song with David,” he said about letting his inner Big Band out. “His musical style blended well with the jazzy musical tone we were going for, especially on this episode. I am so honored to have had the opportunity to work on two ABC shows, and with two great talents on Broadway, David Zippel and Alan Menken.” Lennertz and Menken wrote the score for Knights in armor series GALAVANT together, and are collaborating on the score for the upcoming animated film SAUSAGE PARTY. In order for the music to reflect the magnitude of the action and story, Lennertz records both MARVEL’S AGENT CARTER and GALAVANT with the Hollywood Studio Symphony.

MARVEL'S AGENT CARTER Season 1 soundtrack album (ABC Records, digital)
MARVEL’S AGENT CARTER Season 1 soundtrack album (ABC Records, digital)

MARVEL’S AGENT CARTER follows Marvel comics character Peggy Carter (Captain America’s former girlfriend before his disappearance during World War II) as she balances life as a secret agent and a single woman in 1940’s America. In the second season, she moves from New York to Los Angeles to deal with the threats of the new Atomic Age in the aftermath of World War ll. For the score, Lennertz uses brass instruments to highlight the big band era and French Horns and strings to enhance the action scenes. “Peggy is sexy and seductive and with the strings one can slip into espionage and tension,” Lennertz explains.

Watch the musical dream scene from Agent Carter in the clip at the link below – the song’s digital single comes out on March 18th:

http://abc.go.com/music-lounge/news/exclusives/marvels-agent-carter-new-original-song

March 10, 2017

Lakeshore Records To Release Soundtrack to Animated SF Feature NOVA SEED by Canadian composer Stephen Verrall – Available Digitally On March 24th

Beneath the surface of a toxic, dying world lives the evil Doctor Mindskull.  He has created the ultimate weapon, using the planet’s own power to destroy it.  Can mankind unite to find a way to stop this evil before it’s too late?  The answer lies within the Nova Seed.

Gorgon Pictures and House of Cool recently announced the March 28th North American release of Nick DiLiberto’s sci-fi fantasy adventure, NOVA SEED, the director’s feature film debut. Animated in 2D as a solo effort by DiLiberto, this film is the product of four years’ work and is comprised of 60,000 painstakingly hand-drawn frames.  DiLiberto’s, NOVA SEED has just completed a year-long run at festivals around the world including its world premiere at TAAFI in Toronto, a US premiere at Fantastic Fest, and the European premiere at 14th Carrefour du Cinéma d’Animation in Paris. NOVA SEED garnered a nomination for the coveted Satoshi Kon Award at the Fantasia International Film Festival.

Self-taught, multi-talented composer and instrumentalist, Canadian Stephen Verrall has brought over 25 yrs. of experience on his first feature film score for NOVA SEED.  With influences varying from The Beatles to Depeche Mode and an interest in creating his own unique sound, he’s released two solo albums in the Alternative genre.

March 1, 2017

KONG: SKULL ISLAND SOUNDTRACK – Available March 3

WaterTower Music has announced the March 3 release of the soundtrack to KONG: SKULL ISLAND – the Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures and Tencent Pictures film that reimagines the origins of one the most powerful monster myths of all time. Directed by Jordan Vogt Roberts, the film will be released worldwide in 2D, 3D in select theatres, and IMAX beginning March 10, 2017.

Composer Henry Jackman (X-MEN: FIRST CLASS; CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER; CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR; the KICK-ASS FILMS) created the film’s lush symphonic score. His music highlights Kong’s emotional connection with some of the characters by giving specific moments in the score what he says is “a bit of humanity and sensitivity. The great thing about a monster movie is that it opens the door to use the symphony orchestra in its most sumptuous way,” Jackman continues. “(Director) Jordan Vogt-Roberts was happy to celebrate the gravity and history that comes with a full orchestra, but we also explored less traditional elements. That’s a field day for a composer.”

In a nod to the film’s ‘70s period setting, Jackman infused the score with the bold, classic tones of the decade’s psychedelic guitars.

The music, which serves to both heighten the film’s emotion and underscore the action, was one of the final creative elements to fall into place during post-production. It was the culmination of a massive undertaking that had taken the production to three continents. Throughout the process, everyone involved in the film was intent on being respectful of Kong’s history, even while crafting a next-generation iteration of the mythic beast.

Listen to “The Island” from the Kong: Skull Island soundtrack on youtube:

The album is now available for preorder on iTunes and on CD. A vinyl version will be available on Waxwork Records.

March 1, 2017

STAR TREK VOYAGER COLLECTION: Limited edition 4-CD SET from La-La Land Records

_star_trek_voyager-lllcdLa-La Land Records and CBS proudly present STAR TREK VOYAGER COLLECTION, a stellar 4-CD presentation of score highlights from the acclaimed television series starring Kate Mulgrew, Tim Russ and Jeri Ryan. Series composers Jay Chattaway, Dennis McCarthy, David Bell and Paul Baillargeon expand their remarkable work in the STAR TREK universe with thrilling and inventive music to such fan favorite episodes as RISE, THE VOID, BASICS parts I & II, LIFESIGNS, SCORPION parts I & II, and more!

DISC 1 features music by Jay Chattaway, DISC 2 showcases Dennis McCarthy, DISC 3 highlights music by David Bell and Paul Baillargeon, and DISC 4 includes fan faves by Chattaway and McCarthy!

Produced by Ford A. Thaxton, James Nelson, Mark Banning, and Lukas Kendall, and edited and mastered by James Nelson, this special limited edition release of 3000 units includes a 36-Page booklet with exclusive, in-depth liner notes by writer Jeff Bond, author of The Music of STAR TREK. Art designer Mark Banning complements this mission with sharp, Federation-worthy packaging.

For more information see: http://www.lalalandrecords.com

February 27, 2017

Lakeshore Records to release LOGAN soundtrack digitally on March 3rd  – CD on March 31.

The album contains original music by Marco Beltrami (SCREAM, BEN-HUR, THE HURT LOCKER) who previously scored two films for director James Mangold, 3:10 TO YUMA, for which Beltrami earned an Academy Award® nomination, and THE WOLVERINE. “When I first watched LOGAN I was really impressed with its originality,” Beltrami stated.  “Although it’s a Marvel superhero movie, it is also many other movies as well, all tied up into a delicate balance of brazenness and subtlety. Jim is a master at moving fluently between genres and subverting them to present a new emotional landscape, and it was in trying to define this landscape in musical terms that I found my puzzle.”

In the near future, a weary Logan (Hugh Jackman) cares for an ailing Professor X in a hide out on the Mexican border. But Logan’s attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces.  “LOGAN was an extremely demanding but very inspiring film score to work on. Jim distilled the innovation of an indie within the framework of a tentpole,” Beltrami explained.  “He played me scores he liked and which inspired the tone of the film for him—Taxi Driver, Paper Moon (the film itself), The Gauntlet. He liked the directness and rough edges, the unpolished tone, the energy. Somehow I had to capture this while simultaneously creating a modern score. It did not need grandiose thematic music and verbose melodic statements. It was all about vibe.”

Current projects for Beltrami include scoring the hit Fox television show, LUCIFER, which recently got picked up for its third season.

February 22, 2017

Harry Manfredini’s TIMEMASTER soundtrack comes to CD

timemaster_cover-600Dragon’s Domain Records, to be distributed through buysoundtrax.com, presents the premiere soundtrack release of TIMEMASTER, featuring music composed by Harry Manfredini (FRIDAY THE 13TH, SWAMP THING, HOUSE, THE OMEGA CODE) for the 1995 family sci-fi adventure. TIMEMASTER is a time-travel adventure concerning an organization of aliens who send teams of “collectors” across space and time to gather other life forms which they will use as contestants or pawns in life-or-death virtual reality games; because the story visits many different eras of past and future, Manfredini had the chance to really stretch his sonic muscles and compose music for many different periods and genres. The booklet contains liner notes written by author Randall D. Larson featuring the participation of the composer.

For more information, and to order, see: http://buysoundtrax.stores.yahoo.net/facoorsobyfr.html

Kritzerland Announces World Premiere Release of the Score to ‘50s Big-Bug Movie MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL

monster-from-green-hell-kritzerlandDirected by Kenneth Crane (WHEN HELL BROKE LOOSE, THE MANSTER), MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL was released in 1957 on a double bill with THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS. One of a spate of big bug pictures, this one has something to do with scientists sending small animals into space to see if the gamma rays produce mutations. Hint: They do.

For a film like MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL, one needs the perfect composer, and they got him: Albert Glasser, whose music graced some of the most beloved and classic low-budget films of the 1950s, including BEGINNING OF THE END AND EARTH VS. THE SPIDER, THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, and many more. The music for MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL is classic Glasser: all blaring brass, screeching strings, and jagged rhythms, bombastically keeping the movie trudging along for all of its 73 endless minutes.

This release was prepared from Albert Glasser’s own tapes and our restoration expert, Chris Malone, has done a masterful job in making them sound as good as possible.

For more details and to check out some soundbytes, see kritzerland.

Kronos Records announces premiere 2-CD OST for French horror fantasy, LIVID

Kronos Records is proud to present the the complete score of 2011 French horror film LIVIDE (aka “LIVID” in the US/UK) by famed directors  Alexandre Bustillo and raphael-gesqua-livid-ost-kronosJulien Maury. The suggestion that a big treasure is hidden somewhere inside Mrs Jessel’s once renowned classical dance academy will become a lure to a deadly trap for Lucie and her friends.  Raphaël Gesqua, who would work again with this duo of directors on Among The Living (also available from Kronos Records) provides an incredibly beautiful score for LIVIDE.

This is the first time ever LIVIDE is released on CD format. Also included as bonus on this limited edition 2CD set are also alternate recordings and other goodies.

For more details or to pre-order, see: http://www.kronosrecords.com/K76.html

ScreamWorks Records: Kiss the Devil in the Dark and Creatures of Whitechapel by Gerrit Wunder CD release

ScreamWorks Records opens up 2017 with the physical CD release of two inventive short film scores released digitally in the previous year.kissthedevilinthedark

KISS THE DEVIL IN THE DARK and CREATURES OF WHITECHAPEL are both the work composer Gerrit Wunder. Written and directed by Jonathan & Rebecca Martin, both  films are inventive fantasy/horror shorts with darkly Gothic scores steeped in rich symphonic themes. Director Jonathan Martin “has a very clear vision for his movies” explains the composer about how he approached the film. ”Regarding the score, his philosophy is that he wants to see the whole movie in front of his eyes when just listening to the music. That is why I compose wall to wall music for his films. It’s almost like an opera. Most characters have their themes and motives so you’ll be able to find a very Wagnerian leitmotif-technique approach in this score. In fact I think Jonathan would have preferred to hire Wagner himself, so he ended up with me, at least Wagner and I share the same mother tongue.”

For more information on ScreamWorks Records and its parent label, MovieScoreMedia, see http://moviescoremedia.com/

New Podcast  Explores Universal Studios’ Composer Herman Stein and the Hollywood Hills House He Built

_HermanStein 1983 PhotoRDLarson cropHe composed some of the most effective and best-remembered music of the 1950’s science fiction/monster boom – music for THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, TARANTULA, THIS ISLAND EARTH – yet grew old as a misunderstood recluse, known to but a few.  Take 25 minutes and listen to The House on The Hill – a remarkable and poignant podcast about Herman Stein, one of the most significant composers of the Universal B-movies of the 1950s. It’s about the house he built in 1961 for he and his wife, and opens up a profound glimpse into the man in his later years, and what a wonderful soul he truly was. I was one who got to know him in the 1980’s, visited and interviewed him in his wonderful house in 1983 for CinemaScore magazine and Musique Fantastique‘s first edition, and we corresponded for a bit.  He was one of the warmest and friendliest fellows I’d met in my early journey through the world of film music.

(Herman Stein photo by Randall D. Larson, 1983)

Music for TARZAN,  SERENITY, GALAXY QUEST, PIXELS, WINTER SOLDIER, SHARKTOPUS VS WHALEWOLF

Sept column bannersMy new Soundtrax column has been posted and features new interviews with David Newman (animated TARZAN, SERENITY, GALAXY QUEST), Henry Jackman (PIXELS, CAPTAIN AMERICA WINTER SOLDIER), and Charles Bernstein (SHARKTOPUS VS WHALEWOLF), plus new soundtrack reviews of genre scores including 12 MONKEYS (Trevor Rabin & Paul Linford), FANTASTIC FOUR (Marco Beltrami & Philip Glass), FLASH GORDON (TV – Michael Picton), and HELIX (TV – Reinhold Heil). 

The BLACK CAT: Universal’s Symphony of Horrors, The Film’s Music Black Cat Cover Promo-500x500

I am pleased to share a long chapter essay with Gregory Mank’s detailed production background about the making of Universal’s 1934 classic thriller, THE BLACK CAT. The film, the first teaming of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, is largely regarded as the darkest, most sinister horror classic in the studio’s legendary canon. Not a monster film like most of its ilk, but an honestly creepy horror film.

My essay,  “The BLACK CAT: Universal’s Symphony of Horrors, The Film’s Music,” goes into comprehensive detail about the film’s use of classical music as its film score, identifying each music cue in the film and describing how music director/composer Heinz Roemheld adapted to suit the specific sequences while adding some original cues of his own. – rdl

Available from BearManorMedia.

(also in hardcover)

Composer Lorne Balfe on TERMINATOR GENISYS

Soundtrax TerminatorGenisys Balfe

My July Soundtrax column features a detailed interview with Lorne Balfe about scoring the latest TERMINATOR film- plus soundtrack album reviews of genre scores from A.I. (expanded release), Netflix’s DAREDEVIL, DRAGONHEART 3, JUPITER ASCENDING, ZOMBEAVERS – and others.  

The Story Behind Varese Sarabande Records
The Origin Story of the Long-Lasting Soundtrack Label that had brought many fantasy/sf/horror genre soundtracks to release

Scoring the New Seasons of AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D., THE WALKING DEAD, OUTLANDER, and the debuts of CONSTANTINE and INTRUDERS
My long interview with BEAR McCREARY focuses on these plus BLACK SAILS and much more.
Review of new fantasy score by Dario Marianelli THE BOXTROLLS
Review of new horror score DEAD WITHIN (Bradford &Worbeck)
http://www.buysoundtrax.com/larsons_soundtrax_10_5_14.html

Guardians of the Galaxy – Scoring the Film
My interview with composer Tyler Bates about scoring the hit sci-fi film GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, is posted in my August Soundtrax column, here.

Friedhofer & FantasyBeauty&Beast MarcDamon 1962 screen grab-6

My new article discusses the acclaimed film composer’s work in the fantasy & horror genre, expanded from chapters in Musique Fantastique Books 1 and 3. It has been posted to the new Hugo Friedhofer web page.   Right: Friedhofer’s gorgeous and pulse-pounding score for the 1962 werewolf version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, starring Mark Damon,  is discussed in this article. 

James Bernard – Scoring NOSFERATU A Silent Classic
My 1996 interview with top Hammer composer James Bernard, mainly about his new score for the 1997 BBC revised print of the 1922 classic NOSFERATU, has been archived on the runmovies web site.  Portions of this interview are included in my coverage of Bernard in MF2 Book 2.

Music for Universal’s THE INVISIBLE MAN

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I was pleased to have been asked to write the postscript to Philip J Riley’s latest MagicImage film book, “The Invisible Man,” which includes the 1933 film’s original shooting script along with production background by Gregory Wm. Mank.  My essay, ’I’ve Just Heard The Invisible Man!” – Music and Monsters in Universal’s Early Horror Period, includes an extended analysis of the film’s use of music, over and above my much briefer coverage of its music on MF II Book 1. – rdl

The book is available from BearManor Media & also available on amazon.

Hansel&GretelAlbumCoverAtli Örvarsson, Witch Hunter – A protégé of Hans Zimmer, Icelandic composer Atli (pronounced AHT-Lee) Örvarsson has scored a vast array of film and TV projects this year. He scores NBC’s new hit series CHICAGO FIRE weekly, composed the current hit HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS, and is working with Hans Zimmer on the new Superman feature MAN OF STEEL. I Interviewed Atli for my February Soundtrax column, discussing his background and his approach to composing music for films such as VANTAGE POINT, THE EAGLE, SEASON OF THE WITCH, and HANSEL & GRETEL

Reinhold_Heil_bannerMy interview with German composer Reinhold Heil, whose long-time collaboration with Australian composer/keyboardist Johnny Klimek and German director/composer has led some intriguing and effective fantasy (PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER, CLOUD ATLAS, I FRANKENSTEIN) and horror scores (THE CAVE, George A. Romero’s LAND OF THE DEAD, ONE MISSED CALL, US remake), has appeared in my January column at buysoundtrax.com

F posterA taut thriller by the name of “F” came out in England in 2010.  The film is a new entry in the growing subgenre of “hoodie thrillers” in which innocent protagonists are menaced by hooded sweatshirt-wearing youths – the French film ILS (THEM), the British films EDEN LAKE and CHERRY TREE LANE, and the recent Irish film CITADEL are other notable examples.  “F” is unusual in that its protagonist, unlike the damsel in distress in films like P2 and others, is a middle aged male schoolteacher menaced by a gang of hooded toughs after he gives an anti-social student an F grade.  The film is a well-paced and very well directed thriller, effectively resolved, supported by a very creepy score by Neil Stemp.

I’ll cover “F” and other hoodie horrors in Book 4 of Musique Fantastique II.  In the meantime, read my interview with Neil about Scoring “F” in my December column at buysoundtrax.com

Book One
Book 1 Cover

This website was created partly to promote the book series, Musique Fantastique [Second Edition] 100+ Years of Fantasy, Science Fiction & Horror Film Music by Randall D. Larson, but more importantly is intended to be a resource for news, views, & interviews about music for science fiction, fantasy, and horror films. As an extension of the books, it provides additional material and links to further resources about this unique genre of film and television scoring. For news on the book series, scroll down toward the bottom of the home page.

The Author
Randall Larson (small)

To contact Randall, email soundtraxrdl@gmail.com

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Frontispiece artwork by Allen Koszowski from Musique Fantastique 1st Edition, Scarecrow Press, 1985.