Through a combination of Simon Waskow’s score and impressive sound design, Luz feels like a nonstop sonic trip. The film opens with a single shot that carries on for several minutes while noisy yet ponderous synths slowly build up before […]
Perhaps the most surprising score of the month was Aska Matsumiya’s Selah and the Spades. Matsumiya begins with an ethereal, dreamy ambience that is eventually consumed by minimalist darkness. Even in the moments of seeming positivity there is an endless […]
Loving Vincent is one of the more adventurous films made in recent memory: an ode to Vincent van Gogh animated through 65,000 hand painted frames. The film retells van Gogh’s last days (and, briefly, his early days) through what are […]
Motherless Brooklyn was largely dismissed upon its release, leading to an unfortunate fate for one of 2019’s best scores. A 1950s film noir, Motherless Brooklyn hits many of the classic genre tropes that have developed over the decades, the best […]
Pitch Black spawned an extensive and relatively cult franchise built around popular anti-hero Riddick, but the film itself represents quite humble roots. Emblematic of this is composer Graeme Revell’s score for Pitch Black. Revell’s score starts off promising enough, with […]
I’ve decided to start visiting years past, from before I actively listened to film music, and come up with retrospective best-of lists. Not only is it a good way to revisit missed classics and get a feel for the year […]
In 2010 electronic music icons Daft Punk made their first (and to date, only) foray into film scoring with Tron: Legacy. On paper the pairing makes complete sense: the electronic legends with a space age aesthetic would bring to life […]
The Lodge is an interesting experiment between silence and music. It builds fear and tension through a sparing use of Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans’ chaotic and discordant score. The vast majority of The Lodge is entirely without music. The […]
Green Book begs the question: is there anything composer Kris Bowers can’t do? The film follows classical and jazz pianist Don Shirley’s (played by Mahershala Ali) 1962 tour across the deep south and heavily features musical performances by Shirley alone […]
Pan’s Labyrinth takes place across two slowly converging worlds: one of reality and one of fantasy. Composer Javier Navarrete’s score gives a unique identity to each, while simultaneously tying them together with a shared theme. The film’s “reality” – Francoist […]
While John Carpenter is most often known for using synth, many of his earliest film scores were remarkably piano-driven, such as The Fog. To be clear, The Fog does have plenty of synth, but it isn’t the driving force behind […]
Despite the current pandemic largely shutting down theaters and film releases, quite a few excellent scores released in March. While I cover several in-depth, score to the bottom of the page for a list of a whole lot more! Drone, […]