2021’s Dune has birthed three Hans Zimmer music releases: The Dune Sketchbook, Dune, and The Art and Soul of Dune. The Sketchbook consisted of a series of concepts, experimentations, and ideas that Zimmer and his team created for the film, […]
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by John Carpenter & Dave Davies (Limited Record Store Day Exclusive LP) While this writer will forever bow at the altar of John Carpenter’s solo work, there’s something very appealing about when the “Master of Horror” […]
Purportedly inspired by films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rollerball director Norman Jewison decided to largely eschew an original score in favor of using classical music. The supposed reasoning was to prevent the sci-fi movie from feeling dated, thereby undermining […]
Ludwig Göransson’s score for Tenet proved to be the most divisive of 2020. Some hailed its creativity and ingenuity, calling it among the best of the year; others labeled it generic action music and a pastiche of Hans Zimmer, Tenet […]
Every year there are a few movies like Ad Astra whose somewhat misleading marketing leads to audience repulsion and a quick fading from public memory. This is particularly unfortunate in Ad Astra’s case. Not only is the film beautiful and […]
Movies set in space are most often associated with synth (dating back to The Forbidden Planet) or classical/orchestral music (from 2001: A Space Odyssey to the Star Wars films and more). They reflect the future and technological advancement, the vastness […]
Happy to have indie-composer Ben Symons join me to talk about his dread-filled score for the UK horror film Hosts, his approaches to film music, composing for major YouTube streamers, and much more! Find out more about Ben on his […]
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 […]
The opening credits of Cat-Women of the Moon misspells then-fledgling composer Elmer Bernstein’s name. Despite this early blip in his career, Bernstein went on to become one of film’s great composers. The film generally gives Bernstein little room to work, […]
What does it mean to be human? Is it to be loved, to face conflict, to make choices and feel their consequences? In Mica Levi’s score for Under the Skin humanity is anxiety, fear, and isolation. Those fleeting positive moments […]
Cyberpunk gives composers great musical flexibility. Not only is “futuristic” sounding music appropriate, but so is contemporary and classical music. After all, cyberpunk is often a dark imagining of our current trajectory. Rory McFarlane, in his score for the UK […]
Outside of Japan, Godzilla is somewhat of a joke. This is largely due to the historical relevance missing from every other country: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and, more recently, Fukushima. Shin Godzilla is perhaps the most realistic, agonizing version of this nuclear […]