Here we are, right at the end of 2024 and for some reason I’m only getting to the scores released in March. Will I ever catch up? Does it matter? Who knows, and while only time will tell, I have my doubts.
March is one of the most egregious months of releases I can remember in quite a while when it comes to shining a lot on my personal, idiosyncratic tastes. We have scores with bizarre vocal usage (Problemista), lo-fi synth that makes you want to punch someone in the face (Cop v. Killer), and one and a half hours of industrial ambience (Asphalt City). Plus a score from one of my favorite film composers working (Clint Mansell’s Love Lies Bleeding). If you’re looking purely for melody, you may want to sit this month out, but try to have an open mind and keep reading.
Once again there were (as always) too many scores released this month for me to me to cover! Make sure to scroll to the end of this article for a list of even more March scores to check out! Did I miss anything? Well, let me know!
Have a quick read about each of these excellent scores below then give them a listen. Be sure to see what other scores you may have missed by reading past editions of this column or listen below to hear me discuss a few of these and other scores released in January, February, and March:
Problemista by Lia Ouyang Rusli
One of the great surprises of the year was Lia Ouyang Rusli’s score for Problemista. It’s a truly wild score that heavily (if not primarily) incorporates vocal/a cappella elements. There’s a bit of a whimsical mania to it all, creating a saccharine fantasy world whose playfulness is inviting and whose madness begs caution. The album release runs about an hour across 53 tracks, so the standalone listen is both long and somewhat fractured, but is unlike any score you’ll hear all year. Not to mention the song “Huele a Fraude” waiting at the end, an infectious collaboration with STEFA* that I must have listened to half a dozen times on repeat.
Cop vs. Killer by Shaun Hettinger
After seeing the cheap-looking poster and cheesy title, I assumed that Shaun Hettinger’s score for Cop vs. Killer was going to be exceptionally generic. I was completely wrong. Instead of run-of-the-mill action music, Hettinger delivers some really good dark, lo-fi synth, reminiscent of those dark synth “scores” for films that don’t exist common in the early 2010s. This is the sort of music you want playing when you find yourself in the dead of night, cornered in an alley, needing to fight.
Love Lies Bleeding by Clint Mansell
You can basically count on Clint Mansell to release exactly one new film score a year (seriously, look, this goes back through 2019!), and luckily for us each one seems to be very good. 2024 is no exception, with Love Lies Bleeding. The score starts out rather atmospheric, with Mansell slowly adding to the intensity, the level of melody, and the scope of the palette (including additional electronics and unusual elements). Although the score always remains tinged in darkness, each time Mansell adds to the score he also adds to its life and vibrancy, until love (even one bleeding and damaged) completely encompasses you.
Asphalt City by Nicolas Becker and Quentin Sirjacq
Asphalt City, by Nicolas Becker and Quentin Sirjacq, is a tough one to recommend. On the one hand, it’s roughly 1.5 hours of very ambient music. On the other hand, it’s roughly 1.5 hours of very ambient music. Other than for serious Steve Roach-heads, that much ambient music is a lot to swallow (and even as a casual Steve Roach listener it’s still a tough task). And of course, many of your typical film score fans faint at the thought of ambient or “textural” music, needing a hit of melody to resuscitate like it’s a shot of adrenaline straight into the blood. But it’s worth checking out nonetheless: droning, slightly industrial sounds consumed by ever-mournful cries emanating from the heart of the asphalt city itself.
A Few More Scores
As often happens, there were simply too many great scores released in March to cover, so here are a few more:
- Spaceman – Max Richter
- Cabrini – Gene Back
- Custom – Ted Regklis
- Des Teufels Bad – Anja Plaschg (aka Soap&Skin)
- The Kitchen – Alex Baranowski and Labrinth
- Kung Fu Panda 4 – Steve Mazzaro and Hans Zimmer
- The Primevals – Richard Band
- The American Society of Magical Negroes – Michael Abels (Interview)
- Immaculate – Will Bates (Interview)
- Reality – Nathan Micay (Interview)
- Sound of Freedom – Javier Navarrete
- Wunderland – Jens Langbein and Robert Schulte-Hemming
- Down Low – Adam Crystal
- Mothers’ Instinct – Anne Nikitin
- Spermworld – Ari Balouzian