Soundtracks

WHIPLASH composers Justin Hurwitz and Tim Simonec keep a mean jazz beat – Interview

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 10/26/2014
WHIPLASH soundtrack | ©2014 Varese Sarabande Records

In a cinema where wannabe musicians have their aspirations lifted through the very mild tribulations of crotchety, yet ultimately humane instructors, filmmaker Damien Chazelle’s WHIPLASH  is FIGHT CLUB as opposed to FAME – the equivalent of a cymbal in the face, or a shower of blood splashed across a drum kit. While young percussion prodigy Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller) gets out of the way of the first abuse-bomb, he’ll have plenty of blood, sweat and tears to give in his sadistic servant-master relationship to his instructor Terence Fletcher, a jazz drill sergeant who makes the scream-swear martinet in FULL METAL […]Read On »


COMMENTS (0)

Composer Harry Gregson-Williams guns for THE EQUALIZER – Interview

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 09/28/2014
THE EQUALIZER soundtrack | ©2014 Varese Sarabande Records

Harry Gregson-Williams has often been a man on a mission of dark righteousness. Sure he’s done far gentler scoring for the likes of ANTZ, SHREK, THE TIGGER MOVIE, ARTHUR CHRISTMAS and the first two NARNIA movies, where he even essayed the voice of Patterwig the Squirrel. But if you cross the side of justice, just hear Williams’ family-friendly orchestral voice set its watch to 60 seconds, and become a distinctive sound of simmering electronics, imposing strings, slicing rock guitars and beds of raging percussion – melodic, often hallucinatory music that builds for characters’ with haunted pasts to explode into body count […]Read On »


COMMENTS (0)

Composer Imran Ahmad travels with THE DEAD from Africa to India – Interview

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 09/26/2014
THE DEAD2 soundtrack | ©2014 Howlin' Wolf Records

When zombie apocalypses are all the rage in every conceivable medium, it seems difficult to come up with a new spin on the undead, let alone a new sound. Yet that’s precisely what Howard and Jonathan Ford did back in 2010 when they switched the usual American-English terrain to the African outback. It was a haunted land to begin with where walking bodies seemed like the natural outcome for the continent where life began. Adding immeasurable atmosphere to their  DEAD was the score by Indian-born composer Imran Ahmad, an unearthly mélange of ethnic percussion, voices and the more recognizable “horror […]Read On »


COMMENTS (0)

THE CONGRESS composer Max Richter waltzes once again – Interview

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 09/05/2014
THE CONGRESS soundtrack | ©2014 Milan Records

In the world of modern classical-cum-film composers, few musicians are doing more to stretch sonic boundaries than the German-born, London-located musician named Max Richter. Making his way from stage to ballet and concert hall ensembles, Richter’s early work impressed as it often combining beautifully solemn string melodies with an alt. electronic attitude. Concept albums like “Memoryhouse” and “The Blue Notebooks” sung with Richter’s unique admiration for such composers as Philip Glass and John Adams, not to recently mention his wittily hip deconstruction of Vivaldi for “The Four Seasons.” It was this mesmerizing sound that mixed aching melodies with a hip […]Read On »


COMMENTS (0)

CD Review: TEST soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 08/24/2014
TEST soundtrack | ©2014 Movie Score Media

A gay dancer in early 1985 San Francisco deals with relationships and the beginning of the AIDS pandemic in this well-reviewed drama that not only throws back to an era that marked the end of sexual innocence, but also a musical time that marked the highpoint of a specific movie scoring synth sound best embodied by the likes of Tangerine Dream. And for many fans of that progressive German group, the decade also marked a high point with the propulsive sheen of scores that embodied the stylish LA gloss of HEARTBREAKERS and MIRACLE MILE. Welsh composer Ceiri Torjussen (BIG-ASS SPIDER) […]Read On »


COMMENTS (0)

CD Review: LE PROFESSIONNEL and LE MARGINAL soundtracks

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 08/23/2014
LE PROFESSIONEL soundtrack | ©2014 Music Box Records

Somehow, unlike the latter Jean Reno who’d play the Eric Serra scored PROFESSIONAL the original, ultimate French tough guy named Jean-Paul Belmondo never quite caught on as an English language star, despite his savoir faire with guns, girls and cigarettes – qualities he’d practice in abundance with 1981s LE PROFESSIONNEL and 1983s LE MARGINAL. But beyond their Gallic leading man, what would truly connect the first movie’s revenge-seeking agent and the second’s drug-busting commissioner were two uniformly superb scores by Italian composer Ennio Morricone, now remastered and given complete releases by France’s Music Box Records. Adept at every conceivable genre […]Read On »


COMMENTS (0)

CD Review: THE CASE AGAINST 8 and THE WEDDING DATE: THE RECEPTION EDITION soundtracks

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 08/22/2014
THE WEDDING DATE: THE RECEPTION EDITION soundtrack | ©2014 Buysoundtrax

Now best known for putting propulsive arrows in the Green ARROW‘s quiver, Blake Neely seeks musical justice in a far more subdued, but equally powerful manner when it comes to overturning America’s legal prejudice against gay marriage. Marking another dramatically effective documentary score after chronicling The Challenger’s MISSION OF HOPE, Neely once again conveys a poignant, human face on landmark events. His CASE AGAINST 8 takes on an ethereal, subtly Americana tone as heard for rhythmic beds of guitars, piano, strings and poignantly sampled atmospheres. This score isn’t about winning the fight against voter and government-mandated prejudice with fist-waving, but […]Read On »


COMMENTS (0)

CD Review: IN YOUR EYES soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 08/21/2014
IN YOUR EYES soundtrack | ©2014 Lakeshore Records

A guitarist and arranger for such composers as Brian Tyler and Harry Gregson-Williams, Tony Morales has been impressing with his suspenseful, action-heavy scores for THE BAG MAN and ENEMIES CLOSER, while also netting an Emmy nomination for co-scoring the hellbilly hootenany of the HATFIELDS & McCOYS along with John Debney. Perhaps that’s why Morales’ romantic score for IN YOUR EYES  sounds like it could be taking place during a Van Damme face-off, as well as a mesmerizing mind-eye bridge where boy meets girl via psychic connection. Morales’ programming chops, not to mention melodic talent, add much musical atmosphere to this […]Read On »


COMMENTS (0)

CD Review: GOLDEN NEEDLES and THE FOURTH PROTOCOL soundtracks

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 08/20/2014
THE FOURTH PROTOCOL soundtrack | ©2014 Buysoundtrax

From spies to a certain magnum-blasting cop, Lalo Schifrin can be certified as one of Hollywood’s most versatile men of musical action – though it’s likely to be his lightning fists of Chopsocky jazz-Fu which will go down as his most popular score (along with Bruce Lee’s most popular film) for 1973s ENTER THE DRAGON. But perhaps an even cooler contender would be the soundtrack for director Robert Clouse’s 1974 follow up GOLDEN NEEDLES, which had seven treasure hunters of various moral shadings pursuing an idol whose “seven forbidden acupuncture points” all kick ass with Schifrin’s distinctive take on exotic […]Read On »


COMMENTS (0)

CD Reviews: THE HILLS HAVE EYES and KNIGHT RIDER soundtracks

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 08/19/2014
KNIGHT RIDER soundtrack | ©2014 Perseverance Records

Don Peake is one of the musicians who’ve jumped on board of Perseverance’s new “composer distribution series,” which allows artists to use the label as a proxy for titles they’ve always wanted to release. Among the titles to spring from the former Everly Brothers guitarist are FRANKIE AND JOHNNY ARE MARRIED and two volumes of KNIGHT RIDER. But horror cultists will most certainly get their primitive fill for Peake’s run through the cannibal-infested desert of Wes Craven during the director’s way grittier days, a grindhouse talent that had memorable brute force in 1977s THE HILLS HAVE EYES. This since way […]Read On »


COMMENTS (0)
  1. Pages:
  3. 1
  4. ...
  5. 10
  6. 11
  7. 12
  8. 13
  9. 14
  10. 15
  11. 16
  12. ...
  13. 64
Increase your website traffic with Attracta.com

Dr.5z5 Open Feed Directory

bottom round