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 »


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Composer Brian Tyler gets busy with scoring TEENAGE MUTANTS NINJA TURTLES, EXPENDABLES 3 and INTO THE STORM – Interview

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 08/12/2014
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES soundtrack | ©2014 Atlantic Records

When it comes to musical testosterone, Brian Tyler’s work is the equivalent of a soundtrack Stairmaster playing at top speed. Whether he’s scoring Viking gods, international speed racers or not-so over-the-hill brothers in arms, Tyler’s dynamically percussive rhythms blast multiplex speakers with maximum impact, his mighty cues throttling from one explosive crescendo to the next. But while Tyler’s action-centric scores are all about energetic attitude, he rocks out in a way that shows his old-school understanding for the importance of themes, let alone melody. It’s exactly this dynamic way of incorporating an orchestra with cutting-edge chords that’s made Tyler into […]Read On »


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Interview: EARTH TO ECHO composer Joseph Trapanese phones home

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 07/13/2014
EARTH TO ECHO soundtrack | ©2014 Relativity Music Group

Listen to such pulsing wavelengths as Fall on Your Sword’s ANOTHER EARTH, Nathan Johnson’s LOOPER Nima Fakhara’s THE SIGNAL or Steven Price’s Oscar-winning GRAVITY, and you’ll pick up loud and clear on the burgeoning film scoring genre I prefer to call “alt. sci-fi.” It’s a plane of electro-orchestral existence where traditional symphonic melody (or at least the spirit of it) gets fused with an acoustical rock and roll vibe that can veer from psychedelia to grunge. Organic samples of everything from scraped metal to car engines are warped into new, unearthly entities, joining with electronic percussion and atmospheres that can […]Read On »


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Interview: FARGO composer Jeff Russo makes his own musical hit for FX’s reinvention

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER
FARGO soundtrack | ©2014 Sony Music

With the winning likes of such improbable fim-to-tv adaptations as HANNIBAL, the boob tube and its scoring seem to have gotten significantly smarter and edgier than it’s been in the last several decades – or at the very least since the 16 years that FARGO first hit movie theaters. This North Dakota-set film noir represented the Coen Brothers at the height of their gleefully twisted irony, as a horrifically violent kidnapping-gone-wrong played out amidst cheerful salt of the Midwestern earth types. And only a humble (and very pregnant) female sheriff has the horse sense to figure out that this escalating […]Read On »


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Interview: EDGE OF TOMORROW composer Christophe Beck stays alive with his first sci-fi score

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 06/07/2014
EDGE OF TOMORROW | ©2014 Warner Bros.

In the two or so decades since Christophe Beck followed Howard Shore and Mychael Danna as one of Hollywood’s most valuable Canadian composing imports, the burly, bearded and bespectacled musician has become an exemplar on how to incorporate a pop-rock sensibility into an old school, and often orchestral talent for melody. It’s a hummable talent that’s made him a go-to guy for teen hijinks (THE PERFECT MAN, A CINDERELLA STORY), rhythmically swooning romance (GUINEVERE, UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN), talking animals (GARFIELD, THE MUPPETS) and thoroughly R-rated bad boy behavior (THE HANGOVER, HOT TUB TIME MACHINE) – all before really hitting […]Read On »


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Interview: A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST composer Joel McNeely tames the Old West

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/31/2014
A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST soundtrack | ©2014 Backlot Music

When Wisconsin-born composer Joel McNeely went from a land of good old fashioned American purity to the far more ornery streets of Los Angeles, his innate melodic talent arrived just at a late 80s time when newfangled synths and rock music were taking their place as underscore – putting any number of old studio composers out to pasture as they tried to adapt to the changing sound of Hollywood – or saw their legendary careers bite the bullet. Yet McNeely was a greenhorn with the symphonic chops to more than match his elders, with a particular talent for a golden, […]Read On »


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Interview: Composer Andrew Hewitt hears THE DOUBLE

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/26/2014
THE DOUBLE soundtrack | ©2014 Milan Records

Where Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky’s work might be better known among mainstream moviegoers for history-drenched adaptations of “The Brothers Karamazov” and “Crime and Punishment,” it’s likely that viewers might mistake the new cinematic translation of  THE DOUBLE as coming from the pen of Franz Kafka, another pessimism-drenched writer whose characters dealt with oppressive bureaucracies and mind-numbing daily drudgery. It’s a screaming shadow that’s certainly influenced Hollywood when throwing pathetic everyman heroes into the mouths of madness, whether it’s BRAZIL‘s Sam Lowry haplessly dealing with Central Services to poor BARTON FINK facing screenwriting Armageddon in a hotel from hell. But whatever […]Read On »


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Interview: Composer Frank Ilfman is not afraid of the BIG BAD WOLVES

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 05/01/2014
BIG BAD WOLVES | ©2014 Magnolia

One could say that the world first became aware of the Israeli film BIG BAD WOLVES (now out on DVD and Blu-ray) through Quentin Tarantino’s raving. And it’s easy to see why when you’ve got the setup of some poor shmuck chained to a chair, his unhinged tormentor delivering a humorously sadistic monologue before unleashing the bloody pain. But beyond the kind of unbearable shenanigans that might have the morally outraged screaming “torture porn!” lies a wonderfully twisted, and appallingly funny thriller that’s far more Hitchcock than Tarantino as a seeming child killer is given his just deserts – delivered courtesy […]Read On »


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Interview: OCULUS composers The Newton Brothers reflect chills for new horror movie

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 04/17/2014
OCULUS soundtrack | ©2014 Varese Sarabande Records

If it can be said that a mirror captures the soul of its beholder, than OCULUS is a repository second to none in terms of maliciousness and murder – a glasswork fit for any evil queen, or ghostly demon for that matter. Encompassed by ornately Gothic woodwork, this titular mirror has slowly, psychopathically made mincemeat out of its owners through the centuries, most recently claiming a suburban mother and father to madness – not to mention making life sheer hell for their surviving children Tim and Kaylie Russell. Now, this brother and sister are determined to pay back this malevolent […]Read On »


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Interview: SAVING MR. BANKS composer Thomas Newman scores a spoonful of bittersweet sugar

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 01/02/2014
SAVING MR. BANKS soundtrack | ©2013 Walt Disney Soundtrack

Tuxedoed penguins, dancing chimney sweeps, a housekeeper floating in on an umbrella to tame a household of errant children – all accompanied by some of the most memorable songs to grace a Disney movie, let alone any family film in Hollywood via England history. These confections make for the enduring magic that is MARY POPPINS, a movie that’s melodiously synonymous with family warmth. However, the real story behind this heartwarming classic was anything but harmonious, especially when POPPINS decidedly Scrooge-like creator arrived in LA’s magic kingdom like a serving of castor oil – haunted by a childhood that was anything […]Read On »


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