Assignment X

CD Review: The Best Scores of 2012

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 01/06/2013

CLOUD ATLAS soundtrack | ©2012 Water Tower Records

THE BEST SCORES OF 2012 BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin / Cinereach Music) An adolescent’s ability to turn a dangerous world into a place full of fantastical possibility provides the subtext for this strikingly fresh, Cajun-cum-magical realism score by director Benh Zeitlin and co-composer Dan Romer. “Beast’s” flooded island is a palpable, dangerously enchanted place in this jambalaya of music box bells, fiddles and plucked strings, strongly melodic storytelling that dances with local flavor while taking listeners to a truly new, mythic land where giant prehistoric pigs can come to life. In the their native […]Read On »

COMMENTS (0)

CD review: CAMELOT original TV soundtrack

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 06/05/2011

CAMELOT original soundtrack | ©2011 Varese Sarabande Records

Where the music of King Arthur tends to sweep in like a massively noble symphony on steeds, scoring brothers-in-arms Mychael and Jeff Danna do well by playing their leader as a subtler, second coming for another Showtime series that sexes up mythic history, this time in the realm of CAMELOT. It’s an intriguing setting for a world music approach that creates its sorcery with Indian ragas, exotic percussion, horns and Celtic rhythms, an approach that’s as timeless as it is lyrical. While the Dannas might not have the magic to get the kind of trumpeting orchestral firepower afforded to the […]Read On »