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FAVORITE SCORES AND MUSIC IN 2019!




Here is my list, now let me make one thing clear... there were great releases in the entire year of 2019, but these are my most listened to. I want to thank all the composers, labels, friends and Howlin' Wolf Records for making it possible to be part this world for over 10 years.

Remember when you listen to score music, there are no losers!
Jeremy [Six Strings]

Most Played in 2019:

"Aurora" Music by Oscar Fogelström (MovieScore Media)
"Marvel's Avengers: Endgame" Music by Alan Silvestri (Walt Disney Records)
"Cliffs of Freedom" Music by George Kallis (Aegean Entertainment)
"Krypton" Music by Pinar Toprak (Varese Sarabande)
"Joker" Music by Hildur Guðnadóttir (WaterTower Music)
"Alita: Battle Angel" Music by Tom Holkenborg (Milan Records)
"Shazam!" Music by Benjamin Wallfisch (WaterTower Music)
"Under the Silver Lake" Music by Disasterpeace (Milan Records)
"Swoon" Music by Nathaniel Mechaly (MovieScore Media)
"Tim Burton's Dumbo" Music by Danny Elfman (Walt Disney Records)
"Brightburn" Music by Tim Williams (Sony Music)
"BBC's: Good Omens" Music by David Arnold (Silva Records)

Favorite Series:

"The Mandalorian: Season 1 Chapters 1-8" Music by Ludwig Göransson (Walt Disney Records)
"The Dragon Prince Season 1, 2 and 3" Music by Frederik Wiedmann (Lakeshore Records)
"The Dark Crystal Volume 1 & 2: Age of Resistance" Music by Daniel Pemberton (Varese Sarabande)
 
My Personal Favorites:

"The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot" Music by Joe Kraemer (La-La Land Records)
"Motherless Brooklyn [Score]" Music by Daniel Pemberton (WaterTower Music)
"Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker" Music by John Williams (Walt Disney Records)

Great Releases:

"Masters of the Universe (2Cd)" Music by Bill Conti (NoteForNote Music)
"Apollo 13 [1995-2019]" Music by James Horner (Intrada)
"Knight Rider (2Cd)" Music by Stu Phillips (Varese Sarabande)

My Favorite:

"Howard The Duck 3Cd [1986-2019]" Music by John Barry, Original Songs Produced by Thomas Dolby - Additional Music by Sylvester Levay (Intrada)
 

Intrada: "THE POWER AND THE GLORY" music by Laurence Rosenthal

Intrada announces the premiere release of an early work from composer Laurence Rosenthal, the 1961 film The Power and the Glory. Composed after A Raisin in the Sun and before The Miracle Worker, it may be an early score, but from a rich period for Rosenthal and one of his favorite scores. For the film's setting in Mexico, Rosenthal composed a score of appropriate flavor and atmosphere, capturing the essence of both the time period, the locale, and the struggle between religion and government. Rosenthal had a particular love for Mexican music, which is reflected in the rhythms and drama throughout this powerful score.

The film had a heavy hitting cast that included Lawrence Olivier, George C. Scott, Julie Harris and Patty Duke, produced by David Susskind, with whom Rosenthal worked on Rashomon and Requiem for a Heavyweight. It was based on the novel by Graham Greene, who also wrote The Comedians that Rosenthal would later score when the film adaptation was produced a few years later. In the film, Olivier plays a cynical Catholic priest sent to preach in Mexico at a time (1930s) when the government perceived the Church as competition. As a result the government launches a plot to assassinate him.

Check out the podcast about the album!

For track listing and sound samples, please visit the The Power and the Glory - CLICK HERE!

Jeremy [Six Strings]

INTERVIEW WITH COMPOSER MATT MORTON ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FILM "APOLLO 11"

 
Jeremy [Six Strings]: Can you tell us how you became involved with "APOLLO 11" film and how did you approach this score different from the last score?

Matt Morton: I’ve been friends with and have worked with the director, Todd Douglas Miller, since we were kids growing up in Gahanna, Ohio (a suburb of Columbus).  He was the singer in my high school band “651” (I played guitar), and after high school, he went to film school at Eastern Michigan and I went on to Denison University where I started another band (with some other Gahanna friends) called “The Shantee”.  That band stayed together for 9 years - we recorded several albums and toured all over the country.  Todd started working on commercials in Detroit, and we kept in touch.  He would come out to shows and occasionally film them.  He used some music from my band in his first feature-length documentary ‘Gahanna Bill’.

The Shantee kind of hit a glass ceiling in the early 2000s.  We were being offered recording, publishing, and distribution deals, but because digital piracy had really hurt record companies’ profits, they weren’t offering very good deals to bands at our level.  Around this time, I started doing my first composing gigs - mostly little web videos and ads for clothing retailers, hospitals, and charities.  I started having more fun making tracks in my home studio than I was having on the road, and it meant I could make more money from my music too.  This was about 2004 when I left my band and Todd and I started working on our first projects together.

We worked in obscurity for years, slowly learning our craft by making everything from web videos to shorts to feature-length narratives and docs.  Luckily, we got to make lots of mistakes before many people were paying attention to us.  They say that every overnight sensation takes at least 10 years, and for us, that was definitely true.  In 2014, we finally got our first big chance to get noticed.  With the help of IFP (Independent Filmmaker Project) in New York City, we got ‘Dinosaur 13’ into Sundance and we world premiered on opening night.  After a bidding war, Lionsgate and CNN Films acquired the distribution rights.  It had a brief theatrical run, but it really found its audience when it played on CNN.  It won an Emmy in 2015 for Outstanding Science and Technology Programming.

After we won the Emmy for CNN, they asked us if we had any short film ideas, which led to the 2016 Apollo 17 short documentary ‘The Last Steps’ (CNN Films, Great Big Story).  Like ‘Apollo 11’, it was constructed completely from archival footage.  It ended up being very popular with online viewers, so with the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing coming up, CNN Films approached us about making a feature-length archival documentary about Apollo 11.

 
Jeremy [Six Strings]: How much creative freedom did you have while working on "APOLLO 11" film and what would you like the audience to take away from the score?

Matt Morton: Any film score is a collaboration, which is one of my favorite things about making them.  And since Todd and I have worked together for so long, we trust each other’s skills and vision a lot.  With that said though, when I told Todd my idea to do a synth-driven score using only instruments and effects that existed at the time of the mission (1969), he was hesitant and needed some convincing (note: the following paragraphs are from the production journal I was asked to write about my approach to the score).

In the spring of 2017 when I found out I was going to have the honor of scoring this film, the historical importance of the Apollo 11 Mission almost paralyzed me - how could I ever do it justice?  I'm a huge science nerd, and I put humankind's first steps on an alien world right up there with the first time a fish walked on land.  It was an evolutionary milestone. How do you put that into music?  And on the other hand, considering the huge number of films and film scores that had already been made on the subject, how would I find a unique way to score it?

I approached it like a method actor, by exhaustively researching the mission and all of the films that were made about it.  I read tons of books and watched and re-watched every documentary and narrative film about the Apollo Program that I could find.  I revisited the music of the time (I've loved 1960s music my whole life), and the ways that authors and the general public reacted to the event when it happened.  And since the action centers on the astronauts and mission control, I also tried to think about what it must have felt like to be one of them at each step of the way.  I knew Todd (the director) wanted it to feel like you're right there with them on the mission, so the score needed to ratchet up the tension and excitement that they were all experiencing.

But I also thought it was important that, since we'd only be seeing archival footage from 1969, we should only hear sounds that could have been made at the time of the mission.  A lot of the 'Apollo 11' team (including Todd and I) also worked on 'The Last Steps', a short documentary about our last manned mission to the Moon, Apollo 17 in 1972.  Like 'Apollo 11', that film used all archival footage, but for that score, I used any instrument or effect that fit my approach to the scene, including modern ones.  I love that score in its own right, but one of my thoughts after the fact was that it sometimes took me out of the feeling of "being there" in 1972 when I heard modern-sounding drum loops or super-lush digital reverbs.  So when we got the chance to tell Apollo 11's story, I got to learn from that experience and try a new approach.

My breakthrough, as far as narrowing down my approach and palette for the score, came when I started thinking about the fact that at the time, the Apollo Program was at the absolute cutting edge of science and technology.  The sheer amount of money spent (around 3% of our GDP) and the number of people working on it (over 400,000 people) have been credited with fast-forwarding the normal pace of technological innovation by about 10-20 years.  I started thinking about whether there were any parallels in the music world of the time.  Were there any technological developments happening then that lead to new types of music being made?  What was the avant garde music of the time like?  And would any of that new music and music technology be useful in scoring a dangerous and heart-racing space adventure in a 6.5 million pound rocket?

My answer was the synthesizer and the huge world of electronic and experimental music that it enabled after its development in the 1960s.  In 1963-1964, Bob Moog (in upstate New York) and Don Buchla (in San Francisco) were each independently developing the first modern (non-room-sized) modular synthesizers, unaware of each other's work at opposite ends of the country.  They steadily refined and expanded these instruments throughout the decade and they began being used by the few commercial composers and university professors who could get access to them (at the time, they cost the equivalent of a house).  In 1968, Wendy Carlos released her album 'Switched On Bach' (which were multi-tracked recordings of classic Bach pieces played entirely on a Moog synthesizer), and after its release, the Moog synthesizer blew up.  In the years that followed, the synthesizer began being used on recordings by mainstream artists like The Beatles, The Who, Keith Emerson, and Pink Floyd, as well as electronic music pioneers like Tangerine Dream, Isao Tomita, Suzanne Ciani, Kraftwerk, and Giorgio Moroder.  Today, the synthesizer's reach is immense, but it had its big bang around the time of the Apollo 11 Mission.  The futuristic sound of the synthesizer also fit in perfectly with the technological focus and futuristic look of our film.

So by late 2017, I had decided to only use instruments and effects of that were available in 1969, but I didn't actually own any synthesizers older than my Moog Minimoog Model D (which was released in 1970).  This is when I got lucky.  That year, Moog Synthesizers had decided to build (reissue) 25 of their classic Synthesizer IIIc modular synthesizers using the same parts and construction methods they used back in 1968.  I decided to make the (sizable) investment to buy one of them and use it as a central voice in my score.  When I combined the Moog IIIc with other vintage pieces including a Binson Echorec 2 (an early tube echo restored and modified by Soundgas Ltd.), a Mellotron (an early tape-based keyboard sampler), a 1965 Hammond A-143 Organ, a Leslie (rotating) Speaker, various guitar tube amps, spring and plate reverbs, early drum machines like the Maestro Rhythm King and Ace Tone Rhythm Ace, and an Echoplex EP-2 (a tube tape echo), I had a formidable palette of period sounds for the score.  I started experimenting with all the gear and seeing what kinds of sounds I could get out of them.  I produced hours of music that no one will ever hear, but some of those experiments actually made it into the final score, including the opening cue "The Burdens and the Hopes" which plays under the suiting-up and leaking valve scenes.  I've also posted a few of my synth and musique concrete experiments (the ones I knew wouldn't work in the film) on my Instagram. The only other ingredient was the orchestra, which of course also existed at the time.

My original concept for the compositions was to make them sound like they were archival just like the film footage, or in other words, to make it sound like they were written, played, and recorded in 1969 by musicians and engineers of the time.  But then I realized I could never really do that - it would only ever be an emulation.  It wouldn't ring true because as an artist, in order to get the best music out of myself, I have to stay authentic to myself and my tastes, and I live in the present.  I wasn't born until 1977, and I didn't start playing my first instrument (guitar) until 1986.  So I decided the most interesting thing I could do was to make modern compositions, but because I'd be using the instruments and effects of 50 years ago, they'd probably be a unique mixture of then and now and help to bridge the time gap between the people on the screen and the people in the audience.

 
Jeremy [Six Strings]: Please tell us a little more about yourself, that isn't in your official bio and which composer inspired you to get into being a composer... why?

Matt Morton: I grew up in a family without any professional musicians or artists, but I still developed a strong love of music at a very young age because of my dad's huge record collection.  My urge to play and create music grew directly from my love of it.  I almost didn’t have a choice - I had to learn how to do it myself.

I started on guitar when I was 9, but I wasn't satisfied with playing just one instrument for very long.  I’ve continued learning and acquiring new instruments (and recording gear) my whole life.  Although my strongest instruments are still guitar and bass, I’ve learned keyboards, drums, ukulele, charango, ronroco, banjo, cuatro, etc.  I think that comes from a realization that all the instruments, including the way they’re recorded and mixed, have an effect on the final track and the way that it's felt by the listener.  I guess I just kept following my curiosity and kept learning how to play the parts of each of the musicians and engineers until I was able to make full recordings all by myself.  I’d say I’m almost as interested in engineering and producing music as I am in composing it.

As for which composer inspired me to become one, it didn’t really happen that way for me.  I feel like I fell backwards into it.  I didn’t grow up dreaming of being the next John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith.  I wanted to be the next Jimi Hendrix, Brian Wilson, George Martin, or Jimmy Page - the guys mixing the power of rock and pop songwriting with the power of the recording studio.  I started getting interested in orchestral instruments more because of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and ‘Pet Sounds’ at first, but once I got bitten by the orchestral bug, I started working my way back through the huge history of orchestral concert music, and I also became much more attuned to film scores.  Composing for film is really the ultimate medium for me because I get to combine my love of so many different kinds of music with my love of recording and using the studio as an instrument.

 
Jeremy [Six Strings]: After working on "APOLLO 11" film, what is next and what do you use to inspire your next project?

Matt Morton: I have a bunch of ideas for what I might want to do next, including possibly taking a short break from scoring to record a solo album using the same 1969 palette I used for 'Apollo 11’ (but without having to limit the track lengths or keep arrangements minimal in order to stay out of the way of dialogue).  But whatever my next film scoring job is, I will draw my inspiration from the story and the way the filmmakers want to tell it.  If you do it right, each score should have its own character and palette, and they should always be defined by what will help the storytelling process.  One of my favorite parts of composing is deep-diving into the background of the story and searching for clues that will help me enhance it in a meaningful way.  I have to really believe in the project or else I can’t make good music for it.  Hopefully whatever comes along next will be even more inspiring than the Apollo 11 mission, but that’s a pretty tall order!

About Matt Morton... is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and engineer/producer from Columbus, Ohio. He started on the guitar at age 9 and went on to learn the bass, piano, drums, mandolin, cuatro, charango, ukulele, banjo, and the cello. He was a founding member, lead guitarist, and vocalist for The Shantee (rock band), and has recorded several albums, toured nationally, and opened for bands including George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic, Blues Traveler, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, the Neville Brothers, Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers, Widespread Panic, and The National.

His feature-length scores include 'Scaring the Fish' starring Max Casella and Anthony Rapp, John Urbano's Panama documentary 'Beauty of the Fight', Todd Douglas Miller's Emmy-winning Sundance documentary 'Dinosaur 13' (Lionsgate, CNN Films), and 'Apollo 11' (NEON, CNN Films). His short-form and commercial clients include CNN Films (their Apollo 17 short documentary 'The Last Steps'), SapientNitro, Ketchum, JPMorgan Chase, Wendy's, Scotts Miracle-Gro, American Eagle, Hollister Co., JDRF, Mercy Health, and the Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation. He is also the founder of the music production company Studio 651 Ltd. and its publishing division, Studio 651 Publishing (BMI).

Matt's most recent project is the feature-length, all-archival documentary 'Apollo 11'. He wrote, orchestrated, performed, recorded, and mixed all of the original music for the film, as well as the teaser trailer and the theatrical trailer. Every instrument and effect used in the score existed at the time of the mission in 1969 including a Moog modular Synthesizer IIIc (a reissue of the 1968 version - 1 of 25 in the world), a Binson Echorec 2 (tube echo), a Mellotron (early keyboard sampler used by The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, etc.), a Hammond organ, various period drum machines, and the orchestra. The Soundtrack is out now digitally worldwide on Milan Records, with a CD release on June 28th, and a vinyl release on July 19, 2019 (the day before the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing).  The film will debut on TV (US only) on CNN on June 23rd.  A special 48-minute version of the film, ‘Apollo 11: First Steps Edition’, is playing now in science centers and museums.  The ‘Apollo 11’ documentary team will also be awarded the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication at the Starmus Festival in Zurich, Switzerland on June 24th along with fellow recipients Elon Musk and Brian Eno.
 
 
It's a real honor when you can talk with someone with so much passion about their craft and you all know my respect for score music. Matt Morton has earned my respect, he is a true professional when it comes to this score for the documentary "APPOLLO 11" and I suggest you look for release from label MILAN RECORDS and MATT MORTON on the web.

Also, thank you for being awesome I got a little behind on this interview well not a little a lot, but thank you for understanding!

Jeremy [Six Strings]

RLJ Entertainment: "MON MON MON MONSTERS" [BLU-RAY/DVD]


RLJE Films, a business unit of AMC Networks, has picked up select rights to MON MON MON MONSTERS from Shudder, AMC Networks’ streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural. MON MON MON MONSTERS will release DVD and Blu-ray on February 4, 2020. Written and directed by Giddens Ko(You Are the Apple of My Eye),the horror / comedy stars Eugenie Liu(“Behind Your Smile”), Pei-Hsin Lin, Carolyn Chen(Attention, Love!), Yu-Kai Deng(Tree in the River), and Kent Tsai (All Because of Love). RLJE Films will release MON MON MON MONSTERS on DVD and on Blu-ray.


In MON MON MON MONSTERS, a group of classmates doing community service discover two flesh-eating creatures hiding in an old building. One of the creatures is able to escape, but they capture the other one, torturing her while trying to learn what she really is. It soon becomes clear that the first creature’s escape has dire consequences, as she hunts them down and stops at nothing to free her sister. [TRAILER HERE: CLICK ME]

AMC Networks’ Shudder is a premium streaming video service, super-serving members with the best selection in genre entertainment, covering horror, thrillers and the supernatural. Shudder’s expanding library of film, TV series, and originals is available on most streaming devices in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland and Germany. To experience Shudder commitment-free for 7 days, visit www.shudder.com.
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

Milan Records: "THE WITCHER" music by Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli


Milan Records announces the January 24 release of THE WITCHER (MUSIC FROM THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES) by composer and award-winning pianist SONYA BELOUSOVA and critically-acclaimed composer GIONA OSTINELLI.  Available for preorder now, the album features music written by the duo for Netflix’s latest fantasy drama series.  Also included on the soundtrack and out today is the now-viral hit “Toss A Coin To Your Witcher,” a medieval ballad that has garnered unanimous critical acclaim from NPR, CNN, Vulture, BuzzFeed, Refinery29, Esquire and more, in addition to inspiring countless covers and remixes from fans.  Based on the best-selling novel by Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher made its season one debut in December and is available to stream in its entirety on Netflix now.

Of the soundtrack, composers SONYA BELOUSOVA and GIONA OSTINELLI say, “The best part of scoring The Witcher is the constant stream of unlimited creative opportunities this unique and vast universe provides. We wrote and produced songs, folk tunes, dances, and score, collaborated with virtuoso soloists and phenomenal artists, recorded unique historical instruments, many of which were crafted specifically for The Witcher, as well as personally performed and recorded over 60 instruments in order to create over 8 hours of an exciting original soundtrack.”

The Witcher tells the story of Geralt of Rivia, a mutated monster-hunter for hire, as he journeys toward his destiny in a turbulent world where people often prove more wicked than beasts.
 
WHOOAAAA!
Jeremy [Six Strings]

Back Lot Music: "DOLITTLE" music by Danny Elfman


The soundtrack for Universal Pictures’ DOLITTLE features score by composer Danny Elfman and a new original song co-written and performed by SIA.  After losing his wife seven years earlier, the eccentric Dr. John Dolittle (Downey), famed doctor and veterinarian of Queen Victoria’s England, hermits himself away behind the high walls of Dolittle Manor with only his menagerie of exotic animals for company. But when the young queen (Jessie Buckley, Wild Rose) falls gravely ill, a reluctant Dolittle is forced to set sail on an epic adventure to a mythical island in search of a cure, regaining his wit and courage as he crosses old adversaries and discovers wondrous creatures.

SEE THE NEW LYRIC VIDEO FOR "ORIGINAL" BY SIA: [CLICK HERE]
Purchase or Stream the Soundtrack Here:  [CLICK HERE]  

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Deck13 Interactive and Focus Home Interactive: "THE SURGE 2" Music by Helge Borgarts and Thomas Stanger

 
Composers Helge Borgarts and Thomas Stanger (BowsToHymns), in partnership with Deck13 Interactive and Focus Home Interactive, today announced the release of The Surge 2 Original Soundtrack featuring the heavy synth sci-fi score from the dystopian Action-RPG The Surge 2, released last year to wide critical acclaim on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Now available on digital and streaming platforms, the 31-track collection encompasses the full in-game score by Helge Borgarts and Thomas Stanger (BowsToHymns), main theme by Markus Schmidt and original tracks by recording artists Stumfol and Talla 2XLC. The album also includes bonus tracks composed by BowsToHymns from the Kraken DLC which releases on January 16. Preview three exclusive tracks here.

The Surge universe is set in a heavily dystopian future as Earth nears the end of its life, those who remain in the overpopulated cities must work to survive as social programs become saturated by an ageing population and increasing environmental diseases. As the intelligence of technology incrementally increased over the years, many jobs for the human race had been made redundant, forcing Earth's citizens to head out into the suburbs seeking labor, aided by exoskeletons to improve their efficiency. The world of The Surge offers a very grim vision of the future, where the evolution of our technology, our society and our relation with the environment led to a decadent state of the Human civilization.

The Surge 2 drops players in the crumbled carcass of Jericho amid a DeFrag nanostorm take-over of the city, and throws crazed techno-cultists, nanomachine monstrosities, and more at you as you try to slash and dash your way out. Create your own character and put your reactions and RPG character-building skills to the test. Deep character progression and customization let you decide how to equip yourself and handle enemies - with many additions over the original game and the return of its signature executions. Each fight is a desperate risk-versus-reward decision where you must utilize all the tools in your arsenal to survive, from a customizable combat drone, to game-changing implants, to a new directional parrying system and many more.

The Surge 2 is out now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC and the Kraken DLC releases January 16 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

WEBSITE | TRAILER


Jeremy [Six Strings]

Intrada: "ALIVE" [2CD] music by James Newton Howard

 
In 1993, Touchstone Pictures released the harrowing tale of Uruguayan rugby players and their families whose plane crashes in the Andes on their way to a match in Chile. It is a story of survival in some of the earth's harshest conditions, pushing humanity to endure the most devastating of circumstances. For Alive, composer James Newton Howard wrote a score that was to capture not only the desperate, seemingly hopeless conditions, but set the music against a background of natural beauty and tenacity of the human spirit.

At the time of the film's release, due to the constraints of the day, a 30-minute album of highlights was released, representing less than half of the score's full 73 minutes. Given the difficult subject matter, the film also under went changes in order to present the story in its most powerful light. As a result, several sequences were rescored, resulting in some 30 minutes of alternate versions of the score, some vastly different from their original counterparts. Additionally, two powerful cues recorded for the trailer were uncovered. All of this is presented here in this 2-CD presentation of this magnificent work from elements within the Disney vaults and from the composer himself.

Howard wrote a main theme reflecting triumphant survivalism that propelled the survivors to find a way off that mountain. First heard on solo guitar, it opens up at the end in a huge, glorious rendition when 16 of the original 45 passengers make their escape. Directed by Frank Marshall, the film stars Ethan Hawke as Nando Parrado, who emerges as the main character and leader of survivors.

Listen to the podcast about this album!

INTRADA ISC 437
For track listing and sound samples, please visit the[FOR MORE INFORMATION: CLICK HERE]

Whooooaaaaa, INTRADA! This is a long over-due
Jeremy [Six Strings]

BUDDY COPS: THE STAKEOUT IS COMING SOON!!!!

The makers of the short film BUDDY COPS: THE STAKEOUT has released a slew of character posters and behind the scenes photos as well as a trailer in preparation for it's release.

Here is the official synopsis.

Newly formed St. Louis police duo John Barrow (Raymond Roberson) and Jack Slate (Tyler Meyer) are assigned the task of tracking down and stopping the dealers of a powerful drug ring. Action meets comedy in this new 80's style homage to Buddy Cop action films.

The release date is to be determined with an estimated date of mid February of this year.  Look for it on YouTube.

Click here for the trailer!

Click here for more photos!

Jason

Kronos Records: "LILLY'S BEWITCHED CHRISTMAS" Music by ANNE-KATHRIN DERN


Kronos Records and MovieScore Media present the soundtrack to LILLY’S BEWITCHED CHRISTMAS (HEXE LILLI RETTET WEIHNACHTEN). Lilly conjures Ruprecht (Santa’s Little Helper) to learn more about Christmas customs. The kind of scary looking Ruprecht soon runs away to teach the children of today some manners concerning respect and decency.  A real treasure of a score, courtesy of ring star Anne-Kathrin Dern. 41 minutes of pure Christmas Magic in the grand John Williams tradition.  [http://www.kronosrecords.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

Kronos Records: "JESÚS DE NAZARET" Music by ALEJANDRO KARO


KRONOS RECORDS has been around for 10 years now. We have produced and released 141 CDs in the KRONOS, KRONOS GOLD and KRONOS KLASSIK series. Welcome to KRONCD100! For the 100th title of the KRONOS series we are proud to present a very talented composer from Mexico. His name is Alejando Karo.

Alejandro Karo's soundtrack for the 2017 film JESÚS DE NAZARET is a modern classic already.  Karo decided to keep the overall atmosphere of the score in low key but as a true master he managed to compose a score that mutates from the drowny arid desert themes to deeply spiritual melodies that soars higher and higher as the Christ approaches his sacrifice for mankind.  Definitely one of the most exciting and emotional scores we have produced. [http://www.kronosrecords.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

Kronos Records: "NOAH LAND" Music by LEON GURVITCH


KRONOS RECORDS 10 year Anniversary celebration is the soundtrack for Turkish filmmaker Cenk Ertürk's acclaimed film NOAH LAND. The music is by rising star LEON GURVITCH, who managed to pen a very intimate and extremely effective dramatic score for this film. [http://www.kronosrecords.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

Kronos Records: "IL DISORDINE" Music by MARIO NASCIMBENE


Kronos Records The Gold Collection is proud to present the soundtrack CD of IL DISORDINE (DISORDER), a 1962 Italian drama by director Franco Brusati, starring Sami Frey, Louis Jourdan, Antonelly Lualdi, Curd Jürgens, Tomas Milian and Renato Salvatori who received an award for his lead role of Mario.

The music is by another Mario, legendary composer Maestro MARIO NASCIMBENE, who penned a very eclectic, jazz swing tinged score, with hints of cha cha cha and a somber undertone of melancholy.  The orchestra and ensembles were handled by none less than the great Maestro CARLO SAVINA, who as always delivery with great accuracy and class.   The film has been said to be a Study of Milanese social life and of the people who become involved in it. Eventhough the film itself does not reach the artistic height of Fellini there are people who have compared and drawn parallels between parts of this film and parts of LA DOLCE VITA. [http://www.kronosrecords.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

Kronos Records: "I FRATELLI CORSI" Music by ANGELO FRANCESCO LAVAGNINO


Kronos Records is proud to present the soundtrack to the 1961 Italo-Franco co-production I FRATELLI CORSI (The Corsican Brothers), the silver-screen adaptation of “Les Frères Corses” a novella by re-known French writer Alexandre Dumas, père, first published in 1844 about Siamese twins separated at birth but who have a strong psychic link as adults.  The story was adapted for the silver screen by Paul Andréota and Bruno Guillaume, the latter also directed the film.  The film starred Geoffrey Horne in the dual role of twins Paolo and Leone Franchi, Valérie Lagrange in the role of Lady Edith, Gérard Barray, the leading hero in Adventure-Movies made in France this time in the role of the bad guy of the  story Giovanni Sagona and Italian superstar Amedeo Nazzari in the role of Orlandi.  [http://www.kronosrecords.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

Kronos Records: "CARI MOSTRI DEL MARE" Music by CARLO SAVINA


Kronos Records is very proud to present for the first time ever on CD format, the soundtrack to CARI MOSTRI DEL MARE or FRIENDLY MONSTERS FROM THE DEEP as it was known outside of Italy which was released in 1977.  The docu-film was directed by world re-known director and oceanographer Bruno Vailati. The music by one of the most prestigious composers to ever come out of Italy and one of the composers we very proudly champion, Maestro CARLO SAVINA. [http://www.kronosrecords.com/]

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Kronos Records: "KuartetS" Music by KRISTIAN SENSINI


Kronos Records is proud to present KuartetS, the first solo album by Italian composer KRISTIAN SENSINI of HYDE'S SECRET NIGHTMARE fame.

Over the years I have been following ideas and images, and now I've collected the best inspirations into a series of music for string quartets.  I chose the string quartet formula because I've always been fascinated by four-part writing and the endless creative possibilities that this kind of ensemble gives. This is my very first solo album, the result of years of study and research, hope you'll enjoy it ! [http://www.kronosrecords.com/]

- Kristian Sensini
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

Fox Music/Hollywood Records: "UNDERWATER" music by Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts


Fox Music/Hollywood Records releases the digital original motion picture soundtrack to 20th Century Fox’s “Underwater,” directed by William Eubank (Signal) today.  Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts composed and conducted the music for Underwater, which was recorded at Pianella Studios in Malibu.  The Underwater score album is available today at digital service providers, as the film opens in U.S. theatres. 
 
Beltrami and Roberts have collaborated on numerous projects since 2013 including “Logan,” “The Wolverine,” “Warm Bodies” and “World War Z.”  The duo received an Emmy® Award in the Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special category for their score for National Geographic’s 2019 Oscar®-winning documentary “Free Solo.”  Additionally, Beltrami received Academy Award nominations for his scores on “3:10 to Yuma” and “The Hurt Locker,” as well as a Golden Globe nomination for “A Quiet Place.”

The composers said, "The fun challenge on this score was to balance the hybrid nature of the musical elements so they could convincingly exist in an electronic world. Will {Eubank} is very influenced by electronic music and offered incredible encouragement to explore new ways of processing traditional orchestral elements to create this musical soundscape. Female vocals played a big part in this score, and we experimented with an endless array of unorthodox techniques to evoke the epic, tense and at times, very emotional elements of the film."

“Underwater” takes place in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake.  Trapped in a rapidly flooding structure, a crew of six stationed on an underwater research facility realize their only shot at survival lies in walking across the ocean floor to a distant abandoned rig. In addition to the physical challenges of the journey they quickly discover they’re being hunted by mythic, monstrous sea predators hellbent on killing them.
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

Milan Records: "COLOR OUT OF SPACE" music by Colin Stetson


COLOR OUT OF SPACE features music by GRAMMY® Award-winning saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and composer COLIN STETSON.  Set for digital release on January 24 via Milan Records, the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features music written by Stetson for the Nicolas Cage-starring, sci-fi thriller, which makes its theatrical debut on January 24.  The soundtrack will also be in vinyl format via Waxwork Records on March 10, with preorder available beginning January 24 at waxworkrecords.com

A highly-coveted collaborator to Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Tom Waits, LCD Soundsystem, The National and more, Stetson brings with him an expansive body of work that includes both genre-defying, avant-jazz records as well as critically-acclaimed original scores for major film, television and game titles (Ari Aster’s Hereditary, Red Dead Redemption 2).  Of the soundtrack, Stetson says:

"The question posed initially when conceiving of this score was what exactly is the sonic representation of a cosmic alien color that does not exist in this terrestrial reality? I began trying to answer that by layering the sounds of coral reefs, processing that cacophony and finding the order revealed through harmonic generation of these hyperdensities, and then continued to chase that same concept of 'transfiguring the natural' down every path and application I could see.  Turns out it's somewhere between magenta and hot pink :)"

Color Out of Space is based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft.  After a meteorite lands in the front yard of their farmstead, Nathan Gardner (Nicolas Cage) and his family find themselves battling a mutant extraterrestrial organism as it infects their minds and bodies, transforming their quiet rural life into a technicolor nightmare.  Color Out of Space stars Nicolas Cage (Mandy, Leaving Las Vegas), Joely Richardson (The Rook, Nip/Tuck), Madeleine Arthur (Snowpiercer), Brendan Meyer (The OA), Julian Hilliard (The Haunting of Hill House), Elliot Knight (How to Get Away with Murder), with Q’orianka Kilcher (The New World) and Tommy Chong (Cheech & Chong). The film is directed by Richard Stanley (Hardware, Dust Devil). He co-wrote the screenplay with Scarlett Amaris (The Theatre Bizarre). The film was produced by SpectreVision and ACE Pictures and is being distributed domestically by RLJ Entertainment.

ABOUT COLIN STETSON... Colin Stetson, born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, spent a decade in San Francisco and Brooklyn honing his formidable talents as a horn player before eventually settling in Montreal in 2007. Over the years he has worked extensively with a wide range of bands and musicians, including Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver and The National.

Stetson has developed an utterly unique voice as a soloist, principally on saxophone and clarinet. His astounding physical engagement with his instruments (chiefly bass and alto saxophones) produces emotionally rich and polyphonic compositions that transcend expectations of what solo horn playing can sound like. He is at home in the avant-jazz tradition of pushing the boundaries through circular breathing and embouchure, and his noise/drone/minimalist sound encompasses genres like dark metal, post-rock and contemporary electronics.

More recently, Stetson has focused on scoring a number of original soundtracks, including Lavender (2016), which he co-scored with Sarah Neufeld, A24 production Hereditary (2018) and Hulu series The First (2018). He also contributed to the score for award-winning game Red Dead Redemption II (2018) and is set to score the new Adult Swim anime miniseries Uzumaki, an adaptation of Junji Ito’s renowned horror manga, which arrives in 2020. 

Jeremy [Six Strings]

Silva Screen Records: "BBC's DRACULA" music by David Arnold and Michael Price


From the team behind BBC’s critically acclaimed Sherlock comes Dracula, the reimagining of the iconic titular vampire for a 21st Century audience. Composers David Arnold and Michael Price reunite with writers and creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, to breathe musical life into another famous literary character from Victorian times.

For Dracula, Arnold and Price conceived an innovative and petrifying score, in which traditional instruments and musique concrète merge with contemporary use of samples and sound design. Scoring Dracula presented its own challenges and the composers have augmented the sound of the orchestra players by creating a library of sounds used throughout the score.

At the launch of the series at the BFI Southbank, David Arnold said “We created a bunch of quite awful sounds that were musical, one of which was actual real blood in a glass, with the finger run round the top of the rim... We created percussion things with coffins. The best thing was, I got the sound department to send me all their recordings of screaming babies, and I made an organ out of screaming babies.”

Also featured on the score are Cello soloists Tim Gill (London Sinfonietta Principal) and Caroline Dale (Truly, Madly, Deeply, Hilary and Jackie) and Electric Cello from Peter Gregson. The atmospheric music is perfectly complemented by the classical soprano Grace Davidson and jazz singer Sumudu Jayatilaka.

Dracula is a Hartswood Films production, commissioned for BBC One by Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content and Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, and is a co-production with Netflix. Executive producers are Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue for Hartswood Films, Ben Irving for the BBC, Larry Tanz and Carolyn Newman for Netflix.

Showing on BBC 1 on January 1st, 2nd and 3rd, the three 90 minute films star Claes Bang stars in the role of Dracula with the cast including John Heffernan, Joanna Scanlan, Dolly Wells, Sacha Dhawan, Jonathan Aris, Morfydd Clark Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Matthew Beard, Lydia West and Catherine Schell. The series will premiere on BBC One in the UK and on Netflix outside of the UK and Ireland. [http://www.silvascreen.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

MovieScore Media: "THE LEGEND OF THE WAR HORSE" music by Anne-Kathrin Dern and Daniel James


MovieScore Media has issued music to all kinds of cinematically influenced shows from gladiatorial battles and to retrospective fashion-themed exhibitions. The latest addition to this catalogue comes courtesy of composers Anne-Kathrin Dern and Daniel James with The Legend of the War Horse.  The story is about a Mongolian soldier who leaves his home for battle to protect his family. The music was specifically written for an open air play in Mongolia, featuring hundreds of horses as well as aerial performances.

As composer Anne-Kathrin Dern recalls: “Throughout the story we get several flashbacks to his home life until he dies in the final battle. Mongolia is known for its magnificent horses and their historic cavalry. In order to capture this story, we worked closely with folk musicians from Mongolia who recorded plenty of traditional vocals and instruments for us, such as the Matouqin and their unique throat singing. We then went to London to record the world-class musicians from the London Metropolitan Orchestra with Jake Jackson engineering at AIR Studios. The result is the best of both worlds – traditional Mongolian folk melodies combined with Western orchestral music.”

Born in Eutin, Germany, Anne-Kathrin Dern graduated from the UCLA Film Scoring program. She started out working as a sample developer and percussion library programmer before getting her first mock-up commission on the Alan Menken/Christopher Lennertz medieval comedy Galavant. As a composer, her traditionally melodic writing can be enjoyed in such films as  Lilly’s Bewitched Christmas (2017), and Help I Shrunk My Parents (2018), as well as her collaborations with Klaus Badelt, most notably on the 3D animated ballerina movie Leap! (2016). MovieScore Media has previously released The Jade Pendant and Lilly’s Bewitched Christmas from her filmography. [http://moviescoremedia.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

MovieScore Media: "HELP, I SHRUNK MY PARENTS" music by Anne-Kathrin Dern


MovieScore Media once again teams up with German composer Anne-Kathrin Dern (The Jade Pendant, Lilly’s Bewitched Christmas) to release Help, I Shrunk My Parent, the delightful fantasy/comedy score inspired by one of science-fiction’s most popular questions – what if we could change size? Following the success of Help, I Shrunk My Teacher, Felix (Oskar Keymer) and Ella (Lina Hüesker) return for yet another adventure – this time, they have to save one of their parent’s from the effects of the shrinkage while they get help and face obstacles from the characters of the previous picture.

“This first movie in this series by Blue Eyes Fiction and Sony Pictures was Help I Shrunk My Teacher and its original composer Klaus Badelt generously gave the reins to my studio for the sequel while he stayed on as score producer. It was the greatest pleasure to write 4 new themes for this magical adventure comedy: the mysterious school theme, the quirky villain theme for Hulda Stechbart, the melancholic family theme, and the sweet and warm love theme. The third act contains plenty of action music as the characters embark on their final mission to save their school, which was particularly fun to write. We also had the incredible honor to take the score to Galaxy Studios again, where we recorded it with the marvelous musicians from the Brussels Philharmonic under the direction of Matt Dunkley.”

Born in Eutin, Germany, Anne-Kathrin Dern graduated from the UCLA Film Scoring program. She started out working as a sample developer and percussion library programmer before getting her first mock-up commission on the Alan Menken/Christopher Lennertz medieval comedy Galavant. As a composer, her traditionally melodic writing can be enjoyed in such films as  Lilly’s Bewitched Christmas (2017), and Help I Shrunk My Parents (2018), as well as her collaborations with Klaus Badelt, most notably on the 3D animated ballerina movie Leap! (2016). MovieScore Media has previously released The Jade Pendant and Lilly’s Bewitched Christmas from her filmography. [http://moviescoremedia.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

MovieScore Media: "FINDING HOME (Håbet)" music by Nicklas Schmidt


MovieScore Media’s latest television score release hails from Denmark with the four-episode long television event Finding Home (aka Håbet) with music by Nicklas Schmidt. The orchestral score accompanies a story set in 1899 of 15-year-old Marie and her two younger siblings who live in an orphanage. Their father is a sailor and has not been home for three years. Everyone except Marie thinks he is dead. One day as Marie gets a clue that her father has been seen alive, she flees the orphanage, cuts off her hair, disguises herself as a boy and embarks on a long and dramatic journey on the freight ship “Hope” to search for her father and reunite her family

As composer Nicklas Schmidt explains about the music: “ I found it particularly inspiring to illuminate the maritime subject of the story from two sides: One that was going along with the big waves, the melancholic longing for faraway shores, underlined by symphonic strings; and one that spoke the language of sailors and common people and is expressed through a folk trio. This blend gives the score a quite unique character – and it also experiments with mixing up the two genres in crucial moments of the storyline.” The folk melodies are inspired by Danish, Norwegian and Irish tunes, but are composed originally for this project and brought to life by the astonishing trio Dreamers’ Circus. The music is performed by the Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by Dirk Brossé.

Nicklas Schmidt has written the score for a number of feature films, documentaries, video games and TV series, including the hit Danish comedy Klassefesten 2 (2014) and children’s animation ranging from the 3-D adventure The Great Bear (2011) through the genre parody Ronal the Barbarian (2011) to the haunting Beyond Beyond (2014). He also worked as an arranger and orchestrator on the Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated score for the Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything, composed by Jóhann Johánnsson. Nicklas’ A Conspiracy of Faith and All I Want for Christmas were released by MSM. [http://moviescoremedia.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

MovieScore Media: "THE SECRET OF IMMORTAL CODE" music by Pantawit Kiangsiri


MovieScore Media explores the film music of the Far East with the big orchestral score for the Chinese science-fiction movie The Secret of the Immortal Code by emerging Thai composer Pantawit Kiangsiri. Directed by Wei Li and Nan Zhang and stylishly shot in black and white, the film takes place in a dystopian future where the world’s population has become sick. To save her dying sister, Ziqi Lin (Jing Liang) embarks on a journey to the Arctic to seek the last hope, with guidance and help from a pharmaceutical tycoon Dr. Yao (Lixin Zhao). Unknown to Ziqi is that the journey of hope is actually the part of a dangerous conspiracy that threatens everyone’s life.

Performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the score is a love letter to many maeastros of our common sci-fi past, particularly Jerry Goldsmith. “After producer Wang Donghui explained his vision to revolutionize Chinese science fiction with The Secret of Immortal Code, I immediately knew it was a chance to fulfill my childhood musical dreams,” says the composer. “I wanted to create something excitingly new but at the same time, making musical tributes to my favorite sci-fi film scores of the past. In the orchestral part, I paid homage to my composer heroes such as Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, James Horner or Christopher Young. As for something new, large chunks of the music were scored by using only double bass with soloist Ryan Baird coming up with a variety of strange sounds that can be produced by this instrument acoustically.”

Pantawit Kiangsiri is a composer from Thailand who has written for films, television, video games and the concert hall. After scoring over two dozen shorts, his score for The Secret of the Immortal Code marks his first major genre release in theatres. His other credits include writing music for Warner Brothers, Netflix, Digital Domain, Sony and Vevo. Kiangsiri graduated from the Scoring for Motion and Television Program at USC, having studied with Bruce Broughton and Christopher Young. [http://moviescoremedia.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

MovieScore Media: "GINA & CHANTAL" music by Joris Hermy


The 10-part Belgian television series Gina en Chantal, starring Tine Embrechts and Nathalie Meskens, receives a strikingly elegant score by Joris Hermy, who recorded the show’s theme music at the prestigious Abbey Road Studios in London. Written by Gerrie Van Rompaey and directed by Thomas De Cock, the series is a tragicomedy inspired by the recent resurgence of “real housewives” types shows where wealth and power are a mere facade for human drama. As rich but naive Gina and her cleaning lady Chantal get dragged into a mystery that captivates an entire villa neighborhood, the unwilling accomplices learn that partnerships can start in the most unlikeliest of places.

“Thomas De Cock knew from the outset that music would play a crucial role,” recalls Joris Harmy about the project. “My job as a composer wasn’t just to write fitting music, but also to try to add a psychological layer that would make the story even more intriguing. The challenge was accepted and I went off to compose my first demos. Little did I know, that I would embark on a writing trip that would span almost three years. Thomas turned out to be a great collaborator and became a friend. His trust and freedom to explore have been extraordinary. It pushed me out of my comfort zone more than once and I believe that’s why it has elevated the music to be more than just functional. The opportunity to record and conduct the opening titles and closing credits at Abbey Road was an unexpected bonus and was indeed a dream come true for me.”

Belgian composer Joris Hermy has worked for diverse popular television networks like VTM(Kzoom), VIER & RTL Telekids and a loyal base of respectable international clients like Stan Lee’s World of Heroes, Studio 100, Klomp! Animation, Audiocult, Brandy & Twice Entertainment to name a few. In recent years he scored multiple shorts, most notably the a Sundance audience-awarded short Avalon or the popular Marvel-based web series Bad Days, created by the legendary Stan Lee. Joris’ music for the YA mystery series Kattenoog is available from Kronos Records. [http://moviescoremedia.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

MovieScore Media: "BLACK SITE" music by Max Sweiry


MovieScore Media delves into another world with this 80s-inspired ‘synthwave’ score, written and produced by up and coming film composer Max Sweiry, with additional music by Joe Froud and Simon Martins. Black Site is a wonderful addition to the genre which has been popularized by retro scores such as Stranger Things and Mr. Robot. Black Site is the third film written and directed by Tom Paton, which can only be described as a John Carpenter-esque action film, where a young woman is forced to push past her worst fears and battle to deport an ancient entity back to where it came from. Set inside an underground military base known as The Artemis Black Site, the movie mixes an Escape From New York style survival story with Lovecraftian elements, as we witness an elite military unit encounter a supernatural entity, known as The Elder Gods, forcing them into battle against an army from another world.

Composer Max Sweiry explains: ‘When I met with Tom Paton to discuss the music for Black Site, it was clear that above all, the score had to compliment the style in which the movie was written; we could have gone with a big epic orchestral score throughout the fight scenes and emotional instances, but this would not have given the film the feeling the director envisaged. After agreeing on the use of synthesizers and electronic elements to bring the movie into the 80s, we realised that certain modern elements were also needed to compliment the mysterious tone surrounding characters such as The Elder Gods. Melodic driven 80s elements bring a supernatural feeling to the movie, whilst the darker more modern tones help to bring to the forefront a pending feeling of doom which is reflected through the main character and the battle she faces throughout the film.’

London based composer Max Sweiry has shown his diversity within the Black Site score by blending a traditional 80s inspired style of composition with more modern elements to create something truly unique. He continues to show his diversity as a composer through upcoming projects, composing and producing a full classical score for Tom Paton’s latest epic space creation, G-Loc. [http://moviescoremedia.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

MovieScore Media: "MAT BIEC" music by Christopher Wong


MovieScore Media takes a venture to the cinema of Vietnam with the latest collaboration between composer Christopher Wong and director Victor Vu. Following the nostalgic Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass, the superhero movie Loi Bao and the dystopian The Immortal, the wistful M?t bi?c adapts a classic story by Nguy?n Nh?t Ánh, the author of Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass, Vietnam’s official submission to the 2016 Academy Awards. The movie tells the one-sided love story of a young man Ngan (Tran Nghia), who  still carries the torch for his childhood sweetheart Halan (Trúc Anh), but their romance holds a few painful surprises…

MovieScore Media’s album features Christopher Wong’s beautiful romantic orchestral score as well as the song ‘Có Chàng Trai Vi?t Lên Cây’ by Phan M?nh Qu?nh. As Christopher Wong explains about the score: “After I read the script, I knew this would be a special project because it had all of the things I love in my favorite stories and movies — a complicated romance full of both joy and heartache, characters that we follow from childhood to adulthood, and a feeling of nostalgia, remembering the happiest moments in our past.  Since the story is set in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, one of the things I wanted to do was give the score a classic feel at times, occasionally hinting at harmonic language that would be at home in a Golden Age film score, to impart that feeling of nostalgia. The prevalence of classical guitar in the score is something we enjoyed working with, as the main character Ngan is an old fashioned songwriter, and that sound becomes a part of his identity.”

Composer Christopher Wong has established himself as the go-to composer for the rising generation of Asian American directors. Christopher’s interest in film music began late in college when he was selected by the music department to study privately under Jerry Goldsmith. His first major credit was Journey from the Fall, the debut feature from director Ham Tran – the film received a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival, while the score earned a nomination from the International Film Music Critics Association for Best New Composer of 2007. MovieScore Media has released Christopher’s scores for The Rebel, a historical drama set in 1920 French Indochina, the romantic comedy How to Fight in Six Inch Heels and his last few collaborations with Victor Vu, including Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass, Loi Bao and The Immortal. [http://moviescoremedia.com/]

Jeremy [Six Strings]

MovieScore Media: "DISCOVERY COLLECTION VOLUME 19 - WHEN WE LEFT EARTH: THE NASA MISSIONS" Music Composed by RICHARD BLAIR-OLIPHANT


MovieScore Media’s Discovery Collection is Richard Blair-Oliphant’s Emmy-nominated orchestral score for the 2008 documentary series When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions. The score album is released in 2019 in celebration of the 50th anniversary year of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Narrated by Gary Sinise, the six-part television event on Discovery Channel gave viewers a unique look at the Golden Age of space travel, including episodes dedicated to the Mercury and the Gemini program, the various Apollo missions, Skylab, the Hubble Space Telescope, International Space Station as well as the tragedies of the Challenges and the Columbia.

“It’s no accident that the main theme is called ’Heroes’,” explains the composer about his themes. ”The risks that the first astronauts took were extraordinary – they were indeed heroes and deserved a heroic theme. But in addition to the astronauts’ jeopardy, the music also had to reflect the beauty and tranquility of space. Astronauts almost universally describe the ‘Overview Effect‘, the overwhelming and emotional experience of seeing the Earth for the first time as a tiny, fragile rock suspended in space. Three of tracks in the album have the word ‘home‘ in the title – and ultimately the score is predominantly about the Earth, our home.” The score was recorded at Air Lyndhurst, orchestrated and conducted by Benjamin Wallfisch.

Richard Blair-Oliphant has scored more than 50 film and television projects to date. His film credits include The All Together starring Martin Freeman, the found footage flick The Dinosaur Project, and Blindsight for Oscar-nominated director Lucy Walker. In television he is best-known for period dramas (Moonshot, The Relief of Belsen, 1066). His score for Discovery’s When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions was nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music and Sound at the 30th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards. In conjunction with When We Left Earth, MovieScore Media releases another documentary score by the composer, The Life of Earth. [http://moviescoremedia.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

MovieScore Media: "THE LIFE OF EARTH" Music Composed by RICHARD BLAIR-OLIPHANT


MovieScore Media presents the latest documentary score of Emmy-nominated composer Richard Blair-Oliphant: The Life of Earth. Created for the  Smithsonian Channel, host Ronan Summers guides viewers through the exciting history of our planet, highlighting how new research adds to our perception of what happened in the 4.5 billions of years that shaped Earth into the home of mankind.

”The Life of Earth then looks back at the Earth with the perspective gained from the voyage into space, which I already covered in my 2008 score When We Left Earth,” explains the composer about how this work relates to one of his earlier commissions. “The music had to reflect both the awe-inspiring and often violent nature of that story. It then moves on to the more recent history of how humankind has influenced the planet over the last few million years. The score explores some bleak themes here, but also there is hope for our future, for truly we live in a “Remarkable Time” (the final track of the album).” The music was recorded at Tom-Tom studios in Budapest.

Richard Blair-Oliphant has scored more than 50 film and television projects to date. His film credits include The All Together starring Martin Freeman, the found footage flick The Dinosaur Project, and Blindsight for Oscar-nominated director Lucy Walker. In television he is best-known for period dramas (Moonshot, The Relief of Belsen, 1066). His score for Discovery’s When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions was nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Music and Sound at the 30th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards. In conjunction with The Life of Earth, MovieScore Media releases another documentary score by the composer, the  Emmy-nominated When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions which celebrates the Moon Landing anniversary. [http://moviescoremedia.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

MovieScore Media: "THE MATRIX SYMPHONY" Music Composed and Conducted by DON DAVIS


MovieScore Media ends the year 2019 with a world premiere recording released to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the Wachowski brothers seminal sci-fi classic The Matrix: Don Davis’ The Matrix Symphony, as conducted by the composer himself at the 2007 Tenerife International Film Music Festival. The annual gathering of film music fans hosts breathtaking concerts with unique line-ups and premiere pieces every year. The very first event, organized in 2007, hosted what may have been the single most epic undertaking of a newcomer festival – a 33-minute long piece featuring the highlights of The Matrix trilogy, featuring the Tenerife Film Orchestra and Choir under the composer’s baton.

The Matrix Symphony builds upon the thematic material of the classic sci-fi trilogy by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving. Each of the movements builds upon the highlights of the scores from the three movies: The Matrix (1999) and its concurrently shot sequels, The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2004). The three movement symphony gets an extra coda in the form of the epic finale of the last picture: the large orchestral/choral set-piece “Neodämmerung”, which underscores the final confrontation between Agent Smith and Neo, The Chosen One. As a special bonus, the album includes a 16-minute colourful suite from Ronnie Yu’s Warriors of Virtue (1997), also scored by Don Davis and performed in the same 2007 concert.

Composer Don Davis’ music for The Matrix and its sequels are considered landmark scores in the science fiction genre, but Davis has written other strikingly original and highly dramatic orchestral scores for films such as Jurassic Park III (upon John Williams’ recommendation), Bound, House on Haunted Hill, Behind Enemy Lines and the cult TV series SeaQuest DSV and Beauty and the Beast, both earning Davis Emmy Awards for best dramatic underscore. [http://moviescoremedia.com/]
 
Jeremy [Six Strings]

Walt Disney Studios: "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" [BLU-RAY/4K/DVD]


Ring in the new year with Disney’s most iconic villain: “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” — which soared to No. 1 worldwide opening weekend and earned an A CinemaScore and a 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes — releases on Digital in HD and 4K Ultra HD™ and Movies Anywhere on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, and physically on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray™ and DVD on Jan. 14, 2020. The thrilling sequel to 2014’s “Maleficent,” starring Angelina Jolie as Maleficent and Elle Fanning as her goddaughter Aurora, arrives home with brand-new bonus features, extended scenes, outtakes and an exclusive extra for Digital consumers.

Bonus features take viewers behind-the-scenes with the all-star cast to explore the making of “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.” Extended scenes reveal how Queen Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer) manipulates Aurora into questioning Maleficient and accelerating her wedding plans. Featurettes include interviews with Jolie, who discusses Maleficent’s origins and the cast who portray the Fey, and Fanning, who gushes over Aurora’s fairytale wedding. Filmmakers showcase the visual effects behind the film’s stunning landscapes and the seemingly effortless flight of the Fey. Additional extras include “You Can’t Stop The Girl,” a music video performed by Bebe Rexha, and hilarious outtakes, ranging from uncooperative cats to uncontrollable giggles on set.  


Fans who purchase “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” on Digital will gain access to an exclusive extra in which fantasy-film veteran Warwick Davis divulges the backstory for his character, Lickspittle.

Directed by Joachim Rønning, “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” carries on the story of Disney's most iconic villain. The years have been kind to Maleficent and Aurora. Their relationship, born of heartbreak, revenge and ultimately love, has flourished. Yet hatred between man and the fairies still exists. Aurora's impending marriage to Prince Philip is cause for celebration as the wedding serves to unite the Kingdom of Ulstead and the neighboring Moors. But, when an unexpected encounter introduces a powerful new alliance, Maleficent and Aurora are pulled apart to opposing sides in a Great War, testing their loyalties and causing them to question whether they can truly be a family.
 
Nice follow up to the previous film and this one doesn't disappoint... so pick your poison and watch a solid film!
Jeremy [Six Strings]