The Album Leaf has been making its mark as a soft-spoken innovator steadily and surely since 1999. One year after forming the influential San Diego instrumental group Tristeza, songwriter & multi-instrumentalist Jimmy LaValle turned the solo studio project into a full-fledged live band. The diversity of The Album Leaf’s music is second only to the diversity of the music that has inspired LaValle through the years – the artist has named everything from German Ambient/Pysch bands like Can, Cluster and Harmonia to traditional mariachi music, electronic music and Brian Eno as some of his primary influences. Icelandic band Sigur Rós discovered LaValle and took The Album Leaf on tour with…
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Interview…Composer Erick Schroder on Hulu’s ‘The Ultimate Playlist of Noise’
Acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Erick Schroder is a film, theater, and video game composer whose compositions have included works for vocal and instrumental soloists, choral groups, stage musicals, jazz, and orchestral ensembles. In the last decade, Erick has created music for over seventy-five projects. While attending University of Southern California’s prestigious Scoring for Motion Picture and Television program, Erick honed his composition skills under the guidance of Oscar- nominated Bruce Broughton, Emmy winner Frederik Wiedman, BAFTA winner Garry Schyman (Bioshock) and others. After the program, Erick went on to be mentored by Emmy and Grammy-winning composer James Newton Howard. He also worked alongside the Oscar-nominated John Debney and horror legend Christopher Young…
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Interview…Daniel Pemberton on Aaron Sorkin’s ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’
UK-based composer Daniel Pemberton has such a distinctive voice, er sound, and his compositions never fail to leave us awestruck. The work he creates is as impacting as it is innovative. If that wasn’t enough, this multi-Golden Globe, Emmy and BAFTA Award-nominated musician has worked hand in hand with Ridley Scott, Darren Aronofsky, Guy Ritchie and other legendary directors. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is lauded as a game-changer in the action genre and really put him on the map, Steve Jobs is a masterful progression of digital bits and beeps that segues beautifully into lush symphonic splendor, the Black Mirror episode, U.S.S. Callister, is a darkly memorable alt.…
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Interview…Amelia Warner Captures Irish Mysticism in the Score to ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’
Breakthrough neo-classical composer Amelia Warner is best known for her stunning soundtrack for the 2018 Irish-American film Mary Shelley. It won Amelia the ‘Breakthrough Composer of The Year’ at the International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) Awards in 2019, and a nomination in the ‘Discovery of the Year’ category at the World Soundtrack Awards. However, before anyone got to hear her musical gift, she had a career in acting as she followed in her mother’s footsteps. Yet the desire to stay out of the spotlight and dabble in composing took root and quickly flourished. Warner’s debut major scoring project was the British short film ‘Mam’ which won several awards on…
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Interview…Howard Blake Career Retrospective: The Avengers, Commercials, Ridley Scott, Queen and ‘The Snowman’
Truly great pieces of art and entertainment come along once in a generation. They are so expertly crafted, and are so well appreciated that they eclipse a label like “iconic” and, by doing so, become legendary. When that happens, we can be moved, inspired and forever changed by what we’ve witnessed as a culture, population or individual. Sometimes you don’t even have to be part of that time/era or culture to recognize and value the impact, the power and the reach something has. Case in point: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Babe Ruth calling his shot, even a quaint animated children’s story. If we lost you on that…
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Interview…Composer Guillaume Roussel on Reviving ‘Black Beauty’
The holiday season is a great time to get together (safely!) with friends and family. And while the theaters are hurting, there’s still plenty of content hitting streaming platforms that we can enjoy with one another. One such title is the Ashley Avis penned/directed revamp of the classic novel by Anna Sewell which premiered exclusively on Disney+ on November 27. Guillaume Roussel was tapped to bring a fresh sound to Black Beauty. His palette was predominately the piano, but he added to it with a plenty of instruments including a dulcimer and other folkloric sounds/motifs. The result is a warm, heart-felt score that also becomes a bit of a travelog…
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Interview…Director April Mullen on Paranoia and Skewed Reality in ‘Wander’
This month, April Mullen‘s thriller Wander hits on Demand and Digital. The film sports an all-star cast including Aaron Eckhart (Midway, Thank You for Smoking), Katheryn Winnick (“Vikings,” The Dark Tower), Heather Graham (The Hangover, Boogie Nights), and Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones (The Homesman, No Country for Old Men). As a mixed Anishinaabe Algonquin (Indigenous) director, from Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, Mullen’s latest directorial effort is created in honor of all Indigenous, Black and People of Color who are targeted and have been displaced through border control on stolen land. It’s a vibrant yet sly neo-noir set in the Southwest, and it’s clear from the noteworthy opening that something is rotten in Denmark, I mean Wander. Whether it’s an unreliable…
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Interview…Composer David Fleming on Ron Howard, Hans Zimmer and ‘Hillbilly Elegy’
This year has taken a toll on all of us, and yet one constant has surfaced: family can get us through almost anything. Or maybe it’s that we’re more likely to survive Covid than our families? Either way, even though every family has its problems, we’re certainly better together than we are apart. As such, Hillbilly Elegy is about family and a whole lot more. The film adaptation of the best-selling book is directed by Ron Howard and, like all his films, there’s a real emotion weight because the story highlights the struggles and triumphs of characters who are broken or about to break. Helping give this tale its heart…
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Video Interview…Ema Horvath and Trey Tucker on Aliens and Paranoia in ‘What Lies Below’
In advance of the release of XYZ Films’ upcoming thriller, What Lies Below, we spoke to Ema Horvath and Trey Tucker about their characters and what they brought to the story. It’s an interesting film, and plays with ideas about paranoia and family troubles with aliens thrown in just to shake things up. It also, smartly, keeps the sci-fi elements in the periphery which puts focus on the tangible tension between the three main leads. In that respect, it’s got some similarities to The Twilight Zone. Written by Braden R. Duemmler, who is making his directorial feature debut, the film also stars Mena Suvari and Haskiri Velasquez. It’s sly sci-fi that succeeds…
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Interview…Nick Urata on DeVotchKa, Unique Instruments and ‘The True Adventures of Wolfboy’
Formed in Denver by multi-instrumentalists Nick Urata (vocals, guitar, trumpet), Tom Hagerman (violin, accordion), Jeanie Schroder (sousaphone, bass), and percussionist Shawn King, DeVotchKa is a four-piece multi-instrumental and vocal ensemble. Originally a backing group for local burlesque shows, they take their name from the Russian word meaning “girl” and recorded their debut album, SuperMelodrama, in 2000. The band finds their groove as a cross-pollination of numerous influences, and styles of gypsy punk, dark cabaret, indie folk, and indie rock. We spoke to Urata about his amazing career which has been just as varied and unique as his musical tastes. Nick comes from a musical family and his love of music…
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Interview…Composer Jeremy Turner on Saying Yes to Everything and ‘Marvel’s 616’ Docuseries
Composer, conductor, and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Turner is known for creating innovative and diverse music for the moving image and the stage. He is a two time EMMY nominee, has won the Music + Sound Award, the International Documentary Association Award, the AICP Award, and has been named in NPR Music’s Favorite Songs of the Year. Jeremy recently completed scores for shows on Disney+, HBO, and Netflix. Jeremy began his musical studies on the piano at the age of 5 and started playing the cello when he was 8 years old. After growing up in Michigan, he attended The Juilliard School as a pupil of Harvey Shapiro and studied chamber music with…
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Interview…Composer John Debney on Holiday Magic and the Spirit of Adventure
John Debney is a composer we’ve admired for years, and were lucky enough to speak with him in 2013 about his work on Bonnie & Clyde. This year, he’s got two projects that give him a fanciful canvas to weave his magic. In Come Away, the fantasy drama directed by Brenda Chapman blends key elements from Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. In this emotional ‘what if?’ story, Debney employs lush strings, tender piano, playful cellos, angelic choral work, even a full Irish band. All of those pieces blend and dance while underscoring the children’s active imaginations or, conversely, can pretty near break your heart…even in the same cue. Yes,…
