The mainstream entertainment world doesn’t get a lot of animated dark fantasy. So, besides outliers like Fire & Ice, Heavy Metal, and, to a degree, Netflix’s Castlevania, if you wanted to dive deep into mystical and alluring universes in the world of adult animation, your choices are finite. Now enter a curious entry called The Spine of Night. It clicks most of the boxes those titles occupy, and then some. Sorcery? Check. Wildly imaginative? Check. Violence, nudity and dazzling visuals? Check, check and check! The Spine of Night is an epic fantasy tale about the history of a land that never was. The story begins when an ambitious young man…
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Interview…Composer/Orchestrator Tim Davies on ‘Maya and the Three’
Tim Davies leads a very busy musical life, and the Grammy- and Annie-nominated musician splits his time between orchestrating for features, television, and video games; composing his own scores; and conducting and arranging for orchestras all around the globe. Whether it is as composer/orchestrator/conductor or a combination of all three, he’s been a part of Frozen and Frozen 2, both Ant-Man movies, The Lego Movie 2, La La Land, Trolls, Minions, The Peanuts Movie, The Croods: A New Age, Empire and WandaVision. He is currently lead orchestrator for Christophe Beck, Mark Mothersbaugh, and Fil Eisler. When not on the scoring stage, Davies can be found at the podium conducting orchestras…
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Interview…Brittany Allen On Acting, Composing and Finding Her Voice
Brittany Allen, aka BRITT, is a multi-disciplinary artist, who on the heels of a successful career as an actor, is now emerging as one of the most exciting young female composers to watch. Her first score was for the critically acclaimed indie What Keeps You Alive (SXSW ’18) which was named a NYTimes Critic’s Pick, one of Rolling Stone’s Top Ten Horror Films of 2018, and hit the Top Ten films on Netflix. She followed that up with her “soul-tugging score” for Z, one of AMC / Shudder’s most watched films of 2020. Most recently, Allen scored the fan favorite episode of “American Horror Stories,” the anthology spinoff of the…
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Interview…Marco Beltrami and Miles Hankins Collaborate on ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’
In the world of film scores, there are many composer/director relationships that get a lot of notoriety. But in the last twenty years, co-composing has become more accepted and just as celebrated. Many times – due to the nature of the business and the timelines on certain projects – it is simply a necessity. Whether it’s temporary help, or invaluable creative input throughout the assignment depends on the project, but having that extra bit of assistance can bring a new voice, err sounds and ideas to the palette. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard on the first two Nolan Batman films, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on The Social Network,…
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Interview…Brian Tyler on ‘The Fast Saga’, Personal Projects and Connecting with the Audience
When it comes to contemporary composers, Brian Tyler is one of our favorite musicians. He is supremely accomplished – skilled in playing piano, guitar, drums, bass, cello, world percussion, guitarviol, charango and bouzouki – and able to walk through multiple genres, even in the same film. It’s been a long time since we interviewed Brian about his work, but he’s done a lot since 2016. Over the years, we’ve had lively and insightful conversations about some of his standout scores: Rambo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Iron Man 3, Now You See Me, The Expendables 3, and Criminal. For years, Brian has been interested in listening to and deconstructing a wide…
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Interview…Junkie XL on the Mondo Box Set of ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’
It’s been a while since we chatted with Tom Holkenborg (aka Junkie XL), and boy how his career has soared. It wasn’t enough to follow George Miller to the ends of the ear and destroy the sonic landscape with such raw and powerful drums. As an artist, he had to push farther, and we’re so glad he did. His signature blend of rhythms – a style that comes from deep down in his DNA – can be heard in all his scores no matter how far apart they seem on the surface. Are we saying that Mad Max: Fury Road, Mortal Engines and Sonic the Hedgehog are the same? Yes.…
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Interview…Author Eric Maikranz on ‘The Reincarnationist Papers’
One of the biggest films hitting screens this years is the Antoine Fuqua-directed actioner Infinite. As far as recent heady sci-fi, it’s as wild, imaginative and complex as it comes. The story is adapted from a novel by D. Eric Maikranz and is part of a series where a handful of people recall their past life memories and reincarnate over and over again. These 28 people created a secret society called the Cognomina centuries ago so that they could associate with each other from one lifetime to another. They are, in effect, near immortals — compiling experiences and skills over diverse lifetimes into near superhuman abilities that they have used…
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Interview…GoSeeTalk Contributor Federico Furzan
Hey, film fans. Hope you’re doing well. Can you believe it’s already June? I can honestly say that 2021 is, even at the halfway mark, tremendously better than 2020. Businesses are open to full capacity, theaters are back in business and you can go see your friends without a great many limitations. GoSeeTalk has been a one-man show since I cut the team lose in 2014 so they could pursue other, more professional opportunities. They are still missed. But this year, we start embracing the team atmosphere once again. And many times, teams work because of friendship. If you’ve been paying attention to the reviews recently, particularly the byline, you’ll…
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Exclusive: Interview…Stephanie Economou Discusses Collaboration and Inspiration on ‘Jupiter’s Legacy’
Stephanie Economou is a composer and violinist based in Los Angeles, CA. Her early successes have emerged from her exploration and study of widely varying musical styles, including classical, experimental, folk and rock. Stephanie’s experience in film scoring extends from drama to action to comedy, which has demanded the synthesis of an electronic and acoustic musical palette. It is her uniquely hybridized compositional voice which has proven a valuable asset across a wide spectrum of visual media. Stephanie is the composer of the upcoming Netflix TV series Jupiter’s Legacy, based on the comic series by Mark Millar. She has written the music for the Lionsgate/Starz series Step Up: High Water,…
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Interview…Travis Andrade on Guts and Gun Culture in ‘Wesley’
Travis Andrade is an award winning filmmaker whose short films have screened at international film festivals in North America, Europe and Australia. Early on in his career, Travis shot and directed awarding winning branded content. Andrade’s music videos for the likes of Interscope and Virgin amassed tens of millions of hits and have been featured in numerous online publications. His latest endeavor a stunning short film that follows a young boy in a world where gun culture and live shooting drills has changed our education system forever. The success of the short is that is does not point a finger at anything or anyone. Instead, he shows a sort of…
