The animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off gets us back into the wonderful, wild and insanely colorful world of Bryan Lee O’Malley‘s original graphic novels. Our first entry point to this universe was Edgar Wright‘s 2010 film which lovingly adapted those works. It was awesome – filled to the brim with Wright’s style and charm, yet the great live-action film retained the 2D atmosphere of the books. Now fast-forward more than a decade later and Netflix dropped this incredibly reverent and all encompassing eight-part animated series. It cherry picks the best from O’Malley’s ideas and Wright’s film (including the voice cast who return to reprising their roles) to expand/explore the…
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Interview…Kay Hanley and Tom Polce on Bringing Melodic Magnificence to ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’
Hey there, score fans. If you’re like me, the first property you think of when someone says “musical” is probably not Star Trek. Well, you’re not wrong, but thanks to the efforts from the dynamic duo of Kay Hanley and Tom Polce that’s gonna change. These two seasoned musicians have outdone themselves with the sing-song soundtrack that, as far as those characters who boldly go, really changes everything. Episode 9 in season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds made waves in TV as the first full musical episode in franchise history. Cleverly named “Subspace Rhapsody,” the story puts the crew of the USS Enterprise and others in this universe…
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Interview…Composer Gareth Coker on Worldbuilding, Melody Writing and Quiet Moments in ‘Ark’ on Paramount+
The last time we spoke to composer Gareth Coker, we had a lot of fun learning about his early days in music, and the exceptional work he did for the pair of Ori games from Moon Studios. This time, nearly four years to the day, we had him on the podcast to talk all about Ark: The Animated Series on Paramount+. An adaptation of the wildly popular game (and its expansions), ARK has to be played, watched and lived to be fully experienced. Suffice to say, this show takes liberties with its condensed story, yet in so doing retains core elements and gives the devoted gamers lots of what they’ve…
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Music Review…’Severance’ Soundtrack Is Chock-Full of Lumon Goodies
If you’re a fan of soundtracks and film scores, the team at Mondo has you covered. They take great pride in crafting physical media, they produce vinyl with audiophiles in mind, and they also care about the packaging. Like a lot! In fact, their slipcases have just as much detail as their amazing posters. Yet the cool thing about their albums is that the team gets to do way more than silk screen their work on foil variants. Albums give these artists/creatives a smaller yet more complex canvas than a poster and the team tries their darnedest to use every square inch (inside and out) to tell their story. The…
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Interview…Paul Haslinger on Electronic Soundscapes, Subtext, and Scoring Processes
If you were around in the ’80s, few things defined “cool” like music did. And, film fan or not, the top of that list is most likely going to be Tangerine Dream: the German electronic music outfit who dominated airwaves and theaters with their cutting edge electric sound. One key member of that ensemble pushing the electronic side of the band was young Paul Haslinger who joined up with them after their big hits like Sorcerer and Risky Business. Bringing a younger video game sensibility, he helped change the course of their sound for the better and contributed plenty including scores to Near Dark, Miracle Mile and Three O’Clock High.…
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Interview…Joseph Trapanese on Chamber Music, Cellos, and Choir in ‘Spiderhead’
One of the busiest film musicians out there has to be Joseph Trapanese. Let’s call him “Joe.” Joe is a composer. These days, Joe is happy. In fact, he’s very, very happy. And why wouldn’t he be? He’s one of the most sought-after magic makers and has a brilliant track record working on huge films with megastar directors. In Netflix’s Spiderhead, Joe reunites with director Joseph Kosinski (with whom he previously worked on TRON: Legacy, Oblivion, and Only The Brave). Aside from working closely with his good friend Joe K – we’ll call him “other Joe” – Mr. Trapanese had the unique opportunity to get away from the music that…
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Music Review…Mondo Brings ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ to the Real World
Many years ago, while pondering his place in the world, a man once asked a very timeless question: “Why, oh why didn’t I take the blue pill?” Yes, the character of Cypher (played by the incomparable Joe Pantoliano) is very much like all of us. Life threw him a choice, and after choosing a path he’s not sure it’s the right one. Buyer’s remorse if ever there was a cinematic equivalent. And I’m sure we all feel that when a film just doesn’t move the mercury for us. Similarly, we probably wish we could take steps to remake our choice. Last year, we got to plug back into The Matrix…
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For Your Consideration…’Cowboy Bebop’ Soundtrack: Perfect Selections
In our most recent review, we had a blast talking about Cowboy Bebop…even though we weren’t very fond of the live-action update. But there is one thing we can never get enough of: the music. You can hear Rob, Pete and I bounce back and forth between both versions of the show here, but one final note about the series (if we didn’t already talk about it enough in that episode) is that the free-flowing, toe-tapping, otherworldly sound Yoko Kanno & Seatbelts brought to this universe is just brilliant. Each note, riff and all-out jam session amplifies the anime’s narrative beats helping to make the series so endearing and enjoyable.…
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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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Exclusive: Phil Mossman’s Debut Track from the ‘Funny Face’ Soundtrack
Film composer and recording artist Phil Mossman is perhaps best known for his work as a member of the iconic electronica band LCD Soundsystem. Most recently, he has distinguished himself as a the composer of a number of independent film projects, including many works by the director Tim Sutton, the most recent of which is the western The Last Son, starring Thomas Jane and Heather Graham, which was released this month through Redbox. We’ve been impressed with Mossman’s sound from his work with Will Bates (as part of Fall On Your Sword), and highly recommend the 2007 LCD Soundsystem album ‘Sound of Silver‘ (make sure you check out ‘North American Scum‘). As such, we’re thrilled…
