La La Land was the big winner at the 22nd Critics Choice Awards with eight wins, including Best Score for Justin Hurwitz and best song for “City of Lights,” written by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and performed in the film by Ryan Gosling. The Lion’s Gate film parlayed its buoyant run on the festival […]
Okay, they say the ratings were meh. But for this reviewer, NBC’s Hairspray Live! was an unqualified triumph, hitting all the right notes: it looked great; the tunes? Fantastic! Propelled me out of my seat, had me bopping to the beat. I was literally drawn to the screen, mesmerized by all the twirling, trilling and […]
Takeshi Furukawa’s The Last Guardian soundtrack is coming to vinyl in Q1. In addition Sony is also making the score available via the Composer’s Choice PS4 Music App, featuring 19 tracks that are available at the PlayStation Store. The soundtrack app supports both stereo and surround playback, and also allows users to export all the tracks as stereo […]
Based on the insanely popular Ubisoft videogame (more than 80 million units sold since 2007), the 20th Century Fox release expands on the mythology of the Templar Order that is the crux of the series’ mythology. Two-time Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender plays modern-day assassin Callum Lynch, created for the film, as well as his descendant, Aguilar de Nerh, of […]
Composer Justin Hurwitz created the music for La La Land, which stars Ryan Gosling as a pianist who falls for actress Emma Stone. Needless to say, Gosling spends quite a bit of screen time tinkling the ivories. “I practiced some of those piano pieces four hours a day for three months,” he shares, in the clip below. Stone […]
The trailer for Martin Scorsese’s much-anticipated holiday release Silence features music by John Hanson of the Santa Monica-based Confidential Music. company that had such break-out success with the early trailer for Suicide Squad (cutting a tune that actually made it onto the soundtrack). The Paramount film, which had its world premiere in Vatican City in November, starts […]
Even the BBC is weighing in on a Finnish research study tracing animus Nickelus, the root psychological cause of why people love hating the Canadian rock group Nickelback, which has sold more than 50 million albums. If that’s hate, I’m sure more bands would love to be on the receiving end of some of it! […]
Twenty-nine-year-old British composer and musician Mica Levy has become an awards season contender with her beguiling score for Fox Searchlight’s Jackie, which stars Natalie Portman as the former First Lady in the emotional aftermath of her husband’s assassination. An NPR feature quotes Levy talking about how her music “elevates the surreal element, because music creates a […]
German neuroscientist Manfred Spitzer has released a new study indicating “listening to sweet melodies” at an early age “is important for a child’s emotional and mental development and improves their intelligence, self-discipline and self-control.” The study, commissioned by Upper Austria governor Josef Puehringer to investigate the effects of music on 57,000 music students, was first reported in […]
Chanteuse Fiona Apple is ushering in a cool Yule with a fresh take on “The Christmas Song,” the holiday classic penned by Bob Wells and Mel Tormé in 1945. Apple’s version wistfully imagines “Trump’s nuts roasting on an open fire.” Sound cozy? Wait till you get to the part about “Mothers of color with their kids out of […]
