“True Detective” by T Bone Burnett/Various Artists

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True Detective may be my TV surprise of the year so far. This HBO series is superb in every way! Be it the original characters (Nic Pizzolatto) and their portrayal (Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson), or the brilliant direction (Cary Fukunaga) and stunning cinematography (Adam Arkapaw). Everyone involved with this series performs at the top of the game and I cannot recommend it highly enough. But the game-changer for me has been T Bone Burnett’s meticulous selection of songs, that are featured so prominently within each episode. He assembled a collection of songs that is utterly fantastic. Unfortunately there hasn’t been an official soundtrack album yet, neither…

“A Scanner Darkly” by Graham Reynolds

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I‘ve yet to fully embrace Graham Reynold’s score to A Scanner Darkly. Its dark, brooding sounds interweaved with Jazzy, almost Avantgarde outbursts make it the perfect match for Linklater’s Sci-Fi art film. But listening to it on its own is another story. Yet I’m still coming back to it consistently. It’s a definite “grower”. The original artwork (#1) made quite a few things right, although someone didn’t think it through to the end. The spacing of the text is different above and below the logo. Also the term “Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” is just a bit too long. That’s a no-go, especially for a movie as visually striking as…

“Knowing” by Marco Beltrami

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After my last monster project Godzilla I need to squeeze in a few smaller ones to cool myself down a bit. And so I started rummaging my iTunes library, listened to soundtracks and picked potential candidates. And it was during one of those listening sessions that I discovered two of Marco Beltrami’s recent, highly recommended(!) efforts Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and Soul Surfer. So I thought I’d seize that opportunity and come up with a few designs for a score I wanted to tackle for quite some time. My all time favourite of his works: Knowing. I’d like to begin with a few variations (#2,…

“Godzilla” by Alexandre Desplat

Categories: Alternates/Rejected Covers · Custom Covers · Digital Booklets · Making of · Mockups · Original Covers · Vinyl CoversTags: · 18 Comments

There are only a handful of new soundtracks each year that I want to support with custom album art. I normally pick my choices solely based on the respective directors or composers involved (this year that would be Gone Girl, Interstellar and The Hobbit). It happens very rarely that I encounter a new movie poster and immediately feel the urge to turn it into a custom cover. But it did happen in March with the SXSW poster to Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla. I quite enjoyed his directorial debut Monsters, but the art design for his follow-up project downright blew me away! From the posters campaign to the trailer (and hopefully so to Alexandre Desplat’s…

“Dawn of the Dead” by Tyler Bates, Various Artists

Categories: Alternates/Rejected Covers · Custom Covers · Digital Booklets · Original Covers · Remakes · Tribute Covers · Vinyl CoversTags: · · Leave a comment

Dawn of the Dead by Tyler Bates was on my searchlist for a very long time. While the score on album isn’t quite the listening experience I wanted it to be, there were a few key sequences in the film, that captivated me on first sight – and still manage to do so. Part of that is due to Bates’ tightly focused tunes which added a melancholic undertone to an otherwise simplistic, not to say mindless story. The first publication of the score, more or less, was in form of a promotional release by Universal Music Group and Strike Entertainment in…