“Snowpiercer” by Marco Beltrami

I‘ve read an interesting interview with Marco Beltrami the other day in which especially one quote of him stood out for me and made me think. On the question, whether he thinks that genre movies and scores would stick out if they were as offbeat as Snowpiercer, Beltrami said the following: Well Im not sure what the “genre” is for “Snowpiercer,” but yes, if every movie was an original idea and was focused on creating something new rather than imitation, than they would stick out! Even if a movie doesn’t completely work (which is not the case here), it is better to strive for…

Lost Covers, Vol. 1

I don’t know why, but a few days ago, late at night, I was thinking about all my “failed” attempts at creating well-crafted cover art. I was visiting the Final Fantasy Shrine Forums, browsing through all that awesome cover art posted there and I wondered how much time the people over there invest in this creative, time-consuming hobby. Are they as nitpicky as me? Everyone loves his own creations, otherwise we wouldn’t publish it, but for my part it sometimes degenerates a bit. I often spend hours on one single image. I’ve created one cover with thirty-three different font types,…

“True Detective” by T Bone Burnett/Various Artists

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…

“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” by Howard Shore

Over the last couple months I slowly started working on The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, knowing there would be a rich bouquet of source material I’ll be able to choose from. But the surprising lack thereof made it a lot more difficult to come up with high-quality stuff. In my opinion the official posters lack of devotion and imagination. I can’t explain why Warner made no use of such great locations like “Dol Guldur” or the eponymous desolation of Smaug. So this time I had to grab a little deeper into my box of tricks. Yet, incredibly, I ended…

“World War Z” by Marco Beltrami, Muse

After last week’s The Last of Us I’m pleased to give to you the next entry in my so-called “Summer Zombie Survival Trilogy”. Marco Beltrami’s World War Z. I always enjoy the clear sound and dynamic range in Marco’s scores and this one makes no difference. Next to Chris Young he’s probably my favourite horror genre composer out there. Add to this a pulsating main theme by Muse (which didn’t make the album cut sadly) and you’ll get one of the best and most thrilling scores of the summer. The concept for my main custom cover (#1) was there from…