Byrd and Matt dig into the life and career of famed monster music composer Akira Ifukube! To do this, they interview Ifukube's official biographer Erik Homenick (who runs AkiraIfukube.org) and film music buff John DeSentis (conductor & co-organizer of the Ifukube 100 and Symphonic Fury kaiju music concerts). As an added bonus, they've brought some SUPER rare Ifukube music cues (reconstructed and recorded by John from Ifukube's manuscripts). This is UNHEARD Ifukube music you will only hear on this podcast! We discuss how the composer got involved in film music, his preferred instrumentation, why he didn't get along with Akira Kurosawa, his political views, his relationship with Ishiro Honda, how he felt about his kaiju scores, the creation of Godzilla's roar and more! Then we take a dive into how he got involved with the original Godzilla film, and debunk some common myths about the score. This is a packed episode, so listen up!