The Annotator

The Annotator

By Christopher ColemanMusicMusic Commentary
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The Annotator episodes

  • Dominik Scherrer - Requiem (Ep. 19)
    Dominik Scherrer - Requiem
    Dominik Scherrer is a British-Swiss composer, mostly known for his award-winning music for Ripper Street, Marple & BBC's The Missing.  Dominik’s credits further include Scenes of a Sexual Nature starring Ewan McGregor and Hugh Bonneville, and Alice Through The Looking Glass starring Kate Beckinsale. Scherrer is currently scoring The Widow, an eight-episode original series for ITV & Amazon, starring Kate Beckingsale. Another recent composing project for Scherrer is BBC One and Netflix psychological thriller “REQUIEM”.
    REQUIEM was created and written by Kris Mrksa and directed by Mahalia Belo. this brand new psychological thriller series, starring Lydia Wilson, tells the story of brilliant young cellist Matilda Gray. When her mother inexplicably commits suicide, Matilda discovers tantalizing evidence linking her mother to the disappearance of a Welsh toddler 23 years before. When Matilda decides to travel to Wales, determined to explore the link between the two terrible events, her life suddenly spirals into a giant mystery and she starts to obsessively search for her true identity.
    In this episode DOMINIK SCHERRER talks about the unique challenges he faced in creating a mysterious and unsettling score for the series; how John Tavener influenced him to write for cello to create an ethereal; otherworldly feel for the score, and how he collaborated with Natasha Kahn (Bat for Lashes) to add her vocals and omnichord to give its score its cultish feel.
    ANNOTATED TRACKS
    02:02 - Track 4 - Adopa
    03:58 - Track 11 - Xai
    06:47 - Track 9 - Edlprnaa
    08:39 - Track 6 - Saaiz
    10:10 - Track 10 - Lavavoth
    OTHER TRACKS
    00:00 - Track 1 - Aigra
    SOUNDTRACK
    The original score by Christopher Willis was released on Februrary 9, 2018 by Dubois Records and can be found on Amazon.com, iTunes and streaming on Spotify.
    MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSER
    You can hear more music from Dominik Scherrer at his official site. 
    ABOUT THE ANNOTATOR
    Produced by Christopher Coleman (@ccoleman) and you can 
    Find more episodes at THEANNOTATOR.NET or you can subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher Radio or wherever you find quality podcasts.
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    13 min
  • Christopher Willis - The Death of Stalin
    Christopher Willis is an Emmy-nominated, multi-talented composer working in the mediums of film, television, and games. Christopher is known for his work on HBO's hit comedy series, Veep, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. He currently scores The Lion Guard and the multiple Emmy Award-winning Disney Mickey Mouse shorts. One of his most recent project was for the feature film, THE DEATH OF STALIN.
    The Death of Stalin is a 2017 political satire film directed by Armando Iannucci. It chronicles the Soviet power struggles set off by the death of dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953. The film is based on the graphic novel of the same name.
    The film was released by eOne Films in the United Kingdom on October 20, 2017 and is set to be released in the United States by IFC Films on March 9, 2018. The film was also screened at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival to critical acclaim. 
    Christopher Willis’ score for The Death of Stalin has garnered much praise and a nomination for Best Music at the 2017 British Independent Film Awards and in this episode, he talks about writing a score in the great Soviet tradition of music composition.  He shares about how he made the jump into this segment of the classical world of music; Willis describes his road to discovery of the powerful and pompous Soviet scores as he prepared to write his own for the satire. 
    ANNOTATED TRACKS
    01:55 - Track - Moscow 1953
    04:35 - Track - Beria's Plan
    06:16 - Track - Special Delivery
    06:49 - Track - Removal Men
    08:41 - Track - Pall-Bearers
    10;52 - Track - He Looks So Small
    11:42 - Track - Back from the Gulags
    13:02 - Track - Let the People Come
    15:44 - Track - Setting the Trap
    17:35 - Track - Staging a Coup
    20:14 - Track - Flowers
    21:16 - Track - A Comedy of Terrors
    SOUNDTRACK
    The original score by Christopher Willis was released on December 1, 2017 and can be found on Amazon.com, iTunes and streaming on Spotify.
    MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSER
    You can hear more music from Christopher Willis at his official site. Or follow him on Twitter @mrchriswillis
    ABOUT THE ANNOTATOR
    Produced by Christopher Coleman (@ccoleman) and you can 
    Find more episodes at THEANNOTATOR.NET or you can subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher Radio or wherever you find quality podcasts.
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    25 min
  • Carlos Rafael Rivera - Godless
    Carlos Rafael Rivera is a commissioned and award winning composer whose career has spanned several genres of the music industry, including his original score for Universal Pictures' A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES, starring Liam Neeson. 
    A protégé of Randy Newman, Rivera is also a guitarist and has performed onstage as opening act for The Who at the Hollywood Bowl. His work for the performing arts has been featured by some of the most prominent ensembles and soloists, including: Arturo Sandoval, Colin Currie, the Chicago Sinfonietta, and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. He has also served as Composer-in-Residence with the Miami Symphony Orchestra. 
    One of his most recent projects is for FOR the NETFLIX original series, GODLESS, directed by Scott Frank, produced by Steve Soderbergh, and starring Jeff Daniels and Michelle Dockery. This serie tells the story of a ruthless outlaw terrorizes the West in search of a former member of his gang, who’s found a new life in a quiet town populated only by women.
    In this episode, Carlos Rivera talks about his 18 month journey in writing the score - writing some 4.5 hours of music for the series. He also shares about the evolution of some of the key musical moments, and just how he worked closely with the show’s creative team and instrumentalists throughout which opened new doors for creativity to the composer.
    ANNOTATED TRACKS
    01:42 - Track - Godless Suite
    OTHER TRACKS
    00:14 - Track - "Godless Theme"
    08:06 - Track - "Finale"
    SOUNDTRACK
    No release information is available.
    MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSER
    You can hear more music from Carlos Rafael Rivera at his official site. Or follow him on Twitter @composer313
    ABOUT THE ANNOTATOR
    Produced by Christopher Coleman (@ccoleman) and you can 
    Find more episodes at THEANNOTATOR.NET or you can subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher Radio or wherever you find quality podcasts.
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    10 min
  • Waveshaper and Robert Parker - Videoman
    Waveshaper is a Swedish, electronic music artist inspired by the soundtrack scene of the 80s early 90s. He emerged back in 2013 and has become one of the most well known artists in the Synthwave scene. In 2016 he released the album “Station Nova” on NRW Records and contributed with four original tracks to the PS4 / Xbox game “Furi."
    Originally a classically trained pianist, Swedish electronic musician, Robert Parker, went from tracker music during the 90s to retro-esque in the following decade. His studio is located in Stockholm, where he creates music that ranges between chiptunes to disco. He does regular live shows. and has played in Canada, Australia, France, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Russia and China.
    VIDEOMAN is a Swedish, independent film directed and written by Kristian A. Söderström, where a VHS collector and a woman obsessed with the 80s, both alcoholics, initiate a romance that helps them battle their personal failures.
    In this episode. both WAVESHAPER AND ROBERT PARKER talk about this, their first work for a feature film.  They discuss how they came onto this unique project and compare it to their experience in writing music for other genres like Irish folk music, short films and video games.  They also talk about their approach to their score by using nostalgic instrumentation to help tell this contemporary story, yet not be limited by this instrumentation as their total musical palette.
    ANNOTATED TRACKS
    02:03 - Track 2 - Videoman (Waveshaper)
    05:07 - Track 14 - Confronation (Waveshaper)
    06:19 - Track 4 - Simone's Theme
    OTHER TRACKS
    00:05 - Track 10 - Drift Apart (Robert Parker)
    09:25 - Track 1 - Prologue (Waveshaper)
    SOUNDTRACK
    The release of the original soundtrack for VIDEOMAN releases on January 26, 2018 and is available digitally at Amazon.com.
    MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSER
    You can hear more music from WAVESHAPER at his official Bandcamp page. Or follow him on Twitter @waveshaper_SWE
    You can also hear more music and find out more about ROBERT PARKER’ at his official tumblr page or follow him on twitter @robertparkerSWE
    ABOUT THE ANNOTATOR
    Produced by Christopher Coleman (@ccoleman) and you can 
    Find more episodes at THEANNOTATOR.NET or you can subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher Radio or wherever you find quality podcasts.
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    Type
    12 min
  • Stephen Baysted - Project Cars 2
    Composer Stephen Baysted Award-winning British Film, TV and Video Game is well known for his versatility and for his emotionally charged and expressively powerful music.  His recent scores for film include I, Claude Monet, Renoir: Revered and Reviled, and The Impressionists. For video games, some of his recent scores include the number one bestselling racing titles: Electronic Arts: Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed and Need for Speed: Shift; Atari's Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends; Project Cars and his most recent, Project Cars 2.
    Project CARS 2 is the second installment in the best-selling and critically-acclaimed Project CARS motorsport franchise developed by Slightly Mad Studios. Building on the success of 2015’s chart-busting, multi-platform Project CARS, Project CARS 2 takes the franchise and its fans into a blistering new era of motorsport simulation with the largest track roster ever seen on console, a wholly revamped out-of-the-box gamepad experience, 5 motorsport disciplines, 29 motorsport series, 180 cars from dozens of elite brands, and over 140 revolutionary “living”, organic tracks in 60 locations , to bring you the most authentic racing game ever devised. 
    In this episode, STEPHEN BAYSTED talks about how, even though there is no music during actual gameplay, his score is designed to take players through a great range of emotion. He talks about how his music actually prepares the player psychologically for each upcoming race. One of Baysted's other goals was to get inside the actual head of a racer and express those things that think about and experience before a race. To accomplish this Baysted interviews racing driver Ben Collins to get his unique perspective on racing … and you will hear bits of those very interviews in this episode as well.
    ANNOTATED TRACKS
    07:30 - Track 1 - Eau Rouge
    11:14 - Track 4 - Race to Win
    14:26 - Track 3 - Pressure
    17:38 - Track 11 - Guts and Glory
    OTHER TRACKS
    20:43 - Track 8 - The Long Road
    SOUNDTRACK
    The release of the original soundtrack for PROJECT CARS 2 was released on September 22, 2017 and is available digitally at Amazon.com and iTunes and is available to stream on Spotify.
    MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSER
    You can find out more and hear more music at STEPHEN BAYSTED’S official site http://www.stephenbaysted.com/
    You can follow Wilbert Roget on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenbaysted
    ABOUT THE ANNOTATOR
    Produced by Christopher Coleman (@ccoleman) and you can 
    Find more episodes at THEANNOTATOR.NET or you can subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher Radio or wherever you find quality podcasts.
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    23 min
  • Daniel Pemberton - "Assassins Breathe" (Bonus Track)
    In this first-ever, Annotator Bonus Track episode, DANIEL PEMBERTON returns to deliver some insight into one of the most memorable pieces from the score, ASSASSINS’ BREATHE (KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD). He talks about his weirdest moment in his composing career and director Guy Ritchie’s desire for unusual elements in his scores drove him to new lengths when writing.
    ANNOTATED TRACKS
    02:50 - Track 13 - Assassins Breathe
    SOUNDTRACK
    The KING ARTHUR - LEGEND OF THE SWORD original soundtrack with original score by Daniel Pemberton has been released BY WATER TOWER MUSIC. A  digital 30-track deluxe edition was rel on May 5, 2017 and later the standard,  26-track verion on CD on May 19, 2017.  You can find the soundtrack  at Amazon.com, iTunes or streaming on Spotify..  http://amzn.to/2rdkaMi
    MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSER
    You can find out  and hear more music by DANIEL PEMBERTON at his official website DANIELPEMBERTON.COM or follow him on twitter @danielpemberton
    ABOUT THE ANNOTATOR
    Produced by Christopher Coleman (@ccoleman) and you can 
    Find more episodes at THEANNOTATOR.NET or you can subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher Radio or wherever you find quality podcasts.
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    8 min
  • Wilbert Roget, II - Call of Duty: World War II
    Wilbert Roget, II is an award-winning composer in the video game industry. He joined LucasArts as a staff composer in 2008, where he scored several games in the Star Wars universe, including Star Wars: The Old Republic and Star Wars: First Assault. Later as a freelance composer, he scored video games such as: Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Dead Island 2, Anew: The Distant Light and other indie and AAA titles.
    Inspired at an early age by classic Japanese game soundtracks, Roget specializes in writing music that employs memorable themes, developed throughout the score in a traditional fashion.  Wilbert Roget II’s most recent video game score is for the famous CALL OF DUTY franchise.
    Call of Duty® is makes a dramatic return to the greatest military conflict in history and where the franchise first began, World War II.  CALL OF DUTY: WORLD WAR II takes the franchise back to its roots in a bold cinematic experience that captures the unforgettable heroism of the soldiers who fought together in a war that changed the world forever. Activision's gripping new title is an honest portrayal of World War II from the perspective of the famed 1st Infantry Division, with an ensemble cast of global and diverse characters. Through stunning visuals and intense audio, players storm the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, march across France to liberate Paris and ultimately push forward into Germany in some of the most monumental battles of all-time.
    In this episode, Wilbert Roget II discusses coming on to score the next entry into the popular video game franchise originally scored by composer Michael Giacchino back in 2003. Giacchino's Call of Duty scores greatly influenced Roget's career choice and were scores he once studied in college. You will hear Wilbert Roget talk through four tracks "Marigny, Paris, Burga and A Brotherhood of Heroes" having selected each track as they best exemplify his CALL OF DUTY: WORLD WAR II score, the game’s musical direction and collaborative process employed to make the score a reality.  
    ANNOTATED TRACKS
    02:50 - Track 3 - Marigny
    06:16 - Track 8 - Paris
    09:09 - Track 19 - Berga
    11:15 - Track 1 - A Brotherhood of Heroes
    SOUNDTRACK
    The release of the original soundtrack for CALL OF DUTY: WORLD WAR II was released on November 3, 2017 and is available digitally at Amazon.com and iTunes and is available to stream on Spotify.
    MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSER
    You can find out more and hear more music at WILBERT ROGET’S official site http://www.rogetmusic.com
    You can follow Wilbert Roget on Twitter at twitter.com/wilbertroget
    ABOUT THE ANNOTATOR
    Produced by Christopher Coleman (@ccoleman) and you can 
    Find more episodes at THEANNOTATOR.NET or you can subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher Radio or wherever you find quality podcasts.
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    16 min
  • Jason Graves - Lone Echo
    Jason’s diverse musical background as a composer, drummer, keyboardist, guitarist and world percussionist allow him to expertly compose in many different genres of music. As a result, his game credits alone include more than one hundred titles, ranging from electronic and rock to full symphonic scores. He performs world percussion, drums and guitar on many of his own tracks and has conducted and recorded his live orchestral scores at Abbey Road Studios, Air Studios London, Capitol Records, FOX, Paramount Pictures and Skywalker Sound. One of JASON GRAVES’ most recent project has been for the VR video game, LONE ECHO.
    Lone Echo is a virtual reality adventure game developed by Ready At Dawn, and published by Oculus Studios. Set aboard a space station orbiting Saturn, it allows players to move in zero-gravity by grabbing and pushing off of the environment. In addition to the narrative single-player game, the title includes a team-based multiplayer sports mode called Echo Arena, which was also released as a stand-alone game.
    The original music for Lone Echo and Echo Arena combines ambient, analog synth soundscapes with gritty drums and features the ethereal vocals of Malukah. Lone Echo and Echo Arena were released on July 20, 2017.
    In this episode, JASON GRAVES talks through a LONE ECHO suite that he wrote and includes how he incorporated the heavenly vocals of Malukah in subtle and surprising ways throughout the piece. He goes on to share how he combines this with his extensive use of synthesizers to underline the games’ central focus: the relationship between humanity and technology.
    ANNOTATED TRACKS
    03:16 - Track 5 - So Near, So Far (Suite from Lone Echo)
    OTHER TRACKS
    00:00 - Track 1 - Welcome to Kronos II
    02:08 - Track 4 - Rings of Saturn
    21:24 - Track 3 - Entering the Arena
    SOUNDTRACK
    The release of the original soundtrack for LONE ECHO was released on August 30, 2017 and is available digitally at Amazon.com and iTunes and is available to stream on Spotify.
    MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSER
    You can find out more and hear more music at JASON GRAVES’ official site http://www.jasongraves.com/
    You can follow Jason Graves on Twitter at twitter.com/jgmusic
    ABOUT THE ANNOTATOR
    Produced by Christopher Coleman (@ccoleman) and you can 
    Find more episodes at THEANNOTATOR.NET or you can subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher Radio or wherever you find quality podcasts.
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    23 min
  • Michael Nielsen and Kaveh Cohen - Forza Motorsport 7
    Michael Nielsen and Kaveh Cohen - Forza Motorsport 7
    Kaveh Cohen and Michael Nielsen are composers and producers of music for film, television, video games, and motion picture advertising. They have collaborated on projects for over 10 years and, between them, they have scored successful game franchises such as: League of Legends and Splinter Cell; for television: the History channel’s epic, 12-part series “America: The Story of Us" and Marvel’s hit animated series “Wolverine and the X-Men”. They’ve also produced music used in the movie traliers such as: "Rogue One," Creed, The Hunger Games, Mad Max: Fury Road, True Detective, Game of Thrones "Doctor Strange," 
    One of their most recent project has been for one the most successful motorsport franchises in the world, FORZA MOTORSPORT 7. The racing video game was developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft Studios, and is the tenth installment in the Forza series. It was released on Microsoft Windows and Xbox One on October 3, 2017.  The game has earned high marks from around the gaming community including a rating of 8/10 from Gamespot, a 9.2/10 from IGN, and an 86 from Metacritic, 
    In this episode, Mchael Nielsen and Kaveh Cohen talk about their musical journey from the symphonic scope of Forza Motosport 6 to the more “vintage rock” tone of Forza Motorsport 7.
    ANNOTATED TRACKS
    02:13 - Track - FM6 Theme - “Forza Motorsport” (FM6)
    05:08 - Track - Love of the Sport  (FM6)
    05:54 - Track - From Flag to Flag (FM6)
    07:10 - Track - Big Bang (FM7)
    09:03 - Track - Dialed In (FM7)
    11:03 - Track - Hanky Pank (FM7)
    12:14 - Track - Lock It Up (FM7)
    OTHER TRACKS
    00:00 - Track - From Flag to Flag (FM6)
    01:12 - Track - Big Bang (FM7)
    18:43 - Track - FM6 Theme - “Forza Motorsport” (FM6)
    SOUNDTRACK
    The release of the original soundtrack for FORZA MOTORSPORT 7 is slated for release in December 2017 by Sumthing Music Works., the soundtrack for FORZA MOTORSPORT 6 is available digitally at Amazon.com and iTunes and is available to stream on Spotify.
    MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSERS
    You can hear more music and find out more about the composers at MICHAEL NIELSEN’S and KAVEH COHEN’S official site’s http://michaelnielsen.com and kavehcohen.com
    You can follow KAVEH COHEN on Twitter at twitter.com/kavehcohen and MICHAEL NIELSEN at twitter.com/audiomichael
    ABOUT THE ANNOTATOR
    Produced by Christopher Coleman (@ccoleman) and you can 
    Find more episodes at THEANNOTATOR.NET or you can subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher Radio or wherever you find quality podcasts.
    FOLLOW US
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    21 min
  • Grant Kirkhope - Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
    Grant Kirkhope - Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
    Grant Kirkhope is a BAFTA nominated composer who has created the soundtracks to video games that have sold in excess of 30 million copies including "Ghostbusters”, “GoldenEye 007," “Banjo-Kazooie”, “Perfect Dark.” “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.” “Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth” and “Viva Piñata." One of his most recent projects has been for the hit video game, “Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle”
    Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle follows the most iconic video game character, Mario, and the irreverent Rabbids, on an unexpected journey to save the Mushroom Kingdom, in a new turn-based combat adventure. Developed by Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Paris,* Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle features Mario, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Luigi and four Rabbid heroes taking on combat, puzzles and exploration across four iconic worlds. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle takes full advantage of the play anywhere, anytime ability of the Nintendo Switch, with battles playable on-the-go or at home. The video game was released on August 29, 2017.
    In this episode, Grant Kirkhope shares his story on how he was brought on the game not knowing it was a Mario based game. He also compares and contrasts his midi mock ups with the final recording with live orchestra of the games title theme and his new theme for Bowzer.
    ANNOTATED TRACKS
    07:14 - Track - “Peach's Castle” Midi / live
    12:39 - Track - “Bowser's Theme (Boss Battle)" Midi / live
    OTHER TRACKS
    00:00 - Track 10 - "Hoppers"
    03:14 - Track 16 - "Tower Tweeter"
    17:40 - Track 10 - "Hoppers"
    SOUNDTRACK
    The original scoundtrack to MARIO + RABBIDS KINGDOM BATTLE was released digitally in August 2017 and can be purchased at Amazon.com or iTunes, and can be streamed on Spotify.
    MORE ABOUT THE COMPOSER
    You can hear find out more and hear more music at GRANT KIRKHOPE'S official site http://grantkirkhope.com
    You can follow GRANT KIRKHOPE on Twitter at @grantkirkhope
    ABOUT THE ANNOTATOR
    Produced by Christopher Coleman (@ccoleman) and you can 
    Find more episodes at THEANNOTATOR.NET or you can subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher Radio or wherever you find quality podcasts.
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    Facebook @TheAnnotator
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    20 min

About The Annotator

From the publisher's feed

The podcast where composers share thoughts and stories about their original scores. In every episode, a composer tells the creation story of their music used in some of today's top film,…