After a brief hiatus, The Film Scorer podcast returns with guest Nitin Sawhney! Nitin and I originally planned just on discussing his latest score, which is for the film What's Love Got to Do with It? but coincidentally timed the interview to coincide with the announcement of his next album, "Identity". As such, we start off by discussing his new album and the recently released single, "Darling Boy", which features vocals from Guy Garvey and lyrics that Garvey used to sing as a lullaby to his then-newborn son. We then dig into Nitin's fascinating hybrid score for What's Love Got to Do with It?, which mixes traditional modern romantic elements, fairy tale motifs, and Indian classical music; it's a combo I've certainly never heard. In relation to the score, Nitin discusses the relatively identical nature of Indian and Pakistani classical music, the line between culture appropriation and appreciation in music, and collaborating with Naughty Boy, and legendary Qawwali singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

You can find out more about Nitin on his website. What's Love Got to Do with It? is in theaters in the UK, Nitin's score, as well as many of his other works, is available digitally on all major platforms and his new album "Identity" is forthcoming (though you can listen to the single, "Darling Boy", here).

Brian Tyler (Fast & Furious franchise, Yellowstone franchise, Avengers: Age of Ultron) joins The Film Scorer Podcast, finishing up our unofficial "month of Tylers"! Brian is fresh off the back of scoring the global smash hit The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and we spend the bulk of our conversation discussing his score and experience. This ranges from Brian's lifelong fandom of Mario games (as a kid he'd cut out articles about Mario composer Koji Kondo and game designer Shigeru Miyamoto from magazines), the surreal experience of working with Kondo and Miyamoto, and filling the score with homages to the many iconic themes and motifs that fill the Mario universe. On the way he even spends a few minutes talking about his score for the upcoming Fast X, with his face and voice filling with excitement when he discusses his theme for Jason Momoa's new character.

You can find out more about Brian on his website. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is in theaters, and Brian's score, as well as many of his other works, is available digitally on all major platforms.

Better late than never - The Film Scorer returns for the annual tradition of covering the ten "best" film scores of 2022. There's also an eleventh honorable mention of arguably my favorite film score release of the year. These scores aren't presented in any particular order, and are really just favorites - who's to say what's "best"? Feel free to chime in with some of your favorites from the world of film and beyond; even if they didn't make the list, chances are they were close!

One note: I mention that two composers are on their third collaboration, while I meant to say that the score marks their third collaboration with the film's director.

Fresh off of scoring the critical and box office hit action film John Wick 4, Tyler Bates (Guardians of the Galaxy Vols. 1 & 2, 300, The Punisher) joins The Film Scorer Podcast! Unsurprisingly, Tyler and I spend a decent amount of time talking about his work on John Wick; not just the latest film, but his work across all four entries and his collaboration across each with Joel J. Richard as well. Throughout the chat, we also cover Tyler's latest series, the animated action/spy show Agent Elvis on Netflix (which he co-scored with Tim Williams), his interest in equitable collaboration, and how he continues to push himself to improve and break his own boundaries.

One note: prior to the interview Tyler had spent the preceding few days playing shows with Jerry Cantrell and flying across the country, so he has a slight cold throughout.

You can find out more about Tyler on his website. John Wick 4 is in theaters while Agent Elvis is on Netflix, and Tyler's scores, as well as many of his other works, are available digitally on all major platforms.

Anne-Kathrin Dern is the latest guest on The Film Scorer Podcast! You might be most familiar with Anne's lush, thematically-rich traditional orchestral scoring on a number of family and animation films, but she's started to slowly move into more hybrid and pure electronic/textural film and game scoring as well. As such, we talk about this transition and how mixing up scoring styles makes her grow as a composer well maintaining her excitement in the field. This transition recently culminated with her latest score, The Devil Conspiracy, a far more electronic, textural horror score that also features heavy use of organ and choir. It's an unusual score for Anne, but also admittedly the most fun she's had scoring in a long time! We then move into discussing some heavier topics, including the recent article from The Guardian regarding MeToo in the composing world, the lack of opportunity for female composers, and the necessity for having open conversations about these types of issues.

You can find out more about Anne on her website. The Devil Conspiracy is now available on demand and Anne's score, as well as many of her other works, is available digitally on all major platforms.

Tim Hecker, one of the leading voices in experimental electronic music (sometimes referred to as "ambient") joins The Film Scorer Podcast! Tim and I primarily talk about his score to the new film Infinity Pool, a psychedelic, nasty ride with an equally wowing, disorienting score. Among the stranger aspects of the score is that Tim actually utilized the sounds of Mediterranean cicadas, spending hours trawling through YouTube for the perfect samples before eventually turning them into a sort of Baltic banjo in a Deliverance homage for the regressive, yet future-forward dystopian mythical island state on which the film takes place. We then get into, among other things, the problematic nature of the "ambient" genre label and our increasing disconnect with music.

One note on this interview: after the introduction, it begins mid-conversation between Tim and I. Our pre-interview small talk started going too deep, so I felt the need to capture it and keep it going rather than abruptly stop it to start a more "formal" interview.

You can find out more about Tim on his website. Infinity Pool is now available on demand and Tim's score, as well as many of his other works, is available digitally on all major platforms. Although the score is not available there, most of Tim's works are available directly through bandcamp.

With 2022 over, The Film Scorer covers some of the best and most notable film scores released from the last three months of the year. These include scores like Babylon by Justin Hurwitz, All Quiet on the Western Front by Volker Bertelmann, and many more. A breadth of film music awaits!

The episode opens with some awards season coverage, recorded prior to the BAFTA awards ceremony, and so predicts a Hurwitz win even though Volker Bertelmann ended up winning.

Keep your eye on The Film Scorer website for reviews and articles covering some of these scores and see below for articles covering some of my favorite scores for the following months, including detailed writeups and lists:

October: https://thefilmscorer.com/the-best-film-scores-of-october-2022/

November: https://thefilmscorer.com/the-best-film-scores-of-november-2022/

December: https://thefilmscorer.com/the-best-film-scores-of-december-2022/

Three-time Oscar nominated composer Carter Burwell (True Grit, Three Billboards Outside Billing, Missouri) joins The Film Scorer Podcast! We primarily talk about his latest score, which also happened to land him his third Oscar nomination (as well as another BAFTA nom), The Banshees of Inisherin! This includes determining the sound palette (going from initial ideas for period-appropriate Irish music to incorporating an Indonesian gamelan), pulling out the essence of Colin Farrell's character, and more. Along the way, he gives his thoughts on experimentation in film music and the benefit of having more time to sit down and score, while briefly covering his a capella score for Catherine Called Birdy.

I was immediately drawn to Carter's score, in part because it deviates from and subverts expectation. Carter creates a sort of dark fairy tale, balancing a childlike sense with melancholy and foreboding, all through a minimal and restrained sound palette. On this point, he told me "When I started really thinking why does this music work or what am I trying to achieve, I began thinking that what it really is doing is turning the movie into a fable. It’s playing a little more like a fairytale.” This comes, in part, because of Carter's choice to largely use the music to play off of Colin Farrell's character, to embody him and his troublesome journey through the film.

You can find out more about Carter on his website. The Banshees of Inisherin is currently available on HBO Max and Carter's score, as well as many of his other works, is available digitally on all major platforms.

I recently chatted with experimental composer Maya Shenfeld about her first major foray into film scoring: the Oscar shortlisted documentary The Flagmakers. Fresh off of her critically acclaimed debut album, In Free Fall (which experiments through electroacoustic arrangements), Maya's score for The Flagmakers is a contemporary, modernized take on traditional American minimalism (á la Reich and Glass). Not only do we discuss these two pieces, but we also cover Maya's long-time interest in film music, dive into the world and communities of experimental music, and more.

You can find out more about Maya on her website or on bandcamp. The Flagmakers has not yet been released, and Maya is still working on potentially releasing (and expanding) her score for the documentary, although her prior works are available on all major digital platforms (and her cinematic album called Cinematic Minimalism and released under the nom de guerre Rouge Fou.

Composer Zak Engel joins me to kick off 2023, and end my brief interview hiatus. We primarily chat about his score for the mind-bending sci-fi thriller Ultrasound, which released a couple of years ago but for which Zak's score has only recently come out. It's a really cool, engaging score filled with older analog synth sounds and more modern electronics, building on influences from folks like Mort Garson, Disasterpeace, and Daniel Lopatin/Oneohtrix Point Never. We also talk about some of Zak's personal influences, how he got into film, and Zak even tackles a few of my surprise and unfair abstract questions about film, music, and the art of scoring.

You can find out more about Zak on his website or on bandcamp. Ultrasound is currently available on Hulu, while Zak's score (and many of his prior works) is available on all major digital platforms.