To celebrate his first full-length tv series score, Gareth Coker joins The Film Scorer podcast! You video game fans in particular may know Gareth from his work scoring games like Ori, Ark, and Halo Infinite, but Gareth hasn't stopped there. Given that he's already scored the various Ark games, it's no surprise that he was tapped to score Ark: The Animated Series, the animated adaptation of the Ark games. As such, we spend much of our interview talking about his scores for both the show and...

Five-time Grammy winner Mike Post joins The Film Scorer podcast! A lot of you will probably be familiar with Mike already, who boasts one of the most impressive tv resumes of all time. For those of you that aren't, Mike's responsible for the two-note “dun-dun” sound in Law & Order, as well as themes and scores for shows like The Rockford Files, Hill Street Blues, The A-Team, Magnum P.I., NYPD Blue, L.A. Law, various Law & Order shows, and many, many more. He's also played for and with...

Last year's Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey drew a pretty divisive reception, but my favorite part, Andrew Scott Bell's score, rose above all the noise and discord. With Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 about to release, Andrew joins me on The Film Scorer podcast. Unsurprisingly, Andrew and I spend a good chunk of the interview talking about his scores for both parts, including the aspect that impressed me the most: how he crafts an organic, "real" sounding score in the face of a very...

Another year, another list of the ten "best" film scores, this time I'm running through 2023. These scores aren't presented in any particular order - I intended to go alphabetically, but instead ended up going by vibes instead, wherever the solo conversation took me. At the end of the day, even though these are described as the "best", they're really just favorites - the idea of something being "best" in the arts is silly, and any attempt to discover that sort of "truth" futile. Feel free to...

Composer Tom Schraeder joins me for my first-ever in-person interview. Tom and I broke the ice by chatting for about an hour in my kitchen before heading downstairs and hitting record, and I think the comfort really shows up here. Tom has scored a number of horror films particularly, in addition to a long career as a folk musician, and we use both as jumping off points for our discussion, digging into more conceptual pieces rather than focusing on any single particular score or piece of music...

Composer Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch joins the show! Emilie's latest score is for the film All of Us Strangers, a sort of romance-fantasy-supernatural film that I found absolutely moving. As such, we primarily talk about her score for that film, including talking about striking an emotional balance (one that feels organic but not manipulative), avoiding falling into "period" piece clichés, and more. We then meander into other topics, like the use of Michel Legrand's score from The Go-Between...

The BAFTAs air on February 18 and the Oscars on March 10 - I know many folks don't necessarily like the awards season, but it's the time of year where film music has the spotlight on it and is celebrated in the mainstream. As such, here's a little peek into the seven nominated scores between the two awards. I've also done interviews on four of the eight nominated scores, so seek those out as well BAFTAs: Killers of the Flower Moon – Robbie Robertson Oppenheimer – Ludwig Göransson Poor Things...

The Film Scorer Podcast is back from its season 4 mid-season break! To celebrate in this return, Sam Haft joins the show! As of now, Sam might be best known for being one-half of the duo The Living Tombstone, alongside Yoav Landau. Unsurprisingly, we dig a little bit into this, including how Sam got involved in the band (and his broader musical journey) and what his music-writing relationship with Yoav is like. The bigger part of our conversation, however, surrounds the new Prime...

A few weeks ago Variety published an opinion piece about the use of Michel Legrand's score for The Go-Between in May December. The piece argued that not only was this choice ill-advised, but that reusing film music “is never a good idea.” It proved to be an interesting discussion topic, and a bit of a lightning rod, so I've given my thoughts briefly as well. Article: https://variety.com/2024/awards/opinion/why-music-for-may-december-viral-hot-dog-scene-is-problematic-1235866494/  My response...

Welcome to 2024, and welcome to another interview on The Film Scorer! Joining me to kick off the new year is harmonicist extraordinaire Frédéric Yonnet. Fred has toured and performed with an incredible slate of legendary musicians, like Stevie Wonder, Prince, John Mayer, Ed Sheeran, Erykah Badu, John Legend, The Roots, Usher, Talib Kweli, Yasiin Bey (f/k/a Mos Def), De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest, among many others. Even if you haven't heard of Fred before, you've definitely heard his...

2023 is nearly over, and to lead into the new year, The Film Scorer keeps you up to date on recent releases (perfect to chat about with your family over the holidays) by covering some of the best and most notable film scores released from July through September of this year, featuring scores like Oppenheimer by Ludwig Göransson, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Bottoms by Leo Birenberg and Charli XCX, and many more! Keep your eye on The Film Scorer...

Pulitzer Prize winning composer Michael Abels (Get Out, Nope) joins the show to round out 2023! Not surprisingly, Michael and I spend a fair amount of time talking about his work with Jordan Peele on the films Get Out, Us, and Nope, including a broad look at their working relationship and how it fulfilled Michael's long-time dream of working in film. But Michael also scored a couple films this year, which we then dig into, including The Burial and Landscape with Invisible Hand. Primarily, we...

As 2023 starts to close, and the awards season begins to heat up, I'm joined by the composer for what's being widely hailed as one of the best film scores of the year: Jerskin Fendrix. Jerskin's latest score is for the film Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. But not only is Poor Things Jerskin's latest score, it's also his first. And it just landed him a Golden Globe nomination. Unsurprisingly, then, we spend most of our conversation talking about Jerskin's score. While this is a...

Experimental composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (Candyman) joins The Film Scorer podcast in the midst of the year-end blitz. Rob's latest score is for the vérité-style documentary Grasshopper Republic. As such, we spend much of the conversation talking about, and around, Rob's score, which is certainly among the most overlooked of the year. Along the way we talk about Rob's general style and approach, tackle the big questions around how to roll back the commodification of music, and more. ...

I'm getting closer and closer to having conducted one hundred composer interviews, and yet I don't think I've ever covered a Marvel score in one (let alone any superhero score). With Laura Karpman (Ms. Marvel, What If...?) joining the show, that all changes. Laura is fresh off of scoring the latest MCU film, The Marvels, starring Brie Larson (Captain Marvel), Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel), and Teyonah Parris (Captain Rambeau), in an interplanetary adventure. As such, we spend most of the...

I've been familiar with Yair Elazar Glotman ever since I heard his score for Last and First Men, which he co-composed with the great Jóhann Jóhannsson. As such, it's great to finally have him on the show! Yair and I primarily talk about his score for the new Netflix crime thriller Reptile, for which Yair has composed a fairly dense, abstract, and textural score. The score - and the film overall - has homages to older noir films, helping solidify this film as a sort of neo-noir, but it's also...

In this somewhat Halloween-flavored episode, Rostam Batmanglij (Rostam) (ex-Vampire Weekend, The OA) joins the show! Taking a little detour from his solo and collab music, and writing and producing for other artists like Haim, Charli XCX, and Frank, Ocean, Rostam and I primarily talk about his new score for the film The Persian Version. Rostam's score is quite subtle and restrained, marrying ancient Iranian music with Western classical music, as well as some pop and more mainstream musical...

To keep the newly-launched season 4 momentum rolling, I'm joined by composer Christopher Willis! Chris is actually responsible for some of my favorite scores in recent years, like The Death of Stalin and The Personal History of David Copperfield, as well as the excellent series Veep (among other things). However, I managed to keep the fan side of me at bay until the very end of our chat. Instead, we chat about his most recent works: the score for the animated film Lamya's Poem, featuring an...

Season 4 is here! Charlie Clouser (the Saw series, Nine Inch Nails) joins the show to kick-off the latest season. Charlie and I talk about not just his score for the latest Saw film - Saw X - but his work throughout the series, including the famous and essential "Hello Zepp" themes found in each film. Near the end, Charlie indulges me on my personal curiosity regarding the surprising number of 90s and early 2000s industrial musicians that have found their way into the film and scoring worlds,...

Season four of The Film Scorer Podcast is almost here! The new season launches on Sunday, October 1st, with new episodes continuing every other Sunday after that (more or less). Given the breadth of guests in season three, including Daniel Pemberton, Tim Hecker, and recent Oscar winner Volker Bertelmann, you never who will show up this time around - all I can say is I already have some great guests lined up! So subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, follow The Film Scorer on Instagram...

Season 4 is just around the corner! But until then, satiate your film music appetite by joining The Film Scorer to hear about some of the best or most notable film scores released from April through June of this year, featuring scores like Carmen by Nicholas Britell, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny by John Williams, and many more! 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...

Even though Season 3 is over and Season 4 has yet to begin, The Film Scorer podcast returns with a new interview. This time, I'm joined by composer Sherri Chung! Sherri (Riverdale, Kung Fu) and I intended to chat about her three latest projects, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, Based on a True Story, and Happiness for Beginners, but got sidetracked for quite a bit. As a result, we spend a while talking about: the current writers' and actors' strikes, and the impact that those have on film and...

With Season 3 over and the prevalence of union strikes in the American film and tv landscape, I've decided to use this break to give a brief overview as to why composers in the US don't have a union (unlike almost everyone else in the industry). There's a little history in here, a little legal discussion, and some conjecture and opinions I've picked up from composers lately. That said, I've tried to keep my own opinion out of this (and this certainly isn't legal advice). Keep in mind that...

To celebrate the season 3 finale, I'm joined by Grammy winning composer Steph Economou! Steph's latest score is for the Dreamworks animated film Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. As such, we primarily talk about Steph's score, including her choice to approach the score with a "cinematic dream pop" palette, implementing unique instruments like conch shells and the Bohemian Cristal Instrument, and the daunting nature of this being her first feature animated project. Of course, we also talk about...