What Is The Last Score You Listened To From 2021?

[A24 4,327]

 

I'm in the process of watching this on Netflix. I didn't know who the composer was but I liked what I heard. At some point it even reminded me of Sakamoto, and lo and behold, turns out it is Sakamoto! 

[Jay 37,323]

James Newton Howard - Jungle Cruise

 

I just realized my problem with this album.  The first 30 minutes of it - from the Suite through "Encanto" - are spectacular, almost every track is fantastic!

This is followed by another 40 minutes of music, which has a much lower percentage of great tracks (really only "Petal Negotiations" compare to the bangers in the first 30 minutes)

 

Maybe just moving the Suite to the end instead of playing first would help a lot...

[Bespin 8,480]

Music is not just spectacular passages and bangers. Music is a lot of filling inspirational passages too!

[Jay 37,323]

Yes, and there is much more inspiration in the first 30 minutes of the OST album, than the last 40 minutes of the OST album

[KK 3,307]

Beckett by Ryuichi Sakamoto

Hmm. Even less remarkable and more redundant than Minimata. The only distinction this score has is the Penderecki Polymorphia-knockoff "action material", which is kind of a time-worn cliché at this point. There isn't much of a memorable tonal hook to this one either. It's a shame to think that Sakamoto's last distinctive film score might indeed be The Revenant.

 

 

 

Knowing by Marco Beltrami

Always surprised by how little credit this score gets, whenever I revisit it. Yes, it gets into less interesting broader Hollywood scoring by it's second half, but it's Herrmann-esque architecture just completely outclasses the film. This was of course from a time when you could expect good music in B-movie generic horror/thrillers.

[A24 4,327]

4 hours ago, KK said:

The only distinction this score has is the Penderecki Polymorphia-knockoff "action material", which is kind of a time-worn cliché at this point. 

 

Is that the part with dissonant trombones and French horns? That's when I noticed the music for the first time. I noticed it because the style is not typical for a contemporary action score. A little bit later I heard strings and that's when I thought: "This has to be Sakamoto". The rest of the score seems to be Sakamoto in his economical mode, using synths to cut down the costs, or at least, that's how it comes across. 

 

4 hours ago, KK said:

It's a shame to think that Sakamoto's last distinctive film score might indeed be The Revenant.

 

Yes!

 

[KK 3,307]

8 hours ago, AC1 said:

 

Is that the part with dissonant trombones and French horns? That's when I noticed the music for the first time. I noticed it because the style is not typical for a contemporary action score. A little bit later I heard strings and that's when I thought: "This has to be Sakamoto". The rest of the score seems to be Sakamoto in his economical mode, using synths to cut down the costs, or at least, that's how it comes across. 

 

 

It's mostly strings driven stuff, but there's some horn accents in there. Pretty derivative of Penderecki (think The Exorcist). To me, it's a cheap way to seem "artsy" or "unique", especially when the "avant-garde" ideas aren't especially unique to Sakamoto:

 

 

 

The tonal string writing in Beckett sadly just isn't memorable or very good, for that matter. And I think Sakamoto does the synth stuff for colour, not budget. A lot of his later career stuff is around playing with field recordings and sound design anyway. But in the case of his recent film work, it's just not very inspired...the kind of thing the new kids on the block do in their sleep.

[A24 4,327]

Well, he was very ill not so long ago. Might have something to do with it. 

[A24 4,327]

Also, and this is something I noticed along time ago, I only seem to like his big budget movie/high profile scores. They tend to be more orchestral and less electronic. Yes, I do believe his electronic scores have something to do with the available budget. I hope that he's scoring Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Limbo as we speak!

[Jay 37,323]

Cristobal Tapia de Veer - The White Lotus

 

I LOVE THIS, one of the most fun OST albums I've heard in a while.  Works amazingly well in the show itself (also great), too.  This is really good music to put on when I'm programming as well, really motivating

[HPFAN 1]

Um....why was my original ICONIC thread "What Is the Last Score You Listened To?" not being used? I demand an explanation. At this point I should have the record for the longest thread on this forum. 

[Jay 37,323]

26 minutes ago, HPFAN said:

Um....why was my original ICONIC thread "What Is the Last Score You Listened To?" not being used? I demand an explanation. At this point I should have the record for the longest thread on this forum. 

 

It's right here https://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/19349-what-is-the-last-score-you-listened-to

[Thor 7,478]

 

 

Film is from 2018, but the soundtrack was released today. Listening now on Spotify. I think it's a fascinating score -- quite minimal, and free of the size and overtness of his famous work in the 80s and 90s (entertaining as they were). Good on him for reinventing himself a bit now that he's basically "just" a teacher at a South African college. Has kind of a Sakamoto vibe, I think. Voices and percussion/chimes.

 

Regardless, it's rather weird to have a new Jones score out. A blast from the past.

[Jay 37,323]

James Newton Howard - Jungle Cruise

 

I like it!

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings by Joel P. West

 

Whaou I loved it !!! Probably one of my favorite of the year. I loved those percussion and the villain theme.

[KK 3,307]

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings by Joel P. West

 

The latest Marvel score is surprisingly full-bodied and dynamic. Following Black Panther's formula of incorporating colourful cultural accents with style and a modern edge. It's fun orchestral listening, with both taiko drums and woodwinds galore. And it's nice to hear a modern Hollywood blockbuster score with some presence (I'm looking at you Lorne Balfe), though it's not entirely free of the usual generic clichés either. And what it sadly lacks is any strong or compelling thematic tissue. A proper badass theme could have really saved this.

 

 

[Thor 7,478]

 

Been wading through hundreds of new promos recently, and most of the scores have either been bad or so bland they go in one ear and out the other. I don't tend to post about that stuff here. But here and there, you'll find a gem. This was one of them. Never seen the film (which is from 2020, but the 18-minute soundtrack is only coming out now), and not familiar with the Palestinian composer, but I love the middle eastern colours combined with an almost Preisner-like starkness on display here.

[Thor 7,478]

 

Two whole volumes of music from a new Spanish series I'm not familiar with. I hung out a bit with Palomares during a film music festival in Croatia a few years back. Nice fella. This is suave, quasi-classical music that reminds me of the glory days of fellow Spaniards Banos, Velazquez, Navarrate etc. before they got swallowed up by mainstream tropes. Quite impressive.

[Thor 7,478]

 

After the impressive TALE scores (TALE OF A LAKE, TALE OF A FOREST), I haven't really connected to Panu's scores since. But this one is lots of fun -- engrossing baroque/medieval/church music pastiche. Film is from 2020, but as is often the case with Moviescore Media, the soundtrack comes out considerably later, i.e. this year.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

Predators by John Debney

A nice fun score, truly in the spirit of the Silvestri's ones

[bollemanneke 3,338]

Listening to Black Widow. Brick-walled as hell. Too much percussion. Bland action cues. Weird piano distortion. Patience running low.

[Jay 37,323]

Yea other than some nice choir parts the album is pretty bad

[Jay 37,323]

Hans Zimmer - The Dune Sketchbook

 

Some really cool an interesting ideas, but the entire 102 minute album does not come close to being consistently engaging for its entire runtime.  These really feel more like bonus tracks you'd hear on an eventual catalog release decades later than what should be presented first ahead of the actual album, but here we are.

I was already looking forward to hearing Zimmer's score to this, and I guess this sketchbook didn't really change that opinion much, I'm still curious about it.  The cool parts here made me more excited for it, but the boring parts here made me less excited, so I guess it's a wash.

[Jay 37,323]

Andrea Datzman & Curtis Green - Dug Days

 

Sort of a Giacchino Lite score.  It starts from his Up sound and then goes into really light, kids cartoon fair.  It's nice enough.

[Thor 7,478]

 

The combination of Preisner, Gerrard and spirituality made me hope for another VALLEY OF SHADOWS. Alas, it isn't quite there -- it's more in the idiom of Byzantine music. But by all means a fine score.

[Edmilson 7,398]

 

Hey, this score is great!

 

I like how authentic this score sounds. If I didn't knew which movie this was written for, I'm surely would think it was for a chinese martial arts movie starring Jackie Chan, Jet Li, etc. 

 

Fans of scores like Kung Fu Panda and The Last Airbender will surely like West's mix of Hollywood melodrama with Chinese rhythms and instruments.

[Thor 7,478]

 

Met Maciek in Krakow a few years ago, and we hung out a bit. He gave me a CD of his score to CLOCKWISE, which quickly became a favourite (almost Goldenthal at times). Haven't heard much from him since, but this new score was a surprise. Rather broad electronic landscapes, a combination of synthwave and Zimmer's more chugging, ambient landscapes in recent years. Not on CLOCKWISE's level, and it's a bit uneven (some parts are a bit generic), but I like it!

[crocodile 7,990]

 Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings by Joel P West. It is surprisingly full-bodied. Feels like actual music, even. I am pleasantly surprised. 

 

Karol

[Jay 37,323]

Hans Zimmer - Dune

 

I liked it fine.  It fit a slow quiet foggy morning here.  Not sure if I'll be compelled to check it out again until after I've seen the movie

 

 

Joel P West - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

 

Meh, I was bored

[Bespin 8,480]

... And the prize for "What the hell is this score he's talking about?" goes to...

 

@Thor!!!

 

Congrats!

 

[publicist 4,643]

DUNE

Gave both albums a thorough listen. With every passing year it becomes harder to get one well-compiled album out of one blockbuster score. Between this and the sketchbook i now count about 3 hours of new Dune music by Zimmer & Co. and it feels like 2 of those could be excised without anyone complaining too much. So 'Dune' right now appears to be best served by the Sketchbook and three or four cues from the original soundtrack.

 

On the plus side, Zimmer is able to develop a truly alien 'language' for this (shades of Messiaen), even if it's for long stretches not a musically exciting one. The score album is the biggest culprit here, with an appalling lack of structure, minutes of content-free droning (read: musical zeroes) and only occasionally gripping cues (Stillsuits, for instance). The loud stuff is unbearable, but at least it's short.

 

The sketchbook is much more interesting, with the 18-minute 'I See You In My Dreams' being the most impressive showcase with its almost conscience-bending approach, but again, the album is almost two hours long and the material wears thin for even half of that runtime. The main idea, a short rising figure, recalls the revenge motif from 'Gladiator', and Zimmer develops it convincingly throughout (and through very different sections).

 

There will be a third release along the way and most of my goodwill to curate even more of this is used up already. It's not a loss, for sure, but it's a showcase for bad modern marketing decisions (roll-out of as many tie-in's as possible) at the expense of the music. A millenium Zimmer album of this would have been infinitely better and, most importantly, would have spared me the work of digging through hours of white noise hardly above whispering level. So it's recommended with some reservations, but certainly not the home run many hoped for.

[crocodile 7,990]

The first 3 tracks on the sketchbook is all I need. 

 

Karol

[Brónach 1,301]

1 hour ago, publicist said:

DUNE

Gave both albums a thorough listen. With every passing year it becomes harder to get one well-compiled album out of one blockbuster score. Between this and the sketchbook i now count about 3 hours of new Dune music by Zimmer & Co. and it feels like 2 of those could be excised without anyone complaining too much. So 'Dune' right now appears to be best served by the Sketchbook and three or four cues from the original soundtrack.

 

On the plus side, Zimmer is able to develop a truly alien 'language' for this (shades of Messiaen), even if it's for long stretches not a musically exciting one. The score album is the biggest culprit here, with an appalling lack of structure, minutes of content-free droning (read: musical zeroes) and only occasionally gripping cues (Stillsuits, for instance). The loud stuff is unbearable, but at least it's short.

 

The sketchbook is much more interesting, with the 18-minute 'I See You In My Dreams' being the most impressive showcase with its almost conscience-bending approach, but again, the album is almost two hours long and the material wears thin for even half of that runtime. The main idea, a short rising figure, recalls the revenge motif from 'Gladiator', and Zimmer develops it convincingly throughout (and through very different sections).

 

There will be a third release along the way and most of my goodwill to curate even more of this is used up already. It's not a loss, for sure, but it's a showcase for bad modern marketing decisions (roll-out of as many tie-in's as possible) at the expense of the music. A millenium Zimmer album of this would have been infinitely better and, most importantly, would have spared me the work of digging through hours of white noise hardly above whispering level. So it's recommended with some reservations, but certainly not the home run many hoped for.

 

I'd be happy with the sketchbook and an OST assembled better.

[Jay 37,323]

Hans Zimmer - No Time To Die

 

No bad.  Didn't sound particularly Bond-ian outside of when the Bond theme was playing, but it was a decent modern action score

[publicist 4,643]

4 hours ago, crocodile said:

The first 3 tracks on the sketchbook is all I need. 

 

I wait for the musical art book tie-in. Third time's a charm.

[Edmilson 7,398]

Just listened to No Time to Die as well. And, much to my own surprise, I really liked it!

 

Everyone who was expecting another sound design score was very wrong. Sure, there's electronics and Johnny Marr's guitar, but it's a very orchestral score. Matera was a great homage from Zimmer to Barry, and the action music is much more in David Arnold's style.

 

Sure, it's still a Zimmer score, so any listener will note the chord progressions from stuff like Batman Begins and others. I'd say it's an interesting mix between Arnold and the more orchestral Remote Control scores, specially those composed by Henry Jackman (Kingsman, of course, but also Jumanji). 

 

Final Ascent is a nice piece of Zimmer melodrama, fans from his early 2000s scores will be pleased.

[KK 3,307]

5 hours ago, crocodile said:

The first 3 tracks on the sketchbook is all I need. 

 

Karol

 

Indeed.

 

I wish the score gave us more of this:

 

Otherwise, it's mostly a dull blanket of sound that smothers the intrigue out of many of the compelling visual cues the film offers.

[LSH 968]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

Just listened to No Time to Die as well.

 

Where are you listening to it?

[Edmilson 7,398]

1 hour ago, LSH said:

 

Where are you listening to it?

Well, I'm not sure I'm allowed to say this here, but... the score has leaked on certain websites where you can download soundtracks for free.

[Bespin 8,480]

[LSH 968]

Oh fair enough. I genuinely thought it had been officially released, apologies.

[Jay 37,323]

Bear McCreary - Foundation Season 1

 

I liked it!  Not a lot of "WOW!" moments or anything, but solidly chugs along with good music.  "The Chant of the Luminous" was pretty cool and memorable, though!

 

I imagine the show is greatly enhanced by having this good music in it instead of typical modern tv scoring

[publicist 4,643]

For the long-awaited Apple+ Sci-Fi series, more or less loosely based on Asimov, McCreary offers a pretty sleek, smooth TV score, which is a notch more imaginative than the standard (but not by much). As usual, it's kept minimalist and with an onslaught of broad (and bland) chords of the fateful kind (and synth chorus to give it more 'meaning') ... to put it heretically, everything sounds like the modern YT fan imagines great music should sound. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of musical (or even narrative) thought behind it. You have to be content with a selectively better instrumentation...and ask yourself when either Goldenthal or Nyman will be allowed to work on something like this again.

[Brónach 1,301]

It's no Black Sails.

[Tom Guernsey 2,281]

Dune & No Time to Die (Hans) - Enjoyed each of these about as much as expected. Dune just seemed a whole lot of blah noodling rather than actual composition. I would like to see the film (which I'm guessing will be one visual orgasm after another) and maybe will withhold judgement until after that, but given the potential opportunities this kind of film affords (especially given how great the Toto score is... perhaps against all expectations) it seems like a total miss to me. NTTD does at least sound like someone spent time composing it and there are some enjoyable moments (Cuba Chase is particularly fun) but the inclusion of the melody from We Have All The Time in the World from OHMSS makes you realise just how forgettable HZ's music actually is. I give it points for being a little more fun than Thomas Newman's efforts (which I still class as well written but largely unmemorable), but then I kinda miss fun Bond films so the music moving to a grittier sound is only natural I guess... I certainly would be happy to see David Arnold back on board, but for my money, I'd get Murray Gold. He'd get the sound just right and would probably write some great tunes.

[Marian Schedenig 8,179]

1 hour ago, Tom Guernsey said:

But for my money, I'd get Murray Gold. He'd get the sound just right and would probably write some great tunes.

 

A Bond score by Murray Gold… with a title song by Muse… that would be something.

[Tom Guernsey 2,281]

1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

A Bond score by Murray Gold… with a title song by Muse… that would be something.

I don’t really know Muse but sounds ok to me. Be good to have something other than dreary bond songs. I really loathe the NTTD song. That really the best thing they could do?! Bring back Madonna (joke. Sort of lol). 

[crocodile 7,990]

 No Time to Die by Hans Zimmer. I'm glad I didn't listen to the whole thing before seeing the film as it definitely benefits from a big of context. The score is fine and way more fun than the last two. Just like Wonder Woman, I sort of lose interest towards the last third but it does fit the final part of the film well enough. Still not a massive fan of the song but it does make sense in the context of the film and I'm glad the theme is used throughout the score. The Barry references, while perhaps unnecessary, are nice. And there is some logic behind utilising them. Surprisingly enjoyable album.

 

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

 

[Jay 37,323]

Shotaro Shima, Masashi Hamauzu, etc - Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (highlights playlist)

 

The good stuff in this score is GREAT, but there are soooo many tracks that rub me the wrong way.  My current highlights playlist is over an hour and needs to be whittled down more.  But the good stuff really is great, especially stuff like "Descendant of Shinobi", "The Gigantipede", and the amazing track "The Journey Continues - Good-bye, City of Mako"