Nicholas Britell - ANDOR (2022)

[Jay 37,281]

So they waited until episode 7 aired, to release an album of music from 1-4?

 

And since this is a 12 episode season, that means this show will get 3 albums, while Mando Season 2 and Book of Boba got 2, and Obi-Wan got 1?

[Gabriel Bezerra 300]

40 minutes ago, Jay said:

And since this is a 12 episode season, that means this show will get 3 albums, while Mando Season 2 and Book of Boba got 2, and Obi-Wan got 1?

Bad Batch also had two two-hour albums and that series had 16 episodes. Are we sure it's not 1-6? Might be a typo.

[JNHFan2000 2,944]

39 minutes ago, Jay said:

So they waited until episode 7 aired, to release an album of music from 1-4?

Indeed. Weird strategy. Although Britell is often later with his albums. All the Succession albums came out months after the season was over

[Stark 310]

Watching episode 7, it’s remarkable how well Britell’s music works despite sharing essentially no similarities with any (good) existing Star Wars music.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

That's the one compliment I can give the music, that it does fit the context of the show. It's not my cup of tea, but it's not obnoxious or distracting.

[Obi 404]

[GerateWohl 4,327]

6 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

That's the one compliment I can give the music, that it does fit the context of the show. It's not my cup of tea, but it's not obnoxious or distracting.

But it's not uplifting anything by any milimeter. It's just... there. Andor would rather be carrying a little transistor radio at his belt, that permanently plays old Star Wars music completely out of context in scratching sound. That would be better.

[michael_grig 464]

Hearing the public talk about film music is always a bit weird and grotesque, but generally I like what the guys are saying here.

The soundtrack is icy and dark because that's how the series is, so it fits very well for me.

[Mr. Who 919]

58 minutes ago, Michael Grigorowitsch said:

Hearing the public talk about film music is always a bit weird and grotesque,

Lol I can relate to this! I’m not watching Andor though so can’t comment but it can indeed be a bit “odd” to hear non film score fans talking about scores.

 

I really like Britell’s Vice score so might check out the OSTs when they are out.

[Jay 37,281]

The Volume 1 album is out in any country where it is already Friday

 

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/andor-vol-1-episodes-1-4-original-score/1650453949

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Pretty weird to do an OST for episodes 1-4 when the show goes in 3 episode arcs.  1-6 would make a lot more sense.

[Jay 37,281]

Britell tweeted (posted just a few posts up above) that he is releasing 3 volumes of score, so it makes sense to breaking the 12 episodes into groups of 4s for the album to me

 

I'm just annoyed he gets 3 albums while the Mando 2, Boba 1, and Obi 1 seasons got either 2 or 1 albums.

[MedigoScan 324]

The episodes per album rate is about the same for Mando and Boba though (Boba Fett got 2 volumes)

[JohnTheBaptist 57]

It's up on Apple Music now, and it's...wow. Is this Star Wars or Mr. Robot? 

 

[Tallguy 3,364]

It is indeed a score. It's good. It's functional. It's not great. And no, it doesn't compare to Williams. Or Giacchino. Or Powell. It's also not trying to.

 

There were a couple of places where I thought "Hmm. I could go listen to The Martian."

 

I think episode 3 or 4 was where I started noticing the music as anything other than just sound supporting the picture. This is never going to be a score that I can hum or gets stuck in my head.

[Gabriel Bezerra 300]

22 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

I think episode 3 or 4 was where I started noticing the music as anything other than just sound supporting the picture. This is never going to be a score that I can hum or gets stuck in my head.

I don't know if it's like the Mandalorian, that it goes more into Williams the further it goes (at least is at they said). But the orchestra is definetely more noticible from Past/Present Suite (why Suite?) beyond. 

 

I thought the three main titles for the first wepisodes complemented each other, so I experimented

164058579_Andor(MainTitleTheme)-Episode1-3.flac

[Courtney Sees Ghosts 269]

Like The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi, I really appreciate composers doing something different music wise with this franchise instead of just copy/pasting John Williams' sound. Really dig the sublte leitmotifs as well as Cassian's Theme.

Though ngl, I need a fix of a classical Star Wars score soon ngl, especially if another movie is years off.

[Tydirium 1,166]

What's with the track titles for the episode themes in the Apple Music/iTunes release? Weird.

[Tallguy 3,364]

What's the point of changing the title theme every episode if nobody can tell you what the title theme sounded like in the last episode? (Well, I can't tell.)

[enderdrag64 624]

23 minutes ago, Tydirium said:

What's with the track titles for the episode themes in the Apple Music/iTunes release? Weird.

What's wrong with them?

[Andy 4,079]

As a fan of film music, and Star Wars, I'm just gonna say... I wish they'd gone really bold and had NO music whatsoever.  This could've really been innovative if they'd let the sound design work on its own, sort of like THX-1138.  I'm with @GerateWohl, the music isn't doing anything.  So if the idea is to be different, then be different.  Without score, this would feel more artful.  If they are telling a story this granular, from the microscopic level, it would have an even more documentary feel.

[Tallguy 3,364]

Just now, Andy said:

As a fan of film music, and Star Wars, I'm just gonna say... I wish they'd gone really bold and had NO music whatsoever.  This could've really been innovative if they'd let the sound design work on its own, sort of like THX-1138.  I'm with @GerateWohl, the music isn't doing anything.  So if the idea is to be different, then be different.  Without score, this would feel more artful.  If they are telling a story this granular, from the microscopic level, it would have an even more documentary feel.

 

That would have blown my mind.

[Jay 37,281]

16 minutes ago, enderdrag64 said:

What's wrong with them?

 

 

 

On 20/10/2022 at 9:42 AM, Jay said:

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/andor-vol-1-episodes-1-4-original-score/1650453949

[GerateWohl 4,327]

11 minutes ago, Andy said:

So if the idea is to be different, then be different.  Without score, this would feel more artful.  If they are telling a story this granular, from the microscopic level, it would have an even more documentary feel.

That crossed my mind as well. They are obviously aiming for that documentary feel. So, why have music?

[Tydirium 1,166]

1 hour ago, enderdrag64 said:

What's wrong with them?

 

On my end, I'm seeing "Andor (Main Title Theme) isode 1 - EP," "Andor (Main Title Theme) isode 2 - EP," etc.

 

EDIT: Just saw Jay's comment.

[MedigoScan 324]

2 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

That crossed my mind as well. They are obviously aiming for that documentary feel. So, why have music?

Documentaries often do have music still though.

And I dunno, I like the mood this music has.

Doesnt remind me of Star Wars but that's clearly intentional.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

On 23/06/2022 at 10:13 AM, Disco Stu said:

I hope that some board members have a little more respect, even if still not appreciation, for Ludwig's work now.

 

Re-upping for the Britell thread  ..... 

 

(originally posted in the Holt thread)

[HunterTech 987]

I would rephrase that as "be appreciative of Ludwig actually being allowed to fully use his talents instead of adhering to the producer's wants."

[JNHFan2000 2,944]

 

[1977 1,743]

Does this really need a soundtrack release? I can't imagine listening to this for enjoyment.

[enderdrag64 624]

44 minutes ago, JTWfan77 said:

Does this really need a soundtrack release? I can't imagine listening to this for enjoyment.

I'd rather see music released than not released, even if you don't personally enjoy it there's probably someone somewhere who does

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

I was going to say the same thing as JTWFan77 a few days ago, but then came to the same conclusion. As much as I don't care about this music, there are people out there somewhere who do. And more so than that, I'm glad that they're consistently releasing music now for basically every medium, that's a very good thing.

[Stark 310]

I’ve enjoyed this music, it’s not as hummable as most other Star Wars music but it carries immensely effective vibes.

[Tallguy 3,364]

2 hours ago, Stark said:

I’ve enjoyed this music, it’s not as hummable as most other Star Wars music but it carries immensely effective vibes.

 

It IS very vibe-y. I listened to it on Spotify and when it was done I started getting lots of Thomas Newman, and stuff like First Man and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

 

Star Wars has not historically run on vibes. But this one can.

[Faleel 5,333]

1 minute ago, Tallguy said:

 

 

Star Wars has not historically run on vibes.

Golden Age vibes.

[Richard Penna 3,669]

On 21/10/2022 at 9:35 PM, JTWfan77 said:

Does this really need a soundtrack release? I can't imagine listening to this for enjoyment.

 

It's a very sad day when a soundtrack fan thinks that something shouldn't be released just because they're not personally interested in it.

 

One day something will come out that you like which isn't more widely popular, and you'll be thankful that someone bothered to make an album.

[michael_grig 464]

These are the tracks that made it into my everyday film music playlist.

 

Especially "Mon Mothma" is my favourite, it really makes you feel like there's a rebellion taking shape. Is that soaring synth at the end a Shepard Tone? (1:39)

[GerateWohl 4,327]

1 hour ago, Richard Penna said:

 

It's a very sad day when a soundtrack fan thinks that something shouldn't be released just because they're not personally interested in it.

 

One day something will come out that you like which isn't more widely popular, and you'll be thankful that someone bothered to make an album.

II would be perfectly fine with only the things I am interested in getting released.

[1977 1,743]

7 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

 

It's a very sad day when a soundtrack fan thinks that something shouldn't be released just because they're not personally interested in it.

 

One day something will come out that you like which isn't more widely popular, and you'll be thankful that someone bothered to make an album.

 

Fortunately my film music tastes are in line with the majority of fans, everything I want is pretty much out there already, bar a few Williams expansions which I imagine will be incoming in the next few years or so.

 

I feel the same about film and series, all the good stuff has already been made and the current output is of zero interest to me.

[MedigoScan 324]

Fortunately what music gets released is not up to the majority of fans

[Richard Penna 3,669]

I'm largely the same in that almost everything I want is now out, from an archival perspective.

 

But from a new release mentality, why would anyone be surprised about a new Star Wars related score being released?

[HunterTech 987]

The only time anyone should be surprised is if they release the Holiday Special soundtrack out of the blue.

[MedigoScan 324]

Now Lord of the Rings, there is a clear big gap for the fans

[1977 1,743]

2 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

I'm largely the same in that almost everything I want is now out, from an archival perspective.

 

But from a new release mentality, why would anyone be surprised about a new Star Wars related score being released?

 

I'm surprised how terrible the "music" is, that's all.

[Tallguy 3,364]

4 minutes ago, JTWfan77 said:

 

I'm surprised how terrible the "music" is, that's all.

 

Oh, come now. It might not be a successor to Williams' music in the same idiom that he set up for the movies. But it's certainly not terrible music. In another context it might even be getting raves on this very board.

[GerateWohl 4,327]

14 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

 

Oh, come now. It might not be a successor to Williams' music in the same idiom that he set up for the movies. But it's certainly not terrible music. In another context it might even be getting raves on this very board.

It is terrible Star Wars music.

[Richard Penna 3,669]

22 minutes ago, JTWfan77 said:

 

I'm surprised how terrible the "music" is, that's all.

 

I gave it a skim and I'm not entirely sure it's my thing, but that has no bearing on whether I think it should be released.

[artguy360 1,843]

I don't think the music is bad at all and I feel it fits the show far better than a JW-style SW score. I don't love the music outside of the show, but that's how I feel about most tv and film music.

[GerateWohl 4,327]

13 hours ago, artguy360 said:

I feel it fits the show far better than a JW-style SW score.

I think, you underestimate classical Star Wars scores and what a John Williams could do to the show to make it feel like Star Wars. Someone mentioned Minority Report as a template, which is a good idea. 

 

I understand, what Britell is trying to do there. But it doesn't work for me.

 

I think, the situation here is far different from the movies. While Williams said for the movies, he tried to create some familiarity for these other-worldly images here the situation is the opposite. The images, the plot, the dialogues are so earthly that the music would have the job to create some out-of-this-world feeling like Goldsmith did in Planet of the Apes. But Britell's score does neither that nor does it spread the fairytale fairy dust on the images like Williams it. In oposite, I am afraid, it even empowers the feeling, that we are looking at a very earthly setting, which rather gives it a fan film touch. Luckily apart from the music the show is well produced, so it still works. But the music is just there to fulfill the minimum requirement of a dramtizing score. Quite unworthy for a Star Wars score in my view.

The best thing that can be said about this score is, that it is not disturbing the action on screen. 

[Luke Skywalker 1,792]

I still cant remember a note from the 6 episodes….