What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (2024 Scores)

[tomsmoviemadness 4,446]

Genshin Impact: Cantus Aeternus - HOYO-MiX

 

This is a really lovely 70 minute album. The album is seperated into 3 different parts. Mediterranean style music, low key orchestra & soloist cues and suspense and action cues. All 3 have standout cues, but I was surprised how well they fit together. Really enjoyed the whole thing.

 

I don't listen to a lot of game scores, not sure why but a lot of the times I have a hard time connecting with it because some albums are so incredibly long. This year I've been trying to explore more and more, so if anyone has any recommendations I'd love to hear them!!

[tomsmoviemadness 4,446]

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - Tom Holkenborg

 

I generally really like Holkenborg's stuff and Fury Road is such a great score through it's adrenaline etc. But this, I'm having a hard time with it. I think I understand what he & Miller tried to do, and there are momemts in the film that it's really effective, but on album it's horrible. Really not for me, I'm almost inclined to say that it's not music anymore.

 

Atleast I still have Fury Road

[tomsmoviemadness 4,446]

Ezra - Carlos Rafael Rivera

 

It's a short album, 25 minutes including 2 versions of a song, but Rivera makes the most of it. He builds his score from his suite, mostly based around piano and strings, which means the score is of the theme and variation type. But with this running time, it really works. His main theme is beautiful and a bit restless, which fits the film really well.

Rivera's has been on a roll over the last few years. Long or short, his scores always make an impression.

[tomsmoviemadness 4,446]

On 28/06/2024 at 1:52 PM, JNHFan2000 said:

 

It's a quiet score, with 2 themes kind of dancing around each other.

But it's really beautiful. I really connected to it. Beautiful performance and clean recording as well.

I cut about 10 minutes of cues that were under a minute long, so left with a 39 minute album.

 

Just stunning. Really love it.

 

Cue below is definitely my favourite and one of the most beautiful pieces I've heard this year.

 

 

Listened to this again today. I still absolutely love it. It's so beautiful and it made me shed a tear a bit. Might be due to personal stuff, but it moved me nontheless. Cue I linked is still one of my favorite cues this year!

[tomsmoviemadness 4,446]

The Swallows Don't Come Back - Evan Call

 

I cut out the more meandering and dark cues, so I'm left with a 49 minute playlist.

I really like the whole thing, the first cue, which represent the main theme, is really the only "big" cue with a full orchestra. The rest is all on the minimal side focusing mostly on strings, piano and guitar. There's also some more contemporary cues in there which I also really enjoyed.

I guess it won't be for everyone, but I really like the whole thing. It made me feel very relaxed and at peace. I needed that today.

[Under-Terrestrial 92]

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/trap-original-motion-picture-score/1763660315

 

Out tomorrow! Definitely more action-based than her thriller-based score for Knock At The Cabin. Still some creepy string passages in here.

[tomsmoviemadness 4,446]

The Killer - Marco Beltrami

 

One of the more plain fun scores of Beltrami's career. There's a really nice main theme in the opening track which he puts through a few great variations in the action cues.

The action cues are funky, with lot's of drums, guitar & brass. There's some sulky string writing, big orchestral outburst and even some whistling and vocals reminiscent of Morricone. It's almost like his take on a Bond or Mission: Impossible film. Great stuff.

[Thor 9,323]

Reviews on-the-go # 8: https://celluloidtunes.no/the-decameron-bad-behaviour-and-more/

 

BAD BEHAVIOUR (Caitlin Yeo)
THE DECAMERON (Ruth Barrett)
AGGRODR1FT (araabMUZIK)
VESELKA: THE RAINBOW ON THE CORNER OF THE CENTER OF THE WORLD (Ryan Shore & David Sanborn)
PATRICK AND THE WHALE (H. Scott Salinas & Matthew Atticus Berger)

[tomsmoviemadness 4,446]

The Perfect Couple - Rupert Gregson-Williams

 

A decent modern thriller score. There is a main theme which Gregson-Williams uses exstensively throughout the series, although it won't remain in the memeory for long. It's all very undemanding stuff. On album it's really just okay, but in context the score works great. 

 

I do hope Gregson-Williams gets to do something more in the future though than these thriller type scores.

[Edmilson 11,014]

Fallout - Ramin Djawadi

 

I was expecting to be somewhat bored but this actually pretty decent with some interesting ideas and textures.

[Knight of Ren 1,336]

 

Was really interested in how this would sound, and it's kind of a continuation of the Dune scores at times but with celtic/nordic instrumentations, and great use of vocals. It's more focused on mood and textures than it's on melodies and themes, altough I'm pretty sure there are a couple of recurring ideas in there. And I think it's a score I will appreciate a lot more after hearing it in the context of the show which looks quite good to be honest!

[tomsmoviemadness 4,446]

I felt it also sounded very much like the scores for The Witchers tv series.

[Knight of Ren 1,336]

Yeah, it has that raw, ancient sound which I really dig. And it has a great use of vocals too, which Dune also had, but here used in different ways. One of my favorite tracks on a first listen was Fafnir's Orchard. Love those grunting sounds and how it builds in intensity through the whole piece.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,591]

Last month I realised that I hadn't really listen to any 2024 score so far apart from Dune, part. II, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Thelma the Unicorn

So I went through a couple of scores:

 

The Fall Guy by Dominic Lewis

A nice score, nothing really incredible outside the use of I Was Made For Lovin' You

 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire by Dario Marianelli

Although the Bernstein's elements are very well included, I didn't connect to it as much as I did with Simonsen's Afterlife. There's a couple of good cues but the album drag a bit in length

 

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Batu Sener

It's great to hear Sener on his own. You can still feel a bit of Powell here and there, but overall I found he succeed to express his own voice so that was nice. The Crayon Suite track is really lovely

 

Horizon: An American Saga by John Debney

I remembered loving the music while watching the movie but somehow I didn't connected to it as much here. The Horizon Montage Begins and Closing Survey track is however fantastic. Perhaps one of my favourite cue of the year

 

Kung Fu Panda 4 by Hans Zimmer & Steve Mazzaro

This score is pretty nice, but non of the new elements were really appealing to me, I really like how the old themes were used though. I guess I miss the the combo Powell/Zimmer

 

The Piper by Christopher Young

Clearly the best score of the year for me. Everything felt great and that second movement is simply perfection. Now I'm curious to see the movie

 

Twisters by Benjamin Wallfisch

I'm usually not a big fan of Wallfisch, most of his score usually drag in length and have cues that I can't really stand, but somehow this score was truly fun and had some lovely cues (espacially Nature's Masterpiece). I think it's among my top 5 of 2024

 

Young Woman and the Sea by Amelia Warner

Never heard anything from her before, but after that score I'll definitely check her others. This score felt really good, it's a bit too epic sometimes but overall it flows really nicely. Another of my top 5 so far

[Jurassic Shark 15,581]

25 minutes ago, Raiders of the SoundtrArk said:

Last month I realised that I hadn't really listen to any 2024 score so far apart from Dune, part. II, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Thelma the Unicorn

So I went through a couple of scores:

 

The Fall Guy by Dominic Lewis

A nice score, nothing really incredible outside the use of I Was Made For Lovin' You

 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire by Dario Marianelli

Although the Bernstein's elements are very well included, I didn't connect to it as much as I did with Simonsen's Afterlife. There's a couple of good cues but the album drag a bit in length

 

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Batu Sener

It's great to hear Sener on his own. You can still feel a bit of Powell here and there, but overall I found he succeed to express his own voice so that was nice. The Crayon Suite track is really lovely

 

Horizon: An American Saga by John Debney

I remembered loving the music while watching the movie but somehow I didn't connected to it as much here. The Horizon Montage Begins and Closing Survey track is however fantastic. Perhaps one of my favourite cue of the year

 

Kung Fu Panda 4 by Hans Zimmer & Steve Mazzaro

This score is pretty nice, but non of the new elements were really appealing to me, I really like how the old themes were used though. I guess I miss the the combo Powell/Zimmer

 

The Piper by Christopher Young

Clearly the best score of the year for me. Everything felt great and that second movement is simply perfection. Now I'm curious to see the movie

 

Twisters by Benjamin Wallfisch

I'm usually not a big fan of Wallfisch, most of his score usually drag in length and have cues that I can't really stand, but somehow this score was truly fun and had some lovely cues (espacially Nature's Masterpiece). I think it's among my top 5 of 2024

 

Young Woman and the Sea by Amelia Warner

Never heard anything from her before, but after that score I'll definitely check her others. This score felt really good, it's a bit too epic sometimes but overall it flows really nicely. Another of my top 5 so far

 

Interesting. Which are your remaining top five?

[GerateWohl 6,199]

42 minutes ago, Raiders of the SoundtrArk said:

The Piper by Christopher Young

Clearly the best score of the year for me. Everything felt great and that second movement is simply perfection. Now I'm curious to see the movie

Don't! The movie is terrible. Before watching it, I liked Young's music more. Watching the movie costed the score a lot of appeal.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,591]

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Interesting. Which are your remaining top five?

So far I would say

1. The Piper
2. Twisters
3. Dune, part. II
4. Thelma the Unicorn
5. Young Woman and the Sea
6. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

I added a the last one since I find it very close to the last two

42 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Don't! The movie is terrible. Before watching it, I liked Young's music more. Watching the movie costed the score a lot of appeal.

Yeah I've seen some image and it didn't look good. But who knows perhaps I'll watch it eventually. I mean I've endured Heartbeeps for Williams score so I don't think it can be any worst

[GerateWohl 6,199]

33 minutes ago, Raiders of the SoundtrArk said:

Yeah I've seen some image and it didn't look good. But who knows perhaps I'll watch it eventually. I mean I've endured Heartbeeps for Williams score so I don't think it can be any worst

Ok. But you are warned. It's really a wußte of time.

[Jurassic Shark 15,581]

6 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

It's really a wußte of time.

 

Du you mean a würst of time?

[GerateWohl 6,199]

Auto-correction. 

 

Yes, of course I meant, it's a "Wurst" of time.

 

Did I mention, that in German we have a phrase: "Das ist mir Wurst."?

Translation: "That is sausage to me." And it means "I don't care."

Comes probably from the basic sausage principle "I have no idea what this is made of, but I eat it anyway."

[Thor 9,323]

Germans have great sausages!

[Edmilson 11,014]

10 minutes ago, Thor said:

Germans have great sausages!

So you have met the worldwide famous German sausage, huh? 

 

The fifth grader in me couldn't let that pass 

[Tom Guernsey 3,456]

“It was the best of times, it was the wurst of times.”

 

David Sausagenuts*
 

*genuine dickens character.**
 

**obviously a lie

[Richard P 4,966]

Relistened to House Of The Dragon: Season 2 over the weekend.

 

It's still nowhere near as strong as the first album and no doubt as some have suggested the selection of music may be at fault, but I think my initial listen was marred by just being in the wrong mood/mindset. I reckon our imminent descent into Autumn is also changing my overall mood, when this sort of thing appeals more. I'm identifying a lot of smaller returning themes, and some tracks that rely much more on texture seemed to appeal to me a lot more. I would no longer describe the album as boring - it's good mood music if you're doing something at the same time, and from time to time makes me pay fresh attention. I will very likely purchase it at some point based on this revisit.

[thestat 496]

Man, this year is bare. The only good scores of any worth are:

 

1. The Piper (an actual composition with intelligence underpinning it)

 

Runners up:

 

Wallfisch - good stuff, but nothing worthy of The Flash etc.

 

Paesano, okay, sufficient. yeah.

 

Zimmer - ? Twilight of some shit or other?

Balfe - the less of him, the happier every one is

Giacchino - IF (er....no time for that).

 

Wow, what a year for film scores. I don't think the sector has seen such drought in talent or capacity. Can't wait for AI to destroy the Zimmers and the Balfes of this nonsense 'craft'

 

 

 

[Jay 43,961]

Inside Out 2 and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes are where it's at.

 

Well, for films.

 

The best score of the year is Rings of Power Season 2

[Thor 9,323]

9 hours ago, thestat said:

Man, this year is bare.

 

Bare, or you simply not exploring wide enough? Many, many good scores released this year, in all different kinds of idioms.

[tomsmoviemadness 4,446]

I agree

[crocodile 9,369]

11 hours ago, thestat said:

 

1. The Piper (an actual composition with intelligence underpinning it)

Isn't that last year though? The album came out this year.

 

Karol

[Knight of Ren 1,336]

There have been several great scores outside of the American mainstream stuff, some of which I also really liked, like Dune Part 2, Inside Out 2 or Kingdom of the Planet Apes. Here are some perhaps lesser known scores I've enjoyed so far this year:

 

-The Promised Land - Dan Romer

-Balenciaga - Alberto Iglesias

-Dragonkeeper - Arturo Cardelús

-The Apothecary Diaries - Satoru Kosaki

-ARK The Animated Series - Gareth Coker

-Damsel - David Fleming

-Immaculate - Will Bates

-Frieren - Evan Call

[Under-Terrestrial 92]

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/megalopolis-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/1769427559

 

20 years ago, Coppola asked Golijov to write a "symphony" for Megalopolis, and from the track "New Rome" alone it sounds like he's delivered. This is invigorating stuff!

 

[filmmusic 2,765]

OK, I've listened to Megalopolis too! 

Magnificent at parts but... it seems chaotic (as the movie I imagine?) without any thematic unity whatsoever, on first listen.

[Jay 43,961]

On 25/09/2024 at 5:43 AM, crocodile said:

Isn't that last year though? The album came out this year.

 

Karol

 

It played at a festival in 2023, but didn't open for the general public until March of 2024.  At least in the USA.  I'm pretty sure it's eligible for this year's Oscars.

[crocodile 9,369]

 Alien: Romulus. I am really not fan of the 10-minute harsh synth finale but would say the majority of this score is actually pretty good. Wallfisch, to his credit, really managed to evoke the style conjured up other composers (espdcially Goldenthal's awe) and, when sticking to acoustic tricks, he created one of more accessible scores in the series.

 

Megalopolis. I was talking about it in the other thread. Another score that evokes Goldenthal, although more in the stylistic eclecticism rather than writing style. It's definitely music written by someone who knows what they're doing. While I can't say everything is equally enjoyable, the sheer majority of the album manages to secure a spot in top scores released this year.

 

Karol

[tomsmoviemadness 4,446]

There are some cues that remind of the Thomas Newman of old. Big sweeping orchestral work.

Then there are cues that are typical of his later career and sound like a mix between Elemental, 1917 & Tolkien.

Then you have the low dark growling cues which for me on album just really don't work. Especially the long 7 mimute cue.

 

Overall I enjoyed it. I will make my own playlist of the overlong album to enjoy it best. It's still not fantastic, but it's the closest we've come to the Newman scores I love in quite a few years.

 

[Jay 43,961]

My favorite score of the year is Bear McCreary's score to The Rings of Power Season 2, and my favorite track from it, which is certainly going to be a top track of the year in this year's JWFan awards, is "The Sun Yet Shines", the brilliant finale & end credits piece from the final episode of the season.

 

 

I wish all the fantasy/adventure shows on TV could have music HALF this good!

[Edmilson 11,014]

White Bird - Thomas Newman

 

 

Wow that was spetacularly boring. Parts of it sound like Newman's Bond music, others like Finding Dory, Passengers and The Judge and it all seems very promising... Problem is, it doesn't go anywhere. It's just 75 minutes of typically Newman textures, the kind of stuff he does in his sleep, but it never yields real emotion whether that's sadness, danger, relief, etc. It's just these electronic soundscapes with some pianos but it never goes nowhere interesting. 

 

It really makes me miss the days of Brooks Was Here, Any Other Name, Danger of Hell, I Forgive You etc., where his combination of deep electronic and string textures with emotional pianos were really great. Sigh...

 

Speaking of boring scores...

 

Hildur Guðnadóttir - Joker: Folie a Deux

 

 

I like the first Joker score and yeah, Hildur deserved her Oscar. But this is just too dull.

 

The same problem as the Newman score above: lots of meandering textures, no real emotion, it never leads anywhere and then it just ends in the most unsatisfying way possible.

 

And with the film apparently being a shit show, I don't think she is getting anywhere near her second Oscar.

[crocodile 9,369]

 The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Season Two. All the episode albums plus suites from season album and Shore's main title. 6 hours and 14 minutes in total (I was going through it in chunks over the past two days). Like he did in 2022, Bear McCreary delivered the most enjoyable new score of the year. Say what you want about the show but the composer really poured his heart and soul into this one.

 

Karol

[Jay 43,961]

Yeah!!

[crocodile 9,369]

 Star Wars: The Acolyte. Just like McCreary's contributions mentioned above, this definitely outclasses the show for which it was written, and by a long mile. I mostly listening to my own 2-hour playlist featuring about half the released music. It's still a bit of a mystery as to who did what exactly but that doesn't stop me from enjoying it anyway. There are some nice Williams stylistic nods here and there that are quite effective.

 

Karol

[LSH 1,098]

 

First listen. Pretty bloody good. Suffers a bit from Thomas Newmanesque ‘short cue syndrome’ but some really nice ideas.

[Knight of Ren 1,336]

Listened to a couple of recent releases:

i really liked the movie, and I noticed the score in a couple of moments carrying the emotions of the whole thing. It's subdued and intimate, but I really like the main theme as well as the more rhythmic/action tracks like Bouncing Ball or The Final Competition. Nothing groundbreaking, but really beautiful and emotional stuff.

 

Elegant and sophisticated as it's always the case with most of Almdóvar/Iglesias collaborations. The main theme is quite memorable, but I feel the album meanders a bit too much for my taste, and there wasn't anything that stood out to me apart from the variations on that main theme and a couple other cues. I guess it'll grow on me when I watch the film, as it has happened before with other works from the duo, where I deeply appreciate the score a lot more after hearing it in context.

 

Went into this totally blind and I quite enjoyed it. It's a melodic fantasy score in the vein of what James newton Howard could write for this kind of film, with a beautiful main theme, nice orchestral touches here and there, and great use of vocals, especially in some of the action tracks. The album is a bit too long for its own good though, as it suffers from having some short tracks that make it feel a bit start-and-stop, but a shorter playlist should highlight the best stuff, which I feel is quite solid!

 

And finally, I've been diving deep into this score, and while at first it sounded a bit generic, and relying too much electronics, and on just two standout themes, I realized it's much more complex and detailed than that. It's no masterpiece, but there are lots of themes for the different characters and factions in the story, and I feel some of them are quite strong to be memorable, so much that I've been humming a couple of them all week! For me, the weaker point is the fact that the themes don't mix with each other as much as I would've liked to, and that many variations from the cinematics are missing from the album, instead relying on some rather generic action music. But I definitely recommend giving a listen to at least all the character tracks to hear all the different themes at play!

[tomsmoviemadness 4,446]

The final cue Postlude Of Conclave is by far the best and most interesting thing on the album and might be the best cue Bertelmann has written. The score overall doesn't blow me away or anything but it's a step up from his previous work I think.

 

 

[filmmusic 2,765]

 

Very 90s score! (and that's a good thing). I still don't know how it got passed the producers!

[Edmilson 11,014]

Here and Conclave seem to be quite interesting! Should I pause my HGW marathon to listen to them? Because after 20+ Gregson-Williams scores even I am starting to feel kinda tired of him...

[LSH 1,098]

I only got to listen to the first few cues of Here before I had to skidaddle to work but I like it what I’ve heard. Formulaic but I love Silvestri in this mode. Sounds very 90s and I love that there is a general trend developing now that is swerving back to that.

[Thor 9,323]

11 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Here and Conclave seem to be quite interesting! Should I pause my HGW marathon to listen to them? Because after 20+ Gregson-Williams scores even I am starting to feel kinda tired of him...

 

When I do composer walkthroughs, I sometimes break up by listening to freshly released scores. So I think you should.

 

HERE was good, CONCLAVE was not.

[GerateWohl 6,199]

My boy pointed me to the game score of Star Wars Outlaws and I must say, not bad at all, neither for a game nor a new Star Wars score.

 

 

[Knight of Ren 1,336]

It's a solid score indeed, and for me it has only gotten better with each new listen. Some great themes in there!

[Will 2,380]

After seeing the very positive Filmtracks review, I decided to give a listen to Kris Bowers' The Wild Robot (I hadn't even heard of the score previously). It's quite an impressive piece of work. I'm not sure I'd go quite as far as Filmtracks (which calls this one of the best modern animation scores); I don't think Bowers quite reaches the heights of, say, John Powell. But it's really good -- kind of a blend of Powell and Thomas Newman in terms of the style. This cue is super fun: