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

[LSH 1,098]

 

Quote

 

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:

 

 

 

I think it's lovely and definitely one of my favourites of the year.

 

Speaking of animation, my first listen to:

 

 

I'm literally two minutes into the first cue and, crikey, you can tell this guy worked under Powell. 

 

No complaints.

[filmmusic 2,762]

A quite good (strings-heavy)  dramatic score for a TV series by a 27 years-old composer!

 

[Jay 43,885]

Mick Giacchino - The Penguin

 

I like a lot of stuff here, but the album does get into more atonal territory near the end that isn't as exciting.  Overall I think he did a great job with the show and look forward to Skeleton Crew even more now!

[Knight of Ren 1,323]

Listened to the album a couple of times through, and finally decided to start watching the show. I agree that the album tends to fall a bit on the atmospheric side for some of the tracks, but I like how the Penguin theme is present in almost every other track, in one way or another, be it the two note motif that opens the suite, the repeating violin/piano figure or the more ominous secondary part of his theme. And after watching the first episode, I also picked on Sofia Falcone's motif, which isn't really that noticeable on a first listen.

 

For me, The Batman is a bit better in its overall use of themes, but this feels like a proper extension of that sound, and the Penguin theme is quite memorable, and I hope it returns in future Batman movies if he appears!

[Mephariel 593]

Our Oceans - Ho-Ling Tang is one of best scores you will hear this year. I don't know what is it about the ocean that brings the best out of so many composers, but this scores sits with Fenton's Blue Planet and Zimmer & team's Blue Planet II as my favorites about this subject. 

 

 

[tomsmoviemadness 4,420]

 

I'm currently watching the show, which is a ton of fun. Camp, over the top and funny with great performances by the entire cast who all are totally game for the craziness of the show.

 

The score is very much a big part of why the show works so well. The big operatic vocals, pompous string work and added synths make so many scenes very funny and it just adds a great extra dimension to the series. On album I think it's just the right runtime so it never outstays it's welcome. Just plain fun and sometimes that's all that's needed.

[Thor 9,323]

Reviews-on-the-go # 9: https://celluloidtunes.no/megalopolis-gladiator-ii-and-more/

 

MEGALOPOLIS (Osvaldo Golijov)
BOY CULTURE: GENERATION X (Justin Bell)
WHITE BIRD (Thomas Newman)
THE APPRENTICE (Mark Dirkov, Brian Irvine & David Holmes)
CULTE (Rob)
HERE (Alan Silvestri)
MIDAS MAN (Alex Baranowski)
GLADIATOR II (Harry Gregson-Williams)

[Bat1989 172]

Richer in themes than i thought, being honest. In cinema it was super easy to note the music playing and the score really affected the viewer, but it was a bit difficult to remember all of them afterwards.

 

The score is kinda like How to train your dragon mixed with WALL-E, Happy Feet and Gundam Unicorn, the themes are a bit memorable, i think that i found out 6, but the main one is specially glorious. The instrumentation is very fitting to a movie like this, and in general it´s a great experience that is in the same level of some works from Powell, that is obviously the main inspiration for this score, which makes sense as the director is one that worked with him before.

 

That said, the only big problem in the album is the fact that some tracks are memorable for, like, 10 seconds, and everything else in them isn´t, and it´s strange how Brightbill has a catchy theme that isn´t used other than in one short track, i thought that the composer relied a bit too much in the main theme, to a point where it didn´t made much sense to see it being used in some places.

 

But It´s great nonetheless, really recommend.

[tomsmoviemadness 4,420]

The tracklist for the score for The Brutalist was just revealed. It releases in a few weeks and some reviews I've read all praised the score.

 

I am curious, because like the films in the 40's & 50's it has an Overture and an 11 minute Intermission!

 

It could of course all be dark and brooding stuff, but I'm still intrigued.

 

https://filmmusicreporter.com/2024/11/21/the-brutalist-soundtrack-album-details/

 

[Under-Terrestrial 92]

20 hours ago, tomsmoviemadness said:

The tracklist for the score for The Brutalist was just revealed. It releases in a few weeks and some reviews I've read all praised the score.

 

I am curious, because like the films in the 40's & 50's it has an Overture and an 11 minute Intermission!

 

It could of course all be dark and brooding stuff, but I'm still intrigued.

 

https://filmmusicreporter.com/2024/11/21/the-brutalist-soundtrack-album-details/

 

 

And we've got the first 3 tracks! Definitely some brooding stuff, mixed in with warm/victorious feelings:

 

 

 

 

[filmmusic 2,762]

 

Sound design-ish at the most part!

I expected more.

I'm so emotionally attached to Kilar's Dracula, so...

 

[Knight of Ren 1,323]

 

At first I shared the feeling that the score was a disappointment, but I finally got to watch the movie, and after several listens I appreciate a lot more what Gregson-Williams is doing here. It's obviously not on the same level as Zimmer's original, but it's a lot more complex than it might first seem, and I love all the little orchestral and vocal touches he brings in many of the pieces, like the soulful laments in I'll Wait for You or Smooth is the Descent, but also the wild percussions of Angry Baboons and Defiance.

 

The movie has more music than what's heard on album that further clarifies some of the new themes, not as present as they could have been. But I've really grown quite fond of Lucius' theme, and I love how it always teases at Zimmer's original theme, never fully transforming into that one until the end in The Dream Is Lost. It's no masterpiece, and it's true that some of the themes are a bit hard to grasp, and the action isn't always that interesting, but I feel it's a solid effort that gets better with each listen.

[tomsmoviemadness 4,420]

 

Just like her work with Stephen Fry on The Mythos Suite, I absolutely love this album.

Wiseman's main theme is excellent and the way the music and the narration works together is seamless. There isn't a moment where I'm annoyed that someone is talking over the music (unlike when score albums do that)

 

The 2 orchestral suites and piano solos are also stunning and the original songs complement the whole thing beautifully.

 

I thought it was a wonderful way to spend an hour.

[Bat1989 172]

On 24/11/2024 at 10:48 AM, Knight of Ren said:

 

At first I shared the feeling that the score was a disappointment, but I finally got to watch the movie, and after several listens I appreciate a lot more what Gregson-Williams is doing here. It's obviously not on the same level as Zimmer's original, but it's a lot more complex than it might first seem, and I love all the little orchestral and vocal touches he brings in many of the pieces, like the soulful laments in I'll Wait for You or Smooth is the Descent, but also the wild percussions of Angry Baboons and Defiance.

 

The movie has more music than what's heard on album that further clarifies some of the new themes, not as present as they could have been. But I've really grown quite fond of Lucius' theme, and I love how it always teases at Zimmer's original theme, never fully transforming into that one until the end in The Dream Is Lost. It's no masterpiece, and it's true that some of the themes are a bit hard to grasp, and the action isn't always that interesting, but I feel it's a solid effort that gets better with each listen.

I will always find it funny how a theme from Endurance is in this, when the best theme from Powell to use in a gladiator movie is obviously the main theme from Happy Feet. 

[Thor 9,323]

 

Nice score, comments here.

[filmmusic 2,762]

 

 

Good old Preisner (in the choral pieces).

I was not very fond of the (very few fortunately) synth parts though...

[Bat1989 172]

This score is one of the types that are simply a 10/10 in the movie, the director made at least 8 montages where the music is totally clear to listen to, and it totally affects the viewer directly, it’s UP all over again.

 

And to be honest it has easily some of the best emotional tracks I listened to in this year, it’s beautiful and breaks you when you combine it with the movie.

[Knight of Ren 1,323]

Watched the movie a couple of days ago and it slowly won me over, and me quite emotional by the end. It heavily relies on those montages you mention and indeed the music is really beautiful and carries the emotional weight of the story for the most part. A really unexpected but welcome surprise for sure!

[Under-Terrestrial 92]

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/queer-original-score/1781969889

 

Very searching stuff from Reznor/Ross, which seem to be in-line with Daniel Craig's wandering state of being in the trailer. "Wouldn't You" is the most beguiling track in the bunch for me.

 

[filmmusic 2,762]

 

 

I found this quite predictable.. Nothing original for this kind of film..

[filmmusic 2,762]

Quite good minimalistic Philip Glass-y score.

Still I think Never Let me Go, is Portman's masterpiece.

 

 

[tomsmoviemadness 4,420]

I really liked the main theme, but somehow the rest of the score failed to capture me. Which is a shame, because I'm a big fan of Portman.

 

Also, is it just me or does the whole thing sound like samples with maybe some soloists? It all sounds a bit dry, so it could also be the mixing, but there were very little moments where I thought that there was actually an orchestra present.

[filmmusic 2,762]

5 minutes ago, tomsmoviemadness said:

Also, is it just me or does the whole thing sound like samples with maybe some soloists?

I didn't get this notion by listening to it.. that it is samples I mean..

[crocodile 9,340]

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Season Two

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

 

Whichever Middle-earth music camp you're in, 2024 has a treat for you. Or two treats, if happen to like both. I feel spoiled.  

 

Karol

[filmmusic 2,762]

 

 

Well, it didn't appeal to me.

And what's up with the minor sound effects? The music is not enough?

[LSH 1,098]

 

You know what? I actually quite like it. On first listen, at least.

 

Zimmer's original themes are realised rather well. The final cue melted me in nostalgia better than any music from the 2019 remake did. There is one theme that is a bit annoyingly generic in its chord progression (it really peaks in one of the cues, can't remember which). 

 

I quite like the action music too. Metzger was an orchestrator for Mancina and you can tell and I really wish he had broken out sooner (his Brother Bear 2 score was quite lovely). I think he's rather good at the softer stuff too. But I'm schmalzy.

 

I'll need to give it another listen but based on this one, I'm impressed. I'm a sucker for admittedly non-descript African-inflected music.

 

P.S. The inserted Nicholas Britell / Lebo M. pieces are also very nice. I have no intention of watching the film so I don't - and will never know - where they have been shoehorned in.

 

BTW, I might be wrong but, as far as I can tell, this is Metzger's first theatrical feature as lead composer? If true, that's good going.

[tomsmoviemadness 4,420]

5 hours ago, LSH said:

BTW, I might be wrong but, as far as I can tell, this is Metzger's first theatrical feature as lead composer? If true, that's good going.

 

His first was Disney's animated film Wish from last year.

[LSH 1,098]

9 hours ago, tomsmoviemadness said:

 

His first was Disney's animated film Wish from last year.

 

Fair enough.

[filmmusic 2,762]

 

I'm at track 20, but I didn't find anything I like so far (except maybe some jazzy source cues as they seem to be)...

[Richard P 4,945]

The Wild Robot

 

About 15 minutes in and it's perfectly pleasant, if slightly unremarkable - mix of small, rhythmic orchestra and some percussion. Lots of short cues and some mickey-mousing as well - I'm not quite clear on where the oscar buzz has come from for this - it's not the most engaging score I've ever heard.

 

Shaun The Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas

 

Just came across this on iPlayer and the music works great. The album appears at first examination to be pretty much an isolated score as I haven't found anything missing. It's also got a few bits that might be a little mickey-mousing for a consistent listen, but I'm rarely going to complain about albums that potentially contain the complete score.

[The Score Cleaner 8,428]

8 minutes ago, Richard P said:

The Wild Robot

 

About 15 minutes in and it's perfectly pleasant, if slightly unremarkable - mix of small, rhythmic orchestra and some percussion. Lots of short cues and some mickey-mousing as well - I'm not quite clear on where the oscar buzz has come from for this - it's not the most engaging score I've ever heard.

 

 

I need a boost.

[tomsmoviemadness 4,420]

55 minutes ago, Richard P said:

The Wild Robot

 

About 15 minutes in and it's perfectly pleasant, if slightly unremarkable - mix of small, rhythmic orchestra and some percussion. Lots of short cues and some mickey-mousing as well - I'm not quite clear on where the oscar buzz has come from for this - it's not the most engaging score I've ever heard.

 

 

You should really listen past the first 15 minutes. The score is great because of the way it builds and gets grander and more mature as the characters also grow.

 

I Could Use A Boost is fantastic.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,591]

On 21/12/2024 at 2:08 PM, filmmusic said:

 

I'm at track 20, but I didn't find anything I like so far (except maybe some jazzy source cues as they seem to be)...

Same here, the jazz part are nice, the rest is not my cup of tea

[Will 2,380]

Lovely score. Suffers from the fact that most (all?) of the instruments are samples/mock-ups; I guess there was no budget for an orchestra, which is a real shame. But Harwood makes the best of it and delivers her trademark delicate, playful orchestrations.

[Jay 43,885]

On 07/01/2024 at 11:35 AM, Jay said:

So what 2024 scores are people looking forward to?

 

For me all I can think of is:

 

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - Just absolutely cannot WAIT for this, the first is one of my favorite scores for any media

Christopher Larkin - Hollow Knight: Silksong (I CANNOT believe its been over 4 years now since the first 2 tracks were released)

 

Lena Raine - Earthblade (hopefully the true followup to Celeste I've been waiting for)

 

Danny Elfman - Beetlejuice 2 (hopefully he finds fun ways to riff on this 35 year old material!)

 

Inside Out 2 - I wish we knew if Giacchino was scoring it or not, but hopefully if he's not someone elses uses his themes in a cool way with new material

 

Bear McCreary - The Rings of Power Season 2 - loved the first!

 

And of course John Powell's two animated scores Thelma The Unicorn and That Christmas as well as Batu Sener's Harold and the Purple Crayon

 

What 2024 scores are YOU looking forward to?

 

Haha, just came across this post of mine.  Let's see....

 

FF VII Rebirth - LOVE it, though the OST album is poorly arranged and there's buckets of great highlights still unreleased (where's the Plus OST?)

 

Hollow Knight: Silksong - I guess this game is just never coming out.  wtf?

Earthblade - sigh, another one pushed to 2026 (or later?)

 

Beetlejuice 2 - enjoyed the movie, but the score album didn't wow me

 

Inside Out 2 - fun movie, and REALLY like the score by Datzman!

 

ROP Season 2 - brilliant, best score of the year!

 

Thelma The Unicorn - listened once and liked it.  That Christmas - listened once and liked it.  Harold and the Purple Crayon - keep forgetting to listen to it!  I still haven't found time to watch any of these movies.

 

 

Meanwhile, 2024 scores I wasn't anticipating when I wrote this post, but ended up loving:

 

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - wow!  Out of nowhere, a big favorite.  Good movie too.

 

Wicked Part 1 - Wow, such joy.  Only listened once, need to get into it more

 

The Penguin - OST album isn't strong all the way through, but the score was effective in the show and a shorter highlights album would really make it shine

 

Skeleton Crew - score from what I can hear in the episode sounds good, kind of annoyed the score album won't be out until 2025

 

There's still so many scores I haven't listened to yet, like Wild Robot, Nosferatu, Here, Indiana Jones & Great Circle, so much more...

[Edmilson 10,982]

The Wild Robot by Kris Bowers

 

After seeing this score receiving great praise from a lot of people I decided to check it out. It's quite good. The first few tracks are kinda like Thomas Newman's WALL-E (a score I never could get into, but anyway) but when the action and the drama begin in the second half it gets much more exciting. Some impressive orchestral writing by Bowers, even though the main theme is a bit Hans Zimmer power anthem-ish.

 

GladIIator by Harry Gregson-Williams

 

On the other hand, after everyone trashed this score I finally had the chance to check it in full after seeing the movie. It isn't a bad score, in fact I liked it, maybe because I got used to HGW's more textural approach with my (yet to be completed) marathon.

 

The thing about HGW is that he isn't as, say, crowd-pleasing as John Powell or even Zimmer. He is more interested in mixing electronic textures, orchestra and world music in a way that isn't always "easy to enjoy" but still works nevertheless. The more melancholic parts  with the African vocals reminded me of Spy Game while some (rather impressive) epic choral parts are similar to Kingdom of Heaven. 

 

It's probably his best score since The Martian. Speaking of which, I really need to resume the marathon... sigh.

[Bat1989 172]

I think that the best way to describe this album is saying that it’s simply beautiful, it was a very interesting experience.

[LSH 1,098]

 

Sorry but I really like this. Haha.

 

I suppose because of Metzger's history as a very accomplished orchestrator... I actually think this is an incredibly lovely effort.

 

It does sound like a very good Mark Mancina animation score. Unsurprisingly, but you know. But I love Tarzan and Brother Bear.

[Knight of Ren 1,323]

Yeah, I found it to be a solid score. Nothing too groundbreaking but it does a nice job of continuing Zimmer's themes and overall style!

 

I finally watched Here and Nosferatu and I can understand and appreciate both scores more with the context. I did two articles in my blog talking about each of the scores in more depth (Here and Nosferatu), but they went into my top scores of the year for very different reasons!

 

Classic Silvestri score, with a great memorable main theme and lots of nice little passages that are full of his mannerisms from some of his best scores from the 80's / 90's. The movie is scored very sparsely, so when the score does come in, it feels much more effective. Worth noting is the fact that a couple of tracks don't appear in the film at all, perhaps due to some final trims in the editing room, so it's really nice to hear them here, as they offer a very solid listening experience on album. And that final cue works wonders in the film in the way the music blends with the images, making me quite emotional by the end!

 

And this one's tonally the complete opposite, and doesn't really offer a very listening experience outside of a few more romantic cues, but it's perfect for what the film was going for. It's dark and ominous all the way through, and Carolan really takes the most out of the orchestra for these scary passages, instead of relying on synths. There are a couple of themes running through, and although they might be a bit hard to pick up on, they offer a solid narrative, and it all comes together in the climatic Daybreak track, where Carolan finally goes full on gothic melodrama alongside the shocking images on screen, and it's just brilliant, and one of my favorite tracks of the year for sure!

[tomsmoviemadness 4,420]

The Diamond Sleeping In The Sea - Naoki Sato

 

This came out in October, but I only found it today. I was looking for some new scores by Sato after listening to Masquerade Hotel from 2019. Besides Godzilla in '23 his outpout hasn't been as good I thought.

 

But this is fantastic! Broad, orchestral, sweeping while also at times incredibly intimate with just a solo piano or violin. I thought the whole thing was tremendous!

[filmmusic 2,762]

Why the hell scores  like this don't get short listed for the Oscars, but others of much much lower quality, are there?

Anyway...

[Thor 9,323]

Glad you caught on to that, filmmusic. It was a runner-up for me last year.

[filmmusic 2,762]

11 minutes ago, Thor said:

Glad you caught on to that, filmmusic. It was a runner-up for me last year.

I don't usually listen to recent scores.

I just have a facebook friend who listens to many many scores, and suggests various recent ones.

I am stuck to the old ones..

Nothing can compare to them. 

[Thor 9,323]

The new gems are there if you search for them.

[shad79 11]

Metaphor: ReFantazio - Shoji Meguro

 

I recently finally finished playing Metaphor: ReFantazio and ever since the full soundtrack was released (it looks like all the music from the game is available, as it's 5 hours and 39 minutes long), I've been listening to it almost every day. It's not Shoji Meguro's best music, but I still love it.

 

 

Here's my shorter, 3-hour long version of the OST.

 

And here's a playlist with my personal favorite tracks from the OST (1 hour 29 min long).

 

 

[crocodile 9,340]

Having a bit of a gloomy evening with two Nosferatu scores released late in 2024 - Robin Carolan's and Christopher Young's. They are actually really good in their own ways. While the story is largely the same, each entry occupies a very different filmmaking philosophy. Of course, I will always prefer the delicious lushness of Young, as will the majority of people, but Carolan manages to cleverly navigate the modern taste for sound design and unobtrusiveness in horror scores and create something that's still really "musical" (shocking, I know!). Robert Eggers' films are about mood and language so there isn't that much room for really grand musical gestures. Having said that, this particular film offered bit more room and Carolan definitely took advantage of that, using fairly large London ensemble, London Voices and soloists in interesting ways. On the other side of the pond, Young's goes all out and provides a rich gothic orchestral musical journey that is so evocative you don't really need the film to conjure up images in your head. It's delicious. Both albums are really long - over 90 minutes each - but there's enough going on musically in both cases to sustain my interest. Good stuff.

 

Karol

[tomsmoviemadness 4,420]

A Different Man - Umberto Smerilli

 

Only saw the film yesterday and therefor the score also kinda flew past me when it came out last year. I really like it though I cut out the song and so am left with a nice 34 minute album.

The main theme is excellent and goes through plenty of different variations. There are moments where it reminded me of some of the scores Shore has written for Cronenberg. Great stuff.

[LSH 1,098]

 

My favourite score of last year. Just great.

[filmmusic 2,762]

Wonderful minimalistic score (some string cues remind me of Michael Nyman), but a dreadful soundtrack presentation with snippets of dialogue in between the tracks.

 

 

[bollemanneke 4,135]

A quiet place, day one. Yet another overly long album.