One of the most surefire ways to get through Mondays? Movie scores! The orchestral compositions are made to be somewhat in the background so they compliment rather than compete with the visuals.
without vocals or lyrics to distract my groggy Monday morning typing.
I also enjoy how there are small melodies and themes that get repeated throughout the movie, usually changing just a bit each time. Movies without music would be so flat and less engaging; I like to pretend that my life has a soundtrack (and so is more interesting and fun), and I would gladly invite any of these composers to create the score!
Hans Zimmer: Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End
At World's End
Known for composing the scores to the THE LION KING(!), Batman Trilogy, the Pirates of the Caribbean, Inception, and now the Man of Steel, just to name a few. I could listen to this particular song 10 times in a row, and in fact I'm sure I have at least once.
The Chemical Brothers: Hanna
Hanna's Theme
Escape 700
I LOVE this movie score! It is such a great example of how a superb score can take a movie to the next level when it compliments the scene and overall tone of the film. The songs are creative and fun and different from most music I listen to.
Steve Jablonsky: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Forest Battle
Perfect for powering through a memo or research or some task, another law grad introduced me to this score when we were studying for the Virginia Bar Exam and I was very grateful (although the weakest of the three movies, the score is great!); music got me through most of that summer (wow was is just last year).
Mr. Jablonsky's work includes all the Transformers movies (including the upcoming 4th film), Battleship, and plenty of horror films, I'm looking forward to hearing his score for Ender's Game.
John Williams: War Horse
The Soundtrack Suite (kind of a sampler of the different musical themes)
Remembering Emilie and Finale
Another movie score superstar! you might've heard his talent in small films such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Lincoln, E.T., Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone you know, small indie films. Also, as Jack Black's character in the Holiday noted, he uses two notes to create a terrifying villain in Jaws
Alexandre Desplat: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
Lily's Theme
Severus and Lily
Speaking of Harry Potter, Alexandre Desplat took over the composing role for the last two movies. For a list of all Harry Potter composers see here. I can always listen to some Harry Potter to get me through a Muggley day. Desplat is no slouch either, composing the score for numerous Oscar best picture noms and at least two winners: Argo, The King's Speech, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Tree of Life, and one of my FAVORITE all time movies: Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Harry Gregson-Williams: Chronicles of Narnia the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
Evacuating London
The Battle
This particular score helped get me through numerous finals in undergrad. And what's up with these Williamses being so super talented? Note to self: if I want to change careers to a movie composer, change last name to Williams. This hyphenated composer is responsible for the scores to Spy Game, the Shrek franchise, Gone Baby Gone, Kingdom of Heaven, and the classic Team America: World Police to name a few.
What movie scores are your favorites to listen to?
This weekend I will be taking a trip up to PA for a college teammate's wedding and will then head to the outer banks in NC for a few days of sun. This means I need a good road trip playlist.
While there are plenty of great songs out there, I like building my playlists for long trips around long songs. This way I feel like I have accomplished more, and driven farther as each song passes.
In honor of my looooong road trip, here are some looooong songs (criteria, close to or over 10 minutes) I love to listen to on the open road:
Sufjan Stevens: Impossible Soul
Off of his 2010 release Age of Adz, Sufjan experiments more in this 25 minute song then most artists do throughout their careers. About 13:45, my favorite part kicks in, so if the crooning guitar player or auto-tuned circus aren't your thing, you can join me in the cheer/shout section!
Memory Tapes: Sheila
This song just gets my moving so I have to make sure I don't get too involved in shoulder dancing behind the wheel that it affects my driving.
Explosions in the Sky: The Only Moment We Were Alone
What can I say about my beloved Explosions, they have gotten me through many moments and can be perfect for a great road trip soundtrack. This song is one of my favorites and is off of the 2003 album The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place.
Explosions in the Sky: It's Natural to Be Afraid
From their fifth album, 2007's All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone.
Gotye: Seven Hours with a Backseat Driver
From one of my favorite albums of all time Like Drawing Blood (The 2007 album was named the 11th best Australian album of all time by Triple J last year). While not quite "qualifying" based on my 10minute criteria, I make the rules here so this one makes the list based on getting extra points for being related to the theme. The cartoon is what plays behind Wally in concert and just about perfectly sums up the uncomfortable and muscle-clench-inducing obnoxiousness of driving with a backseat driver.
What are your favorite road-trip or 10+ minute songs? Let me know in the comments or on twitter @itzbizr!
Sometimes you want music to speak to you, sometimes you want it to jar you out of an mood, or assist your descent as you wallow in one. Sometimes you want to lyrics to surgically reveal your outlook, cutting deeply where you think you've hidden something too far within yourself. Sometimes you want it to lift you, propelling you higher than the clouds. But sometimes you want music to just carry you away, to be there almost insubstantially in the background, slowly drawing you in until you realize you have lost yourself in it, until you yourself are adrift in the atmospheric sounds, floating aimlessly. That's the music this week is dedicated to.
Explosions in the Sky: Postcard from 1952
You can't talk about atmospheric post-modern rock without talking about Explosions in the Sky. This track is off of Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, released in 2011. The band did something new with this album and gave filmmaking friends small bits of money to create music videos (something Sigur Ros is also doing now, which you should check out as well... maybe that'll be another theme), which the band hadn't created for any songs before.
The almost achingly slow movement throughout this video it exactly what their music inspires in my own inner eye, moments turned infinite through musical expression.
If they sound familiar it's because they did the soundtrack for Friday Night Lights (the movie the show was based on), and their echoey guitars have seeped into other areas of pop culture as well.
Nosaj Thing: Eclipse/Blue feat. Kazu Makino
I initially found this video on a music blog called Dead Horse March (you can see their post here). It is a Creators Project backed piece with enchantingly complex light show (think about a conceptual art piece that inspired the Beyonce mega/mirror/floor/wall thing) and slow steady vocals.
It is directed by Daito Manabe, takcom, Satoru Higa, and MIKIKO, and you can see more about the creative process on the Creators Project YouTube channel.
Oliver Tank: Last Night I Heard Everything In Slow Motion
I found this through KEXP's Music That Matter's Podcast. Oliver tank is a music producer out of Sydneym Australia (big surprise, I like more Australian music). The electronic clicking percussion propels the violins through their melody and the minimal vocals create a chill vibe to escape into...
until it ends too soon.
Hammock: (Leaving) The House Where We Grew Up
Another KEXP find. I really depend on them for a lot of my new music mostly because I find that I like a lot of the stuff I find there.
From the album Departure Songs, released in October 2012. The two-man band out of Nashville, TN definitely has an Explosions in the Sky vibe and I don't flatter myself into thinking that's a groundbreaking assessment at all. I think their ambient, post rock sound is best experienced when driving long distances as the musical montage/soundtrack to your life, try it sometime.
Jonsi & Alex: Atlas Song
I used the album Riceboy Sleeps in my yoga class numerous times. It was wonderful, and you should definitely try stretching to the music, even if you aren't a yoga person. It definitely puts you in a place where you can relax and calmly enjoy whatever the task at hand is, although a few people did fall asleep during Shavasana so maybe it worked too well.
If there's one thing the Jonsi, the lead singer of Sigur Ros, and his partner Alex get, its gentle atmospheric melodies, created with conventional instruments and unconventional sounds, with swelling orchestras and choir voices, leaving the listener with a paradoxical feeling of contented longing.
Second week in a row: Musical Monday published on a Monday... wooo! go me! epic happiness ensues (forget the fact there's only a little over 90 minutes left in today, STILL COUNTS!)
In honor of the beginning of bar prep tomorrow (OMGEEE, so terrifying) I have compiled some of my favorite music to study to for your and my reference. I know I will likely need to return to this post multiple times this summer to remind myself where I can find good music
Study Sess Survival
Olafur Arnalds - Ljosio
Bon Iver - Holocene
Sooo hypnotizing, right? This got me through 3L finals. If you go to the Bon Iver YouTube Page you can watch a playlist of some of the music videos as well as all of the videos which were included in the DELUXE release of the self-titled Sophomore album which won Best Alternative Music Album and the Man Behind Bon Iver Justin Vernon the Grammy for Best New Artist.
Sigur Ros+BBC/Nat. Geo's Planet Earth
Some brilliant person out there decided to combine the visuals of Nat Geo/BBC's Planet Earth with the symphonically epic music of Sigur Ros, the result is: Spec.tac.u.lar. the challenge is not to get drawn into the the breathtaking beauty of the video. I have to listen to this with the window minimized if I'm actually trying to get work done. On a break however, these are a saving reminder of how life is bigger than me, it's bigger than whatever work I'm doing, and all I can hope to do is contribute something small and good to it.
Explosions in the Sky - Your Hand in Mine
Just great music, post-modern deconstructed rock. The melodic guitars evoke the feelings of holding hands with someone you care about. I'm surprised I haven't used more of this blog to wax on about my love fore Explosions in the Sky so here's another video to make up for their absence thus far:
Explosions in the Sky - The Only Moment We Were Alone
There is a music video for this which plays in my head every time i hear this song. It's a colorless, frozen moment in time which flashes to the past and future during the crashing drums at the epic height of the song's climax before slowly freezing again. This is my true escape-from-reality-song, and I have a feeling I'll need it in the weeks to come....
So since it's finals week, I am prone to think about all the other wonderful things I can do with my time besides study. I've really grown to like the idea of promoting music on my blog, since that's what i spend the majority of my time doing when perusing the internet.
What's ironic here is that in my procrastination I'm going to highlight the music I most enjoy when studying!
So here are some of my favorites to listen to while writing/studying/reading/absorbing knowledge. Hopefully you can put these on in the background and enjoy some great, mellow, transportative (OK, well I know it's not a word and there's an actual word out there that means the same thing but it's finals week and my brain is fried so give me a break!). Sometimes it's hard not to watch the videos as well...
Sigur Ros "Glosoli"
There are a lot of great videos combining the beautiful music of Sigur Ros with breathtaking footage from Planet Earth, I have to keep the window minimized when watching this one
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Soundtrack "At Wit's End". Gotta love the sweeping dramatic songs Hans Zimmer composes
Explosions in the Sky "The Only Moment We Were Alone" Epic Post-Modern Rock
Bon Iver "Towers" Off the self-titled sophomore album, in my opinion the song ends way too soon. The video is also hypnotic
And a pick-me up song for when you realize you've dozed off cause it's 2:30am and you're nowhere near finished writing/studying:
m83 "Midnight City" the driving back beat is more effective than coffee when it comes to keeping my eyes open late-night.
And an appropriate song for the season that ALWAYS gets me through December Finals Week:
Vince Guaraldi Trio "Christmastime is Here (Instrumental)" Oh Charlie Brown!
Finally, a treat for those who have made it this far:
This is what I did as a study break on Friday...
I really need a creative outlet and felt inspired to sing. There may be more coming...
