The Film Scorer

In-Person with Tom Schraeder

Composer Tom Schraeder joins me for my first-ever in-person interview. Tom and I broke the ice by chatting for about an hour in my kitchen before heading downstairs and hitting record, and I think the comfort really shows up here. Tom has scored a number of horror films particularly, in addition to a long career as a folk musician, and we use both as jumping off points for our discussion, digging into more conceptual pieces rather than focusing on any single particular score or piece of music (although plenty still come up. As such, it's a pretty wide-ranging conversion, not only hitting a few of his old and upcoming scores, but also things like anxiety, finding musicians to work with, and music serving as a way to memorialize those who've passed.

 

You can find out more about Tom on his website. Tom's various scores, and much of his other music, are available on all major platforms.

Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch Talks "All of Us Strangers"

Composer Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch joins the show! Emilie's latest score is for the film All of Us Strangers, a sort of romance-fantasy-supernatural film that I found absolutely moving. As such, we primarily talk about her score for that film, including talking about striking an emotional balance (one that feels organic but not manipulative), avoiding falling into "period" piece clichés, and more. We then meander into other topics, like the use of Michel Legrand's score from The Go-Between in May December and the freedom that horror gives composers.

You can find out more about Emilie on her website. All of Us Strangers is currently in theaters, and Emilie's score is available on all major platforms with a curated vinyl release forthcoming. You may have seem me talk about how much I love when a score release is curated, so it shouldn't be a surprise to say I'm looking forward to that!

Awards Season: Best Original Scores at the BAFTAs and the Oscars

The BAFTAs air on February 18 and the Oscars on March 10 - I know many folks don't necessarily like the awards season, but it's the time of year where film music has the spotlight on it and is celebrated in the mainstream. As such, here's a little peek into the seven nominated scores between the two awards.

I've also done interviews on four of the seven nominated scores, so seek those out as well

BAFTAs:

• Killers of the Flower Moon – Robbie Robertson
• Oppenheimer – Ludwig Göransson
• Poor Things – Jerskin Fendrix
• Saltburn – Anthony Willis
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Daniel Pemberton

Oscars:

• Killers of the Flower Moon – Robbie Robertson
• Oppenheimer – Ludwig Göransson
• Poor Things – Jerskin Fendrix
• American Fiction – Laura Karpman
• Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – John Williams

Sam Haft Talks The Living Tombstone, Hazbin Hotel

The Film Scorer Podcast is back from its season 4 mid-season break! To celebrate in this return, Sam Haft joins the show! As of now, Sam might be best known for being one-half of the duo The Living Tombstone, alongside Yoav Landau. Unsurprisingly, we dig a little bit into this, including how Sam got involved in the band (and his broader musical journey) and what his music-writing relationship with Yoav is like. The bigger part of our conversation, however, surrounds the new Prime adult-animated-musical series, Hazbin Hotel. Sam co-wrote all of the songs in the series (alongside Andrew Underberg). As such, Sam and I primarily talk about the show and his songs, including the demanding pace of work, how his writing process differs from that in The Living Tombstone, and the pressure of pleasing a large, dedicated fanbase.

The entirety of season 1 of Hazbin Hotel is now out on Prime, while Sam's songs (and much of his other music) is widely available on all major digital platforms. You can find out more about Sam on his website.

On Reusing Film Music

A few weeks ago Variety published an opinion piece about the use of Michel Legrand's score for The Go-Between in May December. The piece argued that not only was this choice ill-advised, but that reusing film music “is never a good idea.” It proved to be an interesting discussion topic, and a bit of a lightning rod, so I've given my thoughts briefly as well.

Article: https://variety.com/2024/awards/opinion/why-music-for-may-december-viral-hot-dog-scene-is-problematic-1235866494/ 

My response article: https://thefilmscorer.com/on-reusing-film-music/ 

Some other examples of scores being repurposed: https://x.com/TheTumboy/status/1745137541613764976?s=20 

Frederic Yonnet Talks Killers of the Flower Moon

Welcome to 2024, and welcome to another interview on The Film Scorer! Joining me to kick off the new year is harmonicist extraordinaire Frédéric Yonnet. Fred has toured and performed with an incredible slate of legendary musicians, like Stevie Wonder, Prince, John Mayer, Ed Sheeran, Erykah Badu, John Legend, The Roots, Usher, Talib Kweli, Yasiin Bey (f/k/a Mos Def), De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest, among many others. Even if you haven't heard of Fred before, you've definitely heard his harmonica. With all that said, why is he chatting with The Film Scorer? It's because his work doesn't end there.

Fred has lent his virtuosic harmonica playing to various film projects, including the Robbie Robertson composed scores for The Irishman (where his harmonica channels death) and, most recently, the Golden Globe nominated Killers of the Flower Moon (where his harmonica channels greed). As such, while we start off talking about his love of the harmonica and performing with various music legends, our conversation ultimately leads to Robbie Robertson, The Irishman, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Fred's playful run-in with Scorsese at Cannes.

Killers of the Flower Moon is currently available for digital rental, and releases on Apple TV+ on January 12 with a physical release expected sometime this month. You can hear Fred's harmonica on the film's score, which is widely available digitally or via physical release, and you can find out more about Fred on his website.

NOTE: A prior version of this had audio issues, which should now be resolved.

Film Score Recap: July Through September 2023

2023 is nearly over, and to lead into the new year, The Film Scorer keeps you up to date on recent releases (perfect to chat about with your family over the holidays) by covering some of the best and most notable film scores released from July through September of this year, featuring scores like Oppenheimer by Ludwig Göransson, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Bottoms by Leo Birenberg and Charli XCX, and many more!

Keep your eye on The Film Scorer website for reviews and articles covering some of these scores, including detailed writeups and lists.

For a full list of the scores discussed in this episode, see below:

• • Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One - Lorne Balfe
  • The Starling Girl - Lord Huron
  • Creation of the Gods I - Feng Shen Trilogy - Gordy Haab
  • Oppenheimer - Ludwig Göransso
  • The Boy and the Heron – Joe Hisaishi
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
  • Haunted Mansion - Kris Bowers
  • The Last Voyage of the Demeter - Bear McCreary
  • A Haunting in Venice - Hildur Guðnadóttir
  • Blue Beetle - Bobby Krlic
  • Landscape with Invisible Hand - Michael Abel
  • They Cloned Tyrone - Pierre Charles and Desmond Murray
  • The Creator - Hans Zimmer
  • Barbie - Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt
  • Bottoms - Leo Birenberg and Charli XCX
  • The Monkey King - Toby Chu
  • Lamya's Poem - Christopher Willis
  • Cassandro - Marcelo Zarvos
  • She Came to Me - Bryce Dessner
  • PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie - Pinar Toprak

Michael Abels Talks Jordan Peele, The Burial

Pulitzer Prize winning composer Michael Abels (Get Out, Nope) joins the show to round out 2023! Not surprisingly, Michael and I spend a fair amount of time talking about his work with Jordan Peele on the films Get Out, Us, and Nope, including a broad look at their working relationship and how it fulfilled Michael's long-time dream of working in film. But Michael also scored a couple films this year, which we then dig into, including The Burial and Landscape with Invisible Hand. Primarily, we talk about his work on The Burial, in which Jamie Foxx gives an electric performance. As such, Michael digs into the score, including discussing how the palette is aimed at universality, giving space to Foxx and the film's licensed music, and adapting the Bach piece "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" into his score. Even though our chat is just under 25 minutes, we manage to squeeze a lot into it!

The Burial is currently streaming on Amazon Prime while Landscape with Invisible Hand is available on MGM+. Meanwhile, Michael's score for both, as well as much of his other music, is available on all major platforms. In addition, you can find out more about Michael on his website.

Have a great rest of the year, and I'll talk to you all in 2024...

Jerskin Fendrix Talks Poor Things

As 2023 starts to close, and the awards season begins to heat up, I'm joined by the composer for what's being widely hailed as one of the best film scores of the year: Jerskin Fendrix. Jerskin's latest score is for the film Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. But not only is Poor Things Jerskin's latest score, it's also his first. And it just landed him a Golden Globe nomination. Unsurprisingly, then, we spend most of our conversation talking about Jerskin's score. While this is a shorter interview, so we didn't have as much time to meander into tangents, we still found time to go on them, including comparing how personal and autobiographical solo music and scoring can be, looking for "honesty" in music, and more.

Poor Things is currently playing in limited release, moving to a full theatrical release on December 22, 2023, while Jerskin's score, and much of his debut solo album, is available on all major platforms.

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe

Experimental composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (Candyman) joins The Film Scorer podcast in the midst of the year-end blitz. Rob's latest score is for the vérité-style documentary Grasshopper Republic. As such, we spend much of the conversation talking about, and around, Rob's score, which is certainly among the most overlooked of the year. Along the way we talk about Rob's general style and approach, tackle the big questions around how to roll back the commodification of music, and more.

Grasshopper Republic is currently playing in certain festivals while Rob's score, and much of his other music, is available on all major platforms through Invada. Meanwhile, you can find out more about Rob on his website.