The Avengers The Avengers theme by composer Alan Silvestri is iconic. The way the chorus comes in gets me every time. You’ll hear it in the films when the tide has turned against the enemy, and the Avengers (specifically Iron Man) are really getting after […]

Annihilation Annihilation is a 2018 science fiction movie starring Natalie Portman and directed by Alex garland (Ex Machina). The ambient soundscape, by composers Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury, is punctuated and contrasted with a steel string guitar theme known from the soundtrack as: What Do […]

Mystery of Love Mystery of Love is the principle song from Call me By Your Name, an academy award nominated film by Luca Guadagnino. In addition to Mystery of Love, indie-folk songwriter, Sufjan Stevens, has two more songs on the soundtrack: Futile Devices and (my […]

Visions of Gideon Visions of Gideon is a song by the New York based multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, Sufjan Stevens. His songs from the film, Call Me By Your Name are atmospheric and layered. The soundtrack also features avant-garde classical works and music by composer, Ryuichi […]

The Shape of Water  The Shape of Water is a 2017 American fantasy drama film directed by Guillermo del Toro. The Academy Award winning music is by composer, Alexandre Desplat. The Shape of Water, which also won best picture, is a highly original film. That […]

Phantom Thread III As a massive fan of both Jonny Greenwood and Paul Thomas Anderson, I could not wait to arrange the theme of Phantom Thread for my guitar. I had been working on another giant piece of music for this blog, but nothing was […]

Brokeback Mountain Gustavo Santaolalla’s score for Brokeback Mountain is a masterpiece of cinematic music. It perfectly complements the film’s poignant and tragic love story. By using sparse, two-note intervals, Santaolalla lets the guitar’s resonance to all of the work — capturing the isolation, and longing […]

Billie Eilish Billie Eilish is a 16 year-old Los Angeles based singer/songwriter. Her older brother, Finneas O’Connell, is Billie’s songwriting partner and producer. Her song, ocean eyes, is just beginning to hit with my young guitar students. I’ve taught this song a dozen times already […]

Amores Perros Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Amores Perros (2001) is an ambitious story of lives that collide in a Mexico City car crash. Inventively structured as overlapping and intersecting narratives. Gustavo Santaolalla initially said no to this project, because he was too busy producing […]

The Polar Express Released in 2004, The Polar Express tells the story of a young boy who doubts the existence of Santa Claus. On Christmas Eve, he embarks on a magical journey to the North Pole on a train called the Polar Express. Along the […]

Don’t Come Around Here No More Very sad news about Tom Petty. He was a favorite of just about everybody. I had the opportunity to see him live a half dozen times since high school, AND just this past June — where he looked and […]

Tears In the Rain I would also strongly add Vangelis as the principal composer of this song. “Tears In Rain” minus a (the) is from the original iconic Blade Runner (1982) soundtrack. Tears in the Rain is nearly a verbatim replicant (sorry had to) of […]