The Last of Us (Variation) The depth and creativity of Gustavo Santaolalla’s The Last of Us soundtrack never ceases to amaze me, even years later. Two of my favorite themes are: the title theme, and The Choice. Inspired by Gustavo Santaolalla’s recent E3 performance, where […]

Brokeback Mountain 2 The Brokeback Mountain score is initially what introduced me to Gustavo Santaolalla’s music in 2005 — for which he won the first of his back-to-back Academy Awards. The minimalist approach and solitary delivery of a lone acoustic guitar was unlike anything we […]

Opening If you’ve been a reading my blog for any length of time, it’s not hard to figure out that I’m a Gustavo Santaolalla superfan. It all started with the Brokeback Mountain score: acoustic guitar, empty space, minimalism. I had never heard anything like it.  […]

Smile Into Eyes Free MP3 Download on SoundCloud. I wrote this song while thinking about my son (who’s 3 at the moment). I get to work early each morning on my YouTube channel and blog, so I’ll have enough time to play with him for […]

Simon and Blue Rob Simonsen’s music (aptly named) is perfect for this style of movie. With ‘Simon and Blue’ he seemingly uses every cliche chord progression, texture, and melody from the 80’s. I love every minute of it. This song is so expertly crafted — […]

Johann Johannsson This is my tribute to the late, Johann Johannsson (The Theory of Everything, Sicario). He was one of — if not the greatest living composer. His music was all at once: aching, melancholy, and extraordinary progressive. Johann’s passing is a major loss for […]

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 Deer Written by Carter Burwell, The Deer, is the sentimental theme from Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. This theme is also known from the score as, My Dear Anne, and Can’t give up Hope. All three themes have a delicate guitar line as well […]

Dans Les Yeux De Bruno I’ve always loved this short guitar riff from Gustavo Santaolalla. It from a french film entitled, Les Yeux De Sa Mère. I’ve been working on a complex and long piece for this blog — so it was a good opportunity […]

Mindhunter We just binged watched the first season of Mindhunter and it was great. If you liked (HBO’s) True Detective, you’ll like Mindhunter. Mindhunter follows two FBI agents in the late 70’s as they attempt to create a profiling scheme for serial killers, by interviewing […]

Lady Bird The Lady Bird soundtrack comes from multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion, whose niche lies in crafting “unsentimental” scores that fit indie dramedies like a glove. His music tends to bounce along—think of a Beatles track stripped of its vocals—moving in rhythm with the film without […]

Hawkins Hawkins, Indiana — the setting of Stranger Things — is actually a fictional small town invented by the show’s creators, the Duffer brothers. In development, the series was originally to be called Montauk, a real-life coastal town on Long Island, New York — and […]