Heart-Shaped Box Heart-Shaped Box was originally written by Nirvana from their In Utero album. It’s one of my all time favorite songs. Kurt Cobain was enigmatic. Behind every musical great is a strong original identity. Sometimes it’s deliberately conceived, and other times it’s innate. Kurt […]
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You Only Live Twice This version of You Only Live Twice is from indie-folk-sister-duo, Beulahbelle (Kaitlyn and Mady Dever). It’s used as the title track in the movie, Tully. Originally I planned on doing something from Rob Simonsen who scored the film, however Beulahbelle’s cover of […]
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Seguir Camino is Gustavo Santaolalla’s follow up to his 1998 album, Ronroco. By 1998, Santaolalla was a legendary Latin American musician and music producer. However, Iguazu (from Ronroco) kicked off his second act as film score composer, when Michael Mann used it to great effect […]
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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. […]
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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 […]
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A Quiet Place Marco Beltrami is a great top tier composer. His film scores include: World War Z, Wolverine, Snowpiercer, and The Homesman – directed by Tommy Lee Jones. His piece from A Quiet Place, entitled, A Quiet Life, has some really slick transitions from melancholy […]
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Lost in Space Lost in Space (Netflix) is a GREAT series, and family friendly too. It’s a reimagining of the 1965 series of the same name, that follows the brave and hyper-intelligent Robinson family after they’ve crash landed on the wrong planet. Joining the family […]
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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 — […]
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Chichina I performed Chichina this blog about 7 years ago, however my audio quality was dated and not up to my current standard. I’ve been on a quest to redo the songs that inspire me to play guitar, and Gustavo Santaolalla’s Chichina is one of […]
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The American The American is a 2010 thriller film directed by Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney. The screenplay is an adaptation of the 1990 novel, A Very Private Gentleman, by Martin Booth. The American is my favorite movie of all time. Director Anton Corbijn, […]
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Darkest Hour One of the most underrated soundtracks of 2017 was the piano driven score for Darkest Hour, by composers, Dario Marianelli, and Vikingur Olafsson. I had been working on the finale, We Shall Fight, for months. I couldn’t find a way to pair it down. […]
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Zambita Zambita is pretty tune by Gustavo Santaolalla from The Motorcycle Diaries soundtrack. Although it’s played on a lightly distorted electric guitar, this piece sounds great on any acoustic guitar. Like much of Gustavo Santaolalla’s film score work, Zambita is a fun, dynamic, and doable […]
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