Children of the New Dawn I’ve been obsessing over Children of the New Dawn for months. Johannsson perfectly captured the generic sound of 1983 with a driving “Eye of the Tiger” note and the deliberately mono half-time drum kit. What a massive loss Johannsson was […]

Leave No Trace Leave No Trace is about a father (Ben Foster) and daughter who live an off-the-grid existence in a National Forest Park/nature preserve near Portland, Oregon. They rarely making contact with the outside world. However, a small mistake tips them off to authorities, […]

Don’t Worry, He Won’t get Far on Foot Don’t Worry, He Won’t get Far on Foot is a 2018 drama/comedy written and directed by Gus Van Sant. The film is based on the memoir by the late Portland based cartoonist, John Callahan. This motif, by composer […]

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 […]

The Shoe Maker The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a 2018 adventure-comedy film directed and written by Terry Gilliam. The movie is thought to be one of the most infamous examples of development hell in film history, with Gilliam unsuccessfully attempting to make the […]

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 […]

I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love with You Adrift is a 2018 American romantic drama film — based on a true story and set in 1983. The film stars Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin as a young couple that gets stranded in the […]

Bibo No Aozora First recorded in 1996, Bibo, is one of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s most famous pieces. The film Babel, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, brought the song to the larger public conscience in 2006. Bibo No Aozora is used in the film’s finale. My version […]

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 deliberately conceived, other times completely innate. Cobain’s was clearly […]

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 […]

Seguir “Seguir” by Gustavo Santaolalla, is an atmospheric instrumental piece that showcases the Argentine composer’s multi-instrumental talents and minimalist approach. Released in 2014, the track features Santaolalla’s signature use of the ronroco, creating a melancholic yet hopeful soundscape. The instrumental’s title is Spanish for “To […]

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 […]