Musique Fantastique

New Postings on Genre Film Music: 

Further Examinations:

• Scoring the SHARKNADOS: The Musique Fantastique SHARKNADO Score Retrospective

New Genre Soundtracks:

• Oh Geez! RICK AND MORTY Soundtrack Due In September

• MANDY: Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Highly-Anticipated Final Score – Exclusive Soundtrack Preview at The Playlist

New Book Review Added:

• Experiencing Film Music: A Listener’s Companion
  By Kenneth LaFave

Additional Resources:

• The Story Behind STARLOG Records (CinemaScore Archives)

New Genre Soundtracks:

• Fabio Frizzi Scores PUPPET MASTER reimagining, soundtrack forthcoming

• Expanded Soundtrack for Robert O. Ragland’s Q – THE WINGED SERPENT coming from Kronos Records in August

Genre Film Music News:

• Film and TV composer Neil Argo has died

• Remembering Patrick Williams – and his early fantasy-horror scores

New Book Review Added:

• MUSIC TO MY YEARS: Live and Love Between the Notes
  By Artie Kane as told to Marian Blue & JoAnn Kane

New Genre Soundtracks:

• 1980’s THE BOOGEYMAN soundtrack comes to Vinyl

Additional Resources:

• New Soundtrax column posted: Feature Interview: Pinar Toprak’s Musical Voyage to KRYPTON

New Genre Soundtracks:

• Lakeshore Records to release Mark Korvan’s score to supernatural thriller, OUR HOUSE 

Genre Film Music News:

• Bear McCreary to Score GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS

• Benjamin Walfisch to score DC’s SHAZAM

• Watch DC’s AQUAMAN trailer – Rupert Gregson-Williams to score

New Genre Soundtracks:

• Australian sf thriller ALPHA GATEWAY soundtrack released by MovieScore Media

• THE MUMMY RETURNS: Massive 2001 Alan Silvestri score gets lavish 2-CD treatment from Intrada

• Lakeshore to release YouTube’s original sf series IMPULSE Season 1

• Varèse Sarabande premieres Marco Beltrami’s HELLBOY soundtrack on vinyl among three new LP packages

• Beltrami’s A QUIET PLACE Soundtrack comes to Vinyl from Mondo

Genre Film Music News:

• Goosebumps 2 Announced – Dominic Lewis to Score

• Composer Christophe Beck re-teams with Marvel Cinematic Universe to score ANT-MAN AND THE WASP – Film & Soundtrack out July 6

• New DOCTOR WHO composer revealed

New Genre Soundtracks:

• Silva Screen’s new expansive TRANSFORMERS compilation follows-up on 2011’s Music From The Transformers Trilogy 

• Mondo Announces vinyl soundtracks to LUKE CAGE Season 2 and Argento’s PROFONDO ROSSO

• Digital Soundtrack to ORBITER 9 by Federico Jusid released by MovieScore Media

• Universal Launches Music Restoration Program, New Soundtrack Imprint with La-La Land; COLOSSUS THE FORBIN PROJECT debuts next week!

• Varèse CD Club: Jerry Goldsmith’s SMALL SOLDIERS expanded soundtrack release

Additional Resources:

• Kurt Farquhar (BLACK LIGHTNING) & Marco Beltrami (A QUIET PLACE) interviewed in June Soundtrax 

Further Examinations:

• Interview: Michael A. Levine Scores Freefall’s SIREN series

• The Chiseler.com: Herman Stein: The Greatest Composer No One’s Ever Heard Of

Genre Film Music News:

• Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse – Official Trailer Released (HD)

New Genre Soundtracks:

• Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger Song Soundtrack Released – Mark Isham’s Score To Be Released on July 6

Additional Resources:

• A Tribute to Joel Goldsmith (1957-2012)

New Genre Soundtracks:

• Lakeshore Records To Release the FUTURE WORLD Soundtrack

• Christopher Lennertz’s LOST IN SPACE soundtrack is now on compact disc

• Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom soundtrack debuts on June 15

• Intrada Captures GWANGI: Classic Jerome Moross Score for Harryhausen Dynamation Thriller available in its entirely after nearly 50 years!

• Chad Cannon grounds DEVIL TREE: ROOTED EVIL score in the dark depths of the church organ 

• SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY Soundtrack Available Today

• WILSON’S HEART: Christopher Young’s hearty new game score will Creep You Out

• BATMAN NINJA Soundtrack Due Out June 13

• LEGION Season 2 soundtrack coming up on Friday

• Strange Disc proudly presents (for the first time on any format) the original soundtrack to POPCORN (1991) – Music by Paul Zaza

• John Massari’s Reimagined Killer Klowns From Outer Space soundtrack

Additional Resources:

• Yoko Kanno: The Greatest Composer You’ve Never Heard Of (the_medium_com)

• A Conversation With Bear McCreary, the Composer King of Comic-Con (the_ringer-com)

Further Examinations:

• New Interview: Andrew Hollander Scoring MY FRIEND DAHMER

New Genre Soundtracks:

• BAFTA Nominated Composer Olivier Derivière Scores DONTNOD Entertainment’s Vampyr 

• Trunk Records release vinyl soundtrack from a popular TV cartoon about spiders!

• La-La Land Releases Expanded & Remastered 2-disc ALIEN 3 soundtrack CD

• STRANGER THINGS 2 soundtrack cassette release and Season 1 vinyl repress (2 volumes)

Genre Film Music News:

• SUSPIRIA remake poster & websites revealed

• April 21: John Carpenter to Score New HALLOWEEN Film

• Hans Zimmer To Receive Prestigious Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award In “Hollywood in Vienna” Festival

New Genre Soundtracks:

• Varèse Sarabande To Release Deluxe Box Set Of Music From JIM HENSON’S THE STORYTELLER – featuring Original Score by Rachel Portman 

• Andrew Lockington’s RAMPAGE Soundtrack Now Available on CD & Digital Download

Genre Film Music News: 

• Acclaimed Avant Jazz & Drone Artist + Arcade Fire Collaborator Colin Stetson Creates Eerie, Booming, Frightening Score for scary horror film HERIDITARY

• Lakeshore releases Jeff Russo‘s score from STAR TREK DISCOVERY Chapter II digitally – CD due later in year

• Varèse Sarabande Records Releases Frank Ilfman’s Soundtrack to GHOST STORIES

• Netflix’s Lost In Space Premiers April 13 – Watch the series’ opening credits now, featuring the score by Christopher Lennertz – which integrates elements of John Williams’ music from original 1965 TV series.

New Genre Soundtracks

• David Shire’s score for George A. Romero’s MONKEY SHINES thriller film given well-deserved expanded soundtrack treatment

New Book Review: 

• Universal Terrors 1951-1955: Eight Classic Horror and Sci-Fi Films
  by Tom Weaver with David Schecter, Robert J. Kiss, and Steve Kronenberg.

Genre Film Music News: 

• Dominik Scherrer Scores Futuristic THE CITY & THE CITY For BBC Two

• Composer Murray Gold to Step Down from Scoring DOCTOR WHO

• Kevin Riepel’s Score to Sci-Fi web-series ATROPA released by MovieScore Media

New Genre Soundtracks

• DOCTOR WHO Season 9 Soundtrack Set for April 27

• Dragon’s Domain’s extended release of STARGATE SG-1: CHILDREN OF THE GODS features 40 minutes of unreleased score

• Tadlow Music announces THRILLER Vol. 2 – six newly recorded Jerry Goldsmith episode suites

Genre Film Music News: 

• Listen to Alan Silvestri’s Main Title from READY  PLAYER ONE

• Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and James Newton Howard: FANTASTIC BEASTS 2 trailer

• Marc Shaiman composing the score for MARY POPPINS RETURNS; and writing the songs with partner Scott Wittman – film due from Disney at Christmas

New Genre Soundtracks

• Silva Screen Records Presents “The Definitive Superhero Themes Collection”

• Game of Times: Ramin Djawadi’s WRINKLE IN TIME score due from Disney on March 9

• Adrian Johnston’s score to THE STRANGERS reboot announced

• void recordings presents Joseph Bishara’s soundtrack to THE WORTHY

• Ludwig Göransson infuses the sounds of Marvel’s Super Heroes with the African landscape of Wakanda in BLACK PANTHER score

• DEAD SHACK Soundtrack by Canadian duo HUMANS Comes to Life this Friday

Genre Film Music News: 

• Freeform’s forthcoming SIREN Series Scored by Michael A. Levine

• ARRIVAL, SICARIO Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson Dies at age 48

• Women in Horror Month: The 9th Annual Blood Drive is Upon Us

New Genre Soundtracks:

• 4-CD Box Set soundtrack to BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Out Next Tues

• Bear McCreary’s score for OUTLANDER Season 3 Soundtrack Released

• Supernatural thriller from BBC One & Netflix, REQUIEM, Soundtrack OST composed by Dominik Scherrer with Natasha Khan (Bat For Lashes) released digitally

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•     Recent News on Musique Fantastique 2nd edition:  
• Midnight Marquee Press to Publish Continuation of “Musique Fantastique, Second Edition” series
• Click on NEWS for more details about the next volumes of MUSIQUE FANTASTIQUE

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• Check our FURTHER EXAMINATIONS page for

• New Interviews & Feature Articles

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• Check our ADDITIONAL RESOURCES page for

• Links to the author’s new online articles, books, etc about fantasy, sci-fi, and horror film music

• Links to further resources relevant to genre film music scores

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• See!
  Wondrous Alien Landscapes!
  Giant Reptiles on the Rampage!
  Strange Creatures Out of Time & Space!
• Hear!
  Massive Orchestral Thematic Variations!
  Eerie Electronic Tonalities!
  Haunting Hybrid Rhythms And Riffs!
• Read!
  Meticulous Commentary on Thousands of Film Scores!
  Exhaustive Historical Analysis Of Genre Film Music!
  Massively Expanded New Edition Of A Classic Film Music Book!
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• Musique Fantastique II, Book I: 2012 Rondo Award nominee!
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•  Follow Musique Fantastique on Facebook
• ——————————————————————————————————————-
• Original news announcements and press releases:
• Announcing: Musique Fantastique, Second Edition
  100+ Years of Fantasy, Science Fiction & Horror Film Music
  By Randall D. Larson
  Creature Features Press: 2012
• This thoroughly re-written and massively expanded new edition of Larson’s seminal 1985 book will be spread over a landscape of four large volumes, covering every aspect of music for fantastic films from the Silents through the Summer Blockbusters of 2011. Focusing on the composers whose work has enlivened the movies of monsters and madmen, fantastic lands and distant worlds, Larson analyzes fantasy, science fiction, and horror film music around the world, from A TRIP TO THE MOON in 1902 to TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON in 2011. Eschewing criticism for commentary, Larson incorporates interviews with hundreds of composers along with his own perceptive analytic commentary and the perspectives of a myriad of other reviewers, writers, and commentators, providing in Musique Fantastique, Second Edition a comprehensive historical overview of how music has been used in the fantastic genre.
• Totaling 34 Chapters and more than 1700 pages, featuring a new introduction by film composer Christopher Young, Musique Fantastique, Second Edition offers a definitive historical context for the evolution and development of film music within science fiction, fantasy, and horror cinema.
• Book One now available from Creature Features.
  See: http://www.creaturefeatures.com/shop/books/musique-fantastique/
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Musique Fantastique, Second Edition 100+ Years of Fantasy, Science Fiction & Horror Film Music By Randall D. LarsonMusic for science fiction, fantasy, and horror films has always been a particularly unique area of film scoring. Just as fantasy has allowed the minds of writ­ers and filmmakers to flow into new and unexplored regions, so has it allowed the imaginations of film composers to create much of the finest music composed for motion pictures. In 1985, Randall D. Larson’s Musique Fantastique was the first book-length analytical commentary of these genres of film music. In this new edition, Larson has thoroughly rewritten and expanded that book into a massive comprehensive examination of music for fantasy, sci-fi, and horror films and television, from the silents through the summer blockbusters of 2012. Intricately detailed and wide-ranging in its scope, Musique Fantastique 2 is presented in four books spanning some 1700 pages.“I would like to thank Randall on behalf of the entire music community for his years of commitment to promoting film music and the film composers that write it. Most importantly, he has always done it entirely out of true love of music and what it can do in these kinds of films.  It’s been this passion for genre music that prompted [this] analysis and commentary.” – from the Introduction by Christopher Young.One Book – Four Volumes – Encyclopedic Commentary – Essential ReadingBOOK ONE Now Available from from Creature Features.