A.R. Rahman's Journey to Remember

I was greatly intrigued by A.R. Rahman’s score for the Hundred Foot Journey. I loved how he took two completely different sounds for the Indian and French and united them under one profound and memorable theme. The suite that is found in the beginning of the album is an enjoyable summary of the journey that Rahman has taken his listeners on.

In the film, an Indian starts up a restaurant right in front of a very formal and popular French one. There is much conflict between them because of their differences, but later on become good friends. This is heard throughout this first song as the main theme splits paths, first visiting the calm and humble Indian theme while gradually fading into simpler themes.

Rahman returns to the main theme, right before confronting the persuasive French with a familiar and convincing classical sound. This final push sends us into a calm end where the tempo begins to decline, predicting the great resolve in the end of the film.

Rahman’s score for The Hundred Foot Journey is a beautifully blended score with memorable themes. There is not much “filler” music, especially in the first track, but joy and excitement found throughout each song.

Check out this score on Amazon. 

Destiny, Legendary in Sound

Today’s featured album is by famed composer among the gaming industry Martin O’Donnell. Unfortunately, this is his last published work with Bungie, but I’m sure many of us have high hopes that he will continue to write.

The soundtrack for Destiny is an excellent combination of truly relaxing melodies and bizarre ambient sounds. The four composers who collaborated on this work did not create high intensity music that most first person shooters feature, making this a unique score for a unique game.

Amongst all of the action, Destiny is really a beautiful and relaxing game that is goes far beyond just your standard shooter. This highly acclaimed masterpiece of a score is definitely one worth having.

Check out this score on Amazon HERE. 

New Releases!

I am always excited for new soundtrack releases. I do like to collect some of the special editions, but it is not a necessity. Here are two great sets that are excellent additions to any collector of a physical music library.

Up first is the Downton Abbey Ultimate Collection. This set is a must have if you enjoy a more classical approach to film scores. I am not one to say that I have seen much of the show itself, but the music is excellent and praiseworthy. This two disc set is the final music release, since the last season is currently airing. The packaging is much more decorative than previous releases and costs less than $20. The only takeaway that I must include is that although this includes what the publisher calls the "musical highlights," it is still necessary to get a hold of the two previous releases in order to fully get a complete collection of what is currently released to the public. Still, I recommend this set, which can be purchased from Amazon.com HERE
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This next set is quite intriguing and is still up for pre-order. It comes from the award-winning mobile game Monument Valley. This soundtrack is instead released on 2 180-gram vinyls. Combined with all of the stunning artwork, this looks like a premium soundtrack set. It is also given a relatively premium price tag of $40. Pre-orders opened today (January 27) at 1 pm (EST), but will not be able to ship until the spring. If you are interested, head on over to the iam8bit Store to secure your copy of this special set. 

Now, for some honorable mentions. Target is one to offer tempting exclusives for music. Two exclusives that I personally own and enjoy are the Man of Steel (Steel Case) soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, which is like the regular steel case release, but with a read color. That is the only difference, and some people have criticized it for that, but it really does look that much better. It is also the same price as the gray colored one, if not cheaper. After many times that this album has gone out of stock, it is finally available on Target's website HERE for $22.99. Better grab it while it lasts!

The second is the score for Star Wars: The Force Awakens by well-known composer John Williams. This Target Exclusive set looks very nice. It has a reflective slide-off cover and includes some extras. At the same price tag as the standard boring release, I say this is worth it. Although you may have to go off the beaten path to get this, as it is unavailable for shipping, but you can check to see if this is in your store or if it is available for pickup at your local store. You can order it HERE.

2015 In Gaming Part 1

2015 was a great year for gaming. As Microsoft put it, "the greatest games lineup in Xbox history," and it was. Among all of these games are some excellent scores that are worth listening to. Although film scores tend to sound more classical, game scores provide a unique listening experience in the world of modern music. Despite the fact that some game scores can sound somewhat experimental and tend to not require as much complexity as film scores, they still impress.

Inon Zur's score for Fallout 4 is a more ambient sounding piece that reminds me somewhat of Jason Graves' work on Tomb Raider in that the composer uses bizarre sounds to portray the various environments and events in the story. Fallout 4 is for the most part very calming and something you could fall asleep to at night, unlike Graves' frightening and slightly stressful score. Zur brought back that epic theme that gamers know well from Fallout 3, making it more memorable than ever. The soundtrack for Fallout 4 is for the most part incredibly simple and is very mellow which gives the player the sense that the game is not just a violent shooter, but is filled with an expansive open world that was destroyed and is in ruin.

I was a bit surprised at first to see that Jason Graves was not back for Rise of the Tomb Raider. On the other hand, I cannot say that I am disappointed. The sequel to the reboot took on a story that wouldn't fit the terrifying and chaotic style of composition that Jason Graves is good at. The takeaway would be whether or not this new score by Bobby Tahouri would diminish that simple yet profound theme that Graves had created. In that respect, I can confirm that Tahouri continued this theme, but it doesn't appear in the new score the way it did in the previous game with the brass. I feel this solidified the theme in the listener's mind, making it stand out. Instead the theme is slightly less obvious but has a much more complex arrangement that meshes new themes into it. This was a great move, since Lara is nearly a different person considering the events that made her who she is and how her adventures are becoming much more complex and dangerous. Bobby Tahouri wrote a phenomenal score by incorporating the ideas that Jason Graves had created before him and gave us a true cinematic feel that immersed the player in the epic story.

Many fans of the Halo franchise were greatly disappointed after receiving news that developer Bungie fired their longtime and rather talented composer Martin O' Donnell. Though O'Donnell was not hired for the score of Halo 4, he was brought on to collaborate with other composers for the music that would be featured in the popular game Destiny. Unfortunately, he was let go soon after and never was given credit for his work on Destiny, even though Bungie decided to use his contributions to the finished score.
Despite player disappointment, Kazuma Jinnouchi became the composer for Halo 5. This is one of the best game scores that I have personally listened to. It has a good balance of film sounding music and more electronic/action music that is common in games.

Although Jason Graves took part in just the beginning of Lara Croft's soundtrack, he was given the honor of scoring PlayStation 4's survival horror game Until Dawn. This soundtrack is full of terrifying themes and chaos, but is calmed down frequently by some excellent and memorable themes that I believe is Graves' best work to date. The song "The Intemperance of Youth" provides much resolve as compared to the beginning of the score and gives the listener a simple yet enjoyable theme.

For the most part, game scores tend to be written by composers who specifically write for video games, so I get excited when, on occasion, a popular film composer gets the job. I loved Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe's work on Crysis 2, Skylanders, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as well as Brian Tyler's on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. This time Henry Jackman took on the enormous open world of Medici in Just Cause 3, giving it an excellent cinematic feel with traditional orchestral sounds. The island feel is prominently experienced with his technique of creating music for action scenes that are not overpowering in intensity, but more reliant on the strings. Jackman does a good job balancing strong action music while maintaining a light and fun sound, making this a perfect match for the hilariously destructive world of Just Cause.