Just because the podcast is between seasons and on a brief hiatus doesn't mean that the work stops. To keep me busy, I chatted with Brooke Blair and Will Blair (Blue Ruin, Green Room), the very rare sibling composer duo, about their latest score: Rebel Ridge. Rebel Ridge marks the fifth collaboration between the Blair Bros. and director Jeremy Saulnier, and is arguably their best. As such, we spend much of our time talking about their score, including developing the palette, experimenting with and avoiding musical clichés, and mimicking cicadas as a “symphony of terror”.

Beyond that, though, we discuss what it's like to build your career alongside a director, how to uncover a director's preferences (and the benefits in doing so), working as brothers (including when their third brother, Macon (I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore) gets added to the mix, and plenty more. I even try to get a little inside information about the forthcoming Toxic Avenger film, which they scored and their brother Macon directed, but no luck. For your benefit, the first long answer you'll hear comes from Will.

Brooke and Will's score, and much of their other music, is available on all major platforms, and Rebel Ridge is currently available on Netflix. You can find out more about Brooke and Will on their website.

Welcome in the new year (and forget that it's already September) by hearing about some of the best and most notable film scores kicking off 2024, including Dune: Prat 2 by Hans Zimmer, Spaceman by Max Richter, and plenty more, both big and small. Remember: the show is still in hiatus between seasons, but hopefully this can hold you over a little bit.

Keep your eye on The Film Scorer website for reviews and articles covering some of these scores, including detailed writeups and lists.

January: https://thefilmscorer.com/the-best-film-scores-of-january-2024/

February: https://thefilmscorer.com/the-best-film-scores-of-february-2024/

For a full list of the scores discussed in this episode, see below:

• Dune: Part 2 - Hans Zimmer
• Kung Fu Panda 4 - Steve Mazzaro and Hans Zimmer
• The Primevals - Richard Band
• Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - Dario Marianelli
• Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - Antonio Di Iorio and Tom Holkenborg
• How to Have Sex – Jakwob
• Happy Palace - Adrian Leung
• Silent Love - Joe Hisaishi
• The Seeding - Tristan Bechet (aka TRZTN)
• Night Swim - Mark Korven
• When Evil Lurks - Pablo Fuu
• Out of Darkness - Adam Janota Bzowski
• Femme - Adam Janota Bzowski
• Drive-Away Dolls - Carter Burwell
• Spaceman - Max Richter
• Love Lies Bleeding - Clint Mansell
• Problemista - Robert Ouyang Rusli
• Cop vs. Killer - Shaun Hettinger
• The End We Start From - Anna Meredith
• Home Sweet Home - Michael Kamm, Paul Rischer, and Maximilian Stephan
• Custom - Ted Regklis
• Des Teufels Bad - Anja Plaschg (aka Soap&Skin)
• Asphalt City - Nicolas Becker and Quentin Sirjacq
• Vivre avec les loups - Armand Amar

Somewhat early on in The Film Scorer days, I did a few video reviews of film scores. The first was the 1974 score for Five Shaolin Masters, by the prolific Chinese composer Yung-Yu Chen. Given that the show is currently between seasons, there's a bit of time to kill (and I know you're all clamoring for new episodes), so I've decided to clean these up a bit and release them through the podcast as well. First off: Chen's score.

The audio here is a little rougher than you're used to, as it may have been before I even owned a mic. But that's balanced out by a nice little capture of the main motif of the score that comes about halfway through. This also went surprisingly "viral" on YouTube, racking up nearly 60,000 views. If you enjoy this and want some more, just let me know - I've been meaning to record some more reviews and keep procrastinating...

You can also read my review here: https://thefilmscorer.com/five-shaolin-masters-yung-yu-chen-1974-film-score-review/