The Unknown Known

Studio: The Weinstein Company
Sutradara: Errol Morris
Composer: Danny Elfman
Tanggal rilis film: 4 April 2014
Tanggal rilis album: 8 April 2014
Label: La-La Land Records

Berikut ini kutipan pengumuman dari La-La Land Records:

LLLCD 1298
RETAIL PRICE: $15.98
Produced by Danny Elfman
Mastered by Patricia Sullivan at Bernie Grundman Mastering
Art Direction by Dan Goldwasser

Renowned Documentarian Filmmaker Errol Morris (THIN BLUE LINE) reunites with his Standard Operating Procedure composer Danny Elfman to create one of Mr. Elfman’s most hypnotic and intense scores to date. In the documentary Former United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, discusses his career in Washington D.C. from his days as a congressman in the early 1960s to planning the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The digital version of THE UNKOWN KNOWN score will also be available via online services April 8, 2014.

Danny Elfman in Somnia!

Danny Elfman dilaporkan akan membuat musik untuk film Somnia, bareng dengan The Newton Brothers. Film horor/thriller ini disutradarai oleh Mike Flanagan serta aktris-aktor utamanya adalah Kate Bosworth dan Thomas Jane. Salah satu produser eksekutifnya adalah anak Danny Elfman yaitu Mali Elfman, mungkin ini salah satu faktor kenapa Elfman menjadi composer film ini. Filmnya akan dirilis tahun 2015 namun belum diumumkan tanggal rilisnya. Waw horor/thriller dari Elfman!!

Film-film Danny Elfman yang akan datang adalah The Unknown Known (4 April 2014), Big Eyes (28 Agustus 2014), Fifty Shades of Grey (13 Februari 2015), Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiars (31 Juli 2015), dan Somnia (2015).

Good Will Hunting

Situs Movie Wave me-review Good Will Hunting yang baru dirilis oleh Music Box Records, berikut kutipannya:

The relatively brief score offers generally rather low-key accompaniment to the film, the most arresting feature being the Irish tinge thanks to the pennywhistle and a lovely Morricone/The Mission-style motivic fragment that is used incredibly fluidly and serves as the main theme of sorts. These are explored most fully in the opening and closing titles – in between Elfman creates this kind of kaleidoscopic atmosphere which perfectly represents Damon’s character, a genius struggling with everyday life. Fluttering winds are used, there’s sometimes nervous tension from keyboards and percussion, a magical air from an occasional choir. On the surface it’s a little like a subtler precursor to James Horner’s A Beautiful Mind, but whereas Horner was as usual all about emotion with his score, Elfman has a much more intellectual, slightly emotionally distant approach and it serves its film perfectly.

Baca lengkapnya di sini.

40th Saturn Awards

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films mengumumkan nominasi untuk berbagai penghargaannya, berikut ini untuk kategori Best Music:

BEST MUSIC
Oz The Great and Powerful - Danny Elfman
Big Bad Wolves - Frank Ilfman
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Howard Shore
Iron Man 3 - Brian Tyler
Now You See Me - Brian Tyler
The Book Thief - John Williams

Tahun lalu Frankenweenie memenangkan kategori Best Music. Pengumuman pemenang akan dilakukan Juni 2014. Baca lengkapnya di sini.

THE GOLDSPIRIT AWARDS

Nominees untuk Goldspirit Awards telah diumumkan, berikut ini beberapa kategorinya:

BEST SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM
American Hustle - Danny Elfman
John Dies at the End - Brian Tyler
The Hangover part III - Christophe Beck
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - Theodore Saphiro
Zipi & Zape y el Club de la Canica - Fernando Velazquez

BEST SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FILM
El Pequeno Mago - Marc Timon, Miguel Cordeiro
Epic - Danny Elfman
Frozen - Christophe Beck
Planes - Mark Mancina
The Wind Rises - Joe Hisaishi

Pemenang akan diumumkan pada acara The Third International Film Music Festival of Cordoba tanggal 20-27 Juli 2014. Silakan pilih pemenangnya di sini, go!

GOOD WILL HUNTING (Expanded)

Music Box Records merilis Good Will Hunting komplit, yay! Song album-nya hanya berisi dua score tracks dan tidak ada score album, adanya hanya Good Will Hunting Oscar Promo yang terbatas. MBR merilis complete score-nya plus lagu-lagu dari Elliott Smith, berikut kutipannya:

Music Box Records presents the complete score for Good Will Hunting (1997) by Danny Elfman. The film won two Oscars (one for Robin Williams and one for the writers) while it was nominated for another seven statuettes, including one for composer Danny Elfman and one for songwriter Elliott Smith.

Danny Elfman is of course best known for his Tim Burton movies (ranging from the director’s two Batman films to more recent affairs like Alice in Wonderland), but the composer has numerous other directors with whom he works regularly. Good Will Hunting marked the second collaboration between Elfman and Gus Van Sant (the first one being the director’s bitingly satirical To Die For, 1995); the relationship later extended to other films like Psycho (1998), Milk (2008), Restless (2011) and Promised Land (2012). Their collaboration on Good Will Hunting proved to be the most elusive of the bunch even though it brought Elfman the first Oscar nomination in his career.

The music for Good Will Hunting is a far cry from the usual Gothic sound of the composer who proves himself to be more than capable when it comes to scoring a deeply personal story. The music features acoustic guitar, piano, a smaller ensemble of strings and woodwinds plus a light choral effect in addition to some Irish sounding whistles that address the Boston setting of the story. From the Main Title to the End Titles (previously known as "Weepy Donuts"), Elfman’s music is mingling among minimalistic thematic variations the same way the titular Will Hunting is looking for a purpose in life…

Good Will Hunting has always been one of the great missing links in Elfman’s discography. The original soundtrack clearly favored the songs by Elliott Smith (and other artists) while Elfman’s work was represented with only two tracks. Although Miramax issued a rare Academy promo for members of the organization, that disc only contained selected highlights and Smith’s Oscar-nominated Miss Misery. Music Box Records presents the complete release of the score, including more Elfman music than what the promo contained, plus six compositions performed by Elliott Smith. The landmark release of this Oscar-nominated gem is supplemented with an 12-page booklet featuring expert commentary by Daniel Schweiger.

Baca lengkapnya di sini.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman [Music From The Motion Picture]

Beberapa hari terakhir ini ada perubahan album cover-nya, mungkin yang sebelum terlalu datar (?). Jumlah track-nya 24 tracks, lebih banyak satu track ("Kid" dari Peter Andre) dari album dengan cover sebelumnya dengan harga sama di iTunes. Cek di sini.

IFMCA Award Nominations 2013

International Film Music Critics Award (IFMCA) mengumumkan nominasi-nominasi untuk berbagai kategori musik film. Berikut kutipannya:

In this 10th Anniversary year of the IFMCA’s creation, the most nominated composer is Abel Korzeniowski, who received six nominations: Score of the Year, Best Drama Score and Film Music Composition of the Year for his work on director Carlo Carlei’s new screen version of the classic Shakespeare romance “Romeo and Juliet”; Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Horror Score and Film Music Composition of the Year for his work on director Randy Moore’s unusual satirical fantasy-horror set in a nightmarish Disney theme park, “Escape From Tomorrow”; and a personal nomination as Composer of the Year. Kraków, Poland-born Korzeniowski has previously been nominated for three IFMCA Awards, winning the award for Best Drama Score for “A Single Man” in 2009.

Berikut ini nominasi best original score untuk film animasi:

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FEATURE

The Croods, music by Alan Silvestri

Epic, music by Danny Elfman

Frozen, music by Christophe Beck

Planes, music by Mark Mancina

The Wind Rises [Kaze Tachinu], music by Joe Hisaishi

Para pemenang akan diumumkan tanggal 20 Februari 2014. Baca lengkapnya di sini. 

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Studio: DreamWorks Animation
Sutradara: Rob Minkoff
Composer: Danny Elfman
Tanggal rilis film: 7 Maret 2014
Tanggal rilis album: 4 Maret 2014
Label: Relativity Music Group

Track list:
1. Mr. Peabody's Prologue (3:21)
2. Reign of Terror! (2:48)
3. The Drop Off (1:14)
4. The Dog Whistle (0:48)
5. The Cherry Tree (0:59)
6. A Deep Regard (0:52)
7. John Lennon - Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) (3:51)
8. Dinner Party (0:30)
9. The Petersons / The Wabac Machine (3:08)
10. Aquarela do Brasil (0:47)
11. Off to Egypt (2:07)
12. The Wedding Exodus (1:05)
13. Hammer-Time (0:57)
14. The Flying Machine (4:42)
15. Trojan Horse (3:25)
16. War / Disaster (3:32)
17. History Mash-Up (4:33)
18. I'm a Dog Too (3:41)
19. Fixing the Rip (2:13)
20. Back to School (1:16)
21. Aquarela do Brasil (Coda) (1:03)
22. The Amazing Mr. Peabody (0:34)
23. Grizfolk - Way Back When (2:46)

Baca beritanya di Film Music Reporter di sini.

Danny Elfman to Score ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

Film Music Reporter melaporkan bahwa Danny Elfman akan membuat musik film Fifty Shades of Grey, rencana rilis tanggal 13 Februari 2015. Sutradaranya adalah Sam Taylor-Johnson, ini adalah kerja sama pertama kalinya, dan studionya Focus Features dan Universal Pictures. Berikut kutipannya:

The film is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy) and stars Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Luke Grimes, Eloise Mumford, Jennifer Ehle, Max Martini, Rita Ora and Marcia Gay Harden. The movie based on the bestselling book by E.L. James follows the relationship of 27-year-old billionaire Grey and college student Anastasia Steele.

Baca lengkapnya di sini.

Film-film Danny Elfman adalah American Hustle (25 Desember 2013), Mr. Peabody & Sherman (7 Maret 2014), The Unknown Known (4 April 2014), Big Eyes (28 Agustus 2014), Fifty Shades of Grey (13 Februari 2015), dan Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiars (31 Juli 2015).

'The Unknown Known' Trailer: Errol Morris Takes On a Cagey Donald Rumsfeld

The Hollywood Reporter melaporkan trailer film The Unknown Known, yang musiknya dibuat oleh Danny Elfman, dirilis minggu ini. Filmnya dilaporkan akan dirilis tanggal 4 April 2014. Belum ada kabar mengenai soundtrack-nya, dekat-dekat tanggalnya mungkin ada pengumuman.

Baca dan lihat trailer-nya di situs THR di sini.

41ST ANNUAL ANNIE AWARDS

Annie Awards, yaitu penghargaan untuk film-film animasi, telah mengumumkan nominasi-nominasinya, berikut untuk kategori musik film:

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT, MUSIC IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE PRODUCTION
Alan Silvestri - The Croods
Henry Jackman - Turbo
Mark Mothersbaugh - Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2

Heitor Pereira, Pharrell Williams - Despicable Me 2
Danny Elfman - Epic
Randy Newman - Monsters University
Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Christophe Beck - Frozen

Dominic Lewis - Free Birds

Pengumuman pemenang akan dilakukan tanggal 1 Februari 2014. Baca nominasi lengkapnya di sini.

American Hustle

Studio: Annapurna Pictures, Columbia Pictures (distributor)
Sutradara: David O. Russell
Composer: Danny Elfman
Tanggal rilis film: 13 Desember 2013
Tanggal rilis album: 6 Desember 2013 (song album)
Label: Legacy Recordings

Track list:
1. Jeep’s Blues – Duke Ellington
2. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Album Version) – Elton John
3. White Rabbit (Arabic Version) – Mayssa Karaa
4. 10538 Overture – Jeff Lynne
5. Live and Let Die – Wings
6. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart – The Bee Gees
7. I Feel Love – Donna Summer
8. Don’t Leave Me This Way – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
9. Delilah – Tom Jones
10. I’ve Got Your Number – Jack Jones
11. Long Black Road – Jeff Lynne
12. A Horse with No Name (Album Version) – America
13. Stream of Stars – Jeff Lynne
14. Live to Live – Chris Stills
15. Irving Montage – Danny Elfman

Album ini adalah song album dan hanya berisi satu score track dari Danny Elfman sepanjang 1:55 menit. Belum ada kabar mengenai rilis dari score album-nya. Albumnya sudah bisa dibeli di iTunes sejak beberapa hari yang lalu, cek di sini.

Restless

Tanggal 7 Desember kemarin, Movie Wave me-review Restless, berikut kutipannya:

While it’s a relatively simple score – mostly played by a small ensemble, often featuring guitars and little else, sometimes a piano, sometimes xylophone or marimba – it must have been tricky to find the right tone, avoiding maudlin sentiment, avoiding Hollywood romance. The composer pulls it off expertly – it doesn’t just avoid those things, it avoids taking an overly stylised “quirky” sound, which is often what happens when a film composer tries to be clever on a film like this.

The bulk of the music is made up of very pleasant, very attractive melodies. There is whimsy, certainly, but never excessively. And there are quirky touches, for sure – it’s hard not to think of Thomas Newman (and specifically Six Feet Under) at times. But this is music that is full of, of all things, life. It’s full of the excitement of young people growing up, coming of age. The instrumental choices make the music always feel close to the heart, the homely instruments providing an instant connection between audience and characters. A couple of cues have a full string section, but even in them there’s no excessive sentiment. Only briefly, towards the end of the score, does the music take a slightly darker turn – and it still resolves to something lighter. Restless is clearly not a major score in Elfman’s career, but despite being one of his most low key it’s actually one of his loveliest.

Baca lengkapnya di sini.

'Hunger Games' Soundtrack Producer Reveals Truth About The Music You Never Heard

Tanggal 18 November yang lalu, MTV News melaporkan hasil obrolan mereka dengan T Bone Burnett, berikut kutipannya:

Burnett had originally began work on the soundtrack with composer Danny Elfman, known for his work on Tim Burton's "Batman" movies, Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" and many other films. The two planned on creating a futuristic sound with the help of Arcade Fire's Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, but that work was, according to Burnett, cut short when director Gary Ross decided to change things up on the soundtrack.

"Danny Elfman and I were collaborating on it, and we were working with Arcade Fire. We had written several really beautiful pieces," Burnett said. "The director wanted to take over the music, so he fired Danny. He sort of stopped this process in the middle, which is a bummer. It really is because Danny was some beautiful [music]." Burnett's take on the event differ from the official reports, including a confirmation from Entertainment Weekly, that Elfman has dropped out due to a conflict in his schedule.

Baca lengkapnya di sini.

restless: limited edition

Studio: Imagine Entertainment, Sony Pictures Classics (distributor), Columbia Pictures (distributor)
Sutradara: Gus Van Sant
Composer: Danny Elfman
Tanggal rilis film: 12 Mei 2011
Tanggal rilis album: 5 November 2013
Label: La-La Land Records

Track list:
1. titles 2:41
2. battleship 1:09
3. reconciliation 1:26
4. sorry for your loss 1:54
5. waterbirds 1:43
6. meet the parents 2:20
7. on the beach 2:09
8. hiroshima 1:06
9. morning affair 1:33
10. morgue 1:18
11. crime scene 2:45
12. death scene 2:06
13. happy dead girl 1:11
14. battleship 2 1:50
15. a ghost 1:00
16. the letter 1:34
17. parents' grave 1:49
18. weepy donuts 3:31
19. enoch's goodbye 1:21
total album time: 34:25

La-La Land Records and Sony Pictures Entertainment present the original motion picture score to the 2011 feature film drama restless, starring Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper and directed by Gus Van Sant. Renowned composer Danny Elfman (EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, BATMAN, SOMMERSBY, BLACK BEAUTY) crafts another notable original score – a delicate, but stirring work, in the vein of his music for MILK and SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, that expertly finds the heart and soul of Van Sant’s delightfully offbeat romantic drama. Produced by Danny Elfman and mastered by Patricia Sullivan at Bernie Grundman mastering, this special release is limited to 2000 units and includes exclusive, in-depth liner notes from film music writer Tim Greiving which feature comments from director Gus Van Sant. The attractive art direction is by Dan Goldwasser.

Klik di sini.

American Youth Symphony to Present ELFMAN PROJECT II Concert, 11/24

Melanjutkan konser tahun lalu, American Youth Symphony akan menggelar konser Danny Elfman kedua, berikut kutipannya:

The acclaimed American Youth Symphony (AYS), one of the nation's leading professional training orchestras for musicians ages 15 to 27, continues its 49th season with "Elfman Project II," a free concert that is part of a multi-year exploration of the music of four-time Academy Award-nominated composer Danny Elfman, on Sunday, November 24, 2013, 7 pm, at UCLA's Royce Hall.

Guest conductor David Newman, himself an Oscar-nominated composer, sought-after conductor and AYS alumnus and Immediate Past President, leads the orchestra in the premieres of two new concert suites, Milk Suite and Oz the Great and Powerful Suite, both assembled by Newman and Max Mueller for the occasion from Elfman's compelling scores for films directed by Gus Van Sant and Sam Raimi, respectively, and performed to film clips from the movies.

In addition, Newman conducts music from Alice in Wonderland and Spiderman, and the Big Fish Suite, composed by Elfman for the Tim Burton films of the same name.

The event kicks off with a free symposium, at 4:30 pm, including a performance of Elfman's Overeager Overture, and a panel discussion moderated by esteemed journalist and author Jon Burlingame, focusing on the nuts and bolts of music's role in films and how composers work with directors.

Baca lengkapnya di sini.

The Elfman Project

FSM melaporkan konser American Youth Symphony di Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles tanggal 29 April 2012 yang lalu. Berikut kutipannya:

Newman sees the opening cue to Batman as a signature example of Elfman’s mastery for musical storytelling; moreover, how it perfectly translates to a concert setting. “Batman has a six-note motif. The beginning of the film is in this imitative counterpoint. The first five notes of that motif kind of circle around itself then they pause at a minor triad. Then there’s a big huge build to this major triad. Aside from it being compositionally interesting it’s really interesting how it delineates that character. Honestly, we’re so conditioned to these superhero movies now. There’s so many of them. Back then it was a really unique thing to have a character that was—I don’t want to say an anti-hero—but had an angsty past, yet is very heroic. In these first few bars all that stuff is told, which is what I think is fun and interesting about film music, that is in some ways different from concert music.”

Batman was a fresh challenge for Elfman, who up to that point in his film career had only scored comedies. During the symposium, Elfman reflected on creating a new musical palette that would complement Tim Burton’s gothic stylings. “There’s no model for any of Tim Burton’s films. There was no model for Pee-wee, Beetlejuice, Edward or Batman. There was nothing to use as a template. Because at that point for big action cartoon adventure, the only model was John Williams.”

One of the many reasons Newman chose the three scores to perform were to showcase Elfman’s orchestrations, which are an indelible part of his signature sound. “There is always a tremendous rhythmic energy in his music. It’s also very angular. The way he orchestrates is very high, very low. There’s contrabassoon, a lot of tuba, a lot of piccolo, a lot of oboe playing high, clarinet playing high. There’s a lot in the high and low ranges. You hear lots of tuba, lots of low piano, lots of bass clarinet doing little things; then they get bigger and bigger.”

To counter the Burton films in the program, Newman included the finale from Elfman’s Americana-flavored score to Sommersby. While the bulk of the film was orchestrated by Steve Bartek, the finale was orchestrated by the late veteran orchestrator Jack Hayes. With guitar and banjo, Sommersby deftly features Elfman’s ability to score against “type,” conquering multiple genres and styles. Newman reflects: “I think the most difficult things in film music is you have a small amount of time to say something. How do you say it in an abstract way? Sommersby has this beautiful octave-ish theme, that has a wide interval skip. In other words, the theme almost uses an octave scale and it’s developed and used over and over and over and builds, modulates in bits.”

Bagi pelanggan FSM, baca lengkapnya di sini.

Danny Elfman's Incredible Concert of Tim Burton Film Music: Our Review

Berikut kutipan dari review untuk konser Danny Elfman di Los Angeles:

The finest moments included the suite from Edward Scissorhands, a fan-favorite dripping with icy heartbreak and anchored by Elfman's Jewish folk melody for Edward (with a virtuosic interlude provided by a "gypsy band," led by violinist Sandy Cameron's incendiary fiddling); the choral ode to Alice in Wonderland, an infectious melody that rides a minor-third ostinato through Lewis Carroll's brain by way of Burton's; and (my personal favorite) the suite from Big Fish, which began with a bittersweet guitar/violin duet of the score's love theme and bubbled up into choral-backed, orchestral triumph.

The crowd went the wildest for Elfman's own appearance onstage, as he strutted out near the end to give voice to the skeletal "pumpkin king." The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of Elfman's greatest achievements (his songs and score are now perennial classics), and it was priceless to watch him gleefully personalize the performance with his own vocals. He hasn't sung publicly in the United States since the farewell concert of his old band, Oingo Boingo, on Halloween night in 1995, so his presence felt extra charged -- and his performance was electric.

Baca lengkapnya di sini.

Epic

Bulan Juni 2013 yang lalu, FSM me-review soundtrack Epic dan memberi rating 4, berikut kutipannya:

As delightful as the opening “Leafmen” is, its Celtic dance rhythms and Riverdance orchestral feel are reminiscent of Patrick Doyle’s recent work on Brave. There are a few moments in the opening “Pursuit” where hints of the classic Danny Elfman style peak through, and some of the action writing bears his stamp as well. Other elements feel more akin to a Remote Control project. That said, Elfman’s melodic construction is still as strong as ever, and he maintains a magical lightness even in the score’s darker moments, a telling element of the composer’s masterful style. The wordless choir may not be “la-la”-ing as much as in the past, but the general effect is the same.

The comedic writing, as in “Meet Dad,” is one of the score’s driving elements. “The Selection” is another standout cue, with magical orchestral writing featuring bells, piano arpeggios, wordless chorus (also appearing ethereally in “Rings of Knowledge,” the most Elfmanian cue of the CD), and solo wind lines. The following “Ambush” is another amazing action track with intriguing dissonance as it begins.

Bagi pelanggan FSM, baca lengkapnya di sini.