The SoundCast

With the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on home video, we release our bonus discussion of the highly polarizing film. In this hour-long, bonus episode, you will hear some deep "foilers" (film spoilers) and a bit more spoiler-score discussion (scoilers) that is sure to console you or enrage you. This was originally recorded shortly after the film's feature release and so you will hear a lot of opinion and speculation that has since been addressed in the film's novelization....

John Williams has done it again. He scored the final installment of the Skywalker saga and Chris, Kristen, Erik and Dane are here for it! Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker reunites the four, who share their thoughts about the controversial film, but also about John Williams' decidedly less controversial score.. And finally, they deliver a double-scoop of rankings: all nine Skywalker-saga films and all nine of John Williams' scores! Episode Highlights 00:00 - Introduction 04:50 - Movie...

It's time we talk about The Mandalorian, don't you agree? Dane Walker and Christopher Coleman meet up in their favorite cantina to sit down and discuss the first two episodes of the new Disney+ Plus series. More specifically, they dive into Ludwig Goransson's original music for the series so far and both the positive and negative reactions it has received. Episode Highlights 00:41 - Introduction 04:47 - When and How Did we watch the show 06:34 - What did we think of the first...

Composer Dan Romer takes over the historic, musical reigns for the James Bond franchise. Which score for The Lion King is really king? Composers publicly pitching for big film gigs? Black Widow or The Eternals which is Twitter looking forward to more for its original score? Alf Clauses sues Fox/Disney over the Simpsons. Hans Zimmer finally releases his album "Xperiments" from the Dark Phoenix. These are the six stories Erik Woods, Dane Walker, and Christopher tackle in this 15th volume of...

The hit trailer for director Todd Phillips' upcoming JOKER feature film includes the famous song, "Smile" written by Charlie Chaplin and author Jim Lochner joins Dane Walker, Kristen Romanelli, and Christopher Coleman to discuss their thoughts about the trailer and its use of music. Finally, Jim Lochner takes us deep into the little-known history of the song and shares a few other Chaplin-related tidbits from his book, "The Music of Chaplin." Episode Highlights 00:00 - The Joker Teaser...

Hans Zimmer on Dune, Thomas Newman on 1917, and Junkie XL on Terminator: Dark Fate are three upcoming composer assignments. Michael Abels on See You Yesterday, Michael Giacchino and Pinar Toprak receiving ASCAP Awards and Alan Menken receiving a Razzie Award are all in the past now, but in this extremely belated episode, Dane Walker, Kristen Romanelli and Christopher Coleman make these the central topics for this volume of The Soundcast Six. Episode Highlights 05:13 - #1 Hans Zimmer on...

Spidey's back from "the blip" and so is composer Michael Giacchino. Kristen Romanelli, Dane Walker, and Christopher Coleman also return and dive headlong into the 23rd entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and final chapter of Phase III - Spider-Man: Far from Home! They talk about their state of mind going into "Far from Home," their feelings about "Spider-Man: Homecoming," and discuss a number of their favorite tracks from Giacchino's original score. While there is a lengthy spoiler...

The toys are back and Dane Walker and Christopher Coleman are, too! Before they discuss the film and Randy Newman's original score, an old segment returns, WHYBLT? (What have you been listening to?) In addition, remembering James Horner just after the fourth anniversary of the beloved composer's passing, they each share a couple of their James-Horner-goto-scores. Episode Highlights 02:06 - WHYBLT? 12:47 - Remembering James Horner 25:00 - Toy Story 4 27:35 - Our Toy Story story 33:38 -...

Long live the king! Godzilla: King of the Monsters has been unleashed. Kristen Romanelli, Dane Walker and Christopher Coleman rant and rage over the latest incarnation Gojira on the big screen. They reveal their own histories with kaiju-movies (The War of the Gargantuas, anyone?), their thoughts on Godzilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island (2017) and finally dive into some of McCreary's excellent work for the latest film. Stay tuned after the official close for some bonus talk about the film's...

Thomas Newman is back with his original score to the recently released bio-pic, TOLKIEN. Dane Walker and Christopher Coleman represent the tiny audience that went to see the film on opening weekend by sharing why they, themselves, bothered to run out and see the film so early, what they thought about the film, and their expectations for Newman's ethereal score. Was it a good fit for the film or is it better as a stand-alone listen? The episode concludes with the two spotlighting a few stand...

We're in the End Game now. cIs this peak Avengers? Peak MCU? Is this the best Avengers score to date? We discuss it all and more than just about any "snap" could erase! Episode Highlights 03:51 - What did we know about Captain Marvel and when did we know it 07:41 - Captain Marvel - General reaction to the film 19:26 - Captain Marvel - General reaction to the score 24:40 - Captain Marvel - Stand out tracks 55:14 - BONUS - Spoiler discussion Music Selections 00:00 - "Get This Thing...

THE MATRIX by the Wachowski's began blowing minds twenty years ago on March 31, 1999. Don Davis' original score similarly sent anyone paying attention into a similar zone of the mind-blown. While the film was a watershed moment for the film industry, touching off copy-cat visual effects and pseudo-philosophical film endeavours, Don Davis' post-minimalistic score, while still appreciated to this day in its own right, sadly did not start an parallel trend in film music composition. Erik Woods,...

She's finally here! Captain Marvel has finally made her way to earth and is ready to take her place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Right along side of the MCU's newest hero comes composer Pinar Toprak, whose original score is the central topic for Dane Walker, Kristen Romanelli and Christopher Coleman. The trio discusses their thoughts on the film and the score overall and then share some of their favorite tracks from the soundtrack. To conclude, they compare and contrast Alita: Battle...

The final installment of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise has finally arrived and Erik Woods, Dane Walker, and Christopher Coleman have come together to talk about composer John Powell's original score for "The Hidden World." They react to the film and the score and highlight some of their favorite pieces from the soundtrack. Hang tight for some bonus spoiler discussion after the official closing the of this high flying, heart-wrenching episode. Episode Highlights 03:24 - History...

The inaugural Soundcast Awards are here! This is unlike any awards show you've ever seen ... or at least have listened to! Not only will you hear all of the soundtrack nominees from 2018, but you'll hear the winner of each of the eleven categories decided before your very ears! Join Kristen Romanelli, Dane Walker and Christopher Coleman in celebrating the winners and whining about the not-so-winners in each category. As a bonus, at the very end, each co-host will reveal their...

While doing press for his upcoming score for the BBC series: "One Planet, Seven Worlds," composer Hans Zimmer said that humanity is "slithering" its way to destruction ... via climate change. Dane and Christopher talk about the surprising comment itself, but also the context around hist statement. Does he really think making such statement could cost his career? Was it a sly marketing move? Should composer be more outspoken on such matters? Listen to the 32nd edition of the Soundcast Stereo...

Grammy and BAFTA winners in the "best score" category, new nominations and non-nominations, Brian Tyler dives into the swamp, the shocking results of a recent Twitter-poll, and some big, birthday wishes, are the six topics that Dane Walker, Kristen Romanelli, and Christopher Coleman tackle in this thirteenth volume of the Soundcast Six! Join us in the swamp, won't you? Episode Highlights 03:00 - #1 - Grammy's and BAFTAs 12:21 - #2 - IFMCA Nom nom noms 24:57 - #3 - No Nom for...

Composer Kathryn Bostic talks with Kristen Romanelli about two of her recent score-projects: "Clemency," directed by Chinonye Chukwu, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, and the documentary, "Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am," directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, which also played at Sundance in 2019. Bostic also talks about her long history with Sundance outside of the festival and her recent experience as the Film Scoring Artist in Residence at the Berklee College of...

Completing our trilogy of Best Score nomination reactions, Erik Woods, Dane Walker, Kristen Romanelli, and Christopher Coleman react to the nominees in this category for the 91st Academy Awards. The discuss some of the biggest snubs and surprises, the politics around the Oscars and share which composer they think will bring home the "Little Gold Homey." But prior to that they react to an iTunes review that brings to the forefront what the Soundcast was created to be from the very beginning...

Kristen Romanelli, Dane Walker and Christopher Coleman take on Mr. Glass, The Overseer and The Horde and West Dylan Thordson's original score for GLASS. The three set the stage by sharing their thoughts about the two previous films: UNBREAKABLE and SPLIT and then break open M. Night Shyamalan's bold, third chapter. They also discuss WWJNHD (What would James Newton Howard have done had he been on the project) and lastly, some of their favorite tracks from the score. And if that isn't enough,...