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Featured, Film, Game Music

OSVOSTOTY 2015 – Ryan’s Picks

December 31, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | 1 Comment Share this OSVOSTOTY 2015 – Ryan’s Picks

It has been an incredible year for game music, as well as film soundtracks. Early in the year I predicted a title I reviewed would make my list of best soundtracks of the year, it did. Another important factor for me was the question, since its release am I still listening to it? I can happily say that I still regularly listening to all of my choices.

2015 also delivered some of the best film soundtracks on CD from a number of record labels, and for me its truly been a year to remember. Come read about my my picks for “Game Soundtrack of the Year”, “Artist/Composer of the Year” and “Arrangement Album of the Year” and a couple notable releases.
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Film, Television

Getting out of the CD BUSINESS SALE at COLOSSEUM Music

December 15, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on Getting out of the CD BUSINESS SALE at COLOSSEUM Music Share this

Colosseum Music Entertainment is based in Germany, and has been selling soundtrack CDs for years. As of December 31, 2015 they will no longer be selling CDs and they have over 700 Soundtracks from many films and television series priced at 4.99 EURO (About $5.50USD). Shipping is free to German residents for orders over 25 EURO.

For USA and Canadian buyers, shipping for the first 7 CDs works is around 12.50 EURO. Once you get up to 8CDs the shipping cost doubles. There are many great soundtracks still available including some that are out of print. For myself I ordered a few including: Michael Kamen’s score to The Iron Giant, and Kung Fu Hustle by Raymond Wong and a few CDs with the music from the Lost TV series by Michael Giacchino.

Snag yourself a deal at Colosseum Music Entertainment before the end of the year! Did you find any good deals?
Film

Epic Film Score Finally Released: THE MONKEY KING

December 12, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on Epic Film Score Finally Released: THE MONKEY KING Share this

You may not have heard of this Chinese blockbuster film, and I am by no means encouraging you to watch it – but Christopher Young’s score won the 2014 International Film Music Critics Award this past April. The score was released by Intrada Records who this year released the complete scores to all of the films in the Jaws series.

The record label celebrated its 30th Anniversary this year and The Monkey King is one of their four final releases of the year. The other 3 releases included the unused score to Something Wicked This Way Comes by Georges Delerue, an expanded release of Danny Elfman’s score to Edward Scissorhands, and a 2 CD Paramount Film Noir collection.

Christopher Young fashions his most powerful, epic-scale work ever. Scored for large orchestra with augmented percussion plus choir, Young provides magnificent music full of rich melody, pulsating rhythmic drive and – in particular – incredible action sequences. Avoiding dissonance per se, Young hits the bullseye with lengthy, tonal harmonies, soaring themes even as his action material dominates. Action cues with emotion. Action cues with scope. Sensational, powerful music is the result!

-Intrada

I have already ordered my copy of the CD, which you can purchase for $19.99. Head on over to Intrada’s website to listen to the samples yourself, you may be just as impressed as I was with the score.

Have you seen the The Monkey King? Is this a score you are planning on picking up?
Film

YOUR CD PLAYER IS NO LONGER SAFE – Complete JAWS Soundtrack Now Available

November 17, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | 8 Comments Share this

On November 17, 2015, Intrada Records released on CD the complete soundtrack to the 1975 classic Jaws. The Oscar winning score by John Williams is one of the most iconic film scores of all time. Although its not a video game score, it is a very important release.

The soundtrack is spread across 2 CDs, with the first containing the original film score and some alternate takes, and the second disc containing the original 1975 separately recorded soundtrack and source music from Amity Town Beach. The album is available for $29.99.

With this release Intrada Records has now released all scores to the Jaws series including Jaws 2 also composed by John Williams, Jaws 3-D by Alan Parker, and Jaws The Revenge by Michael Small.

You can purchase all of the soundtracks of the Jaws series on Intrada’s website. I have ordered my copy, is this something you might pick up? Do you have any fond memories of the music from the Jaws series?
Film, Game Music, Television

ONE WEEK ONLY! – La La Land Records Buy Two, Get One Free Sale!

September 10, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on ONE WEEK ONLY! – La La Land Records Buy Two, Get One Free Sale! Share this

It’s not often that soundtrack labels have sales, but La La Land Records for one week only is offering a buy two, get one free sale on all of their titles. La La Land Records has produced some excellent video game soundtracks which include: Flower, God of War: Ascension, Lair, Sorcery, Star Hawk, Socom 3/Socom Combined Assault, and Socom 4. As well as a ton of great Film and Television music.

ONE WEEK ONLY!: BUY TWO GET ONE FREE SPECTACULAR!

STARTS 9/8 at 12noon (PST). For every two CD TITLES you purchase online at lalalandrecords.com, get another CD TITLE of your choice absolutely FREE! We won’t even charge you additional shipping for the free CD title! Your free CD TITLE must be equal to, or less than, the price of the lowest cost CD TITLE you purchased. For instance, if you purchased one CD title that was $24.98 and another that was $15.98, the free CD title you choose must be priced on our site as $15.98 or LESS. This offer is good thru 9/14 and applies only to CD titles that are currently in stock.

La La Land Records

I personally own the Lair by John Debney and Flower by Vincent Diamante, both soundtracks are phenomenal. If you’re a CD lover, this is a sale you don’t want to miss!
Film, Game Music, Music Production, Television

Barn Fire Music: A Look At Kevin Manthei’s Music Library

September 1, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on Barn Fire Music: A Look At Kevin Manthei’s Music Library Share this

If you’re not familiar with Kevin Manthei, you have probably heard his music at some point in a video game, television series, or movie trailer.

I recently revisited some Kevin Manthei’s music, specifically the soundtrack he composed for the animated series Invader Zim. This was not a coincidence, Invader Zim has recently returned in comic book form and with it all my great memories of the show and its excellent music. Kevin Manthei has also worked on DC animated features Batman Gotham Knight, Justice League: New Frontier and has written the music for the highly entertaining Ultimate Spiderman TV series. But he actually began his composing career in the gaming industry composing the music for titles including Panzer General II, Vampire: The Masquerade, Twisted Metal Black, Starcraft: Ghost and Star Trek Online.

In the process of looking back at Invader Zim‘s music I discovered that Kevin Manthei also recently founded a music library company called Barn Fire Music. The company is described as a boutique production music library providing music in any style to film and television production companies, television networks, game developers and anybody else who needs it.

The music Library itself is huge, boasting over 1900 tracks spread across just over 200 unique albums. Kevin Manthei has contributed over 800 tracks himself, but has collected music from various composers to build the library’s content, which you can sample above. What I appreciated was that the library even had an album titled “8-Bit Adventures,” offering 11 tracks of chip tune goodness. I am still exploring a lot of the albums in the library and so far really enjoy “Apocalyptic Trailers vol.2“, “Heroic Legends” and “Galactic Adventures Vol.1“.

They are always on the lookout for talented composers as well, so if you’re looking to have your music heard check them out. And, if you’re looking for music for your next project, you might find what you need in Barn Fire Music’s Library. Take some time to explore and let me know what you think!
Film, Game Music

Far, Far Away: My Favorite Star Wars Remixes

August 26, 2015 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Far, Far Away: My Favorite Star Wars Remixes Share this

When LucasArts started ramping up for the release of the strategy game Star Wars: Force Commander in 2000, one of the things they did was release mp3 samples of the music. At the time, I held John Williams’ original scores in the highest regard and wasn’t familiar with the growing fan remix/arrangement scene. So what I heard when I first clicked ‘Play’ on “Imperial Rage (Leviathan Mix)” startled me. I couldn’t imagine that someone would ever take those perfect pieces of music and put a beat to it, back it up with guitars and throw in samples from the movies. Within seconds, however, I realized how great the mix sounded and never again questioned someone having a go at the revered source material. With the impending onslaught of all new Star Wars games and movies this Fall I thought I’d take some time to highlight my favorite unexpected spins on the classic compositions.

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