Manners McDade has released a soundtrack album for the documentary Scheme Birds. The album features the film’s original score composed by Charlie Jefferson. The soundtrack is now available to stream/download on Amazon, where you can also check out audio samples. Scheme Birds is directed by Ellinor Hallin & Ellen Fiske and tells the story of a teenage troublemaker from Motherwell, Scotland, as she is growing up in her world of violence and pigeons. The Swedish/UK co-production. The documentary premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, where it won Best Documentary Feature and Best New Documentary Director, and is being released in the UK on VOD today. Read the rest of this entry »

Johnny Mandel (1925 – 2020)

Posted: June 29, 2020 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music News
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Johnny Mandel has passed away at 94. The Grammy Award-winning composer wrote numerous scores and songs for film and TV between the late 50s and early 90s and was also known for writing and arranging other popular songs. Among his best known film scoring credits are Robert Altman’s 1970 classic MASH (for which he also wrote the theme song Suicide Is Painless), Harold Ramis’ 1980 comedy Caddyshack, Hal Ashby’s comedy dramas Being There and The Last Detail, Disney’s original Freaky Friday and Escape to Witch Mountain movies, Sidney Lumet’s The Verdict and Death Trap, John Boorman’s 1967 thriller Point Blank, Michael Apted’s 1979 thriller Agatha and Jack Smight’s 1966 crime drama Harper. He won the Academy Award for co-writing the original song The Shadow of Your Smile from 1965’s The Sandpiper with Paul Francis Webster and received another Oscar nomination for the song A Time for Love from 1966’s An American Dream (also featuring lyrics by Webster). Read the rest of this entry »

Derby Zero Six Productions will release a soundtrack album for the horror thriller Followed. The album features the film’s original score composed by Jason Soudah (Breaking for Whales). The soundtrack will be released digitally on July 7, 2020 and will be available to stream/download here. Followed is directed by Antoine Le and stars Matthew Solomon, John Savage, Tim Dier, Sam Valentine, Caitlin Grace, Kelsey Griswold, Christopher Martin, Sarah Chang, Karan Sagoo and Ethan Alexander. The movie revolves around an aspiring social media influencer who needs to surpass 50,000 followers before the end of Halloween weekend in order to lock down a lucrative sponsorship opportunity and is willing to do just about anything to seal the deal. Read the rest of this entry »

This past weekend, John Debney (The Passion of the Christ, Elf, Iron Man 2, The Jungle Book, Cutthroat Island) has started recording his underscore for the upcoming Netflix original film Jingle Jangle. The movie is written and directed by David E. Talbert (Almost Christmas, Baggage Claim) and stars Forest Whitaker, Keegan-Michael Key, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose, Hugh Bonneville and Madalen Mills. The musical revolves around an eccentric toymaker, his adventurous granddaughter, and a magical invention that has the power to change their lives forever. Read the rest of this entry »

Notefornote Music will release a soundtrack album for the Brazilian animated feature Tito and the Birds. The album features the film’s original music composed by Ruben Feffer & Gustavo Kurlat (Boy and the World). The soundtrack will be released digitally this coming Friday, July 3, 2020 and is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Tito and the Birds is directed by Gabriel Bitar, André Catoto & Gustavo Steinberg follows a shy 10-year-old boy and his two friends who set out to find his father’s missing research on bird songs, something that just might save their world from an epidemic where fear makes you sick. Read the rest of this entry »

Composer Harry Escott (Shame, Hard Candy, Welcome to the Punch, A Mighty Heart, The English Game, Deep State) is reuniting with director Clio Barnard on the upcoming British drama Ali & Ava. The film is written and directed by Barnard and stars Adeel Akhtar, Claire Rushbrook, Ellora Torchia and Shaun Thomas. The movie follows the respected matriarch on a predominantly white Bradford estate masking the scars left by an abusive ex-husband and a charismatic son, brother, boss and landlord, still living with his estranged wife but hiding their separation from his family. Read the rest of this entry »

WaterTower Music has released the second soundtrack album for the HBO original series Perry Mason. The album features the original music from the second episode of the show composed by Terence Blanchard (BlacKkKlansmanInside ManMalcolm X, Da 5 Bloods, 25th HourRed Tails). Also included are two songs performed by The Radiant Assembly of God. The soundtrack is now available to stream/download here, where you can also check out audio samples. The label has previously released a first soundtrack featuring music from Chapter 1 last week and will release more music over the course of the season, culminating in a full soundtrack album at the season’s end. Read the rest of this entry »

Premiering tonight is the HBO docu-series I’ll Be Gone in the Dark directed and executive produced by Liz Garbus about writer Michelle McNamara’s investigation into the dark world of a violent predator she dubbed the Golden State Killer. The show’s original music is composed by Philip Sheppard (Love, MarilynBobby Fischer Against the World, In the Shadow of the Moon, Detroit: Become Human). Check out our previous news article to learn more about the 6-parter, which will air every Sunday night on HBO.

Premiering on Tuesday, June 30, is the Spanish drama Adú directed by Salvador Calvo and starring Luis Tosar, Anna Castillo, Álvaro Cervantes, Jesús Carroza and Miquel Fernández. Roque Banos (Don’t BreatheEvil DeadThe Machinist, In the Heart of the SeaThe Girl in the Spider’s Web) has composed the film’s original music. Mira Mi Música has released a soundtrack album featuring the composer’s score earlier this week when the film was first set to be released in Spanish theaters. Click here for the full album details and for more information about the movie, which will be available to stream on Netflix. Read the rest of this entry »

ODS Recordings has released the first soundtrack album for the Swedish crime drama Rebecka Martinsson. The album features selections of the original music from the show’s first two seasons composed by Dan Berridge (The Girl, Penguins: Life on the Edge, Great Bear Stakeout). The soundtrack is now available to stream/download on Amazon, where you can also check out the full track list and listen to audio clips. Rebecka Martinsson is based on the novels by Åsa Larsson and stars Ida Engvoll,  Sascha Zacharias, Eva Melander and Jakob Öhrman. The series revolves around a successful Stockholm lawyer whose life is turned upside down after a violent death in the hometown she tried to leave behind. Read the rest of this entry »

Laurent Eyquem (Copperhead, Nostalgia, Winnie Mandela, Rage, Momentum)  is composing the original music for the upcoming historical drama Just Noise. The film is directed by Davide Ferrario (After Midnight, We All Fall Down) and stars Harvey Keitel and Malcolm McDowell. The movie depicts the bloody fight by Maltese citizens for their independence against Britain in 1919, just after World War I. Jean-Pierre Magro (Bulgarian Rhapsody) wrote the screenplay and is also producing the project with Pedja Miletic and Aaron Briffa. Read the rest of this entry »