Kinotes

In this two-part Kinotes series, we look at Bear McCreary’s work on the new “Lord of the Rings” TV show, THE RINGS OF POWER as it relates to Howard Shore’s expansive score for the LORD OF THE RINGS film trilogy. McCreary wasn’t allowed to use the music from the movies, but felt it was important to stay true to the musical tapestry Shore established for Middle-earth.  In the second episode, we tackle the human realms: Gondor, Númenor, Rohan, and the Southlands, and some of the figures associated with them. We also look at star-crossed Elf and human relationships, Sauron and the various villainous figures of the show and movies, and try to use McCreary’s music to speculate about mysterious characters from the show.  Show Notes: 00:00 - Introduction & Recap 03:11 - Music of the High Men: Gondor & Númenor 11:20 - Human Heroes: Elendil & Isildur / Aragorn 16:37 - Star-Crossed Love: Aragorn & Arwen / Bronwyn & Arondir 21:12 - Music of the Middle & Low Men: Rohan & The Southlands 27:57 - Halbrand 19:06 - The Dark Lord Sauron 28:42 - Challengers: Saruman & Adar 40:15 - Dark Servants: The Nazgûl 43:42 - Mystery Figures: The Stranger & The Mystics 49:06 - Gandalf the White 50:24 - Outro / Sources / Social Media / “White Leaves” Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at kinotes.podcast@gmail.com. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle). All episodes are written and produced by Nick Nylen. Sources: * Books: THE MUSIC OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS FILMS by Doug Adams. Available used on Amazon.  * Podcasts: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING series of “The Soundtrack Show” by David W. Collins. Available on Apple Podcasts.  * Interviews: Bear McCreary interview for YouTube channel In Deep Geek - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyf7WQ6wQt8 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyf7WQ6wQt8] * Blog: Bear McCreary’s blog series on making the music for THE RINGS OF POWER - https://bearmccreary.com/bears-blog [https://bearmccreary.com/bears-blog] * Others: The insights and musical analysis of Frank Lehman (@fmlehman on Twitter) and Monoverantus on YouTube & Twitter (@AMoverus) - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbyg3ujMxvifnRRHFrlCvmg/featured [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbyg3ujMxvifnRRHFrlCvmg/featured] * The Tolkien Professor Corey Olson (@tolkienprof and @SignumU) on Twitter.

In a two-part Kinotes series, we look at Bear McCreary’s work on the new “Lord of the Rings” TV show, THE RINGS OF POWER as it relates to Howard Shore’s expansive score for the LORD OF THE RINGS film trilogy. McCreary wasn’t allowed to use the music from the movies, but felt it was important to stay true to the musical tapestry Shore established for Middle-earth.  In the first episode, we’ll look at the approaches the composers took and how important music was for Tolkien and his legendarium. We’ll compare the way the Galadriel-narrated prologues establish the world differently between the show and first movie. Then we’ll go through the various realms and cultures of Middle-earth, putting the show and films side-by-side: The Elves, Galadriel & Elrond; The Dwarves, Moria, Khazad-dûm, Durin and Disa; the differences and similarities between the Hobbits and the Harfoots, between Bilbo Baggins and Nori Brandyfoot. We’ll listen to the evolution of Howard Shore’s Fellowship of the Ring, and try to understand the various themes for the powers of the Ring and its consequences—even theorize about a piece of music that may be building to Bear McCreary’s theme for the One Ring and the other Rings of Power.   Then, next episode, we’ll tackle the human realms: Gondor, Númenor, Rohan, and the Southlands, and some of the figures associated with them. We’ll also look at star-crossed Elf and human relationships, Sauron and the various villainous figures of the show and movies, and try to use McCreary’s music to speculate about mysterious characters from the show.  Show Notes: 00:00 - Introduction 02:06 - Tolkien & Music 04:19 - Composers’ Approaches: Shore & McCreary 06:13 - The World of Middle-earth 07:18 - Prologues & Antiquity 09:47 - Valinor 13:18 - Greed, Power & Seduction 19:06 - Music of the Elves: Galadriel & Elrond 30:33 - Music of the Dwarves: Moria & Khazad-dûm 40:16 - Homebodies & Nomads: Hobbits & Harfoots 49:31 - Fellowship of Races 52:54 - Outro / Looking Ahead / Sources / Social Media / “Valinor” Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at kinotes.podcast@gmail.com. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle). All episodes are written and produced by Nick Nylen. Sources: * Books: THE MUSIC OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS FILMS by Doug Adams. Available used on Amazon.  * Podcasts: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING series of “The Soundtrack Show” by David W. Collins. Available on Apple Podcasts.  * Interviews: Bear McCreary interview for YouTube channel In Deep Geek - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyf7WQ6wQt8 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyf7WQ6wQt8] * Blog: Bear McCreary’s blog series on making the music for THE RINGS OF POWER - https://bearmccreary.com/bears-blog [https://bearmccreary.com/bears-blog] * Others: The insights and musical analysis of Frank Lehman (@fmlehman on Twitter) and Monoverantus on YouTube & Twitter (@AMoverus) - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbyg3ujMxvifnRRHFrlCvmg/featured [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbyg3ujMxvifnRRHFrlCvmg/featured] * The Tolkien Professor Corey Olson (@tolkienprof and @SignumU) on Twitter.

In a new episode of Kinotes, we explore the music of the “Master of Suspense”, Alfred Hitchcock, in part one of a two-part series entitled “Hitchcock: The Music of Suspense, Obsession, & Murder". There’s been so much discussion about Hitchcock’s use of visuals in the movies, but less so his soundtracks. In this first part, we’ll talk about Hitchcock’s use of music before his collaboration with Bernard Herrmann (with one exception), beginning with his first sound film BLACKMAIL and including films like THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, REBECCA, SUSPICION, SHADOW OF A DOUBT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS, ROPE, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, REAR WINDOW, and many others. We’ll talk about his early sound and music innovations, his constant return to the waltz as a musical form, his technique of threading a song throughout a story, and his collaboration with a variety of accomplished composers including Franz Waxman, Dimitri Tiomkin, and Miklos Rozsa. Show Notes: 0:00:00 - Introduction 0:02:36 - Advent of Talkies: BLACKMAIL, MURDER, JUNO & THE PAYCOCK 0:21:00 - The Waltz & Development of a Song: WALTZES FROM VIENNA, REAR WINDOW 0:26:48 - Public Performance, Music for Life and Death: THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH ('34 & '56), SECRET AGENT 0:40:58 - Earworms: THE 39 STEPS & THE LADY VANISHES 0:48:14 - Musical Performances & Guilt: YOUNG & INNOCENT, ROPE, STAGEFRIGHT 0:55:43 - Waxman's Seductive Feminine Themes: REBECCA, THE PARADINE CASE, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, SUNSET BLVD 01:06:04 - Piano Symbolism: PARADINE CASE, WESTWORLD, SABOTEUR 01:09:00 - Themes for Villains: SUSPICION, SHADOW OF A DOUBT, & STRANGERS ON A TRAIN 01:21:08 - Ticking Tiomkin: HIGH NOON, DIAL M FOR MURDER, Boris Gudonov 1:24:56 - The Two Sides of Love: SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS 1:32:30 - Outro / Sources / Social Media / Suite from REBECCA Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at kinotes.podcast@gmail.com. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle). All episodes are written and produced by Nick Nylen. Sources: * Books: HITCHCOCK’S MUSIC by Jack Sullivan, SILENT SCREAM: ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S SOUNDTRACK By Elisabeth Weis, A HEART AT FIRE’S CENTER: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF BERNARD HERRMANN by Stephen C. Smith, and HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT by Francois Truffaut. * Film commentary from the PARADINE CASE Blu-ra by Stephen Rebello and Bill Krohn. * The documentary film, HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT about the conception of the book of the same name. * If you liked this podcast, I have a few other deep dives on music in specific Hitchcock films to recommend: “Settling the Score’s” episodes on VERTIGO and PSYCHO, “Underscore”’s episodes on VERTIGO and on Bernard Herrmann, and “The Soundtrack Show’s” episode on PSYCHO.

After a hiatus, we're back with an episode about my favorite film of all-time: Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 paranoid thriller, THE CONVERSATION.  THE CONVERSATION has a special relationship with two other films: Antonioni's BLOW UP, which preceded and inspired it, and Brian De Palma's BLOW OUT, which is influenced by both movies.  This episode explores the interconnection between the three through their music, sound design, and especially their thematic interests which include reality, perception, truth, and privacy.  Naturally SPOILERS for the three movies, which do have some surprising twists and turns. I'm also including a spoiler warning for Hitchcock's VERTIGO as that film's plot has a special relationship to BLOW OUT.  Show Notes: 0:00:00 - Introduction 0:03:00 - Blow Up Intro 0:04:15 - Herbie Hancock / Music as Setting & Counterpoint 0:08:28 - The Blow Ups: Narrativized Reality 0:11:58 - Persona Music: Bullitt, Pelham, Dirty Harry 0:13:30 - The Conversation Intro 0:16:00 - Harry Caul's Theme 0:20:45 - The Assignment Theme 0:22:00 - Theme Melding / Filtering and Processing 0:25:27 - Amy's Theme: Harry & Relationships 0:31:13 - The Ending & Legacy 0:36:30 - Blow Out Intro / De Palma & Hitchcock 0:39:35 - Coed Frenzy: Disco & Rock 0:43:40 - Recording & Conspiracy / National Mood 0:51:03 - Suspense Music: Burke Materail, Psycho 0:53:48 - Tragic Love: Jack & Sally's Theme, Vertigo 1:03:45 - Truth & Perception in the Trio 1:05:05 - Outro / Sources / Social Media / "Theme from The Conversation" Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at kinotes.podcast@gmail.com. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle). All episodes are written and produced by Nick Nylen. Sources: Available on Amazon: "David Shire's The Conversation: A Film Score Guide" by Juan Chattah.  Available on Amazon: Film commentaries from THE CONVERSATION (Francis Ford Coppola & Walter Murch, on Blu-ray),  BLOW-UP (Peter Brunette, DVD only). David Forgac’s essay “BLOW-UP: In The Details” included in the CRITERION COLLECTION release of BLOW-UP.  Podcasts on iTunes: The Canon (episode & commentary on BLOW OUT), Soundtracking with Edith Bowman (James Mangold interview about LOGAN), Steven Benedict (BLOW UP, THE CONVERSATION, BLOW OUT episodes) Interview with David Shire for ZODIAC at Film Score Monthly (subscribe at their website) If you liked this podcast, check out The Discarded Image video essay on THE CONVERSATION entitled “Who’s Tracking Who?” on YouTube. https://youtu.be/dgAdI4pxlTM [https://youtu.be/dgAdI4pxlTM] You might also check out Drew Morton’s video essay on Vimeo, entitled CROSS-CUT, which connects BLOW UP, THE CONVERSATION, and BLOW OUT, entirely with visuals. https://vimeo.com/109405354 [https://vimeo.com/109405354]

In this episode, we’ll explore the music in BLADE RUNNER and in BLADE RUNNER 2049 through films noir as well as electronic movie music. We’ll talk sound design much more than usual as its so tightly integrated into the soundscapes of these films. Also related is a discussion on some of the social issues inherent in the music of the BLADE RUNNERs and noir, specifically race and gender politics. SPOILERS for most of the major plot points in BLADE RUNNER and BLADE RUNNER 2049. Show Notes: 0:00:00 - Introduction 0:01:22 - Blade Runner as Hybrid Genre Sci-fi Noir 0:04:30 - Film Noir Music: Intro / Classic Noir 0:09:22 - Jazz in Film: Race & Gender / The Crooner & Chanteuse 0:17:56 - Blade Runner: Memory & Nostalgia 0:20:00 - Noir: Trope of the Jazzy Solo Instrument 0:25:50 - Blade Runner / Chariots of Fire: Expressive & Emotional Electronics 0:28:29 - Electronic Film Music: Alien Sounds / Theremin 0:32:16 - Electronic Film Music: Forbidden Planet / Blurring of Music & Sound Design 0:33:34 - Vehicle Sounds: Blade Runner Films & Forbidden Planet 0:40:02 - Influence of Weather in Music & Film Scores 0:53:48 - Multiculturalism: Blade Runner & Films Noir 1:00:20 - Piano Symbolism in Blade Runner Films 1:04:07 - Reverb & Voice / Voiceover Narration 1:10:43 - 2019 vs. 2049: Stasis vs. Movement 1:19:20 - Outro / Sources / Social media / “Tears in Rain” Please subscribe, rate, review and/or leave a comment on iTunes. For other queries, email us at kinotes.podcast@gmail.com. We’re also on Twitter: @kinotespodcast and @nicknylen (my personal handle). All episodes are written and produced by Nick Nylen. Sources: Noir Music Books (all on Amazon): “Jazz Noir: Listening to Music from The Phantom Lady to The Last Seduction” by David Butler “Sired City: Sound and Source Music in Classic American Noir” by Robert Miklitsch “Music in the Shadows: Noir Musical Films” by Sheri Chinen Biesen “Jazz and Cocktails: Rethinking Race and the Sound of Film Noir” by Jans B. Wager “Film Music: A Neglected Art” by Roy M. Pendergast Other Noir Sources: Articles “Scoring Evil” by Brian Light and “On The Downbeat: Investigating the Special Relationship between Film Noir and Jazz” by Woody Haut from Noir City E-Magazine, Summer 2015 Issue. Available on the Film Noir Foundation’s website: www.noircity.com [http://www.noircity.com]. Essay “Crossing Musical Borders: The Soundtrack to Touch of Evil” by Jill Leeper from the book “Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Pop Music” (available on Amazon). Essay “Notes on Film Noir” by Paul Shrader, published 1972 (http://intelligentagent.com/noir/Schrader.pdf [http://intelligentagent.com/noir/Schrader.pdf]) Podcasts (all on iTunes): “Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir” “Noir Talk”, two part series “Hollywood Nocturne: Classical Film Noir Scores” Electronic Music Books (all on Amazon): “Forbidden Planet: A Film Score Guide” by James Wierzbicki “Off The Planet: Music, Sound, and Science Fiction Cinema”, edited by Philip Hayward Blade Runner Specific Sources: Book “Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner” by Paul M. Sammon (available on Amazon) Book “Sound Design and Science Fiction” by Willian Whittington (available on Amazon) Video Essay “Listening to Blade Runner” by The Nerdwriter (https://youtu.be/4T_sSSka9pA [https://youtu.be/4T_sSSka9pA]) Essay “The Music in Blade Runner” by Andrew Stiller from Book “Retrofitting Blade Runner: Issues in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” (available on Amazon)