You can now visit this glorious site via its new web address: http://www.synchrotones.com.
Shorter and easier to remember. Anything for you guys!
Michael Palin in North Korea is the latest in a long – and fascinating – line of travelogues by Palin. In the UK, it aired on Channel 5 a few weeks ago; and if you haven’t watched it, it’s worth catching up on. Over two episodes, Palin offers an intriguing glimpse into that most secretive of countries: North Korea. He walks a very fine line between: what we’re allowed to see, what we’re not allowed to see, and what the presenter (subtly) implies. The music walks the same line. Synchrotones had the pleasure of talking to composer Miguel d’Oliveira about it.
So, let’s talk about Gareth Coker for a moment; or rather about his music. I don’t know him personally, so it’d be rude to start rambling on about the guy. If you follow Synchrotones at all, you’ll know I’m much enamoured by his work for Ori and the Blind Forest (and needless to say, I very much enjoyed the additional music that Coker released via BandCamp). There’s a reasonable body of work to explore, but two scores in particular caught my ear; and those are ARK and The Unspoken.
Silva Screen very kindly and continuously send me copies of their releases for review; and all too often I don’t review them. Now, whilst I’m not here to do record labels any favours or to promote their albums, I do feel a bit bad that I’m so far behind with Silva’s releases. With this episode of Cluster Reviews I want to see if we can restore some balance in the universe. I’ll be covering two Doctor Who releases, Shetland, Edie, an Essential Games Music Collection and no less than 100 Greatest Science Fiction Themes!
Sony has released James Horner: The Classics, a compilation of famous themes by Horner performed by various and varying artists – with mixed results, to be honest. The release comes just days before Horner’s would-be 65th birthday and as such makes for a nice remembrance compilation. Whilst I have a few issues with this album, I cannot fault the performances and the passion from everyone involved. It had me scratching my head a few times, but on the whole it’s a compelling album. Read more…
