Dragon Age II Soundtrack available in iTunes

Bioware has announced the release of an official Dragon Age II soundtrack on Apple’s iTunes music service. The game puts players in the role of Hawke and allows them to craft the story of the legend’s rise to power.

The soundtrack is available for $3.99.

Dragon Age II is the sequel to BioWare’s Dragon Age series of role-playing video games.

Dragon Age II tells the story of Hawke, a survivor of the Darkspawn horde’s destruction of Lothering (a village featured in Dragon Age: Origins) who rises to become the Champion of Kirkwall. Using a framed story format, Varric, one of Hawke’s companions, tells Hawke’s story to Cassandra Pentaghast, a Chantry Seeker; “decisions” made in the game by the player determine more than a decade of history that changes the world of Thedas forever.

Choices that the player made in Dragon Age: Origins can be imported and reflected in the world of Dragon Age II. Choices from Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening will also be imported, if the player decides to take this action.

 

 

Best Original Soundtrack category is disappointment

Last night, the soundtrack music fan community was collectively shocked when Trent Reznor’s and Atticus Ross’ music for THE SOCIAL NETWORK was the recipient of the Academy Award for Best Original Score.

While the expected favorite to win was Alexandre Desplat’s work on THE KING’S SPEECH, the bulk of the soundtrack music fan community was rallying behind Hans Zimmer’s INCEPTION and John Powell’s HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON.

Within minutes of the announcement, online forums went ballistic.

At Film Score Monthly, such things were said as:

• “This category is always a disappointment. Most members of the Academy don’t know a thing about music or scoring for motion pictures. No surprise this year.”
• “It truly sickens me to think that Danny Elfman, Thomas Newman, Alexandre Desplat, John Powell, James Newton Howard, etc. who have been composing amazingly effective scores for years have not gotten the Oscar recognition they richly deserve. The first few notes of Howard’s The Village or Newman’s Shawshank or Elfman’s Edward Scissorhands or Powell’s Dragon signify music, not sound effects. Eventually Music and Sound Design will just be rolled into one category since its clear voters just have no idea about what music underscore actually means…. ”
• “Obviously the f***-tards at The Oscars and Academy Awards don’t know what the hell a good score sounds like these days. I can’t believe The Social Network out-beat How To Train Your Dragon.”
• “As the Academy becomes more and more populated by Generation X and Y, the awards are going to go more and more for simple name and movie recognition than actual worth. That’s not to say we haven’t had that all along – the Oscars are little more than an industry celebrating how great it is being an industry – but the slim idea we once held that people who win are people who (usually) deserve it is going to vanish like morning fog.”

And at SoundtrackFans.com, similar sentiments were echoed through the night:

• “I knew either this or The King’s Speech would win. They are so predictable and they hardly ever actually give recognition to really great music.”
• “Somehow, I’m really not that surprised. Obviously the award is not based on the quality of the music, and the people voting on it probably didn’t even care if the soundtrack they voted for the best music of the year was really that good or not. Really sad.”
• “I hate Oscar for letting that trash music win… How To Train Your Dragon should have won 100%.”

At its basest, the soundtrack for THE SOCIAL NETWORK was a combination of four things:

• A handful of less-than-minimalistic piano licks (so basic that they would make Carter Burwell cry, “That’s all you came up with, really???”)
• Non-descript, 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System ditties remixed for a disco
• Unused demos and outtakes from the first three Nine Inch Nails albums
• A sound effects loop that mimicked buzzing bees, an army of rats, and the labored breathing of a marathon runner

And all Reznor and Ross really did was mix and match those four elements for the entire film. It would have been much befitting of a movie set in an earlier time period, like TRON (the original, not TRON: LEGACY) or even REVENGE OF THE NERDS, but not a film set between 2003-2005. This is not a cry against electronic music, it is simply a head-scratching moment forever to be locked in the annals of the Academy.

According to the Academy rules for the nomination process of a motion picture score, outlined here, “The work’s eligibility shall be evaluated on its effectiveness, craftsmanship, creative substance and relevance to the dramatic whole.”

While all of those factors are completely subjective to the listener/viewer, many scores are produced each year that easily obliterate THE SOCIAL NETWORK on a creative scale alone – not the least of which was Zimmer’s work on INCEPTION, which, while I did not personally enjoy it as a CD, it was impossible to deny the monolithic effect it had on the film.

Adding further insult to injury, in the Voting Rules on the official Academy website, it actually states:

“The Academy’s entire active membership is eligible to select Oscar winners in all categories, although in five – Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, and Foreign Language Film – members can vote only after attesting they have seen all of the nominated films in those categories.”

This means that for all of those high-profile “Big 4” Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress), the voting body DOES NOT even have to prove they’ve seen the movies to be able to vote for them. Likewise, for Best Original Score, no one has to prove they’ve even heard the soundtrack.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: THE SOCIAL NETWORK wins Best Original Score Oscar; Soundtrack fans outraged! – National Soundtracks | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/soundtracks-in-national/the-social-network-wins-best-original-score-oscar-soundtrack-fans-outraged#ixzz1FMo6tfzS

 

Gnomeo and Juliet soundtrack features new music from Elton John

The Gnomeo and Juliet film soundtrack, slated for release by Buena Vista Records on February 8, will feature music from Elton John.

The Disney film hits theaters on February 11. The album features 14 tracks – nine of which have been composed and performed by Elton John. Tracks include the new single “Hello Hello” (on which John duets with Lady Gaga) and “Crocodile Rock” (his 1973 hit, remade as a duet with Nelly Furtado).

The album also includes various tracks from Oscar-nominated composerJames Newton Howard (a former member of John’s band) and from Chris Bacon – both of whom incorporate John hits such as “Rocket Man,” “Bennie & The Jets,” and “I’m Still Standing.”

John served as executive producer for the Disney adaptation of William Shakespeare’s classic love story and recently attended the film’s London premiere.

Trent Reznor nabs Golden Globe

This year, The King’s Speech and The Social Network put up their dukes to battle it out for awards.

They are both nominated in every major category.

At the Golden Globes, The King’s Speech picked up Best Actor, Drama

The Social Network won this round by picking up Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Director, and Best Score.

Trent Reznor, the industrial rocker who gained fame with Nine Inch Nails, described picking up the Best Original Score trophy for the score – which he wrote alongside musical collaborator Atticus Ross as “surreal”, adding he never expected to even work on a film.

Accepting his trophy in Los Angeles, Trent said: “A year ago I had no idea I’d have the opportunity to score a film. The idea of standing up here to accept this award is surreal.”

Reznor isn’t done on the soundtrack scene. He has agreed to score The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

With the Oscars looming, the two heavyweight films will slug it out for award dominance.

Trent Reznor to provide another soundtrack

Fresh off The Social Network soundtrack, Trent Reznor is ready for another round. Reznor and director David Fincher are collaborating once more, this time on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Reznor’s score for the Facebook movie has been attracting a lot of critical heat with some suggesting he might be up for an Oscar.

Fincher’s adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s popular novel is released 16th December, 2011. It retans its Swedish setting and stars Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander, Daniel Craig as intrepid journo Mikael Blomkvist, Stellan Skarsgaard as Martin Vanger and Robin Wright Penn as Erika Berger.

Twilight Sage “Eclipse” Soundtrack snatches Grammy nomination

The official motion picture soundtrack for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has nabbed a nomination for this year’sGrammy Awards.

The Eclipse soundtrack is nominated in the following category: “Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media.”

Also nominated are several of the Twilight series soundtracks’ artists, including: Cee-Lo Green, Muse, Florence + the Machine, The Black Keys, Paramore, Band of Horses, and Vampire Weekend.

The Twilight soundtrack was nominated in this category last year.

The Grammy Awards air on February 13th at 8:00 p.m. EST.

It should be interesting to see whether The Twilight Saga: Eclipse nabs this award. The album is nominated alongside the albums for Crazy Heart, Glee: The Music, Volume 1, Treme, and True Blood – Volume 2.

Two of the Eclipse album’s songs (“What Part of Forever” by Cee-Lo Green and “Eclipse (All Yours)” by METRIC) are also nominated for Satellite Awards (winners for which will be announced on December 19th)!

Original Post on Examiner.

Gleek the Halls

The “Glee” version of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” topped the digital track sales chart last week, the best any “Glee” tune has done so far.

Now there are two new soundtracks available. Read their track listings after the jump. …

The release order of the two albums seems backwards but for some reason the “Glee” Christmas album is already available while the shows “Volume 4″ soundtrack won’t be out until next Tuesday.

The Christmas album includes music from the show’s Christmas episode, scheduled to air Dec. 7.

The full track listing for  “Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album” is:

1. We Need A Little Christmas
2. Deck The Rooftop
3. Merry Christmas Darling
4. Baby, It’s Cold Outside
5. The Most Wonderful Day Of The Year
6. Last Christmas
7. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
8. O Christmas Tree
9. Jingle Bells
10. You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
11. Angels We Have Heard On High
12. O Holy Night

As for the show’s fourth soundtrack, it includes tunes from the first half of the show’s second season, including the hit “Teenage Dream” performed by new cast member Darren Criss.

The full track listing for “Glee: The Music, Volume 4″ is:

1. Empire State Of Mind
2. Billionaire
3. Me Against The Music
4. Stonger
5. Toxic
6. The Only Exception
7. I Wanna Hold Your Hand
8. One Of Us
9. River Deep, Mountain High
10. Lucky
11. One Love
12. Teenage Dream
13. Forget You
14. Marry You
15. Sway
16. Just The Way You Are
17. Valerie
18. (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life

I’ve written about the “Glee” soundtracks in the past and somehow missed a disc from the show’s Halloween episode. “The Rocky Horror Glee Show” was released in October.

 

Vampire Diaries Soundtrack Review

While the teenage vampire programme and film makers are in total overdrive to fulfil the current Twilight obsessed market, The Vampire Diaries has gone beyond this fad and made for strangely compulsive viewing. No mean feat for a cheesy teenagers programme whereby it’s difficult to differentiate between the popular and the geeks because everyone is so annoyingly beautiful. The music has in no doubt added to its popularity and for avid viewers there is now the soundtrack album.

In all seriousness, the makers of the show have to be commended for their taste as they have been responsible for putting some more of the leftfield music in our current music spectrum out there for public consumption . Indeed music from such rock’n'roll luminaries as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Black Angels has appeared in episodes. However neither of the former appear on this soundtrack.

Silversun Pickups are a more than welcome inclusion with ‘Currency of Love.’Smashing Pumpkins and Gorillaz ply their trade with a somewhat watered down version of what they used to be. Elsewhere Placebo covering Kate Bush’sRunning Up That Hill is nowhere near as bad as it could have been but is still pretty unremarkable anyway. Which leaves a Tori Amos – alike cover of Tears For Fears ‘Head Over Heels’ by Digital Daggers and Sleep Alone by Bat For Lashes to supply the albums highlights.

While the producers of the tv show should be commended for including some underground cutting edge acts in their series, the producers of the album could have complemented them and gone one step further. As a result they’ve missed an opportunity to lift certain bands out of semi-obscurity and have gone with the safe option ie what will be more likely to sell. All in all its not a bad album at all and will no doubt delight fans of the series. Its just that this could have been so much more.

6/10

Review by Scott Causer at Contactmusic

‘Morning Glory’ soundtrack offers variety of artists

“Morning Glory,” a film about chasing your dreams and how those dreams can change as life plays out, has a standout soundtrack with a song fit for each stage of life that everyone can relate to.

The film, starring Rachel McAdams as the ambitious, over-worked Becky Fuller, incorporates the struggles and emotions of the main character with its wide variety of tracks ranging from the acoustic soul of Colin Hay to the energetic pop of Natasha Bedingfield.

Bedingfield’s “Strip Me,” the song featured on the film’s previews is an empowering and fitting theme for the movie.

The song’s inspiring chorus sings “Take what you want. Steal my pride. Build me up or cut me down to size. Shut me out, but I’ll just scream. I’m only one voice in a million, but you ain’t taking that from me.”

Coupled with Bedingfield’s powerful vocals and a back-track to match, the song is able to immediately put listeners in a good mood and is an effective positive anthem, without coming out corny like most similar efforts.

Hay is an indie-infused new wave singer with a raw and real voice which instantly attracts all music enthusiasts to his seemingly effortless vocal talents.

Hay’s song, “Waiting for My Real Life to Begin,” is a beautiful ballad that makes listeners not only question their lives in the aspect of “What if?” but allows them to evaluate what they already have instead of always shooting for more.

A great pop-folk band, The Weepies, is also showcased in the film with its hit “Same Changes.”

The song is a perfect example of lead singer Deb Talan’s unique, lullabye-like vocals and the group’s charming lyrical skills. Also check out “World Spins Madly On” and “Gotta Have You” by the band.

“Gone in the Morning” by English pop/folk singer Newton Faulker is an irresistably catchy tune found on the film, tapping into the story’s upbeat theme.

Overall, “Morning Glory” is a great soundtrack, not only for its ability to portray its “never give up” plot through music, but for its display of witty tunes and showcase of underground artists.

Check out the original post here.

Check out Morning Glory as Trailer of the Week.

The Social Network Soundtrack Review

It is surely no easy task to compose a score for a film written by Aaron Sorkin. The West Wing creator’s witty dialogue has a certain music lurking in its DNA, an unrelenting staccato rhythm that evokes its own audio contexts without the help of background orchestration. In the Sorkin-penned, David Fincher-directed The Social Network, this rhythm sweeps the viewer (and the listener) up and away in a tide of language, as a counterpoint to—or a reflection of?—the flash-flood of programming code and text-based interaction through which Facebook rides into the popular consciousness. What role could further musical accompaniment possibly play in this equation?

Enter Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who conceive of darkly-nurtured aural circuit boards to score the film’s tone of ominous moral disquiet. Building on their open-ended collaborations for the last two Nine Inch Nails releases, Ghosts I-IV and The Slip, Reznor and Ross lay out their sinister methodology from the outset. The lead-off cut for the soundtrack album, “Hand Covers Bruise”, is one of the most memorable pieces of music in the film, following Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) on a long nighttime walk back to his Harvard dorm after being deservedly dumped by his girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara). The sharp contrast between the buzzing-hornet electro-strings in the background and the tender three-note piano melody reflects the film’s juxtaposition of the social and the anti-social, the digital-edged burps of sound hinting at the menacing mechanizing of human relations that Fincher and Sorkin tentatively lament.

Much of the fare that follows is signature Nine Inch Nails instrumentality, all industrial tones and unremitting synthetic beats suggesting the blackest night of the soul. The earlier tracks hitch onto the inexorable momentum of Facebook’s rise and expansion; “In Motion”, “Intriguing Possibilities”, and “Carbon Prevails” are pulsating anthems to furious coding, and “A Familiar Taste” tosses in some aggressive guitar crunch for good measure. The middle ground is taken up by pensive efforts like “Painted Sun in Abstract”, “Pieces Form the Whole”, and “On We March”, as doubts and second thoughts plague the unraveling onscreen partnership of Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield).

Amidst this cacophony of unease, it should be no surprise that Reznor and Ross run that classical monument to foreboding, the highlight of Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt, “In the Hall of the Mountain King”, through their diabolical computers. As striking a version as it is, the fact that it scores the film’s most visually striking scene—Fincher’s tour-de-force depiction of the Winklevoss twins’ narrow loss at the Henley Royal Rowing Regatta in England—only makes it stand out that much more. It’s eventually followed and quite nearly usurped by the red-eyed stabs of “Magnetic”, the vicious swipe of cold metal that finally cuts the knot of friendship between our heroes, before empathetic pianos and gentler electronics cushion our fall on the closing tracks.

Therefore, we can conclude that, while the actual compositions themselves are of debatable merit and of a predictable bent, the soundtrack to The Social Network represents a perceptive match of particular talents to specific material. Even if Reznor and Ross produce little that would not have felt at home onGhosts I-IV, Fincher’s application of their unsettling abilities to his unnerving movie feels like one of the project’s multiple strokes of inspired genius. As darkly-hued as Fincher and Sorkin’s views of entrepreneurial ethics and interpersonal morality are in The Social Network, the score that Reznor and Ross provide pushes the film into even deeper shadows and suggests an outline of technological panic in the human psyche that gives the film’s critique of the social web a sharper edge than it would have had without it. No filmmaker could ever ask for more.

View the original post at Popmatters.