Randomness: Two Steps from Hell and Hans Zimmer

Amazon means well.  They really do.  Their main intent, of course, is to make money, and make no mistake they are very good at it.  How do they do it.  For starters their website is set up so that it remembers everything you look at.  From there, it matches other music you might not have heard to items you have viewed to introduce you to more music, which you will hopefully buy.  That's the tactic, and it works on me.  Shame to admit, but it does.  Sometimes I use this tactic to find music i might like.  I was looking up the soundtrack to Angels and Demons, and then stumbled upon two items that caught my eye.

The first thing I saw was the shimmering artwork for Two Steps from Hell's"Skyworld".  I listened to some of it and started digging for information regarding this artist.  Two Steps from hell is a music production company from the greater Los Angeles area.  Their focus seems to be primarily making music for film trailers.  Just this year they have released a public album comprised entirely of brand new music.  This music is grand, epic, orchestral music that is basically made for film.  Throw out every preconceived notion of what recorded contemporary music might sound like, because this artists smashes these boundaries with a profound studio effort that will go straight to my collection as soon as possible.

Within the first few bars of "Skyworld"s opening track, my jaw was picking up lint cat hair from the floor.  I highly recommend this music.  Stay tuned for a full album review when I get the chance to listen to the whole disc.  For now, here is Titan Dream.


My second discovery was that the new soundtrack to The Dark Knight Rises has been released.  Hans Zimmer returns to the fray to compose the music for the third new Batman movie, and is impressive as always.  It seems that official full tracks are hard to come by on the Internet, but I did manage to pull this track from YouTube.  I have not checked the track listing on the soundtrack for this, so who knows if this track is part of soundtrack or not.  However, if this is but a taste of what the soundtrack offers, count me in.  Just a few more dollars of mine to Amazon's coffers.  They are so good.  Either I'm terrible or my love for music transcends money.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Our top contemporary artists

Let me preface this post by saying that in my opinion there is no such thing as bad classical music.  Naturally, I enjoy some pieces more than others, but there is none that I cannot stand.  Today we are looking at our top contemporary composers/performing groups.  What we consider to be contemporary music is as follows: Classical, opera, live performances of symphonic music, recordings of symphonic music, and film scores.  Here at ThinkMuzik, we love film scores particularly, but also enjoy performances from across the spectrum of Western Classical Music.  This is my list of the best contemporary composers/performance groups.

3. Nicholas Hooper.  He is a Brit who has an impressive selection of film scores to choose from.  Hooper's scores are soaring, emotional pieces rich in soulful, contemplative brilliance.  His pieces are as soothing as they are invigorating.  The following track is Dumbledore's Farewell from "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince."


2. Crouch End Festival Chorus and the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.  Crouch End is a northern suburb of London and is the home of the Crouch End Festival Chorus.  This is a masterful choir.  All voices blend perfectly and they perform some uplifting pieces.  I was not able to find a track from them to share anywhere on the web, but you can listen to previews on Amazon here. The Greatest Cinema Choral Classics is a collection of symphonic choral pieces from 25 of the best film compositions.  Take a listen to Battle of the Heroes (Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith) or Kyrie for the Magdalene (The DaVinci Code).

1. Hans Zimmer.  Zimmer is in my opinion, the best film composer in the history of the genre.  Time and time again, he composes incredible scores for great films.  Zimmer is one of the oldies, but is not afraid to try out new ideas and incorporate melodies from unconventional sources.  Listen to One Simple Idea from "Inception" below.


Kristy's picks are as follows:

I am excited about this post.  I am a huge fan of film scores and since they are a part of this genre they are what I am going to be sharing with you.  You know how sometimes you are trying to find the right thing to say and you just can't come up with the words; that's why I love scores.  The composer writes music that you can't put words to.  And so without further ado her are my top three choices.

3. James Newton Howard.  I think that he is a great film composer.  If you look at his list of scores they are quite impressive.  I chose a song off of the Tourist soundtrack.  It's entitled Bedroom Dreams and if you have seen this movie you know why I chose this song.  It's beautiful, its passionate, and it's addictive.  I think the violin towards the end of this track is amazing and makes you want more and more. Check it out below.



2. Moulin Rouge Soundtrack: Come What May.  This is one of those moments in a film where whatever has to be said is perfect through song.  This is an interesting musical because the composer has taken modern songs and puts a spin on them.  Then they are combined together to create most of the music in this film.  Come What May is different because it is one of the few tracks written for this movie.  It's perfect.  This track was written by David Baerwald.  I've never heard of him but this music is fantastic.  I think it might be a stretch for this genre but I think a song that is written for and performed in a film counts in my book.  So give it a listen :)



1. Hans Zimmer.  What can I say my husband and I have great taste and when it comes to contemporary music we completely agree hands down that Hans Zimmer is the best.  All of the music that he has written for the various films is unbelievable and each with it's own sound.  I chose And Then I Kissed Him from the Pear Harbor Soundtrack.  This track it hauntingly beautiful.  Yes sometimes I break into tears just listening to it.  This track has so many different layers to it.  The music is flawless.  I hope you enjoy it.  Thanks for reading and listening everyone :):)

Randomness: Hans Zimmer

For today's randomness post, we take a look at Hans Zimmer's score from the movie "Inception."  For those of you new to Think Muzik, let me take a moment to state the simple rules for randomness posts.  I go through my iTunes library with my eyes closed and randomly select something, and then blog about it.  Last week, we looked at Daft Punk's soundtrack for "Tron: Legacy."

As I stated last week, I love film music.  There is (arguably) no one on Earth better at it than Hans Zimmer.  This man composes stunningly beautiful music, and his credit list is indeed extensive.

I need to take a moment to talk about the movie itself.  This was a remarkable movie, and not just because Leonardo DiCaprio has suddenly transformed from Hunkzilla into good--if not great actor.  Many memorable and emotional moments arise from the movie and the film manages an impressive level of suspense throughout.  DiCaprio's character is desperate to see his children again after years of absence, and the only way that will be possible is if he can successfully plant an idea in a businessman's mind.  The plot is very complex, yet still easy to follow. 

Now, back to the music.  The music combines peaceful, droning ambiance with melodious electronic elements interwoven with beautiful symphony, and even some subtle choral elements.  Check out a couple of tracks from the score below.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!!