Veröffentlichung Lakeshore Records/Phineas Atwood: SHARKNADO 1 & 2 (Ramin Kousha, Chris Ridenhour, Christopher Cano)

[Gast Stefan Jania]

Sharknado

Sharknado 2

 
Die CD zum ersten Teil gibt es schon seit letzten November (Musik: Ramin Kousha), die Musik zum zweiten Teil erscheint in wenigen Tagen auf CD (Musik: Chris Ridenhour und Christopher Caro). Auf Spotify gibt es beide Alben zu hören. Ridenhour ist, seitdem ich seine drei CDs von MSM (auch auf Spotify) gehört habe, ein absoluter Geheimtipp von mir. Er hat hier leider immer noch kein echtes Orchester spendiert bekommen, was ich ihm gerne gegönnt hätte, aber vielleicht kommt das ja noch.
 

 

[Gast Stefan Jania]

Für Nicht-Spotifyer hier zwei von Lakeshore zusammengestellte Suiten. Die CD zum zweiten Teil sollte in ein paar Tagen bei mir endlich im Briefkasten sein. Das beste an der CD zum ersten Teil ist die Laufzeit. Nach 28 Minuten ist es glücklicherweise vorbei. Übrigens eine CD im Jewel Case, nicht im Lakeshore-typischen Digipack. Label für die CDs ist Phineas Atwood.

 

 

[Gast Stefan Jania]

Randall Larson sagt in seiner aktuellen Kolumne:

 

SHARKNADO/ Ramin Kousha/Lakeshore     SHARKNADO 2/Chris Ridenhour/Lakeshore

Coming on the fins of SyFy’s SHARKTOPUS (see my Oct. 2010 column), The Asylum’s uniquely successful 2013 exploitation film SHARKNADO, broadcast on SyFy and soon thereafter released on home video, became a television phenomenon, quickly outdoing in sheer audaciousness even the tentacled carcharodon of Roger Corman’s previous SyFy invention.  When a freak hurricane swamps Los Angeles, thousands of sharks terrorize the waterlogged populace, and nature's deadliest killer rules sea, land, and air.  Directed by Anthony Ferrante, the film reveled in its made-up science, its tongue-in-cheek storyline, and its outrageous confidence, and fans gobbled it up, and before you can say Mega Shark vs. Giant Whatsis, The Asylum, eagerly derided for their “mockbuster” films that rode in on the coattails of mega blockbusters with their own cheap knockoffs, became known for their fanciful, fun, and fantastic creature mash-ups.  At least among fans that could accept their impractical premises and low-budget CGI effects.  Naturally a sequel surfaced, which switched the devastating series of hurricanes to the east coast as tornados hurled sharks about to gobble up the Big Apple in an even sillier, and ridiculously entertaining follow-up also directed by Ferrante and featuring the hero duo from the first film. One aspect of The Asylum’s films, love them or hate them, is that their musical scores were always straightforward, honest, and very effective at giving these absurd films the kind of epic symphonically-styled (if synthed and sampled) powerhouse backbone that helped them to work.  The first SHARKNADO was scored by Iranian-American composer Ramin Kousha, a composer of independent films and shorts since 2010, in his first assignment for The Asylum.  The score played it straight, giving a dramatic intensity to the credulity-straining events in the film and giving them a dynamic of weight, tension, and irony that gave the film much of its effectiveness and suspension of disbelief. “There were textural and melodic themes used throughout the films that were established early on the process of scoring and can be heard throughout the score,” said Kousha of his approach to SHARKNADO.  “Melodic elements were not as important as the textural items.  It was more important to create a mood for the film rather than specific characters.”

 

The sequel amped up the sharks, the tornados, the in-jokes, and the cameos the nth level, and its score reached an even higher intensity (and length; the first soundtrack barely reached 30-minutes, the second supplies a generous 77 minutes).  Ferrante brought in regular Asylum composer Chris Ridenhour (several of his best Asylum scores are available on three digital releases from MovieScore Media), who quickly brought to bear his knack for writing epic themes to the shark-infested table, assisted by his associate Chris Cano, also a veteran of Asylum fare like POSEIDON REX, DRAGONS OF CAMELOT, and the forthcoming HANSEL vs. GRETEL).  For the sequel, Ferrante asked the composers for a classic score with traditional themes and big epic action moments.   “We wanted a fresh start and created a score that established new themes for the characters and a more epic overall feel throughout,” Ridenhour said.”  The score is truly infused with a ‘nado’s worth of exciting melodies and motifs, from the extended opening scene, which a plane piloted by Robert Hays, playing a character very like the one he played in AIRPLANE!, flies into a tornado full of sharks.  Faster than you can say “I want these m**f**ing sharks off this m**f**ing plane!!” chaos ensues and Ridenhour’s progressive tour-de-force 12-minute-plus cue (“Fin in the Clouds”) is a dazzling and articulate riot of wild agitato (view a short except of the scene here).  “I felt that the opening scene on the plane really set the stage for the film,” said Cano.  “The music that Chris Ridenhour wrote for that scene really knocked it out of the park for me as well.  SHARKNADO 2 has a much bigger feel to me, probably because of it being in New York. For my cues I just focused on what seemed right for the sequel.”  Added Ridenhour, “That whole scene is almost a small movie unto itself and had a lot of great tension filled, climactic moments,” agreed Ridenhour.  “The flavor of the film was infectious. I also enjoyed the subway attack music Cano wrote. That was the first big action moment set in NY and set a great pace and frantic energy for the rest of the film.”

 

There are a few attempts at enhancing character pathos (the second half of “Storm is Coming” displays the heroes’ theme for electric guitar and synth pad) but mostly the score is active and brisk, focusing on the swiftly hurled sharks rather than the disposable characters (although Ferrante and his composers do treat the main heroes compassionately when the opportunity arises: “Elevator and Bike Run” opens and ends with some apropos character poignancy).  Except for the first track (and the last), most of the cues are short ones, emphasizing bits of action (with cue titles like “Shark and Gator,” “Shark Pizza,” “Jumping the Shark,” and “Samurai Sharks) and giving SHARKNADO 2’s wild ride a sense of cohesiveness through a shared musical drive.  Cano’s aforementioned “Subway” maintains its ferociously aggressive orchestral attack through its entire three minutes, flecked by an electronic pulse; through propulsive cues like these music keeps the audience in pace with the action and from hesitating and questioning the incongruity of the film’s whole concept.  Then Ridenour and Cano explode into another furious progression of symphonic energy in the 15+-minute closer, “The Big Ending.”  Ridenhour had introduced his main theme, a sincere and vibrant French horn melody, at the end of “Cab Ride,” and reprised it with trumpets in the midst of “Stadium Attack,” then again very nobly for horns in opportune moments through the score, particularly in the tumultuous final track.  Throughout the score, but especially in that last track, Ridenhour and Cano manage their digital samples quite dexterously, enhanced by the few live instruments the film’s budget would permit; the samples are quite convincing in the midst of the score’s more frenetic cues, and their digital orchestration really gives the score - in film and on Lakeshore’s albums, both of which are available digitally and on CD.

[For more information on scoring SHARKNADO 2, see my interview with Chris Ridenhour on my book web site, musiquefantastique.com - rdl.]

 

[Gast Stefan Jania]

Oh Mann! Der von Randall verlinkte Clip aus dem zweiten Film macht mir doch Lust, den glatt einmal mit ein, zwei Bier zu schauen. Wer Spotify hat: den dazu passenden ersten Track der CD (siehe oben), "Fin In The Clouds", so ca. ab 6 Minuten hören. Ridenhour-Over-The-Top-Action-Scoring pur! Mir g'fällt's.

 

[ronin1975]

die zum ersten ist echt schrecklich, Ridenhour verschwendet sein Talent echt an solche Filme und Elektronik... wenns Orchester wär, wär das echt nich so verkehrt... mir leidet das zu sehr an den billigen Samples

[Gast Stefan Jania]

Eine CD zu Teil 3 "Oh Hell No!" kommt im Juli von Lakeshore (auch Ridenhour und Cano).

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YS8KOLK

 

Das Soundtrack-Jahr ist gerettet!

[ronin1975]

die ganze Introsequenz zu Teil 2 war echt ziemlich (gewollt) lustig (is ja quasi ne Parodie auf TWILIGHT ZONE)... noch 20 Millionen mehr und dann hätt das auch von den FX gut ausgesehen (wobei die schon nen Quantensprung zu Teil 1 sind)... konnt den Film nicht fertig schauen erstmal, aber das war echt ganz lustig. Wohl das Beste was Asylum je produziert hat. Also wer sowas etwas abgewinnen kann ist da besser beraten als mit PIRANHA 1 oder dem grottigen 2...

[Csongor]

Aber Hassel the Hoff war im zweiten PIRANHA gut drauf ... der Film war so grottig, dass er schon wieder lustig war, vor allem durch die dämliche Figur von David Hasselhoff.  

 

Beim ersten PIRANHA habe ich mich gewundert was Richard Dreyfuss und Christopher Lloyd geritten haben da mitzumachen? ... aber am meisten habe ich mich über mich selber gewundert, dass ich mir so ein Schund überhaupt ansehe ... kommt zum Glück nur alle 2-3 Jahre einmal vor, wenn überhaupt.

[Alexander Grodzinski]

Den ersten PIRANHA fand ich gar nicht so schlecht. War ein gut gemachtes B-Movie und sehr unterhaltsam. Der zweite Film war dann aber ein totaler Absturz, besonders durch den eigenartigen Humor, der sich ständig unter der Gürtellinie bewegte. Ich hätte mich nicht gewundert, wenn im Abspann die Namen der Wayans-Brüder aufgetaucht wären.

[Gast Stefan Jania]

Eine CD zu Teil 3 "Oh Hell No!" kommt im Juli von Lakeshore (auch Ridenhour und Cano).

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YS8KOLK

 

Das Soundtrack-Jahr ist gerettet!

 

Die Rettung ist dahin. Die CD zu Teil 3 ist kein Score-Release.

 

 

01. (The Ballad Of) Sharknado – Quint

02. Wave Of Mutilation – Daniel Davies and Sebastian Robertson

03. Long Way to Go (Sharknado) – Camper Van Beethoven

04. Shark Rain – Eddie Cole

05. Shark Fight – Dave Days

06. Shark Beach – East Bay Ray

07. Armageddon Surfer Girl, Rock On – Martin Luther Lennon

08. Infinite Ocean – Camper Van Beethoven

09. Jaws Theme (Justin Lassen Remix) – Justin Lassen

10. Shark Attack – Barnaby Austin

11. Shark Truck – East Bay Ray

12. That’s When I Reach For My Revolver – Geno Lenardo and Nina Bergman

13. Crash – Quint

 

[Gast Stefan Jania]

 Er hat hier leider immer noch kein echtes Orchester spendiert bekommen, was ich ihm gerne gegönnt hätte, aber vielleicht kommt das ja noch.

 

Na endlich!

 

[horner1980]

Na endlich!

 

 

Ich muss ehrlich zugeben, dass mir die Musik in dem Video ganz gut gefällt.