Dan Deacon on his Score for TASK

Matt Johnson's newest film TONY takes a small picture of an outsized life, taking us along with a young Anthony Bourdain one formative summer in Cape Cod. Composer Jay McCarrol and music supervisor Mandy Mamlet combined for the brilliant soundtrack that goes big, small, and everything between the ears...just to Bourdain's taste.

FINNEAS has been scoring for film and television for a few years now, and he's the first to say he's still figuring it out. In this conversation, Charles sits down with the composer and producer to talk through what the process actually looks like: building the wall-to-wall opening cue for Beef Season 2, navigating temp music when the benchmark is Bach, going back through a composer's catalogue the moment you fall in love with their work, and why deadlines might be the best thing that ever happened to his creative process.

We're back to talking soundtracks! Our lovely guest this time is Music Supervisor, Tiffany Anders, who began her music career as a recording artist in early 2000s New York and translated an obsessive love of music and records into music supervision for film, television, and commercials. Anders is versatile at her post, sourcing songs that span generations and genres, something she got to do a lot of on her most recent project, the Netflix hit show Something Very Bad is Going to Happen.

British recording artist Chris Clark has been blending classic instrumentation into electronic production for over two decades — solo, collaborative, and increasingly in film and television. His latest work is a score for We Bury the Dead, a fresh spin on the zombie genre that matches the film's ambition. Chris joins Charles to dig into the score, the project, and the current state of music for the screen. Welcome back!

Dave Porter’s music has been the soundtrack to Vince Gilligan TV shows since day one Breaking Bad. With the enrapturing new show Pluribus, Porter has been given the gift of a completely blank canvas to paint on. The journey has only just begun and Porter’s cues have once again been the guide rails through another one of Gilligan’s bizarrely novel plunges into the What If. Dave returns to talk about all that is familiar and brand new about this trip.

Right after the conclusion of TASK, one of the best shows of the year and the second chapter in the Brad Ingelsby "Delco" expanded universe (we hope) Charles spoke with composer Dan Deacon, whose phenomenal score lifted the show to unexpected heights. SPOILERS

Over his thirty years of scoring for film and television, Theodore Shapiro has been one of the most consistently reliable composers in delivering emotional and tonal evenness and depth to his various projects. Yet his recognition, and appreciation of his talent have never been greater thanks to his Emmy winning score for the hit show Severance. Executive Producer and Director Ben Stiller is right in saying Shapiro’s music defines the world of Severance, guiding its audience through the existential mystery of identity, love, and loss, pushing us to re-examine what we believe about all of these themes. Shapiro talks to Charles about how he landed on and gave life to one of the more identifiable TV series scores in recent times.

Right in time for the Halloween run-up, we're talking horror scores with emergent composer for the genre, Cornel Wilczek. His scores for Talk to Me, Bring Her Back, and most recently, Together, have added a fresh voice to the lineage in three distinct expressions. Wilczek gets into why horror films are saving cinema, locating his personal line of extremity, and also shares a very cool story about Keiji Haino.

New kind of artist alert! The Blank Chat welcomes another member of the music department into the mix. Charles speaks in depth with Emmy winning Music Supervisor Trygge Toven about the glory of old school soundtracks, his award winning and recognized series work for Fallout and Westworld, and how music supervision for film and TV goes way beyond liking all genres of music.

In this episode, acclaimed composer and synthesist Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith traces how changing environments, like her new locale of Lisbon, spark a sense of neutrality and openness, fueling innovation far from the ambition-driven cities of the US. Kaitlyn shares formative experiences with sound awareness, a kind of synaesthesia where music is felt as much as heard, and how time spent in nature nurtured her love for music.  Blending modern and vintage synthesizers with the focus in practice of martial arts, Kaitlyn explores music’s potential to give meaning to ambiguity with in irrepressible optimism of where it can all go.