It’s safe to say there’s at least one show geeks and nerds in many lands can agree is pretty awesome. That show is, of course, Game of Thrones.

The shows visuals, casting and story have captivated audiences and made the show a success for HBO. Another major element of Game of Thrones that contributes to its success is the series’ musical score.

One fan, YouTube’s own MrSolidSnake745, has taken his love of the Game of Thrones score to even great heights and made his own hommage to the series’ main title theme.

The difference here is that he did it all with eight floppy disk drives. Putting aside the fact that even finding eight floppy drives is a pretty amazing feat these days, this video is still pretty impressive.

Check it out after the break.

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The films put out by Marvel Studios have been excellent in most ways possible. Really nailing the tones of a wide variety of Marvel superheroes. One thing these movies have been lacking, however, is a strong musical presence.

Going back to the original Iron Man, these films have not really had the same level of film score heights that we have come to expect from comic book movies in the last decade plus. The tide began to turn with the last released film, Captain America, which brought in the fantastic Alan Silvestri, but even that didn’t really live up to its potential.

Well Mr. Silvestri is back with the biggest and most epic Marvel film yet, so can he deliver on the promise his name and this property offers? In one word, yes. In seven words and three exclamation points, hell freaking yeah! he totally nailed it!!

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As far as music services go, iTunes has pretty much been the dominant player for several years. However, Spotify has made great strides and has become a personal favorite of many members of The Flickcast staff. But as good as the service is, there’s been something lacking: an iPad app.

Fortunately, the company is changing that today. That’s right, Spotify has announced that its iPad application is now available in Apple’s App Store. The free app allows premium Spotify subscribers to access the services huge library of music, stream tracks and playlists, and share songs.

The new Spotify iPad app also features gapless playback, a crossfade function and AirPlay integration, allowing users to stream music wirelessly from the iPad to AirPlay-compatible devices. In other words, if your an ipad and Spotify user, this is just the thing you’ve been waiting for.

On a side note, if you’re a Spotify user and want to listen to music at home I highly recomment pairing the service with some Sonos speakers. The Sonos Play 5 / Spotify combo is really hard to beat.

Check out a video highlighting all the new features of Spotify for iPad, as well as the full press release, after the break.

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Sometimes news is just so pleasantly surprising you can not help but to smile. In the back of our minds we expected another solid Hans Zimmer-y type score for the next Disney period, action/adventure, Jerry Bruckheimer extravaganza. That would have been fine, maybe even great, instead we will be getting something far more interesting.

Jack White, of The White Stripes fame, is stepping on board to compose the music for The Lone Ranger. A bold and exciting direction for Disney to take, but one that makes so much sense when you really think about it. The Lone Ranger looks to be turning into a very progressive blockbuster, and hopefully in this case quality follows progress.

As for Mr. White, movies are not an entirely new endeavor for the talented rocker. He wrote music for actually acted in Cold Mountain, his folksy styling fit in perfectly with that civil war tale. He also co-wrote and sung the theme song to the most recent James Bond film Quantum of Solace. That film might have been divisive, but most agreed the theme was quite good.

Like other established musicians turned composers, Jack White will likely keep a distinctive style in his Lone Ranger music. If he is really successful he will sound like himself while transcending his own sound like Trent Reznor and Danny Elfman have done in the past. We can’t wait to hear what he has in store for us.

OK, so we know it is coming, we know The Avengers looms just a little more than a week away. The early critical reception is very high, the buzz couldn’t be better and many of you already have your tickets in hand for the midnight shows.

That is a lot of anticipation, and we are certainly feeling it here at The Flickcast. One of the biggest things I am looking forward to the most is the score by Alan Silvestri, as the resident film music nerd here, his take on an Avengers theme tickles my fancy way more than most.

When a film of this magnitude is on the horizon, it is hard to keep things like it’s soundtrack under-wraps, and as such the entire score has already leaked online. I am happy to say it is quite great in what little I have allowed myself to listen to, but it only makes my jonesing for the movie that much more intense.

So to alleviate a little of that pressure, here is a video of the main theme by Mr. Silvestri, cut together as a music video featuring all of the as yet released Avengers footage. This video lets you experience the kick assery of the main theme in the context of actual Avengers footage.

Check it out after the jump.

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There are a few certainties in life, death, taxes and a Danny Elfman score for the next Tim Burton movie. Their creative collaborations have always been among the high points of each new Burton film, even if sometimes the music can sound overly familiar.

In recent years the Elfman music associated with the last few Burton films has been quite exceptional. Elfman’s ‘Burton’ style has been perfected to the point that it sounds effortless. So of course we are excited to hear what Elfman has in store for Dark Shadows in a few weeks.

Well, wait no more, says Warner Bros. as they have put a very expanded preview of the score up on their official website. On the site you will get a full minute and a half of each track, which is more than enough to get a really good sense for what type of music we have in store for us.

Having listened to the expanded preview, I can happily report that this score does not seem to disappoint. The trailers for the movie suggest the film has a bit of a goofy tone, but for the musics part it is all dark and moody. The likely juxtaposition between the music and the tone of the movie feels very right considering the filmmakers involved.

So go check out the expanded preview now and be on the look out for a full review here on The Flickcast when the film is released in early May.

Last week saw the release of the first 2012 mega blockbuster, The Hunger Games. The film was eagerly anticipated and delivered the majority of it’s promise for a sweeping, epic tale of love, death and the games.

Being the first of 2012′s big boys I would be remiss if I didn’t spend some time on it’s score. Especially considering it comes from one of the best composers working today, James Newton Howard.

The score is rather strait forward, if maybe a little uninspired. I am not saying it is bad persay, but while watching the movie I really only had one moment where I felt like the score was connecting with me. Once I had the chance to sit down with the actual album I realized why. Most of the music just ins’t particularly gripping.

Again, there is a difference between bad and not gripping. I truly think Howard made quality music, I just think very little of it stands above the whole proceedings and make’s itself known. Of course there are exceptions to this, a couple of the tracks are actually really fantastic. I just don’t think the score spends enough time with the best stuff, and the majority of the rest feels flat.

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Tenacious D has always represented the very best of what makes us love Jack Black. Together with his unsung partner Kyle Gass their brand of irreverent humor mixed with bad ass rock was always a cocktail best served always.

Unfortunately, Hollywood had to get in the way and it nearly destroyed everyone’s favorite rock duo. Thankfully the keyword here is ‘nearly’, as the band has come together again to make the greatest album ever recorded, Rize Of The Fenix.

To get the world properly prepared for Rize, the D has graced us with a short film that details how these two rock luminaries came back together for this epic rock event.

The short, entitled To be The Best, is a cameo filled reminder that despite their failed attempt at the Box Office, Tenacious D is still a group to be reckoned with in the music world. Of special interest to many of The Flickcast readership will be how awesome Val Kilmer looks in this short.

Seriously, it is as if someone finally popped the Macy’s Day Parade balloon that was impersonating Val Kilmer for the last few years and the original Val is back, and totally bad ass.

Check out the full short after the jump, and look out for Rize Of The Fenix when it is released May 15th.

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I like to make it a point to cover video game music as often as I can. I really think the entire industry is on the cusp of breaking down what little barriers are left and establishing itself as a thoroughly acceptable artistic medium.

So when I was given the chance to take a listen to London Music Works’ Essential Games Music Collection Vol.1 I was excited. Usually compilations like these are reserved for film scores but the quality of video game music has risen so high this release isn’t just warrented, it’s way over due.

Of course with any release like this there will be a heavier reliance on the newer and more popular themes to sell the album. Luckily that works in this release’s favor, as the industries most recent and most popular stuff is what people should be hearing.

The album does still try to strike a balance between the new and the old, but with only 13 tracks to deal with there is going to be a lot of music left for volumes 2 and beyond. The descending order of most recent to oldest also makes for a very interesting listening experience, a devolution on the industry, if you will.

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Every once in a blue moon a film score will resonate in pop culture, it will connect with an audience and grow almost a life of it’s own. Often times it goes hand in hand with a film itself that becomes a cultural milestone for a generation. The music to the phenomenon that was Titanic was one such occasion.

Next month’s 3D re-release of James Cameron’s historical epic brings with it a renewed interest in the music that captured so many imaginations. So Sony Classical is capitalizing on that and releasing an anniversary edition to coincide with the new theatrical run of the film.

There will be two versions of the Anniversary edition released, one will be a standard editions with two discs, and a second with two more discs, designated the collectors edition. This review will be covering the collectors edition, so keep that in mind if you want to pick this set up yourself.

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One of my favorite things to cover in my weekly film score review is compilations. These sets are the most easily digestible forms of film music, and represented my entry into the world. It was the combined ‘Best Of’ albums of John Williams, James Horner and Danny Elfman that captivated me so much as a child. Now I take great pleasure in shining a light on these sets today, hoping that some non film score fans give them a shot.

In the world of film music compilations there is a top dog who has been releasing stellar sets over and over again. Silva Screen Records has been nailing it with re-recorded compilations of some of today’s most recognizable franchises. Mostly using the excellent City of Prague Philharmonic, these sets have been some of the most fun I have been able to review in my many months of writing about film music.

Today’s set is no exception, The Complete Harry Potter Film Music Collection is a well crafted, well performed and generally a great listen from start to finish. The set smashes together musical highlights from the eight film series that takes you on a journey from the optimistic sense of wonder in the first film all the way through the dark and dangerous end. It is a musical time-capsule that follows the decade long franchise.

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For several years now the modern iteration of Doctor Who has been a high water mark for genre television. Upping the ante with incredible writing, good budget effects and a group of actors that would put most prime time line-ups to shame.

Among this mountain of quality is also the superb musical scores Murray Gold has written for the series since it returned in 2005. The Doctor has always had one of the best themes in the history of television, but what Gold has been able to do is add so much life to the show by crafting complex themes and ideas that span across entire eras of the show.

The last two seasons have been the era of Moffat and Smith, who together have reformed the show into a stylistically very different beast than the Russel Davies run. Massive credit to Mr. Gold who has adapted to this new stylistic direction to write some of the best music of the show’s long and storied history.

So we come to the sixth series, the most recent and thus far most ambitious soundtrack yet. Series Six is a season dominated by answering very large and very important questions that have been presented over the course of the last few years. The season was also split down the middle which gives it a really great pace and flow.

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