Snow Files of the Week

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Ice Cubes/Dan to the Rescue/Hit and Run/No One Ever Leaves Me/Victoria's Madness" from the tv movie "Seduced and Betrayed" (1995).

In the early 90's BASIC INSTINCT hit the theatres and became almost immediately a modern classic. It was a huge comeback for erotic thrillers and in the years that followed many movies wanted to be like it. This is also true for the music, composed by the great Jerry Goldsmith, that influenced the thriller genre for years to come. When SEDUCED AND BETRAYED came around in 1995, it more or less tried to imitate the sexual undertones. And it is pretty obvious that Jerry Goldsmith's score was used as a temp track, before Mark began working on the movie. His main theme is pretty much a slightly different arrangement of Goldsmith's theme. But for the rest of the movie Mark came up with his more mellow and harmonic style.

The main theme was featured on the sampler "The Snow Files". The score was released, paired with CAROLINE AT MIDNIGHT, on "The Mark Snow Collection Vol.2" by Dragon's Domain Records. The CD is limited to 2.000 copies.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Overlooking Tradition/The Challenge/Chain Gang" from "Harsh Realm" (1999).

The short-lived Chris Carter show of course also had a musical score by Mark Snow. His approach was more industrial than on the other Carter shows "The X-Files" and "MillenniuM". But nevertheless he wrote some very haunting tunes for that show, too.

The score was released on CD by La-La-Land Records, paired with Mark's music for the "X-Files" spin-off "The Lone Gunmen". The CD is sold out!

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "House Of Chucky P/Still Got Scoot In Your Boot/Scully Sees Scully" from "The X-Files", episode "Plus One" (2018).

 

For this season 11 episode Mark composed a quirky theme for Chucky, accompanied by his trademark plucked strings. But the music soon descends into the mystical and brooding atmosphere of The X-Files, even including a short nod to the main theme.

 

These tracks were released on the 2CD set for season 11 by La-La Land Records. The set is limited to 3.000 copies.

 

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "My beautiful airplane/Love Comfort/That's Melancholy" from "Les Herbes Folles (aka "Wild Grass", 2009)".

The movie marked the second collaboration between Alain Resnais and Mark Snow (after "Private Fears in Public Places"), two more would follow. The score is melancholic, supporting the beautiful and sometimes strange movie perfectly. The album is available digital and got a very limited release on double CD (together with the third Resnais/Snow collaboration "You ain't seen nothing yet") in France.

Enjoy!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "King Kersh / The Drop Zone / Scully's Serenade" from "The X-Files", episodes "Nothing Important Happened Today Part II", "This Is Not Happening" and "Per Manum" (2000/2002 ).

 

These three episodes from the eighth and ninth seasons of the series deal with the so-called super soldiers, alien-human hybrids who can survive even normally fatal injuries. Among other things, they are after Scully's child, who was born at the end of season eight and also has alien DNA.

 

Mark composed not only dark soundscapes for the episodes, but also quite melancholy passages, which lead to a wonderful variation of "Scully's Theme".

The tracks are from the fourth set from La-La Land Records. The set is limited to 2,000 copies.

Enjoy listening!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: Suite from "Murder Between Friends" (1994).

 

By 1994, Mark was already in the middle of the X-Files. Nevertheless, he still composed scores for various tv films. One of them was "Murder Between Friends", for which Mark naturally used the sounds he had already tried out in the X-Files. Nevertheless, the score is more than just an X-Files light, thanks to the bluesy electric guitar at times more reminiscent of Eric Clapton's play in the Lethal Weapon scores, and the male solo vocals, which stand in direct contrast to the "wailing woman" vocals that are often used.

 

The tracks from the suite come from the third album of the "Mark Snow Collection" by Dragon's Domain Records. The CD is limited to 500 copies.

 

Enjoy listening!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Silver Moon/Drone Fever/Batting Practice/Package/Drone Rescue/Vacuum", from "The X-Files", episode "Rm9sbG93ZXJz" (2018).

 

This episode from the 11th season with the somewhat strange title (a Base64 code that translates as "followers") is about the dangers that all controlling, artificial intelligences can bring with them.

 

On this track, we hear gloomy sound collages that accompany the technical theme of the episode. The music comes from the 2CD set by La-La Land Records, which is limited to 3,000 units.

 

Enjoy listening!

 

 

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: Suite from "Shadows Of Desire" (1994).

 

Another tv movie that Mark scored while he was already working on the X-Files. Although his trademark sounds can also be heard here, the score has a rather folky feel. This is ensured by the solo violin, which sounds different here than the violin sampled two years later by Snow for "MillenniuM". In addition, there is an acoustic guitar and harmonica samples, which round off the whole thing. Nevertheless, the main theme is reminiscent of that of the "Millennium" episode "Luminary" from the second season.

 

The music comes from Volume 3 of the "Mark Snow Collection" from Dragon's Domain Records. The CD is limited to 500 copies.

 

Enjoy listening!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Lifeboat / Wolf At The Door" from "The X-Files", episode "Død Kalm" (1995).

 

This episode is another classic episode in the series. A mutiny apparently occurs aboard the USS "Ardent". Parts of the crew leave the ship in a lifeboat. When they are found a few hours later, they have aged rapidly, some of them have already died. Mulder and Scully investigate what was happening on the ship and soon become victims of a rapid aging process themselves.

 

Snow's score is truly freezing. To do this, he uses a dull, echoing percussion, which significantly increases the feeling of being trapped underwater in the vast ocean.

 

The tracks are from the fourth set by La-La Land Records. The set is limited to 2,000 copies.

 

Enjoy listening!

 

[SadEyes]

Snow Files of the Week: "Recap / My Name Is Jackson Van De Camp / He Shot Him And He Shot Me" from "The X-Files", episode "My Struggle IV" (2018).

 

The finale of the eleventh season and with it the finale of the series is a double-edged sword. The whole alien plot was hopelessly confused by the end of the ninth season. Chris Carter didn't do any better with the four episodes called "My Struggle" that frame the tenth and eleventh seasons. Characters that have long since died are suddenly pulled out again, the Cigarette Smoking Man is suddenly the father of apparently every character. This four-parter is full of hair-raising twists, so it's little consolation that Mulder and Scully finally find their son and that this story is at least getting an, albeit temporary, conclusion.

 

For Mark this was the opportunity to tread familiar territory. The "Home" theme is also used here, as is the theme of the series itself. The tracks come from the La-La Land Records 2CD set. The set is limited to 3,000 copies.

 

Enjoy listening!