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Snow Files of the Week

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On 3/24/2022 at 5:03 AM, SadEyes said:

Snow Files of the Week: "El Lobo/Sling Blade" from "The Lone Gunmen".

This short-lived X-Files-spin-off focused more on humour. Mark's music also has a brighter touch to it, with sometimes even James-Bond-like spy music. The cliffhanger of the show was resolved in the ninth season of THE X-FILES, with the episode "Jump the shark".

Mark's music was released, limited to 2000 copies, by La-La-Land Records. The album also has music from the fourth Chris-Carter-show, HARSH REALM, on it. The album is sold out.

Enjoy!

 

I really liked The Lone Gunmen. It was quirky, clever, and most importantly, fun. It was never really appreciated IMO, nor was Harsh Realm, which I also really liked. Thanks for remembering it.

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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!

 

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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!

 

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Snow Files of the Week: "Big Yellow House/Exterminated" from "MillenniuM", episode "Pilot" (1996).

When The X-Files went into its fourth season, Chris Carter's second show "MillenniuM" premiered. The first episode of "MillenniuM" gained the highest number of viewers FOX ever had for a pilot, the episode was even shown in selected theatres.

The home of the Black family, the big yellow house, is a place of safety for Frank Black. Here he can provide his family with a normal life and keep them away from the dark world outside, at least he thinks he can. If you watch the show closely you will notice, that all the scenes, that play in or around the yellow house, have a certain golden glow, while the scenes in the real world have washed out colours.

Mark uses the main theme from "MillenniuM" to create a haunting variation for the introduction of the yellow house. His soft and moody string pads, combined with the solo violin, create a place of peace, but also underlines the darkness waiting outside.

The tracks are taken from the first volume of music from "MillenniuM", released by La-La Land Records. It was released in 2008 and sold out shortly after. In 2015, the volume was re-issued, limited to 1.000 copies.

Enjoy!

 

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Snow Files of the Week: "Suite" from "Pasadena" (2001).
 
"Pasadena" was a very short-lived tv series in which the main character, Lily McAllister, witnesses a suicide and then embarks on an investigation that also leads her into her own wealthy family, the Greeleys. 13 episodes were produced, but after only four episodes the critically acclaimed series was canceled due to poor ratings. As a possible reason it was stated that the series started so soon after the attacks of September 11, 2001 that people probably didn't feel like watching dark and cynical series at first.
 
Mark's music moves in familiar territory. He scored the soap opera crime drama similar to the X-Files. Apart from the main theme, which sounds like music from a music box. Otherwise there are the spherical choirs, the shimmering soundscapes and a few quirky interjections of the main theme, with percussion and pounding beats.
 
The album was released digitally by BUYSOUNDTRAX.COM and is available for download and streaming.
 
Enjoy listening!

 

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Snow Files of the Week: "The Game Begins" from the tv movie "Night Sins" (1997).

The score to this tv thriller has much in common with Mark's music for "The X-Files" and "MillenniuM". The pieces are glued together by the beautiful main theme, that Mark composed. It has all the ingredients we love about Mark's music.

The score was released on CD by BUYSOUNDTRAX.COM, limited to 1000 copies and is still available, also digitally.

Enjoy!

 

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Snow Files of the Week: Suite from "The Substitute Wife" (1994).
 
"The Substitute Wife" is a 1994 TV drama starring Peter Weller, Lea Thompson and Farrah Fawcett. Set in the era of the American Pioneers, the movie tells the story of a farmer's wife who is dying. Because she is afraid that her family falls apart without her and they might lose the farm, she hires a prostitute to take her place.
 
Mark composed a warm-hearted orchestral score, far from gloomy soundscapes, with a slight folk touch. The concise main theme, which was already released on the sampler "The Snow Files", runs through the entire score. Sometimes with an oboe as a solo instrument, sometimes with the piano.
 
The album was released digitally by BUYSOUNDTRAX.COM.
 
Enjoy listening!
 
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Snow Files of the Week: "Burn Baby Burn/I'm Ready" from the tv show "Smallville" (2001/2011).

These two tracks show Mark's different abilities of scoring the show. You have beautiful piano work, harsh action music and soft heroic moments.

An album was released digitally, followed by a 2-CD set from La-La Land Records, containing more music than the digital release. The album also contains music by Louis Febre from the later seasons. The 2-CD set is limited to 3.000 copies and sold out.

Enjoy!

 

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Snow Files of the Week: "Catalogued/Deny Everything/Blood on Paper" from The X-Files, episodes "Duane Barry" and "Ascension" (1994).

A classic X-Files two-parter from the second season of the series. And with Duane Barry one of the most distinctive figures in the X-Files universe, played in a disturbingly manic way by Steve Railsback. For a long time Barry has been haunted by aliens at night who repeatedly carry out experiments on him. When another visitation is imminent, Barry goes crazy and takes some hostages in an office building. The police thinks he's a dangerous lunatic, of course, but Mulder is interested in the visits.

Mulder manages to outsmart Barry and he is shot and rushed to the hospital. But Barry only plays along on the pretense, breaks out of the hospital and kidnaps Scully, whom he wants to leave to the visitors for their experiments in his place. He takes her to Skyland Mountain at night, from where he was kidnapped for the first time. When Mulder arrives, he only notices a bright light in the sky and finds Barry alone. Scully has disappeared.

Mark Snow accompanies this double episode with very melancholic-mystical sounds. The short motifs for the Cigarette Smoking Man and the conspirators appear again, as they of course also have their fingers in the game. The tracks are from LLL's fourth set of X-Files music. The set is limited to 2,000 copies.

Enjoy listening!

 

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Snow Files of the Week: "Starspeak/Hidden Truths/Big Happening" from "The X-Files, season 8, episode "This is not happening" (2001).

At the beginning of season 8, Mark introduced a theme for Scully. The theme got a vocal performance by Nicci Sill, singing the words "We are near", to heighten Scully's quest for Mulder. In the episode "This is not happening", the theme reappears in an instrumental version, when Scully is talking to Skinner about a conversation she once had with Mulder.

When Mulders dead body appears on a field at night, Scully knows that the only help is Jeremiah, the healer. But before Scully can get to him, she witnesses an alien spacecraft abducting Jeremiah. Mark scores the scene with big, dramatic music, turning Scully's theme into an epic march.

These tracks are featured on the first volume of X-Files music from La-La Land Records, limited to 2.000 copies.

Enjoy!

 

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