In the film “The Martian,” astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) is stranded on Mars, forced to rely on science and his ingenuity in order to survive. The film opened at #1 at the box office, and has earned critical praise as well. In this episode, composer Harry Gregson-Williams breaks down his music from the film, where part of his job was to score the excitement of scientific discovery and the grandeur and mystery of Mars itself.

Buy The Martian Score Suite (as heard in this episode), or the entire Original Motion Picture Score on iTunes.

Harry Gregson-Williams conducting The Martian scoring session at Abbey Road studios:

(Photo by Benjamin Ealovega)

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
The Martian – Official Trailer

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Angel Deradoorian has been a member of the bands Dirty Projectors and Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks, and has contributed to albums by Vampire Weekend, Flying Lotus, and Brandon Flowers. This year she released her first full-length album as Deradoorian, The Expanding Flower Planet. In this episode, Angel breaks down the song “A Beautiful Woman.” After leaving the Dirty Projectors, Angel moved from the east coast to Los Angeles to focus on her own music. She talks about how “A Beautiful Woman” was inspired by the loneliness of moving across the country, overcoming creative self-doubt, and transitioning from a secondary role in other bands to the main role of songwriter for her debut solo album.

Buy “A Beautiful Woman” on iTunes, or get the album (on colored vinyl) from Anticon.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Hocket on Wikipedia
Watch Dirty Projectors demonstrate hocketing.

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Stephin Merritt has fronted the band The Magnetic Fields for over twenty-five years. In this episode, he breaks down the song “Andrew in Drag” from the band’s latest album, Love at the Bottom of the Sea, even though he doesn’t actually remember writing it. After releasing his triple-album 69 Love Songs to huge acclaim in 1999, Stephin stopped using synthesizers for the next three Magnetic Fields albums. He talks about why he stopped, and why started using them again, and why he doesn’t write down his melodies.

Buy “Andrew in Drag” on iTunes. 

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Bumblebee Tuna – commercial jingle

Here’s a picture of Stephin’s Dewanatron. To learn more about the instrument, head to the official Dewanatron website.

And here’s Stephin’s studio:

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