Question: I'm in need of score suggestions that correspond to a certain style. Do you remember the Main Theme from ANTITRUST by Don Davis (can be downloaded from his website)? Do you remember Danny Lux's music from the short-lived WB Series YOUNG AMERICANS? Well, they all share something, which is a sort of free, light, open style, orchestrated with guitars, pan flutes, marimba sometimes, a little touch of piano here and there.

I was just wondering if there were other scores available out there with that particular style. Anyone?

Thanks,

Hmmm... not a Latin score, like MEN WITH GUNS, with solo mariachi trumpet and a hispanic flavor.

Something entirely American in sound, but with strumming acoustic guitar (steel strings), light percussion in the background, flutes... I guess something like AMERICAN BEAUTY too, certain passages of it, the most exhuberant ones.

Am I making it clearer or just confusing the heck out of everybody?

Case in point: http://dondavis.filmmusic.com/audio/antitrust_1.mp3
Sorry for the internal link... but hey! Go visit Don's official webpage, it's neat :) Don'T limit yourself to an internal link :)

We talked about this a ways back. Funny you should mention it now--I was thinking of this series recently and how it has become a permanent summer marker in both mind's eye & ear.

...a sort of free, light, open style, orchestrated with guitars, pan flutes, marimba sometimes, a little touch of piano here and there.

And that's a major reason why, alright. You've hit the aesthetic quite well (not always easy to articulate!).

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Originally posted by Jennie:
Do you guys have music from Young Americans? Where did you get it? Or do you have any mp3 files you can share? Thanks!

Jennie

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No, Jennie, but I kept some episodes on tape, and I was rewatching them in the past few days. I had noticed the music when they first aired, but I noticed it even more while rewatching them. Ham and Jake had their own theme on the marimba, which played against the "Previously..." screen at the beginning of each episode, and the music in general was incredibly good. I also liked the songs chosen for the show, and the fact that they were reused quite frequently. It didn't seem cheap to me, but rather it kept an integral atmosphere.

But anyway, no, as far as I know, the score for YOUNG AMERICANS isn't available in any form anywhere. And Danny Lux doesn't have a website.... (He did frequently compose the music with someone else on the show, with Mark Leggett for the finale, actually).

The best anyone could do I think would be to record musical passages from the VCR feed, and compress them in MP3.

But it's sad there was no music release at all, given of course how unpopular the show was in the ratings: that was one show that boasted a very good, original score.

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Originally posted by Howard L:
Of course the former was a spinoff (of sorts) of the latter, but still...

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Yeah, well, not really a spin-off. They had Will Krudski do a very forced three-episode stint on DAWSON'S CREEK as a promo, so it's not really a spin-off.

I started hating YOUNG AMERICANS... the pilot was really, really bad, but it became much better as it went along, and the finale was just great. And yeah, this element of writer/mentor, that's not something we see very often on the little tube. Would've been great to see the series continue for at least another season.

Will was introduced as Pacey's cousin, something akin to Maude and Edith Bunker. But I agree his appearance was borne out of marketing convenience. And cousin Will seems to have disappeared from the Capeside scene for good .

I've been wracking my brains trying to come up with an eclectic score in the Young Americans vein and still come up empty. The "marker" is clear so perhaps a list of elements might conjure the muse: free, light, open style, orchestrated with guitars, pan flutes, marimba sometimes, a little touch of piano here and there; summer, high school age, finding oneself, family/parental issues, sexual confusion to an extent, gifted, clash of classes...and I'm coming up now with Wonder Boys the film but not the score. Oddly enough, I sense memories of Jack Nitzsche's work on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, at least a few cue/scenes. Again, though, the marimba is currently more of a Thomas Newman trademark. It's the refreshing breezy summer aesthetic that I can think of in so many films, but the scores are nothing like Young Americans. Then again, wisps of Then Came Bronson are coming right at me. Must have something to do with summer, youth and the freedom to learn and explore that was Young Americans.

I am determined to come up with something definitive.

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And if memory serves right, Will was a friend of Pacey's from elementary school. Not a cousin.

But who cares, right? :)

Go Howard! Go Howard! Find us something :)

Anybody else can zero in on a similar score, whether obscure or award-winning?

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Hehehe, I listened to all the excerpts on amazon.com, and I must say, there is a strong ressemblance in style. Now, I'm not too found of the deeply-rooted bluegrass tracks, but on those where the band keeps its digital hyperactivity in check, well, there's a strong stylish ressemblance.

I'm still looking for a score with that YOUNG AMERICANSish tone, though :)

DANNY!! Mr. Lux! Release the score! I don't care how, just do it!! Put the tracks on the Web as MP3s. Just name them:

- Danny Lux - Goldeneye - Track1
- Danny Lux - Goldeneye - Track2

They'll never know!!

:)

But thanks, Howie, for Nickel Creek.