"...The dark colors of nightmares break into golden hues. The music, by Karen O and Carter Burwell, haunts." - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly, October 14, 2009.
"Will today's media-saturated kids look on them as quaint imitations of monsters they've known, if not loved, on the big screen and TV? That remains to be seen. What seems certain is that the physical and vocal music of the wild things—the glorious music on the sound track was written by Karen O and Carter Burwell—will strike a deep chord with filmgoers who've read the book to their children, or who remember having had it read to them." - Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal, October 16, 2009.
"... On occasion, Mr. Jonze lingers too long on his lovely pictures, particularly on the island, where the film’s energy starts to wane, despite the glorious whoops in Carter Burwell and Karen O’s score. Mr. Jonze loves Max’s wild things, but you don’t need to hang around long to adore them as well. Yet these are minor complaints about a film that often dazzles during its quietest moments, as when Max sets sail, and you intuit his pluck and will from the close-ups of him staring into the unknown. He looms large here, as we do inside our heads. But when the view abruptly shifts to an overhead shot, you see that the boat is simply a speck amid an overwhelming vastness. This is the human condition, in two eloquent images." - Manohla Dargis, New York Times, October 16, 2009.
"... Also worth noting is the score from Carter Burwell and Karen O (the frontwoman of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Whether trading in disconsolate howls or more soothing plaintive rhythms - the track Hideaway is a particular standout - the music connects emotionally, and may be singled out for awards consideration." - Brett Simon, Screen Daily, October 11, 2009.
"... A rock-pop score by Karen O and Carter Burwell tries too hard and at too loud a pitch." - Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter, October 11, 2009.
"The voice performances, especially from Gandolfini and O'Hara, are pitch-perfect, as is the tribal score from Carter Burwell and Karen O." - Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News, October 16, 2009.
"The alt-rock tenor of the music scoring is refreshing at first, but the predictability of the music cues proves increasingly wearisome." - Todd McCarthy, Variety, October 11, 2009.
Carter's Notes
The first thing I did on "Where The Wild Things
Are" was to be fired. I think it was in 2005 that Spike Jonze called
to tell me was going to Australia to begin shooting "Where
The Wild Things Are," and that he would not be asking me to write
music for the film. He said it in the nicest possible way. I had written the music for Spike's previous feature
films (Being John
Malkovich and Adaptation),
but Spike wanted Karen O (of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's) to write
the music for "Wild Things."
Around this time I was taking a two-year break from film scoring to spend more time with my family and pursue other interests, so Spike's film receded from my consciousness until he called me in the Summer of 2007 to ask if I'd come to a screening.
Apparently this was an early screening. Warner
Brothers was not invited. The film was long, as all rough cuts
are, and had no special effects. Karen's songs were in it but so
was a lot of other music playing the role of score (what we call "temp
music").
The tone of the film was dark, but in a way that was sincerely
reminiscent of childhood itself.
Afterward we had lunch and discussed the film and
the musical situation. Spike knew he would have a battle with Warner
Brothers over the tone of the film. He also suspected that
the songs might not be able to do everything the film needed musically.
These two issues were not unrelated. At the very least Warner
Brothers was going to want to clarify the emotional tone of the
film, and music is a powerful way to do so.
Spike was not asking me to write music for the
film - only for my opinions, which I gladly gave him. He still
hoped that remixes or rearrangements of Karen's songs (which were
fantastic) would suffice to score the film. I think he was influenced
by the experience Sofia Coppola (Spike's ex-wife) had with her film "The
Virgin Suicides". The entire film had been scored with remixes
of a few themes by the band Air.
Sometime
during the next few months my role changed from advisor
to composer. I can't say how or when this happened exactly. I just started sending Spike thematic ideas and he'd give me his reaction. Writing music for film always involves certain constraints, but here there were more than usual. My music would have to match Karen's in instrumentation
and feeling. It would have to follow Max's emotional journey in detail, as that experience takes the place of plot in the film. My music would have to make it clear to Warner Brothers, if no one else, what the film was about.
The first theme I wrote was called "Lost Fur" and
it played nicely on some early scenes of Max at home. While I continued working, Warner Brothers planned a preview screening
to test how a sample audience would react to the film. I wanted
to come to the screening but Warners declined to fly me out (I live in New York and the screening was in Los Angeles).
I'd forgotten that, although the film had some of my music in it already,
they hadn't actually hired me yet. I was just helping Spike out.
After the screening the film went on a crazy ride in which Warner Brothers and Spike fought about the type of film they were making. I was told simply to stop work.
The following year I was asked to join officially
as composer. After some editing and rewriting the film was in a
form that both Spike and Warner Brothers could embrace. Spike and
Karen and I "spotted" the
film several times - parcelling out who would be responsible for
the music in each scene. We'd audition our results for each other
and have another meeting where we'd politely, sometimes desperately,
trade scenes. Completely by chance we each ended up having written
about half of the music in the film.
Of course Karen's songs will be much more prominent
in the minds of listeners - this is the nature of song as opposed
to score. She's worked on the film since before it was shot and
I think it's perfectly right that she has that foreground role.
And did I mention before? Her songs are outstanding.
Photos
Video
This is a video Lance Bangs shot about the making of the score to "Where The Wild Things Are". It includes footage from the recording sessions and interviews with Carter and Spike. This video is hosted by Rolling Stone magazine online.
Directed by Spike Jonze
Written by Dave Eggers, Spike Jonze, Maurice Sendak (novel)
Produced by Vince Landay, Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, John B. Carls, Maurice Sendak
Score Composed, Orchestrated and Conducted by Carter Burwell
The film credit reads "Score by Karen O and Carter Burwell". Karen wrote the songs and Carter wrote the instrumental music, but Spike never chose to divide the film up that way. And since Karen sings wordless vocals on both her own and Carter's pieces the distinction is wonderfully vague.
Scoring Mixer: Mike Farrow
Music Editor: Todd Kasow, Ren Klyce
Contractor: Sandy Park
Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York
Mixed at The Body Studio. New York City
Starring Max Records, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, Paul Dano, Lauren Ambrose, Mark Ruffalo
U.S. Release October 16, 2009
Score Soundtrack
The Score Soundtrack contains Carter Burwell's
score but not Karen O's songs. It's currently available for download from most online music stores, but not on CD. Yet.
Download Score Soundtrack
from Amazon
Download Score Soundtrack
from iTunes
Audio Samples
Click on iTunes or Amazon to
audition and download tracks from these stores.
For demo purposes,
click on mp3 to download
an excerpt, or on the Flash triangle to stream it.
For an explanation of the columns above, click here.
Song Soundtrack
The Song Soundtrack contain 13 songs by Karen and the Kids and one piece by Carter
Burwell.
In addition to Karen O, The Kids include Nick Zinner and Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Tristan
Bechet (Services), Tom Biller (Afternoons), Bradford Cox (Deerhunter),
Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone
Age, The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs), Aaron Hemphill (Liars),
Greg Kurstin (The Bird and the Bee), Jack Lawrence (The Dead Weather,
The Raconteurs, The Greenhornes), Oscar Michel (Gris Gris), Imaad
Wasif (New Folk Implosion, Alaska),
and an untrained children's choir.
For an explanation of the columns above, click here.
Buy
the Books from Amazon
Music
Production Notes
In addition to the credits given above, these were
the key people working on the score:
Copyist: Tony Finno
Composer’s Assistant: Dean Parker
Guitars: Marc Ribot, Mark Stewart
Piano: Bill Mays
Violins: Sharon Yamada, Laura Seaton
Viola: Robert Rinehart
Cello: Eileen Moon
Acoustic and Electric Bass: Greg Cohen
Harp: Barbara Allen, Tori Drake
Oboe: Rob Bottil
Clarinet: Pavel Vinnitsky
Bassoon: Marc Goldberg
Other Woodwinds: Dave Weiss
Percussion: Gordon Gottlieb, David Cossin
Snare Drum: Washington Duke
Bass Drum: Chauncey Yearwood
The score was recorded in April, 2009 at Avatar
Studios in New York City, a classic rock'n'roll studio that used
to be called Power Station. The sessions were notable partly because
there were kids in the control room all the time. We even had a
local pre-school bring a busload of kids as a field trip.
Sometime
during the next few months my role changed from advisor
to composer. I can't say how or when this happened exactly. I just started sending Spike thematic ideas and he'd give me his reaction. Writing music for film always involves certain constraints, but here there were more than usual. My music would have to match Karen's in instrumentation
and feeling. It would have to follow Max's emotional journey in detail, as that experience takes the place of plot in the film. My music would have to make it clear to Warner Brothers, if no one else, what the film was about.
