Fernando Arroyo Lascurain's music to the award-winning podcast celebrates two decades of film music, from Star Wars to Titanic
LOS ANGELES — Lakeshore Records released its first-ever original podcast score Friday, marking a first for the iconic film and television music record label.
The album, BLOCKBUSTER: THE STORY OF JAMES CAMERON, is the first by composer Fernando Arroyo Lascurain, an accomplished Hollywood studio violinist and an essential part of the music teams for films such as Midway and Independence Day: Resurgence.
The album is available now on all platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.
Told in 10 episodes, BLOCKBUSTER: THE STORY OF JAMES CAMERON is the second season of the podcast named the Best Miniseries of 2020 by NYF Radio Awards, and Best Creative Podcast at the Adweek Podcast of the Year Awards. The season begins in 1977, following then-truck driver James Cameron as he embarks on a career in film, and follows his challenges that lead to his deep-sea ocean dives and struggles on Titanic.
Unique in the podcast medium, BLOCKBUSTER uses original orchestral and synthesizer scores to reflect the time period in which the series takes place, while underscoring the emotion of Cameron, played by Ross Marquand (The Walking Dead; Avengers: Endgame) in the series.
"The music of Blockbuster weaves in and out of the story and evolves as James Cameron’s character grows," says Arroyo Lascurain. “The goal of the music was creating not just an effective score, but an affective one that expresses what the words themselves could not."
The podcast series has earned praise from critics including the Wall Street Journey, Forbes, The Verge, Fast Company, The Hollywood Reporter, Yahoo Entertainment, Nerdist, Deadline Hollywood and Gizmodo.
“This was a massive undertaking, especially for a completely new format of entertainment," said Matt Schrader, Blockbuster's writer-creator. "Fernando's music delivered the emotional complexity of an Oscar-caliber film. It allowed us to weave the music into the fabric of the podcast listening experience."
For the full season, Arroyo Lascurain created over two hours of original music that both directly and indirectly hints at iconic scores of the past including Star Wars, Alien, The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2 and Titanic.
In addition to the 15-track album, five bonus tracks are available to supporters of Blockbuster who donate $10 or more. These donations go directly to the creators who funded the season out of pocket.
BLOCKBUSTER: THE STORY OF JAMES CAMERON (Original Podcast Score)
Music by Fernando Arroyo Lascurain
TRACK LIST
1. The Story of James Cameron
2. New Friends
3. Zapping Worms
4. Hot Air Balloon
5. The Nightmare
6. Meeting The Terminator
7. I Do
8. Studio Phone Tag
9. Assembling the Team
10. You Don’t Scare Me
11. The Breakup
12. Terminator 2
13. Deep Ocean
14. All In
15. The Titan
16. Bonus: The Truck Driver (available to Blockbuster supporters only)
17. Bonus: A Chance to Prove Himself (available to Blockbuster supporters only)
18. Bonus: Scuba Lessons (available to Blockbuster supporters only)
19. Bonus: The Great Ship (available to Blockbuster supporters only)
20. Bonus: Box Office Breakthrough (available to Blockbuster supporters only)
Arroyo Lascurain and Schrader recorded a live listening experience, talking through the music from the entire series, posted across Blockbuster's social media channels.
BLOCKBUSTER has received overwhelming support from fans, registering a rare 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts.
Blockbuster's Original Podcast Score is available now on all platforms.