Listen to the ENTIRE "Ender's Game" Soundtrack

It's Ender's Game week on MovieFone and all this week you can catch exclusive and exciting Ender features -- starting with their debut of the film's beautiful concept art, and today you can listen to the soundtrack in its entirety!

A recent quote from composer Steve Jablonsky:

"Ender's Game is big but also very personal, which is an interesting combination for any composer. For some scenes, I'm using an 80 piece orchestra and 32 member choir, while in other scenes I am using a simple solo instrument. Ender is a very isolated character for much of the film so I felt that a solo cello would play that isolation nicely and it became an important element in the score."

It's only going to be up for 24 hours so listen fast -- and let us know what you think!

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Listen to Ender's Game-Inspired "If They Move, Shoot 'Em"

We've been covering the upcoming Peace Sword album by The Flaming Lips for a while now, and today NPR made "If They Move, Shoot 'Em" available for a listen on their site.

From the article:

"The Flaming Lips have always had a fondness for science fiction and fantasy, with a vast catalog of songs about robots, spontaneous human combustion, telepathy, wizards, and UFOs. The band's latest source of inspiration is the sci-fi novel (and new movie) Ender's Game, which tells the story of Earth's futuristic battle with insect-like aliens called "Buggers." A new EP from The Flaming Lips, The Peace Sword includes six songs inspired by the story, including this dark, strange, synth-heavy jam 'If They Move, Shoot 'Em.'"

NPR is reporting that the song written for Ender's Game "appears on the soundtrack" and none of the other songs made it into the film. Perhaps the closing credits?

Peace Sword will be released digitally on October 29th with a CD / Vinyl version available November 29th.

Edit: You can also check out Peace Sword (Open Your Heart) via The Daily Beast!

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More Info On Ender's Game-Inspired "Peace Sword"

MP3 Cover for Peace Sword

We reported a bit back that The Flaming Lips were releasing a 6-track Ender's Game-inspired EP, and  Rolling Stone magazine posted an article today which gave us a bit more information about the upcoming release -- plus a track list!

From the article:

After being commissioned to write a song for the film, the majestic ballad "Peace Sword (Open Your Heart),” the Lips’ creative juices started flowing. So much so, Coyne says, that even after recording the one song for the soundtrack, the band had no choice but to keep going. "In the workings of getting to that song we'd already created a couple of these other little things that didn't appeal to [the filmmakers] but started to appeal to us," he says."We started to like these little ideas that we kept inserting into this one theme. [We were] just getting caught up in our own little fantasy."

While never directly referencing the song's characters in the lyrics, the tracks on Peace Sword certainly touch upon themes similar to those in the movie: isolation, regret, loneliness and the redemptive power of love. "Try and remember it's just a game/No one really dies," Coyne declares on "If They Move, Shoot Em," an ominous space-age anthem that sounds in line with the band's latest album, The Terror. Later, on the whirring "Think Like a Machine, Not a Boy," the singer declares "my mind has been poisoned by your lies,” as vibrating synths crash like rubbery sonic waves. The pinnacle of the six-song set is the trippy ten-minute-plus tune "Assasin Beetle - The Dream Is Ending" -- a song that violently veers between serene and staccato.

 And here's the tracklist for Peace Sword, with a few songs which hadn't yet been announced:

"Peace Sword ("Open Your Heart")
"If They Move, Shoot Em"
"Is the Black at the End Good"
"Think Like a Machine, Not a Boy"
"Wolf Children"
"Assassin Beetle - The Dream Is Ending"

Peace Sword will be released digitally on October 29th with a CD / Vinyl version available November 29th.

Source: Rolling Stone

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Steve Jablonsky on "Ender's Game" - Plus 3 Full Tracks!

Reps from Varese Sarabande sent us a quote from Ender's Game composer Steve Jablonsky today, in which he addresses his work on the film and the lonely string solos we loved during our first run-through of the score:

Ender's Game is big but also very personal, which is an interesting combination for any composer.  For some scenes, I’m using an 80 piece orchestra and 32 member choir, while in other scenes I am using a simple solo instrument.  Ender is a very isolated character for much of the film so I felt that a solo cello would play that isolation nicely and it became an important element in the score.

They also sent along three full tracks from the film which you can listen to below via Soundcloud:







The soundtrack

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Now Preview the ENTIRE "Ender's Game" Soundtrack

Hey Launchies!

Yesterday we gave you a sneak peak of "Ender's War," but today, thanks to Colosseum Music Entertainment, you can now check out a appx. 1 minute preview of each of the tracks from the upcoming Ender's Game soundtrack scored by Steve Jablonsky!

(Scroll down to the bottom at the link for the media player.)

Definitely let us know what you think in the comments -- and make sure you preorder the soundtrack on Amazon to make sure it arrives on time on the 22nd!

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Exclusive First Listen: "Ender's War" From the Soundtrack!

The absolutely lovely people over at Varese Sarabande hooked us up with the Ender's Game soundtrack last night and I've spent the entire day listening to it on the way to work, on the way home from work, and even at work. At one point I had the "Battle School" track blaring in my car with its use of the violin and driving had never before been so fun. I can't wait for you all to hear this!

They were also kind enough to let us share this clip from "Ender's War" with you, a clip which contains a melody you'll hear again in Track 20, "Ender's Promise" from the 3:10 mark on. We feel this is the theme of the film, and the music everyone will associate with the Ender's Game after it hits theaters just a few short weeks from now.

Enjoy:



What do you guys think? I want to give the soundtrack a few more listens before I post a substantial review but let me just say this: the score is moving, it's beautiful, and I can't wait for it to become available on the 22nd so I can hear what the rest of you are feeling!

Make sure to pre-order the soundtrack on Amazon so you don't miss out! In the meantime, you can also head over to EnderWiggin.net to hear their clips from the soundtrack!

--

As an aside, I was just looking over some of the notes I made while giving the soundtrack its first run-through and in the margins I have written: "I like to think this is the moment where Ender gives Bonzo the finger."

Can't wait to share that clip with you as well! :)

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The Flaming Lips to release Ender's Game 6-Track EP

American rock band The Flaming Lips have written a song that will (very likely) be featured in the Ender's Game movie, and the band has just announced that they will expand this collaboration to release an Ender's Game-themed 6 song EP titled Peace Sword on November 29, 2013, Black Friday. The cover art for this record can be seen on top.

Sidetracked: If you are not familiar with The Flaming Lips... they are a positively crazy bunch of great artists who did some amazing work in the past decade, frequently adapting sci-fi themes, including the masterpiece "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots", one of my old radio station's Top 100 songs of the decade and a song that is, despite its seemingly fun character, about a girl fighting cancer. Great stuff!

The band's frontman Wayne Coyne announced last month in an interview with The Huffington Post that the band is making new music for the film:

I don't know if I'm allowed to say it, but we are working on a song that is going to be in the Ender's Game epic movie that's coming out at the end of the year. If the song works out to be in the movie, we think we're going to pursue making a bit more of an expanded five or six song record that goes along with the theme and the stuff that we did for that movie, which we really ended up liking. A lot of times, people do songs for movies and there are a lot of criteria that you have to follow to make it suit the movie people.

We don't know for sure that's going to happen yet, but we've already done the song and we quite like the mood of it and the way of it, the sound and the theme of it. Steven and I both remarked, "Man, I'd like to do some more music associated with this," and we think they're going to let us. If it works out that they end up liking our song and using it and all that, we think we'd pursue something like that. That would be even as soon as November, so I think it could work out. But I don't know. It'll probably be another week or so before we know, but I'm talking about it like it's going to happen, so that's good enough for me.

Based on Wayne Coyne's recent social media posts on Twitter and Instagram, the song has apparently been approved for the movie and the band is in the final stages of finishing up Peace Sword.

Still mixin Enders' Game extended play 6 song thang.. http://t.co/1bYugp5AZy
— Wayne Coyne (@waynecoyne) September 19, 2013

Workin on vinyl lay-out for Peace Sword songs from the movie Ender's Game http://t.co/mj90jgZaSU
— Wayne Coyne (@waynecoyne) September 24, 2013

From the record's back sleeve (also posted on Instagram) we can confirm three of the song titles: "Think Like a Machine, Not a Boy", "Wolf Children", and "Assassin Beetle/The Dream Is Ending". Good chance that we'll also get a title track Peace Sword, but keep in mind that at the most one of these six songs will be featured in the actual movie.

The band is also very aware of the Orson Scott Card debate and when approached about the controversy, here's what Wayne Coyne had to say (in Instagram comments):

Our involvement is only with the music directors of the movie... but yeah ...these are conflicts all big projects have to deal with. We try to do cool things with cool people that, obviously benefit us and the cool people we doing stuff with... occasionally these benefits extend to abstractly connected people who are NOT so cool...

The vinyl release (which as an avid vinyl collector I will have to get my hands on no matter what) will also directly address this issue. According to a post on The Future Heart, the vinyl etching for the EP will read "Hey Orson Scott Card You Are Wrong" on side 1 and "Gay People Are Cool" on the flip.

Here is some more artwork from the Ender's Game EP:



(Source: Instagram and Instagram)

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"Ender's Game" Soundtrack Cover and Details Released

We woke up to some exciting news from Film Music Reporter this morning: Last night the music news site released details and the cover for the Ender's Game soundtrack -- including the very plot-spoilery track list!

The album, composed by Steve Jablonsky, will be released October 22nd by record label Varese Sarabande and is now available for preorder on Amazon.

Here's the track list:

1. Ender’s War (3:27)
2. Stay Down (2:42)
3. Battle School (1:55)
4. Move It Launchies (:56)
5. The Battle Room (3:03)
6. Mind Game Part 1 (2:24)
7. Salamander Battle (3:34)
8. Mind Game Part 2 (3:55)
9. Dragon Army (2:44)
10. Dragons Win (3:53)
11. Bonzo (1:37)
12. Ender Quits (6:22)
13. Mazer Rackham (2:34)
14. Enemy Planet (3:50)
15. Command School (2:42)
16. Graduation Day (1:28)
17. Final Test (6:02)
18. Game Over (2:36)
19. The Way We Win Matters (6:14)
20. Ender’s Promise (5:09)
21. Commander (3:33)

Film Music Report promises that audio clips from the soundtrack will be available in a couple weeks, so keep check back here for updates -- we will let you know as soon as they pop up!

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