Have been hard at work on the score for a ground-breaking documentary feature by Chicago-based Jon Siskel and Greg Jacobs, who count two Emmys among their numerous accolades. Cannot share much about the project at this point, except that it is very timely. The highly conceptual score (the concept was a challenge by the filmmakers that I was only too happy to accept!) required the exclusive use of custom sound design - every one of the 59 digital instruments performing the score was created from scratch over the course of several weeks of sound design. More towards the end of 2023!
Now that I have a nice new iPhone to create videos with, I'll be sharing more behind-the-scenes content about my work on my YouTube channel. First up is a quick exploration of the amazing "Roger That" pedal by Fairfield Circuitry combined with my "Jekyll n Hyde Serpa Custom" filter/distortion by Retro Mechanical Labs. Sound source is an Arturia Microfreak synth (playing with my left hand as I go), and the only processing added is a touch of reverb (HD Cart by Liquidsonics). Gritty, dark - and delicious.
Mychael Danna Master Class at Industry Days at the 2022 Chicago International Film Festival
It was an honor to moderate a Master Class by my esteemed colleague, Academy-award-winner Mychael Danna, as part of Industry Days at the 2022 Chicago International Film Festival. Great advice and insights for all the composers and filmmakers in the room - including the insight that that distinction is meaningless: Regardless of which craft we contribute, if we contribute to a film, we are filmmakers.
My score to AMERICAN TRAITOR: THE TRIAL OF AXIS SALLY was nominated for a 2022 SCL Award in the category “Outstanding Score for an Independent Film.” The Society of Composers & Lyricists, the premier organization for composers and songwriters working in visual media, hosts the annual SCL Awards, which celebrate excellence and innovation in music for visual media. Following a similar model to guild awards like the DGA Awards, the SCL Awards are the only awards for music in visual media that are entirely and only voted on by composers and songwriters. While it did not win, I continue to be humbled and thrilled by the company I got to keep on this nominee’s list…
Al Pacino in “American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally”
The feature drama AMERICAN TRAITOR: THE TRIAL OF AXIS SALLY, directed by Michael Polish and starring Al Pacino, Meadow Williams and Thomas Kretschmann is now playing on all streaming outlets - and so is the soundtrack album! A DVD/BluRay version is also available. The film is based on William Owen’s book Axis Sally Confidential and tells the true story of Mildred “Axis Sally” Gillars, the American who became the voice of German propaganda targeted at U.S. troops during World War II. The classic Hollywood score with a Jazz tinge (think Bernard Herrmann, or “Far from Heaven” Elmer Bernstein) features alto flute, alto saxophone, contrabass clarinet, french horn, flugelhorn, vibraphone, harp and string orchestra. To listen to the score, click here.
Sal Lopez in “Spiked”
SPIKED, a social justice feature drama based on a true story so strange it gives the film comedy undertones, was released by Gravitas Ventures in late March 2021. When the murder of a migrant worker shakes a southwest border town to its core, the feud between a newspaper owner and the chief of police leads to the blurring of the truth and a dirty fight for justice. Starring Aidan Quinn, Carlos Gómez, Deirdre Lovejoy and Danay Garcia. The score features various acoustic instruments and electronic sounds, and a lot of bajo quinto that I bought from my friends at Chicago’s La Voz Hispana. To hear the score, click here.
How’s it going, my excellent friends? I had the totally unprecedented honor of writing and producing “That Which Binds Us Through Time: The Chemical, Physical and Biological Nature of Love; an Exploration of The Meaning of Meaning, Part 1”, performed by "Ted" Theodore Logan and Bill S. Preston, Esq., known through all time and the universe as Wyld Stallyns (and featuring Mr. Myles Bacon’s most bodacious guitar licks!) Order the soundtrack now through this futuristic link, and catch Bill & Ted 3 in theaters and various streaming outlets right now. How good is it? Well, read one of many most excellent and non-bogus reviews right here. And remember: Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!
Emile Hirsch in “Force of Nature”
FORCE OF NATURE, directed by Michael Polish and starring Mel Gibson, Kate Bosworth and Emile Hirsch is now out on BluRay and VOD, after topping several charts in the first couple of weeks of release. Reminiscent of the high-concept action films of the early 90s, the fast-paced drama portraits a gang of thieves planning a heist during a hurricane, and encountering trouble when a cop tries to force everyone in the building to evacuate. The score is heavily influenced by 90s action scores a la Brad Fiedel and Michael Kamen, and features an orchestra made up of brass, heavy percussion and strings, plus synth sounds from the early digital era. To hear the score, click here.
Kentucker Audley in “Saul At Night”
SAUL AT NIGHT, directed by Cory Santilli and featuring Kentucker Audley and Suzanne Clément, premiered at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia. With a mandatory sleep schedule enforced worldwide, one outlier invents new ways to connect with his sleeping family in this inventive, Charlie-Kaufman-like “lo-fi Sci-Fi”. The score features harp (“it’s the most deceptive of all instruments” says director Cory Santilli, and I don’t disagree…), string trio, piano, and electronic sounds. To hear excerpts, click here.
Lauren McKnight in “The Outer Wild”
THE OUTER WILD is available on iTunes, Amazon Prime and similar outlets, released as part of the inaugural slate of Red Hound Films, the new digital platform of Blue Fox Entertainment. After an unnatural event leaves mankind nearly extinct, a runaway woman and a rogue bounty hunter brave a dangerous wilderness to find a fabled sanctuary that can either save or destroy what's left of humanity. The film, a thrilling and intelligent post-apocalyptic western-meets-ghost-story, premiered at SciFi London last May, and I couldn’t be prouder of the result. The score features dirty electronics that sound as if held together by wire and duct tape, as well as super-balled sheet metal and an ancient colony lullaby (watch the film and you’ll understand.) To hear some samples, click here.
Lance Henriksen in “Gone Are the Days”.
After a brief theatrical run, GONE ARE THE DAYS is available as a Lionsgate release on iTunes, Amazon and other digital outlets. GONE ARE THE DAYS, directed by Mark Landre Gould, is a classic redemption Western featuring an insanely brilliant performance by the one-and-only Lance Henriksen, whose breathtaking performance is found in nearly every frame, plus Academy-award nominee Tom Berenger and the always brilliantly colorful Danny Trejo. The score uses drone techniques borrowed from classic American folklore, blending a live orchestra with solos featuring banjo and fiddle virtuoso David Bragger. For score excerpts, click here.
COLD NOVEMBER by Karl Jacob is available on iTunes, Amazon and other digital outlets. The film had its world premiere at CPH Pix in Copenhagen, Denmark, followed by its North American premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival in Woodstock, NY. It won BEST FEATURE at Indie Memphis. Other screenings included the Big Apple Film Festival in NY and Alice Nella Citta in Rome, Italy, as part of the Rome Film Festival. COLD NOVEMBER is an intimate coming-of-age story following an eleven year old girl, growing up in rural Minnesota with her mother and grandmother, as she is about to shoot her first deer, continuing an old family tradition. For score excerpts, click here.