Music Supervision

6 Month rule

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:03:42 -0700

From the filmmakers behind WeatherGirl!

2009 was a tough year for indie films - one standout exception was Weather Girl, which premiered at Slamdance and was one of 4 films to secure distribution from the fest (usually around a dozen films get distribution from the fest).

I've thoroughly enjoyed working with these filmmakers. Blayne has created an indie film with a very real crossover potential. The tone has best been described as a poppy Woody Allen - he brings specific characters and their worlds to life by allowing their humanity to poke through the mask they show the world around them.

Without a very big budget, the sound of the film is taking shape. When you have a film with very memorable characters, and a soundtrack with a very specific sound, audiences will want to take the soundtrack home with them as a souvenir. I think this is the case with 6 Month Rule.

SYNOPSIS:
Tyler, a perpetual bachelor, teaches his recently dumped best friend the rules about being single and avoiding emotional attachment. Tyler thinks he has all the answers until he meets a girl that makes him question everything.

The teaser website is a must-see :

http://www.6monthrulemovie.com/

NORMAN

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:47:12 -0700

This space will remain mysteriously blank until I can announce the juicy details. But I’ll say that the soundtrack features an incredible score and 2 original songs by the world-class whistler and violin virtuoso Andrew Bird. Also, The Blow collaborated with Richard Swift on a gorgeous number.
The soundtrack will also feature Chad VanGaalen.

....more soon.

Gardens Of The Night

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 22:57:51 -0800

Starring John Malkovich & Tom Arnold - Winner International Jury Critics Award 2008 Deauville Film Festival - Showtime release. Director Damian Harris presented me with the challenge of providing music that would not over sentimentalize the raw subject matter of kidnapped and forgotten children.

Leslie (Gillian Jacobs), struggles with a hand to mouth existence on the streets of San Diego with only her childhood friend Donnie (Evan Ross) to look after her, both of them trying to cope with the trauma of having been abducted and held captive by two men nine years earlier. As an eight-year-old girl, Leslie (Ryan Simpkins) was abducted through trickery by an older man Alex (Tom Arnold), and his young accomplice Frank (Kevin Zegers). Leslie was held captive in their house along with an eight-year-old boy named Donnie, who believed his mentally unstable mother, sold him to Alex. The children create a bond with each other managing to escape into a fantasy world they create in their bedroom. Years later Leslie and Donnie, now seventeen years old, are living as street-kids and struggling to cope with what they suffered through, having been affected by the experience differently. Donnie’s feelings for Leslie are those of any teenager in love, however Leslie's perception of love has been severely mutated through her relationship with Alex and her instinct is to run from Donnie. Can she not only survive this horrific experience, but be set free from it's terrible shackles?

Here’s a list of songs featured in the film. Click links for more information...

This song was used twice, in the opening flashback while Leslie sits alone in the window, and again in the same scene, but with a different lyric featured. Love this song, love how it works with Leslie. Also featured in the trailer.
The Sharp Ease “Desert Song”

This one plays in Alex’s station wagon as he drives little Leslie to school.
Jonathan Edwards “Dream Song”

Alex plays dad while the kids are in the tub. This song haunts us from a radio in the background.
Benjamin Forrest Davis “Back Home”

The kids pray for their parents.
Jody Reynolds “Dreaming My Way Back Home”

Frank controls the stereo now. The kids eat Oreos, Frank drinks a beer and rocks out.
Neurosis “Given To The Rising”

Leslie walks to the truck stop. (video of this scene is above)
GoGoGo Airheart “Good Things”

Mercedes John bumps the 80s.
Soviet “Candy Girl”

Cooper and Leslie watch pimps on the boardwalk.
Oh No “Right Now”

Halfway house game room.
MED “Rhymes with an L”

Donnie worries about Leslie while working in the park.
Clipd Beaks “Messed Up Desert”

Donnie steals flowers, this song pumps from a radio in the bar next door.
John Sweeney “The Outlaw”

Leslie takes a cab ride home.
Broken Social Scene “Pitter Patter Goes My Heart”

End Title. Also featured in the trailer.
New Buffalo “Emotional Champ”

Dance of the Dead

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:08:59 -0700

Sam Ramie picked this up at 2008 SXSW and released it through Ghosthouse Pictures. A micro budget with a huge soundtrack, many have this compared this to a John Hughes film -- so my job was to live up those memorable films by mixing in energetic pop songs that straddle the films mixed genre (horror/humor/romance), working with composer Kristopher Carter to stay true to the film's tone. We re-engineered Pat Benatar's Shadows of the Night two different ways to connect with young audiences and serve the narrative as well.

On the night of the big high-school prom, the dead rise to eat the living, and the only people who can stop them are the losers who couldn't get dates to the dance.

Todd P Goes to Austin

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:22:59 -0700

TODD P GOES TO AUSTIN is a music documentary powered by borrowed
equipment, warm beer, and shitty vans. The film follows Todd Patrick,
the driving force behind Brooklyn's DIY music scene, as he travels to
Austin, TX to put on five days of free, all ages shows with over 100
bands.

Tired of having his culture manufactured and sold back to him, Todd
puts on his low-rent but highly respected live shows as a reaction to
the SXSW Music Festival. His showcase is an extension of what he does
all year long in Brooklyn. By having affordable, all ages shows in
lofts, warehouses, and art spaces, Todd has helped cultivate the
strongest underground music community in the country.

Starting in Brooklyn, the film follows Todd and his small group of
coconspirators as they prepare for the trip to Austin. With help from
a network of DIY venues, fans and distributors, Todd and the bands he
works with create, tour and thrive without the machine of the music
industry. Van troubles, rest stops and performance footage help give
an insight to what life is like for these bands, working, creating,
and surviving at this level. Featuring the bands Matt and Kim, The
Deathset, Mika, Miko, Team Robespierre, Dan Deacon, High Places,
Ponytail, Best Fwends and many more.

Soundtrack to be released on Summer Adventure Club - 2009

Humboldt County

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:27:13 -0700

(Peter Bogdanovich, Fairuza Balk, Frances Conroy) 2009 Magnolia Pictures - Humboldt County was anything but a traditional stoner comedy, so the song choices had to reflect that. My first release under my iTunes soundtrack label Summer Adventure Club.

A disillusioned medical student is stranded for a summer in a remote community of counterculture pot farmers, the last place in the world he imagined he would discover himself.

The Playground

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:27:51 -0700

Harnessing the power of artists to create social awareness and change. That was director Libby Spears’ challenge to me on The Playground. After constructing a very creative deal, Radiohead, Bjork, Sigur Ros, Chris Martin, Cat Power, DJ Shadow, Basement Jaxx, Cocorosie, Psapp, and Blonde Redhead all contributed music to this documentary.
While traveling to the Philippines in 2001, filmmaker Libby Spears gained first hand knowledge of the horrific practice of trafficking human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation. She examined a little deeper, and discovered that most of these victims were young children.
Facing death threats to be “knocked off” for only $10, Libby went undercover to infiltrate brothels in South Korea and Thailand. She held first-hand interviews with victims, their pimps, and their abusers. She mapped the trafficking routes of the sex tourism industry, and charted the commerce fueled by the purchase and sale of minors—she was disheartened to find that virtually the entire globe was involved and affected by this growing industry.
What she was astonished to find, however, was the involvement of the United States and the degree to which they were influencing the global demand and growth of the sex trafficking industry.
Previously, she had mistakenly believed that sex trafficking was primarily an “international” occurrence in countries like Philippines and Cambodia. But a meeting with Ernie Allen, President of the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, confirmed to Libby what her research was beginning to uncover: that the trafficking of children for commercial sexual exploitation is every bit as real in North America.
This is where Playground begins.

Pressure Cooker

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:44:44 -0700

Winner of multiple festival awards. 2009 BET release. For myself and the directors, bringing on composer team Prince Paul and Don Newkirk fulfilled a childhood dream to work with the legendary producers behind De La Soul, Stetsasonic, and 3rd Bass.
Pressure Cooker profiles the lives of three high school seniors from Northeast Philadelphia, each with unique hardships but with the shared goal of winning scholarships to the country's best culinary schools. Their unlikely hero is the irreverent culinary arts teacher, Mrs. Stephenson, whose teaching style is hilariously blunt. Mrs. Stephenson is both a surrogate mother and a culinary boot-camp instructor, as she pushes her kids to achieve beyond what anyone else expects from them.

The Middleman

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 23:50:01 -0700

I co-Supervised The Middleman with Allison Clark. The show was as fun to work on as it is to watch. Here’s a complete list of songs we featured throughout Season 1.

Season 1, Ep 1: The Pilot Episode Sanction
Tree Adams “Palomino”

Season 1, Ep 2: The Accidental Occidental Conception
Scientific “Strain on My Heart”
Islands “Creeper”
Russian Futurists “Precious Metals”

Season 1, Ep 3: The Sino-Mexican Revelation
Let’s Go Sailing “Sideways”
The Submarines “Maybe”

Season 1, Ep 4: The Manicoid Teleportation Conundrum
Senor Flavio "Oportuna"
The Go Find “Dictionary”
Mozart "Dies Irea"

Season 1, Ep 5: The Flying Fish Zombification
Layton “That Time”
Polyamorous Affair “Merry Go Round”
These Modern Socks “Picking A Lock At The Speed of Light”
Now Now Every Children “Everyone You Know”

Season 1, Ep 6: The Boyband Superfan Interrogation
Varsity Fanclub "Bad Habit"
Earlimart "Hymn and Her"
Milosh "The World"
Varsity Fanclub "Scream Yr Luv 4 Me"
Keith Ruggiero Producer "Scream Yr Luv 4 Me"

Season 1, Ep 7: The Cursed Tuba Contingency
Pepi Ginsberg "Ghosts of Perdition"
Au Revoir Simone "Stars"
"Nearer My God To Thee"
"Waltz in E Major" (Chopin)
"In The Good Old Summertime"

Season 1, Ep 8: The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation
Layton "Don't Stop"
Action Biker "Love For Sure"
David Vandervelde "Someone Like You"
Captain Ahab "Secrets of the Universe"
Plantlife "Sumthin About Her"
New Buffalo "You've Gone My Friend"
Camphor "Sweetest Tooth"

Season 1, Ep 9: The Obsolescent Cryogenic Meltdown
The Little Ones "Tangerine Visions"
French Kicks "Said So What"
Emiliana Torrini "Me and Armini"

Season 1, Ep 10: The Vampiric Puppet Lamentation
Chromeo "Bonafied Lovin'"
Walter Meego "Baby Please"

Season 1, Ep 11: The Clotharian Contamination Protocol
Russian Futurists "Let's Get Ready To Crumble"

Season 1, Ep 12: The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome
Layton "Our History"
Melpo Mene “Eager To Find It”
Zeigeist “Pressurized Chamber”
Ladytron "Ghosts"
The Polyamorous Affair "Raow Raow"
Music Go Music "Light of Love"

Footsteps

Tue, 3 Jun 2008 22:40:49 -0700

FOOTSTEPS is a psychological thriller surrounding a socially-isolated man named Douglas, whose mother mysteriously vanished when he was eight years old. Ever since, his life has been controlled by panic, fear and lust. Now, two decades later, he arrives in a small industrial town to take care of his dying father. Failing to find comfort in his older Brother and a nurse named Megan, Douglas befriends Thaddeus, a recluse janitor from his Father's Nursing Home. He thinks he has found a friend and a mentor, but Thaddeus may not have Douglas' best interests at heart. As he is pulled deeper into Thaddeus' distorted world of loss, deception and violence, he discovers the secret to his tortured past. A past that would drive anyone to murder.