All posts by Film Music Daily Staff

Communication Arts 2017 Illustration Competition Shortlists Lakeshore/Invada Album Artwork

Congratulations to Illustrators Emma Bergin and Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir, and to Lakeshore’s Art Director John Bergin for being selected to the Communication Arts 2017 Illustration Competition Shortlist for their album artwork on Lakeshore Records’ co-release (with Invada Records UK) of the Captain Fantastic and Mr. Robot soundtracks, respectively.  Nearly 4,000 submissions this year have been shortlisted to 1,258 this week.

Continue reading Communication Arts 2017 Illustration Competition Shortlists Lakeshore/Invada Album Artwork

STAFF PICK: ANTIVIRAL

“When I first approached Eric to do the score, I had a vague idea that it should incorporate electronic and acoustic instrumentation. It turned out he had been doing some interesting experiments along these lines with a musician named Michael White, who owned a large bank of analog synthesizers, like a fantasy version of an old telephone operator’s switchboard. The two of them had been running orchestral chords through these synths and deforming them, and the results were very exciting… The process was unpredictable and experimental.” — Brandon Cronenberg, Director of Antiviral

In the film Antiviral, a celebrity-obsessed society desires viruses and pathogens that come from famous people. Illness is a commodity. The Lucas Clinic makes its money collecting and selling viruses to the public.

Syd March, excellently portrayed by Caleb Landry Jones (Twin Peaks, Get Out), is an employee of the Lucas Clinic who makes money on the side by smuggling samples of pathogens in his own body to distribute on the black market.

Syd becomes infected with a particularly nasty and deadly contagion he collects from celebrity sensation Hannah Geist (Sarah Gadon). Syd races against time to find a cure while being hunted down by those who want his infected blood.

E.C. Woodley’s score features dark ambient tones and strange electronic sounds with treated piano pieces interspersed. Released in 2013, the album was somewhat ahead of its time, considering the popularity of today’s dark analog experimental electronic scores such as Mac Quayle’s “Mr. Robot”, Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein’s “Stranger Things”, and Adam Wingard’s Blair Witch.

Listen to “Syd Shoots Up,” “Hallucinations,” and “Running” from E.C. Woodley’s score:

Brandon Cronenberg continues:

“Eric and I went through the film from start to finish, discussing what the music should accomplish in both theoretical and specific terms. We decided given the subjective nature of the story that it should be consistently internal, reflecting what was going on in the protagonist’s head rather than what was going on around him. It should be something bodily, sometimes an elevated pulse, sometimes an expression of pain or sickness or bliss.”

Antiviral (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) available digitally on iTunes. Also available on compact disc.

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This Staff Pick is by John Bergin, Art Director and A&R for Lakeshore Records.
Follow John on Twitter: @JBXX

 

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STAFF PICK: CAMINO

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The first time I heard Kreng’s sharp-as-a-knife soundtrack for Camino, it went straight to my Top Five Favorite Soundtracks. I realize, of course, that is a subjective thing to say. Everyone has their favorite albums. I mention it because My Top Five soundtrack albums are albums that remain my favorites for decades. So, fair warning: I have a crush on this album.

Camino, directed by Josh Waller, tells the story of Avery Taggert (Zoë Bell, Death Proof, Whip It), an award-winning photojournalist recovering from a recent tragedy who accepts a job in Colombia to travel with and photograph a religious group/military force led by Guillermo (Nacho Vigalondo, Timecrimes). When Avery witnesses Guillermo murder a Colombian child during a drug deal, he frames her for the murder and orders the rest of his squad to hunt her down.

One of my favorite tracks on the album is “Justicia!” The track plays under the aforementioned scene in which Avery witnesses a child’s murder at the hands of the warlord she has been hired to photograph. The intense chase sequence that follows the murder begins with an unique directorial choice: a long, slow 180 degree pan away from the murder and toward our protagonist. Through most of the shot we see only dark jungle. Underscored by Kreng’s pounding distorted percussion, mere shots of leaves and vines become intensely threatening – more threatening as we realize the murderer knows his crime has been witnessed.

Avery makes a run for it. The militant group immediately sets after her. We, the audience, just like Avery, have no time to catch our breath. The chase scene that follows ratchets up the tension again and again. Just when you think the sequence will end, it doesn’t. Just when you think the score couldn’t possibly get louder or heavier, it kicks into a higher gear.

Kudos to Josh Waller and Kreng (Pepijn Caudron) for assembling one of the loudest, most industrially-scored foot chases I’ve ever seen on film.

In partnership with Lakeshore Records, Invada Records has released a stunning vinyl package for Camino. Double LP on clear vinyl with gorgeous blood-red artwork and insert booklet designed to mimic Avery’s notebook. This edition is limited to 500 copies, so grab one now here (UK) or here (US).

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Camino is also available digitally on iTunes and Spotify. You can also pick up a deluxe Digipak CD.
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This Staff Pick is by John Bergin, Art Director and A&R for Lakeshore Records. Follow John on Twitter: @JBXX

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Join The Resistance! ‘The Rise Of The Synths’ Needs You

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Lakeshore Records is thrilled to announce our partnership with THE RISE OF THE SYNTHS. We will be releasing a special companion album in support of the film!

The Rise of the Synths is an awesome feature documentary directed by Iván Castell and produced by Javier Moreno with an amazing team from Spain. The film is the definitive documentary about synthwave and ’80s retro and electronic music.

The filmmakers have just launched a campaign with some awesome rewards at IndieGogo. Check out their campaign here.

Lakeshore will be releasing a Rise of the Synths compilation album featuring many of your favorite synthwave artists. Through the month of November we will be announcing the bands who will be appearing on the companion album… Stay tuned for more info!

 

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Blair Witch Soundtrack: 5 Questions With Robert Rich

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Lakeshore Art Director John Bergin interviews Robert Rich, veteran music producer who mastered Adam Wingard’s sinister score to Blair Witch:

When I first heard Adam Wingard’s ominous score for Blair Witch, I knew that such deep and subtle music would have to be mastered carefully.  There is an art to mastering ambient music — an art to preserving and enhancing the sense of space, whether claustrophobic, intimate, or vast.  My good friend, ambient music pioneer Robert Rich was the first person that came to mind.

John Bergin: About Adam Wingard’s Blair Witch soundtrack; this genre of music is called ambient, dark ambient, or black ambient. For readers who may be unfamiliar with the genre, how would you characterize the sound?

Robert Rich: I think of “dark ambient” as an outgrowth of the early “industrial music” scene from the late ‘70s, when groups like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire and SPK defined a sort of apocalyptic, dystopian sound, based on electronics, distortion and heavy rhythm.  It was a more intellectual reframing of the punk rebellion.  Even further back to the late ’60s foundations of the Krautrock scene, we had groups like Cluster, Tangerine Dream and Conrad Schnitzler making improvisational experimental electronic music as a form of cultural rebellion.  Within those early expressions of electronic naivety, they planted the seeds of dark ambient.

However, I think the more specific expressions of a style started happening in the ‘80s with Lustmord, Hafler Trio, Zoviet France, Nurse With Wound and many others. These artists removed or slowed down the electronic rhythms of industrial music, and extended the tonal manipulations into abstract textures farther away from expressing obvious emotions, into a very foreign, deep and surreal place.

Just as you could argue, say, heavy metal or punk music should be experienced loud, dark ambient is best experienced in a certain way. What are your recommendations for a good ambient music listening environment?

RR: I think the creators of this music often hope that listeners have a good stereo system that can get loud with an extended low frequency range.  Much of the music has a distinctly deep bass extension, and it’s almost orchestral in its dynamic range.  It’s intended to create a strong mood.  I find it can be interesting in the background as well, if one really wants to surround oneself in that brooding environment.  Of course nobody can predict or dictate an ideal listening environment, and modern listeners usually use headphones, but I think they’ll be missing some of the physical impact of the low frequencies.

Some people hear this kind of music and believe it is easy to make – that it simply sounds like earth rumbling or wind blowing, but there is more to Adam’s music (or artists such as Lustmord, Haxan Cloak, or Steve Roach) than simple sound effects. There is a technical proficiency required to make this kind of music well.  Would you agree?

RR: I think the surface characteristics of dark ambient or noise music may be rather easy to mimic with a beginner’s skill set.  Slather on some thick gobs of long reverb with a bunch of slowed-down sounds and there you go.  However, like any compositional language, you can tell when someone takes a more intelligent and considered approach to it.

From a listener’s perspective, it does benefit from an open mind, patience, and an awareness of the parameters of sonic experimentalism. For example, when I first listened to the early albums of Thomas DiMuzio I could immediately sense a deep compositional intelligence and an awareness of dynamics, an elegant structural arc with peaks and troughs; but on the surface the music was a very abstract dissonant texture.  Like anything, it takes some familiarity to appreciate the structure.

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When you master ambient music, what unique or interesting challenges make it different than mastering more traditional music?

RR: Interestingly, I treat it more like classical music than anything.  It has that scope and breadth, and wide frequency excursions.  The biggest challenges often come from an enormous low frequency component, understanding how to maintain the impact desired from those low frequencies while finding enough detail in the midrange to allow the music to translate on smaller speakers or headphones.  That usually involves a set of tricks that I might use more on a rock album, although I generally avoid audible compression and I don’t smash the signal with a limiter.  The wide dynamic range encourages more active listening, and rewards the listener who gives a little boost of the volume knob to soak more deeply into the sound.

Who are some artists you would recommend to anyone new to ambient music?

RR: On the more melodic and peaceful side of things, I can highly recommend Steve Roach, Alio Die, Jeff Greinke, and the collaborations of Ian Boddy and Markus Reuter, perhaps also my 7-8 hour works “Somnium” and “Perpetual”.  For the more experimental and overtly “dark” then certainly Lustmord would be the standard bearer.  His album “Heresey” is a classic, and “The Place Where the Black Stars Hang” is epic.

Some people consider my album with Lustmord called “Stalker” as bit of a prototype for blending of the “lighter” and “darker” halves of the style, and my albums “Below Zero” and “Troubled Resting Place” might cross over a bit.  I do think Thomas DiMuzio’s work is consistently excellent. There was also a series of releases on the Desolation House label in the early 2000s, which I mastered; and I think many of those were pure expressions of “dark ambient” — artists like Gruntsplatter, Subterranean Source, Angel of Decay, Amazing Grace and such.

Thanks to Robert for answering my questions.

Anyone who is interested in exploring more dark ambient music can check out this playlist I’ve made based on Robert’s suggested artists:

Deeper Into The Woods (A Playlist Featuring Adam Wingard’s Blair Witch Soundtrack)

Download The ‘Blair Witch’ Soundtrack here.

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ABOUT ADAM WINGARD: In 2011, Adam Wingard co-directed Autoerotic with mumblecore icon (and frequent actor in Wingard films) Joe Swanberg. He was selected to direct one chapter of The ABCs of Death, a 26-chapter horror comedy anthology for Drafthouse Films and Magnet. His solo directorial effort, You’re Next, a home invasion slasher, premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival as part of the ‘Midnight Madness’ section. The film received a wide release in August 2013. His next recent film, The Guest starring Dan Stevens, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and Fantastic Fest and has received critical acclaim upon its wider theatrical release. Blair Witch directed by Adam Wingard, written by Simon Barrett is in theaters now.

ABOUT ROBERT RICH: Across four decades and over 40 albums, Robert has helped define the genres of ambient music, dark-ambient, tribal and trance. Rich has performed in caves, cathedrals, planetaria, art galleries and concert halls throughout Europe and North America. His all-night Sleep Concerts, first performed in 1982, became legendary in the San Francisco area. Rich returned to playing Sleep Concerts in 2013 for special performances in Krakow, Tokyo, Copenhagen and elsewhere, followed by his 15 hour Blu-ray release Perpetual.

Visit Robert Rich online and at Bandcamp.

 

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