The Devil’s Violinist - new film score

Here’s Jeff Lamb’s new short film, for which I had the pleasure of composing a solo violin piece.

When I first met with Jeff he told me how important it was for the music to be beautiful but haunting. And man, it’s vulnerable! It has no dialog, is shot on 35mm film, and the piece is performed live on set (with a film this centered on music, is there any other way to go?)

Much of the music I make is full of instruments & textures & such, so it was a fun challenge to compose something this stripped-down. Jeff put a lot of trust in me (thank you Jeff!) and it was a rewarding & fun collaboration all around.

I hadn’t written for solo violin before, and what an honor to have the piece performed by Barry Socher, who (as Jeff pointed out) has been in the LA Philharmonic since before we were born :)

Barry and Jeff came by my studio one afternoon to discuss and rehearse the piece. Barry has a really cool beard and immediately struck me as sensitive, expressive, and humble- all qualities I aspire to as a music-maker.

Hearing your piece come to life through an enormously talented musician is quite a thing.. you get a whole new sense of the possibilities. And though he has decades more experience than me, Barry was very collaborative and open to my little tweaks about this phrase or that phrase- a glissando here, an extra swell there- and quickly adapted each into his performance. Details like that are one of my favorite parts of music.

Hope you like it.

Barry & I. Someday I’ll learn how to not get freaked out and awkward when waiting for a camera to take a photo, but know I’m excited & happy to be here :)

p.s. here’s a nice writeup by Jeff from the Shorts Showcase site about making the film.

2 months in photos

It’s been a busy couple of months!  Some highlights in reverse order:

Composed a solo violin piece for an upcoming film by Jeff Lamb.  Here is the excellent violinist Barry Socher after our recording session.

Finally met VFX Wizard Mike Ritchie of Gloo Studios after five years of working together.  One of the nicest guys in the biz.

Found a new use for the first tie I ever owned: foley for an animation by Ahmad Al-Awadi celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid.

Rented some fancy API pre-amps…

and used them to record 7 songs in a single evening (!) with Brandon Dickert, a drummer of the highest caliber.

Recorded bass with Griffin Rodriguez - an inspiring engineer/producer/mixer (Icy Demons, Beirut, ..) and person.  He actually suffered traumatic brain injury in a bicycle accident not 2 weeks later.  As I’ve been mentioning on facebook, you can help support him here.  Get well soon, Griffin!

Drove into the mountains on my birthday and bought a chromaharp from a nice banjo player named Dave.

Joined the cult of cast iron.

 

Recorded a song for The Pact II with Pat Horvath and Dallas Hallam (more on that in a future post!)

Found out I am KILLING IT in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Back in July I visited Chicago, caught up with a lot of old friends and did a bunch of recording (thanks to engineers Dan Smart and Max Crowe).  I am humbled to have some truly world-class musicians involved… 

Nicolae Feraru, a Romanian cimbalom player I’ve been a fan of for years.  This year he won a National Endowment for the Arts Lifetime Honor National Heritage Fellowship, our nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.  Though I am exhausted in this picture, I was extremely excited to collaborate with him.

Blagoj Lamnjov, a virtuoso clarinetist from Macedonia.  

Long-time collaborator Max Crowe on guitars & bass.  (photo: Mikel Pickett)

I also recorded more vocals with my favorite soul singer on the planet, Hawk Colman, but we forgot to take a picture!  I can’t wait to write & share more about the project all this recording was for :)

Before the recording kicked off, I also…

Did live sound at the Museum of Science and Industry for my friends Eric McCoy & Justus Meyer as they interviewed neuroscientist David Freedman about his work with “categorization”.  I had a fun chat with David about James Brown, and enjoyed working with our cinematography/lighting team Mike and Leland.

Saw David’s band FuzZz (which consisted of him on guitar, another neuroscientist on keyboards, and KILLER rhythm & horn sections) with my friend and colleague Paul Lazarre.  Paul is an entrepreneur and science enthusiast, and conceived of the interview video in the first place.

Before Chicago, my buddy Rebecca Berdel and I saw Jordan Vogt-Roberts film “Kings of Summer” - a great indie film worthy of your support.

I also saw some truly inspiring concerts..

The otherwordly Harry Partch Ensemble (featuring the talented Alex Wand).

My friend Gina and I saw Björk!  One of my creative heroes… an Artist with a capital “A”.  I feel bad haven taken a photo after she asked the audience not to, but I promise my flash was off as to not distract anyone from the fireballs!

How’s that for a blog post?  'til next time…