Lil' Sound Design Party

“Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.”

— Joseph Campbell

I had the pleasure of working on the first iteration of this show with writer/director, Annie Levy, last year.  It's certainly come a long way and is now paired with another show directed by Jay Stern.  Both pieces deal with themes of identity, family, and mythology and as someone who is exploring his own ancestry, I find them particularly interesting.

Developing sound and music cues for both shows was a lot of fun! I love using found sound and scouring the interwebs for all sorts of goodies to throw into the mix. We also had the opportunity to explore the Latvian Daina song/poetic form, and I composed several tunes, setting Annie's text to music.

Both pieces turned out beautifully and if you're around this weekend, get your tickets here.

New Demos!

The past few months have been CRAZY CITY.  Julia and I have been insane people, spending plenty of late-night hours in the studio after working full days at our jobs. But it's been worth it. There are now 10 tracks recorded from the The White City, including 4 new ones this month alone. I wanted to specifically share the opening number - we're super proud of it and SO thankful for all the time and energy everyone has given to help make it a reality.  Have a listen:  

Ensemble- Avi Amon, Hannah Dowdy, Benny Gammerman, Julia Gytri, Geoffrey Kidwell, Beth Kirkpatrick, Matthew Ellis Murphy, Sara Nicholson, Helen Park, Mike Siktberg Guitar - Mike Siktberg Piano - Will Buck Chicago 1893. Meet Lucy, a member of Buffalo Bill's Wild West, in town to perform for crowds at the World's Fair.

Ensemble - Avi Amon, Hannah Dowdy, Benny Gammerman, Julia Gytri, Geoffrey Kidwell, Beth Kirkpatrick, Matthew Ellis Murphy, Sara Nicholson, Helen Park, Mike Siktberg

Guitar - Mike Siktberg
Piano - Will Buck

Chicago 1893. Meet Lucy, a member of Buffalo Bill's Wild West, in town to perform for crowds at the World's Fair. She quickly discovers that she's not interested in performing: all she wants is to be the audience and bear witness to this historic event. As she explores the grounds with Jem, a Columbian Guard, they learn of the modern wonders that the World's Columbian Exposition has to offer, becoming entranced by all of the possibilities that lie in their future.

New recordings all over the place

The past month has been seriously studio-heavy. Have a listen to "The Wheel," written with Julia Gytri for our musical, The White City. Many thanks to Andrew Sharon on guitar and Sam Weber (of Pictures of the Sun fame) on bass.  More to come, soon!

Guitar - Andrew Sharon Bass - Sam Webber Piano/vocals - Avi Amon Buffalo Bill sings as his Congress of Rough Riders set up the Wild West Show outside the fairgrounds.

PAGPAG Featured at Montreal World Film Festival

August 25th and 30th! More info on my calendar page. Here is the posting on the Montreal World Film Festival website that will have the information as well. It's being billed under the Focus On World Cinema Short Film Series. Roadtrip? Anyone?

I had the distinct pleasure of scoring this film last year. John Paul Su is an extremely talented, up-and-coming writer/director who I met through a mutual friend at NYU. PAGPAG has already won a number of awards, most recently, the Directors' Guild of America Student Film Award.

PAGPAG tells the story of a young girl's hopes for adoption while living in the landfill-slums outside of Manila.  The score is influenced by traditional Filipino rhythms and pop music from the region. Several of the instruments are actually played through pieces of garbage to highlight the characters' plight as well as their strength through adversity. Please visit my film music page for more info. 

New Job! New Website!

Thrilled to announce that I've joined the JCCManhattan as a program associate with their Arts+Ideas department. Arts+Ideas at the JCC has an impressive music, theater, film, guest speaker, and visual art series - I'm helping develop and coordinate these events. Yeah!

NEXT:

What's the best thing to do with your summer after finishing your MFA?  Make a website that actually showcases your work.  I've spent the last month or so diving into the whole Squarespace (actual best platform on the planet) thing and I'm pleased with how everything has turned out.  

Be sure to check out all the music and videos I've curated on this site and be in touch if you catch any typos.  I'm not saying that I'll change anything, just like, you know.

I've also updated the layout of my tumblr.  Hope to get back on that bandwagon soon but I posted a weird face-in-a-face-in-a-face gif thing in the meantime.  

TEST POST that I'm going to leave up forever

Pacific Rim is a movie.  

Hurricane Sandy was an absolutely devastating storm, but still beautiful in its own way. I recorded this on October 29th, 2012 at 7pm in Brooklyn, NY.