Jon Brion gets around. As a composer, he scored some of the best movies of last decade and change –
Punch-Drunk Love,
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,
Synecdoche, New York, and
I ♥ Huckabees. As a producer, he's worked with
Fiona Apple,
Kanye West,
Aimee Mann, and the excellent bluegrass outfit
Punch Brothers. He writes pop music like the best of them – witness
Meaningless,
Knock Yourself Out,
Here We Go, or
Didn't Think It Would Turn Out Bad for a nice sampler of his style and range. His live shows are notoriously whimsical and eccentric – he's apt to perform
Radiohead's "Creep" in the style of Tom Waits, or cover
Stairway to Heaven as a one-man band, recreating all the parts to its climax on the fly.
posted by Rory Marinich
on Mar 9, 2013 -
20 comments
William Benjamin Bensussen is a DJ and producer who started DJing in San Diego's
Gaslamp Quarter, where his weird, heavy sound was generally a dancefloor killer, earning him the name
The Gaslamp Killer But he kept at it, and found a home in Los Angeles, performing with the
Low End Theory crew. On December 1, 2012, Gaslamp Killer joined an ever-growing list of notable DJs and
appeared on BBC Radio 1 with an Essential Mix "
This runs the gamut, freak flag and spliff waving in the air. 2 brutal and beautiful hours of raw beats, boom bap, and Birdman. There is psych-rock, there is juke, there is Spaghetti Western. Exclusives from Lotus, HudMo, and Dilla." If you like what you hear, there's even more below the break.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Feb 17, 2013 -
24 comments
On Story is a new series which takes a look at the creative process of filmmaking through the eyes of some of the entertainment industry's most prolific writers, directors and producers. Each episode will also showcase short films from the region's most promising filmmakers.
posted by dobbs
on May 15, 2011 -
1 comment
Troy Tate and The Smiths: The Not Poor Recordings . The Smiths were first produced by Troy Tate and the bootlegs have been rather bootleggy as it were. These are one step removed from the master recordings and don't sound quite so hollow... Includes an apparently unheard version of Accept Yourself as a bonus.
posted by juiceCake
on May 4, 2011 -
19 comments
Louisiana-born, Texas-based record producer
Huey Meaux, the so-called "Crazy Cajun", has
died. He was the man behind
Barbara Lynn's 1962 hit
You'll Lose a Good Thing. Three years later, in a move to cash in on the British Invasion, he created a faux-British rock band called "the Sir Douglas Quintet" around San Antonio-born singer-songwriter
Doug Sahm, and produced their hit,
She's About a Mover. Meaux also produced Tex-Mex rocker
Freddy Fender's bilingual hit
Before the Next Teardrop Falls as well as Fender's
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights. Sadly, however, Meaux had a very ugly darker side: he was arrested not once but twice on child-sex charges, doing prison time in the late 60s, and an 11-year bid from '96 to '07. Some of the ugly details of this side of his life are detailed in this
Houston Press article from 1996, shortly after his arrest, which will pretty much make your skin crawl... Well, so long Huey.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Apr 26, 2011 -
50 comments
Happy belated 39th birthday,
Amon Adonai Santos de Araújo Tobin, or as most folks call you, simply
Amon Tobin. The Brazilian-born producer
first released music as Cujo, and has since moved on to his own name, with
five albums and a slew of EPs and singles released since 1997,
plus two video game
soundtracks, and
a film soundtrack. He also has
an EP of collaborations, side projects with
Joe "Doubleclick" Chapman as
60hz and
Two Fingers. And that's the overview ... (music samples a-plenty inside, or you could skip the chatter and
listen to much of Amon Tobin's discography streaming on his website).
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Feb 20, 2011 -
29 comments
Legendary hip hop producer DJ Premier interviewed in
the XXL Icon Interview and
The Smoking Section. Remarkably candid conversations about his life in East Coast hip hop, with interesting stories about his work with Jay-Z, Biggie, Puff, Nas, Jeru the Damaga, Group Home, Suge Knight, Christina Aguilera and of course, Guru. On finding records to sample:
"Well, there’s still diggin’ spots. If you’re in that world like I am, you know the spots, you see everybody—Just Blaze, Alchemist, Large Professor, Pete Rock—we still pop up in those spots. You got Big City records, you got Turntable Lab, you still have A1, you got Academy, you know. I’m not gonna tell you all the digging spots."
posted by the mad poster!
on Dec 20, 2010 -
11 comments
He's Now in the Great Screening Room in the Sky Dino de Laurentiis has passed on, aged 91.
Over 150 films produced. He gave
this young guy a
second chance after
this bomb. One of his movies had the
best Haniball Lektor/Lector ever. He worked with Fellini, Pacinio, Redford, Schwarzenegger, Bridges, (Jeff), Raimi, and Fonda, (Jane). Goodnight, sweet prince of cinema.
posted by jettloe
on Nov 11, 2010 -
53 comments
Aaron-Carl Ragland, known simply as "Aaron-Carl" to most, was a songwriter, remixer, producer, radio show host, record label founder and all-around character. The news of Ragland's death was first posted on his friend and fellow
Detroit musician Piranha Head's Facebook page in a status update, saying simply:
Just lost one of his best friends, Aaron-Carl, and my arms are far too short to box with GOD. One of the best Human beings in the WORLD is gone. I have no words. Music is Silence.
Aaron-Carl himself posted
this video just five days ago on his blog discussing his diagnosis and upcoming surgery after
canceling his upcoming European tour.
Factmag reports that Aaron-Carl is believed to have died shortly after or during essential lymph node surgery; it appears that he died overnight after beginning his first chemotherapy session.
[more inside]
posted by Unicorn on the cob
on Sep 30, 2010 -
15 comments
Producer/engineer
Iain Burgess played a vital role in defining the Chicago punk sound in the 80's with his work with Naked Raygun, Big Black, and the Effigies.
Burgess passed away on Thursday from a pulmonary embolism, a complication of the pancreatic and liver cancers he'd recently been diagnosed with. Although British, he is
best known for his years in Chicago, where he helped create a distinctive large sound with a live-centered recording style and served as a
mentor to Steve Albini. He also worked with Didjits, Ministry, Mega City Four, the Cows, Pegboy, Shellac, Jawbox and many others.
posted by Slack-a-gogo
on Feb 12, 2010 -
36 comments
The man behind the classic sound of Al Green, Memphis producer and soulmeister supreme
Willie Mitchell has
passed on. Many of the Al Green sides are legendary, of course, and very well known (as is the fantastic "I Can't Stand the Rain, by Ann Peebles), but be sure and head over to the excellent
Funky 16 Corners where you can hear three of his lesser-known but
deeply grooving productions. Fat stuff. So long, Willie Mitchell, and thanks for the wonderful music.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jan 6, 2010 -
24 comments
The story starts in 1992 or so, when the 14 year old Brit,
Dominic Stanton, bought turntables and started spinning early drum'n'bass. He transitioned from DJ to producer, made demo tracks, and got signed by age 17. He went on to produce broken beat
* and jazzy downtempo
*, even into the realm of disco edits. Then about two weeks ago, the 31 year old musician called it quits.
The point is that I am no longer Domu. He is a character, always has been, and as of Friday 13th November 2009, he no longer exists. Neither does Umod, Sonar Circle, Bakura, Yotoko, Rima, Zoltar, Blue Monkeys, Realside or any of the other names I put out music under. I am cancelling all my gigs and not taking any more. My hotmail is closed, my Twitter is closed and my Facebook is closed.
Furthermore, his website is closed and the original post of his farewell message is lost, though you can still
view the cached version or find it
copied elsewhere. Domu's website now simply states
This really is The End . . . Step inside for an abbreviated journey.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Nov 30, 2009 -
46 comments
Legendary record man and music producer
Jerry Wexler died on August 15, at the age of 91. His keen insight, and his deep love and appreciation for the artists he worked with resulted in an extraordinary enriching of American music.
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Aug 17, 2008 -
16 comments
"Porky's was about anti-Semitism, about racism, it's not just about boys with erections," claims Clark. He then adds, pun intended, "It was a seminal film." Bob Clark, Director of
two iconic 1980's films that profoundly impacted some of your childhoods (no doubt in decidedly different ways), and his 22 year-old son were in a
fatal car crash on PCH this morning. This was set to be a
promising year for the man who brought
Ralphie and his bunny suit to the world. R.I.P.
posted by miss lynnster
on Apr 4, 2007 -
75 comments
Make My Movie Online Be A Producer
Help me raise the money to produce My Movie! For a minimal donation of only $2, YOU can receive a Producer`s Credit (PC) in the end credits of my film! Not only will you receive a credit, in exchange for your donation, you can also have a vote in some of the decisions such as casting, crewing and storyline! AND, not only that, but you also will have the opportunity to participate in the PROFITS of the film when we distribute the film.
posted by pt68
on Mar 13, 2007 -
23 comments
Arif Mardin passed away Sunday. Yes, the first is a
NYTimes link, but
here's an obit from the
Independent newspaper, and
here's a BBC obit as well. It would be unseemly not to note the passing of the arranger or producer (or both, or co- ) behind the Art Farmer Quartet's
Live at the Half-Note, Sonny Stitt's
Stitt Plays Bird, Max Roach's
Drums Unlimited, the Rascals' "Good Lovin'" and "Groovin'," Aretha Franklin's
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You and
Aretha Now, Dusty Springfield's
Dusty in Memphis, Donny Hathaway's
Extension of a Man, the Stones'
Black and Blue, Chaka Khan's first several solo albums, and hundreds of others all the way down to Norah Jones ... a list almost too long to compile. NPR interview
here, lengthier article from
Sound on Sound here, his discogs.com list
here.
posted by blucevalo
on Jun 27, 2006 -
11 comments
