MUSIC

Cliff Martinez Expertly Conveys Refn’s Inner ‘Neon Demon’

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In a stylized, oft-poetic way, Demon portrays the competitive grind and sheer artifice of the modelling world, and probably Los Angeles as a whole to an extent.  The emotions are intense and massive, even in the most sedated scenes. Martinez does an excellent job of using throbbing synthesizers, scattered guitar expressions, pulsating drum machines, and ambient textures to convey this.

However, this time around Martinez works less like a counterpoint to Refn than he has in the past, when he would have tempered ostentatious visuals that seemed to call for compositions as equally stylized. (Think of Drive – the infamous elevator scene has a delicate and crystalline ambient love theme that counters the crunch of violence between The Driver and a would-be assailant.) While Demon certainly has shades of this, more than ever in their three-picture-run-so-far Martinez plays the role of amplifying Refn’s bombast.

Read the full review by Aaron Vehlinggo at vehlinggo.com

Beauty Is Currency: An Interview with Elle Fanning, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Cliff Martinez

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The Neon Demon actress, director, and composer exorcise the film’s themes.

A former drummer for Red Hot Chili Peppers, Captain Beefheart, and Lydia Lunch, the 62-year-old composer initially broke into film after scoring Steven Soderbergh’s 1989 breakthrough indie hit, sex, lies, and videotape, a partnership that’s continued ever since and ultimately led to his latest ventures with Refn.
The Neon Demon marks their third collaboration together — fourth, if you count Liv Corfixen’s My Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn — and Martinez’s compositions have certainly added a flavorful touch to Refn’s stoic ouevre. In a way, each score serves as a ghostly narrator, haunting the filmmaker’s trademark long shots with an ambient glaze that’s meditative and comforting.

Read the full article and interview by Michael Roffman at Consequence of Sound

Krakow Film Music Festival 2016 – alterFMF Gala: Drone Sounds

Jóhann Jóhannsson, Joseph Trapanese, Cliff Martinez i Łukasz Targosz gośćmi specjalnymi piątkowego wieczoru w Centrum Kongresowym ICE Kraków

„Partytura dronowa jest może trudna do zdefiniowania, ale ma przed sobą wielką przyszłość pod warunkiem, że zostanie połączona z tradycyjnymi elementami muzyki, takimi jak wyrazista melodia czy klarowna rytmika” – uważa Łukasz Targosz, jeden z bohaterów piątkowego wieczoru w Centrum Kongresowym ICE Kraków. Jego muzyka do serialu HBO „Pakt” i dramatu Patryka Vegi „Pitbull” otworzyła wczoraj uroczystą galę „alterFMF: Drone Sounds”.

Krakow Film Music Festival

Neon Demon and the Synthesizer Soundtrack by Cliff Martinez

My absolute highlight of this movie was the soundtrack by Cliff Martinez. It’s a complete electronic and Synthesizer dominant soundtrack. If you like electronics soundtrack with a lot of Synthesizer sounds, you will like it for sure. If you watch now this very special “neon” design of the movie, so the sounds are perfectly for it. This make the movie special: electronic sounds and this very strange images.

So what I can say in summary: It’s a very strange movie, with some excellent actors and a perfect electronic soundtrack. This movie polarise a lot because they are some very critical scenes inside. If you like more alternative movies, maybe check out it.

Check out also this Youtube video about one track from the soundtrack. (minute 2:01 begins the Synthesizer dream for me)

Posted by Synth Anatomy

BAFTA Masterclass: Cliff Martinez on Composing

BAFTA-winning and Grammy-nominated composer Cliff Martinez discusses his creative process and career spanning 25 years across film, TV and games.
As drummer for Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and later for The Dickies, Martinez’ exploration of new technologies eventually led him to film scoring. After his experimental tape landed in the hands of Steven Soderbergh, he was hired to score Soderbergh’s directorial debut Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Since then, the pair have worked together on ten films including Traffic, Solaris and Contagion.
More recently, Martinez’ credits include Drive, The Lincoln Lawyer, television series The Knick and game Far Cry 4, for which he received a BAFTA.

Composer Cliff Martinez and Director Nicolas Winding Refn reunite for The Neon Demon

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Cliff Martinez, the composer who left his mark on Nicolas Windin Refn’s breakthrough film Drive (and more recently TV’s The Knick), is working together with the acclaimed director again on the upcoming film THE NEON DEMON. Their third collaboration together (the other being 2013’s Only God Forgives), the soundtrack will be released via Milan Records both digitally and on CD June 24, 2016, along with a double vinyl release coming July 1st. In addition to the score, the album release also features the original track “Waving Goodbye” performed by Sia. Today Consequence of Sound premieres the first piece of music from the film — Cliff’s unforgettable, dark-disco leaning theme “Neon Demon”.

Listen and read more at SOUNDWORKS COLLECTION

The Knick, Cliff Martinez, Film Music Festival in Krakow 2015

 

Is it possible for electronic music to be an appropriate soundtrack for the show, which action is set in early XXth century New York? Director Steven Soderbergh and composer Cliff Martinez for the second year already successfully prove that it can. The main themes from the series The Knick, produced by Cinemax could be heard on the 30th of May 2015 during the International TV Series Gala within the 8th Krakow Film Music Festival.

Cliff Martinez i The Knick na Międzynarodowej Gali Seriali podczas 8 Festiwalu Muzyki Filmowej w Krakowie

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Cliff Martinez by Mark Berry

 

Niegdyś muzyk Red Hot Chili Peppers, a od wielu lat uznany w świecie autor muzyki filmowej (Traffic, Solaris, Drive) – Cliff Martinez to ostatni gość specjalny Międzynarodowej Gali Seriali w ramach tegorocznej, 8. już odsłony Festiwalu Muzyki Filmowej w Krakowie. W sobotę, 30 maja w krakowskiej arenie kompozytor zaprezentuje muzykę stworzoną do jednego z najgłośniejszych tytułów 2014 roku, nominowanego do Złotych Globów serialu The Knick.

KRK.tv

Une soirée avec Cliff Martinez – CINEMASONG 16.04.2015

Cliff Martinez

Il est l’auteur privilégié des bandes originales de Steven Soderbergh, pour lequel il a composé les musiques de Traffic, de Wicked, ou encore de Sexe, Mensonges et Vidéo. Cliff Martinez est à l’honneur dans Cinéma Song.

Ancien batteur des Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cliff Martinez débute sa carrière de compositeur de musique de film en 1989, avec Sexe, Mensonges et Vidéo de Steven Soderbergh. Aujourd’hui âgé de 61 ans, il compte plus d’une trentaine de bandes originales à son actif. Thierry Jousse a rencontré le compositeur, et livre dans ce Cinema Song son entretien.

Nicolas Winding Refn and Cliff Martinez

The director and composer behind Drive talk about karaoke, the beauty of camp, and their polarizing new film, Only God Forgives, starring Ryan Gosling.

Cliff Martinez photo by Ricardo De Aratanha
Cliff Martinez photo by Ricardo De Aratanha

A few hours after my conversation with Refn, I ask Cliff Martinez, who composed Only God Forgives’ sparse, droning score, what he thought of the film after seeing it for the first time. “Nicolas called me right after I finished watching it,” the 59-year-old former Red Hot Chili Peppers and Captain Beefheart drummer laughs, with a hint of unease. “He seems to take pride in not listening to anybody, but he’s always all over you, like, ‘What’d you think?’ So I said, ‘Where did all the dialogue go?’ Nicolas’ answer was, ‘I never shoot everything on the page. If I did, there’d be no element of surprise, and where’s the fun in that?'” Refn then asked Martinez about one of Only God Forgives’ most graphic scenes, in which (spoiler alert) Julian plunges his hand into his murdered mother’s open stomach wound, apropos of nothing. “I told him it was really weird,” remembers Martinez. “He said, ‘What do you think it means?’ I said, ‘If you think it’s important that it means something, you might want to tell me.’ He never did.”

See the full interview at Pitchfork.com

The Company You Keep by Cliff Martinez

The Company You Keep by Cliff Martinez

2011’s DRIVE was certainly a milestone in the career of composer CLIFF MARTINEZ. The playlist for Nicolas Winding Refn’s savagely smooth drama burst into musical circles beyond film scores with its criminally cool tones, raising the profile of MARTINEZ dramatically in the process. THE COMPANY YOU KEEP is unlikely to make such musical waves – largely due to the film itself – but it is another indication that CLIFF MARTINEZ is clearly molding his own niche within film scoring and is continually improving with each score.

Two major themes make up the spine of THE COMPANY YOU KEEP, each developing the two emotional landscapes that make up the score…  – by Richard Buxton

Read more at TRACKSOUNDS.

Cliff Martinez Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Red Hot Chili Peppers

 

 The 27th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony 2012

On April 14, 2012 Cliff Martinez was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of the members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Cliff joins the band on stage at 3:30 for Give it Away with Jack Irons and at 8:25 for Higher Ground with Billie Joe Armstrong, Ron Wood, Slash, George Clinton and Dr. Funkenstein.

Behind The Track with Cliff Martinez

Cliff Martinez

Cliff Martinez entered the limelight as the drummer for The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Captain Beefheart, The Dickies and Lydia Lunch. In 1989, he decided to leave life on the road to pursue the dream of film scoring in Hollywood. From his humble beginnings with a sampling drum machine and keyboard, he has assembled a state-of-the-art studio in his home, and a credit list including “Traffic”, “Sex Lies and Videotape”, “Solaris”, and “Narc.”   – by Jeff Laity

Read the full interview at TASCAM

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