News - Wise Music Creative US

11.11.2021

Node Records releases original soundtrack to critically acclaimed documentary Rebel Hearts

Wise Music and Node Records are ecstatic to announce the release of the soundtrack for the critically acclaimed documentary, Rebel Hearts directed by Pedro Kos. This soundtrack includes new original songs by singer-songwriters Rufus Wainwright and Sharon Van Etten, coupled with an original instrumental score by veteran film and TV composer Ariel Marx. Marx says, “Scoring the journey of these trailblazing women was an absolute gift. Pedro’s direction of the film is stunning, as he tells the story of these women with such admiration, humor, and depth. In turn, the score shape shifts to honor the complex tone of the film with lots of varying instrumentation and compositional aesthetics. I had the incredible opportunity to work with Tracy McKnight and musicians in LA, New York, and Macedonia to help bring the score to life.” Listen to the soundtrack HERE.

11.11.2021

Node Records releases original soundtrack to critically acclaimed documentary Rebel Hearts

Wise Music and Node Records are ecstatic to announce the release of the soundtrack for the critically acclaimed documentary, Rebel Hearts directed by Pedro Kos. This soundtrack ...

17.10.2021

The String Theory feat. vōx – No One Believes A Ghost

Listen to "The Los Angeles Suite" here Singer, songwriter, and visual artist vōx (Latin for “voice,” pronounced “wokes”) approaches all of her projects holistically—creating an engaging and thought-provoking audio-visual world where viewers and listeners can feel safe and find power in vulnerability. As a teenager, vōx turned to songwriting as an escape from her small, conservative town. Years later, it became a therapeutic vehicle—helping the Los Angeles-based artist confront years of trauma and transform shame into strength. Drawing comparisons to such pioneering artists as Björk, Kate Bush, and Tori Amos, vōx has drawn praise from the likes of Billboard, Paper, FADER, and Dazed. Grammy-nominated artist collective The String Theory from Berlin and Gothenburg may be known primarily for their long-term collaboration with the gentle Swedish troubadour José González, yet have over time grown into prolific recording artistsin their own right, curiously exploring the outskirts of contemporary neo-classical and electronic music and the uncharted territory in between. These two got together in April 2019 when The String Theory had just wrapped up their North American tour with José González and stuck around in Los Angeles the week after to record an album with local artists and musicians. Enter vōx. She arrived in a transparent red dresss waying in the air. Its fabric was so thin it was almost non-existing. It was more like there was red air around her. Ethereal, ephemeral, yet inescapable. When a person and their personaare so in sync (and they happen to be such a darling girl as vōx) it creates channels in the ether. vōx has carved out a niche of her own, utilizing sounds from R&B and electro, slick and distorted alike, and an expressive, daring visual identity that appeals more to the high end fashion and contemporary art scene. The kind of crossover they love in Berlin. So maverick orchestra The String Theory and this exceptional songstress felt right at home with each other. 'No One Believes A Ghost’ is a haunting, eerie track with delicate hooks and an almost cinematographical arrangement by wunderkind composer Daniel Clive McCallum from Malibu, himself an Emmy-awarded film composer and Royal Academy of Music alumnus, who also conducted the orchestra.The song was written the night before the recording session. 35 performers who had never met before, recorded it live and turned this intense and brave approach into an almost transcendental happening.The album 'The Los Angeles Suite’ from which ’No One Believes A Ghost’ is taken is currently up for Grammy consideration.

17.10.2021

The String Theory feat. vōx – No One Believes A Ghost

Listen to "The Los Angeles Suite" here Singer, songwriter, and visual artist vōx (Latin for “voice,” pronounced “wokes”) approaches all of her projects holistically—creating an ...

10.09.2021

Introducing Peter Gregson's "Patina" - the world's first album created for Dolby Atmos

The acclaimed London based producer, composer and cellist Peter Gregson releases his new album “Patina” today (September 10th) via Universal’s prestigious yellow label, Deutsche Grammophon. Patina is the world’s first album specifically created to be listened to in Dolby Atmos. In short, this record would not exist if this revolutionary new audio technology had not been invented and was mixed at the legendary Abbey Road studios. On “Patina”, Gregson comments: “I didn’t want to write an album where each track finishes with a full stop. I needed there to be space in the music for the listener to bring the music into their world, to make their own decisions and have their own response... Nothing was recorded in big lush rooms, everything is very intimate and I didn’t want it to sound like a Classical Record. I wanted to treat my cello as a voice - singing these modern ‘songs without words’.” “All the ingredients have to tell the same story - so much of this composition is held in the created space - the actual elements are as simple as can be, melody, harmony, bass line, but using the room, finding spaces, using harmonisers and vocoders and plate reverbs and gated reverbs and old tape… these are all found more commonly in the sort of electronic music that is permeating pop at the moment - I suppose this record is an intersection where electronic music meets classical music.” The album is released with accompanying video for “Cluster”, a beautifully atmospheric composition, symbolic of Gregson’s desire to “play with the idea of a minimal melody to lead the ear but with an orchestration, arrangement, and production around it that is constantly evolving and growing long after the pressure releases. Gregson remarks: “I write these records chronologically, starting at track 1 and working through until the end, but this is a melody I’ve had in my mind for a while. When I started to write this piece, it kept coming back into my mind, nagging to be involved.” Directd by Arran Shearing in British Columbia one late winter commented on the video: “I tired to create a soft meditation on nature, urbanization, and the aesthetic found in both. Peter’s music seems to take all these elements from the creative process that other people ignore or disregard and brings them to the forefront in really exciting ways.” Listen to "Patina"

10.09.2021

Introducing Peter Gregson's "Patina" - the world's first album created for Dolby Atmos

The acclaimed London based producer, composer and cellist Peter Gregson releases his new album “Patina” today (September 10th) via Universal’s prestigious yellow label, Deutsche ...

02.09.2021

Wise Music Group signs Smash Mouth's Greg Camp

Greg Camp has signed two deals with Embassy Music Corporation, part of Wise Music Group. The first assigns Camp’s share of all Smash Mouth songs and the second is a co-publishing deal for all new compositions, co-writes and scores. Major Smash Mouth songs include "All Star", "Walkin’ On The Sun" and "Then the Morning Comes". Camp has estimated worldwide record sales of 15 million, has had music placed in over 40 films, more than 2,600 episodic television shows, and 1,600-plus commercials. 2021 also marks twenty years since the blockbuster film Shrek, for which Smash Mouth scored nearly all the soundtrack. Greg Camp said: “I am proud and honoured to be joining the Wise Music family. It is an absolute pleasure to be in the presence of its stellar team as well as its amazing roster which boasts some of my personal heroes: from Rod Argent of The Zombies to Riz Ortolani. I am looking forward to contributing and bringing new music to the table at Wise.” Jeffrey Duncan, EVP of Wise Music USA, said: “It is with great enthusiasm that we welcome Greg Camp and his vivid musical vision to the Wise Music Group. As lead songwriter and guitarist for seminal alt-rock band Smash Mouth, Greg helped pen the soundtrack of a generation, creating a slew of evergreen hits. In addition to Greg’s share of the Smash Mouth catalogue, we are thrilled to represent all his subsequent copyrights along with his future writing and film scoring work.” Article courtesy of Music Week

02.09.2021

Wise Music Group signs Smash Mouth's Greg Camp

Greg Camp has signed two deals with Embassy Music Corporation, part of Wise Music Group. The first assigns Camp’s share of all Smash Mouth songs and the second is a co-publishing deal for all new ...

10.05.2021

Dustin O'Halloran Announces Debut Album, Silphur, Out June 11

Dustin O'Halloran's debut Deutsche Grammophon album, Silfur, explores the shifting perspective of music through time and place in new pieces and reimagined earlier works. “Silfur is an exploration of the music of my past and how it reflects back to me now in the present. Evoking images of different moments, places and periods of my life, and rediscovering the pieces that have stayed with me. Sometimes we can only understand ourselves by looking back, and hopefully, finding the thread of who we are and who we have always been.”Dustin O’Halloran Oscar-nominated composer and pianist Dustin O’Halloran will release his debut Deutsche Grammophon album Silfur internationally on CD, vinyl and digitally on June 11, 2021. This new release of fifteen pieces distils and expands upon the composer’s concepts of time, past and present, perceived through music. It comprises two new works – ‘Opus 56’ for solo piano and ‘Constellation No. 2’ for piano, cello and electronics – as well as new recordings of a selection of tracks from O’Halloran’s solo albums, including four new string arrangements. The first taste of Silfur will be revealed on April 6 with the release of ‘Opus 18’ as a single, along with a beautiful live performance video, shot at Reykjavík’s Fríkirkjan church by director Blair Alexander. Dustin O’Halloran worked on Silfur during the lockdown in Iceland, where he ordinarily spends part of the year. Unable to return to his other home in Los Angeles, he drew inspiration from isolation and Iceland’s unique atmosphere, revisiting works from four solo albums and refining them through the prism of his Icelandic experience. At the first recording session for this album he was given a gift of silfurberg (“silver rock”), a native Icelandic crystal, which inspired its title. “As light enters it,” explains O’Halloran, “it’s reflected into two perspectives. It felt that that’s what I was doing in making this record. And I feel the place you’re in always has a resonance – it somehow comes through the music.” “I’ve lived with these pieces for many years and performed or returned to them from time to time,” continues O’Halloran. “When Christian Badzura from Deutsche Grammophon asked if I would like to record them again, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to go back into my past. But I thought this was a chance to give them more of what I intended. This was an opportunity to try to finalise them in a way that I could put them to rest, because there were things I wanted to see if I could capture. There was a feeling of travelling back in time to my past while experiencing the music in new ways in the present. It’s very special that we can capture time in this way. And I think that’s almost what music is: it’s capturing time. It’s capturing a moment, which we can experience again later.” Echoes of everyone from J.S. Bach, Chopin and Debussy to Arvo Pärt and Erik Satie can be heard in O’Halloran’s keyboard compositions. His personal aesthetic, gentle and restrained, magnifies the subtle nuances of emotion with acute awareness. In addition to performing ten solo tracks, O’Halloran is joined on Silfur by a number of friends and collaborators. The composer Bryan Senti is featured on the new arrangement of ‘Opus 55’ performing violin. The Siggi String Quartet joins on ‘Opus 28’ and ‘Opus 37’, and also contributes on a new version of ‘Opus 17’ for strings. Alongside this, composer and cellist Gyða Valtýsdóttir is featured on ‘Constellation No. 2’. O’Halloran, raised between Hawaii and Los Angeles, began to teach himself piano at seven years old. During his years at art college in Santa Monica, he formed a duo with the singer Sara Lov. Their partnership evolved into the indie rock band Dēvics and led O’Halloran to move to Italy where his musical trajectory as a pianist was crystallised. His early solo albums, two volumes of Piano Solos (2004, 2006), were followed by Vorleben in 2010 and Lumiere in 2011. Over the past decade O’Halloran’s acclaimed ambient music collaboration with Adam Wiltzie, A Winged Victory for the Sullen, has delivered four albums, two soundtracks and Atomos, the latter for Wayne McGregor’s dance company. Their most recent album, Invisible Cities, reached No. 4 in the UK Record Store Chart. He has reached new audiences with his music for film and television, including scores for Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (2006); Drake Doremus’s Like Crazy (2011), winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance; his Emmy Award-winning theme music for the US show Transparent (2014-17); and the soundtrack for George Tillman Jr.’s The Hate U Give (2018). His first soundtrack collaboration with German pianist and composer Volker Bertelmann for the film Lion (2016) was nominated for an Academy Award, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award. They recently joined forces again to compose the original music for Francis Lee’s romantic drama Ammonite (2020) and their score was shortlisted for an Academy Award this year. Alongside ‘Opus 18’, the release of Silfur will be preceded by singles ‘Opus 56’ on April 30 and ‘Opus 28’, featuring the Siggi String Quartet, on May 28. O’Halloran’s live performance of ‘Opus 28’ with Bryan Senti at last year’s Capitol Studio Sessions in LA, recorded as part of DG’s revered Composers’ Label Night event, will also be released, as a video, on May 28.

10.05.2021

Dustin O'Halloran Announces Debut Album, Silphur, Out June 11

Dustin O'Halloran's debut Deutsche Grammophon album, Silfur, explores the shifting perspective of music through time and place in new pieces and reimagined earlier works. “Silfur is an ...

15.03.2021

Toots and the Maytals Win Best Reggae Album at Grammy Awards 2021 for Got To Be Tough

Toots and the Maytals won Best Reggae album at the Grammy Awards 2021 last Sunday for the brilliant album Got To Be Tough. Beating out strong competition from the likes of Buju Banton, Skip Marley, Maxi Priest, and The Wailers; the incredible feat marks the second Grammy win for the band, having previously won the same award at the 2004 Grammys for the album True Love.The win is even more poignant considering Got To Be Tough was released just two weeks before the tragic death of Frederick 'Toots' Hibbert at the age of 77 last year. Toots' daughter Leba Hibbert-Thomas accepted the award on her father's behalf, thanking his band members and fans, and paying tribute to the legend himself.Released last August, Got To Be Tough was Toots' first album of brand new songs in over a decade, with it going on to receive worldwide recognition, including a 6 page spread in Rolling Stone. Toots, who is credited with naming the reggae genre said of the album, it "is speaking out about injustices while pointing to a better time, teaching a path to recovery and step to better days on the journey ahead". In February, Trojan Jamaica/BMG officially released the powerful Until The Ribbon Breaks' re-imagination of the title track 'Got To Be Tough', with all proceeds of the single donated to Black Lives Matter. The video, which was also edited by UTRB, features a host of civil rights icons speaking out against a montage backdrop of brutality and injustice throughout the decades.Continuing their tribute to the late reggae legend, last Friday saw the release of Samantha Ronson and Pete Nappi's remix of 'Freedom Train' alongside a Henry Stein directed music video. Ronson said of the track "Toots was a giant and his music will live on, longer than all of us, and we are honored to have been asked to contribute to this project".Got To Be Tough Track List and video links:Drop Off HeadJust Brutal Got To Be Tough Freedom TrainWarning Warning Good Thing That You CallI Stand Accused Having A PartyStruggleListen here

15.03.2021

Toots and the Maytals Win Best Reggae Album at Grammy Awards 2021 for Got To Be Tough

Toots and the Maytals won Best Reggae album at the Grammy Awards 2021 last Sunday for the brilliant album Got To Be Tough. Beating out strong competition from the likes of Buju Banton, Skip Marley, ...

09.03.2021

Oliver Davis' New Release SOLACE named Classic FM and Scala Radio's 'Album of the Week'

‘SOLACE is a truly international album created during the 2020 lockdown. It involved working collaboratively, yet remotely, with soloists, ensembles and authors from all over the world. A year in the making resulting in a really unique project.’ – Oliver Davis Listen to SOLACE Released on March 5th, SOLACE is the sixth and latest album from British composer Oliver Davis and has been featured as both Classic FM and Scala Radio's 'Album of the Week'. Davis’ previous albums have reached the top 10 on both iTunes Classical and UK Specialist Classical Charts multiple times, receiving numerous five-star reviews and well over a million streams on Apple Music. Recorded at the height of the international Covid lockdown, SOLACE, is a feat of both technological as well as artistic achievement. He explains how creating SOLACE differed significantly from the production of his other recordings: ‘I had originally planned the production of my sixth album in a similar way to previous albums, a method that had to be abandoned when social restrictions were enforced at the onset of the pandemic.In addition to amending the production process, most of the repertoire I had originally planned to record was also going to need to be replaced owing to key artists and studios unable to be involved. It presented a huge logistical and creative problem, but also an interesting challenge. Would it be possible to create an album, largely orchestral based, without being in the same room as the orchestra and conductor? The only way this could be achieved was by recording the orchestra and many of the soloists remotely. During the lockdown period I had briefly worked remotely with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra, and that experience gave me the confidence to tackle this project.I decided to create a template by recording all the principal elements first. I recorded all the key orchestral parts individually with five musicians and this enabled me to have enough control of these parts to then create a master chamber music version of all the orchestral pieces on the album. I then mapped out the exact tempos and dynamics in the orchestral scores and only then did I record the Budapest Scoring Orchestra on top of this chamber recording. In addition, many of the pieces were written for soloists who were based abroad and were now unable to visit the UK as planned. I therefore had to record their parts remotely and incorporate those recordings into the mix. I achieved this using the internet and recording studios and engineers all over the world, recording a violinist in Los Angeles, a piano duo in The Netherlands, a guitarist in Argentina and the Budapest Scoring Orchestra conducted by Péter Illényi in Budapest.This painstaking process became a labour of love and has led me to appreciate the many benefits of being in the same room as the artist!’Davis’ music lends itself well for use in dance projects. He is an active composer of ballet music and this new album includes Narcissus and Echo which has been choreographed by Vitor Luiz and directed by Sophia Kiapos for film. The dancers are Vitor Luiz and Tara Ghassemieh with cinematography by J Garrett Vorreuter and Sophia Kiapos, edited by J Garrett Vorreuter, Caitlan Deibel and Sophia Kiapos and words by Simon Littlefield (sung by Grace Davidson, Benedict Moriarty and Sam Brophy).

09.03.2021

Oliver Davis' New Release SOLACE named Classic FM and Scala Radio's 'Album of the Week'

‘SOLACE is a truly international album created during the 2020 lockdown. It involved working collaboratively, yet remotely, with soloists, ensembles and authors from all over the world. A year in ...

08.03.2021

Nike Celebrates Black Female Athletes in New 'We Play Real' Spot featuring "Les Fleurs"

Nike is honoring some of the most successful and inspiring Black female athletes in a powerful new advertisement featuring Wise Music copyright "Les Fleurs", written by Charles Stepney and Richard Rudolph and made famous by Minnie Riperton. On Sunday — one day ahead of International Women's Day — Nike released a new clip titled "We Play Real," which celebrates Black women's success and impact in sports like basketball, soccer, tennis, and more. The video, narrated by actress and playwright Dominique Fishback, includes appearances from A'ja Wilson, Jewell Loyd, Serena Williams, Crystal Dunn, Sydney Leroux, Naomi Osaka, Caster Semenya, Natasha Cloud, Diamond DeShields, Simone Manuel, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Sheryl Swoopes, and Sha'Carri Richardson. "It's not magic," Fishback, 29, begins her narration. "Yeah, we can make things float. Make something appear out of absolutely nothing. But even the greatest magicians worked at that trick. It's not magic, organic." She continues, "From the curl in our hair to the tip of our toes. The sway of our hips and the joy of our smile. We give our blood, sweat and tears to give our very best. Even when the world tells us it's never going to be enough." "We got that thing," Fishback says. "That hooping, soccer-playing, game-changing, oh so resilient double-A outing, butterfly-stroking thing. We worked for all of this. You thought history just made itself? Nah baby, this ain't magic. This, this is the real thing." Courtesy Nike We Play Real Campaign

08.03.2021

Nike Celebrates Black Female Athletes in New 'We Play Real' Spot featuring "Les Fleurs"

Nike is honoring some of the most successful and inspiring Black female athletes in a powerful new advertisement featuring Wise Music copyright "Les Fleurs", written by Charles Stepney and Richard ...

26.02.2021

A Winged Victory For The Sullen - New Album "Invisible Cities" OUT NOW

A Winged Victory for the Sullen, the composer collaboration between Stars of the Lid founder Adam Wiltzie and L.A. composer Dustin O'Halloran, have released their newest album ‘Invisible Cities’, the stunning score to the critically acclaimed theatre production directed by London Olympics ceremony video designer Leo Warner and produced by Manchester International Festival, Rambert, 59 Productions and Karl Sydow. Premiering at Manchester International Festival in July 2019, Wiltzie and O'Halloran were commissioned by Manchester International Festival, Rambert, Brisbane Festival, Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival, Sadler’s Wells, SMG Live, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Cultural Centre (JACC) and Karl Sydowto to compose the music for the 90-minute multimedia stage show loosely inspired by Italo Calvino’s 1972 novel ‘Invisible Cities’. Centered on the tense relationship between Kublai Khan, the volatile head of a vast empire, and explorer Marco Polo, it brings to life a series of fantastical places and disparate worlds through the medium of theatre, music, dance, design and visuals. Described by The Sunday Times as “a beautiful frenzy of movement”, ‘Invisible Cities’ was originally conceived as a touring project with its last performance in Brisbane, Australia before COVID-19 changed the world as we know it. Transformed into 45 minutes of breathtaking beauty, ‘Invisible Cities’ opens with the numinous ‘So That the City Can Begin to Exist’, as Wiltzie and O'Halloran draw breath from distinctively enthralling and vastly expansive worlds. The ominous soundscapes of ‘The Dead Outnumber the Living’ contrast with the new beginnings that are presented in ‘Every Solstice & Equinox’, while the jagged and uneasy ‘Thirteenth Century Travelogue’ is one of tension and dread. Elsewhere, ‘The Divided City’ captivates and intrigues while ‘Only Strings and Their Supports Remain’ and ‘There Is One of Which You Never Speak’ are bold roars for survival before the choral ambience of ‘Desires Are Already Memories’ and piercing drones of ‘Total Perspective Vortex’ bring down the curtain on a spectacular and incredibly emotive body of work. Released on their own Artificial Pinearch Manufacturing label, ‘Invisible Cities’ comes as part of an agreement with A Winged Victory for the Sullen’s current label, Ninja Tune. LISTEN TO 'INVISIBLE CITIES'

26.02.2021

A Winged Victory For The Sullen - New Album "Invisible Cities" OUT NOW

A Winged Victory for the Sullen, the composer collaboration between Stars of the Lid founder Adam Wiltzie and L.A. composer Dustin O'Halloran, have released their newest album ‘Invisible Cities’, ...

31.01.2021

Wise Music Group Acquires Iconic Zombies Songs In Deal With Bocu Group

Wise Music Group has announced the purchase of the Marquis, Verulam, and Mistletoe Melodies music publishing companies from The Bocu Group. In doing so it has acquired the music publishing rights in the hits of legendary rock band The Zombies together with many other well-known writers. Song titles include Rod Argent’s 1964 British and American hit “She’s Not There” as well as “Tell Her No”, “Care of Cell 44” and “Time of the Season” from the 1968 album Odessey and Oracle – the latter was sampled by Eminem in his 2013 song “Rhyme or Reason". The deal also contains Chris White’s “This Will Be Our Year”, notably covered by The Beautiful South, Foo Fighters and Vanessa Paradis, Argent and White’s “Hold Your Head Up”, and Russ Ballard’s “God Gave Rock and Roll to You” – famously covered by American hard rock band Kiss with modified lyrics – the track being released as a single in 1991 from the soundtrack to Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. Further song rights comprise titles from Colin Blunstone’s solo albums such as One Year, Ennismore and On the Air Tonight, plus “A Blossom Fell” by Howard Barnes, Harold Cornelius, and Dominic John, most notably recorded by Nat King Cole on Capitol Records, reaching No 2 in the US charts, and subsequently recorded by Patti Page, Tony Bennett and Diana Krall. Terry Thompson’s “A Shot of Rhythm and Blues”, is also included. The song was originally recorded by US soul singer Arthur Alexander, then covered by The Beatles, Cilla Black, and many others. The companies’ rights also encompass titles by Duffy Power, who was originally discovered by famous impresario and English pop manager Larry Parnes. Power penned “I’m So Glad You’re Mine”, “Mary Open the Door” and “If I Get Lucky”. He also wrote with Alexis Korner (“Long Black Train”). Further songs include Edwin Astley’s music for the TV series The Saint and Danger Man; jazz pianist-vocalist Mose Allison’s “Parchman Farm”, and Graham Bond’s “Spanish Blues”. The Bocu Group Managing Director Carole Broughton said: “I’m delighted to have concluded a deal with Wise Music. I know that the team there will do a great job and I look forward to being a part of the transition process with this family-owned company.” Wise Music Group’s Director of Global Rights Development Chris Butler responded: “It has been a pleasure working with Carole on this deal which continues our growth and development as one of the world’s leading independent music publishers. These are wonderful songs and we are thrilled to have added them to our global catalogue.”

31.01.2021

Wise Music Group Acquires Iconic Zombies Songs In Deal With Bocu Group

Wise Music Group has announced the purchase of the Marquis, Verulam, and Mistletoe Melodies music publishing companies from The Bocu Group. In doing so it has acquired the music publishing rights in ...

13.11.2020

Ariel Marx Releases New Album 'Luthier'

Sundance Music and Sound Design Lab fellow and multi-instrumentalist, composer Ariel Marx, known for her work in television and film, has released a "love letter to strings" on Node Records. Luthier, Marx's latest solo album, is available now on all major digital platforms, and a video for the track "Diapason" made its debut on YouTube today.Marx has long admired the versatility and emotionality capacity of stringed instruments. She is known for her bold experimentalism, and uses combinations of traditional and extended techniques in her scores to evoke everything from romanticism to disquiet. The music of Luthier showcases this versatility of stringed instruments, and takes the listener through a tour of human emotion using various techniques and styles.Says Marx: "I have always been drawn to strings for their humanness. A single stringed instrument is limitless and embodies endless sonic possibilities within its seams. It can at one moment evoke warmth and gentleness, and the next, abrasiveness and unease — with just a single adjustment of the finger or bowing positions. It can be both textural and melodic, poised and volatile, and can both comfort and terrify. In this way, it feels human — exposed, and raw, and capable of multitudes. It is this duplicity that I love to explore as a composer and musician. A master of both acoustics and woodworking, a luthier is the creator of the instrument, the keeper of its secrets, the giver of its voice. Inspired by concepts of acoustics, lutherie and explorations of playing techniques, Luthier was written as a love letter to strings."Luthier is available now on digital platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and more.

13.11.2020

Ariel Marx Releases New Album 'Luthier'

Sundance Music and Sound Design Lab fellow and multi-instrumentalist, composer Ariel Marx, known for her work in television and film, has released a "love letter to strings" on Node Records. Luthier, ...

06.11.2020

Ólafur Arnalds new album 'some kind of peace' Out Now + WHEN WE ARE BORN film coming soon in 2021

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Ólafur Arnalds has released album some kind of peace, his first album published by Bosworth Music, part of Wise Music Group. As his most revealing and vulnerable work to date, the album features a beautiful new track, ‘We Contain Multitudes’, and features Ólafur’s close companions Bonobo, Josin, and JFDR (as seen on the album’s stunning first single, 'Back to The Sky'). Ólafur Arnalds is one of the most influential musicians of modern times: a multi-faceted talent, who has paved the way across the electronic and classical worlds. ‘some kind of peace’, nonetheless has the feel of a brand-new chapter for Ólafur. Within, you'll find a self-confessed perfectionist grappling with the messier realities of everyday life: the possibilities of love, of settling down, and how to navigate all of that during a global pandemic (the album was half-written prior to lockdown, and completed at Arnalds' harbor studio in downtown Reykjavik). What's emerged on 'some kind of peace' is a record about letting your guard down, and ultimately what it means to be alive. Recorded at his studio at the harbour in downtown Reykjavik, some kind of peace is Ólafur’s most personal record to date, one that’s open and honest. The album was born out of the following mantra: “we can’t control anything that happens to us. All we can do is control how we react to what life gives us.” LISTEN TO some kind of peace HERE Following the release of some kind of peace, Mercury Studios has announced Ólafur Arnalds’ WHEN WE ARE BORN, a short film directed by Vincent Moon and produced by Mercury Studios, Petites Planètes and Akkeri Films for Mercury KX— coming in 2021. Tracing a metaphysical and yet thoroughly human journey based on his life, WHEN WE ARE BORN follows Arnalds through music that reflects his inner landscapes like anxiety, letting go and falling in love. As he explores this surreal world through sound, we see these emotions manifested and symbolised all around him through set design, lighting and dance. We come to realise that the music in the film is a reaction to those abstract experiences, revealing a layered, metaphorical world. WHEN WE ARE BORN was filmed on location in Iceland in summer 2020. The music throughout the film builds upon some kind of peace and was performed and recorded live on set, with the location of performers in a scene impacting their sound in realistic ways; representing a constant cinematic conversation between picture and music. It features the contributions of an unparalleled creative collective including ground-breaking choreographer Erna Ómarsdóttir, the Icelandic Dance Company and cinematographer Thor Eliasson. “When We Are Born is a very personal journey set within a world that blurs the boundaries of reality,” says Arnalds. “Recording everything live on set, including the music, in a long seamless sequence we wanted to feel the raw process of creativity within the film itself and to present the music as a reactionary element to the real life stories that influenced it. Through themes of rituals, relationships and exploration of our inner landscapes, WHEN WE ARE BORN is a film focused on how we all move forward — made especially potent in the times of disconnect and isolation we now live in. Praise for Ólafur Arnalds’ some kind of peace “‘some kind of peace’ is the most impactful record I've heard this year. At the center of Ólafur Arnalds' music are his melodic piano sounds, which often capture not just the notes, but the atmosphere, the sound of the hammers and the guts of the instrument.” — Bob Boilen, NPR Music (50 Best Albums of 2020) "Ólafur Arnalds draws mystery from seeming simplicity in ‘Woven Song’ from his new album, ‘Some Kind of Peace.’ He devised a Minimalist piano waltz to accompany an icaro, a healing song from an Amazonian shaman who has a whispery high voice. A string section quietly wafts in yet ends up being all that’s left, sustaining chords like the waltz’s ghostly memories.” — The New York Times “These neoclassical compositions are incredibly touching and full of wonder.” — Paste "On ‘some kind of peace,’ the Icelandic multi-instrumentalist embraces birth, death, and new beginnings" — Document Journal

06.11.2020

Ólafur Arnalds new album 'some kind of peace' Out Now + WHEN WE ARE BORN film coming soon in 2021

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Ólafur Arnalds has released album some kind of peace, his first album published by Bosworth Music, part of Wise Music Group. As his most revealing and vulnerable ...

16.09.2020

RIP Frederick 'Toots' Hibbert

Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert, Grammy-Award winning multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and front-man of the legendary Jamaican group ‘Toots and the Maytals’, sadly passed away on Friday 11th September at the age of 77.The news was confirmed on the band’s official social media account with the words "It is with the heaviest of hearts to announce that Frederick Nathaniel 'Toots' Hibbert passed away peacefully tonight, surrounded by his family at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica.”One of Jamaica’s most influential musicians, Toots was a pioneer in the popularisation of reggae music, often referred to as 'one of the fathers' of the genre. His career spanned six decades, helping establish the fundamentals of reggae including coining the name, first featured in his 1968 hit ‘Do The Reggay’. Toots told 6 Music “The music was there, and no-one didn’t know what to call it. I recorded this song (Do The Reggay) and people told me that the song let them know that our music is called Reggae. So, I’m the one who coined the word!”Toots’ death comes a matter of weeks after the release of Got to Be Tough, the band's first full-length album in more than a decade. The album, which saw Toots acting as producer, songwriter and musician, has received standout, worldwide recognition including a 6 page feature in Rolling Stone Magazine looking at Toots’ entire career leading to the release of Got To Be Tough. Toots said the album “is speaking out about injustices while pointing to a better time, teaching a path to recovery and step to better days on the journey ahead. This album is a bind builder of positive objectives”. Listen here.

16.09.2020

RIP Frederick 'Toots' Hibbert

Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert, Grammy-Award winning multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and front-man of the legendary Jamaican group ‘Toots and the Maytals’, sadly passed away on Friday ...

19.06.2020

Dion's 'Blues With Friends' Hits #1 on Billboard's Blues Albums Chart

Congrats to Dion! The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee's new album Blues With Friends has reached #1 on Billboard's Blues Albums Chart, and also hit the #1 spot on the IBBA UK charts for May 2020. Among the album's impressive artists and collaborators are Paul Simon, Jeff Beck, Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen. Read American Songwriter's review and stream the album now.

19.06.2020

Dion's 'Blues With Friends' Hits #1 on Billboard's Blues Albums Chart

Congrats to Dion! The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee's new album Blues With Friends has reached #1 on Billboard's Blues Albums Chart, and also hit the #1 spot on the IBBA UK charts for May 2020. ...

17.06.2020

Toots & the Maytals Announce New Album + Title Track "Got To Be Tough"

Legendary Jamaican artist Frederick "Toots" Hibbert returns with his first studio release in more than a decade - the title track "Got To Be Tough" from Toots and the Maytals' full-length album out August 28th via Trojan Jamaica/BMG Records! Hibbert tells Rolling Stone that the album will 'speak out against injustices while pointing to a better time.' Listen to the single below & pre-save / order the album here. Check out Toots' feature in the latest issue of Uncut Magazine:

17.06.2020

Toots & the Maytals Announce New Album + Title Track "Got To Be Tough"

Legendary Jamaican artist Frederick "Toots" Hibbert returns with his first studio release in more than a decade - the title track "Got To Be Tough" from Toots and the Maytals' full-length album out ...