Vitamin D is an 2013 independent film by upcoming director / writer Saumene Mehrdady detailing the tragic story of Beth, a disillusioned young twenty-something who is deathly allergic to the light of the sun and her clueless and self-centered boyfriend J over the course of three days.
With scattered drums, atmospheric synths, droning claustrophobic guitars and electronically manipulated sounds providing an uneasy emotional undercurrent, the fifteen track score is the first major film soundtrack release for Long Beach music producer undocument and is musically in the same vein as the award-winning "The Social Network" and "Drive" film scores.
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UNDOCUMENT performs live for the very first time tonight in Long Beach, at DiPiazza's!
Doors open at 8pm so get there early and get really drunk so it seems like I'm way more awesome than I really am. And if you can't make it, keep an eye on this site for great live pictures and videos!
See you tonight!
Let's take a moment to thank Ian from Crazy Wicked Awesome who has been kind enough to take a moment out of his hectic day and give a ecstatic review of my debut album "For Lovers, Dreamers & Non-Believers".
In addition to complimenting my music and my looks, he makes a point in mentioning:
"[undocument is] awesome as fuck."
Well said, Ian. Well said.
Additionally, Ian has been kind enough to include my music on his online radio show, which features an awesome collection of eclectic and talented artists...and now me.
By far one of the most exciting and game-changing ways to produce music nowadays (that isn't an app) is with the Ableton Live music production software, which recently released its ninth incarnation adding some amazing features and updates, including: Recording automation into clips, a redesigned browser, a brand new compressor, and my favorite, the rather inspirational ability to convert audio to MIDI.
Although I usually produce my music in ProTools and Reason (also with its own brand new update), the centerpiece of my live show (as it is for many other music producers, DJ's, and electronic musicians) revolves exclusively around Live, an extremely powerful and fluid DAW that is built for performing, while still including a multitude of recording and mixing features that keep it firmly in the same class as other top of the line competitors.
Since I've done an exorbitant amount of research on the ins, outs and best kept secrets of the software for my own live show, I thought I'd share what I've uncovered with you in this month's Top Nine: Best Ableton Live Tips, Tutorials & Videos.
Electronic producer & musician UNDOCUMENT plays his very first live show at Long Beach's illustrious DiPiazza's on May 18th, 2013, with extremely special guests hIPNOSTIC, as two unlikely musical genres combine for a night of great music and even greater alcoholic drinks.
If you like live music and you like to have a good time, that's okay! Come out anyway, it'll probably be fun.
Find out more information below:
In his most recent Saturday Night Live appearance, multi-talented singer, songwriter, actor, comedian and packaging expert Justin Timberlake had only one truly "disappointing" sketch in a slew of old and new favorites that (somehow) surpassed the incredibly high expectations of the audience and made it's way as one of the shows highest rated episodes of the season.
Yet, in "The Tales Of Sober Caligula", based on the allegedly notorious Roman Emperor who was blamed for everything from wild drunk orgies, to incest, to mass murder, to naming his horse a senator, to you name it which eventually led to his assassination by his own guards in 41 AD.
The humor of the sketch comes from a new and reformed leader bent on changing his debaucherous ways, and his loyal subjects who expected something much more scandalous than game night.
It's no wonder why the skit doesn't work; in addition to it's shaky premise (it might play better if the stakes were higher, or hell, if people knew who Caligula was), and the fact that it runs a bit long, the sketch falls flat before even getting a chance to go anywhere. Ultimately, one can almost sense that the humor is hiding somewhere just under the surface, but what made it to air was merely a brief sparkle in Justin's eye.
It's a below average sketch (for any number of reasons that may or may not even be under anyone's control), and, hindsight should've been replaced, if at all possible.
What makes this so significant is that the commonly known rules of the show dictate that the star gets final say on what goes to air or not, which is the underlying problem of the Caligula sketch, and also of the superb and recently released "The 20/20 Experience", the latest musical contribution the jack-of-all-trades Justin Timberlake has bequeathed upon the world, and it suffers in much the same way.
The production throughout the ten (or twelve) tracks is all high-quality, and more often than not, well-crafted, thanks to his continued collaboration with Timbaland which is quite apparent throughout the album, showing a distinction from his Missy Elliott past, while still remaining true to the style that caught his BFF Justin's eye for FutureSex/LoveSound. The problem comes into play when he attempts to further his role, specifically by rapping or adlibbing or sampling his voice all annoyingly, it's those songs that suffer most (see Timbaland's verse in "Dress On" for a quick example).
On one hand, Timbaland's production style makes the album, fusing perfectly with Justin's lyrical style and direction. On the other hand, anything that Timbaland touches that goes past purely producing, ends up ruining, like a King Midas but with monosyllabic grunts and jagged, mis-rhymed flows coming out of his hands instead of gold.
Justin's is ultimately at fault here of course, for as much of the credit of the fantastic album goes to him, so does the blame. Not only does he provide some of the most cringe-worthy lyrics ever, his most egregious mistake for letting these ill-advised decisions make it all the way to the album (or to air, as it were).
So for good or bad, let's take a nice long look and listen to Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience" in this month's Top Nine.
Ian from CrazyWickedAwesome.com has linked up the hypnotic video for Partially Yours on his blog, as well as adding some undocument to his fantastic online radio station!
Be sure to listen to the great, fantastic and superb CrazyWickedAwesome radio stream for lots of other great independent artists, and why not follow Ian on Twitter while you're at it.
The titillatingly titled underground dance music showcase Noiseporn.com has broken all their rules about promoting only the newest releases in the Breaks, Trap, Electro House, Techno, Drum & Bass, and Dubstep fields by gracefully featuring whatever mash of genres my debut album For Lovers, Dreamers & Non-Believers is currently considered to be.
Check out the insightful review right here: For Lovers, Dreamers & Non-Believers - Noiseporn.com
And be sure to friend, follow, and check out more great music from Noiseporn.com.
While researching this month's Top Nine, I came across a wonderful YouTube video of the Kronos Quartet (featured on the amazing The Fountain Soundtrack) appearing on the un-google-maps-able Sesame Street, and I wanted to share it with you guys.
Don't say I never taught you anything.
It's hard to believe, but Friday, March 15th was the one year anniversary of my debut release, "For Lovers, Dreamers & Non-Believers".
Since that day, I've received a tremendous response: from new opportunities, had new experiences and most especially, made new fans all over the globe.
I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for all they've done for me and my music this past year,
Let just hope I don't mess it all up next year.
If you haven't already, feel free to take a listen to the album in its entirety below:
For More Information: For Lovers, Dreamers & Non-Believers - BandCamp
If there's one thing that is most underrated and undervalued by the audiences who watch films (and TV shows, and commercials) is what the hell a Key Grip does. Seriously, what does that guy do?!?...but easily the second most underrated and undervalued thing is the soundtrack.
How often do you walk out of a movie proclaiming: "Boy, that acting was horrible, but man what a oboe section! They really captured the gravitas of that car chase through the eyes of the clarinet!"
Never! You've never done that don't you lie to me!
I think it's a illusion that even the movie industry sustains; Not only does the audience usually brush the soundtrack aside, but at times, so does the director and even the movie studios. Generally, the music department gets the last scraps of a over-extended budget, and has to slam out a professional product in the brief weeks during post-production.
And even if everything gets done on time, and under budget, nine out of ten times the audience notices the soundtrack is there only when it is shitty enough to get noticed (awhich is usually no fault of the composer), but even worse, more often than not, if the soundtrack is actually good, most people in the audience won't even realize the it's there at all, fitting seamlessly into the movie-watching experience, instead of sticking out.
This month we dabble in the Top Nine: Great and Unknown Soundtracks, and take a look at some of my favorite music for films. Not just pre-recorded songs picked out and placed haphazardly for movies (lets do a different Top Nine for that), but scores composed specifically for film.
So cue the lion's roar, or the picture of a mountain, or the planet spinning around, or a picture of a tree, or some crazy lady, and let's get rolling.
