Background

Decomposition is the 7th release on Sound Punch Records. This compilation CD features recent film/video/installation score tracks by Melbourne-based composers, covering an extremely wide range of styles. Linking these composers is their exploration of eclectic styles of music as cinematic accompaniment. None of it sounds like ‘film music’ – either ambient washes or orchestral bombast - but their distinctive scores add greatly to the independent shorts for which they were designed. An exciting document of the greater possibilities of film music.

The launch for Decomposition at LOOP featured performances by Carl Anderson (Two4K), Philip Brophy, Leigh Ryan (Plutonic Lab) & Cornel Wilczeck (Qua).

Credits

Curator & mastering - Philip Brophy

2004

CD launch - Loop, Melbourne

Overview

Decomposition was developed to showcase a wide range of composers working on shorts and installations in Melbourne. All artists studied at Media Arts and undertook the Soundtrack component of the course when Philip lectured there up to 2003.

The notion of 'descoring' is something Philip has written about in numerous articles. It deals with ways in which one can explore ways counter to the European 19C models of composition where music is built-up to match (emotionally and synchronously) on-screen action. While this approach generated fascinating work in the early developments of live film accompaniment, the transpotion of this tactic onto the recorded film soundtrack is largely responsible for the archaic and non-modern aspects of movie music - especially grandiose orchestral music - as it persists today.

Philip has advocated a redress of this balance both in his writing and own compositions through promoting many examples in film history which "descoring' is then not necessarily a destructive anti-music notion, but rather an allowance for music to be parallel to the on-screen action. Sometimes sound and image are mismatched, mistimed, misaligned; other times one is indifferent to the other. Sometimes sound extends beyond the span of the image-track; other times is reduced so as to shrink away from image. These approaches and many more offer a wide range of psychological possibilities when their effects are infused into a film's narrative. The Decomposition tracks are all examples of these approaches.

Technical

Track Listing

1. The One – Askii [2’23”]
Performed & produced by Adam Milburn / Mink Engine
From that scene in that movie (2004) directed by that guy in Miami

2. Autumn Film 79 – Two4K [3’08”]
Produced by Two4K/Carl Anderson
Featured in the video Reflect (2000) by Sally Blenheim

3. 0-100 Degrees (edit version) - Tim Catlin [3’46”]
Performed, engineered & produced by Tim Catlin
From the 4-channel sound installation 0-100 degrees (2002) by Tim Catlin

4. The Tea Monster - Cornel Wilczek [3’48”]
Performed, engineered & produced by Cornel Wilczek
From the animation The Tea Monster (2002) by Cornel Wilczek

5. Laika the Space Dog - Bec Charlesworth [3’31”]
Performed, engineered & produced by Bec Charlesworth
From the animation Laika the Space Dog (2002) by Lucy Dyson

6. Stereomaze - Jp Larue [3’19”]
Produced by Jp Larue
From the animation Stereomaze (2002) by Pernille Jorgensen

7. I Never Loved You (end credits) – Isobel Knowles & Haima Marriott [1’59”]
Performed, engineered & produced by Isobel Knowles & Haima Marriott
From the video I Never Loved You (2003) by Cassandra Tytler

8. The Evidence of Love - Phillip Pietruchka [3’35”]
Performed by Nat Bates, Sianna Lee, Tim Catlin, James Cecil, Antonia Sellbach, Arwen Johnson, Adam Yee; recorded & mixed by Phillip Pietruschka; additional recording by James Cecil
From the video/installation The Evidence of Love (2004) by Cassandra Tytler

9. 100 Forms Of Happiness (Part 1) - Leigh Ryan [3’41”]
Performed, engineered & produced by Leigh Ryan
From the animation/installation 100 Forms Of Happiness (2002) by Kate Beynon

10. Breakfast News (Main Title) - Leigh Ryan [1’35”]
Performed, engineered & produced by Leigh Ryan
From the video Breakfast News (2002) by Kenneth Cheong

11. The Shining § Forecast - nat [4’17”]
Performed, engineered & produced by Nat Bates
From the series film§coria (2001 - 2002) new scores by nat to untouched visual clips

12. And I Cried (end credits) – Isobel Knowles & Haima Marriott [1’18”]
Performed, engineered & produced by Isobel Knowles & Haima Marriott
From the video And I Cried (2000) by Cassandra Tytler

13. Wired – Simon Howard [3’01”]
Performed, engineered & produced by Simon Howard
From the video Wired (2002) by Simon Howard

14. Slow Hour - Patrick Donlon [2’43”]
Produced by Spacey Space
From the animation Robosex (2002) by Lee Bristow

15. Brace, Brace - Jp Larue [3’01”]
Produced by Jp Larue
From the animation/installation Brace, Brace (2002) by Phip Murray

16. Any Other Day – Bruno [2’13”]
Lyrics by Gus Franklin & Isobel Knowles; composed, performed & produced by Gus Franklin, Isobel Knowles, Haima Marriott; mixed by Isobel Knowles and Haima Marriott; remixed by Gus Franklin
From the animation Bruno (2001/2) by Milo Kossowski

17. Sleepy - Hagus [3’21”]
Performed & produced by Haima Marriott & Gus Franklin
edited from live performance at Codec Cinema 3 to the video The Foggy Window (2003) by Cameron Bird

18. Residual - Andrew Reynolds [2’54”]
Produced by Andrew Reynolds; sound design by Andrew Reynolds & Sianna Lee; location sound by Nick Munnings & Andrew Reynolds
From the video Pecking Order (2001) by Polly Stanton

19. D-Girl - Benjamin Walbrook [2’28”]
Performed, engineered & produced by Benjamin Walbrook
From the video Dream Girl (2002) by Madeleine Griffiths

20. Launch Pad (intro & end theme) – Philip Brophy [2’01”]
Performed, engineered & produced by Philip Brophy
From the 6-channel Melbourne Planetarium show Launch Pad (2001)