Apophenia

This month's new music explores the hidden patterns that are exposed when our brain tries to make meaning out of randomness...



As always, headphones are recommended. Stream for free, pay what you like.

Morbius

I broke out the circuit bent Casio SK-1 and put together a new track ("Morbius") for the "Cheap and Plastic" compilation from Hal McGee that you can listen to below (scroll down to track 45) or go straight to Hal's Bandcamp page to go deep down the rabbit hole. ;)



yes, it's a "Forbidden Planet" reference ;)

Steampunk Zeppelin

A Steampunk Zeppelin, made from recycled plastic...

Map Ref

Map Ref is 10 tracks of dark ambient music based on field recordings -- as always, headphones are strongly recommended...

Textures

This is what it sounds like in my head reproduced in convenient 10 minute slices.

90 minutes of sine wave melodies, sliding formants, narrow frequency spikes, sub-atomic spelunking, deep-breathing exercises, ebb & flow, vague rumbles, the sound of air, ritualism and chaos.

Now all that can be in your head.

You're welcome.

(Headphones strongly suggested)

Sunset

A short time-lapse of a sunset as seen through the screen door.

Cabin in the Woods

A dark & foreboding soundtrack to a nasty snowstorm, shot in my backyard...

Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus

Here's short film trailer that my son shot for an English assignment. I did the music, naturally -- it's in my contract ;)



I hope he gets an "A"

Mr. Claus

A new holiday short from Moving Echo Films: "In these austere times, even Santa is feeling the pinch. Now he's taking back what's his..."



Writing "kling klang jingle jangle" music is hard. ;)

Gnome 2 Can Hear You Scream

Happy Halloween!

Here's a new horror movie that I had the pleasure of working on...



The score is somewhere in a John Carpenter / Elmer Bernstein / Bernard Herrmann axis.

please don't send an angry e-mail, that was meant to be humorous ;)

Moby - Lie Down In Darkness (Mike Crooker Guitar Mix)

A Moby remix for your Friday afternoon...

moby - lie down in darkness (mike crooker guitar mix) by MikeCrooker

now with visuals

Lullaby

Vocals by Christopher Foldi, Instruments by Mike Crooker

Lullaby by MikeCrooker

Memoriam Part 2 Video

Here's a video I did for the remix of Memoriam Part 2

At first, it looks a bit like a satellite image of a distant planetary storm, then the faces start appearing ;)

Best watched full screen in HD

Full album available here: http://chaircrusher.bandcamp.com/album/memoriam

David Talento - Cumbus DX27
Kent Williams - Guitar, strange mandolin-y thing, Sears Chord Organ
Melissa Williams - album art

Mike Crooker - Bass, E-Bow Guitar, circuit bent Casio SK-1, programming, video

David Talento and Kent Williams "Memoriam" Remix

A remix of a new David Talento and Kent Williams track, veering off into (West) Germany circa 1975. As Kent said...

Mike Crooker took part 2 of our Memoriam session and did a fantastic remix. He took our loose jam and made it into the track it should be.

I added the drums, bass, e-bow guitar and circuit bent Casio SK-1.

You can A/B the tracks for yourself here (track 2 and 4 respectively) from their Bandcamp page -- also available for sale as a 320 mp3 or FLAC.

 

GeekDad remix album released!

Good news everybody!

I recently did a remix of John Anealio's song GeekDad and was lucky enough to be a winner in the contest!

Here's the remix album -- my entry is the first track called the "One Hand Clapping Remix" -- the idea was "Roy Thomas Baker producing the Cars circa 1981" ;)

Let me know what you think!

48HFP wrap-up

Here's the music written for last week's 48 Hour Film Project. The first eight tracks are from Cleveland, the rest are from the San Francisco 48HFP.

The Cleveland tracks were based on the drawing of the "period piece" genre (the team chose the 1930's), so I went with piano, choir, strings on the main themes for the tale of Dexter Taylor, Psychology Professor.

48HFP by MikeCrooker

two new tracks

hybrids of sorts...

Inspire by MikeCrooker

Bamboo Forest by MikeCrooker

48 Hours

Over eight minutes of new material, written over the course of last weekend for another project, conveniently located in one spot for your dining and dancing pleasure...


48 Hours by MikeCrooker

Another Day, Another Remix.

This time it's a remix of a new track from my old friend Ray Carmen. He recorded a cover of the Bob Dylan / Manfred Mann chestnut "The Mighty Quinn" and I turned it into something that the Jesus & Mary Chain and/or My Bloody Valentine might have recorded if the 90s never ended. ;)

Ray Carmen - The Mighty Quinn (remix) by MikeCrooker

The track can also be found on Ray's brand new EP called "Lincoln St."

Angry Robot Remix Album

The Angry Robot Remix Album was released on 31 May 2011 -- and I'm happy to report that a mix of mine made the cut! This was a great deal of fun to work on -- right in my wheelhouse. ;)

For my "Singularity Mix", I went with a Kraftwerk/Trio/Depeche Mode feel with an added theremin to harken back to classic science fiction films with robots. Robbie & Gort, I'm looking at you...

Here the track listing:

1. Dale Chase: www.dalechase.com
2. Denis Cherryman
3. David Ritter: www.macmufasa.com
4. Mike Crooker: soundcloud.com/mikecrooker
5. Chooch Schubert: chooch.us

Artwork by Patrick Hester. www.atfmb.com

Here's more background on the Geek of The Week page.

New Remix: Sander van Doorn - Daisy (Chainsaw Mix)

Over at Talenthouse, I've uploaded a remix of Sander van Doorn's track "Daisy" for a contest. If you like it, please consider hitting the vote button.

Bonus points for living through the 1990s and recognizing the name of the mix in the title. ;)

What #winning sounds like...

From my friends at Power Salad, a proto-demented parody of Charlie Sheen (click on Charlie's ginormous brain to download)

Be quick -- the shelf life on this one is measured in half-days.

Two new pieces and one new video

The nice thing about vacation is I can finally finish up some music projects -- so here's what shipped.


"Birdsong" is a wistful, downtempo track inspired one spring day while sitting outside. I heard these notes as a call and response between two birds. The bass was inspired by another bird call. Mostly VST, but there are also some circuit bent Casio SK-1 sounds lurking in the background.

Shot on a Nikon D90 with an AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED lens during a recent snow storm.



The best way to describe "Kalimba" is 3 vs 4 -- in both meter and instrumentation.

Using a kalimba, electric piano and marimba vs. cello, viola, violin, cymbal

kalimba by MikeCrooker


Vujade is a longer piece -- features guitars (e-bow), percussion and loads of atmosphere. Perfect for your next overcranked/slo-mo action sequence set in a foreign land. ;)

vujade by MikeCrooker

Hot Tub Time Machine

Hello Ladies! Welcome to my hot tub...

hot tub by MikeCrooker

Halloween week... "Martha's Secret Recipe"

Over the years I've done many Halloween themed projects. This short horror/comedy film set in the sitcom world of the late 1950's definitely falls into that category.

 


Martha's Secret Recipe from Mike Crooker on Vimeo.

Neighbors at a dinner party discuss Martha's meatloaf recipe in this short film set in the sitcom world of the late 1950's. Written by Laura Matis, Directed by Mike Crooker. Starring: Laura Matis, John Coleman, Andrew Lent, Lori Rogers Lent.

The idea to make the film was hatched one evening after having Laura & John over for dinner. After showing them some of the small films that I had shot over the years (sort of the modern version of vacation slides), we started riffing on Halloween concepts that we could shoot without any budget, special effects and a small cast.

Laura went home and e-mailed me a script the next day. We shot it about two weeks later in my dining room and garage. My wife's parents house stood in for the 1950's ranch style home in the title sequence, but that's my front door Laura emerges from and gives that quintessential Barbara Billingsley (RIP) wave. We shot the whole thing in less than three hours, then opened a couple bottles of wine, went out on the patio and ate the rest of the meatloaf that my wife had made for the shoot.

The only thing that we had to go back and shoot a couple of days later was the close-up of the plate meatloaf which we missed the first time -- there's something about meatloaf (and food pictures in general) when shot in black and white that makes it even less appealing than normal. ;)

Here's a better picture of the meatloaf in color...

Tech stuff: The project was shot on a Nikon D90, and the audio was recorded (on a boom mounted SM-58) straight to my laptop -- the original audio from the built in mic was not very good.

I wrote the music cues in a about a week and did four different versions of the dinner music theme, but this one worked the best.

 

Dinner Music by MikeCrooker