Vinyl. It’s tangible. It’s distinct smell brings back as many memories as the tunes… While you’re listening to an album for instance, you can scan the cover art front and back, and you can read every inch of info printed on the jacket and on the inside sleeve; writers. producers, publishers, featured vocalists, thank you’s… and then you can read all sorts of things into the photos. Okay, you can do some of this with CD’s, but only to a minimizing effect.

For an October pick, I grabbed 3rd Bass “The Cactus Album”. Coincidentally, it was released in October 1989, back when you had to read mags, go to a show or check out a video broadcasting in real time if you wanted to know more about an act and their music. In those days, 3rd Bass and I were all being managed by Rush… them in the US, me in the UK, as I tip my hat to Russell Simmons and Trenton Harrison. As for Cactus, I was always on the lookout for a gem of an album cut. To this day “Monte Hall” is still a big fave with that groovy, Grover Washington Jr. sample from “Black Frost” and the evocative Jim Morrison sample, “This place is everything…”

While on the subject of Def Jam/Rush Management I also pulled out Public Enemy “It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back” released in April 1988, way ahead of it’s time. Of course it’s a classic, but it’s been a very long time since I’ve listened to it on vinyl, which is the whole point of this post. It was the The Bomb Squad’s production style that subliminally influenced the way I would later arrange music. Another album cut, gem and personal fave is “She Watch Channel Zero?!”

There’s something about listening to vinyl that takes me back in a way that listening to audio files, just doesn’t. Sharing music is a personal thing. You never really forget who first turned you on to a tune and under what circumstances. It’s contextualizing and bonding.

Speaking of dark sounds…
There’s a horror film in this year’s mix of projects. Continuing a tradition of working with up and coming talent, I’ve recently scored another UK indie feature called, “Demons Never Die”, written and directed by (someone to watch), Arjun Rose. Surprisingly, it was executive producer, Idris Elba, who asked me to come on board. His call came not long before this year’s Golden Globes, and it was the day after the Globes that we had a chance to meet and talk about “Demons” and our greater individual goals to produce and create beyond our respective fields. It was a pleasure to meet someone whose work I so admire.  In case you haven’t checked out “Luther” yet, you’re really missing something.  

Since my post about the 5 year anniversary of the UK release of “KiDULTHOOD”, you may spot a thread… I like to see fresh faces breaking through and I like being able to support projects like these, with people who are not afraid to take chances and who aren’t willing to wait around for some royal invitation to participate in the creative arena.  Arjun had a particular vision for the score of “Demons Never Die”, and as a fan of my dark, contemporary score for “Boiler Room”, he hoped I could bring those sensibilities to his film.  We talked about blending traditional and non traditional instrumentation to enhance the horror, while keeping the sound current.  Arjun specifically wanted a love theme that sounded like a modern day fairytale for characters Archie (Robert Sheehan) and Jasmine (Jennie Jacques) in order to contrast against the dark themes and the horror.  We worked long distance, LA – London, but the creative flow between us made the distance seem negligible and Arjun’s open minded approach to incorporating even suggestions made outside the musical realm gave me insight into how he is likely to grow as a director… Boundlessly.  

In “Demons Never Die”,  a new crop of young UK talent is getting their chance to shine.  UK release is set for Oct. 28th, just in time for Halloween. Tulisa Contostavlos (N-Dubz, The X Factor), Robert Sheehan (Misfits), Jennie Jacques, Jason Maza, Emma Rigby, Jacob Anderson, Femi Oyeniran, Ashley Walters, Reggie Yates, Shanika Warren-Markland, Jack Doolan and Andrew Ellis are all names you’ll be hearing more about outside of the UK very soon…

I still love my vinyl… Shelf after shelf of the beautiful stuff – a permanent fixture. But when was the last time I pulled anything out to listen to it? Hmm… Like everyone else, I’m creating and listening to audio files, stored on one gadget or another and the files become invisible.

So, I’ve decided to pull out some random 12′s, albums, ep’s… whatever catches my eye – hold it, listen to it, enjoy it – take a sonic trip all the way down memory lane and share at least one a month right here. I’m starting with “Rockin’ It” by The Fearless Four. Apart from drum fills and the occasional additional synth here and there, it’s the classic one bar loop that you never want to end.

And the underexposed Lady B, classic “To The Beat Y’all”… No one rocks the mic like this woman. I’m surprised I didn’t wear out the grooves on this one.

September inspiration. It doesn’t have to be deep, to hit the spot… I’ll always love these.

So, back in 2005 I worked on a little UK indie film project.  The director (Menhaj “Huds” Huda) and writer (Noel Clarke) were both up and coming, as were most of the young cast.  There were a couple of established producers (Alexandra Stone and Damian Jones), who had faith in the film and they turned me on to the project… When I watched the rough cut, I could see the undeniable potential for it to connect with the UK youth audience, IF it could get enough exposure… Huds, the director, told me that he envisaged someone sitting in a room alone, programming the score, the way that the songs in the film would have been created… and the rest is history.

So, to celebrate KiDULTHOOD’s recent re-broadcasting on BBC3 and its 5 year anniversary, here come two dark and heavy reworkings of the KiDULTHOOD (Opening Theme). The Darkforce Dub Remixes are coming to a set of speakers near you, on August 2nd, 2011 – DNB remix by E-Sassin (174 BPM) and my own Dubstep On Sedatives remix (126 BPM). Pre Order is now available on iTunes.

New Supa Crucial Releases will be rolling out very shortly… Watch this space.

I love supporting up and coming talent and seeing fresh faces in the projects that I score.  Working with director Menhaj Huda on our third collaboration has once again given me the opportunity to do just this and I’m happy to see Huds (as he’s known to most of us) sharing a story that is close to home by having written and directed “Everywhere And Nowhere”.

Set in London, it is a coming of age drama about friends torn apart by choices relating to their cultural identity. Ash (played by James Floyd) has to navigate between the traditions of his Pakistani heritage and his personal freedom to pursue his passion for music as a DJ. This is a slice of UK Asian culture that few Americans have seen or experienced, yet the themes are universal and the backdrop of the dance music scene reminds us that despite religious and cultural differences, young people all over the world are unified in this other realm. And in light of what is going on in the world as I post this entry, I have to say this is a realm we should all strive to gravitate toward… one of unity.

Huds and I have an easy dialogue when it comes to music, which partly comes from us having already worked together on both KiDULTHOOD and West 10 LDN and partly because we both have an intrinsic understanding of each other’s musical references.

Mixing KiDULTHOOD at Videosonics in London - Aml Ameen & Adam Deacon on Screen

Huds is a genuine music enthusiast and likes to push boundaries, so although the heart of E+N is a family driven character study, he still hoped I’d keep thinking outside the box.  Before he got into post production he told me, “If you can find a way to keep it less traditional, that would be great, but if it turns out not to work, we can always fall back on traditional.” We talked about incorporating instruments like sitars, bansuri and tabla for example and then having me blend them with more contemporary synthetic textures. In the end, that’s exactly what I was able to do. I had plenty of emotional moments to enhance and by creating new sounds and not relying on the usual piano and strings I could give the film its own unique musical personality.

Menhaj Huda & The Angel - Mixing KiDULTHOOD

I’m always curious to see which sounds and/or melodies resonate the most with the directors or producers that I work with. Sometimes it’s big sweeping melodies, other times it’s the smallest detail that gets picked out as being the essence of a character’s feeling or the sound that encapsulates the environment of the film as a whole. Ash’s friend, Zaf (played by Adam Deacon) must put his ailing father to bed in a moving scene that gives us an intimate look at his family’s challenges. This is where I established a cue that Huds felt represented not only the sadness of the moment, but also captured Ash’s overall mindset. It is the simplicity of the melody played with just the right sound that worked for him.

Jaz (Elyes Gabel), Ash (James Floyd), Riz (Neet Mohan) & Zaf (Adam Deacon)

Beats & Pieces

So what’s been going on since January? Yes, I’ve been a little quiet since then, but it’s only because I’m steeped in projects that need to be kept under wraps, for now. Suffice it to say that I’ve been doing quite a bit of writing that is unconnected to my blog and all will become clear very soon… So watch this space.


Back on March 9th I spoke to the South Bay Filmmakers group about the film/TV scoring process, sharing my experience as one of a minority of female composers working internationally in both film and television. I always enjoy talking to filmmakers, writers and budding composers about the nuts and bolts of what composers do, giving “behind the scenes” anecdotes and my perspective on the whole process. Coming to composing from outside of the traditional path, I like to encourage anyone with creative vision and passion to “go for it” and to ignore the millions of reasons to talk oneself out of trying something.

Of course I’m still making noise… Throughout March I’ve also been deep in the cave, creating a dark and disturbing palette for an upcoming UK feature. Details to follow soon!