Hello gentle reader, and a hearty Happy Thanksgiving to you. And to my non-American readers, I hope you enjoy watching us celebrate the settling of our nation with oversized balloon characters, football, and overstuffed stomachs. Yeah, most of us don’t get it either.
Well, this year has been a crazy one for me on a lot of fronts, but a particularly rich one on the creative one. More on the sheer scope of that creativity at the end of the year- this is about my recent ventures into my creative mind and soul.
Brian Skutle: “Peaceful Meditation”
Recently, inspired by my work on a video project for a concert I was a part of as part of the Atlanta Composers Group and the writings of the great Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky in his book “Sculpting in Time,” I found a way to combine my cinematic influences and efforts with my music, and have begun creating video presentations for several of my pieces. Three have been created thus far (the most recent- seen below for my 2000 piece “Radio Noir”- was uploaded Wednesday), and all are available on my YouTube page for your viewing pleasure (feedback is encouraged), with more ideas on the way, although suggestions for further such projects are welcome if you have a piece of mine you’d like to see brought to new life in this way.
Brian Skutle: “Radio Noir”
Work on my fourth album, “Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey”– first discussed in my August music blog entry here– is progressing, although not quite as quickly as I’d hoped (don’t expect it before 2009). My first attempt to record with a live musician with my new setup didn’t work as well as I’d hoped (it was my bad, not theirs), so many of the pieces are still unrecorded. But a couple more of pieces of the electronic variety have made their way towards completion. Currently unavailable on Sonic Cinema (for now) due to space limitations, they are “The Minutiae of Space†and “A Place Among the Starsâ€, and if you’ve seen the movie that’s inspired this project, you’ll no doubt be able to figure out where those pieces fit in the grand scheme. Currently, I’m hard at work developing and recording the piece entitled “The Ultimate Trip”– again, I think the title says it all as to where the piece fits if you’ve seen Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”. The depth and scope of this piece is unlike anything else I’ve ever written, and a lot of techniques are going into play in its’ creation (it’s more sound design than classical composition, and in many ways, a return to past techniques for me), but the results have been immensely exciting for me to hear. The whole work will be far too long to include on the site proper, but I have decided to cut together a brief montage of moments from the piece so you can get an idea of it. You can hear it by clicking here or on the title above. Feedback is encouraged, especially since I’ve got a ways to go with it.
Currently available on Sonic Cinema from “Beyond the Infinite: A Musical Odyssey”:
“A Mysterious Lunar Discover”
“Entr’Acte”
Well, there’s not a lot else to really discuss right now, although I hope you’ll be as excited about what I’ve talked about and presented here as I am. Thank you, as always, for your support over the years, and this past year in particular. It’s been a rough one for me, and I am profoundly grateful to have the friends and family (and fans) around me I have had to help me get through it. There’s more to come in the coming months and years, and I hope to have you all there every step of the way.
Brian Skutle: “Ethereal Atmospheres”
Thanks for listening,
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
www.myspace.com/brianskutle
www.myspace.com/cinemanouveau
Brian’s Current CDs Available
“Creative Beginnings” (1999)
“Dark Experiments” (2000)
“Sonic Visions of a New Old West” (2007)
