The Cinematic Orchestra
Encyclopedia
The Cinematic Orchestra is a British
jazz
and electronic
outfit, created in 1997 by Jason Swinscoe. The band is signed to Ninja Tune
independent record label
. In addition to Swinscoe, the band includes PC former DJ Food
member (Patrick Carpenter) on turntables
, Luke Flowers (drums
), Tom Chant (Saxophone
), Nick Ramm
(piano
), Stuart McCallum (guitar
) and Phil France (double bass
). Former members include Jamie Coleman (trumpet
), T. Daniel Howard (drums), Federico Ughi
(drums) and Alex James (piano
). The most recent addition to the band is Mancunian
guitarist Stuart McCallum.
Swinscoe and Carpenter (PC) have also recorded together under the band name Neptune.
contexts, employs a live band which improvises along with a turntablist
and electronic elements such as samples
provided by Swinscoe. In their studio releases Swinscoe will often remix
the live source material to produce a combination of live jazz improvisation
with electronica
, such that it is difficult to tell where the improvisation ends and the production begins.
at Cardiff College, releasing one official single on his own Power Tools label. In 1994, Swinscoe was given a DJ spot on Heart FM, a pirate radio station in south London.
Their debut album, Motion, was released in 1999. The critical success of that album led to them being asked to perform at the Director's Guild Awards ceremony for the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to film director Stanley Kubrick
.
The band were asked by the organisers of the Porto
European City of Culture 2001 festival to write a new score
to Dziga Vertov
's classic 1929 Russia
n silent film Man with a Movie Camera
, to be performed live in accompaniment with a showing of the film. The work differed from the band's usual compositions due to its live performance, ruling out the post production work that was present on Motion. The Cinematic Orchestra toured with the work and later released it on an album of the same name. Many of the compositions originally created for Man with a Movie Camera
were later adapted from live form (adding in vocal tracks and electronic elements, among other changes) for their next album, Every Day. It reached #54 in the UK Albums Chart
in May 2002.
In 2006, The Cinematic Orchestra created a cover version of the Radiohead song "Exit Music (For a Film)
" that appeared on an album titled Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads
. In this piece the band slowed down the tempo of the original, divided the timbre into four sections beginning with saxophone, to the classical guitar, to the electric guitar, ending the piece with the same simple acoustic guitar rhythm as the original version.
The Cinematic Orchestra released the album Ma Fleur on May 7, 2007. Several songs feature Patrick Watson
, Fontella Bass
, or Lou Rhodes
on vocals, with Rhodes and Watson sharing vocals on one song.
The Cinematic Orchestra recorded the soundtrack to the Disneynature
film The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos
(in French: Les Ailes Pourpres: Le Mystère des Flamants), released in France on December 15, 2008. The score was performed live with the London Metropolitan Orchestra at The Union Chapel, Islington on September 17, 2009 and won the award for best original score at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Festival In Wyoming, USA on October 1, 2009.
, has been used extensively in film and television. It has featured in the 2010 film The Tree and the 2011 short Rapha Continental as well as episodes of Friday Night Lights
, Grey's Anatomy
, One Tree Hill
, Criminal Minds
, Ugly Betty
, On Thin Ice
, Top Gear and on Supersize vs Super Skinny . A shorter version of the song with a slightly different composition, "That Home", has also been used on occasion, such as in the trailer for the 2011 film Another Earth
and in the ABC
drama Defying Gravity
. It also featured in the seventh season finale of the FOX
dance competition So You Think You Can Dance
.
The Public Radio International
radio show This American Life
often uses The Cinematic Orchestra song "Drunken Tune" from the album Man with a Movie Camera.
The final scene and closing credits of the 2006 film Kidulthood
feature the song "All Things to All Men" from the album Every Day. The song also featured on the British soap Hollyoaks
in December 2009.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
outfit, created in 1997 by Jason Swinscoe. The band is signed to Ninja Tune
Ninja Tune
Ninja Tune is a London-based independent record label started by DJs Matt Black and Jonathan More, better known as Coldcut and managed by Peter Quicke. The label has a strong leaning towards mostly Electronic Music...
independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
. In addition to Swinscoe, the band includes PC former DJ Food
DJ Food
Originally produced by Coldcut on the Ninja Tune independent record label, the DJ Food project started in 1990 on the premise of providing metaphorical "food for DJs". DJ Food released the Jazz Brakes series, with Jazz Brakes Volume 3 being the most successful...
member (Patrick Carpenter) on turntables
Turntablism
Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
, Luke Flowers (drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
), Tom Chant (Saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
), Nick Ramm
Nick Ramm
Nick Ramm is a London based pianist and composer, son of pianist and cruise ship musical director Dave Ramm. He studied music at Keele University and at the Guildhall, London before embarking on his career with Nick Ramm's Quota...
(piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
), Stuart McCallum (guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
) and Phil France (double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
). Former members include Jamie Coleman (trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
), T. Daniel Howard (drums), Federico Ughi
Federico Ughi
Federico Ughi is an Italian drummer and composer. He works primarily in the fields of free improvisation and jazz. Originally from Italy, he has lived in New York City since 2000, and is based in Brooklyn, New York...
(drums) and Alex James (piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
). The most recent addition to the band is Mancunian
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
guitarist Stuart McCallum.
Swinscoe and Carpenter (PC) have also recorded together under the band name Neptune.
Style
The Cinematic Orchestra's sound, in both live and studioRecording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
contexts, employs a live band which improvises along with a turntablist
Turntablism
Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
and electronic elements such as samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
provided by Swinscoe. In their studio releases Swinscoe will often remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
the live source material to produce a combination of live jazz improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
with electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
, such that it is difficult to tell where the improvisation ends and the production begins.
History
Swinscoe first formed a group called Crabladder in 1990, whilst studying Fine ArtFine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
at Cardiff College, releasing one official single on his own Power Tools label. In 1994, Swinscoe was given a DJ spot on Heart FM, a pirate radio station in south London.
Their debut album, Motion, was released in 1999. The critical success of that album led to them being asked to perform at the Director's Guild Awards ceremony for the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to film director Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
.
The band were asked by the organisers of the Porto
Porto
Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
European City of Culture 2001 festival to write a new score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
to Dziga Vertov
Dziga Vertov
David Abelevich Kaufman , better known by his pseudonym Dziga Vertov , was a Soviet pioneer documentary film, newsreel director and cinema theorist...
's classic 1929 Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n silent film Man with a Movie Camera
Man with a Movie Camera
Man with a Movie Camera , sometimes called The Man with the Movie Camera, The Man with a Camera, The Man With the Kinocamera, or Living Russia is an experimental 1929 silent documentary film, with no story and no actors, by Russian director Dziga Vertov, edited by his wife Elizaveta...
, to be performed live in accompaniment with a showing of the film. The work differed from the band's usual compositions due to its live performance, ruling out the post production work that was present on Motion. The Cinematic Orchestra toured with the work and later released it on an album of the same name. Many of the compositions originally created for Man with a Movie Camera
Man with a Movie Camera (album)
Man with a Movie Camera is a 2003 soundtrack album by The Cinematic Orchestra, released on 26 May, 2003 on Ninja Tune. The album contains re-workings and thematic reprises of some of the music from their previous album, Every Day, including the tracks "Man with a Movie Camera", and an instrumental...
were later adapted from live form (adding in vocal tracks and electronic elements, among other changes) for their next album, Every Day. It reached #54 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
in May 2002.
In 2006, The Cinematic Orchestra created a cover version of the Radiohead song "Exit Music (For a Film)
Exit Music (For a Film)
"Exit Music " is a song by Radiohead, written specifically for the ending credits of the 1996 film William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. Although not included on either of the two soundtrack albums at the request of Thom Yorke, the song appears on the band's highly acclaimed third album, OK...
" that appeared on an album titled Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads
Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads
Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads is a tribute album to British band Radiohead released in 2006 on Rapster Records and Barely Breaking Even Records...
. In this piece the band slowed down the tempo of the original, divided the timbre into four sections beginning with saxophone, to the classical guitar, to the electric guitar, ending the piece with the same simple acoustic guitar rhythm as the original version.
The Cinematic Orchestra released the album Ma Fleur on May 7, 2007. Several songs feature Patrick Watson
Patrick Watson (musician)
Patrick Watson is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and the name of the band which he fronts, whose blend of cabaret pop and classical music influences with indie rock has been compared to Rufus Wainwright, Andrew Bird, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley and Pink Floyd for their experimental musicianship.-...
, Fontella Bass
Fontella Bass
Fontella Bass is an American soul singer, who is best known for the 1965 R&B hit "Rescue Me", which she also co-wrote.-Early life:...
, or Lou Rhodes
Lou Rhodes
Lou Rhodes is an English singer and songwriter from Manchester, now living in Wiltshire. In addition to providing vocals and lyrics for the band Lamb, Rhodes has released three solo albums: Beloved One, Bloom and One Good Thing...
on vocals, with Rhodes and Watson sharing vocals on one song.
The Cinematic Orchestra recorded the soundtrack to the Disneynature
Disneynature
Disneynature is an independent film label of The Walt Disney Company, founded on April 21, 2008 as a division of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group...
film The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos
The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos
The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos is a 2008 British-French-American nature documentary from the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group's nature film label Disneynature...
(in French: Les Ailes Pourpres: Le Mystère des Flamants), released in France on December 15, 2008. The score was performed live with the London Metropolitan Orchestra at The Union Chapel, Islington on September 17, 2009 and won the award for best original score at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Festival In Wyoming, USA on October 1, 2009.
Song appearances
The song "To Build a Home", from the album Ma Fleur and featuring the vocals of the Canadian singer-songwriter Patrick WatsonPatrick Watson (musician)
Patrick Watson is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and the name of the band which he fronts, whose blend of cabaret pop and classical music influences with indie rock has been compared to Rufus Wainwright, Andrew Bird, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley and Pink Floyd for their experimental musicianship.-...
, has been used extensively in film and television. It has featured in the 2010 film The Tree and the 2011 short Rapha Continental as well as episodes of Friday Night Lights
Friday Night Lights (TV series)
Friday Night Lights is an American sports drama television series adapted by Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and David Nevins from a book and film of the same name. The series details events surrounding a high school football team based in fictional Dillon, Texas, with particular focus given to team...
, Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
, One Tree Hill
One Tree Hill (TV series)
One Tree Hill is an American television drama created by Mark Schwahn, which premiered on September 23, 2003, on The WB Television Network. After its third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and, since September 27, 2006, the network has been the official broadcaster...
, Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
, Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
, On Thin Ice
On Thin Ice (TV Series)
On Thin Ice is a documentary following a team of three consisting of Ben Fogle, James Cracknell, and Ed Coats in their epic race across Antarctica to the South Pole. The series covers the whole experience, beginning with training efforts in Switzerland and vigorous exercises elsewhere. The team...
, Top Gear and on Supersize vs Super Skinny . A shorter version of the song with a slightly different composition, "That Home", has also been used on occasion, such as in the trailer for the 2011 film Another Earth
Another Earth
Another Earth is a 2011 American science fantasy/drama film directed by Mike Cahill in his feature film debut. The film stars William Mapother and Brit Marling. It premiered at the 27th Sundance Film Festival in January 2011 and is being distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures.-Synopsis:Rhoda...
and in the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
drama Defying Gravity
Defying Gravity (TV series)
Defying Gravity is a multi-nationally produced space travel television science fiction drama series, first aired on August 2, 2009 on ABC and CTV and canceled in the autumn of 2009...
. It also featured in the seventh season finale of the FOX
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
dance competition So You Think You Can Dance
So You Think You Can Dance (U.S. TV series)
So You Think You Can Dance is an American dance competition and reality show that airs on Fox in the United States.The series first premiered on July 20, 2005, and was created by American Idol producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe and is produced by 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions...
.
The Public Radio International
Public Radio International
Public Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...
radio show This American Life
This American Life
This American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. It is distributed by Public Radio International on PRI affiliate stations and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays,...
often uses The Cinematic Orchestra song "Drunken Tune" from the album Man with a Movie Camera.
The final scene and closing credits of the 2006 film Kidulthood
Kidulthood
Kidulthood is a 2006 British drama film about the life of several teenagers in Ladbroke Grove and Latimer Road area of inner west London. It was directed by Menhaj Huda and written by Noel Clarke, who also stars in the film and directed the sequel, Adulthood...
feature the song "All Things to All Men" from the album Every Day. The song also featured on the British soap Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
in December 2009.
Studio albums
- Motion (1999)
- Every Day (2002)
- Ma Fleur (2007)
Other albums
- Remixes 98–2000Remixes 98–2000Remixes 98-2000 is a 2000 album released by The Cinematic Orchestra. It is a remix album, and the tracks are a combination of songs recorded by the band, remixed by other people and songs by other people, remixed by The Cinematic Orchestra.-Track listing:...
(2000) - Man with a Movie CameraMan with a Movie Camera (album)Man with a Movie Camera is a 2003 soundtrack album by The Cinematic Orchestra, released on 26 May, 2003 on Ninja Tune. The album contains re-workings and thematic reprises of some of the music from their previous album, Every Day, including the tracks "Man with a Movie Camera", and an instrumental...
(2003) - Live at the Royal Albert HallLive at the Royal Albert Hall (The Cinematic Orchestra album)Live at the Royal Albert Hall is a live album by The Cinematic Orchestra, released in the UK on April 14, 2008 on Ninja Tune Records. The original concert was performed on November 2, 2007 at The Royal Albert Hall in London.-Track listing:...
(2008) - The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the FlamingosThe Crimson Wing: Mystery of the FlamingosThe Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos is a 2008 British-French-American nature documentary from the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group's nature film label Disneynature...
OST (2009) - Late Night Tales : The Cinematic OrchestraLate Night TalesLate Night Tales and its predecessor Another Late Night are the names of two related series of artist curated compilation albums released on Late Night Tales independent record label...
(2010)
Singles
- "Diabolus" (1999)
- "Channel 1 Suite"/"Ode to the Big Sea" (1999)
- "All That You Give" (feat. Fontella BassFontella BassFontella Bass is an American soul singer, who is best known for the 1965 R&B hit "Rescue Me", which she also co-wrote.-Early life:...
) (2002) - "Horizon" (feat. Niara ScarlettNiara ScarlettNiara Scarlett is a British born singer-songwriter, perhaps most famous for her work with British production house Xenomania. Scarlett appeared on a number of dub, garage, grime, and house singles in the latter half of the 1990s and the 2000s.-Background:...
) (2002) - "Man with the Movie Camera" (2002)
- "Breathe" (2007)
- "To Build a Home" (2007)
- "Entr'acte" (2011)
- "Manhatta" (2011)
External links
- Official website
- Official MySpace page
- Fan-site with news, complete discography and lots more
- Ma Fleur Interactive Mini-site
- Short interview and article about Ma Fleur from June 2007
- The Cinematic Orchestra at Roundhouse
- Ninjatunes Releases - Man with a Movie Camera
- [ Allmusic's page on The Cinematic Orchestra]
- The Cinematic Orchestra @ LastFM