- The Cinematic Orchestra
-
The Cinematic Orchestra Genres Nu jazz, downtempo, acid jazz, trip hop Years active 1997-present Labels Ninja Tune, Domino Records Associated acts DJ Food Website cinematicorchestra.com Members Jason Swinscoe
Phil France
Luke Flowers
Tom Chant
Nick Ramm
Stuart McCallumPast members Jamie Coleman
T. Daniel Howard
Federico Ughi
Alex James
Patrick CarpenterThe 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.
Contents
Style
The Cinematic Orchestra's sound, in both live and studio 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.
History
Swinscoe first formed a group called Crabladder in 1990, whilst studying Fine Art 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 Russian 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.[1]
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.[2] 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.[3] 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 Watson, 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.
Discography
Studio albums
Other albums
- Remixes 98–2000 (2000)
- Man with a Movie Camera (2003)
- Live at the Royal Albert Hall (2008)
- The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos OST (2009)
- Late Night Tales : The Cinematic Orchestra (2010)
Singles
- "Diabolus" (1999)
- "Channel 1 Suite"/"Ode to the Big Sea" (1999)
- "All That You Give" (feat. Fontella Bass) (2002)
- "Horizon" (feat. Niara Scarlett) (2002)
- "Man with the Movie Camera" (2002)
- "Breathe" (2007)
- "To Build a Home" (2007)
- "Entr'acte" (2011)
- "Manhatta" (2011)
References
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 107. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ AMAZON.co.uk. Availability Date. Retrieved 27 February 2007.
- ^ AMAZON.fr Availability Date. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
External links
- Official website
- Official MySpace page
- Fan-site with news, complete discography and lots more
- Ma Fleur Interactive Mini-site
- The Cinematic Orchestra discography at MusicBrainz
- 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
Categories:- British jazz ensembles
- Ninja Tune artists
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
