Music: Brian Eno

During the writing of The Black Sky, I posted about music I was listening to at the time that provided inspiration. I didn't get to all of the music, as my playlist became massive - almost 2,000 songs by the end. However, one I failed to mention that really deserves a post is Brian Eno.

I didn't start listening to Eno with the writing of the book. I actually started months before, as I was searching for morning music while I worked at my regular job. I found music with lyrics early in the morning to be jarring and distracting, and searched out instrumental ambient music to put on while I was groggily sifting through emails in my inbox or working on Excel and Word docs. I had heard about his ambient series, specifically Music for Airports, and decided to put that on one morning. I believe that became my morning routine for several months after. If you checked my Spotify profile and what I was actively listening to, you'd think I was stuck in a loop. In retrospect, that was appropriate.

Once I started on a regular daily writing schedule with The Black Sky, I explored the entire Eno discography, including his collaborations with Cluster, Harold Budd, Moebius and Daniel Lanois. All of the music became essential in the creative process, as I have found that silence is a killer for me when writing. I need some sort of "other" going on in my brain, and Eno's music did and does that. It's subtle and unobtrusive, activating my subconscious in a way I cannot explain. Music for Airports, Neroli, The Drop and other Eno albums work in all situations for my writing purposes, whereas other artists and albums I might use as inspiration for specific scenes (i.e. more uptempo or dramatic music for an action sequence).

Music: Cliff Martinez

I first discovered the work of Cliff Martinez when I saw Drive in a theater in 2011. The music paired perfectly with the film, and I instantly sought out the soundtrack. As much as I enjoyed the tracks by Kavinsky, College & Electric Youth and The Chromatics, the score by Martinez was the real draw for me.

That same year, the film Contagion was released, featuring music again by Martinez, this time for frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh. The next year The Company You Keep and later another Soderbergh collaboration, The Knick, all featured excellent scores that have been added to my writing playlist.

Music: Tron Legacy Soundtrack by Daft Punk

Again, I meant to post these more often, but writing has been all consuming lately. Although Tron Legacy wasn't quite what I hoped based on my childhood love of the original Tron, I still enjoyed the movie. However, I really liked the soundtrack by Daft Punk.

It takes total sense that recent sci-fi and action films have called upon artists like Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, M83 and others. Pulsing synths and drum loops are perfect for these types of films, and as mentioned in a previous post, are a callback in many ways to the soundtracks of John Carpenter in the 70s and 80s.

Music: Lost Themes I & II by John Carpenter

Been so locked into writing recently I haven't had time to post about some of the music I've been listening to along the journey. Well, now is probably as good a time as any to given a nod to the man who is not only a musical inspiration, but who has also provided film inspiration - John Carpenter.

In scouring Spotify for instrumental music, I've landed on a number of soundtracks to Carpenter movies (Assault on Precinct 13, The Thing, Escape From New York, They Live being favorites), but only recently discovered his Lost Theme albums (I & II) released in 2015 and 2016. They sound as describes, lost tracks that would fit in perfectly with his 70s and 80s film output: driving bass lines, arpeggiated synths and hypnotic rhythms.

In revisiting my movie upbringing in the 80s, few writers or directors aside from Steven Spielberg and John Hughes find repeated films among my favorites they way that John Carpenter does. He released eight films during the decade, and five of them (The Thing, Escape From New York, Christine, Big Trouble In Little China and They Live) are among my favorite movies of the decade, up their with Aliens, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future and others (someday I'll get around to making a list of favorite 80s movies, thought that seems daunting).

Music: Explosions In The Sky

I've been a fan of Explosions In The Sky ever since I discovered their music in the 2004 film Friday Night Lights. There ability to create intimate, emotional instrumental music that can build to crashing crescendos is truly unique, both in that it is hard to believe nobody had honed in on this sound prior to them, and so few bands can do it well.

While their actual album output is very good, I have gravitated toward their soundtrack work specifically on films like the aforementioned Friday Night Lights, and more recently with Lone Survivor (also directed by Peter Berg) and Prince Avalanche.

Music: Mad Max Fury Road Soundtrack

Last year I saw Mad Max Fury Road twice in the theater. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen a movie twice in a movie theater, I'm just not that kind of fan. I don't go multiple times unless someone I know wants to go and I've already seen it, or if I went for free (which happened with Inception, once as an advance screening, once with my wife when it was out).

I've let it be known that this is my favorite action film in a long time. Every moment feels visceral and raw, it is audacious and ambitious while maintaining an incredibly simple and effective plot. It's visually stunning and, for my purposes, has a soundtrack that stands on its own thanks to Junkie XL. In writing some action sequences for The Black Sky, I had tracks from Fury Road on a loop to help set the tone, and it really helped shape what was happening in my head and typing on my computer.

Music: S U R V I V E

Like a lot of people, I just binged watched the entire season of Stranger Things on Netflix. Besides being a fantastic show with the right amount of winking nostalgia for the era it is set in, combined with modern episodic storytelling flare, the show features a soundtrack that is spot on, with elements of Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Giorgio Moroder and John Carpenter.

Credited to Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon, turns out they are actually a band from Austin, Texas called S U R V I V E (yes, that's how they spell it, with the spaces). The band only have a few releases available, but a new album is due this fall. It's the perfect early 80s synth sounds that fell out of favor in the 90s and 00s, but seem to be making a resurgence in the last few years thanks to the abundance of newer low/mid budget horror and thriller films.

Music: Petar Dundov

Before I started writing The Black Sky, I didn't know who Petar Dundov was, nor had I heard any of his music. Somehow, via a Spotify rabbit hole, I discovered Petar's music and have incorporated into my regular writing sessions.

Techno is the simplistic term for his music, but I've found it to be much more than that. There is a strong sense of melody and structure within the drum and synth loops, and with many tracks approaching the ten minute mark, it's easy to get immersed in the sounds and loose track of time while punching away at the keyboard.

Music: Ghosts i-iv by Nine Inch Nails

I'm going to post a quick link to what I've been listening to recently while writing. For the most part, I can only write to instrumental music. Anything with lyrics is distracting, so it's soundtrack scores, electronic music, etc.

In this case, it's the 2008 four-disc release Ghosts i-iv by Nine Inch Nails. Although considered an "album" by the band, it's much looser than that. Some tracks barely register two minutes, while others are more fully realized. If you are familiar with Nine Inch Nails albums such as The Fragile, which has a number of instrumental tracks, this isn't dissimilar.

For me, it's perfect combination of propulsion and dark moodiness, which helps put me in the proper mindset for whatever I'm writing.