Jóhann Jóhannsson is an Icelandic composer. He leads the modern post-classical movement, which is identified with experimental, minimalist, drone, and electronic music. Jóhann is best known for his film music, primarily for his Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-winning score for James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything — […]

In a previous post I had mentioned that I had yet to watch Alejandro Inarritu’s, 21 Grams. I did, but made it a 1/4 of the way through. It’s well done and well acted, but I just can’t take prolonged sorrow in movies these days. […]

When you have kids (mine is 16 months) you really don’t go see movies anymore. My wife and I watch plenty of them — it’s just going to the cinema is nearly impossible. Even still, I’m jerry-rigging my busy teaching schedule to see Captain Fantastic this week. Captain […]

As I listen back to this performance of Radiohead’s True Love Waits, it flows just as easily — as when I first transcribed it. This arrangement took about 20 minutes for me to put together, and it was definitely a “flow state” experience: Flow is […]

To me, each of Jeff Nichols’ four movies exemplify perfectly crafted storytelling. I think of Nichols’ films with the same fondness as M. Night Shyamalan’s first few films. Out of the gates, M. Night, wrote and directed: The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. All phenomenal […]

Often, what I try to do, is distill a song down to its core elements — then create a guitar arrangement from that. I began this blog in 2011 doing note for note arrangements —  but I soon realized nothing sounds as good (to me) […]

The White Whale Chant, by composer Roque Banos, is from Ron Howard’s In the Heart of the Sea. This song is very reminiscent of something composer Hans Zimmer would do. Zimmer has previously worked with Ron Howard on Rush and you can find my theme […]

*Spoiler Alert* If you’re not caught up on The Walking Dead episode 607 entitled Heads Up, you may not want to read below. I’m not sure what the statute of limitations is on spoilers, but if you’re reading this, chances are you’ve heard this music, […]

“Sometimes I find that music is so much more attractive than love. I don’t know… It’s like some kind of euphoria, that love can’t bring to you.” ― Florence Welch I remember in the late 90’s when ceremonial women artists dominated “alternative” music. By ceremonial, […]

Beyond her music and performance art, what impresses me most about Lykke Li is that she is seems to be the proverbial free spirit. My personality is much like my guitar playing: very precise. I’m comforted by organization. [However, my wife and I just had […]

Cymatics (from Greek: κῦμα “wave”) is the study of visible sound co vibration, a subset of modal phenomena. Typically the surface of a plate, diaphragm, or membrane is vibrated, and regions of maximum and minimum displacement are made visible in a thin coating of particles, […]

The ambient, dream-pop score of the 80’s set, White Bird in a Blizzard was created by Robin Guthrie, famously of the (ambient, dream-pop) band, the Cocteau Twins.  Even though I’m playing this chorus, delay and reverb soaked song on a nylon-string guitar, it still sounds […]