Morricone Youth
Morricone Youth is a New York City band formed in 1999 dedicated to performing music written for the moving image (e.g., film and television soundtrack and library production music). The band has been composed of present or past members of Creedle, The Rugburns, Crash Worship, Palomar, Pretendo and Mikael Jorgensen of Wilco's Pronto.
The band also regularly composes and performs original music to projected films (e.g., silent films, midnight movies, animated films) in live settings including Jean Rollin's Fascination (1979), David Lynch's Eraserhead (1977), Rene Laloux's Fantastic Planet (1973), Lotte Reiniger's The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968), Ron & Valerie Taylor's Inner Space (1972), Robert Clouse's Enter The Dragon (1973), Jack Hill's Foxy Brown (1974), George Miller's Mad Max (1979) and F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922) and Sunrise (1927). In addition to composing its own compositions and themes for such films, the band is committed to reinterpreting portions of the original score for each film it performs.
Morricone Youth recorded its debut full length album of original film music entitled "Silenzio Violento" in 2004 with Martin Bisi at B.C. Studio in Brooklyn, New York released on October 8, 2005 by Country Club Records. Four songs from "Silenzio Violento" were used in documentary film Second Skin (film) directed by Juan Carlos Pineiro about MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) and the people who play them. The film premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in March 2008.
Although the band was inactive from 2007 to 2010, Morricone Youth resumed performing live in 2011. Current members include Devon E. Levins (guitar), John Castro (bass/vocals), Dan Kessler (analog keyboards/percussion) and Brian Kantor (drums). Past members include Robert Conroy, Dreiky Caprice, Karla Moheno, Jefferson Rabb, David Spinley, Frank Molina, Tony Roth, Dale W. Miller, Steve Walls, Nervous Neal Smith, Fraser Campbell, Timur Yusef, Ayo Awosika and Greg O'Keeffe.
Guitarist/founder Devon E. Levins hosted a weekly Internet radio show from 2007 to 2014 under the same name on East Village Radio playing primarily obscure film and television soundtracks and library music and interviewing soundtrack composers such as Lalo Schifrin, Howard Blake, Irmin Schmidt of Can, Claudio Simonetti and Maurizio Guarini of Goblin, Sven Libaek, John Lurie, Danny Elfman, Elliot Goldenthal, Cliff Martinez, Carter Burwell and Alan Howarth. The radio show has since moved to WFMU under the new name Morricone Island.
Discography
Albums:
- Silenzio Violento (2005) Country Club Records
EPs:
- The Times Square EP (2001) Country Club Records
- Frank EP (2003) Country Club Records
External links
- The Official Morricone Youth Website
- Morricone Island Radio Show
- Morricone Youth Radio Show Archives
