End on a Song

The podcasts keep coming over in Skwiglyland, and I'm very pleased to bring you the end-of-year special Animation Composed, a celebration of the harmonious relationship between music and animation. This one's been brewing for a while as, being a musician myself, I've often found myself enamoured of the consideration that goes into animation music - quite frequently it's something that can make or break a film entirely. With the aid of Skwigly contributor and freelance composer Wez this episode's been put together as a sort of podcast 'pilot' that may very well have series potential depending on how well it goes down. The nice thing about it is that, on top of the regular interview segments the podcast series are known for, there's the inclusion of music itself which makes it a pretty different beast. So settle in for over two hours of standout animation music selections and exclusive interviews with special guests.
In this podcast we speak with Norwegian multi-instrumental composer/performer John Erik Kaada (AKA Kaada) whose discography includes the solo releases Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time, Music For Moviebikers and Junkyard Nostalgias as well as the Kaada/Patton albums Romances and probably my favourite album of this year, Bacteria Cult. Kaada’s work as a composer for independent film scores recently extended into the world of animated shorts with The Absence of Eddy Table, directed by Rune Spaans.

We also meet Scot Stafford and Alexis Harte of Pollen Music Group, the songwriting organisation responsible for the music of the ongoing 360 VR filmmaking series Google Spotlight Stories, which includes the immersive film projects Duet, Windy Day, Buggy Night and Pearl.

Also included in this special is music by Phil Brookes, Shane Holly, Thee Wreckers, Happy Camper, Tim & Puma Mimi, François-Xavier Paquin and Skillbard.

Listen to the special below or over on Soundcloud (NB – this episode is streaming only):

Full playlist:

•Phil Brookes – Theme from But Milk is Important

•Shane Holly – Coda (Excerpt 1)

•Kaada – The Absence of Eddy Table (trailer snippet)

•Thee Wreckers – No Place Like Home

•Happy Camper – Winnie & Otto (Otto)

•Tim and Puma Mimi – Dupi Dough (Ivan’s Need)

•Pollen Music Group – No Wrong Way Home (Pearl)

•Pollen Music Group – Les Brises (Windy Day)

•Happy Camper – The Accident (Otto)

•François-Xavier Paquin – Crazy Dance (Wackatdooo)

•Shane Holly – Coda (Excerpt 2)

•Pollen Music Group – Buggy Night (Excerpt)

•Pollen Music Group – Breathless (Duet)

•Phil Brookes – Theme from Three’s A Crowd

•Phil Brookes – The Outsider (But Milk is Important)

•Skillbard – Lovestreams

•Thee Wreckers – Splintertime

Seasonal Cheer (Part 4/4)

You'll be relieved to hear that this post represents the last of what's been a doubtless unnerving bout of goodwill toward men. Well, self-promotion masquerading as goodwill toward men. At least I'm not still trying to get people to buy Throat or watch The Naughty List*.

Today to help balance things out I've instead gathered together some lovely work by some of my favourite creatives and studios, including Rumpus, Blue Zoo, Sun and Moon, Trunk and Mummu, as well as some newcomers. Head on over to Skwigly for the full rundown.

*But seriously folks, buy Throat and watch The Naughty List.

Seasonal Cheer (Part 3/4)

For our Christmas 2016 edition of the Skwigly Animation Podcast Steve, Laura-Beth and myself discuss death, grief, erectile dysfunction and eggnog bathing among other such seasonally appropriate topics. On the guests front we’re pleased to welcome talents from three animation highlights of this holiday season:
Firstly we hear from Jamie Badminton, co-director of Snowy Day, whose previous work includes helming Karrot Entertainment‘s various properties including the hugely successful Sarah & Duck. For Snowy Day Karrot have taken on the daunting task of adapting Ezra Jack Keats’s classic of American children’s fiction to animation for an Amazon Prime special.
Also joining the podcast are Joanna Harrison and Robin Shaw of Lupus Films, who have followed up this year’s acclaimed feature film version of Raymond Briggs’s Ethel & Ernest with another classic book adaptation, Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (Channel 4, December 24th 7:30pm and December 25th, 5:25pm).
Last but not least, producer and Magic Light Pictures co-founder Michael Rose (Room on the Broom, Stick Man), discusses the two half-hour Roald Dahl animated specials Revolting Rhymes that he'll be bringing to UK screens (BBC1, December 26th 6:30pm and December 27th 6:30pm).
Lots of goodies indeed. We are, after all, a giving bunch. Give 'er a stream below, why doncha?

Seasonal Cheer (Part 2/4)

With Klementhro nearing the end of its festival run I wanted to do something for the holidays and, as anyone who's seen the film will doubtless attest, this character was the most obvious choice out of all my films for its range and nuance.

Love and thanks to everyone who's been supportive through the peaks and valleys of this year. And indeed special gratitude to those who saw something in my weird little non-film - OFF - Odense International Film Festival, ANONIMUL IFF, LAIKA, Festival International du Film d'Animation de Paris, Animasyros International Animation Festival + Agora, Área de Contenção, interfilm Berlin, Flensburger Kurzfilmtage, Kyiv International Short Film Festival, Nuit du Court Métrage, AniPromítačka/AniScreen, Skepto FilmFest, Kraken Con, Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (ITFS), Porto7 - Festival Internacional de Curtas-metragens do Porto, Ploiesti International Film Festival (PIFF), Shorts Attack, Animaze - Montreal International Animation Film Festival, TAFF - Turku Animated Film Festival, BUSHO, Linoleum International Contemporary Animation and Media Art Festival, Fantoche, Filmfest Eberswalde - Provinziale, filmzeitkaufbeuren, Kurzfilmnacht-Tour, SoDak Motion, Kuandu International Animation Festival, Anima Mundi, Anilogue, MUMIA (Mostra Udigrudi Mundial de Animação), London Short Film Festival.
It's been a blast to reconnect with the community again in this way after several years off and it's bolstered me to crack on with my next film Sunscapades which, all being well, will see the light sometime in 2017. Much love y'all!

Seasonal Cheer (Part 1/4)

My plan to gradually reissue my discography through Bandcamp is very gradually coming together in the smallest of small increments. By the end of this year I'd hoped to have an old 2008 album fully remastered and ready to go up, but as this site attests things have been busy as always and so there's still a bit of work to go. The LP in question - titled The Bug Chaser/The Gift Giver and originally put out as two vinyl EPs under the moniker Silverfish - is something of an oddity and pointedly darker/weirder than the stuff I've done as Struwwelpeter.
As a taster I've instead put together a little sampler EP featuring three remastered tracks from the upcoming re-release as well as two exclusive tracks, one a live recording from 2011 with the opening track Bleed My Weakness previously unreleased (it'd been lying on my HD unfinished for a while under the bizarre title 'cookingsong.rns' - I guess I was cooking when I first started writing it in my head). Here's a little announcement video I made for the new track:

The EP, titled Limp and Numb, is available to buy super-cheap on Bandcamp if you fancy treating yourself or the indie music fan in your life this holiday season. As with other releases you can stream it completely free. In fact I'll embed it below so you don't even need to leave this page. How's that for holiday spirit?

The Ron & John Show

For our sixty-third episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we hear from directorial duo Ron Clements and John Musker – whose prior credits include the much-loved Disney features The Great Mouse Detective (1986), The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992) and Hercules (1997), as well as the more recent 2D animation revival film The Princess and the Frog (2009) – about their latest film Moana, out now in cinemas.
Also discussed in this episode: Animation UK’s recent announcement at 10 Downing Street, highlights from the London International Animation Festival, the continued success of Claude Barras’s My Life as a Courgette/Zucchini, incurring the wrath of Hayao Miyazaki and the bad influence of a certain Quoanna Jinn. Give it a stream down below, you streaming little streamy streamersons:

The boy who lived under the stairs

Hi m'lovelies. I just came back from a lovely time at the London International Animation Festival. Time not spent at the festival during the trip was less lovely, however. In truth Shelley Duvall had a nicer and more relaxed winter at the Overlook Hotel.
Here's a short travelogue I prepared over on my Facebook page for the benefit of those who wish to live the high life vicariously through me. Enjoy!

Wait, what year is it again?

While this month is a quiet one for Klementhro, I'm very happy to say that my preceding 2010 film The Naughty List will be getting a festival screening this holiday season (appropriately enough). The film is pretty long-in-the-tooth, so big screen outings are a rare affair - the last one was in 2013 - but it's proved a fit for Berlin's Weihnachts Filmfestival, a Christmas festival "for those who want to escape the Christmas rush or do not have their loved ones around - and of course, passionate cinephiles". I'm assuming if you do have your loved ones around you won't be turned away at the door.
I'm reliably informed my film will be part of the 6:30pm screening Snowflake Shorts on Christmas Eve at the Kino Moviemento. Get your holiday spirit on, meine Freunde!