Welcome To Dispatches From The Black Site Audio Lab…

Every Prison is Attica!

What happens when a crime scene is left to ferment for fifty years? In D-Yard, the walls don’t just have ears; they have the nervous systems of the men who were once inmates.

They tell you that time heals. They tell you that a crime scene, once scrubbed and shuttered, eventually returns to the earth. In 1971, D-Yard at Attica Correctional Facility was famously a mud pit due to heavy rain but now, that mud is composed of biological decay.

However! Attica was never allowed to heal.

In 1971, inmates stood in the mud of D-Yard demanding humane conditions, better medical care, and an end to censorship. When the state of New York retook D-Yard with its “indiscriminate fire,” they solidified the state’s monopoly on force. The State didn’t just end the riot, they initiated a decades long fermentation process. In my version of the story, the gates of D-Block weren’t reopened after the massacre, they were chained and welded shut!

Dehuminization…We Are Men

The 1,289 men who demanded to be treated like human beings were left to become something else entirely - “We are firm in our resolve and we demand, as human beings, the dignity and justice that is due to us by our right of birth”

The state thought it was creating a warehouse for the bodies; what it was building was a warehouse for the vengeful ghosts of D-Yard. By welding and chaining the doors of Attica shut, they created a modern Jigoku—a giant, calcified memory that is finally breaking through the seal…

This wasn’t the first or unfortunately the last time the state carried out human experimentation: 1) Project MK-Ultra, 2) Between the years 1949 and 1974 the US government carried out a disturbing amount of biological weapons tests to determine America’s vulnerabilities to biological warfare, 3) The “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male”, 4) The Manhattan Project, 5) The Stateville Penitentiary Malaria Study, 6) Infecting Children with Hepatitis at the Willowbrook State School for Children. These are just a few examples of state sanctioned experimentation conducted on its own citizens with most done without people’s consent. The Nuremberg Code spelled out an unequivocal position on the experimentation of people in captivity: The human subject of medical experimentation ​“should have legal capacity to give consent … [and] should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion.”

More than fifty years have since passed. The biological rot of the inmates and the mechanical rot of the facility have achieved a state of unholy symbiosis.

The prisoners are no longer men; they are entities created specifically by wrongs that have not been righted. They’ve now fused with the concrete and steel that failed them. The building isn’t just a structure; it’s a sentient, flickering nervous system of rusted pipes and failing electricity.

Institutional Surveillance turned supernatural…

This reimagining shows how prison architecture aka the prison industrial complex - a bipartisan political project of social control that doesn’t just house inmates; it harvests their history.

“The Attica Uprising was a watershed moment in the on-going fight to establish respect for human rights within the penitentiary system and to recognize and reform the racist practices and policies of the criminal justice system which feed the carceral machine”. - Duke University Libraries

This project is a forensic sonic reconstruction of that decay.

The inmates are the “Unreturned.” They have now become the Gashadokuro of the State—a massive, collective entity made of the concrete, bones and mud of D-Yard.

I’m not scoring a historical event. I am scoring a haunting, a 21st century reimagining. I’m using digital circuitry, 1970s speech synthesis, and the visceral sounds of tortured metal to sonically create what happens when trauma is left to fester in the dark. What would it have meant for the Attica Brothers, or the hostages and their family members, to get “justice”?

Every breath from the Bass Clarinet is a guttural gasp from a lung made of wood and wet earth. Every clank is a gate closing on a limb. Every glitch in the modular rack is a redacted memory trying to scream its way back to the surface.

Welcome to D-Yard! The evidence is permanently sealed. The inhabitants are permanently awake. What unknown details are buried inside hundreds of pages of records that remain sealed?

The state called it a ‘retaking.’ The investigators called it ‘D-Yard.’ But once the chains were cut and the welds were broken, there was only one word for what was left inside: Hellish.

Forensic Lineage:

The Carceral Engine: The Prison Industrial Complex

Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson: My primary source. It documents the transition from the 1971 “indiscriminate fire” to the modern era of mass incarceration.

Golden Gulag by Ruth Wilson Gilmore: Essential reading to understand the “Industrial” part of the project. It explains how the prison became a permanent, productive machine for managing “surplus” populations.

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis: A foundational text on why the “Machine” of the prison system is designed to expand, not to heal.

Michel Foucault - Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop…

Welcome to Dispatches From The Black Site SoundLab…

Hip-Hop and Horror have had a long and very fruitful relationship. That relationship goes back to the early 1980’s when hip-hop artists looked to the horror genre for inspiration. That relationship / inspiration eventually led to the sub-genre of hip-hop called Horrorcore. Much has been already written about the horrorcore’s sound and the artists associated with it, so I won’t go into that here.

Mainstream rappers have often used horror for it’s shock value, gore and “campy theatrics”. Today, a new generation of artists are using it as a lens to examine societal trauma, displacement, and systemic violence. They’ve moved away from the “jump scares” of 90s horrorcore towards treating horror as a layered sociopolitical allegory. Embracing a more horror-noire aesthetic - one where blackness meets horror. We’ve already seen this aesthetic in movies (‘Sinners’, along with anything from director Jordan Peele) and in literature. Now, it’s become part of the sonic fabric of hip-hop.

They’ve also moved away form Horrorcore’s original sound and production stylings to a more atmospheric and avant-garde production style, creating a new form of sonic terror that mirrors today’s modern anxieties.

The Sonics Of Defiance…

Sonically this is foreshadowed by the use of Musique Concrète, field recordings, dissonance & clashing frequencies (“noise” textures), "wall of noise" production techniques, samples of “Chamber Jazz”, and psychological drones (swirling, ringing phones and distorted, unearthly ambience to represent the paranoia of state surveillance). The emphasis on audio design isn’t accidental; it is a physical force meant to trigger visceral fear and claustrophobia. This is a conscious effort meant to represent the everyday phycological warfare of our times.

Is this the emergence of a new sub-genre, “Prestige Horror” Rap or “Elevated Horrorcore”? Is this the sonic evolution of Black Southern Gothic?

Two artists who I believe represent this shift are Billy Woods and clipping. Billy Woods album ‘Golliwog’ along with two albums from clipping. ‘There Existed an Addiction to Blood’ and ‘Visions of Bodies Being Burned’ exemplify the horror-noire aesthetic in hip-hop. Both artists use “horror” to tell modern day stories of racism, inequality and fear. “They’re doing what Jordan Peele does so well – reimagining the uncanny as both homage and political vehicle”.

The Horror of the Human Condition…

To anchor their work in “Prestige Horror,” Billy Woods and clipping. don’t just reference scary movies; they engage directly with critical theory. They use the language of academia—Post-Colonialism, Afrofuturism, and Surveillance Theory—to legitimize their horror as a form of high art (”Prestige”) rather than low-brow entertainment.

Both artists have utilized Foucault’s theory of Discipline and Punish, specifically the idea of the Panopticon—a prison where you are always being watched, so you eventually start policing yourself.

How both of these artists approach “horror” in many ways mirrors that of the literary genre of Black Southern Gothic. Each places the focus of the "repressed" history of Black America in direct dialogue with the psychological dread and decay of Gothic fiction in order to create a socio-political commentary on ‘Black horror”. Both share a usage of: the “haunted” landscape, monsters as systemic metaphors, the weight of memory, systemic terrors, the boogeyman as a system and a subversion of the “final girl” trope.

The Call Has Always Been Coming From Inside The House…

From Billy Woods himself - “I think a lot of horror is social commentary [on] what people are scared of,” Woods says. He gives an example of Rosemary’s Baby, which is about “an evil cult manipulating this woman to have their baby,” but also speaks to a woman being stripped of her humanity in a misogynistic society. He also references Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Reductively, it’s about a haunted house, but more aptly, it’s a portrait of slavery. “I think that when something is well written enough or hits enough different points of social commentary, people try to move it out of that [horror] space and it becomes a thriller or whatever, which is fine,” Woods resolves. “But all of these [works of art] ultimately are about the same sorts of things.”

The Past Is Never Dead…

clipping. takes traditional horror metaphors and "warps them into new constellations" to examine the real-world horrors of racism, police brutality, and systemic decay. Instead of just paying homage, they use these tropes as a "political vehicle" to make the uncanny reflect societal ills. Critics and scholars have noted that by invoking the imagery of "lynching ghosts," the group draws a distinct parallel between historical violence and contemporary issues surrounding systemic injustice and police conduct; suggesting that the legacy of past trauma continues to influence and "haunt" modern society.

Did someone say - Black revolutionaries as undead "day-walkers" fighting the police or law enforcement reimagined as a pack of werewolves or classic "pimp talk" as a metaphor for an Exorcist-style demonic possession or a revenge-fantasy where victims of historical lynching’s return as restless spirits to torment the living???

Isn’t all horrorcore the same? I say no, just as all “horror” is not the same. We continue to see the definition of what constitutes horror and it’s many sub-genres evolve so why shouldn’t horrorcore do the same?

This new form of horrorcore differs in that:

1. It Demands Homework: You cannot fully understand a Billy Woods verse without knowing who Fanon is. On his 2025 album GOLLIWOG, woods critiques Fanon. He suggests that Fanon’s "cleansing violence" was the "wrong answer to the right question." For woods, violence doesn't make you whole; it just leaves you with a different kind of trauma.

2. It Validates Fear: It validates the listener’s anxiety by giving it a name (e.g., “colonial psychosis” or “panoptic dread”).

3. It Shifts the Genre: It moves the genre from Transgression (breaking rules for fun) to Critical Analysis (breaking rules to expose the system).

What do you like so much about horrorcore? What attracts you to that style and why did you want to work within that aesthetic for this album?1

Hutson: Apparently my house [growing up] was the house where all of our friends could come and watch R-rated horror movies. My parents were the ones who let us do that and their parents didn’t, so my house was the secret-sleepover-to-watch-the-Texas Chainsaw Massacre-house. And so I feel like I grew up with that very much being a part of who I was and what I was interested in.

When I was in graduate school the course I got to teach a summer course. . .that was called Monsters and the Uncanny in American Popular Culture. That was just an introduction to different social theory, each paired with a horror story and a horror movie. It would be like, “here’s the basic primer on Marxism or anti-racist theory or queer theory,” and each week would be a different horror movie and a different horror text to illustrate those things. So I guess part of my interest in horror is always political in the sense that it’s always a good metaphor for what a culture is afraid of at any given time. It’s a good metaphor for that political climate and how you can use those monsters to address what’s going on.

While Billy Woods and clipping. are leaders in this space, other artists use horror as a “therapeutic tool” to process collective trauma and confront systemic issues like anti-Blackness and colonialism. Those artists include Moor Mother, Backxwash, and JPEGMAFIA to name a few.

Systemic Terror as an Inescapable Haunting…

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop…

As I draw closer to the release of ‘The Forest King’, I thought I should return to the myth behind the ‘Forest King’ aka Leshy.

In Slavic folklore Leshy is a frightening forest spirit - a protector of the forests. Because the myth of Leshy was for centuries handed down orally, there are a multitude of variations about him and his appearance.

“...According to some accounts, Leshy is a shapeshifter who can appear as any element of the forest — a mushroom, a log, a pebble, a woodland creature — or simply not at all, should he choose to remain invisible.

But if he makes himself known, he may appear as a withered old man. He is said to have a wizened face covered in a tangled, mossy green beard, and blue blood that tints his bark-like skin. At times, he is as tall as the trees, though he can also shrink down to the size of an ant. Some stories depict him as having cloven hooves and horns…”

Those centuries old tales have also given him numerous names: Borovoi, Gayevoi, Leshak, Lesnik, Lesovik, Lesovoi, Lesun, Mežainis, Miškinis, Miško velnias, and Lauma. The various names can be attributed to regional / cultural differences.

You will find him mythologized in Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, and Lithuania, among others.

“...Like the stories of Leshy himself, stories of his family can also vary widely. His wife has sometimes been called Leschachikha, Leszachka, or Lesovikha…” She is a fallen or cursed human woman who left her village to reside with him.

Known for also abducting babies who have not been baptized, or children who entered the forest to pick berries or fish. He leads people astray in the forest, getting them hopelessly lost. Legend has it that he has been known to drop into a wayside tavern for a visit, drink a bucket of vodka, then lead his pack of wolves back into the forest.

As you can see, there is much to draw from and expand on when talking about Leshy - a vodka swilling, malevolent shapeshifter, fierce protector who lives amongst the wolves and beasts of the forest!

There is one that needs to be made clear regarding Leshy and his legions, they are a clear reminder to be respectful of forests…

Celebrate Leshy Feast Day, September 27th.

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

I recently interviewed composer, Philippe Gerber. In that interview we talked about his work on the movie ‘FLICKER’. Today, I’d like to introduce to you, the director of ‘FLICKER’, Charlie Perez.

Greetings Charlie, let’s start with the obligatory introduction. Could you please tell us how you came to filmmaking?

I grew up in a family where music and movies were always playing. From a very young age those two things were just part of everyday life. As a kid I was always making little home videos with my sisters, and as we got older that turned into filming my skateboarding journey and later my music journey. At some point I realized my mind was actually leaning more toward the visual side of things—almost like I was thinking in music videos more than just music. And honestly, I also thought making movies might be easier than being in a band… which I later realized was completely wrong. But that early mix of music, filming, and storytelling is really what pushed me toward filmmaking.

Your latest film is entitled ‘FLICKER’, I’ve seen it described as Sci-Fi Neo Noir. Can you share what it is about and when will it be released?

FLICKER is a sci-fi neo-noir thriller set in a world where lost or troubled people are promised a better life or a sense of family. They’re given unusual abilities, but what they don’t realize is that they’re secretly being controlled. The story follows Ava, a young woman trying to escape forces that see her not as a person, but as property. The film blends science fiction with the dark atmosphere and tension of classic noir films. We’re currently finishing the film and preparing it for release, and we’re excited to share it with audiences soon.

As a director you’ve got a multitude of responsibilities, how important was it for you, to get the sound of ‘FLICKER’ right? What were some of the touchpoints for the sound of ‘FLICKER’?

Sound was extremely important to me on FLICKER. I really wanted the sound and the music to help set the tone, vibe, and energy of the film. Sound can shape the emotional experience of a scene in ways visuals alone sometimes can’t. With a story like this, the atmosphere matters a lot, so we focused on creating a soundscape that feels immersive and supports the tension and emotion throughout the film.

From your Instagram page - “great film scores turn scenes into feelings”, what are some great film scores?

I love film scores—honestly I probably listen to scores more than music from bands or singers. Right off the top of my head some scores that come to mind are The Terminator, Good Time, Stranger Things, Code 8, Mr. Robot, Euphoria, Turbo Kid, Interstellar, Mad Max: Fury Road, Tron: Legacy, and Saw. I could probably go on forever listing them, but those are some that immediately come to mind.

What were you looking for in a composer?

What I was really looking for in a composer was someone who lives and breathes music. Someone who understands what music can do not just to a film, but to people emotionally. When someone approaches composing with that mindset, I think they create something very different. I’m also drawn to people who are hungry to create—people who really want to push things and bring something powerful to the project.

How did you find your composer, Philippe Gerber and what drew you to ultimately hire him?

Philippe and I had both been involved in other films like Desert Fiends 2 and Skate to Hell. After that I checked out more of his work and sent some of his work to the producers Dani and Darcy and it was honestly a no-brainer for all of us. His music is incredibly cinematic and emotional, and I thought he was one of the best out there even before I met him. Once we connected, it just made sense that he was the right person for FLICKER.

Could you talk a little about how you worked with Philippe Gerber to get the score as you envisioned it?

Our collaboration started pretty naturally. We got to know each other first—talking about our families, films we love, music, concerts, and all that. Then we started talking about FLICKER, the overall story, and the emotional beats of the film. I would tease him with a few clips and we’d talk about what the scenes were doing. Eventually I sent him a rough cut of the film, and honestly after that I didn’t really have to guide much. He understood the tone right away. I think he felt the vibe of the film as soon as he saw those first images.

I saw a post of yours on Instagram where you mentioned sound-driven storytelling, what did you mean by this?

I’m a big believer in vibe and energy, and a lot of that comes from music. You can take a great, even Oscar-winning film and ruin it with the wrong music. Music drives the emotional experience of movies in a huge way. Because of that, I think music is actually underrated in filmmaking. When it’s done right, it can elevate everything.

What’s next for you? I understand that ‘FLICKER 2’ is a go?

Right now the focus is finishing and releasing FLICKER. But the world we’ve created definitely has room to grow, and we’ve already been talking about where the story could go next. So yes, FLICKER 2 is something we’re definitely exploring. Thank you for the chat Chris

Thank you for your time. I look forward to seeing ‘FLICKER’ as sci-fi neo noir is right up my alley.

FLICKER on Instagram

FLICKER on YouTube

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop…

I first discovered Alap via the hip-hop group he was once a part of, Dalek. They quickly became a huge favorite of mine. At the time there was not really another group who sounded like them and a big part of that sound was Alap’s production. His approach to sound and production greatly influenced me as a producer. I diligently purchased anything that Alap was credited on. Eventually I got up the nerve to send him one of my releases. Years later, he asked me to release music via his label Internet & Weed, a very proud accomplishment for me.

I am very happy to call him my friend. Through the years we’ve had some of the most enlightening conversations around music and life.

So without further ado, I’ll let Alap speak for himself.

Greetings Alap, could you please introduce yourself?

Hello my name is Alap Momin, I am a musician, record producer, recording, mixing, & mastering engineer, DJ, composer, remixer and cat lover.

1. I know you scored the movie Lilith from director Sridhar Reddy and several other movies, can you talk about the experience of scoring Lilith?

Lilith was great, Sridhar gave us a lot of room to work and commented that he wanted the music to be a character in the film, which is amazing. It’s a very ambient slow moving at times score that I think reflects in the overall pacing of the film as well. I’ve always felt there’s a fine line between ambient and boring hahahaha so working on the Lilith score was amazing to really try to find that edge. Working with the visuals really allowed us to strip back and slow down.

2. What are some of the real world challenges a composer faces when hired to work on a project?

The biggest one I tend to see across jingle work to film music is that the client or director may have an amazing idea but don’t necessarily know how to communicate that to us as composers. Sometimes you’ll get a reference track or there’s a temp track in the edit that they’ve been using and most likely have become married to, that you need to navigate and understand what it is about the ref that they like. I’ve had times where it was literally just the BPM/tempo the client wanted, and then other times I’ve had them basically want me to clone the ref. Hahaha so that’s usually the biggest hurdle, once you’re in the neighborhood with a vibe everyone is into it’s usually pretty easy.

3. You’ve immersed yourself in multiple genres, has that helped you in scoring?

Yes absolutely. Since I was 6 years old I’ve been evolving like every 4 years, I discover a whole new scene, sound, and vibe. I’m 51 now so all those phases and obsessions of mine have become tools and colors and vibes in everything I write. When scoring especially these days you really need to represent a lot of different viewers/audiences and so it definitely is a good thing that I have total musical ADHD hahaha I cant ever settle down with one genre, era, or mood.

4. The sound of film and tv continues to evolve. How do you see the next evolution(s) of film/tv sonics?

That’s a hard one. When I was younger I thought I knew what the future was gonna be. Now fuggetaboutit. I don’t know nothing. Hahaha I’ve loved hearing how sound in film/tv went from background to full on over the top video game style sound design and then a lot of club style glitching/slowdowns/rewinds/etc. started to get incorporated. I don’t know honestly what else to add or where it will go but I’m sure there’s like a 7 year old right now that’s about to bring it. Hahaha

5. As an independent artist / producer has that independence helped or hindered your ability to get hired as a composer?

I don’t know if it has helped or hindered. The only thing I do know is as a life long indie artist/producer I haven’t had much if any visibility in my career so unfortunately I don’t think most of the world even knows I exist, so getting hired is virtually impossible at this point. Hahahah I do have a couple of very dear friends that get me on some great scoring jobs, shout outs TJ!! hahaha so it’s not all doom and gloom.

6. As someone I very much view as a forward-thinking producer, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you about A.I. What is your view on A.I.? Have you explored any of the music production tools that are either entirely A.I. or A.I. enhanced?

Oh yeah I’ve been using AI assisted plugins for the past two years. For scoring especially it has made my writing sooooooo NEXT LEVEL i can not stress it enough. It almost reminds me of when I first got into sampling and then later generative music. The possibilities seemed endless. These new AI tools are the same. For a guy like me, brutal. It feels like I have a group of session players for any and every genre and era of music ever made at my disposal. Insane. Hahaha

7. What are you currently working on? What’s next for you?

I am co-owner of the label Internet & Weed as you know haha since we have released a couple amazing EPs by you aka subduxtion. 2026 is our 10 year anniversary of the label so I have been in total remastering and reissuing a bunch of the older releases mode the past two months. I also have a new BKGD Audio EP called “Abducted By NYC” coming out in late May. My project with Merc Yes, MRC Riddims has a new album in the works as well. And finally we have new releases coming up from Melkeveien, THAT GIRL TOBI, River Hooks, and more! Thanks for the interview, appreciate it! Check us on the gram @internet.and.weed

Have A Great Day!!

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

Thank you for reading!

Welcome To Dispatches From The Black Site Lab…

The debate, discussion, arguments and anger regarding A.I. reminds me of the reactions to hip-hop, sampling, synthesizers and drum machines.

In the not so distant past, the naysayers and fear mongers decried how hip-hop wasn’t real music, that sampling wasn’t a creative act, that synthesizers would put human musicians out of work and that drum machines would replace human drummers.

Thankfully most of us have moved beyond these arguments and are now just creating, performing and listening to music.

Hip-Hop recently (2023) celebrated its 50th anniversary and is a global and cultural phenomenon. Sampling is so ubiquitous that we don’t even think about its use. Every list of the “Top” albums is littered with albums created entirely via sampling (‘Paul’s Boutique’, ’Entroducing’ and ‘It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back’). Every year we get a new sampling device from music manufactures (both hardware and software). Synthesizers are so commonplace we don’t bat an eyelash and broadly speaking are considered to be one of the greatest technological inventions of all time. As for drum machines, well we all know that human drummers are still going. A small irony is that human drummers are now playing on electronic drum sets, effectively encroaching on what was the sole domain of drum machines. I haven’t heard the drum machine union complain about that!

Samplers, synthesizers and drum machines ultimately became the tools of the musician, producer, composer and creative. They allowed for the exploration and creation of never before heard sounds and musical styles / genres. A.I. has singlehandedly brought all of those arguments back around.

Will we ultimately view music created entirely via A.I. as a separate genre even if the music sounds like a known genre? Will the use of full A.I. software or A.I. assisted software not be considered creative? Will it put musicians out of work? I think we’re too early to tell. It will take time for the dust to settle as they say on each of these, similarly to how the aforementioned weren’t adopted overnight but took time to be welcomed.

Let us not forget the ethical question(s) regarding how A.I. developers are training their A.I. software!

All of this is the foundation for how I think about A.I. and its ultimate usefulness; which brings me to why I wrote this article. I wanted to share how I am integrating / approaching the use of A.I. in my own music productions.

Currently I’m utilizing five A.I. Assisted software plugins: Izotope Neutron and Ozone, Audialab Emergent Drums 2, Datamind Refractalizer and Samplson Tactile. None of these programs creates music on their own (via prompts) each of them are software plugins I incorporate into my DAW (Ableton Live). They each have specific functions - Neutron and Ozone for mixing and mastering, Emergent 2 for drum sample manipulation and both Refractalizer and Tactile for sound-design.

Neutron allows me to achieve better sounding mixes (greater clarity) while Ozone allows me to master / finalize my music for release. Emergent Drums, Refractalizer and Tactile allow me to explore and create new sounds utilizing my own unique sound samples/library. I will further detail each of these plugins and their use in my workflow in a future post.

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

Thank you for reading.

This is the first of what I hope will many interviews with composers. We start of with someone who has been a friend of mine for 20+ years (LOL). I first encountered Philippe or as he’s known me, Phil via MySpace! We quickly found each other to be musical kindred spirits.

Throughout those years Phil and I have released a split EP, performed live together as mNIPK and shared the stage at a number of music festivals. He has released my music via his labels, Alrealon Musique and Milligrid Records.

Without further ado, please allow me introduce composer Philippe Gerber:

1. The obligatory opening question, please introduce yourself

Hello, I’m Philippe Gerber. I’m a movie composer and music producer working primarily in film and visual media. My background started in the alternative music scene in London with the band Heat From a DeadStar (Ace of Hearts Records), where I developed a strong interest in sound design, texture, and atmosphere. Over time, that naturally evolved into composing for pictures.

Today I focus on creating music that supports storytelling—whether through themes, ambient textures, or hybrid orchestral and electronic elements. I enjoy collaborating closely with filmmakers to help shape the emotional world of a film and give each project its own sonic identity.

2. In your journey to becoming a composer, you early on chose to focus on the horror genre, why?

One of the reasons I was drawn to horror early on is actually very personal. My mother introduced me to horror films at a very young age, so that world became familiar to me very early. I remember being fascinated not just by the visuals, but by how the music shaped the tension and atmosphere.

As I started making music myself, I realized that horror gives composers a unique creative space. You can experiment with texture, silence, rhythm, and sound design in ways that really influence the audience’s emotional experience.

3. What are some of the unique challenges to composing a horror score?

One of the biggest challenges in horror scoring is knowing when not to use music. Silence can be just as powerful as a score in building tension. Another challenge is avoiding genre clichés and finding fresh sounds that support the psychological atmosphere of the film while still working closely with the sound design.

4. Is there a particular cue or soundtrack that stands out for how it works for a scene or as a whole?

One score I always think about is the music for The Shining. The way the music is used in that film is incredibly effective because it creates tension even before anything visually disturbing happens.

The score relies a lot on dissonance and atmosphere, which gives the audience the feeling that something is wrong long before the story fully reveals it. It’s a great example of how music can guide the audience’s emotional perception of a scene.

5. You also created the audio production company They Came From Hell. How does it align or support you as a composer?

As They Came From Hell is essentially the creative umbrella for my work as a composer. It allows me to develop and release music connected to the horror genre while also building a recognizable identity around that sound world.

Through the company, I can produce and release soundtracks, collaborate with filmmakers, and explore projects that live at the intersection of music and dark cinematic storytelling. In that sense, it supports my work not just as a composer but also as a creative producer, giving me the flexibility to develop ideas and partnerships around the kind of atmosphere and storytelling I’m most drawn to.

6. What are you currently working on? Also, what’s upcoming for you?

I just wrapped recording the full score for the upcoming sci-fi film Flicker, directed by California filmmaker Charlie Perez—an exhilarating project from start to finish.

I also recently composed the theme for the horror movie West Haven, crafted by the brilliant Florida-based director Stephen Styles.

Meanwhile, I’ve been immersed in scoring the documentary By George, directed by Paul Moon, which has been an incredibly collaborative and inspiring experience.

Philippe Gerber - Instagram

They Came From Hell - Patreon

Philippe Gerber - YouTube

Welcome to Dispatches from The Black Site Lab…

Hip-Hop and Hollywood have been in a longtime love affair. Hollywood has embraced Hip-Hop culture in a multitude of ways. The music, the style and the people have all been featured in both film and tv. The music / sound of Hip-Hop is all over yesterdays, todays and of course future soundtracks. Its influence is pervasive.

While loving or at least embracing Hip-Hop, Hollywood has been slow to hire Hip-Hop producers as composers. There are Hip-Hop Composers and they are who I want to highlight.

Several prominent hip-hop producers have transitioned into scoring films and television, bringing their unique soundscapes to visual media. Notable examples include RZA (‘Ghost Dog’, ‘Kill Bill’), Flying Lotus (‘Yasuke’, ‘Ash’), El-P (‘Capone’), and Dan the Automator (‘Booksmart’), QTip (‘She’s Gotta Have It’), Ali Shaheed Muhammed & Adrian Younge (‘Luke Cage’) as well as Ludwig Göransson (‘Sinners’, ‘Black Panther’).

The title of this article is a quote from DJ Muggs - best known as Cypress Hills producer. Muggs’ beats / sound have always had a cinematic almost noirish quality to them. He spent the better part of 2023 firmly planting his composer flag within Hollywood. That year he scored the Steven Soderbergh-produced sci-fi, ‘Divinity’; a Mel Gibson cop thriller called ‘Confidential Informant’. In 2024 he turned the album ‘Soul Assassins 3: Death Valley’ into a short film. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention he also composed the soundtrack for the 1999 video game, ‘Kingpin: Life of Crime’.

1999 saw the release of a landmark Hip-Hop producer composed soundtrack in ‘Fight Club’. The David Fincher directed movie featured music composed by The Dust Brothers (E.Z. Mike, aka Michael Simpson, and King Gizmo, aka John King). The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB! So I will leave it to you to listen and marvel at this soundtrack.

1999 also saw the release of RZA’s ‘Ghost Dog’ score. This score brought RZA’s legendary Wu-Tang production style to Hollywood.

Ghost Dog director Jim Jarmusch on wanting RZA to provide the score - “But RZA is my favorite, and I was madly taping off any instrumental mix by RZA I could find, because my dream was for him to do all the music for the film. I hadn’t even started writing at this point.” You can read the entire interview with Jim Jarmusch here.

RZA on Jim Jarmusch - “Jim is one of my inspirations,” states RZA. “He started my whole Hollywood career. He came to me and gave me a chance to score his movie Ghost Dog. He put me in a small scene in the film and I got bit right there!”

From Pitchfork - “From this point, RZA would push outward into the artistic demimonde, where he naturally belonged. Soon, he would be consulting on Quentin Tarantino films, writing screenplays. Revisiting Ghost Dog today, it’s startling to see how, despite being written and directed by Jarmusch, it plays as a melancholy requiem for the Wu-Tang’s already-lost golden era, one in which Wu affiliates make unusual cameos (Timbo King and Dreddy Kruger, freestyling on a park bench) and every CD that’s loaded into a player happens to start playing Wu-Tang music. Jersey City in its most unforgiving light evoked the Shaolin of Wu myth, and some of the movie’s most indelible moments are prolonged shots of Whitaker’s impassive face through a windshield as Wu-Tang beats fill the car. Near the movie’s end, RZA himself strolls on camera to pay his respects to Ghost Dog, a fellow dreamer whose dreams changed the lives of those around him. In many ways, Ghost Dog plays like a shadow autobiography of RZA himself. Both are citizens of lost worlds, adhering to ancient codes in a fallen society where the only thing separating the visionary from the fool is commitment.” - By Jayson Greene

Reviewed October 9, 2022

RZA went on to score several films and tv shows, including ‘Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2’ (2003-2004), ‘Afro Samurai & Resurrection’ (2007-2009), ‘The Man with the Iron Fists’ (2012),and ‘Thriller’ (2018). His latest movie ‘One Spoon of Chocolate’ will see him not only in the composers’ seat but also as producer, director, and writer. It also marks the debut film for RZA’s 36 Cinema Distribution.

Another composer who definitely bridges the gap between Hip-Hop and scoring is the Oscar and Grammy winner Ludwig Goransson. He has often talked about Hip-Hop as his first musical love and was instrumental in the career of Childish Gambino serving as producer on both ‘Camp’ and ‘Because The Internet’.

I believe he is blazing a trail to becoming this generation’s Hans Zimmer. His filmography already includes, both Black Panther films, ‘Oppenheimer’, ‘Venom’ (a personal favorite), ‘Sinners’ and many others.

I could forever wax poetically on just how unique and inventive a composer he is but I will spare you. I will let him and his music speak for themselves.

Lastly, I want to highlight the work of a composer who I believe doesn’t get the love he should, Jonathan Snipes. While best known as 1/3rd of the Hip-Hop group clipping., he is also a film and tv composer whose resume includes over 40 film and tv shows. His work ranges from high-concept horror to experimental documentaries and major streaming series. One of my favorite scores from him was for the 2014 horror film, ‘Starry Eyes’. The score is very much an 80’s inspired synth driven horror score.

Jonathan Snipes on becoming a film composer - “I remember reading an interview with Darren Aronofsky about the movie ‘Pi’ and going to Clint Mansell’s house to work on the score. It was described as a dank garage filled with half-working synthesizers that generated this music from the wires. I thought that seemed like a pretty cool person to be.”

The hiring of hip-hop producers for film and TV is accelerating, driven by a growing demand for modern, atmospheric soundtracks that move beyond traditional orchestral themes. By merging the urgency of rap with the grandeur of orchestral production, we will hear some truly new and original film and tv scores. The future is extremely bright for Cinematic Hip-Hop.

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

Thank you for reading

A depiction of Leshy aka the Wolf Shepherd

This is the first in a series of posts detailing the creation of my forthcoming release, ‘The Forest King’. In future posts, I’ll dive into the mythology of Leshy - The Wolf Shepherd, the composers, authors and movies that influenced me as I worked on ‘The Forest King’, my creative process (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and the newly created mythology of The Forest King.

The Forest King was originally titled ‘The Shepherd’s Tale’ and was in line to be the next They Came From Hell release. TCFH was a collaborative effort between myself and composer / multi-instrumentalist Philippe Gerber. Previously we released several soundtracks to imaginary films as well as the sample pack, ‘Symphysiotomy’.

The Shepherd’s Tale was scheduled to be our next soundtrack release but life had another idea. As we began working on ‘The Shepherd’s Tale’, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Metastatic Small Intestine Cancer. Needless to say, work on ‘The Shepherd’s Tale’ ground to a halt. After two brain surgeries, twelve radiation treatments, chemo therapy - still ongoing and an almost two and a half year pause, I returned to those basic cues I had begun working on for ‘The Shepherd’s Tale’.

Upon returning to those basic cues, my idea for ‘The Shepherd’s Tale’ began to evolve. Rather than a sonic telling of the ancient Slavic myth of the “Wolf Shepherd”, I wanted to bring the myth into the 21st century and that’s where we are now. With the idea of a 21st century telling of the myth firmly in place, The Forest King was born.

Thank you for reading…