Our next guests are composers, musicians & producers Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein.

Kyle & Michael are known as one half of Texas electronic band S U R V I V E, as well as GRAMMY nominated / EMMY winning composers of Netflix's "Stranger Things" series, which is released on Lakeshore Records & Invada Records.

As well as a number of other award wins and nominations for their work on Stranger Things, Kyle & Michael are also known for their composition work on virtual reality series "Spheres", three-part UK series "Butterfly" and much more.

Kyle and Michael have each done a separate playlist, and you can read about their selections below.

Photo by Alex Kacha

Kyle Dixon

"There was a screaming sound in each ear, and the difference between the two pitches was so narrow that the vibration was like running his fingernail along the edge of a new dime. In front of his eyes clusters of round spots were being born; they were the little spots that result when a photographic cut in a newspaper is enlarged many times. Lighter agglomerations, darker masses, small regions of uninhabited space here and there. Each spot slowly took on a third dimension. He tried to recoil from the expanding globules of matter. Did he cry out? Could he move?

The thin distance between the two high screams became narrower, they were almost one; now the difference was the edge of a razor blade, poised against the tips of each finger. The fingers were to be sliced longitudinally."

Listen here - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3gDnRU0sDWlNs1mLPPwE8M?si=VotKeLmITAOcFk2_qQAWdw

Michael Stein

"I tend to be making music so often that i don’t just stop and listen enough. With this playlist i am going to take myself back to when I was discovering some of the music that inspired me to start recording music. There’s a lot of recording techniques being used in this playlist that I love; eventide harmonizers, tape edits, dub effects, Fairlights etc. but I choose these songs bc of the feeling and energy i get when i listen them. It's not too obscure and should be easy for anyone to enjoy." 

Listen here - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1a0W5w3WamVzTccg9pH7Mj?si=jjBuBbZyRzGWXzMiYIIAdA

Ben Salisbury, The Insects & Geoff Barrow have gathered together all the tracks from their original score for DEVS, alongside the key soundtrack songs that appear throughout the 8 episodes.

Very early in the process director Alex Garland earmarked several songs for the series - ‘Ranganten Sempitera’, ‘Oh I Wept’, and ‘Guinnevere’ - with the soprano saxophone in ‘Rangntem Sempitera’  even influencing the instrumentation the composers used later in the score. 

Other tracks - ‘Congregation’, ‘Fortunate Ones’ and ‘Come Out’ - were suggested by the composers as part of a musical ‘mood board’ as work on the music for the series began and they all became key parts across the finished episodes. 

What made DEVS unusual is that all the found music choices were discussed and considered as a team that included the composers and the director as well as the music editor Simon Changer. 

With the inclusion of the tracks co-written by Suvi-Eeva Äikäs,  Invada now presents a playlist of all the musical choices for DEVS. 

Listen Here - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ZiKgTxO2z9zTId18LEgIv?si=Fibq9EWSQESO85ARxJzpRg

Our next guest is film maker & long-standing friend of Invada Ben Wheatley.

Some of Ben’s work includes Kill List, Sightseers, A Field In England, Free Fire & High Rise. 

Netflix will release Ben’s latest film “Rebecca” (adaptation of the Daphne du Maurier novel)  later in 2020.

Ben has made three individual playlists for Invada & each is themed - read the description from Ben below.

When I start to write or get into production for a film I usually make a playlist. Sometimes it's thoughts about what music will go in the film, sometimes it's music to listen to while writing or storyboarding. Over the years these playlists have built up. A lot of films never get made or are abandoned and all that's left is their playlist. A soundtrack album for a lost film.

Two for Hell OST

Two for Hell was written after Kill List and was going to be a crime thriller starring Neil Maskell and Myanna Buring as a couple that were professional thieves. The plot revolved around them doing a robbery on a casino and then being betrayed by the mob. They then had to fight their way out.

It started in Camden in the late 80's when the two met as kids and then jumped to now (or ten years ago seeing as it didn't get made) I had plans for an extended breakdancing scene at a wedding with Neil and Myanna doing all sorts of body popping to old skool hip hop. The film didn't ever really get past the 40 pages mark and this playlist.

The playlist has a lot of my fave 90s tunes and then a sprinkling of later pop. Ive always loved Lily Allens 'the fear' its up there with Mel and Kims Respectable as a litmus test of the time.. Blue Monday I always wanted to use.. but its been thoroughly rinsed in recent years. That's Entertainment immediately brings back 70s summers.

The film was going to start with Baggy Trousers as two rival schools clashed in a violent punch up and our main characters eyes meet.

Two For Hell OST - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3oZLKK2PNYVuM3lnLTdGgu?si=C80J5qrCQFeiZwgkG0CIlg

Freakshift OST

Seems like i've been trying to make Freakshift for years. It was originally meant to happen after Sightseers. A tale of a police force that patrolled at night hunting down crab like creatures that burrowed up through the ground. It was a mix of 2000ad, Doom and Hill Street Blues. The cast was mainly women and at the time the idea of an action sci-fi women led movie was a bit of a hard sell.. no fury road yet. We came very close to making it but couldn't quite get the budget. Ended up making A field in England instead. It's still kicking around though.. one day..

The soundtrack was going to be a range of girl bands from the 60's to now, Women solo artists mixed with rap and tv soundtracks.

Freakshift OST - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2GQqEnu70keZP6PFa9RjDf?si=8oUOMpVPS_66mGLHdRoQKQ

A Field in England Non Official Soundtrack

This features none of the brilliant Jim Williams score. If you havn't checked that out please do. Films often get scored with temporary music before the actual score is written. This wasn't the case with  A Field in England. Jim very quickly created a suite of music and Amy Jump and I edited the film with these demos in the edit.

So what is this playlist?

This is the playlist of mood music I was listening to during the production of the film. Some of these tracks were played in on set to give the actors something to think about and get them in the right frame of mind. Lurking in there is Chernobyl by Blanck Mass. Its the only bit of source music that made it into the film. (i'd been told specifically it all had to be composed as source or needle drops .. AKA other peoples music would be too expensive) Andy Starke the producer of A Field in England said he had the perfect track for the scene where Reece Shearsmith's Character Whitehead emerges from the tent transformed.. Chernobyl.. So I put it on the shot that night.. and we never changed it. That's quite a rare thing to happen.

Our next guest is Irish actor Cillian Murphy.

Cillian is well known for his film work, including '28 Days Later' (2002), 'Breakfast on Pluto' (2005), 'Inception' (2010) and 'Dunkirk' (2017),  along with many others, including his lead role in the series 'Peaky Blinders'.

Cillian also appeared in Ben Wheatley's 2016 film 'Free Fire', the soundtrack for which was released on Invada Records that same year.

Read some words from Cillian Murphy about his selections:

I don’t know about everyone else but I have been doing a lot of dreaming these last few weeks. The dreams have been very fractrured and abstracted but incredibly vivid.
So the first track on this playlist is a weird dream song/story that I used to listen to a lot as a kid. I was always fascinated by the voice of the piano. When I listen to it now it sounds a bit like the piano is possesed by Kraftwerk, even though the piece was recorded in 1947.
The theme is continued by Sun Ra on the 2nd track.
The rest of the music reflects the changes in my mood these days. Some days I just want to put on the Beastie boys or some banging funk tune and play it very loud, other times I need something reflective and delictae to lean into.
But generally I default to hope. The Healing Day by Bill Fay is an absolutely beautiful song full of empathy and redemption. And for me very comforting.
Anyway, maybe there’s something in there for you.
In the meantime, mind yourselves and keep listening to music.

Cillianx

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0hSFnGokFdd12sZ7u8cDsJ?si=X1qj2xsLQJSkD2Ws1BtSOw

Our next guest is the brilliant Scottish actor Kate Dickie, who Invada worked with when we released Beak>'s score for the Tom Geens film "Couple In a Hole".

Kate is known for her roles in films The Witch, Filth, Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi and Couple In A Hole, along with television appearances including Game Of Thrones and Peaky Blinders.

My playlist is a wee bit of everything that I love. A salute to all those who have inspired, comforted, confronted, made me think, made me laugh, made me cry, made me feel alive. Hope your lugs enjoy it xx - Kate Dickie.