Steven Soderbergh’s new series on Cinemax, The Knick, is a period drama about the staff of a New York hospital in the early 20th century. But, unlike most historical dramas, it features a modern electronic score, by Cliff Martinez.
“As usual, Steven and I rarely spoke and instead communicated via mental telepathy,” said Martinez. “In so many words he told me: ‘We’re all going to recreate early 1900s New York as authentically as possible…except for you. I want the music to be modern and electronic.’”
Martinez – a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers – has previously scored Soderbergh’s films, including Sex, Lies & Videotape & Solaris, Spring Breakers, Drive and others.
His experience with television scoring, though, was limited. He had previously scored an episode of Pee Wee’s Playhouse.
“Working on a TV series was a round-the-clock-for-10-weeks endeavor for me. Lots of coffee…not so much sleep,” said Martinez of his first real foray into composing for an episodic television series. “There’s nothing like a 10-hour series to help you squeeze the maximum mileage out of all your musical themes!”
Here’s a video preview:
“For The Knick, I revisited a time-honored Soderbergh/Martinez tradition that I like to call ‘one thing,’” Martinez added. “I try very hard to score an entire scene using only one sound or instrument. It’s difficult and I usually end up cheating and using more. But by limiting the number of elements, I’m always guaranteed an expressively minimalist and fat-free soundtrack.”
Here are several queues from the soundtrack:
The Knick soundtrack is available via Amazon, iTunes and other retailers.
Tracklisting
- Son of Placenta Previa
- I’m In The Pink
- Placental Repair
- Finish Your Breakfast
- Thus Speak Thack The Wise
- Never Read Him
- Aortic Aneurysm Junior
- Goodnight Nurse Elkins
- Drizzled Him Good
- Not Leaving This Circus
- Falling Off a Bicycle Plus
- Call Me Dad
- Fire It Up Again
- Pretty Silver Stitches
- Douse This
- New Standard Hernia Procedure
- Sail To Europe
- Abscess
- My Book
- Will It Hurt
Great show, and strangely enough the minimal synth sound track works very well.
Awesome show, the quiet synth soundtrack makes it really eerie and atmospheric.
I usually like Martinez work but I found the soundtrack completely inappropriate, too loud, too repetitive and a total distraction (enough already with the arpeggiator!). To the point that I’ve stopped watching the show.
The score is brilliant.. Not for the small of mind. You should stick to shows with a laugh track.
congrats to the director for pushing through this soundtrack. it is not easy listening and makes me feel uneasy immediately – which goes perfectly well with the picture and its intention. not for the crowd, though.
If he could convince his producers that casting Sasha Grey in the lead role of a non-porn movie is a good choice then pushing for this soundtrack should’ve been a breeze. Unlike Grey however this choice payed off. It’s a great soundtrack that in my opinion blends seamlessly with the scenes. It doesn’t feel out of place, nor does it take over the picture.
Lots of Omnisphere and Trilian in his score. Cliff’s a very creative user of our instruments. Here’s a neat video he did for us a while ago: http://vimeo.com/49953235
Was Omnisphere used for “Son of Placenta”? Sounds like Omnisphere.