Featuring Original Music By H. Scott Salinas and Jackson Greenberg
Lakeshore Records will release the CARTEL LAND – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally on June 30 and on CD September 18, 2015. The film features original score by H. Scott Salinas (THE SQUARE, THE NEWSROOM) and Jackson Greenberg (ISRAEL INSIDE: HOW A SMALL NATION MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE). Matthew Heineman directed CARTEL LAND, which earned recognition for Best Director (US Documentary) and Best Cinematography (US Documentary) at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Kathryn Bigelow served as the Executive Producer.
“From our very first conversation to the completion of the score, Matt struck the perfect balance of both inspiring us with different ideas, and also allowing us room to explore musical areas that were new for both me and Scott,” said Greenberg. “Matt came to us with the idea of using a lot of the natural sounds he had recorded during his time in Mexico to create a musical soundscape that was grounded in the locations that the film took place. In many ways this process, of taking one sound and making it into another, defined the foundation for music in CARTEL LAND.”
H. Scott Salinas agreed, “We worked very closely to shape the exact sound of the film, incorporating not only instruments of the regions but actual field recordings of the natural environment that Matt captured while shooting. Cicadas became violins. Gunshots became drums.”
Award-winning composer, H. Scott Salinas has contributed towards an impressive variety of notable projects including the Academy Award-nominated documentary film THE SQUARE, THE NEWSROOM, World of Coca-Cola’s 4-D ride “In Search of the Secret Formula”, and the wildly popular SPIDER-MAN 3: THE VIDEO GAME. After graduating from Princeton University, where he studied classical and jazz music, Scott continued his training at Berklee College of Music with a concentration in scoring for picture.
In 2002, Scott became the youngest Grand Prize recipient of the Turner Classic Movies Young Film Composers Competition, and has since composed songs and original scores for dozens of feature films, video games, commercials, and high-profile television shows. Along with accolades such as the prestigious Cannes Lion and Clio awards, Scott’s accomplishments have earned him esteem and recognition as a highly versatile yet specialized talent. From composing the brooding hybrid orchestral score to the Darren Aronofsky (BLACK SWAN, NOAH) produced ZIPPER, to his original song “Jamie Smiles” written for the cult comedy classic JUST FRIENDS (Ryan Reynolds and Anna Faris), to acting as the instrumental mouthpiece behind the Old Spice whistle, Scott’s ability to create a meaningful impact for a wide spectrum is showcased through his work.
Originally from Philadelphia and since moving to Los Angeles, Jackson Greenberg has worked with legendary artist Randy Newman, written songs for numerous others and can be seen performing his own work at venues around town. He has scored multiple festival award winning short films and composed music for national television commercials. He received his undergraduate degree in music from Princeton University, his graduate degree in composition from The Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California and studied with composer Kenneth Hesketh at the Royal College of Music in London. His String Quarter No. 1 (A Metropolitan Man) was premiered at Princeton University by the Juilliard String Quartet in 2012.
With unprecedented access, CARTEL LAND is a harrowing look at the journeys of two modern-day vigilante groups and their shared enemy – the murderous Mexican drug cartels. In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as “El Doctor,” leads the Autodefensas, a citizen uprising against the violent Knights Templar drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Meanwhile, in Arizona’s Altar Valley – a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley – Tim “Nailer” Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to stop Mexico’s drug wars from seeping across our border. Filmmaker Matthew Heineman embeds himself in the heart of darkness as Nailer, El Doctor, and the cartel each vie to bring their own brand of justice to a society where institutions have failed. CARTEL LAND is a chilling meditation on the breakdown of order and the blurry line between good and evil.
“To tell the tale of the two worlds colliding, the human condition vs. the gritty, cutthroat meth production, we juxtaposed organic acoustic instruments like vibraphone, charango, mandolin, against synthetic edgy instruments like synthesizers and drum machines,” Salinas described. “In a neat twist we also featured the more Mexican instruments in the Arizona scenes, and the more American instruments when we were in Mexico, subtly uniting the two stories while reversing the expected.”
The Orchard presents CARTEL LAND in limited theaters July. The CARTEL LAND – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will be available digitally on June 30th and on CD September 18, 2015.
TRACKLIST
1. The Cook (2:41)
2. Border Patrol (1:40)
3. Vigilantism 101 (1:53)
4. What Would You Do? (2:18)
5. Birth of the Autodefensas (1:33)
6. El Chaúz (2:32)
7. Apo Rising (3:56)
8. Nailer (1:46)
9. The Bonfire (1:45)
10. El Doctor (0:52)
11. Assassins (1:24)
12. The Movement (2:11)
13. La Esposa (1:20)
14. The People Win (1:45)
15. Hunting (1:17)
16. A Speech for the Nation (2:44)
17. North of the Border (3:44)
18. Suiting Up (3:31)
19. Town Meeting (1:13)
20. The Lucky Ones (2:13)
21. Cartel Land (End Credits) (2:57)
22. En Las Calles (3:11)
