Milan Records will release THE KNICK – Original Television Soundtrack composed by Cliff Martinez, digitally on Tuesday, August 19, followed by a physical CD release on Tuesday, September 16. The album, which will also be released on vinyl later in the year, features original music by composer Cliff Martinez (DRIVE, SPRING BREAKERS), a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The Cinemax® Series Marks The 11th Collaboration Between Steven Soderbergh and Cliff Martinez
“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. The composer, who previously scored one episode of PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE, joked about his approach. “There’s nothing like a 10-hour series to help you squeeze the maximum mileage out of all your musical themes!”
Set in New York City in 1900, this new Cinemax drama series from Academy Award® and Emmy®-winning director Steven Soderbergh centers on the Knickerbocker Hospital and the groundbreaking surgeons, nurses and staff who push the boundaries of medicine in a time of astonishingly high mortality rates and zero antibiotics. The newly appointed leader of the surgery staff is the brilliant, arrogant renegade Dr. John Thackery (Academy Award® nominee Clive Owen), whose addiction to cocaine and opium is trumped only by his ambition for medical discovery and renown among his peers. Soderbergh directs all 10 episodes of the series’ first season.
“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.’
“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.”
THE KNICK debuts on Cinemax August 8th at 10PM. THE KNICK — Original Television Soundtrack on Milan Records will be available digitally on August 19, 2014, on CD September 16, 2014, and on vinyl later this year.
About Cliff Martinez
Perhaps it is because of his time in the punk scene playing for artists like the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee), The Weirdos, The Dickies, Lydia Lunch and Foetus frontman Jim Thirlwell, and the final incarnation of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band that composer Cliff Martinez’s approach to scoring is nontraditional. His scores tend towards being stark and sparse, utilizing a modern tonal palette to paint the backdrop for films that are often dark, psychological stories like NARC (2002) SOLARIS (2002), THE LIMEY (2009) WONDERLAND (2003), WICKER PARK (2004), DRIVE (2011) ARBITRAGE (2012), SPRING BREAKERS (2013), THE COMPANY YOU KEEP (2013), and ONLY GOD FORGIVES (2013). He has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with director Steven Soderberg beginning with 1989s SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE and continues with such films as TRAFFIC, NARC, and CONTAGION. Martinez has been nominated for a Grammy Award (Steven Soderbergh’s TRAFFIC), a Cesar Award (Xavier Giannoli’s A L’ORIGINE), and a Broadcast Film Critics Award (DRIVE). Martinez received the Richard Kirk Award from BMI. His recent projects include the HBO film THE NORMAL HEART.
TRACKLIST
1. Son of Placenta Previa
2. I’m In The Pink
3. Placental Repair
4. Finish Your Breakfast
5. Thus Speak Thack The Wise
6. Never Read Him
7. Aortic Aneurysm Junior
8. Goodnight Nurse Elkins
9. Drizzled Him Good
10. Not Leaving This Circus
11. Falling Off a Bicycle Plus
12. Call Me Dad
13. Fire It Up Again
14. Pretty Silver Stitches
15. Douse This
16. New Standard Hernia Procedure
17. Sail To Europe
18. Abscess
19. My Book
20. Will It Hurt
