ON THE HEELS OF HAVING THEIR TRACK
“WMD” FEATURED ON ‘THE
BODY OF WAR’ COMPILATION, THE ECLECTIC
NYC COLLECTIVE BLOW UP HOLLYWOOD
DECIDES TO GO AMBIENT AND ‘TAKE FLIGHT’
Continuing to defy odds, without being boxed in to strict genre definitions, NYC based musical collective Blow Up Hollywood renders their moniker completely ironic with the release of their fifth recording, Take Flight, a lushly textured ambient film score like collection, composed, performed (completely on analog keyboards) and produced by band co-founder Steve Messina and multi-instrumentalist Rich Kern. While much of the group’s previous acclaimed work has fused rock, pop, psychedelic, ambient and classical music, the two musicians strip down to a colorful and seductive dream state, creating musical cinema that’s more independent art house than corporately driven blockbuster.
The tracks for this very unique sonic adventure were inspired by the compositions Messina and Kern created for the documentary “Mustang – Journey of Transformation,” and growing up listening to radio shows like Echoes’and Hearts of Space. “I remember finding those shows late night, left of the dial, on my radio and being completely taken by the mood the music set. Those shows really turned me on to a style of music and artists that I had never heard before, and a sound I wanted to emulate and incorporate in my own writing.”
The film, “Mustang - Journey of Transofrmation” which was narrated by Richard Gere and features the Dalai Lama, was shot in the Kingdom of Mustang in Nepal, one of the last places on earth that Tibetan culture is allowed to thrive. Prior to their work on this film, its director, Will Parrinello, used compositions from earlier Blow Up Hollywood recordings for his similarly themed film “Dreaming of Tibet.”
***NEWS***
BLOW UP HOLLYWOOD FEATURED ON INDIE FILM "BODY OF WAR" CD WITH EDDIE VEDDER, JOHN LENNON, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, NEIL YOUNG AND ROGER WATERS
"Body of War: Songs that Inspired an Iraq War Veteran," a double-CD compilation of songs curated by Iraq war veteran Tomas Young, will be released by Sire Records on March 18, 2008 -- two days before the fifth anniversary of the United Statesí invasion of Iraq.
Young, now 26, was shot and paralyzed from the chest down after serving in Iraq for less than a week. His heart-wrenching and inspiring story is told in the critically acclaimed feature documentary "Body of War," produced and directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro.
