Kickstarter project to help "Inventory" song-score artist Cotton Mather release expanded "Kon Tiki" album

How great would it be to have a 2-CD deluxe edition of Cotton Mather's Kon Tiki, where Inventory soundtrack tune "Homefront Cameo" originated? Very great!

Please pitch in, if you'd like to see a lost-classic album re-released and expanded! Lots of nifty rewards available to contributors.

"Inventory" soundtrack artist Stackridge on Craig Ferguson tonight!

Congrats to Stackridge and manager Mike Tobin for this milestone in the band's long, illustrious career!

Soundtrack artist: The Sugarplastic

Over the last few years, the band I've listened to most is The Sugarplastic.

Given the chance, I'll play their entire catalog over and over again.

Most-often compared to XTC, they're almost always engagingly tuneful. But if Ben Eshbach, Kiara Geller, and company got the memo on conventional song structure, they tore it up... or more likely, they made whimsical origami out of it.

The two Sugarplastic tracks in Inventory are both instrumentals, so alas their witty lyrics aren't on display. However, as underscore in the first half of the film, they subtly set the stage for the many vocal songs to follow.

"Euripides the Jaguar" is an ambling, hypnotic guitar-based song, the first original the L.A.-based Sugarplastic ever recorded, and it perfectly suits the slacker clerks' lazy pace in the film's early going.

"Ben Takes a Walk to Lose Company and on the Way He Sees Some Ice Skaters," described by AllMusic as "just plain odd," slinks and scampers along like "Funeral March of a Marionette" re-imagined by Danny Elfman.

Ben, who wrote both songs, is also in a new band called Soviet League. They recently released a pleasingly eclectic self-titled debut that favorably recalls "Taking Tiger Mountain (by Strategy)"-era Brian Eno, which is to say awesomeness.

Soundtrack artist: Lolas

According to the Powerpopaholic blog, the Lolas' song "'Watch The Movie' has Weezer's innocent pop sweetness with Brian May styled guitar."

In our quest to fill Inventory with endorphin-eliciting tunes, one spin of this outrageously catchy song spelled love at first sound.

What filmmaker isn't tempted to say "just shut up, watch the movie" from time-to-time? Over one of our action montages, Alabama-based Tim Boykin sings it for us... so gorgeously, I can't see how anyone could mind.

"Inventory" post at Broken Hearted Toy music blog

There's a nice write-up about Inventory and our song score at a cool music blog called "Broken Hearted Toy."

Thanks to Terry Flamm for taking an interest in our film and to Herb Eimerman of The Nerk Twins / The Britannicas for helping get the word out!

Soundtrack artist: Shoes

Shoes (brothers Jeff and John Murphy and friend Gary Klebe) not only cracked the code for tight, tuneful rock, they're true pioneers in DIY creativity, achieving in homegrown recording—beginning in the mid-1970s—what we indie filmmakers are now striving to accomplish in our medium.

A series of all-killer, no-filler albums (notably "Black Vinyl Shoes," "Present Tense," and "Tongue Twister") cemented their spot high in the pantheon of powerpop greats.

It's been a pleasure and honor to get to know Jeff, initially while making arrangements to include "Either Way," by his side-project The Nerk Twins, in the Inventory song score. Jeff then served as our liaison to the famously egalitarian Shoes, who generously agreed to let us include multiple songs of theirs in the film.

Upon receiving that green light, I assigned myself the enviable task of re-listening to their entire catalog. While the aforementioned three discs are their most celebrated output, large numbers of my finalists came from lesser-known later albums like "Silhouette" and "Stolen Wishes." All told, it's a body of work with few rivals in the realm of post-Beatles pop.

Ultimately, I found that three songs were particularly suited to the available music cues in Inventory.

"Found a Girl" is as gorgeous a reverie on the tug between love and not-love as you're going to hear this side of 10cc's "I'm Not in Love." In Inventory, it hauntingly captures what's at stake for two clerks who keep their workplace romance a secret.

"Twist and Bend It" is a proudly lo-fi rocker that gives extra sizzle to a series of Inventory's comic-action montages, and the chugging "Cruel You" powers us through the film's climactic showdown.

Jeff Murphy describes the writing and recording of "Found a Girl":

Shortly after our return from England (recording the "Present Tense" LP) in the fall of 1979, my girlfriend of 5 years rewarded my monogamy with the news that she wanted to break up and end our relationship. We went on to attempt and abort a short tour in the early December and by January of 1980 we decided to cut our losses and get back to doing what we loved most; writing and recording some new songs for the next Shoes album.

In doing the numerous interviews and Q & A sessions to support "Present Tense," I met a female journalist that invited me over for dinner. She lived over an hour away, so she wrote directions for me on a piece of paper. I approached the situation with cynical skepticism stemming from my previous break-up and had no expectations. To my surprise, even though I got lost on the drive to the date, we had a great time! The relationship eventually traced the meteoric arc that is typical for people in their mid-20s, but I wrote this semi-biographical song as a result of that first, optimistic encounter.

In recording the track, the approach was unusual in more ways than one. First, there are no drums on the song, which immediately shifts the classification to that of a ballad, instead of the usual rock approach that we typically focused on. The rhythm guitars were unusual in that the "chords" were constructed by recording and layering each note of the chord separately through a gadget I had put together from an old tape recorder I had as a kid. The distortion it produced was a unique, buzzy tone with great sustain that we referred to as "synthesized guitar". John's bass line gave a great melodic foundation and we layered in some backing harmonies that swell in and fade out for a sweeping feeling. It originally appeared on our, "Tongue Twister" LP in 1981, but in 2007 we released the songwriting demos for the period of 1979-1981 on the double CD set, "Double Exposure."

It's great to see this track get another go 'round as part of the movie's soundtrack and we hope it helps contribute to the desired mood and feel of Inventory!

John Murphy on "Cruel You" and "Twist and Bend It":

Cruel You was another song about love gone wrong (our stock in trade!) but, in the last verse, the guy is so out of his mind with jealousy that he pulls a pistol on his estranged girlfriend. Much to his chagrin, she doesn't beg for her life... she still has the upper hand even though he has the gun. Some reviews at the time suggested that "when I pointed the gun at you" was a euphemism, which is fine... that works as well. But I really meant he was driven to the point of threatening murder, in a vain attempt at trying to control her.

Twist and Bend It was the last song I wrote for our album Silhouette after feeling I needed a full-on rock track. Lyrically, it's sort of stream of consciousness. When we recorded it, our drummer was MIA so Jeff and I cooked up the drum track. We did it piecemeal; Jeff engineered and I whacked the skins. BTW, the title came from the directions on how to use the wire ties from a box of plastic garbage bags ("Step 2: Twist and bend").

Kevin Hammer on "Inventory's" underscore

With endless smarts and talent, a great sense of humor, and a collegial personality, Kevin Hammer has been a prized collaborator in more than 20 projects with Castparty Productions. And Inventory simply couldn't have been made without his innumerable contributions.

On this project, he was a core part of the story-development team, sometime cinematographer/cameraman, sound recordist, sound editor, video co-editor, title-sequence animator, colorist, and lead FX artist. As is often the case in Castparty films, he also played a major role—and countless instruments, both real and virtual—in the musical scoring.

Inventory features a song-score comprised mostly of relatively unknown powerpop classics. But there was still a need for original music, including two original tunes we recorded under the name "The Bad Pixels" and many instrumental cues.

Here, Kevin talks about the development of the original underscore:

When we started putting together the ideas for Inventory, it became obvious that it would need a lot of music. As somebody who majored in film scoring in college, this brought a smile to my face.

While in the midst of juggling writing, producing, directing, and general ringmastering duties—not to mention a cameo role—Justin somehow found the time to put on his songwriter's cap and came up with the opening song for the film, simply titled "Theme from Inventory."

He passed on to me a recording of himself singing the song while playing piano. It was a charming little tune. I was charged with the task of arranging it to have the charisma of the "Cheers" theme and the pep of the "Friends" theme, which stylistically would prove to fit in well with the powerpop genre we chose for the song score.

After some trial and error, we came up with a final recording that we were happy with. I got to play one-man pop band in my basement studio, and Justin performed the lead vocals with Dennis Hurley, in character as Percy, joining in on backing vocals.

Once the edit of the movie started to take shape and the song score was assembled, we found that there were still several scenes that felt as if they wanted music, but where a vocal song would likely fight the dialogue.

Justin and I are both fans of orchestral film scores. As the resident go-to composer/arranger for Castparty Productions, I started trying to think of how best to add a traditional score to a powerpop song score.

In order to tie things together, we decided to incorporate some part of the theme song into almost every orchestral cue. Sometimes it was a direct string arrangement of the pop tune. Sometimes it was a bouncy re-imagining of the song. And sometimes the melodies and harmonies were woven so subtly into the arrangement that its presence isn't even noticed until it's pointed out.

It became a game to see how far these melodies could be bent and reshaped into drastically different moods and textures. Justin's a big fan of Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye. This approach favorably reminded him of the way John Williams's theme to that film is performed every which way, all throughout the film.

I'm hoping that even if it's not something that is consciously noticed, it will subconsciously add to the overall coherence and enjoyment of Inventory.

Soundtrack artist: Cotton Mather

Cotton Mather's Kontiki album draws on classic powerpop influences, notably John Lennon, and yet it's utterly original and accomplished in its own right. There's a genius in the works, and his name is Robert Harrison.

In his 2007 book, Shake Some Action, John Borack rated Kontiki number 26 of his Top 200 Powerpop Albums of all time, comparing the album to Revolver-era Beatles, Big Star, and The Apples in Stereo.

In Inventory, the atmospheric "Homefront Cameo" from that record announces the arrival of menacing furniture-store owner John Panda.

Robert, now with the band Future Clouds and Radar, talks about creating "Homefront Cameo":

"Homefront Cameo" is the second track off the Kontiki album, and like much of Kontiki it's a song influenced by having spent some months out on the road for the first time in support of our debut release. In the world of rock n' roll where one witnesses some pretty lousy behavior I was writing from the perspective of the woman left behind at home who is supposed to fall all over herself when her man comes home.

I recorded the basic track by subverting some Middle Eastern drum recordings I heard late night on the airwaves and bounced down to my four-track straight from the radio. I turned them backwards and got Darin Murphy to play along with them thus creating another layer of loops. This was my first experimental success with found sound, noise treatments and looping that I continue exploring to this day. Whit's guitar tone was especially wonderful on this track. It was fun to make, and like the rest of Kontiki it seemed like it was creating itself and I was holding on for dear life.

A desired side-effect of the Inventory song score is to open up indie-film audiences to wonderful music they've never heard of.

In talking with Robert, I find that my powerpop education is incomplete, since I've never (yet) caught up with the band Supergrass, which he—like many other aficionados of the genre—rates most highly. According to music mag NME, Cotton Mather shares the same stratospheric air, calling them among "the most exciting new guitar pop band[s] since Supergrass." If they compare favorably to Cotton Mather, consider Supergrass on my future radar... as I hope Cotton Mather and the other fantastic bands in the Inventory soundtrack will be on yours.

Powerpop maven Bruce Brodeen praises the "Inventory" song score

"Movie soundtracks, ideally, should be a genuine reflection and enhancement of the emotions of the characters and stand alongside the plot movement. Inventory contains stellar song-after-song that amplifies the personalities of its characters and keeps your toes tappin'."

Bruce Brodeen
Founder
NotLame.com and PopGeekHeaven.com

Soundtrack artist: Starbelly

As I've mentioned previously, the element of time hovers over Inventory and, correspondingly, over many songs in the soundtrack.

Starting with an urgent gasp of breath and the line "I fear every day, we're wasting our time away," Starbelly's "This Time" confronts the topic every slacker is dedicated to avoiding, especially slackers on a deadline they're not necessarily inclined to meet.

For some reason, I keep waking up in a world where songs this catchy somehow weren't massive hits. Weird, isn't it?

Starbelly's Dennis Schocket confirms that the concept of time was very much what drove the song's creation. As a film team that's made numerous movies for timed film competitions... and even a complete feature film in two weeks, we can very much relate to the challenge he set out for himself!

I had written a bunch of songs for the first Starbelly record (Lemon Fresh) and was playing them for my friend and producer Andy Bopp.

Feeling rather smug with the fact that most of the tunes clocked in at under three minutes, (very desirable for a pop song) I was surprised when Andy quipped "Yeah, but can you write a great song that's under TWO minutes?"

On the way home from the studio, I began my quest to write the perfect two minute pop song. When I sat down that evening to write it, I was anxious. I only had about an hour to spare. Don't waste time here. Hurry up and get something down, damn it! I thought "Cut the filler. Cut the fat."

How does one do this? Well.... Intro? No intro. Get to the point. Hit it hard and then get to the chorus. How about a bridge? Nope. No time for a bridge. Solo? Sure. Make it quick though. Subject matter? This is a song based on time restraints. Hurry up. Don't waste time. Make the most of what you have with whom you have it. "This clock ticks by. I stop asking why. This Time is for you."

There it was. It had come very easily. I thought "I did it! I can't wait to record this tomorrow." I called Andy. "I'm coming over tomorrow. I've got the perfect two minute pop song." Written and recorded within a 24 hour period! Awesome. As we listened to playback, I was happy with the results. Nice melody and nice chorus I thought. Oh, by the way, check the ticker. Did I do it? Is it under two minutes? The answer is...... FAIL. The damn song clocks in at 2:03. (The quest continues....)

Soundtrack artist: Martin Luther Lennon

In a powerpop soundtrack full of peppy, affirmative songs, how does one create the right first impression of ominous store owner John Panda?

I don't think there could be a better answer than a song by Martin Luther Lennon, who combine bright, propulsive tunefulness with high, sweet vocals and oft-badass lyrics that keep catching you by surprise. When you hear a song titled "Kill, Kill, Kill," it's a considerable surprise to find it's not only infectious but downright adorable. Tipper Gore's worst nightmare, perhaps. But for those who take black-humored fun in stride, MLL's two CDs are a joy.

About "Kill, Kill, Kill" and the band that performed it:

Martin Luther Lennon was a Los Angeles based power pop-punk band featuring singer and songwriter Anthony Douglas Perkins. They released two albums on the Colorado based label Not Lame, "Music for a world without limitations" and "Escape to paradox island", as well as music on an assorted number of compilations during the years 1995 to 2000. Both albums were critically lauded and in 2007, MLL was listed in Spin magazine as one of the "ten most under-recognized power pop bands". They last performed in 2003.

[The song was] written in the summer of 1993 during a time when I [Anthony] was really sick. No real conscious explanation other than the fact that I thought that it would be really funny to write a pop song called "Kill Kill Kill."

For more info, see: http://mllennon.u7productions.com/

Powerpop impresario David Bash praises the "Inventory" song score

Via e-mail:

"The Inventory soundtrack features an amazing collection of powerpop, from classic bands like Shoes and Stackridge to more recent, relatively unknown but worthy artists such as The Lolas and Jeremy. If you're a melody freak, then the music alone is a big reason to look forward to seeing—and hearing—this new indie film!"

David Bash
Founder/CEO
The International Pop Overthrow Festival
www.internationalpopoverthrow.com

Soundtrack artist: The Tor Guides

The quest for perfect soundtrack songs is a journey within you and without you. One scours one's brain and record collection and also wades out into the great unknown.

Until its recent, lamented demise, Bruce Brodeen's Not Lame Recordings was the place to start any search for new powerpop horizons.

Three songs in the Inventory score were originally released on the Not Lame label ("Kill, Kill, Kill" by Martin Luther Lennon, "This Time" by Starbelly, and "Timpani Heart" by The Sun Sawed in 1/2).

Still others are from bands I'd learned about over the years from Bruce's online and personal recommendations, as Not Lame was also a retailer of powerpop from other labels, many of them small, with artists known largely due to Bruce's efforts. I have him to thank for turning me on to great bands like Cotton Mather, Splitsville, The Sugarplastic, and Tiny Volcano.

But the songs in my brain and record collection needed to be supplemented, to cover all the cues we had to fill.

I set the bar very high. I wasn't just looking for solid pop or pretty ballads. What I sought was effervescence. Friends who know their way around good powerpop sent me tons of really good recommendations, but good wasn't good enough. I wanted songs that got airborne! Music that soars the way Badfinger's "No Matter What" soars, the way the Raspberries' "Go All the Way" soars.

I clicked through hundreds of samples on Not Lame, searching for that sugar high. One click stood out from all the others, a song called "You (and Everything You Do)," by The Tor Guides, from Sweden.

Before four bars of quick strumming are done, Torbjörn Pettersson beams us straight to the middle of powerpop utopia:

"And there's a song I know, and you can hear it on the radio-oh."

Oh, to live in a world where such music is on the radio-oh!

The Tor Guides album containing "You" was released by Jam Records, which led me to contact Jeremy Morris. Jeremy put me in touch with Torbjörn, who tells us about his cool summer breeze of a song, which now plays under Inventory's end titles:

The Tor Guides was initially a loose project I had been working on since the mid 00's. I had decided to have a go at finally finishing up a full CD as opposed the zillions of half-finished demos I had been leaving all around through the years, both before and after. I had demoed some songs that were chosen for the recordings and handed a copy of the demoed songs to my good friend and drummer Björn Höglund, who was to help out with drums and percussion; I had planned to play pretty much everything else myself.

We then recorded the demoed backing tracks for the album that eventually was to be our first CD, “Honeybees and Tangerines”, released by Jam Recordings in 2007. Although we were all satisfied with our efforts, I decided to have a go at an old idea of mine that had been haunting me for some time and had not been previously demoed. I grabbed my acoustic guitar and Björn sat down by the drum set. I told him, we were to record an uptempo, positive song—and then I counted us in, just like Dee Dee Ramone would have done. We recorded the backing track in that one take—actually the first and latest (if not the last) time the song has been played at all!

That final song, “You (And Everything You Do)” immediately sounded great in its clear simplicity. It was a joy to work on the many layers of vocals and the guitar and keyboard decorations of the backing track. For the lyrics of one verse, I borrowed the opening line from Elvis Costello's 70s ad campaign, "surfing on the crest of the new wave," pretty much in the same way he once borrowed one-liners from the old Motown hits of the 60s.

When finalizing the lyrics, I tried to emphasize the positive spirit of the music. It didn't take me many minutes to assemble the odd words of the lyrics and even though they might not make too much sense, I firmly believe all those positive elements are evident. Lyrics in pop songs shouldn't make that much sense, anyway…

The cover art for “Honeybees and Tangerines” was finalized by Phil Denton/MrQwerty, an old friend from the UK and the Audio Galaxy heydays. He also provided me with the band name Tor Guides, after long e-mail discussions on the subject.

It seems as though the song has caught on. Some years ago it was included in "Sweet Relief," a compilation album released by Jam Recordings to benefit the victims of the Katrina hurricane. I was then greatly honored and thrilled when being asked if the song could be included in the soundtrack of Inventory, together with so many great bands.

So, what was once just an odd musical idea in the mind of a Swedish pop nerd, has found a life of its own, which—if nothing else—goes to show that all good pop matters matter!

You can hear Tor Guides at @ www.myspace.com/torguides

Contact info: torbjorn.psn@gmail.com

Soundtrack artist: Jeremy

The central premise of Inventory is that there will be consequences if the furniture isn't counted with 100% accuracy in the allotted time.

Whether it's the countdown to the 6:00PM reckoning or one clerk's obsession with 4:20, the concept of time hovers over the story... and over several songs in the soundtrack.

There are a few people you simply have to meet on the road to powerpop, and one of them is Jeremy Morris.

His label, JAM Records, is the source for three songs in our soundtrack: "Watch the Movie" by Lolas," "You (and Everything You Do)" by The Tor Guides, and his own composition and recording, "Time Is Running Out."

He records as "Jeremy," often with glistening, Byrdsian 12-string guitar. And he's one of the sweetest, most affirmative folks you're likely to encounter.

Jeremy's good-natured spirit is on full display in a song that's a gentle nudge to value the time we have, a definite counterpoint to the slacker gestalt of Inventory's furniture-store clerks.

He explains the theme of "Time Is Running Out":

When I wrote this song I was thinking about how life is a "gift "

It's absolutely free!!!

"Here comes yet another day, it's a gift you needn't pay..."

And I was thinking how our society is always trying to charge money for everything.

"Bottled Water" is a good example...

What next? ..."Bottled air"? ..."Bottled sunshine"? ..."Bottled happiness"???

So the point is that this gift of life and the time we have on earth is truly a "limited edition."

Let's not waste it. The best things in life really are free!

"Time is running out, Time is running out... time to find what life is all about!"

Soundtrack artist: The Bad Pixels

As we were in the thick of improvising, re-improvising, writing, and shooting Inventory in the summer of 2009, a title-song composition quickly snowballed from concept to completion.

The driving idea was to blend the borderline smarmy sympathy of the "Cheers" theme with the peppy powerpop of the "Friends" theme. The lyrics are full of wordplay on the workin' life, with a second voice commenting on the logic of what the first voice is saying.

Many of the words relate to defining traits of Inventory characters, so as soon as the ink was dry on the lyrics, Kevin Hammer and I mapped out plans to illustrate each major Inventory character in a title animation, synced to the song.

Kevin, master of all things musical, produced my title ditty and played all the instruments, and he adapted the theme into countless variations for use in the underscore. Dennis Hurley, in-character as "Percy," accompanies me as the second vocalist.

Where there's a self-proclaimed Ukrainian hip hop star ("Nastasia" played by Katarina Morhacova), there's liable to be a Ukrainian hip hop song. So, Kevin and I wrote "Kickin' Kiev," inspired by "Love of Three Oranges" by Prokofiev (born in Sontsovka, now Krasnoye, Ukraine). It just may have more rhymes with Ukrainian geographical names than any English-language song in history, but I stand to be corrected on that. Kevin again produced and plays all instruments, and Katarina sings or raps or hip hops or whatever the contrarian Nastasia would call it.

Both songs are credited to "The Bad Pixels," with Dennis and Katarina as guest vocalists.

Soundtrack artist: Stackridge

The year was 1974, and in a music mag whose name escapes me, a writer declared a love for "melody groups"—and cited Stackridge's "Pinafore Days" as an exemplar. I soon found out how delightfully true that was.

Better known in its UK near-equivalent, "The Man in the Bowler Hat," it's a George Martin-produced masterpiece of whimsical pop. And it's one of several eccentric, eclectic, and endlessly ear-pleasing albums the band made in the 1970s.

In a wonderful surprise, Stackridge reunited after a two-decades-plus hiatus. Two songs from the band's new era are featured in the Inventory soundtrack, "Grooving Along on the Highway on a Monday Morning Once" and "It Must Be Time for Bed."

"Grooving" brims with oddball charm. Heck, it avalanches with oddball charm. Lyrically witty and weird, toe-tapping from the first note, and breaking out into a courtly waltz in the middle, it's completely irresistible, and it provides a wonderful quirky backdrop for an action montage that begins as furniture-truck driver Dave pulls off the highway.

True to its name, "It Must Be Time for Bed" starts in hushed tones. Suddenly, an otherworldly instrumental, spiced with siren-song vocalizations, transports us into a magical land, in a trip fit for Little Nemo. The instrumental motif signals one of the warehouse's back-room mysteries.

James Warren, co-writer of both songs, tells us of their creation:

"Grooving Along..." was a joint composition by myself, John Miller and Sarah Ménage.

John had busked some chords while I had improvised a tune. The jauntiness of the music dictated the style of the lyric, which rapidly became one of our favourite rather Pythonesque stream-of-consciousness affairs. I remember all three of us contributing lines, with John coming up with the immortal one about fathoming the depths of Wittgenstein, Hegel and Kant. It was great fun.

"It Must Be Time For Bed" was written by Sarah Ménage and myself. We were in 'dedicated songwriting' mode at the time, spending as much time as possible 7 days a week trying to come up with ideas. Once again the music evoked the lyric and once we'd hit on the theme I seem to remember the song sort of wrote itself. It's an unusual piece - a lot of time was spent on the extended, dream-like instrumental sections - but I think it all hangs together quite well.

Stackridge's longtime manager, Mike Tobin, provides info on the artists:

Both songs were recorded in 1999. They are now available on the CD/Album "Sex and Flags"on Angel Air Records. (SJP CD205) and for download @ I-Tunes /Amazon & other sites.

Stackridge continue to tour in the U.K. with the core members of James Warren, Andy Davis and Jim "Crun" Walter plus Eddie John, Clare Lindley and Glenn Tommey.

There is a strong likelihood they will perform in the USA in 2011.

Check www.stackridge.net for updates.

Sarah Ménage performs with her own trio regularly and recently released her own CD/Album "Who Needs A Man"

Check www.myspace.com/sarahmenage

Soundtrack artist: Splitsville

One of my major goals for the Inventory song score was to include tunes that evoke a happy-day feeling, the spirit of a song like ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" or Pilot's "Magic."

In that vein, Splitsville's retro-60s "Sunshiny Daydream" instantly colors an interlude of outdoor hijinks all paisley and summer-of-lovely.

Rob Toomey, Splitsville's manager, shares some background on the album from whence that infectious smiley smile of song comes:

Way back in 1998, Splitsville recorded a four-song EP as a loving tribute to the Beach Boys and the Beatles. Dubbed “Pet Soul” (a nod to Pet Sounds and Rubber Soul, obviously), this EP was distributed for free to attendees of that year’s Los Angeles Poptopia festival. The EP started getting passed around, and this tribute created considerable buzz within the power pop community.

In 2001, after the release of Repeater, Splitsville decided to return to the EP “Pet Soul” and further mined the vein of 60’s rock. The Complete Pet Soul was released to international critical acclaim. The album featured four songs culled from the Pet Soul EP, plus six new originals and a cover of Burt Bacharach's "I'll Never Fall in Love Again". This cover previously appeared on the Burt Bacharach tribute album What the World Needs Now and was later featured in the Kirsten Dunst movie Get Over It.

Paul Krysiak has stated that The Complete Pet Soul is, "...entirely about concept - the 1966 album that never was."

Allmusic gave the CD a rating of 4 and ½ stars, stating "...the (original) orchestral tracks are nicely balanced with several new songs that recall the low-voltage, almost folk-rock sound that predominated on the original U.S. edition of Rubber Soul."

As for the track “Sunshiny Daydream”, you’ll hear the influences on the first listen. You’ll hear more on the second and the third. You’ll just have to listen for yourself.

“Sunshiny Daydream” can also be found on the Popboomerang/Zip Records release, Let’s Go! The Best of Splitsville

Listen to more Splitsville @ www.myspace.com/splitsville

Contact info: Rob Toomey, Manager
rob@splitsville.com

Soundtrack artist: Self Animation

Nick Delonas is a friend and colleague from back when we worked at Lotus magazine in the late 1980s.

He sent me a video he made of his daughters' band, Self Animation, with the caveat that I probably wouldn't like it, since I'm not generally one for bluesy rock. I played it for Kevin, writer and/or arranger-performer of most of the original music for Castparty movies, and we both immediately liked it.

The stop-start lyrical rhythms of "Dance in the Fire" evoked vintage progressive rock (a taste Kevin and I share), and Nick's guitar shredding was a novel complement to Molly and Kara's girlish vocals—not your average teen music. And a few months later, we found the song really fired up part of Inventory's climactic sequence.

Nick tells the story of "Dance in the Fire":

I wrote the music to Dance in the Fire in the mid nineties. It was originally titled Bone in Pocket and may well have been the first song ever written about carrying a bone, some teeth and a couple of marbles in your pocket. The first recording was me playing the guitar along with a groove I set up on a drum machine with a synthesized bass. I liked the tune, but the drum machine sounded TOO much like a drum machine for my taste.

So, about five years later, when I was jamming with drummer Jim Rilko and bassist Ricardo Rodriguez in my basement, I asked them to play along with that original recording and recorded them doing so. There was one take with no rehearsal as I recall. So now instead of machines I had the feel of real musicians in the rhythm section. That was better.

Several years after that, two of my daughters, both aged 13 at the time, were starting to write and sing their own songs. I began recording them and slowly but surely, that turned into the project band "Self Animation." At some point, during the next four years of recording what became their first CD, I thought that old blues-rock tune would be good for them. So I pulled out the multi-track recording, re-recorded the rhythm guitar, wrote new lyrics, and recorded them singing it. The result was Dance in the Fire as you hear it in the sound track of Inventory.

The lead guitar on the final recording is the very same track that I recorded nearly 15 years ago playing along with the drum machine. The girls were likely singing songs in preschool at the time. Molly and Kara are now both high-school seniors and occasionally find time to perform as Self Animation.

You can hear more of Self Animation's music at their web site, http://www.selfanimation.com/.

Oh, the lyrics are now:

I wanna dance
in the fire
And yearn to burn
down the floor
Dances at night, boys,
light the fires

I wanna breathe
in white-hot air
And through flickers spin
with each spark's pop
As the pulse pounds
heat rises through us

I dance on light
in a flower
Its petals sing
and cry then bloom
In nectar's stream
life's quick is breathing

Girls like to dance
in the fire
They jump spin and burn
on hardwood floors
Dance then each night, boys
Light them fires

Soundtrack artist: The Nerk Twins

Note: I'll be posting separately about Shoes, one of the preeminent bands of the powerpop genre, who have three songs on the Inventory soundtrack.

* * *

In 1997, Shoes' Jeff Murphy teamed with his friend Herb Eimerman, now of The Britannicas, and made an utterly charming record under the name "The Nerk Twins," a handle borrowed from the world of Beatles trivia.

The title track from their "Either Way" album is a toe-tapping ode to off-beat camaraderie. What could be a better underscore for the mismatched counting pairs (and one floater) that inhabit Inventory?

We could buy a shack
Paint the windows black
Lock ourselves inside
And try to guess if it was night or day
You're my kind, either way

Herb and Jeff have both been very supportive of Inventory, and here they recall the song's creation. Herb leads off:

I had written the music for "Either Way" based around a 7th chord... showed it to Jeff and he wrote most of the lyrics for the song... when it came time to record we had so much fun with it and along with the clarinet lead and crazy violin parts we had a hard time getting thru the laughter to work on the song... the song was as much fun to make as it sounds.

Herb has recorded 5 solo cd's as well as Nerk Twins with Jeff Murphy of Shoes and The BRITANNICAS which is Herb's international recorded group and he has contributed to many powerpop compilation cd's.

Lee Zimmerman, music critic for Amplifier Mag and Goldmine, describes Herb's sound:

Herb Eimerman: Just Barely Famous (Under The Dome Recordings)... There's more than a little irony and knowing chuckles in the humility that accompanies the title to the latest offering by Chicago's pop wunderkind Herb Eimerman. Despite a string of immaculately crafted and supremely melodic albums, Eimerman's talents inexplicably remain well below the radar. Eimerman, who got his start in the company of another sadly ignored outfit from Illinois known as the Shoes, may be humble in regard to his own accolades, but he's not shy about exploiting his own talents. In fact, he plays practically every instrument on Just Barely Famous. And while some may have doubts as to whether that singular exposition might somehow limit the album's depth of expression, there's absolutely no need to worry. Starting with the first track, the self-derisive 'Inside Joke,' Eimerman proves his prowess, constructing layers of vibrant melodic textures while providing a nuance that imbues it with a classic pop feel. Eimerman soaks up the influences of pop mentors from decades past... the Bee Gees, the Beach Boys and countless veterans of the so-called 'British Invasion' of the mid to late '60s - and recycles them with a sound and style that's instantly engaging and effortlessly accessible. And with sixteen songs and not a bad one among them, there's no lack of quantity to match the quality. It's a shame Eimerman has to resort to such self-effacing modesty; Just Barely Famous is an album that suggests far more potential than its humble title implies.

You can hear samples of Herb's work at: http://www.myspace.com/herbeimerman

All of Herb's cd's are available at: CD Baby and iTunes

You can contact Herb at: http://www.facebook.com/herb.eimerman

Jeff Murphy's recollections:

Herb had started to write a song based on a 7th chord and it struck me as being cool and quirky, in a "Taxman" kind of way.

So I wrote the melody and lyrics with a "Bennie and Joon" slant. Where 2 people have their specific oddities and eccentricities, but they just connect and 'get it' with each other.

It was a fun song to play and sing and my slightly out of tune piano playing added another layer to the off-center feel. The vocal track was recorded by placing a mic inside the open lid of the studio's apartment grand piano and I sang into the piano's soundboard. As I attempted the violin in the instrumental section (to compliment Herb's clarinet), I started laughing and my horrible execution on the instrument only made me laugh more. We decided to keep the laughing (and violin squeaks) in the track, including my wheezing at the very end of the song. John Richardson had started playing drums for Shoes in mid-1994 and I tried to use him on as many studio projects as possible, so he was recruited to play the drums on the track. His interpretation was spot-on. It was all a real hoot!

Soundtrack artist: Tiny Volcano

Though they aren't paired as counting partners, there are several interactions in Inventory between wise-ass, pot-smoking libertarian Chuck and Bible-belting (yet Bible-ignorant) Bess.

The irreverent convergence of pot and religious themes brought to mind Tiny Volcano's rollicking "Mary Goes Around," from their self-titled debut album:

Ball and chain
That's my best friend Mary Jane
With a green thumb stain
Oh yeah, I saw God with my friend Mary Jane

For some reason, it took forever before I actually tried placing the song into the rough cut, and when we did, it fit perfectly... except we needed an additional instrumental section. Scott McPherson, the song's writer and singer, provided us with the karaoke-ready (well, dialogue-ready) tracks, bless his soul!

Late in the project, when I was seeking music for a few unfilled cues, I put on TV's longplayer—an exceptionally sturdy powerpop album.

And there, just waiting to join the song score, was the amiable instrumental, "July 7, 1965," which I'd never really listened to before. Its leisurely tone was perfect for some early moments in the film.

Scott shares with us the origin of Tiny Volcano and the songs of theirs that grace our soundtrack:

Tiny Volcano

TV was established in 2000 as a project band for Scott McPherson and some talented friends.

Scott was in the 90's pop band "Liar's Club", as well as the band "Haste" which offered more adult contemporary pop ala Crowded House.

Tiny Volcano released their debut CD in 2003 to very strong reviews and CD sales, and they have been tinkering with a follow-up CD for years now, but only time will tell if that CD will see the light of day.

TV players include: Jon Ecklund on guitars, Tony Cooper on bass, Dana Sims on drums, and Scott handles pretty much everything else.

Memoires of a Song Writer

It was an honor to be asked to contribute a few songs to the soundtrack of Inventory, and to be included with so many great bands.

Here are some insights and inspirations for the Tiny Volcano songs that were chosen for the film.

"Mary Goes Around"

Was actually written in the mid 90's for the band "Liar's Club", but as that band was winding down the song was of course shelved until Tiny Volcano was formed, and then dusted off and recorded for the debut TV/CD. Though the subject matter is obvious, the lyrical content was actually meant to be a bit more silly than serious, and the music was more of an exercise in song writing with trying to model it after someone like "Matthew Sweet". I was listening to Sweet's "Girlfriend" CD at the time.

"July 7th, 1965"

This tune pays homage to two people. My wife, and Paul McCartney.

I recall one afternoon sitting in my attic with guitar in hand and wishing I could write something as lovely as Macca's "Junk". So, this is the result of that wishing. Well, I felt I had something very special here so, I gave it as a gift to my wife for her Birthday.....on July 7th.

You can hear TV @ www.myspace.com/tinyvolcano

Also, find us on Facebook.

Contact info: tinyvolcano@yahoo.com

Thanks for listening,
Scott McPherson