Tag Archives: Suspense

Darklands (Suite)

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A frenetic percussive track hurtling toward a dramatic conclusion. Pounding high-octane drums, a low foreboding synth drone, cymbal crashes. A machine-like electronic tone builds tension to a cacophony of heavier drums joined by unsettling electronic feedback. Glitchy electronics intensify to fragmented chaos. Tense, unsettling and breathless, suited to the thrilling climax of a chase scene, a terrifying manhunt or a high-energy advert for a powerful substance.

Perc + FX only Polyphonic drum layers growing in strength and intensity. the futuristic electronic effects coupled with the pounding drums creates a visceral impression of a dark, dangerous post-apocalyptic cityscape.

Perc only conjures images of warfare on unknown territories, troops in a jungle environment pursued by guerilla fighters. Also suitable for adverts for any difficult task, or uphill battle.

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      Darklands_Drums_Only-JPM

Badlands (Suite)

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A pulsating percussive thriller of a track, teeming with tension. Throbbing bassy percussion and arpeggiated percussive synth intensify into a terse, tense, thrilling melody. Added synth strings heighten the tension while a symphony of drums pound beneath, ending with a foreboding sustained crash. Anxiety-inducing, exciting and nerve-wracking. Perfect for a high-octane movie chase sequence, pushing characters to the extremes of human emotion; a particularly tense reality TV challenge sequence; or an advert for something to help you through life’s most challenging moments.

The percussion only version omits the anxiety-inducing melody, leaving the cacophony of drums below to pound purposefully to the close of the track.

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      Badlands_Perc_Only-JPM

Heavenly Creations

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A 90s-style trippy shuffle. Repeated keyboard melody, shuffling boom bap hip hop drums, slow-motion electronic whooshes and warm dynamic bass guitar. Ambiguous, atmospheric and warm but with underlying danger. Suitable for film and television as well as campaign videos. Following a character from evening through nightfall, as he goes about his usual wheelings and dealings in his city. Slightly dangerous 90s druggy slacker vibes.

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Damn Good Thing

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A 90s style hip hop, jazz-inspired track with vocal samples. Jazzy Jeff-style vinyl scratching, vocal samples repeating “damn good thing”, electronic glitches and sustained keyboard chords create a Nuyorican vibe to start this track. More vocal samples are introduced, with a keyboard melody, child’s vocals, jazzy hip hop drums, ending on the vox sample “my colleagues and I are from another planet”. Chilled, jazzy and cool, this track’s 90s throwback vinyl scratching and laid back hip hop vibes would add a vintage streetwise but soulful feel to adverts or tv sequences.

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Bipolar

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Made up of three contrasting sections. First, a futuristic pastoral soundscape with a pan-pipe-like tribal-sounding repeated synth note calling out across the landscape. Then blobby liquid percussion, piano, glitchy electronics and drums interplay until they launch into a drum ‘n’ bass section. Birdsong and a return to nature follow, with forest sounds and a repeated electronic pulse. Next section seeps in with blissful major chords, dreamy glittering electronic fx, soulful beats and dubby bass. A spoken word sample situates us in hip-hop/jazz territory. The voice repeats “walk on, walk tall”, as sparkling synth gives way to birdsong and water. At times, tense, tribal and spiritual, moving to chilled, soulful and inspired, this would suit before/after adverts for a product meant to inspire, slow you down and change your life for the better.

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To Sleep

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A dark synth pop track with dreamy male and female vocals. A synth pulse introduces male vocals. A dramatic pause before melodic beats drop with layered vocals. Dreamy, mysterious synth drones add tension. A drum and wonky synth break, the vocal chorus returns. A female vocal break ,then call-and-answer with male vocals, before coming together, echoed by the bass line. Synth drones and blobby beats accompany the female vocals an octave higher and male counter melody. Melancholy, tense and dripping in cool anticipation. Dark romance in the city by night. Driving. Coloured lights streak by. Too cool for love.

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Always Angry

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Pulsating electronic thriller. Electronic horn-like sustained blasts, clanging sound FX, harsh drum machine. Ascending orchestral strings signal intriguing danger. A thoughtful, desolate electric guitar solo before a return to the relentless electronic sirens. Strings build again and electric guitar returns to finish. Automatic, inhuman, threatening and brash, the sound of a prison watchtower and the rhythmic plodding of prisoners boots, would suit a dramatic thriller on TV or Film.

      Always_Angry-JPM

The Issue Goes Deeper (Suite)

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Lurching synth doppler effect creates an atmosphere of uneasy tension. One note rings out, klaxon-like, joined by threatening synth sounds panning across a bleak sonic plain. Hi-hat underpins the score with added suspense. Dark, desolate and unnerving, with a heavy, mysterious atmosphere that suggests an enemy at your shoulder. Perfect for a prison break, an abduction or an escape.

Light version has a longer, more exposed synth note. Simple version only features the doppler effect synth sounds, no central sustained note.

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      The_issue_goes_deeper_Light-JPM
      The_issue_goes_deeper_Simple-JPM

Ice and Steel

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An atmospheric slow-building track. Sustained synth notes cut through with glassy, overtone-like sound effects. This intensifies and fades as the track progresses, sometimes interspersed with bursts of mellow static. A fragile regular beat is established, then fades out. Fuller synth chords emerge. The thin beat is re-introduced, accompanying a slowly shifting progression of synth chords and radio static. A short, simple synth melody enters over the shifting chords and regular beat, turning into a single repeated note by the end. Hypnotic, chill, mysterious, icy cool. On film, accompanying an enigmatic landscape, real or imagined, a cold barren place at dusk or a bleak situation.

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Brevity Excerpt 1

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A frenetic, rhythmic contemporary string piece. Sustained synth breaks into fast, rhythmic, percussive, staccato strings above a low pitched drone, eventually ending with an abrupt stop. Intense, moody, intellectual and dangerous, suitable for an arthouse version of Jason Bourne, a slick automobile advert or a psychological thriller.

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