A thread for Stranger Things, the "Goonies meets X-Files" new Netflix series (with SPOILERS!)

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/stranger-things-survive-talk-their-creepy-nostalgic-score-w431789

What did you have to do differently for the show than your record?

Dixon: Just dealing with a film ... or a TV show, there's a broad range of emotions that you have to touch on, and a lot of that's a little more childish, a little more playful, than something that we would release as Survive. So, out of the necessity to tell the story, we're gonna write stuff that just would never make it out on a Survive album.

How do you know when you have the right mood?

Dixon: When it makes you feel cool. Like, "Oh, I feel cool right now." It's like, "I could be driving around in the car listening to this and feeling pretty good."

It's funny because Internet forums where they talk about music like this, driving is the overarching imagery.
There's obvious, like, Drive or whatever all that shit is. And we kind of have that, but we try to keep it a little back from that whole overly Eighties.

Your stuff's a little bit darker too.

Stein: Yeah. You have to mix it real warm and, like, kind of almost questioning what era it's from

Dixon: Yeah, we're definitely more interested in Seventies-style production than Eighties, which I think is the difference. A lot of those types of bands will go for the super cold stuff … that sounds really digital, and we kind of ... I mean, I don't know if we've accomplished that goal, but we're just drawn to Seventies recording styles a little more. I mean, Eighties is great, and we love all that stuff too. But we try to make it sound a little warmer.

Stein: Some depth and some movement to the dynamics of the track, just more life in there than just, like, smacking the shit out of the speakers.

So, how did you two hook up with the Duffer Brothers for Stranger Things?
Dixon: They're fans of Survive somehow and it's kind of a mystery ... like, they don't really know how they found us. But they did, and then they emailed us and asked if we were available. They put our song "Dirge" from our last LP in their trailer for the show. Like, they made a little mock trailer to pitch their concept to Netflix, and they had the song "Dirge" in there. They were like, "Oh, shit. That works pretty well for the trailer. It kind of got the vibe across."

What was the process you used to compose for 10 hours of television?

Dixon: I mean, we've been recording for years, and there's tons of stuff that we've always kind of known would be good for films, so we had some of that stuff lying around. And when they hit us up, we sent a lot of that stuff over just to say, "Hey, here's some different moods that could work."

And some of that stuff ended up being used, but a lot of it ended up being re-worked. And after we sent that initial, kind of, dump over to them, they picked a few things out, and then asked us to do a little more for certain things ... like write a theme for some of the characters to use ... to pitch to the producers and stuff. We got involved really early, before they had even cast anyone. And they used the demo that we'd sent to play against the auditions, which kind of helped them decide, you know, whether or not they wanted to use us ... and I think it may have also dictated who they cast for some of the characters. So, that was cool.

Stein: We were just writing ... just trying to, you know, imagine who these characters were. And we'd seen a little bit of the aesthetic they were going for. But there weren't scripts yet, there were just, like, these vague, kind of character descriptions. And to make scenes based on those ideas, you just had to ... kind of imagine what that was and feel it out and send it over. And some of those things actually just locked in and like stayed very early on

Dixon: And before we had even gotten the job. They basically told us like, "We know you can do scary shit and dark stuff so you need to show the producers that you can do some of the more lighthearted things."

Was there anything that you had in mind as a guide for your more lighthearted material?

Dixon: For me, there's this warm, fuzzy feeling that a lot of Nineties R&B like INOJ and even some like Mariah Carey. It's hard to explain, but there are certain notes that just sound like being a kid to me just because that's when I grew up I guess probably. Some of that stuff was kind of an influence for me on learning some of those kid themes I guess.

Was there anything that they came back to you and were like, "This is too scary"?

Dixon: No, they were like, "Make it scary as fuck." They're like, "We want to scare the shit out of some little kids ... and adults, so go for it." Especially for some of the more intense scenes, they were like, "Just make it go even harder. Make it as crazy as possible."

metainformative actually

def pushes that button, very common feeling

xp

Atlanta suburbs weren't exactly as lush and magical as the Pacific Northwest thing Spielberg and company were showcasing.

Half of what I loved about this show was that it reminded me of playing in suburban Atlanta woods

xxposts:
speaking of 3yos, the little sister character gave maybe the best small-child performance I've ever seen during one particular dinner scene (forget which ep, one of the earlier ones)

It doesn't sound exactly like it, but the theme reminded me of my favorite piece of library music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7HzC57HDZs

We had some good woods like I said, but so much more of my childhood landscape was parking lots and malls/strip malls. Stranger Things maybe waffles a little between "suburban" signifiers (the school buildings, the Wheeler house) and the more general small-towniness (the four-person police department, the town square/library/main street area we see a few times, the Byers house). It's easy to imagine a place where those spaces coexist, but it wasn't exactly the world where I grew up.

Funnily enough, it actually was filmed outside of Atlanta, in Jackson, GA - and the evil laboratory building is in Virginia Highland, twenty minutes from the house I grew up in. I went to summer day camp just down the street! So yeah... Stranger Things felt like my childhood, but not exactly my childhood.

imo pop culture is for people who are unburdened by 40+ hour work weeks, home ownership, and child care. in other words, a rather large portion of the population in our current underemployed, real estate-unburdened, family-deferring times

yeah this had some great acting all around. I teared up a bit when the mom finally found her kid again, and I didn't watch enough of this to be at all invested in the story or characters so, good job winona. music was good too

mh not sure I buy that - - - think of e.g. prime-time sitcoms or the late shows, they may be pitched at a level where the kids can enjoy them too (and often are or have been) but the basic premise is surely "take a load off at the end of your work day and spend some time with these friendly characters" etc. etc.

does anyone actually watch sitcoms and late shows? the only ppl I know who do are retired.

nobody watches television

it's strange they keep broadcasting it

I am pretty sure sitcoms and late shows are very popular even though I never see the latter and encounter the former only in reruns at the gym. I am also probably not a typical American. But are we talking "now" or generally about "pop culture"? Like, was Mary Tyler Moore specifically for "kids"? All In The Family? Setting aside sitcoms, what about cop and courtroom shows? I think these bore kids to tears but surely they are "pop culture."

Like, isn't the infamously "coveted demographic" 18-35?

I'm talking about now not 30 years ago

eh 3yos have no idea what they're seeing half the time, no context

having spent just about all day everyday with a child who is now 3, I think this is a tremendous underestimation of 3yr olds, better suited to <1yr olds maybe, though certainly a 3yr old has considerably less context to draw on than a 9 or 10 or 20 or 30 year old

Also figure that sitcoms are still popular with someone, though it isn't me. And though I do wonder how many people still watch TV like I used to, just flipping through broadcast and syndicated channels -- I doubt the key demographic has changed much. *Maybe* a little younger, but when I think of the prime pop-culture-interest age, 18-35 doesn't seem far off.

oh I agree, I was using "pop" in the ilx sense which usually has two necessary traits
- it is ubiquitous
- it does not exist

wins otm, in other words

idk about you're 3yo but mine basically has no concept of death or what happens when, say, someone actually loses an arm. He would probably understand what was happening if he saw someone get shot, but there's degrees of how traumatizing that might be depending on how it's portrayed. otoh he is cool with watching giant alligators swallow things whole, for ex. cuz that shit is just cool. but I can tell it's all kind of abstract, he doesn't register what he's watching as actually happening, it has no real emotional weight for him.

he might be sad if he saw a minion get dismembered lol

xxp

I haven't introduced my older kid to it, but I should get around to recommending it before school starts.

― how's life, Monday, August 8, 2016 2:39 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He's upstairs watching it with his mother and I just overheard 'Mom, they are so imitating Freaks & Geeks here!'

ahahha. this show, man, it's nothing but year-2000 sitcom references lazily flung onto the screen to get re-blorps from millennials who don't know any better.

thought it was weird when Will said he was 'watchin the game, havin a Bud"

"WASSSSSSUP... over"

https://i.imgflip.com/18n01p.jpg

d'oh, beat me to it

omg these kids are so cute

http://cdn01.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ryder-sthings/winona-ryder-gets-support-from-scott-mackinlay-hahn-at-stranger-things-02.JPG

I love that the actress who plays Eleven is named Millie Bobby Brown

otm

funny thing about ensemble casts, did modine have any scene with any of them besides El? how many scenes did winona have with them? but still.

tbf Will himself barely had any scenes with the other kids

I think Modine's only scene w/ the kids was that brief moment in the school when he finally found them but then he got (presumably) eaten not long after

someone said on twitter that Modine "looked like Treat Williams in old-person makeup" & I feel that this is hilariously otm

haahahahaha

dang that kid's teeth came in since they shot the show

Nice peewee herman outfit, keepin it period

finished this last night.... pretty much the most enjoyable watchy show ever.

one episode left to go and my impression of this show continues to go downhill - every single goddamn thing in it evokes something else, sometimes in the most hamfistedly obvious way possible (bike + vans chase scene, the especially lazy "Under the Skin" rip, kids' dialogue referencing D&D in *every scene*, etc.) I dunno this is really lovingly done but it's also annoyingly empty, there is literally not a single unique idea or original thought or twist or provocative angle to any of it. One thing I like about horror and sci-fi is their capacity to deliver surprises within familiar tropes - and this has none of that.

Anyway, some of the nostalgia I get from Stranger Things is a nostalgia for the warm childhood feeling of imagining those experiences, more than having them. I think that's okay!

This is a lovely thought and also OTM

those kids acted their butts off & winona was awesome & it if it was a book i'd read the shit out of it

This too

Seriously I have trouble with people complainng about Winona being too oddball and shouty - I feel like she totally killed this (as a usually kinda so-so actor it's possibly her best performance even)

Loved the scene with her ex where he talks about using the money to send the older kid to college, and she's all, "O RLY, what college?" and he replies, "Whichever one he wants" and she's all "NYU MOTHERFUCKER GET OUT OF MY HOUSE."

that showdown with her ex was so good, winona spitting fire

Totally. Also I love the final dinner scene revelation where are you realise Winona and her two sons all have the same haircut

lool omg

https://soundcloud.com/dj-yoda-uk/the-stranger-things-mixtape

(August 10, 2016 – Los Angeles, CA) – Lakeshore Records will release the STRANGER THINGS - Original Netflix Series Soundtrack in two parts. Volume One releases digitally August 12th and on CD September 16th. Volume Two releases digitally August 19th and on CD September 23, 2016. Both volumes feature the original score by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, members of the popular Austin experimental synth band S U R V I V E.

it's a shame there's not a 2xLP Mondo nosebleed-splash vinyl or w/e

this whole show was basically a mixtape

i'm sure there will be vinyl, how could there not be

http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/08/the-soundtrack-to-stranger-things-is-being-released-this-friday/

oh we already said that.