mutato muzika
the wipeouters album, recorded at mutato muzika, grew from mutato completing the
rocket power theme song
for the nickelodeon tv show
rocket power
.
the wipeouters
are mutato muzika employees .
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mutato muzika is a full - service music production company established in 1989 by devo co - founder mark mothersbaugh .
from the tv show in the 80' s and now full circle to netflix of today. # peeweesbigholiday with music by mutato muzika urltoken
mutato muzika is a music production company composed of devo members mark mothersbaugh, bob mothersbaugh, bob casale as well as non - devo personnel albert fox and josh mancell. although mutato muzika is rather obscure, they are developing a cult following, made up mainly of veteran devo fans .
there are no setlists by the mutato muzika orchestra on urltoken yet. you could help us by adding a first setlist... or whatever you remember !
in this archival clip from may 2010, mark mothersbaugh gives us a tour of some of the vintage synths in mutato muzika, devo' s headquarters in l. a .
mark mothersbaugh of devo (and various soundtracks) in his fame mutato muzika studio in los angeles. | art that i [ heart ] | pinterest | hunting videos, mark mo…
mutato muzika is a music production company established in 1989 by devo co - founder mark mothersbaugh. while devo members mark mothersbaugh, gerald v. casale, bob mothersbaugh and bob casale, with drummer josh freese, often meet, rehearse and confer in its west hollywood studio facilities — mutato muzika is, in fact, a full - service music production company .
mutato muzika is a music production company composed of devo members mark mothersbaugh, bob mothersbaugh, bob casale as well as non - devo personnel albert fox and josh mancell. although mutato muzika is rather obscure, they are developing a cult following, made up mainly of veteran devo fans. they mostly compose music for commercials, though they have written the music for several computer games, most notably the crash bandicoot series and the sims 2. the group also released the promotional album joyeux mutato. read more on urltoken
mutato muzika has produced music for many films, including rushmore, the royal tenenbaums, the life aquatic, confessions of a teenage drama queen, 13, lords of dogtown, nick and nora' s infinite playlist, cloudy with a chance of meatballs, and catfish. television music includes rugrats, scooby - doo, pee - wee' s playhouse, big love, shameless, enlightened and regular show. mutato muzika - produced video game scores include crash bandicoot and sims. mutato muzika also provides music for commercials, including spots for apple' s pc vs. mac, martini & rossi' s george clooney / giorgio, and logitech .
so much fun for such a great cause. mutato was happy to provide the soundscape to this eye candy .
this building, which looks like it should be spinning wildly at a carnival somewhere, currently houses devo co - founder mark mothersbaugh' s mutato muzika music production company (and its green color seems to date to the mutato muzika occupation). fantastically, this is not the most interesting information about the building. it was built in 1967 for owner dr. richard alan franklyn, a well - known hollywood cosmetic surgeon and author of books like
the art of staying young
and
developing bosom beauty .
a mashup album using the tracks from the ps1 classic, crash bandicoot! made in tribute to the crash bandicoot series and the talented team behind mutato muzika. if you want more mash bandicoot, be sure to download bonus round by triple - q! urltoken
mark mothersbaugh has quite the musical repertoire outside of being the co - founder, keyboardist and lead singer of one of america’s most inventive and beloved new wave groups - the almighty devo. in 1989, mothersbaugh founded the production company, mutato muzika, which has also served as the band’s headquarters since its inception. glancing at the company portfolio, mutato muzika (“mutato” being portmanteau for “mutant potato”) has produced music for hundreds of commercials, movies and tv shows, with credits for wes anderson films, nickelodeon’s rugrats, pee - wee’s playhouse, the lego movie, and the soundtrack for the computer game, sims 2 and much more, too much to mention .
mutato muzika is an american music production company established and owned by devo co - founder and lead singer mark mothersbaugh in 1989. the name is a portmanteau of the words mutant and potato, which is a nod to devo' s fanbase which are called spuds. [ 1 ]
bizarre & fascinating mirror images in mutato gallery @ # myopiamia @ artsmia. you can also make your own. @ mutmuz urltoken
a former ad agency creative director, miltenberg has known mothersbaugh for nearly 20 years — he used to hire mothersbaugh to make music for his spots. eventually, mothersbaugh asked him to come to mutato to grow their ad music business, which he most certainly has; prior to miltenberg’s hiring in 2001, mutato was scoring two or three ads a year. this year he expects mutato to do nearly 120 spots .
after college, hite began an apprenticeship at acclaimed music production company mutato muzika, which his uncle mark mothersbaugh owns. “i started off doing things like walking dogs and making coffee, ” hite says. “eventually mark gave me the opportunity to write things here and there, and pretty soon i was a full composer. ”
los angeles - the mutato muzika (www. mutato. com) scoring team has been nominated for outstanding achievement in music direction and composition for their work on shaggy & scooby - doo get a clue! , the number one show on kids wb! . the nominees for children' s programming were recently announced at the kidscreen summit in nyc and the winners are to be honored during the daytime emmy award ceremony at the kodak theater in hollywood on june 15th .
mutato muzika is housed in a round bright green building on the sunset strip in west hollywood, california. the building was designed by brazilian architect oscar niemeyer, who modeled the exterior after the great western forum in inglewood, california, former home of the los angeles lakers (nba) and los angeles kings (nhl) .
while devo members mark mothersbaugh, gerald casale and bob mothersbaugh, with drummer josh freese, often meet, rehearse and confer in its west hollywood, california studio facilities, mutato muzika is a full - service music production company. [ 2 ] until his death in 2014, bob casale served as a producer / engineer there. [ 1 ]
in addition to his work with devo, mothersbaugh has made music for television series, films and video games via his production company, mutato muzika, most notably as the composer for the popular long - running animated series rugrats for its entire 13 - year run, as well as all three theatrical films. he has also had a solo career which has included four studio albums: muzik for insomniaks, muzik for the gallery, joyeux mutato and the most powerful healing muzik in the entire world .
at this point on the devolution timeline, the band was, for the most part, pretty inactive. after poor record sales for 1990’s smooth noodle maps and the dissolution of enigma records, devo itself pretty much disbanded in 1991. over the years came a few one - offs, including their “head like a hole” cover, the soundtrack to their cd - rom adventure game “ adventures of the smart patrol, ” and a few reunion shows beginning at sundance, then the lollapalooza tour, and onward. devo’s absence in the 90s, allowed mothersbaugh to cultivate the success of mutato muzika as a commercial music production company powerhouse, establishing itself outside of the devo context. mutato muzika’s lair located in west hollywood, ca
there is a significant commerical building by niemeyer right here in the times’ backyard, of course. the former beauty pavilion, at 8760 sunset blvd. on the sunset strip, was commissioned by a famous plastic surgeon in the 1960s and is still in use as the headquarters for mutato muzika, a music production company that scores television shows and movies owned by devo frontman mark mothersbaugh .
mutato muzica is a company that creates music for video games, adverts, tv and film. they are most well known for their work with the crash bandicoot franchise .
the mutato muzika building was originally built to house a plastic surgeon’s office. satellite prep rooms — where nurses readied the shriveled - up, oblong and otherwise dissatisfied humans for surgery — encircle one jumbo room in the center where the operations were performed. there the patients were cut open, adjusted, sewn up and returned from whence they came. it sounds kinda like a devo song .
miltenberg’s eager and enthusiastic about mutato’s mission, and committed to helping mothersbaugh build a business that will outlive them both. he’s a huge devo fan — the kind who lowers his voice in conversation to impart that he considers devo’s impact on american culture to nearly rival the beatles’. he compares mutato to warhol’s factory and confesses that he still can’t believe he’s working with mark mothersbaugh. he’s here by 4: 30 a. m. every morning so he can get a jump start on the east coast and make overseas calls. thumbtacked to the wall above his computer are one - sheet job descriptions for tv spots that mutato muzika is either pitching or composing for: wal - mart, kmart, martini & rossi, fx, ritz crackers, quaker and a half dozen others .
in addition to their film, television and commercial work, mutato muzika also scores video games - - seems like a natural fit for the firm founded by electronic - music legend mark mothersbaugh. mutato crewman albert fox talks with bill about the differences between film and video game scoring, and about the specific challenges that the video game soundtrack format presents. oh, and if you' re wondering, the answer is yes: all albert' s vocals for this clip have been overdubbed, as he refused to speak to us in anything but simlish. those
method
composers can be so stubborn .
in addition to the above, mutato muzika has also spawned the wipeouters, the surf - rock devo offshoot with a rather vague existence. in the late 90s, mark mothersbaugh was approached by klasky csupo, inc. the animation company behind rugrats, to create the theme for their new extreme - sports themed cartoon series, rocket power which followed a group of socal kids who surf, skateboard, snowboard, rollerblade, bmx bike, play street hockey, and any other adrenaline - fueled sport you can think of. while their airborne stunts may sound intense, the adolescent complications they faced seemed to be the most challenging: math homework, getting grounded, bullies, confronting one’s fears and insecurities, and so forth. mothersbaugh assembled his team at mutato muzika to record the theme to rocket power, which premiered on nickelodeon in august of 1999 .
he did, and with devo in shambles after a bum deal with ill - fated l. a. label enigma, he signed on gerald’s brother, bob casale, and his own brother, bob mothersbaugh (bob ii and bob i, respectively), and mutato muzika was born at mark’s hollywood hills home. mutato forged relationships with studio music supervisors and began feeding the beast with scores; during the next decade it provided music for a host of films and television series, including: revenge of the nerds ii: nerds in paradise, liquid television, it’s pat, dumb and dumber, flesh suitcase and, most notably — and profitably — nickelodeon megahit rugrats .
but how guerrilla is it to make music for wal - mart, hummers and mcdonald’s? the goal of these campaigns is to paint the client in the best possible light, and unless mutato’s secretly embedding subversive messages into all these commercials, the end results of these “indirect” confrontations seem to accomplish little more than provide mutato muzika with enough money to keep mothersbaugh and his henchmen way in the black. miltenberg says that mutato has never turned down a job for reasons of conscience or politics, though he suspects that if the national rifle association or a right - wing republican candidate tried to hire the company to score a spot, he’d turn it down — or embed it with a subliminal message. that said, the income earned from the business allows mothersbaugh the freedom to create his more challenging “fine” art, be it manipulated antique photographs, paintings, prints, limited - edition books or rugs .
in addition to his work with devo, mothersbaugh has made music for television series, films and video games via his production company, mutato muzika, most notably as the composer for the popular long - running animated series rugrats for its entire 13 - year run, as well as all three theatrical films. he also has had a solo career which has included four studio albums: muzik for insomniaks, muzik for the gallery, joyeux mutato and the most powerful healing muzik in the entire world. in 2004, he was honored with the richard kirk award at the bmi film and tv awards for his significant contributions to film and television music. additionally, mothersbaugh was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from kent state university in 2008 .
the center room houses mutato’s main recording studio, and on a recent fall day, eight people sit in the room trying to nail down a song for class of 3000, the cartoon network show starring an animated andre 3000 of outkast. mutato’s been hired to score the christmas episode. among the eight are a couple of producers, bob i and bob ii of devo, an engineer and voice talent — including an odd - jobbing tom kenny, the voice of spongebob squarepants .
silas hite is an emmy award - winning artist and composer currently living and working in los angeles, california. he has written unique and memorable scores for countless films, tv shows and video games, including cloudy with a chance of meatballs, the sims 2 and shaggy and scooby - doo get a clue! hite began his career at mark mothersbaugh' s mutato muzika studios, where he learned the craft of scoring and composition. hite currently works as a freelance composer, and his in - demand compositions span from hip - hop to classical .
most people remember them for what they wore onstage: red plastic flowerpots as headgear—and bright - yellow nuclear decontamination suits. these days, four of the original members of the techno - pop group devo (the name stood for “de - evolution”) don’t just wear suits—they are suits, “we’re now in life after rock and roll, ” says mark mothersbaugh, 46, devo’s cofounder and lead singer, who launched the l. a. music company mutato muzika (from “mutant” and “potato, ” a reference to devo fans, who were known as spuds), which composes scores for films, tv shows and commercials. “it’s a whole different monster. ”
quirky. say it. quirky. quirkiness. may as well get the word out of the way from the get - go, because it’s used so often in reference to mutato muzika’s output that it’s a running joke. “we get the q word a lot, ” laughs robert miltenberg, sitting in an office filled with devo / mutato memorabilia — as well as a keepsake water bottle burt reynolds drank from while doing voice - over work. “in fact, we have a pool. whenever we’re on a call and having our creative discussions, whenever anyone says ‘quirky, ’ a dollar is thrown in. ” sometimes meanings must be parsed. “we end up having to split hairs with definitions. they want quirky, but they don’t want silly, and they don’t want weird. ” miltenberg, who is usually beaming with enthusiasm, is a wide - eyed smiler who sports a well - groomed vandyke and always has a bluetooth earpiece stuck to the left side of his head .
film scores? mothersbaugh / mutato has composed the original music to nearly 100 films and tv shows in the past two decades, including, most prominently, four of wes anderson’s five films, soundtracks that not only serve anderson’s narratives, but are some of the great mixtapes of the decade. mothersbaugh’s fluid, oft - baroque music adds a striking layer of whimsy to each film’s gestalt, a combination that has proven to be irresistible to a generation of ad agencies that have made mothersbaugh’s work ubiquitous on the tv set and provide mutato’s composers with soundtrack work for 100 spots a year. this in addition to the little melodies he provides to national public radio .
silas hite’s journey from percussionist to emmy award - winning composer has taken some surprising twists and turns. after college, hite apprenticed at mutato muzika studios, where he cut his teeth working alongside his uncles mark and bob mothersbaugh—co - founders of the influential rock band devo. while there, hite contributed music for countless films, tv shows and video games—including cloudy with a chance of meatballs, the sims 2 and shaggy and scooby - doo get a clue! as a freelance composer and producer, hite’s studio creates music for films, tv, games, and commercials. recently, hite got the chance to score a rather unusual short film (it’s essentially a powerpoint presentation turned cathartic dance party) —and, of course, turned to izotope breaktweaker for creative inspiration .
“it was a pretty wild scene at mutato—there were always artists, musicians and all kinds of creative folks coming in, ” he remembers. “you might walk down the hallway and steve perry would be there. i walked into a room once and vampire weekend was doing a song for nick and norah’s infinite playlist. it was mind - blowing. ”
basically, regardless of where you are in america, music that emanated from the day - glo green building on sunset boulevard has probably sneaked its way into your brain within the past 24 hours. what it’s doing inside there is anyone’s guess, but mothersbaugh and his band of composers most certainly aren’t automatons dishing out pap — nor did mutato’s founder create one of the most important music houses in america in a vacuum. thirty years ago, mark mothersbaugh and his friend gerald casale formed an art project called devo and started preaching the gospel of de - evolution: man isn’t progressing, but regressing back to a primal monkey state. is mutato’s music sneaking into our monkey brains and messing with our monkey neurons ?
devo may come from akron, ohio, but when the band surfaced in the mid -' 70s it might as well have come from jupiter. having sufficiently confused the world with their punk - infused techno - pop, the band members relocated to los angeles, took over a 9, 500 - square - foot building on the sunset strip and built a multimedia empire that produces music for video games (
interstate 82
), tv shows (
rugrats
) and movies (
the adventures of rocky and bullwinkle
). this week, the band regroups under the guise of its adolescent surf music outfit, the wipeouters, for the release of
p' twaaang !
we spoke with mark mothersbaugh, 49, at devo' s eye - catching headquarters, mutato muzika. .
earlier this year mothersbaugh published a gorgeous limited - edition book titled beautiful mutants, which features old photographs manipulated via photoshop to reveal, in his words, a “study of humans via symmetry using photos, both recent and vintage. ” he places these manipulations into gorgeous civil war–era frames — he collects those too — resulting in creations both beautiful and disturbing. he and anita have teamed with walteria living, an l. a. - based high - end design company, to craft a line of china patterns, and are marketing mothersbaugh’s rugs as well. “music is only half of what goes on at mutato, ” he says, and around every curve is proof; his prints hang on walls, his rugs cover floors, his mutato combs sit in the reception area .
the last spot on the reel is reserved for the most monumental ad mutato scored this year: the first new devo song in 18 years, “watch us work it. ” the song, a hard, slick dance - rock number, was recorded at mutato with four of the five members of the classic devo lineup, along with longtime session drummer josh freeze, then remixed by avant - electro band the teddybears. dell paid for the accompanying video to push its dell xps m1330 laptop, and flooded the airwaves and online avenues with a minute - long spot featuring scantily clad women dressed in black, white and red, in a factory very much unlike those in akron, working on stylized chrome car gear, welding, sweating, flexing. mothersbaugh sings over these images :
the success of mothersbaugh’s four wes anderson scores has had a profound effect not only on mutato’s output, but if you spend any time actually paying attention to the music seeping into your head during commercial breaks, on america at large. flip stations and plucky, casiotone melodies once buried beneath voice - over and image pop to the forefront. a spot for burger king’s new chicken tendercrisp becomes a seductive romp with a perfectly placed harp run; a seven - up plus ad featuring kelly ripa and regis philbin, when you pay attention to mutato’s score, imparts with rushmore - ian zest the lightness of a kite - flying day; a spike lee storytelling session about the greatness of michael jordan, if you are attuned to the music, sounds like a certain series of indie film scores .
when we rang the doorbell at mutato, we weren’t sure who would answer. mark mothersbaugh the film composer? the visual artist? devo co - founder? would it be the prankster notorious for slipping subversive subliminal messages into television commercials? what about booji boy? mr. mothersbaugh wears many hats, or energy domes, if you will, and we were justifiably nervous about meeting this legendary spud .
after working at mutato for seven years, hite decided to begin working as a freelance composer and built his own personal studio. he says he learned a great deal from mothersbaugh. “mark’s done a billion projects, and i learned a lot working there: how to score a commercial, how to score a cartoon, how to score a film, and how to deal with the business aspects, ” hite explains .
the music also had to be cobbled together before e3 – and in classic video game development fashion had been left to the last minute. this task had been assigned to our nominal producer at universal, a gentleman who mostly sat in his office and played sexy parodius. while of dubious benefit to the project, at least he loved video games. however, he proposed that instead of conventional music we create something called “the urban chaotic symphony” in which the programmer (me) would cause random sound effects such as bird chirps, car honks, grunts, and farting noises (actually listed and underlined), to be randomly selected and combined. when we rejected this innovative proposal, we were introduced to mark mothersbaugh of devo and more recently mutato muzika. he and (mostly) josh mancell composed all the music for the games, produced by music aficionado and naughty dog programmer dave baggett. besides, dave actually knew the game inside and out .
the mutato muzika building in west hollywood is painted day - glo green and looks like a tipped - over hamster wheel, with mirrored windows as rungs that make the building seem like it’s constantly spinning. beneath the main - floor recording studio is a big, cluttered circular room. to enter you pass a threshold guarded by a speed racer rug, and beyond this threshold is a sight that would give the klaxons or datarock a conniption: korgs and rolands are scattered on the floor. an optigon, a rare 1970s - era console organ that uses flimsy discs to play odd, ghostly sounds, sits in a corner. shelves hold computer monitors, cassette decks and dat machines; tubular bells are ready to be struck; an ems polysynthesizer and an electrocomp synthesizer await electricity. an ondioline keyboard that once belonged to pink floyd. boxes are strewn throughout, but look closer and they’re filled with more memorabilia: a hand - written score for the film drop dead gorgeous; busts of chairman mao and jfk .
mark mothersbaugh, the soft - spoken but articulate owner of mutato and founding member of legendary new - wave band devo, is giving me a tour. he’s a little embarrassed about the mess down here. “i keep meaning to work on this room, ” he explains as he steps over synthesizers and squeezes between keyboards. whenever he or any of the composers who work upstairs need a sound or inspiration, they can dip into this treasure trove .
maybe you thought you were done with devo. you’re not. if any of your media devices have been powered up today, mothersbaugh, or one of mutato’s five full - time composers (each cloned, claims mutato’s executive producer robert miltenberg, from one of mothersbaugh’s fingers) or one of the three other lifetime members of devo — two of whom work here full time, the other as an adjunct — probably created some of the music you heard. be it a score to a film, tv show, video game, song or a commercial, mutato’s mutant tentacles are tickling something. the apple vs. pc campaign? listen beneath the classic banter and you’ll hear a mothersbaugh - penned melody called “having trouble sneezing. ” it is 30 seconds of melodic brilliance that circles along like horsies on a merry - go - round and sounds like an eric satie gnossienne. all the music for the first season of hbo’s big love. the sing - song stickiness that is the theme to the sims ii video game. the incidental music from a dozen years of the rugrats, which is buried in the mental recesses of most americans born between 1991 and 2004. gaze back further, to the theme to pee - wee’s playhouse. and then there’s “swelling itching brain, ” “whip it, ” “mongoloid” and “jocko homo, ” music mothersbaugh co - wrote with devo .
and then came the wipeouters. the mysterious group of surf revival mutatos featured mark mothersbaugh (keyboards / vocals), bob “1” mothersbaugh (guitar), bob “2” casale (guitar), and josh “not from devo” mancell (drums). at the recommendation of gabor csupo, co - creator of the rocket power series, the wipeouters released a full - length record called p’twaaang! !! in 2001. inspired by the works of the beach boys, jan & dean, dick dale, the trashmen, and the ventures, p’twaaang! !! features 48 minutes of hard - driving tubular guitar riffs, with wacky synths on top to give it that classic devotional flair. even if you had never listened to devo before, the music sounds much like the same band who brought us 1979’s cover of the spy - surf classic “secret agent man. ” in addition to the recognizable cast of spuds noted above, the record also features notable guest appearances from jerry casale, jim mothersbaugh, robert casale sr. (father of the casale brothers), and other members of the mutato muzika family .
musician and artist, mark mothersbaugh has long been on the music world’s radar for his important contribution as the co - founder and lead singer of the iconic punk band devo. these days he is also known for his musical achievements through his production company, mutato muzika. he has composed soundtracks for television, films and video games such as rugrats, pee wee’s playhouse, the lego movie and several wes anderson films, including, bottle rocke t, rushmore and the royal tenenbaums. what is lesser known, is that these lifelong musical achievements are really only half the story. mark mothersbaugh has always considered himself as much of a visual artist as he is a musician. from the moment devo first took to the stage mark has always believed that the art and music were intertwined. looking closely, this thread of his own visual artistic journey weaves itself through the entire length of his career. the world has been invited in for a closer look at the retrospective exhibition, myopia. after traveling to several museums throughout the country myopia is having its last stop at the grey art gallery at new york university through july 15th .
flash back to a morning last month as the dollars pile up on miltenberg’s desk during a 15 - minute conference call with an ad agency representing the maker of a popular chewy breakfast bar. the agency is launching a new campaign, and the composers in attendance — albert fox (10 years at mutato), john entroth (five years) and silas hite (three years) — need to understand the general tone and premise of the ad before they can start drafting ideas. the agency’s creative director is trying to convey over speaker phone the tone of the chewy breakfast bar campaign: “we want it countrified without being hickey or corny, ” she explains, then adds, “historically, we’ve used music that’s very quirky and fun. ” miltenberg motions a buck into the till. fox nods. then: “the overall feel is really fun, light - hearted and quirky. ” hite smiles and tosses one in. “quirkiness. ?. ?. ” and entroth’s in. but no matter how much they joke about it, quirk is an approach that has netted mutato a fortune and is embedded in the company’s dna .
video games carry much bigger expectations, which is why the steven spielberg game for wii that four mutato composers are working on is such a coup. (the project’s code name is pqrs, coming out via electronic arts, a company, says fox, that demands quality foreground music .) “they know what good music is, and they want the music to be interesting, because they want somebody to sit down and play the game for 10 hours a day. that’s their whole goal. if the music sucks, they’re not going to want to play the game. ”
the opening montage that introduces the characters (expertly voiced by alec baldwin) is done to the tune of
hey jude
( see video) which was recorded at the last minute by score scribe mark mothersbaugh and his offshoot mutato muzika orchestra. anderson originally meant to have the beatles original version open the film (and close it with
i' m looking through you
) but circumstances forced their hand to record another version (ew, 12 / 04). elliott smith was approached initially, but he wasn' t in any shape to do so at the time, as he was already on a downward spiral that would eventually end with him taking his own life just two years later. eerily, the song he did provide ,
needle in the hay ,
was used prophetically as the backdrop for richie' s attempted suicide (video). that co - writer owen wilson had a hand in writing the scene makes it doubly eerie. continuing on the musical suicide tour of rt, when richie (luke wilson) gets out of the hospital and takes the bus home, it' s to nick drake' s
fly
. drake' s upbeat song is meant to signify a sort of rebirth, but it' s hard to ignore the fact that this singer took his own life as well .
each year, robert miltenberg makes a dvd compilation called beautiful mutants, which highlights a selection of the company’s recent television ads. he makes it like a mixtape, picking a nice variety of mutato music, music that conveys to current and potential clients a sense of the composers’ ranges. this year’s reel includes composer (and mothersbaugh’s nephew) silas hite’s suave, sophisticated tango that accompanies a martini & rossi ad featuring george clooney; a number of different pc vs. mac spots from around the world, each with mothersbaugh’s piano melody; associate composer chris kennedy’s banging theme for a feature - length skate movie created by nike .
entroth started as a grunt here after graduating from college. he spent a few years looking for a way to make a living as a musician — including a stint as a saxophonist on a cruise ship. he landed an internship at mutato, and has been there ever since, composing music that’s not supposed to necessarily be heard: “with tv, the music has to be interesting — but not too interesting. but more interesting than commercials. because it’s gotta fit and work the picture and enhance the action — but it can’t detract from the dialogue. it’s a different part of the brain you have to turn on and off. ”
says mothersbaugh of the arrangement: “if we never made another cent off that song we still came out ahead. ” the band put the single on itunes themselves, and collects all money from its sale. after touring sporadically over the past decade but not releasing any new material, devo are spending december at mutato trying to create an album’s worth of new material and contemplating a method of dispersal in the post - record - company world. “we could possibly connect them up with sponsors, ” imagines mothersbaugh, “and then you eliminate any of the things that made you feel like you needed a record company in the first place. you have people that will take care of each specific song and walk it through its trajectory .
or a brave new world. compared to avant - garde devo hits such as “satisfaction” and “whip it, ” mutato’s current projects seem defiantly mainstream. mark cowrote the theme music for nickelodeon’s rugrats and, with his brother bob, devo’s lead guitarist, recently restored the soundtracks for more than 250 original popeye cartoons. “hike doing this, ” says bob, 43, a divorced father of two. “partly because i never grew up. ” in the decade after 1978’s debut album—q: are we not men? a: we are devo! —the band released nine more lps. but by 1990, “we ran into problems, both businesswise and tactical, ” says devo guitarist and keyboard player bob casale, a 43 - year - old father of two and mutato’s producer / engineer. “our expenses went way up, but nobody had money to go to shows at that time. ” now that they’re considering playing a few dates on tins summer’s lollapalooza tour, devo has gotten some long overdue respect. “we’re the rodney dangerfield of rock and roll, ” says devo cofounder and bass player gerald casale, 47, who directs music videos and creates computer games. “the rock and roll hall of fame, which is in cleveland, finally called to ask for a yellow suit of ours—and we’re from akron. ” now they just have to find someone to remake their signature duds. “it’ll be a slimming tour if we do it, ” says gerald. “i used to lose three or four pounds a night when we played in those. ”
a lot of information about mutato had seeped into entroth’s head before he started working here. “not even necessarily consciously, ” he says, “because the old video games really hide all the credits. sometimes you had to beat the game to even see the credits. and knowing that crash bandicoot came out of this studio, that was a big deal. and then seeing rushmore and looking him up and seeing all of his credits for tv — it seemed as though i’d seen most of it and enjoyed most of it. drop dead gorgeous — there were five people in the theater, the other three people weren’t even laughing, but my wife and i were cracking up. credits roll, mark mothersbaugh. grosse pointe, briefly on the wb. freaking hilarious. mark mothersbaugh. ”
this is a typical oddball non sequitur for mothersbaugh. though generally wry and sarcastic, mothersbaugh overflows with creative passion. he’s an obsessive collector of things that inspire him, be it the volumes of mao zedong memorabilia that consume one whole off - site storage space, or his john f. kennedy collection, which is stored at another site. he’s got an extensive collection of third reich–era hitler post cards. “my life is divided up into a bunch of stuff, ” he says with characteristic understatement. he and his wife, anita, have two young daughters, both of whom they adopted from china, and who take up much of his time. the family also has two pugs, finster and fibi, who roam mutato regularly and play starring roles in many of the company’s commercial reels .
we are all devo! this episode stops by the famous mutato studios on the sunset strip to sit down with the legendary mark mothersbaugh. for over an hour i took part in one of the most brilliant, though provoking, inspiring and wacky conversations that i’ve ever been a part of. first and foremost, i’m a fan of mark’s and of devo. they were one of the most influential bands of my youth through their ahead of their time use of multi media and music. mark was so generous with his telling of the story behind the de - evolutionary roots of the band as well as his journey into being a soundtrack composer. mark’s view of how technology, media, culture and music fits into one cohesive narrative is unparalleled. i hope you enjoy this as much as i did .
we are all devo! this episode stops by the famous mutato studios on the sunset strip to sit down with the legendary mark mothersbaugh. for over an hour i took part in one of the most brilliant, though provoking, inspiring and wacky conversations that i' ve ever been a part of. first and foremost, i' m a fan of mark' s and of devo. they were one of the most influential bands of my youth through their ahead of their time use of multi media and music. mark was so generous with his telling of the story behind the de - evolutionary roots of the band as well as his journey into being a soundtrack composer. mark' s view of how technology, media, culture and music fits into one cohesive narrative is unparalleled. i hope you enjoy this as much as i did .
speaking of treasure, one filing box is marked “raymond scott notes, ” scott being one of the most important and underappreciated musical minds of the 20th century. mothersbaugh rescued much of the writing and paperwork from scott’s garage, and though the two only met once, they seem like kindreds. in the 1930s and 1940s, scott composed wildly imaginative and mathematical big - band music before abruptly changing gears in the late ’40s to start building early electronic instruments. he earned his living by using the machines to craft radio commercials for, among others, vicks medicated cough drops, bendix (“the tomorrow people”) and auto - lite spark plugs. standing majestically in one corner of mutato’s basement is perhaps the holy grail of early electronic - music instrumentation: raymond scott’s legendary electronium, considered to be the first - ever self - composing synthesizer, which mothersbaugh purchased in 1996 and has vowed to restore (though scott never completely finished building it) .
a: yeah, and i said ,
you know what? your building is putty puke gray, so shut up !
at night you miss it totally because there are no lights on it, so it disappears. in the day, people kind of check it out. all the windows are mirrored, so mostly they' re checking out themselves. .
a: there are people walking up and adjusting their bra straps and combing their hair and picking their pimples. there' s been a wide range of stuff. .
q: you do music for movies, commercials, computers and devo now. when do you find time to eat ?
a: i' m an insomniac. i try to get no less than four hours. .
a: well, i got asked to write a theme song for a tv series called
rocket power
that was about skateboards and surfboards. i thought ,
wait a minute. we were in a band in junior high, before devo, that did all surf music .
the other guys that were in the wipeouters originally all work here, so after hours we set up our gear and we played those songs again. so what started off as a theme song turned into a whole album. .
a: this is pre - devo, but three of the guys in the wipeouters are members of devo, so there is some crossover there. the biggest change was that we all learned how to play our instruments in the past 30 years. .
q: i thought you guys only got back together for $ 110 million private corporate parties .
a: that' s the kind of thing that' s a little too
spinal tap .
it' s like, we' ve been there, done that, don' t need to keep running back to the same scratch' n' sniff over and over again. .
a: well, when you' re 20, it' s great. when you' re 30, it' s
spinal tap .
when you' re 40, it' s pathetic. .
a: well, we really liked the idea. the only thing is the ironic humor was lost on them. people who really know the song, and know
it' s a beautiful world for you / but not for me ,
would appreciate it even if those words weren' t used in the actual commercial. .
a: no, just boring old money. it' s kind of weird because i always thought ,
wouldn' t it be cheaper to pay us in product ?
but no, it never works out that way. they always want to pay you cash. .
q: maybe you should get back at them by putting subliminal messages in their ads .
a: i love to put subliminal messages into commercials. it' s easy to do. we used to be into it more than we are now because nobody cared. it' s like, i kept putting these messages in and nobody ever stopped or called me or got freaked out and said ,
take that out immediately !
.
a: um, no. by the time i was signed on, i still hadn' t seen it. it' s too bad. the script wasn' t too bad, but i think they spent way too much money on the animation. they should have just used the same animation style as jay ward .
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as if he’s ever going to find the time. in one of the rooms that ring the archive, a vast collection of his visual art is stacked in rows; boxes of the rugs he made for an upcoming art opening, “rugs during wartime and peacetime, ” sit piled in the front entryway. mothersbaugh works on his visual art nearly every day by sketching miniatures on antique post cards, which he buys by the lot from ebay. he then transforms these little pieces into prints, rugs and whatever feels right .
and then there’s the massive database of music that’s created upstairs, which is as scattered and unwieldy as this room. “it’s so big that we don’t even have it under control anymore, ” mothersbaugh tells me. “for every commercial we get, there may have been four times that much music written. there’s this big body of music that actually could be a lucrative library at some time. ”
the booklet that accompanies the 1987 release devo e - z listening disc might provide some guidance: in bold letters at the top of each page, a question: “what is devo? ” below, simple answers: “wherever you go. devo is watching you. unfazed by competition. records, concerts, videos, commercials. beautiful mutants. freedom of choice. concentration. total war. will the real devo please stand up? you are devo. ”
like mothersbaugh, miltenberg is a collector, and has a passion for the history of and memorabilia from the age of dirigibles. during a recent interview with mothersbaugh, miltenberg entered the room to show off a recent purchase: a dime - size piece of cloth from the von hindenburg air ship. when mothersbaugh wondered aloud about the piece’s provenance, miltenberg produced documentation. mothersbaugh: “i think that that swatch of the von hindenburg is a lot like jesus christ. if you believe in it, and it gives you the power — gives you the vestment that you’re looking for — then good for you. ”
unlike outgoing miltenberg, mothersbaugh is kind of shy when you first meet him. he’ll fidget a little bit during interviews, glance down at the floor while he’s conversing. he enters rooms quietly. but once he gets comfortable, and lands on an interesting topic, he reveals a depth of thought that examines ideas from any number of angles .
at first, he had an uneasy relationship with commercial spots, unsure how to approach the notion of manipulating strangers into buying products that he didn’t feel particularly excited about. as an antidote, he and fellow devo member bob casale in the beginning used to sneak subliminal messages into their scores. the first few times they were nervous, says mothersbaugh. “i think it was a keds commercial where we put in ‘question authority. ’ i remember the people from keds were tapping their pens on the table and the music’s playing, and it gets to the subliminal message, and i remember i flushed bright red. i looked over at this guy and he’s going, ‘yeah! yeah! go go go! ’? ”
eventually, though, that got too easy. “we’d push it until somebody would say, ‘hey, did that just say, “obey, submit”? ’ and we’d go, ‘no. ’ then we’d take it out. then we’d only do it every year or so if we got inspired, or if some product was less likeable than we wanted it to be. we still do it every once in a while. ”
mutato muzika is an american music production company established and owned by devo co-founder and lead singer mark mothersbaugh in 1989 . the name is a portmanteau of the words mutant and potato , which is a nod to devo 's fanbase which are called spuds . while devo members mark mothersbaugh , gerald casale and bob mothersbaugh , with drummer josh freese , often meet , rehearse and confer in its west hollywood , california studio facilities , mutato muzika is a full-service music production company . until his death in 2014 , bob casale served as a producer/engineer there . mutato muzika has produced music for many films , including rushmore , the royal tenenbaums , the life aquatic with steve zissou , confessions of a teenage drama queen , 13 , lords of dogtown , nick & norah 's infinite playlist , cloudy with a chance of meatballs , and catfish . television music includes rugrats , shaggy & scooby-doo get a clue ! , pee-wee 's playhouse , big love , eureka , shameless , enlightened and regular show . mutato muzika-produced video game scores include crash bandicoot and the sims . mutato muzika also provides music for commercials , including spots for apple 's pc vs. mac , martini & rossi 's george clooney/giorgio , and logitech . the company is housed in a round bright green building at 8760 west sunset boulevard . the building is rumored to have been designed by brazilian architect oscar niemeyer ( although no architect 's name is listed on the building permit ) , modeling the exterior after the forum in inglewood , california , former home of the nba 's los angeles lakers and nhl 's los angeles kings . previously known as " the beauty pavillion " , it was built in 1967 for plastic surgeon dr. richard alan franklyn , who wanted the roof to have skylights in order to illuminate the operating room in the center of the structure . the building was painted green after mothersbaugh took ownership of it . 
mutato muzika is an american music production company established and owned by devo co-founder and lead singer mark mothersbaugh in 1989. the name is a portmanteau of the words mutant and potato, which is a nod to devo's fanbase which are called spuds. while devo members mark mothersbaugh, gerald casale and bob mothersbaugh, with drummer josh freese, often meet, rehearse and confer in its west hollywood, california studio facilities, mutato muzika is a full-service music production company. until his death in 2014, bob casale served as a producer/engineer there. mutato muzika has produced music for many films, including rushmore, the royal tenenbaums, the life aquatic with steve zissou, confessions of a teenage drama queen, 13, lords of dogtown, nick & norah's infinite playlist, cloudy with a chance of meatballs, and catfish. television music includes rugrats, shaggy & scooby-doo get a clue! , pee-wee's playhouse, big love, eureka, shameless, enlightened and regular show. mutato muzika-produced video game scores include crash bandicoot and the sims. mutato muzika also provides music for commercials, including spots for apple's pc vs. mac, martini & rossi's george clooney/giorgio, and logitech. the company is housed in a round bright green building at 8760 west sunset boulevard. the building is rumored to have been designed by brazilian architect oscar niemeyer (although no architect's name is listed on the building permit), modeling the exterior after the forum in inglewood, california, former home of the nba's los angeles lakers and nhl's los angeles kings. previously known as " the beauty pavillion ", it was built in 1967 for plastic surgeon dr. richard alan franklyn, who wanted the roof to have skylights in order to illuminate the operating room in the center of the structure. the building was painted green after mothersbaugh took ownership of it.
mutato muzika is an american music production company established and owned by devo co-founder and lead singer mark mothersbaugh in 1989. the name is a portmanteau of the words mutant and potato, which is a nod to devo's fanbase which are called spuds. while devo members mark mothersbaugh, gerald casale and bob mothersbaugh, with drummer josh freese, often meet, rehearse and confer in its west hollywood, california studio facilities, mutato muzika is a full-service music production company. until his death in 2014, bob casale served as a producer/engineer there. mutato muzika has produced music for many films, including rushmore, the royal tenenbaums, the life aquatic with steve zissou, confessions of a teenage drama queen, 13, lords of dogtown, nick & norah's infinite playlist, cloudy with a chance of meatballs, and catfish. television music includes rugrats, shaggy & scooby-doo get a clue! , pee-wee's playhouse, big love, eureka, shameless, enlightened and regular show. mutato muzika-produced video game scores include crash bandicoot and the sims. mutato muzika also provides music for commercials, including spots for apple's pc vs. mac, martini & rossi's george clooney/giorgio, and logitech. the company is housed in a round bright green building at 8760 west sunset boulevard. the building is rumored to have been designed by brazilian architect oscar niemeyer (although no architect's name is listed on the building permit), modeling the exterior after the forum in inglewood, california, former home of the nba's los angeles lakers and nhl's los angeles kings. previously known as " the beauty pavillion ", it was built in 1967 for plastic surgeon dr. richard alan franklyn, who wanted the roof to have skylights in order to illuminate the operating room in the center of the structure. the building was painted green after mothersbaugh took ownership of it.