• Composer Series,  Interviews,  Movies/Entertainment

    Interview…Carl Thiel Composes Big Themes for Small Town Heroes in ‘Lazer Team 2’

    Austin-based composer/musician Carl Thiel is a great friend of the site, and we love chatting with him about his film scores. An accomplished musician in his own right, Carl has made a name for himself working with Robert Rodriguez and on many films under the Troublemaker Studios banner and the El Rey Network. In past interviews, Carl has talked to us about doing work outside that umbrella s flexing his other musical muscles. Now you can take the man out of genre films, but you can’t take the genre film out of the man. As such, Carl is getting to try some new things with his score to Lazer Team 2, the…

  • Composer Series,  Interviews,  Movies/Entertainment

    Interview…Composer Carl Thiel Delves Into Docu-drama and TV Music

    We recently reconnected with composer Carl Thiel, and realized that it’s been three years since we last chatted. At the time, he had completed recording the music for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (with Robert Rodriguez), and was also about to begin work on the From Dusk Til Dawn TV series on the El Rey Network. In that time, Thiel continues to grow as an artist. Born in Mexico City, and after living in Canada for a while, Thiel now calls Austin home. He comes from a family of musicians, and has a lot of music he’s interested to work on away from projects under the Troublemaker Studios banner. As such,…

  • Contests,  Movies/Entertainment

    CONTEST CLOSED – Win A Copy of the ‘Sin City: A Dame to Kill For’ Soundtrack Autographed by Composer Carl Thiel

    Attention: CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. All winners have been notified. Thanks for your interest in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. ——————————————————————————————————————————— This week, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For was released on Blu-Ray and this follow-up to Robert Rodriguez’s noir-fueled 2005 film is full of even more hard-edged and unsavory characters…and a whole lotta Eva Green, that’s for sure! But this grungy world wouldn’t have half of its gritty and slightly off-putting charm without the driving soundtrack to compliment the insane action and ultra violence. Earlier this year we again spoke with composer Carl Thiel about his musical contributions to the Double R universe. Along with insights about the…

  • Composer Series,  Interviews,  Movies/Entertainment

    Interview…Film Composer Carl Thiel On Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller and ‘Sin City: A Dame to Kill For’

    The last time we spoke with film and TV composer Carl Thiel he had just finished up scoring the music to Machete Kills. The music was as much fun as the insane action on screen. Now here we are, less than a year later and Thiel has not only contributed music to another Robert Rodriguez film but also the themes for the TV series based on Rodriguez’ From Dusk Till Dawn. No stranger to tight time frames and working hard, Carl Thiel continues to add that gritty and hard-edged sound to each and every world Rodriguez puts on screen. It’s always a blast catching up with him, so enjoy our session with composer Carl Thiel…

  • Contests,  Movies/Entertainment

    CONTEST CLOSED – Win A Copy of the ‘Machete Kills’ Soundtrack Autographed by Composer Carl Thiel

    Attention: CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. All winners have been notified. Thanks for your interest in MACHETE KILLS. ———————————————————————————————————————————— Robert Rodriguez’ Machete Kills hits Blu-Ray shelves this week and holy frijoles have we got something for you Grindhouse fans! Aside from insane action, physics defying stunts, gritty and over-the-top characters, Robert Rodriguez’ films have one other staple worth noting – a rocking soundtrack. Prior to its theatrical release last fall we got to speak with award-winning composer, frequent RR collaborator and Chingon band member Carl Thiel. He gave us an idea of what to expect from the film and his music (read Part I and Part II here) and per usual we were blown…

  • Composer Series,  Interviews,  Movies/Entertainment

    Interview…(Part II) Film Composer Carl Thiel Talks More Music, Robert Rodriguez and ‘Machete Kills’

    Award-winning music writer/producer and film composer Carl Thiel was born into a European family and raised in Mexico City, Carl was exposed to a rich and wide variety of cultural experiences and musical styles from a very early age. As a young boy, he would listen to his father (a Swedish immigrant with a doctorate in music) play Mozart and Bach on the piano, while his older siblings would play Beatles and Carpenters albums. His mother, a perpetual student of the spiritual and healing arts and the daughter of German and Austrian immigrants, shared her love for Strauss and Vivaldi, as well as meditation and inspirational music. Immersed in the huge metropolis,…

  • Movies/Entertainment,  Reviews

    G-S-T Review…Machete Kills

    In the pantheon of Grindhouse revival films, if there ever were such a place, Machete Kills should go down as one of its stupidest but also one of the most fun times you can have in 2013. Now all you Trejo/Rodriguez fans can sheath your machetes, the term stupid is used with immense love and respect for Rodriguez and company…but this film is simply ludicrous. It goes without saying that a film like this makes no effort to be realistic. How can it when it’s a cornucopia of all sorts of genre-themed oddities, including but not limited to ray guns, clones, wacky explosions/violence, Mel Gibson as a Bond-esqe villain and Charlie…

  • Composer Series,  Interviews,  Movies/Entertainment

    Interview…(Part I) ‘Machete Kills’ Composer Carl Thiel Discusses Collaborating with Robert Rodriguez

    Film composer Carl Thiel is an award-winning music writer/producer. Over the course of his career he’s worked with a multitude of musicians and personalities including Willie Nelson, Bob Schneider, Los Lonely Boys, John Debney, and Del Castillo to name just a few. Carl currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Texas Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and frequently volunteers his time to teach and work with high school and college students across the state during educational events. But it’s his collaborations with visionary director/filmmaker Robert Rodriguez that occupy a large portion of his resume (he’s even a member of Robert Rodriguez’s pet project band Chingón). In the last decade Carl has lent…