Artist Spotlights: Filmmaker Steps Into Somber Realms
Colombian electronic producer Filmmaker creates EBM soundscapes that feel like the score for a dystopian film.
Artist Spotlights introduces you to artists that may not be on your radar yet, but should be. With recently cancelled tours and income loss for small artists, there’s no time like the present to find new talent to support.
Written by C.S. Harper
Photo courtesy of Daniel Castro
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Filmmaker is to electronic music what Death Grips and Daughters are to hip-hop and rock. His songs reject everything that makes commercial electronic music appeal to the masses. Since 2018, he has been producing instrumental music that fuses techno and EBM, a “dancefloor-oriented style of industrial,” according to writer Andi Harriman.
As an underground producer, Filmmaker has created 14 albums, releasing two in the first four months of 2020. Last year, his fourth album, The Love Market, made Cold Experiment and The Hipodrome of Music’s year-end album lists. He has appeared on multiple podcasts and magazines, and he produced for BAROQUE and the META MOTO IV compilation album.
Filmmaker is a musical auteur. He takes full control of his creative expression, using more than one medium to do so. He designed the cover art for many of his albums, creating gritty ‘80s-inspired images to go with his music. Each cover offers a glimpse into its content. His eighth album, Noir Times, presents its dystopian narrative through a portrait of a girl with a face mask.
Image courtesy of HC Records
Even though Filmmaker’s music is purely instrumental, his intricate production style brings about evocative tracks. The lack of lyrics allows the listener to immerse themselves into the soundscapes that he crafts. As a result, listeners can explore his music’s sonic motifs and create their own narratives for these albums. Many of his songs feature repetitive beats, gothic synths, and gated reverb drums that create an insidious atmosphere. Each of his albums builds upon this foundation, introducing new elements into his music.
His latest record, Dimensional, shifts away from his signature ‘80s-influenced beats and replaces them with industrial booming drums and brooding synths that dominate each track. Despite their minimalistic instrumentation, these songs create a menacing tone and manage to get under listeners’ skins. While most of his records feel like they belong to a cyber dystopian “Blade Runner” world, Dimensional’s haunting sound evokes a desolate post-apocalyptic universe that’s more akin to “Mad Max.”
Now available on his SoundCloud, his latest EP, Royal Dungeon, reveals radical changes in his production style. A departure from his EBM sound, this EP explores the producer’s techno side. Featuring vocal samples and synth-heavy beats, these tracks experiment with techniques that rarely appeared on previous projects.
2020 is bound to become Filmmaker’s breakout year. As his strong online presence reaches more listeners’ radars, his dark take on electronic music will provide a cathartic soundtrack for many fans’ experiences during this pandemic.