Dez Kirkup

Jessie Malakouti – “Standing Up for the Lonely (Jack Rabbit Remix)” (2010)

Dez — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:23:29 +0000

‘Standing Up for the Lonely’ is a 2010 remix of the Jessie Malakouti original of the same name. Working in a new style for Ministry of Sound that he hasn’t explored before, Dez worked on the track under the pseudonym ‘Jack Rabbit’, winning the Big Stereo competition for the remix. The track is being earmarked for some compilations by Ministry of Sound and you can listen to it below!

Hear the original at: http://www.myspace.com/jessiemalakouti

New Showreel!

Dez — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:42:01 +0000

The new film showreel is online! This latest reel features 3 new clips from “Long and Winding” as well as scenes from “A Headline Romance”, “Don’t Look at Me (I’m Ugly in the Morning)”, and “On Friendship and Fidelity”.

Really hope you all enjoy it!

Please be aware the showreel contains spoilers for “Long and Winding”

New Website!

Dez — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:16:28 +0000

The new website is here, how do you like it? It’s a work in progress but I wanted to get it up and running as soon as it had made improvements over the previous site.

Finally you can view all my work together, not just film work, including my ventures in the fields of electronic music, band production and songwriting! I’m still adding credits and uploading music, but within a few weeks there’ll be lots more tracks for you to listen to. I’m even going to remix some old gems so you can get a better feel for my current production standards!

Why not bookmark the site now or subscribe to the RSS feed to stay up to date! Join me on twitter also! www.twitter.com/dezkirkup!

Hope you enjoy everything, you can leave comments in relation to all of my credits and news bulletins, and you can also contact me direct by email.

Aluminum Babe – “Infatuation (Slavedriver Remix)” (2009)

Dez — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:27:21 +0000

This track was my first released remix and my first collaboration with New York band Aluminum Babe. Operating under my electro pseudonym ‘Slavedriver’, I wrote a funky electro version of their original, taking only the vocal and select guitar parts. The track was slowed from it’s intense 180bpm tempo, down to around the 128bpm mark, more at the typical pace of electro tracks.

The track sees its release this year alongside Aluminum Babe’s new album, and together we are looking at collaborating on material for their next album towards the end of this year.

Long and Winding (2009)

Dez — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:20:34 +0000

‘Long and Winding’ is a 2009 short drama directed by Jane Langford and produced by Michele Maurer. It is a beautifully shot road movie, filmed in rural America and follows a couple as they revisit the locations that led up to their eventual engagement. Powerful, deep and encompassing, the film meanders through their journey until the end where a twist is revealed. For this film I wrote a song, and based all the cues around the melody of this track. I put together lush ensembles of strings, guitar, piano and slide guitar to give a typically traditional American sound that was rich enough to portray all the emotions present in the film. For the closing piece there was a full version of my song ‘Lost’, with the vocal performed by friend and collaborator Phil Vincent.

Find Out More:
Official Site

“Lost” – from ‘Long and Winding’ 2009

Dez — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 11:51:39 +0000

‘Lost’ is a track I wrote several years ago, and on reading the script for 2009’s ‘Long and Winding’, I knew that this track was right for the film. The piece was expanded in to various instrumental forms for scenes which you can see currently in the 2009 film showreel. The song was modified for the closing scene to the film, with only one verse, bridge and chorus being used, whilst the lyrics were updated to better reflect the characters of the film. The vocal of the track was performed by friend and collaborator Phil Vincent.

Finished version coming soon…

New Project – “Long and Winding”

Dez — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:27:08 +0000

Dez is currently hard at work on a new film by Same Moon productions entitled ‘Long and Winding’. It’s a romantic road movie shot on location in America and due to be released sometime this summer. In the meantime, a more ambient demo track called ‘Haunted’, written for the film but not destined to make the final cut, has just been added to the site’s mp3 player. Enjoy!

Where is My Solomon? (2009)

Dez — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:34:15 +0000

‘Where is My Solomon’ is a 2009 documentary directed by Shoshana Eilon. It explores the lives of the Darfuri community in Tel Aviv, which has been established in the wake of the Darfur conflict as thousands of refugees have fled north. For this film I contributed three tracks, along with other composers, and together we created an eclectic mix of Middle Eastern influences that reflected all cultures in the region. I was lucky enough to contribute the opening piece, which used my favourite nylon string acoustc guitar, downtuned to sound like a tradtional middle-eastern Oud. Another contributed piece entitled ‘Wasteland’, was a string and piano piece, which you can listen to in the showreel.

Find out More:
IMDB Entry

New Track

Dez — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:34:27 +0000

There is a new track in the mp3 player! “Wasteland” is from an upcoming documentary I am working on entitled ‘Where is My Solomon?’, which explores the lives of various refugees from the Darfur region of Sudan, who have fled their homes and the troubles that surrounded them to settle in Israel. The film explores the various cultures that come together in the Darfuri communities of Tel Aviv. I hope to bring you more news on the completion of the documentary soon!

Don’t Look at Me (I’m Ugly in the Morning) (2008)

Dez — Sun, 11 May 2008 11:05:12 +0000

My first project of 2008 was Chris Purnell’s ‘Don’t Look At Me (I’m Ugly in the Morning)’, which was also my first feature length project. It is a drama with elements of black comedy, focusing on three siblings suffering after the death of their abusive Father. Here I had a really defined sound, with more experimental sound design pieces for the intimate scenes, and more pop/rock orientated pieces for the rest, including two original songs. With a great cast including stand up comic Ed Byrne, as well as the very capable Chris Condie, this was one of my best projects to date.

Find out More:
IMDB Entry