Alexi Murdoch
Encyclopedia
Alexi Murdoch is a singer-songwriter
born in London
and raised in Scotland
, Greece
and France
, now living in Berlin
.
Murdoch moved to the United States in 1992 to study at Duke University
, before moving to Los Angeles, California
to be with a girlfriend. He first gained notice when an influential Los Angeles DJ, Nic Harcourt
, began playing his music on the radio station KCRW
. It led to much interest from the LA's music industry, which Murdoch largely ignored, turning down advances from record labels and opting to release his music independently.
Four Songs through independent record stores and website CD Baby
in November 2002. CD Baby sold over 50,000 copies of the release, becoming the site's all-time bestselling record.
In 2003, he performed at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference and that year's Sundance Film Festival
. and, in 2004, at the Hollywood Reporter/Billboard Film & TV Music Conference. In 2004, the song "Orange Sky" from the EP also became the most-played song on Philadelphia indie station WXPN
.
, was released on June 6, 2006 on his own label, Zero Summer. As with the EP, Murdoch continued to turn down the record deals he was offered from numerous major labels in order to maintain creative control. (The record was distributed nationally through Sony BMG.) Time Without Consequence peaked at #25 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.
On June 9, 2006, Murdoch began a 34-city tour in conjunction with the Coalition of Independent Music Stores, with most bookings at independent record stores.
The album became one of the most licensed albums of the decade, receiving placements on dozens of films and television shows. "Orange Sky"
appeared in The O.C.
, House
, Prison Break
, Ugly Betty
, Dirty Sexy Money
, Ladder 49
, and in promotions for Oscar nominated foreign film, Paradise Now
, Southland
and a Honda commercial. "Home" appeared in a season 2 episode of Prison Break. "All My Days" was featured in The O.C., Grey's Anatomy
, Scrubs
, Without a Trace
, Stargate Universe, and a promo for Southland. It has also featured as the opening song in the movie Real Steel
. "Song For You" appeared in Everwood
. "12" appeared in the show "Brothers & Sisters" and "One Tree Hill
." "Blue Mind" was featured in the 2008 adventure film The Sharp End,, and several episodes of Dawson's Creek
. "Breathe" was used in Stargate Universe, and the 2008 film Tenderness
, where the album Time Without Consequence
is also shown on a scene of the film. "Wait" was used in the shows Defying Gravity
and Parenthood. "It's Only Fear" was used in the Brothers and Sisters. Several songs were used in a surfing documentary One California Day
.
Several of these new songs quickly appeared on the internet. Later, the song "Through the Dark" was used in the final scene and end credits of actor Ben Affleck's directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone
, as well as the television series "The Vampire Diaries". Several other Towards the Sun songs were used on the soundtrack to Oscar winner Sam Mendes' 2009 film Away We Go
which had a screenplay by the writers Dave Eggers
and Vendela Vida
. There was an album tied to the film release which contained a mix of songs from Time Without Consequence
and Towards the Sun
alongside single songs by The Stranglers, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and the Velvet Underground.
Recent bookings by Murdoch include two concerts in Berlin, one small club appearance and a second as part of the City Slang label's 20th anniversary. In February 2011 he performed in New York City as part of Lincoln Center's prestigious "American Songbook Series", after which he went on a sold out tour of major markets throughout North America. (i.e. Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Chicago, Minneapolis.) 2011 also saw the official release of his third recording, "Towards The Sun
".
's Top Ten Artists list. His newest release "Towards the Sun" is gathering higher praise still in both the U.S. and in Europe. PopMatters, giving the record a 9/10 calls Murdoch's performance "hauntingly beautiful" and "heartbreakingly lovely". Q Magazine in the U.K.
give the record 4 stars with this to say: "Acoustic troubadour makes stunning second outing. Anyone who harps on about how the songwriters of today don't match up to those of yesteryear should be directed to this remarkable second record."
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and raised in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, now living in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
Background
Murdoch was born in London to a Greek father and Scottish-French mother and raised in Greece, just outside of Athens until he was ten, when his family moved to Scotland.Murdoch moved to the United States in 1992 to study at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, before moving to Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
to be with a girlfriend. He first gained notice when an influential Los Angeles DJ, Nic Harcourt
Nic Harcourt
Nic Harcourt was, most recently, the Music Director for Santa Monica, California-based radio station KCRW. Before joining KCRW, Harcourt worked for eight years as a news director and music director at radio station WDST in Woodstock, New York...
, began playing his music on the radio station KCRW
KCRW
KCRW is a public radio station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, carrying a mix of National Public Radio news, talk radio and freeform music format. The general manager of KCRW is Jennifer Ferro...
. It led to much interest from the LA's music industry, which Murdoch largely ignored, turning down advances from record labels and opting to release his music independently.
Four Songs EP
He self-published the EPExtended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Four Songs through independent record stores and website CD Baby
CD Baby
CD Baby is an online music store specializing in the sale of CDs and digital music downloads from independent musicians to consumers. The company is also a digital aggregator of independent music recordings, distributing content to several online digital music retailers.CD Baby has achieved recent...
in November 2002. CD Baby sold over 50,000 copies of the release, becoming the site's all-time bestselling record.
In 2003, he performed at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference and that year's Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
. and, in 2004, at the Hollywood Reporter/Billboard Film & TV Music Conference. In 2004, the song "Orange Sky" from the EP also became the most-played song on Philadelphia indie station WXPN
WXPN
WXPN is a non-commercial, public radio station operated by the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia that broadcasts a music radio format called adult album alternative , along with many other format shows supported all with an indie slant...
.
Time Without Consequence LP
Murdoch's first album, Time Without ConsequenceTime Without Consequence
"Time Without Consequence" is an album by singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch. It was released on June 6, 2006 and was Murdoch's first full length LP.The songs "Song For You," "Blue Mind," and "Orange Sky" were featured on Murdoch's Four Songs EP....
, was released on June 6, 2006 on his own label, Zero Summer. As with the EP, Murdoch continued to turn down the record deals he was offered from numerous major labels in order to maintain creative control. (The record was distributed nationally through Sony BMG.) Time Without Consequence peaked at #25 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.
On June 9, 2006, Murdoch began a 34-city tour in conjunction with the Coalition of Independent Music Stores, with most bookings at independent record stores.
The album became one of the most licensed albums of the decade, receiving placements on dozens of films and television shows. "Orange Sky"
Orange Sky (song)
"Orange Sky" is a single from Alexi Murdoch's EP Four Songs. The song is also included on Murdoch's first LP album Time Without Consequence. "Orange Sky" gained a strong popularity, which is remarkable for such a long song, checking in at over six minutes...
appeared in The O.C.
The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
, House
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
, Prison Break
Prison Break
Prison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...
, Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
, Dirty Sexy Money
Dirty Sexy Money
Dirty Sexy Money is an American prime time drama series created by Craig Wright, which ran on the ABC from September 26, 2007 to August 8, 2009. The series was produced by ABC Studios, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Berlanti Television and Gross Entertainment...
, Ladder 49
Ladder 49
Ladder 49 is a 2004 film about the heroics of a Baltimore fireman Jack Morrison, who is trapped inside a warehouse fire and his recollection of the events that got him to that point. The movie is a celebration of the firefighting profession and the life that comes with it...
, and in promotions for Oscar nominated foreign film, Paradise Now
Paradise Now
Paradise Now is a 2005 film directed by Hany Abu-Assad about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Israel. It won a Golden Globe for best foreign language film and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category....
, Southland
Southland (TV series)
Southland is an American drama series created by writer Ann Biderman and produced by Warner Bros. Television. It premiered on NBC on April 9, 2009...
and a Honda commercial. "Home" appeared in a season 2 episode of Prison Break. "All My Days" was featured in The O.C., Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
, Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
, Without a Trace
Without a Trace
Without a Trace is an American television drama which originally ran on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009. The series was set in New York City and concerned a fictitious FBI Missing Persons Unit.-Premise:...
, Stargate Universe, and a promo for Southland. It has also featured as the opening song in the movie Real Steel
Real Steel
Real Steel is a 2011 American science fiction film starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Shawn Levy. The film is based in part on the 1956 short story "Steel" by Richard Matheson, though Levy placed the film in U.S. state fairs and other "old-fashioned" Americana settings. Real Steel was in...
. "Song For You" appeared in Everwood
Everwood
Everwood is an American drama television series that initially aired in the United States on The WB. The series is set in the fictional small town of Everwood, Colorado, and was filmed in Ogden, South Salt Lake, and Draper, Utah, except the series pilot which was filmed in Canmore, Alberta,...
. "12" appeared in the show "Brothers & Sisters" and "One Tree Hill
One Tree Hill (TV series)
One Tree Hill is an American television drama created by Mark Schwahn, which premiered on September 23, 2003, on The WB Television Network. After its third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and, since September 27, 2006, the network has been the official broadcaster...
." "Blue Mind" was featured in the 2008 adventure film The Sharp End,, and several episodes of Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...
. "Breathe" was used in Stargate Universe, and the 2008 film Tenderness
Tenderness (film)
Tenderness is a 2009 American crime film directed by John Polson, which stars Jon Foster, Sophie Traub, Russell Crowe, and Laura Dern. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Robert Cormier.-Plot:...
, where the album Time Without Consequence
Time Without Consequence
"Time Without Consequence" is an album by singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch. It was released on June 6, 2006 and was Murdoch's first full length LP.The songs "Song For You," "Blue Mind," and "Orange Sky" were featured on Murdoch's Four Songs EP....
is also shown on a scene of the film. "Wait" was used in the shows Defying Gravity
Defying Gravity (TV series)
Defying Gravity is a multi-nationally produced space travel television science fiction drama series, first aired on August 2, 2009 on ABC and CTV and canceled in the autumn of 2009...
and Parenthood. "It's Only Fear" was used in the Brothers and Sisters. Several songs were used in a surfing documentary One California Day
One California Day
One California Day is a 2007 documentary film about surfing shot in six coastal regions in California. Directed by Mark Jeremias and Jason Baffa, the film looks at the experience of California surfing from Crescent City to Imperial Beach...
.
Recent activities
In the spring of 2009, Murdoch embarked on a rare U.S. headlining tour, during which he has been distributing an early version of a new album entitled Towards the Sun in a limited edition packaged in a hand-printed, cardboard sleeve.Several of these new songs quickly appeared on the internet. Later, the song "Through the Dark" was used in the final scene and end credits of actor Ben Affleck's directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone
Gone Baby Gone
Gone Baby Gone is a 2007 American crime drama-mystery film directed by Ben Affleck and starring his brother Casey Affleck. The screenplay by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard is based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River and Shutter Island...
, as well as the television series "The Vampire Diaries". Several other Towards the Sun songs were used on the soundtrack to Oscar winner Sam Mendes' 2009 film Away We Go
Away We Go (film)
Away We Go is a 2009 comedy-drama directed by Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes and written by the husband-and-wife team of Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida...
which had a screenplay by the writers Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a screenwriter. He is also the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia.-Life:Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts,...
and Vendela Vida
Vendela Vida
Vendela Vida is an American novelist, journalist, and editor who lives in the Bay Area.-Books:Vida has written four books....
. There was an album tied to the film release which contained a mix of songs from Time Without Consequence
Time Without Consequence
"Time Without Consequence" is an album by singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch. It was released on June 6, 2006 and was Murdoch's first full length LP.The songs "Song For You," "Blue Mind," and "Orange Sky" were featured on Murdoch's Four Songs EP....
and Towards the Sun
Towards the Sun (album)
"Towards The Sun" is the second album released by singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch. It was released on March 8, 2011. According to Alexi, all seven tracks were recorded on a tape player during a tour stop in Vancouver in 2009 and were not intended to become an album...
alongside single songs by The Stranglers, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and the Velvet Underground.
Recent bookings by Murdoch include two concerts in Berlin, one small club appearance and a second as part of the City Slang label's 20th anniversary. In February 2011 he performed in New York City as part of Lincoln Center's prestigious "American Songbook Series", after which he went on a sold out tour of major markets throughout North America. (i.e. Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Chicago, Minneapolis.) 2011 also saw the official release of his third recording, "Towards The Sun
Towards the Sun
Towards the Sun is the English title for Idę do słońca, a documentary film about Xawery Dunikowski released in 1955, directed by Andrzej Wajda.- Tracklist :*01. Towards The Sun *02. At Your Door *03. Some Day Soon...
".
Critical reception
His first album "Time Without Consequence" was met with wide critical praise, gaining him five stars with Alternative Press as well as placing him on Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
's Top Ten Artists list. His newest release "Towards the Sun" is gathering higher praise still in both the U.S. and in Europe. PopMatters, giving the record a 9/10 calls Murdoch's performance "hauntingly beautiful" and "heartbreakingly lovely". Q Magazine in the U.K.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
give the record 4 stars with this to say: "Acoustic troubadour makes stunning second outing. Anyone who harps on about how the songwriters of today don't match up to those of yesteryear should be directed to this remarkable second record."
LPs
- Time Without ConsequenceTime Without Consequence"Time Without Consequence" is an album by singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch. It was released on June 6, 2006 and was Murdoch's first full length LP.The songs "Song For You," "Blue Mind," and "Orange Sky" were featured on Murdoch's Four Songs EP....
, 2006 - Towards the Sun, 2011