Composer Nico Muhly on NES Music

For me, living in the country, playing a video game was sort of like music minus one: The actions of my hands informed, in a strange way, the things I heard. Collect a coin, and a delighted glockenspiel sounds. Move from navigating a level above ground to one below ground, and the eager French chromaticism of the score changes to a spare, beat-driven minimal texture. Hit a star, and suddenly the score does a metric modulation. All of these things come to bear in a later musical education; I'm positive I understand how augmented chords change an emotional texture because of Nintendo music."

-Nico Muhly, Read his full blog post 

I posted my updated reel today, it represents a pretty wide spectrum of what I've been writing for lately, from bizarro animation to schmaltzy Hollywood celebs. Have a look:

Daniel Merrill: Reel 2010 from Daniel Merrill on Vimeo.

The NYU Orchestra is playing a piece I wrote for an animated film by Ann Orin on March 8th at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at 8pm. The concert features work by NYU composers and filmmakers.

Check it out!

Top Cop is now on iTunes!
Listen and download here!
PS. Anyone want to play/set up a show (house or otherwise)? 'Cause I sure do!

I posted six new songs that I wrote and recorded while in Aptos, Ca.
It's a woodsy little tribute to the town I grew up in,
listen and download at:

http://tinyurl.com/topcopaptos

If you like it, feel free to repost the link or send it to others.

The Top Cop CD is out now!

it's at Insound, but you can listen to samples at:
topcop.muxtape.com
www.myspace.com/topcopmusic