EGO PLUM

Producer • Songwriter • Composer for Film, Television & Theater • Surrealist • Absurdist • Composer for Nickelodeon's HARVEY BEAKS, MAKING FIENDS • Songwriter for Disney's STAR VS. THE FORCES OF EVIL • Musical Director of the...

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Music from this month’s new episode of Spongebob Squarepants, entitled "One Trick Sponge." (Season 12). Inspired by the “Pink Elephants On Parade” sequence from Walt Disney’s DUMBO (1941).

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Surrealism & Absurdity: Spongebob in Randomland

"SpongeBob SquarePants is an absurdist masterpiece that Salvador Dalí and Groucho Marx would have watched together in their smoking jackets."...

An article I wrote about this weekend’s new episode of Spongebob Squarepants, “SPONGEBOB IN RANDOMLAND.”

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This year I started writing music for SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS at Nickelodeon. The soundtrack to Spongebob may be among my favorite among modern cartoons in the last decade so I didn’t take this task lightly. On top of all this, my first assignment was no easy feat: I had to recreate Raymond Scott’s iconic POWERHOUSE, but in a style that would fit the beautiful pre-existing musical landscape of the show. The song Powerhouse was made famous by Carl Stalling in his musical arrangements for Looney Tunes in the 1930-50′s and in my opinion is the most iconic piece of cartoon music in history. Here is my full re-imagining of Raymond Scott's POWERHOUSE from the Season 12 episode "Broken Alarm." I performed all the slide guitar parts, piano, percussion, and bass, and left the rhythm acoustic guitars and mid solo to my friend and orchestrator Steve Bartek of the band Oingo Boingo. Enjoy! -Ego Plum

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Coming this summer!

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View this post on Instagram

Hello! I’ve belatedly started an Instagram account where I will post short musical experiments. Please follow me, as I’m just figuring out how to use it! Thank You! I am @egoplum

https://www.instagram.com/egoplum/ -Ego

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Harvey Beaks Pee-Choo Theme on hand-cranked cylindrical/mechanical music box.

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Nick's brand-new digital series: BUG SALAD! Music by EGO PLUM

I’m excited to share my latest Nickelodeon series, Bug Salad! Beautiful, Loud, and frenetic, bug salad is a hyper weird cartoon series from the equally strange mind of Carl Faruolo. I’m very proud of the music I got to wrote for these episodes and I hope you like them too.

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Ego Plum’s Absurdity Suite Occasionally when I work on a series, I write a few pieces of music that aren’t necessarily for specific scenes. These are more like mood pieces that encapsulate the overall feel and character of the show. Here’s an unused piece of music from Carl Greenblatt’s Harvey Beaks show I composed with no clear intention in mind. I was attempting to write as the love child of Carl Stalling (Looney Tunes) and Bernard Herrmann (Psycho/Vertigo). It was just me having fun at the orchestra’s expense (not to mention Nickelodeon’s expense). I love that the studio and our wonderful producer afforded us the freedom to experiment like this and make our little show as good as we could make it.  A special shout-out to the genius orchestrator Steve Bartek, who had his way with my melodies on the second half (at my request) and turned this in to something even more absurd than what I hoped for! -Ego Plum

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Rage Against The Michelle | The Music of Harvey Beaks

We have gone from full orchestras with choirs to minimal electronic and everything in between on Harvey Beaks but on tonite’s new episode, “Rage Against the Michelle,” I got to touch on my love of rock and heavy metal. The music on the opening title card is mostly an homage to Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) but by extension, also a tribute to Black Sabbath and doom metal bands like SLEEP and High On Fire. These are the bands that Michelle Beaks will one day grow up and listen to. I love how much how much we were able to experiment musically on Harvey Beaks. I often wonder if this type of freedom and risk taking will every exist on the future shows I work on? I hope so. But we will always have this wonderful show that C.H. Greenblatt created to look back on fondly. Enjoy the final set of premieres this week! I will be posting a bunch of new videos over the next few days. -Ego

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“My Composer Audition” | The Music of Welcome To The Wayne Often when a new show is interested in having you be their composer, they will ask you to submit a short audition or score a few short scenes so they can get a sense of  your musical approach. In the case of Welcome To The Wayne, I composed and submitted this 90-second demo as an example of how I would want the show to sound. The producers responded positively and I was hired back in April 2016! This demo established my sonic “palette” and some of the themes that I will revisit throughout the series. Even though the producers were fans of my work on Harvey Beaks, it was important to create something very different from that show. This music aimed to combine the mysterious & magical nature of the New York-esque building known as “The Wayne,” with the off-center comedy and adventurous nature of our three protagonists. I hope you enjoy the show and the music I’ve been writing for it all year! I will periodically post some of my favorite musical moments on here as the series progresses. -Ego Plum Welcome To The Wayne premieres Monday, July 24th at 5:30PM on Nickelodeon!

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WELCOME TO THE WAYNE! ORIGINAL SCORE BY: EGO PLUM While we wait for the next (and final) batch of Harvey Beaks episodes to premiere, I’m excited to share the trailer for my brand new animated series at Nickelodeon: Welcome To the Wayne. I’ve been working on this steadily for about a year now and I’m excited to FINALLY be able to announce it. Welcome To The Wayne will premiere July 24th at 5:30PM. I won’t share any new music just yet but be sure to check back here once it’s on the air!

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“On the Whims of Fancy Flight” | The Music of Harvey Beaks Ocean Promotion was a really exciting episode to score. I always wondered what was beyond the trees of Little Bark and this episode finally showed us. I wanted to write something special for this is what I came up with. Fun Fact: After paying musical homage to Andy Partridge so many times, I finally spoke to him and asked him to sing this very song. Sadly, he was unavailable but it’s fun to imagine what it would have sounded like in his voice. Regardless, i’m proud to have my voice accompany a string orchestra on this episode. Enjoy! have you been to the clouds? have you seen fireflies going counterclockwise? have you climbed over mountains? for the view at the top and the new kind of pop? have you felt burning snow? and its shivery blaze lighting up the air ways for the self-assured recalcitrants  on the whims of fancy flight and their feisty wings will pull at your strings and I wouldn't put up a fight. no, I wouldn't put up a fight, I'd let you go.

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I think I broke my zipper? | The Music of Harvey Beaks In the episode “Rock Bark Rocks” Harvey attends his first rock concert and accidentally finds himself caught in a mosh pit. This short chaotic scene  reminded me of myself during my first punk shows as a teenager in Los Angeles (It was The Ramones, The Damned, and The Dickies on separate occasions at the Hollywood Palladium). There is a certain level of character building that can only come from getting kicked in the head to your favorite music– and a sense of hope that can only come from falling on your ass in a mosh pit... only to be rescued by a swarm of disembodied hands reaching down to pick you up. I thought to myself, “Why can’t Harvey be stuck in the pit while one of my favorite punk bands is playing?” So I reached out to singer of the seminal Los Angeles punk band, The Dickies (The inimitable Leonard Graves Phillips) and asked if he wouldn’t mind singing on a 30-second song I wrote. I sent him the instrumental music and waited. A few days later I get a 5am text from Leonard with the following lyrics: I got OCD. Don’t you pick on me. Zipper. I think I broke my zipper. I’m not one to argue with genius. I’ve admired Leonard since I was a kid. I told him it was perfect and a week later he was in my studio recording these very words. I just love that he sat there listening to my song and these were the lyrics that popped in his head. Life is absurd. I love how it came out and so honored to have this tiny connection to my favorite wobbly-voiced musician. Incidentally, this song is far from featured in the episode, it goes by very quickly and it’s low in the mix, but that’s why I put these videos up with the full volume mixes. THE DICKIES formed in 1977 and are one of the greatest melodic punk bands of all time. Truly underrated, although they did have some much deserved success with the cult film “Killer Klowns from Outer space” and most recently, on the soundtrack to “KICK ASS” with their Banana Splits anthem. Enjoy! -Ego

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Everything you want and need to know about the talent behind animation, as well as news, reviews, and things you can use

A brand new interview I did with “Beyond The Cartoons” about the Christmas Special, and the future of Harvey Beaks.

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The Xmas Time | The Music of Harvey Beaks Writing a timeless Christmas song has always been a difficult & illusive endeavor for rock/pop artists. C.H. Greenblatt asked me to try my hand at a “classic” pop song for our Christmas Special and I was excited to take on the challenge. I had to think back on popular (and obscure) Christmas pop that has always put me in the holiday mood and narrowed my list down to: XTC’s “Thanks for Christmas,”  SLADE’s, “Merry Christmas Everybody,” PAUL MCCARTNEY’s, “Wonderful ChristmasTime,” and the RESIDENTS’ “Santa Dog.”

Thus began the writing process. The lyrics were simple, fun, and playful. The music was composed in that 60′s melodic vernacular that I’ve always been fond of. It all came about rather quickly. After I wrote my demo,I reached out to my friend THOMAS WALSH (singer of the Irish power-pop band PUGWASH) who agreed to duet with me on the track. I consider Thomas one of the modern torch bearers of true pop music (as his collaborators Andy Partridge of XTC, Ray David of the KINKS, and Jeff Lynne of E.L.O. will surely attest!)

The song was finished off by the illustrious Steve Bartek who wrote & conducted a gorgeous orchestral & choir arrangement. Steve clearly went full George Martin on this and I wondered if he had recently been listening to I Am The Walrus or Strawberry Fields Forever? He also had the amazing idea of recording two string quintets set up on either side of the room playing unique simultaneous parts to create a live Left/Right stereo effect on the finished song. (?!?!?) Then he peppered a few brass & woodwinds throughout to make Sir George Martin smile from the heavens. Bless this man!

Needles to say, I’m very excited with how this turned out and I hope this becomes one of the most remembered songs of our little show-that-could. Long Live Harvey Beaks! - Ego

Santa Claus is checking off his list and making sure that no one will be missed everyone get ready for the Xmas time!

Candy canes for all the girls and boys and dolls and trains and all your favorite toys   everyone is ready for the Xmas time!

Snow balls for the children who’re playing outside Decked halls and a love that is more than implied

Here comes Mr. Santa Claus taking up the xmas cause bringing gifts for everyone leaves a trial of joy and fun

now it’s time to say goodbye until next year!  

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“Sum of Many Parts” | The Music of Harvey Beaks

Little Little Bark is one of my favorite episodes from the second season of Harvey Beaks. I rate up there with The Finger, Day of No To-Do, and Alone.  I wrote and sang this little acoustic song for the opening which in retrospect seems to be about mental illness and obsession. Half the lyrics are in reverse.

Musically speaking, "Sum of Many Parts" is an homage to the Andy Partridge (From the band XTC) and has subtle similarities to the mood of "Another Satellite" from 1986's Skylarking and the lyrical phrasing of "Statue of Liberty" from 1978's White Music. Andy Partridge is one of our greatest living songwriters and someone who has had a tremendous influence on my music. He is graceful wordsmith and the perfect architect of chords & melodic phrases that can only come from a diet of proper musical influences: He shares a musical bloodline with Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Brian Wilson, Ray/Dave Davies, Jeff Lynne and others. His musical progeny include people like Damon Albarn (Blur), Thomas Walsh (Pugwash) and many others.  I consider myself a disciple of his and cannot help but model myself in his musical image, time and time again.

One day I'll make a post (with examples) of all my proper influences for the music I write on Harvey Beaks. Many are rather specific!  -Ego

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STEAMPUNKS: “REJECT TOWN” | The Music of Harvey Beaks

Here’s a behind-the-scenes peek at the recording of my favorite song from the Harvey Beaks’ Steampunks Musical! Reject Town is a joyously dark anthem about the virtues of a little community built of trash and filth! This exclusive footage features members of the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra and the Seattle Opera performing the music LIVE in the studio with final animation played side-by-side. This also features extra-special footage of the multi-faceted and extremely talented voice of Dade (who shall remain nameless!). As far as writing something like this, I’ll usually have a few starting points in my head; musical points of reference, if you will. In this case, I wanted a cross between, “You’re a Good Man Albert Brown,” by THE DUKES OF STRATOSPHEAR (Andy Partridge/XTC’s alter-ego) and a little bit of “House of Fun” from the Camden Town Ska band, MADNESS. So that becomes the palette in my head from which I then move towards orchestral arrangements and other elements that make it sound like the world of Harvey Beaks. After recording with the orchestra, I also layered some trash-can percussion, pipes, and random clinky clangy things to round out the sound. This special took close to 60 musicians to execute. Not to mention our talented team of engineers, our copyist, orchestrator, conductor, assistants, and many others! We are really lucky to be able to do at this scale in this day & age of disposable entertainment. Harvey Beaks is a gem! -Ego Be sure to watch STEAMPUNKS Part 1 on Thursday, June 23 at 4:30PM and Part 2 on Friday, June 24 at 4:30PM on Nickelodeon! Special thanks to my friend Aaron Cohen who edited this video together.