J.D. Thirlwell conducts a live orchestral performance of music from “The Venture Brothers.” Greatest thing ever or greatest thing ever?
Mentioned before in these pages, but The Venture Brothers has excellent music, and check this out. (Slight typo from Mr. Urbaniak: it’s actually JG, not JD)
This is the excellent opening sequence of Archer. You can read all about its inception here, at the very-helpful site The Art of the Title. As you can probably tell, it’s another Saul Bass-inspired piece, like this and this. In fact, two of the Bass-inspired movie opening credits sequences I cited for Chuck are referred to as influences for Neal Holman, Archer’s art director. What ties this closer to Mad Men, though, is that this sequence is meant also to recall the era of Saul Bass sequences, as Archer takes place in a kind of 1960’s/present-hybrid. In that sense, it probably has the most in common with The Venture Bros, a sequence meant to recall that same era’s action cartoons. The Venture Bros too takes place in a sort-of hybrid between a bygone era and the present. And both are terrific series (Adam Reed, creator of Archer, worked primarily on Adult Swim shows before bringing Archer to FX).
This very much of-the-era song was written by Scott Sims and arranged and recorded by Dominik Hauser. This is what you should be humming when you’re sneaking around corners pretending to be a spy.
The Venture Bros. returned to television last night, and if you don’t watch it then you’re sincerely missing the best animated show on Adult Swim. This isn’t a tough match, but it’s heads above the rest, seriously. If you like comics, or old Hanna-Barbera cartoons, or David Bowie, or anything from pop culture ever, you would like The Venture Bros. The opening credits here make it seem like it’s a 1960’s action series, which is what it’s parodying in an often dead-on way. The animation is so impressive, especially with its recreation of those old, crappy visuals.
The song was adapted by J.G. Thirwell from his own earlier recording under the name Steroid Maximus, “Fighteous.” You can see it here:
Watch this show, you guys. You’d love it.
