Rob Dougan

Rob Dougan (/rɒb ˈduːɡən/; born 1969) is an Australian composer, known for his genre-blending music. Mixing elements of orchestral music, trip hop, and bluesy vocals, his work is tangentially relatable to electronic music. He is known primarily for his breakthrough 1995 single "Clubbed to Death (Kurayamino Variation)", further popularised by 1999's The Matrix soundtrack. "Clubbed to Death" was re-released on his debut album Furious Angels in 2002, seven years after its initial release.

Early life and education

Dougan was born in Sydney, Australia in 1969, he attended Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview, and then the National Institute of Dramatic Art, where he studied acting. In 1990, he traveled to London, and began to work in music with his friend Rollo, both of whom had worked together and released material in Australia.

Career

From 1991 to 1995, Dougan was a producer and remix artist. In 1994, his remixes started charting in the United Kingdom. He also released his first single, "Hard Times".

Ordinary Time

Ordinary Time refers to two periods of time in the Christian liturgical calendar, particularly the calendar of the ordinary form of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, although some other churches of Western Christianity also use the term. In Latin, the name of this time is Tempus per annum translated as time during the year.

Since 1970 in the ordinary form of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, Ordinary Time comprises two periods: one beginning on the day after the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (the end of the Christmas season) and ending on the day before Ash Wednesday, the other beginning on the Monday after Pentecost, the conclusion of the Easter season, and continuing until the Saturday before the First Sunday of Advent. These periods of time combined are the longest time in the liturgical year.

The weeks of Ordinary Time are numbered. Several Sundays bear the name of feasts or solemnities celebrated on those days, including Trinity Sunday and the Feast of Christ the King.

Furious Angels

Furious Angels is the debut album by Rob Dougan, released in June 2002 in the United Kingdom and in July 2003 in the United States and Europe. It was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package.

Release

Furious Angels was originally released as a single-disc album (14 tracks for its world edition, 15 for its home UK edition) dominated by vocal tracks. It was then rereleased as a two-disc album, disc one featuring all 15 songs and disc two featuring 10 instrumental versions of the vocal songs from the first disc, as well as two music videos; there's also been a special-edition set adding a booklet of lyrics and photographs. The album was written, produced and mainly financed by Rob Dougan himself, rather than a studio, with funds generally raised through the licensing of tracks from the album to film and television.

Songs like "Born Yesterday", "There's Only Me" and "Clubbed to Death" were called the highlights of the album.

A 2003 article in The Guardian noted:

The Matrix

The Matrix is a 1999 American–Australian neo-noir science fiction action film written and directed by The Wachowski Brothers, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano. It depicts a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called "the Matrix", created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Computer programmer "Neo" learns this truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, which involves other people who have been freed from the "dream world".

The Matrix is known for popularizing a visual effect known as "bullet time", in which the heightened perception of certain characters is represented by allowing the action within a shot to progress in slow-motion while the camera's viewpoint appears to move through the scene at normal speed. The film is an example of the cyberpunk science fiction genre. It contains numerous references to philosophical and religious ideas, and prominently pays homage to works such as Plato's Allegory of the Cave,Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation and Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Over the years, numerous critics have pointed out the many similarities between the highly successful Matrix series and the earlier box office bomb but cult classic Dark City, some going on to cite plagiarism. The Wachowskis' approach to action scenes drew upon their admiration for Japanese animation and martial arts films, and the film's use of fight choreographers and wire fu techniques from Hong Kong action cinema was influential upon subsequent Hollywood action film productions.

James Shearman

James Shearman Is an English conductor, orchestrator and composer. He is recognised as a film score conductor and orchestrator who has contributed to over 70 film scores, from the critically acclaimed Shakespeare in Love (1998) Gosford Park (2001), Mansfield Park (1999) and The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) to blockbusters such as Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Thor (both 2011), Pixar's Brave (2012), Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) and Disney's Cinderella (2015). He has collaborated with many Academy Award for Best Original Score winning and/or nominated composers including Patrick Doyle, Elliot Goldenthal, Mark Isham, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, John Powell (film composer), Howard Shore and Hans Zimmer.

He is also a songwriter and producer of notable U.S platinum and gold selling classical crossover songs "Dream a Dream" (2000) and "Amici Forever" (2004). Shearman regularly conducts many leading orchestras, most notably the London Symphony Orchestra, The Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Session Orchestra, the Hollywood Studio Symphony, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. As a Conductor he is increasingly active in the concert hall.