User:Themonc/sandbox/Justin Nicholls Composer

Justin Nicholls Composer Justin Nicholls is a prolific and pioneering composer, best known for his distinctive yet eclectic documentary film scores. He has composed music for some of the most popular, groundbreaking and influential TV series over a 27 year career.

“Justin Nicholls is an extraordinary composer. I’ve worked with him consistently over the past 16 years on a range of award winning Anglo-American documentaries. I work with Justin because he consistently surprises me – the width of his range, his attentiveness to emotion and rhythm and his ability to relate sound to image. My films would be immeasurably poorer without his music.” Patrick Forbes - BAFTA Winning Director/Producer - Oxford Film & TV

“Working with Justin is a joy. He comes to the production with incomparable energy, passion and flair. From the first discussions in pre-production right through to hismeticulous attention to detail before the final mix, his work ethic is exceptional. His music is brilliantly original and varied, but always of the highest quality.” David Brindley – Emmy-winning Director & Commissioning Editor - Channel 4 TV

"I have followed and admired Mr. Nicholl’s work over many years as he was one of the first composers to create outstanding music for factual entertainment programming. He has been at the forefront of creating music for TV that is finely tuned to the visuals, and adds a whole extra layer to the viewer experience which so much music for TV does not." Fiona Pitcher - BAFTA & EMMY-winning producer

Recent projects include the critically acclaimed “Inside British Vogue” for BBC2 (2016) “24 Hours In Police Custody” (20-part series) for Channel 4 (2015) the BAFTA-Winning ‘One Born Every Minute’ now in it’s 8th year, The BAFTA-Nominated Channel 4 cop series ‘The Force’ (2010) and BAFTA-winning ‘The National Trust’ series for BBC2 (2003). Other critically acclaimed and award winning series include ‘Russian Godfathers’, winner of the prestigious Grierson award in 2008 and the children’s animation series, ‘Numberjacks’ which won the Royal Television Society award in both 2007 & 2008 and is aired in over 42 countries and translated into multiple languages.

Much of this work airs to a worldwide audience on a weekly basis. In 2015 he was commissioned to invent a brand new the theme tune with variations for the iconic BBC World Service current affairs programme, “Newshour”. This airs to a Worldwide audience twice daily, including 8 million listeners in the U.S.A.

Under his pseudonym, ‘Monc’, he was pioneering as one of the first ever recording artists to release music autonomously online. He raised $100,000 from private investors and released his albums through his own website free from ‘corporate interference’.

“…what he is doing is already enough to scare the living daylights out of the established recording industry” - Andrew Gumbel,The Independent.

“Really amazing…Monc is as much about cyberspace as it is about CD’s” - Mike Morrison, KCRW radio Los Angeles.

He had two top ten albums in the independent charts across the U.S. and his songs can be heard in such movies as Chris Nolan’s ‘Memento’ and have been used across many U.S TV network shows.

His score work has been described as “Gripping” - The Guardian, “Terrific…portentous…” - The Daily Telegraph and “Quirky…original” - Radio Times.

His albums have been described as “a technically accomplished blend of trip-hop, jazz and glam rock” - Andrew Gumbel,The Independent.

“Monc, bullhorn symbolically mounted at his side, marks a kind of evolution. Monc’s music teases the boundary between driving rhythms and hypnotic ambience” - Luis Reyes, LA Weekly.

“A slice of magic” - Noho Los Angeles,

“A rare treat to be discovered” Bite Me magazine.

He has always sought to work with musicians from across many cultures, as well as being articulate in pop/rock, jazz and classical.

Justin composes, arranges, performs and produces all of his own work and is a multi-instrumentalist. His one-of-a-kind studio contains many hand-built instruments, some of which he has designed himself for specific projects. He is equally at home recording with a full orchestra and choir as he is with a modified bed frame and spanner(!) Justin was classically trained in guitar, piano and composition outside of the establishment. He grew up in a band which he formed at 13, recording and performing across the UK. He put together his own studio in his London flat in 1989 and received his first commission for Channel 4 a year later.

He has lived and worked in London and Los Angeles and currently resides in South Wales, UK.