Cliff Martinez

Cliff Robert Martinez (born February 5, 1954) is an American musician and composer. Early in his career, Martinez was known as a drummer notably with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. Since the 1990s, he has worked primarily as a film score composer, writing music for Spring Breakers, The Foreigner (2017), and multiple films by Steven Soderbergh, Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), Solaris (2002), Contagion (2011) and Traffic (2000)

Early life Martinez was born in the Bronx, New York City. His grandfather migrated from a small village in Spain to the United States. Raised in Columbus, Ohio, his first job composing was for the popular television show Pee Wee's Playhouse. At the time, however, he was more interested in rock bands, and played drums in a variety of them, mostly in a temporary capacity.

Red Hot Chili Peppers (1983–1986) After several years drumming for such acts as Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, The Dickies, Lydia Lunch and The Weirdos, in late 1983, Martinez and Jack Sherman were drafted in to join the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the recording of their eponymous first album after Jack Irons and Hillel Slovak left the band to concentrate on their other project at the time, What Is This?. Martinez also played on the recording of the band's second album Freaky Styley (1985) and its subsequent tour.

In 2012 Martinez was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Martinez performed with the band for the first time in 26 years when he joined them along with former drummer Jack Irons on their song, "Give It Away" during the ceremony.

Film composing

In the mid 1980's, Martinez' interests shifted and he began to focus his attention toward film scoring. A tape Martinez had put together using new technologies made its rounds, leading him to score an episode of Pee-Wee's Playhouse. The same recording also ended up in Steven Soderbergh's hands and Martinez was hired to score the famed director's first theatrical release, 1989's Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Martinez's longstanding relationship with Soderbergh has continued through the years and they have worked together on ten theatrical releases including Kafka (1991), The Limey (1999), Traffic (2000), Solaris (2002) and 2011's Contagion, as well the Cinemax series The Knick (2014–2015).

His nontraditional scores tend towards being stark and sparse, utilizing a modern tonal palette to paint the backdrop for films that are often dark, psychological stories like Pump Up the Volume (1990), The Limey, Wonderland (2003), Wicker Park (2004) and Drive (2011). Martinez has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (Steven Soderbergh's Traffic), a César Award for Best Original Music (Xavier Giannoli's In the Beginning (2009)), and a Broadcast Film Critics Award (Drive). He earned a Robert Award for Best Score for his work on Only God Forgives (2013).

Martinez's use of audio manipulations, particularly for percussive sounds, has been evolving through the years and is evident by the hammered dulcimer of Kafka, the gray-areas between sound design and score for Traffic, the steel drums and textures of Solaris, what Martinez called "rhythmi-tizing pitched, ambient textures" of Narc (2002), and "using percussion performances to trigger and shape the rhythmic and tonal characteristics of those ambient textures," as he described his score for 2011's The Lincoln Lawyer.

Martinez served as a juror for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and served on the International Feature nominating committee for the 27th Independent Spirit Awards in February that same year. Martinez's recent films include Robert Redford's The Company You Keep (2012), Nicholas Jarecki's Arbitrage (2012), Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers (2012) (co-composed with Skrillex), and Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon (2016).

Video game composing Martinez composed the main menu music titled "Galaxy Theme" for Spore in 2008. In 2014, Martinez also composed the title score for Far Cry 4.

Advertising In 2013, Martinez scored the "Fly Beyond" Grey Goose vodka commercial. Martinez also composed two songs, "Vibe" and "Kotopulse", for the 2014 Lincoln Motor Company advertising campaign featuring Matthew McConaughey.

Discography The Weirdos Weird World (compilation)

Lydia Lunch 13.13 (1982) Stinkfist (1986)

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band Ice Cream for Crow (1982)

Red Hot Chili Peppers The Red Hot Chili Peppers (1984) Freaky Styley (1985) The Abbey Road E.P. – (1988) What Hits!? – (1992) Out in L.A. – (1994) Under the Covers: Essential Red Hot Chili Peppers – (1998)

The Dickies Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) The Second Coming (1989) Locked N' Loaded Live in London (1991) Idjit Savant (1994)

As composer Film Year Title Director Studio(s) Notes 1989 Sex, Lies, and Videotape Steven Soderbergh Miramax Films 1990 Pump Up the Volume Allan Moyle New Line Cinema 1991 Kafka Steven Soderbergh Miramax Films 1992 Black Magic Daniel Taplitz 1993 King of the HillSteven SoderberghGramercy Pictures 1995 The Underneath 1996 Gray's Anatomy Schizopolis Uncredited 1998 Wicked Michael Steinberg 1999 The LimeySteven Soderbergh Artisan Entertainment 2000 Traffic USA Films 2002 Narc Joe Carnahan Paramount PicturesLionsgate Solaris Steven Soderbergh 20th Century Fox 2003 Wonderland James Cox Lionsgate 2004 Wicker Park Paul McGuigan Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 2005 Havoc Barbara Kopple New Line Cinema 2006 First Snow Mark Fergus Freestyle Releasing 2008 Stiletto Nick Vallelonga First Look International Vice Raul Inglis 2009 Espion(s) Nicolas Saada Severe Clear Kristian Fraga Documentary In the Beginning Xavier Giannoli EuropaCorp 2011 The Lincoln Lawyer Brad Furman Lionsgate Drive Nicolas Winding Refn FilmDistrict Contagion Steven Soderbergh Warner Bros. PicturesAdditional music by Mac Quayle & Gregory Tripi2012 Arbitrage Nicholas Jarecki Lionsgate The Company You Keep Robert Redford Sony Pictures Classics2013 Spring Breakers Harmony Korine A24 Composed with SkrillexAdditional music by Mac Quayle & Gregory Tripi Golem Patrick McCueTobias Wiesner Short film Only God Forgives Nicolas Winding Refn RADiUS-TWC 2014 Mea Culpa Fred Cavayé Gaumont My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn Liv Corfixen Documentary The Normal Heart Ryan Murphy 20th Century Fox Television Television film2016 The Neon Demon Nicolas Winding Refn GaumontAdditional music by Peter G. Adams & Gregory Tripi War Dogs Todd Phillips Warner Bros. Pictures 2017 The Foreigner Martin CampbellSTX EntertainmentAdditional music by Peter G. Adams, Thor Lawae & Gregory Tripi 2018 Den of ThievesChristian Gudegast Game Night John Francis DaleyJonathan Goldstein Warner Bros. PicturesNew Line Cinema Additional music by Peter G. Adams & Thor Lawae Hotel Artemis Drew Pearce Global Road Entertainment Additional music by Thor Lawae & Gregory Tripi 2022 Kimi Steven Soderbergh Warner Bros. PicturesNew Line Cinema

Television Year Title Notes 2014–2017 The Knick 2019 Too Old to Die Youngadditional music by Peter G. Adams & Thor Lawae2020–2022 The Wilds 2022 Copenhagen Cowboy

Video games Year Title Developer(s) Publisher(s) Notes 2008 Spore Maxis Electronic Arts Galaxy Main Theme and other unspecified compositionsComposed with Brian Eno 2014 Far Cry 4 Ubisoft Montreal Ubisoft Additional music and arrangements by Peter G. Adams, Gregory Tripi, Mac Quayle and Jeff Rona