Think of a familiar film, any film – now on the spot, imagine it with a new soundtrack. Leave no original dialogue or Foley (post-production sound) in, just turn that movie into a visual art piece accompanied by experimental soundscapes.

This transformative process is the magic behind Unknown Movie Night, a recurring series of live, improvised film-scoring events where the selected film is unknown to both the audience and band until it begins. All types of films have undergone this metamorphosis – Jurassic Park, Edward Scissorhands, and Wall-E are a few entries displaying the creative range covered. The rotating cast of guest musicians and contributors also makes each new event unique.

Ahead of their next event in Los Angeles slated for autumn, we spoke to Peter King, founder of AKP Recordings and leader of the Arthur King ensemble, and KamranV, producer of the event recordings, who walked us through everything about the event, including its origin and philosophies behind it.

Tell us about what inspired the creation of Unknown Movie Night.

Peter: The idea of UMN, basically live-scoring a film sight-unseen, was one of various experiments involving collective total improvisation that I was embarking on in the mid to late 2010s with Arthur King. We were also doing group recording experiments in the studio, and others on location involving field recordings (which evolved into the Changing Landscapes series).

Tell us more about the Arthur King ensemble. How does its rotating nature complement the UMN shows?

Peter: The rotating nature of Arthur King has become central to the group’s practice, but it actually began with UMN. We would pretty much always invite a new guest, a player some of us hadn’t played with or even met before, and I found that this variable, this one new entity, kept everyone on their toes, so to speak. All the players were sure to be listening extra carefully and making space for the newcomer. It was a wonderful discovery. Today, the majority of any given UMN ensemble consists of people who have never met or played together, and the resulting active listening tends to lead to very considerate and deep collective expressions.

How are the musicians and collaborators chosen for UMN?

Peter: First, I see if my long-time collaborator David (Ralicke) is available for the date… He has played in all but one of these with me. Then we’ll put our heads together, often with the help of the folks at AKP. There are so many incredible musicians in the LA area, so we’ve had the privilege to invite some stellar guests over the years. It’s also been interesting to bring players in that might not normally make what people categorise as “experimental” music, but who we know is a skilled player and, again, good at listening in a group setting.

In what way is it challenging for the ensemble to score a film they didn’t know beforehand? Have some nights been easier than others? How so?

Peter: I’ve heard people remark about us as being “fearless” to take on something like this, but honestly, I’d be terrified if I had to play music that was precisely written and required exact execution in order to work. We have absolute freedom to play what we feel. I learned early on when exploring this kind of music making that it’s very important to allow room for uncomfortable moments, dissonance, clashing ideas or whatnot. It needs to potentially “not work” in order to be truly open. This is an experimental methodology, and so it holds a framework for fluidity of all types of creative expression.

Some nights have certainly felt harder for me than others – I remember one film in particular feeling like such a struggle, maybe it was the dialogue-heavy nature of it, but I felt like I couldn’t really dial in. And yet, when I listened to the recording, it became one of my favourites. It goes to show that the nature of a collective creative process such as this – which, by the way, also includes the audience – is that there are many different perspectives happening together. Each perspective is as valid as the other, and so I suppose there might always be people who love it and people who hate it. That might actually be a good litmus test for a successful experimental event!

What’s surprised you the most about how the musicians unfold their creative process during the film scoring?

KamranV: I suppose it’s not about what is surprising to me; it’s about the unique opportunity the format presents. Like filming an entire scene in one take, playing a full 90 minutes with only an unfamiliar film as your conductor demands heightened mental readiness. This reliance on fellow musicians, the audience, and the musicians’ own subconscious naturally brings out everyone’s best. As a producer of the recordings, I appreciate how UMN’s challenge consistently inspires excellence in everyone.

What was the intent behind creating a quadraphonic sound environment for UMN?

KamranV: “Immersive” is a popular term these days, but when I was running Moogfest, we introduced the concept of multi-hour quadraphonic performances, which we called Durationals. Inspired by inviting Suzanne Ciani to perform using her Buchla 200, a natively quadraphonic instrument, we noticed that immersive performances such as hers are more of performing with the audience instead of at them. This connection feeds both ways, bringing an inspired experience to both the audience and performers. The practice is carried through to UMN for similar reasons.

The quadraphonic sound makes a dynamic listening environment. Given the auditory limitations of cassettes, why are the events released in that format?

KamranV: You’d be surprised what is possible from a cassette. Our commercial cassettes also offer the quadraphonic experience using the QUARK encoding format, inspired by the 1970s QS format. Remarkably, this works on various media – vinyl, tape, radio, or even low-res MP3s – as long as it has at least stereo (two) tracks. Using the QUARK software, vintage receivers or any modern receiver/surround system made from 2001 to now, you can decode our cassettes into multi-speaker surround sound. It feels a little like magic. While you might sacrifice some high-end clarity and encounter tape hiss, fidelity isn't the main focus. It’s like looking through rose colored glasses – it’s not like you have better visual fidelity through rose colored glasses, but you’re looking at the world through a different perspective. With the cassettes we duplicate at the events, even if you don’t actually listen to the music, the object itself gives you a different perspective on the performance, and for some people, cassettes add a bit of nostalgia.

What are the plans for UMN going forward?

Peter: This event has been building in such an organic and lovely way, we certainly want to keep going with that, and we also want to take UMN out of LA – we’re setting sights on our musical community in NY, and the SF Bay Area to start. We’re also interested in trying out some different, more visually immersive exhibit spaces.

Visit the Unknown Movie Night website to stay tuned for the next event

Listen to the latest Unknown Movie Night recording (Five Summer Stories)

Follow AKP Recordings

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