John Piscitello and Aalok Mehta created the breathtaking soundtrack for DesiQuest, an actual play Dungeons & Dragons show based on the mythology of the Indian subcontinent.

Their score blends Indian and Western genres with orchestra, electronica, and virtuoso soloists on sitar, santoor, bansuri flute, Carnatic violin, and world percussion.

Featuring thunderous battle cues, meditative drone soundscapes, and dreamlike realms inspired by classical Indian Ragas, John & Aalok's score offers a compelling cinematic world music  experience.

DesiQuest (Original Score)

Becoming Bond

John's Reel

Too Funny To Fail

Additional music for The Short Game, a Netflix Original Documentary. Watch it here: http://goo.gl/AhM0j2

The Short Game - This is Life

Additional music for The Short Game. Co-written with lead singer.

The Short Game - I Don't Break (pop, metal, vocals)

Sayaw, the Filipino term for “dance,” features interviews with master of Philippine dance choreographer Jay Loyola and dancers from his renowned Jay Loyola Dance Company in San Francisco.  It delves deeper into personal adventure of Loyola—from moving to the United States equipped only with his passion for dance, to the dream of elevating the Philippine dance to a higher level.

Sayaw - Pag-alina (orchestral, world, epic)

A classic Hollywood orchestral score for romantic comedy series "Sexpectations" (Tubi).

Worst Cake Ever EVER

In a World Turned Upside Down

Throw Down Thy Gauntlet!

Silly Me (vocal) (NSFW)

Silly Me (instrumental)

Show Me What You Want

Anatomy Research

A Dashing & Daring Rescue

Never Rains In LA

A Far And Wide Overture

DesiQuest Credits

Jungle Battle

The Lore Of Vehaar

Sitara's Theme

The Tea Kettle

Murkha's Theme

Laddoo Auntie

Mountain Battle

Ash's Theme

DesiQuest Titles

DesiQuest Theme

The Return

I Could Smell Her

This is a light musical comedy track (and NSFW!) 

More Like Shrek - (orchestral, vocals, musical comedy)

22 string players rehearsed and recorded this piece in 6 minutes. We did three takes, and I didn't give any comments or notes. 

The orchestra plays "con sordino" (with mutes), a similar color to Vaughn Williams' "The Lark Ascending". The parts were marked with four sections: "Tender", "Prayerful", "Very Emotional", and "Hollow". 

Here Lies Daniel

Casting Office

An ambling track for a young, happy go lucky man. A good deal of thought was given to which instrument play the opening theme, which pops up in the film at carefree times in George Lazenby's life. 

The opening is a "singing" melody, fit for wind instruments. Our available choices came down clarinet and flute (trombone, sax and accordion were not contenders). At first blush, flute seems overly soft for George's rugged character, but it had advantages. In this melody's range, the flute sounds very bucolic, which emphasized George's rural roots. Also this lower midrange gives us something beautiful without the bird-like fluttery of the flute's high range. 

The clarinet by contrast on these phrases has more cleverness and delight. That worked against the open-heartedness and youthful naiveté that George speaks of in the story.

My Bike's Broken Down

This early scene features George Lazenby's boyhood mischief bringing dead snakes and bats to school. The introduction's clarinet riffs will be heard much later in the film (and with much larger orchestration), when George's circumstances escalate into doing his own stunt work in the big-budget filming of OHMSS. 

As this scene develops, the cue is making space for the punchlines in George's story, and rapidly escalates into chaos. At it's height, an Eb clarinet plays wildly at the top of its range. This smaller clarinet has a toy-like personality (think of its famous appearance in the march in Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker), which fits with the silly mischief and the overtly-low-tech practical effects of the scene's flying bats.

Snakes And Bats

This throwback surf guitar cue scores Lazenby's tale of "borrowing" his uncle's car as a young boy. George must have been around 9 at the time, which means he drove that car in the late '40s, but surf music didn't hit until the early '60s. No matter. Mixing up time periods just makes the tall tale stand even taller, and swing, while certainly playful and charming, lacks the mischief and wit of surf's verby guitars. 

And surf can burst with explosive fun, as we do with the giant tenor sax solo that completes the scene.

A Wild Larrikin

Throw The White Flag

This cue covers Robert Smigel reminiscing at how much he loved the original SNL cast and show of the late 70s. And nothing to me feels more sentimental about late 70s New York than Billy Joel songs of that era. And while the accordion playing a French waltz is certainly a nostalgic setup, the key instrument here for me is the electric bass. Something about songs of that era, the electric bass is very prominent and when you hear it clearly in a simple arrangement like this it really brings you there. 

Also listen for the little chattering interjections on rimshot and claves  once the drums come in. In this part of the scene, Robert is talking about how he went to college to be a dentist. It can be surprising what inspires musical ideas for a scene...if I could have recorded that little phrase on a toy set of teeth, I would have!

Such An SNL Nerd

This bossa nova cue needed a rewrite, as the original version was a bit too grooving and in the pocket. This scene is about Carell and Colbert auditioning for the show, at a time when each of them was under pressure to find work. The original syncopated, laid-back pizz strings groove felt good but lacked tension, so it didn't play to picture in the way the director had conceived the scene.

This was addressed by putting quick 16th notes on strong beats instead of  weak beats. Fast notes on strong beats make for a less natural rhythm to play, as string players have to add extra physical force to create accent on the strong beats. This makes the hand less lively and it becomes more difficult to follow up with quick 16th notes.  By rewriting the string parts this way, the groove had more tension, transforming the cue into the right atmosphere for the scene.

Steve And Stephen

This cue from early in the film plays in the scenes of Dana's standup gigs when he was barely out of high school. I wrote this like how a sitcom's theme song might have sounded in that era - innocent, sunny and fun. Note there is a musical pause in this cue, which gives space for a surprising reveal in the background a photo of Dana at one of his first standup gigs.

Bits On A Napkin

This energetic cue underscores how the "badass nerd pirates" developing the how were inspired by Monty Python. It's something of a pirate jig with strings lending a bit of classical British atmosphere. 

The melody is on cello (a tremendous instrument for all pirates), and doubled by banjo, to add an American "Yank" touch. 

The B section really sings out with the accordion joining the melody. I wrote this to sound like the folk songs people sing at the pub when it's late and they hold their beer mugs are in the air.

Also this is the last moment in the film that is 100% optimistic, when the show was still a dream coming to life and they hadn't filmed anything yet. The film's underlying tension kicks in in the very next scene.

Fearless Idiots

This overtly comic cue plays in the film during the development of Grandma the Clown, a rather avant-garde and dark sketch built on long, awkward (and for me, brutal) silences. This sequence in the film intercuts behind-the-scenes discussion with long clips of the sketch. Since the original Grandma the Clown had no music, adding this cue to the scene creates a new context around the comedy. We're no longer responding to the sketch itself, but rather the reaction among the writers, executives, and audience who saw it.

While the introduction is a slow, oom-pah, the melody's opening phrase is written like a sad lament. Perhaps that was me responding to the sheer "staring into the abyss" I feel watching Grandma the Clown. But the responding phrase balances that with light and fast finger-work. That must have come from seeing how industry comedy writers delighted in the bit.

The instrumentation of the melody follows the A-B-A structure of the cue. Mandolin plays the A; oboe and flute share the B; and all three play together at the return to the A. Combining instruments as we go along can be one way of escalating the stakes as a scene develops.

Grandma The Clown

At the height of his notoriety, George Lazenby partied every night, taking helicopters from the OHMSS set into town for revelry. This cue starts lively and soon nearly careens out of control, transitioning to hazy euphoria which gives way to a spinning descent when George wakes up from a night of partying to realize the James Bond life may not be for him. 

A fast tempo and chromatic scales create a "going off the rails" sound in the first half of the cue. In the back half, aleatoric procedures and descending piano arpeggios create a floating-yet-falling feeling. I think of it as a hot air balloon filled with pot smoke that's deflating and drifting down into an abyss.

Helicopters At Night

John Piscitello is a Bronx-born composer whose music spans genres, honed through years of performing in clubs, concert halls, and theaters.

His latest work includes the romantic comedy series “Sexpectations”, streaming on Tubi, featuring a magnificent symphonic orchestra in the style of classic Hollywood films. He also collaborated with Aalok Mehta to create the hybrid east-west score for “DesiQuest”, an actual-play Dungeon & Dragons show featuring an all South Asian cast. 

His comedy work includes “Too Funny To Fail: The Life and Death of the Dana Carvey Show” (on Hulu), in which Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert, Dana, and others recount the spectacular failure of his brilliant ABC network sketch show in the 90s. John’s “rebels with sweaters” score drives the hysterical battle between comedy writers vs. their corporate overlords.

John’s stylish, breezy score for “Becoming Bond” (also on Hulu) brightens George Lazenby’s improbable tale of landing the role of James Bond, embellished by comedy re-enactments featuring Jeff Garlin, Jake Johnson, Jane Seymour and more.

John created a “heart-pounding” (The Playlist) electronic score for the acclaimed 2019 film “Mike Wallace Is Here” (also Hulu!). The LA Times called it “crackerjack documentary” and The Wrap “a masterful, cinematic biography”.

John’s recent comedy work for Eko’s interactive platform include the genre comedy series “Wizard School Dropout”, about a female wizard (Khosha Patel) just trying to survive among the “humdrums” in Echo Park, and the cringe-comedy “That Moment When” with Milana Vayntrub.

John Piscitello

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