I'm a sound artist who cultivates ideas for musicians, institutions, and brands - including scoring, sound and instrument design and consulting as well as the development of special projects such as software, books and installations.

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Feel welcome to email me at 

June 2020

Panel Discussion

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I've been invited to chat with Amari Newman (WOBC-FM) and SleepWalker Ent.'s ongoing series of experimental artist interviews.

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Tune into the Oberlin College Zoom broadcast to hear us chat about the agency, music production, inconsecutive reading, and surveillance capitalism.

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Meeting ID: 935 752 9748

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An excerpt of my interview is available at Bandcamp. All proceeds to bail funds for peaceful protesters around the US

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Youtube

Bandcamp

April 2020

Press​

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Read the favorable review of my commission for MakeSpace Storage. The commercial debuted on the FYI network to an excellent attention score of 96.02 (highest of the day).

 

This article apperas in Ad Age, the daily must-read for an influential audience of decision makers across the media marketing landscape.

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January 2020

Podcast Review

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One of my favorite publications listed a podcast that I wrote and produced as a favorite : )

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Written by Lila Thulin

Smithsonian Magazine

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“with out meaning”: Think D.C. is all about politics? Adriel Luis, curator of digital & emerging media at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, likes this podcast because it shines a floodlight on another dimension of the nation’s capital city, offering “a refreshing source of local perspectives” on art, culture and gentrification. “I also love that the podcast takes on experimental and unconventional formatting and sound design that reminds me of 'This American Life,' 'Mr. Robot,' and Parliament Funkadelic all at the same time,” he says. For a good starter episode, give its second installment a listen.

December 2020

Album Review​

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Our independently-released and Bandcamp-acclaimed "avant-rap" album 'African-American Psycho' was recently included in Warp Record's HQ recommendations for early 2020! I grew up admiring the VANS Warp Tour so this is extra special.

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Click to stream

November 2019

Album Review

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Written by Phillipe Roberts for ThrdCoast

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A genre-less expanse of frayed ideas, Love High Speed is a series of sonic detours taken with giddy abandon. Conducted by Washington D.C.-based artist Tony Kill, the EP presents seven smeared tracks that play right into the enigmatic presentation of their creator, offering little to no clues as to who, or what, we’re listening to beyond fragmented voicemails, clipped field recordings, and twisted singing that phases in and out of audibility. Let the constant distortion wash over you for the first listen, however, and you find yourself in a rich sonic world that makes a virtue out of misdirection. It keeps ambitions high even as the fidelity crawls deeper and deeper underground.

 

In contrast to the rest of Love High Speed, opener “Dolin Blanc” whistles its way in and keeps things smooth, much like the sweet vermouth that serves as its namesake. A sensuous bassline rumbles under gently splashing drums before dislocating from the groove entirely, playing against ambient swirls of guitar as the scene dissolves away from the pleasant morning reverie. Suddenly, a pen scratches out a signature, and a desk attendant asks if you need help with your bags. You’re fully checked-in to his surreal hotel now, and Tony Kill is free to really let loose for some twisted fun. Because for all of the sweetness and order of “Dolin Blanc,” it’s the rough-hewn weirdness of the rest of the EP that allows Tony Kill to really shine, unhinged from the expectation of providing anything for you to comfortably grip onto.

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With the bouncing bass from “Dolin Blanc” still present as a holdover, Tony Kill begins his descent on “Heaven Sent,” charging through church organ swells with a chorus of Tonys proclaiming “You’re Heaven Sent” ad nauseum. Other indistinguishable vocals pour in, crying out with a kind of impassioned religious ecstasy that crashes over the main vocal in waves–a brilliant effect that sounds like watching someone have a mental breakdown in the middle of Sunday service.

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Crafting these sharp moments of emotional tension is something that Tony Kill does remarkably well across the EP. Particularly so on “Drive,” where distorted shouts pile on top of a screeching guitar solo, which mellows out into a light, bluesy twang, before erupting again in chaos in a perfect mirror of the lyrics–“Intruder alert / Intruder alert.” But with all of this dissonance, Tony Kill isn’t afraid of a satisfying groove. Like the aforementioned “Dolin Blanc,” much of the EP ruminates on stretching simple ideas out into flavorful instrumentals. From the undeniably catchy krautrock pulse of “Gotta Turbo (Truck Stanley),” which almost sounds piped in from a Stereolab or Broken Social Scene rehearsal, to the industrial throb and burbling vocals of “I Am This Close,” it’s clear that Tony Kill knows exactly where to turn on the head-nodding charm.

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Love High Speed ends with the instrumentally slight and vocally dissociative “Anyone.” Tony unspools a yawning manifesto, “I don’t fear anyone,” just twice over a creeping groove that hardly shuffles past the one minute mark. Thought it follows the disorienting, dubbed-out odyssey that is “Suddenly Unknow Everything,” “Anyone” feels like the perfect place to conclude his latest adventure–fearless and unphased, laughing in the face of any potential detractors before they even get a chance to respond. Love High Speed keeps you on your toes–and is well worth the disorientation–but don’t expect any congratulations from Tony for making it through to the other side. He’s above it all, distinctly unimpressed that you’re finally on his level.

March 2019

Experimental Play/Performance Art

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"The Oblivion of Pleasure and Wine"

Oberlin College, OH

Audio (22min.)

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Interview

 

Written by Nazuk Kochar

FADER Magazine

Washington, D.C. producer / sound designer Tony Cruise (formerly known as Tony Kill) makes music for you to get lost in, however you feel fit. Late in 2017, he shared a gorgeous, simultaneously sparse and full EP called Thought Crimes, a largely collaborative effort I’ve previously described as “groovily ambient.” A wild slow-bounce bootleg later, he shared May’s African-American Psycho, a collaborative tape with D.C. rapper SIR E.U, 10 abrupt, sometimes-muddled, and beautifully thrash-y genre-swirling tracks. He also composes music for visual campaigns by the likes of Teyana Taylor to MissGuided.

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What do you imagine people doing while listening to this mix?

 

Ideally, hydrating on a one-way flight. That’s a layered question though since the listening platform kind of sets its own code of conduct nowadays.

Is there a track in particular that stands out? Why?

“Tops and Bottoms.” radio.mrtwinsister.com is now streaming [their new project] Salt.

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What music or artists do you turn to for inspiration when you're working on projects of your own?

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I've recently been fascinated with authors and designers on the margins or outskirts of the Sound medium. Professor Clyde R. Taylor as recommended by Grant Strudwick. Lectures by Dr. Marimba Ani as recommended by Mason Olunade. Works by artist Mandy Harris Williams whose positive imagism extends beyond dialogues on representation to seriously different visions of society. Georgina Johnson whose Laundry Service campaigns from a year and two ago I love. Wekafore. Crystalline jackets from Brashy Studios. Henri Alexander Levy. Teenage Jesus and the Jerks... Imperfect artists divorcing violent narratives from artistic elegance.

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I know you work as an engineer at NASA. Does your work or interests in that realm inform your music? If yes, how so?

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I think my role there got sensationalized in print once or twice and then folks started to run with it so I plead the fifth. I will say that the design of its facilities would naturally inform one's sensibilities of proportion and permanence. Ideally this mix is as pleasantly cacophonous and dimly lit as the deafening corridors one would expect to traverse at a facility processing space flight hardware.

You’ve got your next solo EP Replica® coming out soon. What can you tell us about it? How did it come about?

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Replica® will be independently released and available November 15th. It is imperfect cinema for the ears. Art direction is driven by Et Cetera, who assists in equipping projects with the necessary resistive capacity and beauty to repel cultural absorption and to dupe the gimmickry of mass communications.

Tracklist:

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Summer 2017​

Commercial​

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Kylie Jenner 16mm Film

Directed by Sasha Samsonova

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Commercial​

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Mariama Diallo

MissGuided P+L Campaign

Audio (1min.)

Commercial​

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Kylie x Quay

Directed by Sasha Samsonova

Audio (2min)

 

Commercial​

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Kendall & Kylie Drop II

Directed by Sasha Samsonova

Audio (3min.)

Commercial​

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Pac Sun Denim

Directed by Sasha Samsonova

Audio (3min.)

Commercial​

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Kendall & Kylie Drop I

Directed by Sasha Samsonova

Audio (3min.)

Commercial​

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Teyana Taylor Fade 2 Fitness

Directed by Sasha Samsonova

Audio (3min.)