Product Description
Adventurer Jeff Johnson strikes so deeply into the heart of Patagonia's wilderness that we come to feel at home there. Retracing the epic 1968 journey of his hero Yvon Chouinard, he gets shipwrecked off Easter Island, surfs the longest wave of his life and prepares himself for a rare summit of Cerro Corcovado. Jeff's life turns when he meets up with an older and wiser Chouinard, while he is in Patagonia to help save its wildlands.

ABOUT THE SOUNDTRACK

In 2007 I flew down to Patagonia with my friends James Mercer and Mason Jennings. My cousin, Chris Malloy (filmmaker), and I were excited to have both James and Mason work on music for the film, so bringing them down to see Patagonia with their own eyes seemed mandatory. We told them they didn't have to write or play any music while down there and that we just wanted them to check it out and meet everyone making the film. Then the first camp fire lit up and guitars and accordions came out. It was not long before Mason and James joined in and gave us a nice night under the stars listening to them trade off on Neil Young covers. In that moment, we didn't really care any more if they helped make music for our film because bringing them down there already felt worth it.

When we returned home, the experience was etched so beautifully in our minds but unfortunately it would be a long time before any music was needed. There was miles of footage to go through and a film to be made. We stayed in touch with James and Mason and gave them updates on the film, although we were lying when we said it wouldn't be long before we were done. The trip really had a profound effect on Mason and within the next few weeks he had written a couple of songs that really put our experiences to music. Then a few more months passed and we showed a preview of the film to Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse. James lived near Isaac in Portland and kept telling me that he thought he would be a good fit to work on some music for the film as well. Isaac liked what he saw and then handed me a pamphlet on saving the salmon in Alaska and said he would do it if we could help with this cause. Seemed fair enough.

When we finally had a rough edit of the movie, we headed to Portland to Isaac's studio to record the soundtrack for 180° South. Pulling up to an old two-story craftsman house, we could hear the peaceful sound of guitars feeding back through the windows. Chris and I stopped and stared up at the attic completely captivated by what we were listening to. It was not long before we were watching footage and going over ideas and it wasn't long after that before we heard Isaac's banjo, Tom's trumpet, Eric's squeezebox, Joe's drums and James's harmonies coming from every corner of that house. That did not stop for almost 2 weeks.

This record is inspired by the stars in Southern Chile and was brought to life via a cabin in Minnesota, a garage in Hawaii and an attic up in Portland.

180° South

01. Ugly Casanova - "Mountains Of Storms"
02. Ugly Casanova - "Here's To Now"
03. Mason Jennings - "Machines"
04. James Mercer - "Doug's Theme"
05. Ugly Casanova - "Wave Goodbye"
06. James Mercer - "Journey Through The Past"
07. Ugly Casanova - "Lonesome Blues"
08. Jack Johnson - "Spring Wind"
09. Ugly Casanova - "Hotcha Girls"
10. Ugly Casanova - "Corcovado"
11. Ugly Casanova - "Maybe We're Lost"
12. Love As Laughter - "Coconut Flakes"
13. Ugly Casanova - "The Geezer"
14. Ugly Casanova - "Lay Me Down"

CD:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003KUSUV8/?tag=imwan-20

LP:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003KUSUJK/?tag=imwan-20

Shins' Mercer, Modest Mouse's Brock Team Up for '180 South' Soundtrack

By Kevin O'Donnell
April 23, 2010
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news



In the upcoming documentary 180˚ South, director Chris Malloy captures a journey around Patagonia, Chile, with a travelogue inspired by environmentalist Yvon Chouinard. The filmmaker has also rounded up a few top artists to contribute songs to the soundtrack, including the Shins' James Mercer, Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock, Jack Johnson, Love as Laughter and singer-songwriter Mason Jennings. The soundtrack was compiled by Emmett Malloy (who recently helmed the White Stripes' Under Great White Northern Lights and Johnson's Jack Johnson en Concert docs) and will be released by Johnson's Brushfire imprint on June 22nd.

"It's real soundtrack stuff and [Brock and I] spent three days in his studio messing around with different instruments and having a lot of fun," Mercer told Rolling Stone last year. Some of their experiments involved a squeezebox and more exotic instruments from Brock's extensive collection. Mercer added that he held on to a few of the more proper songs he'd written and may use them for an upcoming Shins record. "There are actually more pop songs than there ought to be, so there's two of those that I think I'll keep. I realized that working with Malloy, he wanted more soundtrack-y sort of landscape stuff."

Mercer, Johnson and Jennings contribute a few songs apiece to the 14-track disc, and Brock dominates the rest. Interestingly, Brock recorded his contributions under the name Ugly Casanova, a folksy side-project that released an album on Sub Pop in 2002 and has remained largely inactive since then.

180˚ South is currently screening across the country for limited engagements, starting April 24th at the Newport Beach Film Festival, with more showings to be announced. More info is available at the film's official website.