Since relocating to East Berlin from Toronto in 1999, Jason Charles Beck, better known the world over as Chilly Gonzales, has played more roles than Samuel L. Jackson. He has produced Feist, Peaches, and Jamie Lidell, out piano-dueled Andrew W.K., set the record for longest-solo concert at nearly 28 hours, and provided his rhythmic flow to the Berlin-based hip-hop crew Puppetmastaz. Gonzales is now fusing these many creative outlets for his first full-length feature film, Ivory Towers.
Ivory Towers — written, produced, scored and starring Gonzales — also stars fellow Canadian musicians Tiga and Peaches. Gonzales plays Hershall Graves, the inventor of “jazz chess”, who shares the love for performance artists Marsha (Peaches), with brother and fellow “jazz chess” champion Thaddeus (Tiga). Also appearing during the chess “action” scenes are “Canadian Chess Cyberchannel” journalists, comedy rocker Little Hamm and Gonzales’ longtime friend and creative partner, Feist.
For the shooting of the film, which was done on location in Toronto, Gonzales chose to build the scenes around his music rather than the other way around. But both Gonzales’ and director Adam Traynor (Puppermastaz) promise the film is not simply a long-form video of the upcoming soundtrack, but a “Rocky-inspired Tour de Force” allowing fans unfamiliar with Gonlazes’ musical exploits to still be moved by the story.
Ivory Towers will be hitting the festival circuit soon, with expectations of a theatrical release later this year. Let’s see how that goes! But we do know for certain that the film’s self-titled soundtrack will be released September 14th on Arts & Crafts records. Produced by Boys Noize, the soundtrack is predominantly instrumental “piano electronic”.
Check out the music video for the track for the totally hilarious, totally danceable, “I Am Europe” below, which also serves as the unofficial trailer for the release.
