LOS ANGELES - Little Beast (www.littlebeastmusic.com) is a new, full-service music house founded by Matt Drenik and Johanna Cranitch, who are joined by partner/executive producer Christina Tortorelli Carlo. The company was born out of long-standing friendships between the musicians who worked at competing music houses.
Photo (L-R): Cranitch, Tortorelli Carlo and Drenik
Little Beast provides full-service music for film, television and advertising, from original composition and production to artist partnerships and music supervision. Before forming Little Beast, Drenik worked as a creative director at South Music & Sound, where he was also partner. Cranitch was creative director at Barking Owl, while Tortorelli Carlo served as executive producer at Heavy Duty. Based in LA, Little Beast’s core team will collaborate with a deep network of touring musicians, composers and producers to ensure every project is paired with the right musical voice.
“As working artists, we felt there was room for a different point of view in the music-for-picture space,” notes Drenik. “We spent summers writing and playing music together, and at a certain point, the idea felt inevitable. If we were already creating together in so many aspects of life, why not build something of our own?”
The founding partners’ collective background spans global campaigns, studio productions and live performances. Cranitch is the co-composer (alongside Patrick Stump) on the feature documentary Billy Idol Should Be Dead, directed by musician and filmmaker Jonas Åkerlund. She also composed for the documentary chronicling the Sunset Marquis music scene, If These Walls Could Rock, directed by Tyler Measom and Craig A. Williams. Cranitch was also a touring member of The Cranberries and with Nina Persson of The Cardigans.
Drenik tours with Louise Post of Veruca Salt and worked as a contributing composer on the FX hit drama Sons of Anarchy. The music house has already developed custom music for Jeep and Highdive’s “Billy Goes to the River,” featuring a retro Big Mouth Billy Bass covering the Al Green classic “Take Me to the River.”