Mutato Muzika is an American music production company established and owned by Devo co-founder and lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh in 1989. The name is a portmanteau of the words mutant and potato, a reference to Mothersbaugh's longstanding fascination with mutants and mutation, and to Devo fans, whom the band dubbed "spuds," early on.
While Devo members Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale and Bob Mothersbaugh, with drummer Josh Freese, often meet, rehearse and confer in its West Hollywood, California studio facilities, Mutato Muzika is a full-service music production company. Until his death in 2014, Bob Casale served as a producer/engineer there.
Mutato Muzika has produced music for many films, including Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, 13, Lords of Dogtown, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Catfish. Television music includes Rugrats, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, Pee-wee's Playhouse, Big Love, Eureka, Shameless, Enlightened and Regular Show. Mutato Muzika-produced video game scores include Crash Bandicoot and The Sims. Mutato Muzika also provides music for commercials, including spots for Apple's PC vs. Mac, Martini & Rossi's George Clooney/Giorgio, Apartments.com, and others.
Architecture
The company is housed in a round bright green building at 8760 West Sunset Boulevard. Previously known as "The Beauty Pavilion", it was built in 1967 for plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Alan Franklyn, who wanted the roof to have skylights in order to illuminate the operating room in the center of the structure. The building was designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, whose work Franklyn had known about for years. Although no architect's name is listed on the building permit, the Oscar Niemeyer Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil contains a number of his sketches for the two-story clinic, known as the “Centro de Beleza”. In 1964, Niemeyer had been a Communist activist, which caused him to be banned from Brazil; he was also denied entrance to the U.S. in the same year. Working from Paris through California architects by mail, he completed two projects - a house for Anne and Joseph Strick in Santa Monica, and the Beauty Pavillion for Dr. Franklyn.
The building was painted green after Mothersbaugh took ownership of it.
Personnel
Mark Mothersbaugh – composer, songwriter, vocalist, founder
John Enroth – associate composer
Albert Fox – associate composer
Siena Goldman – art assistant
Seth Horan – lead audio engineer
Arthur Sadler – office coordinator
Tiffany Siripat – studio manager
Productions
Films
Mutato Muzika has received credit for recordings in the following films:
Television
Mutato Muzika has received credit for recordings in the following television programs:
Video games
Interstate '82 - Josh Mancell
The Sims 2 - Mark Mothersbaugh
Crash Bandicoot - Josh Mancell
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - Josh Mancell
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped - Josh Mancell
Crash Team Racing - Josh Mancell
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy - Josh Mancell
Jak II - Josh Mancell
Jak 3 - Josh Mancell
Boom Blox - Mark Mothersbaugh, Albert Fox, John Enroth and Silas Hite
MySims
MySims Kingdom
MySims Racing
MySims Agents
The Lego Movie Videogame - Mark Mothersbaugh