Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein

Kyle Dixon is an American composer and producer, known for being one-fourth of Austin, Texas-based synth outfit S U R V I V E and composer of the score for Netflix’s widely acclaimed Stranger Things series. Dixon met Michael Stein during his teens and the two bonded over the definitive sci-fi and horror film soundtracks of the ’80s, the era they grew up in. The pair went on to co-found the synth-laden electronic outfit S U R V I V E in 2009, along with fellow musicians Mark Donica and Adam Jones. The band released its debut EP, LLR002, in 2010 before its eponymous full-length arrived in 2012. S U R V I V E went on to release the MF064 EP via Monofonus Press in 2014 and the RR7349 album in 2016. Dixon (along with Stein) composed the score for the hugely successful sci-fi/adventure series Stranger Things in 2016. Both musicians were recruited for the job after the show’s creators began to use some of S U R V I V E’s tracks as temp music for show pre-production. The score was commended for its innovative use of electronics and homage to the sound of artists such as John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream, and was released in two separate volumes later that year. The Stranger Things title theme went on to earn both Dixon and Stein the 2017 Emmy for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music. They returned to deliver the score for the show’s second season, which saw release in the fall of that year. Also in 2017, Dixon and the rest of S U R V I V E contributed music to a multidimensional and interactive restaurant project at the Sugar Hill Mountain Festival in Melbourne, Australia. A third Stranger Things soundtrack, Stranger Things: Halloween Sounds from the Upside Down, arrived in 2018. ~ Rob Wacey