E.S. Posthumus was an

independent music Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...

group that produced a form of

21st-century classical music 21st-century classical music is Western art music in the contemporary classical tradition that has been produced since the year 2000. A loose and ongoing period, 21st-century classical music is defined entirely by the calendar and does not ref ...

/epic music that intertwined popular style drum rhythms with orchestral and electronic sounds. Their music is inspired by the

Pythagorean Pythagorean, meaning of or pertaining to the ancient Ionian mathematician, philosopher, and music theorist Pythagoras, may refer to: Philosophy * Pythagoreanism, the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs purported to have been held by Pythagoras * Ne ...

philosophy which states that "music is the harmonization of opposites; the conciliation of warring elements". The ''E.S.'' is an acronym for "Experimental Sounds" while ''Posthumus'' (Latin ''

postumus Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus was a Roman commander of Batavian origin, who ruled as Emperor of the splinter state of the Roman Empire known to modern historians as the Gallic Empire. The Roman army in Gaul threw off its allegiance to G ...

'', meaning "last" or "born after father's death"; the English spelling is influenced by ''

humus In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...

'', "ground", "soil") is a word that is meant to represent "all things past", suggesting the music was inspired by things that have ended, some time after they ended.

Career

The group was formed in 2000 by brothers Helmut and Franz Vonlichten. Helmut and Franz studied piano with their mother. After graduating from high school, Franz worked in recording studios while Helmut attended and graduated from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, with a degree in archaeology. Their music has been licensed by many movie and television production studios, being included in numerous

movie trailers A trailer (also known as a preview, coming attraction or attraction video) is a commercial advertisement, originally for a feature film that is going to be exhibited in the future at a movie theater/cinema. It is a product of creative and techni ...

and

television shows A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

. E.S. Posthumus released three albums overall in their career. On July 22, 2010, it was officially announced that Franz had died about two months before. After giving notice of his brother's death, Helmut stated that while there still may be one or two unreleased songs (one of them being their single "Christmas Eve" released in November 2010), the group would no longer be active. In November 2011, it was officially announced that Helmut Vonlichten had formed a new band called

Les Friction Les Friction is an independent music group led by Helmut Vonlichten, Nihl Finch aka Evan Frankfort, and a singer named Paint. Helmut had previously collaborated with his brother Franz Vonlichten in their cinematic music project E.S. Posthumus u ...

, and released a preview of his new work with a track called "Torture".

Albums

Unearthed

Unearthed was the first album composed by E.S. Posthumus. It was originally made available for purchase online through

CD Baby CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "C ...

in January 2001; It became the third-biggest selling album in CDBaby's history. The success of the album prompted the wide re-release to retail in May 2005 through Wigshop and 33rd Street Records/Bayside Distribution. A key piece to the distinctive sound of the music comes from working with the

Northwest Sinfonia The Northwest Sinfonia is a session symphonic orchestra based in Seattle, mostly renowned for recording soundtracks to motion pictures and computer games. It was founded in 1995 and is credited with over 100 recordings. It draws its members mostl ...

. Other musicians performing on this CD include

Pedro Eustache Pedro Eustache (born August 18, 1959) is a Venezuelan-born flautist, reed player, world woodwind player, composer, and instrument maker. He has more than seven years of symphonic experience and a collection of around 600 instruments from all ...

Michael Landau Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitch ...

, Matt Laug, Lance Morrison,

Davy Spillane Davy Spillane (born 1959 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish musician, songwriter and a player of uilleann pipes and low whistle. Biography Irish music At the age of 12, Spillane started playing the uilleann pipes. His father encouraged him an ...

and Efrain Toro. Many tracks from Unearthed have been featured in various movie trailers and television shows. They have been used in the trailers for movies due to their escalating structure, which makes them well-suited for the dramatic montages building towards the credits in the aforementioned trailers.

Cartographer

''Cartographer'', the second album from E.S. Posthumus, was supposed to be released sometime in 2006 but was actually released in early 2007. It is rumored the delay was due to the addition of Sans to the group of musicians, an addition much heralded by Helmut VonlichtenSoundtrackNet - "Unearthing Pythagoras" Franz Vonlichten interview
26 May 2005

Makara

''Makara'' is the third album of E.S. Posthumus. It consists of 15 tracks and was released on February 2, 2010, for download on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Amazon MP3 Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and online music store operated by Amazon. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights man ...

, and several other popular download services. The album is available on both CD and for digital download at

. The album was made available on

eMusic eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. In exchange for a monthly subscription eMusic users can download a fixed number of MP3 tracks per month. eMusic was established in 1998, is headquartered in New York Ci ...

on January 26, 2010. There may also be a vinyl release of the album in the future.

Singles

Rise to Glory

Rise to Glory is a single released in September 2005 featuring the vocals of rappers

DJ Quik David Marvin Blake (born January 18, 1970), better known by his stage names DJ Quik or Da Quiksta, is an American rapper and producer, known for his production in the G-funk style of West Coast hip-hop. Blake has collaborated with Snoop Dogg, ...

and Bizarre (from

D12 D12 (an initialism for The Dirty Dozen) was an American hip hop collective from Detroit, Michigan. Formed in 1996, the group achieved mainstream success with its lineup of ''de facto'' leader Eminem, Proof, Bizarre, Mr. Porter, Kuniva and Swift ...

). The song ''Rise to Glory'' is recognized as a sung remix and an extended version of ''

Posthumus Zone "Posthumus Zone" and "Granicus" are songs composed by the now-disbanded Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles electronic music group E.S. Posthumus for the TV programs ''The NFL on CBS'' and ''The NFL Today'' on CBS Sports. The songs are played at t ...

'', which is most commonly recognized as the theme song to the ''NFL on CBS'' since the 2003 season.

Run This Town/Posthumus Zone

E.S. Posthumus collaborated with hip hop artist

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

to create a remix of

Run This Town "Run This Town" is a song by American rapper Jay-Z. The song also features Rihanna and Kanye West. It was released on July 24, 2009. It was written by the performing trio, with assistance from Ernest Wilson and Jeff Bhasker. Production of the ...

and

for the CBS broadcast of

Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champions New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is a single released in November 2010 as a Christmas tribute to Franz Vonlichten of E.S. Posthumus. The Vonlichten brothers had begun work on a holiday project in early March 2010, which was to be released later during the holiday season. According to Helmut, the project would be a re-arrangement of their favorite holiday songs and "bring something new to the party". This track was the only song they started recording before Franz died in May 2010. In a Facebook posting on the group's fanpage, mid-November 2010, Helmut relayed that "When Franz passed away last May, the project was barely off the ground; however, a lyric, piano sketch and rough vocal were completed on the new song." In that same posting, Helmut shared that he contacted Jeremy Lubbock, the brothers' childhood favorite arranger, to arrange the song for them. Helmut later salvaged the rough vocal recorded months earlier and included it in the final recording. "Christmas Eve" is the last song produced from the group E.S. Posthumus and is a product of the Vonlichten brothers' last recording session before Franz's death.

References

External links

E.S. Posthumus - Official Website

SoundtrackNet - E.S. Posthumus Movie Trailer Usage

News Item
- New information on E.S. Posthumus

E.S. Posthumus Fan Discussion Forum

{{Authority control American musical duos Musical groups established in 2000 Musical groups disestablished in 2010 Sibling musical duos Male musical duos