HOST- Jeremy Burns, Matthew Scott Phillips
GENRE- Special Topics
DURATION- 19:15
BUMPER MUSIC- "You're Couture" (Visa Oscar), "Sixteen Measures" (Steve From an Undisclosed Subterranean Location)
ANNOUNCER- Mike Cunliffe
It is time to add yet more listeners to our composing community!
They work hard, that we may listen hard! So let us listen!
This episode will feature the original music of:
Visa Oscar, Alex Turnbull, Aubriel,
Lemongrass, Neal Malley and
Steve From an Undisclosed Subterranean Location
"You're Couture"
Visa Oscar-composer, piano, producer
Antti Holma- vocals, producer
Anssi Tirkkonen- drums
Tuure Koski- bass
Recorded in Sibelius Academy Kallio-Kuninkala studios by Visa Oscar and Antti Holma
Visa, a doctoral student at the University of The Arts, Helsinki jazz department, is taking on the "crooner" style with a group of highly talented musicians. He teaches jazz piano and jazz theory at some universities and he also produces and records some fantastic music. This piece, "You're Couture" features a lot of chromaticism. The object of his desires is referred to as "fashion" and many puns thereof are sprinkled throughout. The production value of this piece can not be understated!
Refer to the opening bumper track of this episode.
Or listen to "You're Couture" on:
Spotify
Apple Music
Hear more from Visa Oscar:
Spotify
Apple Music
"Time Spent Alone"
Alex Turnbull- guitar, bass, synth and samples
Alex likes to go on walks with his son Grayson. On these walks, they will record sounds like throwing
rocks or clapping in tunnels and go back home and assign these samples to playable drum kits. Alex has a new piece called "Time Spent Alone". Which he says was clearly named during the lockdown. He uses mediant relations in his main theme (Cm - Gm - Eb). He uses the drumming pattern known as "4 on the floor", where the kick is on all four beats of 4/4 time. Pay attention to his use of
dramatic pauses, his cool guitar work/sound and his overall production value.
"Bittersweet"
Aubriel- piano, synth
Aubriel is a senior in high school, studying AP Music Theory, and will soon be graduating and moving on to minor in music. She has applied what she has learned of modes to this wistful composition, which we believe is one of the mixolydian persuasion. Her biggest inspirations are video game and movie soundtracks. She also enjoys writing stories and composing scores for them. This piece, "Bittersweet" was her first commissioned piece. It takes you away to many places, all of them wonderous and inspiring! Moving back and forth from Cmaj to Dmaj creates a positive sense of anticipation. The pay off comes in the glorious 2nd theme. The 3rd theme moves, effortlessly, from common time to 3/4, creating a new mood. All the while the harmonies from the main theme continue to duck in and out throughout the piece. Also, it should be noted how well she blends her instruments in the mix!
Hear the piece:
"Bittersweet"
on Spotify
on Apple Music
Hear more from Aubriel:
on Spotify
on Apple Music
on YouTube
"Cannonball Run"
Lemongrass:
Matt Lemon- vocals, fiddle
Chris Lemon- banjo
Maura Lemon- bodhran
Jeff Martin- guitar
Chip Pritchard- bass
Matt plays in a bluegrass band, Lemongrass, with his brother, his wife and some friends. He recently heard the story of the Cannonball Run, an "unofficial fastest driving time from New York to LA".
The most recent record was set at 25hrs and 39min. This live recording was the first performance of Matt's original music. Some things worthy of notice: Bluegrass lends it's self well to high speed car stories. Adding the bodhran (Irish frame drum) to bluegrass music gives it extra punch and a little bit of exoticism. Matt voice is very authentic to the bluegrass genre. The song writing is entertaining and well executed. Matt pulls off this song, and all the drama it brings, without the use of a singe V chord!
Hear more from Lemongrass:
Facebook
"Seated Wanderer"
Neal Malley- synth
Neal took piano lessons early in life and then tenor and bass trombone through middle school and college. He bought his first synthesizer at 14 and fell in love with the tech side of music production. He has built a music adjacent career as a post audio engineer for animation dialog. Now in his 50’s, he is working on his first solo album. Neal has been developing his engineering skills over many years and now he takes on music. This piece, "Seated Wanderer" is in F minor. He uses a chromatic walk up to the F in the bass. The main theme starts on an upbeat and on scale degree 5. This gives a sense of forward motion, which is propelled by a fat drum groove, comprised of slight unconventional drum sounds. We couldn't help but comment on his sound sculpting abilities. You will hear many sounds you have likely never heard before. Finally, make sure you have some headphones on for this one because he plays alot with the stereo field!
Hear the piece:
"Seated Wanderer"
on Sound Cloud
Hear more from Neal Malley:
on Sound Cloud
"Sixteen Measures"
Steve- piano, synth
Steve put this piece together as a 16th birthday gift for his daughter, Erika. Steve is not a big fan of his voice but he put his ego on the line to make this little masterpiece happen. He is also aware that this may not be received as "cool". But he was okay with that, as a good parent should be. He applies some distortion to his vocals which give them a mid-range telephone sound. He uses current day tech terms (JPG, MPEG, etc.) hoping that they will create a sense of nostalgia when Erika hears the song again 16 years down the road. He offers us a glimpse of this in the final verse, which he transposed up a 1/2 step (from A to B,) and has added an extra dose of reverb to the vocal track. This takes us out of the current day and transports us to another setting!