Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,527
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Post by Confessor on Apr 27, 2021 14:42:29 GMT -5
Thanks, berkley . I think you'll enjoy it. I'm prtty sure I will too, based on the handful of songs I've heard before. Very much my kind of music. Any plans for the band doing a "live" show online as I've read some artists have been doing during the pandemic? I haven't tried any of them yet myself but it sounds like a nice idea, while real concerts are off the table.
Not at the moment, no. We are lining dates up for the summer into winter, with four having been announced so far. But yeah, doing an online gig might be a fun thing to do as well. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Post by tartanphantom on Apr 29, 2021 11:53:10 GMT -5
Thought I'd post one more Exotic Ones song from our recent EP. This is another original tune called "29 Vaqueros".
I wrote and arranged the music for this one (including the horn parts), but I did not write the lyrics. Also played the acoustic guitar parts and backing vocals.
If you give it a listen, you'll see that it's quite different from the tune that I posted previously. We have a lot of different influences, and drew from the "spaghetti western" film genre to come up with this one. In truth, we are really a bunch of b-movie/garage band/comic book nerds who happen to be somewhat musically adept.
Hope you enjoy it. I'll post some music from my other band, the Celto-eclectic "Secret Commonwealth", next time around... that's a different slice of bread altogether.
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Post by MDG on Apr 30, 2021 8:30:34 GMT -5
Just a note that people can listen to both The Exotic Ones and The Kynd on Spotify.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,527
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Post by Confessor on May 2, 2021 13:39:19 GMT -5
Just a note that people can listen to both The Exotic Ones and The Kynd on Spotify. You can, and it's certainly a great way to "try before you buy", but neither I nor tartanphantom will see any financial remuneration from that. Nothing is better for supporting your favourite musicians than buying physical media or tickets to a gig.
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Post by berkley on May 2, 2021 15:48:46 GMT -5
Just a note that people can listen to both The Exotic Ones and The Kynd on Spotify. You can, and it's certainly a great way to "try before you buy", but neither I nor tartanphantom will see any financial remuneration from that. Nothing is better for supporting your favourite musicians than buying physical media or tickets to a gig. How does Spotify get away with stuff like this?
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,527
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Post by Confessor on May 2, 2021 17:28:55 GMT -5
You can, and it's certainly a great way to "try before you buy", but neither I nor tartanphantom will see any financial remuneration from that. Nothing is better for supporting your favourite musicians than buying physical media or tickets to a gig. How does Spotify get away with stuff like this? Because the major record companies stitched all their artists up by negotiating a really bad deal for them in the early 21st century (when streaming wasn't really a big thing), while at the same time negotiating a huge share of revenue for themselves. They were able to do this because 99 times out of 100 the record labels own the physical master tapes of the recordings, the copyright for those recordings, and very often the song publishing too. The songwriting and mechanical royalty rate (the latter being compensation to songwriters for the reproduction of their compositions as a streaming MP3), which the artist and songwriter get, are abysmal on streaming and video platforms like Spotify or YouTube. Especially when compared to the rates for physical media. An artist with a bog standard record deal would have to get something like 1500 streams to make the same money as they would from a single physical CD sale. Once these major labels, who had all the world's biggest artists on their books, had struck this deal with streaming companies, the smaller labels and artists just had to fall in line. To not be on streaming services was commercial suicide, after all, so what are you gonna do? Even a multi-platinum, multi-million selling artist like Taylor Swift had a hard time renegotiating her streaming deal. So what chance have smaller, cult artists got? For unsigned artists without a publishing deal it's even worse. For example, I imagine that if you buy tartanphantom's band's CD, they would get 100% of the money from that sale split between the band members (less the cost of production, of course). So, for them to get the same $12 they get from selling one CD from Spotify would take tens of thousands of streams. And that's assuming that their original songs are registered with a performing rights royalty collecting body like ASCAP.
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Post by tartanphantom on May 2, 2021 17:40:26 GMT -5
How does Spotify get away with stuff like this? Because the major record companies stitched all their artists up by negotiating a really bad deal for them in the early 21st century (when streaming wasn't really a big thing), while at the same time negotiating a huge share of revenue for themselves. They were able to do this because 99 times out of 100 the record labels own the physical master tapes of the recordings, the copyright for those recordings, and very often the song publishing too. The songwriting and mechanical royalty rate (the latter being compensation to songwriters for the reproduction of their compositions as a streaming MP3), which the artist and songwriter get, are abysmal on streaming and video platforms like Spotify or YouTube. Especially when compared to the rates for physical media. An artist with a bog standard record deal would have to get something like 1500 streams to make the same money as they would from a single physical CD sale. Once these major labels, who had all the world's biggest artists on their books, had struck this deal with streaming companies, the smaller labels and artists just had to fall in line. To not be on streaming services was commercial suicide, after all, so what are you gonna do? Even a multi-platinum, multi-million selling artist like Taylor Swift had a hard time renegotiating her streaming deal. So what chance have smaller, cult artists got? For unsigned artists without a publishing deal it's even worse. For example, I imagine that if you buy tartanphantom's band's CD, they would get 100% of the money from that sale split between the band members (less the cost of production, of course). So, for them to get the same $12 they get from selling one CD from Spotify would take tens of thousands of streams. And that's assuming that their original songs are registered with a performing rights royalty collecting body like ASCAP.
This is 100% truth. Royalties from streaming are abyssmal.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2021 17:57:57 GMT -5
Just a note that people can listen to both The Exotic Ones and The Kynd on Spotify. You can, and it's certainly a great way to "try before you buy", but neither I nor tartanphantom will see any financial remuneration from that. Nothing is better for supporting your favourite musicians than buying physical media or tickets to a gig. Would you guys get any kind of remuneration if your material was played by a radio station today or in the past? -M
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,527
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Post by Confessor on May 2, 2021 18:29:14 GMT -5
You can, and it's certainly a great way to "try before you buy", but neither I nor tartanphantom will see any financial remuneration from that. Nothing is better for supporting your favourite musicians than buying physical media or tickets to a gig. Would you guys get any kind of remuneration if your material was played by a radio station today or in the past? -M Yes, and along with TV broadcast, it's a much higher rate than streaming. TV and radio plays are pretty lucrative.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 5, 2021 11:29:58 GMT -5
Wherein Slam talks about his favorite (not necessarily the best) country, folk and roots albums of 1971. Why 1971 kids? Well because it's fifty years ago. And we know how people feel about anniversaries. We'll do this in count-down form and as a top 10. I could have gone top 15, but decided to throw the five also runs in to a closing post. I'll then follow-up with my five favorites from other genres (excluding jazz...I love jazz but it's so hard to quantify how I feel about individual albums).
10. Townes Van Zandt - Delta Momma Blues
For a lot of people this would be a career album. For Townes it's just a damn good album. There are pluses and minuses. This is a very stripped down album free of the excesses that had previously been thrust on Townes by Jack Clement's production. And that is all to the good. Townes is at his best when it is largely him and his instrument and his songs with minimal back-up. And if there are no real stand-out songs on this album there are also none that feel like filler. And Townes shows he's equally adept at straight up country love songs (though with more than a hint of rage in Nothin'), Jimmie Rodgers style love songs (Turnstyled, Junkpiled), 12-bar blues (Brand New Companion) and folk (F.F.V. and Rake). This album is a departure in that it is clearly more blues influenced than any of Townes' previous albums which were far more rooted in Appalachia folk music.
Ultimately, every album that Townes put out in the 70s is nothing less than outstanding. If this one doesn't quite reach the heights of "Live at the Old Quarter" (my personal choice for his best album and one of my top ten live albums of all time) then it is still an incredibly strong album that warrants a number of listens.
Tower Song seems to be the song off this album that Townes seemed most likely to play live later in on so I'll put it here along with Rake which may be the stand-out track.
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Post by berkley on May 5, 2021 15:44:06 GMT -5
How does Spotify get away with stuff like this? Because the major record companies stitched all their artists up by negotiating a really bad deal for them in the early 21st century (when streaming wasn't really a big thing), while at the same time negotiating a huge share of revenue for themselves. They were able to do this because 99 times out of 100 the record labels own the physical master tapes of the recordings, the copyright for those recordings, and very often the song publishing too. The songwriting and mechanical royalty rate (the latter being compensation to songwriters for the reproduction of their compositions as a streaming MP3), which the artist and songwriter get, are abysmal on streaming and video platforms like Spotify or YouTube. Especially when compared to the rates for physical media. An artist with a bog standard record deal would have to get something like 1500 streams to make the same money as they would from a single physical CD sale. Once these major labels, who had all the world's biggest artists on their books, had struck this deal with streaming companies, the smaller labels and artists just had to fall in line. To not be on streaming services was commercial suicide, after all, so what are you gonna do? Even a multi-platinum, multi-million selling artist like Taylor Swift had a hard time renegotiating her streaming deal. So what chance have smaller, cult artists got? For unsigned artists without a publishing deal it's even worse. For example, I imagine that if you buy tartanphantom's band's CD, they would get 100% of the money from that sale split between the band members (less the cost of production, of course). So, for them to get the same $12 they get from selling one CD from Spotify would take tens of thousands of streams. And that's assuming that their original songs are registered with a performing rights royalty collecting body like ASCAP. There is no justice, only power.
Or at least that's what it feels like, much of the time.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 6, 2021 10:26:17 GMT -5
Favorite Country, Folk & Roots albums of 1971
9. Merle Haggard - Hag
This was Hag's first album of original material in two years following his amazing tribute albums to Jimmie Rodgers and Bob Wills and two live albums (including the phenomenon of Okie from Muskogee). One would think that in that time Hag would have come up with another smash single for the album. But one would be wrong. The album is quality from start to finish, but there really isn't a stand-out single track here. While Haggard has recorded dozens of absolute classic single tracks his albums have always been incredibly deep, with a ton of high quality tracks hidden in the depths of any given album. This one follows suit running the gamut from quiet love songs, to timely covers, to a track at the end of each side that kicks up the tempo.
This is also possibly as close to a true statement of Hag's beliefs as we would ever get in a single album. Okie From Muskogee was him taking the piss. Fighting Side of Me was released when he wanted Irma Jackson to be the single in that spot. He was, unquestionably, a man of contradictions. Opening with a cover of Ernest Tubbs' "Soldier's Last Letter" was a bold move during the dark days of Vietnam. "Jesus, Take a Hold" looked at the darkening nation, while Dave Kirby's "Sidewalks of Chicago" looked at the burgeoning issue of homelessness. Ultimately this is, very quietly, one of Haggard's better albums.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 7, 2021 9:16:14 GMT -5
Favorite Country, Folk & Roots albums of 1971
8. Tom T. Hall - In Search of a Song
There was a period in the early '70s (actually starting in 1969) when Tom T. Hall put out as solid a country albums as you were going to find anywhere. Usually consisting of one or two hit singles and a fairly deep collection of songs, largely written by "the Storyteller."
This is one of that string of albums and it's just dandy. Apparently, Hall would go out on long road trips looking for material for his songs. He wouldn't write them on the trips, he'd take notes, talk to people and get the feel of the land. And what we ended up with were songs about...folks. Not romantic. Only a tad sentimental. Just songs about people and the things they do.
The hit off this album was "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died" which went to number one on the Country charts. But for me "Who's Gonna Feed Them Hogs" is quintessential Hall. It's a little story about a hog farmer in the hospital worrying about who is going to feed his livestock. It just doesn't get any more folks than that.
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Post by The Captain on May 9, 2021 18:56:47 GMT -5
I have an oddly-specific request, probably more suited for our European (and even more so for our UK) members. Can anyone give me recommendations on Irish, Scottish, and Welsh female folk singers, either solo artists or those who are the frontwoman in a band? I'm good with traditional folk songs as well as original contemporary compositions. Why am I asking this? Two reasons: 1. Our local member-supported radio station has a folk show on Sunday mornings from 6 until 8, and as I drive back and forth to the grocery store at that time, I like to listen to it (most of the other stations have their "public affairs" programs on, and I have zero interest). Around St. Patrick's Day, they played an entire show of Celtic music that I really enjoyed, as opposed to their usual show that is US artist heavy and much closer to bluegrass/country (it's fine and all, just not my preference). 2. There is little sound in the world as beautiful as the lilt in a Celtic woman's singing voice. I have zero shame in saying that one of the reasons that I would love to, when my wife and I retire, spend six months of the year in the UK is that I simply love to hear the Irish/Scottish/Welsh accent spoken but more so sung, especially by a woman. Confessor , anything you can help me out with, either mainstream or more hard-to-find (maybe internet-only)?
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Post by tartanphantom on May 9, 2021 21:08:38 GMT -5
I have an oddly-specific request, probably more suited for our European (and even more so for our UK) members. Can anyone give me recommendations on Irish, Scottish, and Welsh female folk singers, either solo artists or those who are the frontwoman in a band? I'm good with traditional folk songs as well as original contemporary compositions. Why am I asking this? Two reasons: 1. Our local member-supported radio station has a folk show on Sunday mornings from 6 until 8, and as I drive back and forth to the grocery store at that time, I like to listen to it (most of the other stations have their "public affairs" programs on, and I have zero interest). Around St. Patrick's Day, they played an entire show of Celtic music that I really enjoyed, as opposed to their usual show that is US artist heavy and much closer to bluegrass/country (it's fine and all, just not my preference). 2. There is little sound in the world as beautiful as the lilt in a Celtic woman's singing voice. I have zero shame in saying that one of the reasons that I would love to, when my wife and I retire, spend six months of the year in the UK is that I simply love to hear the Irish/Scottish/Welsh accent spoken but more so sung, especially by a woman. Confessor , anything you can help me out with, either mainstream or more hard-to-find (maybe internet-only)? I've been in a Celtic/Americana/World Music band on a semi-pro level for close to 30 years (NOT the band featured in my recent previous posts). So this question is right up my alley.
As far as female lead vocalists, for me Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh of the band Altan tops the list. Just about any Altan album is great, but I highly recommend the albums "Harvest Storm" and "Island Angel" as a starting point. There's also Dolores Keane, who was an early member of the seminal Celtic band De Danann. Other former female vocalists for De Danann includ Maura O'Connell and Mary Black, both great vocalists in their own right.
And this list would definitely not be complete without mentioning the late, great Sandy Denny, who, although English by birth, had a strong Gaelic family background, and who had one of the purest folk voices I've ever heard. Unlike the others though, Sandy sang in English, not Gaelic. Look especially for her work with the band Fotheringay and her period with Fairport Convention. (RIP Sandy, the world is poorer for your leaving.)
Of course, there is Enya, who had a long career with the band Clannad before going solo to pursue a more new-age flavored commercial world music-oriented career.
This should at least help you get started and point you in the general direction.
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