Winter Wonderland Obertones 2011 (Rehearsal--For Nostalgia Purposes Only)

one valentines afternoon, one hour, one boy, one piano, one microphone, one laptop. no samples

free download

Happy Valentine's day!

tell the people you love that you love them, while you can

- Alex

Bones (Valentine)

This is our arrangement of Lorde's hit song, "Royals," performed with Jackson Laskey on piano. It's the only cover on the album, and we had a lot of fun recording it. Special thanks to Sam Fisher for recording, mixing, and mastering the album. Look for the album on CDBaby and Itunes in the near future!!

04 - Royals

My arrangement of R Kelly's "Echo" for the Obertones, from our 2013 album "Game of Tones". Featuring the beautiful Ben Martin Mooney on the solo.

Two Thoughts:
1. I can't believe I didn't upload this sooner. This arrangement rocks, and we've always loved singing it (I can't say that about every arrangement I've produced).
2. When choosing takes for the album, I was deciding based upon the ensemble's sound; not the sound of the soloist. Ben was under the weather when we recorder this track, and he still sounds really good! But if I had been listening for the bigger picture, I would have selected one where Ben absolutely killed it, and the ensemble sounded just a little bit looser. For that, Ben, I am sorry.

Echo [Explicit]

Rose

I. [0:00-6:45]
It’s nice to hear your name,
my father was a Christian minister
for many, many, many.. many years
II. [6:45-15:00]
Well… Well, I used this one…
I used this one [‘AH AH AH’]
for many, many years
III. [15:00-17:07]
I been here many years…
I’m wearing out, I’m wearing out,
I’m really wearing out

"Singers"--a chamber piece for 3 guitars, bass flute, and percussion--is an attempt to recreate, in abstract terms, the experience of witnessing the uninhibited music-making of a man on the edge of his life. As such the sounds involved attempt to resemble elements of human speech through microtonal relationships; the piece focuses on the peculiarity and musicality of this particular man's social interactions, conveyed in the music through rigid pulse-like rhythms and very small pitch contours. The form attempts to express the experience of aphasia: part of the social, psychological, and physiological inhibition that may often occur in dementia sufferers.
Lauren Good, bass flute
Kevin Dee, Max Lyman, Crispin Swank, guitar;
Ben Rempel, cloud chambers; Justin Gunter, log drum
David Ellis, conductor
April 2013

Singers

Elementary Music Teacher ◦ A Cappella Arranger ◦ Singer-Songwriter & Songleader

Echo [Explicit]

Max Mellman