Name: Summer by RAGSY in ENTIRE INBOX: Batch 416
Duration: 4 min 46 s
Description: This is the latest single from my forthcoming album 'One More For The Road'. A radio edited version of this song is also available on request.

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ENTIRE INBOX: Batch 416

Music video: https://youtu.be/zhbhe5iF91k Purchase: https://itskelpmusic.bandcamp.com/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6LboIg5d66U6wICDu8Wwqv?si=cf61eea4522f4f5e
"...From here I had to make a choice. Obviously, I was aware of a long-standing history of Latin music which is as rich and as saturated as any musical folk tradition. I had to avoid submitting a whisper to a room full of shouts. The way I would do this would be to bend/fuse genres and opt for atypical instrumentation. I had to keep some classics as I felt the more I strayed from tradition, the more I would lose what I had set out to create, so there was a balance to strike. What you’ll hear I ended up with is a sort of traditional latin rhythm section supporting some synth lead, bass and arp. It’s drum heavy with 808s battling traditional mambo percussion and synth bass fighting upright bass for listeners attention, and salsa piano bridged with cascading tango synth runs straddling the line between a meringue dance recital and an EDM breakdown, or something; Dancing about architecture is like tyring to music about writing.
So anyways, when the song was nearing completion, I started to think about its context and what it meant and what it would be called etc. I had a note saved on my phone which simply read ‘jardines tropical’. And I was like “I really want this to be the title of a song”. The aesthetic the song brought up for me was inauthenticity. Because it was so clearly lacking in its attempts to “be latin” it made me think of like Irish pubs in Spain, or walled resorts in difficult places in south America, where the interior, not only doesn’t reflect the exterior at all, but fails to be what it thinks it is in the first place. The song looked like a disused swimming pool, or cheap clay souvenir stall in a tiny shop down an alleyway in Chania. It looks, sounds and smells like the real thing, but there’s an uncanny quality that suggests it doesn’t represent what it claims to, at all. This is the MIDI programmed, digitally synthesized piano, sampled percussion and ARP pretending to ambass the old country. I thought this was a beautiful concept and actually, something you see it everywhere you go. A thousand pubs in any one region claiming to be the oldest pub in [insert your country here] Come in and try our local delicacy which none of the locals would ever dare touch. 
Then came naming the track, I wanted it to have cutesy, neatly tied up little name that represented what it “claimed it was”, something the marketing partners would sign off on. Something like Coco Cabana. I went back to the note in my phone ‘jardines tropical’ – Tropical Garden. It definitely had the right feel, it promised what the song was definitely not going to deliver. The finishing touch was to include a spelling mistake. I ended up with Les Club Tropicales, which is a poor translation between French and Spanish with a butchered plural, of the Tropical Club. The Tropical Club has a modesty to it, promises little grandeur and is a clumsy, cumbersome sounding thing. Pluralise the wrong word and you get The Tropicals Club. How beautifully incorrect that sounds. But translate it badly and you get Les Club Tropicales. To someone like myself who only speaks once language, it sounds like it has just enough prestige to perfectly let me down. When I read the title I feel like a yank who has never been to Ireland walking into an Irish pub and thinking this is what it’s might really be like there.
So from there it sort of transformed in my imagination as this actual place – Les Club Tropicales. Welcome to the most inauthentic experience available in your resort. Come and experience insincere and foreign beverages in a venue whose theme doesn’t remotely resemble its location, even slightly, and this is the soundtrack.

Les Club Tropicales

This may be an unlikely title for a catchy singalong, but “Is not everything morbid?” could be Joe's biggest song yet!

After a couple of years where nobody can pretend everything is going great, maybe this is the time to embrace the darker side of things. His new song does this, but also celebrates what we can achieve, nonetheless. 

The song takes its inspiration from American early twentieth century writer Djuna Barnes, who led a very unconventional life and when she was accused of her writing being too dark replied: “Is not everything morbid?” Joe's message here is that no matter how dark and bleak things are, we can confront them and create something new. We can push back against those things in our lives that are unfair and oppressive, but only if we recognise them.

Is Not Everything Morbid?

This is the latest single from my forthcoming album 'One More For The Road'. A radio edited version of this song is also available on request.

Summer

About ‘Villain’

Garvie is a singer-songwriter who spent too much time playing video games during lockdown… now he’s trapped in one. 

The 8-bit indie hero’s second single ‘Villain’ is an anthem in using your frustration and anger for good. Garvie’s blunt lyrics and songwriting pull no punches here as he proudly proclaims ‘you’re my villain, and I love to hate you so’. Here’s Garvie’s account of that lyric: “We’re always told we shouldn’t get angry. I think anger gets a bad rep – it can push you forward and motivate you more than a lot of other feelings. Whether it’s a celebrity, politician, an annoying co-worker or your ex - we’ve all got our villains. Sometimes it’s OK to embrace that.”

Villain’s production takes the swagger of AM-era Arctic Monkeys era and the soul of Jack Garratt, blending them in with Garvie’s pure pop sensibilities. Here the producers and Garvie’s co-writers Jamie Biles and Props (a Spotify ‘Fresh Finds’ favourite) strip the driving beat down to it’s bare essentials, leaving Garvie’s storytelling abilities and soaring falsetto vocals space to breathe.

Garvie’s debut single ‘Bad Person’ has so far picked up support from BBC Radio 6 (Tom Robinson called it ‘an irresistible earworm’), Amazing Radio, BBC Introducing and Panic! At The Disco/Weezer producer Suzy Shinn amongst others.

Who’s your villain?

Bad Person was written by Joe Garvey (Garvie), Mark Gilyead (Props) and Jamie Biles, was produced by Jamie Biles and Mark Gilyead and was mixed by Jamie Biles. It was mastered by Hallam Robinson at Abbey Road Studios.

25/08/21

Villain

Belly

The Family always used to refer to our bad luck as "The John Luck". I felt the need to write a song. Some of the instances are exaggerated but I enjoyed writing this one.

Stephen John - Bad Luck (Original)

Roll Me Out Like A Stone (Demo)

Whispers (demo)

Alternative Facts

Delusional Safety

Continuously Touring, Exlporing & Adoring Life - 'Have Guitar, Will Travel'.

Singer-Songwriter based in Wales. Working hard to become an established bilingual artist.

Proud Welshman on a journey to learn the Welsh language in the hope of one day being fluent.

Currently recording my second album ‘One More For The Road’ at Northhouse Studios with Chris Peet. 

Appeared on The Voice UK in 2013 and was mentored by fellow countryman Sir Tom Jones. 

One of eight finalists on 'Can i Gymru / Song For Wales 2018'.   

Debut album 'Ouch!!!' available now on CD and from all major download and streaming sites.  

For more information or to book me to perform at your event, festival or venue please email ragsymusic@gmail.com
 
Much love & BIG CWTCHES 

Ragsy xxx

Fresh On The Net is a music blog hosted by Tom Robinson and Team Freshnet, offering independent artists an open door and a level playing field for their music. Our inbox is open at http://freshonthenet.co.uk every Monday to Thursday morning - if you share a track with us there it will be heard by every member of our moderation team.

IMPORTANT: 
Only send ONE track, and make sure the dropbox says "OPEN".  Sorry, but tracks sent while the dropbox is closed - or shared drectly with this Soundcloud account - will not get heard.

Summer

RAGSY

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