Next year in Jerusalem, peace and accountability.

1. Barechu
2. The Words You Say
3. Simcha
4. Money Disgusting
5. Ready the Washing Machines
6. What It Feels Like
7. Vergoyert
8. A Matter of History
9. A Glass of Warm Milk
10. Mandeville Tuesday
11. Sarah Wight
12. And We Stay

A Matter of History

Ready the Washing Machines

A Glass of Warm Milk

The Words You Say

Mandeville Tuesday

And We Stay

What It Feels Like

Vergoyert

Barechu

Sarah Wight

'Hooray for Us' is a song that rants about jingoism. And what's THAT? you ask...Jingoism is having or showing an excessive amount of favoritism towards one's own country, often with a menacing, warlike underscore. It can also refer to a blind adherence to the belief that one's own nation, society, or group is right or virtuous simply because it is one's own. 

Musically, 'Hooray' rocks in a Springsteen kind of way but with some country undertones (replete with banjo and pedal steel guitar), a tip o' the hat to Andy Pratt's 'Avenging Annie' in the piano part, and a little 'Prog' thrown in for grins. Lyrically, it's a SATIRE in the Randy Newman tradition, so please don't misconstrue the message - the tongue is set firmly-in-cheek! I see 'Hooray for Us' as not just music but as musical theater - as with the oft-dark story of America itself, there's lots of irony and drama in here. 'Hooray' is EPIC.

Midway through, it stops to ramble through a Broadway/Dixieland-tinged medley of sorts, visiting a few very recognizable tunes before jumping back on the horse for the obligatory Big Finish.

Bottom line? Truthfully, I'd like to see this country do better. As Jack Torrence said to the ghostly bartender in Kubrick's film 'The Shining': "Things could be better, Lloyd. Things could be a WHOLE LOT better!"

5 Hooray for Us 24 MIX 1

Sample of vocal learning tracks available at OnQTracks.com

When She Loved Me - Sample

Bayou Voyage is a journey through the heart of the bayou, where adventure, beauty, and danger intertwine. The show begins with the tranquil sunrise over the river, as we glide through the misty waters, immersed in the sounds of nature and wildlife. As the show progresses through a day on the water, we have chance to appreciate the untamed landscape before an encounter with an alligator! With the setting of the sun and the moon reflecting in the still waters, the show slows to a serene, reflective pace, capturing the calming stillness of night.

Bayou Voyage - Marching Band Show

Please visit www.themusicofalexthode.com for more information.

Repertoire:
"Hide and Seek" — John Ottman
"Masque" — Kenneth Hesketh
"Real Rain" — Randy Newman
"Eyes Wider" — Thomas Bergersen
"In Your Eyes" — Peter Gabriel

Commissioned by the Reeths-Puffer High School Marching Band (Muskegon, MI)

SEEN(UN)SEEN

A pretty lousy cover of a Randy Newman song.  
Link to original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5mAuPg1ZZw

Political Science (Randy Newman Cover)

Hard to get a clear picture on how and where your life is going?  This is the song for you.

IT’S ALL TOO CLOUDY

Reeny likes to go in town
Check what’s new and wheeling after dark
She swings by the park

And maybe if the stars align
She will face some danger as a stealthy spy
Who is poised to die

Well, it’s all too cloudy – to see beyond the street
It’s all too cloudy – before the meet and great
It’s all too cloudy – the truth beneath ya feet

No third eye clues to clue ya
Until ya hit the sheets

Noah woke up from a dream
The Lord said build an ark to save the human race
He got in his face

He couldn’t understand it
So he flipped a coin for a can tuna or some nails
Which one heads - which one tails?

Well it’s all too cloudy – to see beyond the street
It’s all too cloudy – before the meet and great
It’s all too cloudy – the truth beneath ya feet

No third eye clues to clue ya
Until ya hit the sheets

Life here is a natural surprise
As long as we are servants on this plane
Not so much in dreamland or when we die
That’s the time we really wake up to face no mystery
The future is clear for all to see…

Well, it’s all too cloudy – to see beyond the street
It’s all too cloudy – before the meet and great
It’s all too cloudy – the truth beneath ya feet

Credits:
Vocals : Lady Olivia, LaFaux, Lawdy Harmstrong, JT
JT : Recording, Mixing, Original Vocals, Electric Guitar, Programming
Recorded at Suburban Hermit Studios III, Ronkonkoma NY





It's All Too Cloudy

You can only make suggestions to people. But what do I know?

TEN YEARS LATER

So you like to talk about love
Yeah, you make believe there’s a romance brewin’
But when it comes to love
You’re and empty shell

Now I’ve seen you worry - in such a hurry
to always please the ones you love
And though you satisfy their selfish needs
you still go to bed feeling unfed

Well ten years later you’ll still feel the same
Stick this in your jumper and tell me that I’m wrong
10 years later you’re deeper in the grave
Don’t miss out before that gravel rolls

So you like to think about God
It’s a paradox and a real time waster
It’s hard enough with a job in a cubicle with the flat screen busted
With lawyers and doctors and beta-teen blockers nipping at your paycheck heels
When the day is done and you’re in your bed – get’em out of your head
before you are dead


Or ten years later you’ll still feel the same
Stick this in your jumper and tell me that I’m wrong
10 years later you’re deeper in the stage
Don’t miss out before the curtain falls


Why do you stand in line
The world is turning with such indifference
As if you need this line
You can leave it - take a path to greater times


Well ten years later you’ll still feel the same
Stick this in your jumper and tell me that I’m wrong
10 years later you’re deeper in the grave
Don’t miss out before the gravel rolls

Credits:
JT : Vocals, Programming
Recorded and Mixed at Suburban Hermit Studios II, Stony Brook, NY 

Ten Years Later

It's the simple things in life that I love.

YOU AND YOUR VOICE

I don't like feeling depressed from waiting around, it's boring
And I'll tell you - I must confess I get pretty loud when I'm snoring
I don't like falling asleep at the wheel when there's things to be done
And I feel like a middle-aged creep whenever I'm out on a run

I could end it all - at least I think I could
But my temperament is such that I won't

Surprise surprise my cellphone rings
Surprise surprise
Surprise surprise my heart beat sings
A perfect distraction from this mood I am in

And all of sudden it's not boring
I feel energized and free
My life takes on a new meaning
These ups and down are what makes me be me

All because of you
You and your voice on the end of this phone

JT : "Hello".

SD : "Hello".

Credits:
JT : Vocals, Instruments
SD : Hello
Recorded and mixed at Suburban Hermit Studios II, Stony Brook, N

You And Your Voice

Sample of Vocal Learning Tracks available at OnQTracks.com

The Time of Your Life - Sample

An accomplished writer, producer, performer, and recording artist, George creates music which speaks of enlightenment and positivity in a world that could really use it. 

Over a decades-long career which includes a staff-writer position with Screen Gems, a recording deal with CBS/Epic Records, the production of several planetarium show soundtracks, a critically acclaimed three-album set of exercise music for children, a long history of live performance, and the release of no fewer than ten self-produced full-length albums, he has evolved into one of ‘those’ musicians who has redefined the meaning of versatility.

His creative output spans multiple genres, ranging from power-pop to soaring, progressive rock and on into the world of magical, ambient soundscapes, with recent forays into orchestral and choral works for film and television. His soundstages often take on expansive and cinematic proportions.

More than providing background to some ‘event’, George tends to make music which is the event ITSELF, particularly in his longer works. His compositions, both vocal and instrumental, are often colored with strokes of the contemplative, mysterious, downtempo. At other times they become dramatic, fierce, intense, even ecstatic. When there are lyrics, they often speak of love and longing or the search for a spiritual ‘true north’ - but at other times they rant street-level satire and political commentary.

George has essentially placed himself in a class all his own by creating refreshing hybrids of musical genres with little regard for modern trends or fads. 

George currently lives with his wife-and-best-friend in Lancaster, PA, with lots of farm country nearby. In the basement of the Lancaster house is his studio where, in addition to building a portfolio of compositions designed for film, he has just completed a new album, his eleventh.  

This upcoming release, titled Soul Ascending, is a 70-minute program of mystical, Neo-Shamanic long-form compositions which explore exotic realms generally classified as Ambient, Deep Chill, Tribal/World, Trance, or Spacemusic. Starkly reflective of his personal, ongoing spiritual journey, Soul Ascending is uncompromised, adventurous music crafted for meditation and deep listening. It is wild, enriched sound, sometimes tender, always intense…of and for the spirit.

Never one to shy away from an unusual idea, he has with Soul Ascending revisited a longtime fascination with surround-sound-for-audio. Though the term ‘surround’ has become a catch-all phrase for several of the multichannel formats, George’s particular approach utilizes an innovative hybrid of binaural, psychoacoustic, and ambisonic mixing techniques, resulting in a greatly enhanced, immersive listening experience.
 
       While somewhat irrespective of the definitions and aesthetics used in surround sound for motion pictures, this iconoclastic concept nonetheless lends itself perfectly to such a soundstage as ‘Ambient’ provides - and has of late become a subject of some intrigue among professional colleagues and engineers alike.
             
 When he does manage to break away from his musical universe, Jordy enjoys travel, camping, cycling, photography, inventing new recipes, and astronomy. Astronomy is of particular interest because he is, as ever, on a quest to find out which planet he might actually be from…perhaps the rumors are true after all.


John Tabacco is an American composer, singer songwriter, producer, recording engineer, multi instrumentalist and graphic artist. He has engineered /mixed and mastered music for hundreds of New York recording artists as well as projects released on BMG: The Kemelions, RCA: Faze, Rampage/Rhino: Rhett Forrester, Columbia: Rebbie Jackson, Rykodisc : Bob Marley, Columbia: Chris Jasper, Electra: Sonia Dada and Nickleodeon’s Are You Afraid Of The Dark? He is the CEO of It Iz What It Iz Music Publishing which currently holds over 750 songs in its catalog. He has been an associate producer for IndiMusic TV and hosts a bi-weekly radio program (CLAM RADIO) on college radio WUSB.fm since 1999. He is currently the head of A&R at Modern Voices Digital Distribution.

His musical background consists of extensive study of orchestration with noted 20th century composer John Lessard, harmony with the late electronic music maverick Bulent Arel, and composition with Stony Brook University professor Peter Winkler. He received his BA in Music from Stony Brook University in 1983. 

Like an unfolding musical diary / puzzle, Tabacco’s music and art are constantly being re-worked, juxtaposed and intertwined. His style is a melding of pop - jazz -rock - avant garde / aleatory, classical and comedy.  He has been recording his music non stop since 1979.

Of note: In 1989 the satirical, absurd house song "Go House Yourself" co-written by Tabacco, Pati and DiMauro reached position 39 on Billboard's dance chart. 

In 2014 Tabacco signed a record deal with Texas, indie label, Muffin Records. They released his CD “Unfulfilled Shopping Carts Syndrome” internationally.

Alex Thode (he/him/they) would first and foremost like you to know that not only is the “e” at the end of his last name not silent, but that he is also a composer and arranger most known for his work in the pageantry arts. He resides in Waukesha, Wisconsin with his cat, Buzz. An alumnus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Alex composes and arranges for marching bands across the continental United States. Always aiming to infuse contemporary music with the classics and the mainstream with the obscure, his marching band arrangements are known to stand out for their eclectic musical diversity and creative sonic environments.

Alex's clientele have been Bands of America (BOA) Regional Finalists and Class Champions, BOA Super Regional Class Champions, UIL Area Champions and State Finalists, WGI Winds Class Champions, and also make regular appearances at BOA Grand Nationals. He has also had the privilege of having his arrangements performed in the 2016 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the 2020 Tournament of Roses Bandfest.

Along with his compositions and arrangements for the pageantry arts, Alex also has been commissioned to write middle school and high school concert band works, and enjoys composing chamber percussion music. Alex recently completed his new piece for 8-piece percussion ensemble, “the carving of canyons,” which premiered in January 2022.

In his free time, Alex enjoys watching movies and believing he’s a professional film critic, hiking and pretending that he’s athletic, traveling and acting like he’s Marco Polo, playing piano, guitar and a variety of kalimbas, and being with good company.

Modern music for the marching arts.
www.jeffchambersmusic.net

One must have tradition in oneself to hate it properly.

New tracks tagged #Randy Newman