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Jason Solowsky on MySpace

I have a friend who says that he hardly even notices the background music in a film; he just concentrates on what is happening on the screen. That is hard for me to understand since I find the music to be so important in setting the tone of the movie and interpretive of what the actors are doing.

To once again bring to your attention a MySpace friend of music2work2 and an artist who composes some music that has similarities, I suggest you check out the work of Jason Solowsky, a film composer. To be a film composer, it seems to me that one would have to be very versatile, having skills in lots of areas. Jason certainly fits that bill; he is a heavy metal guitarist, classical pianist, sings on occasion, and is even a certified bartender. Something about the way he expresses himself in the written word immediately made me think of Andrew, composer/performer of music2work2. The same sort of humor comes through in their writing.

The music you find on Jason’s MySpace page, covers a wide range of music types, as they are from some of the many independent films for which he composed the music. There are the slower tempo, melodic, piano driven pieces such as “The First Kiss” (13 Months of Sunshine) and “Until Your Dying Day” (Instant Dads;) and there are the fast tempo, thunderous sounds of “Blood Red Sky,” (Willoughby) and the squalling strings in guitar driven “Exposed” and “Driller” (Driller)

There are 20 tracks to listen to on Jason’s MySpace page; a real listening experience. For more information on Jason you can check out his webiste at http://www.jasonsolowsky.com.

Groovy Star and iSound.com

I’m not sure what I expected as far as the music goes from Groovy Star. The name, I suppose, or for whatever reason, I guess I was anticipating loud, screeching, heavy rock music. I was wrong. Groovy Star is one of our friends from iSound.com.

isound.com front page

I like this music. Most of the songs on the iSound page are instrumental; there are a few vocals. Groovy Star is apparently the work of one person, Michael Featherstone. All the songs have a prominent, rhythmic beat, and pretty melody – it is the kind of music that makes you feel good.

There are several pieces that I would say are favorites, such as “Springs,” “Dreaming Droids” but my most favorite piece is “Sundown.” It is a little slower tempo than most of the others but still with the prominent percussion and beautiful melody. It more closely resembles the sound of music2work2. Groovy Star reminds me of “Heath” and “Richard” - they too are songs of medium tempo, lovely melody – uplifting, hopeful, pleasant musical experiences.

If you like pop-rock, electronica music, I suggest you give a listen to Groovy Star. If you're interested in online music, new artists - that kind of thing - also check out http://isound.com - this from their About page:

.: What is iSOUND.COM :. iSOUND.COM is creating the ultimate online music community. Whether you are a fan, a musician or a record label, we are the place to be for all that is music online.

Daryl's House & Company of Thieves

I'm thoroughly enjoying the post Christmas gift card euphoria - I love buying music - there's something very noble and rewarding about it. There's a website that I've been digging for a while - Live from Daryl's House -  it has this killer show that captures Daryl Hall and his band - they welcome in a different  artist every other month, hang out and play music.  They cover some of the guest artist's songs and then some of the Hall & Oates classics.  It's all shot and recorded live - the music sounds and feels real - you get a sense of what it is was like to be there - you also get a sense of the musicianship required.  Check out the trailer below:

The episode that turned me onto the show was K.T.Tunstall's  - she was brilliant - check out this version of Black Horse and the Cherry Tree.  The current episode is with a band called Company of Thieves - I'd never heard of them but checked out the show - 30 minutes later I have their EP Ordinary Riches playing through my iTunes and my gift card is $5.99 poorer - 15 tracks too - amazing value!

This is the music business - it is alive and getting better all the time.