Sunday Sounds: 21st December 2014

 Sunday Sounds is a weekly music blog hosted here at Lassie Memo.

The purpose of Sunday Sounds is to share and discover upcoming artists and musical styles which may not otherwise be discovered. Think of it as free advertising for musicians and composers through social sharing. Anyone can join in – the more the merrier. Please do remember to link to your blog so that others can see what you share.

What to Do:

• Go to Soundcloud.com and click on the explore button.
• Choose a genre from the links at the left hand side and find a piece of music you really like.
• Share it. (Simple as that)
• Post the link to your blog post in the comments below

https://soundcloud.com/lesley-a-miles/sets/christmas-music

Since it is so very nearly Christmas, this week I decided that I wasn’t going to choose just one song. The playlist above features some of the best Christmas music available on Soundcloud, including some hidden gems that really do deserve a listen.

A lot of the songs are covers of popular Christmas hits, most with a unique twist. I especially like the below renditions of Have Yourself a Merry Christmas and A Spaceman Came Travelling.

Enjoy! And have a Merry Christmas.

L.A. Miles
Soundcloud
Latest Book: The Stone Dragon

Sunday Sounds: 7th December 2014

 Sunday Sounds is a weekly music blog hosted here at Lassie Memo.

The purpose of Sunday Sounds is to share and discover upcoming artists and musical styles which may not otherwise be discovered. Think of it as free advertising for musicians and composers through social sharing. Anyone can join in – the more the merrier. Please do remember to link to your blog so that others can see what you share.

What to Do:

• Go to Soundcloud.com and click on the explore button.
• Choose a genre from the links at the left hand side and find a piece of music you really like.
• Share it. (Simple as that)
• Post the link to your blog post in the comments below

This week I have chosen We Go Home by Adam Cohen because it’s the beginning of December, a month when many people think fondly about going home or visiting family. It’s a very emotive song with thoughtful lyrics and a lovely laid-back sound.

Please have a listen above and feel free to comment. If you are a Soundcloud member, please also visit Adam Cohen’s page where you can listen to more amazing tracks – I really feel he deserves more listens!

L.A. Miles
Soundcloud
Latest Book: The Stone Dragon

Sunday Sounds: 30th November 2014

 Sunday Sounds is a weekly music blog hosted here at Lassie Memo.

The purpose of Sunday Sounds is to share and discover upcoming artists and musical styles which may not otherwise be discovered. Think of it as free advertising for musicians and composers through social sharing. Anyone can join in – the more the merrier. Please do remember to link to your blog so that others can see what you share.

What to Do:

• Go to Soundcloud.com and click on the explore button.
• Choose a genre from the links at the left hand side and find a piece of music you really like.
• Share it. (Simple as that)
• Post the link to your blog post in the comments below

The other day I stumbled across this fantastic song on Soundcloud. Hold On Tight is a recent single from Ed Prosek which was released last month. Not an artist I have come across before, I am immediately impressed by this song. The vocals are just great, the lyrics are catchy with meaning and the music itself is very pleasant. I could happily listen to this for hours!

If you like this, you should also check out the rest of his music which is just as awesome.

L.A. Miles
Soundcloud
Latest Book: The Stone Dragon

Sunday Sounds: 9th November 2014

 Sunday Sounds is a weekly music blog hosted here at Lassie Memo.

The purpose of Sunday Sounds is to share and discover upcoming artists and musical styles which may not otherwise be discovered. Think of it as free advertising for musicians and composers through social sharing. Anyone can join in – the more the merrier. Please do remember to link to your blog so that others can see what you share.

What to Do:

• Go to Soundcloud.com and click on the explore button.
• Choose a genre from the links at the left hand side and find a piece of music you really like.
• Share it. (Simple as that)
• Post the link to your blog post in the comments below

I would like to apologise for the lack of posting over the last few months. My lovely Mother-in-Law was suddenly taken extremely ill and very sadly passed away at the end of August. Since then I have hardly read any books or listened to any music, so there was nothing for me to post about.

A while ago I came across The Piano Guys on Youtube and I’ve been kind of keeping an eye on them since. Recently I went and bought three of their albums from iTunes and I was not disappointed. They manage to seamlessly blend classical and modern music in a style that is completely their own. The video below is from their album simply entitled The Piano Guys, with the track beautifully merging David Guetta’s song Titanium with Faure’s Pavane (one of my favourite classical pieces). I can only admire both the skill of playing and of composing and I would urge anyone to check out their music!

L.A. Miles
Soundcloud
Latest Book: The Stone Dragon

Sunday Sounds: 11th August 2014

 Sunday Sounds is a weekly music blog hosted here at Lassie Memo.

The purpose of Sunday Sounds is to share and discover upcoming artists and musical styles which may not otherwise be discovered. Think of it as free advertising for musicians and composers through social sharing. Anyone can join in – the more the merrier. Please do remember to link to your blog so that others can see what you share.

What to Do:

• Go to Soundcloud.com and click on the explore button.
• Choose a genre from the links at the left hand side and find a piece of music you really like.
• Share it. (Simple as that)
• Post the link to your blog post in the comments below

Apologies that I am late posting this weekend – it was my birthday!

I have been a fan of Ian Fox Armour’s work for a while now and follow his stream on Soundcloud. What I really like about this new piece is the variety and how progressive it is. The beginning of the score promises something magical beyond, with enchanting piano, with the gradual addition of soulful strings. The beauty of this opening then swells to a wonderful crescendo, quietens right down for a lulling few moments and this makes the action theme which follows have more of an impact.

I love the different aspects of this piece and can only admire the way in which it has been crafted.

If you like this, why not check out more of Ian Fox Armour’s work here.

L.A. Miles
Soundcloud
Latest Book: The Stone Dragon

Sunday Sounds: 3rd August 2014

 Sunday Sounds is a weekly music blog hosted here at Lassie Memo.

The purpose of Sunday Sounds is to share and discover upcoming artists and musical styles which may not otherwise be discovered. Think of it as free advertising for musicians and composers through social sharing. Anyone can join in – the more the merrier. Please do remember to link to your blog so that others can see what you share.

What to Do:

• Go to Soundcloud.com and click on the explore button.
• Choose a genre from the links at the left hand side and find a piece of music you really like.
• Share it. (Simple as that)
• Post the link to your blog post in the comments below

Edgy and well-paced, I came across this wonderfully orchestrated piece in the Soundcloud group “Film Music”. Offer Resistance by Gerrit Wolf is the first track from the album Proving Ground. Gerrit Wolf has worked on projects for games like Skyrim and when listening to this piece of music, it is easy to understand why.

There is such ambience to this music and an impression of movement (I would say stealthy movement, but that may be a personal observation). This composition starts off with energy and never loses it, making brilliant use of percussion to achieve an almost aggressive intensity and strings mix at the start to create an oppressive sense. Further into the piece, the legato strings and brass lend a simply epic impression.

If you like this, why not check out more of Gerrit Wolf’s work here.
The album Proving Ground is available from Amazon or the Official Website, here.

L.A. Miles
Soundcloud
Latest Book: The Stone Dragon

Sunday Sounds: 27th July 2014

 Sunday Sounds is a weekly music blog hosted here at Lassie Memo.

The purpose of Sunday Sounds is to share and discover upcoming artists and musical styles which may not otherwise be discovered. Think of it as free advertising for musicians and composers through social sharing. Anyone can join in – the more the merrier. Please do remember to link to your blog so that others can see what you share.

What to Do:

• Go to Soundcloud.com and click on the explore button.
• Choose a genre from the links at the left hand side and find a piece of music you really like.
• Share it. (Simple as that)
• Post the link to your blog post in the comments below

While browsing one of the groups I belong to on Soundcloud, I came across this subtly amazing piece of music by Alexandre Lessertisseur. Retrouvailles apparently means rediscovery and this score beautifully represents this idea. I love the way all of the instruments work together here and the music is very atmospheric.

If you like this, why not check out more of Alexandre Lessertisseur’s work here.

L.A. Miles
Soundcloud
Latest Book: The Stone Dragon

Sunday Sounds: 29th June 2014

 Sunday Sounds is a weekly music blog hosted here at Lassie Memo.

The purpose of Sunday Sounds is to share and discover upcoming artists and musical styles which may not otherwise be discovered. Think of it as free advertising for musicians and composers through social sharing. Anyone can join in – the more the merrier. Please do remember to link to your blog so that others can see what you share.

What to Do:

• Go to Soundcloud.com and click on the explore button.
• Choose a genre from the links at the left hand side and find a piece of music you really like.
• Share it. (Simple as that)
• Post the link to your blog post in the comments below

I’m starting to feel a bit summery, so here is a very happy piece of music I happened across on Soundcloud that just gives me that holiday feeling! Since I’m going on a short holiday in about a week, this is just the right mood for me to be in.

If you get the chance, I would recommend checking out some more of Nicolai Heidlas‘ music over on Soundcloud. There are some fantastic instrumentals and since most of them are really upbeat, they’re fantastic for sticking on in the background when you have friends over. A lot of them are also free to download, but please remember to favourite any music you download, share to spread the word and thank Nicolai!

L.A. Miles
www.Goodreads.com
Latest Book: The Stone Dragon

Sunday Sounds: Shameless Plug

 Sunday Sounds is a weekly music blog hosted here at Lassie Memo.

The purpose of Sunday Sounds is to share and discover upcoming artists and musical styles which may not otherwise be discovered. Think of it as free advertising for musicians and composers through social sharing. Anyone can join in – the more the merrier. Please do remember to link to your blog so that others can see what you share.

What to Do:

• Go to Soundcloud.com and click on the explore button.
• Choose a genre from the links at the left hand side and find a piece of music you really like.
• Share it. (Simple as that)
• Post the link to your blog post in the comments below

This week I am shamelessly plugging a piece of music I composed myself. Why, you ask? Because it has been entered in a competition.

The competition is a social Facebook one, where people need to vote for your demo – and the ten with the most votes get judged by the panel. The issue with this is that Facebook has an app bummer whereby they require each app to receive information on people’s public profile (which includes their friends list!) and this has discouraged a lot of voters.

If you are interested in knowing more about the competition, you can find it here.

If you want to be really kind and vote for my demo, you can find it here.

As a result of the competition, a free 10 day demo of the software involved is available for download (this is what I used), so if you’re interested in trying out this awesome rock instrument sounds library, just visit the link to the competition above.

I really enjoyed using Ghostwriter, but personally think I deserve a medal for persevering with the installation. I had so many problems with this install it is ridiculous. It took a day to download, a day to get the product installed and correctly set up on my system (due to complications with having a previous Play engine installed) and then the authorisation software wouldn’t work (no matter what I tried). Eventually I had to install the authorisation software on a friend’s computer and authorise it that way (annoying!).

Having gotten the software working, I can honestly say it was a joy to work with. I love how versatile it is, the fact that an amp sound alteration can be applied to almost any instrument and the quality of the instruments. I think my favourite aspect of the library is the drums though – they sound so edgy.

L.A. Miles
www.Goodreads.com
Latest Book: The Stone Dragon

Tuesday Tune: 10th June 2014

The purpose of Tuesday Tune is to encourage the sharing and discovery of new music artists or styles. Anyone can join in – the more the merrier. Please do remember to link to your blog post so that others can see what you share.

To view Tuesday Tunes from previous weeks, please click here.

What to Do:

• Choose a piece of music you’ve listened to in the past week and tell us what you like or don’t like about it.
• Tell us what the last piece of music you listened to was and how you heard it (iPod, radio, in a shop etc.).
• Tell us if you have bought any music in the last week, why you purchased it and in what format (digital or CD).
• Do you have a musical reflection? Do you have any strong opinions or notions about music? Share it with us.
• Make sure to add the link to your post in the comments below.

My Musing:

One of my favourite artists is Nightwish, a symphonic rock band with amazing music. The track I wish to highlight this week is their The Crow, The Owl and the Dove which is full of emotion and power while not being over the top. I love the folksy aspect to a lot of their music, which couples nicely with the more modern sounds of hard rock.

The Crow, The Owl and the Dove is from the album Imaginaerum, of which I own the deluxe version on iTunes. The deluxe release includes instrumentals of each song – which are amazing in their own right – and I often listen just to these instrumentals.

L.A. Miles
www.Goodreads.com
Latest Book: The Stone Dragon

The Tuesday Tune music blog is brought to you by Lesley Miles at Lassie Memo