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To all our valued listeners and guests,
Song Talk Radio will be on a (hopefully short) hiatus. The station where we record the podcast is pretty small, and our guests are literally within spitting distance of the hosts and others.
In the meantime, we’ll be re-publishing some of our favourite theme episodes in our Throwback Thursday Themeshows series!
You can also take a listen to our vast archive of shows, read our blog, and take advantage of isolation and get some songwriting or recording done!
Best,
Michael, Neel, Phil, Don, and Vanessa
Fresh Content
Show date: May. 28, 2020
Ooh and ahh and doo and doe your way back to 2017, where we talked about songs with non-verbal hooks.
Check out the original show post.
Show date: May. 22, 2020
This week on SongTalk we look at a simple songwriting technique that may be more complicated than you think – songs with one chord progression.
That’s right, no guest this week just the SongTalk team – Phil, Neel and Mike – talking about the ways songs with just one series of chords repeated over and over have become huge hits. What’s the secret? Take a listen.
We talked about:
- where the single-chord idea came from historically
- how lyrics can make a big difference
- what arrangement of melodies work best
- how production can be help and when it’s a cheat
- creating dynamics with tension and release
Listen to the songs in full on our Spotify playlist or watch the videos:
Show date: May. 17, 2020
This week we welcomed Loryn Taggart back to the show, after her first appearance almost five years ago! The fast-rising jazz artist just released her album Irene, but showcased two of her other songs, The Guest and The Wedding Song.
We talked about:
- the recent passing of Little Richard, Dave Greenfield (keyboardist for the Stranglers), and Florian Schneider (co-founder of Kraftwerk)
- an interesting video about scams that target musicians
- how Loryn always starts with the music, not the lyrics
- the music scene in Montreal
- transitioning from emotions to writing poetic lyrics that can be interpreted differently
- how Loryn takes inspiration from other musicians and artists
- the balance between clever and cheesy
Download the lyrics to follow along:
Show date: May. 07, 2020
In this throwback from 2017, we talked about the benefits of attending the live Song Talk Meetup (formerly the Songwriter’s Meetup, formerly the Songwriter’s Cafe). This month’s meetup (May 2020) is online (and will be for the next while), so wherever you are in the world, you can attend. We hope to see you there!
Show date: Apr. 30, 2020
Here’s a super informative show from 2016 with Frank Horvat, who told us everything we were afraid to ask about chords and more!
Check out the original show post for all the resources we talked about on the show.