We got a ton of great submissions to our 2nd Annual Songwriters Challenge: Write a song that uses the same chord progression for the Verse, Chorus and Bridge, here are the first 4 selections. Sadie Aliza- Dirty Introvert Lorenzo Policelli – Tessler_s Bagel Shop Mike Davies – An Algorithm Said – AndersonofaPainter Don Thompson – …
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This week SongTalk welcomed Brendan and Adrian from The Fugitives to our studio. The Fugitives are a folk collective headed by songwriters Adrian Glynn and Brendan McLeod. They’re joined by banjo player Chris Suen (Viper Central) and violinist Carly Frey (The Coal Porters). Over the past twelve years, they’ve earned a reputation for unforgettable live …
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Bass player, guitarist, and songwriter with the 80s all-girl band The Go Go’s, Kathy Valentine, joined us from her home in Austin, Texas to talk about co-writing with the Go Go’s and her solo career. Kathy also recently published a hard-hitting memoir of her life as a musician (she’s been at this for over 40 …
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Neel, Michael and Phil show off their response to the 2nd Annual Songwriting Challenge: A song that uses the same chord progression for Verse, Chorus and Bridge. What are your fav 1-Chord-Progression Songs? Let us know in the comments. The Stuff: The death of Phil’s old Line6 BassPOD The Other Side by Neel Modi – …
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This week SongTalk welcomed Jay Gordon Wright to our show. Jay a multi-instrumentalist songwriter and performer who has entertained audiences around the world. He is classically trained on violin, and has expanded his musical toolshed to include just about every instrument he can get his hands on. Writing songs at the piano or with a …
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Delyn Grey is a Toronto-based artist looking to break some barriers via alt-rock waves. Delyn’s voice is rooted in the contemporary, but has a unique depth and richness of timbre, and maturity of emotion that distinguishes her not only from her like-aged peers, but from older, established artists as well. Delyn shared the process behind …
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For our final show of 2020, Vancouver’s “Focus Your Audio” stopped by to talk about production and creating music as a couple. We talked about: The upcoming Song Talk Radio Songwriting Challenge Fluevog Shoes The importance of pre-production Networking Over There Lyrics https://www.warehousestudio.com/ https://focusyouraudio.ca/ https://www.instagram.com/officialfyamusic https://www.facebook.com/officialfyamusic https://www.Twitter.com/fyamusic https://open.spotify.com/artist/6w3jlOmjXGUk2GgNUYW5By?si=5cv6pr8XQribBzW6zvk9MA Vancouver-based duo Focus Your Audio’s latest …
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This week SongTalk welcomed Mark Cawley to our (virtual) studio. Mark Cawley is a hit songwriter, best selling author, in demand speaker, songwriting coach, and popular blogger. As a songwriter his songs have been on more than 16 million records to date – with a long list of cuts with legendary artists ranging from Tina …
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This week we reflected on the year that was 2020, and what a memorable year we had! We changed our format from a live radio broadcast / podcast to a Zoom meet pre-recorded podcast, but that also opened up our guests to join us from anywhere in the world, not just Toronto. We talked about: …
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We talk about: Listener letters: Holiday Gift Guide: Keeping notes in a “hook book” Handheld recorders: TASCAM DR-40 Bill Blacks’ Musician Office System The Song Talk Radio Song Challenge Poetry vs. Songs COBOCONK CHORDS http://www.harpinnorm.com
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BBC Radio has called Melanie, “Mary Poppins with a broken heart” and that is just part of her appeal. Besides her beautiful voice, Melanie is a terrific songwriter with lots of great songs to prove it. Her tune “Christmas Breaks My Heart” was a finalist in the Great American Songwriting Contest. And now Melanie has …
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Singer-songwriter and Jitters frontman Blair Packham joined us for our latest annual Holiday Gift Guide. We talked about gift suggestions in every price range. Happy shopping for the musician in your life, for yourself, or for your favourite songwriting podcast host (hint: that’s Neel). Thanks to our listeners Don Thomspon, Lorenzo D. Policelli, and Matt …
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We talk about the songwriting do’s and don’ts as well as: The 2nd Annual Songwriting Challenge The Annual Holiday Gift Guide Songwriting Dos and Don’ts on Discmakers DO: Write a cool opening line DON’T: Make your chorus melody too much like your verse melody DO: Write interesting titles DON’T: Be afraid to rewrite DO: Polish …
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This week SongTalk welcomed Doktor Nomi to our studio. Admittedly Nomi is not a real doctor but he does have a unique and interesting way of creating music. As a topliner and lyricist, Nomi frequently works with other collaborators to create his music. Most recently, he and SongTalk’s own Neel Modi have been working together …
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This week we welcomed The Sun Harmonic (aka Kaleb Hikele) back to the show to share his latest single A Dream I’ve Had with us. Kaleb was challenged to write, record, and release a song in 48 hours, and he totally did it! We talked about: Our latest songwriting challenge and how our listeners are …
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Having just released both a French and English version of her latest single, “Self-Talk Session”, Montreal based pop/funk singer Izabelle reached #1 on Quebec’s Niky radio charts and has spent weeks within their top ten, secured four consecutive victories in the Canadian Beats Weekly Beatdown, and has had the English version of her hit single …
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This week SongTalk featured a few songs from our listeners. And it was loads of fun. We chose three of our listeners’ songs to take a closer listen to. Stuart Cook – near Manchester, England penned a delightful song inspired by the view from a hill near his home. Earthbound, his song has a traditional …
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This week we were saddened by the passing away of guitar icon Eddie Van Halen. We talked about his amazing talent and some more stuff. We talked about: Mandolin Orange cover version of Bob Dylan’s Boots of Spanish Leather, and songs with two different points of view (thanks to Jeff from Michigan for the email) …
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Neel plays a track off his latest EP with special guest Lexie Jay from local TO Duo, Featurette. Ace Symmetry is Neel Modi’s experimental EP of progressive electro-pop. Odd time signatures and nonsensical lyrics are combined with inventive beats, cool synth sounds, and catchy keyboard solos to create a unique and fun sonic experience. The …
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This week Song Talk Radio welcomed Gilbert Neal to our studio. A master song craftsman, Gilbert Neal – on his latest release Mistakes of Memory shows the depth and diversity of his influences: Leonard Cohen, Pink Floyd, ELO, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, Stephen Sondheim. Relying on his mastery of musical theatre and zeal for classic …
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Rosh Grove is a R&B singer and songwriter from Toronto, ON, Canada. As an artist, Grove is a dreamer, believer and driven to be an achiever of success in the music industry. His music tells his story of perseverance and overcoming adversity regardless of circumstances. Grove is driven by passion for the art, and telling …
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Actor, playwright, filmmaker, and musician, Michael Louis Johnson shares his experiences with his improvisation bands Rambunctious and Little Rambunctious, 13-member and 5-member brass bands, respectively. We talked about: Michael’s approach to improvising a lyric for a song title suggested by an audience member How to create lyrics based on who’s in the audience The value …
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Canadian Juno and Latin Grammy winning artist, Alex Cuba joined us to talk about his songwriting process and perform a new song, Solo Mia, live on the show. We talked about: Alex’s first visit to Canada as part of his father’s band How a melody-first way of songwriting tells Alex what the song is about …
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Jeff returns to our show to talk about scoring for films and how you can start on your own journey. From Pickering, Ontario, he has written music for film, worked as a session keyboard player, orchestrator and arranger in Toronto, and has released his own original album Great Expectations, which received airplay across Canada. We …
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