This week SongTalk welcomed our old friend Blair Packham to our studio.
The Toronto-based artist, first gained attention for his work with ’80’s power pop band The Jitters. He is now an acclaimed solo artist and musician. Blair released two strongly-reviewed solo albums before shifting his focus to composing music for TV and films, teaching songwriting at the post-secondary level and in numerous special event workshops, and co-hosting a long-running major market weekly radio show about music (“In the Studio” on the BellMedia talk radio network).…
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About three months ago, we asked our listeners to suggest a songwriting challenge or prompt for us to explore. Organizations like the Toronto Songwriting Association often prompt their members with challenges such as “Take a cliche and turn it on its head”, or “Write a song about a home appliance.”…
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This week SongTalk welcomed FEATURETTE to our studio.
The Toronto-based duo FEATURETTE, formed by singer Lexie Jay and drummer, Jon Fedorsen, makes emotionally-charged, heavy-hitting electro-pop music that has been met with international critical acclaim.
After receiving their first full recording grant from FACTOR Canada, the duo released their debut LP CRAVE in October, 2016.…
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This week, professional singer/songwriter, voice actor & co-founder of Silverthorn Studios recording, Taylor Abrahamse joined us in the studio at SongTalk World Headquarters. Taylor was a Top 40 finalist on Canadian Idol, has performed on stages across Ontario, has also written & produced musicals, and music for animated series and viral internet music through Corus, DHX & Super Planet Dolan.…
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This week SongTalk welcomed Robert Ball to our studio.
A native Torontonian, Robert Ball is a multi-faceted singer who has traveled to and performed in over 60 countries around the world.
His sound has been described as soulful, jazzy, Neo-soul and he is a much in-demand session singer.…
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R&B singer/songwriter talks about how to work with beats supplied by producers and performing live.
AND we announce the RocketMan contest: Win 2 free tickets to the invite only advanced screening of the Elton John biopic, Rocketman, Wednesday, June 29th in Toronto.…
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Visiting from the United Kingdom, Pena Hughes-John joined us with two of her original songs. We talked about:
- Steampunk as a culture, fashion statement, and musical style
- Writing songs on the ukulele
- How many chords is too many?
- Collaborating with others
- Writing a song from a writing prompt
- Using time signature changes to introduce tension
- Our show all about rhymes with Blair Packham
- Using reverse vocals in your recordings
Listen to the show
Download the lyrics for:
…
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Audio Insurgency returned to the show to talk about a boat load of music stuff, as well as showcasing two of their pop songs. We talked about:
- Vox’s Earworm videos, in particular the one in support of fade-outs in recordings
- Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast episode about country music, The King of Tears
- writing and placing music for video games
- getting your songs into placement for TV or movies
- the role of the producer in the creation of songs for maximum impact
- writing a song completely in the digital realm (Abelton Live, in this case)
- why deadlines are a good thing
Listen to the show
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Indie rockers One in the Chamber joined us following the release of their first studio EP, I’ve Got Something To Say…. We talked about:
- One in the Chamber’s first appearance on Song Talk Radio
- difference between their demo EP and their studio EP (hint: pre-production)
- writing as a band collaboration
- thwarting conventions around song structure
- guitar solos: a good thing or a bad thing?
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Singer/songwriter Linda Lavender shares the story of her song They Won’t Catch Me Again. Follow her journey from it’s birth on a five-hour road trip to its studio recording. We talked about:
- Linda’s album The Rosseau Sessions with Often Running
- Bluegrass music
- Influencers like Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, Alison Krauss
- People on the run, rebels, a female protagonist
Listen to the whole show
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On this program Bruce, Neel, and Phil, (and Linda) each brought a three-chord song to share. We looked at what each song needed to do (if anything) to compensate for the lack of chord diversity. We talked about:
Listen to the whole show
The lyrics
Download the chord/lyric sheets to follow along:
Ming-Tea-BBC
Now-You’re-Leaving_Lyrics
Radiohead-Street-Spirit
The-Joker…
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The Song Talk Team reviews songwriting apps, with special guest Allister Bradley, who went above the call of duty and showed up on crutches!
Listen to the show
We talked about:
- MasterWriter – a lyric-writing app with built-in thesaurus and rhyming dictionary
- Music Memos – like having a back up band in your pocket!
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Toronto singer/songwriter Michael Thorner dropped by the studio for a chat about his music. He brought two catchy tunes from his recent webcast/album release The ehMTee Show; Don’t Let it Go and Point Edward Fair. We talked about:
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Teen-aged jazz/soul superstar Avery Raquel joined us to talk about moving from covers of jazz standards to her own blend of jazz and soul to better connect with her audience. We talked about:
- Jazz standards by Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra
- Listening to songs analytically
- Tension and release in a song (and how Avery is amazing at it)
- “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus” – or not?
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Singer/songwriter Angela Saini returns with a couple of great tunes and some pretty in depth talk about songwriting concepts.
Listen to the full show
Stuff we talked about:
…
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We figured it was time to talk about rhyme; a cornerstone of songwriting. So we invited one of our favourite singer/songwriters – Blair Packham – to take a closer listen to songs with a plethora of rhymes and one with virtually none!…
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Part way through her cross-country tour which began in her hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, singer/songwriter Rebecca Lappa stopped in at the Song Talk Radio studio to share two original songs. She was accompanied on piano by the talented musician Nick Samoil.…
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We had the pleasure of having the prolific Toronto poet, novelist, and singer/songwriter Robert Priest (with David Hynes on guitar) back in the studio to share a couple of his children’s songs. We talked about…
- testing a song on a 6-year old
- moving from writing for adults to writing for children on the same day
- chord choices for children
- writing for younger and older children (the differences)
- kids deserve quality songwriting
- “Inchworm” (an old favourite)
- repetition in kids’ songs
- using words that kids will have to look up (why not?)
…
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True to form for Song Talk Radio, the day before Valentine’s Day seemed a good day to talk about break-up songs. So Phil brought “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)” by Jim Croce, Neel chose “One More Minute” by “Weird Al” Yankovic, Bruce performed a new original tune “I Don’t Love You Anymore”, and Vanessa selected “White Blank Page” by the band Mumford & Sons.…
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Blues-rock-soul singer-songwriter Gravely James shares his journey from a trumpet-playing kid to a kickin’ singer-songwriter. He also treated us to two incredibly energetic performances of his songs. We talked about:
Download the lyrics for Farewell Anita and Snapchat Lady
Listen to the whole show
Watch the live performances
…
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You don’t necessarily need to have a fantastic voice to write or even perform songs well. We looked at some of our favorite songwriters with unusual voices and how they did it.
Listen to the episode
We talked about
- Is pitchy the same thing as unconventional?
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Popular guest co-host and guest on Song Talk Radio, Patrick Ballantyne dropped by the studio to share two of his favourite Canadian songs. “Help Me” by Joni Mitchell is a great example of her unique combination of melody, structure, and lyrics to evoke a casual conversational tone.…
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Michelle Thibodeau is a pop-folk singer/songwriter from Moncton, New Brunswick, now based in Toronto. She performed live for Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber (2012) and David Foster (June 2017) as well as recently playing the leading lady “Nancy” in a professional production of Oliver the Musical.…
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The always surprising, risk-taking, gear-shifting, soul-belting Oh Chays are beholden to no single genre. Currently writing and recording their second album, The Oh Chays are a husband and wife duo raised on trad jazz, rockabilly, gospel, and the Detroit radio of the 70’s and 80’s.…
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