N Rajam is surprised that you see a quartet of women violinists from across three generations of a family as an inspirational saga of feminist triumph. “Really? Things have changed now, no?” she asks, strong eyebrows raised in mild amusement.
You argue back. What about gender discrimination? Male dominance in the tradition of musical lineage? “Aisi koi pareshani nahin hai,” she says firmly in her distinctive Hindi – an assured, clipped delivery, Benaresi lilt and a whiff of the South.
At 84, Rajam, the most popular Hindustani violinist today, simply refuses to accept the pestilential idea of pareshani. On her list of virtues, the word that ranks highest is discipline. “Ammaji” to all, Rajam’s indomitable spirit is matched only by her striking persona – the angular face centred by a trademark large red bindi, the essential nosepin and bright Kanjeevarams.
Her life makes for a fascinating story – prodigious Carnatic beginnings in Chennai, her pioneering work in Benares in the 1950s, a career spanning nearly seven decades and, now, her place at the centre of the female foursome. But she herself cannot see what the fuss is all about.
At 84, Rajam is the most popular Hindustani violinist today. Courtesy: N Rajam.
There is something undeniably uplifting about watching and hearing the energetic Rajam family at work, totally prepared and effervescent. She, her daughter Sangeeta Shankar and granddaughters Nandini and Ragini began performing together over a decade ago, when the youngsters were barely in their teens. Rajam’s niece Kala Ramnath is an acclaimed violinist as well. And if you were to count the children of her brother, the late Carnatic maestro TN Krishnan, the clan has nearly a dozen violinists.
“You have to just put the violin in their hands at age three and make sure they don’t give up,” said Rajam about the family formula. “It has to be done. No negotiations.”
At Delhi’s India International Centre, Rajam’s quartet lit up the annual Festival of Lights this Diwali with the essential family fizz. As always, their violins sang in remarkable approximation of the human voice, with all its emotive embellishments like the meend and the gamak.
What they play is free-flowing, unorchestrated, and not the easiest thing to pull off as a team, a jugalbandi multiplied by four. Space has to be created, ceded, ego has to be set aside and respect given for the other’s creative strength, all the while ensuring that the music is seamless.
Three generations of Rajam’s family play Raga Madhuvanti.
“We are all equally capable and so grounded in this music that it is like having a conversation – the give and take is natural,” said Sangeeta. She points to how the three generations have looked at the violin differently – her mother brought a shift in its playing technique, she herself was focused on how it is heard using technology, and her savvy daughters, digital natives both, are experimenting with how it is seen.
String theory
The violin, a European instrument that arrived in the English, French and Portuguese colonies in India in the 18th century, rules the Carnatic universe, both as a solo and accompanying instrument. But in Hindustani music, it has a very small place. It was only around the 1910s that the violin appeared as a classical instrument in Hindustani music, about a full century after it integrated into the Carnatic tradition.
The violin’s absorption into Carnatic music occurred sometime in the early 19th century. It had arrived earlier at Fort St George in Chennai as an instrument to entertain British officers. One story has it that Baluswami, brother of the poet-composer Muthuswami Dikshitar of the famed Carnatic music trinity, was enchanted by the fiddle and learned to play it from an English tutor in Chennai. Another credits the violin’s Carnatic origins to the Thanjavur musician Vadivelu, who learned it from the Christian missionary Friederich Schwartz.
Rajam, Bismillah Khan and Kishan Maharaj play a purbi (eastern) dhun.
Over two centuries, the violin went on to become an integral part of the Carnatic system, highly vocalised in how it was played. This evolution forms the crux of anthropologist Amanda Weidman’s book Singing the Classical, Voicing the Modern: The Postcolonial Politics of Music in South India. Weidman says the Carnatic violin became a “ventriloquizer” for the human voice because the community wanted to “create a distinctively Indian sound, a representative ‘voice’ not in danger of being confused with anything remotely Western”. So strong was the violin’s influence that the singing voice itself was amended to get the violin effect, she says.
Hindustani musicians became aware of the charm of the violin sometime in the early 1900s, estimates musicologist Suneera Kasliwal.
It was Parur Sundaram Iyer, a masterly Carnatic violinist from Kerala, who brought the instrument to the Gandharva Maha Vidyalaya in Mumbai, where he taught it while learning the Hindustani system from Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, the school’s legendary founder. (Iyer’s son, the versatile musician MS Gopalakrishnan, was to later play the violin in both Hindustani and Carnatic systems fluently.) This development produced a strong line of violinists from Maharashtra: DK Datar, Gajananrao Joshi and VG Jog, among them.
Rajam plays Raga Yaman.
Meanwhile, another stream of Hindustani violin was evolving along the eastern coast. The legendary Allauddin Khan, who had astonishing mastery over an array of instruments, was also mastering the violin in Kolkata. His son Ali Akbar Khan speaks of how he was first taught basic violin by Swami Vivekananda’s brother Habu Datta and later refined his skills under the Goan orchestra leader Lobo Prabhu.
Allauddin Khan’s students included some great violinists, such as Jog, Rabin Ghosh and Sisirkana Dhar Chowdhury, a very private but highly gifted artiste who is considered by some to be the first woman violin player in the Hindustani tradition (she and Rajam are just a year apart in age and their careers share more or less similar timelines).
Vocal chords
Rajam arrived on the Hindustani scene in Benares at the age of 20 after already being trained in the Carnatic style by her father, A Narayana Iyer, and the vocal colossus Musiri Subramania Iyer. At age 14, Rajam famously played for MS Subbulakshmi.
Rajam was trained in the Carnatic style by her father, A Narayana Iyer, and Musiri Subramania Iyer, before she arrived on the Hindustani scene. Courtesy: N Rajam.
The predominant manner of violin playing in Hindustani at the time was gatkari or tantrakari, the plucked string style typical to sitar and sarod. It is a complex tradition associated with many gharanas, including the Allauddin Khan school, which does not emphasise sustained lingering on a note or bol – the technique that can wrest something similar to human singing.
For Rajam, the decision to switch to the vocal style of instrument playing despite the dominance of the tantrakari style was instinctive. “I was already playing the vocal style of playing the violin because that was the Carnatic tradition,” she recalled. “And I thought why not play the gayaki pattern on the Hindustani violin too. The long bow of the violin allows for the continuity of tone and you could see the ocean of difference this style could bring to music.” She has spoken elsewhere about those early years, when she was criticised for imposing the Carnatic style on Hindustani.
At 20, Rajam was offered a lectureship at the Banaras Hindu University and she left for a new life, her protective parents accompanying her to ease her life in an alien city and culture. “It turned out to be a perfect place,” she said.
Rajam makes little of the many achievements in her life. Courtesy: N Rajam.
In her attempt to vocalise the violin in Hindustani style, Rajam had the support and mentorship of two men, both “strict disciplinarians” – her father, and a giant of the Hindustani vocal field, Omkarnath Thakur. The latter, a student of Paluskar, was known to be a hard taskmaster and a temperamental man with strong nationalistic views (he is said to have sung for Mussolini at a concert in Florence). His singing was known for its use of vocal histrionics and stress on high-octane emotionalism. For Rajam, then, the need to reproduce the khayal or the thumri on her violin became a natural choice.
“I could play any vocal form on my violin – khayal, dhrupad, thumri,” she said. “You could give me any vocal passage, and I could pull it off on the violin.” Rajam actually accompanied Thakur on the violin in his vocal concerts, a very unusual privilege because khayal singers only use the sarangi and the harmonium for accompaniment. The other violinist to pull off this feat was DK Datar, who played for DV Paluskar.
Generational wealth
After she retired from the Banaras Hindu University, where both her academic and performative career thrived, Rajam moved to Mumbai and then Thane, where she now lives, as do Sangeetha and the grandchildren. Thane now, the family quip goes, is the hub of all violin playing.
“We had no choice,” said Nandini on following the family tradition. “Who is discerning at age three anyway? Just as we resisted bathing, we resisted practice. But Ammaji was a strict guru. She was a mix of the grandmother and the teacher – some scolding, some cajoling, some pointing to the birds and the teddy. But she persisted and by the time we were 12-13 we learnt to love this music.”
Rajam’s granddaughters Nandini and Ragini started learning the violin at age three. Courtesy: N Rajam.
Today, the four are so imbued with the Rajam technique that their creative discussions are quite democratic. Nandini and Ragini are venturesome with creative experiments, collaborating with other artistes and styles, and freely using digital technology to create new musical expressions.
“We talk about what we are doing with our mother and Ammaji, but our musical standard is the same, so the discussions are honest and respectful,” said Nandini, whose fusion work with her husband Mahesh Raghavan, titled The Kapi Dance, went viral in the early phase of the Covid-19 lockdown. It featured the violin and GeoShred, a music app.
And what does Rajam think of these radical shifts? “Times have changed. It’s okay,” she responded, sotto voce. “It was hard when I changed things around too. But if it has to be done, it has to be done.”
Rajam plays Raga Durga.
Malini Nair is a writer and senior editor based in New Delhi. She is a Kalpalata Fellow for Classical Music Writings for 2021.
Brandon McPhee, a renowned country musician from Caithness, shares his week in five pictures. Image: Paul Smith.
Brandon McPhee is a rising star in the British country music scene.
Based in Caithness, Brandon has played in various venues across his career to date, including Buckingham Palace.
His new album, Mr Country, was released last week (Friday October 28) and he has a number of Christmas shows lined up this December, including performances at St Giles Church in Elgin and the British Legion Club in Dingwall.
Visit www.brandonmcphee.com for more information.
Brandon pictured alongside renowned Irish musical duo Foster and Allen. Image: Brandon McPhee.
Here I am preparing to go on stage with Foster and Allen at our music weekend held every year in Jury’s Inn, Dyce. We played Walking on the Waves and The Bluebell Polka. This is a huge honour for me, I’ve looked up to Foster and Allen since I was 10 years old.
Brandon at St John’s Kirk, Perth. Image: Brandon McPhee.
Meeting with church elders in St John’s Kirk, Perth, for my Christmas Concert with the band on December 7. This venue is spectacular and has an amazing sound.
Finding some time to relax is essential. Image: Brandon McPhee.
Warming up and relaxing for our show with the band in the Campsie Accordion and Fiddle Club in Lennoxtown and promoting our concert in Stirling in February. This chair is so comfy, I’d like one on the van travelling… as if!
Brandon ready to perform with his band in Skye. Image: Brandon McPhee.
All ready for the stage in the Isle of Skye, Royal Hotel. I’ve performed in Skye for many years and love the scenery, but being from Caithness, I’m just not used to all the rain it seems to get when we are there!
Brandon before playing a special performance with the Prince’s Foundation. Brandon McPhee.
Performing at the Castle of Mey for very special private guests of the Prince’s Foundation. The last time I was performing here was in August for Prince Charles, as he was then. A wonderful venue steeped in so much history.
The outstanding achievement in music award went to Sir Rod, who also performed live at the ceremony
The ceremony returned to Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom for the second time as it raised funds for Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Charity.
The outstanding achievement in music award went to Sir Rod, who also performed live at the ceremony.
Capaldi took home the Raymond Weil Global Artist of the Year Award.
The Someone You Loved singer said the ceremony was where he was given his first ever musical award.
His comeback song Forget Me catapulted to the top of the charts following its release in September.
Nutini was also recognised at the event as he scooped the best album and best live act accolades follow a comeback after a four-year hiatus.
Gerry Cinnamon was awarded the King Tut’s songwriting award on the night.
Sandra Schembri, chief executive of Nordoff Robbins, said: “What a fantastic night at the Specsavers Scottish Music Awards.
“We are humbled by the Scottish music industry’s ongoing support of Nordoff Robins and grateful to all the winners and performers that joined us at the Barrlowlands the year.
“The funds raised through the SMAs will go directly towards our mission to continue sharing the power of music as far and wide as possible, helping people to connect and communicate through music therapy.”
Other winners included Clare Grogan from new wave band Altered Images who scooped the living legend award.
Social media star Rianne Downey was awarded the breakthrough award, while Tamzene, who opened the show, won the rising star accolade.
The View were awarded the special recognition honour, while Wet Leg were named as the best UK artist.
And Bros bassist turned record label boss Craig Logan was recognised by the Go Radio music industry award.
The 24th edition of the awards was hosted by Scottish presented Edith Bowman.
The Nordoff Robbins charity uses music to help those affected by life-limiting physical and mental illness, disabilities or feelings of isolation.
The aftermath of COVID-19 continues to be felt in the world of academia, and its impact has extended to The Hollywood Reporter‘s annual list of the world’s best music schools. Some programs, like the Sundance Institute Film Scoring Program, have shut down, while others have managed to launch and survive during the pandemic. The Film Scoring Academy of Europe makes its debut on this list, and another new program, at Brooklyn College/CUNY’s Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, offers a master of fine arts degree in media scoring. The past year also has upended THR‘s top rankings a bit as ascendant Columbia College Chicago moves into the top spot, overtaking perennial leaders USC Los Angeles Thornton School of Music and The Juilliard School.
To achieve the rankings this year, THR reached out to insiders in the film and television music community and polled members of Hollywood’s Society of Composers and Lyricists, the Composers Diversity Collective, the Alliance of Women Film Composers and the music branches of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Television Academy.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
1. Columbia College
Chicago
Columbia has been trending steadily upward on THR‘s survey for the past few years and in 2022 finally hits the top of the list. The Illinois-based school offers a two-year master of fine arts program in music composition for the screen, headed by Kubilay Uner, focusing on film, television, advertising, video games and other interactive media. Students attend a five-week semester in Los Angeles, interning with professional composers and employing professional musicians and engineers in studio recording and mixing sessions. Says Uner: “The goal of this program is for everything that we do to enable and facilitate the direct employment of our graduates in media music.”
Some of the program’s graduates include DeAndre James Allen-Toole (God’s Country, starring Thandiwe Newton); Jesi Nelson, who wrote the music for Star Wars Biomes as the first female and first person of color to serve as a composer on a Star Wars property; and Batu Sener, who wrote the music for TheIce AgeAdventures of Buck Wild.
One seasoned Hollywood composer impressed by Columbia College alumni and by Uner himself is Harry Gregson-Williams (House of Gucci, The Last Duel), who first met Uner at the Sundance composer lab. “He’s so passionate, and he’s a very accomplished composer himself,” Gregson-Williams says. “I was supposed to be mentoring him, and I could tell that he was hugely talented. I’ve noticed that, more so than any students I usually interact with, the Columbia students impress me with their razor-sharp attitude toward film music.”
TUITION $29,270
NOTABLE ALUMNI Paul Broucek (Warner Bros. Pictures president of music, in charge of three Lord of the Rings films); Liz Mandeville (blues musician)
Berklee’s screen scoring program, chaired by Sean McMahon, offers bachelor’s degrees in film and media scoring and game and interactive media scoring as well as options to minor in screen scoring or take a specialization in the video game scoring course. Berklee alumni and Stranger Things music editor Lena Glikson helped create one of the year’s most talked-about visual music moments when she incorporated Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” into fourth-season episodes of the Netflix horror series and won an Emmy in the process. Composer Joe Kraemer (Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation) credits his time at Berklee in the ’90s with giving him the tools to excel as a composer. “I was a sort of self-trained wannabe Paul McCartney when I went in, [and] when I left, I felt like I could conduct an orchestra and write a score.”
International students can take advantage of Berklee’s scoring program and facilities at Berklee’s campus in Valencia, Spain.
TUITION $46,950
NOTABLE ALUMNI Ramin Djawadi (House of the Dragon composer), Alan Silvestri (Ready Player One composer)
USC’s 20-student master’s degree program in screen scoring is now run by Jeanine Cowen, the previous assistant chair at Berklee College, succeeding interim director Patrick Kirst. Cowen and Kirst point out that USC’s faculty and student body has grown substantially more diverse this year, with Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Bleeding Fingers Music specifically sponsoring African American students each school year. “We are hoping to change the face of the industry, and I think we have the ability to do so,” Cowen says. “Not only did Sony/ATV continue their support for the scholarship, but they doubled it. So we now have two Bleeding Fingers Sony grants — full rides, including housing, living expenses and technology budgets so that they can make sure that they’re up and running when they start the program.”
TUITION $51,442
NOTABLE ALUMNI Michael Abels (Nope composer), Jerry Goldsmith (Chinatown composer)
4. The Juilliard School
New York
As one of the world’s most renowned conservatories, Juilliard has been known more for pure music education, with even some graduates acknowledging that the school hasn’t dipped its toes in media scoring until the past few years. Its Center for Innovation in the Arts originally promoted interdisciplinary work and experimental art projects that incorporated new technology, but under program director Edward Bilous, Juilliard has developed impressive media scoring classes, including composing for visual media, an independent study in emerging and collaborative arts and a scoring-to-picture workshop. “We kind of got into doing the traditional film scoring route through the back door,” Bilous says. “Juilliard doesn’t have filmmakers. So it’s not like USC or UCLA or NYU or any of these other big universities where they just walk across the hall and there’s a whole film department. So instead, we reached out and developed a partnership with film schools all around the country. And we pair our composers with filmmakers in Australia and London and, this year, Iceland, Hong Kong and Korea.”
TUITION $52,250
NOTABLE ALUMNI Bill Conti (Rocky composer), John Williams (Star Wars composer)
5. UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music
Los Angeles
While the Herb Alpert School is a more traditional conservatory, its master’s and Ph.D. programs offer a specialization in either composition or composition for visual media.
“[Students are] being fully trained as composers in the big picture,” says Peter Golub, who teaches film scoring at UCLA and USC. “I work with the ones who are interested in music for visual media, master’s and doctoral students, occasionally undergrads. The classes are fairly small, so it’s pretty in-depth work. There are typically about eight in the class, and then as they go on, they also do work with me privately. I connect them to filmmakers at UCLA, both live-action and animation. So I create mixers where composers and filmmakers get to meet and share each other’s work.”
The conservatory-style learning environment also features an abundance of state-of-the-art recording and performance facilities. “There is a full complement of all the orchestral instruments and singers, plus the jazz program,” says Golub. “So there are a lot of people around that they can tap into to record their stuff.”
TUITION $13,239 (in-state)
NOTABLE ALUMNI Randy Newman (songwriter, Toy Story composer), Nancy Sinatra (singer)
6. The San Francisco Conservatory of Music
SFCM composition chair David Conte teaches a music for film class, and the school also partners with the San Francisco International Film Festival to allow students to work directly with filmmakers. A one-year professional studies diploma provides studies in workflow technologies, including composing at the keyboard; sound recording and sound design; production techniques in Apple Logic Pro X; and others. SFCM’s Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program boasts a “mothership” recording studio so sophisticated that the Recording Academy hosted listening sessions for its annual Grammy Awards competition at the venue. But it’s the school’s location in Silicon Valley that fuels the TAC program with talent, technology and funding from the video game industry, and boasts a direct path for students into the world of scoring for games. TAC students get firsthand experience scoring in-development games and the opportunity to record their music at Skywalker Sound.
TUITION $51,300
NOTABLE ALUMNI George Duke (composer and songwriter), John Adams (composer/conductor)
7. Eastman School of Music
Rochester, New York
Founded by composer Jeff Beal (House of Cards) and directed for the past two years by composer Mark Watters, Eastman’s Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media offers a two-year master’s program that accepts no more than six students a year. The school boasts a strong working relationship with the Rochester Institute of Technology and its film, animation and video game schools and hosts a biannual “Artist Call,” in which composers are teamed with filmmakers to collaborate on projects.
Watters says the program’s number of applicants doubled this year. “I suspect the lessening of COVID-related issues contributed to this, but I’d like to think that word is getting out about the program,” he says.
TUITION $60,550
NOTABLE ALUMNI Chuck Mangione (flugelhorn player), Laurence Rosenthal (Man of La Mancha composer)
8. The Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Oberlin, Ohio
Chaired by Tom Lopez, Oberlin’s bachelor of music: technology in music and related arts degree trains students for graduate study in electroacoustic music, interdisciplinary performance and digital media. The program combines music technology studies with conservatory classes in music theory, aural skills and musicology as well as extracurricular projects like dance and theater performance. The student-to-teacher ratio is a generous six-to-one, and the school offers financial aid through grants, loans and student employment intended to meet the financial needs of all its students. The school recently partnered with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and the Global Foundation for the Performing Arts to expand access to international students.
TUITION $61,106
NOTABLE ALUMNI David Amram (composer of 1962’s The Manchurian Candidate), James McBride (novelist/musician)
9. New England Conservatory of Music
Boston
NEC celebrates its 255th year as one of the nation’s most venerable and prestigious music schools. Located a block from Boston’s Symphony Hall, NEC boasts long-established working relationships with the Boston Symphony, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Emmanuel Music and the Boston Chamber Music Society. The school’s Robert Ceely Electronic Music Studio is an electronic music composition suite that includes mixing hardware and software and a collection of hardware synthesizers that range from the newest designs available back to fascinating and iconic relics of the 1960s.
TUITION $54,210
NOTABLE ALUMNI Conrad Pope (My Week With Marilyn composer-arranger), Ralph Burns (All Dogs Go to Heaven composer)
10. Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
Bloomington, Indiana
Jacobs’ music scoring for visual media program director is associate professor Larry Groupé, who modified the program in 2019 to include a master’s degree, undergraduate and doctoral minors and two certificate degrees. Students engage in recording sessions at the Joshi Studio, work with the Media School and IU’s film program on film projects, attend special presentations with film industry guests and collaborate with the student body of trained instrumentalists who perform their music. “The scoring program here has yet again doubled its enrollment this fall, with 23 new master’s students here for their scoring degree,” Groupé says.
TUITION $36,932
NOTABLE ALUMNI Joshua Bell (violinist/conductor), Leonard Slatkin (conductor)
11. Film Scoring Academy of Europe
Sofia, Bulgaria
The school, which was launched by former Disney music executive Andy Hill in fall 2019, managed to survive the pandemic that decimated others — particularly music programs — worldwide. Hill has made it his mission to grant students access to the kind of large-scale symphonic orchestras that only major film productions can afford. “Economically, Bulgaria’s still emerging from the Soviet shadow of three decades ago — their economy has never quite found its proper footing,” he says. “They’re part of the European Union, but they aren’t on the currency yet. And for the moment, at least, that makes the services of people like recording musicians, engineers in studios very, very economical.” That’s not all that’s economical — tuition and living expenses are also reasonable.
TUITION $33,892
12. New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development
Steinhardt offers bachelor of music and master of music degrees in music theory and composition: screen scoring — co-directed by Dr. Ron Sadoff and Mark Suozzo — where students get the opportunity to work on 25 recording sessions per year involving orchestras in what Suozzo describes as “a laboratory for the professional world.” The school also brings in professionals like Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings) and Sean Callery (Jessica Jones) to critique student compositions and recordings.
TUITION $26,885
NOTABLE ALUMNI Gavin Brivik (How to Blow Up a Pipeline composer), Ariel Marx (Sanctuary composer)
13. Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program — Seattle Film Institute
Seattle
The Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program offers a master of music in film composition run by Hummie Mann. Students work on 10 scoring projects, conduct live recording sessions, work on remote sessions, produce electronic and synth scores, learn to handle all the major industry-used software and collaborate with student directors. The program also offers instruction in mixing; songwriting; business and networking; and composition and sound design for interactive video games. Students can earn a master’s degree in 40 weeks and leave with a professional skill set and demo reel.
TUITION $40,040
NOTABLE ALUMNI Brendon Williams (League of Legends video game composer); Bobby Brader (Trolls orchestral assistant)
14. University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
UNCSA offers a two-year master of fine arts in film music composition degree as part of its School of Filmmaking. Alumnus Chris Heckman is chair of the film music composition program. His credits include Shifting Gears (composer), Red Dead Redemption (additional composer), Abundant Acreage Available (music editor) and The Arbors (contractor/engineer). Film music composition students collaborate with undergraduate directors, producers and editors and graduate producers and are provided opportunities to score more short films than any comparable program in the world. Students collectively score 30 or more visual media projects each year in a range of styles including live-action, animation, video games, virtual/augmented reality, documentaries and commercials and advertising. The small program (16 students) ensures one-on-one mentorship and training.
In an era when even Juilliard has begun to offer media scoring classes, Yale remains a stubborn conservatory holdout still dedicated to the study of pure (read: acoustic) music. But with its intimidating faculty that includes two Pulitzer Prize winners (David Lang and Aaron Jay Kernis, professors adjunct of composition), the school doesn’t need to worry about attracting students. The institution prides itself on its collegiate and collaborative atmosphere, with students choosing the teachers with whom they want to study.
TUITION $36,800
NOTABLE ALUMNI Marco Beltrami (Ford v Ferrari composer), Quincy Porter (classical composer)
16. Columbia University in the City of New York
Columbia CNY’s sound arts MFA program offers a curriculum of individual or collaborative research projects that focus on integration of sound in media, but the program admits just a handful of students each year, so competition to enter is fierce. Students work in the studio with visiting artists and spend a full week engaging with a visiting artist each semester. Columbia CNY’s music performance program offers concentrations in composition, ethnomusicology, historical musicology and music theory.
TUITION $61,216
NOTABLE ALUMNI Wendy Carlos (The Shining composer), Alicia Keys (singer)
17. Musicians Institute
Los Angeles
While the school promotes its affordability with a tuition less than $30,000 for its music master’s degree, the cost for its composition degree, including a bachelor’s degree program in music composition for visual media, is substantially higher at a little less than $90,000. Its composition for visual media program provides instruction in arranging, scoring, orchestration, music theory, ear training and music history, with online classes as well as in-person teaching available. Students couldn’t ask for a more convenient location to break into the industry since the “campus” is located in a facility in the heart of Hollywood. And while plenty of students at the school may want to be rock stars, with so many rockers going into film scoring these days, that could be a major plus.
TUITION $29,700
NOTABLE ALUMNI David Becker (jazz guitarist), Kevin Fowler (songwriter)
18. Royal College of Music
London
RCM’s two-year postgraduate level master of composition — composition for screen offers students face time with production pros from film and television as well as students from the distinguished film schools also located in London, such as London Film School and the Met Film School. The British capital is a pretty good place to network, boasting more than 113,000 creative media companies, including motion picture, television and advertising production hubs, while the venerable RCM conservatory teams composition students with student instrumentalists and professional ensembles visiting and in residence at the school. RCM’s Creative Careers Centre partners with consultants, arts organizations and communities to deliver networking and career-building opportunities and a direct line into the music industry, affording students working experience, teaching them how to work with music as a business and building a professional portfolio. Recent visiting artists include Michael Giacchino (Thor: Love and Thunder), Rachel Portman (Chocolat) and Hans Zimmer (Dune).
TUITION $29,000
NOTABLE ALUMNI Andrew Lloyd Webber (Cats composer), James Horner (Avatar composer)
19. University of Miami Frost School of Music
Coral Gables, Florida
UMF’s media scoring and production major is a four-year, 121-credit program that allows students flexibility in focusing on their preferred areas of expertise to reach the career they want. Students must provide examples of “outstanding writing and production creativity” and music notation abilities to qualify for the program. By sophomore year, students can branch out into other areas of the music school or the university in general to broaden their education.
TUITION $55,440
NOTABLE ALUMNI Ben Folds (pianist/performer), Joel McNeely (The Orville composer)
20. University of North Texas
Denton, Texas
UNT’s College of Music boasts a strong composition program with about 70 students taught by nine faculty members, with regular guest composer residencies, including Bruce Broughton (Silverado). The Center for Experimental Music & Intermedia (CEMI) focuses on the integration of electroacoustic music, live performance, video and film, with students exploring projects in CEMI’s six production studios and the Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theater. Graduates of the school’s composition program are prepared for work as orchestrators, arrangers, music copyists (who prepare written music for musicians), audio engineers, conductors and teachers, with opportunities at advertising firms, recording companies, symphony orchestras and in academia. Tuition is extremely affordable, even for out-of-state students. (Texas residents pay $5,496).
TUITION $11,497 (out-of-state)
NOTABLE ALUMNI Christopher Young (Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities composer), Meat Loaf (singer)
This story first appeared in the Nov. 2 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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Welcome back to Essential Listening, a place where we compile all the best new music of the week into the definitive tome of modern music: The Far Out Playlist.
Do you know what I like? Good music. Do you know what we got a lot of this week? Good music. Four different albums could have grabbed Album of the Week, but in the end, it was indie pop duo First Aid Kit who rose above the rest on their new LP Palomino.
The competition was stiff. French new wavers Phoenix returned after half a decade to drop what might just be the most Phoenix-sounding album I’ve ever heard, Alpha Zulu. Also kicking around with solid new albums were Connie Constance and Ezra Collective, two acts expanding what it means to be an indie artist in the modern day.
Just like on the album front, we’ve had some awesome new singles float around the world of music this week. Still, there are only eight songs that can make this list. Here is all the best new music from the week, compiled into The Far Out Playlist.
Best new music, October 31th – November 6th:
Bob Vylan – ‘The Delicate Nature’ (ft. Laurie Vincent)
London-based hip hop duo Bob Vylan have shared a brand new single called ‘The Delicate Nature’. The doomy new offering features Laurie Vincent of Slaves, who also served as the track’s producer. Discussing the origins of the single – which follows the group’s 2022 album The Price of Life.
Featuring Slaves lead singer Laurie Vincent, the aggressive new track buzzes and stirs with a potent blend of high-energy raps and pulsating synth-punk instrumentals. It’s not exactly the highest point of either party’s careers, but it’s a solid addition to both’s discographies nonetheless.
Noel Gallagher – ‘Pretty Boy’ (ft. Johnny Marr)
Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds have released a new single, the atmospheric ‘Pretty Boy’. The new material is arguably one of the darkest songs he’s ever released, driven by an almost motorik beat augmented by a droning bassline and some spooky-sounding keys.
Adding to the excitement is the presence of former Smiths man Johnny Marr on guitar, helping to raise the bar of his friend’s songs yet again. The song is layered and well-produced, as is expected, but musically, it seems as if Gallagher might be about to cast off the Ennio Morricone-inspired work for a new style that foregoes orchestral moves for guitar-driven pieces.
The Brothers Osbourne and The War & Treaty – ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll’ (Rolling Stones cover)
For whatever reason, a bunch of big names in country music are getting together for a new Rolling Stones tribute album. Stoned Cold Country is set to feature everyone from Steve Earle to Maren Morris, and today, we’re getting our first taste of the LP with a cover of ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll’ from The Brothers Osbourne and soul husband and wife duo The War & Treaty.
The recording sounds like a relaxed affair, with one of the Osbournes calling out for some whisky before the take rolls. The chugging Chuck Berry at the centre of the track remains, but a southern-friend lilt keeps the song from being a straight cover.
Yo La Tengo – ‘Fallout’
Yo La Tengo have just announced the arrival of their brand new album, This Stupid World, alongside its first preview single, ‘Fallout’. Following on from 2020’s five-track ambient effort, We Have Amnesia Sometimes, the new record will mark the band’s 17th studio album.
‘Fallout’ sets a mystical and reflective tone for the forthcoming album as Ira Kaplan sings: “I want to fall out of time.” Meanwhile, the fuzzy shoegaze-reminiscent guitars create intense energy. Channelling Sonic Youth and The Cure, YLT bring something new to their eternally diverse platter. With this band, you never know whether it will be a folky dreamscape, an uptempo rock-out, or an ambient voyage; quality is the only constant.
Yves Tumor – ‘God Is a Circle’
Yves Tumor has returned with their new single, ‘God is a Circle’. It’s the first track the American songwriter has released since 2021’s excellent The Asymptotical World EP and their recent appearance on Willow’s latest album, Coping Mechanism. A wickedly dark piece wherein the many different layers do the talking, the song is another example of why Tumor is one of the most interesting artists out there. There’s genuine style on show here, which few current artists can claim to espouse.
You never know what artistic route they’re going to take, as Yves Tumor’s meandering yet relatively short back catalogue reflects. From the impressionistic collage of 2016’s Serpent Music to the heady masterpiece of 2018’s Safe in the Hands of Love or the industrial/shoegaze mesh of The Asymptotical World, which boasted the tremendous ‘Katrina’, Tumor loves to keep us on our toes, and that’s what they’ve done with their latest offering.
Future Islands – ‘Last Christmas’ (Wham! cover)
It’s officially the first week after Halloween, so you know what that means: it’s Christmastime! Sure, the leaves may still be on the trees, and there still isn’t any snow to be found (unless you’re way up north), but according to our consumerist society, it’s officially time to break out the trees and get the gift-giving juices flowing.
One artist that has been waiting a while for this moment (not named Mariah Carey) is Baltimore synth rockers Future Islands, who have been sitting on a cover of Wham’s holly-jolly classic ‘Last Christmas’ for what I can only assume has been far too long. Now that October is officially in the past and pumpkins are officially thrown in the trash, now is the perfect time to get a jumpstart on the winter season.
The Antlers – ‘Ahimsa’
Brooklyn indie rockers The Antlers have returned with a brand new song for the tail end of 2022. While the band usually works in the indie pop/dream pop world, their newest track, ‘Ahisma’, is as folky as an indie rock song can possibly be.
About as relaxed and country-fried as a song could possibly be, the sparse arrangement keeps all of the song’s delicate elements in place. Even the slightest increase in volume could bring down the entire operation, with pedal steel guitar, delicate piano, gently shuffling drums, and Peter Silberman’s light-as-air voice all floating throughout the track. It’s an achingly beautiful song, one with a timeless message at the heart of it.
Animal Collective – ‘Crucible’
Animal Collective don’t exactly seem like the first group that comes to mind when you need to score your black, gay Marines movie. But for the new A24 film The Inspection, the Baltimore experimental pop heroes are doing just that. AC are partnering up with some of their pals for the soundtrack, including Indigo de Souza, but the first preview track is all them: ‘Crucible’.
Featuring the same wave of wonky sounds and blissful harmonies that we’ve come to expect from an Animal Collective track, it’s hard to see such a bizarre song working in the context of the relatively straightforward movie. I saw a preview of The Inspection a couple of days ago and did not recognise any Animal Collective music in the trailer, but hey, here’s to trying new things.
Another Promotional CD I found for Matt Nathanson thanks to Discogs is a “Sampler” CD for his 2003 album ‘Beneath These Fireworks’. That album was Matt’s major label debut album on Universal Records, but it wasn’t his first CD by any means. The CD was a 3 song sampler for his upcoming album and was sent around to the Radio DJs, I am assuming. The cover for the Promo is the same as the album cover, the only difference is instead of saying “Beneath These Fireworks”, it says “Sampler”.
The first song and actually the first single is “Sad Songs”. The song feels like it could be the Goo Goo Dolls. The chorus is so catchy and it has a great hook. His delivery of the lines is confident and earnest. For a song called “Sad Songs”, the music is more upbeat and gives us a great dichotomy in styles.
The next track is “I Saw” which would’ve fit nicely on a Matchbox Twenty album. With clever little lyrics and heartbreaking and emotional delivery, we get a showcase of what Matt is capable of doing. It is a darker sounding song, with a very serious tone and some great piano notes that add so much drama. Yet the chorus brings us a little punch of energy and Matt sings his heart out. A beautiful tune.
One of the album’s highlights is “Little Victories”, which was actually on his album ‘Still Waiting for Spring’. This recording is definitely more polished, but the heart of the song is still the same. It is a soft, acoustic performance, with Matt’s vocals feeling warm and familiar. There is a string section that could’ve been lifted from Green Day’s “Good Riddance” and fit the radio sound of the time.
And that is it. Three songs and a great introduction to a stellar album. There is nothing new or remixed, it is really a sampler of the songs on the album so nothing new. The only reason to have this one is for the completist in you which is exactly why I have it.
Singer and Birmingham native Elias Hendricks has a career that has taken him all over the world. He’s performed musical theater in Hong Kong in The Lion King and in London in Motown: The Musical. He also founded the vocal quartet Vox Fortura which brings audiences what he calls “classical soul.” The group won accolades on Britain’s Got Talent. Hendricks moved back to Birmingham in 2021. Vox Fortuna will perform this Sunday at the Lyric Theatre. He spoke with WBHM’s Cody Short.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
I’m glad you brought up classical soul because a lot of people hear that and they think of almost two different genres of music. So can you tell me where classical soul derives from? And what does it sound like?
I was trained as an opera singer, but soul music is really a part of my upbringing, music that I was born listening to and it’s always been in my house. But the idea of putting this together is what I’m passionate about and I’m trying to do. Combine the music of my culture, my family, my friends and what I like to hear outside of the opera house.
Elias Hendricks
Vox Fortura is a classical crossover group, but we’ve created a new genre that we like to call classical soul that fuses classical opera and soul music together in different ways. And we are four Black male vocalists, and we all have different types of sounds or different types of genres that we perform. And we put them all together and create this classical soul sound for Vox Fortura.
Tell me about your career journey leaving Birmingham, going off to college, New York, then London. And now you’re back here. Tell me what’s happened over the years.
I went to Southern Methodist University for four years, had a great time, performed with a lot of the companies like the Dallas Opera, Dallas Symphony. And then I left to go to New York, initially to go to Juilliard. I ended up getting up there and seeing, basically, my world was opened. I mean, I’d never seen so much music around me and so many talented musicians, so many different ways to to create music. So I decided to study privately with the teacher that brought me up to Juilliard and then create this kind of master’s program, essentially where I would go to different places to study with the teachers that I knew and admired and thought that they could help me with my with my voice, with the soul, with the intention of crossing over from classical music back into gospel and soul.
So I went to L.A. and studied with Seth Riggs, famous teacher out there for a bit, and I went to Germany for a few months to study with a teacher out there named David Lee Brewer. This was over the course of about a couple of years. When I got back to New York, I felt like I had learned all those skills. So I ended up getting a job doing Simba in The Lion King, which took me out to Hong Kong, which was a crazy experience. Loved it. And then I moved from there to London, and I was in London most recently before I moved home.
What brought you back to Birmingham?
I’ve always kind of wanted to move back home. I knew that moving home was inevitable just because my friends and family, we’re all just so close. But the COVID-19 pandemic really made me think a little bit more about family and moving home. And by this point, our group can really perform all over the place. So we can live anywhere. Just the travel to get to the places that we’re performing. So my career afforded me the opportunity to be able to move home. And COVID-19, not being able to move around freely kind of made me feel like it was time.
Vox Fortura performing on stage
Vox Fortura has traveled all over the world, and you all were on Britain’s Got Talent. What was that experience like?
As a Birmingham boy, it was interesting. It’s something. You stay on that stage and, you’re in a foreign country and everyone’s focused on you. This is being broadcast all over this country and it’s not my country. And the accents are different. But it was a great experience for us because I feel like the judges and the audience and the public really got behind what we were trying to do, which is essentially this classical and soul fusion. They really, really enjoy it. So our experience on the show was magnificent. I loved it.
What can we look forward to on the show Sunday?
People can look forward to just a real musical explanation of what it is to fuze opera and soul. Classical lovers can can look to this as a way to hear music that they are accustomed to hearing in new and innovative ways. And people who aren’t necessarily classical music lovers can find a way to understand how beautiful this genre of music is and hopefully draw them a little bit closer. There are also elements in this show that are very specific and unique to Birmingham. I was very intentional when I was creating this show to make sure that I brought in as many local artists and performers as as I could. We have a ballet dancer named Germaul Barnes. And the list goes on. Deirdre Gaddis, Miles College Choir. There’s just so, so many wonderful artists here in the city who have a similar style of vision of what we know of classical music and the ability to kind of bring it to broader audiences. And so that’s what we intend to do.
You have new ways of looking at music. You’re going to leave enriched. Maybe you learn something new about Birmingham through some of the stories that we tell from music. There’ll be some songs that you may not have heard before, but definitely some that you have.
THREE brothers – two of them popular country music singers – charged with raping a young woman more than a dozen times have been acquitted on all charges against them.
usicians Aidan Taaffe and ‘Cowboy’ Larry Taaffe, along with third brother Michael Taaffe, were all accused of raping and sexually assaulting the woman on numerous occasions in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Between the three of them they were alleged to have raped the young woman 17 times and sexually assaulted her on nine occasions but a jury at Craigavon Crown Court cleared all three men after a three-week trial.
Dungannon musician Aidan Taaffe (62) told Sunday Life of the torment he and his family have been through since the three men were charged at the end of last year.
He said: “We went through a three week trial and were found not guilty, we were there every day and it was three weeks of hell.
“It was an entire year of hell before that from when we were charged and it was in the news. It was devastating, I find it difficult to even talk about.
“We had been due to start the trial in September but the barristers went on strike you see, then we got notice about it finally starting in October almost a year after we were charged.
“I would have done regular gigs and stuff for local charities as well but all that stopped for a while after the accusations were made public.
“I have a bad reputation on the back of it now too despite the fact we have been found not guilty, I decided to speak about this because I want to help us get back to normality.
“It’s been extremely difficult, I’m looking forward to moving on with my life but it’s going to be hard to do so it is.
“People assume you’re guilty because you were charged and in the newspapers, well it’s all concluded now and we’ve been acquitted.
“It’s been difficult for my brothers too, and my whole family, everybody has been affected by it.
“I’ve been on depression tablets from the start of the whole thing, it takes it’s toll on you.”
Aidan, of the Pomeroy Road in Dungannon, along with brother Michael Taaffe (57), of Meeting Terrace, Poyntzpass, Co Armagh, and ‘Cowboy’ Larry Taaffe (64), of Trinity Park, Magheralin, Co Down, were all acquitted at Craigavon Crown Court on October 24.
When asked why the complainant may have made the accusations against him and his brother’s Aidan said: “I have no idea, I wouldn’t have a clue or an idea, she took it to court and she lost it and that’s it.
“It’s been hell for everybody but thank God it’s over, I wouldn’t like to go through that again, people even stopped speaking to me.
“I still have the newspapers with the headlines in the house, 17 counts of rape and all that it says, there are people who no longer talk to me thanks to it.
“Everybody is devastated after all that we’ve been through and everything that was said about us.
“From the very start we voluntarily went to the police station and did everything we were asked to do and we didn’t hesitate doing that because we had nothing to hide.
“It’s been very hard and it will be difficult to get over but I would like everyone to know we’re innocent.”
Aidan Taaffe has released his own country music CDs and DVDs in the past. He regularly performed shows on Facebook Live during the pandemic and often interacts with his loyal fans on the social media platform.
‘Cowboy’ Larry, like brother Aidan, has released several albums over the years including The Gospel Way, Back In The Saddle and A Songbook And A Bible.
According to his Facebook profile he collaborated with Hugo Duncan on another of his albums entitled Saddles, Songs and Scenery for a track called The Bloom Off The Rose.
He also performed for Johnston’s Invincible Purple Star Loyal Orange Lodge 407 at Magheralin Church Hall in November last year and has over 2,700 fans on Facebook.
When contacted by Sunday Life about the case Cowboy Larry did not respond.
Michael Taaffe hung up the phone on our reporter when contacted about his acquittal having previously refused to comment on the court case.
A spokesman for the Public Prosecution Service said: “We recognise the courage and determination of the complainant throughout these proceedings.
“The evidence received in this case was subjected to a very thorough and careful examination by a team of experienced lawyers before we concluded that the Test for Prosecution was met, in line with our Code for Prosecutors.
“This meant that there was both sufficient evidence to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction and it was in the public interest to prosecute and to place the evidence before a jury to make their determination. We note the outcome and respect the verdict that the jury have reached.”
I was reminded recently of a television show from the 1950s by the name of “The Early Show.” It aired around 4 p.m. daily during the week in Washington. It featured very distinctive theme music at the start and end. My next oldest brother would sit and just listen to the music then go about his other business. He was truly hypnotized by it. It was a very catchy tune. I’d love to know the name.
— Greg Denevan, Berwyn, Md.
The instrumental was called “The Syncopated Clock” and it was written in 1945 in Arlington, Va., by a composer (and onetime Army intelligence officer) named Leroy Anderson. But before we get to that, let’s explore television in the 1950s.
Television then was a medium hungry for content. TV stations needed flickering images they could broadcast into viewers’ homes. Plenty of this content was piled up in a magical place called Hollywood: old movies.
But executives at major studios weren’t sure they wanted their old films shown on television. They felt TV was a competitor, siphoning viewers from movie theaters. And so, many TV stations had to pad their schedules with foreign films, films from smaller U.S. studios or films produced by the U.S. government.
Eventually, an arrangement was struck between the Hollywood studios and the TV networks enabling broadcasters to buy and transmit films made before 1948. The cinematic floodgates were opened.
CBS took the lead. In 1951, its flagship station, WCBS in New York City, debuted a nightly film offering, showing an old movie every night at 11:10 p.m. Richard K. Doan was the program manager at the time and he claimed to have named the program — “The Late Show” — and to have picked its theme music: “The Syncopated Clock” by Anderson.
Anderson was a pops powerhouse. Not pop, as in pop music, but pops, as in the light orchestral music popularized (popsularized?) by Arthur Fiedler of the Boston Pops. In fact, Fiedler was among those who encouraged Anderson to devote his life to music.
Anderson was born in 1908 to Swedish immigrants who were both very musical. He grew up in Cambridge, Mass., and studied music at Harvard. The musical arrangements he wrote there brought him to Fiedler’s attention. Soon, Anderson was arranging music for the Boston Pops.
Anderson was drafted in April 1942. When the Army learned Anderson had studied Swedish, Danish, German, Icelandic and Norwegian at Harvard, it assigned him to the Counter Intelligence Corps and sent him to Iceland, where he served as a translator and interpreter.
In 1943, Anderson was sent to Officer Candidate School and then posted to the Pentagon as chief of the Scandinavian Department of Military Intelligence. He moved his young family to Arlington. When Fiedler learned Anderson was back stateside, he invited him to be the guest conductor at the Boston Pops Harvard Night concert.
It was while Anderson was living in Arlington that a title had lodged itself in his mind. Many composers had incorporated the steady, rhythmic ticking of a clock into their works. But, Anderson later wrote, “No one had described a ‘syncopated’ clock and this seemed to present the opportunity to write something different.”
The result was “The Syncopated Clock,” a charming piece punctuated by a wood block. On May 28, 1945, Anderson, dressed in his Army uniform, conducted its premiere at Boston’s Symphony Hall.
Anderson recorded “The Syncopated Clock” with his own orchestra in 1950. The record came to the attention of WCBS programmers, who made it the theme song of “The Late Show.” It also graced other CBS movie programs: “The Late, Late Show” and “The Early Show,” the latter of which was broadcast weekdays at 4:30 p.m. on Washington’s Channel 9. (Old Westerns were common.)
Wrote Anderson: “From the very first show, CBS was flooded with telephone inquiries for the name of the theme and both CBS and I found ourselves with a hit on our hands: theirs the show, mine the theme music.”
Anderson was on a roll. In 1952, his “Blue Tango” sold 2 million copies. His “Sleigh Ride” (with lyrics by Mitchell Parish) is a seasonal staple. Answer Man’s favorite Anderson composition must be “The Typewriter,” which uses an actual manual typewriter to percussive effect.
TV stations continued to mine the mother lode of old movies. When Baltimore’s WBFF Channel 45 launched in the early 1970s, its call letters stood for “Baltimore’s Finest Features,” said local TV historian Tom Buckley. But over time, the networks developed their own made-for-TV movies. CBS has a “Late Show” and a “Late Late Show,” but they’re talk shows, not film programs.
Leroy Anderson died in 1975. Though he’d had plenty of hits, he insisted he never set out to write one.
“All a composer can do is to write what he feels and do it as best he can,” Anderson once said. “Whether it’s popular is up to the public.”
You’ve got to dive into this week’s roundup of new releases by listening to our New Release Friday playlist on Spotify. Five of those songs have their details posted below.
Old Jim x Emax x Jetason – “Got Me Hypnotized”
Quick-rising Italian dance producer Old Jim joined forces with Emax and singer Jetason and created “Got Me Hypnotized”. The house track is crammed with delicious melodies and is tropical-flavoured and summery. “Got Me Hypnotized” was penned by Emax and is about a jilted man who just can’t move on. From Jetason’s sultry vocals to the inviting production, this tune is irresistible.
<<Find Old Jim, Emax and Jetason on Instagram>>
Natalie – “Torment”
Natalie has proved to be a creative triple threat; she is a singer, songwriter and producer. Her self-produced new single called “Torment” shows her various talents. The pop track carries a thumping bass which gives it its buoyant and playful allure. In contrast, however, the song is lyrically broody. About “Torment”, Natalie shared: “I started by creating the bassline, it inspired me immediately. It felt haunting yet playful and I knew I wanted to match that energy lyrically. My favorite songs are the ones that can transition you from your bedroom to a night out.”
<<Find Natalie on Instagram>>
SonReal – “No Romance”
Canadian alt-pop artist SonReal (birthname Aaron Hoffman) has released a new album titled Nobody’s Happy All The Time. The 10-track LP includes “No Romance”. This song finds an introspective SonReal dealing dealing with the familiar and burdensome pressure to always be happy. His lyrics are relatable and delivery compelling. Nobody’s Happy All The Time is an album worth listening to.
<<Find SonReal on Instagram>>
Darcy Lane – “2022 Without You”
Australia’s Darcy Lane is an exciting newcomer. She has a new single called “2022 Without You”. This is a catchy and upbeat post-breakup anthem that finds Darcy reveling in being single. “Initially inspired by the aftermath of a breakup, this song is about embracing the changes that life throws at you, moving on, and caring less. In a world where we receive constant reminders of our ex’s existence, it can be hard to ignore what they are doing and who they are doing it with. However, this song is a reminder to me, and hopefully some other people, that it actually does not matter what they are doing as long as you are living your best life,” she reveals. The artist’s previous release was her debut EP, Heartquakes.
<<Find Darcy Lane on Instagram>>
Crying Day Care Choir – “The Dreams Of Alice”
Swedish band Crying Day Care Choir have released “The Dreams Of Alice”. The song is the first single from their upcoming EP, Give Me Something Vol. 1. That EP will be the first collection to be released on the trio’s newly minted label, ELZ Productions. “The Dreams Of Alice” is generally a lively and joyful dream-pop song packed with synths and beautiful melodies. There’s high anticipation for the new EP which arrives on November 11.
![Brothers Osborne, The War & Treaty – It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It) [Official Audio Video]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/syq4Bvd55po/hqdefault.jpg)
![Future Islands - Last Christmas [Wham! Cover] (Official Audio)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7MzaACEr3B8/hqdefault.jpg)
