September 2024 Bandcamp Friday: New Release!

Pickup my newest release: Math: And Other Delights now!  Use promo code math to take an additional 20% off all purchases on Bandcamp!  Code expires at 11:59 PM UTC on Sunday, 8 September 2024.

Ah, yes, Bandcamp Friday has returned, which means I hope you will consider pitching in a few bucks to buy my music—or my second book!  After a long hiatus over the summer months, this celebration of indie musicians is back.

The first Friday of a bunch of months in 2024 will feature this pro-indie music observance, a day on which Bandcamp waives its usual 15% commission on sales.  Today (Friday, 6 September 2024) is one of those days.

In other words, when you buy my music, almost 100% of it goes to me, instead of almost 85%.

Naturally, yours portly has a brand new release, and one of my longest to date:  Math: And Other Delights is available now on Bandcamp, Apple Music, YouTube/YouTube Music, Amazon Music, etc., etc.—pretty much anywhere and everywhere digital streaming is available (except for Spotify).

Math: And Other Delights is a collection of mathematically- and historically-themed pieces that explore various mathematical concepts, from “π” to “Pythagoras.” Travel through the circle of fifths and fourths; examine “Prime Numbers“; experience “π” musically; scry mathematical mysticism with “Pythagoras“; and chill with some melodies based on seventh and ninth intervals with “Chill Extensions.”

Too many numbers? Enjoy a “Promenade” or a little “Impromptu and Waltz in E major.” Get excited to explore with “Onward!” Or relive the last moments of the legendary ice man, “Ötzi.”

Currently, my entire discography of twenty-one releases is $53.64a savings of 50%, which is not bad for twenty-one releases.  That’s about $2.55 per release—not too shabby!  To purchase the full discography, click on any release, and you’ll see the option to purchase all of them.

Also, use promo code math to take an additional 20% off any purchase through the weekend (expires after 11:59 PM UTC on 8 September 2024).

Thank you for your support—and rock on!

—TPP

White Boy Summer Out Today!

Yours portly keeps churning out the hits, and I’m pleased to announce my seventh album this year, White Boy Summer.

White Boy Summer is a collection of ten summertime jams spanning multiple genres of instrumental music.  The title track is a driving retro rocker reminiscent of Super Nintendo side-scrollers, and is perfect for jamming to on the open road.  I also rewrote it as a chorale for the album’s finale, “White Boy Summa (Theologica),” a piece for brass trio.

This album heavily favors trombone, and the three major trombone pieces emphasize the chill nature of summertime:  “Mellow,” “Lazy River,” and “Summer Vibes.”

The Sea Crab” is the most experimental piece; it’s a musical interpretation of an unpublished poem of the same name by Liza Libes.

And, despite the title, White Boy Summer is for all people of all races—and both genders.

You can pick it up on Bandcamp for $7.  I’ll be posting links to the album on other streaming platforms in the comments.

Rock on!

—TPP

P.S.—Here are a couple of the tracks that have already been uploaded to YouTube:

Heptadic Structure Out Today!

My latest release, Heptadic Structure, is out today on Bandcamp!

It’s one of my more unusual releases.  It’s  an experimental electronic album consisting of seven pieces written in variations of 7/X time signatures (7/4, 7/8, and/or 7/16). Each piece consists of 21 measures, for a total of 147 measures of written music. 14 + 7 = 21, and 21/7 = 3. 3 represents the Holy Trinity, and 7 represents God’s Divine Number.

If that made your head hurt, no worries—you can just listen to the music and enjoy! Ranging from classical (“Angularity“) to weirdly experimental (“Akhenaten“) to melodious (“Balladic Processional“) and beyond, Heptadic Structure is a mathematically musical journey through time and space.

The title derives from the somewhat dubious field of Biblical numerology.  When I conceived of an album built upon the number 7, I cast about for a good name.  I searched online for “Heptadic Stucture” and came up with the numerological concept.

I would caution believing Christians not to dive too deeply into Biblical numerology.  While I do think it’s fascinating that there appears to be some kind of underlying mathematical structure to God’s Word, it’s too easy to fall into Gnostic heresy.  As Christians, we should rely on God’s Word, not an alleged pattern of numbers that may or may not be woven into it.

Regardless, it makes for a cool concept for an album!

You can purchase the album for $7 (ha!) on Bandcamp.

It’s also streaming on all the major platforms (except Spotify):

Happy Listening!

—TPP

🎸Advanced Funkification🎸 Out Today!

Hi Readers,

My latest album, Advanced Funkification, a collection of funk and funk-adjacent tunes, is out today. It’s my grooviest release yet, and it explores the boundaries of funk in intriguing and cool ways.

Pick it up for just $5, and you’ll not only get eight funky tracks, but full scores of each piece; MP4 videos; and original artwork. You can find it here: https://tjcookmusic.bandcamp.com/album/advanced-funkification

Time to enroll in Advanced Funkification!

The album is also out on Apple Music and YouTube, as well as other streaming services (except for Spotify).  I’ll post direct links in the comments as soon as I get them.

I have had a blast releasing tons of instrumental music this year, but I think this release is my best this year.  Let me know what you think!

Funkily Yours,

TPP

May 2024 Bandcamp Friday

Today is Bandcamp Friday!  That means Bandcamp waives their share of any purchases made on my Bandcamp page today (Friday, 3 May 2024), so it’s the best possible time to buy my music if you want to support yours portly.

Yesterday I released my seventeenth Bandcamp album, Four Mages.  It is a collection of ten electronic tracks, all but one of which (“The Blind Prophet“) is color-coded. Each piece explores some facet of fantasy archetypes, weaving and casting a musical spell upon listeners.

Here are some platforms where you can listen:

Four Mages is just $5 on Bandcamp, and most of that goes to me today.

For those looking for the cheapest, easy way to listen, here’s a YouTube playlist:

Happy Listening!

—TPP

🧙‍♂️Four Mages🧙‍♂️ Out Today!

Today is 2 May 2024, exactly twenty-six weeks to Halloween!  What better day to release my latest collection of compositions, Four Mages?

🧙‍♂️Four Mages🧙‍♂️ is a collection of ten electronic tracks, all but one of which (“The Blind Prophet“) is color-coded. Each piece explores some facet of fantasy archetypes, weaving and casting a musical spell upon listeners.

It’s $5 on Bandcamp, and is also available on all major (and minor) streaming platforms except for Spotify.

I’m quite excited for this release; I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed composing it.

Happy Listening!

—TPP

April 2024 Bandcamp Friday

Today is Bandcamp Friday!  That means Bandcamp waives their share of any purchases made on my Bandcamp page today (Friday, 5 April 2024), so it’s the best possible time to buy my music if you want to support yours portly.

Earlier this week I released my sixteenth Bandcamp albumLeftovers II.  It consists of tracks leftover from other composing projects, as well as two older pieces (“Robobop” and “Pwrblld [Ballad II]“) and a lo-fi organ piece I recorded using an old computer microphone sometime in 2007.

You can listen to the full thing on Bandcamp for free a few times before Bandcamp locks out full track playback.  However, if funds are tight and you’d rather not pay $5 for the album (which you should totally do anyway—it’s just five bucks!), you can listen to the album through the following services:

Thanks for listening!  Even just streaming helps me out a great deal.

—TPP

Leftovers II Out Now

My third release of the year, Leftovers II, is out today.  It consists of two previously-released tracks; four new pieces “leftover” from other projects; and an eight-minute organ solo I played on a keyboard and recorded using a crummy computer microphone seventeen years ago.

I have two other releases in the pipeline, Four Mages (releasing 2 May 2024) and Advanced Funkification (releasing 7 June 2024).  Four Mages is a collection of fantasy-inspired pieces, and Advanced Funkification is a funk album.  Some of the tracks on Leftovers II were composed while I was working on these other two releases, but they didn’t fit the “vibe” of either, so I decided to put together this collection.

In addition to Bandcamp, you can listen to Leftovers II on most every streaming platform, except for Spotify.  I’ll have full links up this Friday for Bandcamp Friday‘s post (I’m writing this post before the album hits streaming platforms, so I don’t have full links yet), but here are links to the relevant pages; you can navigate to Leftovers II from there:

Again, I’ll have a more complete list of streaming links Friday.

In the meantime, happy listening!

—TPP

March 2024 Bandcamp Friday; Epistemology Out Today!

The future of Bandcamp Friday is a bit up in the air, but we’re living in the present here at The Portly Politico, and today is Bandcamp Friday!  That means Bandcamp waives their share of any purchases made on my Bandcamp page today (Friday, 1 March 2024), so it’s the best possible time to buy my music if you want to support yours portly.

Even better:  I have a new album out today!  You can pick up Epistemology for $5.  It’s ten tracks of original instrumental music.  Your digital purchase includes not just the music, but also full scores for every song; music videos for each piece; handwritten manuscripts for most of the pieces; and exclusive artwork (including artwork to accompany every piece on the album).

There’s a lot to dig into in this release.  The title track, “Epistemology,” is a multipart suite for clarinet, bass clarinet, and piano exploring various philosophical theories about how we know what we know.

If you’re feeling generous and want my entire catalog of fourteen releasesmy entire discography is half-off.  That’s fifteen releases for $28.39, or $1.89 per release.

Tight on cash?  No worries—you can listen to Epistemology on any streaming platform (except for Spotify), and all the tracks are on my YouTube page (you should subscribe to that, by the way—it’s free!).

I’m excited about this release, and I appreciate your support.

Happy Listening!

—TPP

Bandcamp Friday 2024 and a New Album!

The future of Bandcamp Friday is a bit up in the air, but we’re living in the present here at The Portly Politico, and today is Bandcamp Friday!  That means Bandcamp waives their share of any purchases made on my Bandcamp page today (Friday, 2 February 2024), so it’s the best possible time to buy my music if you want to support yours portly.

Even better:  I have a new album out today!  You can pick up Firefly Dance for $5.  It’s eleven tracks of original instrumental music.  Your digital purchase includes not just the music, but also full scores for every song; music videos for each piece; handwritten manuscripts for most of the pieces; and exclusive artwork (including artwork to accompany every piece on the album).

There’s a lot to dig into in this release.  The opening track, “Ode Napol​é​on,” is a multipart tone poem depicting the rise and fall of the infamous French emperor.  The title track, “Firefly Dance,” tells the story of a mysterious woodland world of dragonflies and fairies in the form of a flowing, interpretative waltz.

You even get the frenetic, eleven-second, unexpected YouTube sensationFRANTIC!!

If you’re feeling generous and want my entire catalog of fourteen releases, my entire discography is half-off.  That’s fourteen releases for $25.89, or $1.85 per release.

Tight on cash?  No worries—you can listen to Firefly on any streaming platform (except for Spotify), and all the tracks are on my YouTube page (you should subscribe to that, by the way—it’s free!).

I’m excited about this release, and I appreciate your support.

Happy Listening!

—TPP

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