Tag: indie musician

The TJC Challenge

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Readers, I’m issuing you a challenge:  The TJC Challenge.

The TJC Challenge

The TJC Challenge

What is The TJC Challenge, you ask?  It’s simple:  undertake a marathon stream of every release I have on Apple Music (or your streaming service of choice).

Apple Music Method

If you’re an Apple Music user, it’s pretty easy.  Here are three simple steps:

  1. Click or tap this link to my artist profile (preferably on your phone)
  2. Hit “play”
  3. Listen to my tunes!

If you don’t select shuffle, it will play through each of my albums in alphabetic order by title.  That means you’ll start with Contest Winner EP and end with Spooky Season II: Rise of the Cryptids.

YouTube Method

Don’t use Apple Music?  No problem.  The cheapest method (no monthly subscription to a streaming service) is via YouTube.  The only downside is that there’s no way to play through all albums without having to select individual releases.

Still, here’s the YouTube method:

  1. Follow this link to my “Releases” on my YouTube channel
  2. Hover over one the album you’d like to listen to first and click “Play All”
  3. Rinse and repeat for each album

The entire challenge will take about 185 minutes—give or take a few seconds and/or minutes—to complete, or around three hours and change.

The beauty is that if you’re doing laundry or household chores, it’ll breeze by, and you’ll enjoy some great tunes in the process!  If you need to turn the volume down a bit to focus on another task, that’s fine, too.

One-Hour Variation

If you’d rather take on a shorter challenge, consider listening to Leftovers II, Epistemology, Firefly Dance, and Spooky Season II: Rise of the Cryptids (YouTube links here, here, here, and here, respectively).  They come out to almost exactly one hour when played consecutively.  These are also my four most recent releases.

Time for Just One Release?

If that or the one-hour challenge are too daunting, and you can only pick one release, I recommend Contest Winner – EP (YouTube link here).  The entire EP is only twenty-one (21) minutes long, roughly the length of a television show without commercials.  It’s my only release that isn’t instrumental, and it consists of six of the best songs I’ve ever written (well, at least four of them are really good).

Time for One (or Two) Instrumental Releases?

If lyrics are distracting and you want one good instrumental release, I’ll make two recommendations:  Epistemology and/or Firefly Dance (YouTube:  here and here, respectively).  Both are about fifteen minutes long; you could listen to both over a lunch break, or listen to one while driving to work.

Conclusion

If you listen to my entire discography, you’ll travel from my early MIDI compositions in 2006 all the way to last week (1 April 2024).  That’s eighteen years of musical growth and development (hopefully not musical regression—gulp!).  You’ll also be doing yours portly a huge favor.

If you do the challenge—or even part of it—let me know!  What were your favorite releases?  Which ones didn’t “do it” for you?  What would you like to hear in the future?

Happy Listening!

—TPP

Open Mic Adventures LXXVI: “Black Mage”

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

I’m still promoting my latest release, Leftovers II, but I’m also excited for my next album, Four Mages, which releases Thursday, 2 May 2024.  Of course, if you’d like to hear Leftovers II, you can do so at the following places (and probably more):

Today, however, I’d like to look at the fourth of the Four Mages, the dreaded “Black Mage.”

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Lazy Sunday CXLIV: Four Mages, Part I

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Last week I released Leftovers II, and in just a few weeks I’ll release my next album, Four Mages (2 May 2024).  If you’d like to hear my latest release, you can do so here:

Readers might have noticed some of the colorful mages popping up over the last few weeks on this blog.  I’ve posted three of the Four Mages so far (“Black Mage” is coming this Tuesday, 9 April 2024—stay tuned!), so I thought I’d share them with y’all this Lazy Sunday:

  • “Open Mic Adventures LXXIII: ‘Blue Mage’” – “Blue Mage” is a duet for oboe and bassoon, built upon a mysterious whole tone scale. The piece is written in 5/8 time, further lending to the mystical feel of this magical journey.
  • “Open Mic Adventures LXXIV: ‘Red Mage’” – “Red Mage” is a mischievous and playful duet for oboe and bassoon. It is the companion piece to “Blue Mage.” The piece has a playful, mischievous feel, and I love how it sounds very much like it’s from a fantasy JRPG soundtrack.
  • “Open Mic Adventures LXXV: ‘White Mage’” – “White Mage” is a bright but flowing solo for flute with celesta accompaniment. A piano could be substituted in place of the celesta. It has a delightful Final Fantasy vibe.

Happy Sunday—and Happy Listening!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

April 2024 Bandcamp Friday

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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 album, Leftovers 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

Open Mic Adventures LXXIII: “Blue Mage”

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On 2 May 2024—the day that is exactly twenty-six weeks, or halfway, to Halloween—I’ll be releasing Four Mages, a color-coded collection of fantasy-inspired instrumental music.  I’m really excited for this release (which consists of ten tracks, not just the four mages of the title), and I hope it will capture imaginations with its whimsical, mysterious, fantastical feel.

The first piece I composed for the album is today’s feature, “Blue Mage.”  I then immediately composed “Red Mage,” its companion piece, which I will feature next week.  Honestly, I like “Red Mage” better, but “Blue Mage” captures the more mystical, esoteric side of this album.  “Red Mage,” on the other hand, is more lively and whimsical.

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Open Mic Adventures LXXI: “Epistemology”

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Last Friday, 1 March 2024, I released Epistemology, my latest collection of original compositions.  I personally think it’s some of the best of my newer works.

You can listen to and/or purchase Epistemology through the following services (and more!):

This week, I thought I’d feature the title track of this epic release.

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An Actually Lazy Sunday: Composing Update

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Last Sunday I was exceptionally busy and had to phone in my already-phoned in Lazy Sunday post.  Today I’m doing the ultimate phoning in and taking yet another day away from the blog (as it were—gotsta keep that daily post counter mollified).  I’ll actually be doing a significant amount of writing this afternoon, so have no fear—we’ll back to the more-or-less regular schedule tomorrow.

As I noted in yesterday’s lazy post, I’ve been fairly swamped at work, and ended a long week with two very long days.  I spent most of Saturday lounging like Goethe, alternating between reading, napping, and eating.

I wasn’t completely useless.  I finished composing for my next major release, Four Mages.  It’s a collection of fantasy-inspired instrumental music, with nine of its ten tracks corresponding to different fantasy archetypes (each with their own color).  The titular mages are “Red Mage,” “Blue Mage,” “Black Mage,” and “White Mage.”  The other tracks (in no particular order) are as follows:

  • “Pink Princess”
  • “Purple Prince”
  • “Green Knight”
  • “Yellow Knight”
  • “Brown Friar”
  • “The Blind Prophet”

That album will hit Bandcamp and all streaming services (sans Spotify) on Thursday, 2 May 2024—exactly halfway to Halloween!  It seemed an appropriate time to release a fantasy album.

Of course, if you haven’t picked up Epistemology, please give it a listen.  You can purchase a digital download via Bandcamp for $5.

You can also listen to the full thing on YouTube for free:

You can listen to Epistemology on YouTube Music and Apple Music, too.  It’s even on Amazon Music—cool!

Thanks for your patience—and please give my tunes a listen.  Every stream helps!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

March 2024 Bandcamp Friday; Epistemology Out Today!

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

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 releases, my 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