Hits And Hooks Vignettes

This week I talk about song intros, heartfelt honesty, and vocal anticipations. Our featured artist is Anthony Lazaro.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood to see what makes them tick. HHV is a music podcast about how songs keep listeners engaged through hooks, structure, and subtle musical decisions.   Follow Hits and Hooks Vignettes, and join me, Tu...

This week let's listen close to tempo, the felt pace of a song. Featured this week are three songs from Jon Worthy. And several more cuts from new, and familiar artists.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood to see what makes them tick. HHV is a music podcast about how songs keep listeners engaged through hooks, structure, and subtle musical decisions. &nbs...

This week let's listen for the variety of sounds worked into the song production. I'll be featuring 3 songs from The Devil Music Co. And several more cuts from new, and familiar artists.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood to see what makes them tick. HHV is a music podcast about how songs keep listeners engaged through hooks, structure, and subtle musica...

  ////////////   Happy summer solstice! This is the beginning of a new, our third, series. In this series I'm going to dig further into the music of artists we've discovered in the last six months. This week I'll explore the music of Radio Nowhere. Add to that a new artist, Tom Reardon,  and new cuts from some regulars, Dazie Mae, and The Devil Music Co..   In Hits and Hooks Vi...

This week I explore the world of the accented offbeat. Why bother having a strong offbeat.? Why isn't the accented offbeat perceived as beat 1? We'll check this out with the help of some great Indie songs.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood to see what makes them tick. HHV is a music podcast about how songs keep listeners engaged through hooks, structure...

This week I spin great tunes from Confushian. And, also from the Edinburgh scene, Norman Lamont. Radio Nowhere. Jon Worthy. And Luke Metzler. And a surprise song too. I'll dig into finger-picking guitar, extended chords, variety from vocal harmony, and song chord structure.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood to see what makes them tick. HHV is a music po...

This week I'm going to dig into the Jazz genre and the music of Dazie Mae, from Paris. Hooks keep our attention as changes within a song. Genre attracts us because it's familiar. We've heard the style before. There are many elements that collectively define a genre. Let's look at a few, in Jazz.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood to see what makes them t...

Unusual Sounds and Subdivision ||: HHV Ep 2-10 With songs by Lucid Lip, Saint Anyway, Jon Worthy, and Wild Fire   ////////////   This week I spin great tunes from Lucid Lip, Saint Anyway, Jon Worthy, and Wild Fire. And we'll dig into unusual sounds, and subdivision pacing. And a hook count to take us out.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood to s...

This week I spin great tunes from Ed Napoli, Lea James, Kevin Johnston and Bill Steely. And we'll dig into beat, and some of the functions, that the guitar fulfils, in songs. For fun I'll do a hooks count too.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood to see what makes them tick. HHV is a music podcast about how songs keep listeners engaged through hooks, struc...

This week I spin great tunes from Art Yenta, Beldon Burch, Chrissy Blazier, Deivid Rivera, ilyab, and Living Camboya. I have an interview excerpt with Jason Hogan outlining his songwriting process. We'll dig into riffs, vocal shaping in the studio, using vocal texture variety, and chord voicings.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood to see what makes them...

This week we'll hear couple of songs from the Edinburgh indie scene, yes, Scotland. I'll spin two very different songs out of California. And Anthony Lazaro is back with another smooth vocal song from Italy. I dig into some instrumental basics: four on the floor kick drum, and walking bass. We'll dig in on frequency range separation and check out a downwards moving melodic leap.   In Hits and...

This week I chat with three of the members of Forget The Whale, a seven piece Indie band from Jersey City. Joining me are Dan Pieraccini (bass), AJ Zienowicz (drummer) and Pete Durning (guitarist). With the band as creative outlet, everyone's a songwriter! We talk about each of their approaches to that, and how they develop their arrangements.   Look out for their upcoming EP, "Stick With Me...

This week I'm spinning a Latin groove song using lots of different vocal textures, and I've got some acoustic Blues. There's a Queen sounds-similar song. Some slow Jazz from Paris. And an intriguing song sung in Arabic and French. We'll look at stepwise harmonic motion and vocal gymnastics. I'll spin songs from Nick Falcon, Dazie Mae, Alfonso Lugo, Danzberg Music, and Elyes Landoulsi. In Hits and...

This week I chat with Nashville Indie artist Jon Worthy about three of his original songs, his recent South America tour, and the Nashville scene. He's a busy guy managing every aspect of his career. He tells us about his successes in music syncing business with over 400 songs picked up. Listen in for all the details.   You can hear Jon's music at... https://jonworthy.bandcamp.com/ (Bandcamp)...

This week I look at vocal texture variation using in-sync harmony, motifs, emotional vocal delivery, and rhythmic layering. And we hear full songs from The Devil Music Co., Wood Hitch, Grant Smith, and The Freak Fandango Orchestra.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood to see what makes them tick. HHV is a music podcast about how songs keep listeners engage...

This week we'll look at call-response structuring of lyrics, runups as a way to infuse forward motion, crescendo dynamics that not every instrument can achieve, and melodic callbacks in a piece by Ludvig himself. We hear original Indie songs from Jon Worthy, Priscilla The Outlaw, Welan Edvee, and Ludvig von Beethoven.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood t...

Edinburgh Indie artist Norman Lamont and I chat about three of his original songs and his process or writing and recording. He's currently working on two albums, one solo and one with his band The heaven Sent, to add to his already extensive catalogue. And he tells us about the Edinburgh Indie scene, a hive of songwriting activity You can hear all of Norman's music at: https://normanlamont.com (We...

This week we'll revisit the backbeat, not always, as we'll see, on a snare drum. Spoken lyrics, where do they fit in. Bass + Kick = Power. What's that? Ever heard of a pre-chorus? I have a really great blues song, from an Italian band. We'll see both perspectives in two back to back break up songs, but with happy music. What gives with that?   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great t...

I talk with Paris recording artist Serge Dejazz with the band Dazie Mae. He tells us about his writing process, how the band records, and gives us the back stories to three of their songs. Hear how five musicians living in different cities come together in the studio to make some really great music.   You can hear all of Dazie Mae's music at: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mDX3lCv3QKLda5Izb...

In "The Hooks Book" we dig in on one aspect of what makes great songs great. Today's subject is Country songs. What is Country? And why do some parts of Country songs not really sound very Country, but do sound great! Today's episode includes the following licensed music... Dustin Chapman - Slow Dance (Jamendo Licensing) E.D. Kennaway - On The Road to Somewhere (Jamendo Licensing) Wild Fire - Been...

This week I talk with Paris indie artist Nick Falcon about his writing process, and the surprising back stories to two of his songs. We hear about a Blues progression discovery with a minor twist, playing live in Paris venues, a song-a-day challenge for a week and what that produced, and his Gypsy Jazz and Brazilian Jazz influences. You can hear all of Nick's music at: https://open.spotify.com/art...

This week I talk with Toronto indie artist Jason Hogan with his album "Sex, Politics, Religion & Death". We take two songs from the album and dive into Jason's process for adding lyric and instrumental hooks to his song. "Pi is equal to three point one four dot dot dot", one of my fav' lines from "She's So Mean To Me" You can hear all of Jason's music at: https://open.spotify.com/album/0EkjcK1...

This week we look again at upper frequency accenting, check out the chords of a major key. I have a Gospel sounding tune to spin and we'll do a hook count for an electronica piece. I talk about fills too. Here we go.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood to see what makes them tick. HHV is a short-form music podcast about how songs keep listeners engag...

This week I have a 2 chord song, yes just 2 chords. I look at the pentatonic scale, spin a lovely Jazz tune from a favourite Paris band, we'll see a couple of versions of the half - time beat, and deep dive into the characteristics of Country.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood to see what makes them tick. HHV is a short-form music podcast about how song...

This week I look at rhyming, imagery and the refrain, in song lyrics. We'll see the hooks that come from staggered instrument entrance. What's a sampler? we'll take a look. Also groove and an unusual Blues song.   In Hits and Hooks Vignettes, we play some great tunes and lift the hood to see what makes them tick. HHV is a short-form music podcast about how songs keep listeners engaged through...