[Music]
Hey everybody! Greetings from the Northside of Nashville, just across the river on the Northern side.
The Union side, as I like to say, welcome back to Phantom Power Music Review.
And today we are going to be featuring songs from Alicia Stockman, Daddy Nat, and my favorite indie band from the UK called The Trusted.
Really excited to have these guys in the value for value universe.
We're boosting his loving, we're stacking sats and staying humble.
We're boosting sats and we're boosting sats and staying humble.
We're boosting sats and staying humble.
We're going to dive into the theory, the composition, some of the recording tips and tricks behind these songs, why I like them.
If you're not a musician, I hope you dig this because it'll hopefully help you understand songwriting and music production a little more.
And I would always suggest you get yourself a nice pair of cans, a nice pair of headphones, throw away those stupid earbuds you're wasting money on.
They're good for phone calls.
But if you really want to listen to music properly, get yourself a good set of monitors, get yourself a good set of headphones.
Over the ear.
Alright, I'll shut up.
Let's check out this first song by The Trusted and the song is called Millennium.
If you dig it, you got to boost it.
Let's check it out.
[Music]
Alright, before we talk about that track, shout out to Absolute Absalom.
Don't could feel mall, Amigo, over there in Switzerland laying down those back bumpers.
Don't worry, I'm not going to wrap in Swiss German this time like I did on one of the previous episodes.
Alright, so let's talk about The Trusted.
I love this band.
I've loved this band for about a year and a half.
I would really encourage you to load up these guys on some sats and wait to hear the other stuff that they've got coming out.
Texturally, this band has always blown me away.
And let me start with the drummer, Dave, and the guitar player, Dale.
When you go back through all of their songs, their entire catalog, Arkansas, Marrow, Burning the Night, the one with Shandleers and cigarettes,
like go, go way back. These guys have been around for a while. They're young kids, they're in their 20s.
But they've been putting music out. I want to say eight, nine years now.
One of the amazing things about this band is the textures that they put out.
Number two is none of the musicians in this band are bragging.
You can tell Dale, the guitar player is a shredder just by the tastiness of his licks that he drops in from here and there.
But like, the dude doesn't brag. He doesn't need to because the parts of that this band create, they're so solid.
It's the same thing with Dave on the drums.
Like, if you notice the change in the patterns throughout this song that we just heard, great tom fills.
And then how he switches it up over to a snare bass.
This is such trademark of these guys. Like, you know, everybody will always look at the lead singer.
But this is a great example of how a band has got to be four parts running perfectly together on all cylinders.
Finn, bass player who I also believe doubles on keys. Great subtle lines with some good climbs to him. His playing reminds me a lot of one of the most underrated bass players in rock and roll.
And that's Adam Clayton. Finn's playing is fantastic. And I love the fuzziness, the little distortion that he put on his bass line for this track.
So behind Tom, the lead singer, you've got Finn, Dave and Dale. And these guys have always created great parts.
And every track I've ever listened to, Arkansas, Marl, Burning the Night, anything.
And they're not bragging. They're not stepping over the lines. They're not trying to overstate their abilities.
They remind me of a young in excess, a young nothing but thieves, a young cold play, a young you too.
And then you've got Tom. I love Tom's voice. It's a very memorable voice, very clear, a good mix of head and chest, tenor and alto.
Great clear tone. I haven't heard him, you know, really belt like the top of pride in the name of love.
I think Bono hits a B in that and that's just a brutal note to hit. I haven't heard him do that but he doesn't really need to.
He's really got a great Chris Martin tone to his voice. Not only that, but he's got a very strong sense of melody.
An excellent diction in his pronunciation.
I'm kind of jumping around a bit, but another part that I loved is the ascending chord progression that kind of holds the listener up.
It kind of makes the listener feel enriched, makes the listener get excited, raise the listener's heartbeat. If I play it on the piano, it sounds like this.
Right, you've got that ascending line that is going to kind of bring a smile to your face. That's a great trick, great trick in songwriting.
I also love how they used a different chord progression in the pre-chorus to kind of set up some tension and release.
They start that pre-chorus on the five, smart trick, smart trick.
The last thing I'll say is how much I love the mix and the clear separation of it, which is indicative of everything they've put out.
Everything they've put out has been top shelf, and I've come to expect nothing less from these guys.
So that is the trusted from South and Don C, about 60 minutes east of London, and I hope you guys load them up with some sats.
Excellent.
All right, let's move on. We are going to go to Utah, and we are going to hear a song from Alicia Stockman.
And the name of this song is Halfway to Houston. And if you dig it, you got to boost it. Let's go.
I was out for the sun in the morning.
Tipped on on eggshells and packing up my car.
The key was on the counter when I locked the door behind me.
So I wouldn't have the chance to change my mind.
I was halfway to Houston by the time he woke up.
Did he wonder what was I coming back?
Or was he glad to see me calling?
I was trying to not turn that car around.
I was halfway to Houston.
And I broke down.
I guess you could say nothing happened.
That's not the same, saying nothing was wrong.
How could we not notice a tender touch turned cold?
It takes time to build a callous, thinking of us.
I was halfway to Houston by the time he woke up.
Did he wonder what was I coming back?
Or was he glad to see me calling?
I was trying to not turn that car around.
I was halfway to Houston.
And I broke down.
For the first time,
I was halfway to Houston by the time he woke up.
He wondered what was I coming back?
Or was he glad to see me calling?
And I knew that there was no turning around.
I was halfway to Houston.
Halfway to Houston.
And that, my friends, is a really great example of country music.
Really nice job, Alicia.
If you've never been to Nashville, but you've heard of what songwriter rounds are.
This is where you'll go down to a club in town and you've got like three or four writers up on stage.
And everybody takes a turn playing a song.
They get about three songs each.
And Alicia would fit right in.
If you haven't come out here to do that yet, I would highly encourage you to do it.
I think you're going to find, not only are you going to be sitting up on stage with some amazing songwriters
and you're going to hear some stuff that will blow you away every time I go to around.
I hear stuff that blows me away.
But I also hear a lot of garbage.
And this song, Alicia, is as good if not better than what I hear in the rounds.
First of all, her vocals, the delivery and the tone are absolutely on point from modern music.
Even classic country, a little bit of loretta in there, little.
Doesn't have the twang at dolly, but she's got a little bit of the grit of loretta.
Number two, lyrics are fantastic.
And I love the double-enthonder of when I broke down the last line of the chorus.
It's like, okay, well, did your car break down?
Or did you just go, you know, that shit crazy.
I love how you don't really know which one it was.
But the story is always the most important thing in country music.
And I think she nailed it here.
And there's wonderful energy, wonderful imagery, and anytime you can bring in the name of a major city,
or a popular location and tied into your song, it definitely helps.
So we're in the key of B, we're about 67 BPMs, starts with a really pretty lap-steel part.
And the tones on the lap are great.
I love that chord progression in the intro and how it's different than everything else.
And also the solo on the slide, that was a great choice, wonderful changes.
And I love how the progression is different than other parts of the song on that.
A lot of respect for the mix on this and for the straight ahead production.
And I've alluded to on all the blogs that I've written over the past two years, songs like this,
you gotta have it where the vocals are the most important thing, straight ahead production.
Vocals in story are the most important and the production absolutely keeps that true here.
What else did I want to mention?
Blast all the way through my notes here.
Again, like this is the vulnerability and the softness of her voice in the story.
This would fit right in with modern Nashville.
I also really like one thing that she did on this where she does not hold to the Nashville standard ish is,
this is the song is longer than three minutes.
And I wouldn't chop a second out of it.
If you'd like country music, I would definitely suggest that you check out the rest of her tracks over on Wabelike.
She's got ten songs over there. Grit is a good track, lonely together just checking in, which has a great cello part.
This is a really great example of country and kudos, Alicia, great song.
And I hope people load up your wallet with some sats, right?
Alright, last track of the day, let's go down to Austin and we are going to hear a song from Daddy Matt.
Here we go, if you dig it, you gotta boost it.
[Music]
Feels like summer in the low light, thinking that there's one night only and I can't lie that I'd rather stay at home and home.
That you're in between the lines, that's just my moonlight, so I'm set to choose the moonlight, finally time to do it right.
Baby, buy a new light, maybe this could be one night, we hold till the day we're dying of love.
If we go, hope, people make you be alright. If we go, love, then I'm not your forever right.
When we go, trust that I'll keep this together light, so my time here and by.
Talk to me, baby, live with me, baby, stay with me, baby, talk to me, baby, I'll be late too much to ask you to stay with me on my line.
[Music]
If we go, hope, people make you be alright. If we go, love, then I'm not your forever right.
When we go, trust that I'll keep this together light, so my time here and by.
Talk to me, baby, live with me, baby, stay with me, baby, talk to me, baby, talk to me, baby, talk to me, baby, talk to me, baby, talk to me, baby, I'll be late too much to ask you to stay with me, baby, I'll be late too much to ask you to stay with me on my line.
♪ Talk to me, baby. Live with me, baby. ♪
♪ Stay with me, baby. ♪
♪ Talk to me, baby. ♪
- You know, it's so hard to be simple.
And simple is really the key. I think just about every pop song ever, especially the great ones.
It might be weird to hear that, but it is really hard to be simple and have a great
hook and have a great staying power. And I think that this song absolutely has all of that in spades.
You know what it kind of reminds me of? It kind of reminds me of that song, "How Bizarre" from
like '96, '97, right? And if you don't like that song, let me ask you a couple of questions.
If you've heard it, you of course will remember it, right? And that song is damn near 30 years old.
And why do you still remember it? Because it is simple and it has a great stinking
hook to it. And I think this one has the exact same thing. It is so hard to construct something
that is memorable and let alone strip it down so that it just really thrives. Great hook,
great bass line, full scale summer vibes, which is fantastic considering the snow and ice we've had
here in Nashville. Like I just absolutely dug this song. I got a smile on my face. I started moving
in my chair. Love how the vibe totally opens up in the chorus when you get those pads in the background.
Love all the textures that change in your cans when you're listening. Love that squiggly little
effect on this voice. Great, sacs break, completely unexpected. Nice change in the chord progression too.
If I, like if this band was touring live, if Daddy and I was taking this out on the road and I was the
musical director, I would stretch that section out during gigs and get the crowd going.
There's a lot going on sonically but it doesn't overwhelm you and that's because of the production
and because of the mix and I'm sure that when he was writing this and they were producing this,
I'm sure they had more parts to choose from than they could count on. So whomever produced it with
him. Or maybe he did it all himself. Kudos for your choices in keeping this simple and making this
work so well. This is such a great pop song man. Like how can you not appreciate this? The production,
the hook, the vocals, the lyrics, his voice is perfect for this genre? I mean, damn. Do you want to
teach a class on writing a pop song? Show him this one. This is a great track. Be flat. 126 BPM.
Killed it. Love this stuff. Load them up with some sats man. I mean, this is one of the reasons why
I love independent musicians because there's so much great stuff out there that you would never hear
like Daddy Nat and the trusted and Alicia and all these songs that we've heard here. But the big
thing with this Daddy Nat song is, and again, it sounds crazy to say it, but it's so hard to be simple.
It is so hard to be simple. The longer you're in this game, the more songs you write, the more
complicated you you want to be, the more you want to show off, the more you want to show everybody how
you can rip that solo or write the next Bohemian rhapsody. But man, if you can just keep it simple,
you'd be amazed what you find. And this is a beautiful example of that. So Daddy Nat,
Kudos, man. Kudos. Great track. All right, folks. Let us read off some Boostergrams. Let's go
down the hall, open up the vault that has all of the notes in the Boostergram,
Zaps and all of that fun stuff. Let's get past the dogs. And let's do this properly and say
some thank yous to a bunch of people, shall we? Hell yeah. Let's do that. So the other day on the
Phantom Power Music Hour that was all jazz, I read off a bunch of Boosts and Zap going back to
January 13th. And I just want to make sure I cover all my bases. So I'm going to start on January 19th,
Tamarack with a couple of Hyundai coming in. Thank you so much, Nicholas, underscore B58 with the
streaming Sats. Just Brian with 418 Sats coming in off a fountain. Thank you, sir. Rubber factory,
dropping 765 Sats. Thanks, man. Thank you for putting that music up on Wave Lake. Absolutely
love it. Nonimus with 99 Sats coming in. Alan C. Paul listening along. Thanks, dude. Man like
Quacks coming in hard listening to episode six of the artist hour with Enid Malal, man like Quacks
dropped like a thousand in one shot and then 352 and another dude you didn't need to do that. Man,
thank you. Appreciate it. Users 71885120 whoever you are throwing down a lot of streaming Sats. Thank you
for that. I'm very kind on fountain. Of course, Dovey Doss, Double D with his Dovey tips coming in.
Thanks for listening, man. Appreciate the Sats. Silent G kicking down a thousand. Chad F,
lots of streaming Sats coming in from you, sir. And thanks for all the notes on social media as well
in Noster in other places. Eric, Double P coming in with some streaming Sats. Thank you.
The one and only pod father, Dr. Adam Curry, the Dutch Duke. Thank you, sir. 1200 Sats really
appreciate it. Thanks for all your tutelage. You know what I mean. OT, thanks for putting up the
usual cats, man. That's some great stuff. He certainly didn't need to send me some Sats,
but I greatly appreciate it. Borsen Globen, again, streaming big fan. Thank you very much,
sir. Appreciate it. Nate, Johnovan, dude, love your stuff, man. Please reach out to me. I got a question
for you. And then last but not least, but not last or last but not whatever. I can't even talk anymore.
It's late. Nick, thanks, Nick, for kicking in your streaming Sats as well. So those are all from the
last couple of days in between when we put out the jazz hour as well as covering some of the
Anneds interview on episode six of the Phantom Power Artist Hour. And don't forget, we also had
the Phantom Power Business Hour where we talked to a couple of Noster folks, Derek Ross and Vanessa
Gray from Domus. And that's where Adam was listening in. But we've got a bunch of shows. We're trying to
do four shows a week and we really appreciate all of the boosts and all of the Zaps. Please don't forget
to boost and zap the artists that you heard today, such as The Trusted and Alicia and Daddy Nat.
Cool. Thank you guys so much for listening. Have a great rest of your day and don't forget to
smile for the mug shot.