Over the holidays I released a brand new single for Jerry Arlen, listen on Spotify below:
This is a fun track I’ve been working on for awhile and I figured would make for a nice little holiday listening session. Enjoy my friends!
I’m happy to announce Dr1ve is now available.
You can purchase it from my site right now, or stream the full album on YouTube here.
I’ve spent a lot of hours working on my Studio’s first album release, I hope you enjoy the journey.
I enrolled in Berklee College of Music last year to pursue a Masters in Music Production. It’s been occupying much of time. Interestingly, it’s also been a time of immense output for me. I have three full albums in process: one that needs a good final mix, one that is awaiting mastering, and a third in development.
Two of these albums I plan to release under the new Studio Arlen name. For me, it’s a way to delineate my more theatrical/film score work from my folk songwriting. I’ll continue to release music under Jerry Arlen for my more personal albums. I’ll use the Studio Arlen name for less focused releases.
Each Jerry Arlen album takes me years of development honestly, it’s the cost of doing everything myself and I want to release more. So Studio Arlen is a perfect place, expect to see future iTunes, Spotify releases under that name.
This week takes a couple selections from Andy Mckee’s most recent release Symbol, as well as the Deluxe version of Jimmy Eat World’s Futures. While ten years old, the demo version of ‘Drugs or Me’ presents a fascinating alternative to the beautiful track from the pop rockers.
We start with Andy’s cover of Streets of Whiterun a classic score from the video game Skyrim by Jeremy Soule that is perhaps one of the most celebrated game scores of the 2000’s. From here we dip into fast paced Jazz with some Wooten and then the joyful ramble of the Oscar Peterson Trio’s Almost Like Being In Love.
Promises by Beach Bunny was one of my favorite tracks of last year, bringing a garage band intensity I think is fair to pair with Rough Draft, an early-2000’s acoustic track by Yellowcard. From here we break the acoustic momentum with a bit of Atmosphere’s Love Each Other, guaranteed to hook itself in your mind for hours after. Black Frost continues our smooth momentum and Mingus’s B.S (itself a repurpose of the Hatian Fight Song off ‘The Clown’) brings in such a necessary swing for the morning.
Our next three tracks are smashed together for pace. We move from the Killers excellent 2018 hit The Man, an electric soundstorm, to the smooth, controlled, but no less fast-paced Finesse. This gets us nice and exhausted, in a good place for the Drugs or Me (Demo). This track is going to dip us into a more emotional, beautiful place.
I choose to follow this with another cover track from ‘Symbol’: Purple Rain. This is a fascinating and intimate cover, one that focuses more on tone and emotionality from McKee, an artist known for his technical mastery. Heavy Heart from talented Michigan-based Clarinetist Dave Bennet off his excellent ‘Blood Moon’ takes us towards the close and we end on a triumphant note. From the ‘My Hero Academia’ soundtrack You Say Run, which by my ears is perhaps one of the greatest scores written for a TV show.
Tune in next week, on WCBN-FM 88.3 or right here on StudioArlen.com
I decided to start posting these episodes to my website in addition to the broadcast. Each week you’ll find links to the iTunes and Spotify playlists as well as some thoughts on how these songs were connected to each other; a little meditation on the sensations of sonics.
For this semester, with Jazz Evolution broadcasting at the early hour of 6am, I will try to focus on ideas of morning. In my mind there have always been clearly delineated lines between day and night sounds. Night sounds fill me with this gnaw of the unknown, reverb-laced fantasies or thoughtful ballads. Day is for motion, excitement intertwined with moments of calm.
The day is melodic, less complex but soaked in adrenaline. It can be synthetic or acoustic, focused or rambling.
We start with Jan Hammer and transition into Daft Punk, a fun 30 year bridge between two electronica pioneers and a reassertion of my fundamental thesis for Jazz Evolution: Jazz lives on in modern music by adapting.
Tito Puente delivers those upbeat Latin grooves of morning and transitions to the oddly poppy but also hypnotically rhythmic Speed to the Sound of Loneliness. We slide to the bright morning rock of Hi Ho Silver Lining before visiting groovy Detroit favorite Marcus Miller. The Jazz Messengers bring the pace back to a patient swing which then dips us into Earl Hines, another Detroiter. By this time we’re a pretty far way from the electronic place we started.
So we begin to build back up with Ella belting in her timeless way. I kind of like this cut, the vocals aren’t mixed perfectly but it adds to the raw vibe. Wes Montgomery leads us down a sun drenched path with some complex guitar work followed by one of the most underrated tracks from Wonder’s Innervisions.
The final sequence starts with Daft Punk’s The Grid, coming back around from earlier. It’s this huge synth piece, and hearing it makes me crave this sparkling synth space, so we cut to Carlisle. I love the vocal work on this track, which is really layered in front of the classic 80’s beat and synth work. Cut to Saturday by twenty one pilots, a track of irresistible pop and finished off by Wilde’s Kids in America. I feel this little section weaves together 80’s and modern pop in a way that makes me ready for the day ahead.
Tune in next week, on WCBN-FM 88.3 or right here on StudioArlen.com