Turning Sh*t Into Gold - Tim Akers and the Smoking Section

[niacin]

Again - a band like this posting originals would probably get little attention, like most people going that route. Not saying it's bad or wrong to post original material - it's about the realities of how music is discovered and consumed by Joe & Jane sixpack. imo.

 

Doing a different and unique take on a familiar song is a way to get noticed. You get to display your talents and sound original, using a familiar frame of reference. It can be a win in a lot of ways. These guys (and gal) kill it, imo. And Joe is exactly right â those that are exceptional songwriters are not generally also monster intrumentalists & arrangers. This band is showing what they do best. There's nothing to criticize here except your own preconceptions.

 

I might be the only "criticizer" in the thread, I'm not sure.

 

I am in no way against these kinds of covers. I completely agree, covers are where the clicks are. For me, what makes covers like this work is when they draw something new of out a tune we all thought we knew. This sample did a lot of ornamenting, but for me it didn't bring anything new to the tune. IMO, that's what made the vox less compelling; I just heard a sort of over-singing version of the original melody. If she'd brought something new to it, I'd have been more compelled.

 

Nothing against any of the players, or the OP for sharing, or anyone who likes this. It's purely personal. For me, killer as the band is, it just lacked the "Wow!" I get when I hear the best of these funk-covers-of-pop-tunes, of which there are now quite a few.

 

I have to admit I didn't make it past the minute and half mark. I recognise the talent on display but it's just not doing it for me. Definitely Dirty Loops territory and yeh this horn section with them might be something else.

 

I'm guilty of following Richard Cheese, Post Modern Jukebox and others down the pop as old-fashioned jazz path, and on Saturday just gone had a rehearsal for a gig on Wednesday playing mostly pop tunes, including Shake it Off, in the style of 1930s jazz, so a lot of stride, Shake it Off works nicely over Ain't Misbehavin' changes including the bridge and all. It's a trio with vox and tenor sax. So we're running through Firework (Katy Perry), and I've rewritten the changes with Gershwin in mind and am rather pleased with how it sounds, and then the vocal starts: "Do you ever feel like a plastic bag? ...". Yeh right. Like something Ira would have penned. Not. It's not just that the melody has no shape, but the lyrics are so WTF.

[niacin]

And yes, they are all Nashville session cats. I've always thought we can only assembly a team like this in LA or NY. They blew away my ignorant assumption that Nashville is all Country.

.

 

You probably haven't come across these guys then:

[video:youtube]

[Threadslayer]

Shake it Off works nicely over Ain't Misbehavin' changes including the bridge and all.

Where does the "haters gonna hate, hate, hate..." part go?

[Threadslayer]

...I feel like it starts at an intensity level of 11 and that leaves it nowhere to go.

 

You nailed it.

 

(Over)Density/Intensity can hurt musicality unintentionally, and that's why I never digged Bebop in general or shredders like Jordan Rudess (oops, I might have just opened a new can of worms. )

I think you guys are on to something here. Sustained technical prowess and virtuosity can get boring pretty fast and my saturation point is set pretty low for it.

[stoken6]

And yes, they are all Nashville session cats. I've always thought we can only assembly a team like this in LA or NY. They blew away my ignorant assumption that Nashville is all Country.

. You probably haven't come across these guys then:

Ooh, good shout. I went down the Here Come The Mummies rabbit-hole a few years back - check out "Bump".

 

Their schtick is that the band are all top-flight well-known musos, and the costumes allow them to play out incognito. I don't know if that's true, and it doesn't really matter.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Bif_]

I think Adam Neely does a great job as an educator and a person that makes us think about music in different ways. I enjoyed this cover and the story explaining his process..

 

 

 

[video:youtube]

[AROIOS]

I think Adam Neely does a great job as an educator and a person that makes us think about music in different ways. I enjoyed this cover and the story explaining his process..

 

I too subscribe to Adam's channel and much appreciate him as a music educator, but not as a musician. To put it in a subjective, ambiguous, over-simplified and quite possibly snobby and unfair way, his music and re-harmonization lacks soul.

 

And how he and Tim Akers managed to stand the stench of Adele's original brain-dead melody and harmony remains a mystery to me. That might be one of the "benefits" of being a professional session musician: after being paid to spray perfume over loads of turd repeatedly, they become less sensitive to the stench.

[AROIOS]

 

...and then the vocal starts: "Do you ever feel like a plastic bag? ...". Yeh right. Like something Ira would have penned. Not. It's not just that the melody has no shape, but the lyrics are so WTF.

 

Almost spilled water on my screen, thanks for the good laugh.

[AROIOS]

And yes, they are all Nashville session cats. I've always thought we can only assembly a team like this in LA or NY. They blew away my ignorant assumption that Nashville is all Country.

.

 

You probably haven't come across these guys then:

[video:youtube]

 

Thanks for sharing it niacin. Compared to putting together a team like Tim's, I would feel much more confident to recruit a band at the caliber in the video from most metropolitan areas around the U.S.

[MAJUSCULE]

I'll spare this thread from my usual ramblings about jaded views of current music, however:

 

TW's r------- melody

 

I'd love it if we could leave the R word out of it, thanks!

 

Count me on the side of Tim Akers & the SS's stuff as having never really walked my dog, so to speak. It's a fine line, though, I think all of us can admit that depending on the day, the visual presentation, etc, we can easily jump to one side or another. Videos featuring tight production and phenomenal playing often split the audience pretty heavily. Jacob Collier is another that comes to mind in that category.

 

I agree with the whole chicken and egg thing too as far as covering a famous song to build an audience before (hopefully) showing off solid writing chops as well.

 

I shared these two videos in a thread a little while back that got a decidedly split reaction. In this case, Cody Fry is actually rearranging his own material for a funkier "live" take feat. Cory Wong and another younger group of Nashville session musicians, Dynamo. Collaboration is another way to open up your audience, he gained a lot of Vulfpeck fans by featuring Cory on two videos and then sponsoring the shit out of them online.

 

[video:youtube]

 

[video:youtube]

 

As far as DirtyLoops, I still most often listen to their first EP, which is all pop covers. Some really amazing stuff on there, and knowing the originals is part of the attraction. I haven't been a huge fan of their originals so far, but I think their new singles sound promising, in their totally over-the-top way. I think the full album is out next week. I'm glad to see that they can hopefully make a real run at the original stuff. At this point, it feels like there's more creative depth for them to explore there, same with Jacob. Everyone knows they can arrange a completely nutso version of any song out there, now they can concentrate on adding something new.

 

[video:youtube]

[MAJUSCULE]

Oh, one more thing: I heartily recommend the Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, about Taylor Swift's years making Reputation and Lover. Feelings and opinions about her art, privilege, and aesthetic aside, it's hard not to respect her after watching that.

 

Also, her early albums feature more of those same great Nashville session cats we all love. Later stuff also features great musicians too, just packaged a little differently.

[Reezekeys]

As far as DirtyLoops, I still most often listen to their first EP, which is all pop covers. Some really amazing stuff on there, and knowing the originals is part of the attraction. I haven't been a huge fan of their originals so far, but I think their new singles sound promising, in their totally over-the-top way. I think the full album is out next week. I'm glad to see that they can hopefully make a real run at the original stuff. At this point, it feels like there's more creative depth for them to explore there, same with Jacob. Everyone knows they can arrange a completely nutso version of any song out there, now they can concentrate on adding something new.

 

You do know that DL released an album six years ago where 11 out of the 14 songs were originals? And that Jacob Collier has released three albums in his "Djesse" series (all in the past two years) with 33 of the 37 tracks being originals? Sounds like a "real run" to me.

 

We now return you to the regularly scheduled "musicianship-bashing" in this thread!

[MAJUSCULE]

Yeah, that's my point, I haven't been enamoured with DL's originals so far. I find this batch more compelling so far. I enjoy Jacob's also, but I find I have to sit down with his material more. DL can be both background listening or close examination.

[CowboyNQ]

I"ve never understood all the bagging that Taylor Swift cops. To my mind this is an interesting and cool reworking of an already excellent song.

[MathOfInsects]

I know we're all too old and cool to like pop music, but in a world of producer-made pop songs with interchangeable singers, I think it's worth recognizing what Taylor Swift has been able to do. She writes her own songs, plays guitar, sings her butt off, and has managed to turn all of that into a hit factory any of us would kill to be attached to, professionally. She could just be hot and sing decently and still be famous, but instead she has doubled-down on the songwriting end. This new album with The National is more evidence that she is not going to sit back and just be another pop princess--which she could, easily. If she weren't as hot, I think she'd get more recognition for this, maybe even among us dusty old curmudgeons.

 

I think maybe part of this conversation about DL and the OP's song is a result of there being so many ensembles of off-the-charts musicians taking their cracks at reinventing pop songs these days. It's an embarrassment of riches. So now the point of differentiation is no longer just, did we take a pop song and give it the funk-band treatment. It's: what did we DO with that treatment. It's a good problem to have, as a listener. What an age...

[Reezekeys]

I"ve never understood all the bagging that Taylor Swift cops. To my mind this is an interesting and cool reworking of an already excellent song.

 

Exactly. I know I'm the curmudgeon here, but most often it's just when I see the liberal use of shortcuts we all know are so easily available to us these days. Anybody that comes up with original melodies, chord progressions, lyrics and arrangements; brings together talented musicians to realize those dots on a page; and has the technical know-how to assemble all those elements into a finished product that can move us â that's what I like. Everybody may have different "percentages" of those elements; imo we should just appreciate anything special they can bring to the table. Is it too hard to like both Taylor Swift and Tim Akers at the same time, for different reasons?

[AROIOS]

I'll spare this thread from my usual ramblings about jaded views of current music, however:

 

TW's r------- melody

 

I'd love it if we could leave the R word out of it, thanks!

 

Count me on the side of Tim Akers & the SS's stuff as having never really walked my dog, so to speak. It's a fine line, though, I think all of us can admit that depending on the day, the visual presentation, etc, we can easily jump to one side or another. Videos featuring tight production and phenomenal playing often split the audience pretty heavily. Jacob Collier is another that comes to mind in that category.

 

I agree with the whole chicken and egg thing too as far as covering a famous song to build an audience before (hopefully) showing off solid writing chops as well.

 

I shared these two videos in a thread a little while back that got a decidedly split reaction. In this case, Cody Fry is actually rearranging his own material for a funkier "live" take feat. Cory Wong and another younger group of Nashville session musicians, Dynamo. Collaboration is another way to open up your audience, he gained a lot of Vulfpeck fans by featuring Cory on two videos and then sponsoring the shit out of them online.

 

[video:youtube]

 

[video:youtube]

 

As far as DirtyLoops, I still most often listen to their first EP, which is all pop covers. Some really amazing stuff on there, and knowing the originals is part of the attraction. I haven't been a huge fan of their originals so far, but I think their new singles sound promising, in their totally over-the-top way. I think the full album is out next week. I'm glad to see that they can hopefully make a real run at the original stuff. At this point, it feels like there's more creative depth for them to explore there, same with Jacob. Everyone knows they can arrange a completely nutso version of any song out there, now they can concentrate on adding something new.

 

[video:youtube]

 

Thanks for sharing these 3 videos MAJUSCULE. I totally dig the arrangement of both of Cody's songs. But again, his melodies in both songs are r..., ahem, I meant underwhelming and incidental. I could have enjoyed them more if the vocal tracks are muted.

 

And that reminds me of a big part of Vulfpeck's appeal: their disregard for melodies when there simply isn't a good one to arrange around.

 

The 3rd video from DL pretty much sums up why I don't follow them much any more: They are trying too hard to appeal to the brain-dead Millennial/GenZ audience. The busy arrangement does little to cover the fact that their melody is r..., I meant weak. There are loads and waves of techniques but ZERO soul in this tune.

[AROIOS]

I"ve never understood all the bagging that Taylor Swift cops. To my mind this is an interesting and cool reworking of an already excellent song.

Is it too hard to like both Taylor Swift and Tim Akers at the same time, for different reasons?

 

Not at all, Taylor's stuff is far from being the most brain-dead, stinky shit on radio nowadays.

 

And I'll be the first to happily admit that I LOVE a handful of Kenny G and Michael Bolton tunes.