(upbeat music)
- Well, hello everybody, welcome back to Phantom Power Music Review.
This is the show where I dive into the inner workings
of three songs that you would find in the value verse.
Meaning these three artists are in support of Bitcoin
and they receive little tiny bits of Satoshi's
from the people who love their music.
That is what value for value is all about.
It is a mindset, it is a mantra, it is a way of life
that's gonna change the music industry.
And we're thrilled to be a part of it.
You kidding me?
These artists are making more in this format
than they do on the traditional streaming services.
So with that said, today we are gonna look at three songs,
one from Emily Rona, one from Martin Grooms,
and then another one from Victoria Fregosa.
And Victoria, I apologize if I just pronounced
your last name incorrectly.
But we're gonna dive into what I like about these songs.
We're gonna dive into melody, structure,
chord progression, maybe a little bit of recording technologies,
all that kind of fun stuff.
So this is a show for music geeks, but also if you're not a musician
and you're not a songwriter
and you're just curious about how musicians think,
I hope that this helps.
I hope that you enjoy it.
So having said all that, let's dive in, shall we?
Let's check out this great song by Nashville artist, Emily Rona,
and this song is called "Someone Else"
and then we'll break it down.
Are you ready?
Here we go.
Can't go anywhere without tripping on the closure
that line around and I swear.
I'm tired every day, slipping away from my side,
and you don't care.
Takes all this is stranger in my house,
but it's easier to tell myself it's someone else,
someone else,
so I've been silent all day,
where I make excuses,
I'm the boy, I'm the chain,
where I feel an anxious,
turns out I'm a stranger in my own house,
in my own house,
but it's easier to tell myself it's someone else,
someone else,
you're ditches in the sink,
in the middle of weeks,
and I can't bring myself to one.
Sitting on the kitchen floor,
I don't go out,
I don't like it,
sitting on the kitchen floor,
I don't like it,
there's no way I'm going to be able to get out of my seat,
to do it.
Takes all this is stranger in my house,
in my house,
but it's easier to tell myself it's someone else,
someone else,
so I've been silent all day,
where I feel an anxious,
turns out I'm a stranger in my own house,
in my own house,
but it's easier to tell myself it's someone else,
someone else,
where I could kick you out,
and change the locks,
oh, I always said I was living alone,
but we know I'm not,
step inside and I'll bring,
where I make excuses,
I'm the boy and I change,
where I feel anxious,
turns out I'm a stranger in my own house,
in my own house,
but it's easier to tell myself it's someone else,
someone else,
so,
that is a deceptive track,
that's a deceptive track,
because you think it's simple,
but then when you break down the cord changes,
there's some really neat stuff going on in there.
So the first thing that I picked up on is that
this is not an a key that you typically hear artists work in,
and I gotta, Emily, I gotta kinda make fun of you for this one,
because like, really, G-flat, F-sharp,
really, you're not making it easy on the piano players out there.
For those of you who don't play piano,
that's basically like one of the toughest keys to play in.
It's like, you know, six flats,
you know, it's all,
it's predominantly dark keys in the fingering is difficult.
So I have the feeling that Emily wrote it on a guitar
that was probably tuned down a half step
and maybe had a K-po on,
or maybe even tuned it down,
you know, a step in a half, who knows?
But any time,
that's just me being a little bit of a smart ally,
like anytime anybody writes in a key like that,
I love it because so much of what you hear on the radio
is in standard basic boring key of the people type stuff,
you know, G, C, D, E, you know, whatever.
So anytime it's done in a different key like this,
it always stands out, and I love that.
I love that.
The baseline, the keyboard line,
is really interesting too.
That's a progression that you don't hear a lot of,
62/34, let me see if I can get it right.
(guitar music)
You don't hear that progression too often.
So that is very refreshing to hear,
then she goes up to the five,
right, and then pulls it back down to the four.
But that is really nice.
(guitar music)
That ascending line that you hear in the bass and in the guitar,
you don't hear that a lot, that sticks out to me.
I love the all start on this song.
All start means like the first thing you hear is the vocals.
To me anyways, that's what I call it.
I think her voice is perfect for this genre
and I love the way she sells it.
She kind of reminds me of Cassidy Pope,
kind of reminds me of Avril Lavigne.
It is absolutely perfect for this genre.
I love the sigh that she gives in the first verse,
you know when she goes, (sighs)
it's great, it's perfect for this.
There's a great vocal presentation.
So the two things right off the bat
that I love about this track
are her delivery and the chord progression.
Also go back and listen to that guitar tone at the beginning.
It's really pristine and it's got a nice bite to it.
It sounds like she's got a fender Mustang on the back pickups.
And then also, I hope you're listening
with a really good set of cans on,
because there's some really nice background vocals in there
that are ducted into the mix.
It's kind of like some (humming)
that are just fantastic.
When she hits the chorus,
love the double vocal effect.
(humming)
When you double up the vocals like that,
it really does a great job of opening up the song.
And notice how she,
when her lead line goes up, her harmony goes down,
smart production.
Really nice stuff.
It opens up the track.
Nice hand claps in the back to let you know
that something bigger is coming.
Great track building there.
And I love how the whole band
drops in when she sings,
"Stand inside of my brain, why not make excuses?"
That's a cool way to bring the band in.
And then halfway through the chorus,
drop out to reinforce the chorus,
where it's just her and the guitar.
That's really cool.
Like she did that in the first chorus.
She didn't do it in the second.
So it's a nice little building,
nice little presence, little, you know,
earworms that she's leaving you all around the track.
Notice the musical feeling you get
when she's singing "Stranger in My Own House"
with the full band pulling out.
Like, that's a,
I love it when artists make the music match the lyrics.
That's what I think her intent was there.
I'd have to ask her, you know,
the production crew, you know,
her and her producer on this.
And maybe she did the,
maybe she self produced the whole thing
if she did even more kudos.
Second verse,
did you hear that bass line rising up
on the same progression?
Like in the first verse,
the guitar took it,
the second verse bass took it.
Love that.
And I love bringing the whole band back in
on a half tempo vibe.
The lyrics to me are completely relatable.
Even though I've been happily married for 20 years, you know,
I mean, anybody who's been through a breakup
and moving in and moving out,
this is absolutely relatable.
Absolutely relatable.
Bridge comes out of nowhere.
And that to me is the nice cherry on top,
so to speak, on this one.
Really comes in as far as structure goes,
where exactly you would hear it,
but I love how she starts in her higher register
and where as the whole song,
a lot of her chord progressions were going up
on the bridge she goes down.
And then she has a different spin on the third chorus
with a nice build.
This is a, as I said at the beginning,
it sounds like a simple song,
but it's really deceiving.
It's quite simple,
but the way the bass line rises in conjunction
with everything else shows you that it's done.
And I would love to see her pull this off with a live band.
I don't think she played this one
when I saw her last fall here in Nashville.
But that's the way I look at this one.
And I love her voice again,
and I think the production is great.
It's right in line with great pop songs
that you're hearing today.
Love the angst,
love the delivery,
the really cool track.
Really cool track.
All right.
Thank you, Emily.
That's a fun one.
Aside from the fact that you're playing in G-flat,
and no, I'm not to type a piano player
who like hits the half transpose button
so I can play in all the easy keys.
Nope.
I'll take that challenge.
All right.
Let's move on.
Let's do a great song from Martin Grooms
called "The Hard Way."
Ready?
Here we go.
(upbeat music)
♪
I knew it when we first met
something wasn't right
and better judgment
would've kept me to myself.
♪
Sweet nothings
and nothing.
Fed me full of lies
and still I can't forget
the emptiness I felt.
♪
I gave you all I had
to give in it
never was enough.
♪
Bricks me with those
and the arms
inside your hollow
clutch.
♪
But you never meant it
when you told me
that you loved me.
I had to find out
the hard way.
You said that you'd never
put someone else above me.
And I'm pretty sure
that's what they all say.
You were talking when I tuned out.
Your timing's never
right.
Scuces always seem to
glide right out your mouth.
Sweet nothings
and nothing.
Faded all those nights
I watched us fuck it up
as bottles bottom down.
We made all the marks
put in progress
them all fit
perfect,
this array.
I gave you all I had
to give in
it.
♪
And you never meant it
when you told me
that you loved me.
I had to find out
the hard way.
You said that you'd never
put someone else above me.
And I'm pretty sure
that's what they all say.
You never meant it
when you told me
that you loved me.
I had to find out
the hard way.
You said that you'd never
put someone else above me.
And I'm pretty sure
that's what they all say.
Forgive me
but I love this chord progression
so much I got a solo over it.
Hang on.
♪
But I just love that chord progression.
Oh, I love that chord progression.
That's a soloist's dream.
I'm sorry for pooping all over your track there.
Hey shout out
as my chords are getting tangled up in my chair here.
Shout out to Bobby Schell who was a co-writer on that one.
Nice job guys.
Nice job.
Really love that track.
I'm getting full on Bobby Calwell vibes, right?
What you would not do for love.
Love this track.
Let's start with the chord progression.
We're in A minor and it just works its way up all the way through.
It's really simple.
Really simple.
But it's really effective.
Here's what it sounds like.
♪
And I'm riffin' a little bit, but...
Just I love that whole progression.
That is a soloist's dream.
You got so much room to work with.
Like this would just be killer.
Killer to see a band do.
Killer to see a band do it live.
So effective.
Very simple progression repeats all the way through the song,
but it's so effective because you're giving so much room
to the other players in the band.
I love Martin's vocal performance on this.
Just the heartbreak that he talks about in the song really comes out
perfectly on this.
Love that dropout after the first chorus.
And did you guys hear that dropout at the end of the second verse?
Right on the phrase when he talks about walk-to-way
and the whole band drops out?
That's so cool.
That's so well done.
But here's...
There are so many little things in this song
that stick out to me.
It is so hard to keep the groove simple,
to not get carried away and let the small elements really carry the track.
Case in point.
That little guitar riff that you hear at the end of the last chorus,
or that little fuzzy organ line that you hear.
You also hear some diads in there.
A diad is a two note riff, and I think they did it in fourths.
It was something like this.
There's a tasty little diad in there that they go to a couple of times.
Love that tasty little drum fill in the middle of the first verse.
Those ethereal keyboard parts that come in and out of the chorus
that carry the main line.
That main melodic riff that you hear is really neat too.
I think it's...
[Bell]
Something like that, right?
This song is so...
It kind of reminds me of Emily's song that we talked about earlier
where you think it's...
that it's simple.
And the chord progression doesn't change throughout the song,
but what makes this song so effective is all that little ear candy
that Martin and Bobby threw in all throughout the song.
It's so well done. It's so smart.
Like, go back and listen to Bobby call well.
Just such smooth R&B smooth pop.
Great stuff, man.
Absolutely love that.
I could sit there and solo over this track for hours.
And you know what I was thinking of too, actually.
I was actually thinking how cool it would be
to have a band like FM Rodeo or a band like Iroh cover this song.
If you were to speed it up, so I grabbed my acoustic and this is what I mean.
[Bell]
I think that'd be really cool to hear.
I think it'd be really cool to hear it.
If one of those bands wanted to cover this song.
I always love it when you take a song from one genre and you cover it into another one.
And that's...
If you've heard the artist hour podcast that I do,
one of the things I love to ask is,
"Hey, give me the name of somebody that's outside of your genre
that you would love to have cover one in your songs."
In case some point, like the guy at Iroh, he said,
"I'd love to have a Dell cover one of my tunes."
I was like, "Yeah, that'd be, that'd be hell or cool. That'd be really neat."
But I love that song, Martin and Bobby,
beautiful chord progression, beautiful production, great vibes,
not surprised at all that that is number one over on Wave Lake right now.
Really cool stuff.
All right, let's move on. Let's go to Victoria Fregosa.
And her song called Love Goes Free.
Let's check it out.
[Music]
All right folks, let's read off the boosts and the zaps that we had been fortunate enough to see, to receive.
In the last two weeks, I didn't do a music review last Friday because I had to jump on a plane and go down the Phoenix for culture shock,
nocturifix, and boy did I pay for that one, I got sick for the first time in five years, thank you very much airline flu,
but it is now time to thank all the beautiful people who have been sending us boosts and zaps over the past two weeks.
Are you ready?
Let's begin, shall we?
Thank you PW.
So shout out to Dovey Doss for helping me put some tools together that would make it easier to figure out all of these stats,
as well as whomever wrote the code for Saturn.Fly.dev to be able to look on the back end of all the boosts as well.
Thank you very much, makes life easy.
Lightning Store, thanks for having us on, Jim, boost for a poop or work academy in Sarajay.
Lightning Store, thank you man, you know how I feel.
Just listening, dude, you're always listening, and boosts and zaps for Hey Love with that great Marina Osk track.
Thank you for the zaps, let's see, just rolling down Joe Martin, brother Joe, check it in,
looking forward to seeing you out here in Nashville this summer. Got your back man.
QW, quiet warrior boosts and zaps for the Amit & Phoenix pleasure meeting user, that was a lot of fun.
Looking forward to more.
Tonerecker, great to be among the makers in the world overrun with takers.
Who I love that, thanks for the zaps, man.
Man like Quacks, Chyman Inn, chime in on my interview with Real Richard.
Yeah man, Real Richard, Calvin Harris type stuff, right?
Alan C. Paul, boosts and zaps saying killer open and track for the show, thanks man.
Just listening again, bumping up the Jack Feemeister, Nocturne and Black & Gold.
I love that tune by Jack Feemeister.
And I just love that Jack is screw you guys, I'm putting out whatever I want.
I just love that whole attitude. The Bear Snare, thanks for the zaps, man.
Thank you so much Sarah Jade. Thank you. Yeah, appreciate the zaps.
Happy to be doing all these shows, hope you are enjoying them all, looking forward to having you on the artist hour in a couple of weeks.
Irma Moore Band, Pittsburgh's finest.
Love you guys, thanks for the zaps. Chad F, just Brian Moore stuff from Just Listening.
I'm Mappy, whomever you are, dude you are fantastic and I can't thank you enough for all the zaps.
Tumbleweed, Noster eggs, Moore from Alan C. Paul, true fans, chime in with some zaps.
Thanks man, you should be on vacation.
Don't be doss with a test. Yeah, your test works buddy, thanks.
Thanks for the zaps, I'll take you.
Moore from Chad F, Moore from Cody Christopher.
Thank you sir, looking forward to talking to you tomorrow for the business hour that's going to come out on Monday.
Lion styles, thank you very much, appreciate it. Nice boosts and notes, notes I should say.
They're from Nick, thank you sir, appreciate it.
Worsen Galover from Germany, thank you very much.
Appreciate those zaps sir.
What, something tells me your name is Thomas?
Maybe. Shout out to Salty Crayon as well man.
I love your comment in fountain where you said NFTs are nothing more than JPEGs that can be copy and pasted for free.
Big of scam in the last few years.
I think you're on points sir, and I thank you for your sats.
And tone record also chiming in on fountain, and I believe I mentioned you already, but I appreciate you guys smiley boosts in a thousand sats.
Thanks man, Colomona, Kentzilla, Moore stuff from Colomona, Moore stuff from Certigay the Raffle of the Dwarffuls, thanks, but I really appreciate it.
Also the Dutch Duke of decentralized music, that's my title, I'm giving to him.
Mr. Adam Curry, thank you sir, appreciate it looking forward to having another long-winded conversation with you about all this fun stuff.
That will do it.
My friends really appreciate you guys liking these shows, boosting these shows, and sharing these shows.
And if you guys know any unsigned aspiring musician that is interested in getting into this space, we would be happy to speak with them and help them feel welcome.
That's what I'll say about that.
You guys can tell I have been fighting a cold and fighting the...
Whatever the heck it is, I caught on that fantastic Frontier Airlines flight, so I am going to call it a day and get to get to Postal List up there.
Love all you guys in the value verse, can't wait to see what this does.
I believe in it wholeheartedly and I thank you for listening.
Smile for the mug shot, see ya.
[Music]