Music Genre
“Another solo piano track for the (Neo) Classical fans and of course those who seek for the elegance in music. "Alice" is part of the album Weißes Rauschen (white noise) and holds a personal tone of mystery.”
-Nagamag.com
https://www.jonashain.com/
“-Bonum Et Malum- combines unique tools and techniques peculiar to the genre of New Age. Soft, soothing tempo, hypnotic, ethereal beauty of the melody. -Mythos- Music for relaxation and meditation to calm your soul.”
“-Bonum Et Malum- сочетает в себе уникальные инструменты и приёмы свойственные жанру New Age. Плавный, умиротворяющий темп, гипнотическая, неземной красоты мелодия. Музыка -Mythos- это релакс и медитация для успокоения вашей души.”
-Nagamag.com
Mythos has been creating timeless, ethereal music fusing electronic beats with vocalese, piano, acoustic guitar, synths and sounds from around the world. 2021 marks the 25th Anniversary for the duo of Bob D’Eith (producer and piano) and Paul Schmidt (acoustic guitar). This year we are pleased to release “XXV” a 14-track album including 5 new tracks and 9 fully remastered classics. “Bonum et Malum”, the third single, explores the dichotomy between good and evil, sadness and joy.
https://www.facebook.com/mythosmusic/
Mythos enjoys a very dedicated international fan base with over 2 million streams per year.
Mythos can be described as ethereal, ambient instrumental music focusing on acoustic guitar, piano and vocal melodies. Added to this mix are hypnotic electronic beats, orchestral arrangements and world instrument flavors. Mythos has always had the goal of creating music without borders; creating a blend of sounds from all over the planet.
Mythos has had a very successful and colorful history. Nearly 25 years ago, Bob D’Eith (piano) and Paul Schmidt (guitar) decided to create some music with the idea of composing for film and television. As the partners worked together and brought in other performers, they realized that there was something special about the music. The music stood on its own. Mythos was born.
“Introspection” was the bands first independent release. With the unexpected commercial radio success of “November”, CDs sold in the thousands. That record won a West Coast Music Award and was nominated for a JUNO Award in 1997. The artist secured a number of television placements including the show “Due South”. The album was released in the USA on the boutique San Francisco label XDOT25.
The follow-up album release for “Iridescence,” was happily interrupted when XDOT25 was able to secure a deal for Mythos with Higher Octave/Virgin/EMI in Malibu, California. The addition of Gil Bruvel’s stunning artwork to a re-release of the best of the first two albums led to the release of “Mythos” in 1998. This record was a huge success, eventually selling over 50,000 CDs and charting on Billboard Magazine’s New Age chart for eight months.
Riding on the wave of Mythos’ success, Higher Octave went on to release “Reality of a Dreamer” (2000) and “Eternity” (2002), both of which charted in Billboard for months on end. One of the highlights was the featuring of Mythos music in the 2000 Victoria’s Secret runway show in Cannes, France. At the time, this was the largest streaming event ever seen on the internet. “Eternity” won a Western Canadian Music Award for Best Instrumental Artist in 2003.
With the explosion of downloading and the merger of major labels internationally, Mythos became independent again in 2005. This did not stop the artist who released “Purity” in 2006 on Pacific Music/Warner (Canada) and Alula (Allegro USA).
In 2010, Bob decided that it was time to start working on new material. The first effort was to re-mix a favorite track that never made major label release. “Rain” was released as a single in that year.
Over the next two years, Bob and Paul worked on new material and in late 2012 were able to get together to record a new album. Joined by new guest artist Mother Mother’s Jasmin Parkin, “Journey” is an album that reflects both where Mythos has been and where it is going. On April 30 2013, Mythos “Journey” was released to a patient and loyal fan base.
Mythos was very proud to released the EP "Eros" in late 2018 and will be releasing a 25th Anniversary Album "XXV" in March 2021. First single "Legacy" is out now.
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Nagamag:
What are the genres that describe better your music style?
Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
I write original music for film and video games. I play piano and keyboards and in the years I have gathered quite a collection of synthesizers, guitar amps and FX pedals. This definitely drives my music towards those instruments as I like to mix elements of electronic music (ambient, downtempo, glitch etc.) with more traditional orchestral instruments (strings, brass, percussion) and ethnic sounds from Africa and the Middle East. I try and mangle these original acoustic sounds from world music to be 'assimilated' by the machines, while still retaining their contrasting features. I try to maintain a delicate and constant fight between an industrial, cyberpunk and somehow dystopian sound palette and a more organic, classical setup with roaring strings and epic orchestral elements. I guess a lot of my work with techno artists and the club scene plays a role in what I imagine would be the sound of the streets and the underground in a distant future.
Nagamag:
Few words about your musical background and career?
Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
I've worked as a pianist/keyboardist for artists, bands and recording studios, mostly as a session musician. I've had my good share of live gigs in rock, acid jazz and fusion setups in which I would bring my keybards, guitar amps and guitar pedals and kinda force the stage to accept my sounds. I am not a fan of playing 'realistic instruments' live, and unfortunately you can achieve pretty good ones these days with keyboards.. but for me it's either acoustic piano, vintage keys or straight up synthesizers and mangled sounds. There's no in-between. In 2007 I opened my own recording studio, called 'Fuseroom' and I started producing records and keeping the facility open to music education programs. In the past years I went back to my role of composer and joined some game development companies (among which were some good friends of mine, from high school) to write original music for their video games. Getting back to writing music by myself was an adventure and somehow reconnected me with an artistic self that I had kept asleep for a while. It was a good time to get back at it and I was able to use this momentum to release a new solo record, called 'Future in the Past', highlighting some of the most iconic elements of my sound and songwriting, in the soundtrack genre.
Nagamag:
Do you remember your first connection of love to music that was the right impact to be a music artist now?
Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
As a kid I was lucky to have friends who one day told me on the phone: "We're making a band. What do you want to play?". It was that simple. We wanted to move from air guitars and air drums using broomsticks and empty soda bottles to playing for real. I looked around, I had a small digital keyboard I had been playing since I was in primary school and decided that I wanted to play piano and go to a real teacher. I started both classical and modern piano together and never stopped taking lessons from the day. At around 18 I felt like I had to choose and was captivated by modern music. I've played in pop/rock bands, jazz ensembles, small freestyle and acid jazz bands etc. especially when I moved my beautiful (but small) town of Firenze (Italy) to continue studying in Los Angeles. I cannot remember how many people I've played with and whose projects I joined. From there on I kept on studying, moving cities, attending to more music academies in the US and in Europe. If there was one constant that never left me is that I do not partake in projects that I do not like. I just cannot do it. I've studied to be a professional musician and I am happy to provide others with my expertise but I have to hear some kind of pulse in the project. Exposure, fame, money, you name it.. they just do not cut it in the end as I cannot go to sleep and look at myself in the mirror if I am doing something I do not genuinely and directly enjoy. I guess that spontaneous phone call from my friends when we were kids really left a mark.
Nagamag:
Is there a cliché or recurring pattern in the way you come up with a new piece of music?
Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
With the passing of time (and things become more recurring or fixed, with deadlines, revisions, team discussion, production supervisors and so on) I noticed that I start working on a song only after I can hear it in my head 'enough', over the course of a couple days. It is kinda funny to say that but once I receive the initial brief for a new music project and the team or production sends me guidelines for the vibe they are looking for, I do not sit at the instrument and try to put down ideas. I just let things breathe for a couple days and I start thinking about a tune. It might happen at the worst time or before falling asleep. If the idea is good, in a couple days I can always recall the main theme and at least the B-section that answers it. That is usually the right time for me to sit down, turn my computer on and start writing music.
Nagamag:
If you only had to keep one musical instrument, what would it be?
Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
This would be very challenging. I certainly consider the acoustic piano as my foundation but I have so many instruments that I like for their specific sound palette, some of which have almost healing properties when played, in my opinion. I would have a very hard time parting from my Voyager, Polysix, Juno-6 and Hammond, as well. Please do not make choose! ;)
Nagamag:
Most artists have a favorite song from a different music genre than the one they are producing music for... Which is yours?
Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
Andy Summers Mysterious Barricades
Nagamag:
Of Course Nagamag would love to listen also which track from a similar artist you admire?
Alberto Rizzo Schettino:
Ola Strandh Tom Clancy's The Division (Original Soundtrack)
“-HRDY-, also known as Wouter Hardy, presents a set of enjoyment when we listen to his composition -A New Dawn-. Neoclassical era in its true, original form.”
“-HRDY-, также известный как Wouter Hardy, дарит целый комплект наслаждения при прослушивании своей композиции -A New Dawn-. Неоклассическая эпоха в её истинном, первозданном виде.”
-Nagamag.com
HRDY, also known as Wouter Hardy, is a Dutch composer, producer and musician. Hardy discovered the piano and played his way onto the stage with the artist Kovacs where he inhabited the role of musical director and pianist for some time.
Hardy made his 2019 global debut as a producer on the record 'Arcade’ by Duncan Laurence. The song led the Netherlands to victory at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Over the last months, Hardy has been working on his solo project HRDY, composing music to be released on his own studio album. Influenced by music pioneers such as Ólafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm, Max Richter and Joep Beving, his compositions blend the styles of the neo-classical era with ambient, electronic sounds, resulting in multi-leveled, immersive and cinematic music pieces. For the first song of the album, to be released in the first week of February 2021, HRDY utilized a string section alongside his beloved 1870 pianola, 2019 Zimmermann and multiple analog synths from the 70’s and 80’s to create a floating, enticing and intimate piece. HRDY will be complementing his full-length debut album in the course of the coming year by releasing a new song each month, enjoy!
https://www.instagram.com/hrdy.music/
“The Music Painter is the case when the track title speaks for itself. Jordi Forniés like a real artist in the world of music draws his classical works. Gentle, sometimes impetuous melody and contemplative, creative mood.”
“The Music Painter тот самый случай, когда название композиции говорит само за себя. Jordi Forniés как настоящий художник в мире музыки рисует свои классические произведения. Нежная, порой импульсивная мелодия и созерцательное, творческое настроение.”
-Nagamag.com
Jordi Forniés is a Spanish musician, composer, and visual artist based in Singapore. His works are characterised by a continuum between tender overarching refrains and defined sequences with increasing momentum.
Always contemplative and expansive in nature, his compositions draw on neoclassical and ambient electronic music. Forniés composes for piano, strings, and small ensembles, working with studio recordings alongside electronic elements.
His first album Loudly Quiet will be released in 2021 together with his forthcoming solo exhibition under the same name. The album is a hopeful and poignant collection of compositions for piano and strings which each focus around an individual story or transient moment.
He has often worked in collaboration with others including Bouvaque with photographer and filmmaker Han Sungpil for which Forniés’ created a piano and string quartet score. He has composed for films including Caroline Fink’s epic documentary about the receding of the largest glacier in Switzerland, Aletsch: Of Ice and Men, 2016, and made music for documentaries and video installations with Gitta Gsell. He also worked on Yan Wang Preston’s major project Mother River, which was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2015.
A classically trained pianist since childhood, educated at Conservatorio Profesional de Música de Vila-seca in Spain, Forniés returned to music study in 2017 gaining an MFA in Music Composition and Orchestration at Chichester University in the UK. He is a member of the Composers Society of Singapore.
To check Jordi's visual work please visit www.jordifornies.net
https://jordifornies.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/jordifornies.artist
https://www.instagram.com/jordifornies/
“Single Solitude III neoclassical piano history of the British composer, producer and artist Tom Ashbrook. He formed his own exceptional sound, experimenting with classic performance and his love for the tube synthesizers.”
“Сингл Solitude III неоклассическая фортепианная история от британский композитора, продюсера и художника Tom Ashbrook. Он сформировал свой собственный, исключительный звук, экспериментируя с классическим исполнением и его любви к ламповым синтезаторам.”
-Nagamag.com
Liverpool-based producer and neo-classical songwriter Tom Ashbrook returns this February with some of his most affecting, emotively charged and powerful work to date. The first track off a brand new EP, Solitude III counters the darker haunting sounds of his previous EP, showcasing a lighter side to his breathtaking ambient compositions.
Classically trained on piano from the age of 5, Tom Ashbrook grew up with an obsession with the emotion and songwriting mystique in film soundtracks. He took these techniques into his own songwriting and later, developed a love for synthesis and contemporary music production, the combination of which, has now formed the basis of his stunning and eclectic catalogue.
Tom’s work has built him a following worldwide as well as critical acclaim. His music has found appreciation through Spotify and Apple Music’s playlist system, where he’s clocked over 7 Million Streams since launching with his debut EP in 2019. His tracks have landed on some of the genre’s biggest playlists including Atmospheric Piano, Not Quite Classical, Piano Chill and Pure Focus. A lover of all aspects of production and collaboration, he’s also worked alongside rising South-African songwriter Julia Church o n their incredible alt-electronic single ‘Souvenir’.
The new single shows Ashbrook at his best, drawing complex emotion from subtle piano melodies. Speaking on the new single, he states:
“Solitude III is about change. When things change suddenly, and with no notice , like a tragedy, the weather, the end of a relationship. In those times, we have to find an inner peace that restores us when the wind blows us off course.”
https://www.instagram.com/tomashbrookmusic/
Tom Ashbrook is a British composer, producer and artist. Classically trained on piano from the age of 5, Tom has spent most of his adulthood gigging and touring around the world as a musician. An early interest in film soundtracks and composing to visuals has meant Tom has always had a gift in drawing out emotions through melodies. After developing a love for synthesisers and experimentations with recording, he has shaped his own signature sound.
https://www.facebook.com/tomashbrookmusic/
“Long Way Home - the postulate of a new composition of the classic artist Ulas Sarper. Soon or later, after achieving all the desired goals, the moment of awareness of the truth - it's time to go home; there is a fire in the fireplace and your love is waiting you there.”
“Долгая дорога домой - постулат новой композиции классического исполнителя Ulas Sarper. Рано или поздно, после достижения всех желаемых целей, наступает момент осознания истины - пришло время возвращаться домой; там горит огонь в печи и вас непременно кто-то ждёт.”
-Nagamag.com
Artist shared with Nagamag few words behind this song:
"When creating this song, I thought what I feel when I drive home each day. Yearning for my family, happiness, doubts, mixed feelings... That's the reason why this song includes major / minor scale transitions indicating mood changes from happy to sad. I came up with simple melodies and by improvising it, I structured the chord progressions. "
http://instagram.com/ulassarper
http://ulassarper.bandcamp.com/
“Music - this powerful catalyst, in which the feelings and emotions reign in our soul through each other. Andrea Vanzo is a composer from God and his new work The Shadow of Your Face embodies in itself a sense of emotion and a state of measurement.”
“Музыка - это сильнейший катализатор, в котором чувства и эмоции царствуют в нашей душе вопреки всему. Andrea Vanzo композитор от Бога и его новая работа The Shadow of Your Face воплощает в себе глубочайшие эмоции и состояние иного измерения.”
-Nagamag.com
"The Shadow of Your Face" "speaks" about the mask we wear every day through socials and with which we lie to others and to ourselves. It’s aimed at an audience looking for music for emotional stats, meditation, inspiration and concentration, who like the soundtrack and neoclassical genre (Max Richter, Olafur Arnalds).
https://www.instagram.com/andreavanzo_composer/
Andrea Vanzo is a musician and film composer. Music has always been a catalyst for him: an expression of emotions and profound states of being especially in the fascinating world of cinema and theatre, where he finds his ideal artistic dimension.
He wrote the music for several theatral plays and award-winning short films, obtaining the “Best Soundtrack” award at the international shortfilm festival CortoLovere for “Shame and glasses”.
In 2016, he composed the jingle for the advertisement “E’ tutto un quiz” for National Italian TV (RAI Pubblicità Air) and thanks to his collaboration with the singer and actress Matilda De Angelis, a song they have composed has been included in the TV drama “Tutto può succedere” – Italian remake of “Parenthood” – on RAI 1.
https://www.facebook.com/andreavanzocomposer
“In Romantic Italy there are many talented composers of instrumental music. If you were ever been in Venice will love it, Andrea Sertori's music will come to you with such emotions, as in the enchantments of the Venetian landscape.”
“В романтической Италии много талантливых композиторов инструментальной музыки. Если вы когда-либо были в Венеции и полюбили её, то музыка Andrea Sertori вызовет у вас всплеск таких же эмоций, как и обжигающие закаты Венецианских пейзажей.”
-Nagamag.com
A peaceful soft piano composition. It tells us about the rural life of our grandparents...
https://www.instagram.com/andrea.sertori/
Andrea Sertori is an Italian pianist and composer of instrumental music. He started his first classical piano studies when he was 9 years old and his first keyboard experiences when he was 15. He had the opportunity to play in different rock bands and at the same time to continue studying piano in order to improve his piano technique and sensitivity as much as possible. Beyond the piano he has the great passion of synthesizers. The study of synthesizers allowed him to learn how to combine classical piano music with electronic music. His first solo work was 'Mosaic Room' (2017), a 5 track EP where piano and synthesizers overlap. From this moment on, in succession, he released a series of tracks that are characterized by a fusion between neo-classical and electronic music.
https://soundcloud.com/andreasertori
“Feel what you have inside. Feel the waves of goose bumps and a lump in your throat. This new composition Failing to Meditate, now it is within you. Music of Maceo Frost is not just a part of your soul, it is its whole now.”
“Почувствуйте, что у вас внутри. Почувствуйте волны мурашек и ком в вашем горле. Чувствуете? Это новая композиция Failing to Meditate, теперь она внутри вас. Музыка Maceo Frost не часть вашей души, она её целое.”
-Nagamag.com
Artist shared with us few words behind this song:
The first time I tried meditation I felt panic. My mind, couldn’t find peace. I didn’t get it. I was bummed I signed up for a 3-day meditation course because now I had to commit. After 3 days I managed to hack the system by shutting my brain off. Basically falling asleep without anyone in the Yoga shala noticing. I felt thankful like: I'm so lucky I’m not a snorer.
However, I remember landing a kickflip down a curb first try while skateboarding home from the last day. Wow! Somehow I had more balance and control. Second attempt, I flicked the board effortlessly and catched it as if it was nothing.
I could hear the catch of the board gripping my shoes mid-air. Only to realise I catched it sideways, landing, a little bit too fast. Effortlessly giving blood to concrete basically.
When given the chance to slow down, why do I still look for loopholes and distractions to avoid feeling what's going on inside?
It was around this time I started playing piano.
It started off as a kind of challenge to see if I could learn something I thought I had no talent for. Maybe if I could prove myself wrong I’d realize that anything is possible. After about a year, playing became less focused on improvement and naturally became a sort of meditation to help me process life. Songs started coming to me as if from a magical place, often with deep insight, goosebumps and tears. They helped keep my mind sane during my tireless quest to prove myself as a film director to the world, whether it was an airport piano or a hotel lobby piano on my next film gig, or home, in my kitchen with the lights dimmed. It helped bring me back when I was burned out and depressed from selling too much of my soul to the commercial world.
From now on I promise to share this music with you. Hoping that just maybe... it will help you connect to yourself as these songs did to me. They all came to me at certain times in my life, helping me get through wherever I was at the time.
”Failing to Meditate” is my first piano single, A homage to these moments of escapism, Reminding me to stay humble when preaching about mental health.
Now on all streaming platforms.
/ Maceo
https://www.instagram.com/maceofrost/