On Brand - Music Is Nice: The Return [PREVIEW] Aired: 2025-04-27 Duration: 20:49 === Music Is Nice Returns (03:20) === [00:00:00] Music is nice you [00:00:09] Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Music is Nice, The Return, with me, Alworth, a musician. [00:00:17] To jog everyone's memory, Music is Nice came about from the fact that prior to the allegations against him, Russell used to have a football podcast or... [00:00:26] Soccer to you Americans. [00:00:27] With series editor Gareth Roy called Football is Nice. [00:00:31] It was cancelled after Gareth assumed a more behind-the-scenes position at Stay Free when the allegations against Russell came out. [00:00:39] Now... [00:00:40] I don't know much about football, but music is my stock and trade, so that is a show I can provide for all of you. [00:00:46] And on Music Is Nice, we'll be listening to some tunes from a variety of genres, and I'll provide some context and do my best to explain why I think they're great. [00:00:54] It's also nice to have a pleasant buffer. [00:00:57] You know, something to break up the horrors of present-day existence. [00:01:02] You know what I mean? [00:01:04] Now, normally I'll be playing tracks from a variety of artists I like, probably focused around some kind of central theme, but I wanted to be able to put a preview of the additional content up on the main feed, and to do that with other people's songs would cause something of a rights issue, [00:01:20] and fair enough. [00:01:21] So this will likely be one of the only Music is Nice previews that ever ends up on the main feed. [00:01:27] So what we will be doing today is taking a look at my own musical background and some tunes I'm already... [00:01:36] This should also hopefully give some context as to why anyone should listen to me about music at all. [00:01:42] Though obviously personal preferences and taste and that kind of thing come into music, I can at least weigh in on the technical side and my own preferences from working in music and also having a first class degree in creative musicianship, which I will talk about a little bit later. [00:01:59] Suffice to say, if I have to talk for a long time, So, the first track I want to play is one from a long while ago. [00:02:21] It was written back in 2017 and recorded in 2018, though not released until a few years later, and it's one with my old band, Money Shot. [00:02:30] So thematically, cast your mind back to the first Trump presidency, Charlottesville, all that good stuff, and try not to get too depressed at how relevant the lyrics still are. [00:02:42] The song was written, produced, mixed, and mastered by me, and performance-wise, there's me on guitars and vocals, Joe Smith on bass, Zoe Kaye on drums, and Costas Magdalenas on lead guitars and backing vocals. [00:02:54] It was recorded without the use of a metronome or click track and without autotune, so basically recorded live with some overdubbing. [00:03:04] Done pretty old school. === Stronger Than Love (04:59) === [00:03:06] Needless to say, there are a couple of moments it gets a little loosey-goosey with the tempo, especially in the breakdown, but I kind of like that. [00:03:13] And there are things about this track that I'm proud of, and plenty that I would do differently today, but regardless of any of that, I hope you enjoy. [00:03:21] This one's called Stronger Than Love. [00:03:43] Love [00:03:50] I see them walking down the street Goose stepping right in front of me Riding high in the name of free speech Spitting on those of us who disagree Marbling at [00:04:05] their witty repartee An old man who turned and said to me How as if they can hate so freely But you know it's not okay to punch a Nazi We'll [00:04:22] take the pain Cause you ain't stronger than love [00:04:38] You ain't stronger than love You ain't stronger than love You ain't stronger than love You ain't stronger [00:04:53] than love And we don't bow to you guitar solo [00:05:10] Militant youth marching down Fifth Avenue Lighting torches that be followed in from Timbuktu Igniting ignorance in people that cannot see through Arguing the Third Reich was just misconstrued On a way that I don't share [00:05:25] their worldview Hyperbolic telling me it's gonna be so huge I think, man, I got a major case of deja vu How the hell did he seem to come to be so screwed? [00:05:36] Will take the pain Cause you ain't stronger love You ain't stronger love [00:05:48] You ain't strong in the love, we'll break your chains But you ain't strong in the love You ain't strong in the love And we don't buy you guitar [00:06:32] solo We'll take the pain Cause [00:06:47] you ain't strong in the love You ain't strong in the love You ain't strong in the love We'll break your chains Cause you ain't strong [00:07:02] in the love You ain't strong in the love And we don't buy you We'll [00:07:18] be right back. [00:07:41] The chorus might be a little cheesy, but hey, it's what we've got to do. [00:07:45] Outlast the fascists. [00:07:47] Outlive the fuckers. [00:07:48] They are not stronger than we are. === Could See Something Odd (12:30) === [00:07:51] And if someone could let me know if it's okay to punch Nazis again yet, I'd be grateful. [00:07:56] I was playing that new Indiana Jones game a while back, which is great, by the way. [00:08:00] And it seems to be pretty cool again. [00:08:02] Answers on a postcard, please. [00:08:04] Sound off the comments, something like that. [00:08:06] So now we're going to move forward in time to the very last thing I officially released musically, and it's the very first thing released under my own name of Al Wirth, which is the Spectre EP I put out at Halloween this last year. [00:08:19] Now... [00:08:20] I know there's a bunch of you who live life as though Halloween is a state of being more than it is a holiday or an ancient pagan ritual. [00:08:27] And yes, I'm looking at you, people who will happily watch The Nightmare Before Christmas in the middle of summer. [00:08:34] Because we are going to be leaning in your direction for this next track, actually. [00:08:37] I may not understand you fully, but I do appreciate you. [00:08:42] Now... [00:08:42] The Spectre EP came about as a little experiment I had, firstly in working with solely electronic music, which I'd not done before, and also because at the time I was feeling pretty inspired by, like, mythical monsters from legend and whatnot. [00:08:57] This particular track I'm going to play is called Wendigo. [00:09:00] Wendigo is a human-like malevolent spirit that eats people and is part of the belief system of the Algonquin-speaking indigenous peoples in North America. [00:09:10] Supposedly, it embodies gluttony, greed, and excess. [00:09:13] They also call it Wittikau, amongst other things. [00:09:17] A lot of these legendary creatures have multiple names. [00:09:20] And so, directly after this track, there's a piano piece called Wittikau on the EP, which transitions into something else. [00:09:28] I should say, I did end up putting some live drums in this one towards the end, so it's not technically fully electronic. [00:09:34] But hey! [00:09:36] Artistic license, right? [00:09:37] Art is art. [00:09:39] In any case, here is Wendigo. [00:14:41] Wendigo [00:14:49] Yeah, you can see I leaned into the greed themes there by throwing basically everything but the kitchen sink at that track by the end of it. [00:14:57] If you want to check out the rest of the EP, by the way, it's on Spotify under my name. [00:15:01] Search for Alworth and Spectre, and hopefully it should come up. [00:15:06] Or Wendigo, equally. [00:15:09] Okay, so we're going to have a little change of pace here, and we're going to take a look at a live performance I did of a song called Apparently Nothing, which I wrote back in 2015. [00:15:19] Question mark? [00:15:20] So like a decade ago, and before I even started my degree. [00:15:24] This is, I would say, the most songwriter-y song of the episode here, particularly as it's just me and an acoustic guitar. [00:15:33] And not only that, but the song itself is very much about like a post-breakup analysis of a relationship that ended badly. [00:15:41] A recorded version of this does exist out there. [00:15:46] Not published currently, but one does exist. [00:15:49] Where I put some songs down on an 8-track recorder. [00:15:53] But we're going to look at the live performance because, frankly, it is better. [00:15:57] The 8-track recordings were as DIY as it gets, more or less. [00:16:02] Just an 8-track, a condenser microphone, and a Shure SM57 for recording guitars and bass through two very cheap amps, both propped up in front of an upturned mattress. [00:16:12] I have a picture of that somewhere. [00:16:14] In any case, let's enjoy the live version of one of those songs. [00:16:19] Okay, this is called Apparently Nothing. [00:16:46] when we were young. [00:16:49] It seemed so easy in the days of the sun. [00:16:53] When it was so right, how could it be wrong? [00:16:58] Beholding to no one, we lived for the fun. [00:17:02] when you're in love you live for today it's such a shame that we couldn't stay away from the mindset of pride and no shame well I'll admit something [00:17:18] I'm not okay I believe there was something that I couldn't see it seems so [00:17:31] strange to know what you're thinking of me. [00:17:39] It's apparently nothing. [00:17:44] Oh no. [00:17:48] It's apparently nothing. [00:17:51] I believed I was someone and you gave a damn. [00:17:58] Just spineless and spotless. [00:18:02] It's all that I give to you and your lover. [00:18:07] I remember where you were and what you did. [00:18:10] Remember every word you said. [00:18:13] I could see there was something I knew all along. [00:18:17] Just [00:18:21] Maybe you were too young to know I were afraid of I believe there was something that I couldn't [00:18:38] see It seems so strange to know what you're thinking of me [00:18:48] It's apparently nothing Oh no I just couldn't see it coming You [00:19:23] know it's been too long It's unlikely to change The simple description of distance and rage You won't talk it out And I think you're afraid Of what I don't know But it hurts just the same You're not willing to hate me I'll do it myself I'll bear the burden I created this hell You carry on and I'll... [00:19:51] I'll wait out the time Don't worry about me I'll be just fine There are some songs in my back catalogue where I'm kind of tempted to revitalise them. === Weird and Fun Projects (00:43) === [00:20:16] You know, like, do them fresh with all the knowledge and ability I have now compared to back then. [00:20:21] And I will say, like, I think that's one of them. [00:20:24] You can tell someone around the age of 20 wrote it, and it's simple, but I like it. [00:20:30] And the version in my head, like, always had drums and all sorts of other shit going on, so... [00:20:35] We'll see if I ever come back to it. [00:20:37] Now let's skip ahead to one of the weirdest and most fun projects I've been involved in. [00:20:43] All right. [00:20:45] I'm going to finish now because I'm hungry and I want to eat something. [00:20:48] All right.