Experience exceptional songs written in real-time and hear the unique approaches of outside-the-box musicians. Host Alex Reed, with guests, covers songwriting both in practice and in theory, taking up some of the most intriguing, offbeat, and dangerous songs of our time.
What will happen when, in the eons to come, we move from being human to being post/trans-human? Will doing so mean killing off some part of who we now are?This is the question guiding the songwriting session for "After I've Killed You." The song addresses the messy core of humanity from the perspective of the future, imagining a better (???) world once that internal amputation has occurred. A lovely song. The playthrough starts at 31:15.Support the show (http://patreon.com/salexanderreed)
Thesis: you can make a good song by imitating a bad song in reverse. Here I pick my least favorite song ever, "Sussudio" by Phil Collins, and write its opposite, line-by-line, emerging with a lovely ghost story. Playthrough of the new song starts at 20:50.Support the show (http://patreon.com/salexanderreed)
Songwriting in realtime, inspired by the global pandemic. This song is a compassionate but Kafkaesque snapshot of a world with no escape. Tune in! The song playthough is at 20:00.Support the show (http://patreon.com/salexanderreed)
A songwriting lesson through real-time praxis. Built on a consistent four-chord loop, this ends up as a catchy and arresting bit of modern pop about monstrosity and failed redemption (inspired by a Cronenberg film). Song starts at 38:00. Check out my other music at http://seeming.bandcamp.com and http://www.patreon.com/salexanderreedSupport the show (http://patreon.com/salexanderreed)
Ever imagine you're in a band of the last people on Earth, who are forced to reenact your own destruction as a party trick for the strange rituals of post-apocalyptic woodland overlords? SURE YOU DO! In this episode I write your themesong. Song starts at 30:55. Check out my other music at seeming.bandcamp.com and www.patreon.com/salexanderreedSupport the show (http://patreon.com/salexanderreed)
A catchy bit of dark and driving folk music. Inspired by Game of Thrones (?!), the song I write in this episode is an exploration of victory as anti-triumphant, anti-celebratory, and only the beginning. Finished demo starts at 34:55.Support the show (http://patreon.com/salexanderreed)
Songwriting in realtime: Using chance in songwriting—bibliomancy, dice, Oblique Strategies cards–leads to a remarkable song about Chinese dragons, bicycles, and death (finished demo starts at 23:50).Support the show (http://patreon.com/salexanderreed)
Songwriting in realtime: How to you turn trash into gold? By becoming a fly, of course. The result is a high energy punk song (finished demo starts at 25:00).Support the show (http://patreon.com/salexanderreed)
Songwriting in realtime: here I turn a dream about Ian Curtis into a song with pointed body horror. The result is a demo of "Are You Paralyzed?" (a production sketch starts the episode, though the first real playthrough of the session is at 28:50).Support the show (http://patreon.com/salexanderreed)
Songwriting in realtime: how do we take political rage (in this case the Kavanaugh hearings) and turn it into a song with real force? This episode introduces the podcast and results in a demo of "The Flood Comes for You" (which starts at 31:00).Support the show (http://patreon.com/salexanderreed)
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
