I’ve never been to America, certainly never to 20th century New York, yet in this piece, another from my concept album Cosa Nostra, (made using samples of ‘found sound’- i.e. using sound samples I ‘found’ then captured and manipulated to create music/sound art) I needed to recreate the flavour of the city as it would have felt to a young Sicilian on his first day in town since arriving by ocean liner.
The sheer size of the place, the hustle and bustle, street noises, its newness, all these things would have been alien to him, as he walked the streets taking it all in. He would have never have seen or heard anything like it before. These are the things I wanted to reflect with this piece. I watched a lot of old gangster movies to try and get the feel of New York in those days. The fact that the Sicilian is out for revenge and wants to murder his lover’s killer who had escaped to New York, was not particularly important to this piece. His first day there would have simply been one of checking out the place.
The album was themed around a storyboard I created. A bit like Romeo & Juliet except the families at war are both 20th century Mafia. The preceding track, ‘Sailing the North Atlantic’ was posted last week (https://zoolonaudio.wordpress.com/2017/01/18/sailing-the-north-atlantic/).
Here it is, ‘Coming to the New Lands’. There’s a lot going on with this one. I recommend the volume be turned up, or headphones on. Hope you enjoy.
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George Blamey-Steeden 
Fantastic one , Lord Zoolon. Lord of the music. Ingenious!
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Forsooth, Lady Yasmin. Thanks for that.
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Thee art welcome, Lord Zoolon!
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Wow. You capture the hustle, bustle, the noise of the place, brilliantly Lord Zoolon. I can’t wait for the next part
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A lot of people are calling me Lord Zoolon lately. It’s a shame the person who started it hasn’t got a country estate for me to inherit.
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LOL!
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You have brilliantly captured the vast and overwhelming newness the Sicilian would have experienced on his arrival to the streets of New York City. Wonderful George! ~ R & M
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I have a picture in my mind of happy, loud people with clothes pegs (giving them that unique accent, Bronx?) on their noses getting on with life in New York. I don’t really do cities, except Paris but New York in that period back then must have been most interesting. Thank you R&M.
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You’re welcome. The image you selected is perfect, it fits the period so well, and captures the people crowded streets along with all the traffic. The photo is too small to tell if they’re wearing clothes pegs. Have a warm evening George. ~ R & M
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I am anything but warm, yet all the better from wishing me warmer, George.
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A well composed song that captures the dissonance and chaos that runs alongside the ordered and sublime. Nicely done.
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None too shabby, Good Sir. 🙂
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Loved the beat with this
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Thanks, Rob
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You are welcome. I tried to like from cell phone but it didn’t pan out
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Brilliant. It is overwhelming for the guy, but he hasn’t lost his focus, he hasn’t forgotten the reason why he is here.
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Thank you. I like losing myself in sound art. It’ll never be commercial, yet it’s an art I enjoy.
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And you are doing a great job telling the stories. This piece is readable 🙂 I can picture the guy who stepped off the boat. I have been in New York myself, it can be overwhelming ;).
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Thank you. That means a lot.
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This is a very beautiful piece. I like the way the sounds are blended together, especially the little piece that starts out like maybe car horns and then it sounds like a parade. The ending is perfect!
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Thank you. Working with, and adapting samples is something I really enjoy. Thankfully, this and the others have never been for sale as copyright issues arise when using samples from movies. The samples I make myself are royalty free.
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