So JohnThorin and his band The Melody Project set out one grey October morning in 2020 to write music they liked. They had grown up listening to the White Stripes, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, D'Angelo and on and on. These cats, they agreed, knew their music, knew what it took to get their listeners nodding. So when they got together for the first time during lockdown, John and the gang knew what they wanted to do and what they wanted to say. And set about doing just that, creating music they wanted to listen to, bob their head to. With stand out tracks like One Kiss, Wannabe and Poison released in 23/24, John and crew invite you to join them as they tackle 2025 and fix their sights on a whole lot more music to bob your head to.
Promises to be a whole lorra fun.
JohnThorin & the Melody Project
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Murder, She Wrote
The Enduring Popularity of the Murder Ballad, Where Did You Sleep Last Night
"Where Did You Sleep Last Night" (also known as "In the Pines" or "Black Girl") is a haunting murder ballad with a complex history spanning multiple decades and cultures.
Origins and Early Versions The song is believed to have originated as a traditional American folk song documenting a narrative of infidelity and murder. In the 1940s, Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly), an African American folk and blues musician, recorded the most famous early version of the song, his simple but powerful rendition transforming the song into something dark and sinister.
The ballad typically tells a dark story of
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A woman's infidelity
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A husband's violent response
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The brutal murder of said woman.
WDYSLN gained massive popularity again following Nirvana's unplugged performance in 1993. Kurt Cobain's raw, emotionally charged version introduced the song to a new generation, using Leadbelly's arrangement but adding his own intense vocal style.
Arrangement and key
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Typically the song is performed in a minor key
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Uses a blues-influenced musical structure
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Is characterized by a melancholic, intense vocal delivery.
My version (see video) is yet another interpretation of this dark unassuming song, this time utilising drum and bass and digitally distorted vocals to convey a sense of displacement and menace. Does it work? How would you change/remix it? Drop us a line if you have any thoughts on it.
Link to Nirvana vid: https://youtu.be/hEMm7gxBYSc?si=YAM8Z1m3Nr2GmG_o
Link to Leadbelly vid: https://youtu.be/PsfcUZBMSSg?si=w9s5IQFCju47kE_N
Japanese series, done right
This Japanese film series from the 1970s hits all the right notes
I've fallen in love with this TV series. Nemuri Kyoshiro (played by Masakazu Tamura in the series I'm gushing over) is a famous fictional character from Japanese literature and cinema, created by Renzaburō Shibata. He is a complex protagonist and is reknown for being a unique and unconventional samurai hero.
Origins and Early Concept
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He is half-Japanese, half-Dutch
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He is a Buddhist priest
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An off the chart swordsman
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Is known as the "Sleepy Sword" (reflecting his fighting style). In the TV series it is the Half Moon Cut that his many enemies see just before he despatches them to the land of shadows and wraiths.
Character Background: Mr Kyoshiro is portrayed as an outsider in feudal Japan due to his mixed heritage. This status makes him a marginal figure struggling with social discrimination while being an incredibly powerful warrior.
Fighting Style: His "Sleepy Sword" technique (Half Moon Cut) is remarkable. He appears drowsy or half-asleep during combat (not in the series though he is unassumingly deliberate in his moves), which is actually a strategic fighting method that allows him to be unpredictable and deadly. This unique approach sets him apart from traditional samurai protagonists like say Ogami Itto.
Why I like him The guy is unique and Tamura whp passed away recently) plays him with consumate skill and deaddly grace. The guy is like a ghost. He hardly speaks, is bad news for the women who make the mistake of falling for him (which they do a lot) and has a mass of red hair which he wears in a particcular style that makes his head look like a brand new washing brush, outstanding. He reminds me a lot of Ogami Itto of the Lone Wolf and Cub series. Only difference is he is younger, dresses smartly (Ogami aint bothered) and he isn't lumbered with a kid.
Better yet The music score is sublime. I hear all sorts of good things wrapped up in it which I am dying to unpack and repurpose for a soul track set in the 70s.
The above video is courtesy of SamuraivsNinja/YouTube.
DRUM