Cosmic Bos are going to launch their new Monthly Music Challenge this coming weekend (Friday evening in the UK via Music Weeklies Twitter Hashtag Challenge), and I (Andy) have been taking part in the weekly musical creating since back in August last year. I made 21 hashtag songs in 2022, and one final one before the Monthly Challenge Launch for the final hashtag of last year #Drunk
Not my usual offering for sure, but I got an equipment upgrade at Christmas so wanted to flex some dance music muscles and let the guitar have a week off, instead turning to the trusty MiniNova to do the musical heavy lifting.
Here is a playlist of all 22 Music Weeklies Challenges I did, with a couple of upgraded demo's in there too from Cosmic Bos' EP - Virtual Normality 2.
Here's the link tree to all your Cosmic Bos branches, we have music and videos and podcasts all for Free!
To close out 2022, we present to you Closed to the Public
This is the closing track on our Judges Choice Award Winning Album, and the last of our videos to be released for our 2022 slate.
The song is about the secrets that are kept hidden by the state, the land that is private and the control systems that refuse to share their knowledge with the general population, and it also references Lord of the Rings because we happen to like Lord of the Rings.
All our music videos from 2022 can be found in our podcast feed, or in this handy playlist on YouTube
It has been a fantastic year for Cosmic Bos, even though we failed to achieve our primary objective (which was to make The O Door), we advanced our musical status no end, releasing our Improv Squared concept to the world (the world still isn't ready, hence the lack of response), making an Album in a Month for the Album Writing Club (see 2 A.M, it's Mission Time for details), collaborating on Orchestral tracks and doing the groundwork for 2023's big challenge as displayed in our EP Virtual Normality 2.
We have done our Outergalactic shoutouts for the year, on twitter, so here are screenshots of those tweets.
And finally, we got a tweet from Dan Wilson himself about our cover of his amazing song Dancing on the Moon.
Here is the song, it was on our Bos Live #2 Album we put out on Christmas Day
Happy New Year - Let's see what 2023 has in store shall we!
With the '22 ending imminently, it seemed only fitting to do a little cleaning out the hard drive ready for a fresh year of music and videos, which revealed a couple of music video's that had managed to skip their release windows and hide out in the hard drive. So, I present to you the first of the two missing music video's from our Judges Choice Award Winning Album - 2 A.M, It's Mission Time
Stop Saying 1984 to Make a Point
Nick and I (Andy) made music video's to go with every song from the album, when we were recording the actual record, we put camera in our faces to capture the process and give ourselves the option to make music videos for 10 out of the 12 tracks on the album. We had to make proper music videos for 'Catch a Clue' and 'Patient Mystery' as they had not been constructed musically using our special Improv Squared technique.
We felt this was the weakest song on the record, which is why it got skipped over in favour of the next video on the release schedule. It's not a bad song, but it's a bit barebones and could do with a bit more musical muscle, which ironically makes the song much like the protagonist of the book 1984.
Still, it made the album final tracklist, and sits proudly alongside it's musical brothers and sister on 2 A.M.
Here's the Youtube version should you prefer it
Coming tomorrow will be 'Closed to the Public', the final song from the album, along with a roundup of the year blog, Thanks for coming on this adventure with us, we love you very much.
Originally written as part of the Music Weeklies Hashtag challenge on Twitter, (the hashtag being #MorningCoffee) I (Andy) felt pretty confident that Nick could help me turn this acoustic little ditty into a full blown morning banger, which he most certainly did.
The first of 4 hashtag challenge songs on the EP, as well as a special remix by Cosmic Bos of the awesome False Promises by Andrew Hartshorn (ft. Natalie Williams Calhoun) with a vocal by Cosmic Bos and some extra instrumentation too.
Here's the Youtube version
And the link to the whole darn record on the tube.
Full podcast breakdown of the EP coming sooner than soon.
Have a day everyone, love you lots
Peace and infinite love (see! told you I loved ya lots)
2 A.M, it's Mission Time was made as part of the Lights and Lines Album Writing Challenge from May 2022. Cosmic Bos submitted a 12 track album and were lucky enough to pick up a Judges Choice Award for their efforts.
The song that kicks the record off is Re:Mission, and it is about Cosmic Bos taking up the challenge, and pulling their socks up to get it done, Mission Time style.
Here are the lyrics :)
RE:MISSION - by Andy Jackson
We’ve got a world to save, it won’t save itself It’s mission time, put down the wine The only cause worth fighting for Nature calls we can’t ignore The ceilings glass but so’s the floor
Stop conserving superstitions Evolution in remission, switch position Mind expanding new decisions Hope can soon be in remission, it will be okay
Economic crisis looming from tiktok booming We stopped consuming Constant resourcing from dwindling sources Held together with glue from horses
Stop conserving superstitions Evolution in remission, quick petition Mind expanding fresh decisions Gia could soon be in remission, she will be okay But for us, it’s too soon to tell
We can choose between help or oh well The garden of Eden or the gates of Hell The myth is we’re powerless and under their spell But truth be told, we are bold, out of our shell
Stop preserving superstitions Evolution in remission, no commission Mind expansive clear decisions Love could well be in remission, new nutrition Stop in-sighting inquisitions Growth through learning, is our mission, best position Mind expanding not demanding Get your hand in, reply mission, oh yes we're in
...
Quite a fun one. Here's the Bandcamp link again in case you missed it further up.
The time has finally arrived, here is the album we made for the Lights and Lines Album in a Month competition - 2 A.M, it's Mission Time
Buy now on bandcamp.
Containing the 4 singles
Isle of Avalon - This was the song we submitted to the Singles playlist for public voting. It didn't win the vote but we are none the less proud of it. A deeply mature song from a couple of usual idiots.
Catch a Clue - Our first release once the results came in and we discovered we had picked up a Judges Choice Award. We had this one ready to go as soon as the results were in..
Money Pwease - the second official single (after Catch a Clue), this is my (Andy) personal favourite track on the album along with 'Quilt'. Based around spiritual scammers and the wonderful phrase 'Money Pweeeeeeeease' made famous by Jenny Slate on Parks and Recreation (Cosmic Bos LOVES Parks & Rec)
Whatever You Say It Is, It Isn't - the last single we put out, featuring the amazing talents of Mr. Joe Philogene. This song is a philosophical exploration of rightness, and how we don't have it.
We wrote the whole album in a month, including another song that didn't even make it to the final list (we didn't record the vocal so it never stood a chance). A special two part podcast detailing our process and exploring the 12 tracks of the album coming super soon (well, part 1 is...). We also won a Judges Choice Award for the album, big thanks to Lights and Lines for putting on such a wonderful competition.
The album can be found on Youtube music right here in a handy playlist
And if you are a Spotify user, it's there too
Have a wonderful day, and don't forget to buy our album, like, share and subscribe to all our stuff, forever and ever, until the internet dies and we are all forced to return to conventional ways of interacting, like actually seeing each other (shudder).
Welcome to the blog about Cosmic Bos new single 'Money Pwease'
Here is the podcast version for you to click on, and maybe subscribe, maybe!
You can buy the single from bandcamp, it's a bit pricey, but well worth it as all the money goes to Cosmic Bos (and a bit to bandcamp probably).
cover for our new single
Andy and Nick ponder the big question on everyones mind, how do we get money? As musicians, it's a tough one indeed, no one wants to part their hard earned money for music anymore, it truly isn't like the good old days when people actually spent money on music. But it isn't only music that has suffered, all the art forms have really, and the door has been opened up for the demons to come and sell us on a great many dreams, salvations and freedoms that are just round this corner right here, but you can't go just yet, you have to give us the money pwease.null
The song title is the catchphrase of Mona-lisa from Parks and Recreation, one of the greatest shows ever made. It was one of the first songs written for the album in a month, and it was developed by smashing two ideas together, one being a song about Parks and Rec, the other being a song about scammers, thematically they merged pretty well we thought.
Here is the YouTube version
Full album coming 19th August, another single coming before that, and the Summer of Bos rolls onwards, with plenty more TikTok Filter Song shenanigans and some live streaming coming up.
Thanks for being awesome sauce
Peace and infinite love
Cosmic Bos
P.S - new Cosmic Bos Music Podcast Season 4 2022 cover out now too
'Sir, France is 'cross the Sea, See' came out as a single at the same time as 'Vaccine', but it took us a little while to put the video together, but we got it done, and proudly present to you right here.
Cosmic Bos presents 'Sir, France is 'cross the Sea, See'
Music by Nick and Andy Jackson
Lyrics by Andy Jackson and Google Translate
So we had this song, where it is half in French and half in English, and it's pretty silly, but also educational in some sense, and as fans of the Euro experiment (please don't Boo!) and in particular the melting pot of ideas and life approaches that it welcomed, we wanted to make a video that honoured the fine culture and history of France, and more accurately, the unfair way that British people judge the French.
We approached a good friend, Dean, and asked him to translate the lyrics into sign language, which he did amazingly. So now what we have is a Eurotrash inspired music video with a 'find the baby' game, a language lesson and a sign language lesson, all rolled up into one musical joint.
How many Theo's could you find?
Answers on a postcard to Paris please
Thanks for all the support, please share our podcast with everyone you ever meet, it helps it really does. Do it for Theo, more people need to see this wonderful French baby stereotype we have forced to dance in our silly video.
YouTube playlist of all the wonderful Improv Squared Music Video's we've made this year.
Welcome to episode 2 of our Making of an Album series, this time (as you already know from having read the title of this blog) we tackle song writing, in particular, traditional song writing techniques.
Subscribe to our podcast on your preferred podcast platform Direct Podcast Page
Album artwork by Dayne Howcroft
Nick and Andy (Cosmic Bos) collectively have several hundred songs to their names, and here they breakdown the fundamentals of songwriting, examining structure and form, before writing a song in front of your very ears.
Visited several times throughout the episode, Nick and Andy sat over two sessions and wrote a song from start to finish. Here we try to show you the creative process in its raw state.
Nick and Andy also talk about the history of songwriting, as well as their own personal histories of songwriting, including several examples from their songbooks.
The first proper song you hear in this episode is Astral Underwear, a song that Cosmic Bos created using their new musical construction method, Improv Squared (More on this in the next episode).
In the middle of the episode you are treated to two songs from Andy and Nicks songbooks.
Love Defined is by Andy Jackson and is about his wife
Spontaneous Plan is by Nick Jackson and is about his wife
Both songs are available on Cosmic Bos From the Songbook (2020), and right here in youtube form too
Email cosmicbos@gmail.com with your favourite wife
The episode concludes with our other double A side single 'Forever Bruised', which is acoustically written music by Andy and Nick over a haunting poem by Dayne Howcroft.
This was a rollercoaster ride to make, and we loved it, hopefully there is something useful and insightful about our ramblings about writing songs, and we also hope that we have demystified the process a bit, and shown how really anyone could write songs if it was what they wanted to do.
If you want to get involved in our musical shenanigans drop us an email at cosmicbos@gmail.com
We also really appreciate feedback, and would love to hear your own songwriting stories, comment on this post or better yet, comment on the youtube video version of this episode so we can all share the musical love.
I (Andy) like to take the first week of the year to reflect on the highs and lows of the previous, and ponder the things I wish to achieve in the upcoming. I find it very therapeutic and mindful, allowing the inputs that truly matter to me (my family and friends) to guide my thoughts towards realistic achievable goals.
For 2022 I want to do something a bit different. Cosmic Bos have completed 3 full seasons of improv music podcasting, so following the route of the farmers, we shall let the improvisation field have a year off, and instead we shall be focusing on making an album, a normal, what other bands do, album.
We have been planning this for a while, and the album already has a title 'The O Door'.
Last year, Nick and I made an EP, 'Virtual Normality', as a test to see if we could take on the task of an album on our own. It went pretty well, with several of our best songs of '21 being on it, including the sublime 'Ride Another Wave' (the closing track) which is about the night Theo was born.
Ride Another Wave is our Prologue to 'The O Door', which we will be working on across the whole of 2022, with our proposed release date being 1st January 2023.
What does this mean for Cosmic Bos Improv Music Podcast Season 4?
Well, it's going to be like a documentary kind of year, with us launching 'Making of an Album', an 8 part Podcast Documentary about how we make an album, charting the whole process from Writing to Recording, Production to Release. It should be a fun ride, with the Introduction episode coming February.
Still from Bos Live #1 (2021)
However, our first release for Season 4 will be Cosmic Bos Live 2021, an 8 track live recording that we did back in December '21.
Then we will launch into our Season long presentation Cosmic Bos: Making of an Album
Which will also nicely dovetail into the other thing we will be doing in 2022. We've opened up the side fields in my farmer metaphor, and started planting a new crop, which we are lovingly calling 'Improv²'
The first tracks from this new improv crop will be along with the first episode of our Making of an Album series, with a full special Improv² episode coming in April.
So as you can see, a big year planned for us at Cosmic Bos.
