Monthly Music Challenge (MMC) 1.4 - Winning podcast

 Winning!

Welcome to the Monthly Music Challenge Podcast with Cosmic Bos

Episode 1.4 - Winning

Cosmic Bos (Nick and Andy Jackson) present for your listening pleasure the finest in underground musical talent building a musical empire, one hashtag at a time, for the fourth outing of the first year of the MMC, we took on the epic concept of #Winning, and invited the worlds musicians to also take part, and some of them did, and here it is, in podcast form for you.

This is the first hashtag that we have undertaken without being partnered up with the music weeklies peeps (check them out, they are awesome sauce), but rest assured, this episode still contains several of the challenges set by the weeklies, once all the Winning has been dealt with.

And, returning once again, we have the Late Subs section, with some tasty musical treats for your ears around the previous hashtags of the MMC.

Before #SpoilerAlert ending the show with a track from the Poseidon's Realm album by the Monochrome Assembly

Check out the Monochrome Assembly bandcamp here https://monochromemotif.bandcamp.com/album/poseidons-realm-album

The next hashtag for Monthly Music Challengers is #Razzmajazz 

in conjunction with the Music Weeklies again, we challenge you to explore your expressive Jazz, be wild, be bold, and see what happens, it's all that kinda jazz baby! You have until the 2nd of June to get your Rasmajazz songs to us, send mp3's and a bio or song info to cosmicbos@gmail.com 

We begin proceedings this time with (surprise, surprise) Cosmic Bos and our song We Are All in This Together (which we made a lyric video for)

Here is the full tracklist for MMC 1.4 Winning

Winning songs

1. We Are All in this Together - Cosmic Bos @CosmicBos
2. Slow and Steady Wins the Race - Andrew Hartshorn
3. You Can't Be A Winner (If You're A Sinner) - ASeaWarren @aseawarren
4. D - Hellwaddler @Hellwaddler
5. Let's Go Bro! - TexMex Shaman
6. Winning isn't Everything - Man of Arun @ManOfArun
7. Smell Defeat - Notehead
8. Winning (Deep Friend Mix) - Mobidextrous  @mobidextrous9777

What a collection of Winning songs right there, all returning players to the MMC, with an eclectic take on the theme, bangers one and all, go check out all these wonders on the socials.

On to the weekly hashtag songs provided by the @musicweeklies 

TuneWithAView

9. TuneWithAView - Cosmic Bos @CosmicBos
10.  Tune With A View - Peter Hawkey @peter_hawkey

MyCulture

11. Kick in the Cultures - Cosmic Bos @CosmicBos
12. Scrying Mirror - Notehead

Accelerate

13. Accelerate - Tonal Drift
14. Accelerate - Scowsh Molosh @scowsh
15. Sprint - Cosmic Bos @CosmicBos

That leaves us with the LATE SUBS, Whoop Whoop!

16. in the beginning (#NewBeginnings) - Tonal Drift
17. Ignorance (#Ignorance) - TexMex Shaman

And finally, to cap the episode off nicely, we present to you another track from the Poseidon's Realm album by the Monochrome Assembly

18. The Seagull - The Monochrome Assembly 

Thanks for listening and supporting, please consider subscribing and leaving comments and share with all your friends

Here is Cosmic Bos EP MMC 1.4 Winning on bandcamp, where you can purchase it should you be so inclined.

Here is the podcast playlist courtesy of YouTube

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos

MMC 1.3 - Ignorance (Monthly Music Challenge with Cosmic Bos podcast) 27 songs for you, no soup though I'm afraid

 Hello lovely you,

Welcome to the blog for the new episode of Monthly Music Challenge podcast

Monthly Music Challenge with Cosmic Bos

Episode 1.3 - Ignorance

 Cosmic Bos (Nick and Andy Jackson) are the idiots here to take you through the 27 songs of the third month of the challenge. The main monthly theme was #Ignorance and 13 of the songs you will hear today were written around that idea. 

 Thanks to the amazing people of Music Weeklies we managed to secure some other wonderful songs through the other hashtags of March 2023, and we also introduce a new section at the end of the podcast called Late Subs, so if you want to get in on the Monthly Music Challenge action you can send us songs based on the previous Monthly hashtags (1. New Beginnings, 2. Escape, and now 3. Ignorance) for a chance to be played in the Late Subs.

 Before we delve into the full tracklist, it's our pleasure to announce the next hashtag for the MMC, so MMC 1.4 will be #Winning. We are not paired with the Music Weeklies peeps on this one, so there is no pressure to get your monthly song finished in a week.

 Get your #Winning songs in to us by 5th May 2023 please, if you are new to the MMC then send an MP3 with a bio about yourself to cosmicbos@gmail.com , without further adoing let's get on with the show.

 Ignorance Songs

  1. Idiots - Cosmic Bos @CosmicBos  

  2. Ignorance - Mobidextrous @mobidextrous9777  

  3. Ignorance - Peter Hawkey @peter_hawkey  

  4. Artificial Ignorance - Graham Casey 

  5. Ignorance - Dario Erico @Deadarius  

  6. Wilful Ignorance - Trench Gun @trenchgunM1897  

  7. MuWee Ignorance - Scowsh Molosh @scowsh  

  8. Ignorance - The Shiver One @theshiverone1977  

  9. The Size of the Stars - Notehead 

 10. I is for Ignorance - Hellwaddler @Hellwaddler   

 11. Eden - Andrew Hartshorn @andrewhartshornmusic  

 12. Without Your Love - ASeaWarren @aseawarren  

 13. Ignorance (Boris Johnson) - Reuben Cooper  

Now that's a lot of great ignorance songs right there, some returning players and a couple of new faces, go check out all these amazing artists on their socials

 UpsideDown Songs

  14. Down for the Upside - Cosmic Bos  

  15. Free Flow - Notehead 

  16. Downside Up - Esky013 

GodsOfOlympus Songs

  17. Gods and Goddesses of Olympus - Cosmic Bos 

  18. Ares God of War - Michel Debois  @micheldebois  

MW200thTheme Songs

  19. Reflections of our Inescapable Humanity (No Soup for You) - Cosmic Bos 

  20. Because it was - Man of Arun @ManOfArun  

  21. Post Apocalyptic - Hellwaddler @Hellwaddler    

PainoSolo Songs

  22. Reflections in the Ethereal Water - Ashen Music  @ashenmusicofficial  

  23. Ivory and Ebony - Cosmic Bos  

Late Subs (Brand new section we added on for all the late submissions)

  24. Escape This! - TexMex Shaman 

  25. Pretend to Escape - Colin Pimlott @colinpimlott9029  

  26. Love Restored -  The Word Alchemist and Cosmic Bos   

  27. Let the Shaman Show You Round -  @TexMexShaman  and Cosmic Bos  

That's ya lot, and it sure is a lot, a lot of great music.

 We (Cosmic Bos) put all of our tracks out in a handy EP, which coincidently has the same name as this episode of the podcast, MMC 1.3 - Ignorance, you can get it on bandcamp here

https://cosmicbos.bandcamp.com/album/mmc-13-ignorance

 And you can find video versions of all of our entries on youtube on our channel here

And here is the youtube playlist of the Monthly Music Challenge

Please check out all the amazing musicians of the MMC, their socials will be pleased, help us build this community of true grass roots musicians, tell your musical friends to come get involved, it's still really early days with this, and together we can make it a force to reckon with, an alternative music industry of creative expression. Also, don't forget the next theme is #Winning, so get making your winning songs.

 Thanks for being awesome

We love you

Please like, share and subscribe 

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos

Direct podcast page - https://cosmicbos.libsyn.com 

MMC Playlist on youtube again just in case you missed it above

Monthly Music Challenge #MMC1 with Cosmic Bos - Introduction

 Hello wonderful you,

Welcome to the blog where the Monthly Music Challenge takes place, this is the introduction 

Welcome to the Monthly Music Challenge with @CosmicBos podcast

This is the introduction episode, laying out how it's going to go down for the rest of the year.

Let Nick and Andy (Cosmic Bos) be your guides through the wonderful world of music creation, working with the sublime musicians of Music Weeklies @MusicWeeklies CB will be making a new song every week in line with their rules, but on the side CB will be offering up the chance for music made within the month (leaning heavily on the first hashtag of each month) to be played on this podcast, and get comments from Nick and Andy.

Podcast play (PP) will not be reserved exclusively for the first hashtag (which btw is #NewBeginnings), and any of Music Weeklies hashtags generated in the given month are viable for PP, please send your mp3's (not WAVs, our inbox will die) to cosmicbos@gmail.com with the hashtag in the subject line, and a bit of info about yourself so we can give you the promo in the podcast that you deserve.

We won't be playing any material that doesn't meet the Music Weeklies guidelines or our Monthly Music Challenge ones either, to get airplay and PP for such songs you should go check out the New Music Saturdays guys (they have a podcast of their show too, check it out).

So, get to work lovely musicians, songwriters, audio creatives 

You have until the 3rd of Feb (2023) to submit for the January hashtags, of which the first one (and the one you can have a month to work on) is #NewBeginnings 

Check back on Twitter on the 13th, 20th and 27th of Jan to find out the other three hashtags that we will accept PP on.

This should be fun, we can't wait to hear from you

Any questions please come find us on Twitter @CosmicBos where we will attempt to answer them (SPOILER ALERT! we might not be able to)

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos

Here's the Youtube link to the podcast episode.

https://linktr.ee/cosmicbos

Check out our band camp for musical purchases

https://cosmicbos.bandcamp.com/album/virtual-normality-2

Songs found on this introduction episode are all by Cosmic Bos

1. The Drunky Song (for #Drunk)
2. You Find Out When You Die (for #Afterlife)
3. Morning Coffee acoustic (for #MorningCoffee)
4. Morning Coffee Full Blend version (from Virtual Normality 2)

Links for all of these can be found on our YouTube page

Cosmic Bos YouTube Channel

Please like, share and subscribe, we love you

Virtual Normality 2 - Cosmic Bos Music Podcast Special Presentation

 Hello fellow passenger on Spaceship Earth,

Welcome to the blog that goes with the podcast about Cosmic Bos's new EP Virtual Normality 2

 Here's a linktree you can take shelter under https://linktr.ee/cosmicbos

You have reached the hub of the Cosmic Bos multiverse and begin your journey down the second of our Virtual Normality tours. Last time, we explored Space with Babies, chilled out, stayed inside and then ended with a birth. 

So a year later, Cosmic Bos have decided to take you on a different journey. For this year (2022) has been an exploration of songwriting, in it's many varied forms, as well as Cosmic Bos collaborating with other types of musicians to explore music further.

Back in August '22, Andy started taking part in a weekly music challenge that is run primary from Twitter, where each week a hashtag is set and you have one week to make an original piece of music on theme (big thanks to Trench Gun for hooking us in).

To start with Andy didn't take it very seriously, but a few weeks in it was becoming exciting trying to write the best song possible within the very loose restrictions.

So play along with the episode and try and Guess the Hashtag to 4 of the songs, and be WOW'ed by False Promises (Cosmic Bos Mix) by Andrew Hartshorn ft. Natalie Williams Calhoun. The move towards orchestration is a spoiler alert for next year.

Amazing artwork by Gecko

Full track listing for Virtual Normality 2

1. Morning Coffee 
2. Burning Rings of Power 
3. Nun in a Kayak 
4. False Promises (Cosmic Bos Mix) - Andrew Hartshorn ft. Natalie Williams Calhoun 
5. Spaceship Earth

So thanks for checking out our podcast

Please like, share and subscribe

And ratings and comments on your favoured podcasting platform really helps us out, so please consider it. Thanks 

We will do a proper blog about our live shenanigans once all the videos from the festival have been released, but it was a banging day for sure, and so nice to get to play some of these songs in front of an audience.

Here's our link tree for all your Cosmic Bos needs (where if you snoop you can find some of the aforementioned live footage already)

 https://linktr.ee/cosmicbos

You can also find the album on Bandcamp right here

https://cosmicbos.bandcamp.com/album/virtual-normality-2

Here is the youtube link too

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos

https://linktr.ee/cosmicbos

Virtual Normality 2 - Cosmic Bos New EP OUT NOW!

 Hello fellow traveller on Spaceship Earth,

Welcome to the blog, here you will find music by Cosmic Bos

Released 11/11/22 was Virtual Normality 2 - Cosmic Bos's new 5 track EP

Purchasable from the very link above

5 new songs, 4 of which come from the Music Weeklies Hashtag challenge on Twitter, 1 which is a Cosmic Bos mix of a phenomenal song by Andrew Hartshorn. 

Last year we made Virtual Normality as a statement of where we intended to take Cosmic Bos in the future, and as a template for what we have done this year (2022) it worked out nicely, plus it had an awesome cover done by iamGecko. 

So as we reach the ending of 2022 we wanted to honour where our direction seems to be going, with the tail end of '22 having been music challenge time (much like the first half of the year was), and developing deeper musical connections with fellow artists, and becoming more involved in the musical community on the interweb thanks to The Album Writing Club and Music Weeklies, as well as Nick having another baby (Outer Space Jazz) and Theo growing up fast (Space Baby Classic), as well as the world crumbling apart around us all, it's seemed only prudent to do a sequel to Virtual Normality. 

So we tweaked the colours of the cover, added a big 2 and slapped 5 songs on it just like the first. 

Here's the YouTube playlist embedded - please like, share and subscribe if you are a tuber

And it's all over Spotify and other online music prisons

Nick and I (Andy) will do a proper podcast to go along with the album, with us talking all about the tracks, but we've had to postpone it's recording so we can take part in the Off the Records Music Festival at the Brunswick in Hove tomorrow (12th November), hopefully we'll get a bit of video footage to share with you from it.

After the podcast for VN2 we will look to close the year off with a Best of (as is now tradition) and a Live acoustic album of songs from the year.

We are deep in planning for next year too, going to revamp the podcast a bit, give it a new focus, more to follow.

Morning Coffee video to follow too

Thanks for being awesome

Peace and infinite air miles

Cosmic Bos

Cosmic Bos Music Podcast presents - Making of an Album Episode 4: Making an Album in a Month (Part 1of2)

 Oh friends,

In classic Bos style - I present to you the next instalment in the Making of an Album Special Presentation - Episode 4: Making an Album in a Month (Part 1) direct to you from our podcast feed.

Or the YouTube link if you prefer

Welcome to the 4th instalment in our special presentation 'Making of an Album', where Andy and Nick break down the details on music making in the 2020's, and how easy it is to do now. So far they have covered writing, and now they are going to skip over all the technical stuff and just make an album in a month for you over the next two episodes of this special presentation. There is good reason for this, Nick and Andy are creative musicians that know how to use recording equipment, they are not qualified to teach anyone anything about these things, so rather then blag it, they have focused on the process of making an album as an experience rather then the finer details of recording.

Cosmic Bos Making of an Album Episode 4: Making an Album in a Month (Part 1)

For the month of May 2022 Cosmic Bos took on the 'Album in a Month' challenge put on by Lights and Lines Independent record label, and subsequently produced a 12 track album called '2 A.M, it's Mission Time', which is out now

https://cosmicbos.bandcamp.com/album/2-a-m-its-mission-time

Wisely, throughout the album in a month process, Andy kept a diary of what was going on, and the Brothers filmed all of the recording session so that ample video footage of the album creation existed. You can see some of this already in the video's we put out for 'Isle of Avalon', 'Money Pwease' and 'Whatever You Say It Is, It Isn't'.

This podcast represents the first half of both the album, and the diary kept for the month, and takes you through the first half of what we did. There will be an accompanying blog to this episode which will have more waffle about it should you wish to read more.

Part 2 coming next month.

Songs in this episode are :

1. Re:Mission
2. Catch a Clue
3. Bards for Hire
4. Isle of Avalon
5. Whatever You Say It Is, It Isn't
6. Patient Mystery

All songs copyright Cosmic Bos 2022

So as promised, this blog contains the links mentioned in the episode, this is that blog, the one you are reading right this second right here right now I tell you what!

Here is F'in Lucky C' by Oxynucid & Vocalizer - still up on youtube even given its umm, questionable language. Not for the faint hearted.

As mentioned in the podcast, we wrote a song 'Step too Far' that is in the same ball park as this old Vocalizer song from back in the long long ago. We will get around to recording it at some point, but it is not priority on our list at the moment.

Also mentioned was my (Andy's) old band The Little Man, which is still out there in the internet, here is the Spotify link that was promised. 

TheLittleManSpotifyLink

Next Month will be Episode 5, Part 2 of the Making an album in a month, but there will be plenty more Cosmic Bos shenanigans before that I can promise you.

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos

You can find the album on bandcamp and other places, but bandcamp is good for us as artists because you can actually support us (unlike Spotify etc.)

Whatever You Say It Is, It Isn't - Cosmic Bos (Official Music Video)

 So friends,

Only a week till the album drops, here's a little present for you from it.

Whatever You Say It Is, It Isn't

Whatever You Say It Is, It Isn't - Cosmic Bos

Taken from the Judges Choice Award Winning Album - 2 A.M, it's Mission Time

https://cosmicbos.bandcamp.com/ 

Music by Andy Jackson, Nick Jackson and Joe Philogene.

Lyrics by Andy Jackson

Mixed and Mastered by Nick Jackson

This song is one of two that feature the phenomenal talents of Mr. Joe Philogene on the Ngoni and percussion. Massive thank you to Joe for helping us make such deep music.

The whole album was made in a month as part of the @lightsandlines album in a month challenge, and we picked up a Judges Choice Award for our efforts. 

Please like, share and subscribe

#newmusic #ngoni #awardwinning #ukmusic #cosmicbos

There is plenty more to come in the Summer of Bos, with more TikTok Filter fun, some live stuff and of course the full ruddy album!

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos

P.S - Here is the YouTube playlist of all our music videos from 2022 so far :)

Money Pwease - Cosmic Bos (Official Music Video)

 New Blog, new single by Cosmic Bos,

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

Making of an Album Episode 3: Alternative Writing Techniques

 Hello friends, 

Cosmic Bos march onwards with the third episode in the Making of an Album series, this time discussing alternative music creating/writing techniques.

Welcome to Episode 3 of our Making of an Album series

For this episode, Nick and Andy (Cosmic Bos) take you through a selection of alternative writing techniques, discussing The Beatles contribution to the world of songwriting, in particular their later more experimental work, to the general explosion of alternative techniques of music creation that came about in the 1960's.

After that, Cosmic Bos turn their attention to their own writing techniques, breaking down the
improvisation process, following the trajectory of 'Rainbow Appearing', a song improvised last year in the 3rd full improvisation session (Summadelica), through to it's development for live performance and preparing the song to be an album contender. 

After improvisation comes improv-revisation, the basis of the first two seasons of Cosmic Bos Improv Music Podcast, where the music was improvised and then revised in the edit. The boys discuss this and play an example song 'Hold Me in Slow Motion'.

After Improv-revisation comes Improv Squared, Cosmic Bos's current alternative writing technique, essentially a mash up of improvisation and improv-revisation. Nick and Andy talk you through this with an example song 'Badder Decisions' from their Improv Squared album - Petit Champignon de Lumiere 

https://cosmicbos.bandcamp.com/album/improv-squared-petite-champignon-de-lumiere

To conclude the episode, Nick and Andy put together a brand new improv squared song called 'The More You Learn, The Less You Know', a video for which will be available in the another blog.

The Instrumental version of 'The More You Learn, The Less You Know' will be available on bandcamp for you to come up with you own vocals to if you so please.

If you wish to participate in future Improv Squared shenanigans please email us at cosmicbos@gmail.com 

Please like, share, comment and subscribe

Peace and Infinite Love

Cosmic Bos

P.S - Here is the YouTube link to the episode, should you not like the above direct podcast link.

Cosmic Bos - Improv Squared : Petite Champignon de Lumiere (album and podcast presentation)

 Hello dearest friends,

Welcome to the blog that accompanies Cosmic Bos Improv Squared : Petite Champignon de Lumiere

The podcast with the most improvisation for your money, in their newest experiment, Cosmic Bos serve up an Inception level of improv, where it is mathematically stacked, layered up with extra instrumentation, and then presented in it's final song form for your very ears. It is improvisation, squared, hence its name. 

For our first full helping of Improv Squared, we serve up 11 musical courses, ranging from the worldly starter, to the meaty main course, to the sweet desserts and back round again, in a strained metaphor that is bigger then the bowl it is trying to fill.

Here is the full tracklist: 

1. Champignon, Lumiere (ft. Joe Philogene & the Cosmic Bos Family Choir)
2. Faded Memories (Lyrics by Dayne Howcroft)
3. Astral Underwear
4. Sir, France is 'cross the Sea, See
5. Vaccine (ft. Chris Mace)
6. Back is Back (ft. Chris Mace)
7. Badder Decisions (ft. Joe Philogene)
8. Magic Fun Guy (ft. Donny Stax)
9. Ensemble Story
10. Talking Frog (ft. Joe Philogene & Ram Dass)
11. Forever Bruised (Lyrics by Dayne Howcroft)

This has been an absolute joy to work on, and the future for improv squaring looks very bright, with several artists already waiting in the wings to be part of the next Improv Squared album. Very excited to get moving on the next phase of this experiment, whilst we continue our 'Making of an Album' series of podcasts (and well, making an actual normal album). If you have a few spare pennies could you do us a favour and go buy the album on bandcamp? it would mean the world to us.

On band camp you can buy the album from this link here.

We have been working away on video content for Improv Squared for a while now, with the first single we put out 'Faded Memories' being a simple one shot of Nick and I (Andy) playing the first round of the improvisation (Guitars and Vocal), we subsequently added Bass and Synths and another cheeky Electric Guitar to the mix in improv rounds 2 and 3. The lyrics were written by Dayne Howcroft, with the rough chord structure having been constructed before starting. A pretty loose Improv Squared, but it's a banger.

'Ensemble Story' was the second first single (we released them all as double A sides) and that was purely just Nick and I (Andy still, haven't changed writer mid sentence) doing 3 rounds of improv. We had seen Elbow perform a few weeks prior, and this song certainly feels a bit Elbowish. The lyric is from my Book of Songs (B.o.S) and was melodically improvised on the spot.

'Astral Underwear' was the third song released with a video, which is similar to Ensemble Story, except this time with some crazy overlays more like the improvisation videos with Joe Philogene. This track was the first Improv Squared song we ever made (although it was followed on the same evening by Ensemble Story).

'Forever Bruised' was the fourth song, and another lyric by Dayne Howcroft. This song was kept acoustic and raw, to reflect the depth of the lyrics, and the video is another one shot of just Nick and Andy (that's me, just in case you were unsure who was writing this blog).

'Vaccine' was the fifth song, and this one required some extra special video treatment. We have had Green Screen facemasks sitting around ready for a music video for a couple of years now, when facemasks became the fashion to have, we figured it only made sense to get green screen versions. So we did, but didn't really know what to do with them, until now, and the song 'Vaccine', which features Chris Mace coming on an improv squared adventure with us, and the Cosmic Bos Family Choir appearing in the trippy video.

There is further video action to come from this record, with 'Sir, France is 'cross the Sea, See' coming next weekend (with a Eurotrash inspired video I think you will like) and plans in place for a truly epic dance video for 'Back is Back'. So stick around, subscribe to our shenanigans where you can, and stay as amazing as you clearly are.

So from Baby Theo and Uncle Andy, from the set of 'Sir, France is 'cross the Sea, See', we say some things in French and probably eat some cheese. 

Have a wonderful day

We love ya

Cosmic Bos

P.S - Here is the Youtube link if that is how you like your podcast

And here are all the video's that go along with Improv Squared

Stay Amazing

Vaccine - Cosmic Bos Improv Squared (Official Music Video)

 Hello friends,

With the full album coming out very soon (1st April in fact), Cosmic Bos would like to turn your attention towards our latest single 'Vaccine'.

It is advised that you listen to the song at least twice to make sure you are fully Vaccinated, but for complete coverage it is advised you listen at least once a day.

This song has been released alongside a companion A side, 'Sir, France is 'cross the Sea, See' which will be getting the video treatment too, we just haven't finished it yet (it has been filmed, just needs editing)

The music for Vaccine was made by doing layered improvisation, with our special guest Chris Mace joining the Bos bro's, meaning only two rounds were needed (although we may have done three rounds, I scares remember). The music was then matched up with a previously written poem by Andy Jackson called 'Vaccine'. 

Here is the original full poem

VACCINE by Andy Jackson

The world is a scary and dangerous place

But based on the numbers, the human race

Is doing just peachy and spreading out quickly

You can tell coz the host body’s getting quite sickly

Could it be true, just like the flu

We are the virus, the variants too

Earth did some healing when we stared at the ceiling,

Imagine if earth gets the vaccine for you

Sure we are clever and built for adaption

But Gia’s been having an allergic reaction 

She’s depleted and requires serious attention 

It’s unmediated, A Greta intervention 

We are the virus, earth is the host

She’s having a stroke, can you smell burning toast?

We’ve got to act fast, we risk getting the ghost

If toxic shock sets in we’ve an hour at most

Harmonious living tween host and microbes 

The employees are wearing the emperor’s clothes

Earthquake, tsunamis, volcanos and fires

Are vaccines for us, the deadliest virus

Heart disease, cancer, common colds and flu 

Are all types of vaccine, if the virus is you

So bigger picture, it isn’t all gloom

Let’s change our behaviour, there’s still wiggle room 

Old ways of thinking should remain in the tomb

Stop staring at Lara with a hundred times zoom

We are just moments on a timeline of plenty

We enter with nothing and pretend we aren’t empty 

But once we’re fulfilled any more is just greedy

The overspill should be providing the needy

And anything we take we give in return 

Earth owe us nothing, we need to learn

Ignorance is letting half of the world burn

Self fulfilling vaccine as the tables turn 

...

Few more words there then in the song, but there was no way to fit the whole poem in so it got a little butchered to fit the music.

Coming of the 1st April is the full album Cosmic Bos Improv Squared: Petite Champignon de Lumiere

11 tracks, all in some way crafted using our new music making technique, Improv Squared. Including the singled 'Faded Memories', 'Ensemble Story', 'Astral Underwear', 'Forever Bruised', 'Vaccine' and 'Sir, France is 'cross the Sea, See'.

As previously mentioned, there is another video to come for this album, and then potentially another one after that for the song 'Back is Back'. More on that to follow.

The album will also be getting a bandcamp release to hopefully get us some much needed revenue.

Thanks for being awesome

Please leave us a comment, or share this with your friends

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos

P.S - Here's the YouTube version for anyone who prefers their music videos served up in that particular fashion, or if the podcast one above doesn't work.

Making of an Album Episode 2: Traditional Writing Techniques (Cosmic Bos Improv Music Podcast Season 4)

 Well hello dear friends,

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. 

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos

Astral Underwear - Cosmic Bos Improv(Squared) (Official Music Video)

 Hello lovely friends,

Astral Underwear - Cosmic Bos

From the upcoming album

Improv Squared - Petit Champignon de Lumiere 

Andy and Nick created this song using improvisation layering, the beat, bass and synth were played in first round, then vocals and more synth, then backing vocals. Filming each round, the video was made by boxing up the performance and overlaying some stock footage.

The lyric was prewritten by Andy in the Book of Songs (or BoS as we call it) and it reads a little something like this...

ASTRAL UNDERWEAR

Artwork by Dayne Howcroft

Sitting still, at a desk, with a tie flopped on my chest
Counting seconds, lunchtime beacons, need the valuable rest
It’s hard on the knees, with legs lazy as these
Every movement, needs improvement, I won’t pass the test

But who cares?
The outside world is cruel and unfair
They stare
But no-one can see my astral underwear
I’m here
And simultaneously everywhere
I’m this
And everything else in between

Sit around, from sat to seated, shower, bed, repeat repeated
Counting days, rest is coming, long time been defeated
It’s hard on the head, cycling, work, home, bed
These energy levels are vastly depleted
Oh these energy levels are vastly depleted

But who cares?
The social world is cruel and unfair
Don’t share
Your invincible astral underwear
You’re here
Whilst simultaneously everywhere
Your you
And everything you ever want to do

While in astral clothing
Banish self loathing
Become anything you desire

Guarantee it will suit you
From flower to cashew
Be seagull, be water, be fire

Be anything you can desire
Be anything you can desire

...

Please like, share and subscribe

And if you would like to feature in an upcoming Improv Squared song, email us at cosmicbos@gmail.com for details.

Astral Underwear is paired with another song 'Forever Bruised' which is available on Spotify, Amazon etc. and will get it's own video treatment next weekend. It is quite the polar opposite as far as songs go, with a raw acoustic sound and powerful lyrics by Dayne Howcroft. 

Thanks for being awesome, we love ya

YouTube version for ya

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos

P.S - Coming 1st March is the next instalment in our Making of an Album series, check it out.

Making of an Album Episode 1: Introduction (Cosmic Bos Improv Music Podcast Season 4)

 Hello friends,

Welcome to the first episode of our limited series 'Making of an Album'

How does one make an album?

That is the question at the heart of this special podcast presentation, and Nick & Andy from Cosmic Bos are going to break it down for you, from writing the songs, to demo stage, full recording and producing, before tackling making music videos and finally releasing the finished album.

It will hopefully be a wonderful experience for all, and we shall learn along the journey together.

What qualifies you to be doing this Making of an Album series? I've never heard of you!

A fine question indeed, and true, that Cosmic Bos is not exactly a well known musical outfit, but in our defence, we have been making music for a long time, with over 20 albums of improvised/revised music available and several other proper albums sprinkled through our past.

Go on then, tell us about Cosmic Bos.

Cosmic Bos came into existence back in 2016, and we released our debut album '7 Billion' in 2017, which has been followed by 3 Seasons of Improvised music podcasting.

Direct link to our podcast

In 2021 Cosmic Bos released 'Virtual Normality' EP, a 5 track proper record, that was designed as the taster for this very Album of a Making podcast project.

So as you can see, we have made a lot of music, which qualifies us to appoint ourselves as qualified to make a podcast about making an album. Ultimately the measure of success of aforementioned project is an actual album existing at the end of it all, which, we confidently think there will be, also, Cosmic Bos is not affiliated with any record labels, so our interest in making an album is legitimately about Making a GOOD album of real music, not a product for lining already overlined pockets.

All music featured in this podcast was made by Cosmic Bos and is available to hear or if you can afford it, buy, at all good online musical stores.

Tracklist for Episode 1

1. Faded Memories
2. Take it Easier (from 'Virtual Normality' EP)
3. Ride Another Wave (from 'Virtual Normality' EP)
4. Where the Warp-zones Are (from '7 Billion')
5. Let's Go Dancing (from 'Ep.14: Utopia in a Cornucopia')
6. Ensemble Story

Both Faded Memories & Ensemble Story come from our upcoming new Improv(squared) album and are both available now.

Here's a Spotify player for convenient listening needs.

Check out the videos for our double A side singles in our podcast feed and on our youtube (or instagram if that's your thang)

We hope you have found this informative and interesting, as the series progresses we will delve into much greater depth on all the in's and out's of album construction, and hopefully we will learn a thing or two on the journey. It's exciting and fills the existential crisis hole that forever questions if we are all just living in a simulation that was literally turned on only twenty minutes ago, and all our memories are merely loaded in code, and our hopes and dreams are just glitches in a system that teeters on collapse under it's own weight at any given moment. Ahem.

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos

P.s - can you leave our podcast a review on your preferred podcast consumption device, it really helps us out. Love ya.

Faded Memories - Cosmic Bos (Official Music Video)

 Hello friends,

Ahead of the introduction episode of 'Making of an Album', Cosmic Bos present to you 'Faded Memories'

Faded Memories - Cosmic Bos

Music by Andy and Nick Jackson

Lyrics and Artwork by Dayne Howcroft

This is the A side to the double A side single released 1st Feb 2022, along with its A sided brother 'Ensemble Story'.

The first taster of our upcoming Improv(squared) project, 'Faded Memories' was a poem that Dayne Howcroft gave to Andy Jackson to turn into a song, along with another poem that will appear on the album. Constructed quickly, Andy and Nick recorded the guitars and vocals first, before adding bass and synths (and another cheeky guitar). In a matter of half hour the song was all recorded, then Nick did the producer thing and Bam! Song done.

FADED MEMORIES by Dayne Howcroft

Fourteen years old, the picture was clear
All set for adventure, no need to fear
With total control of the road ahead
The future was never a dream to dread

 

Wasting time on a hot summers day

No wasted laughter, my mind portrayed

A life of freedom, with hope and meaning

That picture gave me, something to believe in

Time slipped slowly, right through my hands

Back then I could never quite understand

How life can be brutal, how life can be cruel

I guess I forgot the golden rule

Never look back and regret what is done

Because life can be beautiful if you're willing to run

...

Here is the youtube link if you prefer you links to be tube based

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos

Cosmic Bos: Bos Live #1 (2021) - Cosmic Bos Improv Music Podcast Season 4 Ep. 1

 Hello friends,

Happy new season, Cosmic Bos Improv Music Podcast kicks off Season 4 with a Live Show for you.

Cosmic Bos : Bos Live #1 (2021)

Tracklist: 

1. Take it Easier
2. Sunrise Reflections
   
3. Intentionally
4. Bad Decisions
5. Space Babies
6. Perplexed
7. Rainbow Appearing
8. Ignore the Alarm

All music performed by Joe Philogene (Ngoni & Percussion), Nick Jackson (Electric Guitar & Backing Vocals) and Andy Jackson (Acoustic Guitar & Lead Vocals)

Wowza! Ain't that a whole lotta fun right there. This Live session was recorded back on the 18th of December in the crazy year that was 2021. It was a bit of a rush and a push to try and get it out at the end of the year, so we held back and put it out right now at the start of '22. 

Cosmic Bos performed one gig last year, and we played most of the songs on our live album, and as we had rehearsed up to be all good for our solitary performance, it only seemed sensible to make a recording of our efforts. We are pretty proud of the outcome, what do you recon?

Full visual presentation (which was too big a file to put in the podcast feed) right here for you, served up by the wonderful bots at YouTube.

Coming Soon - Cosmic Bos: Making of an Album Introduction Episode, with some new music and some new business to take care of. Until then though...

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos

Cosmic Bos Improv Music Podcast - Season 4 (2022) Coming Soon!

 Hello dear friends,

2022 is here, and, well, it's something alright. 

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.

Thanks for being awesome, we love you

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos (Andy)

Cosmic Bos Best of Season 3 (2021) - 18 songs and some bants

 Hello dear friend,

Welcome to the blog with the most, um, stuff about Cosmic Bos, and in particular, the goings on of Cosmic Bos across the year of 2021. The third year of our improv music shenanigans went to some interesting places, and we have compiled down from the 67 tracks we released this year, the 18 we think are the bestest. 

3 years of podcasting - https://cosmicbos.libsyn.com - so many years to go.

Wowza! What a thing it is.

Cover for Season 3's Best of.

Here is the tracklist...

1. Space Babies (Virtual Normality version)
   
2. Waiting
3. Aim
4. Witching Hour
5. Like Minded
6. Perplexed
7. Bad Decisions
8. Intentionally
9. Feel the World
10. Take it Easier
11. Space Babies (improv version)
12. Rainbow Appearing
13. Hold on a Little Longer
14. Stay Inside
15. Ignore the Alarm
16. Broken by Desire
17. Brand New
18. Ride Another Wave

2021 was an interesting year, with plenty of ups and downs, twists and turns, 4 improvised albums, 1 EP, 1 Revisation session and plenty of music videos. For a band that just do it all ourselves, we are doing okay. The industry doesn't seem interested in us, for good reason, it's hard to market such prolific art. For example, most major record labels would sign an artist for a 5 album deal, which Cosmic Bos would plough through in a year. We do this in our spare time, it's our hobby, albeit an all consuming one, if we were being paid to do it, imagine what our output could be if we did it full time? 

That's the dream that keeps us playing, and one day soon it will be the reality that we are trying to escape from, oh what a wonderful world of contradictions we live in. 

Big shout out to Joe Philogene for being the musical rock on which our improvised flowers have grown, truly one of the greatest human beings to grace this earth, we love you and can't wait to explore the musical realms with you further. 

Cosmic Bos will be here in 2022, but we are going to be doing something slightly different. Check back for an introductory blog later this week.

Here is the YouTube version of the Best of Season 3, should you wish to tube it up over podcasting it up. 

Happy times ahead my friends, we love you all

Peace and infinite love

Cosmic Bos

P.S - Here's the youtube playlist of just the songs should you wish to just have music and not Nick and I talking.