We had the privilege of doing The Premium Blend Radio Show on the 14th of April 2022, it was an absolute blast, we got to play 5 of our songs and talk at length about ourselves, while host Stuart Clack-Lewis expertly drove the show along with a bit of help from the lovely Pebbled.
Nick and I (Andy) are often more at home making music, well, at home, but it was great to take our sound out to the people. We will get out on the live music scene more in the near future, there really is nothing like it for musicians.
Stuart and Pebbles running the show
Nick and I (Andy) waffled on about ourselves and our music making process, and we played 5 live acoustic renditions of tracks from our back catalogue and two from our most recent album.
Stuart Clack-Lewis does a sterling job bringing fresh new indie music to the ears of the masses, and he has an eclectic list of awesome musical live guests lined up, and he podcasts the whole thing so you can listen when you want. What a great free musical deal it is, endorsed by Cosmic Bos for sure.
We also did an interview for Marc Schuster which was a lot of fun too, find that here
'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 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:
Champignon, Lumiere (ft. Joe Philogene & the Cosmic Bos Family Choir)
Faded Memories (Lyrics by Dayne Howcroft)
Astral Underwear
Sir, France is 'cross the Sea, See
Vaccine (ft. Chris Mace)
Back is Back (ft. Chris Mace)
Badder Decisions (ft. Joe Philogene)
Magic Fun Guy (ft. Donny Stax)
Ensemble Story
Talking Frog (ft. Joe Philogene & Ram Dass)
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
