BSIDE Lake Tyers by Tom Allen-Graham

Featured Artist: Tom Allen-Graham

Featured Vinyl: Lake Tyers

 

Alexis’ Hot Pick	Lake Tyers
Sam’s Hot Pick	Beechworth

Aus Music Alert! Support this artists by purchasing this record via Bandcamp:

https://tomallen-graham.bandcamp.com/ 

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CREDITS

Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor

Co-Host: Sam Timmerman

Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel

Voiceover: Ruby Miguel

Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel

 

 

 Welcome to B Side, the mini series from through the Creative Door. Join Alexis and Sam as they dive into the timeless world of vinyl. For Alexis, vinyl was more than music, it was a Sunday ritual she shared with her dad, listening, talking, and soaking in the stories behind each album and the artwork on every sleeve. Though her dad is no longer with us, she continues this tradition with her friend Sam Timmerman. Join them as they share their passion for vinyl and the stories is records hold. 

 

Hello brother. 

 

Good afternoon. How are you? 

 

I'm very well. How are you? 

 

Very well. I'm enjoying your new scene. There's a little bit of a new background behind Alexis in the video version of this episode. 

 

Yes. Well, it's just 'cause that's where my computer was set up. 

 

Don't give away the secret. 

 

All right, I'm gonna start our timer.

 

10 minutes. This is what we do, 10 minutes to talk about a new vinyl record. And this one, I'm very excited, I'm sharing. This is uh, Tom Allen Graham and his beautiful jazz trio record called Lake Tires, 

 

and I believe that you have some connection to this. 

 

Actually, I have a couple of connections. One, I went to school with Tom and was friends with his sister.

 

Fantastic. And also Lake Tires is a place in East Gippsland back where I grew up. 

 

That's where y'all come from. 

 

It is, yes. Well, I grew up in Paynesville, but Lake Ty is probably about 45 an hour away. So yeah, a place I've spent a lot of time in my childhood. 

 

And it looks beautiful in, at least in the photo of, 

 

well, this, the beautiful thing about the photo is, yeah, it is Lake Lake Tires.

 

It's exactly what it looks like, so it's amazing. Um, I also love that, uh, Tom himself did the artwork and design for this record. Which is really, really pretty. 

 

Very cool. Now we need to know a little bit more about Tom as well, because he is, like you say, Victorian artist graduated from Victorian College of the Arts, I believe in 2011.

 

Yes. Very talented bear. Let's get into it. Okay, so I'm gonna start my. Top pick so difficult, so, so difficult to choose. This whole entire jazz record is just seriously, feels like a warm hug. It is restrained, it sets a beautiful mood. It just feels very comfy. Um, but my top pick would have to be tracks called Lake Tires.

 

So same title as the record. It is super groovy. It's super comfy. I just love how it builds. I love Tom's guitar at the end. It's really special. It's like, you know, the icing on the cake. I don't know. I just, I, I, I've always had a soft spot for jazz records and, and this is no exception. Um, but yeah, if I had to have a, a runner up, I would have to say it is the Um, opening track, which is the beginning. 

 

Me too. 

 

Oh, really? Interesting. Yeah. Okay. Well, for me, one, I'm a sucker for brushes on drums. Mm-hmm. So I really love how that makes me feel straight away. Um, but I, I definitely love the journey in that track. Because each of the players in that trio really sets the tone and adds that tapestry as the, as the song progresses.

 

And I think it just really sets the scene for the whole record, to be honest. So yeah, that's definitely, I, I found it very difficult to choose, but if I had to choose. They're my picks. 

 

Yeah. Better one than the hard choice. 

 

What is, I know. Does that make a better record if it's harder to choose? 

 

Uh, I think it means that you've like solidified an idea and it's like, even though the songs, I don't think it's a very good answer to a very gotcha question.

 

Yeah. Like, I don't think that means that the songs sound the same, but I think he sets a beautiful mood and it's like chapters of a book. Love it. Really great chapters and book. Yeah. 

 

I thought beginning was great at, um, just evoking the title scene. The, the actually mid imagery of the lake itself was beautiful and open harmony in a trio setting is stunning, harder than it seems. Mm-hmm. As well to pull off, which I thought was really cool. Um, for me it was beachworth. Modern jazz for me, tends to go too, sometimes it goes too far away from just sitting back and swinging and this is my kind of record where you get into your modern jazz mode and you get into all your open harmonies in your open field.

 

Lots and lots of rhythmic ideas and everything to have a track where they just sit back in two field for a head, go into a bit of a walking base for your B section, and just they sit back and they play. I just, um, basic, it almost feels like a standard and it's gorgeous.

 

really does feel like a standard.

 

Loved the B section melody, giving that real gerwin kind of really simple flowing melody over the top of just your four felt really good. And the melodic, so the rhythmic work in the head too in the A sections was just a lot of fun to listen to. 

 

Yeah, 

 

I don't have to listen to any lyrics in this one.

 

Right. 

 

Are you saying that I, we need to pick some more records that are just instrumental so you don't have to worry about 

 

Absolutely 

 

Actually. I don't mind. I, I, I really, there's something really beautiful about, um, instrumental albums and tracks that just, yeah, takes me to another place for sure.

 

That's it. And I mean, the bass solo from Steven as well on this is on Beachworth is super tasty. Um, it sits in that real kind of valley of comfort where you can explore some ideas, but you're just sitting and you're not, you're not taking too much away from this. The idea of the tune. Yeah. Which I thought was fantastic.

 

I'll give an honorable mention to the outro as well. Descending harmony always holds a special spot for me, and this one is just. Next level on that, it's just, it's the entire idea of the tune is descending harmony, which is super cool. And the fact that there's heaps of ideas between the bass and the guitar while the drum solo is going on.

 

It's really clever rioting during the solo as opposed to, let's just play a four bar loop. Which is great, gives you something to actually latch onto as well. If you're not as versed in listening to jazz, then a drum solo has the potential to just kind of, you just glaze over. 

 

Mm-hmm. But to have something, to latch back onto it at the end of each um, chorus is just fantastic and I really liked it.

 

I'd love to hear these guys play these records. 

 

Ah, right, right. So what I need, I need Tom to play a show that I can get to. 

 

Tom comes to Perth and then she'll fly over. 

 

I found this really beautiful quote that was written by another jazz guitarist in Melbourne. Um, he wrote, like, he did a bit of a review of this record, and I love, there's like a sentence that he says about how, um, one might easily be tricked into thinking that this was just another jazz Guitar Trio record with its restrained mood and quiet character, and I was like, Ooh. That just like hits the nail on the head. Don't you reckon 

 

Tricked is the perfect word for everything we just spoke about, 

 

Right? Because it's not, it's not just another jazz record. It's just stunning. It's just stunning.

 

I love that. I was actually really, I loved checking out just the details behind the recording as well. I mean, the fact that it's recorded by a drummer. Mm, and mix and mastered by bassist. Slash pianist. I was really interested in how they brought that. I would love to find out somewhere from Nico what the mic setup was on the drums.

 

Mm. 

 

Hearing 

 

1. I'm like, I don't know how you got that kind of balance going. 

 

I know it's stunning. Right. 

 

Does not feel like a conventional miking setup on the drums, which I thought was really cool. True. Um, took me a minute to get into how light the drums were in the mix in a couple of tunes, but. Once I was there, I was just like, no, this feels good.

 

I'm into this. 

 

He recorded this at Pug House Studios in Thornbury, in Melbourne. 

 

Um, have you been there before? 

 

I haven't. Uh, I know a few people that have and yeah. Have heard raving reviews. 

 

Mm. 

 

And Dave, well he's he's based outta New York, isn't he? 

 

Correct, yeah. And 40 odd, close to 50 years of just exceptional credits.

 

Get this record in your ear holes, Tom Allen Graham Lake Tires, 

 

links in the description 

 

by the records on Band Camp. Support Australian Music. Australian Artists Peeps. 

 

Fantastic. We'll see you again very soon. 

 

Sounds good.

 

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Bye.