# It's Polka Time!



## Polkasound (Jun 15, 2018)

Hello fellow VI-Controllers!

I just released my new album today. It's 17 songs of all polkas and waltzes. Most of the songs are instrumentals in variations of the Cleveland/Slovenian-style of polka music, but there are a few other styles mixed in. Five of the songs are vocals. All of the songs, except for the last track on the CD, are originals.

I performed several instruments on it: mainly piano accordion and drums. The banjo tracks were performed by various musicians. But almost everything else -- sax, clarinet, flute, guitar, button box, concertina, and of course the orchestral instruments -- I did with virtual instrument libraries.

The album took approximately 350 hours over six months to produce, from December 2017 to May 2018.

For audio samples and more, please go to my website's product page. The album is also available on most major music subscription and download services.

Enjoy!

-Tom


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## Nathanael Iversen (Jun 15, 2018)

Thanks for sharing! What wonderful happy music. I would love to be strolling down a riverwalk about 7pm on a nice summer day with this played live by a band! There would no doubt be a crowd of children playing, people dancing, and just a great atmosphere. The world needs this kind of music for sure, and especially the kind of easygoing happy circumstances that it comes from.


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## Polkasound (Jun 16, 2018)

Nathanael, thank you for the kind compliments. One way I promote my band is to mention that all of the music we play is family-friendly, suitable for all ages. It's not always easy to find that in a band these days.


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## boxheadboy50 (Jun 20, 2018)

Wow, great album, Tom! This is fantastic.
I honestly can't think of any other polka musician or band that uses VIs in their music like this (left-hand MIDI bass doesn't count!).

I'm interested to see if this takes off in the polka world -- if younger polka musicians end up using more and more VIs on their records in the future. I know we did 

PS. Oh, and thanks for the CH-Dutchmen Concertina, it layered up pretty well with my brother's Hengel :D


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## bigcat1969 (Jun 20, 2018)

Alright I'm polkaing away! Just hope I can survive with only 16 songs and not 17! Great job.


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## Polkasound (Jun 20, 2018)

boxheadboy50 said:


> Wow, great album, Tom! This is fantastic.
> I honestly can't think of any other polka musician or band that uses VIs in their music like this (left-hand MIDI bass doesn't count!).



Thanks Mr. D! I know there are a few polka musicians out there tinkering with virtual instruments, and a handful use some virtual instruments on their recordings, although I don't know of any polka musicians using them to the extent I do. But I'm unique in that I'm a combination polka musician/engineer/producer/songwriter/studio owner who branches out into other genres of music, so virtual instruments are a necessary part of my craft.

Please tell your brother that his graphic design job will be finished shortly!




bigcat1969 said:


> Alright I'm polkaing away! Just hope I can survive with only 16 songs and not 17! Great job.



Thanks, Bigcat! As much as I would have liked to add the 17th track to the digital album, I just didn't want to have to deal with annual licensing for one song (it's the only cover song on the whole album.) So I only licensed it for the initial run of CDs. After the album starts turning a profit, however, there's a very good chance I'll license track 17 for a couple thousand plays and post it here for everyone to enjoy for free.


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## bigcat1969 (Jun 21, 2018)

I can live with 16 tracks (just my silly humor in complaining), I grew up with 25 minute CDs selling for 16 bucks so this is great value. Let's be honest I'm not a Polka guy, no offense, I just bought the album because you are a great guy, but I'm having a whale of a lot of fun listening so it must be good enough to justify a run-on sentence of praise. Now I'm off to work on my new album 'I can't believe it's not music'.


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## Jaap (Jun 21, 2018)

Wow, what a tremendous amount of great energy these tracks bring! Normally totally not my kind of music, but this just breaths pure energy and passion in my opinion. Congratulations on the release Tom and kudos to all the hard work.


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## Polkasound (Jun 27, 2018)

Thank you, jaap!


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