{ "ok" : true, "artist" : { "name" : "Professor Armchair", "page" : "armchair", "description" : "demented 19th century children's music", "location" : "OR, USA", "bio" : "I learned to play arrangements of country and delta blues, ragtime and other early 20th century music on guitar as a beginner. These were contractions of the originals. Notes deeper and higher than what a guitar could sound were squeezed into a narrower range and some complexities had to be removed altogether. The arrangements on Too Much Mustard are quite different. If anything they are expansions in many senses of the word. The harmonic overtones shimmer, dance and bass-lines crab and growl in ways impossible with non-digital instruments. These may be late 19th/early 20th century popular tunes, but they use distinctly 21st century instruments. These arrangements were literally painted using special software, not performed. In many ways they are 21st century equivalents of early 20th century player pianos. In many ways Professor Armchair straddles the centuries.\n\nThis music at its best evokes happiness of a by-gone era. Circuses and carousels and calliopes, oh my! To some they may appear to be pandering, even kitsch. But the truth is they reflect the optimism, the innocence and the fun-loving of our great grandparents. They saw the future as a time for opportunity, for hope, for joy. And what could be bad in that? Few could imagine the horrors of two world wars nor fewer still the attacks of the 21st century.\n\nMany of the titles are obscure, yet some achingly familiar. Where have we heard Me-ow before? In grainy old black and white cartoons of mewling alley cats, most likely, but I've been unable to find such a cartoon in my modest collection (and I have copies of all the Betty Boop cartoons).\n\nIs this music whose time has come and gone? Ragtime's popularity has never completely disappeared. And nearly everyone will associate Funeral March of a Marionette with a certain film director with a highly characteristic, bulbous profile.\n\nOther figures of public notoriety associated themselves with these songs. The title tune \"Tres Moutarde\" (Too Much Mustard) was the theme song of early pilot Lincoln Beachey. Beachey hired bands to play it as he looped the loop in his small stunt airplane before paying crowds of amazed onlookers. He felt the song's title Too Much Mustard suited his personality to a \"T.\" He was just a little too much. The arrangements in this collection are perhaps just a bit too much mustard themselves.\n\nIs this music suitable only for children? As they say in the circus: this is music for \"children of all ages.\"\n\nIf you look behind the curtain, you'll find that Professor Armchair is none other than Magnatue artist Glen Bledsoe.", "photo" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/img/tmm.jpg", "web_url" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/armchair/", "albums" : [{ "sku" : "armchair-octopants", "name" : "Too Much Mustard", "artist" : { "name" : "Professor Armchair", "page" : "armchair" }, "release_date" : "2005-02-11", "genres" : ["Classical","Experimental"], "vocals" : "instrumental", "moods" : ["playful","quirky","nostalgic","festive","uplifting"], "uses" : ["comedy","kids","period drama or history","vlog","travel"], "energy" : 4, "instrumentation" : ["calliope","march-style brass","piano","music box","vocal harmonies"], "sounds_like" : ["Jacques Offenbach","Leroy Anderson","John Philip Sousa"], "summary" : "Demented 19th-century children's music with calliopes, marches, and playful vocals—ideal for whimsical, nostalgic, or comedic video projects.", "cover" : "https://magnatune.com/music/Professor%20Armchair/Too%20Much%20Mustard/cover_400.jpg", "web_url" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/albums/armchair-octopants/", "api_url" : "https://magnatune.com/api/albums/armchair-octopants", "buy_url" : "https://magnatune.com/buy/album?sku=armchair-octopants" }] }, "license" : { "music_license" : "Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 1.0)", "music_license_url" : "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/", "listening" : "Stream the free previews, or buy an album for $8 to download it in MP3, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, OGG or WAV. 100% of the price goes to the musician.", "non_commercial" : "Non-commercial projects may use the music under CC BY-NC-SA 1.0: credit the artist and Magnatune, and share alike.", "projects" : "Magnatune members may use any Magnatune music in their projects, commercial or not (videos, films, podcasts, games, apps, websites, adverts), including work for clients, under the Magnatune Project Licence. Projects released while a member stay licensed for good; new projects need an active membership. Credit is required. TV or radio broadcast, cinema, and background music in shops, restaurants or on-hold lines are not included: license those from the musician. Membership: $10/month, $99/year or $299 lifetime; agents can buy one themselves with MPP at /api/member-pass ($10 month, $99 year, $299 lifetime, one-off).", "projects_status" : "available", "projects_signup" : "https://magnatune.com/member/signup", "royalty_free" : "Membership is royalty-free licensing: no per-video, per-download or per-view fees, for every project created and released while a member.", "youtube" : "YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, podcasts: members may use the clean songs in monetized videos. Members register their YouTube channel (the set_youtube_channel MCP tool, or their account page) so YouTube's Content ID doesn't claim their videos. The free versions carry a spoken Magnatune voice and are non-commercial (CC BY-NC-SA), so they're not for monetized channels or client work.", "details" : "https://magnatune.com/info/licensing", "how_to_credit" : "Name the artist and \"Magnatune\", with a link to the album's web_url." } }