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Thailand:
Inside-Outside
In Todd’s first full album, he decided to paint
musical pictures of the people and places he encountered in
the Thai heartland. When Thai record executives told him nobody
wanted to hear such stories, they suggested he change his
music. Todd changed companies instead, producing, recording
and promoting the album completely on his own. 6 months in
the studio, employing 40 traditional Thai instruments, 10
types of acoustic guitars, vacuum cleaners, bottle-tops and
other forms of sound, Thailand: Inside-Outside, Thailand’s
FIRST album of completely new English songs sold a respectful
30,000 copies.
One critique commented, “Thailand: Inside – Outside is a completely
unique piece of historical ethnomusicology. No Thai person
would ever dare such a work.”
The original cassette cover was Thailand’s FIRST printed on
recycled paper Todd actually carried back on a plane from
the US.
The entire original version as well as tracks cut from the
original are all included in the reissued CD and book, available
only at toddeastwest.com.
CD: 200 baht
CD & Book 250 baht |
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Acoustic
Life
Todd took the money he made from Thailand: Inside-Outside
(not much) and put it all into his Acoustic Life project.
The concept of an “Acoustic Life”-i.e. ‘use a little less,
give a little more, appreciate what you have’-gathered impetus
as Todd made frequent visits to Thailand’s Wildlife Parks
and Sanctuaries, especially Huay Kha Kaeng, the biggest. Furious
at plans to expand roads into the sanctuary, Todd aimed at
the root of such greed and designed a series of songs celebrating
the Acoustic Life, recorded live both in the sanctuary itself
and in two concerts at the Thailand Cultural Center. The concerts
brought PR light to the issues of protection and raised 200,000
baht for musical intruments and eqiupment for the Da Buey
Park Ranger Band doing positive PR in villages around the
sanctuary.
The concerts themselves featured 9 highly-skilled Westerna
and Thai traditional musicians celebrating life and nature
in music.
A remastered CD version and video will be available at toddeastwest.com
in September.
CD-VCD 300 baht
* CD out of order
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Rhythm
of the Earth
To date, probably Todd’s best-known work, Rhythm of the Earth
grew from Todd’s previous musical works and life experiences.
Musically, Todd was exploring the rhythms of the Thai countryside
and finding many of the village msucians were blind or physically
challenged. Coming from a family in the US that raised several
special children, including Todd’s deaf-autistic sister, Kelly,
Todd chose to celebrate the lives and stories he’d shared
in a more electric fashion. The result is over 300 musicans
and singers from Thailand’s smallest villages to the biggest
cities joined in this “musical gathering of the human race”
as the Bangkok Post called it.
Rhythm of the Earth has since been expanded into a 4 book
series, a TV documentary series shown on the Discovery Channel
and even a series of newly recorded “Colors of the Earth”
CD’s of newly recorded traditional music from rare hilltribe
chants to the eerie rhythms of Thailand’s Muslim South.
Rhythm of the Earth CD and full-color
booklet: 300 Baht
*CD out of order
Thai books: 120 baht each |
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Colors
of the Earth
Spawned during the recording of Rhythm of the Earth, Colors
of the Earth satisfies the desires of those who wanted to
hear “the originals”. Here are recordings of National Artists,
some who have since died ,as well as interviews and laughter,
all recorded in the highest quality combination of Digital-Analog
sound. Aside from the main CD, Colors of the Earth is an ongoing
project that includes recordings produced or supported by
Todd and available as well.
Colors of the Earth CD Collection:
400 baht |
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AqZaqMaqMa:
Akha Hilltribe Celebrations
As recorded by the Akha, “People of the FertiLe Fields” themselves,
these are eclectic collections of Akha song and stories,even
teachings on drugs, sex and as they themselves produced them
for their own villagers.
CD’s-cassettes 150 baht:
ALL Proceeds go to the Akha Hilltribe Association
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Masaya:
National Artist Lung KADAE and Team
This uplifting collection of Thai-Malay-Muslim, even Euro
and Indian melodies are played through the completely original
hands of Lung Kadae. The result is as joyous as it can be
eerie.
CD-cassette 150 baht: All Proceeds
go directly to the artist’s team.
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| Shambala
This is the first solo work by the Tawan Band’s Leader, Pongprohm
Sanitwong Na Ayuthya (“Boom”), who co-produced Rhythm of the
Earth. This entire “Opera of Belief” is based on Mahayana
Buddhism and the legends of Shambala. 3,000 year old myth
as well as the life of Buddha is mixed with life-stories of
today creating an original musical-spiritual celebration that
culminates in Shambala 2, a song one listener described as,
“the most inspiring piece of art I’ve ever experienced”. Strong
words, listen for yourself.
CD available through More Music
or at prohm@prohm.com
*CD out of order
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The
Promise
When Boom asked Todd if he wanted to create something “completely
crazy?!?”, Todd responded with an idea he’d written of frequently
in the past-a Rock Opera based on the lives of Schizophrenics,
in particular one patient Todd had focused on as a Pre-Med
student at the University of Scranton. Todd spent weeks at
Thailand’s Sri Tannya and Nithijithiwate Mental Hospitals
interviewing patients and writng their stories into the fabric
of his original undegraduate notes.
Written and recorded live in the studio, the Promise was released
by Warner Music Thailand with no promotion or fanfare. It
became a cult CD and is available in a rerecorded and remastered
version only at toddeastwest.com. The CD has received the
Able Art Award in Japan and has been performed both as a full
concert and stage performance.
Full CD and booklet: 300 baht
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You and me
After years of big cultural projects, Todd turned inside and
wrote stories of family and friends in the CD “You and me”.
The music has a pop-country feel (lots of acoustic and pedal
steel guitars) and became Todd’s most mainstream piece. He
has just completed recording two completely new songs for
the International version which will be available in CD and
Concert form in September.
CD and booklet: 300 baht
You and me Concert Video: 300 baht
*CD out of order
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Songs of the Earth
Here are stories of nature’s inhabitants as they live and
breathe in Thailand’s forests and seas today. Hornbills,
Gibbons, Dugongs and Pachyderms all fly and bounce and swim
amongst the acoustic and electric music they inspired. The
song Tender Voices has been used in several campaigns to
stop the sale of animal parts and the positive Gibbon Dance
was the featured song in a Discovery Channel documentary.
CD 250 baht
Concert video 300 baht
*CD out of order
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The Legend of TOJA
Todd took his road band, the VIRUS HIP into the outer reaches
of the musical galaxy with this rock opera celebrating earth’s
last inhabitant, TOJA, and his search for meaning in the
cosmos. The Single CD features 3 tracks fully recorded and
mastered as well as footage from live performances of Ecstasy
and Love Will Find a Way, TOJA’s Celestial Handbook.
CD Single- 99 baht
Full CD Version available in November: 300 baht
*CD out of order
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Rhythm of the Earth
Poetry inspired by Thailand’s natural grandeur is here accompanied
by the sounds of nature itself. Now mastered and available
in CD form at toddeastwest.com, a lyrical journey through
Thailand’s nature.
CD 150 baht
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Back to the Beach: an Island
Opera
S.I.M.M.S. Music (stories in myriad musical settings) is
what Todd calls this celebration of Thailand’s isldands
and beaches and the lives that make them what they are today.
Politics, nature, transvestites, bullfights, waves and sun
all combine in this musical potpourri that features superb
live musicianship with the computer amblings of producer
Sanu Wannaporn.
Now Available!
Cassette: 100 bath
Full CD & BeachBook : 200 baht
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Sand ‘n Shells
This collection of songs inspired by the sea is the “crafted
cousin’ of Back to the Beach. Acoustic beauty and reggae-blues
make this a full mini-CD.
6 Song Mini-CD: 120 baht
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