Originally from Kansas City, Kansas, Todd Warner Moore has penned a diverse catalogue of music over time. His albums contain dashes of Folk, 60s Psychedelia, Americana, 70s Singer/Songwriter, Gipsy, and Latin music.
Over time, he has performed in several bands including Acoustic Juice and Budapest-based Tea Thieves.
Moore has written and recorded four albums in the past year. In June of 2018, he released the eclectic “Lapis Lazuli,” followed by critically acclaimed “Spark” in October of the same year. The intimate and minimalistic “Love and Change” arrived on April 19, 2019. Next, the epic “Starry Sounds” will hit the online stores and streaming platforms in September 2019.
Following the success of the instrumental “Path,” Raighes Factory will also be releasing Moore’s new instrumental singles on a monthly basis on Spotify. “And We Sing” the second in the series, was released in April 2019, “Gratitude in Magnitude” will surface on May 31, 2019.
In this interview spotlight, I was fortunate enough to get a few moments out of Todd’s busy schedule to chat about the upcoming music, technology, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I’m from Kansas, originally, but I’ve spent a lot of time abroad. I lived in Budapest for six years. then moved back to the States for seven years. I’ve lived in Hong Kong for the last nine years.
The music I create is entirely emotional and personal–heavily lyric-based. It always has been this way. I like to put myself out there and experiment with different styles. In every band, though, I’ve always played acoustic guitar, no matter how heavy the song. I learned on the electric but grew to love the tone and earthiness of an acoustic guitar.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
I love to write songs. If I don’t do so, it has a terrible effect on me. I need to create regularly to keep the songs pouring in. I love that Picasso quote: “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” You’ve got to keep working. You can’t wait. It’s not going to tap you on the head.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
I usually prefer grandiose statements. I’ve written and recorded four albums in the last year, and not one of them sounds the same. The first two, Lapis Lazuli and Spark, have some massive sounds, and I love that stuff, but I wanted to make a more intimate statement. Some of the songs from Love and Change could easily find a home in a coffee shop. Even though I am from Kansas, I had never made an Americana record until Spark and Love and Change. (And, if you listen to both of them, quite a few other sounds are going on besides Americana, but that’s what they’ve been labelled.) I will probably put Starry Sounds, the fourth, out in September, maybe October. There is no trace of Americana on that one, and it is quite grand.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
Oh, I don’t know, I prefer online music to treading around a bar after a live show, trying to sell CDs and get people on the mailing list. It really is a global village now. Genres of music are no longer domain-specific. You can have fans from all over the world, and you don’t need a record company to do this. People ask me why I sound so American when I’ve lived abroad for so long. Well, we all get the same media, now…same news, same music, same movies.
What was the last song you listened to?
Fever to the Form, by Nick Mulvey. I’m so oblivious other stuff. A colleague told me about him. What a layered sound and nice vibe.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
I did the vinyl thing back in college when vinyl production was 1.5%, and everybody was selling their records. I couldn’t afford CDs, so I started buying used vinyl records for $4 a piece. I remember making a good chunk into the catalogues of Bob Dylan and Miles Davis. And I slowly discovered that vinyl records sounded much better than CDs. But I moved abroad and lost track of my collection. (It could be in some basement somewhere).
Some of the record collecting thing is a fad. There have been a lot of complaints about quality. I think there are two pressing plants left? Once the demand drastically outweighs the supply, there will be problems.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I subscribe to Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, and I love Bandcamp.
My preferred streaming service is Tidal. I listened to the uncompressed remaster of the Beatles’ White album many, many times on Tidal, and it didn’t sound the same on Spotify or Apple music. I like the depth and multi-dimensionality of uncompressed music. I record in 24 48 format, and it always breaks my heart to hear it compressed. But you get used to it, I guess.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
You can go to my homepage: toddwarnermoore.com, and I’m on all of the streaming platforms.
Anything else before we sign off?
I am and releasing an instrumental single once a month through Raighes Factory. Those are fun. We’ve already two of them. They are on Spotify. Oh, and I’ve started recording my next album. I’m excited about it, but it will have to wait for Starry Sounds to land.
