Todd Boston is no newcomer to the conscious music scene. His albums have topped the list of various World/New Age listening charts throughout the years. A composer, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, he fuses world music together with live looping and computer technology. Todd tours internationally supporting concerts, festivals, and yoga classes. He performs regularly with artists such as Snatam Kaur and one of my personal musical heroes, bassist Tony Levin.
ONE by Todd Boston
ONE is Todd’s latest album. It is a project that has been in the making for five years. He plays all of the various instruments on ONE as he takes the listener on a sonic journey of organic textures of guitar, percussion, orchestral instruments, and environmental field recordings.
The title track “One” begins the immediate shift into a tranquil sonic world. In “Fresh Strings,” Todd begins to flex his refined musical muscle with layers of beautiful guitar stylings, topped by lap steel guitar mimicking the flavor of sitar.
Favorite Tunes on ONE
“Ambrosia,” my favorite track, is a stripped down and mysterious track combining bamboo flute, GuitarViol and guitar ukulele. This song could be the beautiful sonic backdrop in a movie scene showing the rustic countryside going by through a train window. It reminds me of the high-quality and lush recordings you can often find on Putamayo world music compilations. Not surprisingly, Todd’s songs have been a part of those compilations.
Another one of my favorites is “Hawk Medicine.” Here, more of Todd’s guitar magic shines. He really makes the guitar a contemplative extension of himself. I also appreciate how he layers so many stringed instruments in one track without having them compete too much in the arrangement.
Todd Boston describes music as an “ally, teacher and friend.” His aim is to spread this same positive musical healing to listeners. I’d say Todd has more than accomplished this on ONE.
More music by Todd Boston
Read Dan Blanchard’s review of Todd Boston’s album Touched by the Sun here.
Learn more about Todd Boston and his music on his website ToddBoston.com
McKenna caught the “yoga bug” as a little girl, watching Lilias Folan on PBS. She leads an active life hiking, running, sometimes snowboarding, and once was a nationally-ranked equestrian. After years of working in the digital industry for clients in entertainment, publishing and fashion, she took a sabbatical to acquire her yoga teacher certification. A desire to help people heal soon followed. Also a successful musician and composer, McKenna shares cutting-edge music during yoga classes, recruiting musicians and DJs to perform with her. She owned and operated East Hollywood’s Chakra 5 Yoga studio throughout 2011, creating a vibrant community on and offline, but decided to shift to a mobile model. Now Chakra 5 brings yoga classes on site and by appointment to businesses, schools and organizations throughout greater Los Angeles. McKenna was certified in Hatha/Kundalini at Karuna Yoga, and has additional teacher training in Restorative Yoga with Master Teacher Judith Lasater. She teaches yoga at Chakra 5 classes and international retreats.