 Hey guys, welcome to another Polyphonic Q&A. A quick reminder, the reason behind this Q&A is that I'm celebrating the launch of Polyphonic Merch. You can go over to the store at DFTBA and check it out there. I've got Polyphonic decals and also the first in what I hope will be a long series of posters where I adapt polyphonic videos into infographic posters that look great on any wall, floor, ceiling, wherever you want them. So go check them out. I'm really proud of these posters especially. And at the very least, take a look. And if you like them, it's a great way to show your support for the channel. I had a few questions about the nature of the Merch. Yes, they do ship worldwide. Another question is, are these limited? I'm going to be releasing some limited edition posters in the future, but not these guys. These are kind of my flagship first series of posters, so you'll always be able to get them. But keep an eye out, because I will be doing limited edition releases in the months and years to come. I was also asked if they ship in envelopes or tubes. They ship in tubes. If you've got any more questions about the Merch, ask in the comments and I'll answer if I can. So with that, let's get into the questions in no particular order really. Lucas Nielsen asks, want to join me for a Brian Adams concert? No, never. Bomber King asked if I have a favorite song. Obviously, this changes a lot. It's really difficult to pick one favorite song, but if you had a gun to my head, I'd flip back and forth between two songs and those are Under Pressure by David Bowie and Queen. I think that that song is just a musical triumph. It's so vibrant, energetic, and just makes you want to move and love and just, it's such a great optimistic tune. And my other one would be Scarborough Fair Canticle by Simon and Garfunkel. I absolutely adore that song. I just think the melodies and harmonies are so beautiful, and it's really cool the way that they interweave two songs together to juxtapose them, compare them, and contrast them. And you'll learn more about that in a few weeks. Hint hint. Quinn Foley or Fowley asked, if I could only ever listen to the music of one Canadian artist or band, what would it be and why? I feel like I need to go with the tragically hip here. If I can only get one Canadian act, I might as well get the most Canadian act. I love the tragically hip. I grew up listening to them. They informed a lot of my music taste. I think their lyricism is brilliant. Their music is brilliant. I think they've got a wide spectrum. They've got hard-moving bangers. They've got introspective songs. They have angsty melancholy. They have it all. And they have a wide catalog. So if I could only listen to one Canadian band, I might as well listen to one that's got a lot. And my close second would be Leonard Cohen. Just because he's Leonard Cohen. Matty's Delonge? Maybe. Sorry if I butchered your name, Mat. He asked, what's most important to me in a song? Lyrics, melody, beat, is it different per genre? I don't really know. I've always been a big fan of lyrics. I like lyricism a lot. But that being said, I'm also a big fan of a lot of instrumental genres of jazz and post rock, which my favorite stuff there doesn't have any lyrics. I think what it comes down to is, I appreciate a song that knows its strengths and can lean in. So a song that's built on lyricism, something like Bob Dylan or Kendrick Lamar, or something like that, if it leans into the lyricism and does the best lyrics it can, I like that. If it's a very melodic song that knows this and thrives in it, I like that. I think really it just depends song to song. It's really hard to say why things appeal to me. They just kind of do. MML's Commentaries asked, how do I manage to get my videos out so frequently? He says he feels like he'd be burnt out if he produced at my rate. I get burnt out sometimes. But the big thing is, first of all, thanks to all of your support, especially my patrons, Polyphonic is my full-time job. So I work nine to five doing Polyphonic stuff. And the other thing too is I just really, really enjoy making videos. Editing videos is one of my favorite things to do. Often, if I don't have plans on a night, I'll just end up editing videos. It burns me out sometimes, and I probably need to get better at taking breaks. But I just, I like putting these out. So yeah, it's just, it's passion, I guess. I just really, really love what I do. And so I want to do it. Gustavo asked, what made me so interested in music? I don't know. I grew up in a musical household listening to music from my parents and stuff like that. And then what really got me into music when I was in high school was punk rock. Punk just kind of spoke to me at that time. And it, that dove me into music and that spread me out into so many different things. And I don't know. I'm a very auditory person. I like talking a lot. I like listening. I process information best when I hear it. So I think that lends itself to being passionate about music. And kind of similar, Josh Maloney asked, who in my life influenced my music taste? My parents influenced a lot of my music taste growing up. Some of my favorite acts, things like Blue Rodeo, Steely Dan. These are acts that I grew up listening to. And then also my older brother introduced me to a lot of music and influenced my taste a lot. And then my friends, you know, just lots of friends. When I was in high school, I was in a band and we were always showing each other music and things like this. So friends and family really influenced my music taste. Mateo asked, what's my favorite concept album? I know this is a lame answer, but probably Dark Side of the Moon. But I also really, really loved The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis. I'm a big fan of Peter Gabriel era Genesis. Any of those albums really just check them out. Listen to Peter Gabriel era Genesis. It's amazing. Ray Branaman asked, how did I come up with the name Polyphonic? I don't know. When I was in high school, I liked the word. I came upon the word once and liked it. I've considered using it for various projects I've done in the past and things like this. And then I thought this was just a perfect fit for it. I mean, polyphonic means having many sounds. It's a music term, but also it implies broad horizons, which I really like for my channel. I like to explore the entire musical spectrum. So I thought Polyphonic was a really fitting name for it. Also, it's short, ish, punchy, one word and distinctive enough, right? Like, there's not many things out there called polyphonic. And kind of on that, Ryan asked, how did I come up with the logo and channel design? I don't know. I was kind of influenced by other video essayists. I was with the kind of old TV thing. I was pulling a bit of a page from Captain Christian's book. And I don't know. It just, I was playing around with it and it worked. And it worked really well with my theme music, which I used from my friend Prax. I played around and it was one of the first concepts I came up with. And I just, I really enjoyed it. And he also asked, will I plan more stuff besides music? I don't know. Like, I want to, but at the same time there's so much music to explore. I've written some scripts on some literature stuff. I've come close to doing books or comics and stuff like that. Then I flip back and forth. And I'm like, oh, maybe I should just lean into music. And right now I've got a lot of musical ideas coming that I'm really excited about. So I've been doing a lot of those. So I don't know, let me know what you guys think. Would you guys want me to do other stuff? Or should I just focus on music? Adam Puttergill asked, what inspired me to start this channel? I saw a lot of other video essayists. I was a big fan of The Nerdwriter, Captain Christian, a lot of the stuff Vox was doing, Every Frame of Painting, all of these guys. And I liked the medium. It spoke to me. I thought it was just a medium that I really enjoyed. I've always had an interest in design. And I'm a bit of an information junkie. And it mixed those really well. And I realized that there wasn't really a dedicated space for video essays and music. There was Estelle Caswell's amazing series Earworm on Vox. And Nerdwriter and Captain Christian had done a couple things on songs. But there was this big void. And I wanted there to be a lot of video essays focusing on music. So I created that space. And it worked out well. Obviously, I wasn't the only one that wanted that. And all of you guys seem pretty happy about it too. And it's clear that the space was ready for it because there's a lot of other music video essay channels that have come up now, guys like The Middle Eight and Vox guys who are both really great doing similar stuff to me. It was long overdue for YouTube to have a music video essay community. And I figured I had the knowledge and I had the skills to do that. So I started Polyphonic. And it seems like that was a pretty good decision. Advance asked how do I discover new music? I listened to the radio. I'm a big fan of CBC Radio 2. They play some really good music and they play music that's not as mainstream, not in the spotlight in the same way. They often play really good stuff there. One of my favorites is After Dark. That's just a fantastic show. And then just talking to friends. Friends are always finding music and recommending it, which is nice. And I've started getting music recommendations from my fans, which is really cool. I've checked some of them out and really like it. Yeah, that's most of it. Every now and then I'll read lists or articles or reviews online, but usually it's kind of hearing the song. So whether a friend puts it on at a party and I'm like, oh, I dig this jam. Or whether it's listening to a song on the radio when I'm driving. That's generally how I discover new music. Evan Dorn said, I play Commander. Who is my Commander? My best decks are Maren and the Gitrog monster. Gitfrog for life. All is sacrifice. But I have a whole lot of decks. I have a deck building problem. Off the top of my head, I've got Sigarta Humans. I recently built a Regnan Krav. I've got a partner investigate deck with Silas Rendon, Cedar Condo that I call the Mystery Machine. Who am I missing? I'm missing a lot. Oh, I've got Slimefoot. I've got Hepatra, Gerard. I might have a Golgari problem. And there's more. I've got a dozen Commander decks. I really, really like deck building. Steven Ross asked, how do I feel about John Tavares getting picked up by the Leafs? It might be the best thing that's ever happened in my life. I'm a little stoked about it, to say the least. Cadmium and Wilson asked, do I like pancakes and to compare them to other breakfast foods? I like pancakes. I think they're middle of the pack breakfast food for me. The hierarchy would be waffles are the best. Cereal is probably the second best, depending on the kind of cereal. I'm a cereal fanatic. Rice Krispies are my jam. Lately, I found a store that sells French toast crunch, which is unepiphany, because I thought that didn't exist. And that's tops. Then pancakes and French toast are probably tied. And then after that, it's other things, regular toast, omelets, whatever people eat for breakfast. I don't tend to have those. Waffles are the superior breakfast food, though, and if you disagree, you're wrong. Antonio asked, how do I explain that some bands or a music genre is good, even if it's not well received by most people? Like how people don't like metal music or metalheads don't like rap? I think it's tough to explain that to somebody. I think really, you just need to listen. A lot of these things, the more you listen, the more you can appreciate the nuance in these musics. When I was younger, I used to, there was a while where I didn't listen to rap and I used to not like country music. And I was missing out because of that. I think, like I've said, all music has merit just by virtue of somebody creating it. If one person likes it, there's gotta be something that has merit about it. So I think just trying to get people to listen to it more. But at the end of the day, it's also subjective. Some people aren't gonna like some things. But what's important in my mind, at least, isn't that you like all music. It's that you don't discredit that music has value just because you don't like it. I think it's important to understand and to try to empathize with people and get that a song that does nothing for you could be somebody else's world and that's okay and that's good. Not everyone can like all music. So that's kind of my general approach with that is come from a place of empathy. Ethan asked, how do I feel about albums that tell a story? I like them. I think they're great. I'm a big fan of concept albums, narrative albums, rock operas, things like that. I think music is a really intriguing medium through which to tell a story. But at the same time, I don't think all albums need to tell a story. I think that there's a time and a place for a concept album. And it's okay that not all albums are rock operas. And I think albums generally have stories you can find within them, just in the interplay between songs and in the lyrics themselves and in the general themes which is why I don't like greatest hits albums as an aside. I think albums should be listened to as a medium. Anton Lushankin asked a whole bunch of questions. So I'm gonna rail through a couple quickly. The heaviest genre I've ever listened to. I listened to some melodic death metal for a while. Do I often attend concerts? Yeah, sometimes I used to attend them more. I've got less time and energy now. But yeah, I like going to shows, especially local shows. I like supporting my local bands. And he asked tapes or vinyl, vinyl obviously, and plans for the future. I don't know. I kind of want to do a podcast. I've got a couple mini series ideas bumping around in my head. I want to start blogging more. I've got a blog, but I don't get around to it much because I'm just making videos. So I don't know. I think there's lots of room for polyphonic to grow and we'll see where it takes us. BlackWatch asked, do I believe we have a bright future for music? Absolutely. I think music is progressing to new places. I think there's a ton of exciting acts right now. And I think technology is allowing people to do stuff that we never could have dreamed with music. And the internet is allowing so many weird voices to get out there. And that's great. I think that's pretty good for this week's Q&A. I don't want to keep you guys here too long. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching, subscribing, liking, following my Patreon. And thanks for checking out my merch store. Again, go to the link that I'm probably putting on the screen now and check it out. Thank you guys so much for watching and let me know if you enjoyed the Q&A. I'm sure I'll do another one in a few months since you guys seem to like them. All right, that's it. Bye, I guess.