Cory Wong’s Wong’s Café

MISHAWAKA—Like most of his al­bums, Cory Wong’s re­lease of Jan. 7 is strictly in­stru­men­tal. Fans of Cory Wong and Vulf­peck were ini­tially con­fused about who was go­ing to re­lease this al­bum. For the past few years, the band Vulf­peck, in which Cory Wong is a ma­jor col­lab­o­ra­tor, has re­leased an al­bum per year. Many of the songs on this al­bum were also re­leased on the Vulf­peck YouTube chan­nel, Vulf. But it was con­firmed to­ward the end of the year of 2021 that this al­bum was part of an al­bum se­ries where Vulf Records re­leases a lim­ited col­lec­tion of vinyls con­tain­ing songs ma­jor col­lab­o­ra­tors have writ­ten. This col­lec­tion is called “Vulf Vault,” and this re­lease is the fifth of seven Vulf Vault Vinyl record­ings in store. The oth­ers in the Vulf Vault are called “Antwaun Stan­ley,” “In­side the Mind of Woody Goss,” “Theo!,” and “Dart.”

But the in­ter­est­ing thing about this al­bum is the nov­elty of the songs. Many of the other col­lec­tions con­tained songs al­ready re­leased on ex­ist­ing records. This al­bum is al­most all new mu­sic. “Ra­dio Shack” is the only one that has been re­leased pre­vi­ously, but this ver­sion is new to the fans of Vulf­peck.

Cory Wong: this man is a pro­lific song writer, re­leas­ing six al­bums in 2020 and three al­bums in 2021. For­mer works have in­cluded a Grammy nom­i­nated al­bum called Med­i­ta­tions with Jon Batiste.

Now for the song analy­ses:

Smokeshow- This con­tains an alto sax­o­phone low in its reg­is­ter, mak­ing for a breathy and smooth tone, which ex­em­pli­fies the name of the song per­fectly.

Disco De Lune- The pi­ano and bass play a bassline that deals in oc­taves bounc­ing up and down, styl­iz­ing this track as re­mark­ably funky. 

You Got to Be You- With a re­peated open­ing lick, it sets up a chord pro­gres­sion, which comes back in full swing for every A sec­tion.

Let’s Go- This is my fa­vorite track on the record. The gui­tar tone from the be­gin­ning sets it up to be a song that slaps some­one into high gear. It def­i­nitely helped me when I was dri­ving through the Wis­con­sin Dells at night. An­other cool part of the song is the oc­taves that ring out on every beat with the strings. 

Mem­o­ries- The gui­tar stacks make this track highly unique with funky har­monies and syn­co­pated rhythms.

Sweet Potato Pie- This track feels like it be­longs on a Toy Story sound­track—and I mean that as a com­pli­ment. It brings me back to some kind of child­hood, though prob­a­bly not mine.

Ra­dio Shack (Wong’s Cafe Ver­sion)- This feels like it was put through a fil­ter; it sounds as though some­one put the sepia pic­ture fil­ter on the orig­i­nal song. There seems to be some sort of sat­u­ra­tion ef­fect put on the song, but I could wrong.

Out in the Sun (feat. Ed­die Bar­bash)- This song goes from funky to re­flec­tive within each sec­tion.

Gui­tar Mu­sic- There are two gui­tars which play to­gether, but with dif­fer­ent em­phases on where to play. This causes them to be­come out of phase with each other, cre­at­ing a cool rhyth­mic ef­fect.

Kitchen Etude- Key­board pads play un­der­neath this won­der­ful and suc­cinct melody played on a gui­tar while mis­cel­la­neous kitchen sounds hap­pen in the back­ground. 

At 29 min­utes long, this al­bum comes short of tra­di­tional al­bum length by one minute, but it does have 10 songs. Over­all, I would have ap­pre­ci­ated a lit­tle more meat in the B-sec­tion, re­gard­ing full songs, but it is a B-sec­tion for a rea­son; all the hits are on the other side. This is not to mean any dis­re­spect to the songs on this side. Ed­die Bar­bash hits it out of the park with his fea­ture on “Out in the Sun.” “Gui­tar Mu­sic” and “Kitchen Etude” feel grounded in real life, play­ing gui­tar in the kitchen with all the chaos sur­round­ing it. 

Again, this al­bum, as with every Cory Wong al­bum, pro­vides the au­di­ence with in­stru­men­tal mu­sic, which never gets old. For break­downs of Mem­o­ries and Smokeshow by the artist him­self, visit the YouTube videos, ON THE ONE! // “Mem­o­ries and ON THE ONE! // “Smokeshow”.

MISHAWAKA—Like most of his al­bums, Cory Wong’s re­lease of Jan. 7 is strictly in­stru­men­tal. Fans of Cory Wong and Vulf­peck were ini­tially con­fused about who was go­ing to re­lease this al­bum. For the past few years, the band Vulf­peck, in which Cory Wong is a ma­jor col­lab­o­ra­tor, has re­leased an al­bum per year. Many of the songs on this al­bum were also re­leased on the Vulf­peck YouTube chan­nel, Vulf. But it was con­firmed to­ward the end of the year of 2021 that this al­bum was part of an al­bum se­ries where Vulf Records re­leases a lim­ited col­lec­tion of vinyls con­tain­ing songs ma­jor col­lab­o­ra­tors have writ­ten. This col­lec­tion is called “Vulf Vault,” and this re­lease is the fifth of seven Vulf Vault Vinyl record­ings in store. The oth­ers in the Vulf Vault are called “Antwaun Stan­ley,” “In­side the Mind of Woody Goss,” “Theo!,” and “Dart.”

But the in­ter­est­ing thing about this al­bum is the nov­elty of the songs. Many of the other col­lec­tions con­tained songs al­ready re­leased on ex­ist­ing records. This al­bum is al­most all new mu­sic. “Ra­dio Shack” is the only one that has been re­leased pre­vi­ously, but this ver­sion is new to the fans of Vulf­peck.

Cory Wong: this man is a pro­lific song writer, re­leas­ing six al­bums in 2020 and three al­bums in 2021. For­mer works have in­cluded a Grammy nom­i­nated al­bum called Med­i­ta­tions with Jon Batiste.

Now for the song analy­ses:

Smokeshow- This con­tains an alto sax­o­phone low in its reg­is­ter, mak­ing for a breathy and smooth tone, which ex­em­pli­fies the name of song per­fectly.

Disco De Lune- The pi­ano and bass play a bassline that deals in oc­taves bounc­ing up and down, styl­iz­ing this track as re­mark­ably funky. 

You Got to Be You- With a re­peated open­ing lick, it sets up a chord pro­gres­sion, which comes back in full swing for every A sec­tion.

Let’s Go- This is my fa­vorite track on the record. The gui­tar tone from the be­gin­ning sets it up to be a song that slaps some­one into high gear. It def­i­nitely helped me when I was dri­ving through the Wis­con­sin Dells at night. An­other cool part of the song is the oc­taves that ring out on every beat with the strings. 

Mem­o­ries- The gui­tar stacks make this track highly unique with funky har­monies and syn­co­pated rhythms.

Sweet Potato Pie- This track feels like it be­longs on a Toy Story sound­track—and I mean that as a com­pli­ment. It brings me back to some kind of child­hood, though prob­a­bly not mine.

Ra­dio Shack (Wong’s Cafe Ver­sion)- This feels like it was put through a fil­ter; it sounds as though some­one put the sepia pic­ture fil­ter on the orig­i­nal song. There seems to be some sort of sat­u­ra­tion ef­fect put on the song, but I could wrong.

Out in the Sun (feat. Ed­die Bar­bash)- This song goes from funky to re­flec­tive within each sec­tion.

Gui­tar Mu­sic- There are two gui­tars which play to­gether, but with dif­fer­ent em­phases on where to play. This causes them to be­come out of phase with each other, cre­at­ing a cool rhyth­mic ef­fect.

Kitchen Etude- Key­board pads play un­der­neath this won­der­ful and suc­cinct melody played on a gui­tar while mis­cel­la­neous kitchen sounds hap­pen in the back­ground. 

At 29 min­utes long, this al­bum comes short of tra­di­tional al­bum length by one minute, but it does have 10 songs. Over­all, I would have ap­pre­ci­ated a lit­tle more meat in the B-sec­tion, re­gard­ing full songs, but it is a B-sec­tion for a rea­son; all the hits are on the other side. This is not to mean any dis­re­spect to the songs on this side. Ed­die Bar­bash hits it out of the park with his fea­ture on “Out in the Sun.” “Gui­tar Mu­sic” and “Kitchen Etude” feel grounded in real life, play­ing gui­tar in the kitchen with all the chaos sur­round­ing it. 

Again, this al­bum, as with every Cory Wong al­bum, pro­vides the au­di­ence with in­stru­men­tal mu­sic, which never gets old. For break­downs of Mem­o­ries and Smokeshow by the artist him­self, visit the YouTube videos, ON THE ONE! // “Mem­o­ries and ON THE ONE! // “Smokeshow”.