Rabbits Full of Magic

13 March 2015

 

Dust Bunnies "Night Terrors HD" 2014 Album Review by The Dust Bunnies

INTRO

Night Terrors are something I had as a kid, and all my life I have struggled with physical, chemical, and mental imbalances. I was born with a lot of medical issues, bless my parents, and they raised me with an appreciation for music and art that has given me a reason to live. I mean, I have lots of reasons to live, but music is a good one! This album is some pure uncut psych, maybe it will come across as Outsider Art. I am hoping. Because to be honest I have always felt like an outsider, even amongst other my friends and outsiders. Maybe this is the psychic curse of being an artist. Dr. Who understands.

REVIEW

01 What's the Difference Some Black Lips/Deerhunter-aping stuff. Lots of this album is songs I wrote pretending I was 10 years younger. Back in 2005/2004/2003 there were several art/punk houses I used to visit on a daily basis, improvising music and songs and recordings with the best friends I have ever had. I still listen to all of their music alot, it reminds me of the good old days. Anyways this is if I wrote a song for Deerhunter in 2004 and only got around to recording it ten years later.

02 Rats Inspired by Metal Gear Solid 3 and Lou Reed. Solid Snake Swoop Swoop. Some T-Rex in the chorus. Glam rock narcotic. Goes on way too long but yay for noise guitar. I wanted to do things like that and just experiment with sound. Just because I can.

03 Vacant Cloud Inspired by the Beat Happening and maybe a little Pavement and Georgiana Starlington. I don't think the singing on this album is technically good at all, but hey maybe that is why I am not playing in any bands. This song makes me think of my friend Alex who got married last year, he was living with me when I was in Deerhunter, and introduced me to all this amazing video art. Stuff they teach you in art school, Kenneth Anger and Jodorowsky. Maya Deren. Yoko Ono. All that amazing shit. There is def some Maya Deren and Yoko Ono in this.

04 Clover Kenneth Anger is for real, he is kind of baroque in his methods but he's the real deal, spiritually/magically speaking. See, aside from writing songs I was reading books on magic and divination, so I like to think some of that knowledge seeped into these songs. At the very least I tried to come upon an abstract form and subtly give it form, invoking the spirit of the song through arrangement or repetition or maybe just inventing the words on the spot. This is a song about my roommate's cat Clover, who was killing birds with my cat Five. If I ever recorded this for real it would have a thick Kula Shaker-style production, some 90s psychedelia, with sitars and everything.

05 I'll Never Be Destroyed This is trying to be some spiritual punk. I was pretty angry at the time, with some people that appeared to be one way but in truth were but mere illusions. Fake wizards, fraud mystics, phony eco-idolatrists. People who think spirituality has something to do with taking things for granted. Part of the reason I stopped going out was not wanting to deal with these toxic influences. So writing some of these songs was a bit of therapy. My friend Jennifer sings on this, she was in the Kiwis back in the day.

06 Talking a Lot This was a request from a friend sitting on the front porch in the winter, light coming from a broken pinball machine next to us. I was always playing cover songs -- Dust Bunnies started as a cover song solo band -- and she wanted to hear something original, so I started playing this riff. I don't think the words came until later. It's more sanctimonious holier-than-thou stuff. I guess I am like George Harrison in that way. This song def has a White Album feel to it imo. This album is sort of a split between late-60s psychedelia and late-70s post-punk. This song goes on too long. Yeah, the album is a bit self-indulgent. Whatever.

07 Heart Stands Started out as a Tyrannosaurus Rex-style psych folk tune before I landed on this Twin Peaks-style dream pop thing. I like my singing here. This is about me being born with a hole in my heart, and what that means for me as a social human being.

08 Is It Real Love You're Looking For Dust Bunnies used to be all about keyboard-driven noise pop and back in the day I used to wrack my brain wondering if I could ever come up with some songs that sounded this certain way and had this melodic hook to it. I feel like I really hit the nail on the head with this one! Kind of girl group-inspired or northern soul pop music. I like this song a lot. If I ever edit down this record I am definitely keeping this one. Lead single?

09 Wah Wah Wah I'm a Baby on the Internet My first band was Plastic Caskets and we played mostly Ramones covers, which is where this comes from. Had so much fun writing and recording this! I like the wah wah wah hook, I think it's real commercial man. This could be in a mobile commercial or something! Please! Give me money! But seriously....it's about me complaining about stuff. I'm a little older than the internet, so I think there is still some disconnect between me and that level of communication. I need to remember to Keep It Posi. This was a lot of fun because my roommate being a irl complainer was getting everyone kicked out of the house I had lived in for 3 years, so I decided to move my drums into my room so I could finish working on this album I was trying to do. It was right next to his room, but because of him I lost my rehearsal/recording space, my theremin was broken, and I realized he had stolen hundreds of dollars from me years ago. So yeah I was complaining a lot, but looking back on it, I had a lot to be upset about.

10 Devil's Castle Level 2 music from the original NES Castlevania. The music was originally written by Kinuyo Yamashita, a Japanese woman who I found on Facebook and actually wrote a fan message to - and she responded kindly! Castlevania is my favorite game series of all time, a Japanese mash-up of Western Horror Movies and Gothic World Myths. I tried to think of some Serge Gainsbourg lyrics for this but nothing came to mind.

11 199X Paul Harper is a BFF and fellow musician I play with from time to time. He recently moved to Ohio, but he lived in Atlanta for years, and I would walk over to his place in Cabbage Town or he would skateboard down to mine in Candler Park and play video games. Or he would play me a tape of something he made. Or we would just make up music, him playing guitar and me playing organ. I taped some of that once and used it to build this song, 199X. It's about punk music and video games. I think he moved away partly because of frustration with the local scene, which is something I shared. The previous time we had played was a huge Halloween event at Wonder Root, where all of the door money and tip money was stolen by our supposed 'friends'. The time before that was at the Big House, where his skateboard and some equipment was stolen, and instead of being helped out we were asked to pay for the food that we ate. Anyways that stuff is in the past. Hopefully I will see Paul again sometime soon and play music with him, but it feels like everyone I used to do that with is moving on with their lives. =( New Games.

12 Why Can't I Fly Some actual accessible stuff, maybe they could play this in a coffee shop or something. I wrote this while recording something else, and was setting up my guitar, and just started playing this song. Inspired greatly by Atlas Sound. I hope it's not too direct a rip-off, but he is a huge huge huge influence on me and always has been. It's funny, this feels like a sequel to some of the weirder awkward things I wrote when I was 16.

13 Chromatic Fugue (Demo) Losing access to my recording space sucked because I never got to go in and re-record stuff like this with my good mic and setup. This is an improvised song and the build-up/performance is so damn good I wanted to keep it on the internet. Cos it's free, man. Probably goes on too long but again it's free you can just hit 'next' or something if you don't want to hear the ending.

14 Something Wrong This is just me literalizing some stuff, putting on my Kurt Cobain wig. It's definitely some stuff I should have written when I was 16 or something, but I don't have any shame. I can shave, put on a tie, and go to work sober on a Monday, and I can drink some wine and record this weird awkward punk shit at home in my own time. Do what you want as long as it doesn't affect other people, basically. I think Jesus said that.

15 Castlevania I had this great country song I wanted to do a chicken-pickin' Johnny Cash style thing with but after losing use of my drums (I live in a 2nd floor apt now) decided to record this like Jimmie Rogers recorded by Beck. I think Castlevania is utterly beautiful. My favorite lyrics are the openers "I tried to jump on the spinning wheel", which just sounds like something weird you would hear in an old bluegrass song. But it's about that Castlevania level where you are in a clock tower jumping on giant gears. I'm a giant nerd.

16 Any Way This Could Happen Some pretty, posi, and priestly drone folk. This song is about the Grace of God. The Good Word. The miracle that is life.

17 Honey This performance kind of sucks but I like the song. Another song made up on a spot. Just like 2 guitar riffs and an echo pedal on the vocals. Some of the other similar songs were also performed better as an original lofi demo, but this has it's own charm. Vocals supposed to be some stupid Iggy Pop-style character.

18 Hippie Fuck You Here is an original lofi demo. I had this awesome 4-track progam on a tablet and was using it to improvise songs. For a while I was using an Interface given to me by someone who asked it back one day as I was getting together with friends to record with it. Nice guy. Anyways this is not about anyone in particular, this is about the whole fake hippie thing, people who talk about how spiritual they are but only do things for themselves, people that put on this image of caring for animals but suggest you keep your cat on a leash rather than ask them to close the front door. This guy who runs a 'art commune' did just this, letting out Clover twice in two days last summer, the second time her getting attacked on the leg so bad she needed $500 surgery. Dude decided to split town and travel with theater people instead of pitch in for this poor cat, and said the cats were tricking him.

19 I'll Never Be Destroyed Wrote this several years ago on Christmas. This is the demo take, which is a better performance imo. It's about the eternal nature of the soul, and how no matter or energy can ever be destroyed. I may end up just keeping this on the album, but I like Jennifer's vocals on track 05.

20 Goodnight to Thee White Album-inspired psychedelic lullaby. Looking back on the record I like a lot of it but I think it could seriously be trimmed down.... but I supposed people said that about the White Album. Yes you heard me, I am a one-man Beatles.

PREQUEL

Last year was a pretty changeful year for me, turning 33 and ending up not performing in any bands for the first time since I was a teenager. Maybe this is why I socially regressed, getting into old habits like video games and writing/recording new material every day, at any time of the day, even in the middle of already recording a new song. For the first time in years I was super effing creative, and I was writing so many songs I decided to record an album. Do something constructive with my free time. Not that I wasn't working, but my work was a contract position I could do from home, and when I needed to go to a meeting the scheduling was always nice and flexible.


Archives

Mar 1, 2007   Mar 4, 2007   Mar 15, 2007   Mar 18, 2007   Mar 27, 2007   Apr 4, 2007   Apr 5, 2007   Apr 7, 2007   Apr 11, 2007   Apr 14, 2007   Apr 18, 2007   Apr 20, 2007   Aug 8, 2008   Aug 12, 2008   Aug 16, 2008   Aug 17, 2008   Aug 20, 2008   Aug 21, 2008   Aug 22, 2008   Aug 25, 2008   Aug 29, 2008   Sep 2, 2008   Sep 6, 2008   Sep 19, 2008   Sep 28, 2008   Sep 30, 2008   Oct 1, 2008   Oct 9, 2008   Oct 16, 2008   Oct 21, 2008   Nov 1, 2008   Nov 12, 2008   Nov 13, 2008   Nov 18, 2008   Nov 19, 2008   Nov 22, 2008   Nov 29, 2008   Dec 2, 2008   Dec 8, 2008   Dec 9, 2008   Dec 19, 2008   Jan 5, 2009   Jan 8, 2009   Jan 14, 2009   Jan 16, 2009   Jan 17, 2009   Jan 18, 2009   Jan 21, 2009   Jan 24, 2009   Jan 25, 2009   Feb 2, 2009   Feb 4, 2009   Feb 8, 2009   Feb 9, 2009   Feb 11, 2009   Feb 15, 2009   Feb 16, 2009   Feb 19, 2009   Feb 21, 2009   Feb 23, 2009   Feb 24, 2009   Feb 25, 2009   Mar 1, 2009   Mar 2, 2009   Mar 5, 2009   Mar 12, 2009   Mar 14, 2009   Mar 16, 2009   Mar 19, 2009   Mar 20, 2009   Mar 23, 2009   Mar 26, 2009   Mar 29, 2009   Apr 1, 2009   Apr 2, 2009   Apr 7, 2009   Apr 8, 2009   Apr 11, 2009   Apr 13, 2009   Apr 15, 2009   Apr 20, 2009   Apr 22, 2009   Apr 23, 2009   Apr 25, 2009   Apr 29, 2009   May 3, 2009   May 13, 2009   May 16, 2009   May 18, 2009   May 21, 2009   May 22, 2009   May 23, 2009   May 26, 2009   May 27, 2009   May 30, 2009   May 31, 2009   Jun 1, 2009   Jun 3, 2009   Jun 6, 2009   Jun 7, 2009   Jun 11, 2009   Jun 14, 2009   Jun 18, 2009   Jun 23, 2009   Jun 24, 2009   Jun 25, 2009   Jun 27, 2009   Jul 2, 2009   Jul 3, 2009   Jul 7, 2009   Jul 16, 2009   Jul 19, 2009   Jul 20, 2009   Jul 23, 2009   Jul 25, 2009   Jul 26, 2009   Jul 29, 2009   Aug 2, 2009   Aug 5, 2009   Aug 7, 2009   Aug 8, 2009   Aug 15, 2009   Aug 20, 2009   Aug 22, 2009   Aug 27, 2009   Sep 1, 2009   Sep 4, 2009   Sep 6, 2009   Sep 8, 2009   Sep 13, 2009   Sep 17, 2009   Sep 22, 2009   Sep 27, 2009   Sep 30, 2009   Oct 2, 2009   Oct 6, 2009   Oct 13, 2009   Oct 17, 2009   Oct 19, 2009   Oct 28, 2009   Oct 30, 2009   Nov 1, 2009   Nov 2, 2009   Nov 4, 2009   Nov 10, 2009   Nov 15, 2009   Nov 19, 2009   Nov 23, 2009   Nov 24, 2009   Nov 25, 2009   Nov 27, 2009   Nov 30, 2009   Dec 3, 2009   Dec 8, 2009   Dec 13, 2009   Dec 15, 2009   Dec 18, 2009   Dec 23, 2009   Dec 24, 2009   Jan 1, 2010   Jan 2, 2010   Jan 3, 2010   Jan 4, 2010   Jan 6, 2010   Jan 7, 2010   Jan 11, 2010   Jan 19, 2010   Jan 24, 2010   Jan 29, 2010   Jan 30, 2010   Jan 31, 2010   Feb 1, 2010   Feb 4, 2010   Feb 5, 2010   Feb 8, 2010   Feb 12, 2010   Feb 13, 2010   Feb 14, 2010   Feb 15, 2010   Feb 22, 2010   Feb 23, 2010   Feb 26, 2010   Feb 28, 2010   Mar 5, 2010   Mar 6, 2010   Mar 8, 2010   Mar 9, 2010   Mar 12, 2010   Mar 13, 2010   Mar 14, 2010   Mar 18, 2010   Mar 20, 2010   Mar 25, 2010   Mar 28, 2010   Mar 29, 2010   Mar 30, 2010   Apr 1, 2010   Apr 6, 2010   Apr 9, 2010   Apr 16, 2010   Apr 18, 2010   Apr 23, 2010   Apr 28, 2010   May 1, 2010   May 2, 2010   May 3, 2010   May 5, 2010   May 6, 2010   May 12, 2010   May 13, 2010   May 15, 2010   May 17, 2010   May 24, 2010   May 27, 2010   May 30, 2010   Jun 3, 2010   Jun 7, 2010   Jun 8, 2010   Jun 9, 2010   Jun 10, 2010   Jun 14, 2010   Jun 16, 2010   Jun 17, 2010   Jun 18, 2010   Jun 20, 2010   Jun 21, 2010   Jun 22, 2010   Jun 24, 2010   Jun 25, 2010   Jun 26, 2010   Jun 27, 2010   Jun 29, 2010   Jun 30, 2010   Jul 4, 2010   Jul 5, 2010   Jul 8, 2010   Jul 9, 2010   Jul 11, 2010   Jul 12, 2010   Jul 13, 2010   Jul 15, 2010   Jul 19, 2010   Jul 21, 2010   Jul 23, 2010   Jul 26, 2010   Jul 29, 2010   Jul 30, 2010   Aug 8, 2010   Aug 13, 2010   Aug 14, 2010   Aug 20, 2010   Aug 21, 2010   Aug 27, 2010   Sep 1, 2010   Sep 9, 2010   Sep 15, 2010   Sep 17, 2010   Sep 24, 2010   Sep 27, 2010   Oct 2, 2010   Oct 3, 2010   Oct 4, 2010   Oct 8, 2010   Oct 11, 2010   Oct 21, 2010   Oct 22, 2010   Oct 28, 2010   Oct 29, 2010   Nov 1, 2010   Nov 6, 2010   Nov 12, 2010   Nov 13, 2010   Nov 17, 2010   Nov 22, 2010   Nov 25, 2010   Nov 27, 2010   Dec 5, 2010   Dec 8, 2010   Dec 10, 2010   Dec 14, 2010   Dec 22, 2010   Dec 25, 2010   Jan 4, 2011   Jan 5, 2011   Jan 11, 2011   Jan 12, 2011   Jan 16, 2011   Jan 17, 2011   Jan 18, 2011   Jan 22, 2011   Jan 23, 2011   Jan 25, 2011   Jan 26, 2011   Feb 1, 2011   Feb 14, 2011   Feb 15, 2011   Feb 18, 2011   Feb 19, 2011   Feb 21, 2011   Feb 24, 2011   Mar 25, 2011   Mar 26, 2011   Mar 27, 2011   Mar 28, 2011   Mar 31, 2011   Apr 4, 2011   Apr 8, 2011   Apr 14, 2011   Apr 19, 2011   Apr 20, 2011   Apr 24, 2011   May 7, 2011   May 16, 2011   May 17, 2011   May 19, 2011   May 20, 2011   May 22, 2011   May 23, 2011   May 24, 2011   Jun 1, 2011   Jun 14, 2011   Jun 16, 2011   Jun 23, 2011   Jun 29, 2011   Jul 16, 2011   Aug 5, 2011   Aug 9, 2011   Aug 10, 2011   Aug 11, 2011   Aug 19, 2011   Aug 20, 2011   Aug 24, 2011   Aug 25, 2011   Sep 6, 2011   Sep 11, 2011   Sep 20, 2011   Sep 28, 2011   Oct 12, 2011   Nov 6, 2011   Dec 1, 2011   Dec 3, 2011   Dec 9, 2011   Dec 21, 2011   Jan 3, 2012   Jan 4, 2012   Jan 10, 2012   Jan 11, 2012   Jan 21, 2012   Jan 23, 2012   Jan 25, 2012   Feb 1, 2012   Feb 6, 2012   Feb 13, 2012   Feb 14, 2012   Feb 17, 2012   Feb 22, 2012   Feb 24, 2012   Feb 27, 2012   Feb 29, 2012   Mar 5, 2012   Mar 8, 2012   Mar 11, 2012   Mar 17, 2012   Mar 22, 2012   Mar 27, 2012   Mar 31, 2012   Apr 4, 2012   Apr 6, 2012   Apr 8, 2012   Apr 10, 2012   Apr 13, 2012   Apr 17, 2012   May 4, 2012   May 6, 2012   May 30, 2012   Jun 5, 2012   Jun 11, 2012   Jun 13, 2012   Jun 20, 2012   Jun 29, 2012   Jul 1, 2012   Jul 16, 2012   Jul 18, 2012   Aug 6, 2012   Aug 8, 2012   Aug 10, 2012   Aug 12, 2012   Aug 22, 2012   Aug 24, 2012   Sep 10, 2012   Sep 11, 2012   Sep 22, 2012   Sep 28, 2012   Oct 5, 2012   Oct 18, 2012   Nov 12, 2012   Nov 13, 2012   Nov 20, 2012   Dec 9, 2012   Dec 17, 2012   Dec 20, 2012   Jan 4, 2013   Jan 9, 2013   Jan 11, 2013   Jan 13, 2013   Jan 19, 2013   Jan 20, 2013   Jan 30, 2013   Feb 1, 2013   Feb 4, 2013   Feb 7, 2013   Feb 9, 2013   Feb 18, 2013   Feb 22, 2013   Mar 1, 2013   Mar 12, 2013   Mar 21, 2013   Mar 26, 2013   Apr 1, 2013   Apr 3, 2013   Apr 18, 2013   Apr 22, 2013   Apr 27, 2013   Jun 18, 2013   Jun 27, 2013   Jul 4, 2013   Jul 7, 2013   Jul 8, 2013   Jul 11, 2013   Jul 15, 2013   Jul 22, 2013   Aug 11, 2013   Aug 23, 2013   Aug 27, 2013   Sep 5, 2013   Sep 10, 2013   Sep 14, 2013   Sep 19, 2013   Sep 30, 2013   Oct 23, 2013   Oct 27, 2013   Nov 21, 2013   Dec 7, 2013   Dec 17, 2013   Jan 1, 2014   Jan 2, 2014   Jan 5, 2014   Jan 9, 2014   Jan 15, 2014   Jan 16, 2014   Jan 23, 2014   Jan 28, 2014   Jan 29, 2014   Jan 30, 2014   Feb 8, 2014   Feb 11, 2014   Feb 14, 2014   Feb 17, 2014   Feb 22, 2014   Mar 9, 2014   Mar 18, 2014   Mar 20, 2014   Mar 28, 2014   Apr 6, 2014   Apr 8, 2014   Apr 16, 2014   Apr 21, 2014   May 1, 2014   May 5, 2014   May 15, 2014   May 17, 2014   Jun 1, 2014   Jun 4, 2014   Jun 12, 2014   Jun 13, 2014   Jun 30, 2014   Jul 25, 2014   Aug 9, 2014   Aug 20, 2014   Aug 27, 2014   Aug 29, 2014   Oct 1, 2014   Oct 14, 2014   Oct 25, 2014   Oct 27, 2014   Nov 4, 2014   Nov 28, 2014   Jan 2, 2015   Feb 1, 2015   Feb 15, 2015   Feb 19, 2015   Feb 23, 2015   Mar 4, 2015   Mar 5, 2015   Mar 9, 2015   Mar 11, 2015   Mar 13, 2015   Mar 22, 2015   Mar 29, 2015   Mar 30, 2015   Apr 12, 2015   May 1, 2015   May 15, 2015   May 25, 2015   Jun 8, 2015   Jun 10, 2015   Jun 24, 2015   Jun 25, 2015   Jul 25, 2015   Aug 14, 2015   Aug 25, 2015   Aug 28, 2015   Sep 25, 2015   Nov 18, 2015   Nov 21, 2015   Dec 22, 2015   Dec 26, 2015   Dec 31, 2015   Jan 11, 2016   Mar 19, 2016   May 1, 2016   Jun 11, 2016   Jul 9, 2016   Jul 19, 2016   Aug 18, 2016   Nov 11, 2016   Nov 19, 2016   Feb 20, 2017   Apr 20, 2017   May 28, 2017   Jun 30, 2017   Aug 3, 2017   Feb 14, 2018   Mar 18, 2018   Aug 19, 2018   Aug 24, 2018   May 13, 2019   Apr 10, 2020   May 30, 2020   Dec 27, 2020   Jan 9, 2021   Jan 17, 2021   Feb 10, 2021   Feb 23, 2021   Apr 9, 2021   Apr 28, 2021   May 1, 2021   May 12, 2021   May 25, 2021   May 26, 2021   May 28, 2021   Jun 1, 2021   Jul 21, 2021   Aug 12, 2021   Aug 14, 2021   Aug 15, 2021   Aug 16, 2021   Aug 17, 2021   Aug 20, 2021   Aug 23, 2021   Sep 2, 2021   Sep 10, 2021   Sep 11, 2021   Sep 29, 2021   Oct 2, 2021   Oct 8, 2021   Oct 9, 2021   Jan 25, 2022   Jan 31, 2022   Feb 3, 2022   Mar 11, 2022   Apr 29, 2022   Sep 8, 2022   Sep 24, 2022   Sep 26, 2022   Nov 30, 2022   Dec 15, 2022   Apr 13, 2023   Nov 28, 2023  

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]