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.
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 Current Posts
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]