Frostburg demos

Artificial Life

Record my pulse on computer screens
and broadcast my surgery on tv
Change all of my memories,
I don’t have too many that warrant keeping
Replace my eyes with a laser scope
and raise my endorphins and fix my nose
Artificial’s the way to go now
technology’s not gonna slow down
My nerves are fiber optic,
my choice a talk-show topic,
Better to just be animatronic —
A warm body is too chaotic for me

Remove my hair electrolysis,
download my thoughts is it consciousness?
Androgynous cybernetics,
Will they let me go back — I dread it.

No more walking
No more rocking

Replace my blood with an acid cream
and polish my skin to a healthy sheen.
Artificial’s the way to go now,
Still got some organics to rip out.
My mind is getting cleaner,
connected now to a neuro-meter.
It’s so much better now I finally got one
A warm body was too chaotic for me

~ c. 2001

Gemini

I had a mem’ry at my parents’ house yesterday
Found an old picture and it flashed through my head
Me, six or seven, and this girl was named Gemini
Or so I remember, or so I forget.

I couldn’t tell you what color her hair was
(This picture I noticed, it wasn’t of her)
And I couldn’t say now just what her last name was,
This girl that I talked to sometimes in first grade.

I just recall
Not knowing what to say
She’d want it all
And I wouldn’t play

I’ll tell you what I think
When I’ve had some time to let it sink in
I’ll have something to say
If you ask me another time, some other day

I guess it’s a pattern, all through my life now
Not knowing the answers cuz I can’t decide
I keep on thinking I’ll find all the reasons
When they don’t exist outside of my mind

It feels like a problem that’s slowly developed
Annoyingly building up worse over time
But then I remembered about this girl Gemini
And didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry

I just recall
Not knowing how to feel
She’d ask me when
I’d decide for real

I’ll tell you what I think
When I’ve had some time to let it sink in
I’ll have something to say
If you ask me another time, some other day
	
Maybe in third grade I’ll know how to answer
Maybe by that time I’ll feel equipped
Maybe tomorrow I’ll make a decision
Maybe next week I could tell you a bit
Maybe in third grade I’ll know how to answer
Maybe by that time I’ll feel okay
Maybe tomorrow I’ll make a decision
Maybe the next time I’ll know what to say

I’ll tell you what I think
When I’ve had some time to let it sink in
I’ll have something to say
If you ask me another time, some other day

~ 1999/2000

Monodrone

I found out I can’t afford 
the rental market anymore; 
priced out of the town I call my home
Now each time I get aboard 
the metro and I go to work 
I hear the suffocating monodrone
It isn’t that I mind the crowds 
or standing for a half an hour, 
reading, leaning against the subway wall
Instead it’s that I hate the sound 
of brakes and tunnels and the loud 
obnoxious conversations going on

I just want my headphones on!
But the outside noise is strong!

And I wouldn’t feel like 
I’d been robbed of half my day
If I didn’t have to hear it
And I’d listen to my walkman 
and I’d drift away
And just maybe I could bear it.

~ spring 2002

Pretend These Are Records #03

These were the first recordings I did as “The Orcas.” I recorded them in September of 2002, just before I left for Poland. For months and months I had been wanting to record music but never had the chance, so I set up some space in my parents’ house while I was preparing to move away. I would’ve liked to do more but I had too many other things to do.

The sound quality here is decent, I was getting the hang of it. In hindsight I wish I’d worked more on the guitar tone, but this was an ambitious undertaking and I’m fairly content with it.

Recorded in Frostburg, Maryland, September 2002, on an old and slightly broken Tascam. All songs by The Orcas although the banjo part on Did You Just Say Hello? was mainly written by Andy and the phone message on Here At the Phones is by Erik.

Track notes:

1. Loper is a very old thing, very simple, yet somehow I always liked it. Here it is w/ 2 guitars and drum machine.
2. Here At the Phones is one of those things that’s like, half joke, half serious. I had this old message from Erik on a mix tape from my freshman year of college. The organ/keyboard thing is done via computer, plus there are 2 guitars.
3. Artificial Life came out different than I expected. (I was thinking Sonic Youth-y rave-up, not Sparklehorse-y dirge.) 1 guitar, plastic organ, drum machine.
4. Gemini is an old piece that keeps growing longer and longer so I’d better put a stop to it. The lyrics are new, though. 2 guitars, vocals, drum machine.
5. Did You Just Say Hello? is a little thing I made up a few years ago and I suddenly thought it would sound cool if I got Andy to make up some banjo parts. I think I was right.
6. Monodrone is just me and a guitar. It’s about commuting. Also, it features a capo.