One of the first song collaborations I did with Gian. This piece somehow inspired the pseudo gospel track "The Digit Fin Revival 1998, which can be found on the CD "Dryer Than You'll Ever Be". The lyrics were stream of consciousness and sung kind of like Donald Fagen (as if you couldn't tell).
Initially, Gian had played me three instrumental tracks with no melodies or words. I thought they had great potential for song possibilities so I had him put them on a cassette which I then proceeded to transfer to the Tascam 38 - 8 track reel to reel. That made it easy to overdub ideas. The other two instrumentals became : No Use Waiting Around" and "Fantasy's Are Safer".
This dreamy montage was really my first attempt at doing something musical with the Sound Tools™ digital work station we had at Sonic Underground Studios. I was the last person to learn how to use the program but once I did though, I went nuts and have never stopped since. The lyrics are cryptic and allude to a six grader in a frog suit which can be heard at the end of the piece "27-B Stroke 6". It might be a reference to the young girl singing in the background. That vocal stems from some old cassette recording I did at Backdoor Studios for a producer named Ben Arrigo. He was big into trying to get little kids to audition for the TV talent show "Star Search". Nothing ever came of it. The "Ekhoes" part is a recurring phrase I heard in a rap session I was working on with Nick DiMauro. I didn't know what it meant but it sounded good. The rest of it is just improvised silliness until we get to Chris Pati talking on the phone with the CEO of Backdoor Records, Joe Remson. I found this conversation off the answering machine we had at Backdoor Studios and since it's so esoteric I decided it might be fun to hear it in a spacey reverb over a song I never finished with Marci Geller. It seemed fitting since Chris and Joe are discussing the corrupt promotion of Marci's first single on Backdoor Records called "Shake You Up".
It's a fine line taking audio that does not belong to you and ignoring that fact by placing it in an artistic setting. I knew this and I did it anyway to preserve a sort of musical history I was involved in. I figured it was esoteric enough that no one would care or even remember where it came from. If anyone had a problem with some of montage musings I of course would take it off the CD. But so far it's been over twenty years now and I haven't gotten any flack. Or so that's how I will rationalize it at this point. I mean no harm. It's just audio entertainment.
lyrics
WHEN THE DIGIT FIN REBOUNDS IN GLORY / EKHOES OF A SPIRIT
When the digit fin rebounds in glory
Stipulations of the planetoids regress
No bag of tricks
No Bible stories will forever wear a sanitary dress
Oh when the strainer sighs a fiery smile
Then lion tamer prepare to swallow the child within you
The child continues
When the digit fin opens the closet
Snapshots of politician jags doin’ the deed
Embarrassmental claustrophobic corn hole the operation tactics from the creed
Red are the pages in between the cold black and white
Each by a stranger we dream of choking at night in nightmares
At night we send flares
"Love To Love Ya Baby" vamp plays here while JT sings :
It's gonna take the best of you
It's gonna take the strength of two
It's gonna take the best of you
And either way we just can't lose
Six grader with a frog suit.
Unfortunately I can't peel it off. It hurts.
Drop it. Drop it right now.
It hurts. It's hurting.
Ruth
A plant
A meat like thing
A pig
A small chip
A fish in the sky
How 'bout a dish in the sand?
A little girl with one leg
A little Neumann microphone about the size of your pinky
With a very ant like wing
Cookie
I'm the kind of guy who likes to full around with lint
(flippers)
I'm the kind of guy who likes to take a fork
Balharrrbalabla
I'm the kind of guy who likes to say the word "mint"
(mint)
I ain't got no friends
Ain't no wonder why
Ekos of a spirit can't you hear me sing that T.O.M.B
Ekos of a spirit can't you hear me cry in'?
Ekos of a spirit can't you hear me sing that T.O.M.B
Ekos of a spirit can't you hear me cry in'?
I'm the kind of guy who likes to play tent
(let's play)
Likes to wander in the grass on a sunny afternoon
(Thursday)
Take my galoshes and my Snowcaps™ are in lint
(squeeze them)
Make sure that my face is scrubbed in kangaroo
Ekos of a spirit can't you see me sing that T.O.M.B
Ekos of a spirit can't you see me cry in'?
Ekos of a spirit can't you see me sing that T.O.M.B
Ekos of a spirit can't you see me cry in'?
Ekos of a spirit can't you hear me sing this T.O.M.B
Ekos of a spirit can't you?
When the promise of a source refrains
Then a promise is a worth-ful claim
Twist and yeller for that precious dame
Seeks the manhole with the silly name
Geek chorus :
Nevertheless it's a guess
It's a hit or miss
Sometimes it's a waste of your gas, I guess
Chris Pati : Does it sound anything beyond interesting to you?
Joe Remson : Whadya mean?
CP : Well… I mean ah… What do I mean? Sounds like someone who a
is not very interested in seeing this record happen.
JR : Sounds like someone is not very interested?
CP : That's what ti sounds like to me.
Geek chorus :
Nevertheless it's a guess
It's a hit or miss
Sometimes it's a waste of your gas, I guess
("Only In A Dream" track plays in the background here)
CP : We have to decide you know, what's going on here.
Or try to find out, I think. Don't you? I mean doesn't this sound horribly sarcastic to you? It does to me, man.
JR : Ah yeah. The, the pleadings part I…
CP : The seeing - the seeing...
JR : I would like to bring that in Monday to Rich and find out who sent that.
CP : And it says..
JR : What exactly he meant by it.
CP : … "a small percentage" and "seeing what they can do", in quotes.
It's like all these nasty things are like in quotes!
JR : I know.
CP : "Really sympathetic" in quotes. And seeing what they can do to add as a "favor". In other words well, we'll add it just as a favor.
In other words they don't like the record but they're doing it as a favor to Lem.
JR : Right.
CP : I mean… I don't think it has anything to do with being a major.
I think it has to do with very simply we're not doing what a lot of people - other people do. Which I, I've had not any indication from anybody in a higher place than me that we have to do it.
Geek chorus :
Nevertheless it's a guess
It's a hit or miss
Sometimes it's a waste of your gas, I guess
Jim Dexter : (laughs) REALLY ANCIENT PHOTOGRAPHS plays here :
JT sings :
Highway 64
A thousand miles above the sea level tumbling' on my own - again
The circle crops are plenty and very much the same I've known and loved
Standing right above…
Mr X sings:
God told me to live next store to Imus!
God told me to live next store to Imus!
Well, it was either God or the devil
It was probably the devil
It was probably the devil
It was probably the devil
Uh, it was probably the devil
Uh, it was probably the devil
credits
from Late Octobra,
released October 23, 2014
JT : Vocals, Programming, Keyboards, Cheap electric guitar on "Imus"
Jim Dexter : Acoustic guitar
ND : Drums, Bass on "Imus"
Jessica Weisenfeld : Little girl vocal
Mr. X : Imus vocal
Recorded at Sonic Underground, Stony Brook, NY
"Imus" Recorded at Modern Voices Recording Studio, Centerport, NY
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