April 8, 2010
Appalachian Valley / January Snow
Michael: Guitar, Vocals
Jason: Harmonica, Vocals
Sarah: Vocals
Virginia: Rattles, Intro Vocal
Arthur: Percussion, *Plastic*
Appalachian Valley, 1965. It was a difficult summer. I killed a man there once. There was red red blood all over the white white January snow, which was the cause of death. He knew he would take his clothes off in the whitest snow he had ever seen, amidst the hypothermia and the cocaine that hung out together like two bums on a train, doing January snow.
(This is our murder ballad soaked in heavy reverb. The incredibly apt gunshot sound at 0:16 was unplanned and came out of nowhere!)
March 31, 2010
Oh! Darling
Sarah: Vocals
Jason: Slide Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
Jon: Guitar, Vocals
Michael: Microphone Holding, Distant Vocals
A very quiet version of this Beatles tune that Sarah and Jon liked so much they started playing the song over right after we finished playing it, hence the two endings going on here.
March 25, 2010
Antonio`s Corpse
Sarah: Vocals
Natasha: Piano
Jason: Vocals, Ukulele, Harmonica
Michael: Vocals, Bass
Virginia: Accordion
Mike P: Guitar
This was a melodramatic Tom Waits-style polka that we did, which not surprisingly turned out to be a lot of fun. Lyrics are all over the place, but basically, Michael is in a restaurant where paintings are walking around talking about him. They don`t like his belt. Jason then describes a corpse he is looking for. Sarah can`t find her Antonio. We tell her that we saw his corpse in the field yesterday. Jason says some things in Spanish, and then there are ice sculptures of dead swans. The end.
March 6, 2010
Doctor
Sarah: Vocals
Michael: Keyboard
A monologue where Sarah plays a therapist who manipulates their patients into doing violent things…
February 23, 2010
Absolutely Cuckoo
Sarah: Vocals
Jon: Guitar, Distant Vocals
Mike P: Guitar
Michael: Percussion, Backing Vocals
Natasha: Piano
Jason: Ukulele, Harmonica
Our cover of the first track from 69 Love Songs, which we did with little forethought to rehearse, hence it sounding endearingly sloppy and loose. That’s kind of the norm around here, you know.
February 17, 2010
Knot In The Middle Of The Room
Jason: Guitar, Vocals, Beatbox
Sarah: Vocals
Michael: Synths, Vocals, Beatbox
There was a knot of microphone cables lying on the floor, prompting Sarah to start singing about it. Jason throws in some percussive guitar and gets in a two bar rap in at the end, while Michael beatboxes and overdubs a synth-bass in later. Everyone get out your, Swiss army knives now.
January 28, 2010
Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)
Sarah and Briana: Vocals
Michael: Guitar
Jason: Distant Ukulele
Christopher: Microphone Holding, Backing Vocals
Arthur: Percussion, Vocals
Our sing-along cover of the bubblegum classic by Edison Lighthouse.
January 21, 2010
Remember
Sarah: Vocals
Michael: Vocals, Bass, Synth
Mike P: Piano
Jason: Harmonica
Jon: Guitar, Backing Vocals/Beatbox
A minor epic of sorts, with Michael and Sarah improvising some sort of lovers spat over cheating, coffee, wine, and long phone calls. The chord progression is borrowed from the song Ansaphone by Pulp, one of Mike P`s favorite things to play on the piano.
January 14, 2010
Crimson and Clover
Sarah and Briana: Vocals
Michael: Guitar, Backing Vocals
Arthur: Bass, Backing Vocals
Jason: Percussion
Cover tunes happen frequently and spontaneously during our jam sessions, and are always a lot of fun. Here is a sparse version of a Tommy James classic.
January 11, 2010
Peeling An Orange
Sarah: Vocals
Michael: Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Not so much about peeling an orange as it is about preventing baby chicks, cows, and tadpoles from growing up…
