self-titled
The self-titled record was an accumulation of material generated between 2002-2004. That included songs and demos from before we were a 4-piece.
The writing and rehearsing gave us our first real single, Wise Teeth, the first song we ever wrote that really went down easy, thanks to Jeff’s work.
Wise Teeth was also Schuyler’s first attempt at directing a video and processing footage through a prehistoric version of Adobe After Effects. That video consisted of filming clouds and creating a makeshift dolly system for smooth performance footage, then Schuyler’s trademark too-frenetic editing style.
The record also works as a dividing line between the old experimental demos and the new direction. This is evident immediately with Key and Orpheus, simple songs with clarity and immediacy that don’t require much patience from the listener.
Of course there are still lots of songs on the album that do require patience. The old-style, too-clever-by-half stuff that had different instruments playing parts with notches and teeth, barely fitting together. These were the older Schuyler songs; stuff written in bedrooms alone rather than as a group. Eventually these experiments disappeared from our work altogether.
me en my en em ee and Bootheel are examples of this technique, but the foremost example, and probably the only one that works, is the opening verse-chorus, verse-chorus of Sophia. Schuyler and Rob were particularly impressed with themselves after recording that, and it still holds up pretty well if you ignore the vocals and mushy guitar tone.
THE SONGS
This is an absurd exercise, but below are some recollections of the recording of our self-titled debut record.
Key
A backwards guitar loop through a Boomerang pedal. Then an e-bow and vocals. A tidy piece of business.
Orpheus
Just listen to that bass tone. Listen to Kyle having fun. What else is there to say here?
The song’s speaker is working through some delusions. Aren’t we all.
me en my en em ee
Schuyler uses a malfunctioning Moog ring modulator on this one. If you have one just put the wave selector in the middle position so it plays a straight tone. It’s a nice effect. Probably not worth it for what they cost though. What’s with that price, am I right? I mean what kind of dork uses a ring modulator anyway?
This is some real shit, no joke, angry suburban kid stuff. It’s political anger with zero praxis, zero refinement. The kind of unvarnished hostility that should be piped into progressive action but these days mostly animates culture war chicanery.
I need to stand up. To keep up. To follow. To rise up. Remember. The promise. That you’ll continue to profit. Unabated. You self-serving masturbators. While me and my enemy, we sit patiently.
Beating us into this obedience is not the same as earning it. When tables turn and your threads burn we’ll show you no mercy. When me and my enemy make amends you’ll see.
Schuyler’s politics haven’t changed since this song was written, btw. And he’s proud that his anger came from a place of compassion rather than a bid for supremacy. 23 years of thunder indeed.
Pistis Envy
Schuyler wrote this track for a friend during a hip hop session, but the high BPM obviously didn’t work for that application. Schuyler liked the energy so he wrote vocals. It probably shouldn’t have been included on this record.
Pistis is latin for “faith”.
Wise Teeth
There’s nothing much more that can be said here about this one. A Jeff Love homerun. A quadruple. A certified hit.
He gave us our first cool song. What a champion.
Bootheel
Listen to Kyle’s drum playing in this song. It’s brilliant. He’s probably like 21 years old here. His choices are so smart and so interesting and yet in the verses it sort of feels like he’s making it up as he goes. It was probably a combination of preparation and improvisation.
Anyway. Give Kyle a listen.
Faceful
Faceful is a very early Rob/Schuyler demo, and the less said about it the better.
Eurydice
Ditto this.
fwiw, this was recorded well before Radiohead’s Myxomatosis came out.
Tender Syzygy
Schuyler mixed this one, so the blame lies with him. If this song had been produced and mixed properly it might have turned out okay.
It’s about 2 entities sharing one environment during their development, and one faring better for no other reason but chance. A very basic idea, limned simply and directly. A story about inequality. A story about the victors’ privilege to author the tale of their own successes.
Maybe next time you will be more cautious. If for nothing else, for what you allow into your body. Maybe next time you will be the fitter one. The victimizer. Maybe then you’ll exorcise what you have heard from my chamber and scream – I can hear it now – am I alone here?
Sophia
This song was our original live closer. There are things about it that really work, but mostly it’s not great.
Sophia is latin for “wisdom”. We didn’t have any.
Hagia Sophia
A remix of Sophia. Again, very poorly mixed. I suppose with the right kind of ears you can hear what Schuyler was going for, but overall it’s a failure.
The self-titled artwork was a collage of art and photography from real artists on Deviant Art, mixed with salacious stuff collected from the basement of the internet.
A lot of work was put into it, but not a lot of thought.
Here’s an initial attempt at the script before Schuyler just asked his mom to do it.
Wise Teeth doesn’t even have a name yet. Schuyler got it off his friend Stew, but don’t tell.
From the mind of Mark: