special thanks to Tony Nguyen who let me borrow his guitar, amp, and pedal. made for a really fun evening. can't get enough of that sound. mistakes abound but i'm still proud of this

happy xmas [w/ chorus fx on guitar]

Conflicted

"Conflicted" smoking babies [written: niticon]

Finally

A little Latin Jazz piece in 5/4 that I recorded on bass with Pete Thompson on drums. Other instruments will be added by Haram, when he finally gets around to it!

Tome Cinco

I had the chance to see the painting at the MoMA a few months ago, and this song has been stuck in my head since then. Figured I'd give it a shot. my first "vocal" track via the microKORG vocoder. more to come

Lyrics:

[Verse 1]
Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land

[Chorus]
Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now

[Verse 2]
Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand

[Chorus]
Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now

[Bridge]
For they could not love you
But still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night
You took your life, as lovers often do
But I could have told you, Vincent
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you

[Verse 3]
Starry, starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget
Like the strangers that you've met
The ragged men in the ragged clothes
The silver thorn; a bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

[Outro]
Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they're not listening still
Perhaps they never will

Vincent [Don McLean Cover]

Turning my back on riches
Trying to clear my vision
Searching for self-forgiveness

For eating up what they fed us
A specter hanging over me
Life traded for income

Allergic to ambition
We done been peeped game
Security is the mission
We beg for education
But debt is what we’re given
I stay hacking the system
Them folks won’t catch me slipping

Steal back from these banks
In a form of resistance
Hands cleaner than theirs
Still asking for assistance

{Tap water looking like milk
We’ll churn it into butter
{And turn it in to nourishment
For mothers sons and daughters
—1}
{Sustain ourselves so we can please
Niggas who’ll never love us
—2}}
\Like a group of vultures

Encircle us in a kettle
No green in sight
Just mirrored glass and metal

Reflection on reflection
Regressing into nothing
Emptiness on display
From place to place we shuffe

Ceiling close enough to touch it
Same as those above it
Passports claiming innocence
Still far from a citizen

Blacks fade to black
Wish I still feared that
The end to the attack
The lull is tempting

Dreams cut into ribbons
Once holier than Christmas
Picking up the pieces
Resuscitated through rhythm

Using my instrument to tell the truth and let it off
Setting precedence and I hope y’all set it off
Stealing back freedom in the long war of attrition
This is my prescription for neoliberal conditions

This is my prescription for neoliberal conditions?
This is my prescription for neoliberal conditions 
———————————
Philly rock rock on
Shaker Heights rock rock on
Denver rock rock on
Phoenix rock rock on
Hangzhou rock rock on

Everybody rock rock on

Conditions ft. The Seven Eights

26歳
Ableton Live
iphone
fender jazz bass
iRig HD duo
microKORG S
alesis quadrasynth 9 keyboard (r.i.p.)

Niti