New EP of instrumental music for walking in the woods

Waldeinsamkeit

Son of Strelka, Son of God

Sometimes I like to just sit down and build a generative music machine that makes pretty noises.  This was one of those days, and this is the result.

Touching Grass

I don't know why I made this either but here it is.

Windows 2095

Just a quick and dirty living room demo I recorded on my iPad of something I'm working on.  

Give me your credit cards
I wanna buy you a gift
Down at the grocery store
I'll need a lift
It's too far for walking
And I've had a few
But I wanna buy something
Really special for you
No, I won't buy more than you'd allow
I think I know you well enough by now

I heard your new record
It's really not bad
You get so much mileage
Out of always being sad
You use the finest materials
To frame your broken heart
So that all of the tourists
Will think you're this work of art
But you know I don't buy your stories anyhow
I think I know you well enough by now

The last time I saw you
You were walking home alone
I offered to drive you but you said
The city knows its own
I said "that's a good line, sunshine, take a fucking bow,
and I think I know you well enough by now"

I Know You Well Enough - Demo

I thought I might get you an iPad
Or a year's membership at the gym
But I put back my wallet
Soon as I recalled that
You’re an asshole that voted for him
So I’m afraid you’re not getting a sweater
Or massage chair to help calm your nerves
No Nintendo Switch
You dumb son of a bitch
I’ll be giving you what you deserve

You’re getting’ the finger for Christmas
For all that you are and have done
I’d give you some coal 
that’s as black as your soul
But you’d prob’ly just burn it for fun
I don’t know what you wanted for Christmas
I assume that it was something else
But you’re a huge piece of shit 
So you get what you get
Here’s the finger, now go fuck yourself

Fuck you

America does have its problems 
Shit sucks for the whole working class 
But how dumb must you be
To ever think he
Would do shit to help your stupid ass
I hope you're too rich to experience
The impact of what you pricks did
Cuz  if you can't afford to
They'll probably deport you
To a country where you’ve never lived 

So you get the finger for Christmas
‘cuz you’ve given my country the same
I’ll invite you my friend
To sit on it and spin
So fast that you burst into flames
You’re getting the finger for Christmas 
And if you should think that’s unfair 
Hey I understand 
And I do have two hands
So I’ll make it a matching pair 

Fuck you

If you go to the mall to see Santa 
I honestly hope he’ll just say 
Suck my North Pole
You stupid asshole
And chase your ugly ass children away 
The damage you’ve done to America
Will prob’ly be with us for life
If you vote for that shit
Of course you will get 
Told to go fuck yourself with a knife 

You’re getting the finger for Christmas
You piece of shit snake in the grass
If you want some egg nog
You can suck my fat hog
Shove your holiday cheer up your ass
You’re getting the finger for Christmas 
And it can’t be exchanged or returned 
You voted for racists
And son on that basis
The finger is all that you’ve earned 

Fuck you

The Finger For Christmas

They're detectives but they're also in love.  They laugh a lot, and have friends that own speedboats.

The Detectives

I wrote this one in 2020 when I was quarantining in a hotel in Moore, Oklahoma but never recorded the vocals for it.  I asked Scotty if he would do the honors and he came through as always!

Lyrics:

Christmastime
Where'd the year go
Stuck inside
Living echoes
An endless parade of 
identical moments that 
shuffle away leaving 
no real impression at all

Things will be better next year
I know they will
Things will be better next year

Christmastime
God I miss you
Soon it won't
Be an issue
Maybe by June we can
Meet at a restaurant
Surrounded by people
and think nothing of it at all

Things will be better next year
They have to be
Things will be better next year

Things Will Be Better Next Year (Christmas 2020)

This is a collection of tracks meant for walking in the woods

Green Antarctic

Dawn

George vs. the Ravens Pt. 2

George vs. the Ravens Pt. 1

What Have You Done

Learning Japanese

Try To Sleep

Beer

Again just uploading old stuff for the podcast.  This is a song from my album Crush The Infamous Thing.  The words are all ripped from an album by motivational speaker/guru Glenn Turner, who seems to be a legitimately insane person.

Motivational Speaker

Here's some music for a song I'm working on this weekend.  It's only half-written, but I think it sounds pretty neat.

Song in progress - Naked And Dismayed

Ainsley Seago suggested that we needed some Schoolhouse Rock style songs about what insect taxonomists do, with the hopes that maybe they will be more likely to be funded in the future.  I bashed this track together and she did some drawings, and now there's a video you can check out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYSIhzb14QI

The Pest Is Still To Come (USDA Song)

What's a song about insect taxonomy without a bumping, slightly haunting techno remix?  This one courtesy of Delstar!

The Pest Is Still To Come (Delstar Techno Mix)

Just a little thingy from my never-quite-finished album Crush The Infamous Thing.  

Surrender

This is one we recorded for Love Button's album Eat More Fruit, but ended up leaving it off the album for some reason I can't remember.  

Lyrics:

They're coming now just like rednecks to Graceland
They seem to think that I know what I'm talking about
They think I heal them with a wave of my hand
Well I do what I can, and it all works out

Cuz they think I'm Jesus, and that's all right
They give me money and they call me the Christ
And they act like I know everything
And the pay's all right, but the lying is the thing

They're coming now like a moth to a candle
They hang my head on every word I say
I'm seeing death in every Christian face
If they ever find out just how much I've betrayed them

Cuz they think I'm Jesus, and that's all right
They give me money and they call me the Christ
And they act like I know everything
And the pay's all right, but the lying is the thing

They're coming now screaming "miracle, miracle"
I'll have to tell them all that I'm not prepared
One of these days they'll be coming with torches
I've seen the future, and I'm not there

Cuz they think I'm Jesus, and that's all right
They give me money and they call me the Christ
And they act like I know everything
And the pay's all right, but the lying is the thing

Love Button - They Think I'm Jesus

Just a thing I was playing with that turned into a thing which turned into another thing.  I'm not sure it's done yet but I like it.

Any Given Second This Could All Be Fire

Just playing around with a jazzy progression and kept adding stuff until I accidentally reverse engineered it into Ben Folds Five.

Either Birds Or Ghosts

Bitter Suite

Just a demo of something super melodramatic and depressing I've been working on.

Lyrics:

Some trivial mistake
is keeping you awake
mired in your feelings
staring at the ceiling
in the deep end of the night
til finally you'd kill
to have some kind of pill 
to break the circle that you walk in
fidgeting and talkin'
to yourself, all the time

you keep saying that it's over
over and over again
you keep saying that it's over
over and over again

Turn off your TV
Wade into the sea
and beg the plankton to consume you
you wait all afternoon to
just melt into the waves
but all you ever get
is frustrated and wet
so you wade back to the shore
lay on the sand and start to snore
until the cops chase you away

why's it keep feeling like it's over
over and over again
why's it keep feeling like it's over
over and over again

it happens over and over and you're geting older
and time's running out for you to get sober
it's something inside you that just isn't right
and you can't drown it out although god knows you've tried
and why can't you just feel okay?

maybe all you really need
is someone to watch you bleed
to worship and adore you
and always reassure you
that your pain isn't just in your mind
but if you can sleep tonight
maybe that will make it right
and you can start evolving into
the kind of person you pretend to
already be online

you keep hoping that it's over
over and over again
keep insisting that it's over
over and over again

Over and Over - Demo

Just a nice little droney thing I threw together a few weeks ago.

Orgone, Oregano, Oregon

Just a little melody that came out of nowhere, so I fleshed it out over a few hours this weekend.  

False Alarm

Just messing around with a sill Monkees-esque cover of the Flaming Lips song "Everything's Exploding".  Filtered for that authentic old cassette shitty sound.

Everything's Exploding (Monkees Casette Mix)

First chapter of my sample-mangling opus "Son of Strelka, Son of God".  Just realized they weren't on here, and thought I should upload them all.

Son of Strelka, Son of God Chapter 1: Creation

Son of Strelka, Son of God Chapter2: The Golden Age

Son of Strelka, Son of God Chapter 3: Son Of Strelka

Son of Strelka, Son of God Chapter 4: The Decline

Son of Strelka, Son of God Chapter 5: The Fall

Okay so for reasons I won't go into I had a spot in a project where I wanted something that was "reminiscent of Yakety Sax but sad, weird, and awful".  I had the genius idea to just download a midi rendering of Yakety Sax, twiddle the scale around until it was (approximately) in a diminished key, and then run it through some software instruments.  This is the result.  I'm not going to be using it for the intended purpose;  it sucks, but not in the right way.

Yakety Sad

I've been putting this together for a synth compilation.  Vocoders and synths are a bit out of my comfort zone, but that's just made it more fun.  This was originally written as a sort of folky/jazzy love song on classical guitar, but honestly I kinda like it better this way.

Lyrics:


I can't describe
What I see in this light
With my eyes wide open
Almost divine
So real and so right
So loud, unspoken
Falls on me
Soft
Like a frosty morning
And blurs the outline
It's too close to be seen
Like the act of blinking
Hard to define
It's just a thing that you are
Without even thinking
You'll always be
What I need
Be it sail or anchor
I'd gladly fight so hard for this love
But you make it easy

If you can't get by
On your own any more
Any more than I can
Look to your side
Because you know that I'm there
And you know that you can
Call on me
I'll be what you need
Be it sail or anchor
I'd gladly fight so hard for this love
But you make it easy

Works In Progress

Sail or Anchor

From my 2008 album The Scientist.

iTunes:
itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-scientist/287160298

Amazon:
www.amazon.com/Scientist-Dan-Warren/dp/B001EUQER8/

Spotify:
open.spotify.com/album/3k3FUhfnMq56waxKjuErIY

Subscribe to the International House of Dancakes podcast on iTunes, or using this url: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheInternationalHouseOfDancakes

The Scientist

Clockwork Family

In memory or Art Bell, here's a track from one of my very early experimental samplewankery albums where Art and one of his colleagues were discussing repeated sightings of the mystical Ted Koppel.

Make Room For Dada

RIP Art Bell

This is a track I did for Jay Tholen's new video game, Hypnospace Outlaw.  Within the game, the song is by an imaginary 90's alt-folk band called Barnaby's Chair.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/844590/Hypnospace_Outlaw/

[Intro]

E B A C

E B A C D (x2)

[Verse 1]
E   B   A           C
Back when we were both young and pretty
E     B             A C D
Oh, ya had so much to say
E      B         A     C        E
But things weren't perfect in the city
B          A      C D
So now you moved away
G    D
And my, my
C            D#
Look how your star has faded
G   D                   C D# F
You spend the night at home
G                  D
Practicing your drums
       C                D#
For a gig that never comes
G                 D               C   D#+5
And casting dirty glances at the phone


[Chorus]
E                C
You've still got mountains in your mind
E             C
You've never even tried to climb
G           A                 B
You never seem to find the time
G#             C#
You know you used to shine so bright
G#         C#
Was that all reflected light?
E        F#       G#
Were you just a satellite?


[Verse 2]
E   B   A           C
Lord knows thesе things get so confusing
E   B            A      C D
When you have flown so far
E   B   A           C
Back homе the almond trees are blooming
E   B            A      C D
But it's autumn where you are
G    D
And my, my
C            D#
Now all the leaves are changing
G   D                   C D# F
Just like the color of your hair
G      D
Time flies
 C                D#
Soon everything looks strange and
G5        D5               C5    D#+5
Now a chill is in the air

[Chorus]
E                C
You've still got mountains in your mind
E             C
You've never even tried to climb
G           A                 B
You never seem to find the time
G#             C#
You know you used to shine so bright
G#         C#
Was it all reflected light?
E        F#       G#
Were you just a satellite?
B        F#       C#m
Were you just a satellite?


[Outro]
E  E+5  A  Am
E  E+5  A  Am
E            E+5              A
You know you used to shine so bright
         Am            E
Was that all reflected light?
        E+5           A
Nothing coming from inside
         Am                E
Were you just a satellite?
E            E+5              A
You know you used to shine so bright
         Am            E
Was that all reflected light?
        E+5           A
Nothing coming from inside
         Am                E
Were you just a satellite?
E            E+5              A
You know you used to shine so bright
         Am            E
Was that all reflected light?
        E+5           A
Nothing coming from inside
         Am                E
Were you just a satellite?

Satellite Orchestral

Just a weird little song I came up with as an experiment.  I actually had the idea for the weird vocal sound first and wrote the song around it, and I think it worked out surprisingly well for having been written from the top down like that.  The percussion is mostly one of Sound Dust's chaos engine thingies, and that lovely synth in the chorus is Samplephonics' Dirty Modular.

Lyrics:
At the bottom of the ocean
There are colors nobody sees
You have your own, in unguarded moments
You share with me
You let me see

There's a certain smallest distance
That is allowed by electricity
Staying within those physical limits
Come close to me
Just as close as you can be

Come closer
Take and surround me
Gently
Please come close to me

At the moment of creation
When everything was just energy
There was a process set in motion
To bring you to me
Just as close as you can be

Come closer
Take and surround me
Gently
Please come close to me

Come Closer

This is just a quick sketch of a song that's still only half-written.  I basically sat down to record this just to make sure I wouldn't forget the vocal arrangement I'd thought of, but I ended up liking the way it came out enough to share it.

Lyrics:
The next time we see each other we will know this dance by heart
and we'll do it in that instant, no matter where we are
If it's a thousand years before we do, I promise I'll still recognize you

Because I hear you in the evening when the crickets sing good night
and I see you in the morning in the flicker of the light
In every single thing I see and do, in some small way I recognize you

You're burned into me deep
For everything I keep forgetting
I will always recognize you

I don't believe in heaven, but I'd be happy to be wrong
I'd like to think that somehow you and I will carry on
Whatever life may turn us both into, I know I'll always recognize you

Rough Sketch: I Will Recognize You

Singer/guitarist for Love Button way back in the day.  On my own I'm best known for Son of Strelka, but my music has also appeared on Welcome to Night Vale, Hypnospace Outlaw, the Frog Fractions 2 ARG, and a number of documentary films.

Born in Arkansas and raised in Oklahoma, but from there went Florida-California-Texas-Australia-Japan-Germany-Japan (again).  He/him.

Dan Warren

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