Listen to Geishas

Wabi Sabi

Into The Light

The Problem was visiting from Portugal so we cranked this one out with the help of Doug Grean 

All this Wondering                  
Janine and the Problem 2019

song, vocals, buzzy zap keys, "drums":  @JanineLevinson
vocals, bass, squeezy keys: Jose Freitas
percussion, ding dong keys, mix & master: Doug Grean @terpsichords, @janinelevinson

I’m preoccupied with what is not --all this wondering
Pissed that I can only have one life, oh oh oh
While some Eskimo is warming up his toes
Taking down a chunk of blubber
I will never know, oh,oh,oh  
All this wondering

So aware of what I don’t know and I’m wondering. 
Mad that I can only hear my thoughts, oh, oh oh
As a special boy is shooting sparks of code
out of his nose into a tin box --all this wondering       
And I can’t know oh oh oh!!        
all this wondering, 

I’m in love with what I can’t see --all this wondering            
Starts with red and ends with indigo oh oh oh                                                                    
From a ladybug reflected in a drop of water
All this wondering and I won’t know --all this wondering, 
     
what’s your experience?  what do you know?
where I’ve never been keeps me wondering
 
I’m preoccupied with what it’s like -- all this wondering
To live another time another life, oh oh oh
Probability is surely thrilling me 
we could be in the next dimension and I will never know, oh,oh,oh  --all this wondering

All This Wondering

Drive time (Mix 2, October 28, 2019)
Mix 2 changed pan and compression on acoustic guitar to bring it forward in the mix. 
Mix 3: April 7, 2020 reprinted to a 1/4 inch 2-Track Tape MCI JH-110
Written, performed, and mixed by Tim Griffis at Princeton Studio. Thanks to Rene, Kevin, and Andrew for comments on an early mix. Always appreciate the feedback. 

Hope you like the sound ;-)

Technical Details
Recorded at Princeton Studio
Guitars: Guild Acoustic, Fender Strat; Les Paul Standard; Fender Squire Bass

Mics: Neumann TLM 67 and AKG C414xls
Drums: arranged by TG
Software: Pro Tools
Vocals: TG

Mixer: API 16 channel summing mixer (8200/7800)
Stereo Bus processing (API EQ and API compressor)

Lyrics

Verse 1
The demons inside your head, they're on fire
It's making it hard to fake your smile
you're cool on love, it's breaking you down
it's a simple life, in this heartbreak town 

Chorus
You fake a smile at me - I don't mind
Come see the world with me - it's our time
We'll find a cure for you - it's drive time

Verse 2
You're stronger than steel, you gotta heart of gold
The cells in your blood won't leave you alone
It's a rare disease, one step at a time
It's making it hard to fake your smile

Chorus
You fake a smile at me - I don't mind
Come see the world with me - it's our time
We'll find a cure for you - it's drive time

Bridge/Verse 3 
no lyrics
Enter Heavier Guitar Sound (Gibson Les Paul Standard)

Chorus
You fake a smile at me - I don't mind
Come see the world with me - it's our time
We'll find a cure for you - it's drive time

Drive time

Album Scenes Etcetera from Christian Levitan
UPC 4061798106202
EmGee Publishing - Des Moines - USA

Scenes Etcetera

Claude, From the Moon

Claude, From The Moon

An ode to adventure

Left home for Mexico
Don't care which way I go
When I leave with my dusty coat
Just take me away from home

Hitchhiked to Rideau-Hull
Met a girl from Montreal
Fell in love in bathroom stall
I was any where but home

My old man callin'
He said "Mama's Ballin'"
But Ain't no way I'm going home
Ain't no way I'm going home

Pulled into the city of lights
It was bright like a country night
It took me by surprise
I was anywhere but home

Got mugged in an alley way
They took my watch and my hard earned pay
Well nothings ever free 
Unless you're anywhere but home

She making fast cash with her fat ass
I'm standing awkward down the road
Life feels too short living in New York
So I'm moving on to Mexico
Ain't no way I'm going home
Ain't no way I'm going home

Made it down to the Rio Grande
Fell in love with a Mexican
She took my by the hand 
she said "Boy I'll take you home"

My old man callin'
He said "Mama's ballin' "
But Ain't no way I'm going home
Ain't no way I'm going home

Ain't Going Home

Part of a new batch of songs we are finishing up and using to learn to master better on our Tascam DP24.

As lonely as this night is, it won't be very long
til I can see her brown eyes
and tell her I was wrong
I've been so very sorry		
and not just for the heartless words I said
I hope she's still my baby          
and not just the pretty girl next door

I hope she doesn't keep me hanging on 
Quite as long as I did her
and even though I probably deserve much worse	
I just don't think that I'm that strong

As lonely as this night is, it won't be very long
til I can see her brown eyes
and tell her I was wrong
I've been so very sorry
and not just for the heartless words I said
I hope she's still my baby
and not just the pretty girl next door

I hope she'll take me back again tonight
humble as I am now
and even though I probably deserve much worse 
I hope she'll take back her crown

I hope she doesn't keep me hanging on 
Quite as long as I did her
and even though I probably deserve much worse	
I just don't think that I'm that strong

Lonely as this night

Another song written for my "Clutha Project" - songs reflecting my memories of, and association with, places on the River Clyde. This one relates to a tiny peninsula known as Ardmore Point. It's a place well used by dog walkers, as the footpath down to the shore would attest from the volume of dog poo to be found on route (hence the title) and I used to go there with my parents to walk their dogs. Plenty of others also go there without dogs though, perhaps for the fresh air, the wealth of wild nature there, or just the beautiful solitude to rest their minds. I would often see lone persons down there, sitting as still as the rocks on the beach, staring out to sea with a beer tin or a bottle of something stronger by their side. You get some great sunsets from the beach there and, for some of the people going there, maybe those sunsets would be the only good thing they had to look forward to.

I asked Mark J Bennett to do a collab with me on this and he not only patiently provided all the excellent vocals but provided the artwork too, so deep thanks to him for all of that.

DOG POO ALLEY

Dog poo and plastic bags
Broken bottles and burnt out fags
Under the green forgiving trees
Plastic ropes and old beer cans
Forgotten barbeques in the sand
Last week’s newspapers blowing in the breeze

The tide comes in and the tide goes out
The waste of man is all about
Among the rocks down by the seaweed shore
The people come, the people go
But trees remain and flowers still grow
Across the marshy woodland floor

ch#
It’s a place for solo dog-walkers
It’s a place to come and think
It’s a place for seals and seagulls
It’s a place for some to drink
Alone

Moss and lichen, weathered stones
Suntan bottles like old bleached bones
Of things that died a long, long time ago
A welly boot, an old oil can
Embedded in the glistening sand
Who knows what else might lie below?

Mussel shells and sea-worn glass
Bits of wood from ships long past
Oyster Catchers rambling on the shore
Curlews call and seagulls cry
Harebells nod as the breeze blows by
So beautiful but still ignored.

Ch#

The Sugar Ship lies in the sea
Half submerged, it’s just like me
We’re both going nowhere anymore
Sitting on this driftwood log
I watch an old man and his dog
Standing silent on the windswept shore

They’re waiting for that sunset
That golden glowing flowing sunset
The one that makes the whole long day worthwhile
Walking here between the trees
I’m free come or go as I please
If I come with a frown I’ll leave here with a smile.

Ch# FIN

©enlimila 23/10/2020

(Clutha Project) Dog Poo Alley

Finally, after some years giving the guitar a go and trying to make a living as janitors, HMS are back. With a slightly melancholic and reflective track about everything that counts in a more or less unhinged world.

Seasons End

Ko gremo domov,
mali dilerji še vedno prodajajo svoje blago.
Čudim se svetlobi,
ki brez premora nastaja iz teme.

As we go home,
small dealers still offer their goods.
I wonder at the light,
steadily arising from darkness.  

Words: Manca Klun
Music: Alessandro De Oliveira Bastos

Steadily Arising

Collaboration between ANSOUND and Softlands.  Photo by ANSOUND.

Crossing (ANSOUND and Softlands)

Contact: highlymotivatedstaff@gmail.com

We're Highly Motivated Staff. We work a lot - too much in fact - are underpaid, and believe in the free market. We even accept paycuts on a regular basis when it helps to, er, make someone else much richer and that, in effect, makes all of us somehow richer or something. Trickle down economics, you know. We're not always happy about this, but hey - such is life! To compensate for this and to motivate ourselves we make music. Highly motivating music. Highly motivated music, so to speak. Music you can listen to while having pointless meetings about savings, inefficiencies and new water coolers. Music while working on spreadsheets or calculating how to minimize costs and maximize profits by making other staff, far less efficient staff, redundant. Music you can listen to while making overtime without being paid and while someone else can't decide whether to listen to Michael Buble or Morbid Angel.

That's the world of the highly motivated staff. Welcome!