I didn't realize you put out a full version rad

THIS IS POST BOSSA

Ice Melt

released July 2nd, 2021
Written and Performed by John Roseboro* 
Mixed and Mastered by David Antonio Garcia
Cover Art by Lizzy and the Palm
Design by John Roseboro

*Madeline Ertel on trumpet

Cover Art: Hell

Lyrics:

Piece by piece the scales fall from her eyes
She's really starting to see my human side
Too uncouth and unrefined
But then I see that smile
She loves me for who I am

But now I've said something so dumb
(You've done it know John) You screwed it all up
But before I can apologize she let's it slide
And then, I see that smile
She loves me for who I am

"Kurukurukurukurukurukurukuru. Mama, I am strong"
Don't know what to do... but everyone sing along cos
SHE LOVES ME FOR WHO I AM.

Muchuu

Kodoku

Yoake

Abortion Song

released May 8, 2022
Written and Performed by John Roseboro
Recorded on iPhone voicememo.
Cover Art by Cornelis Cort
Design by John Roseboro

Just tryna spare ya
All this survivors guilt
Not tryna scare ya
But it's dark and cold out here

I'm tryna work it out
Just don't see no other way
Send you straight to heaven now
You got be a cherub baby

I'm gonna kill ya
Take a pill yea
Cut you up
Call it loving
You know what this is baby
See you later (maybe)
Come here Johanna
I got Occam's hanger

Johanna

releases 06 Oct, 2022
Written and Performed by John Roseboro* 
Mixed/Mastered by Luke Jr.
Cover Art by Elijah Knapp and Lynden Hight
Design by John Roseboro
 
*Isac J. on Drums
*Michael B. on Bass
*Daniel R. on Saxophone

Lyrics:

I love the Q cos
I love the view of
Manhattan Bridge 

I'ma be rich
I'ma have money too

I took the L 
To Bedford Avenue
Saw Maddie Cunningham 
That could be me and you

I'ma be rich
I'ma have money too

I took the M 
To Marcy Avenue 
Mans made a couple bands
I spend it all on you

I took the G
To Hoyt-Schermerhorn
And now my phone just died
But I know my way back home

I'ma be rich
I'ma have money too

I ride my bikey
Down Ocean Avenue 
We live in Flatbush
Feeling established

My Daddy rich
My mom's good lookin' too

I Took The L

Mei and I have been fortunate enough to write and arrange a version of the song that introduced me to bossa nova. The reimagined cover, self released under Public Confession Art House, sonically and thematically honors Jobim's existential conceit.

releases March 30, 2023 
Originally written by Antonio Carlos Jobim
Arranged and Performed by John Roseboro and Mei Semones
Coproduced by Luke Jr
Michael Barnes on Bass
Daniel Robinson on Tenor Saxophone 
Reid Deveraux on Trombone and Piano
Isac Jamba on Drums and Percussion

Public Confession Art House

Lyrics:
A stick, a stone, it's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump, it's a little alone
It's a sliver of glass, it is life, it's the sun
It is night, it is death, it's a trap, it's a gun
The oak when it blooms, a fox in the brush
The nod of the wood, the song of a thrush
The wood of the wing, a cliff, a fall
A scratch, a lump, it is nothing at all
It's the wind blowing free, it's the end of the slope
It's a bean, it's a void, it's a hunch, it's a hope
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March
It's the end of the strain, it's the joy in your heart

The foot, the ground, the flesh and the bone
The beat of the road, a sling-shot stone
In a truckload of bricks in the soft morning light
The shot of a gun in the dead of the night
A mile, a must, a thrust, a bump
It's a girl, it's a rhyme, it's a cold, it's the mumps
The plan of the house, the body in bed
And the car that got stuck, it's the mud, it's the mud!

Afloat, adrift, a flight, a wing
A cock, a quail, the promise of spring
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March
It's the promise of life, it's the joy in your heart

A point, a grain, a bee, a bite
A blink, a buzzard, a sudden stroke of night
A pin, a needle, a sting, a pain
A snail, a riddle, a wasp, a stain
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March
It's the promise of life, it's the joy in your heart

A snake, a stick, it is John, it is Mei
A fish, a flash, a silvery glow
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March
It's the promise of life in your heart, in your heart


Psycho, sycophant
A rant, a rave
A goat, a lamb
A siren, a scream
The ocean, the sand
A friend, a cop
A car, a crash
My hand, a slap
A cloud, a storm
A star, a way
A charm, a future
A song, a snake

A stick, a stone, the end of the load
The rest of a stump, a lonesome road
A sliver of glass, a life, the sun
A night, a death, the end of the run
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March
It's the end of all strain, it's the joy in your heart

Waters Of March

Live at RBC Echo Beach

Sugar (Live at RBC Echo Beach)

Fools is a watershed event in the genesis of post-bossa. The record subverts traditional concepts of what “alternative” music is, disposing of tired chord progressions, kitschy themes, and larping emo aesthetics. The compositions here show what music can be and do when it does not pander to an audience, allowing Roseboro unprecedented freedom to weave poems of grief, girls, and God over melodies indifferent to what the genre might seem to be. The result is visceral, vulnerable, and most of all, true. 

 Roseboro’s most collaborative work to date,  Fools hosts personnel from Brooklyn’s most talented friend group: most consistently, neighbors Luke Jr and Yamp, performing on and co-producing nearly every track with Reid Devereaux contributing horns, bass, and slide guitar. The four musicians had already headlined tours together the previous year, performing at SXSW, Montreal Jazz Festival and supporting dear Ron Gallo who has been championing John for over two years, often to deaf ears... John would go on to arrange and perform Ron’s “Psycho Moment” for the album. Other featured artists include fan favorites and familiar faces: Liam McMcay (sign crushes motorist), Mei Semones, John Lisi (Twin Brother), Juliana Chahayed, and Liana Flores. 

Just a few years ago, there was no John Roseboro. After a bad relationship and a worse break up, John was virtually homeless, penniless, and annonymous. Maintaining faith has brought him everything and this is echoed in interviews and throughout his discography. Independently managing, funding, and distributing his work John has to say “I am gambling on the integrity of my relationships and the impact of these songs… thank you for holding my hand.”

 Public Confession Art House (July, 2024)

Fools (2024)

Fools by John Roseboro
All songs written, performed, and produced by John Roseboro*
Engineering and co-production by Luke Jr 
Assistant Engineering by Yamp and Reid Devereaux 
Recorded at home in Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY.

Vocals, Guitars, Bass (4,7,9) Percussion (1,6,4,9,10), Accordion (6), Saz (10) by John Roseboro
Drums and Percussion (1,3,4,7,8,9,10) by Luke Jr
Saxophone (1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10) Piano (6,8) by Yamp
Trumpet (2,8) French Horn (4,9) Bass (2,4) Slide (8) by Reid Devereaux 
Vocals (1,2) Guitar (1) by Mei Semones 
Upright (1,3,6,10) by John Lisi 
Bass (8) by Michael Barnes
Percussion (2) by Ransom McCarthy 
Violin (10) by Claudius Agrippa 
Clarinet (5) by Regina
Vocal (8) by Liana Flores

"Johnny" cowritten and performed Mei Semones
"I Did The Math" featuring Sign Crushes Motorist
"Crumb" featuring Liana Flores
"Alt Ego" featuring Juliana Chahayed

"Psycho Moment" originally written by Ron Gallo*

Cover Art by Lauren Cline 
Mixed and Mastered by Luke Jr at home in Brooklyn, NY

Public Confession Art House LLC (All Rights Reserved)

Crumb (feat. Liana Flores)

Cardinal - Acoustic Demo


This song is about deep ancestral memory.  The hum of humanity before history was written. 

It channels the lost world of Doggerland and the Happisburgh footprints, imagining our Mesolithic ancestors as ghostly teachers who left no tombs, no kings, no creeds. Just tools, fire, rhythm, and a way of moving through the world.

It’s about the continuity between them and you: how their songs are still inside, deep within your marrow. 
How their dances are in your instincts, how the landscape itself remembers them. 

At its core, this is a love letter to the unnamed, unremembered people who taught humanity how to be.

[Lyrics]

[Intro]
The sea took the map.
But the rhythm stayed.
The cliffs forgot their edges,
But we still walk sideways.

[Verse 1]
Hollow bone, red flint grin,
We drew suns on mammoth skin.
Laughed in fog, named no stars,
But knew which beasts carried gods in their scars.

Footprints fade, but not the dance.
We moved like reeds in death’s romance.
Teeth in the trees. Fire in the floods.
Crabs read our future in salted bloods.

[Chorus]
We don’t write songs, we leak them.
In marrow. In mist. In eel-light rhythm.
The sea sings backwards in Dogger tongue,
And you, little spark, still hum what we’ve sung.
(We were here. We are here. Shhh.)

[Verse 2]
Weapons made of antler bloom,
Tools that dreamt before the loom.
Lion sleep in fox-hole grin,
Happisburgh held the ache within.

You think you're new?
You think you built?
We taught the stone to split the silt.
A blade is a memory.
So is a cliff.
We die sideways, and still we shift.

[Bridge]

This land is a lung.
It breathes in gulls and spits out gods.
Step soft the ghosts are barefoot.

[Final Chorus]

We left no crown.
We left no creed.
We gave you the rhythm,
You called it need.

No tombs.
No names.
Just tools.
Just flames.

And a lighthouse built on our hum.

[Outro ]
The cliff falls.
The hum stays.
So will you.

copyright ©️ Dendritedisco [Laura Keablr] [2025] all rights reserved.

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Mei Semones

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