The fourth and final video recording we have from the Greene Turtle set is a improvisational performance of Swimming with Sharks. I’d written the words to this about a week before the show, reflecting on a very difficult work project I’d recently completed over the winter. During our set, Jeremy switched into jamming on this chord progression and I immediately thought the words might work with the progression so I just started singing along to it.

I really don’t know what to say about these past months
So much time spent bringing Frankenstein to life only to realize that I was the mad scientist.
I just need a little lightning the next time I flip the switch.
I keep getting phone call after phone call and putting everyone on hold.
I just need a little more time before it’s perfect.
Of course I’ve eaten.
A cereal bar and some caffeine will put me right again.
I can’t worry about tomorrow. I just gotta make it through today.
Cause
We’re all dancing the steps and I’ve gotta stay one step ahead.
I can see the sharks in the water
Swimming ceaselessly with their suits and ties on
Get in. The water’s just fine.
So what’s the next step genius?
All that planning and bleeding leads to more planning.
Maybe I’ll just put a toe in the water.
Check the temperature and see how warm Hell is.
Such a thin line between soul selling and buying. You never know who’s the dealer.
You trade the time for money. And the money for more.
There’s always more on the shelf.
They’re having a sale today.
So maybe I’ll just take a lap or two. I can swim with the sharks and survive.
Do I want to?

Swimming with Sharks by chilljam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at chilljam.com.
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The second video from our set at the Greene Turtle. Here’s a live version of Streetlights on Asphalt.

Streetlights on Asphalt
Night walking through rain slick streets
she was only looking for a ride home.
Too many cigarettes and too many drinks
and he said just one word too many.
So she walked right out of that crowded bar
no one goes there anymore anyways
All she needs to do is get home
so she can sleep this off
then she’ll decide what she really wants to be.
But for now, she just needs a ride.
The footfalls fell without her notice
she was just too drunk to hear it
The next thing you know
her picture’s in the paper
and everyone’s wondering what happened to the girl next door.

The streetlights kept gleaming on the black asphalt

He was going downtown to have a good time.
It’s been a long day with a long shift and he’s tired of giving
them all the fake smiles.
Just one night out to clear his head and maybe it’ll all mean something tomorrow.
Standing outside that dark warehouse
where the music marched out like it knew which direction to walk down the street.
“If I just keep moving”, he said, “I just might find a way out of this place”.
So he took some pills from some kid who’s name started with an “S”.
and let it take him away to the tracks.
He didn’t feel anything when the whistle came calling.
but he didn’t have to get up for work the next day.

And the streetlights kept gleaming on the black asphalt.

He knew his mom wasn’t coming home today.
She went out looking for the man to fill her up.
She was running on empty.
So bored and alone with the sound of the rats in the walls.
No one even knew they lived there anymore,
They were thrown out months ago but the slumlord never bothered
to come down and tell them himself.
It was all cardboard and needles anyway.
So he took the stared down the chamber and took one last look
and knew he wouldn’t need to scrimp to make rent again.

And the streetlights kept gleaming on the black asphalt.

Streetlights on Asphalt by chilljam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at chilljam.com.
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Notes is a spoken word piece, speaking to those that forget the importance of music. As I’ve grown older, I’ve noticed people around me pay less and less attention to music in their lives; the passion for art and music dissipates over the years. When I was younger and I’d play a song I’d worked on for someone, they’d really pay attention to it. They’d find parts that they liked or disliked and give me real feedback on it. However, now, many times when I play something for someone, I can tell the passion for it is gone. They tell me “sounds good” or “I like it”, but I can tell they barely even registered listening to it.
So Notes is a piece that specifically speaks to these people who have forgotten what soul is. They spend so much time planning their lives that they forget about the things they enjoy about living in the first place.

As to the lack of music in Notes, I thought it was interestingly ironic to speak prose about those that forget the value of music without the accompaniment of music at all.

For those that forget the music,
I play these notes for you.

For those that forget the music,
I play these notes for you.

Notes by Chilljam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at chilljam.com.
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Inarticulate started with some ideas Neil put together and then Jeremy and I followed on by layering on top of his original mix. Lyrically, the song speaks to ideas brought up by Sonja Sohn at the most recent TEDx MidAtlantic. When I attended the event, Sonja’s final spoken word piece struck me particularly and stuck with me.
Her project, Rewired for Change, is a non-profit group attempting to help deter violent behavior in Baltimore by stepping in and helping people find ways to help understand and cope with the stress in their lives. In her speech, she specifically mentions poetry as a means of expression for these young people to help them understand themselves and their surroundings, which is something I often think of whenever I’m writing my own works.
In my eyes, violence is born of emotional misunderstanding. Those who go through difficult or disturbing experiences may have difficulty understanding the impact of these experiences. This internal misunderstanding can manifest itself in a multitude of ways, including violent behavior or depression. However, I feel that finding a way to express this internal conflict in poetry, music, visual art or other avenues of expression can help bring to light these concerns and help those experiencing pain to cope with it.

This is the core of what Inarticulate speaks to lyrically. Many people in crushing circumstances often feel that they can do nothing to compete with their environment. They don’t know how to see that there are ways out of pain or depression and into more positive circumstances. Inarticulate speaks to this and notes how something as simple as writing down your thoughts can help break you free of these constraints or at least understand them in a way that helps to reduce of the stress of them.

In a hail of gunfire
the fire she eats me
as it feeds me
and keeps me alive
I’m in a hive mind now
no way to escape
all this violence and rape
a cigarette to console me
they now own me
another serial number 
for the file.

I am inarticulate


Inarticulate by Chilljam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at chilljam.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://chilljam.com.

Thinking on warmer days, Glimmer and Radiate is a recording from our last outdoor patio recording at Neil’s house. Like Flowerpots, Neil is playing a selection of found objects from his shed and playing an interesting rhythm here along with Jeremy’s stop/start key stylings. Check out the lyrics I’m singing below the fold.

I am the source
my heart is the center
filling mazes in circles in a ripple
start from the beat and move
it’s splitting you apart
and together
and apart

glimmer and radiate
glimmer and radiate
glimmer and radiate


Glimmer and Radiate by Chilljam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at chilljam.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Http://chilljam.com.

King of Broadway is about the power of intoxication. It’s about going out with your buddies, getting drunk at the bar and wandering around in the streets as the night comes to a close. There’s often a mixture of emotions in this wasted state spanning from joy, to sadness to extreme anger, often directed at no one in particular. The song was a great jam and it was fun just screaming like crazy sometimes. In the mixdown, I added a mix of effects, slowly getting more intense as the song progresses, eventually collapsing into a massive train wreck of sound.

I’m so sloppy
I’m slipping through the streets
Drunk on rain drops
Slick with oil
I’m barrelling round corners
Looking to bowl down the people I pass
The world is mine and everyone else’s
Let’s go smell the roses
And then stomp them all down
Just because we can

Tonight I’m invincible
Nothing can stop me
Fueled up with rye and piss
Watch with bloodshot blurry furry
I can’t walk straight and I’ve got puke on my shirt
but I’m still king here

Bow to the king or I’ll fuck you up.

King of Broadway by Chilljam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at chilljam.com.
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This jam took place at our friend Tony’s house during the 2nd BiedenQue of the summer. Jeffrey Socha kicks off this funky jam off on the drums with the organ chopping through it while Matthew Hundley rips it up on the guitar. Joe feels the jam and fits his vocal style nicely with it..

BiedenQue Jam by chilljam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at chilljam.com.
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Last weekend, we got together for what likely was our last outdoor jam set of the year. Autumn is starting to show itself more confidently with each passing day so it may be tough to do any more nighttime patio session at Neil’s house as it gets colder.
It was a great session though, with quite a few great songs. I played a lot more acoustic guitar this time around and Neil even pulled out some goodies from his shed to play some unusual instruments. You’ll hear them in the coming weeks.
This week, we have Colors Like Alice, which is kind of an odd surreal song that I wrote the lyrics to after watching a British production of Through the Looking Glass. Unfortunately, the mix is a little off here as we were using a single microphone to record everything in the area together so it was difficult to mix down properly without separate tracks, but I think the outcome sounds pretty solid.

She shakes like rain.
She shakes like rain.
She shakes like rain.

I’m reading colors like Alice.

Colors Like Alice by Chilljam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at chilljam.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://chilljam.com.

I’ve been playing this game lately with a lot of Trance and Drum-and-Bass influenced music, and it’s reignited my interest in electronic music in general. My tool selection these days for putting together this kind of music is limited these days but it’s still fun to utilize what I have sometimes to throw things together. I also like warping sounds and making them sound unusual and finding ways to inject them into the music in a way that perhaps hasn’t been heard before.
Additionally, in this song, I approached the vocal parts in a different way. I sang sections of lyrics through the song but didn’t concentrate on enunciation or even being able to understand the lyrics through the music. In this song, I just wanted to work the vocals in as other instruments so I sang the track and ran heavy effects of parts of my voice to give it other textures and sounds. It was definitely a fun experiment to play around with.

Meeting Strangers by Chilljam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at chilljam.com.
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It’s funny that I discovered Liam Finn’s “I’ll Be Lightning” shortly after singing the lyrics to “I Am Lightning” in my basement. The two ideas weren’t meant to correlate but after listening to and enjoying Liam Finn’s work, I can see how they could be seen to work that way. In any case, this was just something I played around with lyrically. Jeremy laid down the melody lines over top in a similar manner to last week’s song, “Gather the Lines“.

I Am Lightning by Chilljam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at chilljam.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://chilljam.com.