the lion and the lamb

I've had this song kicking around for a while. I recorded it a few different ways, it just sort of wouldn't let me be. It means a lot to me in a way I don't quite know how to explain, or even understand

Beat Radio - The Lion and the Lamb (Mp3)

Oh, also, that first guitar solo thing sounds like the guitar solo from "So Bored" by Wavves. I swear I recorded it before I heard Wavves. Its funny, I thought maybe the song was different enough and I'd get a way with it, but I was rocking Wavves with my 6 year old son Jackson and he called me out on it the moment he heard it. So, whatever, I guess I'm like Coldplay to Wavves' Joe Satriani or something. Or maybe I'm more like Cat Stevens?

here are the lyrics:

in the morning i was walking where the ocean meets the land
i was thinking about the lion
i was thinking about the lamb
i guess i hoped you'd see the truth that i disguised inside these lines
i hoped that i could take your blues and make them mine

i'm feeling listless
i'm shiftless i don't know what to do
i've got no religion
but you
but times gonna change us
we're never gonna feel this way again
so lets let the candle
burn at both ends

i was caught up in the moment
i was safe inside the sound
i could see the castles burning
i didn't let it bring me down
but now my record players broken
and my blankets on the floor
and i can't tell which way i'm turning anymore

there was a moment
i wasn't feeling anything at all
i was the sound between heartbeats
i was the ghost in the hall
everything changes
when i was in the basement making noise
and my fears unraveled into joy

i used to think
i could go on this way forever now i know
it's now or never

i'm feeling listless
i'm shiftless i don't know what to do
i've got no religion
but you
but times gonna change us
we're never gonna feel this way again
c'mon let the candle
burn at both ends
there was a moment
i wasn't feeling anything at all
i was the sound between heartbeats
i was the ghost in the hall
everything changes
when i was in the basement making noise
and my fears unraveled into joy

i used to think
we could go on....

more tracks from Safe Inside the Sound here.

follow you around

I wrote this song with my good friend Evan Duby. At first we were going to use it for a side project we're starting up but it kind of felt like a beat radio song to me. Ev made the beat and put some noisy chords over it, i wrote the lyrics and the melody in about an hour. I've been getting sort of long winded and free wheeling with words lately, i like how this one is just really simple and direct. I recorded this song a few different ways, eventually i brought Dan Bills in to play all sorts of synth craziness. Dan also loaned me his harmonium, which has a pickup on it so i ran that through my old Guild Thunder Reverb tube amp to get that sound you hear at the beginning.

beat radio - follow you around (mp3)

here are the lyrics:
I'm still following ghosts I'm still racing around
I can't find my way home I got lost in the sound
But I would be a fool If I had to be a fool I would for you
And I would follow you around And make you see Your love is safe with me

I'm still faking my way through this life that we've made.
I'm still fighting the tide. Its not my fate to fade.
Even though that I would be a fool If I had to be a fool I would for you
And I would follow you around And make you see Your love is safe with me
And we belong together
we belong together
we belong together

more preview tracks from safe inside the sound can be found here.

memoir of a lightning bolt

i wrote this song walking around nyc last fall in those first few days after the economy suddenly went to shit. there was this wild frantic energy in the air like anyone you saw on the street could break out into tears at any moment. some strange black electricity in the air. like everything was a secret. it didn't matter much to me. i was broke before, i'd be broke afterwards. it got me thinking though, about what's important. like, what's really valuable?
beat radio - memoir of a lightning bolt (mp3)

here are the lyrics:
did you ask for forgiveness?
girl, are we still in business?
when he says that he loves you
do you feel like a mistress?
will you think of me sometimes?
when you're hiding from the sunshine?
are we following a secret code?
are we having a good time?
exiled on the east side
wind blowing in a minor key
what will you write about?
when you write about you and me?

i'm a miner for a heart of gold
getting ready to relapse
sleepwalking through the city streets
the economic collapse
sinking deeper in the concrete
sea typewriter of doom
memoir of a lightning bolt
violins in the bedroom
in a galaxy of sad eyes
with a legacy of wind and dust
what will you write about?
when you write about us?

shadow of a man, shadow of a man
hold out for a new romance
shadow of a man, shadow of a man
fall under an avalanche
shadow of a man, shadow of a man
it's much too late to turn back now

last chance for a good time
new clothes for the monarchy
what will you write about?
when you write about you and me?
in a galaxy of sad eyes
with a legacy of wind and dust
what will you write about?
when you write about us?

more preview tracks from safe inside the sound can be found here.

behind the blue

i already posted a demo of this song here. this version is pretty different though i think. dan bills played on this recording as well and i think brought alot to it. i got alot of the sounds using the korg kaossilator, which is a pretty amazing mini synthesizer thing. i got into writing really wild and freewheeling stream of conscious lyrics last year, and this song is one of my favorite of those, along with teenage anthem.
beat radio - behind the blue (mp3)
here are lyrics:
i heard the kick drum and the melody
but it doesn't compensate for company
so i threw out my confession like it was a mixtape of a memory
there's an exodus upon us now from the outside looking in
and it's a song about a super 8 a short story of a violin
and it's a long hard road ahead
i don't know what we're gonna do
but if you're holding out for me
i'll be holding out for you
at sunset there's a marching band that plays the requiem for radio
and the patron saint of electric light sings a song on the last stereo
me i'm singing with these sailors now your mother loves a man in uniform
when i was shipwrecked on the shoreline she was my shelter from the storm
and i won't forget the thing she said
it hit me like a bolt of blue
i hope you're holding out for me
cause i've been holding out for you
i'm in a place that i don't recognize
fighting in a civil war
and every night i close my eyes
and i feel more lonely than the night before
i wanna smash in every tv set to hear the wind come whistling through
i wanna cut through all the LCD's
i wanna see the blue behind the blue
i wanna graduate to more than just the sleepy crash of nine to five
i wanna be the one to show you how to feel a little more than just alive
when you were young you dreamed your dreams
some faded away and some came true
and if you're holding out for me i'll be holding out for you
i'll be holding out for you

more preview tracks from safe inside the sound can be found here.

green luxury condo

I guess in our own way, we're all looking for the holy land. This is the age of idealism, I think. No more just waiting for the next war. No more dark ships closing in. Wake up, wake up, little sparrow. Take responsibility for your dreams. Get up and get moving, or you fate may betray you.

beat radio - green luxury condo (mp3)

more preview tracks from safe inside the sound can be found here.

hard times for dreamers

I haven't written a song like this one for a long time. When I was 19 these were the sort of songs I wrote. I was always trying to write songs that felt like they've always been there. Like they already existed forever, and I just happened to be the one to find them at some random moment in time. I wrote this one with my sons in mind. The message is pretty simple, and its reminiscent of something my friend john and I were told in an encounter with a bowery bum in 2001: "Stick with it!"

beat radio - hard times for dreamers (mp3)

Also, I had my good friend Sarah come over and sing on this one, which was awesome.

Here are lyrics:
When the cold wind blows
We raise up our sails
When there is no wind we row
Hard times for dreamers
But our hearts prevail
And we shine that light
Everywhere we go
Hard times for dreamers
Burning the days
With these seasick sailors
And the castaways
Bedroom apostles
And the methadone strum
Magnolia blossoms
In the setting sun
When the cold wind blows
We raise up our sails
When there is no wind we row
Hard times for dreamers
But our hearts prevail
And we shine that light
Everywhere we go
For the bones of Brooklyn
I sang an elegy
For the apparition
And the cavalry
Farewell now, Romeo
Bye baby blue
Don't let these hard times
Get the best of you
And when the cold wind blows
We raise up our sails
When there is no wind we row
Hard times for dreamers
But our hearts prevail
And we shine that light
Everywhere we go

more preview tracks from safe inside the sound can be found here.

tompkins square park

i've neglected the blog a bit over the last month or so. about to make up for lost time. been busy. played first show in a while with new keyboard/synth doctor dan bills. also dragging brian v. back into the fold on drums and getting ready for a show in brooklyn next month. getting organized. here are some new pictures, took them in and around tompkins square park last week with mark kate, who is amazing. this is what i look like, when i'm not a cartoon robot. photos by Mary Kate Reardon.