Monday, December 20, 2010

The Velvet Teen - Elysium (2004) (1.0)



1 Sartre Ringo 3:33
2 Penicillin (It Doesn't Mean Much) 4:42
3 A Captive Audience 5:56
4 Chimera Obscurant 12:50
5 Poor Celine 6:18
6 Forlorn 4:05
7 We Were Bound (To Bend The Rules) 7:42
8 (Untitled) 1:26




two eyes doesn’t mean double vision
i never questioned this stance but now
i’ve been seeing things
i can hear a voice in the distance
trying to turn my attention to their truth
someone’s moving behind the curtain
i point it out to my friends
but they don’t see a thing
i just keep my synaptic active
to prepare for the day that they do
cos this ain’t how it ends
and they’ll say*
let’s hear it
for the post-moderation
for tolled salivation
who cares so much about these things
availed denomination
the ‘so shall’ domination
*now i think it’s funny i feel distant
i’d run away if it’d make any difference
i’d look up my childhood crushes
but they’ve all have their own children since
and even if their hearts tarnish
they've gold wedding bands to hide the green
pearly gates to show from her past or his mouth
he too bears the burden of a bulbous belly
yeah, yeah, i know, i know this veil ain’t real
and still it never fails to fall or send me reeling
i awaken to the same ceiling
and i can’t seem to shake this sick feeling

i don’t need surgery to keep my smile fixed
ever confidant, never nervous
for i feel nothing
i work hard and come from a respected family
we take care of each other, we do
we won’t live until we shed this skin
oh, to be free again
a vestige interest in the instrumental moment
you’ll know it when
now all the pieces keep falling faster
your letters spelling disaster
i wish i was in paris getting plastered
cos all this masquerading’s started my façade fading
turned my quiet heart to hating
whatever
it is that we’ve been waiting for (it)
when they’ll say*
let’s hear it
for drained health and elation
brain cell annihilation
who cares so much about these things
pupil dilation
more light to the patient
*that every word that i’m speaking
will poison the chance that you’re listening
i know that you think you’d be missing out
with an answer
that we can’t make out or make up
but even if we black out and break up
it’s just a breath ‘fore we’re looking back, laughing out
cos every end’s a beginning, beggin' to get back in
you know i’ll come around, if you just let me sleep in
with each wave more violent than the last
i’ll keep my thoughts silent till they pass
we’re not ready yet
they’ll say you’ve got to build your tolerances now and then
make your heart a callus with thicker skin
i just can’t seem to shake this (sic) fealing

the more they interfere to forestall me
the clearer i hear her calling me, calling me
i must have struck a nerve cos someone’s following me
i pull over to the shoulder of the freeway
my history profiled on the licensed registry
the shepherd keeps a careful eye on his personal inventory
saying we’re the same

so come on, child, you’ve slept enough
and i know you’re tired but i’m waking you up
there is much to be done, and we’re right on the cusp
of this shit getting real, i’m mean really, really fucked
every sheep for the shearing waiting around non-plussed
trading branding irons for brand-name cuts
we were born in labor, baptized in dust
given life anew as a living trust
with every hair numbered and cross-referenced
for each soul they claim to save, they have added interest
with a price on your head, what you think matters not
every credit card statement, every lie you’ve bought
rates our exchanged faith for the next fiat
on the blotter paper, the blood don’t clot
it just bleeds you dry and then leaves you to rot
in a dead end job till at last you drop
into this old noose, with the rope drawn taut
left with your hands bound so they’ll never be caught
you may sabotage our education
to a calculated chaos born of confusion
a controlled market through the inflation
truly euthanasia to waste on the young
but, we’ve caught you now, and we’re cutting your funds
we outnumber you over a million to one
it’s a sharp weapon, but the point’s left blunt
there’s no skill to the game, no challenge to the hunt
with each target deaf, blind, and reticent
got your ducks in line for the same false front
cos when free will costs even ten percent
false tongues speak lies over catholic hunts
from the cathepsin to the cathexis
i’ll bear the stigmatic focus of the anti-catechist
with each catalytic pill slowly slitting my wrists
so when i raise my hand, see my bloody fist
may have killed brain cells, but i’ve kept my wits
and i'd rather go sooner to have known and said this
i’ve peaked at the end, where the answer sits
all the rest is just problems and more questions
hear the classes getting loud and the teacher getting pissed
in the end this pattern goes 666
soon my name’s showing up on every government list
free speech shouldn’t cost, let alone be a risk
so when i die young, it’ll prove me right
cos it won’t be pills, swear it won’t be the knife
no matter how hard it gets, i’m in this for life
and i’m never giving up till we make things right
god gave me this voice, so i can’t stay quiet
they can’t kill this love, i’ll come back to fight
to return each star and remove each stripe
from each prism cell, we’ll refract the light
to reveal each move, catch the thieves in the night
make them share what’s left and return our rights
though it may still shine from a hormone diet
this knowledgeable fruit’s grown overripe
and robbed his breath, birth absorbed he
when the planets line up, every eye shall see
that this invite-only disparity party
has brought enough despair to the already broken-hearted
in the wake of greed, in the name of flow-charting
leaving broken-homes where once were gardens
see it’s our pale horse that we’re riding in on
bringing pestilence as a plague of love
with hell at our heels and heaven catching on
it’s the hanged man, it’s the crux fiction
it’s the pentagram, it’s the pentagon
it’s david’s star, it’s the pyramid song
what was once upright
now is upside down
and isaiah, it’s a revelation
2368, 2701
means a way out
and if i can, you know i’m bringing everyone

A friend of mine on rateyourmusic told me to check this record out on multiple occasions, and I have gradually been doing so the past couple of months. And I have really been enjoying it more and more.

There's a sad, emotional quality with a lot of it. The expression in the vocals and the use of strings and some other chamber instruments. It kind of reminds me of The Antlers or Ours in some ways, almost if you stripped away their guitars and the emphasis on falsetto vocals, but added a lot of piano and strings.

Amidst all the end-of-year stuff of late, this record along with 1 other that I should be talking about soon in this blog, have come into my play-list and impressed me a lot. Just because it's the end of the year, doesn't mean I'm going to ignore good music, no matter when it was originally released.

I probably will be playing this a fair amount in the near future (I just ordered a copy of this disc off Amazon) but of course I cannot help but wonder what the rest of their music is like.