Tripecac - Songs to Sleep By

This was "Trek (2)" (from Gourmet) with my commentary over it. I was introducing the first Songs to Sleep By album.

This was "Better Drumsticks" (from Gourmet) plus some comments at the end introducing the next song.

This was a shortened version of "Apostrophe Song (2)" (from Best of IPECAC) plus some comments at the very end.

This was a short version of "Five Through Night" (from Leaping Leper Limousine) plus a lot of commentary.

This was a slightly truncated version of "Tunes from the Bottle" (from Fake Reverb 2) plus some comments at the beginning and end.

This was a truncated version of "Downpour" (from Live at Carnegie Hall) plus some comments at the beginning and end.

This is a sped-up excerpt from the opening "Chatter (1)" on The Party. There's no extra comments. It's here for ambience only.

This was a sped-up version of "Anchovy Rock (2)" (from The Party). There's no extra comments, but it's interesting to hear how the energy level is increased thanks to the sped-up effect.

This was a sped-up and shortened version of "Fish Time (2)" (from Master Practice 2) plus comments in the beginning, middle, and end.

This was a sped-up, shortened version of "Christmas in Cancun (2)" (from Master Practice 2) plus some comments at the beginning.

More chatter, this time before the final Master Anchovies song on Songs to Sleep By. I decided not to record on top of any more songs because their sound quality was getting better. Lots of "uh"s. I was probably multi-tasking.

The chorus is more established compared to the one at The Party. For some reason Jon didn't sing his two little parts. The solos are nice, though.

My vocals are light, not too worn out. I extended "his" a long time but didn't shriek it. Not a bad way to end our first [recorded] practice of 1990.

This separated the Anchovies songs from the Tripecac songs on Songs to Sleep By. It also served as an introduction for "All My Love" (from Archives).

This is my favorite song on the Archives album. It's very bouncy and sassy (if you listen to the lyrics).

The words came straight from a break-up letter. I thought it'd be funny to put these super-negative words to bright, poppy music, so I did.

Was I right about the dark/light juxtaposition being "funny"? I don't know. It's certainly a theme that stuck with me. I'd take a really dark topic, and make fun of it by adding peppy music. Many of the songs on The Hermit and Aminals are like that. This song was my first "success" with the formula. It encouraged me to keep doing it.

I censored the really bad parts, even though I didn't write them. I'm trying to keep this site [relatively] free of profanity. Enjoy the tune!

This was a quick intro to "The Dairy Poops" (from College Collection).

I wrote this for my then-girlfriend Beth, who was lactose intolerant. The voice in the beginning is from the end of the Voice Mail that she left me. The music is catchy and the lyrics are funny, if a little gross.

The intro states that the song is about Jon, but it's actually not. It's a fictional story about posessiveness.

Not many people said they liked this song when I first recorded it. Perhaps it sounded too much like a "conventional" pop-song. I always liked it, though; it's probably my favorite song on the album.

The date is approximate. I know it preceded "Numb (live)", which was recorded on 1993-01-03, and I'm pretty sure I wrote it in 1993.

I couldn't fit "The Flop" on the first side of Songs to Sleep By, so I picked a very short song: "IPECAC is Dead". I introduced it here. For some reason I didn't include it on the track listing for the tape.

This little ditty is a belated funeral dirge for IPECAC, which had disbanded in 1990. I think my hope was to finally "put the lid on IPECAC's coffin" so that I wouldn't write any more songs about Jon or my old music. That's ironic, because the number of songs about Jon (and the rest of the Master Anchovies) dramatically increased over the next couple of years.

The shaker was one of the few pieces of acoustic percussion in Tripecac. I don't remember what I used for it.

This is about behaving crude and immature as a way of getting attention without seeming pretentious, although one could argue that a 20-year-old acting like a 10-year old is pretentious. This "regressive behavior" had been a habit of mine for a long time and was, I felt, just as immature as the fashion-babies in "Funny Head".

Some of the lyrics are pretty disgusting if you pay attention, but their juvenility is part of the story.

This was a super-quick intro to the Band in the Land of the Anchovies (BITLOTA) songs on College Collage. These songs ate up most of the second half of Songs to Sleep By.

This kicks off the The Band in the Land of the Anchovies (BITLOTA) mini-album, which includes the rest of the songs on this CD.

In this song, our band (the Master Anchovies) orders pizza. Somehow we get eaten by Anand's cat (Mimi). We wake up in a strange land...

This is an instrumental "panorama". It tries to establish a "deep", mysterious mood, which clashes with the rest of the BITLOTA songs, since the story and music are so silly and hyper.

The ambient noises are Beth and I rustling papers and talking quietly in the background. It may have been intentional, but I probably just accidentally left a microphone on during recording.

This is just my reading of part of the story. It's on here for anyone who's actually interested in the plot. Hello? Hello???

This is probably the most "complex" song I have written, in terms of time signature, instrumentation, and lyrics.

There's some bad distortion on this recording, which turned me off to the song as a whole. In 2002 I found an earlier, less distorted version ("Anand's Journey (original)"), which is now included as a bonus track.

Anyway, the distortion on this particular recording really annoyed me. I also wasn't happy with the "flow" of the music; it seemed awkward. As as result, I think I developed an aversion to "intentional complexity", not just in music but in all forms of creativivity and behavior in general.

This returns to the "safe and easy" pop-reggae-funk formula in which I feel most comfortable. It was a reaction against the clunky complexity of "Anand's Journey".

This touches base with easy-listening jazz, which is my other "safe and easy" genre. It's a gentle and pretty little tune. However, like "The LoveFish", it seems out of sync with the rest of the BITLOTA songs.

This returns to the story of about Allen and Luke, which gave me an excuse to write another pop-reggae-funk song (since it was their "theme").

The lyrics describe the silliest scene in the play, in which jock strap testers hurl themselves against a brick wall as a means of testing their protective equipment.

This is told from the perspective of Luke, who is Australian. Hopefully this explains my lame fake accent. In the story, we're approaching a climactic confrontation. Not that anyone cares.

This was my first attempt to actually sing like a "normal" person. The music was funky enough for me to not feel self-conscious while I was recording the vocals. Upon listening to it later, however, I think I felt like I'd been pretentious.

Strange bit of trivia: I received an email in late 2004 from a guy who saw the lyrics to "The Battle" on the internet. He wanted to hear the song. I uploaded the mp3. He thanked me and said "the song was good". So far, that's my only piece of anonymous fan mail.

This is similar in spirit to "IPECAC is Dead". It's like a goofy smile, intending to dispel any airs of pretentiousness.

This is my favorite BITLOTA song. The refrain at the end got stuck in my head for days (make that years). To this day I can still distinctly remember the evening after I finished recording the song (and album) and was jogging to Beth's dorm in a triumphant mood. At the time, I felt it was my best song yet.

I wanted to end the album on a silly note, so I recycled a bit from "Gonna Die Today". I think this was the first time I ever used a "reprise" to finish an album.

These comments ended the 1993 version of Songs to Sleep By, except for the final song ("Christmas in Cancun 2"), which was a bonus track.

This is musically unrelated to "Christmas in Cancun", which I wrote for the Master Anchovies. The only thing they have in common is that I wrote them right before (or after) trips to Cancun.

I had emailed the Dead Anchovies that I was going to write a second song about Cancun. These lyrics are directed at them (Allen, Anand, and Luke). I was just basically bragging about going to Cancun while they stayed home. Pretty simple[minded] stuff.

People liked it. A lot. This was my first "hit" song (among my friends). I got tons of positive feedback for it and many people actually requested copies of it. It was a nice dose of encourage, a good way to end the year.