- Title: Gourmet
- Artist: IPECAC
- Timespan: June-July 1988
- Theme: first full album
- Length: 42:07
- Tracks: 10
- Lyrics: 9
- MP3s: 10 play all locally
- Rating: **½ [2.5] (1 rating) rate this album
Track List
# | title | lyrics | time | download | listen | started | recorded | rating |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Intro Chatter | lyrics | 0:22 | download | listen locally | - | 1988-06-?? | * (1) |
2 | Trek (2) | - | 11:33 | download | listen locally | - | 1988-06-?? | *** (1) |
3 | Better Drumsticks | lyrics | 3:24 | download | listen locally | - | 1988-06-?? | *** (1) |
4 | The Corps of the Matter | lyrics | 3:57 | download | listen locally | - | 1988-06-?? | ** (1) |
5 | Fake Reggae | lyrics | 3:41 | download | listen locally | - | 1988-06-?? | ** (1) |
6 | Apostrophe Song | lyrics | 3:02 | download | listen locally | - | 1988-06-?? | *** (1) |
7 | Share, Peace, and Love | lyrics | 4:00 | download | listen locally | 1988-01-21 | 1988-07-?? | *** (1) |
8 | Trek (3) | lyrics | 6:44 | download | listen locally | - | 1988-07-?? | ** (1) |
9 | Share, Peace, and Love (2) | lyrics | 4:14 | download | listen locally | - | 1988-07-?? | *½ (1) |
10 | Outro Chatter | lyrics | 1:10 | download | listen locally | - | 1988-07-?? | * (1) |
Total | 42:07 | play all locally | album rating: | **½ (1) |
Notes
This was our first "serious" attempt at making music. We spent a few days writing songs separately and then recorded them together in my basement. We both liked the results and this time I saved the tape and created a cover for it.
We still called ourselves Apostrophe. After we finished the album, I discovered that Frank Zappa had an album called "Apostrophe". Since none of our friends and family thought our missing-audience reference was funny, we decided to change our name to something more obviously self-deprecating: IPECAC.
I created the tape cover after the name change. There might have been an earlier cover, but it probably sucked.
Songs
Intro Chatter
- Gourmet track 1
- Complete IPECAC track 3
- recorded: 1988-06-??
- length: 0:22
- Travis Emmitt - talking
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
Introductory chatter. It was part test, part joke. Like most of IPECAC.
Lyrics to "Intro Chatter":
TRAV: can you hear us out there? can you hear us? let me - let me hear you say "no". hey, I hear myself, and it doesn't echo. but I'm there. that's all that counts. this is Travis Emmitt. this, this, this, this, this, this... is a ffff... oh. hear that? comic relief!
Trek (2)
- Gourmet track 2
- Complete IPECAC track 4
- recorded: 1988-06-??
- other names: Trek
- length: 11:33
- Travis Emmitt - Casio CT-310, cornet, shrieks | wrote: music
- Jon Friesen - sax, percussion
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
This is the definitive version of "Trek". It's the first recording which contains all three sections: "God's Name", "Stop All Time", and "No Bull". I wrote out all the music by hand; it tooks me a few days to compose.
The first part ("God's Name") is painfully slow. Things pick up in the middle ("Stop All Time"). The last part ("No Bull") is okay; nothing special. Occasional bursts of static interrupt; I think the tape got damaged at some point.
But hey, I spent forever writing the thing, so we had to play it, right? Not only once, but three times (four if you count the short version on Apostrophe).
I'm pretty sure this was recorded after 1988-06-16, which is when I recorded my piano-only version of "Trek".
Also, although the tape cover says I played cornet, it sounds a lot deeper, more like a mellophone. Since I'm not sure, I'll trust the tape cover for now.
Better Drumsticks
- Gourmet track 3
- Best of IPECAC track 4
- Complete IPECAC track 5
- IPECAC Picks track 1
- recorded: 1988-06-??
- length: 3:24
- Travis Emmitt - Casio CT-310, vocals, tupperware | wrote: lyrics
- Jon Friesen - sax, vocals | wrote: music
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
Jon wrote the music, and I wrote the lyrics (which make fun of complainers). It's a sloppy shambles. For some reason we liked it enough to put it on Best of IPECAC as-is.
Jon's sleeve notes for the Kim Edition of Best of IPECAC:
Better Drumsticks (Jazz/Fusion riff)
This song demonstrates a special effect which involves speeding up the tape. You will notice the almost superhumanly fast tempo as well as the abnormally high pitch. The vocals were not accelerated, however.
I don't remember why we called it "Better Drumsticks". Maybe the implication was that if we got better drumsticks, we'd play more pointless percussion jams?
Jon and I traded off vocals in the second verse, which was kinda a neat effect. It was often hard to coax him to sing.
Lyrics to "Better Drumsticks":
VERSE: you want chivalry you lose women's rights you want faster days you get slower nights you want stonger arms you get longer fights you want more attention you get brighter lights you want smaller taxes we have larger debts you want fewer missiles they make stronger threats you want easy lives you'll have more regrets you want impossible dreams so that's what you get CHORUS: if you want a quick drug you'll get a life-long low if you want a quick drug you'll get a life-long low wooh BRIDGE: it's, it's so true you want chivalry you lost women's rights you want chivalry VERSE: you want chivalry you lose women's rights you want faster days you get slower nights you want stonger arms you'll get longer fights you want more attention you get brighter lights you want smaller taxes we have larger debts you want fewer missiles they make stronger threats you want easy lives you'll have more regrets you want impossible dreams so that's what you get CHORUS: if you want a quick drug you'll get a life-long low if you want a quick drug you'll get a life-long low END: wooh yeah look at him go
The Corps of the Matter
- Gourmet track 4
- Complete IPECAC track 6
- recorded: 1988-06-??
- length: 3:57
- Travis Emmitt - percussion, talking
- Jon Friesen - percussion, talking
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
This is a silly percussion improv. Jon picked the title. I had trouble pronouncing it. We both had trouble pronouncing our drum parts.
Lyrics to "The Corps of the Matter":
[spoken intro] TRAV: this is, hey, wooh! it's in stereo JON: it is? oh that's good TRAV: yeah, and it's our... JON: oh, are we in the right spot, oh? we might we recording over a good song TRAV: hmmm. we're in the right spot JON: oh, what tape is this? i mean, what tape are we recording on? TRAV: we're recording on the right tape JON: ok TRAV: ok, ready? this is our drum feature JON: ok TRAV: this is our drum feature and what do we call it? JON: uh, the corps of the matter, as in drum corps, you know TRAV: the corps of the manor JON: the corps of the matter ok, ready? TRAV: start us, jon [music starts] TRAV: wooh! yeah! hit it
Fake Reggae
- Gourmet track 5
- Complete IPECAC track 7
- recorded: 1988-06-??
- length: 3:41
- Travis Emmitt - percussion, talking
- Jon Friesen - percussion, talking
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
Not the most original title. It doesn't even have anything to do with the song, which is just percussion.
The only cool thing about this song is the ending. You can tell Jon and I were having a lot of fun! The glee in our voices tells you exactly why we were doing IPECAC, and why I have persisted in making [silly, noisy] music my entire life.
Lyrics to "Fake Reggae":
[intro chatter] TRAV: i think we need a break after this 1... this is our second one and it's called "fake reggae" JON: [???] TRAV: yeah. ready? start it [music starts] ???: wooh! yeah! TRAV: 1,2,3 [outro chatter] JON: wooh! yee-haw! TRAV: we gotta hear that!
Apostrophe Song
- Gourmet track 6
- Complete IPECAC track 8
- recorded: 1988-06-??
- other names: Apostrophe Theme Song, The Apostrophe Song, The Apostraphe Song, Apostrophe
- length: 3:02
- Travis Emmitt - Casio CT-310, cornet, vocals | wrote: lyrics
- Jon Friesen - sax, casio, vocals | wrote: music
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
Jon wrote the music, and I wrote the lyrics (which originally appeared on Trex's "Five Dollar Drummer").
This was supposed to be our theme song. I wrote it before we changed our name to IPECAC. We might have performed it before the name change as well.
I distinctly remember writing the lyrics while sitting in the auditorium of my sister's middle school. I was supposed to be listening to her choir concert or a fashion show or something like that. I was really bored.
Lyrics to "Apostrophe Song":
[spoken intro] TRAV: 1,2,3 1,2,3,4,5 and a half and another half makes six JON: take 8 this is serious in stereo [beat-box] we should be ready [music starts] VERSE: hear us ring see us swing all of us dancing the bong-a-long hear us sing see our zing 'postrophe crushin' 'cause we be king VERSE: hey don't ding the pots don't ding the pots please don't dent the bowls try to spare the box to spare the box look at the holes CHORUS: 'postrophe crushin' 'cause we be king 'postrophe crushin' 'cause we can sing 'postrophe crushin' 'cause we can rhyme 'postrophe crushin' all of the time VERSE: crushin' crushin' crushin' crushin' crushin' crushin' crushin' crushin' bustin' bustin' bustin' bustin' bustin' bustin' bustin' bustin' crushin' crushin' crushin' crushin' crushin' crushin' crushin' crushin' bustin' bustin' bustin' bustin' bustin' bustin' bustin' bustin' 'postrophe bustin' 'cause we got power 'postrophe bustin' 'cause it's our hour 'postrophe bustin' 'cause we can sing 'postrophe bustin' everything CHORUS: 'postrophe crushin' 'cause we be king 'postrophe crushin' 'cause we can sing
Share, Peace, and Love
- Gourmet track 7
- Complete IPECAC track 9
- started: 1988-01-21
- recorded: 1988-07-??
- other names: Share, Peace, Love
- length: 4:00
- Travis Emmitt - Casio CT-310, percussion, vocals | wrote: music, lyrics
- Jon Friesen - sax, percussion
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
This was my first "pop" song for IPECAC. I wrote the lyrics and music. I think we actually recorded this after Jon's version. I flubbed several of the lyrics. The music near the end is even worse.
My original version (with completely different music) was recorded for Trex.
Lyrics to "Share, Peace, and Love":
[spoken intro] TRAV: this is my version of "share, peace, and love" i wrote it on january 28th 1988 january 21st, and we've played this today [music starts] JON: wooh! yeah! TRAV: here we go, 1,2,3 VERSE: i just wanna have a good time i don't wanna know what is mine why can't the world just learn to share? it would eliminate war and make life so fair just think of a world full of peace all those confrontations would cease no more bombs would rake the earth no more children dead at birth CHORUS: we gotta share, make peace, and love we can't rely on aid from god above we need to talk, laugh, and sing but most of all we gotta learn to be free VERSE: instead of locking armies we'd lock lips each day we'd [mumble] take a million pleasure trips we'd kiss and hug for the rest of our lives who says we can't have four or five wives? the fear of death would soon be unfelt and the leaders' iron hearts would soon melt the shadow of war would be lifted from us all and we'd tear down with our hands that very last wall CHORUS: we gotta share, make peace, and love we can't rely on aid from god above we need to talk, laugh, and sing but most of all we gotta learn to be free VERSE: we'd be united, yet liberated emancipated, yes, all that and free we'd live together, sleep together so many things we'd see we'd leave [???] no enemies this far along and then we'd join everyone to sing my worldwide, worldwide, worldwide [song] CHORUS: we gotta share, make peace, and love we can't rely on aid from god above we need to talk, laugh, and sing but most of all we gotta learn to be free END: wooh! wooh! that's the style 'postrophe kickin' one more time gotta share, make peace, and love [???] [outro chatter] TRAV: look at him go a full 25 miles an hour
Trek (3)
- Gourmet track 8
- Complete IPECAC track 10
- recorded: 1988-07-??
- length: 6:44
- Travis Emmitt - Casio CT-310, cornet, percussion, talking | wrote: music
- Jon Friesen - sax, percussion, talking
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
This is the second full recording of "Trek". I don't remember why we put both versions on the same album. We probably recorded them a few weekends apart. I think this second version has overdubs, unlike the first one.
The intro is pretty painful. So's the first section, with all the instruments out of tune with each other. The "fast" middle part doesn't change tempo like it did in the previous version. The third part seems the best; there's more harmony. However, even that has lots of tuning problems.
Overall, this version is pretty lame. My grunting noises don't help.
Lyrics to "Trek (3)":
[spoken intro] TRAV: all right this is Travis and i'm here to say this is "Trek" no, but it's Travis, not Trek is this on? JON: uh, we're recording, so i'm gonna hit a tuning note ??? TRAV: 1, trek trek trek 1,2,3,4 [music starts] TRAV: hit it! ??? 1,2,3,4
Share, Peace, and Love (2)
- Gourmet track 9
- Complete IPECAC track 11
- recorded: 1988-07-??
- length: 4:14
- Travis Emmitt - Casio CT-310, cornet, percussion | wrote: music, lyrics
- Jon Friesen - percussion, vocals
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
Somehow I got Jon to sing his own version of "Share, Peace, and Love". You can barely hear him. Fortunately. (He had a lot of trouble sticking to the tempo and pitch).
We might have recorded this one first. I'm not sure, though.
It didn't appear on our original version of Gourmet. I added it years later when I found it on an old tape.
Lyrics to "Share, Peace, and Love (2)":
[spoken intro] TRAV: this is jon's, wait JON: no, no, no TRAV: this is jon's way of singing "share, peace, and love" JON: i'm not singing! TRAV: jon's version JON: are we/you recording? TRAV: i'm recording this is jon singing and if he doesn't sing, i'm gonna play the trumpet JON: oh, god, ultimatum TRAV: 1,2,3,4 [music starts] VERSE: i just wanna have a good time i don't wanna know what is mine why can't the world just learn to share? it would eliminate war and make life so fair just think of a world full of peace all those confrontations would cease no more bombs would rake the earth no more children dead at birth CHORUS: ??? love we can't rely on aid from god above we need to talk, laugh, and sing but most of all we gotta learn to be free VERSE: instead of locking armies we'd lock lips each day we'd take a million pleasure trips we'd kiss and hug for the rest of our lives who says we can't have four or five wives? the fear of death would soon be unfelt and the leaders' iron hearts would soon melt the shadow of war would be lifted from us all and we'd tear down with our hands that very last wall CHORUS: we ??? peace, and love we can't rely on aid from god above we need to talk, laugh, and sing but most of all we gotta learn to be free VERSE: we'd be united, yet liberated emancipated and free we'd live together and sleep together so many things we'd see we'd love each other, one another no enemies this far along and then we'd join everyone to sing my worldwide song CHORUS: we gotta share, make love and peace and love we can't rely on aid from god above we need to talk, laugh, and sing but most of all we gotta learn to be free ??? [scat] what are you doing ???
Outro Chatter
- Gourmet track 10
- Complete IPECAC track 12
- recorded: 1988-07-??
- length: 1:10
- Travis Emmitt - talking
- Jon Friesen - talking
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
More babbling. This is hilarious if you slow it down to half speed; it sounds like we're drunk! At normal speed, well, at least it ends quickly!
Lyrics to "Outro Chatter":
JON: yeah TRAV: which we haven't even written yet JON: right, but i'm working on it jonathon friesen and travis emmitt TRAV: yeah, ho!!! JON: ok, uh... TRAV: anything else? piano, piano JON: oh, piano TRAV: no JON: yeah TRAV: no, we haven't JON: hey, i've done keyboard too i'm a keyboardist too jonathon friesen but i'm not a bass player, basically TRAV: or a trumpet player JON: right, uh, but the piano, well, that's true, that's true TRAV: we haven't played piano JON: right right ok, no piano but if there is piano it will be travis emmitt or jonathon friesen TRAV: oh and you know the little voices, uh, the... JON: oh yeah done by our special technician, travis emmitt TRAV: but the voices are of two people JON: right TRAV: and those are mainly travis emmitt and jon friesen so this is sort of one-sided if, i mean the two people that get all the credit for this are... JON: travis emmitt TRAV: and jonathon friesen JON: but actually the whole minds of operation are sam cubic and sarah johnson thank you just kidding jonathon friesen and travis emmitt TRAV: i don't get that one JON: never mind; shut up! ok, you know it's one big happy family TRAV: one yeah, huge, you know, monsterous JON: two person good bye