albums
Underway
2006 Wonday
Compilations
1993 Songs to Sleep By
1997 Songs to Sleep By 2
2002 Sunday Sampler
2002 Dad's Picks
1999 Mix 1 (sy55)
2010 Mix 2 (triton vocal)
2010 Mix 3 (triton instr.)
SY55
1991 Archives
1992 College Collection
1993 College Collage
1994 The Hermit
1997 Where's My Muse
1999 South or Southeast
Triton
2001 In the Margins
2002 Renewal
2002 Re-treat
2002 Convenience
2002 Back Up
2003 So So
2003 So On
2003 So Long
2003 Baby Steps
2003 Baby Talk
2004 Schmocial
2004 Brroom
2004 Chuckadee
2004 Disco Hike
2004 Extra Extra
2005 Coma Pill
2005 Ourboretum
2005 Jaminy
2005 Padden Drift
2005 Gorilla Love
2005 Aminals
2005 Vegibles
2006 Fruitine
2006 Dignored
2006 Miner
2006 Mouseculine
2006 Yata
2007 Zipit
2007 Sixawon
2007 Halfdosin
2007 Whatcom Home
2008 What Roses
2008 Pho Kit
2008 Composed Pile
2009 Decomposed Pie
2009 Swaddlicious
2010 Lost Train
Soft Synths
2011 Out the Margins
2011 Redebut
2011 Reprogression
2012 Working Progress
2013 Tripico
2014 Aerosol Concrete
2015 Reduced to Clear
2016 Motions
2017 The Walking Dad
2018 Mockolate
2019 Still Testing
2020 Slow Wins Teddy
2024 Battle of the E-Bands
  • Title: Slow Wins Teddy
  • Artist: Tripecac
  • Timespan: 2020
  • Theme: slow and steady
  • Length: 65:02
  • Tracks: 8
  • Lyrics: 5
  • MP3s: 8 play all locally
  • Rating: (none) rate this album

Track List

# title lyrics time download listen started recorded rating
1 The Golden Mullet lyrics 9:28 download listen locally 2020-02-13 2020-05-25 (none)
2 The Molten Gullet lyrics 8:38 download listen locally 2020-06-02 2020-06-29 (none)
3 Inversion Lair lyrics 11:29 download listen locally 2020-07-20 2020-08-10 (none)
4 Version Err - 3:00 download listen locally 2020-08-11 2020-08-18 (none)
5 To Slow lyrics 5:09 download listen locally 2020-08-25 2020-09-16 (none)
6 Or Not to Slow lyrics 10:17 download listen locally 2020-10-12 2020-11-09 (none)
7 All Mow Stun - 12:05 download listen locally 2020-11-16 2020-12-14 (none)
8 Duhn - 4:56 download listen locally 2020-12-15 2020-12-17 (none)
Total 65:02 play all locally album rating: (none)

Notes

2020. It's like 9/11 for the next generation. A very long, slow 9/11.

"Where were you in 2020?"

"At home."

"Really? Me too."

"Yep."

"So... yeah..."

"Okay, gotta go now."

"All right, see ya."

Yep, that's about how connected, creative, and fun the rest of the world seemed this year.

For us, it was a little different, since we only had a month of lockdown and a few weeks of (not rigorously enforced) social distancing and hand sanitiser. Our trip to Italy was cancelled, but we were lucky to have Mom and Dad visit early in the year, before COVID really kicked off. The rest of the year was pretty much business as usual, except for a lack of tourists, one or two closed restaurants, and the relentless tide of bad news from overseas.

Finding time for music was tricky, especially with the girls stuck at home for lockdown and again whenever they had a sniffle or cough. Still, I managed to squeeze out enough (long) songs for the annual Tripecac album.

The music starts off sassy and juvenile (perhaps rebelling against the restrictive, fearful feelings of early 2020), but by the end of the year, when COVID-19 was not really a "thing" for us anymore, the music had settled back into its usual calm instrumental groove. Enjoy the good bits, and please excuse the rest!

Songs

The Golden Mullet

This song took forever to finish, thanks to a little "infectious agent" with a (golden?) mullet/crown. Yeah, I know, it's a forced analogy, but I actually wrote the idea down long before COVID-19 was a thing.

My hair was a thing then, though. Boy, it was a thing. It isn't anymore now. Thankfully.

Lyrics to "The Golden Mullet":

the golden mullet
so proud of it    

the golden mullet
never cut it    
  

The Molten Gullet

I picked the title before anything else. Can you tell?

I was eating a peanut butter sandwich when I recorded the vocals. Can you tell?

They were improvised. Can you tell?

Lyrics to "The Molten Gullet":

ah ah ah ah 
ee ee ee ee
ah ah ah ah 
uh uh ee ee
    
in the molten gullet    
in the molten gullet    
in the molten gullet    
in the molten gullet    

i can talk with my mouth full
  but it's not polite to talk with your mouth full  
but i can sing with my mouth full
  but it sounds really bad when you sing with your mouth full
    
d d d d down it d d down it goes
  in the molten gullet    
g g g g gulp it stop don't pick your nose
  in the molten gullet    
  
d d d d down it d d down it goes
  in the molten gullet    
g g g g gulp it stop don't pick your nose
  in the molten gullet    

boom 
boom goes the microwave
and ring 
ring goes the refrigerator when you have to put it out on the deck

boom boom boom boom boom 
  in the molten gullet    
ring ring ring ring ring 
  in the molten gullet    

boom boom boom boom boom 
  what is a molten gullet anyway?
ring ring ring ring ring 
  
hiss like a ferengi 
  hiss hiss
hiss like a ferengi 
  hiss hiss

we're gonna hiss like a ferengi 
  hiss hiss
and p--- like a klingon
  ha ha ha

[klington scat]

in the molten gullet 
  in the gullet
in the molten gullet 
  in the gullet

through the wormhole

my oh my

through the wormhole

klingon scat
i wrote down klingon
i stepped in klingon scat
i accidentally made the food replicator create a smoothie made of klingon scat
  
that's awful
  

Inversion Lair

Inversion layer, yeah, we get it, Trav...

The lyrics don't line up with the song title, but oh well.

At least it's long! And in 2020, long trumps everything!

Lyrics to "Inversion Lair":

it's inverted... lair
it's converted... where
it's deserted... there
disconcerted... share

  makes no sense

we were diverted there
on a perverted dare
to the deserted lair 
of an alerted bear

  oh this sucks

that's the best that you can do?
that's the best that you can do?
that's the best that you can do?
that's the best that you can do?

  ok give it a rest

we were inverted
we were inverted
we were inverted
we were inverted

  what did that sound come from?
  that was odd
  it's like a ray of sunshine
  gloomy emo sunshine
  sunshine sunshine
  mister sunshine
  i missed ya sunshine

i missed ya sunshine
i missed ya sunshine
i missed ya sunshine
we missed ya sunshine

we missed ya sunshine
we missed ya sunshine
we missed ya sunshine
we missed ya sunshine

  crash
  crash
  crash king
  crash king
  
ok i'm out of ideas
someone stop the song
ok i'll have to do it myself
here goes

well that was harsh
you killed it
meanie

but the sunshine lives
but the sunshine lives
but the sunshine lives
but the sunshine lives

mr sunshine lives
mr sunshine lives
mr sunshine lives
mr sunshine lives

  hooray 
  he's alive
  happy happy happy
  alive to fight another day

mr sunshine lives

  hooray all 3 of them are alive
  alive to argue another day
  and another day
  and another day

  hooray
  i am mr sunshine  
  with the golden mullet
  and the molten gullet

hi
how ya doin'

what's this song about anyway?  i forget

  me too 
 
    me three

but with the proper reverb
everything
and i mean everything
sounds profound
  
  sounds profound
  sounds profound
  sounds profound
  sounds profound

this is the profound sound of the joseon underground
this is the profound sound of the joseon underground
this is the profound sound of the joseon underground
this is the profound sound of the joseon underground

  hi 
  how ya doin'
  
    i'm fine how are you
    i'm fine how are you
    i'm fine how are you
    i'm fine how are you

this is the profound sound of the
this is the profound sound of the
this is the profound sound of the
this is the profound sound of the

  profound profound profound
  profound profound profound
  profound profound profound
  profound profound profound

this is the profound sound of the inversion layer
this is the profound sound of the inversion layer
this is the profound sound of the inversion layer
this is the profound sound of the inversion layer

  inversion layer
  inversion layer
  inversion layer
  inversion layer

enough


no
it's back
it's back
it's back
it's back

no
enough
  

Version Err

Ok, this was a 100% improv, no planning or looping whatsoever. I basically pressed "go" 4 times (once for each instrument) and recorded whatever popped into my head during that one and only take. Later, I cleaned up the obviously bad notes, but I didn't do any looping or additional recording.

So, if my fingers had hit the keys correctly in the first place, this is what would have come out.

Impressed?

Me neither.

It sounds like bad, and I mean really bad, 80s jazz/synth/lounge music. Imagine the Anchovies playing in the downstairs hallway of the Omni. Awful, awful, awful!

Jon would probably have nothing to do with this, of course! So all the blame would fall on me! :) :) :)

No, wait! Actually, I take it back! This was Allen's idea! Yeah, that's right! It's an Allen Foster Production!!!

Case closed.

To Slow

That last song was really rushed, and it certainly shows. Should I slow down, or keep up the hasty pace in order to finish enough songs this year? Quantity or quality? To slow or not to slow?

The lyrics are improvised, and completely fictional. Well, mostly.

The final melodic improve was purely accidental, and ended up sounding like the theme from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", which we had watched recently.

Lyrics to "To Slow":

i i i i i'm ready to go
but you're too slow

ah no, you're too slow
ah no, you're too slow
ah no, you're too slow
ah no, you're too slow

so we took a walk 
around the block
or at least i wanted to 
'cause when i turned round
you were sitting on the ground
tying your shoe

  and i said:   come on, let's go
and you said: oh no, hold your horses

  and i said:   i'm ready to go; how 'bout you?
and you said: i'm sitting here tyin' my shoe

  and i said:   i haven't thought of the next line  
                (oh good one trav)
and you said: well, i'm slow so you've got time
                (you've got time)
                
  and i said: i'd rather spend that time doing something productive
                (like playing computer games)
and you said: i don't know what rhymes with productive
                (conductive, reproductive?)
              but you're slowing me down by breathing down my neck
              
  and i said: did you know that you used the word down twice in the same sentence
and you said: i'm almost done tying my shoe
  and i said: i'm not sure i want to go on a walk with you
and you said: fine, i'll just stay here 
  and i said: fine, i'll see you later
and you said: fine, i just need to take off my shoe
              but it's stuck
  and i said: what the

what the    
what the    
what the    
oh what the
ha ha ha ha 
oh this is awful
next time write it down

ah no, you're too slow
ah no, you're too slow
ah no, you're too slow
ah no, you're too slow

  i i i i i'm ready to go
  but you're too slow
  

Or Not to Slow

Woah boy, this is wild! I missed a Monday in the beginning (due to school holiday) and when I got back to the school I was surprised at how weird this sounds. Especially the vocal effects. Nice!

Lyrics to "Or Not to Slow":

[scat]

this is so dumb
and it slows me down too
this is so dumb
and it slows me down - how about you?

does it slow you down?
does the song slow you down?
is it like getting stuck in glue
does it slow you down too?

  this is so dumb
  this is so dumb
  this is so dumb
  this is so dumb

down d-d-down ...

ha ha ha forget that
next idea
pull the next idea out of the hat dear assistant
oh god it's an improv now


i can't sing and i can't play
i can't do anything very well today
i can't think, i can't do
i'm just trying to duck away from you

  dumb dumb dumb dumb...

i can't rhyme, i don't have time
this is bad

  dumb dumb dumb dumb...
  give me some chewing gum

i should have listened to dad
i should have listened to dad
i i i
don't quit your day job son he said

  b-b-b-b-b-bad
  b-b-b-b-b-bad
  b-b-b-b-b-bad
  chewing gum

should've listened to dad
ha ha ha ha
should've listened to dad

  don't quit your day job son
  don't quit your day job son
  don't quit your day job son
  or you're gonna have to go on the run

oh
should've listened to dad

  don't quit your day job son
  don't quit your day job son
  here's some dishwashing money
  spend it on something lucrative

but i threw everything i had into this
peak freak overdrive effect

  overdrive
  
mortgaged the house  
mortgaged the children
and put everything into this one effect box
hoping that i would create a song that would do it justice

but the sad thing is
it's a virtual effect box
and it came free
so i got suckered

so i got suckered

  free free free free...

to slow or not to slow
to slow or not to slow
do i go or do i not go?
ha ha ha

to slow or not to slow
to go or not to go
not
not

  free free free free...

oh god
oh god
god
god

  not free, not free, not free..

  jesus


this is so dumb
and it slows me down too
this is so dumb
and it slows me down - how about you?

does it slow you down?
does the song slow you down?
is it like getting stuck in glue
does it slow you down too?

  this is so dumb
  this is so dumb
  this is so dumb
  this is so dumb

down d-d-down ...

  

All Mow Stun

This started as a very long multi-track improv. I made it even longer, trying to minimise the use of loops.

It inches me closer to finishing the album.

But doesn't really add much to the "pantheon".

Not even panting, since there are no vocals.

Sigh.

Actually, no sighing either.

Duhn

This track was a last-minute, rushed-out effort to give the album a sense of conclusion.

I wanted something dark (to reflect the global events of the year) but also catchy (to reflect the amount of fun we ended up having anyway). Hopefully it worked in capturing the "feel" of 2020 from our perspective.

Even if it doesn't work, at least it's short. Actually, that should be in air quotes: "short". Relative to most of the other songs, at least.

Hmm. Maybe I should have called it "Duhm".