1. |
False Metal
02:55
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I wrote a song about boxing
but I'm better at avoiding a fight
I never gave or received a punch
and I'm singing songs about freedom
on the cheapest PA I could find
made in some sweatshop
with no way out and no break for lunch
there's no need to give myself a bloody eye
I don't want my family exposed
great job O sweatshops of America
with your fitness apps and your CO2
and malarial outbreaks in Malibu
and my kid in the camps
and a guard with a gun staring past her
and he's listening to false metal
I'm recording songs about rebellion
in an attic that I rent from a friend
in a lowkey utopian ethnostate
and we're both a bit uneasy
but it's better for us both if we wait
or do nothing
there's no parallel parking in hell
there's no need to give ourselves a hernia
the real heavy lifting's for the young
it's alright, we've done enough, let's go to sleep
yeah we've won the right to get import booze
and cartel cocaine and organic shoes
and a guarantee
of immunity from disaster
while we're listening to false metal
I see the sunlight in the window
and a pile of my passed-out friends
under the ruins of an upturned couch
I went outside and started walking
to the gas station next to the house
because there's no more time
and the power's out
the fake priest sold napalm to the bourgeoisie
while the fake proletariat got stoned
on expensive weed they bought with Face ID
and if nothing's real, then we get to choose
it's the end of time on a Carnival cruise
or a warehouse job and a blunt force bruise
or a nuclear war, or a great refusal
to call us dumb, you can tell us to leave
but the coward's favorite word's naive
it's endless grief
or a face tattoo of an Oreo
and false metal
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2. |
Rojava Punks
02:59
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I took the early train
the Brussels ICE
two Rojava punks
sat across from me
one had the gleaming eyes
of a new recruit
and returned my wary gaze
with a smile and a fake salute
and then we drifted off
they had something that I recognized
and that makes me scared
they said nothing but I read their eyes
and I had a dream about a bomb at night in Maine
ÉLAN VITAL
I must've slept too long
and I missed my stop
and these Rojava punks
suggested we all get off at once
they took me in on trust
they let me crash their house
because they see no distinction
between a civilian and them
and then I feel it
there's no chance for a change in the weather
in the time it takes to make a fist
keep it up until the world gets better
but we hope we're never careless or arrogant
NEVER
Rojava punks
on a training run
Rojava punks
empty stadium
Rojava punks
yellow red and green
I woke up to see
two empty seats
across from me
but now I feel it
there's no chance for a change in the weather
in the time it takes to rule
without you
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3. |
Freeway in Heaven
04:12
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Jan came to pick us up
in his new convertible
and we drove straight out to the beach
the sun charged the batteries
on Lena's GPS
we laughed at its accent
and its stupid mistakes
but its intentions were good
and I guess that matters
looking out from eight miles up
the pilot checks her flight plan
sees a backwards
unexploded
inverted
star
and no one on the freeway in heaven
and no one in the bicycle lane in heaven
and everybody losing their minds
because no one's on the freeway in heaven
and no one's in the bicycle lane in heaven
and no one hears the sirens go off
because we're all in our houses asleep
this was protected land
but God built an arsenal
and now there's a hole in the beach
so we found another beach
three exits down
our parents named us after
not a goddamned thing
but their intentions were good
and I hope that matters
looking up we see a light
flash three times every second
in a line with other lights
which also flash
decide
dirty cops or allied ghosts
or satellites reflected
either way we're
unexploded
inverted
stars
and no one's on the freeway in heaven
and no one's in the bicycle lane in heaven
inflation's getting out of control
but the money's fake so no one cares
and no one's on the freeway in heaven
and no one's in the bicycle lane in heaven
and no one hears the sirens go off
and no one should
because everybody's free
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4. |
Communists in Luxury
03:38
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expect a long delay
in line on judgment day
I'd try to help but I have to work an extra shift
so I braved the boring dawn
and we all got omicron
and no one cares, but they'll live to regret it
when we mass quit
we're communists in luxury
whether we know it or not
we all inherited compressed ideals
that don't make any sense
now we can live it up
becoming communists in luxury
demanding better in the actual/material
you waste our money on the metaverse
we build a cultural time bomb
our friend was acting weird
one day she disappeared
locked her account, said goodbye, and made one last post
it read: "DEAR SUBCOMMITTEE BOSS
WE ARE AN ALBATROSS
AND YOU'RE A NECK
WE'RE A DEAD BIRD SCREAMING
THAT YOU'RE A PSYOP
a tide of communists in luxury
is washing over every hedonistic holdout
our lack of certainty is no excuse
for nihilistic dread
demand utopia
committed communists in luxury
no one imagined we'd be winners in the long run
but a wave of communists in luxury's
a realistic threat
I called that friend from back home
when she answered the phone, she said:
"IS OUR FEAR OVERBLOWN
SHINING FLASHLIGHTS AT DRONES
AS THEY CIRCLE OVERHEAD?
WE DESCEND FROM A LINE OF HUMANISTS.
WE REJECT THE DECLINE
BUT WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS.
DO YOU KNOW GOD IS LOVE
AND THAT MARKET RISK
IS BEST MINIMIZED
ON A COMMUNAL SCALE?
THEN YOU'RE A COMMUNIST."
they call us communists in luxury
and I guess they're right
we're communists in luxury
and I hope it makes our offspring proud
that we were communists in luxury
no one can say that they're a winner
until we've all won
and we're all communists in luxury
no CCP
QUIT
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5. |
The Crows of Emmerich
04:41
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in a dark park in Emmerich
we took a break to rest our feet
someone was playing the Backstreet Boys on the stereo
too loud for us to sleep
the team was practicing in the stadium
and we saw a crow in the setting sun
keeping watch and vaguely threatening
and flying in a wide circle
I won't believe we're out of here
until the second plane's left
the captain of the football team
fell down to her death
after clinging to the landing gear
shouting "I STILL LOVE YOU"
on the riverbank in Emmerich
we stared out at the tourist ship
doing donuts in the Rhine
and listening to bad schlager
meanwhile you stole your mom some gasoline
you broke every stupid rule but you maintained quarantine
inside the bar with broken windows
and wrote another sad email to me
but I won't believe you're out of there
until the second plane's left
the captain of the football team
fell down to her death
after clinging to the landing gear
shouting "I STILL LOVE YOU
AND I ALWAYS LOVED YOU
AND I'LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU"
all the way down
the crows were gathering in the harbor light
they sang to us and kept us up all night
but no one complained about the noise
by Saturday it won't matter
because the summertime's not made to last
I scratched a question mark in the drying grass
and threw out last year's expired E-Z Pass
and banged the fence until that cloud of nervous crows scattered
I won't believe we're out of here
until the second plane's left
the captain of the football team
fell down to her death
after clinging to the landing gear
no one's getting out of here alone
we're not safe
just like that captain of that football team
except we're all just swinging from the chandeliers
and it isn't enough
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6. |
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we grew up in a golden age
we made out in the everglades
we knew we never really fit in
the older folks were scared of us
when we screamed at them to ride the bus
but we were unconvincing
and now we'll die on fire
we'll die inside frozen ice cores
we'll close our eyes
we'll wait
we'll all join hands
like little fish in Australia
birds, terrified, fly away
too late
we'll fall downhill
like heavy rocks in a landslide
like aftershocks on the seaside
wait wait wait wait wait wait wait
we'll die on fire
we'll die inside frozen ice cores
we'll all join hands
we'll die die die die die
we'll die we'll die die
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7. |
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we're still wired do not claim you honor them you do not you do not you do not you do not know how to honor them in block-time
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8. |
Hummingbird
03:39
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hmmm
hm hm hmmm
hm hm hummingbird
hmmm
hm hm hmmm
hummingbird
a stray projectile
cuts you off in the rain
fly away just in time
to get caught in the eye
of a slowly-forming hurricane
the storm tracks northward
up the coast towards home
you're at rest in the center
the currents are warm
and you call me on the telephone
and you say:
"hmmm
hmmm hmmm hmmm
I'm still hummingbird
hmmm
hm that's all
hummingbird"
then the storm makes landfall
your wings move so fast
under the streaming light
the air swallows up
every word
that we'll ever speak
but the air also holds you high
our seawall fell down
the ocean broke through
we're nothing like you
hummingbird
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9. |
Stars
04:23
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stars
on the wall
mostly main sequence
and gold like ours
we're on our own
at night on the roof
of the stupid party
that I met you at
hey
we lost control of the island
now we swim around
with all our stuff in two boxes
I took off on Lufthansa
and you flew EasyJet
we cried like luminant plankton
you don't ever have to
justify girl
justify boy
justify person
I don't want to be sung to
justify girl
justify boy
justify person
I don't want to be clean
eyes
still on our own
blue-green plasma
hits colonial towers
we both got scared
at night in the sea
when a rogue medusa
waved back at us
hey
we lost control of the airline
now we're falling
but we saved a lot on the shipping
and stripped the shielding off
now no one's taking deliveries
no lights, I'm not feeling well
we gave all our bikes to the strikers in the hurricane
and DHL lost our furniture
and they don't ever have to
justify girl
justify boy
justify person
I don't want to be sung to
not tonight
you don't ever have to
justify girl
justify boy
justify person
I don't want to be clean
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Emperor X Berlin, Germany
Booking:
Brandon Rizzo -
tinyboxbooking@gmail.com
Management:
business@dreamsoffield.com
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