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Tamatebako

by Cuz

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      £8 GBP

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Brand new edition with alternative cover art. Jewel case with 8 page booklet.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Tamatebako via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days

      £10 GBP

     

  • Ltd edition 0f 200. 180 gram black vinyl in handmade sleeves.
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    A product initially intended for RSD14. Octagonal outer sleeve with inner artwork. Made by Sam Dook from Cuz / The Go! Team..

    Includes unlimited streaming of Tamatebako via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
Houdini 03:47
I carry my name and thought collection Walk across the bridge of choice selection It’s money for old rope, I’m drunk as a monk Cobwebs hang on a sad skeleton The dead sheep and horses sing the violin’s song Houdini and the magic stick, kon-tiki and the quick step Keep yr head above the water, plant ideas in the ground Night night, hold tight, don’t let it keep you down The sandman’s coming in his train of cars with moon beam windows and wheels of stars So hush you little ones and don’t you fear The man in the moon is the engineer The railroad track is a moonbeam bright That leads straight up to the starry night So hush you little ones and don’t you fear The man in the moon is the engineer (trad /American) I’m konkin’ in the tub Where the dead get scrubbed Just played my brains out On a d-town tour stop Sprawled on a pile Of funeral home tile Insulated by a konk sack sock now At the time I didn’t pay no mind A body gets tired from working hard bass However the morning Brought informin’ I tripped discoverin’ Where Houdini last bathed
2.
France Gnarl 03:17
Kissed by a touch of the starlight Roaring in your eyes I Lost myself Only falling Very fast w/ out Ending ever Your aura mane Opening for me the Universe
3.
The yankee clipper is under her three sky sails she cuts the sparkle and scud My eyes settle the land…..I bend at her prow or shout joyously from the deck The boatmen and clam-diggers arose early and stopped for me I tucked my trouser ends in my boots and went and had a good time You should have been with us that day around the chowder kettle Great is the quality of truth in man The quality of truth in man supports itself through all changes It is inevitably in the man He and it are in love and never leave each other O truth of the earth! O truth of things! I am determined to press the whole way towards you, Sound your voice! I scale mountains or dive in the sea after you If you want me again look under your bootsoles You will hardly know who I am or what I mean But I shall be good health to you nevertheless And filter and fibre your blood Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged Missing me one place search another I stop somewhere waiting for you (Mike Watt selected excerpts from ‘leaves of grass’ by Walt Whitman
4.
Shape-shifted sense of a situation Space ship fit in the brain of a human Fleeing the jive filling up the hive Feeling what I’m hearing makes me know I’m alive Ain’t no sister, just a big-eyed drone – w/ no bee sting Animations of erased equations Evasive onanist preoccupation Impotent’s important at this point of time The focus on bofus is a state of mind Rip shod ricksha via the boat Boot-strapped wing flap sure is a hoot Tumbled and bumbled being more than a word Something else felt, certainly not heard Ain’t no sister, just a big-eyed drone – w/ no bee sting Mission crumbled, admissions mumbled Packet in the jacket yellow-striped and humbled Emasculated so compensate Corkscrew whirlpool Blown out of shape Aimlessly shamelessly famously flailing Buck up butch to prove you’re a male then Whisper your vespers under your breath ‘til lonely honesty is all that’s left Ain’t no sister, just a big-eyed drone – w/ no bee sting
5.
Once upon a town a pretty little town Our pretty pretty town have we Came into sight, ugly gave a fright This man he came to be ‘my name is aiken drum I am no ones son, do you have work for me?’ Grey was the sky, born in his sad eye For the pretty town it looked away Women and men both little and small Cared for anyone, not at all They sowed their isn’t they reaped their same Sun moon stars rain (excerpt from ‘anyone lived in a Pretty how town’ by e.e. cummings) Thinkin’ ‘bout thinkin’ Thinkin’ ‘bout doin’ Thinkin’ ‘bout startin’ Thinkin’ ‘bout pausin’ Thinkin’ ‘bout re-startin’ Thinkin’ ‘bout stoppin’ Thinkin’ ‘bout stoppin’ Thinkin’ ‘bout startin’ Thinkin’ ‘bout pausin’ Thinkin’ ‘bout re-startin’ Thinkin’ ‘bout doin’ Thinkin’ ‘bout thinkin’ Once upon a town, a pretty little town Our pretty, pretty town have we Came into sight, beauty pure as light This woman she came to be All would stop and stare envy in their glare For what she was they could but behold Lonely was her cloud and humble was her proud Was Aiken drum would set her free Women and men both little and small Cared for anyone not at all They sowed their isn’t they reaped their same Sun moon stars rain (excerpt from ‘anyone lived in a Pretty how town’ by e.e. cummings)
6.
Tamatebako 02:21
I’m fisherman, name is Taro One day I save a turtle He thank you to me. I got on his back The turtle took me to bottom of the sea This palace of the dragon God There’s a beautiful princess This must be heaven she treat me like a king Party for three days, stay up all night Oh what about my mum II must go back, princess says stay And she gives me a box, Tamatebako She told me never to open I go back home but my mum has gone Three hundred years gone past in here Open the box, white smoke coming out and my hair went grey, my back bent, I’m suddenly aged How long have I been there princess?
7.
Slipstream 03:27
Thirteen hundred feet up when I popped the hatch mid made up way before I yanked the latch rememberin’ how it started images I conjured the sea softly catching me no way I could het injured arm wide open gently she’ll hug me that’s what I was thinkin’ and plunged w/ out a worry king trombone goes to war But the war he cannot find No soldier comes to his side No trumpet climb, no drum as sign King trombone’s war Anticipating my flop on this mattress I’ll make like a dervish and get ecstatic The blue above the blue below Spinning myself I began to roll twirled and rolled, my mind unfurled every thought at once far beyond this world The Bimini road has a fork in its cloak Its where you’re going Out of the slipstream Dive down deep into Ocean sleep Ocean sleep Time is extending as my fall starts ending Hours passing for every single second Good rubs, good loves all intertwined Rushing up to meet me I realise No tender embrace – what’s this happening? Hard as cement what a rude awakening King trombone wants his war In his design no foe to find Look’s everywhere but no ones there No trumpet climb, no drum as sign King trombone’s war The Bimini road has a fork in its cloak It’s where you’re going Out of the slipstream Dive down deep into Ocean sleep The dream came loose in the sea you’ve come to choose Dive down here for the treasure that you fear is sinking A lock lies in the sand the key is in your hand, is in your hand
8.
What’s plain to see is yours to hold You’ve travelled far and cant be told The hand of cards you will behold Fickle, fickle fortune ‘O The howling wind chose not to stem The tempest laughs and you do descend But the golden seer chose to defend Fickle, fickle fortune ‘O Green grows the leaves Now a diamond sits upon your ease A sailor wrestles open sea’s Night’s army carries its disease Fickle, fickle fortune ‘O Many choices come to soon Shadows fall while flowers bloom The argument will not presume Fickle, fickle fortune ‘O You walk beside a frozen lake You sometimes give you sometimes take While leaving what you cannot make You cling to fear but never want to break What’s plain to see is yours to hold You’ve travelled far and cant be told The hand of cards you will behold Fickle, fickle fortune ‘O
9.
It’s up there. It’s down there. It’s time and space It’s eternity in a shipwreck. In the silent water Daylight brings an hourglass of sand and bones athwart an ocean wave The moon has a lonely wound that can reach into your cave It’s up there. It’s down there. It’s a fortune teller’s lips bursting with rapture Walk gently down the forever path To escape deaths wrath walk gently forever It’s up there. it’s down there. It’s time and space and life There is no escape Who will dance in it’s ballroom It’s up there. It’s down there. It’s time and space
10.
11.
He took himself there on a lonely night Made his way to the ring Circled around it twelve times Was silent didn’t say a thing O’ the wheels are turning, the wheel of Ezekiel Burning in the night sky, the wheels of Ezekiel The wheels of Ezekiel If the devil comes in his dark robes And offers you a meal Be sure to know the price you’ll pay And answer with a steady tongue East and west, north and south You can see for miles around In the trees the birds will not sing Up on Chanctonbury ring, up on Chanctonbury ring O’ the wheels are turning, the wheel of Ezekiel Burning in the night sky, the wheels of Ezekiel, The wheels of Ezekiel One means anger Two brings mirth Three for a wedding Four for a birth Five is heaven Six is hell But seven is the very devil himself (Trad UK / author unknown) He took himself there on a lonely night Made his way to the ring Circled around it twelve times Was silent didn’t say a thing East and west, north and south You can see for miles around In the trees the birds will not sing Up on Chanctonbury ring, up on Chanctonbury ring O’ the wheels are turning, the wheel of Ezekiel Burning in the night sky, the wheels of Ezekiel, The wheels of Ezekiel

about

Cuz are Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE, The Stooges) and Sam Dook (The Go! Team). A collaboration which has produced this album, ‘tamatebako’- a conversation taking place over eight years and several continents.

Weaving eclectic influence- from Japanese folklore (the ‘tamatebako’ is a Pandora-style box featured in the ‘Urashima Tarō’ legend), through ancient British landmarks, to personal loss- into a heady mix of whisky-gnarl, motoric riff, thrift-store percussion and toy synth, the effect is a tight, groovy, ever-elusive, outsider pop. Vocals come from both Watt and Dook, often within the same song, representing an unlikely pairing of throaty drawl and choir-boy purity that works magnificently. Guest vocals come in the form of the esteemed beat writer Charley Plymell, and Kaori Tsuchida (The Go! Team), amongst others.

Recorded between 2008 and 2013.
Brighton Electric Studios, UK. Champagne Mouton, France. London Road Abode, UK. Coachwerks, UK. Petra Haden's home, USA. Mike's home, USA. Danny's home, UK. Charley's home, USA.

credits

released May 12, 2014

All songs written and arranged by Sam Dook and Mike Watt, except Slipstream and Spinning Basket Net, written by Dook/Watt/Tobert.

Lyrics: Sam Dook, Mike Watt, Kaori Tsuchida, Charles Plymell

Mixing: Joe Pickering, Sam Dook, Mike Watt and Danny Tobert.

Mastered by Al Scott.

Album Artwork: Hideyuki Katsumata

Distribution: Republic of Music

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Bleeding Heart Recordings UK

Bleeding heart recordings is a Brighton based record label, founded in November 2009.

We are closely related to The Bleeding Hearts Club which has been promoting deserving musicians since 2002.

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