Get all 5 Skiprope Opus releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Bugaboo (collaboration with Fat Pockets), Haunting Book, These Days (featuring Cello Vein), RIDING WITH zELDA, and Diving with Zelda.
1. |
Birds
02:35
|
|||
|
In this land
We fell in audible confusion
We grew bored
Rid the race
Of all that's inferior
Venerate the higher
Or the more amusing
(Chorus)
The only lesson to be learned
Is there's no lesson to be learned
Let's shoot arrows
Without shooting any birds
Here in figured dark
We watch once more
An idle day
Ours when happy endings
Didn't bore
|
||||
2. |
This Side of Minnesota
02:03
|
|||
|
Looking like a flash
Like a ferris wheel spinning in the night
Enthusiasm is distasteful
Someone won't you poison them?
They're fresh
Out of Kansas City
Just an offspring of some Bilphists
Shiny, sparkling, Princeton, prom-girls
Make me think of tans of summers yet to come
Somber tunes from orchestras
With retroactive, melancholy music
Played for acrobats in vaudeville
Mechanical pianos
(big linen handkerchiefs, two dozen bathing suits, carnivals, affection supercilious amusements)
People dress for parties
Just as if like magic, a narcissistic, simple-fest
And once they exit, then they are succeeded by the others
We must keep tradition
That we never will get tired
It's fun spending money
In a foreign city
Ragtime Kids
Flappers
Jazz babies
Baby Vamps
Ragtime Kids
Flappers
Jazz Women
Baby Vamps
|
||||
3. |
Old St. Paul
02:05
|
|||
|
Hibbing gave us Zimmerman
St. Paul produced Francis
More than just iconic highways
More than silly dances
Dropping Princeton
Minneapolis
Risking other chances
Dinky Towns, Bound for Glory
Contingent on their stances
Daniel Chester's upright statue
Guthrie on a train
Summit Avenue, appliance sales
Mr. Jones, or Amory Blaine
A Coward, an Evil Eye
Desolation Row
Father Darcy's triangle
Yields more than you know
All along the watchtower
Spy Babylon revisited
Conceit is a disease
But it's not so beautiful is it?
To live like this is not to live
My death is not a gain
The things I want to do I don't
With no one else to blame
Oak Park bleeds a rising sun
Asbury holiday weekends
When influenza takes out Faye
And Genevre's chances cheapen
Where's a spoiled priest to find
A reference for it all?
When no one saves a waltz for you
Dance back to Old St. Paul
Every time I slip and fall
I'll return to Old St. Paul
Every time I hit the wall
I'll return to Old St. Paul
Every time I sense the call
I'll go back to Old St. Paul
|
||||
4. |
High Point
01:45
|
|||
|
Every light goes on
When I'm in your vicinity
The pageantry and carnival of the misty streets
Makes it seem like a sensate walk of life
Like a half-dream and a string of countless lines
Is the promise of the night and streets and singing
Every light goes on
When I'm in your vicinity
All the crazy qualities which spoil a dozen romances
Dulled by the waves that washed over us
All the time together was just like a breathless hush
And we feared that the paradise like spell would break
(every light goes on when I'm in your vicinity)
The spell became a trance with life transmitted by our love
All ambitions, fell, into the corner sound asleep
And I'm so happy that I'm frightened wouldn't it be awful
If we came to find out this was just the high point?
I'm not his I'm yours I don't belong to him I'm yours
Now I know for the first time what a kiss can mean
Beauty means the end of agony, we're beautiful
So we know that our love is Divine possessed
|
||||
5. |
Divers of the Riviera
04:57
|
|||
|
When we're with them we make time to play
A life of leisure makes things okay
At least that's how it shows for us
Make it up as we go along
Drown our thoughts in dine and song
Tricks of the heart to snow us
We beg your honor
Make room for us
Present our souls
In you we trust
We'll aspire to be (divers of the riviera)
Fan the fires at sea (divers of the riviera)
There's a beach we'll find them on
Just ask Rosemary and Tom
A side-show to spy
With boards and rings
Ignoring what's inside of us
We have diverticulitis
When the phonograph lulls
This is what we sing
We beg your honor
Make room for us
Present our souls
In you we trust
We'll aspire to be (divers of the riviera)
Fan the fires at sea (divers of the riviera)
We'll conspire to be (divers of the riviera)
Fan the fires at sea (divers of the riviera)
|
||||
6. |
Minnesota (reprise)
00:44
|
|||
|
Ragtime Kids
Flappers
Jazz babies
Baby Vamps
Ragtime Kids
Flappers
Jazz Women
Baby Vamps
|
||||
Skiprope Opus California
Skiprope Opus - an indie band that consumes books, music,
philosophy, and experiments with low-tech sound equipment between their Central California and Iowa homes.
Skiprope Opus recommends:
Two Consecutive Songs
by theydon boys
Terrific experimentation. Highly enjoyable. Moves gracefully along in an obtuse sort of way. Fun, but meditative.
go to album
Japanese Breakfast's album "June" is also definitely worth checking out. One song for every day. It's quite brilliant, really.
go to album
LANDS & PEOPLES (2015)
by Bill Mallonee
Bill Mallonee always delivers. A favorite of ours. Always thoughtful, always moving.
go to albumIf you like Skiprope Opus, you may also like:
For The Love of Ornette
by Jamaaladeen Tacuma
featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 2, 2024
go to album
The Derelicts!
by The Derelicts!
Loose funk grooves and nimble melodies drive this EP from Kochi, India group The Derelicts.
go to album
Terry Venemous is releasing new music every 3 weeks this year. His latest EP is sumptuous art pop with a wry sense of detachment.
go to album
