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THE END OF REALITY AS WE KNOW IT

by ANXIETY CAT

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Jess
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Jess I dig it! It is weird, experimental, and an overall interesting experience. Favorite track: Balloons.
iamtotaly
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iamtotaly I just love when it's like this. Honestly I hope you enjoy it too. If not, find what you're after. It's here someplace. Favorite track: Balloons.
J
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J Pip really pulled most of the weight in this project, but hey, good work to you too, Rob Favorite track: The End of Reality.
theblueairplane
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theblueairplane this is making me feel a lot of things Favorite track: Balloons.
Eric Miller
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Eric Miller THANKS ROB GAVE ME MORE INSPIRATION IN A TIME WHERE NONE OF US CAN LEAVE THE HOUSE Favorite track: The Frenzy.
Erik Button
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Erik Button In a just world Rob Taxpayer would be praised as the top shelf song writer that he is. Unfortunately, as this record makes clear, the world is unjust. Listen to this record. Favorite track: The End of Reality.
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1.
Song, piano, clarinet, synth, and vocals by Rob Taxpayer. Cello by Elise Beep. Radio snippets from NPR/BBC/whatever else was on radio when I was tuning it. Open your eyes. Climb out of bed. Think about leaving, make coffee instead. The radio crackle rises like smoke; The meaningless babble just blurs. Pee in the sink. Put on some shoes. If we gotta be stuck here, I'm glad it's with you. Here in this home. Here with my friend. Waiting to witness the end.
2.
Homage to "The End of Radio" by Shellac. Speech by Muammar Gaddafi, a few months before he was overthrown. Music video with context at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFTMenxAFaw “...because Muammar al-Gaddafi is a national leader. Millions of people defend me.” Check. Check, check, testing, 1. Is this thing on? As we come to the close of our broadcast day, The end of expansion has arrived. This is my farewell transmission. Signing off, Mr. and Mrs. America. Goodnight Libya. Goodnight Russia. Goodnight to the Brazilian mines, to the China Pride, and to every ship at sea. It was a good run. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? As you exit the building, please do the Custodian a favor and throw away any trash that you have accumulated. Collect all of your balloons. Collect all of your belongings. Check under your seats for any loose change or lost babies. Testing. I’d like to thank our sponsor: Limitless growth. There was a limit after all. It was fun while it lasted. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Is this thing on? Muammar Gaddafi: “I am calling upon the millions, from one end of the deserts to the other. And we will march in our millions, to purify Libya inch by inch, house by house, home by home, street by street, person by person, until the country is clean from the dirt and impurities. We cannot allow Libya to be lost unjustified, and for the wrong reasons. Who would allow that? On my side, I have millions of people, and God, who has triumphed me against the Great Power... ...You may regret this when it’s too late. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Who are you? It’s time to work! It’s time to march! It’s time to triumph! No going back! To the front! To the front! To the front! Revolution! Revolution!”
3.
Vladimir Putin: “Our common success…” Alexei Navalny: “Is it true or not? Yes or no?!” Dolls inside of dolls inside of dolls inside of dolls... Take away direct-form attribution. None of us are here (that you can see). The bullhorn is coming from within you. Hear it on the talk shows. Watch it on TV. Border line by border we are changing it. Changing everything you thought you knew. Ripping down the red tape and throwing out the blueprints. Doing only what we’ve gotta do. No one climbs a mountain indulging in indecision. When you see the end, you gotta will yourself all the way. Alexei Navalny: “...(they want us to believe) that they are big and scary monsters. But we know who they are - little and cowardly jackals! Is it true or not? Yes or no?” Take away the medal on your jacket. Opulence will kill us all, you’ll see. Enemies are coming from within you. Hear it on your radio. Watch it on TV. Border line by border we are breaking it. Breaking everything you thought you knew. Tearing out the blood and guts. Pumping in formaldehyde. Doing what we’ve gotta do. No one builds an empire indulging in indecision. When you see the means, you gotta will yourself all the way. Dolls inside of dolls inside of dolls inside of dolls...
4.
Balloons 05:26
Child: “We thank you God, we thank you God…(laughs)...Praise Him God!” Mother: “Okay, Praise Him, Praise Him. You sing that one, okay? Okay, I’ll sing it with you...” The days are all warm. Every person’s always happy. We kill some. We’d kill you. But that don’t happen very often. We drink wine and we eat cake, And we just take what we can take. Take our lives. We don’t care. We got millions more to throw away. When the leader took control, well, everybody made more money. Now we have balloons. Look at our balloons. People hurt. People die. People hide the things inside. People kill. People hate. But we don’t care, cuz life is great. We thank you, God. The nights are all calm. Everyone feels satisfaction. We get shot. And you might too. But that don’t happen very often. We eat fine, expensive steaks. And we take what we can take. Take our word. You know you can trust us. We got honesty to guide all of us. When the leader took control, well, everybody felt so happy. Now we have balloons. Look at our balloons. People hurt. People die. People hide the things inside. People kill. People hate. But we don’t care, cuz life is great. We thank you, God. Attribution: Opening soundbite from rebuena @ freesound.org 2 years old, speak song, we thank you god, with guitar. mother and daughter, 1984, 736 Dobson, Evanston, Illinois, USA Audio from: https://freesound.org/people/rebuena/sounds/69341/ Glass breaking sound: https://freesound.org/people/Nakhas/sounds/360410/
5.
Excerpt from the UN Human Rights report on surveillance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZresjWNaA8 Song, piano, bleep bloops, and vocals by Rob. Saxophone by Alex Bekuhrs. “Invasive Surveillance...” Cameras in the bathroom. Cameras in the home. Wireless connectedness and omnipresent microphones. Listen when you sleep at night. Listen when you wake. Listen to your victories and all of your mistakes. A phone in every pocket. A fly on every wall. A document for every click. A document for every call. Document your secrets. Document your hopes. We need to, need to know you when we come into your home. ___________________________ Bottle us in server files and fill us up with excess information. House us inside a microchip, protected by a 9 inch steel door that’s Living in a nondescript office, just the same in every nation: A full intensive, all embracing, solely meant for interfacing, absolute facsimile of you. Cameras in the bathroom. Cameras in the home. Wireless connectedness and omnipresent microphones. Listen when you sleep at night. Listen when you wake. Listen when you move. Listen while you wait. A phone in every pocket . A fly on every wall. A document for every click, auto-saved and catalogued. Document your purpose. Document your hopes. We need to, need to know you when we come into your home. Bottle us in server files and fill us up with excess information. House us inside a microchip, protected by a 9 inch steel door that’s Living in a nondescript office, just the same in every nation: A full intensive, all embracing, solely meant for interfacing, absolute facsimile of you.
6.
The Frenzy 03:24
Excerpts from a Donald Trump rally in Colorado. “It’s one of the saddest things that many of us have ever seen in this country…” They slip across the border. They take away your money. They will erase our country. I and I alone can stop it. “We are a divided nation and each week it seems like we are getting more and more divided, with race riots in our streets on a monthly basis…” “We are going to get them out of our country…” “Refugees...immigrants...African Americans…” You lost your job. You lost your purpose. Your kids are hungry. They are the cause. Your town is shrinking. Your neighbor’s dying. The stores are closing. They are the cause. Your dad’s addicted. Your mom’s addicted. You are addicted. They are the cause. Your fear is spreading. Your body’s failing. Your god is quiet. They are the cause. “Your days are numbered…” “We are going to build a wall…” “There will be consequences. And the consequence will be…” They slip across the border. They take away your money. They will erase our country. I and I alone can stop it. “...saluting one American flag…” (wild applause)
7.
Roosters 03:10
“...I’m skipping meals so my two kids can eat…” “...years ago…” “...it is important to insure housing…” Roosters have begun to piss the world off, So everything they knew began to change. Dramatically, they stretched out towards the eastern rising sun, And the meaning of their shape began to move and rearrange. In a parking lot, I drank old bitter coffee In the neon glow of yellow morning light. Bad news on the radio through speaker pop and static snow: Some people did not make it through the night. Commercials for insurance interrupted, advertising discounts that were good. Pressure from the radiator building as the engine idled, Throw the old out with the new; why build it new at all? Who am I to build a new life? Who am I to build a home? Who am I to build a new life? Who am I to build a home? “...and they still won the game…” “...make sure you check us out Monday through Friday…” Audio clips from random FM stations on my radio late at night.
8.
Note - this is from a speech given towards the end of WWII, before the war had been won - go check it out if you have a moment, the entire speech is fantastic, hilarious, and profoundly prescient. Cello by Elise Beep. Winston Churchill: “This is not the end! This is not even the beginning!” There’s a hole in the wall where the water gets in; It was there when we came, but we still haven’t fixed it. The wood gets more rotten and moldy with each passing rain. But the roof is still strong and the beams are all straight. The foundation brick can still hold up its weight. Built long before, it will be here long after we’re gone. Everything's gone. Everything’s gone. Everything’s gone. Everything's broken. But everything broken will soon get reborn. So slip on your mask and pull on your gloves. Wipe down with bleach every surface you've touched. Don’t call it a tragedy. It’s only gravity. But it's not the end... Just the end of reality.

about

Hello, and welcome to The End of Reality As We Know It!

I’m honored that you carved out some time to spend with these words and this album, and I hope that you are weathering the ongoing storms as well as you can.

So, a good starting point, and the million dollar question is: how did we get here?

When I began working on this record, I had hoped to make sense of our new unreality by tracing the threads back to their symptoms and their starting points; a kind of song-journal made up of new, strange digital songs to fit the new, strange digital frontier. A post-Trump cyberpunk repurposing of propaganda and a meditation on the tools of control.

The project grew as new events unfolded. But instead of expanding the album to encompass the entirety of this new world, I set a limit for myself - under 10 songs, all including at least one of the following: audio excerpts, digital instrumentation, or phrase-echoes (a Matryoshka doll of echo chambers within echo chambers).

In researching events for these songs, it slowly dawned on me that I myself had been...if not lied to, then at least pushed in a certain direction by my choice of media, and that my understanding of many world events were limited by the sources of my information outlets. It seemed, despite the reporting I had been consuming, that Muammar Gaddafi was a more complex figure than I had been led to believe, that Vladimir Putin and Alexei Navalny had more in common than I had thought, and that digital surveillance was far more widespread than I had realized. The purpose behind the chaos was not in achieving specific goals, but rather, simply, in maintaining power and wealth. The problems were the same as they have always been, just with a new hat. It was, in some ways, comforting.

And so, the trillion dollar question has become: What can we do about it?

The well of stability may be poisoned beyond repair, but our human connections - while frayed and fragile - have not. The first thing to do in a world where global power leaves individuals powerless, is to strengthen our human connections. Call our loved ones. Bring gifts to our neighbors. Take our kids fishing. The next thing, I think, is to begin creating sub-societies within this larger one, where the supply chain is local and not dependent on corporations and governments. As my friend Adrian in Mexico City recently told me, “The first step is to grow your own food.” Beyond that, mutual support. Beyond that, education.

Beyond that, the world is ours.

I wish you luck in this new non-reality. When the sheer overwhelming nature of it all gets you down, unplug, take a deep breath, and go for a walk. Look at all the bugs and the birds and the stray cats and the trees being born out of cracks in the concrete:

It is all still there.

Yours in confusion and determination,

Rob and Pip
ANXIETY CAT
1:03 a.m. 5/29/2020

Full lyrics and credits at anxietycat.bandcamp.com
Videos, explanations, and more projects at hairpond.org

credits

released May 29, 2020

Songs, recording, mixing, piano, guitars, keys, clarinet, percussion, synth, and Burnt Trailer art by Rob Taxpayer.

Mastered by Trevor Oatts.

Cello by Elise Beep.

Saxophone on "Invasive Surveillance" by Alex Bekuhrs.

Red faces art and logo design by Keith Rosson.

Proudly made with the support of the Song of the Week Club.
patreon.com/songoftheweekclub

We will get this world sorted out.

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ANXIETY CAT New Orleans, Louisiana

ANXIETY CAT is the embodiment of our collective panic in cat form.

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