Originally made this for a game which got cancelled due to time constraints and overly-ambitious scope, so I repurposed it for a different game, which also didn’t get finished for the jam due to time constraints and overly-ambitious scope.
For this track I was feeling incredibly dysphoric and I wanted folks in Song Fight! to try treating me in a feminine manner. So I came up with the <3 alter-ego.
Unfortunately people figured out it was me pretty quickly and thought I was just trolling them.
See the little ants walking down the path They don’t know how to do anything, they’re bad at math But a little tiny queen can make some more One and one make two, two and two make four
And then what happens next is the worlds collide When a little tiny ant finds the world inside And the little worker ants can all pass the test They all work together to bring everything back to the nest
And when someone finds out it doesn’t matter The little tiny ants have made the queen get fatter So she can lay her eggs all day So it doesn’t matter when the people get the spray
There are so many ants that they cannot die For every ant that’s in the house there’s two outside All that we can do is let them be Learn to love each other for the world to see
I feel safe without you (without you) I feel safe when I’m with you (when I’m with you) I feel safe when I’m near you (when I’m near you) But I don’t think that I need you (that I need you)
You know what it is like when you are alone Walking in the dark, trying to get home Every little thing that can make a sound Scares you half to death and you look around
YOu cannot help but fear for your life What if somebody is there who has a knife But you know that in your heart you will be okay And that everything will let you live another day
When you get inside you look around Thousands of little black dots are on the ground They go on with life without a care Eating all the food that they find lying there
It is no matter what you do or say Nothing will make the ants ever go away The lesson that we learn is when the day is done The little tiny ants are the ones who have won
I feel safe without you (without you) I feel safe when I’m with you (when I’m with you) I feel safe when I’m near you (when I’m near you) But I don’t think that I need you (that I need you) (I need you) (I need you) (I need you) (I need you) (I need you) (I need you) (I need you)
This version triggers my tinnitus something fierce.
Originally for Circle of Titles, 2020
One of the other Song Fight! traditions is Circle of Titles, where we provide titles for each other to write songs for in a one-on-one way. In 2020 I got this lovely title from T.C. Elliott (known better as Pigfarmer Jr. on Song Fight!) and decided to write a song that was inspired by another friend’s manic episode from their untreated bipolar disorder.
I haven’t spoken to them in a while, and I hope they’re doing okay.
(The bipolar friend, I mean. T.C.’s doing fine.)
Wait Wait right here There’s something I have to tell you Wait Wait right here It is a thing I think you know too well Wait Wait right here There’s something I have to show you Wait It’s oh so clear I can’t hear the ringing of the bell
Wait Wait right here There’s something I’ve only realized now Wait It’s so clear I think we all need our own real space, oh Wait Wait right here I’m trying to find a proper way, how Wait It’s so dear The world can be a big beautiful place
I can’t hear the image that you’re saying I can’t hear, I wish I knew you well I can’t hear the image that you’re singing to me I can’t hear, I know you wish me well
Wait Wait right here There’s something I have to show you Wait Wait right here It’s time for me to have my show and tell, oh Wait Wait right here Remember the thing that I tried to tell you Wait Wait right here Of all the people I’m wishing you well, so Wait
Originally for Song Fight!, 2022
This title went up when the Roe v. Wade reversal took place, and was a reference to the material change in constitutional law that had just taken place. Plenty of other people wrote songs about politics, so I felt okay with taking the title a bit more literally.
This song is dedicated to my friend Beltrami, who is featured alongside me in the cover art. May we someday cross paths in this reality, too.
Reupholster me into leather or pleather Make me watertight for every kind of weather Wouldn’t I be nice made of plush or of ice You have my permission, don’t have to ask twice
Take me apart and use me as a toy Make my only purpose to bring people joy Polish me up and make me shiny and clean I’m your willing servant, please be my new queen
Once was a human long ago But now this is all that I know Every change brings an afterglow What a wonderful way to go
Look me in the eyes and turn me into stone Chisel me down and sit on me as a throne Make this second skin someplace I can begin Reshape me into something with a dorsal fin
Carve me out of wood, make me a work of art Paint me with pictures of my old broken heart Please do not forget what I used to be And please don’t forget to always love me
Reupholster me it would bring me such pleasure Make me into a pooltoy for bright sunny weather Wear me like a costume so that you can be me Make all of my decisions so I can be free
You took me apart and used me as a toy I can’t remember if I was a girl or boy Please do not forget what I used to be And please don’t forget to always love me
Once was a human long ago But now this is all that I know Every change brings an afterglow What a wonderful way to go Oh woh
Prototype battle theme made for an abandoned, untitled Pokémon fangame.
If I had a nickel for every time someone wanted me to make battle theme music for a Pokémon fan game for a game jam and then disappeared on me without apparently having even started to make the game, I’d have ten cents, which isn’t a lot of money, but it’s annoying that it happened twice.
I ended up using this in one of my own games, although it was basically a last-minute shitpost meant specifically to have something that actually used the music in it.
Gameplay music from Spooky Sushi, a VR game jam game.
In this game you play the part of a conveyor sushi restaurant waiter, and must quickly tally up the bill for patrons based on the colors of their plates. I was trying to evoke the feeling of having to juggle several things at once while being simultaneously single-minded about it.
I was spending way, way too much time reading Twitter instead of doing anything productive. The senseless repetitive noise of everything around me was more than I could take.
Originally composed for Project Imperative, which was meant to be a multiplayer Pong in which the rules change every 20 seconds. This ended up not really happening during the original jam, but I revisited the idea when using it as the first track of the game album.
This song is very personal to me. I started composing it without any speakers hooked up, just letting the music come without the sound getting in the way while my partner at the time slept beside me, and I liked it so much that I built up what I think is my best instrumental song ever around it.
This was an entry in hornet.org’s Music Contest 6. It didn’t do too well, but it was a pretty good representation of how I feel when I have a bunch of pent-up energy which I don’t know how to direct anywhere — I end up just going in circles.