Get all 42 Mikel Rouse releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Language Barrier, Etudes, Mikel Rouse Broken Consort - LIVE 1987, One Boy's Day (Electronic Beds), ~/Library/Mouth/Congress/, Metronome - Community Spread, Swingers Castle, Share The World, and 34 more.
1. |
Hurdle Rate
04:06
|
|||
|
Hurdle Rate
Two people. Totally mismatched.
i.e. one girl beautiful
Settling for OK but less than beautiful guy
Two average dull people on a blind date.
Breathe in, sit in, crawl in, live in
The minimum, the minimum
Observation: looking deep into each other
To find the possible thread.
Or if I try hard enough, I’ll see you
Or find a way to love you.
If I stay up late to watch the hurdle rate
When it comes crashing down you won’t forget the sound
The sound of risk gone wrong when numbers tag along
And when the light goes on we’ll all be dead and gone
Dead and gone and gone
Hurdle downhill business of will
(about face on the currency doubt)
Leave the lights on all dead all gone
(money road money, money road)
Empty/full cup, places to blow up
(about face on the currency doubt)
The minimum, the minimum
So in other words, I want this so bad
That if you’ll sit in front of me long enough
I’ll create it.
Millions available for financing
Popular threads and unlimited fees
Corporate wealth and community
Managing health by emergency fees
Flavor of the monetization of everything
Flavor of the monetization of everything
After the breather, they get to know each other.
They get to play.
Places to blow up, places to blow up
Places to blow up, places to blow up
Silent partner, silent partner
(about face on the currency doubt)
Strength in numbers, hurdle downhill
(money road money, money road)
Business of will, leave the lights on
(about face on the currency doubt)
Leave the lights on all dead all gone
(money road money, money road)
Empty/full cup, places to blow up
(about face on the currency doubt)
|
||||
2. |
Professional Smile
04:22
|
|||
|
Professional Smile
Run around, run around better believe it
Run around, run around better believe it
If I get a run around what do you see?
Another day older and looking at me
A patchwork quilt of equality
It’s a professional smile
It’s a professional smile
It’s a professional smile
If I do the mambo on TV
Democratic adventure for all to see
Be all you can be all you can be
It’s a professional smile
It’s a professional smile
It’s a professional smile
You talk to the TV and it never talks back
You’re dead in life and you’re dead in your tracks
Everyone brings it home
Everyone tags along
Everyone brings the debt to their silent night
Everyone pitches in
Even the ones who win
Taking the road that’s traveled left to right
Everyone burns alive
What if the strong survive?
Better late than never why we fight
Everyone pitches in
Even the ones who win the smile
A popular mandate of timeless lies
Of barely legal computer files
A moneymaker on Warner Time
If I get a run around what do you see?
Another day older and looking at me
A patchwork quilt of society
It’s a professional smile
It’s a professional smile
It’s a professional smile
If I do the mambo on TV
Democratic adventure for all to see
Be all you can be all you can be
It’s a professional smile
It’s a professional smile
It’s a professional smile
Run around, run around better believe it
Run around, run around better believe it
A popular mandate of timeless lies
Of barely legal computer files
A moneymaker on Warner Time
Everyone brings it home
Everyone tags along
Everyone brings the debt to their silent night
Everyone pitches in
Even the ones who win
Taking the road less traveled left to right
Everyone burns alive
What if the strong survive?
Better late than never why we fight
Everyone pitches in
Even the ones who win the smile
|
||||
3. |
Hardwired Superstition
04:27
|
|||
|
Hardwired Superstition
Instead of hardwired I wanna be free
Instead of nobody I wanna be me
Instead of love handles I wanna give up
Or take the long view a better death cup
Or, at what point in the dating process
Does the guy no longer suck in his gut?
Or what age does the guy no longer suck in his gut?
What constitutes caring?
Oh that image won’t stay
I can’t drive it away
All the money you need
All that lovin’ for me
And after twenty minutes two people find a place to laugh.
A common ground?
Or just the relief that after all the dull instructions
They had a breather?
The bottle around, the bottle around my soul
The bottle around, the bottle around my soul
Oh that image won’t stay
I can’t drive it away
All the money you need
All that lovin’ for me
Elaborate rituals we put in the way
Like coffee and bagels and Queen for a Day
Elaborate rituals deflate and define
The meaning of life, the wasting of time
Is this what I want to do?
Study, look and listen? Is this music too?
I save myself. I save myself
I save myself. I save myself.
And now, after the breather,
they get to know each other.
They get to play.
Instead of hardwired I wanna be free
Instead of nobody I wanna be me
Instead of love handles I wanna give up
Or take the long view a better death cup
Oh that image won’t stay
I can’t drive it away
All the money you need
All that lovin’ for me
|
||||
4. |
Dumb Young
04:04
|
|||
|
Dumb Young
I kept the whole mean front up all night.
He deserved it.
He hung out with his roommates all night.
I was, like: I wanted to go out with him.
Dumb young, dumb, dumb young
Dumb young, dumb young dumb
Imagine a world outside; imagine a world
Imagine a world outside; imagine a world
So, imagine a world so slow
where everyone’s dumb young go
Smoking the world to show just what they feel like
So, imagine a world so slow
where everyone’s dumb young go
And smoking the world to show just what they feel like
Oh how it died young…
So, imagine a world so slow
where everyone’s dumb young go
Smoking the world to show just what they feel like
So, imagine a world so slow
where everyone’s dumb young go
And smoking the world to show just what they feel like
Old and young crime
Imagine a world; imagine a world
Oh how it died young
Whining all along
Ever right, ever wrong
She’s a total control hater.
What does that say about your character?
I’m normal. I was, like, scratching everywhere.
Old and young crime
Imagine a world outside; imagine a world
Old and young crime
Imagine a world outside; imagine a world
Dumb young, dumb, dumb young
Dumb young, dumb young dumb
|
||||
5. |
Side Pockets
04:16
|
|||
|
Side Pockets
Both sides love you
Both sides love you
Present company accepted, my ambition:
you’re arrested
My side pockets
No new players for this season, the sex of love,
sex of reason
My side pockets
Best of monumental cash cup,
create holdings from the waste up
Conversation through consumption, never mind the
My side pockets
Wrong assumption
My side pockets
Every business is forever; every model just gets better
Every business is forever; every model just gets better
Every business is forever; every model just gets better
Everyone’s still going to work
Calling on their own self-reserve
Even as the odds on to win
No late seating ever again
Both sides love you
Both sides love you
Present company accepted, my ambition:
you’re arrested
My side pockets
No new players for this season, the sex of love,
sex of reason
My side pockets
Best of monumental cash cup,
create holdings from the waste up
Conversation through consumption, never mind the
My side pockets
Wrong assumption
My side pockets, my side pockets
Everyone’s still going to work
(In the right side pocket, in the right side, never around)
Calling on their own self-reserve
Even as the odds on to win
No late seating ever again
(In the right side pocket, in the right side, never around)
Turning off the lights as they leave
Call it sleep but don’t call it greed
(In the right side pocket, in the right side, never around)
Break the bank by being so sure
Then come back to where we were
(In the right side pocket, in the right side, never around)
Break the bank by being so sure
Then come back to where we were
|
||||
6. |
Orson Elvis
03:49
|
|||
|
Orson Elvis
Every hit online takes its toll in time
Time you don’t get back, running with the pack
Miracles agree: what we really need
Takes us off the grid, back to where we live
I grew up in Connecticut. You still have family in Rockland County?
But still, it’s in the middle of suburbia.
In the summer of every weekend.
The nicest part of the ride.
If Hollywood instinct is right on the money
And corporate welfare makes everything funny
Than Orson Elvis is dead online
Dead online, nowhere to go
What we have is what we show
Every hit online takes its toll in time
Time you don’t get back, running with the pack
Miracles agree: what we really need
Takes us off the grid, back to where we live
People go fishing; I see what you mean.
I live in a non-profit version of that.
The volunteers. I want to appreciate their work.
If Hollywood instinct is right on the money
And corporate welfare makes everything funny
Than Orson Elvis is dead online
Dead online, nowhere to go
What we have is what we show
Every hit online takes its toll in time
Time you don’t get back, running with the pack
Miracles agree: what we really need
Takes us off the grid, back to where we live
|
||||
7. |
Redemption Fee
03:34
|
|||
|
Redemption Fee
Homicide stoppin’ homicide
Homicide stoppin’ homicide; homicide
I hold one card you hold two
What am I supposed to do?
I see things you cannot see
Counting my redemption fee, my redemption fee
Homicide is in the air
What it means you just don’t care
You say why we cannot be
There goes my redemption fee, my redemption fee
Short term lovin’ banker begin
Bonus breakdown business point crown
Legal loophole back in backload
End of the line up yours up mine
Short term saving of thee I sing
Short term lovin’ banker begin
Bonus breakdown business point crown
Legal loophole back in, backload
Everyone is the last man standing
Everyone is the last man standing
Everyone is the last man standing
Everyone is the last man standing
Beggars on the streets again
How to clean up where they’ve been?
Education’s never free
Collect my redemption fee, my redemption fee
Brave New World of comic book
Heroes take a second look
Look at what you’ve done to me
Replaced my redemption fee, my redemption fee
Short term lovin’ banker begin
Bonus breakdown business point crown
Legal loophole back in backload
End of the line up yours up mine
Short term saving of thee I sing
Short term lovin’ banker begin
Bonus breakdown business point crown
Legal loophole back in backload
|
||||
8. |
The Movie We're In
04:11
|
|||
|
The Movie We’re In
We were our secret
We didn’t go wrong
We wouldn’t hang out
Or make a scene long
We follow our rules
And skip the long trial
And be Day for Night
Until the new style
We were our secret
We were our secret
I think movies are based on what people
Have already thought up of.
Like that zombie shit?
Raping girls and portrayin’ this on TV.
What’s good about forcing somebody to do?
Something they don’t want to do?
I’m against that.
If a guy knows he aint no man.
And, you know, yo,
Sometime the way people are portrayin’.
Like my favorite movie is House.
I’m drunk right now.
Cemetery of hope, cemetery of hope
Kill rush it’s like a kill rush
Cemetery of hope, cemetery of hope
Kill rush it’s like a kill rush
The movie we’re in
This is the music that tells us
What part of the movie we are in now
The movie we’re in
This is the music that tells us
What part of the movie we are in now
This is the music that tells us
What part of the movie we are in now
Oh my God.
I’ll leave my wife for you.
Law and Order. CSI.
I watch them but I don’t get to the channel on time.
I’m 27. You’re still young.
Not criminal. But the SUV. You know? CSUV?
You alright honey?
So in other words, I want this so bad
That if you’ll sit in front of me long enough
I’ll create it.
We follow our rules
And be Day for Night
Until the new style
The movie we’re in
The movie we’re in
This is the music that tells us
What part of the movie we are in now
The movie we’re in
The movie we’re in
This is the music that tells us
What part of the movie we are in now
The movie we’re in
The movie we’re in
This is the music that tells us
What part of the movie we are in now
|
||||
9. |
Words Are Missing
02:24
|
|||
|
Words Are Missing
Words are missing words are missing
Words are missing for you
Words are missing words are missing
Words are missing for you
Chances to cry or pray, words are missing,
missing for you
Down a little day, chances to pray, words are missing
Words are missing for you
Punch drunk knock out staggering
Words are missing for you, missing for you
Your girlfriend liberation movements
Words are missing for you, missing for you
Words are missing words are missing
Words are missing for you
Words are missing words are missing
Words are missing for you
Once the United States ran for president
Words are missing for you, missing for you
Will we ascend out of the mainstream?
Words are missing that I love you
Words are missing what I want to
Words are missing due to you, see?
Words are missing what you can be
Words are missing words are missing
Words are missing for you
|
||||
10. |
Prosperity Gospel
05:17
|
|||
|
Prosperity Gospel
Here’s the Prosperity Gospel
Here’s the Prosperity Gospel
Here’s the Prosperity Gospel
Blame it on the lottery
What to force-feed history
Then you add a deity
Pay-to-play society
When I turn the tide I’ll be
Paying down my misery
Here’s the Prosperity Gospel
Here’s the Prosperity Gospel
Here’s the Prosperity Gospel
What we didn’t try to be
What we didn’t say and see
Four out of five jobs agree
Paying for prosperity
When I turn the tide I’ll be
Paying down my misery
Here’s the Prosperity Gospel
Here’s the Prosperity Gospel
Here’s the Prosperity Gospel
Here’s the Prosperity Gospel
Window guards in Albany
Bullet proof with ecstasy
Here’s the church house, where’s the fee?
Single-payer pedigree
When I turn the tide I’ll be
Paying down my misery
Four out of five jobs agree
Sinking into history…
|
||||
11. |
Sky Sprites
04:12
|
|||
|
Sky Sprites
Well-endowed and lining pockets
Homeless striking poses for the frozen few
Nearsighted, blurry, takes the edge off
Makes the picture feel more “real” to you
You will you won’t you wise
For million dollar lies and always crying
I walk into magic every day and take
a lesson from the second hand
Don’t believe in praying but I always pray to land
Everybody gathered
and saw the sky sprites from the road
Everybody mattered
and saw the sky sprites from the road
Poppy seeds turn flesh to green
Illusion forms a bond on every holiday
Killer kids accept their role
And helicopter parents take more time away
Burger Kings make beauty queens
And Automats roll over for the not so new
Raising Arizona and what would he do,
That man from U2?
Everybody gathered
and saw the sky sprites from the road
Everybody mattered
and saw the sky sprites from the road
Mysteries unlock and freeze
And capture all those histories
Carpet burn and needless planning
Motorcades to restaurants
While I’m driving,
Homeless striking poses for the frozen few
Now does the picture feel more “real” to you?
Everybody gathered
and saw the sky sprites from the road
Everybody mattered
and saw the sky sprites from the road
And when the show was over everyone forgot
|
||||
12. |
Thumb Skills
03:24
|
|||
|
Thumb Skills
When you try out when you cry out ice-cold tears
Shaking daggers moonlight staggers like pierced ears
Ever ready holding steady through the years
And when I got erased
You about-faced; you shifted weight
And I wonder where, where could you go?
With all those skills, I wanna know
Bending, breaking, not forsaking love and loss
Holding hands out trembling stands out: it’s your cross
Ending as a painted payday on lip gloss
And how I got erased
You about-faced; you shifted weight
And I wonder where, where could you go?
With all those skills, I didn’t know
Turning sour on the hour in the sun
Bathing beauty tour of duty hit and run
Holding faster ever after dead and done
And why I got erased
You about-faced; you shifted weight
And I wonder where, where could you go?
With all those skills, I’d like to know
And why you didn’t show all those thumb skills
I’d like to know
|
||||
13. |
Make Her Won
03:51
|
|||
|
Make Her Won
I wanna make her won I wanna make her won
I wanna make her won I wanna make her
I wanna make her won I wanna make her won
I wanna make her won I wanna make her
Believe in me and destiny
and what you wanna see and what to be
A closed mind takes a ride you let the magical collide
In a three-way chair
you let the cat drag in a little more despair
To be or not to see the imagination’s runnin’ free
I wanna make her won I wanna make her won
I wanna make her won I wanna make her
I wanna make her won I wanna make her won
I wanna make her won I wanna make her
Instead of me you let the forgery dry out
you move the mountain in the way
And never gone is like you never even stayed
Then clap your hands if the industry demands
you take a cut in salary
But don’t believe it’s not forever, it’s forever guaranteed
I wanna make her won I wanna make her won
I wanna make her won I wanna make her
I wanna make her won I wanna make her won
I wanna make her won I wanna make her
Economy, it’s all we talk about
it’s what’s for dinner, what we wanna eat
The Miranda Rights in tiny bites
what the country wants to be
And the pros and cons of the new fight songs
and the body block
Of freedom just can’t see that it’s overtime,
we’ve begun decline
In fact we’re where we ought to be
I wanna make her won I wanna make her won
I wanna make her won I wanna make her
I wanna make her won I wanna make her won
I wanna make her won I wanna make her
Instead of hope we’ll take a shot
and play the lottery of mankind
Believe in me, we’re the modern refugees
of our own creation and collapse
We don’t hold back, we’re all on track; we mind the gaps
I wanna make her won I wanna make her won
I wanna make her won I wanna make her
I wanna make her won I wanna make her won
I wanna make her won I wanna make her
|
||||
14. |
Blow Dried Bodies
03:55
|
|||
|
Blow Dried Bodies
You wake up late
I say you’re great
You wonder why
I won’t place bets
For past regrets
Forcing goodbye
Body has to go
Waver, wander; over yonder
Calcified tears
As we break down
Arrange around so many years
Body has to go
Little longer drifting stronger
Flesh out to see
Blow-dried bodies aiming to please
What could you be?
Body has to go
For this silence show
We will never know
|
||||
15. |
The Next World
02:03
|
|||
|
The Next World
The next world shifts its forms everyday
The next world, the next world away
The next world, the next world
The next world away
The next world shifts its forms everyday
The next world, the next world away
The next world, the next world
The next world away
And this world calls it a day
|
||||
16. |
The Albany Handshake
03:49
|
|||
|
The Albany Handshake
From canvasser to lobbyist the ethics bill agreed
The public face of leadership is flawed but never freed
To count the fumbled footballs in honor of the dead
Real rent reform imagines: it’s better to be fed
The Albany Handshake
The Albany Handshake
The Albany Handshake, Albany Handshake
What’s left around to lie about? The dungeons of the day
Imagining through government party’s arrest to play
And even untold Washington will cower and agree
There’s no greater inspiration than the skirt of Albany
The Albany Handshake
The Albany Handshake
The Albany Handshake, Albany Handshake
|
||||
17. |
God Said No
03:45
|
|||
|
God Said No
Well I go up and down
and all I see devours nature’s speed
Uneven as it seems, most of the time God said no
Most of the time God said no
Feeling like His obligation’s met
Whenever I’m alone
I’m stuck between the loser and the laid
Uneven and afraid but most of the time God said no
Most of the time God said no
Feeling like his obligation’s met
It’s only pass or fail, believable turned sugar up and ran
Co-opting man to man but most of the time God said no
Most of the time God said no
Felling like his obligation’s met
The buddy system fails
and sympathetic lovers lose their way
But everything’s OK
‘cause everything that’s here will never stay
But most of the time God said no
Most of the time God said no
Most of the time God said no
Most of the time God said no
Feeling like his obligation’s met
Well I go up and down
and all I see devours nature’s speed
Uneven as it seems
|
||||
18. |
Homegoings
02:51
|
|||
|
Homegoings
I wait for Samurai to catch a ride home
I heard a rumble in the back seat of Rome
I caught the razor, caught the content of man
Visiting homegoings we do what we can
Throw out the mountain; throw out the well
Death becomes easy, death you can sell
Door to door service, never a line
We’re counting on this family of mine
Hooray for homegoings and wrap around days
From planting people in a umber of ways
Up at the crack of dawn we sleep when we can
That’s when we dream about the content of man
Throw out the mountain; throw out the well
Death becomes easy, death you can sell
Door to door service, never a line
We’re counting on this family of mine
Well all my relatives are made from the earth
You’d need a Richter scale to measure their worth
They keep the light on they run out where they ran
Before you integrate your plow with a plan
Don’t underestimate the content of man
|
||||
19. |
Face Around
04:02
|
|||
|
Face Around
Wait by my side wait and see
Many people wouldn’t be dying for that moment to come
Wait by my side wait and see
Somethin’ someone said to me: dying’s where we all should come from
And how do I hold you now?
Do I hit and run – do I walk on by?
Do I not stand out?
And I don’t know how I can make it up
I can live in hope in this midtown jail
Wait by my side wait and see
Protect all the misery right around the corner for sale
Wait by my side wait and see
If your mantra disagrees better if it’s too big to fail
And how do I told you why?
That I can’t relax – that I can’t stand up
That I’m all tapped out and I don’t see how
This is where we live- this is where we die
In this midtown jail
Turn your face around, around
Turn your face around
Turn your thinking inside out
Thinking lost and found
Better than a hole in one
There’s a hole in none
Emptiness is empty does
Empty on the run
Turn your face around
Wait by my side wait for me
Something sold and something free, dying’s where we all should come from
Wait by my side wait for me
If you ever want to be dying for that moment to come
And how do I hold you now?
Do I hit and run – do I walk on by?
Do I not stand out?
And I don’t know how I can make it up
I can live in hope in this midtown jail
Turn your face around, around
Turn your face around
Turn your thinking inside out
Thinking lost and found
Better than a hole in one
There’s a hole in none
Emptiness is empty does
Empty on the run
Turn your face around, around
Turn your face around
Turn your face around
|
||||
20. |
Come From Money
06:40
|
|||
|
Come From Money
When best is better, when past is past
Decides to be alone at last
Come from money, come from money
It doesn’t hurt to come from money
When all your problems are safe as glue
All buried in the ground for you
A silent partner, a second chance
The great disaster of true romance
Come from money, come from money
It doesn’t hurt to come from money
The broken bankers of history
Let’s line them up for all to see
Come form money, come from money
It doesn’t hurt to come from money
A cleft of money that left a bruise
The missing God you didn’t choose
When I’m in line on Judgment Day
Will I know what to say?
Come from money, come from money
It doesn’t hurt to come from money
When best is better, when past is past
Decides to be alone at last
The broken bankers of history
Let’s line ‘em up for all to see
Come from money, come from money
It doesn’t hurt to come from money
|
||||
Mikel Rouse New York, New York
Mikel Rouse is a New York-based composer, director, performer and recording artist hailed as “a composer many believe to be the best of his generation.” (NY Times 2002) His works include 25 records, 7 films (including Funding and Music For Minorities), and a trilogy of media operas: Failing Kansas, Dennis Cleveland and The End Of Cinematics. ... more
If you like Mikel Rouse, you may also like:
Unremembered
by Sarah Kirkland Snider (featuring Padma Newsome, DM Stith, and Shara Worden)
supported by 4 fans who also own “Boost|False Doors”
I discovered this incredible album just browsing late at night and was instantly transfixed by it's dark and beautiful complex compositions. I'm totally blown away by everything about this. wow!
go to album
supported by 4 fans who also own “Boost|False Doors”
Psychoacoustic-beats - the intermodulation of frequencies in the brain rather than in air. To tug at this philosophical thread, this is THE book! Clear prose, that explicates everything between your inner ear and musical enjoyment: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/neural-code-of-pitch-and-harmony/F6517CCE7D9F0E728D2689F22216F877#fndtn-information
go to album
Breaking and Entering
by Molly Joyce
supported by 4 fans who also own “Boost|False Doors”
Inspirational work exploring differing bodily abilities. Spectacular, beautiful, and awesome.
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Jan 6, 2015
go to album
Cinemice (Remastered 2021)
by antennasia
Originally released in 2005, the Japanese band's hidden gem—a blur of pop, downtempo, and vocal jazz—gets a long-overdue upgrade.
go to album
23 Bluebird St., Velo-City (Remastered 2021)
by antennasia
The 2006 LP by Japanese experimental pop outfit Antennasia, a dreamy and airy affair, gets a remaster and re-release.
go to album
Jürg Frey: Piano Music
by R. Andrew Lee
supported by 4 fans who also own “Boost|False Doors”
go to album
