Nothing
Saturday February 9, 2008
Whose voice had called
And dam mmmmm ned it all
It wasn’t enough
For feathers, a small gust
And we’ll go along
As always we’ve done
As it was woven
All around our arms again
And it’s how you’ll hold your day
At least that hope away
Cause it will turn your eyes
In to the morning light
And I don’t miss your silence
Or what’s passed behind us
Light is bound to climb us
And boulders break around us
Adrian and I recorded “Nothing” here in the Oak Street basement in 2002. I think he was 16 at the time. Just him and a couple bad mics mainly. I tried to clean out some of the noise with my weak engineering skills using cool edit pro, sampling little bits of hush and noise reducing. Sometimes I went too far with that and ended up making the album kind of trebley and crisp, which I regret. Erik Ericson, Adrian’s beautiful friend from then, a christian, some kind of pastor, in a wheelchair, lent us 500 bucks to get real cds made and start Marriage Records. I’ve been listening to it again a lot lately and appreciating Adrian’s lyrics in new ways and got inspired to put some up here. There’s a recurring symbol in it of rocks or boulders in the ocean being kind of self-portraits – - I think of the haystack rocks on Oregon’s coast. I think of the painting Maria did for the new Valet record and those rocks in the ocean. Other lyrics on the album that refer to those rocks:
Track 1 “The shape of those rocks coming out of the ocean, that is my shape/ Until god thinks I must be thrust again into being/ But you’re only the shape of how you’re raised/ Out of the water on the beach torn away or cut away to the future”
Track 5 “And I’ll try to let the rough rocks/ Be finished by the waves…”
Here’s one more track from the album, the last track, Track 10.
The closer that I come
To the place you’re said to be
The more that voice extends
The more I am not me
It’s clear that you are without fear
It makes things plain to see
It couldn’t be more boring here
So run in Light Green Leaves
I forget that no one knows
Justice like a friend
Leaves when I want her to
And stays when I am glad
To have her or to hold her
I’m still made out of clay
If anything could make me well
A sculptor could but make me good
And shape my heart into my home
Into my state into my realm
Into the people I’m around
I have a new appointment
It never comes to pass
And I have found all my days
Fast and fast and fast
And everyone is different
You never swim in me the same
Each time hours fill my dream boat
And it sings to the bottom of the morning
Now Hereness writes:
I like this post.
posted Feb 9, 01:43 PM ~
Alexander Arvelo McQuaig writes:
Me too, except I love this post. I study his lyrics so much but I never come across any other such studies.
posted Feb 9, 02:37 PM ~
Alexander Arvelo McQuaig writes:
Plus, I wish there was a book of his lyrics. What happened, if you don’t mind my asking, to the plan I read a while ago to make a book of said lyrics?
posted Feb 9, 02:40 PM ~
may writes:
alexander, there are about 12 books of “nothing” lyrics out there that we had made one night before driving to seattle for a show in 2002. they were $5 and made of orange corduroy.
the concert was beautiful and the first time i ever heard adam forkner and khaela maricich perform. karl blau and jason anderson played as well. ksl krsp was there. we slept in anna oxygen’s backyard.
maybe someone’s kept a copy?
posted Feb 9, 03:45 PM ~
Chad writes:
Awesome post
posted Feb 9, 06:46 PM ~
carlos writes:
it’s true, we had planned a book. i would still love to that. he made lyric sheets once, a long time ago, for we could be each others evidence and for nothing… i think they were large format photocopies if i remember… i don’t even have one myself though… and the river came with a lyric sheet too. maybe someday we will follow through with that idea and bind them all together.
posted Feb 9, 11:17 PM ~
I don't know doesn't mean I don't care_ writes:
http://pissyeller.org/sctas/Sendak.jpg
http://pissyeller.org/sctas/dontask.gif
http://pissyeller.org/sctas/wake.gif
posted Feb 10, 07:41 AM ~
jackson pollock's earholes writes:
marriage records web-music samples reviewed, a little.
posted Feb 10, 01:24 PM ~
Cole Miller writes:
Cartos, have you considered Nothing as a vinyl record? If you do, I will buy two copies.
posted Feb 10, 04:29 PM ~
white fang writes:
i really like that album.
one time one of the literature teachers at my high school used adrian’s lyrics to teach something.
i don’t remember what it was, but he made all these sophomore year kids in their advanced english class listen to adrian and little wings and watery graves.
it was funny and rad.
posted Feb 11, 01:05 AM ~
ryan writes:
it’s true, this guy adrian orange really rocks hard.
posted Feb 11, 07:48 AM ~
Ian Curtis Michael Jackson Jr. writes:
“look ma – an asshole cryin’”
posted Feb 11, 09:29 AM ~
carlos writes:
ever stayed alive while a great hero died?
ever felt a girl who lied kiss you in the eyes?
posted Feb 11, 01:01 PM ~
solar c writes:
http://pissyeller.org/sctas/BIL.gif
posted Feb 11, 07:52 PM ~
mikel c writes:
I bought this record at the DOS about when it came out. Living in Bellingham at the time. Over the last couple of years its def been one i return to. I think its that ocean imagary, gets me amped for surfing lonely spots.
Been exploring some beautiful places in Hawaii lately and the other morning I walked down the “holy” beach behind the place we live and listened to Nothing. Pretty nice lyrical specialness.
I dunno, then i checked this, just thought id say those words are pretty rad for someone else too.
How bout that album that was all about marijuana?
Was that a “hoax”?
posted Feb 11, 08:19 PM ~
tim writes:
Hey.
You should convince slender means or collaborate to make a pressing of The Ghost And The Eyes With Trees In The Ground Outside The Window. that would be amazing.
posted Feb 11, 09:51 PM ~
Breathe Clouds writes:
I’ve got the vinyl jacket up on my wall hanging right beside me.
posted Feb 11, 11:00 PM ~
white fang writes:
adrian box set
posted Feb 11, 11:17 PM ~
tarp boat express writes:
Peace be with you and also with me
posted Feb 12, 02:07 AM ~
carlos writes:
mikel – marijuana album? not sure which that is? which that isn’t?
tim – totally.
breathe clouds – B.I.L jacket?
posted Feb 12, 12:06 PM ~
Chad writes:
You should put out an Adrian best of comp.
“Searching for Wi-Fi – the Best of Adrian Orange & Thanksgiving”
posted Feb 12, 12:14 PM ~
they call my kiss liberal writes:
Having moved here from Concord Town, MASS to this CITY in oh say august 03, then picked “nothing” oh months later. that last song and others were extremely welcoming. my favorite thus far, although Nowhere freaks me out.
posted Feb 12, 12:44 PM ~
223_43_1710 writes:
my sadness is a special thing.
posted Feb 12, 01:13 PM ~
Now Hereness writes:
Carlos, at some point last year, there was this joke on Adrian’s page on here about how he was going to record a “Weed Songs” album. That’s what Mikel was talking about.
I actually made a hastily photoshopped picture of Adrian standing in front of a huge pile of marijuana and sent it to him to be the cover.
posted Feb 12, 01:26 PM ~
carlos writes:
ah ha! hadn’t seen that before/.
best of… hmmmmm…….
posted Feb 12, 05:06 PM ~
Aaron writes:
Cave Days & Moments could be vinyl.
It could be what vinyl needs.
posted Feb 12, 06:13 PM ~
Now Hereness writes:
Adrian’s whole discography is his best of. We can just make mix tapes of our favorite songs.
Vinyl versions of the ones that haven’t been on vinyl yet would be so good, though.
posted Feb 12, 06:26 PM ~
carlos writes:
cave days vinyl/
i am feeling that.
posted Feb 12, 09:10 PM ~
carlos writes:
james dunseth just wrote me and showed me all these lyrics he’d transcribed up to cave days…
really awesome.
thank you james.
they are here.
posted Feb 12, 11:01 PM ~
JamesD writes:
Some of the Cave Days & s/t 3xLP lyrics were taken from live tapes recorded before their official releases… I never got around to cleaning those up. So there’s some subtle differences. Everything up to Cave Days should be fairly close.
posted Feb 12, 11:45 PM ~
no one could pull her off the road writes:
http://virb.com/kalebgay/photos/1130108/fullsize
posted Feb 13, 12:17 PM ~
Aaron writes:
Awesome!
I’ll take two.
posted Feb 13, 12:40 PM ~
Chad writes:
The ‘best of’ idea would work as an intro to people who are so lame they’ve never heard Adrian. And it would make a great present to those folks. Then they will have to buy the rest of the albums. Because, like a good potato chip, once you have one, you can’t stop.
posted Feb 13, 01:02 PM ~
no one could pull her off the road writes:
‘Because, like a good potato chip, once you have one, you can’t stop.’ >> like a ninety-nine cent[s] bag’o’ chips. [?]
posted Feb 13, 01:36 PM ~
Now Hereness writes:
Good point, Chad. If the best of came out around Christmas, it would probably be the present I’d give to all of my friends.
Oh, and hey, since this post is all about Adrian, here is a cover of “Money” I did with my friend if anyone is interested: http://www.nowherenessrecords.com/Money.mp3
I am the one singing. My friend is the one guitaring and keyboarding.
posted Feb 13, 01:50 PM ~
Now Hereness writes:
And my macbook is the one white noiseing.
posted Feb 13, 01:52 PM ~
= dracula writes:
http://pissyeller.org/thx/drac.html
[again]
posted Feb 13, 02:00 PM ~
Chad writes:
“‘Because, like a good potato chip, once you have one, you can’t stop.’ >> like a ninety-nine cent[s] bag’o’ chips. [?]”
You can’t eat just one chip from said bag.
posted Feb 13, 02:23 PM ~
solar c writes:
>> You can’t eat just one chip from said bag. <<
this is open to debate / trial.
posted Feb 13, 02:59 PM ~
Chad writes:
I heard it on a television commercial.
Therefore, it must be true.
posted Feb 13, 03:17 PM ~
= dracula writes:
I’d now like to present Olestra / aka ‘Olean’.
posted Feb 14, 10:15 AM ~
maria writes:
i’m gonna cry.
posted Feb 14, 03:37 PM ~
maria writes:
those rocks are called monoliths
posted Feb 14, 03:41 PM ~
carlos writes:
hey lovers./
i’m going to put a new post tomorrow that’s the new valet record.
thought i should write here quick though and say thanks for the response.
also – - – this disc
a compilation from a label called sopa in denmark that has a privacy, an adrian, and a watery graves and geneviéve track… two discs, $16. i have only a few so write me if you want one and i’ll send you an invoice for it. love carlos/.
posted Feb 14, 06:42 PM ~
wizzle fizzle party squad writes:
new valet album cover is the coolest thing i’ve ever seen in my entire life.
i really REALLY like it.
posted Feb 14, 07:10 PM ~
Freddd writes:
I never knew he was sixteen when he made that!! Incredible! How old was he when ‘We Could Be Each Other’s Evidence’ was made then?!
GOD! That makes me love him even more
posted Feb 14, 08:53 PM ~
Breathe Clouds writes:
Oh true, I was thinking Nowhere.
posted Feb 15, 12:14 AM ~
Deutsches Richie writes:
Hello?
posted Feb 15, 11:11 AM ~
lake dust writes:
a poet
posted Feb 23, 09:10 PM ~
alissa writes:
this winter i’ve been listening to almost exclusively nothing. something so perfect about it for right now. more than when i first heard it. almost six years ago. wow.
posted Feb 27, 03:48 PM ~
kate writes:
in the last five years I think I’ve put “The Closer That I Come” on more mix tapes + CDs than any other song.
it never loses its magic.
posted Feb 28, 05:18 PM ~
carlo writes:
“Nothing” has always been my favorite Thanksgiving album. i think the lyrics and the raw simplicity of it just makes it amazing.
posted Feb 28, 08:26 PM ~
karin writes:
I’m listening, I’m crying too.
posted Feb 29, 05:11 AM ~