Dark Park

I'm a bit nervous putting up this song because I want people to hear it in the context of a full release that I'm putting together. To me, context is very important and the context of this song amongst other songs that are siblings to this song is imperative for the listener to understand the entire thing. I'm not just going to slap together a bunch of shit just because it sounds good. The context of art is not essential to enjoying the object, but I feel like it is definitely essential to fully understand it. Anyways I really love the Kate Bush song "Running Up That Hill," and I really find it interesting how she says that she wants to "make a deal with Gd," I think it's strange to express wanting something from the unknown, or fate or whatever, as making a deal.

Dark Park - Brian Adam Ant

Babies

This is my version of a song by Jana Hunter called Babies. It was recorded for the purpose of appearing on a compilation of Baltimore musicians covering other Baltimore musicians, which should be available in September. I hope you like it. 

Babies - Brian Adam Ant

No new music. Too hot.

Many people love the summer. I fucking hate it. I cant concentrate on anything, let alone work on new music because it's too fucking hot in my basement apartment with no AC. I cant record anything because I have two fans going and the windows open, and it bleeds into the microphone and winds up sounding like a dude trying to record music in a hot fucking basement apartment. I'm sorry. I mean I love G-d and all but I curse the day He invented summer. So I've been eating lots of bacon to get back at Him. Maybe I'll post some new music when it's cooler outside. 

Little Life

This is a song that was written by Josephine Foster. It was recorded by Jeff the taper (Thanks Jeff!) on Dec. 6th, 2006. It is definitely one of my all-time favorite songs ever written and although I wish that I had written it, on second thought I dont think I'm capable. Originally I found it on a mix CD that Nora Hughes sent me (thanks Nora!) and it was played on a ukelele so I had to figure out how to play the chords on guitar but there's only three of them so it wasnt so bad. I hope you like it. 

Little Life - Brian Adam Ant

Maggie

Warning: this song is like... something really unfamiliar and sort of uncomfortable and also cold and unfinished. I had a whole lot of fun making it though, and that's really what it's all about. The more I can make non-linear songs with loads of weird found-sounds and sing repetitive phrases, the better. I got the phrase "Maggie, you do love me" from something Homer said on the Simpsons. I like the line, "Will you remove a bone and throw it?" It also used to have an ending that sounded like "Hey Ya" by OutKast, but it really didnt fit so I cut it off. 

Maggie - Brian Adam Ant

I Dont Have A Camera

This is one of the best songs I've ever written. I wrote it last summer while I was staying at Ian's place in DC and I was lying on the couch and all of a sudden it just came to me. I had seen Hitler in a brick wall a while previously and that was creepy. This is an unmixed version that Charlie and I recorded last fall. I actually never have had a camera. When I was young I really wanted one but my parents were always like, "No way you know how expensive those things are with the film and getting that shit developed?" and so I never have had one and I feel like if I get one now then I'd have to get really really into taking pictures and I dont have time for that shit. 

Brian Adam Ant - I Dont Have a Camera - Brian Adam Ant

I'm So Bored that I Could Cry

This is a music video that was shot in 2005 directed by my good friend Nikc Miller and featuring myself and Erica Holsey and Sheena Callage and Nikc's friend Kevin. It was shot on Kevin's farm and features a trashcan-throwing contest between a cow and the devil. The song itself I recorded in 2004 (I think) and it's meant to be a take-off of Hank Williams' I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry which is a totally sweet song. My singing's pretty off-key and I dropped the drumsticks at one point but I think the shambolic quality is what makes it great. I dont really shoot pigeons. 

Helpless

This is my cover of the Crosby Stills Nash and Young song "Helpless." It's one of my mom's favorite songs. I recorded it in my pretty spacious bathroom in my old house a couple years ago. 

helpless - Brian Adam Ant

The Searchlights On Wall Street

This is a song that I wrote when I was in this phase where I'd wake up at 6 AM and not be able to sleep and get myself wrecked and walk around in Hampden seeing what the world does at 6 AM. There's a reference to Shabbatai Zvi in the bridge; he was a dude who, in 17th century Europe, went around to all the Jewish villages telling them that he was the Messiah they had been waiting for and he was going to take all the Jews to the Kingdom and of course he didn't. He was found by some government and told to turn Muslim or else they'd cut off his head. There's a book called Satan In Goray by IB Singer that's a really weird and awesome book about it. Anyway I thought it'd be funny to walk with him amongst zombies and tumbleweeds and helicopters with searchlights on Wall St. Here's a song about it.

The SearchLights On Wall Street - Brian Adam Ant

Ralph Waldo Emerson (Was Neither Emerson, Lake, Nor Palmer)

Ok so a few years ago I was doing my homework which was reading Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays and for some reason I connected all these different things which may or may not be related to Emerson and I wrote a song. But after a few different tries of getting it on record, and changing the chorus once then twice, I was never satisfied with it and I never got a good version. But then a few weeks ago Mandy said something like, yeah why haven't you recorded that song about Ralph Waldo Emerson? And then a few days ago I was talking to Jimmy on the phone and I totally forget what we were talking about, but he said something about that painting with the dogs playing poker, and I was like, I used that in one of my songs. And he said, which song? and I said "Ralph Waldo Emerson, in a painting playing poker/ With the dogs and they're smoking cigars." And Jimmy was like, oh yeah I like that you should have got that shit down. And the other day I was thinking about the song again and I made up a totally new awesome chorus and I realized the whole problem was that I didn't like the chorus in the first place, but I like the new chorus and so I'm totally revived with the RalWalEmersong and I think I'll start recording a new version tomorrow. As soon as I finish this other song I been working on, I have to get over this cold I've had for the past two days and sing the vocals. So I guess that this means I'm working on a new album finally (!) Budget, technical etc problems be damned. So here's the old version of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Was Neither Emerson, Lake, Nor Palmer), video courtesy of Jeff the Baltimore Taper (thanks Jeff!). Soon I'll have a new version with a better chorus. 

Way Down In A Hole

So I realize that I havent posted lately, and there are many reasons for this. One of the reasons is that I watched the entire series The Wire in like two weeks, and I thoroughly enjoyed it but now I have to return back to reality, which ironically takes place in the same city as The Wire did. Anyways the theme song is a song by Tom Waits called Way Down In A Hole, and having heard the song about a zillion times covered by different artists during the opening credits, I decided to cover the song myself. Some of the covers used in the show were good and some not so good, especially the fifth season. I have no idea who did it, but it makes me cringe. I hope this version does not make you cringe. 

Way Down In A Hole - Brian Adam Ant

Our Artillery

This is one of those songs that don't quite make sense but it's all the better for it. There was a period in my life where I could toss these off while I was asleep. I think maybe it's still like that but I have to focus and get in that zone. Anyway, at the end of the song is a line that goes, "I know nobody and nobody knows me," which I stole from a Mt Eerie song without even realizing it until a year or two later. My favorite line is, "it's rigid and odd inside of the womb."

Our Artillery - Brian Adam Ant

Afternoon Amphetamine Rush

Once upon a time I was really bitter and jealous over somebody and it was not worth it. However, I did get a lot of good songs out of it, and it really helped a lot to have something to do in order to get over this situation. There are some records, like Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks, that are synonymous with the term "break-up album." When I was in this certain head space, the prospect of making a musical documentation of this break-up seemed like the best thing in the world, and maybe it was the best thing to do at the time, but I sort of feel like I've exhausted my break-up song resources for a while, which is probably a good thing. Hey at least I did it before Kanye. 

The lyrics in this one started off as pretty honest, although I dont know why I used a stupid phrase like, "turquoise concubine." "You will startle me with your sharp keys/and lay a slanted scratch across my cheek," was sort of prophetic in a weird way, but I think that you had to be there.

Afternoon Amphetamine Rush - Brian Adam Ant