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Maherican Dream

by Karl Blau

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Gretchen
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Gretchen I could listen to one of Karl Blau’s albums every morning and be joyful for months. This one is a real treat from beginning to end. Favorite track: You Shampoo'd His Beard.
shermy turtel
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shermy turtel karl blau, patron saint of 4-tracks, bass guitar, forest feelings, hugs, etc. hero
Bret Lunsford
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Bret Lunsford It has been a busy year for Karl Blau - creating the new music, event, art monthly ... Showchime...Open Streets Friendship Trail hub & spokesperson ... and now Maherican Dream ... another beautiful and necessary exploration of song. I am compelled to say that this is important local knowledge that inspires sustainment. Follow the arrow, listen freely, and invest wisely. Favorite track: You Shampoo'd His Beard.
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1.
I prance around in my town Just like a toddler in a gown This helps the men in dresses to feel safe You'll find you're heard in the third After you've reached into enough dirt You'll tap the rushing water It'll give you strength Dragons are a metaphor for Something you can't name You may sit and draw it up on paper - it's an interpretation describing mostly about you 4 winds that blow for to say We need all directions today Remind us be getting our hair out of the way The view reflects me and you You and I reflect what what we see You hold a mic to the speaker And it folds back on me Face and hands that make our minds up For what we can't put a finger on As actual husbandry of the natural world The chaotic world, the gentle and docile world But if we listen this day We may pick up the play And that we dropped the ball Will soon be a faint memory
2.
'Erica 02:16
A castle in the sand It plays out just as planned Or did you forget That the tide would claim its land? - Oh! Bells ring by the hands man Also by the wind When the sand blows in your face It's hard to keep a grin Shouting my own name just to wake myself up from a dream Shouting my own name just to wake myself up from a dream Shouting my own name just to wake myself up from a dream Erica! Erica! Erica! Hearing my own name, sensing a definite lack of state of being Hearing my own name, sensing a definite lack of state of being Hearing my own name, sensing a definite lack of state of being Erica! Erica! Erica!
3.
Seaweed Tea 02:27
You promised me A cool, refreshing dip into the stormy sea Naked as can be Be my baby, mama, would you sit and sip seaweed tea with me Seaweed tea! Seaweed tea! Seaweed tea! The sand stays cold Just beneath the surface there You could keep your heavy cream A pot propped over fire Flames cast shadows stretching the caverns of our minds Seaweed tea! Seaweed tea! Seaweed tea!
4.
Chattanooga 02:28
To hear the name Chattanooga Doesn't it sound fun? And when I call "Chattanooga" I'm not the only one I fell asleep to caterwauling Like I know what's to be done And in my dreams Chattanooga Shines like it's the Sun But have you been? Chattanooga calls Am I to think that Because the falls approach The fall out should guide me To a name I can't seem to shake As an artist - I leap before I look Like an ink spill That's longing to become a book I've got my eyes on the surprise A mystery to live We shine a light on the pages For chance that they will give I feel the name Chattanooga sing I strain my ears to understand Ringing of the unknown unfolding Unbeknownst to me I'm giving myself up to chance
5.
7 Sisters 01:09
6.
Wake up Shake up Next thing you know You're in the garden Stand tall The wall Is low when you Step In the garden You're in the garden You're in the garden Work up String up Letting it show You're in the garden In the garden You're in the garden In the garden
7.
Open Exit 02:27
Open exit Exciting patterns of the past You're a head shot Shooting up and out at last As the hex eats tail And clearly breaks its fast Round the bend Will you bend the rules for me And meander aiming fecklessly For foraging is often Stumbling upon the goods in surprise Like an "X" As I make a mark of where I stand When outstretched I'm a sign that here is but a man But a man may not understand He's got the whole world in his hands He's got the living world At the mercy of his hand Close at hand Fan the flames and invoke the change Change it up, up, up and away Out of its cage For a spell you had bound your arms Now you're pullin' out all your charms To heal the hurt Then get back out in the dirt Heal the hurt Then get back out in the dirt
8.
A love gone sour and left to rot Come back from land that time forgot Along the river they come to lay Any leaf may in any shape The water bleeds out from under rock Tomorrow borrow my shoes and take a walk All hours of love we give away When they return they wish to stay The river bed teams with ghosts of fish Once a bloody flow now beggar's wish
9.
Some will tell you a lie I will sell you the lie Some will tell you a lie A lie, a lie, I'll sell the lie Oh what am I To tell a lie? A lie, a lie, to tell a lie? As common as a house fly A fly, a fly, a common fly I see your shape against the sky You tower high and block my sight I see your shape against the sky You tower high and block my sight You're in my teeth, in what I eat A lie, a lie, to feed a lie You're in my teeth, in what I eat A lie, a lie, I fed a lie To face the Sun, make water run From your eyes Just try and lie out of the shade Your shadow bright Can hold a form, a shape, a size A lie a lie, I tell a lie Each time I rise - a fresh disguise Each time I rise - a fresh disguise Echoes of the sunlight I can hear those babies scream Echoes of the sunlight I can hear those babies scream Can't have bright of Sun Without the darkness as a trade Can't have bright of Sun Without the darkness as a trade
10.
11.
In the early morning The procession of everything I've ever feared Recedes back from whence it came From the dust The dust from whence it came Once again shakes loose from my beard My beard My beard You shampoo'd my beard In the early morning sun See colors fall back into place Already knew you were the one And now this tingle on face Already knew you were the one And now this tingle on face Traces back to care In this dewy morning air Was that a cat fight over night? Bits of fur caught in the light Was that a cat fight over night? Bits of fur caught in the light Your love embraced me in the chair Held me down to just a stare At first you trusted me to stay I wriggled free and broke away At first you trusted me to stay I wriggled free and broke away Lathered up a wild raccoon In the hopes just like the moon He'd get clear and bright again In the hopes just like the moon He'd get clear and bright again Didn't know he'd never been loved In the midst of being feared Until you shampoo'd his beard Under the stars who wave goodbye Stripes were showing on my tail Your lIght is filling up the sky Laughter spilling down the trail Your lIght filling up the sky Laughter spilling down the trail Before I could play hard to get Our shadows tangled on the lawn You know I never will regret Your smile at that fading dawn You know I never will regret Your smile at that fading dawn Lathered up a wild raccoon In the hopes just like the moon He'd get clear and bright again In the hopes just like the moon He'd get clear and bright again Didn't know he'd never been loved In the midst of being feared Until you shampoo'd his beard
12.

about

LAKE and I swapped records as in I would produce one for them in exchange for LAKE backing me ( a la Nature's Got Away) at Dub Narcotic - the LAKE record became Circular Doorway recorded at Anacortes's Unknown studio. In Olympia, we improvised a bunch of textures together in various combinations of instruments and persons captured to a 1950's 3-track Ampex 350. Later, I listened to these recordings and wrote lyrics just for the feeling of these textures. Aside from a couple, I added only minimal overdubs other than the singing.

Named in reference/reverence to Tori Kudo's Maher Shalal Hash Baz, "Maherican Dream" pushes through the idea that we can't let things be natural and effortless like low-lying fruit.

credits

released October 16, 2014

Karl Blau was joined by Eli Moore, Ashley Eriksson, Markly Morrison, Andrew Dorsett, Brian Tottenham and Angelo Spencer performing on Maherican Dream. The basics were engine-eared by Patrick LaBahn. The singing and overdubs were made in Singing Serpent Studio, San Diego, CA, and Electro-Magnetic Samples in Anacortes, WA.

Thank you to LAKE's Eli Moore, Ashley Eriksson, Markly Morrison and Andrew Dorsett, and thank you others that performed or sat in on the sessions: Matt Fuller, Andrew Ebright and to Mark Deutsch, David Jaberi. Thank you for your hospitality Calvin Johnson, Mariella Luz, Dave and Andrea Matthies, Singing Serpent and Rafter Roberts. Kevin Noonan for your visions, thank you. And thank you especially CalliAnne Blau.

Artwork by Kevin Noonan. Layout and lettering by Karl Blau.

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Karl Blau Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

These records are all over the place. My latest studio record Love & Harm consists of a modern country rock sound featuring the pedal steel of Jon Hyde (Introducing) and amazing players you'd recognize from playing on stage with me. Living in Germantown, Philadlephia, started a recording project called Opal Eskar, check that out too. ... more

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