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Read the Room

by Samm Bennett & Daniel Baeder

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gk2nist
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Krystyna Olsiewicz
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1.
I Can't Stay 03:16
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I CAN'T STAY i’ll step on outta the front door or else ease out the back i’ll shimmy through the cornfield heading for the railroad track and what’s my destination? can’t exactly say but if I’m lucky I’ll be there a week from yesterday cause i can’t stay i can’t stay i can’t stay never mind tomorrow I’m gone today nothing left for me here my dear all the money’s spent i thought I had a little more than enough but damned if I know where it went well, some of it went to the landlord some of it turned into wine but once there weren’t no more of it left you weren’t no friend of mine and i can’t stay i can’t stay i can’t stay never mind tomorrow I’m gone today now there’s seven breezes blowing that’s what I’ve heard 'em say i don't know how they could count em all don’t know if there’s a way and there’s seven gates to the city i’ve heard 'em say that too but any ol’ gate’s as good as the next for me to say goodbye to you round about midnight, honey i reckon maybe I’ll be drunk i hope to find me a jukebox that’ll play me some Thelonius Monk i’ll raise a glass to you my dear and wish you all the best and if you wanna go find another man honey just be my guest cause i can’t stay i can’t stay i can’t stay never mind tomorrow I’m gone cause i can’t stay i can’t stay never mind just never mind cause i'll be gone over the hills and far away honey, never mind tomorrow i'll be gone today
2.
All the Pretty Little Debutantes 02:54
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ALL THE PRETTY LITTLE DEBUTANTES all the pretty little debutantes showed up at my place last night must've been about a hundred eligible women i tell you was a helluva sight they were all decked out in their party dresses tiaras and satin shoes it was just like something from a fairy tale and man it sure did give me the blues all the pretty little debutantes i said girls i’m honored and flattered and all i assure you that i truly am but i’m not the guy for you pretty young girls just as sure as my name is Samm i mean look, i’m old, my hair’s gone gray i’m a poet, i got no money they all started giggling and chattering one of ‘em said oh Samm, you’re so funny oh those pretty little debutants she said we don’t need strapping young men we want a mature fellow like yourself a man who’s cultured and well read we’ve all seen the books on your shelf and money? hah! we don’t need that, no that’s not what we’re looking for most of these rich guys running around are a terrible crashing bore so said the pretty little debutantes i said well alright, girls, if you say so but there’s a hundred of you here, i mean hey like i said, i’m a little bit old, you know i couldn’t handle more than one of you a day so they said yes we thought of that, Samm, we did and we’ve arrived at a perfect plan we’ll take turns stopping by your place once a day and you just do the best you can wooo the pretty little debutantes so the girls all turned and left all together one of ‘em said Samm I’ll be here tomorrow well right about then is when i woke up, see and my heart was full of sorrow it had all been a dream there’d be no steady stream of pretty girls coming for me i climbed outta bed, opened a beer and went to see what was on TV where’s my pretty little debutantes oh those pretty little debutantes oooh the pretty little debutantes i mean the pretty little debutantes
3.
Bad Streak 03:05
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BAD STREAK i did my very best to rise to rise to the occasion only to realize that the occasion had already passed i bet on a nag to win in the seventh race of the day that nag to win came in next to last i'm on a bad streak i'm on a real bad streak bad streak i had a couple of beers for breakfast six more for lunch where's this all leading me to whiskey for dinner, i got a hunch i'm on a bad streak i'm on a real bad streak bad streak way down in a deep dark valley looking up at the sunlit peak dreaming honey, of a brighter tomorrow but the situation now looks bleak yeah, pretty bleak things have got to get better if they don't i'm gonna fade away maybe i ought to just blow town but something's making me stay maybe i need this confusion maybe i thrive on pain anyway, life's an illusion i'm gonna go stand in the rain cause i'm on a bad streak i'm on a real bad streak i'm on a bad streak bad streak bad streak i'm on a real bad streak
4.
On My Block Back In Brooklyn 03:44
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ON MY BLOCK BACK IN BROOKLYN i left a part of my soul on a block back in Brooklyn yes it’s all too true had some very good times on that block back in Brooklyn about the best i ever knew old Virginia would be in her usual spot not young but oh she was spry we’d hang on the block at night just talking and laughing watching people go by on my block, on my block, back in Brooklyn the bodega on the corner fulla Goya beans i used to buy loose cigarettes there highly illegal a practice it was but the proprietor he didn’t care he cut a fine figure, always sharp dressed only in white head to toe it was not only style, it was a part of his religion a Santeria priest, don’t you know on my block, on my block, back in Brooklyn on my block, on my block, back in Brooklyn right there in my apartment i’d rehearse my band once a week, you could hear us two-blocks away and never once came a single complaint from the neighbors about the music me and the guys would play i know it’s hard to imagine such a situation now you can’t do that anymore my friend cause when the neighborhood was suddenly declared *desirable* ...well, that was the end but in the days before the craft beer bars and the baby clothes stores selling 30 dollar baby socks we were happy with our reasonable rents, it was cool and we had no problem at all drinking Rolling Rocks so i do think back lovingly on those times those agreeable days way back when i left a part of my soul on that block back in Brooklyn never be nothing like it again

about

Hello friends, Samm Bennett here. I first heard Daniel Baeder play drums when he filled in (subbed) for another drummer on a live show I wanted to catch. It was my buddy Jeff Curry's progressive metal band, Izmatik. Jeff's music for that band is extremely demanding: very complex, every piece chock full of odd and shifting time signatures, crazy unison breaks and punches... the kind of stuff that leaves your jaw hanging open. And Daniel, after one rehearsal, had the whole set pretty much nailed. He had music in front of him, sure, but he was hardly even looking at it. Mostly he was just PLAYING it, like he'd been in the band for years or something.

Well, some guys are like that. Just monster players, you know. Highly skilled, highly accomplished. The kind of player I could only be in my wildest dreams. Anyway, some months after seeing him do that gig, I ran into him again in Tokyo, at a session, and somehow we started talking about doing a project together. I guess he had heard some of my stuff, here and there, and liked it. So we agreed to try to get together, maybe kick some ideas around, and see what might happen. I liked his attitude about it: it seemed loose, friendly, realistic. Maybe something would happen, maybe it wouldn't. We'd just try it out.

So, we got together at his studio, for the first session, and I brought in some lyrics, that was pretty much it. Well, I brought my electronic drum, the KORG WaveDrum, and laid down a little beat with it that we looped. From there, I started recording some rough guide vocals with my lyrics: a new song I had just recently written. It had no particular carved-in-stone character yet. Had a rhythm to the phrasing, of course, but that was about it. Daniel jumped on it straightaway, sitting at his keyboard, and started shaping a chord progression. We were off and running on our first tune together: it was "On My Block Back in Brooklyn". We got it more or less finished on that day, in that first session. He put down keys, drums, bass line... just dove into it, full on. To me this seemed a portent of good things to come.

Over the course of about 5 more sessions, we had the album in the bag. Four songs, all started from scratch. We worked fast and furious, and I was bedazzled not only by his performances on drums, bass, keys, guitars and percussion, but also by his engineering and production skills. And then when it came time to mix and master, I was just as bedazzled by his great sense and ability in those areas as well.

So, here's our 4-song EP, Read the Room. It's a pretty different musical vibe for me, and I found the whole project thoroughly fun and enjoyable. Hope you enjoy.

credits

released June 21, 2023

Recorded May/June 2023 at Baeder Studio, Tokyo

Daniel Baeder: drums, bass, keyboards, guitar
Samm Bennett: vocal, Wavedrum, chunky detuned vocal loop

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Samm Bennett - Polarity Records Tokyo, Japan

Singer and songwriter, player of unusual string instruments such as 3-string and 1-string guitar, plus jaw harps, mouthbow, electronics and junk, plus all manner of drums and percussion.

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