Those Wacky Crazy Canadians

(Nutra Stick Productions, 1998)

Timeless Towns and Haunted Places
Returning to the Fetal Position
Those Wacky Crazy Canadians
N*tra Sw**t Pi*ie Sticks*

The opus Those Wacky Crazy Canadians was completed about five times, but because no one noticed, I was able to keep changing it. In the end, the album featured the 32 best songs of the fifty or so recorded during 1997-98. These songs were at the second half of a very prolific period in which I was a better songwriter than I was with the first tape, and wrote like a man on speed (I wasn't on speed, though).

Some of the songs were taken from "Have a Nice Day," an unreleased twenty-song minimalist album recorded after I thought TWCC was complete. Since more complex arrangements were used for the final sessions ("The Last Cookie," "Heelu's Idiosyncrasies"), it's lucky if a cohesive album sneaks through.

Many of the complex arrangements were done with MIDI technology, since the arrangements werenÕt really possible with the four-track equipment I was using. Unfortunately, my computer was too old to handle the said large arrangements, and sometimes played the songs out of sync, even if it was programmed based on musical notations (instead of recording how it was played on a synthesizer). This made the songs sound more like they were played by a coldly mechanical sloppy band than by a coldly mechanical precise computing instrument. I have, therefore, considered re-recording the entire album, but the idea is too intimidating for me to decide on as of yet.

—Jeremy Mathews

TWCC is available as a two disc set from mp3.com. More purchase info is here.

Lyrics