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Insect Armour Plates

by Gnomefoam

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1.
Nightswing 04:24
I'm not going to work anymore It's not healthy any more As pressures soar You know the score This is a new foam sound I'm gonna take it all over town When you find it going way too far, rewind Tonight Cassette ribbons take you back in time rewind Tonight Does my curriculum vitae define my name? Or my shit slinging fuck upping public shame? In this uptight man's frown Screw loose, diet juice When the missed target swings free Assassination bumblebee Oiled torso not mine Excavation landslide Indigo beast lease Information free feast Rewind these times to wipe the slate clean Try to start again, repair this rusted machine When you find your insides burnt, rewind Tonight Cassette ribbons and lessons learned, rewind Tonight When your family photos they start to fade Bottled wine now piss and lemonade When the records that you've played Start to crackle and warp You were once a big man Now a sparrow not a hawk Old grit just shit False teeth, hull breached Dust leaf, breasts leaked Seeped, freaked, peaked Weakened manhood that no longer seems keen Try to start again, repair this rusted machine I'm not going to work anymore It's not healthy any more As pressures soar You know the score Failure's the law I'm not leaving this attic again In my mind I'll lock me in The dreams inside This place I'll hide Sunset! Sunset! Sunset! Sunset! You seem so tiny at night Darkness gathers across your eyes Crucifixes tumble from my mouth As the crack in the sky reclaims our bones
2.
Date Night 05:06
Forget all this solitude Let's try some social ineptitude A look in the mirror A straightened hair I shake my head at the state of me A shrug, a laugh Some bubble bath? Forget that, I'm me! Date night, it's a date night... In front of the wardrobe A horrid place I open up see the junk inside A shrug a laugh A shirt and tie? Forget that, I'm me! Date night, it's a date night... Irises warp twist back the clock Get dressed again don't mess it up Irises warp turn back the clock Try it again don't screw it up I get to the bar, and there she is A low cut top and a mini skirt I trip and fall A goofy mess For fucks sake, I’m me Date night, it's a date night... She drains a drink and sashays by A pity grin and a head held high I spit I swear, screwed up again Why the hell am I me? Date night, it's a date night... Like Lego bricks, we're gonna break up this scene Coloured blocks smashed up obscene Rearranged into new directions Less of a shit mess, more of a success Social success, conversation mind chip Psychedelics and the Elephant Six Townhall, falling down this Donnie Darko tube From the bar to the bathroom then to my room Aliens send me a fucking robot Gok Wan Making over this mess, can it be done? Should it be done? Will it be done? Set my wardrobe on fire and my phasers to stun Rainbows swirl and clocks tick in reverse Tearing backwards the time and universe Slow this down it’s a marvel to behold Let’s not be cold, lets type this shit in bold A wonder to behold, give me your hand to hold Through to old age, new page, marriage But first my image, lets sort out my image So let’s get back to the makeover Robot Gok, chop chop, start the supernova Haircut, make up, go clothes shopping Haircut, you there, start the chopping Trimming, consult and restyling New hair’s flaming and we’re flying Flying through those Lego clouds Let’s get strapped into that outfit now And while we’re at it, let’s lose that shit Attitude to life, attitude to you The social misfit says fuck you! Let’s not fuck you, but maybe do Some fucking too, some loving you But not alone, let’s try with two Or three or four, or fifty more That’s what this makeover is for I'm gaping now, please lift my jaw An ego boost, refill my juice I’m feeling frisky, lovely, loose.
3.
DINOZE 02:06
The grass is high above our heads And sweeps down to the trees There's dinosaurs living in this world And we're the size of fleas
4.
Mixtaper 05:07
In this room I'm mix-mix taping Messed up and mis-mistaking Tearing up and burning down Down, down, down... It's the end of days, you hear? You can tell it from my playlist, yeah! It's not the end I wished for But it's an end at least Let’s watch them burn… There's some IDM at the start of the mix Some tapping sounds and far off ticks And then onto the shittest shit gaze Distorted through this smoky haze Let's whack on some freak folk Choked up on that hazy smoke The room’s flooding with clouds Door handles melting now There’s flames now I saw you outside with the matches Watching as the spark catches You want me out, out of this life I've put on some lo-fi Some scratchy out of tune mess But if I die now, it's for the best So, please make sure you hear this mix It's fucking awesome - yes, Miss?! All you folks way over there With bleach blond eyes And piercing hair I won't belong to you And all the folks with sharpened features Elbow deep in snowy beaches Won't belong to you Funky hip hop, wonky, crank Post rock, techno, bail funk Dub step, grime step, two step, dub Shit you'll dance to in a club Folktronica and shoe gaze Surf pink, nerd core, prog and chill wave Witch house, pop, drone, psychobilly Riot grrrrl and roots reggae And blah blah blah blah blah Shit you like when in the car The musical pinnacle by far Shit you like when in your car!
5.
Breft 02:42
The crane splits up my eye line Bathed in pink and orange light And I'm sliding to the hospital To burn up through the night And they're biting at my ankles And they're pulling out my hair It's violent interrogation Through electrifying air In town I'm a disappearing nightmare Big drops and I'm falling through the cracks here Dragged through the earth, a nail and a claw Buried under pavement In a hell called Ignore Breft! When you're missing pieces Breft! When your pain increases Breft! When the lacks proves too much And you wanna smash the place up Just to get in touch Scaffold wraps my tendons now Construction rising high And the rust attacks my foundations It's spreading deep inside And my wings are losing feathers To the sewer and the lair It's the seething land of serpents And I'm tumbling past repair It's night and the knives are coming out now Teeth filed and were screaming steaming shout now Spikes up my spine, a scale and a claw Changing into painful In the hell called ignore Breft! When you're missing pieces Breft! When your pain increases Breft! When the lacks proves too much And you wanna smash the place up Just to get in touch
6.
I told you You told her She told him He told everyone I told him He told you You told her She told the world Trapped in panels Trapped in panels
7.
X-Mat 02:52
Don't step out the door you can still take more There's a badge to be earned from taking the pain From taking my beatings out in the rain Watch me as I fall on my knees Watch me as my eyes bleed
8.
Octopus 01:41
We never should have to apologise for the way we are Not now This is what the guy came here for Gold, some cash and take a piece o' Stuff lying around unwanted Unused this house is haunted Stench of dead lives unlived Let's tear this open, lift the lid From off this mess, it's for the best And let the guy now lift the rest He can swipe the carpets if he wanna Needs to steal 'em, best not leave-a Thing left in this house of doom I want to sit in empty rooms As spiders weave webs about my feet Tied up with my internal beat The sound that pumps inside my head Beats me, ties me to this bed With lurid nightmares and I'm sick So stat away people, that’s my tip And there's a reason the foam will never meet The world at large, the world at large And there's a reason my face cannot be seen By the world at large, the world at large I've built this wall, you've built it too It's for protection, it's what I do Cos I've built this tower, you've built it too We'll never meet it's what we do And there's a reason the world will never meet The foam at large, the foam at large The world at large
9.
Skip Stones 03:04
And the day's A blast of light Shooting into my chest And out the other side It pins me to the seat in the cage A fossilised exhibit! Behind glass A fossilised exhibit! Surrounded by lasers A fossilised exhibit! Behind glass A fossilised exhibit! Surrounded by lasers Surrounded by lasers And I throw the stones at the machines They skip between those restraining beams And smash away at their blinking lights Can I escape these restraints tonight? And my brain's A jet of juice That shoots right through my skull Into the air outside It fills me with the will to proceed A freed prisoner From behind bars A freed prisoner Escaped from the lasers A freed prisoner From behind bars A freed prisoner Escaped from the lasers Escaped from the lasers And I throw the stones at the machines They skip between the restraining beams And smash away at the blinking lights Can I escape these restraints tonight? I skipped stones across your heart And into the sea These days I'm falling apart But don't you worry about me
10.
Strobe lights slicing all over me Ripping the air from me When I need some loving. Strobe lights flashing right through me Leaving me empty I'll never get that loving. Right then, the wind slices strips off my cheeks And the rain stabs into my eyes again The howling all around me blocks out the music And the dead leaves are up to my knees, friend Walking straight at me are the dead eyes fools The tools, their elbows bruise me Jab into my ribs like the fuck nuts know That I'm worthless, they'll take me out with the stares But I'm there, despite my weakening hold My hands are claws my fingers ice cold The street sweeper rumbles Spitting out vile dust Its illuminous rider has me in his sights If he don't kill me now, he will tonight I'll be found, a sharpened sweeping brush in my eyes Outside they'll find me, blackened by flies No neon lights for me, not even grave stones They'll gather up the shit and dump it with my bones I'm alone. Strobe lights slicing all over me Ripping the air from me When I need some loving. Strobe lights flashing right through me Leaving me empty I'll never get that loving. Today I can't breathe and my throat is cut out And my heart is now torn wide open Demon claws clutch at my stomach and tear They're tossing chunks of meat into sunset air Strobe lights slicing all over me Ripping the air from me When I need some loving. Strobe lights flashing right through me Leaving me empty I'll never get that loving
11.
Yeehaw 05:00
I'm like a donkey who’s broken his nose You know that I'm always falling down holes And when darkness takes me, I'll lock me inside I sit all alone with my collection of skulls Here up on this mountain I can see the decline And the crumbling of the scenery as I'm clapping in time With the slow handclaps of the most unimpressed But I've digressed, regressed I'm always depressed While the acrid sluice juice roars and then it pours Through the world's weary worrisome degraded laws Locked in a box behind bolted doors It’s a red raw lockjaw longed for yeehaw I'm twitching like the Sellotape rebels Thrashing at a thousand bloody decibels As bells ring out over these wastes we share But it's crushing this pain, let’s try not to care Make the sludge stop flowing Hot heads stop growing Return to apathy Whatever's good for me Setting fire to trees, this end I see Is hell-like, hell-like, hell-like, HELL-LIKE I’m like a donkey Who’s broken his nose You know that I’m always Falling down holes The buildings are burning The smoke clogs the sky I’m falling through cracked walls now The soot smears out my eyes Drifting through the city Looking up at flames The golden army’s marching, marching Dishing out pain As the rain streaks the mud Mingles it with our blood And the soldiers raise the maces Smashing our bloodied faces In the sludge, in the sludge As we trudge, as we trudge Through the nightmare end of days Through this horrific place On my face my disgrace At my self absorbed ways I want it gone, this hell storm But I know that it stays Twisted shapes of demons From the cracks that are steaming Sweeping towns to the ground With a boom boom boom Once great towers falling The dust blooms up grey The rivers molten fire now The veins iz the blaze So let's bray it to the stars Thank the lights for our powers So let's bray it to the stars For the wounds and our scars Hot ashes make my kings raw Listen to the beasts raw Red raw locked jaw longed for yeehaw I’m like a donkey Who’s broken his nose You know that I’m always Falling down holes And when darkness takes me I’ll lock me inside I’ll sit all alone with my collection of skulls
12.
IAP 04:35
Protection from pain Plated across my chest And the decoded truths Revealed under duress I'm evaporating Molecules through the air Disintegrating Into blackened nowhere And as the skylines twist and expand Blaring out deceptions in the land And as the colours multiply and steal my breath The glare from the sun is all I have left And as the probing tendrils wrap around me The buzzing antennae shoot upwards with glee And I can’t reveal my loves or even my hates Trapped behind these insect armour plates And I can't reveal The secrets in my blood Cut me up, bleed it out That's not an option love I can't force out this brick in my arm Smash it up, Locked right up before I even began

about

From www.disagreement.net

I remember the good, old times – about one or two years ago – when Steve Bromley aka Gnomefoam produced Audacity-crafted mash-ups of experimental proto pop music. Earlier this year he surprised me with the unexpectedly song-oriented Squirrelcore, which I considered a huge improvement. That’s why I didn’t expect not even a year later to get another one of his self-made albums that once again saw an impossible surge in creativity.

Insect Armour Plates should have no right to be as great as it turned out to be. Considering that the act of composition and recording took less than a year, this is one hell of a record. I have no idea how much of the music is borrowed from unknown sources and how much the artist performed himself, but what is important is the final result, and that is highly listenable. I won’t go so far as saying that gone are the times of experimentalism, but Gnomefoam nowadays totally masters the art of combining catchy songwriting with crazy sound generation. The overall impression is very lo-fi, not unlike Ariel Pink and his Haunted Graffiti, but there are so many different genres mixed together that half the fun is already discerning the different influences. The main ingredients are alternative hip hop and indie pop (the former comparisons I drew to Why? still make sense), yet there are also the occasional breakbeats, weird electronica, spoken word samples that further the strange yet utterly compelling music.

In the past, Gnomefoam’s albums always sounded like an entity, making it hard to point out a highlight. This doesn’t count for Insect Armour Plates any longer though. Nearly every song has something that makes it stand out on its own, starting with the opener Nightswing which starts like a cheesy Eighties influences Alphaville hit before turning into a lo-fi electro pop marvel. The following Date Night’s first half comes with a groovy bass line and a rocking guitar, before its second half displays the artist’s hip hop affinities. DINOZE has an inexplicable Nintendo flair and is a winner already just because of the enchanting synth work. Mixtaper is a long extrapolation of what happens when you mix together hip hop with breakbeats. I could go on like that, but why don’t you just check out the album which can be streamed on Gnomefoam’s Bandcamp page, and even downloaded for the amount of money you choose (even free, but that is if you only want to listen to the music without supporting the artist… although why you would want to do that is hard to understand).

The Internet features a lot of artists who offer their music for free, but let’s face it: most of them are not worth your time. Steve Bromley is a laudable exception, and everyone you can imagine to like music that has the lo-fi charm of Ariel Pink combined with the experimentalism of a Max Tundra, plus a dose of over-caffeinated Why?, must check out Gnomefoam’s latest stroke of genius. There is no way you are going to regret it!

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released November 30, 2011

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Gnomefoam Bradford, UK

Gnomefoam is Steve Bromley. Glitchy, IDM-tinged bedroom produced hip-pop with occasional abstract drone & spoken word tendencies. According to www.disagreement.net, Gnomefoam has, "the lo-fi charm of Ariel Pink combined with the experimentalism of Max Tundra, plus a dose of over-caffeinated Why?" ... more

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