wake
up

june

// updated: june 30, 2026


this tape was recorded at home on a portastudio 424 in the evenings of the summer, june 2026. riffs and lyrics are improvised at the time of recording. the beginning of this tape includes four older demos / experiments from over a year ago. all other songs were recorded this month.

my goal was to simply write uninhibited.

experiments include: using the tape machine's natural distortion, writing a demo without using strummed chords, writing a riff as slow as possible, etc.


this tape includes 22 tracks:

  1. reminders demo (2x dbx)
  2. dauntless (instrumental)
  3. nylon overblown (instrumental)
  4. peace (instrumental)
  5. venison ✩
  6. gauze & clothes ✩
  7. gauze & clothes (2x)
  8. 5/4 (instrumental)
  9. tape distortion I (instrumental)
  10. crawl (instrumental)
  11. fold over memories
  12. all there is
  13. all there is (2x)
  14. knife on the floor (instrumental) ✩
  15. knife on the floor (w vocals)
  16. tape distortion II (instrumental)
  17. nicholas (instrumental)
  18. skin for you
  19. skin for you (2x)
  20. tape distortion III (instrumental)
  21. giants of the sawtooth (instrumental)
  22. backpedal (instrumental)

feel free to download these. you can also find them on bandcamp.


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1. reminders demo (2x dbx)


When I first started this tape I had not yet finished my song reminders. At the time, I thought that maybe if I ran my whole mix from Logic through the tape machine, that it might add some magic glue to the song and open up some new ideas. It didn't do that. Instead, I did learn that if you play back a song at a different speed, it can give you new perspective. Playing the demo back at 2x made me realize that the melody I had was actually something worth keeping and at double speed, the song is, dare I say, fun to listen to.


2. dauntless (instrumental)



3. nylon overblown (instrumental)



4. peace (instrumental)



5. venison


This is the first demo from june. I quite like the lyrics that came out of me in the moment:

red, red venison
hanging from lessons
six, six, six vision
through my throat
acid tongue, acid tongue



6. gauze & clothes


I wrote this with bloody gauze in my mouth. I had gotten my wisdom teeth out earlier in the day. While I was just killing time waiting for my mouth to recover, I recorded this little idea. This was one where I decided that I didn't want to play a single strummed chord. Tried to mix it up starting with bass first.

lyrics:
country road with nothing to follow
gauze & clothes sodden and borrowed
cherry rose stains on tomorrow
so it goes, so it goes


7. gauze & clothes (2x)


Another example of testing a melody and idea by speeding it up. I like it!


8. 5/4 (instrumental)



9. tape distortion I (instrumental)



10. crawl (instrumental)



11. fold over memories



12. all there is


Written by directly looking at a conversation with a friend on discord. We were both feeling particularly burnt out with the state of the world.


13. all there is (2x)



14. knife on the floor (instrumental)


This is another favorite of mine in this collection. The guitar is tuned down super low. I think it was in CGCFCE. I played this riff for hours and hours. Something about it really sunk into me and communicated the feeling that I was in.


15. knife on the floor (w vocals)



16. tape distortion II (instrumental)



17. nicholas (instrumental)



18. skin for you



19. skin for you (2x)



20. tape distortion III (instrumental)



21. giants of the sawtooth (instrumental)