Get all 17 James Cook releases available on Bandcamp and save 45%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of JAMES COOK vol one, JAMES NEMO (vol. one), tHE nEW nORMAL, DYSTOPIAN (EP), ANTI LOVE SONGS, ADVENTURES IN AUSLAND, ARTS AND SCIENCES EP, GOVERNMENT KID EP, and 9 more.
1. |
THE SELF MACHINE
03:01
|
|||
|
Standing in line in the queue for the cash machine
Success is an illusion, with an element of progress
Moving slowly to the beat of a silent drum
Scared to make a sudden movement,
Like a rabbit in a headlock
You're alone with the Self Machine,
You're alone with the Self Machine,
You're all alone and in love with the Self Machine
Sitting on a beach very chilly in the setting sun
Claustrophobic in the tundra, with an embarrassment of riches
Everybody happy, is there anybody having fun?
Trapped inside a calculator, bleeding like a radiator
You're alone with the Self Machine,
You're alone with the Self Machine,
You're all alone and in love with the Self Machine
You're alone with the Self Machine, admit it
There's something wrong with your self esteem
|
||||
2. |
GOVERNMENT KID
02:54
|
|||
|
Hanging out with a Government Kid
Checking out the infinity clutches.
Stick around and watch him making a mess
He's a sucker for the girl in the crutches
It's so good to see you in another world
So good to see you with another girl
So good to see you in another world
So good to see you
You fell in love with a Government Kid
Patronising all the primitive masses
Took a trip to the media's edge
Forming obsessions with people in glasses
Slow it down, our frozen, black economy is crashing down
We're in flight all alone now
In spite of our own worlds, we're in flight all alone now
You've got to find some time to burn it down
You've got to burn it down right, slow it down
You've got to find some time to burn it down
You've gotta burn it down
Hanging out with a Government Kid
|
||||
3. |
WRONG EMPIRE
03:34
|
|||
|
We're suspended, and regressing
Interlocking, interspersing with our fears
Crying water without tears
In the rollercoaster years
It's a mystery we're unlocking
Try unmasking, without knocking on on the wall
From the doorway in the hall
I can see my empire fall
We are alone, in the end
We are suspended by our friends
This is the part of me that I complete without you
You were a fool, I am a seed
I am the object of your greed
I am astounded by the crass insinuations that you make
This is the Wrong Empire
Crass beginnings, cruel anarchy
In the bedroom we are shocking ourselves cold
With the fear of growing old,
And the markets undersold
But we can reload and pretend
When aspiration starts to end
I am unblocking all the exits in the fortress of my mind
We can be small, I can believe
When the inertia starts to ease
We can alone define our own emancipation, or be free
This is the Wrong Empire, this is the Wrong Empire
We had it all, we owned it all,
But we were the Wrong Empire
|
||||
4. |
||||
|
I was born on a criminal island
I was raised upon the chicken reserve
I was taught by the obedient minors
I soon learnt initiations hurt
Blending myself into the stench of tyrants
Wanting much more than they thought i deserved
When i was tried, they tied me to the altar
Challenging me until the rumours burnt.
So what went wrong at the end of the summer?
Man we were lost it was the end of the line
What went wrong at the end of the summer
Then we were loaded on the thrill of the ride
Taking their time to run you through the mill
Knowing your way around the dollar bill
Questioning answers in unusual ways
Making your way, and then the world's your oyster
But what went wrong at the end of the summer?
Man we were lost it was the end of the line
What went wrong at the end of the summer
Then we were loaded on the thrill of the ride
And the world is so full of laughter
It's as though were not on fire
Even though we're lower than the angels
We can still catch our soul on fire
|
||||
5. |
SELLING IDEAS
03:07
|
|||
|
Stand too close to the bubbles
Getting splashed when they burst in the sky
Dreaming of a life less troubled,
But that dream is a pipe dream
The rain pisses down at twilight
Muddy rain in a drain, in a hole in the ground
But I'm not gonna wallow
Cos I've got this hole that I've got to get out
And I mean it, that I feel it, and I really want to face it
That I need you, my friends, to catch me when i fall
We're selling ideas to alleviate our fears
We're throwing it all away
We want to settle down, cos we're too old to get around
And I mean it, that I feel it, and I really want to face it
That I need you, my friends, to catch me when i fall
We're selling ideas to illuminate our fears
We're throwing it all away
We're selling ideas to eliminate out peers
We're throwing it all away
We're selling ideas, we're shedding our tears
We're throwing ideas away
|
||||
6. |
ARTS & SCIENCES
03:14
|
|||
|
Arts and sciences, love and politics
They connect to me, know your enemy ...
I was a child of the eighties,
that’s how I started creating
With real pop stars and better tv shows
That’s how my nostalgia remembers
When I was a teenager in the nineties
The Englishmen rediscovered their guitars
They reinvented London in the sixties
I arrived at the arse end of Britpop...
Arts and Sciences, they connect to me
Love and Politics, know your enemies
They surrender to everything that’s hateful
They surrender to everything thats painful
They surrender to everything (don’t surrender)
I didn’t have a computer
My mobile phone was a Nokia
We started using technology for music
Into another millennia
With our new friends we could reimpose electro
We had to fix the broken manifesto
We celebrated our scene within the system
No one in London was listening...
Now I am living in Berlin
Another decade looming in
But in the fortress of solitude and exile
We’re doing better than ever ...
Arts and sciences, they connect to me
Love and Politics, it gives me energy
Oh Arts and Sciences,
my Love of Politics
Don’t surrender to anyone
Just surrender to everyone
Don’t surrender to anyone
Never surrender.
|
||||
7. |
BLACK MARKET FUTURES
03:56
|
|||
|
Make your manifesto a blind ode to joy
Tear down the blankets, your time was wasted
Bleed another life force, all words are stupid
No other methods are so crass, tired and tasteless
Waking on a Sunday, living out of suitcases
Black Market Futures
Make it on Tuesday, otherwise it’s useless
For Black Market Futures
Tear down the records and burn down the bookcase
Grandfather’s clockwork is failed, worn and faceless,
“Ding dong” the bells ring
The chimes of the charmless
The burdens of the future will be forever timeless
Waking on a Sunday, living out of suitcases
Black Market Futures
Make it on Tuesday, otherwise it’s useless
For Black Market Futures
The burnt out starlight and broke imaginations of
Black Market Futures
Hollow out the lamplight and wear that tie right
It’s Black Market Futures
We are starting over again.
This is our revolution
We know it can happen again
Welcome to Black Market Futures
|
||||
8. |
SEDIMENT IN WINE
03:59
|
|||
|
I am not sure of your virtue
As I am forced into a corner
And you can walk the earth in my shoes
I will not conspire against you
But if you chose to infiltrate me
Then I will bleed just like the others
And you can sentence me, the victim,
I will not conspire against you
Like sediment in wine
You will sink to the bottom in the end
As we march on into China
With our epiphanies all around us
We are the satellite kings of England
With the Queens of Arizona
And when our time to rule is over
Then we will disappear into the darkness
Like sediment in wine
You will sink to the bottom in the end
Does our history count for nothing
Or is it history that we’re scared of ...?
|
||||
9. |
FACE TO FACE
02:57
|
|||
|
I hear the cars roll past my bed
Calm waves of engines soothing my head
They sometimes sing a lullaby
Those guardian angels that are trapped inside
There’s no comfort in well meant sympathy
The situation remains ...
There is no room for being sentimental
March of time is never ceasing
And all that’s left for us to come to terms with
Is the fact that we’re still face to face
Everything changes except this room
The walls are silent, as a witness, mute
|
||||
10. |
CIRCUS OF OUR LIVES
03:43
|
|||
|
Should I wait for the time when you promise the earth?
We cross our hearts and hope to die
Chase no mistakes, they’re lost on the way
You’ve made your statements and I’ve sealed my fate
It’s not something I should know
Know how to fake when sorrow shows
We won’t be here tommorrow
So take my hand and lead the blind
In the circus of our lives
Should I wait for the change?
It’s a matter of time
Reach further on, our future’s made
Pause through the storm it’s over again
Slowly the rumours of conscience will fade
But it’s not something I should know
Know how to fake when sorrow shows
We won’t be here tommorrow
So take my hand and lead the blind
In the circus of our lives
I wish I knew what I know now
But every thought reminds me how
This oversight of appetite is gone
In the circus of our lives
All fantasies dissolve away,
In every girl I see your face
In every town, in every place, you’re there
In the circus of our lives
|
||||
James Cook London, UK
Mailing list: eepurl.com/BNee5
James Cook made 3 albums between 2004/8 w/London indie
electro outfit NEMO. 2010's' The Dollhouse' project preceded 5 solo albums. 'Arts and Sciences' (2012). 'Adventures in Ausland' (2014) 'Anti Love Songs' (2016). 'tHE nEW nORMAL' (2020). Compilations JAMES NEMO (vol one), JAMES COOK (vol one) plus two covers albums lead to a 5th solo studio album proper in 2024
... more
If you like ARTS & SCIENCES, you may also like:
Squaring The Circle
by Sneaker Pimps
supported by 4 fans who also own “ARTS & SCIENCES”
The UK is particularly blessed with talent in electronica, and Sneaker Pimps are right up there with Portishead, The Aloof & Massive Attack in dark urban disenchantment. 2nd LP Splinters is still my favourite with founding member Chris Corner singing throughout, but this new collection of songs is wonderfully different & Simonne Jones’ singing is dreamy & sensual. Fighter is my top song, the lyrics full of vulnerable strength. Mid LP is especially strong, with Tranquility Trap, SOS, and Stripes.
go to album
Gauzy atmospheric pop on Karaoke Kalk, with heavenly vocals atop a lush bed of electronics.
go to album
Disturbing Dreams
by The Kartetch
Knotty alt-rock with corkscrewing guitars and steely vocals on an album that packs a punch.
go to album
Get groovy with the new one from Orions Belte, an album bursting with lithe basslines and hooky melodies.
go to album
Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua
by Ana Frango Elétrico
featured on Bandcamp Radio Aug 22, 2023
go to album
Tender and gorgeous songs from this Brooklyn duo, “and then all over” is a striking, evocative work full of hushed beauty.
go to album
Keeley Forsyth, on The Leaf Label, writes spectral, pulsing songs that swaddle her mournful alto in mist-like synths.
go to album
