Complications
by Teddy Blanks
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Digital Album
Immediate download of 10-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.Free Download
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Faint & Shaky
03:38
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Hold Your Head
03:40
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Crimson Tide
03:08
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The Itch
03:51
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The Largest Chain
05:25
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Move Your Body
05:13
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about
Six upbeat pop songs about strange diseases and medical trauma inspired by the writings of Atul Gawande.
"As a writer, I have not had a cooler, more thrilling experience than when Teddy Blanks sent me the music he'd made out of inspiration from my work. It wasn't just that he'd taken the time and effort--which itself was extraordinary. It was that he'd found a way to make unbelievably catchy, weirdly danceable, and completely off-kilter pop songs out of my stories of, say, a TV anchorwoman who has surgery to take away her ability to blush, or a woman with an itch that causes her to scratch through her skull. I'm an obsessive indie music fan, and as music alone, I loved this EP. But I have also gotten to have this special, unexpected connection to it. You don't get luckier than that."
- Atul Gawande, surgeon, author, and staff writer for The New Yorker
"As a writer, I have not had a cooler, more thrilling experience than when Teddy Blanks sent me the music he'd made out of inspiration from my work. It wasn't just that he'd taken the time and effort--which itself was extraordinary. It was that he'd found a way to make unbelievably catchy, weirdly danceable, and completely off-kilter pop songs out of my stories of, say, a TV anchorwoman who has surgery to take away her ability to blush, or a woman with an itch that causes her to scratch through her skull. I'm an obsessive indie music fan, and as music alone, I loved this EP. But I have also gotten to have this special, unexpected connection to it. You don't get luckier than that."
- Atul Gawande, surgeon, author, and staff writer for The New Yorker
credits
released 07 February 2012
Produced by Teddy Blanks & Miguel Urbiztondo.
Engineered by Bryan Walthall.
Mixed by Alan Weatherhead.
Mastered by Luke Harper at Audio Altimeter, Minneapolis, MN.
Cover photo by Jenny Hueston
Backing Vocals:
Neeka (tracks 4 and 6)
Joana Avillez (track 5)
Recorded at:
Wintershack in Falls Village, CT
Sound of Music Studios in Richmond, VA
Produced by Teddy Blanks & Miguel Urbiztondo.
Engineered by Bryan Walthall.
Mixed by Alan Weatherhead.
Mastered by Luke Harper at Audio Altimeter, Minneapolis, MN.
Cover photo by Jenny Hueston
Backing Vocals:
Neeka (tracks 4 and 6)
Joana Avillez (track 5)
Recorded at:
Wintershack in Falls Village, CT
Sound of Music Studios in Richmond, VA
tags
license
all rights reserved
feeds
feeds for about
Teddy is a singer-songwriter and performer. Previously, he was lead singer of synth-pop duo the Gaskets. He provided the ... more score for Lena Dunham's film "Tiny Furniture" (available now from the Criterion Collection). Along with Adam Squires and Daniel Shields, he runs the Brooklyn-based graphic design studio CHIPS. less
discography
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Feb 2012 -
Feb 2012 -
Feb 2012
contact / help
For help with downloads, click here.
For all other inquiries, click here.
- Track Name: Faint & Shaky
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Several gather, watching the whole time
You dozed off in the road
I'm flagging down the passing cars so they don't hit you, honey
You're faint and shaky but you're mine
It's time to take you home
Little silly sleeping anywhere it suits you
Treated, handled and confined,
the dream will take control
See your lovers' faces cream, they've come to save your country
You're faint and shaky and your mine
You can't be let alone
I will be here, I will watch, and I will wake you
Shutting down,
ignored and so dangerous
You're alone and going forever
Blacking out
A fawn in the grocery line,
you will call on Mulder and Scully again
Cut the belly of the night
at any random time
Is your coma as delicious as your bloody mary?
I set off bombs, I lose my sight
I awkwardly define
Little silly, spitting sweetly, I will join you
Shutting down
ignored and so dangerous
We're engaged and sleeping together
Blacking out
A fawn in the grocery line
We will call on Mulder and Scully again
Darling, are we going out tonight
You're tired, you're thinking no
I will see you shortly, hour and a half is all I'll be gone
You're faint and shaky, turning white
You don't know where to go
You will find me on the sidewalk on Delancey sleeping - Track Name: Hold Your Head
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Heavy blankets up to here,
rubbing shoulders everywhere,
colder than heaven
Hold you down and flush your face
Helicopter on the way
for the same reason
Keeping vital organs warm
so we can go perform
You'll get the picture
Not supposed to tell you this,
but the recession is
making us richer
When you were frozen on the stage
I'd hold your head and I'd pray
I can sense impending snow
Sneak it further, nice and slow
Deep as your footsteps
Frugal and alert, I dive
Frozen, breathing, still alive
Face is a trainwreck
Sipping drinks and reading scripts,
burning holes in your chapped lips,
drawing conclusions
Not supposed to tell you this,
but your confession is
causing pollution
When you were sliding off the page
I'd hold your head and I'd say
"When you were frozen on the stage
I'd hold your head and I'd pray" - Track Name: Crimson Tide
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Christine blushes in her field report
Face is flush and she's missing her cues
Sure, she's been red-faced before
But at the rate her mind goes blank,
she'll never chair the evening news
She can't make it go away
One blush and confidence is gone
She piles the turtle-necks and cover-up, her camoflage
But I can see it coming
like a wave, like a crimson tide
Christine slips - it's getting scary now
She's been shocked and she's feeling removed
But she's a public figure now
She cries and wonders why god cursed her with a job that she can't do
Now she's blushing every day
and they don't know what to prescribe
She could try beta-blockers, valium, or suicide
And I can see it coming
like a wave, like a crimson tide
Overcome, you'll overcome
You fly away
We'll put you under
No more no more rosy cheeks
Two tiny cuts and then you're out
Be a kid with dark sunglasses
When the mask comes off i wonder
Will you, will you step outside
your fragile pride?
And I can see it coming
like a wave, like a crimson tide - Track Name: The Itch
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M scratches hard,
scratches down on the itch hardcore
She doesn't give it for her body no more,
doesn't feel the flesh protecting the sore
Her blunted rage
constantly three steps down from pain
She doesn't hear the dermatologist say
She scratches through the skull right into her brain
After she found out that she had the virus
After the divorce, the financial struggles,
her children were gone, and she couldn't
pressure this feeling away
She's got the itch, and it won't stop
M. wants her dreams
then to rise into something clean
She's rejected all the drugs on the scene
and split the monuments we found her between
Repeat this test
Strapped and bandaged and confined to a bed
She can train herself to flurry instead,
shifting slowly all the nerves in her head
After the lull of the third operation,
she'd learned not to touch, control the temptation
The itch was still there, and she couldn't
pressure the feeling away
She's got the itch, and it won't stop - Track Name: The Largest Chain
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Twist and shout
'til my skinny bones
knock you on the head
all over the world
Work it on out
Sturdy, baby, strong
Steel and glass and lead
on the other side of the world
Open the door
Pushpins on my brow
that you can't explain
We're the largest chain
Get on the floor
Dancing on the ground
No i can't complain
We're the largest chain
I was driving over the bridge,
watching the water falling,
only hoping to avoid
drowning in the road
They come to clean up the mess
after the storm
Baby we just keep moving along
and I'm on a plane
just reading your book
and leaving the paparazzi alone
You walk in the room
You look to the left
Slow motion cameras are shooting
Who will clean up the mess
after they're gone?
Baby, we just keep moving
Play that song
'til my stereo
speaks unto the lord
Sturdy as a board
All night long
We will pay on time
what we can afford
Sturdy as a boar
Call my bluff
On these flooded streets,
rescued from the rain,
we're the largest chain
Strut your stuff
Dancing to defeat
Dancing to maintain
We're the largest chain
They come to clean up the mess
after the storm
Baby we just keep moving along
and I'm on a plane
just eating my snack
and leaving the paparazzi alone
You walk in the room
You look to the left
Slow motion cameras are shooting
Who will clean up the mess
after they're gone?
Baby, we just keep moving - Track Name: Move Your Body
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In every house
where I come
I will enter only for good
All the knowledge
coming to me
I can keep a secret
and I will never reveal
I can stand right now
in front of all my peers
and recite a copy of
every little article
I want to block the sound
before the sound appears
I can make earmuffs with fur
from every single animal
I come to your grave
to look at your bones
Move your body
I'm picking you up
I'm taking you home
Move your body
Sand just rolls over, come on
Sand just rolls over, come on
You got a group together
I'm gonna dig into you
I swear, Apollo
I take witness
To my brothers
I will prescribe
Do good by my parents
Good to my children
I will keep this secret
and I will keep it real
I can sneak you out
under the Rabbit's Moon
and feel the awful weight of
every little cuticle
I want to be devout
I'm gunna be there soon
I can see you stiff and still
and still you're beautiful
They called us
to turn a cautious eye to the water
