Barbelith Underground > Radio & Music

Wow. I got the CD off Amazon, and don't recall any clarifying notes.

The basic impression I got was that it's a kind of James Le Carre-type story about a CIA operation. I mean, all the stuff about "You might not like Tate's methods - but you've gotta admit she's a real nice kid" seems right out of a spy novel, and the repeated references to Belgium and Quito make it seem like there's an international aspect to the operation.

At first, I thought it was about the Heaven's Gate cult or similar, and am not entirely convinced it's not.

Lemme get the disc cover and see what's written there...
OK, there's a small foldout -- basically larger version of the cover art (spliced shards of photo negatives) on one side, on the other (black) side, a similar but chunkier collage showing images of gravel, a dilapidated wooden structure, very texture-y.

There's a bulleted list in white type.

Because I'm home sick and don't have much better to do, I will here transcribe the list:

Bullet one: I let the mice chew throught the bandages. One of them was this brown and white mouse who approached the whole task with a wonderful sense of play. Sparkling little eyes lightheartedly intent on their work. Magnificent. Every little bit helps. I would lie there, in the boiling afternoon, watching the mice come and go, and I would think fondly of you.

And then an inset list: ALBUMS RECOVERED FROM THE TRAILER IN RIVERSIDE
Curtis Mayfield "Curtis/Live"
Lou Reed "Blondes Have More Fun" (bootleg, Australia 1974)
The Complete Recorded Works of Bad Company
Jerry Jeff Walker Self-Titled
Ready for the World "Long Time Coming"
(I'm not replicating the different typefaces used for artist & title... you get the idea.)

Bullet Two: I began to compile lists in my head. I remembered having read someplace that making lists was a way of calming the nerves. For me it only made things worse.

Inset list: Persons Thought to Have Disappeared Into The Cavalcade Of Monsters
Rosie
You
Me
Tracy in Portland
Emil

Bullet Three: I would reach for the telephone and then suddenly retract my hand as though I'd nearly grabbed hold of a snake. That was me: letting it slide. Watching unthinkable things on the stolen VCR hooked up through no small effort to the cheap bolted-down TV. Eating Milk Duds all day. Milk Duds and Charritos. And Royal Crown Cola in bottles. You could get it for cheap up at the Viva. For real.

Inset list: Champions of the World
Chavo Guerrero
Ox Baker
Al Madril
Eddie "the Continental Lover" Mansfield
Black Gordman

Bullet Four: In the great heat of the old motel I could feel the part of me that had been resisting the final disconnect beginning to wither. The kind of shrinking we practice turns us into invisible towers of strength. I'm sorry I brought you into this mess but I'm sorrier still that I'm not dumb enough to sink my arms in past the elbows. I have this sick feeling there's something really great just past the point of no return. Stupid, huh? I let the mice chew through the bandages. I sat back and let them go about their joyful business. Ripping and tearing. They were setting me free.

And then, instead of an inset list, there are the standard credits, recorded by, etc.
Cryptic tag: West side riders know how we hold it down.

Then the personnel list, and acknowledgements. These end with "All you people still out on the corner up there by 13th and Taylor near the Greenhouse, this one goes out to you with all the love that's in me.
"Brave young scavengers in your fabulous black jeans.
"Hold on.
"Hold on with both hands."

So... I dunno, maybe some kind of down-and-out paranoid trip?

The Mountain Goats