The scene setter. This was the first track on the album and I've still got mixed feelings about it. Audibly, I like it. Cohesively, it doesn't REALLY fit in... My girlfriend told me "like it needs to represent the rest of the album. It grabs your…

There are too many amazing quotes from this film to not sample them SOMEWHERE in my album. Time after time, the 'yo-yo master' line got me laughing, so I thought I'd pay homage to it.

I would make the 70's sound more like this.

I'd be lying if I said this entire track wasn't sparked by the opening audio clip. It really made me think about the ways some people create their own enjoyment. Cool.

A bit less percussion and a bit more rhythm was the idea for this. I say that, but the track had a fully formed drum track alongside it until right at the last when I discarded it in a fit of creative temperament.

This track is the introduction to the main bulk of the album. It says "WELCOME TO RPM '09" and doesn't let you go until you've gotten to "Dancing With The Midnight Waves", the penultimate track.

Musical tribute to the ideas of Jane Jacobs (author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities) and Christopher Alexander (author of The Timeless Way of Building).

I am concerned with the values of my generation.

Original working title was something like, "And after six years I finally understood why they sing in the streets here, and could go home." It's sort of about anonymity in the modern city. If that sounds pretentious, that's because it is.

Good old dulcimer bash-up. This is certainly the most aggressive song I've played on dulcimer. I'm sure all those people with solid-body electric dulcimers have done worse...

I'm going to get all pretentious again and say this one is about the concerning strain of what I might call "religious modernist traditionalism" espoused by technological singularity fanatics (Ray Kurzweil) and authors like Neil Stephenson.

This song was recorded illegally. Please don't rat us out.

Started recording this with no idea what to do with the sound. Wound up with three different vocal takes to choose from, didn't like any of them, used all of them.

through the dead branches, through the dead branches

I (Al) wrote this song way back, just before the start of the current Iraq war. But it comes back to my mind every time a politician utters words matching a regex something like /(capture and )?kill (Osama )?Bin Laden/. It happened to be Obama…

*Electronic rock. Sounds like* **_IAMX_** *and* **_Depeche Mode_** This is much better than it’s ever been before Much more real More rich More speed More more I feel like I could go forever and it only hurts when I stop This is much…

*Ambient, downtempo electronic rock* As a baby the car’s engine put me to sleep. My parents drove all night And they raised me by the TV screen Now I wake to static late at night At 30,000 feet above the earth The Rolls-Royce thrusters…

*Electronic rock* I am painting a picture with blood and wire I am writing my story in glass and fire It's almost right It's almost nice Just one more twist and I'll be fixed Perfect, so perfect This pound of flesh Perfect, so perfect…

*Ambient with vocals* Forget everything Drift in the white noise ocean The sun is rising Let go of yourself See the beautiful blankness It’s Monday morning This won’t hurt a bit Breathe in a clean new program It’s time to wake up

*Electronic rock with a strong dubstep and* **_Burial_** *influence* There's no going back to how it used to be I've known it all along But I didn't want to see Command-Z CTRL-Z There is no "undo" And like it or not, this is you…