Why this represents 1993 is really quite a mystery to myself. I was 2 years old, so I've no idea why it strikes me as such a dark and mysterious year. I think I managed to get down exactly what I was thinking with this track.

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).

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...

Words are from a sestina of the same title by Steve Davenport, who asked us to make music out of it! This was a terribly fun song to record. We did it, of course, while drinking. Thankfully no instruments were harmed.

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.

I lit a string on fire...

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

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 with jungle/drum-and-bass influence* I've never really felt that I was ever good enough But even I can be improved if I just stay tough My teeth are metal reinforced My eyes are plastic lens And daemons run inside my head…

*Electronic rock* I've been reading so much information About my situation A chemical mix that I must fix I think it's magnesium Pills three times a day I changed the food that I ate Re-uptake takes time I'm sure I'll be fine I can…

*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* 0 machine, 0 mirror Can you make the picture clearer? And bring me nearer to thee? Make me 1ne, make me (w)h0le Scan my imperfect soul And correct the mistakes that you see You're everything I want You're everything…