the foolish way we live our lives: a mix for summer 2011

hello everyone,

i guess it's been a while since i've posted anything here. i've been hard at work on a lot of new projects that, if you are reading this blog, you probably have heard me talk about in person, like the new day sleeper album, a new band called the this many boyfriends club, and all kinds of other things i may not be at liberty to disclose. the point is i haven't had any time to post more original material on the site. in the interest of assuring my nascent (read: nonexistent) following that i am still alive, i made a little mixtape for the summer in the spirit of the "season's not long" tape i made last spring. put it on loud and stick your hand out the car window.

download "the foolish way we live our lives: summer 2011"

tracklist:

1. the sundays - summertime
2. the replacements - talent show
3. taken by trees - anna
4. the english beat - save it for later
5. carsick cars - zhi yuan de ren
6. atom & his package - atari track and field/new controller conspiracy
7. the 6ths - falling out of love (with you)
8. the dB's - she's not worried
9. the spinanes - reach v. speed
10. the for carnation - on the swing
11. tal bachman - she's so high
12. krill - 32 teeth
13. sleater-kinney - leave you behind
14. red house painters - over my head
15. 12 rods - girl sun
16. the national - gospel

cas kaplan - she imitates a frown

coffee cans and handfuls of change! borrowing instruments, breaking curfew and neglecting responsibilities! pirate radio-ready pillow-couched misanthropy! anti-love songs for conduction-deaf ears! guitars! software! whispers! shouts! menace! affection! affectation! ennui! habits! torn clothes and loose sheets! victorian novels and foreign fiction! refinement! vernacular! spinning head and robot fingers! an abundance of plastic! toes half-frozen and eyes half shut! elaborate crassness and circuitous metaphor! malaise! the common cold! melpomene! thalia! mneme! aiode!

another album about bad feelings, but this time you can dance to it!

download cas kaplan - she imitates a frown



tracklist:

1. fourteen fourteen
2. a little fucking candor
3. pray for lizzie
4. honeybee
5. as i remember you (hiding place part ii)
6. counting lashes (more of a brother part ii)
7. the most vainglorious game
8. modesty dictates
9. waking up

all songs by cas kaplan; "pray for lizzie" and "as i remember you" feature compositional input by justin k. wong and matt dowling; "as i remember you" contains a quotation from "stares into attics" by phil kaplan, roger stevenson, david greenberger and jon proudman

dedicated to the memory of BLUESTOCKINGS

aestatis - slow sparks

COMPOSED OF: samples, spare time

FREE OF: lyrics, obnoxious literary references, self-loathing

download aestatis - slow sparks



tracklist:

1. nothing stops her
2. sparks
3. don't let me lose you
4. sometimes i wonder
5. the turtle
6. sleepturner

sample credits: archers of loaf, the american analog set, anne briggs, aix em klemm, 12 rods, kow otani, junichi masuda, cowboy junkies, blonde redhead, broadcast, life without buildings, the dead texan, beijing angelic choir, james blackshaw, ava luna, beat happening, atom and his package, big star, eggstone, blink182, third eye blind, bruce peninsula, bjork

dedicated to the memory of trish keenan

cas kaplan - hight winterland

"winter is come again. how are you doing?"

download cas kaplan - hight winterland



tracklist:

1. let's go
2. murdering birds
3. let go
4. no dreaming in winter
5. winterland (too slow)

all songs by cas kaplan; cover photo by christy romanick

diversification

i have initiated an online comic strip:

EVERYONE IS MISUNDERSTOOD

"nothing has ever been funny"

check it out

thank you

cas kaplan - no poetry EP

anti songs, anti everything

download cas kaplan - no poetry EP



tracklist

1. lethe
2. elliptical construction or a limpid construct
3. if i tried
4. no poetry

all songs by cas kaplan; cover photo by luke pyenson

announcing: bluestockings

i am in a new band up here in montreal. we are called bluestockings, and we now have a myspace.

bluestockings: the band?

look forward to more activity from us

addendum: prospect street

hello again,

i was browsing the archives and it occurred to me that of the many projects i undertook this past summer, easily the most significant of all of them was my participation in the newton theatre collective, who constitute the most inspiring group of young people i have ever met - i, with them, in the space of about two months, conceived, wrote, produced, promoted, and performed an original show titled "prospect street." in addition to this, i also provided "incidental music" - that is, filler songs to play in the intermissions. the music got a positive response so, in the interest of obsessive completism, i present it as a miniature companion to the recently uploaded maybe we'll be friends, as many of the songs produced for "prospect street" exist in other forms on present and past editions of that album. also, astute observers will note a masked aestatis track - i had a time quota, people.

download cas kaplan - prospect street


tracklist:

1. coming home
2. maybe we'll be friends
3. pocket monster
4. stay asleep
5. you feel it too
6. bookend

all songs by cas kaplan; "pocket monster" contains samples of junichi masuda, au revoir simone, and stars of the lid.

cas kaplan - maybe we'll be friends

this is the album i've been threatening to release for several years now. it's undergone a number of title changes ("city winding down," "history of the moon," "an endless ocean of stars") and the tracklist has been in flux. the songs themselves were written and recorded over a period of some five years ("the face that you made" is from when i was fifteen, while the chinese lullaby was done last winter) and i've spent all this time hemming and hawing about how to "release" it, and so now here it is. some of it is a little embarrassing, but i think there's value to being embarrassed about some of one's artistic output, because if the embarrassment is real then so is the art. i do hope you like it.

download cas kaplan - maybe we'll be friends



tracklist:

1. hyacinth, adonis and echo
2. stay asleep
3. the face that you made
4. maybe we'll be friends
5. 催眠曲 (看！看！看！)
6. kindly (faith)
7. no more lonely
8. lake of time

all songs by cas kaplan. additional vocals on "maybe we'll be friends" and "kindly (faith)" by kitty pop! cover photo by christy romanick.

cassette and cd-r copies available as always upon request.

cas kaplan - little scientists

recorded during one of the happiest periods of my life. few takes, minimal production, limited time wasted, all levels turned up shit high. fucking loud. two love songs (one's not mine), a breakup song, some hate songs, the rest are nonsense. lots of old shit i wanted to get rid of. two covers. listen loud. take issue with the sound, fuck you.

download cas kaplan - little scientists



tracklist:

1. accent
2. outside
3. the only kids
4. stupid fucking kids
5. favorite place
6. barely nothing wrong
7. ashley
8. the way out
9. seafoam
10. stuntman
11. heard you (were) looking
12. keeps me healthy
13. real funny
14. tonight?
15. tonight part II
16. three reasons you should fuck me

all songs by cas kaplan, except "barely nothing wrong" by phil kaplan and "stuntman" by jared arnold

if anyone wants this on tape, just pay for the tape and postage (caskaplan@gmail.com)

season's not long - a mixtape for spring 2010

a new cas kaplan album is in the works but i haven't been writing very much lately. day sleeper is also at work, and i'll be touring and recording with day sleeper, shai, and the craters this summer.

however, i did just spend my whole afternoon making this mixtape instead of studying. it's designed for a 90 minute tape, forty five minutes per side. as bitter as i can be about the impending three days of rain in montreal, this tape is the closest i'm able to get to some form of artistic release. i'm quite proud of it.

download "season's not long - spring 2010"



tracklist:

side 1: the songbird yesterday

1. bjork - venus as a boy
2. enon - window display
3. longwave - pool song
4. eggstone - my trumpets
5. oasis - songbird
6. male bonding - year's not long
7. jens lekman - julie
8. pavement - shady lane/j vs. s
9. the la's - feelin'
10. the lassie foundation - i'm stealin' to be your one in a million (new version)
11. death cab for cutie - the sound of settling
12. blur - good song
13. men & volts - barely nothing wrong
14. mint royale - don't falter

side 2: love in june

1. lemon jelly - the staunton lick
2. slowdive - alison
3. the wannadies - love in june
4. lit - zip-lock
5. gorillaz feat. gruff rhys and de la soul - superfast jellyfish
6. wheatus - sunshine
7. sugar ray - every morning
8. my bloody valentine - blown a wish
9. angels and airwaves - everything's magic
10. om shanti om - deewangi deewangi
11. the pillows - funny bunny

DOUBLE RELEASE: JUST LAUGH and CAUSE IT DON'T HAVE HELP YOU

i have not been as diligent as usual in updating the site as of late, but that doesn't mean i have been any less productive. what with the flurry of recent day sleeper activity it's been a little difficult to keep up with TMM; i know i've been promising an endless ocean of stars for nearly half a year now but i'm being a perfectionist about it and am finalizing some of the tracks. until then i present you with two brand new releases:

cause it don't half help you

a mid-winter snack. this was briefly titled music not therapy, because it's really not; to create is certainly a vital outlet for, you know, feelings and other such nonsense, but if there is something to say it will still always need to be said, until it's... said. these sounds are manifest frustration.

download aestatis - cause it don't half help you



tracklist:

1. the soldier boys
2. this what?
3. ?!
4. i make you sick do i
5. turn turn turn

sample credits: explosions in the sky, men & volts, anne briggs, beat happening, robert blumenfeld, junichi masuda, lu chunling, broken social scene, gang of four, bikini kill, the album leaf, flying saucer attack

cover photo by christy romanick

just laugh

before the new year was a low period. i came back to montreal after new year a new person. these songs are a mixture of my self-loathing from the down winter and my renewed optimism from the new year. other than "i promise you," which dates from the history of the moon period, and "banking education," which is another cover of my extraordinarily talented friend shai erlichman, these songs are symptoms of those feelings. some of them are high-minded, others nonsense, and still others both; specific people are invoked in some of them too, and they know who they are.

download cas kaplan - just laugh



tracklist:

1. just laugh
2. no you're right
3. weeping willow in ilion weeping
4. o iva
5. banking education you won't suck the sweet life out of me
6. nothing
7. by jove
8. i promise you

all songs by cas kaplan, except track 5 by shai erlichman. additional vocals on track 5 by lara oundjian.

cover photo by maggie may(bury)