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Comics and Stories

by Vostok Lake (NZ)

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1.
This must be the place with the marks on the linoleum where people put out cigarettes over and over again where the cobwebs have cobwebs and the hallways smell like wee the gilt has rubbed off this disco ball posters pasted over mildewed posters from gigs long-ago forgotten This must be the place The edges underneath the stools Are landscapes built from gum The floor kisses onto your sneaker soles And is reluctant to let go Layers of graffiti decorate the lavatory door Detailing good times and love-hate And swastikas intersect hearts This must be the place and I think it always has been...
2.
Cut and Run 04:19
a man in black with a mein kampf look a woman enraptured by the history book they fell in love with a strict machine full of dead men's bones and all things unclean as his cancer swelled to enormous size he became a god in his lover's eyes there was no remorse for the things he did when it came to the crunch, he ran and hid cut and run, run and hide it's the honest measure of dishonest pride here on the ground, your enemy stood but the chance was blown for good in october rust with their flags unfurled everything's unjust in the netherworld there was too much static for the state they're in so they jumped the tracks saving all their skins he's the holy goat for the dancing dead he'll remain their leader till he eats some lead there was no recourse when it hit the skids in the dawn of the dark he ran and hid cut and run, run and hide do you love the genes or the genocide here on the ground your enemy shook but a word was all it took were you nine days hanging on the holy tree you were left to dangle, it appears to me all your thoughts misleading in your steel trap mind with your one eye bleeding and your third eye blind all your ogres summoned and your hexes hexed you will see them coming in this world or the next like adolf and eva, or bonnie and clyde at the ends of the earth they run and hide cut and run, run and hide would you like to sue for the suicide here on the ground, your enemy stood but the chance was blown for good cut and run, run and hide did you put my face to the fear inside here on the ground your enemy shook but a word was all it took
3.
Don't tell the doctor that you're God Don't tell the doctor that you're God Don't tell the doctor that you're Batman Don't tell the doctor that you're God He's gonna hook you up to the big machine He's gonna wash your brain though it's already clean You can't hear the angels on thorazine So don't tell the doctor that you're Batman, Batman Don't tell the doctor that you're God Batman loves you cause you're crazy Batman loves you cause you're strange Batman loves you cause you stole a motorbike And drove it out of cellphone range You can tell the doctor that you need a rest You can tell the doctor that you need to confess You can tell the doctor that you need to undress But don't tell the doctor that you're Batman, Batman Don't tell the doctor that you're God Batman loves you cause you're... CRAZY! Batman loves you cause you're... CRAZY! Batman loves you cause you're... CRAZY! CRAZY! He's gonna hook you up to the big machine He's gonna wash your brain though it's already clean You can't fight the Joker on thorazine So don't tell the doctor that you're Batman, Batman Don't tell the doctor that you're God na na na na na na na na BATMAN!
4.
office work is fucking boring office work is never done office work is sweatshop labour for the new millennium i did everything that they told me i studied foucault and lacan a master's degree in art history i'm doing the best that I can but now I just work in an office doing the things I do well filing and typing and bitching and griping and making other's lives hell office work is fucking boring office work is never done office work is sweatshop labour for the new millennium the boss is a suit-wearing dipshit who thinks he's god's gift to the race so easily annoyed, so hard to avoid so hard not to laugh in his face I carefully fake the statistics to prove that my work's a success and every day i can find a new way to abuse my internet access office work is fucking boring office work is never done office work is sweatshop labour for the new millennium office workers run in circles like a hamster in a cage day is coming when some jerk will choke upon my righteous rage the managers make conversation a passive-aggressive attack with musical sound, the gossip goes round about who's screwing who out the back i make up some fictitious rumours about who pissed me off most that day i smile and just wait for a while i got three supervisors fired that way office work is fucking boring office work is never done office work is sweatshop labour for the new millennium office workers run in circles like a hamster in a cage day is coming when some jerk will choke upon my righteous rage office work is fucking boring
5.
Silicon(e) 05:41
Sleep, go to sleep And pray the backup drive my soul to keep The flesh is weak and frail But silicon and silicone don't fail Time to go online A different way, a softer place to shine A new interface No interaction cannot be replaced I have replaced you every way that I could Turned the bad into good And your replacement locks the doors to my home turns the meat into chrome I built my world around you You weren't there My silicone friend will not pretend to care. Go deep within The plastic is fantastic second skin Here, warm and dry It's safe to be when silicone sees me cry. I have replaced you every way that I can Changed a toy to a man I will perform this electronic embrace I am dishwasher safe There is no danger in here, no surprise My silicon friend will not offend with lies. (You have been replaced... You have been replaced...) My silicone friend will never leave My silicon friend keeps his heart on his sleeve My silicone friend is better than the real thing in every way (any day) My silicon friend is ever-ready My silicone friend keeps her motion steady My silicon friend will never let me down I am automated Organic components outdated And I become aware The problem lies between the screen and chair Peel back my face The last component homing into place At last, I've found the bug Returning, yearning, burning like a drug I will embrace this every way that I must As the chrome turns to dust And I will face this as the sweet turns to sour Motor chokes on the power Now I have been replaced too. Can't you see? My silicon friend, this is the end of me.
6.
It's just an afternoon In the candy clothing store I was thinking about the beautiful dresses And more The signals of dominance Flesh on display The feelings which don't belong To light of day Take responsibility The money changes hands For I am such a good girl Where I stand never say I wanted never say I need never own the pleasure When the scalpel starts to bleed I could never do this Never be that girl I could never open The door to the other world Will you do this for me? Will you turn me round? You can dress me up And dress me down Will you allow me To be who I want to be Feel who I want to feel Flesh on the skeleton I want to go with you Please take command You hold the balance I'll hold the whip hand Down on your knees for me Worship the light in me Open the door for me Very methodically Dress me in velvet And ribbons of fire Let me become The thing you desire The thing I desire The thing that is higher
7.
Hey there kid, you look kind of funny Is it your next show The man in the wings is screaming like a monkey And he won't let go The sounds in your head on the stage in the darkness No reason for regret, it all looks fine Time to forget what the promoter promised The audience is just killing time Bathed in sweat, you're counting the money It's your next show And everyone wants to get a piece of something It's rock and roll The TV is dead in your one-room apartment The VCR's on the blink You cannot remember how this all got started The end is not as close as you think Time for sleep, you've got a big day tomorrow It's your next show Whatever you have you steal, beg or borrow It's beyond control You rip off your clothes, you stand in the spotlight You scream at the top of your lungs And everybody's vying to be your replacement 'Cause everybody's learned what you've sung But it won't be for long It's the end of the song
8.
(kind of complicated arrangement - see https://www.vostoklake.org/songs/comixstories#fake)
9.
Remember a time Remember a place (Remember a girl Remember her face) The last time we saw her She looked so alive (Climbing the tower at Ghost Point Five) She drew the fire at Ghost Point Five Mounted the spire so the rest could survive It all came to pass so fast We never saw her alive She fell from the tower She fell with a scream (At Ghost Point 5, at Ghost Point 5) Fell out of the world Fell into the dream (At Ghost Point 5, at Ghost Point 5) She fell to the ground She fell to the black (At Ghost Point 5, at Ghost Point 5) We're helping her out We're helping her back (At Ghost Point 5, at Ghost Point 5) All we remember is there on the screen The old world is gone now and so is the dream What was dismembered remembered once more be seen We stand in awe of her opening eyes A new world inspired by her opening eyes Our song will chant the tale as the old must die Coming back to life It wasn't the first, it isn't the last (the cycle completes, the cycle completes) Recycling birth, once more from the past (we draw a clean sheet, we draw a clean sheet) The closest we come to bearing a child (Dismember the old, back into the new) When nothing is lost, all debt reconciled (Machines are so cold, our voices are true) All we remember is there on the screen The ghost is remoulded into the machine The new body waits for a second time To be clean We stand in awe of her opening eyes A new world inspired by her opening eyes Our song will chant the tale as the old must die Coming back to life
10.
Dark night and slowly moving forward Cross the wrong side of the tracks Lights flash on the silver hood ornament There is no way to relax Kurtz up the river, the heart of the darkness Is touching your platinum blonde Everyone hears when your money is talking But this is no way to respond you're like a LIMOUSINE IN A CUL DE SAC too big to manoeuvre and you can't go back and the restless natives are on the attack yes you're a LIMOUSINE IN A CUL DE SAC you're going down like the Hindenburg a flaming gas-bag unless you drop your machinery and slip through a crack it's the only way out Scraping the fender, the impact reverberates Somebody fell on the curb Blood on the bumper and sounds in the alleyway Things were best not to disturb You feel the eyes watching from silent apartments And you see them nowhere at all But caught on your dashcam, the face in the window Who lets out an unearthly call Who? Who? Who? is the cry of the dove And how can we exit this trap As bricks and scrap metal rain down from above Their patience is starting to snap You crossed into colour out of black-and-white movies And this is the scene that you dread The engine roars out like a boat up the Congo, Hunters are after you out of your head you're like a LIMOUSINE IN A CUL DE SAC too big to manoeuvre and you can't go back and the restless natives are on the attack yes you're a LIMOUSINE IN A CUL DE SAC and you had steady momentum on the alpha-track but you've reached the encounter with the obscene lack is there no way out? you're like an oil tanker in a waterspout or a party bus stuck on the roundabout and the passengers are puking, they can't get out you're like a LIMOUSINE IN A CUL DE SAC too big to manoeuvre and you can't go back and the restless natives are on the attack yes you're a LIMOUSINE IN A CUL DE SAC you'll go down like the Hindenburg a flaming gas-bag unless you drop your machinery and slip through a crack it's the only way out
11.
Amateur Hour 05:15
I had a feeling we were going to lose it I'd a feeling it was slipping away Time flies, we were staking our lives Like a bunch of little children at play In a flash, it all went crashing Staring at the mess on the ground Fine words for all this passion Now we're all humiliation bound In the amateur hour This is the amateur hour A million strong in the market square throng And the government is going to fall We organize through your network of lies Who ever could make sense of it all? Democracy means you listen to me Say what you like and do what you're told To think the blow could have come from below Is impossible - but still it unfolds Cold in the amateur hour This is the amateur hour This is the moment when we're taking the power Taking the pain Taking the feeling Always the same Taking the new age Out of the old Taking the prisoner Out of the Cold Taking the moment Taking the reins Taking our chances No more remains No more the professionals Hold us in thrall If we knew what we were doing We couldn't do it at all. I said I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me Now you only have yourself to blame You never thought, now your life is cut short By the creature that you sought to defame Parasite on the vessels of light A purveyor of the media lie I only hope through the rifle's scope That they won't remember you when you die Cry in the amateur hour This is the amateur hour No more lies in the amateur hour Now you die, in the amateur hour One more time
12.
I moved under the mountain With the people of the mud Cause I move with the ocean I can feel it in my blood I didn't think life would be easy I didn't know what to do I've slept through the pain, do it all again I'm ready for something new Oh friends and lovers, don't you fret The dreams are wilder, bolder yet And though I sang of sweet regret It makes no nevermind And though I'm far away from you The light you gave me shines on through And everything you said was true Except for "Stay behind" Meanwhile, in a womb of stone Deeper than you've ever known Underneath the rocks and dirt Insulated from the hurt Embryo dreams - Dreaming 'bout the things to come They told me it would end in fire But it's later than they think Instead, fear death by water when the tower starts to sink If we don't drown, I'll see you down In New Commercial Bay Or is it you and me on Lambton Quay? There are no words to say. Oh friends and lovers, don't you cry The light once born can never die And though I sang a sweet goodbye I'm always coming home And though it's wise to break with you I couldn't if I wanted to I set my course and sail the blue It's all I've ever known Meanwhile, in a womb of stone Deeper than you've ever known Underneath the rocks and dirt Insulated from the hurt Embryo dreams - Dreaming 'bout the things to come
13.
This must be the place and I think it always has been... but the doors do not open here any more Dead-bolted shut with extra large yales eyes peer suspiciously through half-closed blinds the rainbow flag has been ripped down and green algae proliferates under leaky pipes where the street-cleaners no longer remember to come without danger money a silent skinny grey alley cat washes dirt from his paws and it seems prudent to cross the street and keep walking it is not safe to linger here anymore

about

Eleven years in the making; a surprise hit on Kickstarter; DIY electronica with flavours of old-school prog and goth, powered by estrogen, with a transitional demand of lulz.

credits

released September 1, 2021

DAPHNE LAWLESS
electronic instruments, contralto vocals, ukulele
PATRICIA HALL
soprano vocals, acoustic percussion, random factor

Produced by JESS HAUGH with Daphne Lawless
words and music of Daphne Lawless except where otherwise indicated

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Vostok Lake (NZ) Auckland, New Zealand

NO GUITARS, NO BOYS, NO BUDGET, NO PROBLEM. Queer estrogen-fuelled Zolo Progwave with a transitional demand of lulz.New album COMICS AND STORIES out 2021.

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