1. |
|
|||
|
Nadia,
This is the sound of your transition.
I found these recordings buried deep in your abandoned emails and facebook accounts. What remains from those ancient ruins is a portrait of your youth; something I had done my best to forget. I saw a portrait of a boy fighting tooth and nail to express himself among confusion and abuse. It was an embarrassing portrait; it was a portrait of myself.
Since I started living as Nadia one year ago, I’ve struggled to create anything that could express my transgender experience. That kind of cataclysmic reconstruction of one’s identity isn’t easy to explain to those who haven’t lived it. I spent the past year wondering, what would be the sound of my transition? How could I turn this combination of beauty, fear, empowerment, and embarrassment into music?
What I didn't know was that this music was already written; long before I was Nadia.
These songs were written and recorded during the hardest, most embarrassing time in my life - puberty. (My first one, that is). They’re off-tempo, out of tune, and meandering; a pastiche of conflicting emotions layered under my favorite coping mechanism, humor. I tried to hide my pain using sarcastic, masculine vocal performances. But buried underneath the bravado, I can hear the whimpers of a little girl hiding in a bedroom closet, crying into a microphone; much like I'm doing right now. Much like my failed attempt at masculinity, these songs are coming apart at the seams. What seeps through the cracks is the grating sound of a kid who was always a little off-key, confused, and bleeding raw against the world.
This is for me. But it’s also for my little brother, Nate. With these songs, I hold a mirror to the awkwardness of your transition. It shows me how you survived. Your life was lonely, confusing, and painful. You were full of dissonance, but that never stopped you from singing.
|
||||
2. |
Coffee into Blood
02:29
|
|
||
|
You turned your coffee into blood, now / And your blood into love / Why can't you answer my question? / Why can't we turn this around? / Coffee into blood / Well I guess it's too late now / 'Cause I finally found out / What is beautiful and clean / What it really means to me / Turned coffee into water / Turned water into life / But you're expecting more / And I just want to say goodbye / Coffee into blood
|
||||
3. |
Tonite, Everybody Dance
02:25
|
|
||
|
Tonite, everybody dance (x4) / Tonite, we want more! / Tonite, we need more! / Tonite, dance dance dance / Tonite, dance, dance tonite! / Tonite, We want more! / Tonite, we need dance! / Tonite, Dance dance dance / Tonite, dance dance alright! / Everybody (x2) / Everybody, tonite / Tonite (x2) / Unite / Everybody
|
||||
4. |
Bam a Ham
03:03
|
|
||
5. |
Grasshopper
02:15
|
|
||
|
(unintelligible)
|
||||
6. |
The Bird Life
01:39
|
|
||
7. |
|
|||
|
There's a hill west of here / Where the evergreens grow into space / For the lady, the orphan of light / Hide away, the beauty of no face / True self (x2)
|
||||
8. |
Bummer
01:16
|
|
||
|
I can't remember much at all / What happened last night, whoa / We must have taken a pretty bad fall / On my way home, whoa / Ooh, I can't, no / I can't sleep through this dream
|
||||
9. |
Stoo a Soop
00:41
|
|
||
|
Stoo a Soop
|
||||
10. |
Something in the Way
02:58
|
|
||
|
Underneath the bridge / The tarp has sprung a leak / And the animals I've trapped / Have all become my pets / Living off of grass / And the drippings from the ceiling / It's ok to eat fish / 'Cause they don't have any feelings / Something in the Way
|
||||
Firstwife Portland, Oregon
firstwife is the project of nadia newcomb!!!
If you like The Sound of Your Transition (Effigy to the Remains of My Masc), you may also like:
Access To The Lonely
by Rid Of Me
The Philly DIY punks balance pulverizing riffage with bottomless hooks on their arena-sized second album.
go to album
Please Let Me Know
by So Stressed
On their new record, So Stressed set heartbreak to the sound of knotty post-hardcore.
go to album
Kansas City trio Flooding draw out the more mystical qualities of slowcore and noise rock for a heavy sound that's less stony than doom.
go to album
Zahn, from Berlin, bring the sludge rock, with distortion-caked riffs and humid atmospherics.
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Aug 6, 2021
go to album
The Revenge Of Heads On Fire
by White Hills
Trailblazing psych duo White Hills return with another batch of bottom-heavy stoner-y anthems submerged in 200 tons of guitar.
go to album
Philly's Emily Robb deconstructs guitar rock into sludgy, blown-out slabs of riffage and feedback on this bruiser of a new album.
go to album
