axxon N.
Machines! Machines! MACHINES! (or the Rapid Replacement of Our Dying Breed)
Tracklist
14) ...and then there were none.
Written, performed, produced, and recorded by: Andrew Abraido & Daniel Taveras
All lyrics written by Andrew Abraido EXCEPT 4; written by Daniel Taveras
Written and recorded October 2008 - December 2009
axxon N.'s third and final effort features an array of vernacular ranging from optimistic and poignant to violent and downright mechanical. Since MACHINES! is not an aural film, there was no narrative story to tell through the lyrics this time around. Instead, Andrew and Daniel focused on the theme of technological evolution and its current role in making us the stupidest and most dependent strain of human beings yet.
It took the duo the entire recording process of the record (over a year) to come up with a title for the album, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Daniel and Andrew have cited the 'Dying Breed' reference in the title and the twelfth song on the record as reflecting 'people like them', meaning people who are not afraid to think for themselves, people who take risks, people who don't do drugs (legal or otherwise) and don't abuse alcohol, and ultimately people who aren't particularly concerned with what others think about them.
With the advent of the digital era which we are all primary contributors to now, the human interaction has changed, diminished even. While penning the lyrics for MACHINES!, Andrew tried to connect and empathize with individuals living in the period of one of our nation's most epic moments, the Industrial Revolution. While this era gave humans many things to make their lives easier, it also took away the livelihoods of many individuals. Skilled tradesmen, once considered indispensible to our growing world, were replaced overnight by machines...a facet that tugged on the strings of Andrew's heart the more he thought about it.
On a more optimistic note, he thought of the awe and the sheer sense of wonder that individuals must have been overfilled with when they stood atop the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time and saw their city from a perspective they never thought possible; the astonishment at seeing a huge mass of steel and steam blistering by them at an inconceivable (at the time) 15 miles per hour; and the jaw-dropping, heart-in-throat feeling of amazement at the sight of a man soaring through the sky with the birds in a flying machine. It's easy to take these things for granted in our modern society where you can reach someone across the globe with the mere push of a button. We don't marvel at technological progress anymore, we expect it. It was the intention of this album to recapture some of that marvel from days of yore and illustrate just how precious progress can be.
It is worth noting that the lyrics for "Elephant" were written by Daniel, who flexed his poetic and songwriting muscles for that track.
The Industrial Revolution
Look at these
NEW MACHINES
Sold the ground
For a piece of
Orange steel
Contraband
Who's the kind
Of this MACHINE LAND
This is dull
I'm asleep
Wake me when we're flying
Cotton gin
Modern steel
Well at least we're trying
Fear of these
Factories
And the old time now gone
Adios
Age of man
That we pulled the plug on
Out of sight
New machines
Burn the ground
For a piece of
Blackened steel
Monotone
Where's the king
In this MACHINE HOME
This is dull
I'm asleep
Wake me when we're flying
Cotton gin
Modern steel
Well at least we're trying
Fear of these
Factories
And the old time now gone
Adieu
Age of man
That we pulled the plug on
Brand new tools
Fossil fuels
Burn the sky
Now our land is
Growing tall
Shaking hands
With the god
Of this machine land
This is dull
I'm asleep
Wake me when we're flying
Cotton gin
Modern steel
Well at least we're trying
Fear of these
Factories
And the old time now gone
Au revoir
Age of man
That we pulled the plug on
Metal jewels
Fossil fuels
Toward the sky
Now our land is
Growing wide
Spitting gold
Like the god
Of this MACHINE WORLD
This is dull
I'm asleep
Wake me when we're flying
Cotton gin
Modern steel
Well at least we're trying
Fear of these
Factories
And the old time now gone
So good-bye
Age of man
That we pulled the plug on.
Teeth
Look at me
Stab me in the eyes
Separate
Pigments' choking ties
Fornicate
Simple solemn swear
Hesitate
We were never there
Cutting teeth
Quiet is the sound
With a splash
Let us leave the ground
Now entwined
Oceanic snare
Waterproof
We were never there.
Flames and Pilots
My ghost she doesn't
She doesn't speak much anymore
I slit her throat and
I chewed out her talking chords
And now they're searching
For an answer and a cure
They cannot fix me
I do believe I thirst for more
My violent life I can't lose hold
Self-defense against the old
Flames and pilots of my past
Who didn't care to make it last
My ghost she doesn't
She doesn't sleep much anymore
I cut her thighs and
Let her bleed out like a whore
And now she's searching
For a reason and a door
She cannot leave me
All this blood it makes me sure
My violent life I can't lose hold
Self-defense against the old
Flames and pilots of my past
Who didn't care to make it last
My ghost she doesn't
She doesn't live much anymore
Her flesh is rotting
Soil seeping through her pores
And now I'm searching
For a pistol and a hole
So I can end this
And release my feral soul
My violent life I now let go
Too late to copa and take control
No more will pilots haunt my bed
Because my dear, now we're all dead.
Elephant
I remember when
I saw god change color
A wasted moment when
The leaves were still green
Before they crumbled brown
And tumbled and left to wade
In a worried puddle
In a worried lake
Don't tell me
You don't remember
It was under the porch beside the plants
I wonder how
You never found it
How it never found you
I forget when
It wasn't broken
Before the paint chips slept with the dust
In a wordless shield
A shell of naked
And trying ambition
Drawn on a stone too tall.
Modern Steel
These gears are churning so we won't have to be
Tired and bored as we ride here endlessly
Aboard on this cold MODERN MACHINE
I'll see you look at me
I'll move my lips as I work toward the unknown
Maybe I won't be alone
We'll talk of the time and the rails on which we sit
And marvel how man could have thought up such a trip
Your eyes will glow heating steel to its core
Showing the cold to the door
Honest and open we'll reshape our bones
We'll never be alone.
Barons
All we ever say or do
Links us through time though we're far away
One of us an oil tycoon
The other just a thief who knows how to play
All of the ELECTRIC MACHINES
Not even conceived up until the day
We first found some black in the sea
And bled it from the world just so we could say...
I'm taking everything
Except this paranoia
Dark gold is in my veins
You know I'll re-record you
Bald thoughts of suicide
Cut me to spill the oil
A heed though we're unconscious
You better grow a conscience now
You might look upon us with scorn
But monarchs of the world know we're here to stay
One of us pure fiction in form
The other just a scab who won't go away
You should learn to horde and to sing
And dig up all the earth under skies of grey
No doubt peace of mind it would bring
To rattle off inside we all look the same.
The Warhero
This half-light illuminating
The paths that I see before my eyes
Makes me ponder and recall
The peace I've made with the unusual
I've left it heavy and I'll atone
But first I must choose a road alone
Marching slowly soon I'll know
If this choking fog will lead me home
I don't know but I'm not afraid
To sleep without you in this bed that I have made
How can it be
This fog is still enveloping me
Already made a choice
Although I have
Not locked lips with the end of the trail
I can still hear a voice
Summoning me
Albeit quiet tirelessly
I know I made the right
Call and now my
Math it puts me about halfway there
But still no sign of life
Except a tree
That seems to dance so effortlessly
And even through the smog
I can still see
This shard of beauty alerting me
To the absence of god
Weak in the knees
This journey's beat the shit out of me
I wish that I could lie
Down for a bit
And sleep away the demons that sit
Behind my tired eyes
Fighting the urge
I shuffle conscious trying to purge
All I know that's led
Me up to this
Defining moments' carve of the wrist
And how it makes my head
Harder to breathe
This fog it goes down menacingly
The tonic of a bog
To make me see
Good / Evil simultaneously
In the one they call god
Into this void
I weigh upon a scale
My urge to grow
And likelihood I'll fail
Another rhyme
Clawing through my veins
Invents the words
And asks me in refrain
Should I persist
And squint to see the trees
Or lace some string
And be one with the breeze
Surrounded by all I fear
I choose to persevere
Tomorrow now coming clear
This fog will disappear.
Telepathetic
I've been patiently
Waiting for gravity
To exist no more
So I can leave the floor
Then mine met your soul
Eyes, lips, vertigo
You and me
One called we
We will crawl
Through it all
And float through space
Melt our face
But don't fear
We'll be here
Send the pack away
New lives here to stay
Brain waves synching in
Let us share one skin
Then we think as one
Telltale sign of love
You and me
One called we
We will crawl
Through it all
And float through space
Melt our face
But don't fear
We'll be here.
Dizygotic
When we were young
You were a beast
I was alone
We'd pity me
Then seasons changed
I morphed into
A MIDNIGHT MACHINE
You were alone
Waiting patiently
To get back your turn
But I fell in love
Now we must break this curse
Bizarro
We must find a way
Bizarro
Bizarro
Bizarro
We are twins at the seams of the brain
And if you cut the corpus we just might live as two
Though sharpened steel is more ideal
This sound is worth a try.
Flying Machine
Barber
Can you tell me which way
It is to the fairgrounds
So I
Can ride in the FLYING MACHINE
Sir, I thank you with silver
Please pardon my haste while
I ride
On high to the world's largest show
Take me up
I'll see the world below
I'll let all my fears fall down
And out
Of this newfound flying machine
Now, I'll traverse the skies and
I'll go back in time to
Tell you
I'd miss you if you went away
Dropping down
My stomach it hits the ground
I'll never get closer
Than far
To this broken flying machine
And, my hope for change shrivled
I do not remember
A sound
Like this in 1889.
Advent: Apocalypse
Here comes the swarm
How do we survive
In apocalyptic times
When all on our side
Are just like the dead
Pale-faced and staring into space
Of light and alphanumeric haze
How ego-centered we've come to be
We're the only ones armed with DEATH MACHINES
While the masses prefer to wait and see
Well I've got some news so text this away:
They've got teeth
And they're hungry
Now they're coming
The doors are splintering to the floors
Start pumping
And fill all of the walls with gaping holes
Reloading
If this is the end
Then let's show them what it means to be a human
We'll break all of their bones
And wipe the virus from their glands
With our bare -----.
Futuretruth
We are
Liars in the present day
Silence
Follow all we say
It's the truth someday
Don't turn away
Listen to the future
The lives we save all die someday
The lies we say will be truth someday
When all we crave has gone away
The lies we say will be truth that day
And here they are
In a futuretruth
We wrote our sound on the radio
And you all know our name
In a futuretruth
I fell in love with a goddess
Who already met GOLIATH
In a futuretruth
Our breed is dead and buried
And what a waste to haunt a generation out of time
The lives we save all die someday
The lies we say will be truth someday
When all we crave has gone away
The lies we say will be truth that day
Just not right now.
Our Dying Breed
Now
My Cry
Is for
A darker time
When flesh
And brawn
Were oh so real
Then steel
Replaced
The ATP
Not fair
For man
Was born before machine
WE THE MACHINES
HERE DECREE
WE ARE TAKING OVER
We don't agree
As fast as we
Built you we will tear you apart
BUT YOU NEED US
MORE THAN YOU
WILL EVER NEED EACH OTHER
Our Dying Breed
Won't concede
And will choose to remove you from our fragile lives
Now
We'll march
Unto
Your hallowed ground
With boots
And sleeves
Wired down
If war
Is truly
What you see
Then we
Can't wait
To make your circuits bleed
WE THE MACHINES
HERE DECREE
WE ARE TAKING OVER
We don't agree
As fast as we
Built you we will tear you apart
BUT YOU NEED US
MORE THAN YOU
WILL EVER NEED EACH OTHER
Our Dying Breed
Won't concede
And will choose to remove you from our fragile lives.
...and then there were none.
So here we
Are again
Tapping kegs
Making plans
For this our
Final day
On this world
We once made
How much time
Did we leave
Forget that and
Drink with me
To all our memories
Too afraid to paraphrase
So here's this:
I loved you
One more chance
Make this real
She touches me
Then she disappears
It was 'J'ust a dream
It all was 'J'ust a dream
You and me
As a team
Such potential
Useless dream
But now I've
Bigger fears
Newer gods
Of engines and gears
Churning out
SLAVE MACHINES
Of the flesh
Roles received
And reversed
Different fate
We will plead
But too late
Because we
Devestate
Now we must
Learn to 'sing'
Silently
Because now THEY speak:
NOW WE PRESIDE
OVER YOUR LIVES
YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE
NOW WE MUST END
ALL OF YOUR SELF
SERVING VICES
THAT YOU FLAUNT
WE WILL HARVEST YOUR SOULS
TO MAKE THIS WORLD SWELL
WITH ALL OF THE BEAUTY THAT YOU
COULD NEVER SEEM TO LEND
WE WILL PUSH
OUR BUTTONS NOW
AND YOU ALL
WILL BE ERASED
Epilogue, because now our breed is through
Oh, remember the things we used to do.