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Basket Fever

by Evil Sword

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Lute FP
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Lute FP The music is extremely catchy, yet employs a kitchen-sink approach to the instrumentation. The bass is the standout, recalling Les Claypool’s best and least noodly stuff. The vocals are playful and unhinged at the same time. This is odd and brilliant.

If you like this you must listen to Man Man’s Six Demon Bag, among all their other stuff.
metalmachinemusic
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metalmachinemusic Not since the Velvet Underground and Nico has an album teased out such tribal vibes. A must have for your Halloween party or any Happening Favorite track: The Fire of Wild Abandon.
gnawbone.unhinged
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gnawbone.unhinged Evil Sword deliver yet another album of uncompromising fidelity. Beware the murmurings that can creep into your body like ophiocordyceps unilateralis, compelling wild flailings of limbs. Favorite track: The Fire of Wild Abandon.
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    Black vinyl pressed at Softwax Record Pressing in Philadelphia PA. Edition of 300.

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  • LIMITED Orange and Black Flash Splatter Basket Fever Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Softwax Records surprised us in October with a SECRET edition of THIRTEEN beautiful black and orange flash splatter records! We sent one to the first person who bought the Basket Fever LP after it was announced, we are keeping two for our archive. We are selling five of the copies today for Bandcamp Friday. There is a strict limit of ONE per order - NO FUNNY BUSINESS!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Basket Fever via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
Carpentry 00:38
2.
Inside you, your conscience, your compass, your guide When it’s time to make choices, they help you decide But these voices of reason I fear you will find Are often unhelpful; here’s a story about mine It goes like: Criminy Yickett crawled out of my ear For the first time in years I could hear Sits on my shoulder the whole day long And he talks to me like he knows right from wrong Whispers to me all the things I should do I say hey now what’s gotten into you I say no I say no I say no I say no Criminy Yickett crawled out of my mind What was he doing in there that whole time? I just hope you’ve been behaving yourself ‘Cause I don’t know how I’d get along without your help This little critter’s my only friend But he’s having those bad ideas again Oh, you know how it is when he gets like this I just gotta listen very patiently to every thing that he’s saying to me When he’s done I say no I say no I say no I say no It was worse before Only silence and nothingness Criminy Yickett crawled out of my ear For the first time in years I could hear
3.
There’s rebar in that tree And human guts and teeth When it got hungry It ate people like you and me When they tried to count the rings They found all kinds of things Plastic, and glass and hair And a rotten rocking chair Teacups, bird beaks They excavated that thing for weeks It was real big, it was hard to kill It took feats of bravery and skill Amidst the piles of crap Stands the depraved lumberjack His work is done today But he’ll never really walk away He’s gonna hit it with his fists And smack it with his axe Till everybody says calm down That thing is dead already, can’t you just relax? But oh no He’s gonna chew it up at the roots Till he’s broken every tooth Watch the senseless barage go on and on Untill every last shred of wood is gone Why does he hate the trees And why doesn’t he understand Even when every last one of them Has been thoroughly eradicated from the land He still will never be happy Never be happy Never be happy Never be happy
4.
The fire of wild abandon burns so beautiful and bright The ashes fade away after consuming all the light The fire of wild abandon burns so beautiful and hot I used to know the way back home but somehow I forgot Through all the smoke I can’t see you What’s the thing you been turned into? Something fun, or someone new The fire of wild abandon Feel the lie becoming true Whose eyse are you seeing through? Teeth, turn in on yourselves and chew The parasite expanding Through all the heat waves you can’t see The thing you thought I used to be Distorted uncontrollably Beyond misunderstanding And in the wreckage, nothing there Only the cold spell in the air I cried for you like you were dead But it’s just that you’re something else instead The fire of wild abandon burns so beautiful and bright The ashes fade away after consuming all the light The fire of wild abandon burns so beautiful and hot I used to know the way back home but somehow I forgot And as I felt myself float away, way up there Up above all the houses and the people and the trees And I thought I’d go back, back down there, be like them But I can’t anymore, ‘cause I don’t know which one was me I don’t know which one was me
5.
Half Rat 02:46
Nobody ever told me, I didn’t know There are abominations that dwell below This one came out of nowhere Just like that, I kicked it, it bit me Now it’s a vision I can never unsee But did it really have to look like that I’m pretty sure it was half human, half rat If there was ever a benevolent god It never would have made a creature so odd Except as some kind of experiement tried And failed, and shoved away in any place they could hide What I don’t understand is how could they make Such an embarssing and blatant mistake Nobody told me what was down in that hole I unintentionally plundered and stole And now I wonder oh where will it go How could such tiny eyes hold so much sorrow? And must it wander the whole earth in disgrance For all to look at its ridiculous face But did it really have to look like that I’m pretty sure it was half human, half rat
6.
The Vulture 02:23
7.
Carpenter 02:04
Carpenter carpenter hammer you hand Why’d you do it? I don’t understand Chopping it off, it seemed perfectly good Make me a better one, out of wood. Carpenter carpenter what have you done? The new hand you made out of wood there is rotten It might not work, it might do you harm Took off my axe and it cut off my arm. Carpenter carpenter what is it now? The new hand has carved an arm somehow Carpenter carpenter sawing through bone This new arm has a mind of its own. Carpenter carpenter, is that you? (Yeah) These changes are gonna take some getting used to Any more wood, you’ll turn into a tree My own mother wouldn’t recognize me. Carpenter carpenter hammer you hand Why’d you do it? I don’t understand Chopping it off, it seemed perfectly good Make me a better one, out of wood.
8.
Wrong World 02:29
There’s something in your eyes They penetrate right through, but don’t see me Reality or lies? A hopeless incompatibility Are you here, are you there Or both, or somewhere in between Where did you go, where have you been I’m pretty sure that you’re in the wrong world I’m just not really sure what I’m looking at Are you a woman or a worm A house on fire or a tree Are you a table, are you terrible Or some combination now When every door you try is locked Walk through the wall without a key It only takes you to another place That you’re not supposed to be Are you here, are you there Are you you what, are you where Whatever it is I’m pretty sure It’s not what you think I think its the wrong world The wrong world The wrong world The wrong world How did I even get here What? You mean you don’t remember? If we retrace our steps, if we go backwards even further If we get even more lost I think it’s possible In the wrong world The wrong world The wrong world The wrong world
9.
Ruin 03:59
I tried to hold the stars in my hands and they cried We can’t stay here anymore because we all have died We’re going far away, it’s somewhere beautiful and safe Beyond what you can ruin, if you can even imagine that I tried to hold the stars in my hands and it stung Why must you always ruin everything for everyone? And even now, you finally still fail to let it go You want it for yourself but we already told you There’s a place that you can’t ruin There’s a place that you can’t ruin There’s a place that you can’t ruin And we’re gonna find it There’s a place that you can’t ruin There’s a place that you can’t ruin There’s a place that you can’t ruin And we’re gonna go there I held that dying fire in my hands and it burned It was my punishment for everything I hadn’t learned When it was dark and cold and I still hadn’t understood I lit another fire but mine was not as good There’s a place that you can’t ruin There’s a place that you can’t ruin There’s a place that you can’t ruin And we’re gonna find it There’s a place that you can’t ruin There’s a place that you can’t ruin There’s a place that you can’t ruin And we’re gonna go there Goodbye, friend Never again Goodbye, friend Never again Never Never
10.
Paradise 02:21
Will it never again Did it really end Will it be how it was The world to us In Paradise In Paradise In Paradise In Paradise Will the fire that spread With a yellowy glow As warm as it did So long ago In Paradise In Paradise In Paradise In Paradise Will it never again Will it burn so bright Will the light of the sun Destroy the night In Paradise In Paradise In Paradise In Paradise In Paradise In Paradise In Paradise In Paradise Will it never again Did it really end Will it be how it was The world to us In Paradise In Paradise In Paradise In Paradise

about

There used to be a whole bunch of them, some playing music and more doing I don’t even know what. Banging pots and pans around, climbing up and down ladders, throwing garbage out of a sack, reciting their lines and performing strange dances. Now it’s down to just two, but they’re still throwing things and flashing lights in your eyes, so it’s not all that different than before. The thing is, there’s hardly any instruments in this group, but they make such a racket you’d never know it. The bass and the percussion sound like they’re having a great time, telling each other jokes. Then the words come in and it all locks together in these strange, hypnotic rhythms. I just listen to the stories and laugh and cry and get scared and wonder what they were ever thinking.

It took them a long time to make this record, with all the tracks and the special effects or whathaveyou. Electrocuted bells, backwards parts, rusty horns; I’m pretty sure I even heard a clarinet in there somewhere. There’s this one part where it all seems to come back around, where they took some gang vocals from the very first demo they ever recorded and slowed it way down. I remember when they first started; I thought they were some goofy kids making music about the end of the world, back when that seemed a little further away, like it was going to be fun. They were all laughing and making these funny ghost sounds, but now everyone’s older and the ghosts are real, a great whoosh of bygone spirits and cold air. It’s bone chilling.

The last one is a drinking song, a goodbye to a lost time. It reminds me of a place we used to call the Great Wild, a big open field full of flowers and weeds and thorns and animals. Me and my friend Criminy Yickett would sit on the porch all day, watching the vegetation bob in the wind with all those squirrels and weasels prancing around until it got dark and the fireflies came out. It’s gone now; when I look out there I just see a kind of hazy gray emptiness instead. I don’t know why. It could just be me going blind, and sometimes I hope that’s what it is. Criminy keeps telling me I should be angry about it, maybe do something unsavory I'd later regret, but I just tell him no like always, and stare out into the void and whistle a song to myself. Because that’s the power of music, it can dispel the bitterness. There’s plenty to be upset about, but it’s not really an Evil Sword song until that grimace has been twisted up into a smile.

- Old Man Yumble

credits

released October 13, 2023

KATE FERENCZ
vocals, drums, bells, tin whistle, horns

BEN FURGAL
bass, vocals, clarinet, clunks, whistles

all lyrics by KATE FERENCZ
music by EVIL SWORD (FERENCZ / FURGAL)
published by SWORD OF THE RINGS (BMI)

recorded and mixed by
DAN ANGEL & JAMES RYSKALCHICK
mastered by ALEX NAGLE

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