Project: alphabets
Series: Album a Month — January–February 2011
File dates: 2011-03-02 (slight overrun from Jan/Feb)
Archive location: _Documentation/Music/alphabets/JANFEB11 PIRATE LIFE
Tracks: 14
Format: MP3
A two-month album (January–February, echoing JANFEB09 from two years prior) with a pirate theme announced in the title. Pirate Life — the most directly themed of the 2011 albums. 14 tracks, filed March 2, indicating a late-month/early-next-month completion.
“aye pirate life” (track 07) is the album’s explicit thematic declaration. But most tracks don’t carry pirate imagery directly — the “pirate life” of the title may refer less to nautical piracy and more to the DIY/anti-establishment ethos: living outside the system, making art on your own terms. By January 2011, Colin had been releasing music independently for two years.
“diamond body” — a Buddhist/Tibetan concept (the vajra body, the body achieved through enlightened practice). The juxtaposition with “pirate life” — one celestial/spiritual, one rebellious/worldly — is characteristic.
“ten pairs of tortoises” — the most specific animal count in the catalog. Not “tortoises” but ten pairs, twenty tortoises.
“slowbook snowsnail” — the portmanteau returns: a snail made of snow, moving slowly through a book? Or a slow book, a snow snail?
“as of their wills” (track 14) closes the album: an unusual phrase — agency, volition, plurality.
Track Listing
- teams
- do the groups
- has not just is
- pepper sugar
- what did it do
- aye pirate life
- twinkle reader
- slowbook snowsnail
- ting or yelled
- pink course
- diamond body
- ten pairs of tortoises
- as of their wills
(Track 04 absent from archive)
Archive Notes
- File dates: 2011-03-02 — slight overrun past January/February
- Track 04 missing from archive
- Two-month span echoes JANFEB09 (first entry in the series)
- .asd file present for track 14 — later Ableton session reference
- “diamond body”: vajra body / Buddhist concept; spiritual register uncommon in the surrounding catalog
Archive: _Documentation/Music/alphabets/JANFEB11 PIRATE LIFE