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8​-​String Blackout

from Cassandra, Cursed by Walter Ehresman

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See the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEcFfH-MNwE

Ehresman tells us "This was the last song finished for the album.....It's about a young, hungry band in Africa having their rehearsal interurrupted by a coup breaking out in the streets below them, with the Russian mercs rolling in......The central musical idea for this one is that, in my dream, I heard a really aggressive fuzzed-out 8-string bass as the main instrument to drive things along.....That was great fun to play!........Otherwise, I knew it should have a feel that mixed The Stranglers with The Clash."

The song has the exhuberant feel of post-punk in the late '70s, with edgy atmosphere provided by samples intercepted from the Russian airforce at the beginning of their latest invasion of Ukraine. Ehresman also tells us that this was his first stab at playing and recording his new African balafon in the studio.

Rowdy and driving, "8-String Blackout" makes a fine album opener.

lyrics

8-String Blackout
(© 2023 Walter Ehresman)

It was an 8-string blackout;
We were jammin’ when the currency failed;
Young Byron said we best not go out—
or we could so-quick end up dead or in jail.

It was a 4-fella freak-out;
Feeling lost without our throbbin’ bassline;
Heard the tanks dance in the roundabout,
and saw militia form blood-red conga-line.

[chorus]
Ain’t got no dacha in Kinshasa when you write the kind of music we do;
You gotta catch it where you can—out on the streets or rockin’ in Timbuktu.
Ain’t got no dacha in Kinshasa when you play the kind of music we do;
You gotta catch it where you can—out on the streets or rockin’ in Timbuktu.

And then it got too dark to see out;
But the megaphones still ripped through the air;
Young Byron said it was a rout,
but neither side don’t want no music in there.

credits

from Cassandra, Cursed, released October 17, 2023
Walter Ehresman: vocals; 8-string electric bass; keyboards; electric guitars; African balafon; electronic percussion pads; drum machine manipulations; sampling.

Produced & engineered by Walter Ehresman at Snipe Bog Studios, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

p. 2023 Walter Ehresman. All rights reserved. Snipe Bog Records

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Walter Ehresman San Miguel De Allende, Mexico

Called "the quintessential Austin DIY artist" by famed local disc jockey Charlie Martin , Walter Ehresman was an eccentric presence in the Austin music scene from the '80s until his 2015 move to Mexico. A prolific songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording artist...and a restless musical spirit, always looking for something new, expressed with fearlessly honest, socially-conscious lyrics. ... more

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