Monday, February 15, 2010

Listen to this.

http://www.mediafire.com/?hjwfjyewmyt

This is mine. I wrote it. I sung it. I recorded it. Do not sell this, because it belongs to ME, Mr. Mark Thomas Brantley, Jr.

That being said,

This is free, super lo-fi stuff for you to pass around as you wish. Please freely give this to whomever you wish.

I don't know why I am making such a big deal about this, nobody, and I mean nobody, even sets foot on this shadowy crevice in the dark caves of the nether-net.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

watch (in addition to)

watch.

white noise

an improvised melody
a million tones a second
sounds like a dull hiss
but really it's just
because our brains are too slow
to pick apart the lightning complexities
of the composition

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Lion's Roar

I cannot explain the weight with which this song hit me when it first materialized in my head.


I've locked eyes with the devil
I've locked eyes with the Lord
My eyes have seen things too beautiful
And terrifying to ignore
I've performed some shameful deeds
Best left unsaid behind locked doors
Let heaven, hell, and earth
Proclaim the Mighty Lion's roar

All in good time
All in good time
I love you
I love you

I've sunk into the pit
I've flown with golden wings
I've tried too hard to buy true love
With fake diamond rings
I've no concern for death or fortune
That the future brings
In waking lucid dream I hear
The choir of angels sing

All in good time
All in good time
I love you
I love you

Today is not the first day
Today might be the last
Today is now the present
In a second becomes the past
Pink and blue on the mailbox
Red, white, and blue at half mast
The song remains the same
With every grain in the hourglass

All in good time
All in good time
I love you
I love you

Lucid Connection - Part I

The soft white noise of the heating vent slowly faded from my hearing. My vision went from the simple black of closed eyelids' view to bits of color fading in and out of my perception. I relaxed my mind more and more, and I began to slowly fall into a calming abyss of intangible subconscious matter. You can go anywhere you want, do anything you could ever imagine, if you can just cross this gulf. It can stretch on forever, or it can be a quick segue to endless possibility. I was in a very unique place inside my own head. I was in the timeless, formless void of sleep just past the drifting off stage and right before REM sleep. "I mustn't try too hard," I thought, "But I also have to stay focused." Relaxing yet more, sinking into the deep oblivion, I saw her face materialize from the blackness and specks of red and green.

"Hey, you made it!"
"Yeah, but I've never done it like this before. Can you give me a hand? I'm kind of stuck."

She reached out her hand and took mine. Then she pulled me out of the void, or out of thin air from her perspective. I landed with a flop onto the piano bench in the grand piano practice room of Smith Hall. "Wow," I thought, "I've never, ever done this before. I didn't even know this was possible until now."

Two days prior, Wendy and I were talking online, having a conversation that showed us just how strangely similar and similarly strange we both are. When it came time for us both to retire to our respective places of slumber, Wendy suggested something that struck me as odd, since I had never known anyone who actually believed in this notion before, besides me. She said "Let's meet up in a dream. Let's meet in the parking lot of Smith Hall."
Of course I agreed. I knew the only way for this to happen was for both of us to have a lucid dream at the same time. I had had a couple before, but I didn't really have control over when I had them. I had my doubts that we could actually lucidly dream simultaneously, so I asked her how we would be able to synchronize ourselves.
"Don't worry. I'll be waiting for you. I am very good at lucid dreaming."
She was confident, like she was a master.
I did the common exercises to prepare for a self-controlled REM dream. All that stuff like saying "Tonight, I will realize I am asleep. When I look at my hands in my dream, I will realize I am asleep, and then I will be in full control of my dream. I am fully able to have a luc....fully...ab...dream...ful...luci.....d.....

Darkness.

My eyes opened to light peering in through the edges of my dim curtains. "Drat. I forgot about the meeting." When you are thrown into the vast, randomized world of REM sleep, it is so easy to forget your plans. You have to work hard to make bookmarks of sorts to help you remember that you have a world to teleport to.

The next day, we spoke online again. I mentioned nothing of the previous night. Out of the blue, she says to me, "I was waiting for you at Smith Hall, but you never came."
I explained to her that I just wasn't able to have the lucid dream the previous night. "Okay, well we will try again tonight," she replied.

"Yes, it is possible! See, we are both here right now," Wendy said with a smile.
I could feel my eyes rolling around uncontrollably in their sockets. The easy wind of the heating vent was a barely audible blanket of sound coming down from another world. Better not focus on that too hard. I have done a lot of work to get here. Back to my intended purpose for this rendezvous - the song. I was going to play Wendy a song I wrote on this grand piano. "Wanna hear it?"
"Of course."
"Ok, here goes."

I'm rolling down this country road.
Got heavy thoughts on my mind.
All I can do is go with the flow.
Yeah, I'm leaving it all behind.

I'm rolling down this country road.
Got heavy thoughts on my mind.
All I can do is go with the flow.
Yeah, I'm leaving it all behind.

Can I shake the round white devil that consumes me?
Will my head ever be level again,
Or will I simply sink into this vortex
That my spinning head created?
Am I going to be a father? Am I ready,
Or Should I even bother with this woman?
She's so beautiful; she's so mind-numbing.
Should I drive my car off this bridge?
No.

I'm rolling down this country road.
Got heavy thoughts on my mind.
All I can do is go with the flow.
Yeah, I'm leaving it all behind.

Have you ever been so lonely that you couldn't
Even shed a tear, cuz you knew no one
Was even there to care or stare? Well,
I have. Yeah, that's pretty pitiful.
Does it even really matter where I'm going?
If my town car broke down would I lose time,
Or am I just a wanderer in the darkness?
Where's this home that am going?

(solo)

I'm rolling down this country road.
Got heavy thoughts on my mind.
All I can do is go with the flow.
Yeah, I'm leaving it all behind.