| Issue
#68
Nov. ‘04
“My life
is measured out in 3 minute pop songs.”
The Marble Tea
is digital lo-fi, home
recordist Knight Berman Jr., whose
love,
passion, and knowledge of the pop genre is on display throughout this 5
song EP, plus the
additional 5 song EP Hoga-Rama
(information on
the FREE download page is found within the liner notes of the I’m Batman EP). Knight
creates what he calls “Children’s
songs for adults,” by styling songs based on the general
appeal of rhythms, hooks,
and chorus that make them instantly listener friendly. Think back to
your introduction to
music in general. Whether it was a commercial jingle, a
children’s record (Sesame
Street), Bubble Gum pop, or the
zillions of one hit wonders, they all had one thing in
common: the ability to get into your head and have you singing the
tunes endlessly.
Wherever and whenever, they were addictive.
Well, take that addictive musical style, add
off-beat, slightly absurd, true-to-life,
heartfelt, subliminal, lyrics that expose the beautiful person within
and all the
fragilities that accompany the evolution and maturity of life and you
have the Narcotic
Pop of The Marble Tea.
Side A (I consider this a full LP style
album, with the I’m Batman
EP being side A, and the Hoga-Rama
EP being side B) opens with the title
track. “I’m Batman”
spells out a simple
yet complex tale of the joy of love and the innocence lost when
acquiring the physical
aspects of its expression. Our protagonist confides in (us and) his
object of affection
that his mild mannered persona is just a front: “I may seem timid and I may seem shy / But late at
night
I’m a super guy.” Using a strumming
acoustic chord progression and melodic
harmonies, the song hooks us in with intrigue and delight. Knight’s slight baritone vocal
delivery uses
a great combination of note carrying word phrasing and an accessible
sing-a-long chorus
“A ah, A ah, A I’m Batman,”
to
underscore the maturity he’s hiding behind while the
adolescence in him expresses it
the only way he can. The final stanza “There’s
no Boy Wonder and there’s no Alfred / So get the comic books
and movies out of your
head / The world’s full of evil all over the world / Put on
this little mask and be
my batgirl,” brings it all into focus and as the
chorus leads to the fade out we
are amazed at what has just occurred. Our maturity has been
choreographed to the thoughts,
views, and sounds of our adolescence, and it is a revitalizing
revelation.
“With
every word I only love you more.”
And with every word we love The
Marble Tea
more. That line comes from “Your Voice Is An Arrow Through My Heart,”
a song that details a guy who’s in love with a woman who
despises him, but it’s
not actually the woman he’s in love with, it’s her
“lovely lips and tongue / lucky
teeth / the way they
work together is / amazing,” it is her voice. Using
a blend of Bongos, shakers,
electric-acoustic guitar, smooth, Donovan-style, harmony vocals, and an
electric keyboard
tweaked to sound flute-ish, with a solo reminiscent of all those great
Greg Hawks’
fills that gave The Cars their full sound, this song just reaffirms
that we’re
listening to something more profound than what’s on the
surface (remember: “A ah, A ah, A
I’m Batman”).
The bouncy toy piano intro of “Cricket”
sort of prepares us for the muted calliope that once again harkens us
back to our
childhood, and damn if we’re not riding a Carousel found at
one of those old time
carnivals that would pass through town every summer. Marry that to a
story of a voyeur
cricket (Jiminy, is that you?) who offers up escape, redemption, and
freedom (“You can go there with me /
If you really want to be /
free.”), and we have an Eels influenced, mature
arrangement that bounces us high
in the sky of our imagination.
“Why
Can’t I Say What
I Mean” brings us back to
earth and shifts down a notch with a Buffalo Springfield/Summer of
Love/Grateful Dead
Festival, full sound delivering a tale of contemplation. “And, if no one listens to me / have I anything to
say?”
A drum machine adds warmth while a slow organ lead creeps out of the
background and into
our subconscious until we are totally sucked in.
Side A, and the I’m
Batman EP, finishes
up with “Whenever,”
a song that finds joy in the simple love of nature. A healing bass with
bottom notes
pickin’ and jammin’ accentuates the message that
all those sing-a-longs and
music teaching aides worked. Highlighted by expressing “Whenever I feel sick and I want to get out / I just
splash in the bath tub / as if there’s a doubt / you could be
/ too unhappy / naked
and wet / with a small rubber duck floating by.” The Marble Tea makes us understand that
Burt and
Ernie were right.
Once you’ve discovered the Secret
Identity of I’m Batman
and The Marble Tea, we guarantee
that you’ll
want to continue the exploration of this new, mature sound of the
adolescent past. To do
so you’ll need to download Side B, the Hoga-Rama
EP (the special download page URL is contained in the liner notes of I’m Batman) where
you’ll find the song
“Banana Cat,”
a new romantic’s era
electro-pop drug that sees the inner beauty of the unnoticeable and
contains the following
metaphor of a perfect life and its fulfillment from an early age:
“I fell right out of a tree that
could talk / pulled at
the roots to see if it could walk / Quick disappointment / turned to
security / When the
tree said to me / I won’t go anywhere / It’s a
giving tree.”
Philosophically speaking, that is the manchild behind the mask.
“I’ve
got a secret to tell
I only say this ‘cause I know you well.”
I’m Batman
dons the mask of our
youthful fantasies, yet behind it exposes the secrets of our grown-up
thoughts, needs,
fears, weaknesses, and even primal adolescence through the addictive
bliss of catchy pop.
The Marble Tea
is Narcotic Pop for the
youthful soul of maturity.
The Marble Tea
- I'm Batman
is available now for: $5.98 + s/h*
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