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The Slingshot Effect

by Sunspot

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Sunspot’s electro-space rock record. This is the rock ‘n’ roll equivalent of the Sci-Fi Channel. Voted Madison's Best Rock Record in 2012.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Slingshot Effect via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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1.
For all the stupid things I've done, and all the ways it could have ended wrong, ended wrong. At the wheel drunk and stoned, I should have ended up a pile of bones, a pile of bones. But you watched over me, giving this charmed life one more opportunity, And then you prayed for me, when anyone in their right mind would have left me hanging out to dry. And I'm awestruck you're such a dumb fuck, I'm gonna punish my guardian angel for letting me live one minute more Outrageous conduct, I'm gonna test my luck, I'm gonna punish my Guardian angel with, the worst things that I can commit. For every smoke I ever lit, For every drink and every hit I took, put it in your book, for every little accident, and every suicide attempt that failed, just more blackmail. But you spared, spared me, Letting this asshole get away with it scot-free. And you never abandoned me, When everything I perpetrate should lead me right down to my fate. And I'm awestruck you're such a dumb fuck, I'm gonna punish my guardian angel for letting me live one minute more Outrageous conduct, I'm gonna test my luck, I'm gonna punish my Guardian angel with, the worst things that I can commit. The worst things that I can commit. The worst things that I can commit. And every time I feel even a little bit guilty, I think of the sorry bastard who wasn't so lucky, So I blame you for the pain that I tried to escape, I blame you for every heart I hurt, all my mistakes. So give it up and don't bother, don't waste your prayers on this clown. One of these days I know you'll let me down. And I'm awestruck you're such a dumb fuck, I'm gonna punish my guardian angel for letting me live one minute more Outrageous conduct, I'm gonna test my luck, I'm gonna punish my Guardian angel with, the worst things that I can commit. And I'm awestruck you're such a dumb fuck, I relish every blasphemy, there's nothing left here to redeem, Outrageous conduct, I'm gonna test my luck, I am the soul you tried to save but I just want to make you pay. I'm gonna punish my guardian angel, I'll punish my guardian angel. I'm gonna punish my guardian angel, I'll punish my guardian angel.
2.
We are the impossible, the things that should not be, caught between Hell and Purgatory. We are the invisible. Waiting in the dark, bearing the Devil's mark. We are the untouchable, the kind they walk right through and never even have a clue. We are the polluted souls. Sloth and gluttony, a leper colony. The unwashed and the unholy. Better to rule in Hell than never have a chance, I've never been so glad to be forever damned. And we will scream and we will cry, and we will stand against the wind and watch them rail against the night. Beware the human and his silly little game, We are The Darkness, baby, we are not the same. We are the undesirable, Bleeding from the barbs carved into pariah hearts. We are the un-nameable. Demonic and sinful, diabolical. We are the abominable, with spirits that are stained, drunken on the blood of saints. We are the wicked and the cursed, doomed to fear the dawn, an infernal spawn. We are the whores of Babylon. Better to rule in Hell than never have a chance, I've never been so glad to be forever damned. And we will scream and we will cry, and we will stand against the wind and watch them rail against the night. Calling all vampires, calling all succubi, We are what they fear the most and we will never die. And we will scream and we will cry, and we will stand against the wind and watch them rail against the night. Beware the human and his silly little game, We are The Darkness, baby, we are not the same. We are The Darkness, baby, we are not the same. We are The Darkness, baby, we are not the same. We are the ones that they will try to hold in chains, the ones like you and me, we are a different breed. And they'll call us evil, the sons and daughters of Cain, Find excuses for their hate and they will know us, When they curse our name. When they curse our name. When they curse our name. And they will know us when they curse our name. And we will scream and we will cry, and we will stand against the wind and watch them rail against the night. Calling all vampires, calling all succubi, We are what they fear the most and we will never die. And we will scream and we will cry, and we will stand against the wind and watch them rail against the night. Beware the human and his silly little game, We are the darkness, baby, we are not the same.
3.
Perfect 04:38
With flood insurance and bodyguards, Humpty Dumpty bought a house of cards. I put a heart on layaway, but now I think tomorrow may be too late. And I say late, and I say late, and I say late, and I say... It doesn't matter if everything's ugly, It doesn't matter if it's all unsafe. The baby's out with the bathwater, The Rubicon was crossed today. It doesn't matter if we ever notice, That the stars have all burnt out. It doesn't matter if things are perfect, as long as everything's perfect right now. Some things are done before they start, Everything will always fall apart. The past is never that far away, but do you think that's where I'm going to stay? And I say no, and I say no, and I say no, and I say I don't think so. It doesn't matter if everything's ugly, It doesn't matter if it's all unsafe. The baby's out with the bathwater, The Rubicon was crossed today. It doesn't matter if we ever notice, That the stars have all burnt out. It doesn't matter if things are perfect, as long as everything's perfect right... Now, now now, I don't wanna postpone my, Vow, vow vow, that this time I will own, How how how, I don't care and I don't know. Don't know. Now, now now, I don't wanna postpone my, Vow, vow vow, that this time I will own, How how how, I don't care and I don't know. Don't know. Be kind, take your time. Be kind, take your time. With flood insurance and bodyguards, Humpty Dumpty bought a house of cards. The past is never that far away, but do you think that's where I'm going to stay? And I say no, and I say no, and I say no, and I say I don't think so. It doesn't matter if everything's ugly, It doesn't matter if it's all unsafe. The baby's out with the bathwater, The Rubicon was crossed today. It doesn't matter if we ever notice, That the stars have all burnt out. It doesn't matter if things are perfect, as long as everything's perfect right... Now, now now, I don't wanna postpone my, Vow, vow vow, that this time I will own, How how how, I don't care and I don't know. Don't know. Now, now now, I don't wanna postpone my, Vow, vow vow, that this time I will own, How how how, I don't care and I don't know. Don't know. Be kind, take your time.
4.
When I'm online, I'm in the congregation, a collective mind, Deus Ex Machina. Info addicts, digital sinners. We need our fix, Deus Ex Machina. I was 403 but now am found, upload my prayers up to the cloud, my final Sacrament will be, an upgraded me. Porno buffet, I'm the Rocking Horse Winner, Straight or gay, Deus Ex Machina. Download our souls on microchips, upload our hopes to a matrix. A 2.0 baptism worship the system. Collect me, protect me. Just please don't disconnect me. We will live forever, zeroes and ones. Unflesh me, and bless me. Take this sick body from me. This meat is weary, this mortal coil is done. We don't have to suffer, we don't have to die, no commandments to run our life. We will pray to a new God, a God we create. One that doesn't judge, one that doesn't smite. One that doesn't care about wrong or right. Data into blood, Transubstantiate. I was 403 but now am found, upload my prayers up to the cloud, my final Sacrament will be, an upgraded me. Collect me, protect me. Just please don't disconnect me. We will live forever, zeroes and ones. Unflesh me, and bless me. Take this sick body from me. This meat is weary, this mortal coil is done. Deus Ex Machina. Thy will be done.
5.
Cannibal 05:03
You're such a tease, You always leave me wanting more, And you could turn a guy like Gandhi into a carnivore. Cuz you look like you've got great taste, you're good enough to eat. Maybe with a nice Chianti and some fava beans. I've got a hunger that can't be sated normally, Here's your invitation to my Donner Party... I want you more than just inside of me, And I'll take that super-sized. I want to be studied by Margaret Mead, and I'll bake you right into a pie, This cannibal will eat you alive. I'm into lust not into vengeance, I'm no Andronicus, Carnality not hubris, I'm no Tantalus. When I get turned on, I'm a barbarian, My tastes decidedly non-vegetarian. You always satisfy my craving that's so big, I get hungry for a hunk of the long pig. I want you more than just inside of me, And I'll take that super-sized. I want to be studied by Margaret Mead, and I'll bake you right into a pie, This cannibal will eat you alive. Every time I see you, I just can't touch you enough. Every time I'm with you, I just can't taste you enough. I can't confuse, I can't control you, I can't abuse you, I can't cajole you, I can't surprise you and I can't imbibe you, monopolize you, osmosicize you, I just can't make you enough a part of me. I've got a hunger that can't be sated normally, Here's your invitation to my Donner Party... I want you more than just inside of me, And I'll take that super-sized. I want to be studied by Margaret Mead, and I'll bake you right into a pie, I want you more than just inside of me, And I'll take that super-sized. Your sweet taste is the key to my recipe, and I'll bake you right into a pie, This cannibal will eat you alive.
6.
The Price 03:42
Every song, every book, every work, ever made, since time began, they're all about the same things, sex and death, so let's go back to All the single-cells, who lived primordial, they didn't have to multiply, they didn't have to age and die. When we left the ocean, for sexual reproduction, the reaper came soon after, to turn us all into cadavers. Our brain machines made dopamine, and split us off in twos, so without death there would be no love, without love there'd be no you. Biology is tragedy, but I don't think that's true. All good things must, all good things must die. We pay the price for love. And I would never give you up. Parthogenesis is just paralysis, A Darwinian dead-end, a limitation we could transcend. Even though someday, we'll get old, ugly, and gray. It's an easy sacrifice, it's a bargain at the price. Reality is bittersweet, but there's no day I'll rue, for without death there would be no love, without love there'd be no you. Biology is tragedy. I don't care that we're doomed. All good things must, all good things must die. We pay the price for love. And I would never give you up. Maybe it's the oxytocin talking when I say, that I refuse to let you go until I pass away. Who wants to live forever? Something I'd never choose, I'll sacrifice eternity Just like Superman II. Our brain machines make dopamine, and split us off in twos, so without death there would be no love, without love there'd be no you. We die and pay the price for love. And I would never give you up up. All things must die and pay the price for love, And I would never give, would never give, would never give, would never give, Never give you up. Our brain machines made dopamine, and split us off in twos, but without death there would be no love, without love there'd be no you. Without death there would be no love, without love there'd be no you.
7.
The muscle in my chest that keeps the beat won’t let me rest. The clock that's running out, sometimes it can get worn out. Because my heart's a time machine, that wants to change my history, take out my enemies, alter my destiny. All the ones I should have kissed, All the chances that I missed, this time I'll invest, I'll fix what I wrecked with, The Slingshot Effect. We'll go so fast that we'll erase the past. I'm gonna retcon my whole life. Event one, hit the reset button. We get to start again, we get to start again tonight. I'll stop myself from telling lies, And I won't step on butterflies. Every little regret, Is now something I can correct. Because my heart's a time machine, that can change all my history. give myself an intervention, across the fifth dimension. All the words I should have said, All the lives I could have led. this time I'll invest, I'll fix what I wrecked with, The Slingshot Effect. We'll go so fast that we'll erase the past. I'm gonna retcon my whole life. Event one, hit the reset button. We get to start again, we get to start again tonight. There's no going back, no alternate reality. Tonight's the night I reboot, all my continuity. There's no going back, no alternate reality. Tonight's the night I reboot, all my continuity. The muscle in my chest that keeps the beat won’t let me rest. We'll go so fast that we'll erase the past. I'm gonna retcon my whole life. Event one, hit the reset button. We get to start again, we get to start again tonight. I don't need a contraption, to pay for my infractions, I can't make everything correct, I don't need The Slingshot Effect. My convoluted history, always slingshots right back at me. I will not live by hindsight, I will start again tonight. The muscle in my chest that keeps the beat won’t let me rest. The muscle in my chest that keeps the beat won’t let me rest.
8.
Stardust 05:30
We awoke at the end of an era, We came to life in the footnotes of time, We are stardust made conscious and breathing, orphans of the suns that have died. We are created but we are the makers, we are lucid inside the Dreamtime. We are the Alphas and the Omegas, we are what we choose to define. Love is the only law, and it cannot be killed. We are the stars, we are of stars, so love what you will. Love is the only law, and it cannot be killed. We are the stars, we are of stars, so love what you will. We are the scales of our own hearts, We are alchemists in search of, transforming randomness into meaning, We are the serpent, we are the dove. We are every possibility, We are the fire stolen from the gods, We are all horror and we are all beauty. We are what we are - paradox. Love is the only law, and it cannot be killed. We are the stars, we are of stars, so love what you will. Love is the only law, and it cannot be killed. We are the stars, we are of stars, so love what you will. And the Seraphim will sanctify, the particles that illuminate the sky. And the Seraphim will sanctify, the particles that illuminate the sky. What was once will always be, the universe is inside me, the magician that wants to be free. To be free. We awoke at the end of an era, We came to life in the footnotes of time, We are stardust made conscious and breathing, orphans of the suns that have died. Love is the only law, and it cannot be killed. We are the stars, we are of stars, so love what you will. Love is the only law, and it cannot be killed. We are the stars, we are of stars, so love what you will. We are stardust made concious and dreaming, we are what we choose to define. We are stardust made concious and dreaming, we are what we choose to define. Love under will.

about

As a trio that has staked its very existence on making obscure references and turning them into something universally palatable, Madison rock band Sunspot has once again pushed its musical boundaries with their latest album, The Slingshot Effect. As the theme this time around, singer/bassist Mike Huberty says that The Slingshot Effect is the “rock ‘n’ roll equivalent of the Sci-Fi Channel.”

“This is Sunspot’s electro-space rock record,” Huberty adds. “Whenever we would watch a movie about the future when we were growing up, the music they listened to was always very industrial-sounding. Since we are living in the future now, we wanted to bring those influences into our new album.”

The full-length, which is an extension of the EP the band released in March, Deus Ex Machina (and those three songs are also featured on The Slingshot Effect) pushes the envelope thematically. That means turning monsters into the heroes of “We Are The Darkness,” reframing humanity as celestial beings in “Stardust,” and showing how protectors aren’t always saving the right people in “Guardian Angel”. “Cannibal" has a little bit of all history's favorite man-eaters in it. And “The Slingshot Effect” itself is inspired by the method of time travel in Star Trek (whipping a spaceship around the sun at faster-than-light speed), wherein a person can’t alter the past no matter how badly he or she might want to.

Also true to form, Sunspot put much of the focus on the music and on the studio aspect itself. “The recording process for this album was unique for us in that we worked a lot more with different percussion sounds, on top of our usual live drum sound,” says drummer Wendy Lynn Staats. “The Major Arcana (rock opera) tour made us comfortable with incorporating electronic sounds and samples into our standard live rock format. I think it impacted our whole approach to writing and performing this album, and took our songs in a new and fun direction.”

The band also took advantage of some new gear, including guitars that Huberty and guitarist Ben Jaeger received as part of an endorsement with German company Hoyer. “We generated some great sounds and our engineer, Eric Katte (Doug Stone, Ricky Skaggs, and Kenny Rogers), continues to show his mastery of the mixing board and his passion for our music,” said Jaeger.

But along with that passion comes a love for what Sunspot does best—which is to surprise its fan base and entertain them thoroughly at the same time. “The fun part is taking something conventional and twisting its meaning completely around,” said Huberty. “We love finding the fantastic in the ordinary.”

credits

released November 22, 2011

Recorded at Smart Studios and Raw-Tracks Studios, Madison, WI

Engineered and mixed by Eric Katte

Written and Performed by Sunspot

Additional Synths by Eric Oehler

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Sunspot Madison

Epic Power-Pop Anthems That Tackle The Weird and Ridiculous with Punk and Electronic Elements

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