"I Want To Say Thank You To The Fans By Telling You A Secret!" -- ILX Pre-Covers The Tortured Poets Department

such a fun ride!

frankly stunned by what Tom D has pulled off here

I finally got to channel my inner Bernard Sumner and scribbled my lyrics on a napkin after a glass of wine.

A fine approach. (Mine, logically, arrived yesterday morning in the shower when I realized something had to happen for that last track.)

Pretty sure I read that Taylor Swift writes all her lyrics on napkins *in* the shower, then celebrates with a glass of wine after. Different strokes etc.

I'm loving everything on this. I wish more superstars of Swift's stature took risks collaborating with internet randos.

Why thank you for the compliment but don't sell yourself short by saying you're an internet rando.

Haha. Swift should call her next album "Internet Randos" and just release this.

I refuse to believe she could write a better "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" than this "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived".

frankly stunned by what Tom D has pulled off here

Oh stop it, it's not that difficult to do. Time consuming though.

I've got to say, the way my track follows kurt's track is so perfect it sounds like a deliberate piece of sequencing instead of a complete accident.

...and i'm proud to be internet rando, where at least no one knows me
i can make my noise and mock unknown boys where no one else can see

This is dope

Is it sampling TS vocals?

Thank you! Mangled, but yes.

This album is amazing. Congratulations to everyone involved.

three songs in this is great stuff

our song aims for the fall perhaps ends up early b52s haha (though i came to realize it's really hard to try to sound like the fall and maybe there's not that much distance between those two bands)

Is the song “the manuscript”? The Fall was 100% what it sounded like to me but I yeah B52s too now that I think of it.

I think you nailed it

Ha ha I first thought of the Fall but now I can't un-hear the B-52s!

UMS talked me out of doing my Fred Schneider impression, for better or worse

MES or Fred Schneider ... both would be impressed with the results. Well, I'm sure Fred, at least, would offer praise.

I should have kept my mouth shut, but glad it pinged as the Fall with everyone!

I currently don't have the ability to try to sound like anyone else, so I just made a track and sent it in.

yeah yeah that's what Taylor Swift sez too :)

This is amazing so far. I especially love the track La Lechera made, which also sounds like its title in the best way possible.

Thanks everyone, this has been so good.

finally finishing this. work took over today.

Chris, your track is haunting in a way that fits the title beautifully. <3

loving the mood on "I Can Fix Him", the drums, the guitar washes, the bass....

Aww, thank you. I'm listening to a radio show online right now, but I'll listen to this later on tonight.

"lo - m - l" is my new "Fitter Happier"

Roffle. I'll take that compliment!

My deathless lyrics (description may not be accurate):

--

Lo ML! Why dost thou speak now?
Do you crave thine audience so?
Why do you take this strangest bow?
For your dreams are yet very low.

Lo ML! Wherefore this style?
Why then choose these, vividly red?
Observe this calendar vile
In the season of the dam-ned

Lo ML! Is it all too much?
Will you not brave the day, fearless?
The eras call to all, we touch!
Eat and drink, but with one beer less!

Lo ML! Evermore the birds cry
As they follow trails narrow
Do you not see them greatly fly
In the shape of a great arrow?

Lo ML! Thy reputation
Precedes thee in destructive flood
Must you cause all in this nation
To assume you carry bad blood?

Lo ML! Midnight’s call is nigh
Carry out many plans, o thou must
Let the scribes all hear your great cry
I will next see you in August

Im gonna have Fresh Out The Slammer stuck in my head for weeks. It’s beautiful. I’m going straight back to criiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime. It’s like The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side, but with porridge.

"I Can Do It With a Broken Heart" is some catchy fuzzy pop goodness....plus love the lyrics!

xpost otm. one of my favs as well

"The Alchemy" is entrancing as hell.

"Clara Bow" is great! love the ambience and spoken word

lol @ "It's A BONUS TRACK! THE MANUSCRIPT!". love the vocals, the driving beat and post-punky gothy guitars. can't speak about The Fall because (*sheepish*) I don't know them, but this is great.

love the abstract, controlled chaos of "The Bolter"!

love everything about "The Albatross" - the lyrics and that chorus is gonna stick w/ me for a while.

Oh you’re too kind Neanderthal.

Also you have to listen to The Fall!

and we come home with the David Lynchian "The Black Dog". love the radio-dial turning intro.

that was a swell listen and won't be my last. this was fun to be a part of!

"The Manuscript" is great... it sounds like what late-period Parquet Courts should be (bad sadly isn't)!

“Fresh out the slammer” synth melody is reminding me of another thing. I love it.

Too difficult to choose a favourite, so I won't, but very good job to everyone.

I kept hearing Heez's lyrics as "hanging around my dick like an albatross" -> petition to get My Dick to cover this pre-cover?

settling in for this right now. here's play-by-play thoughts. i'm listening on headphones―

01 sund4r - fortnight
great mood setter, when does taylor come in?

02 matthew - tortured poets
catchy + confusing. i love it.

03 la lechera - my boy
this should be taylor's real entrance music for the tortured poets tour. have a gong-laced synth vamp to tide your anticipation, friends.

04 acoleuthic - down bad
lol this beat! vocals good, yes. but this beat is... making fun of me or something?? i have no clue, but how much i'm enjoying it seems inappropriate. well done.

05 mfktz - so long, london
idk how else to follow "down bad" than with a paranoid dark ambient collage.

06 kurt - daddy i love him
moar fuzz!

07 tom d feat nfs - fresh out the slammer
omg, this is great! you taught me about porridge just now!

08 mares feat alfred - florida
no clue what's going on here, but it sure does sound nice.

09 a hoy hoy - sin
walkin around in alligators, indeed. great samples!

10 chris i - who's afraid
yeah, this goes exactly with the title.

11 josh - i can fix him
this is legitimately great. i want to hear taylor write a rap for it.

12 josh feat ned - loml
i mean this as a really high compliment: this has mc 900 ft jesus vibes. bravo at including the audible mouse click at the end of the vocal track. love.

13 hi dere - broken heart
this went in a direction. i was not expecting that turn. that big middle eight! lol! 'everyone that i proved wrong gets to listen to this song.' lol nailed it.

14 bo jacks - smallest man
needs more jordanaires. ace narrative tho. feel like this is way more effort than was necessary lol. really good.

15 shari - alchemy
i think this is the exact sort of music that would get me to start taking ts seriously.

16 moka - clara bow
this beat is legit! nice!

17 renegade priests - manuscript
i did not expect something this well-produced. "IT'S A HOLOGRAPH!!!" is awesome.

18 misunderstudd - bolter
lol have you ever heard the trypes? this is great!

19 heez - albatross
this is the start of something beautiful. i'm with neanderthal: you hit something special in this chorus.

20 tea - black dog
perfect outro.

always a blast, ya'll.

bravo at including the audible mouse click at the end of the vocal track.

Unintentional but I am glad for the fates.

Lol back in my home studio a capella recording days, just about all my tracks ended with one

This is far better than Taylor's version could ever be.

Emily did you notice the line the “I could live off penis”?

a hoy hoy reaching Bush of Ghosts levels of found sound brilliance.

Properly dug into this over the weekend, great stuff all, totally agree about the consistency and goodness within.

One of things I really like about these (apart from taking part) is each tune is like a curious little window into the psyche of familiar ILX names.

*gulp*

I know what you mean, it's like putting a face to a name.

The matthew mathieu track is a favourite so far. Aside from "Down Bad" and "Manuscript", which I had praised before elsewhere, La Lechera's track is also a standout for me.

hey is 'the manuscript' part of the main album?

xp to sund4r, that is very kind and gracious of you to say! i was nervous about following your track because you always do such cool guitar work (and your track is no exception!) but im glad you liked it

Enormous thanks to Ned for getting this all organised and great job all.

Copy maresn3st on the illuminating peek into the minds of usernames. And conversely allowing ppl to peek inside mine.

Xp to sund4r — thank you!! It feels so good to be heard!!

https://i.imgur.com/L38p5cX.jpeg

What's a scrobble? More importantly, where is my money!?

ain't been scrobbled since the Great War

oh there will be no money

but on your deathbed you will receive admin privileges

but not sitewide

Just the one board?

so are we doing a post-covers album of the bonus disc