SBSR: The Illegal Wiretaps “Mona, Texas”

The Illegal Wiretaps “Mona, Texas”

<1> “Ham Radio Conspiracies” (4:25) – We start with a nice beat that makes me back to the 1980’s.  You can almost hear the titular ham radio changing stations in this song.  It’s kind of neat.  Plus, I really like conspiracies in general so this song title suits me.   This is an instrumental version of a song that’s a cross between something you’d find on The Breakfast Club soundtrack and an Atari 2600 video game, which makes it aces in my book.  It doesn’t need vocals really because of all of the changes in sound, which can help you to tell verse from chorus.  It could quite possibly be better than some existing songs with lyrics. 

<2> “Mona, Texas” (3:30) – Full disclosure: I never knew there was a place in Texas called Mona, but I find it odd that Texas loves the ladies names for their cities.  (Victoria, El Paso, etc.)  This song starts off slower and quieter than the first.  There aren’t a lot of musical instruments going on here but there are these somewhat eerie vocals.   Nearing two minutes and the drum machine is coming in, so now it’s less creepy.   After about a minute the drum machine fades out and we’re back where we began.   I’m not sure exactly what this singing is about, but I picture it being done by that little girl from The Ring. 

<3> “Dear, I Have Something to Tell You” (2:37) – This track starts closer to the way this EP began.  Lasers are shooting in the background and I feel like I’m playing Return of the Jedi on the Atari.  There are actually some nice little riffs going on in this song.   It is quite funny in a dreamy sort of way.   You have the steady beats and repeating hooks that seem to be a staple in IWT songs (Well, when they have staples) 

<4> “Like a Dog, I Had to Put Him Down” (8:00) – I’ve actually done something I’ve never done before in a SBSR and I’ve actually paused this track so I can write about the first half of it.  I couldn’t write about it while I was listening to it, so I had to pause it.  The first half of this song is an audio clip of a man telling a story that, to sum it up most briefly, ends with him learning that just because someone is visibly disabled it doesn’t mean they want your help.  It’s really quite an interesting story to sit through even just once and I feel like everyone should hear this.  I knew somehow the title of the track would come into play and, yes, it did.   So now we’re on the second half of the song and we have this doom and gloom music that sounds like something Nine Inch Nails would put on “Pretty Hate Machine”.   Back to unpausing and real time.   Six and a half minutes and I feel like this is just how this song will go out.