Get all 38 Rafa's One Man Band releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Thought You'd be Around, Social Distancing, I Believe in Magic (BC EXCLUSIVE), ROMB and Friends live at Gypsy Sally's 6/29/2018, Live at Albion-Ya 7/3/2017, Alef 06-06-2017, You, That's The Chorus 06-06-2017, Earth Day 2017 - 4/22/2017 San Francisco, CA, and 30 more.
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Positive chaos
the polar opposite of Du Hast, Du Hast me not
Take you to outter space like an astronaut,
Tell you the things that you haven't got to hear from anybody else,
No one that's said it quite like myself,
Cause on my bookshelf I got a wealth of information,
Like Brother Mouzone I read the Nation,
When I'm on the beach or on vacation
I read the economist when I'm on the shitter,
Cause I'm a heavy hitter, mama told me never be a quitter,
This is a first step of many more , so when positive chaos politely knocks at your door,
I better not catch you snorin' son
Positive Chaos
I'm quoting Dylan "like the times they are a changin' "
I ain't a Cajun in the bayou but I see the floodwaters rising,
And I can't help but think there's something we can do about it,
There ain't no bout adout it, but it's gonna take a shift, so let us start with
a definition :chaos theory or the butterfly effect
or the sensitive dependence on initial conditions which can result in large
differences to a later state. We always hear that if a buttefly flaps it's wings in
China it cause a hurricane in Iowa. True. True. We never hear though about how
teaching one heroin addict how to use and distribute clean needles, can have the
effect of almost an entire community of addicts winding up in rehabilitation programs.
I don't know why, maybe it's not as flashy, but it's happening too, and we never
stress that see. And here's the thing we are constantly,
and I do mean constantly, the source point of all sorts of "negative" chaos too.
We all cut people off, we all act abrasive to strangers needlessly,
We all judge people sometimes as we pass em on the streets,
Every one has, at one point or another, screwed someone else over.
Often times, it's cause you thought you were about to get screwed over yourself,
Or you were protecting someone else
The pre-emptive screw...ha
So next time, that dude will screw over the next dude, and so on and so forth. Chaos.
But here's the thing that's inevitable, those things will happen, like it or not,
We're all gonna be dicks sometimes... but we can also actively choose
to NOT be dicks the rest of the time. The chaotic process is the same, but in the opposite
direction. If sometimes, you choose to let people go ahead of you in a traffic jam,
or if you choose to let go of your initial judgement, and have a conversation, with
that weird ass person standing in the corner, chances are that just like that butterfly wing
you won't notice the difference at first, but the chaos effect will take hold, and I
guara ntee you'll like yourself a little better at the end of the day for what it's worth.
positive chaos
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2. |
History Lesson
06:22
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People walk around all day long, pretending that they know what the fuck is going on,
Well I don't know much, what I know
I know well, and I am proud to say,
I do know how to spell,
M-O-N-E-Y
I don't know, that's how education's spelled in most countries round the world,
There's a little info, worth it's weight in gold,
For y'all it comes for free, cause you stopped by the Rafa show
Let me tell you about the acoustic ecology of our times,
the way the world tries to tune itself into a fine harmony,
and all we can do is listen to the symphony, surrounding you and me,
and add in a sound or two just to try to be, a part of, not apart from,
Something greater than ourselves, we tend to forget where we came from so this is a little history lesson on where my music comes from. So shutup, pay attention, Listen up son, you might just learn something. Feel me?
Let's start at John Cage, though that's the middle of the play,
It'll be like Star Wars but I digress, let'x get started right away.
I was talking about John Cage,
and his 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence,
Which as it turns out is filled with noise, and not silent at all,
The futurists were right, tell Russolo that noise music is standing proud and tall,
Ain't ever gonna fall, we've morphed it into acid jazz, hip hop, ambient noise or sonic art,
Sometimes I make less sense than Trevor Wishart,
These are all just names and concepts you should try to look up,
If you haven't heard the names yet, then hurry up son, and book up,
Carry a kindle if you have to,
Just make sure you never stop learning about shit dude
Cause the day you do life takes a big ole shit on you dude!
Ooooh shit!!
Now onto Oliveros and the art of Deep Listening,
Where if you shutup long enough, you can hear the wind whistling,
This sound Shaeffer would record, and use it his etude des bruits,
Sounds kind of like a tasty cheese if you ask me, anyway
The other Shaffer then would argue its a soundscape that you see with your ear,
So keep it free and clear of wax, except the lyrical poetic kind,
The smooth and soulful, playful and dramatic kind,
And if it's as Attalli says and this is the era of regeneration,
Then we need a new noise floor, a whole new foundation,
So let me make some noise, and let's get on already with the regeneratin'
Let's get on with it...
So that's the theory behind the practice,
It's what we call praxis, and I do have paper to back this,
But that paper is meaningless, Useless, unless I learned something
cause if I learned nothing than I came out,
Meaning less and worth nothing, but I learned for sure
And for that I have to thank someone else, in fact more than one person,
The first of whom is my mom, who's gonna be pissed off that I've been cursing,
Next are all my music teachers, from Maria Jose, to Mr. Krohn to Fabio, and Otto
for the theory bit of this, and the wisdom and patience, and the wit with which to deal
with this,
I Gotta thank all my other teachers from Mrs. Van Grack to Mr. Musgrove and even that Mr.Jones
Raw talent is necessary, but without practice and learning there is nary a man alive
Who could survive the day to day, without pretending all the time like you got a fucking clue,
When the whole time the fool on the hill, that's you
And without reason or rhyme, the days pass you on by, and you wish you'd learned something,
So you could be left with more than this nothing you got right here,
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3. |
All To Blame
06:47
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Vivo me iludido em pensar que tudo mudaria
se estivesse em outro lugar, perhaps o mar...perto do mar, talvez o mar
Vivemos sempre nos iludindo em pensar que tudo mudara,
ou permenacera sempre assim. sempre assim always assim
Always isn't always what's it's cracked up to be
And change ain't ain't always change, it's just path dependency
but we turn out, just the way we're meant to
some of us do anyway
Os outros vivem se iludindo em pensar que nada mudara,
E que nunca poderiam estar em qualquer outro lugar,
longe do mar
Some days seem somewhat fated,
other days it seems we've lost the cause,
I believe we're always somewhere in between
Someday we may hope to reach the truth, horizon
Our eyes are always on the prize
In truth, the lies are only partially the cause
The youth, their lives are irrevocably then linked to ours
In truth, the lies are only partially the cause
We're all to blame, but we can change today
I am to blame, but I can change today
We're all to blame, but we can change our ways
I am to blame, but i can change today
There is no shame, for I can change today
there is no shame, we all can change our ways
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4. |
Heart Strings
06:09
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Hey yo Im pulling at your heart strings,
Ill pull em down just till your heart strains,
Then I Bring it back around just so you'll know,
Everything will just flow
Yo it's tough living these days
Brings back memories of yesteryears and yesterdays
days Before I was even born
days when depression was more than a term for the psychologically forlorn
I count my blessings everyday
Lady by my side standing like a rock come whatever may
My family south of south of the border down in Rio,
South of the Border in Mexico and east of the mississipi waters out on the east coast
I'm thankful for every second I get on this blessed earth,
I Try to live this life with the respect that it deserves,
Less like a race trying to see who comes out first,
More like playing Legos, just building shit to see what works
CHORUS
Driving marshmallow 20 hours a week to and from the hill, just to pay our bills,
Went to BPG, then PCC, then CBCB then Grassroots finally,
Just trying to make some sales, to get some sales,
Not to sell myself,
So maybe I can set sail,
and catch a tailwind out of this torrential downpour we've been living in
CHORUS
I Got the Higher learning you been yearning for
I went to school, ain't a fool
What you think I been learning for?
I Got a paper from Goddard College and it tells me
That I got the wide knowledge and the breadth, of fresh air
to wax critically about such complex concepts
as living life on the spectrum and theory in action, that's what we call praxis
I only preach what I practice,
and now I got the paper to back this,
So let me show where the action is
I play with such heartfelt passion it's almost nasty,
The way it pulls on your heart strings but still sounds so classy
CHORUS
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5. |
Smiling all the Way
03:41
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6. |
Ring Ring Ring
05:25
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gotta get that ring ring ring
gonna get that ring ring ring
gonna get that ring ring ring
it aint no thing thing thing
Gotta her that ring,
you know how that go, i told you before how everything will just flow,
Matter of fact it's flowing as we speak,
It's been over 8 years but, it barely feels like 8 weeks,
That ring, merely a symbol, just a precious jewel and some metal round her finger,
And I'm hoping it'll bring her some comfort when she's feeling alone,
When I'm out and about just grinding stone,
Hittin pavement, music playing,
never straying,
My eyes been off the prize since the beginning
Now I'm Basement trimming, cause you know everybody's gotta make a living,
And god knows I ain't making a killin quite yet,
But I'm more than ready and willing to take that step
Chorus
Nothing fancy Just something big enough to remind her whence we find our home and,
That We lay our bones in the same place, night in and night out,
From morning till lights out,
She knows we need have no lingering doubts
Plus the taxes work out in our favor, I believe
Not to mention health insurance I'd receive,
Accidents are a natural occurrence after all,
Ain't enough Tylenol, or natural medicine for that matter,
To take care of the serious issues and the things that most matter,
To hell with all the chatter, about the size of the rock or the money that we got,
I mean we're in it for the long haul so why the hell not
get that ring
Chorus
She wants that ring, but she deserves it,
But more than that, she's more than worth it,
Stood by my side even when I was a slacker, and worthless,
And I know this, man
She's followed me back and forth between two countries, and
A man starts thinking about what life is worth once he gets to a certain age,
Once all that rage has evaporated, and what's left is a somewhat faded,
overstated version of his worst self, and she's still holding on,
with the stealth of a ninja, hoooeehh, she ain't going nowhere
and you ain't either and you know it
so just put the damn ring on her finger already and let her show it off, come on now!
Chorus
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7. |
Take Flight
04:47
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8. |
ouD
06:16
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9. |
Hour for Redemption
04:47
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Chorus
Don't worry, break it down easy don't worry, yea!
Don't worry, just break it down easy don't worry, yea!
The hour for redemption has come,
It's all begun, it's all begun
One and all should witness this
The birth of a new era is upon us and thus,
If you're with it then you're here,
Come from far, come from near,
The power of truth shall overcome fear,
You ask, "When?" and " Should I be in a hurry?!"
I say, "Nah! Just break it down easy don't worry!"
CHORUS
We must bear testament to the new times,
and do away with the old lines
The tired rhymes and the reasons why
The time has come,
it's our turn in the sun
Do away with the fear and the anxiety,
There will come a day when even our society
Will as a whole, come to understand
Time is in our hands, under our command
So don't worry, and just break it down easy when you can now
CHORUS
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10. |
Bela Tarde
10:58
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Flesh it out, flauta de mesa
Mesa de jantar, quase la quase la
obra de arte, parte de mim
um belo farte, um peido ruim
Quase o meu sonho, quase o meu dream
uma bela tarde, rindo assim
Papel e izopor, por isso nem mais
Todo mundo quer, mas nem todo mundo faz
Comida e diversao, me disse o anao
O dragao sem chave de casa, pediu me ajuda no mato enfim, entao.
Quase o meu sonho, quase o meu dream
Uma bela tarde, rindo assim...
Divine intervention, trancado aqui
O cubo quadrado, redondo o xixi,
Da cerveja iqual, o biscoito maizena
Ela trouxe o sorvete, mas era apenas
Uma galinha, vestida de queen
Quase meu sonho, quase meu dream...
Uma bela tarde rindo assim.
Nao seja por isso, o precipicio fica logo ali love
Nem sera tao ruim, pulemos todos de uma vez so
Voaremos como um poderoso serafim
Nosso destino unido ao vento...
Ja te contei que o tempo, esta em nossas maos, entao,
Quase o meu sonho, quase o meu dream
Uma bela tarde, rindo assim...
We should not be afraid to be pornographic,
Lascivious, and scandalous with our art,
But let art be none of those without cause, or reason
Be not afraid to be that which you know you are,
You'll be better off by far, if you let go,
and let it out and let it in,
Hey you, Begin
Treat this day with all it merits,
Magic is no longer just for mages and clerics,
We can all be magicians now,
I'm just dying to show you how
Fear not that what you dream shall not come to pass,
Don't you know? The hour has come at last, to let go
and let it out and let it in,
Hey you, begin
Begin, Dig in, Let out, let in, Begin in Dig in
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Rafa's One Man Band Berkeley
Travelling between Americana and Brazuka, Rafa's One Man Band is comprised of one man, and many layers. From driving funk
rhythms, to string heavy pop anthems Rafa manages to walk a fine line between ego and soul, digital and analogue, musicality and production.
The resulting sound is at times so reminiscent of a full band, that Rafa himself forgets that he has no bandmates.
... more
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