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Baby Steps

from Cicada Exoskeletons by Tim Stiles

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Deluxe double vinyl version of Tim Stiles' solo album, Cicada Exoskeletons. Pressed on 180gm, merlot and teal vinyl with full color gatefold jacket, shrink-wrapped. Featuring custom art by Ryan Breault and Richard Lim. Limited to 300 copies.

    LIMITED EDITION VINYL BUNDLE 15% OFF + FREE SHIPPING: timstiles.bandcamp.com/merch/limited-edition-vinyl-bundle-cicada-exoskeletons-visceral-candy-feat-tim-stiles

    IMPORTANT: Do you want your copy signed? If you would like the cover signed by Tim Stiles, please use the send a message option at checkout in order to request a signature. Signed copies will have their shrink-wrap removed but will be placed inside a resealable poly bag. Unsigned copies come fully shrink-wrapped.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Cicada Exoskeletons via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 300 

      $45 USD or more 

     

  • Purchase both Limited Edition Vinyl LPs at 20% off (Normally $70).

    Includes:

    - Cicada Exoskeletons Limited Edition Double Vinyl (180 gm)
    Details: timstiles.bandcamp.com/album/cicada-exoskeletons

    - Visceral Candy Feat. Tim Stiles Limited Edition 12" Vinyl LP (180gm)
    Details: timstiles.bandcamp.com/album/visceral-candy-feat-tim-stiles

    - Digital Download codes of both albums (CE download included when checking out, VCxTS redemption code sent separately via email)

    Includes unlimited streaming of Cicada Exoskeletons via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 5  4 remaining

      $56 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $2 USD  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 17 Tim Stiles releases available on Bandcamp and save 10%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Wearing My Jordans, Who's The Boss?, Cicada Exoskeletons, I Dropped The Ball This Christmas (A Poem For Casie), L.M.C., A Fish Like This feat. Trinity Richter, Let It Be feat. Trinity Richter, Start With An 'E' feat. Paradame (Qreepz Remix), and 9 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $50.79 USD or more (10% OFF)

     

about

This is another one of the few songs I actually wrote the majority of many years ago but never professionally recorded. However, it was one I performed from time to time when I first moved to Seattle. I named it "Run First, Crawl Second" at the time. Also originally produced by Automath, for this album I wanted to spice it up so I brought Qreepz in for main production. The concept/title became "Baby Steps" instead as I was searching for movie samples I wanted to use. I stumbled across the scene with Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss in "What About Bob?" where Dreyfuss is speaking to the concept of baby steps--taking it one step at a time. This fit with my concept so I snagged some of those lines and wrote a third verse with that scene in mind.

lyrics

We proliferate demons when disregarding others
Cold feet won't freeze if we hide them under the covers
Solitary works up until we discover
That loneliness leads to holding to one another
 
The abrasiveness of concrete is a perfect metaphor
Once we stumble, knees scrape and its time to fight a better war
Callused heels start stuttering to the beat like
That moment when moths flicker, shadowing street lights

Hands quiver, thinking of demands we can’t deliver
Man-to-man we stamp a plan to plant a seed
It all goes hand-in-hand with labor pains we can’t alleve
Fanning the grief until an avalanche has us on our hands n knees
 
Can't we just be? The answer seems so deep
Necromancers dance in dreams for a whole week like old sheep
Caught in tradition without a pot to piss in
Civilization lost, waiting for a decision

(HOOK x2)
From birth we are driven
To run first, crawl second
Never resting, It's all nerves

Expectations are indeed
The reason we fall first
Before we even recognize we’re breathing 
(END HOOK)
 
Russian roulette with our wants, red rover with our needs
Games we play to pave the way to later daydreams
Trying to stake a claim, we hate the way the day-to-day seems
Afraid to escape the trade, the paycheck is what makes ends meet
 
Craving a mainstay, feeling fulfilled
No matter who’s killed within the process, we still ruin in order to build
Chain-link barriers prevent theft while the faint of heart
Pray for a heaven-sent sense of less stress
 
What is this mess we tend to set ourselves in?
Worrying too much about her and forgetting to help him
Melting each relationship with this selfish state of bliss
Braincells make a fist to box us in
 
Its the underlying fault of man, caught in a position
Retaining an upper hand that's lost in tradition
We are in division without at pot to piss in
A civilization sitting in waiting for a decision
 
(HOOK x2)
From birth we are driven
To run first, crawl second
Never resting, It's all nerves

Expectations are indeed
The reason we fall first
Before we even recognize we’re breathing 
(END HOOK)

Don't run out of breath yet if you're feeling like I do
Take baby steps. Your next life may not lie to you
Figuring out the missing link's like digging for a ring lost in a kitchen sink
When the whole time it's right behind you

Hardship's insignificant once the piano plays the dissonance
None of it mattered anyway when you slid back onto your index
Mingle around the water cooler pretend like you give a shit
About your colleagues and their cannon fodder they call common courtesy
 
This is not the life you ordered
This system does not work for you, you work for it
And throw fits further than the worthlessness of credit card purchases
A concern so pertinent, you need a perfect way to word it?

Well, this description is a perpetual intermission
Intellectuals won’t even listen to your pessimistic disposition
We are in division without at pot to piss in
A civilization sitting in waiting for a decision

credits

from Cicada Exoskeletons, released September 3, 2021
Written by Tim Stiles
Prod. by Jay Battle
Co-produced by Automath
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Jay Battle @ The Battlefield

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about

Tim Stiles Santa Cruz, California

Tim Stiles is an independent hip-hop artist historically known as the lead vocalist/rapper of the satirical hip hop band, Passion Party. Tim is no one trick pony. He’s a clever, crafty wordsmith in his own right with an ability to adapt to just about any concept or genre. ... more

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