This album is just an excuse to release the stuff that was previously only released on physical, or stuff that I want to release but have no real opportunity to. This tradition of “physical-first” will continue till the end of time, because I think it’s cool to give an incentive for people to get CDs or tapes, but I think it’s the right time to release this stuff as I have a decent amount to release.
I don’t have much to say about the recording of the album because it was spread into short bursts throughout the course of the school year. It’s just cool to see the progression of certain things, and see just how long I had some of these parts for before finally recording them all in March.

The Big Cheese

I remember that this one was gonna actually go on the album proper, but I forgot that I had written it. It wasn’t until after the album came out that I rediscovered it and recorded the final version, with the date on my phone being March 20th, three days after the release of Jungle Jim’s. It was so close to the actual release that there are a lot of times I forget that it wasn’t on the original album. This is a consequence of recording everything and remembering nothing.
Named for a rather large cheese on display at both Jungle Jim’s locations.

The Secrets of the Bathrooms

This was a jammy one I recorded very soon after the album was released, my phone has the date listed as March 26th. I was fucking around with a cool pattern I came up with for a little and recorded a back and forth jam between two bass parts. The actual album recording had given me a thirst for using the piano for tracks, and I thought a piano would fit this well. Because I have no skill when it comes to playing piano, I just slammed my hands down full force on a few notes the whole time. The result is what you hear.
The drums were I believe the first time I ever tried being really lazy and not programming anything, just playing the pads on the machine. This one in particular was done in two takes: one for the kicks and one for the cymbals/snare.
At the end, you can hear bits of the next track cutting in and out, which I thought was neat so I left it in.

Candyland

This was a combination of two parts that I just threw together and the rest happened accidentally. I was looping the beginning for a while in my room with no clue what to do with it until I added the second part, which I think I had come up with a little beforehand. It’s definitely one of my favorites to play; I forgot how good the bassline on the last part is. This song really shows a kind of frantic creativity and ability to jam along to my own lines that I haven’t really had an opportunity to use since, and especially not as well as I used to.
The piano is one which I’m really proud of, I love how it swells into the building guitar line and then slams in for the last part. It’s funny that I like it so much, considering it’s actually like two full measures off from where it was supposed to be. That’s why it randomly cuts into the second part really hard, it’s supposed to be a little before when it actually comes in.

Liquor Section

This was a title I wanted to use on the original album but I didn’t find an opportunity to. I think that the name fits with how triumphant this song is, so I’m glad I saved it. This was the first song I properly recorded on a four track I purchased from Ray Magick Flavour Station, and was completed within days of moving into my apartment and two days before IHNLFMLY left on tour. Not much to say about this one other than I think it’s been performed live? Meaning it’s the only Jungle Jim’s song to achieve that status.

Jungle Jim’s Alternate Take

This one is silly because it’s so bad! Recorded a mere seven days after the album’s release, I don’t know what compelled me to do a worse version of this song, but I did anyway! What I like about this song is something you wouldn’t be able to tell just from listening to it. I was originally gonna record a version of the song with the drum machine, but it was too much of a pain in the ass to program it to sound right. So, naturally, when IHNLFMLY went to Guitar Center to fuck around, I went into their soundproof drum room and hogged it for about a half hour. This was the first time I had recorded anything on a physical kit since the summer of the previous year, so it was huge for me. Shoutout Roseville Guitar Center.

Big Cheese [DEMO]

Likely recorded October 18th, but that’s just a guess. Not much else to say on this one, because I already said it all above.

Fish Section [DEMO]

This was originally called Candy Corn. I can only imagine what I was eating around the time this was recorded.
Original recording date: November 10th 2024. This was the day that I took the BasementDwellers promo photo I used for a lot of things back in the day, which is still on my Spotify

Wandering [DEMO]

Recorded September 29th, 2024. I think this would mark the first recording of a Jungle Jim’s song that would end up mostly unchanged from the way it appeared on the album.
This was the day where I walked to the Target in Dinkytown to get a four pack of Monster Energy, in addition to a fifth standalone Monster. I was going to drink all of them in a single sitting in the hopes I would have a heart attack or something, but I got distracted watching squirrels and forgot about doing that.

Supple

Recorded September 12th, 2024. This song has absolutely nothing to do with Jungle Jim’s, it was just recorded in the same style as the others. I have a snapshot memory of programming the drums for this one while staying up all night watching videos about Smart Schoolboy 9, if that gives you any indication of how soon I went insane after the semester started.
This was originally meant to be played at shows, but I never got to play it because it doesn’t work without guitar. The closest I got was playing it for soundcheck before I played maybe my worst set ever, at a venue called the Moustrap. Nobody fucked with me and my G broke within seconds of starting the set.
Fun song though.

Noise Masterpiece

This was the first test recording I made after discovering the method I used to record Jungle Jim’s. Given that the only audible words are “I’m gonna fucking kill myself,” you can probably imagine where my head was at around this time. If not, read The Story of Jungle Jim’s.
Recorded October 7th, 2024, and was the most significant thing to happen on that date in history.

I Hate the People in the Rooms Around Me

Yeah you can probably imagine what was happening while I recorded this. Dorm life is not for the weak, and I am the weak. Recorded October 19th, 2024., which was the day I took an hour and a half bus ride from campus to Apple Valley Half Price Books, then back.
I was a very angry person last year. Who knew all it took to quell that anger was to become a woman…..