Die Unceremoniously is an album by Astro Al.
This album was assembled from jams recorded in the bunker at Maudslay Park in Newburyport MA.
The acoustics there are amazing. One of the best recording spaces I have ever been in and that includes professional recording spaces.
Here’s my thoughts on it track by track.
The title track. Well that’s obvious. It was inspired by the graffiti at the entrance to the bunker.
A life devoted to art is a life that deserves ceremony at the end. The AI that exists now is a death that deserves no ceremony.
Improvised words.
You can chart your own failures and sink in them or overcome them. To overcome them, you can change them into something else.
The easy choices are the hardest because they can way you down for your whole life.
Maybe the stories are true in this track. Maybe they are the lies I’ve told myself. Perhaps they are artistic fabrications.
The 80s were no more or less glorious than any other time period.
Traversing the subconscious world in beat driven style.
The percussion DNA Girl did on this track makes it work for me.
All the angst eats itself alive.
Road tripping poetry.
DNA Girl riffs on Emily Dickinson. Not a bad poet to riff from at all.
Death stops for me.
The echoes in this track are all so natural because they are.
Where do our myths come from?
I know where the hauntings and possessions come from. Dementia is the devil.
This track is mostly instrumental.
This is the track a few djs latched on to play. Honestly this is my least favorite track on the album.
I think there are some good bits but looking back on it now, I would have done things a lot differently with this one. Some good mando at the end by DNA Girl.
7. Beyond Sound
The beginning of this track is just the ambiance of the Bunker and my voice.
Vladamir Putin, if you listen to this track maybe you’ll finally realise that being a dictator is nothing but failure.
My invisible brain will tell you so.
There’s some theremin in this track. Dragging the Theremin to the Bunker was a little tough but so worth it to get that echo.
The words for this one were written before the jam.
8. Fangless Fox
Corporate speak cracks me up. It’s all so meaningless and pointlessly trendy.
The words for this one were partially pre-written before the jam. They were written as a stream of words as meaningless as corporate America.
Album credits
Astro Al is:
DNA Girl: Voice, vocals, mandolin, FX, bodran, drums, acoustic guitar
Count Robot: Voice, FX, theremin, duotron, kazoo, violin, stylophone, Aztec death whistle, duck call, modified tape player
Recorded at Maudslay State Park Newburyport MA
Created, produced, and mastered by Astro Al
Copyright 2025 by Astro Al
Yours in ceremony,
Count Robot
