MAKE LIKE
by Roommate
Fabio Brienza
Florence Freitag
Ryan Dwyer
wall_of_sound
Toni Gutierrez
Bran H
Brent Sallay
Nate Hunter
Tim Clarke
Douglas Leinen
Puddy
ceejee
Robin Smith
Chris Booker
bbarneoud
Marcel Laible
thehandformula
Tyler
Greg Stone
Jerome Cote
leonardslair
dave_z
xthal
caseypuccini
ptarrago
ewaldjl
francisco ripoll
drumsnotdead
dakotafall86
knifeinthewater
cwg
robert reysner
Mary Patten
Michael Casebolt
Tim Massett
Patrick Kelly
Josh
quoms
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Digital Album
Streaming + DownloadIncludes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
100% of Roommate's share of July 2020 proceeds to benefit South Side Chicago mutual aid efforts:
www.gofundme.com/f/chicago-crossneighborhood-solidarityPurchasable with gift card -
Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumMastering and lacquer cutting by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Pressed to 160g black vinyl at Gotta Groove Records, Cleveland. Layout by Dean Rank. Cover art by David Barret Lloyd. Released on Strange Weather Records, Chicago. Albums will ship starting on June 23, 2015.
Includes unlimited streaming of MAKE LIKE via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 7 daysedition of 300$15 USD or more
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Full Digital Discography Full Digital Discography
Get all 14 Roommate releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of CAPACITOR (Takashi Shallow Dub Version), CAPACITOR, KEPLER-452B, AIRPLANE SONG, Lights Out (Santogold cover), EMPTY (Rod McKuen/Frank Sinatra cover), A NIGHT LIKE THIS (Cure cover), MAKE LIKE, and 6 more.
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1. |
PEOPLE ON SCREENS
03:58
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PEOPLE ON SCREENS
people on screens
they do terrible things
people on screens
so much more gorgeous than me
back in the day we played
in fields of gravel and clay
we bloodied our knees
and fled from our mothers
we bled like brothers
people on screens
my hands control what they see
spite blighted feed
flight plans, intransigent schemes
fright brightened street
white guilt, white hot private screed
equal extremes
are we still friends?
does the scene ever end?
breeders will breed and
thieves will plunder
bereaved, we will wonder
people on screens
habits fate the dream
people on screens
have your way with me
have your way with me
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2. |
SECRET CLAW
05:16
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SECRET CLAW
secret claw
hoorah hoorah
secret claw
hoorah hoorah
hurry up and flash me a sign
are we scurrying or standing in line?
do we worry or do we semper fi?
do we tourniquet or is this goodbye?
secret claw
tell all tell all
secret claw
tell all tell all
tell us everything you know to be true
and if you don't know just pretend that you do
give us names that we can blame for the fall
give up the game give up the secret claw
tell us all about your disease
did you get it from the things you believe
there must be better ways to play out this scene
don't be afraid to trade your blue for green
hurry up and flash us a sign
are we scurrying or standing in line?
do we worry or do we testify?
are we born again or is this goodbye?
secret claw
hoorah hoorah
secret claw
hoorah hoorah
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3. |
DANCER HOWL
06:53
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DANCER HOWL
enlighten me
go ahead, frighten me
what is that shine in your eyes?
why won't you apologize?
change the subject
turn back toward the stage
don't claim to love it if you don't
don't make like hate
when you're really just afraid
I know I seemed impervious
If you only knew how nervous I was
I know I seemed gregarious
If you only knew how scared I was
change the subject
get back in the game
don't waste your judgment
on some scum you'll never know
don't make like hate--
you are loved and saved
oooh
in north side caves
we pretend to be brave
as in vain we attempt to explain
fresh graves on the south and the out sides
will we never tire of rewiring our brains
with low-grade fame
and role-play?
level up, it's never enough
find another face
a further out space
pace yourself
replace yourself
do you still get thrilled by a shrill parade?
do you still get chills when the killscreen fades?
are you paragon or renegade?
do you dare to want for better days?
change the subject
step back into your stance
don't try to rise above it when it's fine here way down low
why make like hate
when you could fake like romance?
when you could make like trance?
drummer dance
sweat through the ass of your pants
singer listen
singer listen
dancer howl
there's only here and now
dancer how
dancer ha
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4. |
CURSES
04:35
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CURSES
I swear it wasn't me
I swear it wasn't me
did I ever tell you who I was going to be?
or did I only tell you it wasn't me?
I’m overdressing the wreckage, counting cracks and catching flack for it
I’m talking smack at the back of the bus all the way to the valley of death
I sing my curses in reverse unrehearsed, we're none the worse for it
we’re none the worse for it
this family is a cult
this cult it is a home
this house it is a dried-up pile of bones
watch your mouth and soon these bones you will own
I’m trying my protect my possessions, counting blessings and losing track again
I’m ransacking the past for believable masks of irredeemable men
I sing my curses in reverse unrehearsed and what's worse, no one notices
we might as well lose at life if we keep winning, winning winning winning at this
we might as well lose at life if we keep winning this
this
I thought I was sure
I thought I was pure
I thought I was cured
I thought I was yours
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5. |
WILDERNESS
03:07
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WILDERNESS
when you left me
in the wilderness
I didn’t cry
though I howled at the moon
and scowled at the sky
ooh
when you left me
in the wilderness
oh eventually I thanked my lucky stars
that you didn’t leave me in the car
ooh
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6. |
OLD GOLDEN
04:33
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OLD GOLDEN
flying like a bat out of hell
crying like a two-hearted fool
croaking like a broke speak & spell
I am choking on an old golden rule
pretty lady don't keep me waiting
I’m a regular here but i've still got the fear
I think it's worse now that I have found myself
come on let's drink to our health!
shrieking baby, you've got your whole life to go crazy
you've no way of knowing how good you have it
you just grab and forget
while your parents consume and regret
ruin and wreck!
if I knew the way to your house
I would draw a map on my hand
there's no way this stain will come out
there's no shame can contain my demand
humble urchin, someday you will slay with your beauty
don't get snooty up there on top of the world
remember the homely girls
all the lonely, interned, uninsured
humble servant your master is lurking
pretend you don't see him
and that you don't know how hard it would be to be him
go away go away!
serve us some other day, go away!
there are backwards black holes in the ocean floor
there are days when the pain gets inflamed
and immaculate rage gets engorged
there are days when the flames reach the sky
we don't even ask why
we don't even ask why
flying like a bat out of hell
crying like a two-hearted fool
croaking like a broke speak & spell
I am choking on an old golden rule
I am broken like an old golden rule
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7. |
RIOT SIZE
05:12
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RIOT SIZE
I have seen stupidity
so bold it blinds
I have seen the cruelest clueless worst kinds
tiger in a lion suit
beetle in a pine
lodgepoles are all getting eaten alive
shiny things on tiny screens inviting us to fight
to justify
outrage on a burning page
fake smiles in a pile
fanning flames to damn the names of matron saints in exile
when my favorite singer died
my eyes ran dry
rejoice rejoice rejoice rejoice rejoice in voices deeper than time
native tongues of favorite sons expunged by haters' love
invaders' love
plaintive tales of sacred fails blown up to giant size
riot size
we can amortize, rationalize
lies are still lies
we can clamor for some glamour prize
we can we can stammer, stick our cameras into riots' eyes
trade your grief for mimicry, trade your rage for laughter
shake shake the rafters
it's not too late to chase your dreams and cheat your masters
make like disaster
trade these sword for minor chords and major maxims
get reactive
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8. |
TRI TWI
04:41
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TRI TWI
invisible silent
triple twilit
swinging door
no need for excitement
it's just lightning
it's just war
insidious skyline
fetid byline
standard and poor
these words an incitement
an indictment
an open sore
nothing more
confederate styling
yankee dry heave
banshee squall
this isn't your crisis
any way you slice it
it's not your call
it's not your fault
it's a simple thing, empathy
don't you make a symphony of my sympathy
I've been you
one day you will have been me too
this crown shrinks like violets
this autopilot
has run ashore
this town stinks like violence
in a dry wind
breathe insipid lore
no need for excitement
it's just lightning
it's just war
thirsty gore
bursting pores
mercy corps
cursed bore
nothing more
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about
press quotes:
"It's not flashy, it's not trendy, but like a good friend, the time you spend in its company will be handsomely rewarded."
-Tim Clarke, Dots and Loops, (#1 on "My favourite records of 2015")
"Make Like feels like a culmination of all that’s come before it – a distillation of an aesthetic and a refinement of purpose. Just shy of forty minutes, the album is astute, economical, meticulously performed and produced, and deeply affecting, both lyrically and musically. It’s a thoroughly satisfying whole, an unselfconsciously classic-sounding record with masterful segues and a neat division into two sides that no doubt rewards listening on vinyl...
A thread of heartening resilience runs through Make Like‘s atmosphere of confusion and frustration, while the balance it sustains between the widescreen and the intimate rewards repeat listens with fresh revelations."
-Tim Clarke, [sic] Magazine
"...a gem of hazy, off-kilter atmospheric pop. Think Jesus and Mary Chain sharing a hookah with MGMT and you get the picture."
-Jim Kaz, New Noise Magazine
"straight up amazing... a straight-forward blend of Gang of Four-ish edginess (albeit with softer corners) along with the most palatable of pre-hiatus Dismemberment Plan’s harmonies. It’s catchy, but with plenty of turns and minors, upbeat but not exactly hip-shaking."
-Jacob An Kittenplan, Cassette Gods
"The truest success of Make Like is that one can physically hear in it a musician who has found a group of fellow makers with whom he can realize the sounds in his head in ways he’s maybe never been able to bring to fruition before. There is comfort here, heads on shoulders, a long iron bar of time bent and flattened and curled on itself into a circle...
...this may not be their last album, but if it is, I can’t think of a better way for them to go out. Complete and unfettered, it’s like a story so well told it almost achieves a kind of cosmic symmetry. Let this be the place we use to mark their time in our lives, them giving us their best and us giving them our appreciation."
-Dom Sinacola, Cokemachineglow
"brainy, nuanced pop"
-Philip Montoro, Chicago Reader
"If there are ghosts on Roommate's new album—Make Like, released in June on Strange Weather—Lambert never addresses them by name. His new lyrics are free-associative and darkly playful, cast against a fevered backdrop of psychedelic art-pop."
-Sasha Geffen, Chicago Reader
"The band is ostensibly a pop ensemble built around Kent Lambert's songwriting, but we use 'pop' loosely here. The hooks are off kilter and many of the song have a weird, tilting and slightly disorienting feel to them. This is power pop viewed through a smoky glass reflecting a slightly alternate dimension. It resembles pop music, but it's heart shuffles and lurches instead of beating in an expected fashion.
-Jim Kopeny, Chicagoist
"On the track 'People on Screens' local indie-pop project Roommate observes those who have grown from children playing outside into adults glued to reality TV. Like reality programming the opening track is alternately alluring and terrifying—or maybe just terrifyingly alluring—as the band pulls together dub hand claps, spindly organ melodies, and what sounds like howling wind to create a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere with fine, lighter-than-air melodies. “People on Screens” sets the standard for Roommate’s fourth album, the brand-new Make Like (Strange Weather). Front man and founder Kent Lambert isn’t afraid to explore the darkness of contemporary society, which enriches Roommate’s whimsical, lush music. The group hits the mark with 'Wilderness,' a stark piano-led number that blossoms into a lovely psych-pop tune and rises like the sun."
-Leor Galil, Chicago Reader
"It's not flashy, it's not trendy, but like a good friend, the time you spend in its company will be handsomely rewarded."
-Tim Clarke, Dots and Loops, (#1 on "My favourite records of 2015")
"Make Like feels like a culmination of all that’s come before it – a distillation of an aesthetic and a refinement of purpose. Just shy of forty minutes, the album is astute, economical, meticulously performed and produced, and deeply affecting, both lyrically and musically. It’s a thoroughly satisfying whole, an unselfconsciously classic-sounding record with masterful segues and a neat division into two sides that no doubt rewards listening on vinyl...
A thread of heartening resilience runs through Make Like‘s atmosphere of confusion and frustration, while the balance it sustains between the widescreen and the intimate rewards repeat listens with fresh revelations."
-Tim Clarke, [sic] Magazine
"...a gem of hazy, off-kilter atmospheric pop. Think Jesus and Mary Chain sharing a hookah with MGMT and you get the picture."
-Jim Kaz, New Noise Magazine
"straight up amazing... a straight-forward blend of Gang of Four-ish edginess (albeit with softer corners) along with the most palatable of pre-hiatus Dismemberment Plan’s harmonies. It’s catchy, but with plenty of turns and minors, upbeat but not exactly hip-shaking."
-Jacob An Kittenplan, Cassette Gods
"The truest success of Make Like is that one can physically hear in it a musician who has found a group of fellow makers with whom he can realize the sounds in his head in ways he’s maybe never been able to bring to fruition before. There is comfort here, heads on shoulders, a long iron bar of time bent and flattened and curled on itself into a circle...
...this may not be their last album, but if it is, I can’t think of a better way for them to go out. Complete and unfettered, it’s like a story so well told it almost achieves a kind of cosmic symmetry. Let this be the place we use to mark their time in our lives, them giving us their best and us giving them our appreciation."
-Dom Sinacola, Cokemachineglow
"brainy, nuanced pop"
-Philip Montoro, Chicago Reader
"If there are ghosts on Roommate's new album—Make Like, released in June on Strange Weather—Lambert never addresses them by name. His new lyrics are free-associative and darkly playful, cast against a fevered backdrop of psychedelic art-pop."
-Sasha Geffen, Chicago Reader
"The band is ostensibly a pop ensemble built around Kent Lambert's songwriting, but we use 'pop' loosely here. The hooks are off kilter and many of the song have a weird, tilting and slightly disorienting feel to them. This is power pop viewed through a smoky glass reflecting a slightly alternate dimension. It resembles pop music, but it's heart shuffles and lurches instead of beating in an expected fashion.
-Jim Kopeny, Chicagoist
"On the track 'People on Screens' local indie-pop project Roommate observes those who have grown from children playing outside into adults glued to reality TV. Like reality programming the opening track is alternately alluring and terrifying—or maybe just terrifyingly alluring—as the band pulls together dub hand claps, spindly organ melodies, and what sounds like howling wind to create a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere with fine, lighter-than-air melodies. “People on Screens” sets the standard for Roommate’s fourth album, the brand-new Make Like (Strange Weather). Front man and founder Kent Lambert isn’t afraid to explore the darkness of contemporary society, which enriches Roommate’s whimsical, lush music. The group hits the mark with 'Wilderness,' a stark piano-led number that blossoms into a lovely psych-pop tune and rises like the sun."
-Leor Galil, Chicago Reader
credits
released June 23, 2015
ROOMMATE
MAKE LIKE
RELEASED ON STRANGE WEATHER RECORDS
Recorded and mixed by Nick Broste and Roommate with Gerard Barreto at Soma, Shape Shoppe, and Haddrock, Chicago, and the Roger Brown House, New Buffalo, Michigan
Arranged by Roommate and Nick Broste
SECRET CLAW horn arrangements by Elanor Leskiw
Lyrics by Kent Lambert (ASCAP)
TRI TWI lyrics by Kent Lambert and Sharon Lanza
Mastered by Rashad Becker, Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin
Album cover by David Barret Lloyd
Layout design by Dean Rank
___
A
1 PEOPLE ON SCREENS
Nick Broste: treatments
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, synths
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Seth Vanek: drums, drumpad, percussion
Sam Wagster: guitar
2 SECRET CLAW
Nick Broste: trombone, treatments
Sam Johnson: trumpet
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, synths
Elanor Leskiw: trombone
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Lance Loiselle: sousaphone
Luther Rochester: Buchla Music Easel
Seth Vanek: drums
Sam Wagster: guitars
3 DANCER HOWL
Nick Broste: treatments
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, Rhodes, synths, electronics
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Seth Vanek: drums, drumpad
Sam Wagster: guitar
4 CURSES
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, synths
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Luther Rochester: vibraphone
Seth Vanek: drums, drumpad
Sam Wagster: pedal steel guitar
B
5 WILDERNESS
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, synths, drum programming
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Luther Rochester: Buchla Music Easel, synths
Seth Vanek: drums, drumpad, bowed cymbal
Sam Wagster: pedal steel guitar
6 OLD GOLDEN
Nick Broste: trombone, treatments
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, Farfisa organ, Rhodes, synths, percussion
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Seth Vanek: drums, drumpad
Sam Wagster: guitar
7 RIOT SIZE
Reid Coker: guitar
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, synths
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Luther Rochester: Buchla Music Easel, vibraphone
Seth Vanek: drums, drumpad, autoharp
Sam Wagster: pedal steel guitar
8 TRI TWI
Nick Broste: vox, percussion
Cody Hennesy: guitars
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, synths, percussion
David Levine: flute
Luther Rochester: vibraphone
Seth Vanek: drums, percussion
Sam Wagster: bass
ROOMMATE
MAKE LIKE
RELEASED ON STRANGE WEATHER RECORDS
Recorded and mixed by Nick Broste and Roommate with Gerard Barreto at Soma, Shape Shoppe, and Haddrock, Chicago, and the Roger Brown House, New Buffalo, Michigan
Arranged by Roommate and Nick Broste
SECRET CLAW horn arrangements by Elanor Leskiw
Lyrics by Kent Lambert (ASCAP)
TRI TWI lyrics by Kent Lambert and Sharon Lanza
Mastered by Rashad Becker, Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin
Album cover by David Barret Lloyd
Layout design by Dean Rank
___
A
1 PEOPLE ON SCREENS
Nick Broste: treatments
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, synths
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Seth Vanek: drums, drumpad, percussion
Sam Wagster: guitar
2 SECRET CLAW
Nick Broste: trombone, treatments
Sam Johnson: trumpet
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, synths
Elanor Leskiw: trombone
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Lance Loiselle: sousaphone
Luther Rochester: Buchla Music Easel
Seth Vanek: drums
Sam Wagster: guitars
3 DANCER HOWL
Nick Broste: treatments
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, Rhodes, synths, electronics
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Seth Vanek: drums, drumpad
Sam Wagster: guitar
4 CURSES
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, synths
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Luther Rochester: vibraphone
Seth Vanek: drums, drumpad
Sam Wagster: pedal steel guitar
B
5 WILDERNESS
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, synths, drum programming
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Luther Rochester: Buchla Music Easel, synths
Seth Vanek: drums, drumpad, bowed cymbal
Sam Wagster: pedal steel guitar
6 OLD GOLDEN
Nick Broste: trombone, treatments
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, Farfisa organ, Rhodes, synths, percussion
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Seth Vanek: drums, drumpad
Sam Wagster: guitar
7 RIOT SIZE
Reid Coker: guitar
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, synths
Gillian Lisée: bass, vox
Luther Rochester: Buchla Music Easel, vibraphone
Seth Vanek: drums, drumpad, autoharp
Sam Wagster: pedal steel guitar
8 TRI TWI
Nick Broste: vox, percussion
Cody Hennesy: guitars
Kent Lambert: vox, piano, synths, percussion
David Levine: flute
Luther Rochester: vibraphone
Seth Vanek: drums, percussion
Sam Wagster: bass
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about
Roommate Chicago
Roommate began as a Kent Lambert solo project in NYC in 2000 and has been an ever-mutating Chicago band since 2004. The band's 2015 album MAKE LIKE was released in 2015 and described by [sic] magazine's Tim Clarke as "astute, economical, meticulously performed and produced, and deeply affecting, both lyrically and musically." ... more
discography
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Jul 2020 -
May 2020 -
May 2018 -
Aug 2017