Something of a mystery, Mike Tyler has a sort of brash appeal that comes close to being the ironic supernova of the archetypal hipster.
With Erection Mike Tyler’s latest ‘release’, and much of his poetry, we’re drawn into that middle-class space of discomfort where we’re the subject of a grubby finger jabbing us in the chest punctuating ‘feel that discomfort, that feeling is the Truth’
Except, he looks like Will Ferrell, and that truth is a YouTube clip of a teenager on a bicycle wearing purple leotards.
The party line is as follows:
“Mike Tyler is a celebrated non-academic, post-beat poet and musician in the American tradition. ‘Erection’ is his second album, creatively processed more like a novel than a recording. There is an incredible control over the work, with subtle musical innuendos and effects, as well as an incomparable sense of humour throughout. ‘Conversational Spanish’ has a false ending similar to Bacharach/David’s ‘The Look of Love’, the song ‘Man Alone’ is in, of course, Mono, and entertainingly facile lyrics like ‘I’d like to throw a pie in the face of remorseless piety’ and ‘I was standin’ by a Wilson Picket fence at ‘bout the midnight hour’ prop up album wide.”
Mike came from the New York City tradition of Lou Reed, mentored in a bar by the American poet Delmore Schwartz (who wanted poets to be as famous as baseball players), Patti Smith (a poet first) and Tom Verlaine of Television. Standout moments of Mike Tyler’s career were catalysed by his way with words. Banksy stencilled his words “only the ridiculous survive” outside of London’s Paddington Station, while Beck fell under his charismatic spell while honing his songwriting craft. He became known as The Most Dangerous Poet in America after breaking his arm during a reading and his poem “The Most Beautiful Word in the American Language” is on people’s Facebook walls, MySpace pages, and blogs, not to mention fridge doors.”
The poetry itself is of a particular sort. Does the emptiness within match the indifference without? I now feel his pain.
Chuck Berry is
Chuck Berry is
an American artist
an American artist is a fractured skull
sometimes you’re told your ass is nice
sometimes you’re told you are an asshole
Georgia O’Keeffe painted the American skull
framed in beautiful blue and red
American artists love the American flag
sometimes I want my country to love me
other times I want my country to love me
I am an American artist
an American artist is a fractured skull
Four Geeks Who Conquered The World
This is the story
this is the story
of four geeks
who
conquered the world
hey dadio
get your kids outta school
hey dadio
they’re breaking the golden rule
hey mommy sutra
which refrigerator is best
hey mommy sutra
juniors out at an A-Bomb test
one two three nine
I’ve got a long spine
if only
if only
if only we could do
if only
if only
if only we could do
to do what would be real neat
my pimples tell me I am not clean
my pimples tell me I am not clean
I do not like to clean
three two nine one
bobby’s got a blow gun
if only
if only
if only you could wear
if only
if only
WHY CAN’T YOU Blah YOUR HAIR
it would be real neat
if you’d stopped messing up the sheets
you could be a big band
if you started kicking sand
rotor rotor rotor motor
moca ocra toga ogre
this is the story
this is the story
of four geeks
who
conquered the world
cause as leather Mozarts
they never kicked sand
fourty-seven, thirty-two, five, twenty
I hope I can always be as funny
even if your old
never get old
old people blow up things
Rock ‘N’ Roll
In the eel tuned night
of desperate brogue
we worked with cave eyes
dead to restrictions
stalked by the afraid
Fixed with neutral noise
we impaled on loudness
twisted precinct chalk
into rubber bands.
Mike Tyler’s album Erection is out in August 2012. Check his Website for more details.
Editor, founder, fan.
