Someone likes our books!
As you may or may not know, UM recently participated in an exhibition called The Artful Scriptorium at Climate Gallery in Queens, to which we contributed our books Oh Inky Inky and Two Wounds. It has recently come to our attention that we were selected as one of the show's "Featured Artists" by Maddy Rosenberg, a curator at Brooklyn's Central Booking art space. We're not entirely sure what this means, but we're pretty sure it's good. If you have an interpretation of this event, please let us know by writing to um@uninhabitablemansions.com.
Here are a couple of images from the opening:
Sake Of The Song is an alterna-merch site for the independent music community. They display and sell everything that their favorite musicians make that isn't music, whether that be art, jewelry, apparel or even astrological readings, so of course Uninhabitable Mansions is hapy to be a part of it! Go check out some of our items on their site, along with lots of cool stuff from other cool bands.
Check out our Past Events section for links to photos and reviews of stuff UM has done.
Our distinguished history:
May 15, 2010
Concert | Pianos | NYC
NYCTaper 3rd Anniversary Concert
May 7, 2010
Concert | Middle East Upstairs | Cambridge, MA
Review: Kids Like You & Me
April 18, 2010
Concert | Glasslands | Brooklyn
April 3 - 25, 2010
Art Exhibition | The Artful Scriptorium | Climate Gallery
UM selected for Featured Artists Award
Objects Featured | Oh Inky Inky , Two Wounds
March 20, 2010
Concert | Latitude 30 | Austin, TX
SXSW - AIM/Moshi Moshi showcase
Poster
Concert | Doc's Motorworks | Austin, TX
SXSW - 'SUP in Austin 2010 'SUP Magazine's Austin Showcase
Cancelled due to bad weather. Poster for what would have been
Pre-SXSW Interview: Spinner.com
February 24, 2010
Concert | Bell House | Brooklyn
Benefit concert for Jiamini Scholarship Fund
Photos: amandamhatfield.com, Flickr - Green Shoe Lace
February 11, 2010
Concert | Cake Shop | NYC
Photos: Flickr
February 7, 2010
Concert | Kidrockers | The Living Room | NYC
Photos: Flickr
February 3, 2010
Concert | Kidrockers | The Living Room | NYC
Photos: Flickr
Album Release - Japan| UM008: Nature Is A Taker
January 21 - February 10, 2010
Art Exhibition | 20/10 Vision | Gallery Hanahou
Object Release | UM013: This Is Your Chance To Be Positive
January 30, 2010
Concert | Bruar Falls | Brooklyn
January 21, 2010
Concert | Black Cat | Washington, DC | with We Are Scientists
Review & Photos: Popwreckoning, There Goes The Fear
January 20, 2010
Concert | Johnny Brenda's | Philadelphia, PA | with We Are Scientists
December 20, 2009
Concert | Cameo | Brooklyn
December 15, 2009
Concert | Bowery Ballroom | NYC | with The Antlers
Photos & Recording: NYCTaper
Photos: Brooklyn Vegan, Prefix Magazine, Kyle Dean Reinford Photography, Cake & Ale, Flickr
December 5th, 2009
Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival | Our Lady of Consolation Church | Brooklyn NY
Festival website: www.comicsandgraphicsfest.com
Review: The Rumpus
Book Release | UM010: Epic Love
Book Release | UM011: Salads and Herbs: Subversion Project
Book Release | UM012: The Killer at the Beach
October 30, 2009
Concert - Album Release Party| Union Pool | Brooklyn, NY
Album Release | UM008: Nature Is A Taker
Reviews & Mentions:
We Listen For You, WLFY top of 2009
The Deli Magazine
Kids Like You & Me
In Your Speakers
Sputnik Music
Plug In Music
Indie Shuffle
Radfrnds Blog
Song-O-Matic
October 29, 2009
Concert | Rock N Roll Hotel | Washington, DC
Review & Photos: Brightest Young Things
October 28, 2009
Concert | Kung Fu Necktie | Philadelphia, PA
October 25, 2009
Concert | TT the Bear’s Place | Cambridge, MA
Interview & Photos: In Your Speakers
Object Release | UM009: Unidentifiable Monsters
October 22, 2009
Concert | Bell House | Brooklyn | Gothamist CMJ Showcase
Review & Video: Popten
Photos: Spin Earth, Flickr
October 14, 2009
Concert | Cake Shop | NYC
June 2009
Comic Newspaper | Smoke Signal
May 25th, 2009
Concert | Union Pool | Brooklyn | Fundraiser for Smoke Signal
Photos: Flickr
March 29th, 2009
Concert | Bell House | Brooklyn | with A.C. Newman
March 27th-28th, 2009
Music for Dance Piece | Silence and Resistance
March 4th-8th, 2009
Art Fair | Scope Art Fair, NYC
March 4th, 2009
Print Release | UM007:
Domestic Creeper
February 27th, 2009
Record Release | UM006:
Cobra/Strategy 7"
February 27th, 2009
Concert - Record Release Party | Union Hall, Brooklyn
Review & Video: Soundbites
Photos: Flickr
January 4th, 2008
Concert | Cake Shop | NYC
Photos: Flickr
November, 2008
Book Release | UM004:
Two Wounds
Reviews & Mentions:
Work In Progress
September 20th, 2008
Concert | Mercury Lounge | NYC
Photos: Flickr
September 17th, 2008
Radio Show | The Long Rally on WFMU | Playlist - Blog
July 15th, 2008
Concert | Pianos | NYC
June 18th, 2008
Concert | Death By Audio | Brooklyn
June, 2008
Book Release | UM005: Oh
Inky Inky
May, 2008
Book Release | UM003:
Gline's Demise
October, 2006
Window Display | Census Window Project
Object Release | UM002: Uninhabitable Mansions Yardstick
Book Release | UM001: Census
Our illustrious future:
UM008 |
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UM014
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UM012
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UM011 |
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UM009 $15 + s/h |
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UM006 |
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UM005 $20
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UM004 |
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UM003 |
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UM001 Get it Now |
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Uninhabitable Mansions is a Brooklyn-based art collective and band. We make music and publish books and do a few other things.
Uninhabitable Mansions on Myspace
Uninhabitable Mansions on Facebook
Uninhabitable Mansions on Twitter
UM makes music:
Chris Diken, Robbie Guertin, Annie Hart, Tyler Sargent, Danny Comer, Doug Marvin
UM makes art:
Robbie Guertin, Sara Jones, Chris Diken
with help from
Lindsay Baker, Maya Pindyck, Madeleine Fairbairn, Kristyna Comer
CONTACT US: um@uninhabitablemansions.com
Robbie Guertin
Radical Dads
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Love Rhombus
Robbie and Chris Diken play in another band with Lindsay Baker called Radical Dads. Listen and befriend: myspace - facebook
Sara Jones
Chris Diken
Chris and Robbie Guertin play in another band with Lindsay Baker called Radical Dads. Listen and befriend: myspace - facebook
Tyler Sargent
Tyler's Website
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Annie Hart
Danny Comer
Doug Marvin
Pursesnatchers
Dirty On Purpose
Lindsay Baker
Maya Pindyck
Maya has a book of poems. It is called Friend Among Stones. It is available online through Amazon and Powells among others. If you haven't yet bought the book and plan to, Maya asks that you order it from your neighborhood book store. That way, with enough requests, they might start carrying the book...
Madeleine Fairbairn
go to top
Kristyna Comer
go to top
Nature Is a Taker
1. The Speed Is Deceiving
2. Big Kick
3. Do You Have a Strategy?
4. Midnight Topography
5. Maps: Not Accurate
6. The Brain Is a Slow Wave
7. Static State
8. This Drift
9. Ex-Explorers
10. We Already Know
We Misplaced a Cobra in the Uninhabitable Mansion
1. We Misplaced a Cobra in the Uninhabitable Mansion
2. Do You Have a Strategy?
The Speed Is Deceiving
We'll go past the edge of town where
Buildings shake then fall down
We're sick of solid ground, and
That's fine that's fine with me
That's fine that's fine with me
That's fine that's fine with me
I took a shortcut on the way to your house
Dug you out and turned you around
"This evening, we're leaving"
We were swimming through land mines
Talking on dead lines
Inventing all our own signs
But nothing to declare
Count your qualms on your fingers and toes
Cut 'em off, now we're ready to go
The healing's revealing
I can drive through nights and states while
You count the license plates
And that's fine that's fine with me
That's fine that's fine with me
That's fine that's fine with me
That's fine that's fine with me
Headlights search and survey
But these brakes lead us astray
The speed is deceiving
While you're busy looking askance
Waiting for your best chance
You mistook the distance
From pedal to the floor
Too late to call, too soon to quit
We heart attack at the thought of it, but
It's over, over
We lie in the grass and wait
Divide disintegrate
And that's fine that's fine with me
That's fine that's fine with me
That's fine that's fine with me
That's fine that's fine with me
Stories at night, stories at night
No ending in sight
Stories all night, stories all night
I want a rewrite
This is an admission if you wanna know I'll tell you right now
Big Kick
You wanna go and watch TV
Waste a million-dollar mind solving uncommitted crimes
Alternatives all marching by
Following parades leading to our dying days
We drag the lake, pull nothing out
Just frozen shapes inside our heads, grinding teeth in unmade beds
Wake and try to make your case
For your noisy pantomime, I've been watching all this time
Under the street light, I can see your shadow growing
As we walk away it runs ahead escaping what has thrown it
I can see my breath, watch it drift into the night
All the pieces that we have to give go off without a fight
Big kick's all we want, it's got everything we need
Turn the dial on your machine, no transmissions to receive—it's over
Loud and clear, this new signal's all we hear
No more static in your brain, look into your eyes—there's no one there
My dear
The circuits have changed inside our minds
New stations picked up, leave the old behind
We'll find
There's nothing left to be desired
There's nothing here to see for miles
The dead of night is always true
Our big kick finally came through
Do You Have A Strategy?
To see if what is under us can be revealed
We'll make a sacrifice or navigate the needle:
Abandon all our riches and then set sail
For where the currency's worth more
You say someday our bones will turn to dust
Darling it’s true, but what’s the rush
A little rust wouldn't hurt you
Let’s stop right here
The days will wait for us
When thinking of escaping
Do you have a strategy?
Tunnel out to freedom
The buried can't help but see
This map has lost its landmarks
It's killer cartography
Missing words for places
Let's name them all after me
It's too hard to quantify
To break it down
Would only leave a trail of
Little sighs, little sighs,
Blowing on through the air
Little sighs, multiplied
Won't even compare
There's nowhere else
This is where the map ends
There's nothing else
Beyond is still uncharted
There's nowhere else
There's nowhere else to go so
Go nowhere else
When thinking of escaping
Do you have a strategy?
Tunnel out to freedom
We're buried too deep to see
There's nothing else
There's nowhere else to go so
Go nowhere else
Midnight Topography
Let’s stay up late and see what makes the night so great
I’ve been sleeping too long, simple equations now add up to nothing
You've got to watch out for those lonely figures
Cycles drifting slowly backwards
Wake up at noon then it's 4am again
You'll have to break it soon or it’ll leave me broken
My skyline is shifting, no shadows of the watertower
Holding mutations of memories, all floating away
From the moment, the sun's last opponent says
"I can't sleep at night
When you're not by my side"
Inside such fierce compression
Making decisions that crumble before us
Wait up, stay up
A little longer
Just a few more minutes
These mountains of maybes are leaning on my city walls
Landmarks discarded are making way for new creations that
Alter the sight lines with breathtaking designs
Well our lungs were unprepared
We’re gasping out for air
All that's left to do is just wait around till the summer's over
Unmade plans in your room and we still haven't climbed that watertower
Good intentions have faded the roads that they paved now lead nowhere
But we'll still get it right
We'll just stay another night
It is not what you take it's the things that you leave behind
Maps: Not Accurate
Oh it's no, fair, no, fair,
You're picking pockets and I'm left out standing in
Thin, air, thin, air,
My ears were popping the instant we started this dare
I'm undecided on where,
this lift off is landing me, everyone's handing me air
Ports and waves it's confusing me, all seems so simple until we're actually
There, there, there, there
Don't get excited it'll all be fine, when we're
There, there, there, there,
It'll all be sorted when we're finally there
Oh, you can't make me believe in your masterful lies that you pass off as business as usual
Any sign of regret, will send you leaping for morsels and tendrils
I would assume, that enough is enough but it's never enough so it's
Hard to be sure, I'm never sure but
It's just society's way
It's just society's way
They're just trying to tell you
You don't know
The Brain Is a Slow Wave
I know who you were when you walked through my window
And I know who you were when you walked through my door
My dreams come so vividly
They come they come they come they come to me
I know who you were when you walked through my window
And I know who you were when you walked through my door
Clouds and trees and scattered scenes
They come they come they come they come to me
Open your eyes and find you'll find you'll find a way out
Open your eyes and find you'll find you'll find a way out
There's a way out
You're awake now
Open your eyes and find you'll find you'll find a way out
There's a way out
You're awake now
There's a way out
You're awake now
Static State
I've been waiting a long time
I've been waiting a long time
I've been ready to go
I've been waiting a long time
I've been waiting a long time
I'm just letting you know
Cause it seems like we've been over and over
The same lines but I can't remember
And it could be we're just overreacting
But it seems like the same things been happening all the time
This Drift
Our collision did allow
For us to get where we are now
A miracle that god only understands
A question mark left on the minds of man
The scar will drive us all mad
Staying up through the night
Sensitive but too polite
Silence rings and leaves us a crushing tone
Conspiracies are better left alone
We'll break them down
We'll look around
The corners
Find out
What was there all along
For someone with so much to say
I’ve got an infinite number of ways
To stunt our progress with delays
This mouth’s on holiday
We’ll never get too far
I won’t let us get too far
So now we're drifting, back again to where we started
Floating further, tired of just treading water
The same suspicions, circles don't get any smaller
Sorry thinking, sorry spouting all this nonsense
But I'm not waiting, I'm not waiting any longer
I'm going under, sinking into salty water
Soggy thinking, and I'm in love with salty water
But I'm not writing, I'm not writing you a letter
I'm going under, salty water feels much better
It is appalling to think
The shapes are starting to shrink
We're standing here with our hands buried in our pockets now
But I can't be the one to tell you what I'm not even sure about myself
Ex-Explorers
We couldn't find any color in this artificial tundra
So we carved along the contours just to see a patch of sky
Our path along the mountains collapsed into a tunnel
And ice filled in the bones that we broke along the way
A cavalcade of ex-explorers thawing in the evening light
Pointing frozen fingers telling which way we should go
Avalanches sound no warning before when falling in the night
Noises buried under noises buried under waves of snow
Inside
You're turning blue
Outside
Waited for you
Inside
You're all alone
Outside
I'm headed home
Inside
Your swallowed whole
Outside
It's only snow
Inside
There's no more time
Outside
Left you behind
Left to our own devices
We lost in all our choices
This light is fading fast
I'll swallow one last gasp
We picked the wrong direction
Followed our own reflections
Could be my vision's bad
This map was all I had
Nature she is so senseless
She tore down all our fences
We feel the summit's weight
Too slow and much too late
Maybe it's all in your head
You made it up in your head
There's no escaping now
Can't bear to hear that sound
Take me out the next time you go, we'll find a place that nobody knows
We Already Know
It really doesn't matter and it really doesn't matter
Cause you're gonna get old, and you've gotta get old and
Your house becomes a hideout and a history museum and
You're part of the show, you're part of the show
It's going on forever and it doesn't quite deliver
What we already know, there's no way to know
That nature is a taker and old nature is a butcher and
She's out of control, she's out of control
Staring at the ceiling and you start to get the feeling that
There's no where to go, to whom would you go?
When every thing's behind you and there's no way to rewind it and
The system is slow, it's feeling so slow
A major plan for action but where is the man to act on it
Well it could be you, but how could it be you?
When for all of your intentions and your efforts and your lists
Oh what did you do? Well what did you do?
At another time I would have been there too
It wasn't clear I did the best that i could do
We went along for all the curves and turns with you
At another time i would have been there too
I would have waited i can't wait to wait for you
We just keep talking all about the things
We already know
We Misplaced a Cobra in the Uninhabitable Mansion
Uninhabitable
This songs starts slow
You wanna speed it up
You think you've had enough
Spencer was a friend
Now she always sneaks around
She'll follow you and then
Well she don't make no sound
I don't think you know how to defend against what is about to come
At you
Mansions, whoa
So loud, I know
You wanna turn it down
There's a ways to go
Spencer was a friend
But she could take you down
She's loyal to the end
Right into the ground
Well you can't live in us we're not a house we are just human beings
It's nothing new
untrue
where are you?
where are you?
In the worst case
Going sideways
Under furniture
Pull the sheets back
Check the bookshelf
Look behind the map
No matter what it takes
We're gonna find you
Do You Have A Strategy?
To see if what is under us can be revealed
We'll make a sacrifice or navigate the needle:
Abandon all our riches and then set sail
For where the currency's worth more
You say someday our bones will turn to dust
Darling it’s true, but what’s the rush
A little rust wouldn't hurt you
Let’s stop right here
The days will wait for us
When thinking of escaping
Do you have a strategy?
Tunnel out to freedom
The buried can't help but see
This map has lost its landmarks
It's killer cartography
Missing words for places
Let's name them all after me
It's too hard to quantify
To break it down
Would only leave a trail of
Little sighs, little sighs,
Blowing on through the air
Little sighs, multiplied
Won't even compare
There's nowhere else
This is where the map ends
There's nothing else
Beyond is still uncharted
There's nowhere else
There's nowhere else to go so
Go nowhere else
When thinking of escaping
Do you have a strategy?
Tunnel out to freedom
We're buried too deep to see
There's nothing else
There's nowhere else to go so
Go nowhere else
UM001: Census by Uninhabitable Mansions
$8 each + s/h
A scientist once told us about her experience counting fish in a river
in Venezuela. There were too many fish to count, but she counted anyways.
Handmade book with silkscreened cover and sewing machine binding. 5
1/2" x 4 1/4"
Made in a limited edition of 150.
This book is a printed companion to Census
Window Project. It includes poetry by Maya
Pindyck and P.M. Greiner, a short story by Chris
Diken, and artwork by Kristyna
Comer, Robbie
Guertin, Jessica
Jones, Sara Jones, Kate
McCrickard and Maya
Pindyck.
This book is also available in these shops:
Desert
Island
UM002: Uninhabitable Mansions Yardstick
$3 each
Image printed on both sides. Useful for measuring and whatnot. Was also useful for making ladders for the Census Window Project
Exclusively available at the merch table.
UM003: Gline's Demise by Chris Diken
$8 each + s/h
Get it Now
Dead or alive, the real victim is optics. A short story by Chris Diken. Illustrations throughout by Robbie Guertin. Design by Sara Jones.
Handmade book with silkscreened cover and sewing machine binding. 5
1/2" x 4 1/4"
This book is also available in these shops:
Printed
Matter
St. Mark's
Bookshop
Spoonbill &
Sugartown Booksellers
Unnameable
Books
Desert
Island
