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I Am an Unknown Artist

by Diane Marie Kloba

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Autographed copy of CD in 4-panel "green wallet" sleeve. High gloss UV-coated printing on 100% Green Forestry Practices certified cardboard.

    CD includes immediate download of 13-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, 24-bit, 96kHz FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.
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  • Digital Album
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    Immediate download of 13-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire. Audiophiles: FLACs are encoded from the original 24-bit 96kHz masters! Bonus track with full album purchase.
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  • Full Digital Discography Full Digital Discography

    Get all 18 Diane Marie Kloba releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Aching, Too Far to Touch, You Found Yourself (live solo), Find a Road In, Kloba Meets Westfront, Shaman, Virgin State, Orion Before Dawn, and 10 more. , and , .

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1.
To Live up, To Live Up To IT he hears my breath, he touches my skinnnn He comes home when I've waited for himmmm if I've waited for..beautiful person deserving everything To Live Up, To Live Up To IT Oh you cannot CAPTURE wildness, innocence you tamed without domesticating, THANK YOU! I'll never run or hide away This way I am worth more for you earn the name and grow to recognize the signs I adore the gentleness you create Life is transcendent No one has it figured out Love makes it into all I do To live up, To Live Up To IT Clever and patient were the way you found your way into my distant and protected SPACE Doing the same for you I will hold you to me and LOVE you to live up, to live up to it TO IT TO IT TO IT TO IT
2.
Face Forward 03:35
Time doesn't pass, it measures distance your in a different place now the past is running backward face forward somehow you are a long sought after vision appearing at the most important moment YOU ARE HERE and you talk and you touch and you love and your moments dont just pass they DANCE FAST Out THE WINDOWS and the doors open and The air feels good Dont use things the same way, you are unusual Like an inspiration in front of me This good attention strengthens intentions Inspiration brings out the ARTIST So here YOU are, MY desired situation Making yourself apparent, calling staying Content to be telling a story Being heard Loving all for what it is Time dosent pass, it measures distance your in a DIFFERENT PLACE NOW The past is running backward FACE FORWARD You are a long sought after vision finally making yourself known AND YOUR LIFE DOSENT JUST PASS IT DANCES out the windows and the doors open and the air feels good WE WANT THE RAIN WE NEED THE STORM Here comes the spring, here comes the rain it reminds me to look harder until then They need relief I feel their grief We need the spring My sleepy mind is ready to awaken Bring on the storms with that the warmth Remind me again while I dance in the RAIN
3.
I used to sit on the roof at my old house and I COULD SEE THE STARS I Would call up my boyfriend , my bandmates common on over at sunset COME UP HERE ON THE ROOF! We would lay side by side and watch the sky Sometimes we saw what you could call peculiar but mostly we watched for meteors and passed around the binoculars for zoning in on star clusters This wasn't very long ago-visibility is getting lower living in the city where the light blocks out the stars some people don't get a chance to mix up Arcturus with Antares WHEN ITS DARK THE GROUND GLOWS Some people never know how good it is to see the stars THATS HOW IT GOES I throw my hands up cos I feel stuck I cannot express how much you are missing if you've never seen the stars with a friend It never ends I threw a rock and it hit my neighbors floodlight I tried to reason with him I said I'm not missin the Opposition and I have to find Andromeda at midnight thats why I broke your FLOODLIGHT I will pay for it, all right? If it's beautiful NO ONE KNOWS WHEN ITS DARK THE GROUND GLOWS some people never know how good it is to see the stars THATS HOW IT GOES
4.
They asked me who I was and I wasn't really sure what they meant by that my name, my home, my title ? or the reason why I came? My name is Diane and I hold my guitar in my hand LIKE A LIFE RAFT And I have words that I'll GIVE you WORDS< WORDS< and more WORDS You asked my why I was here and I said I THINK I'M HERE FOR YOU And I have words that I'll give you words- words- and more WORDS I liked to play with words as soon as I could write My guitar became the vehicle to DRIVE them with MUSIC SAVES ME FROM DIEING it stops my heart from breaking MUSIC SAVED me from dieing IT STOPPED my heart from BREAKING I am not affected---never swayed or tempted DRIVEN AND FOCUSED replace the fake state, take the walk straight know your SAFE PLACE, Face the Fate Ace, Paint the blank slate, space the race right make your straight face, earn your namesake Ace the Place
5.
NO standing still for me there's days to fill Don't feel the chill Need a WILL made of STEEL but still have to FEEL Moving to the beat I find my place I didn't trace the steps of the ones in front of me If there's no room I'll find my way around them Walking to the rhythm that the universe plays Amazed the visions of the day I remind myself I'm O.K-- OKAY still looking at stars when I have a chance feel like I'll find an answer there A seeking mind a lot to learn Laughing at the clouds, stepping in the wind waiting out the cold, chasing the storm planting in the SUN THATS THE WAY IT WORKS
6.
Everybody knows me- Everybody knows me I keep finding new things to do Now I have another way to look at you I keep changing my point of view Now I have a new way to look at you I know you THINK you know me The strength of men inspires me the desire to aspire to a higher place and face the truth Treat the world like Home Keep finding another point of view now I have a new way to look at YOU You don't even know me I dont even know me Crazy guitars
7.
There is music in my head, this happens all the TIME I can hear the footsteps in the HALL and the creak in the WALL and the squeaking by the door from the FLOORBOARDS I"m Okay if I can play the music in my head mmm mm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm mm mm Words come to try to calm me and I want to be able to share it Yes I'm sure there is someone standing in the hallway now the door knobs turning and I'm deciding what I can do once you come through hm hm hm hm hm hm hm hm hm hm hm hm hm I don't think he's going to try to remove me ANYMORE he moves through the CORRIDOR towards the DOOR that leads to the room where I play with the music that FORMS I can't hear the world outside The music in my HEAD HM HM HM HM HM HM HM HM HM HMMMMMM
8.
I am an UNKNOWN ARTIST A poet with a WORD SHORTAGE A PROFIT ILLITERATE writer with a broken pencil trying to explain a complicated situation Maybe I'm not an artist I'm a laborer It takes too long to get it right months before I complete my paintings weeks before I finish a song I write songs for no one and so what? and so on Here now I'll perform one just like a vagabond I find there is no need for an audience Sometimes I write beautiful songs and throw them away I do this for the ones who are so ignorant I am an unknown artist My expressions and words being personally symbolic influenced by habitat, being a diplomat and all that A poet Sometimes I write beautiful songs I do this for the ones Who are not so ignorant A poet with this short message I am an unknown artist
9.
It Was Me 02:15
I wish I could've been a little better friend Jim was at the front door with some flowers in his hand Stan was Standing by my Stereo Surrounding me with Sound Keith was underneath my bed he was supposed to crawl back out the window but he fell asleep instead NO ONE COULD BLAME THEM But NO ONE told them they could come HERE Scorn dethrones the hoards of them She is honoring the scores of men don't suppose any of them was happy with the way she left She adorns the hoards with words Abhors the drawl she falls into It wasn't you, it wasn't you IT WAS ME YEAH YEAH YEAH ME YEAH YEAH YEAH sorry
10.
stand up tall-dont destroy me your'e sinking and PULLING Make yourself Strong But not by Losing me denying knowing what it means to be conscience Tentative Squall is not stalling now Just reduce the fall by falling loosely That will boost me You scared me away How it saddens me I thought I was the one who understood your fun I ROOTED FOR YOU but you never asked me why I cried when you went away and kept on leaving me Leave me again and I'll reduce the fall for you
11.
It Rained 03:12
What did you thing I'd write a telltale novel about you? send it to your family for the holidays did you think I was gonna RAT YOU OUT? What'd you think I had information I wanted to give and was waiting for the perfect moment? This I know wont console you much but I have different aspirations you thought your game would be a way for me to destroy you--but I employ you I AM NOT A DESTROYER WARRIOR AND I"M NOT SNEAKING UP THE BARRIERS It rained so hard the other day. I thought I was sunk It rained so hard,it rained so hard I didn't know it was gonna rain I didn't hear the storm or the thunder that came didn't feel the wind, wasn't aware of the rain or the clouds or the sound of it all I wasn't aware of the wind or the danger that came it rained so hard, it rained so hard Didn't hear the storm or the thunder that came didn't feel the wind wasn't aware of the rain or the clouds or THE SOUND OF IT ALL Didn't notice the absence of the MOON I didn't hear the storm TO KNOW TO FEAR THE WIND wasn't aware I was supposed to take cover didn't have to DEAL with this as I was safe asleep Left untouched dreaming Dreaming of this beautiful world When it rains like that, I cant see
12.
the artist is not affected never swayed or tempted Driven and focused The artist is not protected or revered without fame I come from humble mumbling to bring you what I wrk to find all that matters is if it means something to you Makes me untoucheable bull bull Ace the place mate, put on a straight face state your case Ace, wash your face late keep the suitcase,ditch the place mat Kiss my face mate kiss my face mate I love your knapsack I mail no haz mats Take the turnpike dont get stuck lots of luck mate ace the place mate ace the place

about

I AM AN UNKNOWN ARTIST is the fourth and latest full-length solo release from Chicago-area avant-pop recording artist Diane Marie Kloba.

Its musical foundation is built of Kloba’s own guitars, vocals and acoustic percussion with occasional contributions from a small group of collaborators. The voices on I Am an Unknown Artist are always emotive, ranging from lullaby-sweet (“To Live Up to It”) through urgent hollering (“Diane Has Words”) to haunted (“It Rained”).

Kloba’s lyrics grow from self-reflection tempered with a dose of humor and of wordplay. The album opens with a love song (“To Live Up To It”) but thoughts soon turn to the nature of creativity, motivation, persistence and the passage of time. The hypnotic “That’s How It Goes” finds the singer stargazing and draws parallels between light pollution obscuring the night sky and human isolation. A wry raggedness shows up on “It Was Me”, a lumbering and clamorous reworking of the “it’s not you—it’s me” cliché. Surf guitar and spy music themes are reduced to their bare essentials on the rocker “No Standing Still”, telling of a soul on the mend pushing forward.

There are some departures from Kloba’s earlier work: There is a more intimate treatment of the vocals and an introduction of some orchestral textures. To help get this done, Kloba enlisted mix engineer Ryan Albrecht, better known in classical circles, and Grammy-winning perfectionist mastering engineer Bob Katz to add final polish.

Despite the newfound textures and polish, I Am an Unknown Artist still emphasizes the economy employed in Kloba’s prior recordings. Nothing is wasted; what is present is essential and empty space is given its due respect.

DIANE MARIE KLOBA is a Chicago native, lifelong area resident and recording artist who has released four full-length albums of her work. She has been active in music since the 1990s when she led The Silent Workers, a guitar-powered modern rock quartet who were regulars on the club and festival scene. Since then, her solo work generally resides in the space between singer-songwriter and performance art, drawing from rock, folk, jazz and punk influences, but always distilling these sources to their essences: It has the intelligence of art music without its typical pretension and the uninhibited expression of punk without its usual aggression.

Kloba’s non-musical interests include astronomy, geology, meteorology, philosophy and psychology; these subjects all illuminate her lyrical content, through the lenses of emotion, humor, metaphor and a hopeful worldview. Her frequent wordplay is reminiscent of hip-hop, but without its anger or bravado.

Diane Marie Kloba’s latest effort, I Am an Unknown Artist follows I Kid You Not (2003), Messages From the Ionosphere (2005), and For You, Stranger (2008).

Striped Shirt Records • PO Box 57 • Franklin Park, IL 60131 • www.dianemariekloba.com

credits

released March 8, 2011

All vocal, guitars, drums and percussion
performed by Diane Marie Kloba unless noted.
All bass by Ted Kloba.
All songs written by Diane Marie Kloba (BMI)
except “No Standing Still” by Diane Marie Kloba (BMI)/Theodore Kloba (BMI)
All songs performed and recorded by Diane Marie Kloba|Striped Shirt Records
Post-production and Mixing by Ryan Albrecht|Senyah Sound
Mastering by Bob Katz|Digital Domain
Executive Producer Theodore Kloba
Aide-de-camp: Fan-Cee

Diane Marie Kloba plays:
Fender Stratocaster
Gibson SG
cymbals
singing bell
gong
toms
floor toms
claves
bendir
lemon shaker
tambourine
shaman rattle
notebook edge
floor boards

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Diane Marie Kloba Chicago, Illinois

Chicago-area recording artist Diane Marie Kloba has established herself as an innovative writer through her novel combination of guitars, synthesizers and various percussion such as gong, cymbols, earth bells. Alternative, Post-punk indie.

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