We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Mixtape for the Milky Way (album)

by Mixtape for the Milky Way

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    Choose from 1 of 4 cover designs.
    Handwritten label, like a proper mixtape.
    Features a cover version of "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed--not available digitally.
    Artwork by Sarah Nelson.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Mixtape for the Milky Way (album) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 100  14 remaining

      $20 USD or more 

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    Get all four cover designs - one mixtape for you, and three mixtapes to share.
    Handwritten label, like a proper mixtape.
    Features a cover version of "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed--not available digitally.
    Artwork by Sarah Nelson.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Mixtape for the Milky Way (album) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    2 remaining

      $70 USD or more 

     

  • 12" Vinyl LP
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited edition of 300.
    Features a cover version of "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed--not available digitally.
    Artwork by Sarah Nelson.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Mixtape for the Milky Way (album) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
No Sidewalks 03:20
on a quiet cul-de-sac picket fences welcome mats there’s a perfect model home where i spend my days alone singing “what a neighborhood!” “what a neighborhood!” no sidewalks nowhere to go no sidewalks every night i have a dream where i’m running through the streets with a can of gasoline and a lit match in my teeth singing “what a neighborhood!” “what a neighborhood!” no sidewalks nowhere to go no sidewalks no sidewalks nowhere to go no sidewalks no sidewalks “what a neighborhood!” no sidewalks nowhere to go no sidewalks no sidewalks nowhere to go in the neighborhood in the neighborhood
2.
Heavy 04:08
i want to fall in love before i die happy just knowing i didn't waste my time don't want to spend my nights cold and lonely i just want someone who really knows me i need a love a love that's so heavy no little crush i swear that i'm ready i need a love a love that's so heavy no getting up i swear that i'm ready right now i want to give myself to someone real someone who won't play games with the way i feel i want that moon drunk love that laughs the whole night leaves me jumping up and down and howling jesus christ i need a love a love that's so heavy no little crush i swear that i'm ready i need a love a love that's so heavy no getting up i swear that i'm ready right now
3.
Gold 03:22
you said i’d walk with you on streets of gold where no one ever dies from going old somewhere everything is perfect and the streets are paved with purest gold streets of gold streets of gold streets of gold you know that i’ve been yours since i was eight you pulled this sinner from the fiery lake every night i’d pray to jesus i would shut my eyes and dream of gold streets of gold streets of gold i want to live by faith you know i do i know your love is real and i’m the proof but i just can’t seem to find it what if some things you can’t buy with gold streets of gold streets of gold streets of gold streets of gold
4.
pale blue gown i’m barely dressed ticking bomb beats in my chest if explode in a burst of red promise me you’ll sing a song for the dead and burn my bones black half moons under my eyes tangled up catheter lines if i don't rise from this spiderweb promise me you'll sing a song for the dead and burn my bones long black robe can't see your face tender voice scythe out of place if i don't wake from this hospital bed promise me you'll sing a song for the dead and burn my bones
5.
your grandpa was a saint a perfect gentleman his daddy was a bitter cuss beat him till he couldn’t stand your grandpa made a vow to never lay a hand on any of his children i always did admire that but i’m sure that he’d forgive me for what i’m bout to do i know this might sound crazy but this hurts me more than it hurts you “spare the rod, spoil the child” is what the bible says lately i’ve been reading highlighting favorite passages for god so loved the world he sent his only son to bleed and die crucified pay the price for everyone and i’m sure when christ was dying his body torn and bruised that’s when god the father said this hurts me more than it hurts you someone’s got to save your soul from burning up in hell don’t you ever doubt it boy you brought this on yourself come on here and take your licks get up off the floor be a man move your hands or i’ll give you twenty more you’ll never get to heaven with that kind of attitude you better stop your crying i’ll break you right in two and i know this might sound crazy but this hurts me more than it hurts you
6.
when I was young i played video games castles and dungeons and damsels to save every night in the dark i would play i played on a flickering color tv i played with my forehead pressed up to the screen and i played until i would catch fire and for a little while i knew that i'd couldn't lose nothing in this world could tear me away when I grew up i played video games in basement apartments and empty arcades and i learned it was all just a joke there were no kingdoms or damsels to free no guardian angels that i'd ever seen and no gods just the ones that we make for a little while i knew that i'd never lose nothing in this world could tear me away life isn't much like a video game it's way too hard and there's no where to save and you can't do it over again so every day i play video games i guess i don't know what you want me to say i just don't want to cry anymore
7.
In Your Arms 05:56
you have her smile and you have his name but you look like an orphan at heart feral and wild no i'm not afraid to let myself be torn apart in your arms in your arms you say forever's a mighty long time i say that sounds about right i'd give the finger to all of eternity if i could just spend the night in your arms in your arms i've been all over i've climbed every hill looking for something that's real but all the good drugs no they don't measure up can't beat the way that i feel in your arms in your arms you say you're sorry for breaking my heart tell me that i'm not enough baby i know i don't care where you go i only want to wake up in your arms in your arms fly like you'll never fall go where you want find yourself somebody new you might be right i’m just wasting my life but i want to waste it with you in your arms in your arms in your arms in your arms in your arms in your arms
8.
never went to school learned right at home dad gave me haircuts and hand-me-down clothes mom said i was destined bound for great things they said i was special but what does that mean? i just wanted to be extra ordinary be like the people on the tv fade into the background where i can't be seen i just want to be extra ordinary we went to a church out kind of far pro-life bumper stickers all over the car we wandered the wheat fields speaking in tongues they said we were chosen sons and daughters of god i dream of a suburb where i'd mow the lawn chat with the neighbors out walking their dogs smile for the papers hide in plain sight pretend to be normal have a wonderful life
9.
you had a passion for punk rock and patched corduroys scaring your mother by dressing up just like a boy she'd get so angry she'd threaten to send you away off to wyoming where young troubled girls are scared straight once after school you asked me what i wanted to be i said a preacher the kind that you see on tv you played along said whatever you do you'll be great i laughed it off but i swear i was never the same sarah so and so i thought you should know i think of you sometimes you stood in youth group and said jesus christ was alright then pastor gary asked "is he the lord of your life?" you started crying and heads bowed we prayed for your soul i watched you leave but i never did stand up and go sarah so and so i thought you should know i think of you sometimes i heard you moved to missouri and went back to school found a fiance and everyone said he was cool then on a friday you shot yourself down by a lake your father said it was tragic and no one's to blame sarah so and so i thought you should know i think of you sometimes i think of you sometimes every once in awhile i think of you sometimes
10.
Alleluia 04:16
may the winter sun shine on everyone may a love that's true find its way to you let heav'n and earth sing alleluia alleluia may the summer rain fall upon your grave may the oceans rise leave no one alive let heav'n and earth sing alleluia alleluia i remember crying softly in the canyon whispering your name but nothing really happened everything i thought i was began to shatter all the fairy tales every ever after tried to take a breath but felt like i was drowning opened up my eyes to starlight all around me multiverses shone like gold dust in the ocean i can see my whole life infinite and open now i am a baby, sick and barely breathing every single footstep following a feeling homesick for a home that i will never see and trying to be someone i will never be now i am a child singing in the choir preacher in the pulpit spitting tongues of fire now i'm on my deathbed begging for forgiveness galaxies revolve with no one there to witness i see every timeline where i have a father every past and future where i have a daughter sometimes i'm a villain sometimes i'm a martyr high on wishful thinking drinking holy water every life i play the hand that i was given every pain is destined right from the beginning started with a bang some fireworks and flashes nothing i can do but scatter all the ashes alleluia
11.
you want to know if i'm yours forever will i love you until the end? till my heart stops and my lungs quit breathing till my bones crack and my brain stops thinking till the stars burst and no one remembers we were here is this a dream or a simulation? where i end up i'll never know till my heart stops and my lungs quit breathing till my bones crack and my brain stops thinking till the stars burst and no one remembers we were here don't let me go kiss me like you mean it if you love me say it again till my heart stops and my lungs quit breathing till my bones crack and my brain stops thinking till the stars burst and no one remembers we were here

credits

released April 2, 2021

All songs written by jeremy messersmith except for No Sidewalks with Brian Brundage and Perfect Day by Lou Reed
Recorded mostly at John Mark’s place but we tracked the band at The Library Recording Studio
Engineered by John Mark Nelson, jeremy messersmith, and Matt Patrick
Arranged by John Mark Nelson and jeremy messersmith
Produced and mixed by John Mark Nelson except for No Sidewalks produced/mixed by Brian Brundage
Mastered by Huntley Miller / HM Mastering
Artwork by Sarah Nelson
Management by Becky Hoffmann

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Mixtape for the Milky Way Minneapolis, Minnesota

Mixtape for the Milky Way is a project by Minneapolis-based songwriter jeremy messersmith. Stripping down the lush chamber pop sounds of previous efforts, Mixtape for the Milky Way is a celebration of sonic minimalism and introspective non-fiction songwriting. Delicately produced by John Mark Nelson, the songs and accompanying ambient videos provide a compelling emotional landscape worth visiting. ... more

contact / help

Contact Mixtape for the Milky Way

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like Mixtape for the Milky Way, you may also like: