#al karpenter

[dustedmagazine]

Al Karpenter/Al Karpenter & CIA Debutante — The Forthcoming/S-T (Ever Never)

The Forthcoming by Al Karpenter

Al Karpenter swamps threads of song in seething banks of noise and dissonance.  You find yourself focusing on blaring surface noise, while sense and melody percolates somewhere underneath.  It is very modern in that there is too much going on and you are always distracted, always struggling to find the point, but you know it’s there.  If it doesn’t make sense that’s on you. 

This pair of releases allows for fervid collaboration, across and within the noise experimental genre.  The Forthcoming supplements the Spanish outfit’s live line-up—Álvaro Matilla, Mattin, Marta Sainz and Enrique Zaccagnini—with like minded samplers, warpers and droners: Sunik Kim, Dominic Coles and Triple Negative.  The self-titled brings in medieval futurists of CIA Debutante, just off their Siltbreeze outing Willow, Down, reviewed here a month or so ago (“The sound is immersive and disturbing, noises like factory equipment clashing with eerie Suicide-like beats.”).  You can’t really call one disc a solo album and the other a joint effort since both gain intrigue and unpredictability from outside influences. 

But let’s do it anyway  The Al Karpenter disc dissolves and reforms across six tracks, now muttering imprecations over inchoate punk noise (“The Forthcoming”), now approaching bass thumping electro-dance clarity (“A Brand New Brontophobia”), now disintegrating into incantatory chaos (“Poison Sun”), depending on who is involved.  The title track, aided by London’s Triple Negative, launches florid arias out of a chaotic mesh of guitars and drums, where the instruments natter on towards their own ends, unconnected by time signature or key.  A shimmery, shoegaze-y instrumental break tips into lyricism but slides out of true, an antic beat erupting from it like an irregular heart in flight.  Contrast that with the clean, driving agitation of “A Brand New Brontophobia,” where Sunik Kim guests.  A jittering, techno bass rumbles, clipped onslaughts of snare-like drum machines rattle, as Mattin murmurs and croons.  “Happy B-Day,” one of the cuts with Dominic Coles, opens giddily with keyboard before cutting all the way back to guitar notes and murmured threat (“I’m not afraid to kill or die”), alternately minimal and maximal.  “Drood (Can You Hear Me Now?)” offers the clearest distillation of Al Karpenter’s haunted eclecticism, layering vertiginous synths over muttered alienation. 

S/T by Al Karpenter & CIA Debutante

The album with CIA Debutante also delivers dystopic poetry but couched more rhythmically and with the agitation of punk rock.  “Born Dead” lumbers like a giant mechanical beast, its beat slow and inexorable, giving shape to masses of guitar feedback and intermittent shouts of the title.  “Public Scaffolding” bangs more frantically, as a voice rages against income inequality.  It slips into static but doesn’t lose its structure; you can hear the toms rattling all the way through.  “Medieval Cocaine” sounds the most purely CIA Debutante-ish of all these tracks, the ping and squiggle of electronics framing unknowable, evocative verses. “Fuck You All to Fade No More,” dances inscrutably on synth rhythms and shattering machine beats, as the lyrics shatter the f-word into fragments, repeatedly.   

None of this is especially easy listening, and you won’t be putting it on at your next dinner party.  But it is full of layers and passionate inquiry, and the chaos is like the world right now.  Listen and feel the ground under you crumble and everything sure come into doubt. 

Jennifer Kelly

[still-single]

HEATHEN DISCO BEST OF 2023 SHOWS

They're in the can, check 'em out.

For those still wondering, the Ryan Davis record is the best release of 2023.

Set 1: Reissues/Archival + 20 Tracks from 2023

Arthur Russell – In the Light of a Miracle

Dorothy Carter – Autumn Song

Laurie Styvers – Imagine the Lights Have Gone Out

PG Six – Unteleported Man

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 – Flames Up Yours

The Dark – Resurrection 

Fury – Circle of Lies

INU – Don’t Eat Food!

Las Mordidas – Surrounded

Spike in Vain – Opus I & II

Africa Corps (Savage Republic) – Real Men (live)

Sonic Youth – I Love Her All the Time (live)

Masayuki Takayanagi – Mass Hysterism Part II

Milford Graves with Hugh Glover – March 11, 1976 III

Les Rallizes Denudes – Eternally Now (live CITTA ’93) 

Maxx Traxx – Reachin’ For It

High Rise – Sadducces Faith

Wolf Eyes W/ Spykes – 4

Tolerance – Sacrifice

Shizuka – 6 Gram Star

Rubber Blanket – Gandy Dancer

Khanate – It Wants to Fly (excerpt)

S*GLASS – Sorry About the False Bounce

Föllakzoid – V-III 

Monocot – The Voice Came

Daniel Villarreal – Chicali Outpost

Equipment Pointed Ankh – Late Night A.I.

Witness K – How Do We Count Your Poses

Coffin Prick – Town Without Pity 2

Olimpia Splendid – Jacksonin Paita

Terry – Jane Roe

Nusidm – Arm Unemployed

Dippers – Encouragement in Brackets 

Guardian Singles – Com Trans

Civic – Born in the Heat 

Married FM – I’m Gonna Find It 

Connections – Bird Has Flown

Son of Dribble – Shed

The Serfs – Club Deuce

Corker – Edge of Teeth

Set 2: 39 Songs from 2023

Stella Kola – November

Wheatie Mattiasch – Not the Angels

Maxine Funke – River Said

Suishou no Fune – A Rainbow Is Floating

Jana Horn – Love in Return

V.I.P.P. – Dancing

Famous Mammals – Like a Shadow

Non Plus Temps – Hide Away

Now – Rattray

Spiral Dub – High as Fuck

Violent Change – Whipping Boy 

Disintegration – Time Moves for Me

Home Front – Nation

Lifeguard – Alarm

The Toads – Nationalsville

Ulrika Spacek - Diskbänksrealism

Retirement – No Refund

Mother’s Milk – Xerox Cloak 

Glittering Insects – Remote Viewed Orgasm

FACS – Class Spectre

Skull Practitioners – Intruder

Los Mundos – Luz Perversa (en vivo)

Cheater Slicks – Fear

Emily Robb – Solo in A

The Sundae Painters – Thin Air

Animal Piss, It’s Everywhere – Pink Dolphin

Sparks – Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is

The Clientele – Garden Eye Mantra

Lewsberg – Debbie

Usurabi – Even If It’s a Lie

Luxor Rentals – A Hallway

Drop Nineteens – T

Melenas – K2

Exek – On the Ground Floor

Silicone Prairie – Mirror on the Wall

Feeling Figures – Movement

The Smashing Times – Tuesday, Coming into Time

Colleen – Les parenthèses enchantées (Movement III)

Jaimie Branch – Take Over the World

Set 3: The Last 41 Best of 2023

Chi To Shizuku – Kawaki

The Lewers – O Karina

The Native Cats – Suplex

Cuticles – Know Not What

En Attendant Ana – Wonder

Tirzah – 2 D I C U V

Seekersinternational – Caught Up (Heart Breaks)

Ron Morelli – Gun Smoke

Leda – 2

Zuli – Bussra

Smirk – Polyrhythmic Ticks

The Dissidents – Patronized

Consensus Madness – Animosity

Stress Positions – Flaming Sword

Life Expectancy – Land Worm

Collate – Guilty Collector

Blue Dolphin – Docile Jannette

Flat Worms – Orion’s Belt

Los Llamarada – Waiting For Your Eyes

Dion Lunadon – Diamond Sea

Natural Information Society – Immemorial

Quade – Measure

The Split Bell Chime – You Can Tell Me Anything

Matmos – Why?

GUB – 4

DJ Manny – Ooh Baby

Tyvek – What It’s For

Gaadge – Candy Colored

Surveillance – Obvious

Miss Espana – Lirio Blanco

Axis: Sova – Join a Cult

Al Karpenter & CIA Debutante – Fuck You All to Fade No More

Beau Wanzer – Warm Waterboarding

Thee Retail Simps – Wrong Direction

Wireheads – Persistent Resistance

Adulkt Life – Blackout

Sharp Pins – Bye Bye Basil

The Tubs – Sniveler

Meg Baird – Star Hill Road

Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – Flashes of Orange

Water Damage – FUCK THAT (Reel 13)

[esporaespazioa]

cosecha 2023 uzta

Hauexek dira, 2023an gure orbita hurbilean argitaratu diren diskoak, baita fanzine eta libururen bat ere. Entzun, zabaldu, erosi, bultzatu bertoko artista esperimentalen lanak.

Reunimos aquí un listado de discos que se han publicado en nuestra órbita más cercana. Escucha, difunde, compra, apoya a les artistes esperimentales locales.

A.Maiah F(r)icciones hegoa 2023/09 LP

A.Maiah/Mata Re-act ramble records 2023/09 CD

Abaunz Beire Series negras 2023/06 CDR

Al Karpenter The Forthcoming ever/never records 2023/07 LP

Al Karpenter & CIA Debutante s/t ever/never records 2023/07 LP

Amsia Street of Crocodiles Series negras 2023/03 CD

Asfáltica & Passion Farolas Poemaria crystalmine 2023/02 K7

Baseline + ibonrg + Miguel A. García Dispectrgs República Ibérica Ruidista 2023/12 digital

Benjamín Vergara / Matías Riquelme Asimetrías tayul 2023/06 Digital

Bidai (Mikel Vega / Xabi Strubell) Biarrezgaur hegoa 2023/12 LP

Ccoowwss & Tube Tentacles Abnormal Blood Karma Detonation Tapes 2023/08 K7

Circuitrip / Tube Tentacles split New Approach Records 2023/03 K7

Dopelganger (Garazi Navas / Miguel A. García) Sainen Hildo hegoa 2023/12 LP

Driellya / Gloomy Life Celestial abhorrence 2 anonim noise recs 2023/06 digital

Driellya / Miguel A. García Basement Corner 1000th release basement corner emissions 2023/11 digital

Driellya / Red Hills Contra la opresion el deseo. Compilation rata sorda recs 2023/10 digital

Emankore (Garazi Gorostiaga / Itziar Markiegi) Eman plakton Hazi Esporak! 2023/12 CDR

Enrike Hurtado Hardcore Punk Dissasters Hazi Esporak! 2023/03 CDR

Enrike Hurtado Ghost Futures crystalmine 2023/05 K7

Enrike Hurtado 20.20 repetidor 2023/09 CD

Gaba/Paezur The Void Series negras 2023/09 digital

Gravelbed Dead Future Gravelbed 2023/02 LP

Guzural / Homeless Network Split Autoekoizpena2023/12 K7

Izarne Oyarzabal Ópalo crystalmine 2023/10 K7

Joseba Agirrezabalaga & Mikel Vega lepok urpa i musel 2023/01 LP

Katza 5th anniversary crystalmine 2023/06 K7

Miguel A. García Oppolomuni Hazi Esporak 2023/05 CDR

Miguel A. García Eyezorros Az 2023/10 LP

Miguel A. García Eraginie Cronica 2023/09 CD

Miguel A. García & Coeval Huncill Cronica 2023/06 digital

Miguel A. García & Jean-Luc Guionnet Duo Hera Corp. 2023/11 K7

Miguel A. García & Mikel Vega Explets crystalmine 2023/07 K7

Mila Cloud / Driellya split declive diy 2023/01 CD

N & Tzesne Sismo Denovali 2023/04 LP

Saio irekia (Ander Fernandez/Aida Torres/Tzesne) Borderline#2 Series negras 2023/04 digital

Saio irekia (Ander Fernandez/Andre Koenig/Tzesne) Borderline#3 Series negras 2023/06 digital

Saio irekia (Ander Fernandez/Joseba Agirrezabalaga/Tzesne) Borderline#1 Series negras 2023/03 digital

Schneider/Vega schneider collaborations schneider collaborations 2023/10 LP

Seth Kim-Cohen + Regler (Mattin & Anders Bryngelsson) Regel #12 (Ambient) crystalmine2023/03K7

TTT/Obleak split Mylar 2023/02 CD

Tube Tentacles, Amphetamine Onanism n​/​t (Split) Brutal Arratia Records 2023/05 digital

Txema Agiriano MEM historias de un festival mem 2023/11 liburua

UHIN Uhin#5 uhin 2023/03 fanzine

Útero Bitch & Genoveva Genocide & Daiben Necroxidation Saw Waves Donation records 2023/01 CD

Valentina Vursik / Baseline / Miguel A. García / IbonRG mem quartet mem 2023/11 LP

vv/aa / zenbaiten artean ER046 Compilation V5 eclectic reactions 2023/05 K7

Wolkokrots (Miguel A. García / Ilia Belorukov) Hurdergnod Minimal Resource Manipulations 2023/04 digital

[dealgemeneverwarring]

De Algemene Verwarring #107 - 19 February 2024

Episode one hundred and seven of De Algemene Verwarring was broadcast on Monday, February 19, 2024, and you can listen to it by clicking on the link below that will take you directly to the Mixcloud page:

Pictured below is, well, you know who is pictured below don't you? Yes, it's The Birthday Party. Last week I saw Mutiny In Heaven, the documentary about the band made by Ian White, and it was fantastic, for several reasons. First of all, it was a pleasant re-acquaintance with the angry, dangerous, aggressive Nick Cave, who I like a lot more than the quiet and sad Nick Cave we have seen the last few years, and I'm saying this with all the respect I have for the man's tragic losses, I mean, I admire the way he copes with all of that, but musically he has lost me a bit. Of course I was too young to have consciously known The Birthday Party, and I don't really remember 100 % when Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds came on my radar, I think I picked up the Kicking Against The Pricks and Your Funeral My Trial lp's up from the Kortrijk library (again, endless thanks to the Kortrijk library with their fantastic collection), but I don't know if that was before or after I bought the 1988 Tender Prey album, but anyway. The Birthday Party, the aggression, the feedback, the unique guitar sound of Rowland S. Howard, bass god and naughty boy Tracy Pew, the always quiet and sober (except that one time) Mick Harvey and the primitive drum sound of Phil Calvert, they were truly a force. The drinks, the drugs, the pills, and the hunger. The loathing of London, but not exactly a rebirth in Berlin. The making of the Nick The Stripper video. Just go see it. Also fantastic was the entry into the cinema of an elderly couple, they were too late so they had to sit on the front row but then looked around and noticed some more empty seats in the fourth row, so they went there, asked some people to move, and then sat there for ten minutes, after which they left the cinema again. Wrong movie? Wrong Nick Cave? Too loud? Who will tell? Anyway, I'm playing Deep In The Woods in the show, a song that I have always liked a lot because it showed the way Cave would slowly move towards what would become The Bad Seeds but still has that distinctive Rowland S. Howard feedbacking guitar.

There is also a lot of other music in the show, from Dead Nittels, Dat En Wat, The Velvet Underground, Boduf Songs, People Skills, Collate, The Vanishing, Violent Change, The Triffids, Drifting, Z'EV, Organ Of Corti and more! And beneath the photo you can find the playlist for th show. Enjoy!

Playlist:

Dead Nittels: Justizirrtum (7” “Anti New Wave Liga”, reissue on Bachelor Archives, 2020, originally released in 1983, not on label)

The Primate Five: I Need Your Luh (7” “The Primate Five vs The Traditional Fools” on Goodbye Boozy, 2021)

Dat En Wat: Dead Man Blues (LP “Diggin’ For Gold Vol 2, reissue on Rubble Records, 2018, originally released on Smorgasbord Records, 1994 and in 1966 on & 7” on Soho Records)

The Velvet Underground: Foggy Notion (LP “VU” on Verve Records, 1984)

Violent Change: Fabio’s Playhaus (LP “Starcastle” on Sloth Mate Productions, 2023)

The Stroppies: Cellophane Car (LP “Whoosh” on Tough Love Records, 2018)

The Triffids: Raining Pleasure (12” “Raining Pleasure” on Hot Records, 1984)

Boduf Songs: Decapitation Blues (Redux) (7” “Split” Jessica Bailiff/Boduf Songs on Morc Records, 2013)

People Skills: Flag For Gravity (LP “Hum Of The Non-Engine” on Digital Regress, 2023)

The Birthday Party: Deep In The Woods (CD “Hits” on 4AD, 1992, originally released on the 12” “The Bad Seed”, 4AD, 1982)

The Psychedelic Furs: It Goes On (LP “Talk Talk Talk” on CBS, 1981)

The Vanishing: White Walls (LP “Songs For Psychotic Children” on Gold Standard Laboratories, 2003)

Collate: Obliterated By Flowers (LP “Generative Systems” on Domestic Departure, 2023)

Al Karpenter & CIA Débutante: Put On Your Mask (LP “Al Karpenter & CIA Débutante” on Ever/Never Records, 2023)

Z’EV  For Manfred (LP V/A “Dossiers” on Dossier Records, 1986)

Drifting: Finding New Age In An Abandoned House (LP “Dream Autopsy” on Förlag För Fri Music, 2023)

Organ Of Corti: Halucinatio (CD “Fanaticus” on New Forces, 2024)

[genericrecordreviews]

New mix w/ Current Affairs and other good bands.

Tracklist: 1. Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, John Tchicai, Roswell Rudd, Gary Peacock, Sonny Murray, “Don’s Dawn” 2. Al Karpenter feat. Triple Negative, “1995” 3. Spiral Dub, “Punch Me In The Face” 4. The Lloyd Pack, “Malt Lake” 5. Slugfuckers, “Skizo Disko” 6. Leda, “3” 7. Wolfango, “Tramonto Africano” 8. Thee Retail Simps, “Beat Of The Rain” 9. Lewsberg, “An Ear To The Chest” 10. Nusidm, “Inya Onya” 11. Crna Žuč, “U Rovovima” 12. Sweeping Promises, “You Shatter” 13. Current Affairs, “Right Time” 14. Sonic Youth, “Flower” 15. Sun Ra And His Myth Science Arkestra, “Voice Of Space” 16. Letha Rodman-Melchior, “Mare Serenitatis”

[cyanidetooth]

Monte Cazazza! Drive Like Jehu! Hot Snakes! Pitchfork! Obits! Live Skull! Weegee! Six Finger Satellite! Body Double! Wireheads! Fashion Tips! Bo Gritz! Miscomings! Sea Moss! We March! Saint Abdullah & Jason Nazary! Wolf Eyes & Model Home! Al Karpenter & CIA Debutante! Felix Kubin! Chela! Techno Animal! The Bug!

[streamblank]

Byron Coley's records of the day

Byron Coley’s records of the day

Long time supporter of the label (our 1st review ever was a size matters mention in the wire magazine for the Junior Makhno single) Byron Coley has been talking about the Al Karpenter Lp here https://twitter.com/ByronColey1/status/1456635390572568580 And Terrine’s follow-up to Cheat Days, Les Problèmes urbains. https://twitter.com/ByronColey1/status/1438220704743370759 thanks to him! and…

[dustedandsocial]

FAVORITE 50 ALBUMS ov (of) 2021

01. Pays P. - Ça v aller [Peculiar Works] 02. Mach-Hommy - Pray For Haiti [Griselda] 03. Monokultur - Ormens Väg [Ever Never / Mammas Mysteriska Jukebox] 04. Nusidm - Hatred Of Pain [Self-Released] 05. Saadet Türköz & Nils Wogram - Songdreaming [Leo] 06. Senyawa - Alkisah [a million different labels] 07. Valee & AYOCHILLMANNN - The TrAppiEst Disco Music Ever! [AYODELE MEDIA] 08. Nina Buchanan - Restless Abandon [Heavy Machinery] 09. Heta Bilaletdin - Nauhoi [KRAAK / Fonal] 10. Troth - Oak Corridor [Knekelhuis] 11. Boli Group - The Jutlandia Quartets [Haunter] 12. Heimat - Zwei [Teenage Menopause] 13. Wendy Lavone - A: SERENITY / B: PERTURBATION [An1ma] 14. Delphine Dora & Jackie McDowell - The Dream of Change [Round Bale Recordings] 15. Grouper - Shade [Kranky] 16. Theoreme - Les Artisans [Maple Death] 17. Noiseboys - Pinball Inferno [Kartaskvazhin] 18. Moin - Moot! [AD 93] 19. Chelsea Bridge - Leeanne [Industrial Coast] 20. Kris & Tavi - Chiral [Post Present Medium] 21. Princess Diana of Wales - Princess Diana of Wales [A Colourful Storm] 22. The Doozer - Convalescence [Low Company / Feeding Tube] 23. Cube - Drug of Choice [Alter] 24. Catalina Matorral - Catalina Matorral LP [Le Saule / Via Parigi] 25. Pink Siifu & Fly Anakin - ＄mokebreak EP [Lex] 26. Model Home - both feet en th infinite [Don Giovanni] 27. Reymour - Leviosa [Knekelhuis] 28. Zeena Parkins, Mette Rasmussen, Ryan Sawyer - Glass Triangle [Relative Pitch] 29. Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Haram [Backwoodz Studioz] 30. Al Karpenter - Musik from a Private Hell [bruit direct disques] 31. April Magazine - Sunday Music For An Overpass [Paisley Shirt] 32. Iris - Speah [Tax Free] 33. ZelooperZ - Van Gogh's Left Ear [Bruiser Brigade] 34. Teresa Winter  -  Motto Of The Wheel [The Death Of Rave] 35. Jean-Luc Guionnet & Will Guthrie - Electric Rag [Ali Buh Baeh / Editions Memoire] 36. Maurice Lɔndɔn - Of Unsound Mind [Epileptic Media] 37. Offensive Defiant Disorder - Offensive Defiant Disorder [Suburban Music Group] 38. Anthony Sahyoun - Proof By Infinite Descent [Ruptured] 39. Noel Meek, MoE, Martín Escalante, Håvard Skaset - Scrap [Astromelia] 40. Brüks (брӱкс) - Resin (смола) [Kartaskvazhin] 41. Katherine - Everyday Ennui [Already Dead] 42. Equipment Pointed Ankh - Without Human Permission [Sophomore Lounge / Astral Editions] 43. Agit - Leftover Existence [Unknown Precept] 44. Young Nudy - Rich Shooter 45. Maenad Veyl & The Sarcasm Ensemble - Comfort in Misery [VEYL] 46. AIR Krew - Loss Reward [Echotourist] 47. Jérôme Noetinger x Lionel Fernandez - Outer Blanc [Sonoris] 48. Emily Robb - How to Moonwalk [Petty Bunco] 49. Jaco - Los Misterios [Màgia Roja] 50. gFFr - Blockchain Me Anonymous [13]

[iturburu]

https://www.mixcloud.com/relativa/crystal-mine-w-al-karpenter-dj-19042022/

cover4AlKarpenter

[clublelarraskito]

bi mila eta hamazazpiko uztailaren hogeita batekoak.

bat eta bi ) ainize

hiru ) terri

lau ) al karpenter

bost ) jendetza

sei ) 3l p3rr0 v3rd3 eta natalia elbarenarekin

zazpi) iñigo

eta zortzi ) ilia

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Al Karpenter

Al Karpenter was originally Álvaro Matilla (from Barakaldo). In 2014, Mattin started to collaborate with him and in 2022, Marta Sainz and Enrique Zaccagnini from Santander joined. They’ve spent the years post-COVID in a fever pitch of noise collaboration, working with fellow experimenters Sunik Kim, Dominic Coles and Triple Negative on their album The Forthcoming and with CIA Debutante on another self-titled disc. Jennifer Kelly reviewed both in August, writing that, “Al Karpenter swamps threads of song in seething banks of noise and dissonance. You find yourself focusing on blaring surface noise, while sense and melody percolates somewhere underneath.” Here Mattin picks ten boundary-pushing favorites.

El Inquilino Comunista — “Cruel Off” (1992)

This track was actually in their first tape, which for me, was probably the best thing to come out of Getxo Sound, a small noise rock scene that happened in my hometown around the early 1990s. I remember getting this cassette and being blown away. I got inspired to see that there were bands doing things like this in my surroundings. Then I found out about other great bands like Cancer Moon, La Secta, Lord Sickness and Pop Crash Colapso. Now some of the members of El Inquilino Comunista play in other bands like Basurita and Trampas (where my very good friends Piji and Pablo play).

Hanne Boenisch — A Journey to the North Pole: A documentary about the Scratch Orchestra and Cornelius Cardew. (1971)

This documentary portrays the last tour of the Scratch Orchestra and the heated debates that they were going through, but also it documents the amazing experiments and street concerts that they were doing. After this tour, a split happened between the more Maoist-influenced section called the ideological group around Cardew, John Tilbury and Keith Rowe and the more anarchist and performative tendency that went into forming the Slippery Merchants. The tension between the artistic and ideological parts and their split reminds me of the division that occurred with Situationist International in 1961, in Gothenburg, where all the artists were expelled from the group.

Junko — Sleeping Beauty (2002)

I heard this record at Taku Unami’s house when I was on tour in Japan for the first time in 2004. I knew Junko from Hijokaidan, but this solo recording really cut through everything that I listened to before. It could be said to be concrete poetry or noise, but for me is something else that takes an existential level. What are we as humans when communication becomes only lubrication for commodification? This is not a form of primal scream but rather an expression of the impossibility of meaningful existence under capitalism.

Parmentier — Luxsound: 5 Untitled (1998)

Rosy Parlane and Dion Workman formed Parmentier when Thela — the New Zealand noise rock they both had with Dean Roberts — disbanded after a legendarily chaotic concert in New York in 1997. Parlane and Workman left their rock instruments and started an excellent electronic label called Sigma Editions and their band Parmentier. I saw them live in 1999 at the Sprawl in London, and I was so moved by this amazingly precise electronic music but made with a New Zealand noisy attitude which gave it a very warm character. I ended up becoming very good friends with Rosy, Dion and Dean and collaborating with all of them on different occasions.

Constant Pain — Demon Lover

Another band from New Zealand with Cameron Bain, Greg Cairns and Roddy Pain.

Cameron lived in London and used to play in the bands The Mean Streaks and Heliogabalus with Matthew Hyland (of Triple Negative). Roddy also had a short-lived band called Evil with Liz Matthews and David Mitchel, which was simply incredible. Both Cameron and Roddy took the rock spirit seriously, unfortunately to its ultimate consequences. Noise rock made with love and integrity.

Roberta Settels — “Landscape With 3 Tape-recorders And…” (1985)

I got this record, Isolation! Meinhof In Memoriam, when I was living in Stockholm, and I thought it was the coolest record ever. Settles self-published it on her label Music in Crisis after Caprice Records — an institutional label part of Musikverket (Swedish Performing Arts Agency) — refused at the last minute to publish it because they were scared of the political message of the record. Some of it reminds me of what the composer Bernhard Günter was doing in the 1990s but without any of the esoteric connotations. For me, this is a great example of how avant-garde music can meet radical politics.

Batile Alake — The Waka Queen

When Xabier Erkizia and I got to Lagos in 2014 to record Billy Bao’s Lagos Sessions, the first thing that we did was to go to Jazzhole record shop. The owner Kunle Tejuoso started to play us all these amazing records of Sakara, Apala and Waka Music at full volume, and Alake really struck a chord in us. For some reason, later on, Kunle would not tell the name of Alake as if she were some sort of sacred secret. Somehow, we managed to find out who she was, and since then, we have been in love with her.

Petrona Martinez — Le bullerengue (1998)

After that experience in Lagos, I have been searching for similar sounds that focus on percussion and voice in other places by tracing Afro-Caribbean music. The first thing that I got into it was Cuban rumba, especially Muñequitos de Matanzas. A couple of years ago, I was hearing a DJ session of Amuleto Manuela, an incredible Colombian DJ based in Berlin, and she played Petrona Martinez which is bullerengue from Colombia, and this got me into similar forms of music like Puerto Rican Bomba of el tambor from Venezuela.

Gérard Lockel — Gwo Ka Modènn (A.D.G.K.M - 1988)

Another interesting musical genre from the Caribbean is Gwo Ka from Guadalupe.

I discovered Gérard Lockel when I was researching Bèlènou, a fascinating group from Martinique mixing traditional Bèlè with avant-garde approaches. Bèlènou was founded by Edmond Mondésir and Léon Bertide, and I read that they were influenced by Gérard Lockel, so I went to the source, and it was life-altering. I quickly found out that I was not the only one deeply touched by his music, his records cost between 300 and 600 euros on Discogs.

Elvin Brandhi — Shelf Life (2019)

My friend Miguel Prado mentioned Elvin Brandhi, and she is doing some of the best stuff that I heard lately. She is collaborating with incredible artists and travelling all the time. A noise nomad and a fantastic improviser. The first time that I saw her was with Yeah You — the group that she has with her father — at an empty shopping mall in Glasgow as part of the extraordinary Counterflows festival, and it was magnificent. As far as I know, this is her only solo record.

[still-single]

TOP 10 / NEW HEATHEN DISCO

Here are ten great records from 2023. There are 30 more where these came from.

Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – Dancing on the Edge (Sophomore Lounge)

The Tubs – Dead Meat (Trouble in Mind)

Adulkt Life – There Is No Desire (JABS/Our Voltage)

Water Damage – Two Songs (12XU)

Sharp Pins – Turtle Rock (self-released / Tall Texan)

Meg Baird – Furling (Drag City)

Wireheads – Potentially Venus (Tenth Court)

Beau Wanzer – A Dead Person's Monologue (iDEAL)

Al Karpenter & CIA Debutante s/t (Ever/Never)

Thee Retail Simps – Live on Cool Street (Total Punk)

And here's the latest set from the Heathen D:

Fatamorgana – Espacio Profundo

DJ Manny – You N You (feat. DJ Phil)

Shackleton – There Is a Seed

Glen Brown & King Tubby – World Dub: Away with the Bad

Omen – Possessed

MOR Mines – Nameless Dub

Skinner Pilot – Traces of Alignment

Tanner – Wig

The Wind-Ups – You’re Not That Cool

Manu Dibango – Ba-Kuba

Static Cleaner Lost Reward – Basic Trouble 

Delkon – Superjack (Orbital Infusion 2000)

Lesley Gore – No Matter What You Do

Ice Cube – We Don’t Want No 8-Ball

Strange Fox – Bring it on Home

The VSS – Conscious

Total Control – Expensive Dog

Wipers – No Generation Gap

Bog People – Education

MXLX – Perdita de Sangue

Topdown Dialectic – untitled

Barbara Manning – Temperature’s Rising

Hallelujahs – I’ll Soon Follow, No Matter Where You Are

My Dad Is Dead – I Had a Dream

Rosali – Pour Over Ice

Red Pants – Witching Hour

Naked Roommate – Lube Boys

The Colours Out of Time – Diamonds

Bravais Lattice – Orientation Matrix

Hammered Hulls – Staggering Genius

Just Mustard – Seed

Monty Buckles – Miss You (demo)

Skywave – Here She Comes

Glittering Insects – Calcified Time

Happy Go Licky – Born Like Steam

Tommy James & the Shondells – I’m Alive

Vapourspace – Gravitational Arch of Ten

Bailterspace – Code

Bailter Space – Separate Circles

Ela Orleans – Black and White Flight

Hurl – She Laughed She Died (live)

[franzanthony]

Bad Magikarp Puns Masterpost

So in the game Magikarp Jump we’re allowed to nickname our karps, which will die/retire often. It’s past midnight and I don’t feel like working so I’m opening the dictionary to come up with tons of horrible puns to nickname them all.

Magikarpet Karpaccio KarPark Holy Karp Karpaltunnel Karpdashian Hákarp Karpanha Karpedo Karpviar Karpoeira Karpathian Karpricorn Kredit Karp Karpybara Karpohydrate Mario Karp Karpenter Maskarpone Karpooling Karpnival David Karp Karp Jung Das Karpital Karp Marx Karpitalism Dekarpitate Karpe Diem Karpeggio Karpbonara Karpernicus Karpenhagen Karppuccino

—

KARPTCHA Karp circle Karpyright À la Karpe Magna Karpa Add to Karp KarperBazaar Karpersky Karpageddon Acme Karp. Karpbell’s Al Karpone Karprolite Karpnotaurus Chupakarpbra Karpe Verde Eskarpgot Robokarp Karpocalypse El Karpitan Karpakabana Helikarpter Karpavaggio Karp Sagan DiKarprio Karpsicum Karpè Latte Karpbuncle Pikarpchu Eskarpade JurassicKarp Karps & Rec Karpest Moon

[dealgemeneverwarring]

Best of 2023 - part 2

So, last year I posted my best-of-2022 list on this Tumblr page after some non Facebook minded listeners asked me about it, and this time I'm being proactive so here it is, my best records and gigs of 2023, starting with the records that were released in 2023 - 6 to 1 + best gigs 2023. With YouTube clips or Bandcamp links if available.

6. CIA Débutante: Down, Willow (Siltbreeze) - best record yet of the duo CIA Débutante, and they also released the collab lp with Al Karpenter, also a beast of a record.

5. Leda: Neuter (Discreet) - guitar loops looping guitar loops looping. It's Leda, you know what to expect, and still this is probably, together with the Music For A Film tape, the best effort of Sofie Herner so far. And very close to what she did with Neutral too.

4. The Sheaves: Excess Death Cult Time (Minimum Table Stacks) - bizarre nasal post-punk. The record is too short, but so great. First released on tape, thanks to MTS now also on vinyl. The Fall is dead, long live The Sheaves.

3. Drifting: Dream Autopsy (Förlag För Fri Musik) - Angelic voices on a background of tape loops and sheer noise. New trio with Sewer Election, Form Hunter and Julia from Amateur Hour. Probably sounds like Amateur Hour without the songs/guitars.

2. Ordeal: Vätterns Pärla (Aguirre) - there was already a very limited tape released in 2020 that was screaming for more, and suddenly out of nothing comes Vätterns Pärla, released on Belgian label Aguirre Records, and when they made this announcement I kinda jumped out of my chair with excitement. Ordeal is another alter ego of Dan Johansson of Sewer Election/Neutral/Amateur Hour and more, and this drone music inspired by master Maurizio Bianchi. Great great record.

1. Famous Mammals: Instant Pop Expressionism Now! (Siltbreeze) - Same story: there was a tape first and a digital release and then suddenly this record on Siltbreeze and it's sooooo good. And it's a supergroup made up of Andy Jordan (Andy Human, Non Plus Temps, The World, Lenz, Naked Roommate), Stanley Martinez (Rays, Children Maybe Later, Violent Change) and Amber Sermeño (The World, Naked Roommate). Again: The Fall is dead, long live Famous Mammals.

To end: it wasn't a big hot gigs year, but there's been more than enough to enjoy. Here's a small list of the best shows I saw in 2023:

Oi Boys @ De Kreun/Pit’s

Ignatz/Christophe Clébard @ Pit’s

The Serfs @ Pit’s

Front 242 @ De Kreun

France @ Pit’s

Bad Breeding @ Pit’s

Pain Appendix & Sisto Rossi @ Crude Transmissions Festival, Leiden

Olimpia Splendid @ Trefpunt

Tramhaus @ De Kreun

Boy Harsher @ Dour Festival

Gee Tee @ Pit’s

Stereolab & Chalk @ Sonic City

Venediktos Tempelboom @ a chapel in Kortrijk.

Enjoy 2024. De Algemene Verwarring #104 is coming up on January 8!

[genericrecordreviews]

Al Karpenter, If We Can’t Dream, They Won’t Sleep!! (ever/never, 2020)

I like to think of the Stooges as some sort of Eastern gods, and their records as scripture. I say Eastern because the thing isn’t (or isn’t supposed to be) about worship or adoration, but more about teaching, and a sort of ritualistic practice. Through the Stooges, through their mantras, one can achieve bliss and knowledge. Now why am I waxing religious here? Because Al Karpenter’s debut LP, If We Can’t Dream, They Can’t Sleep!!, is a bit of a Stoogesian ritual. A bold, arty, difficult statement and a ritual.

The seven tracks, while forced in a sequence by the physical limitation of the grooves, sound as if they’ve been emptied on the record like the contents of a bag. Lines and verses repeat throughout the album, using the famous Stooges mantra as something between a war cry and a fatalist, numb lament delivered through clenched teeth: “It’s 2019 ok, all across the fucking Spain, all across this fucking pain”. By the end of side A, you’re in deep: glitchy noises attacking you out of the blue, fragmented electronic beats, bursts of silence, ghost guitars and incredibly beautiful (in contrast with all the ugliness) saxophone and drums adding jazzy flourishes.

On side B, things slowly escalate from the bitter and creepy “No Face” to the joyous and angry call for “Riot & Roll”—expanding the musical palette so far as to include trap beats with their distinctive hi-hats and autotune, together with analog synths, melodica, saxophones, tortured bass, banging drums.

It’s not an easy album and it’s comparable to what Karpenter’s fellow Bilbaoan Mattin has done in the past (a similar use of the Stooges’ “practice” can be heard on Billy Bao’s Buildings from Bilbao). Mattin’s role in If we can’t dream… seems in fact crucial, and even if he wasn’t listed among Karpenter’s collaborators I could have guessed that he was involved, especially in the mix. It took me a few listens to really get into it, but now that I got it, I’m gonna shake, riot and roll as much as I can.

Click here to listen to If We Can’t Dream, They Won’t Sleep!! on Bandcamp.

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[cyanidetooth]

Helmet! Red Mass! Isolation Society! The Earth Hell Band! Fitness Womxn! Massicot! Th’ Inbred! Gaseneta! Taco! 19/Juke! UFO Or Die! Anode/Cathode! Lie’! MoE & Pinquins! Al Karpenter! CIA Debutante! Volunteer Slavery! Crime!