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updated February 5th 2010
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02-05-2010
I'm at Dub Narcotic Studio this week with Arrington's deDionyso's Malaikat Dan Singa working on a new record this time with a small orchestra from Olympia: Ben Cap, Markly Morrison, Angelo Spencer, Gordon Baker and Andrew Dorsett. I'll post a track or two in progress here in a few...
This will be the follow up to the K Records release now available from krecs.com and your local independent music store. It's called Malaikat Dan Singa, released November of this past year of 2009, it features Arrington singing in Indonesian.
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Here are a few tracks from the ANGELO SPENCER album release show on January 23rd 2010 at NORTHERN, Olympia, Wash.. The band is Angelo on guitar, Arrington deDionyso on the bass clarinet and then on the prominent guitar, Clyde Petersen on guitar, Ben Cap on drum set and myself on percussion.
Et Les Hauts Sommets was recorded at Dub Narcotic in 2009. Angelo Spencer is making music like no one else. Look, I know that I have recorded a daunting amount of material. But, you readers should know that this recording is perhaps one of the greatest/most original records I have ever made. AND it is beautiful. Get the vinyl, just treat yourself this time -- you will not be disappointed!
Sarah Utter made the artwork: click on this picture and order the LP.
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二階堂和美
Someone asked me this week about the Nikaido Kazumi song that I covered on "Nature's Got Away." My song "Stream of Ganders" ended up speaking of nesting in a spiritually satisfying place after a long search. Kazumi's song is called "脈拍" or translated into "Pulse." I don't recall how to say this in its Japanese form. One story she told me about her song "脈拍" -- two people (picture escalators going the opposite way in an X) see each other from afar. As they are brought closer their hearts begin to beat faster and faster and then wildly until they cross paths and continue down opposite directions -- never changing their course.
"脈拍" is from this record Eeel. Eeel is one of the greatest experimental underground albums of the last decade.
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January 25th 2010:
It's an emotional week for us here in Anacortes and beyond for several reasons, one we can really put our finger on is the final minutes of the DoS. There will be a joyous and proper rock show reinacting the first show at the DoS, plus more music on Saturday the 30th of January. The first show was:
The Microphones
P:ano
Karl Blau
and the last show will have Arrington deDionyso with band, LAKE, and there's talk of a collaborative improvisation with any and all to commence for the final act.
(Here’s a video that Ola Hungerford of Bothell, Washington (Dandelion Gold, Cock & Swan) took of "Goodbye Little Song" from this night)
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This is new:
I started putting lyrics to be one long scroll of words en masse for the masses.
The idea is that one would look there for lyrical ideas or simply use the lyrics there. They are for the taking*.
* with respect that I would like to hear what happens to them if something does.
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For me the priviledge of working with Spencer Sult for his next Generifus album has come into fruition as of last night. Eli Moore, Ashley Eriksson, Lindsay Shief, Andrew Dorsett, Mark Morrison and others are slated to be in cohoots for it. Check out his amazing record "Solstice Songs" that I recorded with him about 2 years ago now or at least a song from it here" -- December 28th 2009
updated January 28th, Generifus record is done and it is highly listenable.
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I had the pleasure of recording a song for a project called
which is another love child of Nick Krgovich. Here's a little bit about it:
Gigi is the new project from producer Colin Stewart and No Kids/P:ANO band member Nick Krgovich. The duo currently have an album planed called Maintenant which will feature countless special guests and collaborators. This first tasty single “The Old Graveyard” features guest vocals from Karl Blau. Pick up the new album on Jan. 26th via Tomlab. Head over to GvsB for more info.
Download: Gigi – The Old Graveyard (Feat Karl Blau) [MP3]
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The amazing Adam Newport-Berra conducted this music video of my song "Dark Sedan" from ZEBRA. It features the band LAKE. We shot this video just after LAKE and my Brooklyn show during our "Let's Build a Zebra" tour. Many people were involved volunteering their time and it was a lot of fun. Kyle, Steve and Jesse shot the main footage, Mary put the wardrobe together, Johnny and Dan on lighting, Jackie -- art designer, Adam Abada -- props, Meggie for all her help, Herrie for the amazing food, Sam production, Jessie choreographing the kid dancing and et cetera. Special thanks to the dancer Lisa Diaz and the awesome other two nine year olds(maybe 10 by now) who gave me extra encouragement with their enthusiasm and to their mothers for their support and attendance.
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In the Dub Narcotic Studio recording Calvin Johnson this past week. He is working on an Ick Ick Records split release with Ten Little Indians of Olympia that we almost finished, could be out this spring. Also we're working on a full length for K Records that is going to be excellent. I think Calvin's songs right now, lyrically and otherwise, are his best yet. -- Dec. 12th 2009.
I have my amtrak ticket to head back to Oly on the 2nd of January to do some more Hive Dwellers recordings/mixes-- this is what Calvin is calling his new stuff, "Hive Dwellers." --Dec. 26th 2009
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LAKE and Karl Blau Fall tour 2009. We are all home now. We rocked some socks. That's with a capitol RAW and SAW.
The mechanics of the trip seemed so daunting. We were to play 45 shows in 47 days -- the mileage was something like 15,000. But it flew by I must say. And all the amazing people we met and played with made it a huge success. The LAKE band is a gang of Kung Fu/yarn artists. They are able to crochet anything that comes their way with the energy that the offender sends at them. And they play very decently their instruments of music.
To all the floors I laid my wool blanket on each night, I thank you.
Dallas, Tallahassee, Hellerton, ARCATA! What can we say, you've stolen the keys from under our pillows once more. Lubbock!
It read something like this when we were heading into it:
(I've been wanting to post songs from people we met on this trip, it may be an ANOTHER ongoing project... I met and heard and took home truly decent art-if-acts of Stephen Steinbrink of Phoenix for example, also Amazing Ghost from Richmond, and Vollmar from Bloomington come to mind)
Sat 10/10 Langley/Anacortes, WA
Sun 10/11 Tacoma, WA
Mon 10/12 Olympia, WA
Tue 10/13 Seattle, WA
Wed 10/14 Portland, OR
Thur 10/15 Pullman, ID
Fri. 10/16 Missoula, MT
Sat. 10/17 Salt Lake City, UT
Sun. 10/18 Denver, CO
Mon. 10/19 Lawrence, KS
Tues. 10/20 Kansas City, MO
Wed. 10/21 St Louis, MO
Thurs. 10/22 Iowa City
Fri. 10/23 Chicago, IL/
Sat. 10/24 Grand Rapids, MI
Sun 10/25 Bloomington, IN
Mon 10/26 Cleveland, OH
Tue 10/27 Buffalo, NY
Wed 10/28 Syracuse, NY
Thurs. 10/29 Brooklyn, NY
Fri. 10/30 Haverford, PA
Sat. 10/31 Hellerton, PA
Sun 11/1 Baltimore, MD
Mon 11/2 Charlottesville, VA
Tue 11/3 Richmond, VA
Wed 11/4 Greensboro, NC
Thur 11/5 Lexington, KY
Fri 11/6 Knoxville, TN
Sat 11/7 Athens, GA
Sun 11/8 Tallahassee, FL
Mon 11/9 DRIVE
Tue 11/10 Dallas, TX
Wed 11/11 Austin, TX
Thur 11/12 Lubbock, TX
Fri 11/13 Albuquerque, NM
Sat 11/14 Phoenix, AZ
Sun 11/15 Tucson, AZ
Mon 11/16 DAY OFF
Tue 11/17 Los Angeles, CA
Wed 11/18 Santa Barbara, CA
Thur 11/19 San Luis Obispo, CA
Fri 11/20 San Francisco, CA
Sat 11/21 Arcata, CA
Sun 11/22 Salem,OR
here's a link to a great recording of the Baltimore show:
Benjamin Bass presents live recordings of the Wind-Up Space, Baltimore,
Maryland on Nov 1st 2009 -- Karl Blau with LAKE
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- ZEBRA -
by Karl Blau, Portrait by Kevin Noonan
Available at local indepencent record stores as of October 6th 2009.
In the meantime, here are two songs from some early mixes:
Go Your Way My Love (Bert Jansch)
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Here's the video for Mockingbird Diet shot by Brody Charles and Pierce McGarry-- Kelp Elves
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Lexi Mountain Boys from Baltimore, MD-- so trippy! Push HERE to listen to a recording I made of this actual event that took place at the Current Canyon Festival in Fall 2007.
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driving through Montana spring 2008, coming home from New York
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====================July 9th, 2008: I became overcome with excitement today as I realized that Kelp Lunacy is going to halt here in 12 issues from now. Number 40 is going to be the last issue of Kelp that you may subscribe to. It's safe to say that this has been a great run, and the concept is great and possibly sometime during my life this will seem like a good idea again. But for this era I must cap this thing off, and thusly keep my sanity in check. It's going to be fun finishing this out and I hope that you will subscribe to it you who have in the past or have just considered it before. At this point the best deal is subscribing for the entire 12 issues left at $10 each in the U.S. and $12 each outside N. America. Do that now here.
========================>>>>>>>> Two new D+ releases: What is Doubt For? and On Purpose
Suddenly we recorded a new album. I don't know how this happened, we got together a few times and I guess the tape was rolling. It was so spontaneous and lazy. Bret Lunsford is calling the new one "What is Doubt For?" It's quite similar to "No Mystery." You can buy "No Mystery" here and possibly "What is Doubt For?" and "On Purpose" here soon. There 's a really loud song that leads off the album and I'm singing the first line which is unique to this and the last record "No Mystery." It's not available yet, but I just listened to the master and it's sounding really good so maybe by What the Heckfest...
D+ ON PURPOSE
This is a retrospective D+ spanning a dozen years of recordings and songs of Bret Lunsford with Phil Elverum and Karl Blau.
Here's what Blau says of it, and in general of Bret--taken from the liner notes:
PRACTICE MAKES "ON PURPOSE"
Here are a bunch of songs from the first era of D+. I really hope we don't call this D+ Greatest Hits. That would just not be true; there's hardly been any radio play of this band and they're all just incredible pieces to the puzzle of the mind of Bret Lunsford with Blalverum embellishments. Many of these particular recordings were demos we made and one or two from compilations otherwise unreleased. An illustration is rendered here of the open-mindedness to recording we explored.
The nonchalance of recording with Bret and Phil started in Calvin's basement. It became apparent to me that the method of recordings by Calvin Johnson placed the emphasis more on what happened at the actual performance of the song (D+ often recorded the music all together then overlaid the singing) than how the song "sounded." And to be more specific and accurate, if we played through the song-- got through it-- it was, like, cool. This approach grew and developed in my mind, and became key in enjoyment of the recording process. To stress the practice of performance and to get out of the way as much as possible on the recording end-- this was ideal. Resulting music stays alive and breathing and the potential for revisiting the songs increases because the idea isn't beaten down in process. More recently we took this practice further; the tracks from "No Mystery"(2007) were mostly recorded in Phil's living room together into one microphone--one track-- mono.
Practice on stage was never discouraged. It was a place where we found ourselves with our instruments. On stage was just over here instead of over there. "When you play shows, don't drink doubles..." It was not unlikely to stop a song midway for a longish pause and then go back into it where we left off. This was all practice it seemed.
Early D+ shows must've seemed so awkward. Looking back on us: Phil - teen skater with a perpetual grimace hitting the drums so hard and bored; me with smile I couldn't wipe off, bare foot, long haired forest dwelling hunchback, pumping endlessly optimistic basslines; Bret's slur and slower-than-decipherable-by-youth prattle between songs, distorted, strummed open chords.
The physical make-up of our sound augmented drastically after the Deception Pass and Mistake recordings. We became a vocal group with guitar accompaniments. It was something barely mentioned between us the metamorphasis was so natural. At the time of this release, I think we're somewhere in middle ground: distorted vocal harmonies with loud distant drums, still the anchor of words meant to rack your brain c/o Lunsford.
True there is much wincing today on my behalf when I listen to my "harmonies" shouted over Bret's delivery on the first 2 D+ albums. But this also reminds me how ecstatic I would and still become in engaging with these words. If you've ever heard or read them I don't have to tell you how Bret's lyrics work like a Choose-Your-Own- Adventure book. Each line Bret writes has at least two meanings to offer, D+ lyrics usually have 3 to 5 stanza's--lots of possibility. This is homage to me the listener, it's telling me "I respect that you will make your decisions based on who you are and with respect to your environment." Basically, Bret's lyrics read like an anarchist handbook. Trust your conscience.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\There are 6 albums floating around my studio, I am going nuts, because I can't wait to send them off. Got the "In Return of Ghost Country"s in the mail yesterday. I have a feeling some are going to come back to me because it's been too long since the last KLAPS installment. Thank YOU so much for your understanding SUBSCRIBERS! You are the wind beneath my wings, the current on my scales.
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{I recorded Spencer Sult last weekend, his moniker is Generifus.He lives in the Redmond/Kirkland area of Seattle. I'll put some songs up soon about what happened, he is a touched songwriter. He had all the songs and arrangements just floating in his head, never wrote down a word. A couple times we would begin to lay his vocals down on tape and he'd be like "just a second, it's still coming to me" and a moment later, he would sing the vocals having never sung them out loud before. Here is Baby Drawing from the album "Solstice Songs," which should be available soon through this website and his.
O+++++++++++++++++++++OThe "That's How I Got to Memphis" single just came out on K records IPU series. This is two tracks that Tucker Martine produced under his own project Mount Analog featuring me as vocalist. You should get your copy now here .
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=========================================New Your Heart Breaks recorded recently, mastered and even available now here! We revisited the trusty Dub Narcotic studio in Olympia for these recordings. I don't think that our version of the New Kids on the Blocks's "The Right Stuff" made it sorry to say. But that's just testament to how strong the recordings are otherwise! BTW, I'm the producer and drummer of these records, Clyde Petersen writes the songs/sings them/plays guitar, Steve Moore plays wurlitzer on them and they include members of LAKE, Boys from Deer Park and still more folks. Here's Start By Walking and Torrey Pines featuring Kimya Dawson for example.
Also Available from YOUR HEART BREAKS:
Live in Berlin. A full live YHB set from Germany. Featuring Karl Blau, Steve Moore, and Clyde Petersen as Your Heart Breaks. From a European tour with Laura Veirs in Spring 2007.
Sailor System. The newest full-length from Your Heart Breaks. This is the twin record of New Ocean Waves. Recorded at Dub Narcotic Studios in January, 2006. There are more than 30 awesome musicians on this thing. It is a rock opera with Karl Blau, Laura Veirs, The black cat orchestra, and the Your heart breaks band. The art was made by Meghan Hanlon, who made the art for new ocean waves. The records belong side by side. It is epic.
BUY NOW!
New Ocean Waves. A full-length from Your Heart Breaks. Produced by Karl Blau. Recorded at Dub Narcotic Studios in January, 2006. There are more than 30 awesome musicians on this thing. It kicks ass. It's 5 bucks. You will love it.
BUY NOW!
Earlier in the year of 2009, Laura Veirs invited me to record a bit on her new album. Tucker Martine was at the helm once more, and Steve Moore and Eyvind Kang were again going to be a part of what would become "July Flame." On my last visit to Portland, I stopped by Tucker's and he burned a copy for me. I'm pretty much smitten with the songs. It's back to Laura's guitar on this record and her thoughtful lyrics are as prominent as ever.
Laura is self releasing "July Flame," on her Raven Marching Band Label. So be sure and hound your local independent record store to carry it!
