Al Karpenter
"The Forthcoming"
featuring Sunik Kim, Dominic Coles & Triple Negative
released 21st July 2023 digital and LP
ever/never (NYC)
Mastered by James Trevascus
On their third album, Al Karpenter merges its singular vision with a host of collaborators. After finally becoming a band in 2022 with Marta Sainz and Enrique Zaccagnini from Santander joining Al Karpenter and Mattin, and in synchronicity with a recent CIA Debutante team-up, this group rises to the challenge of expanding its parameters. As Al Karpenter’s resident theoretician Mattin explains, “The last record was a result of the pandemic, introverted, isolated and with a blues energy. Instead, “The Forthcoming” is the outcome of the possibilities of making music and touring again. We had such an amazing time on tour with Sunik Kim, Dominic Coles and Triple Negative that at the end of our concert at Cafe Oto, we all played together.”
Whether delving into manic plunderphonics with Sunik Kim on “A Brand New Brontophobia” [an intense fear of extremely loud, natural noises in the environment - dict. ed.] or accessing the hidden burrows that tunnel beneath polite society with anarchic rock-folk deconstructionists Triple Negative on the title track, Al Karpenter is revolving around its own matrix. “Poison Sun” throws the New York-based Coles into the mix and you feel as if you are seesawing between competing parties, attempting to soak up their atmospheres during each pass through. Mattin again: “The feeling of exuberance, chaos and fragmentation is confronted with the pleasures of collective music making. This record is outwards, cathartic, full on and complex. Against algorithmic fascism and Tiktok attention span, The Forthcoming attempts at a sonic liberation front through its genre screwing approach. This record is of today.” It’s about time—The Forthcoming is here, for ever more.
The Wire #476 September 2023 by James Gormley
The Wire, The Office Ambience, Issue # 475, September 2023 (London)
Adds to the charts of wcbn fm 8/8 (Ann Arbor)
1 ERIC NACHTRAB/BASTARD IDEALS BASTARD IDEALS Spiritual Slop
2 CHAD MCCULLOUGH The Charm of Impossibilities Calligram
3 AL KARPENTER AL KARPENTER AND CIA DEBUTANTE ever/never
4 AL KARPENTER The Forthcoming Ever/Never
5 MIKAELA DAVIS And Southern Star Kill Rock Stars
6 TABI YOSHA True Colors [EP] Bonsound
A Jazz Noise, 18.8.2023, Barcelona
Daily Tune #2343
"A Brand New Brontophobia"
by Al Karpenter
Marta Sainz, Enrique Zaccagnini, Mattin & Sunik Kim (...I think)
A dream-like ('mare-like) quicksand evoking dub, kosmiche, a flash of FZ, disintegrating Beat...
wfmu Heavy Airplay September 2023
CARL STONE - Electronic Music from 1972-2022 (Unseen Worlds)
FAMOUS MAMMALS - Instant Pop Expressionism Now! (Siltbreeze Records)
GINA BIRCH - I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man Records)
SNOOPER - Super Snooper LP (Third Man Records)
ELECTRIC EELS - Spin Age Blasters (A Scat Record)
PJ HARVEY - I Inside The Old Year Dying (Partisan)
MAXINE FUNKE - River Said (Disciples)
STAN CLEAR & THE CLOSING DOORS - Brambles & Baricades EP (Fuzzy Warbles Cassettes)
WITCH - Zango (Desert Daze Sound)
PASCAL COMELADE / RAMON PRATS / LEE RANALDO - Velvet Serenade (Staubgold)
BUSH TETRAS - They Live In My Head (Wharf Cat)
WATER MACHINE - Raw Liquid Power (Upset! The Rhythm)
MALOMBO JAZZ MAKERS - Malompo Jazz (Strut Records)
WIREHEADS - Potentially Venus (Tenth Court)
DEATH AND VANILLA - Flicker (Fire Records)
MAPACHE - Swinging Stars (Innovative Leisure)
NEW PORNOGRAPHERS - Continue as a Guest (Merge)
KING KRULE - Space Heavy (Matador)
ME LOST ME - Rpg (Upset! The Rhythm)
RUBBER BLANKET - Our Fault (Mt. St. Mtn.)
WRECKLESS ERIC - Leisureland (Tapete)
DUSTIN WONG - Perpetual Morphosis (Hausu Mountain)
JUNIOR MINT PRINCE - I Saw Freak Joy (Sweet Wreath)
WHEATIE MATTIASICH - Old Glow (Open Mouth)
CERAMIC DOG - Connection (Knockwurst Records)
A RAINCOAT - It Came In the Night (Just Add Water)
MOTORBIKE - s/t (Feel It Records)
BILE SISTER - Living on the Edge (We Are Time)
GUNN TRUSCINSKI NACE - Glass Band (Three Lobed Recordings)
KASSA OVERALL - Animals (Warp)
CLEERS - I've Lived So Long Tonight (Sweet Wreath)
JULIE BYRNE - The Greater Wings (Ghostly International)
LA JUNGLE - 7" EP (Hyperjungle)
THE CLIENTELE - I Am Not There Anymore (Merge)
BEVERLY GLENN-COPELAND - The Ones Ahead (Transgressive)
BONEHEADS - New Jersey (Bonehead)
BANA HAFFAR - Inimaa' (Touch)
EMMA TRICCA - Aspirin Sun (Bella Union)
VARIOUS - Southeast of Saturn Vol. 2 (Third Man Records)
ANOHNI AND THE JOHNSONS - My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross (Secretly Canadian)
DOROTHY MOSKOWITZ & THE UNITED STATES OF ALCHEMY - Under an Endless Sky (Tompkins Square)
RUNI GRAPH - For I Know That The View of A Tree Is Not Subjective (Mahorka)
ALICE PHOEBE LOU - Shelter (Self Released)
HAZEL CLINE - Spell Song (Sweet Wreath)
MATT ROBIDOUX - Music For Aluminum Corn (Crash Symbols)
TINARIWEN - Amatssou (Wedge)
MIKE COOPER - Life & Death in Paradise (Paradise of Bachelors)
VERA ELLEN - Ideal Home Noise (Flying Nun)
HALF HUMAN - Intelligent Design (Specious Arts)
LIFEGUARD - Crowd Can Talk / Dressed in Trenches (Matador)
ANNIE HART - The Weight of a Wave (Uninhabitable Mansions)
YES SELMA - Mazes of the 13th Moon (Ramble Records)
YOUTH LAGOON - Heaven Is A Junkyard (Fat Possum)
EAST PORTAL - East Portal (Akp)
CHUCK JOHNSON - Burden of Proof (All Saints)
JOHN COLTRANE WITH ERIC DOLPHY - Evenings at the Village Gate (Impulse!)
ROMAN NORFLEET AND BE PRESENT ART GROUP - s/t (Mississippi Records)
CHARIF MEGARBANE - Marzipan (Habibi Funk)
VARIOUS - Taiwan Disco (Aberrant Records)
JOZEF DUMOULIN - This Body, This Life (Carton)
ANNA ST. LOUIS - In The Air (Woodsist)
HALF JAPANESE - Jump Into Love (Fire Records)
DREAM WIFE - Social Lubrication (Lucky Number)
SWANS - The Beggar (Young God)
AKANE - Night-Time Birds (Keroxen)
COLIN ANDREW SHEFFIELD - Images (Elevator Bath)
THE INVISIBLE HANDS - The Big Minute (Abduction)
SUN RA AND HIS ARKESTRA - Jazz in Silhouette: Expanded Edition (Cosmic Myth Records)
JEFF TOBIAS - Music From Milky Way (Yes Reality)
SEA MOSS - Remoss2 (Ramp Local)
WEEGEE - Primitive Thrill (Weegee)
GUMBO - The Devils/We Don't Care (Just Add Water)
BALKA SOUND - s/t (Strut)
M.O.T.O - M.O.T.O's The Wall of Phlegm (Aardvark Record Mastering)
WOLF EYES - Difficult Messages (Disciples)
BURNT ENVELOPE - I'm Immature: The Singles Vol II (Hozac Records)
BLACK MARKET BRASS - Hox (Colemine Records)
VARIOUS - Bossa Nova at Carnegie Hall (Liberation Hall)
FASCINATIONS GRAND CHORUS - Terror In The Night (Silent Stereo)
GLITTER WIZARD - Kiss the Boot (Kitten Robot)
NICKODEMUS - Soul & Science (Wonderwheel Recordings)
THE REDS, PINKS, & PURPLES - The Town That Cursed Your Name (Slumberland)
CATHERINE CHRISTER HENNIX - Solo for Tamburium (Blank Forms Editions)
MOONLIGHT BENJAMIN - Wayo (Ma Case)
NON PLUS TEMPS - Dark On Harmon EP (Public Nipples Unlimited)
HOLY WAVE - Five of Cups (Suicide Squeeze)
VARIOUS - Antología del Canto a lo Divino (Mississippi)
R. RING - War Poems, We Rested (Don Giovanni)
MARK VERNON - Call Back Carousel (Discrepant)
STEF + THE SLEEVEENS - Give My Regards to the Dancing Girls (Sweet Time Records)
SEA MOSS - Seamoss2 (Ramp Local)
GUATE GRANLI - Monstersol (Feeding Tube Records)
NNNNN - Plates (Justin Sabaj Music)
MICHAEL HURLEY - Sweetkorn (Mississippi Records)
SAM BURTON - Dear Departed (Partisan Records)
AHMED BEN ALI - Subhana (Habibi Funk)
CHRISTIAN BOUCHARD - IV (Empreintes Digitales)
BRIAN BAUMBUSCH - Chemistry for Gamelan and String Quartet (New World Records)
CHAINO - Temptation: The Exotic Sounds of Chaino (Modern Harmonic)
EUGLOSSINE - Bug Planet Is The Current Timeline (Hausu Mountain)
JOCHEN ARBEIT + SONJA KOSCHE - Zuhaus (Erototox Decodings)
JULIAN LAGE - The Layers (Blue Note)
LISA STENBERG - Monument (Fylkingen)
VARIOUS - OST-Kraut! (Bear-Family)
MADELINE KENNEY - A New Reality Mind (Carpark)
GUIDED BY VOICES - Welshpool Frillies (Guided By Voices Inc.)
NO ARTIST - Something Weird - Hey Folks! It's Intermission Time! (Modern Harmonic)
RICK DEITRICK - The Unguitarist: Complete Works 1969-2022 (Tompkins Square)
RVG - Brain Worms (Fire)
ALAN BRAUFMAN - The Fire Still Burns (Valley of Search)
HIGH RISE - Dispersion (Black Editions)
DAMON SMITH/LOUIS WALL/NNN COOK - Fire Point (Notice Recordings)
MANDELBROT SHAKES - s/t (Lead Mine Records)
ROCKIN' HORSE - Julian the Hooligan (Just Add Water)
SENSATION SEEKERS - It's Clappin' Time (Spinout Nuggets)
AL KARPENTER - The Forthcoming (Ever/Never)
PERSONATOR - He Dreamt Lightly (No Label)
A PRODUCE - The Clearing (Independent Project Records)
BRYAN DAY + DERECK HIGGINS - Woven Territories (Public Eyesore)
FRENCH79 - Teenagers (Intenrexterne)
KATRINA KRIMSKY - 1980 (Unseen Worlds)
SIR DOUGLAS QUINTET - Texas Tornado Live (Liberation Hall)
GROUPA - Kind of folk vol. 4: Ibera (Allice)
PURE MATERIAL - Orange Whip Licorice (Dandy Boy)
TOMMY EMMANUEL - Accomplice Two (CGP Sounds)
VARIOUS - Cries From the Youth (Greensleeves)
VARIOUS - Autonomy: The Productions of Martin Rushent (Ace Records)
7038634357 - Neo Seven (Blank Forms Editions)
ALAN BRAUFMAN - Valley of Search (Valley of Search)
BIG BLISS - Vital Return (Good Eye)
SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE - Sleep Tones (Vdsq)
CELISTIA - Dormida En Sus Ojos (Philatelia Records)
JEAN CLAUDRIC - Jeu de Dames (Born Bad)
SHAWNIS AND THE SHIMMERS - Shimmer Shake (Adang)
WWW - Live From "Del Valle Estadio" (Sweet Time Records)
SANDY EWEN/JASON NAZARY - A Beaded Gesture (Notice Recordings)
JOHN KRAUSBAUER & DAVID MARANHA - Bringing It Back (Public Eyesore)
LES THANES - Heed the Warning (Disques Rogue)
COLOURED BALLS - Heavy Metal Kid (Just Add Water)
THE BQS - s/t (Cort Records)
THURSTON MOORE/SAMARA LUBELSKI/BILL NACE - Live at the Stone (Decimus)
ARVO ZYLO - 333 (No Part Of It)
JOHN ANDREWS & THE YAWNS - Cookbook (Woodsist)
WERNER DAFELDECKER - Neural (Room40)
CLAUD - Supermodels (Saddest Factory Records)
ELLIOTT SHARP - Phlogiston (Erototox Decodings)
RUNAR MAGNUSSON - Sub-Photic Scenario (Erototox Decodings)
JOHN DUNCAN - 3ndlss (Erototox Decodings)
TOBIN SPROUT - Demos and Outtakes Two (Persona Non Grata)
ELLIOTT SHARP, BRANDON LOPEZ, HENRY KAISER, SCOTT AMENDOLA - Minus X, A Tribute to the Music of Iannis Xenakis (Erototox Decodings)
CRUZ PERRO MALDITO - Truquetin Resorte (Keroxen)
THE STILL BROTHERS - It's Not Over (Lewis Recordings)
RICK REED - The Symmetry of Telemetry (Elevator Bath)
PRIVATE SORROW - More Disturbance (Midnight Mines)
SULTRY - Promotional Not to Be Sold (Culture Desert)
Radio plays:
https://www.agorasolradio.org/podcast/ondasonora/radowitzky_falcon-grosgoroth-pablo-prisma-y-las-piramides-al-karpenter-cia-debutante-christian-bouchard-lea-boudreau-christina-giannnone-hyunhye-seo-siavas-hamini/
https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/on-air/james-gormley-presents-adventures-in-sound-and-music-68830
https://radiokras.net/index.php?id=5699
https://www.radiopanik.org/emissions/l-etranger/show-467-flirted-jr-tenantlike/
https://spinitron.com/KXSF/pl/17656624/Flappy-s-Den-rebroadcast
http://electronic-therapy.over-blog.com/2023/07/playlist-du-14-juillet-2023.html
https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/teenage-hate/episodes/25652-teenage-hate-16-july-2023
https://www.mixcloud.com/TheTransmitterDown/show-312-paro-loves-you/
https://www.freeformfreakout.com/fffoxy-podcast-226/
https://www.fro.at/fadimat105-august23/
https://www.citr.ca/radio/bepi-crespan-presents/episode/20230728/
https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/130359
https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/130698
https://inmemoryofjohnpeel.com/2023/08/19/in-memory-of-john-peel-show-230818-podcast-playlist/
https://www.byte.fm/sendungen/knuspern/2023-08-20/22/
https://widgets.spinitron.com/WCBN/pl/17730626/Crinkle-Cut-Space-Time
https://wavefarm.org/radio/wgxc/schedule/jhtbft
https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/131689
https://www.elmuelle1931.com/blogs/blog/news-52-playlist-el-muelle-1931-shop-%E2%80%BF
GRRAWR September 2023 mix
DFM
Another Nice Mess
by DJ Marcelle
18.07.2023
www.dfm.nu
1. Signature tune: PIL - Careering (Peel Session) (DJ Marcelle edit)
2. Anne-James Chaton + Andy Moor - Princess In A Mercedes Class S 280
7'': Princess In A Car (2011, Unsounds)
3. Anne-James Chaton + Andy Moor + Yannis Kyriakides - Garniture
digital single: Handmade Volume 01: Douceurs (Unsounds)
4. The Fall - Gray
10'' ep: O-Mit (Cherry Red Records)
5. GAŁGAŁ - Wort
lp: Ich Schwöre Ich Hab Angst (Abstand Label)
6. Muslimgauze - Analog Zikr 5
2xlp: Martyr Shrapnel (I Shall Sing Until My Land Is Free)
7. Al Karpenter with Triple Negative - The Forthcoming
lp: The Forthcoming (ever/never records)
8. Adhianto Aryo - Geno
lp: Sintaksis (DIVISI62)
9. Carl Stone - Merkato
3xlp: Electronic Music from 1972-2022 (Unseen Worlds) release date: 4th August 2023
10. DJ Travella - Good Beat
lp: Mr Mixondo (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
11. Phelimuncasi – Sesi Gora (producer – DJ MP3)
lp: Phelimuncasi: 2013 - 2019 (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
12. Normal Nada The Krakmaxter - Beautiful Chaos
lp: Tribal Progressive Heavy Metal (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
13. Wilhelm Bras – Despair At Times Of Rejection
lp: Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances (2018, Attitudes)
14. Memory Scale - Anyway River
digital album: And All Things Begin To Drift (Audiobulb Records) release date: 5th August 2023
15. Wilhelm Bras – Feeding Goddesses
lp: Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances (2018, Attitudes)
16. Anne-James Chaton + Andy Moor + Yannis Kyriakides - Sur Mesure
digital single: Handmade Volume 01: Douceurs (Unsounds)
17. Anne-James Chaton Avec Alva Noto Et Andy Moor - Chapitre IV: In The ISS
cd & book: Décade (2012, Raster-Noton)
18. Anne-James Chaton Avec Alva Noto Et Andy Moor - Chapitre V: Calculs
cd & book: Décade (2012, Raster-Noton)
19. Alvin Curran – Bay Area 1
lp: Drumming Up Trouble (Black Truffle)
20. The Fall - Room To Live / Wings / Smile
cassette: Recreation And Degradation. The Fall live. Dirt Club. Bloomfield, New Jersey. 4 April 1983
21. CÄBRÄNEGRÄ– Junto Às Cabras (Stefanie Egedy Remix)
cd: The Wire Tapper 62 (Wire Magazine)
22. The Dead Goldfish Ensemble - Fractal Landscape
lp: Fishy Tales (conatala)
23. Carl Stone - Morangak
3xlp: Electronic Music from 1972-2022 (Unseen Worlds) release date: 4th August 2023
Radio Flora, Hannover
Hypnotizer - SoundExkursionen
08.08.2023
www.radioflora.de
01 Oxbow - „Dead Ahead“ Ipecac
02 Emil Amos - „Zone Black“ Drag City
03 Chocolate Hills - "Saragossa Wells" Orbscure
04 Al Karpenter - „The Forthcoming (with Triple Negative)“ Ever/Never Records
05 Corker/Conboy - "In The Dust And Haze" Vertical Form
06 Stunt Rock - „A New Kind Of Selfie Stick That Is A….“ Born Dead
07 A.P.E. - "Lost Echo" Dorado
08 Andre Williams - „Agile Mobile And Hostile“ Bloodshot
09 Codeine - "Washed Up" Numero Group
10 Jimmy Page - „Lucifer Rising (Part 1)“ Boleskine House Records
11 X Or Size - "Take Flight" Good Morning Tapes
12 Al Karpenter - „Happy B-Day! (with Dominic Coles and Sunik Kim)“ Ever/Never Records
13 Grischerr Feat. Jules - "Jettison" MAL Recordings
14 Sinéad O'Connor - „War“ Chocolate And Vanilla
15 Napalm Death - "You Suffer" Earache Rec.
16 Mission To The Sun - „Unborn“ Felte
17 X Or Size - "Aether Ore" Good Morning Tapes
18 GBK (Gartmayer, Berghammer, Kern) - „Suncheck“ Klanggalerie
19 Herron - "Reducer" MAL Recordings
20 Al Karpenter & CIA Debutante - „Fuck You All To Fade No More“ Ever/Never Records
21 James Emrick - "Saxd" Soda Gong
22 David Shea - „Sunset/Sunrise“ Room40
23 Niko Tzoukmanis - "Flashback" Libreville Rec
FSK 93.00 Hamburg
Doctore Xyramat
11.08.2023, 22.00-23.00
www.fsk-hh.org
mixcloud.com/DocXyr
Xyramat – 5
Hyunhye Seo - Eel II
Hackedepicciotto – Aichach
She Spread Sorrow – Star
Al Karpenter - Poison Sun (with Triple Negative and Dominic Coles)
Hellas – Shinjuku
Christina Giannone - 2
Reviews:
Dusted Magazine Jennifer Kelly, 3 August 2023, NYC
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—the instigator Mattin plus 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.
BeachSloth's Newsletter 6 August 2023
Things have hope as Al Karpenter allows sunlight into “The Forthcoming.” Far from some honey-speckled affair, this is cautious optimism. Yet the whole group plays like a latter-day Red Krayola “Parable of Arable Land.” Indeed, acid-fried and chaotic, the songs lumber forward. Rhythm is an afterthought and remains unpredictable. Speed isn’t of the essence, anyway. Instead, the more prominent aspect of the work comes from this sense of community. You get the sense that everybody is happy to be in each other’s company. It is a warmth that can be felt, even in chaotic arrangements.
Sometimes the tracks drift by as broken fragments of dreams. “1995 (w/ Triple Negative)” has this wooziness that has a hypnogogic pop quality. The nods to KWJAZ are apparent on this one, and considering how much I wished for more artists to sound like that delirium, I’m happy to see it pop up again on my musical radar a decade later. Underneath the monotone vocalizations is a barely contained glee, a possibility of what could be. No wave is essential to the broken-down cadences, with a few songs touching upon a burnt-out late 70s New York Lower East Side madness.
I like this. There is genuine earnestness, a desire to convey an honest emotion. No manipulation to be found here; this is blunt, not cruel, a strange sort of kindness.
Blow Up #304 September 2023 by Stefano I. Bianchi
ROCK DE LUX, Barcelona
Al Karpenter / Al Karpenter & C.I.A. Débutante
The Forthcoming / S/T › ever/never, 2023
Por Jesús Rodríguez Lenin
07. 09. 2023
Al Karpenter es el seudónimo del músico vizcaíno Álvaro Matilla, pero desde 2022 es también el nombre de una banda formada por el propio Matilla, Marta Sainz, Enrique Zaccagnini y Mattin. De raíces musicales eminentemente garageras –al estilo Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, aunque con influencias de la no wave o Sonic Youth–, ha formado parte a lo largo de los últimos veinte años de numerosos grupos como Morraia, Los Chromos o Lapidaciôn Läser –varios de ellos, proyectos de una única grabación–, además de haber impulsado o participado en propuestas más experimentales como KRPNTRS –el punto de partida, en 2005, tanto de su alias Al Karpenter como de su trayectoria musical propiamente dicha, gran parte de ella publicada a través de su propio sello, Le Brutal Records–, Silver Surfing Machine, Mubles, No Jump!, Opus Glory Ignominia, El Palomar, The Heart Junkies, Taruho, Ètrangler L´Etranger, Zaratathustra, Kurtz-e o NUZ y haber colaborado con músicos de las órbitas más experimentales de todo tipo de espectros –personalidades como Mattin, Enrike Hurtado, Ainara Legardón, Loty Negarti o el director de cine Jorge Núñez de la Visitación–.
Como Al Karpenter, su primer trabajo aparece en 2012: “Dead Chickenhead’s Revenge”, un álbum de cinco temas con influencias, entre otros, de Suicide. Con más discos aparecidos en diversos sellos (Munster, Crystal Mine, Bruit Direct Disques, etc.) en estos últimos diez años –solo uno, “Musik From A Private Hell” (2021), está disponible en Spotify, aunque hay otros, como el citado “Dead Chickenhead’s Revenge”, que se pueden escuchar a través de www.archive.org o se pueden localizar en bandcamp o SoundCloud–, ahora coinciden dos lanzamientos diferentes, editados por un mismo sello discográfico, el estadounidense ever/never records: “The Forthcoming”, en solitario, y “S/T”, grabado en colaboración con el dúo C.I.A. Débutante, de Paul Bonnet y Nathan Roche.
“The Forthcoming” es un compendio de las formas más neuróticas del free rock en el que caben lo industrial (sin ritmos maquinales), el ruidismo poblado de glitches o la improvisación libre, con ese punto esquizofrénico que siempre tiene otro artista que parece una de las grandes influencias de Al Karpenter, esa figura legendaria de Fluxus y el antiarte que fue Henry Flynt. Aunque he dicho anteriormente que “The Forthcoming” es un álbum “en solitario”, no lo es: ahí están colaboradores como el cineasta y músico ruidista angelino de origen coreano Sunik Kim, el improvisador estadounidense Dominic Coles o el grupo Triple Negative (un trío formado en Londres por el neozelandés Matthew Hyland, la alemana Anja Büchele y el estonio Dennis Dubovtsev), y todos ellos aportan variedad estilística a un álbum más libre y diverso que “S/T” (que significa, en realidad, “Sin título”), grabado íntegramente junto a C.I.A. Débutante, un grupo formado en París en 2016 por el francés Paul Bonnet y el australiano Nathan Roche. Este disco podría ser definido, con todas las reservas, como más rock. Aquí sí hay algo parecido a elementos rítmicos y una forma de emitir voces que encontramos en algunos cantantes, desde Mark E. Smith hasta Captain Beefheart, pasando por David Thomas, sobre todo en su trabajo al frente de Pere Ubu. Es, eminentemente, una construcción más minimalista, más lo-fi (a lo The Shadow Ring) y, sobre todo, más reconocible para quien se aventure por los terrenos del avant-rock, indudablemente más “asequibles” que los de la improvisación libre. De todas formas, los dos discos son fabulosas manifestaciones de una vanguardia que, por valentía y nihilismo, es heredera directa de los caminos insospechados abiertos en los años setenta por Throbbing Gristle. ∎
LOOP Valparaiso, Guillermo Escudero 6 de septiembre 2023
Mattin es un artista y músico de Bilbao, País Vasco, quien está activo desde 2001, con cinco álbumes y un sencillo editados como Al Karpenter y más de setenta discos publicados como Mattin. Es miembro del cuarteto de Mubles y participa en la banda Billy Bao y el proyecto Regler. Gestionó el sello experimental W.M.O./r. que publicó discos de Bruce Russel de The Dead C, del compositor y trombonista Radu Malfatti y el legendario compositor de música electrónica italiano Maurizio Bianchi, entre otros artistas. Ha colaborado con importantes músicos de la vanguardia como Alan Courtis, Eddie Prévost, Rosy Parlane, Tony Conrad, Valerio Tricoli, por nombrar a algunos.
Mattin trabaja principalmente con ruido e improvisación y ha escrito ensayos y realizado charlas sobre software libre, improvisación, contra la noción de propiedad intelectual y es autor de los libros “Noise & Capitalism” (2009) junto a Anthony Iles y de “Social Dissonance” (2022).
Agente provocador o vasco agitador, son algunos de los apelativos dados a Mattin en la entrevista realizada en febrero de 2010 por David Keenan en The Wire. Estos adjetivos hacia su persona quizás se relacionan con su activismo político y su incansable participación en el movimiento musical Rock Radikal Vasco, a través de su grupo de hardcore punk, Billy Bao.
Al Karpenter actúa como banda desde el 2022, junto a los improvisadores Marta Sainz (bajo y voz), Enrique Zaccagnini (electrónica) y Mattin.
El sello de Nueva York ever/never records publica en julio de este año dos discos de Al Karpenter, “The Forthcoming” y “Al Karpenter & CIA Debutante”.
La reseña de hoy al tercer álbum de Al Karpenter, “The Forthcoming”, es un disco que consiste en 6 temas en los que participan Sunik Kim, Dominic Coles y Triple Negative.
“The Forthcoming (w/ Triple Negative)” - que abre el disco - comprende la participación del dúo folk con sede en Londres, Triple Negative. Aquí se despliega un remolino de voces que tararean ‘forthcoming, you never know…' y un incesante rasgueo de guitarras acústicas desafinadas que tienden a diluirse, para luego dar paso a una filuda guitarra que se distorsiona, languidece y se desarma en un proceso de deconstrucción. “1995 (w/ Triple Negative)” se siente primitivo, con una percusión cruda e hipnótica con guiños a la exótica. “A Brand New Brontophobia (w/ Sunik Kim)” muestra al músico, escritor y cineasta de Los Ángeles, Sunik Kim manipulando diversos sonidos a distintas velocidades, creando un collage sonoro caótico y hiperquinético, mientras se atraviesan incesantes ráfagas de líneas de sintetizador de Mattin. “Poison Sun (w/ Triple Negative & Dominic Coles)” presenta a Triple Negativ y al artista experimental de Nueva York, Dominic Coles con su spoken-word con atisbos a la desaliñada voz de Mark E. Smith, mientras el saxo balbuceante, los ruidos electrónicos y una algarabía de voces se desarticulan en el seno de la improvisación. En “Happy B-Day! (w/ Dominic Coles & Sunik Kim)” el diálogo solitario de Coles se funde entremedio de voces moribundas y latigazos sintéticos, creándose una atmósfera oscura e inquietante.
La última canción que cierra este disco, “Drood (Can You Hear Me Now)” es un canto arrastrado, melancólico y afligido bajo el tapiz de drones oscuros y un coro desafinado.
Si bien Al Karpenter tiene dosis de improvisación, punk y el ruidismo, la simbiosis resultante que se produce propone un lenguaje musical propio y único.
ENGLISH
Mattin is an artist and musician from Bilbao, Basque Country, who has been active since 2001, with five albums and one single released as Al Karpenter and more than seventy albums released as Mattin. He is a member of the Mubles Quartet and participates in the Billy Bao Band and the Regler Project. He managed the experimental label W.M.O./r. which has released records by The Dead C's Bruce Russell, composer and trombonist Radu Malfatti, and legendary Italian electronic music composer Maurizio Bianchi, among other artists. He has collaborated with important avant-garde musicians such as Alan Courtis, Eddie Prévost, Rosy Parlane, Tony Conrad, Valerio Tricoli, to name a few.
Mattin works mainly with noise and improvisation and has written essays and given talks on free software, improvisation, against the notion of intellectual property and is the author of the books "Noise & Capitalism" (2009) together with Anthony Iles and “Social Dissonance”. (2022).
Agent provocateur or Basque agitator, are some of the names given to Mattin in an interview conducted in February 2010 by David Keenan in The Wire. These adjectives towards his person may be related to his political activism and his unrestless participation in the Rock Radikal Vasco musical movement, through his hardcore punk group, Billy Bao.
Al Karpenter has been performing as a band since 2022, along with improvisers Marta Sainz (bass and vocals), Enrique Zaccagnini (electronics) and Mattin.
The New York label ever/never records publishes in July 2023 two albums by Al Karpenter: "The Forthcoming" and "Al Karpenter & CIA Debutante".
Today's review of Al Karpenter's third album, “The Forthcoming”, consist of 6 tracks featuring Sunik Kim, Dominic Coles and Triple Negative.
“The Forthcoming (w/ Triple Negative)” - which opens the album - features London-based folk duo Triple Negative. They unfurl a whirlwind of voices humming 'forthcoming, you never know…' and an incessant strumming of out-of-tune acoustic guitars that tend to fade, to later give way to a sharp guitar that distorts, languishes and disarms in a process of deconstruction. “1995 (w/ Triple Negative)” feels primitive, with raw, hypnotic percussion with nods to exotica. “A Brand New Brontophobia (w/ Sunik Kim)” sees Los Angeles-based musician, writer, and filmmaker Sunik Kim manipulating various sounds at varying speeds, creating a chaotic, hyperkinetic sound collage as traverses Mattin’s relentless bursts of synth lines. “Poison Sun (w/ Triple Negative & Dominic Coles)” features Triple Negative and New York’s experimental artist Dominic Coles with his spoken-word with glimpses of Mark E. Smith's scruffy vocals, as stammering sax, electronic noises and a hubbub of voices are disjointed within improvisation. On “Happy B-Day! (w/ Dominic Coles & Sunik Kim)” Coles' solitary dialogue blends amid dying vocals and synthetic whiplash, creating a dark and haunting atmosphere. The final song that closes this album, “Drood (Can You Hear Me Now)” is a slurred, melancholy, sorrowful chant under a tapestry of dark drones and an off-key chorus.
Although Al Karpenter has doses of improvisation, punk and noise, the resulting symbiosis that is produced proposes their own unique musical language.
Anxious Magazine (25th July 2023, Poland)
Na swoim trzecim albumie Al Karpenter łączy wyjątkową wizję z wieloma innymi współpracownikami. Po tym, jak w 2022 roku Marta Sainz i Enrique Zaccagnini z Santander dołączyli do Al Karpenter i Mattina, a także w wyniku niedawnej współpracy z CIA Debutante, grupa ta podjęła wyzwanie poszerzenia swoich parametrów. Jak wyjaśnia teoretyk Al Karpenter, Mattin: „Ostatnia płyta była wynikiem pandemii, introwertyczna, odizolowana i z bluesową energią. Zamiast tego “The Forthcoming” jest wynikiem możliwości tworzenia muzyki i ponownego koncertowania. Mieliśmy tak niesamowity czas na trasie z Sunik Kim, Dominic Coles i Triple Negative, że pod koniec naszego koncertu w Cafe Oto wszyscy zagraliśmy razem”.
Niezależnie od tego, czy zagłębiamy się w maniakalną plądrofonię z Sunik Kim w “A Brand New Brontophobia”, czy też docieramy do ukrytych nor, które drążą tunele pod grzecznym społeczeństwem z anarchistycznymi dekonstruktorami rock-folku Triple Negative w utworze tytułowym, Al Karpenter obraca się wokół własnej matrycy. “Poison Sun” dodaje nowojorskiego Colesa do mieszanki i czujesz się tak, jakbyś huśtał się między konkurującymi stronami, próbując wchłonąć ich atmosferę podczas każdego przejścia.
Niezależnie od tego, czy zagłębiamy się w maniakalną plądrofonię z Sunik Kim w “A Brand New Brontophobia”, czy też docieramy do ukrytych nor, które drążą tunele pod grzecznym społeczeństwem z anarchistycznymi dekonstruktorami rock-folku Triple Negative w utworze tytułowym, Al Karpenter obraca się wokół własnej matrycy. “Poison Sun” dodaje nowojorskiego Colesa do mieszanki i czujesz się tak, jakbyś huśtał się między konkurującymi stronami, próbując wchłonąć ich atmosferę podczas każdego przejścia.
Mattin ponownie: „Uczucie żywiołowości, chaosu i rozdrobnienia jest skonfrontowane z przyjemnościami kolektywnego tworzenia muzyki. Ta płyta jest skierowana na zewnątrz, oczyszczająca, kompletna i złożona. Przeciwstawiając się faszyzmowi algorytmicznemu i skupieniu uwagi na Tiktok, The Forthcoming próbuje wyzwolić się dźwiękowo poprzez swoje gatunkowe podejście. Ta płyta jest bardzo współczesna.”
Bulletproof Socks 7 August 2023
Having grown-up in a communist family, while I was a primary school kid during the early to mid 90s I used to idolize all sorts of armed struggle and especially worshipped the freedom fighter of the PLO, the IRA and the Basque fighters of ETA. So, it shouldn't be any surprise that I'll shake my ass for anything related to Basque Country music, and more if it involved the great Mattin (check some here). A relatively recent duo of his is Al Karpenter playing with Alvaro Matilla, and The Forthcoming is their new album released by ever/never records. This is hard to categorize; it has too many ideas and styles thrown in, you get improvised skronk rock not unlike The Dead C and with some surprising Scott Walker-like croons, there's psych noise, there's electronic Aphex Twin-y stuff, oooffff. Really nice album. Go over to the ever/never bandcamp and buy it.
Al Karpenter and ever/never released on the same day a collaboration album between Al Karpenter and CIA Debutante, which is equally good or even better. It possesses the same musical references as the Al Karpenter album but it has a little bit more electronic AND bluesy stuff going around. Loving this. Buy it here.