Bass – Loty Negarti
Guitar, Drums – Mattin
Mastered By – Rashad Becker
Recorded By, Producer – Mattin
Vocals, Guitar, Drums – Al Karpenter
A ghost walks through Bilbao: the ghost of Al Karpenter, the only wild rocker able to restore the hard core of the true rebel music.From the times running his legendary Brutus fanzine to playing the role of Andy Warhol as commissioner of a tribute record in the 40th anniversary of the first Velvet Underground album ("A Gran Bilbao Tribute To The Velvet Underground & Nico"), he arrives now in a trio format with a biographical single where he bares himself. The Chosen One features the distinguished presence of key players of the Basque leftfield music scene such as Mattin (from Billy Bao) and Loty Negarti. Munster is the right label to continue the more obscure and reptil-like path of rock from Bilbao (La Secta, Cancer Moon and more recently Billy Bao). Al Karpenter doesnt disappoint and that city becomes a temporary prism through which New Yorks no wave travels to London to pick up Alternative TVs strident side, while crossing paths with Scott Walker in a surgery where Iggy Pop mutates into a dog.Apart from barking, the listener will find tense silences, dense textures and intimate reflection by one of the most singular characters to come out of Bilbao.
Un fantasma pasea por Bilbao: el fantasma de Al Karpenter, el único rockero salvaje capaz de restaurar el núcleo duro de la verdadera música rebelde, desde los tiempos en que dirigía su legendario fanzine Brutus hasta interpretar el papel de Andy Warhol como comisario de un disco homenaje en En el 40 aniversario del primer disco de Velvet Underground ("A Gran Bilbao Tribute To The Velvet Underground & Nico"), llega ahora en formato trío con un single biográfico donde se desnuda. 'The Chosen One' cuenta con la destacada presencia de actores clave del panorama musical vasco de izquierda como Mattin (de Billy Bao) y Loty Negarti. Munster es la etiqueta adecuada para continuar el camino más oscuro y reptil del rock de Bilbao (La Secta, Cancer Moon y más recientemente Billy Bao). Al Karpenter no defrauda y esa ciudad se convierte en un prisma temporal a través del cual el no wave neoyorquino viaja a Londres para captar el lado estridente de Alternative TV, mientras se cruza con Scott Walker en una cirugía en la que Iggy Pop se transforma en un perro. , el oyente encontrará silencios tensos, texturas densas y la reflexión íntima de uno de los personajes más singulares salidos de Bilbao.
Reviews:
The Wire December 2017 (Issue 406)
Back in 2005, in this very column, I was one of the first people gulled by Billy Bao's debut single, writing that it was the work of a Nigerian ex-pat when it was ctually done by Bilbao musician Mattin.
Thus I approached this single by 'legendary' Spanish underground writer/musician Al Karpenter with caution. I am not familiar
with the guy's previous work but this record is such a lush plum of grunt I cannot resist its juicy guts (be they jape or not). With Mattin
on guitar, Loty Negarti on bass, and Karpenter himself on guitar and vocals, the music is blastoid post-punk garage pumice with many odd textures. From roaring, howling, guitar-soaked scorch to Good Missionaries-style blabbermouth sludge to a sidelong gawp that approaches Afflicted Man in no uncertain terms.
Byron Coley
yellowgreenred
(Philadelphia
September
2017)
Al Karpenter The Chosen One 7″ (Munster)
Another
one from the
camp of Mattin
– call him
what you want,
just don’t
call him lazy!
It blows my
mind a bit
that Munster
has developed
a relationship
with him, as
it’s a label I
still
associate with
’90s pop-punk
(they released
my favorite
Sicko album
and at least
one live Mr. T
Experience
7″), but I am
coming to
terms with the
fact that
anything goes
in 2017,
musically or
otherwise. So,
Al Karpenter:
I can’t say
with certainty
that he’s not
a fictitious
person, but
his trio
(including
Mattin on
guitar and
drums) sounds
a lot like
Billy Bao,
back when that
project
resembled punk
music (in the
blurriest way
possible).
Instruments
are played
seemingly
independent of
each other –
the bass might
riff for a
bit, then cut
out, Karpenter
might scream
at a wall for
a second or
two, someone’s
guitar is
strummed with
a tortilla
chip until
there’s merely
crumbs on the
floor. Very
deconstructed
and cuckoo, as
if one of
Fushitsusha’s
psychic jams
was condensed
into a couple
minutes of
indigestion.
So long as
this means
we’re one step
closer to
Mattin
producing a
comeback Mr. T
Experience
album, I’m all
for the
indulgences
displayed
here.
Vital Weekly number 1103 week 43
From Bilbao, Mattin’s erstwhile hometown is Al Karpenter, “the only wild rocker able to restore
the hard core of the true rebel music”. He used to have a fanzine, did a Bilbao tribute album to the first
Velvet Underground album, and now plays guitar, drums and sings, along with Mattin on guitar and
drums and Loty Negarti on bass. The label as to put drops names us on track for references (No New
York, Alternative TV, Scott Walker and Iggy Pop) and I can see some of that here in these three pieces.
Certainly the element of free rock with elements of improvisation, say No New York, lingers on here
and Karpenter does that with considerable force. There is quite a bit of feedback and power used in
these pieces, more so than in any of things it is compared with. Mattin recorded and produced this
with quite some pure direct injection and no additional production values. Perhaps as one should
record a fine punk record, except that Karpenter’s music isn’t really punk. Too slow and too weird are
just two of those things that make it different. Nice one! (FdW)