the great pumpkin

My past two evenings were spent with Karl Blau….and I really can think of a better way to start the week.  Monday night was a Zebulon, and last night at Bruar Falls (and might I say that Bruar Falls is a fine venue, and quickly becoming one of my favorites in the city.  It’s really nice to drink good beer at a show…I’m been digging the Sixpoint Mason Black Wheat).

Karl plays more or less by himself crafting songs using two microphones, a couple pedals, a guitar, and his vocal cords.  I have see artists use loop pedals before, but he is by far is the best…creating a entire song right in front of your eyes…it is just amazing to watch him add loop after loop.  The song starts out as one guitar riff, or one vocal beat box loop, and then in a matter of seconds turns into an amazing multi layered song.

I’m a pretty big fan of Karl Blau, and I have all of the LPs released in the past couple years…and if you have been following the GP I’m not the type of person that typically buys CDs.  Karl currently does a subscription service called Kelp Lunacy Advanced Plagiarism Society (KLAPS) and this is one of the occasions where I make an exception.  KLAPS:

follows the soundscape of audio artist Karl Blau– Kelps are sent out periodically in the format of CD: songs and sounds, orchestrations and field recordings.

Underscoring the committment to style exploration of the modern world as giant mixer of sonic cultures, Blau’s KLAPS–formed beneath the grey skies of the Skagit Valley– produce sonic landscapes of a new world. Karl Blau as crooner, as music producer, instrumentalist, as natural world observer, as collaborateur with artists from the NW and beyond. Kelp Lunacy Advanced Plagiarism Society above all shares Blau’s love of sound

It is important to note that part of the essence of KLAPS is the hand-packaging including screenprinting, letter-pressed, sewn paper, and often on recycled material. Sure, you can download Kelps here for cheap, but you won’t get the full flavor of Kelp Lunacy and the rush of treasure in the mail. (via kelplunacy.com)

Last July Blau announced that he would be putting a stop to KLAPS after issue #40, but you can still subscribe up to that point (currently on issue #29).  If you would like to I would email him first.  Info on this below.

I was able to pick up a copy of one of these issues when I saw him about a year and a half ago, and when I saw him at Zebulon I asked if he had any copies.  He didn’t have any at Zebulon, but brought a copy of the most recent issue for me to Bruar Falls.  KLAPS releases are extremely limited, and he mentioned that he only has enough for the subscribers…so I feel really lucky to have gotten a copy:

This particular copy is made of sewn paper, and is comprised of downbeat R&B songs (or the beginning of it is…that is what I heard on my commute this morning).  Karl mentioned that some of the tracks were off of various compilations.  It was a great soundtrack to my morning.

To inquire about KLAPS email: “kelpmonthly” at sign “fastmail” dot “fm”

You can buy some of the physical back issues of KLAPS and Karl Blau’s other albums on CD here.

If you don’t mind not having the awesome packaging, or would like to hear back issue of KLAPS you can download them!  They are available for the extremely reasonable price of $8.99 each.

You can buy KLAPS digitally here.

In the mean time check out this out:

[mp3] Karl Blau- “Kill the Messenger” (Bret Lunsford/ D+ cover) (off Dance Positive! Buy it!)

If you don’t live in the US there is a chance Karl might be playing near you.  He seems to be touring most of the world right now. Check out his tour dates here. Lets hope he stops back in NYC on his way back to the West Coast.

More on Karl Blau here.

Photo via K Records, taken by Calli Stark

Tags: Bret Lunsford, DIY, K Records, Karl Blau, kelp lunacy advanced plagerism society, Marriage Records, mp3