{"title":"Digital","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"acu01-theoretical-girls-theoretical-record","title":"ACU01 Theoretical Girls - Theoretical Record","description":"Over the last few years a great deal of attention has been paid to the NYC No Wave scene of the late 70s. There have been books, movies, and quite a few reissues\/issues of classic and essential music. Acute Records is proud to have been involved with some essential reissues from the period, such as our first CD, containing Jeffrey Lohn’s contributions to the Theoretical Girls.\n\nJeffrey Lohn is an artist, composer, writer, teacher and plumber. During the genesis of the No Wave scene, he hosted late night concerts in his Soho loft, where artists like Tim Wright, Laurie Anderson and Nina Canal would gather and perform music. The No Wave scene was filled with artists, non-musicians, improvisers and composers who were being inspired by the energy and aesthetics, if not the sound, of the cresting CB’s punk scene. The raw and aggressive punk of bands like the Dead Boys were of particular interest to Lohn, who wanted to combine his “serious” compositions with the raw energy of punk rock. Finding likeminded people such as Glenn Branca (gtr, bass, vocals), Margaret Dewyss (organ, bass, vocals), and Wharton Tiers (drums, vocals), he formed the Theoretical Girls.\n\nAt the time there, were no bands on the New York City scene that better combined the accessibility of Punk, New Wave and plain old Rock and Roll with such avant-garde takes on classical composition and sheer noise. This combination made the Theoretical Girls both a cutting edge assault of noise-rock and an incredibly catchy rock band. Yet external pressures and internal politics thwarted the official public release of their music during their existence, other then a sole self-release 7″ the classic \u003ci\u003eUS Millie\/You Got Me\u003c\/i\u003e, featuring one song each composed by Lohn and Branca.\n\nAcute’s release of \u003ci\u003eTheoretical Record\u003c\/i\u003e collects over an hour of Jeffrey Lohn’s material. Now, for the first time in decades, his songs and sound will get the credit they are due.","brand":"Acute","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567671517466,"sku":"DIG-ACU-001","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517001952.jpg?v=1724701392"},{"product_id":"acu07-the-prefects-amateur-wankers","title":"ACU07 The Prefects - Amateur Wankers","description":"\u003cp\u003e*This title is no longer available via Carpark Records*\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHot on the heels of Sex Pistols-mania, brothers Alan and Paul Apperly knew they had to form a punk band. After placing an ad in the paper and turning down a few vocalists, they settled on Robert Lloyd. He had carried a few of the Ramones amps on their first UK tour and followed the Pistols around, which was punk experience enough. In early ’77, Birmingham’s very first punk band, the Prefects, were formed. Their lifespan was brief and existence unheralded, but somehow they managed to attain the type of punk to post-punk experimentalism only seen by the likes of Joy Division and Wire. Early tracks like the 7 second “VD”(John Peel’s favorite) and “Escort Girls” would be Class of ’77 Punk Rock classics, if anyone ever heard them, but that was only a starting point.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDevelopment was quick. Artrock and Krautrock influences begin combining with their punk rock roots. As Paul Morley would write a few months later, “The Pistols\/Clash are the dinosaurs they’re reacting against…” First, there was “The Bristol Road Leads to Dachau”, where the Prefects usual terseness and humor were left behind for an intense, repetitious, blistering 10 minute account of a pub bombing. By their 1979 radio sessions, they were balancing creatively arranged and produced taut punk numbers, with what must be some of greatest post-punk of the era. But before any proper records could be released, they imploded and reinvented themselves as the Nightingales, blazing trails similar to the Fall and Mekons, and the Prefects were largely forgotten.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAcute Records is excited to present for the first time ever their complete studio recordings plus two live tracks for the definitive Prefects collection. With this long overdue reissue, the Prefects place amongst the most significant UK bands of the era will hopefully be restored and you can hear what Hyped2Death’s Chuck Warner called “the best unsigned ’77-78 punk band in the UK.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Acute","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567672303898,"sku":"DIG-ACU-007","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/ACU07_ThePrefects_AmateurWankers.jpg?v=1724701403"},{"product_id":"acu09-fire-engines-hungry-beat","title":"ACU09 Fire Engines - Hungry Beat","description":"The Fire Engines formed, did absolutely everything in the most chaotic and unconventional manner possible, and broke up 18 months later. They started their first single with a mistake, never released a proper LP and basically flew in the face of every convention of rock-n-roll, yet they managed to leave a lasting impact on the Scottish music scene and post-punk in general. Considered one of the three main movers on the fertile Scottish post punk scene of the early 1980s with the much poppier Orange Juice and slightly more accessible Josef K, Fire Engines drew from similar influences but leaned towards darker and more abrasive sources: Velvet Underground, the Voidoids, Television, the artier end of UK punk and early post-punk like the Subway Sect, the Pop Group and the Fall, and perhaps most importantly, a copy of No New York, particularly the Contortions.The Fire Engines music was angular but funky, discordant but melodic, terse and energetic. They had strict rules, drummer Russell Burns was to set the tempo based on the intensity of his adrenaline-rush and wasn’t to use cymbals or hi-hats. Guitarists Davy Henderson and Murray Slade weren’t to play barre chords and well, Graham Main played bass.\n\nDuring their brief career they released 3 singles and a mini-LP, all of which are contained on Acute’s new compilation \u003ci\u003eHungry Beat\u003c\/i\u003e. They premiered with the self-released \u003ci\u003eGet Up\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eUse Me\u003c\/i\u003e, single of the week in the NME and Sounds. They then signed to Pop Aural records, a new imprint from post-punk pioneer Bob Last of Fast Product, the label that gave us the Human League, Mekons and Gang of Four. For their first collaboration, the \u003ci\u003eLubricate Your Living Room\u003c\/i\u003e mini LP, Last suggested the band not wait and put out a conventional album but record some “extreme muzak”, improvised functional wallpaper music for a new generation. For their next release they were taken in the other direction. Starting with their clearest pop song yet, \"Candyskin,\" over the top string sections and back-up vocals were added. Of course that just made the grating guitar hooks and tribal drums that much more interesting, while the flipside, \"Meat Whiplash\" was one of their most frenetic songs yet. After this critically-acclaimed single the Fire Engines released one final stab at the charts. \u003ci\u003eBig Gold Dream\u003c\/i\u003e, with it’s female back up singles, funky rhythms and catchy chorus would be their most acessibile record, and it would be their last.\n\nBefore their first potential US tour, the band imploded. Davy and Russell formed WIN, if not New Pop’s most successful band, certainly it’s most subversive. They’d later move on to form the noisy rock outfit Nectarine No. 9 and most recently, the Sexual Objects. However, after 20 years, spurned on by invites from the Magic Band and Scotland’s latest success story, Franz Ferdinand, Fire Engines have been playing shows again. Who knows, maybe they’ll finally get the chance to play No New York City…","brand":"Acute","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567672893722,"sku":"DIG-ACU-009","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567672926490,"sku":"CD-ACU-009","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517200959.jpg?v=1724701414"},{"product_id":"acu10-the-lines-memory-span","title":"ACU10 The Lines - Memory Span","description":"Between 1978 and 1983, The Lines released 5 singles, 1 EP and 2 LPs to mixed reviews and little sales. One reviewer at the time noted that “The stumbling block for instant accolades seems to be the puzzling paradox that these are lasting pieces of work which require several listens before they finally take root in your soul.” Sure enough, anybody who’s spent enough time with these records has developed a cult-like devotion to The Lines. Over the years, these few records have become rare and expensive collector’s items and have never been released on CD until now.Acute’s first Lines reissue \u003ci\u003eMemory Span\u003c\/i\u003e represents 5 years in the growth of one of the most interesting bands of the era. Their music evolved from skeletal and taut post-punk scorchers to atmospherically recorded dubbed out bliss. The singles possess an angular and melodic thoughtfulness and precision that bring to mind Wire, Joy Division, the Feelies or Mission of Burma. Included are the seminal cult-classic power-pop\/punk first single, “White Night”, it’s more taut and post-punk follow-up, \u003ci\u003eOn the Air\u003c\/i\u003e 7″, the \u003ci\u003eCool Snap!\u003c\/i\u003e EP(a desert-island disc to Chuck Warner of Messthetics), the more atmospheric and new wave Nerve Pylon and Transit singles, the rare final 12″ \u003ci\u003eHouse of Cracks\/Old Town\u003c\/i\u003e and 2 early unreleased tracks.\n\nAlthough they played shows with bands like The Cure, Bauhaus, The Sound and Birthday Party, and featured members of prag Vec and Alternative TV, they were never part of any scene. They never toured and rarely spoke to the press. For 5 years they rehearsed, performed and recorded to little acclaim, leaving only 8 releases on vinyl. While unappreciated in their time, they perfectly encapsulate the best qualities of the era: angst-ridden angularity, danceable catchiness, sublime dub-influenced atmospherics, sonic experimentation and killer hooks, with an unrivalled consistency.","brand":"Acute","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567673516314,"sku":"CD-ACU-010","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567673549082,"sku":"DIG-ACU-010","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517201055.jpg?v=1724701427"},{"product_id":"acu11-the-lines-flood-bank","title":"ACU11 The Lines - Flood Bank","description":"Acute Records couldn’t be more proud than to announce the release of our 11th CD, and our 2nd by The Lines, \u003ci\u003eFlood Bank\u003c\/i\u003e. With our previous critically acclaimed compilation \u003ci\u003eMemory Span\u003c\/i\u003e, we introduced (and reminded) music fans of a truly fantastic band of the post-punk era. While \u003ci\u003eMemory Span\u003c\/i\u003e compiled their singles and EPs, \u003ci\u003eFlood Bank\u003c\/i\u003e contains the band’s two LPs, Therapy and Ultramarine.\n\nWhen listening to \u003ci\u003eMemory Span\u003c\/i\u003e, you can hear a progression as the band develops their songwriting and production. On these LPs, while the songwriting is as strong as anything on \u003ci\u003eMemory Span\u003c\/i\u003e, you hear the results of their further explorations in sound, production and process. One key change was, as singer\/guitarist\/trombonist Rico says in one of two vintage interviews included in the liner notes, “What’s happened is the focus has gone from me as song-writer and focal point. Now songs start as a rhythm and Joe and Nick, then me and Mick overdub melody and noise.” This results in music with an acute sense of atmosphere and rhythm, a sublime sense of space with a refined subtletly. However dig just below the surface and many of the qualities that made \u003ci\u003eMemory Span\u003c\/i\u003e such a hit remain; infectious melodies, angsty guitar, funky rhythms, and songs that will get into your brain and stay there.","brand":"Acute","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567674171674,"sku":"CD-ACU-011","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567674204442,"sku":"DIG-ACU-011","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517201161.jpg?v=1724701441"},{"product_id":"acu12-method-actors-this-is-still-it","title":"ACU12 Method Actors - This Is Still It","description":"The Method Actors were among the earliest bands to emerge from the same fertile Athens punk\/new wave scene that gave the world The B-52s, R.E.M. and Pylon. Acute Record’s new CD \u003ci\u003eThis Is Still It\u003c\/i\u003e–which R.E.M.’s Peter Buck describes in his liner notes as “a kind of secret history of the Athens scene”– revisits the essential early years of the trailblazing duo.\n\nWith just two members, Vic Varney on guitar and vocals, David Gamble on drums and vocals, the Method Actors were an experiment in just how much you could do with so little. Using repetitious grooves and stripped down instrumentation, killer rhythm guitar and thunderous drums, they underpinned surprisingly pop, hook-laden songwriting with an angsty racket of barely controlled chaos.\n\nWhile it was the energy of the typical punk influences like the Pistols and Ramones that got them kick-started, unexpected influences like James Blood Ulmer and Capt Beefheart pushed their sounds to odd, aggressive structures, creating a sort of southern skronk by two guys who could actually sing. Following in the dance based approach of fellow Athenian B-52s, they soon incorporated the atmospherics of groups like Public Image Limited and Joy Division, the minimalism of the Young Marble Giants and the punk-funk of Gang of Four. Still, they never lost the ability to focus on the music’s key elements: incessant, stripped down, trance-inducing grooves and yelping vocal harmonies that vacillate between haunting melodies and excited spasms.\n\nThe early batch of singles that comprise the first half of \u003ci\u003eThis Is Still It\u003c\/i\u003e were recorded in marathon sessions in a two-person guitar and drums format that in some ways would lay the groundwork for anyone from the White Stripes to No Age. By the time they recorded their critically acclaimed double LP, Little Figures, selections of which fill out \u003ci\u003eThis Is Still It\u003c\/i\u003e, they were able to stretch out a bit, including adding the sounds of not just a bass guitar, but steel drums to the mix. All the while they never lost the ability to focus the music on it’s key elements of incessant stripped down trance-inducing grooves and yelping harmony vocals that vacillate between haunting melodies and excited outbursts.\n\nThese two aspects of their sound are represented well by the first two free downloads included below, but they only hint at the breadth of their output.","brand":"Acute","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567674925338,"sku":"DIG-ACU-012","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567674958106,"sku":"CD-ACU-012","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517201253.jpg?v=1724701454"},{"product_id":"acu13-the-disco-zombies-drums-over-london","title":"ACU13 The Disco Zombies - Drums Over London","description":"The Disco Zombies should rank high in the pantheon of legendary English DIY punk bands, but a frustrating career of bad timing, record label mismanagement and three terrific singles slipping through the cracks have kept them in the shadows.\n\nIn 1977 they were Leicester’s greatest punk band but the single that might have shot them to the top of the UK heap, filled with pop gems like \"Top of the Pops\" and \"Punk A Go Go\", was scrapped at the last possible minute due to a production company implosion.\n\nStill hopeful, they moved to London and prepared for stardom. They recorded and released the John Peel favorite “Drums Over London\" themselves, a song whose satire may have been too subtle for the masses. Sung from the viewpoint of a xenophobic right-winger, many took it as racist and it found fans among the crowd they were trying to critique. Peel had to explain to Rock Against Racism it actually supported their views!\n\nDue to the success of \"Drums Over London,\" their first single finally saw release as \u003ci\u003eThe Invisible\u003c\/i\u003e EP. Unfortunately as it was a year late it was seen as being out of time and quickly sank without a trace. With hindsight we can hear it for what it really was, an EP of killer pop-punk. And had it come out on time, their \"Top of the Pops\" would’ve beaten the Rezillos to the charts by 6 months.\n\nOne more single—an artier affair with a drum machine and DIY atmosphere—was released. \"Here Come the Buts\" backed by Mary Millington, their tribute to England’s most famous porn star suicide, marry a more post-punk atmosphere of repetitious drum machine programming with their usual infectious melodies and snarling guitars.\n\nThree more aborted records followed and more songs, only ever played live, were heard by increasingly fewer people as the punk dream gave way.\n\nBut now, at long last, The Disco Zombies—a great pop band with catchy hooks, witty lyrics and infectious energy—can be appreciated by the rest of us. Available for the first time since their release, The Disco Zombies’ three classic, collectible singles, coupled with seven bonus unreleased tracks, are featured on the new Acute Records compilation LP \u003ci\u003eDrums Over London\u003c\/i\u003e. In addition, the digital download contains a complete live set including five more songs not recorded or heard anywhere else, as well as some choice covers that will prove the Disco Zombies are more than another forgotten punk rock hard-luck story.","brand":"Acute","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567675449626,"sku":"DIG-ACU-013","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/DiscoZombies_DrumsOverLondon_500px.jpg?v=1724701464"},{"product_id":"acu14-happy-refugees-return-to-last-chance-saloon","title":"ACU14 Happy Refugees - Return to Last Chance Saloon","description":"\u003cp\u003eUK’s Happy Refugees never fit in with the scene of early 80s British pop music and they knew it. They knew it when they wrote “As far as music is concerned it is almost an overwhelming embarrassment to be associated with it in any way” on the back sleeve of their first record. They knew it when they said “we play with a total disregard to a record buying public” in one of their rare appearances in the press. In the liner notes to this compilation they acknowledge their self-fulfilling prophecy, “We received little recognition and we were reticent to try and find it. Enthusiasm was vulgar to some extent…the band seemed to sit outside everything else that was going on, which of course is a good thing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe music they wrote and self-released can only be described as rock-and-roll. They liked Iggy and the Stooges and John Cale. They liked Richard Hell and The Fall. It was acceptable to like Joy Division, “but slavish enthusiasm was considered spooky and weird.” What they hated was heavy metal, goths, “long songs played in strange time signatures by fey bands with long hair” and all the bland music as the post-punk scene gave way to fashion bands aiming for the charts. That first record sleeve made their intentions clear; “I hope Happy Refugees can breathe a breath of fresh air with this record, not just because of the songs but also because it is no way produced with the infatuation of becoming a popstar.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThey wrote songs that were personal and honest. Production and musical chops were rough around the edges, but with 6 members at times, they had a full and layered sound. Scratchy guitars and incessant bass buoyed by a pounding piano created a post-punk jangle meets wall of sound bed for intensely raw songs about lost relationships and lost loved-ones. No matter how abrasive the sound gets, every song is filled with catchy and heartfelt hooks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s hard to understand why a band this good didn’t find a home on Rough Trade or the like. A few years earlier perhaps they’d fit in better with the great DIY bands like Desperate Bicycles and Swell Maps (not exactly rock stars themselves). A few years later they might’ve been C86 superstars. Maybe they would’ve been stars in New Zealand. As it was, they slipped through the new pop era with only a self-released 7” and a “mini LP” to their name, and into cult legend.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor over 10 years Acute Records has presented obscure music to new audiences, but Happy Refugees may just be the most mysterious yet. They have said they always felt like they were waiting for their audience. It took 30 years but people are finally waking up. Being cited as a favorite of trendy new bands like Girls Names and Crystal Stilts was a start. With this release they’ll get at least some of the exposure they deserve.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Acute","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567676104986,"sku":"DIG-ACU-014","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/ACU14_Happy_20Refugees_Return_20to_20Last_20Chance_20Saloon.jpg?v=1724701474"},{"product_id":"acu16-the-lines-hull-down","title":"ACU16 The Lines - hull down","description":"Acute Records is excited to present our latest and final release, the “lost” third album by The Lines. After the release of their cult-classic singles, EPs, and LPs (compiled on Acute’s \u003ci\u003eMemory Span\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFlood Bank\u003c\/i\u003e releases), The Lines continued to record, first in a series of home experiments and then in William Orbit’s Guerilla Studios. Unfortunately, these recordings were never finalized as band members began to drift apart.\n\nSinger and multi-instrumentalist Rico Conning continued working at Guerilla, spending the better part of the 80s engineering and remixing such artists as Wire, Coil, Renegade Soundwave, Depeche Mode and many others of your favorite bands, often in collaboration with Mute’s Daniel Miller.\n\nSome of the skills utilized on those era-defining records are prefigured in the more dance-oriented selections on hull down, such as the new wave grooves of “Single Engine Duster” and “Raffle” or the vocoder electro-funk of “Where in the World.” These tracks marry drum machine programming with classic post-punk textures in a way not dissimilar to other artists making the post-punk to dancefloor transition circa 1983. Songs like “Flat Feet” and “Archway” recall the atmospheric post-punk dub of their prior LPs, but with a decidedly more electronic sheen. Other compositions include instrumental experiments exploring cross-sections between home-recorded DIY post-punk and sequencer rhythms.\n\nOver 20 years after these sessions, the original cassette tapes were dusted off and different incarnations have been blended or cross-faded to create a version of what might’ve been a third LP, an alternate 80s where The Lines continued developing and exploring.","brand":"Acute","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567676432666,"sku":"DIG-ACU-016","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/TheLines_hulldown_900px.jpg?v=1724701485"},{"product_id":"cak001-jake-mandell-the-placekick-ep","title":"CAK001 Jake Mandell - The Placekick EP","description":"\u003cp\u003eJake Mandell was raised by a society of hyper-evolved humanoid “cats” in the tunnels and stockrooms of the deserted mining ship Red Dwarf. However, the cats quickly died out after endless squabbles over who looks better in the mirror, and Jake was left alone as a child with reruns of late 20thcentury BBC sitcoms as his only companionship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJake quickly took to writing music, and after three million years of isolation, beer milkshakes and curries (he was kept alive through the help of the ship’s senile AI, Holly), his music took on quite a unique perspective (to put it mildly). With the assistance of his two imaginary friends- his Barcelonian assistant, Manuel, and the kind 15th century monk, Cadfael- Jake managed to complete over forty two trillion hours of music, all written inside Holly’s databanks. However, since the computer was quite senile none of the music was able to be saved- with the exception of these seven tracks, that is. Each track is its own epic seventy four hour mythical opera, conveniently condensed into two or three minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn a fit of clearheadedness, when Holly realized that energy was running low and that he would not be able to sustain the ship’s life-support for much longer, he gathered all the remaining power and sacrificed himself to send Jake through time and space. When Jake came to, he found himself on the 30th yard line of an anonymous Midwestern football field with a game in progress. we’re excited to present The Placekick EP– 7 tracks made three million years in the future by a 24 year old raised by cats, fed by curry, and mentored by a senile artificial intelligence.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567678923034,"sku":"CD-CAK-001","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567678955802,"sku":"DIG-CAK-001","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517000153.jpg?v=1724701531"},{"product_id":"cak002-marumari-ballad-of-the-round-ball","title":"CAK002 Marumari - Ballad Of The Round Ball","description":"BALLAD OF THE ROUND BALL formed in the 2000th year of the new history. All the cultures and races of the universe were now in alliance, and interstellar travel and trade resulted. Ships flew freely from one planet to another, and all seemed well among the galaxies...\n...then Marumari arrived.\n\nOriginally from the planet Earth before emigrating to Zebes, Marumari’s career began as a young man reading Omni magazine in upstate New York. From there, he acquired the scientific skills of a certified space hunter and hence initiated his travels throughout the galaxy. Upon coming into contact with the musical people of Chozo, Marumari realized that his future lay in communicating the sounds he often heard in his head as a young man while riding his bike up to the local Dairy Queen. From that point, Marumari took leave of his position in the space hunters and purchased a small villa in the remote planet of Tourian. Here he began his journey as messenger of the future. The first product of these sessions has been transmitted back to Marumari’s home planet Earth and has been named \u003ci\u003eBallad of the Round Ball\u003c\/i\u003e. Interceptors have called the sounds “electronic pop music.”","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567679742234,"sku":"CD-CAK-002","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567679775002,"sku":"DIG-CAK-002","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":49567679807770,"sku":"LP-CAK-002","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517000252.jpg?v=1724701543"},{"product_id":"cak003-so-takahashi-nubus","title":"CAK003 So Takahashi - Nubus","description":"Carpark is proud to offer the first “proper” full length record of So Takahashi. Having listened to So’s first self-produced and distributed CD-R \u003cem\u003e1 \u003c\/em\u003eearlier in the year, Carpark thought it was time to give more people a chance to listen to this distinct and unusual sound. Hence we bring you \u003cem\u003eNubus\u003c\/em\u003e, which is named after an old Apple hardware system.\n\nHailing from Yokohama, Japan, but currently living in New York, So has been making music in his home studio for more than four years now. Utilizing his collection of vintage roland drum machines, some guitars, a theremin, and sounds from his kitchen and fax machine, So has constructed in \u003cem\u003eNubus\u003c\/em\u003e a new audio plateaux resting somewhere in between ambient melodicism and structured noise.\n\nSo is continually trying to reconcile his love of club music with more “non-body” musics. While his first CD is specifically aimed at the dance floor, \u003cem\u003eNubus\u003c\/em\u003e seeks out an area somewhere just outside the club after closing. Here one can hear traces of Cologne (Studio 1), structured noise (Ala Ryoji Ikeda), and Japanese pop. There are other musical dichotomies that are constantly being negotiated on \u003cem\u003eNubus\u003c\/em\u003e as well: “order vs. chaos,” “pop vs. un-pop,” “mechanics vs. organics.” In the end, So demonstrates how futile these dichotomies ultimately are at the end of the millennium, and brings us to a greater understanding and appreciation of music through music.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":49567680397594,"sku":"LP-CAK-003","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567680430362,"sku":"DIG-CAK-003","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567680463130,"sku":"CD-CAK-003","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517000351.jpg?v=1724701556"},{"product_id":"cak004-marumari-the-wolves-hollow","title":"CAK004 Marumari - The Wolves Hollow","description":"From a note found outside the recently-abandoned Marumari compound:\n\n“The snowfall had finally let up and the once white field was green again, steam rising above the month’s harvest. Prince Geode examined the brains to make sure they would be adequate for the supercomputer’s needs. In the distance, cows grazed lazily, oblivious to the plutonian mastership hovering above them on Skunnymunk Mountain. With the winter solstice came the need for a double supply of cow brains to keep the Wolfernian species going. The year was 1951 and in the cellar of an upstate New York home, little Josh Presseisen had made the first earthling contact with outerspace on his new Remco Gonset g66b ham radio…\n\nJosh Presseisen was the keeper of the Wolfernian secret and would always be even until that fateful day, a day that would never go down in history, April 18, 1976. When the war of the worlds, Earth wolf against alien wolf, resulted in the demise of this superior wolf race from outerspace. It was on that day that their music was passed to Josh. Through careful decoding and mastering of the Wolfernian aria, it is Marumari’s pleasure to bring to you their Wolfernian symphony.”\n\nWith this, Marumari’s 3rd full length (2nd for Carpark), we find our young space traveler in a state of transition. The first half of the record emerges from the interests on Marumari’s \u003cem\u003eBallad of the Round Ball\u003c\/em\u003e, where strange decontextualized tones integrated freshly with space-age melodies and glitchy robust beats. The second half of \u003cem\u003eThe Wolves Hollow\u003c\/em\u003e finds Marumari pursuing different ideas. Here he is less concerned with the song and more concerned with layers (I hate to use the work tracks). Listened as a whole, it is a masterful statement sure to please all those in tune with the future.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567681347866,"sku":"DIG-CAK-004","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567681380634,"sku":"CD-CAK-004","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517000450.jpg?v=1724701570"},{"product_id":"cak006-kid606-the-soccergirl-ep","title":"CAK006 Kid606 - The Soccergirl EP","description":"Kid606 ushers in the second installment of the Carpark “sports-FAN” CD series with \u003cem\u003eThe Soccergirl EP\u003c\/em\u003e. This special CD, with soccerball shaped CD and soccer-field surface inspired traycard, is sure to cause some lively debate with the punters. With this recording, Mr. 606 makes a departure from many of his previous recordings. Those associating the sixer with punk\/gabba-inspired mayhem or glitchity\/cutty style poppity-pop will be in for a big surprise.\n\nInstead, \u003cem\u003eThe Soccergirl EP\u003c\/em\u003e offers six tracks of melody-suffused ambient electronics in a style reminiscent of early Kraftwerk or to Roccoco Rot. This is definitely “post-season” listening. With song titles like “If My Heart Ever Ran Away It Would Be Looking For The Day When Right Beside You It Could Forever Stay,” it seems very clear where the inspiration for \u003cem\u003eThe Soccergirl EP\u003c\/em\u003e is coming from. Blending teutonic sounds and rhythms with a distinctly Southern Californian perspective, our young Mr. 606 showcases his burgeoning talent to blend elements of traditional “songcraft” (melody, rhythm, harmony, et.al.) in an exciting and “non-songy” way. It’s not post-rock and it’s not post-techno. And it most surely doesn’t taste like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.\n\nHere we have music that will reflect the tastes of the future millennium. Carpark therefore is pleased to be the first on this planet to offer the new genre “sixth world”: as a nod to all well-meaning colonialists as well as more importantly to all those preparing for a new socio-political era that many of us can already taste.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567683150106,"sku":"DIG-CAK-006","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517000658.jpg?v=1724701592"},{"product_id":"cak007-so-takahashi-30-30","title":"CAK007 So Takahashi - 30\/30","description":"30 minutes of audio for 30 empty rooms; this is the theme of So Takhashi’s new \u003cem\u003e30\/30\u003c\/em\u003e cd for carpark. Given 30 photos of empty or unused rooms, So has playfully constructed narrative and memory within. The photos, taken by Fumiko Nozawa, were displayed in galleries and clubs throughout North America and Europe as the 30 minute audio piece played out. As the exhibit is no longer available for viewing, Carpark thought the best way to have a more permanent artifact of this experience was to release the audio on a CD with the 30 photos in a CD booklet.\n\nIn the audio, ideas appear and disappear just as humans and other animals enter and leave a room. Not quite happy to remain out of a space, an idea will return later in the piece tampered or with additional data about it. Though So Takahashi has firmly placed his own audio interpretation on these rooms, he still leaves quite a bit to the participant. The piece can be listened to on its own or while perusing the photos. More to the point, the photos can be looked at in a number of different ways and orders. Listen and hear voices talking, crickets chirping, maybe even the hum of a heater or air conditioning unit.\n\nSo has taken the rigorous and humorous elements noticeable on his \u003cem\u003eNubus\u003c\/em\u003e release (Carpark 3) and given them a new visual dimension with \u003cem\u003e30\/30\u003c\/em\u003e. New possibilities appear with each additional listen. Our motto for \u003cem\u003e30\/30\u003c\/em\u003e is “try it again for the first time.”","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567683641626,"sku":"DIG-CAK-007","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567683674394,"sku":"CD-CAK-007","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517000757.jpg?v=1724701603"},{"product_id":"cak008-jake-mandell-love-songs-for-machines","title":"CAK008 Jake Mandell - Love Songs For Machines","description":"Running the risk of alienating himself from his friends and his fans, Jake Mandell has confessed; confessed his previously repressed true love for computers and machines. We told him there was nothing to be ashamed about. He’s just glad to get it out of his system.\n\nFortunate for all of us, Jake has gotten it out of his system in the form of a beautiful new album \u003cem\u003eLove Songs for Machines\u003c\/em\u003e. Once set in motion, these songs express what words cannot: the ineffable sensations accorded to desire and attachment. Much has been said about the dehumanizing aspects of computer technology. Jake Mandell revises these luddite notions and claims the computer as the 20th century humanizer par excellence.\n\n\u003cem\u003eLove Songs for Machines\u003c\/em\u003e leaves no computer music movement untouched. From the poppy new waveness of New Order and early Human League, to the unique timbres and rhythms that can only be achieved with late 20th century computer software, \u003cem\u003eLove Songs for Machines\u003c\/em\u003e brings the last 50 years of computer music history together into one very bold emotional statement. Your head will scratch and your legs will dance.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":49567684198682,"sku":"LP-CAK-08","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567684231450,"sku":"CD-CAK-08","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567684264218,"sku":"DIG-CAK-08","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517000856.jpg?v=1724701616"},{"product_id":"cak009-marumari-supermogadon","title":"CAK009 Marumari - Supermogadon","description":"The year was 2021. Marumari placed the CD into the player and closed his eyes. The music swelled, infusing the space chamber with energy. Using the projection technique Prince Geode had taught him earlier, the ageless space traveler began his astral ascent into the green galaxy and was on his final journey to the host planet.\n\nAgralope wasn’t what he had expected the planet to be on his first visit years earlier, but its inhabitants were friendly and warmed up to the strange earthling right away. To Marumari they were odd: odd looking with golden eyes set into flat red faces, no nose, mouth or ears; just shining golden eyes against slick red skin. They lived in cocoon-like dwellings bored into the planet’s crusty red surface and emerged at night to farm the ultraviolet oceans by the light of the planet’s two moons. Marumari had learned a lot from these peaceful aliens. Now was the time for him to bring this knowledge back to Earth, his home that had been ravaged by war and destruction for decades. Maybe with the Agro people’s help he could save his planet…….\n\nCarpark is pleased to present the 4th full length recording from Marumari (his 3rd for Carpark) entitled \u003cem\u003eSupermogadon\u003c\/em\u003e. The continuing effects of interstellar space travel combined with extended stays in New England have created even more new musical building blocks for our young space traveler to work with. Dare we call \u003cem\u003eSupermogadon\u003c\/em\u003e more “mature” even though Marumari is ageless? Our boy has taken elements of smooth jazz, 80s alternative rock, and 70s american radio hits and given them a more playful digital interpretation. Sadly for marketing departments around the world, this is dance music that fits no currently existing dance genre. We can’t wait to see what people start calling it.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567684952346,"sku":"DIG-CAK-09","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517000955.jpg?v=1724701627"},{"product_id":"cak010-takagi-masakatsu-pia","title":"CAK010 Takagi Masakatsu - Pia","description":"Takagi Masakatsu's debut for Carpark is a quietly experimental symphony of tones and voices, some radically rearranged into glitch territory, but never so much that the computers overwhelm the creativity. Reminiscent of ambient space music and sound sculpture (Takagi was a visual artist before he became a musical one), Pia floats from track to track, often with bits of glitch processing burbling in the background, but still focused on trance-state tones and occasional melodies. Even the processed tracks, including highlights \"Bienna\" and \"Eau,\" retain a soft beauty. For \"Cino Piano,\" a tremulous female voice and some tentative piano work give way to found-sound music of a playground. Not surprising from a record whose thank-you list includes \"the beauty all over the world.\" (Pia comes with a CD-ROM including accompanying visuals for several tracks, as well as the Quicktime movie Water Fall.)\n\n--- John Bush, \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.allmusic.com\/album\/pia-mw0000015405\"\u003eallmusic.com\u003c\/a\u003e","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567685804314,"sku":"CD-CAK-010","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567685837082,"sku":"DIG-CAK-010","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517001051.jpg?v=1724701641"},{"product_id":"cak012-greg-davis-arbor","title":"CAK012 Greg Davis - Arbor","description":"*This title is no longer available via Carpark Records*\n\nIs this a rock record, a folk record or electronic record? Surely the rockers will think it’s “electronic,” while the computer kids will find it “rockist,” and well….who knows what the folk listeners think. Regardless, Greg Davis has created a record that truly transcends these marketing genres. \u003ci\u003eArbor\u003c\/i\u003e is something wholly new that manages to incorporate all these elements and more. In structural and aesthetic terms, think of a mix between John Fahey’s early acoustic records, fennesz’s “endless summer,” and Jim O’Rourke’s solo work.\n\nGreg Davis has been formally studying music for the last seven years. He recently received his masters of music degree in composition from the New England Conservatory of Music and has also earned a music degree in jazz studies from DePaul University in Chicago. Some may know Greg Davis from his work as asterisk, with parallel, or as head of Boston’s Autumn Records. Greg also composes more “contemporary” scores for various ensembles (John Cage and Morton Feldman are his main inspirations) as well as collaborating with many of boston’s best and brightest such as hrvatski (they have an ongoing duo project) and Marumari (for their remix record forthcoming on Carpark.)\n\nCarpark is certain that “arbor” is the harbinger of a new type of music we like to think of as “laptop folk.” Not to be confused with the genre “folktronica,” laptop folk’s aim is to integrate the digital and analog domains. Whereas previous attempts trivialized or treated the electronic element as a novelty, \u003ci\u003eArbor\u003c\/i\u003e makes no musical hierarchy. At the beginning of this new century, it’s especially important to consider the ends are more important than the means.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567690326298,"sku":"DIG-CAK-12","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/GregDavis_Arbor.jpg?v=1724701667"},{"product_id":"cak014-marumari-the-remixes","title":"CAK014 Marumari - The Remixes","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the works for many years, meticulously prepared and fine-tuned by Marumari’s friends, Carpark presents the much-anticipated Marumari remix CD.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe list of remixers reads like a who’s who of Marumari’s IM buddy list: Electric Company (Tigerbeat6), Robert Lippok (from to Rococo Rot), Casino vs. Japan (Wobblyhead, City Centre offices, and future Carpark recording artist), Lackluster (Defocus), Cex (Tigerbeat6), Greg Davis (Carpark), L’usine (Isophlux, Hymen), Octopus Inc. (Kracfive), Stars As Eyes (Tigerbeat6), and Colongib (Kracfive). The CD also includes the ever-popular “Baby M” music video (which made its way onto MTV2 last year), a short video piece about Marumari’s dog Bacon (with remixed audio by Miami’s o9), and mp3s from Vim, Kettel (Planet-Mu), Multiplex, Buddy System, Phluidbox, Yuppster (8 bit peoples), Proem (Merck), Thug (Defocus), and Atomly (Atomiq).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere’s something on the remixes for everyone. Casino vs. Japan turns Marumari into a blissful sonic haze, Greg Davis reinterprets Marumari with his arsenal of acoustic instruments, and Electric Company strips Marumari down to the basics: a melody, a rhythm, and a wolf’s howl. The remixes will definitely keep you happy until Marumari finishes up their next LP and epic science fiction novel.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567691211034,"sku":"DIG-CAK-14","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517001457.jpg?v=1724701677"},{"product_id":"cak015-ogurusu-norihide-humour","title":"CAK015 Ogurusu Norihide - Humour","description":"Ogurusu Norihide lives a double life: by day, studying to become a Shinto priest in the shrines of Tokyo, on his off hours, hard at work in his room creating some of the freshest hybrids of acoustic and electronic music. In Ogurusu’s own words: “I have created music for 5 years. I studied computer in university and played guitar with a rock band. I have lived in Kyoto since March 2001. I moved to Tokyo for taking license of a Shinto priest. My home is a shrine and now i live and create music in Tokyo.”\n\n\u003cem\u003eHumour\u003c\/em\u003e, Ogurusu’s debut for Carpark, blends aspects of pop, techno, and Japanese folk using an array of instruments like guitar, bass, keyboard, powerbook, recorder and percussion. Bundling the two self-released EPs study and I, \u003cem\u003eHumour\u003c\/em\u003e takes in an astonishing range of sound. From the intimate acoustic guitar solo of the first track (simply titled “0:52″) to the purely digital abstractions of the fifth (“5:20″), Ogurusu shows he is one of the leading purveyors of minimal pop. Listening to \u003cem\u003eHumour\u003c\/em\u003e conjures up comparisons to such seemingly disparate artists as the Beatles, Brian Eno, Jorge Ben, and Taylor Deupree.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567691964698,"sku":"DIG-CAK-15","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567691997466,"sku":"CD-CAK-15","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517001556.jpg?v=1724701688"},{"product_id":"cak016-takagi-masakatsu-opus-pia","title":"CAK016 Takagi Masakatsu - Opus Pia","description":"Meant as a companion piece to the \u003ci\u003eOpus Pia\u003c\/i\u003e DVD, Takagi Masakatsu’s \u003ci\u003eOpus Pia\u003c\/i\u003e CD fully realizes one of his core beliefs: tiny miracles in daily life.\n\nOnly 23 years old, Takagi Masakatsu has already presented his sound and video work in art galleries and clubs throughout Japan, America, and Europe. with this Opus Pia CD, Takagi has taken sounds from his travels around the world (locations include Nepal, Cuba, America, France, Indonesia, Turkey, Greece, Thailand, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and Japan). He has remixed the original audio from the \u003ci\u003eOpus Pia\u003c\/i\u003e DVD into three different tracks: “Opus Pia,” “Re Pia 1,” and “Re Pia 2.” Each piece is a meditation on sampled moments occurring throughout the world. Sounds of human experience interweave with Takagi’s piano and computer sounds to create a captivating dance that blurs the distinction between song and documentary. “Harmony”, an extended sound collage, is pure audio travelogue, taking the listener to the aforementioned places in just under twenty-eight minutes. Closing off the CD is “And Then…”, Takagi’s newest track with artist\/girlfriend Shinako on vocals.\n\nAs Takagi states: “This time, I used my oldest computer sounds, as I could recognize the vision of linking by computerized sounds and natural images in my last travels around the world.” Alternating between the harmonically sublime and the day to day, \u003ci\u003eOpus Pia\u003c\/i\u003e makes our world that much smaller.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567692914970,"sku":"DIG-CAK-16","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517001754.jpg?v=1724701699"},{"product_id":"cak018-casino-versus-japan-whole-numbers-play-the-basics","title":"CAK018 Casino Versus Japan - Whole Numbers Play the Basics","description":"We know what it’s like to wait. It’s been three years since the last Casino Versus Japan full-length. Heaps of underground praise was placed on Milwaukee’s Casino Versus Japan (aka Erik Kowalski) after the release of that record \u003cem\u003eGo Hawaii\u003c\/em\u003e. It acquired instant cult status through a combination of its incredibly catchy melodies and sporadic availability. Now the waiting is over. Carpark is happy to present the long overdue whole numbers play the basics.\n\nWhole numbers play the basics is altogether a moodier, more introspective record. The distinctive melodic songwriting is still there, but the textures and structures are chosen from a wider musical palette. While \u003cem\u003eGo Hawaii\u003c\/em\u003e was all bliss and summer joy, whole numbers play the basics is the sound of life after the endless summer. If \u003cem\u003eGo Hawaii\u003c\/em\u003e was Casino Versus Japan’s \u003cem\u003eSurfin Safari\u003c\/em\u003e, then whole numbers play the basics is his \u003cem\u003ePet Sounds\u003c\/em\u003e.\n\nHip-hop beats, dark tones, airy melodies, and hearty bass patterns show off a musical mind informed by sources ranging from the classic works of David Axelrod and Pink Floyd to more contemporary heroes like boards of Canada and My Bloody Valentine. This one is a true feast for lovers of sound.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567693439258,"sku":"DIG-CAK-018","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567693472026,"sku":"CD-CAK-018","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517001853.jpg?v=1724701710"},{"product_id":"cak020-signer-low-light-dreams","title":"CAK020 Signer - Low Light Dreams","description":"First forward-thinking musicians began experimenting with electronic instruments, then some abandoned the traditional band setup (and the band) entirely for the computer. It’s a trend that has been observed by New Zealand native Bevan Smith (aka Signer) for many years. Abadoning his indie rock past and embracing the burgeoning “electronic” scene of the mid 90s, Bevan created many gorgeous IDM and ambient techno records as Aspen and Signer. Yet after a while he felt constrained by the digital music making process. It had become as formulaic as the indie rock he abandoned in the 90s. It was time once again for something new.\n\nThat something new is a sparkling new full length entitled \u003cem\u003eLow Light Dreams\u003c\/em\u003e. A collaborative release between Carpark and Bevan’s involve label, \u003cem\u003eLow Light Dreams\u003c\/em\u003e is the product of two years of hard work in Bevan’s London studio (he will return to New Zealand later this year). Not an “electronic” record in the purest sense, though not an “indie” record either, \u003cem\u003eLow Light Dreams\u003c\/em\u003e explores a sound that Bevan himself calls “nu-indie”: incorporating elements from first-wave post-rockers like Seefeel, dub-influenced techno, and some of the more blissed-out items from the Kranky records’ catalog. you won’t hear a guitar midi patch here, and certainly not another vocoder plug-in. But you will hear real-time guitars and bass (played by Bevan) and real non-sampled human singing (Bevan again.)\n\nSeeking to inject more emotion into a musical world often seen as lacking any, Signer has created a record that comes from the heart without wearing it on its sleeve.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567694225690,"sku":"DIG-CAK-020","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517002058.jpg?v=1724701721"},{"product_id":"cak022-kit-clayton-vs-safety-scissors-ping-pong-ep","title":"CAK022 Kit Clayton vs. Safety Scissors - Ping Pong EP","description":"Playfulness. Competition. Innocence. Cruelty. Excitement. Anxiety. Ping. Pong.\n\nA fast-paced volley of broken thoughts and insecurities, this story charts the wavering desires of two petty humans trying desperately to conform to an undiscoverable standard. In this fruitless effort they travel through wildly divergent territories of the familiar and inaccessible with rapid bursts of alternating comfort and confusion.\n\nRipe with the melodrama and intrigue of our exceedingly product-focused lives, reality TV has never been so compelling.\n\nShhhh…Can you hear the orc ballet? Half-hearted mumblings of a motionless wave? chewing gum squishing between an elderly couple’s toes? Questions left unspoken, preempted by the ponies that we never even asked for? Don Quixote marking out the perimeter of Thunderdome in pink toothpaste? The carp? The ark? Or the flood to follow?\n\nExhilaratingly brisk, charmingly raw, and unquestionably musical, \u003ci\u003eThe Ping Pong EP\u003c\/i\u003e fills us with hope for the new world we’ve already forgotten.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567694881050,"sku":"CD-CAK-022","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567694913818,"sku":"DIG-CAK-022","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517002256.jpg?v=1724701731"},{"product_id":"cak023-various-artists-wanna-buy-a-craprak","title":"CAK023 Various Artists - Wanna Buy A Craprak?","description":"\u003cp\u003eWanna buy a what? Wanna buy a craprak? You may be asking yourself one or both of these questions right now. Ah but to know the answer is to ask the question. No matter. The first Carpark compilation is here!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWanna Buy a Craprak? is a unique multimedia cd sampler selling at a special low price. That will make everyone’s wallet very happy. Wanna Buy A Craprak? contains 13 audio tracks and 4 videos from all of your favorite Carpark artists (such as Marumari, Greg Davis, Kit Clayton, Safety Scissors, Kid606, Dinky, Ogurusu Norihide, and Signer). Many of the tracks are taken from future and past Carpark releases, some are exclusive (Jake Mandell, Freescha, Takagi Masakatsu, Hrvatski, and 242pilots).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNow is your chance to find out what Carpark is all about. Wanna Buy a Craprak?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567695536410,"sku":"CD-CAK-023","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567695569178,"sku":"DIG-CAK-023","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517002355.jpg?v=1724701743"},{"product_id":"cak024-dinky-black-cabaret","title":"CAK024 Dinky - Black Cabaret","description":"Wilkommen. Bienvenue. Welcome to Dinky’s \u003cem\u003eBlack Cabaret\u003c\/em\u003e! Prepare yourself for a selection of dark and slinky odes to downtown nightlife. Tonight, Dinky (aka Alejandra Iglesias) presents to you the ultimate 21st century New York City pop record. Fusing the music of her teenage years with the current electro\/post-punk\/dance\/whatever experimentation going on in her current home of New York City, \u003cem\u003eBlack Cabaret\u003c\/em\u003e entertains and titillates. Imagine a radical reworking of Cabaret Voltaire, Madonna, Aphex Twin, and Prince and you’re only halfway there.\n\nDinky has DJed parties big and small since she moved to new york from Santiago, Chile to attend the Martha Graham School of Dance. Active in both superclubs with people like DJ Hell, Miss Kitten, and Richie Hawtin, as well as underground after-hours parties with such luminaries as Magda and Atom Heart, Dinky knows what moves people.\n\n\u003cem\u003eBlack Cabaret\u003c\/em\u003e is the culmination of every facet of Dinky’s musical persona. Yes, parts hark back to the melodically-inclined gothic elements of her earlier techno work, but other parts significantly explore brand new areas. The tracks overall have more of a pop song structure with most songs featuring a guest vocalist or even Dinky herself singing!\n\n\u003cem\u003eBlack Cabaret\u003c\/em\u003e is the state of the New York City dance scene. Stop reading all the music press and listen to what everyone downtown is really dancing to.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567696257306,"sku":"DIG-CAK-024","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517002454.jpg?v=1724701754"},{"product_id":"cak025-ogurusu-norihide-modern","title":"CAK025 Ogurusu Norihide - Modern","description":"In the white room with white curtains, ogurusu norihide patiently and steadily works on his distinctive techno-folk hybrid. His studio of white walls and hardwood floors is as clean and single-minded as his musical vision.\n\nOgurusu Norihide’s \u003cem\u003eModern\u003c\/em\u003e is part of the burgeoning “laptop folk” scene alongside fellow Carparkers Greg Davis and Takagi Masakatsu. But to limit his music to this tag would do Ogurusu a great injustice. His music follows its own path, informed as much by contemporary Japanese culture as by the ancient religious and cultural institutions of the Shinto faith.\n\nFor Ogurusu Norihide is a certified Shinto priest. Having completed his studies in Tokyo last year, Ogurusu has returned to his hometown of Kyoto to concentrate fully on music. Kyoto , where centuries-old temples and gardens sit side by side with the offerings of new Japan, complements the music of \u003cem\u003eModern\u003c\/em\u003e well. The sounds of religious rites (hand claps, bells) rub up against digitally-produced rhythms which are integrated with acoustic guitar and piano.\n\nInstantly familiar and totally abstract, \u003cem\u003eModern\u003c\/em\u003e is informed by so many musicians but sounds like none of them. Like all great artists, Ogurusu Norihide completely reshuffles your ideas and preconceptions and deals them out in a way you didn’t think was possible.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567696781594,"sku":"DIG-CAK-025","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567696814362,"sku":"CD-CAK-025","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517002553.jpg?v=1724701764"},{"product_id":"cak026-greg-davis-curling-pond-woods","title":"CAK026 Greg Davis - Curling Pond Woods","description":"Defining the term “laptop folk” way before it became fashionable to mix acoustic guitars and electronic sounds, Chicago’s Greg Davis is keeping ahead of the curve once more with his second full-length \u003cem\u003eCurling Pond Woods\u003c\/em\u003e. While still retaining elements of “laptop” and “folk”, \u003cem\u003eCurling Pond Woods\u003c\/em\u003e evolves from his debut with a larger array of instruments, richer arrangements, song structures, and vocals. Sections of acoustic songs intermingle in and out of drones, field recordings, and digital processing. Greg’s range includes the psych-folk of The Incredible String Band, the songcraft sensibilities of Brian Wilson, and John Cage’s embrace of randomness.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567697699098,"sku":"DIG-CAK-026","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/GregDavis_CurlingPondWoods.jpg?v=1724701774"},{"product_id":"cak027-signer-the-new-face-of-smiling","title":"CAK027 Signer - The New Face Of Smiling","description":"In 2002, we called it Nu-Indie. That pissed people off (who knew?). At the time, New Zealand ’s Bevan Smith successfully married the digital and analog worlds with Signer’s \u003cem\u003eLow Light Dreams\u003c\/em\u003e. Now the honeymoon is over and this couple is in it for the long haul. No longer are the two distinct; they have become one.\n\nBevan spent some time listening to his favorite indie slow-jams (Joy Division, My Bloody Valentine, \u003cem\u003eLaughingstock\u003c\/em\u003e-era Talk Talk et.al) and decided he should make the first proper fuzzed-out pop gem of the 21st century. Signer’s \u003cem\u003eThe New Face of Smiling\u003c\/em\u003e chews on all of Bevan’s experience in indie bands and electronica and spits them back out into something brand new yet somehow familiar. Those with a sense of humor can call it “Nu-Gazing.”","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":49567698518298,"sku":"LP-CAK-027","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567698551066,"sku":"CD-CAK-027","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567698583834,"sku":"DIG-CAK-027","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517002751.jpg?v=1724701786"},{"product_id":"cak028-montag-alone-not-alone","title":"CAK028 Montag - Alone, Not Alone","description":"Montreal’s Montag (a.k.a. Antoine Bedard) got lonely making music by himself. After working all alone on his first record for France’s Gooom Disques (M83, Cyann \u0026amp; Ben), Antoine decided it was time to share his knowledge of arrangement and orchestration by enlisting the help of friends such as James Cargill of Broadcast (Warp Records, Drag City), Amy Millan from Stars and Broken Social Scene (Arts \u0026amp; Crafts), and Sixtoo (Ninja Tune, Anticon). With its strings, horns, wind instruments, layered vocals, and analog synths, Montag’s \u003cem\u003eAlone, Not Alone\u003c\/em\u003e has a lush sophisticated sound that helps redefine classic electric pop.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567699370266,"sku":"DIG-CAK-028","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567699403034,"sku":"CD-CAK-028","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517002850.jpg?v=1724701798"},{"product_id":"cak029-keith-fullerton-whitman-and-greg-davis-yearlong","title":"CAK029 Keith Fullerton Whitman and Greg Davis - Yearlong","description":"*This title is no longer available via Carpark Records*\n\n\u003ci\u003eYearlong\u003c\/i\u003e is the long awaited compendium of live recordings from New England ’s favorite bearded computer-music duo (a.k.a. Keith Fullerton Whitman and Greg Davis), as recorded between 2001 and 2002 in parts of the world only read about by most. Taking in a ludicrously wide range of sound-sources and stylistic leaps, \u003ci\u003eYearlong\u003c\/i\u003e is the first collection of improvised laptop pieces from Keith and Greg, edited down from around 18 hours of footage into one concise 45 minute mind-slayer.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"UNVAILABLE","offer_id":49567700123930,"sku":"DIG-CAK-029","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/CAK029_20Keith_20Fullerton_20Whitman_20and_20Greg_20Davis_20-_20Yearlong.jpg?v=1724701809"},{"product_id":"cak030-greg-davis-and-sebastien-roux-paquet-surprise","title":"CAK030 Greg Davis and Sebastien Roux - Paquet Surprise","description":"\u003cp\u003e*This title is no longer available via Carpark Records*\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTheir love of sound brought them together. The Atlantic Ocean kept them apart. Until now…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter over a year of internet exchanges of ideas and sounds, Parisian Sebastien Roux and Vermonter Greg Davis decided to put their love to the test. Combining their interests in psychedelic music, digital processing, folk, sunshine pop, musique concrete, ethnic sounds, drones and field recordings, Sebastien (who works at the famed computer music institution IRCAM) and Greg (who holds two degrees in music and composition) have created a dynamic musical journey full of joy and surprises. Whether it’s large rocks being thrown into a stream, Sebastien singing or Greg playing the double mijwiz, diverse sound worlds come together in this “surprise package.\" Open it and enjoy!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567700779290,"sku":"DIG-CAK-030","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/CAK030_20Greg_20Davis_20and_20Sebastien_20Roux_20-_20Paquet_20Surprise.jpg?v=1724701819"},{"product_id":"cak031-belong-october-language","title":"CAK031 Belong - October Language","description":"*This title is no longer available via Carpark Records*\n\nBorn in the dense heat of New Orleans, Louisiana, Belong is a collaborative effort between Turk Dietrich and Michael Jones, whose debut album, \u003cem\u003eOctober Language\u003c\/em\u003e, goes beyond traditional song structure to a place where melodic figures blur, and textures are gorgeously sculpted into an ocean of sound. Belong began on the WestBank of New Orleans in 2002, but it was not until 2004 that \u003cem\u003eOctober Language\u003c\/em\u003e was made. The album was assembled, composed, and produced in Dietrich’s bedroom studio; however, the inspiration for the songs goes well beyond the walls. The album encapsulates their hometown of New Orleans, at once bathed in sunlight and colors, yet dripping in decay and a rich sadness. It is a record that attempts to display the beauty in things that are worn, decayed or destroyed.\n\nFollowing in the tradition of bands like My Bloody Valentine and Gas, guitars, synths and other musical sources are wrenched from their typical tones, revealing themselves in bright shards of distortion. Melodies are similarly enveloped in a sort of aural atrophy, forever repeating their blurring calls. At the end, all that remains is a noise so potent it leaves the sonic equivalent of the sun’s imprint on a retina.\n\nTurk Dietrich has previously collaborated with Telefon Tel Aviv’s Joshua Eustis under the name Benelli, whose remix of Nine Inch Nails’ “The Frail (version)” is found on the acclaimed NIN EP Things Falling Apart. Eustis played a small part in the production of \u003cem\u003eOctober Language\u003c\/em\u003e, in addition to playing slide guitar on the album’s title track.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567701467418,"sku":"DIG-CAK-031","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/belong300.jpg?v=1724701829"},{"product_id":"cak032-takagi-masakatsu-journal-for-people","title":"CAK032 Takagi Masakatsu - Journal For People","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe digital purchase option does not include the DVD content.\u003c\/b\u003e\n\nTakagi Masakatsu is one man trying to make sense of the world. He travels the globe recording people’s everyday lives, and then returns home to Japan where he delicately molds the everyday into the sublime. A classically-trained pianist, a multimedia documentarian, an art-gallery exhibiting jet-setter, Takagi Masakatsu is clearly a renaissance man of our times. After releasing two CDs and a DVD with Carpark in 2001 and 2002, Takagi returns to us once again with his \u003ci\u003eJournal For People\u003c\/i\u003e DVD and CD. Lilting piano lines, digitally-enhanced melodies, and sturdily constructed ambient pop tunes comprise the audio. The video features people from all over the world intersecting with Takagifs painterly palette of organic and psychedelic imagery. It’s what art at its best is capable of: a sensually gratifying and spiritually healing experience.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567702188314,"sku":"DIG-CAK-032","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517001358.jpg?v=1724701839"},{"product_id":"cak033-ecstatic-sunshine-freckle-wars","title":"CAK033 Ecstatic Sunshine - Freckle Wars","description":"\u003cp\u003eTwo guitars, two humans, every riff in the world. May we introduce the treble warrior spazzos from Baltimore otherwise known as Ecstatic Sunshine. The playful and whimsical electric guitar duo of Matthew Papich and Dustin Wong are like a punk-lite version of John Fahey, Mick Barr (Orthrelm, Octis, et.al.), Greg Ginn, and Bruce Springsteen. In other words they can shred, rip, AND roll.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHaving plenty of time and freedom to perfect their sound and performance while hanging out in art school and throwing parties in Baltimore’s cheap industrial lofts, Ecstatic Sunshine are now ready to take their frenetic live show to kids all over the world. They will not rest until they change your life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567703269658,"sku":"DIG-CAK-033","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567703302426,"sku":"CD-CAK-033","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517003352.jpg?v=1724701850"},{"product_id":"cak034-over-the-atlantic-junica","title":"CAK034 Over The Atlantic - Junica","description":"Over The Atlantic are the latest slightly older than teenage pop sensations from (actually) over the pacific -- New Zealand that is. The electric guitar\/laptop duo consists of Bevan Smith, who honed his guitar and production chops as Carpark artist Signer (as well as other projects on his Involve record label) and Nik Brinkman, who’s been perfecting his telecaster windmill in numerous indie bands since he was a wee lad.\n\nTheir debut release \u003ci\u003eJunica\u003c\/i\u003e is the Breakfast Club soundtrack for the post-Breakfast Club generation. Or a digitally-enhanced version of classic New Zealand pop (a la Flying Nun era) with a 90s English twist. Either way, Over The Atlantic have poignantly integrated heart-wrenching melodies, danceable beats, and electronic harmonies into songs about breaking up, coming together, looking at the stars, and hanging out on MySpace.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":49567704252698,"sku":"LP-CAK-034","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567704285466,"sku":"DIG-CAK-034","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567704318234,"sku":"CD-CAK-034","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517003451.jpg?v=1724701862"},{"product_id":"cak037-dan-deacon-spiderman-of-the-rings","title":"CAK037 Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings","description":"Standing in a Greyhound Bus station, wearing a Sylvester t-shirt and huge duct-tape-covered glasses, Baltimore ’s Dan Deacon doesn't invoke the image of a composer to the other bus riders. The two suitcases he loads under the bus, which accompany him from city to city, hold the sweat-and-grime-soaked electronics that he uses to craft his raging, maxed-out party music and light show. After 12 tours and 300+ shows in little over 2 years, the gear is beaten and battered, but the show and the energy it produces is anything but.\n\nDan Deacon has garnered a reputation in the underground as an intense performer and classic showman. The table top full of pedals, a sine wave generator, vocoder and casio blasting through the PA, joined by a makeshift light board with various bulbs and green skull strobe light, make his all out dance-til-you-drop performance a complete experience.\n\nBut it isn't all fancy feet and bouncy beats. Deacon is a classically trained composer with a Masters degree in electro-acoustic composition. He has released 7 albums from 2003 to 2006, but those self-produced recordings do not contain the vocal-based experimental pop that he has fine-tuned in live performance. His latest full length, \u003ci\u003eSpiderman of the Rings\u003c\/i\u003e is the first album bridging the gap between party performer and genuine composer. A mixture of his live show dance anthems, intricate instrumentals and humorous monologues, \u003ci\u003eSpiderman of the Rings\u003c\/i\u003e establishes Dan Deacon as a new type of entertainer in the contemporary underground.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"LP (Green Skull vinyl)","offer_id":49567706710298,"sku":"LP-CAK-037C","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP (Hot Pink vinyl)","offer_id":49567706743066,"sku":"LP-CAK-037C2","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567706775834,"sku":"CD-CAK-037","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567706808602,"sku":"DIG-CAK-037","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/CAK37X_DanDeacon_SpidermanOfTheRings__Deluxe10thAnniversaryEditionIncludingUltimateReality__900.jpg?v=1724701907"},{"product_id":"cak037x-dan-deacon-spiderman-of-the-rings-10th-anniversary-edition-including-ultimate-reality","title":"CAK037X Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings (10th Anniversary Edition Including Ultimate Reality)","description":"\u003cb\u003eA 10th anniversary blue and magenta LP, limited to 750 copies, is available via \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/smarturl.it\/smotr10_vmp\"\u003eVinyl Me, Please\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\n\n2017 marks the 10th anniversary of the record that changed everything for Dan Deacon. \u003ci\u003eSpiderman of the Rings\u003c\/i\u003e found the Baltimore-based musician transitioning from a dumpster-diving experimental artist playing house shows on the noise circuit to a major voice in electronic music. Across its 9 exuberant, still-fresh tracks, it merges Dan’s academic background in modern composition with a newly embraced pop sensibility and the ecstatic energy of his live shows. Carpark Records is proud to re-release this landmark record, coupled with the first-ever soundtrack release of the video-art collaboration that further refined Dan’s signature sound, \u003ci\u003eUltimate Reality\u003c\/i\u003e.\n \nDan moved to Baltimore in 2004, with a small discography of dissonant releases under his belt. Living in a warehouse and attempting to eat on $5 a day, he toured hard, playing shows that might pay enough for him to pack his gear and green skull onto a Greyhound bus to the next town. He had no computer, no phone, and no bank account. But in the midst of those dark George W. Bush years, feeling that the world had turned into a Philip K. Dick novel—and fearing that it was destined to end in 2012 anyway—Dan figured the life he’d built in the underground was as sustainable as any. \n \nAt the same time, something shifted in Baltimore. In other cities, Dan had to work to get an audience moving by the end of his set; in Baltimore, the crowds broke into aggressive dancing from track one. This changed his writing process. Influenced by bands like Lightning Bolt and Boredoms, Dan sought to make sounds that were frenetic and extreme but also joyful. He used the tools available to him—namely, computers borrowed from his roommates while they were at work. He began writing songs for drums, songs with vocals on all tracks, songs that pushed the melodic aspects of his music to the forefront. This new music came from a place of “positive nihilism”: everything may be fucked, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun. For the very first time, he wanted to make a record that faithfully reflected his frenzied live show—a show that increasingly, flying in the face of bummer scenes hampered by crossed arms and implicit dress codes, delivered a one-man Devo or Talking Heads. \n \n\u003ci\u003eSpiderman of the Rings\u003c\/i\u003e did all that and more. Touring in the weeks leading up to the album’s release, Dan noticed his crowds grow from 20 to 200 people. The album, he slowly gathered, had leaked, and there was major buzz (which Dan largely ascribes to its emphatically WTF reception on a high-traffic Radiohead discussion board). When it finally dropped, listeners’ ears were ready. \n \n\u003ci\u003eSpiderman of the Rings\u003c\/i\u003e is Dan’s first fully formed statement, and the record that put him on the path he’s on today. From the euphoric squeals of single “The Crystal Cat” (#84 on \u003ci\u003eRolling Stone\u003c\/i\u003e's 100 Best Songs of 2007) to the gorgeous, soaring “Pink Batman,” the gentle chimes and abrasive bleeps of “Big Milk,” and the swirling, moment-defining anthem “Wham City” (#30 on Pitchfork's Top 100 Tracks of 2007), sophisticated compositional concepts blissfully collide with dada word-craft and a child-like sense of play. With \u003ci\u003eSpiderman\u003c\/i\u003e, Dan bridged the gap between party performer and confident composer, in the process landing on both Pitchfork’s Best New Music and their top 50 records of 2007.\n \nAs a perfect complement to this pivotal record, Carpark offers, for the first time, an audio release of the soundtrack to Dan’s collaboration with video artist Jimmy Joe Roche, 2007’s \u003ci\u003eUltimate Reality\u003c\/i\u003e. Featuring Jeremy Hyman (ex-Ponytail, Boredoms) on drums, these three singular tracks find Dan back in Baltimore, fleshing out his new sound and enjoying the enhanced set of tools \u003ci\u003eSpiderman\u003c\/i\u003e’s success afforded him. Together, they comprise the origin story of the Dan Deacon we know and love today.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567708905754,"sku":"DIG-CAK-037X","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/CAK37X_DanDeacon_SpidermanOfTheRings__Deluxe10thAnniversaryEditionIncludingUltimateReality__900_f4326fce-7fcd-4fc2-9367-715ad76102c0.jpg?v=1724701929"},{"product_id":"cak038-montag-going-places","title":"CAK038 Montag - Going Places","description":"Montreal’s Montag (a.k.a. Antoine Bédard) charts a new direction on his third album \u003cem\u003eGoing Places\u003c\/em\u003e. Overhauling his delicate touch with vintage instruments, and transforming his sound into explosions of incandescent electronic pop, Montag fleshes out his lush sophisticated songs with guest appearances from musical friends Anthony Gonzales (M83), Owen Pallet (Final Fantasy), Amy Millan (Stars), Au Revoir Simone, Victoria Legrand (Beach House) and Ghislain Poirier.\n\nMoving through the personal, Montag visits his lover in a pop anthem (Best Boy Electric) and the transformed ghosts of his family with nostalgia both sublime (Hi-5 au DJ) and ironic (Alice). Singing in English and French, the solo artist also forays into the social, imagining uprisings on Vancouver’s troubled streets (322 Water) and the eager compliance of a young battalion (Mechanical Kids). 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SO YOU HAVE TO CLEAN THIS PLACE UP LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS AND YOU LISTEN TO CRYSTAL CAT \/ TOTALLY BONER EAT SHIT AND IT’S A BIG FUCK YOU TO THE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO CATCH YOU DIRTY WHEN YOUR HOUSE IS THE CLEANEST ON THE BLOCK IT’S SO AWESOME.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567710576922,"sku":"DIG-CAK-039","price":1.29,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/CrystalCat7inch300.jpg?v=1724701953"},{"product_id":"cak040-wzt-hearts-threads-rope-spell-making-your-bones","title":"CAK040 WZT Hearts - Threads Rope Spell Making Your Bones","description":"\u003cp\u003eWZT Hearts. It’s pronounced “Wet Hearts” but spelled “WZT Hearts.” Got it? Maybe it’s something in the Baltimore city water, maybe it looks good on paper. 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At times reminiscent of the digital sparkle of European sound sculptors like Fennesz, but also harking back to the energy of Krautrock and its psychedelic progeny, WZT Hearts have created their own unique sound that blends the organic and synthetic, digital and analog, difficult and easy, and other musical dichotomies yet to be defined.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe WZT Hearts players are\n\u003cbr\u003eMike Haleta – circuit bent guitar pedals, laptop, guitar, tapes\n\u003cbr\u003eJeff Donaldson – Commodore 64, bi-tone guitar, mixer\n\u003cbr\u003eJason Urick – laptop\n\u003cbr\u003eShaun Flynn – drums, vocals\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567711527194,"sku":"DIG-CAK-040","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567711559962,"sku":"CD-CAK-040","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517004052.jpg?v=1724701964"},{"product_id":"cak042-beach-house-devotion","title":"CAK042 Beach House - Devotion","description":"Feeling lonely tonight? 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While on their debut critics made comparisons to early ‘90s dream popsters like Mazzy Star, Galaxie 500 and Slowdive, on \u003ci\u003eDevotion\u003c\/i\u003e listeners will also hear the band’s longtime admiration for ‘60s Motown and country folk.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Double LP","offer_id":49567712379162,"sku":"LP-CAK-042","price":31.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567712411930,"sku":"CD-CAK-042","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567712444698,"sku":"DIG-CAK-042","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/0677517004212.jpg?v=1724701983"},{"product_id":"cak043-lexie-mountain-boys-sacred-vacation","title":"CAK043 Lexie Mountain Boys - Sacred Vacation","description":"\u003cp\u003eFive Baltimore residents came together in 2005 to form The Lexie Mountain Boys and yes indeed they are all women.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Sacred Vacation” is the result of three years of performances, events and tours in the US and Canada. Recorded in the sanctuary of St John’s Church in Baltimore, MD by Wye Oak’s Andy Stack, “Sacred Vacation” is a document of years of unique vocal practice and fierce sisterhood. No overdubs were used, nor were any added effects on the vocals used beyond the glorious natural reverb of the sanctuary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the live performance arena, Mountain Boys offer something rarely seen — a fearless, sprawling energy to complement their bold and unusual vocal stylings. Dancing, marching, spinning, running, jumping, laughing, tangling, engaging the moment fully via costume and song, Mountain Boys shows are not to be missed. 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Mix in the kitschy Moogy sound of Hot Butter’s “Popcorn”, the saturated disco-theatrics of late seventies electro-pop acts like Sparks and Yellow Magic Orchestra, and a penchant for Eastern European diminished scales and you’ve come pretty close to Adventure’s accelerated baroque sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAdventure is an advanced, dance-floor friendly take on the music of early video gaming. 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Fusing together the growing intensity of his live performances with his background in electro-acoustic composition, the outcome is a collection of pieces that are intense and epic and at the same time down to earth and welcoming. \u003cem\u003eBromst\u003c\/em\u003e embodies the same energy and excitement as \u003cem\u003eSpiderman of the Rings\u003c\/em\u003e, however the craftsmanship and composition on \u003cem\u003eBromst\u003c\/em\u003e have a wider scope and richer palette.\n\nUnlike the completely electronic \u003cem\u003eSpiderman of the Rings\u003c\/em\u003e, the instrumentation on \u003cem\u003eBromst\u003c\/em\u003e is a mixture of acoustic instruments, mechanical instruments, samples and electronics. The player piano, marimba, glockenspiel, vibraphone, live drums, winds and brass give \u003cem\u003eBromst\u003c\/em\u003e a much richer tone than his previous work. The intricate and complex parts, skillfully executed by the performers, are woven together into a rich, dense, noisy dance pop that has become Dan Deacon’s signature sound.","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"Double LP","offer_id":49567718277402,"sku":"LP-CAK-048","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567718310170,"sku":"CD-CAK-048","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567718342938,"sku":"DIG-CAK-048","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517004762.jpg?v=1724702065"},{"product_id":"cak049-ear-pwr-super-animal-brothers-iii","title":"CAK049 Ear Pwr - Super Animal Brothers III","description":"Blistering thumpers with infectious melodies, Disco chants with wild-eyed electro anthems: all part of the unique electronic vision of Baltimore’s Ear Pwr. 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No party is complete without it!","brand":"Carpark","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":49567720079642,"sku":"LP-CAK-049","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":49567720112410,"sku":"DIG-CAK-049","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":49567720145178,"sku":"CD-CAK-049","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0805\/4266\/2938\/files\/677517004960.jpg?v=1724702085"}],"url":"https:\/\/store.carparkrecords.com\/collections\/digital.oembed?page=21","provider":"Carpark Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}