1. Electronic Music from 1972-2022 (50th Anniversary Release)
The Wire: Described this retrospective as being “filled with irony, misdirection and enchanting mischief,” noting that the best way to listen is to “delight in the sheer charm.”
Obladada: Called it a “staggering” overview of his career, specifically highlighting that even his teenage compositions are “nothing short of staggering” and “knock you sideways from pure dazzling creativity.”
2. Himalaya (2019)
The Wire (Best of 2019, #14): Remarked that “the world’s pop music has become putty in Stone’s hands,” and that each piece feels like it could “reassemble its particles infinitely.”
Artforum: Ranked it at #5 on their “Best Music of 2019” list.
3. Baroo (2019)
Pitchfork: Included it in the “Best Experimental Albums of 2019,” describing the listening experience as “like a vivid and recurrent memory of somewhere you have never been, or an everyday experience suddenly made inexplicable and strange.”
Relix: Described the album as “hypercaffeinated” and “music that can hit your ear holes like a DMT flash,” praising Stone’s “speed-racer loops.”
4. Stolen Car (2020)
Brainwashed: Called the album a “gleefully deranged place to be,” describing the track “Pasjoli” as sounding like “an Egyptian disco album being pulled apart by a black hole in the middle of an ’80s hip hop block party.”
The Wire: Named it one of the “Top 50 Albums of 2020.”
5. Mom’s (1991)
All Music Guide: Hailed the album as Stone’s “masterpiece,” specifically describing the title track as a “jubilant, kinetic symphony of ecstatic international samples” that feels like “several hours of travel shows in 11 minutes.”
Once again we’re honored to be included in The Wire’s “REWIRE” Best of 2022 list. This release on Unseen Worlds keeps Carl’s unbroken streak going since 2016.
“Drones and soundscapes in the cosy interior of Cafe Oto are the ideal counterpoint to a dank early spring afternoon in London, but the real draw that’s brought so many out are solo and combined performances by two innovating musicians…put the two together, the soft and subtle crafting of Miki Yui and the popped out veins of Carl Stone’s heavyweight sample manipulations and you have Realistic Monk, the unlikely two halves of a circle.”