BoomKat Reviews Wat Dong Moon Lek

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Boomkat Product Review:

Avant-garde computer music pioneer Carl Stone’s newest is a Max/MSP powered deep dive into unsettled dreamworld sampledelica, warping pitch-fuct pop garbles into hiccuping noise spirals and quasi-techno ethno-pop bumpers. Properly off the dial material that sounds like a plunderphonic take on the Sublime Frequencies catalog, or ABBA reworked by Oval.

‘Wat Dong Moon Lek’ might be the oddest missive we’ve heard yet from Stone. The Californian computer music vanguard has long been notable for his dissections of electronics, minimalism, world music and hip-hop, and this latest set melts his history into a barely discernible soup of chattering drums, veiled vocals and stuttered melodies. “Stone ‘plays’ his source material in the way Terry Riley’s ‘In C’ ‘plays’ an ensemble,” reads the press release – and it’s not far off the mark. There’s a freewheeling charm and humor to Stone’s approach that’s hard not to love, it’s uncompromising and deliciously bonkers, but struck thru with a level of knuckle-crack’d expertise that lifts it a few inches from the ground at all times.

At its best, ‘Wat Dong Moon Lek’ sounds like a shortwave radio interrupting a skipping J-pop CD: almost aggrevatingly loopy but texturally inviting at the same time. And while the music is assisted and driven by software, it sounds organic and human, as if Stone is answering the ubiquitous algorithmic playlist age with an arched eyebrow and a double helping of glitchy mischief. Whether you’re into John Oswald, Farmers Manual, DJ Screw or Steve Reich, this one’s for you.

bit.ly/3haHfeR

Out now: Carl Stone – We Jazz Reworks, Vol. 2

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We Jazz Records presents the second volume of their reworks albums dealing with source material from the Helsinki-based label’s catalog. This time around, it’s Carl Stone’s turn to tackle the source albums at hand and filter the label’s output through his musical lens.

We Jazz Reworks is an idea that repurposes some of the label’s output 10 albums at a time. That is, the label invites producers whose music they love on board, and one by one, they tackle 10 albums worth of source material, of which they are free to use as much or as little as they choose. The series evolves chronologically, so this volume being number two, the source material is pulled from We Jazz LPs numbers 11 through 20. The artist has complete freedom.

Volume 2 in the series happens with Carl Stone, a legendary figure in creative music. His career spans decades of unlimited musical innovation. Stone’s recent output on Unseen Worlds, the label who has also been instrumental in issuing some of his remarkable earlier work, ranks among the most original art of our time and renders notions such as “genre” virtually meaningless.

Here, We Jazz originals by Terkel Nørgaard, OK:KO, Jonah Parzen-Johnson and more are met here with a fresh sense of discovery, spun around and delivered ready for the turntable once again.

Carl Stone says:

“It was wonderful that We Jazz gave me carte blanche to work with any materials from the set of ten releases in its catalog. This freedom to work with everything could have been a mixed blessing though, as it could be a challenge to try to deal with so much musical information. In the end I did what I almost always do: Let my intuition be my guide and to seize upon any musical items that seemed to fit into an overall approach.”

“To make a new piece I usually start with an extended period of what really is just playing, the way a child plays with toys. Experimentation without necessary expectation, leading to (hopefully) discovery of things of musical interest, then figuring out a way to craft and shape these into a structured piece of music. Each track uses a different approach, which I found along the way during this play period.”

This conceptual approach becomes complete with the design, in which album graphics are treated in a similar fashion, reworking what’s there. This time around, the artwork is reinvented by Tuomo Parikka, a regular cover collage contributor for the We Jazz Magazine.

CURACAO BLUE TRANSPARENT VINYL, INSIDE OUT SLEEVE, OBI W/ LINER NOTES, PRINTED INNER SLEEVE WITH SOURCE ALBUM DESIGN REFLECTIONS.


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Now On Sale – Listen Here

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There’s a dizzying good new @carlstone album coming on May 20; it’s no spoiler to say that admirers of Stone’s jumpy digital pop fantasias should not hesitate.  – Steve Smith, Night After Night

Wat Dong Moon Lek is Stone’s latest distinctive, Characterful, and playful take on sound collage, a followup equal to 2020’s thrilling Stolen Car…There is an infinite quality to the work…much alchemy here, each track feeling fizzy and alive with potential directions. There are so many moments that make me want to dance, or stand up and applaud. It’s clever, effervescent and gloriously fun. – The Wire, June 2022 issue

https://unseenworlds.bandcamp.com/album/wat-dong-moon-lek

 

 

New Album Preorder Switched ON – Listen Here

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New Carl Stone album coming soon! The We Jazz label in Finland turned Carl loose in their archives for some of his patented sampling psychosis. Carte blanche y’all! The release is a curacao blue transparent vinyl edition. Inside out matte sleeve, corner OBI with liner notes, inner sleeve with source album design reflections.
Your order of We Jazz Reworks Vol. 2. gets you 1 track now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released in October.

Archive:March 25 9PM EDT Experimental Intermedia Foundation

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Friday March 25 2022 9PM EDT

Ulrich Krieger and Carl Stone (Los Angeles and Tokyo)                                   Friday 25

Ulrich Krieger (winds) and Carl Stone (computer) triangulate with EI from California and Tokyo, as they lob the musical data back and forth over the uncharted depths of the information highways, recursively and relentlessly processing each other. This will be streamed live over the internet so please check local times.

https://www.rlsto.net/Nooz/       http://www.ulrich-krieger.com

Artists:

Experimental Intermedia Foundation

224 Centre St # 3  New York, NY

pniblock@compuserve.com

WEB: http://www.experimentalintermedia.org/

December 3 19h00 Helsinki Finland Korjaamo

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Saturday December 3 2022 19h00 On the heels of his recent release on the We Jazz record label, Carl continues his Finland debut with an interview with label Artistic Director Matti Nives. The We Jazz Festival 2022, which runs from November 27 to December 4th and includes many exciting musicians from around the globe. This evening program at Korjaamo features talk about music and also live performance. Besides the interview wsith Carl, Nabil Ayers from Valley Of Search talks about his work in the music biz and beyond.. FIRE! will give a rare band workshop, letting us all in on the workings of their sound. Silva Kallionpää Quartet rounds up the afternoon with a set of their music from their wonderful album Unadaptable (Eclipse Music, 2021). Artists:

Buy Tickets Online Korjaamo Töölönkatu 51 B Helsinki Map (English) at here office@wejazz.fi WEB: https://wejazz.fi/2022/en/info/ WEB: https://wejazz.fi/2022/ FB:https://tinyurl.com/5azek5st IG: #wejazzhelsinki/ Twitter: @wejazzhelsinki

December 2 19h00 Helsinki Finland Suvilahti

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Friday December 2 2022 19h00
On the heels of his recent release on the We Jazz record label, Carl makes his Finland debut with a duo together with Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Brooklyn based baritone sax wizard. This is Carl’s opening appearance at the We Jazz Festival 2022, which runs from November 27 to December 4th and includes many exciting musicians from around the globe The evening itself is pretty much a marathon presnted over four rooms. Full lineup can be found at the festival website.

Artists:

  • Carl Stone
  • Jonah Parzen-Johnson

Buy Tickets Online

Suvilahti
Kaasutehtaankatu 1
Helsinki

Map (English) at here
office@wejazz.fi
WEB: https://wejazz.fi/2022/en/info/
WEB: https://wejazz.fi/2022/
FB:https://tinyurl.com/5azek5st
IG: #wejazzhelsinki/
Twitter: @wejazzhelsinki

September 23 9PM Los Angeles CA 2220 Arts + Archives w/ David Grubbs

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Friday September 23 2022 9PM

David Grubbs comes to Los Angeles for the first time in five years, and Carl joins him for the second half of the evening – a first time collaboration!  Earlier in the evening David will read from his newly published “Good Night the Pleasure Was Ours” which melts down and recasts three decades of playing music on tour into a book-length poem, bringing to a close the trilogy that includes “Now that the audience is assembled” and T”he Voice in the Headphones”

Artists:

$15

Buy Tickets Online

2220 Arts + Archives

2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA

+ 12132771987

Map (English) at here

WEB: https://www.2220arts.org/

September 17 open 7:30PM Start 8:00PM San Francisco CA The Lab San Francisco Electronic Music Festival

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Saturday September 17 2022 open 7:30PM Start 8:00PM
Carl returns to the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival for a set at The Lab. More details to come. Opening the evening will be electroacoustic composer and sound artist Amma Ateria, whose work explores the coexistence of polarity, psychoacoustics in binaural beats, and equal-loudness contour.

Artists:

$15 (discounted or free for members)

Buy Tickets Online

The Lab
2948 16th Street San Francisco CA
(415) 864-8855
thelabsf@thelab.org
WEB: https://www.thelab.org/projects/2022/3/19/carl-stone-amp-amma-ateria
IG: #thelabsf
Twitter: thelabsf

September 15 Open 8pm Start 8:30pm Santa Cruz CA Indexical w/ Eric Theise

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Thursday September 15 2022 Open 8pm Start 8:30pm
Come to think of it, this might be Carl’s Santa Cruz debut, as he comes into town for a performance at Indexical the site for radical and experimental work. Indexical works with musicians and other time-based visual or performing artists to bring about new projects that push the boundaries of the discipline. Carl will perform a solo set of new work and for the second set will be joined by Eric Theise, handling projections for the premiere of a new collaboration. Theise combines strategies from experimental film & animation, color theory, the Light and Space movement, and concrete poetry with open data and open source software to create digital maps that behave in ways never intended by the original developers. Opening the evening will be Santa Cruz’s own Samantha Bounkeua (RogueViolin) .

Artists:

$20 General Admission

Buy Tickets Online

Indexical
1050 River St. #119

internet@indexical.org
WEB: https://www.indexical.org/events/2022-09-15-carl-stone
IG: #@anindexofmusic
Twitter:  @anindexofmusic

September 9 7:30 PM Annandale-on-Hudson New York Bard College Blum Hall

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Friday September 9 2022 7:30 PM
Carl performs at Bard College. Solo pieces plus an exciting new duet with Matthew Sargent debuting a new piece for laptop and pedal steel.

Artists:

Free

Bard College Blum Hall
Bard College Blum Hall Campus Road Annandale-on-Hudson NY

Map (English) at here
msargent@bard.edu