New Karl Blau

Karl Blau's upcoming record Zebra (out on K Records 10/9) is shaping up to be my dark horse album of 2009. Blau was a bit of a mystery to me in the past, but I love this new stuff. The inflection of his voice delivering cryptic lyrics about pollinating and crows bones has got to be some of the weirdest stuff out there, and some of the most appealing. I'd like to describe the music as sparse or bare, but that doesn't really convey it at all. All the empty space seems to be so out of place that your mind can only focus on how best to fill it in, until you are completely mesmerized. This might be a stretch, but his music is a lot like a magic eye picture: when you first hear it, it all sounds pretty generic and doesn't really make sense, but then when you listen hard enough everything seems to shift into place to create some greater, more creative form. Or you don't see anything at all and you just want to throw that fucking magic eye book right out the window...

mp3:Karl Blau - Dark Sedan
mp3:Karl Blau - Apology to the Pollinateurs