Black
Carrot (Market Harborough) are a vibrant quintet who perform new-wave
krautrock jazz madness that oozes rock with a psychotic edge.
Fierce and abstract yet serving the concept of the song, their
unique sound nods towards Beefheart and Pere Ubu but is shot through
with flavours of New York jazz skronk, and the loosest, funkiest
Krautrock.
"Black Carrot are truly inspired
musicians" - Jean Hervé Peron/Faust
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Critical
acclaim
Formed in 2000, Black Carrot released their
first album "Cluk" in 2003 on their own Moon City Musik
label to great reviews (see below) culminating in a feature on BBC
Radio 3's "Mixing It". The
original line-up of Oliver Betts (woodwinds, keys, vocals), Stewart
Brackley (vocals, electric/double bass) and Tom Betts (drums) was
augmented in 2006 with the addition of Euan Rodger on clattering,
daring percussion and live samples. More recently Olly Warren's
fuzzed guitar scratch has widened the scope still further.
Dark
stories
As well as support slots with Faust, The Fall, Polar Bear, Damo
Suzuki, Evan Parker, The Blessing, Chris Corsano, Kling Klang, Das
Pop, many festival dates (including The Big Session, Leicester;
Drop Beats Not Bombs, Birmingham; Faust's Avant Garde Festival,
Schiphorst Germany) and two Polish support tours, Black Carrot have
recorded and performed a selection of improvised stories with their
pet bard Nigel Parkin, they include Essays in Mutilation and Despair:
An Improvised Take on Edgar Allan Poe, Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis,
Hansel and Gretal and a completely improvised composition: The Mariner's
Rest. These are all available on CDR from the shop. |
Quotes
"This British midlands based outfit are an adventurous improvising
group...Brackley’s apparently extemporised vocals seem to
flirt with the cadences of composed songforms in a manner indebted
to Can’s Damo Suzuki, but with an almost psychotic edge. The
music, meanwhile, builds and recedes according to its own logic,
but retains a fetching intimacy and warmth." Keith Moline -
The Wire Magazine
"As febrile and hostile as Van Der Graaf Generator, as pounding
and grainy as Faust, as instinctive and mercurial as Can, this is
one far-out combo." Pat Fish/The Jazz Butcher
"A crisp and sharp trio, comprising drums, both double and
electric bass, electric piano and tenor sax and assorted woodwind
instruments. Dedicated to the virtues of improvisation, it is hard
to actually categorise them easily – which is to the good.
This is music that has the rigour of improvisation done well but
also is accessible via the jazzy rhythms, at times they reminiscent
of a New York-style band like Defunct or James Chance and the Contortions
from the punk jazz/loft side of the no-wave days." Rod Warner/Plexus
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