https://soundcloud.com/carpet-43360131/sets/carpet-collision-prelistening/s-toatP4L9yE8?si=17e9105cf81a4247a0cbfc3472b02e4c&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

[Click play above to stream Carpet’s Collision in its entirety. It’s out this Friday, March 22. At 21:30 CET today, which is 4:30PM Eastern and 1:30PM Pacific, the band will host a listening party on Bandcamp. The invite is here.]

While celebrating the 15th anniversary of their debut album, 2009’s The Eye is the Heart Mirror, Bavarian heavy progressive rockers Carpet move inexorably forward with their fifth long-player, Collision. Releasing through the duly eclectic Kapitän Platte, the seven-song/47-minute offering builds on the songwriting accomplishments of 2018’s About Rooms and Elephants (review here), harnessing an expansive but generous and welcoming sound that is thoughtful in its whole-record flow while showcasing a varied, mature character. They’re veterans of Elektrohasch Schallplatten, having released 2018’s About Rooms and Elephants (review here), 2017’s Secret Box (review here) and 2013’s Elysian Pleasures (review here) via Stefan Koglek of Colour Haze‘s now-dormant label, and heavy psychedelia is an aspect of what they do, but as the eight-minute “The Moonlight Rush” unfolds its immediately-multifaceted take, shifting from a riff-led verse through an atmospheric midsection that’s certainly not any less jazzy for the sway of Martin Lehmann‘s trumpet, into its louder payoff and through to a slowdown finish, Carpet are clear-eyed and purposeful in guiding the listener across what might otherwise be a tumultuous course. Here, one might think of it as an energetic stroll.

As the opener, “The Moonlight Rush” presents a crucial summary of some of the places Collision will go. Is it about impact, in raw sonic terms? Not as much as texture, so if one imagines the title referring to running ideas into each other and taking what works from that in terms of the material itself, that seems like a fair interpretation if not necessarily what the band meant in the choice (and it may or may not be, I don’t know). Founding guitarist/vocalist Maximilian Stephan — who released that first 2009 Carpet album as mostly a solo endeavor with some drums by Jakob Mader, who’s been on board since — is distinguished and suited to the instrumental flow in his melodic vocal approach, and while each song has its own intent as well as its own place in the entirety of the release, Stephan‘s vocals and the backing contributions of recording and mixing engineer Maximilian Wörle (presumably) in the chorus harmonies of “The Moonlight Rush,” the repeated line, “Can I just put my foot down,” in “Dead Fingers,” amid the rush of “Passage” later, and so on, are thoughtful in their arrangements and effects treatments, giving a unifying presence and drawing the material together without actually doing the same thing all the time.

Heads more attuned to the realms of desert and heavy rock will hear some Josh Homme in the sinewy semi-falsetto of “Ghosts” and centerpiece “P is for Parrot,” but it’s similarity not impersonation, and considering that the context surrounding in the latter cut is a start-stop crunch take on the angularity of King Crimson until it weaves through pastoral psych highlighting the keys from Sigmund Perner (he’s credited with Fender Rhodes and Roland Juno; I’m pretty sure I’m talking about the Juno in “P is for Parrot”) before bassist Hubert Steiner and Mader bring the group back to its initial shove, more urgently for the payoff finish, well, Carpet end up sounding more like Carpet than whatever other name one might drop. This individuality is something that’s manifest gradually over the course of the band’s time, and as much as one would call them ambitious in terms of growth — that is, actively pursuing a vision of their sound — if they’re chasing anybody, it’s themselves. The linear, almost narrative manner in which Collision unfurls highlights a dynamic that has become essential to who they are.

With malleable balance in Wörle‘s mix and breadth in Dimi Conidas‘ master, Carpet gracefully follow the plan that “The Moonlight Rush” sets out. By the time they get to nine-and-a-half-minute bookending closer “Cosmic Shape Shifter,” with its riffier, nodding resolution arriving with a swing and strut that even Uncle Acid fans should be able to appreciate, their path has veered into and through the more straight-ahead structures of “Dead Fingers,” its tolling bell in the intro serving as a memento mori complementary to the lyrics and a chorus that’s likewise catchy and sad and an emergent push in the bass as the trumpet sounds and the bell returns and the almost drawling lyrical repetitions noted above, and “Ghosts,” which in the early going of its 5:41 reimagines the beginning of Black Sabbath‘s “Children of the Grave” as shimmering bright and holds that energy for the sweep of its hook offset by a more subdued verse, en route to “P is for Parrot,” which feels like as far as they’ll go into their interpretation of ’70s groove until the boogie-in-earnest of “Passage” kicks in as the apex in that regard. The pivot from airy wash and strum at the end of “Passage” into the tropical jazzscape of the penultimate “Lost at Sea” isn’t to be discounted, and neither is the lush melodic prog that accompanies that rhythmic motion, but again, Carpet own the procession and it’s barely a hiccup one to the next in the mind of the listener despite the amount of ground actually covered.

This is the result of Carpet having already cast such a reach across the span of Collision, and “Cosmic Shape Shifter” answers with a victory lap of affirmation for what the album has presented leading to it, while underscoring the band’s overarching intent in how it digs into both its atmospheric stretch — there’s the Rhodes — and the subsequent, very much held-in-reserve groove that caps. This duality is essential to understanding who Carpet are as a band and the work their material does, but it’s no less crucial to point out that it’s only in that ending where they really seem to pair the opposite ends of that scope together — and it still works, encapsulating the poise with which “Ghosts” and “P is for Parrot” and “Passage” move into “Lost at Sea,” or how “The Moonlight Rush” and “Dead Fingers” act as complements at the outset within its own movements. Mature and considered as it feels, Collision still has outreach in its energy, and its execution leaves a warm, safe space for the listener to inhabit as the choruses ingrain themselves in the memory before departing on dreamy flights. And if you’ve ever believed progressive rock to be staid or emotionally void, Carpet provide ready counterpoint.

Carpet, “Ghosts” official video

Carpet on Facebook

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Carpet website

Strictly speaking, Carpet‘s new video isn’t exactly new. Fine. It’s newly posted, however, and it rules, so whatever. In 2018, the German heavy progressive rockers posted a live take on the track “Selene” from their 2018 album, About Rooms and Elephants (review here), and though it’s taken from a different in-studio performance, the clip below for “Shouting Florence” would seem to operate in the same spirit. The inclusion Colour Haze‘s Stefan Koglek on guitar is, frankly, its own excuse for being.

One might recall Koglek‘s label, Elektrohasch Schallplatten, released Carpet‘s 2017 album, Secret Box (review here), and since it’s from that record that “Shouting Florence” comes, it’s only fitting that he should show up here. Compared to the studio version, this live take emphasizes the rhythm a bit in its starts and stops — there isn’t quite the same prominence of cymbal wash as on the original, but the melody is right on in any case and I’m not about to argue with the melody as presented or the languid semi-desert vibe that emerges as the keys and guitar work together in a way that manages to still be progressive without actively working toward ‘prog’ as a goal.

And of course, when the solo hits after the three-minute mark, that guitar tone is nothing if not recognizable, video or no. Newness notwithstanding, it’s four minutes out of your day from an underrated band that you won’t regret spending. If you need it to be sold to you, that should do it.

Side note, Florence was grandmother’s name. Lady indeed might yell at your ass.

Enjoy the clip:

Carpet, “Shouting Florence” official live video

Recorded live at Albert Matong Atelier für Musik Augsburg, 2018.

Filmed by Bruno Tenschert & Flo Laske
Edited by Jakob Mader
Mixing by Maximilian Wörle
Mastering by Dimi Conidas

Guitar and vocals: Maximilian Stephan
Drums: Jakob Mader
Bass: Hubert Steiner
Rhodes: Sigmund Perner
Lead guitar: Stefan Koglek

Carpet, About Rooms and Elephants (2018)

Carpet on Facebook

Carpet on Instagram

Carpet on Twitter

Carpet on Bandcamp

Carpet website

German progressive psychedelic rockers Carpet issued their fourth album, the most excellently titled About Rooms and Elephants, in October. A single LP running six tracks and 42 minutes, it’s the Augsburg outfit’s quick-turnaround follow-up to 2017’s Secret Box (review here), and it finds them digging further into exploratory stylizations, saving room for exciting arrangement shifts and turns into space rocking and controlled psych-out jams. The first sharp pivot occurs about two minutes into opener “Selene,” and it’s by no means the last. Serene as some of their melodies and smooth as their overarching affect might be, About Rooms and Elephants is not just an album trying to melt your brain. Instead, it needs you to use it in order to keep up with what the band is doing. It is a record that requires an active listen, and which earns one from its very first moments.

“Selene,” which has a new live-recorded video that you can see below — flugelhorn and all — builds to a driving progressive wash à la peak-era Porcupine Tree before splitting off again into jazzy roll en route to a returning verse and its drift-away finish, but again, that’s just the start of the record. “Full Moon Tune” has a prog-shuffle that sacrifices neither one for the other, and “Spanish Pets” careens into an intricate rhythm of acoustic guitar, piano and drums, topped all the while by a vocal melody that seems to assure everything is under control. And so it is as all paths seem to align in the second half of the song toward a somewhat understated apex that fits with the quieter beginning movement. I’ve said this before talking about the band’s work, but it bears repeating just how classy they are. In their arrangements, Carpet are as tasteful as they are deep-running, and listening to the little bit of guitar thunder behind the beginning of “Bitter Lake” and the swirl of keyboard that emerges beneath the vocals and deceptively quick-moving drums, the poise with which the band executes the song is nearly as consuming as the motion itself, and the weighted bounce that emerges from there — a waltz, of course — only underscores the point.

With an extended fade for a finish, “Bitter Lake” pulls double-duty in setting up the 14-minute stretch of “June 19th,” which is not only a remarkably patient and graceful linear build, gorgeously arranged in working from silence up through spacious horns and eventual guitar, bass, drums and keys, but also a lead-in for the melodic wash of closer “Souvenir” after it, which might be an afterthought but for the fact that, unlike the preceding extended cut, “Souvenir” has vocals, so it’s the band’s final statement of About Rooms and Elephants. With a foundation of acoustic guitar and a strong current of mellotron filling out its sound, it summarizes the presence and fluidity of the album well while leaning toward the psychedelic breadth Carpet seem able to conjure at will. It is no less of an accomplishment than anything before it, and accordingly much more than the epilogue one might expect. As one should by then figure, they end in likewise polished fashion, with delicate synth winding its way out as the last element to go, only inviting a return to the soothing open of “Selene” back on side A. Flip the platter. Problem solved.

In a foggy room with a steadily panning camera and bars of light at eye-level, “Selene” offers no less flow in the live clip than on the record, and as Carpet approach a decade since their debut, 2009’s The Eye is the Heart Mirror, they conjure their most vivid images yet of pastoral warmth and thoughtful peace.

Please enjoy:

Carpet, “Selene” official live video

Carpet performing ”Selene“ from the album ”About Rooms and Elephants“ live at Zenith, Munich.

Video by Monacoframe.

Recorded at Zenith, Munich on November 6, 2018.

Jakob Mader: drums.
Martin Lehmann: trumpet, flugelhorn.
Hubert Steiner: bass.
Maximilian Stephan: guitar, vocals.
Maximilian Wörle: percussion, vocals.
Sigmund Perner: rhodes, synth.

DoP: Michael Baumberger
1st AC: Max Rödl
Grip #1: David Wilkinson
Grip #2: Richard Lee Rogge
Lighting: Antonia Zettl, Kai Metzner

Recording engineer: Maximilian Wörle
Mixing: Maximilian Wörle, Maximilian Stephan

Carpet, About Rooms and Elephants (2018)

Carpet on Thee Facebooks

Carpet on Instagram

Carpet on Twitter

Carpet on Bandcamp

Carpet website

My friends, the time has come. Well, actually the time came about two weeks ago at the end of June, but I won’t tell if you don’t. Better late than never as regards all things, but most especially The Obelisk’s Quarterly Review, which this time around features releases recent, upcoming and a bit older, a mix of known and lesser known acts, and as always, hopefully enough of a stylistic swath to allow everyone whose eyes the series of posts catches to find something they dig between now and Friday. As always, it’ll be 50 records from now until then, 10 per day, and I see no reason not to jump right in, so let’s do that.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Les Discrets, Prédateurs

After offering a preview of their marked stylistic turn in last year’s Virée Nocturne EP (review here), Lyon, France’s Les Discrets return with the suitably nighttime-urbane vibing of their Prédateurs full-length via Prophecy Productions. Five years after Ariettes Oubliées (review here), Fursy Teyssier and company reinvent their approach to the sonic lushness of their earlier work, departing the sphere of post-black metal they previously shared with sister band Alcest in favor of an anything-goes heavy experimentalism more akin to Ulver on cuts like “Le Reproche” or the deeply atmospheric “Fleur des Murailles.” Drones pepper “Rue Octavio Mey” and closer “Lyon – Paris 7h34” effectively conveys the sense of journey its train-schedule title would hint toward, and indeed Les Discrets as a whole seem to be in flux throughout Prédateurs despite an overarching cohesion within each track. It’s a fine line between multifaceted and disjointed, but fortunately, Teyssier’s grip on melodicism is unflinching and enough to tie otherwise disparate ideas together here.

Les Discrets on Thee Facebooks

Les Discrets at Prophecy Productions

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Test Meat, Demo

Considering the pedigree involved in guitarist/vocalist Darryl Shepard (ex-Milligram, Blackwolfgoat, Kind, etc.), bassist Aarne Victorine (UXO, Whitey) and drummer Michael Nashawaty (Planetoid, Bird Language), it’s little surprise that Test Meat’s Demo would have a pretty good idea of where it wants to come from. The five-track first showing from the Boston trio blends raw-edge grunge and noise rock on “He Don’t Know” after opening with its longest inclusion (immediate points) in the 3:50 “Cuffing Season,” and though centerpiece “Done” nods at the starts-and-stops of Helmet, the subsequent 2:35 push of “If You Wanna” is strikingly post-Nirvana, and closer “Permanent Festival” rounds out by bridging that gap via a still-straightforward heavy rock groove. Formative, yeah, but that’s the whole point. Test Meat revel in their barebones style and clearly aren’t looking to get overly lush, but one can’t help but be curious how or if they’ll develop a more melodic sensibility to go with the consuming, full buzzsaw tones they elicit here.

Test Meat on Thee Facebooks

Test Meat on Bandcamp

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Matus, Intronauta

Worth noting that while the opening cut here, “Claroscuro,” shares its title with Matus’ 2015 full-length (review here), that song didn’t actually appear on that album. Does that mean that the Lima, Peru, classic progressive rockers are offering leftovers from the same sessions on their new EP and perhaps final release, Intronauta? I don’t know, but the four tracks of the digital outing are a welcome arrival anyway, from the laid back easy vibes of the aforementioned opener through the riffier “Intronauta (Including Hasta Que El Sol Descanse en Paz),” the Theremin-soaked finish of the harder-driving “Catalina” and the acoustic-led four-part closer “Arboleda Bohemia,” which unfolds with lushness that remains consistent with the naturalism that has always been underlying in the band’s work. They’ve said their last few times out that the end is near, and if it’s true, they go out with a fully-cast sonic identity of their own and a take on ‘70s prog that remains an underrated secret of the South American underground.

Matus on Thee Facebooks

Matus on Bandcamp

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Farflung, Unwound Celluloid Frown

The jury, at least when it comes to the internet, still seems to be somewhat divided on whether the name of Farflung’s five-track/34-minute EP is Unwound Celluloid Frown or Unwound Cellular Frown. I’d say another argument is whether it’s an EP or an LP, but either way, let the follow-up to the more clearly-titled 2016 album 5 (review here) demonstrate how nebulous the long-running Los Angeles space rockers can be when it suits them. Hugely and continually underrated, the troupe once again aligns to Heavy Psych Sounds for this release, which is rife with their desert-hued Hawkwindian thrust and weirdo vibes, permeating the rocket-fuel chug of the title-track and the noise-of-the-cosmos 13-minute headphone-fest that is “Axis Mundi,” which seems to end with someone coming home and putting down their car keys before a slowly ticking clock fades out and into the backwards swirling intro of lazily drifting closer “Silver Ghost with Crystal Spoons.” Yeah, it’s like that. Whatever you call it, the collection proves once again that Farflung are a secret kept too well.

Farflung on Thee Facebooks

Heavy Psych Sounds website

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Carpet, Secret Box

Immersive and progressive psychedelia unfolds from the very opening moments of Carpet’s third album, Secret Box (on Elektrohasch Schallplatten), as the Augsberg, Germany-based five-piece explore lush arrangements of Moog, Rhodes, trumpet, vibraphone, etc. around central compositions of fluid guitar-led melodies and engaging rhythms. Their 2015 Riot Kiss 7” (review here) and 2013 sophomore long-player, Elysian Pleasures (review here), came from a similar place in intent, but from the funk wah and percussion underscoring the pre-fuzz-explosion portion of “Best of Hard Times” and the okay-this-one’s-about-the-riff “Shouting Florence” to the serene ambience of “For Tilda” and ethereal fluidity of “Pale Limbs” later on, the secret of Secret Box seems to be that it’s actually a treasure chest in disguise. Opening with its longest track in “Temper” (immediate points), the album hooks its audience right away along a graceful, rich-sounding melodic flow and does not relinquish its hold until the last piano notes of the closing title-track offer a wistful goodbye. In between, Carpet execute with a poise and nuance all the more enjoyable for how much their own it seems to be.

Carpet on Thee Facebooks

Carpet on Bandcamp

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Tricky Lobsters, Worlds Collide

Full, natural production, crisp and diverse songwriting, right-on performances and a name you’re not about to forget – there’s nothing about Tricky Lobsters not to like. Worlds Collide is their sixth album and first on Exile on Mainstream, and the overall quality of their approach reminds of the kind of sonic freedom proffered by Astrosoniq, but the German trio of guitarist/vocalist Sarge, bassist/vocalist Doc and drummer/vocalist Captain Peters have their own statements to make as well in the stomping “Battlefields,” the mega-hook of “Big Book,” the dreamy midsection stretch of “Father and Son” and the progressive melody-making of “Tarred Albino” (video premiere here). The emphasis across the nine-song/42-minute outing is on craft, but whether it’s the patient unfolding of “Dreamdiver Pt. I & II” or the harp-and-fuzz blues spirit of closer “Needs Must,” Tricky Lobsters’ sonic variety comes paired with a level of execution that’s not to be overlooked. Will probably fly under more radars than it should, but if you can catch it, do.

Tricky Lobsters on Thee Facebooks

Tricky Lobsters at Exile on Mainstream Records

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Ten Foot Wizard & Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters, Special

Dubbed Special for reasons that should be fairly obvious from looking at the cover art, this meeting of minds, riffs and cats between Manchester’s Ten Foot Wizard and London’s Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters brings four tracks – two per band – and goes so far as to find the groups collaborating on the former’s “Get Fucked,” which opens, and the latter’s “Dunkerque,” which begins their side of the 7”, as vocalists The Wailing Goblin (of Chubby Thunderous) and Gary Harkin (of Ten Foot Wizard) each sit in for a guest spot on the other band’s cuts. Both bands also offer a standalone piece, with Ten Foot Wizard digging into heavy rock burl on “Night Witches” and Chubby Thunderous blowing out gritty party sludge in “Nutbar,” which rounds out the offering, and between them they showcase well the sphere of the UK’s crowded but diverse heavy rock underground. Kind of a niche release in the spirit of Gurt and Trippy Wicked’s 2016 Guppy split/collab, but it works no less well in making its impact felt.

Ten Foot Wizard on Thee Facebooks

Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters on Thee Facebooks

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The Acid Guide Service, Vol. 11

It turns out that Vol. 11 is actually Vol. 1 for Garden City, Idaho, three-piece The Acid Guide Service, who dig into extended fuzz-overdose riffing on the 52-minute nine-tracker, proffering blown-out largesse even on shorter cuts like the five-minute “Into the Sky” while longer pieces like opener “Raptured” (7:16), “EOD” (9:38) and closer “Black Leather Jesus” (10:04) skirt lines between structure and jams as much as between heavy rock and psychedelia. Proffered by the trio of guitarist/vocalist Russ Walker, bassist/vocalist Tyler Walker and drummer Nick McGarvey, one can hear shades of Wo Fat in the guitar-led expanse of “Rock ‘n’ Roll (Is the Drug I’m On),” but on the whole, Vol. 11 speaks more to the late-‘90s/early-‘00s post-Kyuss stoner rock heyday, with flourish of Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu for good measure in the hard-swinging “Dude Rockin’” and its chugging companion piece, “Marauder King.” Big tones, big riffs, big groove. The Acid Guide Service are preaching to the converted, but clearly coming from a converted place themselves in so doing. Right on.

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The Acid Guide Service on Bandcamp

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Skunk, Doubleblind

Professing a self-aware love for the earliest days of heavy metal in idea and sound, Oakland’s Skunk offer their full-length debut with the self-released Doubleblind, following up on their 2015 demo, Heavy Rock from Elder Times (review here). That outing featured four tracks that also appear on Doubleblind – “Forest Nymph,” “Wizard Bong,” “Black Hash” and “Devil Weed.” Working on a theme? The theme is “stoned?” Yeah, maybe, but the cowbell-infused slider groove and standout hook of “Mountain Child” are just as much about portraying that ‘70s vibe as Skunk may or may not be about the reefer whose name they bear. Presumably more recent material like that song, “Doubleblind,” closer “Waitin’ Round on You” and leadoff cut “Forest Nymph” coherently blend impulses drawn from AC/DC, Sabbath and Zeppelin. John McKelvy’s vocals fit that spirit perfectly, and with the grit brought forth from guitarists Dmitri Mavra and Erik Pearson, bassist Matt Knoth and drummer Jordan Ruyle, Skunk dig into catchy, excellently-paced roller riffing and cast their debut in the mold of landmark forebears. Mothers, teach your children to nod.

Skunk on Thee Facebooks

Skunk on Bandcamp

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The Raynbow, The Cosmic Adventure

As they make their way through a temporal drift of three tracks that play between krautrocking jazz fusion, psychecosmic expansion and Floydian lushness, Kiev-based explorers The Raynbow keep immersion central to their liquefied purposes. The Cosmic Adventure (on Garden of Dreams Records) is an aptly-titled debut full-length, and the band who constructed it is comprised of upwards of eight parties who begin with the 16-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “Changes,” which builds toward and through a metallic chug apex, sandwiching it on either side with ultra-patient molten tone and soundscaping that continues to flourish through the subsequent “Cosmic Fool” (5:17) and “Blue Deep Sea Eyes” (8:18), the whole totaling a still-manageable outward trip into reaches of slow-moving space rock that whether loud or quiet at any individual moment more than earns a volume-up concentrated headphone listen. The kind of outfit one could easily imagine churning out multiple albums in a single year, The Raynbow nonetheless deliver a dream on The Cosmic Adventure that stands among the best first offerings I’ve heard in 2017.

The Raynbow on Thee Facebooks

Garden of Dreams Records on Bandcamp

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Word has been floating around for a couple years of a next full-length outing from engaging German psych-proggers Carpet. The album, which has been revealed as being called Secret Box, will be out this Spring on Elektrohasch Schallplatten, the Colour Haze-owned imprint that also stood behind Carpet‘s 2013 outing, Elysian Pleasures (review here), and has newly reissued that offering on CD and a limited yellow vinyl, which of course is already gone. Preorders are up for Secret Box now, for CD, LP and limited blue LP, and frankly, it doesn’t like an unreasonable option. I bet it looks pretty sweet in blue with the cover’s color scheme matching and all.

Carpet, who also released the Riot Kiss 7″ (review here) in 2015, have some tour dates lined up for April and as Elektrohasch states in the newsletter snippet below, the CD will be available by then and the vinyl might as well. Good to know it’ll show up one way or the other, and since I don’t happen to have the fortune of being in Cottbus, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, etc., when Carpet roll through, I’ll just be keeping my eyes open for more about the record, for which you can see the artwork and more information below.

Goes like this:

Carpet – Secret Box CD / LP

After their great debut, imho one of the very best Progressive and Psychedelic Rock records of the recent years, now an as fantastic 2nd album!

Carpet also tour Germany with their new album:

Do 13.04. Kreuzlingen – Horst Klub
Fr 14.04. Luzern – Treibhaus
Mi 19.04. Münster – Sputnik Café
Do 20.04. Cottbus – Zum faulen August
Fr 21.04. Halle – Hühnermanhatten
Sa 22.04. Heidelberg – Leitstelle im Dezernat 16
Mo 15.05. München – Glockenbachwerkstatt
Sa 30.09. Karlsruhe – KOHI

The CD will be delivered in March, the LP (there is also a limited edition with blue vinyl) might be available on time for the tour as well. You can already order them at www.elektrohasch.de

https://www.facebook.com/carpetband
http://carpet.bandcamp.com/
http://carpetband.com/
http://elektrohasch.de/

Carpet, Riot Kiss (2015)

If you heard the album, you’ll probably recognize the joyful build of “Man Changing the Atoms” from German heavy progressive rockers Carpet‘s 2013 sophomore outing, Elysian Pleasures. Released by Elektrohasch, that album was a reminder of how warm classic prog could readily be and updated what’s all too often a staid presentation with a penchant for exploration and if not spontaneity — because no doubt the Augsburg five-piece were working from a master plan — than at least a plotted sensibility that seemed as exciting to the listener as it might’ve been for the band. The soundscape “Man Changing the Atoms” constructed with its flourish of horns and weighted build made it a highlight of the record, and two years later the song shines on its own as well.

That two years might seem late for Carpet to drop a video for one of the album’s songs, but that’s not quite what’s happening here. The performance of “Man Changing the Atoms” is live, recorded at Ghost City Recordings in Röttenbach by Marius Roos, Philipp Roth and Benjamin Roth and that’s really only surprising for how smoothly the song is executed by the band, expanded from their root four-piece — guitarist/vocalist Maximilian Stephan, bassist Hubert Steiner, key specialist Sigmud Perner and drummer Jakob Mader — to a seven-piece lineup complete with flügelhorn, trumpet, more guitar and percussion, the result suitably intricate. For all its involved players, however, “Man Changing the Atoms” still sounds like the work of a band rather than an orchestra, and the humanity at its root becomes even more of the appeal as they push the song further outward.

And spoiler alert to anyone not familiar with the record: It winds up pretty far out. The video itself is pretty dark for the most part, but it should be easy enough to make out who’s doing what, and even if not, the idea is the whole experience anyway, so have at it and enjoy:

Carpet, “Man Changing the Atoms”

CARPET performing “Man Changing the Atoms”
Captured live at Ghost City Recordings Studio A

Filmed by Marius Roos, Philipp Roth & Benjamin Roth
Edited by Alec Barth

Recorded & mixed by Jan Kerscher

The Carpet Septet presents: “Man Changing the Atoms.” at Ghost City Recordings .
Jakob Mader: drums
Hubert Steiner: bass
Sigi Perner: rhodes and juno
Maximilian Stephan: guitar and the singing
Bruno Polaris: percussion
Benni Benson: guitar
Martin Lehmann: flügelhorn and trumpet

Thanks very much to Jan Kerscher and all people involved!

Carpet on Thee Facebooks

Carpet’s website

Ghost City Recordings

Elektrohasch Schallplatten