Lord Tang
-Butterflies
Lord Tang follows its own path through the thicket of modern electronic music. There is a certain level of physical alchemy to the process. The record was made in Cramp’s former studio in an old cabinet making factory in Oakland, California. You hear this in the sound! Beats in particular are processed several times through various hardware pedal chains, as can be heard on “Winged Paulsy” giving it a grittier, heavy density. Cramp also utilizes a lot of found sounds and field recordings such as the processed grab of the BART transit band radio on “Don’t Tell Me What to Do” or the Oakland Flea Market vendor at the beginning of “Sparkle Toast”. Mixing these elements with his arsenal of old analog outboard gear: spring reverbs, tape delays, reel to reel, analog filters; gives the whole record a tangible sonic depth with organic glue that keeps you in Tang’s warm and dirty world!
Dominic Cramp has taken Lord Tang to several venues on the West Coast of the United States and all over Europe. He will be promoting the record in a short European tour in September/ October of 2016. Cramp is a longstanding member of Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista and is also currently involved in the Talking Book, an abstract instrumental project with Jared Blum and Bill Gould from Faith No More, that more recently has taken him down to Chile, Brazil and Argentina.
reviews
TheQuietus Albums of the year 2016
“Spinning elements of dub, early electronic experimentations, spoken word and all manner of other abstract sounds, Butterflies makes for gloriously odd listening as Dominic Cramp weaves various eccentric compositions together from field recordings and sparse synth play.”
by Christian Eede
Californian artist Dominic Cramp comes with his second album on the ever adventurous Belgian Outpost Meakusma. Found sound collages and weird out synthesiser jams make up the foundations of the album, which has a decidedly European, rather than North American edge to it. The tracks range from fifty seconds to just over five minutes in length and also go from the appropriately literally titled ‘NYC Overhead Train’ to the imaginatively bizarre ‘Sparkle Toast’. It’s a work of real depth and variation that will keep you interested for many listens more.
bleep.com
Schon mal Lord Tang live gesehen? War ganz schön skurril: er stand da in einem weißen Tuxedo, einem Mikrofon und hat Dub gespielt. Dieses Bild passt auch zur Musik auf seinen Alben. Nach seinem großen »Hello« per gleichnamigem Album anno 2012 sowie zwei weiteren EPs bringt er Ende September eine neue LP raus: »Butterflies«. Das Album ist ein Downbeat-Experimentierkasten der organischen Sorte. Er featured eine ordentliche Ladung Dub, Breakbeats und durchgdrehte Synth-Modulations sowie Field Recordings from inner and outer space. Quirlige Snippets davon gibt es weiter unten zu hören.
Während seiner beattechnischen Schmetterlingsjagd für »Butterflies« war Lord Tang übrigens nicht untätig. Im wahren Leben hört der kalifornische Prodcer nämlich auf den Namen Dominic Cramp. Auch als socher treibt er sich diversen Aufnahmestudios rum. Für Labels wie Constellation oder Monotype zum Beispiel. »Butterflies« erscheint nun auf dem belgischen Label Meakusma, die neben interessanten Veröffentlichungen auch ein sehr interessantes Festival in Eupen zu bieten haben.
hhv.de
Far out Ambient/Techno/Field adventures
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