Karl Blau
- Indie rock
- country
- Singer-songwriter
- multi-instrumentalist
- record producer
- Vocals
- guitar
- bass guitar
- drums
- keyboards
- saxophone
- Bella Union
- Knw-Yr-Own
- K Records
- Kelp Monthly
- Marriage Records
Karl Blau is an American indie rock and country vocalist, producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but originally from Anacortes, Washington. A member of the Knw-Yr-Own/K Records collective, he is known for his musical output, live shows, and self recording and distribution. Blau incorporates elements of folk, dub, R&B, bossa nova, grunge, hip hop, drone, country, & worldbeat.
Career
Blau has released more than 40 records in 20-odd years, many self-released in handmade packaging and mailed to subscribers as part of his Kelp Lunacy Advanced Plagiarism series, and others on iconic indie Northwest labels K Records and knw-yr-own. Blau has also toured and recorded for years with Laura Veirs, the Microphones/Mount Eerie, Little Wings, D+, Your Heart Breaks, LAKE, and Earth.[1]
In the 1990s, Blau worked at The Business record store in Anacortes.[2][3]
Blau was referenced in a song carrying his name by the London punk band Video Nasties.[4] The Microphones' album, It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water, also has a song titled "Karl Blau."
Discography
LPs
- Doin' Things the Way They Happen (Knw-Yr-Own 1997)
- Shell Collection (Knw-Yr-Own 1997)
- A Second Culling (Knw-Yr-Own 1999)
- Clothes Your I's (Knw-Yr-Own 2001)
- Beneath Waves (K Records 2006)
- Dance positive (Marriage Records 2007)
- Nature's Got Away (K Records 2008)
- Zebra (K Records 2009)
- Songles (Kelp Lunacy Advanced Plagiarism Society, 2012)
- Introducing Karl Blau (Raven Marching Band/Bella Union 2016)
- Out Her Space (Bella Union 2017)
- Scream Time (Self-Released 2022)
Singles
- "Slow Down Joe" b/w "Lake King's Daughter" (K Records/OnPurpose Records 2006)
- "That's How I Got To Memphis" b/w "Forest" (collaboration with Mount Analog) (K Records)
Kelp Lunacy Advanced Plagiarism Society series
- Dark, Magic Sea
- The Coconutcracker
- Turning Tutu, Turning Leaves
- Dunkel Blau
- Purple Heart
- Deep Sandwich
- Remember Tomorrow
- Lore of Ears
- Dubble Dooty Booty
- Trust in Sirens
- It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water
- Welsh Phantoms and Other Ghosts of Western Europe
- Sea/Saw
- Stereoearrings
- If I Knew Zen What I Know Now
- AM
- Sing Together/Lonely Under the Covers
- Beer & Chai
- Flotsam & Jetsam
- Let It All Out
- Sigh Lens
- Bread-n-Grease
- Trunkal Howl
- LAKE
- Free The Bird
- Dance Positive
- Good Lovin' County
- In Return From Ghost Country
References
- ^ "Karl Blau | Bella Union". bellaunion.com. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
- ^ "About". The Business. October 15, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
- ^ "Anacortes Magazine (Issue 2, August 2012)". Issuu. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
- ^ "Video Nasties - Karl Blau". YouTube. October 29, 2007. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
External links
- Karl Blau at Bandcamp
- Karl Blau Patreon
- Karl Blau at Allmusic.com
- Karl Blau at K Records
- Karl Blau at Bella Union
- Karl Blau on NPR Live Sessions
- Kelp Lunacy
- MySpace
- KEXP Interview with Karl Blau
- SPIN's Artist of the Day
- Secretly Important Interview with Karl Blau
- v
- t
- e
- Phil Elverum
- Adam Forkner
- Anna Oxygen
- Calvin Johnson
- Karl Blau
- Kyle Field
- Mikhaela Maricich
- Mirah Zeitlyn
- Don't Wake Me Up (1999)
- It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water (2000)
- The Glow Pt. 2 (2001)
- Mount Eerie (2003)
- Microphones in 2020 (2020)
- Tests (1998)
- Blood (2001)
- Little Bird Flies into a Big Black Cloud (2002)
- Song Islands (2002)