teMPLEGODHEADBRITTLE BONES THE SPRAWLDREAM WAVEBONE EATER ANGLEMANTIS MANZEPHYR DEAD LEAVESATLASORB
"the sprawl" (MTP61) is the new cassette from boycalledcrow — the alias of Chester-based sound artist Carl M Knott (Wonderful Beasts, Spacelab) — released on Community Dining Room, a Mortality Tables product.
A former folk musician, Knott builds his records from a wide net of acoustic influences, running half-remembered melodies through tape hiss and hand-built electronics until they come out the other side something stranger. Across twelve tracks and two sides, "the sprawl" moves from the opening thud of "temple" through to closing incantation "orb," pairing pastoral melody with the kind of lysergic sound design that's earned the project comparisons to nightmare folk art.
"…a magic-realism and hallucinated version of outsider art and weird folk music."
Monolith CocktailThe tape's cover, painted by G. Kirwan (@boiscribe), pictures a butterfly-winged figure wandering a forest of flowers and fire-orange trunks — a fitting sleeve for a record built from the same collision of pastoral and uncanny. Mastered by Antony Ryan at RedRedPaw. Design by Andrew Spackman.
weird fish
boycalledcrow
Walkin' in the sprawl, the twisted metal man said,
"You like to fish, boy?"
I said, I like to fish.
He is the metal man.
I am the bone machine.
I caught a big one.
Weird, funny lookin'.
I ate it whole.
It ate me back.
I disappeared.
I'm free, man.
As heard on Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone on BBC6
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001mmcn
"Dense, layered compositions like this may take a little time to settle in, but give it room to breathe and you'll discover more to love on each listen than most albums I've been listening to for decades. A beautiful, sprawling monolith."
moonbuilding.bandcamp.com/album/moonbuilding-sprung-2023
"A mind-melter of a record, writes hallucinogenic songs that are harrowing one moment, breathtakingly beautiful the next."
BANDCAMP 'NEW & NOTABLE'
"Since his debut album, 2018s Hyperlight, Knott has grown not only in stature but also in his ability to craft intriguing and genuinely gripping soundscapes."
louderthanwar.com/boycalledcrow-nightmare-folk-art-album-review/
"Let's use the word incredible to describe what has been produced like a wave of motion hitting you rolling via a rush of memories, thought process, wild sonic treatments and most importantly the emotional substance found in all great, lasting music."
www.magazinesixty.com/boycalledcrow-nightmare-folk-art-subexotic-records/
"..it sounds like mushrooms and damp leafy earth come to life. That's a very good thing in my book."
www.wasistdas.co.uk/review/2023/04/03/review-of-boycalledcrow-nightmare-folk-art/