Carl Abrahamsson

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Sunday, December 1, 2013

First Time Hurts the second time too

Today, Highbrow Lowlife re-releases Cotton Ferox' debut album from 2002, First Time Hurts. After Thomas Tibert and myself had decided in the year 2000 to make some more music after an almost ten year hiatus, this first album became a longed for, eclectic and truly weird record.

To balance my own acute logorrhea in this attempt at spoken-wordism, we made sure to include some better and more competent figures: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge on the tracks Snake Hiss and Amenema and Michael Moynihan reading his own translation of one of Ernst Jünger's early and highly poetic war texts. Not forgetting the finishing pièce de résistance Phantasmoplasm, written together with and sung by our dear friend and musical genius Krister Linder.

In all, the album is an ambitious attempt to leave the primitive but still powerful experimentalism of White Stains (1987-1994) and delve into more traditional musical structures. I think we succeeded quite well and I still enjoy listening to this album some 12 years down the road. We hope you will too, of course.

The Highbrow Lowlife web site is now fully active, by the way. There are still some beta glitches but they will be fixed soon. The store is up and running and offers a competitive price level if you compare with other online megastores.

First Time Hurts is now available at all major online music stores and streaming services. Enjoy as you see fit!

Cotton Ferox in Amsterdam, First Time Hurts-era. Photo by Braam Angstrom.

Krister Linder, 2002. A forest Phantasmoplasm!

Michael Moynihan in an Ernst Jünger state of mind, Vermont 2003.

Other Highbrow Lowlife news-quickies: there have been some additions to the video section of the site. New films by/with Sinnelag, The Mushroom Clouds, et al. Enjoy!

WWW.EDDA.SE – Great books on subjects that matter and matters that subject!

Monday, November 11, 2013

Cotton Ferox return to Poland

On November 17th, Cotton Ferox will play in Warsawa, Poland, at the Trans-Wizje festival. Incidentally, it was on the same date 12 years ago that Cotton Ferox played live for the very first time (at Fylkingen in Stockholm). To celebrate this magical cycle, Highbrow Lowlife will re-release the first Cotton Ferox album, First Time Hurts, in the digital ether on November 21st.

Here's some information culled from the Polish site:

Miejsce: Laboratorium CSW, ul. Jazdów 2, Warszawa
Bilety: 55 zł. (do 17 października) / 66 zł. (po 17 października)
Start: 17 listopada 2013, godzina 17.00

I also have a text in the most recent issue of the Trans-Wizje magazine, which will be launched on Sunday, about the strange relationship between human beings and dolls:

"The eerie and sometimes even terrifying encounter with glassy eyed porcelain dolls or even mute teddy bears, especially when one sees many of them at the same time, clearly distinguishes the thin line between death and magical life. By mere will, an inanimate object can go from being a scary-zombie-voodoo-horror film-nightmare item to something that is "cute", "cuddly" and, not forgetting, "mine". And then also integrated in harmonious playing, alone or together with friends. It's what the human imagination invests in the object that makes it come alive."

I hope to see you in Warsawa on Sunday!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Understen is coming to get you!

Understen's Imaginär Koherens album from 2010 swept by underneath the radar of everyone, including Understen themselves. That's why it's a necessary privilege to be able to re-release this little gem of improv lo-fi psychedelia via the Highbrow Lowlife imperium-emporium.

Way back when, in 1987 to be exact, two frustrated Stockholm youngsters got together to make some music. I was one of them. Jan Ekman was the other one. We called the band White Stains. That initial phase got me actively interested in making music and that is something that hasn't really changed, ever. To make noise or rock'n'roll or both together with Jan was a lot of fun and I guess the peak of our first phase of collaboration was when we played at the Hultsfred festival in 1989, with Thomas Tibert at the mixing desk. This concert can be heard in its entirety on the The Somewhat Lost Horizon album, which will, incidentally, also be re-released this autumn.

Carl A & Jan E, Stockholm 1987. Photo © Max Fredrikson.

Jan drifted away as new folks entered the White Stains music machine but luckily we stayed in touch and remained friends. I guess it was inevitable that we would some day make music again. In 2009 we started talking about it and one thing led to another. This another would eventually be called Understen.

The result of these very loose sessions became the album Imaginär Koherens ("Imaginary Coherence"). It was released in a nice little box with a CD, one photo by me, one drawing by Jan, and some other stuff. Only 100 made and still not sold out... Ha! Always the same old story! Anyway, a nice box and, most importantly, a very nice album.

Acoustic guitars, improvised percussive bits, ranting, letting the MicroKorg run amok, voices, noises... Hard to describe, isn't it? We talked about David Crosby and Hawaiian hippies a lot, but those goals are hard to reach. Impossible perhaps. Or maybe we actually succeeded too well and transcended our own expectations? I think it's probably more of a David Crosby "zone" or a Hawaiian hippie "flow", to contemporize the lingo a bit.

A joyous disclaimer: The album was made entirely without music software, sequencers, data bloaters, left brain halves, causal rhythms, optitech inflation, terrabytean delusions of grandeur, quantized thought processes, syncopations filled with opinions, Aristotelean assumptions, Euclidian prejudices, etc. It's just wild human stuff plugged into your ears basically. That's how we think Understen should be – and sound.

As the album is now unleashed into an unexpecting digisphere, it might be nice to clean up some of the original videos too. The first one out is Returbiljetten - ej giltig!, which features our dear friend Sylvie Walder on beautiful ethereal piano. This one can be seen on the Highbrow Lowlife YouTube Channel, or, if you're too lazy to click the link, just watch it right here!

Understen's Imaginär Koherens is released by Highbrow Lowlife on September 26th, 2013. Stream where you stream, buy where you buy. But why not buy at the Highbrow Lowlife webstore?

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Sinnelag: dark state of mind

Only once in a while do I retract from long term musical partnerships (and then only temporarily). Usually collaborations are fun and rewarding within a Third Mind framework. Usually they bring out entirely unexpected music that would have been impossible to make on my own.

However, I've come to notice that it works the other way around too. When I'm totally alone with the audio structure spirits, the communication becomes transcending in a much more brooding and darker way. Sure, I can recognize elements and attractions that are mine and mine alone, but I'm more and more surprised in the solo setting these days. It's as if the Third Mind has become the norm and in long term musical partnerships one gets the hang of it after a while. The unexpected becomes the expected. Not creatively Kosher.

Some years ago, I started making music on my own again. This time without any concept or umbrella (like an "album"). I was just curious to see where the intuition would lead me. I encouraged myself getting into a particular emotional mood, and then worked from there. All the instruments and studio gear were left out in the living room for weeks, driving me and my little family crazy. When I felt like recording, I did. Usually very late at night.

The result of these expressions eventually became the album Själabränning and I called my solo project Sinnelag (approx "State of mind" in Swedish). It was issued on CD in a limited edition of 100 copies in 2010. Then I basically let it slip and slide.

Anyway, recently I thought it could be interesting to listen to the album again. It was. It was dark stuff galore. What a dark trip! I think I actually got rid of some heavy emotional residue in the process of making that album, because I can recognize it all in there somewhere. Music can indeed be therapeutical. Thanks to the audio structure spirits.

Now, it's all been digitally remastered, and it does sound a lot better. Thanks to Thomas Tibert, who is such a skilled mastering person! Of course this music needs to be out there in the digisphere. Now it is. For your listening pleasure (?)... All over the digisphere... Right now!

There are some Sinnelag films too, as if the weird sounds aren't enough. To celebrate the digital release of the album, Highbrow Lowlife has just posted Pollen av aska on the YouTube Channel.

The album Själabränning is available at all major digital outlets, including iTunes and Spotify, from September 12th, 2013. Why not try out Highbrow Lowlife's own digistore?

1. Själabränning

2. Katarsis igen (Ljudsouvenirer)

3. Jag tänkte en gång på att samarbeta

4. Undra en smula

5. Exformation

6. Någon annans dröm

7. Pollen av aska

8. Stormiga ytans reflektion

9. Monstropolis sjunger för de döva

10. Skenrus

11. Omegahanen

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Elisabeth Punzi & The Mushroom Clouds

After having worked with so much weird music together since 1989 or thereabouts, Thomas Tibert and me decided that it would be fun and challenging to make some real pop music instead of the usual Cotton Ferox-structures. So that's what we did, from 2009 and onwards. The Mushroom Clouds were now catapulted into an unsuspecting cosmos.

Back in 2010, we had amassed a bunch of tracks that were very conventional, yet trippy and perhaps even intelligent. Then we gave some serious thought to the vocal issue. Who could vocalize our vision?

The best answer to that question was within reach: Gothenburgian chanteuse extraordinaire Elisabeth Punzi of Whipped Cream-fame drifted into the studio like elegant royalty and, as they so frequently say on TV these days, "delivered". The first result of this collaboration is the EP called EP I, which is available in the digisphere from September 5th, 2013.

Beauty and the Beats: Elisabeth Punzi flanked by Mushroom & Clouds, 2010.

There will be more from The Mushroom Clouds of course. Each EP will be a collaboration with a female singer and we hope to work with many different kinds of voices and singing styles in the near future. If you want to be involved somehow, just e-mail us.

We will try to make this an audiovisual adventure too, so that each song gets its own video – or vice versa.

We have now made our first public contribution as conventional songwriters. It feels good and we're very pleased with the result. And we are currently writing new songs for future adventures. Don't worry... We won't leave the experimental or the ambient or the electronic or whatever behind... But The Mushroom Clouds will always be a POP experience from this day and onwards.

We hope that you'll join us on this musical mystery trip!

The Mushroom Clouds' EP I is available from The Highbrow Lowlife Webshop, iTunes, Spotify, Wimp, Amazon and all the others...

To see Mushroom Clouds and Cotton Ferox videos, please click here...

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Roving Report 2013-35

Howdy people! Autumn has now officially begun and there's a chill in the air to prove it. Wonderful! Time to get back to working routines and an evaluation of the times we live in. Some recent developments deserve special mention, and this little missive is meant to be a condensed update of sorts.

To celebrate autumn, Highbrow Lowlife today release an album by Cotton Ferox called A Mega Golem Official. Some of you may remember this piece from Vicki Bennett's Radio Boredcast project back in 2011-2012, but now it's out there on its own: Spotify, iTunes, Wimp, Amazon et al... Wherever you usually shop or stream, it's there.

The Mega Golem is a project that is well under way now. It's a magical creature (vide the Golem in Meyrink and others), that is made entirely out of art. Currently several artists are helping me to build this new life form. This official Mega Golem transmission constitutes the being's penis and testicles. This in no way implies that it's a specifically male creature though.

To read more about the Mega Golem project, you should consult The Fenris Wolf, issues no 5 & 6, both available from Edda Publishing.

Another Highbrow Lowlife-related recent manifestation is the posting of videos on our YouTube channel. We currently have five different videos uploaded there, and strongly recommend you have a look. This recent week, we flagged for the upcoming first EP by Elisabeth Punzi & The Mushroom Clouds, due out in the digisphere on September 5th.

The Mushroom Clouds-project is quite a big step for Thomas Tibert and me, as it deals with another form of music than we're used to: POP! We sincerely hope that you will enjoy our collaboration with the multitalented singer Elisabeth Punzi as much as we have.

The All Alone-video was made by Thomas Tibert, and the Lucifer's Rainbow one by me (with extra special thanks to the lovely Sara George).

New from Trapart Books is an amazing book called " ''''''' " (being an exposition and elucidation of an eternal work by The Hafler Trio). The book is a poetic description of Andrew McKenzie/The Hafler Trio’s ongoing series of workshops and ideas. Part musical creation, part personal development, part experimental Gesamtkunstwerk and part complementary education. Available late September in a standard and a deluxe edition. At that same time, there will also be a brand new Trapart web site.

New from Edda Publishing is an art book by Fredrik Söderberg called Jung Haus. And my own very first novel Mother, Have A Safe Trip (an occult science fiction sex thriller). Both books will be out early October, and more news will follow of course.

I have recently enjoyed new music by the Swedish band/project Purple Elk. Dan Söderqvist is a genuine gem in Swedish music (consider Älgarnas Trädgård, Cosmic Overdose, Twice A Man...), and his new project Purple Elk (together with Jan Ternald) is no exception to his solid rule of psychedelic and beautiful brilliance. Purple Elk play contemporary psych with a literal as well as emotional H.P. Lovecraft vibe (the author more than the band of the same name). You can listen to Purple Elk right here. You not only can. You should.

Another Swedish project that's been on my mind to write about is Ev Of Isis. The dark, brooding and menacing beauty of Swedish Josefin Hinders and American Amanda Schoepflin drag you away – willingly – on an inner journey that is scary and enthusiastic at the same time. Multiversal mind movie music and delicious dark femmebient of the finest brand. You can listen to Ev Of Isis right here!

That's it for now. Until the next time, enjoy the works in this little dispatch irresponsibly and make sure to spread the information further!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Highbrow Lowlife

Thomas Tibert, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Carl Abrahamsson. Photo by Ryan Martin.

Inspired and fueled by White Stains' successful concert together with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge in Gothenburg in late June, me and Thomas Tibert have decided to revitalize the dormant label Highbrow Lowlife. It was never really sent to the final rest, but after the limited CD release by Sinnelag, Själabränning (2011), it was definitely time to take a break.

But... We have so much material in the archives and now also a much better distribution network for digital releases, so there's really nothing there to stop Highbrow Lowlife from becoming a very smooth vehicle for our musical expressions – new as well as old ones.

There will be physical/tangible releases too, mainly vinyl, but that takes slightly longer to strategize. So we'll begin slowly but surely by making as much material as possible available digitally.

The first release will be an EP called I Travel. Genesis Breyer P-Orridge reads a trippy poem to music that was originally made for our joint album Wordship (2004), but the EP also contains two remixes. The release date is August 15th, so stay alert!

We have just now fixed our own YouTube channel, where we'll post old as well as new films by Cotton Ferox, White Stains and other relevant acts/people. The first video posted is I Travel F-Side. Enjoy! To see it in a slightly better quality, please go straight to the clip.

A Highbrow Lowlife website is also being structured and will hopingly see the light of day late August.

Thanks for being interested. Stay tuned and you'll be provided with a lot of mind bending music!