Listening to the self-titled release by Carl Andre Petzelt is taking an adventure in the vast malignant soundscapes of modern music. Andre – not to be confused with the American minimalist painter Carl Andre who was tried and acquitted in the death of his wife in the 80s – debuted the album on October 10 of 2014. He is a long time indie producer and soundman at Toronto’s Cherry Cola’s N Rock & Rolla Cabaret Lounge and as far as I can tell this is his first album release. Mastered by Peter Moore at The E Room, the two have put together an EP that says a lot without actually using any words. Andre piques at emotions using nothing but his own sound waves.

Andre describes the album as “trip-hop,” I would call it maybe “vibe rock” or “ambient electronica” but we can just call it music for now. The album opens with “Zeta Mo”, and just so we are clear that is a song name and not the Westernized version of an ancient Asian practice like feng shui or origami. The song sounds like the most intense sequence of an early 90s NYPD cop drama and engages the listener in the same way a TV show platitude would: we want to know who the killer is. Followed with the track “Cloud Fueling” which is more of a psychedelic safari through the African savannah then a who-dun-it murder mystery like the first track.

My buddy Rob says the album reminded him of a mixture of Boards of Canada and Pink Floyd. The wide dreamy plains of sound collaborate with the presence of a reckless and unabashed guitar, riffing up and down the album in tracks like “Ah Eh Ay Oh”, “Second Wind” and “The Greater Good”.

The two hidden tracks, whose names will be withheld in the name of secrecy, were left off the main circulation of the EP, for vibe-based conflicts I think. But they show a real cool side to Andre’s song-building capabilities and are a worthy bonus surprise.

THE GOOD: The album is really very cool overall. This would be excellent background music for anything; movie scenes, love making, car rides, skateboard videos, basket weaving, etcetera, etcetera. The dynamics of Andre’s album contrast the monotony of a lot of today’s electronic music.

THE BAD: The composition is unorganized. Now this is going to be one of those copout negatives you give in a job interview: “Hi my name is this album and my biggest weakness is that I’m a bit disorganized. However, you’ll find that this can actually be a good thing sometimes as it makes for an unpredictable soundtrack and an interesting listening experience.” Cheeky bastard.

THE UGLY: Unless you are really into this style of music the album will most likely be erased from your memory and be replaced by reruns on Netflix. However, for those of you bedroom DJ’s and playful audiophiles, inspiration can and should be found in Carl Andre’s self-titled album as he experiments with melodies and sounds that are rather aurally pleasing to say the least. His self-titled EP is a good mix of ambience, rock and electronica with an advantageous lack of overall order.



Griffin Elliot



THE SCENE