Karl Blau w/LAKE & Typhoon!

Karl Blau hails from Skagit Valley. I'm a solo touring/recording artist who also plays in the bands D+, Your Heart Breaks, sometimes in the band LAKE, and with Generifus, Calvin Johnson, Mount Eerie, Boys from Deer Park to name a few.
I've been somewhat obsessed with lots of music from Africa and music made by descendants of Africa over the last dozen years ( and really my whole life). I saw concerts of Waldemar Bastos, Abdullah Ibrahim(Dollar Brand), Omar Souleyman, and Joe Higgs and I have to say they've been my favorite experiences of live music. Is there a common thread? The shows all made me want to move, in fact I couldn't possibly sit still to the rhythms. Therefore, I tend to attribute elements of rhythm of any sort to African influence.
I consider music to be an open field. The possibilities of music are becoming more diverse with each day I am experiencing music of different cultures that are now within earshot thanks to the interweb. Here on the North West corner of the US, it seems like we're at the edge of the Earth. Everything is equally way far away; so, it's all fair game. The idea of merging all these sounds together the styles of Ananda Shankar with country and western music, or infusing metal with African beats is very exciting, though the results may be terrifying. Open field.
Last winter I decided to start a collection of songs recorded at Dub Narcotic in Olympia that would pay my respects to influences of African people and people of African heritage. Now it's finished and it's entitle "ZEBRA." Seems sorta corny at first, the name ZEBRA. Perhaps cornier still is "White with black stripes or black with white stripes," but it all plays in to something deeper. Probably more than anything, the album sounds Northwest to me. The flavor of the chord changes is mostly classic NW. E major with C major, etc. You know that smell. Plus, I've been really into the feeling of major melodies on top of minor progressions and vice versa... This record will be out at the beginning of October, coming up fast!