Jeff Carey

BIO
Jeff Carey makes hardcore digital noise music with a joystick a gamer keypad and an array of strobe lights. Computer based synthesis, noise, and improvisation combined with a no-safety-net aspect of gestural control makes his music totally physical and visceral. No overdubs and no backing vocals.

"He's acting on raw instinct here - he refuses the clinical approach to programming software or composing music, and strives to throw himself bodily at his machines, replacing all mechanical moving parts with human flesh, blood, and bone. In pursuit of this all-organic goal, virtually everything else is jettisoned, starting with recognisable notes or melody." -- Ed Pinsent, Sound Projector on "Impulse"

Carey studied Audio Technology at American University (1994) and computer music at the Institute for Sonology (2002). He as been honored with awards from the Maryland State Arts Council for non-classical music composition and the National Endowment for the Arts via DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities. His acousmatic and electro-acoustic works with the N-Collective have been featured in festivals in the US, Europe, and Scandinavia. He has released a number of CDs and records as 87 central (Staalplaat, JDK Productions, Universal), Office-R(6) (Lampse, +3DB), SKIF++ (Fridgesounds, LINE/12k), under his own name (CWnil, Banned Production, IO Sound) and with MoHa! (Jeff Carey's MoHa! 7" on Rune Gramophone).

New release: [3:30]

Artist: Jeff Carey
Title: [3:30]
Label: Forwind
Catalogue number: FWD10
Release: Oct 2013

[3:30] is Jeff Carey's 3rd solo CD release that takes its inspiration from that cornerstone of pop music - the three to three and half minute pop song. In his own words Jeff decided to approach this album 'as an exercise in reduction - the process of packing a maximum amount of musical information into every moment/sound/phrase'.

The ferocious and reductionist production angle results in a set of tracks that pull you in and spit you out just as quickly, which in a climate of endless epic track lengths simply adds to the sense of excitement.

This is not a mawkish, sentimental piece of work and it will appeal to anyone who doesn't mind breaking some nails while hanging onto the edges of an electrifying audio vista. It's a bracing, fizzing and explosive listen which excitedly packs what might have been an hours worth of ideas into its near 22 minutes.

LISTEN

Dates 2014
January 4 @ Splatterpunk Festival Vol.1 Baltimore
January 9th @ Club K, Baltimore MD: Ultra Bide, Jeff Carey, Blackwolf Beach
Febraury 16 @ Club K, Baltimore, MD: Joey Molinaro, Jeff Carey, Friendbeat, Extant
February 21-22 @ X-Fest, Holyoke, MA
February 28 @ Club Orpheus, Baltimore, MD: Natural Velvet, Jeff Carey, c10, Warm & Comfy, Death Fetish
March 29 @ Holy Underground: Jeff Carey, Christopher Feltner, Billy Pizzaro, Stephen Palke, Comfort Link
March 25 @ Dr Clock's Nowhere Bar: Jeff Carey, Greg Gorlen, Painted Faces, Safe Fast & Effective, Layne Stanley
April 2 @ The Villa, Den Haag, NL, Jeff Carey, Kang, TBA
April 5 @ OT301, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Jeff Carey, Till Bovermann, Miguel Negrao, Alberto De Campo, Marije Baalman
April 8 @ Club K: Japan tour kickoff w/ Ussa Pleasuredome, Clay Davis and Ruby Fulton

April 11 @ Ladder Ladder, Chichibu, Japan: Jeff Carey, Warm and Comfy, S-Explode, Yoshida Takuma, × マサキオンザマイク / Flying Izna Drop / In The Sun
April 12 @ Club Goodman, Tokyo, Japan: Jeff Carey, Warm and Comfy, illMilliliter / Otori / Bossston Cruizing Mania / LOA / Emily Likes Tennis
April 13 @ Niman Volts, Kyoto, Japan: Jeff Carey, Warm and Comfy, Groundcover / Jebiotto / LOOLOWNINGEN & THE FAR EAST IDIOTS / The Job
April 14 @ UrBanguild, Kyoto, Japan: Jeff Carey, Warm and Comfy, Marron / あたしよしこ＋伊藤誠(FairoVanz)＋藤田開(羽根より軽い命)＋ルイ・リロイ・田中
April 15 @ Para-dice, Osaka, Japan: Jeff Carey, Warm and Comfy, 333bababa / Ittanbu
April 16 @ Club Drop, Osaka, Japan: Jeff Carey, Warm and Comfy, ABLAZED / REAR RIDEN / No-plaN
May 9 @ Ende Tymes Festival, Silent Barn, Brooklyn, NY
May 17 @ Auxiliary, Richmond VA
May 29 @ The Lantern, Bristol, UK: Matmos, Jeff Carey
May 31 @ Cafe Oto, London, UK: Matmos, Jeff Carey
June 3 @ Karlstorbahnhof, Heidelberg, Germany: Matmos, Jeff Carey
June 5 @ Jazzhouse, Copenhagen, Denmark: Matmos, Jeff Carey
June 6 @ NK, Berlin, Germany: Matmos, Jeff Carey
June 7 @ Beatpol, Dresden, Germany: Matmos, Jeff Carey
June 9 @ Spazio Aereo, Venice, Italy: Matmos, Jeff Carey
September 18-21 @ High Zero Festival, Baltimore, MD

Dates 2013
Feb 7 @ Philadelphia Sound Forum, PA: Jeff Carey, Keroaan, AP Vague
March 2 @ Redroom, Baltimore MD
March 5 @ 14k, Baltimore: Matmos, Horselords, Jeff Carey
March 9 @ Brown University, Providence RI: Jeff Carey, Blevin Blectum, Idle Hands
April 2 @Barclay House, Baltimore MD: 333bababa, Echo Hey hello, Jeff Carey, The Mandroids
April 22 @ The Redroom, Baltimore: Marcus Schmickler, Jeff Carey, Mark Cetilia
April 28 @ Love Sound Festival Club K in Baltimore
May 26 @ Ende Tymes festival at Silent Barn in Brooklyn, NY
June 17 @ The Bank, Baltimore MD: International Noise Conference
June 21 @ Club K, Baltimore: Tacobonds, Groundcover, Sexgender, Jeff Carey, Echo Hey Hello
July 10, @Tribal Haus, Baltimore MD, Jeff Carey, Hollow Seed
July 19, Worlds in Colusion at Artscape, Baltimore MD
Aug 2, @Union Arts, Washington DC, Dog Daze Festival
Aug 3, Windupspace, Baltimore MD, Spleencoffin 10 year anniversary w/ Jeff Carey, Embarker, Aether Jag, Marlo Eggplant, Aleutian Compress, Meg Rorison, Mold Omen, Rosemary Krust, Dreadlords, Newagehillbilly
August 8, The Bun Shop, Jeff Carey, Patrick McMinn, Jason Charney, Andrew McClymont
August 24 @ 5th Dimension, Reverse Baptism, Sexgender, Jeff Carey
September 1 @ Club K: S-Explode, Echo Hey Hello, Jeff Carey, Hard Dads
September 14 @ Electric Maid: Esther Chlorine, Jeff Carey, Chris Videl, Bushmeat and Benay
October 15 @ Club K: Cex, Is/Is, Haunted Horses, Jeff Carey, Gamble Cosmos
October 25 @ Redroom: Justin Marc Lloyd, Jeff Carey, Christopher Feltner, Guillermo Pizarro
Nov 8, Code-Control-Noise, Lydgalleriet, Bergen Norway: Jeff Carey, Till bovermann, Marije Baalman, Miguel Negrao
Nov 16, @Archer Spade Performance Series, Philly, PA: Jeff Carey, Carl Testa and Sebastian Darkly Petsu.
Dec 7, Populuxe, Fredricksburg, VA: Jeff Carey, Mahatma Dali, Cartoon Bomb, Emma, epistaxis, Secchi Depth, Steel Armadillo, ...

REVIEWS
"Digital noise eviscerator Jeff Carey brings us another beautifully crafted release of mind numbing ferocity. His brand of noise is joystick controlled, gamer keypad processed and totally fucking exhilerating, you can almost see the strobe lights he uses flashing before your eyes. Speaker decimating bass tones and piercing and gritty sonic dust craftfully textured with infinite attention to detail. Ballast sounds like your brain being sizzle-fried inside a giant bell chopped and diced into a grainy buzz while Phosphor invades with chest rumbling pulsar waves, an underwater dreadnought. His grasp of spacing and rhythm shine brilliantly with Sink swirling with silence and Lock bringing everything together into a chaotic beast of beat drops. Don’t let the noise scare you away, this pieces are short (under 4mins each) and oh so sweet, except for maybe 1001 that might scare away anyone in a 50 foot radius. I think I scared people while I was stuck in traffic listening to this over and over and over and over..." --abacus@KFJC 89.7FM, California on "3:30" (2013)

"'I like all kinds of music.' Oh, do you? [...] Carey is not trying to make a hit, and we're not hoping to hear one. [3:30] is 22 minutes of roar and boom. [...] Play this song atop any current pop hit. Now that's what I call music." --A Closer Listen on '3:30' (2013)

"It's hard to put into words exactly what you are listening to. And, that's what I love about Mr. Carey's tracks. Jeff has forged a signature sound. I have been listening to noise for awhile now and I haven't heard anything quite like it." -- Gutter Magazine on "3:30" (2013) "'Interrupt-Decay' is a gloriously nasty, noisy treat." -- WhisperinandHollerin on "Interrupt-Decay" (2012)

"Fractured and malicious, this music is physical."
--Essmaa on "Interrupt-Decay" (2012)

"File under art and wank. [...] I never have understood this genre and never will."
--Blackaudio on "Interrupt-Decay" (2012)

"[...] easily the best digital noise you'll hear this year."
--Vital Weekly on "Interrupt-Decay" (2012)

"... the sound particle split into whining leptons, whispering quarks and flashing Higgs bosons [...]"
--Bad Alchemy on "Interrupt-Decay" (2012)

"Jeff Carey builds custom electro-instrument software which he uses to spawn these absurdly innovative electronic compositions. These are some super scuzzed out, glitchy arrangements..never redundant and quite linear. Sometimes harsh, but never abusive. The variety of sounds on this album is amazing. I would love to see this guy's set up.."
--Surfer Rosa, KFJC.org (2012)

"Oh yeah. Oh very yeah. [...] his debut full-length CD and it's pure dynamite."
--Monsieur Délire on "Interrupt-Decay" (2012)

"He's acting on raw instinct here - he refuses the clinical approach to programming software or composing music, and strives to throw himself bodily at his machines, replacing all mechanical moving parts with human flesh, blood, and bone. In pursuit of this all-organic goal, virtually everything else is jettisoned, starting with recognisable notes or melody."
--Ed Pinsent, Sound Projector on "Impulse" (2010)

"Loud, distorted, heavily cut up type of sound. Speaker damaging stuff. Like SCUM period Merzbow [...] these twenty minutes have something truly captivating. The outbursts of seemingly random noise leave a buzzing ring to the ears. An excellent release, which lasts about long enough to be really breath taking!"
--Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly on Impulse (2010)