KTRU Corner: Appalachia

By Miguel Quirch     10/1/09 7:00pm

BackPorch Revolution is a small label that focuses on ambient noise, drone, electronic and experimental music from New Orleans. One of its most important releases was the compilation album Proud To Swim Home: A Backporch Revolution Compilation for New Orleans, produced to aid New Orleans in recovery after Hurricane Katrina.One of the most interesting artists from this label is Mike Karnowski. Otherwise known as DJ Potpie, Karnowski specializes in chaotic mixes of instruments, like a sine wave generator, turntables, low-fi samplers, theremin, guitars and toy organs - basically anything that he can use to extract a sound.

In his latest EP, Appalachia, Karnowski faces off against two competing musical styles held within himself as DJ Potpie and Krzysztof. The basis of the album centers around bluegrass music - or rather, experimental electronic and mixing that originates in bluegrass. The EP has two long tracks averaging about 10 minutes each, both producing sheer, ear-pounding goodness.

The first track, "Cold Mountain Breakdown," undoubtedly has its origins within traditional bluegrass music. Karnowski takes recordings of actual bluegrass music and twists them together to form a "Breakdown" that at first will sound like complete madness. After a few minutes of listening, however, one begins to hear what could be described as a dance hall complete with great acoustic echo.

---

---

Traditional bluegrass instruments such as banjos and fiddles meander through the background and seem to loop up and down, resulting in a track that fades in and out, and the truth is that Karnowski manipulates the mix in a sine wave fashion for the overall effect of a strong feeling of nostalgia. By focusing on certain sounds, Karnowski's DJ Potpie brings out the idea of fond memories and happy times in true bluegrass fashion.

The other track on the EP done as Krzysztof, "Descending Moonshine," does not completely sound as bluegrass or Appalachian as "Cold Mountain Breakdown," mainly because the entire track bleeps and bloops and whistles at the listener. Perhaps Karnowski's alter ego, Krzysztof, decided to take authentic bluegrass sounds and translate them into a more electronic medium, or perhaps he decided to focus on the concept.

Either way, the track lives up to its namesake and does indeed feel like a soft and gentle, but amusing, descent from a fun little place. A subtle melody can be heard that underlies the background of the track, though to the uninitiated ear it may just all appear to be high-pitched variances on the same few notes.

Appalachia, for all its strangeness, is a unique take on experimental sine wave music, and though it may seem strange to many, it can actually be quite pleasant listening. Its release was limited to 50 copies, and KTRU is proud to have one of those copies in its music library. Call in and request it sometime.

---