Toward the end of his set, Karl Blau announced that there was a questionable stench stemming from his attire, which had been stashed in his shed for an unknown quantity of years. A local Anacortes favorite, Blau’s bizarre folk absolutely warrants the preceding freak – a term that common folk might attach to a musician performing while dressed as a fireman. Though, with LAKE as his backup, it sounded (and looked) almost too natural.

True to the evening, even with full instrumentation accompanying Blau, his music radiated a minimalism far below the swanky beats of his recent LP, Zebra. Gone were the horns, the disco beats, the woodwind instruments; but added were some excellent synth lines and choppy percussion. And also true to the evening, all were welcome to sing along.

I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. Here’s “Dark Sedan” from Zebra (K Records) for some audible accompaniment.

All photos by Andrew Fenstermaker.

Karl Blau: Dark Sedan [mp3]

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Here’s a video Ola Hungerford (Dandelion Gold, Cock & Swan) took of Blau’s performance:

Karl Blau with LAKE 01/30/10 from Ola (Dandelion Gold) on Vimeo.