Alex Carpenter on the video set at 3rd and Bazaar.
An eclectic musical artist runs
East Village vintage shop
BY BOB KRASNER
One never knows what the woman passing you on
the street has going on, or the guy behind the
counter at the corner shop. Take Alex Carpenter
who, with his partner Maegan Hayward, runs the East
Village Vintage Collective on East 12th Street.
It’s a great little shop with reasonable prices and you
are hereby forgiven for not having a clue that Carpenter
is an accomplished musician, sound editor, video artist,
sound effects creator and painter.
His New York City story starts in 2007, when he left
his native Australia hoping to work with the avant-garde
minimalist composer Lamonte Young, who was the
subject of his thesis in college. Not only did that dream
come true, but he also won the green card lottery, which
is actually a complicated process and not exactly like
buying a ticket on the corner.
While making some cash as a freelance accountant,
Carpenter continued the musical explorations that he
had started in Australia, with a very conscious mindset.
“I realized that I had to keep my music separate from
my money making endeavors,” he states. Performed
under the moniker “Music of Transparent Means,” the
music has taken different forms, using as many as 21
musicians — including strings, woodwinds, keyboard ,
brass, guitar, sax – to solo guitar performances like the
one that he is performing this week.
PHOTOS BY BOB KRASNER
“There’s a saturation of sound that you get with
multiple players,” he explains, “and I try to get a similar
effect with solo guitar and the use of multiple delay
pedals.”
There’s also a saturation of ideas, as he has absorbed
a wildly eclectic collection of infl uences.
“I love Steve Reich, Phillip Glass, the Velvet Underground,
Phil Niblock, The Beatles, Sonic Youth, Brian
Eno, Glenn Branca, Alvin Lucier, Heavy Metal, John
Cage — I got into it all,” he says. “My most life changing
experience was attending an 18 hour performance of
Erik Satie’s ‘Vexations.'”
He goes on to note that sometimes what he takes away
from certain groups — The Beatles, for example — is
“the sound more than the chord progression.”
Sound itself was also a source of income, as he found
a gig creating sound effects for large and low budget
fi lms. The jobs entailed everything from simple bits like
the sound of footsteps to the horror fi lm that required
the audio of a dog eating a person’s neck.
“I did that using a wet bagel, a grapefruit and raw
pasta,” he informs us, sounding quite proud of his
accomplishment.
Going in the opposite direction, Carpenter likes to
provide visual accompaniment for his music. The setup
for the videos that will run during his live performance
is a visual mirror of the sound.
While the guitar performance involves playing with
delayed sounds and looping, the videos are created with
visual loops that pile images on top of previous images,
with a simple setup that recalls Andy Warhol’s ‘Screen
Tests’ combined with a bit of Lucas Samaras and a 60’s
happening.
Carpenter fi lms his subjects, who are sometimes
sitting still, sometimes repeating an action or slowly
turning, while manipulating the three lights in various
patterns.
“My mind tends to wander at a concert if there is not
something that is visually engaging,” Carpenter explains.
” I’ve always been into video and I’m looking for a deep
focus experience. It’s like focusing on a candle when
meditating.”
“Alex Carpenter and the Live Audio Delay System”
will be performing a solo guitar improvisation, accompanied
by videos at 3rd and B’zaar this Thursday, Oct.
7, to celebrate the release of some brand new (handnumbered,
limited edition) vinyl.
Previously released on CD, “Chord From The Second
Delphic Hymn” is a live group performance from 2005
that has been remastered and given a new cover and
liner notes by de la Catessen Records, which is helmed
by Luke Altman back in Adelaide.
As to the sounds that he is creating, Carpenter shies
away from the usual terminology.
“Music is too loaded a term,” he states. “And I don’t
really like to use the word minimalism. I’m not so
much composing as I am tending to the birth of a sonic
Alex Carpenter (top) with his partner Maegan
Hayward at the East Village Vintage Collective.
organism. You don’t need any academic knowledge to
understand it or a music degree to enjoy it.”
More info on Alex Carpenter’s music can be found
at transparentmeans.net, on Instagram at @transparentmeans
and on bandcamp.com.
The record release party/performance takes place
Thursday, Oct. 7, 7 p.m., at 3rd and B’zaar, 191 East
3rd St. There’s a $10 suggested donation per guest.
SScchhnneeppss Meeddiiaa OOccttoobbeerr 77,, 22002211 1177
/transparentmeans.net
/bandcamp.com
