G.T. Arpe
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States | Established. Jan 01, 1997 | INDIE
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G.T. Arpe "Drum and Drum" (Tape + CD Records)
What the hell is a G.T. Arpe? Let me tell you, I've listened to this CD a good number of times now, and I still have NO IDEA what a G.T. Arpe is.
There are vocals, let's start there. There are really clever lyrics too. And the vocals go over a drum machine and other random stuff (at times guitars, sound clips, etc.) I'd say it's something like a cross between Beck and Underworld. (Underworld had that song on the "Trainspotting" soundtrack), and for some reason, I think of them when I hear this.
I like this, but I don't know how well it would go over with people. I put it in some times and people tell me to take it out. But it's bold. It's a good listen for techno fans maybe, but I'm no techno fan by far... So just who the hell would listen to this? Again, I would, but I'm not sure exactly what I like about it. Perhaps it's just his voice, the lyrics and the fact that it really sounds FAR from anything else out there in this day and age.
I guess if you're creative and open to all sorts of styles of music, then you'll be open enough to listen to this. If you live in a world where everything must sound one particular way in order for you to listen to it, then G.T. Arpe is not for you.
from Nacho Cheese and Anarchy zine http://www.nachocheeseandanarchy.50g.com/review.html
G.T. Arpe — Doused Fires 2
Weird apartment rock that is so drenched in psychedelics and marijuana that if it was near a flame you’d be higher than a kite. Maybe it’s weird for weird’s sake but the album is somehow something so intriguing you find yourself paying a lot of attention. I don’t think many coffeehouse venues would appreciate it though.
- J-Sin From Smother.net
Now here are some tastefully warped pop songs. The music is completely raw and lo-fi, and Arpe vocals get a bit tiresome, but he's also done a good job of getting mileage out of limited instrumentation and recording resources to create a set of tunes that explore the pop possibilities of noise, clatter, and chaos. Across the CD's ten tracks I hear some seriously crazed yet well done mixing and collage-like layering of various bits of synths, toy instruments, guitars, horns, and garbage can percussion.
Among the standout tracks is "Me Brain Broke", one of the more musically impressive tunes, being a percussion and noise symphony of sorts. "The Reds" and "Grey" are the two acid-noise freakout tunes on the disc. I dig the swirling synths and organs and various samples particularly on "Grey". "Picasso Was No Asshole" is kind of a tripped out folk-rock song back by crazed percussion. On the surface of "Greens Blues / 2382?" we hear an attempt at a conventional song, but the musical zaniness behind it puts the whole thing into lo-fi orbit. Arpe's vocals can be a little hard to take, but his lyrics can be pretty humorous at times, particularly on "I Am A Skunk" where he's going on a about being a skunk and cutting out the rice and beans and his gastroenterologist, etc. He's singing about all this against a background of tribal crashing and banging, violins, and kazoos. Pretty wild.
In summary, this is pretty raw stuff, but it's also a fun set of tunes. And I'll give Arpe a thumbs up for his creatively warped conception of pop songs. Lots here for lo-fi fans to enjoy.
For more information you can email G.T. Arpe at tapeandcdrecords@hotmail.com.
G.T. Arpe - "Drum and Drum" (Tape and CD Records 2001, 004)
From Aural Innovations 17 (September 2001)
N. E. Parte Joused Squires 45 (Ape & Needy Heckless) Three songs in which the Hammond organ with percussion box takes the center. NE Parte has a sound that reminds me of the last batch of Rocketship songs Dustin Reske did, pop but not obvious, psych but not terribly so. Parte's voice is that of your average Guy Who Can't Sing but Likes To, however that doesn't hinder this record. This thing has me curious if nothing else. -- SS
Taken from "Z Gun". December 2006.
G.T. Arpe Camper Van Halen Date received: January 7, 2000 "Long Live Guitar" is the thematic centerpiece of Arpe's latest; it's a clanging, post-Moore caterwaul. Released in October 1999 (the CD he originally sent remains in the pile awaiting review), Camper Van Halen is more assertive than April's One Man Band cassette, and reveals G.T. to be an accomplished guitarist -- although no one in their right mind would play air guitar to Arpe's semi-chaos. Then again, it's unlikely anyone in their right mind would consider playing this at all. That's a compliment, by the way.
Taken from "Demo Universe"
G.T. Arpe One Man Band Date received: April 29, 1999 Slacker-rock a la Pavement and early Beck with an extra dose of found-sound pastiche. An assortment of bangs, clangs, grunts and squishes add a welcome element of surprise to Arpe's laid-back tunes. Calling a song "Who's Afraid of Pretension" shows he knows what he's doing, and we can all be happy he's having fun. Fans of lo-fi scientists will doubtless delight in Arpe's messy experiments. I look forward to more!
Taken from "Demo Universe"
Read more: http://www.myspace.com/campervanhalen#ixzz0rFDH3yDP - various
Discography
Albums: 1997: Guitarpe For Beginners 1998: One Man Band 1999: Camper Van Halen 2000: Christmas Island single 2001: Drum and Drum 2002: Doused Fires, Can't Joke Like You Used To, Wrights, etc. 2006: Hello Fidelity, 2009: Compilation: G.T. Arpe EP, Religious Hymns EP, Korea Counseling EP. 2011 G.T. Arpe My Baby LP, I am a...Ep.
Videos are on VIMEO and facebook.
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Bio
Formed in 1997 from an old Massachusetts band formerly known as "The Poseurs", now maybe "The Prosers" or something else due to legal issues. The drummer of the band was in college in upstate New York, and the singer was down in New York City. He wrote 3 records without the drummer, the third of which was titled "Guitarpe for Beginners". The moniker "G.T. Arpe" seemed to go with the title of the recording, and the name stuck and has been used ever since with occasional spin off names like "N.E. Part" and "Camper Van Halen". Around this time, the singer had a 4 or 5 month residency at "The Landmark Pub" in Park Slope.
Guitarpe for Beginners consisted mostly of tracks in which the singer sang and played more than one guitar at once. The title track utilized five guitars, two of which the singer played with his feet.
One Man Band and Drum and Drum elaborated on the "Guitarpe" theme by adding other instruments and percussion sounds to the mix.
Camper Van Halen combined Van Halen style tapping with Camper Van Beethoven style pop structures. The song "Long Live Guitar" is the centerpiece at 15 plus minutes.
2002's recordings Wrights double cassette, etc. and 2006's Hello Fidelity were written in the wake of post 9-11 paranoia, etc. Hello Fidelity was simultaneously released as "Ultimately 8 Song Lp" and modeled loosely after Dante's Divine Comedy, with Hell on micro-cassette, Purgatory on cassette, cdr and 7 inch record and Heaven on 12 inch record.
2009's Korea Counseling Compilation is primarily noise and sampler oriented with references to G.T. Arpe's experiences in the army and in Korea.
2011's releases were the "My Baby" Lp, an album of love songs with the phrase "My Baby" as the unifying concept and the "I am a...." EP, with 5 songs with rhyming titles based around the theme of "I am a..".
2014's "One Man Band II" consisted of songs where the singer played guitar, harmonica, and sang while playing drums.
2017's "One Man Band 3" consisted of songs where the singer played guitar and mini/children's drums while singing.
2018's side project 'Rose Raiders' consisted of indie rock type songs mixed with experimentalism and odd time signatures.
2021's "Avant Realism" consisted of songs where the singer mixed song structures with experimental and noise soundscapes based in realism.
G.T. Arpe has toured in Alaska, Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, China, New Zealand, Korea and Australia. He has also recently forayed into multimedia performance/comedy ("Artificial....") and improv spontaneous micro plays with audience participation ("Reverse Superman 1-10"). Regular updates can be found on his instagram (@g.t.arpe) and facebook (facebook.com/GTArpe) pages and website (gtarpe.com).
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