The Carps

As with Crystal Castles, there are standard terms you would expect to find in a review about The Carps! The most obvious one being “the next Death From Above 1979”. Oh yeah, ‘cos they’re a two piece and they’re from Toronto and they go completely insane on stage – well done. They are so much more than that. Imagine if DFA 1979, god rest their souls, had made it to that illusive second album, and hired the late James Brown to produce, and Kanye West as vocal coach (provided he was recovered from his recent embarrassment at the MTV awards), and you would be a bit closer to the truth. Soulful lead singer Jahmal Tonge adds a perfect level of R n’ B confidence to the otherwise raw thrashing of his drumkit, and Neil White seems to hold his bass together slightly better than JFK ever could in order to string together far more funkified and fanciful basslines. This is made even more impressive when witnessed live, as the two of them seem to ignore the fact that there is anyone else in the room, wind themselves up, and like the Duracell bunny just keep on going and going and going, although the Duracell bunny never threw itself mentally around the room the way Mr. White does, or bang its little drum with such passion and ferocity as Jahmal.

Topping the list of tracks on their EP ‘The Young and Passionate Days of Carpedia' has to be ‘All the Damn Kids’, a song written when they themselves were just “damn kids” but definitely still relevant today. A frustrated commentary on ‘the scene’ and all the “damned hipster scenester wanksters” that inhabit it, that culminates in an impassioned scream for us all to “raise our flags”. If they do ever get out of North America to tour, make sure not to ask them for guest-list to their shows, as people not contributing to the music scene and just desperately searching for the next big thing, whilst ignoring the present quality, is of particular annoyance to The Carps! Oh and definitely don’t mention how they are that ‘rare thing’ a rock band that is made up entirely of minority races!

Now “get in the car you black monkeys” and “raise your flag!” for The Carps! - The Console (uk)

When drum and bass duo The Carps hit the stage at the Mod Club Saturday night the plan is simple. “We plan to play as hard as humanly possible,” singer Jahmal Tonge tells Metro.

The musical collaboration between Tonge and partner Neil White began when they met at a Scarborough church youth group several years ago. Now the pair — whose music is best described as a collision of punk and R&B — is better known for
serving up high-energy, sweat-soaked live shows.

“I was brought up on a steady dosage of punk and progressive rock,” White
explains, “Whereas Jahmal had more of a soul, R&B interest. We started to
share these musical tastes and from there, expanded both of our musical
interests and horizons.”

Those horizons resulted in the release earlier this year of the band’s second
genre-bending EP Waves and Shambles. The disc is a swirling mash-up of hip hop, new jack swing, dance and rock. “A lot of it is heavily influenced by analog keyboard sounds,” says White, noting that others songs took them, “back to our grunge and duct tape punk days.”

Tonge says the band is serious about respecting and emulating the influences they choose to mine. “If you are an artist of integrity, you will allow the great music that has come before you and the great music of your peers to influence your style.” - Metro - Toronto edition

It was early, but it was fun. The Carps were one of the first bands to hit the main stage (12:45) at the Brooklyn Vegan Day Party at The Knitting Factory on Oct 25th, but that didn't mean they were, or left anyone else, half-asleep. The bass/drums duo brought their infectious R&B meets Gang Of Four meets DFA1979 funk keeping the early crowd enthused, and their storytelling interludes about homicides kept the crowd engaged. The thing that impressed me the most was drummer Jahmal Tonge's awesome ability as a singer, passionately crooning away like some sort of bastard child of Keith Sweat and ?uestlove, all while while blasting on his kit. - brooklynvegan.com

The Carps zelebrieren modernen Crossover. Das groovt, rockt
und hat Soul wie sonst gar nichts! Auch wenn sie ihr Drummer zugunsten einer Magier-Karriere verlassen hat, The Carps werden gross!

Jahmal Tonge und Neil A. White alias The Carps kommen aus Scarborough, einem Vorort von Toronto. Sie nennen sich “Raggamuffin Soul-Rocker” und das trifft den Nagel so
ziemlich auf den Kopf. Tonge ist mit Motown aufgewachsen, währenddem White Psychedelic-Rock verfallen war. Und diese Mischung ist denn auch der musikalische Fingerabdruck der Kanadier.

Die rockigeren Songs erinnern auf Anhieb an Death From Above 1979. Waren Letztere aber darauf fokussiert eine möglichst entschlackte und simple Form von Punk dar zu bieten, so sind The Carps darauf bedacht, sowohl Punk wie auch Hiphop und Electro-Pop zu sein. Die Band mischt diese verschiedenen Stilrichtungen wie mit in einem Schüttelbecher
wild durcheinander, der Musik-Cocktail, der entsteht ist catchy, groovy und rockt alles weg. Hiphop, Rock, Punk, Electro, Indie, you name it, The Carps got it. Synthesizer
wechseln sich ab mit E-Gitarren und Hiphop-Grooves, der Gesang erinnert an Terence Trent D’Arby. Alles in allem ein

Was The Carps zelebrieren, könnte man schlicht auch modernen Crossover nennen. Vor zwanzig Jahren schlugen Faith No More in eine ähnliche Kerbe. The Carps zeigen wie’s im neuen Jahrtausend gemacht
wird.

The Carps haben bisher zwei EPs veröffentlicht. Die erste “The Young and Passionate Days of Carpedia”
nahmen sie 2007 im Studio von The Roots auf. “Waves and Shambles” ist nun die zweite EP und ist vor
kurzem erschienen. Beide sind in der Schweiz im iTunes-Shop erhältlich. - 78s - Das Magazin für bessere Musik

The Carps are an emerging indie band
from Toronto who recently released their Waves And Shambles EP. They worked really hard to make the disc and its packaging the best they could, but drummer/singer Jahmal Tonge will completely understand if you don't purchase it like he did.

"I am a kid of this millennium," says
Tonge. "I buy songs for 99 cents each or I download them for free.

"The concept of albums totally weirds me out. I like them as a conceptual artistic piece. I like the idea of having the album art and the disc and the songs one to 12. I like that package idea, but I don't particularly care for it as a music fan. I don't buy CDs
anymore. I feel bad. The only time I buy CDs is if I buy the song on iTunes and I see a crazy cool album cover.

Then I will go to the shop and look for the record. If it is in a nice package and they did something really cool, I will buy it."

The fact that half of the band (the other half is bassist Neil White) doesn't generally pay for music should inspire you to check out what these guys have created. As a self-proclaimed former downloading pirate, Tonge says that he puts details in the disc to make sure that he would want to own a copy himself. But he still sides with the downloaders.

"People who want to buy music will buy music, and that's all it comes down to — end of story. If I don't feel like paying for your music and I want to steal it, I will steal it — end of story. I personally don't feel guilty about it, and I know most of the
population doesn't either. I know labels feel like they have to protect this digital intellectual property. You do have to protect what is yours, but at the same time it's just music. Kids are dying in Africa and we're worried about people downloading our 99-cent song. Who cares?"

Thanks to widespread internet savvy, The Carps can perform around the world. Their music is a crazy combination of styles that includes synth-pop, soul, Motown and rock. Tonge knows that mainstream radio isn't ready for their indefinable mash-up, but he couldn't care less because the internet has become their best
friend.

"We would not have had a fighting chance if it was like 10 years ago. We would be dead in the water a long, long time ago. The internet allows you to be into some very specific targeted things. There is a group for everything on the internet. A few years ago there would have been no way for a band like us to survive. We
don't fit into a category."

The Carps have taken their unpredictability to new levels on Waves And Shambles. As they prepare their first full-length, Tonge insists that staying away from ordinary is exactly where they want to be.

"I wouldn't do anything obvious. I don't think I could do an obvious
punk song or an obvious electro song because I love all of those types of music. I can't bring myself to do a new wave, crazy electro song and be the DJ and hold my headphones and pump my fist. But I can bring myself to take a bit of that and put it in my
music. I can mix it with some other things and hide it. I like the fact that people can't categorize exactly what it is. I'm just hiding it.

"Artists don't want to be categorized and put in a box, but sometimes you do it to yourself. If you wear a velvet blazer and boot cut jeans and cowboy boots and a sash with the Mick Jagger
haircut, you are going to be a certain kind of guy."

Although The Carps have never toured straight across Canada, Tonge says that's one of this year's goals — along with finishing their full-length, releasing records in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and touring all those places.
"It's going to be hella-busy and I am really scared. I'm scared because it's going to be so busy that I can't get a job and I'm going to be broke. If all goes well three years from now, I may be able to eat egg salad sandwiches. But the next two years of my life will probably be the hardest slave-driving, and I'm really scared." - Chart Magazine

To succeed as a rock and roll duo in the “always hungry” music industry isn’t exactly easy. Two–piece bands have been surprisingly common since the ‘90s especially around the
emergence of “alternative and college rock.” Most duos have been valiant, dedicated and forced to thrive on the art of multi–tasking, and if you don’t succeed as any of those things, it doesn’t take for the band to disappear (or add more members). For examples of hard–working rock duos, just take a look (and listen) to The
Inbreds, The Black Keys, The Kills, The Dresden Dolls and a handful of others including one of latest Canadian duos, The Carps.

The Carps blend bass–heavy rock and roll with thumping drums, elements of soul, supercharged keyboards with an intensity level that’s always set to 11. The band has just released an EP, Waves and Shambles, the follow–up to their EP The Young & Passionate Days of Carpedia. Carpedia was a strong debut, and you could tell The Carps were a band who knew exactly what they wanted, and weren’t about to let anyone stand in their way. In
fact, they recorded Carpedia at the same studio The Roots use in
Philadelphia, and there is a bit of a legend surrounding the one day they took to record the EP.

“[Making Waves and Shambles] was very different in that respect. [Carpedia] came together together quick and really rough. With Waves and Shambles we had the past two, three years to work on it. We were just working on a full length, a 14 track album, but we felt like not a lot of people are paying attention to the band right now and we can really go for a bit more exposure, and kind of light the fire under people” explains Jahmal Tonge, the band’s vocalist and drummer. “The biggest difference with sonically, is that we use a lot more of our keyboard, which is to our detriment. - Echo Weekly