John Carpenter – Artist to Watch On Stereogum

 

Really great piece on John Carpenter from Stereogum:

http://stereogum.com/archives/band_to_watch/artist-to-watch-john-carpenter_090861.html

It’s fitting the Jersey-born New York-to-Los Angeles multi-instrumentalist John Carpenter shares a name with the man behind the Halloween franchise: There’s something autumnal and spooky about his soulful, romantic rock ‘n’ roll. See, for instance, “Seasons,” the A-Side of his new Mexican Summer 7″: It sounds like vintage Scott Walker fronting the Zombies. (To get more contemporary, you might think, too, of a hazier sounding Fresh & Onlys.) By the time you get to the jangling B-Side “Haunt My Home,” you’ll understand why he mentions Roy Orbison, Echo & The Bunnymen, John Cale, and “early” Roxy Music as influences for his gothic-tinged garage. Both of those songs were initially included on his self-released Demos And Live Fiascos, but are now “no longer part of the release,” ostensibly to draw focus to the single. When you add those to his recent 4-song Possibilities EP, you’re getting closer to accumulating a proper full length’s worth of material, something we’d really appreciated.