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Edward Ka-Spel

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Edward Ka-Spel
Edward Ka-Spel on stage at the Traumzeit festival in 2017
Edward Ka-Spel on stage at the Traumzeit festival in 2017
Background information
BornLondon, England
OriginNijmegen, Netherlands
Genres
OccupationMusician
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • keyboards
Years active1980–present
LabelsThird Mind

Edward Ka-Spel is an English singer-songwriter and musician, born in London on 23 January 1954, to a family with East Anglia connections. He is best known for his work with the band The Legendary Pink Dots, which he co-founded. He is also known for his work on The Tear Garden with Skinny Puppy's cEvin Key. In 2017, he collaborated with Amanda Palmer on the album I Can Spin a Rainbow.[1]

Biography

Edward Ka-Spel is best known as the lead singer, keyboard and electronics player, songwriter and co-founder of the band The Legendary Pink Dots, in which he was initially known as D'Archangel, Prophet Q'Sepel and other pseudonyms.[2][3] He has also released numerous solo albums (initially featuring other members of the Legendary Pink Dots, and including contributions from Steven Stapleton),[4][5] and has worked in various side projects, including The Tear Garden (with cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy),[2][3] and Mimir (with Phil Knight, Christoph Heemann, Jim O'Rourke and others). He is now recording an album with 48 Cameras, "Songs from the marriage of heaven & hell" according to William Blake.

Ka-Spel's solo albums range from abstract electronic noise to more traditional pop songs, incorporating diverse elements of psychedelia, industrial, avant garde, experimental electronic, art pop, classical music, folk (nursery songs), sampling, noise, collage, music concrete, etc.[3] His lyrics have been described as mystically bizarre and ambiguous, and incorporate recurrent themes from his own personal mythos. Ka-Spel's songwriting has been compared to that of Syd Barrett and early Pink Floyd, though the artist describes the comparison as being a coincidence, not a direct influence.[3] Ka-Spel has cited Iannis Xenakis, The Beatles, Nurse With Wound, David Bowie, Brainticket, Can, The Residents, Magma, and Throbbing Gristle as significant influences.[6]

Ka-Spel often appears on stage barefoot, wearing a long scarf and either pink or black optic glasses. Early in his career, he drew black lines on his face and arms, which Phil Knight has referred to as "his cracks",[7] presumably as they resemble the cracked lines of a china doll, an image very present in his early albums.[original research?]

Discography (selected)

A photo of Edward Ka-Spel with The Legendary Pink Dots in 2006.
Ka-Spel live with The Legendary Pink Dots in 2006
A photo of Edward Ka-Spel in 2008.
Ka-Spel live in 2008

Albums

  • (1982) Brighter Now
  • (1984) Laugh, China Doll
  • (1985) Eyes!, China Doll
  • (1986) Chyekk, China Doll
  • (1987) AaΔzhyd, China Doll
  • (1988) Khataclimici, China Doll
  • (1991) Tanith & the Lion Tree
  • (1995) The Scriptures of Illumina
  • (1995) The Textures of Illumina
  • (1995) DNA LE DRAW D-KEE (with Elke Skelter as DNA LE DRAW D-KEE)
  • (1998) The Blue Room
  • (2000) Red Letters
  • (2001) Absence of Evidence
  • (2001) Caste O' Graye Skreeens
  • (2002) O'er a Shalabast'r Tyde Strolt Ay
  • (2004) Pieces Of ∞
  • (2005) O Darkness! O Darkness!
  • (2005) A Long Red Ladder to the Moon
  • (2005) Fragments of Illumina
  • (2007) Dream Logik Pt 1
  • (2008) Dream Logik Pt 2
  • (2008) The Painted River of Regrets
  • (2009) The Whispering Wail (with The Silverman)
  • (2009) Dream Loops
  • (2009) Transmit Acoustique Abstraction Two (with Armchair Migraine Journey)
  • (2009) Trapped in Amber
  • (2010) Devascapes
  • (2010) Red Sky at Night (with Alena Boikova)
  • (2010) The Thirty Year Itch (with The Silverman)
  • (2010) The Minus Touch
  • (2011) A Pleasure Cruise Through 9 Dimensions
  • (2012) This Saturated Land
  • (2012) Ghost Logik
  • (2013) Fire Island
  • (2013) One Last Pose Before the Ruin
  • (2013) 800 Saints in a Day (with the Twilight Circus)
  • (2014) Are You Receiving Us, Planet Earth?! (with Philippe Petit)
  • (2014) Ghost Logik 2
  • (2015) The Victoria Dimension
  • (2015) Spectrescapes Vol. 2
  • (2015) CybersKapes
  • (2016) Spectrescapes Volume 3
  • (2017) I Can Spin A Rainbow (with Amanda Palmer)
  • (2021) Prints of Darkness

Singles and EPs

  • (1984) Dance, China Doll
  • (1992) The Char Char / Extracts from "The Inferno"
  • (1993) Inferno / Illusion
  • (1996) The Man Who Never Was
  • (1999) Share The Day
  • (2000) A Birth Marked Conspiracy
  • (2000) Lactamase 01
  • (2001) Meltdown
  • (2002) Clara Rockmore's Dog
  • (2002) 090301
  • (2002) Lilith and The Rose
  • (2005) Happy New Year
  • (2008) Dream Logik X (a small voyage in 3 parts)
  • (2008) Dream Logik 3333333333333
  • (2008) Burning Church
  • (2012) 11.11.11.11
  • (2013) The Patriot / Last Man Standing
  • (2020) Permission To Leave The Temple
  • (2020) The Deep
  • (2020) A Red Winter Night's Dream
  • (2021) The Sympathy Portal

Collections

  • (1989) Perhaps We'll Only See A Thin Blue Line
  • (1990) Lyvv, China Doll (cassette)
  • (1993) Lyvv, China Doll (CD)
  • (1995) Chyekk, China Doll / AaΔzhyd, China Doll
  • (1995) Down in the City of Heartbreak and Needles
  • (1996) Kowskijari
  • (1997) The Carrion
  • (1998) Down in the City of Heartbreak and Needles 2
  • (2000) Needles Three
  • (2007) Melancholics Anonymous
  • (2008) Dream Logik Parts 1–3

Live albums

  • (1987) Apples (Big!), China Doll
  • (2000) Public Disturbance
  • (2000) Angelus Obscuros (16-5-85)
  • (2002) Khalash Nykow, China Doll (4-4-86)
  • (2005) Live in Basel 2005 (with The Silverman)
  • (2012) Live at Bibliotheque Hergé, Paris 2005
  • (2012) Live in Denver 19 May 2012 (with The Silverman)
  • (2014) The Greenhouse Effect (with The Silverman and Nicoletta Stephanz)
  • (2015) Terremoto - Live In Chile 2008 (with The Silverman)

Compilation appearances

  • (1985) Atomic Roses on 59 To 1 Cassette Nr. 6
  • (1986) Jesus Wept on Is That You Santa Claus? Oscar's X-Mas Carols Vol. 3
  • (1987) And The Lord Said, Rise on For Your Ears Only
  • (1992) Hotel X on Mindfield
  • (1993) The Colour Xhine on Tape A Break
  • (1995) Dr. Blizz on The Gothic Compilation Part II
  • (1996) The Forbidden Zone on Electrocity Vol. 7
  • (1996) A Crack in Melancholy Space on A Blind Man's Gallery of Mirrors
  • (1997) Atomic Roses 1995 (Pt. 1 & 2) on Globus And Decibel
  • (2002) Burdon on Electrically Induced Vibrations
  • (2003) Der Khataclimici 2 on Lactamase Bonus Compilation
  • (2004) Complex on See Beyond The Music
  • (2006) Sticks & Stones (Version) on Not Alone
  • (2006) Sepia on Brainwaves
  • (2010) Elvis of the Modern World on The Year 25 / 25 Years Korm Plastics
  • (2010) Yam With Babe on Transmit Acoustique Abstraction 1/2
  • (2010) The Bad Trip on Audiotron

References

  1. ^ Goodwin, Jeremy D. "Amanda Palmer Mesmerizes in Concert with Edward Ka-Spel (18 May 2017)". Boston Globe. Boston Globe. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  2. ^ a b Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 398
  3. ^ a b c d Carr, Daphne "Edward Ka-Spel Biography", Allmusic, retrieved 2010-02-06
  4. ^ Couture, François "Laugh China Doll Review", Allmusic, retrieved 2010-02-06
  5. ^ "Chyekk, China Doll Review", Allmusic, retrieved 2010-02-06
  6. ^ "Interviews". Legendarypinkdots.org. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  7. ^ "Phil Knight". Brainwashed.com. 29 July 1954. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
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