Name: All Things Being Equal
Brand: Sonic Boom

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

CAK142LP

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Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: Yes

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Single Sleeve, Inner sleeve with lyrics, 12"x12" Insert and 12"x19" Poster

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2020-06-12

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

677517014211

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Total Cap

1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

CAK142CD

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Download code: No

Gatefold Sleeve. 12 Page /6-Panel Insert with Lyrics on Front, Poster on Back.

2020-06-10

677517014228

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1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Sonic Boom

Genre GB

Psychedelic

Label GB

Carpark

Carpark is an independent record label based in Washington, D.C. with a focus on electronic, experimental and synth-pop sounds. Founded in New York City in 1999, Carpark has been a prominent player in the music industry for over two decades. Since its relocation to D.C. in 2005, the label has continued to nurture and promote innovative artists who push boundaries and challenge conventions.

With a diverse roster of talented musicians, Carpark has become synonymous with cutting-edge music that defies categorization. From *Toro y Moi*'s dreamy electro-pop to *Speedy Ortiz*'s raw indie rock, each artist on the label brings their own unique style and perspective to the table.

As an influential force in the music scene, Carpark consistently releases groundbreaking albums that captivate listeners worldwide. With their finger on the pulse of emerging trends and sounds, they have earned a reputation for discovering exciting new talent before anyone else.

Sonic Boom is the moniker of British musician and producer Pete Kember. Born on November 19, 1965 in Rugby, England, Sonic Boom is known for founding three acts: Spectrum, Experimental Audio Research (E.A.R.), and Spacemen 3 (co-founded by Jason Pierce). With a career spanning decades, Sonic Boom has made significant contributions to the music industry as an influential artist and producer.

It’s auspicious that Sonic Boom—the solo project and nom-de-producer of Peter Kember (Spectrum, Spacemen 3)—returns in 2020 with its first new LP in three decades. Kember’s drawn to the year’s numerological potency, and this intentionality shines into every corner of All Things Being Equal. It’s a meditative, mathematical record concerned with the interconnectedness of memory, space, consumerism, consciousness—everything. Through regenerative stories told backwards and forwards, Kember explores dichotomies zen and fearsome, reverential of his analog toolkit and protective of the plants and trees that support our lives.

Sonic Boom’s second album and first for Carpark began in 2015 as electronic jams. The original sketches of electronic patterns, sequenced out of modular synths, were so appealing that Stereolab’s Tim Gane encouraged Kember to release them instrumentally. “I nearly did,” confesses Kember, “but the vibe in them was so strong that I couldn't resist trying to ice the cake.” Three years later, a move to Portugal saw him dusting off the backing tracks, adding vocals inspired by Sam Cooke, The Sandpipers, and the Everly Brothers (which he admits “don’t go far from the turntable pile”), as well as speculative, ominous spoken word segments. His new home Sintra’s parks and gardens provided a different visual context for Kember’s thoughtful observations, and he thematically incorporated sunshine and nature as well as global protests into the ten resulting tracks. “Music made in sterility sounds sterile,” he says, “And that is my idea of hell.”

Over the vivid, calculating arps of opener Just Imagine, Kember nudges listeners to do as the title suggests. It’s based on a story he read about a boy who healed his cancer by picturing himself as a storm cloud, raining out his illness. The Way That You Live, a rollicking drone powered by drum machine rattles and bright chord beds, morphs political distrust into a revolutionary mantra about ethical living. “I try and live my life by voting every day with what I do and how I do it, who I do it with and the love that I can give them along the way,” offers Kember.

An unusually curated gear list accompanies each song, unexpected layers reinforcing the monophonic skeletons. Mystery soundscapes and grinding sweeps were teased from EMS synths, synonymous with and evocative of ‘60s BBC scoring and ‘70s Eno. Pacing basslines oscillating into warbling heartbeats came from a cheap ‘80s Yamaha. A modern OP-1 generated subtle kicks and eerie theremins, while his toy Music Modem—an unused holdover from sessions Kember produced for Beach House and MGMT—finally found its recorded home.

It’s rare to see liner notes where synthesizers rather than humans are credited (other than guest vocal stints from “co-conspirators” Panda Bear and Britta Phillips), but Kember is masterful at finding the unique personality in his machines. “I tried to find the deepest essence of the instruments and let them play,” he offers. What emerges from these considerations on technology and humanity is a honed collection both philosophical and grooving, spacious even as it fills to its brim. It’s distinctly Kember—more than that, it’s distinctly Sonic Boom.

All Things Being Equal

Music GB

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