Kram Ran

Press

The Idiot Prince:

“[The Idiot Prince] brings together noise and drone-core elements processed in a power spectral density. Imagine cross-correlation of a signal with itself or the use of electronic devices as a mathematical tool to find a repeated noise pattern. This album will most likely take a couple of listens, especially for those who are not so much into drone but it’s brilliantly well done and once getting the hang of the noise pattern the entire album becomes at ease. This obviously goes as HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.”
- The Sirens Sound

“This is beautiful, melodic, romantic, melancholy music marred by distortion, feedback, crashing, angry synths and moaning, wailing vocals. I had been listening to Jandek obsessively right up until this morning; the album, On The Way.
Everything that Jandek says and that the world whispers is humming in this Kram Ran record and it is good that it is beautiful and abrasive and illusive all at once because that is somehow reminiscent of The Mystery without ever solving it”
- Offerings Magazine

“No doubt that Kram Ran has packed this release full of references that could be pulled apart and identified for years, but even on the surface, he’s made something noisy yet enjoyable. (Xiu Xiu is the first and easiest comparison that comes to mind). But The Idiot Prince is in it for the long haul. (Kram Ran for the Polaris!)”
-Stylus Magazine

“Everything is naturally intertwined and evolving. Kram Ran is seen as a conductor and a perfectionist, controlling consecutive napierającymi the diaphragm speakers sound masses. Captivating harmony and peace is more like in the song “‘Hello,’ Said The Prince”, and yet beautiful melodies drowned in my favorite and multithreaded compositions “(Disclaimer).” In the latter deserve attention from passing balanced vocals - reminiscent of a radio transmission, to the hysterical and frantic cheers.
Reaching the author’s previous artistic revelations also infer the evolution of large and unusual exploration of new forms of expression are still in the future.”
-ROZMOWY Z DŹWIĘKIEM (Translated)

“Kram Ran seems to capture the paradox of a hostile Eden, only brought back to earth in whisps of distorted dialogue, eerily detached from any context. The Idiot Prince is both ascetic and seductive.”
-Emma Behnke, Associate Net Radio Director, WNYU Radio

“How else to evaluate the use of simple sounds to describe the emotions? Listening to The Idiot Prince can feel like a rag, you can feel the excess zgnojonym apocalyptic chaos (“Power Monger Hunger” and generally prevailing in it, “rozpierdol” situational), you can also end up in psychiatric with serious emotional disorders (second part of the “Parrot Pauper Prince”).
But on the other hand, Mark’s new album shows his folk, more artistic soul based on the acoustic guitar and melancholy. There is something great, do not throw again on the jaw without the knee, but the pieces of The Idiot Prince pull.”
-Fuck You Hipsters! (Translated)

“Dense and ethereal shoegaze noise.”
-Avant-Avant

A Brief Affair of Limping and Gathering of Clipped Wings (2009)

“With equal parts fraught desperation and contemplative crooning, and, appropriately, a lush blend of acoustic and electronic instrumentation, A Brief Affair of Limping and Gathering of Clipped Wings is one of my favourite home-grown EPs of the year.”
-Young Pilot Astray

“The highlights on A Brief Affair of Limping and Gathering of Clipped Wings suggest a potent artist for Canada’s New Weird, building genre-mashed narratives with a fatalistic flair.”
-The Skeleton Crew Quarterly

Criss-Cross Cross (2008)
The good:

“Perhaps Winnipeg’s most brutally intense performer, Kram Ran returns with his most accomplished album to date. On Criss-Cross Cross, Kram Ran once again goes deep inside himself to exorcise his demons for all to hear. The album starts with a blaring distorted clip from Albert Camus while Wohlgemuth’s swooping, yelping, wounded voice falls in between luscious haunting soundscapes or severe noisy distortion. ‘Herod & Isaiah’ starts similarly with a distorted Dostoevsky quotation and the cries of Wohlgemuth incrementally leading up to pure devastation. ‘And Then I Had a Dream’ sheds some of the noisy atmosphere, opting for patchy acoustic strumming and a deep lyrical barrage of: ‘…I have the hammer and nails/ and now I’m ready to shed some fucking blood!’ At times Wohlgemuth’s off-key cries and intensely erratic atmosphere are too much even for the seasoned noise-art fan, but much like his live performances it often achieves (and deservedly so) a strong reaction or your complete attention. Very few local artists can achieve the emotional impact that Kram Ran can. For some it’s painful to listen to; for others it’s an honest reflection of a unique and genuine artist.”
-Stylus Magazine

“File under: Uneasy Listening. [Kram], the brains (and
everything else) behind Kram Ran, is back to drag you from your
self-imposed pop-music cocoon with another murky mish-mash of twitchy laptop glitchcore, Morse code synths, syncopated beatboxes and unsettling textures — all topped with his schizophrenic yowling and philosophical poetry. Not for the dull.”
-Winnipeg Sun

“I’m still blown away by experimental artist/writer Kram Ran. His latest album, Criss-Cross Cross, is a fresh sound if ever there was such a thing in 2008, and seeing Kram Ran live will smack your head into the next millennium.”
-Don Bailey, Uptown Year-end Column

The others:
‘It’s the kind of music the snob in me wants to appreciate, because it’s original and creative and inaccessible and obscure and I could look down on people for not getting it. Problem is, I don’t even get it myself. Criss-Cross Cross could very well be the kind of album where the greatness is revealed only after repeated listens.’
-The Uniter

“It’s hard to know how to review an album like Kram Ran’s Criss-Cross Cross. Kram Ran has created a sonically frustrating collection of arty noise pieces that feature his passionate poetry readings layered over meandering electronic soundscapes. On one hand, the record should be lauded for being so fearlessly experimental. On the other hand, it’s wholly inaccessible, making it feel a bit elitist and obscure-on-purpose. Which is too bad, because there’s little doubt [he] is sincere in his art - it just seems like his art is meant for a very small audience.”
—Jen Zoratti, Uptown