GK's Demented Art (Part One)

Until we've had an opportunity to sift through Gerard Klauder's personal archive, there may be no way of knowing the number of (extremely) limited edition albums he created. The years 1999-2001 found GK especially prolific, with dozens of releases spilling out of his sick, twisted lil' mind. Our intent is to craft a sufficiently appropriate posthumous compilation...

Fuck, I'm getting choked up just typing these words. It's insane that he's dead...

Below, a photo taken of Gerard in Atlanta on March 17, 2006. We spoke just ten days ago, but his visit to my then-girlfriend C2's home in the Decatur suburbs was the last time we got together. The image I've chosen is blurred, but it captures his dissonant, brooding complexity...



(Gerard Klauder, March 17, 2006, at rest in Decatur...)

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(An exterior view of Same, a five-disc album from 2000, one of dozens GK created in that very fruitful year.)



(Gerard beat Weasel Walter's TLASILA off-shoot to the release gate by rushing not one, but two warped TLASILA 2 albums into the uncomprehending void. Pictured, the sleeve to 2001's The External Organ.)



(GK's second TLASILA 2 release from 2001, Commmiinggg! and Rember'd the First Man or Astro-Man Album. Yup, he was one sick, splendid fucker...)



The evening I first met Gerard (and Elyse Perez, and Melissa Amodeo, and Paige Flash, and the great Tom Gongola, better known by his friends as Tom G), he was brazenly hawking an unhinged loop mashup entitled Tom Smith vs. Squarepusher. We'd convened with Rat Bastard in Tallahassee, Florida to Squelch for a motley coterie of proto-noise hounds at the Cow Haus - one of the most memorable evenings of my life...

(Pictured, Gerard Klauder's Tom Smith vs. Squarepusher CD, from 2000.)

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There will be other posts forthcoming.

The Smack Shire web site is still up and functioning, although the less acute will perhaps believe otherwise.

Love,

Tom

Comments

ommyth said…
Hi Reggie,

Just returned from the funeral, the wake, and subsequent gatherings late last night. Very fucking depressing, but the company of friends (many of whom you doubtless know, or at least have met) was comforting.

Yeah, GK did the Jandek remix disc. A fine release, far more illuminating than your typical Corwood completist's dream mixlathe...

We'll soon be establishing an archive of Gerard's audio (and associated) works. Given his promethean ethic, the transfers alone should take ages...

Tom
thinking about GK and listening to Pavel Jerdanovitch - the Jandek remix wasn't part of the "Yearbook" mega CDROM that Gerard handed me, how do I find it please?? thanks, Benton bcbATbenton-c.com
Sena said…
Did you ever post his work?

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