- What is the meaning and concept behind the name of your music project?
Carp was the original name of my audio experiments. It came from a handle I used online that was inspired by Central Arizona Roleplaying, an informal name for a small tabletop gaming group in the ’80s made up of my brother, a couple of friends, and me. Around that time, CARP was also an identity for an effort to paint others’ lead figures (see PNG) in the late ’80s.
Integral was prepended when I needed to complicate the name, seeing as there were already a few uses of Carp on SoundCloud. I liked its multiple meanings and mathematical associations. And when Lowtax’s girlfriend on Something Awful used Integral, I was struck by its potential as part of a handle.
- What equipment do you use to create music?
early → [...] → latest
* c64 (trackers) → Amiga (Perfect Sound) → many homebuilt Windows workstations
* Celeron 300A → AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
* Sound Blasters (Live, Audigy, X-Fi) → UR22mkII Steinberg Audio Interface
* Computer speakers → Event Audio monitors → KRK Rokit 5 monitors + sub
* Perfect Sound → trackers → Reason → Cubase 5 → Nuendo → Cubase Pro 15
* Waves Platinum + Infected Mushroom Pusher (amazing plugin), PaulStretch
* Cool Edit Pro → Sound Forge → Wavelab
* Griffin PowerMate → Mackie Big Knob
* Casio CZ 101 → Casio CZ 1 + VZ-10M
* Harbinger 8-channel mixer
* MXL condenser mic
- tell us about your Biography as artist
I've identified as an artist since childhood and try to look at what others ignore. This includes a foundational fascination with art as a way to express ideas that must be felt to be understood. Combining that with a deep need to understand systems has led to the tracks on SoundCloud and the choice of tools used to produce them.
- which are your music / artistic Influences
My earliest love is the band Art of Noise, which I first encountered during the ’80s breakdancing craze.
Others: 101 Strings Orchestra / 13th Floor Elevators / 808 State / The Afghan Whigs / Alien Sex Fiend
The Animals / Aphex Twin / Bauhaus / The Beatles / Beck / Big Country / Bjork / Black Flag
Blancmange / Blutengel / Boards of Canada / Brian Eno / Butthole Surfers / Cabaret Voltaire / Caribou
The Cars / Casiokids / Cat Stevens / cEvin Key / The Chemical Brothers / Circle Jerks / The Clash
The Clientele / Coil /Covenant / Cranes / The Crystal Method / The Cure / DAF / Daft Punk
The Damage Manual / David Bowie / Dead Kennedys / Dead or Alive / Depeche Mode / Devo
DJ Shadow / Don Mclean / The Doors / Doubting Thomas / Echo & The Bunnymen / Ed Askew
Einstürzende Neubauten / ELO / Enigma / Erasure / Eurythmics / Fad Gadget / The Fixx
The Flaming Lips / Frank Zappa / Frankie Goes to Hollywood / French 78 / Front 242
Frontline Assembly / Gabriel & Dresden / Gary Numan / Gliss / The Hacker / Haujobb
Hope Sandoval / The Human League / Iggy Pop / Iron Butterfly / James Taylor / Jane's Addiction
Janis Joplin / Japan / The Jesus and Mary Chain / Jethro Tull / Jim Croce / Jimi Hendrix / Joe Cocker
Joe Pug / John Lennon / Johnny Cash / Joy Division / Kate Bush / Killing Joke / The Kills / The Kinks
Kirlian Camera / The Knife / Kraftwerk / Laibach / Lead into Gold / Lebanon Hanover /
Led Zeppelin (1-3) / The Legendary Pink Dots / Maps / Massive Attack / Mazzy Star /
MC 900 Ft. Jesus / Meat Beat Manifesto / Merle Haggard / Ministry / Moby / The Moody Blues /
Morrissey / NamNamBulu / Neophyte / New Order / Nick Cave / Nine Inch Nails / Noisecontrollers /
Nuclear Bubble Wrap / ohGr / Oingo Boingo / The Orb / OMD / Pere Ubu / Pet Shop Boys /
Peter Gabriel (early) / Pigface / Pink Floyd / Pixies / PJ Harvey / A Place to Bury Strangers /
The Pogues / Portishead / Primus / The Psychedelic Furs / Psychic TV / PIL / Queen / Radiohead /
Red Hot Chili Peppers (early) / Revolting Cocks / Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks / Roxy Music /
Roy Orbison / Royksopp / Rush / Seabound / Severed Heads / Sex Gang Children / Sex Pistols /
She Past Away / Sheep on Drugs / Silver Apples / Simple Minds / Skinny Puppy / The Smiths /
Soft Cell / The Soft Moon / Squarepusher / The Sugarcubes / Suicide / Supertramp / Swans /
Syd Barret / Talk Talk / Talking Heads / Tangerine Dream / The Tear Garden / Television /
They Might Be Giants / Thompson Twins / Throbbing Gristle / Tones On Tail / Tricky / The Turtles /
Tweaker / UB40 / Ultravox / Underworld / Vangelis / The Velvet Underground / Venetian Snares /
Violent Femmes / VNV Nation / Waylon Jennings / The Who / Willie Nelson / Wolfsheim /
X / XTC / Yaz / Yello / µ-Ziq
- favorite EP/Album composed by you?
The latest tracks on SoundCloud and a few from earlier.
https://soundcloud.com/integral-carp/tracks
https://soundcloud.com/integral-carp/albums
- favorite music platforms? why?
As an artist? SoundCloud. But more by default than by preference. It was a far better fit when community was the focus.
- any funny anecdote in the composition of a track or album?
Pieces That Don't Fit was a false positive. The perspective was tied to a new antidepressant. The view didn't last, for a variety of reasons.
- news for 2026/2027?
I've started experimenting again.
- any message to your listeners?
Reality appears as nested relational systems. Parts sit within parts. Each is shaped by what surrounds it and by what it contains. Understanding of that reality stays local and provisional. Models get made. Experience gets compressed into stories. Predictions form about what comes next. Learning happens when the world resists those predictions.
Truth is not something anyone possesses. It is encountered through constraint. It shows up in what remains reliable under strain. It appears in what survives translation between perspectives. It registers in what keeps imposing a cost when ignored. A worldview remains a working draft that should stay capable of being changed by what it encounters.
This points toward an ethic of humility. It also points toward reciprocity and contact. People receive equal basic standing. They get met where they are. Intelligence means less about having the right model than about remaining responsive to reality, especially when reality shows that the model is incomplete.
What Holds Under Pressure
https://archive.org/details/what-holds-under-pressure-v012
Totally apart here is some of Software I Worked On:
