Black Market Karma: Friends In Noise 2023

 

Friends In Noise is a collection of collaborative songs between English rock band Black Market Karma and artists Joakim Ahlund (Les Big Byrd), Tess Parks, The Underground Youth, The Confederate Dead and Ruari Meehan. The tracks are rooted in music connection from touring and was recorded

sporadically over a period of 9 years. It was released on 13 January 2023 by Flower Power Records and pressed on 500 copies of black vinyl. The announcement coincided with Black Market Karma being publicly confirmed as openers for The Black Angels on their 2023 European tour. The release was supported by the premiering of two singles The Sky Was All Diseased on 2 of November 2022 and Aping Flair on 6 December 2022.
              

 

Here's a bit about the album and it's inception from Stan (STANLEY BELTON - Black Market Carma):
"Friends In Noise is a record of collaborations that came to life in a pretty hands-off way, at least for the most part. I never set out to make this album, as in it wasn't something pre-meditated but through my travels with BMK, meeting and becoming friends with many great musicians, it was always inevitable.
                  

It can be traced back as early as 2011, making up music on the fly in the studio with a close and old friend, Ruari Meehan. This groove came together and we recorded a VERY rough take of it with one mic in the middle of the room. Two guitar lines and no vocal melody or lyrics. I always felt there was really something there with that track but it ended up being shelved for years.
                 

Jump to 2013 when I met Joakim Ahlund at a show his band mate Frans Johansson had organised for us in Stockholm. A few months later we toured around Ireland with their group Les Big Byrd, becoming good friends. Upon the release of our 5th album Jocke got in touch with me about the idea of remixing it's opening track 'Heady Ideas'
I loved what he did and decided to do my own remix of their song 'War In The Streets' in return.
                    

The next stage of this thing happened when Tess Parks reached out about our music and told us she was coming to play in the UK. We organised a tour together and became friends (there's a theme here)
We often went to the studio to hang out in our down time between shows and ended up writing and recording some songs together, 'Sky Was All Diseased' being the track that made it onto Friends In Noise.
                     

Stanley Belton

By this point I had 3 finished collaborations and decided to try and turn it into a full record, starting

with the task of finishing that first song with Ruari. A melody and lyrics finally came to me and we got together to do a proper studio recording of 'Aping Flair'
                       

   

The last piece came via two friends I'd known for a long time. Craig Dyer of The Underground Youth and Butchy Davy of The Confederate Dead. Craig and I had briefly mentioned the idea of making some music together in the past but it never came to be. He lives in Berlin so I contacted him and we made managed to make 'Wonky' happen over the web. Lastly Butchy came to the BMK studio with an unfinished, instrumental demo and we worked on it together. The result was Ageing Boy.
                              

Stanley Belton

So in summary, Friends In Noise has technically been 9 years in the making and it feels pretty special to finally have it here"  

                           

Black Market Karma, Ruari Meehan, The Underground Youth, Tess Parks, Les Big Byrd, The Confederate Dead – Friends In Noise
Black Market Karma - Friends In Noise album cover
Label: Flower Power Records – FLOWER04V
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album    
Released: Jan 13, 2023
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock  

SIDE A.

                       

01. Aping Flair (with Ruari Meehan)    5:30
02. Wonky (with The Underground Youth)    4:12
03. The Sky Was All Diseased (with Tess Parks)    6:11

SIDE B.

                 

04. Heady Ideas (Joakim Åhlund Remix)    3:56
05. War In The Streets (Stanley Belton Remix)    4:33
06. Ageing Boy (with The Confederate Dead)    7:04

NOTES

Ruari Meehan

01. Aping Flair – Black Market Karma & Ruari Meehan. Written by Stanley Belton & Ruari Meehan. Instruments: Drums, Guitar, Vocals, Keys, Percussion by Stanley Belton. Guitar, Bass, Backing Vocals by Ruari Meehan. Recorded & Mixed in London by Stanley Belton.

The Underground Youth

02. Wonky – Black Market Karma & The Underground Youth. Written by Stanley Belton & Craig Dyer. Instruments: Drums, Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Keys by Stanley Belton. Guitar, Vocals by Craig Dyer. Recorded by Stanley Belton & Craig Dyer in London & Berlin. Mixed by Stanley Belton.

Tess Parks

03. The Sky Was All Diseased – Black Market Karma & Tess Parks. Written by Stanley Belton & Tess Parks. Instruments: Drums, Bass, Guitar, Keys, Percussion, Vocals. Vocals by Tess Parks. Recorded & Mixed in London by Stanley Belton.

Joakim Ahlund

04. Heady Ideas – Joakim Ahlund (Lead singer of the band Caesars) ( Remix. Written by Stanley Belton. Remixed by Joakim Ahlund who added synthesisers, drums & percussion. Recorded in London & Stockholm.

Les Big Byrd

05. War In The Streets – Stan Belton Remix. Written by Joakim Ahlund & Frans Johansson (Les Big Byrd). Remixed by Stanley Belton. Recorded in Stockholm & London. Extra drums, guitar, keyboards and percussion were recorded for this version by Stanley Belton at his studio.

The Confederate Dead

06. Ageing Boy – Black Market Karma & The Confederate Dead. Written by Butchy Davy & Stanley Belton.

Flac Size: 192 MB