About Carl Crack

Born Carl Böhm in Swaziland (1971), he became a prominent German-based techno artist by the mid-90s as part of the BASS TERROR soundsystem, but is best known for his work as part of Atari Teenage Riot. He is considered to have had massive influence on ATR's style, particularly the more experimental aspects. Apart from a number of limited edition cassette DJ mixes in the mid 90s he produced his only solo work, Black Ark (on ATR's founded label DHR) in 1998 while continuing to work with ATR. While working on a solo project in 2001, he overdosed in his apartment. His suicide is perhaps at least partially attributable to the psychotic episodes he had suffered from since childhood. From DHR: Around 1992 Carl was finding little of interest in the then music scene, he thought the Beatnigs, (The original vehicle for social and political critic Michael Franti later of the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and Spearhead), were one of the few significant bands around. Along with the other members of Atari Teenage Riot he was looking for a new direction. Most other German groups were copying already existing styles and there was little or no originality. Carl initially had a big influence on ATR's style, particularly on the first two albums where he developed an MC style which owed less to the U.S. than his own imagination. He also he had his own musical ideas that could not be expressed within the confines of a group. Carl's only solo release was 1998's "Black Ark" (DHR LTD 005) is, as its name suggests, heavily influenced by dub and in particular Lee Perry. Adding hip-hop to the beats and taking ideas from Japanese noise to create atmosphere, Carl created the sound of the city that owed a debt to John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme." Intending it to be heard as a single piece of music, he paints the coldness, the sense of isolation and depression that can exist even in the most crowded places. Carl deconstructs the influences of early hip-hop, old school electronic, 808 rhythms and explorations into pure noise and combines it with sampled political statements and his own poetry to create a new experimental musical context which illustrates the tensions he finds in today's society. After the heavy touring to promote ATR's third set, "Sixty Second Wipe Out," the members of the group commenced work on follow ups to their various solo projects. Carl was working on a new record as well as performing with a variety of other artists when he was found dead in his apartment on September 6th 2001. He was 30 years old.