hypersongs

Carpenter Brut

The darksynth project of Franck Hueso of Poitiers, whose EP III (2015) holds "Turbo Killer", a track whose Seth Ickerman video grew into the film Blood Machines.

Metal, synths and a joke name

Carpenter Brut is Franck Hueso, born in 1977, who works from Poitiers. The name plays on John Carpenter and the champagne Charpentier Brut, and he has called the beginning of the project a joke. He keeps a degree of anonymity on purpose so that the focus stays on the music. His background is in metal; he does not play guitar and says he turned to electronic music to write alone rather than in a band. His influences range from early Justice to Toto, Supertramp, Iron Maiden, Meshuggah, Ulver and Nine Inch Nails, and from John Williams and John Carpenter to the horror and slasher films of the 1980s; he has said there is always a story, a script behind his tracks.

EP I (2012) and EP II (2013) came out on BlackBvs Records, and EP III on January 19, 2015 on his own No Quarter Prod. The three were collected as the album Trilogy in 2015. "Le Perv" and "Roller Mobster" were used in the game Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number in 2015, and he wrote the music for the game Furi in 2016.

The Leather trilogy and the stage

CarpenterBrutLive followed in 2017, along with a first North American tour in the spring, including Brighton Music Hall in Boston on March 8. Leather Teeth was released at midnight on February 22, 2018 with vocals by Kristoffer Rygg of Ulver and Mat McNerney, the first part of a trilogy; Leather Terror followed on April 1, 2022, and Leather Temple on February 27, 2026 is described as the final chapter, with a video for "Speed or Perish" directed by Seth Ickerman. He also scored Blood Machines, in 2020. He has remixed Scanners, Gunship, Ghost and Ulver, collaborated with Perturbator on "Complete Domination" (2014) and appeared in the documentary The Rise of the Synths (2019).

On stage he is joined by the guitarist Adrien Grousset and the drummer Florent Marcadet, both of the French metal band Hacride, and he has said metal festivals are his favorite scene and that his live approach is modeled on Trent Reznor. Setlist.fm lists 307 setlists; tours announced for 2026 and 2027 run through France, Europe and Australia.

Albums

  • EP III 2015 · ep · No Quarter Prod

    His third EP, six tracks including "Turbo Killer" and "Anarchy Road".

Songs

  • Turbo Killer EP III · 2015

    Track four of EP III, whose Seth Ickerman video won a Berlin award and led to the film Blood Machines.

Sources

  1. Carpenter Brut, Wikipedia
  2. EP III, Carpenter Brut (Bandcamp)
  3. Carpenter Brut interview, NewRetroWave (2017-03-01)
  4. Blood Machines, Wikipedia