According to AllMusic, "Blau's sounds include grafting folk and country-rock onto hazy blues, rocksteady reggae, '70s soul harmonies, and ceremonial-sounding flutes, bossa nova, dub, and experimental drone in an unpredictable, shape-shifting mixture of elements.

"[1][2] Blau grew up on Samish Island, Washington, a peninsula across the bay from Anacortes (where he later came to be based).

[4][5] His solo career began in 1996 with the release of the cassettes Doin' Things the Way They Happen and Blue Nomad on Knw-Yr-Own Records.

He also has collaborated extensively with other Washington-based musicians, including Phil Elvrum of The Microphones and Mount Eerie, LAKE and Earth.

By 2008, it had been renamed to the Kelp Lunacy Advanced Plagiarism Society (KLAPS) as new releases were not being made with enough regularity to justify the original name.