Charalambides
A duo comprised of Tom Carter and Christina Carter, Charalambides have surely broken new ground in the primitive/folk/mystic/improv/psych valley in which they toil. As Marcus Boon wrote in The Wire; "...here is a truly 21st century experimental ethnic music that explores quietness and stasis... in the same way that musicians in the second half of the 20th century discovered amplification, noise and speed."
www.wholly-other.com/
A duo comprised of Tom Carter and Christina Carter, Charalambides have surely broken new ground in the primitive/folk/mystic/improv/psych valley in which they toil. As Marcus Boon wrote in The Wire; "...here is a truly 21st century experimental ethnic music that explores quietness and stasis... in the same way that musicians in the second half of the 20th century discovered amplification, noise and speed."
www.wholly-other.com/
Three-Lane Blacktop
"Limited to 300 copies LP that bundles a bunch of great performances from the first Charalambides trio line-up featuring Tom and Christina Carter alongside Jason Bill (later of Migrantes). Two full sets that catch the group breaking out from their early Texas-psych sound into a whole new free/folk mutant, with Christina’s jubilant, spooked vocals over rattlesnake guitar and a wash of F/X. Still one of the most important – if relatively unsung – underground rock groups of the past decade plus. Fi…
Exile
A Charalambides album is always an event in our book, and this new one on Kranky is superb stuff, arguably taking their fizzy, fuzzy psychedelic pop and drone-folk sound to a whole new level. It's mad to think that Tom and Christina Carter have been making music together for 20 years now, but it shows in the coherence of Exile, their first LP since 2007's Likeness. It begins cautiously, with the uber-minimal twanger 'Autumn Leaves', like Richard Chartier scoring a spaghetti western, but t…
Our Bed Is Green
With ethics that even Igor Stravinsky would be proud of, 'Our Bed is Green' was originally released by the Charalambides on cassette way back yonder in 1992 before it made it onto CD then vinyl and now back onto double CD as part of Kranky's reissue series. Comprised of heavy-psych veteran Tom Carter and Christina Madonia, Charalambides are an aural vulture that picks through disperate genres and styles to find the sound that best matches that in their heads. Opening with the overt fragili…
Likeness
Likeness is the newest release from the duo of Tom and Christina Carter. Recorded over a period of several weeks during the Spring of 2006, the album is a return to the spontaneous composition of previous Charalambides records such as Houston and Union. With the exception of "The Good Life", which appeared in a primitive version on the Wholly Other CDR Home, all of the tracks on this release sprung forth after 'record' was pressed, and were fleshed out via overdubs, editing, and a malfu…
Joy Shapes
To say that the words "unique" and "singular" are over-used in describing music is to state the obvious. To apply these words to the sounds created by the various duo/trio configurations of the Texas group Charalambides over the last decade plus would be understatement. To be sure there are numerous antecedents to their music; to deny this of any artist's work would be akin to saying that they are deaf. But they have surely broken new ground in the primitive/folk/mystic/improv/psych valley in …
Rose/Thorn
Blissful Klang Industries vinyl issue of two vintage side-long improvisations performed by Christina and Tom Carter as a duo. Far removed from their more recent song-shaped enters, the pieces here (recorded in 2000) strive for a different kind of goal, stretching out exquisitely complex organic drone tones that draw on organ, various sustaining (bowed?) instruments and a line in supremely elegant pedal steel glissando whose esoteric delights are matched only by Christina's unceasingly remarkable…
Houston
What is it about Houston that so haunts its denizens? Whether it be the free-form mumblings of the Red Krayola or the fuckery of the Kangaroo Court and the mysterious plunk, thuds, and howls of Jandek, the city and its ghosts hiss just below the surface, spinning cobwebs that dangle from every note. Everything has been touched by the phantom of the city. And even though Tom and Christina Carter now reside in Austin, they have turned to face these ghosts on their sixth album overall, simply entit…