As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it's creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosphere hopes to pull back the curtain on a wealth of sights and sound from luminaries such as those featured on Emerald Cocoon's Alone Together series . The stark, naked embrace of Christina Carter greets those who dare venture into Emerald Cocoon 's debut 7-inch series. An [...]
4. Charalambides - Exile Hoewel Tom en Christina Carter in 2007 uit elkaar gingen, zijn ze als het muzikale duo Charalambides onafscheidelijk. Al twintig jaar weten ze met hun combinatie van psychedelische folk, waaierende blues, lichte drones en hallucinerende gitaarscapes menig muziekliefhebber te betoveren. Exile mag (na vijf jaar wachten) geen verassing heten, of het moet de flauwe bocht genomen naar meer toegankelijkheid zijn. Waar Charalambides anno 2011 wel mee verrast, is dat ze na al die jaren en vele releases een album uitbrengt dat misschien wel het summum van de gehele discografie [...]
Sorry this is going up so late on a Saturday night. It was "date night," so Nicci and I did the old 1950s dinner and a movie thing. Is that when dinner and a movie was a popular weekend thing for young people? Whatever, it was okay. We saw the movie about the time machine that's a hot tub. I forget what it's called. It was pretty funny in a cheeky, let's-make-an-endless-series-o f-blowjob jokes kind of way. Pardon me if I rush through the news update. Sorry in advance for the hypocrisy I will show by turning each news item I [...]
Images courtesy of Root Strata Ian introduced me to Charalambides many years ago. I never got into their seemingly endless supply of CD-r releases, but I fell for their Siltbreeze and Kranky releases like Houston , Unknown Spin , Joy Shapes and A Vintage Burden . I also followed the solo recordings of Tom Carter and Christina Carter, snapping up the former's Glyph , Sun Swallower , Root King and the latter's splits with Black Forest Black Sea and Pocahaunted, as well as her stunning 2005 [...]
• After years of silence, embarrassment to modern music Sufjan Stevens has finally revealed that his dead-in-the-water 50 states project was, "such a joke." It's easy to deny the truthfulness of one's artistic intentions when you're a complete fucking moron and you suddenly realize you cannot possibly achieve the goal you have set for yourself. Sorry, buddy. I don't believe you. You're like the wuss in high school who starts to flail his arms and yell "just kidding!" after he zings a bigger kid. Man-up and admit that you bit off more than you can chew. I love the part [...]
Hi everybody! I've got nothing else to say! I'm in the middle of a frustrating work week, while everybody else i know is either away for a few days or relaxing at home. This should be an eventful week, though. Ken and kT are visiting, there are some great shows upcoming, and...uh...that's about it I guess. I'll have something more interesting to blog about after another open-to-close shift at work tomorrow. And I'm sure I won't at all sound depressed and/or acid-tongued. RULES for uninitiated noobs : With roughly 100MB of webspace, I give birth to [...]
Hi friends. It's been an eventful 48 hours. My bank account has been frozen by Bank Of America, leaving me with...$12 in cash that has to last me until my new debit card arrives this week. Supposedly there was "suspicious activity" reported by Mastercard, but when I called to ask what happened, I was told that they were not allowed to reveal what the activity was. I called bullshit, and they held their ground. So, really, I don't know why they froze my assets. Maybe someone got ahold of my account information, maybe they didn't. We'll never know. I just [...]
The music of Christina Carter, the singer best known for her membership in Charlambides, is so gorgeously ethereal, it seems to live in some kind of ghost-space-- a no man's land between earth and sky, future and past, maybe even the living and the dead. Original Darkness , her third solo release for Kranky, is all about shadows and gaps. Using acoustic guitar, far-off keyboards, and her soaring voice (sometimes evoking Vashti Bunyan's gentle whispers), Carter skirts around the edges of her subjects, fascinated by their reflections and echoes. [...]
"Charalambides is the Greek surname that Houston musicians Christina Carter, Tom Carter, and Heather Leigh Murray use when they perform and record. It's a word I never feel quite comfortable pronouncing; I've heard it spoken aloud any number of ways and the only phonetic spelling I've encountered – Char-a-lam-ba-deez – is still rather oblique, denying a steady signifier in an attempt to make sense of a murky signified. I suppose it's a lesson in methodology: I might try to pull apart the elements that conjoin to form Joy Shapes and isolate them like strata – electric guitar, chimes, pedal steel, [...]
Awoke this morning with a mission -- a plan, if you will -- which included taking my sister for her final meal in Los Angeles (In-N-Out), dropping her off at the airport, picking up my paycheck from work, depositing it at my bank (while getting some cash back, for food or whatever), and visiting the mechanic so I could have my new tires aligned. Things started out well enough, her bag was packed and she was actually ready to leave just as I was waking up. I think I expected to walk into my bedroom (where she'd been staying) only [...]
saddleback shot through 2007 christine carter dreams 2007 (française version) C'est un vendredi soir, en Ikhtonie, trois jours avant Noel. J'essaie de me souvenir d'une chose qui serait arrivée à cette date, une année ou l'autre. Je ne trouve rien. Ni en consultant les archives de ce blog, ni [...]
The heat wave continues. I spent all afternoon in the Glendale Barnes and Noble reading various texts to pass the time. The few times I stepped outside I could instantly feel the sun scorching my skin. My car's thermometer measured the air temperature at 108 degrees. I thought that was a little high, but the owner of the market around the corner from my apartment said the one in his store reached 105. I think it's supposed to continue like this for another day or two. I need to find something else to do tomorrow to occupy my mind. If [...]
Photo credit: omnia Mt Macedon Cemetery in Victoria, Australia is home to Peter Schipperheyn 's dramatic sculpture "Asleep". It is one of the most intriguing and beautiful contemporary works of art I've come across in recent years. The beautiful contradiction between the young women's vulnerability and the unsettling surroundings of the cemetery. The way her right hand lovingly grips the edge of the tombstone. It simply takes my breath away every time I look at it. The story goes that the artist was commissioned by a woman to make this sculpture [...]
KEXP Blog
MrBungle
Swan Fungus
Glorious Noise
Pitchfork: Forkcast
So the wind won't blow it all away
motel de moka
J-Ax Meglio Live Tour 2012: la scaletta della data zero a Rovereto con l'omaggio ai Beastie Boys
Sound of Summer (v. 3.1)
The National - The Rains Of Castamere [Game of Thrones Soundtrack]
Another All-Star In The Studio With Daft Punk
