***Exile is the new CHARALAMBIDES album. Five years in the making, it was recorded between 2006 and 2010 in various locations in New Hampshire, western Massachusetts and New York City, mixed at Black Dirt Studios, and mastered at Sand with PAUL GOLD. The group remains the core duo of CHRISTINA and TOM CARTER, with contributions on one track by the string section of HELENA ESPVALL and MARGARIDA GARCIA. Deeply imbued with the full historical spectrum of american folk and blues song form, Exile is a tapestry of suppliant invocations directed at the heart of the unseen spiritual forces surrounding us. Dense arrangements and thickly-overdubbed tracks sit side-by-side with material that ranks among the sparest and most skeletal the group has recorded, giving Exile the psychic scope of their classic Market Square album while building on the refinements of the more recent Likeness and A Vintage Burden releases. (STREET DATE - 10/04/2011)
CD $16.00
10/04/2011
2XLP $24.00
10/04/2011
***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 malfunctioning space echo over the course of the next few months. Lyrical content largely derives from public domain American popular song from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, edited, rearranged, and largely deconstructed by Christina into abstract 'protest' songs for the century at hand. Musically, the album departs from the warm psych of A Vintage Burden in favor of the lush and layered vocal strata of Christina's later solo works, and a chillier, more abrasive guitar sound that favors the Velvets over the Byrds. Though containing much of the compositional concision that gave A Vintage Burden much of its appeal, the sound here just as frequently turns the corner into the abstract echoing spaces that characterise the more discordant sounds of Charalambides at the dawn of their Kranky residency.
CD $16.00
10/30/2007
***The long-awaited new album from the legendary CHARALAMBIDES, now pared down to the original core duo of CHRISTINA CARTER and TOM CARTER. After having worked out some dark demons with the release of their last album Joy Shapes, the duo has recorded a more melodic song cycle, reminiscent of their earlier albums Union and Market Square. Of particular note is the stunning guitar work Tom displays on the 18-minute instrumental “Black Bed Blues.” The band’s most cosmic and beautiful release to date. matt
CD $16.00
05/22/2006
***A reissue of the debut release from Houston improvisation giants CHARALAMBIDES—TOM and CHRISTINA CARTER. Originally released in 1992 on cassette (and then later as a limited edition CD on the band’s own Wholly Other label, and on double-vinyl by Time Lag in 2004), Our Bed Is Green is a recording that ropes in folk, improvisation, psychedelia, blues and gospel into a crackling sound world unlike any other. Twenty-five tracks.
2XCD $16.00
04/12/2005
***Another stellar outing from unequaled Texas psych-folk improvisation giants CHARALAMBIDES—TOM CARTER (electric guitar, lap steel guitar, acoustic guitar, chimes, wind wand), CHRISTINA CARTER (electric guitar, voice, bells), and HEATHER LEIGH MURRAY (pedal steel guitar, psaltery, voice)—and the trio's first new studio recordings in some time. Five extended tracks that atomize and absorb blues, psychedelia, gospel, improv, folk, and more.
CD $16.00
05/18/2004
2XLP $15.50
05/18/2004
***The first in a series of Kranky reissues from Texas psychedelic faves the CHARALAMBIDES. Originally released on the band's own Wholly Other label in 2002 as a CD-R in an edition of 300, the album is a wonderful dose of improvised minimalism performed with guitar, pedal steel guitar, and the haunting, wordless vocals of CHRISTINA CARTER and HEATHER LEIGH MURRAY.
CD $16.00
11/11/2003
***Regrouping after the recent departure of Jason Bill, psychedelic pioneers Tom & Christina Carter return to their early incarnation as a duo, and deliver their sixth album - and first new material since their dream-gushing side on the Harmony of the Spheres compilation. A stark and haunting inner-mind probe of the minimalist side of psychedelia using precision instruments of electro-acoustic guitar, piano, saxophone, and Christina's pain-numbing, beautiful vocals. Eight super-drifting, sensual tracks to make love to your central nervous system with.
CD $12.00
01/26/1999
MP3 $0.00
01/26/1999