Browse by Artist: CHARALAMBIDES

Artist:	CHARALAMBIDES
Title:	Unknown Spin
Label:	KRANKY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	KRANK 061CD

"Christina Carter and Tom Carter have been recording and performing as Charalambides since 1991. Unknown Spin is the first in a series of reissues of Charalambides material on Kranky. Originally issued by the bands Wholly Other imprint in a CD-R pressing of 300 [with a track by Scorces], Unknown Spin is now available to a wider audience and will remain in print. Since their first self released cassette, Our Bed Is Green, Charalambides have shown themselves to be inheritors of the Texas psychedelic tradition, channellers of the American primitivist instinct, luminescent improvisers and creators of indescribable wonders. Now their music can be appreciated without anyone having to bid for a limited supply of CD-Rs online."

Artist:	CHARALAMBIDES
Title:	Joy Shapes
Label:	KRANKY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	KRANK 068CD

"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 which they toil. This new album is certainly not for the faint of heart. Five songs stretch and crawl over 75 minutes, with Christine Carter finding a new fearlessness in her voice that will draw comparisons to Patty Waters or the early work of Meredith Monk. Joy Shapes is the first studio album recorded by Charalambides in a long time."

Artist:	CHARALAMBIDES
Title:	Our Bed is Green
Label:	KRANKY
Format:	2CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	KRANK 080CD

"Originally released on one cassette by the band in 1992 and later reissued as a limited edition compact disc on their Wholly Other label, Our Bed Is Green was the first release by Charalambides. Although no band is sui generis, anyone who heard the first recordings by Charalambides in 1992 could have been forgiven for thinking that of the duo. Our Bed Is Green was a recording that roped in folk, improvisation, psychedelia, blues and gospel into a crackling sound world unlike any other. Ranging across a 90 minute cassette and produced at home on four track, the music had only the means of production in common with the so-called 'lo-fi' scene of the time. On their debut, Charalambides achieved the distinct otherness they retain to this day."

Artist:	CHARALAMBIDES
Title:	A Vintage Burden
Label:	KRANKY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	KRANK 095CD

"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 exorcized some demons through the release of their last album Joy Shapes, here they have recorded a more melodic song cycle, reminiscent of their earlier albums Union and Market Square. Of particular note is the inspiring guitar work Tom displays on the 18- minute instrumental 'Black Bed Blues.' With A Vintage Burden, Charalambides have delivered their most cosmic and beautiful album to date."

Artist:	CHARALAMBIDES
Title:	Likeness
Label:	KRANKY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	KRANK 113CD

"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 characterize the more discordant sounds of Charalambides at the dawn of their Kranky residency."

Artist:	CHARALAMBIDES
Title:	Branches
Label:	WHOLLY OTHER
Format:	CD
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	WHO 013CD

"A rare document of a brief arc in Charalambides' 17 year (and counting) trajectory, somewhere between the extreme spatial attenuation of the long gone Crucial Blast CDR Being As Is and the gentle intergalactic trio sway of the kranky disk Unknown Spin -- and quite distance from both the exclamatory exhalations of Joy Shapes and the layered songcraft of Likeness. These are spartan duets of formalistic near-symmetry, a reminder that there was a time when Charalambides swung as close to the axis of Incus and FMP as to that of Takoma and ESP. Christina (voice) and Tom Carter (guitar) improvise non-textual melodic lines around a locus of mirror clarity, occasionally overlapping various strands using two DAT machines and a mixing board, in a nod to the pre ProTools digital scrap heap. Originally issued as a Peter King lathe cut LP on Eclipse Records in an edition of 100 in 2000, the reissue of this extreme rarity is remastered from a superior source for maximum clarity. Inkblot artwork courtesy of Heather Leigh Murray. The whole package is dedicated to Bruce Connor (R.I.P.). The reissue at hand is an edition of 500, with fold-over printed sleeves in the style of Electricity Ghosts."

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