Hi, this is my blog. Seems like a pretty ridiculous thing to do, but what the fuck? I'll just roll right into some reviews of some stuff I've picked up lately. I'll keep this up as long as my atention span will allow.




Charalambides
A Vintage Burden
Kranky Records

A Vintage Burden is Charalambides latest studio album, which comes two years after their last official album, Joy Shapes, and a few CD-R releases on their Wholly Other label (some of which I plan to review at some point). Unlike Joy Shapes, which included Heather Leigh Murray (also with Scorces), Charalmbides are Tom and Christina Carter for this release. This album is definitely less tense or "difficult" than the previous album, and therefore, it's their most accesible album to this point. Doesn't make it a commercial album though. The songs tend to build slowly, feature repeating guitar lines, and are for the most part pretty gentle. I've heard Charalambides described as psych/folk before, probably due to the fact that there's no drums or bass, and because Christina has a fairly reedy vocal quality. I agree that there a psychedelic quality to their music, but I think that vocally Christina is a little closer to Patty Waters, and, I may be insane for thinking it, but some of the songs here remind me a little bit of Bless It's Pointed Little Head era Jefferson Airplane. But it would be doing an injustice to this work to pigeonhole it in any way. I must say, the vocals on this album are beautiful. Christina Carter's voice is multi-tracked most of the time, creating these weird, just in tune harmonies.
"Spring" and "Dormant Love" are as close as this band comes to verse/chorus music, and because of their inclusion, this album feels a bit more structured than some of their other releases. The next two songs "Black Bed Blues" and "Two Birds" are slow, long tracks that each build to fascinating multi-tracked guitar explorations. I've listened to this album over and over, and each time I listen to it, I hear something new. The guitars throughout this album are meticulously placed. There's multitudes of sounds because of the use of picks, acoustics, pedal steel, ebow, slides, etc. It's impossible to tell what was improvised, and what wasn't, but everything comes together beautifully. My favorite album of the year by far.

www.kranky.net



Zaika
Recording From Il Corral CD-R
(Heavy Other)

Zaika is Tom Carter from Charalambides and Marcia Bassett from Double Leopards. This recording consists of one 29 minute piece, starts out with some nice feedback shaped drone, and eventually work its way up to an intense racket around the 18-20 minute mark. I wish I could describe it in more detail, but it's fairly impossible to tell who's doing what. Other than some Psych guitar and ebow, it's equally impossible to guess what instruments or effects are present here. This is a pretty heavy noisefest I guess, but I find it to be pleasant listening, despite Tom Carter's description of this as "a barbed wire q-tip". Yeah, it's got loads of feedback, but it all seems to fit together nicely, and it never gets boring or aimless. This CDR's limited to 205, on Heavy Other, which is an offshoot of Wholly Other.

www.wholly-other.com

Bardo Pond

Live

(aRCHIVE)

I have to admit I haven't kept up with this band since Dilate came out, however long ago that was. I picked this up because aRCHIVE seem to put out cool stuff, and just to see what these guys are up to these days. This CD is a live recording, made at somebody's house in Philly, to an audience of around 20 people. The first track, which clocks in at over 1/2 hour, starts and ends with a mellow psychedelic jam, which is droney, spacious and actually a little relaxing. The middle of the piece peaks with a bed of feedback, effects and violin, making it an immersive listen. The second track doesn't quite grab me quite as much as the first, not that it's bad or anything. It doesn't seem to get off the ground quite as much as the previous one, maybe because it's only 12 minutes or so in length, and doesn't have as much time to develop. The cool thing about this release is that it has a real you are there vibe. Listening to this CD, it's easy to imagine yourself sitting in somebody's living room with a beer (or whatever else is available), mellowing out to good music. Looks like it's time to dig up some Bardo stuff that I've missed out on these past few years.

www.archivecd.com