Carbon Records (191 items)

• Add to Cart Song Previews: Will You Marry Me Glitzerland

  Artist/Title: Ails al'on - ten ten ten 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR193 This is the last release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. 36+ minutes of noisy pop, synth, psych, heaviness from this duo consisting of David Merulla of Autumn in Halifax and Joe Tunis (of Carbon, Tuurd, Tumul, formerly of Pengo, etc). [packaged with 3-color silkscreened covers in a heavy duty vinyl sleeve] [Digital Download comes with a PDF of the artwork and liner notes]

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  Artist/Title: Andy Gilmore - Lord, hold my hand while i run this race. 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR88 10YR.Series.08 - the eighth in the Carbon 10 year anniversary CDR series. a truly magnificant collection of guitar and piano pieces from one of the nicest and most creative people i know. Andy creates, whether it be with guitar or piano, pencil or ink, word or thought. clocking in at over 44min, this release contains 13 tracks, one of which is a 14min live piece, each of which exudes the level of emotion and delicateness that we've come to expect from Andy. Reviews (1): Foxy Digitalis I’ve only ever paid Andy Gilmore passing interest. I never really gave his Of Lice and Moons much contemplation. It was only when I absorbed myself in Lord, Hold My Hand While I Run This Race that I discovered a truly captivating and emotionally-driven exhibition of sound. These lonesome guitar and piano creations drift and stray out of the disc and implant themselves directly into your imagination, where they reminisce over whispered sighs of sentimental memories and ecstatically rejoice over the empty shells of past glories. In doing so, it evokes a stirring, sequestered awareness of abandonment, and removal from these joyful recollections. These bleaker elements begin to penetrate and alter those thoughts. The stark sensation that you are now withdrawn from reality is a cold wake-up call that spits you back out into Gilmore’s desolate sounds. The clanking of piano pedals and clinking of keys makes for a perfect soundtrack to a despondent existence, but through this, it still manages to radiate splendour and beauty. This won’t just pull at your heartstrings, it will puppeteer them. When we were younger, we couldn’t appreciate the lack of responsibility we had. Now that we’ve grown, we increasingly find ourselves asking, like Gilmore, for someone to hold our hand while we run this race. - James Clarke

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  Artist/Title: Antony Milton and Joe+N - can you find your what 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR120 two extended tracks totally 35+ minutes, this is a long-distance collaboration between Antony Milton (aka AM, etc, Pseudoarcana label man) and Joe+N (aka Joe Tunis, Carbon label man). the two traded snippets, full tracks and mixes, back and forth during 2006. the sounds included are a great mix of guitar, drone-strings, found sound, vocals and various other noise makers. [packaged in a heavy-duty vinyl sleeve with a transluscent yellow "dimple" cover, artwork beneath, and wrapped in a band of metallic foil tape.] Reviews (2): Modisti [ Antony Milton and Joe+N - can you find your what CDR ] Starting out from what could be described as a ‘textural guitar drone scene’, this duo explores the possibilities of such a medium using a greater scope in terms of spatialization and processing. The harsh, extended character spreads in sweeping strokes, featuring a greater experimental set of techniques, less based on real time instrumental performance and thus allowing a greater sophistication and variation in sound processing. The second track presents a more experimental approach –featuring a casual, accidental attitude as well as a wide palette of sound sources- to the composition of materials as well as a thoroughly refreshing outlook, allowing space to be defined through the absence of sound rather than by featuring large amounts of materials. Foxy Digitalis This postal meeting between two underground label kingpins, Antony Milton (Pseudoarcana) and Joe+N (Carbon records) begins in surprisingly heavy territory. Pulsing fuzzed-out electronics combine with guitar mangling to create a truly disorienting murk. It seems Milton’s recent forays into black metal have spilled over into the work he does under his own name. For a mail collab the distance between the two performers is quite effectively bridged here. The interplay and symbiotic relationship between the Milton and Joe+N creates the impression of a late night jam in a low-lit room, rather than CDRs carted across a vast ocean by indifferent hands. The packaging of this release really does seem to give a good indication of the sounds within, it features a picture of a moth obscured by a piece of yellow plastic (which looks like some sort of factory off cut). The whole thing is bound in silver electrical tape. Sounds pretty haphazard, but it ends up looking cool. So too with the album itself, the sounds some times seem a little random, but it works. Overall the first track reminds me of an extended instrumental track by Gate, which is good thing for sure. Feedback, static and dissonance (the pet hates of creepy audiophiles the world over) are deployed over the course of this piece without fear and to great effect. Track two is more eerie, a moaning violin is married to an ambling acoustic guitar to create the ideal Pagan festival comedown soundtrack. There is a vocal somewhere in the mix, but it ends up only as a suggestion of a voice, like some murmer of a human presence, somewhere back there in the trees. The spell is momentarily broken by the voice of child and the response of a parent (presumably Joe+N). It’s kinda funny and serves as a reminder that you really shouldn’t take this stuff so seriously. “Can You Find Your What” is a successful collaboration on every level. Further fruits of this musical friendship should be eagerly anticipated. 8/10 -- (13 February, 2007) - Cola Nitida

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  Artist/Title: Arthur Doyle - No More Evil Women TOUR CD 8 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR104 20 minutes of Arthur Doyle's trademark vocalizations. recorded direct to cassette, this is a great vocal only recording from Arthur, to celebrate his recent mini-tour of the NorthEast US. [limited edition. packaging started as 3 4'x4' paintings on 1/4" plywood. the pieces were then cut into 6"x6" boards that serve as the cover/carrier for the release.] Reviews (1): Volcanic Tongue Although free folk spirit Arthur Doyle is primarily associated with the saxophone, the arc of his trails takes in a whole bunch of classic 20th century song and dance modes. Doyle's vocal style is a particularly original amalgam of a bunch of seemingly mutually exclusive currents, all reconciled with a delivery that is as far-out and unmediated by any concern for traditional expressive modes as it is playful and totally spontaneous. No More Crazy Women (nothing to do with the recent Qbico LP of the same name) is a special tour-only CD-R that bundles three impossibly-great solo vocal performances recorded straight to cassette. Packaging is real sweet too, with each CD fastened to a 6"x 6" painted board. The sound here is somewhere between early jazz scat singing, primitive field moans, the gutteral automatic accompaniment of Bhamanian guitarist Joseph Spence and the syntax-dissolving experiments of Henri Chopin. Features wild versions of "Round Midnight" and "Stormy Monday". Limited to only 150 copies. - David Keenan

• Add to Cart Song Previews: Screen of Province In Slow Arcs

  Artist/Title: Autumn in Halifax - Kites With Broken Strings 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR117 autumn in halifax is "the quiet avant folk drone guitar and voice of david merulla." and this release showcases pretty much every aspect of that description. in addition to his amazing guitar/looping and vocal work, he is joined on a number of tracks by various friends from his previous stomping grounds in the San Diego (post)pop/rock scene. David does an amazing job of mixing delicate (and catchy) melodies and looping, with abstract sounds and textures . www.autumninhalifax.com Reviews (4): Two Way Monologues A lot of people have a tough time understanding how I can appreciate watching baseball, golf or even (gasp!) curling as much as I do, and I can understand that. The reality is that those activities just move too slowly for the majority of people. It can be the same way with a movie, like one of my all-time favourites, Waking Life. I find that movie riveting, and to date I still am trying to wrap my head around the intricacies of what it all means. I'd be an idiot to expect everyone to have the patience for that type of movie. And I would be an idiot to expect everyone to have the patience for Autumn in Halifax's record Kites With Broken Strings. Patience is absolutely crucial to enjoy Autumn in Halifax. There are moments that occur in the album that are absolutely crushing. The music has a way of lulling you into a mesmerized state where it is just you and the music; and then, like a cold bucket of water to the face, an abrupt change in the pacing or volume awakens you. It is just an incredible feeling when music can do that to you. The key is in the build up, or what I referred to as the lull. Rudimentary rules about song lengths are ignored here, and whatever length it takes to satisfactorily complete the song is used instead. The album title is fascinating, isn't it? Kites With Broken Strings -- what does that mean to you? To me, the one word that comes to mind is potential. A kite with broken strings at is useless; the sole function of a kite cannot be performed without strings. But that doesn't mean it can't regain that potential again and that it hasn't done beautiful things before. Maybe I am completely wrong and the band just named the album what it did because it sounds cool. I hope not. I also like my analysis because it fits well with this music in general. It is only as rewarding as you let it be. A casual listen to songs like "Farewell" just isn't going to cut it. "Farewell" actually offers the listener a great microcosm for what they going to experience during Kites With Broken Strings. Clocking in at 10:38, it is a slowburn, to say the least. In many ways I am reminded of Raising the Fawn but with a heavier emphasis on folk and more of a hint of fragility in David Merulla's vocals. Repeatedly, Merulla plays this quiet tranquil melody against the rhythmic drums, and the melody has more of an effect on me than most hard rock riffs ever do. When I listen to this song I know that everything will go on hold for ten minutes of my life and I can just let myself get lost into this music. And this, as I am discovering, is the true beauty of the drone style. For a minute and thirty seconds "Memphis" plods forward as it builds toward something, but the repetition soothes you -- and then it happens and demands that you perk up and listen. Merulla's voice couldn't be described as polished, it has a raw quality that contrasts well with the meticulous thought that goes into the guitar and instrumentation. I wouldn't suggest playing any of these songs at your next social gathering, but in those late artistic, contemplative hours of the night this is the soundtrack that you are craving. I am asking/encouraging anyone who reads this and would like to share an opinion on what they think the following lyrics mean to post or email and let me know, because I find them utterly fascinating: "Ghostly coma breaks/the radius of your smiles/when I need them most/Sparkles rival faith/Rivals sparkles truth/Sparkles rival faith/Rivals sparkle truth" Those lyrics come from "Stinger Glows Relief," another of the many excellent tracks Kites With Broken Strings has to offer. The song is constructed to force the listener to focus on Merulla's voice and those mysteriously beautiful lyrics. In spite of not knowing precisely what the lyrics mean, the sadness or despair in this song is still bordering on overwhelming. And it doesn't end with the three songs I mentioned. On their own these songs are decent, but as a whole the album is a more powerful and rewarding experience. The learning curve is higher, so you make the call. The flavour of the month or something that you won't be sick of this time in July? That is up to you. Songs to hear: As your attorney, I'd advise listening to the entire album. (Fear and Loathing reference, for those who just decided that I am crazy.) SCORE: 8.5 - Dan City Newspaper Cover story excerpt Rochester City Weekly (OCTOBER 26, 2005) A brisk wind blows through David Merulla's music At times, he inhabits his own music with such a gentle touch that he may as well be a ghost himself. His playing also moves forward at an unhurried pace almost unheard of in this day and age. The arrangements, which feature light electronic touches and playing and recording by members of Kill Me Tomorrow, Bartender's Bible, and the Black Heart Procession, leave ample room for echoes. Echoes in the spaces of buildings, echoes that span the rural American West... echoes of a tree-lined Rochester street bracing itself for the cold. - Saby Reyes-Kulkarni Pop Matters Autumn in Halifax is (mostly) David Merulla, and to get an idea of his music, it helps to know that he’s intrigued by both nature and architecture, and these two obsessions shape his music.  Like the former, his songs are often unconstrained and unpredictable, changing direction and feel without warning.  But like the latter, Merulla’s songs possess shape, though it’s not always apparent.  This is the rewarding part of his music—a few listens just do not suffice.  You have to live with the songs to discern the overall harmony and symmetry of its components, and what first sounded like random noise reveals itself to be part of a larger structure.  Merulla, you might say, paints on a large canvas, and standing too close prevents you from seeing the complete picture.  Once you see it, though, you can’t look away, despite that it’s often haunting, lonely, and unsettling. Kites with Broken Strings is Autumn in Halifax’s new album; consisting of eleven tracks, it exemplifies Merulla’s eccentric brand of folk.  Merulla handles vocal and guitar duties, but it would shortchange him to say he “plays” the guitar.  All the conventions of guitar playing—pleasing chord progressions, catchy hooks, pyrotechnic guitar solos—are absent from Merulla’s songs.  Lest you think, though, this means Merulla doesn’t know the tool of his craft, he does.  His approach, however, is completely different from the classic pop model of verse/chorus/solo/chorus/fade. Instead, his guitar lines drift back and forth, moving in and out of frame, disappearing only long enough to instill a sense of unease and anxiety, returning to both please and taunt.  His playing has been described as “quiet avant folk drone,” and while it’s all of these things, it might be more apt and succinct to say it’s surreal.  Each song on Kites with Broken Strings sounds like a collage of fragments of dream or memories, juxtaposed against one another, the interplay equally revealing and disturbing. Adding to the illusory feel of Autumn in Halifax’s songs is Merulla’s voice, which is always shaky, often shrill, and deliberately off-key.  Yes, this doesn’t sound like the kind of music you play at a party, and it isn’t—at least, that is, not until all the obligatory guests have left and only your core group of confidantes remain.  Autumn in Halifax, you see, isn’t for everyone, but only those who enjoy investing in the listening experience, those who know that rewarding art often requires something from the observer.  And Merulla’s voice and songwriting do require that you pay attention, but together, they are hypnotic, each chasing after one another until they collide. Overall, Kites with Broken Strings is disquietingly serene, much like a memory that has no tangible power in the present, but still manages to disrupt.  Indeed, songs like “A Quiet Long Enough” and “In Slow Arcs” capture the transitory nature of memories, each based on loose guitar patterns that repeat themselves.  “A Quiet Long Enough” is an instrumental song, and the repeating guitar patterns are complimented with backwards electric guitar notes.  This gives the song a reverse momentum, as if any forward progress is always determined, and ultimately thwarted, by what came before.  “In Slow Arcs” features vocals and instrumentation, but still feels transient.  Drums crash into the middle of the song, accelerate the pace, but then disappear into the background.  Later, they repeat the same pattern, creating a bizarre ebb and flow. Lyrically, Merulla isn’t interested in telling stories or creating character sketches; rather, he gives the listeners images and lets them make connections.  You might, for instance, think a song titled “Memphis” would tell of drunken nights down on Beale Street, but that’s too obvious.  Instead, Merulla presents a series of snapshots that, while loosely related, don’t tell a coherent story: “The sound of winter... I came to... Memphis... we left it in the sea.” Likewise, in “Water + Wire,” the listener is forced to make coherence out of fragmented thoughts: “Nothing left unless we rest / Accidents, they... they test / The gentle texture of water and wire.” Only half the words in most the songs are discernible, which somehow makes the lyrics all the more intriguing.  Of course, such lyrical wordplay would be easy to dismiss as artistic pretension, but Merulla’s lyrics make perfect sense within the context of his songwriting. Like both architecture and nature, Autumn in Halifax’s songs deal with the role of space—the space between people, the space between the past and the present, and the space between reality and illusions.  Kites with Broken Strings is perfect for pondering such reflective matters, and while it offers no answers, it makes you realize that questioning is better than knowing. Transitory and haunting, Autumn in Halifax's songs sound like all those past moments that determine your present situation. - Michael Franco Delusions of Adequacy “Thank you...from the bottom of my bloody folk heart,” David Merulla writes in the liner notes for Autumn in Halifax’s Kites with Broken Strings, and I’m struck with what an interesting description that would be for this band: bloody folk. Take your structured folk music, and dissect it, sometimes into its barest components and sometimes into delectable chunks of folk goodness, and you get the unique and endearing sound of Autumn in Halifax. Rochester native Merulla is the heart of his bloody folk sound, assisted on the album with assorted friends, and on this release, he delivers one of the most intriguing albums I’ve heard in ages. There’s tracks here for those who love traditional song structures and those who eschew them, and sometimes both will be pleased in the same song. At the heart of these songs is a moody folk sensibility, but Merulla and friends get so creative in mixing these songs and adding in ebow, lap steel, Rhodes piano, and assorted noises, that the result is something truly unique. The album opens with the quiet “A Quiet Long Enough,” which warps its guitars forward and backward, creating a kind of ambient soundscape. It’s merely a prelude, though, to the lengthy and brilliant “Farewell,” which gives perhaps the perfect feel for Autumn in Halifax’s sound. It’s flowing, eerily moody at times and yet striking in Merulla’s lyrics and lilting vocals. The drums are booming, the guitar repeating its lines in the backdrop, keyboards lilting and pretty by contrast, and what seems incohesive in theory comes together beautifully. “In Slow Arcs” brings to mind Joan of Arc in structure as well as Merulla’s purposefully off-key singing style. “Water + Wire” is sweet and gentle, and Merulla’s singing style is endearing more than jarring, nicely complimenting the rich tones of this quiet yet poppy track. “Echo in the Lower Case” is a gentle instrumental, lilting and smooth and evocative. It leads nicely into the album’s centerpiece, the brilliantly powerful and instrumentally textured “Memphis.” The album is rounded out by the more folky “Aluminum Smile,” creative found songs to back up “Lemon Tigers,” more poppy “Pretty Noise,” the stark and stripped-bare “Stinger Glows Relief,” and the esoteric “Screen of Province” that provides a nice bookend to the opening instrumental. Merulla spins tales in true folk style that take on an almost dreamy feel, his lyrics telling of “birds, avalanches, water, hearts, and silence,” as he notes in his bio. His instrumentation – at times quiet and moody, at times experimental in approach – is the perfect accompaniment to these tales and still works on its own in the instrumentals. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself getting lost in these songs, wondering where the time went, wondering where these strange and discomforting thoughts are coming from. Merulla’s music is meant to lull you disarmingly and strike you with its dichotomies. It’s enigmatic and unusual and startlingly effective. And I’ve yet to hear a release this experimental in approach work so well. This is truly a gorgeous album. - Jeff Marsh

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  Artist/Title: Autumn in Halifax - Robert Frank & The Moon 10 Format: BOOKLET and CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR175 The short story Robert Frank & The Moon written by David Merulla began as a title written in one of David's notebooks and then continued to reappear in subsequent notebooks and on various scraps of paper. David's affinity for the Swiss photographer Robert Frank plays a subliminal part in seeing the story through however the story is more about memory, shapes and origami. The companion soundtrack ep is an instrumental music recording by Autumn in Halifax & The Leaves, meant to be listened to while reading the story, however can also be enjoyed by itself. The ep was recorded live to two track at the Wolf Den, Rochester, New York by Joe Tunis, mixed by Chris Reeg & David Merulla. Autumn in Halifax & The Leaves is David Merulla, Scott Oliver, Chris Reeg and Joe Tunis. [package include a 5x7 booklet with pro-printed cover, silkscreened cdr and silkscreened kraft stay-flat envelope] Reviews (2): Pirtlegimp This is an EP of instrumental tracks from the wonderful Autumn in Halifax – the band that is directly responsible for the existence of Pirtlegimp Promotions. These tracks are the audio portion of a package that includes a short story and should still be available from Carbon Records should you be interested. If you like the more minimal and lo-fi leaning post rock then you should be all over this; to me it sounds like a very slowed down collaboration between The Dead C and the pretty post rock band of your choice. - Rob Rioux Indie Street Radio Autumn in Halifax - The Story: Taking notes from Raymond Carver and Proust in a distinctly contemporary sense, Robert Frank & The Moon uses a traffic accident as the centerpiece to thematically explore and concretize an Augustinian conception of time. The Music: The soundtrack to Robert Frank & The Moon stands on its own right as a contemplative (primarily) guitar-based piece with a distinct interplay between both arpeggio rhythm and warm-sunset-drone, and structured song and ambiance. The “Total Package”: There is an inherent problem of putting story to music in this fashion: timing. That is to say, should one read the story to the pace of the music, is the music composed to fit the average amount of time one takes to read the story, how closely aligned is the music to the story, etc.? I chose to simply read the story at my own pace accompanied by the music without worry of any sort of artistic intention of alignment. While I finished the story sometime in the third song of the “soundtrack,” it would be inaccurate to say that this juxtaposition doesn’t have any meaning. My reading often became one with the pervading rhythm or mood of the piece, mimicking the narrative’s complex, intersecting, and inextricably tangled rhythms of life.

• Add to Cart Song Previews: Dyed in the Wool Valedictorian

  Artist/Title: Autumn in Halifax - the soft, soft shakes 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR177 Recorded in multiple studios over the course of 2007 and 2008, in both Upstate New York and San Diego California, Autumn in Halifax; David Merulla and W.Dirk Doucette, along with various contributors put together another collection of songs with considered arrangements and colored by multiple instruments including Wurlitzer and Fender Rhodes pianos, singing saw, accordion, trumpet, vintage effects and the familiar guitars,drums and bass. The warmth of 1970's rock and roll, concise pop songs and subtle experimentation all can be found within this particular song cycle. Reviews (1): City Newspaper Setting out to make a "more pop-sounding" album this time around, Autumn In Halifax leader David Merulla proves that poppiness doesn't have to come at the expense of substance. Merulla's work can flow as gently as a canoe being carried downstream by a slow current, but tends to be heavy on the atmosphere. He also writes prose, and his songs often come across like the sonic equivalent of pastoral scenes described in dense passages of literature. By contrast, "Soft Shakes" immediately gets off to a more anthemic start with the singalong-inducing "Sleepwalkers." As the album goes on, drummers William Doucette and Jonathan Stevens provide lively beats even as Merulla begins to evoke the deep stillness of vintage acoustic Neil Young. Merulla has an unparalleled knack for challenging your expectations while going easy on your ears. As accessible and beautiful as it is, "Soft Shakes" still commands a most rewarding kind of patience. - City Weekly

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  Artist/Title: Bjerga / Iversen - (Go With The Flow) Like a Twig on the Shoulders of a Mighty Stream 8 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR178 .. that is kinda what Bjerga/Iversen have been doing, since the humble beginnings 4 years ago.. After more than 50 releases and about the same number of gigs since then, it is perhaps somewhat of a contradiction that it’s all more or less just as humble…. “Thanks to its piercing frequencies, paranoid multitasking, mantra-like grooves and billowing fields of feedback, this record represents both one of the last bastions of true Punk and a 21st century take on the Krautrock spirit. It is the kind of music that would have your parents worried if you listened to it alone in your room. It is also, in a way, the exact opposite of what you would associate with the Norwegians just by reading about them. If this is a best-of, then it’s probably the least representative in the world.” This CD collects some choice cuts and edits from our now quite (stupidly) extensive recorded catalogue.. It might not be an easy task to single out the best moments, which would sort of be beside the point anyway.. In a way it’s all the same song, the song that never ends.. We tap on to the frequency, and sometimes the psychedelic transmissions are seeping through like burning sunlight on technicolored drops of water and other times the harrowing, fleshy minimalism of solitary organ notes and foggy feedback overtones dig out deeper, darker furrows in uncharted territories…. “It may seem like another contradiction, then, that "(Go with the flow) like a twig on the shoulders of a mighty stream" breaks these documents down into easily digestible (relatively speaking, mind you) and highly selective moments. Suddenly, there is nothing but magic and everything makes sense. From the opaque clouds and glassy ambiance of “There’s always a little light that shines” to the hypnotic and yet playful ultra-minimalism of “Most things are made of water” and their stretched-out metaphorical Über-message “The trumpets of silence”, descending from its warm opening bass pulsation into a frosty cellar of disentangled frequencies, these are undeniable works of mesmerizing sound art. Extracted highlights from twisting and turning improvisations like “There’s a ghost in the dream machine” surprisingly put them in a league with the en-vogue Guitar drone fraction, while there are stretches of subtle experimentation which are of a decidedly more microtonal nature. On the other hand, these moments of coherency are definitely also a relevant part of their cosmos and they deserve to be appreciated as well. Glued together on a single, cohesive disc, it is almost as if these Norwegian cowboys had simply decided to mix everything they stand for into a delirious DJ mix, taking no detours whatsoever.” Still going with the flow, but for the past four years the flow has dragged us though the muddy swamps, the pitch black forests and down the magic rivers of pure sound…. “When I saw them for the first time, struck by their perplexing quietude and their naive way of drawing ripping sound from random objects. This album is about those times. It is about showing what you missed if you weren’t there when it happened. And about why it is worth remembering if you were.” Reviews (1): Crucial Blast The Norwegian duo of Sindre Bjerga and Jan-M. Iversen has been wowing me for a few years with their dark improv-noise, mostly through their prolific release schedule that sends clutches of super limited cd-rs out into the world through labels like Carbon, Ruralfaune, At War With False Noise, and Utech. It 's hard to believe that these guys are able to explore as wide ranging a realm of sounds as they do with all of their myriad releases, and I hardly ever hear them stay in one spot for long on any given release. Massive Earth-en guitar drone will find itself next to a track of battered toy noises, or the duo will emit crushing blasts of feedback and electronic squonk, then slide effortlessly into glistening ambience that blooms from a field of effects pedals that the artists manipulate in expert fashion. For any newcomers to Bjerga/Iversen's dark noisescapes, I would recommend this disc in a heartbeat. (Go With The Flow) Like a Twig on the Shoulders of a Mighty Stream has been put together as a collection of some of Bjerga/Iversen's best material, culled from an assortment of rare and out of print releases. Sixteen minute epics of flattened high-end feedback tones, mutated radio signals, psychedelic guitar noise and throbbing low-end are matched with shorter tracks like the grinding Teutonic sludgedrone of "Drawn To The Light, Like Moths To A Flame" and the eerie space horror and industrial skulk of "Invisible Empire". The untitled eighth track is the one unreleased recording on here, and it's a killer blat of dark ambience that makes my skin crawl, a deep Lustmordian drone flecked with glitchy computer noises and unnerving dissonance. The whole disc tends to lean more towards the darker, more ambient side of Bjerga/Iversen's improv recordings, but that is where these guys really shine anyways, so who's complaining. The whole disc flows together so nicely that it hardly even sounds like the compilation that it is, and anyone who hungers for the heavier and more corroded end of the deathdrone/dark ambient spectrum needs to hear it. Think Maurizio Bianchi's cold industrial drones combined with the fractured, blackened industrial throb of newer Wolf Eyes, Lustmord's cavernous ambience, early krautrock and the grinding guitar buzz of Earth's 2. Sounds pretty great, right? This is definitely the place to start, and after sinking your ears into this heavy collection of psychedelic industrial drone, you might just want to start hunting down all of the other fifty-plus releases that Bjerga/Iversen have released over the past few years... Nice red and black packaging, and the booklet has some well written liner notes on the duo written by Tobias Fischer.

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  Artist/Title: Bjerga / Iversen - buring the light at both ends 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR119 36+ min of desperate transmissions from a desolate place. a collaboration including Sindre Bjerga,the man behind the amazing Gold Soundz label (Norway) and Jans-M Iversen, the man behind the, equally amazing, Tibprod label (also from Norway). [from the Carbon Recycled.Series. recycled 2 and 3 fold covers, spray painted and silkscreened with some of the original artwork bleeding thru the paint fog.]] Reviews (1): Foxy Digitalis This Norwegian duo of Sindre Bjerga and Jan Iversen has been quite prolific in 2005. This is hardly a bad thing as their "Lighthouse Tapes" series has continually offered memorable moments that explore varying styles and influences. On this wonderfully packaged CD-R from the Carbon imprint, the duo slows things down with a soft, disjointed electronic swim in the ice-cold polar seas. "Burning the Light at Both Ends" is one single, 36 minute modern sea shanty. Low level drones keep this long piece together and constantly moving. It's hypnotic reverie for the freezing tides that surround the southern tip of their native Norway leaves no stone unturned. This steady descent into the dementia of being lost at sea, with no hope of survival is undaunting. As it begins with it's rolling waves of watery electronics, you can see the storm clouds forming off in the distance. There's a determination in these tones to face down your gravest fear and continue pushing forward. A stunning build-up of tension twists the listener into a pretzel of nerves. Just over the midway point is when the delirium starts to set in. Through the careful use of orchestral and opera (I think) samples, the duo creates a real-time look at someone losing it in the face of insurmountable odds. This is what it sounds like to have voices in your head. By the time the pulsing electric guitars come into the mix, you are already gone. You are lying on your back, staring into the sun laughing at your own demise. These shambolic tones haunt you and mock you, never letting up until your brain finally explodes into a caustic mash of flesh and bone. In your demise you are reborn. Bjerga & Iversen are two highly talented individuals. One can only hope that their collaborative efforts continue well into 2006. "Burning the Light at Both Ends" is another wonderful and interesting sonic entry into their every growing discography. This is one ship I never want to get off. 7/10 -- (27 June, 2006) - Brad Rose

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  Artist/Title: Blood Stereo - Hymn for the Crippled Mulato 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR90 10YR.Series.10 - the tenth (and final release) in the Carbon 10 year anniversary CDR series. 30+ minutes of a beast emerging from a swamp of static. or a seismic mic on the tail pipe of my brother's Harley. kicks ass! [Blood Stereo is Karen Constance and Dylan Nyoukis]

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  Artist/Title: Bruise Halo - + 12 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR199 nearly 30min of heavy dirty synth, buried beats, mumbling, effect-saturated vocals and other elements. this is the electronic/synth side of Joe Tunis (aka, Joe+N, member of Tumul, Tuurd, Crush the Junta and more, and former member of Pengo and Hilkka). [packaged with a 12"x12" piece of unique wooden artwork, layers of drywall compound, paint, sprayed, stenciled and splattered. limited to 96 pieces]

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  Artist/Title: Burnt Hills - Alpha Seven 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR186 This is the eighth release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. 60+ minutes of psyched out jam vibrations from this Albany NY ensemble. [packaged with pro-printed covers in a heavy duty vinyl sleeve] [Digital Download comes with a PDF of the artwork and liner notes]

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - Carbon Emblem Design 10 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CarbonTSHIRT_CarbonEmblem Black ink on solid gray shirt. Available in S, M, L, XL, and 2XL

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - CR200 Poster 16 Format: OTHER Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR200_POSTER VERY Limited edition 18" x 24" poster. Hand sprayed, stenciled, and silkscreened. Each one unique. There were originally only available to Kickstarter backers. I have just a handful left. They ship rolled up in a heavy-duty poster tube.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - CR200 Wooden Print 16 Format: OTHER Label: Carbon Records Price: $20 Catalog ID: CR200_wooden_print VERY VERY Limited edition print of the CR200 logo, on a 12" x 12" x 1/4" piece of sanded birch plywood. Will ship protected in an LP mailer.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - CR200 tshirt 8 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR200_shirt Special edition tshirt commemorating the release of CR200. designs on both sides (back has new Carbon Records logo), blue (and some gray) ink on heather gray shirts.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - 2012 Skull Design - Black shirt 10 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: Carbon_2012_SkullTShirt_Black The 2012 Skull design. 3 color design (gray, metallic-black, and white) on black shirt.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - 2012 Skull Design - (recycled) White shirt 10 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: Carbon_2012_SkullTShirt_White 2012 Skull design on recycled white shirts. These are not used shirts, but rather, overprinted (from Counter Fit Fest) shirts, with the back band listing from CFF remaining intact. Slum it up! These have a special 3 color version of the skull design, burgundy, black, and metallic gold.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - headphones design 10 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CarbonTSHIRT_headphones Various random colors, VERY LIMITED QUANTITY. You can try requesting a color, but it can't be guaranteed. Trust me, they are all great.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - Fall 2011 - Black Hoodie 20 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $25 Catalog ID: CarbonHOODIE_Fall2011_Black 50%/50% poly/cotton black pullover (w/pocket) hoodie with gray/silver ink design. i used an older worn screen to distress the logo a bit.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - Fall 2011 - Black 10 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CarbonTSHIRT_Fall2011_Black 100% cotton short sleeve black tshirt with gray/silver ink design. i used an older worn screen to distress the logo a bit.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - Fall 2011 - Dark Blue 10 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CarbonTSHIRT_Fall2011_DarkBlue 100% cotton short sleeve dark blue tshirt with gray/silver ink design. i used an older worn screen to distress the logo a bit.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - Fall 2011 - Light Blue 10 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CarbonTSHIRT_Fall2011_LightBlue 100% cotton short sleeve light blue (manufacturer calls it Indigo) tshirt with gray/silver ink design. i used an older worn screen to distress the logo a bit.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - Summer 2011 TSHIRT 8 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CarbonTSHIRT_Summer2011 very small run of custom made shirts to kick off the Summer of 2011. each is different, each is silkscreened, sprayed and stenciled, and an utter fucking mess. you need one!

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - 2007 flower design (Youth sizes) 8 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR164b Youth Sizes - flower design (pictured at left), 2 color design of flower and text (blue and gray) on 100% cotton white tshirt.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - 2007 flower design (Infant size White sweatshirt) 12 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $12 Catalog ID: CR164c Infant Size Sweatshirt - flower design (pictured at left), 2 color design of flower and text (blue and gray) on 50/50 cotton/poly white sweatshirt.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - 2007 flower design (white onesies) 8 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR164d baby onesies - flower design (pictured at left), 2 color design of flower and text (blue and gray) on 100% cotton white onesie.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - 2007 flower design (Infant size Black sweatshirt) 12 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $12 Catalog ID: CR164e Infant Size Sweatshirt - flower design (pictured at left), 2 color design of flower and text (gray and black) on cotton/poly blend black sweatshirt.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - 2007 flower design (grey on white) 10 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR164g flower design (pictured at left), flower and text in gray and black ink, on 100% cotton white tshirt.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - 2007 flower design 8 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR164 flower design (pictured at left), flower and text are two shades of grey, on heavy 100% cotton black tshirt.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - Carbon VINES design 10 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR110 if you're familiar with Keith Fullerton Whitman's label Entschuldigen label, this is the font he used for his official logo (i loved the logo so much, i had to use that font. i pretty much wear my Entschuldigen hoodie everyday). it looks like vines growing in and out of the letters, which are an old-english looking type. these shirts are light brown (almost drab-green) with cream ink.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - Lies 4 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CRT_LIES Black shirt with white ink. Front has photo of Clinton and reads "He lied to you about sex." Back has a photo of Bush Jr and reads "But he lied to you about war!" Yeah yeah, i know, Clinton lied about war as well (bombing of Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, etc), but he didnt get impeached for it.

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - Phi-Phenomena on Wheels 4 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CRT_PHI white on black, double sided with diagram of Phi-RV on front and list of touring bands on back

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  Artist/Title: Carbon Records - red and yellow lines 4 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CRT_CARBONLINES White shortsleeve shirt with red/orange and yellow ink, including Carbon C logo and glitchy lines

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  Artist/Title: Carlos Giffoni - 9 hours with Jim and the Greatful Dead 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR54 [Recently found inventory from record store. 1 copy back in stock!] "9 hours with jim and the greatful dead is a 30+ minute improvisation using guitar, amp and a few guitar modulation effects that I find unique and necessary to express through certain sounds, and is a one take 30+ minute "jam". when I first planned to record it it was meant to be a joke on a long and strange conversation I had with Jim Dunbar and Don Fleming at a show the night before about The Legendary Greatful Dead jams in the west coast that supposedly lasted sometimes up to that long and that apparently Jim saw more than once. I wanted to make something with enough variation of sound and mood so that it felt like it was 9 hours compressed in a much shorter "jam", steal some interesting moments from the eternal dictation and crunch them all together in one piece. When I started playing the guitar, the piece evolved into something else and I just let it go. for 30 minutes +, what I consider a long time for 1 "jam". maybe I am to young and have a short attention span, or maybe I just wasn't there. You can ask Jim about it, Jim was there, for 9 hours, more than once. I really couldn't be there, I wasn't born at the time and currently I am still trying to finish college." [color stickers attached to sealed white cd folders. edition of 75]

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  Artist/Title: Century Plants - Copper Visions 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR184 This is the sixth release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. 32+ minutes of dirgy space jams from this amazing duo out of Albany NY. like lost transmissions from deep seated roots. Ray and Eric are also members of Burnt Hills, Transcendental Manship Highway, Rambutan and Fossils From the Sun. [packaged with pro-printed covers in a heavy duty vinyl sleeve] [Digital Download comes with a PDF of the artwork and liner notes]

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  Artist/Title: Chad Oliveiri - Pathetique 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR98 40min+ of top-notch electronic performance/composition from this musician/writer from Rochester NY. this release includes pieces based on live collaborations with various individuals throughout as well as solo pieces, recorded between 2001 and 2005 . the tracks range from static-driven compositions to organic pastoral drones, including guitar, piano, voice, electronics, etc. Chad also has a collaborative release with Brannon Hungness (also featured on this release) coming out on Entr'acte (UK) this spring (2006). [heavy duty vinyl cover, with full color insert and "prism" overlay. factory-colored CDR]

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  Artist/Title: Chad Oliveiri - enduser 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR36 RE-RELEASE: from chad... "reveals kind of a different side compared to my more recent stuff, which tends to be more "song" or "music" oriented. these were really experiments in the strictest sense. me just feeling my way." - Original Desc: manipulated and processed/glitched works, built from tape recordings Chad made throughout the 90‘s. feels right at home along side releases from labels such as Mego, Meme, and Touch, not to mention, our own Bobo.

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  Artist/Title: Chad Oliveiri - express yourself 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $3 Catalog ID: MP3.03 an amazing collection of pieces culled and manipulated from his on-going weekly radio show/performance (WRUR 88.5fm). and just cause he uses a laptop, don‘t expect the usual glitch-fest. this is really an amazing collection of moving experimentations. [pre-assembled version of MP3.Series release, which is also free to download]

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  Artist/Title: cheapmachines - com. ver. 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $3 Catalog ID: MP3.05 xperimental electronic recordings since 1997. Com. Ver. = Common Version (common) - ... widely known and notorious, considered by the speaker to below-class, vulgar, or coarse. (version) - ... a variant form or type... a translation from one language to another. -- (Collins English Dictionary, Millenium Edition.)

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  Artist/Title: chefkirk - MODULAR JAC PLAT 5 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR131 repeating and scratchy glitches, tones and drones made with who knows what else. 10 tracks named after Chefkirk's favorite birds to watch, listen and lear, woodpeckers and nuthatches. "chefkirk is Roger H. Smith. Working under the inclusive category of experimental noise, chefkirk creates distinctive compositions of sound by combining together improvised drone and harsh electronics forced from a minimal arsenal of glitchy instruments and feedback loops. Being a socially and politically conscious citizen of the world, chefkirk illustrates his deep concern and love for all living things through the artwork, titles, and modest messages on his numerous releases. The whole of his work will unquestionably carry his personal message loudly: animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment, GO VEGAN!" [CDR with full color insert, spray-painted cdr in slim case]

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  Artist/Title: Christopher Reeg - el borracho 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR139 el borracho is Christopher Reeg's first solo full-length release, showcasing Chris' skills on double bass, keyboard/synth, guitar and melodica, as well as other random instruments. with help from some of his Blood and Bone Orchestra band-mates, Jim Colby, Ed Downey and Darren DeWisperlaere, Chris lays down 8 perfectly crafted pieces (28+ min) ranging from abstract drone/textural scapes, melodic instrumentals, to outsider keyboard/sampling/bass/sax improv, and finally rounding things out with a angular rock gem. [packaged in a kraft Arigato folded sleeve with 2 color artwork by Chris and silkscreened by Alex Schmidt] (Chris also plays in Blood and Bone Orchestra, The Years, Ada le O, Entente Cordiale, Crush the Junta, and a couple other offshoots)

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  Artist/Title: Coffee - dik mik rabbit ear antennae 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR86 10YR.Series.06 - the sixth in the Carbon 10 year anniversary CDR series. almost a full hour of Coffee magic. consists of two live recordings from 1997 and 1998. includes the Coffee core of Dave Cross and Tim Poland, along with Brian Shafer (Nod), Phil Marshall, John Olsen (Wolf Eyes), Sticky Foster, Neil Campbell and Nuuj.

• Artist/Title: Coffee - pissing contest loser 0 Format: DIGITAL Label: Carbon Records Price: $6 Catalog ID: CR138 At some point QBICO mentioned to Dave Cross that they were interested in putting out a Coffee album. Dave Cross gave me two cassette tapes that were recorded years earlier. One had a spacey synth jam that he wanted me to change from Stereo to Mono and spruce up a bit. The other was a four track practice jam tape of Dave Cross, Tim Poland and Joe Sorriero playing some sort of noisy free jazz or something. Dave told me that he liked how bits of it sounded, but did not like any particular chunks as songs. His direction to me was to use this as source material and make it sound like Harry Pussy. I transfered the four tracks individually from the tape, listened to each and then selected short sections that seemed the most appropriate and mastered them individually. I then dumped all the snippets into a multi-track program and started to arrange them. Mostly I stuck similar bits together and sort of constructed songs, that overlapped. At some point I also got the idea that I should give each player a short solo section, to make it seem more like one long, organic, free jazz piece. The result was "Pissing Contest (Loser Version)". It did not sound like Harry Pussy. For some reason it reminded me of This Heat. I then had an idea that I should make a more chaotic version by simply looping every track after it made its appearance in my constructed recording. Afterwards I made several different mastered versions of both versions and gave them to Dave. Dave told me had a hard time picking as he liked both versions, but the second version came closer to his original concept so that's what we sent to QBICO to get pressed as "Pissing Contest". If one listens closely, one can hear this first version underneath the official version. Also included in this release is a Stereo version of "Space 1988". r.nuuja 2011

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  Artist/Title: Colonel Parmisan - Retaste 6 Format: 3inch CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $6 Catalog ID: CR161 20 minutes from this solo Rochester arist - Brian Blatt. also plays in Gaybot, Dufus and No, among others. this is two tracks. one short studio piece, synth/textural warbly-ness. and a longer live synth/drone/noise/voice piece. amazing repetition of melody in the noise context, with hiss, static and air/fog mixed in. [cdr is wrapped in a cardstock insert, inserted into a vinyl sleeve, affixed to a (roughly) 5x5" piece of plywood, which is painted with various layers/colors, and then stenciled with more colors. CDR is also stenciled]

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  Artist/Title: Courtis / Kiritchenko / Moglass - s/t 6 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR122 Collaboration album by Anla Courtis, Andrey Kiritchenko and the Moglass. Co-released by Carbon Records, Nexsound, Gold Soundz, Tibprod and 1000+1 TiLt. tracklist: (1-3) by andrey kiritchenko (sound sources by anla courtis, bandura, objects and field recordings by andrey kiritchenko), (4-6) by the moglass (sound sources by anla courtis, guitar and synth by the moglass), (7-11) by anla courtis (sound sources by the moglass). Alan Courtis (a.k.a. Anla Courtis, Alna Courtis, Courtis, etc.) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on february 22nd, 1972. He studied classical guitar, piano, theory and composition. He holds a degree in Communication Science from the University of Buenos Aires, where he currently runs an annual music workshop. He played electric guitar in diverse bands and in 1993 he co-founded the group Reynols. With this group he has released more than one hundred CDs and vinyls worldwide in labels like Trente Oiseaux, Digital Narcis, Drone Records, Locust, Sedimental, Beta-Lactam Ring Records, Celebrated Psi Phenomenon, RRR, Audiobot Records, Roaratorio, JDK, Reverse, Matching Head, American Tapes, The Last Visible Dog, Carbon Records, etc. Andrey Kiritchenko is a person known as an author of projects like Critikal, Sidhartha, NEX(Nihil Est eXcellence), founder and co-runner of Nexsound records, musician who has largely contributed into the development of electronic music scene in Ukraine and already considered as one of the premiere experimental artist from Eastern Europe. Being involved mostly in experimental electronic and electroacoustic music for the last few years, Andrey is now gaining recognition among the musicians and followers of this style all over the world. His activities range from glitch with blurred beats to electroacoustis experiments, from improv to musique concrete, from drones to microsound. The group under the Moglass came into being in 1997, preceded by five years of home projects that were never released in public. The Moglass widely used the latest technical achievements of the time such as sampling and postproduction of all kinds, hereat gaining a reputation as post-rock musicians and performing at fashionable discos on repeated occasions. Spellbound with the aesthetics of freeform music, the musicians of the group gradually turned away from glossy sound of their early records and began to decline invitations to fancy discos thus gaining freedom of creating music at home and communicating with a bunch of soul mates scattered all over the world. Up-to-date records of the Moglass are spontaneous improvisations, mostly live records, that by no means always can be called free-noise because sometimes they are very gentle and melodic. Reviews (3): Foxy Digitalis I have no idea why it took five different record labels to put this disc into my grubby paws, but I’m certainly glad it got here. This amazing three-way split is pure teamwork; sounds sourced from one amazing artist become fodder for the creative manipulation of another equally brilliant collaborator. Ukrainians Andrey Kiritchenko and The Moglass and Argentinean Anla Courtis take turns weaving masterful tapestries from threads of sound provided by the other participants. Kiritchenko is widely regarded as a pioneer of experimental music in Eastern Europe and is the head of the adventurous Nexsound label. Courtis is probably best known as a founder of the inimitable Reynols, but his excellent solo works have garnered him recent appreciation. The Moglass are a trio who extract dreamy soundscapes from the outer reaches of the atmosphere. Each of these relatively well-known artists lends their distinct flavour to the compositions, and the resulting document resembles a cohesive whole rather than the work of three disparate entities. Kiritchenko begins by combining the sounds provided by Anla Courtis with his own bandura, guitar and field recordings. These three tracks showcase Kiritchenko’s skill in combining sources generated both organically and electronically into complex textural works. Dense drone build-ups melt into static-filled clouds of electronic dissonance; coruscating guitar fragments pierce rumbling waves of sound. Urgency is implied, as if catastrophe is imminent. When The Moglass mix their unique style with that of Courtis, the results are both soothing and unnerving. Each of their three tracks travels a unique path through outer space. What starts out as an alien lullabye soon devolves into shredded strings and guttural scat vocalizing (possibly in Ukrainian). The third, and strongest, track could be the perfect soundtrack for an astral voyage. Courtis closes out the disc by dicing up the sounds provided by the other two participants. The first three tracks find him rubbing elbows with The Moglass, creating the perfect accompaniment for prenatal amniotic stasis. Courtis fabricates crystalline structures from the malleable material provided, resulting in a construction that collapses in upon itself only to be rebuilt in an entirely different way. All rhetoric aside, it’s a heady yet engaging listen. His treatment of Kiritchenko’s work is slightly more organic, as the source material is mainly acoustic. A thousand wind-up toys engage each other in battle before being drowned out by a sea of bells on varispeed. You can almost see the wizard Courtis smiling gleefully over a pile of spliced tape (or maybe a computer full of samples). This rather seamless collection of tracks is definitely the work of people who are at the top of their game. Creating sound art that can hold a listener’s attention is no easy feat, and this recording definitely succeeds at doing just that. I’m definitely going to search out more work from all three of these amazing contributors, and I know there’s a lot out there for me to find! 9/10 - Bryon Hayes Cracked Anla Courtis provides sounds for Andrey Kiritchenko to work on. Anla Courtis also provides sounds for The Moglass to work on. And both provide sounds for Anla Courtis to work on. Obviously, this three way global interchange of sounds and noises has Anla Courtis at the centre (this time), though Kiritchenko starts off followed by the Moglass and ended by Anla Courtis. So much for the basics of this release. What is missing to fill the matrix are the interchanges between The Moglass and Andrey Kiritchenko, but there are no reasons to fill a matrix aside purely formal ones and formality is something that you should forget about completely when confronting this release. Or any release on Nexsound for that matter, because they are all challenging your senses, your hearing restraints and the status of fringe music. What combines the three artists is that they tend to take on sound as something physical, elevating it to a tangible level that works not only through the auditive sense but also via the skin. Even though The Moglass are the most “song-oriented” of the lot from their history onwards, they also step into the chaotic-dynamic lines of this animated soundforgery. They seem to work with sound like a lion tamer works his wild animals, teasing them and teaching them, but always on the lookout for they might break out and wound someone. They are also very eclectic in their work, splunging into all kinds of ambients and sounds which were neatly divided by journalist types and collectors and with a wave of their hand mixing them all together again. And in the end all three have long careers, discographies and impressive biographies to show for them. Andrey Kiritchenko’s tracks are like a wave, but no tsunami but a slow motion wave that surrounds and embrazes you, tightly and densely, and starts to drag you down. His processed field recordings and noises (the notes say guitar but it is hard to believe and anyway wouldn’t be recognizable from something else in this mix except for some parts in his third track) are dynamic and frantically changing while remaining massive and powerfull throughout. When they start to fade out your brain starts to breathe again and you wonder if the crackles of fire in your head are for real or still coming from the CD. But what did you expect from on of Eastern Europe’s foremost proponents of noise and electroexperimental music? This adds very nicely to his growing and recommended discography. The Moglass start off almost atmospherically with waves of almost new age sounds and synths. The stress lays on almost, as almost always. The band is know to prefer being led by the sounds than to lead the sounds, so this time the sounds first lead them to a really quiet and peaceful place and afterwards to more rocky and rough terrain, which still has a lot of good echo. They also add spooky and tripping vocals to great effect and with lots of echo and sustain, though it has to be said that I like their current release “sparrow juice” (also on Nexsound) some more than the big walls and monumental sounds they build up on here. On the other hand, the finely carved and worked out songs on their album wouldn’t really fit here. Anla Courtis has adopted many names during his long career, which started off in Buenos Aires when he studied classical guitar, piano and composition, then threw all of that away to play a very early form of free rock with another guy and a third guy, one of which was a mongoloid who sang and played the drums, under the name of The Reynols. Believe it or not, before Courtis called it quits for The Reynols the trio released more than one hundred CDs and vinyls worldwide almost everywhere and, which is much more important, has connected to likeminded musicians in every town of the world possibly. Here he connects on a completely different level. He actually flies off in various directions during the course of his four tracks, and sometimes he flies into different directions at the same time. A combining element of his contribution is wild creativity and a sense for being “out there”. I have no better words to describe it. He dares to use gentle tone and to fall into more softer paces at times where his cooperators might have chose power and volume in favor of subtlety or microsounds, for instance when he lays softly swaying yet deftly distorted guitar chords over a bass-heavy basis of crackling industrial noise. All in all this three way cluster is a great and powerful invocation of the liberating spirits within noise and experimental electronics. I don’t believe anyone reading the reviews on Cracked regularly has never heard of any of these three artists, but if so, let this be an introductory guideline for you. Vital Weekly The Moglass are also present on a three way compilation, together with Andrey Kiritchenko and Anla Courtis (of former Reynols fame). A release by Nexsound, but also on Gold Soundz, Tib Prod and 1000+1 Tilt. This compilation presents various works by each artist/band, but each of them uses sounds from the others. The Moglass pieces are a bit heavier than on 'Sparrow Juice', dwelling more distortion and psychedelic sound effects. The result is nice, but doesn't match up with their own full length CD. Anla Courtis has three tracks in which he works with the sounds of The Moglass, but fails to set a difference with the group's own sound. Quite spacey and cosmic sound. In the two pieces using Kiritchenko's material, things are also spacious, but less closed. The best pieces are by Kiritchenko, who takes the various sources from Courtis and The Moglass into the world of the computer treatments and processing, creating with their sounds, a music that bears similar markings, but then entirely in the digital domain. Ambient and glitch related, but both at it's very best. - Frans de Waard

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  Artist/Title: Crawlspace - melbourne cabbage ratio 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR85 10YR.Series.05 - the fifth in the Carbon 10 year anniversary CDR series. always expecting great things from this veteran noise/out-rock group, and as usual, they deliver with this jam packed release. over 67 minutes full of non-computer aided electronic, out-rock, noise and even a little comedy thrown in.

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  Artist/Title: Crawlspace - the roaring winds of louie louie 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR51 "Today‘s Whether Report: You done found the eye o‘ the storm right here ‘tween sleepwalk ‘Space and static comin‘ outta the Blower Coast." an amazing work of playground sampling, guitars, percussion, blank tape, radio, video, etc. part 2 of the "trilogy" which started with Crawlspace Slept Here (OutsideTheAntHill) and will conclude with Static on the Blower Coast. [hand-packaged in recycled LP covers. each hand painted and uniquely illustrated. edition of 100]

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  Artist/Title: Crazy River and Sindre Bjerga - black stained songs from silver spines 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR172 recorded live at Sound of Mu in Oslo Norway, this nearly 25min piece slowly builds into a drone/tone/static throb with periodic blasts of heavier tones, thuds and feedback. always quality sounds from this duo. [packaged in 5x7 chipboard stay-flat with silkscreen and splattered artwork. includes sprayed cdr]

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  Artist/Title: Crazy River and Sindre Bjerga - Everything We Know is Barely Being Held Together 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR148 2 live tracks recorded is Oslo and Stavanger Norway in 2005. scratchy drone-transmissions from the north. this is some quality throb/drone/heavy sounds. another feather in Sindre's frozen cap. [packaged in heavy vinyl sleeve with handmade green paper, sprayed with silver. veluum cover for liner notes on back and sprayed CD] Reviews (1): Crucial Blast The duo of Bjerga and Iversen have been prolific recorders of heavy free-drone and guitar/electronics based psychedelic improv over the past two years, and many of their releases have been finding their way into Crucial Blast. Using electronic noise, found sounds, and heavily distorted guitar drones, the duo consistently deliver slabs of evocative, weighty drift that at times sound like a trippier, FX-drenched version of Sunn O))). But the musicians are also busy outside of their core collaborative project, as we find Sindre Bjerga teaming up with a project called Crazy River for a massive 33 minute drift jam split across two tracks on this handmade disc from Carbon. The group open with "Black Forests Of The Mind", a live improvisation recorded in Oslo, Norway in 2005, and it's a massively heavy zoneout punctuated by weird noises and voice samples. The sound of revving engines and small machines is fed through a thick wall of delay and released to float over a thick amplif ier hum that builds in volume and heaviness over the course of the set until it becomes a buzzing black roar of ambient drone-metal swirled with druggy FX and whirring noises, like Sunn O))) mixed with Nurse With Wound or something along those lines. Nearly eighteen minutes long, the jam finally winds down into a hazy, muted hum. The second track "Brusied But Not Broken" was captured in Stavanger, Norway in 2005 and is another epic improvisation, this time composed from random percussion, squelchy tape manipulations, and hushed riffing. It's a dense soundworld of scraping textures and sampled piano concertos, unnerving stereo panning that send monstrous chewing sounds and snarls spinning around the room, metal scraping and digging sounds, and heavily distorted psych-rock riffing that's buried under it all. A really creepy free-noise jam that sounds like the audio soundtrack to some demented slasher flick. A really nice handmade package as usual from Carbon, with a green paper sleeve sprayed with silver paint and layered with a vellum insert that's printed with the track info, and slipped inside of a heavy plastic sleeve.

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  Artist/Title: Crush the Junta - your brother, my brother 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR191 This is the fourteenth release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. 3 pieces from a live set recorded at the Bug Jar in July 2010. The heavy, loud low-end-heavy free-rock you've grown to expect from this 3-piece. [packaged with pro-printed covers in a heavy duty vinyl sleeve] [Digital Download comes with a PDF of the artwork and liner notes] Reviews (1): Crucial Blast The latest chunk of lava-like improv-rock from Crush The Junta, that towering trio from Rochester, NY that features members of Entente Cordiale and Transcendental Manship Highway. Yep, we love dark, heavy free rock, and Crush The Junta deliver that in spades with this three track full length that documents a live performance at the Bug Jar in Rochester from earlier in 2010, released as part of Carbon's sprawling 15YR. Series. Think loud, bass-heavy riffage wandering through pounding saurian rhythms, wailing noise guitar freak outs, lumbering slow-core; this'll be right up your alley if you are into the likes of likeminded freeform riff monsters like Rakhim, Burnt Hills, Skullflower, Heavy Winged, Ultrabunny, and Grey Daturas. First up, "Driving Forward" hangs suspended guitar notes among the slow outward wheeze of feedback, introducing their set with a thick foggy drone, a stream of feedback slowly beginning to swell, then recede; the band gradually cranking the volume as the drums enter in a storm of crashing cymbals, and the song strengthens into a pounding drone-rock jam with a powerful melodic riff forming within the bashing, overloaded rock drone, a monstrous single-chord pounding that becomes infused with rumbling, buzzing machine noises that fade in and out, then veers off into jazzier, noisier territory in the latter half of the track. Then the title track comes in with crushing Codeine-esque slowcore based around a droning repetitious riff and slow heavy drums that tread into oblivion, splattered with drugged howls and gusts of amplifier noise. Finally we come to the massive seventeen minute "Clausius", starting with a minimal percussive rhythm and the buzz of a cranked amp, then introducing a lone guitar playing a simple, almost jazzy figure, the drums alternating between shuffling snare and heavier pounding, the guitar beginning to work itself into circular shapes; after several minutes of this, the band finally lets loose, erupting into a brutal squall of Fushitsusha-style feedback and powerful drumming and mangled guitar skronk, and then around halfway in, it turns into a rumbling, zonked out feedback drone jam, waves of garbled guitar noise and bending feedback notes rippling through the air, forming a thick atmosphere of amplifier electricity that gets pretty hypnotic as it stretches out for several minutes. Then the drums crash back in, hammering out a slow, ponderous dirge, while the simple droning guitar begins to bloom into a simple moody riff that repeats over and over, the whole thing morphing into a super heavy droning slowcore crush, getting noisier and more atonal and more distorted as it goes on, screaming high end guitar dropping in sinister howling leads, the sound going from trancey and mesmeric into this darker sludge assault that finishes out the set. Comes in a full color cardboard jacket in a thick vinyl sleeve.

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  Artist/Title: Crush the Junta - the disappeared 6 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR151 45 minutes of improv noise-rock heaviness. ranging from full-on overblown jams, to thick drones, to even some melodic pieces. includes lots of guitar, bass, synth and drums, with some vocals sprayed here and there. similar at times to Grey Daturas, Heavy Winged, Alasehir/Bardo Pond and Codeine. check out ctj.carbonrecords.com for more info. [packaged in a heavy vinyl sleeve with pro-printed card-stock cover. cover artwork by Andy Gilmore - birdbrid.blogspot.com] Reviews (1): Crucial Blast The Rochester, NY free-sludge trio Crush The Junta first came to my attention last year with their crusher of a debut, the Curse Of Abraham CDR on Carbon. Featuring members of Entente Cordiale, Blood And Bone Orchestra, SQ, Pengo, and Hilkka and taking huge open chord riffs and syrupy, slow moving tempos and using them as the foundation for extended improvised jams that are filled with heavily textured feedback and amplifier noise, Crush The Junta's sound fell somewhere in between the Grey Daturas and Gravitar at their most psychedelic and the austere slowcore of Codeine. Massive and expansive, the trio uses synthesizer and electronic drones along with their core drums/guitar/bass lineup, their music is almost entirely instrumental (save for the occasional howl of ecstasy rising up above the dirge), and their first 'real' CD release The Disappeared further expands upon their trippy metallic jamming. "The Mist Rolls In" opens the album with a series of thu nderous, distorted open chords and saw toothed drone, somewhat Western in feel, almost like a rougher version of the newer Earth stuff crossed with Codeine's Barely Real. But the following track "Skull Against Stone" shifts the album into the abstract, a loop of guitar noise spinning off above guitar noise and buzzing cables and an quasi-krautrock beat until it starts to sound like a riff from the The Who stuck on repeat. "Steps Of The Temple" is one of the only tracks to feature any sort of vocal accompaniment, a few lines of spoken word poetry delivered over slow, sludgy dirge riffing. The rest of the album explores similiar territory, huge blown out psych-sludge jams, thick amplifier drones, pretty indie rock tunes played at glacial tempo, all of it surrounded by a vague sense of political unrest and dystopia. Check 'em out if you're a fan of high energy, distortion laden improv/psych/dirge rock like Heavy Winged, Alasehir, and Grey Daturas. Packaged in a cardsto ck jacket that comes in a heavy plastic mylar sleeve.

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  Artist/Title: Crush the Junta - the curse of abraham 8 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR156 two live tracks, totally 42+ minutes. ranges from the stoner/heavy riff-n-drive that live CTJ audiences have been experiencing, to some more deconstructed, almost US Maple-influenced jitters. [packaged in kraft chip-board envelope with full color artwork affixed and dual-color spray splatter. disc is also sprayed. also includes color insert.] Reviews (2): Foxy Digitalis Made up of two tracks “Curse of Abraham” is the first full length CDR by Crush the Junta; a trio that bring forth a blend of pounding doom-inflected sludge with hints of math and indie rock weaving their way in and out of the mix. To lay it out simply this trio really knows how to lay it all flat out and show no mercy with their sonic assault. The first track starts out with some guitar swells and ambient drum noises slowly but surely coalescing into a lumbering monster. What really sets this track ablaze is the rumbling undertones of Chris Reeg’s stand-up bass, as it forms a foundation for the drums and guitar to play over as well as maintaining its own directional clarity. As the first track trudges forward a sudden silence is reached until a quickly strummed guitar moves in and out and then explodes into more extreme heaviness. But the real clincher comes in the third movement of this track where the guitar becomes the rhythmic foundation, laying it down with a jazz infused math-rock swing, while the bass and drums find their way in and out of its simple repetition. The second track, another live effort continues on with similar energies, beginning a bit more melancholy than before, invoking the desert airs of Earth’s latest forays. Slowly the beast reappears moving forward with its single-minded energy to destroy, littered with some melodic leads that soon explode into all out chaos only to recover and find a new path to trod down, before making a half tempo return to the main riff that got the set going in the first place and eventual return to a (slow) full speed accompanied by the faintly heard cries of someone screaming vocals over the din and finally chaos takes us out. 9/10 -- Cory Card (26 September, 2007) - Cory Card Crucial Blast Just found out about this new trio from Rochester, NY, which includes Joe Tunis somewhere in it's lineup. When the fuck does this guy sleep? In addition to running the massive avant-noise label and mailorder Carbon, doing one-day tours where he performs short, fast sets of his solo experimental electronics at various locations around Rochester, collaborating with a million different artists, and playing in the amp-cranking free-rock unit Entente Cordiale, Tunis apparently also operates this killer group alongside Dennis Mariano (also of TIger Cried Beef and Hungness) and Chris Reeg (Blood And Bone Orchestra, The Years). Reeg and Tunis are actually both in Entente Cordiale, and that group's hazy, droning noise rock improv is sort of the starting point for what Crush The Junta are doing. But this outfit however definitely gets more raucous, combining formless guitar riffs and feedback, meandering basslines a la The Dead C and likeminded rock deconstructionists, electronic textures, synths, and freeform percussive splat into waves of amorphous rock action that crest with loud and burly bursts of psychedelic sludgery that come close at times to Grey Daturas-levels of sonic muscle. The Curse Of Abraham is one of the group's first recorded works, a document of two live tracks that each toe the twenty-minute mark, and which run the gamut between brooding, pummeling krautrock workouts, spidery meandering math rock jams, and punishing metallic sludge dripping with woozy, detuned guitars and howling screams. One of the heaviest releases from Carbon to date - keep it up, Joe! I'm looking forward to hearing more from this band. The spraypainted disc comes packaged in a hefty, hand-assembled chip-board envelope similiar to that Pengo disc we carried last year, with full color artwork glued to the front and splattered in dual-color paint, with a color insert.

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  Artist/Title: Crush the Junta - hanging design 8 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR157_RED the Crush the Junta "hanging" design. brick red shirt with gray and white ink and wrap-around design.

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  Artist/Title: Crush the Junta - hanging design 8 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR157_BLUE the Crush the Junta "hanging" design. muted blue shirt with gray and white ink and wrap-around design.

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  Artist/Title: Darryl Norsen - Sublime Frequencies Films tour poster 4 Format: OTHER Label: Carbon Records Price: $6 Catalog ID: CarbonPosters_sublime_frequencies Designed by Darryl Norsen (www.dnorsen.com) for the Rochester NY tour stop of the Sublime Frequencies Film viewing and lectures featuring Robert WIllis and Ian Nagoski. This is an 11x17 pro-printed poster on heavy glossy card stock. not many copies left, so hurry.

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  Artist/Title: Dead Machines - mystery of the fall off islands part two 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR84 10YR.Series.04 - the fourth in the Carbon 10 year anniversary CDR series. more amazing handmade electronics and tape manipulation from John Olson (Wolf Eyes) and Tovah O‘Rourke, otherwise known as The Dead Machines... Reviews (1): Weirdo Records One big slow stream of speckled, fritzing electronics from Olson & Tovah, made back before the spray paint had dried. Bubbles up crude like the Beverly Hillbillies striking oil.

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  Artist/Title: Dolores Dewberry / Origami Genitalia - split 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR109 Split CD featuring two of the snizziest experimental music projects to emerge from Minneapolis since Snizzy McSnizzerton and his Band of Snizz. Dolores is known well for her appearance on Susan Lawly's "Extreme Music from Women" CD, and is here in full power-electronics mode, complete with porn samples. Origami Genitalia is an electro-acoustic soundtrack collaboration between Eric Hofferber (Gentle Tasaday) and E.W. Hagstrom (Cock E.S.P.) Co-released with Apop, Sunship, Gold Soundz, Little Mafia and Nihilist.

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  Artist/Title: Drive the Pieces Together - Ethnography 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR182 This is the fourth release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. "Drive the Pieces Together was a band that existed for one performance only. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if it was a band or a composition....Peter Warren, a guitarist, had composed a piece of electronic music with significant silences in it. The group, consisting of Steve Norton (a sax player who would, for this project, only play a turntable), Vic Rawlings (amplified cello), Erik Carlsen (tuba), Dave (reeds), and me (Howard Stelzer) (cassette tapes), would improvise along with Peter's recording, which would function as a sort of score." [packaged with silk-screened logo over a unique "sampled" page in a heavy duty vinyl sleeve] [Digital Download comes with a PDF of the artwork and liner notes]

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  Artist/Title: Durán Vázquez - Ghetto, Borghetto 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR108 "It is a work that arose from the experimentation with software effects, and in a very intuitive way." Durán is a Spanish noise artist, with releases on Alg-a netlabel and Crónica. transmissions.... contact?.... responses.... contact? parts of this almost sound like the tribute release(s) Sub Rosa did years ago for philospher Gilles Deleuze. [packaged in spray-painted slim jewel case with spray painted cdr] Reviews (1): Modisti Distorsion processed electronic sources progressively give way to denser texture of various other materials featuring all maner of idiomatic, mediatic, music samples and instrumental processings that contribute to the weaving of this accretion of assorted noise. Constant disruption comes to mind as a common denominator of these busy sumperimpositions of unrelated, chaotic materials, thus illustrating an illuminating portrait of present day relevance. The internal logic of the accretions obey its obvious lack of coherence, thus drifting in a careful manner if totally devoid of aim, purpose or message. It is merely a portrait in its recurrent, relentless insistence and merciless precission of development.

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  Artist/Title: Dylan Nyoukis - The Curious March of the Goat Faced 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR187 This is the ninth release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. 1 second under 60 minutes of vocal experiments, field recordings, sound collage, synth space effects, string arrangements and more. [packaged with pro-printed covers in a heavy duty vinyl sleeve] [Digital Download comes with a PDF of the artwork and liner notes] Reviews (1): Weirdo Records A rather outdoorsy feel to these recordings from then-recent touring around the continent. Some background growling that makes it seem like you're Jane Goodall traipsing down a misty mountain, but at the bottom, instead of gorillas there are a bunch of tiny aliens landing in thousands of miniature spaceships, beeping as their engines swoop down. Plenty of contact mics rustling, dogs & birds & cow imitations, daughter Elka laughing like she just got a good one over on you, a cello sawing back & forth, whispery shudders of some sorta footpump (played by Chris Corsano no less), wet ploppings, unidentifiable brapps, and so on. I hear my favorite brand of duck call in there too!

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  Artist/Title: Ed Chang - marble / latch 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR106 here's an amazing drone guitar release from Ed Chang, the man behind NYC-based Quodlibet label. member of Spin-17, and all around free-improv, experimental, out-there musician. this showcases his softer, more subtle drone-infestations/incantations. [packaged in heavy vinyl sleeve with b&w photo by Ed on the front, and veluum back cover. cds are spray painted] Reviews (1): Modisti A careful work exploring the possibilities of continuous electric guitar drones developed over extended periods of time. Featuring smooth transitions between the different sound masses, the static character is the result of a careful mastery; the balance involved in handling feedback being akin to that of high-tension wires. Quite subtle in its approach, the materials are displayed with a certain Indian tanpura quality in the slow unfolding of overtones. Other tracks present harsher surfaces, with noise elements that emphasize rougher textures and larger doses of processing.

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  Artist/Title: Emil Beaulieau - live in WNY 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR115 two 30+min live performances by "America's Greatest Living Noise Artist." first set is from July 2003 recorded at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester NY. in the middle of the set, Emil instructs all the visitors in the space, that they MUST enter the performance area before he continues on with his set. YES! the second track is from a performance in August 2003 at Hallswalls in Buffalo NY. Mr. Beaulieau getting melodic towards the end of the set, completely annihilating an orchestral moment. [second in the Carbon Recycled.Series. cover is a "recycled" LP, cut down to 5" x 5" square]

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  Artist/Title: Entente Cordiale - life underground 8 Format: 2CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR167 This is a set of studio and live Entente Cordiale recordings. disc 1 consists of a studio session at the Bunker in Rochester NY, recorded by Nuuj (of Pengo/Asthmatic/Tuurd). three pieces varying from the EC guitar pattern/drone approach, and ending with an on-the-edge of falling apart secular mantra before diving into the most uncharacteristic EC sounds to date (channeling the then future direction of Tumul). disc 2 consists of a long live set recorded at Soundlab in Buffalo NY, when EC (accompanied by Nuuj) opened for the Yellow Swans. a marathon blast of loud guitar riffs, drones and deep synth action. [sprayed and silkscreened 5x7 chipboard stay-flat kraft envelopes with sprayed discs] Reviews (1): Foxy Digitalis I know that I’m not the only wholehearted advocate for Rochester, NY’s most excellent Carbon Records imprint, but I feel like there just isn’t enough love being broadcast throughout this worldwide ‘web’ of ours for this high-quality label. I can’t say enough how consistently these guys (guy, actually) issue quality recordings. Carbon Greatness Exhibit A: this latest double CD-R of guitar goodness from Entente Cordiale – a trio consisting of Chris Reeg, Will Veeder and Carbon boss man Joe Tunis. These guys specialize in slow-motion shredding and extended feedback wrangling. The two discs that comprise “Life Underground” demonstrate the two unique faces of the EC oeuvre. The first disc is a home studio recording, while the second disc documents a single live show from a few months prior to the studio session. Both discs amply serve as platforms for the group’s relaxed approach to improv, but each contains a unique cache of treasures befitting the specific recording environment. In the studio, EC showcases their sense of balance: melody is played off of dissonance, and quietude begets commotion. On the first track, a short guitar line repeats ad infinitum underneath a slowly-building web of textured guitar noise. The second and third tracks are lengthy feedback-laden sludge feasts whose landscapes are littered with the debris of ruined guitars. The live disc is a demonstration of the drone-to-chaos aspect of the EC sound. What starts out as a manageable slow-burning ember of sound erupts into a frenzied blaze, with furious waves of feedback cast to and fro. A churning cascade of deep-end drone pierces the madness, reeling in any stray frequencies. There is almost two hours of music on “Life Underground”, enough to satiate the hungriest of out-guitar fans. After this, do we need any more evidence that there is quality music coming from the bowels of post-industrial America? I think not, but I welcome it anyway. 9/10 - Byron Hayes

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  Artist/Title: Entente Cordiale - the recognition of common interests 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR150 nearly 48 minutes of sometimes sparce, sometimes dense, guitar work by this trio consisting of Will Veeder (Hinkley, Torpedoes, formerly of Muler), Chris Reeg (Blood and Bone Orchestra, Crush the Junta, Ian Downey is Famous, DvsC, Ada le O, The Years) and Joe Tunis (Joe+N, Crush the Junta, Tuurd, SQ, DvsC, Ada le O, formerly of Hilkka and Pengo). other instrumentation includes heavy synth, droney melodica and homemade pipe chimes. co-released by Phantom Limb Recordings. [packaged in a heavy vinyl sleeve with pro-printed card-stock cover] Reviews (2): Foxy Digitalis Entente Cordiale is a three-piece unit whose work revolves mainly around string drone. “The Recognition of Common Interests” is their third full length offering, as well as there most accomplished and satisfying work to date. Starting off with “an understanding is met” the trio create a wonderful space that merges pure simple melodic beauty with dissonance in such an elegant manner that one almost always wants to begin the album over again as soon as the track comes to completion with its final trails of drifting smoke. When one is finally placated enough, for the time being, with the strange beauty of the first track and decides to move onward, one is greeted with a complex array of deep drones, heavy slow-ass riffs, odd repeated and shifting noises, and enough space augmented with the correct use of silence to keep the air filled with an almost uncomfortable and engaging tension. This music of Entente Cordiale is complex and deeply satisfying on many levels. These three players are really expert at creating and manipulating sounds and their interaction with one another displays that they really no how to listen to one another as well. 9/10 - Cory Card Crucial Blast Rochester free-rockers Entente Cordiale return with their first "real" CD after a couple of CD-R releases that were well received over here at Crucial Blast HQ. Exploring themes of alliance and collaboration, Entente Cordiale (named after a historical agreement created between the English and the French at the dawn of the 20th century) craft a nearly 50-minute jam that while broken up into seperate tracks, seems to flow together as one huge organic piece. At first, this feels like the quieter side of members Joe Tunis and Chris Reeg, whose other band Crush The Junta just came out with a hefty new CD-R of improvised free-rock sludge that buried me beneath a heavy blanket of distorted goop. Here they are joined by Will Veeder (also of Hinkley, Torpedoes, and Muler), and the first track, "An UNderstanding Is Met", is a fragile, drifting tangle of folky guitar strum and clanging pipe chimes, almost like the Dead C lazily playing on the backporch of some country farm, idyllic and folky and dreamy. But when the second track "Roots" emerges, the guitars take on a darker hue, the strings suddenly detuning and coiling up like serpents, scraping fretboard growls sliding across the neck of the guitars, fluttering heavy synthesizer electronics buzzing ominously beneath Entente Cordiale's deformed blues licks and buzzing amplifiers. The following tracks continue in a similiar vein, sparse guitar lines repeated ad infinitum over buzzing synths and droning melodica, distorted mangled riffage clawing it's way through clouds of thick feedback, quietly pretty passages of amp hum and simple strummed chords, occasionally dipping into pools of Earth-y guitar rumble and raucous skree. It's the last five minutes of the album, however, on the last track "How Long Can It Hold", where the band cuts loose and whips up a scorching tempest of noisy guitar racket and reverberating speaker float. While not as "heavy" as their previous CD-Rs, The Recognition Of Common Interests still occupies that hazy realm between Iversen/Bjerga's trippy guitar-based improv, The Dead C at their most formless, and occasionally, the deep rumble of Earth's 2. Simple but effective packaging in a heavy mylar sleeve that holds the disc in a professionally printed card sleeve.

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  Artist/Title: Entente Cordiale - 100 yrs 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR102 a little over 34min of triple-guitar damage and drone. 2 tracks. not too far from their first release, 1904, at first. but the second track, ends with a crushing 10+min drone and dual-drummer action. even took us by surprise ; ) [original covers were hand-silkscreened, edition of 102. 2 color print job. about 30 of them are silver and gold, while the rest are silver and dark blue, on heavy watercolor paper (textured). re-release is a simple color-printed cover. folded into a plastic sleeve.] Reviews (1): Crucial Blast More formless, heavy amp-drone jams from the Rochester-based group Entente Cordiale. 100 yrs is made up of two long, untitled tracks...the first features a gradually building storm of shambling free-guitar-noise, lots of mangled, howling feedback, and loud vibratory drones emitting from the amplifiers. The second track works up some great, shimmery feedback textures into almost My Bloody Valentine style blobs of wobbly, melodic pink noise before lumbering into a crushing horizontal dirge with two drummers pounding away under waves of amplifier chant. I love it when formless guitar noise and feedback rock creeps into that sugary territory between mid-90's Skullflower and MBV's Loveless, and this track delivers. Loud, lo-fi, melted drone-rock with three guitars that draws from the whole amp sludge/Skullflower/Earth 2 legacy...I can never get enough of this stuff. 34 minutes of pure guitar damage. Comes packaged in a heavy watercolor paper sleeve with blue and silver artwork screenprinted onto it.

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  Artist/Title: Entente Cordiale - 1904 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR80 a 22+ minute experiment in guitar drones, swells and even some melodies. 3 guitars, multiple (distortion) pedals and some very loud amps. think Gate, Earth, Vibracathedral Orchestra, etc. Reviews (3): Crucial Blast This single-track, 23 minute disc contains some excellent, gluey, guitar-based improvised drones that sort of bridge the gap between Earth 2 and the celestial sludgy krautrock of SKULLFLOWER's Orange Canyon Mind, with thick rumbling feedback dripping slowly over swells of repetitious chords and peals of strangled guitar strings. ENTENTE CORDIALE rarely employ any actual melodies in this recording, but those that do appear, surface only momentarily before they are dragged back down beneath the mighty amplifier hum. The Rochester, NY based group uses 3 guitars and an army of distortion pedals to erect 1904, and it's a solid monument of amp worship along the lines of early EARTH, VIBRACATHEDRRAL ORCHESTRA, FULCI, and SKULLFLOWER. The unmarked disc is packaged in a minimal but nice looking cardstock wallet in a resealable plastic sleeve. Modisti [ Entente Cordiale - 1904 CDR ] A collective approach to the development of extended drone textures created by means of electric guitars. Featuring a dense flow of pulsating, transparent veils, the superimposition of overtones and processed fabrics creates a complex dome of continuous noise. The vault’s nerves become increasingly close, layers getting thicker, their continuous character contributing to add to the density of the whole although the careful process of addition unfolds according to a calculated plan. The immediate reminiscences of the materials –such as harshness and protest- are here counterbalanced by the extreme subtlety with which the sounds are handled. More importantly, they subtly hint at the fragility beneath the complex veil of abstract noise, which simultaneously states an almost trance-like recurrence of rhythmic statements of collective celebration/cry. Foxy Digitalis 1904. 100 years ago. I can't imagine anyone back then thought the advancements in music technology that have happened in that time would have ever been possible. Entente Cordiale are another new addition to the fantastic Carbon imprint. This short release contains only one track that clocks in at just under 23 minutes. From what I can tell, there is nothing here other than two, distorted, improvised guitar tracks. It's simple, but there is still a lot happening. There are some other minimal effects as well like reverb (and possibly some subtle tremolo), but they aren't very important. What makes this release good is how the guitars play off each other so well. Because of this, the track is dense, sucking in all the sounds of the space in which it was recorded. Each takes its turn at the forefront as well. While one will play something more melodic, perhaps higher on the fretboard, the other will continue laying down thick layers of distorted goop below. Keeping this low-end constant allows the track to sound more full. I feel like this is one, really short moment stretched into 20 minutes. It unfolds so slow that, at times, it feels like it's not unfolding at all. It's like you're just sitting there having your ear drums massaged by sound. Like I said, it's simple, but in that simplicity is something quite beautiful. As a short debut, Entente Cordiale definitely have my attention. I can't wait to see where they go next. - Brad Rose

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  Artist/Title: Finkbeiner - lucky scorpion 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR11 Scarey outsider freak stays up for 48 hours straight and concocts a demented classic. Kinda sounds like John Fahey at the end of a week long Alcohol and prescription pill binge. This record is not recommended for small children or anyone recovering from acute psychosis.

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  Artist/Title: Finkbeiner - the challenge 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR16 Completely damaged outsider strum and wank. Seriously overamped, distorted and making no apologies. If every young aspiring guitar player had to listen to this record instead of overdone crap like Joe Satriani, the world would truly be a better place. Finkbeiner‘s guitar abuse is in the similar realm as Rudolph Gray, Alan Licht and Kenji Hano. All of those guys should be on the cover of Guitar Player Magazine. And in a perfect world they would be. Also, all beer would be free. "Can you face the Challenge?"

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  Artist/Title: Finkbeiner - washed up 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR19 Deconstructed instrumental pop songs and expansive higher key head benders. "You‘ve got yr chocolate in my ratweed!" this is the first finkbeiner recording of non-solo material. here, he‘s joined by c.dugan on bells, and also backed up by his bandmates charles and jona on a couple of the songs.

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  Artist/Title: Flywheel - s/t 4 Format: 7inch Label: Carbon Records Price: $3 Catalog ID: CR02 Flywheel is a catchy 3-piece pop band. The band consists of 2 girls on guitar and drums, and an ever-changing male lineup on bass.

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  Artist/Title: Hilkka - i can‘t hear my teevee! (early material) 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR67 a collection of very early recordings from Hilkka. includes some alternate recordings of previously released tracks, unreleased studio recordings, live tracks, as well as recordings from the very first rehearsal, and some collage re-works. a mix between math-rock and noise-textures. it‘s a mess! [packaged in a clear jewel case with a transparent tray card (liner notes), along with metal screen material in the tray.]

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  Artist/Title: Hilkka - beautiful bare feet 4 Format: 7inch Label: Carbon Records Price: $3 Catalog ID: CR07 This is the third single by Hilkka, Rochester‘s answer to Chicago loud hard rock. This single shows the band‘s growth in song structures and catchy rhythms.

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  Artist/Title: Hilkka - escalation/objective 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR23 What you‘ve got here is 14 tracks of post-Slint tuneage that‘s sure to get the backpack slinging crowds‘ glasses in a fog. With e/o, a perfect balance between monstrous crushing riffs and delicate pop hooks is achieved in a flawless manner. While Hilkka‘s patented claustrophobia inducing riffs are present in abundance on this release, the playing is a little looser and more open. This gives songs like "Sad Song‘s Say So Much" and "I Go Dental" room to breath and a way out of the over crowded ghetto called "Indie Rock Circa 2000". This release also establishes Hilkka as true craftsmen in the song writing field. You can tell these songs took time to compose. Face it kid, these three large men from Rochester New York show a range and depth both emotionally and cerebrally in their music that makes yr popular Midwest Emo of the month heros sound like the baggy pants wearing pussies that they really are.

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  Artist/Title: Hilkka - the beautiful aesthetician 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR17 the first full length hilkka release since 1995. some math, some improv, some angles, some heaviness, some pop? "...off kilter, cyclical rhythms...electronics-laden groove or heading for headier pasture..."

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  Artist/Title: Hilkka / Lift - in cooperation with gravity 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR03 Split release featuring short lived Rochester band Lift and Carbon Records stalwarts Hilkka. Can you really live without owning a CD that has songs with such great titles as Crackie, Bag of Dildoes, Cocksucker, 40lb. Bag of Shit and Blood Bath at the House of Death??? "Stop it!!! Your crushing me!!!!!!"

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  Artist/Title: Hinkley - Heaven is High 8 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR190 This is the tenth release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. 14 tracks from Will Veeder and company. Hinkley is a departure from the usual Carbon improv/abstract/noise/etc releases, but if you're into song writing, and really great rock, sometimes country-ish, sometimes poppy, songs, then this is your bag. [packaged with pro-printed covers in a heavy duty vinyl sleeve] [Digital Download comes with a PDF of the artwork and liner notes]

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  Artist/Title: Hinkley - Elephant Roundup 6 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR176 this is somewhat of a live record. recorded during a Dec 2007 show in Rochester NY. Hinkley then added some overdubs (more guitars, vocals, etc) and mixed and mastered it during the spring/summer of 2008 to arrive at this final product. Elephant Roundup is an incredibly strong representation of the "big band" form of Hinkley, complete with the usual guitars, bass, drums and vocals, but in addition, keyboards, misc percussion, violin, banjo, singing saw and baritone horn. the songs range from (alt) country to downer pop to full-on rock with a very strong emphasis, across the board, on song writing and meaningful (and usually story-telling) lyrics. [production CD housed in a heavy duty vinyl slip case with pro-printed full-color folded cover]

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  Artist/Title: Hinkley - estate sale 6 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR125 "In Spring of 2005 Hinkley started working on their latest CD, Estate Sale, with the help of Adam Lasus (Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, Clem Snide, Yo La Tengo). Recorded in both Brooklyn and Rochester, the mixing and production duties of the record were split between Adam and Hinkley (Adam mixing half the record remote in Los Angeles and Hinkley mixing the other half in Rochester). Each mix was carefully constructed and well though out, in some cases changes to the arrangement or instrumentation occurred after all the tracks were recorded and mixing was well underway. This approach gives the record a unique feel. Musically Estate Sale encompasses a wide variety of ideas weaving between country, 60's pop and indie-rock, while still grounded in the distinct sound that has given Hinkley its name." simply put, this is one of the best pop/rock records i've heard in quite some time, and hence, i was compelled to release this CD (joe). Reviews (4): Indie Pages Other than the Goo Goo Dolls (ugh....ok, when they first started out they actually had a kinda cool Ramones sound but what the hell happened ???) Rochester, NY ain’t known for much (and if it is, will someone please tell me ). Then along comes Hinkley....named after either the guy who shot Ronald Reagan (or Jim Hinkley the goofball I went to high school with – I’m guessing the former). The band is led by main guy Will Veedder and ESTATE SALE is full of the kind of melodic Americana that most bands written about in the pages of NO DEPRESSION would kill for. The record starts off with the gentle acoustic of “Hanging Tree” then dives right into the more rockin’/ melodic “Casino” and the record goes back and forth mixing the quieter, gentler tunes with more driving pop tunes. I think my favorite cut is the amazing “Ballerina” with the bouncy piano , jangly guitars and out of nowhere comes this killer blasting trumpet ( some nice trumpet work will always sell daggerboy on a song). Go on and open your door for Hinkley, they might be the best company you’ve ever had. - Dagger Miles of Music Estate Sale coolly exposes a wide variety of musical styles, all or which flow gracefully amongst each other while still maintaining a sound to identify as a band called Hinkley. The Rochester, NY group is fronted by songwriter Will Veeder. This surprisingly sublime collection of songs was recorded with the help of Adam Lasus (Clem Snide, Yo La Tengo). Languid alt. country tunes, with traditional strains, fuse into a kind of highly melodic bruised pop that suggests an appreciation for The Beatles and The Beach Boys. Consider an indie-rock ethos, (ala The Shins and Built To Spill) coupled with an eclectic core of Americana, and its easy to hear how comparisons to Sparklehorse and Wilco might arise. -- Robinson - Robinson Delusions of Adequacy On their third release and second full-length, the Rochester musicians in Hinkley offer a brilliant album of perfectly produced, stylistically diverse pop music that is sure to find widespread appreciation if given the opportunity. If every city has its band of hard-working artists who cause locals to scratch their heads over why the band hasn’t reached worldwide acclaim, Hinkley is Rochester’s act. Almost an all-star cast of local talent – now with singer/songwriter Gregory Paul on guitar and backing vocals – Hinkley has proved with stellar live shows and the release of Estate Sale that there’s no justice in musical popularity. Mixed in part by Adam Lasus (it-band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Yo La Tengo), Estate Sale shows the band’s penchant for diverse pop styles, adding melancholy country-tinged ballads to upbeat and insanely catchy pop songs. There’s hints of acts from Neutral Milk Hotel and Guided By Voices to Sparklehorse and Clem Snide, and what makes this album work is how well those styles mix. It doesn’t hurt that the five- or six-member line-up is present in each song, with stellar recording allowing even the most subtle of instrumentation to shine, while the focus still remains on frontman Will Veeder’s vocals and the band’s three-guitar approach. The album opens with the softly strummed country-tinged melancholy of “Hanging Tree,” featuring hints of keys and harmonica to back up Veeder’s emotive vocals and guitar. It leads into one of the band’s most memorably catchy songs, the surprisingly pretty for being so upbeat “Casino,” which bounces along happily along with backing vocals by Stacey Ackerman. From there, the album does a nice job of mixing the slower, more melancholy ballads and the upbeat, catchy pop songs. “Party on the Sun” is a pretty song, with gently picked guitars and a country-styled rhythm, while it’s followed by the can’t-get-it-out-of-your-head “Ballerina,” one of those toe-tapping, head-bobbing pop songs that stick with you for weeks. Local artist Darren Dewispelaere (Veluxe) adds trumpet to the mix for a nice touch. There’s a few timeless songs here that are sure to end up on some mix CDs. “Where the River Meets the Sea” feels like a timeless country/folk song given a more modern rock approach. “Mary Lincoln” is a pleasantly mid-tempo track, poppy but also nicely restrained and rich with deep bass, piano, and sweet backing vocals. Then you have the brilliantly up-beat and rocking “Build Me Something in the Sky,” filled with edgy guitars and a fast beat contrasted with a sweet chorus. It’s like a cross between Polyphonic Spree and Built to Spill, perhaps. The up-tempo “She Loves the Sun” takes a similar approach for perhaps the most rocking track on the album. And one of the album’s most memorable moments is the glorious “Horse of the Wood,” featuring gorgeous, booming drums, the album’s best vocals, and a deeply emotional feel. That being said, my favorite track here is “Memory in My Heart,” a staple of the band’s live shows, which is incredibly rich in sound and perhaps the band’s most catchy song yet. Even the “ooo-eee-ooo-eee-ooo” from backing vocals feels fitting to this sweet and bouncy pop song, which has surprisingly edgy guitars for being so poppy. Previous Hinkley releases and incredible live shows convinced me that Estate Sale couldn’t live up to my expectations. I was wrong. This album has been on near constant rotation in my collection, and each listen gives me a new favorite song to hit replay or move into a new playlist. The band spent more than a year working on this release, and it’s evident in the recording quality, the tracking, and the perfect songwriting. This one’s sure to hold a high spot on my best-of lists for 2006, and I couldn’t recommend it any higher. - Jeff Marsh City Newspaper With the familiar, downtempo strum-strum-strum that opens Estate Sale, it appears as if Hinkley leader and principle songwriter Will Veeder is about to lead the band down the same melancholy path it explored with such lustrous results on the band’s 2004 release, Frail and Poker Faced. Anyone familiar with Veeder’s previous work in Hinkley and the now-defunct Muler can attest to Veeder’s unparalleled gift for wresting beauty from sadness. This time, as if sensing that lightning might not strike in the same spot twice, Veeder devotes about half the album to Muler-styled upbeat pop. The band --- a veritable all-star lineup of local talent --- switches gears between trademark Hinkley Americana and British mod rock with rubbery grace. One piece even delves into abstract jazz in a loose jam that nonetheless demonstrates the band’s cohesion. Honorable mentions go to recurring guests Stacey Ackerman on vocals and Darren Dewispelaere on trumpet. - Saby Reyes-Kulkarni

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  Artist/Title: Hinkley - listening for the breathing 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $3 Catalog ID: MP3.04 some great intelligent pop songs by some former members of Muler. [pre-assembled version of MP3.Series release, which is also free to download]

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  Artist/Title: Howard Stelzer and the Cherry Point - Gross 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR89 10YR.Series.09 - the ninth in the Carbon 10 year anniversary CDR series. 46+ minutes of bi-costal, brutal, tape/electronic fabric. full, and right on!

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  Artist/Title: Irene Moon ++ - Triffles and True Trifles 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR181 This is the third release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. This is an amazing collection of various projects of Irene Moon, including Auk Theatre, Darker Florida, Collection of Late Howell Bend and solo Irene. Performance art/installations, meets science/entomology, meets weirdo noise-scapes. check out www.begoniasociety.org for more information on each group. [packaged with a full-color pro-printed folded card in a heavy duty vinyl sleeve] [Digital Download comes with a PDF of the artwork and liner notes]

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  Artist/Title: Joe Sorriero - time and time takes two 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR72 20+ min piece on guitar, manipulated through a homemade oscillator/filter with signature Scrappy Joe vocal wanderings. Some may know Joe from his full-time gig in Nod (Smells Like Records).

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - 6:55 now its 6:56 9 Format: CASS Label: Carbon Records Price: $5 Catalog ID: CR201 C-45, with each side containing the same material. Improv acoustic guitar and vocals songs, overdubbed with synth, electric guitar, and other sources. Cover is recycled wooden board with cassette attached with rubber band. Each cover is unique.

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - live at christchurch 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR81 10YR.Series.01 - the first in the Carbon 10 year anniversary CDR series. this is recording from a show at Christ Church in Rochester NY, which features Joe on solo guitar and later, feedback and piano. 17+min. [full-color cover in vinyl sleeve] - NOTE: check out the 10YR.Series page(http://www.carbonrecords.com/10yr_series/) for more info. Reviews (1): Foxy Digitalis Joe + N is Joe Tunis, the mastermind behind Carbon Records and the 10YR Series. This is, as the title states, a live recording at Christchurch. Here Joe serves up a gorgeous slice of resonating solo guitar that rings out and basks the audience in a warm, misty glow. The guitar continues to ascend into the highest reaches of the atmosphere, like a stream of smoke rising and then dispersing into thin air. This reverb-treated guitar passage is maintained until it begins to decompose and then gradually expands and progresses into a much more shadowy, heavy, piano-trodden piece. If the first reverb-led half covered the listener in a warm glow, then this is the cold, stark, solitary aftermath. It increasingly detaches itself from the original body, and embarks on a journey into the ominous unknown. Now becoming much more assertive, a high pitched ringing builds in strength, and the scattered piano keys develop into a thunderous pattern. From here, it turns into something much more sinister and destructive; the ringing drone growing louder and more dominant, then collapses under its own chaotic confusion. This slow recording ends up falling to pieces, but the perverse beauty still shines through the rubble. - James Clarke

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - oneyear 8 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR166 4 live pieces, spanning the course of one exact year. solo guitar, in the style of Loren Connors/etc, with the addition of some melodica, looping, vocals and more. [packaged in a heavy vinyl sleeve, with a full-color pro-printed cover and sprayed and stamped back cover. cdr is sprayed and splattered]

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - leaves fall 8 Format: 3inch CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $6 Catalog ID: CR163 nearly 17min of solo electric guitar. three, almost equal length pieces. the middle, lighter one, is sandwiched in between two slabs of thick heavy guitar throb, ala Alasehir/Alumbrados, [3" CDR affixed to a 5" square piece of 1/4" plywood with twine. the plywood is sprayed and stenciled on one side. disc is also sprayed/splattered] limited to 25!!!

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - Day-Tours 2005/2006 - the best part of today was it wasn't yesterday 10 Format: 3CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $15 Catalog ID: CR96 this is a BOXSET containing 2 audio CDRs and 1 video DVDR. material culled from the 2005 and 2006 Joe+N Day-Tours. each of the audio discs contains 3 tracks around 20min long. the DVDR contains 7 videos, also each roughly 20min in length. [packaged in a 5" x 7" x 1" kraft box, each with a unique color image transfered onto the cover, along with spray paint, and each package comes with some variety of Day-Tour postcards, including this year's (2007). limited to 50 copies!!!]

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - introducing something to the system 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR39_reissue Reissue of the long out of print release by Joe+N. in the original edition, each copy came in kraft envelope with unique artwork and hand numbered. this reissue is a scanned photo from my favorite copy (and also my personal copy). full color cardstock in heavy-duty vinyl sleeve. 5 tracks of field recordings and ultra-harsh electronics. no instruments were used on this recording. constructed entirely using a portable MiniDisc recorder, contact mics, Behringer mixer and patch cords.

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - Neither Painting Nor Sculpture - TSHIRT (YELLOW) 8 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR146_YELLOW (mustard) yellow tshirt. very limited quantities. released in coordinatioin with the Joe+N art show at A|V (Dec 2006) and release of the Neither Painting Nor Sculpture CDR release.

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - Neither Painting Nor Sculpture - TSHIRT (GRAY) 8 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR146_GRAY gray tshirt. very limited quantities. released in coordinatioin with the Joe+N art show at A|V (Dec 2006) and release of the Neither Painting Nor Sculpture CDR release.

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - Neither Painting Nor Sculpture 8 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR140 same name as a previous harddrive release, which had the same original inspiration, this is the audio portion of a Joe+N art show (of the same name) at A|V in Dec 2006. the show consisted of 6+ pieces, and the audio consisted of 6 companion pieces. each building from the one before. mostly heavy drone guitar. dense, from simple to complex. [packaged in a 5x7 full color heavy cover with sprayed CDRs] Reviews (2): Modisti (Joe+N - Neither Painting Nor Sculpture - CR145) Vast textural surfaces of abstract (sonic) materials unfurl upon large format canvases. Concerned with continuity and dimension, the actual sound sources have a secondary relevance, thus simply featuring a rusty red distorted electric guitar wall of sound. As we advance in time, the pieces begin to include a more complex, difficult aspect pointing at the progression –from construction to destruction- proposed in the visual work the sound pieces accompanied. Foxy Digitalis These are sound recordings designed to accompany guitarist (and Carbon mogul) Joe+N ’s first installation of visual art. The idea with both music and art is to show process, stages of destruction and creation, points at which, while not a final piece of “art” art is present as is in the state of being constructed. Too theoretical? Not really, if you can picture the frame of a painting hung on a wall with not picture inside. Just by hanging that frame, to decide on its place on the wall, it becomes art, in the sense that the beauty and use of anything becomes deeper and more varied when isolated and contemplated. Here, joe+n’s music is a kind of example of the visual pieces, in construction. We can’t see the art, and yet we know that the music we are listening to is an accompaniment to art; the listener is constructing the installation for herself, given the involvement being only auditory. This in effect includes the listener into the process of creating the installation; all that is left is to see the visuals, and the music is the door into that. 7/10 - Mike Wood

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - lock32 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR12 a release inspired by the cyclical patterns of lock32 on the Erie Canal System. Joe+4 is Joe Tunis of Hilkka‘s solo joint. Covering mostly ambient and stark trajectories with guitar, static, found sounds and lots of effects. This release conjures up a brooding and unnerving atmosphere. Some tracks might bring to mind Jandek or Loren Mazzacane Connors at their most lonesome and desolate. The original edition came in deluxe hand made packaging incorporating actual pebbles from the Erie Canal. A compelling listen.

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - 35 trips around the sun 4 Format: 3inch CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $6 Catalog ID: CR127 heavy-ass guitar piece, powering this hunk of rock around the sun, far too many/few times. sludging, burning up amp noise, with a glimmer of hope cutting thru the heavy dark matter. [comes with unique hand-painted covers by joe, cara and ella]

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - Day-Tour 2004 MP3 CDR - full-recording 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: cr107_cdr This is the MP3 CDR version of the HDD release. aday-long recording of he Joe+N 2004 Day-Tour. on June 26, 2004, i performed the fifth-annual day-tour in and around Rochester NY. the day-tour included 9 shows, each consisting of a 20-30 minute set performed from the back of my jeep (or thereabouts), starting at 11am and one occurring every hour, on the hour. i recorded the entire day on both audio (with various devices) and video devices. what is contained in this recording is a (barely) uninterrupted recording straight to VHS (audio only) from my mixing board. i used a VCR to record the full-day audio, due to the length of tapes that are available. various inputs were plugged into the mixing board throughout the day, including guitar, contact mics (for various non-electric instruments), pzm mic, vocal/air mic, etc. on a couple occasions, i performed away from my truck, so i had to turn off the engine and lock it up, "losing" the recording. these locations include the All-Purpose Room, Court Street Bridge and Washington Grove Park. these sets were recorded using a digital video camera and are/will be available on other Day-Tour 2004 related releases. [comes sealed in a white cd mailer with color sticker artwork.]

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - day-tour 2004 4 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CRT_DAYTOUR 3-color design (red, white and black) on solid grey shirt in the NYC subway series style, with a full route map of the 2004 Day-Tour on the back.

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - Day-Tour 2003 4 Format: DVDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $12 Catalog ID: CR95 This DVD-R release contains all the performance footage from the 2003 Joe+N Day-Tour. 9 performances in all. NOTE: this is a DVD-R, not a production manufactured DVD. similar to CDRs, they are burned on a computer, and like CDRs in their infancy, some DVD players do not support this disc format. Please see the Carbon.DVDRSeries page for more details, how to get info on your player, etc. Most players manufactured in the past year support this and other formats.

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - receipts and belt loops 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR77 i put on a coat i haven‘t worn in a while. and in a pocket i guess i haven‘t used in a longer while, i discover a receipt (for food, i believe). almost from 10 years ago to the date. it got me thinking about how quickly time passes, and how fragments can pull us back, mentally, to a previous time, place (physical and mental). a smell, a sound, a feeling. pretty neat stuff. the backdrop of this recording consists of an uneditted walk in the neighborhood right around sunset. at the beginning, you‘ll hear cicadas singing out loud. as the recording goes on, the sound slowly (almost imperceivably) transforms into crickets singing. somewhat showing the transformation of time without perception. there are overdubbed guitar pieces on occasion, showcasing nothing in particular (well, maybe something having to do with events that stand out, etc).

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - video works vol 1. (2002-2003) 4 Format: DVDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $12 Catalog ID: CR78 over 90 minutes of experimental video. this is a collection of 4 video pieces i‘ve created over the past 2 years for various purposes (shows, installations, etc). all contain the accompanying audio from the debut showing/using of the video, 3 are joe+n peformances and 1 is by chad oliveiri. NOTE: this is a DVD-R, not a production manufactured DVD. similar to CDRs, they are burned on a computer, and like CDRs in their infancy, some DVD players do not support this disc format. Please see the Carbon.DVDRSeries page for more details, how to get info on your player, etc. Most players manufactured in the past year support this and other formats.

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - cycles 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $3 Catalog ID: MP3.01 running, birds, cicadas, cars, walking, birds, cicadas, cars... [pre-assembled version of MP3.Series release, which is also free to download]

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - experiments for ella 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $3 Catalog ID: MP3.02 collection of piano and acoutic guitar experiments for my infant daughter ella. [pre-assembled version of MP3.Series release, which is also free to download]

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - like the back of my hand 4 Format: 3inch CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $5 Catalog ID: CR60 "constructed from the sounds of test-tone cds and contact mics placed in various places on the cd player which played them. in addition, a contact mic was inserted into my mouth while i proceeded to narrate the accompanying video of my all-too-familiar drive from my home town of Scranton, PA to my current residence in Rochester, NY." recorded live at the &ltinit.one&gt event held at Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester NY on January 19, 2002. this is the third in a series of releases from that event. [3" mini-CDR in mini-jewel case with color insert. edition of 23]

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - oil leaks and cicadas 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR63 from the liner notes... "82 billion photographs are taken every year on earth. School portraits, remarkable sunsets, birthday parties, catastrophic weather phenomena, and your girlfriend in her underwear all evoke a desire to take a picture. The most popular subjects for photographs are typically vacations. People travel on their vacations and see new things and snap as many photos as they can. Regular people that is. This recording is not the result of regular people taking a vacation. It is an example of people who take sounds not pictures. They experience new things and resist the natural urge to let vision dominate the sensory landscape, and instead choose to listen to the new things. These new things are recorded, reproduced, concocted, orchestrated - choose your own word here - into music for you. " [unlimited CDR version of out of print 12" lathe cut]

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - e+e (live) 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR28 2 live recordings from the exposure and experience day long tour that occurred on May 27th of 2000. "the notion of "moving" sounds from one location to another. That is, recording environmental samples of one location, and replaying them at another location. Juxtaposing them in a way where the listener wouldn‘t necessarily realize the sounds were "foreign" to the specific location. In fact, the sounds could possibly be naturally heard at that location, but on this occasion, were being introduced to the [eco]system by an outside force..." [limited edition of 100, hand-packaged and numbered in DVD cases. Also includes booklet describing the "tour" with block-printed design on cover.]

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - exposure and experience 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR24 exposure & experience continues the path of Joe‘s sonic evolution in a logical manner: by basically snipping all ties to the grounded world of rock and blasting off into the nether regions of improv, experimental, collage, you name it. It‘s really difficult to make blanket comparisons, as Joe+N draws creative inspiration from such a wide range of sources (witness the disparate dedications Joe makes); it‘s probably fair to say that fans of the Dead C., the Flying Luttenbachers, R. Toral, Nurse with Wound, Labradford, Current93 and other artists on the fringes of sound would all find something to adore in here, as long as they weren‘t holding on to such preconceptions too tightly.

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - patterns+space 4 Format: 3inch CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $5 Catalog ID: CR44 miniCDR (3"), clocking in at 17+ minutes. contains field recordings of trains, space between trains, echos of trains and some guitar for good measure. an experiment in the (unintentional) patterns around us, day to day, and the spaces in-between. [limited edition of 75, each packaged in a mini jewel-case. 25 different images were used. numbered by design.]

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - post 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR29 a compilation of found tape experiments and field recordings from the past couple years. ranges from full-out drone guitar/reverb to underwater mic‘ing. [limited edition of 64, hand-packaged and numbered in recycled LP sleeves. Includes block-printed logo on cover and painted "vinyl art" inside (recycled LPs).]

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  Artist/Title: Joe+N - selector:AM or... 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR52 "during one of my thrift-store stops, while searching for reel-to-reel tapes and 8-track cassettes to use during the Joe+N day-tour back in the spring, i came across a Don Rickles 8-track cassette. i had to buy it. Finkbeiner is a huge fan. weeks later, i finally got around to dumping it to a format which was a little more current. i borrowed an 8-track deck from cara‘s mom. but shortly after inserting the tape, something went "wrong." i pressed the track-select button a couples times, thinking that would do the trick. i then realized the tape had stapped and was being unwound inside the deck.so i yanked it out and for some reason, switched the channel selector to AM. browsed the airwaves a little, and noticed that the device had a mind of it‘s own. interjecting harsh noise in the middle of talk-show babble. i figured i‘d document the setup visually, so i took some photos. the flash on the camera also affected the signal being played. almost like a phaser or flanger effect. after a couple shots, i decided to let it go. this is a document of that late night experiment." [hand-packaged in slip-cases with full-color artwork. edition of 75]

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  Artist/Title: John Charlton - Form Disruptor 8 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR165 this is quite the full-range package from John Charlton. from noise/texture guitar, to beat-driven and free, effect-laden noise rock blasts, to static transmissions from a visitor from another world/dimension. here to screw with us. "So I had this idea of this being who is sent throughout the galaxy as a Form Disruptor. He receives his orders from some distant civilization and carries them out with varying degrees of success to disrupt various forms in other civilizations for whatever reason. These songs represent transmissions we intercepted that which the Form Disruptor was sending back to his superiors. We have yet to decode them but we believe they are his reports on his completion of specific Form Disruption orders with regards to their effectiveness and suggestions for future action." - from John. [packaged in a heavy-duty vinyl sleeve with a pro-printed full-color cover. CDR is sprayed and splattered.]

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  Artist/Title: John Charlton - Walking the Red Road 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR147 This is John's first full-length on Carbon, with, i'm sure, more to come. former member/cohort of TenTon (now in Chicago), John lives in the Boston area and records all sorts of sounds, guitars, tibeten bowls, cymbals, strings, etc. he was featured on the Carbon 3CD compilation I Don't Think the Dirt Belongs to the Grass and won this praise from Keith Fullerton Whitman: "there’s something on here for everyone... and in fact you might end up, like myself, enjoying just about everything on this set, from the pieces by the names you know/trust to those by otherwise unknowns (for example; i didn’t know john charlton’s name, but his acoustic guitar/tibetan singing bowls/wine glasses piece on here ended up being one of my favorite pieces.)". This full length is a study in guitar, from repetitive/looping acoustic and clean electric with incidental backgrounds, to busy hammering/drumming/droning on an acoustic, to warbly electric mood (ala LMC), to full-on saturated noise/drone. to mirror KFW's comment, something for everyone. [packaged in heavy vinyl sleeve with handmade red and gold paper and spray-painted CD] Reviews (2): Foxy Digitalis Chicago area guitarist/sound artist John Charlton 's debut “Walking the Red Road,” is deep study into the very nature of the guitar; incorporating its past, present and potential future within a span of 40 minutes. The tracks range in style from delta blues numbers such as “Stephen Taukus Pharaoh,” and the opener “Flood” to more experimentally bent approaches to the instrument, as is the case with the track “Chelvdra” where he trends a similar path to Area C’s Eric Carlson or when the guitar is employed as a percussive instrument as on “Zhiishii.” The biggest shock is the albums closer, “The Montauk Project,” where your ears are suddenly engulfed in a dense swath of layered feedback and beautiful overtones invoking Michael Morley at his most ferocious. As Charlton veers through guitar styles on “Walking the Red Road,” he maintains an almost baffling amount of clarity, allowing his voice on the instrument to really ring through, no matter what style he is playing off of. Each track is imbued with an expansive amount of space and layering that resembles nothing more than walking down some desolate dusty road. Though he may at times tread similar territory to some of the Takoma revivalists, Charlton manages to create a very distinct and refreshing approach that sets him far beyond the same old finger-picking that this writer has heard way too much of lately. Hopefully we’ll hear from him again very soon. 9/10 -- Cory Card (22 August, 2007) - Cory Card Modisti [ John Charlton - Walking the Red Road CDR] Superimposed layers of acoustic guitar reminiscent of those extremely reverberant and static playing styles associated with vast plateaux, progressively lead to complex textures of increasingly processed sound. Departing from the original source and occasionally turning back, only to begin once more, the music is clearly influenced by rhythmical concerns, while subsequent developments include the use of a wider timbre palette and highlighted acoustic features. The use of processing greatly boosts the possibilities, clothing the instrumental with a nightmarish outlook and, at the same time, continuing to cling on to form which is by now almost inviable.

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  Artist/Title: John Charlton and Joe+N - opposite ends of 90 8 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR155 the third in the Joe+N collaboration series (the first two being with Antony Milton and Sindre Bjerga). this release consists of three tracks totally 32+ minutes, this is a long-distance collaboration between John Charlton and Joe+N (aka Joe Tunis, Carbon label man). the two traded tracks over 2007/2008, John started the recordings with his range of guitars, drones and percussion. Joe then overdubbed more guitars and vocals (though usually not vocal-sounding). [packaged in a heavy-duty vinyl sleeve with a pro-printed full-color cover. CDR is sprayed and splattered.]

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  Artist/Title: John Horner - s/t 8 Format: CASS Label: Carbon Records Price: $6 Catalog ID: CR207 2 sides, each around 12 minutes of heavy pummeling solo bass guitar excursions. [C24. limited edition of 51. Wood cut and stamped Stumptown press covers, with color copy inserts]

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  Artist/Title: Jungle Heart - nipple confusion 6 Format: CASS Label: Carbon Records Price: $6 Catalog ID: CR189 This is the thirteenth release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. a new collaboration between the members of SHED and TUMUL. 47+ minutes of beat-oriented, draaag influenced. low/sloooow vocals, dirty electronics, beats and loops and more. [packaged with spray/splattered/stamped cardboard cassette holder, pro-dup'd and printed cassettes and b&w poster sheet. ]

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  Artist/Title: Kelli Shay Hicks - Buck Again 6 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR144 “A needle in one arm and a bouquet in the otherâ€�. This is Kelli Shay's first full-length album. The thirteen tracks here were recorded in 2005 in Chicago with Butchy Fuego of Pit er Pat. Buck Again is not unlike Kelli's live performances in its sparseness, but each song flows into the other with the addition of ambient sounds that weave through an instrumentation consisting of little more than guitar, autoharp, violin, and voice. [Each package is unique-- hand-painted in gold and silkscreened in Nashville, Tennessee at Isle of Printing.] “She sounds like Strawberry Shortcake is coming to get meâ€�. Reviews (1): Foxy Digitalis “Bucked Again” is the first full-length from Kelli Shay Hicks, following last year’s three song ep, “Bucked.” Reviews for that disc inevitably focused on the fact that it was produced in a handful of remote locations by independent film maker Jem Cohen (also presumably the inspiration for the new album’s “Jem”).And while she stayed in one place to record “Bucked Again” the album has a wispish intransigence to it that suggests restlessness and a fear of decay. The packaging adds to the mystique. The disc comes housed in a die-cut cardboard case painted gold; there’s no indication at all of what’s inside. Song titles and credits are then printed on an enclosed single sheet of delicately translucent paper, giving the project an air of otherworldliness. Once inside, the hushed chamber music feel brings to mind the best solo work of Kristen Hersh (whose debut “Hips and Makers” once guided me safely through a treacherous Rocky Mountains snowstorm as cars all around me careened off the road). The instrumentation primarily consists of Hicks accompanying herself on acoustic guitar and autoharp. Hicks is certainly an inspired fingerpicker. Close your eyes during the brief instrumental “Andy” and it’s not hard to imagine you’re listening to something off a Jack Rose disc At the same time, though, there are subtle rhythmic touches that add immeasurably to the depth of sound. Listen to Rob Doran’s plucked bass notes as they move across “Go Away” and marvel at the way they emphasize the song’s themes of decaying romance. Lyrically, Hicks walks that fine line between the vague and the obtuse, seemingly addressing specific people with a sparse poetry. I’m particularly enchanted by “Hospital Song.” She sings: Don’t you let them look at you don’t get inside their cars once inside they try to marry you and by then you’ve gone to far volunteers from the hospital come to try to give you tests once inside the hospital on your test you do your best I’m not quite sure what she means, but I know exactly what she’s getting at, and the irresistible poignancy of the medical metaphor only adds even more weight. This is a disc for dark nights and quiet introspection. I look forward to further uncovering its haunting charms. 8/10 -- Scott Downing (7 August, 2007) - Scott Downing

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  Artist/Title: Kelli Shay Hicks - Bucked 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $5 Catalog ID: CR130 a great little EP from Kelli Shay Hicks, clocking in at just under 10min. 3 field recordings of Kelli Shay's amazingly delicate, but sharp, songs-- recorded by Jem Cohen in abandonded urban spaces off the hi-ways of upstate New York. "Kelli Hicks is well versed in the timeless. While her minimalist finger picking style, gentle voice, and wry lyrics recall the 'New Americana' movement, she’s not pretending. When you see her play, it becomes clear: This is Kelli Hicks’ music. Nothing else..." -- Chad Oliveiri, City Newspaper. "Kelli Hicks has a voice to break your heart. Her music is haunting and playful… I’m left quietly devastated." -Davey Rothbart, FOUND Magazine. [packaged in a chip-board folder with 2-color silk-screen artwork. co-release with Atone Records] - check out more info on Kelli - www.kellishayhicks.com Reviews (4): FOUND Magazine Kelli Shay Hicks has a voice to break your heart. Her music is haunting and playful... I’m left quietly devastated. - Davey Rothbart City Newspaper Kelli Hicks is well versed in the timeless. While her minimalist finger picking style, gentle voice, and wry lyrics recall the ‘New Americana’ movement, she’s not pretending. When you see her play, it becomes clear: This is Kelli Hicks’ music. Nothing else... Kelli Shay Hicks - Chad Oliveiri Foxy Digitalis Well, it’s not every three-song solo acoustic EP that comes in a package with these words on it: “Recorded by Jem Cohen.” But ‘tis true, Ms. Hicks was recorded by the famous indie filmmaker/F.O.F. (Friend of Fugazi) in what are described on her website as “abandoned urban spaces in upstate New York.” Hicks herself has also worked as a filmmaker and film preservationist at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY, so I guess that explains it, call me Encyclopedia Brown. Now based in Nashville, Hicks plays spare, folk-inspired music that dances around you, then sprints away before you can ask its name. Her lyrics are strange aphorisms: “Some other organ’s grafted where my heart’s supposed to go...Half of not’s still never, so there’s really no halfway.” It takes some effort to focus on them, too, thanks to the ambient noise that suffuses the EP. Hicks’ MySpace site features some more songs with more fleshed-out arrangements (including Hicks herself on the autoharp), and they provide an even better showcase for her oddly angled approach to songwriting. Kelli Shay Hicks - Sal Addays Athens Banner-Herald This is not the banal story of a doe-eyed Midwestern girl, with a big voice and three chords, who migrates to Nashville in search of Country and Western riches. Truth is singer-songwriter Kelli Shay Hicks, performing at Flicker Theatre on Monday, came to Tennessee for the movies. No, she's not looking for music-to-silver screen crossover success; she's a film preservationist."I came here for work," she says. "I take care of old film collections. It has brought me from Chicago, where I spent my college years, to upstate New York to Nashville. I play music wherever I go." Of course, being in a town with a musical reputation doesn't hurt."There's a lot going on in Nashville besides Music Row. I haven't been here long, but like anyplace, you can find a niche," she says, adding, "I play fiddle in a band called Mother's Best and sometimes we'll busk on the streets. It's a lot of fun." Hicks is on the road in support of the recently released "Bucked" (Carbon Records), a three-song EP recorded spontaneously and without pretense in "abandoned strip malls off the upstate New York highways on very simple equipment." The field recording, of sorts, was recorded by filmmaker Jem Cohen who has worked with musicians in the past; most notably R.E.M., Cat Power and Vic Chesnutt. It's no accident the man known for capturing artists on Super 8 or 16mm and the performer who preserves films collaborated to create a record that exudes a cinematic quality. "Bucked" is a record listeners can see.If the EP can not satiate your audio appetite, rest assured Hicks has plans to release a full-length, titled "Buck Again," as soon as a suitable record label can be found. An advance copy of the mastered mix reveals more of the ethereal sound Hicks can conjure with her sparse guitar, lilting voice and autoharp. - David Eduardo

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  Artist/Title: Lotus - 2.0 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR76 electro-dance madness from 2 computer nerds. Lotus is Mat Rademan (runs Breathmint) and MP Lockwood (aka RadioShock). co-released with Breathmint, Ren, Audiobot, Human Conduct, Little Mafia, Ignivomous, Roger Records, SNSE, Sunship and Yelpco.

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  Artist/Title: Luke Cincotta - every second / estimation 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR73 "the best cd you will ever listen to in your life. Better than pet sounds."

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  Artist/Title: Lunt - Fragments of free vol 1 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR103 46+ mins of some very emotional, blissful guitar work from Lunt aka Gilles Deles of Hitomi Recordings. in a similar vein as Loren Mazzacane Connors, Mick Harris (Dirty Three) and our own Andy Gilmore. "...improvised with one overdrive pedal and infinite delay..." "We cannot free our music from all constraints. Neither can we free ourselves from everything. But we can make music as free as we are."

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  Artist/Title: Marc Faris - DRONE-ON THIS; Or, Why the "New Minimalism" Is Underground Rock‘ 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR42 Among men, marc faris is a puppy. Drone-On This is a confluence of many musics, not just funk-tinged bluegrass like so much of the CDR.Series. Includes 3 "pop songs" (including an ill-advised cover of Lou Reed‘s "Satellite of Love"), 3 tracks of "free improv," 1 longer "piece," 43 tracks of digital silence and 1 "hidden bonus track" (entitled "Hidden Bonus Track"). The results are not as immediately compelling as, say, the recent output of Finkbeiner or what have you, but the attentive listener will find much to enjoy. Includes instructions for devising one‘s own track sequence to suit a variety of listening environments. [limited edition of 75, each packaged in a glossy white cd folder with a swatch of Thai paper attached to spine, and 4 double-sided postcard inserts with song descriptions. hand numbered]

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  Artist/Title: Midwich - 3 days in, 4 to go 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR61 30+ minutes of minimalistic electro-drone by this one-man machine from Leeds, UK. ù?? one of the men behind the amazing Fencing Flatworm label. [hand silk-screened covers in simple slip case, each one differently colored. limited edition of 75]

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  Artist/Title: Mike Shiflet - Xenakis Youth 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR82 10YR.Series.02 - the second in the Carbon 10 year anniversary CDR series.This is an AMAZING collection of tones, glitches and drones. Would fit perfectly on your shelf alongside releases from such labels as Mego, Touch, Raster-Noton, etc. I was blown away by this when i got the master CDR from Mike in the mail.

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  Artist/Title: Mike Shiflet and Ryan Jewell - Hysteresis 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR183 This is the fifth release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. 35+ minutes of controlled feedback, drone, silence, static, samples and acoustic/live improv. [packaged with silk-screened logo over a unique "sampled" page in a heavy duty vinyl sleeve] [Digital Download comes with a PDF of the artwork and liner notes]

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  Artist/Title: Ming - Versus the Great Satan 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR83 10YR.Series.03 - the third in the Carbon 10 year anniversary CDR series. the anonymous force of Ming, in the great battle for the hearts and minds of all beings everywhere, from the Great Satan. the battle rages on....

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  Artist/Title: Muler - Hope You Found a Home 15 Format: LP Label: Carbon Records Price: $15 Catalog ID: CR197 THIS LP COMES WITH A COUPON FOR FREE DOWNLOAD OF HIGH 320MBPS TRACKS After a 10 year hiatus, the boys (now men?) of Muler decided to get back together to document some lost (never recorded) gems and some brand new tunes. Recruiting a couple old friends, the 5 guys went into the studio and laid themselves out on these 10 tracks, blending the old with the new, and keeping it all fresh and lively. All proceeds from this record are being donated to The Grant Fund (www.thegrantfund.org). played and written by: David Baumgartner: vocals and guitar Sean Leahy: drums and vocals Daniel Smith: guitars and vocals Joe Tunis: bass, noise and vocals Will Veeder: guitar, piano and vocals with Kris Durso: guitar Nathan Montague: harmonica photographer: Jason Wilder model: Casey Daggett design/layout: Chris Reeg with Joe and Dave recorded and mixed at ACME Recording Company Rochester NY, in the Summer, Fall and Winter of 2010. engineered by Luke Yaeger. mixed by Luke and Muler. mastered by David Hurtgen we dedicate this record to Anna Nuuja, Jen Schoen and Grant Stone. All proceeds of this record are being donated to The Grant Fund. www.thegrantfund.com thanks.

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  Artist/Title: Muler - thrush 4 Format: 7inch Label: Carbon Records Price: $3 Catalog ID: CR04 Muler are a noisy pop 4-piece. Most songs are fast and catchy. They have recently released their first full length CD on Dedicated Records (distributed by BMG). They also have 3 other singles out and a couple tapes. The most recent 7" single release is on Deep Elm Records out of NYC, where they play frequently. Check out their full length, which was recorded by Adam "Red" Lasus..

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  Artist/Title: Muler - here comes nod 4 Format: 7inch Label: Carbon Records Price: $3 Catalog ID: CR15 here comes the second Carbon Records single by the best indie pop band in Upstate NY. the 7" single contains 2 tracks, here comes nod and ghost writer.

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  Artist/Title: Muler - motelbibleschool 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR18 their best recording yet. 6 songs of pop/rock magic. great song writing, great feeling. "i listened to that fucking thing about 50 times on the drive from NYC to Norfolk. i am totally astounded by this one, man. i can‘t figure out why they‘re so damned great at writing pop songs. every single song on there is totally amazing in its own way."

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  Artist/Title: Nicolas Felix Kauffman and Stefan Geoffrey Neville - OWL LOW 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR124 46+ minutes of acoustic guitar, bells, woodwinds, primitive percussion, patented Pumice-style buzzing guitar, organ/keyboard, drone-vocals and more from Stefan Neville (aka Pumice) and Nicolas Kauffman (part of Family Underground - Denmark) . recorded 2005 in a giant concrete room, this release is a fine companion to Stefan and Nicolas' other recordings on various other labels such as Last Visible Dog, Soft Abuse, Audiobot, Chocolate Monk, QBICO, Into the Lunar Night). [packaged in hand-silkscreened cardboard cover in various colors] Reviews (1): Foxy Digitalis Once again, New Zealand’s musical chameleon Stefan Neville (solo as Pumice, and a collaborator with what seems to be an entire musical microcosm) proves that he – quite literally – plays well with others. On “OWL LOW” he’s teamed up with Nicolas Kauffman, a member of Denmark’s Family Underground. FU specialize in creating thick, blackout-inducing, sky-high walls of extended, malleable drone. This recording was laid down live to Walkman in a large concrete room in Copenhagen in early 2005. Both Kauffman and Neville agree that the environment is the true star of the recording; the natural echo chamber was a vehicle, accentuating their drunken ‘cosmic delusions.’ Musically, “OWL LOW” resides more in Pumice territory than in the miasmic drone world of Family Underground, but there is definitely no clear captain of the ship. This is a true collaboration: the influences of both musicians are unmistakably reflected in the recording. The first track (the track names are all blank, perhaps an invitation for us to fill them in) features guitar, flute and bells and evokes an afternoon prayer session in an East Asian temple. The guitar is minimal at first, leaving vast spaces for the other instruments to occupy; gradually, the tempo increases and a mysterious percussion element provides a subtle rhythm. The guitar disappears entirely and the room fills with the clatter of numerous bells. Spectral voices groan out from a dark corner of a forgotten ruin, calling to us to join them in their agony. For some reason I find this music extremely comforting, as if I’m being wrapped snugly in a warm blanket. Perhaps it’s the raw nature of the recording, or the delicate simplicity of the song structures. Or perhaps it’s the echo effect created by the giant concrete room. Whatever it is, it makes the recording worthy of repeated spins on the CD player. The fourth track features some signature Pumice-style fuzzed out guitar scrapings overtop mournful organ tones. The music quickly swells into an amorphous bubble of high-pitched sonic madness that somehow dissolves into a lone hand drum keeping a steady beat. A persistent buzzing drone permeates the sixth and final track of “OWL LOW,” along with ringing bells and some murky unidentifiable percussive sounds. The latter half of the album is definitely noisier and more abstract than the first half. The CD-R comes encased in a silk-screened cardboard cover with a self-closing flap, and a paper envelope with the Carbon Records address stamped on it. I’ve been seeing more and more of these self-closing cardboard CD covers popping up lately, and I like the utilitarian design that they offer. The artwork calls to mind the photocopied cut-and-paste ‘zines of the eighties and nineties. “OWL LOW” is certainly a welcome addition to the lengthy discographies of these two prolific artists. Collaborative improvisations such as this one prove that the concept of synergy is in full force in this small world of ours. 8/10 -- (11 September, 2006) - Bryon Hayes

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  Artist/Title: Nuuj - plays sad songs for gurls 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR37 Disgustingly pretty multi-tracked instrumental guitar songs. In some ways a natural extension of his song writing for Hilkka, in other ways something entirely different. If Nuuj really thinks that your average girl would actually like these songs, then it‘s obvious why he‘s been such a success with the ladies. No matter how hard he tries to write pop songs, or how happy he actually is, all his songs come out in some sense sad. [limited edition of 75, packaged in standard jewel case with color insert and tray card]

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  Artist/Title: N�h - s/t 6 Format: 3inch CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $6 Catalog ID: CR158 duo of Larry J Patti (Foot and Mouth Disease) and Joe Tunis (Joe+N, Crush the Junta, Entente Cordiale, former-Pengo, etc), doing analog and electronic heavy/deep synth. [3" CDR housed in a LP cover, sprayed and stenciled. limited to 50 copies!]

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  Artist/Title: Opticsp - blocks 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR55 BLOCKS consists of feedback loops generated with analog equipment. Signals were generated with a synthesizer, combined through an effects processor which fed the signals back into itself. Also, recording signals for ADAT recorders were fed through a mixing board, processor and then back then back into itself therefore creating a loop. All of the sounds on this recording were generated in real time and were only manipulated to combine tones. There is no signal processing outside of the real time system. [hand-packaged in slip-cases with full color printouts on heavy yellowish-green cardstock. edition of 100]

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  Artist/Title: Pengo - Alchemy and Bullshit 8 Format: 2CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $12 Catalog ID: CR101 a double CDR document of Pengo's migration from a 3-piece out-spazz-noise group to 4-piece drone-psych-noise-rock group. recordings ranging from the 2001 Phi-Tour series, 2002 live and "studio" pieces (including a show with guests Dave Cross of Coffee, Ed Wilcox of Temple Bon Matin and Charles Leport of Hinkley/Finkbeiner/etc), thru pounding live 2003/2004 sets, much in the vein of current configuration. 2 black-bottom cdrs, glossy print insert, sealed in a 6"x8" silkscreened and spray painted chipboard mailer. Reviews (3): Volcanic Tongue Heaviest slab yet served from the gob of this Rochester-based unit, with two beautifully packaged CD-Rs that bridge the gulf between the early American hobbyist art/action goofs that defined the three-piece incarnation to the heavy psychedelic post-Airway gravity that the current world-beating quartet have been shovelling from their guts for the past few years. Recordings run from the 2001 Phi-Tour series through 2002 live and studio pieces (including guest spots from Dave Cross of Coffee and Ed Wilcox of Temple Of Bon Matin) and wild style tear-em-ups from 2003/2004. Pretty much the definitive set from these bozos, all sealed inside a 6”x 8” silkscreened and spray painted chipboard mailer. Recommended. - David Keenan Patchwork Collective PENGO MAN. 4 monsters from Rochester have got the art of mind fuckery down to a science. "Alchemy and Bullshit" is a 2 disc retro of sorts that complies their insanely hard to pin down style. I mean, its aloof in the sense that they have moved passed their 3 piece heavy drone unit that dawned the organ heavy "A Nervous Splendor" in 2001, to a 4 piece incarnation they've been working with as of late... This slab really does bring out the raddest sense of complete ambivalence in the most fun way possible. Heavy as shit, Harry Pussy like guitar work, bright eyed hysterical sax spurts, fast paced narcoleptic drumming, and over blown organ work is just the beginning. Similar instrumentation spans throughout both discs, but you're hard pressed to find congruence. The first track of disc one is a seamless jointing of what seems like six of seven live shows. Its all "covers" of a genre catch all. The Stooges, Rush, the Organization, Neil Young, and Negative Approach (if you think they were just mediocre hardcore, go back to bed shit stain). They rip apart the essential elements of each song to the barest, and slap on their own sound. It's repetitive, but totally insane. But its fun see. They take themselves out of the lame self important avenues of typical drone, and basically blend together 142 styles into one snot rocket of GROSS ROCK. Quotin' John Schoen from a Blastitude interview last year, he shows his love for Chilean schlock director Alejandro Jodorowsky. "(Jodorowsky) treads the same fine line between mystic and bullshitter..." That line is never defined with this band. It's psychedelic in the sense that it resists categorization. Released in December of 2005, you can still snag a copy of this at the Carbon Records website. 2 black-bottom CDRs, glossy print insert, sealed in a 6"x8" silkscreened and spray painted chipboard mailer is what you're going to be staring at. Keep it scummy. - Brock Kappers 200LBU Rochester's Pengo have carved out a truly unique spot for themselves in the past few years. Live, they can sometimes come off like some manic tribal ritual that would of taken place on the Spahn Ranch right before a creepy crawl. Their recorded output can be a confusing though fulfilling stew of found audio, grey noise clouds and ham fisted guitar wrenching that would send any strong blooded struggler for the Geritol in no time. This double disc set, entitled 'Alchemy and Bullshit', is made up of various live recordings done around their hometown a few years back and it showcases the various forms of dementia this unit is capable of. The first disc is a perfect soundtrack for a late night wander through old newspaper clippings and various forms of mildew found behind the toilet. The boys attempt to cover Blue Oyster Cult, Thin Lizzy, Negative Approach and Organization only to end up sounding like pygmies dropped off in the middle of Sunflower City with only a bamboo shoot and a paper thin guitar pick to fend with. The gem of this disc is the closing 'Official Genius' which meanders through much fog and steam to relieve itself in a way only Captain Beefheart or Ansley Dunbar would find fitting. How quaint. The second disc is made up of shorter pieces of subtle mud slapped guitar crap that'll have ya heavin' in no time. Swap a copy of your Hunger Artist 12" to the fine folks at the Carbon label and maybe they'll throw ya one - Tony Rettman

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  Artist/Title: Pengo - climbs the holy mountain 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR22 "a document of Pengo‘s 5th live performance ... The performance consisted of a live musical accompaniment to the first 31 minutes of Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s film The Holy Mountain. The first 31 minutes of The Holy Mountain are without dialog. This is the section of the film they chose to play along with. This portion of the film is also considerably less linear then the rest of the film. This perfectly suited Pengo‘s music making aesthetic. The only thing constant is continual change. There are recurring symbols in the film that pass by so fast that they are almost subliminal to the viewer." Reviews (5): La Folia The bizarre cover photos give no clue to the music genre, although first guess would be a cross between progrock and dark ambient. It begins with small instruments and percussion, almost like an Art Ensemble of Chicago performance from Paris 1968, and indeed it is a fine thirty-minute free improv performance in Rochester, NY, by Jason Finkbeiner, John Schoen, and Joe Tunis. - Steve Koenig Blastitude Ah, but what do Pengo sound like? On here, they come off as one of the more accomplished contemporary bands playing in that style I'll call The New Ominousness. Alot of noise/psych/improv artists play in this style. I think it mostly comes from AMM and MEV, which came from Webern and Stockhausen. On the rock side, it comes from the thousands of bands that have been influenced by the Doors, Velvets, Sonics, and Stooges. (The one-chord riff of The Doors' "The End" is sort of the ground zero for The New Ominousness.) Buddyhead Unfortunately, this one kind of went over my head... which is actually why I respect it. This album is pengo's fifth live performance, a performance accompanying the first 31 minutes of Alejandro Jodorowsky's film, "the Holy Mountain." Without the visuals in tact, it is somewhat difficult to really get a feel for this, or even enjoy it for that matter. me being a score composer dork, it starts to make more sense to me once the music reaches it's halfway point (and it's climax) at 15 minutes. i admire this and consider it to be art. but i honestly do not recommend it unless you are a severe film nerd or you meditate. - Kathleen Catastrophe Arthur Pengo are from upstate New York, and for some reason we usually think of them as being associated with a somewhat brutal form of post-industrial freeform noise-hunch and/or bass-heavy ass-rumblage. And yeah, they still do that, but on this new LP, A Nervous Splendor (Haoma Recordings) they visit all kindsa other space, as well. There's good avant-psych formulating, passages of free-jazz honk, answering machine messages, mock ethnological field recordings, and even semi-folk-swabbage in a vein that would appeal to fans of the Sun City Girls. That all these shenanigans emanate from inside a great cover design, swiped from the BYG Actuel series, is only icing on an already rich cake. - Byron Coley Nashville Scene Holy Mountain / Show Preview - Kinds of the Rochester NY noise scene -- larger kingdom than you might suppose -- this three-man ensemble most recently recorded a pulsing, clanging suite to accompany the wordless first 31 minutes of Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky's surreal odyssey The Holy Mountain. There's no word on whether the footage will accompany the group's show at Springwater, but without Jodorowsky's assaultive visuals of deformity and exploding frogs, the piece unfolds on CD as a sonic squall that swells, rages and recedes -- a recipe for a potentially mesmerizing live show. Adept at instruments ranging from zithers and amplified sheet metal to Tibetan prayer bowls, Pengo headline a five-band bill of electronic experimentation and drone-rock that includes one-man Toys R Us-noisemaker Radio Shock, Breathmint label chief Mat Rademan's band Newton and Nashville's own Tan As Fuck and Banjoland, both featuring former members of the New Faggot Cunts. (Oct 24, 2002) - Jim Ridley

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  Artist/Title: Phroq - Ueno Park Memories 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR105 an amazing composition of pure field recordings and heavy manipulations. recordings of Ueno Park in Tokyo Japan. recorded, composed, performed, deconstructed and cared for by Francisco Meirino. "But for me, Ueno Park is an amazing place where there is great mixture of sounds as various as foreign languages spoken by tourists, japanese spoken by people visiting the museums and having a relaxing time walking, the sounds from the zoo animals, and also from all the birds hidden in the trees. sounds from the road surrounding the park and from the homeless people who have formed a real small city made of cardboxes and blue plastic tents, hidden behind the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum."

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  Artist/Title: Placenta Popeye - black fever 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR159 31+ minutes from this french noise duo. deconstructed songs, similar to the DeadC with their guitar and vocal work sometimes low-key drone/tones, sometimes more aggressive and harsh. its all very good. (at least) 1/2 of the group runs the Tanzprocesz label (http://tanzprocesz.free.fr/). [packaged in Stumptown-Arigato package, sprayed and stenciled, multiple colors, with insert and sprayed and stenciled CDR]

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  Artist/Title: R. Scott Oliver - Someday technology may save me 15 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR171 the first solo release from Scott, also a member of Deciduous vs Conifer, Oliver/Reeg and part-time member of Autumn in Halifax. the sounds on this disc harken back to the early great days of the Kranky label, think Labradford, Magnog, Stars of the Lid, etc. but without sounding dated at all. this is current drone at its finest. [packaged in an amazing steel folder designed and assembled by Scott, who is a blacksmith by trade. a laser-cut pinwheel is riveted to the cover, over a matching laser-cut punch-out of the same design. the cd is affixed to a chipboard insert that slips out the top of the folder. you have to see/feel this!]

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  Artist/Title: Radio Shock/Shack - split 4 Format: 7inch Label: Carbon Records Price: $4 Catalog ID: CR58 co-released by Roger Records, Breathmint, Ignivomous and Sunship, this release includes a side of lo-fi electronics/noise and a side of one-man band driven rock/dance-party! packaged in a RadioShack-modified bag.

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  Artist/Title: Rash - The Weight of the World 16 Format: CASS Label: Carbon Records Price: $6 Catalog ID: CR202 The Weight of the World is the debut release from this duo consisting of Scott Oliver (Torus) and Patrick Doyle. Incredible heavy, yet intricate, guitar compositions, much in the same vein as early Earth and Gate. [Packaged in a handmade and charred wooden box. Includes a coupon for a free digital download, which includes 2 bonus tracks! Limited to 40 copies. C45]

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  Artist/Title: Rash / Bruise Halo - split 8 Format: CASS Label: Carbon Records Price: $6 Catalog ID: CR203 A split release from the heavy duo of Rash, consisting of Scott Oliver (Torus) and Patrick Doyle, and Bruise Halo (Joe Tunis from Tuurd, Tumul, Jungle Heart, Crush the Junta, formerly of Pengo). Two dueling sides of layered heaviness. Rash utilizing guitars to create a thick layered beauty (RIYL Earth, Gate, etc). Bruise Halo's side consists of a bass guitar centered piece, layered with distorted keyboard, effects pedals, and overblown vocals. [Packaged in a canvas bag with stamped titling. Includes a coupon for a free digital download. Limited to 35 copies. C45]

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  Artist/Title: Reeg + Tunis - ....shhh... this is for Derek Bailey 12 Format: 7inch Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR136 recorded in the days and weeks after Derek Bailey's death on xmas of 2005, the daughter/father duos of Ella and Joe Tunis and Ada and Chris Reeg, joined forces for this ultra-limited split lathe-cut release. Joe plays in Joe+N, Hilkka and used to be in Pengo. Chris plays in Blood and Bone Orchestra and Ian Downey is Famous. Together, they play in Crush the Junta, Entente Cordiale and Ada le O. the Tunis side is sparse acoustic guitar, vocals and running, while the Reeg side is overblown cymbals and keys. the duos also go together to create the covers. 3 seperate 2x4ft wood panels, painted, stamped, rubbed, scratched, sprayed, walked on, etc, and then cut into 7x7in squares. [7" lathe-cut. limited to 50 copies!!!!]

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  Artist/Title: Reynols - live in chicago 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR40 "REYNOLS started its activities in 1993 in Argentina. Since that date the work of the band has been basically oriented to improvisation, droning and deep experimental research, etc., employing diverse acoustic & electric instruments, tapes and electronics." This was recorded during theirȨÏM0 tour of North America. [limited edition of 500 in slimcase. first 100 packaged in silk-screened sewn cd "pocket".]

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  Artist/Title: Shafer/Tunis - drum improvisations 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR43 65+ minutes of drum and percussion experimentations. recorded with 2 mics, straight to a stereo mix, the duo utilized everything at their disposal, including 2 drum kits, tibeten prayer bowls, a mini-gong, brushes, sticks, a cello bow, cymbals, lighting fixtures, a thumb piano, bells, and even the walls themselves. moving from the repetitive chattering of rain, to the all-out intensity of crashing thunder, this recording has range. free and open... [limited edition of 75, each packaged in a slim jewel-case. hand numbered]

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  Artist/Title: SHED (aka Jungle Heart) - Street Ghost 6 Format: CASS Label: Carbon Records Price: $6 Catalog ID: CR188 This is the twelfth release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. 32+ minutes of sampled and live vocals, guitars, drones, cut-ups, dirge, textures, beats, throb, sourced-tape warble, and electronic wizardry. Note: this is the US based duo, not the European DJ guy. [packaged with spray/splattered/stamped cardboard cassette holder, pro-dup'd and printed cassettes and b&w poster sheet. ]

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  Artist/Title: Sheet - live at the bug jar 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR09 Amazing documentation of this one man power electronics tsunami. Giant walls of pure sound crash over each other to form a mesmerizing and frightening whole. Having witnessed this performance live myself, I can only say that I‘ve only seen a small handful of other performers polarize an audience‘s reaction so drastically. People were totally blissed out by the sound of Sheet while others were moved to violence. The set was actually terminated by direct threat of physical harm. Packaged in a spray painted and melted jewel case. An appropriate approximation of what yr eardrums will look like after wrapping them around this unholy cd.

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  Artist/Title: Sindre Bjerga and Joe+N - slow collapse / building nature 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR149 the second in the Joe+N collaboration series (the first being with Antony Milton. this release consists of six tracks totally 27+ minutes, this is a long-distance collaboration between Sindre Bjerga (Gold Soundz label man) and Joe+N (aka Joe Tunis, Carbon label man). the two traded tracks over 2006/2007, Sindre started the recordings with some heavy synth loops/drones/etc. Joe then overdubed various instruments (guitars, drums, field recordings), extending/looping the originals at times, to get them to a final state. [packaged in a heavy-duty vinyl sleeve with a transluscent red "dimple" cover, artwork beneath, and wrapped in a band of metallic foil tape.]

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  Artist/Title: Sindre Bjerga and Textured Bird Transmission - Temple of Transparent Wisdom 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR180 This is the second release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. Recorded in 2007 and 2009 in Stavanger Norway and Weymouth UK respectively, this is some dense heavy drones with the perfect balance of texture and movement. [packaged with a full-color pro-printed folded card in a heavy duty vinyl sleeve] [Digital Download comes with a PDF of the artwork and liner notes]

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  Artist/Title: Social Junk - Summer Concussion 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR179 This is the first release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. Documenting Social Junk's 2008 Summer Tour (with Big Nurse), this is a great collection of live drone/drum/out captures. Similar to the Dead C, but with their own unique rhythm and pace. [packaged with a full-color pro-printed folded card in a heavy duty vinyl sleeve] [Digital Download comes with a PDF of the artwork and liner notes]

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  Artist/Title: SQ - big leaves on a small tree - Black 4 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CRTSQ_BIGLEAVES_BLACK Black shortsleeve tshirts Black shirt with white ink. Front left pocket with (older) Carbon logo. Back includes SQ lake scene from "big leaves on small tree" release.

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  Artist/Title: sq - 06.29.00 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR35 35 minutes of free-improv swells, bursts and dialogues, recorded like at the Bug Jar (Rochester NY). accompanying the SQ duo were John Schoen (Pengo) on alto saxophone and r.nuuja (Sheet) on japanese noise making devices. [limited edition of 75, numbered and packaged in sealed kraft cardboard CD folders. must be torn to open.]

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  Artist/Title: sq - __moments imaginaires (8988) 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR26 SQ returns with a new long player guaranteed to rearrange the molecular structure of your eardrums. Macro and micro tones clash and fuse in a post-everything petri dish. Not content with just simply pulverizing their guitars and drums into atomized dust, the SQ gang preform post production autopsies on the raw tapes and concoct new vistas in damaged sound. Like that kid who always has green fluid dripping out of the corner of his mouth, this will fascinate and scare you at the same time. "Best of the year, so far." _Journal of Mutation Research (May 2000) Reviews (1): All About Jazz Straddling genres can be a difficult task. It's not difficult to make great music, mind you, but it can be very difficult to find an audience for that music. sq, aka Speed Queen, is an improvising duo. But instead of drawing from clear roots in the jazz or euro scene, the duo uses sound textures more common in noise and electronic bands. Interestingly, sq doesn't fall into many of those genre traps either. Credit Speed Queens Marc Faris and Joe Tunis for having the wits to come up with their own path. The eight tracks are varied, not at all programmatic, yet one can make narrative associations with many. Even their titles are atypical; jazzers tend to short titles, and the laptoppers seem to prefer abbreviations. The first track here is ":thank you k for space harmonics body hearING, NG, NGNGNG:" The percussion rattles, and speeds up like a train; then there's a switch, a shift. In a sense this is pure music: It's often difficult to tell which instruments are playing. John Cage would probably approve. Percussion and guitar, surely. Bowed bass? There are major shifts in dynamic range, then silences where you think the disc may have ended. Imagine Captain Beefheart's "Kandy Korn" or "Mirror Man" horn squawks, but with no rhythm track at all. - Steven H. Koenig

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  Artist/Title: sq - big leaves on a small tree 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR10 Six long investigations into improvised and composed density. Ranges from math/metal to sublime ambient droning. Fans of Gaster Del Sol, godHeadSilo, Slint and Spacemen 3 take note.

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  Artist/Title: sq - monosite 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR20 Two men effortlessly levitate two tons of pure sound. Open and out free rock that blisters and drones. Brings to mind the Dead C., A Handful of Dust and the Air Traffic Controllers. "I can‘t believe it‘s not Kiwi!"

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  Artist/Title: sq / quadrafacet - split 15 Format: LP Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR13 jam packed sides from each of the bands. speedQueen delivers a droney NZ-inspired collage of live recordings, while quadrafacet come up with 4 space-rock masterpieces ala Darla/SpaceAge/Kranky bands.

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  Artist/Title: Staplerfahrer - live at OT301 4 Format: 3inch CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $6 Catalog ID: CR132 microsonic transmissions from a small insect walking across a large plant, or a small being wandering across a large planet or a distant factory churning out goods. this release entices you to listen more and more closely to the sounds its exposing. [3" cdr in various mini cases/sleeves with full color insert, spray-painting, etc] Reviews (2): Modisti Liminal exploration of non-action, the by-products of electric rhythms, glitch noise and various interference noise resulting in a wholly horizontal attitude to listening where the microscopic is celebrated through acceptance and an unquestioning attitude towards the accidental. Foxy Digitalis First, a drone of static is faintly heard in the background. Then, layers of hisses and buzzes are sparingly added one after the other while a skeletal, chopped-up electronic beat barely detaches itself from this discreet mass of sound. And suddenly, there’s that annoying sound that cell phones make when an incoming call passes through the speakers... Yet, each time that noise resurfaces, it is carefully controlled like some sort of guitar feedback – the sound of modern life being transfigured, acting as much as a sound generator as a possible commentary on our most current means of (mis)communication. By the 6th minute, some distant/ muffled female vocals can be heard (via the cell phone), announcing the changes to come. From that moment onwards, a saturated motif gradually appears and becomes amplified to the point where it fills the entire acoustic space. As the skeletal beat re-enters the picture, the overall sound gets more and more intense and one feels compelled to give in to this surge of ecstatic ethereal noise. Towards the end of its course, this mini-industrial symphony decides to take on a more introspective side though. As more and more hisses are added/ subtracted/ stretched to their outer limits, the flow of sounds manages to turn your senses around – through a subtle use of “ghost” noises – just before ending on an abrupt, exhilarating note. As brief as it is intense, this intriguingly-packaged (paint-sprayed small-case) 3” CDR (courtesy of the always amazing Carbon Records) is highly recommended to all those who love to experience music as a continuously disturbed, yet ecstatic flow of sound. A true shot of sonic adrenalin and a hell of a great record to come out of blue/ into the void. 9/10 -- (27 December, 2006) - Francois Hubert

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  Artist/Title: Stone Baby - if English is good enough for jesus, then its good enough for me 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR185 This is the seventh release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. 40+ minutes of guitar, effects, violin, synth and vocals. textured drones, ghostly vocalizations, keyboard swells and progressions. this is quite a collection of tracks from this geographically challenged duo (WesternNY/US and Germany) [packaged with pro-printed covers in a heavy duty vinyl sleeve] [Digital Download comes with a PDF of the artwork and liner notes]

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  Artist/Title: Stone Baby - fully render(ed) /cloud/s 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR160 44+ minutes from this drone/creeper duo (Cory and Jen) from Rochester NY. guitars, violin, effects, dulcimer, homemade tape machine and more. really amazing layers of sounds from just two people. good sense and mixture of denseness and space. [packaged in a 5x7" kraft chipboard envelope, original cloud artwork from Cory, affixed with clear/thread-grid tape and sprayed/splattered, insert/notes and sprayed CDR]

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  Artist/Title: Stone Baby / Entente Cordiale - our lungs are bleeding, but we keep breathing 10 Format: 3inch 2CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR162 this is a split release, with each band contributing a 3" cdr worth of their form of drone, scrap and sometimes thump. [packaged in a kraft gift-box, with full-color pro-printed cover affixed (and also inserted), and tied off with 100% jute twine. cdrs are sprayed and stenciled] - first edition limited to 100 Reviews (2): Crucial Blast When it comes to delicate, beautifully constructed handmade CD-Rs of crazed improv-noise and droning, rumbling free-rock, the Carbon Records label out of Rochester is one of the coolest. We've been carrying their heavier titles for years and some of the more recent stuff that the label has been putting out (Entente Cordiale, Crush The Junta) has been really massive in a Dead C-on-steroids, buzzing amp-noise and spontaneous riff-mangle sort of way, and every one of these CDs and CD-Rs looks amazing. This split release is the latest from Carbon, a two-disc set that features a different 3" CD-R from the Rochester bands Entenete Cordiale and Stone Baby, and both of 'em deliver about twenty-some odd minutes of dark, shadowy free-sludge/psych/drone that hits the spot. The first disc is from the mysterious Stone Baby, who I'd never heard of before picking this up, but who craft these really dark and creepy free-drone ambient scrapescapes. Their twenty minute disc features the three-part "Silicosis Suite", which begins with echoing plucked strings of some sort looped over what sounds like a violin being slowly played and a dark expanse of shimmering ambience and distant, pulsing tympani-like thuds. The piece slowly becomes more detailed as creepy distorted voices, warbling electronic melodies and heavy, Earth-esque dronemetal guitars begin to appear, the latter being a slow rumbling cloud of looped amp-crunch that hovers over everything like a toxic thundercloud. Things become heavier and darker as moaning choral voices and some really depressing violin melodies rise to the surface, and the distorted guitar textures swell in volume, sometimes forming into a murky droning riff. The third and final part of the suite drops the distorted guitars and has processed violin weeping over waves of blackened droning drift. Imagine a doped-up Tony Conrad playing with doom-psych basement trogs Robedoor and yer almost there. Moving on to the Entente Cordiale disc, we get a single twenty two minute track called "96/89", an epic piece of dark free-drone-rock that starts off with softly rising swells of low-end feedback and a softly plucked melody, simple and pretty, played over and over. Droning bass notes and scraping guitar strings drift around as the playing slowly builds steam and the volume gradually rises, and as the melody and chords start to change, the sound moves from airy prettiness to darker shadows of buzzing bassy rumbling and droning strings that seem to slip in and out of tune. The sound melts and distends, turning sickly as all semblance of melody evaporates leaving only the nauseaous warbling feedback and atonal humming of guitar strings. But then it all transforms again in the last eight minutes when a simple tribal-type drumbeat enters and another melody appears, a basic, catchy indie rock hook on one of the guitars that kinda sounds like Sebadoh or something, played for a couple of minutes over the murky tom-tom beats and then swamped by waves of loud amplifier feedback and guitar noise. Definitely poppy by Entente Cordiale standards, but still in the vein of their dark Dead C brand of free-noise-rock jamming. Amazing packaging as always...this set comes packaged in a brown kraft gift box with full color artwork glued to the front, the two mildly spray-painted discs enclosed inside with an insert card, and tied together with a thick piece of twine. Limited to 100 copies. Ear Conditioned Nightmare Rochester's Carbon Records have been dropping weirdness from the north for a while now, and this double 3" is a killer format for showing off two like-minded wranglers of mind-fuckery in a concise and effective format. Stone Baby is a group that, I believe, includes Cory Card, though I'm not sure of or if there are any other members. The "Silicosis Suite" presented here in three parts, maintains the spooky, sterile vibes that both the track and the band name conjure. For those who don't know, a stone baby is the name given to some crazy process whereby a baby gets lodged in the wrong spot of a woman's body and essentially calcifies so as not to cause infection. Sometimes these things aren't found for forty years, which is definitely the kind of grueling, creepy, body invading spinal discomfort that Stone Baby bring to mind here. Really crisp metallic expanses here, with radio babble and guitar tinklings riding atop some deeply buried brain dead mumbles. Eventually the darkness overwhelms and you enter the howling monstrosity of the second movement, which manages to be as dense while still maintaining a kind of oxygenated undertow. The last movement culls more scraping metal with warped vocal bellows while guitar and endless echo trail along in gloomy desolation. Not exactly a finger snapper, which means a pretty complete realization of its own aesthetic. Entente Cordiale is another mystery group who lead down a similar path as Stone Baby does. A trio consisting of (if I'm reading it right...) Chris Reeg, Will Veeder and Joe Tunis, it sounds like a three guitar attack going on, though the restraint would suggest otherwise. Patiently ringing melodic fragments and textural billows, about forty percent of the sound they wrangle is each others feedback meshing and melting inward. Despite the apparent chilliness of the disposition on "96/89," there is actually quite a lot of warmth in these subtle interactions. Sudden changes are few, but they build themselves a sort of tactile sound world to bathe about in. Sometimes it gets bleaker, sometimes more muddied, and sometimes it is quite harsh, but the overall approach is one that favors interaction and listening to mental degeneration via guitar splaying. Even so, some pretty fucked levels of weird are apparent. Weird little package in one of those Michael's arts and crafts boxes with packaging fuzz and a nice pro-printed card. The twine (not pictured) really seals the deal on a wild split. - Henry Smith

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  Artist/Title: Stone Baby and Joe+N - destruction for appetite 8 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR168 the fourth in the Joe+N collaboration series (the first three being with Antony Milton, Sindre Bjerga and John Charlton). this release consists live in-person sessions (different from the other three which were all long-distance efforts). this is a mixture of dual guitar pieces as well as guitar and drums heavy drone/psych epics. [packaged in a heavy-duty vinyl sleeve with a pro-printed full-color cover. CDR is sprayed and splattered.] Reviews (1): Foxy Digitalis You have to applaud Carbon Records head Joe Tunis (aka Joe+N ) for always seeking out worthwhile collaboration partners. Previously working together with Anthony Milton, Sindre Bjerga and now Stone Baby, these pairings always turned out to be wonderful low-key treasures hiding out in the foggy lands between heavy psych and burning drone. “Destruction for Appetite” definately belongs to the heavy psych part of Tunis’ collaborations and don’t mistake the album’s title, and track titles for some kind of hardrock mockery here. These are serious psychedelic guitar burners and I trust these guys to never make a fool of one of the greatest heavy rock albums of all time. Right….guys? But back to the music, there’s three tracks, not counting the somewhat discordant, chaotic intro, all involving psychedelic guitar work outs and all basking in lo-fi feedback, “Mr Stone Brown” (hah) feels like a 16 minute long intro to the rest of the album. Slowly unfolding patterns surrounded by hushed feedback, the kind of thing you’d expect when going to a smoky Bardo Pond gig where you find out those guys are way too stoned to rock out. “O' Mine Sweet Child” starts off similarly but gradually evolves into a thick puddle of psych-guitar and desperate howls. It’s unfortunate the drums are so far back in the mix which makes the track lose some of the tribal force that it certainly has. During “Queen Rocket” Joe and the gang try to mix up the heavy psych with the burning drone. The guitar motifs are stretched out and sewn together by a lingering electricity. A fitting closer to an album that’s perfect for a hung over Sunday afternoon. You might have just found your cure here. 6/10 - Joris Heemskerk

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  Artist/Title: SunShip Sextet - s/t 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR50 "In June 2000, E.S.P. was asked (along with John Vance and Jesse Petersen) to perform at an outdoor rock show in Minneapolis opening for Sonic Youth and Stereolab. The corporate sponsors didn‘t like the "cock" in our name, nor did they want 3 seperate noise sets. So, along with special guests Weasel Walter and Misty Martinez, we did an overlapping noise gala under the SunShip Sextet umbrella. The snazzy digital board recording of the set, along with a subsequent live TV performance, has been released as a specially-packaged Carbon Records CDR." [limited edition of 100, each packaged hand-made cardboard cover with toner-transfer artwork and full-color inserts.]

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  Artist/Title: Sympathetic System - box chocolate 8 Format: CASS Label: Carbon Records Price: $6 Catalog ID: CR204 Sympathetic System is Peter Vincent from the Rochester area, but currently residing in Brooktondale, NY. This release is a collection of improvised single-takes, but you'd be hard-pressed to discern that. They come across as composed thoughts, laid out with guitars, vocals, homemade synth, a bent drum machine, keyboard, and more. An amazing use of space and tone. Similar to the Wolf Eyes related project Starecase, or Shadow Ring at times, or Jandek at other times. Completely captivating. [C32. Edition of of 58 copies in standard cassette cases. Comes with digital download coupon]

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  Artist/Title: Thurston Moore - Suicide Notes for Acoustic Guitar 8 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR192 This is the eleventh release in the Carbon 15YR.Series. 25+ minutes of guitar explorations from this veteran of the scene, as well as Sonic Youth. this is some of the best solo guitar works i've heard in a while and one of my favorite from Thurston. [packaged with pro-printed covers in a heavy duty vinyl sleeve]

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  Artist/Title: Tiger Cried Beef - The Facts About Fascism 6 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR137 While assembling a number of early home-brewed recordings for their first official full length release, Tiger Cried Beef's Keith Parkins received an email of support from Kramer of Shimmydisc/Bongwater fame. In it, Kramer suggested that the band should work with him on their next release. Unfortunately, the band had already decided to work with Chicago's Andy Bosnak on their next release. Kramer generously offered to help the band by mastering the early recordings for the release, The Facts About Fascism. The title refers to a primer that Parkins (aka Pat Rocles, CM Crisis) had found dating from the early 20th century in response to the rise of fascism in pre WWII Europe. Given the state of the country, Parkins thought to assemble a collection that would examine the internal/personal forces that lead towards complacency as opposed to the external/political forces that have been the focus of many. This is some strong pop/rock with a slightly off-kilter approach, which helps digs its hooks into you, deeper with each listen. [comes in a full-color Digi-pak. Co-release with Mono Oxide Records.].... more info on TCB --- Tiger Cried Beef started out of the Rochester band Hinkley. When Hinkley's co-founder and co-writer Sean Leahy left the band, Parkins brought some songs that he'd been working on to the group. When it became apparent that both Parkins and Hinkley frontman Will Veeder had a well of tunes, Parkins realized that he should start his own unit. Parkins had been working on his songwriting with Kelli Shay Hicks during a year where they would throw the guitar back and forth giving each other a minute to start playing something coherent. He then performed a bunch of these songs with her and Otto Hauser before forming the band with drummer Jeff Thompson. After a year of playing and recording, Dennis Mariano and Adam Wright joined the band to form the lineup that has played for most of the past year. Adam left the band during the summer of 2006 to be replaced by Brannon Hungness. Brannon brings a wealth of experience to the band having played in Glenn Branca's ensemble and in the Amphetamine Reptile band Hammerhead.

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  Artist/Title: Tom Carter and Shawn McMillen - colors for 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR87 10YR.Series.07 - the seventh in the Carbon 10 year anniversary CDR series. a beautiful collection of drones, tones and guitar magic. All of what you would expect from Tom Carter (of the Charalambides) and Shawn McMillen (Ash Castles On the Ghost Coast, Iron Kite) and more!

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  Artist/Title: Transcendental Manship Highway - lord of the trees 6 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR174 a heavy and awesomely black psych meeting of the upstateNY/thruway scene, including Eric and Ray of Century Plants, Cory from Stone Baby and Joe from Carbon/Tumul/Tuurd/etc, captured at Metropolis Underground in Syracuse NY. heavy/loud drone guitar with thunderous tribesman-beat and ghostly sweeps leading into free/noise-rock, kraut mayhem and back again. [packaged in a heavy vinyl sleeve with pro-printed card-stock cover] "You just can't get those manly sounds anywhere else; brings back the good old days, when all men were spirit brothers, walking the primordial earth, looking around at cool shit..." - Mike-O. Reviews (3): Crucial Blast The experimental noise/drone scene that revolves around Rochester's Carbon Records has produced a very small but exciting crop of heavy free-rock groups like Stone Baby, Crush The Junta and Entente Cordiale, and I've become a pretty big fan of all of them. This little scene is as incestuous as these kinds of insular communities usually are, with just a handful of bands swapping members back and forth and forming into different permutations of one core sound, which in this case is a kind of burly, guitar-based brand of improvisational riff-ooze that takes the New Zealand free-rock sound of the Dead C and Gate and pumps it full of volume and testosterone and crushing distortion. Transcendental Manship Highway is the latest project to grow off of the Carbon/Rochester free-skuzz trunk, and it's pretty heavy stuff. Featuring members of Crush The Junta and Stone Baby, TMH go for the sludgy, improvised heaviosity shared with Crush The Junta, but the half-hour track that makes up this debut disc is much more free and trippy. Sprawling metallic sludge riffage goes off in twenty directions at once, the guitarists grinding away at thick droning powerchords over a battery of pouding, somewhat tribal sounding percussion. The riffage weaves its way through a dense fog of swirling feedback, black plumes of amplifier smoke and formless guitar solos that race skyward and send off fiery sparks and chunks of melody; halfway through the track, the music dissolves into this crushing wall of blackened amp drone teeming with extreme wah-pedal abuse and reverb and cymbal noise that stretches out for several minutes, until the band crashes back in, krautrock drums pulsing deep underneath the layers of delayed vocals and blackened shrieking and feedback. Formless and massive, feedback is the focus and TMH spit out monolithic gobs of the stuff across this set, and deliver a thunderous sludge-drone blast that sounds like the loudest sections of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless being blasted at full volume over another sound system spinning Skullflower's IIIrd Gatekeeper. You can smell the amplifier smoke all over this. Even the disc itself, painted silver with a weird bubbling texture across it's surface, looks like it has been in the presence of a powerful heat source. The disc comes in a full color ardstock folder with nice wintery photography of frost-covered woodlands, which ties in nicely with the group's bleak, blasted tribal psych sludge Auxillary Out The awesomely christened Transcendental Manship Highway is an upstate NY “supergroup” featuring Hare, Eric Hardiman (Century Plants, Burnt Hills, Rambutan,) Cory Card (Stone Baby) and Joe Tunis (Joe+N). This CD-r is a single half hour bludgeoning and damn fine one at that. Beginning rather quietly with a lone drum and indecipherable speech, guitar tones drift in along with a vocal sample submerged in a effects. Tension is built up gradually with some frantic, slicing wah-wah work before the tempo picks and the full crew gets moving. It’s actually nearly relaxing at first. Shuffling mid-tempo drums and 2 or 3 blurry guitars combining with ease, but there’s always a suggestion of something a bit more evil on the horizon. Around the 7 minute mark, TMH shifts to sinister. A lot of cymbal smashing and wah freak outs and general disarray. The drums drop out a bit revealing a pretty solid chunk of noise being kicked out by the other dudes. I think there’s someone shouting an arena rock chant but it’s completely buried by grimy feedback. About halfway through the drummer picks up a fast groovy pattern and the track takes off. All of sudden the psychedelic feedback bath becomes a foot stomper with the return of a (still buried) lead vocalist. It’s all pretty ruling, especially an aborted guitar solo during a breakdown. Whoever was watching this gig was treated to quite a show. Things slow way down and get a little heavier and there’s a killer repeated synth swoop coming from somewhere that adds a second point of rhythmic orientation. All guitars take this as a cue to go to town, some go wild but one keeps things steady with a nice melody. If this was completely improv’d then, damn, these guys know to write great songs on the spot. The track actually fits somewhere between a long jam and already worked out songs. No one ever gets lost either which is always good in long jams like this because it can be a bit of a bummer when some dudes are roaring but another isn’t sure what he’s doing. An amazingly protracted drum pummeling ensues against more feedback and wah-wah excursions. There’s a come down which actually a total fake out before the four horsemen lay waste to the room and everything in it in the final minute. Pretty rad set, I’m looking forward to seeing more of this combo; so hopefully this wasn’t a one-off performance cause, you know, if it is that would suuuuck. Foxy Digitalis The bleak, blown-out free-noise world that is upstate New York, especially the damaged genius that revolves around Rochester’s Carbon Records, does NOT get enough attention! Transcendental Manship Highway is an upstate NY super-group of sorts, comprising Eric and Ray of Century Plants, Cory from Stone Baby and Carbon head honcho Joe Tunis. Their debut CD-R “Lord of the Trees” is a mammoth half-hour blast of cranium-devouring guitar and drum punishment that is sure to call attention to this underrated scene. Skullflower is the first thing that comes to mind when attempting to conjure up comparisons, as these four dudes lather their sonic terrorism with the blackened char of an apocalyptic premonition. Navigating the seemingly impromptu appearance of labyrinthine thrash soloing, melting sheets of feedback, and almost motorik rhythms that descend from what must be a starless night sky (a sky blackened perhaps by the many failed factories of decades past) is a daunting yet worthwhile endeavour. The recording quality is surprisingly top-notch, as the disc documents what must have been a deafening live show. When the Angel of Death approaches at the end of days, he will be striding along the Transcendental Manship Highway. Will you be prepared? 9/10 - Bryon Hayes

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  Artist/Title: Transmission56 - dedicated 4 Format: 7inch Label: Carbon Records Price: $3 Catalog ID: CR14 Transmission56‘s first release. Math rock with melody. Chicago stylings, right from our own backyard, Rochester NY!

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  Artist/Title: Tumul - Pyramid/Cross design 8 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: Carbon_Tumul_Pyramid_Cross_Tshirt The brand new Tumul shirts are here! 3 color hand-silkscreened design on white shirt.

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  Artist/Title: Tumul - writing in tongues 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR195 two tracks (32+ minutes total) of live Tumul madness. each track a complete set. vocal drones and pattern, electronic wizardry, etc. an auditory rival to their live, very visual, sets. [originally release with a plywood and plaster mount, but these are simple flat-package versions. black and white print in heavy vinyl sleeve)

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  Artist/Title: Tumul - riding96 6 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $5 Catalog ID: CR196 one track, 16+ minutes. recorded during an actual drive, while driving, on route 96 in upstate/western NY from Rochester to Ithaca. direct recording of electronics, drum machine, vocals, wind, bumps and more. amazing dense and loud, and abrasive (in a good way)

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  Artist/Title: Tumul - shirt design #2 8 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR145 light gray shirts with various color stencils/sprays, including blue, black, white, pink, yellow, etc.

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  Artist/Title: Tumul - awaken this light 8 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR170 50+ minutes of Tumul's brand of vocal-manipulations, electronics, turntable-samples and shear lunacy. culled from live and studio recordings over the first 6 months of 2008 (well, the first one is from Dec of 2007). [packaged in a heavy vinly gate-fold sleeve, with stencil and splattered artwork, on top of printed text. CDR is also sprayed/splattered]

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  Artist/Title: Tumul - spray-stencil design 6 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR123 various color shirts (light heather gray, dark heather gray, orange, dark red) with mixture of ink colors (white, black, gold, orange) with variety of sizes (not all colors in all colors, so its a surprise!)

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  Artist/Title: Tumul - Tension Management 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR121 Tumul is Camburger Fahresh (aka Dr. Hamburger) and Joe Tunis (aka Joe+N, etc), long lost twins. this is electronics, mics, bowls, samples, etc. recorded at Penarrow Catacombs. [sprayed and stenciled cardstock cover with sprayed CDR inside heavy vinyl sleeve]

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  Artist/Title: Tuurd - Hand Design 10 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CarbonTSHIRT_TuurdHand Red ink on heather gray shirt. Design by Mike Turzanski - www.miketurzanski.com. Available in S, M, L, XL, and 2XL

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  Artist/Title: Tuurd - Not So Heavy / Pollock Dracula 9 Format: 7inch Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR206 Culled from the same recording session as Tuurd’s LP I Wish My Wife Was This Dirty, this single features the almost poppy (but still heavy and loud) Not So Heavy, and the slow trudging Pollock Dracula. [Packaged in a silkscreened Stumptown press fold-together kraft sleeve featuring artwork by Mike Turzanski. It also includes two 7” x 7” one-color silkscreened prints on heavy chipboard of Turzanski’s work. Digital download coupon included. Random colored vinyl. Limited to 100 copies.]

• Add to Cart Song Previews: Water I wish my wife was this dirty

  Artist/Title: Tuurd - I wish my wife was this dirty 12 Format: LP Label: Carbon Records Price: $12 Catalog ID: CR198 35 minutes of mostly slow, sometimes fast, and always super heavy and thick bass and drums, with limited vocals. Tuurd rises from the ashes of Hilkka (math/indie rock band around for 13yrs). Featuring Nuuj (Pengo, Asthmatic, r.nuuja) and Joe Tunis (Tumul, Crush the Junta and formerly of Pengo), on bass and drums respectively. metal/stoner/doom/spazz/noise. In the tradition of two-man acts such as Ruins, godheadsilo, Halo, Lightning Bolt, Big Business, Hella, Orthrelm and Om and influenced by the sounds of Corrupted, Abruptum, Sleep, Harvey Milk, Crom, Melvins, Karp, Killdozer, Zeni Geva, Thrones, Earth, Sunn 0))), Codiene, Painkiller, Oxbow, Cheer Accident, Slug, Unsane, Pelican, Meshuggah, 400 Blows, Isis, and of course Black Sabbath. Limited to 300 on brown vinyl with full color sleeves. Reviews (3): Weirdo Records Nuuj & Joe Tunis (aka half of Pengo) duo of bass & drums. Slow, vibrating stoner metal with growly vocals that sometimes does a 180 & picks up for fast & muscular riff workouts. Bass distortion is great sounding- it's a record that could make you want to buy a motorcycle. Upstate Soundscape Rochester sons Nuuj and Joe Tunis are pretty busy guys. They can be spotted on the roster of numerous projects, many of which are backed by Tunis’s Carbon Records. While some of those former projects include Pango, Crush the Junta, and the deteriorated Hilkka, I’m glad they’ve come together as Tuurd, a name both infantile, idosyncratic, and awesome. For such a simple and straightforward sound on their debut EP I Wish My Wife Was This Dirty, Tuurd keeps me focused. Following suit in the vein of stoner metal/sludge metal/prog rock, Tuurd has found a sound that fits in between all these genres. The first track “Water” starts off with a climbing riff and a constant drum thud, taking us on a journey down a dark and weary moat. As the song progresses, the bass maintains a slow and sturdy progression. About halfway through, a voice that sounds like an orc from Middle Earth growls “I’ll show you some power, to get you some water.” In fact, Sauron would enjoy rocking out to Tuurd in his chamber on Mt. Doom. Combined with the simple melody and captivating concept, this is a strong first track. Not all the songs are as hypnotic as “Water.” If you are looking for something more upbeat, “Reeses Feeses” fits the bill. As the second track, this song accomplishes hooking the listener by opening with straddling chords (if The Black Keys got dirty, they’d create something similar), and rare pauses, leaving time to think. It’s not for long until Tuurd propels back into the ruckus for a roll in the mud. Throughout the album the lyrics and vocals are scarce, but when they come in its satisfying. Tuurd has a unique falsetto that I haven’t heard before within metal, almost satirical, but just enough. There’s a meditative quality to stoner metal that I’ve come to appreciate over the years. The grit, sweat, and pacing remind me of great warriors barging their way through knotty forests. It’s not in your face crazy or senseless strumming. Especially a band like Tuurd, which has an interactive quality and each song seems to emphasize rhythm and drive as with “Eating Ice Cream with Satan,” which is focused on the back and forth play between guitar and drums. It pushes and pulls until the lyrics brag about eating ice cream with Satan in hell. Not going to lie, I’m pretty jealous. Similar to “Eating Ice Cream with Satan” is the album’s eponymous track, “I Wish My Wife Was This Dirty”. It opens with curly cueing dizzying guitar, paired with an intense drumbeat that begs for a breather.The drums continue to chant, until the sound stretches and grows. A lot of this album is focused on exploring a certain riff, repeating it, then building upon that solid noise and contrasting it with excellent drums and humorous vocals. Tuurd’s biggest quality is keeping it together, seen in the gritty distortion of “Sliding Down” and the massive collisions in “Doot do doot.” Overall, I’m impressed with Tuurd’s hilarious concept and physical skill. Honestly, I wish my wife was this dirty, too. Aquarius Records First we've heard from this oddly monikered duo, just bass and drums, who traffic in a sort of sludge/doom dirgery, the bass super distorted and blown out, sounding in places more like a guitar than a bass, but unfurling thick slabs of buzzing low end, while the drums deliver a plodding caveman accompaniment. The vocals might be the strangest of all, a sort of sung/spoken demonic growl, which give Tuurd a much more abstract experimental vibe. It really does sound like a Neanderthal version of OM. The groove is dark and stonery, thick and sludgey, but when it slows down, and gets a little mathy and dynamic, stripped down while the vocals gurgle malevolently, it's transformed into something else entirely. Which is also what happens on the second track, at least in the first half, the band ditching the sludge for some dense mathy noise prog, the bass and drums in a wild tussle, which finally gives way to a more slithery downtuned groove. It's hard to really nail these guys down, the label mentions all sorts of other duos, from Lightning Bolt to the Ruins, as well as other bands that occupy a similar sonic space, Sleep, Abruptum, Killdozer, Slug (someone needs to reissue all the Slug records!), Black Sabbath and a bunch of others. But to our ears, Tuurd sound like slowed down power violence, like Man Is The Bastard covered by Corrupted, or some rare Slap A Ham 7" spinning at 5 or 6 rpm, but that's only one side of the Tuurd, the band totally capable of whipping out some seriously dense downtuned progginess, the combination of the two is what makes this stuff so good. Murky and muddy, dirgey and doomy, crusty and filthy, heavy as fuck obviously, proggy and mathy and not without a sense of humor (check out "Eating Ice Cream With Satan"). Definitely recommended for fans of any and all of the above mentioned bands, and anyone who like their music sloooooow and loooooow. Super striking cover art, the album titled drawn in dirt on the front, the band name smeared in mud (please let it be mud!) on the back. Pressed on brown vinyl (of course) and includes a digital download. - Andee

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  Artist/Title: Tuurd - Cover the Earth (black short sleeve) 10 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR152 short sleeve black shirt with 2-color (white and brown) Cover the Earth logo.

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  Artist/Title: Tuurd - cover the Earth (black long sleeve) 16 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $15 Catalog ID: CR152a long sleeve black shirt with 2-color (white and brown) Cover the Earth logo.

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  Artist/Title: Tuurd - cover the Earth (brown short sleeve) 10 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR152b short sleeve brown shirt with 2-color (white and brown) Cover the Earth logo.

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  Artist/Title: Tuurd - Cover the Earth (brown long sleeve) 16 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $15 Catalog ID: CR152c long sleeve brown shirt with 2-color (white and brown) Cover the Earth logo.

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  Artist/Title: Various Artists - CR200 16 Format: LP Label: Carbon Records Price: $15 Catalog ID: CR200 A mighty comprehensive snap-shot of the underground sounds emanating from the city of Rochester New York circa now (2012). From the post-noise extreme sounds of LICKER & r. nuuja (both members of Pengo) to the more pastoral psych smudged compositions of Joe Sorriero (of Nod) & Drippers, this collection of Western NY weirdos addresses the question “What the hell is going on in Rochester to create such odd sounds?”. This LP is the 200th release on long time Rochester based record label Carbon Records. We think in due time that this LP will sit easily next to other regional compilation records like Waste Sausage (Black Eye Records - Australia) & Labyrinths And Jokes (Hanson Records - Michigan) as a definitive & defining document of the Flower/Flour City's post-everything scene. The LP consists of r.nuuja (Pengo), Colonel Parmesan (Thunderbody), Dr Hamburger (Tumul, Jungle Heart), Crush the Entente (Crush the Junta and Entente Cordiale collaboration), Stone Baby, Martin Freeman, Tumul, Autumn in Halifax, Chris Reeg (Blood and Bone Orchestra, Ian Downey is Famous), Joe Sorriero (Nod), Licker (Pengo), Drippers, Andy Gilmore, Pengo, MntDst, and the Bloody Noes. White vinyl with digital download coupon. Mastered by James Plotkin. Reviews (3): Beats Per Minute Rochester seems a weird place, if Carbon Records is any indication. This local noise label, started in 1994, has long specialized in bringing the best leftfield tunes that the upstate NY town has to offer, and with CR200 they’ve released a massive compilation of bands their mining has dredged up over the years. Kicking off with some Phil-Elverum-goes-black-metal instrumentation (courtesy of Chris Reeg) and spanning more traditional noise in addition ambling acoustic guitar experimentation, fractured yelps of pop songs, and doomy drones, this compilation represents a wealth of diversity in the label’s stable. Whether it’s the kraut-noise stomp of “Free To Starve”, Crush The Entente’s contribution, or Autumn In Halifax’s austere, bluesy spiritual “David O David”, there’s incredible tracks throughout. If this is the work of a great curator, then, well, good on Joe Tunis for bringing these tracks together and celebrating the best the region had to offer. But if the general darkness of these tracks is inherent to the Rochester experience, we might be worried about the emotional state of that city’s inhabitants. Above I list several noise and psych bands in the “For fans of”, but this time you shouldn’t necessarily take those as guidelines so much as benchmarks: by and large the tunes on CR200 take a similar sort of intellectual preparation. These are tracks that, while endlessly intriguing, present a pervading heaviness that even in the most accessible moments can be a bit off-putting. That all being said, if you’re willing to give it the time it demands, it’s a compelling cross section of a widely under-examined scene. It’s like wandering into your city’s weirdest art gallery – in the dingiest warehouse space – and allowing yourself to be bombarded with what the underground has to offer. Choice Cuts: Autumn in Halifax – “David O David”, Joe Sorriero – “Electricity’s Out!”, Crush the Entente – “Free to Starve” - Colin Joyce South Wedge Quarterly Consider this a voyeuristic glimpse into what your neighbors have been up to. Small cities and towns across America all tend to have their own experimental music scenes and record labels. But it's rare to find them as uniformly dedicated and pedigreed as Carbon Records. CR200 marks the label's 200th release. It's on vinyl and cassette. And it includes exclusive recordings from several Carbon artists, new and old, all local. There's a wide range of material and recording quality among this set of (mostly) instrumentals. Some of this is rather poised, like Andy Gilmore's chiming guitar pointillism on "Clipper Ship," or the oddly tender power electronics of Dr Hamburger's "Twin Speak." And some of this is expectedly shambolic, though never predictable. Despite the variety in approach, it all hangs together rather nicely as an often breathless sonic document; the sound of your city's shadows. It even flows -- a debt owed solely to the label's curative skills and James Plotkin's expert mastering. You're very lucky to live in a city with a Carbon Records, even if you don't know that. Buy this LP or the LP/cassette boxset at Needledrop. Consider it a contribution to the untamed local arts. And then realize how lucky you are, indeed. - Chad Oliveiri Weirdo Records In every ignored town across the US, the reason there's a scene... the reason there's anything at all for you to check out while you sit bored in front of your computer... is usually that one lone sonofabitch has been grinding it out there, breaking his back day in & thankless day out to champion some local bands that no one gives a fat shit over. That single guy, he's out there telling everybody within earshot about the bands that he likes & dragging people to shows & giving his friends money for their bullshit basement recordings, and doing it over & over & over again. That guy actually causes subtle changes in the way bands sound in the area over time. In Rochester that guy is Joe Tunis & he's been whipping up bass-heavy doom, electronic freedom & some other cool shit out of nuthin & with zero dollars since 1994. A tip of the hat on his 200th release, which sounds like Rochester and no place else.

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  Artist/Title: Various Artists - CR200 (LP + 4X cassette box set) 32 Format: OTHER Label: Carbon Records Price: $25 Catalog ID: CR200_bonus A mighty comprehensive snap-shot of the underground sounds emanating from the city of Rochester New York circa now (2012). From the post-noise extreme sounds of LICKER & r. nuuja (both members of Pengo) to the more pastoral psych smudged compositions of Joe Sorriero (of Nod) & Drippers, this collection of Western NY weirdos addresses the question “What the hell is going on in Rochester to create such odd sounds?”. This LP is the 200th release on long time Rochester based record label Carbon Records. We think in due time that this LP will sit easily next to other regional compilation records like Waste Sausage (Black Eye Records - Australia) & Labyrinths And Jokes (Hanson Records - Michigan) as a definitive & defining document of the Flower/Flour City's post-everything scene. The LP consists of r.nuuja (Pengo), Colonel Parmesan (Thunderbody), Dr Hamburger (Tumul, Jungle Heart), Crush the Entente (Crush the Junta and Entente Cordiale collaboration), Stone Baby, Martin Freeman, Tumul, Autumn in Halifax, Chris Reeg (Blood and Bone Orchestra, Ian Downey is Famous), Joe Sorriero (Nod), Licker (Pengo), Drippers, Andy Gilmore, Pengo, MntDst, and the Bloody Noes. White vinyl with digital download coupon. Mastered by James Plotkin. The 4-cassette box set include 15min sides from Colonel Parmesan, Dr Hamburger, Entente Cordiale, Martin Freeman, r.nuuja, Stone Baby, Pengo, and Jungle Heart. Packaged in library-style cassette binder (VHS size) with white cassettes and spray/splattered labels. Includes digital download coupon.

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  Artist/Title: Various Artists - CR200 - SPECIAL EDITION BOX SET 80 Format: OTHER Label: Carbon Records Price: $75 Catalog ID: CR200 box set Check out this SPECIAL and VERY LIMITED EDITION of the CR200 LP and cassette box set, packaged in a hand made wooden box. Silkscreened designs on front and back, and each is hand decorated. Box also includes a CR200 shirt and other goodies. When ordering, I will contact you to get your shirt size. More info on the compilation... A mighty comprehensive snap-shot of the underground sounds emanating from the city of Rochester New York circa now (2012). From the post-noise extreme sounds of LICKER & r. nuuja (both members of Pengo) to the more pastoral psych smudged compositions of Joe Sorriero (of Nod) & Drippers, this collection of Western NY weirdos addresses the question “What the hell is going on in Rochester to create such odd sounds?”. This LP is the 200th release on long time Rochester based record label Carbon Records. We think in due time that this LP will sit easily next to other regional compilation records like Waste Sausage (Black Eye Records - Australia) & Labyrinths And Jokes (Hanson Records - Michigan) as a definitive & defining document of the Flower/Flour City's post-everything scene. The LP consists of r.nuuja (Pengo), Colonel Parmesan (Thunderbody), Dr Hamburger (Tumul, Jungle Heart), Crush the Entente (Crush the Junta and Entente Cordiale collaboration), Stone Baby, Martin Freeman, Tumul, Autumn in Halifax, Chris Reeg (Blood and Bone Orchestra, Ian Downey is Famous), Joe Sorriero (Nod), Licker (Pengo), Drippers, Andy Gilmore, Pengo, MntDst, and the Bloody Noes. White vinyl with digital download coupon. Mastered by James Plotkin. The 4-cassette box set include 15min sides from Colonel Parmesan, Dr Hamburger, Entente Cordiale, Martin Freeman, r.nuuja, Stone Baby, Pengo, and Jungle Heart. Packaged in library-style cassette binder (VHS size) with white cassettes and spray/splattered labels. Includes digital download coupon.

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  Artist/Title: Various Artists - All TUMUL's Party 4.0 Poster 10 Format: OTHER Label: Carbon Records Price: $4 Catalog ID: Carbon_NotATP4_Poster A hand silkscreened, 3 color poster for the 4th All Tumul's Party hosted at Rochester Contemporary Arts Center in Rochester NY. This is NOT affiliated with the big/real ATP. Roughly 11" x 18".

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  Artist/Title: Various Artists - woman taken in adultery 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR68 Recently discovered copies of this great compilation, packed away from my last move. a great compilation of heaviness/drone/noise/out sounds co-released with Glasvocht (Belgium). features Random reflections (Belgium), Noxagt (Norway, band of guitar anti-hero Kjetil D Brandsdal), Loren Connors (USA, legendary artist known from projects with Jim O‘ Rourke, Alan Licht, John Fahey and much more), Flies Inside The Sun (New Zealand, including Peter Stapleton of the label Metonymic) and Lovely Midget (New Zealand, releases on Corpus Hermeticum en Ecstatic Peace of Thurston Moore).

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  Artist/Title: Various Artists - i don't think the dirt belongs to the grass 8 Format: 3CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $20 Catalog ID: CR99 a year+ in the making, and originally slated for a 10YR celebration, this compilation is documentation of amazing people/artists i've worked with over the past, now, 12 years. it also started out as a double CD project, but with the growing list of people i wanted to involve, and the overwhelming volume of confirmations, i had to grow it to a triple CD (and even had to do some trimming to fit that format). the release is packaged in a standard-size DVD case, with a full-color cover, and holds the 3 CDs as well as a full-color card-stock insert. the dvd case is then housed in a natural-color cotton bag with single-color ink stamp art/logo. the sounds range from quiet ambient sounds, to meandering guitar work, to outsider rock, to full on noise, as well as a folk/pop track here and there. [limited edition of 500] artists include: aaron rosenblum andy gilmore anla courtis antony milton asthmatic autumn in halifax blood and bone orchestra blood stereo carlos giffoni carpentry caustic solution chad oliveiri chris reeg cock e.s.p. coffee craig colorusso crawlspace crush the junta the davenport family dead machines entente cordiale foot and mouth disease g55 gastric female reflex heathen prayers   hilkka hinkley howard stelzer irene moon joe+n john charlton justice yeldman keith fullerton whitman lunt mike shiflet nancy garcia neil campbell pengo phroq pumice rainbeaux sindre bjerga sindre bjerga / jan-m iversen sq taiwan deth taurpis tula the body the north sea thurston moore tinnitustimulus Reviews (4): The Wire The compact Rochester, New York label Carbon Records is not the normal unit-shifting operation. Judging by their Website, there seems as much music being given away as there is being sold, and the roster of artists is too wide and weird to form any sort of house style. Label boss Joe Tunis (Joe+N) carries so many collaborations in so many formats and forms that it's hard to believe just one man is behind the whole operation. Carbon's tenth anniversary entailed another minor deluge of new material. Following a dedicated CD-R series for the occasion, this weighty triple CD set features artists from the last couple years of Carbon's life cycle, and feels impressively comprehensive. More importantly, it's never less than a lot of fun. Many of the names here -- Thurston Moore, Keith Fullerton Whitman -- can already boast of substantial oeuvres, but like all of the contributors, they keep it short, sweet and fresh. Moore's amusing "Anal Cry" sounds like it's made on a car alarm rather than a guitar. Taurpis Tula move outside Heather Leigh Murray's intimate vocals into the spacious textures and layers of The Dead C. Despite the 'anything goes' experimentalism Carbon exudes, none of the artists sound like they're struggling through a momentous aesthetic dialectic. These tracks are as natural as breathing, and radiate an unpretentious joy in self-discovery. Andy Gilmore 's back-porch guitar strumming is as nimble and contented as Jerry's Garcia's soundtrack to the sand-covered lovers in Zabriske Point, and Carpentry's Loren Connors-style guitar lament is so loose and languorous it feels like you've stumbled in on a private doodle. Although I Don't Think The Dirt Belongs To The Grass spans a wide aesthetic terrain, from bedroom drone to cathartic free blowing to raga folk, Carbon's mission is not to document the state of art so much as to share their time and their world. The music resonates because, like those Website giveaways, it feels free and easy, and part of someone's everyday life in Rochester. It's the sort of compilation to live with and love. - Derek Walmsley Foxy Digitalis With his Carbon Records imprint, Joe Tunis has been exploring the underground music scene of upstate New York and its environs for over 12 years. Throughout its existence, Carbon has released adventurous music on formats both traditional and obscure – Tunis’ own Joe+N project has released music on entire computer hard drives mounted on unique works of art; various series explore DVD-R and MP3 technology as well as the use of recycled materials in handmade packaging. Tunis has played day-tours, in which Joe+N performs at multiple venues around Rochester in a single day; his band Pengo has recorded an alternate soundtrack to the first 31 minutes of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s epic film, The Holy Mountain. It seems that Joe Tunis has both an immense love for art and music, and that he is constantly searching for ways to push the boundaries of performance and production. Taking over a year to compile, assemble and produce, this three-disc compilation collects tracks chosen by Tunis from a large handful of the many musicians he has worked with during his dozen years running Carbon. The packaging is exquisite – the CDs are housed in a DVD-sized case with beautiful full-colour artwork, which is then sheathed in a natural cotton bag that is ink-stamped with a minimalist logo. The dirt/grass motif is explored thoroughly on both the insert artwork and the artwork that adorns the CDs. Each successive disc explores a geographic region of increasing size: disc 1 represents Tunis’ hometown of Rochester, and features at least three of his musical endeavours (Joe+N, Pengo, Hilkka); disc 2 reaches out across the United States, while disc 3 explores the entire globe. There is no easy visual cue to distinguish among the three discs, which according to Tunis is to demonstrate “the differences and similarities between artists next door and half-way around the world.” The styles of music represented on this mammoth release range from quiet ambience to full-on noise freakouts, from dazzling guitar explorations to computer-based sonic mayhem. Many of the artists’ names will be recognizable (The North Sea, The Davenport Family, Carlos Giffoni, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Dead Machines, Thurston Moore, Antony Milton, Pumice, Neil Campbell, Taurpis Tula), while others should be (the entirety of disc 1, for example). To say that this compilation is highly recommended is an understatement – if you’re reading this right now, you should already own it. If you don’t, what are you waiting for??? - Bryon Hayes Mimaroglu Music triple-disc compilation celebrating 12+ years of joe tunis’ (Joe+N) carbon records label... spiralling out one disc at a time from rochester, ny, first to the rest of the usa, then to the rest of the world... a very nice thing: three full-color printed discs housed in a triple-amaray case with a gatefold carstock insert, all inserted into a very familiar-looking “cloth parts” bag (uline represent!) right off the bat what strikes me as impressive/attractive about this comp is its relentless diversity; one track might be minimal computer music; the next some lo-fi broadband noise, then a sound-art piece, then a song by a rock group... but at the same time there’s a tangibly real commonality to not just the participants herein but the noises they choose to make and (re)arrange. and this, my friends, is what ultimately makes a good comp; tying bonds and an overall thread. that said; there’s something on here for everyone... and in fact you might end up, like myself, enjoying just about everything on this set, from the pieces by the names you know/trust to those by otherwise unknowns (for example; i didn’t know john charlton ’s name, but his acoustic guitar/tibetan singing bowls/wine glasses piece on here - click to your left for a sound-sample - ended up being one of my favorite pieces.) for $20 it’s an absolute steal... - Keith Fullerton Whitman Volcanic Tongue Massive, genre-defining 3xCD set packaged in a DVD case with full-colour artwork and full colour card stock insert housed in a natural-colour cotton bag with single-colour ink stamp art/logo and featuring exclusive tracks from a gob-stopping selection of underground players orbiting the Carbon universe. Limited to 500 copies. Tracks from: Aaron Rosenblum, Andy Gilmore, Anla Courtis, Antony Milton, Asthmatic, Autumn In Halifax, Blood and Bone Orchestra, Blood Stereo, Carlos Giffoni, Carpentry, Caustic Solution, Chad Oliveiri, Chris Reeg, Cock ESP, Coffee, Craig Colorusso, Crawlspace, Crush The Junta, The Davenport Family, Dead Machines, Entente Cordiale, Foot and Mouth Disease, G55, Gastric Female Reflex, Heathen Prayers, Hilkka, Hinkley, Howard Stelzer, Irene Moon, Joe+N, John Charlton, Justice Yeldman, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Lunt, Mike Shiflet, Nancy Garcia, Neil Campbell, Pengo, Phroq, Pumice, Rainbeaux, Sindre Bjerga, Sindre Bjerga/Jan-M Iversen, Sq, Taiwan Deth, Taurpis Tula, The Body, The North Sea, Thurston Moore and Tinnitustimulus. Highly recommended.

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  Artist/Title: Various Artists - Carbon 15YR.Series BOXSET 64 Format: OTHER Label: Carbon Records Price: $95 Catalog ID: CR194 Mid April of 2009 marked the 15th anniversary of Carbon Records. To celebrate, Carbon announced the Carbon 15YR Subscription Series. 15 releases over the course of the 15 months. Releases include: Social Junk, Sindre Bjerga and Textured Bird Transmission, Irene Moon++, Drive the Pieces Together, Mike Shiflet and Ryan Jewell, Crush the Junta, Thurston Moore, Burnt Hills, Stone Baby, Century Plants, Hinkley, Ails al’on, Dylan Nyoukis, SHED and Jungle Heart.. [Each box is handmade from new and recycled/reclaimed wood, some unfinished wood, some finished/stained, some painted, some splatter-painted. each one unique. silk-screened top/lid and bottom and a silk-screened padder inside.]

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  Artist/Title: Various Artists - don't teach a man to bake, teach him to eat -- Joe+N 2007 Day-Tour Recordings 10 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CR169 2 disc set consisting of recordings from the Joe+N 2007 Day-Tour. The theme of this day-tour was to incorporate each of the bands Joe was involved in at the time. So each stop on the tour, a different Joe+N related band would perform either acoustically or with battery-powered amps/instruments. The release consists of tracks from Joe+N, Tumul, Tuurd, Entente Cordiale, Deciduous vs Conifer, Crush the Junta and Ada le O (with guests). [packaged in a 5x7x1 box, sprayed/splattered, stickered and taped shut. along with sprayed cdrs]

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  Artist/Title: Various Artists - three.pieces 4 Format: CDR Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR133 a collection of mostly out-of-print 3" releases from the festival, all compiled on to one 5" CDR . features ~20min pieces from Andy Gilmore, Chad Oliveiri and Joe+N. all three pieces were recorded at visual studies workshop, rochester ny on 01.19.2002 at -- Andy Gilmore - "an amazing live recording of Andy's brand of beautiful solo guitar layering. for fans of Loren Mazzacane Connors, Noel Akchote, Brian Eno (ie. Discrete Music) and the like."; Chad Oliveiri - "feels right at home along side releases from labels such as Mego, Meme, etc"; Joe+N - "constructed from the sounds of test-tone cds and contact mics placed in various places on the cd player which played them. in addition, a contact mic was inserted into my mouth while i proceeded to narrate the accompanying video of my all-too-familiar drive from my home town of Scranton, PA to my current residence in Rochester, NY."

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  Artist/Title: Various Artists - Counter Fit Fest TSHIRT 6 Format: TSHIRT Label: Carbon Records Price: $10 Catalog ID: CRT_CFF_2005 The 2005 Counter Fit Fest TSHIRT, beige on white shirt, with the CFF fly logo on the front, and the full list of perfomers on the back, including Carlos Giffoni, Howard Stelzer, Pengo, Coffee, Blood and Bone Orchestra, Emil Beaulieau, Urknee and Bjurton Russell, Bernhard Gal, Jack Wright, Tim Feeney, Tom Djil, Tatsuya Nakatani and Steve Baczkowski. get them while they're hot!

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  Artist/Title: Various Artists - the nature of systems 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR25 a document of scale. micro and macroscopic. similarities and differences. miniscule and infinitesimal. featuring Loren MazzaCane Connors, The Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, Pelt, Finkbeiner, Andy Gilmore , Golden Calves, Charalambides, Joe+N, Sheet, Nod, SQ, Mick Turner, Burlap, The Flying Luttenbachers, Pengo, Bardo Pond, and Karl Precoda/Mike Gangloff Reviews (2): NOSOAPREDIO In addition to drumming with Terrastock 1 performers, Hilkka, Joe Tunis also runs the Rochester, NY-based Carbon Records label and loops tapes and other exotic electrical and "found" instruments as leader of the algebraic equation, Joe+N (where n= his number of collaborators.) Talk about wearing your math rock credentials on your (CD) sleeve! For Carbon's 25th release, Joe has solicited contributions from several T'stock cohorts (and their various side projects) and Carbon label stalwarts and offers up this (mostly) successful experiment in the exploration of sonic textures. The Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble break out their toy penny whistles on "Flue Song," while Andy Gilmore's "She's Settin' HerAssin A Bathtub" gathers conch shells and warped Carribean-styled kettle drums (bathtubs?) and sets his assdown in a cone of silence. The dichotomy between sea and sky (or water and air, to be more precise) is simulataneously unsettling and fascinating. Tom and Christina Carter will be making a rare live performance at Terrastock 4 in Seattle in November and "Mansfield Dam," recorded a mere six months ago is a tasty teaser of what fans may expect from this husband and wife duo who record under the enigmatic name Charalambides. Plucked guitar strings, recorded forwards, backwards and across all points in between are layered upon Christina's ethereal chanting, where notes and tones (not exactly "singing," per se) combine to form an angelic choir under the direction of ersatz Cocteau Twin, Liz Fraser. Christina may chastise me for making said comparison, but it is actually meant as a compliment. No amount of compliments, however, can save Finkbeiner's super distorted, melodic chaos, "Yes, It Can" from the obvious rejoinder. This sci-fi guitar extravaganza seems to be directed towards answering the musical question, "Can your guitar do this?" My response, "Perhaps; but maybe it just doesn't want to." Staten Island's Golden Calves Eskimo Lime Band is represented with the mercifully short noise experiment, "Hostel Song." The Flying Luttenbachers' "Maximum Cruelty" lives up to its name as Einsturzende Neubauten meets Faust on the dissecting table under the musical direction of Coltrane in the throes of withdrawal. Painful stuff. Burlap drop by with the sound of a cassette tape fast forwarding over a Cure-like single bass note ("Coming Home"), while T'stock vets, Pelt present a Dream Syndicate drone accompanied by Amy Shea's Conradian violin touches. "The Dream of Leaping Sharks" even sounds like a title that escaped from the clutches of Young and co. and is the highlight of the first half of the disk. Host Joe Tunis steps outside the skronk and squalor of Hilkka for some electro-astral projections which catalog certain "Types of Interference" and T'stock fave Loren MazzaCane Connors does the same with his guitar in "I've Had Trouble, I've Had Joy," a piece so quiet and meditative it lives up to the adage: I will strike no string before its time. The six string equivalent of a Low vocal. Nod break out all their Neil Young wah-wah distortion pedals and harps for a good ol' fashioned backporch, backwoods toe tapper, "John Henry vs. The Smog Monster." Can you say "Soo-eeee?!" Paging Mr. N(o)d Beaty! We began with the carny-like strains of Arthur Doyle and we now present the carnival from hell strains of Mick Turner's "Carny's Dance." It'll scare the kids (and weak stomached adults) sh*tless! Hilkka's Rich Nuuja tortures his guitar in his side project, Sheet and "Quick Stomach" will empty even the staunchest NiN fans' and is strictly for Japanese noise afficianados. Carbon Record's SQ pours Borbetomagus into the Lhasa Cement mixer and the resulting block of musique concrete should have Neubauten and Faust fans quaking in their kneehigh goose- stompers, while Bardo Pond continue to expand the gap between the quality of what they're capable of delivering (Amanita) and what they're actually releasing as the two notes and a prayer "Vagabond" goes nowhere in a hurry. Side Projects 'R' Us continues as The (other) Dream Syndicate's Karl Precoda and Pelt's Mike Gangloff meet in a "Metal Shop," fire up the blade sharpener (which often morphs into a police siren and is actually – I'm guessing – Karl's guitar) and layer the whole shebang on top of Mike's extended drone (also, presumably, his guitar) and in the process forge a whole new entity I've christened Inside the Dream Syndicate, aka IDS. It sure beats the s**t out of Table of the Element's recent snippet of the (other) Dream Syndicate (aka EGO)'s work in (and out of) progress. Tunis and Finkbeiner (assisted by John Schoen on percussion) return under the guise of Pengo, whose "New Loft Elevation 2001" again begs the industrial comparisons with Neubauten although, instead of "collapsing new buildings," this approximates erecting them. At the beginning of this review I referred to the sonic/texture exploration that can be found within these grooves (bits and bytes, actually.) Tunis has assembled a fine collection of pieces that, while occasionally derivative of areas that the past masters have delved into, offers a 21st century take on how music FEELS, as opposed to how it SOUNDS. To experience these pieces is to be enveloped within the machinery – the hardware – of the musical voices of their creators and not the typical heart (or software) that one usually expects from a composition. This is music of the body, not the mind. Don't spend too much time thinking about it (I've just done that for you), get out there and feel it. This, then, is the "nature of systems:" they act upon each other to "push society forward" as Joe says in his liners. Action, not necessarily thought (or discussion which, if you think about it, is actually IN-action or stasis) is the key. Crucial Blast This excellent compilation has been out for awhile, but we've never carried it before, and with the great mix of artists/bands on this CD, we just had to offer it for anyone who hasn't come across this stellar psyche/drone/free noise/deathjazz comp previously... Featuring exclusive songs from CHARALAMBIDES, THE FLYING LUTTENBACHERS, PELT, LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS, BARDO POND, as well as THE ARTHUR DOYLE ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC ENSEMBLE, Andy Gilmore, FINKBEINER, THE GOLDEN CALVES ESKIMO LIME BAND, BURLAP, JOE+N, NOD, MICK TURNER, SHEET, SQ, Karl Precoda/Mike Gangloff, and PENGO. Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble starts off the disc with "Flue Song," a queasy flute melody delivered overtop what sounds to be field recordings of frogs with some spacey whoosh appearing throughout. Nice. Andy Gilmore follows with some pleasant string-bending ambient guitar abstraction, all subdued haze and hum with a strange voice sample appearing briefly halfway through, and ending with a chime-driven climax. Charalambides donate "Mansfield Dam", a minimal, glacially paced piece of abstract folk drift, not too far from their "Being As Is" material released on Crucial Blast, though it sounds strangely "digital", with the sporadically plucked acoustic strings being processed into little blips of melody that zip by via tape editing and masking. Eventually a minimal riff appears reminiscent of LOW and Charalambides "Home" and "Houston" CD, as Christina Carter's angelic voice loops in and climaxes the track with an absolutely GORGEOUS haze of droning bliss as her vocals become layered upon each other into infinity. Next up is FINKBEINER, with a dusty, cosmic drone-jam that straddles the line between sublime 70's sci-fi sound effect bleepery and Ennio Morricone style epics. Golden Calves Eskimo Live Band emerge from the shadow of TOWER RECORDINGS, with a brief duet between a roughly Jandekian acoustic guitar and what might be the weird recorded laughter of a battery-operated talking doll. Thoroughly creepy. The Flying Luttenbachers appear next with "Maximum Cruelty", a BORBETOMAGUS -esque blast of improvised-with-cues free-jazz-meets-death-metal splatter. Burlap 's "Coming Home" features a haunting, repetitive bass and guitar melody with wheezing electronics and shimmering blip noise. Pelt's track is recorded live and is more of their basic ethno-forgery drone sound, being a cavernous/ominous jam by an actual violin quartet, reminiscent of Sun City Girls collaboration with Eyvind Kang. Joe+n delivers some droning vinyl pops layered over ORGANUM -esque metallic shimmer. Loren Mazzacane Connors coaxes a dreamlike melody from gently reverbed guitar. Nod do their usual shambolic garage-rock, although "John Henry vs. The Smog Monster" infuses it with a country blues vocabulary, making it a wistful, vaguely Dixieland-sounding burst of free-rock stumble. Mick Turner of the Dirty Three follows and defies expectations with a rather wild cut-and-paste plunderphonic 'contemporary classical' type piece. Sheet is another Rochester-ite doing 'sheets' of noise. Kind of John Wiese-y, though with less "digital shock" and more on the "incendiary robo-drone" tip. SQ brings back the free-death-chaos with "After Being___So Long", an icy room-ambient piece with distant amp buzz, improvised cymbal splatter, and eternal feedback that mutates into shrieking skree collapse. Bardo Pond lumber through "Vagabond", a gnarly drone rock abrasion that sounds like SHELLAC drunk on cough syrup and stuck on a merry go round. Karl Precoda and Mike Gangloff team up for "Metal Shop", fusing field recordings of the aforementioned locale to a lower-register bowed-string drone. And Pengo end the disc with a jam called "New Loft Elevation 2001." At the raucous beginning, John Schoen's 'sound sources' create a feel more like To Live and Shave in L.A. than what one would expect from these guys, although it soon dissipates and out of the dust emerges a percussion-driven ethno-forgery jam with weird multi-tracked reed playing by Joe Tunis. The last few seconds are really great stuff, as the percussion groove morphs into a lurching electro-glitch groove. Overall, a superb diverse collection of drones, psyche-folk, free-noise, and deathjazz!

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  Artist/Title: Various Artists - things we‘re made of 4 Format: CD Label: Carbon Records Price: $8 Catalog ID: CR08 A good representation of the state of indie/underground rock in Rochester NY circa 1995-1996. Exclusive tracks by Duke Galaxy and the Pipeliners, Muler, Hilkka, Shop Class Squares, Quitters, Flywheel, Race Car Bob, Nothing Doll, Nora, Malaise, Butterslax, Lethargy, Visionstain, speedQueen, SlumberScape, Finkbeiner and Joe+4 (now known as Joe+N).