A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z · #

MY RECORD

COLLECTION

HOME· ARTISTS· ALBUMS· COUNTRY· LABELS· GENRES· WANTS

Charalambides

Charalambides at it's origin based in Texas and consisted of the trio of Tom & Christina Carter with Heather Leigh. After a few psych-folk albums, the group's sound evolved (or "devolved") into some sort of primitive tribal psych. Lyrics were slowly disappearing, but the voice became an integral part of it's delivery as "oohs" and "aahs" became the only sounds to accompany a sparsely played guitar. The music became extremely minimal, but there was something transcendental about it too, listening to a song (which also became longer and longer and usually it's the longest track on a an album which is most successful) would become an experience, an inner voyage. I swear to God there is something enlightening about their music if you are able to relax and absorb it (and trust me, it's not always that easy, if you're not in the right state of mind you'll just never be able to enjoy this). This is not a social group (drug?), it's meant to be listened to on headphones, or alone, at a high enough volume to make any other disturbances disappear. If you meet all these fragile prerequisites (like a fragile flower) then you're in for quite an experience.

Besides Charalambides, all members have their own side or solo projects (Scorces for example). Heather Leigh has since parted with the group and moved to Scotland to form Taurpis Tula with David Keenan of Wire magazine. I started buying Charalambides records after finding one of their albums on rebate in a mainstream store who had no idea what this band was. The Kranky label has slowly been re-releasing their older and out-of-print albums (along with new albums). Their signing the band was apparently done on a dare, a bit like Wolf Eyes releasing a record on Sub Pop.

---