All proceeds from the sale of this release will go to Tom Carter. Read more about the appeal here: http://www.volcanictongue.com/tomcarterappeal

Follow-up to the first volume of this on-going series that joins the dots between an earlier generation of American Primitive guitarists and contemporary intuitive sound-as-thought players. Once again Jack Rose is featured (with an absolutely gorgeous 6 string re-think of "Cross The North Fork 2") but every other player puts in a first-time appearance on this volume. The inclusion of Christina Carter is a particularly inspired move and one that speaks of the liberated range of the series in general and her track is a beauty, a stubby acoustic guitar miniature. Nice cover snap too. Other tracks include a particularly mesmeric recording from UK guitarist James Blackshaw and contributions from Peter Lang, Jesse Sparhawk, Michael Chapman, Sean Smith, Fred Gerlach, Billy Faier, Sharron Kraus, Robbie Basho and...uh...Jose Gonzalez. Another rich, far-sighted assortment from this great label.

"Incredible archival set by Christina Carter from a solo performance in London on 26 October 2004.  This art edition comes in a run of only 122 signed and hand-numbered copies with a variety of art paper sleeves in the usual Many Breaths style and is available exclusively from Volcanic Tongue.  Described by Christina as her ‘most broken and expressionist performance to date' this set features radically reworked interpretations of early solo and Charalambides material in a style that can be best described as deconstructed Texas blues by attempting to combine the voice, rhythm and slide guitar of these complex songs via a single solo performance.  Here Christina seems to be taking direct inspiration from original country blues slide players like Blind Willie Johnson and Bukka White while translating them to the present via a variety of aggressive playing styles filtered through the psychedelic blues of Jandek and Keiji Haino.  At times the playing reminds me of Bill Orcutt, not necessarily in terms of technique or sonics, but more in approach, the way the guitar is attacked furiously combining both lead and rhythm techniques simultaneously. She launches frantic flurries of slide notes while always returning to the root chord’s open tuning in the same way that Orcutt's playing always returns to that de-tuned bottom C-string.  The rhythm playing itself is anything but straight-forward with syncopated and staccato-styled playing of slashed chords.  You could imagine this as being a very physical performance with Christina moving and contorting between playing high-end slide and off-beat open chords that seem to continually resonate providing the songs' wayward rhythms and building intensity.

 On the opening track "Namaste" the slide playing gets particularly aggressive towards the end, with flurries of improvised notes sounding almost like Christina's interpretation of Heather Leigh’s wilder pedal steel work transposed to slide guitar.  The song is offset by a vocal melody that sounds as connected to traditional Celtic folk as much as country or gospel blues, giving the track a strange balance that reflects the inner conflict perfectly. One of the highlights is her interpretation of two classic early Charalambides tracks from Joy Shapes and Unknown Spin: "Here, Not Here" and "Voice Within".  The guitar playing moves seamlessly between delicate finger-picked melodies and crashing chords laden in reverb and echo providing a permanent wall of sound.  Slightly reminiscent of the atmosphere on Keiji Haino's classic Affection album and with a similar use of overlapping repetitive rhythms as on his recent Seijaku recordings.  This also really demonstrates Christina's ability as an accomplished guitar player with at times some slightly more eastern or Malian blues-sounding scales being used.  The more aggressive wailing vocals often heard on her Scorces recordings is also evident.  There is a wonderful moment where Christina moves between one of her falsetto screams and her softer tone when her voice breaks reminding us of the fragility of the performer herself. 
With so many of the recent Many Breaths releases focusing on voice and melody such as A Blossom Fell or even poetry as on Seals, it’s great to hear this other dimension of such an important artist. This is Christina as a blues-influenced solo performer jamming wild interpretations of the form in a psychedelic outlaw style that could only come from Texas. Highly recommended." - Andrew Ross

All proceeds from the sale of this release will go to Tom Carter. Read more about the appeal here: http://www.volcanictongue.com/tomcarterappeal

CD edition of what was originally a limited cassette album from Christina Carter. It feels like we have been pretty much constantly drooling over new Christina releases of late but she seems to be in the middle of one of the most creatively-accelerated phases of her career right now and Texas Blues Working is yet another monster in a dazzling run of blats. This one matches choirs of overdubbed voice soaked in a ton of mystery and F/X over electric guitar shapes that move from knotty, almost Jandekian chord puzzles through lucid single-note heartbreak that feels closest to Loren Connors amazing form circa Hells Kitchen Park or Keiji Haino's recent midnight loop work. But it's the vocals that really grab you by the back of the neck, with supernaturally mournful wordless cries echoing through deep space and lucid sunbursts of west coast-style psychedelic oblivion (something of Jefferson Airplane circa After Bathing At Baxters/Volunteers) carved into some of the most emotionally barren and personally spooked song forms. Haunting and unforgettable, another masterpiece from Christina. Already sold out at source. Highly recommended!

Stunning vinyl upgrade for what was originally a series of ultra-limited ‘Compendium Discs/Digital 78s’ released as companion volumes to Dredd’s Kissing The Contemporary Bliss album by Heroine Celestial Agriculture: Blues Sermon With Congregation is basically a trio set, with Dredd Foole aka Dan Ireton on vocals and guitar backed by Matthew Valentine and Erika Elder in full-on Spectrasound head-fuck mode. Christina Carter also guests on one track, here credited as Christiina Madoniia. Dredd’s 1994 album, In Quest Of Tense remains one of the key founding free folk documents and over the years his personal vision of freak has made for some of the most sublime reconciliations with folk form, song, free improvisation and ecstatic body soundings. Blues Sermon... represents his furthest pass through the realm of unknown tongue, with dense string environments that combine the kind of wood and wire vortices of Alan Silva and the Revolutionary Ensemble with *those* amazing post-Starsailor/Buckley vocal flights, keening in a high cosmo style that is just impossibly beautiful. With free folk the emphasis was always on the free part of the equation, an improvisatory stance that was lost on most beards but this is the absolute apex of that approach, think Robbie Basho’s spine-tingling take on “Salangadou” as played by Don Cherry’s Organic Music Society and with Pat Kilroy on form-destroying raga guitar and feedback visions. MV & EE generate some of their most F/X heavy sonic environments, Christina Carter ascends through visions of atonal vocal/guitar bliss and the trio rip through a take on Robert Johnson’s “Stones In My Pathway” that sounds like it is being broadcast over centuries via Sun Ra’s vision of tomorrow in yesterday. A stunning avant/folk/psych private press masterpiece in an edition of only 400 copies. Highest possible recommendation!

Stunning new private press release from Christina Carter (Charalambides/Scorces et al) in an individually hand-numbered, signed and hand-lettered edition of only 89 copies, each of which comes wrapped in a full-size original painting by Christina (!): “Imaginee is a landmark release from Christina and the most ambitious statement of her artistic career to date.  A mixture of presentations comprising spoken word poetry and musical compositions for voice, piano and guitar this is a singular release by an artist who is truly pushing herself and her art into profound new zones.  It moves through alternately personal, reflective, beautiful, provocative, disturbing and intimate modes as Christina’s beautiful, yet fragile, vocals are offset against sparse and creative arrangements.  The verdict – even next to personal favourites like Coupled, Seals and Trickster this ranks as a fucking masterpiece.
Christina has always expanded her craft beyond her work as musician into poetry and art. In particular, she has previously published poetry via Digitalis and Ecstatic Peace as well as heralding the influence of the late 70s Poetry Out Loud series. In addition, her vocal and lyrical work (particularly on Seals with tracks like “Building and Rocks”) have always had that observational/streams of consciousness feel with lines and thoughts evolving, looping and tripping into one another. This for me though is her first part-spoken word poetry release, delivered with a confrontational, observational or sometimes reflective style that would not have been out of place next to fellow Texan Bill Shute.
The album (comprising 8 poetry and 6 musical presentations) sounds like it has two natural halves split by the piano-only instrumental title track in the middle. The poems are a mixture of reflective (“A Friend of a Friend”, “A Fascination of Faces”), observational (“What Kind of Face”, “An Assistant”, “Avenue of Corner”) and self-assessing (“You Get Out Of My Head”, “You Taught Me”) covering possible themes from relationships to simply story-teller. Often written in the first person, they are sometimes directed to a variety of characters (father, friend, lover, God) – it is never clear, perhaps left to the listener or Imaginee. Not content with just the lyrical content or delivery style, Christina has also adopted a number of production techniques from distance, up-close, phasing and echo to give these a further dimension beyond simple spoken poems; it’s this kind of detail that really bring the album to life. Each track evokes a slightly different meaning on subsequent listens but personally I really enjoyed the lyrical content of “What Kind of Face” whilst there was a certain fragility and disturbing quality to “You Get Out Of My Head”.
The musical compositions, which are interspersed between the poems, are the apex of Christina’s song craft to date. The piano led “Letter L” has a kind of continuous vocal prose (not unlike Seals) with a Joy Shapes-style arrangement (like “Here” or “Voice”), simple two-note bass interspersed with jerky stabbed notes that sound like deconstructed Texas blues guitar translated for piano.  “Actual Black Empty” is one of the clear highlights – an arrangement of gently plucked guitar overladen with minimalist distorted lead accompanied by non-conventional slow droning harmonica sounds like the kind of dysfunctional blues you want to trip on. This is matched by the intimate, close vocal of “You have the life…” with the sort of painstakingly beautiful melody that has graced latter year classic Charalambides albums like Vintage Burden or Exile. If that wasn’t enough the beautifully titled “Two Lovers In One Magazine” is another mindblower and the absolute zenith of Christina’s vocals prowess to date, created virtually by echo, phased, layered, double-tracked and backward vocals, all harmonising in an almost mantra chanting embrace “How good to know…”.  With only a two note piano accompaniment, this is a like a continuous euphoric wave of vocal and melodic ecstasy that will have you spinning. The track closes with flutters of blossoming notes, arpeggios and triplets evoking the spirit of Alice Coltrane (to these ears anyway in a slightly twisted way). 
Following some of the more surreal poems is “Drama In Paradox” – possibly the most fragile and amazing vocal I’ve heard from Christina – unless you have no soul you will find this both beautiful and deeply affecting beyond mere description. The album closes with the epic 19 minute blues dirge of “Symbols”. A vocal-led intro gives way to sparse, desolate harmonica interspersed with the sort of overdriven, minimalist blues-playing of Loren Connors or Jandek.  Like weeping notes of liquid blues from the gutter, my kinda thing. 
Overall, this is a major statement from an artist that is continually pushing the boundaries of her craft. Whether it’s the thought-provoking (at times surreal) poetry, the beauty and melody of those vocals, or the closing fragility of that blues dirge, this comes with my highest possible recommendation!” – Andrew Ross. 

Nice anthology of pomes from some modern days heads/musicians, the highlight of which is Christina Carter’s wonderful “Center Of Exits”. Also features work by Michael Anderson, Michelle Angelini, James Barrett, James Blackshaw, Julie Cook, Michael Donnelly (Brothers Of The Occult Sisterhood et al), Sid Fallon, Spencer Grady, Denton Harris, Denton Harris, Robert Horton, Paganini Jones, Eden Hemming Rose, Brad Rose, Mainon Alexandra Schwartz, Indigo Tempesta, Kade L. Twist and Keith Wood (Hush Arbors). Hand-numbered edition of 120 copies. Each book hand-bound with cloth tape and a hard cover with a design by Keith Wood.

Finally got a bunch of copies of this inspired collection of poetry, sex memoirs, paeans to post-rock poon and subcultural subterfuge by one of the most consistently savvy wordsmiths of the post-literate underground, Mr Byron Coley. Printed back in 2003 in an edition of 100 copies by Tom and Christina Carter of Charalambides, this one went precisely nowhere for reasons that are buried beneath many, many hangovers but here it is, finally. Stapled, A4 format with a buncha poems that touch on subjects as close to your heart as Jayne Mansfield's corpse, Barbara Bush's puke, Touch & Go Records, Lester Young and Albert Einstein, early-60s glamour, shaven versus unshaven armpits, Genesis P-Orridge and Jordi Valls, the art of the money shot, Alice Coltrane and a whole bunch more worthwhile musings on lady hair from a guy who does little else but. Highly recommended.

All proceeds from the sale of this release will go to Tom Carter. Read more about the appeal here: http://www.volcanictongue.com/tomcarterappeal

Edition of 214 one-sided LP with blood red silkscreened flip. Looped and live collaged ritual atmospherics and crude guitar/drum psych stand-offs that orbit a similar zone to early NNCK from a group that feature Tom Carter of Charalambides, Shawn McMillen (Ash Castles On The Ghost Coast), Brian Smith (Iron Kite et al) and Blake Carlisle. Less drone-focussed than previous releases and deeper into a kind of savant ESP Disk Godz/Fugs séance style.

Deluxe vinyl edition of this classic solo album from Heather Leigh (Jailbreak/Scorces/Jandek et al) originally released in a tiny edition on cassette by Fag Tapes. Two fully-extended high metal masses for amplified pedal steel and vocals that blow all notions of form, fidelity and frilly fucking folk-picking fops to the kinda sweet metallic ribbons previously worn as crowns by Keiji Haino, Jojo Hiroshige and Teenage Jesus & The Jerks. Very different in tone and attack from the recent Jailbreak LP, Jailhouse Rock has a more amorphous sound, with muzzy smears of guitar caked in NZ-style fuzz and clouds of high string tone that conjure the miasmic electronics of Maurizio Bianchi. One of Heather’s most blasted sides with all-new nuts artwork by Heath Moreland. “Jailhouse Rock is in fact a wax reissue of a long OOP 2006 cassette classic on Michigan crud factory Fag Tapes. It was a fave of ours that year (and every year), so it feels extra celebratory to be able to offer up a freshly remastered (by Pete Swanson) LP edition of the album for global re-appreciation. Sprawling, long-form descents/ascents into mythic electric disorientation, powered by her trademark recipe of FX-soaked pedal steel and voice. Jailhouse feels loosely more aligned with a mid-aughts drone/noise aesthetic than the outsider dirt road Americana of her Devil If You Can Hear Me LP (also on NNF), but the distinction is a slight one. Side A swims in swooping sheets of vox and tempestuous wind tunnel dynamics before slowly dying away to wheezing disembodied harmonica. The B piece begins in a more overtly beautiful mode, a trinity of crystalline notes picked and stretched until they’re transformed into a rapturous sky of textural distortion. Sensual and vertigo-inducing in equal measure. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with brand new paint/collage artwork by Heath Moerland (of Sick Llama, Slither, Odd Clouds, etc). Edition of 400.” – NNF. Highly recommended!

Duo project from Tom Carter of Charalambides and Marc Orleans of Sunburned Hand Of The Man. If you’ve caught any of the recent solo blats from Tom Carter since his relocation to NYC then you’ll know that that these days his guitar is fully set to shred and this is a stunning document of two string-thinkers working with maximal freedom and organic rhythms. The opening “Eyes Of Jewels, Mirrored Bodies” marries Orleans great fingerpicking style – which comes from a similar place to Glenn Jones – to Tom’s wild west coast style. Later tracks explode the blueprint even further, marring a 90s underground feel for squeal with an immolating post-Sonny Sharrock aesthetic. Easily one of the wildest sides either of these guys have cut. 150g vinyl with download. 

All proceeds from the sale of this release will go to Tom Carter. Read more about the appeal here: http://www.volcanictongue.com/tomcarterappeal

Excellent new jukebox 7” from the duo of Tom Carter (Charalambides) and Marc Orleans (Sunburned Hand Of The Man), here joined by Betsy Nichols (Michael Hurley) on vocals and Michael Evans on drums for a full-band sound: very different in tone and attack from their Northern Spy LP, this is fantastic set of vaguely country-tinged hunch and European psychedelic volk. The a side is a gorgeous composition by Tom with his and Betsy’s vocals intertwining with alla the beauty of Gila’s classic Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee before Tom makes with a wild psychedelic fuzz solo. Orleans’ track on the flip has a fantastic sepia-toned early SF feel that’s somewhere between the original Charlatans, the International Submarine Band and early Dead. Totally great. More please!

All proceeds from the sale of this release will go to Tom Carter. Read more about the appeal here: http://www.volcanictongue.com/tomcarterappeal

Original CD edition of this 2005 release from Badgerlore that saw them operating as a quartet featuring Tom Carter of Charalambides, Ben Chasny of Six Organs Of Admittance, Pete Swanson of Yellow Swans and Rob Fisk of 7 Year Rabbit Cycle. Tracks move from the kind of staggered blues/bliss ragas originally formulated by Charalambides through all-vocal murk ala Skaters/Gyuto Monks.