Carlton Melton formed along the Mendocino County coastline in Northern California on the weekend of 17 July 2008, with the idea to play live, loud, improvised, experimental, instrumental, psychedelic music in a geodesic dome. Andy Duvall (guitar and drums), Brian McDougall (drums), Rich Milguitar and synthesizer) and John Steuernagel (bass) had been discussed this for many years prior to their formation, and the opportunity came to fruition after the Dome was completely rebuilt and the acoustic sounds inside were fully realized. The music is recorded live inside the Dome to analogue and digital sources using carefully placed omni-directional microphones, and all music is improvised in the sense that no one really knows who or what is going to be played at any given time. The result of the 2008 session was a self-released CD-R entitled 'Live In Point Arena', which could be purchased through their website www.carltonmusic.con. After this session the band decided that it would be great to try and make this gathering a seasonal event, but time got away from them and it was the following Spring before another session was arranged for March 2009. This allowed the band to record enough material to release the album 'Pass It On...' on their own label Mid-To-Late Records in November 2009. Surprisingly enough, before the album was released, they were able to get together in the last weekend of June 2009, and this provided enough new material for future releases, and also some bonus tracks for a CD release of the 'Pass It On...' album, which had been picked up for re-issue by Agitated Records in the UK.
In 2010 the band recorded two tracks which were issued om Mid-To-Late as a split single with Empty Shapes, who contributed three tracks to the release, and this became their preferred method of getting their music out to their fans, releasing split singles with Bardo Pond, Mugstar, Qumran Orphics, Kandodo 3, Mind Mountain, and the Black Elk Medicine Band between 2011 and 2016, as well as releasing their own albums when they had enough material that hadn't been ear-marked for one of their collaborations. As well as recording in their Dome, they are also a touring band, and one of their live shows was released as a 100-copy limited edition cassette in 2014, while their most recent release is a recording from their 2023 European tour, which was issued just this year. They first came to my attention with 2020's 'Where This Leads', and so I was quite late to the party and had a lot of catching up to do, but although I collected most of their albums I missed their split singles, plus their own non-album tracks from singles and EPs, and so this post collects all of those rare and hard to find recordings, both with other artists and on their own. My original plan was to add the band to my 'Best Of...' series, but with over a dozen albums released, and with an average running time per track of around 10 minutes, that turned out to be a non-starter, and so the post became a rarities collection, with over five hours of music spread over a 5-CD set. They might be something of an acquired taste for people who like their music tightly structured, but fans of out-there, experimental psychedelic space-rock are in for a treat.
Track listing
Disc I - 2010-2011
01 Call And Response (split single with Empty Shapes 2010)
02 Purer (split single with Empty Shapes 2010)
03 Handling Snakes (single 2011)
04 The One That Got Away (b-side of 'Handling Snakes')
05 Bottle Of Heat (from the 'I'm So Convoluted!' compilation 2011)
Disc II - 2011
01 March Of The Cicadas (split single with Qumran Orphics 2011)
02 Murder Ridge (split single with Qumran Orphics 2011)
03 Slow Growth (split single with Bardo Pond 2011)
04 Company (extended version) (split single with Mugstar 2011)
05 Death Whisper (split single with Mugstar 2011)
Disc III - 2012-2013
01 Adrift (from the 'Smoke Drip' EP 2012)
02 Smoke Drip (from the 'Smoke Drip' EP 2012)
03 Against The Wall (from the 'Smoke Drip' EP 2012)
04 Personal Space (from the 'Four Eyes' EP 2013)
05 Road Swagger (from the 'Four Eyes' EP 2013)
06 Glass Home (from the 'Four Eyes' EP 2013)
07 Mist (from the 'Four Eyes' EP 2013)
Disc IV - 2015-2016
01 Footprints (split single with Kandodo 3 2015)
02 Flags (split single with Kandodo 3 2015)
03 Chincoteague (split single with Kandodo 3 2015)
04 Harbinger (split single with Mind Mountain 2015)
05 Observatory (split single with Black Elk Medicine Band 2015)
06 Upon Your Return (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)
07 Simulacra (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)
08 Phildelayphian (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)
09 Simmer (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)
10 Holiday Hours (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)
Disc V - 2017-2022
01 Rememory (from the 'Hidden Lights' EP 2017)
02 The Warbler (from the 'Hidden Lights' EP 2017)
03 Hidden Lights (from the 'Hidden Lights' EP 2017)
04 Resemblance (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
05 Morning Warmth (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
06 High Noon Thirty (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
07 Safe Place (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
08 Straitum (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
09 Chop Shop (from the 'We Love You Junzo' compilation album 2022)
No comments:
Post a Comment