Three Lane Blacktop

Tom Carter's description: "new release of eldritch origin featuring historic recordings of two nearly-complete sets from the market square-era Charalambides line-up, featuring the core duo of Tom and Christina Carter and Jason Bill. One side is from the Cooler, NYC, at the 1995 CMJ fest (swirling vox sound courtesy Kurt Wolf), where Strapping Fieldhands got their Fender Twin stolen, and Bill Orcutt & I witnessed the unrepentant use of string-eze by the guitarist from Cobra Verde. The other side is from the 1994 Siltbreeze Festival at the Khyber Pass in Philly. Both sets consist of freak-rock tracks from Market Square and Strangle The Wretched Heavens, heavy on analog atmosphere & ecstatic/blown-out gtr/vox interconnectivity." To which we can only add: Just prior to entering their period of heavenly flotation, Charalambides were at their most damaged and psychedelic, making what felt like brave trio explorations into the same Tex/psychic nimbus that had earlier spat out Jandek. Their guitars were unhooking themselves from riff-wagons, their vocals were de-coupling from formal policies, and anything seemed possible. Like the sprawling masterpiece, Market Square (Siltbreeze, 1995), this was the sound of a band that had clearly arrived, although they were also on the verge of departing for even weirder pastures. But who knew?