Charalambides

The 16 years' existence of the avant-folk duo Charalambides has witnessed the marriage and divorce of founders Tom and Christina Carter, with the group somehow surviving all the twists and turns. Charalambides itself has gone through a lot of changes, with early-1990s efforts mixing traditional folk tunes of the 19th century with heavy psychedelia, and millenium-era Charalambides moving into an ethereal, improvisational direction. During that time, Charalambides released all kinds of hopelessly obscure vinyl LPs, and CDRs packaged in art objects, such as rattan placemats and rice-paper bound with sealing wax and string.
In Tom and Christina's first visit to Colorado Nov. 12, they were returning in part to traditionalist lyrics and melodic song structures, though where the Carters are concerned, normality is always relative. Christina's voice is as confident and focused as it ever has been, shifting from slow alto to soaring soprano with very little effort. And Tom is putting a little more rock star attitude in his playing today. Their new CD, Likeness, may be the most accessible work the duo has ever done, and most of the performances in Denver were from that release. For part of their tour, T&C were appearing with former Charalambides member Heather Leigh Murray, the curator of Glasgow's Volcanic Tongue, and a vibrant noise-maker in her own right. Heather went back to Glasgow Nov. 9, unfortunately. Heading the tour was Scottish folk traditionalist Alasdair Roberts, who sang beautiful ballads. This only underscores the fact that Charalambides dwell between two worlds, one familiar and enlightening, the other transcendental and occasionally frightening. (A professional videography team was on hand for their show - if videos appear online, I will update this post with a clip.)

That '70s Shtick

There seems to be a lot of strange fascination with the 70s lately - Rilo Kiley loves that disco and Fleetwood Mac sound, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is channeling a dimension between J. Geils and Climax Blues Band, and now Fiery Furnaces gives us an Eleanor Friedberger wishing she were a Joan Jett/Suzi Quatro hybrid. (I saw Fiery Furnaces in Denver last year and hoped for some of that strange piano-driven Rundgren-style stuff, and got Eleanor being a metal queen - nice, but...)

What's my problem? It's not the 1970s I knew and loved. The one where the burst of punk in 1976-77 represented the highlight of the decade. The one where the glam rockers early in the decade, precursors to goth types, could always trump lovers of Bachman Turner Overdrive and Deep Purple with their collections of Roxy Music, New York Dolls, Mott the Hoople, and Velvet Underground. In fact, the only place where me and the metalheads came to common cause was Blue Oyster Cult, a band everyone could love for their cheesy chutzpah.

Given that prejudice, my vote for 1970s retro of 2007 goes to Thurston Moore's Trees Outside the Academy. Yeah, I know, Thurston is destroying the indie cred of his band, Sonic Youth, with a Starbuck's contract, but think of the wonderful things he continues to do in promoting unusual and non-commercial improv music. What's special about this album is he gets weirdo artists like Christina Carter to sing actual songs with traditional melodic structure on this album, and gives us a booklet with pics of himself as a teenager, worshipping Patti Smith and The Ramones and The Dead Boys while letting his red-haired freak flag fly. Now that's a 1970s I recognize.