Wholly Other Mail Order Catalog

PLEASE write for availability before ordering. Thanks!

Now Available:

CHARALAMBIDES- BRANCHES CD (wholly other 13)
12$ postpaid US, 15$ UK/Europe/Central & South America, 17$ asia and elsewhere
A rare document of a brief arc in Charalambides' 17 year (and counting) trajectory, somewhere between the extreme spatial attenuation of the long gone Crucial Blast CDR Being As Is and the gentle intergalactic trio sway of the kranky disk Unknown Spin- and quite distance from both the exclamatory exhalations of Joy Shapes and the layered songcraft of Likeness.

These are spartan duets of formalistic near-symmetry, a reminder that there was a time when Charalambides swung as close to the axis of Incus and FMP as to that of Takoma and ESP. Christina (voice) and Tom Carter (guitar) improvise non-textual melodic lines around an locus of mirror clarity, occasionally overlapping various strands using two DAT machines and a mixing board, in a nod to the pre ProTools digital scrap heap.

Originally issued as a Peter King lathe cut LP on Eclipse Records in an edition of 100 in 2000, the reissue of this extreme rarity is remastered from a superior source for maximum clarity. Inkblot artwork courtesy of Heather Leigh Murray. The whole package is dedicated to Bruce Connor (R.I.P.). The reissue at hand is an edition of 500, with fold-over printed sleeves in the style of Electricity Ghosts.

ZAIKA- BIG JAR (Archive CD)
$13.00 postpaid in US, $16.00 UK/EU/canada/mexico, $18.00 elsewhere
A complete 30 minute set from 2007 at big jar books in philly, PA, fueled by good vibes and yuenglings. intertwining twin gtr tidewater, straight up the spinal column. stellar recording and packaging, as always, courtesy of slimm and archive. archive says: "Comes packaged in an oversized heavyweight half fold cover with two color letterpress print work and vellum printed photos inset in center die cut. Graphic works wonderfully executed by Demian Johnston."

TOM CARTER- SHOTS AT INFINITY 1 (CD) (important records)
12$ postpaid US, 15$ UK/Europe/Central & South America, 17$ asia and elsewhere
PLEASE NOTE that the LP and CD issues of this are two totally different records with totally different music. Heavy psych long-form blowout, representative of recent live motion. From the imp. rec. catalog- "Shots At Infinity 1(the CD) is comprised of recordings from various basements in the northeastern USA from late 2007. Steering away from the more delicate string environments and modal folk improvisations of previous CDs, the disk features maximum loop delay drone overload stretched over long, densely harmonic tracks, retaining the melodic content and flow of earlier releases."

Charalambides/ Pocahaunted: Bored Fortress split 7" (Not Not Fun, subscription only edition)
$14 postpaid in US, $18 postpaid Europe & elsewhere
"...East Texas jam-troubadours Charalambides kick out a fried and hypnotized re-working of a track from their most recent Kranky full-length, while LA ladies Pocahaunted surf on singing bowls above a smog-soaked sunset drum beat." Charalambides contribution is a completely spaced version of "Memory Takes Hold" recorded to ADAT in Basque Country. Artwork by Liz Harris. Black Vinyl. Extremely out of print, only a few copies left.

Badgerlore- We Are All Hopeful Farmers, We Are All Scared Rabbits (Xeric CD)
expanded lineup of rob fisk, ben chasny, tom carter, pete swanson, glenn donaldson, liz harris, and a handful of backing singers (swedish and otherwise). urban american string music that drifts in the window like smoke (whether a kif haze or fog wisping down the coastal ranges is open to interpretation), ensemble vocals that bubble like red wine on the lips, blaring electronics blasting by like the #57 bus. long delayed CD copies on table of the elements side label xeric.
13$ postpaid in US, 15$ europe/canada/mexico, 17$ asia and elsewhere

Tom Carter- Skyline Grinder (three lobed CD) 9$
steel string rivulets funneled into a narrow tonal canyon, with wrecked soloing slammed on top. similar in mode to recent live gigs, only replacing the 16 second delay with a vox jaguar, lapsteel, and ebow. not available for sale except from me (and whoever else i sell it to)....
9$ postpaid in US, 11$ europe/canada/mexico, 13$ asia and elsewhere

Primordial Undermind- Beings of Game PU (camera obscura CD)
sole document (almost) of my brief tenure in primordial undermind, free improvised heavy rock/ prog w/ viola, drums, bass, gtr, electronics, etc.....
8$ postpaid in US, 10$ europe/canada/mexico, 12$ asia and elsewhere

SARIN SMOKE - Smokescreen LP (comes with bonus live CD EP) (three lobed recordings)
from the same sessions that produced the wholly other 12", this one piles heaps of modal yearning on top of the already substantial blurry haze of the earlier disk. more beautiful art by liz harris, this time on a beautiful 2 panel foldover letter press sleeve. bonus CD is a short set from sacramento in 2005 (i think). another classy three lobed production, numbered pressing of 657.
15$ media mail postpaid in US, 21$ europe/canada/mexico, 23$ asia and elsewhere

TOM CARTER/ CHRISTIAN KIEFER - A Rather Solemn Promise CD (great pop supplement, UK)
Another T. Carter duo creeps down the pipeline. This time it's with Christian Kiefer, who some of you may recognize from his Tompkins Square CD with Sharon Krauss a couple of years back. This is an all-improvised set of threadbare-loose, (mostly) electrified folk blues- and it's almost normal enough to sneak onto the iPod of your average goateed tea sipper, but there's enough dense high-end steel rail shimmer to send the timid packing. Rambling, dusted, and deeply psyched out, sort of like The Hired Hand re-imagined by the Crosby-led Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra (c. 1969). Covers designed, rendered, and hand-screened by Rob Fisk of Free Porcupine Society. Numbered edition of 500, from the label folks responsible for the now-defunct Earworm Records.
LOWER PRICE: 10$ postpaid in US, 12$ europe/canada/mexico, 14$ asia and elsewhere

TOM CARTER/ ROBERT HORTON/ LISA CAMERON/ LEE ANN CAMERON - Sky City CD (important)
the latest horton-related outing on important. the camerons are well known to certain shadowy texans as a chunk of jerry sighnfeldz astro feed shak (or something like that), and lisa has pounded skins for years with brave combo (pre-polka), st37, devil bat, and roky erickson. lately she has been splitting sonic hairs via contact microphone and vibrating snare head in venison whirled, and this is the trail she pursues here. joined by lee ann on vox/ percussion, tom on gtr/ electronics/ etc, and robert on ... whatever the hell robert happens to be playing. far and away the most ra-damaged load of glass buckshot to be blown out the front door of chez robert into the mean streets of el cerrito in some time. and for fuzz historians, there are plenty of dispatches from the land of wah.
LOWER PRICE: 10$ postpaid in US, 12$ europe/canada/mexico, 14$ asia and elsewhere

MUDSUCKERS- S/T CD (important)
first release by this collaborative project of tom carter, robert horton, and yellow swans (gabriel mindel/ pete swanson). the most roaring and dense horton assemblage to date, with walls of sound verging on gravitational collapse. "feedback is layered like mud on the carcass of song structure... think creedence clearwater revival without the one chord they knew."- robert horton, from the important catalog description.
LOWER PRICE: 8$ postpaid in US, 10$ europe/canada/mexico, 12$ asia and elsewhere

FRIDAY GROUP- S/T LP (beta lactam ring)
restocked a bunch of copies of the debut friday group release. this one has a pulsing serenity in place of the extreme wigginess of the live stuff, and remains the definitive friday group recording to date (just wait for the next LP, however). from the BLR records catalog: "From out of the Great Republic of Texas, and a new side project from Tom Carter (Charalambides) and Brian Smith (Iron Kite) rises a lone star called Friday Group. In a seemingly appropriate gesture, the opening scherzo of droney solo guitar twang blows dusty debris across the speakers, as if a small sand storm in a remote part of Amarillo. With wind wrestling loose gutters and flat chimes, the first movement is almost a weird paean to Ry Cooder's desolate Paris Texas score. Axe attacks hover thick and dragging in the hazy distance, strings sounding as if played a single wind at a time. Jittery, slithery, prepared warbled tremolos flutter warm in extended notes that drip like old paint. If you've never had the pleasure, the later addition of harmonium and the further devolution of the guitar into howling halos of rusty hinges is virtually the embodiment of a drive through western Texas. Slow motion, spacious landscapes of thirsty air and lazy lizards. Perhaps The Great Republic will rise again. In the mean time, Tom Carter's Friday Group will make mincemeat out of a month of Sundays."
LOWER PRICE: 10$ media mail postpaid in US, 16$ europe/canada/mexico, 18$ asia and elsewhere

TOM CARTER/ ROBERT HORTON - Lunar Eclipse CD (Important)
"Lunar Eclipse was culled from over 30 hours of recordings taking place, inedvertantly, on the equinox, lunar eclipse and winter solstice of 2004 .The duo of Tom Carter (Charalambides) and Robert Horton sound as if they are channeling the natural power of these significant calender days into the music. They both noticed something special was happening during the initial recording session when they looked at a clock and realised that they'd been playing for over 5 hours. Thoughout the album Carter slowly plays louder and more powerfully than usual over drone-master Robert Horton's organic & electronic chimes, drones, jangles, dangles and splendor. The result is a vast, expansive sound cavern full of hidden melody, slow drones, textured tribal gong and hidden mystic rhythm.From the very start, when Horton drones in and Tom Carter strikes a single sustained echoing electrified note Lunar Eclipse sounds like the music is infused with that shock and weird light of an eclipse. Track one, Lunar Eclipse, is a slow drone metal meets Neil Young psychedelic freakout with vocals that sound as is theyre recorded inside of a deep cave. On other tracks Hortons homemade instruments such as the electric barometer, boot, and sex machine fuse with Carter's twisted lap steel ebow shimmerings, prepared guitar. At other moments Tom's guitar or lapsteel solo over the top of the swirling noise chasm. On the last track Robert and Tom both play Hortons homemades welding a Harry Partch web of rhythm together untill it implodes in metal drone fragments of screeching fury. Lunar Eclipse demands to be listened to in it's entirety as one whole experience. It has an undeniable power that will return again and again much like the natural events that subconsciously inspired the recordings." (from Important catalog listing)
LOWER PRICE: 8$ postpaid in US, 10$ europe/canada/mexico, 12$ asia and elsewhere

SPIDERWEBS/ TAMBURO + McDOWELL/ LAWLER - Strands Formerly Braided CD (Music Fellowship)
Features Spiderwebs (Tom Carter/Sandy Ewen), Mike Tamburo/ Matthew McDowell, and Keenan Lawler. Powerhouse tracks by all three (especially the under-documented Lawler). "The act of braiding the strands together affects the structure and fibers of hair, taking days or even weeks for the hair to relax back into its natural position. This relationship between strands in a braid is similar to relationships between people. Each interaction, especially ones with close friends, affects and influences the interactions you have later on. Thus, Strands Formerly Braided is a fitting title for this edition of the Music Fellowship's Triptych series because the three featured artists have a long history of improvisation and collaboration." (from Music Fellowship catalog description).
LOWER PRICE: 6$ postpaid in US, 8$ europe/canada/mexico, 10$ asia and elsewhere

Ordering Information:

Most items are very limited. PLEASE email for availability before ordering!

any questions re: postage, etc., please email.

PAYPAL is preferred! our payment ID is artercay(at)gmail.com. Make checks and money orders payable to Tom Carter. Cash is discouraged, if you must send it, make sure it is well concealed. PLEASE EMAIL FOR A CURRENT MAILING ADDRESS.