No, I'm not joking- it's a Charalambides Essay Contest.

Hmm...well, my contribution such as it is. I've seen them a few times, mostly at Terrastocks, but the finest show I ever saw them at took place around here, over at the old Koo's location in Santa Ana. It was this great old Victorian house that had been turned into a venue -- the front porch was of course the entrance and where the T-shirt sales etc. would occur, the front hall/parlor was the 'stage' area itself, kept open aside from a few chairs against the back wall. The windowed side of the parlor looking out on the side yard would be where the bands would set up and play -- no stage or separation, just a bunch of folks sitting or standing and watching the band.

They were headlining the show, I believe Timonium and Azalia Snail were on the bill too. They were in full trio form at this point, and I had already seen them at a Terrastock so I generally knew what to expect. Still, it was even more entrancing than I figured -- it was late in the evening and while the lights were on the house and around it wasn't blindingly so, so seeing the three of them set up at the end of the hall/parlor, playing carefully, crooning and keening into the night was truly remarkable. It was like a strange version of a house recital from 100 years ago, say, when a local matron would have invited high society friends over for piano and vocal performances and thoughtful discussion over tea and cucumber sandwiches. But here it was distorted and transformed into something beyond language, a meditation that was out of place and therefore all the more successful.

A grand, moving experience. And they were very chatty and friendly after the show!

i had the same sensation at a Scorces show! a deep in the south feeling, though it was a new york loftspace. pentecostal, almost, but with more moaning.

what i said elsewhere: :"Perhaps that's what freaked me about walking into the Charalambides House the first time. That at any moment, the missus would hand me a beer, then accidentally loose from her lips a call that would conjure the void in its entirety in the middle of their record-filled living room while I slouched on their couch. Between pulls at my beer, the true presence of the room turning so slow and abyss-eyed black, slowly stirring."

I like this band. I don't own any of those releases, and in fact was just yesterday bemoaning on this very board the fact that those releases all seem well beyond my price range, especially the LP version of Historic Sixth Ward and Union. Sometimes Market Square shows up on eBay at an affordable price.

I've never seen Charalambides, though I've seen Christina solo twice and Scorces twice. The second time I saw Scorces it was probably the most sexual performance ever--Christina and Heather twisting around each other, tangling their extremities and playing each others instruments. FWIW, I rabidly collect all of the charalambides vinyl releases I can find, tending to avoid the CDrs unless I see them cheap or they've gotten particularly rave reviews--I don't want to sink too low into fanboyishness. Hell, even though I don't own the proper versions of any of the releases listed in the initial question, I've got MP3s of Union and Market Square--both totally mindblowing. I've got the feeling that Charalambides will be recognized as the best psychedelic/experimental band of the nineties/00s twenty years down the line.

(Eagerly awaiting in the mail the recently released Tom Carter/Marcia Basset LP, too, honestly.)

IN CR EA SE
Scorces "Vivre Avec La Bete"
Christina Carter "Bastard Wing"
Market Square
Union

1. ian still has those records <3

2. never in a million years would I have imagined that I would be internet friends with T & C both, been listening to this band since 1995

3. I was talking on another thread about how the 00's made me think of CDRs and New Weird America, and iirc Tom said that for one year in maybe 2003-4 they were able to actually live off of their music alone

4. still the best band, hope to see them again someday

I had only been dating my wife-to-be for less than a year. She let me use her car one night so I could drive up to Portland OR to see them, this was in late 2006 I'm pretty sure. Maybe she was working? I can't remember why she didn't come. They were playing at Reed College, which like many things in PDX is a pain in the ass to get to unless you know exactly where you are going, so I ended up reversing course at least once before getting there. They played in the chapel, the acoustics were amazing and I remember just lying down in a pew and vibing. They played a bunch of stuff from A Vintage Burden, which I had not heard yet, I still have the copy of it I bought from them after the show. This was post-Heather, the Kranky duo era.