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Charalambides' Tom Carter and Robert Horton have become close collaborators over the past few years, appearing in a handful of projects together from Kyrgyz (w/ Jewelled Antler-ites Loren Chasse and Christine Boepple) to Mudsuckers (w/ D. Yellow Swans). But when they are stripped back to a duo, the sonic onslaught is just as dense and impressive.
"Steeljaguar Rocket" is the second album, following-up "Lunar Eclipse" on Important Records. Horton again acts as the puppetmaster, pulling the strings to move each sound into its right place. Expansive improvisations and full-on psychedelic freakouts intermingle, creating a cosmic web of enchanted debris. Fiddler extraordinaire Hal Huges adds exponentially to the dynamics at work with his marvellous playing on the title track. The strained violin notes whisk the listener away to the dirt-soaked alleys of Damascus. It's a hypnotic journey through jewel-encrusted foreign lands, like a solo flight to sun.
Everything is not peaceful on "Steeljaguar Rocket," however. Digging further into the cataclysm finds Carter & Horton turning up the volume knobs and cranking out wailing solos on top of a bed of heavy drones and cacaphonic drums. Like Horton's Future Ears project, it's equal parts noise, free jazz, and fractured folk bliss. There is no stone unturned on "Steeljaguar Rocket," and just as it feels as though it will collapse in on itself, Carter & Horton bring everything back down to earth, ready to begin again.
tracklist:
1. steeljaguar rocket
2. rocket #9
3. launching pad at pooneil corners (audio sample)
Press for Tom Carter & Robert Horton:
"This may have started out as a dinner party, but it ended up a series of lovely and mysterious Ur-drones, clattery, slow shifting ragas, percussive tribal free jam drones, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Sunroof!, Ashtray Navigations, Double Leopards, Pelt, you get the idea. A room filled with smoke and sound, swirling and drifting lazily skyward. So lovely. We should definitely do this again sometime... - Aquarius Records
"Regardless of your astronomical inclinations, there is no doubt that something was aligned, planetary or otherwise, on this collaboration between guitarist Carter, on a break from his group the Charalambides, and multi-instrumentalist Horton." - Richard Moule, Grooves Magazine
"Lunar Eclipse is strongest when Carter and Horton blow great humming lungs of drone out of their billowing chests, each breath spewing forth a galaxy-in-miniature of incident and event. Locked into flight, these eight pieces burn with electricity and energy." - Jon Dale, Dusted