Tom Carter & Robert Horton Duo - Lunar Eclipse

Lunar Eclipse was culled from over 30 hours of recordings taking place, inadvertently, 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 calendar days into the music. They both noticed something special was happening during the initial recording session when they looked at a clock and realized that they'd been playing for over 5 hours.

Throughout 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 they’re recorded inside of a deep cave. On other tracks Horton’s homemade instruments such as the electric barometer, boot, and sex machine fuse with Carter's twisted lap steel ebow shimmerings and 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 Horton’s homemade welding together, a Harry Partch web of rhythm, until it implodes in metal drone fragments of screeching fury.

Lunar Eclipse demands to be listened to in its 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.

BIO

Tom Carter is best known for his work with Charalambides, which he co-founded with longtime creative partner Christina Carter in 1991. Since 2002, Carter has also undertaken solo work and collaborations. His 2003 solo tour, centered around the seminal Brattleboro FreeFolk Festival, featured unaccompanied solo shows and musical excursions (on stage and tape) with Bardo Pond, Thurston Moore, Dredd Foole, the MVEE Medicine Show, Ian Nagoski, Tower Recordings, and Double Leopards, among others. He is currently a member of Badgerlore, Friday Group, Spiderwebs, Kyrgyz (along with Loren Chasse, Robert Horton, and Christine Boepple), and his duo with Robert Horton. He runs the Wholly-Other CDR label which has released the Charalambides music onto the world.

Robert Horton founded the Appliances, part of SF’s first wave of punk bands in 1979. Played at the inaugural mayoral ball for Jello Biafra. ISM also in 79 was one of the first SF noise bands playing a series of house shows. Robert formed Plateau Ensemble in 1983, a tribal noise drone group who played in the Bay Area until 1987 drawing members from the Jon Hassell Group, ROVA, KU KU KU, Glorious Din, Eternal Glands of Secretion, Gamelan Seka Jaya, etc. Through out the 80s and 90s, Robert participated in the cassette revolution releasing tapes in Japan, Italy, Belgium, Britain, and the USA. During the mid 90s to 2004 Robert’s time was mostly in doing Anti-Racism Educational groups called the UNtraining. He continued to record, but hoarded it all for himself. Lately the dam has broken with releases on Foxglove, JYRK, 267-lattajjaa, Celebrate Psi Phenomena, New American Folk Hero, Barl Fire, Spanish Magic and Outa. Robert records under his own name, Egghatcher, and Future Ears. He is currently a member of Kyrgyz, Beautiful Friend, Infinite Article, Broken Mask, and the duo with Tom Carter.