How to describe a collaboration between Michigan
soundscape artists Windy & Carl and Massachusetts theremin ensemble
The Lothars? Two great drones that drone great together? Errrr.... Maybe
not.
This joint effort of Wobbly Music and Blue Flea, the house labels of The Lothars and Windy & Carl, brings out the best in both bands. The four tracks were all recorded live during two of the Terrastock festivals (named for, and sponsored by, the long-running British magazine The Ptolemaic Terrascope). The centerpiece is the opening track, "3rd Stage." Many called this unrehearsed 28 minute collaboration between Carl and The Lothars the highlight of 1999's Terrastock 3 in London, England. Similar in spirit to the "Metallic Sonatas" of the recent Lothars CD "Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas," Carl's delicate guitar playing provides a grounding for the wails of three distinctive theremins.
The remainder of this CD was recorded live at 1998's Terrastock 2 in San Francisco. Windy & Carl perform two songs that whet our appetite for their next studio CD (their first in over two years), due out on Kranky Records in early 2001. The Lothars wrap things up, with some help from New Zealand violinist Alastair Galbraith.
The songs here have a way of sneaking up on you. You'll be half-listening — the drones wafting in one ear and out the other — when suddenly your head cocks, your ears perk up, and a smile slowly crosses your face. A religious experience? An epiphany? Maybe not. But it sounds pretty darned good.
"Windy & Carl... just make everything more comfortable, like the prickles in a well-worn sweater."
--- CMJ
"The Lothars... produce as many weird and wonderful ideas that can be squeezed, whooped, whistled and screamed from these hip retro-electro antiques."
--- Alternative Press
"Windy and Carl... have created a blend of texture, color, melodic invention, nuance and atmosphere that is absent as it is present, undermining current notions of rhythm and time."
--- Detroit Metro Times
"The Lothars do an admirable service for the credibility of theremins in modern music"
--- Keyboard
"[Windy & Carl's music] unfolds like a flower's petals, gently and unobtrusively. It's like listening to a memory, or smelling a dream -- impressionistic, surreal, haunting.
--- Magnet
"[The Lothars] create a vibe that's simultaneously spacy, silly, and spellbinding... The overall atmosphere is one of adventure, rather than mere novelty."
--- Request
"Windy and Carl whip up a beauty so delicate a breeze could destroy it."
--- Alternative Press
"The Lothars conspire to create a monstrous edifice of noise."
--- The Wire
This joint effort of Wobbly Music and Blue Flea, the house labels of The Lothars and Windy & Carl, brings out the best in both bands. The four tracks were all recorded live during two of the Terrastock festivals (named for, and sponsored by, the long-running British magazine The Ptolemaic Terrascope). The centerpiece is the opening track, "3rd Stage." Many called this unrehearsed 28 minute collaboration between Carl and The Lothars the highlight of 1999's Terrastock 3 in London, England. Similar in spirit to the "Metallic Sonatas" of the recent Lothars CD "Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas," Carl's delicate guitar playing provides a grounding for the wails of three distinctive theremins.
The remainder of this CD was recorded live at 1998's Terrastock 2 in San Francisco. Windy & Carl perform two songs that whet our appetite for their next studio CD (their first in over two years), due out on Kranky Records in early 2001. The Lothars wrap things up, with some help from New Zealand violinist Alastair Galbraith.
The songs here have a way of sneaking up on you. You'll be half-listening — the drones wafting in one ear and out the other — when suddenly your head cocks, your ears perk up, and a smile slowly crosses your face. A religious experience? An epiphany? Maybe not. But it sounds pretty darned good.
"Windy & Carl... just make everything more comfortable, like the prickles in a well-worn sweater."
--- CMJ
"The Lothars... produce as many weird and wonderful ideas that can be squeezed, whooped, whistled and screamed from these hip retro-electro antiques."
--- Alternative Press
"Windy and Carl... have created a blend of texture, color, melodic invention, nuance and atmosphere that is absent as it is present, undermining current notions of rhythm and time."
--- Detroit Metro Times
"The Lothars do an admirable service for the credibility of theremins in modern music"
--- Keyboard
"[Windy & Carl's music] unfolds like a flower's petals, gently and unobtrusively. It's like listening to a memory, or smelling a dream -- impressionistic, surreal, haunting.
--- Magnet
"[The Lothars] create a vibe that's simultaneously spacy, silly, and spellbinding... The overall atmosphere is one of adventure, rather than mere novelty."
--- Request
"Windy and Carl whip up a beauty so delicate a breeze could destroy it."
--- Alternative Press
"The Lothars conspire to create a monstrous edifice of noise."
--- The Wire