Wholly Other Artists

Ash Castles on the Ghost Coast

Duo of Shawn McMillen and Heather Murray, originally from Galveston, TX where their sole CD was recorded. In 1996, relocated to Austin where they continued to record for the next two years. Played one live show in 1996 at Mary Jane's in Houston. Currently inactive, although many unreleased recordings exist. Shawn performed in the defunkt & barely documented Iron Kite, and has also played & recorded with the Abrasion Ensemble. Heather has performed in the University of Texas Gamelan and Andean ensembles, recorded and performed with Christina Carter in Scorces, and has been a member of Charalambides since 2000.

Discography:

Several tracks (as Parachutes) on Heartland compilation CS-60 (Shawn also appears in other contexts on this Comp) (Seagrave, 1994)
Ash Castles on the Ghost Coast CD (W.O./Fleece, 1996)
Untitled track on Alms compilation CD (Fleece/Worship Guitars, 1997)

Shawn McMillen:

Appearance on Music For the Same 50 People CD-R and Music For the Same 500 People CD (Beta-Lactam Ring, 1999 and 2001)

Iron Kite:

Untitled CDR, included with Sidewalk Strobelight (Sidewalk Strobelight, 2002)
Iron Kite CDR (Seagrave, 2001)

Artificial Subterranne

Artificial Subterranne is one of several pseudonyms for Paul Guilford, a New Zealand visual artist and musician who lived in Houston from the late eighties until 1997. Although his talents as both a soundman and a bassist were well known to many of the musicians who inhabited Lexington Street (a local landmark known for communal living and substandard housing), it wasn't until Guilford's collaboration with Dave Dove that his unique improvisatory vision began to manifest itself. The duo refined their non-idiomatic skills for several years, performing in a variety of contexts, including weekly performances with Charalambides at Harvey's Club Deluxe that continued sporadically from summer 1994 until the club's closing a year later. In addition to his performances with Dove, Guilford engineered and recorded many local and travelling performers, and his recordings appear on CDs by Philip Gayle, Charalambides, and AMM.

Guilford currently works on solo and group projects in New Zealand in addition to ongoing sound engineering work.

Selected Discography:

(As Paul H. Locasta): Heaven on Earth CD (TempoKannan Bail, 1995) & 2-LP (Truly Fine Citizen, 2000)
(As Paul Guilford): Raw Fa CD (TempoKannanBail, 1996)
Artificial Subterranne: Water Regions of the Southwest USA CD (W.O., 1997)
Two tracks (As Gorce Govadas(?)) on So Called Science Compilation CD-R (Is Land Sound Imprint, 2000)

With Audible Thre (as p. h. l'cst): Dave Dove

Live Space CD-R (Is Land Sound Imprint, 2000)

With Dave Dove:

Two tracks on Heartland compilation CS-60 (Seagrave, 1994)
Dave Dove Paul Duo A CD (TempoKannanBail, 1995)
Two tracks on Drilling the Curve compilation LP (Fleece, 1995)
Three tracks (with John Kennedy) on Comp cd for Bananafish #16

Charalambides

To say that the words "unique" and "singular" are over-used in describing music is to state the obvious. To apply these words to the sounds created by the various duo/trio configurations of the Texas group Charalambides over the last decade plus would be understatement. To be sure there are numerous antecedents to their music; to deny this of any artist's work would be akin to saying that they are deaf. But they have surely broken new ground in the primitive/folk/mystic/improv/psych valley in which they toil. As Marcus Boon wrote in The Wire; "...here is a truly 21st century experimental ethnic music that explores quietness and stasis... in the same way that musicians in the second half of the 20th century discovered amplification, noise and speed." Originally a duo comprised of Tom Carter (who had been playing guitar in the Houston grunt-psych band The Mike Gunn) and Christina Carter, Charalambides released a cassette called Our Bed Is Green on their own Wholly Other label in 1992 (later reissued on CD and double LP). The two Carters showed a firm grasp on the haunting nature of American blues and country, as well as a mastery of tape manipulation, a disregard for genre boundaries, and a marked tendency towards vertically stacked guitar drone. A full length album called Union was released by the Siltbreeze label, and many other releases followed, both as a duo and trio (first with Jason Bill, and later with pedal steel player Heather Leigh Murray). Although better known as a trio through their various tours with both Heather and Jason, Tom and Christina have returned to concentrating on their duo work in more recent years, fusing introspective, open-ended, and often spacious song structures with blasts of feedback and explosive sound often startling to fans familiar only with the band's deceptively low-key reputation. In 2005, Tom and Christina met in California to record the tracks for their new kranky CD, A Vintage Burden. Besides commemorating the return to the duo format, the album represents a culmination of the threads of repetition and psychedelic song that run through much of the duo's work Although partially an homage to the clarity and ambience of 60s and 70s production and songwriting, the album retains the spook, space and mystery of even their most extreme releases: "Tom and Christina Carter here again showcase their seemingly innate ability to lock into a shared orbit across the darkening sky, their luminous drift scaled down to its essential, irreducible core." (quote from Pitchfork). Tom and Christina are planning several tours of varying durations through the rest of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 (and beyond). Despite being a duo, their live sound achieves an energy and ferocity not often glimpsed on their releases, while maintaining the hissing delicacy of their most haunting studio work.

Christina Carter: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, voice
Tom Carter: electric guitar, lap steel guitar, acoustic guitar

Select Discography:

Our Bed Is Green CS-90 (No Label, 1992)
Union LP (Siltbreeze, 1993)
Historic 6th Ward CS-90 (No Label, 1994)
"On the Corner"/"Winning Friends"/"13,14" on Heartland Comp CS-60 (Seagrave, 1994)
"Variant"/"Mayflower" on Drilling the Curve Comp LP (Fleece, 1995)
"Devils"/"Bid You Goodnight" 7" (Playtime, 1995)
Our Bed is Green CD (Wholly Other, paper sleeve 1995, jewel box 1997)
Market Square 2LP (Siltbreeze, 1995)
Historic 6th Ward CD (W.O., 1996)
"Hyetal" on Whump! Comp 7" (Bobby J, 1996)
"Drop" on Succour Comp 2CD (Woronzow, 1996)
"Naked in Our Deathskins" on Harmony of the Spheres Comp 3LP (Reissued as 2CD, 1999) (Drunken Fish, 1996)
Charalambides CD (W.O., 1997)
Houston CD (Siltbreeze, 1998)
Internal Eternal CD (W.O., 1999)
"Rehearsal" on Urban Meadows Comp CD (Broken Face, 2000)
"Mansfield" on The Nature of Systems Comp CD (Carbon Records, 2000)
"One Song" on Serotonin Ronin Comp 2CD (Camera Obscura, 2000)
Sticks CD-R (W.O., 2000)
Home CD-R (W.O., 2000)
Branches lathe cut LP (Eclipse, 2001)
Water CD-R (W.O., 2001)
YIH CD-R (Carbon, 2001)
"Second Rehearsal" on Songs From the Entopic Garden Volume 2 Split LP (with Six Organs of Admittance) (Timelag, 2001)
Historic 6th Ward 2 LP (Timelag, 2002)
Untitled CD-R (with Scorces)(W.O., 2002)
Being As Is CD-R (Crucial Blast, 2002)
Untitled track on Intersect 4 Comp CD (Pale-Disk, 2002)
"Spring Leaves Fall"/"Sun or Wind" 7" (Timelag, 2002)
Live Hand Held CD-R (W.O., 2002)
CHT CDR (W.O., 2002)
"Song for Always" on Ptolemaic Terrascope #32 comp. CD (P.T., 2002)
IN CR EA SE 2LP (Eclipse, 2002)
Ana/Kata 10" EP (Beta Lactam Ring, 2002)
"Water Falls Through Air to Earth" on The Invisible Pyramid comp 2CD (Last Visible Dog, 2003)
"Train Song" on comp LP of unknown title and vintage (Black Bean & Placenta, 200?)
Unknown Spin CD reissue of Untitled CDR above, subtracting Scorces track (kranky, 2003)
"Flying Machine" on You Can Never Go Fast Enough comp CD/2LP (Plain, 2003)
"Joy Shapes" on Kompilation comp 2CD (kranky, 2004)
Joy Shapes CD/2LP (kranky, 2004)
"Voice Box" on Gold Leaf Branches 3CD comp (Digitalis, 2005)
Our Bed is Green 2CD/2LP (kranky/Timelag, 2005)
"Pase el Agoa" on Mind the Gap Vol. 57 comp CD (Gonzo, 2005)
Live/ Dead CDR (W.O., 2005)
Dead/ Live CDR (W.O., 2006)
A Vintage Burden CD (kranky, 2006)
Glowing Raw CDR (W.O., 2006)
Emerald Message CDR (W.O., 2006)

Christina Carter:

Performs with C.C.M. on Pee Paw 2CD-R (HIC, 1996)
L'Etoile de Mer CS (Freedom From, 2001)
Appearance on Moon Journals LP by Migrantes (Eclipse, 2001)
Living Contact CD-R (W.O., 2001)
Hand & Mind CD-R (W.O., 2002)
Future in Past CD-R (W.O., 2002)
See 'Scorces' also

Tom Carter: Tom at camp, 1978

Appearance on Rob's Choice CD by Pelt (VHF, 2000)
Monument CD-R (W.O., 2001)
Appearance on A Yellow Flower CD by Pip Proud (Emperor Jones, 2001)
Appearance on Music For the Same 50 People CD-R and Music For the Same 500 People CD by Abrasion Ensemble (Beta-Lactam Ring, 1999 and 2001)
Appearance on Beings of Game P-U CD by Primordial Undermind (Camera Obscura, 2001)
Catch a Cherub CD with Pip Proud (Emperor Jones, 2002)

Heather Leigh Murray:

Cuatro + Vocal Recordings CDR (2002, Wish Image)
See 'Scorces' also

Scorces

Scorces is the duo of Heather (Ash Castles) and Christina (Charalambides), and originated in a 1996 recording project that culminated in their debut CD. They have since played several Texas performances and have recorded extensively for future projects.

Select Discography:

Scorces CD (W.O., 2001)
"Mist" on Squidcomp2001 CD-R (Lazy Squid, 2001)
"Sun Leaf" on Surrounded by Sun Comp CD (Fonal, 2002)
"Crow Feet" on Untitled CD-R (with Charalambides) (W.O., 2002)