Live in Point Arena
By Carlton Melton
About the album
'Live In Point Arena' was recorded during a full moon on the evening of July 18th, 2008. It wasn't a live show but more a gathering of friends and folks to play some ‘head music’ at Brian's home which happened to be a geodesic dome and ideal for those types of sounds. I recorded the evening on a M-Audio handheld recorder duct taped to the wall/ceiling of the North side of the Dome. When I got back to San Francisco a few days later I immediately crushed the audio to 4-track cassette tape on a Tascam 424. Upon listening back I thought this stuff sounded cool and shared it with Andy. We then burned some cd-r's to give to friends and likeminded folks. Andy dropped off a copy to Scott Hewicker at aQuarius records in San Francisco and they liked it enough to request a few cd-r’s to sell at the shop and also posted a kind review by Scott. Then there were more requests for the cd-r's and we burned some more ( like 70 or so ) and that was that...
Until now 13 years later and our friend Désirée kindly asking if she can release the cd-r recording on vinyl on her label with some added bonus bits recorded that same evening. We thank you Désirée and Lay Bare Recordings.
Andy had brought up his guitar and amp and used it on 'happy song', 'against the wall', 'full moon ridge', and the bonus tracks 'thirst cycle' and 'purer’ (extended). Andy also got on the drums for 'fucking funky shit' and bonus tracks 'another log on the fire', 'speeditup', and 'rubbery room'. Brian got on the drums for 'happy song', 'against the wall' and the bonus track 'purer’ (extended). Andreas stopped by and played drums on 'full moon ridge'. I played guitar and synth throughout the evening. Some other folks stopped by throughout the night offering shout outs and guidance. It was a special night and eventually forged the beginnings of the musical group Carlton Melton. We hope you can find some joy and amusement with this blast from the past. Long Live Dome Rock,
- Rich April 2021
Cover Art & Tracklist
-
01 Happy Song
-
02 Against The Wall
-
03 Fucking Funky Shit
-
04 Inter Mission
-
05 Root Ball
-
06 Full Moon Ridge
-
07 Legion of Doom
-
08 Thirst Cycle
-
09 Another Log On The Fire
-
10 Speeditup
-
11 Rubbery Room
-
12 Purer ( extended )
About the band
Nestled deep in the forests of Mendocino County in Northern California, huddled under the protective shade of towering redwoods and within earshot of frothy waves crashing against the Pacific coastline, squats a geodesic dome that has served as crucible for the experimental genius of Carlton Melton. Nature and Man operate under different logics. But here, Carlton Melton wholly entrusts this idyllic environment with the task of inspiring and guiding their musical improvisations.
The Dome has been the ideal setting to facilitate their creativity. Without forcing a specific dynamic or theme, the band inhabits its womb-like confines to improvise, explore, dream. Their music draws on psychedelia, stoner metal, krautrock, and ambient atmospherics to convey, above all else, a mood.
A prickly guitar melody will float lazily, a wall of dissonant feedback will resolve into a hypnotic drone, or a colossal riff will exhume the soul of Jimi Hendrix. One hears Hawkwind or Spacemen 3 jamming with Pink Floyd at Pompeii.
Indeed, Carlton Melton have one foot in the ancient world and one tentacle in deep space. They are both the pack of proto-humans drumming with femurs in Kubrick’s 2001 and the film’s inscrutable monolith hinting at the universe’s mysteries. The “Stoned Ape” theory holds that early hominids ingested psychedelic mushrooms that provided an evolutionary boost to their brains, helping them blossom into Homo Sapiens. Imagine such cavemen trippin’ balls, their nightmarish visions sending them into feverish bouts of rage and then gentle moments of introspection. They very well could have heard the music of Carlton Melton rattling inside their skulls, first driving our ancestors mad then upward into a higher realm.
Andy Duvall (drums, guitar), Clint Golden (bass), and Rich Millman (guitar, synths) have yet to play Pompeii, but they have already wowed crowds at European festivals such as the Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia, Roadburn, and Desertfest Antwerp. Live, they are jaw-dropping. On record, mind-altering.
In fact, with each album, Carlton Melton adds a subtle new element, synapses firing new neural connections.
One senses that the group is conveying a message that cannot be expressed verbally but only suggested through synth sighs, walloping rhythms, and soaring solos. Would Carlton Melton therefore be a group of stoned apes dizzily grasping for meaning or telepathic futurists communicating to us through crude man-made instrumentation?
Well, lower the stylus to find out.
Eric Bensel , Paris 2020
Photos
