Carlton Melton/ Empty Shapes

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

4...according to our Dave on Thu 20 May, 2010.

If this was the soundtrack for a movie starring the late Patrick Swayze, the movie would be called "Dirgey Dancing". First up to the spinny plate are Carlton Melton, and they offer up two slabs of pure dirge/noise. It reminds me of The Stooges, or mebbe even Black Flag in its sonic assault/production. It's repetitive and brooding all at the same time. I reckon it's a pretty strong composition. Over the other side of the galaxy, Empty Shapes sit in their space pods, blasting out pure molten streams of space lava at anyone who dares to listen. These guys remind me a little of Woodddden Shjipppsss (or whatever they're called) in the way they seem to have been drinking astral juice and snorting space dust off the back of a prostitute from Alpha Centauri....or something. The vinyl is tye-dyed or has that effect. The most hippie thing you'll hear this year..7/10 for sonics,!0/10 for pure hippie shenanigans....

We sold tons of the last Carlton Melton full length, Pass It On. In fact we even sold a copy to J. Mascis who made it his top favorite record of 2009. No small feat, there! So the dudes are on a roll, and just before their first big tour, they release this awesome split with the equally heavy Empty Shapes from Delaware. The Carlton Melton side is two tracks. The first, "Call and Response" is nearly side-loooong and begins with a heavy rumble of monolithic sludge eventually progressing into a slow wave of burnt-out blues riffage a la early Comets on Fire, that churns and steeps into a gnarly brew of molten fuzz. The closer, "Purer", is more cosmic and dreamy, built on a layer of percolating synth drones that give way to a more uplifting space rock jam trajectory.This is the first we've heard from Empty Shapes, a 5 piece from Delaware, who contribute 3 tracks to their side. The first, "MLK" is a sprawling cloud of noise a la Bardo Pond, levitating around a repeating head-nodding riff with all kinds of instrumentation stretching the form and shape of the murky haze. "Hell of a Night" and "Lord" bring vocal elements into the works, but heavily effected and damaged, sometimes emotive yet incomprehensible channeling a primitive psych-blues through some New Zealandish free-rock space clutter! Limited to just 300 on brown and white swirled vinyl! Dope!

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