Releases for First Half of 2006/Carnival Compilation

These are the discs I'm hoping to release in the first half of 2006. more details of the Fell release are further down the blog, and on the web site, and details of the other releases will be posted here as they get written up.

CAM074CD - Fell - s/t - Feb 06
CAM075CD - Christian Kiefer - "Czar Nicholas is Dead" - Feb/Mar 06
CAM076CD - Lucky Bishops - "Unexpect the Expected" - Mar/Apr 06
CAM077CD - Black Sun Ensemble - "Bolt of Apollo" - May 06

We're also working on a compilation on the theme of carnival for later in 2006. We've always thought of the traveling carnival as a sociological phenomenon that warps and shifts with whatever time period it is traveling through, existing as a conduit for freaks and misfits and hucksters to exploit and be exploited and as a metaphor for the beauty and terror of existence itself. "All human life is there" as someone once said. A mythological world of clowns and carnies, bearded ladies and strong men, dwarfs and giants, tent shows and side shows, arcades and Ferris wheels.

We were profoundly affected when we saw HBO's dust-bowl travelling carnival drama "Carnivale", but the planned compilation is not a tribute to that series. But if folks want to take away the dark magical realism of that series and use it as inspiration, that's more than OK. Tell the truth, we're just as influenced by the surreal world sketched by Jackson C. Frank in his astonishing song "My Name is Carnival". Might even call the compilation that. Or "In the Name of Carnival". Something like that.

Without being programmatic, the pieces we're looking for are probably along a song-based, psychedelic folk axis, with singer-songwriter, loner folk and experimental input also welcomed. And under five minutes, but that's totally open to suggestion and variation if good ideas are thrown at us. Enough material comes in and we'll expand beyond a single disc compilation, so pass on to whoever you think would be interested.

Contributors so far in alphabet order:
Above the Orange Trees
Devendra Banhart (tentative)
Nick Castro
Sean Connaughty (Salamander)
Current 93 (tentative)
Forgotten Works (Erik from Salamander)
Christian Kiefer
Sharron Kraus
Marissa Nadler
The North Sea (Brad Rose)
Marianne Nowottny
P.G. Six
Pothole Skinny
Alec Redfearn (and the Eyesores)
Timothy Renner
Terracid
Damien Youth

Get in touch if you are interested!