Canartic - Modulotion - out now. released 9/10/2010.
Canartic – Modulotion – Review by Steve Barker in The Wire --
Imagine Pink Floyd shooting off on an alltogether different tangent
after 1972's Obscured By Clouds. They too could have ended up
in the deserts of New Mexico sounding like a cross between Black
Sun Ensemble and early On U Sound, just like Jon Coats and Randall
Peterson aka Canartic. Wisely, there are no voices encumbering mix
or meaning here, other than the occasional disembodied ghost,
subordinated to the soaring guitar that sometimes approaches the
ecstasy of Tisziji Munoz and the continual space drones lapping at
the bubbling rhythms. It's difficult to conceive of this album coming
from anywhere other than the American South West – there's a
strong temptation to start rereading Carlos Castenada using tracks
like the mushroom-influenced nine minutes plus " Cleveland (Buzz)"
as a looped accompaniment, or the dubbed slo-mo guitars of "Spring
Reverb" as an aural backdrop for driving by buttes and through
canyons.
Modulotion
September 4, 2010
Review by Hypnagogue:
.I've always been a sucker for good bass guitar in any genre, and when I need a fix I can now reach for Canartic's groovy-bass-thick new offering, Modulotion. Canartic is in full funky bloom here with their signature mashup of echo-loaded psychedelia, trippy dub and blissed-out guitar licks. And, of course, that bass.
One of the things I really enjoy about Canartic is how their sound owes as much to Motown as it does to Montego Bay. Randall Peterson's guitar playing smacks sweetly of classic smooth R&B with a delicious funk frosting. The slow-played chords that lace their way through the smoke-filled space of "Pod Bai" are a fine example, lazy and seductive and familiar. Peterson gets quite jazzy in the center section of "Hueman," and his playing there makes me stop whatever I'm doing to just be there with him. (There's a sound bite in there saying, "Fabulous," and I must agree.) Add reggae rhythms and cohort Jon Coats' trippy soundwork backdrops and you've got a unique, infectious mix that just carries you along–and you're happy to go. Dive into "Cleveland (Buzz)" for a tasty shot of Canartic at work…and play. That's another thing. There's a joy here, the sound of two guys working off each other's leads and vibes, genuinely enjoying the creative process in motion.
While Modulotion is a solid CD all around, the duo really hit their stride in "Aux 1," a dense froth of deep dub guitar and echoes, well-managed crunches of noise and frenetic guitar. It's got a sense of wild abandon steered with a loose hand on the reins, and it's simply fantastic.
I know from experience that listening to Canartic can leave you feeling a little high. So get your head ready and light up some Modulotion. It's a Hypnagogue Highly Recommended CD.
CANARTIC: bouncing radar beams off the moonPsychedelic downbeat meets effects madness in a post rock electronic lunar landscape.
CANARTIC: headphone testdown tempo dub psychedelic sound clash
CD Reviews - Harp Magazine 12/07
Canartic
Bouncing Radar Beams off the Moon
Dank Disk
"The American Southwest: home of Roswell, freakishly large spiders, and hallucinogens that grow right out in the open. And then there's all that open: the vaporous, heat-induced systematic derangement of the senses, the impossibly star-spotted black nights of the soul. It's given us the Meat Puppets, the Black Sun Ensemble and the 13th Floor Elevators, to name but a few. Welcome to the party, then—and get 'em a cold one, why don't ya?—psychedelic dub warriors Canartic, an Austinite trio who, with all apologies to Orange Goblin and the like, lay down the real stoner rock here. "Narcatic," an eight-minute (internal) epic, is like Black Market Clash if it were actually bought on the black market: straight FUBAR. "Syd's Psychedelic Adventure" might have made the Madcap laugh. Perhaps the best song here, however, is "The Soft Collapse," equal parts Flaming Lips and, well, Soft Machine. Duuude."
By Timothy Davis
First printed in December 2007 Edition of Harp Magazine :
BIO: "Austin's Jon Coats and Randall Peterson formed Canartic with bass player Gerard Smith in 2002, while collaborating at Peterson's Javahut Studio. Canartic utilize dub and downtempo styles as guides to collage electronic shapes. The results are then injected with a dose of psychedelia, courtesy of heavily processed guitar. Finally, samples round out the mix, providing listeners with hints to the ideas behind the music. Live, Canartic perform as a duo, with Coats dub mixing in real time from hard disk, and Peterson adding treatments and his processed guitar.
Canartic's newest CD is out now on the collective's own Dank Disk label. The duo may mix their tracks for headphone use, but live you'll see the speaker cones move. Canartic are dedicated to spreading their "slow motion sound." --Austin Museum of Digital Art Bio.
find out more at the label web site
www.dankdisk.com
