Caruso - Boys

An odds and ends collection for the year of our Lord, 2006. Remixed Colours and Feels, mostly radio noises, drum samples, and the emergence of the digital delay pedal! Recorded at Kempwood in Cary NC. Also available on pink cassette, limited to 50 copies (cassette artwork below):

Some Notes:

"Lucia" samples Scrapbook: The Voices of Walter Schumann, and sounds from the movie Sailor In The Wild.

"Stay With Me For A While" samples the song "Gidget Goes Hawaiian", performed by James Darren

Cove star: Sal Mineo.

Several different versions of this exist.  Original CDR track list below:

1. Antoinette (2:09)*

2. Arctic Drifter (2:00)

3. Big Johnny (1:12)** 

4. Blue Honduras (4:39)*** 

5. Boys (2:01)

6. Chartreuse (1:07)

7. Clementine (2:20)

8. Decapoda (2:24)

9. Every Time I See You I Go Blind (aka Naples Yellow Deep) (1:27)

10. Feels Like A Cage (aka Canary) (1:00)

11. Feels Like Love (aka Christi) (2:06)

12. Gleam (2:30)

13. God Won't Bless You If He Can't Change You (aka Watercourse) (1:51)

14. Hailed (2:41)

15. He's A Halo (aka Varidian Light) (1:58)

16. I Had The Craziest Dream (1:10)***

17. The Boyettes - I Hear A New World (joe meek cover, version B) (1:25)

18. I Miss Your Love (aka Cadmium Red Light) (1:28)

19. I'm Not LikeThat (aka Greenish Umber)  (1:54)****

20. In My Dreams You're Everything (aka Tia Maria) (1:39)

21. Jeremy Crisp (1:49)

22. Leaf (2:24)

23. Lemon (1:07)

24. Lesson In Thievery Number 9 (4:14)****** 

25. Long & Red (0:38)******* 

26. Love Is A Cage (aka Mariner) (1:54)

27. Lucia (1:54)***** 

28. Manz (2:06)******** 

29. Mia (1:04)

30. Nite Creature (1:21)*** 

31. One Oh Two (1:02)

32. Purple (1:59)

33. Seagull (2:21)

34. Stay With Me For A While (aka Cabaret) (1:30)********* 

35. Studio (2:08)

36. There Is Plenty Of Time To Change Your Mind (aka Tulip Tree) (2:19)

37. Thinking About Your Love (aka Danube) (2:59)

38. When I First Saw Your Face I Knew It Was Over (aka Hummingbird) (1:49)

39. Whyte Notation (3:24)

40. Windsor (1:37)

41. The Boyettes - I Hear A New World (joe meek cover, Version A) (1:45)

42. The Boyettes - It Seems To Me (the gestures cover) (1:12

* samples a cadinot film, i beans, and enrico simonetti's "drug's theme"

** samples big john hamilton’s “big bad john” , courtesy dj kenny dope

*** samples the four freshmen

**** samples moondog

***** samples scrapbook: the voices of walter schumann and sounds from the movie "sailor in the wild"

****** samples wilson pickett’s “engine #9”, courtesy of dj kenny dope

******* samples mountain's "long red", courtesy dj kenny dope

******** samples sounds from the movie "falconhead two: the maneaters"

********* samples "gidget goes hawaiian", originally recorded by james darren

Caruso - Feels

A re-mixing, re-recording, and resampling of the best bits from Colours, now with vocals added also! "Stay With Me For A While" samples the song "Gidget Goes Hawaiian", performed by James Darren.  Cover star: Sal Mineo

Caruso - Halloween Special

Songs inspired by Halloween.

"Night Creatures" samples the Four Freshmen. Recorded at Kempwood in Cary NC.

Various Artists - Talitres Is 5

A double-CD compilation from French label Talitres Records in 2006,

featuring a 2003 Caruso song originally on the Kitten CDR. 

The CD is available here!

Disque : 1
1. The Wedding Present - American Tan
2. Calla - Astral (Acoustic)
3. The Organ - Let The Bells Ring
4. Tex La Homa - Nowhere To Run
5. That Summer - Simon Nardis
6. The Walkmen - Clementine
7. Dakota Suite - A Darkness Of Moons (Alternative Version)
8. Piano Magic - I Have Moved Into The Shadow
9. The Birdwatcher - We Can't Live This Way Anymore
10. Early Day Miners - How To Fall
11. Elk City - My Type Of Criminal
12. The Wedding Present - Shivers

Disque : 2
1. Pela - Episode (Diphenhydramine)
2. Carlosound - My New Kind Of Beauty
3. Film School - The Longest Way
4. Marissa Nadler - Your Dreary Days Are Dead
5. The Weeds Of Eden - Undone
6. Hot Gossip - Real Mess
7. Hood - When We Wait All The Tables
8. Caruso - Hot Son & The Rolling Heat
9. Iliketrains - A Rook House For Bobby

Caruso - The 4th

3 quick songs inspired by America and radios. Features the AA/citibank AM radio.

Caruso - Colours

Spontaneous solo recordings inspired by Julie Perini's Experiments In Immediacy. The music features the AA/citibank AM radio, along with percussion, electric bass guitar and whatever else was around (see unnecessarily complicated key below). Named after real live colors. Two were recorded every Sunday from January-June 2006 (except while in Italy). 

(Digital artwork above)

The Boyettes - I Hear A New World

The Boyettes are Matthew and Yevgeny. 4 cover songs:

- 2 versions of "I Hear A New World" by Joe Meek & The Blue Men

- "Somebody Find A New Love" by The Dave Clark 5

- "It Seems to Me" By The Gestures

Recorded at Kempwood in Cary NC.

The Evolutionists - Doomy!

The Evolutionists are Beth Varden and Matthew DeBellis.

Artwork by queer-jihad.

All Songs written and recorded by The Evolutionists, except:

"Dame" originally written/recorded by Los Shakers.

"Gringo Suave" borrows from Hal Blaine

"Lava #5" borrows from The Savages and is an early version of "Spectres" by The Violet Hour.

"Ladybug Babydoll" and "Nights x 9" originally written/recorded by Slant 6

Recorded at Kempwood in Cary NC.

"Anthem" was recorded in January 2005 at Oak Run in Raleigh NC.

Mary & The Magdalens - S/T

"Irony is no stranger to the Raleigh based psych-trip-hop-gaze outfit Mary and the Magdalens. For one thing, Mary and the Magdalens is only one person, and his name ain’t Mary. For another thing, he isn’t Scottish (see above), and we all know that only Scottish band names are permitted to reference the Catholic Church. Even more importantly, and unlike most of his sample-happy contemporaries, this guy REALLY wants to make sure you know where his source material comes from.

An interest in soul, R&B, and funk, lead Matthew DeBellis to abandon the romantic croons of his psychedelic bubblegum-pop project, Caruso, in favor of something a little darker, a little more introspective, a little bit groovier. Convinced that generational sampling will be the next big thing, DeBellis has opted not to go straight to the wax for his riffs and beats and snatches them instead from other DJs—in this case, DJ Kenny Dope, who comprises one half of the NYC house duo, Masters at Work. Shoegazer walls of guitars swell beneath pre-fucked-with grooves, and the result, derivative as it must sound, is ingeniously transcendent.

Side A has two short and sweet little tidbits, titled (in case you’re not entirely convinced of the whole irony thing) “Big Johnny” and “Long and Red.” The titles themselves pay homage to the tracks from which they pilfer, southern soulster Big John Hamilton’s “Big Bad John” and blues-rocker Leslie West’s (later, Mountain’s) “Long Red.” The best pick of the three on this compact little EP, however, has to be side B’s oh-so-cleverly titled “Lessons In Thievery #9,” which borrows bass, beats, and a buzz-saw guitar riff from Wilson Pickett’s “Engine #9.” Thievery? Well at least DeBellis is honest about it. Which is, of course, highly ironic.

Oh yeah, and there’s a pentagram above Mary’s head on the cover image . . . but that’s less ironic and more blasphemous, and (as you can imagine) we like the blasphemy here at GT."

Emily Blackwater

Alternate artwork, above

Caruso - Yoga Instrumentals

Created for Andriana Pateris, who teaches Ashtanga yoga in Baltimore, MD. Features some noisy, dreamy and loopy bits.

Cover star: Sal Mineo

Various Artists - "Jar" - A Pickled Egg Compilation

A track pulled from the You Heard Me EP (as well as the Sun CDR) for a double CD compilation called Jar, from UK label Pickled Egg. Other artists on the compilation: Daniel Johnston, The Go! Team, Evolution Control Committee, Bablicon, etc.. Sample for yourself right here.

Jar #1 

1. Oddfellows Casino 'Road Movie' 

2. Need New Body 'Show Me Your Heart' 

3. Evolution Control Committee 'Rebel without a Pause' 

4. Bablicon 'Silicon)(Bucktown' 

5. Pop-Off Tuesday 'Unworldly' 

6. Scatter 'Go Down Joe Downey Pt.2' (exclusive) 

7. L’augmentation 'D is for Dum Dum' (from the out of print 7") 

8. Daniel Johnston 'Sinning is Easy' (from the out of print 7") 

9. George 'The New and Better Heart' 

10. Hassle Hound 'Hallo to the Owl' 

11. Big Eyes 'Beckerovka' 

12. The Go! Team 'The Ice Storm' (from the rare 7") 

13. Farina 'Just One/Still Three' (exclusive) 

14. Caruso 'Spanish Boys' 

16. 4tRECk 'Pong Ping' (from the as yet unreleased 10") 

15. 100 Pets 'Mountain Cheer' 

17. Pop-Off Tuesday 'Untitled' (exclusive) 

18. Volcano the Bear 'Lubbaly' (exclusive) 

19. Savoy Grand 'The Moving Air' 

Jar #2 

1. Bablicon 'Blu Hawaii' 

2. Scatter 'National Magick' 

3. Zukanican 'Pay Never' 

4. Now 'The Pump Room' (from the forthcoming mini album) 

5. Big Eyes 'Threeleftfeet' 

6. Pop-Off Tuesday '6/8 Sutra' 

7. Butchy Fuego 'Changing the Public’s Image of the American Optician (edit)' 

8. Le Bleu 'La Vie est Comme un Fleuve' 

9. Gulliver 'a L’imparfait' 

10. Valvola & DJ Spectra 'Departure from Universe' 

11. The Go! Team 'Get it Together!' (from the rare 7") 

12. Dragon or Emperor 'Deepened Automatic' (exclusive) 

13. George 'The Track through the Woods' 

14. L’augmentation 'Soleil' (from the out of print 7") 

15. Bablicon 'Isroslynn' (exclusive) 

16. Farina 'Displace'

17. Volcano the Bear 'Where are the Bounds?' 

18. Big Eyes Family Players 'The Best Old Truck' (exclusive) 

19. Marshmallow Coast 'Little Pythagoras' 

20. Need New Body 'Mouthbreaker' (from the forthcoming album) 

Caruso - Dieing Days

Songs from the twenty-oh-five. Recorded January-September 2005 at Oak Run, Raleigh NC. "Hurtin' Kind" is a cover of a song by The Bittersweets.

Bethany Ann Vardenia sings on "My New Favorite Caruso Song" and plays guitar on "Move Downtown".

"Music From The Film 'Getting It'" is by Garth Evans.

The title is an homage to The Critters single.

Caruso - Mini Album

A whole "mini album" of recordings made almost entirely with the Yamaha PSR-GX76 keyboard and some percussion (and one or two guest appearances from Hammerhead). Recorded at Oak Run in Raleigh NC, Spring 2005. Caruso's first digital release and first concept album! (The concept is it's an album).

(The non-Bandcamp version has different artwork, below, and different mixes)

Various Artists - Friends and Friends of Friends

From a blurb in Feed Me Cool Shit:

The Friends and Friends of Friends project is a 6” X 9”, 192 page, full color, offset printed book with accompanying cdrom containing contributed visuals and audio from around the world. The work and music presented in this volume was collected through a simple network of human connections: friends and friends of friends. The project relied on email and word-of-mouth to build the grouping seen here in the book.

Projector7, LLC created Creative Capitalism to produce and disseminate creative projects for artists, musicians, and film makers outside the traditional medium specific methods of delivery such as theatres, galleries, and record companies. “Friends and Friends of Friends is hopefully the first in a long list of publications,” says Peter Quinn of Projector7, LLC. “Our goal is to create a vehicle for aesthetic hybridization.”

Book and CD-ROM available from Dischord Records.  The Caruso track is "Oeuvre" (also available on Pre-Tension from 2004).

Caruso - Pre-Tension

Recorded Jan - Dec 2004 at Swain/Hargett, or Oak Run in Raleigh NC.
"Cheree" is a cover of a Suicide song.

Cicaeda & Caruso - Tour Songs

Super rough first rehearsals before the UK tour.  Recorded in Baltimore MD in February 2004.

Andriana Pateris - Keys, tambourine

Beth Varden - Bass, vocals

David Bergander - Drums, vocals, guitar

Matt DeBellis - Guitar, vocals, drums

Rob Girardi - Guitar, vocals

Here are some photos from the UK tour with Baltimore's Cicaeda. Photos by Rob Girardi and Beth Varden.

Click here for a nice article about the show in Hull. Thanks to Michelle Dee and Ewan Gordon for the fun and hospitality!

33-35 Commercial Rd.

35 Commercial Rd London, UK E1 1 N/A

Saturday, April 24th, 2004

The Attick

Leicester, UK

Friday, April 23rd, 2004

With Spin Spin The Dogs

Talbot Hotel

117 Church St Stoke-On-Trent, UK ST4 1 N/A

Thursday, April 22nd, 2004

With Greg Davis, and hl

Adelphi

De Grey Street Hull, HULL

Tuesday, April 20th, 2004

With Silver Fox & King Rat

Cabaret Voltaire

36 Blair St Edinburgh, UK EH1 1 0131 220 6176

Sunday, April 18th, 2004

With Strom & Wasser, and Goetz Widmann

The Ottobar

Baltimore, MD

Sunday, March 28th, 2004

With Cicaeda and Long Live Death

(Warm-up show for tour, and first Caruso show)

Caruso - Kitten

A demo that was sent out in 2003, and then sold as a tour CDR during a series of shows in the UK in April of 2004. Most of it was recorded in 2003 at Swain/Hargett St. in downtown Raleigh. Tracks 5, 6, 7 and 8 feature Beth Varden, Rob Girardi, and/or David Bergander (and were partly recorded in Baltimore MD). 

Original Kitten artwork used without permission from 2003 above. 

And, every time you masturbate...God kills a kitten.

Cover art for CDRs sold on UK tour in 2004: