Ultralash
Country of origin:
U.S.
Type of music generally:
Experimental evocative/eclectic alternative pop/folk
Status:
Most recent release, A River Listless (2015)
See also:
Ultralash site
Ultralash's bandcamp site
Ultralash's Facebook page
Comparisons:
Mary Timony, Lisa Germano, Lisa Cerbone; Suzanne Vega meets Shannon Wright. Maybe a touch of Pram
Covers/own material:
Own
General comments:
Karry Walker is an inventive vocalist, musician, and songwriter. Her work is quirky and idiosyncratic. Definitely for someone looking for something a different but still melodic and catchy. (Neile)
Recommended first album:
Either
Recordings:
Release info:
2003—Fictious Records—FR004
Availability:
See label website and Ultralash site for availability
Ecto priority:
Highly recommended
Group members:
Karry Walker—guitars, banjos, optigan, wurlitzer, piano, audion, moog, celeste, keyboards, vibes, vocals, percussion, programming
Ricky Carter—drums
Guest artists:
Paul Scriver—bass, additional programing on 1 track
Michael Mellender—whiny things on 1 track
Roger Moutenot—minio moog on 1 track, electric guitar on 1 track, percussion on 1 track, pump program on 1 track
Kirk Beydt—strings on 1 track
Cortland Joyce—percussion on 1 track
Karry Walker's voice has a delicate quaver that's like Robin Holcomb's. It's nasal, with a mountain twang beauty, as sharp and refreshing as pine needles. Like Holcomb, her music refers to a mythic American past, steeped in folk traditions. Her bedroom folk combines bits of trip-hop and Appalachia, the samples and drum machines dueling with banjos and the creak of rocking chairs on the porch. Her lyrics are enigmatic puzzles, fragments of short story detail and corrosive imagery.
"Kitchen Song" describes the life of a homeless prostitute with wry grit: "My hair smells like an ashtray/ And there's 17 coats on the bed where I slept." The minor key melody is catchy. The minor key melancholy of "BMW" concerns a woman being questioned by the cops about her missing lover. A potentially lurid scene from the TV show "Cops" is transformed into a little epiphany of love and tenderness. Tentative banjo notes and funereal organs open the cryptic "Dandelion." Walker recites, like a backwoods oracle, "Dandelion/Take a tire iron/To my skull/ And render me null." "Barbiewhore" is fuzzy-crispy indie rawk, as lacerating as early PJ Harvey.
Suzanne Vega meets Shannon Wright in these musical novels, as intricate and haphazardly beautiful as quilts. (ethereal_lad@livejournal.com)
Release info:
2008—self-released
Availability:
Ecto priority:
Highly recommended for fans of the unusual
Group members:
Karry Walker—guitar, banjo, bass, piano, optiga, electric wurlitzer, aduion, casiotone, pump organ, toy accodion, harmonica, percussion, sampling, programming, vocals
Ricky Carter—drums
Myles Boisen—electric guitars, bass, whistling, percussion
Michael Iago Mellender—trumpet, percussion, invward screaming
Kelly Atkins—flute, backing vocals
Produced by:
Karry Walker
Comments:
One of those albums that just gets better and better the more you listen to it. Odd and wonderful. This is a touch more experimental and less folky than Ultralash. Still terrific, strange, poignant. (Neile)
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