Robert Bloemkolk
Quietus reissue of the year. The title track is magical. The rest of the record sort of pales next to that track. But is actually quite amazing. Such a gem.
Favorite track: Waillee, Waillee.
The first ever reissue of Dorothy Carter's 1978 folk/psych/drone masterpiece. A truly unique album in Dorothy's catalog, Waillee Waillee's essence sits in Dorothy's mastery of the dulcimer; its shimmering notes fully enmeshed with the cavernous drones of Bob Rutman's bowed steel cello. The core of this album, Dorothy's only with a full band, lies in the contradiction of traditional psych-folk idioms and the minimal avant-garde, referencing Laraaji and Henry Flynt as much as Karen Dalton.
LP version includes 12 page booklet with unpublished manuscripts, drawings, photographs, and sheet music of the songs from the album, as well as extended liner notes from friends and family of Dorothy Carter, including notable musicians such as Laraaji, Bob Rutman, and Alexander Hacke (of Einstürzende Neubauten).
Remastered by Jeff Lipton of Peerless Mastering from long-lost master tapes found in Bob Rutman's storage space in Berlin. Vinyl release is packaged with a booklet, and housed in a beautiful silver tip-on jacket.LP version includes 12 page booklet with unpublished manuscripts, drawings, photographs, and songbooks of the songs from the album, as well as extended liner notes from friends and family of Dorothy Carter, including notable musicians such as Laraaji, Bob Rutman, and Alexander Hacke (of Einstürzende Neubauten).
Includes unlimited streaming of Waillee Waillee
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Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$8USD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
CD Version of Waillee Waillee, includes 8 page booklet
Palto Flats / Putojefe Records present the first ever reissue of the work of American composer Dorothy Carter, master of the hammered dulcimer, zither, and other instruments of the hammer chord zither/psalterium family. A true musical vagabond, Dorothy was born in New York in 1935, though her spiritual pursuit of an expansive musical knowledge would take her to monasteries in Mexico, conservatories in France and London, and the founding of the Central Maine Power Music Company (CMPMC), with new-age/minimalist luminaries such as Constance Demby and Robert Rutman.
Dorothy Carter was many things - a virtuoso player, storyteller, historian of Celtic and Appalachian folk music, avid lifelong busker, avant-garde musician, and itinerant troubadour, laying a framework for music that existed both within and outside of standard folk idioms - never better represented than on her 1978 masterwork, Waillee Waillee. Underscored by Bob Rutman’s cavernous bowing of the steel cello, the richness of Waillee Waillee’s sound produces an album unlike any other in her discography. In particular, its two side-ending pieces, “Summer Rhapsody” and “Tree of Life,’’ glide with the shimmering filigree of hammered dulcimer and Dorothy Carter’s ephemeral voice floating over Rutman’s droning buzz of the steel cello. The elements of these two tracks suggest something akin to a transcendental Appalachian raga or whirling cosmic folk music, an effortless combination that serves to add additional substance to the remaining tracks on the album.
The title track is one of her most enduring compositions, often performed in stripped down versions throughout her career, and one of her sole recordings featuring a full band, with the contrapuntal interplay of tremulous flute, vibrating steel cello, bass and drums. Lyrically and tonally, her voice would never sound as stirring and refi ned as on this, her most outwardly accessible song.
She counted musical colleagues as diverse as Constance Demby, Einstürzende Neubauten and Laraaji, as well as her lifelong artistic partner and friend Bob Rutman, whose imprint is felt throughout the grooves of this record. The master tapes for this recording were fortuitously discovered in Rutman’s Berlin studio, many, many years later. As recounted in Laraaji’s contribution to the liner notes, Dorothy was “someone who really influenced my early zither exploration and vocabulary and inspired my shift toward hammered zither performance and recording,” after encountering him busking on the sidewalk one day in the 1970s. Later, when living in Berlin in the early 1990s, Dorothy would begin work on manuscripts detailing the history of the dulcimer family and providing extensive sheet music, selected material of which is reproduced in the twelve page booklet included with this release. Dorothy would find later success touring and performing in the late 90s with the ensemble Mediæval Bæbes, which she led with British musician Katherine Blake, playing a prominent role on their first four albums.
credits
released December 1, 2023
Palto Flats / Putojefe Records PF012/PJ008
Mastered by Jeff Lipton / Peerless
Master tape transfer by Rainer Maillard / Emil Berliner Studios
Sleeve and booklet design by Edward O’Dowd
Reissue produced by Jacob Gorchov and Daniel Ferrero
Front cover photograph by Steve Baer
Drawings, images and sheet music sourced from Dorothy Carter’s unpublished manuscripts Psalterium (1991) and The Poor Astronomer’s Songbook (1994).
Constellation Tatsu’s winter batch has arrived & with it, a lovely new tape from Cofaxx with songs that bubble & drift. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 27, 2021
The summer batch from Constellation Tatsu has arrived, and with it, this gorgeous, immersive tape from Mike Nigro & Andrew Osterhoudt. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 11, 2018
supported by 59 fans who also own “Waillee Waillee”
Angel,
I heard your interview with Jason Woodbury on Aquarium Drunkard's "Transmissions" podcast today. It was truly remarkable and touched my heart. I bought this album immediately afterward and am so grateful to you for this nourishing music in these strange, trying days. I hope I can time my next trip to Chicago to be able to see you perform live. Thank you! Michael Feltes
