San Francisco psych favorites Carlton Melton headlines the Kilowatt
Prolific local psych act Carlton Melton plays an increasingly rare San Francisco show this Saturday at the Kilowatt in the Mission, topping a four-band bill.
Founded by guitarist/synth player Rich Millman, drummer/guitarist Andy Duvall (both former members of late, lamented SF blues-punk Zen Guerilla) and bassist/drummer Clint Golden in the late 2000s, the group has been putting out its guitar-heavy instrumentals for going on two decades. Starting with a live CD-R of freewheeling improvisational jams that the band recorded in 2008 at their geodesic dome studio in the small coastal town of Point Arena, Carlton Melton makes music that hearkens back to early Pink Floyd (the band covered the Obscured By Clouds gem "When You're In" on their proper debut album Pass It On...), the corrosive six-string squall of Hendrix and Tangerine Dream's expansive, meditative soundscapes.
Collaborating in the studio with such notable players/engineers as Phil Manley (Golden, Trans Am, Terry Gross) and former Monster Magnet guitarist John McBain, the band has put out an impressive string of recordings with UK psych label Agitated Records and on their own Mid-To-Late imprint along with a number of singles and splits via other record companies.
While Duvall's relocation to the East Coast and the pandemic somewhat slowed their usual steady releases after their 2018 double-album effort Mind Minerals, the downtime has allowed for members to branch out into other projects including Duvall's collaboration with White Manna members Anthony Taibi and Michael Dieter called DDT that has put out three full-length albums (Taibi has since become a member of Carlton Melton as well) and Millman's participation in the SF post-punk group Desslok with his former Zen Guerilla bandmate Carl Horne on bass. The band has since picked up the pace with no less than four albums issued since 2020, including two last year: Resemble Ensemble and Return to Earth.
The band was originally slated to support Nick Saloman's legendary UK psychedelic-rock band the Bevis Frond at what would have been Saloman's first San Francisco performance in over 20 years at the Great American Music Hall this weekend, but the Bevis Frond concert was postponed due to visa issues until March. This Gibbsmo Presents show at the Kilowatt Saturday night will also feature noisy SF improv-psych crew F--kWolf -- who have put out an album on Ethan Miller's Silver Current Records imprint and a split with Japanese experimentalists Green Milk from the Planet Orange in the last two years -- and Haardvark, a new group featuring Hot Lunch, Mensclub and Wig Torture guitar wizard Aaron Nudelman and his Hot Lunch bandmate and onetime Harold Ray Live in Concert member Charlie Karr on bass backed by Jamie Sanitate (guitarist for the defunct Annihilation Time, Very Paranoia, Cronander and bassist for Owl) on drums. Opening will be Swipers, a Wipers tribute with Jackshack/Equinox lead guitarist/singer Eric Moffat, rhythm guitar player Jeff Vengeance (Flesheaters, Andalusia Rose, Turn Me On Dead Man), drummer Ricky Wayne Garrett (Electric Arrows, Jackshack) and former Mariana Trench bassist Kurt Tindle.
Carlton Melton
Saturday, Oct. 19, 8 p.m. $12-$15
The Kilowatt
