Charlie Everywhere: Innovation is the Name of the Game

Charlie Everywhere is bringing a sound you might not have heard yet

Story and Photos by Andrew Beam

The air is frigid outside on this fall evening, but the duo of Charlie Everywhere is determined to warm up the crowd. As waves of layers and textures of music flow from the band, a crowd that has gathered on top of the Tang Museum at Skidmore College dances to keep their body heat up.

Charlie Everywhere is making headway in Saratoga, and they are a music critic's worst nightmare. Publications like Metroland have a bit of trouble when trying to categorize their style of music. Co-creator Josh Carter is quite alright with it. "I'd rather be making music that is original than have someone go, 'Nailed it!'" Carter explains. "You know, like hit the nail on the head with a description."

"They're trailblazing. They are bridging the gap to all those genres and bringing them all together."

Charlie Everywhere was created from the minds of Carter and long time friend Sarah Barthel. They began over a year ago, but have been buzzing in the ears of many in the local region. They were voted as "Best New Act" by Metroland in the Capital Region Area. "A friend of ours text messaged us saying 'Congratulations,'" Carter describes. "We were wondering why. We were surprised but we didn't shit our pants over it." Metroland even went on to put the duo on the cover of their August 25 issue. "We were wicked happy about that," Carter explains. "They had us on the cover maybe a week and a half before they told us and went down for a photo shoot. Hopefully my mother will frame it for me."

The duo plays around with a diverse range of instruments to create their sound. Carter takes over the reigns of guitar, live sampling and live loops. He samples mainly from the drum beats that he has been creating from the past five years. Formerly playing drums in a death metal outfit, Carter is quite the multi-instrumentalist. That doesn't mean Barthel is any different. She plays the keys, vibes and also does some sampling. They both take the reigns of vocals creating haunting harmonies.

Previously, Carter was in a group with his brother in New York City, making music that he also has trouble describing. "I wasn't happy with the music," Carter explains. "We had some creative differences." Carter, being able to play drums, guitar and piano, began making and recording beats for another band. "The music was something that was coming out of me. I was set to make it," Carter describes of the band's beginnings. "Then came Sarah, and it helped me finish the ideas." Barthel listened to the tracks Carter had been making and was enjoying them. "She said, 'Hey these are good ideas. Why are these just sitting here?'" Carter says. "We ended up throwing out all those ideas anyways."

Some, when trying to categorize their style of music, have cited the 90's trip-hop outfit Portishead. "I don't feel good about it, it doesn't offend me," Carter explains. "When someone is writing a piece, they'll latch onto a band to help people understand." Carter is also not a fan of having their music labeled as trip-hop, having them mixed up in the same category as bands such as Massive Attack and Portishead. "I think trip-hop is an outdated '90's term," Carter says. "Someone said we were like Kanye meets Radiohead." There is still much debate as to what exactly Charlie Everywhere's title is. "I can't even describe it well myself," Carter ponders. "It feels like droney and shoe-gazing sometimes. Sometimes it feels like hip-hop. Sometimes it feels psychedelic." There have been some successful descriptions though. "Someone described us as Streetbeat/Psychotrip/Hip-Hop," he says.

"We really liked that one."

Nick Reinert, a fan from Glens Falls, felt he could only describe the bands music by using a story: "Some chick is tripping as she walks down the beach, she runs into a dance party at a beach resort as a DJ is spinning some hardcore dance music. In her psychedelic vibe, she and the DJ start mixing and cutting some funky, sexy, psychedelic music." He says he can see them as fitting into the trip-hop category, but also feels their diverse. "They can get you dancing," he says. "Or they can make you space out."

Whether you can pin them down with a category or not, they're still making some noise in the music industry. Currently they are in talks with record labels, but could not disclose which ones at the time. "It's all coming together very quickly," Carter says, "Us being in a band happened kind of quickly." Carter realizes that the internet has been a driving force in their current fan base. "Word of Mouth and definitely online resources," Carter explains of the duo's attention. "If you look at 10 years ago, we wouldn't be able to get our music out there."

"I'd rather be making music that is original than have someone go, 'Nailed it!' You know, like hit the nail on the head with a description."

Currently they are on Sub-Bombin Records, a label that incorporates the music scene in the Saratoga, Glens Falls and even Miami, Florida. Colin Badger, the head of the label, has many good things to say about the duo. "They're very listener friendly," Badger says. "We don't target any age demographic, they cater to everyone. From hip-hop to rock, they have a little mix of all of them." Badger first met Carter and Barthel at a show his label was putting on in Saratoga. They had similar friends, so when they were introduced they began chatting. Since they've been on the label, they brought the attention with them. "They've gotten a lot of press," Badger explains of the duo's recent success. "When they get press, we get some of it as well."

"I don't think they're fitting the mold," Badger says of the current shift of the music industry to beat making. "They're trailblazing. They are bridging the gap to all those genres and bringing them all together."

Right off the bat, Charlie Everywhere had a very quick start when it came to live performance. "The first show we played, we had three weeks to prepare material for," Carter says. "It went well and a lot of people showed up." Still, the duo didn't expect things to happen as quickly as they have. "We've always been behind the 8-ball on some things," Carter says. "If that makes any sense."

At the show on top of the Tang Museum, their material is a full of beat, heavy grooves and psychedelic images, including a cover of Radiohead's "Weird Fishes" in their own remix. There is an orange triangle of Christmas lights that outline the space of their performance that continues up the brick wall and around the area. They use their own lights, a mixture of blue and pink color that blink on and off to the beat of the music. Blair Neal sits at his computer as he works the image that is displayed on the screen behind Sarah and Josh, but can't see through all the people standing in front of him. "I'm used to being like way up there looking down," Neal says as he points up over the brick wall. "Not level with the band."

Alex Cintrin, a Graphic Design artist for WSPN, Skidmore's College radio station, put the show together this evening and is in high spirits. "I think it was received well," Citrin excitedly says. "Once they started playing, a lot of people came up and stayed." She describes past crowds at shows at Skidmore as "lackadaisical", but was happy to see people dancing tonight. "It was intimate," she says. "In a good way." Citrin was also in charge of creating the invitation for this particular show, and writing the description of the band was not an easy task for her.. "I wrote it as Psych/Electro/Band Amazingness," she says with a laugh. "I wouldn't call it dance or ambience."

Reinert has seen them twice in bars, and says that the outdoor venue is something new. "This is the weirdest venue I've seen them play," he says. "But they are engaging." Reinert only expects the best of the evening. "Maybe they'll have fireworks tonight."

Listen to Charlie Everywhere for yourself. How would you desrcibe them?