Greetings!

I have a limited edition CD out on a wonderful Philadelphia-based label, Majmua Music, run by one Steven Tobin.

Towards A Center Of Infinite Flux features seven new pieces of electric guitar, prepared banjo, and a collaboration of acoustic guitar and modular moog synthesizer with Jason Schmidt (Stainless Japan, Not Yeti).

Check out the link below to listen to some excerpts and purchase it!

http://www.majmua.museumfire.com/carbonara.htm

Biography:

Eric Carbonara is a Philadelphia based guitarist, whose search for raw aural expression has led him far and wide – from noise & electro-acoustic music to taking deep root in the bounty of the wooden guitar.

Carbonara's playing draws on the rich musical styles from Andalusian Roma-Flamenco to Hindustani & North African folk to form a kind of exalted pidgin style of playing that covers a wide emotional terrain from meditative calm to restless unease. He has developed a unique idiom of gypsy music for non-existent cultures by combining rogue self-taught, free-form classical and flamenco techniques with those learned from formal studies in India.

His live solo performances range from contemplative acoustic meditations to aggressively loud electric sets; both encompassing Carbonara's ability to draw the listener in to his world, where his lyrical playing doesn't just entertain but triggers a myriad of emotional responses.

Carbonara has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe promoting his releases on Locust Music, Majumua Music and New American Folk Hero as well as various self-releases for solo guitar and solo upright chaturangui music.

On Towards a Center of Infinite Flux, Carbonara brings the many facets of his playing together and makes these seemingly disparate elements work together as a focused whole. Meditative workouts flow into electronic excursions and back again, reminding the listener that dichotomies in the world of sound only exist when we create them, and those that are receptive are richly rewarded.


Selected Discography:
 
Maidens Of Mullik, self-released, 2009 (out soon!)
Towards A Center Of Infinite Flux, Majmua Music (mm-13), 2009
Exodus Bulldornadius, Locust Music (locust104), 2007
This May Be The End/Long Hallway, Three Slightly Open Doors, New American Folk Hero (nafh28), 2007
Honeymoon Music Compilation, Honeymoon Music (hmm05), 2005
S/T, The Molecules, Honeymoon Music (hmm04), 2005
Selections From The Void…, self-released, 2003
 
Reviews:
 
"Carbonara has translated the sight of something you may see every day into a dramatic, poised skit." -Grayson Currin,
Pitchfork Media
 
"Carbonara has the songwriting and arranging chops to back up his rich, resonant sound. His tunes run from the unabashedly
beautiful and mournful to the ecstatic and knotty....he knits the major to the minor, the modern to the ancient, and makes it
seem absolutely natural..." -Matthew Wuethrich, Dusted Magazine
 
"His playing, though improvisational in nature, is held together by an underlying sense of structure and expert knowledge of
the influences he references while showing strict allegiance to none. [He] displays quite a mastery over his instrument" -Cory
Card, Foxy Digitalis
 
"His compositions ruminate rather than dominate...and flourish with patience" -Bill Meyer, Signal To Noise
 
“He nonchalantly embellishes the gorgeous, gently propulsive melody with epigrammatic curlicues and zigzags, as though he
were stringing pearls, and on the more vigorous pieces he can navigate a percussive tangle of high velocity phrases to find a
masterfully graceful denouement.” –Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader
 
 
Radio and live shows:
 
WNYC’s Spinning on Air w/ David Garland 03.09.08
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/spinning/episodes/2008/03/09
 
WFMU w/ Irene Trudel 04.07.08
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/26846
 
WFMU w/ Irene Trudel 07.24.08
http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/19812
 
Broadcast of Fire Museum/Majmua Music Record Label Showcase 04.22.08
http://shows.dmusic.com/
 
Majjem radio, Venlo, Netherlands 03.15.09
www.majjem.com/ericcarbonara.mp3

Here's a great live set and interview recorded by Wil Roeven for Majjem Radio located in Venlo, Netherlands recorded recently during my European tour.

Check it out!
 
Majjem radio, Venlo, Netherlands 03.15.09
www.majjem.com/ericcarbonara.mp3

Accepted wisdom says there's a glut of solo acoustic guitar recordings these days, suggesting most players are just pale imitators of––or worse, pretenders to––the Fahey/Takoma tradition. This sort of statement comes from labels pushing their product as well as critics looking to make dramatic assertions. Both are forms of laziness. They are avoiding the tough work of nailing down what is distinct about the guitarist in question. In the case of Eric Carbonara, he deserves your full consideration and deep listening. Sometimes just a well-played, thoughtful set of tunes is enough. Exodus Bulldornadius is such a record.

Carbonara, a recording engineer by day and guitarist as well as electro-acoustic experimentalist by night, doesn't give off the air of the virtuoso. Sure, his playing is technically solid, but it's not flashy. Carbonara's starting point lies outside of the acoustic blues / American finger-picking style; Flamenco, Andalusian and North African styles are more prevalent.

But how many cultures Carbonara can shoehorn into his sound is not the point here. Rather, Exodus… is all about tone, tune, and tale, and recording these in intimate, full-bodied detail. The lows boom, the highs are delicate, every beating tone is captured until it decays. This dedication to tone is apparent from the first notes of album opener "The Apparition". Carbonara, wielding the sound of his six string like an oud, balances sounds that are dry as well as plangent, making every note sound like a supplication.

But Carbonara has the songwriting and arranging chops to back up his rich, resonant sound. His tunes run from the unabashedly beautiful and mournful to the ecstatic and knotty. He manages the not-so-easy trick sitting modern dissonance alongside a host of references to the music of other cultures without making an issue of it. The fluctuating tempos and ecstatic chording of "Dead Trees in the Life of Speed" could come just as easily come from rembetika or Ostad Elahi as from some psychedelic freak-out. The repetition at the close of "Lullaby for a Setting Sun" could be minimalism or just simple folk forms.

Most importantly, Carbonara holds a listener's attention throughout by having a fine sense of how to spin a tale. He continually builds drama, transforming each piece in multiple ways but never losing the plot. On "By the Sound of Your Voice, I Will Swim to You" he spins out a series of single notes into a dark, melancholy theme, then shines a bright light through the major-key middle section. It's at these moments, where he knits the major to the minor, the modern to the ancient, and makes it seem absolutely natural, when Exodus touches a rarefied place of its own.

By Matthew Wuethrich
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4382

as always, irene trudel’s show is wonderful...she’s such a lovely person to be around and makes you feel very inspired to play.....nick and i took turns doing tunes and babbling about ourselves and then do a bit of improvisation together at the end of the show....


http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/26846

hello everybody....

i had the honor of being invited to perform on david garland's spinning on air show (Airs Sunday at 7PM on 93.9 FM)...for those that don't know, david is a musician and radio host of the highest caliber...

his music can be found in numerous ways..but here's a link:

http://www.3garlands.com/davidgarland/recordings.html

unfortuantely, i got a little too busy with the upcoming soft people release (that's right, the record's done!) to inform people beforehand....but don't fret...the show has been archived here:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/spinning/episodes/2008/03/09


below the show information is a section where listeners can post comments about the show....i have to say, i feel extremely honored to have been given the opportunity in the first place...but then to hear people describe how they felt....well, to say it was very touching is an understatement!

hope you enjoy!

best,

eric

Apesar do seu sobrenome italiano, Eric Carbonara vive em Filadélfia mas até poderia viver na Andaluzia. "Carbonara" como nome pode dizer pouco mas editar nas séries Wooden Guitar da Locust diz muita coisa. E também diz muita coisa quando já se gravou Jack Rose (Eric Carbonara além de músico é também engenheiro de som). Mas porque as acções falam mais alto do que as palavras, Eric Caebonara, que explora uma palete variada de músicas, arrisca em Exodus Bulldornadius uma aventura acústica delicada – mas muito recompensadora; uma viagem extensa pelo mundo da guitarra.

Apetece começar por dizer que Exodus Bulldornadius é um disco belíssimo do primeiro ao último segundo. São ao todo sete composições onde Eric Carbonara funde a folk com o flamenco, explora o silêncio e a falta dele, admite a falha como algo natural. Este é claramente um disco onde o erro não faz o músico parar mas sim avançar (recuperar do engano é uma grande virtude). Não há rede de segurança mas nem por isso há medo de não a ter. E é por essa perigosidade sempre constante (porque se repete de audição em audição) que Exodus Bulldornadius é um disco tão belo.

"Lullaby for a Setting Sun" assegura só por si o selo de garantia de qualidade deste Exodus Bulldornadius; maravilhoso turbilhão de emoções disfarçado de delicadezas acústicas, envolto em rodriguinhos totalmente necessários e prementes, imerso numa estado a meio caminho entre a felicidade modesta e a melancolia que não chega o chega a ser. Cabe dentro da canção mil pedaços de possíveis grandes canções. Há muitas canções dentro destas 7 canções. Imaginárias ou reais, pouco importa. Mas nem só de calmaria se faz este Exodus Bulldornadius. "Dead Trees in the life of Speed", por exemplo, chega a ser violenta no acelerar das cordas e nas mudanças de humor. Coisas de quem faz música com as emoções à flor da pele. A guitarra nas mãos de Eric Carbonara tem um poder imenso: o da imprevisibilidade. E não saber o caminho que vamos tomar ainda tem algum encanto. Não tem?

André Gomes
andregomes@bodyspace.net
05/02/2008



In English:
Despite its Italian last name, Eric Carbonara lives in Philadelphia but until she could live in Andalusia. "Carbonara" as name can say little but to edit in the series Wooden Guitar of the Locust says much thing. E also says much thing when already Jack Rose was recorded (Eric Carbonara beyond musician is also sound engineer). But because the shares say high more of the one than the words, Eric Caebonara, that one explores palete varied of musics, risks in Exodus Bulldornadius an adventure acoustics delicate - but very recompensadora; an extensive trip for the world of the guitar. Apetece to start for saying that Exodus Bulldornadius is a gorgeous record of the first one to the last one second. They are to all the seven compositions where Eric Carbonara establishes folk with flamenco, explores the silence and the lack of it, she admits the natural imperfection as something. This is clearly a record where the error does not make the musician to stop but yes advancing (to recoup of the deceit is a great virtue). It does not have security net but nor therefore it has fear of not having. E is for this always constant perigosidade (because it is happened again of hearing in hearing) that Exodus Bulldornadius is a so beautiful record. "Lullaby will be the Setting Sun" only assures for itself the stamp of quality assurance of this Exodus Bulldornadius; wonderful disfarçado of delicacies acoustics, envolto in necessary and pressing rodriguinhos, total immersed eddy of emotions in one been the half way between the modest happiness and the melancholy that it does not arrive arrives to be. It inside fits of the song a thousand possible pieces of great songs. It has many songs of these inside 7 songs. Imaginary or real, little matters. But nor of calmness if it only makes this Exodus Bulldornadius. "Dead Trees in the life of Speed", for example, arrives to be violent in speeding up of the ropes and the changes of mood. Things of who make music with the emotions to the flower of the skin. The guitar in the hands of Eric Carbonara has an immense power: of the imprevisibilidade. E not to know the way that we go to still take has some enchantment. It does not have?

Had Eric Carbonara simply called "Lullaby for a Setting Sun"-- the third track from the Philadelphia multi-instrumentalist and trans-genre enthusiast's contribution to the fantastic Locust Wooden Guitar series-- "Untitled No. 3", the themes would still be apparent. Any responsible summary would have noticed a warming motif that occasionally peaks through clouds of notes (N.B. 1:13 and 4:26), the teasing non-events that shape much of the five minutes, and the familiar, easy portrait Carbonara traces with his fingers.

But the title is a signal begging for a synopsis, calling for recognition that, indeed, Carbonara has translated the sight of something you may see every day into a dramatic, poised skit. The track opens with the realization that the sun is setting, that the day is done. Motion sighs and shuffles, slowing as the light fades. But twilight arrives unsteadily, building tension through slow, slight flickers. Is it actually getting darker?

This is drama on the smallest scale: One set of eyes in one place watching as a sun that still shines brightly for those only miles away sinks. The sun hangs in the fourth minute, Carbona's circular passes suggesting the wide berth between night and day, among watcher and listener. Finally, the puppeteer shifts the celestial strings, and Carbonara replies in kind. That motif, which seemed so warm and steady at the start, pokes through a final time. It will return, but not before a closing harmonic from Carbonara's strings and one night of rest.

--Grayson Currin (from 1/21/08)

Another NAFH noob (to me), Eric Carbonara gets in on similar action with the fantastic This May be the End 3" CD-R, two tracks of oblique measured picking in the case of "Long Hallway, Three Open Doors" and a shimmering Steve Reichian trip through uplifting repetition in the beautiful title track, which suggests that Carbonara may take this ringing acoustic guitar drone thing to bold new places in coming days. Truly inspiring.

(i'm not sure who wrote this but here's the link, they also review mike tamburo's stuff:)

http://womblife.blogspot.com/

Seven Pieces For Solo Guitar is the title of the latest CD-R from Pennsylvania area guitarist Eric Carbonara, and thanks to truth in advertising statutes, you'll find here one solo guitar and seven challenging acoustic pieces. Highly improvisational, and wholly introspective, you may feel as if you are listening to a sage pouring out his collected wisdom onto a group of eager followers, or perhaps you may hear a battle-weary soldier recalling his long-lost innocence. Easily a dozen or more interpretations per tune can be readily imagined; indeed the beauty of instrumental music is the ability to let free association be your guide while listening - although the composer's intent beyond the song title might be an interesting addition to a future album's liner notes. Great job.

----Guitar Nine Records

Listen to an archived radio broadcast of solo guitar work (acoustic) on WFMU, hosted by Irene Trudel

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/IT

airdate was July 24th, 2006