Tetuzi Akiyama, Tom Carter, Christian Kiefer

Tetuzi Akiyama, guitars. Tom Carter, guitars. Christian Kiefer, guitars, banjoand Chip Conrad, percussion, Scott Leftridge, bass & bowed bass.'The darkened mirror' is a unique vision of American music. Tetuzi Akiyama is a highly unique and experimental guitarist heavily applying free improvisation and noise. Besides guitar, he also plays electronics, viola, and self-made instruments.Best known for his work with acclaimed iconoclasts Charalambides, which he co-founded with Christina Carter in 1991, Tod Carter has branched out into other collaborations since 2001, playing and recording with long-term projects Zaika (with Marcia Bassett) and Badgerlore (with Rob Fisk, Ben Chasny, Liz Harris, and Peter Swanson), as well as in frequent collaborations with Bay Area sound artist Robert Horton. Other fellow travelers have included Christian Kiefer, Tetuzi Akiyama, Shawn David McMillen, Thurston Moore, Dredd Foole, Loren Connors, Pip Proud, Inca Ore, Jandek, Bardo Pond, Steve Gunn, and Matt Valentine, among many others.Christian Kiefer grew up in an area of California famous for the gold rush of the 1840s and 50s. It was a childhood spent around the ever-present detritus of that period of history: abandoned mine shafts, rusting hulks of stamp mills, ruins long since forgotten. As he began working towards a life in the arts, these images returned to him, appearing again and again in fiction, poetry, and music, becoming the thread which binds his work together.