Caroliner

Part of a long line of avant-garde weirdos from the Bay Area, Caroliner -- aka Caroliner Rainbow -- often described itself as "industrial bluegrass," which was likely the closest anyone ever came to pegging their uncategorizable sound. Their songs were rooted in 19th century Americana and the sort of primitive folk found on the Harry Smith Anthology, but usually came wrapped in a thick crust of experimental noise and a bone-dry, dadaist sense of humor. Their records were just as likely to recall musique concrète or early industrial as country, folk, and bluegrass; everything i...