Salamander Discography of CDs

Salamander CD discography Salamander came together in the wake of the Seattle rock explosion in 1993, originally looking to East Coast jam bands like Blues Traveler, Phish, and the Spin Doctors as well as older hippies like the Allman Brothers for influence. In hindsight, they now sound like an early version of Incubus, not leaning so heavy on the metal. The band was often compared to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as ...

Salamander albums This record was something of an enigma -- apparently it never got distributed very widely even in England, where it was recorded and released, and was never officially issued in the United States. The band calls to mind early Deep Purple (pre-Machine Head) in their style, while the record resembles the early progressive efforts of the Moody Blues. This is a concept album built around the Ten Commandments, ...

Bent Hemlock was intended to emphasize psychedelic folk more than the band's past releases, which gave more attention to improvised music. Although much of the groundwork is laid by acoustic guitars, the psychedelic elements come into play with a fairly wide range of instrumentation, including wah-wahing electric guitar, chord organ, violin, and cello. Even given that psych-folk tends to drift off more than the average rock genre, however, ...

Track Listing of songs: Out West; C Train; Fractal Image; B.I.T; Slick; Top Secret; West Bank Moon; Forgotten Memories; Life Cycle; Noir; Out West;

The third and last album from Salamander's first outburst of activity, Birds of Appetite first came out as a double LP in 2000. It was reissued on a single CD in July 2003 in conjunction with the group becoming active again. The lineup remains the same except for drummer Matthew Zaun (also in Skye Klad with guitarist Erik Wivinus) replacing Bryce Kastning. The previous two albums were culled ...

The story of Minneapolis's Salamander is a slippery one indeed. Salamander was formed in 1992 by guitarists Erik Wivinus and Sean Connaughty, went through several phases of manner and membership, disbanded in 1996, and reformed as a very different entity in 1998. Fortunately, Wivinus committed much of Salamander's output to four-track. His tapes, the only document of the life and times of this remarkable psychedelic improv outfit, were ...

RED MANTRA continues the Camera Obscura label's loving retrospective documentation of Salamander, a Minneapolis-based psychedelic improv unit formed in 1992 by guitarists Sean Connaughty and Erik Wivinus. For a long time, Wivinus's archive of four-track recordings was Salamander's lone legacy. RED MANTRA picks up where RED AMPERSAND left off, resuming the tale of the on-again/off-again Salamander with material from the band's prime1994-1996 period and from the reconvened, 1998-model crew. Throughout RED MANTRA, one detects the dulcet acid-folk echoes of Connaughty's Vortex Navigation Company and Wivinus' Gentle Tasaday, side projects that occupied the band's principals during Salamander's indefinite hiatus. RED MANTRA's journey begins with a slightly forlorn, Connaughty-penned acoustic ballad ("Earthborn Animal"), but Salamander soon kicks into interstellar overdrive with the twin psychedelic cyclones of "David's Opening" and the newer "Old Mister Jones." "Return to Rural Highway" unfolds with blissful leisure until scalding distortion and devastating effects threaten the instrumental's serpentine sylvan path. The highlight, however, is "Red Mantra" itself, wherein the reformed Salamander charts a stunning 25-minute trip into the forbidding, sun-baked heart of a sinister and surreal Agitation Free-like desert dreamscape. Audio Mixer: Salamander. Recording ...