PHANTOGRAM is a trip-hop/psych-pop duo, formed in 2007 at Saratoga Springs, NY, by Joshua Carter (vocals, guitars) and Sarah Barthel (vocals, keyboards). Their music can be described as a culmination of unique street beat rhythms, and psychedelic melodies, with combined technology and organic textures. The band practices and writes music in an out-of-town farm called Harmony Lodge, where they write and record songs using various samplers, tapes, records, synths, drums, and both percussive and stringed instruments.
Barthel and Carter were friends since junior high school. Barthel pursued a visual arts degree while Carter formed the experimental band Grand Habit. In the Summer of 2007 they reunited and worked on finishing some beat ideas Carter made earlier. The duo was originally called Charlie Everywhere when performing around the Saratoga Springs area on the local label Sub-Bombin Records. The band released few EPs under Charlie Everywhere moniker. When they signed to BBE Records they changed the name to PHANTOGRAM, to avoid legal issues.
In March 2009, they self-released a five song EP, Phantogram EP, which featured four songs that ended up being on the full length. In the same year they released another EP, Running from the Cops on BBE Records.
The band's debut album Eyelid Movies was released in September 2009, on BBE records in Europe, and in February 2010, on Barsuk Records in the US. The album received generally favorable reviews, with a Metacritic score of 76. On 1 Apil 2010 the band premiered the music video of "Mouthful of Diamonds".
PHANTOGRAM have supported acts such as Metric, The xx, J-Live, Brazilian Girls and have toured with The Slip, Zero 7 and Minus the Bear.
Official site: http://www.myspace.com/phantogram
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Phantogram (formerly Charlie Everywhere) is an American Indie pop duo from Saratoga Springs, New York, formed in 2007 and consisting of Josh Carter (vocals, guitars) and Sarah Barthel (vocals, keyboards). They write and record in a remote barn in upstate New York called Harmony Lodge. The band name was partially inspired by an optical illusion called a phantogram, in which two-dimensional images appear to be three-dimensional.
They often describe their sound as "street beat, psych pop". According to Josh Carter, their music has "lots of rhythms, swirling guitars, spacey keyboards, echoes, airy vocals".
The band released a studio album (Eyelid Movies in 2009), three EPs (Phantogram and Running From the Cops in 2009, Nightlife in 2011) and four singles.
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