BARN OWL Ancestral Star (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98
Ancestral Star is the latest batch of brooding, epic, twang flecked darkness from this local duo (now trio with the seemingly permanent addition of a drummer), their first for Thrill Jockey, and easily their most fully realized record yet, and while we were expecting it to maybe be their heaviest, based on the last few releases and the duo's individual solo recordings, it seems the band have dialed back the crunch, opting more for moodiness and atmosphere. The group's development from hushed psychedelic droners to brooding epic soundscapers has been a gradual and natural one, which is most likely what accounts for the seamless melding of whispery psychedelic ambience and lumbering doom-ed country drift.
The record opens up with a wild squall of superdistorted guitar buzz and howling feedback, a slowly unfurling melody, the notes crumbling and blown out, it had us expecting some serious crush right off the bat, but instead, the thick peals of smoldering psychdrone give way to some smokey Morricone-ish drift, haunting and abstract, the drums giving the sound a definite slowcore vibe, vocals hovering way off in the distance, more about adding texture than delivering lyrics.
After a brief twangscape, another spare skeletal bit of haunting countrydoomdrift, the band launch into the 10+ minute title track, a gauzy bit of slow building dronemusic, lushly layered, gradually expanding like a timelapse film of a supernova, a slowly blossoming burst of white hot buzz, expanding in every direction, a massive cloud of roiling distorted sound, that begins to fade almost immediately eventually becoming another stretch of hushed haunting ambience.
The rest of the record is rich with short sonic vignettes, a brief bit of echo drenched Appalachia, a heavily reverbed stretch of lush droney piano, a gorgeous bit of desert-y drift, all brooding twang and sitar like buzz, even some wheezing harmonium and choral like chants, these short form soundscapes separating the record's other two lengthy soundscapes, the first "Flatlands" begins all singing strings, and droned out vocals, lots of layers, and incredible overtones, the sounds constantly shifting, so dark and dramatic rife with some sort of melodic inner glow that infuses the rest of the sounds, the drone eventually fading out, leaving a bit of distorted twang, to gradually unravel to song's end. and then there's the closer, the nearly 7 minute "Light From The Mesa" another sprawling bit of dark dronemusic, washed out and whirring, the band's murky twang buried beneath the muted drift, everything wreathed in an ethereal haze, the drone finally dissipating leaving more spidery western twang, this time with percussion that sound like the clink of spurs on the wooden floor of the saloon, until those spidery guitars blossom into thick warm waves of chordal hum, backed up by soaring falsetto vocals, a gorgeous dirge to lead Barn Owl out of the valley, the record winding down as they disappear into the distance.
Yet another gorgeous collection of darkly epic doomfolk dronedrift dreaminess.
The cd version comes in a 4 panel mini lp style gatefold sleeve, the lp comes in a full color gatefold jacket and includes a download coupon as well.
MPEG Stream: "Visions In Dust"
MPEG Stream: "Ancestral Star"
MPEG Stream: "Light From The Mesa"

BARN OWL Ancestral Star (Thrill Jockey) lp 15.98
Ancestral Star is the latest batch of brooding, epic, twang flecked darkness from this local duo (now trio with the seemingly permanent addition of a drummer), their first for Thrill Jockey, and easily their most fully realized record yet, and while we were expecting it to maybe be their heaviest, based on the last few releases and the duo's individual solo recordings, it seems the band have dialed back the crunch, opting more for moodiness and atmosphere. The group's development from hushed psychedelic droners to brooding epic soundscapers has been a gradual and natural one, which is most likely what accounts for the seamless melding of whispery psychedelic ambience and lumbering doom-ed country drift.
The record opens up with a wild squall of superdistorted guitar buzz and howling feedback, a slowly unfurling melody, the notes crumbling and blown out, it had us expecting some serious crush right off the bat, but instead, the thick peals of smoldering psychdrone give way to some smokey Morricone-ish drift, haunting and abstract, the drums giving the sound a definite slowcore vibe, vocals hovering way off in the distance, more about adding texture than delivering lyrics.
After a brief twangscape, another spare skeletal bit of haunting countrydoomdrift, the band launch into the 10+ minute title track, a gauzy bit of slow building dronemusic, lushly layered, gradually expanding like a timelapse film of a supernova, a slowly blossoming burst of white hot buzz, expanding in every direction, a massive cloud of roiling distorted sound, that begins to fade almost immediately eventually becoming another stretch of hushed haunting ambience.
The rest of the record is rich with short sonic vignettes, a brief bit of echo drenched Appalachia, a heavily reverbed stretch of lush droney piano, a gorgeous bit of desert-y drift, all brooding twang and sitar like buzz, even some wheezing harmonium and choral like chants, these short form soundscapes separating the record's other two lengthy soundscapes, the first "Flatlands" begins all singing strings, and droned out vocals, lots of layers, and incredible overtones, the sounds constantly shifting, so dark and dramatic rife with some sort of melodic inner glow that infuses the rest of the sounds, the drone eventually fading out, leaving a bit of distorted twang, to gradually unravel to song's end. and then there's the closer, the nearly 7 minute "Light From The Mesa" another sprawling bit of dark dronemusic, washed out and whirring, the band's murky twang buried beneath the muted drift, everything wreathed in an ethereal haze, the drone finally dissipating leaving more spidery western twang, this time with percussion that sound like the clink of spurs on the wooden floor of the saloon, until those spidery guitars blossom into thick warm waves of chordal hum, backed up by soaring falsetto vocals, a gorgeous dirge to lead Barn Owl out of the valley, the record winding down as they disappear into the distance.
Yet another gorgeous collection of darkly epic doomfolk dronedrift dreaminess.
The cd version comes in a 4 panel mini lp style gatefold sleeve, the lp comes in a full color gatefold jacket and includes a download coupon as well.
MPEG Stream: "Visions In Dust"
MPEG Stream: "Ancestral Star"
MPEG Stream: "Light From The Mesa"

BORGES, LO s/t (Water) cd 14.98
We first heard Lo Borges as singer and songwriter on the mighty Clube Da Esquina, Milton Nascimento's 1972 epic double record, we listed awhile back. That record has been a consistently steady seller since we listed it, and with good reason, it's incredible! But while Nascimento and Borges actually collaborated together on much of it, it's mostly regarded as a Nascimento record. So it's great to see Lo Borge's self titled debut solo album from the same year finally reissued by the Water label, to shine a much deserved spotlight on this underrated artist. And we have to say, it's equally as incredible and essential as Clube De Esquina, Eduardo Mateo's Mateo Solo Bien Se Lame, Caetano Veloso's Transa, or Gilberto Gil's Cerebro Electronico! With a nod to the cover art, those are big shoes indeed!
Recorded when he was just entering his twenties, the scope of artistry on display seems to be by someone so much more experienced. Not only is Borges at the top of his game as a singer and songwriter, but the arrangements and musicianship are just as dazzling. Most of the songs barely squeak over the two minute mark, but he packs so many ideas into a song without losing its central focus and at the same time giving everything lots of space. Here and there a string section drops in and out, a flurry of baroque piano, soaring flutes, a jazzy organ swell, searing electric guitar, hints of electronic psychedelic washes. At times romantic and mysterious, other times more urgent with rhythms picking up and slowing down in tempo to evoke a wide range of emotive qualities. This is a record we'll probably be playing all summer long. We can't recommend it enough!
MPEG Stream: "Voce Fica Melhor Assim"
MPEG Stream: "Como O Machado"
MPEG Stream: "Nao Se Apague Esta Noite"
MPEG Stream: "Aos Baroes"

BORGES, LO s/t (4 Men With Beards) lp 16.98
Now available, reissued on vinyl!
We first heard Lo Borges as singer and songwriter on the mighty Clube Da Esquina, Milton Nascimento's 1972 epic double record, we listed awhile back. That record has been a consistently steady seller since we listed it, and with good reason, it's incredible! But while Nascimento and Borges actually collaborated together on much of it, it's mostly regarded as a Nascimento record. So it's great to see Lo Borge's self titled debut solo album from the same year finally reissued by the Water label, to shine a much deserved spotlight on this underrated artist. And we have to say, it's equally as incredible and essential as Clube De Esquina, Eduardo Mateo's Mateo Solo Bien Se Lame, Caetano Veloso's Transa, or Gilberto Gil's Cerebro Electronico! With a nod to the cover art, those are big shoes indeed!
Recorded when he was just entering his twenties, the scope of artistry on display seems to be by someone so much more experienced. Not only is Borges at the top of his game as a singer and songwriter, but the arrangements and musicianship are just as dazzling. Most of the songs barely squeak over the two minute mark, but he packs so many ideas into a song without losing its central focus and at the same time giving everything lots of space. Here and there a string section drops in and out, a flurry of baroque piano, soaring flutes, a jazzy organ swell, searing electric guitar, hints of electronic psychedelic washes. At times romantic and mysterious, other times more urgent with rhythms picking up and slowing down in tempo to evoke a wide range of emotive qualities. This is a record we'll probably be playing all summer long. We can't recommend it enough!
MPEG Stream: "Voce Fica Melhor Assim"
MPEG Stream: "Como O Machado"
MPEG Stream: "Nao Se Apague Esta Noite"
MPEG Stream: "Aos Baroes"

BOSSE-DE-NAGE s/t (Flenser) cd 9.98
Hailing from right here in the Bay Area, this mysterious black metal horde recorded this, their debut, way back in 2007, and, except maybe for a few demo cassettes back then, it's only finally seeing the light of day now, which is a shame, cuz this utterly rules, some of the weirdest, coolest, most idiosyncratic black metal ever, a killer mix of Slint like post rock, grim true blackness, and blown out shoegazey drift, it's hard to imagine that most aQ metalheads wouldn't totally lose their shit over these guys, we sure did. And we know nothing about this band, who they are, where they're from exactly, why this record took 3+ years to come out, and how the fuck a band this cool and weird could remain so far and so long under the radar. Well, we're just glad this record is finally getting the attention it deserves. And that we an finally gush about this incredible, fucked up and far out slab of outsider blackness.
The record begins with the very Slintish "Marie", Spiderland guitars, simple spare drumming, lots of space, the only hint of blackness is the tortured vocals, draped over the song's skeletal framework, loping, hypnotic, mysterious, haunting, it's not until 2 minutes in that the blackness drops, frantic double kick, frenzied riffage, and the vocals, seriously tortured and anguished, but even then the minor key post rock vibe manages to still run through the rest of the track, and hell, the rest of the record. The track finishes off with a cool stretch of processed feedback, before launching into the second part of the 'Marie' suite, "Marie Pissed Upon The Count", a seriously frenzied black metal blowout, the vocals just incredible, emotional, not shrieked, more a guttural howl, the whole song manages to be almost a single extended blast, except for a brief respite part way through, where the band slips back into that Slinty lope, but just for a moment. And then there's the untitled third track, that is ridiculously melodic, hazy and shoegazey and washed out, still buzzy, but the melody is so weirdly sunshiney, and the song does eventually transform into something way more fierce and black, but that dreamy vibe infuses the whole track, a weird grim / glowing hybrid. And so it goes, the whole record is a constant sonic exploration, draping those sinister demonic vokills over pretty spidery guitar jangle, sending insectoid riffing into soaring swells of surprisingly major key melodies, injecting weird mathy almost progginess into long stretches of contemplative drift, while much of this sounds like classic Norwegian style blackness, lots of it sounds like some nineties math rock band, imagine a Don Cab / Darkthrone hybrid, or A Minor Forest crossed with Mutiilation, or some sort of Slint / Alcest / Burzum blend, the record lurches and swings from harsh heaviness to melodic lope and back again, finishing off with a long stretch of looped guitar and minimal drumming, that manages to be way more powerful and intense than a blown out black blast closer, which is precisely why this record is so special, and so fucking incredible. And even though technically this is from 2007, there's no way this isn't another black metal of the year contender...
MPEG Stream: "Marie"
MPEG Stream: "Marie Pisses Upon The Count"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled"

CARETAKER Persistent Repetition Of Phrases (History Always Favors The Winners) cd 17.98
One of Wire magazine's best records of 2008, and an instant all time aQ fave, the Caretaker's Persistent Repetition Of Phrases is a gorgeous, hazy, sonic mystery, that when first released, was so limited, the cd went out of print before we even had a chance to review it at all. We did end up listing the vinyl, and selling TONS, but now finally, the cd version has been repressed, so prepare to again experience the magic of the Caretaker's haunting and evocative miniature blurred ghostjazz soundworlds, a gloriously sprawling, murky, looped and mesmeric dreamscape songsuite.
The Caretaker has two modes, slow shimmery gauzy ambience, and slowed down warped and blurred big band and jazz. Often combing the two into some sort of otherworldly slow motion spectral dream jazz. We've been joking that the Caretaker is sort of like the DJ Screw of the avant underground, seeing as he takes scratchy old jazz records and reworks them Philip Jeck style into, woozy buried drifts of jazz shadows and haunting otherworldly vocals. Most of the jazzier tracks, sound like the soundtrack to some super creepy dream sequence, a la the Shining, like when Nicholson finds himself in that bar filled with ghosts, you can almost imagine, a dusty old saloon, broken mirrors, cigarette burned tables, sawdust floors, a lone figure sitting alone, hunched over in a dark corner, while all around him, nearly transparent figures move about as if still alive, a ballet of phantom familiarity, spirits unaware that they've moved on, going on with the machinations of daily life, their essence flickery and indistinct, like an old filmstrip. And a filmstrip soundtrack is exactly what the music of the Caretaker evokes, warm, effusive, burnished, old timey, antiquated, the sounds are dark and woozy and and bleed together, blurring into fuzzy stretches of lost memory, of suspended time. The music here is the sound of faded old photographs, of old super 8 movies projected on a wall in a dark and dusty old room, of abandoned skating rinks, of boarded up windows, of black clouds filling a slate grey sky, of life slowing to a crawl, before even more slowly fading away. Absolutely and utterly breathtaking.
MPEG Stream: "Lacunar Amnesia"
MPEG Stream: "Persistent Repition Of Phrases"
MPEG Stream: "Rosy Retrospection"
MPEG Stream: "Long Term (Remote)"

CHRISTIAN MISTRESS Agony And Opium (20 Buck Spin) cd 10.98
First, a couple things, we doubt that these rockers are Christian, and the only lady in the band seems more like a "Ms." than a Mistress. But, yeah, that's a very metal sounding name ain't it?? Now, we know that '70s and '80s influenced heavy metal isn't everyone's cup of tea, but then neither is doomdronedirge or lo-fi garage pop or groovy porno soundtracks or lots of other things... and we wouldn't be being true to ourselves if we didn't make this a Record Of The Week! After all, some of us here have done nothing but listen to this non-stop since it showed up. Plus, maybe this IS your cup of tea and you wouldn't have known that if we didn't really push it.
For those of you who are into traditional metal sounds, like those of the NWOBHM (and thus know what NWOBHM stands for), Christian Mistress should be an immediate hit. Everyone else, well, if you're gonna get just ONE heavy metal record this year, it'd be pretty cool (for you) if it was this one.
The debut from Olympia's Christian Mistress, actually looks more crusty punk than heavy metal, and comes out on a label better known for doom and sludge than "True" heavy metal. Yet this is true all right. Not only boasting shredding twin guitars, but melodies and SONGS, and a singer, Christine Davis, who not only can sing but has a "VOICE". Sorry for the all caps, and quotes, but we're excited. What we mean is, she's got a voice that is unique and memorable, as well as being able to carry a tune. Pretty special in this day and age. We'd probably have to compare her, among female metal vocalists, to Kate De Lombaert from '80s Belgian band Acid, not that we expect everybody to know who that is... Davis could also appeal to fans of Hammers Of Misfortune, and Jex Thoth, though she doesn't sound like those female singers, her voice much more raw, deeper, with a slight rasp in fact. But sweet enough for us! It's powerful yet melancholic character goes well with her lyrics, serious ones about such subjects as love and (we think) addiction, she stays away from trite metal cliches. Meanwhile, musically, the band shows itself to be steeped in the "old ways", dedicated students of Judas Priest and early Iron Maiden, the NWOBHM, Metallica, Megadeth, etc... plugging into the timelessness of the best traditional metal, while still sounding fresh and vital. Exciting, and emotional.
Christian Mistress go for quality not quantity here, offering up six killer songs in just over 27 minutes. From opening track "Riding On The Edges" onwards, the listener is treated to sheer headbanging joy, adrenalized gallop, heavy riffs, spiralling spires of intertwined lead guitar, and both melody and energy in large doses. All six songs are excellent, with maybe "Desert Rose" especially standing out come chorus-time... and we'll mention how the last cut, "Omega Stone", starts off in gentle, acoustic mode, Davis singing quietly, wearily, for several minutes, building into some psychedelic soloing, before the band bursts into frenetic, triumphant, rapid riffing for the track's final moments. It's probably the song on this album that an audience would be most likely to raise their lighters for, and we mean that in a good way! And then as soon as it's over, we're already hitting play to hear the disc again once more, to get another Christian Mistress fix. Here, and elsewhere, they achieve a sense of drama without being at all corny. Instead, this disc comes off as classy, majestic, and inspired. And about as hooky as can be. We're always talking about how this or that black metal or ambient drone or whatever band is "actually" writing pop songs underneath all the buzz, distortion and/or screaming. Well, here's a band that's heavy and metal... and DEFINITELY writing pop songs, of the stick-in-your-head variety. Your head that's banging at the same time. Basically, the current crop of retro metallers (not to mention all indie rock bands, if we look at this from a metal-centric perspective) just got their asses handed to them by Christian Mistress. Old school, but original.
We're not the only ones freaking out over Christian Mistress. 20 Buck Spin, obviously. And, Fenriz loves 'em! In fact, we might have first heard of Christian Mistress 'cause the Darkthrone drummer mentioned them in an interview or something. And while we don't agree with Fenriz about all his many cult band crushes, he was right about these guys (and girl). Also, the other day we happened to be playing this in the presence of Mike Scalzi from Slough Feg, who volunteered that "this band is awesome"... and he usually doesn't like ANYTHING. So consider that quite an endorsement, for what it's worth... along with us making it Record Of The Week.
MPEG Stream: "Riding On The Edges"
MPEG Stream: "Desert Rose"
MPEG Stream: "Home In The Sun"

CHRISTIAN MISTRESS Agony And Opium (20 Buck Spin) lp 14.98
First, a couple things, we doubt that these rockers are Christian, and the only lady in the band seems more like a "Ms." than a Mistress. But, yeah, that's a very metal sounding name ain't it?? Now, we know that '70s and '80s influenced heavy metal isn't everyone's cup of tea, but then neither is doomdronedirge or lo-fi garage pop or groovy porno soundtracks or lots of other things... and we wouldn't be being true to ourselves if we didn't make this a Record Of The Week! After all, some of us here have done nothing but listen to this non-stop since it showed up. Plus, maybe this IS your cup of tea and you wouldn't have known that if we didn't really push it.
For those of you who are into traditional metal sounds, like those of the NWOBHM (and thus know what NWOBHM stands for), Christian Mistress should be an immediate hit. Everyone else, well, if you're gonna get just ONE heavy metal record this year, it'd be pretty cool (for you) if it was this one.
The debut from Olympia's Christian Mistress, actually looks more crusty punk than heavy metal, and comes out on a label better known for doom and sludge than "True" heavy metal. Yet this is true all right. Not only boasting shredding twin guitars, but melodies and SONGS, and a singer, Christine Davis, who not only can sing but has a "VOICE". Sorry for the all caps, and quotes, but we're excited. What we mean is, she's got a voice that is unique and memorable, as well as being able to carry a tune. Pretty special in this day and age. We'd probably have to compare her, among female metal vocalists, to Kate De Lombaert from '80s Belgian band Acid, not that we expect everybody to know who that is... Davis could also appeal to fans of Hammers Of Misfortune, and Jex Thoth, though she doesn't sound like those female singers, her voice much more raw, deeper, with a slight rasp in fact. But sweet enough for us! It's powerful yet melancholic character goes well with her lyrics, serious ones about such subjects as love and (we think) addiction, she stays away from trite metal cliches. Meanwhile, musically, the band shows itself to be steeped in the "old ways", dedicated students of Judas Priest and early Iron Maiden, the NWOBHM, Metallica, Megadeth, etc... plugging into the timelessness of the best traditional metal, while still sounding fresh and vital. Exciting, and emotional.
Christian Mistress go for quality not quantity here, offering up six killer songs in just over 27 minutes. From opening track "Riding On The Edges" onwards, the listener is treated to sheer headbanging joy, adrenalized gallop, heavy riffs, spiralling spires of intertwined lead guitar, and both melody and energy in large doses. All six songs are excellent, with maybe "Desert Rose" especially standing out come chorus-time... and we'll mention how the last cut, "Omega Stone", starts off in gentle, acoustic mode, Davis singing quietly, wearily, for several minutes, building into some psychedelic soloing, before the band bursts into frenetic, triumphant, rapid riffing for the track's final moments. It's probably the song on this album that an audience would be most likely to raise their lighters for, and we mean that in a good way! And then as soon as it's over, we're already hitting play to hear the disc again once more, to get another Christian Mistress fix. Here, and elsewhere, they achieve a sense of drama without being at all corny. Instead, this disc comes off as classy, majestic, and inspired. And about as hooky as can be. We're always talking about how this or that black metal or ambient drone or whatever band is "actually" writing pop songs underneath all the buzz, distortion and/or screaming. Well, here's a band that's heavy and metal... and DEFINITELY writing pop songs, of the stick-in-your-head variety. Your head that's banging at the same time. Basically, the current crop of retro metallers (not to mention all indie rock bands, if we look at this from a metal-centric perspective) just got their asses handed to them by Christian Mistress. Old school, but original.
We're not the only ones freaking out over Christian Mistress. 20 Buck Spin, obviously. And, Fenriz loves 'em! In fact, we might have first heard of Christian Mistress 'cause the Darkthrone drummer mentioned them in an interview or something. And while we don't agree with Fenriz about all his many cult band crushes, he was right about these guys (and girl). Also, the other day we happened to be playing this in the presence of Mike Scalzi from Slough Feg, who volunteered that "this band is awesome"... and he usually doesn't like ANYTHING. So consider that quite an endorsement, for what it's worth... along with us making it Record Of The Week.
MPEG Stream: "Riding On The Edges"
MPEG Stream: "Desert Rose"
MPEG Stream: "Home In The Sun"

DATE PALMS Of Psalms (Root Strata) lp 14.98
Date Palms is the new project of heavy electronic / cassette tape manipulator Gregg Kowalsky and Marielle Jakobsons (Myrmyr, Darwinsbitch) and is a strange, yet fantastic fusing of Eastern style raga drones, and hypnotic Spacemen 3 style bass buzz, which seems like a weird combo, but it definitely works, situating the Oakland duo right between those two not so disparate (as you might think) sounds, the music almost like some sort of slowcore spacerock dronedrift, writ abstract and minimal and Eastern, if that makes any sense. Sure it's on Root Strata, and both Date Palms are individually involved in the avant garde, but this could have easily come out on Kranky, or some other similarly outrock label, and these two could totally tour with a band like Low, or Stars Of The Lid, their slow smoldering drift a perfect fit, but the exotic array of Eastern instruments, and the duo's deft arrangements, and meticulous crafting of this hushed meditative minimal dronemusic, most definitely positions this just as easily outside the realm of 'rock music', and firmly in the world of the 'experimental'.
The opener is a perfect example, beginning with layered drones, the sound is immediately recognizable as some sort of Eastern raga, but the minute the bass comes in, the sound is transformed, and we can't help but hear Spacemen 3, at their most blissed out, and heck, they did make a record called An Evening Of Contemporary Sitar Music after all, which if we're not mistaken contained no sitar at all, the point is, Date Palms are channeling the same sort of druggy psychedelic minimalism, but adding that distinctly Eastern element, this opening track sounds like a way slowed down Moon Duo, with the keyboard swapped for some mysterious Indian instrument, and the guitar swapped for a bass, the groove is glacial, and is the perfect anchor for the more abstract buzz and drift. The bass does dissipate briefly, and at that point it sounds like Indian classical music, but then when the bass comes back in, along with some gorgeous melodic guitar counterpoint, the sound is brought right back to something more Western. The push and pull is dizzying, but subtly so, a fantastic hybrid, that works perfectly, combining to musics that both traffic in repetition and drone, the resulting hybrid is absolutely mesmerizing, the sort of rare sound that would appeal to the space rock bliss out crowd as much as the abstract minimal dronemusic crowd.
The rest of the record follows suit, the warm liquid basslines introducing a looped style mesmer, while all around, the duo introduce various bits of percussion, tinkling chimes, processed tape loops, sympathetic overtones and harmonics, on at least one track, the sound grows particularly fierce, the drone and drift wrapped in a squall of tangled psychedelic guitar, but that leads directly into the most blissed out of the bunch, the nearly 14 minute centerpiece, a smoldering drift where the bass part is so slow it almost sinks right into the background buzz like another layer, this time the processed guitar shimmer definitely evokes Sound Of Confusion era Spacemen 3, a gorgeous blurred dronescape that is utterly hypnotic, and 14 minutes is not even nearly long enough. The record closes though with what to us is the strangest of the bunch, definitely the most traditionally melodic, with a proper 'riff', the bass pronounced and fuzzy, and the melody played on an organ, the vibe almost classic rock, weirdly enough, but again, slowed waaaaaaay down and stretched waaaaaaay out, resulting in another gloriously abstract bit of raga drone slowcore drift.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Psalm 7"
MPEG Stream: "Psalm 3 Intro"
MPEG Stream: "Psalm 5"

DUCHAMP, MARCEL Entire Musical Work Of... (Dog With A Bone) cd 17.98
This absolute classic is finally back in print!
Predating the inclusion of chance operations into modern composition by almost fifty years, these compositions by Marcel Duchamp (written in 1913) were recorded in 1976 by the S.E.M. Ensemble of New York.
Duchamp was a household word in art circles, and music seemed the least important of his various interests, yet he managed to create a small, but highly innovative body of work. Included here are two interpretations of Duchamp's "The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even". One utilizes a chance system in which notes are represented by numbers written on balls which are selected as they pass through a funnel into the open cars of a toy train. The other is based on a a random selection of numbers, transcribed into notes and performed by player piano.
That's all well and good, but what does it sound like? Pretty amazing actually. This disc is worth buying for the first track alone, a gorgeous 25 minute piece, spacious and elegant, a dreamy sleepy swirl of chimes and their shimmering overtones. Absolutely gorgeous.
MPEG Stream: "Erratum Musical (For Three Voices)"
MPEG Stream: "Sculpture Musicale"

EMERALDS Does It Look Like I'm Here? (Editions Mego) cd 16.98
Nearly every week, there seems to be another crop of Emeralds related works. The format does not matter to the band - cassette, vinyl, cd, and hell, we bet they'd release an 8-track if they could - and the three Emerald dudes are not averse to venturing into side projects and other collaborations. Hence, the growth of the band between what could be qualified as their major productions has been huge. On the 2008 release of Solar Bridge, Emeralds slumped upon synths and guitar pedals in the construction of two mighty fine arcs of cosmic zone-out. Through the next couple of larger releases (What Happened and their self-titled album), Emeralds honed their craft of interlocking arpeggiations from the multiple analogue synths matched with motorik guitar excursions. They alluded to forgotten futures that were forecast by the likes of Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel, Heldon, and Omit. With all of Emeralds' explorations and variations on these specific themes, it was inevitable that the band would only be improving, and that certainly shows on the 2010 release of Does It Look Like I'm Here.
The biggest change that you'll notice between this album and everything that came before is the crystallization of the Emeralds sound into brief 4 to 5 minute chunks. It's hard to call these pieces 'pop songs,' but Emeralds are working with a greater economy than ever before. So much of what they had done seems to be the result of hanging out, turning on the tape machine, and seeing what happens... with amazing results. But, the shorter program speaks of the band working out particular compositions and tightening up the dynamics between the instruments. Don't worry, there will inevitably be another awesome Outer Space cassette or a Mark McGuire cd-r of the long-sprawling zoner-jams in the very near future! (In fact, likely on this very same list!)
Warm bubbling synths and kaleidoscopic guitar chiming melts into a bittersweet mid-tempo number with a thread of end-of-summer melancholy running counter to all of the glistening synth tones on the album opener "Candy Shoppe." The track "Double Helix" is aptly named for its tight spiralling of bright percolations and overlapping sequences. "Genetic" embraces a baroque almost harpsichord set of synth tones, with soaring-into-the-heavens ambience, and an elegant display of glowing guitar workouts. Lovely, lovely stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Candy Shoppe"
MPEG Stream: "Genetic"
MPEG Stream: "Does It Look Like I'm Here?"

EMERALDS Does It Look Like I'm Here? (Editions Mego) 2lp 27.00
Nearly every week, there seems to be another crop of Emeralds related works. The format does not matter to the band - cassette, vinyl, cd, and hell, we bet they'd release an 8-track if they could - and the three Emerald dudes are not averse to venturing into side projects and other collaborations. Hence, the growth of the band between what could be qualified as their major productions has been huge. On the 2008 release of Solar Bridge, Emeralds slumped upon synths and guitar pedals in the construction of two mighty fine arcs of cosmic zone-out. Through the next couple of larger releases (What Happened and their self-titled album), Emeralds honed their craft of interlocking arpeggiations from the multiple analogue synths matched with motorik guitar excursions. They alluded to forgotten futures that were forecast by the likes of Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel, Heldon, and Omit. With all of Emeralds' explorations and variations on these specific themes, it was inevitable that the band would only be improving, and that certainly shows on the 2010 release of Does It Look Like I'm Here.
The biggest change that you'll notice between this album and everything that came before is the crystallization of the Emeralds sound into brief 4 to 5 minute chunks. It's hard to call these pieces 'pop songs,' but Emeralds are working with a greater economy than ever before. So much of what they had done seems to be the result of hanging out, turning on the tape machine, and seeing what happens... with amazing results. But, the shorter program speaks of the band working out particular compositions and tightening up the dynamics between the instruments. Don't worry, there will inevitably be another awesome Outer Space cassette or a Mark McGuire cd-r of the long-sprawling zoner-jams in the very near future! (In fact, likely on this very same list!)
Warm bubbling synths and kaleidoscopic guitar chiming melts into a bittersweet mid-tempo number with a thread of end-of-summer melancholy running counter to all of the glistening synth tones on the album opener "Candy Shoppe." The track "Double Helix" is aptly named for its tight spiralling of bright percolations and overlapping sequences. "Genetic" embraces a baroque almost harpsichord set of synth tones, with soaring-into-the-heavens ambience, and an elegant display of glowing guitar workouts. Lovely, lovely stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Candy Shoppe"
MPEG Stream: "Genetic"
MPEG Stream: "Does It Look Like I'm Here?"

JAILL That's How We Burn (Sub Pop) cd 13.98
For every band the hype machine catapults into the stratosphere of underground indie rock next big thing-ness, a hundred others get pushed aside, forgotten or ignored, many of those WAY more deserving of the accolades, and the praise, and more importantly, the ears of the listener, but for whatever reason, wrong label, no hyped tours, bad business sense, no blogosphere freakouts, no connections to other even cooler bands, those bands can only do so much, which often means simply making an incredible record, that practically nobody hears. Some bands tough it out, make more records, eventually getting noticed, and then everyone can return to that old record and finally proclaim it a masterpiece, and lament the fact that it was so overlooked, but many bands put everything they have into that record, energy, creativity, money, time, and when nothing happens, they just give it up, which is always a sad sad thing.
So what does that have to do with Wisconsin psych pop combo Jaill? Nothing really, other than the fact, that these guys have been around since 2002, have released a bunch of other records, but with That's How We Burn, have made probably the best, catchiest psychedelic indie pop record of the year, maybe the last several years, yet they rarely pop up on blogs, we rarely hear tastemakers shouting from the mountaintops about Jaill, or about That's How We Burn. Compare that to, say, Best Coast, who we also love, but whose every move, every sound is covered by every blog in the world. It's weird, cuz this Jaill record, holy shit, for folks who hear hundreds of new records every month, many of them amazing, for ONE SINGLE record to get played over and over, as in 5, 6 even 10 times a day, well as far as recommendations go, it's pretty tough to beat. But as with most pop records, it starts with one song, that one song that sinks it's hooks into you, and won't let go, and no matter how good the rest of the record is, you just can't stop yourself from listening to that same song over and over and over. And on That's How We Burn, that song is "Thank Us Later", from the first few seconds, you'll be hooked, the slithery melody, the weird drum fill, the echoey guitar jangle, and then when the vocals come in, all weary, slipping from croon to almost falsetto, and then the chorus, a fucking KILLER, the sort of chorus that some bands build a whole career on, and then there's an equally catchy bridge, the whole song pretty much perfect, a little bit surf rock, a little bit Brit rock, a little bit modern garage pop, but the song itself, it's the kind of jam any of the current crop of lo-fi garage poppers would KILL for, Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Sic Alps, Male Bonding, we could go on and on, but the songs on Jaill stand up to anything any of those bands can come up with, and then some.
And where as lots of records we love have one of those opening one-two-three punches, an opening salvo that slays, and makes the whole record super front loaded, but on That's How We Burn, those one-two-three punches are everywhere, in fact, pick a song, and it's the first in one of those kick ass salvos, and yeah, sure, the opening three tracks are tough to beat, "The Stroller" is dark and hypnotic and a little bit gloomy, mixing in some Interpol and Rapture to their more slacker surfy sound, and weirdly it suits them big time, and it has a wicked crunchy chorus, the whole thing driven by some serious bad ass riffing, and some cool harmony vocals, which leads right into "Everyone's Hip" which sounds more slackery, a little bit like the Soft Pack or the Strokes, mixed with a bit of pavement, with a weird angular verse, and totally insanely hooky bridge and a cool doo wop-y chorus. Finally, "On The Beat" finishes off that opening salvo with something a little bit more laid back and laconic, the guitars droney and hypnotic, and another irresistible chorus, lots of crunch and thump and chug, and some cool vocal harmonies.
Which leads us right into "Thank Us Later", 1-2-3 salvo number two, and of course we STILL aren't tired of listening to it, but after another time through, we're led right into "Summer Mess" an awesome stripped down acoustic jam, with some snarky lyrics, but with the heartfelt delivery, and the amazing melody, it's pretty tough to fight, and finally, another guitar comes in, and some simple percussion, making the last 30 seconds lush and sunshiney and summery. And finally part 3, "She's My Baby", a driving groover, with another cool chugging guitar part, clanging chiming chords, and yet ANOTHER amazing chorus, which by now should lead you to the conclusion that these guys know their way around a hook, and aren't afraid to jam a whole mess of them into a single song.
We could keep going, another three-fer, starting with "Snake Shakes", which begins with the bassline from Billy Squier's "Everybody Wants you", before the vocals transform the song into something much more lilting and jangly... But you get the drift, pretty much every song here is awesome, catchy and crunchy and jangly and hooky, and unlike the horde of bands today who think enough reverb and weird lo-fi production techniques will disguise the fact that there's nothing going on underneath, Jaill, don't bother, cuz they don't need to, maybe that's why they're not getting the hype the so deserve, not noisy enough, not weird enough, not lo-fi enough, not hazy sixties girl group enough, but fuck it, who cares, this rules, we love it, and we think you will too, and we can't offer up any more hype than making this an aQ Record Of The Week and the thousand or so words you just finished reading...
MPEG Stream: "Thank Us Later"
MPEG Stream: "The Stroller"
MPEG Stream: "Everyone's Hip"
MPEG Stream: "Summer Mess"

JAILL That's How We Burn (Sub Pop) lp 15.98
For every band the hype machine catapults into the stratosphere of underground indie rock next big thing-ness, a hundred others get pushed aside, forgotten or ignored, many of those WAY more deserving of the accolades, and the praise, and more importantly, the ears of the listener, but for whatever reason, wrong label, no hyped tours, bad business sense, no blogosphere freakouts, no connections to other even cooler bands, those bands can only do so much, which often means simply making an incredible record, that practically nobody hears. Some bands tough it out, make more records, eventually getting noticed, and then everyone can return to that old record and finally proclaim it a masterpiece, and lament the fact that it was so overlooked, but many bands put everything they have into that record, energy, creativity, money, time, and when nothing happens, they just give it up, which is always a sad sad thing.
So what does that have to do with Wisconsin psych pop combo Jaill? Nothing really, other than the fact, that these guys have been around since 2002, have released a bunch of other records, but with That's How We Burn, have made probably the best, catchiest psychedelic indie pop record of the year, maybe the last several years, yet they rarely pop up on blogs, we rarely hear tastemakers shouting from the mountaintops about Jaill, or about That's How We Burn. Compare that to, say, Best Coast, who we also love, but whose every move, every sound is covered by every blog in the world. It's weird, cuz this Jaill record, holy shit, for folks who hear hundreds of new records every month, many of them amazing, for ONE SINGLE record to get played over and over, as in 5, 6 even 10 times a day, well as far as recommendations go, it's pretty tough to beat. But as with most pop records, it starts with one song, that one song that sinks it's hooks into you, and won't let go, and no matter how good the rest of the record is, you just can't stop yourself from listening to that same song over and over and over. And on That's How We Burn, that song is "Thank Us Later", from the first few seconds, you'll be hooked, the slithery melody, the weird drum fill, the echoey guitar jangle, and then when the vocals come in, all weary, slipping from croon to almost falsetto, and then the chorus, a fucking KILLER, the sort of chorus that some bands build a whole career on, and then there's an equally catchy bridge, the whole song pretty much perfect, a little bit surf rock, a little bit Brit rock, a little bit modern garage pop, but the song itself, it's the kind of jam any of the current crop of lo-fi garage poppers would KILL for, Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Sic Alps, Male Bonding, we could go on and on, but the songs on Jaill stand up to anything any of those bands can come up with, and then some.
And where as lots of records we love have one of those opening one-two-three punches, an opening salvo that slays, and makes the whole record super front loaded, but on That's How We Burn, those one-two-three punches are everywhere, in fact, pick a song, and it's the first in one of those kick ass salvos, and yeah, sure, the opening three tracks are tough to beat, "The Stroller" is dark and hypnotic and a little bit gloomy, mixing in some Interpol and Rapture to their more slacker surfy sound, and weirdly it suits them big time, and it has a wicked crunchy chorus, the whole thing driven by some serious bad ass riffing, and some cool harmony vocals, which leads right into "Everyone's Hip" which sounds more slackery, a little bit like the Soft Pack or the Strokes, mixed with a bit of pavement, with a weird angular verse, and totally insanely hooky bridge and a cool doo wop-y chorus. Finally, "On The Beat" finishes off that opening salvo with something a little bit more laid back and laconic, the guitars droney and hypnotic, and another irresistible chorus, lots of crunch and thump and chug, and some cool vocal harmonies.
Which leads us right into "Thank Us Later", 1-2-3 salvo number two, and of course we STILL aren't tired of listening to it, but after another time through, we're led right into "Summer Mess" an awesome stripped down acoustic jam, with some snarky lyrics, but with the heartfelt delivery, and the amazing melody, it's pretty tough to fight, and finally, another guitar comes in, and some simple percussion, making the last 30 seconds lush and sunshiney and summery. And finally part 3, "She's My Baby", a driving groover, with another cool chugging guitar part, clanging chiming chords, and yet ANOTHER amazing chorus, which by now should lead you to the conclusion that these guys know their way around a hook, and aren't afraid to jam a whole mess of them into a single song.
We could keep going, another three-fer, starting with "Snake Shakes", which begins with the bassline from Billy Squier's "Everybody Wants you", before the vocals transform the song into something much more lilting and jangly... But you get the drift, pretty much every song here is awesome, catchy and crunchy and jangly and hooky, and unlike the horde of bands today who think enough reverb and weird lo-fi production techniques will disguise the fact that there's nothing going on underneath, Jaill, don't bother, cuz they don't need to, maybe that's why they're not getting the hype the so deserve, not noisy enough, not weird enough, not lo-fi enough, not hazy sixties girl group enough, but fuck it, who cares, this rules, we love it, and we think you will too, and we can't offer up any more hype than making this an aQ Record Of The Week and the thousand or so words you just finished reading...
MPEG Stream: "Thank Us Later"
MPEG Stream: "The Stroller"
MPEG Stream: "Everyone's Hip"
MPEG Stream: "Summer Mess"

MAGIC LANTERN Platoon (Not Not Fun) cd 14.98
Damn. If we didn't know better, we'd swear this was some obscure late '60s psych platter reissued by Shadoks or something. But nope, LA's Magic Lantern (featuring the guitar and keyboard talents of astral traveller Cameron Stallones, the man behind aQ faves Sun Araw) are real and current, and the uninitiated will be scratching their heads in amazement, while those who dug any of the band's past work will find no complaints either. The band expertly channels the sounds of Amon Duul II, Ash Ra Tempel, and blown out Japanese psych, and it's almost uncanny just how "authentic" these guys sound - wah wah pedals, dense organ, grooving krauty basslines, stony non-vocals, and drumming that is, as they say "in the pocket" - all that shit is the LAW here. And while these elements can very often lead to bad bad things, Magic Lantern sidestep whatever tends to snag so many bands, and instead they just kick complete ass. Let's face it, not many bands these days can pull off being, uh, "funky". But a good deal of the songs on Platoon fall into that category, and we seriously can't get enough. Magic Lantern do their thing, and they do it well. The spacious production courtesy of Bobb Bruno (Robedoor, Goliath Bird Eater, Best Coast, and a shit-ton more) certainly suits these songs well, giving them a nice thick haze to swirl about in. It has a nice live feeling to it, and while we're at it, Christ, this band must just destroy live (though it appears they may be on hiatus, bummer). Maybe this might be a bit jammy for some people, but if you like this kind of thing, you will love Magic Lantern.
The cd version of Platoon contains two bonus that comprised the recent Showstoppers 7".
MPEG Stream: "Dark Cicadas"
MPEG Stream: "Moon Lagoon Platoon"

MAGIC LANTERN Platoon (Not Not Fun) lp 14.98
Damn. If we didn't know better, we'd swear this was some obscure late '60s psych platter reissued by Shadoks or something. But nope, LA's Magic Lantern (featuring the guitar and keyboard talents of astral traveller Cameron Stallones, the man behind aQ faves Sun Araw) are real and current, and the uninitiated will be scratching their heads in amazement, while those who dug any of the band's past work will find no complaints either. The band expertly channels the sounds of Amon Duul II, Ash Ra Tempel, and blown out Japanese psych, and it's almost uncanny just how "authentic" these guys sound - wah wah pedals, dense organ, grooving krauty basslines, stony non-vocals, and drumming that is, as they say "in the pocket" - all that shit is the LAW here. And while these elements can very often lead to bad bad things, Magic Lantern sidestep whatever tends to snag so many bands, and instead they just kick complete ass. Let's face it, not many bands these days can pull off being, uh, "funky". But a good deal of the songs on Platoon fall into that category, and we seriously can't get enough. Magic Lantern do their thing, and they do it well. The spacious production courtesy of Bobb Bruno (Robedoor, Goliath Bird Eater, Best Coast, and a shit-ton more) certainly suits these songs well, giving them a nice thick haze to swirl about in. It has a nice live feeling to it, and while we're at it, Christ, this band must just destroy live (though it appears they may be on hiatus, bummer). Maybe this might be a bit jammy for some people, but if you like this kind of thing, you will love Magic Lantern.
The cd version of Platoon contains two bonus that comprised the recent Showstoppers 7".
MPEG Stream: "Dark Cicadas"
MPEG Stream: "Moon Lagoon Platoon"

MALACHAI Ugly Side Of Love (Domino) cd 14.98
This was a total left field surprise, what on the surface appears to be some lost seventies retro rock, proto metal, fuzzy, groovy, heavy jam, is in fact, the work of two electronic musicians who cobbled this disc together via samples, computers, effects and yeah, some actual instruments. We weren't sure how we felt about it at first, but after a few minutes we were pretty much sold. And have been jamming this ever since.
For actual seventies proto-metal freaks, and retro reissue obsessives, this could definitely rub you the wrong way, but for the rest of us, who can dig some twisted modern take on the shit we LOVE, then this might totally hit the spot.
The guitars are fuzzy, the organs are warm and warbly, plenty of twang, some Morricone-esque moodiness, some rad old hard rock drumming, killer vox, hand claps, plenty of jangle, hooks galore, there are also plenty of rad psychedelic interludes, with twisted backwards guitars, swirling FX, all sorts of primitive electronics and layered collaged sounds, but it's the songs that seal the deal. Super heavy, totally groovy, while to these ears it sounds like classic proto-metal, to some folks around here it sounds more like current retro revivalists like White Stripes, Earl Greyhound, Wolfmother, but this stuff is so much cooler and weirder, the little studio tricks that make certain notes stutter, the samples that are played like an instrument but are still wreathed in record crackle, lots of backwards sounds everywhere, it's like some lost sixties psychedelic hard rock lost gem, reimagined and reinterpreted using modern day technology and it RULES.
MPEG Stream: "Shitkicker"
MPEG Stream: "Snowflake"
MPEG Stream: "Blackbird"
MPEG Stream: "Moonsurfin'"

MALACHAI Ugly Side of Love (Domino) lp 22.00
This was a total left field surprise, what on the surface appears to be some lost seventies retro rock, proto metal, fuzzy, groovy, heavy jam, is in fact, the work of two electronic musicians who cobbled this disc together via samples, computers, effects and yeah, some actual instruments. We weren't sure how we felt about it at first, but after a few minutes we were pretty much sold. And have been jamming this ever since.
For actual seventies proto-metal freaks, and retro reissue obsessives, this could definitely rub you the wrong way, but for the rest of us, who can dig some twisted modern take on the shit we LOVE, then this might totally hit the spot.
The guitars are fuzzy, the organs are warm and warbly, plenty of twang, some Morricone-esque moodiness, some rad old hard rock drumming, killer vox, hand claps, plenty of jangle, hooks galore, there are also plenty of rad psychedelic interludes, with twisted backwards guitars, swirling FX, all sorts of primitive electronics and layered collaged sounds, but it's the songs that seal the deal. Super heavy, totally groovy, while to these ears it sounds like classic proto-metal, to some folks around here it sounds more like current retro revivalists like White Stripes, Earl Greyhound, Wolfmother, but this stuff is so much cooler and weirder, the little studio tricks that make certain notes stutter, the samples that are played like an instrument but are still wreathed in record crackle, lots of backwards sounds everywhere, it's like some lost sixties psychedelic hard rock lost gem, reimagined and reinterpreted using modern day technology and it RULES.
MPEG Stream: "Shitkicker"
MPEG Stream: "Snowflake"
MPEG Stream: "Blackbird"
MPEG Stream: "Moonsurfin'"

ROYAL BATHS Litanies (Woodsist) cd 13.98
Litanies is the debut from SF garage gloom poppers Royal Baths, who have crafted a gorgeously hazy and murky bit of rhythmic hypnopop, equally indebted to the Velvet Underground, Spacemen 3, and of course the current crop of retro reverb junkies that have been spilling from garages all over the Bay Area.
Gauzy and druggy, looped and mesmerizing, the drums simple and motorik, a distinctly Mo Tucker like pound, the sound reverby and cavernous, as if they recorded in an old cistern, the vocals a lazy melodic drawl, but often supported by gorgeous Beach Boys like harmonies, and the guitars, chiming and jangly one minute, howling and distorted the next, slipping from muted chug, to buzzing drone, to grinding crunch, often in the same song. All of that wrapped around crazy hooks, irresistible melodies, and some seriously kick ass songs.
"After Death" is definitely a contender for song of the year, spidery echo drenched guitars hover over a primitive rhythmic thud, the vocals sweetly melancholic, gorgeous boy/girl harmonies, plenty of sixties pop vocal "Bop Bob Baaaa"s, some cool strangely angular riffage, an explosive bridge that crunches and pounds, the whole thing so deliriously druggy and impossibly catchy. And that's only one of a clutch of killer jams, "Nikki Don't" is the Velvets by way of the Beach Boys, a murky low slung slither, but infused with plenty of unlikely sunshininess. "Needle And Thread" is total Loop / Spacemen 3 style buzzdrone murk pop, washed out and woozily dreamlike, with warbly basslines and some seriously fierce fuzz guitar. "Sitting In My Room" is like Wooden Ship on tranquilizers, hypnotic and psychedelic, but so gloriously wasted sounding.
Easily one of our new favorite records, and new favorite bands, druggy droney garagerock krautpop, like a SF garage rock mix tape (Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, the Mantles, Sic Alps) that's been chopped and screwed, the Fuzztones via the Velvets, the Beach Boys filtered through plenty of Loop, Spacemen 3 covering the Lyres, however you slice it, this totally rules!
MPEG Stream: "After Death"
MPEG Stream: "Nikki Don't"
MPEG Stream: "Needle And Thread"

ROYAL BATHS Litanies (Woodsist) lp 14.98
Litanies is the debut from SF garage gloom poppers Royal Baths, who have crafted a gorgeously hazy and murky bit of rhythmic hypnopop, equally indebted to the Velvet Underground, Spacemen 3, and of course the current crop of retro reverb junkies that have been spilling from garages all over the Bay Area.
Gauzy and druggy, looped and mesmerizing, the drums simple and motorik, a distinctly Mo Tucker like pound, the sound reverby and cavernous, as if they recorded in an old cistern, the vocals a lazy melodic drawl, but often supported by gorgeous Beach Boys like harmonies, and the guitars, chiming and jangly one minute, howling and distorted the next, slipping from muted chug, to buzzing drone, to grinding crunch, often in the same song. All of that wrapped around crazy hooks, irresistible melodies, and some seriously kick ass songs.
"After Death" is definitely a contender for song of the year, spidery echo drenched guitars hover over a primitive rhythmic thud, the vocals sweetly melancholic, gorgeous boy/girl harmonies, plenty of sixties pop vocal "Bop Bob Baaaa"s, some cool strangely angular riffage, an explosive bridge that crunches and pounds, the whole thing so deliriously druggy and impossibly catchy. And that's only one of a clutch of killer jams, "Nikki Don't" is the Velvets by way of the Beach Boys, a murky low slung slither, but infused with plenty of unlikely sunshininess. "Needle And Thread" is total Loop / Spacemen 3 style buzzdrone murk pop, washed out and woozily dreamlike, with warbly basslines and some seriously fierce fuzz guitar. "Sitting In My Room" is like Wooden Ship on tranquilizers, hypnotic and psychedelic, but so gloriously wasted sounding.
Easily one of our new favorite records, and new favorite bands, druggy droney garagerock krautpop, like a SF garage rock mix tape (Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, the Mantles, Sic Alps) that's been chopped and screwed, the Fuzztones via the Velvets, the Beach Boys filtered through plenty of Loop, Spacemen 3 covering the Lyres, however you slice it, this totally rules!
MPEG Stream: "After Death"
MPEG Stream: "Nikki Don't"
MPEG Stream: "Needle And Thread"

SALEM King Night (IAMSOUND) cd 31.98
Before we get into our usual wordy meandering, hyperbolic gushing and tangential ruminating, we oughta come right out and say it first thing, this record is fucking incredible. One of the coolest weirdest records we've heard in ages. Twisted and blown out, weirdly melodic and groovy, dense and washed out and otherworldly and fucking bizarre, equal parts blissed out hypnogogic shoegazey drift, lurching, chopped and screwed style Southern crunk, majestic choral dreaminess, blurred beat heavy collaged electronica, and sample heavy blown out synthbuzz epicness. In some alternate universe alien world, THIS is the music that comes blasting out of booming systems in tricked out lowriders, some sort of glorious, blindingly blissy club music that fuses stuttery stumbly beats, to crumbling distorted low end, and thick swaths of synths so blown out the whole record sounds like it might collapse, mix in soaring operatic vocal samples, low slung bass buzz, jittery drum skitter, and mush mouthed slowed down 'rapping', smear and blur it all into one glorious, warped and warbly cough syrup fever dream epic, and that's basically Salem's King Night.
By now, most folks have at lest heard of 'witch house' a new 'genre' that Salem seem to represent, willingly or not, it's hard to say, but alongside other groups like oOoOO, witch house has received the sort of blog hype (and mainstream press) that immediately turns us off, and made us want to hate it, but so far, everything we've heard, we've dug, big time, but nothing has kicked out ass as much as this Salem record. It's so weird, and twisted and bizarre, it's sort of hard to believe that THIS is the record people are talking about, it makes sense that we'd love it, and that it would be an aQuarius Record Of The Week, but the New York Times? John Q. Public? Fuck it, like we always say, we'd way rather here stuff like this on the radio anyway. But regardless of the hype, or the backlash, or any of the nonmusical stuff, it all boils down to how ingenious and utterly OUT THERE this is. Just check out the title track, some weird garbled voices, some skittery drum machine, some ravey synths, choral voices, and then BAM, the song explodes, the bass a throbbing slab of rumbling crunch, the drum machine weirdly awkward, but the perfect compliment to the tangled melodies, and those soaring distorted operatic voices, the track a total epic, building and building, like the score for some insane alien sci-fi slow motion dancefloor martial arts battle, you can almost visualize fishtanks exploding into galaxies of exploding glass shards, while bodies fly threw the clouds of glistening sparkle, everything seemingly floating weightless. So good. We could listen to this track FOREVER (and pretty much have since we got it). But then comes "Asia" with its fat stuttery beat, and girlish vocals buried beneath a miasma of crumbling distorted crunch, and woozy synth melodies and confusional drum programming, sounding a bit like some over the top M83 jam gone haywire, or maybe some lost Cocteau Twins B-side remixed by Alec Empire and Black Moth Super Rainbow, everything fuzzy and washed out and gauzy, murky and dark, but still suffused with a weird sort of sunshininess. "Frost" is more of the same, even prettier and blissier, taking Sigur Ros and dipping it in a vat of gristly distortion and Carpenter sci-fi synths, and then stretching it out into a billowing sheet of diaphanous dream pop.
It's not until "Sick" that we get a glimpse of Salem's other side, their chopped and screwed, sippin' sizurp, alien slow motion shoegaze hip hop side, the music remains essentially the same, maybe not quite as dense, still swirls of female vocals, a strange otherworldly chorale, but over the top of this sonic cotton candy , a 'rapper' delivers his mutated pitch shifted flow, mouthful of marbles, finger on the record slowing it do a crawl, creating a weirdly dreamy draggy druggy hip hop / dream pop hybrid. And the rest of the record seems to drift lazily between those two sounds, "Release Da Boar" finds Salem offering up another cloud of dopesmoke dreaminess, fuzz drenched dirge pop bliss, which gives way to "Trapdoor", another slow motion, DJ Screw style cough syrup remix, laid over a warm warped and warbly bit of lysergic ambience and buzzing rave synth swirl. "Hound" is like the title track redux, so thick and crumblingly distorted, but so blown out and beautiful, "Tair" is a gloriously weird spaced out, handclapped chunk of shoegaze rap, and "Killer" sounds like Joy Division or Interpol run through a million distortion pedals, and set to a Casio keyboard drum machine beat, only to shrug off some of the crunch and warble, leaving a gorgeous stretch of plaintive low slung doom pop, that hints at the poppiness that lurks beneath the surface on King Night, only to finish the record in a squall of synth buzz, mumbled vox and drum machine chaos.
Wow. What else can we say. This sounded so good in the store, and even better in headphones, but it wasn't until we got in the car, and cranked this as loud as it would go, that it finally sunk in, and suddenly, we were bouncing up and down in a tricked out lowrider on some alien planet in some alternate universe, our booming system BOOMING, getting totally lost in these twisted and gorgeously damaged sounds. WAY WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "King Night"
MPEG Stream: "Asia"
MPEG Stream: "Trapdoor"
MPEG Stream: "Redlights"
MPEG Stream: "Killer"

SALEM King Night (IAMSOUND) lp 14.98
Before we get into our usual wordy meandering, hyperbolic gushing and tangential ruminating, we oughta come right out and say it first thing, this record is fucking incredible. One of the coolest weirdest records we've heard in ages. Twisted and blown out, weirdly melodic and groovy, dense and washed out and otherworldly and fucking bizarre, equal parts blissed out hypnogogic shoegazey drift, lurching, chopped and screwed style Southern crunk, majestic choral dreaminess, blurred beat heavy collaged electronica, and sample heavy blown out synthbuzz epicness. In some alternate universe alien world, THIS is the music that comes blasting out of booming systems in tricked out lowriders, some sort of glorious, blindingly blissy club music that fuses stuttery stumbly beats, to crumbling distorted low end, and thick swaths of synths so blown out the whole record sounds like it might collapse, mix in soaring operatic vocal samples, low slung bass buzz, jittery drum skitter, and mush mouthed slowed down 'rapping', smear and blur it all into one glorious, warped and warbly cough syrup fever dream epic, and that's basically Salem's King Night.
By now, most folks have at lest heard of 'witch house' a new 'genre' that Salem seem to represent, willingly or not, it's hard to say, but alongside other groups like oOoOO, witch house has received the sort of blog hype (and mainstream press) that immediately turns us off, and made us want to hate it, but so far, everything we've heard, we've dug, big time, but nothing has kicked out ass as much as this Salem record. It's so weird, and twisted and bizarre, it's sort of hard to believe that THIS is the record people are talking about, it makes sense that we'd love it, and that it would be an aQuarius Record Of The Week, but the New York Times? John Q. Public? Fuck it, like we always say, we'd way rather here stuff like this on the radio anyway. But regardless of the hype, or the backlash, or any of the nonmusical stuff, it all boils down to how ingenious and utterly OUT THERE this is. Just check out the title track, some weird garbled voices, some skittery drum machine, some ravey synths, choral voices, and then BAM, the song explodes, the bass a throbbing slab of rumbling crunch, the drum machine weirdly awkward, but the perfect compliment to the tangled melodies, and those soaring distorted operatic voices, the track a total epic, building and building, like the score for some insane alien sci-fi slow motion dancefloor martial arts battle, you can almost visualize fishtanks exploding into galaxies of exploding glass shards, while bodies fly threw the clouds of glistening sparkle, everything seemingly floating weightless. So good. We could listen to this track FOREVER (and pretty much have since we got it). But then comes "Asia" with its fat stuttery beat, and girlish vocals buried beneath a miasma of crumbling distorted crunch, and woozy synth melodies and confusional drum programming, sounding a bit like some over the top M83 jam gone haywire, or maybe some lost Cocteau Twins B-side remixed by Alec Empire and Black Moth Super Rainbow, everything fuzzy and washed out and gauzy, murky and dark, but still suffused with a weird sort of sunshininess. "Frost" is more of the same, even prettier and blissier, taking Sigur Ros and dipping it in a vat of gristly distortion and Carpenter sci-fi synths, and then stretching it out into a billowing sheet of diaphanous dream pop.
It's not until "Sick" that we get a glimpse of Salem's other side, their chopped and screwed, sippin' sizurp, alien slow motion shoegaze hip hop side, the music remains essentially the same, maybe not quite as dense, still swirls of female vocals, a strange otherworldly chorale, but over the top of this sonic cotton candy , a 'rapper' delivers his mutated pitch shifted flow, mouthful of marbles, finger on the record slowing it do a crawl, creating a weirdly dreamy draggy druggy hip hop / dream pop hybrid. And the rest of the record seems to drift lazily between those two sounds, "Release Da Boar" finds Salem offering up another cloud of dopesmoke dreaminess, fuzz drenched dirge pop bliss, which gives way to "Trapdoor", another slow motion, DJ Screw style cough syrup remix, laid over a warm warped and warbly bit of lysergic ambience and buzzing rave synth swirl. "Hound" is like the title track redux, so thick and crumblingly distorted, but so blown out and beautiful, "Tair" is a gloriously weird spaced out, handclapped chunk of shoegaze rap, and "Killer" sounds like Joy Division or Interpol run through a million distortion pedals, and set to a Casio keyboard drum machine beat, only to shrug off some of the crunch and warble, leaving a gorgeous stretch of plaintive low slung doom pop, that hints at the poppiness that lurks beneath the surface on King Night, only to finish the record in a squall of synth buzz, mumbled vox and drum machine chaos.
Wow. What else can we say. This sounded so good in the store, and even better in headphones, but it wasn't until we got in the car, and cranked this as loud as it would go, that it finally sunk in, and suddenly, we were bouncing up and down in a tricked out lowrider on some alien planet in some alternate universe, our booming system BOOMING, getting totally lost in these twisted and gorgeously damaged sounds. WAY WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "King Night"
MPEG Stream: "Asia"
MPEG Stream: "Trapdoor"
MPEG Stream: "Redlights"
MPEG Stream: "Killer"

SEGALL, TY Melted (Goner) cd 13.98
While Ty Segall may be as prolific as they come when it comes to 7"s, splits, and collaborations, a new one seemingly coming out monthly, weekly even, faster then we can keep up with, there's still something so special, thought out, and so damn satisfying about Segall's full-length albums proper.
Especially this new one. No longer can you just reduce a summarization of his music as 'way blown out lo-fi garage radness.' Although that's definitely some of it, but Segall has begun to widen his scope in such thrilling ways. Melted finds his sound more punchy, a dizzying mix of psychedelic, pop, surf, gritty rhythm & blues, punk rock, in fact the album opener is a perfect example, it begins all fey and jangly, but then the guitar kicks in, surprisingly heavy and crunchy, swaggery and sorta bad ass, big loud drums, and then suddenly, a super tripped out squiggly synth solo! The second track too, begins all acoustic guitar, until in comes a groovy walking bassline, and it's total sixties jangle pop that finishes off in a flurry of fluttery flutes....
From the very beginning of the record, the whole thing takes such awesome twists and turns, getting all tweaked and super far out right when you might expect straight ahead jangle, and getting all poppy and heartfelt, right when it sounds like it was gonna explode into chaotic whatthefuckness. Alongside influences like The Gories, Thee Headcoats, and The Sonics, you can even hear some Led Zeppelin, albeit stripped of its excess and indulgence and boiled down to its primitive and riveting core, kind of what it felt like when we heard The White Stripes for the first time. Not reinventing the wheel for sure, but instead pressing the pedal to the metal and spinning all four wheels in a frenzy of unfettered creativity, OWNING these sounds, making totally original music out of borrowed bits, and blowing away so many of the bands around him in the process. Along with that intensity, Segall has a crazy knack for incredible hooks, deep rooted melodies, crafting perfect pop all wrapped up in fiery, fierce rocking crunch.
"Girlfriend" may just be song of the year! It's impossible not to listen to it over and over from the beginning with Ty growling and then it bursting into one of the most catchy, sweat inducing, body shaking songs ever, the sort of jam you would want to put on every mix tape you make. As always, Segall writes and plays just about every note of music himself on the album, but there are some nice moments where his friends lend a helping hand, like John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees laying down some FLUTE on "Caesar", and Mike Donovan from Sic Alps adding vox, as well as some guitar on a couple tracks, including the absurd blown out brilliance of the simple yet so totally addictive "Mike D's Coke". And on tracks like "Imaginary Person" it's like this awesome blend of early Adam & The Ants crossed with The Misfits for an all out sonic showdown.
Segall has a found a way to bring together primitive and powerful stripped down Bo Diddley-like energy and a very honest and sincere emotional undercurrent in his songs that convinces us that once this latest lo-fi garage revival dies down, Segall will still be making engaging, moving and truthful sounds. He is for real!
MPEG Stream: "Finger"
MPEG Stream: "Ceasar"
MPEG Stream: "Girlfriend"
MPEG Stream: "Mike D's Coke"

SEGALL, TY Melted (Goner) lp 14.98
This recent Record Of The Week, NOW ON VINYL!!!
While Ty Segall may be as prolific as they come when it comes to 7"s, splits, and collaborations, a new one seemingly coming out monthly, weekly even, faster then we can keep up with, there's still something so special, thought out, and so damn satisfying about Segall's full-length albums proper.
Especially this new one. No longer can you just reduce a summarization of his music as 'way blown out lo-fi garage radness.' Although that's definitely some of it, but Segall has begun to widen his scope in such thrilling ways. Melted finds his sound more punchy, a dizzying mix of psychedelic, pop, surf, gritty rhythm & blues, punk rock, in fact the album opener is a perfect example, it begins all fey and jangly, but then the guitar kicks in, surprisingly heavy and crunchy, swaggery and sorta bad ass, big loud drums, and then suddenly, a super tripped out squiggly synth solo! The second track too, begins all acoustic guitar, until in comes a groovy walking bassline, and it's total sixties jangle pop that finishes off in a flurry of fluttery flutes....
From the very beginning of the record, the whole thing takes such awesome twists and turns, getting all tweaked and super far out right when you might expect straight ahead jangle, and getting all poppy and heartfelt, right when it sounds like it was gonna explode into chaotic whatthefuckness. Alongside influences like The Gories, Thee Headcoats, and The Sonics, you can even hear some Led Zeppelin, albeit stripped of its excess and indulgence and boiled down to its primitive and riveting core, kind of what it felt like when we heard The White Stripes for the first time. Not reinventing the wheel for sure, but instead pressing the pedal to the metal and spinning all four wheels in a frenzy of unfettered creativity, OWNING these sounds, making totally original music out of borrowed bits, and blowing away so many of the bands around him in the process. Along with that intensity, Segall has a crazy knack for incredible hooks, deep rooted melodies, crafting perfect pop all wrapped up in fiery, fierce rocking crunch.
"Girlfriend" may just be song of the year! It's impossible not to listen to it over and over from the beginning with Ty growling and then it bursting into one of the most catchy, sweat inducing, body shaking songs ever, the sort of jam you would want to put on every mix tape you make. As always, Segall writes and plays just about every note of music himself on the album, but there are some nice moments where his friends lend a helping hand, like John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees laying down some FLUTE on "Caesar", and Mike Donovan from Sic Alps adding vox, as well as some guitar on a couple tracks, including the absurd blown out brilliance of the simple yet so totally addictive "Mike D's Coke". And on tracks like "Imaginary Person" it's like this awesome blend of early Adam & The Ants crossed with The Misfits for an all out sonic showdown.
Segall has a found a way to bring together primitive and powerful stripped down Bo Diddley-like energy and a very honest and sincere emotional undercurrent in his songs that convinces us that once this latest lo-fi garage revival dies down, Segall will still be making engaging, moving and truthful sounds. He is for real!
MPEG Stream: "Finger"
MPEG Stream: "Ceasar"
MPEG Stream: "Girlfriend"
MPEG Stream: "Mike D's Coke"

SOULEYMAN, OMAR Jazeera Nights: Folk And Pop Sounds Of Syria (Sublime Frequencies) cd 16.98
We'll admit, we're a sucker for Sublime Frequencies, they've yet to release a record that didn't totally blow our minds. Which says as much about SF's curating as it does about the unheard music worldwide. Treasures everywhere, amazing and passionate and personal and far out sounds, being made in homes and yards, on street corners, in bars, at picnics and parties, not conceived for public consumption, meant for a small audience, and often for a specific purpose, getting a glimpse into these magical musical moments is what Sublime Frequencies is all about, and we feel lucky to get to experience these sounds.
This is the third record from Omar Souleyman on Sublime Frequencies, and just might be the best one yet, which is saying A LOT. A collection of live recordings culled from nearly 15 years worth of cassettes, these tracks are incredible, energetic, passionate, so full of life, effusive and emotional, funky and celebratory, and to Western ears, seriously far out. There's almost a wild Bollywood vibe (even though this is from the Middle East, not India), in the vocals, and the rhythms, and with the crazy tangled synthesizer melodies, the propulsive drumming, and Souleyman's distorted, wailed vocal delivery, it all sounds just so perfect, even listening to this music on record, it sounds sweaty and exhausting and cathartic, it's easy to imagine a big crowd of people dancing and bouncing along, freed from all cares and concerns letting the music just carry them away.
Like all Sublime Frequencies releases, the liner notes offer up so much information, on Souleyman, his life, the history of Syria, on Syrian folk music, etc, but even without all that info, if it's just about the music, these are some of the most amazing sounds you'll ever hear. Frantic Eastern melodies, frenetic percussion, analog synths wound around Souleyman's vocals, this is party music, dance music, but not like party or dance music the way we normally think about it. The music of Souleyman is transcendent, spiritual, psychedelic, transformative, a folk pop known as Dabke, rarely heard in the West, perhaps not at all if it wasn't for Sublime Frequencies, and we'd imagine these sounds might be overwhelming for casual world music listeners, it is after all wild and frantic and relentless, the melodies complex and twisted and tangled, there are some moments that verge on folky for sure, the final track is a gorgeous haunting lament, just vocals and buzzing synthesizers, but barring that track, even on the folkier jams, those strange synths, the unique melodies, the repetitive tranced out rhythms, those all transform Souleyman's folk into something much more, and in most cases, it's not long before the band explodes into yet another super intense sweat soaked psychedelic Syrian folk pop workout. So great!
MPEG Stream: "Hafer Gabrak Bidi (I Will Dig Your Grave With My Hands)"
MPEG Stream: "Ala Il Hanash Madgouga (The Bedouin Tattoo)"
MPEG Stream: "Hot Il Khanjar Bi Gleibi (Stab My Heart)"
MPEG Stream: "Kell Il Banat Inkhatban (All The Girls Are Engaged)"

SWANS My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky (Regular) (Young God) cd 14.98
Michael Gira has made his point that Swans has been reactivated, and that this is not a reunion. The distinction may be important to Gira, but it's pretty clear that he doesn't want the world to think he's jumping on the bandwagon of every cool band from the '80s and '90s getting back together again. But the fact remains that Swans dissolved back in 1997, and Gira took some of the musicians from those Swans gigs and sessions to form his grizzled folk ensemble Angels Of Light. Given the acoustic songs that Gira would sometimes wrangle as a counterpoint to Swans' signature brutality, the transition for Gira from Swans into Angels was a logical one. Over time, Angels developed into a lush ensemble with twinkling psychedelic aspects of a bright baroque aesthetic never revealed in the harrowing, abject tracks from Swans.
In early 2009, Gira embarked on a solo tour, showcasing a bunch of new material that seemed to be harkening back to the sound and fury of Swans, in spite of their minimalist presentation through just acoustic guitar and voice. On more than one occasion Gira quipped that he was thinking of making another Swans record. And that brings us to My Father Will Guide Me, ushered forth by a squadron of atonal guitars and lumbering percussive crashes. The album really does sound like it could have been produced in 1999, right after Soundtracks For The Blind, which was thought to be the final studio record for Swans. Sure, there's no Jarboe (for obvious reasons), but Gira did recruit guitarist Norman Westberg to return to the fold, as he was responsible for the guitar sound for the band from Filth up through White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity - in other words, the most brutalist period for the band. That buzzsaw rasp which Westberg produced is very present in Swans resurrection, cutting through the thug-fist basslines and lockstep drum rolls. The sound of Swans is very much intact, but Gira's songwriting has constantly grown, with his booming voice still wailing doom and gloom through the lens of an American apocalypticist. Devendra Banhart also makes a guest appearance on a track equally noted for its discordantly brash trombones and trumpets with their resembles to divebombing arcs. If only every band that got back together could make a record with this much intensity, drama, and power. Utterly brilliant.
MPEG Stream: "No Words / No Thoughts"
MPEG Stream: "My Birth"
MPEG Stream: "You Fucking People Make Me Sick "
MPEG Stream: "Eden Prison"

SWANS My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky (Vinyl) (Young God) lp 15.98
Michael Gira has made his point that Swans has been reactivated, and that this is not a reunion. The distinction may be important to Gira, but it's pretty clear that he doesn't want the world to think he's jumping on the bandwagon of every cool band from the '80s and '90s getting back together again. But the fact remains that Swans dissolved back in 1997, and Gira took some of the musicians from those Swans gigs and sessions to form his grizzled folk ensemble Angels Of Light. Given the acoustic songs that Gira would sometimes wrangle as a counterpoint to Swans' signature brutality, the transition for Gira from Swans into Angels was a logical one. Over time, Angels developed into a lush ensemble with twinkling psychedelic aspects of a bright baroque aesthetic never revealed in the harrowing, abject tracks from Swans.
In early 2009, Gira embarked on a solo tour, showcasing a bunch of new material that seemed to be harkening back to the sound and fury of Swans, in spite of their minimalist presentation through just acoustic guitar and voice. On more than one occasion Gira quipped that he was thinking of making another Swans record. And that brings us to My Father Will Guide Me, ushered forth by a squadron of atonal guitars and lumbering percussive crashes. The album really does sound like it could have been produced in 1999, right after Soundtracks For The Blind, which was thought to be the final studio record for Swans. Sure, there's no Jarboe (for obvious reasons), but Gira did recruit guitarist Norman Westberg to return to the fold, as he was responsible for the guitar sound for the band from Filth up through White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity - in other words, the most brutalist period for the band. That buzzsaw rasp which Westberg produced is very present in Swans resurrection, cutting through the thug-fist basslines and lockstep drum rolls. The sound of Swans is very much intact, but Gira's songwriting has constantly grown, with his booming voice still wailing doom and gloom through the lens of an American apocalypticist. Devendra Banhart also makes a guest appearance on a track equally noted for its discordantly brash trombones and trumpets with their resembles to divebombing arcs. If only every band that got back together could make a record with this much intensity, drama, and power. Utterly brilliant.
And no, the vinyl sadly does not include the music from the extra disc found in the limited deluxe cd set.
MPEG Stream: "No Words / No Thoughts"
MPEG Stream: "My Birth"
MPEG Stream: "You Fucking People Make Me Sick "
MPEG Stream: "Eden Prison"
MPEG Stream: "Look At Me Go (Bonus Disc)"

YOUNG, NEIL Le Noise (Reprise) cd 17.98
Believe us, we were very skeptical of this brand new release from the godfather of grunge, interestingly titled Le Noise and housed in a stark, black & white cd booklet. But after seeing a solo set at the Fox Theater in Oakland a few months back, Neil pushing monumental amounts of fuzz and volume through four vintage Fender tube amps, we knew Mr. Young would be back to the heavy amplifier worship we've heard on past albums like Year of the Horse or Zuma. Le Noise reminds us that Neil isn't the type of performer that sticks to what's comfortable, safely plucking away at old songs for fans of his own generation. Instead he continues to explore new ground and expand the taste level of himself and his listeners.
For Le Noise, Neil enlists the help of legendary producer Daniel Lanois to piece together his heaviest album in the last decade. And as the title may suggest, not only is Le Noise heavy, but there is an experimental undercurrent throughout the entire album, Neil's voice often shrouded in delay and reverb, noisy underwatery washes of electronic sizzle and shimmering feedback flutter about, we think Neil's been listening to Fennesz.
We also love how bare bones Le Noise is, no sign of Crazy Horse here, only Neil and his guitar, sometimes acoustic but mostly blaringly loud electric. Not even any drums or percussion, just lots of low end rumble and tube amp sizzle to accompany Shakey's quivering voice. So great and so recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Walk With Me"
MPEG Stream: "Hitchhiker"

ZOLA JESUS Valusia (Sacred Bones) cd 11.98
Crescendo. That's the word that most aptly fits Valusia, the latest ep by wunderkind Nika Rosa Danilova, aka Zola Jesus. Building layer upon layer upon layer of synths and drums and vocals, Valusia, honestly, gets better the more times we spin it. Her career is on the upswing as well, with no signs of a de-crescendo: tours with Fever Ray, Wolf Parade, among other big names. The four songs on this 18 minute record stand with the best Zola Jesus has released. The "cleaner" sound of the Stridulum ep carries over into this new recording, with some slight throwbacks into the dirtier drum machine sounds of The Spoils. "Poor Animal" opens the ep with swishy synths that jump straight into a pulsing four-on-the-floor kick drum beat. This expands into something a bit bouncier, and the layers of synths and vocals just keep coming until it's almost overwhelming. Just when your head rolls back in sonic ecstasy, however, she pulls back a bit, only to punch back in with a perfectly timed and executed outro. The sounds on "Tower," the synths especially, sound closer akin to The Spoils: a bit gothier, crunchier, less poppy, her voice drenched in reverb. A slow dirge dedicated to gothic loneliness. The chorus of "Sea Talk" is so catchy and sad it hurts to listen to it, but it hurts more NOT to listen to it. Finishing out the four songs is "Lightstick", what one aQ-er has affectionately dubbed "goth girl piano recital." Almost droney, it bangs out the same basic piano riff for four minutes, with layers of synths and vocals fading in and out to provide the landscape. Any fan of Zola Jesus' work to date needs this record. Any of you that haven't heard of her (really?), this release is an excellent introduction to one of the most talented young songwriters working today.
MPEG Stream: "Sea Talk"
MPEG Stream: "Poor Animal"

----*
----* aQ 2010 Best Of Lists :
----*

ANDEE'S 2010 FAVES

TIPPY TOP TWENTY

1. JAILL Ê"That's How We Burn" Ê(Sub Pop)
2. MURMUURE Ê"s/t" Ê(Paradigms)
3. PURLING HISS Ê"Public Service Announcement" Ê(Woodsist)
4. SOLAR BEARS Ê"She Was Coloured In" Ê(Planet Mu)
5. ATELECINE Ê"A Cassette Tape Culture" Ê(Pendu Sound)
6. HOW TO DRESS WELL Ê"Love Remains" Ê(Lefse)
7. FOREST SWORDS Ê"Dagger Paths" Ê(No Rain In Pop)
8. FUN YEARS, THE Ê"God Was Like, No" Ê(Barge Recordings)
9.ÊSALEM Ê"King Night" Ê(IAMSOUND)
10. MALACHAI Ê"Ugly Side Of Love" Ê(Domino)
11.ÊBLACK BUG Ê"s/t" Ê(FDH)
12.ÊROYAL BATHS Ê"Litanies" Ê(Woodsist)
13.ÊNECRO DEATHMORT Ê"This Beat Is Necrotronic" Ê(Distraction)
14.ÊROCKFORD KABINE Ê"Xero OST" Ê(Clockwork / Cobra)
15.ÊMALE BONDING Ê"Nothing Hurts" Ê(Sub Pop)
16.ÊNADA SURF Ê"If I Had A Hi-Fi" Ê(Mardev)
17.ÊNO BALLS Ê"s/t" Ê(Permanent)
18.ÊPILL WONDER Ê"Jungle / Surf" Ê(Underwater Peoples)
19.ÊDATE PALMS Ê"Of Psalms" Ê(Root Strata)
20.ÊBALAM ACAB Ê"See Birds" Ê(Triangle)

REISSUES

1.ÊSTRAPPING FIELDHANDS Ê"Discus" Ê(Shangri-La)
2. BRUTAL TRUTH Ê"Need To Control (Redux)" Ê(Earache)
3. GERMAN OAK Ê"s/t" Ê(Flash Back)
4. GODFLESH Ê"Streetcleaner" Ê(Earache)
5. MOLES Ê"Untune The Sky" Ê(Kill Shaman)
6. SAVAGE GRACE Ê"Master Of Disguise / The Dominatress" Ê(Limb Music)
7. LOVE CRY WANT Ê"s/t" Ê(Weird Forest)
8. V/A Ê"Grind Madness At The BBC" Ê(Earache)
9. MCNEILL, LLOYD QUARTET, THE Ê"Asha" Ê(Universal Sound)
10. EUGENIUS Ê"Oomalama & Tireless Wireless" Ê(Fire)
11.ÊV/A Ê"Excavated Shellac: Strings" Ê(Parlortone)
12.ÊRAMLEH Ê"Hole In The Heart" Ê(Dirter)

METAL

1. BODY, THE Ê"All The Waters Of The Earth Turn To Blood" Ê(At A Loss)
2. DEATHSPELL OMEGA Ê"Paracletus" Ê(Season of Mist)
3. HELL MILITIA Ê"Last Station On The Road To Death" Ê(Debemur Morti)
4. BOSSE-DE-NAGE Ê"s/t" Ê(Flenser)
5. VON GOAT Ê"Septic Illumination" Ê(Nuclear War Now!)
6. BLOOD OF KINGU Ê"Sun In The House Of The Scorpion" Ê(Candlelight)
7. HEARTLESS Ê"Suicidal Engagement" Ê(Pest Productions)
8. ABIGOR Ê"Time Is The Sulphur In The Veins Of The Saint" Ê(End All Life Productions)
9. ANGST SKVADRON Ê"Sweet Poison" Ê(Agonia)
10. KERASPHORUS Ê"Cloven Hooves At The Holocaust Dawn" Ê(Nuclear War Now!)
11. I SHALT BECOME Ê"Poison" Ê(Moribund Records)
12. SUN OF THE BLIND Ê"Skullreader" Ê(Avantgarde)
13. 1349 Ê"Demonoir" Ê(Prosthetic)
14. MOURNER Ê"s/t" Ê(Paradigms)
15. WRNLRD Ê"Death Drive Ep" Ê(Flingco Sound)
16. BRAIN DRILL Ê"Quantum Catastrophe" Ê(Metal Blade)
17. HALLOW Ê"Soundtrack" Ê(Totalvernichtung)
18. WHOURKR Ê"Concrete" Ê(Crucial Blast)
19. RUINS OF BEVERAST Ê"Foulest Semen Of A Sheltered Elite" Ê(Van)
20. SAILORS WITH WAX WINGS Ê"s/t" Ê(Angel Oven)
21. WHITE MOTH Ê"s/t" Ê(Angel Oven)
22.ÊLABYRINTHINE Ê"Evoking The Multiverse" Ê(self released)
23.ÊJONNYX AND THE GROADIES Ê"The Upheaval On Titan" Ê(JX:ATG)
24.ÊALCEST Ê"Ecailles De Lune" Ê(Prophecy)

plus these two (which are sort of like parts 1 and 2 of the same record):

25. CLAIR CASSIS Ê"s/t" Ê(Full Moon Productions)
26. CLAIR CASSIS Ê"s/t" Ê(Khrysanthoney)

and of course these:

27. PAYSAGE D'HIVER Ê"Einsamkeit" Ê(Kunsthall / Cold Dimensions)
28. PAYSAGE D'HIVER Ê"Nacht" Ê(Kunsthall / Cold Dimensions)
29. PAYSAGE D'HIVER Ê"Steineiche" Ê(Kunsthall / Cold Dimensions)
30. PAYSAGE D'HIVER Ê"Winterkate" Ê(Kunsthall / Cold Dimensions)

AND A SELECTION OF OTHER FAVORITES (in no particular order)

OOOOO Ê"s/t" Ê(Triangle)
WEEKEND Ê"Sports" Ê(Slumberland)
BALAM ACAB Ê"See Birds" Ê(Triangle)
MEGATON LEVIATHAN Ê"Water Wealth Hell On Earth" Ê(Feretro)
GOLD PANDA Ê"Lucky Shiner" Ê(Ghostly International)
GAUNTLET HAIR Ê"Out...Don't" Ê(Mexican Summer)
PIGEONS Ê"Liasons" Ê(Soft Abuse)
TUMA, SCOTT Ê"Dandelion" Ê(Digitalis)
CANDY CLAWS Ê"Hidden Lands" Ê(Two Syllable)
GLITTERBUG Ê"Privilege" Ê(c.sides)
DRUMS, THE Ê"s/t" Ê(Island)
NO JOY Ê"Ghost Blonde" Ê(Mexican Summer)
VIOLENS Ê"Amoral" Ê(Friendly Fire)
WINTER DRONES Ê"Blood In The Coffin" Ê(Weird Forest)
WOMEN Ê"Public Strain" Ê(Jagjaguwar)
MAJEURE Ê"Timespan" Ê(Temporary Residence)
GATE Ê"A Republic Of Sadness" Ê(Ba Da Bing)
WHITE NOISE SOUND Ê"s/t" Ê(Alive)
BUKE AND GASS Ê"Riposte" Ê(Brassland)
DRUNKDRIVER Ê"s/t" Ê(self released)
ALTAR EAGLE Ê"Mechanical Gardens" Ê(Type)
PERICH, TRISTAN Ê"1-Bit Symphony" Ê(Cantaloupe Music)
BOTTOMLESS PIT Ê"Blood Under The Bridge" Ê(Comedy Minus One)
MANTLES, THE Ê"Pink Information" Ê(Mexican Summer)
RAZEN Ê/ SHELDON SIEGEL Ê"split" Ê((K-RAA-K)3)
ZOMES Ê"Improvisations 1 & 2" Ê(Imminent Frequencies)
DEAD FADER Ê"Corrupt My Examiner" Ê(Baked Goods)
WOVEN HAND Ê"The Threshingfloor" Ê(Sounds Familyre)
PIANOS BECOME THE TEETH Ê"Old Pride" Ê(Top Shelf)
SURFER BLOOD Ê"Astro Coast" Ê(Kanine)
MUGSTAR Ê"Sun Broken" Ê(Important)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ê"s/t" Ê(Sub Pop)
U.S. GIRLS Ê"Go Grey" Ê(Siltbreeze)
LOW ANTHEM, THE Ê"Oh My God, Charlie Darwin" Ê(Nonesuch)
NET SHAKER Ê"Church On Time" Ê(self released)
BELLOWS Ê"s/t" Ê(self released)
ROLL THE DICE Ê"s/t" Ê(Digitalis)
AUTHOR & PUNISHER Ê"Drone Machines" Ê(self released)
ASH POOL Ê"For Which He Plies The Lash" Ê(Hospital Productions)
AVI BUFFALO Ê"s/t" Ê(Sub Pop)
ACTRESS Ê"Splazsh" Ê(Honest Jon's)
INDIGNANT SENILITY Ê"Plays Wagner" Ê(Type)
LES DISCRETS Ê"Septembre Et Ses Dernieres Pensees" Ê(Prophecy)
MOUNT CARMEL Ê"s/t" Ê(Siltbreeze)
AGONHYMN Ê"Doom Jazz" Ê(Heathen Skulls)
CLUBROOT Ê"II - MMX" Ê(LoDubs)
DEFTONES Ê"Diamond Eyes" Ê(Reprise)
T++ Ê"Wireless" Ê(Honest Jons)

RENEWED NINETIES OBSESSIONS:

POLVO,ÊPITCHBLENDE,ÊLOOMIS,ÊTHRONEBERRY, FUDGE,ÊPHLEG CAMP,ÊSMALL 23, HUM, BIVOUAC, DUSTER, ED HALL, FIG DISH... and probably my most played nineties rock redux/'new' discovery:

CLUMSY ÊCenter Of Attention Deficit Disorder

NEW COUNTRY OBSESSION:

EDDIE NOACK (how is this guy not a legend? and how is it that there's absolutely nothing available? country reissue labels should be lining up to put out ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. check it out and be converted:ÊPSYCHO)

EIGHTIES METAL OBSESSION: STILL ANXIOUSLY AWAITING THE 3CD REISSUE THAT WOULD/COULD/SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE 2010 DEBUT RELEASE ON ALLAN AND ANDEE'S EIGHTIES METAL REISSUE LABEL:

PANDEMONIUM ÊHeavy Metal Soldiers
PANDEMONIUM ÊHole In The Sky
PANDEMONIUM ÊThe Kill

_________________
_________________

NICK

Here's my top "10" list:

Glasser - Ring
Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
Majeure - Timespan
The Corin Tucker Band - 1,000 Years
Grinderman - Grinderman 2
Three Mile Pilot - The Inevitable Past is the Future Forgotten
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?
Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
Richard Skelton - Landings
Zola Jesus - Stridlulum
Barn Owl - Ancestral Star
Tamaryn - The Waves
RV Paintings - Samoa Highway
Bare Wires - Seeking Love

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_________________

JIM

Top albums of 2010:

Emeralds : Does It Look Like I'm Here?
The Soft Moon : s/t
Magic Lantern : Platoon
Swans : My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
Sun City Girls : Funeral Mariachi
Dave Phillips : ?
Pedestrian Deposit : East Fork North Fork
Best Coast : Crazy For You
Thomas Koner : Nunatak / Teimo / Permafrost
Monos : Above The Sky
Tamaryn : Waves
Matt Shoemaker : Soundtrack For Dislocation
Mark McGuire : Off In The Distance
Common Eider King Eider : Worn
Cold Cave / Prurient : Stars Explode
M. Holterbach & Julia Eckhardt : Do Undo (In G Maze)
Beach House : Teen Dream
Games : That We Can Play
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma : Love Is A Stream
Pesteg Dred : Years Of Struggle Against The Lies, The Stupidity And Ê
The Cowardice
Dead Luke : American Haircut
Nice Face : Immer Etwas
Three Mile Pilot : The Inevitable Past Is The Future Forgotten
RV Paintings : Samoa Highway
Barn Owl : Ancestral Star
Zola Jesus : Stridulum
Blessure Grave : Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six
Vex'd : Cloud Seed

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_________________

ALLAN

my top 35:

BLOODGOOD s/t (Intense Millenium) Ê-reissue-
CHRISTIAN MISTRESS Agony And Opium (20 Buck Spin)
CIRCLE Rautatie (Ektro)
DEEP SWITCH Nine Inches Of God (Shadow Kingdom) Ê-reissue-
DIE ANTWOORD $O$ (Interscope)
EIH, A.L.K. AND BROTHER CLARK, DAMIN Never Mind (Nero's Neptune) Ê-
reissue-
ENFORCER Diamonds (Heavy Artillery)
FNS s/t (Miasmah)
GOLD PANDA Lucky Shiner (Ghostly International)
HEADS, THE Relaxing With The Heads (Rooster) Ê-reissue-
HOODED MENACE Never Cross the Dead (Profound Lore)
KEMIALLISET YSTAVAT Ullakkopalo (Fonal)
LIMONIOUS House Of Usher (Flogsta Danshall)
MAJEURE Timespan (Temporary Residence)
MALACHAI Ugly Side Of Love (Domino)
MEGATON LEVIATHAN ÊWater Wealth Hell On Earth Ê(Feretro)
MELECHESH Epigenesis (Nuclear Blast)
MELVINS The Bride Screamed Murder (Ipecac)
PELANDER, MAGNUS s/t ep (Svart Records)
REALMBUILDER Summon The Stone Throwers (I Hate Records)
ROCKFORD KABINE Xero OST (Clockwork / Cobra)
ROLL THE DICE Ês/t Ê(Digitalis)
SABBATH ASSEMBLY Restored To One (Ajna)
SAINT VITUS The Walking Dead / Hallow's Victim (SST) Ê-reissue-
SINGH, CHARANJIT Synthesizing: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat (Bombay Ê
Connection) Ê-reissue-
SLOUGH FEG The Animal Spirits (Profound Lore)
TURZI B (Record Makers)
V/A Lagos Disco Inferno (Academy) Ê-reissue/compilation-
V/A The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia In 1970's Nigeria Ê
(Soundway) Ê-reissue/compilation-
V/A Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga! Psychedelic Funk Music In India 1976-1983 ÊÊ
(World Psychedelic Funk Classics) Êcd
VASAELETH Crypt Born and Tethered To Ruin (Profound Lore)
WHITE BOY AND THE AVERAGE RAT BAND s/t Ê(Roach Records) Ê-reissue-
WOLFBANE s/t (Shadow Kingdom Records) ÊÊ-reissue-
WORM OUROBOROS Ês/t Ê(Profound Lore)
SACRED WARRIOR ÊRebellion (Intense Millenium) Ê-reissue-

A few more runners up: AKBK, K-X-P, Wounded Kings, Angel Face, Ê
Children Of Doom, Author & Punisher, Simon Scott, RM74...

Some pre-2010 things we listed in 2010 that woulda made a previous Ê
year's best of, otherwise: King Goblin, Procession, Painting Petals Ê
On Planet Ghost, Ram, Li Jianhong...

Plus there were plenty of cool reissues of things that I already had Ê
earlier reissues of, that deserve mention: Blues Creation, My Solid Ê
Ground, Brutal Truth, German Oak, Moebius & Beerbohm "Double Cut", Ê
Dwarr...

Looking forward to soon: Inquisition, Acid Witch, Blizaro!

_________________
_________________

IRWIN

favorite new records of '10
ERYKAH BADU - "new amerykah, pt. 2: return of the ankh"
BEACH HOUSE - "teen dream"
M.I.A. - "maya"
TY SEGALL - "melted"
FUQUGI - "gransofa & nightingale"
ZOLA JESUS - "stridulum"
FNS - s/t
MARY J. BLIGE - "stronger with each tear"
JOANNA NEWSOM - "have one on me"
CARIBOU - "swim"
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT - "all days are nights: songs for lulu"
SUN ARAW - "on patrol"
ROSKA - s/t
WAVVES - s/t
v/a - "shangaan electro: new wave dance music from south africa"

favorte reissues:
FRANCOISE HARDY - "la question"
LO BORGES - s/t
DON CHERRY - "brown rice"
GREGORY ISAACS - "slum in dub"
v/a - "BOB BLANK - THE BLANK GENERATION - BLANK TAPES 1975-87
SUGAR PIE DESANTO - "go go power: the complete chess singles"
MOEBIUS & BEERBOHN - "double cut"
THE CURE - "disintigration" (demos disc!)
EDWARD LARRY GORDON - "celestial vibrations"
ROYU AYERS - "lots of love"

live shows:
YOKO ONO PLASTIC ONO BAND at the orpheum theatre in los angeles
IRMA THOMAS at yoshi's sf
DANNY PAUL GRODY/BARN OWL/PORTRAITS at grace cathedralÊ
BELLE & SEBASTIAN at the palladium in hollywood
THE SOFT MOON at milk on haight
YO LA TENGO/THEE OH SEES at the fillmore sf
BEACH HOUSE at bimbo's
HOT CHIP at the warfield sf
BLONDE REDHEAD at the warfield sf
WILD FLAG at the hemlock sf

jam of the year
RHIANNA - "what's my name"

_________________
_________________

SCOTT

Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
Gonjasufi - A Sufi and a Killer
Royal Baths - Litanies
Beach House - Teen Dream
Beach Fossils - s/t
Jim Sullivan Ê- UFO
Dadawah - Peace & Love
Balam Acab - See Birds 12"
Indignant Senility - Plays Wagner
OOOOO - s/t 12"
Salem - King Night
Demdike Stare - Forest of Evil 12", Liberation Through Hearing 12" , Voices of Dust 12"
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma Love Streams
Arp - Soft WaveÊ
Arp & Anthony Moore Frkways Vol. 3
Grasslung - Sincere Void
Charanjit Singh - Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat
Mount Kimbie - Crooks & Lovers
Lo Borges - s/t
Deutsche Wertarbeit - s/t
Gabor Szabo - Jazz Raga
Edward Larry Gordon - Celestial Vibrations
Catherine Christer Hennix - The Electric Harpsichord
Date Palms - Of Psalms
Duane Pitre - Origin
Expressway Yo-Yo Dieting - Bubblethug

_________________
_________________

ANDREW

2010 faves in no particular order...

electric wizard - black masses
charanjit singh - ten ragas to a disco beat
barn owl - ancestral star
salem - king night
demdike stare - triptych stuff
bob dylan - witmark demos bootleg vol. 9 thing
mako sica - dual horizon
neil young - le noise
future bass compilation
mississippi alan lomax comps

_________________
_________________

JON

Highlights of 2010:

Demdike Stare - Voices of Dust
Clair Cassis - s/t lp
Slowdive - Blue Day 2lp Japanese bootleg reissueÊ
Dadawa - Peace and Love
Caretaker - Persistent Repetition of Phrases
Neil Young - Le Noise
Loren Connors - Hell's Kitchen Park lp reissueÊ
Fuqugi - Gransofa + Nightingale
William Basinski - Vivian & Ondine
Grasslung - Sincere Void
Yellow Swans - Going Places
Hallo Gallo 2010 ÐÊBlinkgŸrtelÊ7"
Philip Jeck - An Ark For The ListenerÊ
Anworth Kirk - s/t lp
RV Paintings - Samoa Highway
Book of Sand - How Beautiful To Walk Free
Hallo Gallo 2010 - live at Supersonic Fest
Neil Young - live solo at Fox Theatre
_________________
_________________

CUP'S 2010 FAVES

NEW SOUNDS (in no particular order)...
- ISLAJA Keraaminen cd/lp
- OMAR SOULEYMAN Jazeera Nights: Folk And Pop Sounds Of Syria cd
- COMMON LOON "Ho Hum Apocalypse" (from The Long Dream Of Birds cd)
- JAILL "Thank Us Later" (from That's How We Burn)
- GYRON V "Shepherd Of The Owls" (unreleased, but there is apparently a forthcoming album on Cold Meat Industry. sorry no e.t.a. yet though!)

WELCOME REISSUES...
- MARCEL DUCHAMP Entire Musical Work Of... cdÊ
- NEUROSIS Enemy Of The Sun cd
- HAMZA EL DIN Music Of Nubia cd
- EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Halber Mensch cd/lp and Zeichnungen Das Patienten O.T. (Drawings Of Patient O.T.) cd/lp
- THE PASTELS Truckload Of Trouble cd

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS...
- Killing Joke at the Regency Ballroom
- NoMeansNo at Bottom Of The Hill
- Legendary Pink Dots at Cafe Du Nord
- publishing a book of my artwork - Splendorganum: Plant Autographs And Their Revelations
- the continuing release of remastered Shaw Brothers films on dvd
- the mighty katsu sandwich at Rhea's Deli
- aQ40, of course!

----*
----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed :
----*

If you want to order one of these, just click on the buy button and it will be added to your cart!


AFROCUBISM "s/t" (World Circuit / Nonesuch) cd 17.98
AIR WAVES "Dungeon Dots" (Underwater Peoples) lp 17.98
ASHBY, DOROTHY "Hip Harp" (Prestige) lp 12.98
AVEY TARE "Down There" (Paw Tracks) cd 14.98
BAKER, CHET "Chet" (Doxy) lp 24.00
BEAKS PLINTH "Kai Kohola Leo" (Gigante Sound) cd-r 6.98
BLACK ANGELS "Phosphene Dream" (Blue Horizon) cd 13.98
BLACKDEATH "Katharsis - Kalte Lieder Aus Der Holle" (Hospital Productions) cd 15.98
BLUNT, DOUG HREAM "Gentle Persuasion" (self released) lp 14.98
BORGHESIA "Ljubav Je Hladnija Od Smrti" (Dark Entries) lp 15.98
BROTHERS RAVEN "VSS-30" (Digitalis) lp 16.98
BUG, THE "Infected" (Ninja Tune) 2lp 17.98
CALL BACK THE GIANTS "s/t" (Kye) lp 16.98
CELER "Salvaged Violets" (Infraction) 2cd 14.98
CHRISMA "Chinese Restaurant" (Medical Records) lp 19.98
CHRISMA "Hibernation" (Medical Records) lp 19.98
CHURCHILL'S "s/t" (Axis) cd 17.98
CIRCLE PIT "Sewercide" (Sweet Rot / R.I.P. Society) 7" 6.98
COLORED MUSHROOM & THE MEDICINE ROCKS "s/t" (Wagon) lp 17.98
COLTRANE, JOHN & DON CHERRY "The Avant-Garde" (Atlantic) lp 14.98
COLTRANE, JOHN & JOHNNY HARTMAN "s/t" (Impulse) lp 21.00
D'EON "Palinopsia" (Hippos In Tanks) 12" 11.98
DARKBLACK "Midnight Wraith" (Stormspell) cd ep 5.98
DEADMAU5 "4x4=12" (Ultra Records) cd 15.98
DEUTER "D" (Missing Vinyl) lp 35.00
DNTEL "After Parties 1" (Sub Pop) 12" 12.98
DNTEL "After Parties 2" (Sub Pop) 12" 12.98
EIH, A.L.K. AND BROTHER CLARK, DAMIN "Never Mind" (Nero's Neptune) lp 37.00
END OF YOUR GARDEN / DE MA VAERE BELGIERE "split" (Dark Entries) lp 15.98
ESG "Dance To The Best Of ESG" (Soul Jazz) 2cd 19.98
FALL, THE "The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall" (Beggars Banquet) lp 14.98
FALL, THE "The Wonderful And Frightening" (Beggar's Banquet) 4cd box 27.00
FALL, THE "This Nation's Saving Grace" (Beggars Banquet) lp 14.98
FAMILY BAND "Miller Path" (self-released) lp 14.98
FENN O'BERG "Live In Japan Part One" (Editions Mego) lp 21.00
FENN O'BERG "Live In Japan Part Two" (Editions Mego) lp 21.00
FERRO, GABO "Canciones Que Un Hombre No Deberia Cantar" (Costurera Carpintero) lp 14.98
FLOOR "Sight & Seen" (Chunklet) 2dvd 17.98
HALO "Degree Zero Point of Implosion" (Antisound) lp 21.00
HAMNSKIFTE "Fodzlepijnan" (Starlight Temple Society) cd-r 5.98
HANK IV "III" (Siltbreeze) lp 15.98
HARLEY, RUFUS "Bagpipe Blues" (Atlantic) lp 12.98
HEAVY HAWAII "s/t" (Art Fag) 12" 14.98
HIGH CASTLE "Your'e On Your Way" (Zum) lp 9.98
HOLY GRAIL "Crisis in Utopia" (Prosthetic) cd 14.98
HORSEBACK / VOLTIGEURS "split" (Turgid Animal) 10" 19.98
JAM, THE "All Mod Cons" (Polydor) lp 12.98
JAMESES "Caribou" (Captured Tracks) 7" 6.98
JUMALHAMARA "Resignaatio" (Ahdistuksen Aihio Productions) cd 14.98
KAWACHI, KUNI & FLOWER TRAVELLING BAND "s/t" (Bamboo) cd 17.98
KIRCHIN, BASIL "Primitive London (OST)" (Trunk) lp 17.98
KIRK, RAHSAAN ROLAND "Prepare Theyself To Deal With A Miracle" (Atlantic) lp 12.98
LA SERA "Never Come Around" (Hardly Art) 7" 5.50
LINDAHL, MASON / ELLIE FORTUNE / RALEIGH MONCRIEFF/ ZACH HILL "s/t" (Life's Blood Flow) 2x7" 8.98
LIQUORBALL "Break-n-Run Live" (Feast Music) lp 11.98
LOCRIAN / CENTURY PLANTS "Dissolvers" (Tape Drift) lp 13.98
MAGICAL POWER MAKO "Super Record" (Phoenix) lp 24.00
MANILAPEDE "s/t" (Turgid Animal) cd 13.98
MANSON, CHARLES "Air" (Magic Bullet) cd 15.98
MINAJ, NICKI "Pink Friday" (Cash Money Records) cd 16.98
MIRACLES CLUB, THE "A New Love" (Mexican Summer) lp 24.00
MONK, THELONIOUS "5 By Monk" (Doxy) lp 24.00
MONK, THELONIOUS "Alone Is San Francisco" (Doxy) lp 24.00
NAKED ON THE VAGUE / WET HAIR "split" (Night People) lp 16.98
NOCTUM "The Seance" (Stormspell) cd 11.98
OUTER LIMITS RECORDING "I Need My T.V." (Olde English Spelling Bee) 7" 8.98
OUTER LIMITS RECORDING "Julie" (Olde English Spelling Bee) 7" 8.98
PARSONS, DAVID "Akash" (Celestial) cd 15.98Ä
PEAKING LIGHTS "Space Primitive" (Night People) lp 16.98
PERSONAL AND THE PIZZAS "Raw Pie" (1-2-3 Go!) lp 14.98
PHANTOM PAYN DAYS "s/t" (De Stiijl) lp 17.98
REZILLOS "Can't Stand The Rezillos" (Sire) lp 14.98
RICHMAN, JONATHAN "O Moon, Queen of Night on Earth" (Vapor Records) cd 14.98
ROBA EL KHALIYEH "A Different View Of Darkness" (Starlight Temple Society) cd-r 5.98
ROBA EL KHALIYEH "A Psychotic World For A Psychotic Satanist" (Starlight Temple Society) cd-r 5.98
RUSSELL, ARTHUR & THE FLYING HEARTS FEATURING ALLAN GINSBERG "Ballad Of The Lights" (Presspop) 10" 15.98
SCHEELINGS, PIM "Q65 - The Book" (UT Publishing) book 17.98
SHANNON AND THE CLAMS "Ruin Christmas" (1-2-3-4 Go!) 7" 6.98
SHIT AND SHINE "Live At The aQuarius recOrds / WFMU Showcase - SXSW 2010" (Sleeping Giant Glossolalia) lp 17.98
SOFT MOON "s/t" (Captured Tracks) cd/lp 13.98/13.98
SPYRALS, THE "Love Me Too / Reflection" (self released) 7" 5.98
STEVENS, SUFJAN "All Delighted People EP" (Asthmatic Kitty) cd ep 13.98
STRIPLIN, SYLVIA "Give Me Your Love" (Universal Sound) cd/lp 19.98/24.00
SULLIVAN, JIM "U.F.O." (Light In The Attic) cd 16.98
TERROR DANJAH "Undeniable" (Hyperdub) cd 17.98
TREMBLING BELLS (WITH BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY/MIKE HERON) "New Year's Eve's The Loneliest Night Of The Year" (Honest Jons) 7" 9.98
TWELLS & CHRISTENSEN "Costs" (Digitalis) lp 19.98
UNEARTHLY TRANCE / WOODEN WAND "split" (Chrome Peeler) 7" 14.98
V/A "Angola Soundtrack: The Unique Sound Of Luana 1968-1976" (Analog Africa) cd/2lp 24.00/26.00
V/A "Bellyachers, Listen: Songs From East Africa, 1938-46" (Honest Jons) 2lp 22.00
V/A "Something Is Wrong" (Honest Jons) 2cd/2lp 26.00/22.00
WILD STYLE "OST" (Animal) lp 12.98
WILDILDLIFE / FLOOD "Nurse Rewind / The Gate To The Temple Of The Ocean King" (Volcom) 7" 4.50

_______________________________________________________________________

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[ note ] Due to the everchanging nature of the independent record business, we are not responsible for listed price changes (due to supplier price changes) and often cannot update our site fast enough to reflect these changes, but we will always try to let you know of any differences.


NEW DOMESTIC SHIPPING RATES :
--------------------------------
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INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE :
-------------------------------- You are hereby forewarned that Aquarius is not responsible if your international package gets lost in the mail. Insurance is your only recourse if your records never show up. Since the terrible events of 9/11, mail service has been slow and undependable... and while we haven't experienced any *confirmed* permanently lost mail, insurance might provide some additional piece of mind in this time of upheaval. We strongly recommend it. But yes, it is very expensive. It's your choice. Again: Aquarius is not responsible for lost mail, so if you aren't willing to take a (slight but real) risk, please buy the insurance.

International insurance is very expensive! In fact often the insurance costs more than the value of your package, in which case it obviously does not make sense to insure it. You can check the US Postal Service international rate calculator: http://ircalc.usps.gov/. (Use the "Package" category and see the price for "Priority Mail International", which is the way insured packages are sent. 1-3 cds is usually 1 pound. 1 lp is usually a little over 1.5 pounds.)

For example: for a one-pound package worth $18 going to England, shipping without insurance is about $11.00. But with insurance, the shipping / insurance total is over $26.00!

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QUESTION?
-------------------------------- Email the mailorder department: mailorder@aquariusrecords.org
______________________________________________________________________

SOME SELECTED UPCOMING RELEASES

----} still on the way to us now
Solstice "New Dark Age" 2lp vinyl reissue on Buried By Time And Dust
The Wizar'd "Pathways Into Darkness" lp on Buried By Time And Dust
Lebanon "Overdose / Overload" 7" on Southern Lord
Boris "Live In Japan" dvd on Southern Lord
Thou "Summit" lp version on Southern Lord
The Secret "Solve Et Coagula" lp version on Southern Lord
Bad Acid "Triple Burnout Issue" magazine
Blizaro "City Of The Living Nightmare" cd on Razorback
Basil Kirchin "Primitive London" cd on Trunk

----} January 11th
Tiny Tim "Lost & Found 1963-1974 (Rare & Unreleased Recordings)" lp on Secret Seven

----} January 18th
Bill Orcutt "A New Way To Pay Old Debts" cd version on Editions Mego w/ bonus tracks
Electric Wizard "Black Masses" domestic cd release on Metal Blade
Ghost (UK not Japan) "Opus Eponymous"Êdomestic cd release on Metal Blade
16 Horsepower "Yours Truly" 2cd/2lp on Alternative Tentacles
Aethenor "En Form For Bla" cd/2lp on VHF
Ducktails "Ducktails Iii: Arcade Dynamics" cd/lp on Woodsist
Evolution Control Committee "All Rights Reserved" 2cd/lp on Seeland
Korperschwache "Evil Walks" cd on Crucial Blast
Mitochondrion "Parasignosis" cd Profound Lore
Robert Pollard "Space City Kicks" cd/lp on Gbv Inc
White Fence "Is Growing Faith" cd/lp on Woodsist

----} January 25th
Deerhoof "Deerhoof Vs. Evil" cd/lp on Polyvinyl
Starfuckers "Metallic Diseases" lp on Holy Mountain

----} also in January
Acid Witch "Stoned" cd on Hells Headbangers
Inquisition "Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm" cd/lp on Hells Headbangers
v/a "Those Shocking Shaking Days: Indonesia Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk 1970-1978" cd on Stones Throw
Slough Feg, The Lord Weird "The Animal Spirits" vinyl edition on Cruz Del Sur
Wildildlife "Give In To Live" limited edition lp on Volcom
The Son Of P.M. "Hey Klong Yao!: Essential Collection of Modernized Thai Music from the 1960s" on EM Records
Dantesco "s/t" and "Seven Years Of Battle" cds on Stormspell

----} February 1st
Demdike Stare "Tryptych" 3cd on Modern Love (includes the Forest Of Evil, Liberation Through Hearing, and Voices Of Dust lps, plus 40 minutes of bonus music!)
Ducktails "III: Arcade Dynamics" lp on Woodsist
Go Team "Rolling Blackouts" cd/lp on Memphis
Isis "Oceanic" 2lp on Robotic Empire

----} February 7th
A Hawk And A Hacksaw "Cervantine" cd/lp
Loss "Despond" cd on Profound Lore
Dan Melchior "Assemblage Blues" lp on Siltbreeze
Subrosa "No Help For The Mighty Ones" cd on Profound Lore

----} February 15th
A Hawk And A Hacksaw "Cervantine" cd/lp
Beans "End It All" cd/lp on Anticon
Howlin Rain "Good Life" 12" on Birdman
Dan Melchior "Assemblage Blues" lp on Siltbreeze
Refrigerator "Dangerous" cd on Shrimper
Sonic Youth "Simon Werner A Disparu" cd on SYR

----} February 22nd
Ikue Mori "Kibyoshi" dvd on Tzadik

----} March 1st
Sonic Youth "Simon Werner A Disparu" lp on SYR
Subrosa "No Help For The Mighty Ones" cd on Profound Lore

----} March 11th
Electric Wizard "Black Masses" domestic vinyl release on Metal Blade

----} also upcoming sooner or later or sooner or later or whenever
Liz Harris (Grouper) "Divide" book+dvd-r on Root Strata
International Hello "s/t" cd on Holy Mountain
Steel Mammoth "Radiation Funeral" lp on Ektro
Unholy Cadaver "s/t" 2lp+cd on Shadow Kingdom
Condenados "A Painful Journey Into Nihil" cd on Shadow Kingdom
Bullet "Highway Pirates"
Wooden Stake / Blizaro split cd on Razorback
Gnod / A Middle Sex lp on Blackest Rainbow
Celer "Vestiges Of An Inherent Melancholy" lp on Blackest Rainbow
Disappears "Guider" cd/lp on Kranky
Dam-Funk "Adolescent Funk" on Stones Throw
Bridget St. John "Ask Me No Questions" 180 gram lp reissue on 4 Men With Beards
Console "Herself" cd/2lp on Disko B
Mount Eerie "Song Islands Vol.2" on P.W. Everum & Sun, Ltd.
Liars "Proud Evolution" ep on Mute
Xasthur "Portal" vinyl on Hydra Head
Expo 70 "Black Ohms" vinyl edition on Beta-lactam Ring
The Sticks "s/t" cd/2x7" on Upset The Rhythm
Pyramids w/ Nadja "Lustmord / Ulver Remix" 12" on Hydra Head
Jim Haynes "Rocks. Hills. Plains" on Root Strata
Nurse With Wound "Skrag" cd on United Dairies
Jonathan Coleclough "Flutter" 2cd-r on October
Johann Johannsson "And In The Endless Pause" lp on Type
Jay Reatard "Blood Visions" lp on Fat Possum
King Khan & BBQ Show "Invisible Girl" cd/lp on In The Red
Felix "You Are The One I Pick" cd on Kranky
Outsiders "CQ" vinyl reissue on Jackpot
Papercuts "Where Are The Waves" cd on Gnomonsong
Grumbling Fur (Guapo + Jussi from Circle) cd
Anton Batagov "Passionate Desire To Be An Angel" cd on Long Arms Records
Japancakes "If I Could See Dallas"
Jazzfinger "The Sun's Golden Blood" cd on Beta-Lactam Ring
v/a "Noise Room" cd on Soniq
Country Teasers / Ezee Tiger split lp on Holy Mountain
Erase Errata TBA cd on Kill Rock Stars
Rodan TBA cd/lp on Quarterstick
Swell Maps "International Rescue" clear vinyl LP reissue on Alive
Boduf Songs "Strait Gait" cd/lp on Latitudes
The Fall "Future Our Clutter"
Panda Bear "Tomboy"
Sloath s/t lp on Riot Season
Ken Camden "Lethargy & Repercussions" cd/lp on Kranky
LCD Sound System / Wooden Shjips "Drunk Girls" 7" on DFA
White Hills "tba" on Thrill Jockey
Phil Manley "Life Coach" on Thrill Jockey
Boston Spaceships "Our Cubehouse Still Rocks" cd/lp on Gbv Inc
Nurse With Wound "Second Pirate Session" cd on United Jnana
The Meads Of Asphodel "The Murder Of Jesus The Jew" cd
Dug Dugs "s/t aka Lost in the World" mini-lp sleeve cd reissue on Lion/Get On Down
Dug Dugs "Smog" mini-lp sleeve cd reissue on Lion/Get On Down
Truth & Janey "No Rest for the Wicked" limited edition lp reissue on Lion/Rockadrome
v/a "Groove Club Vol. 3: Cambodia Rock Intensified!" cd/2lp on Lion/Get On Down

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Lots of love from your devoted AQ staff

Andee Cup Jim AllanIrwinScottNickJonandAndrew