SEAGULL SCREAMING KISS HER KISS HER Future Or No Future (Trattoria) cd 19.98
Yeah! a new Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her cd in our hands at last. Not really new (released in 2001), but finally here. This predominantly female band from Japan is so rad and the cds can be hard to come by. This record is more polished than No! No! No!, and a bit more tight and sassy. Whether that's good or bad is up to the beholder but this record is great. Tough guitar riffs, dynamic songs and smooth vocals. I've heard rumor that they are no longer an active band, sad if it's so cuz their songwriting is so strong and inventive, and with each record they develop their sound further and further.
RealAudio clip: "Evolution"
RealAudio clip: "Lullaby"
RealAudio clip: "Sentimental Journey"

SKEPTICISM The Process Of Farmakon (Red Stream) cd ep 10.98
It's always a happy day here at Aquarius when we get new music from Finland's Skepticism. I mean, a depressing day. Soooooooo wonderfully depressing. Skepticism are our favorite funereal forest doom metal band, we've described them before as the Labradford of black metal. Almost ambient, droning, downer stuff, plodding along through a nighttime fog. Imagine the music of a suicidal church organist, teamed up with some longhaired Scandinavian death metal teens. Beautiful.
As with all their releases, more of the same yet with enough difference to be a significant, essential addition to their ouevre. This time, the 'what the fuck?' aspect is highlighted by the bizarre bubbling noises that join the gruff vocals and downtuned guitars on the title track, which sounds as if it was recorded on a ship slowing sinking on the River Styx. As is their wont, this two-song ep (18+ minutes) precedes a full-length due out sometime later this year, supposedly.
RealAudio clip: "Backward Funeral And The Raven"
RealAudio clip: "The Process Of Farmakon"

SLOUGH FEG, THE LORD WEIRD s/t (Miskatonic) cd 13.98
When people talk about the 'happening' San Francisco music scene, they're not usually talking about The Lord Weird Slough Feg -- unless it's a denim-clad German metalhead who's doing the talking! Then, perhaps you'll hear them rave about these guys. Utterly trend-free true heavy metal rock n' roll, equal parts Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Queen, Judas Priest, Manowar, Manilla Road...and some Black Flag too, but you'd have to really pay attention to hear that. Slough Feg's music is epic, rockin', riff-laden stuff with heroic vocals and tons of lead guitar. Their lyrics deal with fantasy, insanity, and Celtic myth. They released their first cd, a self-titled half-hour-long mini-album, on their own Beef Rock label back in 1996, and it has long since gone out of print. Since then, they've managed to develop a bit of a cult following in Europe (with two albums so far out on Italian metal label Dragonheart) as well as among a select group of enlightened American metal fans, including quite a few Aquarius customers. They also spawned the popular metal opera project Hammers of Misfortune (on Andee's tUMULt label). Now Miskatonic, the label run by Rich Walker of the godly British doom metal band Solstice, has done us the favor of reissuing Slough Feg's debut effort, with new packaging and, better yet, seven bonus tracks taken from Slough Feg's pitifully-circulated early '90s demo tapes. All remastered of course -- the demo tracks definitely sound better than before. It's nice to have this be available again, as the original cd featured several of Slough Feg's best songs: the Sabbathy "Shadows of the Unborn", the Irish jig "The Red Branch" (always a live favorite), parts III and IV of their prog-rock epic "High Season", the ripping yet melodic "20th Century Wretch", and others. The bonus tracks are equally great, including such otherwise unavailable Slough Feg classics as "The Mask" and the fuzzy, doomy "Headhunter", along with demo versions of "The Red Branch", parts I and II of "High Season", and "The Room" (a different version of which appeared on an obscure comp called "Metal Injection" a couple years ago).
They're definitely one of those love 'em or hate 'em bands, and lots of folks just aren't gonna "get" 'em. They're often seen to be too weird for a lot of metal fans, but also way too metal for everyone else. And the "extreme" metal crowd might find them too melodic as well. But for some -- not just me -- they're one of the best bands around. People who like The Fucking Champs for not-entirely-ironic reasons (or, actually, for those too, why not?) should check Slough Feg out. Slough Feg are *not* ironic, and *are* somewhat ridiculous, but they know it and have the nerve to do what they do anyway 'cause they love it. Besides, all that serious, dark, black, death metal can be pretty darn ridiculous too when you think about it or read the lyrics.
Amazingly (note: sarcasm), Miskatonic has managed to totally capture the amateur, self-released design aesthetic of the original in repackaging this. From the black and white cover drawing of the Drune Lord Slough Feg in his cave (by Martin Hanford, who is better known for his Bal-Sagoth album covers) to the crappy caligraphic font used throughout to the poorly reproduced band photos, bad layout, and typos in the lyrics, this might actually look *worse* than the 1996 version the band put out themselves...oh well...at least the "underground" vibe is intact! And it's in print, with bonus tracks, so we really can't complain. Note, though, that Miskatonic also managed to run the songs "Why Not" and "Highway Corsair" together as a single track (#5), instead of being tracks 5 and 6 the way they are listed on the back of the cd. Whoops. Perhaps the vinyl version, slated to appear at the end of the year on German label Metal Supremacy, will correct these superficial problems. But if you're not a vinyl diehard, this cd is certainly recommended now.
RealAudio clip: "Shadows of the Unborn"
RealAudio clip: "The Red Branch"
RealAudio clip: "High Season IV"
RealAudio clip: "Headhunter (demo)"

SPOOKY, DJ Optometry (Thirsty Ear) cd 156.98
An interesting project -- DJ Spooky, resident illbient black boho issuing missives to the masses from NYC (eeuw, I'm starting to talk like him), enlists the talents of excellent avant / free jazzmen: shimmering piano courtesy Matthew Shipp, cakewalkin' groovy bass from William Parker, squeals and cries from Joe McPhee's horns, athletic, careful drumming from Guillermo E. Brown. And of course, Spooky on laptop / turntables / kalimba etc. I was all set for this to suck, but it doesn't suck. It's "jazzy" trip hop that works. It's actually some of the most accessible work I've heard from these jazz virtuosi, so it's a nice introduction to them if you find truly free jazz too abstract to enjoy. Once in a while some sadly predictable breakbeats cheapen the music, but those segments don't occur too often. Augmented with the vocal flow of Carl Hancock Rux, Napoleon, High Priest (Anti-Pop Consortium). Pauline Oliveros even makes an appearance. If you like the clips below, you'll like the album.
WARNING: Just for heavens sake *don't* read the liner notes -- Spooky's so frickin' pretentious he ruins the experience. Let others do the critical analysis, no one wants to hear you analyze your own work, man! It's as if he thinks we won't "get it" unless he takes us by the hand and explains. The guy needs an editor:
"Check the vibe as jazz for the gene-splicing generation. An echo of the here and now put through the hard drive... It's a voodoo economics of the sound waves rolling across the basilar membrane... It's a post-rational thing... It's a synaethesia [sic] thing...Use your eyes to hear and your ears to see -- check the rhythm reality." Aaargh! Is he stoned or something?
RealAudio clip: "ibid, desmarches, ibid"
RealAudio clip: "Reactive Switching Strategies for the Control of Uninhabited Air"
RealAudio clip: "It's a mad, mad, mad, world"

SPOON Someone Something (Merge) 7" 4.50
A little vinyl teaser for those of us that still have the ability to play it. The A side is from these Texans' forthcoming album on Merge and the B has a couple of exclusive tracks. If this 7" is any indication of things to come, fans of Spoon's last album Girls Can Tell will not be disappointed by Kill the Moonlight. "Someone Something" is much like what Britt Daniel and Co. were doing before: Elvis Costello fused with Pixies pop goodness. The two exclusive tracks include "Is This The Last Time?" driven by a pulsing rhythm guitar riff not entirely unlike AC/DC's "For Those About To Rock We Salute You", does not approach the heavy magnitude of AC/DC, but this is Spoon after all and "In The Right Place At The Right Time" is a spacey little ditty, almost an ambient Spoon track which may not appeal to all but the most die hard fans.

SUNTANAMA, THE s/t (Drag City) cd 14.98
In theory, the Suntanama could be a really interesting band as members of the No Neck Blues Band attempt to strike a Neil Young pose to produce some laid back yet grizzled '70s rock. But in practice, this is an album that Drag City could make a lot of money on if they marketed it to the legions of frat boy stoners who listen to Phish and the Dave Matthews Band. S U C K.

SUPER_COLLIDER Raw Digits (No Future / Rise Robots Rise) cd 16.98
The only compliment we can give this album is that it's big in Germany. Super_Collider's "Raw Digits" is a painful attempt by two white Brits (Cristian Vogel and Jamie Lidell) to reconstruct sub-par R&B slow jams for the smarty-pants electronica crowd. I guess if you convinced yourself that Beck is not an ironist and was sincere in his Prince knock-off "Midnight Vultures," then you can probably convince yourself that this is worthwhile. Otherwise, avoid at all costs.
RealAudio clip: "Messagesacomin"

TENDER TRAP Film Molecules (K) cd 14.98
Another honey pie melodious incarnation from Amelia Fletcher and crew. She's already strewn a bountiful sugar coated pop blossoms for many years in Marine Research, Heavenly and Talulah Gosh, but now along with her fellow MR bandmates John Stanley and Rob Pursey, she's veering away from the twee pop path that has been her trademark. They started this group last year with some self-imposed rules: 2-minute songs only, no touring. These rules were soon tossed in the trash. The first rule was broken when they were asked to play with Magnetic Fields in Dublin. Plus, they've got some songs that *gasp* are longer than 120 seconds. Nonetheless, things do sound a bit different this time around. For instance, they've added some electronics into the usual jangly guitar mix and recorded it all digitally. From one song to the next, the trio dons different musical jackets. Stylistically this is all over the damn place. There's a traditional Fletcher perky pop song ("Oh Katrina"), a thumpin' dance track that's right at home next to Stephin Merritt's Future Bible Heroes ("Face Of 73" - complete with Duran Duran "Girls On Film" camera shutter intro!), a raucous, crunchy guitar number ("Dyspraxic"), a slow romantic lovely ("Brown Eyes") and nine more. Nevertheless, at the heart of all of this is really delightful pop, and did we really expect anything less from Ms Amelia? I think not!
RealAudio clip: "Face of 73"
RealAudio clip: "Oh Katrina"
RealAudio clip: "That Girl"
RealAudio clip: "Brown Eyes"

TERRORIZER Issue #101 magazine 3.95
Here's our kind of summertime readin': the July/August issue of the venerable British 'extreme' metal periodical Terrorizer. It's got Andee and Allan all in a tizzy 'cause it's "The PROG Issue"! That's right, a special issue devoted to the legacy of the much maligned (but beloved 'round here) '70s genre of progressive rock, as it manifests itself in the context of today's extreme metal scene. So there's features on bands like Opeth, Arcturus, Cave In, and Emperor, as well as the more traditional prog of Rush and Dream Theatre. Plus a history of the genre, a bunch of top tens of 70's prog (best and worst), etc. Terrorizer's revisionist take on prog notes that even punk mascot Johnny Rotten was a fan of Van Der Graaf Generator and Can. Non-prog content includes stories on The Great Deceiver, Mastodon (who ARE kinda prog), Soulfly, and Vader, along with the usual news and reviews. Prog on!

THUJA Thuja Museum #2 (Jewelled Antler) 3" cd-r 12.98
The second (and possibly final?) of the "Thuja Museum" releases is strictly limited to 50 copies, and is well on its way to being sold out like the first. While that initial Thuja Museum was a forest themed production, this one is centered on oceanic themes. Again packaged in a little jewelry box (get it?), Thuja Museum #2, in addition to the 3" cd-r itself, comes with an assortment of artwork from all of the members: Steven R. Smith offers a woodcut, Rob Reger an etching, Glenn Donaldson a collage, and Loren Chasse some found objects from the beach (crab claws, shells, bits of coral, etc.). So each one is unique and suitably aquatic.
Musically, this finds these local experimental psychedelic nature boys at their best as an improv ensemble focusing their collective attention upon the construction of an imaginary soundtrack for the ocean. These twenty minutes represent a mere fraction of the extended sessions they recorded for this project, coaxing resonant drones and quiet, nonspecific hums from their instruments and beachcombed objects. Occasionally, percussive items are scraped, a piano is gently stroked, and stringed instruments are plucked, to punctuate the magical spell of their drones. Nice -- get it while you can, and go for a swim in the sea of Thuja.
RealAudio clip: "Track 1"
RealAudio clip: "Track 4"

TRAD GRAS OCH STENAR Ajn Schvajn Draj (Silence) cd 14.98
Trad Gras Och Stenar -- aka Trees, Grass and Stones -- are from Sweden and have a long, long history to go along with their wonderful band name. Presently, the members (all providing vocals) are: Bo Anders Persson (guitar), Jakob Sjoholm (also guitar), Torbjorn Abelli (bass), and Thomas Mera Gartz (drums). These "four old men" (as they describe themselves in the liner notes) have been playing together for many, many years: three of 'em were founder members of the totally amazing psychedelic drone band Parson Sound in 1967, which morphed into the equally amazing, also-heavy-but-folkier outfits International Harvester, then Harvester, and then Trad Gras Och Stenar, who released their last album in 1969. Now, 33 years later, here's another great Trad Gras Och Stenar disc! They certainly demonstrate here that they've still "got it" -- a la Faust, another, rather similarily experimental band of baby boomers who are still making great music today. They also demonstrate that yesterday's prog or psych rock is now today's post-rock, but better!
"Ajn Schvajn Draj" was recorded from 1998-2001 under various circumstances -- in an atmospheric detail, they thank the "patient horses" in the pasture outside the building on the island of Faringso where they recorded much of this. Fittingly, this 74 minute album conjures up a mostly somber mood that you can imagine horses enjoying, one that's dark, pretty, nicely repetitive, and gentle but also fully capable of unleashing some dense, "free rock" heaviness. Somber, but with humor, indeed, with some rather unusual singing -- we mentioned Faust, and we're also reminded of Can (some of the vocals seemingly channel Damo Suzuki).
Actually, at first listen, a couple of the vocal tracks were tough going (why sing in French if you don't have to?) but the rest is mighty fine, in particular the several extended, improvised instrumentals that really recall the heavy psych-rock power of Parson Sound and International Harvester. Overall, you'd never be fooled into thinking this was the old Trad Gras Och Stenar (it has a much more "modern" sound), but if you're familar with those records, you'll be able to tell it's the same band on these tracks for sure.
Track four, "The Dove", starts off with vocals that sound like a French version of U2's Bono, but by the end of the song the band has gotten into a repetitive groove that reminds us much more of French post-rockers Ulan Bator. Two later tracks are Swedish language versions of "Nothing", by '60s freak rockers The Fugs, which here sound like Viking drinking songs, backed by laughter and merriment. These Nothings bookend the twelve minute long instrumental "Ringring", perhaps the album's most Parson Sound-ing track -- a heavy, majestic piece that's indeed ringing with energy. Then, after the reprise of "Nothing", a lovely backwards guitar excursion ("Albatross Meets Lonely Sailor") segues into an ECM-ish drifting ambient piece ("Exit") to nicely end the album.
Certainly, you should get their original albums first (see elsewhere on our website for raves about Parson Sound, Int'l Harvester, et.al.) but out of 2002's post/prog/psych/whatever rock releases, this album is well worth checking out.
RealAudio clip: "Treacherously Icy"
RealAudio clip: "The Dove"
RealAudio clip: "Lament Of A Simple Man"
RealAudio clip: "Ringring"

TSUNODA, TOSHIYA Pieces Of Air (Lucky Kitchen) cd 14.98
Lucky Kitchen -- those bright-eyed and bushy-tailed purveyors of anthropologically minded, but nevertheless cutiepie electronica -- has commissioned Japanese field recording minimalist Toshiya Tsunoda to do an album for their "Sparkling Composer" series (though he's not exactly a composer, more of a conceptual recordist). Tsunoda's previous releases "Extracts From Field Recording Archive Vol. 1" and "Vol. 2" were incredibly stoic offerings of amplifications of very quiet resonant frequencies, and stand as some of the most challenging, unprocessed field recordings we've ever heard here at Aquarius. Some of us here prefer those discs to this new recording but others really like this new album too. We all agree that this album has all of the prerequisites to be interesting, with Tsunoda's elaborate explanations of the technical set-up and circumstances of his recordings (such as the reflection of prepared test signals of very specific frequencies against a wall, or the placement of microphones in bottles or pipes, exposed to radio broadcasts or the sea). The liner notes certainly make for interesting reading, we'll not try to paraphrase them here. We were touched, though, by this comment: "Track 14 exceeded the input level at the time of recording and thus needed the technical help of my best friend and engineer Yukiharu Higashioji."
And the results of these recordings are fascinating and indeed beautiful listening. Much of "Pieces of Air", though proclaimed by Lucky Kitchen as an example of Tsunoda's sense of "child-like wonder", might actually make for a great horror movie soundtrack. Vaguely sinister thumps, humms, splashes, and drones abound. One of the best tracks is the last, recorded in Istanbul during the noontime call to prayer. Half-audible chants, drifting throught the air from across the city, mingle and merge in an ambient haze.
RealAudio clip: "inside of a pipe - radio and water level"
RealAudio clip: "inside of a pipe at the seashore 1"
RealAudio clip: "inside of a pipe at the seashore 2"
RealAudio clip: "echo of a room"
RealAudio clip: "Islamic chant"

V/VM Sometimes, Good Things Happen (blue) (V/VM) cd 16.98
While V/VM has recently been responsible for some of the worst and most unlistenable mash-ups of UK pop hits into ring-modulated pisstakes, this twin set "Sometimes, Good Things Happen" steps away from their recent atrocities. But it's still hard to trust that V/VM has constructed these recordings with any degree of sincerity; rather, I would postulate that these albums could be KLF-like jokes attempting to seduce the aloof audiences from the IDM crowd into liking V/VM again, much like the KLF did in their ambient record "Chill Out" in which they derided the early '90s ambient scene as being just music for sheep by making one of the best examples of ambient techno. I have no proof for this assumption, just a hunch and an innate distrust for V/VM. Regardless, V/VM claims that the two parts to "Sometimes, Good Things Happen" are the same, when to any sane individual they are clearly different with a less than solid conceptual connection.
The blue album - being the digitally coarse noise album in the pairing - could be viewed as the negation of all of the beautiful melodies and subtle structures of the first. Yet, this side of the dyptic doesn't entirely work as a noise album full of immediate impact and visceral textures and stands more as an execution of a concept. Allan wondered if it's the same V/VM as before and if there had been some internal personnel shifting within the group. Quite possible.
RealAudio clip: "The Truth Is Dead"

V/VM Sometimes, Good Things Happen (orange) (V/VM) cd 16.98
While V/VM has recently been responsible for some of the worst and most unlistenable mash-ups of UK pop hits into ring-modulated pisstakes, this twin set "Sometimes, Good Things Happen" steps away from their recent atrocities. But it's still hard to trust that V/VM has constructed these recordings with any degree of sincerity; rather, I would postulate that these albums could be KLF-like jokes attempting to seduce the aloof audiences from the IDM crowd into liking V/VM again, much like the KLF did in their ambient record "Chill Out" in which they derided the early '90s ambient scene as being just music for sheep by making one of the best examples of ambient techno. I have no proof for this assumption, just a hunch and an innate distrust for V/VM. Regardless, V/VM claims that the two parts to "Sometimes, Good Things Happen" are the same, when to any sane individual they are clearly different with a less than solid conceptual connection.
If you have to choose one over the other (and that is recommended), pick the Orange disc. This album is a dreamy collection of floating ambient washes, metallic drones, and sensibly minimal rhythmic clicks, not at unlike the acclaimed Aphex Twin album "Selected Ambient Works Vol 2." Surprisingly listenable, but should you trust V/VM to not laugh at you for enjoying this? Of course not. But so what?
RealAudio clip: "The Truth is Dead"
RealAudio clip: "Some Things Look Better Baby"
RealAudio clip: "So Near And Yet So Far Away"

VINES Highly Evolved (Capitol) cd 10.98
We can't tell you if these Aussies are the next big thing or not, but they're definitely the next potentially big thing. And before overexposure and hype and all that end up making you hate 'em, you should at least give 'em a chance. Sure, they're being positioned as The Strokes Part II (and while they do have a song or two that remind us The Strokes, as well as the 'look', they're just as much on the Hives or White Stripes tip), and we know everyone's got an opinion about The Strokes. But whether you approve of those NYC'ers or not is irrelevant here, 'cause what The Vines really sound like (to these ears) is a cross between Nirvana or Mudhoney and Redd Kross. And, hey, that's not a bad thing. No complaints here. And besides, if the commerical plastic pop music you've got to endure on the radio, at the 7-11, the barber shop, the juice bar, at the mall, wherever, is totally fun, catchy, garagey rock with actual songs and guitar jangle and fuzz, that's a lot better than boy bands or Britney Spears or nu-metal ain't it?! More power to 'em. And hey -- the singer's accent is for once authentic. (Note: it's at a "nice price" for now, but we'll be you anything that the list price will get jacked up to $18.98 in a few months when and if they do become a bonafide big thing).
RealAudio clip: "Get Free"
RealAudio clip: "Country Yard"
RealAudio clip: "Outtathaway"

WARMDESK The Pride Of The South Side (Fallt) cd 14.98
Warmdesk is the work of Chicago electron technician Bill Selman, who has produced this 30 minute EP for the Irish Fallt label of Force Inc / Mille Plateaux influenced techno minimalism loaded with conveyor belt shifts of ring modulated tones, splattering dub delay patterns, and fragile Sahko shards of electronics.
RealAudio clip: "Non Commercial 88.5 FM"

XENAKIS, IANNIS Oresteia (Montaigne) cd 17.98
From the liner notes for this orchestral and choral piece: "Xenakis' 'Oresteia' -- written in 1966 and complete in 1987 with the addition of the scene entitled 'Kassandra' -- is neither Aeschylus' tragedy in its entirety, nor a work written independently of the classical text. In Xenakis' version the history of the kings is recounted by the people: the tragic chorus becomes the central character in the 'Oresteia.' It interprets its own role, but also, collectively, that of the legendary heroes and gods, sung to Aeschylus' lines which were a powerful inspiration to the music."

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----* Last Visible Dog :
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LVD is a great little label specializing in (mostly) limited edition cd-r releases, originally based in Nebraska, recently moved to Rhode Island. We've just brought in a bunch of their titles, interesting psychedelic and experimental stuff from the USA, New Zealand, and Japan (including a Makoto "Acid Mothers Temple" Kawabata project that's pretty cool). We'll be listing more titles in the future. Read on...

BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL Vespertine (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
More minimal dreaminess from Campbell Kneale and his one man drone machine Birchville Cat Motel. 'Vespertine' is one 40 minute barely fluctuating drone constructed from guitars tapes, radios, synthesizers and vacuum cleaners! This is some gorgeous deep listening: layers and layers of fuzz and hum transport the listener to another plane. Otherworldly and transcendental supreme drone. Perfect.
RealAudio clip: "Vespertine"

ESO STEEL Ina (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
Working with contact microphones and field recordings, Richard Francis -- the New Zealander now living in Japan who has claimed the moniker Eso Steel -- emerges as an interesting member of the lowercase aesthetic, somewhere between the sonic intensity of Francisco Lopez (that is when Lopez hasn't consigned himself to arenas of silence) and the empathic resonances of Loren Chasse or Steve Roden. All of his recordings are based upon his late night excursions through Tokyo, where he is left alone to record the sound artifacts of a giant city that has fallen asleep. Pulsing loops of electrical hums, timestretched drones, and peripheral buzzings build into kinetic motifs of gritty distortions, that nevertheless maintain an overall hypnotic sensibility.
RealAudio clip: "The Scattering Order"
RealAudio clip: "Noachian Drift"

FURISUBI Three Armed Mary (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
Furisubi is the experimental guitar drone/psych/noise project of Kris Lapke, on this release a one-man band playing guitar and (sometimes) drums. The two tracks found on this hour-long cd-r basically sound like Japanese distorto-psych rockers High Rise or Mainliner covering Black Sabbath. Actually, track two actually *is* a Black Sabbath cover -- maybe we should say 'interpretation' -- a nearly half-hour version of Vol. 4's "Snowblind"! Well, actually, perhaps inspired by Sabbath's own in-concert jams/medleys, he works "Snowblind" over for about 15 minutes, and then deviates into some other symptoms of the Sabs' universe, like "Paranoid" and what sounds like a super-sped up version of "Smoke On The Water" which isn't even a Sabbath song (though Sabbath HAS performed it) before returning to finish-up the world's most stretched-out version of "Snowblind".
That's all after the preceeding 30 minutes of the disc's first track, which borrows no Black Sabbath riffs but certainly could have! So, whether covering Sabbath or not, Lapke's modus operandi here is pretty much utter distorto guitar drone demolition, motorpsycho guitar in the Makoto Kawabata zone, but heavier, darker, dronier... yes!! Our kind of guitar hero. But he's obviously not a drummer, though, as his timekeeping skills are, shall we say, poor...but the fucked-up drumming gives this a bit more of a damaged charm anyway...and he bothers to drum only about half the time as well (so it's better than a live Electric Wizard show, who's drummer is notoriously drunk and incompetent). Lapke also allows the occasional ragged vocal to (barely) surface amid the howl of guitar and feedback, helping to place one in the flow of Sabbath tuneage. This is what "stoner rock" *should* sound like... There are other, more 'experimental' Furisubi releases, but we liked this 'rockier' one the best and so decided to feature it. Plus, who can argue with extended Sabbath-inspired jamming? We're glad of whatever possessed him to record this, in all its wonderfully blown-out and messed-up glory.
RealAudio clip: "Snowblind"

INABA, SHUJI Yoenzange (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
Live acoustic recording of outsider folk from rural Western Japanese singer/songwriter Shuji Inaba. You may recognise his name as he has had a disc released by PSF a few years back. Comparable to the politically driven psych folk of Kan Mikami or Kazuki Tomokawa. Alan Cummings provides English translations of Inaba's lyrics in the liner notes. From CD-R label Last Visible Dog, out of Providence, Rhode Island (formerly, Lincoln, Nebraska).

OHM Live At The Crown (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
More spaced out free noise racket from the amazing Last Visible Dog. OHM are a New Zealand free rock outfit treading similar territory as the Dead C, but the sound is more sparse and spread out. Sputtering drums and droning guitars, warm feedback and dreamy peals of high end squeal. Warble guitars and shuffly jazzy drums, played in the middle of a huge empty hall while sharp bolts of guitar hum and amp buzz are deflected by gentle strumming and whispery melodies and multiplied into occasional walls of bzzzzzbrrrrrghhhhh. This single 40 minute track basically documents the entire existence of the band OHM. Gorgeous and spare. Campbell Kneale (Mr. Birchville Cat Motel) guests. Features a hilarious cover spoof of the Who's maximum R+B logo!
RealAudio clip: "Live At The Crown"

SHIZUKA Tokyo Underground '95 (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
Japan's Shizuka were once (and maybe are again) an up-and-coming four-piece Tokyo psych outfit, you might know 'em from their contributions to PSF's Tokyo Flashback compilation series, or their studio album on that same label, or their amazing but now sadly out of print live cd on Persona Non Grata. They even played a great show here in San Francisco at the Kilowatt some years ago that some of us were lucky enough to witness. The prime elements of Shizuka's sound are the Keiji Haino-esque guitar storms of ex-Fushitsusha man Maki, combined with the haunting, sad female vocals of the band's namesake Shizuka (Japanophiles reading this probably also have seen her beautiful and spooky handmade dolls, on the cover of a Land of the Rising Noise comp and elsewhere). This band broke up a while ago, but have apparently recently reunited. No new material has been forthcoming, however, but they have released this live cd-r (recorded in 1995, before the break-up), which will be some consolation to fans. It's a 40-minute long live performance (complete with a fragment of the music being played through the PA prior to their set!) from a club in Tokyo. The recording is great, and their songs are phenomenal. Gorgeous, melancholic stuff, with the gently lulling singing of Shizuka being heartbreaking enough by itself, but also setting the listener up to be destroyed by the fantastic heavy psych controlled-noise outbursts of the guitar when they begin (usually a few minutes into each song). If you're already a Shizuka fan, you'll want this, and if you're into bands like Nagisa Ni Te, Slap Happy Humphrey, and Fushitsusha, you probably do too. Those with less expertise in modern underground Japanese psych -- but who dig the Velvets, Neil Young, or even an imaginary mix of Mazzy Star and Mogwai -- could do a lot worse for an introduction as well.
RealAudio clip: "Heavenly Persona"
RealAudio clip: "Lunatic Pearl"

TSURUBAMI Kaina (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
Yet another entry into the exponentially increasing catalogue from Kawabata Makoto comes outside of the realms of The Acid Mother's Temple. Tsurubami has supposedly had a couple of releases, but this super lo-tech CD-R from Last Visible Dog is the only one that we've been able to track down so far. Fellow Acid Mother's Templar Higashi Hiroshi brings his bass to Kawabata's guitar, alongside the newcomer Emi Nobuko on drums. The album opens in similar fashion to Kawabata's "Father Moo & The Black Sheep" album, with a synthetic wash of pitch-shifting / multiverb guitar tones. Slowly these ambient tonalities develop into shimmering fragments of melody half appearing, then dissolving into kosmische haziness. Emi rattles out quiet tinklings across his ride cymbals, which starts off somewhat subdued, but gradually approaches the Fushitsusha arena of freenoise percussion tumble once the full drum kit is employed. Kawabata and Higashi maintain the dronescape mentality for about 25 minutes, before kicking the distortion pedals into overdrive and unleash a dense wall of sound to accompany the percussive squallor. Where the first track is delicate and gradual, the second is immediate and brutal. Cantankerous distortion from overblown bass and guitar join the continuous splutter from Emi. This is a really, really good Acid Mother's Temple related project... it really deserves more than just cd-r status.
RealAudio clip: "Hitsumyo O Gotoshite"
RealAudio clip: "Kujiru"

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----* Compilations :
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V/A April (Box) cd-r 14.98
Welcome to the Frans De Waard show starring Frans De Waard! 5 of the 7 tracks on this compilation feature Mr. De Waard in various guises as the "borrowed" project Freiband covering a King Crimson song, as the ambient drone guitar project Shifts, in the ultra-minimal techno / microsound project Goem, and in the musique concrete ensemble Kapotte Musiek. Roel Meelkop (who works with De Waard in Goem and Kapotte Muziek) contributes a solo track of minimalist scraping. The last track throws off the symmetry of the Frans De Waard connection with a duet between Boston's Jason Talbot and Howard Stelzer on turntables and tape constructions. Limited to 300 CD-Rs.
RealAudio clip: GOEM "Braun Mix"
RealAudio clip: ROEL MEELKOP "Fuzzy"
RealAudio clip: FREIBAND "Dream Illusion"

V/A Fals.ch FB50 (Mego) cd 15.98
The second compilation of the Mego affiliated online audio/visual community Fals.ch. Compiled by Fals.ch heads Florian Hecker and Oswald Berthold, FB50 collects audio works by artists featured in the last 24 online "releases": Koji Asano, COH, cd_slopper, poire_z, Atau Tanaka, Ulf Bilting & Zbigniew Karkowski, *0, Pain Jerk, Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock, Martin Ng & Jim Denley, Frank Metzger and more! Also exclusive tracks by Mego artists General Magic, gcttcatt, Evol, J.O.K.E. and i.d. There are also a few multimedia goodies included in addition to MP3s: a Merzbow A/V loop, an excerpt of a Francisco Lopez performance and a cryptic file courtesy those Gescom pranksters. In fact, the Gescom file is an incredibly hilarious standalone application that makes your computer seem like it's being hijacked by glitch terrorists! Trick your friends and coworkers into believing your hard disk is being trashed right before your eyes! Fun as shit!

V/A Mind Expanders Volume 1: In Search of the Orgiastic Flashtastic Psychspastic Groove (Grey Past / Waterpipe Records) picture disc 21.00
From the wonderful folks who brought us Turkish Delights comes a crazy-psychedelic picture disc of "Psychedelic Sitar Trash Go-Go". Though the name implies there will be a good deal of sitar to be had here, in actuality this isn't entirely the case. There is a bit of it here, but the collection seems to take a broader definition of "Psychedelic Sitar Trash Go-Go". Perhaps title implies more a general exotic nature of psychedelic sounds. The groups on this album hailed from Spain, France, U.K., Belgium, Germany, U.S.A., and Canada. While some of the cuts here could have easily been culled from Vampyros Lesbos, others are just straight up fuzzed out and fucked up garage punk instrumentals. Then there's Les Paul-meets-moog synth musings coupled with bizarre string and percussion sound effects. There's Los Diablos, basically a heavier version of Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass plus guitars. There's even a fuzzed out psychedelic version of "Baia" which sounds like a pissed off Martin Denny. This is definitely a must have for anyone who's interested in the off kilter history of psychedelia. Features rare gems by Los Diablos, The Jokers, The Jim Sullivan Sound, The Dave Myers Effect, Guy Pederson & Son Grand Orchestre, Blue Phantom, La Voix Psychedelique, Crazy Elephant, The Sound Of Lane, The Morgans, Horror Charly, Les Apollo & La Danse Cosmique, The Rowdies, Sun Rock Rodeo Round Up, Lord Sitar and Clubman.

V/A Steam Kodok (Grey Past) lp 17.98
Subtitled "17 A-Go-Go Ultrarities From the 60's Singapore and South-East Asia Underground", this comp fairly smokes in a psychedelic pop haze. Covering standards like "Buttons and Bows", but mostly playing by-the-numbers originals, bands like October Cherries, Rosnah and the Siglap Five, Ronnie Ong, and Naomi & the Boys (playing a great Peter Thomas number) played a mixture of surf, soul, r&b, and plain ole psych pop. A couple of the groups here even went to #1 in their home countries. Fuzz guitar! The tracks featuring girl singers sound just like the Ultra Chicks French girl group comps, thus testifying to the universal appeal the rock music of the day held for young people the world over.
On transparent blue vinyl. Dutch import.

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----* Also New In Stock, Reviews Coming Soon :
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400 BLOWS "Black Rainbow" (Tone Capsule) cd 11.98
ANZELLOTTI, TEODORO "Leos Janacek" (Winter & Winter) cd 16.98
AROVANE "Icol Diston" cd 16.98
ATMOSPHERE "God Loves Ugly" (Fat Beats) cd 16.98
BRAXTON, ANTHONY "Actuel Sessions" (Fuel 2000) cd 12.98
BREAD LOVE AND DREAMS "s/t" (Hugo-Montes) cd 17.98
CANDIRIA "The Coma Imprint" (Lakeshore Records) 2cd 17.98
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND HIS MAGIC BAND "Magnetic Hands" (Viper) cd 19.98
CARDIACS "A Little Man And A House And The Whole World Window" (Alphabet) cd 14.98
CARDIACS "Sing To God - Part Two" (Alphabet) cd 14.98
CARDIACS "Sing To God - Part One" (Alphabet) cd 14.98
CASSERLEY, LAWRENCE "The Edge Of Chaos" (Sargasso) cd 14.98
CERBERUS SHOAL / HERMAN DUNE "The Whys And Hows Of Herman Dune and Cerberus Shoal" (North East Indie) cd 9.98
CHERRY, DON "Blue Lake" (BYG / Toho / Get Back) 2lp 19.98
CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY "s/t" (Rhino) cd 16.98
COMETBUS "Despite Everything: A Cometbus Omnibus" (Last Gasp) book 14.95
FELDMAN, MORTON "Complete Works For Two Pianists" (Alice Musik Produktion) cd 14.98
FORBIDDEN PLANET "(OST)" (Moving Image Entertainment) lp 21.00
FUNGAL HEX "s/t" (Ministerstva Kultury Cr) cd 11.98
FURSAXA "s/t" (Ecstatic Peace) lp 13.98
GORILLAZ "Spacemonkeyz versus Gorillaz - Laika Come Home" (Astralwerks) cd 16.98
HEADLANDS BAND "California" (Headlands Band Music) cd 11.98
HERMANO "...Only A Suggestion" (Tee Pee) 2cd 14.98
HIDDEN "Spectral Magnitude" (Red Stream) cd 11.98
HURLEY, MICHAEL "Blueberry Wine" (Locust) cd 14.98
INVISIBL SKRATCH PIKLZ VS. DA KLAMZ UV DETH "Furious Ostrich Tracks" (Asphodel) lp 7.98
MISERY INDEX / COMMIT SUICIDE "Split CD" (Willowtip) cd 12.98
NARGAROTH "Black Metal Ist Krieg" (No Colours) cd 14.98
NARGAROTH "Hervstleyd" (No Colours) cd 14.98
OMIT "Rejector" (SySecular) cd-r 9.98
ON FILLMORE "On Fillmore" (Locust) cd 14.98
ORTHRELM / TOUCHDOWN "Split" (Troubleman) cd 12.98
PARTON, DOLLY "Halos & Horns" (Sugar Hill) cd 17.98
REINHARDT, DJANGO "Djangology" (RCA Victor) cd 16.98
RITUAL CARNAGE "The Birth Of Tragedy" (Osmose) cd 14.98
RJD2 "Deadringer" (Definitive Jux) cd/2lp 17.98/17.98
ROWE, KEITH & OREN AMBARCHI "Flypaper" (Staubgold) cd 14.98
SHIOMI, MIEKO "A Musical Dictionary of 80 People Around Fluxus" (? Records) cd 22.00
SPUNK "Den Overste Toppen Pa En Blamalt Flaggstang" (Rune Grammofon) cd 15.98
STARS AS EYES "Important Youth Movement / People Kill People" (Tigerbeat6) 7" 4.98
TABLA BEAT SCIENCE "Live In San Francisco At Stern Grove" (Axiom) 2cd 17.98
TATSUYA, YOSHIDA "Magaibutsu" reissue w/ bonus tracks (Review Records) cd 13.98
THORNSPAWN "Wrath Of War" (Osmose) cd 14.98
TROLLHEIM'S GROTT "Bizarre Troll Technology" (Woodcut) cd 14.98
V/A "Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 4" (PCP) cd 14.98
V/A "Chocolate Soup For Diabetics 5" (PCP) cd 14.98
VINTERSORG "Visions From The Spiral Generator" (Napalm) cd 14.98
WALDAMSEL / FOREST BLACKBIRD "s/t" (Natural Sound / Wergo) cd 18.98
WARLORD "Rising Out Of The Ashes" (Atrheia) cd 14.98
WOLF EYES "Fuck Pete Larsen" (Wolf Eyes) lp 14.98
ZORN, JOHN "Filmworks XI" (Tzadik) cd 15.98


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I N T E R V E N T I O N


a good time can be had
at the edinburgh castle
950 geary (between polk & larkin)
sunday august 4th, 9pm, free!

come enjoy drinks, fish & chips, and music by djs
miso, megaweapon, build a car & windy from aquarius

aka george chen, jeremy campbell, matt thomas and yours truly

this heat black dice geto boys metal urbain
my bloody valentine stock, hausen and walkman
numbers sexual harrassment slits jud jud bablicon
lake of dracula dj assault loose joints suicide
sun ra andre nickatina new age steppers el-p
deerhoof thin lizzy pere ubu lexaunculpt
art ensemble of chicago ntm vs. balavoine too short
bit meddler swell maps joe tabu can electric company
silver apples rammelzee hrvatski out hud tenor saw
erase errata robert wyatt 808 state liquid liquid
donna summer mekons hamilton bohannon neil hamburger
the ex phyllis dillon egyptian lover kid koala
emmit rhodes bread x-ray spex kraftwerk
gamers in exile anti pop constortium william parker
ice cube neu two lone swordsmen lee hazlewood goblin
unrest brigitte fontaine & areski chris clark


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SOME SELECTED UPCOMING RELEASES


---> July 30th
Cattle Decapitation "To Serve Man" cd on Metal Blade
Beth Orton "Daybreaker" cd on Astralwerks
Bruce Springsteen "Rising" cd on Columbia

---> August 6th
Sixteen Horsepower "Folklore" cd on Jetset
Autechre "Gantz Graf" cdep/12"/2dvd on Warp
Golden "Apollo Stars" cd on Thrill Jockey
Meshuggah "Nothing" cd on Nuclear Blast
Mono Pause / Aavikko "El Cebo b/w Of Stomping Men" split 7" on Seeland
Dntel "This Is The Dream Of Evan and Chan" cdep/12" on Plug Research
Dalek "From Filthy Tongues Of Gods and Griots" cd/lp on Ipecac
Funki Porcini "Fast Asleep" 2cd/2lp on Ninjatune
v/a "Total Lee! The Songs of Lee Hazlewood" comp on Astralwerks w/ Tindersticks, Calexico, Lambchop, Webb Bros., Kid Loco, Evan Dando, Jarvis Cocker, St. Etienne, etc.
v/a "The Real Deal" on Bomb HipHop
even more XTC reissues

---> August 13th
Queens of the Stone Age "Songs For The Deaf" cd on Interscope
Coup "Steal This Double Album" cd reissue with bonus disc! on Foad
Incredible String Band "5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion/The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" 2cd reissue on Collector's Choice

---> August 20th
Spoon "Kill The Moonlight" cd on Merge
Nile "In Their Darkened Shrines" cd on Relapse
Cephalic Carnage "Lucid Interval" cd on Relapse
Sleater Kinney "One Beat" cd/lp on Kill Rock Stars
Neko Case "Blacklisted" cd on Bloodshot
Mudhoney "Since We've Become Translucent" cd/lp on SubPop
Black Sabbath "Past Lives" 2cd on Sanctuary
Iannis Xenakis and various artists "Persepolis Plus Remixes Vol. 1" 2cd on Asphodel with Otomo Yoshihide, Merzbow, Ryoji Ikeda, Construction Kit, Francisco Lopez, Zbignlew Karkowski, and Ulf Langheinrich
Tipsy "Tipsy Remix Party" cd on Asphodel with Matmos, the High Llamas, People Like Us, Messerchups, Optiganally Yours, and World Standard
Orthrelm "2nd18/o4 Norildivoth Crallos-Lomrixth Urthiln" cd/lp on Three One G
Liars "They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top" cd on Mute
Frank Black & The Catholics "Devil's Workshop" cd on SpinArt
Interpol "Turn On The Bright Lights" cd/lp on Matador
Mekons "Oooh! (Out of our Heads)" cd on Quarterstick
Radian "Rec. Extern" cd/lp on Thrill Jockey
Mecca Normal "The Family Swan" cd on Kill Rock Stars
Alexander Von Schlippenbach "The Living Music (1969)" cd on Atavistic
The Standard "August" cd on Touch and Go
Tara Jane O'Neil & Daniel Littleton "Music For A Meteor Shower" cd/2lp on Tiger Style
Mike Johnson "What Would You Do" cd on Up
Hot Snakes "Automatic Midnight" cd/lp back in print on Swami

---> August 27th
John Zorn "Filmworks XII: Three Documentaries" cd on Tzadik
Derek Bailey "Pieces For Guitar" cd on Tzadik (his earliest recordings, circa 1966!)
David Shea "Classical Works II" cd on Tzadik
Incredible String Band "s/t" reissue cd on Sepiatone
Incredible String Band "Liquid Acrobat As Regards The Air" reissue cd on Sepiatone
Mance Lipscomb "Texas Country Blues" cd on Arhoolie
Sole "Salt On Everything" 12" on Anticon

---> also in August
Aimee Mann
The Roots
XTC
more Jandek reissues

---> September 3rd
Barry Adamson "The King of Nothing Hill" on Mute
Tarwater "Dwellers On The Threshold" cd on Mute
Today Is The Day "Sadness Will Prevail" 2cd on Relapse
Bongzilla "Gateway" cd on Relapse
In Flames "Reroute To Remain" cd on Nuclear Blast


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In deep sleep hear sound
cat vomit hairball
somewhere will find in morning

Litter box not here
You must have moved it again
I'll crap in the sink.

---Cat haiku by Harvey Sid Fisher

Love,
Windy Cup Allan Andee Jim Byram Sadie and Marcy