CLEAN, THE Anthology (Merge) 2cd 15.98
The history of the legendary New Zealand indie label Flying Run quite literally begins with The Clean. Impressed by a slew of The Clean's live performances in their home town of Dunedin, New Zealand back in 1980, Roger Shephard began Flying Nun, simply in order to release the band's first single "Tally Ho." That song, an upbeat but simple post-punk number that crashed together jangling guitars and persistant organ melodies, surprised everybody with a considerable amount of commercial success in New Zealand, and became one of many songs by The Clean that found enthusiastic audiences in the US during the college rock days of the '80s, offering a quirky, exotic alternative to staples like REM, the Replacements, Robyn Hitchcock, and Elvis Costello.
Formed in 1978 by the Kilgour brothers David and Hamish, The Clean never stooped to the depths of the Gallagher brother's public fisticuffs; but the band -- which flushed out its membership with Robert Scott and (in the early days) Peter Gutteridge -- spent more time broken up than together. Yet, their eternally catchy pop songs became the blueprint for almost all of the other Flying Nun bands (in part due to the numerous Clean related projects on Flying Nun, including The Bats, The Great Unwashed, Bailter Space, Snapper, Stephen, and others). The Clean's self-explanatory "Anthology" runs through their numerous albums, offering a good chunk of their fantastic early work (the aforementioned "Tally Ho," the "Boodle Boodle Boodle" ep, the "Great Sounds..." ep, and a couple of oddities) on one disc. Edgy yet unswervingly optimistic, these songs were sloppy four-track recordings of monomaniacally simple rhythms, cacophonously jangly guitar melodies, and happy-go-lucky vocals. Disc two contains excerpts from the '90s albums "Vehicle," "Modern Rock," and "Unknown Country," which marked a considerable polishing of The Clean's sound, in part because they recorded that material in well established studios like Blackwing studios in London, but also as the songs, while still simple in their own right, were slightly more restrained.
Highly recommended!
RealAudio clip: "At The Bottom"
RealAudio clip: "Tally Ho"
RealAudio clip: "Point That Thing Somewhere Else"

DELGADOS Hate (Mantra/ Beggars Group) cd 16.98
The Scots certainly have a magic touch when it comes to creating absolute pop splendor. Just think of artists like Belle And Sebastian, Mogwai, Teenage Fanclub, Arab Strap, not to mention supergroup The Reindeer Section... and then there's this band! You might recall Windy and Cup both gushing over the Delgados' last album The Great Eastern a couple of years back. Oh my! Well, we're happy to report that with this, their fourth full length, they've picked up right where they left off. That is, continuing to finely craft their splendid compositions full of a swirling carousel of strings, woodwinds and horns, honey-sweet male and female lead vocals, and an angelic choral accompaniment. However, they've done so with the notable addition of Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Sparklehorse, Mercury Rev) in the producer's seat. And what a wonderful combination it is! Making for a much grander big picture than even the super lush Great Eastern. Clouds of shimmering cymbal crashes punctuate the glorious, dramatic atmosphere, definitely revealing that distinct Fridmann touch. Wistful, lulling melodies are introduced in the most spartan of settings -- a lone voice and guitar -- but soon build to epic proportions. And the lyrics? Ah yes, quite capable of stirring heartswelling sighs and misty eyes from the coldest of men with their crushingly bittersweet imagery (lyrics are included in the cd booklet). If you've even a glimmer of affection for glorious orchestral pop, the Delgados are for you! Luminous and lovely and so very recommended.
Note: Includes a video for their song "Coming In From The Cold" and two bonus tracks not on the Mantra UK pressing.
RealAudio clip: "Coming In From The Cold"
RealAudio clip: "Favours"
RealAudio clip: "If This Is A Plan"

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ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Magical Powers From Mars Volume One (Important) cd ep 10.98
I know it seems like we must be joking, but it's true. ANOTHER Acid Mothers Temple record. And not just a new record, PART ONE IN A THREE PART SERIES!!!! But then it wouldn't really be a list without some new sonic missive from these guys on the far away fringes of outer spacerock. But let's start with the packaging. We were all practically stunned into silence by the packaging. Seriously. It is so beautiful. The cover is like one of those vintage 3D sort of multi-layered lenticular postcard, showing a tiny spaceman standing at the edge of a canyon, while a flying saucer swoops down and shines lasers or beams of light and a gorgeous red sunset shimmers in the background. You really have to just see it. And the disc is a 3" cd embedded in a clear 5" cd with some very Yes-like spacescapes. Really nice. Volume two is going to have a lot to live up to. As we seem to be telling you everytime we review ANOTHER Acid Mothers Temple record, although you think that the quality would slip, or this would all get boring and BAD, 'Magical Powers' beats the odds again, and is actually really, really nice. A 20 minute slab of space-y shimmer, buzzing synths and plucked sitars are bombarded by bleeps and blips, reverb and delay, and ghostly female vocals. A futuristic raga, undulating and slowly shifting, a faraway Eastern melody winding subtly through the druggy haze. Blissed out and hypnotic.
RealAudio clip: "Magical Powers From Mars Volume One"

BUTTHOLE SURFERS s/t ep + Live PCPEP (Latino Bugger Veil) cd 14.98
Now available for the first time ever on CD. It's hard to believe after the band has been around for what, over 20 years now, has been played on top forty radio and has seen practically everything they've released, down to the most obscure tracks, get reissued, has only now had their first two -- now practically legendary -- eps released on compact disc. "The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave" is practically a punk rock anthem, or no less than the genre's swan song. Depending on how you look at it, maybe both. For the band anyway, the track was every bit a standard as "Free Bird" was for Skynyrd. I don't know what's weirder, the fact that these haven't been reissued until now, or that the band -- who at one time seemed destined to a life of cult obscurity -- has acheived such enormous mainstream success. It's all urine under the bridge now though, as you can have it all on disc and then some. Along with the original self-titled (a.k.a Brown Reason To Live) ep, and the follow up live PCPPEP from 1984, there are an additional three live ("Gary Floyd", "Matchstick" and an additional version of "Something") and one studio ("Sinister Canyon") bonus tracks that make it hard for those of us who already own the vinyl to resist the temptation.
RealAudio clip: "The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave"
RealAudio clip: "Sinister Crayon"

HAINO, KEIJI Mazu Wa Iro O Nakuso Ka (PSF) cd 21.00
The title in English, as given on the spine of this lovely package: "To Start With, Let's Remove The Colour!" This disc comes in a handsome sort of mini-lp gatefold sleeve, colored not Haino's usual black, but shades of grey -- grey being appropriate for the ghostly voices that mass in ever-layering loops over the swirling, jazzy jangle of Haino's guitar playing here. No, this is not a high-volume assault, and there's no shrieking vocals either. Rather this disc is Japanese psychedelic improvisor extraordinaire Keiji Haino's most recent foray into the realm of the mysterious, delicate, and quiet. He's heard here solo, in a mode seldom if ever before beheld: this is the home-recorded Haino, with overdubs! You can imagine him in his bedroom, earphones on, hunched over his guitar, mic, and four-track. It's a close-up, intimate scenario, the mind's eye focusing on his fingers on the guitar strings and his cryptic words whispered not far from the microphone, rather than the massive amps and flailing hair that you might envision when listening to his louder live performances with his "rock band" Fushitsusha. This is some sort of gentle, damaged, haunted, cave-dwelling blues, in the realm of (but not quite like) a Jandek or Kemialliset Ystavat. Track six (of eight), "How Did You Know? Mistaken" is the centerpiece, a half-hour opus of otherworldly genius.
This album is creepy yet comforting. Eerie and mesmerizing. And fucking amazingly beautiful. We can only hope Haino's four-track output continues -- and why just guitar? Maybe next time he'll turn to some of the many ethnic instruments that we're sure fill his chambers...
RealAudio clip: "Another..."
RealAudio clip: "Will It Fall?"

KINSKI Airs Above Your Station (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
One of the so-called Terrastock Nation's heaviest ass-kickers, Pacific NW "space-rock" troupe Kinski continue their levitational ascent with this new full-length. We've especially been looking forward to it ever since Sub Pop released the teaser "Semaphore" ep late last year, which garnered high marks from us. The so-heavy-and-wintry-majestic-that-it's-almost-black metal title track from that ep reappears here, alongside seven new cuts that both drone-on and rock-out. Lengthy epics abound, structured to begin with moody, melodic mellowness before bursting into denser action at the half-way point, and are primarily instrumentals, with the fuzz of the overdriven guitars and the wallop of the drums taking full flight. From repetitive shoegazer post-rock to experimental pop to ambient Floydian psych, Kinski never falter, always full of energy, with sheer "set the controls for the nearest black hole" gravity-multiplying heaviness never far from kicking in. With "Airs", Kinski should be taking their place in the space/drone rock fandom realm next to the likes of Circle, Sonic Youth, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Subarachnoid Space, and a host of your cosmic krautrock greats of the past. Ol' Klaus would be proud.
RealAudio clip: "Schedule For Using Pillows & Beanbags"
RealAudio clip: "Your Lights Are (Out Or) Burning Badly"

KINSKI Airs Above Your Station (Strange Attractors Audio House) 2lp 14.98
Double el-pee vinyl version via Strange Attractors (cd on Sub Pop)...
One of the so-called Terrastock Nation's heaviest ass-kickers, Pacific NW "space-rock" troupe Kinski continue their levitational ascent with this new full-length. We've especially been looking forward to it ever since Sub Pop released the teaser "Semaphore" ep late last year, which garnered high marks from us. The so-heavy-and-wintry-majestic-that-it's-almost-black metal title track from that ep reappears here, alongside seven new cuts that both drone-on and rock-out. Lengthy epics abound, structured to begin with moody, melodic mellowness before bursting into denser action at the half-way point, and are primarily instrumentals, with the fuzz of the guitars and the wallop of the drums taking full flight. From repetitive shoegazer post-rock to experimental pop to ambient Floydian psych, Kinski never falter, always full of energy, with sheer "set the controls for the nearest black hole" gravity-multiplying heaviness never far from kicking in. With "Airs", Kinski should be taking their place in the space/drone rock fandom realm next to the likes of Circle, Sonic Youth, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Subarachnoid Space, and a host of your cosmic krautrock greats of the past. Ol' Klaus would be proud.

MYLES OF DESTRUCTION Running Only Makes The Fire Worse cd-r 12.98
Our buddy Myles and his "Of Destruction" band Tony and Audrey return with their first proper full length (still a cd-r but professionally printed). We raved about their first two cd-r's and this one is EVEN BETTER! Just drums, violin and bass, NO GUITARS! MoD whip up a wild and totally unique gypsy-stomp / grind metal / Ruins-ish rhythmic workout with growled gutteral black metal vocals, grinding distorted bass and wildy melodic violin. In the past we compared MoD to a mix of the Warlock Pinchers, Atom And His Package, Metallica, Emperor, and the Magnetic Fields. We also compared them to a more metal Amps For Christ, but as their sound progresses and they get tighter and better, their sound veers in a much more folky/gypsy direction, due mostly to the amazing violin parts, and the humor seems to have taken a back seat to the music, which is a GOOD thing. Think: a black metal Taraf De Haidouks, or Samla Mammas Manna playing selections from the Brutal Truth catalog! Really fucking great!
RealAudio clip: "Cold Day In Hell"
RealAudio clip: "Moth Curiosity"

NECKS, THE Athenaeum, Homebush, Quay & Raab (Fish Of Milk) 4cd 49.00
Windy's off in Vietnam and unable to contribute to our review of this, but she did leave the following simple and to the point note: "I LOVE this album."
We all do actually. Even jazz-phobic Jim has been caught blissing out to The Necks! And everyone we know seems to have at least one record by Australia's Necks, but why didn't any of them tell me how fricking great this stuff is?!?!? This is a new 4 cd set featuring 4 separate hour-long performances, and once you're familiar with their sound, you'll understand that 4 hours, in hour long chunks, is the perfect way to experience The Necks. It's sort of jazz but not exactly. Sort of 20th century classical, but not exactly. Imagine Charlemagne Palestine or Steve Reich composing for a jazz combo and you might be getting close. Or a more lively Bohren and Der Club of Gore, maybe, at times. Hypnotic shuffling jazz rhythms, skittery high hat and ride cymbals, build a skeletal foundation for throbbing monochromatic bass and chiming, cyclical piano. Repetitive, blissed out and totally hypnotic. Drummer Tony Buck we used to know from Peril and Kletka Red amongst other projects, but now we'll consider The Necks his primary claim to fame. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Homebush"

OMIT Rejector (Anomalous) cd 12.98
Over the past ten years or so, Omit (aka the hermetic New Zealander Clinton Williams) has released dozens of cassettes through his DeepSkin imprint. Fortunately, he's allowed a few of his albums to be released as actual CDs, including a couple of really fantastic albums on Corpus Hermeticum. "Rejector" is another album from Omit that's been released as CD. "Rejector" is in its second pressing thanks to Anomalous Records, who salvaged the album from SySecular who originally released the album as a CD-R. As Omit's work for haunted synth / loop constructions are incredibly well-executed and sublimely creepy, it's a very good thing that "Rejector" has moved beyond CD-R status and is available again. Omit's work has clear predecessors in '70s Kraut synthesists like Conrad Schnitzler, Kluster, and early Tangerine Dream; yet his apparently sinister intentions and sci-fi isolationism push his productions closer to the sounds of mid '80s Nurse With Wound (i.e. "Homotopy To Marie") and Zoviet France (i.e. "Mohnomische"). His work uses some amazingly simple techniques of counterpointed tape loops (crackling wood, creaking doors, down-pitched tape splice clicks, etc.) that warble in and out of phase with each other, while dark synth drones swell in and out of the mix to form slowly developed two or three note melodies. As with all of the Omit recordings, "Rejector" comes highly recommended!
RealAudio clip: "Full Relay"
RealAudio clip: "Divider"
RealAudio clip: "Rejector"

SOLE Selling Live Water (Anticon) cd 14.98
As much as I love almost everything on Anticon, the two MC's who can seem to do no wrong are Dose One and Sole. And on this, Sole's sophmore full length, he proves himself to be the one true Anticon visionary. Like all the Anticon records that came before, the production is out of left field, totally off kilter with unlikely loops and bizarre samples. But the production manages to stay totally head nodding and super funky. Unlike the hyper-production-centric Def Jux camp, here it's ALL about the flow. And the flow is mind boggling, a stacatto and relentless avalanche of tongue twisting, verbally dense extrapolations on white boy blues, hip hop haters, as well as ruminations on all sorts of more esoteric topics. All delivered in a manic whine-y white boy drawl. This is most definitely the future of hip hop, lyrically challenging, musically complex, totally original and weird as fuck. A contender for 2003 record of the year and it's still only January!!
RealAudio clip: "Da Baddest Poet"
RealAudio clip: "Shoot The Messenger"

SOLE Selling Live Water (Anticon) 2lp 14.98
As much as I love almost everything on Anticon, the two MC's who can seem to do no wrong are Dose One and Sole. And on this, Sole's sophmore full length, he proves himself to be the one true Anticon visionary. Like all the Anticon records that came before, the production is out of left field, totally off kilter with unlikely loops and bizarre samples. But the production manages to stay totally head nodding and super funky. Unlike the hyper-production-centric Def Jux camp, here it's ALL about the flow. And the flow is mind boggling, a stacatto and relentless avalanche of tongue twisting, verbally dense extrapolations on white boy blues, hip hop haters, as well as ruminations on all sorts of more esoteric topics. All delivered in a manic whine-y white boy drawl. This is most definitely the future of hip hop, lyrically challenging, musically complex, totally original and weird as fuck. A contender for 2003 record of the year and it's still only January!!

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AKRUDE Predetermined By Hindsight (Burning Shirt) cd 12.98
This is the debut cd by AQ pal Jeff Sampson and his partner Jeph Jerman (Hands To), who live 2000 miles apart and have been playing on and off together for 20 years! This is noise-y intense music concrete but filtered through a more modern noise/found sound/freejazz aesthetic. Two 30 minute pieces. The first starts out with struck bells, shimmering into nothingness, chiming and ringing, lots of overtones and lots and lots of space. Soon the whole thing implodes into an orgy of clatter and thumps and creaks and splattery percussion, wild freeform rhythms and non-rhythms, and all sorts of strange sounds. Whining strings that sound like the cries of a wild animal, moaning lower register drones, all manner of bowed, and strummed an plucked instruments, making sounds they weren't designed to make. Track one is half hippy psych clatter, half 20th century freak out. A weird combination but it works somehow. Track two uses the same elements but spreads the clatter out a bit, making for a more sort of haunted soundscape, done musique concrete style. Really cool.

RealAudio clip: "Suite Revision"

ANATOMI-71 / NEMO Anatomi-71 Vs Nemo (split) (Rage Of Achilles) cd 10.98
From our pal Duncan at Rage Of Achilles comes this thrashing, pummelling head banging death/splatter/grind/metal doubleheader. Two bands we'd never heard of, battling it out, both pretty awesome. The first 21 tracks, almost all clocking in at a minute or less, come courtesy of Anatomi-71. Crusty, sort of lo-fi, not-quite-hyperspeed grind. Two vocalists (or one doing double time) grunting growls and hellish screeching. All furious and fast and compliacted. Good stuff, but the final 12 tracks are where it's at! The band Nemo are responsible for these, and they are soooooo fast, and so insane sounding. They incorporate lightning speed drum machines, video game samples, and all sorts of bizarre bleeps and blips and buzzing into the mix, turning their metallic grind into some sort of grindmetal alien video game soundtrack. This stuff is so nuts it's kind of hard to even describe. If I was making a horror/alien invasion/splatter flick, the is the music I would want as the soundtrack. Think some fucked up mix of the Locust, Orthrelm, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Crom Tech, Man Is The Bastard, Space Invaders, Galaga, Missle Command, Joust and Rastan. Or the best death metal video game they never made for the Commodore 64! Fucking great!
RealAudio clip: "Fever Dreams"
RealAudio clip: "Robosong II"
RealAudio clip: "Du Ar Inte Ni Med Mig Gubbjavel"

BIG TECHNO WEREWOLVES/ HANS GRUSEL'S KRANKENKABIN split cd-r 7.98
It's a battle between order and chaos in this split release from Big Techno Werewolves, featuring Crack: We Are Rock's King Riff, and Caroliner offshoot Hans Grusel's Krankenkabin. Big Techno pits guitar pickin', pie-ana plinkin' and gutter blues against total tape loop annihilation, while in Hans Grusel's world, creepy organ requiems occasionally surface beneath electronic noise in a portrait of circuit-driven madness deep in the black forest. Cd-r packed in a big velvety black dvd case.
RealAudio clip: BIG TECHNO WEREWOLVES "Star Mystic"
RealAudio clip: HANS GRUSEL'S KRANKENKABIN "Kranker Tans Suite"

BOB LOG III Log Bomb (Epitaph) cd 14.98
Nothing new here. More lo-fi, blues explosion style, good ol' boys singing into a vacuum cleaner, shouting and whooping it up, foot stomping, 80-year-old-delta-bluesman-trapped-in-a-30-year-old-white-man's-body, swampy, dirty, barroom brawling, pig fucking, wild rhythm and blues form one half of the long gone Doo Rag, the band that started it all. The best part (and we're assuming he's poking a little fun at some other overly-self-referencing white blooz groop) is, after continuously shouting out his name, and the label's name, when he announces the fact that he's a one man band, and then announces the band members one at a time: "Mr right foot on the ol' bass drum......"
RealAudio clip: "One Man Band Boom"

CALLA Televise (Arena Rock) cd 12.98
Calla is a band that is pleading for redemption, but they don't entirely want to give up their tough guy / combatively masculine take on existentialism. Witnessed with singer Aurelio Valle's gruff delivery and his bleak lyricism, this formula of the rock singer holding onto the mythological trappings of being a rebellious bad-ass while seeking favor with the Lord is, of course, a very powerful and seductive image that parallels the individualistic ideals of the self-made American. Valle doesn't really offer any insights into these ideals; if anything, he runs the risk of falling into the self-pitying cliches of those ideals. However, the music, not the lyrics, is where Calla finds their true calling. Each of their songs on "Televise" brilliantly employ simple rhythm section progressions that recall a darker version of Calexico's gunslingin' swagger. On top of this, Calla's understatedly hypnotic arrangements, driven by high-lonesome guitar melodies and crescendos, appear as skeletal eviscerations of the epic riffs previously mined by Mogwai, Tarentel, and Godspeed! You Black Emperor.
Calla's compositional attempts at theatricality through rock minimalism sometimes seem a little forced, and the nihilistic depth-charges may be a tad too predictable in their ghosty references/resemblances to 16 Horsepower, Nick Cave, Mark Lanegan, Steve Von Till's solo albums, and of course Johnny Cash, but Calla is one step away from being a really great band; and when they realize that Valle should hold his tongue once in a while and let the music do the talking, they will arrive at greatness. But in the meantime, "Televise" makes for a very good, albeit slightly flawed album.
RealAudio clip: "Monument"
RealAudio clip: "Don't Hold Your Breath"

CASCONE, KIM / AUDREY KIRITCHENKO / ANDREAS BERTHLING / KOTRA Fourfold Symmetry (Nexsound) cd 11.98
This album features 14 tracks with various combinations of Andreas Berthing, Kim Cascone, Audrey Kiritchenko, and Kotra remixing each other's source material through digital means. Whatever the source material might have been is irrelavent, as the the end results on "Fourfold Symmetry" are a polite demonstration of the parameters of abstraction of the digital glitch, with a dedicated metholodogy that favors anonymity and anti-emotionality. For all of the rhetoric about the chance operations and coaxing of errors between the man / machine interface, this album is exactly what you'd expect: bristling collages of granular synthesis and digital feedback from Max / MSP patches toppling computerized droning fluctuations of sound.
A word of warning about the packaging for the album: Nexsound has given themselves an interesting folio envelope held together by tabs extending from one of the sides of the folio. This design works alright on something flexible like paper (which works just fine for the Moglass album) but this album uses a rigid plastic instead of paper that will tear after repeated usages.
RealAudio clip: "01 - Composed by Cascone, Sources by Kiritchenko"
RealAudio clip: "12 - Composed by Bethling, Sources by Kotra"

CHOMSKY, NOAM The New War On Terrorism (AK Press) cd 13.98
This is a recording of the speech Noam Chomsky gave at MIT one month after September 11th, dealing with the way that US foreign policy has contributed to terrorism in places like Turkey, the Middle East and Latin America. Chomsky clearly points out the absurdities of the American military action against Afghanistan as part of the "War on Terror," which has now morphed into an impending war on Iraq. While the situation in Afghanistan has dropped from the headlines (and even back pages for that matter), and this speech assumes some basic knowledge of US-led atrocities abroad and therefore takes on a bit of a preaching-to-the-choir tone, Chomsky provides some very interesting information on foreign policy matters (including many examples of the USA's total disregard for international law, even more examples of which, unfortunately, just may be cropping up in the near future). What's funny is that many of his examples are quoted from sources like the Wall Street Journal and Christian Science Monitor -- far from being an extreme voice, Chomsky simply reaches incredibly common-sense conclusions from readily available information, albeit information the power elite in our country happily ignore, comfortable in the knowledge that the American people will do the same. Scary stuff.

CIRCLE Prospekt (Static Caravan) 2lp 17.98
One of the more recent Circle records finally released on vinyl by our pals at Static Caravan. Good thing too since the cd is out of print. Double lp, colored vinyl in a nice gatefold sleeve with some of the most tripped out artwork we've seen in a while, different from the cd version. Here's what we had to say about the cd when it first came out.
Is there such a thing as Circle overload? We don't think so. In their case, you can't have too much of a good thing. A brand new disc of their hypnotic avant-rock compositions. Newer than their recent "Andexelt" album, and just as good. Not as sparse and dubby as that disc, "Prospekt" is rather heavier and denser, mesmerizingly repetitive as always, and kinda startling, with some incredible vocal acrobatics / operatics in the opening track "Dedofiktion". Really great!
RealAudio clip: "Stimulance"

COH Seasons (Idea) 2lp 26.00
Of all the glitch guys, as I like to call them -- Noto, Komet, Byetone, and the entire Raster-Noton raster -- Coh's Ivan Pavlov, has always been the one to take the glitch into uncharted territory. See Coh's bizarre 'Love Uncut' record from a while back and his bizarre 'metal tribute' record 'Iron' which was decidedly non-metallic. So while this latest record is not necessarily a surprise, it is surprisingly beautiful and once again shows Coh to be truly original. The glitch takes a back seat on these 4 seasonal recordings. Instead the computer is used Oval-style, to take organic sounds and transform them. 'The Colour Of Beauty, Summer Is Red' is by far the most beautiful track Pavlov has ever recorded, with creaking swells of violin, warm and thick, with a definite 20th century classical vibe, lots of space and dynamics. Dreamy but also ominous. Quite reminiscent of Oval's 'Diskont', but chopped up and spread out into a glacial rhythm of throbs and pulses, dramatic swells and vaccuum like silences. So nice. 'Winter Brooding Underneath' is another winner, a massive drone sculpted from slowly bowed cello, huge, rumbling, slowly-shifting low end, with the timbre of the cello stretched as far as (in)humanly possible into an oscillating sea of lower register vibrations. Breathtaking. 'As Ripe As Autumn's Tears' is a totally spare pleak-scape of single reverb drenched piano notes ringing out into space, bookended by field recordings of rain. Skeletal and lovely. Finally, 'Springs Come Shooting: Make Love, Make War', is a Pavlov guitar solo, clattery and scratchy and noodly, but chopped and recontextualized into some decidedly non-guitar-like sounds. This track is as close as this record gets to actual 'electronica' or 'techno', with a steady, gradually mutating, electronic rhythm sounding a bit like a super lo-fi Kraftwerk.
Comes on MASSIVE 180 gram vinyl in a gorgeous, super thick gatefold sleeve, with a painting for each track.
RealAudio clip: "The Colour Of Beauty, Summer Is Red"
RealAudio clip: "Winter Brooding Underneath"

CURRENT 93 Dawn (World Serpent) cd 17.98
The exact history behind this record is vague as no one from the recording sessions can remember when it was recorded more specifically than sometime between 1985 and 1986, placing "Dawn" nebulously as the fourth, fifth, or sixth album from Current 93. Yet, one thing remains very clear about this album, "Dawn" was the final Current 93 document that featured David Tibet's blood curdling sermons of nightmarish imagery, fronting the C93's gnarled collages of noise, tape loops, and studio effects. After this album, Current 93 pursued and refined the style that they are known for now: "menstrual minstrals and apocalyptic folk songs," where the history of UK folk was infused with pantheistic mythologies, that expanded beyond the apocalyptic prophecies of Current 93's early work. David Tibet has previously scoffed at "Dawn" because of the relative ease at which he, Steven Stapleton, and company produced this record, through the use of looping collages. While such a dismissal indicates Tibet's belief that Current 93 would be best as a UK folk vehicle, it doesn't acknowledge how powerful Current 93 had become in using this medium to convey Tibet's drug addled visions of the apocalypse. Almost all of the images of "Dawn" are recontextualizations of Catholic imagery or inverted bastardizations of Catholicism. Snippets of liturgical chants, medieval vocal chorales, and rounds of carillon bells phase in and out of loops from Aleister Crowley incantations, funeral dirges, and the ubiquitous voice of Tibet, whose snarling voice has been processed into wraith like slashes of malevolent noise. The opening track "Great Black Time" -- which appears in two slightly different versions on this CD reissue -- also features the odd intrusion of The Beach Boys' "California Dreaming" amidst crashing waves of church bells.
The recently reissued "Dawn" is certainly not as stong as Current 93's early masterpieces "Dogs Blood Rising" and "Nature Unveiled," yet it remains an solid document of post-industrial / nightmare culture from the early to mid '80s.
RealAudio clip: "Great Black Time (version 1)"
RealAudio clip: "Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus"

DIE TODLICHE DORIS Live Playbacks (Reinhard Wilhelmi) lp 17.98
The German avant-noise / art band from the '80s, Die Todliche Doris, made a commitment that they would only play each of their songs but once EVER during live performances. However, during their numerous gigs in art galleries, punk squats, and concert halls, the band would quickly run out of material or risk compromising their earlier declaration. So instead, Die Todlich Doris would play back previous live performances and lip-sync to the backing tape, all the while recording the live show of them lip-syncing to a backing tape! In doing so, Doris captured the general atmosphere of the space, the lo-fi grit of tape technologies, and layers of crowd noise. Conceptually, "Live Playbacks" is very similar to Alvin Lucier's "I Am Sitting In A Room" in which Lucier re-recorded himself uttering a text 32 times in order to manifest the resonnant frequency of a specific room; however, Doris' version becomes a thick swamp of noise rather than a pristine phenomenological investigation. Only a couple (literally, two!) of these are in stock, and restocks are unlikely, so act fast.

EX, THE Beautiful Frenzy video 25.00
We've got just a *single copy* of this hard-to-find video documenting The Ex, stalwarts of the underground avant rock scene since they began in 1979 -- that's over 20 years ago! Contains lots of footage documenting their famously intense live shows, conversations with all of the band members, rehearsals, much insight into their view of punk as DIY way of living, which they apply in activities such as self-releasing records, etc. A nice glimpse into the world of a band that has inspired cultish devotion amongst many (including some here at AQ) not to mention Tortoise, Sonic Youth, Dutch avant jazz pioneer Han Bennink, Tom Cora, etc. 52 minutes. Color. Made by Swedish filmmakers, subtitled. First come...

F/I The Past Darkly / The Future Lightly: Rare & Unreleased 1983-1989 (Lexicon Devil) 2cd 17.98
The Australian label Lexicon Devil has certainly picked an unusual scene to ressurrect from the mires of terminal obscurity, as they've been reissuing a handful of records from the mid-'80s psych-electronic-noise rock scene of Milwaukee. It's probably a stretch to qualify this as a 'scene,' since the bands in question had only a handful of rotating members in a couple of guises, specifically F/i, Boy Dirt Car, and Vocokesh. F/i began as a trio with Richard Franecki, Greg Kurczewski, and Brian Wensing, although Franecki parted ways in 1990 to form Vocokesh and record solo albums, leaving Wensing in charge of F/i, which theoretically is still operational. Despite its subtitle as being rare and unreleased, "The Past Darkly / The Future Lightly" was originally issued as a 3LP set on RRRecords with a tiny pressing of 300 copies in 1989, and makes for a pretty good overview of F/i's diverse history that runs from gritty electronic passages to dusted psych rock explosions. The earlier electronic pieces are clearly the best work in F/i's catalogue coming across as droning fields of sound not unlike Conrad Schnitzler or MB. The move to distorted and wah-wah heavy hypno-space-rock never quite rises above bearing a passing resemblance to Hawkwind, Blue Cheer, or the early Skullflower rock explosions. Pretty great stuff though.
RealAudio clip: "Dormant"
RealAudio clip: "Standing In The Garden"

FELDMAN, MORTON String Quartet No. 2 (Mode) 5cd 30.00
In 1893 composer/prankster Erik Satie wrote a short piece for piano called "Vexations". Though the score fits easily on one page and is simple enough for even the the most novice of pianists (once they get over the note "spelling" jokes peppered within) to perform, the piece was never played in its entirety -- as the composer indicated -- until 1963. This was due to the performance instructions provided by Satie that the piece be repeated a mere 840 times, a command that would extend the length of the piece to well over an entire day -- give or take a few hours depending on one's tempo. Seventy years later John Cage and several friends, working in shifts, managed to complete it in a brief 17 hours. While Satie's intentions may have been of a humorously philosophical nature, the following century would see a veritable pissing match of composers writing longer and longer symphonies for bigger and bigger orchestras. While Morton Feldman would most certainly never be confused with the likes of grandpa Mahler, he had an ever exceding tendency for maximilizing the minimalism of his later works. We saw not long ago here at Aquarius the release of his 4 hour marathon "For Philip Guston". In a country where, with every passing year, A.D.D. is less a rare condition than the norm, Feldman's large scale works such as this exist as an anomaly. Webern's brief atonal morsels of the early 20th century seem more fitting to our current temperment. Feldman's later compositions are not only unrealistic for concert performance -- world premiers aside, they won't be entering the short list of the performance canon any time soon. At times the raison d'etre of these pieces seems to be more of an ascetic exercise for aspiring young performers. This performance of String Quartet No. 2, clocking in at a little over 6 hours, is a true test of a musician's endurance. A whole new set of preparations are to be taken into consideration, not the least of which is how to deal with nature's eventual call. And you can bet that prestigious, well paid string quartets like Arditti are not likely to be found cooped up in a studio for something like this. No, this is for young bucks paying their dues. While prestigious in their own rite, having played around the globe at numerous festivals to acclaim, the photo on the inside of this package of the Flux Quartet shows four young -- most certainly recently graduated from fine conservatories -- musicians with smiles on their faces (presumably this was before their non-stop performance of the piece). And while the continuing dedication of performers willing to endure such suffering is certainly a testament to the importance of Morton Feldman as one of the great composers of the late 20th century, it has still taken technology a little more time to catch up. While a single compact disc is good enough to hold the entirety of Beethoven's 9th symphony, it falls way short of handling the behemoths penned by Mr. Feldman. "For Philip Guston" which needs to be chopped up and spread out over 4 CDs would have necessitated 10 LPs back in 1984 and "String Quartet No. 2" exceeds Guston by two hours. Enter the DVD. With its ridiculous storage capacity, a single DVD can retain even the longest of compositions. You can put on "String Quartet No. 2" as you sit down for lunch and be finished as you sit down for dinner. For those of you *still* without a DVD player in this day and age, all is not lost. This edition also comes in the traditional CD form and it takes up a mere 5 discs. Don't worry, Feldman wouldn't begrudge you to listen to this piecemeal. His expectations of the listener are much less than that of the performer (and you can read all you want into his opinions on both) and he would probably encourage you to approach it in much the same way as one would approach a painting in a museum. Or maybe, as Satie might have wished, an elegant piece of furniture.
RealAudio clip: "String Quartet No. 2 [excerpt 1]"
RealAudio clip: "String Quartet No. 2 [excerpt 2]"

FELDMAN, MORTON String Quartet No. 2 (Mode) dvd 38.00
In 1893 composer/prankster Erik Satie wrote a short piece for piano called "Vexations". Though the score fits easily on one page and is simple enough for even the the most novice of pianists (once they get over the note "spelling" jokes peppered within) to perform, the piece was never played in its entirety -- as the composer indicated -- until 1963. This was due to the performance instructions provided by Satie that the piece be repeated a mere 840 times, a command that would extend the length of the piece to well over an entire day -- give or take a few hours depending on one's tempo. Seventy years later John Cage and several friends, working in shifts, managed to complete it in a brief 17 hours. While Satie's intentions may have been of a humorously philosophical nature, the following century would see a veritable pissing match of composers writing longer and longer symphonies for bigger and bigger orchestras. While Morton Feldman would most certainly never be confused with the likes of grandpa Mahler, he had an ever exceding tendency for maximilizing the minimalism of his later works. We saw not long ago here at Aquarius the release of his 4 hour marathon "For Philip Guston". In a country where, with every passing year, A.D.D. is less a condition than the norm, Feldman's large scale works such as this exist as an anomaly. Webern's brief atonal morsels of the early 20th century seem more fitting to our current temperment. Feldman's later compositions are not only unrealistic for concert performance -- world premiers aside, they won't be entering the short list of the performance canon any time soon. At times the raison d'etre of these pieces seems to be more of an ascetic exercise for aspiring young performers. This performance of String Quartet No. 2, clocking in at a little over 6 hours, is a true test of a musician's endurance. A whole new set of preparations are to be taken into consideration, not the least of which is how to deal with nature's eventual call. And you can bet that prestigious, well paid string quartets like Arditti are not likely to be found cooped up in a studio for something like this. No, this is for young bucks paying their dues. While prestigious in their own rite, having played around the globe at numerous festivals to acclaim, the photo on the inside of this package of the Flux Quartet shows four young -- most certainly recently graduated from fine conservatories -- musicians with smiles on their faces (presumably this was before their non-stop performance of the piece). And while the continuing dedication of performers willing to endure such suffering is certainly a testament to the importance of Morton Feldman as one of the great composers of the late 20th century, it has still taken technology a little more time to catch up. While a single compact disc is good enough to hold the entirety of Beethoven's 9th symphony, it falls way short of handling the behemoths penned by Mr. Feldman. "For Philip Guston" which needs to be chopped up and spread out over 4 CDs would have necessitated 10 LPs back in 1984 and "String Quartet No. 2" exceeds Guston by two hours. Enter the DVD. With its ridiculous storage capacity, a single DVD can retain even the longest of compositions. You can put on "String Quartet No. 2" as you sit down for lunch and be finished as you sit down for dinner. For those of you *still* without a DVD player in this day and age, all is not lost. This edition also comes in the traditional CD form and it takes up a mere 5 discs. Don't worry, Feldman wouldn't begrudge you to listen to this piecemeal. His expectations of the listener are much less than that of the performer (and you can read all you want into his opinions on both) and he would probably encourage you to approach it in much the same way as one would approach a painting in a museum. Or maybe, as Satie might have wished, an elegant piece of furniture.
RealAudio clip: "String Quartet No. 2 [excerpt 1]"
RealAudio clip: "String Quartet No. 2 [excerpt 2]"

FONODA Blinker : Farben (Keplar) cd 14.98
Fonoda is a German post-rock quartet that leans heavily on the blissed-out precendents of that genre, with plenty of nods to Seam, Low, Mogwai, Slint, and other proponents of cinematic, melancholic intrumentals. Quite pleasant.
RealAudio clip: "Analogie In Zm"

FONTAINE, BRIGITTE WITH ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO Comme Ì la Radio (Saravah) cd 16.98
I somehow missed out on the first round of this reissue a little bit ago, but luckily for all of us, it's popped up again! This is an amazing collaboration between two totally incredible musical explorers, french chanteuse Brigitte Fontaine (with percussionist partner Areski) and avant-jazz greats Art Ensemble of Chicago, recorded during the Art Ensemble's stay in Paris in 1969. Though coming from very different backgrounds, each artist's idiosyncratic approach, commitment to experimentation, disregard for genre boundaries, and keen sense for improvisation and working collaboratively yields an album that pushes each performer to new heights. The blend of Fontaine's vocals, Areski's understated percussion, and the Art Ensemble's horns is really seamless, evoking the mysterious, intriguing sounds of lounge jazz in a dada cafe, or, well, an intellectual french chanteuse melding avant-folk with free jazz, which is exactly what it is. Brigitte Fontaine is becoming more and more cemented as one of my absolute favorite artists ever whith each reissue I get my hands on. So great, so recommended!
RealAudio clip: "Comme Ù La Radio"

FUTURE BIBLE HEROES Lonely Robot (Instinct) cd ep 11.98
Attention Stephin Merritt fans! Not to be confused with another similarly titled EP from FBH, this one is called "Lonely Robot" and is a brand new remix collection (fyi: the other is "Lonely Days" and was originally released in 1997). This 7-song EP features two new songs and five remixes of songs from their Eternal Youth album. Tackling the remix duties are FBH's own Christoper Ewen, Sunroof (not Matthew Bower's Sunrrof!, doing a fine minimal pulse rendition), Client, Soft Cell's Dave Ball (sooo dancefloor!) and Rob Rives (even more so!). Have to say, Ewen's reworking of "I'm A Vampire" into an extended mix actually fares much better than the original version. Maybe it's because the sorta clunky lyrics of the verses are a bit more obscured by the electronic dance melodies, and the ultra catchiness of the chorus is brought more to the front? Not really an essential FBH / Merritt release, but it does provide for a solid 39 minutes worth of mostly boogie fun with Claudia Gonson's lovely, droll vocals drifting in and out to sweeten the party atmosphere.
RealAudio clip: "The DJ From Outer Space"
RealAudio clip: "Losing Your Affection (Sunroof mix)"

GURU GURU Essen 1970 (Garden Of Delights) cd 16.98
Here's an excellent live soundboard recording from this classic Krautrock power trio, performing at their early, uber-heavy peak. It's all drugged-out, mostly-instrumental cosmic stoner guitar jams, of course. You get versions of "Stone In" and "Der LSD-Marsch" from their spacey first album UFO, and "Bo Diddley" from their anarchic second album Hinten (which hadn't yet been released with this concert took place). Fans won't be disappointed -- it all sounds pretty great considering that these tapes were never originally meant for release, and the Garden Of Delights packaging job is superior as always, with a thick booklet of notes and photos.
Guru Guru have always been one of our favorite '70s German groups, definitely among the heaviest and freakiest in their early days, as documented here. Former free jazzers Mani Neumeier (drums, lots of drums) and Uli Trepte (bass), together with ex-Agitation Free axeman Ax Genrich, went on some heavy psychedelic improv trips yet to be exceeded. Perhaps Caspar Brotzmann heard these guys whilst but a toddler, years before he began his Massaker trio?
RealAudio clip: "Stone In"

HAFLER TRIO La Chanson Dada (These) 10" 13.98
The Hafler Trio has built a career out of confusion, controversy, and a willful complexity of mixed metaphors. Andrew McKenzie -- currently the sole provocateur behind The Hafler Trio -- admits as much in describing his work with the following allusion: "Think of the conjuror distracting the audience with the right hand while reaching behind for the rabbit behind his back." Thus, the historical validity of The Hafler Trio's recording of Tristan Tzara's self-evidently titled "La Chanson Dada" should be suspect. McKenzie fashioned the musical accompaniment to the French text from a score by Georges Auric, a composer who was connected to the Surrealists and Dadaists in his work scoring Jean Cocteau films; however, Cocteau was a source of ridicule for Tzara. Of course, this doesn't necessarily polarize Auric from Tzara; but initial investigations offered little evidence of working relationships between the two. Such a historical puzzle is perfectly in keeping with The Hafler Trio's back catalogue.
In the realm of aesthetic sensibilities, however, "La Chanson Dada" is highly atypical for the Hafler Trio, as McKenzie has crafted this piece with a great deal of reverence for Auric's compositional style of repetitive elements, into a simple, swaying waltz for strings, harp, harmonium, and voice.
Curious to say the least.

HAIRE, DOUG Nineteen American Waysides (Anomalous) cd 12.98
"Nineteen American Waysides" features 19 recordings from highway rest-areas made all across the US, including insect choruses, garbage truck hydraulics, twittering birds, gentle rain storms, and lots of rushing din from the nearby freeways. Occasionally, Haire played back processed versions of the "Victrola Favorites" cassettes curated from the Climax Golden Twins' collection of Victrola 78s. These murky waltzes, operatic arias, and spoken word snippets -- all swimming in the lo-fi grime of antique 78s -- are wonderful and wistful sounds, that contrast nicely with the clarity of the rest of Haire's recordings. A curious but meditative piece of recording that is well worth checking out.
Having worked as a studio engineer and producer in Seattle for the past 15 years for a broad array of musicians such as Joe McPhee, Jeff Grienke, Carl Stone, Kill Switch...Klick, and Eyvind Kang, Doug Haire is a man obsessed with the nature of sound. While professionally he deals with relatively traditional realms of composition, his obession lies in field recordings, as he explores "the ways in which we recognize, differentiate, map and navigate our sonic environment," to quote the manifesto of the Seattle organization Phonographers' Union, which Haire belongs to. Not as much a purist as Douglas Quinn or Chris Watson, but far less process oriented than Eric La Casa, Haire has built a series of pristinely recorded and produced collages which elegantly crossfade between environmental focal points.
Super limited so don't dawdle.
RealAudio clip: "Tarkio, MT 3:30 am / Sumatra, MT 2pm"
RealAudio clip: "Elk River, MN 9am"

HINDS BROTHERS Dubmixer: Mixed By John Hinds (Omni Sonic) cd 7.98
The Brothers Hinds return with another eclectic release. Don't let the title fool ya, this is a far cry from a typical dub mix collection. It's a super trippy meltdown of jazz, drum'n'bass, and yes, some dub too. As always, well executed and with a few unexpected twists thrown into the mix.

HURDY GURDY s/t (Akarma) cd 16.98
This trio of Danish freaks delved into the psychedelic, progressive styles of the day (1971) to produce this underground hard rock artifact, now reissued via Akarma in one of their trademark gatefold cd sleeves, like a minature version of the original vinyl packaging. Hurdy Gurdy were a "heavy" band, in the '60s sense -- there's more Hendrix than Black Sabbath here. Their repertoire is quite varied/inconsistent, from catchy vocal numbers to convoluted hard rockin' instrumentals. One track is a great, folky sitar-driven rock raga a la the Incredible String Band, but others are Cream-y electric blues numbers. All boast suitably far-out lyrix. File with Captain Beyond, Toad, High Tide, and similar hard rock obscurities of the era.
RealAudio clip: "The Giant"
RealAudio clip: "Peaceful Open Space"

IMPROVISED MUSIC FROM JAPAN 2002-2003 (Improvised Music From Japan) magazine + cd 16.98
The entity that released the phenomenal and weighty 10-cd wooden box set known as "Improvised Music From Japan" (box, label, website) is now also a magazine. Printed in both English and Japanese, this squarebound, digest-sized debut issue runs to about 132 pages (with the Japanese text occupying the second half, or first if you read it back-to-front Japanese style). And, it comes with a cd compilation bound inside the front (or back) cover. Reviews, interviews and essays by and about the likes of Otomo Yoshihide, Seiichi Yamamoto, Ami Yoshida, Uchihashi Kzuhisa, Phew, Aki Onda, Taku Sugimoto, Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura, Utah Kawasaki, and many others make for fasinating reading if you're the sort of avant-garde music fan at all curious about the underground Japanese improvising scene. There's a review of, and translated excerpts from, a book called "The History Of Japanese Free Jazz" which us English-only types will find to be extremely tantalizing. Perhaps a full English translation of the book could be future project for the industrious Improvised Music From Japan folks? Info about such artists as Masayuki Takanyangi, the Taj Mahal Travellers, and Kaoru Abe is certainly hard to come by in the West, so it would be nice...
Meanwhile, on the compact disc, there's works by Toshimaru Nakamura, Haco, Yoshio Machida, Masahiko Okura and others. Creaking door ambience, silence, acoustic guitars, shortwave static crackle, field recordings, laptop computers, trombone drone... it's a really nice disc, proof of why this scene deserves such a journal.
RealAudio clip: HACO / VIEW MASTERS "Start Up + No Wave"
RealAudio clip: YOSHIO MACHIDA "MALHAR"

(INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY Bigger Cages, Longer Chains (Epitaph) cd 9.98
Taking the catchy rock n' roll energy of bands like the Hives or Rocket From the Crypt and propelling it into political territory, this Swedish fivesome provides the dance soundtrack to a revolution. Sexy, soulful horn-tinged garage-punk with lyrics dedicated to fightin' capitalism, giving a voice to immigrants, and other radical topics-- free your ass, and perhaps your mind will follow the young Swedes' lead to the weighty philosphies of Guy Debord, Luis Althusser and others, as listed in the liner notes following each song. Does the lack of a revolutionary quality to the relatively straight-ahead music undermine their message, or is this an aural example of the tactics, such as the use of comics and cinema, that the Situationists used in order to better spread their message to the masses? I'm not sure, but I still think the album's pretty hot.
RealAudio clip: "Bigger Cages, Longer Chains"
RealAudio clip: "Beautiful So Alone"

INTO THE SUNLESS MERIDIAN s/t (Near Dark Productions) cd 16.98
Been meaning to list this for a while now. Wild, thrashy black metal complete with pounding rhythms, growled black metal shrieks, shredding leads, weird acoustic break downs and ghostly clean vocals. This one man band was originally given the name Mikael and on this disc he is soley responsible for: "burning ax onslaught, nuclear thunder, holocaust cannons, mesmerising atomospheres, and all tortured screams of sorrow and hatred." Nice. Very reminiscent of Mercyful Fate (partly because of the slightly silly falsetto parts), Celtic Frost, Destruction and the like, but with some definite Norwegian black metal bits. But there is plenty of that one man band weirdness that seems to come with that following of that elusive metal muse: off kilter melodic breakdowns, bizarre choruses (kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself), the aforementioned falsetto, bizarre song titles: "Meditations In A Cold And Dimly Lit Room", "Tantric Lunar Slumber", "Grim Vendetta", "Headbanging Maniac" and one of the best thanks lists ever:
"Hail to the metal gods: Mercyful Fate, Voivod, Destruction, Iron Angel, Living Death, Necrovore, Possessed, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Necropolis, Piledriver, Exorcist, Malhavoc, Hobbs' Angel Of Death, Slayer, Necrophagia, Metal Church, Nasty Savage, Running Wild, Vectom, Goatlord, Nigro Mantia, Acid, Sepultura, Venom, Razor, Omen, Desexult, Desecration, Onslaught, Massacre, Kreator, Fates Warning, Death, Destructor, Dark Abbey, At War, Carnivore, Destroyers, Carrion, Judas Priest, Flames, Pokolgep, Sacrifice, Violent Force, Oz, Savatage, Iron Maiden, Attila, Sodom, and so many others ingrained in my psyche!!! I spit on those who choose to pose, and thrash with all the rest!" He even thanks Jesus Christ. Really amazing and amazingly strange.
RealAudio clip: "The Birth Of Psychic Energies"
RealAudio clip: "Headbanging Maniac"

JANDEK Somebody In The Snow (Corwood Industries) cd 8.98
"Somebody In The Snow" was the 19th album for Jandek who recorded this in 1990, and doesn't deviate from the path set by its predecessor "The Living End" in polishing his avant-folk/blues songs into a small subset of relatively tasteful recordings. Yet, this album is not without its eccentricities and creepy mysteries. While there are a couple of acoustic guitar numbers, Jandek mostly plays electric guitar with a signature laziness, allowing all of the twinkling notes to swim in the spring reverb from his amp. The woman previous referrenced as "Nancy" makes another round of appearances, occasionally singing duets with Jandek including the stunning a capella track of sustained vocalizations "Om."
Yet more interestingly is the arrangement of "Come Through With A Smile" which is also sung by "Nancy" and is eerily similar to "Your Other Man" from "The Blue Corpse." That earlier song, perhaps my favorite individual Jandek song, is a psychologically bleak portrait of a jilted lover resigning himself to post-breakup isolation. The arrangement for "Your Other Man" is about as straight-forward as Jandek ever gets, with an anxiously strummed repetition through a declining chord progression. If it is true that "Nancy" was his former girlfriend and "The Blue Corpse" was an autobiographical tale about their breakup, then the similarities in the arrangement of the two songs is particularly unnerving as it implies a brooding animosity towards "Nancy" that was once sublimated within Jandek's hermetic shell yet now has surfaced with a sly wit referencing one of his previous albums. Yet this curious piece of history in the Jandekian mythos doesn't overwhelm any of the music, which remains cool, distant, and restrained.
"Somebody In The Snow" would be a great place to start for those discovering Jandek for the first time; but at the same time, this album is certainly a highlight from one of the most unique artists from the past three decades.
RealAudio clip: "Om"
RealAudio clip: "Come Through With A Smile"

JANDEK The Living End (Corwood Industries) cd 8.98
For a couple of years at the end of the '80s through the beginning of the '90s, the mysterious Texan avant-folk artist Jandek produced his most polished and refined recordings. Yet at the same time, these recordings could never be described as anything but Jandekian. The songs are still led by angular mutations of blues chord progressions that constantly meander out of tune and occasionally return to archetypal melodies; however, the production quality is distinctly balanced. The guitars -- which alternate between electric and acoustic -- sit comfortably within the stereofield, never striving for the nails-on-the-chalkboard abrasion as heard on previous Jandek albums (e.g. the damaged blues of "The Modern Dance" or the celebratory weirdness of "Telegraph Melts"). The drums while typically arrhythmic and clunky also politely stand behind the other instrumentation. Thus, "The Living End" -- the 18th album by Jandek, recorded in 1989 -- is a comparitively 'well-adjusted' and less manic-depressive. Allan even made the passing remark that Jandek sounds almost soulful here. In keeping with previous spectulation about the small company who make themselves known within Jandek's world, the woman who had previously been called "Nancy" and may have been his girlfriend makes an appearance on this album singing on a couple of tracks. Might they have gotten back together?
RealAudio clip: "The Living End"
RealAudio clip: "Janitor's Dead"

JOHANSON, CHRIS You Are There book 11.98
What fits within a 4.25" x 7" x .25" space perfectly? SF artist Chris Johanson's glossy pink covered paperback book. It's positively bursting at the seams with his creations - many from his gallery installations. Pages of drawings and text printed on pink blue and yellow paper are interspersed with oddly sized foldouts and full color photos. His rough often blurrily inked depictions and commentary on local street life reveal a sea of often disembodied faces - homeless, business men, clowns - and a clutter of speech bubbles. Recent exhibits all over the place. Here's your chance to see what the hubub is all about.

KIRK, RAHSAAN ROLAND The Man Who Cried Fire (Hyena) cd 12.98
Yet another in the long overdue series of reissues from the legendary and under appreciated Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Not only an amazing player, but also as bit a character and as completely nuts as Mingus, Sun Ra or any other jazz greats you can think of. Best Kirk anecdote ever:
"In the late 60s we were in the studio getting ready to mix one of his albums, He wouldn't let me start working with the tapes until I could 'do it like me'. I didn't know what he meant. He told me to sit down and close my eyes. He got behind the chair and started to wrap my head, mummy style, with masking tape, from the neck up. Enough room was left for me to breathe. When Rahsaan was convinced that I couldn't see, he held a gun to my head and said 'I just want you to know how I feel all the time'."
The liner notes have more amazing stories from Joel Dorn long time producer / pal to Kirk as well as tons of cool Kirk quotes. Not sure if this was ever an actual release, seems more like a collection of random tidbits, but it has everything: Kirk on clarinet (rarely recorded), saxophone, manzello, stritch, Kirk talking/joking with the audience (even does a dead on Miles Davis impersonation), slow smoldering blues, wild live shows with Kirk on clarinet and tenor (also a rarity), playing two and three horns at once...it's all great. Really fun to hear how wild and excited the crowd gets, whooping and hollering. Like being at a revival meeting! If you're new to Kirk, this is as good a place as any to start. And most of it's unreleased so even if you got it all, you need this. RRK is GOD!
RealAudio clip: "Bye Bye Blackbird"
RealAudio clip: "Multi-horn Variation"

KOTCHE, GLENN Introducing (Locust Music) cd 14.98
Stepping out from his day job in Wilco, Kotche really stretches out on these four pieces, all performed on acoustic and electronic percussion with occasional cello. This actually sounds a lot like something we would expect from Celebrate Psi Phenomenon (the awesome NZ drone label) or Last Visible Dog (esoteric RI cd-r label). From clicking clattering insect percussion over melancholy drones, wispy and ephemeral, to throbbing noisescapes augmented by chimes and bells, to faux gamelan glitchscapes to dreamy burbly ambience. Maybe Jim O'Rourke got a little too much of the credit for Wilco's new found penchant for experimental sounds...
RealAudio clip: "Cheju"
RealAudio clip: "Wading Pool"

LAIKA Lost In Space (Pure) 2cd 16.98
A ten year anniversary double cd retrospective from the fabulous Laika! Even a decade after their debut, some amount of confusion still seems to linger as to the band's identity. Therefore, once again we'd like to state the following: Named after the Soviet space travellin' canine (the album cover is an awesome photo of the lil' doggie's bubble helmet!), this Laika is not to be confused with the other musical group of the same name (y'know, the one with The Cosmonauts) who are a surf combo. That said, this trippy groovy London quartet, lead by Ms Margaret Fiedler (formerly of Moonshake) and Guy Fixsen, have released three fine albums - 1994's Silver Apples Of The Moon (no relation to the band nor the Morton Subotnick album of the same name), 1997's Sounds Of The Satellites, and Good Lookin' Blues from 2000. A fourth full length is currently in the works. They're a melding of all the good stuff: complex and sexy electronics, hypnotic dubby bass, scintillating jazzy percussion, and Fiedler's seductive vocals. Meticulously piecing and layering it all together to set moods that crackle, smoulder and undulate.
The first cd is a compilation of highlights from their three previous albums, and the second features remixes, Peel sessions, live recordings and a *new* previously unreleased track! Will surely delight Laika fans until their next album finally surfaces, and win them some new admirers as well. Captivating!
RealAudio clip: "Beestinger"
RealAudio clip: "Sugar Daddy"

LES RALLIZES DENUDES (double vinyl bootleg #2) (Fucked Up And Naked) 2lp 26.00
Les Raillize Denudes (alternatively, "Hadaka No Rallizes") are the legendary and obscure '70s Japanese psych-rock combo that exterted a huge influence on the Keiji Haino/Fushitsusha/High Rise crowd. They're so obscure that it's just about impossible to find recordings of any of their music. Rare cd-r releases trade for big $$$, and the "Live '77" double vinyl bootleg that surfaced last year is now long gone. But, here's another volume. It's live, the sound quality is poor, there's no information about anything given (tho the color insert sleeve is nice) -- but the music is psychedelic grail-worthy. We've only got four copies, and won't be able to get any more. So, collectors: ready, set, go!

MICROPHONES Mount Eerie (K ) cd 14.98
As self-deprecating and painfully shy as Phil Elvrum can be when performing live, his latest release as The Microphones is a monstrously hyperbolic album of artfulness that pushes K Records as close as they will ever come to The Red Krayola or Gastr Del Sol. "Mount Eerie" is an indulgent studio driven album, which may have begun as a psychedelic epic on par with Olivia Tremor Control's "Dusk At Cubist Castle," but has been shattered into a variety of half-completed song fragments which unexpectedly jump, twist, and turn in any number of directions including dense crescendos or lunch-box rock recreations of childrens songs. Elvrum is obviously a very gifted abstractionist of indie-rock strum but is often too elusive in where he wants to take these songs. Despite how vague and convoluted the narratives of "Mount Eerie" are, Elvrum succeeds in directing the album's mood with layers of monochromatic chanting, deep trombones, and huge crashing timpani that give this album a ponderous weight. Mope rock meets art rock.
RealAudio clip: "Universe"

MOGLASS, THE Kogda Vse Zveri ZhiliKak Dobrye Sosedi (Nexsound) cd 8.98
For a land as huge as Russia, the amount of exceptional music that makes it half way round the world to Aquairus is proportionally very small, especially when compared to how much we get in from New Zealand and Finland. Thus, we were quite intrigued by the prospects of the Russian ensemble The Moglass who prefer to qualify their music as 'personal folk' -- an anti-genre that is beyond the mutable definitions of post-rock, psychedelia, or space-rock. That said, The Moglass are not without precedents, as this trio (armed with guitars, bass, old Soviet synths, and tons of effects) realizes the pinnacles of Popul Vuh (particularly their Werner Herzog soundtracks) entirely through the haunted drones of guitar feedback. Periodically, they have included several radio transmissions all in Russian, so the exact meaning is unknown to us, but the urgency of some of those broadcasts speaks of traumatic events. These work very similar to Godspeed! You Black Emperor's found sound interludes (e.g. "the car's on fire, and there's no driver at the wheel..."), but the mysteriousness due to the language barrier works to enhance the overall mood of the drone rather than compartmentalize it into leftist rhetoric. Although it's a mere 30 minutes long, "Kogda Vse Zveri Zhili Kak Dobrye Sosedi" (which we learned from their website translates as When All the Animals Lived As Good Neighbours) is a remarkably strong album.
RealAudio clip: "A1"
RealAudio clip: "A3"

ON FILLMORE On Fillmore (Locust) cd 14.98
On Fillmore is Darin Gray (Brise Glace, Dazzling Killmen, Gastr Del Sol) and Glenn Kotche (Boxhead Ensemble, Wilco). These two put their heads together and come up with something new for both of them. Acoustic bass and vibraphone are the foundation, laying down simple almost jazzy/funky grooves. But the focus seems to be on wild and scattered percussion: triangles and chimes and bells and drums and pots and pans are WAY up in the mix and are responsible for most of the tecture and melody. The sound is kind of how you imagine Brise Glace or You Fantastic covering Sun Ra with a purposefully limited pallet. Very hypnotic and noir-ish, slightly jazzy but more just simple, dark and moody.
RealAudio clip: "Unexpected Guest"
RealAudio clip: "Cricket Conquers Cave"

PADDEN, DANIEL The One Ensemble of (Catsup Plate) cd 14.98
Daniel Padden, of English improvisational psych-folksters Volcano the Bear, creates meandering, lovely music that has received comparisons to artists as accomplished as This Heat, Soft Machine, and Art Ensemble of Chicago. Distant and spooky to warm and languid, "The One Ensemble Of..." features subtle improv mixed with sparse, repetetive, melodic piano, and manges to make kazoos sound sad and beautiful. Instrumentation also includes violin, cello, saxophone, harmonium, ballaphon (like a Ghanian xylophone), and other "little instruments." A wistful, gorgeous and strange album.
RealAudio clip: "Sleep Between the Brows of All My Eyes"
RealAudio clip: "Chasm Dave"

PARLOUR Googler (Temporary Residence) cd 13.98
Much like the cloud of plastic googly eyes that festoon the cover of this cd, Parlour's music has the tendency to drift off in all directions. From track to track and moment to moment, they're ever-morphing stylistically and tempo-wise. That's not to say that this album is scattered or haphazard. Not at all, there is a unifying slow, meandering flow to the proceedings, and it's all definitely rooted in the postrock camp. Perhaps the diversity is due to the fact that these tracks were done over a five year period in a number of different locales? Or perhaps it's still the lingering traces of the members past projects (The For Carnation, Aerial M, Crain)? Yes, the latter is particularly apparent. Nevertheless, Googler is an intriguing journey through melodic guitar and bass cycles, driving rhythms, warm drones and prickly textures. At times propulsive and sharp-edged while at others smooth and delicate. Six lengthy songs in all.
RealAudio clip: "Jojolinine"
RealAudio clip: "Regulkfro Reel"

PICKPOCKET ENSEMBLE If I Were A Highway (New World Cafe) cd 14.98
After much too long an absence from the recording studio, San Francisco's own Pickpocket Ensemble returns with their third album and an apparently expanded line up. Listening to them on disc I still lament the loss of our beloved Radio Valencia where (how spoiled we were then) one could catch them live for free on regular basis. For those unfamiliar, the Pickpocket Ensemble play a wonderfully unselfconscious amalgamation of, for lack of a better term, folk music from around the world. The group is led by accordionist Rick Corrigan, who also writes the bulk of their material and filled out by violin, double bass, guitar and percussion. Along with both the Parisian and Eastern European influences that form the bedrock of the Pickpocket Ensemble, Corrigan has been further embracing the sounds of Klezmer music and in addition he seems to be delving into the realms of both Spanish and Nubian music. But parsing out specific influences with the Pickpocket Ensemble is a tricky thing as Corrigan's superb arrangements are knit so tightly it becomes difficult to separate the musical threads. The reason I suppose is because Corrigan and company choose to use their alembic to reinforce the commonalities of such diverse elements as much as they do to punctuate the differences. The result of course is just plain fine music that can only come from the Pickpocket Ensemble. Corrigan, an excellent accordion player, has always surrounded himself with great musicians and the recent additions of Marguerite Ostrovski on violin, Tim Fox on guitar and Will High on double bass are certainly no exceptions. Highly recommended!
RealAudio clip: "Prague"
RealAudio clip: "The Gift of Water"
RealAudio clip: "Remember the Moon"

PRISONER [FILE #1] OST (Silva) cd 16.98
-Where am I?
-In the Village.
-What do you want?
-Information.
-Whose side are you on?
-That would be telling. We want -- information.
-You won't get it.
-By hook or by crook, we will.
-Who are you?
-The new Number 2.
-Who is Number 1?
-You -- are Number 6.
-I am not a number -- I am a free man!
-[laughter]
In The Prisoner, the sixties James Bond superspy entertainment phenomenon is subverted into an enigmatic, psychedelic critique of the Cold War and modern mass society -- or something. The 1967 British TV series, starring Patrick McGooghan, has long been considered one of the most innovative and original TV shows ever, and enjoys quite a cult following today. Hence the release of this soundtrack disc, one of at least three planned.
This collection blasts off with Ron Granier's famous, dramatic theme, complete with thunder, the roar of motorcar, and the hiss of anesthetizing gas. It's one of the most famous tunes in spydom next to 007, Mission Impossible, and Secret Agent Man. The rest of the disc, taking music from the first three Prisoner epsiodes in order (Arrival, The Chimes Of Big Ben, and A. B. and C.) ranges from more jazzy suspenseful numbers to lovely lullabies to Strauss marches, and also contains many snippets of dialogue, including the classic bit quoted above (which many will remember from Iron Maiden's "The Prisoner"). Only some of the music here was composed and recorded especially for the series, with many selections coming from the Chappell Recorded Music Production Library. The Library music is often quite benign, reflecting the surface serenity of the Village, which after all is a very pleasant resort town -- albeit one from which you can't escape, and in which constant efforts are being made to break your will, if you're an obstinate fellow like Number 6. Suddenly the sixties library music, a 'genre' enjoying a hipster renaissance of late, takes on a sinster significance.
RealAudio clip: "Main Title"
RealAudio clip: "'I Will Not Make Any Deals With You'"
RealAudio clip: "Helicopter Escape Bid"
RealAudio clip: "Number 6 Chops Down The Tree"

QUINTET AVANT Floppy Nails (Mego) lp 14.98
Having witnessed an incredible live show by the French electro-acoustic composers Lionel Marchetti and Jerome Noetinger at 7hz in 2002, I can assure you that this live album is an accurate documentation of how it is distinctly possible to re-create all of the expressiveness of musique concrete on a table full of effects. The Quintet Avant features both Marchetti and Noetinger with fellow countrymen Jean Pallandre, Marc Pichelin, and Laurent Sassi. With dynamic stop/start triggers, painterly flanges, whipsnap collages, and agile control of feedback, this quintet has all of the panache of the best of the INA-GRM group (i.e. Pierre Henry, Michel Chion, Luc Ferrari, etc.), with the added flair of being able to pull it off live. So far, only released on vinyl.

RADIGUE, ELIANE Geelriandre - Arthesis (Fringes) cd 16.98
Off the top of my head, I can think of the Monks, Glenn Branca, and Eliane Radigue as some of the musicians who've admitted that their unwitting discovering of feedback profoundly altered their ways of thinking about music. Similar to Eddie Shaw's epiphany about feedback in his biography about the Monks, Radigue's revelation about feedback might warrant religious proportions, given that her meditative compositions led her to become a disciple of Buddhism. It was in the mid-60s, when Radigue was a protege of musique concrete legend Pierre Henry, that Radigue first stumbled across electronic feedback in the studios of INA-GRM. Unfortunately, Henry (with his unwavering insistance on the Modernist superiority of musique concrete) did not share Radigue's enthusiasm and Radigue parted ways to build her own studio that centered around the technologies of the Moog and the Arp synthesizers.
Composed in 1972 and 1973 respectively (though these recordings were made several years later), "Geelriandre" and "Arthesis" represent some of the earliest work of Radigue's maturation as a minimalist. While neither of these pieces appear to use feedback, Radigue's subtle shifting drones within these pieces mirrors the fluttering complexity that a feedback loop (when carefully controlled) can achieve. "Geerlriandre" for prepared piano and Arp synthesizer ripples with a melancholia through a beautiful chorus of tightly oscillating electric drones occasionally punctuated by the sustained yet muffled resonance of the piano. "Arthesis," using the Moog, is a more ominous affair, whirling back and forth between low end frequencies amidst a glacial progression of bleak ambience.
This album isn't only good for historical documentation, but also is an exceptional precursor to the dronological pursuits of current artists like Jonathan Coleclough, Thomas Koner, and Andrew Chalk. Highly recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Geelriandre"
RealAudio clip: "Arthesis"

RAINER MARIA Long Knives Drawn (Polyvinyl ) cd 13.98
A perpetual nostalgia runs through the work of Ranier Maria, whose first couple of recordings remain very strong albums in the history of Emo. In looking back not only to the embarassments and lost loves from adolescence (still the reigning subject matter for Emo), Rainer Maria have moved from loud / soft explosions to confessional power ballads to their current sound of '80s retro stylization of hard rock injected with emo, that comes across sort of like the corn ball stunt / party rock found on the "Fubar" soundtrack but done in all seriousness and earnestness without slighting on the theatrics. Smarter than the majority of MTV sponsored Emo though.
RealAudio clip: "Ears Ring"
RealAudio clip: "The Imperitives"

RAINER MARIA Long Knives Drawn (Polyvinyl ) lp 10.98
A perpetual nostalgia runs through the work of Ranier Maria, whose first couple of recordings remain very strong albums in the history of Emo. In looking back not only to the embarassments and lost loves from adolescence (still the reigning subject matter for Emo), Rainer Maria have moved from loud / soft explosions to confessional power ballads to their current sound of '80s retro stylization of hard rock injected with emo, that comes across sort of like the corn ball stunt / party rock found on the "Fubar" soundtrack but done in all seriousness and earnestness without slighting on the theatrics. Smarter than the majority of MTV sponsored Emo though.

RONDELLUS Sabbatum (The Music Cartel / Bed The Bug) cd 13.98
Finally back in stock, now as a domestic release on stoner rock label TMC, licensed from Estonia's Bed The Bug Records: the amazing "Sabbatum".
OK, here's an Aquarius-approved 'high concept' album, all right: Estonian medieval music group Rondellus performing covers of Ozzy-era BLACK SABBATH songs translated into Latin!!! Now *this* sounds like a Black Mass! Backed by lute, harmonium, psaltery, frame drum, bagpipe, and sundry other early instruments, Rondellus' male and female vocalists sing Latin versions of "Verres militares" ("War Pigs"), "Funambulus domesticus" ("A National Acrobat"), "Symptoma mundi" ("Symptom of the Universe"), and nine others -- it's all amazingly beautiful, and soooooo appropriate for Sabbath. Some songs are immediately recognizable, others will probably sound familiar to dedicated Sabbath fans only. Partly that's because of the unique arrangements, and partly because the songs selected for "Sabbatum" thankfully avoid (except for "War Pigs") the over-obvious: there's no "Iron Man" or "Paranoid"; indeed, instead they even picked a few less well known songs like "Junior's Eyes" and "A Hard Road" from Ozzy's last album with the Sabs, 1978's "Never Say Die"! Cool! There's plenty of variation in the instrumentation and vocal arrangements throughout the disc, and it's obvious a lot of hard work and love of Sabbath went into it. Maybe you know (another AQ-fave disc) the Atrium Musicae de Madrid's reconstruction of what ancient Greek music might have sounded like? This is along the same lines, imagining what it would have been like if Iommi/Butler/Osbourne/Ward had made church music back in the 13th century!! Rondellus' languid, haunting renditions demonstrate how timeless Sabbath's music is.
One of the best, and most original, 'tribute' records ever. Now they should go on tour with Apocalyptica (the Finnish cello quartet that does Metallica covers)!
RealAudio clip: "Oculi filioli"
RealAudio clip: "Funambulus domesticus"
RealAudio clip: "Post Aeternitatem"

SCHNITZLER, CONRAD Gelb (Plate Lunch) lp 14.98
"Gelb" is an unreleased 1974 album produced by the iconoclastic electronic musician Conrad Schnitzler, who sought to demystify the academic strangle hold on electronic music in reducing all of the avant garde techniques and ideas into a simple interplay of tonal color. Often realized as overlapping electronic patterns, cyclical rhythms, and synthetic swooshes, Schnitzler's early '70s compositions appear now as the prototypes of a lot of modern day electronica, especially IDM, ambient, and techno. "Gelb" does sound a little dated, due to the less than perfect recording conditions and the limited palette of electronic sounds, but the sweeping, space-age surfaces of Schnitzler's electronic tones and jittery drum machine arpeggiations are as good as anything he released during that time. Vinyl only.

SEA AND CAKE One Bedroom (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98
For their sixth full length, those Sea & Cakes are venturing even deeper into the groovy electronic chillroom and away from their former sunkissed and breezy acoustic path. Super spacious and dreamy, but with considerably more euro jetset flair. Fluid organ tones, wispy string sounds, jazzy shuffling beats. Sam Prekop's voice is still as mellow and as effortless as ever, but this time there's the added eleganza vocal depth of the Navin brothers from the Aluminum Group -- certainly no slouches themselves in the charm'n'croon department. They're joined by Archer Prewitt and Prekop's subtle guitar interplay and the solid-as-ever rhythm section of bassist Erik Claridge and John McEntire on drums. Oh yes, and to top it all off, they do a cover of Bowie's "Sound And Vision". A blissful beauty!
RealAudio clip: "Four Corners"
RealAudio clip: "Le Baron"

SHEAVY Synchronized (The Music Cartel) cd 14.98
Break out the Molson, 'cause Canadian Black Sabbath doppelgangers Sheavy are back with another (stoner) rockin' disc. The Sabbath comparison arises mainly from singer Steve Hennessey's uncanny vocal resemblance to the nasal tones of Ozzy Osbourne. Although Mr. Hennessey probably won't have his own reality TV show (on Much Music?) in thirty years, he really does sound a heck of a lot like the bat-bitin' one, circa Ozzy's early '80s solo heyday. Sheavy utilizes this seemingly-familiar voice to lead the listener into melodic and heavy (as per their name) territory more rockin' than doomy -- their take on the Sabbath/'70s vibe is closer to Fu Manchu than Electric Wizard: wailing guitars, plentiful hooks, driving grooves, even some "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" style keyboards. Definitely one any Ozzy/Sabbath freak has to check out, but also a recommended album for all into good ol' old fashioned hard rock/metal! Retro like we like it, with lots of sci-fi and car culture references for max kitsch value. How come these guys weren't on that Fubar soundtrack? A glaring omisson indeed.
RealAudio clip: "Firebird350"
RealAudio clip: "Synchronized"

TANGERINE DREAM Electronic Meditation (Castle / Sanctuary) cd 14.98
For those who still associate Tangerine Dream with sequencer dependent proto-nu-age music, here are a few domestic reissues of their crucial early albums which should dispel any further mistaken assumptions. Originally released in 1970, Tangerine Dream's first album "Electronic Meditation" is a totally way-out-there psychedelic tour de force featuring mainstay Edgar Froese, plus Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler -- kind of a krautrock supergroup though they didn't know it at the time! From improvised dark drones of amplified cello, electric guitar, flute, organ and drums to blasts of freak out noise to psychedelic fuzzed-out freak-out rock jams. Electronic Meditation is equal parts Algarnas Tradgrad and early Kraftwerk. Remastered, w/ slipcase, & liner notes from krauthead Julian Cope. Definitely a krautrock classic.
RealAudio clip: "Genesis"
RealAudio clip: "Ashes To Ashes"

TANGERINE DREAM Alpha Centauri (Castle / Sanctuary) cd 14.98
Tangerine Dream's second album from 1971. While it is a bit spacier and more synth-based than predecessor "Electronic Meditation", it's structurally much the same as the first, with lots of moody dark improv drones weaving and building into mad psychedelic rock jams. Mostly the change apparent here is that various synths and organs move to the fore while guitars, flute and drums hang out in the back, only dominating the sound in the loudest, rocking passages. This domestic reissue includes a bonus track, "Ultima Thule Part 1", an epic rocking single the group released in 1971. This one's also remastered, w/ slipcase, & liner notes from noted krauthead Julian Cope.
RealAudio clip: "Sunrise In The Third System"
RealAudio clip: "Ultima Thule Part 1"

TANGERINE DREAM Atem (Castle / Sanctuary) cd 14.98
Armed with a Radio Shack's worth of new electronic toys, including the then new Mellotron, Tangerine Dream begins to sound a weensy bit closer to their eventual state of synthesizedness. But I stress the word "weensy" here, as Atem (1973) finds Tangerine Dream still well ensconced in the same psychedelic free-rock realm as their previous three albums (Electronic Meditation, Alpha Centauri, and Zeit). Bizzare vocal effects aside, a smattering of guitar and percussion are all that remain of the acoustic age of Tangerine Dream -- flute having been replaced by Edgar Froese's Mellotron replication of them. Along with Froese's new beast, the group's new artillery included a couple EMS VCS3 Synthesizers for Baumann and Franke. The resulting sound is even more atmospheric and whispy than ever. The title track, a twenty minute meandering opus, is perhaps the most similar to their earlier sound, with its pounding drums steadily increasing in volume and speed during the first part of the piece. But even there the percussion is no match for the enslaught of multiple organs and synthesizers with their ever building chords which drown out the drums before settling into a dark, ethereal soundscape. "Fauni-Gena" is almost like Tangerine Dream's take on Pink Floyd's "Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict", but heavier on the synths. The last track -- "Wahn" -- is probably the greatest anomaly in Tangerine Dream's ouvre, in which the trio practice their extended vocal techniques, laden with echo and accompanied by frenzied percussion and synths. This domestic reissue, like the others, comes remastered, with a slip case and liner-notes (though this time not by Julilan Cope, but by one Paul Russell.)
RealAudio clip: "Fauni-Gena"
RealAudio clip: "Wahn"

THUMLOCK Sojourns Lucid Magic (High Beam) cd 12.98
Stoner rawk alert! It wasn't easy, but we finally got a few import copies of the new release from Austrialia's Thumlock, sent over on the slow boat from Down Under. Maybe it's their fantastic/silly/crappy album artwork, or mystic/cryptic/ridiculous titles, but we dig this band. To be sure, their approach to the stoner rock genre is, well, kinda generic -- yet varied & interesting & well done. Urgent rather than laid back, Thumlock are a bit more 'metal' than most, with a flair for majestic riffs and Thin Lizzy licks tossed in among the Queens of the Stone Age style grungy desert rock and Monster Magnetic wah wah psych guitar jams.
RealAudio clip: "Neotrantor"

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----* More Last Visible Dog CD-R's!!! :
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New or at least new to us (and you quite possibly) stuff on the excellent Rhode Island based experimental / drone / rock / folk mostly cd-r label Last Visible Dog.

EMERGENCY STRING QUARTET WITH CAROL GENETTI Motions (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
This is an unexpected direction for Rhode Island cd-r label Last Visible Dog. Some sort of 20th century / chamber / avant / classical. Abstract, shimmering strings, soaring but leaving lots of space. With occasional bursts of percussive clatter that sounds like someone jumping in a giant pile of bubblewrap! Lots of pizzicato plucking and Bjork-ish howling, stuttered, non-sensical vocalisations, wild bowing/sawing on the strings, and percussive tapping/slapping on the instrument bodies. Wild and weird and truly out there.
RealAudio clip: "E Motion"

FURISUBI Limb Of Copernicus (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
We raved about the first Furisubi cd-r a while back, a huge, punishing, stumbling Black Sabbath homage/tribute/cover, with thunderous guitars and retarded drumming. So I was mildly surprised by how mellow 'Limb Of Copernicus' was. Just guitar and organ, playing gently against each other in a world of drone and reverb. Steadily, gently strummed guitars over glacial and unwavering organ drones, that only occasionally shift subtly. Like Fahey jamming with Birchville Cat Motel or Troum. Quite gorgeous actually. Fans of Windy And Carl, Landing and space/drone rock in general will dig this a lot!
RealAudio clip: "Limb Of Copernicus"

MCMS s/t (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
We totally loved the MCMS cd-r on Celebrate Psi Phenomena (a split with Yermo, now out of print), so we were pretty psyched for TWO new titles courtesy of our pals at Last Visible Dog. Starts off as weird, British style folk, loosely strummed acoustic guitars, warbly flute and urgently whispered vocals. This soon becomes a dirty, gritty garage-y dirge/drone rock workout. Krautrock-ish rhythms filtered through a Dead C noiserock aesthetic that veers into noisy freakout territory. The record continues on, careening wildly from tuneless, Comus style pagan folk to chaotic free rock, to blissful dronescapes. Good stuff.
RealAudio clip: "Prelude To The MCMS Album Of Love"
RealAudio clip: "Bruce Has Gone To The Gret Bong In The Sky"

MCMS 3 (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
This is dirge-y, dirty, grungy tribal FREEROCK. '3' starts off with churning hyperdistorted guitars, random, 'free' percussion, sometimes just a simple plodding thud, which all deteriorate into softly strummed guitars and found sounds, mysterious and ambient. The rest of the record is a meandering soundscape of clatter and buzz, drone and thump, skree and whir, all very atmospheric. Moments of Sunroof! like lo-fi bliss disrupted by bursts of spastic percussive splatter and amp/instrument malfunction.
RealAudio clip: "Lemmy Kiliminster Getting Kicked Out Of Hawkind"
RealAudio clip: "MCMS Vs. Brain Damage"

REYNOLS / NO-REYNOLS Rovatino Surido Almericamo (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
This new cd-r release from the always-colorful (and bizarre) Argentinian band Reynols sports a full color cover, perhaps a first for the no-frills Last Visible Dog cd-r label. Recorded live at the Fusa Auditorium in Buenos Aires, September 20th 2001, this is half performed by Reynols (Miguel Tomasin, Moncho Conlazo, Anla Courtis, and Pacu Conlazo) and half by their near-doppelgangers No-Reynols (Juan Manuel Acevedo, No-Moncho Conlazo, No-Anla Courtis, and No-Pacu Conlazo). But whether being led by the whim of Miguel Tomasin or Juan Manuel Acevedo, these groups both fully inhabit a noisy, droney, damaged, beyond-psychedelic, not-really-rock primal stomp territory explored by few others. The disc starts off quite mysteriously and quietly, sounding like a echoey exotica-plus-feedback session, punctuated by distant applause and what might be the strains of some commercial Latin pop.
Are they on stage, in the jungle, or in a void? It's hard to tell. Soon, a stiff, insistent percussion frenzy builds, accompanied by indistinct drone guitar and nonsense vocal interjections. This rapidly grows into a full fledged shamanic incantation of whirling dervish, junk-rock intensity. Howling, grinding, blowing "music" that makes the perfect warm yet alienated background to the throaty, wailing crooning of Miguel (or is it Juan Manuel?). It's so wacked and yet lovely. This umpteenth Reynols document shows that they're indeed an Acid Mothers Temple for those truly moved by authentic weirdness and emotional expression that trumps psychedelic pastiche.
RealAudio clip: REYNOLS "Rovatino Surido Almericamo"
RealAudio clip: NO-REYNOLS "Papapapapa Pa"

YERMO s/t (Last Visible Dog) cd-r 8.98
Another Celebrate Psi Phenomena expat (having shared a terrific split cd-r with MCMS, now out of print) finds their way to our pals Last Visible Dog. Yermo offer up a glorious wash of cascading upper register dreaminess, like the sound of rubbed champagne glasses, crystalline and delicate, over an mesmerising thrum that subtly oscillates, creating an hypnotic almost-rhythm. The whole thing slowly builds in intensity until it's a howling storm of feedback and buzz, dotted with thick bursts of jagged NOISE, all washing over you in a wave of thick warm sound. Fans of Total, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Sunroof!, the Dead C and the like bset start paying close attention to Yermo, 'cause they have yet to disappoint!
RealAudio clip: "-one-"

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----* More Celebrate Psi Phenomenon CD-R's!!! :
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More amazing drone / noise from our favorite cd-r label. These are super limited (30 copies worldwide). We get a handful when they come out, and once they're gone, they're GONE.

BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL Home (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 10.98
It's really amazing how I never get tired of this BCM stuff. I think a lot of that is due to the fact that all of these records are completely different, and while the differences are subtle, you are rewarded for active listening, digging deep into the layers of sound and focusing on different patterns and rhythms, different sounds and instruments. Campbell Kneale, like Matthew Bower before him, seems to have a direct line to the primordial drone, able to summon it at a moments notice, and then channel it through all sorts of strange instrumentation. 'Home' is definitely UR-DRONE of the highest order, a very Eastern tinged raga, with plucked and bowed strings, subtle feedback and barely-there percussion woven into a seamless tapestry of head expanding sound.
RealAudio clip: "Home (excerpt)"

BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL Mighty Spine Catcher (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98
This is a collection of random recordings from 200-2002, but even as a collection of outtakes and leftovers, it functions quite nicely as a proper record, or even as an excellent introduction to the mighty (and mighty prolific) Birchville Cat Motel. This is that sublime NZ drone, with occasional bursts of dog whistle skree and cascading feedback. Lush and rich and dreamy. Fans of Sunrrof!, Total, Vibracathedral Orchestra and drone in general should really, if they haven't already, invest in a serious BCM collection!
RealAudio clip: "These Darkening Orbits"
RealAudio clip: "Mighty Spine Catcher"

BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL / ESO STEEL Serene Trajectories (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 10.98
Another entry from the neverending barrage of gritty drones from Campbell Kneal's Celebrate Psi Phenomenon cd-r imprint, "Serene Trajectories" finds Campbell in his Birchville Cat Motel persona collaborating with fellow New Zealand sound sculptor Richard Francis (aka Eso Steel). Ostensibly, both work with "the drone", although they approach the medium in two entirely different means. Campbell prefers electric miasmas from guitar amplifiers and broken electronics, often drawing comparisons to Dead C and Sunroof; where Francis works with much cleaner techniques, digitally sculpting field recordings into textually rich dronescapes. As can be expected, this album falls directly in between those two ends of the fidelity spectrum, as flurries of indeterminant buzzings amass into thick snowstorms of raw sound while dramatic clatterings and striations burst through the stereofield with remarkable clarity and precision. Yup, another winner from Celebrate Psi Phenomenon.
RealAudio clip: "Serene Trajectories"

CAMPBELL, NEIL / CAMPBELL KNEALE s/t (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd 12.98
The true heirs to the Cale / Conrad / Maclise / Palestine / Flynt throne just happen to be kindred souls thousands of miles apart. And in cosmic slip up (or inside joke) they've both been given the same name, only transposed! I mean, come on, it was only a matter of time before Campbell and Kneale (or Neil and Campbell) would realise their destinies, and realise how perfect this collaboration would be aesthetically, as well as sonically! And it couldn't be more perfect. Tinkling chimes, shimmery cymbals and bells, creaking feedback, wild splattery percussion, bowel loosening rumbles, warm late night drones, all woven together into a wild and free, gorgeously invigorating, but completely soothing, otherworldly tranced out raga. Absolutely sublime. Fans of NC's Vibracathedral Orchestra or CK's Birchville Cat Motel need this for sure.
RealAudio clip: "Superstarsign"
RealAudio clip: "Hibernation Stations"

GUILTY CONNECTOR / BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL Assholes Of The World and Hunt in Packs (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 10.98
Unfortunately a split and not a collaboration, 'Assholes Of The World...' finds New Zealand's Campbell Kneale and Japan's Kohei 'The Fast' (aka Guilty Connector) joining forces in the elite brotherhood of noisy assholes! Kohei starts things off quite unlike the stuff we're used to hearing from him, a simple, static high register drone. But that doesn't last long. All sorts of speaker shredding intrusions pile up on what is now a howling air raid siren-like screech, and then immediately into a sort of Merzbow-ish rhythmic stutter. The second track is a 4 minute blast of hyperchaotic metallic noise. Like some sort of ACTUAL SONG buried under the rotting corpses of Merzbow and Masonna.
You might think Kneale would pull out the big guns and answer back with a mighty blast, but he instead shows some gentlemanly restraint, and offers up one of his most serene pieces yet. What sounds like a single strike of a bell, stretched out as far as it will go, slowly oscillating, sound waves spreading out forever. Subtle insect-like flutters and the SPAREST percussion imaginable, a tiny bit of clatter, a reverby thud every couple of minutes. Quite nice, and a surprisingly subtle rebutt to Guilty Connector's boot to the face.
RealAudio clip: GUILTY CONNECTOR "Mothers Bloated Corpse - Warning"
RealAudio clip: BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL "Seven Silver Lanterns"

LUGOSI Monarch (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98
Lugois were responsible for one of my favorite CPP cd-r's, Golden Five Aluminum Lake. But fear not, Monarch is just as fantastic. Originally released as a cassette in 1988, Monarchg features CPP head honcho Campbell Kneale and his cohorts Andrew Savage and Leon Schultz. These four tracks were recorded in a NZ church and the sound reflects it, sort of liturgical and spiritual. Using guitars and synth mostly, these three offer up their worship, not to God or Buddah, but to their forefathers, the gods of NZ noise: the Dead C, Omit, & Gate, and make their offerings to that holy trinity. (Or the other holy trinity: Cale /Conrad / Maclise.) Simple, whirring drones, sounding like an army of slow motion squeezeboxes, with plaitive little melodies fighting to get their tiny heads above the thick ocean of drones.
RealAudio clip: "2"

MCNAIR, JAMIE Ocean Dictionaries (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 10.98
Another new name from Campbell Kneale's mighty Celebrate Psi Phenomenon label, and it's yet another winner. A hyperminimal dronescape of warm underwater tones, thick and slow moving, dreamy and surreal, muted melodies stretched into thick blankets of fuzzy warmth. The second half of the record sounds like a straight field recording, wind and footsteps and dogs barking and the faraway whir and hum of everyday life, lovely and serene.
RealAudio clip: "One"

SUNSHIP Destroyer (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 10.98
This is way more 'punk rock' that anything on Celebrate Psi Phenomenon. The first two tracks are furious, sloppy blasts of distorted sludge. There -are- songs under there, but they have been torn to bits and spit out bloody and disfigured. The third track gets a little trancey and rhythmic but the sound is still chaotic and blown WAY out. The final track is sort of Stooges / Brainbombs meets the Dead C, with shouted vocals, burnt out guitars and white-noise percussion. Pummelling, damaged, fucked up noise rock. Seriously UNEASY listening.
RealAudio clip: "Get On The Sunship"
RealAudio clip: "Perfect Teeth"



And for you slow pokes, we have a few copies left of these otherwise out of print gems:

BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL "Shapeshifter" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98
BUTTIGIEG, KURT "Zoetrope" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98
DEL "Vampyr" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98
EKKO "Sinking Ships" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98
EMPTY MIRROR "Extricate / Misnomer" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98
LUGOSI "Golden Five Aluminum Lake" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98
MILTON, ANTONY "Near / Far" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98
SEHT "Dronemusic" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98
WRIGHT, PETER "A Tiny Camp In The Wilderness" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) cd-r 10.98
V/A "Shutupalreadydamn!:The Prince Tribute Album" (Celebrate Psi Phenomena) 2cd-r 17.98


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----* Pseudo Arcana CD-R's from New Zealand!!! :
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New AQ pal Antony Milton, who we originally discovered through his cd-r's for fellow Kiwi Campbell Kneale's Celebrate Psi Phenomeon label, has his own nifty cd-r label, Pseudo Arcana, that like CPP, specialises in New Zealand underground / noise / drone / artrock! Some really amazing stuff packaged with great care in cool hand assembled sleeves. Check em out!

AM More Domestic (Pseudo Arcana) cd-r 8.98
We'll just have to assume that AM stands for Antony Milton, head of Pseudo Arcana. This disc starts off with a three part piece, the sounds of passing traffic, buzzing insects, whirring fans, and sort of lowercase drones with the occasional percussive intrusion of a bumped microphone, or distant clatter. Eventually, strange otherworldly notes are introduced, sounding a bit like horns without reeds, more sound than actual notes, but they manage to add miniscule amounts of soothing melody. Part two sounds like a version of part one, only far away, and with the sound of crickets, that slowly evolves into a buzzing swarm. Part three sounds like a version of part two, but with the addition of doleful lonely melodies played on a bamboo flute. Sounds like some overheard, ancient ceremony being performed fireside. Track 2 is all casio bleeps and blips, that demarcate a warbly uneven synth drone, all dreamy and effevescent. Sounds a bit like a more lo-fi Boards Of Canada. The final track is a noisy assemblage of dissonant clatter and barely discernable melody, tape hiss, and a wild spray of notes and tones, like a Total or Gate record falling apart, slowly deconstructing before your ears. Nice.
RealAudio clip: "Kitchen Sink #2"
RealAudio clip: "Pop. Tape"

AM Mccleod-ganj (Pseudo Arcana) cd-r 8.98
This is Antony Milton's first completely computer based recording, using the sounds of Tibetan instruments that just happened to be laying about. Things start off with what sounds like someone taking a powersaw to a bell, UGLY, but with gorgeous shimmering overtones. As the record progresses we hear lots of wild tribal percussion over a thudding pulse and some low end rumble, banjos chopped up into a digital soup that sounds a bit like a more uneven, more jagged Oval, and syrupy bass melodies and fluttery static over a dreamy, hypnotic dirge with rich swells and seasick melodies. This is a really nice mix of organic and non-organic sounds, computer manipulated into a collection of rich soundscapes, gorgeous ambience and some downright melodic, almost-pop-songs.
RealAudio clip: "Skullbow Handycam"
RealAudio clip: "Dharamsala"

ARMPIT, THEE The Praying Mantis (Pseudo Arcana) 2cd-r 15.98
This unfortunately monickered duo make up for the name, with a wild and woolly sound, raw and noisy but dreamy and soothing at the same time. Carrying on the tradition of 'classic' NZ noise ala the Dead C / Gate, TA take instruments, REAL instruments, and spread them over our ears in a thick and prickly, warm and sticky, pummellingly beautiful mess of sound. From thud rock dirge, to outer sound explorations, to almost-pop, to deconstructed rhythmic workouts, to shoe-gazey space rock, all filtered through that distinctly noisy NZ lo-fi aesthetic. Really really great. Two cd-r discs in a nice handpainted cover, with some truly strange comics inside.
RealAudio clip: "Rocket"
RealAudio clip: "Gallows"
RealAudio clip: "Hot Gossip"

MILTON, ANTONY February 2001 (Pseudo Arcana) cd-r 12.98
Pseudo Arcana head honcho starts this disc off with some real Raster-Noton style static clickery but manages to sound way more organic, with throbbing pulses of low end that abruptly cut out and become a dreamy, thrumming, humming wash of warm drones ans slowly shifting spaced-out swish and whir. The rest of the record runs the gamut from noise-y drone ala the Dead C, with bursts of harsh noise and looped samplesforming loping 'rhythms', to all out N O I S E, to dreamy subterranean dronescapes reminiscent of Birchville Cat Motel, to almost-pop buried under fuzz and hiss and distrorted to the point of being pop-no-more.
RealAudio clip: "Endocrine"
RealAudio clip: "Poster Rocket"

MILTON, ANTONY Siren Performance CDR: Enjoy Gallery 17-8-2000 (Pseudo Arcana) cd-r 12.98
Siren Performance was devised as an installation using the sounds of air raid sirens and the various sonic harmonics and overtones that resulted from multiple / competeing sound sources. This disc contains a 15 minute recording of the source material for the installation as well as a performance featuring the air raid sirens, as well as Campbell Kneale on electronics, Antony Milton on sampler and broken violin, as well as a few other folks on bass, guitar and more electronics. The sound is stark and beautiful, mournfully wailing like ghosts and wind, slowly pitched up and down. The performance takes those sounds and turns them into a thick drone-y wash of sirens and vigorously bowed stringed instruments which takes the piece into Conrad / Cale / Maclise / Palestine territory.
RealAudio clip: "Siren Performance"

SEHT Goodbye, America & Have A Nice Day (Pseudo Arcana) cd-r 12.98
This is a sort-of-reinterpretation of the amazing 'Dronemusic' cd-r released on a while back on Celebrate Psi Phenomena. This is very minimal with lots of incidental clatter and totally random noise. Sounds a bit like some guy cleaning/re-arranging his kitchen, with lots of thumps and bumps and clicks and even some bird calls(!). After about 10 minutes, the drones finally make their presence known. Joined gradually by warbly guitars and wisos of melodies. But almost as soon as they're there, they diappear again. Then it's back to the ambient clatter, discussions, room sound. A reverby piano or buzzing harpsichord surface occasionally, but it always seems to return to our house cleaning, room tidying protagonist. Very strange...
RealAudio clip: "Goodbye America And Have A Nice Day"

STREET = X s/t (Pseudo Arcana) cd-r 12.98
What is it about New Zealand? And the ease in which New Zealand bands seem to be able to transfrom 'noise' into something more. Much more. Street+X is a duo, employing violins, microphones, organs and REALLY BIG AMPS in a tiny room. Totally mesmerising, hypnotic, dreamy, shimmery, noisy, dirgy, lo-fi, high-end, spaced out DRONE ala Sunroof!, Total, Skullflower, Birchville Cat Motel, Dead C, Gate, Vibracathedral Orchestra, etc. I never get sick of this stuff and this is some of the best I've heard, Fans of the above mentioned bands NEED this.
RealAudio clip: "Wherever You Shall Tread"

V/A Street = x 2 (Pseudo Arcana) cd-r 12.98
One of my favorite drone records in recent memory (Streets=X, see above) gets the remix treatment from a who's who of NZ artrock / dronerock / freerock artists. Birchville Cat Motel, Seht, 3rd Octave Band, AM and a bunch more, take the sound of the Street=X record, all droning shimmering high end skree, and try to make it their own. Birchville Cat Motel, smooths the edges and adds some humming dreaminess. Seht chops and pastes and adds the sounds of a busy highway. 3rd Octave Band turn up the volume and add some layers ofgrit and grime, feedback and amp buzz. Paul Wickham slows it all down and adds even more hum and hiss. A pretty amazing remix project in a world that certainly doesn't need anymore. It helps that the original was so goddamn good!!
RealAudio clip: BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL "RMX 1"
RealAudio clip: 3RD OCTAVE BAND "RMX 4"

WICKHAM-SMITH, SIMON Dyro (Pseudo Arcana) cd-r 12.98
What would a cd-r label be without a contribution from AQ fave Simon Wickham-Smith? And it seems like he can do no wrong. Two 35 minute tracks of shimmering, crystalline, high end tinkle, keening synth melodies, and warbly low-end pulses. Track one sounds like Sunroof! playing Ravi Shankar, or a raga version of Tubular Bells played by the Dead C. or something. A static, drone ritual with superdistorted vocals that wail otherworldly spirituals over the gorgeous din.
There's that kind of song / piece that I never get tired of, those epic, endless high end modern ragas, all wailing feedback ans upper register shimmer. That thing that Matthew Bower (Skullflower, Sunroof!), Campbell Kneale (Birchville Cat Motel), Neil Campbell (Vibracathedral Orchestra), and a few others seem to be able to unleash effortlessly. Well, if you hadn't already, add Wickham-Smith to this exclusive group of noisemakers and use the second track on Dyro to make your case. This has everything you could want. Gorgeous, droning, gauze-y, otherworldly, transcendental and just fucking perfect.
RealAudio clip: "What Makes Me Dive In Headfirst (excerpt)"

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----* Compilations :
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V/A BBC Radiophonic Music (BBC Worldwide) cd 16.98
Originally released in 1968, this disc brings together pieces composed during the first decade of the reknowned BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a groundbreaking sound laboratory that provided British radio listeners and TV viewers with avant-garde musique concrete interludes and wacky sound effects -- Dr. Who being their most well-known client. There's no Who here, but a broad range of other stuff, including music from a War of the Worlds dramatization, experimental radio plays, documentary soundtracks, and signature tunes for local radio stations. Back before computers and sampling, these recordings represent many hours of painstaking, clever work: 33 tracks composed by Workshop electronic music pioneers Delia Derbyshire, John Baker, and David Cain. Their heroic efforts are historically interesting, and a good listen to boot, which was always the intent. The cd booklet contains extensive liner notes and evocative photos of Workshop staffers amid their tape reels and sundry noise-making objects. The Workshop's second decade saw the introduction of synths, output explored on this disc's companion reissue, 1975's "The Radiophonic Workshop", reviewed elsewhere on this site/list.
RealAudio clip: DELIA DERBYSHIRE "Blue Veils And Golden Sands"
RealAudio clip: JOHN BAKER "The Frogs Wooing"

V/A The Radiophonic Workshop (BBC Worldwide) cd 16.98
The classic 1975 album reissued, chock full o' quirky and/or moody cutting-edge compositions from the the madmen (and women) who inhabited the legendary BBC Radio Radiophonic Workshop in its heyday -- you know, the folks responsible for all the electronic music on the Dr. Who TV show. So, you get all the mysterious whooshes and percolating scifi bleepage you'd expect. Sound effects and music converge here, utilizing the most advanced synth technology of the day (such as the EMS Synthi 100 'Delaware' machine, described as "massive"), and a lot of imagination. Combining electronically-generated sounds with tape loops and live instruments, tracks here range from spritely, happy video arcade pop toons to spooky, creepy soundcapes (or the disturbing gastrointestinal ambience of "Major Bloodnok's Stomach", track 8). Clever montage, music box melodies, and assorted mad-computer sounds abound. Unlike the other BBC Radiophonic Workshop disc (the '60s collection "BBC Radiophonic Music"), most of this was composed especially for this album, rather than taken from prior BBC productions. The musicians/technicans saw this as a chance to express themselves in ways not always possible in commissioned works (in stereo, for one thing, rather than the mono most broadcast work required), and certainly their experimental tendencies came to the fore. Pretty neat.
RealAudio clip: JOHN BAKER "Brio"
RealAudio clip: GLYNIS JONES/MALCOLM CLARKE "Nenuphar"

V/A Cherrystone's Rocks (Lo) cd 15.98
A very original, wonderfully varied collection of uber-rare international "psych and progressive gems" of the '60s and early '70s presented by Lo Recordings, who've always brought us the cool cutting edge modern electronica. Lo has previously also delved into the past for library music / acid funk compilations...now they go waaaay out with these bizarro rock tracks, picked by British hip hop DJ Garreth Goddard (who records as Cherrystones for the Twisted Nerve label). Obscure artists on here indeed -- we had previously only heard Brazil's Rita Lee (of Os Mutantes) and Detroit R&B hard rockers Frijid Pink (with "Crying Shame", one of their best songs). Garreth's obsessive crate-digging has paid dividends here, making this the kind of comp you've got to get 'cause you'll never find these records OR reissues. It's all groovy, psychedelic, crazed stuff. Some other names: Taiconderoga, Black Cat Bones, Klaus Doldinger, Niagara, Breakout, Mecki Mark Men, Sunbirds, The Mogol, and more. Veering from free-jazz inspired horn soloing to heavy fuzz guitar riffs to spoken beat poetry, the stuff on here is all over the place yet is freaky, funky, fried fun that really seems to belong together -- kudos to the DJ. Awesome.
RealAudio clip: PUGH "Love, Love, Love"
RealAudio clip: FRIJID PINK "Crying Shame"
RealAudio clip: ROLF AND JOACHIM KUHN AND THE MAD ROCKERS "Funny Bird"

V/A Cherrystone's Rocks (Lo) lp 15.98
A very original, wonderfully varied collection of uber-rare international "psych and progressive gems" of the '60s and early '70s presented by Lo Recordings, who've always brought us the cool cutting edge modern electronica. Lo has previously also delved into the past for library music / acid funk compilations...now they go waaaay out with these bizarro rock tracks, picked by British hip hop DJ Garreth Goddard (who records as Cherrystones for the Twisted Nerve label). Obscure artists on here indeed -- we had previously only heard Brazil's Rita Lee (of Os Mutantes) and Detroit R&B hard rockers Frijid Pink (with "Crying Shame", one of their best songs). Garreth's obsessive crate-digging has paid dividends here, making this the kind of comp you've got to get 'cause you'll never find these records OR reissues. It's all groovy, psychedelic, crazed stuff. Some other names: Taiconderoga, Black Cat Bones, Klaus Doldinger, Niagara, Breakout, Mecki Mark Men, Sunbirds, The Mogol, and more. Veering from free-jazz inspired horn soloing to heavy fuzz guitar riffs to spoken beat poetry, the stuff on here is all over the place yet is freaky, funky, fried fun that really seems to belong together -- kudos to the DJ. Awesome.

V/A Ghana Soundz (Sound Way) cd 16.98
New, nicely packaged compilation of afro-beat from Ghana's golden era. Sound Way boasts that the 14 tracks included here from the 1970's are all extremely rare and previously unreleased outside of Africa. So if the Fela reissues and various Strut collections aren't enough, here's a nice addition to the collection. Includes a 16 page booklet detailing the history of Ghana's music industry.
RealAudio clip: 3RD GENERATION BAND, THE "Because of Money"
RealAudio clip: K.FRIMPONG & HIS CUBANO FIESTAS "Hwehwe Mu Na Yi Wo Mpena"

V/A Songs In The Key Of Z Volume 2 (Gammon) cd 15.98
Heads up! Irwin Chusid has unleashed another collection of what is sooo aptly described on the traycard as "ear-tingling outrephonics". Vibrant, electrifying, and yes often bizarre feats of sonic tunesmanship are contained within each of these seventeen tracks. If you've read the book and/or heard the first volume you probably have some idea of what to expect with this second compilation, but what's impossible to anticipate is the diversity of this unheard, absolutely earnest and untethered music. An acquired taste? Yes... many actually, but very rewardingly so. Andee took a particular liking to Bingo Gazingo & My Robot Friend's "You're Out Of The Computer", while Cup's ears were left a-tingling by the sounds of Shooby Taylor and The Space Lady. Who else will you hear? Thoth, Congress-Woman Malinda Jackson Parker, Dick Kent, B.J. Snowden, Luie Luie, and many more. Please consider yourself forewarned: some may make you giggle, some may make you uncomfortable, some may make you cringe. Others may be uplifting, inspiring or disturbing. Some may as Alvin Dahn's song simply states "drive [you] mad". While it can certainly be said that Volume One was a hard act to follow, Chusid has unearthed and assembled an exceptional selection of perhaps even more obscure oddities.
RealAudio clip: BINGO GAZINGO & MY ROBOT FRIEND "You're Out Of The Computer"
RealAudio clip: THE SPACE LADY "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night"

V/A Trojan British Reggae Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 16.98
Trojan's latest collection chronicles the advent of reggae recorded entirely "within the golden shores of Her Majesty's sceptred isle" (as the liner notes poetically dub it.) The box takes as its focus the brief, though fruitful period between 1968 and 1972 (so you won't find any Matumbi, Aswad, or Steel Pulse here.) Reggae producers and artists in the UK have always had to play second fiddle to their counterparts back in Jamaica. The initial efforts in the UK were merely in importing and repressing popular hits from back home. Eventually, the success of expatriate artists in the UK would not lie in merely competing with those back in Jamaica, but by tailoring their recordings to the well heeled white audiences who were being turned on to these exciting new sounds. What you end up getting to hear on these three discs is a metamorphosis from carbon copy rock-steady rip offs like "The Duke All Stars" to the most bizarre sugar coated Top Of The Pops attempts that are guaranteed to force a Moe Szyslak "WhaaaAAAH?!" out of your gulllet. The first disc is all pre 1970's material and tends to tow the line straight out of the Duke Reid and Coxsone Dodd songbooks for the most part. There's even a reggaefied version of the Skatalites' "Phoenix City" by The Family Circle. Disc two finds the production in the new decade halfway between Lee Perry -- with his penchant for out of tune wurlitzer organs -- and a taste of what was to come, typified in The Music Doctors Jamaican styled rendition of Mungo Jerry's (one) hit "In the Summertime". The third disc however, presents a no-holds-barred attack on the charts with the most over produced -- strings, strings, and more strings -- reggae versions of the day's popular R&B, soul and country hits. One the weirdest is Delroy Williams' (sounding more like Andy Williams) version of "Down In The Boondocks", replete with slide guitar. But this doesn't even compare to UK's biggest unit mover Dandy's "What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For", which pulls out all the stops with strings, Tijuana Brass-esque horns and back up singers galore. The set finishes nicely with a nice up arrangement of Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No. 1" by The Neasden Connection. Damn weird and kinda cool, if nothing else you can drop some of these seventies tracks on your next party mix and baffle the shit out of your guests.
RealAudio clip: RECO & THE RHYTHM ACES "Return of the Bullet"
RealAudio clip: THE MUSIC DOCTORS "In The Summertime"
RealAudio clip: DANDY "What Do You Want To Make"

V/A Trojan Rude Boy Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 16.98
Speaking out on social issues and healthy debates (or downright rhetorical battles) have both been long standing hallmarks of lyrical tradition in Jamaican music. Any number of dialectics in the form of a compilation could be eeked from the material streaming out of Jamaica over the last four decades. For its part, the Rude Boy phenomenon is as good a topic as any. The term applies to neer-do-well youths who began showing up to dances in the mid sixties to pick fights and otherwise spoil the fun of those out to have a good time. Their presence was troublesome in the least and tragic at their worst, as some innocent bystanders even lost their lives when shootouts erupted on the dancefloor. It's even been mythologized that the Rocksteady's formation came about as a direct result from the practice of Rude Boys intentionally dancing slow during the fast paced ska tunes; their aim to cause some unwitting couple to collide with them, giving them a reason to pick a fight. All claims to the myth's validity aside, it underscores the effect the Rude Boys had on Jamaica's musical climate. So it should come as no surprise that Rude Boys were weighed in on by just about everyone in the business: pro and con. On the one hand they were touted as heroes: likened to modern day Robin Hoods. But on the other, they were ruthless trouble makers who's victims were other poor black Jamaicans. Trojan puts together (once again exactly) 50 tracks from as far back as 1965 from just about everyone who was anyone weighing in on the issue: Alton Ellis, The Heptones, Baba Brooks, Desmond Dekker, Justin Hinds, Derrick Morgan, Lee Perry, Peter Tosh, John Holt, Johnny Clarke and more. I say "just about" everyone, because there is one name that is conspicuously absent from the list: Prince Buster. It was Prince Buster after all who started the -- as we would call it now -- flame war that makes up at least one disc full of songs on this three disc set. In 1967 Prince Buster recorded his notorious "Judge Dread", in which Buster holds court to sentence Rude Boys (aptly played by his band) to "400 years". The reason for this crucial song's absence (not to mention Prince Buster's follow ups "The Appeal" and "Barrister Pardon") I suspect is because Trojan records is too cheap to pay the licensing fee to include it on this comp (remember the Trojan Mod Reggae Box? Same deal), so an otherwise definitive collection becomes a bit of a half-assed attempt. Still, there are some great tracks on this set, and if you really want to hear all sides of the story, we've managed to get more copies of the Judge Dread album by Prince Buster on CD.
RealAudio clip: BABA BROOKS & HIS BAND "Guns Fever"
RealAudio clip: ALTON ELLIS & THE FLAMES "Cry Tough"
RealAudio clip: HONEYBOY & THE VOICES "Dreader Than Dread"

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----* In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed :
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ALVARIUS B AND CEREBUS SHOAL "The Vim And Vigor Of" (North East Indie) cd 10.98
AREA "Event '76" (Akarma) cd 16.98
BOTTLE SKUP FLENKENKENMIKE "Looks Like Velvet, Smells Like Pee" (Brooklyn Beats) cd 13.98
BROKEBACK "Looks at the Bird" (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
BUCK 65 "Square" (Warner Canada) cd 15.98
CAACRINOLAS "2: Valley of the Dead" cd-r 14.98
CAROLINER "Wine Can't Do It, Wife Won't Do" 2lp 14.98
CLEANING WOMEN "Pulsator" (BadVugum2) cd 15.98
DANIELL, DAVID "Sem" (Antiopic) cd 14.98
DEAD RAVEN CHOIR "Armoured Wolves" (Jewelled Antler) cd-r 9.98
DEAD RAVEN CHOIR "Grand Ravishing Extravaganza" 3" cd-r 7.98
DRIVING STUPID, THE "Horror Asparagus Stories" (Sundazed) cd 15.98
DRUMM, KEVIN & LASSE MARHAUG "Frozen By Blizzard Winds" (Smalltown Supersound) cd 15.98
DUNGEN "Stadsvandringar" (Dolores) cd 22.00
EKTROVERDE "Arpeggio" (Bad Vugum) cd 14.98
GOLD CHAINS "The Game" (PIAS) 12" 6.98
GZA / GENIUS "Legend Of The Liquid Sword" (MCA) cd 15.98
HOLOPAW "s/t" (Sub Pop) cd 13.98
IRON LUNG / LANA "Split" (Boredom Noise) lp 8.98
JANDEK "On The Way" (Corwood) cd 8.98
JELINEK, JAN & COMPUTER SOUP (Audiosphere) cd 16.98
LEVIN, GOLAN / SCOTT GIBBONS / GREGORY SHAKAR "Dialtones" (Staalplaat) cd 14.98
LUCAS, GARY "The Edge Of Heaven: Gary Lucas Plays Mid-Century Chinese Pop" (Indigo) cd 16.98
MACLISE, ANGUS "Astral Collapse" (Quakebasket) lp 14.98
MAGIC CARPATHIANS PROJECT, THE & ZYGMUNT STENWAK "Water Dreams" (Fly Music) cd 17.98
MAIN "Transiency" (Tigerbeat6) cdep 7.98
NAKAMURA, TOSHIMARU "Vehicle" (Cubic Music) cd 15.98
NEW COLONY SIX, THE "Breakthrough" (Sundazed) cd 12.98
NOWOTTNY, MARIANNE "Illusions of the Sun" (Camera Obscura) cd 16.98
PHILEMON ARTHUR AND THE DUNG "Musikens Historia Del 1 Och 2" (Silence) cd 14.98
PHILEMON ARTHUR AND THE DUNG "The Very Pest Of" (Silence) cd 14.98
POLLARD, ROBERT "Motel of Fools" (Recordhead) cd 14.98
SADIES, THE "Stories Often Told" (Yep Roc) cd 16.98
SATYRICON "Volcano" (EMI) cd 24.00
SHIPP, MATTHEW "Equilibrium" (Thirsty Ear) cd 16.98
SMITH, SONNY "s/t" (self-released) cd 8.98
SQUIRE OF SOMERTON, THE "Transverberations" (Memphis Industries) cd
V/A "Adults Only 2" (Trojan) cd 12.98
V/A "Adults Only" (Trojan) cd 12.98
V/A "Funky Kingston: Reggae Dancefloor Grooves" (Trojan) cd 14.98
V/A "Mahagita: Harp and Vocal Music of Burma" (Smithsonian / Folkways) cd 16.98
V/A "Mollie's Mix" (Kill Rock Stars) cd 4.98
V/A "Pull Up The Paisley Covers: A Psychedelic Omnibus" (Aether) cd 14.98
V/A "Smalltown Supersampler" (Smalltown Supersound) cd 13.98
WASTELAND "Amen Fire" (Transparent) cd 15.98

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SELECTED UPCOMING RELEASES

----} January 28th or sooner (or, maybe, later)
Bonnie Prince Billy "Master And Everyone" cd/lp on Drag City
Loose Fur "s/t" cd/lp on Drag City (Jim O'Rourke, Glenn Kotche, Jeff Tweedy trio)
v/a "Love, Peace & Poetry: Brazilian Psychedelic Music" cd on QDK
Coachwhips "Get Yer Body Next Ta Mine" cd version on Narnack
Virgil Shaw "Still Falling" cd on Future Farmer
Com.a "Shot of Love" cd on Tigerbeat6
Converge "Unloved And Weeded Out" rarities collection on Deathwish Inc.
Electric Company "It's Hard To Be A Baby" cd on Tigerbeat6
Friends of Dean Martinez "On the Shore" cd on Narnack
Guitar Wolf "UFO Romantics" domestic cd on Narnack
Numbers "Death Remixes Vol. 1" and "Vol. 12" 12"s on Tigerbeat6
Sage Francis "Makeshift Patriot" LP (vinyl only!) on Anticon
Sean Creamers "I Suck On That Emotion" cd/lp on Drag City
Solace "13" cd on Meteor City
new Nonesuch Explorer series reissues (Bali, Java, South Pacific...)

----} also real soon, like maybe next week or the week after
Supersilent "6" cd on Rune Grammofon
Sensational "Natural Shine" cd on Wordsound
Spectre "Psychic Wars" cd on Wordsound
Mentol Nomad "Mentallica" cd on Wordsound
Cheval de Frise "Fresques Sur Les Parois Seccr¶tes Du CrÅne" cd on Ruminance

----} February 4th
The Raymond Scott Quintette "Microphone Music" 2cd on Basta
Lupine Howl "The Bar At The End of the World" cd on Beggars Banquet (ex-Spiritualized/Spacemen 3)
Jon Langford & His Sadies "The Mayors of the Moon" cd on Bloodshot

----} February 11th
Massive Attack "100th Window" cd on Virgin
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Nocturama" cd on Anti/Epitaph
Aislers Set "How I Learned To Write Backwards" LP on Slumberland, cd on Suicide Squeeze
Davis Redford Triad "Code Orange" cd on Holy Mountain (live + new)
John Fahey "Red Cross" cd on Revenant
Coachwhips "Get Yer body Next Ta Mine" cd on Narnack
Breast Fed Yak "Get Your Greasy Head Off The Sham" cd on Birdman (Controlled Bleeding + Tatsuya Yoshida)
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists "Heart Of Oak" cd on Lookout
Capitol Years "Live At Arlene Grocery" cd
Death By Stereo "Into The Valley of Death" cd on Epitaph
Dwayne Sodahberk "Partying Without Inhibition Or Dignity" 12"/cdep on Tigerbeat6
The Datsuns "s/t" cd reissue on V2
Supergrass "Life On Other Planets" cd
Hall & Oates "Do It For Love" cd

----} February 18th
Cat Power "You Are Free" cd/2lp on Matador
Calexico "Feast Of Fire" cd on Quarterstick
The Postal Service "Give Up" cd on Sub Pop
Dirty Three "She Has No Strings Apollo" cd on Touch and Go
Mouse On Mars "Rost Pocks - The Ep Collection" cd on Too Pure
Aereogramme "Sleep And Release" cd on Matador
Cul de Sac "Death To The Sun" cd on Strange Attractors Audio House
Gray Market Goods "s/t" 12" on Thrill Jockey (dude from Directions In Music)
Nobukazu Takemura "10th" cd/lp on Thrill Jockey
Steffen Basho-Junghans "Rivers and Bridges" cd on Strange Attractors Audio House
The Go-Betweens "Bright Yellow, Bright Orange" cd on Jetset
Blood Brothers "Rumors Laid Waste" cd on Luckyhorse
The Shipping News "Three-Four" cd on Quarterstick
Xiu Xiu "A Promise" cd on 5 Rue Christine
Ministry "Animosity" cd on Sanctuary

----} February 25th
Notwist "Neon Golden" domestic cd release on Domino USA w/ bonus tracks!
Angus Maclise "Astral Collapse" cd version on Locust
Keith Fullerton Whitman "Dartmouth Street Underpass" cd on Locust
Angels Of Light "Everything Good Here / Please Come Home" cd on Young God
Black Twig Pickers "Soon One Morning" cd on VHF
Com.a "One More Story" 12" on Tigerbeat6
The Bug vs. The Rootsman feat. Daddy Freddy / DJ/Rupture split 12"/cdep on Tigerbeat6
The Red Thread "After The Last" cd on Badman (ex-Half Film)
Turbonegro "Ass Cobra" and "Apocalpyse Dudes" cd reissues on Burningheart
v/a "You Can Never Go Fast Enough" cd/2lp on Plain (tribute to Two Lane Blacktop the movie w/ Wilco, SY, many more)
Pelican s/t cd on Hydrahead
Dissection "Live Legacy" cd on Nuclear Blast
Thomas Koner "Zyklop" 2cd on EFA
Haunted "One Kill Wonder" cd on Earache
Sonic Youth / Erase Errata "Buddy Series v1.1" expensive split 7" on Narnack
Amber Asylum "Frozen In Amber" 1st album rerelease cd on Neurot w/ 3 bonus tracks
The Majesticons "Beauty Party" cd on Big Dada

----} also in February
Blush cd on Glitterhouse (16 HP/Woven Hand soundtrack sideproject)

----} March
Kirba Afaa Xonso "Ethiopiques v. 12: Konso Music And Songs" cd on Buda
Enslaved "Below The Lights" cd (also, a DVD called "Live Retaliation" is coming out too, soon)
Woven Hand "s/t" domestic release on Sounds Familyre
Opeth "Damnation" cd on Koch
Califone tba cd/lp on Thrill Jockey
Howe Gelb "Listener" cd/lp on Thrill Jockey
SubArachnoid Space "Also Rising" cd on Strange Attractors Audio House
Marduk "Hearse" mcd & "World Funeral" full-length on Regain

----} supposedly soon, too, or maybe not -- we can't say when
Circle "Alotus" cd on Klangbad
Los Natas "Toba-Trance" cd on Ektro
Circle tba cd on Ektro
Ektroverde "Ukkossalama" 2cd on Ektro
Motelli Skronkle tba cd on Ektro
Pharaoh Overlord "2" CD/LP on No Quarter
Earth "Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars" LP on No Quarter
Halana magazine issue number 5!

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ALLAN'S D&D CONFESSIONS, ER, ADVENTURES, CONTINUE:

To recap (sort of): Allan's character, Maxar (a multiclassed 12th level Sorcerer, 1st level Barbarian) and his adventuring party have pursued their demonic foes to their stronghold, somewhere in a trackless jungle -- a sixty-foot tall temple of black obsidian, open to the air on the second level, revealing the torso of a giant ruby-eyed statue of the evil Tiger God. A 30'x30' iron cube floats in the air above the temple, slowly rotating in sinister fashion.

Teleporting in for a surgical combat strike, the party finds that the temple is protected by a magical barrier against any other than evil, chaotic alignments. Maxar and most of the other characters are rebuffed by painful shocks -- but Ran Og, the drunken monk who was previously killed and reincarnated as a mongoose, succeeds in entering the temple, only to face a demon, a mummy, and a corpse-tiger who lurk within!

Sadly, this results in the mongoose Ran Og's quick demise (for the second, and final, time). Meanwhile, outside the temple, fireballs rain down, cast by flying devils from above (who had been perched upon the floating cube). Simultaneously, the demon's army of monks pour forth, and a D&D version of Kung Fu Action Theatre commences. But Maxar's chain lightning spells and his companion Son Ute the samurai warrior's whirlwind blade attacks send many of the monks to their deaths.

At this point, the mummy and the demon unleash terrible spells as well, attempting the afflict the party with nasty diseases (Maxar makes his saving roll, whew!) and further barracading their temple with an oozing solid wall of flesh and pus. Ugh. Selsdon, the party's unwary rogue ranger, is actually sucked into the ooze-wall, but Maxar, thinking fast, teleports him 20 feet away to safety. The fight continues, with the four-armed, shark-headed psionic half-orc Wormbog (one of the good guys, not a monster!) managing to drive off the demon, who turns into a fluffy bunny and hops onto a circle of teleportation, disappearing. Not long later, however, Wormbog involuntarily follows the demon/bunny when several devils overpower him and drag his unconscious body onto the same circle.

Maxar, locked in combat with several more of these devils, is reduced to but 2 hit points (perilously close to death!) when hit by two fireballs and a devil's "enervating claw" swipe. So he has no choice but to flee, teleporting 800 feet away -- straight up, into the sun, where hopefully the devils won't be able to see him. But they do. And then a series of really bad 20-sided die rolls (three 1's and 2's in a row!) by Allan almost doom Maxar entirely... he's virtually out of spells, but his one remaining scroll of Teleportation sends him back to the castle of Son Ute's father, where he quickly gets some healing and girds up to return to the fray, his friends in dire need of reinforcement and/or rescue.

So, not a lot of sophisticated character interaction or puzzle solving this time, just pure hack n' slash. And running away...

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"I am honored to work with sound and vibrations. Those are my fields. I don't play guitar, man, to pay the rent. I play the guitar to be like the person who created the Golden Gate Bridge. It took a lot of guts for him to submit the plans, because a lot of people told him, 'It's going to cost a lot of money. It's going to take a long time, and people are going to die building it.' There it is."
-- Carlos Santana interviewed in the January/February 2003 issue of Performing Songwriter magazine, on why he looks like he's having a "transcendent moment" in pictures of him on stage playing guitar


Love,

Andee Allan Windy Byram Jim Cup Sadie and Marcy