HAACK, BRUCE The Electric Lucifer (Omni Recordings) cd 21.00
Can you imagine if "Music To Moog By" maestro Gershon Kingsley had dropped acid, joined a commune, got religion, and jammed with the Silver Apples and Lothar And The Hand People? That might approximate what the unique, wondrous psych-pop "Mooglove" of 1970's The Electric Lucifer sounds like!
YES!!! It's about time. We've always wanted this album to come out on cd. This HAD to be our Record Of The Week. Heck, years and years ago, Allan (long before he worked at Aquarius) became a bit obsessed with this record. He'd found a beat-up old LP of it at a yard sale, bought it mainly 'cause of the title and the freaky colorful cover graphics, and then was blown away by the weird music within. It's what we've described as being "perhaps the most awesomely bizarre psychedelic pre-Kraftwerk electronica album ever to be released on a major label (Columbia) or elsewhere." Allan actually went so far as to try to track down Bruce Haack for an interview, but without any luck (turns out Haack had already passed away back in 1988, a couple years before Allan discovered the record). And Allan's not the only one here at AQ to have a longtime soft spot for this record... so we're all so happy that it's finally, FINALLY been given the cd reissue treatment. It's absurd, really, that this wasn't reissued sooner. The legend of eccentric electronica pioneer Bruce Haack has only grown in recent years. There's been several compilations of his work (Hush Little Robot was the best, since it featured a couple tantalizing cuts from this album), expensive imported Japanese reissues of several of his Moog music albums for kids, a posthumous Electric Lucifer sequel from the vaults, and even a documentary released on DVD, entitled Haack - The King Of Techno! But Haack's crowning glory, his masterpiece The Electric Lucifer, wasn't available at all. Until now. And The Omni Recording Corporation (a label new to us) have done it right, even down to the very welcome notion of including a 5-minute track of silence to separate the 13 tracks of the album proper from the over thirty minutes of additional bonus material that they've added on -- which consists of a 1970 Canadian radio interview with Haack on the subject of Electric Lucifer and an alternate take of "Electric To Me Turn". The packaging is top notch as well, reproducing the amazing artwork and Haack's trippy sleevenotes from the original LP (wherein he discusses his concept of "Powerlove"), plus cramming tons of additional stuff into the thick cd booklet. There's loving liner notes by several of Haack's friends and colleagues and lots of vintage photos and graphics. Nicely done.
How can we explain the utter charm of this album? Well it's about as psychedelic as you can get, a concept album that's futuristic and Biblically ancient at the same time. Haack used an electronic "computer voice" (long before it was cliche) that he named FARAD, as well as regular human vocals, to convey deep Age of Aquarius astrological/philosophical concepts, sometimes in the form of sinister liturgies, at others like playful rhyming lullabies. These Moogy, moody and groovy compositions feature churchy organ sounds, bleeps and bloops, and rhythmic percolations that wouldn't sound out of place in the Star Wars cantina. There's lugubrious droney passages, mechanical beats, switched-on classical flourishes, and musique concrete style sound collage. Very weird *and* oh-so-catchy. It's definitely every bit as wonderful and essential as the Silver Apples albums, which we know so many AQ patrons love dearly. Again, we're so happy this has been reissued. Highest recommendation. Listen to the love angel, people!
MPEG Stream: "Electric To Me Turn"
MPEG Stream: "National Anthem To The Moon"
MPEG Stream: "Program Me "
MPEG Stream: "Word Game"

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AKITSA Sang Nordique (Hospital Productions) cd 13.98
Another long overdue reissue from these French Canadian masters of stripped down black buzz. We reviewed their amazing 2001 debut, Goetie, a few lists back, and now we've got Sang Nordique originally released in 2002, it's just as black and buzzy, offkilter and strange. And as hard as it is to believe, maybe even better than the debut, certainly weirder!
Beginning with a damaged super reverbed guitar intro, that sounds like some impossible cross between blackened surf music and a Morricone western score, featuring a gorgeously melancholy, super distorted guitar buzzing within a cloud of thick reverb, the band immediately launch into some gloriously relentless Darkthrone-ish pounding old school blackness, with looped riffage, killer blastbeats, and some super harsh hellish howls. But by the next track, they've switched gears, and are spitting out some weird sort of crusty punk rock, flecked with a little old school classic metal, sounding for the most part, minus the blackened vocals, like this could be Doom or Discharge or some missing D-beat band from the eighties. Track three, the title track, has them switching it up once again, with a strangely melodic midtempo groove, pounding out a garage-y sort of stomp, sounding not a little bit like the Brainbombs, filthy and blown out, in the red and dripping with crumbling distortion, lots of swagger and groove, but painted all sorts of black. 
The next two tracks are straight ahead D-beat black thrash, furiously frenzied blasts of buzz and howl, veering from full on black metal, to more of that sort of blackened crusty punk. But then things get super strange... The second to last track, "La Nature De Mon Pans", begins as a loping swinging dirge, all demonic howl, caveman pound, and some super stripped down riffing, until the -other- vocals come in, a monotone Jandekian drawl, a slightly atonal croon, that suddenly gives this a Circle Of Ouroborus vibe, and the track is transformed into a lurching demented, seasick downer slab of doomy crust pop, complete with soaring minor key lead guitar. Whatthefuck?!? So goddamn good! It had us almost wishing the whole record sounded like this. 
At least until the final track, a 10+ minute drone and buzzscape of rumbling low end glitches, distant reverbed drum pound and haunting vocals, like a black metal Whitehouse maybe, the whole track a grinding rumbling glacial dirge, with those creepy vocals drifting ghostlike over the machinelike murk. Another seriously amazing WTF moment on a record packed with 'em. Definitely one of our favorite weirdo black metal bands, and Sang Nordique is one of their best records for sure. We can hardly wait to get their most recent full length La Grande Infamie (from 2006) reviewed and on the list! But until then, this should most certainly hold you over...
MPEG Stream: "Riposte"
MPEG Stream: "Frontiere"
MPEG Stream: "Sang Nordique"

ANGELIC PROCESS, THE We All Die Laughing (Decaying Sun) cd ep 9.98
We went from discovering what we believed to be the only recording from this Southern blissed out doomdrone duo, to suddenly being inundated with a bunch of recordings, old AND new. We're not complaining, cuz if you're anything like us, you can NOT get enough of this sort of My Bloody Valentine metal, epic swaths of blown out beautiful heaviness that drifts and shimmers as much as it pounds and pummels. 
It's hard to know what to say about We All Die Laughing that we haven't already said about all of the other Angelic Process records, if you're a fan of stuff like Jesu, Nadja, Hjarnidaudi, odds are you're already hip to the gorgeous sounds of the Angelic Process. In iTunes, the genre comes up as 'new age' which in a way it sort of is, but it's OUR sort of new age, blissy and dreamy and washed out and soft focus and blurry and abstract, but also heavy as fuck, massive and crushing and completely overwhelmingly intense. We All Die Laughing is no exception, from the first track, which begins with a simple machinelike rhythm, and swirling ambient swells, a barely there guitar, before an avalanche of guitars drops from above, obliterating everything, somehow at once dense and heavy, yet so completely beautiful and packed with melody. Which is pretty much how the whole record stacks up, there are long stretches of low end shimmer, and simple tribal drumming, bits of ambient whir and fragmented melodies, but these are just breathers between the crushing black holes of sound, the million vacuum cleaners tuned to 'E' roar of their impossibly heavy sonic crush. You can read more of our AP gushing in any of the other reviews, but what more do we need to say, if you want it heavy, and want it beautiful, it really doesn't get more beautifully heavy than the Angelic Process. 
Packaged in slimline cases, with full color artwork, professionally printed cd-r's, each one signed by both members of the band! 
MPEG Stream: "We All Die Laughing"
MPEG Stream: "Bleedbeliever"

ASHBY, DOROTHY The Rubaiyat Of Dorothy Ashby (Dusty Groove) cd 13.98
Man, are we ever so excited to get this title, Dorothy Ashby's third and most originally authorial album with Richard Evans, The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby. Based on the mystical poetry of the eleventh century Persian astronomer, Omar Khayyam, Ashby has created ten original compositions that feature an array of far eastern instrumentation and for the first time, her voice. Sung and recited, sometimes in bewitched multi-vocal incantations, the mystical vibe is heightened by electrified harp, distorted kalimba and koto but grounded in the driving percussive and bass grooves of Richard Evans' majestic production which evokes Egyptian, Middle Eastern and Pan-Asian sensibilities. The opener, "Myself When Young," has the cinematic power of a James Bond ballad. Her voice, commanding but never over-powering, becomes more intriguing and mysterious as the album progresses, immersing us deeply into the esoteric cosmos of her muse. A truly magical record and it can't be recommended enough!
MPEG Stream: "Myself When Young"
MPEG Stream: "Wax & Wane"
MPEG Stream: "Joyful Grass & Grape"

BAKER, AIDAN / THISQUIETARMY Orange (Thisquietarmy) cd-r 8.98
Another super limited release from Mr. Aidan Baker, the first since, well, since the last list in fact, but as with that disc, Figures, this one too holds up just as well as any of his other numerous releases, and as usual the more we listen to it, the more we discover and dig about it. Unlike Figures, which was Baker in slowcore band mode, this is the slow languorous drone sound we originally fell in love with way back when. Orange finds Baker hooking up with another sonically like minded individual, Eric Quach, who records as Thisquietarmy. It seems both have a thing for the dark and drone-y, the lush and laid back, a world of expansive slowly shimmering deep ambience, as Orange demonstrates. Four tracks clocking in at 30 minutes, Orange is a darkly gorgeous drift in four movements, shifting lazily from dense rumbling reverberant low end explorations, to airy soft focus flutter, to lumbering slow motion whir, to subtly melodic epic cinematic ambience. It's hard to know what else to say about this stuff, other than it's gorgeous, dreamy, serene, haunting and so so so beautiful. As if there was anything else you needed to know. 
Packaged in an orange, yellow, red and white sleeve and pressed on a cool matching silver/orange cd-r. 
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!!!
MPEG Stream: "Agent"
MPEG Stream: "Mandarin"

BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL Birds Call Home Their Dead (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd 17.98
Latest blast of brutal beauty from the Kiwi king of soft noise, Campbell Kneale, aka Birchville Cat Motel. Birds Call Home Their Dead is a three track epic, packaged in new ultra fancy packaging (more on that in a sec) and as always as lovely and dreamy as it is harsh and heavy. The opener, the title track, is nearly a half hour, beginning with layers of slowly shifting keyboard swells, little clouds of glitch and buzz, and a slowly developing krautrock beat. The keyboards sound like some damaged loop, yanked out of "Baba O'Reilley" and turned inside out, allowed to shimmer and shake, and to eventually erupt into a thick coruscating wash of jagged buzz and swirling noise. The drums remain an incessant pulse, like a Can rhythm track dropped into a Dead C b-side, and everything run through Kneale's magical bank of special FX. Like a supercharged outerspace noiserock Godspeed or something, that builds and builds and builds until the whole thing explodes into a full on in the red space rock free jam, like Monster Magnet, Hawkwind, F/i, Mugstar, the Telescopes, Circle and the Heads all jamming simultaneously. A dense cloud of FX, psych guitar, clouds of swirl and shimmer, streaks of feedback, walls of amp buzz and high end skree, all hovering over that unstoppable motorik beat. Eventually, the guitars drift off leaving just some strange random clattery and the sound of birds and insects and nature. 
The second track is a brief burst of gorgeously languid high end shimmer, layers of guitar and tangled melodies as well as deep reverberant swells all woven into a swaying static sound field of notes beating against one another amidst a dreamlike raga drift. A pretty killer one two punch. 
And as if that wasn't enough, for those of you who snoozed and losed on the recent ridiculously limited tour only cd-r Her Anger Is Limitless, well, you're in luck, cuz that whole disc is tacked on here as track number three. A single half hour track, created out of what sounds like manipulate samples of voices, is transformed into a massive glistening technicolor shower of sound. You know how when it's crazy hot, kids open up the hydrants and just run around in the street as tons of cool water rains down on them. Imagine a similar situation, except when the hydrant is cracked, out comes thick torrents of billowy fuzz and grinding whir, all sparkling and dense and warm and thick, and you just close your eyes and let the sounds wash over you and fill your ears. It sounds like a million guitars, and guys outside cutting down trees and tossing them in the wood chipper and some sort of futuristic synth battle and thousands of little bells and chimes and a roomful of amps turned on and buzzing with no instruments plugged into them, all smeared into one gorgeous glimmering sonic deluge.
As always, so absolutely amazing. And as we mentioned before, this is the first release in the swank new Celebrate Psi packaging, a full color, eight paneled digipak style sleeve, the outside retaining the CPsiP wallpaper motif, but the inside offering all sorts of gorgeous photos and some minimal liner notes, with the cd affixed to a little foam nub on one of the panels. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Birds Call Home Their Dead (excerpt)"
MPEG Stream: "Her Anger Is Limitless (excerpt)"

BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL Bird Sister Blasphemy (Battlecruiser / Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd 11.98
Bird Sister Blasphemy is the most recent release on Battlecruiser, the outsider metal sublabel of the mighty Celebrate Psi Phenomenon which in the past has birthed such hellish AQ faves as Black Boned Angel, Mirag, Mrtyu, Wardagger, Wings Of Vengeance, Wolfskull, You Should Have Slain Me, Ghoul, Ming, Cicadashrine and The Cops among others. This is the first time a Birchville disc has found its way onto Battlecruiser, but once you hear it you'll understand why. A sort of a dark side addendum to the also just released (and reviewed elsewhere on this list) full length Birds Call Home Their Dead. Four songs, twenty six minutes, a no brainer if you're a BCM fan obviously, and especially if you just bought Birds Call Home Their Dead. The first track begins a dark meandering drone before the band launches into what sounds remarkably like a blown out version of the intro to Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher", and the song just sort of locks into step right there, turning that sort-of-intro, into a looped free-rock space jam, relentless drum pound, swirling clouds of freaked out FX, throbbing rumbling bass, and squiggly guitars and synths all over the place. The second track is like the harshest buzziest black metal record, made somehow even more harsh and buzzy, a relentless blast of blown out white noise fury, with some semblance of rock, buried way way way way down in the mix. Track three is some sort of tribal ur-drone free-skree raga workout, with layers of buzz and drone, what sounds like guitars and bagpipes and clouds of feedback and amp buzz and thick swells of screech and shimmer, all underpinned by a relentless drum corps krautrock rhythm jam. The title track finishes things off, and manages to take all the sounds from the first three songs and blow them to smithereens, whatever color comes after red as in "in-the-red", that's where this track is, pegged WAY beyond the red, a wall of vacuum cleaner guitar and squealing horn skree and some wild tribal drumming, relentless and circular, threatening to shred ear drums and speakers, before drifting off in a soft swirl coda of chants and mumbled percussive flutter. Phew. Maybe not as metallic as many  of the Battlecruiser releases, but in no way is this the softest or the easiest on the ears. Fierce and furious and dense and harsh, but as with most BCM stuff with plenty of melody lurking within the chaos. 
Bird Sister Blasphemy definitely holds up on its own, and is as good as anything in the series, but once you dive in, it's easy to hear the sonic connection to its Birds Call Home Their Dead big brother, and it's equally easy to see that you probably need both!
MPEG Stream: "Powder Slave"
MPEG Stream: "Tonal Fire Antichrist"

BLARKE BAYER / BONE SHERRIFF Split (Sweatlung) cd 9.98
More amazing and freaked out noisy bliss from down under, this time a tag team match up between Black Widow, aka Rob MacManus from the Grey Daturas, and Blarke Bayer, Ben from Aussie grinders Agents Of Abhorrence, who have probably toured together a million times and played in tons  of bands together, but this is the first recorded document we've seen of the two teaming up for some serious noisemaking. 
Although noisemaking might be misleading, as this is actually more drone-y and ambient than it is noisy. Thick washes of crumbling guitars move glacially over bits of percussive skitter, slivers of feedback surface here and there, some simple tribal thump, all nestled amidst lots of low end rumble. Imagine a much more subdued SUNNO))) and you might have a rough idea. But that's only the first track (of three). The second track sounds like someone playing the inside of a piano, lots of buzzing steel strings, scraping and haunting low end reverberations, someone is obviously on the outside of the piano too, pounding out simple creepy low end chords, the result is like some super abstract Argento soundtrack, moody, mysterious and intense, becoming more and more abstract and 'free' as the piece progresses, as if each player, on the inside AND outside of the piano are quickly pulling it apart into a pile of splintered wood and broken steel strings. 
The final track, the shortest of the three, is also the dreamiest, with a simple minor key guitar figure drifting in a wide open expanse of muted percussive swirls, and dense tangles of finger picked melodies, the whole thing sounding like the soundtrack to some experimental western, like if anyone ever dared remake Jodorowsky, it wouldn't be a long stretch to imagine this as the perfect music to accompany some of that gorgeously unsettling Jodorowsky imagery.
Surprisingly subtle and really cool. 
MPEG Stream: "Maria Of Puerto Montt"
MPEG Stream: "Alone In Tierra Del Fuego"

BROTHERS OF THE OCCULT SISTERHOOD Enter The Cult Until The Dust To Represent The World Has Discovered The Hallucinogens And Bent Us To Their Use (Music Your Mind Will Love) 3cd-r 24.00
Latest expansive excursion into the wild forests of sound and the unexplored sonic wilderness of this Australian outfit. We first heard Brothers Of The Occult Sisterhood back in 2005, when they released a disc on Campbell Kneale's Celebrate Psi Phenomenon label, and since then a slow but steady stream of releases have surfaced on other underground labels like Root Strata, Digitalis, Students Of Decay and now Music Your Mind Will Love. Fans of any or all of those labels will undoubtedly know what to expect, a ramshackle assemblage of fractured folk, abstract ambience, and rambling shambling free rock drift. Much like the title, Enter The Cult Until The Dust To Represent The World Has Discovered The Hallucinogens And Bent Us To Their Use, this musical missive is looooong, a massive triple disc sonic sprawl, the band's sound allowed to unfurl and spread out unchecked, and as with most bands of this ilk, it suits them, they definitely flourish given enough space, their music like weeds in a garden, getting all tangled up with everything, and then when you least expect it, blossoming with multi colored flowers and gorgeous foliage. 
A dizzying swirl of stumbling acoustic guitar, fluttering flute. simple childlike rhythms, voices chanting and shouting as often as singing, primitive FX, analog synths, hand drums, shakers and chimes, handmade electronics, crumbling distortion, industrial clatter, psychrock guitars, all cobbled together into a super inventive, Rube Goldberg-esque musical contraption held together by vines and branches, sticks and twigs and stones, that emits, delicate spidery folk rock, intense damaged psychedelic freakout, wandering ambient clatter, percussive free noise, primitive tribalism and every variation in between. 
No Neck Blues Band, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Avarus, Kemialliset Ystavat all travel a similarly shambolic and spiritual sonic path... so amazing. 
Super limited, packaged in a massive eight panel handpainted fold out sleeve, every one unique, with two printed inserts and held shut by a textured paper obi.
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "3"

COLTRANE, ALICE Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana (Wounded Bird) cd 15.98
Last year, a few months before her passing a few of us here were lucky enough to see Alice Coltrane live at one of her last performances ever. It was a night we will never forget. She is one of the few people whose mere presence gives us goosebumps and effects our soul in such a tangible way. We thought it would be nice to shine some light on one of her lesser known albums which we feel is one of the best records she ever made. Alice Coltrane would always be the first to say that she was not just a jazz musician. There was a higher calling to her music making, a wider sphere of influence she was drawing from. Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana is one of the most beautiful examples of her extraordinary range. While much of her music had a huge Eastern influence it's on this record where she really let the spiritual side flourish with most amazing results. A series of devotional chanting songs, with Alice backing a vocal choir on Fender Rhodes and organ along with a couple traditional Indian songs, Coltrane absolutely soars on these tracks. One number here is a short but stunning song with her majestic harp accompanied only with Tamboura and the albums closer is an 18+ minute fantastical odyssey with Alice on her Wurlitzer organ channeling outerspace sounds like only she could, with John Coltrane Jr. on drums. The chanting songs are fantastical psychedelic hymns with elements of pop mixed in, throbbing and pulsating, elevating the songs to a greater place. We can imagine that this record has had a huge influence on folks like Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear) as it's a striking example of using vocal chants, repetition and melody to reach harmonic bliss!
Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana is an album from the heavens. While words like soulful and spiritual are used so much that they often lose their meaning this is the real deal. These are sounds that not only uplift the spirit but also move us in a way few artists are ever able to. Alice Coltrane was one of the truly special ones. Of course we have to urge you to get many of her other albums too, as they are some of the best records ever made (all hyperbole aside, really)! Check out Journey In Satchidananda, World Galaxy and A Monastic Trio which are three of our all time favorites... We will miss her so much but luckily her spirit lives on within her amazing music.
MPEG Stream: "Govinda Jai Jai"
MPEG Stream: "Prema Muditha"
MPEG Stream: "Om Namah Sivaya"

DOOMRIDERS VS. BORIS Long Hair And Tights (Daymare) 2lp 49.00
First in a super limited series of lp-only releases from everyone's favorite Japanese doom-drone-psych-rock overachievers Boris! For this limited double lp, they've teamed up with Boston's Doomriders, which just so happens to feature members of Converge, Old Man Gloom, There Were Wires and more...
These records capture live shows recorded back in 2006 when the two bands toured together. 
The Doomriders for those who don't know, are a straight up Motorheady rock and roll band, they even start their set with a bellowing roar: "We are the Doomriders from Boston, and WE PLAY ROCK AND ROLL!!!" And they do, pounding and simple, not thrashing or blasting just riff heavy big drum blasts of kick ass RAWK. The perfect sonic match up for the more rock side of Boris. 
The first track, though, on one of Boris' two lp sides had us fooled, a massive churning droned out low end sludge, the heaviest thing we've heard from them since Flood (not counting the Altar collab with SUNN) but after that it's back to the full blown, in the red, ultra distorted pedal to the metal blasting Pink-style wild psychedelic garage rock stomp that have become their modern sound. And it sounds great. Super saturated production, amazing sound, loud Loud LOUD!!! Obviously essential for all you Boris freeks...
And of course super elaborate packaging as always. Deluxe metallic gold gatefold, super thick stock, killer Screaming For Vengeance Judas Priest homage artwork, clear yellow vinyl...
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES, half red, half yellow, the copies we have are yellow, and this is ALREADY SOLD OUT and selling for crazy $$$ on eBay. We tried to get 100 copies, and got less than half that. Needless to say these will be gone before you know it. ONE PER CUSTOMER. 

DROMMER Oceans (E.E.E. Recordings) cd-r 8.98
Still more bizarre and amazing unblackness from one of our favorite new record labels, E.E.E. Recordings. The home of the cream of the UNblack metal crop. For those of you who have yet to discover unblackness, well, quite simply, it's christian black metal, which we know, seems like it would not compute, and for lots of folks it doesn't, since black metal is predicated on the message more than the music, but fuck it, some of the best black metal we've heard in the last few years has been from un-black bands. However, we almost don't need to have this discussion here since Drommer are not Christian, and are not really black metal. The are, according to the label 'non-religious dark ambient', but the music of Drommer is way to weird and varied to be summed up that simply. It most certainyl is dark, and ambient, at least sort of, hard to gauge the religious part as they are instrumental and ambient. 
But dark ambient gives the impression of swooshiness and dreaminess and drifty droniness, but this, the third disc we've reviewed from Drommer is so much more. 
Our favorite track might be "Shallow Water Residence", a swirling squall of crumbling white noise chopped and layered over moody mournful piano, the two elements constantly battling, it's quite intense and dramatic. But the rest of the record is just as unexpectedly amazing. The opener, "Oceans", is a long stretch of decayed drones, wavering and beating against one another, emitting sporadic rhythms, and coalescing occasionally into fragmented melodies, all very buzzed out and fuzzy, and with a constant tense minor key quality to it, almost like a Niblock piece recorded onto some old tape in William Basinski's attic. A lot of the record sounds like the sort of ambience one might expect to find on a Wold record. All damaged and corrupted, the sound quality so degraded that the imperfections are like another part of the composition. But then all of a sudden, the band will whip out some crazy majestic slab of moody instrumentalism like on "Ashen Sea Of Grey", the beginning of which sounds like it came straight off a Daniel Higgs record, before halfway through it splinters into shortwave interference, and becomes some murky childlike lullabye. Then there's the final track, all simple percussion and dramatic acoustic strum, like the rough mix of some lost Woven Hand song or a Nick Cave outtake, albeit peppered with strange digital glitchery and buzzy reverb... 
This record is just so gorgeously demented, and unpredictably intense. Imagine if you can, Tim Hecker making (un)black ambient music, and you'd get a rough idea, but Drommer is way more schizophrenic, somehow without losing cohesiveness, every bizarre twist, or jarring shift, sounds completely natural, it's almost like Oceans is the soundtrack for the strangest film you've never seen. One of our new favorite records for sure... black, unblack or otherwise. 
MPEG Stream: "Oceans"
MPEG Stream: "Black Moon Float"
MPEG Stream: "Alive In Tears"

EGONOIR Der Pfad Zum Fluss (Amortout) cd 11.98
From the same label that brought us music from Bethlehem, Costes and the debut/swansong recording from SF's The Gault (featuring members of legendary SFBM outfit Weakling) and which just so happens to be run by the guys in Diamatregon (who have a record out on Andee's tUMULt label, and a new one on the way!) comes this bizarre black beauty, the debut full length from bizarre German black horde Egonoir. 
The label mentions the usual blackbuzz culprits in their description of Egonoir: Burzum, Leviathan, Bethlehem, Strid, Manes, and while it does have much in common with those obvious influences, it is somehow so much more. Darker, moodier, more melancholy, prettier, and definitely weirder. 
The root sound is a slow crawl, a barely midtempo buzzing Burzumic plod, with harsh vocals, and blown out guitars, but the whole thing is wreathed in a strange smoky production, making everything fuzzy and murky and muted and strangely lovely. The tracks often drift into swirling ambience, with the buzzing guitars transformed into amorphous clouds of foggy blurry guitar, a backdrop to the lilting melodies in the foreground. 
Then there are the vocals, that range from harsh howls, demonic growls to haunting crooning, but the strangest thing, and what makes Egonoir sound so unique, is the bizarre humming/crooning that lurks beneath the more traditionally blackened vocals, almost like American Music Club or Crash Test Dummies or Leonard Cohen, drifting darkly and melodically beneath the buzzing crawl... at some points female vocals drift into the picture, and suddenly it's a black metal Mazzy Star, almost, it's these creepy beautiful vocals that make this sound like some ultra depressing black metal lounge band, performing at some blackened dive perched on the edge of the abyss, flames licking at the foundation, the facade illuminated by buzzing black neon signs, and packed with a motley crew of hellish beats and down on their luck, southward headed earthlings. 
Lots of acoustic guitars (a couple tracks are mostly acoustic), muted wandering bass lines, gorgeously sorrowful melodies, those crooning humming vocals, loping seasick tempos, arpeggiated guitars, hushed monk-like chants, snippets of German wartime speeches, all wrapped in thick swaths of buzz and reverb, slowly drifting, like some buzzy black dream. 
Fans of all things depressive and slow, blackened and Burzumic, fuzzy and washed out, will freak for this. If Make A Change... Kill Yourself, Burzum, Xasthur, Nortt, Inferi and the like are your late night downer black metal soundtrack, Egonoir might just be perfect for those bleak early morning hours after a long night of misery and hopelessness...
Or as the label so succinctly puts it: "Total psycho dark metal, noir, noir, noir."
MPEG Stream: "Der Pfad Zum Fluss"
MPEG Stream: "Ego Noir Teil7"

ELGIBBOR Apolutrosis (E.E.E. Recordings) cd-r 8.98
More unblack metal, this time from way off in Poland, probably most notable, metalwise at least, for the mighty Graveland, but this, the 2004 release from Elgibbor, now remastered, remixed and re-released, has very little to do with Graveland, sonically, religiously, or politically. 
The sound of Elgibbor like much of the stuff on E.E.E., the home to most of the crucial white metal being produced and released these days, is utterly bizarre, all over the map, with a wide range of sounds and songs and even production qualities. The opener is super fast, completely distorted and ultra blown out, the drums and guitars and vocals, become one thick layer of buzz, so fast and distorted it almost sounds like some sort of noise record, but close listening does reveal some furious blasting and some intense buzzing riffage, the weirdest part is the keyboard, which hovers and lurks underneath the buzz, almost as if it had nothing to do with the songs themselves, a bit of random ambience, deep keyboard swells that ebb and flow hauntingly in the background, beneath a thick sheet of blacknoise. But then there's the second track, all clean reverbed guitars, distant chug, simple way-up-in-the-mix drumming, and super emotive actual singing. Like some strange deconstructed metallic pop. Song number three confuses things even more, with some midtempo Burzumic buzz, but with some strange glitched out rhythms, and some ultra distorted garbled vocals, it almost sounds like some sort of unearthed DHR demo. It goes on and on like that, some swirly ambient swirl, muted black metal blurred into soft focus fuzzed out dreaminess, some super strange techno-black metal, with rhythms that sound like boiling liquid, while all around it guitars churn and vocals howl, and probably our favorite song "Awesome God", that sounds like a choir singing hymns with black buzz wrapped all around it, the results are less evil than they are totally bizarre, it's like a Merzbow remix of Wold covering Incredible String Band. Worth it for that track alone, but the rest of the record is just as far out and fucked. Once again, the unblack bands are upping the ante on truly damaged demented and inspired musical 'blackness'.
MPEG Stream: "Annouchnou Ro'im (We See Jesus)"
MPEG Stream: "Psalm 42"
MPEG Stream: "Isaiah 60: 19-22"
MPEG Stream: "Psalm 43 (My God)"

EROC Eroc 1 (Universal) cd 17.98
This is a Krautrock masterpiece!!! This cd reissue of the 1975 debut release by Eroc has totally floored us. Eroc's the solo project of Joachim Heinz Ehrig, who was the drummer in Grobschnitt. He used his solo project as a way to explore electronics, cutups and sound collage all surrounding totally beautiful & harmonic instrumental pieces. Of the albums he made under the Eroc moniker this is the one that shimmers with the most beauty while still showing his crazy range and unpredictability. From the blissed out to the bizarre, Eroc 1 is one of those records that you can't believe you've never heard before, and one that once heard will surely go down as one of your favorite psych/kraut/prog gems of the '70s.
Every time this plays in the store, someone in the back inevitably comes up front to see what the heck is playing. And often they begin to think that if this keeps up, they just might just have a new favorite record. Striking the perfect balance between experimentation and melody, Eroc melded the use of modular synthesizers, tape, overdubs, sound generators, guitars and percussion into an incredibly forward thinking, densely layered, crazily original sound. There is a golden sonic glow reminiscent of the best moments of Cluster / Harmonia, every track is fantastic and original, each one drives us wild, and the four bonus tracks on this collection are just as good as any of the tracks on the album proper! You can hear the early blueprints of so many musical movements that would take shape in the decades following Eroc's 1975 debut. Moments of dreaminess that foreshadow Durutti Column, glimmering electronics that anyone on Morr Music would kill for, and an integration of so many elements that sonically predate groups like Fridge by decades! We can imagine Andy Votel (Prog Is Not A 4 Letter Word, Finders Keepers) freaking out over this album much like Julian Cope who sang this disc's praises on his Head Heritage website.
And certainly all of us here at AQ have discovered a record that is pretty much a shoe-in for many of our all time favorite lists!
MPEG Stream: "Kleine Eva"
MPEG Stream: "Norderland"
MPEG Stream: "Sternchen"

FOVEA HEX Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent 3: Allure (Die Stadt) cd 16.98
The third and final installment in a series of short-form but jewel-like eps from this ethereal and esoteric collective project. Centered by Clodagh Simond's (Mellow Candle, Current 93) magisterial vocals and featuring a superstar roster of players, which this time around includes Robert Fripp, John Contreras, Steven Wilson, Michael Begg, and Percy Jones with overall production overseen by Colin Potter. Subtitled "Allure" (the first was "Bloom", the second "Huge"), the arrangements are still haunting and cathedral-like but at the start tethered in more traditional structures with harmonium, zither and strings setting up the mood before dissipating into the gossamer of treated guitars, tonal harmonics and ambient drones. The appearance of Robert Fripp's beguiling guitar theatrics on "Long Distance" nicely underscores Simond's climactic vocal incantations and treated bohdran percussive rhythms before settling into the third and final act, a beautifully charged and vocal-less epiphany of melancholy and fragility that like its title is neither spoken nor silent, but exists in that rarified space of being satisfyingly unsolved.
MPEG Stream: "Allure"
MPEG Stream: "Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent"

GARRICK, MICHAEL TRIO Moonscape (Trunk) cd 16.98
British pianist and bandleader Michael Garrick is probably not too well known in these parts, but his 1964 debut, Moonscape is still something of a legend in England. Released as a 10" record in a run of 100 copies, it's probably one of the most collectable British Jazz records ever made and for good reason. Sprightly and pastoral, yet tightly wound and at times completely unhinged, the piano melodies, reminiscent of the best Vince Guaraldi albums, wrap swimmingly around your head while the drums and bass propel your body with mad-dog intensity. Perplexing titles like, "Music for Shattering Supermarkets" and "Man, Have You Ever Heard" coupled with the enigmatic titular cover art lend an intriguing figure to the sounds inside. Not quite cosmic, yet anything but pedestrian. Since this was originally a 10" record, this is rather a short set, clocking in about 22 minutes. We suggest you put your player on repeat, because it's worth hearing all day.
MPEG Stream: "Music For Shattering Supermarkets"
MPEG Stream: "Sketches of Israel"

HORSEBACK Impale Golden Horn (Burly Time) cd 13.98
Drone records are a dime a dozen these days. Not that we don't love drone records, we do. In fact, often we're way too easy on the purveyors of drone, since the very essence of that sound, is so simple, and yet so completely satisfying to listen to. A guitar against the amp, a handful of keys on a keyboard held down, a loop cycled over and over and over, almost any sound smeared into a near static drift, we could listen to that stuff forever, and often do. But it's the rare drone record that uses the drone as just the jumping off point, as a foundation upon which to build a fragile and ephemeral structure of minimal melody and movement, instead of the beginning AND end. Stars Of The Lid are a good example, as is William Basinski, Tim Hecker and a handful of others. 
Horseback too. We were sent this disc out of the blue and immediately fell in love. Only later to discover that this was the work of a faithful AQ mailorder customer by the name of Jenks Miller! Small world. Horseback is most definitely a drone record, but manages to incorporate plenty of not specifically drone-like sounds. At once massive and dense, dark and distorted, but also ephemeral and airy, soaring and dreamlike. The root of the sound is a guitar, or guitars, allowed to reverberate and ring out, unfurling billowing clouds of distorted buzz and whir, that settles on the speaker like a thick blanket of snow, glistening and blinding, but at the same time warm and enveloping. The guitars pulse and swell, melodies drifting in and out, streaks of feedback, all wound up into a huge softly roiling glowing orb of sound. 
It's almost unfair to call this a drone record, as it's so lush, and rich, and full of motion, sprawling out like some sort of sonic sunrise, the sounds gradually changing color, everything shifting and shimmering and transforming subtly as the record progresses. So much more than just a simple 'drone' record. In fact, it's easy to hear Galaxie 500, Spacemen 3, Loop, Flying Saucer Attack, that sort of spaced out doped up drift, all smeared into Horseback's haunting sun dappled world of slow burning sound.
Elsewhere piano drifts amidst the dense guitar swells, and rhythms are provided by pulsing guitars and various sounds beating against one another. Vocals hover way below the surface, barely audible, but adding another layer of lilting mystery, near the end, the guitars peel back gradually revealing a blurry expanse of swirling cymbals and splattery free jazz percussion, all spread out into a buzzy sizzling swirl, over which the final haunting piano notes drift and fade. So gorgeous. Absolutely one of our favorite new records, a practically perfect fade-out-drift-off-drone-dream-disc, and quite an auspicious start for this brand new label...
MPEG Stream: "Finale"
MPEG Stream: "The Golden Horn"

KHANATE It's Cold When Birds Fall From The Sky (aRCHIVE) cd 13.98
Those heavier (and angstier) than thou sludge dooooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooom lordz Khanate may have called it quits, but thanks to the aptly named aRCHIVE label, their fans still have some lost, low-end transmissions from beyond the grave heading their way.
This one was previously released a while back by aRCHIVE in a 500 copy edition, and has now been remastered and repressed in an edition of 1000, with new layout, tri-fold cover, vellum obi -- all the expected excellent design for which both Khanate's Stephen O'Malley and the aRCHIVE label are known -- and comes sealed in one of those silvery metallic plastic "static shield" bags. Recorded live in the USA during Khanate's final tour in 2005, it features three long tracks, renditions of "Capture", "Release", and "Pieces Of Quiet". Each track is utterly agonized, distorted bass drones split by shrieks and silence, with drumming that gives this a perverse free jazz feel. As tombstones go, this (and also its companion, Live In Stockholm) is awful dense and heavy, cracked and crumbling.
SICK AND LIMITED! Buy now and/or cry later (either way).
MPEG Stream: "Capture"

KHANATE Live In Stockholm (aRCHIVE) cd 13.98
Those heavier (and angstier) than thou sludge dooooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooom lordz Khanate may have called it quits, but thanks to the aptly named aRCHIVE label, their fans still have some lost, low-end transmissions from beyond the grave heading their way.
This one was previously released as a tour-only cd-r limited to fewer than 75 copies, but is now available (for the moment!) as a remastered cd pressing in an edition of 1000 copies, with new layout, tri-fold cover, vellum obi -- all the expected excellent design for which both Khanate's Stephen O'Malley and the aRCHIVE label are known -- and comes sealed in one of those silvery metallic plastic "static shield" bags. The three long tracks here, "Fields", "Pieces Of Quiet", and "Under Rotting Sky", were recorded live on tour in Sweden in 2004. The sound of wretched life, wretched death incarnate, extended trawls through ugly feedback and gorgeous shimmer, lumbering dirge catastrophe to the utter extreme that pretty much only Khanate has pushed it. We hope it was cathartic for them, and any listeners who didn't just run for cover, or curl up under the hot water in the bathtub with bleeding wrists...
SICK AND LIMITED! Buy now and/or cry later (either way).
MPEG Stream: "Under Rotting Sky"

LIFELOVER Pulver (Goatowarex) cd 14.98
Finally, the debut from these Swedish twisted doom pop black metal freeks is available once again. We listed record number two, Erotik, a while back, and like us, everybody freaked out, digging these guys' strangely off kilter black melancholia, so much that we had trouble keeping it in stock. Like a damaged, blackened Katatonia, Lifelover are creating some of the most original and not entirely black, black metal we've heard in ages. 
On the same label that brought us discs from Bone Awl, Urfaust, Planet Aids, Vrolok, Emit, Gauhaert, Lifelover's sound couldn't have been further from what we were expecting. Our first clue should have been the cover art. A series of photos of a nude blonde woman, covered in blood, reclining in lush grass and blossoming wildflowers. Inside, old woodcuts, photos of boats, apartment buildings, and then the creepy band photos, featuring all four members, the strangely named (), B, LR and 1853.
But what exactly does it sound like? Well, Katatonia is definitely a good starting point, super moody and melancholic, soaring and dramatic, guitars that do almost everything else but buzz, jangle, strum, shimmer, keen, roar, and ok, maybe they buzz a bit, but they tend to be much more melodic than textural, although the sounds is definitely lush and layered. The arrangements are simple, but never straight forward, there is piano all over the place, the vocals are wild and unkempt, howling and hysterical,  sometimes haunting and spoken, drenched in reverb, the drums go from simple time keeping to strange stumble to thunderous pound usually during the same song, and amidst and within the music are all manner of samples and found sounds, Swedish folk songs, panicked crowds, weird voices, record crackle, amp buzz, and lots of other indescribably sonic events. 
It's easy to hear some Factory records here, some Joy Division for sure, definitely a bit of the Fall, Gang Of Four. Minus the metallic buzz and the unhinged vocals, these guys might even be entering Interpol / Editors territory. A sort of modern moody new wave. Downcast and introspective, but with Lifelover, it all ends up completely twisted and damaged and a bit buzzy. In a very very good way. There's been much discussion here about which Lifelover record is better, Pulver or Erotik, and the split is pretty even, but no matter which side anyone falls on, they definitely agree that BOTH are absolutely essential.
MPEG Stream: "Nackskott"
MPEG Stream: "M/S Salmonella"
MPEG Stream: "Mitt Oppna Oga"
MPEG Stream: "Stockholm"

MOLJEBKA PVLSE Sadalsuud (Some Place Else) cd 15.98
Latest disc of sonic exploration from this Swedish dronescaping ensemble. With such a darkly minimal sound, it's amazing that, at least for this recording. Moljebka Pvlse included ten members! Credited, with among other things, sounds (yep, just 'sounds'), no-input mixing board, synthesizers, melodica, field recording, cymbals, guitar, voices, flute, electric piano, text, didgeridoo, mbira and supercollider(!), this expansive ensemble takes all of that and manages to distill it into the darkest and simplest of sounds. A nearly seventy minute single piece, slowly sprawling out from a stretch of barely there shimmer into gradually more and more active low end minimalism. Long drawn out tones, mysterious bits of glitch and click, haunting voices, moaning and mumbling, chanting and intoning, bits of creaking and tiny swirls of FX, deep swells of synth and barely discernible rhythms, everything constantly shifting and gradually changing shapes, some parts almost coalescing into fragmented bits of actual pop (albeit stripped down and smeared), while others are mostly melody free, remaining stretched out and abstract. Quite sinister and lovely, dark and subtly intense, not all that far removed from the sounds of Troum and Thomas Koner and other practitioners of the drone and drift. Which as avid AQ customers should realize, is indeed a very good thing. 
MPEG Stream: "Sadalsuud (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Sadalsuud (excerpt 2)"

NAV Halls Of Death (Assault Records) cd 13.98
We had the lp version of this bleak black slab of blown out Russian blackness from Nav (featuring folks from AQ faves Old Wainds) a while back, and now we finally got it on cd...
Very much like how all the black metal bands in the Ukraine seem to be made up of the same 5 or 10 people, just in different combinations, black metal bands in Russia also tend to revolve around the same 2 or 3 visionaries, along with whatever black legions they can enlist from their little scene to help shape their black musical world.
We've reviewed a handful of discs from Russian cult underground legends Old Wainds over the last year, who as we mentioned in those reviews, are THE grim cult horde of choice among the black metal elite. And almost appropriately, all of their records seem to be way more difficult to track down than they should be, and thus of course, seem to always eventually end up seriously big ticket items on eBay.
So here we have the group Nav, also known in Russian as HABb, a black metal band made up of 50 percent of Old Wainds, primarily the project of Old Wainds drummer Izbor, so as you might imagine, the sound does not wander far from Old Wainds' grim frosty buzz. Which is of course a good thing. The same sort of fuzzed out primitivism, a gloriously murky production. But Nav add plenty of their own unique style, everything is so strangely mixed, with loud LOUD drums and guitars that swirl into a nearly impenetrable blackened haze. Demonic vocals that go from buried way down in the mix to a blown out raspy roar often within the same song, and bits of chaotic rhythmic stumble and haunting ambient weirdness, complete with the thunderous sound of horses hooves.
And unlike the straight black buzz of Old Wainds, Nav sounds a slight bit more melodic, with much of the riffing displaying a classic metal vibe, as well as rhythms that vary from the old black stand-by, the blast beat, lurching lopes, galloping thrash, pounding doom, lots of fuzzed out midtempos, all twisted amidst some strange breakdowns, where the rhythms constantly shift and the riffs contort and morph into slightly different shapes, there are even some super demented LEADS! Still, all the while the band continues to forge a wholly unique pitch black path. Fans of all things dark and frosty and cult and grim would do well to bow before the black knights of Nav!
MPEG Stream: "Halls Of Death"
MPEG Stream: "Galloping From The Blizzard's Heart"
MPEG Stream: "Icy Armour On The Peak Of The World"

OSWALT, PATTON Werewolves And Lollipops (Sub Pop) cd+dvd 14.98
Try some Werewolves And Lollipops on your funny bone! If you share our sense of blackened humor, we're sure you'll find Patton Oswalt's second album to be a perfect fit... especially because this cd of his live stand-up in Austin, TX in December 2006 comes with a dvd of his live stand up in Athens, GA two months earlier (and doin' some other stuff too)! In our opinion his Athens show is not as 'on' as the one in Austin, but nevertheless his Jonathan-Winters-in-miniature, stubbled, disgruntled grimace is just as entertaining to see as it is to hear. While he certainly shares with his buddy David Cross the deep influence of the Bill Hicks and George Carlin school of scathing yet insightful social political humor, he also shares with another fellow stand-up Dave Attell a penchant for liquor'd up, absurdist, saucy bon mots. He deftly juggles all of that while infusing the proceedings with his own ever present pottymouth, comic book geekiness and self deprecation.
This show took place at the Cap City Comedy Club in December 2006, and the only segments here that we recognize from a previous recording are the reworked versions of his Racist Cell Phones and Best Baby In The Universe bits (not that we're complaining... the latter is one of his best). You might recall that the original appeared on his unedited 222 Live & Uncut double cd that was released a few years back by the Chunklet Magazine folks (it didn't appear on the edited version of that show which was titled Feelin' Kinda Patton though). That means for those of you who haven't seen him perform live in the last couple years, you get 21 tracks of previously unheard hilarity. Awesome! Keep your ears peeled for his mention of Brian Dennehy and his explanation of the birds and the bees. Holy shit, it'll have you in wicked stitches. Need we say? Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Beautiful People And A Bridge Troll"
MPEG Stream: "The Best Baby In The Universe"

SHINING PATH, THE s/t (Holy Mountain) lp+cd 15.98
Wow! Holy Mountain hits the bullseye once again. This time out it's with the rock incarnation of Monosov Swirnoff, who first showed us the Shining Path on the second volume of their vinyl only series of lps on Eclipse. This is some seriously blown out and ecstatic raw and relentless rock that is equally influenced by the amazing early punk scene in Australia (think Primitive Calculators) as it is the menacing hypnotic qualities of Suicide, the blasting moments of Can and the psych guitar overload of Japan's High Rise. We love how the Shining Path offer us a taste of what can happen when punks get psychedelic. This isn't just '70s psychrock rehash/worship, instead there is a really cool urgency and momentum that's often lacking in modern day psych excursions. The Shining Path is kind of like the sweat and guts of early punk rock under the influence of Les Rallizes Denudes. While Monosov and Swirnoff reside on opposite sides of the country and thus are rarely able to perform live they did manage a short tour last summer with outsider genius Little Howlin Wolf, those lucky enough to catch them in the East got a total treat. Here's hoping that The Shining Path are able to play some shows around here as we would love to hear and feel these radiating scorchers in the flesh, but until that happens this record is gonna be blasting through our speakers nonstop!
The LP comes with a cd as well, so you get the best of both worlds for the same price...
MPEG Stream: "The Day When He Himself Shall Wipe Away My Tears"
MPEG Stream: "Moroccan Summer"
MPEG Stream: "Hadliku Ner"

SLOUGH FEG Hardworlder (Cruz Del Sur) cd 16.98
San Francisco heavy metallists Slough Feg (aka The Lord Weird Slough Feg), led by vocalist/guitarist Mike Scalzi, have built up a deserved cult following over the years, whom we guarantee will NOT be disappointed with the contents of their latest epic, eccentric metal opus Hardworlder, their sixth full-length album. Indeed, Slough Feg's fans should be quite thrilled. And with luck Hardworlder will recruit some new devotees to the cult of 'Feg as well, they deserve it 'cause nobody but nobody makes albums with this sort of peculiar panache anymore these days. Not since the '80s, or even the '70s, from whence the guitars of Hardworlder seem to hail, and there's a heckuva lot of guitar here... memorable riffs and virtuoso solos and Maiden-ized twin axe harmonies... guitars guitars guitars! It's evident that Slough Feg's latest revised lineup (which features a change of drummer, and "Don" Angelo Tringali of cult doomsters Cold Mourning replacing Hammers Of Misfortune's John Cobbett on second lead guitar) has if anything only enhanced the "guitariness" of this band, as if that was imaginable. The Scalzi/Tringali dual guitar teamwork is phenomenal, and both guys peel off leads left and right, not just to impress with the notes they can play but because they simply can't contain their love for the raw beauty that can flow from fully cranked Gibson Les Pauls. They've got the power, and the responsibility, to play like they've taken up the torch of every great heavy metal band from the '70s and the '80s that's fallen by the wayside...
This album's title is a word they coined themselves, referring to the idea of a space-travelling adventurer bumming around on a rough planet in a bad part of the galaxy, a loner toughened by life on a "hard world" -- typified by Gully Foyle, the protagonist of sci-fi author Alfred Bester's 1956 classic The Stars My Destination (read it sez Allan and Andee!!). A book and character which provides the inspiration for the track "Tiger! Tiger!" as well as for the Kirby-esque comic-book illustration that graces this album's cover.
Interestingly, if you Google "Hardworlder", you'll find that Slough Feg managed to come up with a term that ONLY exists in connection with this album. You'll find their website, their MySpace page, their Wikipedia page, the review of Hardworlder in last week's Village Voice (yes, strangely enough, right next to the new Pharoahe Monch and Smashing Pumpkins -- how'd that happen??? The Village Voice says, "Badass sci-fi metal that it's finally cool to listen to"...we've been telling folks that for years...). You might also run across someone else's MySpace page, who goes by the handle Hardworlder -- but it turns out it belongs to an Australian university student who's a huge Slough Feg fanatic. He's gonna be happy when he hears this!
The album's opening one-two punch is hard to beat: the relentless build-up of adrenaline instrumental "The Return Of Dr. Universe" which leads us breathless into the impactful majesty of "Tiger! Tiger!", destined to be considered an instant classic in the Slough Feg canon we're sure!
But the rest of the album is up to that mighty task -- the majesty continues with midtempo maritime lament "The Sea Wolf", and thence through to the doomy riffs of the album's title track, and onward... Hardworlder seems to possess an anthemic, sweeping, saddened grandeur, a more uniform overall feel than its shorter and more schizo predecessor Atavism, although you'll find that Slough Feg sashay down all the (un)usual skyways and byways you might expect from them. The manly, melodic doom-paced epics coexist here with rollicking '70s styled hard rockers (such as "Frankfurt-Hahn Airport Blues", obviously a nod to Atavism's equally boogie-riffed "Starport Blues"). "Insomnia" starts off Thin Lizzyish to the max, but halfway through the band rides into the Halls Of Manowar, and a wordless Viking chorus rings out... The galloping requiem of the psychological tragedy "Poisoned Treasures" (reprised from their split 7" with Bible Of The Devil) will get stuck in your head, as will much more on this impossibly catchy album... And one of our favorite tracks here is the lengthy show-stopping instrumental "Galactic Nomad", with an almost-Allmans level of gorgeous guitar interplay, that could illicit a "we're not worthy" from The Fucking Champs themselves.
And while Hardworlder's obviously working the science fiction angle that proved popular for 'em on their concept album Traveller, it also serves up ye olde Celtic folk in the Slough Feg tradition -- in fact, one of the two (2) cover songs here is a version of "Dearg Doom" by '70s Irish folk-rockers Horslips. The other cover is "Street Jammer", originally by '80s American epic metal weirdists Manilla Road. Both are tributes to Slough Feg's influences in a general, not specific sense, since we happen to know that they'd never heard either band until years and years after Slough Feg's inception. Speaking of influences, if you listen close to "Street Jammer" you'll hear some Chuck Berry licks thrown in not found on the original... and we'll also note that Slough Feg deliberately selected an early Manilla Road song, that's a lot more hot rockin' than what people usually think of in connection with that band. Further, while we're usually more into covers that DON'T sound so much like the originals, in the case of these two songs it's OK that they do since a) they're pretty obscure and b) both still totally sound like Slough Feg could have written them.
Ok, we're rambling, and you get the idea... Hardworlder is another ripping masterwork from a band that will either dominate your metal-addled mind, or you just won't get. We hope you do. 'Nuff said.
MPEG Stream: "Tiger! Tiger!"
MPEG Stream: "Frankfurt-Hahn Airport Blues"
MPEG Stream: "Dearg Doom"

SOLSTICE New Dark Age (Cyclone Empire) cd 17.98
Originally released back in 1998 on the fabled Misanthropy label, this terminal masterpiece from England's truest champions of epic DOOM, Solstice (R.I.P.?), has now at long last been reissued, with two bonus tracks to boot. Old fans can take pleasure in purchasing this again (because it's an album so good, you'll WANT to buy it twice, so maybe you can fool yourself into that feeling of hearing it for the first time) and those that missed it the first go-round now have a chance to prove themselves as discerning metalheads.
When we first reviewed this, we said it was a grower. A record we came to consider one of the best of that year, of any year. In the near-decade since, this has only gained greater stature. In the realm of true metal, of epic metal, of doom metal, of pagan metal, of just plain pure heavy metal -- we proclaim New Dark Age to be an all-time classic. And believe us, few other albums from the late nineties qualify in that regard.
Such riffs. Such sheer heaviness -- heaviness that actually seems to be signifying something. Such FEELING. This is possibly the apex of epic doom. The guitar leads and harmonies are to die for, the sad Celtic-folk motifs and Lovecraftian lyrics of weird fantasy argue for an ancient intellect at work. The clean, somewhat delicate vocals of Morris Ingram and his abstruse vocabulary ("vermivorous", "tervous", "perpetuum", "axiom abhorrent, protean triumvirate"?) are at first a bit odd, but ultimately utterly fitting with the sombre and arcane, monolithic and melodically grand mood of this album. Certainly his performance on the acoustic "Blackthorne" would make any fan of '70s Brit-folk weep, while the other, fully amped tracks will make headbangers ready to both shed tears and storm the proverbial castle.
FYI, the bonus cuts consist of two NWOBMH covers ("The Prophecy" by Iron Maiden and "Stormchild" by Trespass). Cylcone Empire has also reissued Solstice's two prior discs, Lamentations and Halcyon, just like this one remastered, with bonuses, new liner notes and layout. We've got those as well and will get 'em listed when we can -- they're good too but THIS is definitely Solstice's finest.
Have we really heard the last of Solstice? Rumor has it that guitarist Rich Walker is assembling a new line-up, possibly featuring the singer from Primordial, to do a new album. If it actually happens we'll be eager to hear it, though it's hard to imagine they could ever top this!
MPEG Stream: "Hammer Of Damnation"
MPEG Stream: "Cimmerian Codex"
MPEG Stream: "Cromlech"

SPARKS No. 1 In Heaven (Oasis / Repertoire) cd 16.98
No.1 In Heaven was a match made in pop genius heaven! The matching of the super smart snappy pop chops of Sparks with the golden electronic touch of Giorgio Moroder at the prime of his magical production prowess, FANTASTICO!!! The year was 1979 and disco was at its zenith and lots of very non-disco folks were jumping on the bandwagon with pretty bland and lame results. But the collaboration of Moroder's spaced out and fantastical production with Sparks sharp wit and knack for ultracatchy melodies was such a perfect match! With Sparks still punching out fast paced pop and Moroder adding an element of electronic spacey wonder to the mix, this is simply one of the best records in the extensive Sparks catalog. 25 years after its release and folks like Hot Chip and Of Montreal are getting the kids all worked up with their brand of super fun and smart dancey pop that can find it's roots right here on No.1 In Heaven. While this is not a new reissue we never realized it had been issued on cd so we had to jump at the chance of sharing this long time favorite with as many new ears as possible!
MPEG Stream: "La Dolce Vita"
MPEG Stream: "Tryouts For The Human Race"
MPEG Stream: "Beat The Clock"

SPOON Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge) cd 14.98
First things first, we've gotta tell y'all that "The Underdog" otherwise known as the first single off of this new Spoon album sounds SOOOOOOO much like Billy Joel! Go on guys, give us a few bars of "I don't care what you say anymore, this is myyyy life!" Not a bad thing in our books really. We bet they'd do an awesome cover of it. Billy Joel has made some fine fine music over the years, hasn't he? Anyways, this is Spoon at their most buoyantly upbeat and poppy. Their usual whip smart core arrangement of drums (and hand claps!) well defined guitars, undercurrents of piano and Britt Daniel's softly husky voice is polished off with some deliciously effervescent horns. Great!
Really the only problem we have with Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is its abrupt end... and it comes much too soon. Thirty six minutes of Spoon? Simply not enough in our books, but...
Note: the limited edition cd which we currently have in stock includes a bonus disc of 22 more minutes of Spoon -- basically a mishmash of odds'n'ends like rough renditions of album tracks such as "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb", effected guitar abstractions and the like. Don't know how long they'll last, so if you want one of 'em you'd better act fast!
MPEG Stream: "The Underdog"
MPEG Stream: "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb"

SPOON Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge) lp 16.98
First things first, we've gotta tell y'all that "The Underdog" otherwise known as the first single off of this new Spoon album sounds SOOOOOOO much like Billy Joel! Go on guys, give us a few bars of "I don't care what you say anymore, this is myyyy life!" Not a bad thing in our books really. We bet they'd do an awesome cover of it. Billy Joel has made some fine fine music over the years, hasn't he? Anyways, this is Spoon at their most buoyantly upbeat and poppy. Their usual whip smart core arrangement of drums (and hand claps!) well defined guitars, undercurrents of piano and Britt Daniel's softly husky voice is polished off with some deliciously effervescent horns. Great!
Really the only problem we have with Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is its abrupt end... and it comes much too soon. Thirty six minutes of Spoon? Simply not enough in our books, but...
Note: the limited edition lp which we currently have in stock includes a bonus 7" (with a demo version of "The Underdog" and a b-side titled "It Took A Rumor To Make Me Wonder, Now I'm Convinced I'm Going Under") plus a free full album download. Don't know how long they'll last, so if you want one of 'em you'd better act fast!
MPEG Stream: "The Underdog"
MPEG Stream: "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb"

SUNNO))) Oracle (Southern Lord) lp 14.98
The ominous revving of a juggernaut engine. Shifting tectonic plates. Glacial drone-riffs as death-knell backing for the sinister intonations of ritualistic incantations in a foreign tongue... That's SUNNO))) we're talking about, all right!
Imagine a sealed white room, an otherwise-empty space with the cowled-in-black SUNNO))) set up on black risers, their massive backline of amplification and instruments also duplicated as full-scale frozen white sculptures manufactured of cast resin and salt by NYC artist Banks Violette. Entombed within, the band plays alone to no audience, the massive resonation of their sub-sonic prayers self-referentially worshipful, a cosmos unto itself. This LP contains music written as the soundtrack to such a performance, which took place at a gallery in London, England in June of 2005. These actual recordings, though, were studio-recorded in 2006 and feature the core SUNNO))) duo of Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley joined by guests Atsuo (of Boris), Joe Preston (of Thrones), and Hungarian black metal icon Attila Csihar (of Mayhem). There's two side-long tracks: "Belulrol Pusztit" is a creepily quiet, hushed ceremony, Attila's whispering reptilian rasp met with rattlings and rumblings, hinting at the waves of distortion and feedback to be unleashed on the louder, heavier Skullflowering of "Orakulum"... DOOM!!
This limited (black) vinyl version of Oracle is probably the only format we're gonna get, though there IS (or was...) a compact disc edition, a double cd in fact, containing everything on this LP plus an extra disc's worth of live material called "Helio)))sophist", but it was only available for sale at SUNNO)))'s recent shows. If, and it's a big IF, they have any copies left over after their tour then we're told we may get a few, but considering that copies of that 2cd are already selling for hefty sums on eBay (fie on limited editions!!) we won't necessarily count on getting any... So probably best to grab one of these while you can...
MPEG Stream: "Belulrol Pusztit"
MPEG Stream: "Orakulum"

TAMAM SHUD Evolution (EM Records) cd 21.00
Last list we highlighted two somewhat unusual "surf music" reissues, by Farm and Peter Martin & Finch, both brought to us by our favorite Japanese reissue label, EM Records, as part of their Summer 2007 "EM Under Water Series"! Those were quite cool, and now we've got the remaining three discs in the series, all of 'em (like those first two) soundtracks to several now-legendary surfing movies from back in the sixties/seventies. With the exception of Farm (from the USA) all the bands in EM's series are Australian, and in all cases the movies they were doing soundtracks for were Australian productions and/or featured Australian surfers. And as before, this isn't your typical SoCal Jan & Dean, Beach Boys style surf music... it's *psychedelic* surf music. Well 2 out of 3 of these anyway (the Tim Gaze Band album being more of a yacht rock outing).
Now this one is a bonafide Australian garage psych rock classic! It's also the only disc in the "EM Under Water" series that we'd ever actually heard before, as there'd been at least one (possibly non-legit) cd reissue in the past, and so we already know it was a good 'un, which boded well for the series as a whole. Tamam Shud, who took their name from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (it's Persian for "The End"), were a heavy (for the era), fuzz-drenched psych pop combo who recorded two albums in their brief career. This was their first, from 1969, and it served as the soundtrack to a motion picture on the subject of surfing (natch) called Evolution. Which was appropriate 'cause these guys were indeed surfers, even if their music sounded a lot more like The Amboy Dukes, The Litter, and The Count Five than, say, The Ventures (though apparently earlier in the sixties they did, when they were called The Sunsets). It's total Nuggesty stuff (why "Mr. Strange" or one of the other 11 tracks on Evolution didn't appear on the Nuggets II box set is puzzling), with a "progressive", Sgt. Peppers bent, full of ripping wild FUZZ guitar soloing, stomping riffs, and catchy hooks. The Shud could do wigged out blues rock jamming, or they could do totally poppy vocal cuts...as long as there was plenty of freaky freeform fuzz action to go 'round, which, there was. Like we said, a classic, one any '60s psych lover will be happy to spin. This reish is of course presented with the usual deluxe-level of care and attention characteristic of EM Records, complete with lyrics, photos, graphics, movie stills, and extensive liner notes by both Aussie "surf music historian" Peter J. McParland and Evolution's director, Peter Witzig. And EM has also dug up three bonus tracks, from a 1972 ep called Bali Waters, material which appeared on the soundtrack to another surf move, Morning Of The Earth. Who knows, maybe there will be another "Under Water" series next year wherein EM will reissue The Shud's second album, 1970's Goolutionites And The Real People, which was a concept album against pollution... we can hope.
MPEG Stream: "Mr. Strange"
MPEG Stream: "Music Train"
MPEG Stream: "Too Many Life"

TIM GAZE BAND, THE Band On The Run (EM Records) cd 21.00
Last list we highlighted two somewhat unusual "surf music" reissues, by Farm and Peter Martin & Finch, both brought to us by our favorite Japanese reissue label, EM Records, as part of their Summer 2007 "EM Under Water Series"! Those were quite cool, and now we've got the remaining three discs in the series, all of 'em (like those first two) soundtracks to several now-legendary surfing movies from back in the sixties/seventies. With the exception of Farm (from the USA) all the bands in EM's series are Australian, and in all cases the movies they were doing soundtracks for were Australian productions and/or featured Australian surfers. And as before, this isn't your typical SoCal Jan & Dean, Beach Boys style surf music... it's *psychedelic* surf music. Well 2 out of 3 of these anyway (the Tim Gaze Band album being more of a yacht rock outing).
Whoa. Or, "whoa-whoa". 'Cause that's what they're singing. Sunshiney '70s soft rock mellowness abounds here, disco-era goodtimes on a sandy beach Down Under. Surfer-musician Tim Gaze (the guitarist on Tamam Shud's second album, who also played with proggers Kahvas Jute) and his Band recorded this music in 1979 as the soundtrack to a surfing film entitled Band On The Run (nothing to do with Wings by the way). The original soundtrack LP was only released in a limited promotional run in 1982, and also featured several songs by J.J. Cale as well as the eight cuts by the Tim Gaze Band found here on this cd reissue. Such vocal tracks as "Lazy Day Fever", "Brothers And Sisters" and "Beautiful Lady" are full of melodic lushness, some rockin' with a smile, others more laidback and gentle. There's also some more jazzy, "soundtracky" instrumentals, our favorite being the spacey, organ-jammy "Bermuda". All of it conjures up images of sunsets and bikinis -- even if you weren't looking at the movie-poster album cover painting. Kitschy, yes, quite, but hey "yacht rock" is the new big thing isn't it?? This pretty yacht-y.
Includes liner notes both from Aussie "surf music historian" Stephen J. McParland and also Tim Gaze himself, along with lyrics and lots of vintage photos and graphics. Ok, this is probably the weakest entry in the EM Under Water Series as far as our tastes are concerned, but if you get into the spirit of the thing you'll want it, also to complete the collection -- and did we mention "yacht rock"?
MPEG Stream: "Lazy Day Fever"
MPEG Stream: "Bermuda"
MPEG Stream: "Give Me Life"

TULLY Sea Of Joy (EM Records) cd 21.00
Last list we highlighted two somewhat unusual "surf music" reissues, by Farm and Peter Martin & Finch, both brought to us by our favorite Japanese reissue label, EM Records, as part of their Summer 2007 "EM Under Water Series"! Those were quite cool, and now we've got the remaining three discs in the series, all of 'em (like those first two) soundtracks to several now-legendary surfing movies from back in the sixties/seventies. With the exception of Farm (from the USA) all the bands in EM's series are Australian, and in all cases the movies they were doing soundtracks for were Australian productions and/or featured Australian surfers. And as before, this isn't your typical SoCal Jan & Dean, Beach Boys style surf music... it's *psychedelic* surf music. Well 2 out of 3 of these anyway (the Tim Gaze Band album being more of a yacht rock outing).
Tully were apparently a pretty successful sixties rock act in their native Australia, despite playing total "head" music, not anything you could boogie to. They were popular enough to do a TV show, and even played with the Sydney Orchestra! They came from the same "alternative surf" scene as Tamam Shud, and were just as musically progressive, having the freedom to develop their material while touring as the backing band for an Australian production of "Hair", getting into poncho-garbed spirituality and electronic experiments (being the first band Down Under to possess a Moog). Somewhere along the way they merged membership with acid folk outfit Extradition, before recording their very freeform second album, this one, the 1971 soundtrack to Sea Of Joy, a surf movie directed by Paul Witzig (same guy who shot Evolution, for which Tamam Shud did the soundtrack).
Angelic female vocals, gentle organ grooves, hippie folk blissfulness, mellow instrumental textures -- it's truly glorious, lovely stuff. Quite exploratory too, with a freeform, organic feel. Tully's Sea Of Joy can be sunshiney (quite literally, on songs like "I Feel The Sun" and "Brother Sun") one moment, almost spooky the next (on such sinisterly electronics-laden tracks as "Follow Me" and "Down To The Sea"). And their interest in Eastern Indian mysticism comes through on the raga-like "Syndrone", for instance. EM says this moody, mesmeric album is the one in the series that's been selling best for them, and we're not surprised.
MPEG Stream: "Sea Of Joy (Pt.1)"
MPEG Stream: "Follow Me"
MPEG Stream: "I Feel The Sun"

V/A Bound By Skin (Skulls Of Heaven) 5cd 45.00
This is another one of those compilations that barely requires a description for several reasons. The first is the list of bands. Like an aQ customer's sonic wet dream: Tomutonttu (Jan Anderzen of Kemialliset Ystavat and Avarus), the Skaters, Ashtray Navigations, Zodiac Mountain, Wooden Wand And The Vanishing Voice, Brothers Of The Occult Sisterhood, Armpit, Fursaxa & Zaimph, Axolotl, Astral Social Club, Excepter, Uton, Anla Courtis, Wolfskull, United Bible Studies and Kyrgyz (featuring our very own mailorder maven Christine, along with Loren Chasse, Tom Carter and Robert Horton). Phew. And that's just the bands we know, include these new-to-us sonic treasures: Navy Black, Clixcx, Watersports, Pan To Scratch, Taikuri Tali, PW Best, White Dog and Maths Balance Volumes, and we're talking nearly 5 hours of strange sonic explorations. The other reason this might not need a typically expansive AQ description is the fact that this compilation is crazy limited, to only 500 copies. So odds are we're gonna run out mighty quick, and it's unclear whether we'll be able to get more...
So what's it all about? Skulls Of Heaven sent out a call for artists to contribute their most challenging and bizarre recordings, the only stipulation that the track be between 6 and 13 minutes long. These 25 are the best of the contributions, and they are indeed challenging and bizarre, from a group of artists who traffic in the bizarre and challenging anyway. 
The sounds are all over the map as you might imagine, processed vocals all tangled up in stumbling atonal guitar plink and reverbed swirls, mechanical barnyard symphonies, murky psych-drone crawls, muffled muted ragas, thick buzzy drones and drifting clouds of piano tinkle and creaking machine-like ambience, serpentine Eastern melodies draped over slow shifting sonic shimmers, ultra minimal glitchscapes peppered with haunting growls and alien transmissions, epic washes of roaring growling guitar and quavering theremins, thick sepia toned expanses of soft focus flutter and dark moody drift, mysterious vocal experiments, chanting howling, whispering, crooning, buzzing static drenched electronic fuckery, hiccuping childlike rhythms, primitive percussion, creepy landscapes of Goblin-esque organ and outer space FX and it goes on and on and on. A totally tripped out, mind melting sonic travelogue, from the forests of Finland, to dusty basements in abandoned buildings, to strange undersea caves dripping with reverb, to mysterious cities floating in the clouds to the farthest reaches of outer and inner space...
These are REAL cd's. not cd-r's. Each disc in its own slipcase, both the discs and the sleeves featuring original artwork from Shayde Sartin (Flying Canyon, Giant Skyflower Band, Skygreen Leopards, Kelly Stoltz, Wooden Wand), held together by a thick textured paper cardstock obi, all tied up with a leather cord. Super striking. And again, limited to 500 copies...
MPEG Stream: TOMUTONTTU "Samaan Aikaan Toisaalla"
MPEG Stream: THE SKATERS ".:~:~:."
MPEG Stream: AXOLOTL "Anola (For ERA)"
MPEG Stream: ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB "Uroo Uroo Uroo"

V/A Prins Thomas Presents: Cosmo Galactic Prism (Eskimo) 2cd 22.00
The latest Euro-dance burners from beardo Swedes Prins Thomas and his often collaborator Lindstrom have been pretty popular around here, and riding fast on the tail of their Reinterpretations album, we get this two disc mix from Prins Thomas that shows he's as good a compiler as he is producer. Featuring all kinds of unusual choices and sequences from bands we know and don't know in just about equal measure including Joe Meek, Holger Czukay. Hawkwind, Zombi, Boards Of Canada, Lindstrom, The Electric South (featuring Bob Lind), Glissandro 70, Bob James, Metalchicks, and Parliament among many many others. Keeping a proggy cosmic disco vibe that varies in pace but not in momentum, this is great for those long lit hot summer nights. Awesome!
MPEG Stream: THE ELECTRIC SOUTH "Sing"
MPEG Stream: HAWKWIND "City Of Lagoons"
MPEG Stream: VISNADI "Racing Tracks"
MPEG Stream: ZOMBI "Sapphire"
MPEG Stream: HONEYMOON KILLERS "Decollage"

VIBRACATHEDRAL ORCHESTRA Wisdom Thunderbolt (VHF) cd 13.98
First proper full length in a while from these ur-drone space explorers, which is long overdue, considering the protracted near silence of VCO, and Matthew Bower all but abandoning his Sunroof! in favor of the noisier Hototogisu. Whatever you call that sort of music that Sunroof!/VCO traffic in, very few other outfits have managed to channel the same sort of ferocious guitar freakout and blissy ambient swirl into the magical metallic drift that those two groups did.
So here we have Wisdom Thunderbolt, featuring the VCO usual suspects (Neil Campbell, Mick Flower, Bridget Hayden, Adam Davenport) with a whole mess of special guests, underground drumlord Chris Corsano, the aforementioned Matthew Bower (Skullflower, Sunroof!, Hototogisu, etc.), Pete Nolan of the Magik Markers and John Godbert (Skullflower, Total) and the sound is exactly as we remember it.
Thick and dense, swirling and blissed out, druggy and blurry, smeared and shimmering. There is percussion, it mostly tinkles and skitters, but occasionally pounds and swings, organs and synths are woven into weird little buzzing soundscapes, horns wail and skronk, guitars growl and jangle...
While the opening track is a ramshackle stumble, all over the place, but in a very good way, the second track is where the band locks into that perfect groove they've always been capable of. A blown out stretch of raga like buzz, tribal drums underpinning a simple riff, a spacey sea sick shimmer, all wrapped up in layers of guitar buzz and hissy synth, rich and thick and totally mesmerizing.
The rest of the record is more of the same, longform buzz drenched krautrocky drone jams, with some notable exceptions. The 12+ minute "Rainbow Whirlwind, which sounds like some lost Spacemen 3 jam, the guitars pulsing and throbbing, tones beating against other tones, the synths and guitars creating constantly shifting rhythms, interrupted in the middle by a blown out free noise fest, before slipping back into spaced out pulse and dreamy drift.
And, the uncharacteristically 'rock'-y intro to "Sway-Sage" that sounds like the Guess Who's "American Woman", before quickly slipping back into some super distorted space jam, with a glitchy buzz laid over a relentless rhythm, and with thick ropy swirls of guitar and synth buzz burying everything in that distinctly VCO warm washed out sonic blur.