HECKER, TIM An Imaginary Country (Kranky) cd 14.98
It's been almost two years since the last proper full length from Canadian soundscaper Tim Hecker, and while tons of other artists have spewed out cd-r after cd-r after limited cassette in that same time, one listen to An Imaginary Country is all it takes to illustrate the difference. Why it took so long, why it was worth the wait, how the 'noise' and 'drones' and 'sounds' Hecker produces are so much more then just the words that describe them, it's all evident in every single second of this record, in fact, 10 seconds in, it's already obvious that this is indeed something special.
As demonstrated on numerous past recordings, Hecker is a master sonic alchemist, who with a handful of effects, a computer and a guitar and who knows what else, is able to construct this, a time machine of sound, a set of recordings that while simply pleasing to the ear, are also transcendent, they soothe, they entrance, they mesmerize, but more importantly, and more magically, they transport. Hecker and headphones is pretty much a ticket to some otherworld, not of sights but sounds, and not just sounds, but streaks and blurs and buzzes, soft layers and blinding crystalline shimmers, thick whirring textures and barely there delicate melodies, a sound that slips from breathless whisper to caustic roar, but each end of that spectrum fully infused with elements of the other, at its heaviest, the sound still manages to be darkly delicate, dreamy and ghostly, and at its most minimal and abstract, the sound is still imbued with some weight, a sense of import, of sounds and perhaps worlds hidden behind and within the actual music.
If anything, the sound of An Imaginary Country is heavier, and thicker, more lush, and with more heft, altogether more powerful, the sort of sound that performed live, through a massive P.A., could summon angels, or perhaps demons. But for all this added sonic weight, nothing is lost, the sounds are not just loud, they are multihued, every note, every chord, every bit of sound is alive with energy, it's as if Hecker has created a living breathing sound sculpture, made of transparent spheres, from afar, it's a gorgeous assemblage, the spheres shifting and dancing, playing out some elaborate composition, but pick one sphere, get up close and look inside, and there is a whole 'nother constellation of smaller glass spheres, engaged in a similarly beautiful and elaborate dance, and so on and so on. The magic is that every single set of movements, whether consciously or not, is visible and audible even with the slightest glance, which is what makes Hecker's sound so dense and deep and emotional and lush and utterly breathtaking.
A closer examination of each song reveals the presence of thick warm whirring organs, or some instruments and sounds transformed into organs, thus much of the record sound choral, the music of some crumbling empty church, left to play on into eternity, long long tones, blurred into slow motion epics, other tracks play out like watching some old filmstrip come to life, the newly living things still surrounded by grit and hiss and buzz, but that distorted haze that surrounds them seem to have come alive as well, moving like some organic living thing, the lives and actions of the newly living things inexorably tangled up with the movements of this other newly living things, a blurry ballet of soft sound and of mysterious sonic events. There are a few moments of relative tranquility, where the sounds are tamped down, wrangled into manageable shapes, allowed to shimmer and rippled and billow, held in check by an atmosphere of reverb and delay, but even then, off in the distance, a storm seems to be coming, and the closer it gets, the more our ears want it, and as the next song swallows the song before it, we can't help but close our eyes, open our ears, and let ourselves drift off into some other place, like walking into a warm waterfall and emerging on the other side, in a world made up entirely of warm waterfalls, our whole existence there, wreathed in torrents of sweet buzz and washed out soft focus sound, the headphone cord a tether, the only way home, if we ever felt the need to return home at all.
MPEG Stream: "100 Years Ago"
MPEG Stream: "Sea Of Pulses"
MPEG Stream: "Where Shadows Make Shadows"
MPEG Stream: "200 Years Ago"

HECKER, TIM An Imaginary Country (Kranky) lp 17.98
It's been almost two years since the last proper full length from Canadian soundscaper Tim Hecker, and while tons of other artists have spewed out cd-r after cd-r after limited cassette in that same time, one listen to An Imaginary Country is all it takes to illustrate the difference. Why it took so long, why it was worth the wait, how the 'noise' and 'drones' and 'sounds' Hecker produces are so much more then just the words that describe them, it's all evident in every single second of this record, in fact, 10 seconds in, it's already obvious that this is indeed something special.
As demonstrated on numerous past recordings, Hecker is a master sonic alchemist, who with a handful of effects, a computer and a guitar and who knows what else, is able to construct this, a time machine of sound, a set of recordings that while simply pleasing to the ear, are also transcendent, they soothe, they entrance, they mesmerize, but more importantly, and more magically, they transport. Hecker and headphones is pretty much a ticket to some otherworld, not of sights but sounds, and not just sounds, but streaks and blurs and buzzes, soft layers and blinding crystalline shimmers, thick whirring textures and barely there delicate melodies, a sound that slips from breathless whisper to caustic roar, but each end of that spectrum fully infused with elements of the other, at its heaviest, the sound still manages to be darkly delicate, dreamy and ghostly, and at its most minimal and abstract, the sound is still imbued with some weight, a sense of import, of sounds and perhaps worlds hidden behind and within the actual music.
If anything, the sound of An Imaginary Country is heavier, and thicker, more lush, and with more heft, altogether more powerful, the sort of sound that performed live, through a massive P.A., could summon angels, or perhaps demons. But for all this added sonic weight, nothing is lost, the sounds are not just loud, they are multihued, every note, every chord, every bit of sound is alive with energy, it's as if Hecker has created a living breathing sound sculpture, made of transparent spheres, from afar, it's a gorgeous assemblage, the spheres shifting and dancing, playing out some elaborate composition, but pick one sphere, get up close and look inside, and there is a whole 'nother constellation of smaller glass spheres, engaged in a similarly beautiful and elaborate dance, and so on and so on. The magic is that every single set of movements, whether consciously or not, is visible and audible even with the slightest glance, which is what makes Hecker's sound so dense and deep and emotional and lush and utterly breathtaking.
A closer examination of each song reveals the presence of thick warm whirring organs, or some instruments and sounds transformed into organs, thus much of the record sound choral, the music of some crumbling empty church, left to play on into eternity, long long tones, blurred into slow motion epics, other tracks play out like watching some old filmstrip come to life, the newly living things still surrounded by grit and hiss and buzz, but that distorted haze that surrounds them seem to have come alive as well, moving like some organic living thing, the lives and actions of the newly living things inexorably tangled up with the movements of this other newly living things, a blurry ballet of soft sound and of mysterious sonic events. There are a few moments of relative tranquility, where the sounds are tamped down, wrangled into manageable shapes, allowed to shimmer and rippled and billow, held in check by an atmosphere of reverb and delay, but even then, off in the distance, a storm seems to be coming, and the closer it gets, the more our ears want it, and as the next song swallows the song before it, we can't help but close our eyes, open our ears, and let ourselves drift off into some other place, like walking into a warm waterfall and emerging on the other side, in a world made up entirely of warm waterfalls, our whole existence there, wreathed in torrents of sweet buzz and washed out soft focus sound, the headphone cord a tether, the only way home, if we ever felt the need to return home at all.
MPEG Stream: "100 Years Ago"
MPEG Stream: "Sea Of Pulses"
MPEG Stream: "Where Shadows Make Shadows"
MPEG Stream: "200 Years Ago"

GAINSBOURG, SERGE Histoire De Melody Nelson (Light In The Attic) cd 16.98
Well it's about time!!!!!! After years of wallowing in the hazy convoluted mists of legend, hearsay, and hipster influence, only to be obtained through ultra expensive imports, rare bootlegs, or ripped vinyl blogs, this long unavailable but hugely influential work by Serge Gainsbourg finally sees its first domestic reissue almost forty years after its scandalous release.
You won't need a translator to understand the sublime perversity at the heart of this concept record, arguably Gainsbourg's most accomplished full studio album. Released in 1971, Histoire De Melody Nelson is a seven song suite about an underage English nymphet (the titular Melody Nelson) and the wealthy lecherous older Frenchman who, after nearly running over her in his Rolls Royce, takes her in, falls in love and eventually deflowers her. And of course, like most love stories, there is a tragic climax. While the story is largely lifted from Kubrick's cinematic version of Lolita, the concept was undertaken in actuality as a symphonic love letter to Jane Birken, the British actress and singer (she sings the part of Melody). Though, not underage when they began their affair, she was twenty years younger than Serge, and their relationship became controversial with the release of their 1969 duet "Je t'aime....mon non plus" (originally recorded with Brigitte Bardot) with its sounds of a simulated female orgasm.
But Melody Nelson is not only Gainsbourg's finest moment, its musical reputation would be nothing without the orchestral arrangements and progressive grooves of Jean-Claude Vannier (see our review of L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches, to get some highly praised background). The underlying score is less obviously song-oriented and more atmospheric than previous Gainsbourg outings, yet deceptively simple. The opening and closing tracks each at nearly eight minutes mirror each other with a sinewy descending bass groove and classic drum breaks (sampled heavily by De La Soul, David Holmes and Dan The Automator), which set the stage for acid-y guitar fills, swooning strings and Serge's own seductive speak-singing. The closing track ("Cargo Culte") ups the transcendent quality of the climax by adding a mass choir and full orchestra to the swirling tower of sound. In between these two tracks are shorter but artfully arranged pieces of folk-groove, French chanson, acid rock, and cinematic sonic bliss that move the story forward. It's one of those records that slowly grabs you, lures you into its spell, and eventually hooks you, so you'll want to keep listening to it over and over.
Though it was a flop on its initial release - Gainsbourg was largely a singles artist before this point, and the leap from that to concept album, especially one of this perverse nature, was perhaps too wide for French audiences - Histoire De Melody Nelson has gained a significant cult following over the years, perhaps reaching its greatest influence in the nineties with bands like Portishead (Dummy), Pulp (This is Hardcore), Massive Attack (Protection), Radiohead (The Bends), Air (Moon Safari), Blonde Redhead (Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons) and Beck (Sea Change), nearly lifting the basic sonic template of this album wholesale.
This awesome, nicely packaged reissue comes with a beautiful booklet of drawings, essays and interviews, outlining not only the full extent of the making of this amazing work, but charting its larger cultural impact as well.
Reissue of the year!
MPEG Stream: "Melody"
MPEG Stream: "Ballade De Melody Nelson"
MPEG Stream: "En Melody"

CASE, NEKO Middle Cyclone (Anti) cd 16.98
What can we say about Neko Case that we haven't already? And what else can we add to the crazy amount of press and publicity surrounding the release of here latest record Middle Cyclone? Maybe nothing. But what the heck, we love Neko Case, we have for years. From The Virginian to Furnace Room Lullaby to Blacklisted to Canadian Amp, and of course we were early champions of the New Pornographers, especially the Neko fronted Mass Romantic. Hell, way back in the day, she even played in the band Cub with our very own Cup!!
But by now, you've probably been inundated by images of Ms. Case, interviews, magazine covers, there was even a mini documentary on the front page of Amazon, this record is getting one heck of a push, the weird thing is it doesn't really need it. On its own, minus the publicity and all the various other efforts to promote the woman and her album, the music itself speaks for itself. Lush but obviously hand crafted, the lyrics as ever are smart and wry and funny and bittersweet, the songs are fantastic, varied, played by a crack back up band, and then there's Case's voice, which as many others have stated before us is truly a force of nature. One of those once in an era voices. Dark and sultry and sonorous, but so strong and powerful, the old adage about singing the phone book, can now be applied to anything, programming code, microwave instructions, with Case, whatever it is becomes a gorgeous sweetly sour heartbreaker.
Plenty has been written about the making of Middle Cyclone too, but for those who don't have TV or radio or internet, we'll tell you much of this record was recorded using a handful of pianos Case got for free on Craig's List, set up in her drafty old barn, on the Vermont farm she now calls home. And that 'piano orchestra' is a wonder, each piano's inconsistencies blending with the other pianos, all blending together into a sound impossibly lush and totally unique. The various parts recorded in the barn also peppered with the sound of crickets and frogs outside, wind whipping through the eaves, all adding to the personal and intimate vibe that the record already had in spades.
From brooding ballad, to country rocker, to epic slow burner, every song here is a gem. After a few listens we're liking it way more than Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. There's even a Sparks cover! And a Nilssen cover! Both easily and fully transformed into what are essentially Case originals.
And if it wasn't already a stone cold classic, the 31 minute bonus track pushes Middle Cyclone into utter aQ obsession territory, with what is essentially a half hour long field recording of crickets! So great!
MPEG Stream: "This Tornado Loves Me"
MPEG Stream: "The Next Time You Say Forever"
MPEG Stream: "Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Forget Me"

----*
----* New On tUMULt :
----*

HABSYLL MMVIII (tUMULt / At War With False Noise / PsycheDOOMelic / Obscure Sombre / Odio Sonoro / Skyr) cd 13.98
NEW ON tUMULt!!!!
It's starting to get seriously tUMULtuous around here. One killer disc just out and still fresh, The Memories Attack, (one of ,if not THE pop record of last year, this year and any year, in Andee's humble opinion), THREE new releases about to drop (Diamatregon, Amocoma and the Ovens) and this, the first full length record from French ultra-mega-abstract-doom trio Habsyll, which just so happens to feature one member of the mighty Fantastikol Hole, as well as the former drummer of faerical punk blasters Nuit Noire!
But nothing, and we mean nothing will prepare you for Habsyll's particularly virulent strain of ultradoom. Heavy and slow, yeah obviously, but it's HOW heavy (very) and HOW slow (ummm, so slow the songs seem to have almost zero forward momentum) that makes Habsyll something much more than a metal band or a doom band, it's almost like twentieth century classical played with downtuned guitars and massive drums. So much space, the notes and drum beats miles apart, the drums not so much beats and rhythms (although those do pop up occasionally) as brief explosions or percussive squalls, more for dynamics and texture, or if they are actually engaged in some sort of actual beat, it's mind bendingly abstract and extended and slow to the point of hovering around 2 or 3 bpm. Think Khanate, Monarch, Moss, Bunkur, Fleshpress? You're already thinking too fast, too structured, too riffy. This is some excessive extremist radical dooooooooom, the sort of chug and plod and buzz and bombinate that makes the rest of those bands sound like speed metal.
But in this slow sprawl, and these long stretches of decay, these sudden flurries of drum splatter and downtuned chug, there is a buried beauty, occasionally, these disparate parts mesh into a brief flicker of melody, or a single epic majestic hook filled swell, before slipping back into blackness. And once or twice the band ramps it up, and locks into some serious pounding crushing black hole sludge, but even then, it's a crawl, a glacial black ooze tempo, and before too long, the band abandon any sense of rhythm or tempo, opting instead to drift through some wide open stretch of outerspace ultra doom emptiness.
The guitars go from grinding and sharp, to muddy and massive, the chugs flung into the ether and carried along on streaks of whirring hiss and blackened buzz, spitting out huge jagged shards of feedback, and long smears of blurred anti-riffage, the bass is a massive cloud of low end, throbbing and pulsing, exploding like a brick wall to the side of the head before slipping back into a shadowy rumble, the vocals a caustic demonic shriek, raspy and hellish, slipping into an almost hysterical falsetto, and just as often offering up some alien ululations, and the drums, oh the drums, any drummer can tell you how hard it is to play slow, but they're talking slowcore slow, or even regular doom slow, this is something else entirely, this is doom drumming gone free jazz, pound and skitter in equal measure, meting out beats one at a time, like some sleek black submarine releasing depth charges.
Two lengthy epics, 17 minutes and nearly 29 minutes, neither very traditionally doomlike, but both most definitely doom, maybe more 'doom', than most actual doom we've heard. Like staring into the abyss, or looking up at a black moonless night sky, these sounds are the sounds of emptiness, of bottomless depths, of never ending expanses of space and time, the end of the world, the birth of new universes, the sound of black holes, of exploding stars, the soundtrack to the end of the world, to the end of everything. Slow and heavy and low and spaced out and damaged and fucked up and strangely beautiful and mysterious and abstract and far out and completely kick ass while remaining very very very difficult listening indeed!
This is a split label release, tUMULt of course, along with 5 other kick ass labels: At War With False Noise, Obscure Sombre, PsycheDOOMelic, Skyr and Odio Sonoro.
MPEG Stream: "II"
MPEG Stream: "I"

----*
----* Highlights :
----*

ABSU s/t (Candlelight) cd 13.98
Getting a new album from Absu is like being handed a bunch of scrolls from ancient Sumer bearing esoteric magickal wisdom - at a raging kegger hosted by some Slayer-blasting heshers! And since this is the thrashing Texas "mythological occult metal" band's first album in about eight years, AND they're one of the acts we arranged to play the Aquarius/WMFU showcase gig at the South By Southwest music fest in Austin this year (their first show in seven years!!!), you KNOW we're really excited about this self-titled album's nearly concurrent manifestation. Of course, we were equally (and foolishly, it turns out) worried that this long-overdue new Absu would somehow be a disappointment, seeing as how Shaftiel and Equitant have left the band, leaving remaining founding member drummer/vocalist Sir Proscriptor McGovern (also of Melechesh, Equimanthorn, and his solo project Proscriptor) to assemble a completely new lineup, finding fresh blood to dust off the band's old spellbooks for this new conjuration. Of course it's a bit different than before - a tad slower maybe (though still freakin' frenzied!), adorned with more atmospheric keyboards (synths and prog fave Mellotron!). But compared to anything else, it's still ABSU. Insane and arcane. The two new members are up to their awesome responsibilities, ripping fiercely through these complex but headbanging songs, leaving shredding solos in their wake. And of course, Proscriptor is still one of extreme metal's most incredible, exacting, accomplished drummers. Not to mention black metal/magickal conceptualists. So there's still weird occultic song titles to make Bal-Sagoth weep. Gotta love "In the Name of Auebothiabathabaithobeuee"!!! The eccentrick, eldritch spirit (part Celtic, part Mesopotamian) of Absu lives. Paying tribute, a bunch of guests make cameo contributions, including members of Melechesh and Mayhem, as well as former Absu bassist Equitant (giving this his stamp of approval). So call it a comeback.
2001's Tara may still be our favorite Absu album, but this sure is a worthy follow up. Hail Absu! We can't wait to see 'em. It's gonna kill!!
(FYI we should have copies of this on vinyl too next week!)
MPEG Stream: "The Absu Of Eridu & Erech"
MPEG Stream: "Magic(k) Square Cipher"
MPEG Stream: "In the Name of Auebothiabathabaithobeuee"

ADERLATING The Nectar Of Perversity Springs From The Well Of Repression (Shadowgraph) cd-r 10.98
A quick glance at this, the first release from the strangely named Aderlating, will reveal some very telling clues, the record is called The Nectar Of Perversity Springs From The Well Of Repression, the cover features a terrified figure, clad only in a bit of cloth, cowering from the darkness, and on the other side some sort of ritual that involves a naked woman with burning candles inserted in her ass, laying on an altar in front of mysterious cloaked figures. The songs are titled things like "Cut Off My Penis In Praise Of Black Satan", "Rope, Pig's Blood, Dead Flesh And Two Candles", "Death Knell" and "Doodstorm", so even before we get to the caustic gritty blackened filth on the disc, we're feeling a pretty heavy Gnaw Their Tongues vibe, which makes perfect sense as Aderlating is in fact another project by Gnaw mastermind Mories.
It's a little unclear what differentiates this from a proper Gnaw Their Tongues release, there's plenty of harsh black noise, rumbling mysterious drones, buried riffage and mysterious chanting, creepy almost choral sounding voices, pounding percussion, harsh hissing feedback, crumbling distortion, buzzing black metal guitars smeared into blurred buzzscapes, howling harsh vocals buried in the mix, static, whir, glitch, all doused in effects and buried under layer after layer of distorted noise and noisy distorted. Hell, even sounds like we're describing a GTT record. Fuck it, anyone into Gnaw Their Tongues, you're gonna want this, it could essentially be the new GTT record, the only difference we can hear really, is that it's a little more harsh, a little less orchestral, where GTT employed all sort of almost cabaret like sounds, Aderlating is a much more furiously aggressive and abrasive beast, but even amidst all the white noise and grinding feedback drenched distortion, there lurks all sorts of sonic mystery, be it buried melodies, haunting disembodied voices or fucked up fragmented loops. Needless to say, we dig it. Heavy and harsh and droney and dark and just what we needed to tide us over until the next Gnaw Their Tongues record...
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!!! We got about a quarter of those but judging by past Gnaw Their Tongues releases, those won't be around for long...
MPEG Stream: "Death Knell"
MPEG Stream: "Rope, Pig's Blood, Dead Flesh And Two Candles"
MPEG Stream: "Doodstorm"

AMBARCHI, OREN Persona (Black Truffle) cd 16.98
One of two new archival reissues from Australian avant guitarist and sometime member of SUNNO))), Oren Ambarchi. Persona was originally released as an ultra limited lp (only 300 copies) in 2000, which sold out quite quickly, but is finally available again, on cd.
Ambarchi's sound is quite varied and fluid, capable of coaxing the sweetest sounds from his axe, as well as using it like some blood flecked weapon, hurling jagged shards of distorted crunch and spitting out thick swaths of viscous buzz. On Persona, the sound is minimal and delicate, droney in places, but also glitchy and spare. The opening track here, and the shortest of the three, is a warm looped low end drone, the guitar transformed into a pulse generator, the sound soothing and softly buzzy. The second track sounds like it could be on Raster-Noton, plenty of low end, but with processed clicks and whirs, clipped percussive thumps and machinelike murmurs, eventually becoming almost silent, leaving just bits of crackle and surface noise, so austere and abstract.
The final track, and the longest at almost 19 minutes, is the prettiest of the bunch, a softly skittering soundscape of Oval like underwater shimmer, lightly laced with glitches and little electronic squelches, but all warm and washed out, and allowed to swirl and drift dreamily, super gorgeous stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Alme"
MPEG Stream: "Vogler"

AMBARCHI, OREN Stacte.3 (Black Truffle) cd 16.98
One of two new archival reissues from Australian avant guitarist and sometime member of SUNNO))), Oren Ambarchi. Stacte.3 was originally released as an ultra limited lp (only 500 copies) in 2000, which of course went out of print relatively quickly, and remained unavailable until now, with this cd reissue.
Ambarchi's sound is quite varied and fluid, capable of coaxing the sweetest sounds from his axe, as well as using it like some blood flecked weapon, hurling jagged shards of distorted crunch and spitting out thick swaths of viscous buzz. Stacte.3 is one 37 minute track, split into two parts, A and B. A, clocking in at 14 minutes, begins with a looped bit of chiming guitar harmonics, mesmerizing and music box like, that loop soon joined by all manner of swooping bloops and bleeps, a soft barrage of strange melodic fragments and electronic shards, a bit like some malfunctioning synthesizer let loose over that steady music box pulse, eventually, the higher tones drift off, leaving just a couple low tones to shimmer and warble, their overtones creating subtle patterns and pulsating fluctuations, which are eventually joined by some of the stray sounds from earlier on.
The second longer track, begins all buzzing metallic shimmer, what sounds like a room full of bowed cymbals, all sorts of gorgeous overtones, a washed out muted bit of metallic crunch, which eventually dissipates, leaving the bloops and bleeps of part A to return for a playful bit of swooping and swirling, before again, the track slowly shifts into a more minimal phase, playing out in a drift of layered rumbles, dreamy whirs and soft melodic electronic pulses. Quite nice.
MPEG Stream: "Stacte.3A"

ASH POOL Saturn's Slave (Hospital Productions) 7" 8.98
Oh man, have we been dying for this, more blown out primitive super raw black metal fury from the man who is Prurient and who also runs the kick ass Hospital Records store and label.
Like past Ash Pool releases, this is super fast, super heavy black metal informed by noise music, drawing on bands like Akitsa and Ildjarn, but filtered through a decidedly modern noise based mindset. The strange thing is, how goddamn poppy and melodic and catchy this stuff is. You would think just the opposite what with the noise pedigree and all, but fuck it if this isn't some of the heaviest, buzziest, most furious, and catchiest black metal EVER.
Two short sharp blasts, the first, begins just how we would hope, raw frantic riffing, the guitar super distorted and buzzy, the drums distorted and blown out, the vocals howled and shrieked, everything totally saturated and in-the-red, but there's plenty of midtempo chug chug chug to balance out the furious blasts, and a few seconds in, it's impossible to ignore how catchy it is, the main hook is a killer, melodic, stick in your head catchy, but somehow it doesn't take away from the blackness or the grimness at all. Poppy, yet buzzy and black.
The flip side follows suit. Raw, feral, blown out, black, but the guitars start sounding weirdly NWOBHM, unfurling weird little harmonies amidst all the buzzing and blasting, the arrangement a lurching start and stop, weird and mathy and fucked up and totally black, but those guitars sound like they were lifted out of an Iron Maiden song, and the thing is, it's a fucked up hybrid that should absolutely not work, but it does, and it's part of what makes Ash Pool so good. These two songs will only tide us over for so long, we NEED another full length.
Cool black and white covers, blue vinyl. And yeah, probably crazy limited.

BEE GEES Odessa (Reprise) 3cd 45.00
Odessa, the Bee Gees' fourth proper full length, from 1969, found the band returning to the lush baroque pop of 1st and Horizontal, after the more rock combo styled Idea. For those of you who only know the Bee Gees from their later incarnation as THE disco group and their iconic Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, boy are you in for a surprise. Well before any of that happened, the three brothers Gibb were masters at crafting gorgeous orchestral pop songs - think the Beach Boys, the Zombies, the Beatles, and you'll get an idea of what we're talking about.
Having three brothers in the band meant HARMONIES, and indeed, the vocal harmonies are heavenly, as is each of the brothers' voices on their own, but those angelic voices are backed up by a crack band, and some incredible orchestration. Odessa was infamous for many reasons: disputes over which single to release caused Robin to quit the band briefly, the non-Gibb guitarist Vince Melouney quite the band, the record originally came in red flocked covers that had to be discontinued because they were too expensive and workers assembling the lps complained of allergic reactions, and most importantly, the sound shifted somewhat dramatically, with the sound returning to the lush, almost overwrought, over the top sound of the first two records, and ends up being super sprawling, incorporating all sorts of psychedelic vamps, and stripped down ballads into the usual collection of perfect orchestral pop gems.
The quasi-bummer about this reissue, is that it's been expanded to a whopping 3 discs, the first two exactly the same except one is all stereo mixes, and the second is all mono mixes, while the third is called Sketches For Odessa, which is exactly that, raw takes and demos, a cool glimpse into the process of making the record, but really, only the most obsessive fans will ever listen to the 2nd or 3rd discs, cuz all you really need is the record proper, but as this is currently the only way to get Odessa, we have to say, even though it's pricey, for lovers of classic pop, it's well worth it. PLUS, the reissue has been restored to its red flocked metallic gold lettered glory!
As with the other records, Odessa is packed with the most amazing pop songs, catchy and wistful, melancholy and dreamy, lots of acoustic guitars, soaring strings, harps, subtle horns, shuffling drums, chimes bells, at it's most lush, it's almost syrupy, but then a song later, it'll be just vocals and guitar. A bunch of the songs sound SUPER Beatles-y, with the vocals more raw, the drums more propulsive, the sound pretty rocking, but even those songs are laced with strings, and are transformed into something distinctly their own. This is definitely a complicated record. Released as a double album, later as a single, lots of fantastic songs (if you loved "Holiday", off of 1st, odds are you'll find lots to love here), some strange almost variety show sounding jams, and a few far out numbers, that prove the boys never shied away from experimenting or doing their own thing. Heck, we made 1st a Record Of The Week, we probably could have / should have done the same with Idea and Horizontal, so keep that in mind when we suggest, that in some ways, Odessa might be the best / weirdest / most underappreciated of the four. So yeah, obviously recommended. Big time.
MPEG Stream: "Odessa (City On The Black Sea)"
MPEG Stream: "You'll Never See My Face Again"
MPEG Stream: "Lamplight"
MPEG Stream: "First Of May"

BEIRUT March of the Zapotec and Realpeople Holland (Pompeii Records) 2cd 13.98
Previous Beirut records have taken the listener on a Gypsy tour of Europe, narrated by the croon of frontman/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Zach Condon. The first disc of this newest release, March of the Zapotec, takes us instead to Mexico, where Condon's instrumental proficiencies are utilized beautifully, though his vocals only really appear on one of the tracks. The first track is a thirty second field recording "of an unknown band" (so says the liner notes), which sets up the brevity and Mariachi-influence of the rest of the disc. Accompanying Condon on three of the tracks is Band Jimenez, a 19 person orchestra from Oaxaca. Needless to say, these tracks are even fuller and lusher than the fullest and lushest of any of Beirut's previous recordings. Though the cover of the record boasts of "new recordings from the state of Oaxaca," only 2.5 of the tracks were actually recorded there, our guess is because of the expense of flying all 19 members of Band Jimenez to Brooklyn.
We find ourselves more drawn to the second disc, entitled Realpeople Holland, despite the lack of horns. It's full of muted electronic percussion and strange keyboard lines, with Condon's voice turned WAY up in the mix. Sometimes his lyrics betray his youth (the corny naivete of "And I believed her then, ohhhhhh..."), but his vocal tone adds beautiful layers, so we end up not really caring what he's saying. The keyboards sound like something out of an '80s sci-fi movie soundtrack with just a hint of flange thrown in for good measure. There's a bit of variation in the instrumentation too on the fourth track "The Concubine," where an accordion and a triangle revolve around a pulsing acoustic drum beat. This track sounds more like previous Beirut records than anything else on this disc, the other songs bearing more resemblance to Walter Carlos or the Magnetic Fields on an acid trip.
Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "La Llorona"
MPEG Stream: "My Wife, Lost In The Wild"

BEIRUT March of the Zapotec and Realpeople Holland (Pompeii Records) 2lp 15.98
Previous Beirut records have taken the listener on a Gypsy tour of Europe, narrated by the croon of frontman/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Zach Condon. The first disc of this newest release, March of the Zapotec, takes us instead to Mexico, where Condon's instrumental proficiencies are utilized beautifully, though his vocals only really appear on one of the tracks. The first track is a thirty second field recording "of an unknown band" (so says the liner notes), which sets up the brevity and Mariachi-influence of the rest of the disc. Accompanying Condon on three of the tracks is Band Jimenez, a 19 person orchestra from Oaxaca. Needless to say, these tracks are even fuller and lusher than the fullest and lushest of any of Beirut's previous recordings. Though the cover of the record boasts of "new recordings from the state of Oaxaca," only 2.5 of the tracks were actually recorded there, our guess is because of the expense of flying all 19 members of Band Jimenez to Brooklyn.
We find ourselves more drawn to the second disc, entitled Realpeople Holland, despite the lack of horns. It's full of muted electronic percussion and strange keyboard lines, with Condon's voice turned WAY up in the mix. Sometimes his lyrics betray his youth (the corny naivete of "And I believed her then, ohhhhhh..."), but his vocal tone adds beautiful layers, so we end up not really caring what he's saying. The keyboards sound like something out of an '80s sci-fi movie soundtrack with just a hint of flange thrown in for good measure. There's a bit of variation in the instrumentation too on the fourth track "The Concubine," where an accordion and a triangle revolve around a pulsing acoustic drum beat. This track sounds more like previous Beirut records than anything else on this disc, the other songs bearing more resemblance to Walter Carlos or the Magnetic Fields on an acid trip.
Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "La Llorona"
MPEG Stream: "My Wife, Lost In The Wild"

BLANK DOGS Seconds (Captured Traces) 12" 14.98
It's pretty much Blank Dogs 24/7 in AQ-land as of late. We recently made their/his latest record,The Fields, Record Of The Week and it truly was one of those rare albums that every single one of us at the store had fallen deeply in love with. So we were more then thrilled to see this brand new 12" arrive with four more great tracks all recorded earlier this year.
Picking right up where The Fields left off, all four tracks here are super immediate and lo-fi rockers with a damaged Joy Division feel and twisting, disjointed melodies that you can't help but get stick in your head. While the slick side of a dark romantic New York might be exemplified by Interpol, Blank Dogs represents the more seedy, fucked up and authentic underbelly of the Big Apple. While its a tad less dark then past outings, these songs still kill. "Keeping All The Time" might just be our new favorite Blank Dogs song with its fuzzy synths, and live drums played by Ryan Naideau (Dustheads, Extremis). We're so excited to finally get to see Blank Dogs live! They'll be playing in San Francisco later this month, we have no idea what the set up will be but as long as we get to hear these songs and all our favorite tracks from The Fields we have a feeling we'll be pretty damn happy.

BLUT AUS NORD Memoria Vetusta II - Dialogue With The Stars (Candlelight) cd 13.98
Anyone paying attention will know that in the past few years, the unlikely nation of France has been churning out some of the most progressive, intelligent, and best black metal around. There's Deathspell Omega, Peste Noire, Spektr, and of course, the mighty Blut Aus Nord, a shadowy group who seamlessly blends synthy ambience with a relentless, yet interestingly controlled black metal assault. Seasick guitar riffs, plodding, often midtempo drums, and vocalist Vindsval's vile black metal rasp (and occasional operatic chant, no shit) meet up in an unholy union of strangely structured songs that are at once hallucinatory, majestic, and beautiful.
Blut Aus Nord possess a unique, cyclical style of songwriting, and even though we have no idea what they are saying, it is evident through titles that each song fits within a well defined philosophical theme. With names like "This Formless Sphere (Beyond the Reason)", "...the Meditant (Dialogue With the Stars)", and "Elevation", it's clear that the band's interest goes beyond any sort of juvenile take on Satanism, instead seeking to make sense of an endlessly unfathomable universe. Their albums seem to exist as esoteric and surreal dream worlds, and the band's intense, psychedelic approach isn't as much furious as it is contemplative. Within this potent mixture, they are also surprisingly "rocking".
Memoria Vetusta II - Dialogue With The Stars (part I, Fathers of the Icy Age, was released waaaaay back in 1996) starts with "Acceptance (Aske)", a GORGEOUS synthscape that sets the moody atmosphere for the next hour. It was interesting to watch customers enter the store during such a beautiful and melancholy piece, only to be hit with the loping, super blackened approach that kicks off the next track, "Disciple's Libration (Lost in the Nine Worlds)", which over the course of 9 minutes, manages to perfectly encapsulate everything that is so great about this band.
The impeccable production on this album certainly adds to its greatness. Clear and spacious, the music within sounds as if it has existed forever, created by a group of immortal mystics, not, you know, a couple of guys from France. In the end, we are presented with what will undoubtedly be one of the best metal records of 2009.
MPEG Stream: "Antithesis Of The Flesh (And Then Arises A New Essence)"
MPEG Stream: "The Alcove Of Angels (Vipassana)"
MPEG Stream: "Acceptance (Aske)"

BONG s/t (Heidenwut Productions) lp 19.98
Oh Bong. How we have longed for thee. Ever since we first go wind of a stonery slow motion doom sludge outfit called BONG, we knew we had to have it, even the non-bong inclined around these parts became disturbingly obsessed with tracking down the BONG. Finally it's here, so prepare to partake.
Before we get to the music, they're called Bong, two sidelong tracks, one called "Wizards Of Krull", the other called "The Starlit Grotto". The cover is gorgeous a washed out painting in all blacks and browns of some creepy alien landscape, and some strange looking flora or fauna (hard to say with). No info anywhere, except the names of the songs, the last names of the players (one of whom happens to be an aQ mailorder customer!) and the word BONG.
Deep buzzy layered drones, peppered with little bits of banjo-y (?) buzz, creepy and minimal and abstract, cymbals sizzle over the undulating black backdrop, the bass a simple single deep thrum, and then the vocals, deep and ominous and (almost overly) dramatic, which when we first heard them reminded us the Mighty Boosh. The guitars thicken, the drums begin to pound, and suddenly the shapeless miasma begins to take the shape of some seriously drugged out stoner doom sludge. Distorted and downtuned and Sabbathy and sloooooooooooow, that voice begins to chant, the banjo returns only now it's a sitar, and we're neck deep in some primal doomdrone stonersludge ritual and sinking fast!
The second side / track is more of the same, beginning with a smattering of drums before the guitar slither in and the track becomes another plodding chunk of druggy doom, the drums are brief blasts, the riffs so slow they're barely riffs at all, that reverby croon returns, but this track explodes in the second half, the guitars going wild, unfurling swirling clouds of warped and wild wah wah drenched leads, tangled and frenetic, drifting over the churning sludge below, all woven into a dense and drug addled chunk of blown out lysergic and psychedelic dooooooom.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!!!

BORATTO, GUI Take My Breath Away (Kompakt) cd 15.98
Gui Boratto's debut Chromophobia helped us fall in love with electronica all over again a couple years back. It really marked a resurgence in quality and creative electronic sounds after several stagnant years. It's a record that some of us here have probably listened to more than almost any other electronic record since we first laid ears on it. The way he so effortlessly creates shapes and colors with his sounds made Chromophobia a record that kept unfolding on repeated listens, offering more and more as we fell deeper and deeper in love. The way Boratto is able to make melodic electronica sound so warm and bursting with color is exactly what had, and has, us so smitten.
So here we are two years later and the follow up to that great debut, has finally landed, it's called Take My Breath Away, and of course our expectations were kind of crazy high. We have to say now, having listened to the record several times, Boratto has indeed created another total winner! On first listen, while it sounded pretty good, we weren't totally blown away, but then we remembered how Chromophobia took a little time to grow on us and truly sink in, but once it did, we were fully addicted and totally obsessed. The same is the case for Take My Breath Away. What makes Boratto so special is his keen sense of melody, that's probably why so many folks who aren't usually that into electronica end up asking what's playing when we have this on in the store. He's able to bring song structure and rich melody to the world of techno and minimal house. There are some moments on this outing that find him leaning towards a bit more traditional techno but luckily those moments are way outnumbered by his more imaginative explorations. Songs that find themselves as at home on the dance floor as much as on a twisty turny beautiful long road trip, the music energizing, and offering up a wide array of sonic color to help you stay alert as you soak it all in.
Not many folks are able to make music that is so pleasurable for both the body and the mind but Gui Boratto has found a way, and we're tapping our toes and thinking all sorts of deep thoughts and dreamy dreams at the same time...
Available as a cd, or on double vinyl packaged with the compact disc as well.
MPEG Stream: "Colors"
MPEG Stream: "Take My Breath Away"
MPEG Stream: "Les Enfants"

BORATTO, GUI Take My Breath Away (Kompakt) 2lp+cd 19.98
Gui Boratto's debut Chromophobia helped us fall in love with electronica all over again a couple years back. It really marked a resurgence in quality and creative electronic sounds after several stagnant years. It's a record that some of us here have probably listened to more than almost any other electronic record since we first laid ears on it. The way he so effortlessly creates shapes and colors with his sounds made Chromophobia a record that kept unfolding on repeated listens, offering more and more as we fell deeper and deeper in love. The way Boratto is able to make melodic electronica sound so warm and bursting with color is exactly what had, and has, us so smitten.
So here we are two years later and the follow up to that great debut, has finally landed, it's called Take My Breath Away, and of course our expectations were kind of crazy high. We have to say now, having listened to the record several times, Boratto has indeed created another total winner! On first listen, while it sounded pretty good, we weren't totally blown away, but then we remembered how Chromophobia took a little time to grow on us and truly sink in, but once it did, we were fully addicted and totally obsessed. The same is the case for Take My Breath Away. What makes Boratto so special is his keen sense of melody, that's probably why so many folks who aren't usually that into electronica end up asking what's playing when we have this on in the store. He's able to bring song structure and rich melody to the world of techno and minimal house. There are some moments on this outing that find him leaning towards a bit more traditional techno but luckily those moments are way outnumbered by his more imaginative explorations. Songs that find themselves as at home on the dance floor as much as on a twisty turny beautiful long road trip, the music energizing, and offering up a wide array of sonic color to help you stay alert as you soak it all in.
Not many folks are able to make music that is so pleasurable for both the body and the mind but Gui Boratto has found a way, and we're tapping our toes and thinking all sorts of deep thoughts and dreamy dreams at the same time...
Available as a cd, or on double vinyl packaged with the compact disc as well.
MPEG Stream: "Colors"
MPEG Stream: "Take My Breath Away"
MPEG Stream: "Les Enfants"

BULLWACKIES ALL STARS Black World (Wackie's) cd 17.98
Nothing is more satisfying and pleasing to the ears then some totally great dub. Mind you, we aren't talking about mediocre dub or dub that "has its moments", we mean the kind of dub that you could totally listen to over and over and let its warmth and slow burn wash over you, the kind of dub you never ever grow tired of.
Originally released on the great Wackie's imprint, Hardwax in 1979, we're so excited this is finally getting its well deserved reissue, as this is truly one of the finest dub albums to grace our stereo.
Black World does have a few songs with subtle and tasteful vocals, but is for the most part instrumental, and is exactly the kind of record that will not only hit the spot for reggae obsessives, but even those who aren't usually so dub or reggae inclined. Not a bad track in the bunch, and some seriously cool magical moments that Bullwackies All Stars from the hordes of similar minded outfits. The track "Tribute To Studio One" sounds like it could have been the blueprint for modern day dub-loving bands like Tussle. For those that like a little (or a lot) of ganja this will soooooo hit the spot, but even if the weed is not your thing, Black World will for sure leave you feeling seriously content, laid back and feeling just the right vibes. So good!
MPEG Stream: "Morning Star"
MPEG Stream: "Tribute To Studio One"
MPEG Stream: "Recording Connection"

BULLWACKIES ALL STARS Black World (Wackie's) lp 17.98
Nothing is more satisfying and pleasing to the ears then some totally great dub. Mind you, we aren't talking about mediocre dub or dub that "has its moments", we mean the kind of dub that you could totally listen to over and over and let its warmth and slow burn wash over you, the kind of dub you never ever grow tired of.
Originally released on the great Wackie's imprint, Hardwax in 1979, we're so excited this is finally getting its well deserved reissue, as this is truly one of the finest dub albums to grace our stereo.
Black World does have a few songs with subtle and tasteful vocals, but is for the most part instrumental, and is exactly the kind of record that will not only hit the spot for reggae obsessives, but even those who aren't usually so dub or reggae inclined. Not a bad track in the bunch, and some seriously cool magical moments that Bullwackies All Stars from the hordes of similar minded outfits. The track "Tribute To Studio One" sounds like it could have been the blueprint for modern day dub-loving bands like Tussle. For those that like a little (or a lot) of ganja this will soooooo hit the spot, but even if the weed is not your thing, Black World will for sure leave you feeling seriously content, laid back and feeling just the right vibes. So good!
MPEG Stream: "Morning Star"
MPEG Stream: "Tribute To Studio One"
MPEG Stream: "Recording Connection"

CAPRICORNS River, Bear Your Bones (Candlelight) cd 14.98
This English instrumental act (NOT the lo-fi Casiotone-pop duo of the same name, from the Bay Area a while back) return at last with another heavy, atmospheric onslaught of their undefinable metallic post-rock/math-rock riffage. Their previous album, 2005's Ruder Forms Survive was quite interesting (and rockin'), full of cryptic historical allusions (in the song titles), stretches of soundtrack-y ambience a la Zombi, and a one-song-only vocal performance from Oxbow's inimitable Eugene Robinson. Coming from ex-members of various stoner/sludge/doom/punk combos, it was suitably heavy but also surprisingly strange. River, Bear Your Bones continues that tradition, once more a dark and moody affair, though without any vocal cameo this time. The instruments do all the talking, speaking a language that's both proggy and stonery... much of the time Capricorns' riffs come quick and jagged, these tracks sometimes soaring melodically, or viciously spiralling with sharp-edged aggressive energy. Elsewhere, an eerie not-so-calm pervades. The album's closing track, and longest at 10:55, "Drinking Water From The Skull Of A Hanged Man", starts off as an unusually relaxed, lo-fi psychedelic jam, with spacey guitars, looser and more laidback than most of the rest of the disc... but heavies up quite a bit before it's through! And once more there's more going on here concept-wise than you might immediately discern, as apparently all the tracks are "about" the River Thames (Capricorns being from London).
One of a couple releases reviewed this week proving the vitality of the instrumental, guitar-oriented heavy rock genre (the other being Serpent Throne). Again, for fans of the likes of 5ive, Zebulon Pike, Pelican, Hey Colossus... and good ol' AmRep noise rock, which a lot of this also reminds us of.
MPEG Stream: "Broken Coffin Of The Venerable King"
MPEG Stream: "Owing To The Frogs"
MPEG Stream: "The Bell Rang Backwards"

CITIES LAST BROADCAST The Cancelled Earth (Cyclic Law) cd 13.98
Housed in a cryptic and totally beautiful oversized booklet, the sounds within the dolefully monickered Cities Last Broadcast's likewise doleful The Cancelled Earth conjure an atmosphere of post-industrial hopelessness where you, the engaged listener, are the only human being left amidst seepia-toned urban decay. Empty, dilapidated buildings with broken windows sprawled out across a dusky horizon of condensed nothingness stand without any distinction as the city takes in its final gasps. Strange, creaking sounds, and washes of gauzy atmosphere creep out like a fog, cloaking everything in a thick, inescapable grime.
The work of Swede Par Bostrom, who also makes music in a project called Kammarheit, The Cancelled Earth is a collection of pieces recorded between 1999 and 2008. Though quite bleak, the songs move as if they are alive, albeit dying, like some sort of creature sticking its head out of the rubble to emotionlessly assess the end of a society. Hey, we'll be there soon enough. The swaying soundscapes may appeal to those who familiar with Gavin Bryars' The Sinking of the Titanic, while they also bring to mind the murky ambiance of Wolfgang Voigt's Gas, without any sort of rhythmic propulsion, the movement of the pieces instead resembling a once mighty machine simply shutting down from old age and neglect. Though desolate as all hell, The Cancelled Earth is also quite beautiful and perfect listening for long, lonely nights...
MPEG Stream: "Cornerstone"
MPEG Stream: "Antenna "

CLOUDS We Are Above You (Hydra Head) 2lp 21.00
NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL!
And like all Hydra Head stuff, the packaging is amazing, incredibly beautiful printed sleeves, the the jackets SO heavy, the vinyl nice and thick, holding one of these in your hands, it has weight, and heft, it's absolutely an objet d'art, in addition to being a kick ass record!
The first Clouds record, the project of Cave In guitarist Adam McGrath, was a freaked out hodgepodge of stoner rock, hardcore, prog rock and seventies boogie rock with definite nods to Beefheart, Zappa, Comets On Fire, the Cave In mothership, it all worked, the result a heavy slab of FX laden riff heavy RAWK with lots of twisted detours.
If anything, this newest Clouds record takes all that same stuff a little further, with a bigger focus on the riffrock aspect, and a huge infusion of POP. Not always obviously so, but some of these hooks slay. Think the beefy lumbering almost grunge of Scissorfight, melded to the pounding retro metallic pound of Karp or Big Business, some of that Cave-In magic and voila!
The second track, "Feed The Horse" sounds like it was yanked off a late era Cave-in disc and given a serious metal makeover, while the opener "Empires In Basements" gives Torche a run for their sludge pop money.
And then the band go all strange and angular and off kilter with "The Bad Seat", sounding almost like Randy Newman if he was 20 years old and signed to Hydra Head, and we know that sounds weird, but it's actually quite cool.
The record is all over the map for sure, exploding into frenzied punk rock as often as sprawling out into huge lumbering sludgey doom, offering up soaring metallic pop gems, or stripping it down to chugging classic rock grooves, but no matter what these guys do, or what sound they're tackling and making their own, the songs rule, and the band kick out the jams big time. And like we've said before, in a perfect world, instead of Green Day and the Foo Fighters, you'd be hearing Torche and Clouds all over the radio. Ahhh, maybe some day...
MPEG Stream: "Empires In Basements"
MPEG Stream: "Feed The Horse"
MPEG Stream: "The Bad Seat"

COLD CAVE The Trees Grew Emotions And Died (Rais) 12" 14.98
In listening to the few releases from Cold Cave (to date, just this 12" and the "Painted Nails" 7" on Hospital), we can easily see Cold Cave becoming huge. Maybe not as megalomaniacally huge as Coldplay or U2; but maybe there's a Wire or XLR8R cover for Cold Cave to grace sometime in the future. The Trees Grew Emotions And Died predated the heavily acclaimed Painted Nails single; and like that single, this gem of crunched noise mingling with retro-garde synth pop has gone in and out of print several times. It's still a limited pressing of 500 copies, so be forewarned!
Cold Cave is the work of one Wes Eisold, who fronted a couple of East Coast hardcore bands before starting a collection of thrift store samplers and synthesizers. In wiring all of these half-functioning devices through various effects and distortion pedals, he's arrived at an abrasive minimal wave sound that has two feet firmly planted in the worlds of New Order and Wolf Eyes. Had Eisold added a guitar into the mix, Cold Cave might have ended up not all that far from those brilliant bliss pop mutations from Woodsist (i.e. Crystal Stilts, Blank Dogs, Wavves, etc.), but he's admitted that part of his frustration with hardcore was over his two-decade losing battle in learning the guitar. So, the synthesizer is the instrument of choice for Cold Cave. This three track EP showcases his pop genius with minor key melodies bobbing along insistent drum machines and sinister atmospheres. "Heaven's Gate" and "Our Tears Help The Flowers Grow" start with the minor-key synth melodies which buttress Depeche Mode's Violator and The Cure's Faith, with megaphone distortion crackling the detached male / female vocals. The title track is considerably up-tempo and up-beat with a bouncy melody that WILL get stuck in your head in all the right ways, like those incredible singles which made their way onto the first Adult. album. Very highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "The Trees Grew Emotions And Died"

CRANES s/t (Dadaphonic) cd 17.98
Oddly enough we've never reviewed a Cranes record, a band who have steadily released really good records since the early '90s. They are one of those groups that most people thought vanished in the mid '90s not realizing they've been around this whole time, and their last album 2004's Particle & Waves was actually one of their finest moments. Long before Mum and Pluramon were crafting their shoegazey and delicately dreamy offerings, Cranes really helped lay the groundwork for what could be done with ethereal young-girl sounding vocals mixed with lush and woozy instrumentation. Cranes continue to brilliantly bring together elements of innocence, yearning and sadness with such satisfying results. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Invisible"
MPEG Stream: "Worlds"
MPEG Stream: "Feathers"

CRIME IN CHOIR Gift Givers (Kill Shaman) cd 12.98
Ah, sadly this new disc from San Francisco's Crime In Choir is also their swansong. Please say it ain't so, guys. 'Cause what other band around here is going to provide our fix of dazzling, groovy instrumental prog inspired by cult foreign film soundtracks?? But at least we've got this final recording. It's with the same lineup (right?) that produced their previous album Trumpery Metier highlighted here two years ago, meaning this features Tim Soete, formerly of the Fucking Champs, doing percussive math on the drumkit, joined by plenty of vintage synth sizzle, glorious guitar wail, and jazzy sax. Crime In Choir's usual '70s prog derived bombast is in full effect here, with some nods and winks to the discotheques of the high-gloss, coke-dusted '80s. The 7 tracks here range from the cop show / suspense movie chase music funk of the disc's opener and title track to more melancholic, moody stuff like the mellow yet majestic "Pedal Nervous Sensation" and the cosmic synth pulsations of the album's lovely finale, "Fool's Guild" (which builds to something of a maniacal conclusion).
Both Goblin (definitely) and Italo-disco (probably) seem like possible reference points, and if you liked Zombi's "Sapphire" you might be on the same wavelength as Crime In Choir is here, not that this gets quite so electronic-dancey. Same goes if you like the likes of Maserati, Tangerine Dream, and the dancefloor filling live shows by CiC keyboardist Jesse's new unit Jonas Reinhardt.
Gift Givers comes packaged in a brightly colored "eco-wallet" recycled cardboard sleeve thing, and was released by the same label, Kill Shaman, who brought us Animism by Expo '70, and that recent Night Control disc, fyi.
MPEG Stream: "Gift Givers"
MPEG Stream: "Crystal Cake"
MPEG Stream: "Pedal Nervous Sensation"

DEATH For The Whole World To See (Drag City) cd 14.98
Maybe you've heard the hype on this Detroit punk rock reissue already. And it's almost too good to be believed. Back in 1974, this trio of brothers, who are also all "brothers" in the African-American sense of the word, and who were fans of the likes of Black Sabbath and The Stooges and Alice Cooper and the MC5, started a band called DEATH, recording an album that was never released (apparently they refused to change their name to get a major label deal). Flash forward to the present. One of these dudes plays in a reggae band now, but his son is in a punk rock band. Dad's like, "hey son, did y'know I had a band like that when I was your age." And then pulls these dusty, 30-some year old master tapes out of the closet. Holy shit, dad!! The long lost Death album. And it IS killer. Not just proto-punk, but practically proto-hardcore. Hear for yourself. The suggestion that HR and the Bad Brains - or Black Flag for that matter - heard this stuff back in the day and were inspired by it (Death did release a 7" single in 1976) doesn't seem entirely implausible. Not sure how Death stayed unknown for so long. Apparently the brothers, finding that Death's brand of uncompromising, politically radical, high energy rock action wasn't getting them anywhere, moved in a more gospel (!) direction... so that was it for Death. Until now, with Drag City's at-long-last release of Death's 1975 album (well, mini-album, it's seven songs, just over 26 minutes).
Opener "Keep On Knocking" is a decent enough rocker, hinting at the MC5, the Rolling Stones and maybe early badass KISS but it's tame compared to the hyperactive glam slam of what follows - when track two "Rock-N-Roll Victim" comes on and kicks you in the nuts, repeatedly, you'll really realize how freaking punk Death were. Frantic guitars locked in with frenzied drumming, crazed vocals, handclaps (yeah!)... it's pretty darn smokin'. Smoking somethin' all right. They mellow things about a bit for "Let The World Turn", though just a bit. "You're A Prisoner" is another heavy rocker, and "Freakin Out" doesn't let up, its title no lie.
"Where Do We Go From Here???" and "Politicians In My Eyes" are the two remaining tracks on this disc, and the latter in particular is a fierce blend of soulful vocal expression and raging, distorted rockin' with a little bit of a funky vibe. Wow. Definitely in the vein of something like Crushed Butler, but from Detroit a few years later... or in the vein of the Damned, but from Detroit a few years earlier! So, yeah, believe the hype. And by the way, this destroys all that Black Rock Coalition stuff from the early '90s...
Drag City must have been *stoked* to get to put this out. We're sorta surprised there's no liner notes, though they do include handwritten lyrics. Also, fyi, this is available on vinyl but we could barely get any, maybe we'll get some more eventually since the couple copies we have at the moment will be gone in a wink...
MPEG Stream: "Rock-N-Roll Victim"
MPEG Stream: "You're A Prisoner"
MPEG Stream: "Politicians In My Eyes"

DOKTOR KETTU Soft Delirium (Super-Metsa / Ektro) cd 14.98
Many of you will recall that a few years back, we had the pleasure of reviewing six (6) different limited edition cd-r releases by this murky and mysterious improvised instrumental free rock ensemble from Finland, which features members (we eventually determined for sure) of mega AQ faves Circle! In those reviews, which taxed our powers of description, we said things like:
"A Finnish drug thing you wouldn't understand."
"Lo-fi, low-key freakout."
"Imagine a cross between Circle and Thuja."
"Imagine Hawkwind or Acid Mothers Temple locked in a cave with broken instruments."
"Installments from some massive on-going jam still happening right now... outdoors under the ever-dark winter sky."
"Slow, meandering, very stoned ambient psych jamming to the max."
"Imagine if you had neighbors who lived below you in a WWII bunker and all they did all day was listen to certain Fushitsusha albums, this is what you might hear through the floor."
Now, all six of those cd-r's have been out of print for some time now. But Doktor Kettu's spacey jamming is indeed on-going, and now they're back with a brand new disc, Soft Delirium, and ALL our lines quoted above could easily apply, again. This time it's a real cd, not a cd-r, from Super-Metsa, a division of our friend Jussi's Ektro label that brings us so much stuff by his band Circle and other strange treats. In the typical Doktor Kettu tradition, there's but three long tracks on this disc, each of them an extended, wandering journey through darkness and light. The twelve minute, 44 second "Wulff" which opens the disc, billows forth, amplifier hum and droning chords riding abstract waves of percussive tinkerings to eventually unleash some seriously dense, distorted muzz. Someone's having a Tokyo Flashback, even though these guys are from Finland! Track two, "Triggeri" (9:56) is a bit gentler. Rather pretty, reminding us a bit of Circle's exquisite Miljard. Quiet music you'll want to play loud. And then the disc's third and final track "Kosmonaut", provides even more brooding ambience, exhibiting the ominous, twilight moodiness of another AQ fave, Bohren & Der Club Of Gore. It's over seventeen minutes long, but for us that's barely long enough. These pale rumblings, with surges of percussive texture and slow, slow hints of melody, could flow on endlessly and we'd be forever entranced...
MPEG Stream: "Wulff"
MPEG Stream: "Kosmonaut"

EXPO '70 White Ohms (Peasant Magik) cassette 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is one of those releases that we would normally get maybe 100 copies of, maybe more, but this baby was strictly limited to 200, of which we got about a quarter of the pressing, but hell this is Expo '70, one of, if not our very favorite purveyor of heavy blissed out droney space kraut doom drift, AND this particular release, cassette only, is a sort of addendum to the Black Ohms cd (featuring outtakes from the Black Ohms sessions) which we made Record Of The Week a while back. And of which we sold crazy amounts. So apologies for the folks who don't manage to snag one of these. We always try to get as many copies of things as we can, but it seems that no matter how many we get, it's never enough, and often labels don't want to give so much of the pressing to just one place. But we do try, every time, to get enough for everybody, so again apologies for the fact that these will probably be gone in a heartbeat.
BUT, for the 25 of you who do managed to snag one of these, you will be in total kraut drone space out bliss rock heaven. From rumbling sludgey doom drift, to looped psych shimmer, to pulsing slow burning swells, to smoldering slabs of white hot buzz, more of what we freaked out about on the Black Ohms disc. Dark, dolorous, heavy, hypnotic, even the outtakes are mindblowing.
Beautifully packaged too, full color printed sleeves, the tape and sleeve wrapped in a printed vellum obi INSIDE the case, each one hand numbered. And LIMITED TO 200 COPIES! We have 25.
Sorry.

EXPO '70 / I AM SEAMONSTER split (Short Forest / Small Doses) 7" 6.50
Another gorgeous chunk of spacey tripped out downtuned space kraut doom from aQ faves Expo '70. This time they're sharing a 7" with another favorite of ours, the droney, drifty I Am Seamonster.
Expo '70's track begins super minimal and SUNNO))) like, a slow motion riff, the guitar thick and heavy and distorted, riding a single chord, while all around effects whirl and swirl and streak, very mantra like and hypnotic, spaced out and druggy, part way through a second guitar offers some melodic counterpoint, some woozy spidery lysergic minor key leads that sound sun baked even as they drift through the inky blackness, the sound managing to somehow sound both desert and space-y simultaneously.
We hadn't heard anything from I Am Seamonster since their (sadly) now out of print Nebulum cd-r. The track here seems to expand on the IAS sound on Nebulum, crafting a gorgeous landscape of deep guitar swells, each one wreathed in different effects, crumbly and buzzy, blown out and blurred, the sound at its peak is white hot, but occasionally drift back to something cooler and washed out. Layers of high end settle atop the undulating rumbles and whirs, deep percussive guitars chime and ring out, everything bathed in a blurry shoegazey haze, the guitars slipping and shimmering, the result almost orchestral. So so nice.
Beautiful packaging too, silk screened, metallic blue and silver on black, the back side die cut to reveal the record and sleeve.

FALCON Die Wontcha (Liquid Flames) cd 12.98
Those of you into obscure '70s heavy rock - or cult '80s metal for that matter - ought to be interested in this new album from the power trio Falcon. It's their second record, following a self titled debut in 2004. That one featured a cover of Bang's "Redman", and also a cameo vocal performance by Bobby Liebling of Pentagram, on a song dedicated to the memory of Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott... and that should give you an idea of where Falcon is coming from, in terms of influences/atmosphere. Capturing the spirit of the '70s proto-metal that we dig so much here at AQ too. Bang! Pentagram! 'Lizzy! c'mon!! Some other obvious selling points in Falcon's favor has to do with who's who in the band. They've got Greg Lindstrom from '80s epic doomsters Cirith Ungol on bass and Darin McCloskey of stoner metal act Pale Divine on drums. The third, crucial part of the trio is vocalist/guitarist Perry Grayson, who used to play in a much more technical power metal band called Destiny's End but gave that up to concentrate on his true love (well, next to the weird pulp fiction of H.P. Lovecraft), full on '70s-sounding downer rock. He's one of those guys with the crazy record collection full of vintage vinyl proto-metal platters, trying to bring it all back to life a la Magnus from Witchcraft. And being a badass guitar player with heavy friends makes it look easy, with Falcon now on to their second album, this one, so let's tell y'all some more about it...
Die Wontcha - love the title, love the cover art, which we can only guess was probably lifted from an old issue of Weird Tales or something like that - features ten tracks of groovy, rockin', bellbottomed '70s heaviness worship. Nine are Falcon originals, the tenth a killer cover of "Leader" by Aussie proto-metallers Buffalo (you'll find the original on their 1972 album Dead Forever, the reissue of which is reviewed elsewhere on our site). Since Perry recently relocated from LA to Australia, it's even more appropriate they do a Buffalo song. And boy howdy does it fit in with their own material.
The disc starts off with Lindstrom's lament for Scottish Formula 1 race car driver Jimmy Clark, who died in a tragic crash back in '68. It's totally the sort of thing a band like this back in the '70s would have written... almost a modern-day folk song. Definitely very Thin Lizzyish, with Perry's slightly gruff, deep voiced vocals, melodic minor key guitar leads, and classic, loping, hummable riffage. For those more into fantasy subjects, a couple tracks later Falcon's got "The King Of Elfland's Daughter", inspired by a poem by Irish fantasist Lord Dunsany. It too has a lot of Lizzyish licks...
Everywhere, Falcon's fuzzed out guitar and fat riffs scream '70s, as do the lyrics, Perry dropping lines like "back in the days of yore/hippie to the core" and "hit the stage with heavy rockin' band/tour the world kickin' out the jams/turn the amps up loud/stun the crowd". Yep, that's rock n' roll like they used to do, and Falcon bring it. But maybe the best expression of Falcon's mission is found in the lyrics to the disc's final track, penned by Lindstrom, entitled "Show You All" - which is all about going to a big show by some currently popular so-called rock band and unavoidably thinking they could do much, much better, Perry singing: "I want to jump on stage/and show you how all to play". That's kinda cocky, but we're sure some of you will share Falcon's sentiments, folks we'd recommend this to who also enjoy such quality, ripping n' riffy bands with retro-rawk '70s influences as Witchcraft, Burning Saviours, Bible Of The Devil, Slough Feg, Danava, Drunk Horse, etc...
By the way, although we never listed it before, we do have a just a few copies of Falcon's equally rad s/t album in stock as well, the one with the Bobby L. cameo. We figured since we were highlighting this, some folks might want to pick that one up too, so we got some from the band. They're a little cheaper, 'cause the copies we have of that are pro duped cd-rs, not actual cds, FYI. They still have the same cool metallic foil stamped covers of the original cd version, though. And *this* disc is indeed a real cd, not a cd-r.
MPEG Stream: "Jimmy Clark"
MPEG Stream: "Careless"

FIRE WITCH Japan (Wantage USA) 10" 11.98
The return of these Aussie low end heavies. Two basses, drums, NO guitar, recorded on the tail end of their recent Japanese tour, more of what we love from these guys, mathy, doomy low end heaviness.
The A side is all one track, and it's a beaut. The basses loooow slung, thick and syrupy, streaks of feedback everywhere, the drums scattered, the whole thing gorgeously abstract, the bass lines sound woozy and warped, it almost sounds like one of the basses is being played with a slide, part way through it erupts into a full on free for all, drums going nuts, basses buzzing and roaring, the band managed to sound super tight, but also loose and improvised, slipping from droney to super complex to mathy to space-y to sparse and plodding to freaked out and frenzied.
The flipside begins heavy and downtuned and mathy, sounding like a more metal ruins, super tight, locked into impossible grooves, before slipping into another stretch of drifting abstract free jam, before finishing off with a super rocking jam that is total early nineties Homestead worship. Awesome!
Beautifully hand screened covers, black and metallic silver on white (peep the inside of the cover, they're all printed on recycled Oxes / Arab On Radar sleeves, haha), each one hand numbered and signed, LIMITED TO 355 COPIES! Includes a photocopied insert too.

FOUNTAIN, JUDSON Dark Dark Dark Tales (Innova) cd 14.98
Holy cow!!! A whole second collection of radio dramas from the amazing Judson Fountain and his faithful sidekick and loyal announcer Sandor Weisberger. The aQ faithful will no doubt remember Completely In The Dark, a mind blowing compilation of funny, goofy, clever, way over the top dramas, performed by the two men, each taking on various characters, voicing men and women, even monsters, stealing the various incidental sounds and background noises from old sound effects records. Totally lo-fi and DIY and so so so genius. Not sure we could describe Judson and his oeuvre any better than we did in that first review, so for those who missed that first Judson Fountain collection (if you did, you NEED that one too!) or just need a refresher, here it is:
Judson Fountain was born in 1952 and was obsessed with radio dramas since he was old enough to talk. In fact as soon as he was able to talk he began doing impressions of cackling hags, wicked witches and all sorts of animals. All of which would come to play a big part in these radio dramas right here. Recorded between the ages of 17 and 22, these dramas are only a drop in the bucket of the hundreds of radio plays Judson wrote and performed. All of them primitive and simple, but amazingly creative and entertaining, and all featuring Judson's unique vocalizations along with his partner/foil Sandor Weisberger. But there's no way to describe them, you just have to hear them. Judson has a crazy East Coast accent, and he talks like a hyper schoolboy who thinks faster than he can get the words out. Using crude sound effects and sometimes painfully deliberate plot exposition, these dramas all rely on Judson and Sandor's crazy array of voices, from Irish Brogue, to old 'foreign' man, to various witches and demonic women, all with distinctly hysterical and completely bizarre cackles. The plots are all very simple, good vs. Evil, haunted houses and witches and demons and stuff. But they are all done so sort-of-professionally and so earnestly that they're just completely irresistible. Judson is just so cute. And so is Sandor who introduces each drama (which he pronounces drahmmer) and also reads the credits afterwards.
Sold yet, you should be, as every single one of these drahmmers, as well as the ones collected on the first compilation are a total hoot. The scary ones are only barely frightening, instead, they're fun and funny and kitschy, there's always a moral, the bad guys usually get their comeuppance, the good guys prevail, or if they don't it's because they foolishly failed to heed repeated warnings and sage advice. All of these radio plays are from the early seventies, and are GENIUS!!! But there is a bonus track as well, a radio play called "The Nasty Roomer!" written in the style of Judson Fountain, by one of Judson's biggest fans, and performed by Judson and Sandor, reunited in 1995 and broadcast live on WFMU! The crazy thing is, the two of them sound exactly the same, and sound like they're having a blast, often slipping into giggles, performing the play after only having seen it for the first time a few minutes earlier. So fantastic and fun and joyous and still so goofy and silly and practically perfect.
Unlike the first collection, this one is an actual cd (not a cd-r) and comes with a huge booklet packed with photos, and the transcript of an interview that took place at the same time as the performance of "The Nasty Roomer!", and there's even a mention of a possible volume THREE! Bring it on!!!
MPEG Stream: "The Gorgon's Head"
MPEG Stream: "The Wax Museum"

GNAW This Face (Conspiracy) cd 16.98
Thee extreme/experimental/industrial metal scene has a potential new ruler here, with the doomic and disturbing debut of Gnaw. If you put this disc in your computer's iTunes, you'll see some joker has categorized their genre as "children's music". Ha, don't think so! Unless you want your kids to grow up to be like Alan Dubin, of OLD/Khanate infamy, who provides the blood curdling vokills here, ranging from throat-shredding yowls to creepy stage whispers. He's joined by former members of doomlords Burning Witch, psychfolk weirdos Enos Slaughter and cold, early '80s NYC post-punk Factory Records band Ike Yard (!) for this new project, which seems to take up where Dubin's previous bands left off, but in a direction much more deviant & eccentric.
The claustrophobic chaos of track one, "Haven Vault", ought to determine pretty quick if this is for you or not. Imagine a sped-up Khanate struggling through a windstorm, Dubin bawling wretchedly amidst the buzzing murk and the splatter of improv percussion... then distant, pretty piano notes fade in eerily, one by one... it's like Khanate meets Hazard meets Supersilent, in a nightmare. Extreme indeed, and all right with us! That leads to the next track, one that's calmer and more song-like, yet perhaps even more sinister-sounding, with Dubin's negative vibe lyrics more intelligible, everything backed by a springy-sprongy electronic rhythm. More of a tribal drumming pattern is exhibited on the deep rumble of the third song.
Each track seems to delve further and further into weirdness and woe, with drone and distortion and feedback given free range of the album. The jittery percussion effects a trance-like vibe at times, perhaps allowing Dubin's words deeper, subliminal access to your subconscious (uh oh). But as big fans of both OLD and Khanate, we're all for it, glad to now have Gnaw to push those same buttons, along with other ones we hadn't expected, like the way the singing on "Watcher" sounds almost like Eugene from Oxbow. Or how it sounds like maybe Dubin & Co. have been into some dubstep lately. Or how Gnaw's crunching head nodding heaviness is cracked like Humpty D. Yep, if you like some strange surprises in your grim glitchtronic avant-metal music, and moreover enjoy the varied vokill stylings of Mr. Dubin, you'll want Gnaw's Your Face at your place.
The Conspiracy label has released this on cd (digipack) and of course LIMITED EDITION gatefold vinyl of various colors (we've got any color you want, as long as it's black). They had to leave 2 tracks off the vinyl version, but it does come with a free mp3 download card so you can get the entire album on your computer.
MPEG Stream: "Haven Vault"
MPEG Stream: "Vacant"
MPEG Stream: "Shard"

GNAW This Face (Conspiracy) lp 15.98
Thee extreme/experimental/industrial metal scene has a potential new ruler here, with the doomic and disturbing debut of Gnaw. If you put this disc in your computer's iTunes, you'll see some joker has categorized their genre as "children's music". Ha, don't think so! Unless you want your kids to grow up to be like Alan Dubin, of OLD/Khanate infamy, who provides the blood curdling vokills here, ranging from throat-shredding yowls to creepy stage whispers. He's joined by former members of doomlords Burning Witch, psychfolk weirdos Enos Slaughter and cold, early '80s NYC post-punk Factory Records band Ike Yard (!) for this new project, which seems to take up where Dubin's previous bands left off, but in a direction much more deviant & eccentric.
The claustrophobic chaos of track one, "Haven Vault", ought to determine pretty quick if this is for you or not. Imagine a sped-up Khanate struggling through a windstorm, Dubin bawling wretchedly amidst the buzzing murk and the splatter of improv percussion... then distant, pretty piano notes fade in eerily, one by one... it's like Khanate meets Hazard meets Supersilent, in a nightmare. Extreme indeed, and all right with us! That leads to the next track, one that's calmer and more song-like, yet perhaps even more sinister-sounding, with Dubin's negative vibe lyrics more intelligible, everything backed by a springy-sprongy electronic rhythm. More of a tribal drumming pattern is exhibited on the deep rumble of the third song.
Each track seems to delve further and further into weirdness and woe, with drone and distortion and feedback given free range of the album. The jittery percussion effects a trance-like vibe at times, perhaps allowing Dubin's words deeper, subliminal access to your subconscious (uh oh). But as big fans of both OLD and Khanate, we're all for it, glad to now have Gnaw to push those same buttons, along with other ones we hadn't expected, like the way the singing on "Watcher" sounds almost like Eugene from Oxbow. Or how it sounds like maybe Dubin & Co. have been into some dubstep lately. Or how Gnaw's crunching head nodding heaviness is cracked like Humpty D. Yep, if you like some strange surprises in your grim glitchtronic avant-metal music, and moreover enjoy the varied vokill stylings of Mr. Dubin, you'll want Gnaw's Your Face at your place.
The Conspiracy label has released this on cd (digipack) and of course LIMITED EDITION gatefold vinyl of various colors (we've got any color you want, as long as it's black). They had to leave 2 tracks off the vinyl version, but it does come with a free mp3 download card so you can get the entire album on your computer.
MPEG Stream: "Haven Vault"
MPEG Stream: "Vacant"
MPEG Stream: "Shard"

HEATDEATH Un (Conspiracy) lp 34.00
The return of Heatdeath, record number two, and once again, just as hard to describe as the first one. A sprawling soft cacophony of buzz and whir and drone, laced with bits of glitch and hiss all woven into a multi part abstract freenoise epic, that plays out like some futuristic symphony gone haywire.
Fuzzy staticky whirs drift above warm shimmers, mechanical crunch is smoothed into blurred anti-rhythms, thick layers of distortion ripple over roiling depths of hiss and buzz, occasionally a metronomic sonar like beep keeps the time, waves of pink noise crash over shard of keening feedback, occasionally coalescing into thick roiling shoegazey sort-of-doom, all abstract and dreamy, but still rough and raw and doused with crumbling distortion, wild drum freakouts muted and muffled until they become skittery landscapes of thump and shuffle, long stretches of washed out Tim Hecker like ambience, and a long stretch of warped haunted house creep, peppered with soft chimes and deep cavernous drones. All over the place sonically, but the various parts blend perfectly, drifting into one another, taking the form of one single epic abstract chunk of noisy drone-y buzzy doomy mystery.
Gorgeous packaging, thick jackets in super thick PVC sleeves, black inner sleeves and heavy vinyl. Each record comes with a download coupon as well! LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!!

HOOR-PAAR-KRAAT A Doorbell Of Earbows For Brefix (Goat Eater Arts / KNVBI) lp 12.98
A new lp from long beloved noisemakers Hoor-Paar-Kraat. Well, not entirely new, as one side was previously released as a super limited 3"cd-r, but considering how limited that was, most of you will be hearing all of this stuff for the first time.
The A side, previously released on Small Doses, is a tripped out burst of mysterious musical abstraction. Two tracks, clocking in at about 18 minutes total, an abstract and spacious drift through some lost alien soundscape. The first track is all tinkling melodies, glistening high end, strange rumbling fluctuations way off in the distance, bits of creak and scrape, everything bathed in foggy reverb and warm wet swirls of tape hiss and atmospheric whir. Melodies creep in and out, as do bits of field recordings, it all feels like some cinematic bleary eyed wander through a hazy druggy flashback, a washed out world of lost memories and fragmented dreams. Here and there guitars grind and reverberate, and strange percussive sonic events drift into earshot, like an even more abstract Wolf Eyes maybe. Quite gorgeous and dreamlike.
The second track starts out the same, a smear of high end shimmer, but instead of spreading out into languid pools of blurry sound, things get decidedly more abrasive, the high end becomes sharper, the percussion is more clattery and jarring, a disembodied voice intones some creepy monologue over the top, effects swirl and swoop, deconstructed riffs chug and churn, everything dizzying and disorienting, like the nightmare analogue to the opening track's dream.
The flipside also offers up two tracks, the first begins with a swirl of creaking metal, sizzling cymbals, clattery percussion, until suddenly the clang and crunch are transformed into a strangely rhythmic crunch, the metal sounding much deeper, more of a resonant bellow, all very chaotic and cacophonous, underpinned by deep distant rumbles. Which leads right into track number two, all birdsong and tinkling chimes, whispered voices, random sonic detritus, sharp slivers of momentary buzz, soft smears of static, very haunting and ominous and like the first side, quite cinematic.
Beautifully packaged as always, pressed on thick vinyl, housed in full color sleeves with super striking artwork from HPK mainman Anthony Mangicapra. We know it's LIMITED too, just not sure to how many.

HYATARI They Will Surface (Caustic Eye) cd 15.98
It's been four years since we first encountered this drone-doom-doom-drone band from West Virginia's debut album The Light Carriers. And its heavy vibrations made such an impression on us, we'd been wondering when we'd heard from them again... of course, for these guys, whose music is sooooo sloooow and seemingly transmitted from the deeps of space, four years probably isn't a long time, not on the grand galactic scale. So we waited, and we're glad they've now at last resurfaced, with, uh, They Will Surface. Considering all the droney, dooooooomy music we sell, having more Hyatari here at AQ is a good thing. Really, it seems these guys should be just as popular as bands like Ufomammut, Atavist, Nadja... certainly if you like the likes of those, you should check out Hyatari!
This new disc picks up where the last one left off, pretty much. A musical 2001: The Space Odyssey monolith of epic, moody, synth sludge DIRGE, built from slabs of Earth/SUNNO)))/Skullflower style distortion and lumbering, crushingly heavy riffs, which seem to explode out of the near-stillness of their more ambient, drifty, spaced-out passages. And it's (mostly? all?) instrumental, so nothing so insignificant and small as a pesky human voice enters into the majestic, black-void-encompassing soundfield. But instead of the Godflesh-y programmed drum beats of the debut, this time around it sounds more like there's a physical being behind the drumkit, pounding away with the pulse of the cosmos. Although, no drummer is credited, so it's probably a machine. Heck, all of Hyatari might just be a machine. We imagine the depressed robot from Hitchhiker's Guide, but serious and scary and for some reason intent on playing ultra-heavy post rockish drone-doom!
MPEG Stream: "Mountain Lit With Fire"
MPEG Stream: "They Will Surface"

JAGEL, JASON & MADLIB Seventy Three Funshine (Electric Works) book + 10" 68.00
One of San Francisco's more popular artists in the Mission School scene along with Barry McGee and Chris Johanson is Jason Jagel, whose colorful sprawling paintings of disassociative word fragments and energetic stream-of-conscious drawings of copulation and urban detritus get a full monograph treatment here, a big beautiful oversized tome that perfectly suits Jagel's eye popping work. Having done many record covers for Madlib in his many sonic guises and collaborations such as Madvillian, MF Doom, and The Beat Konducta, this handsome, beautifully reproduced full color collection comes with an exclusive Madlib 10", featuring as of now, all unreleased tracks. The thing is HUGE, and heavy, so if you order just this, it'll have to ship at the three item rate, but it's worth it, this is the kind of book you can totally get lost in, and the record is pretty bad ass to boot!

JAY, ABNER True Story Of (Mississippi) lp 12.98
NEW ON MISSISSIPPI RECORDS!!!!
That's just for the folks who will buy anything and everything on Mississippi, and there are lots of them, and heck, pretty much everyone who works here is one too! But for those of you who need to know more, let's dig in a little shall we?
We recently reviewed a compilation of Abner Jay tracks on Swedish reissue label Subliminal Sounds, so we might as well, revisit that review just for those of you who are new to the musical world of Abner Jay and his unique sound.
Black minstrel showman Abner Jay hailed from south Georgia, and was one of the last of the travelling minstrel musicians. Presumably he's dead now, though his habit of laying on his belly to drink water from the Swaunee River helped him to persevere for more than fifty years in a career as a one man band, banging out tunes on his electric six-string banjo, bass drum, harmonica and little else. On the evidence of the music, Abner Jay was quite the entertainer. He tells some off-color groaners 'tween songs, but the humor in his show doesn't stop his most affecting songs from being truly morose and sad, and beautiful. He's got the blues all right (the "Cocaine Blues" to be precise). Indeed, one of his most moving songs is entitled "I'm So Depressed". Stick that alongside his risque jokes and more lighthearted fare, and you've got a manic-depressive masterpiece, not to mention a piece of close to forgotten history.
For this Mississippi collection, much of the between song banter and the wild stories and jokes, have been excised, leaving the record mostly music, and allowing the music to truly shine, and shine it does, bluesy and folky and so so soulful. A deep angelic voice, a gorgeous croon, no matter how bizarre the lyrics, coming from the mouth of Abner Jay they sound like a lullaby.
This collects a bunch of various tracks, most of them one man band numbers, but a few fleshed out with a full band, those numbers are surprisingly lush, total fifties style balladry, flecked with blues and folk, his electric banjo, sounding more like a subtly effected guitar, the guitar playing slipping from gentle and languid, to wild and tangly, the vocals from sing / speak story telling and lush crooning, the bass drum and highhat a steady beat, the harmonica rich and textured, but it's all about the voice, and the songs, some dark and haunting and mysterious, others melancholy and wistful, and still others wild and rambunctious.
There is some overlap with the Subliminal Sounds cd, but there's enough stuff here you haven't heard that it's totally worth it, PLUS, it's on vinyl, AND, it's just about the most deluxe Mississippi Records release yet. It comes with a ton of inserts, a photo of Abner Jay, a reproduction of Jay's biography, written and signed by the man himself, a flyer / advert announcing a string of gigs in Florida, with plenty of info about the man and his recordings, and a transcript of all the various stories and jokes and intros that were cut from the actual record. WOW. As always, great job Mississippi, and if you haven't heard the music of Abner Jay, boy are you in for a treat!

JAY, ABNER Terrible Comedy Blues (Mississippi) 7" 7.98
NEW ON MISSISSIPPI RECORDS!!!
Yep, along with the full length lp collection also just released on Mississippi, there's this here 7", which features two versions of one of our favorite, and perhaps one of Jay's most popular tunes "I'm So Depressed". A slightly different version is also on the lp collection, and like that one, this version too is gorgeous, sad, and heartbreaking, but still wistful and amusing, the lyrics clever and heartfelt, Jay's voice silky and beautiful, the instrumentation spare and stripped down, but still impossibly lush.
The flipside, features a different full band version of the same song, retitled "Depression", and credited to Koko Joe and The Jobhunters, and is way more raw and garage-y, sort of old school R+B, heavy on the reverb and the room sound, the rest of the band ramping it up a bit, there's even horns, but Jay is still the star of the show his voice and playing unmistakable!
Packaged in a simple old school juke box style, hand silkscreened black and white sleeve.

KAMPFAR Heimgang (Napalm) cd 16.98
Yay, more Kampfar(rrrrrr)! This Nordic horde, whose first ep came out back in 1995, was missing in action for seven long years, returning in 2006 with the frosty Kvass, and now they're back again with another icy blast of their Norwegian black metal mastery. If anything, this one's full of even folkier riffs, but stays super grim and heavy too, making for some sort of pagan ritual trudge, rolling and rasping and rollicking on and on majestically. There's something quite "classic" about the folky metal lope of tracks like "Vansinn" that's for sure. And as frozen cold as Kampar's collective heart must be, much emotion is still conveyed by the likes of "Vettekult". So, recommended obviously to any/all Kampfar fans, but also to anyone if you just like picking up a new Nordic black metal album this week - this one is the real deal like back in the '90s!
Something must also be said about vocalist and founding member Dolk (that's his name), who, in a recent band photo we've seen, displays a remarkable Kampfar logo tattoo across his stomach, gangsta-style! It looks pretty funny we must stay, but on the other hand, it's an excuse for him to show off his sixpack abs. As well as demonstrating he's serious about his band, it's no fly by night flavor of the month outfit. Indeed, though he somehow finds time for working out and getting tattooed and all that, Dolk's main priority remains channelling the wintry spirits of his Viking ancestors into metal music so powerful that even a non-band-member might consider getting the logo of inked on their body.
MPEG Stream: "Dodens Vee track 3"
MPEG Stream: "Vansinn"
MPEG Stream: "Vettekult"

KHORS Mysticism (Paragon) cd 12.98
As we've mentioned in a few other black metal reviews, at first glance, it's easy to be knocked out by these incredible scenes in places like Russia and the Ukraine, but upon closer inspection, it becomes obvious, that it's the same 5 or 6 guys in each scene making up all of those different bands. Sometimes it's even the exact same members, with just a new name and a different sound. Still pretty impressive for sure, just in a different way.
So here we have Ukrainian black metallers Khors, who among their ranks, include various members of other Ukrainian groups you most likely recognize, like Nokturnal Mortum, Astrofaes and Hate Forest.
And while Khors' sound invariably shares some similarities with the various members' other outfits, as well as fellow Ukrainian black metal horde Drudkh, the sound here is definitely unique, taking midtempo black buzz, and mixing it with some seriously melodic more straight forward rock, lots of space-y atmosphere, and super tripped out almost Pink Floyd-like keyboards. It's that melodic aspect, and the keyboards, that give Khors a definitely whatthefuck vibe.
The record begins with a two minute intro, all shimmery keyboards, and super tight, almost jazzy drumming, even when the guitars come in, the sound is weirdly poppy, with some almost bluesy leads, before slipping into the first track, a lurching black metal pound, with churning riffs, and howled vokills, wild guitar trills, but also sparkling sheets of tinkling keyboards, rife with folky melodies, the whole thing epic and majestic, especially when the band lock into the instrumental jam parts, guitar leads evoke some eighties movie montage, before slipping back into something more black or in the case of the next track something even more, um, cheesy? But not in a bad way. Skittery drums beneath soft synths, whispered vox, and some almost Chariots Of Fire sounding piano. Seconds later, the band is blasting through a frosty field of buzzing guitars wrapped around furious blast beats, and we're back in serious black metal territory, but hold up, Khors shift gears again, and slip into something a bit more Journey. Or Europe even. Super slick sounding studio hard rock from the eighties, which on its own might sound unappealing, but then drape some super distorted buzzy guitars and growled hellish vocals over the top and we're into something definitely bizarre and WAY unexpected.
The PURE metal parts here will definitely appeal to folks into the Ukrainian sound (Nokturnal Mortum, Hate Forest, Drudkh), but it's pretty twisted, and weird mix, and least for the grim and troo, and at times, not even remotely metal, which might make this more appropriate for the aQ metalheads who tend to be up for the stranger stuff. Although to be fair, there's nothing truly fucked up and weird here, it's just the combination of black buzz and smooth jam that makes this so strange, and thus, so awesome!
MPEG Stream: "Raven's Dance"
MPEG Stream: "Milk Of Heavens"

MALEFIC ORDER Raging Evil Desekration (Satanic Propaganda) cd 13.98
Metal Archives, the go to site for metal info, a sort of metal Wikipedia, lists 348 metal bands from Turkey, none of which we'd heard, or even really heard of, until now. Malefic Order, who besides being from Turkey, have one of the coolest metal logos ever, their name rendered in the shape of a helmeted horned demon, with a pentagram on its forehead and an impaled skull atop its helmet.
Recorded to praise Euronymous and Dead of Mayhem, Raging Evil Desekration could not be more appropriately titled, everything about these songs is raging and evil, raw and buzzy, obviously heavily indebted to the Nordic elite, these songs merge epic and majestic with raw and primitive, the result a relentless buzz drenched thrash flecked slab of frosty black mayhem, nothing overtly weird or fucked up, although there are some cool arrangements and weird creepy melodies here and there, this is more about the sound and the vibe and the spirit, every single note and drum beat, every blasting buzz oozes evil, the vokills some of the rawest and most intense we've heard, the riffing frenetic often slipping into dangerously catchy territory before exploding again into a blazing blur, the drums super heavy and powerful, the whole sound just ultra raw, super intense, pitch black and very very evil.

MORRISSEY Years Of Refusal (Lost Highway / Attack) cd 15.98
While so many of his big name '80s peers have either vanished or started churning out sub-par sounds in recent years (The Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order, etc.) Morrissey has kept great quality control and has been aging so so gracefully. Years of Refusal might be his most punchy, rocking and self assured solo outing to date. With his golden voice still so warm and rich and powerful and his brutish band offering some muscular back up, this is a set of songs that rely not only on Morrissey's always clever and dramatic word play but the rockin' music backing it up as well!
His last album Ringleaders Of The Tormentors, though filled with some great songs, tripped up a bit on its over-ambition and pretension. Years Of Refusal gets it all right, with a sound palette very similar to one of his great recent outings You Are The Quarry. These songs bristle with such natural force and those magical melodies that Morrissey has been creating for over twenty-five years now are in full effect. Even folks here at AQ who are far from being devoted Morrissey fanatics have been digging this big time! And those of us who do have that special place in our hearts for Morrissey are finding this to be such an infectious album that only reaffirms that despite what one might think of his persona or mystique, this is truly one of the greatest songwriters and singers of our generation!
MPEG Stream: "Something Is Squeezing My Skull"
MPEG Stream: "All You Need Is Me"
MPEG Stream: "It's Not Your Birthday Anymore"

MURRAY, BRENDAN Live Free Or Die (23five Incorporated) cd-r 8.98
Oooohhh! Live Free Or Die is a re-configuration of Brendan Murray's acclaimed Commonwealth cd, also released by San Francisco's premier sound arts organization 23five. This limited edition redux was conceived as a "tour disc" in support of Murray's 2009 performance at the San Francisco Art Institute, opening for Tony Conrad. The title happens to be the motto for New Hampshire, and has more to do with his personal history in living in New England than anything else. As a teenager, Murray was living in New Hampshire when he and a friend ventured to Boston for a Table Of The Elements showcase that featured a performance from Mr. Conrad. In so many words, the concert blew his mind, and lead him to begin tinkering with sound, a process which lead him to become a mighty finer minimalist and phonographer in his own right.
In making Live Free Or Die, Murray drove Commonwealth (a stately single minded composition of subtly shifting harmonics and drones) through a handful of distortion pedals and effects boxes, changing the overall color of that golden recording with an ashen grit. Using these sounds as the source material, Murray presents two slowly building crescendos whose dynamic range of near silent valleys and speaker rattling peaks as the crux to Live Free Or Die. More Francisco Lopez than Eliane Radigue, Live Free Or Die makes for a very nice companion to his near perfect Commonwealth. There were only 50 copies of these things produced, and the bulk have already disappeared! Ack!
MPEG Stream: "Live Free Or Die"

NATIVE IN BLACK At The Mystic Gates Of Eternal Winter (Cold Breath Of Silence) cd 13.98
We most definitely have a thing for Russian black metal, Old Wainds, Stielhas Storhett, Forest, Branikald, Raven Dark, Nav, Ithdabquth Qliphoth, we could go on and on. So we're always psyched to discover some new band we had never heard, or heard of before, such was the case with Native In Black, whose 2008 disc At The Gates Of Eternal Winter we just managed to get in, and it's a killer, but the cool thing is it's a whole different take on black metal than we're used to, especially from Russian bands.
Their sound is cold and grim and frosty and buzzy, but it's not really furious or fast, it's also not stripped down or raw, instead it's almost like some weird variant of classic eighties metal, mixed with a little blackness, and a lot of thrash. It's hard to describe, but much like the Ruins cd reviewed elsewhere on this list, the more we listen to this the better it sounds. Most black metal is droney or blurry, barely headbangable, but this shit is epic, and totally rocking, midtempo most of the time, and when it is fast, it's not blast beats, but more furious and sort of punk rock. Lurching and lumbering, pounding fists in the air. The vocals are awesome too, definitely a black metal shriek, but also frenzied and super dramatic, a bit like Mr. Doctor or something, giving the black metal a distinctly over the top Devil Doll vibe. In fact the more we dig into this record, the less distinctly black metal it sounds, and the more it sounds like some fucked up noise rock band, who just so happen to have some metal roots, a tangled mathy buzz, wrapped around those crazy vox, and shot through with a bit of stumbly punk rock, and streaks of blackened grimnity. Live these guys could easily either be corpsepainted and bespiked, or a bunch of bearded dudes in jeans and tshirts, leaping all over the stage, flailing wildly and stage diving, hardly matters, either way this shit rules!
MPEG Stream: "Blackest Northern Orchestra"
MPEG Stream: "At The Mystic Gates"
MPEG Stream: "Ladies And Gentlemen"

NEW THRILL PARADE The Belly Washer (self released) cd-r 5.98
You know a record is good, when you have no idea what the hell to say about it. Or if "what the fuck" is the first words that come to mind. Such is the case with this tour only cd-r ep from local twisted psych goth weirdos New Thrill Parade. Part of a burgeoning local scene that includes the Ovens (new record on tUMULt soon), Prizehog, Robocop 3 and a bunch of other dubiously named local noisemakers.
But New Thrill Parade definitely stand out, their dizzyingly druggy cabaret workouts, chiming high end guitars, chaotic drumming, long stretches of doomy Nick Cave like crooning, buzzing bass drones and wild operatic freakouts, like a soundtrack to some super fucked up Tim Burton student film. It's impossible to not imagine some strange stone creatures or gross, tentacled beasts singing the deep vocal parts, and some crazed multi headed ring master type balancing on some equally deformed beast belting out the wailing high parts.
Moody and dramatic and cinematic and over the top. Plenty psychedelic and tripped out and druggy, and really fucking catchy, hooks popping up all over the place, while the band unfurls their peculiar brand of funhouse doom and abandoned amusement park goth, horns bleat and moan sparring with the multiple voices, the vibe is definitely eighties, these guys would have KILLED at L.A.'s Scream club, maybe opening for Jane's Addiction or Tex & The Horseheads, but they take that sound and doll it all up with some more modern lo-fi noise rock heaviness, some warped off kilter over the top psych-glam freakouts, and plenty of textures and layers and effects and ambience.
Still need to see these guys live, might be a disappointment since we're envisioning strange beasts and scary monsters, but that's why the cd is perfect, close your eyes, and let these guys drag you screaming into their cracked and crazed world of sound.
TOUR ONLY, LIMITED TO 200 COPIES, we got a dozen or so, might very well be the only copies we get.
MPEG Stream: "Wine Tasting"
MPEG Stream: "Sun Like An Idiot"

NILSEN, BJ & STILLUPPSTEYPA Man From Deep River (Editions Mego) cd 17.98
Man From Deep River is another fantastic album in the ongoing Viking drone collaboration between BJ Nilsen, Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson, and Helgi Thorsson. Where their trilogy for Helen Scarsdale spoke the trials and tribulations of alcoholism through heavy minimalism, this one has a Mondo feel. The album is based upon a found tape from 1975, which served as the guide to their excursions; but even beyond this piece of audio verite, they frame the album as if it were the harrowing sound design for some fucked-up Italian pseudo documentary on any number of unsavory topics. The opening field recording of African mbira players and wood percussionists is tame enough, setting the stage for a narrative beyond their Scandinavian tundra. As these recordings degrade through incrementally increasing reverb, the signature Nilsen / Sigmarsson drone sound oozes forward amidst the chattering of European finches. Things quickly blacken with a Dracula haunting of carnivalesque organ chords played with heavy hands and minor keys. As all of this happens within the first 10 minutes, the album instantly has a very different feel than the alcohol trilogy's isolationism.
Deadly serious, flatlined tones emanate beyond this point, coupled with those same bird recordings which have now been deformed into mutating coos and slow-motion clucks as if refracted through a fun house mirror. Bits of spoken dialogue also creep forward presumably from that aforementioned found cassette, but swimming in deeper than deep reverberation and intermingling with warbling carnivalesque overtures spawned from the almighty drone. After a rasping collage of electrified field recordings, Man From Deep River concludes through a series of spectral arcs of modulating sound radiate the night sky like the northern lights filtered through auditory hallucinogenics. Only during these brief concluding moments do Nilsen & Stilluppstyepa allow for a sense of beauty to emerge from an otherwise terminally unsettling, if blackly psychedelic album.
MPEG Stream: "Part 1"
MPEG Stream: "Part 2"
MPEG Stream: "Part 3"

NITSCH, HERMANN Die Geburt Des Dionysos Christos (Vinyl On Demand) 3lp wooden box 155.00
Hermann Nitsch might just rank as one of our favorite modern composers, his pieces being huge atonal drone works for orchestras, accompanied by bloody 'aktions', with performers dressed all in white, or nude, faux crucifixions and gallons and gallons of bovine blood. It's precisely the disturbing dramatic elements of Nitsch's aktions that have kept him from ever performing in the US.
A few of his here have gotten pretty obsessed with Nitsch, his recordings always super limited and notoriously difficult to track down, one aQuarian (we're looking at you Andee!) even owns several of boxsets containing complete aktions, which result in upwards of 50 cds.
Like his live aktions, every release is a spectacle, Die Geburt Des Dionysos Christos is no different. Released by the always amazing Vinyl On Demand label, which means outrageous and over the top packaging, this time, it's a gorgeous silk screened and hand stained wooden box, with a hinged top, inside, three lps, each in a deluxe printed sleeve, also a massive gorgeously printed booklet, thick textured paper, metallic inks, the whole nine yards. It would be worth it even if the lps were blank and it was just the object. But thankfully, there is music, but unlike the grand scale aktions, the recordings here are much more intimate. Minimal drone organ recordings, some captured live in a cathedral, others recorded on the organ at his private castle (!) in Austria.
We only got two, probably can't get more. Fans of extreme and mysterious sounds will be blown away, it looks amazing, sounds fantastic, it even smells great, the box and the ink and the printed sleeves, so recommended. And so worth the hefty price tag.

PAN AMERICAN White Bird Release (Kranky) cd 14.98
Labradford had long been the American precursor to the lugubrious noir that Bohren & Der Club Of Gore had masterfully grafted with doom. But now that Labradford has quietly ceased activities, guitarist Mark Nelson has fully embraced his solo project Pan American, which had been running concurrently with Labradford for the past seven or eight years. Without Bobby Donne's lonesome bass as a foundation to work with, Nelson's Pan American has relied heavily upon glitchy electronic rhythms and dub-injected studio tricks with varying degrees of success. Perhaps now that Labradford is no more, the Pan American project has taken on a greater sense of purpose as White Bird Release is easily the most accomplished Pan American record to date. There's much less of that dubby electronica to be found on this album; but when employed, Nelson's skeletal pulses enjoy a rich noir ethos resembling those scarce moments of darkened prog-rock dirge for organ and drums offered up on that Deathprod boxset a few years back. But for the most part, Nelson seems comfortable with the Fripp & Eno style streams of pastoral guitar ambience dotted with softened static, smokey vibes, and gracefully arcing drones.
The album is based on a letter from Dr. Robert Goddard to H.G. Wells written in 1932 and concerned with the possibility of space flight. While many of the obvious references to White Bird Release harken to the deep space cosmology from the '70s (e.g. Fripp & Eno, Cluster, Schulze, etc.), Nelson's work is not a departure from this rock travelling around the sun, but rather a glance upward to the heavens, while remaining firmly grounded below.
The cd has one extra track not to be found on the vinyl.
MPEG Stream: "There Can Be No Thought Of Finishing"
MPEG Stream: "For Aiming At The Stars"
MPEG Stream: "In A Letter To H.G. Wells, 1932"

PAN AMERICAN White Bird Release (Kranky) lp 13.98
Labradford had long been the American precursor to the lugubrious noir that Bohren & Der Club Of Gore had masterfully grafted with doom. But now that Labradford has quietly ceased activities, guitarist Mark Nelson has fully embraced his solo project Pan American, which had been running concurrently with Labradford for the past seven or eight years. Without Bobby Donne's lonesome bass as a foundation to work with, Nelson's Pan American has relied heavily upon glitchy electronic rhythms and dub-injected studio tricks with varying degrees of success. Perhaps now that Labradford is no more, the Pan American project has taken on a greater sense of purpose as White Bird Release is easily the most accomplished Pan American record to date. There's much less of that dubby electronica to be found on this album; but when employed, Nelson's skeletal pulses enjoy a rich noir ethos resembling those scarce moments of darkened prog-rock dirge for organ and drums offered up on that Deathprod boxset a few years back. But for the most part, Nelson seems comfortable with the Fripp & Eno style streams of pastoral guitar ambience dotted with softened static, smokey vibes, and gracefully arcing drones.
The album is based on a letter from Dr. Robert Goddard to H.G. Wells written in 1932 and concerned with the possibility of space flight. While many of the obvious references to White Bird Release harken to the deep space cosmology from the '70s (e.g. Fripp & Eno, Cluster, Schulze, etc.), Nelson's work is not a departure from this rock travelling around the sun, but rather a glance upward to the heavens, while remaining firmly grounded below.
The cd has one extra track not to be found on the vinyl.
MPEG Stream: "There Can Be No Thought Of Finishing"
MPEG Stream: "For Aiming At The Stars"

POCAHAUNTED Passage (Troubleman) lp 14.98
Pocahaunted have become quite the household name these days, and rightly so. After releasing somewhere close to five LPs in a single year, the Olsen twins of drone, as they are so aptly nicknamed, show no signs of slowing down. And we can thank Troubleman for getting hip to these lady droners just in time to release their most promising effort yet. The duo teem up with the famed Bobb Bruno, as well as Cameron Stallones, a member of Magic Lantern and the man behind Sun Araw, to summon up a darkened slab of ceremonial drone that proves to be our favorite material from the band to date.
Imagine Popol Vuh getting tribal with Brast Burn, throw in a touch of the mysterious voodoo vibes of Valet's Blood is Clean, and you pretty much have this album. Less dubbed out and much more focused then their last lp Chains, Passage is ghostly and unsettling. We can't help but notice how much this outfit has matured over the last few records. Seems like they really laid down some solid ideas on this record. Voices calling from the deserted plains as the sky grows heavy with menacing clouds, the distant clanging of gongs and bells growing louder and louder as the dry earth begins to crack. The pair's signature vocals are deep and melancholic, trance inducing and hypnotic as they sulk in apocalyptic lament. But there is a kind of astral freak out vibe hidden in the dark grain woodwork here, with flaring organ licks and fuzzed/reverbed out electric guitar that fades in and disappears. At times it kinda sounds like some New Agers channeling a Native American ceremony, only to realize they've conjured up some angry force that swallows them whole. Slow building, contemplative and, dare was say, dooooomy, we're definitely into it. And this time around, the band takes a break from their usual collagey album art aesthetic and opted for the more refined look. With a simple, vintagey cover complete with stark pictures of the female droners looking quite dashing, we have to say we're really impressed with the whole package. Don't miss out on this incredibly impressive release! Completely and sincerely recommended!!

RIPERTON, MINNIE Come To My Garden (Janus) cd 14.98
Perhaps best known for the seventies R&B hit and wedding song mainstay, "Loving You" (as well as being the mother of former SNL comedienne, Maya Rudolph), the late great Minnie Riperton was also the angelic voice behind one of Chicago's most underrated psych-soul groups, The Rotary Connection. Come To My Garden was Riperton's first solo outing after the break-up of that group, yet plays like the band's final effort. Released on Cadet records, a subsidiary of Chess, and arranged by the mighty Charles Stepney with The Ramsey Lewis Trio and Maurice White from Earth Wind and Fire as the back-up group, Come To My Garden is one of the most beautifully majestic chamber-soul records we've ever heard. Sampled heavily by the likes of Jurassic 5, Tribe Called Quest, The Orb, and 4hero amongst many others, there are plenty of amazing orchestral breaks of harps and strings and kettle drums plus of course, Riperton's jaw-dropping five octave vocal range. While the vibe is definitely vernal and heavenly, this is not the syrupy Minnie Riperton you find in most thrift store record bins. This is a solid classic from beginning to end. So tragic that this is so little known. Perhaps the finest hour from someone who was cut down before she got the chance to really flourish. Highly Recommended!!!!
MPEG Stream: "Les Fleurs"
MPEG Stream: "Completeness"
MPEG Stream: "Memory Band"
MPEG Stream: "Expecting"

RODEN, STEVE Ecstasy Shorewed Its Petals With The Full Peal Of The Bells (Ferns) 3" cd 9.98
Yes, that does in fact say "Shorewed" in the title, a mistake that escaped all of the parties involved in proofing the artwork for this delicate and beautiful composition by LA's sound artist Steve Roden. Alas, these things they happen. For a few years now, the French label has been commissioning shortened compositions for what has turned out to be an exceptional series of 3" singles. There's an immediate parallel one could make to Metamkine's long out of print Cinema Pour L'Oreille series from many years back, although Ferns has less of a theoretical strain coming from musique concrete and more of a haunted impressionism relying on the smoke and mirror strategies of the drone. Roden's work is an excellent compliment to those contributions from Giancarlo Toniutti, Joe Colley, and Matt Shoemaker. Ecstasy Shorewed Its Petals uses only a small hand bell as the source material, which is more than enough for Roden to cull a wide range of sounds. With ample uses of pitch shifting and his excellent use of two delay pedals (anyone with a Loop Station should take note of Roden's work to learn a thing or twelve), Roden lays down a hypnotic and slightly eerie set of phasing loops with golden hued tones. On top of this foundation, he gradually builds up softly rasping textures, the gentle tinkling of the bell unprocessed, reversed tape gasps of drone snippets, and a distant tapping which sounds more like water tumbling out of a pipe rather than a bell. Roden keeps the composition simple, revealing the wealth of his sounds and then quietly retreating to a silent conclusion. Very lovely stuff!
MPEG Stream: "Ecstasy Shorewed Its Petals With The Full Peal Of The Bells"

RUINS Baptized In Hell (Negative-Existence) cd 11.98
Not to be confused with Japanese prog duo Ruins, these guys are from Germany, and traffic in classic old school thrashing blackness, channeling the greats like Bathory and Sodom and even Darkthrone. On first listen, we just took Ruins for another bunch of retro thrashers, which technically they are, but we left the record playing, and the more it played, the deeper we got into it, the more obsessed we became. We're not always that into old school thrash, our tastes run more to the black and droney, or the fucked up and frenzied, but there's something about these guys that has all the metalheads around here in a bit of a froth.
The riffs of course destroy, buzzy and crushing, the production massive and in-the-red, the vocals are insane, a glass gargling bile spewing demonic rasp that pretty much seals the deal. Tons of distortion and reverb, the songs simple and stripped down, raw and relentless, it takes all our self control to reign in fits of spontaneous head banging when this disc is playing.
The crazy thing is Ruins is a one man band. We're used to one man bedroom black metal, but listening to this we envision three long haired guys all holding up chains and upside down crosses, scowling at the camera, bullet belts massive spikes, leather jackets, in a graveyard or some forest or something, pretty insane that something this furious and blown out and thrashy is just one guy, but hell, kudos to him.
Not sure what else to say, this rules, total punked up greasy, filthy thrashy blackened metal genius, give the sound samples a few listens, once you're hooked, you'll be hard pressed to pry this thing out of your cd player.
Includes Ruins' first two demos, from 2006 and 2007, as well as a bunch of previously unreleased bonus tracks.
METAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MPEG Stream: "Bloodstorms Of Hell"
MPEG Stream: "Blasphemy Reigns"
MPEG Stream: "Castle Of Nocturnal Evil"
MPEG Stream: "Total Perversion"

SERPENT THRONE The Battle Of Old Crow (Vessel) cd 13.98
It might be a bit obvious, but it'll get our point across: take a look at this album's cover, an evocative image of a Neolithic stone circle out on a mystic moor somewhere, the stones jutting up into a darkened, dusky red sky. Now imagine the amid the stones also a circle of Orange amps/cabinets, cranking twin guitar jams in a '70s psych/metal style... add a bassist and a drummer who makes a point of also being credited with "cowbell", and you're perhaps getting close to an idea of what Serpent Throne's The Battle Of Old Crow sounds like.
Released by Vessel (best known as the label who previously brought us that fantastic archival release by '70s Pentagram alter ego Bedemon, a few years back), this is the 2nd full-length from these Philadelphia instru-metallists (featuring one of the guitarists from sludge-doom act Otesanek), following 2007's Ride Satan Ride. The concept for -that- album was that it was a reissue of a long-lost soundtrack to an obscure '70s biker film. And it almost could have been, but we think Serpent Throne could have gone further with the idea, like having a repeating "theme" motif throughout the album, interspersing the tracks with made up fake movie dialogue and sound effects, or including a mellow acoustic ballad "hit single" that would have played during the imaginary film's love scene... stuff like that would have made it more like the soundtracks to actual films like Psychomania and Stone. But it was a cool debut anyway, that we should have reviewed but didn't, so we're making sure not to sleep on this one too. The Battle Of Old Crow scraps the movie soundtrack concept and just provides the riffy instrumental rockin', without pretense. Which we could describe as sounding like a stoner rock Fucking Champs, maybe. Or a shut-up-n-play-yer-guitar version of The Sword. In other words, heavy and badass in the guitar dep't. Of which there's two here, guitars that is, bringing the stirring harmonies, trippy leads, and fat riffs. Heck, it's got "guitariness" on par with AQ faves Slough Feg and Hammers of Misfortune. Fans of Earthless ought to dig this too, though the songs here are just that, songs, more concise and less jammy than Earthless's extended improvs. Another fitting comparison would be to fellow Philly instrumental act Stinking Lizaveta, if they were just a bit more overtly on the retro/stoner tip. The '70s heaviness of bands like Sabbath, Scorpions (both cited on the cover sticker blurb), Wishbone Ash, Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple and the like is the obvious inspiration here, and Serpent Throne have definitely learned their lessons well.
While not having a singer can sometimes be a good thing (since any given vocalist's voice, not to mention lyrics, can be so subjective a pleasure, or not), the question that usually gets asked about something like this is, well, is it boring? We'd say, no, definitely not. Not if you like tasty guitar and authentically '70s sounding bellbottomed riffage! In that case, having no singer is a plus, since there's no vocals to get in the way of the guitarists doing their thing. Which they do quite well indeed! The rhythm section is pretty tight too.
While often, the solution (or purpose) of some bands doing the instrumental thing is to get ultra-techy and complex, to grab attention that way, Serpent Throne take a different tack, writing songs that are just that, memorable songs, vocals or no. Sure, there's moments where you wouldn't mind your favorite '70s metal vocalist stepping up to the mic. But Serpent Throne's catchy riffs and purely instrumental interplay is plenty enough most of the time - powerful, mesmerizing and melodic. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "One Percenter"
MPEG Stream: "Snakecharmer"
MPEG Stream: "Rock Formation"

SILENTIST Tunnel (Zum) 7" 7.98
Every Silentist review always requires a quick recap of the band's back story. Or at least the story of how we were introduced to the band. We were told they were a duo, a classical piano player, and a grindcore drummer (when in fact the same guy handles both drums and piano!!), and thus it was some sort of classical grind hybrid, and while perhaps there are elements of both in the music of Silentist, it's way weirder and harder to describe.
The sound here is similar to the last record, the A side begins with pounding low end piano, forceful and almost violent sounding, beneath it, super mathy and complex drumming, lots of rumbling bass buzz, the result is a sort of classical metal cabaret if that makes any sense, the howled vocals adding a strange punkish element to the weirdly complicated sort-of-groove.
The B side opens with swirly clouds of piano a la Lubomyr Melnyk, over rubbery rumbling bass and muted crunchy percussion, the vocals this time are heavily effected and crooned, and again, the cabaret vibe is heavy, albeit more evil and demonic. The rums explode and get super heavy, the piano becomes more frenzied, the bass thick and distorted almost like a metal guitar, all the elements tangled up and clashing wildly.
Plus at the end of the A side, there's a super brief track, a 26 second long burst of super lo-fi power violence, just insane drumming and shouted vocals, like Drop Dead or Man Is The Bastard but stripped WAY down.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!

STRIBORG Black Desolate Winter / Depressive Hibernation (Aphelion) 2lp 26.00
A lot has changed since we first hear Striborg, and his truly idiosyncratic Tasmanian rain forest black metal. Since then he's released about a million records, some on Southern Lord, and frontman Sin Nanna has performed and recorded with SUNNO))), so it would seem he's not nearly as kult as he once was (but much better known). But the weird thing about Striborg, is no matter how popular he gets, or how many records he puts out, NO ONE will be more kult. Hell, he lives in Tasmania, in a shack, and records record after record of some of the bleakest, depressive and totally fucked black metal we've ever heard.
A big part of Striborg's sound is the production, which fluctuates wildly from record to record, and sometimes even song to song, and while we love EVERYTHING he's done, we're particularly partial to the older stuff, as if is so completely wacked and so impossibly lo-fi, someone here once described it like listening to a boombox in the shower, but that's exactly how a black metal record should sound, or at least THIS kind of black metal record.
We got a bunch of these double lps, figuring that we had reviewed the cd at some point, when in fact, this was one of the many that slipped through the cracks. We do have this on cd, both the original version and the recently reissued Displeased version, if you want either, or both, but this is about the vinyl version of these two bleak black grim classics.
Seems weird to take two records and lump them together on a single disc, but Striborg has been doing it since the beginning, usually a new-ISH record, with an older demo tacked on, and since his sound remains pretty consistent, typically the two record work well together, but what's different here is that Black Desolate Winter and Depressive Hibernation were both recorded in 2005 and released together, and thus feel like two parts of a single whole. Each record is all about the title track, "Black Desolate Winter", the song, is 30 minutes long! Surrounded by shorted blasts and bits of drone and black ambience, "Depressive Hibernation" is nearly 15 minutes, it too, surrounded by shorter tracks, the whole disc finishing off with the nearly 11 minute "In The Gloom Of The Foreboding Night."
Striborg initiates already know what to expect, stumbling off kilter drumming, brittle buzzing guitars that sounds like swarms of insects, mournful melodies, the production very much like a boom box in the shower, the drums more of a pt pt pt pt than a blast or a pound, the vocals a wail buried in the mix, the guitars, sometimes all spidery and arpeggiated, but more often than not lost in clouds of furious buzz and crumbling distortion. "Black Desolate Winter" is a depressive buzzing black epic, that slips from lurching blast to woozy midtempo plod and back again over the course of its half hour, with ambient outros, appropriately creepy and warped sounding before and after.
Depressive Hibernation is more of a proper record, "Entangled In The Black Roots Of The Forest" is another chunk of frenetic buzz, doused in sheets of white noise distortion, but with some of the most tweaked vocals ever, raspy and demonic, but super effected so they seem to go spinning off into distance. "Depressive Hibernation" the track, begins all pretty and melancholy, but when the guitars kick in, they're barely riffs at all, it's like someone turned on a white noise generator. A shriek and then some simple drumming turn the track into a creepy Burzumic plod, the super processed shrieks continue on, making for another of the weirdest BM tracks ever. The rest of the disc plays out equal parts deep black drones, and fucked up and freaked out buzz drenched blurs, peppered with bizarre vocals, buried drums and maybe even a riff or two.
Needless to say, there is a reason, Striborg was always the barometer by which we measured all other 'fucked up' or 'damaged' black metal, and listening to these records again, it seems to us that Striborg might still reign supreme!
Striborg on vinyl is rare, so we were super psyched to get these, heavy vinyl, deluxe heavy weight gatefold sleeves, and of course limited limited limited!!!
MPEG Stream: "Black Desolate Winter"
MPEG Stream: "Depressive Hibernation"

SVARTE GREINER Kappe (Type) cd 15.98
Originally only available on vinyl, now finally available on cd, another mysterious missive, broadcast as always from some dark sonic underworld, courtesy of the man known as Svarte Greiner (Erik Skodvin to his mother), following the equally haunting and mysterious Man Beard Dress lp from the end of last year.
As we've mentioned before, this is doom. But not doom as you know it. Not heavy and crushing and downtuned and distorted, instead, spectral and ghostlike, abstract and ambient, doom in vibe, intention, spirit, as much as in sound. It's not about riffs or beats, it's about mood and space and soul, and taking a cold hard look through the cracks into the crumbling wasteland that lies inside all of us.
The opening track deviates from SG's usual M.O., taking the soft blackened shimmers and distant foghorn like drones, and adding a layer of grit, a swirling skree reminiscent of Skullflower or Sunroof! Like rattling chains, or bits of rusty metal falling from decaying structures, this extra element turns acoustic doom into something far more harrowing, a soundtrack to the descent, of slick stone walls and flickering grey lights, of black clouds obscuring burning skies, everything fading to nothing as the music lowers us deeper and deeper into the abyss.
The second track is a bit less harsh, more spacious and sprawling, skeletal, soft swells of moaning minimalism drift through a wide open expanse of far away throbs, and muted pulses, ghostly voices lurk beneath the surface, the slow motion sound of decay and despair, pretty, but ominous, and sinister, and beautifully bleak.
Track three begins with another soundscape of space and soft sound, like a super abstract ambient Wolf Eyes, bits of feedback are streaked through hushed black whispers, creaking industrial whir wraps itself around desiccated barely there melodies, the sound of wandering through an empty and dead city, smashed windows like black eyes looking down from above, splintered doors like gaping mouths, the sky unleashing a cleansing rain of soft hiss, doing very little to combat the emptiness and loneliness evoked by Svarte Greiner's delicate doomic drift.
And finally, the record fades to black with the doomiest (and weirdly enough, prettiest) track of the bunch, a soft focus smear of effected black guitar shimmer, blurred into a throbbing dronescape, rife with fragmented melody and soft edged buzz, a strange and warm, almost ebullient sonic center, glowing faintly beneath the roiling lowend, a smoldering, crumbling, shadowy,and quite lovely doomdrone coda...
MPEG Stream: "Tunnel Of Love"
MPEG Stream: "Candle Light Dinner Actress"
MPEG Stream: "Last Light"

SWINE Marked By The Baron (Vanguard Productions) cd 14.98
It's strange what a huge influence Bay Area black metallers Von ended up being on pretty much everybody. Not really all that surprising really, they did after all totally destroy. Filthy and grimy and so heavy and primal and raw. It seems like every black metal band has at one time or another covered Von, there was even a full length tribute, and of course, there have been about a million bands who did everything in their power to channel the spirit and ferocity of Von, one of the most successful being Swine, the Von worshipping side project of a guy called Swine appropriately enough, frontman for Hateful Abandon, whose most recent record, Famine (Or Into The Bellies Of Worms), a collection of blackened gothic gloom, we highlighted a while back.
On Marked By The Baron, it's Satanic Blood Angel time, ALL the time, blasting drums supplied by a furious frenzied drum machine, the guitars thick and gritty, buzzy and intense, the vocals drenched in reverb and effects, grunting and growling, as much as howling and shrieking. The sound manages to be weirdly moody and dramatic too, with moaning guitar melodies drifting over the churning black filth below, giving most of the tracks a weirdly wistful vibe, considering how fast and furious the rest of the music is. Rapid fire, frenzied and relentless, pounding and punky, but so atmospheric and with such a vile vibe, and that aforementioned moody melancholy, culminating in the final track, that dips into some super emotional classic sounding doom, even slipping into some mournful clean guitar, and after a few minutes of silence, returning with a bit of washed out dreamy drone, weird.
But beyond those little bits of strangeness, this is some gloriously heavy, harsh, beautifully depressive, raw blasting blackness.
MPEG Stream: "Black Soul King"
MPEG Stream: "Beast Call"
MPEG Stream: "Tusk Toothed"

TO BLACKEN THE PAGES North (Colony) cd 10.98
The third part in an ongoing series of blackened drone guitar missives from Irish one man slow and low wrecking crew To Blacken The Pages. Fans of the first two TBTP records (None and A Semblance Of Something Appertaining To Destruction) are already well versed in the bleak abstract soundworld this guy can conjure, fusing the low end explorations of groups like SUNNO))), Expo '70, Bohren, Slomo and the like, with something a bit more psychedelic and space-y. Sure, TBTP is capable of unfurling some planet crushing black hole heaviness, but also of tossing handfulls of notes into crystalline expanses of murky reverb, letting the various notes flutter and fall, before tossing out another handful. The first two tracks on North are perfect examples, "Crossing" and "I Am Screes On Her Escarpments", the first begins as a swirling almost static field of slow shifting reverb and delay, peppered with percussive thumps and creaks, sent careening into the ether, while shards of clean guitar, sounding a bit like super mellow Keiji Haino, unfurl like clouds of grey smoke, while underneath, a guitar rumbles and whirs, gradually becoming more and more rifflike, ringing out a bit chaotic and noisy, before slipping into the second which begins with the same sort of reverbed stretch of echoey thumps and creaks, before the guitar thickens into a crumbling corrosive wall of swirling chordal hum and keening feedback, a roiling blackened bit of guitar ambience, infused with melody and moodiness and shot through with strange high end streaks and swoops that are probably effected guitars, but almost sound like children's voices here and there. Quite haunting.
The next few tracks take TBTP's sound in a different direction, the root again being shimmering guitars, but this time the focus is on the voice, a lazy drawled croon nestled down in the mix, that drifts along side the increasingly caustic guitar buzz resulting in a sound not unlike some strange Dead C / Roy Montgomery hybrid, a sort of sun baked noise drenched dronedirge slowcore. Dark and woozy and melancholy and way druggy and drowsy sounding. Later, "To Be Dead" introduces actual drums, and gets all propulsive, a lurching noise rock take on spaced out krautrock, but with the guitars in full on overdrive, a constantly swirling squall of feedback and psychrock freakout. And then the last two tracks are massive billowing clouds of coruscating buzz and skree, blurred into gorgeous multi hued smears of blown out guitar and a gorgeous hazy shoegazey drift, in fact the nearly 15 minute "Night Drive" might be one of the prettiest heavy guitar tracks we've heard in ages, anyone into Nadja or Jesu, will love it, it's like the slow motion metalgaze of those two outfits but stripped of drums and allowed to just sort of hover. So nice.
Needless to say, the drone and dirge and doom obsessed out there probably already added this to their shopping cart (or if they didn't yet, probably should now), anyone who bought the other two records definitely NEED this too, and folks not necessarily into metal, but who still dig on dark drifty hazy heaviness might be pretty into To Blacken The Pages, North in particular...
MPEG Stream: "Crossing"
MPEG Stream: "I Am Screes On Her Escarpments"
MPEG Stream: "Give To The Sea"

TORCHE Healer / Across The Shields (Hydra Head) 12" & DVD 16.98
Longtime readers of the aQ list should need no introduction to Torche, our favorite sludge pop geniuses, who by our reckoning should be HUGE. They may be heavy and loud and distorted, and feature members of Cavity and Floor and Dove, but the music they make as Torche is something else entirely. The guitars massive chugging and crunchy, the drums pounding and brutal, the bass thick and buzzy, the vocals a totally unique wail / croon, they sound a bit like the Foo Fighters, if the Foo Fighters were heavier and catchier and more punk rock. To really get into Torche, check elsewhere on the aQ website and read the reviews of Meanderthal, s/t and In Return, we go into way more detail and gush like crazy, cuz these guys absolutely rule. But this one might be for fans only, although we can guarantee, all it would take is these three songs and you will freak out, become obsessed, and need to buy everything these guys have ever done, so maybe give it a try.
Two tracks from Meanderthal, the two 'hits' on a record that was pretty much all hits, both epic and hooky and heavy and genius. But the reason we're here are the two bonus tracks, both unreleased, and both as good as anything on the record proper.
Big guitars, a killer hook of a chorus, amazing harmonies, kick ass drumming, even some shredding leads, this band just keeps getting better and better, but also tighter and more polished, without ever sounding wussier or like sellouts. C'mon, if a bands b-side toss offs are this good, then holy shit they are MONSTERS. The second unreleased song here is total commercial radio alt rock heaven. If more FM radio programmers had balls, Torche would get played as much as the Offspring!
But it's not just two more killer Torche songs, you also get a dvd, with videos for the two Meanderthal tracks, one is a straight up performance clip, totally rocking and awesome, but it's the video for "Across The Shields" that's the mind blower, the whole band in furry costumes, but not just bears and rabbits, no one is a fanged teddy bear monster, one is a big headed baby with another fanged jaw at waist level, one is a creepy demon faced rabbit eared furry, and the other looks like a furry piece of French toast, with long fingers and claw like toes, and 4 heads on the front of the toast, all the band members heads, but one is the actual head stuck through a hole. Wow. The video is of them cavorting in the forest. And of course stills from that video are used for the cover of the lp and the dvd. And as always insanely deluxe packaging, outrageously thick colored vinyl, equally thick and deluxe sleeve, and a black and gold metallic sticker on the plastic. Not sure how limited these are, but we only got a handful.

V/A Dark Was The Night (A Red Hot Compilation) (4AD) 2cd 14.98
Pretty awesome that Matador got involved with the Red Hot Organization, a great international charity that works to raise funds and awareness about HIV and AIDS around the globe. Red Hot has aligned itself with the music world many times before for benefit comps you might remember like No Alternative, Red Hot & Blue, Red Hot & Rio, etc. This time out the Red Hot compilers got loads of heavyweights from the indie underground to contribute exclusive tracks and some cool collaborations for this double cd.
The track listing pretty much reads as a who's who of indie star power from the last several years and beyond: Yo La Tengo, Blonde Redhead, Cat Power, Spoon, The New Pornographers, Antony, Sufjan Stevens, Beirut, The Decemberists, the list goes on and on. There are also some really cool collaborations like Jose Gonzalez and The Books joining forces for a cover of the Nick Drake classic "Cello Song", Grizzly Bear and Feist team up to cover Vashti Bunyan's "Train Song", Kronos Quartet do an inspired version of Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was The Night", Sharon Jones & The Dapkings do a smoking version of the Shuggie Otis classic "Inspiration Information". Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian fame goes at it solo and Conor Oberst brings Gillian Welch into his world with a duet of a newly penned Oberst track. Like all comps there may be a few tracks that don't totally hit the mark, but the winners far outweigh the losers on this comp. The collection was produced by Bryce Desner of The National, and with over two hours of music and all proceeds going to this awesome charity this is pretty much a no brainer.
MPEG Stream: THE BOOKS FEATURING JOSE GONZALEZ "Cello Song "
MPEG Stream: YO LA TENGO "Gentle Hours"
MPEG Stream: SHARON JONES & THE DAPKINGS "Inspiration Information"
MPEG Stream: GRIZZLY BEAR & FEIST "Service Bell"
MPEG Stream: ""

V/A Dark Was The Night (A Red Hot Compilation) (Matador) 3lp 26.00
Pretty awesome that Matador got involved with the Red Hot Organization, a great international charity that works to raise funds and awareness about HIV and AIDS around the globe. Red Hot has aligned itself with the music world many times before for benefit comps you might remember like No Alternative, Red Hot & Blue, Red Hot & Rio, etc. This time out the Red Hot compilers got loads of heavyweights from the indie underground to contribute exclusive tracks and some cool collaborations for this double cd.
The track listing pretty much reads as a who's who of indie star power from the last several years and beyond: Yo La Tengo, Blonde Redhead, Cat Power, Spoon, The New Pornographers, Antony, Sufjan Stevens, Beirut, The Decemberists, the list goes on and on. There are also some really cool collaborations like Jose Gonzalez and The Books joining forces for a cover of the Nick Drake classic "Cello Song", Grizzly Bear and Feist team up to cover Vashti Bunyan's "Train Song", Kronos Quartet do an inspired version of Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was The Night", Sharon Jones & The Dapkings do a smoking version of the Shuggie Otis classic "Inspiration Information". Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian fame goes at it solo and Conor Oberst brings Gillian Welch into his world with a duet of a newly penned Oberst track. Like all comps there may be a few tracks that don't totally hit the mark, but the winners far outweigh the losers on this comp. The collection was produced by Bryce Desner of The National, and with over two hours of music and all proceeds going to this awesome charity this is pretty much a no brainer.
MPEG Stream: THE BOOKS FEATURING JOSE GONZALEZ "Cello Song "
MPEG Stream: YO LA TENGO "Gentle Hours"
MPEG Stream: SHARON JONES & THE DAPKINGS "Inspiration Information"
MPEG Stream: GRIZZLY BEAR & FEIST "Service Bell"
MPEG Stream: ""

V/A Eccentric Soul: Twinight's Lunar Rotation (Numero) 4lp box 48.00
NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL! Incredibly deluxe and over the top packaging. A gorgeous full color printed heavy box style slipcover, each lp in its own heavy printed full color sleeve inside, and of course pressed on nice thick vinyl. WOW.
The Numero Group has helped spawn a much needed revival and rediscovery of lost soul from the 60's and 70's, showing the world that there was much more amazing music beyond the Motown monopoly. Amazing soul records were being released everywhere by all sorts of small independent labels. We'll never ever tire of really good soul done juuuuust right and once again the Numero Group has hit the bulls eye. This collection focuses on the Chicago label Twinight. The label began with the name Twilight but soon found out another label with the same name existed so they changed one letter and thus became Twinight which would prove to be an appropriate moniker for the label, as most of the records they released were only played during the wee hours of broadcasting day often referred to as the twinight hours. The label was known primarily for its one star Syl Johnson but this collection digs even deeper and exposes the music and the artists who never had big hits but who produced some classic soul burners.
This collection isn't as flashy or outright catchy as some of the past Eccentric Soul collections but it's that great kind of tasty soul that heats up nice and slow and keeps you coming back for more.
Another fantastic collection of lost soul treasures!
MPEG Stream: JOHNNY WILLIAMS "Breaking Point"
MPEG Stream: ELVIN SPENCER "Lift This Hurt"
MPEG Stream: JOSEPHINE TAYLOR "Is It Worth A Chance"
MPEG Stream: KRYSTAL GENERATION "Satasfied"

V/A G Spots: The Spacey Folk Electro-Horror Sounds Of The Studio G Library (Trunk) lp 17.98
Aside from the eye-popping cover art, the first thing you might notice about this record is its intriguing title - G Spots: The Spacey Folk Electro-Horror Sounds Of The Studio G Library. But what does it all mean, and how could the music live up to such a ridiculously awesome yet difficult to parse description? Well, since we don't have sound samples, you'll just have to trust your buddies here at aQ and get this vinyl-only collection on your turntable to discover for yourself.
Some of you may remember the equally great, SUPER limited (not to mention uber-pricey) Electrosonic record from a few lists back, featuring library music from esteemed BBC Radiophonic Workshop composer and titan of early electronic experimentation, Delia Derbyshire. Much in the vein of that long gone gem, G Spots contains selections from the somewhat mysterious Studio G, a production company started by one John Gale, whose work in advertising inspired him to up the ante on the music we either take for granted or generally find annoying as shit. Rather than approaching this work as mere background music, Gale wrangled in a number of composers to bring his vision to life. Things kicked off with a series of 7" records before moving on to lps. Gale claimed to release the first collection of library music to feature actual artwork, and you are advised to go to Trunk's website to view some stellar examples of Studio G's visual aesthetic.
The music, of course, is pretty dang great as well. The songs basically set out to mimic the popular trends of the time, resulting in a sound that is at once familiar, yet strangely distant, as they were produced in a laboratory-like setting with studio musicians. Of course, that kind of thing happened all the time, but it's much more intriguing to imagine this as some sort of parallel reality interpretation of pop music in the '60s and '70s, made by chain smoking guys in their thirties with thick horn-rimmed glasses and neckties. Aside from song titles, the 20 spacey folk electro-horror tunes collected here are identified only by their catalogue numbers and composers, most (all?) of whom you will not recognize. This lack of information only adds to the mystery, in the best way.
It is possible, based on the 4 digit catalogue numbers, to piece together some sort of loose history, not only of Studio G's evolution, but of musical trends in general. Opening with the moody synth piece "Icicles," many of the other songs on the first side are fun, lightly psychedelic pop that would have fit perfectly in any number of party scenes in any number of 1960s movies. Airy acoustic guitars mesh with the occasional spacey weirdness, the songs are at times accompanied by live drums, but sometimes feature early, primitive rhythm machines. The final song on side 1, however, the perfectly named "Deformed Theme," is an anti-melody that ventures into darker territory, a creepy synthscape setting the mood for much of side 2, where ominous, surprisingly heavy Goblin-esque songs like "Cosmic Dust" and "Cosmic Blues" rub elbows with "Freak Blues," which would not sound too out of place on Bruce Haack's The Electric Lucifer. Then there's the hilarious "Dangerous Voyage," a funky, tropical-tinged piece that would sit well in your favorite '70s porn film, with its lead harmonica, fretless bass, and hi hats galore. Other songs feature flutes, more synths, weird tape effects, and random elements of percussion. Throughout it all, things flow perfectly, all part of the style that John Gale created with Studio G.
While this record comes with the highest possible recommendation, like many things of this nature, it is quite limited. We just hope that of Studio G's 48 release 4 volume output, Trunk will keep the G Spots... coming. Get it? HAHAHAHAA!!!!!!!!!

WHY ARE WE BUILDING SUCH A BIG SHIP? No Blood No Blooms (Mississippi / Domino Sound) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NEW ON MISSISSIPPI!!!!
They may specialize in reissues, funk and soul and blues and gospel, but the fine folks at Mississippi also dabble in more contemprorary sounds, The Spooky Dance Band (members of the late great Reeks And The Wrecks) and Sad Horse (members of the late great Fuck!) being the most recent, until now, and until Why Are We Building Such A Big Ship, which sounds exactly like it could be the title of a Mississippi compilation, but is in fact the name of a group, a BIG group, nine members, handling instruments like accordion, upright bass, banjo, bass drum, trumpet, French horn, sax, piano and euphonium. That should give you a rough idea of the sort of sounds these cats conjure up, and consider that this is a co-release with a label in New Orleans, so we're talking a sort of woozy, New Orleans style funeral jazz, or more modern references might be the Decemberists, or even a less rambunctious, darker more contemplative Pogues, that sort of jazzy, drunken, wandering minstrel sort of cabaret sound, the instrumentation makes the sound old timey, Dickensian even, the horns moan and bleat, the accordions wheeze, very playful, yet ominous and haunting, the arrangements are gorgeous, evoking cobblestone streets, and cloudy skied rain soaked afternoons, shuttered buildings, and rolling hills of brown grass and tumbledown structures. It's the music's very old timey-ness that somehow makes it a perfect fit on Mississippi, and while it may not appeal to the blues / gospel / archival vinyl reissue purists, it is pretty cool, and should definitely please fans into the Decemberists, Beirut, Neutral Milk Hotel, Slim Cessna and other outfits not necessarily at home in this time...
SUPER LIMITED of course. Super swank, silkscreened chipboard jackets, white, black, red and metallic silver on brown, includes a printed insert as well.

ZENLO Skelethal Antics (Porter) cd 13.98
We knew nothing about this Zenlo fellow when this arrived in the mail, but just the sight of his somewhat sleazy, sexy and mysterious photo on the cover and the fact that Porter records has been releasing so much interesting stuff, definitely piqued our interest.
What we discovered was in fact a total outsider classic! An Italian who has lived in London and elsewhere, the sounds Zenlo creates are truly the work of someone in their own unique and singular world. It's not quite clear but apparently his was all recorded in the early '80s, and all the songs here are supposedly completely improvised affairs with only first takes laid to tape. Using an array of instruments and wonderfully clunky electronics, Skelethal Antics roams worlds that are both bizarre and beautiful. The record begins with several tracks that feature some seriously damaged saxophone along with spaced out drum machines and an overall sound that feels as if its about to collapse and self destruct, but somehow manages to prevail in such intriguing ways. While the first several tracks do feature some serious horn time that does test our sax-phobia, luckily as the record goes on it becomes much more about slow and melting sounds created with organs, Casio, harmonica, guitar, electronics and and an untuned upright piano. Sounds buzzing with tension and awkward emotions. The perfect soundtrack to some lost avant-horror film.
There are moments on the record that remind us of the early dark sounds of Cabaret Voltaire and it could even be the musical bed for some of today's equally eccentric outsiders like John Maus and Ariel Pink. It also has a nice '70s exploratory kraut/space/prog rock feel and an overall schizophrenic disposition that allows for moments that veer from Ariel Kalma to Ariel Pink. We could imagine everyone from Acid Mothers Temple to Goblin fans finding something to love here. Most of all we love how totally DIY the whole thing was. And it sounds like it. In a good way! This was truly the work of someone locked up in their basement with little care for popular trends but instead voyaging into their wild imagination to create something totally new and weird. It will always be the true eccentrics that manage to move us the most with their music, and Skelethal Antics leaves us shaking our head in disbelief, finding it hard to accept that something weird and wonderful could have escaped us and almost everyone for so long...
MPEG Stream: "The Crab"
MPEG Stream: "War Prayer"
MPEG Stream: "You Did It Again"
MPEG Stream: "At A German Fun Fair"

----*
----* Selected New Arrivals :
----*

ABE VIGODA Reviver (Post Present Medium) cd 11.98
We were totally knocked out by the energetic blast of tropical punk on Abe Vigoda's full length from a few months back. So this follow up ep did throw us for a bit of a loop as much of what we loved from Skeleton seemed to be missing here. Much less angular and energetic, Reviver finds the band 'maturing' maybe a bit prematurely (if that's possible). Even the recording quality seems aimed at a much different kind of sound, more akin to TV On The Radio and Interpol than No Age or Brazilian post-punk. Sadly, to our ears most of the exuberance and energy that made us love Skeleton so much seems to have disappeared. Too bad...
MPEG Stream: "Don't Lie"
MPEG Stream: "Wild Heart"

ASOBI SEKSU Hush (Polyvinyl) lp 16.98
Now available on vinyl!
Asobi Seksu pick right up from where they left off with their bright 2006 album Citrus! That means Hush is filled with gloriously shimmering dew drop pop very much inspired by female-fronted bands from the late '80s and early '90s. Perhaps a bit more focused and straightforward than its predecessor, the album is sleekly styled with a sparkling swirly pastel hued effervescence that compliments Yuki Chikudate's flittering vocals. Once again they conjure warm memories of both Cocteau Twins and Velocity Girl. 'Tis very welcome during these grey grey days! So nice!
MPEG Stream: "Layers"
MPEG Stream: "In The Sky"

BLACK LIPS 200 Million Thousand (Vice) cd 14.98
Atlanta's kings of the garage return with their fifth long player, another disc chock full of sleaze and grit, but also emphasizing the melodies and tunefulness that have been present in Black Lips songs since day one. After their surprising ascent to semi-mainstream success since signing to Vice, the band may have mellowed a tad in their overall sound, but make no mistake, this hardly represents a more "mature" Black Lips. Obviously, this is a very good thing for anyone who has followed the band since their urine/vomit soaked early days, and the dementia and overall insanity that has always defined the Black Lips remains thankfully intact. At the same time, 200 Million Thousand contains enough sing-along catchiness that it is sure to win them some new fans as well. A pleasant murkiness shrouds the recording, lending a certain "out of time" feel that places the group in a realm many of its contemporaries would kill to inhabit.
MPEG Stream: "Drugs"
MPEG Stream: "Starting Over"

DECIBEL April 2009 magazine 4.95
Latest issue of one of our favorite metal mags. One that somehow manages to mix humor and metal without ever taking the piss, instead it just makes for a damn fine read.
On the cover, Brutal Truth, all in white, posing with polar bears! Inside: dude from Helms Alee talks about his rad job, monthly tour story from Genghis Tron, Shrinebuilder in the studio, The Devil's Blood, Wolves In The Throne Room, Luna Mortis, Root, Skepticism, 16, North, Cobalt, Cancer Bats, Satyricon, Cattle Decapitation, Pestilence, Kreator, touring in the current economy, Decibal Hall Of Fame: Autopsy's Mental Funeral, a huge Brutal Truth story, new record soon!!!, tons and tons of reviews and of course the back page South Pole Dispatch courtasey of the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle!

GIFFONI, CARLOS Adult Life (No Fun Productions) cd 12.98
On Adult Life, Brooklyn's noise king Carlos Giffoni has made a purposeful shift away from the clobbering sound assaults and sustained concrete block explosions. This is his pure analog synth record; and despite the shift in source material, Adult Life cannot and should not be taken lightly. Giffoni has cited Cluster, Tangerine Dream, and Eno as his inspiration for this album; but these references are not really close to how this album ends up. The kosmische electronics of those pioneering composers has been injected with steroids or blasted with high doses of x-rays or anything really that would give these sounds diabolical super powers. In actuality, Giffoni's industrial-grade lazer blasts and heavily compressed LFO sweeps aren't too far from where Whitehouse started out, but without the blessing and curse of William Bennett. Adult Life begins with a terse police siren which noxiously ping-pongs against mercurial electronic tones and metallic flanges, setting the stage for a head-pounding excursion into the hypnotic and relentless. Throughout the album, Giffoni rotates sawtooth LFO patterns of blistering electricity, rudimentary structuralist patterns adrift on a magnetic sea, and buzzing squigglings from brain-frying modulations.
MPEG Stream: "The Endless Mirror"
MPEG Stream: "A Permanent Choice"

HEALTH Disco (Lovepump United) lp 15.98
NOW ON VINYL!
Health, the band, are an entirely unHEALTHY, and thus utterly appealing concoction of manic rhythms, jagged guitars, yowled vocals, all wound into exploding bursts of freaked out noise drenched new wave tribalism. Chaotic, spastic, freaked out, manic, mathy, grindy. It's like the musical version of a diet rich in Pixie Sticks, Lik-M-Aid, licorice whips and Mountain Dew, and it's that imaginary diet that seemingly fuels Health's sound. What else could explain the boundless energy, the intense spazziness, the fractured heaviness, the blown out total rock action?
But as we mentioned in our review of their self-titled debut, as much as we love pretty much everything they do, we like them best when they're drone-y and synthy and drifty and hypnotic, and that is the side that seems to shine through on Disco, a collection of remixes and reinterpretations from a bunch of artists, none of which we recognize except for Crystal Castles, who shared a split with Health a while back.
At first we thought the title Disco was ironic, a pisstake, especially considering the first track. The opener, remixed by Acid Girls, doesn't do much to the original, except loop certain parts, add some noise, some bursts of electronics, none of which would have been that out of place in the original. There is definitely much more of a dance-y groove, but it's almost more New Wave-y than dance-y, and again, if you told us this was a non-remixed Health track and we hadn't heard the original, we wouldn't even blink. The second track, had us maybe reconsidering, while not disco by any stretch, it begins with tribal drums and reverbed vocals, which soon gives way to a dance-y groove, some noodly synths, but again, not all that far removed from the original, at least in our admittedly fuzzy memory. But then the next track drops, another Acid Girls remix, and everything changes. The Disco title makes way more sense. Suddenly the record is in full on modern electro disco, fuzzy synth, groovy Ed Banger style jam mode. From gloomy new wave skittery disco pop, to full on ultra distorted synth heavy Justice style dancefloor destroying jams, to skittery After Dark new wave, to minimal housey style Kompakt-ed grooves, to eighties Japanese video game style 8-bit worship, to Fischerspooner-esque Theme From Beverly Hills Cop retro, and pretty much every awesomely cheesy groovy stop in between. Pretty schizophrenic and all over the place, but somehow, all the various versions remain sort of true to the original sound. Anyone who dug the Health debut, and are not afraid to explore the dancefloor, will dig this big time. And folks who have never heard Health, but love shit like Crystal Castles, MGMT, Justice, Daft Punk, Alter Ego, Digitalism, Cut Copy and the like, this might just be your gateway drug, to things more noisy and punk rock.
MPEG Stream: "Triceratops (Acid Girls RMX A)"
MPEG Stream: "Lost Time (Pictureplane RMX)"
MPEG Stream: "Heaven (Pink Skull RMX)"

HOUSE OF LOW CULTURE Hollywood Squalls (Hydra Head) cassette 11.98
Been a good long while since we've heard from House of Low Culture, the droney side project of Isis / Hydra Head main man Aaron Turner, and we only managed to get 10 of these so we won't go into too much detail, since odds are they'll be gone in a flash.
LIMITED TO ONLY 50 COPIES!!! Each one hand numbered, hand assembled, each one with a unique cover, made from random pages from a magazine, each with a printed obi, and wrapped in a plastic bag sealed with a sticker.
Two extended tracks, recorded live at the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles in 2007, mastered by James Plotkin, guitars, loops and tapes, woven into sprawling buzzing droning soundscapes, the first all long tones, slow shifting layers, melodic fragments drifting beneath warm low end swells, peppered with the zing of a zither like metallic shimmer. Tones like sirens wail in the distance, the pitches gradually increasing, the tension building, like the scariest part of some Italian horror movie. The second a snarling mass of blown out distortion and crumbling heaviness, thick sheets of effected guitars, processed low end, all roiling and churning and pulsing and throbbing, buried beneath it, what sounds like howled voices, seriously intense and caustic, noisy and thick and dense, but still textured and droney and weirdly soothing.
Again we only got TEN COPIES out of FIFTY, so if you want one gotta be quick on the trigger.

ILLA J Yancey Boys (Delicious Vinyl) cd 15.98
The death of his older brother J Dilla, had a huge impact on Illa J. In fact it was what made him grab a mic and become a hip-hop artist. After J Dilla's sad passing, his little brother dropped out of college and began a mission to continue his brother's musical legacy. While J Dilla was all about production and beats, Illa J was attracted to the microphone and had his heart set on becoming an MC. Smartly he went right to the source and used some of his brother's unused early productions as the musical bed over which he raps and sings. At its best this is some melty smooth and satisfying hip-hop, but there are some serious misfires as well. While we still think Illa J has yet to totally find his voice there is still plenty of promise to be found here.
MPEG Stream: "Timeless"
MPEG Stream: "Showtime"

MANIERISME s/t (Nekrokult Nihilism) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We always say we're not going to write very much about something for whatever reason, we couldn't get enough, it sold out already, but then we always seem to go on and on and write a bunch anyway. Not this time. Short and to the point, since we only have 7 copies of this, and for months now, maybe years, we've been trying to get more, lots more. If we could track more of these down, it would definitely be a highlight, probably even a record of the week. Andee finally made contact with the band, indirectly though another band, so maybe he can convince them to let him re-issue it, or maybe release their next album or both. But for now, we have 7, and once they are gone, for the foreseeable future they will be gone for good.
So yeah, Manierisme, a mysterious black metal horde from Japan, this record easily one of our all time favorite BM records EVER. Fucked up for sure, warped and warbly, twisted and off kilter, buzzy and beautiful, so completely and utterly unique, one of those records that when some one is in the store and is looking for something strange and black and mindblowing, this is the disc we always pull out, and simply tell the person, "buy this". And so there you go. No ROTW, no highlight, just tucked away within the body of the list to be discovered by the aQ faithful who read the whole list. Maybe one day we'll be able to get more, until then though, seven lucky folks will enjoy the beautiful black grim mystery of Manierisme...
MPEG Stream: "Promise In The Masquerade - At Reunion"
MPEG Stream: "Asobi Tawamureru Siryo No Sumu Heya"
MPEG Stream: "Waltz At Last Moment"
MPEG Stream: "The Secret Garden"

MI AMI Watersports (Quarterstick) cd 14.98
It's been a pretty great several months for San Francisco's Mi Ami. They went from being a living room party band secret to getting signed to Quarterstick and touring the nation, with Europe coming up on their horizon this spring. With a few now-hard-to-get 12"s under their belt we were anxious to hear what shape their debut full length would take. Watersports (such a dirty album name, and we love the cover photo!) definitely brings the full voltage, power and energy of their live shows. While much is made about their incorporation of dub, disco and cosmic influences, listening to an entire Mi Ami full length we're very much reminded of their punk and post-hardcore roots, with ex-members of Dischord's Black Eyes making up 2/3 of the band and a spazzy and high pitched squealed vocal delivery that reminds us a lot of some of those great '90s post-hardcore bands like Native Nod, Nation Of Ulysses, Rye Coalition, Antioch Arrow, etc.
Sonically however there is much more at play in Mi Ami's bag of tricks and while the vocals may be a make it or break it scenario for some folks, you can't deny the energy, enthusiasm and visceral fury bursting out of their creative and lively songs.
MPEG Stream: "The Man In Your House"
MPEG Stream: "New Guitar"
MPEG Stream: "Freed From Sin"

MI AMI Watersports (Quarterstick) lp 14.98
It's been a pretty great several months for San Francisco's Mi Ami. They went from being a living room party band secret to getting signed to Quarterstick and touring the nation, with Europe coming up on their horizon this spring. With a few now-hard-to-get 12"s under their belt we were anxious to hear what shape their debut full length would take. Watersports (such a dirty album name, and we love the cover photo!) definitely brings the full voltage, power and energy of their live shows. While much is made about their incorporation of dub, disco and cosmic influences, listening to an entire Mi Ami full length we're very much reminded of their punk and post-hardcore roots, with ex-members of Dischord's Black Eyes making up 2/3 of the band and a spazzy and high pitched squealed vocal delivery that reminds us a lot of some of those great '90s post-hardcore bands like Native Nod, Nation Of Ulysses, Rye Coalition, Antioch Arrow, etc.
Sonically however there is much more at play in Mi Ami's bag of tricks and while the vocals may be a make it or break it scenario for some folks, you can't deny the energy, enthusiasm and visceral fury bursting out of their creative and lively songs.
MPEG Stream: "The Man In Your House"
MPEG Stream: "New Guitar"
MPEG Stream: "Freed From Sin"

MOJO March 2009 magazine 9.99
A new issue of Mojo is always a time to rejoice, especially when we're about finished with the list, so we can dedicate some serious time to one of the best reads in magazine land. On the cover Nick Cave, as well as a jewel cased cd featuring some of Mr/ Cave's favorite records and biggest influences, inside: Johnny Marr, Ry Cooder, Jane Birkin, Dave Clarke Five, Springsteen, Thin Lizzy, Deerhoof, Buddy Holly, Soft Machine, Neil Young, Taj Mahal, R.E.M., as well as tons of reviews and all sort of other good stuff!

NODZZZ s/t (What's Your Rupture?) 12" 14.98
Man we wanted to rave on and on about Nodzzz's amazing single "I Don't Wanna Smoke (Marijuana)" possibly the catchiest song of 2008 but sadly the 7" went out of print before we could ever get our hands on it. But luckily these San Francisco garage popsters have this great new 12" out to fulfill our Nodzzz fix. Refreshingly energetic and punk in spirit, Nodzzz craft super catchy rudimentary garage pop that's equal parts sassy and bratty. With hints of Jonathan Richman's bravado and charisma along with shots of inspiration from the smarter side of garage rock as well as obscure new wave bands who we imagine the band collects tons of rare vinyl from. We're excited to see what the future holds for Nodzzz.

PANSY DIVISION W/ JELLO BIAFRA Average Men (Alternative Tentacles) 7" 5.98
We're actually surprised it's taken this long for Jello and Pansy Division to join forces, as they both have been some of the loudest, proudest and most subversive voices in rock n roll's underground for the last several decades. While of course Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys fame and head honcho of Alternative Tentacles has been around forever it made us feel a bit old to find out this release is in celebration of Pansy Division's 20th year of being a band. "Average Men" is the track with Biafra on vocals and it's a perfect match as the lyrics have the same kind of sarcastic and smart ass bite as so many of his classics. The song takes aim at those average dudes sitting at the counter of a bar or restaurant whose lives revolve around the junk food they eat, the bad beer they drink and the high class Hooters restaurant they salivate over. The 'b' side is without Jello and it finds Pansy Division covering an early track by their friends and former touring mates Green Day. Here's hoping Jello & Pansy Division crank out some more subversive pop together and continue to agitate those who need it for several more decades to come!

PETIT MAL Sensory Deprivation (self released) 3" cd-r 5.98
In recent weeks, Bay Area experimentalist Jim Kaiser offered us a couple of collaborative discs with violinist Angela Hsu; and now's he gotten around to releasing his own work under the moniker Petit Mal. As with his collaboration with Hsu, Kaiser's principle instruments for Petit Mal are the reel-to-reel tape machine and a collection of found metal. There had been a handful of obscurely published albums of mysterious drones and growling electronics that Kaiser issued as Petit Mal, but this is the first we've seen in quite a long time. Sensory Deprivation begins with a crawling rhythm of tape machine noise that seems to share a similar technique as Terry Riley's time lag accumulation devices, although Kaiser's roughly handled noises have the same brutalism as found in Wolf Eyes or Esplendor Geometrico. The next two tracks contain murky depressive drownings of sound, as if Kaiser's tape loops were pulled from the bottom of tar pit and forced through his machines, muck and all. Snippets of conversation pull away from the general torpor, with interjections of varispeed warbling and iron-clad screeches of bowed metal downcast in billowing clouds of sonic decay. Limited edition, of course!

REED, RICK Dreamz / Blue Polz (Elevator Bath) picture disc 17.98
In recent weeks, we've ballyhooed the career of Rick Reed, the Austin based composer of grimly psychedelic electronics; and now we've gotten a hold of a few copies of the picture disc he produced for Elevator Bath. Both of these track appeared on Reed's Celestial Mudpie anthology, just so you don't end up buying the same two great pieces of lazer-tone emissions... unless of course, you want to. As we've mentioned before, primary instruments are Moog, sine-wave generator, and shortwave radio which must go through innumerable analogue treatments and filters before entering the domain of the digital workstation. Rarified atmospherics and spectral transmissions dominate his compositions which can start as hypnotizing electronic meditations on the music of the spheres before accelerating to a dramatic crescendo of blistered vibration and gasping drones. Both "Dreamz" and "Blue Polz" find Reed at his best, somewhere between Emeralds steamrollered into a tectonic rumble, that Omit / K-Group collaboration of rasping analogue synths achieving LaMonte Young mantra status, and the classic ambient psyche-drone smear of Conrad Schnitzler and Cluster. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Dreamz"
MPEG Stream: "Blue Polz"

SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE Working On A Dream (Columbia) cd 16.98
With Boss mania in full swing once again and a rare appearance on AQ's list a few weeks ago with his split 10" with Suicide, we thought why not offer up a few words on his latest album, Working On A Dream? Truth be told Springsteen has made some really fine music in the last several years. His 2005 album Dust & Devils was his most bleak and dark affair since Nebraska, and his Seeger Sessions, We Shall Overcome which came out a year later displayed Bruce at his stripped down best. This record finds the boss being his biggest, most arena ready and triumphant self. It almost sounds like the 2nd disc of a greatest hits collection, which is to say it's so familiarly Springsteen for better and for worse. Lots of midtempo songs ready for high rotation on commercial radio and then there are some full on fist in the air anthems as well. Big time Springsteen fans will find lots to like on here but for sure it's not his greatest or most adventurous outing.
MPEG Stream: "Outlaw Pete"
MPEG Stream: "Tomorrow Never Knows"
MPEG Stream: "The Wrestler"

STRIBORG Black Desolate Winter / Depressive Hibernation (Displeased) cd 14.98
A lot has changed since we first hear Striborg, and his truly idiosyncratic Tasmanian rain forest black metal. Since then he's released about a million records, some on Southern Lord, and frontman Sin Nanna has performed and recorded with SUNNO))), so it would seem he's not nearly as kult as he once was (but much better known). But the weird thing about Striborg, is no matter how popular he gets, or how many records he puts out, NO ONE will be more kult. Hell, he lives in Tasmania, in a shack, and records record after record of some of the bleakest, depressive and totally fucked black metal we've ever heard.
A big part of Striborg's sound is the production, which fluctuates wildly from record to record, and sometimes even song to song, and while we love EVERYTHING he's done, we're particularly partial to the older stuff, as if is so completely wacked and so impossibly lo-fi, someone here once described it like listening to a boombox in the shower, but that's exactly how a black metal record should sound, or at least THIS kind of black metal record.
Seems weird to take two records and lump them together on a single disc, but Striborg has been doing it since the beginning, usually a new-ISH record, with an older demo tacked on, and since his sound remains pretty consistent, typically the two record work well together, but what's different here is that Black Desolate Winter and Depressive Hibernation were both recorded in 2005 and released together, and thus feel like two parts of a single whole. Each record is all about the title track, "Black Desolate Winter", the song, is 30 minutes long! Surrounded by shorted blasts and bits of drone and black ambience, "Depressive Hibernation" is nearly 15 minutes, it too, surrounded by shorter tracks, the whole disc finishing off with the nearly 11 minute "In The Gloom Of The Foreboding Night."
Striborg initiates already know what to expect, stumbling off kilter drumming, brittle buzzing guitars that sounds like swarms of insects, mournful melodies, the production very much like a boom box in the shower, the drums more of a pt pt pt pt than a blast or a pound, the vocals a wail buried in the mix, the guitars, sometimes all spidery and arpeggiated, but more often than not lost in clouds of furious buzz and crumbling distortion. "Black Desolate Winter" is a depressive buzzing black epic, that slips from lurching blast to woozy midtempo plod and back again over the course of its half hour, with ambient outros, appropriately creepy and warped sounding before and after.
Depressive Hibernation is more of a proper record, "Entangled In The Black Roots Of The Forest" is another chunk of frenetic buzz, doused in sheets of white noise distortion, but with some of the most tweaked vocals ever, raspy and demonic, but super effected so they seem to go spinning off into distance. "Depressive Hibernation" the track, begins all pretty and melancholy, but when the guitars kick in, they're barely riffs at all, it's like someone turned on a white noise generator. A shriek and then some simple drumming turn the track into a creepy Burzumic plod, the super processed shrieks continue on, making for another of the weirdest BM tracks ever. The rest of the disc plays out equal parts deep black drones, and fucked up and freaked out buzz drenched blurs, peppered with bizarre vocals, buried drums and maybe even a riff or two.
Needless to say, there is a reason, Striborg was always the barometer by which we measured all other 'fucked up' or 'damaged' black metal, and listening to these records again, it seems to us that Striborg might still reign supreme!
Striborg on vinyl is rare, so we were super psyched to get these, heavy vinyl, deluxe heavy weight gatefold sleeves, and of course limited limited limited!!!
MPEG Stream: "Black Desolate Winter"
MPEG Stream: "Depressive Hibernation"

SUN ARAW Phynx (Not Not Fun) lp 17.98
Take the blown-out pop psych euphoria of Les Rallizes Denudes, throw in a dash of Parson Sound's hypnotic kraut feel, and you're getting close to honing in on the futuristic yet tribal psych jams effortlessly conjured up by Cameron Stallones, a member of Long Beach's Magic Lantern who goes it alone as Sun Araw. From the prolific folks at Not Not Fun, Phynx resounds with a heavy California daze, a drugged out, bluesy blend of face melting drones, fuzzed out guitar riffs, and repetitive clangy rhythms. Ritualistic and somehow modern, Sun Araw walks the line between pop and drone. Moments of the album are dense with catastrophic buzzing thickness, and other parts are more rockin' with a pretty defined heavy groovin' psych feel. All very guitar based, we're reminded of dudes like Ignatz, but less lo-fi and intimate, definitely more rhythmic and percussive. We're even sort of reminded of Brightblack's older stuff, heavy lethargic blues on Robitussin.
But Phynx is much more dense and perplexing. Layers of fuzz on top of layers of vocals on top of layers of drones...you get the idea. A seriously engaging album, there's tons of variety and small details to get all wrapped up in. And not to mention the sweet picture on the cover of some mysterious blindfolded figure in the dim hall of a library! Don't miss out on this California tribal psych gem!

SUN CITY GIRLS Fruit Of The Womb / Polite Deception (Eclipse) 2lp 27.00
Already out print, this is the fifth in the Cloaven Cassette reissues from the Sun City Girls on vinyl. There were 23 of said cassettes which the Girls released themselves from 1987 to 1990, although some of the material dates back to their beginning in the early '80s. These two sets of recordings were recorded in 1986, most of which features live recordings of the 'Girls free improv / middle-eastern skronk dotted with some choice songs of their mangled psyche-punk including a live version of their single "Sev Asher." Like all of the previous Eclipse 2LP sets, not all of the original cassette has been rescued and preserved on vinyl, BUT there are some unreleased extras which do make their way onto these very nicely packaged sets. We only were able to get a handful, and when they're gone, they're gone...

SZCZESNY, DAWID Luxated Symmetry (Porter) lp+cd 14.98
NOW ON (RED) VINYL! Many of the records we love best are the ones that are the most difficult to figure out where we would file them in the store. Such is the case with the engaging and genre transcending aural delights of Polish sound artist Dawid Szczesny. His sounds are filled with suspense and restraint. You can tell he is someone whose love of music and sound is expansive yet he has the skill and foresight to keep his creations fluid and filled with a brimming mood that never resorts to melodrama and never goes over the top, crafting soundscapes that remind us of everything from Moondog to Pierre Bastien to Philip Jeck to J.P. Shilo to a more elegant and restrained take on what many in the Chicago jazz/post-rock scene aimed to create (Tortoise, Chicago Underground Duo, Isotope 217 etc.). We've been loving so much of what Porter has been putting out but this release is really getting tons of play and might be our favorite of their non-reissue releases yet!
And it's now available on vinyl packaged with a BONUS cd of his earlier "In Between" EP!
MPEG Stream: "Cushicled"
MPEG Stream: "Fully Functional"
MPEG Stream: "Contiguity Of Yours"

WARD, M. Hold Time (Merge) lp 17.98
Also now on LP....
Busy guy, that M. Ward! Every precious second that he saves not writing out his full first name is surely put to good music-making use! All kidding aside, although his She & Him collaboration last year with actress Zooey Deschanel didn't really charm the pants off of many of us here, his solo offerings sure have. This time it sounds like he decided to try a little (or a lot) of something different. On songs such as his cover of "Rave On", it sure does sounds like he dusted off his Zeppelin and T-Rex albums for a bit more inspiration. And perhaps coming full circle, you can hear some similarities between M. Ward's music on Hold Time and that of one of his earliest boosters/benefactors Howe Gelb. Much more so than ever before. This unexpected eclecticism and eccentricities might toss a few of his devotees from the fan wagon, particularly those hankering for more of his familiar warm rustic Americana - as is found on his last two awesome, immediately captivating albums Post-War and Transistor Radio. Don't be too hasty though. We suspect this might be a 'grow on you' kind of album. Guests include the abovementioned Deschanel as well as Lucinda Williams, Grandaddy's Jason Lytle, and Devotchka's Tom Hagerman.
MPEG Stream: "Never Had Nobody Like You"
MPEG Stream: "Rave On"

WIRE, THE #301 March 2009 magazine 9.98
Ol' Bonnie Prince Billy aka Will Oldham peers from the cover of this issue. Inside, there's also dubstepper Zomby, black metallers Menace Ruine (about time some more black metal made it into The Wire!), free jazz drummer Andrew Cyrille, and avant vocalist Joan La Barbara... and much more of course. Reviews, columns, the "Invisible Jukebox" feature (this month's contestant, jazz guitarist Joe Morris), and a Cambodian 'scene report... As always, you need it.

YOUNG, NEIL Massey Hall 1971 (Reprise) 2lp 42.00
Now this great archival release is also available on limited vinyl... not cheap, but super swank, boasting 200 gram wax, and fancy gatefold packaging. Here's what we said about the original cd version (which also included a dvd, not found here):
There is a magical moment about three songs in on this amazing live acoustic document from 1971 when we get to hear the reaction of an audience upon hearing "Old Man" for the very first time. Recorded between After the Gold Rush and Harvest, this set covers Young's most classic material including "Helpless", "Journey Through the Past", a medley of "A Man Needs A Maid / Heart Of Gold", and the first official release of "Bad Fog of Loneliness". With just acoustic guitar and piano, it's no wonder that this intimate set has existed in bootleg form for so long. It's so good!
MPEG Stream: "Old Man"
MPEG Stream: "A Man Needs A Maid/Heart Of Gold"

YOUNG, ROLAND P. Isophonic Boogie Woogie (EM Records) lp 22.00
Finally available on VINYL!!
Sometimes you know a record is gonna blow your mind before you even throw it on. Such is most definitely the case with Isophonic Boogie Woogie by Roland P. Young. Heck, it's called Isophonic Boogie Woogie after all! And it's on the seemingly infallible (and impossible to pin down) EM records from Japan who have quickly become our new favorite label, having released Jim Fassett's Symphony Of The Birds, Moolah's Woe Ye Demons Possessed and Sam Moore's MOOOHIEEE! and those are just the ones we've reviewed so far. Plus it's got super tripped out black and white hand drawn cover art, three heads, presumably all Mr. Young, one with a well groomed afro, one with headphones, one with crazy hair that drifts skyward like tentacles, and a third eye right in the center of his forehead, while surrounding the heads are leaves and electronic equipment, and ankhs, and black suns, scorpions, saxophones, sailing ships and cars and pyramids, and a bunch of little Roland P. Young's walking up hillsides, jamming on guitars, getting into cars... you get the idea. This is some seriously far out stuff, and we haven't even heard a note of music, and that's a heck of a lot of trippiness to live up to.
Thankfully, Isophonic Boogie Woogie is as weird and as wacked as all the above business would lead you to believe. Originally released in 1980, Isophonic Boogie Woogie was the first realization of Young's unique version of free jazz music, which he referred to as "Afro spiritual minimal electronic space music" which on closer listening is WAY more spot on. Young employs an unlikely arsenal: kalimba, saxophone, voice, clarinet, electronic bass clarinet, bells, chimes, electronic drones, electronic pulse and electronic accoutrements (!), to craft his spaced out free jazz minimalism. The first track is a warm melodic fugue, woven from the reverberating steel of the kalimba (sounding like a muted mellow version of Konono No.1 actually) with soaring falsetto vocals, before eventually a saxophone joins in, playing soft moody melodies over the rich bed of the kalimba. So nice. Wouldn't mind a whole record of this. But Young has different ideas. The second track is a brief but aggressive blast of solo clarinet, emitting gritty rumbles, a series of droney duck calls, very textural and oblique, and really mysterious sounding. As is the next track, an ominous low end groove, warm distorted and muted melodies, the electronic bass clarinet strangely alien sounding, a groovy jazzy thrum, pulsing and throbbing each note with a strange texture and a bizarre electronic after image that makes the whole thing sound that much more dark and droney. The record's centerpiece (and longest track) is "Loveliness", a 15 minute drift of dense ambient whirs, subtle drones, tinkling chimes, softly struck bells, sizzling cymbals and all sorts of percussive clatter, all beneath a wild free jazz workout, skronks and squeaks and trills, impossible melodies, a tangled free form melodic freakout. Afro spiritual minimal electronic space music indeed! The last track is another long one, with more of that alien sounding electronic bass clarinet, the notes and tones low and rough, with lots of reverbed echoes, the track starts as a thick corrosive drone of rumbling warbling horns, mumbled vocals and all sorts of spacey effects, swooping and swooning, before the clarinet begins to explore its freedom and offers up a litany of strange sounds, from free jazz skronk to percussive patter to playful melodic figures, before drifting back into a droning murky swirl.
Some of the coolest, weirdest, most far out free jazz we've heard for sure, and another check in the 'right fucking on!' column for EM!
This reissue includes two bonus tracks, one a shuffling funky rhythm, with primitive drum machine over a warm distant sonic glow. swooning sax, like mood music from some long forgotten eighties soundtrack, the other a soft stretch of dreamy mediation music, subtle electronic pulses beneath a swirling wash of moaning horns and shifting subtle tones. Both more melodic and less tripped out than the original tracks but cool nonetheless.
Like all the EM reissues, this includes extensive liner notes (all in Japanese, sorry), tons of photos, original album artwork and more.
MPEG Stream: "Crystal Motions"
MPEG Stream: "Row Land"

----*
----* TAPES TAPES TAPES :
----*

We're trying to make room in our tape cabinet for new tapes, and figured that non local folks don't get to browse through the tapes, a bunch of which are out of print, or the very last copies of super limited runs, so here's your chance to grab some tapes you might have missed out on!

CONNELLY, CHRIS Lost Episodes (PlusTapes) cassette 5.50
We pretty much have a standing order for anything that PlusTapes releases. Much like Mississippi, PlusTapes has become the sort of label folks collect, which as we've mentioned before is pretty remarkable for a label so young. But so far, almost every release we've gotten from PlusTapes has flown out of here. And like Mississippi, they've also decided to dabble in more contemporary sounds, along with their ambitious reissue campaigns. Supporting their local scene, while paying homage to the past. Such is the case with these two latest releases, both limited to 100 copies, and we got less than 20 of each.
We immediately recognized the name Chris Connelly, and you probably should too - Revolting Cocks, Ministry, remember? But we figured it couldn't be the same Chris Connelly, it just didn't make any sense, but the more we thought about it, PlusTapes is in Chicago, Chicago is where Connelly lives, well it did sort of make sense which is good cuz it is in fact the very same Chris Connelly, but this is a whole different sound altogether.
Connelly recently released a full length album called The Episodes, that was a mysterious and haunting solo effort, owing much to folks like Leonard Cohen and Scott Walker, and other dark bards, very intimate and personal and dramatic, a few of the tracks were even recorded live in a Wisconsin forest. So this tape acts as sort of an addendum to that release, but even if like us you were unfamiliar with The Episodes, this is till a pretty intense and satisfying listen. Three unreleased versions, also recorded in the woods, aggressively strummed acoustic guitars, Connelly's plaintive croon, in the background you can hear birds chirping, other folks talking, very evocative, the lyrics personal and abstract, the voice weary and weathered, sometimes almost cracking, not at all what we expected from Connelly, but then all we had to go on was his industrial past.
Also included are two live tracks, with more lush instrumentation, even vibes, and the result is even more Scott Walker-y with a hint of Morrissey, the songs definitely sound more fleshed out, but beyond the songs themselves the various players get sort of trance-y and the songs get a bit abstract, droney, hypnotic, with the players sort of going off. Features some younger Chicago indie folks as back up, and the result is something that's not hard to picture on Thrill Jockey.
We weren't sure what to expect, but ended up digging this a lot, and will now probably have to track down a copy of The Episodes too.
LIMITED TOO 100 COPIES. We have less than 20, packaged with a black and white fold out cover, each one hand stamped and hand numbered.

COOK, MIRA s/t (self-released) cassette 5.98
Nothing excites us more then discovering a new talent at the beginning of what we know will be a long run of brilliant and inspiring releases. Such is the case with this cassette-only release from Mira Cook. While dancing is her main mode of creative expression she began playing with tape loops, recording her beautiful voice and the various instruments in her bedroom, and started to construct these wonderfully simple yet elegant songs. Eventually, those sounds and songs demanded to move beyond the confines of her four walls and into the ears of music lovers everywhere. And hopefully that will begin to happen more and more, as she's started playing shows around town and is slowly becoming more comfortable with recording herself as well.
Many of us got to see Mira play live for the first time just a few weeks ago when she played a set at Irwin aQ's film screening over at ATA. You couldn't help but be won over by her glowing presence and her lovely songs, created by building harmonies from her looped voice and her subtle instrumentation (organ, marimba, dulcimer, etc.) with totally electrifying results.
While most of the current crop of loop-based musicians seem more interested in getting lost in muddy drones (which we like lots for sure) it's so nice to hear someone who sounds so assured and you can actually hear what is being sung and feel the meaning of the songs through their ghostly repetition. We're reminded a bit of Samara Lubelski, Bjork, or what it might sound like if you could match a voice to the delicate and intimate sounds Colleen creates with her dreamy instrumentals. There is something so pure and sincere that comes across in these songs, Mira Cook is not trying to be a part of any kind of scene or sound, instead she is following a very instinctual and unique vision and we have a feeling this is going to be one of those cassettes that you will be able to brag about owning in a few years. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Glass Of Water"
MPEG Stream: "Happy Organ"
MPEG Stream: "New Year"

JABLADAV 3K Hum (Epicene Sound) cassette 5.00
Hot on the heels of the recent Black As Pitch record, one man band Jabaldav returns with a much more abstract outing... Whereas BaP, and the previous release Dead As Duck, were both homages of a sort to SF black metal legends Weakling, albeit filtered through some Black Flag damage and some fucked up black studio magic, 3K Hum sounds basically like what the title would lead you to imagine. Longform drones, drawn out expansive low end soundscapes, still black and haunting, brutal in their own way, but more hypnotic, more trancelike, owing more to SUNNO))) and Niblock than Immortal and Ildjarn. 
The opening track is nearly 15 minutes of digital burble, tape hiss and amp buzz, woven into a slow simmering stretch of glitch pocked shimmer, like strange malfunctioning machinery, floating  along a slow flowing black river, sputtering and struggling to make more than buzzes and bzzzt's, immersed in a deep resonant sonic flow. Eventually, a riff enters the fray, but it's soooo slow, and weirdly digitized, it's more like a dense cloud of overdrive tone, thick and roiling, keening and white hot, before drifting off again, leaving nothing but a strange Morse code sort of Raster-Noton click and buzz ambience...
The second track is much more smoothed out, a gorgeous languorous sun baked crawl, long distorted notes stretched way out, flecked with sharp bits of overdriven buzz, a lazy metallic minor key threnody, burning hot but slowly, smoldering and intense, very alien, but warm and hauntingly emotional. The tape finishes off with a brief series of Close Encounters like tones, that occasionally overheat and become super distorted swells, before reverting again to gentle drifting harmonics. So lovely... (btw: there are two extra tracks on the cd-r, one 44 minutes long!)
The tape is packaged in a cool full color fold out sleeve.
LIMITED TO ONLY 50 COPIES!!!! Each one hand numbered.
MPEG Stream: "Translucent Sails"
MPEG Stream: "3K Hum"

MOPPERS, THE ( ) Manifest Destroy (Slow Destiny) (Custodian, Color Zoo Containers) cassette 8.98
We might normally scoff at a release limited to only 37 copies, but when you see the handmade miniature collage covers and hand painted tapes, you'll understand. Each one is hand made, a surreal landscape of humans with animal heads, fragments of buildings, mysterious shapes and figures, all done, tiny, to fit in a cassette. Folks who picked up the other releases on Custodian, Color Zoo Containers, will know what we're talking about. One had a cover, that was an intricate cut out insect, the other hand painted, each on folded transparencies. But it's not just the packaging that gets a lot of attention, the music inside is appropriately skewed and mysterious. This one is by a duo called The ( ) Moppers (space and parentheses required), half of which is the man responsible for C,CZC and the incredible packaging.
This is the document of a live show recorded back in 2004, and while it's difficult to pick out exactly what instruments are used, the result is a gloriously buzzy, crackly rhythmic soundscape, lots of glitchy crunch, throbbing distorted low end, soft chordal drones, some simple drumming, all super lo-fi and blown out, parts of this almost sound like a lo-fi noise rock Aluk Todolo, the same sort of abstract rhythmic mystery, but here, it's much more intimate, lots of little sonic events going on, what sound like music boxes, simple strummed guitar melodies, even some piano, but the various elements are distorted and woven into a loping field of thump and thud, of crunch and clunk, that seems to sprawl and drift, sometimes billowing into thick buzzing swells or harsh grinding distortion, but more often, meandering minimally.
Fans of Avarus and Uton and other Finnish sonic experimentalists will dig, as folks into minimal lowercase soundwork. Cool stuff. And remember. Limited to 37 copies, each one individually hand mad and numbered, we got more than half, but those won't last long...

MURRAY, BRENDAN Scared In My Heart (Twonicorn) cassette 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another new one from tape label Twonicorn, a label specializing in "basement new age crawl", finally new music from the highly underrated Brendan Murray, who as we mentioned before we would most definitely rank up there with Coleclough and Chalk as one of our favorite masters of the drone. Former missives from Murray have been of the harsher and heavier variety, gritty and buzz bottomless dronescapes, still ultra minimal but with some heft, bordering occasionally on the heaviness of SUNNO))) or other like minded sonic explorers. But on Scared In My Heart, Murray softens his sound, and offers up two utterly mesmerizing chunks of slow moving soft shimmer. The first, is all hushed ambience, tones that pulse and flutter, but are ultimately smeared into endless drones, allowed to shift and drift, seemingly simple and nearly static, but rife with strange tonal color, subtle dissonance, and all sorts of tangled melody. The second, is like a louder, more active version of the first, the tones sounding more like bells and organs, stretched out and smeared, wavering and warbling, notes beating against one another, all manner of implied motion and abstract melody, minimal but strangely active, intense and emotional, slow burning and quite beautiful.
As with all Twonicorn, gorgeously packaged, pro printed tapes, textured paper sleeves, and of course super limited, ONLY 100 COPIES!! Each tape hand numbered.

NETMEN s/t (Folding) cassette 8.98
Yet another limited edition release from Mike Donovan's Folding cassette-only label. This one's considerably longer in running time than any of the recent batch, and it features early improvised recordings by John Dwyer (guitar) and Brian Gibson (drums) aka The Netmen. Noisy and rhythmic and weird and pretty wonderful. Just what you'd expect from the mad musical minds of Gibson and Dwyer.
Super limited!

NOISE NOMADS s/t (I Just Live Here) cassette 5.98
First we've heard from the appropriately named Noise Nomad, a mysterious horde who traffic in primitive electronics and avant noise rock. Like an even more Neanderthal Man Is The Bastard but without the basses, or like some sort of damaged tribal Silver Apples, but way more lo-fi and fucked up.
Wild squalls of Lost In Space electronics and FX, stumbling pounding unhinged chaotic drumming, creating some sort of crumbling framework for the pulsing alien high end skree happening in the foreground. Within this stumbling static soundscape of caveman thud and abstract electronics, lurk lots of other little sonic mysteries, that flit and flutter just below the surface, but it's all about the dueling drums and FX that will either melt your brain or send you drifting off into some gloriously damaged trancelike state. 
Super limited of course, and packaged in cool two color silk screened covers.

PREHISTORIC FUCKIN' MORON(S) Nothing Can Save Your Face (Spanish Magic) cassette 7.98
We would be the last ones to deny the fact that we are easily swayed. Or at the very least, easily intrigued. Band names get us every time. A killer band name and we're halfway there. Album title, artwork, it all lures us in, has us already loving bands before we've ever heard them. Sure, once in a while we're disappointed, but for the most part, sometimes you can judge a band by their cover. Needless to say, we were pretty intrigued by a band called Prehistoric Fuckin' Moron(s), the optional plural added an extra bit of mystery to the whole thing as well, even more so when we realized it was indeed a single moron. And as if that weren't enough, all it took was a quick gander at the description of the music and we were well beyond sold: "Take one moron, feed him copious amounts of drugs and alcohol, throw him a bunch of old turntables with some effects and watch him smash the shit out of them. Totally weird, absolutely insane." Almost sounds like we wrote it. And heck, we would have, if they didn't already, cuz this is in fact totally weird and absolutely insane.
Imagine Christian Marclay and Philip Jeck, both dosed with LSD, having some sort of lo-fi DJ battle, the entire thing run through a bank of effects pedals and recorded on a busted 4-track. The weird thing is, this isn't as noisy as you might imagine, at least not all of it. The opener is dark and muddy, a super dubbed out spacey drift, reverb and delay wrapping everything in a thick coat of fuzzy blur, the sounds allowed to drift into oblivion. Very dreamlike and tranquil. But the second track is anything but. A cacophony of industrial clatter, and murky vocal snippets, huge ch-chunks from the needle skipping, but emerging from the cacophony are some strangely dreamy loops as well as some jagged shards of distorted noise. The rest of the tape is schizophrenic in that way, flitting from speaker shredding chaos, to strangely serene loopscapes, often times both simultaneously. It's all very chaotic and fucked up and freaked out and messy, but it's such a glorious mess. Fans of Jeck and Tetreault and Marclay and Strotter Inst and Bastien with an ultra lo-fi bent will be in skipping scratching scraping stuttering turntable heaven.

REGGAEE, THE Balthar (Tipped Bowler Tapes) cassette 6.98
Latest analog blast of abstract hypno skree from this French one man band and it's a beaut. Looped high end shimmer, distant industrial grind and creak and a creepy whispered mantra are smeared into a gorgeously woozy blur, eventually joined by some random woodpecker percussion. Strange but really quite beautiful and mesmerizing. The flipside is another mantra-like loop based drone, lots of tape hiss, and lo fi rumble, tape warble and stuttering fragments of hiss all drifting on a swirling sea of crumbling low end, and peppered with bits of crackle and crunch. Weird and wonderful.
Amazingly packaged, a green and yellow hand painted tape, in a full color sleeve, inside a full color insert and a folded up short story printed on super nice textured paper. LIMITED TO 68 COPIES!!!

SHARKBAIT Feed Our Frenzy (Gladys Pearce) cassette 3.00
Some of you who were living in San Francisco a while back, might just remember these guys. Sharkbait. It's been a long time since we'd heard, or even really thought about these guys. The way we remember it, was they were a sort of industrial post punk rock band, maybe like a West Coast version of Cop Shoot Cop, all junkyard percussion, howled vocals, crunchy guitars, skeletal, noisy and slightly funky. And the truth is pretty close to that.
So a customer of ours discovered a box of Sharkbait tapes, still sealed, stashed and covered in dust, and thought that since folks were digging cassettes so much lately around here, and that Sharkbait were a seminal eighties SF outfit, that he would bequeath them to us, so we could disseminate them to hungry ears that might want a little taste of what the SF scene was like back in 1988. For some of us, it was all about funk metal, bands like Mordred tearing it up, or thrash, but there was a whole 'nother thing going on in the underground. Bands like Bomb, Tragic Mulatto, the Skatenigs, and of course Sharkbait. And Sharkbait were indeed a sort of proto industrial punk rock band. Lots of samples. Lots of tribal percussion, some Cash Worship going on here and there, throbbing basslines, crunchy guitars, and howled sloganeering vocals, sort of political, definitely punk rock. It sounds dated sure, but it still sounds pretty cool. There's some art of Noise percussion, some weird spoken word, slabs of feedback, droning ambience, but all wrapped up in a pounding churning post punk caterwaul.

TRAVELLERS The Sound Of Travellers (PlusTapes) cassette 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
LAST FEW COPIES!!!!
Very few record labels attain the sort of iconic status usually reserved for artists, and those that do, often spend YEARS cultivating a roster, and developing a fanbase, made up of the sort of fans that will buy ANYTHING and everything on the label. In the past, Sub Pop, Touch And Go, Homestead, tUMULt (sez Andee!), but lately a couple labels have managed to make that leap in a matter of months rather than years. Mississippi of course. Reissuing all manner or blues, gospel and punk rock rarities on vinyl, and now Plus Tapes, who are doing the same, albeit with international sounds instead, and focusing on the cassette tape as the format of choice. Always limited, and always guaranteed to sell out in a heartbeat.
And this latest reissue from Plus Tapes will most likely be no different, aside from those folks who will buy ANYTHING, regardless of what it is, before they hear it or even know anything about it, this collection from Travellers, will be of great interest to fans of all the Sublime Frequencies releases for sure. From Singapore, Travellers, traffic in a sort of groovy jazzy surf pop, rife with Morricone-isms, plenty of twang, groovy Mariachi horns, fluttering flutes, simple shuffling drums, spidery guitar melodies, cheesy synthesizers and lots of reverby surf rock , occasional wild rock saxophone, all with a distinctly Eastern vibe.
Lots of this sounds like the soundtrack from some long lost Western or kung fu epic, surfy, jazzy, funky, folky, playful, slipping from minor key moodiness to fun sunshine-y poppiness, always dramatic and evocative and most definitely always groovy.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!! Already sold out at the label, we have the last copies, more than a third of the pressing came to aQ, but these still probably won't last long. Full color covers, hand numbered, green tapes, correspondingly numbered!
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"

UTON Live In The Center Of The World (Jyvaskyla) (Black Horizons) cassette 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Attention FINNISH music FREEKS!!! Maybe most Finnish bands are crazy prolific, but one of our favorites keeps a much lower profile, the mighty Uton. It's been a little while since we heard from these guys, but as always, well worth the wait. Expansive and abstract, Uton create baffling alien universes of sound, minimal, but somehow dense and alive. Here's it's distant skree and mysterious scrapes, hissy clouds of static, reverb drenched melodies sent careening into the black void, rhythmic crunch and deep cavernous swells, subtle rumblings and washed out ambience. Gorgeous and haunting, creepy and amazing, of all the Finnish groups, we're still a little surprised that more folks aren't freaking out more about these guys. 
As if that weren't enough, the flipside is just the A side in reverse, a glorious gorgeous dizzying warbly backwards world of sound, and you know how much we love backwards sound!! Way recommended. 
Gorgeously packaged, gold metallic ink on platinum vellum paper. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. 

WHITE MEDAL Tread The Earth: Demo 08 (Grief Foundation) cassette + patch 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The return of White Medal. And that's MEDAL not METAL. There's nothing god fearing or white or light or positive or hopeful about the sound this grim horde spew forth. We had their 7" a while back, and it was a primo slab of blown out almost industrial sounding blackness. Like a black metal Godflesh, crossed with maybe some of the more raw stuff like Bone Awl or Ash Pool, but with a bit of post rock epic-ness mixed in. Not sure how all that stuff worked together but it did. We dug it big time.
So now here's release number two, this time a super limited cassette / patch combo, limited to 100 copies, and finds the band going in a bit more of a raw, old school black metal direction. Beginning with an awesome washed out creepy ambient intro, all clean guitar shimmer and dark moody creep, the band soon launch into a full on buzzy pound, the guitars murky and muddy, the drums a buried in the mix plod, the vocals weirdly effected, the whole thing gloriously gurgly and lo-fi, almost d-beat sounding at times, with some cool languid and woozy folky interludes.
The flip side is much more frenzied and furious and somehow even more-lo-fi, total washed out black buzz murk, everything wreathed in hiss and distortion and buried in an all mids and lows and no highs mix, making the sound almost sludgey and doomy even though the band is blasting frantically. So blurred and smeared, that the buzz and blast gets smudged into droning epic blackness, that occasionally slips back into crunch and chug, but more often swirls and shimmers, if the sound was even a tiny bit more washed out or even a little bit more lo-fi this could have ended up an awesome blackdrone record. Killer stuff. We definitely need to hear a full length from these guys one of these days.
Comes with a cool cassette sized embroidered black and white patch, featuring the band name, the legend: Tread The Earth, and a cool image of a strange skeletal figure wielding a scythe over a garden of what appears to be body parts.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!!!!! We got about 20, and after that we will not be able to get more.

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

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

16 BIT "Put Ya Dirt Inside" (Destub) 10" 13.98
3 INCHES OF BLOOD "Battlecry Under A Winter Sun" (Minion Music / Sonic Unyon) cd 14.98
ABSU "Tara" (Agonia) picture disc 26.00
ABSU "The Third Storm Of Cythraul" (Agonia) picture disc 26.00
APPLESEED CAST, THE "Sagarmatha" (Graveface) 2lp 24.00
ARCADION "s/t" (DC Recordings) 12" 13.98
ATOM TM "Liedgut" (Raster-Norton) cd 17.98
AUN "Motorsleep" (Alien8) cd 15.98
AURA NOIR "Hades Rise" (Peaceville) cd 15.98
AXIS OF PERDITION, THE "Urfe" 2cd 23.00
BARRACUDA, RANDY & MESAK "Black Vaseline" (Harmonia) 12" 16.98
BARRETTO, RAY "Acid" (Fania) lp 14.98
BIRD, ANDREW "Noble Beast" (Fat Possum) cd 13.98
CARTER, ANITA "Songbird" (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 16.98
CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE "Advance Base Battery Life" (Tomlab) cd 15.98
CIRCLE "Saturnus Reality" (No Quarter) dvd 15.98
CLARO INTELECTO "Wharehouse Sessions" (Modern Love) cd 14.98
COLTRANE, JOHN "A Love Supreme" (Impulse) lp 16.98
COLTRANE, JOHN "Sun Ship" (Impulse) lp 16.98
COLTRANE, JOHN & JOHNNY HARTMAN "s/t" (Impulse) lp 16.98
CONGOS, THE "Heart Of The Congos Deluxe Edition" (North Parade) 2lp 24.00
CONNORS, LOREN "Curse of Midnight Mary" (Family Vineyard) cd 14.98
DALEK "Guitar Tactics" (Ipecac) cd 16.98
DEATH "For The Whole World To See" (Drag City) lp 16.98
DIAGONAL "s/t" (Candlelight / Rise Above) cd/lp 13.98/24.00
DIANE, ALELA "To Be Still" (Rough Trade) cd/lp 13.98/15.98
DISTANCE, DJ "Repercussions" (Planet Mu) 2cd 16.98
DJ / RUPTURE "Uproot" (The Agriculture Records) cd 16.98
DUSK & BLACKDOWN "Margins Music" (Keysound Recordings) cd 15.98
ELDER "s/t" (Meteor City) cd 15.98
ELOY "s/t" (Revisted) cd 17.98
EMPIRE, ALEC "Plays Staubgold: Rauschgold" (Staubgold) cd 14.98
FAUST "C'est Com... Com... Complique" (Bureau B) cd 17.98
FAUST "Schiphorst 2008" (Salamanda) 2cd 23.00
FAXED HEAD "From Coalinga To Osaka: Live In Japan 1985" (Web Of Mimicry) dvd 14.98
FENNESZ / DAFELDECKER / BRANDLMAYR "Till The Old World's Blown Up And A New One Is Created" (Mosz) 2cd 16.98
FLEISCHMANN, B. "Angst Is Not A Weltanschauung" (Morr) cd 16.98
FRUMPY "2" (Philips) cd 17.98
FRUMPY "All Will Be Changed" (Philips) cd 17.98
FULL BLAST "Black Hole" (Atavistic) cd 14.98
GAINSBOURG, SERGE "Aux Armes Et Caetera" (4 Men With Beards) lp 16.98
GAINSBOURG, SERGE "L'Homme A Tete De Chou" (4 Men With Beards) lp 16.98
GOBLIN COCK "Come With Me If You Want To" (Robcore Records) cd/lp 14.98/14.98
HAINO, KEIJI "Koitsukara Usetaitameno Hakarigoto (The 21st Century Hard-Y-Guide-Y Man)" (PSF) cd 22.00
HANCOCK, HERBIE "Fat Albert Rotunda" (Rhino) lp 15.98
HARPER, ROY "HQ" (Science Friction) cd 24.00
HEAVY WINGED / WINDY & CARL "Monolith: Earth" (Music Fellowship) lp + cd 24.00
JONES, GRACE "Hurricane" (Wall Of Sound) cd 21.00
MANDIBLE CHATTER "Grace" (Magnanimous Records) cd 14.98
MARKOWSKI, VINCENT "Dirty Capsules" (DC Recordings) 12" 13.98
MILLER, NIELA "Songs Of Leaving" (Numero Group) lp 14.98
MINOR THREAT "Out Of Step" (Dischord) lp 10.98
MINOR THREAT "s/t" (Dischord) lp 10.98
MONKS "Early Years" (Light In The Attic) cd 16.98
MONNO "Ghosts" (Conspiracy) cd/lp 15.98/15.98
MV & EE "Meet Snake Pass & Other Human Conditions" (Singing Knives) lp 22.00
NADLER, MARISSA "Little Hells" (Kemado) cd 13.98
NANA APRIL JUN "The Ontology Of Noise" (Touch) cd 16.98
NEGATIVE SPACE "Hard, Heavy, Mean & Evil" (Vintage) cd 12.98
O'MALLEY, STEPHEN "Keep An Eye Out" (Table Of The Elements) lp 15.98
OBSCURE "On Formeldehyde" (Karisma) cd 14.98
OFERMOD "Tiamtu" (Ajna) cd 15.98
OVERTON BERRY ENSEMBLE, THE "s/t" (Tobe Productions) cd 16.98
PARSONS, DAVID "Earthlight" (Celestial Harmonies) cd 15.98
PEYTON, CAROLINE "Mock Up" (Numero Group) cd 14.98
POWERHOUSE "s/t" (Erebus) cd 17.98
PRETTY THINGS W/ PHILIPPE DEBARGE "s/t" (UT) cd 15.98
RA RA RIOT "The Rhumb Line" (Barsuk) cd 14.98
RACEBANNON "IV: Acid Or Blood" (Southern) cd 14.98
SANHEDRIN "s/t" (Breathing Bass) cd 19.98
SAROS "Acrid Plains" (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
SCALE THE SUMMIT "Carving Desert Canyons" (Prosthetic) cd 14.98
SERENA-MANEESH "S-M Backwards" (Smalltown Supersound) 2cd 28.00
SOLDIER, DAVE "Yol K'u Sonal Yil Yinhatil Nab'en" (Mulatta Records) cd+dvd 15.98
STRINGS OF CONSCIOUSNESS & ANGEL "s/t" (Important) cd 14.98
STUDIO 1 "s/t" (Studio 1 / Kompakt) cd 16.98
THOR "Keep The Dogs Away" (Scratch Recordings) cd 14.98
TOUKASEIBUNSHI "Meta-Inorganicmatter" (PSF) cd 22.00
V/A "Instro-Hipsters A Go-Go" (Psychic Circle) 5cd 62.00
V/A "Local Customs: Downriver Revival" (Numero Group) cd+dvd 21.00
V/A "Outbreak Of Twanging': Phantom Guitars Vol. 2" (Psychic Circle) cd 17.98
V/A "Plantation Gold: The Mad Genius Of Shelby S. Singleton Jr." (The Omni Recording Corporation) 2cd 16.98
V/A "Roaring Blue: The Return Of The Instro-Hipsters Vol. 3" (Psychic Circle) cd 17.98
V/A "Slimewave: Goregrind Compilation" (Relapse) cd 14.98
VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR "Time Vaults" (Abstract Sounds) cd 13.98
VOLCANO SUNS "All-Night Lotus Party" (Merge) cd 13.98
VOLCANO SUNS "The Bright Orange Years" (Merge) cd 13.98
VOLCANO THE BEAR "The Mountains Among Us" (Beta-lactam Ring) cd 22.00
VON BONDIES, THE "Love Hate And Then Theres You" (Major Domo) cd 15.98
WAVVES "Wavvves" (Fat Possum) cd 13.98
WEIRD OWL "Ever The Silver Cord Be Loosed" (Tee Pee) cd 14.98
WINO "Punctuated Equilibrium" (Southern Lord) cd 15.98
WOOFAH "Issue #3" magazine 10.98
ZEITKRATZER "Volksmusik" (Zeitkratzer) cd 17.98

_______________________________________________________________________

Please place your order via our website.

[1] We will contact you to verify your order and let you know when it will be shipped. Please note that occasionally it may take a day or two for us to reply. We are not a faceless bunch of computers replying to your order -- we are human beings!

[2] If we are out of some of your items and we think we will get them within the same week, we can wait to ship. Or... If it's going to be more than a few days to complete your order, we will ship what we have and then will contact you as the remainders arrive.

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


DOMESTIC SHIPPING :
--------------------------------

1-2 items    $4.75 USPS Priority Mail
3+ items    $6.50 UPS Ground

Further Explanation (Please Read!):
Within the USA, an order of 3 or more items will be shipped via UPS ground for a flat fee of $6.50. These packages are automatically insured and trackable.

However, if your package contains just 1 or 2 items, we will ship your order via USPS Priority Mail, and charge you $4.75 for shipping. These packages are NOT insured or trackable, sorry. So if you desire those safeguards, please request UPS delivery at the $6.50 rate. You must mention this in the comments field of our online order form.

Also, please note that UPS will not ship to PO Boxes. If you only have a PO Box, we can ship packages of 3+ items via US Postal Service at the $6.50 rate. Special shipping needs (e.g. UPS Next Day) are also do-able, just ask.

Another important note: box sets DON'T (usually) count as one item. Sorry. A box set will generally bump you up into the "three or more items" category. Y'know, they're big. Boxes.


INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING :
-------------------------------- For foreign customers we ship via US AIRMAIL ("First Class International"). Your price is based on the actual cost of shipping plus $1. You can check the US Postal Service international rate calculator: http://ircalc.usps.gov/. (Use the "Package" category and see the price for "First Class International". 1-3 cds is usually 1 pound.)

We highly recommend insurance for your international package, but it is very expensive! You can check the US Postal Service international rate calculator: http://ircalc.usps.gov/. (Use the "Package" category and see the price for "Priority Mail International". 1-3 cds is usually 1 pound. 1 lp is usually a little over 1.5 pounds.)


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

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

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

It is your reponsibility to check the international rate calculator in order to determine whether or not you want international insurance. If you tell us you want international insurance, we will add it to your order no matter how much it costs!


PAYMENT :
-------------------------------- We accept the following credit cards: Visa, MC, Discover, and Amex. We will not charge your credit card until your order is ready to ship.
Money orders are accepted only from customers within the USA. If you must pay by money order, you have to confirm the order with us through email or phone BEFORE you send any payment.
We also accept payment by Paypal. If you opt for this payment method, we will send you a paypal total and payment instructions as soon as we've confirmed your order with you. Please do not send payment until you have received human contact from our mailorder department. We cannot take personal checks for mailorder, sorry!


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

SOME SELECTED UPCOMING RELEASES

----} on the way to us now
Ovens "s/t" cd on tUMULt
Oaken Throne 'zine issue #6
Throne Of Katarsis "Helvete - Det Iskalde Morket" cd on Candlelight

----} March 10th
Stinking Lizaveta "Sacrifice And Bliss" cd on At A Loss
Arbouretum "Song Of The Pearl" cd/lp on Thrill Jockey
Extra Golden "Thank You Very Quickly" cd/lp on Thrill Jockey

----} March 17th
Bonnie Prince Billy "Beware" cd/lp on Drag City
Reigns "The House On The Causeway" cd on Monotreme
Swell Maps "International Rescue" clear vinyl LP reissue on Alive
Black Lips "We Didn't Know..." green vinyl LP on Bomp!
Mazes "s/t" cd on Parasol
Funkadelic "Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow" 180 gram vinyl LP reissue on 4 Men With Beards
Funkadelic "Cosmic Slop" 180 gram vinyl LP reissue on 4 Men With Beards
Flipper "Generic Flipper" 180 gram vinyl LP reissue on 4 Men With Beards
Flipper "Sex Bomb Baby!" 180 gram vinyl LP reissue on 4 Men With Beards
Flipper "Public Flipper Limited" 180 gram vinyl LP reissue on 4 Men With Beards
Flipper "Gone Fishin'" 180 gram vinyl LP reissue on 4 Men With Beards
Sandy Bull "Inventions" 180 gram vinyl LP reissue on Sutro Park
Sandy Bull "Fantasias For Guitar And Banjo" 180 gram vinyl LP reissue on Sutro Park
Sandy Bull "E Pluribus Unum" 180 gram vinyl LP reissue on Sutro Park

----} also in March
Amesoeurs tba cd on Profound Lore
Deftones "Eros" cd on Warner Bros.
Circle "Hollywood" cd on Southern
Lustmord "Dark Places Of The Earth" cd on Vaultworks
US Music with Funkadelic "s/t" cd reissue on Westbound

----} April 7th
Crystal Antlers "Tentacles" cd/lp on Touch and Go
Health "Die Slow" 7" on Lovepump United
Arcade Fire "Mirror Noir" dvd on Merge
Superchunk "Leaves In The Gutter" cdep on Merge
Wavves "To The Dregs & To The Dregs (Version)" 7"
Thermals "Now We Can See" cd/lp on Kill Rock Stars

----} April 18th (Record Store Day!)
Jesus Lizard "Inch" 9x7" set on Touch and Go
Arthur Russell  ³Love Is Overtaking Me² 2lp on Rough Trade
Elvis Perkins In Dearland ³Lorraine, Lookout² b/w ³I¹ll Be Arriving² 7² on XL
Camera Obscura  ³French Navy² b/w the World Is Full Of Strangers² 7²  
Jay Reatard / Sonic Youth   ³Hang Them All² (J.R.) b/w ³No Garage² (S.Y.) 7" on Matador 
Sonic Youth / Beck  ³Pay No Mind² (S.Y. covering Beck) b/w ³Green Light² (Beck covering S.Y.) 7" on Matador  
Pavement  ³Live In Germany² lp on Matador

----} April 28th
Lord Mantis "Spawning The Nephilim" cd on Seventh Rule

----} also in April
Loss "Despond" cd on Profound Lore

----} May 18th
SUNNO))) "Monoliths & Dimensions" cd on Southern Lordss

----} also in May
Bloodhorse "Horizoner" cd on Translation Loss
Minsk tba cd on Relapse

----} also upcoming sooner or later or sooner or later
Cave "Psychic Psummer" cd on Important
Sun City Girls "Napoleon & Josephine (Singles Volume 2)" cd on Abduction
P.H.O.B.O.S. "Anoedipal" cd
Urthona "Amid Devonia¹s Alps" cd-r on Further
Sleepy Sun "New Age" 10" on ATP
Jim O'Rourke "I'm Happy, And I'm Singing, And A 1, 2, 3, 4" 2cd (bonus disc) reissue on Editions Mego 
Blossom Toes "Love Bomb - Live 1967-69" 2cd on Sunbeam
The Mike Sammes Singers/The Ted Taylor Organsound "Hymns 'A Swinging" cd reissue on Trunk
Bill Callahan "Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle" cd/lp on Drag City
Jozef Van Wissem "It Is All That Is Made" cd on Important
The Skull Defekts "The Temple" cd/lp on Important
Ai Aso "Aida" live cd on PSF
High Rise "Psychedelic Speed Freaks Live 1986" dvd on PSF
Tori & Reiko Kudo "Kore Kara (From Now On" live cd on PSF
Satoshi Sonoda "Early Works 1977-1978" cd on PSF
Xela "Heirs Of The Fire" lp on SMTG Limited
Svarte Greiner & Anduin "Black River (Live)" 7" on SMTG Limited
Roedelius "Jardin Au Fou" cd on Bureau B
v/a "The Electric Asylum: Rare British Acid Freakrock Volume 1" cd on Past & Present
v/a "Acid Dreams" cd on Past & Present
Liverpool "Por Favor, Sucesso" cd reissue on Shadoks
v/a "1970's Algerian Proto-Rai Underground" cd version on Sublime Frequencies
v/a "Eccentric Soul: Smart's Palace" cd on Numero Group 
Wildildlife "Peas Feast" 12" vinyl version on Crucial Blast
Amber Asylum tba cd on Profound Lore
Wolves In The Throne Room "Black Cascade" cd on Southern Lord
Bunkur "Nullify" cd on Displeased
Emeralds "Solar Bridge" lp version on Hanson
Tortoise "tba" cd/lp on Thrill Jockey
Mokira "Persona" cd on Type
Tall Firs "Too Old To Die Young" lp version on Ecstatic Peace
Grumbling Fur (Guapo + Jussi from Circle) cd
Der TPK (Teenage Panzerkorps) "Games For Slaves" lp on Siltbreeze
Oxbow "Fuckfest" cd reissue on Hydrahead
Combat Astronomy "Earth Divided by Zero" cd
Diamatregon "Crossroad" cd on tUMULt
Amocoma "Go To Hell" cd on tUMULt
Rosetta "Wake/Lift" vinyl version
Mariana Topley-Bird w/ Dangermouse
Anton Batagov "Passionate Desire To Be An Angel" cd on Long Arms Records
The Heads tba 2cd 'best of' on Leafhound
Black Boned Angel / Nadja collaboration cd/lp on 20 Buck Spin
Japancakes "If I Could See Dallas"
Iro "Tamafuri" cd on PSF
Diza Star "Contact High Diza Star" cd on Fractal
DDAA "Action and Japanese Demonstration" cd reissue on Fractal
Wolfgang Voigt "Freiland - Klaviermusik" 12" on Profan
When "Are You Silent" cd on Jester/The End???
Sean Smith "Eternal" cd on Ultra Hard Gel
Risto "Live!" cd on Fonal
Sperm "Shh!" lp reissue on Destijl
Jazzfinger "The Sun's Golden Blood" cd on Beta-Lactam Ring
Troum "Eald-Ge-Streon" cd/2lp/2cd on Beta-Lactam Ring
Bohren & Der Club Of Gore "Mitleid Lady" cd/lp on Latitudes
Slough Feg "Ape Uprising" cd on Cruz Del Sur 
Last Step "1961" cd/3lp on Planet Mu
v/a "Noise Room" cd on Soniq 
Country Teasers / Ezee Tiger split lp on Holy Mountain
Erase Errata TBA cd on Kill Rock Stars
Xiu Xiu TBA cd on Kill Rock Stars
Crystal Antlers TBA cd/lp on Touch And Go
The Black Heart Procession TBA cd/lp on Touch And Go
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists TBA cd/lp on Touch And Go
Rodan TBA cd/lp on Quarterstick


_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________


Lots of love from your devoted AQ staff

Andee Cup Jim AllanIrwinScottNickJonandAndrew