STRAPPING FIELDHANDS Discus (Shangri-La) cd 11.98
We've been waiting for this reissue for 16 years. In fact, we briefly entertained the idea of trying to release it ourselves. It's a record we have been obsessed with since it came out in 1994, a super limited self released lp, a record we taped for everyone we knew, played for everyone we knew, the kind of record that inspired that sort of undying dedication, a totally unsung, indie pop gem from the early nineties, that attained a degree of infamy with a handful of weirdo music obsessives, but remained well removed from the spotlight it so richly deserved. Spin magazine even declared it one of the "Ten Best Records You've Never Heard", which probably sadly still applies, 15+ years later, but maybe not for long. Not if we have anything to say about it.
Those of you who are in your thirties or forties, no doubt remember the era that spawned the Strapping Fieldhands, think Trumans Water, Thinking Fellers, Sun City Girls, Pavement, the Grifters, Guided By Voices... The Strapping Fieldhands would go on to make a bunch more records, but Discus is where it all started, and is STILL the group's masterwork, a chaotic and confusional jumble of nineties indie noise rock and British Invasion pop, and as the liner notes point out, there's also a definite pre-British Invasion skiffle feel to many of the songs, skiffle being the sound that inspired the sound of the Beatles and the Kinks and all the other British bands of the era. The record itself is a hodge podge, a stumbling, glorious ramshackle jumble, slipping from gorgeous perfect pop, to angular free noise drift, to dirgey balladry, to rollicking rocking, to super experimental sound collage, most of those elements and sounds blending and mixing, into a sound, and a collection of songs, that sounded like nothing else then, and nothing since. Folks into Elephant 6 might be surprised to discover there was a band doing something similar, and arguably better already, and everyone who digs the new wave of noise rock / garage pop, a la Sic Alps, Oh Sees, it would be hard to imagine that those guys hadn't heard and dug heavily the Fieldhands.
The opening of "Boo Hoo Hoo" still gives us chills, the jaunty whistle, the woozy jangle, the faux British vocals, the immediately irresistible hook, the chorus with it's cloying melody and random cowbell, still one of the greatest pop songs ever. In fact, the opening three tracks, are another one of those timeless classic opening sonic salvos that remains pretty much untouchable. "Boo Hoo Hoo" is followed by "Sad Lament Of The American Indian", which begins all dirgey and druggy, totally reminiscent of Thinking Fellers / Sun City Girls and Polvo too, the chords warped and off kilter, the drums stumbly and chaotic, before slipping right back into another incredible pop jam, wrapped in streaks of feedback, hooky and jangly, and so catchy, but still so warped and just slightly twisted. "When You Came" rounds out the opening trio, with its dramatic slow build, and heartfelt sort-of-chorus, at which point the record begins its decent into (even more) madness, skipping gleefully from perfect pop to whatthefuck and back again. "Coffin Cello" is all splattery percussion, detuned twang, twisted vocals, moaning and groaning, if anything it sounds a bit like Cromagnon, total caveman psychedelia, which leads right into "Battle Down The Quarter Mile", a total classic pop gem, with strange looped basslines, descending crystalline guitar melodies, distorted vocals, and another KILLER chorus, which again slips back into an organ drenched, ultra lo-fi, droned out bit of weirdo outrock, before returning to poppier climes, "Mysterious Girl" is another impossibly perfect and hooky chunk of jangle pop, this time laced with cello, and other strings, which leads directly into "Luminous Bodies", a weirdo track that starts out almost punk rock, muted and murky, before blossoming into a meandery bit of poppy dirge, laced with synths and crunchy guitars, and those amazing, sort of British vocals, and so it goes. Push and pull, back and forth, tease you with a bit of sonic confection, only to bludgeon you with a flurry of chaotic crunch, and then nurse you back with still more pop prettiness, sometimes the demarcation between the Fieldhands' two distinct sides, not so distinct at all, which is precisely what makes them, and this record in particular so magical.
Imagine the Sun City Girls, but if instead of being obsessed with Southeast Asian music, they were obsessed with the Kinks and the Bee Gees, Discus would have been their Torch Of The Mystics. Guided By Voices' Bee Thousand, another pop classic from the same era, is considered by many to be essential listening a classic of the era, while Discus often slips through the cracks, which is odd when you consider that both groups, and both records, are essentially products of the same sonic obsessions, but Bee Thousand, for all its quirkiness and brevity of song, still goes down a whole lot easier than Discus, which is perhaps one of the main reasons Discus remained an acquired taste, but as we all know, the easiest listening is not necessarily the most satisfying, so if you like a little grit and grime with your jangle, some whatthefuck with your timeless hooks, some noise with your pop, then this will undoubtedly be your new favorite record. And all the kids who have been digging the new wave of home brewed retro lo-fi garage pop, are gonna be in for a shock when they realize their favorite bands are basically doing what the Fieldhands were doing 15 years ago, and if anything Discus is WAY weirder, WAY poppier, and WAY BETTER!
MPEG Stream: "Boo Hoo Hoo"
MPEG Stream: "Sad Lament Of The American Indian"
MPEG Stream: "When You Came"
MPEG Stream: "Battle Down The Quarter Mile"
MPEG Stream: "Mysterious Girl"

BLESSURE GRAVE Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six (Alien 8) cd 14.98
Cold winds hardly ever blow in the sunny climes of San Diego, California; but that city is the home to the goth-cult, dirge-punk duo Blessure Grave whose grim, icy moods certainly match any of their contemporaries like Zola Jesus, Former Ghosts, Blank Dogs, or any of the more grim tones pushed forward by Wierd Records. It's true that many of the current crop of post-punk and minimal wave revivalists are triangulating their sounds through very specific references. Zola Jesus' operatics harken to Diamanda Galas but with a very DIY grit about her arrangements; and Blank Dogs really enjoy a good Joy Division bassline, and who could find fault with that? But it took a while to place the exact references that Blessure Grave evoke. Alien 8 offers Killing Joke, Death In June, and The Cure, all of which are close, but not quite familar enough with Blessure Grave's dungeon claustrophobia and dour expressionism. To us, Blessure Grave suggests a Frankensteinian construct of the grim and twisted. On one side, there's the glum goth-punk band Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, and on the other there's Michael Allen from the early '80s when he founded the quixotic post-punk bands Rema Rema, Mass, and The Wolfgang Press.
Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six is the debut album for Blessure Grave, following an acclaimed 12" for Captured Tracks, a split 7" with Cold Cave & Crocodiles, and a couple of tiny edition cassettes, creating quite an underground buzz around this band. All of Blessure Grave's songs are skeletal in nature, built around rumbling basslines, moody synths, minor key guitar melodies, booming vocals, and tons of chorus & reverb. The vocals from T.Grave on "Stop Breathing" bellow and chant in an untrained, art-punk manner, that pretty much follows the mannerisms of Mick Allen in his early days. And those drum machinations of the band do recall the Lorries, guiding the darkened, claustrophobic tunes along a militant lockstep. "Open Or Shut" is a bit more expansive through the slower plod that the band takes and the expressive guitars that alternate between an anxiety provoking drone and languid moping."A Thousand Drums" is downright frantic in all of those drum machine pulses sputtering behind the barked vocals and excessive reverb. "Hope For The Worse" is probably the closest that Blessure Grave come to anything off of Unknown Pleasures with the spiked guitar lines and galloping rhythms, although Martin Hannett would have made such a track sound completely different... and not the lo-fi, naked expressionism and sometimes atonally brutish constructs found here. This homecrafted grimness is certainly one of Blessure Grave's many strengths; and we're already eager to hear more!
MPEG Stream: "Stop Breathing"
MPEG Stream: "Open Or Shut"
MPEG Stream: "A Thousand Drums"
MPEG Stream: "Echo"

JAUMET, ETIENNE Night Music (Domino) cd 14.98
We love it when something unexpected, unknown, and essentially totally off our radar shows up and then completely blows us away! Which is exactly what happened with this chunk of epic cosmic psychedelic space-out by French artist Etienne Jaumet. By the looks of his photo on the cover we first thought this was going to be some sort of smarty pants singer songwriter, Jarvis Cocker sort of thing, but talk about about how you shouldn't judge a book by its cover! Instead, Night Music is one of the most satisfying and fully realized analog synth driven discs we've heard in ages. Imagine Goblin and Kraftwerk gliding through cosmic space, as the record's opening 20+ minute track really does evoke some sort of interstellar autobahn, the listener whirling through the stars and sky, Night Music a deep rich and nuanced soundtrack for that late night cosmic excursion. We also think about some of our fave modern psych-space rockers, like try to imagine Expo 70 remixed by Jonas Reinhardt, or Arp channeling Franco Battiato or Subway stretched way out into a sonic stratosphere pioneered by Conrad Schnitzler and Klaus Schulze. Folks who dug the Altres record we listed last time should definitely dig this too. We'd also bet the Black Devil Disco folks and both Zombi and Zomby lovers will find loads to love on Night Music. Oddly enough when we starting doing some digging to find out more about Jaumet we discovered he was in a group called Zombie Zombie (not however, related to the above Zomby/i's).
You can tell that Jaumet also has a deep love of cosmic free-jazz as he introduces subtle saxophone on parts of the record with perfectly understated results, bringing to mind Herbie Hancock's Sextant album for sure, and also Sun Ra as reimagined by Four Tet, particularly on that epic opener "For Falling Asleep" - the very next track sure says "wake up", though, bringing in more of a techno thump to the proceedings, but still staying wonderfully spaced out. Pretty much every time we play this in the store either a customer or one of us who works here asks if this is a reissue of some long lost kosmiche gem, maybe from Germany in the 1970s. In fact we found out that Jaumet based the sequencing of the record on many of those same amazing cosmic psych records from the '70s, where first side of the vinyl is one long track and the other side is filled with shorter tracks. Jaumet also has such an obvious understanding of composition, especially how to stretch tracks out without letting them overstay their welcome, and thus Night Music is just long enough to totally transport us to another dimension, yet focused enough to stay listenable and sonically complex the entire time.
Something which only makes us love this record even more was the discovery that long time AQ favorite, '70s French folk-psychstress Emmanuelle Parrenin adds her voice as texture on a couple tracks (sounding very Yoko Ono, at times) as well as playing harp and hurdy gurdy. Furthermore, the mix was "directed and imagined" by none other than Carl Craig and you can totally tell, as the whole record flows with such a lush layered sound and driving pulse that is both immediately satisfying and utterly hypnotic!
MPEG Stream: "For Falling Asleep"
MPEG Stream: "At The Crack Of Dawn"
MPEG Stream: "Mental Vortex"

JAUMET, ETIENNE Night Music (Domino) lp 22.00
We love it when something unexpected, unknown, and essentially totally off our radar shows up and then completely blows us away! Which is exactly what happened with this chunk of epic cosmic psychedelic space-out by French artist Etienne Jaumet. By the looks of his photo on the cover we first thought this was going to be some sort of smarty pants singer songwriter, Jarvis Cocker sort of thing, but talk about about how you shouldn't judge a book by its cover! Instead, Night Music is one of the most satisfying and fully realized analog synth driven discs we've heard in ages. Imagine Goblin and Kraftwerk gliding through cosmic space, as the record's opening 20+ minute track really does evoke some sort of interstellar autobahn, the listener whirling through the stars and sky, Night Music a deep rich and nuanced soundtrack for that late night cosmic excursion. We also think about some of our fave modern psych-space rockers, like try to imagine Expo 70 remixed by Jonas Reinhardt, or Arp channeling Franco Battiato or Subway stretched way out into a sonic stratosphere pioneered by Conrad Schnitzler and Klaus Schulze. Folks who dug the Altres record we listed last time should definitely dig this too. We'd also bet the Black Devil Disco folks and both Zombi and Zomby lovers will find loads to love on Night Music. Oddly enough when we starting doing some digging to find out more about Jaumet we discovered he was in a group called Zombie Zombie (not however, related to the above Zomby/i's).
You can tell that Jaumet also has a deep love of cosmic free-jazz as he introduces subtle saxophone on parts of the record with perfectly understated results, bringing to mind Herbie Hancock's Sextant album for sure, and also Sun Ra as reimagined by Four Tet, particularly on that epic opener "For Falling Asleep" - the very next track sure says "wake up", though, bringing in more of a techno thump to the proceedings, but still staying wonderfully spaced out. Pretty much every time we play this in the store either a customer or one of us who works here asks if this is a reissue of some long lost kosmiche gem, maybe from Germany in the 1970s. In fact we found out that Jaumet based the sequencing of the record on many of those same amazing cosmic psych records from the '70s, where first side of the vinyl is one long track and the other side is filled with shorter tracks. Jaumet also has such an obvious understanding of composition, especially how to stretch tracks out without letting them overstay their welcome, and thus Night Music is just long enough to totally transport us to another dimension, yet focused enough to stay listenable and sonically complex the entire time.
Something which only makes us love this record even more was the discovery that long time AQ favorite, '70s French folk-psychstress Emmanuelle Parrenin adds her voice as texture on a couple tracks (sounding very Yoko Ono, at times) as well as playing harp and hurdy gurdy. Furthermore, the mix was "directed and imagined" by none other than Carl Craig and you can totally tell, as the whole record flows with such a lush layered sound and driving pulse that is both immediately satisfying and utterly hypnotic!
MPEG Stream: "For Falling Asleep"
MPEG Stream: "At The Crack Of Dawn"
MPEG Stream: "Mental Vortex"

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ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Campfire Songs (Paw Tracks) cd 14.98
This has gone in and out of print a few times since its initial release in 2003, but it's been repressed yet again. A good thing too, since it's a pretty cool record. Also a smart thing, since the Animal Collective is soooooo popular these days, and while Campfire Songs was first billed as a separate incarnation of that group, there is no need now to carry on with such distinctions! Here's what we wrote about it way back on list #160:
A really nice surprise from the mysteriously monickered Campfire Songs. Featuring members of Avey Tare And Panda Bear and the Animal Collective to which they apparently belong. Unlike the fractured electronic glitchery and damaged pop of Avey Tare and the costume rock buffoonery of many of their contemporaries, Campfire Songs is more akin to the murky Fahey-on-qualuudes of World (Of Dreams) reviewed way back on list #81, or the dreamy, strummy ambient blur of Scott Tuma, but with a way more washed out, late night free-folk feel. Which makes sense since this was recorded late at night, live to three minidiscs, on a screened in porch in rural Maryland. Very repetitive and hypnotic, with lots of Sunroof!-ish shimmer and plaintive vocals, rhythmic strumming, and field recordings of the surrounding forest. Equal parts sixties hippy folk, nineties ambient free noise and deconstructed indie rock twang. Good stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Doggy"

AUTHOR & PUNISHER High Mayhem Festival 2008 (Sun Cult Video) dvd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We really weren't sure what to expect from a band called Author & Punisher, or why they would merit a dvd (actually dvd-r) release. The label sent us a clip from the dvd, and we immediately understood. Author & Punisher is a guy called Tristan Shone, an engineer/artist who fabricates incredible noise making machines, huge metal MACHINES, gorgeous in their construction, a massive 300 pound rotating disc, a strange handheld chain driven slider, a control panel with big airplane like controllers, all of which do more than look impressive, they control sounds. HEAVY SOUNDS. The massive disc spins, and Shone, using both hands, changes the speed of the disc and thus the tone of the bass; the handle, with the chain, slides along two metal cylinders, and controls the rhythms, a super primitive, yet ultra advanced drum controller. The handles control yet MORE low end, with motors built into the handles so when Shone is pulling the levers, to trigger the bass, the harder he pulls, the more the levers resist, in order to FEEL the bass. And the thing is, it doesn't just LOOK cool, it sounds amazing, like some sort of SUNNO))) / Godflesh dirge, but more alien, the way the bass can be controlled, stuttering, slowing down almost like a turntable, and the rhythms, crushing and massive, when Shone locks into a groove, it out-heavies even the heaviest of proper-instrumented bands. Not to mention, that after seeing this guy with the giant disc and the weird tank-like chained handle, regular old guitars and amps, will just look and sound wimpy in comparison. It's hard to describe just how amazing this stuff is to see and hear, but if you're anything like us, you'll watch 30 seconds of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blXgFQxpTkc
and be totally sold. So goddamn incredible. And it's not just the machines and the sound they make, it's that Shone uses them like a one-man band to make doom-drone pieces as good as any from our favorite full bands in the genre.
There's a chance, A&P might be coming to San Francisco, in which case you can expect some serious sonic Author & Punisher punishment right here in the shop, but until then, grab one of these while you can. Limited to 50 copies. Each one numbered, we have a dozen or so, they come in super swank dvd styled, printed chipboard fold over sleeves, with printed vellum inserts (and if for some reason dvds aren't your thing, we'll be getting some A&P cds one of these days as well!).

BAKER, AIDAN Liminoid / Lifeforms (Alien8 Recordings) cd 15.98
The latest from the always impressive, and always prolific Aidan Baker, who creates thick wall of sound doomgaze in the duo Nadja, and much more personal, hushed drone music under his own name, but more and more has been expanding his scope with various collaborations and large ensembles. This might be the biggest ensemble he's worked with, 8 players, all contributing vocals, three guitars, two drummers, violin and two cellos. And it does sound like what you might imagine, a sort of Aidan Baker drone record / chamber music hybrid, long languid tones, plenty of cymbal shimmer, the strings moan and sing, the sounds ebb and flow, swelling ominously, building to swirling crescendos, before slipping back into something more minimal and contemplative, "Liminoid" is split into 4 movements, and is about as close to classical music as Baker has come, at least in the first part, the second part shifts gears dramatically, transforming into something more jazzy and propulsive, a sort of krautrock thing, but with a jazzy slow shifting Necks vibe, eventually building to a dense tribal workout, before slipping into part 3, all shimmery blissy drift, soft focus and sun dappled, the drums an understated slowcore shuffle, leading up to the 15 minute final movement, where the vocalists team up for a haunting bit of choral drama, which explodes into full on free jazz freakout wall of sound, finishing off with a long form spaced out drone jam, that definitely reminds us of a super stripped down White Hills, psychedelic and washed out and very hypnotic.
The second piece, the nearly 30 minute "Lifeforms" is a smaller ensemble, Baker on guitar, with violin, cello and 'amplified metal works', the metal works had us expecting something clangy and bombastic, but instead, it's almost all warm whirling ambient shimmer, much more in keeping with Baker's solo sounds, near the end, the sounds shift, and the strings move to the fore, weaving dramatic melodies over the slow burning drone underneath, the result very cinematic. Quite nice.
MPEG Stream: "Liminoid 1"
MPEG Stream: "Liminoid 2"
MPEG Stream: "Lifeforms"

BELLOWS s/t (self released) cd-r 8.98
They had us at DOOM BAND, NO STRINGS. Just drums, sax, and TUBA. That's IT. FUCKING tuba and sax, seriously, no guitar, no bass, just two horns and a drum kit, and these guys kick up a sound that dwarfs plenty of bands with axes to spare. Bellows is the perfect name for these guys, cuz the lungs on these guys must be like bellows, the horns moan and howl, the sax especially, the lead instrument, is wrapped in effects, and essential lays down some wailing, FX drenched, leads, that squeal and howl, the bands lock into killer lurching groove, the tuba, letting loose with an elephant roar low end, the sax just as often laying down a weird sheet of hiss or washed out drone, sometimes so effected it sounds like some fucked up synthesizer. And the drums, heavy and chaotic and mathy, the band locked into lurching lumbering dirges, post rocky workouts, and full on noise rock freakouts. It's a little like a marching band gone over to the darkside, some sinister assembly held in the deepest recesses of hell. The vocals are also bellowed, distorted and growled, venomous and malevolent, giving the sound a distinctly nineties East Coast noise rock Cop Shoot Cop sort of vibe. There's always a groove, but it's typically a woozy doomic one, the drums driving the sound big time, but those horns are just insane, some of the sounds they get out of 'em, on "Haunts" it's all drums and tuba, while the sax unfurls a creepy minor key melody, over and over, so hypnotic, before the track breaks down, and the low end is transformed into what sounds like a choir of throat singers, while the sax bleats and trills, and the drums just bludgeon.
There are moments, where the sound borders on jazzy, it's sort of unavoidable, but we're talking face melting Brotzmann style jazz, and that jazziness is inevitably all filtered through some crusty, creepy, blown out super distorted space doom filter, that makes these guys sound absolutely like no one else, and just as often as it gets jazzy, it gets something else, "Story Of A Giant" is all spaced out and almost waltzy, and there's no way you could tell the instrumentation, the sax unfurling shimmery psychedelic clouds of tangled melody, the tuba a thick bass throb, all wrapped in a druggy haze, and on the record closer, "Half-Life", the sax is super processed and becomes some fractured angular noisemaking machine, leading the group into an extended drone-out, all long tones, chanted vocals, swirling effects, total psych drone trip out, before finally slipping into a woozy jazzy outro, and finally a crushing chugging closing burst of ultra distorted crunch.
Fuck yeah. Came close to making this a fourth Record Of The Week!
MPEG Stream: "Haunt"
MPEG Stream: "Scratching The Wrong Itch"
MPEG Stream: "Story Of A Giant"

BRADLEY, PAUL & COLIN POTTER The Simple Plan (ICR) 2cd 17.98
Colin Potter and Paul Bradley have been collaborating over the past eight or nine years, between Potter's ongoing involvement in Nurse With Wound. On previous releases, Potter and Bradley have mustered monolithic, clinical studies in tectonic low-end rumblings and unsettled drone vibration work. The drone is still the principle sound element for The Simple Plan; but, here the two set out to record in real-time with synths, guitars, and a bunch of effects. The five extended renderings are dreamy driftscapes that certainly harken to the '70s mantras of psychedelic ambience touched with phased guitar dissonance, glistening surfaces of reflecting-pool ambience, and meditative looping jams. The massive 18 minute "Gloaming" is the center piece of the album with sitar-like harmonic overtones arching out of a pastoral set of interwoven loops with smaller glistens, shivers, and sparkles glowing from the underbelly of this cinematically expansive piece of psychedelidronemusik. Certainly, those Eno collaborations with Cluster and Robert Fripp come to mind (especially Evening Star); but even the recent crop of psychedelic dreamscapers like Emeralds, Celer, and William Fowler Collins draw comparisons to this nice piece of work. Lovely!
The first 135 copies of The Simple Plan also come with a bonus disc with solo reworkings of this material from both artists.
MPEG Stream: "Gloaming"
MPEG Stream: "Alta Mesa"

BREATHILIZOR Metal Dump Of Outer Space's Confusion Aka Hamburglar's Toast (100% Zero) 7" 4.50
These guys have to be the dumbest, most brilliantly demented and damaged metal band ever. Which we know, is saying a lot, cuz as a genre, you'd be hard pressed to find a more concentrated selection of dumbness and ridiculousness, but then there is Breathilizor, tangentially linked to Midwestern retardo punks Sockeye, these guys first came to our attention via a split single with the legendary, and legendarily silly Faxed Head, the Breathilizor side was basically an epic metal intro played over and over and over and over. Every time, just when you thought the song was about to kick in, they'd play the intro again. And again. Sounds annoying, and it sort of was, but it was also funny as fuck, and the thing was, the metal was AWESOME.
It didn't even occur to us that they might still be a band, but the man behind black metal weirdos Cloak Of Displacement decided to put us in touch with them and are we ever glad they did. Apparently, they've released an lp, and a clutch of cd-r's, but this here, is their latest, the ridiculously titled Metal Dump Of Outer Space's Confusion AKA Hamburglar's Toast. And it rules. And it's totally dumb.
Let us count the ways we love Breathilizor.
One: They change the spelling of their name seemingly arbitrarily from Breathilizor to Breathilizer and back again, whenever.
Two: Every song is called "Something OF Something Else". Every song. On every record. This time around it's "Creatures Of Prehistoric", "Pirate Ship Of U.F.O.", "Monster Of Loch Ness", Count Chocula Of Blood", "Demon Of Ice", "Ghost Of Cowboy", "Gnome Of Entrapment" and "SLC Of Death Metal".
Three: The music rules. They lay down some killer classic sounding metal, chugging hooky riffs, wild leads, pounding drums, somewhere between slowed down death metal and classic New Wave Of British Heavy Metal.
Four: That classic timeless metal is balanced by totally goofy insane and ridiculous vocals, a whiney nasally Venom-y voice that more speaks than sings, cramming way too many words into each line, and spitting out some of the most ridiculous shit ever. Tales of monsters and demons and space and aliens and basically anything they think of.
We could go on, but by now, you know if you need this or not. The dumb factor is through the roof, but goddamn it's funny, and the songs rule, and there are lyrics too so you can follow along, which only makes it that much funnier and stupidly brilliant.

BURNT HILLS Herb Saint (Flipped Out) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest blast of skull caving psychedelia from this constantly shifting collective, on this 2 track lp shifting from 5 members to 9, from two guitarists to FOUR guitarists and two drummers, not to mention a xylophonist!!! But none of that is as important as the monstrous sounds these guys and gals conjure up, and it is MONSTROUS.
The A side is a riffy sprawl of blown out bong smoke psych sludge crush, chaotic, relentless rehearsal space drumming, churning, chugging riffage, wild tangled chaotic leads, totally burnt out (of course) and endlessly hypnotic, definitely sounds like this was a 20 minute chunk extracted from an all day, all night drug fueled orgy of psychedelic excess, which of course means FUCK YEAH, and WE WANT MORE.
All you have to do is flip it over, and voila, more. WAY more. The flipside is slower and dirgier, almost doomy, a swirly mass of garbled psych-drone freakout, crashing speaker punishing drum damage, total free for all pound and skree, like the A side, epic and endless, and no doubt part of a massive whole that had Burnt Hills' entire neighborhood, stuffing cotton in their ears and pushing furniture against the doors and windows.
This is about as heavy and druggy and noisy as improv space rock gets these days, and we LOVE it.
LIMITED TO ONLY 99 COPIES! Each one hand numbered, in cool paste on sleeves, got very few of these, so be warned.

CAVE IN Planets Of Old (Hydra Head) cd+dvd 15.98
NOW AVAILABLE ON CD. Includes a bonus live dvd, and both discs are housed in a super swank gold-metallic-on-pale-blue mini lp style sleeve with a similarly printed insert. Here's what we had to say about the record when we first listed the 12" last year:
The return of Cave In. Or maybe more accurately, ANOTHER return of Cave In. We might be some of the only folks who never stopped loving this band. From their crushing metallic early years, to their epic pop prog Radiohead style flirtation with major label years, to their return to indie label / heaviness, to Cave In front man Stephen Brodsky's curious but totally compelling jangly psych pop solo records, and now this, another return that sounds a lot like the under appreciated Perfect Pitch Black record from a while back, the band melding their two disparate sides, the poppy polished side, and the chugging metal side. And fuck if it doesn't still sound great. In fact, it's the sort of thing that could, or maybe SHOULD find its way on to commercial radio. As the climate is way more accepting of metal, and heaviness in general, and Cave In have a sort of Muse only more metal thing going on, with the right push, as we've said before, these guys cold be huge.
"Cayman Tongue" opens up with some soaring guitars, big stadium drums, and Brodsky's soaring croon, and some serious chug. We're definitely hearing some Muse, but with that distinct Cave In vibe and way with melodies, before it gets seriously crunchy and the gruff vocals come out, and things get mathy and gloriously chaotic, and then for MINUTES, the band get all spaced out and doomy, letting their guitars feedback and buzz, interrupting the tangled guitar gnarl every few seconds with a big metallic crush, before a seriously grinding intense Coalesce-style outro.
"Retina Sees Rewind" has a killer main riff, all tangled Maiden-y squiggles and crunchy chug, wild psychedelic leads, and a chorus that sounds a bit like Torche meets Rush meets Queens Of The Stone Age. "The Redtrail" is all frantic punk rock with shrieked vox and tangled guitars, Greg Ginn-ish riffage and a total old school punk rock breakdown right in the middle. And "Air Escapes" finishes things off with another perfect blend of mathy metallic heaviness and quirky psych pop, Brodsky's nimble vocals draped over angular guitars and tribal drumming, that gets more and more Voivod-ish as the track progresses which is never a bad thing.
We still love these guys, hard to understand why everyone doesn't. One of the few bands as adept at pummeling metal as they are at crafting epic arena pop, and the fact that they can somehow do both at once, only makes them that much more special.
MPEG Stream: "Caymen Tongue"
MPEG Stream: "Retina Sees Rewind"

CHALK, ANDREW The Cable House (Faraway Press) cd 21.00
The arrival of a new Andrew Chalk album is always a cause for celebration, and now this record re-appears after a very small vinyl pressing last year. Mr. Chalk has long stood as one of our favorite drone composers over the years, beginning with his early contributions to the more placid Organum recordings, through his exemplary collaborative work in Mirror and Ora, and onto his near perfect catalogue of solo recording self-released through his Faraway Press. Through the more recent recordings Goldfall and Time Of Hayfield, the timbre of Chalk's work has brightened a bit, even as that brightening occurs between the spectrum of shadowy grey to sodden blue. Like Goldfall, The Cable House is an album sourced from piano; but where the notes on that earlier album loosely trailed amidst a gossamer web of bleary dronings, The Cable House has a considerably more purposeful set of melodic structures, pushing Chalk's work much closer into the realm of Satie's Furniture Music than ever before. Nonetheless, Chalk is masterful at extracting soft ringings of echo, restrained attack, and muted reverberations from his piano. It would be hard to imagine even someone like Eno or Basinski being able to craft something more elegant, more shimmering, more beautiful.
Like the cd, the artwork features hand printed woodblock prints.
MPEG Stream: "The Arkay Stream"
MPEG Stream: "Mgachi"
MPEG Stream: "Naybuchi"

COLD CAVE / PRURIENT Stars Explode (Hospital Productions) 12" 14.98
Originally released as an insanely limited cassette tape to coincide with a tour, this collaborative recording is now available as a spiffy, and still limited, lp, and includes a bonus track NOT on the original tape.
What might one expect from this match up, some cool cold wave grooves with howling noise drenched vocals, or better yet some heavy harsh noise shot through with dark moody melodies, and cold synths? Well, the weird thing is, this doesn't sound like either band, together or separate. Instead, this is swirling psychedelic synth space drone ambience, a little blissed out, a little brooding and ominous, all starry shimmer and blackly abstract, but plenty dark and definitely a little malevolent. Huge expanses of muted feedback, processed rumbles and whirs, buried melodies, all softly heaving in deep black swells, shot through with ever shifting textures. The B-side though gets downright poppy, still space-y and abstract, but infused with some seriously shoegazey shimmer, melodies much closer to the surface, glimmery and gauzey, with a distant rhythms, skittery and hushed, that over the course of the side, builds to a fairly aggressive industrial pound, while the sounds around it grow more and more bleak and caustic.
And then there's the extra track, which is easily the poppiest of the bunch, a soft focus M83 / Nadja / Jesu bit of blissy pop ambient drift, swirly and abstract, with wordless vocals adding to soft space-y psychedelia until some super strange vocals come in, a little harsh, heavily processed, distorted and menacing, wrapped around distant grinding guitars, and for a few moments it suddenly does sound very much like we imagined it would.
And of course, EXTREMELY LIMITED.

COLDWORLD Melancholie 2 (Cold Dimensions) cd 14.98
One of our big time 2009 BM faves, finally re-pressed and available again!!
Quite possibly, one of the best depressive black metal records we've ever heard. Although defining Melancholie2 as a depressive BM record might be a bit reductive. It will make more sense, read on...
A dizzying mix of lilting melancholia, furious blackened blasts, epic morose arrangements, awesome drumming (a definite shortcoming in most bands), kick ass and ridiculously catchy riffing, and most importantly, incredibly evocative atmosphere and ambience, even when a song is buzzing along frantically, beneath the surface there is always some sort of drifting crystalline melody, or whirring drone, or chant like vocal line, it sounds a bit confusing, but the mix is magical.
The sound on Melancholie2 is so dynamic, so majestic and heavy, no lo-fi boom box recording here, the guitars are massive, thick and crunchy and buzzy, the vocals raw and primal, the keyboards and synths lush and shimmery, the drums somehow perfectly audible amidst all the buzz. And as with most black metal records, buzz is a key component, and here that buzz is all encompassing, warm and expansive, coating everything in its warm embrace.
The slower tracks are definitely Burzumic, the lumbering riff, the plodding rhythm, underpinned by a gorgeous keyboard melody, the midtempo tracks are like a less weird Lifelover, the music hooky, and weirdly poppy, but still grim and black, slipping from melodic lilt to intense speaker shredding blowout, rare that a band, or man as the case may be is equally adept and crafting doomy dismal blackness AND intense blasting black metal. The ambient tracks are surprisingly effective, moving and lovely, most black metal bands use cheesy synth sounds, but here, those parts sound like antique music boxes, or the soundtrack to a soft snowfall in some forgotten forest, dark, and haunting, but definitely beautiful and breathtaking, only moreso when they lead directly into another intense burst of blackness.
Some of the tracks are dangerously poppy, but the band manages to pull it off, channelling the sweeping sound of Katatonia, but adds some truly bizarre, almost robotic sounding vocals, which definitely sounds goofy, but in fact, the effect is anything but. It's more some sort of abstract alien doom, that is truly creepy and otherworldly. A few of the tracks are gorgeous sprawls of washed out sorrowful doom, but at least one shifts part way through into a strange pounding bit of minor key midtempo black metal, before slipping back into that depressive plod.
It's really hard to do this music justice. It's at once so familiar, embodying so much of what we already love about this sort of music, at the same time, it manages to sound unlike anything we've heard before, every song manages to be both heavy and wistful, depressive, but weirdly rocking, as a whole it's an incredible, expansive song suite, culminating in the final track, a skittery glitched out ambient landscape, bits of static and hiss drift between simpler percussion, and a shuffling rhythm, moody minimal guitar, slightly twangy, all draped over a swoonsome bit of minor key drone, with a crunchy metallic middle, before slipping back into more skittery melancholic drift. So goddamn good.
Easily one of our new favorite records, black metal or otherwise!
MPEG Stream: "A Dream Of A Dead Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Tortured By Solitude"
MPEG Stream: "Winterreise"

COOMANS, LEO Basement Recordings 1978-1982 (Ultra Eczema) lp 36.00
Easily one of the most freaked out and fantastical outsider free jazz records EVER. And yeah, that sounds like hyperbole, but wait until you get a load of this. Start with the cover, an image of Coomans, a Belgian jazzman of some sort, with some crazy goggles on and some sort of mask strapped to his face, attached to a machine on his belt, an aerosol device he used to treat his asthma, which he SINGS THROUGH. He also sings through a harmonica, attaches vacuum cleaners to saxophones, or just mics em up to create clouds of strange hum and buzz, or submerges horns and plays underwater, in a half filled bathtub in his basement. Sound weird? It is. But it's also amazing.
The opening track is the one where he sings through his weird aerosol asthma device, the result is otherworldly, like processed Tuvan throat singing, hypnotic and alien, warm and whirry and a little monk-like, we sort of wish he made a whole aerosol/asthma record!
But then we wouldn't have heard the next track, an extended anti-jam, more space than sound, with strange bleats and burbling, the aforementioned submerged saxophones, underwater moaning, bursts of watery sploosh as the sounds break the surface, but plenty of strange vocalizing, also underwater we would assume, metallic and reverby, distant conversations, foot steps, like some freaky field recordings of some basement free jazz ritual, which it essentially is.
The flipside begins as a melancholy, long toned almost funereal dirge, warm and washed out and melodic, before slipping into something WAY more frantic, a wild bit of rapid fire phrasing, chaotic, notes tumbling over other notes, relentless and intense, but somehow still weirdly pretty, until finally the sax is joined by a hissing whirring drone, which we can only assume is the vacuum cleaner. After that there's a short voice / harmonica jam that goes from warm swirls of chordal wheeze, to mysterious harmonically enhanced vocalizing, until finally, the record finishes with a totally damaged, and mostly unrecognizable sax / piano / vacuum cleaner / tape recorder cover of "Louie Louie". A stumbling, gloriously WTF mess until the piano and female vocals finally start to sound like the original, other than the fact that the vocals and piano are matched beat for beat by bursts of glitched out, and we assume either tape recorder or vacuum cleaner derived, static crunch. Holy shit. Weirdest free jazz record ever? Most definitely a contender.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES.

COSMETICS Soft Skin (Captured Tracks) 7" 7.98
This new duo from New York have us totally hooked, with just these two killer tracks, their debut on Captured Tracks. Rare is the band that can pull that off.
These two songs are dripping with a chic and sensual haze that we can't get enough of. Lo-fi synths, woozy lysergic vocals, and a stripped down DIY aesthetic that makes the Cosmetics' sonic silver clouds sound that much better. It's like they took the most rudimentary elements of early Gina X, Grace Jones, Eurythmics and Ruth, stripped away the gloss and shiny big production and brought it all into a seedy basement in the wee hours of the morning after a drug fueled wild night. In lots of ways its like a less glossy and more smoldery version of the Italians Do It Better groups (Chromatics, Glass Candy, etc.). Fans of all things minimal wave will definitely want to check this out!
Everything about this 7" works perfectly. Their name, the silver chromatic cover, all the visuals complement the two hypnotizing slow burners inside. We've been playing this over and over in the shop nonstop. We have a hunch that probably won't change any time soon. A sizzling debut for sure!

CREMATION Black Death Cult (Nuclear War Now!) cd 9.98
Long overdue release of Canadian death metal murk from legendary horde Cremation, the brainchild of J. Reed, who would later go on to play in Axis Of Advance, Conqueror, Arkhon Infaustus and of course the mighty Revenge!
Black Death Cult is a collection of various tracks from early nineties demos, and is a glorious, raw, lo-fi, muddy and murky blackened death metal blow out. The guitars are tuned way down, the vocals are gurgles and grunts, the drums are chaotic and splattery, the arrangements seriously off kilter, no long stretches of droning blasts, or doomy plods, instead, the band lurch and lumber, from brief flurries of high speed thrash, to woozy warped chugging stumble, to freaked out grinding blast, to meandering metallic drift, these songs are bizarre and twisted and convoluted and brilliant. Reminds us a lot of the recent Impetuous Ritual, the same sort of Morbid-Angel-slow-parts-all-strung-together vibe, and the same sort of dipped in tar sound, but with a slightly more trad death metal feel, but only very VERY slightly. This stuff is so fractured and fucked up, that it will more likely appeal to folks into weirder, outsider metal, Wold, Portal, that sort of thing, at some points it almost sounds like Gorguts' Obscura playing at 16rpm, super technical, but grinding and pounding through a druggy syrupy haze. Awesome. One of the coolest, weirdest metal reissues in recent memory.
MPEG Stream: "The Moon, The Mist, & Baphomet"
MPEG Stream: "Black Cloud Landscape Of Infernal Indulgence"
MPEG Stream: "Inverted Menstrual Brides Of Black Defiance"

CREMATION Black Death Cult (Nuclear War Now!) lp 14.98
Long overdue release of Canadian death metal murk from legendary horde Cremation, the brainchild of J. Reed, who would later go on to play in Axis Of Advance, Conqueror, Arkhon Infaustus and of course the mighty Revenge!
Black Death Cult is a collection of various tracks from early nineties demos, and is a glorious, raw, lo-fi, muddy and murky blackened death metal blow out. The guitars are tuned way down, the vocals are gurgles and grunts, the drums are chaotic and splattery, the arrangements seriously off kilter, no long stretches of droning blasts, or doomy plods, instead, the band lurch and lumber, from brief flurries of high speed thrash, to woozy warped chugging stumble, to freaked out grinding blast, to meandering metallic drift, these songs are bizarre and twisted and convoluted and brilliant. Reminds us a lot of the recent Impetuous Ritual, the same sort of Morbid-Angel-slow-parts-all-strung-together vibe, and the same sort of dipped in tar sound, but with a slightly more trad death metal feel, but only very VERY slightly. This stuff is so fractured and fucked up, that it will more likely appeal to folks into weirder, outsider metal, Wold, Portal, that sort of thing, at some points it almost sounds like Gorguts' Obscura playing at 16rpm, super technical, but grinding and pounding through a druggy syrupy haze. Awesome. One of the coolest, weirdest metal reissues in recent memory.
MPEG Stream: "The Moon, The Mist, & Baphomet"
MPEG Stream: "Black Cloud Landscape Of Infernal Indulgence"
MPEG Stream: "Inverted Menstrual Brides Of Black Defiance"

CULTED Bellow The Thunders Of The Upper Deep (Relapse) cd 14.98
Epic blackened doom metal from this intercontinental combo, three members in Canada, one in Sweden. The four have never been in a studio together, and one of the guys has never even met the other three, but that hasn't kept them from crafting some seriously epic, dismal doooooom. Sludge-y, crusty, grim and blackened, the guitars are huge slabs of frosty crunch, the drums pound and pound, the vocals a raspy wintery howl, the tracks lengthy and mantra-like, some weird blend of Khanate's ultra funeral crawl, the post Sabbath sludge of Electric Wizard, the epic slow builds of Neurosis, old school death doom like Winter, all wound into something much more modern sounding. The vocals especially, not really black shrieks or doomy growls, instead they're some sort of super distorted harsh hellish howl, almost industrial sounding, but it suits the music, which slips from almost post rock drift, to seriously dense downtuned crush, to spaced out almost psychedelia, to churning, grinding sludge, often exploding into epic, majestic doom psych blowouts, or locking into seemingly endless chugscapes, oozing with black atmosphere, and always seemingly on the edge of total collapse, a plodding metallic deathmarch that resolves in a cloud of glitched out low end buzz. Cool. And killer diecut digipackaging to boot...
MPEG Stream: "Tyrant Cold"
MPEG Stream: "Social Control"
MPEG Stream: "Place Of Skulls"

DARKBLACK The Sellsword (Stormspell) cd 11.98
Even if we hadn't already heard, and liked (though not listed) this Portland, Oregon true metal trio's earlier ep The Barbarian's Hammer, we'd have been curious about this, their debut full-length, 'cause it bears a blurb on the front recommending this "if you dig early Lord Weird Slough Feg and Thin Lizzy"! Dunno what about DarkBlack other than their Maiden-y twin guitar attack makes 'em cite Slough Feg in particular (early or otherwise) but whatever, it's true anyone into Slough Feg's typical epic dual axe action and ought to check this out, though really they don't sound TOO much alike. Probably it's just that DarkBlack are fans of Slough Feg, though we'll guess they grew up listening to Maiden albums, not Slough Feg ones, unless they're even younger than we think.
Actually, if we were writing the blurb, we'd have suggested it say "if you dig The Fucking Champs, but wonder what they'd sound like if they really went for it and got a real wailing higher-pitched heavy metal singer"! Just listen to the guitars at beginning of "Icy Tomb Of Time"... that sounds SO MUCH like The Champs, it coulda fooled us!
There's nine songs here, all about ancient epic battle fantasy concepts it seems. And they're a real rollercoaster of rippage, with galloping rhythms, shredding leads, and of course those great dual guitar harmonies. DarkBlack's music is heavy and hectic, tightly wound, choppy but fluid too, giving the singer something slaying over which to soar.
Bracingly triumphant and underground, DarkBlack are another "throwback" '80s-ish power metal band that sounds fully alive and kickass right NOW. So, for fans of Slough Feg, sure, not so much Thin Lizzy really but Iron Maiden yeah, and The Champs like we said, plus Bible Of The Devil, The Sword (but less stoner, more shreddy), Cauldron, Enforcer, and of course all sorts of classic NWOBHM stuff.
Limited to 500 numbered copies, going fast...
MPEG Stream: "Sword Of The Morning"
MPEG Stream: "Icy Tomb Of Time"
MPEG Stream: "The Sellsword"

DEMONTAGE The Principal Extinction (Shadow Kingdom) cd 14.98
Though we haven't polled everyone, the general consensus around here seems to be that Demontage is a cool name for a heavy metal band. But is Demontage also in fact a cool heavy metal band? Yeah, they are, or we wouldn't have ordered a bunch to highlight! They're a fairly eccentric outfit from up in Toronto, Canada, a peculiar but exceedingly powerful power trio comprised of Abominable Reverend (drums), Perverted Priest (bass), and Spatilomantis (guitars/vocals), playing an off-the-rails mix of old school and more modern extreme metal styles with frenzied abandon and plenty of idiosyncratically Satanic spirit, more metal than thou, no doubt. The Principal Extinction is their 2nd full length (but first real cd, as their previous album Sacrilege 'n Miscreancy was but a cd-r release), consisting of six tracks that we can barely describe 'cause these guys are insane. The songs aren't short (in the 6-10 minute range) and boy do they cram a lot into 'em, from NWOBHM gallop to black metallic fuzz to proggy synth sizzle to majestic epicness to utterly doomy crush, always with aggressive riffs, ripping leads, thrashy drums, and (obviously) a LOT of twists and turns. Somehow it all flows beautifully, like blood from a demon's maw. Heck, Demontage is an appropriate name for them on account of how they mash together so much in their crazy compositions, which sound like, we dunno, Saviours on a lot of drugs? Danava doing an advanced version of Venom? Brocas Helm in a hellish hot tub with Celtic Frost? The vocals don't help us to pin 'em down either, as they're mostly gruff, but spiced with occasional high pitched screams, and there's melodic & manly cleanly sung parts too.
Certainly Demontage remind us a bit of the sort of anything-goes metal played by the diverse likes of Root, Dragonauta, and Sigh. But with much more of a denim and leather '80s beer drinking vibe, if you can imagine. Headbanging catchiness is a priority, in other words, but that doesn't get in the way of 'em being weird as well (& as hell). We wish more bands were willing to be both this darn metal AND this out-there original. Cool stuff, quite recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Accursed Saboteur"
MPEG Stream: "The Principal Extinction"
MPEG Stream: "Satan Of Self (The Warrior)... & Seer Of Truths (The Conjurer)"

DIGNAN PORCH On A Ride (Captured Tracks) 7" 7.98
One of FOUR new Captured Tracks 7"s on this week's list: Hanoi Janes, Cosmetics and Wetdog, all reviewed nearbly, but this one is from a UK outfit called weirdly Dignan Porch, whose sound is total summery feel good, lo-fi, jangly garage pop, with effects heavy guitars, rebverby lilting melancholic sad boy vocals, shuffly drums, very lo-fi but still in its own way a bit lush. Hazy, washed out, shuffly and slouchy and crazy catchy.
The B-side is way more stripped down, with acoustic guitars, and a vibe that's a bit more dour and gothy, kind of like some cold wave groove mashed into a Sebadoh / Guided By Voices chunk of jangle pop. So catchy and fun, and definitely reminiscent of that era in the nineties, when this sort of thing filled our every mix tape! Another winner for sure.

DOOMHAWK s/t (Rumbletowne) lp 8.98
Holy shit, were these guys seemingly made just for aQ. They're called Doomhawk for one, but more importantly, they play self described "Fantasy Calliope Metal with a heavy love for late night techno radio", and what it really sounds like is epic lo-fi power metal, meshed with a sort of Morricone-ish twang, like a more cinematic Slough Feg, mixed with some Finntroll, but way more DIY and punk, recorded on a 4-track, with wild prog keyboards all over the place. Oh and did we mention flute? How about tuba? Yep, these ladies and gents are like psychedelic space metal troubadours, their songs have a distinctly gypsy / folk vibe, but all tangled up with "Final Countdown" synthesizers and ridiculous fantasy lyrics. Wild chaotic drumming, soaring majestic arrangements, growled, howled, shrieked vocals, acoustic guitars, long stretched out ambient drones, super convoluted rock opera like arrangements...
Not to mention, the members are named Castropho, Sleet, Aumbleplex and Space-Time, and the drummer plays flute!!! Not sure it Doomhawk are still a band, if so, it seems like they'd probably be fucking awesome live, but for the time being, let these lengthy epic prog metal folk drone gypsy jams transport you to whatever bizarre otherworld these weirdos call home.
Even cooler is that every record is hand painted, the clawed Doomhawk logo, spray painted on thrift store records, with not only the Doomhawk record inside, but also the original lp that goes with the old sleeve (the one we grabbed is Chubby Plays Polkas!), includes a printed insert with liner notes, and most importantly lyrics!!! Totally recommended!

DUNCAN, JOHN & GIULIANA STEFANI Palace Of Mind (All Questions) cd 17.98
BACK IN STOCK!
Palace Of Mind is the 2000 recording collaboration between John Duncan and Giuliana Stefani. Mr. Duncan has long been one of AQ's favorite experimentalists, having started things out back in the '70s LA performance art community only to quit the US to pursue his own intense psychological research into sound, projection, installation, photography, and the like. Stefani is a mathematician by training and became acquainted with Duncan through a collaborative project they began in Amsterdam in 1996. For this album, the two sifted through digital treatments of shortwave transmissions, wire-tapped data streams, and voice. In turn, they work the album into labyrinthine composition that can hold any number of potent metaphors: the neural synapses of the human brain, the schematics of a computer, or simply an architectural set of overlapping resonant spaces. Rareified tones set with motoric vibrations transition through the fluttering of (or rather the lack there of, as this sounds like the empty spaces between the bands marked by a mechanoid oily hiss) and onto slashing digital drone. Here, one can think to Duncan's exceptional field recordings made at the Stanford Linear Accelerator in the early '90s. Within the movement from an irritable data-stream purity to the gossamer haze of shortwave distortion to gaping drones of treated vocal vibrato, Duncan and Stefani have set a trajectory deep into the heart of their sonic architecture, with each 'room' saturated with an anxiousness for what may be on the other side of the door. You won't find Duncan firing a gun at your head (seriously, he did that as performance piece called Scare back in the late '70s, using blanks mind you), but Palace Of Mind revels in an interlocking network of chambers that resonate and breathe with a profound beauty. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Extract 1"
MPEG Stream: "Extract 2"
MPEG Stream: "Extract 3"

EDITORS In This Light And On This Evening (Fader Label) cd 13.98
The Editors' An End Has A Start album was probably my (Andee!) most listened to record when it came out, and hell, even still, a totally epic and bombastic brooding gloom pop record, every song spectacular, catchy, dark, haunting, rocking, it was the band's finest moment, a rare record that never wore out its welcome, but it was inevitable, that I would start itching for a new record, but who would have thought, on the heels of what some would consider a practically perfect record, the band would throw it all away and start from scratch, but that's exactly what they did. To be more precise, the band ditched the guitars, the bass (maybe even the drums? hard to tell if the beats are programmed or not) and chose to create their new record entirely on synthesizers. Just keyboards, synths, no stringed instruments at all. Bold move, some might even suggest unwise, we were definitely skeptical, but just check out the opening track, a dark blackened synth pop gem, droning, and hypnotic, the vocals murky and ominous, the synths muddy and blurred, the sound hypnotic, repetitive, minor key, mysterious, sad and depressive, but so great.
And then there's the single, "Papillon", whose core sound is so Depeche Mode it's almost criminal, but those vocals, the melody, unmistakably the Editors, darkly propulsive, new wave, totally mesmerizing. As is the whole record. It does take some getting used to, but if you dug the other Editors records, no reason you won't dig this one. Plus any record with a grinding muted bit of looped synth prog murk with the title "Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool" has to be good. It's a grower, but the more we listen, the harder it is to stop...
This is the US version and includes FIVE bonus tracks.
MPEG Stream: "In This Light And On This Evening"
MPEG Stream: "Bricks And Mortar"
MPEG Stream: "Papillon"
MPEG Stream: "Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool"

EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN Kollaps (Potomak) cd 16.98
Kollaps. The first album from Einsturzende Neubauten, released back in 1981, found the band as a trio with the wild-throated frontman Blixa Bargeld buttressed by the anarcho-rhythmicists N.U. Unruh and F.M. Einheit. The band photo of Neubauten on Kollaps is quite telling, as a it parodies Pink Floyd's grand collection of instruments that emblazoned the back cover of Ummagumma. Instead of the marching band sized collection of drums and mallets, there's an assortment of hammers, pipes, a couple of drills, a cheap looking synth, an ax (yeah, there is a guitar, but there's also an ax!), and sheet metal twisted in the shape of drumheads. These are the instruments that Neubauten uses in the hyper-primitive, industrial-punk tracks found on Kollaps. Neubauten's amplified junkyard was a clearly a bold statement of DIY primitivism, this trio was not without their structural prowess, crafting anthemic blasts out of their rhythmic churns, bristling with sparkplug noise and rabid distortion. "Tanz Debil" is curiously catchy in its amplified shopping cart bashing which Unruh & Einheit hammer out to accompany the demon-then-zombie vocal delivery from Blixa Bargeld. The title track is a 8 minute monochord mantra, and the band actually pulls off an instrumental cover of Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'Aime." Very rough around the edges, but there is a serious-minded, infernal poetry of pain, anger, and rage focused through these scrap metal arrangements. It's great to have this in stock, as Kollaps is a tremendous record.
MPEG Stream: "Tanz Debil"
MPEG Stream: "Kollaps"
MPEG Stream: "Negativ Nein"

EMUUL ...On The Origins Of Motion (Monorail Trespassing) cassette 6.98
Yet another great tape from the Los Angeles imprint Monorail Trespassing; and as with many of the MT releases of late, the noise has been reduced in favor of narcotizing tone-float. Emuul is the nom de plume of Seattle's Kyle Iman, operating in the friendlier confines of ambient composition which enjoys the company of Celer, Stars of the Lid, and of course the man Brian Eno. On The Origins Of Motion sets forth a series of warm, enveloping driftscapes upon which slight melodic phrases, night-time / deep-thought droning, and shoegazingly distorted guitars demarcate the ambient soundscapes. Pure lulling music is to be found within this fine 28 minute cassette, which is the first that we've encountered from Emuul, even though he's released some cassettes via Digitalis, Stunned, and Blackest Rainbow. Limited to 100 copies.

ENDLESS BLOCKADE, THE / THE BASTARD NOISE The Red List (20 Buck Spin) cd 10.98
Killer power violence tag team, in one corner, newbies The Endless Blockade, who more than almost any current band embody the sound and spirit of classic power violence, and in the other, the grandfathers, and direct descendants of the genre's namesake, Bastard Noise, who have returned to the sound of their Man Is The Bastard antecedents, while still incorporating plenty of twisted Bastard noise noise.
We haven't heard Bastard Noise sound this fierce and heavy in years, throbbing low slung bass, pounding caveman drums, howled feral vox, wild screeches, tangled riffs, all woven into tightly wound tarpit grind jams, lurching and stuttering, stop start, freaked out blasts of furious thrash bookended by lumbering doomy crush, all shot through with streaks of electronic skree, clouds of glitched out FX, in fact, if anything this sounds like the perfect mix of classic Man Is The Bastard and another aQ fave MITB offshoot, Geronimo: rhythmic, hypnotic, cyclical. There are some moments of droned out Bastard Noise electronics, but those moments usually end up exploding into shards of hyper rhythmic pound and chug. So awesome. This would be worth it alone for the Bastard Noise side, but we haven't even gotten to the best part of this split...
Which is "Advanced Directive", an Endless Blockade remix by legendary academic electronic pioneer Noah Creshevsky (we had a killer retrospective of his work on Japanese label EM!), that is a total skittery, stuttery, psychedelic plunderphonic freakout. Riffs and vocals chopped and looped and pitch shifted and reassembled into a weirdly hiccupping experimental power violence mash up, reminds us a little bit of the recent Record Of The Week by Whourkr, with its impossibly complex and head spinning heaviness. Wow. The fourteen minute track that precedes it is a killer too, pummeling, pounding doomic heaviness, that slips into a strange electronic flecked trip out breakdown, and then a super in-the-red grinding buzz drenched feedback slathered noise freakout, before lurching back into some riffy crunch to finish things off.
There is one more track, a remix by noisemaker The Rita, but that one is for the TRUE noise lovers only, 15 minutes of crumbling, blown out, earshredding Merzbowian digicrunch.
MPEG Stream: THE ENDLESS BLOCKADE "Advanced Directive (Noah Creshevsky)"
MPEG Stream: THE ENDLESS BLOCKADE "Deuteronomy"
MPEG Stream: THE BASTARD NOISE "Fallen Species"
MPEG Stream: THE BASTARD NOISE "Movement Two"

ENDLESS BLOCKADE, THE / THE BASTARD NOISE The Red List (Deep Six) lp 11.98
Killer power violence tag team, in one corner, newbies The Endless Blockade, who more than almost any current band embody the sound and spirit of classic power violence, and in the other, the grandfathers, and direct descendants of the genre's namesake, Bastard Noise, who have returned to the sound of their Man Is The Bastard antecedents, while still incorporating plenty of twisted Bastard noise noise.
We haven't heard Bastard Noise sound this fierce and heavy in years, throbbing low slung bass, pounding caveman drums, howled feral vox, wild screeches, tangled riffs, all woven into tightly wound tarpit grind jams, lurching and stuttering, stop start, freaked out blasts of furious thrash bookended by lumbering doomy crush, all shot through with streaks of electronic skree, clouds of glitched out FX, in fact, if anything this sounds like the perfect mix of classic Man Is The Bastard and another aQ fave MITB offshoot, Geronimo: rhythmic, hypnotic, cyclical. There are some moments of droned out Bastard Noise electronics, but those moments usually end up exploding into shards of hyper rhythmic pound and chug. So awesome. This would be worth it alone for the Bastard Noise side, but we haven't even gotten to the best part of this split...
Which is "Advanced Directive", an Endless Blockade remix by legendary academic electronic pioneer Noah Creshevsky (we had a killer retrospective of his work on Japanese label EM!), that is a total skittery, stuttery, psychedelic plunderphonic freakout. Riffs and vocals chopped and looped and pitch shifted and reassembled into a weirdly hiccupping experimental power violence mash up, reminds us a little bit of the recent Record Of The Week by Whourkr, with its impossibly complex and head spinning heaviness. Wow. The fourteen minute track that precedes it is a killer too, pummeling, pounding doomic heaviness, that slips into a strange electronic flecked trip out breakdown, and then a super in-the-red grinding buzz drenched feedback slathered noise freakout, before lurching back into some riffy crunch to finish things off.
There is one more track, a remix by noisemaker The Rita, but that one is for the TRUE noise lovers only, 15 minutes of crumbling, blown out, earshredding Merzbowian digicrunch.
MPEG Stream: THE ENDLESS BLOCKADE "Advanced Directive (Noah Creshevsky)"
MPEG Stream: THE ENDLESS BLOCKADE "Deuteronomy"
MPEG Stream: THE BASTARD NOISE "Fallen Species"
MPEG Stream: THE BASTARD NOISE "Movement Two"

EPILEPTINOMICON Changeling House Summer (self released) cd-r 6.98
We first discovered Epileptinomicon years ago, when some mysterious cd-r's showed up in the mail, all handmade, with very little info, but how could we not be intrigued by a band called Epileptinomicon? So we threw it on and were totally blown away, dark, and droney, heavy and dense, spaced out and psychedelic, a little krautrocky, lo-fi, but definitely well crafted, some seriously blackened ambient dronemusic for sure.
So we tried to get in touch with this Epileptinomicon, but had no luck, emailed went unreturned, no trace on the web, Google searches turned up two mentions on the aQuarius site. So we assumed the worst, and gave up. The at last year's aQuarius / WFMU South By Southwest showcase, who should show up, but none other than Epileptinomicon, so we hung out, agreed to keep in touch, and arranged for us to order a bunch of records for the shop. Well, then what do you know? The mysterious Epileptinomicon disappears again, no word, no sign, no nothing.
But finally, the connection has been made, via of all people, recent aQ thrash faves Speedwolf, who live in the same town as E-con, and are weirdly enough touring together with 'em, so we now have a limited selection of two different Epileptinomicon cd-r's the first one, titled II, that we initially heard years ago, and a more recent tour disc, both of them awesome. And unfortunately, both extremely limited...
Changeling House Summer is the more recent of the two E-con discs, and shows a whole new side to what we remember as more of a drone / doom / ambient sound, that stuff is still present, loads of low end, thick rumbles, and dense shimmers, but there seems to be more of a focus on rhythm, from simple minimal pulses, to strange skeletal skitters. Reminding us of current synth drone outfits like Oneohtrix Point Never, Emeralds, Pulse Emitter, Emaciator and the like, but more slow and low and blackened.
"Changeling House" is sprawling field of murky drones, and muted melodies, that seems to be peppered with bits of glitch and crackle, until those glitches and crackles coalesce into a strange rhythm, brittle and almost techno like, the sound reminding us of a much more raw, blackened Chain Reaction, the 'beat' looped and hypnotic, over a churning sea of crumbling distortion, and swirling fragmented melodies. Some sort of murky alien dancemusic perhaps, or more accurately, some minimal rhythmic space doom. The pulses spread further and further out, the background noise grows considerable smoother, and suddenly, the track has returned to its initial dronestate, where it hovers before blinking out.
"Summer House" is more obviously recorded live, and begins with a scraped rhythm, and what sounds like a fucked up human beatbox, before both are joined by thick throbbing bass, so dense and blown out it nearly swallows the rest of the sounds whole. And so it remains for the remainder of the track, that rhythm locked solid, looped endlessly, while all around it the low end rumbles grow more and more aggressive, as well as bursts of crackle and hiss, muted feedback squeals, all in a never ending tangle, constantly shifting and mutating, before dissipating in a burst of super distorted buzz.
Finally, there's the 22 minute closer "Perfect Hell", another sprawling expanse of whirling layered low end, grinding guitar buzz, shards of feedback, but with much more melody this time, a glacial tarpit dirge, but infused with all manner of subtle melody. The second half of the track finds an extra element introduced, a groaning, creaking drone, wreathed in effects, that slips from hushed rumble to strangely gnarled slow motion squiggle, underpinned by a glitch driven rhythm, subtle, simple, and weirdly haunting.
CRAZY LIMITED, we got a bunch of these, but not sure how long they'll last, in cool hand stamped xerox sleeves, the discs themselves also stamped.
MPEG Stream: "Changeling House"
MPEG Stream: "Summer House"

EPILEPTINOMICON II (self released) cd-r 6.98
We first discovered Epileptinomicon years ago, when some mysterious cd-r's showed up in the mail, all handmade, with very little info, but how could we not be intrigued by a band called Epileptinomicon? So we threw it on and were totally blown away, dark, and droney, heavy and dense, spaced out and psychedelic, a little krautrocky, lo-fi, but definitely well crafted, some seriously blackened ambient dronemusic for sure.
So we tried to get in touch with this Epileptinomicon, but had no luck, emailed went unreturned, no trace on the web, Google searches turned up two mentions on the aQuarius site. So we assumed the worst, and gave up. The at last year's aQuarius / WFMU South By Southwest showcase, who should show up, but none other than Epileptinomicon, so we hung out, agreed to keep in touch, and arranged for us to order a bunch of records for the shop. Well, then what do you know? The mysterious Epileptinomicon disappears again, no word, no sign, no nothing.
But finally, the connection has been made, via of all people, recent aQ thrash faves Speedwolf, who live in the same town as E-con, and are weirdly enough touring together with 'em, so we now have a limited selection of two different Epileptinomicon cd-r's the first one, titled II, that we initially heard years ago, and a more recent tour disc, both of them awesome. And unfortunately, both extremely limited...
II was the very same disc that just showed up in the mail, the one that originally got us so psyched on these guys (this guy), it ended up getting played all the time in the shop, and even on Andee's radio show, after a loooong while, it was weird to return to this, in some ways if felt like we had already listed it, when in fact, we never got enough to review until now.
The sound here is a sort of abstract minimal drone drift, with a bit of lo-fi dub going on. Slow smeared tones, layered over one another, a strange muted pulse way off in the distance, all beneath slow wheezing barely there melodies, and a strange reverbed dubby little percussive thump, that seems in its own way to drive the whole track. Headphones help, an immersive sound world, of drift and shimmer and throb, ambient for sure, space-y as well, but weirdly (and very subtly) propulsive. The sound is murky and muddy and muted, until about halfway through when a shimmering crystalline guitar surfaces, a simple strummed chord that is dosed in delay, sent echoing into the ether, adding a distinctly pop element to what was otherwise something black and bare, and only minimally melodic.
The second track, the 17 minute "Lunar Menagerie", begins again as a hushed, stuttery underwater sounding bass pulse, and for the first 7 or 8 minutes remains underwater, or perhaps it's meant to emulate the sounds on the surface of the moon, either way, it's a gloriously rumbly, soft swirling sea of tangled synaptic misfires and heartbeat pulses, launched into the cosmos and allowed to reflect and refract starlight into gorgeous prismatic pulses. The second half of the track gets way more psychedelic, with a guitar unleashing strange squalls of swirling notes, wailing streaks of high end sound, like some classic psych rock guitar solo, removed from its track, untangled and unfurled into the weightlessness of space, where it floats and tumbles, spinning out bits of melody and warmly textured fragments, and inadvertently channeling other psych drone explorers like Expo 70. Gorgeous stuff.
As me mentioned, EXTREMELY LIMITED, two versions, one in a hand made paper sleeve, the other in a dvd style case, they're both essentially the same, it's random which one you'll get, and odds are we'll be out of both before you know it.
MPEG Stream: "IIIrd Bridge"
MPEG Stream: "Lunar Menagerie"

EX, THE + TOM CORA Scrabbling At The Lock (Mississippi) lp 14.98
** MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT **
** MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT **
** MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT **
Okay, as always, that's just for the Mississippi obsessed out there, which we know, is a LOT of you, so you need not read further, just add one of these to your cart, and move on, but for the rest of us, please read on, we're so psyched to finally write up and list what is probably our favorite Ex record ever.
For Scrabbling At The Lock, Dutch aggro punks The Ex teamed up with NY cellist Tom Cora, a downtown scene veteran, who played with John Zorn and the usual suspects, and sadly passed away in 1998 at the age of 44.
The Ex, as much as we always wanted to dig them, were often a little to frantic and spiky for our tastes, a relentless barrage of bristly cacophony and tangled manic melodies, but somehow, teamed with Cora, the mix was magical, his fluid melodies, perfectly complimented the Ex's excesses, often taking a back seat, locking into propulsive laid back rhythms, and letting Cora's cello sing. It's been years since we've heard this (the cd now goes for crazy $$), but it sounds as amazing, as vibrant and emotional and dramatic as it ever did.
The Ex, for those who have not heard them, play a sort of wild punk rock gypsy folk, angular and sinewy, wild and free, very rhythmic, shouted vocals, intense percussion, one of the longest running DIY musical outfits still going, always pushing boundaries, most recently collaborating with Ethiopian musicians, bringing many of them to Europe to perform outside of Ethiopia for the first time ever. They have tons of records, and people love them, and we've definitely dug a few of them, but this is the one, it's magical and timeless and transcendent, super rocking, heavy, groovy, angular, but the sharpest edges, the ones that often poked us in the wrong way, are perfectly dulled by Cora's cello, often transforming the Ex's agit punk into something almost Klezmer. Some of our favorite include the gorgeous "Hidegen Fujnak a Szelek" a reinterpretation of a Hungarian folk song, with soaring female vocals perfectly complimenting the chugging percussive cello. And "State Of Shock" which is probably the heaviest track on the record, starting out all haunting and gypsy, before the band explodes in a squall of howling guitars, and pounding percussion, the cello anchoring the track letting the other instruments go wild.
So goddamn good. As powerful and emotional as ever. If you've resisted the Ex in the past, this might be the ONE Ex record you need, and it's of course an incredible tribute to the memory of Cora and his musical legacy.

FELL VOICES s/t (Human Resources) lp 12.98
We'd been hearing about these guys for ages, a trio from Santa Cruz who were apparently mixing raw thrashing black buzz a la Bone Awl with sprawling epic arrangements, as in songs going on 20, sometimes 30 minutes.
So here we have their debut full length, a two song lp, two tracks, each filling up an entire side, one nearly 19 minutes, the other more than 21 minutes, and right out of the gate they explode into a frenzy of blasting beats and blurred insectoid riffing, growled demonic vocalizing, but over the course of these songs, the band explore all sorts of variations, slipping into loping mathy post rock, soaring epic Norwegian style majesty, doomic d-beat pounding, lurching stop / start breakdowns, long stretches of ominous ambience, lumbering Burzumic crush, slow burning distortion drenched drift, all held together with consistent elements that lead one part to another, streaks of buzz, minimal mysterious guitar figures, the sound of rain, droning bits of serpentine guitar. It's more than just long songs created by glomming shorter songs together. These tracks are expertly arranged and composed, the move with mood and purpose, melodies disappear only to resurface later, parts shift and twist and become repurposed, there are refrains, but there are also parts that appear once and are gone.
The B-side starts out like some sort of black drone record, heaving sheets of crumbling distorted buzz, woozy and wavery, before the band explodes into yet another flurry of soaring guitars and pounding rhythms, this time though it's all tension and no release, like the most dramatic part of some Godspeed epic translated into epic blackness, until the band finally slip into something more classically BM, but only just, this song/side too is a convoluted path, serpentine and impossible to predict, with some incredible surprisingly un-BM at times drumming, amazing catchy riffs, and the ambience this time relegated to near the end of the track, the furious blasting giving way to some haunting spectral drift, taking forever to fade out completely, instead, blasting at a barely audible level, just below the seemingly tranquil surface, eventually disappearing completely, leaving the track to wind down gently, with a languid, darkly pretty final few minutes. So awesome. Fell Voices are definitely a band folks into Weakling and Wolves In The Throne Room and Fauna and all that sort of sprawling epic blackness should check out. A new favorite of the black hordes around here for sure...

FOUR TET There Is Love In You (Domino) cd 14.98
Wow, we haven't been this impressed with a Four Tet full length in a long time, though truth be told it has been awhile since Kieran Hebden has released one. He has spent the greater parts of the last four or five years concentrating on remixes and with three solo collaborations with jazz drummer Steve Reid, leaving only one sole ep (Ringer) in between this release and his last, Everything Ecstatic. While that last record displayed an erratic and harder edged tendency to shake off the "folktronica" tag that has dogged him early on, it also seemed like he was trying too hard. On There is Love In You, Hebden is back to his strengths, keeping the compositions economic, but also beautiful, well-crafted and at moments truly sublime. Our excitement mounted when we heard the first single, "Love Cry", late last year. That nine minute minimal house opus as well as the awesome Joy Orbison remix was for some of us the single of the year! Though the bulk of the record is not as dancefloor oriented as the single, his masterful use of warmth, texture and editing make this an exciting listen all the way through, sounding at times like Cluster and Dif Juz filtered through Carl Craig and Flying Lotus. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Angel Echoes"
MPEG Stream: "Love Cry"
MPEG Stream: "Plastic People"

FOUR TET There Is Love In You (Domino) 2lp 24.00
Wow, we haven't been this impressed with a Four Tet full length in a long time, though truth be told it has been awhile since Kieran Hebden has released one. He has spent the greater parts of the last four or five years concentrating on remixes and with three solo collaborations with jazz drummer Steve Reid, leaving only one sole ep (Ringer) in between this release and his last, Everything Ecstatic. While that last record displayed an erratic and harder edged tendency to shake off the "folktronica" tag that has dogged him early on, it also seemed like he was trying too hard. On There is Love In You, Hebden is back to his strengths, keeping the compositions economic, but also beautiful, well-crafted and at moments truly sublime. Our excitement mounted when we heard the first single, "Love Cry", late last year. That nine minute minimal house opus as well as the awesome Joy Orbison remix was for some of us the single of the year! Though the bulk of the record is not as dancefloor oriented as the single, his masterful use of warmth, texture and editing make this an exciting listen all the way through, sounding at times like Cluster and Dif Juz filtered through Carl Craig and Flying Lotus. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Angel Echoes"
MPEG Stream: "Love Cry"
MPEG Stream: "Plastic People"

FOWLEY, KIM One Man's Garbage: Lost Treasures From The Vaults 1959-69 Volume 1 (Norton) cd 14.98
With so many stories circulated about legendary LA-based weirdo (many, including the man himself, might say "asshole") Kim Fowley, it can be easy to overlook the reality that he was, if nothing else, ridiculously prolific as a songwriter and producer. The amount of songs Fowley is responsible for is staggering and quite impressive. He appears to be of that rare breed that could crank out songs with ease and completely forget their existence by the time he had moved on to the next project. Even while many of these songs were probably viewed by Fowley himself as disposable pop fodder and a quick paycheck, they are incredibly enjoyable pieces of quirky '60s pop, stupid in the best way and just plain fun. Nostalgic in the most snarky way possible, a good portion of the songs concern themselves with teenage '50s high school themes (like the outrageous "Memories Of A High School Bride" by The Players (Vol. II), a programmatic soap opera saga complete with a tape-manipulated gossip chorus!), or swingin' sixties turn on, tune in, drop out freekdom, tongue seemingly in cheek, like Althea And The Memories' "Worst Record Ever Made" (Vol. I). There's plenty of just plain WTF weirdness too, like Donnie And The Outkasts' "Big Fat Alaskan" (also Vol. I).
A bunch of Fowley-sung numbers crop up, delivered with a snotty awareness that makes them among the best tunes on here. Looking at the pictures within, the gangly Fowley sticks out like a sore thumb among the wide eyed bands and, ahem, teenage girls, who probably felt they were going to make it all the way to the top. Little were they aware of the madness that would see them ending up on these awesome compilations so many years later. Good stuff, both volumes equally recommended, get 'em both!
MPEG Stream: "Bruce And Jerry - I Saw Her First"
MPEG Stream: "Patterns - Late Late Show"
MPEG Stream: "The Rituals - This Is Paradise"

FOWLEY, KIM One Man's Garbage: Lost Treasures From The Vaults 1959-69 Volume 1 (Norton) lp 14.98
With so many stories circulated about legendary LA-based weirdo (many, including the man himself, might say "asshole") Kim Fowley, it can be easy to overlook the reality that he was, if nothing else, ridiculously prolific as a songwriter and producer. The amount of songs Fowley is responsible for is staggering and quite impressive. He appears to be of that rare breed that could crank out songs with ease and completely forget their existence by the time he had moved on to the next project. Even while many of these songs were probably viewed by Fowley himself as disposable pop fodder and a quick paycheck, they are incredibly enjoyable pieces of quirky '60s pop, stupid in the best way and just plain fun. Nostalgic in the most snarky way possible, a good portion of the songs concern themselves with teenage '50s high school themes (like the outrageous "Memories Of A High School Bride" by The Players (Vol. II), a programmatic soap opera saga complete with a tape-manipulated gossip chorus!), or swingin' sixties turn on, tune in, drop out freekdom, tongue seemingly in cheek, like Althea And The Memories' "Worst Record Ever Made" (Vol. I). There's plenty of just plain WTF weirdness too, like Donnie And The Outkasts' "Big Fat Alaskan" (also Vol. I).
A bunch of Fowley-sung numbers crop up, delivered with a snotty awareness that makes them among the best tunes on here. Looking at the pictures within, the gangly Fowley sticks out like a sore thumb among the wide eyed bands and, ahem, teenage girls, who probably felt they were going to make it all the way to the top. Little were they aware of the madness that would see them ending up on these awesome compilations so many years later. Good stuff, both volumes equally recommended, get 'em both!
MPEG Stream: "Bruce And Jerry - I Saw Her First"
MPEG Stream: "Patterns - Late Late Show"
MPEG Stream: "The Rituals - Paradise"

FOWLEY, KIM Another Man's Gold: Lost Treasures From The Vaults 1959-69 Volume 2 (Norton) cd 14.98
With so many stories circulated about legendary LA-based weirdo (many, including the man himself, might say "asshole") Kim Fowley, it can be easy to overlook the reality that he was, if nothing else, ridiculously prolific as a songwriter and producer. The amount of songs Fowley is responsible for is staggering and quite impressive. He appears to be of that rare breed that could crank out songs with ease and completely forget their existence by the time he had moved on to the next project. Even while many of these songs were probably viewed by Fowley himself as disposable pop fodder and a quick paycheck, they are incredibly enjoyable pieces of quirky '60s pop, stupid in the best way and just plain fun. Nostalgic in the most snarky way possible, a good portion of the songs concern themselves with teenage '50s high school themes (like the outrageous "Memories Of A High School Bride" by The Players (Vol. II), a programmatic soap opera saga complete with a tape-manipulated gossip chorus!), or swingin' sixties turn on, tune in, drop out freekdom, tongue seemingly in cheek, like Althea And The Memories' "Worst Record Ever Made" (Vol. I). There's plenty of just plain WTF weirdness too, like Donnie And The Outkasts' "Big Fat Alaskan" (also Vol. I).
A bunch of Fowley-sung numbers crop up, delivered with a snotty awareness that makes them among the best tunes on here. Looking at the pictures within, the gangly Fowley sticks out like a sore thumb among the wide eyed bands and, ahem, teenage girls, who probably felt they were going to make it all the way to the top. Little were they aware of the madness that would see them ending up on these awesome compilations so many years later. Good stuff, both volumes equally recommended, get 'em both!
MPEG Stream: "The Renegades - Geronimo"
MPEG Stream: "Kim Fowley - Big Sur, Bear Mountain, Ciro's, Flip Side, Protest Song"
MPEG Stream: "The Players - Memories Of A High School Bride"

FOWLEY, KIM Another Man's Gold: Lost Treasures From The Vaults 1959-69 Volume 2 (Norton) lp 14.98
With so many stories circulated about legendary LA-based weirdo (many, including the man himself, might say "asshole") Kim Fowley, it can be easy to overlook the reality that he was, if nothing else, ridiculously prolific as a songwriter and producer. The amount of songs Fowley is responsible for is staggering and quite impressive. He appears to be of that rare breed that could crank out songs with ease and completely forget their existence by the time he had moved on to the next project. Even while many of these songs were probably viewed by Fowley himself as disposable pop fodder and a quick paycheck, they are incredibly enjoyable pieces of quirky '60s pop, stupid in the best way and just plain fun. Nostalgic in the most snarky way possible, a good portion of the songs concern themselves with teenage '50s high school themes (like the outrageous "Memories Of A High School Bride" by The Players (Vol. II), a programmatic soap opera saga complete with a tape-manipulated gossip chorus!), or swingin' sixties turn on, tune in, drop out freekdom, tongue seemingly in cheek, like Althea And The Memories' "Worst Record Ever Made" (Vol. I). There's plenty of just plain WTF weirdness too, like Donnie And The Outkasts' "Big Fat Alaskan" (also Vol. I).
A bunch of Fowley-sung numbers crop up, delivered with a snotty awareness that makes them among the best tunes on here. Looking at the pictures within, the gangly Fowley sticks out like a sore thumb among the wide eyed bands and, ahem, teenage girls, who probably felt they were going to make it all the way to the top. Little were they aware of the madness that would see them ending up on these awesome compilations so many years later. Good stuff, both volumes equally recommended, get 'em both!
MPEG Stream: "The Renegades - Geronimo"
MPEG Stream: "Kim Fowley - Big Sur, Bear Mountain, Ciro's, Flip Side, Protest Song"
MPEG Stream: "The Players - Memories Of A High School Bride"

FOXDYE M4g1c47 G71mm3r1ng R41nb0w (Fukdup Records) cd 7.98
Total slice and dice, chop and loop, skitter and stutter, bleep and bloop, head spinning, dancefloor destroying, 8-bit, video game. electro pop sonic mayhem, not that you'd be able to tell from the first couple tracks, a gently swirling bit of dreamy shimmer, with muted buried rhythms, slowly building to a poppy playful bit of processed skitter, that almost sounds like a Hello Kitty version of Venetian Snares. The same sort of rhythmic drill and bass, but way cuter and poppier, lots of video game sounds, little snippets of voices, bits of glitch and crunch, for all it's density and complexity, it's also pretty dang hooky, reminding us a lot of Aphex Twin's classic "Girl / Boy".
The rest of the record is a non stop barrage of hyperspeed jungle beats, buzzing synths, woozy warped melodies, twisted samples, big beats, pounding techno rhythms, bits of throbbing dubstep, tangled electronic squiggles, all wound into super fun, and funky, booty shaking, rib cage rattling, high energy electro spazz groove. The record finishes the way it began, all washed out and dreamy, electronic ambient pop drift and shimmer, but between those two tranquil bookends, is a nonstop Technicolor explosion of tangled and twisted freaked out sounds and spastic beats!!
MPEG Stream: "Navigating Geography (Part 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Rainbow Dolphins"
MPEG Stream: "What Is Toot-Toot In French"
MPEG Stream: "Martha's Mega-Meowssive"
MPEG Stream: "Dub Poo-Lease RInse Out The Paddywagon"

FREDRIK Trilogi (Kora) cd 14.98
Alrighty all you good people who swooned to this Norwegian duo's debut (released in late 2008) which we just recently reviewed, let's keep the love flowin', shall we? Yes, we shall because we've got more of Fredrik's glorious sounds in stock now. We are getting ourselves all properly caught up with this, their sophomore full length... and such a fine album it is!
With their softly shadowed faery folk choral passages, gentle clattering percussion and sighing brass, Fredrik's intricately patchworked and multi-layered songs conjure visions of moonlit meadows and enchanted forests. We imagine them to be sort of the aural counterpart to the mesmerizing and darkly fanciful animated filmworks of the Brothers Quay. When they bring in more electronic instrumentation as on the song "Ava" they draw closer in line to the heartfelt dream pop of Postal Service or The Notwist. And on particular standout numbers such as "Milo", Fredrik Hultin's hushed dewy-eyed vocals are quite reminiscent of Kings Of Convenience's Erlend Oye and Notwist's Markus Acher. You know, that charming murmur that sounds like it has a sweetheart secret to tell only you! But that said, the overall lasting impression of Trilogi is far more otherworldly. Glistening, lovely and artfully crafted... yes, we recommend it! (By the way, we should forewarn you that the songs that make up this album were originally released on three very very limited edition cdeps titled Holm, Ava and Ner - hence the title - but they were gone in a wink of an eye. So chances are you missed them like we did, but happily you can get them compiled on one disc now!)
MPEG Stream: "Milo"
MPEG Stream: "Ava"

FRICARA PACCHU Midnight Pyre (Lal Lal Lal) cd 16.98
FINALLY BACK IN STOCK!! If you missed it when we made it a Record Of The Week back in the summer of 2008, you're in luck! Here's what we said about this then...
Yes! The cd debut of this fantastic Finnish four-track project... We actually meant to list this, like, a month ago, but unfortunately the original review we wrote of it was lost in one of our several recent arggh-inducing komputoor crashes, but actually that's a good thing, 'cause it gave everybody here at AQ more time to listen to this, over and over, at home and in the store, and have us all decide that this HAD to be a Record Of The Week. So we ordered more copies from Finland, and re-wrote the review (which, in our memory, was actually probably better written the first time, so trust us on this) and here we go!
Ah, Finland. We've said it before, we'll say it again. So many of our favorite bands hail from Finland, from the hypnotic NWOFHM space rock of Circle to the the funereal doom of Skepticism, with all the freaky forest folk of Kemialliset Ystavat, et. al. in between. And now Fricara Pacchu, solo project from a member of such underground Finnish acts as Avarus, Anaksimandros, Maniacs Dream, and yes Kemialliset Ystavat.
Hopefully you remember our review of the Fricara Pacchu 7" and accompanying art/collage booklet that the Fonal label put out not too long ago (we may still have a few of those babies in stock, if you act fast). Both Allan and Andee accidentally wrote separate gushing reviews of it, that's how much we all liked it! That 7" left us eager to hear a full-length, and now here it is, courtesy of Lal Lal Lal. 12 wigged out instrumental tracks of Fricara Pacchu's undefinable, eccentric, psychedelic weirdness. We had compared the 7" to everything from the Boredoms to Oliva Tremor Control, and that goes too for the all-instrumental music on this cd, to which we can add such other disparate references as Neu! and When and Fuck Buttons. Fricara Pacchu's music is part techno, part noise, part pop... all awesome.
Recording at home on a four-track, Pacchu creates a woozy, rhythmic soundworld filled with distortion and delight. A world of magical gnomes with chugging machines spewing colorful clouds... clouds of mysterious, maybe illegal substances that coalesce in pretty patterns you can hear, as well as kaleidoscopically see. There's dense, druggy layers of guitar feedback with electro beats; lo-fi fuzzy loops, gurgly computer bleeps and sci-fi sound FX swooshes; throbbing pound and gentle ambience. Fricara Pacchu produces fragile music box melodies that exist amidst exploding minefields of noise, like the detonations of distortion that rhythmically obliterate parts of "Four Seasons Of Violins". Noise that is taken to an extreme with the utter, surging distorto-destruction of "Sky Helicopter"...
Whew! Wow. Maybe if the glorious synthscapes of fellow Finns Shogun Kunitoki were way grittier and guitar-ier, done more D.I.Y., and wrapped in steel wool and played backwards on a cheap cassette, that would sound something like the quirky and compelling music of Fricara Pacchu. By which we mean, this is great!
MPEG Stream: "Four Seasons Of Violins"
MPEG Stream: "Freaky Labyrinth"
MPEG Stream: "Return Of The Rats"
MPEG Stream: "Possessed By Possibilities"

FUCKED UP Couple Tracks: Singles 2002-2009 (Matador) 2cd 13.98
Who would have thought Fucked Up would turn out to be the IT band. They're basically a punk rock band. A killer punk rock band, but it still seemed a bit surprising that they blew up the way they did. For some of the reasons behind that, check out the review of Fucked Up's The Chemistry Of Common Life elsewhere on the aQ site, penned by aQ pal Forrest, for an in depth analysis of just what it is about Fucked Up that has everyone in a tizzy.
Before their debut album though, the band had released a whole mess of 7"s, all of them pretty bad ass. Fucked Up worked it like it was still the nineties, fuck MySpace, and downloads and all that shit, they were a 7" machine, pounding out winner after winner, understanding the magic of 7"s, a super inexpensive way for kids to hear your music, and thus, why wouldn't you put your best songs on those singles, well Fucked Up would and did.
Their move to Matador did nothing to stem the tide of Fucked Up 7"s, and this TWO DISC compilation collects a bunch of singles, from their debut in 2002 all the way up to now, they don't seem to be arranged in chronological order, and we've read a bunch about how Couple Tracks doesn't flow like an album and is stylistically all over the map, but fuck it, it's a SINGLES COMPILATION, it's not supposed to play like an album, it's more like a bad ass mixtape, with all songs by the same band. And bad ass this collection is, once again demonstrating that Fucked Up have a way of infusing seriously aggro punk rock, with some incredible pop hooks, and vice versa, taking what basically sounds like a heavy pop song, and adding loads of guitars and vocalist Pink Eyes' wailing bellow.
We could go through the record song by song, but by now you should know what Fucked Up sound like, if not, listen to the tracks below, needless to say, these guys rule, and this is heavy, hooky, catchy, aggressive, headbangable certainly if you're so inclined, definitely moshable too, but even if you're just sitting there with a pair of headphones strapped on, these sounds work that way too.
Includes photos of all the various singles sleeves, as well as some super funny, and super snarky notes on each song...
MPEG Stream: "Neat Parts"
MPEG Stream: "Ban Violins"
MPEG Stream: "Black Hats"
MPEG Stream: "No Epiphany"
MPEG Stream: "Crooked Head"

FUCKED UP Couple Tracks: Singles 2002-2009 (Matador) 2lp 16.98
Who would have thought Fucked Up would turn out to be the IT band. They're basically a punk rock band. A killer punk rock band, but it still seemed a bit surprising that they blew up the way they did. For some of the reasons behind that, check out the review of Fucked Up's The Chemistry Of Common Life elsewhere on the aQ site, penned by aQ pal Forrest, for an in depth analysis of just what it is about Fucked Up that has everyone in a tizzy.
Before their debut album though, the band had released a whole mess of 7"s, all of them pretty bad ass. Fucked Up worked it like it was still the nineties, fuck MySpace, and downloads and all that shit, they were a 7" machine, pounding out winner after winner, understanding the magic of 7"s, a super inexpensive way for kids to hear your music, and thus, why wouldn't you put your best songs on those singles, well Fucked Up would and did.
Their move to Matador did nothing to stem the tide of Fucked Up 7"s, and this TWO DISC compilation collects a bunch of singles, from their debut in 2002 all the way up to now, they don't seem to be arranged in chronological order, and we've read a bunch about how Couple Tracks doesn't flow like an album and is stylistically all over the map, but fuck it, it's a SINGLES COMPILATION, it's not supposed to play like an album, it's more like a bad ass mixtape, with all songs by the same band. And bad ass this collection is, once again demonstrating that Fucked Up have a way of infusing seriously aggro punk rock, with some incredible pop hooks, and vice versa, taking what basically sounds like a heavy pop song, and adding loads of guitars and vocalist Pink Eyes' wailing bellow.
We could go through the record song by song, but by now you should know what Fucked Up sound like, if not, listen to the tracks below, needless to say, these guys rule, and this is heavy, hooky, catchy, aggressive, headbangable certainly if you're so inclined, definitely moshable too, but even if you're just sitting there with a pair of headphones strapped on, these sounds work that way too.
Includes photos of all the various singles sleeves, as well as some super funny, and super snarky notes on each song...
MPEG Stream: "Neat Parts"
MPEG Stream: "Ban Violins"
MPEG Stream: "Black Hats"
MPEG Stream: "No Epiphany"
MPEG Stream: "Crooked Head"

GEIST Galeere (Lupus Lounge) cd 14.98
Geist are a German black metal horde that features the rhythm section of another BM band we reviewed a while back, Funeral Procession, and Geist, much like FP, offer up the same sort of classic Nordic sounding grim black buzz, right out of the gate, their cold atmospheric black metal reminding us of Satyricon, the production tight and slick, but the band have a definite flair for the ambience, creating dark creepy intros and outros, but unlike the usual wolves or wind or rain, it sounds like a seaside, or a harbor, the sound of lapping water, distant foghorns, deem rumbling tones, laid over what sound like field recordings, evoking some serious haunting dread before exploding in a frenzy of lurching super dynamic, mathy start / stop black blasting. Other tracks introduce what sounds like recordings from beneath the surface, a gurgling shimmer wrapped around rumbling pianos, and distant drones, again leading directly into some amazing blasting blackness, tight and heavy and epic, as much as we love raw and primitive and lo-fi, hearing a band this fast and furious sound this tight and heavy never gets old, and these guys DESTROY. Total depressive melodic black buzz majesty.
The record finishes off with a 16 minute sprawl of awesomely complex, gnarled, drone laced doomic black metal, that shifts from lurching crunch and stutter, to loping almost sea sick waltz, peppered with mysterious samples, totally intense and mysterious, eventually drifting into a soundscape of creaking ropes, plucked steel strings, the sound of waves and wind, a mournful seaside lament, the haunting sounds of sea and sky and storm.
MPEG Stream: "Galeere"
MPEG Stream: "Einen Winter Auf See"

GIRLS Laura / Oh Boy (True Panther) 7" 5.50
One of things we love most about local boys Girls, is their celebration and appreciation of THE SONG, and specifically THE SINGLE. They first caught our attention with the life affirming single Hellhole Ratrace, and after the release of their amazing full length here's another killer single, with a brand new song as the B-side. This time out "Laura" from the album gets singled out, which is great cuz we already loved that song, so it was the B-side we were anxious to hear and "Oh Boy" is one of the dreamiest, warm and warbly Girls songs yet! Like My Bloody Valentine doing a '60s heartache girl group broken hearted lament.
It continues to blow our mind that every time we hear a new song from Girls it makes us fall in love with them all over again. It's just a few days away from Valentines Day when Girls will be playing here and we can't think of a better band to celebrate hearts on sleeves and broken hearts that still beat brightly than an evening with Girls.
While usually we wouldn't say a pressing of one thousand 7"s is all that limited, with the massive popularity of these Girls in the last year odds are these are sure to disappear pretty quick.

GOLDMANN, STEFAN Haven't I Seen You Before (The Tapeworm) cassette 7.98
The one thing about The Tapeworm label, is that while you never know exactly what you're gonna get, you do know more than likely it's definitely something you want to hear, whether you realized it or not. One of two new tapes from The Tapeworm this time out, this one from Berlin electronic producer Stefan Goldmann, who also runs the Macro Recordings label, but don't be expecting any sort of beats or techno here, instead, it's a gorgeously dark record of solo guitar. Goldmann describes himself as a mediocre guitarist, but a versatile engineer, so for his Tapeworm contribution, he recorded a whole bunch of little guitar bits, softly struck harmonics, simply strummed chords, pizzicato notes, plenty of clicks and scrapes, even his barely audible breathing as he hunched over the guitar, and cut and chopped and spliced and diced the various elements into 5 tracks, two different versions. The result though is not some sort of rapidfire plunderphonic workout, instead, it's delicate, and sublime, lots of space and subtle melody, warm little chordal tangles drift over softly shimmering expanses of space, strange plucks and thumps are built into barely there rhythms, one track does coalesce into something almost propulsive, but somehow remains minimal and abstract, even what sound like mistakes, mis-hits, muted notes, get reworked into the slow shifting anti-folk, free jazz dark drift tapestry Goldmann creates. Each side contains the same program, but different versions, so using the reverse function on your tape deck, you can further loop and tangle and reassemble the original tracks into different arrangements. So cool.
As always, LIMITED TO 250 COPIES...

GRUENEWALD II (Zeitgeister) cd 10.98
Latest disc from these mysterious slowcore black doom drifters, whose last disc on Eichenwald was a big time favorite around these parts. If anything this new one takes the first record and pushes it into even darker, creepier, more minimal directions.
The self-titled debut was a strange blackened blend of Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore and Low, lots of low end, muted guitar strum, delicate skeletal melodies, barely there percussion, slow burning and darkly evocative, a gorgeous almost jazzy minimal black crawl.
On II, all of those elements are still present, even the haunting spoken vocals, delivered in gruff German, rumbling and ominous, here, sprawl over a delicate web of intertwined guitar melodies, crystalline and shimmery, when the drums come in, the sound takes on a strange power, a smoldering black energy, right below the surface, eventually, the band launches into full scale rocking, a loping mathy groove, the guitars more clean and chiming, than downtuned and distorted.
Other tracks find the vocals slipping into proper singing, a creepy operatic croon, over the same sort of muted soft drone and drift, the vibe commanding and Teutonic, the music spidery and surprisingly Slint like, most of the record never moving past a glacial drift, at its most propulsive, burring that one burst of heaviness, the record lopes, bathed in greys and browns, super dynamic, with tons of space, the band letting the sounds breathe, ring out, dissipate, creating expansive, slow and low, minimal dark jazz doom epics. Amazing stuff. Definitely recommended to fans of Bohren, Angels Of Light, KLV, and other practitioners of the dark (and slow) arts...
MPEG Stream: "Geist"
MPEG Stream: "Zwei Namen"

HANCOCK, HERBIE Sextant (Columbia) cd 6.98
No doubt about it, this total gem and often overlooked left field outing by Herbie Hancock, recorded in 1972, is one of those records that belongs in the COSMIC HALL OF FAME! Lightyears ahead of its time, it's a record that mixed electronics, synthesizers, Afro-funk, prog, spiritual jazz, free-bop and more, as it charted territories that had rarely been explored at that point, and that still sound so otherworldly and divine all these years later.
Sextant is a record that undoubtedly has had a major influence on so many of our favorite music makers of today, like Matmos, Four Tet, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Flying Lotus, Etienne Jaumet, Gavin Russom, Robert A. A. Lowe, Black Dice, Gang Gang Dance etc. In fact when we were blasting this in the store the other day, one of us who hadn't heard this before (gasp!) came up front asking if this was a new Oneohtrix Point Never! It's that spaced out, mystifying and alien-sound-channeling.
Tapping into the atmospheres and stratospheres that Miles Davis drifted through on Bitches Brew but taking it even further out, Sextant is truly one of the most tripped out and transcendent recordings of all time. Three long tracks (about 40 minutes all together) of pure psychedelic mind melting "fusion" innovation. You could definitely imagine this was Magma, Goblin or even (especially) Sun Ra. Somehow it's managed to remain below the radar of so many music lovers, we're always so excited to see people freak out when they hear this for the first time. And for some reason its now priced crazy cheap (it's not new after all, we just realized we had never listed it!), so if you don't own it, this is a an absolute MUST own and hell, you might as well get a couple to give to friends that you want to blow away with these far our cosmic sounds!
MPEG Stream: "Rain Dance"
MPEG Stream: "Hidden Shadows"
MPEG Stream: "Hornets"

HANOI JANES Across The Sea (Captured Tracks) 7" 7.98
A whole mess of new 7"s from Captured Tracks, and all of them awesome. This one, the weirdly named Hanoi Janes, is a German one man band, who kick out some of the most excellent reverb drenched jangle pop we've ever heard. Some awesome sixties girl group sounding vox over pounding surf rock drums, chiming bell like melodies, all washed out and reverby and psychedelic, plenty of 'ooooohs' and a super catchy main hook.
The flip side is a bit more driving, the same sort of reverby, echoey feel, but a super rocking garage-y groove, still lots of 'oooohs', but some deeper more obviously male vox, perfectly complimenting the crunchy fuzz guitars and wild garage rock drumming. Really great stuff. One of our new favorites for sure, we've already played this to death and are dying for the full length.

HIGUMA Den Of The Spirits (Digitalis Recordings) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is the second bit of gorgeous ambient folk drone we've heard from Higuma, the duo of Barn Owl's Evan Caminiti and his musical partner Lisa McGee, after a criminally limited cd-r on Root Strata, sadly this lp is nearly as limited, only 250 copies total, already sold out and out of print, except maybe for the 25 copies we have right now, which as you know means, be quick or be dead (dead as in, no Higuma for you, you won't actually die, maybe).
The sounds is much like you might expect from the Barn Owl / Elm / Caminiti and now Higuma axis, looooong tracks of dark windswept shimmer, dense brooding drones and epic abstract folk flecked drift.
Clouds of processed guitar swirl ghostlike above buried rhythms, chant like vox, skeletal melodies, the sounds sprawl and smolder, occasionally building to drugged out Spacemen 3-like soft cacophonies, but just as often melting into something more delicate and space-y with spidery psychedelic guitars blurred into distant swells, gongs and chimes, adding mysterious textures and overtones to the already gloriously murky and moody proceedings.
The whole record is a delicate assemblage of whir and buzz and rumble, the sounds intertwined, smeared, layered into spectral space drone, but always remaining earthy and organic, not OF the stars, but earthbound and staring up INTO the stars, the sound of deep black night, dusted with starlight, all held at bay by the flicker and crackle of Higuma's slow burning dreamlike blurscapes.
So gorgeous. Cool handscreened sleeves, original art by Caminiti, and again, 250 copies, out of print, and unavailable once these final copies are gone...

ILLUSION OF SAFETY Probe (Perdition Plastics) cd 14.98
Arguably the finest Illusion Of Safety record ever made, Probe was the 1992 recording composed by Dan Burke and Jim O'Rourke. The former began Illusion Of Safety a decade earlier with a revolving door personnel policy involving a handful of Chicago malcontents. O'Rourke began working with Burke's project around 1989 or so, when he was still a teenager and studying composition in college. Where many of the Illusion Of Safety albums are full-frontal assaults on the psyche of the listener (especially the groundbreaking album Historical with its raw use of narration from torture documentaries), Probe is a far more subtle and thus effective album marked by the extended use of disturbed silences, predating such sound design techniques that David Lynch mastered in Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway. This use of space is definitely coming from the O'Rourke side of the equation (which according to Burke was 50/50 on Probe), as O'Rourke's early solo album Scend was released at about the same time as Probe with profound similarities. Throughout the subsonic frequencies and unsettled spooky drones, there are numerous punctures of analogue sourced micro-bleeping, errata from shortwave, scrabbling of tactile objects, field recordings of traffic jams, children at play, carnival rides, etc. and jittery digitally sculpted loops. As all of these elements slowly unfurl over several lengthy chapters, Probe truly synthesizes the aesthetics of both Burke and O'Rourke into a cohesive body of work, with Burke's research into the dark and transgressive balanced with O'Rourke's studies into the musique concrete of Luc Ferrari and Michel Chion.
Staalplaat first released Probe in a wooden slipcase in an edition of 500 copies. Those quickly went out of print; but fortunately, Perdition Plastics has just reissued this brilliant album, albeit in more conventional packaging...
MPEG Stream: "Extract 1"
MPEG Stream: "Extract 2"
MPEG Stream: "Extract 3"

KING MIDAS SOUND Waiting For You (Hyperdub) cd 21.00
We were a little hesitant to check this out at first, even though we've loved all the tracks we've heard on various comps, because for some reason it was described as dark dubstep with "spoken word vocals". Spoken word? Ugh. Thankfully, one person's spoken word is another's woozy warbly mumbly crooning, 'spoken word' not in the crappy poetry slam sense, but as in brooding smoldering, slow motion toasting, totally reminiscent of classic Tricky, especially Nearly God, the music too, all hazy, and druggy and somnambulant, the beats, cough syrupy, gorgeous late night, rain soaked, glacial tarpit slow jam ballads. Totally dubbed out and minimal, the production hazy and gauzy and softly psychedelic. There's a new Massive Attack out this week too, and it's not bad, but listening to this, all we can think is this is how we wish Massive Attack sounded now.
Every track is a bleary eyed, druggy drift through warped, slow melting downtempo dubscapes, the rhythms, clipped and skittery, horns moaning in the background, wheezing keyboards, clouds of record crackle, the vocals, both male and female, wreathed in reverb and echo, draped over the slowly undulating grooves, sultry and sexy, so darkly languorous, murky and mysterious, the beats thick and dense and heavy, all wrapped in a laid back and lysergic, grimly psychedelic atmosphere, which makes sense considering the man behind the King Midas Sound is none other than Kevin Martin, aka The Bug!
WAY RECOMMENDED!
MPEG Stream: "Cool Out"
MPEG Stream: "Waiting For You"
MPEG Stream: "Meltdown"

KLABAUTAMANN Merkur (The End) cd 13.98
Third full length from these German post-black metallers, long time favorites around here, which of course means a new Klabautamann record is always a cause for celebration, as is any record by any band related to this ever shifting collective, who play in a bunch of different outfits, including other aQ faves like Woburn House, and Island. But Klabautamann is probably the 'blackest' of the bunch, the guitars buzzy, the vocals harsh and hellish, the drums furious, but that's really where the resemblance to typical black metal ends, take the first song, exploding out of the gate with a loping mathy post metal groove, a bit Slinty, all wound tight, gnarled rapid fire guitar chug, wild drumming, when suddenly, the song shifts and the band are locked into some sort of prog / folk thing, with spidery guitars, and polka like rhythms, which gives way to a dreamy waltzy folk breakdown, but peppered with brief dynamic bursts of metallic crunch, only to slip right back into the opening churn and chug.
The next track is another woozy, doom flecked bit of black lope, but it changes constantly, at its fiercest reminding us of classic Satyricon, but at it's least metal, reminding us of some sort of avant prog pop. Which is the cool thing about Klabautamann, the fact that they're constantly flitting back and forth between the two, but in such a away that it sound totally natural and organic. The songs, as convoluted and complex as they are, seem to flow perfectly, slipping from grim raw blackness, to weird pretty pop in the blink of an eye, often finding some way to meld the two in transition. The playing here is incredible, dexterous, nimble, frenzied and freaking fast, super prog, only in so much as the parts are intricate, and there's so many of them, without digging too deep, this is definitely easy to enjoy as just a super varied black metal record, the band do tend to return to blasting buzzing blackness, but there's so much going on, that to try and enjoy it on just that one level would be a waste, Merkur, much like the records before it, is a lush, layered complex black prog beast, one best enjoyed slowly, immersing yourself in every nuance, from the harsh and heavy to the ethereal and delicate. Amazing stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Unter Baumen"
MPEG Stream: "When I Long For Life"
MPEG Stream: "Merkur"

LARVAL HAIRS Aedes Flashback (Monorail Trespassing) 2 x cassette 14.98
This sort of rarefied minimalism is not entirely expected from the likes of Monorail Trespassing, although the Larval Hairs project does live up to the high caliber releases which the label has been steadily releasing. Ades Flashback is a double cassette intended to be played at the same time on separate systems. While similarly minded excursions have been demonstrated throughout the sound-art world with multi-channel transmissions, there's something wholly unpretentious about Larval Hairs' production. Little more than two boom boxes are required, although we'd suggest taking those two boom boxes to one of those huge resonant concrete bunkers in the Headlands and seeing how everything bounces. Side A aggregates sinewaves, small swells from rapidly splashing saw-tooth waves, a soft extension of pink noise, and other synthesized oscillations that suggests the longform feedback works of Jason Kahn or a rougher version of Eliane Radigue's early minimalism. The corresponding Side C (which we're assuming is what's to go with Side A, although you could probably switch it all around and it would still sound really cool), contains similarly-minded elements tuned to slight different pitches. Side B broadcasts another series of synthesized tones which hit some skull-drilling harmonic convergences through ever slight oscillations and phase shifts. Side D takes a grittier approach to the synth pulse drone with grinding saw-tooth patterns situated just below the surface of rumbling vibrational tones. Both tapes are 45 minutes in length and are housed in a really nice double tape case, something we've not seen in ages. Limited to 100 copies and certainly recommended.

LOVESLIESCRUSHING Girl Echo Suns Veils (Projekt) 2cd + wooden box 54.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's a record that we had been excited about for well over a year, back when Projekt announced that they would be releasing a 2cd set by Loveliescrushing. This is a band that should warrant a much bigger pressing than the 300 copies of this elaborate box; but, at least we have a few copies to offer.
Loveliescrushing is a shoegaze duo out of Tuscon, Arizona who made a surprise debut on the darkwave / goth label Projekt around 1993 or so, with the cassette Bloweyelashwish (which later did get a cd release). This album took the My Bloody Valentine overdrive of distortion, reverb, more distortion, and more reverb to a deconstructed end, further blurring the notion of song structure and entirely getting rid of the rhythm section. The duo has slowly been releasing work over the past two decades, gradually smoothing out the distortion and leaving an almost Tim Hecker like mass of droned texture from ethereal female vocals and once heavily distorted guitar wash.
The two discs of Girl Echo Suns Veils are split between the crunched shoegaze density of their earliest recordings and the most recent explorations of their narcotized drone-pop. Those early recordings are remastered from demo tapes dating back to 1990, when 'the noise' and 'the pretty' were coming together in equal resolve. The later material is certainly nothing to scoff at, and would make for a great addition to the next Pop Ambient compilation.
Brilliant stuff, and packaged in an oversized wooden box, hand silkscreened by Loveliescrushing's Scott Cortez, with some collaged art work, and a feather or two found within. AND CRAZY LIMITED. We have less than 10 copies, and can NOT get more, so grab one while you can...
MPEG Stream: "Babys Breath (Original Version)"
MPEG Stream: "Spidery Velvet"
MPEG Stream: "Feathermouth"
MPEG Stream: "Goldenfur"

MARTIAL CANTEREL Refuge Underneath (Wierd) cd 11.98
The minimal wave rolls on! Martial Canterel is the work of Sean McBride whose darkened electronic tunes have come to us by way of his work with Liz Wendelbo as Xeno & Oaklander; and this album actually predates the exceptional Saracen record from Xeno & Oaklander. That said, all of his productions could have come via some Belgian post-punk imprint circa 1982, so the exact timing of his records matters little. There's plenty of similarities between his solo work and his work in Xeno & Oaklander, meaning that if you loved that record, this will not disappoint. Recorded entirely on analogue sequencers, synthesizers, and drum machines and first released as a cassette (foreshadowing the current resurgence of tape releases by a couple of years!), Refuge Underground bristles with dark pulsing energy, snapped around whip-cracking drum programming, tinny metallic sequences, and seriously infectious melodic arppegiations (think the best of DAF, Dark Day, Nitzer Ebb, or Absolute Body Control). McBride's monotone somber delivery accentuates the moods set through his cold and sparse, synth-pop constructions. Another great recapitulation of the past-future from Wierd Records.
MPEG Stream: "Lips Not Listening"
MPEG Stream: "3 Ages"
MPEG Stream: "Two Before Four"

MESA RITUAL Voltaic Processions (Sicksicksick) 3" cd-r 8.98
Very excited to come across a new sweet release from aQ fave and experimental guitarist extraordinaire William Fowler Collins! But don't expect the usual soundscaped guitar ambience from WFC this time! Mesa Ritual finds Collins teeming up with another Albuquerque desert dweller, Raven Chacon, for some heavy buzzing, face melting harshness. Cascading swarms of sizzling drones meet distant plumes of rising smoke in the wavering desert heat, as the red sands of the southwest swallow you into ecstatic doom. The label describes the instrumentation as "two large piles of highly magnetic instruments standing too close to each other, yet walking toward you". Huge geologic low end creeps up from the center of the earth as oscillators pulse and hover in mid air. A single track spanning over twenty minutes, the piece ranges from soaring walls of noise and destruction to a subdued eye of the storm, a calm moment of melodic reflection just after the 8 minute mark, that reminds us of a distant William Basinski loop drenched in a fuzzed out haze. But the serenity doesn't last long before the electric bleakness is once again unleashed and only subsides in the final minutes as the micro-epic dwindles like a campfire flame. Totally massive, harsh and somehow beautiful, Voltaic Processions is perfect for fans of the harsher synth stuff happening like Grasslung or Blue Sabbath Black Cheer. Needless to say this one is highly recommended by us, but beware, Voltaic Processions comes limited in an edition of 100!
MPEG Stream: "Voltaic Processions"

MIST s/t (Amethyst Sunset) lp 17.98
We thought these to be long gone, but a surprise restock of this Emeralds side-project reappeared a month or so after we originally pegged it as out of print. Do NOT expect this to remain in print for much longer!
Mist is the Ohio-centric retrograde electronics duo featuring John Elliott of Emeralds and Sam Goldberg, who runs the Pizza Night tape label. This is actually the third outing for Mist, as the two have mustered a couple of other cassettes, released earlier this year which disappeared before we even had the chance to grab any. Fortunately, we did manage to snag some of this LP on Amethyst Sunset. The Elliott / Goldberg authored electronics here don't veer too much from the Emeralds spaced-out electronics that reflect the best in the realm of late '70s / early '80s progressive electronics (e.g. the more abstracted moments from Kraftwerk and the Eno collaborations with Fripp and Cluster). It's not quite as dark or as melancholy as Emeralds and thus sounds like those sci-fi percolations that fellow knob-twiddler Oneohtrix Point Never and Pulse Emitter have rejuvenated in recent years. Certainly, these are elegant passages of arppegiating analogue electronics and heavily sequenced patterns that intertwine nicely into chiming, sparkling, bubbling zone-tripping. Recommended for sure!

MONOLAKE Silence (Imbalance Computer Music) cd 17.98
It wouldn't be that far off to lump Robert Henke alongside Brian Eno as a pioneering force of electronic music. Eno's legacy through his impeccable glam-pop records of the '70s and into his ambient period is well documented; and there's plenty of ripples felt throughout the world from Henke's work both through his minimal techno variations and through his ongoing development of the Abelton Live software. Similarly, in discussing Henke (as with Eno) comes the topic of the superior quality of Henke's recordings. While his compositions are good, the sound those compositions achieve is always exquisite. His tones, textures, and rhythms are rich, silky, precise, and, like any self-respecting techno, coldly detached. As many of you know, these are not necessarily the values we seek here at aQuarius. If some kid in his bedroom can unleash a horrific fury of black metal that's ungodly expressive, we're gonna get really excited about that, especially if all of that rage, hate, and sorrow really translate through the murk, grime, and hiss. So, when it comes to a record like Monolake's Silence which sounds so good, we'll admit that we're less impressed by production skills on display and more by the impressive slippages between dubbed-n-chilled downer techno, dubstep bass rattling, gestures of arctic ambience, and well spatiallized use of clanging metallics, digital textures, and disembodied voices. Fantastic.
MPEG Stream: "Watching Clouds"
MPEG Stream: "Infinite Snow"
MPEG Stream: "Null Pointer"

MOON DUO Escape (Woodsist) cd 13.98
Right on. Moon Duo are back with another four song blast of spaced out, super rhythmic psychedelic goodness. Escape arrives on the heels of two 12" eps, and it is by far their best effort yet. Of course we loved those previous releases, but Escape is the sound of a band who has really hit their stride now, and the songs are more mysterious, more relentless, and just more rocking than anything up to this point. We're not sure if there are real drums on this release (yes?) instead of a drum machine, but whatever the case, the rhythms here just grab hold and throttle you, while Ripley Johnson, he of local favorites Wooden Shjips, takes things beyond the stratosphere with his trademark fuzz solos, which are among the best you will currently hear on planet Earth.
"Motorcycle, I Love You" opens the album in perfect fashion with a vaguely evil two note riff, murky vocals bubbling out of the haze, swirling keyboard drones, and yeah, an awesome extended solo that kicks in and stays there. Goddamn. "In The Trees" is a steady rocker, like a hyped up Velvet Underground jam simplified and done west coast style. A nice tambourine hit accents the pounding drums, while the spacey guitar builds an impenetrable wall of beautiful, melodic white noise. "Stumbling 22nd St" - hey, that sounds familiar - is driven by a simple keyboard melody riding above subsonic fuzz guitar and a tight rhythm. When the riff switches to riff #2 (there aren't really choruses or any of that unnecessary shit here), you will know why we think this is the best stuff Moon Duo has produced so far. The changes in their songs, subtle as they may often be, are what make it clear that this isn't just stupid psychedelic rambling. There is some awesome songcraft going on, and we love it. The title track brings the album to its end. "Escape" is by far the poppiest and most upbeat song on the album, sounding like an extended take of the best pop song in the world working its way through some phased out vortex. The recording quality, lo-fi but perfectly appropriate, definitely gives this a nice timeless quality. It sounds like this stuff could have been recorded at any point within the last 40 years, while never sounding anything but current. Good stuff for sure.
Yeah, it's easy to see why people are digging Moon Duo so much. There is nothing not to like, and while this type of music can be rendered totally boring in the wrong hands, some people just know what's up. Moon Duo knows what's up.
MPEG Stream: "Motorcycle, I Love You"
MPEG Stream: "Escape"

MOON DUO Escape (Woodsist) 12" 12.98
Right on. Moon Duo are back with another four song blast of spaced out, super rhythmic psychedelic goodness. Escape arrives on the heels of two 12" eps, and it is by far their best effort yet. Of course we loved those previous releases, but Escape is the sound of a band who has really hit their stride now, and the songs are more mysterious, more relentless, and just more rocking than anything up to this point. We're not sure if there are real drums on this release (yes?) instead of a drum machine, but whatever the case, the rhythms here just grab hold and throttle you, while Ripley Johnson, he of local favorites Wooden Shjips, takes things beyond the stratosphere with his trademark fuzz solos, which are among the best you will currently hear on planet Earth.
"Motorcycle, I Love You" opens the album in perfect fashion with a vaguely evil two note riff, murky vocals bubbling out of the haze, swirling keyboard drones, and yeah, an awesome extended solo that kicks in and stays there. Goddamn. "In The Trees" is a steady rocker, like a hyped up Velvet Underground jam simplified and done west coast style. A nice tambourine hit accents the pounding drums, while the spacey guitar builds an impenetrable wall of beautiful, melodic white noise. "Stumbling 22nd St" - hey, that sounds familiar - is driven by a simple keyboard melody riding above subsonic fuzz guitar and a tight rhythm. When the riff switches to riff #2 (there aren't really choruses or any of that unnecessary shit here), you will know why we think this is the best stuff Moon Duo has produced so far. The changes in their songs, subtle as they may often be, are what make it clear that this isn't just stupid psychedelic rambling. There is some awesome songcraft going on, and we love it. The title track brings the album to its end. "Escape" is by far the poppiest and most upbeat song on the album, sounding like an extended take of the best pop song in the world working its way through some phased out vortex. The recording quality, lo-fi but perfectly appropriate, definitely gives this a nice timeless quality. It sounds like this stuff could have been recorded at any point within the last 40 years, while never sounding anything but current. Good stuff for sure.
Yeah, it's easy to see why people are digging Moon Duo so much. There is nothing not to like, and while this type of music can be rendered totally boring in the wrong hands, some people just know what's up. Moon Duo knows what's up.
MPEG Stream: "Motorcycle, I Love You"
MPEG Stream: "Escape"

MOTOR Hyper Machine (Dim Mak) cd 13.98
Even if they hadn't called their new album Hyper Machine, we expect we'd still have ended up using both those words in our review of this, the latest blast of high energy EBM mechanoid mayhem from the over the top (and somewhat tongue in cheek?) techno duo known as Motor. Formerly on the Mute label, they've jumped ship for this release, which actually came out in Europe last year on the Shitkatapult label, under original title Metal Machine, with different cover art and a slightly altered tracklisting (3 more cuts on this one), just to be confusing we suppose, though exposure to their music is disorienting enough, automatically locking your body into mechanical robot rhythms and assaulting your ears with all manner of distorted zips and zaps, bleeps and blaps, relentlessly punishing beats and varispeed, pitch-shifting dronefuzz, as if every single knob on all their gear is constantly being turned, up and up and up. Mostly instrumental, their sonics seem derived both from video games AND industrial strength grinding tools, like a Teutonic Tron soundtrack. Imagine skweee gone "Sprockets". That's kinda what this sounds like. Nothing subtle about it. Unapologetically techno. None more techno!! In one track, an ominous voice says, "What's that you say? You say you don't like techno? Well ain't that a bitch." Well, we don't like ALL techno, but there's something about Motor that really can't be denied. Join the party! And of course if you liked Klunk and Unhuman, the previous Motor discs on Mute, you'll like this one too for sure.
While some techno knowitalls will probably hate us for saying this, if you were gonna buy just one "techno" record this year (outside of those in the Pop Ambient style on the Kompakt label that we love love love), then Motor's Hyper Machine is IT.
MPEG Stream: "Kick It"
MPEG Stream: "Schism"
MPEG Stream: "Death Rave"

MUSIIKKIVYORY Tulemme Sokeiksi (Ektro) cd 14.98
BACK IN STOCK!!
Total "Arctic Hysteria" here people! We liked this a lot when we first listened to it, before we even knew what it was. Well, we knew it was Finnish (always a plus), and released on Circle's Ektro label (also a reliable indicator of quality). It's not another "NWOFHM" band though, or even any sort of Circle side project, or even really a band at all. As it turns out, the quasi-Industrial DIY soundscapes of noise and drone created by Musiikkivyory ("Music Avalanche") are the work of one person, Mika Taanila, who was all of 15 years old when this was first released as a homemade cassette - back in 1981! That's right, a Finnish teenager in the early '80s making monstrous noise/drone tapes, contemporaneous with the likes of Maurizio Bianchi. How cool is that? Pretty cool we think.
The 12 tracks here (resurrected from a couple of super rare tapes, circa '80-'81) are a wonderful witches' cauldron of throbbing rhythmic chaos, fractured grinding drones, strange voices, field recordings, and DISTORTION, lots of distortion... it's a playful sort of isolationist music, if that makes sense. And as an evidently artistically inclined kid he had every reason to want to express himself in such a fashion. Imagine being a teen with fears of nuclear war, living up near the Arctic Circle. The dark postpunk music (Cabaret Voltaire, This Heat, The Normal, Dome...) you were able to tune in to on the BBC's John Peel show might make a lot more sense than the "normal" happy Christian adults who surround you!
So Mika began messing around with tape recorders, cast-off band instruments, radio static, toys, primitive percussion, etc., and pretty soon had generated enough material to fuel his own bedroom cassette label (of which it's hoped that Ektro will eventually reissue more releases), which issued limited runs of tapes not just by his own Musiikkivyory project but also by other likeminded Finnish friends... and, in fact, one by Italy's M.B. himself! (A reminder that international networking was possible before MySpace came around.)
Ektro has colorfully packaged this in a fashion up to their usual spiffy graphic standards, the cd cover insert folding out into a large sheet with photos and liner notes (in both English and Finnish) on one side, the other a poster depicting one of the original cassette releases at larger-than-life size.
Crude, creative, and compelling, this is quite an interesting surprise, thanks Ektro!! We'd definitely like to hear more from this corner of '80s cassette culture, hint hint.
MPEG Stream: "Tulemme Kreivin Luota [We Come From Count's Place]"
MPEG Stream: "Tulemme Sokeiksi [We're Becoming Blind]"
MPEG Stream: "Deutschland"

OH NO Dr. No's Ethiopium (Diruption) 2lp 21.00
Now available on vinyl!
Madlib's super talented younger brother Oh No has been doing a great job as the ambassador of '60s & '70s international psychedelia to the hip-hop world, liberally sampling all sorts of aQ faves, Turkish psych, Mediterranean pop, whatever struck his fancy, so Dr. No's Ethiopium should really come as no surprise, a whole record sampled and inspired by rare '60s and '70s Ethiopian soul, jazz, funk, folk and psychedelic rock, all chopped up and recontextualized into brief little snippets of bad ass Ethiopian groove, wreathed in record crackle, peppered with pops and clicks, adding a warm timeless texture to these jams, some are just straight ahead sampled, others are rearranged into lurching, stuttering rhythms, the basslines woozy and funky, horns wailing, the vocals often left intact, but just as often all mixed up, flipped backwards, woven together to create strange hiccupping vocal layers, the sound ranges from soulful ballads, to pounding jazz funk, to cinematic string laden drama, to swirling Ethiopian folk transformed into something way more buzzy and bouncy, some jams synth swaddled, others warped and warbly, the bass cranked up all over the place, you can almost imagine the Wu-Tang swooping in for a verse or too, these brief jams are just so groovy and heady and funky and kick ass.
Hands down THEE mix of the year!!!
MPEG Stream: "Madness"
MPEG Stream: "Ox Therapy"
MPEG Stream: "Louder"
MPEG Stream: "Fuego Tribe"

PENGUIN CAFE ORCHESTRA Music From The Penguin Cafe (Virgin) cd 15.98
This recently re-mastered 1976 debut album from the deliberately obscurant and unclassifiable Penguin Cafe Orchestra has always been one of our favorites. Led by the classically trained multi-instrumentalist and composer Simon Jeffes, who frustrated with the limitations and rigor of traditional classical music and inspired by the freeing structures of ethnographic folk music and minimalist aesthetics, created a surreal hybrid of sorts. Forming a chamber ensemble of various players performing with strings, electric piano guitar, ukulele and spinet, this first PCO album is actually compiled from 3 years of recording with different variations of the ensemble under different names (ZOPF, Penguin Cafe Quartet, etc.) that would eventually become the Penguin Cafe Orchestra proper. Neither truly classical nor truly ethnographic in any telltale way, the music has the dreamlike quality of a Jorge Luis Borges short story involving a nonexistent far-flung island colony and the intriguing presence of a foreign visitor who shouldn't be there. Yet, it's highly listenable, oddly structured at times, and sometimes deeply melancholic (the 12 minute "The Sound of Someone You Love Who Is Going Away and Doesn't Matter" is one of the most beautifully sad and amazing compositions we've heard). Originally released on Brian Eno's Obscure imprint, The PCO had several worthy releases, before Jeffes died in 1997 of a brain tumor. Luckily, his son Arthur has taken over the reins and has not only overseen the re-mastering and reissuing of the PCO back catalogue, but has been touring with a new incarnation of the group as well!
MPEG Stream: "From The Colonies"
MPEG Stream: "The Sound of Someone You Love Who's Going Away and It Doesn't Matter"
MPEG Stream: "Chartered Flight"

PIERCED ARROWS Descending Shadows (Vice) cd 13.98
The sudden breakup of garage punk legends Dead Moon caught more than a few people off guard, but we safely assumed Fred and Toody Cole, rock n' roll lifers by definition, wouldn't sit still for too long. Now Fred and Toody are back at it with new drummer Kelly Halliburton, and fans of the Coles' vast musical history will surely rejoice. The sound is not too far removed from Dead Moon - in fact, we might go as far as to say that it isn't in any way removed - so if you dig scuzzy, no frills rock free of all bullshit, this will be right up your alley. Descending Shadows cuts right to the point with production that is upfront and immediate, not at all over the top, working perfectly for these impassioned tunes. Vocals are split pretty evenly between the Coles and there is plenty of great husband and wife punk harmonizing. The songs are full of classic Pacific Northwest fuzz and grit, with Toody's simple driving basslines and Halliburton's steady pound working right alongside Fred's melodic riffing. For fans of Dead Moon, this one is a no brainer, while Descending Shadows is also a highly worthy place to start for the uninitiated. Really awesome stuff, not surprisingly.
MPEG Stream: "This Is The Day"
MPEG Stream: "Paranoia"
MPEG Stream: "On The Move"

RAIONBASHI In Teufel's Kuche (Absurd / Ignivomous) 10" 17.98
"In The Devil's Kitchen." So translates the German title, the first that we've stocked from Daniel Lowenbruck, who both records as Raionbashi and runs the Tochnit-Aleph mail order service out of Berlin. He's also a long standing member of the Schimpfluch Gruppe whose provocative recordings and performances directly channel the Vienna Actionists such as Hermann Nitsch, Gunter Brus, and Rudolf Schwartzkogler. Where the Austrians were pushing their transgessive acts through art world channels, Schimpfluch has their origins in punk, industrial culture, and (at least for the case of Schimpfluch's Dave Phillips) metal taken to a Dada extreme laced with theatrical ultra-violence. So begin these deconstructed tapes and mangled silences.
Lowenbruck cites that the sources to his Devil's Kitchen include 'noises, instruments, body functions, and apostrophes.' The discernible sounds are a piano being struck by a hammer fist on the lower octave of the keys, a police whistle blowing out the condenser mic on a Walkman, and some downpitched vocal howls that come across as way more demonic than those wolf growlings on Ben Frost's album By The Throat. Between these recognizable elements, Lowenbruck cuts and pastes with monochromatic noises that puncture grey curtains of leaden hiss. Compositionally, certainly hits the mark with the guttural musique concrete from the Schimpfluch Gruppe, somewhere between the machined ruptures of Dave Phillips and the unsettled ambience crafted by the impeccable G*Park; or less self-referentially stated, somewhere between the sound poetry of Henri Chopin and the corroded tape work of Joe Colley. Limited to 500 copies and highly recommended!

ROEDELIUS Wenn Der Sudwind Weht (Bureau B) cd 17.98
Now available on cd, after a recent vinyl reissue highlighted here too!
Roedelius's fourth solo record from 1981 has obvious connections to his first record, Durch Die Wuste as evidenced from the similar album covers involving feet and water. But while his first record was a head-first dive into exploring the palatable possibilities of mixing acoustic and electronic instruments, Wenn Der Sudwind Weht is all about the tranquil relaxed after-glow, drying off in the afternoon sun. Limiting the instruments to just organ, synthesizers and piano, Sudwind is surprisingly rich and layered and arguably the most stunning of his solo records, reminding us of the pastoralism of Popol Vuh and early Deuter, but never succumbing to new age music's typical lack of focus. In fact it's the most focused Roedelius record of the last couple that have been reissued. While the Cluster-Harmonia catalog with all its off-shoots and solo projects can be quite unwieldy especially in the middle of its currently aggressive reissue campaign, but this may be the most essential Roedelius reissue of the bunch. Highest recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "Wenn Der Sudwind Weht"
MPEG Stream: "Mein Freud Farouk"
MPEG Stream: "Auf Leisen Sohlen"

ROLL THE DICE s/t (Digitalis) lp 19.98
A bit of a left field release for Digitalis, Roll The Dice is a duo from Sweden, producers who have worked with The Knife and Fever Ray, but who here, serve up some sort of futuristic retro John Carpenter / Goblin style synthscapes, albeit with their own twist.
The sound is most definitely spacey, and synthy, and soundtracky, throbbing, pulsing, subtly psychedelic, the continuous sci-fi pulse that seems to drive every low budget movie made in the eighties, but wrapped around elements that are distinctly more earthy and organic, a little bit of folk, some broody minimalism, even (and especially) a bit of pop, definitely a strange hybrid, but of the two elements it definitely leans heavily in the synth/space/retro direction. That said, these guys cover a lot of ground, slipping from full on Goblin pulse, all haunting and minor key, to moody poppy playfulness, to long drifts of shimmering spaced out ambience and even extended moments of almost Basic Channel-like deep dub minimalism, all of those held together by the presence, either subtle or pronounced, of that relentless, pulsing sci-fi synth line.
The flipside finds RTD getting all blissed out and Pop Ambient, washed out, shimmery, sun dappled and glimmery, crystalline melodies, and barely there buried soft focus rhythms, before closing the record with what sounds like the music behind the credits from some super obscure, eighties, straight to video thriller, slow and spacious and smoldering, ominous and a bit creepy, but still spacey and synthy.
Anyone into recent records from Umberto, D.A., Anima Morte, Somnam, Pulse Emitter, Steve Moore, as well as yeah, of course, the aforementioned Goblin, Zombi and John Carpenter, would do well to check this out too.
SOLD OUT AT THE LABEL, super limited, not sure how long these will be around.

SARDONIS s/t (MeteorCity) cd 11.98
We're pretty skeptical of the two man band, a lot of the time we end up wishing a bass / drums duo just had a guitarist, or that a guitar / drums duo had some more low end. There are of course exceptions: Godheadsilo, Om, Ruins, and you can now add Belgian duo Sardonis to the list. The latest blast of kick ass heaviness from MeteorCity, who are on the roll to end all rolls, recent releases from Freedom Hawk, Egypt, Leeches Of Lore, Whitebuzz, Village Of Dead Roads, Flood, Ararat, those guys are killing us! And we love it.
So Sardonis are a guitar and drums duo from Belgium, who traffic in epic, heaving, monstrous instrumental metal, equal parts classic stoner rock, old school doom and post rock/post metal or whatever you call it. Needless to say, you won't even notice the lack of bass here, the sound is MASSIVE, the low end crushing, and the riffs killer. We'll be the first to admit that instrumental rock can definitely get boring, often sounding like it's unfinished, where you're constantly expecting the vocals to kick in at any minute, but Sardonis solve that problem by crafting super catchy songs that are as much about texture and timbre and mood as they are about rhythm and riffery. Slipping from slow motion lurching crush, to wild frantic blasting, to woozy meandery drift, to full on Sabbathy dirge, this is some seriously heavy, seriously atmospheric shit, the chords not always predictable, the melodies veering of into strange directions, the band sometimes locking into totally mesmerizing trancelike jams, but just as often, exploding into bursts of in-the-red downtuned psychedelia.
It's hard to say exactly what it is about these guys, it's a little bit of everything, some sort of alchemy between the two, and their ability to conjure these songs, riffs, this tone, the overall sound, whatever it is, it fucking rules, and we find ourselves unable to stop listening. Which is always a good sign...
MPEG Stream: "Nero D'Avola"
MPEG Stream: "Skullcrusher AD"
MPEG Stream: "It Walks The Mountain"

SEKTOR 304 Soul Cleansing (Malignant) cd 10.98
Epic crushing metallic industrial heaviness, the kind of thing we thought they just didn't make anymore, but this is total Swans / Godflesh / Cop Shoot Cop worship, pounding metallic percussion, soundscapes of whirring drills, blown out low slung bass, howled distorted vox, the whole thing so repetitive and mantric, thick slabs of distorted rumble wrapped around tons of damaged electronics, bleating horns buried beneath reverb drenched beats, some songs are full on walls of twisted electronic crunch, others are brooding, droning skeletal sprawls, laid over deep blurred basslines, and tribal rhythms, some are dense whorls of deeeeeep sinister black ambience, all darkly drifting layers, and distant bits of clang and shimmer. For a few moments here and there, the sound gets downright poppy, like some sort of washed out post industrial deathrock, but even then, it's shot through with a seriously menacing sonic undercurrent that seeps into every beat, and every note. Filthy, crusty, heavy, haunting, crushing and brutal, the perfect mix of old school industrial pound, and more modern bleak blackness. Fucking fierce and frightening, grim and punishing, and we're digging it like crazy.
MPEG Stream: "Body Hammer"
MPEG Stream: "Gravity Factor"
MPEG Stream: "Final Transmission"

6BLOCC VS. R.A.W. Live At Various 7.5.08 (Various Bass PDX) cd-r 9.98
Another bad ass live set, equal parts weirdo mash up, speaker rattling dubstep and dancehall, pounding old school jungle, abstract hip hop, all wound into an action packed hour long ass shaking, bass heavy, big beat blow out. Courtesy of our pals at Lo Dubs, who brought us the atmospheric dubstep of Clubroot, the bad ass Starkey mix from a while back, as well as a mess of killer 12"s. This live set is packed with tons of unreleased dubplates, mixed with a handful of classics. Dismiss the opening chunk of Rush's "Tom Sawyer", at least until it gets all tangled up with some rad jungle beats and we're off, Ice Cube, Ninja Man, Shabba Ranks, Cutty Ranks, Mobb Deep, Capleton, Dread Foxx, Pharoahe Monch and more, but even the tracks we recognize are all chopped up and slung over different beats, records are stuttered and stopped, rewound and played again, over a different beat, or a different vocal, classic hip hop gets all dubbed out, toasting, drill and bass, classic jungle, all wrapped around wild flows, the beats are big, the bass thick and wobbly, when the mix slips into dubstep, it's some of the heaviest sickest shit you've heard, skittery, stuttery and downright heavy, woven into old school dub, or pulled apart into super spaced out minimal pulses, wild and totally all over the map, but heavy on the bass, and the big beats, the dubstep and the DUB. Easily one of the coolest mixes we've heard lately. And CRAZY LIMITED, pressed up for a tour, we have a handful of copies, but odds are these will be the last ones we see...
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 3"

SOLSTAFIR Kold (Spikefarm) cd 16.98
You'd never know from listening to Solstafir's Kold, that this Icelandic post-black metal horde began life as a Viking metal band, since now they traffic in something much more spaced out and psychedelic. We've never heard any of those Viking records, but this one is for sure kicking our ass.
Barely even black metal, mostly their lineage tying them to the genre, the sound of Kold is droned out propulsive riff heavy space rock, think the Heads, Hawkwind, White Hills, the band locked into long stretches of totally hypnotic and propulsive heaviness, with guitar melodies pealing above the main riff. But they are heavy, and definitely metallic, crushing at points, but it's the vocals that will make or break it for most folks, totally emotional, anguished and passionate, a mournful wail, that fits perfectly when the band slow down to a waltzy doomy dirge, and offer a strange foil to the band's sound when they're pounding away full bore. Reference points would definitely have to include Katatonia, Lifelover, that sort of melodic post-metal heaviness, but these guys are definitely more psychedelic, letting many of the songs unwind into sprawling jams, many of them full on psychedelic metallic blues rock freakouts, others brooding drone drenched drifts, the vocals push the sound somewhere way more mainstream, they wouldn't be out of place on modern rock radio, so even at its weirdest or most distorted, when the vocals swoop in, the song immediately becomes more accessible, which is not at all a bad thing, in fact it's a nice balance to the way-more-gnarled and blackened parts that pepper the whole record. Might be too poppy for some metalheads, but if you're looking for something heavy AND melodic, epic and psychedelic, this might do the trick!
MPEG Stream: "78 Days In The Desert"
MPEG Stream: "Kold"
MPEG Stream: "Pale Rider"

SOUNDS OF LIBERATION s/t (Porter Records) cd 13.98
This early seventies free-jazz-funk supergroup from Philadelphia featured Byard Lancaster, Khan Jamal and Monette Sudler (one of the most amazing female jazz guitar players we've heard!) with a whole host of rhythm support from percussionists Rashid Salim, and Omar Hill, drummer Dwight James, and Billy Mills on bass, many of whom appeared on Jamal's highly praised Drumdance To The Motherland. Community-minded free players, The Sounds of Liberation tear it up through these six numbers on their debut album from 1972, moving with ease through long-form free jazz, as well as groovy funk, and urgent hard-hittingly tight cinematic jams. Each performer gets a turn in the spotlight, but it never departs from the overall energy, feel and flow of the whole album. We think fans of the groovier sides of Sun Ra and Sonny Sharrock or fans of classic Blue Note label jazz and rare groove from the sixties and seventies (Donald Byrd, Horace Silver, Lee Morgan etc.) who are looking for something a little more out but not TOO out, should definitely look into this! Lovingly reissued on Florida's Porter Records label, the lp version is limited to 500 copies with original artwork and mp3 download card.
MPEG Stream: "New Horizons"
MPEG Stream: "Billie One"
MPEG Stream: "We'll Tell You Later"

SOUNDS OF LIBERATION s/t (Porter Records) lp 14.98
This early seventies free-jazz-funk supergroup from Philadelphia featured Byard Lancaster, Khan Jamal and Monette Sudler (one of the most amazing female jazz guitar players we've heard!) with a whole host of rhythm support from percussionists Rashid Salim, and Omar Hill, drummer Dwight James, and Billy Mills on bass, many of whom appeared on Jamal's highly praised Drumdance To The Motherland. Community-minded free players, The Sounds of Liberation tear it up through these six numbers on their debut album from 1972, moving with ease through long-form free jazz, as well as groovy funk, and urgent hard-hittingly tight cinematic jams. Each performer gets a turn in the spotlight, but it never departs from the overall energy, feel and flow of the whole album. We think fans of the groovier sides of Sun Ra and Sonny Sharrock or fans of classic Blue Note label jazz and rare groove from the sixties and seventies (Donald Byrd, Horace Silver, Lee Morgan etc.) who are looking for something a little more out but not TOO out, should definitely look into this! Lovingly reissued on Florida's Porter Records label, the lp version is limited to 500 copies with original artwork and mp3 download card.
MPEG Stream: "New Horizons"
MPEG Stream: "Billie One"
MPEG Stream: "We'll Tell You Later"

SPACE VACATION s/t (self-released) cd-r 9.98
Glad to finally get to list something by these guys, an awesome local melodic metal band who we became fairly rabid fans of just from checking out their MySpace page a while ago, though when you hear 'em, you'll think its something we've been fans of ever since 1984 or so, long before MySpace or the Internet even existed, since they sound sooooooo '80s melodic NWOBHM / arena rock it's amazing. But they're a relatively young band from here in San Francisco, and this debut of theirs Allan here considers a top ten metal album of 2010, easy... and it's just a self-released cd-r, what in the old days you'd call a demo. Wish it was a real cd or vinyl album, it should be, these songs are really fucking good!
And please don't let the goofy name put you off, we were surprised too when when we first heard 'em, but Space Vacation are indeed one of the best '80s influenced, heavy but brilliantly poppy metal band we've come across in ages. With galloping riffs, shredding solos, catchy licks, stick twirling hard hitting drumming, and stick-in-yer-head choruses, what's not to love? Classic stuff. The vocals are key, the dude (who also plays lead guitar) is not afraid to SING. Though he'll also happily shut up and play his guitar, as on the Eddie Van Halen-esque instrumental break "Streaker". And the band as a whole is not afraid to be a little (or a lot) cheesy, but in a good way. Good enough to remind us of cool EARLY Def Leppard and other greats. And we'd put this up against anything today of that old school melodic metal ilk, like Priestess, Cauldron, whomever. And you ironic inde rock types can take solace in the clever, not as cliched as you'd think lyrics that both celebrate and subvert the cliches of heavy metal.
It's the pop element that puts this over the top, as our pal Glenn, another big SV fan, puts it, "it's like the most rudimentary NWOBHM from 1980 mixed with what you might get from a one-off juvenile indie-pop band formed as a joke by guys from Sloan and New Pornographers for a bachelor party for one of the members."
We'd already heard 6 or 7 of these tracks via their MySpace but the others, new ones, are cool too. There's a "blast off" count-down intro going into a track called "Space Vacation"... a bit forced perhaps, doing the band-name-song, but then they hit their stride with "Keith's Sister" and you realize you are on a rocket ride indeed. Songs that as soon as you hear 'em, sound like you've been rockin' out to them forever. And look out for the hidden bonus track(s) at the end... the extra-poppy drinking song "Wicked Hammid"! Something else to look for, online: the band's awesome/silly DIY practice space video for "Keith's Sister" on YouTube, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBREOCxXbH0.
If you couldn't tell, recommended, if you like to rock!
FYI We've also got a Space Vacation split 7" with an LA band called The Amplifiers, SV's side featuring "Keith's Sister", for those who want her on wax.
MPEG Stream: "Keith's Sister"
MPEG Stream: "Highway Master"
MPEG Stream: "Die! Heavy Metal!"

STROTTER INST. Bolzplatz (Everest Records) 10" 17.98
We are huge fans of weird turntable music, from Jeck, to Gum, to Otomo Yoshihide, to Martin Tetrault, but as much as we love all of those folks, our heart belongs to Strotter Inst., aka, Christoph Hess, an older Swiss turntable mad scientist, who creates Frankensteinian record players with multiple arms, weird obstructions forcing the needle to jump and skip, strange strings and rubber bands, that the moving parts pluck and strike, all creating gorgeous mechanical symphonies of sound, with JUST the player, when the manipulated records are added (and they often are NOT), things only get more expansive and lush and amazing.
This latest release from Hess finds his interest in fucking with lps and their players extending to even the pressing process, with the various tracks mastered at different speeds, requiring a small diagram on the label demonstrating which part of which side plays at which speed. Not that it necessarily matters, as Hess' crazy sonic concoctions sound great at any speed.
The sounds here follow on from those on the many other records of his we've reviewed, like some sort of minimal DIY krautrock, or a band like Avarus, populated exclusively by homebuilt noise making robots, all assembled from turntables, it is unbelievable to hear these sounds and know they were designed and planned by Hess, but it's the machines that are creating these gorgeous hypnotic rhythmscapes.
Hypnotic, repetitive, cyclical, but always shifting subtly, crackle, scrape, rumble, hiss, skip, all deftly arranged into propulsive grooves, the rubber bands offering up melody, strange rubbery tones, percussive, but definitely melodic, while the turntable itself, when not striking or plucking the bands, unleashes strange grinding rhythms, peppered with percussive scapes, haunting textural whirs, the rhythms almost tribal, often skeletal and sparse, but just as often dense and layered, when the records are included in the sound making, the various manipulated grooves, spit out even more strange clicks and moans and bleeps and even some strangely appropriate counter rhythms.
Absolutely fantastic stuff, we would imagine as amazing to see as to hear, lucky for us, there's a good chance, Hess will be in the US soon, and will hopefully be visiting aQ for a demonstration / performance.

TONGUES OF MOUNT MERU, THE The Delight Of Assembly (The Tapeworm) cassette 7.98
The second of two new mysterious sonic missives from UK tape label The Tapeworm, this one comes from the strangely monikered Tongues Of Mount Meru, who might be more familiar to people by their given names, noisemaker Lasse Marhaug (of Jazzkamer), and Jon Wesseltoft, a member of black metal legends Thorns. Seems like a strange combination for sure. And the strangeness is further heightened by the fact that you won't find any crunchy noise, Merzbowian blur or blackened blasts here, instead, we're treated to extended mantra-like Niblockian drones, layered and hypnotic, pulsing and ever shifting, fuzzy and buzzy and dense, recorded live, the sound is rich and intense, the edges rough and prickly, within the core drone, drift all sorts of buried melodies, and prismatic overtones, strange little electronic shimmers seems to surface here and there, occasionally, the layers blend perfectly into haunting harmonies, only to slowly drift apart once again. Hard to tell what the sound sources are, but at one point it sounds like an accordion or harmonium, that lush, rich, organic wheeze, all warm and ever-changing.
Two sidelong drones, the first side is more aggressive, more intense and almost abrasive, the second much more swirly and moody, but both similarly dreamy and mesmeric. Total longform hypnodrift drone bliss.
LIMITED TO 250 COPIES, with badass cover art from Savage Pencil!

UNHUMAN DISEASE Black Creations Of Satan (Black Hate Productions) cd 13.98
Last list we reviewed one of two records released in 2009 by Oklahoman one man black metal horde Unhuman Disease (we still have a few copies left if you missed out), and here's the second, another crusty, vicious, filthy blast of super distorted black fury, drum driven big time (due in no small part to the fact that Unhuman Disease is former Thornspawn drummer Nocturnus Dominus), so much like Leviathan (another drummer), the rhythm is as important if not moreso than any other element. Of course present are the usual BM tropes, buzzing riffs, relentlessly pounding blast beats, screeched inhuman (or UNhuman) vox, but UD traffic in a sound that's mesmerizingly cyclical, repetitive, and hypnotic, droney and trancelike, the songs lock into a riff, and pound and pulse and throb relentlessly, extended stretches of total black buzz mesmer, woven within are plenty of subtle textural and melodic variations, but those subtle slow shifts only reinforce how totally hypnotic the overall sound is. The music of Unhuman Disease is not especially far out or fucked, but then it wasn't meant to be, it's raw, and furious, Burzumic for sure, definitely heavily indebted to the Norwegian elite, but with its own gnarled vibe, that makes Black Creations Of Satan its own uniquely Satanic black creation, and keeps it on heavy rotation in the homes of the most black hearted and black souled of aQuarians...
MPEG Stream: "Black Creations Of Satan"
MPEG Stream: "Summoned In Fire"

UNITS History Of The Units - The Early Years: 1977-1983 (Community Library) lp 14.98
This past Record Of The Week NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL!!! There's fewer tracks than on the cd version, but at least the lp includes a download code to get mp3s of ALL of the tracks from the cd reissue. No booklet unfortunately (although it seems some of the booklet is reprinted on the cover), but there is an insert, with some liner notes, as well as an explanation for the song choice on both the cd and lp, the lack of the Units' major label material and the reasoning behind less songs on the lp. Regardless, totally essential, especially now that it's on vinyl. Here's what we said about it before:
Moog-enabled synth punk subversion straight outta San Francisco in the late '70s/early '80s, entertaining n' agitating electronic New Wave action excavated and reissued! And it's totally timely considering how many bands in today's scene would so love to sound like this.
We won't pretend we were familiar with The Units before this fantastic anthology album showed up. Perhaps we'd heard the name before (or maybe we were confusing 'em with ol' Jandek's 1978 debut album, also under the name The Units), but we knew nothing about this band 'til we heard this disc a few weeks ago. And as soon as we did, it went into heavy rotation here at the store. These Units were definitely a important piece of San Francisco punk/new wave history, but just a bit before our time. Well, not Aquarius's time, just us folks who work here now! Actually, a close reading of the thanks list in the cd booklet will find a shout out to Aquarius, 'cause (if you didn't know) Aquarius was THEE punk/new wave record store in San Francisco in the '70s... (Which reminds us, we've got to get more of our history up on the AQ website.) And, in fact, The Units' debut lp Digital Stimulation was the very first release on seminal SF indie 415 Records (who had their biggest hit with Romeo Void), a label run in part by Aquarius' owners at the time. So this most certainly isn't the first time that The Units music has been blasting regularly in the Aquarius shop, it's just been a few years, is all.
Putting things in proper place/time/scene perspective, this archival disc starts off with an audio snippet of the late SF punk "godfather" Dirk Dirksen on stage at Mabuhay Gardens, good-naturedly mocking both The Units (accidentally referring to them by the name of another band, the Zeros) and their cheering fans (with the sardonic comment "obviously, people with as little taste as yourself would become ecstatic over such average talent"). Then, making us ecstatic, twenty tracks of prime Units music follows, The History Of The Units containing most all of the tracks from their 1980 415 Records album Digital Stimulation as well as a handful of stuff taken from early 7"s and demo tapes, as well as more experimental pieces recorded for film soundtracks and art happenings and other ephemera.
Not unlike Devo, The Units had a concept thing going, all about a critique of alienated modern industrial society, dehumanizing conformity, and corporate culture, with songs like "Cannibals" and "Work". Perhaps perversely choosing to use machines to make their point, The Units tried to take the human element out of the rock band equation, preferring for instance to project their own propaganda films rather than allow the audience to focus on a frontperson. And yes, they do also sound quite bit like Devo at times, which is way okay by us!
Their synth-obsession was also in part an anti-guitar thing, a reaction to the mainstream. In fact, they took their anti-guitar philosophy to the extreme of not only having a "stamp out guitars" logo, but also making fake guitars out of plywood to smash on stage, while letting their synths play on "cruise control". So definitely The Units were highly conceptual, art schoolish, but not academic - the liner notes are clear that the idea was to be an all-synth band that "kicks ass" (the full quote being: ""I wanted an all synthesizer band... and not some fucking polite, socially acceptable electronic experiment in academia. I didn't want a doctorate in electronic doodling. No, I'm talking about a synth band that kicks ass!") and according to what we're hearing here, they succeeded. And they were not without contemporaries. There were The Screamers, Nervous Gender, and of course Devo; all of whom wanted to take the synthesizer into punk. For many of the Units tracks, it would very easy to replace the lead synth lines with guitars and have an equally kick ass rock song, but the fact is that these are Moog-powered cuts which do oscillate between a quirky sensibility with angular chops and a full-throttle punk car-crash. If you would think the former finds the Units sounding like Devo and the latter like the Screamers, you'd be right!
Yes indeed, the songs on this disc range from urgent Devo-esque pop punk and Screamers-y rants to moody proto-'80s dance tracks to more abstract, instrumental, rhythmic/textural electronic pieces like "Tight Fit" and "East West". There's loads of electric energy, some goofy humor, and certainly serious intent. So many gems here, incorporating buzzing droning distorted synths, propulsively skittering drum beats, and monotone vocals (both male and female).
Their incredible singles "Cannibals" (a tempestuous, driving song that was pure '70s punk), "High Pressure Days", and "Warm Moving Bodies," are prominently featured here, all of which were impressively catchy. Their ability to write these hooks earned them a deal with Epic, who released two seminal 12" singles (which couldn't be licensed for this compilation) and has been sitting on another collection of recordings since 1983. But beyond the hook, the Units were plenty weird, as seen in their peculiar lullaby melodies on "Red" which almost comes across like a Rodd Keith song-poem with a very sparse arrangement. Despite the band's curses toward academic music, a few choice intertwining moments of the Units minimalist grooves come awfully close to sounding like a punked out Terry Riley! Hardly polite music!
Other selections here include the cold wave weird science of "Digital Stimulation", the gloriously grinding downer melody of "Contemporary Emotion" (apparently a cover, a song by some contemporaneous hard rock band we've never heard of called Trakstod Station), and there's even an ode to our very neighborhood, "The Mission Is Bitchin", with lyrics about burritos and marijuana!
Of course it's all a bit dated, of its era, and that's part of the charm... but like we said, a lot of this also sounds like it could be put out by a band today, since everything old is new again and the '80s New Wave / synth thing is a current retro craze. Definitely this is a good time for The Units to be reissued!
MPEG Stream: "Cannibals"
MPEG Stream: "Warm Moving Bodies"
MPEG Stream: "i Night"
MPEG Stream: "East West"

V/A Electric Asylum: Volume 4 (Past & Present) cd 17.98
The folks at P&P know they've got a good thing going with this Electric Asylum series; appropriately monikered compiler The Psychomaniac keeps coming up with winners. In the grand tradition, here's Volume 4, and it's a relatively hard 'n heavy one, subtitled "Rock Hard British Freakrock", as if they knew that Vol. 3, fun as it was, didn't entirely deliver the dunt rock we crave. Well Vol. 4, as befits that unintentional Sabbath reference, is a lot more tough, less bubblegummy... and that even includes the band on here called Bubbles! (Whose badass glammy proto-punk strut "Zap n' Cat" reminds us of Ronno or maybe even Hard Stuff). Oh yeah, this Electric Asylum is again populated with some goofy names, most of whom we'd never heard of before. Here's the full line up: Hector, Slowload, Rog and Pip, Wolfrilla, Incredible Hog, Smoke, Spunky Spider, Ning, Quiet World, Henry Turtle, Bear Brothers, Hard Horse, Mustard, Tuesday, Godson, Bubbles, Sunshine Kid, Clutch, Jackal, and Sundance. 20 tracks in all, mostly taken from one-off, 45 rpm single only releases from flash in the pan bands we're lucky to get to hear at all, most never made an album and did just one or two 7"s... Actually, the only bands we really knew was Incredible Hog (whose entire album is great), and Wolfrilla (a fave from Vol. 2).
Coming from circa 1970-75, a lot of this can be summed up as a bit Sabbath, a bit Slade, platform boots in each camp. Though, each individual band often seems to emulate other, specific, better known acts. Like, Godson sound kinda the Rolling Stones, Hard Horse are a lot like Nazareth, and Incredible Hog come closest to Led Zep... while Ning's "Machine" is somehow part Steppenwolf, part Gary Glitter. And then there's Smoke's "That's What I Want", which is almost like The Kinks' "All Day And All Of The Night" re-written with a "Sweet Leaf" fixation.
While we're not all that surprised that nobody here really ever "made it", that doesn't mean their attempts to do so are without merit! Not if you like lotsa fuzz 'n distortion, acid guitar soloing, and grunting wailing vox! Get yer fix of obscure '70s proto-metal groovy rockin' pop here.
The booklet contains the usual detailed-as-they-can-be trainspotting liner notes on each and every track (from which we learn useful minutiae such as that Sundance featured original Judas Priest drummer Alan Moore, ferinstance) plus full color sleeve/label graphics and vintage b&w photos... too bad about the crap cover art though.
If they can keep digging up records like these, we'll keep digging these comps! After this, we halfway expect P&P to jump ahead a few years to the late '70s / early '80s and bring us the killer NWOBHM rarities comp we know ol' Psychomaniac has got in him too...
MPEG Stream: HECTOR "Lady"
MPEG Stream: ROG AND PIP "Warlord"
MPEG Stream: SMOKE "That's What I Want"
MPEG Stream: SUNDANCE "Eagles"

V/A Lal Lal Lal Festival 3 (Lal Lal Lal) cassette 8.98
Finland's Lal Lal Lal label is one of those cottage industry imprints that's always got something interesting going on, regardless of who's paying attention, releasing a diverse selection of lo-fi hijinks from (mostly) fellow Finnish freaks such as Fricara Pacchu, Avarus, and Maniacs Dream, though they've got some international friends on the roster as well like Howlin' Magic and The Skaters. Apparently a bunch of their acts got together last year for a festival, making rare live appearances some of 'em, and to have something to special to sell at the fest they produced this limited edition compilation cassette, containing tracks from Semimuumio, Suohumala, Fricara Pacchu, Astral Social Club, and Pylon. That's four from Finland and one (ASC, aka Neil Campbell) from the UK.
Side 1 is the "danceable" side, perhaps (seriously, they get a groove on). It begins with the "emotional, adult-oriented beat" 'tronica of Semimuumio, a cheerfully synth-laden instrumental ditty, the synthwork getting wilder and more warped as the piece picks up its pace. Then Suohumala chimes in with another pleasant groover, incorporating classical-Casio sounds and a bit of a burbling reggae dub vibe. AQ fave Fricara Pacchu comes next, his track a stomping one with thick flanged-out riffs, all-instrumental like the ones before. Finally on side 1, Astral Social Club's style of cacophonic cut-up loops and beats and effects brings a chaotic throb to the proceedings. All very nice.
The cacophony continues on the second side, but in a more freeform fashion, with interesting abstract stuttering and staggered sounds, blips and bleeps and glitched out skree from Pylon, who gets the whole side for this somewhat noisier and much longer track than the others. It's pretty cool too.
This entertaining artifact comes in the form of an opaque white plastic cassette, with the J-card cover looking to us oddly very early '90s desktop publishing in its graphical execution. Sadly, Lal Lal Lal say they're winding things up label-wise so this may be one of their last ever releases...

V/A Shir Hodu: Jewish Song From The Bombay Of The 30's (Renair) cd 17.98
Fascinating collection of Hebrew paraliturgical songs by Eastern Jewish singers from the Bene Israel and Baghdadian Jewish communities residing in Bombay, India during the thirties. Originally released on 78's from the King, Hebrew, and Jay Bharat Record labels, these recordings from various Hazzanim (cantors and prayer leaders), music school directors, an entrepreneurial meat-shop owner, Shofar (ram's horn) blowers, and instrumental stars of the Indian cinema are the long lost sonic artifacts from a nearly forgotten world of Indian Jewish musical traditions. We never realized before how intertwined these two musical traditions were, but of course it makes sense with the cross-pollination of Eastern European, North African and Middle Eastern populations through the bustling trade city of Bombay, that the cultural traditions would intermingle and possibly influence each other. Thus this is also recommended for fans of early Indian music, as well as for those intrigued by rare Jewish music recordings. The cd comes with a richly illustrated 24-page booklet with memories and photos of the descendants, relatives and friends of the singers and instrumentalists, gathered from across the globe.
MPEG Stream: SIMEON JACOB KHARILKER "Adon Olam"
MPEG Stream: ABID DAVID "Deror Yikra"
MPEG Stream: ZAKY SOLOMAN ISAAC "Yodukha Raayonai"
MPEG Stream: NATHAN SOLOMON SATIMKAR "Deror Iqra"

VETCHE s/t (Nihilward) cd 15.98
This defunct Ukrainian black metal band was a collaborative effort between members of Lucifugum and Nokturnal Mortum, which sounds amazing, we were of course envisioning epic, folk flecked, nature obsessed buzzing blackness, but we DIDN'T at all expect something this fucked up and far out.
The first track is not too far off the mark, a plodding, midtempo black metal almost-dirge, tribal drumming, thick downtuned riffs, dramatic synths, tons of atmosphere, the vocals an incredible demonic croak, the whole thing droney and trancelike and mesmerizing.
The second track is where it gets really strange, whooshing swaths of synth, skittery drum machine, mournful minor key guitars, acoustic guitars, and then, out of nowhere, a truly out of place techno sounding electronic pulse, making it sound almost like a black metal Goblin or something, as the track progresses, it just gets darker and denser, the vocals wrapped in twisted effects, a dizzying chunk of whatthefuck electronic blackness for sure.
"Nearby Strange Forest For Everyone Wise Forest" is another dirgey, electronic flecked bit of doom-ed blackness, with whispering vox, the sound of rainfall, deep rumbling synths and folky melodies, before finally we get to the nearly 11 minute closer, "Pure Air Of Distant Horizons", with its click bleep electronic rhythm, big slow burning distorted guitars, cheesy almost new age sounding synths, slipping from drone-y electronic black folk, to almost Renaissance Faire flutter, to swirling space-y krautrock-y drift. Wow.
Even with the pedigree, this might be a bit too far out for the troo grim hordes, but we're digging Vetche's twisted nad unique swirling new age black gypsy doom folk weirdness.
MPEG Stream: "Always"
MPEG Stream: "Pain Without Regret"

WATERLOO First Battle (Guerssen) cd 17.98
Ye olde '70s prog rock treat time here, folks, particularly for those (like us) who like lots of flute in their prog! Coming to us via the excellent Guerssen label, who last list brought us William Nowik's Pan Symphony In E, this reissue of Belgian proggers Waterloo's one and only album First Battle from 1970 reveals another one-off gem from the dusty prog past that we had never heard of before but now are digging big time. This group's music is infused with the paisley psych poppiness of the likes of The Beatles and The Kinks, but also provides lots of pounding organ and flute rippage, making for a bombastic prog bounty indeed, a catchy one as well. Presumably influenced by certain of the British progressive rock outfits of the day, such as the The Nice, Jethro Tull, and Mk1 Deep Purple, this gets heavier too, sounding at times not unlike Uriah Heep, but with flute! It's got it all, really: sunny pop balladry, groovy brass rock arrangements (a la Blood Sweat & Tears), jazzy moves too (including some scat singing in the midst of 11 minute epic album closer "Diary Of An Old Man"). And plenty of flat out flashy instrumental action, guitars organ drums and FLUTE all in full force, charging forth on the battlefield of rock like triumphant prog troopers.
Fits in well with some other prog obscurities we've recommended previously... Blast Furnace comes to mind, also Supersister, Tetragon, Bachdenkel, Culpeper's Orchard, etc. Once again, we're wowed by the wonders of the reissue realm. How many more bands like this can there be??
To be sure, 'cause of how poppy this is, it might not be for those ONLY looking for the super dark or weird - though some of the lyrics ARE rather strange, like ferinstance the line "Can't you tell me where black children come from, daddy?" from the song "Black Born Children". What's that about? Also, don't expect any conceptual side-long song suites here, no this ain't Yes, in fact by prog standards only one song (the aforementioned "Diary Of An Old Man") is a double digit epic, the rest stay within the normal temporal parameters of pop single radio play, 2-3 minutes or so. But if you like the lighter (though no less tighter) side of prog, then check this out. It can only be regretted that Waterloo's First Battle was their last. Although, this reissue buffs up the original record's ten tracks with six extra bonus cuts from post-album singles and such. And, the cd booklet provides an in-depth history of the band in the liner notes, including mention of 'em jamming with members of Magma at one point!
MPEG Stream: "Meet Again"
MPEG Stream: "Why May I Not Know"
MPEG Stream: "Why Don't You Follow Me"

WETDOG Lower Leg (Captured Tracks) 7" 7.98
Not sure where these gals are from, but they have a definite Raincoats / Slits sort of classic old school C86 sound happening, on this, their debut (?) on Captured Tracks. But it's not just those bands we hear, we also pick up on some Toto Coelo, some Belle Stars, heavy groovy bass, a sort of angular new wave pop, funky drums, low slung bass, minimal guitar (if there is any at all). It's a propulsive prickly pop tangle, that most definitely gets bodies moving. The A-side switches from angular and skittery, to more propulsive and back again, with super commanding call and response bad ass vocals, and a wicked main hook.
The B-side has the same sort of vibe, but the vocals are dialed back, buried in the mix a bit, letting the drums drive the songs, with some cool stylophone melodies and some tangled woozy riffing. And of course delay and reverb all over the place!

WICKER MAN, THE OST (Silva Screen) lp 39.00
One of our all-time favorite soundtracks to one of our all-time favorite movies gets the deluxe gatefold vinyl reissue treatment. You probably know you want it, if you want it. And if you don't, we can only think of a couple reasons: you've never seen the movie, or you don't have a turntable. Definitely correctable conditions. It's a bit expensive, too, but so worth it! This is the vinyl version of the domestic stereo master reissue from 2002 with the incidental music included. Includes extensive liner notes on both the film and music. Here is what we said about the cd edition way back on list #147:
Oooh - a domestic release (somewhat different from the previously available version issued in 1998 by the UK's Trunk label, more on that later) of the soundtrack to the amazing and supremely creepy 1972 British pagansploitation film The Wicker Man! A group of folk musicians, most of whom appear in the film, bring Nordic lyre, harmonica, concertina, recorders, guitars, hand drums and more (some psychedelic electric guitar at one point!) to Paul Giovanni's exceptional Celtic influenced compositions. More than just film accompaniment music, the soundtrack plays an important role in the film's characterization of the pagan inhabitants of a remote island off Scotland (led by their Laird, played by Christopher Lee in what he considers his greatest role) who are suspiciously reticent in helping a stuffy, upright Christian policeman (Edward Woodward) investigate the mysterious disappearance of a young girl. Sometimes bawdy, sometimes haunting, and ultimately infused with the film's mounting sense of menace, the songs capture the lusty forces of nature which embrace death as readily as birth. As much as they work in the context of the film, these songs form an album that is great in its own right. Divided into "Songs From Summerisle: Ballads of Seduction, Fertility and Ritual Slaughter" and "Incidental Music From The Wicker Man," the tracks are culled from newly unearthed stereo masters as well as rougher and perhaps more appropriate sounding mono mixes which originally appeared in the film. Highly recommended, both for fans of English folk (of the sixties revival and/or "apocalyptic" varieties) as well as for fans of cult oddities. Truly the "unholy grail" of film soundtracks, as the Trunk version's liner notes put it.
Oh, if you've got that disc, and are wondering what's different with this release, here's the lowdown: That 1998 cd release was a mono recording, taken from the music and effects tapes from the shortest (86 minute) cut of the film, whereas this new version was done from the newly-discovered stereo masters of Giovanni's music, and includes the wonderful song "Gently Johnny" which only appeared in the longer, uncut version of the film and thus was missing from the Trunk cd. The sound effects and dialogue aren't mixed over the songs, as with the earlier version, and as mentioned, this new disc is organized with a suite of tracks of incidental music and sound effects presented separately, following the actual songs (rather than mixed all together, arranged as in the film). However, this new Wicker Man's running time is actually a few minutes *shorter* than the previous version, even with "Gently Johnny" included. Hmm. We're not exactly sure what's missing, presumably some of the incidental music /effects were edited differently. But no matter, this still must be considered the definitive Wicker Man soundtrack, because of its superior stereo sound source, as well as the packaging, which includes a handsome layout of photos and text in the record's gatefold and features blown up movie poster art on both sides of the record's jacket.
And if you haven't ever seen the movie, it's on dvd now, go rent it!!

WITCH Lazy Bones!! (Q.D.K. / Normal) cd 16.98
All right, more '70s "ZamRock"! Last list, in our highlight review of 45,000 Volts by the awesome Ngozi Family, we mentioned that there was another crucial reissue from Zambia on the way that we were looking forward to - that's this, Witch! (Not to be confused with the present-day Witch that's got J. Mascis on drums, they're cool too, but couldn't ever be as cool as this.) The Witch's 1975 album Lazy Bones!! (the two exclamation marks are part of the title) is BADASS. It's got tons of rhythmic umph, and makin'-more-with-less third world charm. Again it's the western garage psych template with African extras.
Some tracks are heavy duty crunchers, such as the curiously named "Tooth Factory" (which sounds like Japan's Speed, Glue, and Shinki, we think), some more spaced and mellow, like "Strange Dream", and still others are loose limbed groovy jams, like the title track. And, you'd better believe there's plenty of fuzz throughout, you'll get your daily dose and then some. Wah wah guitars roam wild, The Witch managing to be wonderfully melodic, funky, and downright distorted across these ten tracks, providing everything we desire from the electric ZamRock phenomenon (similar too, to bands from Nigeria like Blo and Ofege). With English being the official language of Zambia, that's what the vocals are in, sorta nasal and accented and lovely in a gritty way. Kinda hard to know what else to say except, recommended!
There was a Shadoks vinyl reissue of this a while back, but it was prohibitively expensive (close to fifty bucks retail!) so we're really glad they got around to doing this much more affordable compact disc version, licensed from the sole surviving band member and featuring a booklet full of interesting liner notes (by Egon from Now-Again / Stones Throw) and vintage photos.
MPEG Stream: "Motherless Child"
MPEG Stream: "Tooth Factory"
MPEG Stream: "Look Out"

WOLD Working Together For Our Privacy (Profound Lore) cd ep 10.98
The return of Canadian black metal weirdos Wold, and another batch of completely blown out, noise drenched, abstract, lo-fi, ultra raw, frosty grim heaviness. Although with these guys, heaviness is not necessarily accurate. It is heavy, but more in the sort of Neil-from-the-Young-Ones kind of 'Heeeeeaavy', totally psychedelic and tripped out, and a blurred, washed out swirl of sounds that only really loosely approximates black metal.
Most metalheads would find themselves diving for the eject button, but for the rest of us, who are willing to dig deep into outsider sounds, Working Together For Our Privacy is as rewarding as any of the other Wold records, a hidden world of sound, melodies, and textures, riffs and beats, almost entirely obscured by swirling whirling clouds of crumbling distortion and FX drenched white noise. On the surface, this is the sound of a million TVs between channels, a symphony of AM radios out of range, broadcasting nothing but static, but like when you stare at snow on a TV screen, images surface and emerge and change and disappear, the same thing seems to happen listening to this Wold record, from the chaotic skree, all sorts of sounds and song fragments surface, revealing something almost pretty lurking beneath the violent and abrasive surface.
All three songs here, long ones, seem cut from the same cloth, each an explosion of industrial crunch, and blurry buzz, heaving and roiling, not even black so much as WHITE, white noise, white out, a cloud of particles and sonic fragments, a barrage of crunch and crush and pummel, that can almost completely block out the songs themselves. Almost. In a weird way, this stuff is hypnotic, mesmerizing, entrancing, if the conditions were right, this sort of thing could definitely lull you to sleep, but cranked through your shitty old speakers, it could also induce embolisms. Such is the magic of Wold. Another winner from these mysterious Canucks, one where the prizes remain a banged head, ringing ears, blown speakers and a head full of buzz....
MPEG Stream: "The Secret"
MPEG Stream: "Lovey Dovey"

WORM OUROBOROS s/t (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
On Profound Lore, which has developed quite the reputation as an interesting metal label across several genres ('tis always worth listening to what they deem worthy of release, we'd say) comes the debut from Worm Ouroboros, a Bay Area based trio that notably includes singer/bassist Lorraine Rath formerly of blackened gothic doomsters The Gault (also ex-Amber Asylum). The trio is completed by guitarist/vocalist Jessica Way and drummer Justin Green, who both play in a crusty death-doom metal act called World Eater.
Although Worm Ouroboros has its doomy aspects, it's pretty far from crusty, or even often metal, really! The music on this disc is really mostly quite gentle, with hushed lovely vocals and somnolent instrumental atmospheres. It's all vaguely medieval (in a folky, not metal way) and meditative, dark and dreamy, though these songs do have post-rock style loud-soft dynamics, allowing for some heavy distorted doom riffage to kick in occasionally, and always majestically. Much of the time, though, Worm Ouroboros is all about the interweaving of delicate drifting guitar, clean female vocals (the two ladies in the band sometimes sing harmonies), poetic lyrics, and restrained drumming.
When we first put this on, it started off in that near ambient ethereal mode, and we were thinking, hmm, hope this doesn't turn out to be boring, or too "Lilith Fair", but pretty soon we were thoroughly entranced, it's total ear candy that compels repeat spins. It flows beautifully, whether mellow or more "metal", and even when the waters are churned by heavier guitar/drums passages the mood still remains calm, soothing somehow. Never headbanging, maybe head-cradling though, face in hands, weeping, perhaps from sadness, perhaps from joy...
Slow and sinuous, this sometimes reminds us of forgotten Finnish art-metal act Decoryah from the '90s (which is strange, since they were so unique we're rarely reminded of 'em, in fact, haven't even thought of them for ages, heck now we're gonna go put a Decoryah cd on!). To mention some perhaps better known bands that this also evokes, in ways, at times: Katatonia, Isis, Amber Asylum, Sigur Ros, Hammers Of Misfortune, and of course The Gault... So, can we call it gothic downer doom rock folk prog? Yes indeed. There's even a bit of flute (helping to make the heaviness of the epic 11 minute "Riverbed" be even more progged out), and magically tinkling glockenspiel! Most definitely, another unusual winner (as far as we're concerned) from Profound Lore.
MPEG Stream: "A Birth A Death"
MPEG Stream: "Goldeneye"
MPEG Stream: "Riverbed"

WOUNDED KINGS, THE The Shadow Over Atlantis (I Hate Records) cd 15.98
We described this British doom duo's debut in 2008 as being Sabbathy doom metal with a particularly druggy, spaced-out vibe... well they've returned and are even more druggy and spaced-out than before! This isn't doom that crushes you (though they can get quite heavy) but rather doom that envelops you, doom you sink into... like the warm embrace of sleep - or like Atlantis sinking into the ocean, the mythic cataclysm about which it appears this is a concept album (that's doom!). Thus, 'tis dark, majestic, mournful. With that mood in mind, the cover art and font used really capture the look of '60s paperback pulp sci-fi / fantasy novels, and we do know The Wounded Kings take much inspiration from both literature and the occult. They also cite several of our '70s proto-metal and prog rock faves: Night Sun, Museo Rosenbach, Hairy Chapter, Gracious, May Blitz, Alphataurus, Earth and Fire, and Van Der Graaf Generator, among others. Though what we hear could possibly best be described by suggesting one imagine UFOmammut, Witch, or Electric Wizard, ultra qualuuded and heavy lidded, at their most '70s proggish and beauteous. Also, this being on I Hate Records, it occurs to us that Jex Thoth fans (and would-be fans, those turned off by the singing in that band) ought to dig the music here.
The first track is called "The Swirling Mist" and is aptly named, describing the Wounded Kings' sound altogether. Their doomy gloomy guitar riffs are sluggishy smeared across this whole disc, almost becoming one continuous psychedelic downer drone stretching from song to song; songs which trudge forth in gorgeous glorious misery, driven by plodding drums, embellished with eerie Goblinesque chiming of keys, ofttimes gothically graced with vocal lamentations delivered a spooky shivery deep voice, reverb effected, all contributing to this album's very much haunted and melancholic feel. As does the trance inducing slo-mo psych guitar soloing and comforting organ buzz throughout. Also, some of our favorite moments are the most mellowed out ones: the gentle piano/drone interlude "Into The Ocean's Abyss" is both sad and beautiful, one of two brief instrumentals here (the other, "Deathless Echo"), among the much more epic, heavier tracks. We'd certainly recommend this Wounded Kings album to not only our true doom and doom-drone regulars but also folks into current indie psych and even cold wave acts, you might find something to grab you... and envelop you... and dreamily doom you, here!
MPEG Stream: "Baptism Of Atlantis"
MPEG Stream: "The Sons Of Belial"
MPEG Stream: "Deathless Echo"

YEASAYER Odd Blood (Secretly Canadian) cd 15.98
These guys are really tough to figure out, we were never that into them actually, until we heard one of their tracks on a Mojo compilation of all places, and even weirder it was a sort of No Depression / Americana style collection, with groups like Iron & Wine, The Low Anthem, and their sound, while slightly twangy, was way more quirky and electronic, a sort of twisted cabaret pop, we ended up digging that record quite a bit, so were excited to hear this new one.
Right off the bat, it's a weirdo winner, processed garbled vocals, over a strange plodding electronic beat, washed over by lush layers of shimmery sound, like a Phoenix song played at 16 rpm, lugubrious and warbly, but strangely appealing. The next song though reveals the band's true colors, which seem to lie more along the lines of groups like Sparks or Pretty And Nice, slightly twisted pop, layered synths, lush production, looped electronic rhythms, skittery drum machines, "Madder Red" introduces lots of "ooooohs" and some abstract tribal drumming, multi tracked vocals, for a sort of more earth take on Animal Collective's abstract pop, which is pretty much where Yeasayer are situated, they definitely have a Pitchfork vibe, their sound definitely absorbing elements of Animal Collective, TV On The Radio, that sort of almost-mainstream pop, but for our money, Yeasayer are just a bit more odd, they definitely have the total pop gene, but they also seem inclined to fuck it up, whether with weird production, strange rhythms, vocal processing, everything infused with a sort of tweaked new wave vibe. Definitely seems like an acquired taste, but could very well be a weird music gateway for folks who want to start their strange sonic education slowly. For the rest of us, it's a pretty cool, slightly off kilter, electronic pop record, that will definitely fit perfectly on your shelf next to records by all of the above mentioned bands... Cool!
MPEG Stream: "The Children"
MPEG Stream: "Ambling Alp"
MPEG Stream: "Madder Red"

YEASAYER Odd Blood (Secretly Canadian) lp 16.98
These guys are really tough to figure out, we were never that into them actually, until we heard one of their tracks on a Mojo compilation of all places, and even weirder it was a sort of No Depression / Americana style collection, with groups like Iron & Wine, The Low Anthem, and their sound, while slightly twangy, was way more quirky and electronic, a sort of twisted cabaret pop, we ended up digging that record quite a bit, so were excited to hear this new one.
Right off the bat, it's a weirdo winner, processed garbled vocals, over a strange plodding electronic beat, washed over by lush layers of shimmery sound, like a Phoenix song played at 16 rpm, lugubrious and warbly, but strangely appealing. The next song though reveals the band's true colors, which seem to lie more along the lines of groups like Sparks or Pretty And Nice, slightly twisted pop, layered synths, lush production, looped electronic rhythms, skittery drum machines, "Madder Red" introduces lots of "ooooohs" and some abstract tribal drumming, multi tracked vocals, for a sort of more earth take on Animal Collective's abstract pop, which is pretty much where Yeasayer are situated, they definitely have a Pitchfork vibe, their sound definitely absorbing elements of Animal Collective, TV On The Radio, that sort of almost-mainstream pop, but for our money, Yeasayer are just a bit more odd, they definitely have the total pop gene, but they also seem inclined to fuck it up, whether with weird production, strange rhythms, vocal processing, everything infused with a sort of tweaked new wave vibe. Definitely seems like an acquired taste, but could very well be a weird music gateway for folks who want to start their strange sonic education slowly. For the rest of us, it's a pretty cool, slightly off kilter, electronic pop record, that will definitely fit perfectly on your shelf next to records by all of the above mentioned bands... Cool!
MPEG Stream: "The Children"
MPEG Stream: "Ambling Alp"
MPEG Stream: "Madder Red"

YELLOW FEVER s/t (Wild World) cd 11.98
Many of the sounds coming out of the recent surge of girl group inspired bands that we've been digging have been more on the garage and lo-fi rocking side of things, but Yellow Fever are mining that same sort of girl group glory with a more direct song based approach with totally stunning results. We hear echoes of the Young Marble Giants and their disciples, like Klang or Quixotic, albeit slightly more twee. We'd imagine that if Calvin Johnson heard this he would sign YF to K in a heartbeat, the music these gals conjure up definitely has many of the same endearing qualities of some of our favorite K records over the years.
Get Grass Widow and Girls At Dawn out of the fuzzy dirty garage, and bring them upstairs to the warm and comfy living room and you're getting an idea of where Yellow Fever are coming from. The songs are really compact and stripped down. Like Kim Deal and Julie Doiron doing extra minimal Aislers Set covers. Yellow Fever are amongst an awesome new breed of bands from Austin, Texas who are starting to get wider attention (weird that they weren't included on the new Matador compilation, Casual Victim Pile featuring a bunch of other bands from Austin). But it does make perfect sense that it's their friends the Vivian Girls who have released this on their own record label, Wild World, they for sure share a similar spirit and plenty of musical reference points, even though they approach their sounds from slightly different angels.
This is totally hitting the spot!
MPEG Stream: "Ratcatcher"
MPEG Stream: "Donald"
MPEG Stream: "Hellfire"

YELLOW FEVER s/t (Wild World) lp 13.98
Many of the sounds coming out of the recent surge of girl group inspired bands that we've been digging have been more on the garage and lo-fi rocking side of things, but Yellow Fever are mining that same sort of girl group glory with a more direct song based approach with totally stunning results. We hear echoes of the Young Marble Giants and their disciples, like Klang or Quixotic, albeit slightly more twee. We'd imagine that if Calvin Johnson heard this he would sign YF to K in a heartbeat, the music these gals conjure up definitely has many of the same endearing qualities of some of our favorite K records over the years.
Get Grass Widow and Girls At Dawn out of the fuzzy dirty garage, and bring them upstairs to the warm and comfy living room and you're getting an idea of where Yellow Fever are coming from. The songs are really compact and stripped down. Like Kim Deal and Julie Doiron doing extra minimal Aislers Set covers. Yellow Fever are amongst an awesome new breed of bands from Austin, Texas who are starting to get wider attention (weird that they weren't included on the new Matador compilation, Casual Victim Pile featuring a bunch of other bands from Austin). But it does make perfect sense that it's their friends the Vivian Girls who have released this on their own record label, Wild World, they for sure share a similar spirit and plenty of musical reference points, even though they approach their sounds from slightly different angels.
This is totally hitting the spot!
MPEG Stream: "Ratcatcher"
MPEG Stream: "Donald"
MPEG Stream: "Hellfire"

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BURNING SAVIOURS s/t (I Hate Records) cd 14.98
BACK IN STOCK!!! At long long last... here's what we said about this band's debut a few years ago:
We don't know how they do it. Black magic presumably. If you thought that Sweden's Witchcraft were eerily able to conjure the spirit of early '70s proto-metal doom rock a la Black Sabbath and Pentagram (which they are) and you want MORE (of course you do), well, you're in luck. We've discovered that Witchcraft have some friends, another Swedish band called Burning Saviours who ALSO possess this arcane ability, incredibly enough! You've gotta hear 'em. Burning Saviours are pretty much dead ringers for Witchcraft, which means that they are equally inspired by Pentagram (heck, they're named after a Pentagram song, "Burning Savior"), Sabbath, Witchfinder General and all sorts of decades-past, metal-prog-psych heaviness. Their songs have got all the bellbottomed basslines, laidback soloing, gentle folky melodies, Ozzy-sincere vocals, and doomful riffs needed to make for an authentic-sounding escape to that mystic, misty, downer domain that we (and bands like Burning Saviours and Witchcraft) like to imagine the '70s to be...long-haired lads worshipping pagan gods with guitars and amplifiers and flutes - yes, flutes, much to Andee's approval (Andee's been taking flute lessons for a few months now, in a bid to become even MORE prog, and he knows how to play four whole notes already!). Burning Saviours wield flute with aplomb on two tracks, "Spread Your Wings" and "Trees And Stones", which will doubtless garner 'em comparisons to Jethro Tull, although we doubt they go in for the one-legged flute pose, and besides there were lots of other '70s heavy psych/prog acts that utilized the flute - Murphy Blend, Gravy Train, Clear Blue Sky, Mammut, Los Dug Dugs, Out Of Focus, McChurch Soundroom, Nosferatu, Alrune Rod, Culpeper's Orchard and plenty more obscure acts who were probably more inspirational to Burning Saviours, not that we're knocking Tull. And let's not forget that Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath was known to set aside his guitar and pick up the flute upon occasion - once, famously, in concert when we was so stoned that he spent, like, two minutes with his eyes closed, holding the flute nowhere near his lips, while blowing directly into the microphone as bandmates Ozzy, Bill and Geezer looked on and tried to restrain their mirth. Or so the story goes. ANYWAY, our point is sort of that if any of those bands mean anything to you, and/or you also dig Black Sabbath, then this should be right up your alley! We only wish this album was longer than the relatively lean 34 minutes that it is. But if you've been lovin' Witchcraft's recent Firewood, you'll be happy to have this - indeed, it might even be BETTER than Witchcraft. We're not sure yet. And that by itself is about as high a recommendation as we can give!!
MPEG Stream: "Silent Prayer"
MPEG Stream: "Thoughtless Fools"

COPPER GLOVE Dead Space / No Power (Monorail Trespassing) cassette 6.98
Had this been issued on Vinyl On Demand as something from some terminally obscure tape label from East Germany circa 1983, we wouldn't have batted an eye. All of the trappings of quintessentially bleak industrial music alluding to the best of SPK (i.e. Information Overload Unit), The New Blockaders, and everything on Broken Flag way back when (i.e. Ramleh, Mauthausen Orchestra, Toll); and with very little discernible digital effects (including a 'direct to cassette' citation in the liner notes!), this doesn't sound like a contemporary noise project at all. Everything is overblown but with the attack of the high end blunted into static distortion and the low end snarled into a morass of tape rumbling. These caustic noises are not the end result, but the toxic patina which is applied to some fine synthpunk / industrial culture dirges. Baltimore's Copper Glove fortunately has been listening to all of those aforementioned projects quite a bit, and has done a great job of synthesizing noise, drum machine rhythm, urban malaise, and detached resentment into this exemplary tape only release from the ever consistent Monorail Trespassing. Twenty-six minutes and limited to 125 copies.

DECIBEL #65 March 2010 magazine 4.95
More good headbanging readin' here, from the always entertaining and informative Decibel mag... On the cover, Fear Factory (ho hum), all CGI-ed out in the picture like wanna be Terminators. But inside, lots of much more interesting stuff: Sigh, Harvey Milk, Hellhammer (an excerpt from Tom G. Warrior's upcoming book), Sacrifice, Holy Grail, and other rad bands we like... plus lots of reviews, funny columns, news bits, etc.
AND, this issue sees the classic Saint Vitus album Born Too Late inducted into the Decibel Hall Of Fame! Just in time for their reunion tour, of course.

DUNN, KYLE BOBBY A Young Person's Guide To Kyle Bobby Dunn (Low Point) 2cd 17.98
Following in the footsteps of Phill Niblock and Jim O'Rourke, the Brooklyn based composer Kyle Bobby Dunn presents his own Young Person's Guide into an immersive arena of fluid minimalist gestures and post-classical ambience. Dunn sources his compositions from guitar, brass, and strings, some of which have been extracted from sessions with small ensembles of classically trained musicians; and everything is worked out in the digital studio, with the swells of a violin and timbre of a trombone elongated into introspective, somber compositions of elegant dronescaping. While this process does appear similar to Niblock's approach with his source material, Dunn is far more poetic and much more of a romantic than Mr. Niblock and presents bleary mirages revel in impressionistic images of cinematic landscapes. Tranquil organic tones manifest through gaseous shimmers, occasionally graced by a repetitive half-melodic interlude or a deep-end reverberant rumble. Much of Dunn's work could easily nestle next to one of Rhys Chatham's more placid guitar symphonies, or any of the cinematic soundscapists that Type has been championing for many years now, or the compositions of John Luther Adams, or even the narcoleptic mood engineering of Stars Of The Lid. Really beautiful stuff. Unfortunately, we only have limited stock on this title!
MPEG Stream: "Butel"
MPEG Stream: "There Is No End To Your Beauty"
MPEG Stream: "Empty Gazing"

FOSTER, JOSEPHINE Graphic As A Star (Fire Recordings) lp 24.00
NOW ON VINYL!
What better current singer to tackle texts by reclusively prolific American poet Emily Dickinson than the elusive Josephine Foster? Translating 26 out of the thousands of poems Dickinson wrote into the gentlest of song forms, many matching the brevity of the originals, must have been a daunting task. Poems do not translate into songs as easily as one might think, just as songs don't always translate into poetry. But not really since Aaron Copland in 1950 has anyone really delved so deeply into the idea. And Foster is largely successful. The arrangements on guitar or ukulele are very minimal and while her lilting delivery can be a little same-y, each song on its own, unearths a tiny jewel of intimate beauty that is quite something to behold. The material may be too rich for one sitting (unless your knitting on a rainy Sunday perhaps), but we think this might be the perfect sublime ephemera for the shuffle feature on your iPod.
MPEG Stream: "They Called Me to The Window"
MPEG Stream: "My Life Has Stood - A Loaded Gun -"
MPEG Stream: "Only A Shrine, But Mine"
MPEG Stream: "I Could Bring You Jewels - Had I A Mind To-"
MPEG Stream: "Whoever Disenchants"

GAINSBOURG, CHARLOTTE IRM (Because / Elektra) 2lp 27.00
NOW ON VINYL!
The daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, recording an album written and produced by Beck. The sum of those parts makes for some pretty irresistible and seductive sounds. Of course it's not fair to identify Charlotte Gainsbourg just by her famous parents, as she has established herself as a multitalented force over the years, as a model, a singer and an actress. Her performances in films such as Michel Gondry's The Science Of Sleep, Todd Hayne's I'm Not There, and most recently the latest disturbing offering from Lars Von Trier, Antichrist, has definitely demonstrated the range and intensity that Gainsbourg is capable of bringing as an actress. We won't go too much into it, but if you haven't seen Antichrist, its one of the most intense and disturbing performances we've ever seen on the big screen. We mention all these acting roles because Gainsbourg's role in music in so many ways is as a vessel. Transporting someone else's vision and production and making it her own.
On her last album 5:55, she teamed up with Air who wrote and produced, the end result dreamy and blissed out sensuality. It somehow makes perfect sense that now Beck has taken the reins, as he no doubt been strongly influenced by Charlotte's lineage, as much of his music, stylistic breadth, and fashion choices over the years are undeniably heavily influenced by the legacy of Serge Gainsbourg.
While Beck's trademark sound can be heard quite prominently throughout the record, especially on the tracks on which his vocals dominate, it's the more languid and moody tracks that shine, where Gainsbourg really takes center stage and makes the record her own. There is something both dark and soothing about her aura and vocal delivery. With full and lush arrangements as a bed for her entrancing voice, Gainsbourg once again proves she is an enigmatic chanteuse who has carved out an identity that is all her own.
MPEG Stream: "IRM"
MPEG Stream: "Le Chat Du Café Des Artistes"
MPEG Stream: "Heaven Can Wait"
MPEG Stream: "Voyage"

GIFFONI, CARLOS AND HIVE MIND Clastrophobic Wreck (Ultra Eczema) lp 36.00
One hails from the rust belt of Michigan, fostering all sorts of sick tones through his Chondritic Sound imprint; and the other inflicts an acerbic noise through his internationally acclaimed No Fun Festival and the accompanying label No Fun Productions. Together, Hive Mind and Giffoni join forces for a rather misanthropic, grim, oppressive set of crunched noises and radioscopic synth throb.
Both tracks incrementally build up lurches of distortion that push out oozing rumbles of low-end and bristling amplifications of electrical static. Heavy synth with an industrial / power electronic mindset that's exactly where you expect Giffoni and Hive Mind to meet. Also see Broken Flag era Ramleh, Whitehouse, and Wolf Eyes. As with all Ultra Eczema titles, this sports a very nicely silkscreened cover. Only 300 copies in print. We will probably not be able to restock this!!!

GLITTER WIZARD Black Lotus / Witches Limbo (Sans Escape) 7" 6.50
Heard about this on Tom Lax's Siltblog, which is funny 'cause this band is from right here in our backyard, and are also not exactly shitgaze or whatever other noisy underground rock aesthetic we thought Siltbreeze was all about. Lax mentioned classic heavy psych/metal peeps for the ages like Deep Purple, Hawkwind, and Monster Magnet in his review and yep, all present and accounted for (if inebriated and high as fuck, no surprise) in GW's sound, to some extent. Super stoner retro rockin' here, well with retro sounds but not sounding like any actual old band that's for sure, A-side "Black Lotus" starts off all full of gobblin' space synth soundz, then begins pounding down the riffs like Sleep or something a bit later on, while on the flip, "Witch's Limbo", they keep on rockin', no not like Dokken but more like Danava (w/ all them synths) and Priestess and other current bands creating the past anew. Interestingly, the other tracks we've heard from 'em, on their MySpace, are way more overtly garagey punky, in a ? and the Mysterians, Lyres, mebbe even Stooges style, but here it seems they're heavy metalling it (the magazine and the music) a bit more. So, two cool tunes, and now we're put on notice to go see these glittering wizzes next time they play, we're especially curious to see if they get all glammed up live to go with their name. (AQ staffer Jon has seen 'em and sez they do!)

GODHEADSCOPE Threshold (Poet's Edition) (Meristem Music) cd-r + book 9.98
Second record we've had from Godheadscope, whose last release was on God Is Myth, and found this one man band attempting to conjure up a mysterious classical black ambience, described by the label as "Arvo Part conducting and arranging a performance by Corrupted", which was not all that far off the mark. This latest disc, however, is less heavy, and more atmospheric, with vocals, male and female, soaring strings, delicate piano, all woven into the minimal black ambient background, which makes for a delicate sort of blackened chamber music, quite cinematic, mournful and melancholy, hushed and expansive, long tones drift over lush strings and synths, the vocals dramatic, yet minimal, bass throbs dot the soundscape, streaks of glitch and electronic shimmer wrapped tenderly around sweetly sorrowful melodies, pointillist piano, there are some intense and brooding movements, but the record never explodes, instead opting to pulse and throb and smolder, and while the vocals do occasionally tread perilously close to cloying, dipping into some ethereal 4AD goth territory, they tend to be more hushed and whispered, adding an ominous element to a sound already haunting and otherworldly.
Originally released as a download only, we managed to get a small handful of the "Poet's Edition", which is a cd-r, bundled with an oversized hand assembled, numbered and signed book, featuring liner notes and, obviously, poems.
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "7"

HOT CHIP One Life Stand (Astralwerks) cd 14.98
We have to hand it to Hot Chip, they were one of the major forces to really reimagine and reconstruct indie-pop by mixing electronic and dance music with extremely earnest and fleshed out songwriting, to create music that not only gets stuck in your head immediately but holds up on repeated listens. While they helped open the gates for so many new groups who want to get your ass shaking, Hot Chip still really sit at the top of the class. They are as much informed by commercial pop music as they are more nuanced influences, bringing out the best of all the sounds that influence them. Unapologetically sincere, this is irony free, hearts on sleeves dance pop. The total charm of Hot Chip is how they are somehow so totally dorky yet super cool at the same time. We became bigger believers in them when we saw them live, totally owning the stage with their enthusiasm and energy, as a sold out Fillmore audience all totally lost it, dancing and jumping like crazy. It was such a sight to be seen. This is what New Order might sound like if they were produced by The Neptunes, or imagine Erasure, OMD and The Pet Shop Boys with Timberland behind the board.
One Life Stand has the high energy bangers that we've come to love, as well as a few slower emotional tunes that make us think they've been turned on to the classic sounds and songwriting of Boy George / The Culture Club. But it really is the more uptempo dance side of the band that we think is their strongest asset which luckily makes up the majority of the record.
MPEG Stream: "One Life Stand"
MPEG Stream: "We Have Love"
MPEG Stream: "I Feel Better"

MANIACS DREAM Turku Hold 'Em (Lal Lal Lal) cd 16.98
Yikes! No quiet forest folky revels here. Sure, last time we reviewed something by Finland's Maniacs Dream, an lp they did for HP Cycle a few years back, they were a sort of skronky psychedelic heavy freakout band, whose jams we likened to an unholy union of Faust and the Butthole Surfers. Well, on this disc they've gone a bit further down the freakout path. In fact, it seems like they set out to prove that Finnish peeps can make "Finnish noise" that's just as noisy as any Japanese noise. Turku Hold 'Em is just an all out assault on the ol' earholes, 68 and a half minutes of sheer feedbacking, crinking-cranking, screaming n' screeching N-O-I-S-E. Spread out over two long tracks with nary a respite, though sometimes the rumbling distortion will hold "steady" long enough to take the hardy listener into something of a drone trance zone. This happens more during track two (or maybe its that by track two, the listener is in a state of stunned submission anyway).
If this calorie-burning cavalade of chaos was by Japanese spasming noise outfit Incapacitants (subject of a recent 10cd box set), Allan here would buy this in a second. In fact, he's gonna buy it anyway. It's that good. And if good=noisy in your book, you might agree!
MPEG Stream: "track 1"
MPEG Stream: "track 2"

MV & EE Barn Nova (Ecstatic Peace) lp 16.98
Now available on vinyl!
So here's another psychedelic offering of mountain time, roots raga for the true trippers. Only this time the duo have turned their amps up to 11 and leave the acoustic guitars in the closet. Some of you might even be pleased to know J. Mascis holds down the heavy driving rhythm section on drums!! The east coastin' folksters don't veer too far from their past few Ecstatic Peace records, although Barn Nova does seem louder, bigger and more on the electrified country tip. Perhaps with the addition of Mr. Mascis the duo have crafted a more driving and more post-rock sound. "Wandering Nomad" is a perfect example of this more driving, pastoral hugeness, giant chords rip through the country air, vocal harmonies peer through the enveloping reverb, wailing guitar solos beam overhead. We can even catch some glimpses of some dissonant, Sonic Youth type jam outs, wailing feedback and chaos blistering into the red, so unlike anything else we've heard from these cats. So if you're even wondering whether buying another MV and EE album is a good idea, take our word for it and just do it for the Mascis.
MPEG Stream: "Feelin' Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Get Right Church"

ORCHESTRE POLY RYTHMO DE COTONOU Echos Hypnotiques: 1969-1979 (Analog Africa) 2lp 27.00
NOW ON VINYL!!
We nearly wore out our copies of the first volume of singles and jams from the amazing Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou, a previously little known but highly prolific Afro-beat group from the tiny western Africa country of Benin. Now they're one of our top favorite groups! The Analog Africa label was practically founded on their discovery and other groups who recorded for the Albarika Store Label and its elusive producer, Adissa Seidou. That discovery yielded enormous riches. Over 500 tracks from this legendary group in its many incarnations were unearthed, nearly half were recorded for the Albarika Store Label and this collection focuses on that period. The previous volume was a collection of singles from smaller labels that the band made on the sly while Seidou was out of town. All lo-fi recordings often only using one microphone for the singer as well as the band. The recordings on this collection were made with higher quality recording equipment, and while the songs here have less of that urgent funk made by a band on the run, they are much more composed, varied and altogether stranger. Some of this is in fact seriously nuts! Lots of fuzzed out and wah'd guitar, layers of distorted percussion, horns and spacey organs. Though there are tracks that continue the Voudon funk vibe of the first volume, tracks like "Noude Ma Gnin Tche De Me" bring some head-boppin' Go-Go garage stomp, while tracks like "Gan Tche Kpo" are mind-melting Afro-psych. Others have more Latin flavor similar in vibe to Konono No.1's infectious dance rhythms, which makes sense as the OPRDC are one of the featured groups on the latest Honest Jon's comp, Africa Boogaloo (reviewed elsewhere on this list) that traces the influence of Latin rhythms on West Africa. The Analog Africa Label has yet to disappoint, and if you liked any of the labels other releases, or are new to this group/label, right here is a fine place to start!!
MPEG Stream: "Azon De Ma Gnin Kpevi"
MPEG Stream: "Noude Ma Gnin Tche De Me"
MPEG Stream: "Gan Tche Kpo"
MPEG Stream: "Mede Ma Gnin Messe"

SIGH Scenes From Hell (The End) lp 16.98
NOW ALSO HERE ON VINYL!
Ready to return to the bizarre black metal (and beyond) world of Japan's Sigh? You'd better be, since that's where we're going, straight to, well, HELL. Hell for those who would prefer to listen to something simple and straightforward, that is! Scenes From Hell, Sigh's eighth studio full-length, is again an idiosyncratic mix of metallic symphonics and cartoonish chaos, complex and careening. If you liked both their last couple of albums, Gallows Gallery and Hangman's Hymn, you should be happy with this ('cause it's sorta like a blend of the two). In other words, it's for folks who like their metal ornate and over-stimulating. There's A LOT going on here. Piano, horns, thrash guitars, piano, classical string quartet, rasping vox, vocoder, even the sex appeal saxophone of new co-vocalist Dr. Mikannibal (not a medical doctor, she has a PhD in physics apparently). Whew! Sigh's unusual brand of orchestral metal is compositionally eccentric and utterly grandiose to say the least, like an over the top mash up of Cradle Of Filth, Carl Stalling, Ennio Morricone, Finntroll, Devil Doll, Arcturus, Dragonforce, Uz Jsme Doma, and Hammers Of Misfortune - or imagine a black metal Koenjihyakkei, if you can - it's THAT hyperactive, heavy and heretical. Not to mention, performed to perfection.
The eight busy tracks here race through twists and turns, sounding both vicious and mournful, cinematic and circus-y, and very very Japanese. Even when they've got a horn section tooting away more like an oompah band than black metal, it's still freakin' hellish. So dizzying we're STILL trying to take it all in, but this review should suffice for now...
Oh, but maybe we should mention the guest spoken word appearance by Current 93's David Tibet?! And there's also a vokill cameo by Kam Lee from '80s Florida death metal pioneers Mantas and Massacre. Huh, David Tibet and Kam Lee on the same album, wow.
MPEG Stream: "The Red Funeral"
MPEG Stream: "Musica In Tempora Belli"
MPEG Stream: "L'art De Mourir"

SPACE VACATION / THE AMPLIFIERS split (Champagne and Cocaine) 7" 4.98
See our review of the Space Vacation's s/t cd-r to see why you should pick this up! One of our fave tracks from that disc pressed to vinyl, on one side of this split single with a rockin' LA band we know nothin' about.

SUBARACHNOID SPACE Eight Bells (Strange Attractors) lp 22.00
Now available on vinyl!
Back in the old days, when space rock heavies SubArachnoid Space called SF home, we sort of took them for granted, they played all the time, and opened for pretty much every cool band that came to town, so without trying, it was easy to end up seeing them play every week or two. But then two things happened. They moved away, so suddenly they weren't ever playing around town, and second, and maybe more importantly, they started to get heavier, and more fucked up, and way more metal, which made us want to see them so we could check out the new, more heavy SubSpace.
But we've been keeping tabs on them through recordings, 2005's The Red Veil was the last one we reviewed, and even back then, we were already talking about them appealing to fans of Kinski and Yeti and Tarantula Hawk, and if anything in the 3 years since, they've gotten way spacier and way heavier, and this is the proof, Eight Bells, released on weirdo heavy label Crucial Blast, and it's a pretty good fit, 5 songs, the shortest a little over 5 minutes, the longest well over 13, every one a tripped out Hawkwinded blow out, effects drenched and psychedelic, propulsive and super rocking, epic and intense, the guitars thick and distorted, the arrangements pretty complex and intricate for space rock, none of that jam at the same tempo for 10 minutes (not that there's anything wrong with that) but it definitely keeps things interesting, and in fact, if we had to classify the new SubSpace, we'd probably call it metallic space prog, which is obviously a good thing.
"Hunter Seeker" starts off all eighties Big Country style, with a cool effected stuttery guitar part, before the rest of the band launches into a woozy doomy dirge, and over the course of the next 12 minutes, flits from spaced out dreamy ambience, to chugging almost metal, to soaring Godspeed like drama, to full on noise rock. The last three tracks find the band slipping from droney drift to dense psychedelic blowout to pounding space/math rock and back again, culminating in the super frenzied explosive last couple minutes that has us imagining how good this stuff must sound live these days.
Produced by Stephen Ray Lobdell (Faust, Davis Redford Triad), who's now a SubArachoid member weirdly enough! And it boasts cool Stephen Kasner cover art...
MPEG Stream: "Lilith"
MPEG Stream: "Hunter Seeker"

SUN RA Disco 3000 (Kindred Spirits) lp 24.00
Now available on vinyl!
Hard to resist a Sun Ra record with a title like that, eh? And drum machine, too! The late, great, interplanetary legend of Afro-cosmic jazz and his band recorded this newly reissued album live on planet Earth (precise location: Milan, Italy) back in 1978, at the height of disco fever. But of course it ain't really disco!! Instead it's far out free jazz grooviness, full of futuristic synth freakouts and even tinny, metronomic drum machine shuffle. All of which you'll find on the worth the price of admission alone 26 minute title track, which also incorporates the Arkestra's signature "Space Is The Place" chant at one point. Nor does this set stint on screaming horns and energetic battery. Or for that matter mellow, melodic moodiness. Highlights are many, among them the gurgling chaos and solar sax blurt of "Sun Of The Cosmos", and the eerie, glistening, jittering "Dance Of The Cosmo Aliens".
Featuring the lineup of John Gilmore (tenor sax, drums, vocals), June Tyson (vocals), Michael Ray (trumpet, vocals), Luqman Ali (drums, vocals) and last but not least Sun Ra himself (piano, organ, Moog synth, rhythm machine, vocals), this vinyl reissue of Disco 3000 is definitely cause for rejoicing amongst Sun Ra (and cosmo alien) fans.
MPEG Stream: "Disco 3000"
MPEG Stream: "Dance Of The Cosmo Aliens"

TERRORIZER issue #192 magazine 9.25
Emperor mastermind Ishahn is on the cover of this issue of the UK's top extreme metal magazine, promoting his new solo album... which is funny 'cause lately, with his beard and glasses, he's looking a lot like Eric Clapton!
This issue also contains Terrorizer's picks for the Top 40 Albums of the Year, 2009, and the Readers' Poll results for 2009 as well, along with a 2010 preview of what's coming up that might be good...
Also stuffed into this issue: Katatonia (being played mystery records a la The Wire's "Invisible Jukebox"), Overkill, Azaghal, Von, Rotting Christ, a label profile on Season Of Mist, a 3-page report from the Nuclear War Now! festival in Berlin, and more, including all the usual news and reviews and stuff. But, this issue (the ones we got) didn't include the usual sampler cd. Ah well. However, this ish does come with a free gothic mini-magazine bound in the center...

VIRUS The Black Flux (Dark Side) picture disc lp 17.98
Now available on vinyl! And it's a swank picture disc to boot!
Carl-Michael Eide, aka Czral, of the illustrious Ved Buens Ende is back, with a 2nd Virus album, the band which continues the eccentric, eerily dissonant, darkly psychedelic sound once unique to VBE. And being back is pretty big deal, 'cause Carl-Michael very nearly died three years ago from a 4-story fall! Thankfully, he's recovered enough to mastermind this excellent Virus disc and also participate (under his guise of Aggressor) in the making of a new Aura Noir album too (also reviewed this list).
The late great VBE actually only made one proper album (1995's Written In Waters, sadly again out of print) plus a demos disc. At the time, we compared 'em to Slint, Don Caballero and Voivod - but somehow also black metal. Taking up where VBE left off, Virus in 2003 released the even quirkier Carheart album, that added extra electronic elements and a more prominent role for the bass, leading some to cite Talking Heads (!) and The Birthday Party as further-from-black-metal influences on their sound. And there's no denying that this ISN'T your usual black metal, or maybe black metal at all. With 'jazzy' bits, deep voiced vocal speak-singing, no wave grooves, and some vaguely techno-ish drum beats. But we'd say this one sounds more like old VBE than Carheart did, maybe 'cause some of these songs were originally written for an abortive VBE reunion attempt, heavier and less "pop", the guitars "smeary-er".
Regardless, even if VBE means nothing to you (yet), this new Virus is highly recommended for adventurous metal and non-metal listeners both, who'll appreciate its sonic similarities to Ulver and Arcturus, This Heat and the Swans... can you imagine a mathrock Amesoeurs perhaps, with Garm or Gira on vocals? It's dark metallic art rock with weird atmospheres, redolent of claustophobia and vertigo. Twisting, seasick and sinuous - not for everyone at all - but utterly compelling if you've caught the Virus.
MPEG Stream: "As Virulent As You"
MPEG Stream: "The Black Flux"
MPEG Stream: "Lost Peacocks"

VOLTAIC OMEN P.A.W. (self released) 3"cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ok, weirdo black metal obsessives, this is about as KVLT as it gets. Two songs, exclusive to this release, from reclusive, outsider black metal one man band Voltaic Omen, whose past releases we've gone nuts for in the past, not to mention a rumored eventual release on tUMULt, wrapped in textured linen like cloth, held together with a wax seal, the VO logo hand drawn on the cover, and LIMITED TO TEN COPIES. ONLY TEN COPIES!! Each one hand numbered. We've already sold a couple, still time to snag one of these, but trust us, if you want one, you better be quick...






----*
----* Compilations :
----*

V/A Steppas' Delight 2 Volume 1 (Soul Jazz) 3lp 27.00
Finally got this on vinyl! This is part one...
The first Steppa's Delight dubstep comp on Soul Jazz totally knocked our socks off. We're so desperate for new dubstep and grime all the time, and we have such limited access to limited 12"s and white label dubplates, that we anxiously await the release of comps, hoping they'll compile some of the best jams, and usually offer up a bunch of new tracks as well.
Since the last Steppa's Delight comp though, a funny thing happened, dubstep continued to mutate and transform and is now something totally different than it was 18 months ago. The core sounds and structure remains the same, THAT beat, and THAT groove, the deep wobbly bass, but the sounds aren't so dark, or sinister, instead, the sound of dubstep has gotten a bit dancier, looking back to jungle and even house, incorporating more melody, more vocals, the sound almost more electro, with buzzy synths wrapped around that rumbling wobble. That said, there's still some darkness lurking in the grooves, and as much as we dig almost everything here, we can't help but lean toward those darker jams, Kutz's "Hardbody" is buzzy and bleak and ominous, "Purple City" by Joker & Ginz starts out all skittery and dancey, but then explodes with some of the fiercest most distorted bass on the comp.
A bunch of the tracks are super stripped down and skeletal, reminding us of some of the Skull Disco 12"s, all barebones and minimal, and some of the tracks are super atmospheric and ethereal. Killer stuff for sure, but be warned, if you're looking for stuff like Kode9 or Burial, you won't find much of that here, but if you're looking for big stuttery beats, thick throbbing bass synth wobble and can't get enough of that dubstep 'step, then this should definitely hold you over until the next comp...
MPEG Stream: JOKER & GINZ "Purple City"
MPEG Stream: SULLY SHANKS "Give Me Up (LD Remix)"
MPEG Stream: KUTZ "Hard Body"

V/A Steppas' Delight 2 Volume 2 (Soul Jazz) 3lp 27.00
Finally got this on vinyl! This is part two...
The first Steppa's Delight dubstep comp on Soul Jazz totally knocked our socks off. We're so desperate for new dubstep and grime all the time, and we have such limited access to limited 12"s and white label dubplates, that we anxiously await the release of comps, hoping they'll compile some of the best jams, and usually offer up a bunch of new tracks as well.
Since the last Steppa's Delight comp though, a funny thing happened, dubstep continued to mutate and transform and is now something totally different than it was 18 months ago. The core sounds and structure remains the same, THAT beat, and THAT groove, the deep wobbly bass, but the sounds aren't so dark, or sinister, instead, the sound of dubstep has gotten a bit dancier, looking back to jungle and even house, incorporating more melody, more vocals, the sound almost more electro, with buzzy synths wrapped around that rumbling wobble. That said, there's still some darkness lurking in the grooves, and as much as we dig almost everything here, we can't help but lean toward those darker jams, Kutz's "Hardbody" is buzzy and bleak and ominous, "Purple City" by Joker & Ginz starts out all skittery and dancey, but then explodes with some of the fiercest most distorted bass on the comp.
A bunch of the tracks are super stripped down and skeletal, reminding us of some of the Skull Disco 12"s, all barebones and minimal, and some of the tracks are super atmospheric and ethereal. Killer stuff for sure, but be warned, if you're looking for stuff like Kode9 or Burial, you won't find much of that here, but if you're looking for big stuttery beats, thick throbbing bass synth wobble and can't get enough of that dubstep 'step, then this should definitely hold you over until the next comp...
MPEG Stream: JOKER & GINZ "Purple City"
MPEG Stream: SULLY SHANKS "Give Me Up (LD Remix)"
MPEG Stream: KUTZ "Hard Body"

----*
----* 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!

AFRICAN HEAD CHARGE "Songs Of Praise" (On-U Sound / Cargo) cd 17.98
AMANAZ "Africa" (Normal) cd 16.98
ARCHITEUTHIS REX "Dark As The Sea" (Utech) cd 14.98
ART MUSEUMS "Rough Frame" (Woodsist) cd/lp 13.98/14.98
BARE WIRES "Young Love Keep Your Cool" (Southpaw) 7" 6.98
BEAUTIFUL LOSERS, THE "Nobody Knows The Heaven" (Lion Productions) cd 16.98
BLACK BREATH "Razor To Oblivion" (Southern Lord) cd 12.98
BLACK BUG "s/t" (FDH) lp 14.98
BLACK OATH "s/t" (Subject To Suffering) cdep 9.98
BLUE CHEER "Outsideinside" (Sundazed) lp 21.00
BLUE CHEER "Vincebus Eruptum" (Sundazed) lp 21.00
BROKEN CONSORT, A "Crow Autumn" (Tompkins Square) cd/lp 14.98/14.98
CAPTAIN BEYOND "Captain Beyond & Sufficiently Breathless" (Raven) cd 22.00
CASPA "Everybody's Talking, Nobody's Listening!" (Fabric) cd 11.98
CHERRY, DON "Brown Rice" (A&M) cd 17.98
CROMAGNON "Cave Rock (aka Orgasm)" (Jackpot) lp 19.98
DAVIS, NATHAN "Best Of: '65-'76" (Jazzman) cd 17.98
DEADNOTES "Orange Trumpet" (Soft Abuse) lp 14.98
DILWORTH, DIANNA "Mellodrama - The Mellotron Movie" (Bazillion Points) dvd 24.00
ESPVALL, HELENA & MASAKI BATOH "Overloaded Ark" (Drag City) cd/lp 14.98/21.00
FAY, BILL "Still Some Light" (Coptic Cat) 2cd 15.98
FESTERED "Flesh Perversion" (Razorback) cd 10.98
FLY GIRLZ, THE "Da' Brats From Da' Ville" (True Panther Sounds) cd/lp 14.98/16.98
FUQUGI "Gransofa + Nightingale" (Plop) cd 17.98
GOSTA BERLINGS SAGA "Detta Har Hant" (Transubstans) cd 15.98
GUNGE "Feel It" (Frantic) cd 17.98
HEADHUNTERS "Survival Of The Fittest" (Arista) lp 13.98
HELVETETS PORT "Exodus To Hell" (Pure Steel) cd 14.98
LANDSCAPE "From The Tea-Rooms Of Mars .... To The Hell-Holes Of Uranus" (Cherry Red) cd 16.98
LITMUS "Aurora" (Metal Blade / Rise Above) cd 14.98
LOS CAMPESINOS "Romance Is Boring" (Arts & Crafts) cd 14.98
MAJOR STARS "Return To Form" (Drag City) cd/lp 14.98/15.98
MIDLAKE "The Courage Of Others" (Bella Union) cd 13.98
MOEBIUS "Blotch" (Nepenthe) cd 14.98
NOTHING, CHARLIE "The Psychedelic Saxophone" (No Label) lp 17.98
PEARSON, EWAN "We Are Proud Of Our Choices" (Kompakt) cd 15.98
PEEESSEYE & TALIBAM! "s/t" (Invada) cd 12.98
POLLARD, ROBERT "We All Got Out Of The Army" (Guided By Voices, Inc) cd/lp 14.98/15.98
PRIESTESS "Prior To The Fire" (Tee Pee) cd 15.98
QUEENADREENA "Djin" (self-released) cd 16.98
RATTO, MIKA "Polkupyoralla Vuokkopenkereelle" (Ektro) cd 14.98
ROEDELIUS "Oftern Turen" (Nepenthe) cd 14.98
SAFT, JAMIE "Black Shabbis" (Tzadik) cd 16.98
SAINT VITUS "Heavier Than Thou" (SST) 2lp 14.98
SAINT VITUS "Mournful Cries" (SST) lp 12.98
SHINING "Blackjazz" (Indie Recordings / The End) cd 14.98
SOCIETY OF ROCKETS, THE "Future Factory" (Underpop) 2lp 19.98
SPEED, GLUE & SHINKI "Eve" (Phoenix) lp 24.00
SUN RA AND HIS MYTH SCIENCE SOLAR ARKESTRA "The Antique Blacks" (Art Yard) cd 21.00
SURFER BLOOD "Astro Coast" (Kanine) cd 13.98
SWALLOW THE SUN "New Moon" (Spinefarm) cd 13.98
SWITCHBLADE "s/t" (Trust No One) cd 18.98
TANGERINE DREAM "Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares" (Lilith) lp 26.00
TAPE & BILL WELLS "Fugue" (Immune) lp 16.98
TRANS AM "What Day Is It Tonight : Live 1993-2007" (Thrill Jockey) 2lp 21.00
U.S. GIRLS "Go Grey" (Siltbreeze) lp 14.98
URAL UMBO "s/t" (Utech) cd 14.98
V/A "Brazillian Guitar Fuzz Bananas" (Tropicalia In Furs) cd 16.98
V/A "Casual Victim Pile: Austin 2010" (Matador) cd 11.98
V/A "Casual Victim Pile: Austin 2019" (Matador) lp 16.98
V/A "In A Cloud: New Sounds From San Francisco" (Secret Seven) lp 14.98
V/A "Maximum Freakbeat" (Past & Present) cd 17.98
V/A "Maximum Prog" (Past & Present) cd 17.98
V/A "Mutant Disco Volume 3: Garage Sale" (Ze) cd 16.98
V/A "Psych Bites: Volume One" (Past & Present) cd 17.98
VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR "Time Vaults" (Abstract Sounds) cd 13.98
VHS HEAD "Video Club" (Skam) cd 9.98
VOIVOD "Infini" (Relapse) cd 14.98
WHILE HEAVEN WEPT "Vast Oceans Lachrymose" (Cruz Del Sur) cd 16.98
WOLFBANE "s/t" (Shadow Kingdom Records) cd 14.98
YELLOW SWANS "Going Places" (Type) lp + cd 23.00

_______________________________________________________________________

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.


NEW DOMESTIC SHIPPING RATES :
--------------------------------
STANDARD (DEFAULT):

    1 CD (or cassette or DVD or 7") : $2.95 USPS First Class                                                                                               

    1-3 CD (or cassette or DVD, but not 7"s) : $4.95 USPS Priority Mail via flat rate box                                                          

    4+ CD, or any package with LPs in it (also books & box sets), any number of items: $9.95 UPS Ground    
     
Also, please note that UPS will not ship to PO Boxes, so those packages that would have gone UPS will be sent USPS Priority for $9.95,
or you may select  USPS Media Mail instead, see below.

UPS shipments are automatically trackable and include insurance up to $100.        
USPS shipments (First Class, Priority, and Media Mail) are all automatically trackable.

OR, you can choose instead to have your order shipped by MEDIA MAIL:

    1-3 items (i.e. w/ LPs) : $5.95 USPS Media Mail 

    4+ items : $7.95 USPS Media Mail


Special shipping needs (e.g. UPS Next Day) are also doable, just ask for a quote.
Also, if you are just getting 1 item that would therefore ship USPS First Class, and for some reason you would rather have it sent Priority, then you could say so in the comments field. (Note: however, 7"s are too big for the Priority flat rate boxes.)

NOTE: UPS permits their drivers to determine if there is a secure location at the shipping address to leave the package if no one is there to receive it (unfortunately some are less cautious than others!). If you'd prefer that they not do this or if you have specific instructions for the driver, please include a note in the comments section of your weborder form.

PLEASE DOUBLE CHECK SHIPPING ADDRESSES BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR ORDER. Aquarius is not responsible for orders delayed or returned due to incorrect or undeliverable addresses provided by the customer. Returned packages will be reshipped at the customer's expense.

Shipping rates are charged per shipment.


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, but only in $USD. International customers please note that they must be international postal money orders purchased at a post office. Additional processing fees may apply. 

If you wish to pay by money order, you must confirm the order with us through email or phone BEFORE you send any payment. It's best to just use the secure order form on the website, and when checking out mark money order as your payment choice. We will then process your order and respond with all the crucial payment info.

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.

Unfortunately, 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 right now, here real soon
Black Boned Angel "The Witch Must Be Killed" lp on Conspiracy
Saint Vitus "Die Healing" 2lp vinyl reissue on Buried By Time And Dust
Bleak House "Suspended Animation" cd/lp reissue on Buried By Time And Dust
Bohren & Der Club Of Gore "Dolores" domestic vinyl 2lp on Hydra Head
Lustmord "Transmuted" 12" on Hydra Head
Bohemian Grove "Age Of Retrogression" cd on Hyperblasted
Eternal Tapestry "Altar Of Grass" cd-r on Hyperblasted
Stickem "This Thing Is On" 7" w/ Beem remix on Titched (skweee!)
Sigh "Scenes From Hell" lp version on The End
Shining "Blackjazz" lp version

----} February 16th
Excepter "Presidence" cd on Paw Tracks
Giant Drag "Swan Song" cd
Vasaeleth "Crypt Born and Tethered To Ruin" cd on Profound Lore"

----} February 23rd
Jack Rose "Luck In The Valley" cd/lp on Thrill Jockey
White Hills "s/t" cd/lp on Thrill Jockey
High On Fire "Snakes For The Divine" cd/lp on Koch
Saint Vitus "Hallows Victim" 12" reissue on SST
Joanna Newsom "Have One On Me" 3cd/3lp on Drag City

----} also in February
Xiu Xiu "Dear God I Hate Myself" cd on Kill Rock Stars
v/a "Stroke: Songs For Chris Knox" 2cd on Merge
Quasi "American Gong" on Kill Rock Stars
Fenn 'O' Berg "In Stereo" cd / 2lp on Editions Mego
v/a "Good God: Born Again Funk" lp version on Numero

----} March 2nd
Ludicra "Tenant" cd on Profound Lore

----} March 16th
v/a "Troubled Troubadours" cd on Omni
Billy Edd Wheeler "A Big Bag Of Songs" cd reissue on Omni
Pyramids w/ Nadja "Lustmord / Ulver Remix" 12" on Hydra Head

----} March 23rd
Wooden Shjips "Vol. 2" cd/lp
v/a "The T.A.M.I. Show" dvd
Michael Yonkers "Lovely Gold" lp on Drag City

----} March 30th
Omar Khorshid "Guitar El Chark (Guitar of the Orient)" lp on Sublime Frequencies

----} also in March
Burzum "Belus" cd/lp
Expo 70 "Sonic Messenger" and "Black Ohms" vinyl editions on Beta-lactam Ring

----} April
Daniel Higgs "Say God" 2cd/2lp on Thrill Jockey
Mi Ami "Steal Your Face" cd/lp on Thrill Jockey
Trans Am "Thing" cd/lp on Thrill Jockey

----} also upcoming sooner or later or sooner or later or whenever
Michael Hurley "Hi Fi Snock Uptown" lp reissue on Mississippi
Gunslingers "Manifesto Zero" cd/lp on World In Sound
Jean-Pierre Massiera "Horrific Child" cd/lp reissue on Finders Keepers
The Sticks "s/t" cd/2x7" on Upset The Rhythm
Loveliescrushing "Crwth (Chorus Redux)" cd on Line
Alva Noto "For 2" cd on Line
Hellvette "De Gek" lp on K-raa-k
The Afternoon Saints "The Shirley Jangle" 2lp on K-raa-k
Xasthur "2005 Demo" 12" reissue on Hydra Head
Harvey Milk "s/t" vinyl edition on Hydra Head
Torche / Boris "Chapter Ahead Being Fake" split 10" on Hydra Head
Kreidler "Mosaik 2014" lp+cd on Italic
Double Dagger "Masks" cd/12" on Thrill Jockey
M. Holterbach & Julia Eckhardt "Do-Undo" cd on Helen Scarsdale
Flying Lotus "Cosmograma"
Silver Mt. Zion "Kollaps Tradixionales"
Rogue Wave "Permalight"
Liars "Sisterworld" cd on Mute
She & Him "Volume Two" cd on Merge
Jonsi Birgisson "Go" cd on XL
Andrew Chalk "The Cable House" cd on Faraway Press
Alps "Le Voyage" cd/lp on Type
Grasslung "Feeding Your Horizon" on Root Strata
Jim Haynes "Rocks. Hills. Plains" on Root Strata
Nurse With Wound "Skrag" cd on United Dairies
Nurse With Wound "Space Music" 2lp on Beta-Lactam Ring
Jonathan Coleclough "Flutter" 2cd-r on October
Johann Johannsson "And In The Endless Pause" cd/lp on Type
Loscil "Endless Falls" cd/2lp on Kranky
Jonas Reinhardt "Powers Of Audition" cd/lp on Kranky
Urgehal "Ikonoklast"
BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa "Space Finale C90" cassette on Editions Mego
Dock Boggs "When My Worldly Trials" lp on Monk
Jay Reatard "Blood Visions" lp on Fat Possum
King Khan & BBQ Show "Invisible Girl" cd/lp on In The Red
Felix "You Are The One I Pick" cd on Kranky
Papercuts "Where Are The Waves" cd on Gnomonsong
The Roots "How I Got Over" cd
Max Richter "Memory House" cd
Celestiial "Where Life Springs Eternal" cd on Bindrune
Blood Of The Black Owl "A Banishing Ritual" cd on Bindrune
Crispy Ambulance "Plateau Phase" cd reissue on LTM
Ocean "Pantheon Of The Lesser" 2lp version on Important
Grumbling Fur (Guapo + Jussi from Circle) cd
Combat Astronomy "Earth Divided by Zero" cd
Anton Batagov "Passionate Desire To Be An Angel" cd on Long Arms Records
Japancakes "If I Could See Dallas"
Jazzfinger "The Sun's Golden Blood" cd on Beta-Lactam Ring
v/a "Noise Room" cd on Soniq
Country Teasers / Ezee Tiger split lp on Holy Mountain
Erase Errata TBA cd on Kill Rock Stars
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists TBA cd/lp on Touch And Go
Rodan TBA cd/lp on Quarterstick
Deftones "Eros" cd on Warner Bros.
Swell Maps "International Rescue" clear vinyl LP reissue on Alive
Loss "Despond" cd on Profound Lore
Trans Am "What Day Is Tonight" cd on Thrill Jockey
Boduf Songs "Strait Gait" cd/lp on Latitudes

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Lots of love from your devoted AQ staff

Andee Cup Jim AllanIrwinScottNickSallyJonandAndrew