RAMLEH Hole In The Heart (Dirter) 2cd 23.00
Most folks probably know Ramleh mostly for their connection to sonic contemporaries and brothers in noise Skullflower, both having emerged from the same scene and both having released records on the infamous Broken Flag label (run by Gary Mundy, the main man of Ramleh). But Ramleh was always its own unique beast, a constantly evolving sonic terror, beginning life as a power electronics combo, before blossoming into something more in line with what might be called noise rock. But the line that marked that shift was never clearly delineated, with elements of pre- and post- bleeding both ways, infusing the group's sound with strange elements that definitely made Ramleh stand out amongst their noisy contemporaries.
Hole In The Heart was originally released on Broken Flag as a super limited cassette, in 1987, and is here fleshed out with extra sounds culled from a cassette release called Nerve released the same year, and listening to this again now, we're reminded how ridiculously prescient the sound of Ramleh was, predicting sounds that are all the rage now, from glacial downtuned dirgery a la SUNNO))), to tripped out druggy ambient free noise (about a million floorcore bands), strange post industrial dirgescapes (Wolf Eyes?), to blown out industrial metallic crunch (about a million more bands), it's a sound that is definitely of its time, but also sounds like it could be some super limited microlabel cd-r release of today.
Opener "Bite The Bolster", is all slow smoldering drones, distant shimmer, processed ghostly vocals, lo-fi for sure but lush and strangely dramatic and lovely, leading straight into "Do Not Come Near" that does SUNNO))) better than SUNNO))) themselves twenty-odd years earlier, a heaving, grinding crumbling mass of gnarled buzz, laced with streaks of feedback, buried melodies, muted pulses, fractured almost-rhythms, some of it sounds downright dubby, albeit blown out and noise drenched, hypnotic and washed out and crushing.
Which is then followed by the epic 25 minute, 6 part "Redcap", a sprawling multi movement noise jam, which begins with a weird bleated doomic plod, only to explode into a squall of swirling whirling hiss and buzz, distorted vox, and wild tangled feedback, not that far removed from Our Love Will Destroy The World or Birchville Cat Motel. Loops, and haunting melodies, the track lurches and lumbers, slipping from all out assault, to dark stuttery drift and back again. Part three is a massive slowed down metallic dirge, processed vocals stretched out into a grinding drone, while the (surprisingly catchy) main riff pulses in the background, eventually splintering into angular loops, topped by a soaring super distorted psych guitar wail. The next part falls somewhere between Godflesh and Wolf Eyes, a crushing synth flecked distortion drenched plod, with billows of echoey vox, a motorik pulse at its core, doomy, but also sort of blissed out. A brief burst of twisted tweaked riffage and what wounds like pipe fights and broken glass, opens up into the final part, beginning with a churning muted loop, and shards of effected feedback, sounding a bit like an industrial WOLD, this muddy musicbox sort of looped melody happening way down in the mix, while a soft cacophony of high end and swooping distorted vox careen and collide in the space above, at first it sounds like a sort of abstract free noise freakout, but the vocals get more and more melodic, and the song takes a new shape a twisted bit of depressive noise pop, a bit like the Dead C, before blinking out.
"Spear Flowers" begins as a gnarled tangle of super distorted riffs, again weirdly melodic, swirling and collapsing inward, eventually transforming into a looped hypnotic drug jam, repeated mantra like vocals, crunching grinding electronics, buzz all over the place, loads of feedback, totally mesmerizing, and again, sounding like it could be from today.
"Hole In The Heart" is total in-the-red ramshackle pop infused noise rock, like a heavier, more lush Dead C, the main melody sweet and catchy, but slowed down and buried in hiss and buzz, lilting and dreamy for all its abject aggression. "Product Of Fear" is a gorgeous guitarscape, layered buzz, washed out glimmering warmth, humid and haunting, and really really pretty, which leads you softly into "Grazing On Fear 2" which is also pretty, in its own way", but is also a cacophonous blow out, twisted atonal organ, and churning distorted white noise, eventually lurching into a cool skipping, stuttery outro. And finally, the nearly 25 minute "True Religion", an expansive soundscape of processed guitars that again is strangely pretty, very much in the vein of Jesu or Nadja, the guitars blown way out, but the melody is lilting and melancholy, a sort of soft doom, but wrapped in muted crunch and crumbling buzz, before slipping into a strange fractured interlude, before emerging on the other side some sort of slow motion noise pop dirge, epic and triumphant, finishing off in an explosion of grinding white hot / black hole skree.
Absolutely essential for pretty much everybody, but specifically, folks into Nadja and Jesu and SUNNO))) and Wolf Eyes and Skullflower, and anybody who likes super heavy droned out noise, pop infused shoegaze industrial metal bliss out, and crushing power electronic dreamdronedirge. Reissue of the year so far, hands down.
MPEG Stream: "Bite The Bolster"
MPEG Stream: "Do Not Come Near"
MPEG Stream: "Redcap Part II"

FOREST SWORDS Dagger Paths (Olde English Spelling Bee) lp 17.98
It was only a matter of time. If Forest Swords hadn't done it, someone definitely would have, but hard to imagine it could have sounded as good as this. DRONESTEP. That's what they call it. A fusion of dark post-rock ambient drone music and skittery spaced out dubstep. Warm languid guitars, brooding atmospheres, and laid back downtempo grooves. In the wrong hands it definitely could have been lame, but Forest Swords nailed it, the result so organic and warm and mesmerizing, odds are the last thing you'll be thinking about is what to call it. Instead you can just sit back, and let these lush droned out grooves carry you off.
Had this not been on Olde English Spelling Bee, it certainly wouldn't have been out of place on some upstart dubstep 12" label, it definitely has the same sort of lugubrious soporific feel as Burial or Kode9, murky, washed out, muted, muddy and bass heavy, but instead of being sample based, guitars unwind, spidery melodies all tangled up in clouds of hazy reverb, vocals drift in and out all spectral and ethereal, in fact if anything, it's like some awesome, nineties slowcore jam, Codeine, or Seam, or someone like that, remixed by Portishead, transformed into a different kind of slowcore, a bleak, moonlit, forest dancefloor slowcore, everything bathed in dark blues and soft blacks, smokey and gauzy, the beats skeletal and minimal, the guitars chiming, glistening and glimmering, the bass, rumbling and throbbing, a rib cage rattling hum, samples woven into the mix, but doused in effects, so vocals becomes little swirling clouds of truncated melody, and melodies drift heavenward like wisps of grey smoke. Every track here is a smoldering late night blur, a bleary ear-ed slither and skitter through some soft focus soundscape, dreamlike and hypnotic.
Gorgeously dark, otherworldly, warmly mysterious, and darn close to being our favorite new record this year...
Comes with a download coupon as well...

NICE FACE Immer Etwas (Sacred Bones) cd 13.98
Seems like Sacred Bones can do no wrong. The last year they've given us records from Gary War, Blank Dogs, Zola Jesus, Cultural Decay, 13th Chime, Moon Duo, Carl Simmons, and Vermillion Sands, and now Nice Face, aka Ian Magee, who definitely fits right in with the current movement of lo-fi garage pop weirdness, a la Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Blank Dogs, etc, but Nice Face is a much more twisted affair. Not sure how we missed out on this guy until now, this is in fact a collection of previously released jams, originally released on three different labels, including two on Sacred Bones, hardly matters, what matters is we have em now, and they have been totally kicking our asses.
Falling somewhere between former aQ Record Of The Weekers Night Control AND former aQ Record Of The Weekers Blank Dogs, it seemed sort of inevitable that we would fall in love with Nice Face as well, short sharp blasts of crunchy, synth laced, home brewed, cold wave flecked garage pop, super catchy, but plenty twisted, and beyond the more contemporary influences, we hear plenty of classic power pop, old new wave, old school punk rock, all tweaked and twisted into this right here. We could go song by song and describe every one, they all rule, but we'll just pick out a few of our favorites which should definitely give you a feel for the weirdo damaged pop world of Nice Face.
"Decipher" is a haunting synth heavy instrumental, with a KILLER hook, the whole track swirly and subtly warped, that sounds like one of the best songs Blank Dogs never released. "I Want Your Damage" is a spacey pop gem, with super delayed vocals, and a Tesltars main melody, lots of effects, weird synth melodies, imagine if Joe Meek were alive today, this is the sort of thing he'd be whipping up in his apartment home studio. "A Minor Altercation" is classic eighties power pop and sounds like it was yanked right off one of those Yellow Pills comps, "A Gaping Gash" is like a lo-fi reimagining of that Depeche Mode / Gary Numan collaboration that never really happened. "Beater" is a blasting garage rock blow out, that does Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall one better, with fuzzy synths, another killer hook, gothy and new wave-y, not to mention the retarded, freaked out synth solo WAY up in the mix. "Had To Let You Know" is another total eighties new wave jam, minor key and mysterious, super reverbed and groovy, sounds almost like the Stooges filtered through Joy Division and Gary Numan. And on and on it goes. How does this guy do it. Every song is insanely catchy, but totally different than the one that came before it, and even though the songs are all over the map, and this is a collection of tracks from different releases, it totally flows, and plays perfectly, like somehow, it was meant to be what it is, a single perfect fucked up outsider pop record. So rad.
MPEG Stream: "Decipher"
MPEG Stream: "I Want Your Damage"
MPEG Stream: "A Minor Altercation"
MPEG Stream: "A Gaping Gash"
MPEG Stream: "Invective"

NICE FACE Immer Etwas (Sacred Bones) lp 16.98
Seems like Sacred Bones can do no wrong. The last year they've given us records from Gary War, Blank Dogs, Zola Jesus, Cultural Decay, 13th Chime, Moon Duo, Carl Simmons, and Vermillion Sands, and now Nice Face, aka Ian Magee, who definitely fits right in with the current movement of lo-fi garage pop weirdness, a la Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Blank Dogs, etc, but Nice Face is a much more twisted affair. Not sure how we missed out on this guy until now, this is in fact a collection of previously released jams, originally released on three different labels, including two on Sacred Bones, hardly matters, what matters is we have em now, and they have been totally kicking our asses.
Falling somewhere between former aQ Record Of The Weekers Night Control AND former aQ Record Of The Weekers Blank Dogs, it seemed sort of inevitable that we would fall in love with Nice Face as well, short sharp blasts of crunchy, synth laced, home brewed, cold wave flecked garage pop, super catchy, but plenty twisted, and beyond the more contemporary influences, we hear plenty of classic power pop, old new wave, old school punk rock, all tweaked and twisted into this right here. We could go song by song and describe every one, they all rule, but we'll just pick out a few of our favorites which should definitely give you a feel for the weirdo damaged pop world of Nice Face.
"Decipher" is a haunting synth heavy instrumental, with a KILLER hook, the whole track swirly and subtly warped, that sounds like one of the best songs Blank Dogs never released. "I Want Your Damage" is a spacey pop gem, with super delayed vocals, and a Tesltars main melody, lots of effects, weird synth melodies, imagine if Joe Meek were alive today, this is the sort of thing he'd be whipping up in his apartment home studio. "A Minor Altercation" is classic eighties power pop and sounds like it was yanked right off one of those Yellow Pills comps, "A Gaping Gash" is like a lo-fi reimagining of that Depeche Mode / Gary Numan collaboration that never really happened. "Beater" is a blasting garage rock blow out, that does Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall one better, with fuzzy synths, another killer hook, gothy and new wave-y, not to mention the retarded, freaked out synth solo WAY up in the mix. "Had To Let You Know" is another total eighties new wave jam, minor key and mysterious, super reverbed and groovy, sounds almost like the Stooges filtered through Joy Division and Gary Numan. And on and on it goes. How does this guy do it. Every song is insanely catchy, but totally different than the one that came before it, and even though the songs are all over the map, and this is a collection of tracks from different releases, it totally flows, and plays perfectly, like somehow, it was meant to be what it is, a single perfect fucked up outsider pop record. So rad.
MPEG Stream: "Decipher"
MPEG Stream: "I Want Your Damage"
MPEG Stream: "A Minor Altercation"
MPEG Stream: "A Gaping Gash"
MPEG Stream: "Invective"

GREEN, BILLY Stone (OST) (B-Music / Finders Keepers) cd 15.98
We've never seen this movie but if it's anything like the soundtrack, boy do we want to see it. It must be INSANE. And very, very groovy. 'Cause this is one trippy record, guitarist/composer Billy Green's psychedelic soundtrack to the 1974 biker flick Stone, today a cult classic (we hear it's out now on dvd, gotta find it!). It's from Australia, one of the early precursors to Mad Max in the so-called "Ozpolitation" genre (about which there's been a recent documentary that we also have to see!), doubtless full of violence, stunts, bikes, and girls.
We don't know much about the plot except that it involves the badass Gravediggers motorcycle gang (who, while as shaggy and dirty as any Hell's Angels, ride fancy new Japanese pocket rockets instead of the Harleys you might expect), characters with names like Dr. Death, Stone, Toad, Undertaker, Captain Midnight, most of whom get their own distinctive cues on the soundtrack. Beyond that, the liner notes mention acid trips and something about a political assassination, and well if you know what happens don't tell us 'cause we don't want to spoil anything for when/if we do see the film, we'll just enjoy the music for now!
Track one, the six minute, 35 second long "Eco Blue/Toadstrip" really dumps listeners in at the deep end, being a dark and unsettling musique concrete composition consisting of noisy electronic Moog synth bbrrzapp, and didgeridoo drone (ordinarily we detest the didge, but this IS an Australian movie), like a drug fuelled jam between aliens and aborigines. If you survive that (rather than report to the tent for those who ate the bad acid), the next track shifts mood considerably, being a funky freaky instrumental called "Race", full of wah-wah guitar and more electronic embellishments. Yep, just two tracks in and it's already totally awesome! As the disc continues, you'll get to hear all sorts of other strange and groovy sounds, including short interludes of sound effects and chanting ("Pigs"), lush, melancholic orchestration ("Cosmic Funeral"), bluegrass pickin' ("Septic"), classical strings and splashing cymbals ("Amanda"), Hendrix-y fuzzed fusion ("Stone"), mellow hippie blues-bliss ("Smoke"), heavy prog plus free jazz freakout ("Gravediggers"), and loads more that's either super groovy or super wacked, or both. Sometimes it sounds like a 'proper' film soundtrack, with the usual sort of suspenseful or sentimental cinematic stylings, but mostly it's all about sleazy, krautrocky chaos!
It's mostly instrumental, except for the bonus tracks, one which consists of dialogue from the film ("Hip's Rap"), one being a kinda cheesy soul-fuzz number ("Cosmic Flash"), and also two portentous versions of "Do Not Go Gentle (Rage)", a song based on the Dylan Thomas poem, set to music by Billy Green - we prefer the second one, sung by Jeannie Lewis, which was probably very important to the emotional impact of some crucial scene in the movie but here just seems awesomely over the top and incongruous.
The final bonus track is the audio from the original theatrical trailer for the movie, which starts off with someone screaming "SATAN!!!!!" followed by a dead pan voiceover intoning "Stone is a trip", and reciting further selling points, backed by a collage of sound effects and funky hard rock vamping, all snippets from the soundtrack. Again, it makes us want to see it... except, in a way, maybe we're realizing it's better to have the film exist (for us) only in our imaginations, 'cause the soundtrack is so far out it seems likely that the actual film couldn't possibly live up to it, could it? In any event, the soundtrack certainly stands by itself as a sizzlingly lysergic slice of '70s rock/electronic weirdness, part Bobby Beausoleil, part Amon Duul, a little bit Sly Stone, a little bit Sir Lord Baltimore... and altogether Stone(d).
Now, if you search on such keywords as "motorcycle gang", "fuzz", and "soundtrack" on our website, besides this you'll find our rave review of another Satanic motorcycle gang movie soundtrack that we ALSO made a Record Of The Week once upon a time, that'd be the music by John Cameron and session band Frog from the 1972 zombie biker flick Psychomania, reissued by Trunk some years back, and now sadly out of print again. Billy Green's Stone soundtrack is obviously the only thing that comes close. You could definitely file 'em together, Stone being a worthy successor (with a song called "Toad" instead of one called "The Frog"). It'd be a great double feature.
Also, remember that unusual series of Aussie psychedelic sixties/seventies surf movie soundtracks from the Japanese label EM, we listed a while back? The ones by Farm, Peter Martin & Finch, Tamam Shud, etc.? Though this is inspired by wheels rather than waves, and ain't so sunshiney, still fits in with the best of those.
As usual with B-Music / Finders Keepers productions, this is a labor of love, and the cd booklet reflects that, its many pages stuffed full of full-color film stills and poster artwork, along with a lengthy and knowledgeable essay by DJ Andy Votel. Before delving into the story of Stone, Votel talks a bit about the history of '60s / '70s B-movie biker cinema, citing the aforementioned Psychomania as an important forerunner to this film and its soundtrack.
Like we said, we've never seen Stone, though we want to. However, we've been fans of this soundtrack for some time. There was a previous, Australia-only compact disc reissue of this back in 1999, on the occasion of the film's 25th anniversary (which was celebrated with a 35,000 strong biker rally!). We were never really able to get any to stock though, so it's awesome to have this now, and it's been further expanded with additional bonus tracks, as well as nicely packaged, including a slipcover. When we heard it was coming out again, we immediately thought, Record Of The Week. Finally folks everywhere will get a chance to hear this, and ride with Stone and the Gravediggers!
MPEG Stream: "Eco Blue / Toadstrip"
MPEG Stream: "Race"
MPEG Stream: "Amanda"
MPEG Stream: "Gravediggers"
MPEG Stream: "Stone Is A Trip (Trailer)"

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AFTERNOON SAINTS Shirley Jangle (K-Raa-K) 2lp 29.00
Take turntablist Christian Marclay, Swiss percussionist Gunter Muller, Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo, and legendary NY via NZ experimental guitarist / bagpiper David Watson, armed with their weapons of choice: turntables, percussion, minidisks, electronics, guitars and bagpipes, and let them loose. And you'll get pretty much what you might expect. Not some mish mash hodge podge improv bullshit, these guys are masters, and these six tracks demonstrate that mastery bigtime. Lush and textured, dense and detailed, moody and evocative. Marclay's turntables are magic, a bank of primitive analog samplers, spitting out fractured rhythms, mysterious melodies, various snippets and samples, the perfect framework for the others to use as a jumping off point. But each player is perfectly capable of taking the helm, while knowing when to let someone else take over.
Lush ambient dronescapes peppered with twisted melodic fragments, all sorts of overlapping and layered rhythms, constantly shifting, changing shapes, transforming before our very ears, some tracks brood and lope, others soar and howl, all of them dizzying and elaborate. The soundfield is constantly expansive and in flux.
Lots of improv is way more fun to play than to listen to, but this stuff is totally engrossing, even for the listener with no interest in "improv", so musical, some of it in fact sounds so good it's impossible to believe these guys were making it up as they went along.
Hypnotic, enthralling, confusional in places, intense in others, hushed and haunting in still others, a wide weird world of sound that begs for deep listening, and invites the listener to let go, to become totally and utterly lost in the sound.
Pressed on super thick vinyl, and housed in really swank, heavy full color gatefold sleeves, 3 sided set, the fourth side sports a cool scribbly etching by Lee Ranaldo. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.

ARKHA SVA / WOODS OF INFINITY Old Ugly Trees (Devoted Art Propaganda) 7" 11.98
Holy shit, does Arkha Sva just keep getting weirder and weirder and better and better! These Japanese black metal freaks begin this latest assault with a tripped out swirly psychedelic intro, before the band launch into some super twisted POST-black metal, a loping super dramatic almost cabaret sounding avant metal, with super over the top crooned clean vocals, the guitars washed out and buzzy, the only hint of troo blackness are the occasional flurries of double kick, until finally those insane Arkha Sva vocals swoop in, impossibly high and totally operatic, a little eighties metal, soaring and shrieking, the band following suit, blasting into some filthy pounding blackness. The track's twisted and gnarled, and totally epic, with those vocals, easily the most amazing in BM, and this song is most definitely the best thing we've heard from these guys which is saying A LOT.
Woods Of Infinity counter with their own take on twisted dramatic blackness, super melodic metal with lots of synths, totally catchy, but all over the map, the vocals freaked out and manic, slipping from nearly spoken to crooned to shrieked, while the music soars majestically in the background, from midtempo Lifelover style black pop to almost symphonic sounding black metal, all the while the vocals never letting up. The second WoI track is a creepy abstract drift, all acoustic guitars, monk-like chanting, and more of those dramatic vocals, haunting and freaky, dark and mysterious and really cool.
Packaged in a super swank gatefold 7" sleeve, LIMITED TO 666 COPIES (of course), each one hand numbered...

BLOOD OF THE BLACK OWL A Banishing Ritual (Bindrune) cd 13.98
A brand new record, the third since 2007 (not counting the split with Celestiial, whose awesome new record is also reviewed this list), from these doom metal / postrock / black metal / doomfolk / black ambient alchemists, the same folks who explore the darker regions of the spirit with their black ambient project Ruhr Hunter, although it's hard to imagine there's any place darker than whatever strange world Blood Of The Black Owl draw inspiration from. The opening movement of this single 41 minute epic (separated into 4 parts) finds the band spinning a black web of grim churning low end, softly roiling, like staring into a black hole, a bottomless abyss, dotted with dying stars, while over the top a guitar is strummed, unfurling a crystalline arrangement of glimmering notes, hovering above the inky blackness, a strange unearthly black folk, nearly static, mesmerizing and trancelike, eventually drums come in and the sound shifts dramatically, to something much more abstract and rhythmic, a sort of spaced out doomic skitter, which grows more and more ethereal, the bass buzzing, and a fluttering flute, marking a folky segue into the second movement, a much heavier downtuned dirge, a churning riffy crunch, that quickly dissipates into a cloud of chiming tones, disembodied voices and blackened shimmer before flitting back to that riffy pound although this time accompanied by some new age-sounding synth.
The third movement explodes in a burst of blinding feedback, only to dissolve into a washed out, ambient doom plod, the drums a distant pound, the sounds hazy and druggy, a lysergic sprawl of blackened psychedelia, that gives way to the final movement, a dark, low slung, almost Bohren like stretch of slowcore crawl, all whispered vocals, softly strummed guitar, barely there effects, a hushed drift that slowly builds to a fierce pounding electronic flecked shoegazey dirge, with growled vox, tribal drumming, a glorious crescendo, emotional and intense, finally dropping out, leaving a single voice to call out, then silence.
Incredible as always, and totally recommended for anyone into avant emotional heaviness and mysterious sonic darkness.
MPEG Stream: "Intent (Movement I)"
MPEG Stream: "The Statement Of Will (Movement II)"

BOHEMIAN GROVE Age Of Retrogression (Hyperblasted Recordings) cd 10.98
Debut record from these Greek avant black metal warriors, oddly named after a redwoods retreat near here that should be familiar to the conspiracy-minded, whose sound is equal parts midtempo Burzumic buzz, furious blackened blast and gnarled experimental blackness, which means, awesome!
Five long tracks that slip from pounding primitive crush to insectoid frenzy and back again, with a sound that definitely harkens back to the Norwegian elite, the riffs epic and majestic, the vocals a gravelly demonic howl, the drumming crushing and intricate, the band deftly balancing their two sides. Pounding away relentlessly, before launching into a blazing blast at the drop of a dime, only to screech to a halt, and lurch right back into the pound, often shifting gears even more, slipping into some seriously doomy plod, or sprawling out into some weirdly melodic post-BM meander, but always finding their way back to the trancelike buzz.
The record finishes with the Deathspell-ish
"Drowning In The Roar Of A Sinking World", a 12+ minute, post rock, black metal hybrid, loping and lurching, the riffs angular and atonal, the song a woozy waltz, the band spitting out intense little squalls of rapid fire double kick and grinding buzz, the track slows down even further eventually, becoming downright doomy, the vocals getting full on Popeye / Immortal, a hellish croak, the guitars getting more and more seasick and psychedelic, until they launch into an epic, blasting, midtempo, melodic outro.
Super swank packaging, 6 panel black on gold digipak, featuring super creepy evil artwork from Justin Bartlett, who among other things, designed an aQ t-shirt not too long ago. LIMITED TO 1000 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Wretched Men"
MPEG Stream: "Drowning In The Roar Of A Sinking World"

BURNING STAR CORE Papercuts Theater (No Quarter) cd 13.98
A new Burning Star Core record, but not exactly a NEW record, more like a NEW record made out of OLD records, as in 4 loooong tracks, assembled and edited from 66 live recordings from the years 1997-2008, a pretty cool idea for sure and it definitely suits BSC, their songs are long anyway, but here they're transformed into epic space drone collages, a plunderphonic chunk of psychedelia.
The first part is a dense chaotic sprawl of total space rock, the drums wild and blown out and frantic, all of the other instruments in a frenzy of swirling effects and in-the-red freakout, which gives way to some glistening upper register ur-drone, like Sunroof! or Pelt, or heck, even Burning Star Core. The second half of the first part is yet more abstract drift, dense layered sound, streaked and blurred and smeared into giant swells of fuzzed out rumbles, peppered with bits of percussion and electronic glitch, finally finishing up with some murky industrial thump.
Part two explodes with some super distorted psychrone freakout, the drums so in the red they distort and change shape, the violin and/or guitar grind and scrape and squeal and howl and shriek, the drums a chaotic cacophony, like a dozen free jazz bands battling it out in an empty swimming pool, before things get a bit more mellow, the band slipping into something a little more Dead C, a meandering dirgey noise rock stumble, that works its way through still more space rock, and several clouds of crunch and clatter and creak.
Part three begins with some garbled processed sort of beatbox vocals, which gradually get more and more effected before things get noisy again, bleats and skronks, quickly subsumed by a thick wall of crumbling buzz, a thick skull rattling thrum, that dissolves into still more abstract free noise damage and haunting ambient drift.
The final part opens up with some whirring drones beneath creaks and clatters, deep bass pulses, which slowly build into some sort-of-free-jazz, which in turn transforms into some blown out industrial rumble, only to finally finish up in a blurred buzzy tangle of spidery violins and groaning low end drones. Phew. Pretty intense stuff, and while you can't necessarily HEAR the 66 source tapes, these tracks do feel dense, as if you can FEEL the fact that 66 tracks were somehow cut up and crammed and layered into just 4.
Heavy, heady, trippy, noisy and psychedelic, a cool way to experience the last 11 years of Burning Star Core in just 66 minutes...
MPEG Stream: "Part I"
MPEG Stream: "Part II"

C & B, THE s/t (Siltbreeze) 7" 8.98
A gloriously shambolic, stumbling and clattery lo-fi chunk of strum and clang from Graham Lambkin, pre-Shadow Ring, and it definitely sounds like Shadow Ring, but WAY more low fidelity, like if maybe Shadow Ring put out a cassette on Shrimper way back in the day. Which is not at all a bad thing. Monotonous, detuned guitar strum, THOSE vocals, laid back and weary, deep and heavily accented, spoken, but a little bit song songy, heavily distorted in places, weirdly distant sounding in others, the rhythms sound like pipes hitting other pipes, someone pounding on a cardboard box, or thumping on a table top, it's all very Jandekian, but even more skeletal and haunting, woozy, warped, warbly, plenty of tape hiss and dropouts, all woven together into a strangely ghostly bit of spaced out psychedelic minimal drug folk, or something. Dark and gloomy and creepy and cool, fans of the Shadow Ring will definitely want this, but even folks who just like cool weird dark creepiness, might definitely dig this, and find yet another band to obsess over.

CELESTIIAL Where Life Springs Eternal (Bindrune) cd 12.98
Full length number two from this Minnesotan funeral doomlord, long anticipated around here considering how much we loved the last one, Desolate North, and this is another sprawling oozing missive from the dark forest, an epic chunk of woodland doom, similar to how the new wave of Cascadian black metal bands find inspiration from their surroundings, Celestiial look to the woods, the the water, the the world that surrounds them.
The record opens with a dense swirl of black buzz, nearly motionless, a thick heady drone, laced with feedback, and grinding industrial grit, 4+ minutes of heaving whirling blacknoize, that gives way to a field recording of a trickling stream, complete with birdsong, wind, what could be thunder, the perfect introduction to the record's 30+ minute centerpiece, "Great Storms Carry My Sadness", a gorgeous, minor key, ultra doom lament, as slow and low as any of the other doom outfits, but somehow the sound is warmer, more lush, it manages to glow with some sort of warmth, while remaining appropriately dark and dense, the song plods along dreamily, and then fades out, leaving still more sounds of the forest, running water, birds chirping, all underpinned by deep barely there metallic shimmers, super haunting and otherworldly, like wandering through the forest at dusk, eventually the doom swoops back in, and if anything it's even prettier and more minimal than before the break.
After a brief bit of lovely acoustic guitar, set to burbling brook and bird song, the record's other long track, another epic doom sprawl creeps into motion, laced with harp and hooting owls, another strange track in that it manages to be washed out and dreamlike, but also dark, and dense and heavy, but not like Bunkur or Moss, this is something way more ethereal, a hazy heaviness that leaves plenty of space for nature to intrude, birds and wind and rustling branches, all as much a part of the sound as guitar and drums and vocals. After another brief delicate bit of soft focus shimmer, of forest sounds and glistening acoustic guitar, the journey is over.
Where Life Springs Eternal is that rare funereal doom record, a collection of songs that are as beautiful as they are heavy, and like the record that came before, easily some of the most blissful and dreamy doooooom you'll ever hear.
MPEG Stream: "Spell Over Still Water"
MPEG Stream: "Great Storms Carry My Sadness"

CHINESE RESTAURANTS, THE River Of Shit (S.S.) 7" 6.98
Another band of NY lo-fi new wave noiseniks, the Chinese Restaurants dip one toe into gothy, gloomy, retro wave, and another into something distinctly more angular and punk rock, with muted muddied riffing, pounding minimal drums, and whiney, dramatic vocals, reminding us of groups like the Electric Eels, until all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Barack Obama begins to speak, a sample of a speech maybe, but it's SO random, the band keep chugging along, it almost sounds like you're listening to two different radio stations at once, the best part is the fact that as he speaks, his remarks are peppered with strange moans and groans from the singer, which makes the whole thing seem weirdly warped and whatthefuck.
The flipside is sample-free, and is gorgeously gothic and dirgey, the guitars syrupy and swaddled in crumbling distortion, the main melody, warped and minor key, the whole thing laced with strange swooshes and unexpected bursts of noise and static and glitchy effects, the vocals still frantic and dramatic, the second track ups the energy, pounding a bit harder, getting more punk rock, but still staying plenty snotty and new wave and lo-fi. These guys definitely dwell on the fringe of the current retro cold / new wave resurgence, but fans of releases on Sacred Bones and Captured tracks will probably dig these guys as well...

CIRCLE OF OUROBORUS Streams (Ahdistuksen Aihio Productions) lp 13.98
This incredible and incredibly strange chunk of Finnish black metal / black folk mystery has finally been issued on vinyl. Comes with a gorgeous 20 page oversized booklet, with drawings and lyrics. Essential!
Be warned: these came slightly damaged in the mail, the records and booklets are perfect, but the jackets are all slightly marred, bent corners, split seams, the damage is mostly to the edges and corners, so the front and back covers are basically unscathed. We were not able to get replacement jackets, so we managed to get the band to drastically reduce the price, so grab one while you can, at a bargain price (and anal lp collector nerds steer clear!). Here's what we had to say about Circle Of Ouroborus' Streams when we first listed it a while back:
We've said it before, we'll say it again, pretty much all good things come from Finland. Okay, maybe that's us being all hyperbolic again, but c'mon, Finland blows our minds, STILL! Especially with music. Let us count the ways: Skepticism, Mieskuoro Huutajat, Vladislav Delay, Thergothon, Tiermes, Circle, Pharaoh Overlord, Shape Of Despair, Kiila, Children Of Bodom, Es, Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Kroko, Kemialliset Ystavat, Anaksimandros, Avarus, Uton, Doktor Kettu, Islaja, Clandestine Blaze, Horna, Ride For Revenge, Baptizm, Cleaning Women, Paavoharju, Stumm, Chainsmoker, Tivol, Reverend Bizarre, Dead Reptile Shrine, Loinen, Magyar Posse, Itavayla, Exordium, Aaviko... Phew! We could go on and on, but what other region has produced so much weird and wonderful music, from damaged outsider black metal to dreamy foresty folk, to clattery free noise to droning sludge rock and pretty much every strange stop in between. 
But even amidst this veritable who's who of AQ faves, this lineup of damaged and demented, dreamy and brilliant and beautiful music makers, another Finnish band still manages to stand out. Circle Of Ouroborus. Ostensibly a black metal band, but the more we hear and with every successive record, we begin to wonder why any one ever considered them a metal band at all. But that only makes us love them all the more. 
As we've mentioned in the past, it takes some serious weirdness to share a split with the buzz croon blackness of Urfaust, but CoO pulled it off easy, even managing to outweird the already impossibly weird Urfaust pretty much across the board. Their debut full length was a ramshackle stumbling blackened mess, all atonal guitars, and haphazard percussion, wailed, crooned and spoken vocals, detuned acoustic guitars, some black buzz, but for the most part it was some strange slightly metallic mix of Jandek and the Fall, the vocals constantly switching from Mark E. Smith whine to Jandek drawl, the music beneath following suit, going from fractured folk to hyperkinetic almost new wave black pop. And we dug it. A lot. It was difficult listening certainly, but it grew on us like crazy and became a daily listen. 
So we've been waiting and waiting for the new record. We were warned by the band that it was really strange and that there was some seriously not-metal-at-all moments, so we were pretty excited, but damn if it isn't weirder and way better than we expected. 
On Shores, the band sounded constantly on the verge of falling apart, blasting was an iffy proposition as they sounded like they might derail at any moment, the vocals were definitely tough to listen to at moments, and the guitars were tangled and mangled in gloriously messy clumps. And while some of that remains on streams, it's almost like a different band. The vocals are so much better, still weird and haunting and not always in key, but stronger, and more evocative, more emotional, often buried amidst buzzing guitars or crashing drums, allowed to croon and howl and the results make them sound like a real band. But what sort of real band is the real question. Certainly not a black metal band, although a few songs do have brief blasts of buzzing blackness, instead, they seem to have taken that Fall like sound and stretched it out into some weird gnarled gothy doom pop, at some points they sound like damaged atonal psych pop like Times New Viking maybe, but most of the time, they sound a bit like a super lo-fi live recording of Joy Division or Crispy Ambulance, albeit slightly blacker, or maybe some buzzy gothy modern doppelganger of Alien Sex Fiend or Specimen. Sounds weird, and it definitely is, but it's also pretty awesome. It's the sort of not entirely black, black metal record that will definitely appeal to folks just looking for something dark and moody and buzzy and far out. That said, the sound of Streams is about as black metal as CoO have ever gotten, some serious blasting buzz and some grimly buzzing blackness. But that blackness is always muted or smeared into shades of grey, draped over and amidst a collection of haunting and mysterious songs that while strangely connected and cohesive, range from the gloomy fuzzy drama of "Streams Of Depression" to the gorgeous acoustic Sentridoh-like "Anonym".
Definitely for fans of Urfaust, Nuit Noire, Lifelover and all of those peripherally black musical experimentalists...
MPEG Stream: "Wounds Are So Indifferent"
MPEG Stream: "Streams To Depression"
MPEG Stream: "The Rotten Temple"
MPEG Stream: "The End"

CLOAK OF DISPLACEMENT F.D.K.L.S.O.M.F. (self released) cd-r 4.50
Latest disc ov blasting lo-fi fucked up blackness from this Northwestern one man horde, another super limited self released jam (the last one was limited to 24 copies, which all came to us and all disappeared pretty much immediately). So fair warning, if you want to get your hands on this sick shit, be quick, or be very very disappointed.
No idea what F.D.K.L.S.O.M.F. stands for, but this is some super intense, super pummeling, buzz drenched, grim, kvlt, frosty, lo-fi, raw and primitive black metal skree.
Stumbling, mostly midtempo, the guitars buzz frantically, the vocals shriek wildly, the drums are chaotic and confusional, the songs don't really blast or plod, instead they seem to veer wildly, and druggily from tempo to tempo, slowing down, speeding up, this is about as raw as it gets, mostly brittle high end, guessing it's just drums and guitar, if there is a bass, it follows in the long tradition of inaudible black metal bass, but it hardly matters, this is all about the riff, and the atmosphere, and both are stellar, the riffs destroy, dense and angular and atonal, the atmosphere is definitely primitive and basement / practice space / dungeon / cave, lots of echo and reverb, and at its most frenzied it's a white noise squall, the vocals especially, but when it's not so in-the-red, it's like listening to some weird lost classic outsider black metal demo, which is pretty much what this is.
ULTRA LIMITED AGAIN, home brewed packaging, a weird little devil deer insert, all the cds in very generic, and entirely UNmetal primary colored paper sleeves. GRIM!
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 1"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 2"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 3"

COCONUTS s/t (No Quarter) cd 13.98
The quietly menacing, and curiously mesmeric, NYC trio Coconuts (that's plural, not to be confused with SF band Coconut, singular... nor should it be confused with what you probably THINK a band called Coconuts might sound like, either!) offer up what we'll assume to be their debut, on the always interestin' No Quarter label (home to Burning Star Core, Circle, Psychic Paramount, and many other faves). This self-titled disc comprises 5 tracks, mostly all but one of 'em pretty long (but not in the double digits or anything), 34 minutes or so total. When it's on, though, you'll sink pretty deep into their sounds, that it'll seem like it would take much longer to swim back to the surface, helplessly drifting with the wave-action of their heavy plodding rhythms, Coconuts' semi-skronked, but not un-melodic, keening guitars like the plaintive calls of homeless, strung-out whales...
We noticed they thank Blues Control, we can see how they'd fit in with those guys, this has got an abstract, similarly droned-out vibe, darker though, and more spare, maybe like void-travelling Moon Duo, stripped down and spooky, a downer-dosed slo-mo krauty psych groove, spacey and druggy. The vocals are hushed moans, drafty exhalations to go with the droney murk and mope of the music, which slowly throbs and buzzes, the percussion an echoing thud, the electric guitar an avant acid blues wash... The confusional element of all this is perhaps accentuated by the digipak packaging, which is oriented with the spine on the longer side, what's normally the top, or bottom... some of us here (ok, it was Allan) griped that this means when you file it on a standard cd shelf, you won't be able to fit it there with the spine facing out, you'll have to have it facing either up or down, so the name of the cd won't be visible, which is normally one of the functions of the spine, but whatever, not a big deal, at least it fits on a cd shelf at all unlike a lot of other cd packaging options. In any case, it's a cool disc!
MPEG Stream: "Lost Bitches"
MPEG Stream: "Dark World"
MPEG Stream: "Dean's Blues"

DRUNKDRIVER Knife Day (Fandeath) 7" 4.50
Been trying to get some Drunkdriver into the store before South By Southwest, as these guys are gonna be playing our showcase, and here we go, finally, their first (?) 7", and it's a fist in the face, ice pick in the ear doozy. It sounds exactly what you might imagine a Drunkdriver might sound like, if instead of getting behind the wheel, they got up on stage with a pile of amps and a beat up old drum it, a super chaotic, unhinged, wildly careening, ultra distorted in the red chunk of drugged out, FX drenched noise rock damage. Churning riffage, wild proggy drumming, feral throat shredding vox, but the sound is surprisingly dynamic, lurching start stops, catchy melodies, weirdly hooky riffs, the A side, "Knife Day" could be some sort of noise rock anthem.
The B side takes care of that right quick, even noisier, the band lock into a stuttery lurch, a controlled stumble, all crunch and crumble, the vocals unhinged and hysterical, with a killer, almost classic metal sounding breakdown, some more seriously hooky riffage, all kinds of good stuff buried beneath the blackened avalanche of skin peeling rooooaaaaar.
White vinyl!

DUM DUM GIRLS Jail La La (Sub Pop) 7" 5.98
In anticipation of their Sub Pop debut, our current favorite fuzz-inflected girl group unleash this monster single. "Jail La La" sees the girls riffing on New Order's "Age of Consent" through a much lower-fi but still boisterous exotica a la Stereolab's "Cybele's Reverie". A pop stunner that we'll be playing repeatedly for sure! The B-side flips the coin in tempo and mood offering a slow-motion burn version of The Rolling Stones' "Play With Fire".
Sure, it's an oft-covered song, but in the Dum Dum Girls' capable hands, it's a girl group dirge that cuts so deep. Killer!

EL DIN, HAMZA Music Of Nubia (Vanguard) cd 13.98
We couldn't be more stoked that Egyptian legend Hamza El Din's first two records have finally been made available to us on cd. His music has had such a lasting impact on such a wide range of artists. You can hear hints of his exquisite playing in the work of everyone from Sandy Bull (who he lived with for a bit while in the states) and John Fahey, to The Grateful Dead (who toured Egypt thanks to his help), to Ali Farka Toure, Tinariwen, James Blackshaw, Debashish Bhattacharya, etc. The way he used his oud to make such resonating and soulful sounds transcends language, culture or geography. Even with his soulful vocals, it doesn't matter if you don't understand the words because it's the rich emotional tone of his voice that taps into something greater then letters, words or language.
Music Of Nubia was El Din's debut album, released in 1964, this really was one of the first records from Africa to breakthrough and find a wider audience in the western world, and for great reason! What haunting yet majestic and soul piercing sounds! No doubt about it, El Din belongs in that special class of transcendent musicians like Alice Coltrane, Ali Farka Toure, Ravi Shankar, and Ali Akbar Khan. Totally essential!
MPEG Stream: "Fegir Nedan (Call To Worship)"
MPEG Stream: "Aiga Denos Ailanga (Give Back My Heart)"
MPEG Stream: "Shahadag Og (Believe)"

EL DIN, HAMZA Al Oud (Vanguard) cd 13.98
We couldn't be more stoked that Egyptian legend Hamza El Din's first two records have finally been made available to us on cd. His music has had such a lasting impact on such a wide range of artists. You can hear hints of his exquisite playing in the work of everyone from Sandy Bull (who he lived with for a bit while in the states) and John Fahey, to The Grateful Dead (who toured Egypt thanks to his help), to Ali Farka Toure, Tinariwen, James Blackshaw, Debashish Bhattacharya, etc. The way he used his oud to make such resonating and soulful sounds transcends language, culture or geography. Even with his soulful vocals, it doesn't matter if you don't understand the words because it's the rich emotional tone of his voice that taps into something greater then letters, words or language.
Al Oud was his second album, released in 1965, billed as a record of instrumental and vocal music from Nubia. What haunting yet majestic and soul piercing sounds. No doubt about it, El Din belongs in that special class of transcendent musicians like Alice Coltrane, Ali Farka Toure, Ravi Shankar, and Ali Akbar Khan. Totally essential!
MPEG Stream: "Childhood"
MPEG Stream: "Grandfathers' Stories"
MPEG Stream: "The Fortune Teller"

ELUVIUM Similes (Temporary Residence) cd 14.98
Oh man, is this gorgeous! Eluvium's follow-up to 2007's somber soundscape Copia continues along a similar solemn path, but embraces some new elements into the fold - namely male vocals and understated percussion. They add a fresh dimension that works perfectly. Actually at times Similes draws comparisons to the desolate beauty of early Black Heart Procession. We like very much! The withered murmurs from mainman Matthew Cooper melt into the enveloping reverbed sea of velvety organ drones and creeping piano melodies. A shimmering and glimmering journey into the shadows of the most heavy hearted.
MPEG Stream: "The Motion Makes Me Last"
MPEG Stream: "Making Up Minds"

EMIT The Dark Bleeding Gods (Goatowarex) cd 9.98
The return of one of our favorite mysterious black hordes, Emit, although not technically a return as the band is defunct and have already re-emerged as the similarly named Hammemit, instead, this is the second posthumous collection from these bizarre black alchemists, gathering up two old recordings, The Dark Bleeding ep from 2003 and the The Dark Gods demo from 2004. The cool thing about Emit was they were never really black metal, but their sound was blacker than many of their buzzier / blastier compatriots. They trafficked in a raw sort of primitive free black noise, more like Abruptum really, with clouds of noxious distorted guitars, howling anguished processed vocals, and often no drums to speak of at all.
The Dark Bleeding is the group at their rawest. Distorted tangles of free form guitar, drenched in reverb, vocals grunting and growling, some actual riffage for sure, but buried beneath dense slabs of crumbling distortion, and heaving low end rumble, the final of the four tracks features some awesomely distorted church organ, resulting in a super creepy, ultra noisy chunk of circusy black drone-noise.
The Dark Gods is a bit more song oriented, but only a bit, still plenty abstract, spaced out swells, melodic and downright pretty, give way to creeping black riffage, and warped and warbly low end, sick vocals, garbled and processed, drums show up, but instead of blasting or pounding, they are totally abstract, another element to drift and meander and get all tangled up in the ever swirling morass of blackened sound. Near the end, the drums do make their presence more known, giving the sound a distinctly doomy vibe, but still totally unhinged and chaotic and fractured and gloriously fucked up.
Like WOLD meets Abruptum meets Circle Of Ouroborus, noisy, heavy, abstract, weirdly pretty, totally and completely damaged, and thus WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "The Pain Of Bleeding"
MPEG Stream: "Death Before Death"
MPEG Stream: "Distant Dragon"
MPEG Stream: "Watching From The Hills"

ETERNAL TAPESTRY Altar Of Grass (Hyperblasted Recordings) cd-r 5.98
Rad! Eternal Tapestry, Portland's badass psych super-group, take a step back in time and offer up this heavy duty reissue of a 2007 classic, Altar of Grass. And wow, what a stony trip it is! On this cd-r we find the band jamming with their old bass player, Bob Jones, and without their newly added sax player, but needless to say, the boys still knew how to kick out a lysergic dose of head-trippy, fuzzed out amplifier destruction. Ooooozing walls of blasting fuzz guitar, head-nodding grooves covered in tar and filth, not too be missed by any fan of the group's whirlwind brand of in-the-red punk psych. These pacific North Westerners don't fool around, the riffs are heavy with a dash of Hawkwind flavor, the drums are relentless and thrashing, and its all woven together into a hypnotic wash that sounds more like three proto-metal bands jamming in the same room, very sweet. A nice document of the early E-Tap sound, a bit more free and loose then the newer stuff, but much more raw and spaced-the-heck out! Really killer stuff, not sure how limited these are, but they ARE limited, and chances are we won't get more, so be quick! On the same Greek label that brought us the killer black metal of Bohemian Grove also reviewed this list, by the way!
MPEG Stream: "Ancient Temple Light"
MPEG Stream: "Woodland Spirit "

EVIL OCEAN s/t (Old Scientist Records) cd-r 9.98
To begin with, there's already something special about bands from New Zealand, whether they're making eccentric indie pop or droned-out experimental noise, we like ourselves a lot of NZ music! So this band Evil Ocean, from Auckland, already has that going for them. But then add in the fact that they're flat-out obsessed with music from another of our favorite locales, Finland, specifically what our friends in Circle like to call NWOFHM, and what do you get? A really, really awesome and unclassifiable album indeed. Krauty confusional garagey distorted DIY doom metal new wave soundtrack music? Maybe we can call it NWONZHM??
Apart from several interludes of eerie, abstract weirdness, the disc mostly consists of some fairly blown-out, rockin' songs, which are ALSO weird as all heck though. These tracks are full of thick fuzz guitar, churning riffage riding the rinky-dink ticky-tock of the manic, machine-sounding percussion. Other ingredients include dramatic female vocals and gnarlier, sneering male vox (rising into a falsetto at times), plenty of effects and sci-fi synth sounds everywhere, tons o' fuzz (we mentioned that already), spooky suspenseful bits, metallic gallop, industrial clank, seasick keyboards, and more... There's ritualistic stuff that sounds like Sylvester Anfang, propulsive parts a la Circle, and heads-down Hawkwindy hypno-rock. The mood can get genuinely intense and disturbing, yet Evil Oceans also obviously display a bizarre, even nerdy sense of humor, heck there's a track here called "Rise Of The Administration Daleks", complete with hysterical Dalek voices... but also Spaghetti Western whistling... what does it all mean?? It's art, or arty (several of the members are apparently successful painters) but most importantly it rocks in a quite entertaining WTF? fashion.
Recommended to anyone into so-called NWOFHM stuff (Circle, Pharaoh Overlord, Steel Mammoth, etc.), also White Hills, Brain Donor, and other gritty post-Stooges space rockers and post-punk derelicts. Released on pro-printed cd-r, packaged in a in a full-color ecopak with photos and artwork celebrating both the epic New Zealand landscape, and Charles Darwin.
MPEG Stream: "Rise Of The Administration Daleks"
MPEG Stream: "I Foresee"
MPEG Stream: "Intro "

FAR EAST FAMILY BAND Parallel World (Phoenix) cd 17.98
Our '70s Japanese psychedelia section just keeps getting bigger and better, in part thanks to the UK reissue label Phoenix, who brought us Brast Burn last list, also recently Karuna Khyal, Far Out, and another Far East Family Band album, Nipponjin. That one was their second, from 1975, and if you liked it you'll like this, Parallel World being its 1976 follow up, boasting one of the most perfect cover paintings ever, showing the band sitting in a wooden boat, in space, flying through the colorful cosmos. (The guy with the headphones and shades is so cool!)
Once again produced by kosmiche electronics master Klaus Schulze (with Gunter Schickert as recording assistant), this proved to be the band's final album, but it's a fantastic one, that deserves honorary krautrock classic status even though the band are Japanese. It's certainly a space rock classic at any rate, beginning with "Metempsychosis", a trippy intro full of spooky synth squiggle and snip-snip-snip drumming that accelerates into a blissed out shimmer, a combo that they take to extended extremes on the next track, the 16 minutes of "Entering/Times", full of buzz and gurgle, propulsive rhythmic scatter-clatter, and grandiose prog moves... it sounds somewhere betwixt Acid Mothers Temple and Zombi, really!
Vocals make an appearance on "Kokoro", a mostly gentle, lovely sort of dreamy ballad, but one that also features some searing, soaring electric guitar action to bow down and worship. And THEN there's the title track, a suite, 30 minutes long! It's a doozy, encompassing funky wah guitars, thick synth fuzz, electronic tinkering tingling tinkling, even some dubbiness... At times it's urgently rhythmic, but that can give way to calm, spaced out drone, it's got parts that remind us of Can, parts that could be Funkadelic circa their most lysergic effort Free Your Mind... And Your Ass Will Follow, and parts that sound like Augustus Pablo. If every druggy hippy jam sounded like this, we'd be living in a Parallel World indeed!
Obligatory Japrocksampler chart position citation: Julian Cope put this at number FOUR in his top 50. We don't always agree with his rankings, but it's definitely worthy of being up there. And it's in Phoenix's usual "wallet" (whatever) packaging, limited to 1000 numbered copies.
MPEG Stream: "Kokoro"
MPEG Stream: "Parallel World"

FERRARO, JAMES Last American Hero (Olde English Spelling Bee) lp 21.00
More 'hypnogogic pop' from ex-Skaters soundscaper James Ferraro, whose latest album remains rooted in the off kilter whatthefuck (heavy on the lost late night eighties vibe), visually, with a bizarre Best Buy / pick up truck / parking lot / alien robot / Fox Sports graphic collaged cover art, and a lyric sheet / manifesto packed with references to Judge Judy, Costco, Beverly Hills, energy drinks, lost highways, tongue rings, gladiators, batteries, 'no fear', etc, as well as sonically, continuing to mine a fantastically bastardized John Carpenter soundtrack / late night cable sort of warped dronepop melodicism.
The A side here is definitely and immediately recognizable as Ferraro, but unlike past jams which occasionally tended toward the dense and layered, this sidelong track is stripped way down and laid way back, a simple pulsing rhythm, skeletal and minimal, laid out under a glimmery smear of sun dappled synth, over which, still more synths add haunting melodies, would around warm guitar figures, all hazy and washed out and lysergic, the loops warped but subtly so, woven into the perfect fusion of new age shimmer, and retro futurist kosmiche drift, and hell it still sounds like it could have been lifted straight from some lost Argento or Carpenter flick, which is in no way a bad thing.
The flipside is another warbly dreamjam, new age-y and soft focus, gentle tangles of melody tumble frame by frame over a motorik synth pulse, wreathed in hiss, and glistening streaks of reverb and delay, notes ring out, chiming, synths soar and sing, total sun dappled free energy divine sonic bliss for sure. Halfway through, the track shifts gears, and suddenly it's a full on raga, with warped sitar buzz, loping tarpit synth basslines, and lots and lots of space, a sound like looking at the sun, through some glowing alien crystalline structure, reflective and prismatic, with strange bursts of organ warble, swirling clouds of barely there tape hiss, all blurred and smeared into a meditative drift, that gradually gains momentum, transforming into a weirdly propulsive, but still totally laid back new age groove, peppered with cool/weird drop outs, and skipping samples, which only add to the track's mysterious home brewed charm.
Another gorgeous inner space excursion from Ferraro, comes with a download code, and is most likely very limited.

FINAL + FEAR FALLS BURNING s/t (Conspiracy) lp 22.00
We're surprised it took this long for these two avant guitarists to join forces, Final, aka Justin Broadrick, aka the man behind Godflesh, Jesu, Grey Machine, Techno Animal etc, and Fear Falls Burning, aka Dirk Serries. In some ways both have a similar approach to the guitar, both able to sculpt sprawling expanses of layered drone music, transforming six strings into something much more, a sound generator capable of conjuring heaving, roiling dronescapes as well as hushed ambient drifts.
The opening track seems more influenced by later period Broadrick, as it sounds a lot like a washed out, minimalized Jesu track, a slow, warm, lugubrious riff, looped over and over, poppy and melodic, but slowed down enough that it becomes trancelike, with Serries (we assume) adding a sky full of tangled and layered high end contrails, adding a dark tension, and a mysterious beauty to the melancholic main riff, the whole thing wreathed in a gauzy dreamlike production.
The second track is more static, less riff based, and more wide open, a blackened landscape of rumbling low end string buzz, and singing high end skree, the skree muted so instead of being piercing, it's more smoldering, a glowing buzz, that pulses and throbs, the guitars constantly shifting, the layers overlapping and intertwining, gorgeous but still tense and dramatic, easily could have been extended to fill up a whole record and we definitely would not have complained.
The flipside begins with a smokey bit of folk flecked darkness, that definitely reminds us of groups like Earth or Barn Owl, a tiny bit of twang, a subtle choral vibe, warm and washed out, melancholy and minor key, the guitar unfurling skeletal melodies that blossom lazily, and then seem to fade into the background, just in time for more to take their place, a subtly active twangscape of muted buzz and almost country sounding drones, again, drifting ghostlike through a sepia toned haze.
The record closes with a gorgeous, thick bit of dronemusic, the background a sitar like buzz gives the track a definite raga like vibe, while in the foreground, another guitar moans, unleashing warped low end melodic tangles, delivered in slow motion, mimicking the sound of a horn almost, a muted bleat, but pulled into strange alien melodies, mirrored by the ever shifting, and highly melodic background buzz. This one definitely could have been stretched out forever, absolutely mesmerizing, the sort of drone you never ever want to end.
Gorgeous packaging, a black on black sleeve, with a very subtle die cut, revealing yet more black from the sleeve within. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.

GUNSLINGERS Manifesto Zero (World Of Sound) cd 23.00
Now this is what we're talkin' about. The return of France's Gunslingers, not too long after their amazing No More Invention album and the cd release of frontman Gregory Raimo's equally awesome solo endeavor as GR & Full-Blown Expansion. How does one go about describing a band like this? If you had to simplify things, you might call them a psychedelic punk band with krauty inclinations. It is also interesting to note that the rhythm section is comprised of dudes from black metal behemoths Diamatregon and weirdo occultic post rockers Aluk Todolo, not that this sounds anything like either. Gunslingers possess plenty of what we all know and love - crazy psych-surf riffing, a frantic rhythm section that manages to be both tight and sort of drunk sounding, and GR's unhinged vocals, which we accurately described as a cross between Johnny Rotten and Mark E. Smith, or better yet, the Trashmen's singer on the infamous "Surfing Bird". But the truth is, Gunslingers don't fit so easily into any categories. They are a crazy sounding bunch, capable of whipping up songs that are frenzied and totally demented, but also catchy and fun. And unlike many bands attempting this type of thing, Gunslingers avoid falling into the "retro" category, sounding, if anything, more like the true extension of the wild sounds of the late '60s/early '70s. So if this band HAD existed 40 years ago, you wouldn't be too surprised, but Gunslingers sound so self-aware that they seem to exist out of time, a quality we always appreciate.
The band kicks in right away with "The Spectre's Sinister Commandment," a firebreathing number that lurches forward menacingly with awesome sounding bass, melodic riffing, and some ride heavy drumming as GR's crazed vocals will make you wonder what the hell is going on in France these days. Without really letting up, Gunslingers go right into their strange world once again with "Coupe-George", a dense hurricane of fucked up biker psych mayhem heavy on the treble. "Stub Of Fortune" is another monster with super distorted guitars that seem to recall SST's glory days, all twisted, atonal, and jagged but strangely melodic at the same time. The album ends on a sort of upbeat note with the winding riffage of "Condor's Radiant Spawn", with the drums providing a super tight bounce that will make you feel like your heart will explode at any second. In a good way, of course.
Manifesto Zero is another highly welcome entry from a band we simply can't get enough of, which is why some of us will be heading down to the Hemlock tonight to check this shit out in the flesh if we can get done with the list in time! (That's right, they're on a US tour right now, go see 'em!!)
MPEG Stream: "The Spectre's Sinister Commandment"
MPEG Stream: "An Eye For A Knife"
MPEG Stream: "Condor's Radiant Spawn"

GUNSLINGERS Manifesto Zero (World Of Sound) lp 28.00
Now this is what we're talkin' about. The return of France's Gunslingers, not too long after their amazing No More Invention album and the cd release of frontman Gregory Raimo's equally awesome solo endeavor as GR & Full-Blown Expansion. How does one go about describing a band like this? If you had to simplify things, you might call them a psychedelic punk band with krauty inclinations. It is also interesting to note that the rhythm section is comprised of dudes from black metal behemoths Diamatregon and weirdo occultic post rockers Aluk Todolo, not that this sounds anything like either. Gunslingers possess plenty of what we all know and love - crazy psych-surf riffing, a frantic rhythm section that manages to be both tight and sort of drunk sounding, and GR's unhinged vocals, which we accurately described as a cross between Johnny Rotten and Mark E. Smith, or better yet, the Trashmen's singer on the infamous "Surfing Bird". But the truth is, Gunslingers don't fit so easily into any categories. They are a crazy sounding bunch, capable of whipping up songs that are frenzied and totally demented, but also catchy and fun. And unlike many bands attempting this type of thing, Gunslingers avoid falling into the "retro" category, sounding, if anything, more like the true extension of the wild sounds of the late '60s/early '70s. So if this band HAD existed 40 years ago, you wouldn't be too surprised, but Gunslingers sound so self-aware that they seem to exist out of time, a quality we always appreciate.
The band kicks in right away with "The Spectre's Sinister Commandment," a firebreathing number that lurches forward menacingly with awesome sounding bass, melodic riffing, and some ride heavy drumming as GR's crazed vocals will make you wonder what the hell is going on in France these days. Without really letting up, Gunslingers go right into their strange world once again with "Coupe-George", a dense hurricane of fucked up biker psych mayhem heavy on the treble. "Stub Of Fortune" is another monster with super distorted guitars that seem to recall SST's glory days, all twisted, atonal, and jagged but strangely melodic at the same time. The album ends on a sort of upbeat note with the winding riffage of "Condor's Radiant Spawn", with the drums providing a super tight bounce that will make you feel like your heart will explode at any second. In a good way, of course.
Manifesto Zero is another highly welcome entry from a band we simply can't get enough of, which is why some of us will be heading down to the Hemlock tonight to check this shit out in the flesh if we can get done with the list in time! (That's right, they're on a US tour right now, go see 'em!!)

HAYAINO DAISUKI Invincible Gate Mind Of The Infernal Fire Hell... Or Did You Mean Hawaii Daisuke? (Hydra Head) cd ep 13.98
The easiest way to describe Hayaino Daisuki is like this: they're the band we always wished existed. Imagine classic eighties metal but about 100 times as fast and furious, or maybe a blasting grind version of power metal, or Iron Maiden crossed with Discordance Axis. That last one being particularly appropriate, seeing as Hayaino Daisuki is the new band of former DA screamer Jon Chang, even though the band do everything in their power to disguise who is in fact in the band, the first record purported to be a bunch of teenage metal girls, this one has a huge booklet with comics and interviews and lyrics, but very little actually band info.
But it hardly matters, once you lay ears on this stuff, you'll be totally and utterly obsessed, it may be only 12 minutes, but if you play it ten times in a row it's 120 minutes, and we DARE you to try to just listen to this once. Music this heavy and fast and furious and brutal should not be this catchy. The riffs are incredible, the drumming insane, the vocals of course are untouchable, and the wild leads and constant shredding harmonies is what pushes this over the top. What more do you need to know than 'Iron Maiden meets Discordance Axis'? Absolutely nothing. But if you're looking for something that totally shred and slays, is crazy catchy, you'd be hard pressed to find something more perfect than this. It's either the most melodic and hook filled shredding grind record ever, or the most blasting brutal grinding power metal record ever. Either way, this totally destroys, and is quickly becoming our favorite 12 minutes of music this year. Now 24 minutes. Now 36 minutes. Now 48 minutes...
MPEG Stream: "Ghosts Of Purgatory"
MPEG Stream: "Blood"

HAYES, SEAN Run Wolves Run (self-released) cd 11.98
Wow, is this really album #6 for Mr. Sean Hayes? Yes, indeedie it is! Shucks, we kinda knew there was something special 'bout this fine gent waaay back in 2003 when we heard the first few tunes off of his engaging debut album Alabama Chicken which he hand-delivered to us. Now, seven years later he's still tending kindly to the grass roots, self-releasing his music, and personally presenting it to us. We're happy to report that Run Wolves Run is splendid, and sure to please his ever growing legions of fans. While the heart of this Bay Area troubadour's music is unmistakably rooted in folk Americana, he's open to venturing beyond the genre's boundaries and welcoming fresh possibilities while steering clear of current trends. This time we sense that he's injected a bit more rock and funkiness into the proceedings. The results are perhaps a bit more upbeat that his past recordings, but they still maintain a sound that's wonderfully soulful and warmly familiar. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "When We Fall In"
MPEG Stream: "So Down"

HAYES, SEAN Run Wolves Run (self-released) lp 15.98
Wow, is this really album #6 for Mr. Sean Hayes? Yes, indeedie it is! Shucks, we kinda knew there was something special 'bout this fine gent waaay back in 2003 when we heard the first few tunes off of his engaging debut album Alabama Chicken which he hand-delivered to us. Now, seven years later he's still tending kindly to the grass roots, self-releasing his music, and personally presenting it to us. We're happy to report that Run Wolves Run is splendid, and sure to please his ever growing legions of fans. While the heart of this Bay Area troubadour's music is unmistakably rooted in folk Americana, he's open to venturing beyond the genre's boundaries and welcoming fresh possibilities while steering clear of current trends. This time we sense that he's injected a bit more rock and funkiness into the proceedings. The results are perhaps a bit more upbeat that his past recordings, but they still maintain a sound that's wonderfully soulful and warmly familiar. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "When We Fall In"
MPEG Stream: "So Down"

HELLVETE De Gek (K-Raa-k) lp 19.98
Hellvete is the work of one of the members of Belgian funeral folk collective Sylvester Anfang, and while in many ways, the two outfits are similar, Hellvete takes the loose abstraction, and stumbling freeform mystery of SA, and tightens it up, into epic slow burning pieces that sound and feel more composed, majestic one moment, haunting and hushed the next, strings and subtle percussion, buzzing steel string guitar and thick undulating drones, a sprawling epic soundtrack to an imaginary film, flickering images of some forgotten world, a time lapse exploration of the birth and death of the black forest.
Long drawn out, almost sitar like buzz, drifts beneath ethereal female vocals, super minimal Eastern sounding percussion underpins some skeletal folky twang, a slow building bit of dronemusic, like Godspeed gone black Appalachia. Strings swoop in, upping the cinematic vibe, minor key, tense, dramatic, echoey vocals wrap around buzzing steel strings, transforming into thick raga like drones, laced with druggy space rock pulses, a sort of Spacemen 3 vibe, buried beneath the smoldering black shimmer. Tinkling chimes dapple the soaring strings, all wound into bursts of Sunroof! like skree.
Abstract free drumming hurls out swirling clouds of cymbal shimmer, fields of speckled skitter, way off in the distance, wordless voices moan and chant and hum, eventually swallowed up by thick grinding sheets of coruscating guitar buzz, a furious explosive crescendo, slipping back into that black Appalachia, before finishing off with a muted, but still intense burst of full on swirling psychedelic drug rock. Awesome stuff. In many ways even better than the Sylvester Anfang jams that came before, as if SA had somehow evolved, the sounds and compositions grown more lush, more expansive, while at the same time, gotten even darker, heavier, and more epic. WAY recommended.

HEY COLOSSUS AND THE VAN HALEN TIME CAPSULE Eurogrumble Vol. 1 (Riot Season) lp 16.98
Latest Teutonic slab of colossal crunch from these slow motion UK sludge lords, and since we've last heard them, they have appended their already odd monicker with the even more confusional "And The Van Halen Time Capsule". But don't expect any drastic changes, or anything remotely Van Halen like, right out of the gate these guys throw down hard, demonstrating again, that even though they still tend to slip beneath most folks' radar, they might be one of the best slow and low heavy bands happening these days.
A boiling cauldron of sonic black tar is upended and so begins the first track, as the black sludge oooooozes from the speakers, glacial riffage, weird looped samples, crushing 16rpm black hole drum plod, all sorts of gnarled glitchy distortion and buzz, which gives way to something weirdly dramatic, vocals clean and crooned one second, processed and garbled the next, while the music gets downright pretty, before spiraling into jagged shards of hiss and howl, the rest of the band stumbling back to a funereal crawl, and that's just the first song.
The rest of the record is a dizzying assault of midtempo noiserock pound, drugged out abstract ambience, downtuned throbbing sludge, twisted crusty dooooom, and heavy heavy drones, but it's not just the sounds, it's what these guys do with them. The riffs don't just buzz, they drip and ooze and creep, the vocals are inhuman and alien, totally disturbing, the guitars chug and churn and rumble, the songs veer from total ultra dooooom to twisted post rock lumber, to abstract hypnorock stutter, to weird epic almost chamber sounding sludge, taking something filthy and foul and making it majestic. Not sure why these guys are not HUGE, but anyone into Harvey Milk, and other practitioners of slow low crush and dense doomic dronemusic, should definitely be freaking out over these guys, and this record.

HIGH ON FIRE Snakes For The Divine (E1 Entertainment) cd 12.98
It's pretty much a given at this point: High On Fire can do no wrong. For over a decade now, they have been one of the most reliable and awesome metal bands on the planet... so reliable in fact, that it's easy to almost take them for granted. But every time a new album hits the streets, we have the same reaction, which includes foaming at the mouth, an increased heart rate, and the urge to destroy everything in sight. They're that good.
Snakes For The Divine is the band's first post-Relapse album, brought to us by E1 Entertainment, formerly Koch. Not sure what the deal is with this label, but the change has done the band some good for sure. The biggest surprise here is the slightly more polished production courtesy of hot shit producer Greg Fidelman, who you might remember from Slayer's recent World Painted Blood and, cough, Metallica's Death Magnetic. But fear not, because words like "polished" are really only used relative to the band's back catalog and do not in ANY WAY WHATSOEVER take away from the sonic beatdown Oakland's favorite sons have delivered since day one. They've just moved on, but there will be no mistaking who this is. Matt Pike's throatshredding vocals and guitar mastery (seriously, who else in metal today can rival this guy?) will tear you apart in the best way imaginable, and then you got the rhythm section, without question one of the best and most punishing in the biz. Des Kensel's intense whirlwind drumming and Jeff Matz's low end rumble are the perfect accompaniment for Pike's onslaught, making High On Fire sound like an uncontrollable force of nature, or maybe some ancient army storming across the mountains toward their ultimate victory. At the same time, this is the kind of metal that people who aren't really into heavier music can still dig, just because everything is done so perfectly. There's really nothing not to like here, and goddamn, this is some catchy stuff. Considering how brutal it is, that's definitely saying something. For a band that hasn't strayed too far from the sound they established early on, it's amazing that High On Fire can remain so vital and awesome. But they've once again delivered, in fact we'd go as far as to say that this is their best effort since 2002's Surrounded By Thieves, and we have no doubt Snakes For The Divine will have you raging into the next morning. Fuck yeah.
MPEG Stream: "Snakes For The Divine"
MPEG Stream: "Bastard Samurai"
MPEG Stream: "Fire Flood & Plague"

HURLEY, MICHAEL Hi-Fi Snock Uptown (Mississippi) lp 14.98
MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!! MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!! MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!!
As always, that's the text version of the siren and the flashing light, to get the attention of the legions of record nerds who need to know nothing but the fact that this right here is a brand new MISSISSIPPI RECORDS release. For the rest of you, Hi Fi Snock Uptown is the latest in Mississippi's ongoing Michael Hurley catalog reissue campaign, after Parsnip Snips and Armchair Boogie. Hi Fi Snock Uptown is from 1972, and unlike the previous two records, that were basically solo voice and guitar, this one features an expanded lineup, a band proper, with mandolin and piano and clavinet and pedal steel, it's still mostly stripped down and minimal, but the sound is a bit more lush, a little more fleshed out, which actually dramatically alters the feel of Hurley's music. Whereas the first two records were a sort of sweet back porch folk, classic Americana, the songs here are a bit more rock, they sound like early seventies FM radio, think Flying Burrito Brothers, Jim Croce, even the Eagles. The core sound is still folk, and some of these songs definitely rank amongst Hurley's best, and many of the tracks definitely have the feel of his earlier records, but it's exciting to hear Hurley take his songs and his sound somewhere new, without losing the essence of what made his songs so special on the first place.
Nice heavy vinyl. And cool cartoon cover art featuring Hurley's own strange comic book style 'wolves in the saloon' drawings.

ICHIYANAGI, TOSHI / MICHAEL RANTA / TAKEHISA KOSUGI Improvisation Sep. 1975 (Phoenix) cd 17.98
Originally released in 1975, this is one serious slab of mind blowing Japanese improvised kosmiche drone music, featuring legendary composer / performer Toshi Ichiyanagi (a student of John Cage who was once married to Yoko Ono!), Takehisa Kosugi, the mastermind behind one of our favorite bands ever, the Taj Mahal Travellers, here teamed up with Stockhausen percussionist Michael Ranta, for two extended free drone workouts.
The trio employ reverbed ring modulators, threaded vocals, melodicas, pianos, violins, gongs and Japanese biwas and shamisens, and weave an elaborate and lush tapestry of sound, one that is really not that far removed from Taj Mahal Travellers. Brooding, shimmering expanses of muted tones, of layered rumbles, dreamlike melodies, peppered with strange electronics, haunting and otherworldly, with a distinctly krautrock vibe, or krautdrone, all of the current practitioners of spaced out kraut inspired dronemusic, as good as they may be, can't even touch this.
The music is alive, a living thing, that the players breathe life into and guide, letting the sounds love and drift and fluctuate, creating something organic and expansive and breathtaking. The percussion adds a unique element, not really adding any propulsion, but instead, contributing texture, and a framework that the players often let collapse, before bringing it right back. The second track begins with a cool skeletal groove, all clank and clatter and thump, the space around the sounds as much a part of the overall sound, eventually slipping back into something more murky and subterranean sounding, the percussion switching to something more tabla-like, draped over an oozing sea of rumbles and growls, scrapes and whirrs.
This is one of those rare pieces of music that manages to be two things at once, a gorgeously dreamlike, relaxing bit of sonic ambience, but also something elaborate and dense, opening up the listener to dual experiences, drifting off on the surface, or strapping on the headphones, letting that extra weight carry you down into the swirling blackness at the heart of this recording.
Incredible. And essential. About the closest we'll ever get to a lost Taj Mahal Travellers record...
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"

INNERCITY In Fetal Aura (Upstairs) cd-r 8.98
Another of three new releases this week on the Upstairs label run by Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never. Innercity, the work of Belgian synthscaper Hans Dens, sounds right at home here, in fact, had we not known, we very well might have assumed this was Lopatin himself, as Innercity traffics in the same sort of spacey futuristic sci-fi synthscapery, although Dens has a few tricks up his sleeve. Like taking sampled sped up voices, and adding a flurry of looped beats, creating a dizzying minimal abstract dance music, stripped down and skeletal, but it's around track three that Dens stops messing around and gets down the the business of crafting some murky synthy weirdness, fuzzy crumbling bits of clipped synth are lopped into warped seasick rhythms, the tape threatening to crumble, as the drop outs and hiss add all sorts of texture to the proceedings. Other tracks take murky almost heroin house sound throbs, and douses them in fuzzed out muddy glo-fi warble, the sweet melodies barely audible through the haze, but the sum total gorgeously hypnotic. Elsewhere, seventies cop show meets eighties late night cable thriller via a melted synth with a malfunctioning motherboard, reminding us of James Ferraro or Monopoly Child Star Searchers, total lysergic hypnogogic pop. The disc offers up all sorts of variations on outer space / inner space synth damage, bleeps and bloops, distorted low end thrums, warped chordal whir, twinkling prismatic and cinematic pulses, and in the last track, some serious Carpenter / Goblin / Oneohtrix retro soundtrackery. Weird and wonderful, and definitely a new favorite.
LIMITED TO LESS THAN 100 COPIES. We got a handful, but those will probably disappear pretty quick.
MPEG Stream: "Inaugural Reflections"
MPEG Stream: "Amnesia Wind"
MPEG Stream: "New Waves"

JONAS REINHARDT Powers Of Audition (Kranky) cd 14.98
Album number two for San Francisco kraut groove channelers, Jonas Reinhardt, who continue to mine krautrock, prog and cosmic gold with their spaced out and now sometimes even rocking sound. Powers Of Audition finds JR mastermind Jesse Reiner opening up his project as a full fledged band with members of Mi Ami, Trans Am and 3 Leafs hopping on board. While the sound is still very much steeped in the same sort of kosmiche aura as their debut, there are new sides to Jonas Reinhardt that have emerged with this sophomore outing. A few tracks even get very uptempo and rocking, like "Atomic Bomb Living" which sounds like some awesome lost car chase theme from a John Carpenter movie or a Giorgio Moroder score from the late '70s, and we for sure hear the contribution of Trans Am's Phil Manley there, as its a track that would have been right at home on one of those great Trans Am records like Futureworld or the Red Line. Meanwhile, title track "Powers Of Audition" is full on new-Neu done so spot on, motorik and and so totally entrancing. We even hear a bit of the soaring sound of Citay which makes sense as Reiner was once a member of that band. There are also more prog undertones that bring to mind Jesse's other old band Crime In Choir. But it's still the more spaced out, kosmiche side of the group that hits the hardest. One of the few modern groops worthy of carrying on the tradition of Conrad Schnitzler, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Goblin, Manuel Gottsching, and Cluster. So damn good!
MPEG Stream: "Only You Can Achive Nitrogen"
MPEG Stream: "Atomic Bomb Living"
MPEG Stream: "Wastrel Eyelid"

KIRK, ROLAND The Inflated Tear (Atlantic / Rhino) lp 13.98
Finally reissued on vinyl, one of our favorite records, by quite possibly our favorite jazzman ever, Roland Kirk. The Inflated Tear was Kirk's first studio record for Atlantic (before he became Rahsaan), and it's a gorgeous classic jazz record. We've raved endlessly about Kirk elsewhere on his site, known by many primarily for his wild antics and far out behavior, playing multiple horns at once, playing the nose flute, wheeling around a huge wheeled wooden cane, pulling out a tape recorder and playing random recordings into the mic during concerts, passing out cocaine to the crowd, we could go on and on, and we won't lie, his character, and his larger than life persona definitely has a lot to do with why we fell in love with him, but the downside is that folks often forget he's an incredible player, and fantastic composer, all of which is evident here. Totally classic classic jazz, with Kirk handling saxophone and flute, the flute tracks in particular are incredible, fluid and fluttery, the rest of the tracks slipping from slow and brooding and moody and contemplative, to wild and frenzied an almost free, but it's the title track that makes this so essential. Supposedly written when he was on acid, it's the perfect mix of classic jazz, and his more avant side, beginning with a soft cacophony of noisemakers, chimes and rattles, and bells, and then the main horn refrain, is so haunting, a strange otherworldly harmony, you sort of have to hear it (sample below), totally moving and unlike any jazz we've heard, still gives us goosebumps, and then after this strange moaning minor key call, the band slip into straight up, soft cocktail jazz, only to return to that refrain, this time underscored by some seriously ominous piano rumbles, slightly altered, the horns slipping into something more rhythmic, until finally, the band break out into a dark, freak out, all low piano pound, and Kirk howling and ranting, only to finish how it started with bells and chimes. So amazing. The whole record. One of THEE most essential jazz albums for sure. On vinyl. Again.
MPEG Stream: "The Inflated Tear"
MPEG Stream: "The Black And Crazy Blues"
MPEG Stream: "A Laugh For Rory"
MPEG Stream: "Many Blessings"

LEO, TED & THE PHARMACISTS The Brutalist Bricks (Matador) cd 13.98
We've pretty much always loved Ted Leo, and his totally thrilling, energetic mod pop. Ever since his early days with his first band Chisel, Leo has proven himself a master songsmith, always backed up by a crack band, always armed with a clutch of killer songs that manage to be poignant and meaningful, but also catchy and anthemic, guitars howl and riffs crunch, and that voice, so clear and powerful, the second he opens his mouth, he's got you. The Jam has always been an obvious reference point, so too Thin Lizzy, and nothing has changed on that front. In some ways The Brutalist Bricks is a little less immediate, and requires a few more listens before it really sinks in, but that's usually the case with records that are bound to end up favorites. That immediate super satisfying sugar rush of sound is replaced with a record that will have the same impact in a week or a month or a year, maybe even moreso. Songs that blossom a little more with each play. The Brutalist Bricks also sounds a bit more polished, a little more commercial, a smidge less raw and urgent, which will no doubt bug some, but it actually suits him, and like we always say, we'd WAY rather hear Ted Leo on the radio than John Mayer, and even with that extra bit of polish and occasional big studio flourish, none of that would mean shit if these songs weren't great, and if Leo weren't in fine form, thankfully they are and he is. If you dug his other records, you'll definitely dig this one. And anyone into kick ass classic sounding power pop, who hasn't checked out Leo, should absolutely grab one of these right now.
MPEG Stream: "The Mighty Sparrow"
MPEG Stream: "Mourning In America"
MPEG Stream: "Ativan Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "Even Heroes Have To Die"

LEO, TED & THE PHARMACISTS The Brutalist Bricks (Matador) lp 15.98
We've pretty much always loved Ted Leo, and his totally thrilling, energetic mod pop. Ever since his early days with his first band Chisel, Leo has proven himself a master songsmith, always backed up by a crack band, always armed with a clutch of killer songs that manage to be poignant and meaningful, but also catchy and anthemic, guitars howl and riffs crunch, and that voice, so clear and powerful, the second he opens his mouth, he's got you. The Jam has always been an obvious reference point, so too Thin Lizzy, and nothing has changed on that front. In some ways The Brutalist Bricks is a little less immediate, and requires a few more listens before it really sinks in, but that's usually the case with records that are bound to end up favorites. That immediate super satisfying sugar rush of sound is replaced with a record that will have the same impact in a week or a month or a year, maybe even moreso. Songs that blossom a little more with each play. The Brutalist Bricks also sounds a bit more polished, a little more commercial, a smidge less raw and urgent, which will no doubt bug some, but it actually suits him, and like we always say, we'd WAY rather hear Ted Leo on the radio than John Mayer, and even with that extra bit of polish and occasional big studio flourish, none of that would mean shit if these songs weren't great, and if Leo weren't in fine form, thankfully they are and he is. If you dug his other records, you'll definitely dig this one. And anyone into kick ass classic sounding power pop, who hasn't checked out Leo, should absolutely grab one of these right now.
MPEG Stream: "The Mighty Sparrow"
MPEG Stream: "Mourning In America"
MPEG Stream: "Ativan Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "Even Heroes Have To Die"

LOCRIAN Falling Towers / After The Torchlight (Black Horzions) cassette 8.98
Latest jam from these atmospheric black metal drone ambient soundscapers. Now expanded to a trio, this epic two track workout finds the band sounding better than ever. Slow burning riffs churn relentlessly over a swirl of electronics and rumbling drones, vocals drift ghostlike throughout, melodies peal amidst the crumbling low end and heaving blackness, like some epic post doom, stripped of it drums and blurred into whirling shimmering riffscapes, haunting and otherworldly, abject and post industrial, pulsing and throbbing, gradually transforming from doomdrone to dreamdrift, but remaining heavy and mysterious.
The second track begins with a buzzing black riff, but instead of exploding into a blast of black fury, the riff seems to melt into the background, the various drones and tones bleeding into the riff, all smeared into a swirling black cloud of slow burning blackness, washed out and gauzy, growing more and more abstract, the riff pulled apart, the notes left to drift amidst a vast sea of wheezing chordal shimmer and crumbling glitched out electronics. So awesome. And if that wasn't enough, the flipside features a palindromic rendering of the two songs, the whole first side played in reverse, a warped woozy, swooping bit of twisted droned out black mystery.
Super sweet packaging, silver reflective sticker on the tape, seven panel, silver ink on black matte j-card. LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!

LOSCIL Endless Falls (Kranky) cd 14.98
With all the Deerhunter/Atlas Sound/Jonas Reinhardt business we've been hearing from Kranky lately, we were starting to think they forgot about the rad, beautiful ambient music that defined the label's sound. Needless to say we were relieved and quite pleased to hear another gorgeous release of serene ambient wash from the Chicago label, this time from Vancouver electronic dream-ambient outfit Loscil. Whose last few records have been big time faves around here. Picture the crisp, laptop crush of Fennesz woven into the melodic soundworlds of maybe Emeralds or anything on the Miasmah label. Lush string tones rise and give way to radiating synth lines, minimal passages recall the solitude of winter or the calmness of a rainy SF afternoon (actually the album opens with a sample of pouring rain!), the kind of thing that leaves us completely entranced but never bored. The kind of dream harbor we'd love to set sail into, swelling tones of melodic shimmer cast a blissful daze over the oceanic horizon as deep pulsing, minimal rhythms plod and turn under blankets of radiating bliss. So gorgeous and completely recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Endless Falls"
MPEG Stream: "Estuarine"
MPEG Stream: "Shallow Water Blackout"

LOSCIL Endless Falls (Kranky) 2lp 14.98
With all the Deerhunter/Atlas Sound/Jonas Reinhardt business we've been hearing from Kranky lately, we were starting to think they forgot about the rad, beautiful ambient music that defined the label's sound. Needless to say we were relieved and quite pleased to hear another gorgeous release of serene ambient wash from the Chicago label, this time from Vancouver electronic dream-ambient outfit Loscil. Whose last few records have been big time faves around here. Picture the crisp, laptop crush of Fennesz woven into the melodic soundworlds of maybe Emeralds or anything on the Miasmah label. Lush string tones rise and give way to radiating synth lines, minimal passages recall the solitude of winter or the calmness of a rainy SF afternoon (actually the album opens with a sample of pouring rain!), the kind of thing that leaves us completely entranced but never bored. The kind of dream harbor we'd love to set sail into, swelling tones of melodic shimmer cast a blissful daze over the oceanic horizon as deep pulsing, minimal rhythms plod and turn under blankets of radiating bliss. So gorgeous and completely recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Endless Falls"
MPEG Stream: "Estuarine"
MPEG Stream: "Shallow Water Blackout"

LOW ANTHEM, THE Oh My God, Charlie Darwin (Nonesuch) cd 15.98
Most of the time, the cds that come with magazines are a waste of time, you might discover a song or a band, but more often than not, it's some paid promotional thing, where the bands with the most money, or at least the ones WILLING to pay, are the ones featured. But recently, Mojo magazine did an issue about the new country, or the new folk maybe it was, and included a cover cd, that we never really bothered to listen to at first, but eventually threw on, just to check it out, and BAM. It was like the best mixtape we'd ever heard. Incredible songs, great bands, perfectly sequenced, we couldn't stop listening to it. With a million songs to choose from on our iPod, we found ourselves constantly playing the Mojo comp. WTF? Fleet Foxes, Yeasayer, Iron & Wine, Alela Diane, the Dodos, Animal Collective, Akron/Family, Papercuts, The Pink Mountaintops, Vetiver, Bill Callahan, J. Tillman and these guys, The Low Anthem. Never heard of em before, but their song in particular had us smitten, a dark brooding deep folk number called "To Ohio", which is included here, and still, even after a hundred plays, has lost none of its magic. Delicate acoustic guitar, sweetly moaning cellos, and rough but warm and sweet vocals, harmonica, lovely harmonies, it's been stuck in our heads since we first heard it.
But there's plenty more. "Charlie Darwin" is another sun dappled dream folk number, but with lush lustrous falsetto vox, hushed and intimate with some super bittersweet harmonica here too. And while most of the record is on the quiet side, a super intimate affair, there are some more stompy bluegrass numbers, some almost rocking workouts, but it's never long before they settle back into something dark and languorous and dreamy. And be sure to stick around for the "To Ohio (Reprise)", which adds extra reverb and gives the song some extra bass, a muted driving rhythm, and some violin, making the song even darker and more psychedelic. So good.
MPEG Stream: "To Ohio"
MPEG Stream: "Charlie Darwin"
MPEG Stream: "Ticket Taker"
MPEG Stream: "The Horizon Is A Beltway"

LUDICRA The Tenant (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
Local black metal favorites Ludicra return with The Tenant, their first for the great Profound Lore label, and as always, the band delivers. Ludicra masterfully mixes majestic black metal with brooding post-rock for a formula that pretty much touches on everything we love about metal in 2010, including some of the most vile and amazing female vocals we have ever heard, not that you'd necessarily think it was a woman screaming when you first hear this. Another strength is Ludicra's awesome male/female vocal harmonies which certainly add an element of beauty often missing in this kind of music. The amazing arrangements are certainly the work of a group dedicated to forging their own blackened path. It's clear that this is a band of lifers, all of them veterans of the fertile Bay Area metal scene, having served time with the likes of Hammers Of Misfortune, Agalloch, Slough Feg, Impaled, and quite a few others.
"Stagnant Pond" opens the album with some cool acoustic flourishes before the shrieking female vocals come in, sounding a bit like a banshee clawing its way from the depths of hell, as the song builds and builds in intensity. "A Larger Silence" is a super melodic piece of baroque sounding metal with some great harmonies, while "Undercaste" rocks at a nice midtempo groove before going into a surprising outro that seems to owe just as much to British folk music as it does to metal. Throughout it all, the lengthy songs flow into one another perfectly, making for one of the most well thought out metal albums we've heard in quite some time. It's rare that a band is able to seamlessly merge a wide array of influences into something they can call their own, but Ludicra appear to be up to the task and we couldn't be more thrilled. Highly recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Stagnant Pond"
MPEG Stream: "In Stable"
MPEG Stream: "Truth Won't Set You Free"

MALACHAI Ugly Side Of Love (Domino) cd 14.98
This was a total left field surprise, what on the surface appears to be some lost seventies retro rock, proto metal, fuzzy, groovy, heavy jam, is in fact, the work of two electronic musicians who cobbled this disc together via samples, computers, effects and yeah, some actual instruments. We weren't sure how we felt about it at first, but after a few minutes we were pretty much sold. And have been jamming this ever since.
For actual seventies proto-metal freaks, and retro reissue obsessives, this could definitely rub you the wrong way, but for the rest of us, who can dig some twisted modern take on the shit we LOVE, then this might totally hit the spot.
The guitars are fuzzy, the organs are warm and warbly, plenty of twang, some Morricone-esque moodiness, some rad old hard rock drumming, killer vox, hand claps, plenty of jangle, hooks galore, there are also plenty of rad psychedelic interludes, with twisted backwards guitars, swirling FX, all sorts of primitive electronics and layered collaged sounds, but it's the songs that seal the deal. Super heavy, totally groovy, while to these ears it sounds like classic proto-metal, to some folks around here it sounds more like current retro revivalists like White Stripes, Earl Greyhound, Wolfmother, but this stuff is so much cooler and weirder, the little studio tricks that make certain notes stutter, the samples that are played like an instrument but are still wreathed in record crackle, lots of backwards sounds everywhere, it's like some lost sixties psychedelic hard rock lost gem, reimagined and reinterpreted using modern day technology and it RULES.
MPEG Stream: "Shitkicker"
MPEG Stream: "Snowflake"
MPEG Stream: "Blackbird"
MPEG Stream: "Moonsurfin'"

MANIC SHOOTER Dog Master Teleportation (Upstairs) cd-r 8.98
Manic Shooter is one of three new cd-r's on The Upstairs cd-r label, run by Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never aka KGB Man aka one third of the trio that is Manic Shooter, this is the first we've heard from these guys but it definitely fits in with the Upstairs stable (Flower Man, Nonhorse, that Radio Scenic Glow comp), some futuristic sci-fi synth soundtrack weirdness, that veers from minimal beat heavy drift to garbled collaged whatthefuck, to atmospheric ambience, all run through that distinctly cracked Upstairs future/retro filter: clipped electronic beats get all twisted up by warped effects, hovering like UFOs over a field of distant high end squiggle and washed out shimmer, which gives way to some murky submerged vocal late-night swirl, before fracturing into a super distorted crawl through bad-reception radio, before settling into some skeletal synth skitter. Elsewhere hushed minimal synthesizer wheeze gets molded into a darkly propulsive Blade Runner groove, laced with warped bass and ultra creepy sped up vox, and so it goes, a dizzying trawl through some late night futuristic underworld rendered in blurred ambience, and short attention span soundscape, haunting and unnerving, mysterious and weirdly evocative, lovely here and there for sure, but definitely freaky and frightening in equal measures.
LIMITED TO LESS THAN 100 COPIES! We only got a handful, you do the math...
MPEG Stream: "Cathedral Pines"
MPEG Stream: "Dog Master Teleportation"
MPEG Stream: "Gliese 581"

MARTYN Fabric 50 (Fabric) cd 17.98
Martyn was responsible for one of our favorite records of 2009, Great Lengths, which found him tweaking and turning dubstep into a completely different monster, infusing that distinctive sound with all the best aspects of so many sides of electronic music. So it's well deserved and fitting that he's in the captain's chair for the 50th installment of the legendary Fabric mix series, putting together a manic, uptempo 71+ minute mix of TOTAL BANGERS! No denying how seamless and flawless his mixing skills are as each track jets right into the next, and his taste for some of the most colorful and exuberant artists in the modern landscape of electronica couldn't be more satisfying. Zomby, Kode9, 2562, Joy Orbison, those are just some of the awesome artists who get the Martyn mix treatment. There are no lulls or sleepers in the mix, from start to finish this is total high octane dancefloor destroying energy. Martyn definitely focuses on the more bouncy, techno and pounding side of dubstep, but really what we love about Martyn is that he doesn't get lost or locked into narrow or restrictive electronic sub-genres, instead he's more concerned with moving bodies at a dizzying rate and he so totally succeeds with this killer mix!
MPEG Stream: "Zomby - Little Miss Naughty"
MPEG Stream: "Martyn - Friedrichstrasse"
MPEG Stream: "Joy Orbison - Brkln Clln"

MOON DUO Killing Time EP (Sacred Bones) cd 11.98
FINALLY AVAILABLE ON CD! Here's what we said when we reviewed the now out of print vinyl 12" version:
All right! Moon Duo returns with another hazed out transmission from some lost dimension (otherwise known as San Francisco), this one courtesy of the always cool Sacred Bones label. The duo (obviously) features Ripley Johnson from local heroes Wooden Shjips, and their sound is not too far removed from Ripley's main band, maybe a little more ethereal and not quite as overtly "rocking", but definitely following a similar path of hypnotic, fuzzy repetition that we can't get enough of.
Moon Duo are capable of creating powerful songs from very little and they obviously understand the power of simplicity. Each of the four songs on this ep utilize the same hypnotic drum machine groove, altered to various pitches and speeds to accommodate each individual song. The result is like a mechanical heartbeat, throbbing relentlessly with krauty precision, and almost serving as some sort of chain to link each of the songs together. The record begins with "Killing Time", which sounds a bit like a Joy Division part looped forever as the soft, distorted vocals lurk beneath melodic guitars and fuzzy background static. With its buzzing organ and controlled feedback, "Speed" rocks a bit like Suicide augmented by shrieking guitar pulses and, uh, harmonica? Maybe. The cool thing here is how sounds blend together in a cyclone of warm, pulsating analog goodness. At times you are unaware of what you're hearing, and even though it gets noisy and overblown, the results are always catchy and super melodic.
Side 2 begins with "Dead West", which has a cool underwater feel. The song fucks with your perception of time and place, as it could have been recorded 40 years ago or 40 years from now. Sonically, it is a bit reminiscent of fellow California space travelers Sun Araw with its percussive guitar strumming and shimmering psychedelic feel, as a little keyboard melody stands at the center of things while the rest of the sounds oscillate all over the place. "Ripples" gives off a Spacemen 3 vibe as the drumbeat is slowed significantly. The guitars have a nice bit of twang to them, and the sounds once again appear to get caught in some sort of musical whirlpool as they merge together before a cool fadeout.
Picking up where the last ep left off, Killing Time finds Moon Duo descending even deeper into a state of super rhythmic, dreamy psychedelia. Just the way we like it.
MPEG Stream: "Killing Time"
MPEG Stream: "Ripples"

MULLEN, GEOFF & KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN November 28 2009 (Upstairs) cd 8.98
A new batch of Upstairs cd-r's means a whole bunch of cool spaced out synthy weirdness, which makes sense as Upstairs is the microlabel run by Daniel Lopatin, the man who is also sometimes known as Oneohtrix Point Never.
Geoff Mullen and Keith Fullerton Whitman are both long time aQ faves, but even so, they seemed like a weird choice for an Upstairs cd-r, since the label tends toward lo-fi synth obscurities, but the duo have worked together in the past, and in those collaborations displayed a propensity for space-y sounds, some Radiophonic Workshop bleeps and bloops, cosmic electronics, swirling supernova squiggles, all of which are in full effect here, woven into weirdly propulsive krautdrones, or infused into some skittery minimal thump and shuffle, while the tracks sprawl and ooze and expand into dubbed out abstract blurscapes, laced with sci-fi streaks of planetarium ambience, wrapped around starfields of glitch and crunch, slow burning Blade Runner ballads, loping synthy swirls blurred into otherworldly edge of the universe, celestial sub atomic dreamscapes, a gorgeous space-y bit of electronic bliss. Lovely indeed.
LIMITED TO LESS THAN 100 COPIES. We got a bunch, but these will most likely go pretty quick so grab one while you can.
MPEG Stream: "#01.3"
MPEG Stream: "#??.??"
MPEG Stream: "#01.1.5"

NEKRASOV Cognition Of Splendid Oblivion (Sige Of Power) cd 10.98
For everyone who missed out on that last Nekrasov, which is probably most folks as it was a cd-r limited to 50 copies, half of which we got and sold in a flash, here's another new full length, from this Australian black metal / blacknoize terrorist, and this one is also limited, but never fear, not nearly as limited as that last one, and it's an actual cd, so we should have these for a while, a little while at least.
Which is good news, cuz this might be the best Nekrasov yet, let's start with the packaging, wow, a gorgeous and grim 6 panel sleeve, with intense black and green paintings, each panel featuring variations of the new super intense NKRSV logo printed in reflective clear ink, so striking, and pretty representative of the sounds within.
For those new to Nekrasov, his sound is a blasting blackness almost entirely ensconced in blacknoise, a swirling chaotic squall of hiss and grinding skree and blown out howl, within which lurks frantic riffing, relentless drumming, although much of the time, it feels implied more than actually heard. Like WOLD, Nekrasov rewards close listening, headphones strapped on, reveals a crumbling, abject hellish sound world, hateful and harsh and harrowing, it doesn't get much more brutal than this, or noisy, but on Cognition Of Splendid Oblivion more than even, Nekrasov finds a balance, letting the noise swallow certain portions whole, but dialing the noise back in places, giving us glimpses if riff or melody, of blast, ror texture. And the noise itself, is not straight up Merzbowian brutality, there's definitely nuance, almost like the noise is an artifact of the guitars being TOO distorted, the drums TOO crushing, the vokills TOO brutal...
"Psychic Epilepsy In The Butcher Of Light" might be the heaviest thing Nekrasov has recorded, the riffs seemingly MADE out of noise, churning, throbbing, the vocals struggling to be heard through the sheer crush of the riffs, the drums no more than a distant pulse. But within this black buzzing void, the sounds grow epic and majestic, soaring and struggling to shine through the thick black clouds of sound.
The other cool thing about Nekrasov that we may have mentioned before is the breadth of tone and timbre, the noise is multi dimensional, and varies from track to track, because it's not just noise for noise sake, it's part of the composition, an integral part, so sometimes the sound is hissy and brittle, other times murky and muddy, some track get all shoegazey and blissed out, others threaten to gouge your eardrums out. The second to last track starts out all dreamy and washed out, then the BM kicks in, sans noise, and we're treated to a rare glimpse of the buzz and blast behind the curtain, before the final track crushes everything in its path with some of the densest and pummeling noise possible, and even then, it's weirdly listenable, twisted and textured, a swirling blackness that grinds and howls and blasts and buzzes until finally slipping into oblivion.
MPEG Stream: "Heresy.Heresy. Heresy. Oh. Where Have You Gone"
MPEG Stream: "Psychic Epilepsy In The Butcher Of Light"
MPEG Stream: "The Person And The Yawning Abyss"

OUR LOVE WILL DESTROY THE WORLD Beautiful Monolith Two (Quasi Pop) 7" 8.98
The handful of folks who recently experienced the blown out rhythmic dronebliss joy that is Our Love Will Destroy the World (aka Campbell Kneale formerly of Birchville Cat Motel) when he was in SF recently performing on THE BUS, will not soon forget that show: a diminutive, bearded New Zealander, on his knees, cradling his guitar in front of a bank of effects, eyes closed, swaying back and forth in a trance, unleashing some of the heaviest, most mesmerizing freenoise we've heard. A neverending avalanche of layered sound, pulsing and throbbing and churning, rhythms surfacing, splintering and then disappearing, a monstrous, yet totally warm and inviting cloud of sound, a sound which is perfectly captured on this two track slab of buzz and crunch and hum and hiss.
Guitars gurgle and grind, riffs pulled apart, a heaving swirl of constantly shifting layers, a chaotic cacophony that seems to slowly take shape, what was once noise becomes a sculpted soundscape, what was once a cloud of glitches and stutters, turns into rhythm, and the track sucks you in, totally entrancing, heavy, noisy, yeah, but completely and utterly hypnotic, little bits of melody pop up now and again, but are quickly subsumed by the moaning peals of downtuned crush, and once the rhythm locks in, you are powerless to resist.
The B-side is a little less intense, a constantly shifting and evolving cloud of hiss, barely obscuring a symphony of mechanical creaks which slowly coalesce into a strange sort of rickety rhythm, while all around voices hover, melodies tinkle, and finally a wash of buzzing guitar drone cloaks the all the other elements in a patina of blurred shimmer. So nice.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!

PAVEMENT Quarantine The Past (Matador) cd 11.98
Is there really any need for a Pavement greatest hits? Maybe not. But listening to this again, we are definitely reminded of just how fucking great these guys were, and how incredible these songs are. Most of us have all their records and thus all these songs, but for the uninitiated, we really can't imagine how blown away someone would be hearing all these songs for the first time AT ONCE. Probably be too much. So many stone cold indie rock classics, even the weaker tracks are still miles above most other indie rock. And the gems, the 'hits', still untouchable.
Songs spanning the groups entire career, including some compilation tracks including what might be our favorite Pavement track ever, "Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence", from the No Alternative comp, a fractured, gnarled weirdo pop gem, with plenty of that Pavement style namedropping, mostly about R.E.M., featuring a classic sort-of-chorus: a howled "'Time After Time' was my least favorite song", and a totally tripped out buzzing synth, clattery, spoken word outro. Plus there's "Summer Babe", still the defining Pavement jam for most of us. As is "Trigger Cut". And of course there's "Cut Your Hair" and "Range Life" and well, we could go on and on...
Needless to say, if you were just looking for a killer Pavement mixtape, then this will totally hit the spot, and if you've somehow never heard Pavement, or only heard one or two of their later records, then hell, this should definitely set you straight, and while it might be unnecessary, we can tell you that around here we've been playing the shit out of this, which pretty much says it all.
MPEG Stream: "Gold Soundz"
MPEG Stream: "Cut Your Hair"
MPEG Stream: "Shady Lane / J Vs. S"
MPEG Stream: "Summer Babe (Winter Version)"
MPEG Stream: "Box Elder"
MPEG Stream: "Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence"

PAVEMENT Quarantine The Past (Matador) lp 15.98
Is there really any need for a Pavement greatest hits? Maybe not. But listening to this again, we are definitely reminded of just how fucking great these guys were, and how incredible these songs are. Most of us have all their records and thus all these songs, but for the uninitiated, we really can't imagine how blown away someone would be hearing all these songs for the first time AT ONCE. Probably be too much. So many stone cold indie rock classics, even the weaker tracks are still miles above most other indie rock. And the gems, the 'hits', still untouchable.
Songs spanning the groups entire career, including some compilation tracks including what might be our favorite Pavement track ever, "Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence", from the No Alternative comp, a fractured, gnarled weirdo pop gem, with plenty of that Pavement style namedropping, mostly about R.E.M., featuring a classic sort-of-chorus: a howled "'Time After Time' was my least favorite song", and a totally tripped out buzzing synth, clattery, spoken word outro. Plus there's "Summer Babe", still the defining Pavement jam for most of us. As is "Trigger Cut". And of course there's "Cut Your Hair" and "Range Life" and well, we could go on and on...
Needless to say, if you were just looking for a killer Pavement mixtape, then this will totally hit the spot, and if you've somehow never heard Pavement, or only heard one or two of their later records, then hell, this should definitely set you straight, and while it might be unnecessary, we can tell you that around here we've been playing the shit out of this, which pretty much says it all.
MPEG Stream: "Gold Soundz"
MPEG Stream: "Cut Your Hair"
MPEG Stream: "Shady Lane / J Vs. S"
MPEG Stream: "Summer Babe (WInter Version)"
MPEG Stream: "Box Elder"
MPEG Stream: "Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence"

PEARSON, EWAN We Are Proud Of Our Choices (Kompakt) cd 15.98
If there's one thing that has helped some of us here get over our fear of techno, it's the amazing mixes on Kompakt. Sure we're a sucker for blissed out dreamy pop ambience, or murky throbbing heroin house, or heck even big block rockin beats, but with techno, we sometimes have to be coaxed, lured in, a little pop ambient sugar to sweeten the otherwise straight up techno pot.
Of the recent Kompakt mixes, this latest from Ewan Pearson has turned out to be one of our favorites, barring one or two, most of the records he's mixing we've never hard of, and heck, we hadn't even heard of Pearson himself before this, but this mix is a killer, dark and groovy, laid back, but plenty danceable, the opener is a trippy bit of muted four on the floor and squiggly electronics, leading us right into this eclectic mix, that moves through sunshiney, hiss drenched, stuttery vocal downtempo groove, to dubby late night pulse, to rad retro futurist funk, to hazy rave-y buzz, to post Depeche Mode house flecked new wave, to cool Euro electro, to stuttery looped softly pulsing collaged dreamscapes, to smoldering total soft pop, to cool clipped, angular Daft Punk-ish indie pop laced electronica and on and on.
Kompakt fans will love this of course, but if you were waiting for a techno record to lure you to the dancefloor, this might just be it...
MPEG Stream: LEMONADE / PITCH & HOLD "Bliss Out (Gold Panda Remix) / We've Come To Bless Dave Smith"
MPEG Stream: LUSINE "Cirrus"
MPEG Stream: TARON TREKKA "Shiroi"
MPEG Stream: XENIA BELIAYEVA "Analog Effekt"
MPEG Stream: BOT'OX "Blue Steel"

PEVERELIST Jarvik Mindstate (Punch Drunk) cd 14.98
After a handful of killer 12"s, some of which were included on those awesome Skull Disco comps, comes the debut dubstep longplayer from Punch Drunk label head honcho Peverelist, a dark and moody collection of stutter and skitter, weirdly melodic in places, reminiscent of folks like Boards Of Canada or Autchre, but fused onto a dubbed out stripped down dubstep chassis, the opener is a low slung groover, but with a dizzying repetitive main melody and a wheezing chordal backdrop, while "Revival" finds Peverelist teaming up with Pinch, for some super blissed out, underwater dubstep drift, skeletal and spare, mysterious and haunting. The rest of the record sort of slips back and forth between the two, shifting from super melodic Warp style skitter, to clipped murky downtempo dub, dabbling in sounds more techno, throughout, culminating in the closer "Clunk Click Every Trip" that adds some Pop Ambience, and some retro synths that make it sound like some sort of John Carpenter dubstep remix. Cool.
MPEG Stream: "Revival (Featuring Pinch)"
MPEG Stream: "Bluez"
MPEG Stream: "Clunk Click Every Trip"

PILL WONDER Jungle / Surf (Underwater Peoples) lp 17.98
First proper full length from these guys, a reissue of an out of print cassette, after appearances on the two Underwater Peoples samplers, and it's a killer. A totally tripped out chunk of tropical outsider pop damage. Acoustic guitars and simpler percussion, dreamy summery harmony vocals, all tangled up with huge swaths of fractured noise and crumbling distortion, twisted xylophone melodies, and swirling effects, long stretches of murky dirgey fuzz pop, muted drums, animal sounds (!), warped melodies... Imagine the Beach Boys, crossed with Animal Collective, crossed with lots and lots of cough syrup, smeary and blurry and dreamy. The guitars are effected and warped and pulled into glimmering streaks and jangly shard, the riffs are looped into stuttery almost synth sounding rhythms, acoustic guitars buzz and shimmer, beneath layers of feedback and percussive clatter and clang, swaths of hiss and blown out fuzz, the sound very much like the tropical lo-fi pop of Ducktails, but WAY WAY more tweaked and ramshackle and druggy and psychedelic and noisy and freaky. Which in case you couldn't tell, means we're loving this BIG TIME.

PINK NOISE, THE Birdland (Sacred Bones) lp 14.98
Latest batch of lo-fi weirdness from the always reliable Sacred Bones label, this one comes from some weirdos called The Pink Noise, and it's hard to know exactly where to place them, amidst the current crop of lo-fi / new wave / cold wave / garage rock that's been sweeping the underground. They definitely belong, but even amongst sonic brethren like Blank Dogs and Zola Jesus and Gary War, these guys are way out on the fringes, their sound definitely in the ballpark, so fans of the current retro-wave craze will still dig, but WAY more cracked and weird and OUT there.
Murky, synth-driven noisy new wave lo-fi might be about as succinct as we can get, primitive synthesizers pulse over spare metronomic beats, guitar buzz undulates in thick layers, practically smothering the barked vox, the sound robotic and primitive and RAW. Crunchy guitars are clipped and looped into weird stuttery rhythms, detuned and distorted, clouds of FX obscure the vocals, again, swimming in a murky morass of sound, everything is twisted and tweaked and stumbly and mechanical, keyboards wheeze, rubbery melodies are unfurled, tripped out, druggy, melodies get all twisted up, it all seems to be on the verge of collapse, slipping into dingy cold wave one second, blown out punk rock the next, almost funky sounding eighties new wave the next, you can hear eighties John Carpenter, The Residents, even Art Of Noise, but all in the red and raw and gnarled and twisted into something that definitely treads its own bizarre, and weirdly appealing sonic path. A seriously fractured collection of home brewed mad scientist 4-track outsider new wave pop, that we can't seem to stop listening to.
Comes in a cool sandpapery cover.

POCAHAUNTED Make It Real (Not Not Fun) lp 14.98
The return of the female dronenoise dynamic duo, often referred to as the Olsen Twins of noiserock (not sure if that's a dis, or if they came up with it themselves), it's unclear if the band ever actually broke up, but regardless, Make It Real marks the duo's first record in a while.
The most noticeable difference here are the vocals, and well, the songs too, dialed back for the most part is the hazy drugged out psychedelia of old, and in its place is something much more rock, more fuzzy and propulsive and less abstract and spacey. From the first song, it almost sounds classic rock, big echoey drums, heavily reverbed guitars, fuzzy garagey organ, and some full on sixties girl group style vocals, finding their new sound more aligned with groups like Dum Dum Girls, the Beets, Brilliant Colors, Vivian Girls, than with their more tripped out labelmates. The sound suits them for sure, and even in their early days, they still dabbled in this kind of hazy psych-pop, it's just more pronounced here. The druggy groove of the Doors is all over this record (or for a more contemporary reference, Wooden Shjips or the Moon Duo), but things also get more jagged and angular as Pocahaunted channel some old school eighties post punk.
Definitely cool, just be prepared for more song and less space, more rock and less drift, it for sure sounds like maybe the shift in sound was organic, the seeds sewn on past records blossoming here, born from a natural progression, from sound to song, making both the recorded, and the live Pocahaunted experience, much more rocking and danceable. Which is not at all a bad thing.

ROEDELIUS Offene Turen (Nepenthe) cd 14.98
Offene Turen (Open Doors), Roedelius's little known fifth album from 1982 and issued on cd for the first time, is definitely not like the others. Often considered his "experimental" record, Roedelius completed it shortly after the last major Cluster record, Curiosum, and it sometimes seems as if he wanted to make a record through the eyes of his more taciturn partner, Moebius. While it doesn't quite have Moebius's way with mechanical musical calibrations, the vibe is more stark and atmospheric and the closest we've heard any of the Cluster clan come to sounding cinematically proggy in the vein of John Carpenter and Goblin. Lots of church organ sounds and bell tones with an occasional glimpse into Roedelius's classical romantic side, but less so than on other releases. Definitely one of the worthier weirder records in the Cluster canon, perhaps not the place to start with, but for fans who are looking for something more unusual, there's lots to love, from songs that are seriously spooky and almost Oneohtrix-like, to other tracks that are charmingly naive experiments with the newest (at the time) digital tech. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Abenteuerliche Begegnung"
MPEG Stream: "Mit offenem Visier"
MPEG Stream: "Spiegelung"

ROTTING CORPSE The Demos (Stormspell) cd+dvd 14.98
Ew! Look out, it's a ROTTING CORPSE!!! Well, when these guys named their band Rotting Corpse, a name like that still had some shock value. Heck, it was like 1985, and they were the first and only thrash metal band in their part of Texas (Dallas Fort Worth). Their brand of punk inflected, speedy, shreddy, Slayerized thrash was pretty darn deathly for the era. Metal maniacs of a brutal bent into old school style morbidity ought to check them out, maybe you've heard 'em already on that terrific Texas Metal Archives Vol.1 compilation we highlighted here just a few weeks ago, which included Rotting Corpse's namesake tune "Rotting Corpse". Among the bands on that '80s comp, ol' Rotting Corpse were one of sickest, along with Death Tripper and Necrovore, sounding pretty gnarly next to a lot of the other acts, many of whom stylistically were in more of a traditional, epic, speed metal vein (also cool of course).
Now, as if someone knew we were primed to hear MORE Rotting Corpse, this showed up, a two disc cd -and- dvd set, the cd compiling all of the band's surviving demo tape tracks circa 1986-1990, recorded by various lineups, Rotting Corpse membership early on featuring future Solitude Aeturnus guitarist and Brainticket label boss John Perez, and always including founding member and former Pantera roadie Walter Trachsler (great surname for a thrash metaller, eh?) on guitars and sometimes vocals.
It's killer stuff if you like your thrash raw and underground, with the buzzsaws, we mean guitars, all about chop-chop-chop riffage and chaotic soloing. The vokills are guttural, throat-retched and/or punkish, expressing Reagan/Bush era hardcore 'tude. And all the while, the frantic drum battery and loose-strung bass threatens to shake your boombox to bits (a boombox, Walkman, or car stereo being the preferred playback equipment for the original demo cassettes we're sure). It's hard not to mosh, listening to this.
The cd booklet includes several pages of detailed band history (from which we learn that after they played a show with Nuclear Assault, Dan Lilker was heard to say that Rotting Corpse were "America's noisiest band", high praise from the likes of him, indeed), pictures, fliers, and lyrics. Oh, and the dvd disc, meanwhile, contains live concert footage of Rotting Corpse in action, a bunch of it filmed at reunion gigs in 2005 and 2006 (revealing that at least one guy in the band still has really long hair... and also likes to wear what appears to be a camouflage patterned kilt, for some reason). Better yet, it also includes some much more entertaining vintage video from a show back in '89.
MPEG Stream: "War On Drugs "
MPEG Stream: "Price Of God"
MPEG Stream: "Emotional Scars"

SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB Buried Behind The Barn (Alternative Tenatacles) cd 10.98
It's been a while since we've heard from Slim Cessna, whose Auto Club remain to this day one of our favorite bands of country punks, along with Munly, Slim's partner in musical crime. We were under the impression that maybe SCAC were no more, which could still be true (and which would make us very very sad) as this is in fact not a new record, but is a collection of B-sides, unreleased tracks and odds and ends, from the beginning of this century. But these guys are so good, even their castoffs and never-weres are better than most bands' best. And yep, these jams are indeed killer, dark and twangy, catchy, brooding and mysterious, like a more wry and less end-of-the-world Woven Hand or Sixteen Horsepower, no surprise that they hail from the same place. But yeah, if you like that sort of apocalyptic grim folk, or dark twangy swampy country, the sound of SCAC should definitely hit the spot. Then the only consideration is whether you dig these guys' irreverence, which is not difficult as for the most part it's pretty subtle. The weird thing is that a lot of this stuff here sounds like the Old 97's, the -OLD- Old 97's, when they were great, mostly due to the vocals, but the same sort of twangy country rock, and wry twisted lyrics, also folks into the Decemberists might find a lot to like here. Not a bad place to start, we might suggest getting The Bloody Tenent Truth Peace first, but some of the tracks here definitely rank among their best, and for the most part Buried Behind The Barn is a much more serious and straight up country record, the humor and 'punk' much more subtle than on some of the other Slim Cessna records. Regardless, another great collection of songs from these guys, and here's hoping this is just to hold us over for a forthcoming brand new full length...
MPEG Stream: "Cranston"
MPEG Stream: "Port Authority Band"
MPEG Stream: "Angel"

SPEED, GLUE & SHINKI s/t (Phoenix) cd 17.98
Another Japanese seventies psych classic reissued! This is an old fave, in part 'cause of the appealing tiger cover painting and in part 'cause of, well, how ridiculously badass and bad-acidly ridiculous it is. Here's some of what we said about this the last time we had a cd reissue of it to list...
Sniffin & Snortin (parts 1 and 2!), Run & Hide, Bad Woman, Don't Say No, Wanna Take You Home...sound good? Those are some of the song titles on this classic women-and-drugs obsessed dumbo-rock Japanese psych album. It stars guitar whiz and massive stoner Shinki Chen (also of Foodbrain and oodles of other obscure Japanese psych outfits), bassist Masayoshi Kabe (from Food Brain too), and singing drummer Joey 'Pepe' Smith - a Vietnam vet whom you might know from the Filipino band Juan De La Cruz, one of the few outfits ever whose outputs maybe tops this for sheer truly stoned rock retardation (a good thing).
Actually, you'll hear at least one tune, "Wanna Take You Home", also recorded by Juan De La Cruz on this, the second SG&S album, originally released as a double LP in 1972. Speed, Glue & Shinki, as you might imagine from their name, were a goddamn weird, messed up, completely wacked heavy psych/blues/prog band. So messed up that this time out, guest musicians wrote (and performed?) most of it! But it doesn't matter. And even when Joey plugs in a Moog synth to do a whole solo LP side devoted to the Sun, Planets, Life, Moon, and Angels (really, he does!), this never ever remotely gets pretentious and proggy (not that we don't like proggy). It just can't. Speed Glue & Shinki are primal, so primal, too primal. At least one track hints at the Stooges, some others Zeppelin, while the rest approximates a brain-damaged James Gang. Record collector types might recall the fancy, expensive Shadoks LP reissue that was available several years ago for about two seconds. We were enthralled with the lovely tiger cover art and the ridiculous rock and have been hoping ever since to bring in a cd version...
Julian Cope's Japrocksampler Top 50 ranking: #15! (He puts their debut, Eve, at #1, tied with Flower Travellin' Band's Satori, but actually we prefer this to Eve... though both Speed Glue & Shinki records are way cool, even if neither we'd put quite in the company of Satori).
MPEG Stream: "Red Doll"
MPEG Stream: "Song For An Angel"
MPEG Stream: "Search For Love"
MPEG Stream: "Life"

STIELAS STORHETT SKD (De Profundis) cd ep 10.98
Man do we love Russian black metal, Old Wainds, Nav, Ithdabquth Qliphoth, Meti Bhuvah, Blackdeath, Forest... A few years back we discovered this one man band and lost our shit, it definitely sounded Russian, but at the same time it sounded like none of those other bands, we were so blown away. That record, Vadrer, from 2007, became our unequivocal black metal record of the year. In the last three years, all we've heard from Stielas Storhett was a couple tracks on a three way split, that if anything just made us more anxious for a new full length, and while this is not it, it IS two new songs, two new long songs, two parts of a single longer song, and it RULES, if anything, Stielas Storhett have only gotten better since we last heard from them.
So what's the big deal? Haunting cinematic strings, soaring and dramatic, give way to dense, blasting, sorrowful black metal buzz, thick and gnarled and utterly frosty and epic, the main melody totally majestic, trancelike and mesmerizing, we could listen to 10 seconds of this on a loop FOREVER. Not sure what it is about it that makes it so special, but it's definitely magical, the usual black buzz blast is laced with woozy arpeggiated melodies, the vocals are appropriately harsh and hellish, but seem infused with extra pathos, super emotional and intense, and the song itself, the arrangement, loping, midtempo, depressive and melancholic, lurching and lumbering with a cool little stuttery chug, and a washed out seasick breakdown that sends the guitar into high end ur-drone skree, before slipping back, before it begins to slow down, the vocals getting more and more intense and hysterical, the guitar soaring, cool harmonics and melodies drifting above the now doomy crawl, finally fading out.
The second 'movement' begins with weird high end guitar filigree, and some mysterious voices speaking in Russian, and then the song lurches into action, a weary depressive plod, with more gorgeous soaring harmonies, almost like a way blacker Opeth or Katatonia, the song stays moody and moving until about 5 minutes in and the song bursts into full on blast mode, frenzied and frantic, quickly slipping back into a more melodic chug, with some amazing harmonized guitar leads, total classic metal, so epic, finishing off with more of the cinematic strings from the beginning.
Holy shit. This guy is amazing, this record is incredible, it may be only 17 minutes long, but it accomplishes more in that time than most other BM bands can pull off in a career. Let's just call it BLACK METAL EP OF THE YEAR!
MPEG Stream: "SKD I"
MPEG Stream: "SKD II"

SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW, A Nitetime Rainbows (Mis Ojos Discos) 12" 13.98
Finally, new music from this East Coast sunshine shoegaze dream pop combo. Both of their full lengths, Scribble Mural and Ashes Grammar ended up being big faves around here, so we were definitely excited for more more more.
And thankfully, everything we loved about ASDIG is still present, the shimmery jangly guitars, the ethereal vocal harmonies, the woozy rhythms, but this time around the band have added some new sounds, the opening track for instance, has a cool breakdown where things get all washed out and in comes a muted techno thump, before the launch right back into the rock, only to have that electronic skitter follow them, getting al tangled up with the vocals. The guitars are crunchy here and there as well as jangly, "Daytime Rainbows" is crazy catchy, and finds the band at their heaviest, channeling the spirit of nineties shoegaze legends the Swirlies. That electronica finds its way into the third song as well, before they finish off with "Piano Lessons", a midtempo groover with fuzzy low end synths, laid over a seriously dreamy swirl of sounds.
As if 4 new songs weren't enough, this 12" also tags on 3 remixes, all of which take the original songs in dramatically different directions, the first is a pretty straight up electronic reimagining of the title track, the second one though buries the original under all sorts of crumbling distortion and blown out buzz. If you can imagine Wold remixing ASDIG, it might just sound like this. Finally, Ezekial Honig, whose Surfaces records we reviewed a while back, turns that same track into something super space-y and minimal, hushed and abstract. Really nice.
MPEG Stream: "Nitetime Rainbows"
MPEG Stream: "So Bloody, So Tight"

SYLVESTER ANFANG II Commune Cassetten (Blackest Rainbow) lp 21.00
Latest collection of gorgeous drugged out free folk rituals from these Belgian freaks, and as always, it's a fantastically weird and tranced out affair. Sonic ceremonies of shambling free percussion, layered guitar buzz, shimmery melody, and warped warbly drones, all woven into gorgeous occult psychedelia.
The record opens with a dark and mysterious bit of ambience, swirling blackness, muted effects, ghostly melodies, tinkling chimes, spidery guitars, but gives way to a full on seventies kraut psych jam that almost sounds like Comus, all hand drums, and strummed steel string guitars, fluttery flutes (?), it wouldn't be difficult to imagine stumbling onto some sonic coven in a dark forest, gathered around a fire, creating this dreamy din.
And that seventies psychedelic acid folk vibe continues right into the next track (and the rest of the record really), another hippy jam, all flanged guitar, motorik rhythms and swirly melodic buzz.
The second side begins with a druggy laid back meander, all wheezing organs, shuffling drums, detuned guitars, and mumbled chantlike vox, a shambolic minimal dronefolk that seems to be gradually melting right before our ears.
The next track is a full on chunk of seventies style psychedelic buzz, a squall of buzzing psych guitar, pounding tribal drummage, druggy and dirgey and divine. And finally, the record finishes off with part two of that krautrock jam from side one, this time way stripped down, a minimal kraut groove, laced with warped bits of melody, clattery spare percussion, crunchy riffs, drone-y buzz, all wrapped in a vintage lo-fi production haze, that makes this sound like it could be some lost kraut rarity a la German Oak. KILLER.
Pressed on CRAZY thick vinyl, with eye popping full color cover art. LIMITED TO 506 COPIES. Already out of print at the label, so these may be the last copies we see....

SZAJNER, BERNARD Superficial Music (LTM) cd 19.98
Bernard Szajner is one of the more eccentric pioneers of French post-prog electronic music. Released in 1981, Superficial Music, was the follow-up to his bizarre avant-electro-rock concept record against the evils of capital punishment, Some Deaths Take Forever. Superficial Music is less high concept (or more depending upon how you look at it) than Some Deaths, as it uses Marcel Duchamp's ideas of the readymade coupled with Eno's Oblique Strategies to make a compelling work of tape manipulation synthesis. It's definitely not as rock-oriented as Some Deaths. Reworking tapes from his first release, Visions of Dune, and processing them backwards and at half speed, Superficial Music is both strangely atonal and oddly enticing, full of dark pulsations and brooding oceanic turbulence, following in the footsteps of other cosmic tape music such as Fripp and Eno's No Pussyfooting, and Eliane Radigue's Vice Versa while sounding akin to the heavier cavernous analog explorations of Klaus Schulze and Kluster. The second half of the record is Szajner's three part suite, Oswiecim (Polish for Auschwitz) and obviously it doesn't get much lighter in tone. Ghostly and hushed, with unnerving spectral drones, this suite addresses Szajner's family roots with the Holocaust and though it's not as brutally heavy-handed as it could be, it's more often disquieting in its cold and near silent detachment. This reissue also includes two previously unreleased bonus tracks from the period that complement the work nicely. Fans of that Musique Electronique En France compilation we raved about a while back, as well as modern day doomdrone, should definitely check this out!
MPEG Stream: "Superficial Music 3"
MPEG Stream: "De-Termination"
MPEG Stream: "Inverted Area"

THOMAS, ANDREW Between Building And Trees (Kompakt) cd 15.98
If we had to choose a favorite purveyor of pop ambience, it would definitely be tough to pick just one, but Andrew Thomas would definitely be a contender. We still find ourselves listening to his Fearsome Jewel Record, A hushed, understated collection of minimal drift and dreamlike shimmer, the usual washed out ambience infused with record crackle, and muted electronic glitchery, a bit like Gas fused with Philip Jeck.
We hadn't heard from Thomas in a while so we were thrilled to discover a new record, and it's just as fantastically sublime as we had hoped. Even more minimal than Fearsome Jewel, Between Building And Trees finds Thomas painting lush cinematic soundscapes, from subtly looped samples, warm whirring synths, there's still some record crackle, artifacts from the samples we presume, but it adds warmth and intimacy, making these sprawling shimmery soundscapes sound hand crafted, as if you could watch him at an old work bench, taking sounds and samples, as if they were scraps of leather or metal, and fashioning this gorgeous, sonic OBJECT. Lovely and whispery and melodic, warm and whirring and blissed out, this immediately became sleeping music of choice for some of us, the absolute perfect nocturnal soundtrack, some of the tracks so minimal the sounds seem to bleed into the background, fading into the starry sky, until the next track kicks in, and suddenly the stars are sounds, glimmering and pulsing, blurring into streaks of soft focus flutter and languorous dreamlike drift. So so so beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "One Thousand Pin Holes In A Black Paper Sky"
MPEG Stream: "A Dream Of A Spider"
MPEG Stream: "Light On Sea (From Above the World So High)"

TIMES, THE E For Edward / Pure / Et Dieu Crea La Femme (Artpop!) 2cd 16.98
Ed Ball, the mastermind behind the headfuck shoegaze genius that is Teenage Filmstars, is not just a master of sonic manipulation and avant audio alchemy, no he's also a POP genius, which in some ways is precisely why Teenage Filmstars was so compelling, for every whatthefuck collage of bizarre sounds, or the dizzying spinout of backwards drums and warped reverse guitars, was some perfect melody, some kernel of absolute classic pop tunesmithery, even at its most obtuse and impenetrable, it was always weirdly poppy, or subtly melodic.
The long running classic British pop combo The Times is the groop in which Ball let his otherwise sublimated pop demons loose, gobbling up every trope of classic pop music from the sixties, seventies, and especially the eighties and the nineties, and spitting them back out as his own brand of primo pop, which sounds quite a bit like some ever shifting, and slightly tweaked fusion of Oasis, Ride, the Happy Mondays, the Style Council, Depeche Mode, Tears For Fears, Pop Will Eat Itself, and the like. But only slightly tweaked. Don't be expecting any freaked out sonic fuckery, or some fractured meta-pop, the Times were never meant to be experimental, they're more like a musical time capsule, for Ball and his cohorts to go skipping through the history of pop music. And to bring back bits and bobs that he then assembles into the Times museum of classic pop. And classic it is. From mod jangle, to new wave synthy groove, to big guitar power pop, to strummy slow jam, to string soaked balladry, to glimmering soft focus shoegaze, no quirky prog-pop, and pretty much every stop in between. And it's not just the sounds, it's the songs, lush and jangly and melodic, hooks galore, catchy as all get out, total retro pop bliss, every song a gem. Another glorious chapter in Ball's long and storied sonic history, or chapters, this double disc reissue consisting of 3 different The Times records, originally released in 1989 and 1990...
Like all Artpop! releases, comes with a huge, somewhat confusional booklet, packed with liner notes and pics, and also includes a bunch of killer bonus tracks!
MPEG Stream: "Manchester"
MPEG Stream: "Catherine Wheel"
MPEG Stream: "Acid Angel Of Ecstasy"
MPEG Stream: "Life"

TOURE, ALI FARKA & TOUMANI DIABATE Ali And Toumani (World Circut / Nonesuch) cd 17.98
What a moving set of songs! Ali Farka Toure recorded this record shortly before he passed away, along with the immensely talented and soulful kora master Toumani Diabate. There is a mournful and graceful feeling to this record for sure, Ali Farka knew he was near the end of his life and these songs are filled with such patient, beautiful, and trance inducing sounds. Toure's classic guitar stylings touch on such tender and raw emotions while Diabate adds a warm bed of sound to flesh it all out, yet there is a stark and stripped down approach to these songs that really makes them that much more powerful. With such intricate, delicate and purposeful playing, along with Toure's emotional presence felt so strongly throughout the record, you are reminded what true blues really sounds like. Diabate has the special gift of being capable of making music that is totally therapuetic and healing and soothing, and that matched with Toure laying down his last songs to tape, makes this such a moving, entrancing and completely beautiful album. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Ruby"
MPEG Stream: "Sabu Yerkoy"
MPEG Stream: "Samba Geladio"

TYVEK Skyin (Exbx) lp 14.98
There's just something about these guys. On the surface, they sound like they're just another one of the many lo-fi garage rock / warped pop bands that have been popping up over the last few years, but there's definitely something special about Tyvek, even as far back as 2004, which is when these tracks were recorded, they managed to transcend: simple, stripped down, jangly and rocking, totally catchy and utterly irresistible pop music, or garage, or punk. Whatever. Skyin features a handful of songs that would be re-recorded later, as well as a bunch of songs found only here.
We've raved about Tyvek before, but we're happy to do it again, totally ramshackle, lo-fi garage pop-punk genius, even more ramshackle here, recorded on a 4-track, in the band's house, loads of tape hiss, and drop outs and warble, the band even fuck up, A LOT, but they just keep going, starting again right where they left off, it makes the songs lively and fun, and immediate, and those fuckups then become part of the song, you can't imagine them not doing the intro three times in a row, or stopping right in the middle and talking for a second before deciding to keep going. Plus before very song, and during the slow, less rocking numbers, you can totally hear the music from whatever crappy old tapes they used leaking through, adding a whole 'nother confusional sonic element to their otherwise simple songs.
And ultimately it is about the songs. Simple, stripped down, crunchy and catchy, these songs sound fresh and vibrant, but also classic and timeless, like they could be some lost psychedelic power pop gem from the eighties recently unearthed and reissued, or some weird punk record, undiscovered until now, propulsive rhythms, yelped vocals, buzzy angular guitars, lots of jangle, hooks everywhere, totally rocking and oozing energy, that combined with the strange fucked up recording all adds up to some super rad, way recommended lo-fi noise pop. If you love Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall and all that stuff, these guys will knock your socks off.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. In recycled lp sleeves, with full color paste on cover art.

ULAAN KHOL III (Soft Abuse) cd 14.98
Finally, the third volume in Ulaan Khol's epic free-psych-drone trilogy. For those who don't already know, Ulaan Khol is in fact Steven R. Smith, a beloved core member of the Jeweled Antler family, who has recorded on his own as Hala Strana, and with the first JA outfit Thuja, among many, many others. Much of Smith's music is hushed and darkly romantic, folky and introspective, he does know how to rock though, and Ulaan Khol is where he really lets loose. The first two installments in the series were both loud and heavy and psychedelic in their own ways, but number three definitely pushes the sound about as far as it can go. The opening track is a dense shapeless cloud of furious effulgent psychedelic guitar, warm and thick and gnarled and epic, the kind of guitarnoise that could fill up a whole record, but there's more to Ulaan Khol's third outing, as is evidenced by the second track, an incredible, super rocking, crazy catchy burst of blown out psychedelic stomp, the drums pounding, beneath a sea of swirling guitar buzz, while way over the top, Smith unfurls wild soaring leads, pealing feedback, dense tangles of notes, long drawn out wailing tones, it's like the perfect frenzied end to some classic space psych jam except it's the whole song.
But fear not, III is not all blown out psych rock for headz, some of the tracks are humid, smoldering raga like dronescapes, buzzing guitar swells, spidery melodies, delicate and crystalline, others take that same ambience and wrap it around urgently strummed acoustic guitars, creating a sort of dark psychfolk, but it's not too long before the record explodes into another incendiary blast of full on speaker shredding freakout.
The second half of the record is heavy on the dark blissy drift, the slow burning drifts, the blurred desert-y shimmer, all of which culminate in the super melodic 10+ minute closer, which sounds poised to explode, but instead channels that energy into something much more sublime, a long drawn out spacedrone/krautrock drift, the guitars thick and distorted, churning and roiling, but laced with gorgeous streaks of melody, dreamy, but still heavy, and pretty much the perfect way to close out Ulaan Khol's epic psychedelic songsuite. Even though this is the third in a trilogy, we're hoping S.R.S. will do an Ulaan Khol IV anyway, or maybe start making prequels, or something, 'cause we want more!
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 2"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 3"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 4"

V/A The Minimal Wave Tapes Volume 1 (Stones Throw) 2lp 19.98
Yay, also at last we have a bunch (well, maybe not for long) of this recent Record Of The Week on vinyl!!
Ooooh, so awesome! If you're familiar with Minimal Wave already, or if you're not, this is the thing to get.
The Minimal Wave label and website have been tremendous resources for discovering the hidden gems of synth punk, cold wave, Neue Deutsche Welle, and any of the darker strains of new wave that all blossomed throughout the early to mid '80s. While the label has released full album reissues (vinyl-only) from a number of forgotten men and women of the trade, the two comps that Minimal Wave has issued over the years - the Lost Tapes (documenting European artists) and the Found Tapes (culling from North America) - were absolutely stunning, without a dud amongst the many collected tracks. Unfortunately, those two comps were quite expensive and quite hard to come by. So when Minimal Wave and Stones Throw came together to release this comp, our initial reaction (and that of a few others walking in the shop) was that this compilation fused those Lost & Found Tapes together. Well, we were wrong as this highlights not only some of the best tracks from those compilations, but also the best tracks from the Minimal Wave reissue library, plus a few rare gems not readily available anywhere else.
The Belgian outfit Linear Movement (which later morphed into A Split Second) opens the compilation with a very cold dance number of disaffectedly cold Italo-disco rhythms and female vocals that would fit in with any given Johnny Jewel production for Italians Do It Better (e.g. Chromatics, Glass Candy, Desire, etc.). Crash Course In Science's "Flying Turns" re-emerged first on the Found Tapes and then on the totally awesome Vinyl On Demand anthology; and is an immediately catchy if darkly unique number of dot-dot-dash electro and spiky rhythms closer in spirit to the Units or Nervous Gender. Oppenheimer Analysis reprises a very Gary Numanoid track from their eponymous record which Minimal Wave reissued a while back. The Mark Lane track "Who's Really Listening" is another insistent proto-techno number of synthetic micro-blips driving handclap drum rhythms and Lane's Ultravox-ish vocals. Tara Cross was one of the few women tinkering around with electronics, and produced some beguiling arrhythmic structures with staccato synth punches and her drawn out vocal ambience. Turquoise Days may have been the only New Wave export of the Channel Islands, pulling out some jangling dissonance from their guitars to match the Modern English synth melodies. Minimal Wave reprises the Lost Tapes with a great track from Bene Gesserit, a project of bleakly alienated progressive electronics from Alain Neff who ran the Insane Music label. The Esplendor Geometrico track is curiously playful for a project that centered so much on dangerously mechanoid industrial grinding. Das Ding's "Reassurance Ritual" was designed for the dancefloor with a constant revolution of drum machine programming around tightly wound synth melody repetitions. Cryptic theatrics from the Martin Dupont ensemble appear on "Just Because" sounding a lot like a Fad Gadget B-side. And if the Deux track "Game & Performance" sounds familiar, it's because you've heard it on the BIPPP compilation which Ed Banger re-released a while back. The compilation is fleshed out with the best death disco groove that Das Kabinette ever mustered on their single "The Cabinet" which did come out on a Minimal Wave lp a while back.
Fantastic!!!!!
MPEG Stream: CRASH COURSE IN SCIENCE "Flying Turns"
MPEG Stream: MARK LANE "Who's Really Listening"
MPEG Stream: DAS DING "Reassurance Ritual"
MPEG Stream: DAS KABINETTE "The Cabinet"

V/A Pomegranates (B-Music / Finders Keepers) cd 15.98
Those folks at Finders Keepers / B-Music never stop wowing us with the killer stuff they dig up. This list, we've made their reissue of the Aussie psychedelic biker flick soundtrack Stone one of our Records Of The Week, and we're constantly having to order more copies of recent discs like The BYG Deal (documenting rarities released by the radical French underground label BYG) and The Sound Of Wonder (an indeed wondrous collection of music from Pakistan's "Lollywood" cinema).
Now, here's Pomegranates, an amazing compilation of "Persian pop, funk, and psych of the 60s and 70s" compiled by a pair of Iranian-American music lovers delving into the pop culture past of their parents' generation, prior to the fall of the Shah, an era of rapid Westernization, economic stratification, and eventual sociopolitical upheaval. Looking back with bittersweet nostalgia, enthusiasm, and curiosity, they've put together a dazzling array of music that's usually quite groovy, also often melancholic, and sometimes subversive. Several tracks are considered classics, some are total obscurities (same to us!), all are irresistible. It's a colorful hybrid of East and West, of Persian musical traditions (already a melting pot of international influences) and electric youth energy. You'll hear strains of Western psych-pop, James Brown funk, Indian raga, Gypsy flamenco, Turkish folk, another other 'exotic' Middle Eastern motifs...
So many great tracks on here, the compilers almost making it impossible to select faves 'cause it's all so good, but if we had to pick just one highlight maybe it would be popular singer Googoosh's "Talagh", which sets her sweet voice soaring over one of the most insidiously slinky grooves EVER, pulsating with sinister fuzz-funk energy under flourishes of cinematic strings. She's got a couple more tracks on here, as befits her status as one of Iran's top pop stars of the day, a true sensation. If you like Turkey's Selda, you'll like what you'll hear here from Googoosh and this disc's other female vocalists. We also should note the zinging sitar funk of Abbass Mehrpouya's "Soul Raga", definitely another standout (it also appears on the full-length Mehrpouya reissue we raved about recently). But we haven't scratched the surface, the tracks by the other artists here, including Parva, Zia, Soli, Sima Bina, Ramesh, Noosh Afarin, Kourosh Yaghmaie, and others, are all awesome too, varying from groovy dancefloor workouts to aching love songs, sometimes both in one. Lots to enjoy, dive in!!
Oh, and of course like all Finders Keepers releases, this is nicely appointed, in a slipcover, with a thick, illustrated cd booklet featuring extensive, informative liner notes from co-compiler Mahssa Taghinia.
FYI we'll be getting a few copies of the import vinyl edition soon, they're not here yet though...
MPEG Stream: GOOGOOSH "Talagh"
MPEG Stream: ZIA "Kofraim"
MPEG Stream: RAMESH "Sharm-e Boos-e"
MPEG Stream: NOOSH AFARIN "Gol-e Aftab Gardoon"

V/A Underwater Peoples Winter Review 2010 (Underwater People's) cd 5.98
The 2009 Summer installment of the Underwater Peoples label sampler was a big hit around here, super cheap, with tons of bands we dug, and a bunch more we had never heard, but end up digging as well. So hear we are a few months later and it's time for the second installment, for Winter 2010, and once again, lots of faves: Julian Lynch, Ducktails, Real Estate, some new discoveries like Pill Wonder (whose full length is reviewed elsewhere on this list), and the embarrassingly named Frat Dad, as well as a whole mess of new names, some of which will join the above on frequent play.
Much like Captured Tracks and Sacred Bones, Underwater Peoples have a sound, and a somewhat solid stable of regulars, so you sort of know what you're getting into, twisted, lo-fi pop, sometimes heavy on the tropical vibe, definitely a distinct surf vibe (or more specifically, some Beach Boys worship), some electronics, some jangly guitars, plenty of fuzz, lots and lots of reverb and delay and echo, but at the core of all these jams is pop, pure and simple, in all sorts of permutations.
Julian Lynch offers up some hazy electronic tinged groove pop, almost like a way more twisted and low fidelity Postal Service, with even dreamier vocals. Pill Wonder sound a bit like Fleet Foxes if they were less folk, and more tweaked pop, complete with lush harmonies and some fake synth strings. Ducktails do their drug addled broken 4-track, island tropical calypso dream pop thing, and it sounds as good as ever. Real Estate go all acoustic, and manage to whip up something pretty lovely and lush. Frat Dad unleash a super distorted chunk of blown out jangle pop. New names this time around that we're digging, Fluffy Lumber, with their warped eighties new wave synth pop, Big Trouble who sound a bit like Jesu or Nadja, if those guys recorded in their bedroom on an old tape deck, and Liam The Younger who kick up a seriously rad nineties sounding chunk of heavy shoegazey indie rock. But there's plenty more. So dig in. The price is definitely right, and odds are at least some (maybe even most) of these jams will end up on a future mix tape or on nonstop repeat play in your headphones...
MPEG Stream: JULIAN LYNCH "Es's"
MPEG Stream: PILL WONDER "Restless"
MPEG Stream: DUCKTAILS "Apple Walk"
MPEG Stream: FRAT DAD "Totally Afraid"
MPEG Stream: REAL ESTATE "Orchard"

VASAELETH Crypt Born and Tethered To Ruin (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
We know not what "Vasaeleth" means, it sounds sinister, vaguely itchy, certainly evil and obscure enough to be a good name for this new band on Profound Lore (an adventurous metal label that manages to be both deeply cult, and fairly diverse). Although metal fans revel in the distinctions between subgenres impervious to outsiders, Vasaeleth is one of those bands that seems to cross over betwixt death and doom and black metal. If we had to choose, we'd catagorize 'em as death metal, yeah, definitely, but creepy old occultic death metal, that shares a lot of the raw Satanic spirit of the most cvlt-ish black metal. The likes of Portal and Impetuous Ritual, also with recently raved about cds on Profound Lore, come to mind (and also the disc of Cremation demos listed last time) as being the the sort of primal death that appeals to the black metal aesthetic too. Vasaeleth is further evidence that it's coming back (from the grave), that filthy festering old school death metal, the sort that possesses a sludgey doomic vibe as well, harking back to early Obituary, Autopsy, Incantation and that sort of thing.
Shrouded in excellent, arcane cover art (by the same artist, Antichrist Kramer, who did covers for black metal band Inquisition's Magnificent Glorification Of Lucifer and Nefarious Dismal Orations albums) this duo's debut oozes with ancient atmosphere, each song barely emerging from the thick soupy murk, the entire album to be regarded as one crushing ritual from the bowels of hell. Oh, how we love the morbid miasmic tones of the guitar and bass, their congealed riffs shuddering over drumming that sounds like the tramping boots of the legions below! The vokills are continuous, vomitous heavings of guttural grimnity, as if another abstract instrument adding to the dirge-droneiness of this metal of death, which is also embellished by eerie synth as well. Heavy, hypnotic, haunted, so ugly that it becomes beautiful.
Recently, we've been stocking some killer old school death metal on the Razorback label, bands like Skeletal Spectre and Decrepitaph, and this fits with those, though there's a "fun factor" to those Razorback acts that Vasaeleth are just too grim to share, their brand of blackened death being so much more seemingly serious, spiritual, and dare we say it, artistic. And that's awesome as well. Wretchedly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Wrathful Deities"
MPEG Stream: "Gateway To The Cemetery Of Being"
MPEG Stream: "Crypt Born & Tethered To Ruin"

WELTER IN THY BLOOD The Transference of Misery (Totalvernichtung) lp 19.98
This is actually the first we've heard from LA black metal trio Welter In Thy Blood, and what an introduction. A super limited, and insanely elaborate lp, three songs, two sides, nearly 30 minutes of creeping, harsh, hellish, doom-ed blackness. WITB are often classified as black metal, but sonically they definitely fall more in line with ultra doom outfits like moss or Khanate, but with a distinctly black streak.
The Transference Of Misery begins with slow sprawl of black ambience, all deep cavernous rumbles, groans and creaks, drips and whirs, distant industrial clatter, barely there tones, all blurred into a swirling sonic abyss. Eventually the second songs surfaces from the murk, even more drones, a particularly hellish blackdrone, that sprawls and oozes, sinister and malevolent, before a strange voice speaks and the song proper kicks in, a spaced out, abstract bit of ultra doom, hellish vocals shrieking over black squalls of crunch and buzz, lots of space in between, ultimately, the various parts coalesce and the song transforms and becomes a black doom plod, the guitars blown out and blurred into streaks of crumbling buzz, the vocals even more harsh and processed, the band lumber along, a hellish sonic death march, slipping occasionally back into dreamy black drift, before returning to the crushing black dirge that dominates the side.
The flipside offers up another sidelong sprawl of creeping black doom, the drums a skeletal framework for more shrieked demonic vokills, moaning gnarled riffage, all detuned and angular, in fact, the B-side sounds quite a bit like a black metal Black Flag at 16rpm. An endless doomic plod, that while plenty hellish and black, is sonically way more Moss or Monument Of Urns or Bunkur, than Deathspell Omega or Funeral Mist. Fucking incredible. Essential listening for the doomlords, the black hordes, and the deathdoomdronedirgedrift obsessed...
Incredibly elaborate and beautiful packaging. Pressed on thick black vinyl, housed in a black inner sleeve with a printed red obi style insert. That sleeve is then housed in a second sleeve, printed black on black, with printed red blood splatters, everything is then wrapped in a thick, gorgeously printed outer slipcover / sleeve. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!!

WIND Seasons (Long Hair) cd 27.00
We couldn't remember why, exactly, must have read about it sometime long ago in a krautrock reference book, like the Crack In The Cosmic Egg perhaps, but we knew that as fans of early HEAVY '70s stuff - psych, prog, krautrock, proto-metal, what have you - that apparently the German band Wind's 1971 debut Seasons was one to watch out for. Well, it finally just got reissued via the Long Hair label (who have recently brought us several kraut-prog winners from Cannabis India, Mammut, and Et Cetera, amongst others) and so, already curious about it, we ordered a copy of it in...
First impression, before we even put it on, from looking at the photo on the back: damn, for a krautrock band, these guys have some seriously impressive, huge Afros!!! So, a lot of expectation/anticipation/long hair to live up to. And as it turns out, Wind don't blow it (sorry). This album is fine indeed. It hits our "heavy" buttons but also has enough melodic and groove appeal that some of the folks here at AQ who, y'know, don't spend time memorizing stuff out of krautrock reference books or obsessing about 1971 were into it too! So, we ordered some more, and here's our review...
Wind were a five piece: guitar, organ, bass, drums, the singer sometimes busting out flute (yes!) and harmonica. With the organ, they're in the "heavy progressive" mode of a lot of other early krautROCK bands, sounding as much like Deep Purple as they do Can. Both of which are cool by us, and the DO sound like both sometimes. Another once-popular krautrock band they remind us of is Birth Control (who we love, but sadly have never reviewed, relevant reissues seem scarce right now). So that means lots of thumping organ and fuzzy guitar riffs, which do indeed pound forth, especially on opener "What Do We Do Now", and later on the even heavier "Dear Little Friend", but even those songs have their shades of light as well as dark. Wind featured raw sounds and tight playing, on this record definitely conveying an impassioned feeling, in part due to the singer's often gruff, sandpapery voice, that at his toughest makes us think of Nazareth's Dan McCafferty, though at times he can be quite smooth and soulful. His harmonica blowin' on the 16 minute album-closer "Red Morningbird" gives that song an evocative Ennio Morricone / Spaghetti Western vibe, also sounding a lot like one of Can's Soundtracks tracks, and this album might be worth the price of admission alone just for that epic track. Certainly kraut-fans of Birth Control, Murphy Blend, Dies Irae, Gift, early Out Of Focus, will need to hear Wind's Seasons, and like we said it has also been catching the ears of even those here who aren't the biggest prog and proto-metal fiends.
Liner notes in German and English tell us that prior to the release of this album, the members of Wind were involved in recording an exploito-psych LP by "Corporal Gander's Fire Dog Brigade", and did an ill-fated, six-month tour of Vietnam (where there was a war going on, you may recall). But they survived all that to release this debut and another (much softer, we're told) album in '72, calling it a day not long after, having bad luck selling records despite good reviews and success on stage, having played clubs and festivals with the likes of Can, Family, East Of Eden, Pink Floyd and others.
MPEG Stream: "What Do We Do Now"
MPEG Stream: "Red Morningbird"

WIND Seasons (Long Hair) lp 33.00
We couldn't remember why, exactly, must have read about it sometime long ago in a krautrock reference book, like the Crack In The Cosmic Egg perhaps, but we knew that as fans of early HEAVY '70s stuff - psych, prog, krautrock, proto-metal, what have you - that apparently the German band Wind's 1971 debut Seasons was one to watch out for. Well, it finally just got reissued via the Long Hair label (who have recently brought us several kraut-prog winners from Cannabis India, Mammut, and Et Cetera, amongst others) and so, already curious about it, we ordered a copy of it in...
First impression, before we even put it on, from looking at the photo on the back: damn, for a krautrock band, these guys have some seriously impressive, huge Afros!!! So, a lot of expectation/anticipation/long hair to live up to. And as it turns out, Wind don't blow it (sorry). This album is fine indeed. It hits our "heavy" buttons but also has enough melodic and groove appeal that some of the folks here at AQ who, y'know, don't spend time memorizing stuff out of krautrock reference books or obsessing about 1971 were into it too! So, we ordered some more, and here's our review...
Wind were a five piece: guitar, organ, bass, drums, the singer sometimes busting out flute (yes!) and harmonica. With the organ, they're in the "heavy progressive" mode of a lot of other early krautROCK bands, sounding as much like Deep Purple as they do Can. Both of which are cool by us, and the DO sound like both sometimes. Another once-popular krautrock band they remind us of is Birth Control (who we love, but sadly have never reviewed, relevant reissues seem scarce right now). So that means lots of thumping organ and fuzzy guitar riffs, which do indeed pound forth, especially on opener "What Do We Do Now", and later on the even heavier "Dear Little Friend", but even those songs have their shades of light as well as dark. Wind featured raw sounds and tight playing, on this record definitely conveying an impassioned feeling, in part due to the singer's often gruff, sandpapery voice, that at his toughest makes us think of Nazareth's Dan McCafferty, though at times he can be quite smooth and soulful. His harmonica blowin' on the 16 minute album-closer "Red Morningbird" gives that song an evocative Ennio Morricone / Spaghetti Western vibe, also sounding a lot like one of Can's Soundtracks tracks, and this album might be worth the price of admission alone just for that epic track. Certainly kraut-fans of Birth Control, Murphy Blend, Dies Irae, Gift, early Out Of Focus, will need to hear Wind's Seasons, and like we said it has also been catching the ears of even those here who aren't the biggest prog and proto-metal fiends.
Liner notes in German and English tell us that prior to the release of this album, the members of Wind were involved in recording an exploito-psych LP by "Corporal Gander's Fire Dog Brigade", and did an ill-fated, six-month tour of Vietnam (where there was a war going on, you may recall). But they survived all that to release this debut and another (much softer, we're told) album in '72, calling it a day not long after, having bad luck selling records despite good reviews and success on stage, having played clubs and festivals with the likes of Can, Family, East Of Eden, Pink Floyd and others.
MPEG Stream: "What Do We Do Now"
MPEG Stream: "Red Morningbird"

WITHERS, BILL +'Justments (Reel Music) cd 14.98
Issued on cd for the first time since its original 1974 release, soul singer Bill Withers' final record for the Sussex label, +'Justments finally sees the light of day. It's a record that bears the weight of the world on its shoulders, recorded at a time when both his personal and professional relationships were falling apart. Fatigued from touring and fighting against label pressures to become more of a high-production showman, Withers created a more introspective and often melancholic soul folk record closer in spirit to Terry Callier than to Marvin Gaye. It's both been lauded as one of the major lost soul records of the seventies and dismissed as a critical disappointment, as it didn't have any of the winning singles previous releases had such as "Ain't No Sunshine", "Lean On Me" or "Use Me". And it pretty much sounded the death knell for the Sussex label that folded shortly after its release, which probably meant it didn't get as much promotion as his other releases did. It's a shame too, because as a whole, it's a really great record. Even though it's proven just to be as polarizing here in the store with some of us loving it and some of us hating it, though those of us who do love it are arguably bigger fans of soul, disco, and R&B than those who don't. Granted, it is a record that focuses on softer and bittersweet soul qualities rather than funk and groove, but it never ever gets treacley. So this may not be the heavy-hitter soul crossover record you are looking for, but for those who like to venture into classic soul's more obscure corners, this one yields plenty of rewards. A great rainy day record!
MPEG Stream: "The Same Love That Made Me Laugh"
MPEG Stream: "You"
MPEG Stream: "Green Grass"

WOLFBANE s/t (Shadow Kingdom Records) cd 14.98
As we're always pleased to observe, apparently there's an absolutely inexhaustible supply of worthwhile old music awaiting rediscovery, every week it seems we're lucky enough to see another amazing batch of obscure rarities reissued, vintage psych, prog, folk, funk, jazz... We've long thought that the next fertile field for reissue frenzy would be the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), and lo, it's happening, there's been a bunch of cool reissues and archival releases hitting the racks in recent weeks, like the Dark Star reviewed last list, Jameson Raid and Bleak House (both of which will be on our next list), and this one - WOLFBANE. Nope, never heard of 'em before either, but man are they great.
The six tracks on this 33 minute cd come from the two demo tapes that this band recorded during their 1980-1983 "career"; raw, rough and riffy rock recorded by a trio consisting of a guitarist named Dee, a bassist named Lee, and two different drummers variously named Syd (demo #1) and Sid (demo #2). Actually, they weren't always a trio, Wolfbane apparently went through several frontmen, but none ever managed to make it into the studio, leaving guitarist Gramie Dee to do the singing on all their recorded demos. Which is awesome, 'cause his voice is actually really cool, and we can't imagine why they'd even have wanted any other singers. He's got a tough, sometimes slightly Ozzyish voice, with a ragged hint of a rasp, that's perfect for Wolfbane's style, which falls on the heavier, doomier side of the NWOBHM scene, having a palpable Sabbath vibe, definitely for those who hold the likes of Witchfinder General and Angel Witch near and dear! The spoken intros are a hoot, the riffs are killer, and they just freakin' rock, doin' songs about werewolves ("Wolfbane" and "The Howling"), love or the lack thereof ("Leave Me"), serial killers (the epic "See You In Hell"), swords & sorcery ("Elric Of Melnibone"), and prostitutes ("Midnight Lady"). What more do you want? Drugs? Vampires? More werewolves? Doubtless had they made it to a demo #3 they'd have done a song about at least one of those subjects (chances are, more werewolves).
The primal DIY-ness of this is totally a plus, Wolfbane exuding underground charisma and true heavy metal spirit to the max. We're so glad these songs have been reissued, we'd have never heard 'em otherwise, and the cd booklet comes complete with a cheeky band history and notes on each track.
MPEG Stream: "Wolfbane"
MPEG Stream: "See You In Hell"
MPEG Stream: "Elric Of Melnibone"

WOODS I Was Gone 7" 6.50
More dreamy psychedelic loner-stoner folk from Woods. This time, looped and effected vocals, swirling atmospherics, super tripped out ambience, that gives way to an almost Cure-sounding bit of gloom pop jangle, before slipping right back into more of that lugubrious lysergic drift. The song gradually builds back up to that propulsive new wave jangly gloom, wrapped in a glimmering web of super effected, and dizzyingly tangled muted guitar melodies.
The flipside is more of the same, woozy and gloomy, soaring layered ethereal vocals, falsetto, queasy slightly off harmonies over shimmery minor key melodies, plenty of jangle, a bit like a slightly more twisted Beach Boys, via Animal Collective, via an old shack in the Woods. The second track on the B side is even more abstract and ethereal, a spooky bit of spectral drift, that manages to be haunting and lovely, while seemingly constantly on the verge of falling apart. Awesome.

ZU Way of the Animal Powers (Public Guilt) lp 26.00
Long out of print on cd, now finally pressed on vinyl!!
Props to Brian Turner at WFMU for re-introducing us to this band. We always sort of dug Zu, a pretty cool weird sort-of jazz outfit from Italy. But hearing Zu's "Tom Araya Is Our Elvis" on the radio knocked our blocks off. Woah! What kind of jazz group could come up with a track like that. A skronking sludgy punch to the guts. Hypnotically repetitive and all right, we'll say it, HEAVY! Since when was it okay for a jazz group to channel Slayer and just CRUSH? Who cares! Zu is our 'heavy jazz' drug of choice now. And the title of the track that got us hooked? Perfect! Because Tom Araya IS our Elvis. This whole record is a dense tangled blast of downtuned artmetal deathjazz. Imagine Morphine, on, er, well, morphine. Dark and druggy, stumbling, convoluted and complex, a stuttering staggering drums, bass and horns battle royale. But this is not about skree as much as it is about the slithery lowslung skronk, liberally peppered with subtle scrabbly scattery percussive shuffle and moaning droning cello. So fucking great!
MPEG Stream: "Tom Araya Is Our Elvis"
MPEG Stream: "Anantomy Of A Lost Battle"

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BEACH HOUSE s/t (HeartBreakBeat) lp 16.98
ONCE MORE, NOW BACK IN PRINT ON VINYL! This fab debut from the now hugely popular Beach House has gone out of print on vinyl a couple times since it first came out a few years back. Now, at last, they've done a third (?) pressing. Here's what we said before:
Now available on vinyl for a limited time!
Wow! We haven't been this smitten with a debut release in quite a while. Didn't know much about this Baltimore duo but we do know, the second this record we laid ears on this the first time, we were immediately seduced by the glorious sounds within. Hazy, daydreaming pop with equal parts magic, mystery and dreamy darkness, all drenched in beautiful melodies and sincere sensuality. Kind of made us think of Broadcast taking a warm bubble bath with Coco Rosie. Lights out, candles burning, bubbles floating, reverb dripping. There is a timelessness in these songs that is so evocative, Warhol's factory, a summer twilight in Southern California in the '70s, an abandoned art studio in the UK. You can never quite put your finger on exactly where these songs are drawn from but in the end it's music truly unique and wonderful. A mysterious voice, a haunting presence and songs carry you off, eyes closed, to somewhere much more enchanting then wherever you really are. So nice!
MPEG Stream: "Tokyo Witch"
MPEG Stream: "Childhood"

BLOOM, KATH Thin Thin Line (Caldo Verde) cd 14.98
On her eighth album, Ms Kath Bloom proved she still has many stories to sing from her thick songbook with many pages still to be filled. As always, her voice and words are steeped with raw nerve honesty and open hearted emotion. Often Bloom's delivery wavers precariously on the edge of despair. Clearly it's a voice that's lived through the thick and the thin, but that has not lost all hope. Hers is utterly unadorned folk of the most fragile kind, but there is a palpable resolve that underscores the seemingly frail proceedings. As intimate and tenderly true blue as ever, Thin Thin Line is sure to please her loyal fans! Released on Mark Kozelek's Caldo Verde label... yes, a man with good taste!
MPEG Stream: "Thin Thin Line"
MPEG Stream: "Like This"

COLD CAVE / PRURIENT Stars Explode (Hospital Productions) 12" 19.98
We listed this a month ago, it went out of print right away, and still is, but we just got a handful from a supplier who still had some, unfortunately that means the price has gone up a bit, and when these are gone, they're gone.
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.

DECIBEL #66 April 2010 magazine 4.95
High On Fire On The Cover (looking maybe just a little uncomfortable, posing draped in snakes on account of their new album, Snakes For The Divine... why'd it have to be snakes... shoulda said snacks!).
Also this ish: Ludicra, The Wounded Kings, Teitanblood, Bastard Noise, Daughters, Priestess, Abscess, Ihsahn, Landmine Marathon, Finntroll (vs. Troll), Dark Tranquillity (being inducted into the Hall Of Fame for The Gallery), Nachtmystium (studio report), and more, including of course all the usual news, tons o' reviews, and funny columns, John Darnielle's South Pole Dispatch being particularly amusing this time 'round.

FLOWER MAN Exotic Cameo (Upstairs) cd-r 8.98
BACK IN STOCK! But not for long, managed to get a very few of these back in, so grab one while you can...
Flower Man is the work of Chris Bush from the Kentucky based electron revivalist ensemble Caboladies. While we've failed to hear any of his work from that outfit, the constant comparisons to Emeralds and Oneohtrix Point Never was more than enough to pique our interest. As Flower Man, Bush doesn't stray too far from what we would assume Caboladies to sound like, squiggling and squirming around his analogue synths and some pretty murky tape production that triangulates his sound somewhere between Grouper, a really druggy Bruce Haack, and a happy-go-lucky Omit. With its clunky Ikue Mori-styled drum-kit leaden dance around the rhythm, the opening track laces itself around two harmonized '80s / sci-fi melodies that fragment into squelchy percolations and lazer beam vibrations. The next batch of tracks could easily originate in any number of BBC Radiophonic projects with playful yet somewhat detached bleepity-blooping interwoven with some of those spooky synth sounds that Richard D. James mustered on his really early Aphex Twin tracks from Selected Ambient Works Vol. 1. Bush slows everything down to a turgid crawl of introspection through a lonesome, moping piece of bedroom electronics on the suitably titled track "Swirling" coming across as Delia Derbyshire on Quaaludes; and then makes a quick turnabout with some spasmodic electroid flashes which dissipate into nothingness as if sucked in various directions into outer space.
It makes perfect sense that Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never) would release this on his newly launched cd-r imprint Upstairs. Limited to 75 copies, and already sold out at the label!
MPEG Stream: "Behind The Habit Wheel"
MPEG Stream: "Swirling"
MPEG Stream: "Perhaps We're Floating On"

GOOD FOR COWS Audumla (Web Of Mimicry) cd 13.98
What happens when the dooooom takes hold of experimental jazzzz? Good For Cows' latest mooooozzzzzic. Heh Heh. On Audumla drummer Ches Smith (Secret Chiefs 3, Xiu Xiu, John Zorn among others) and bassist Devin Hoff (formerly of Xiu Xiu) churn and rumble their way through nine instrumental jams. We can't say for sure if these sounds are beneficial for cattle, and we doubt we'll be hearing this cd played out in a pasture anytime soon to find out. The bass is a deep sludge-y boiled ooze, the drums are all rhythmic angularities. Electronics and effects provide additional atmospheric texture and unexpected shocks of lightning and sheets of rain in this aural thunderstorm. Some passages definitely brings to mind horror movie soundtracks from the '70s. Ultra ominous and heavy.
MPEG Stream: "Audumla"
RealAudio clip: "Legion"

GRONG GRONG s/t (Alternative Tentacles) lp 13.98
We made a huge deal about the recent double disc reissue of this gnarled, noiserock classic from these Australian misanthropes, and lucky for you vinyl freaks, one of our distributors discovered a stash of the original lp release in their warehouse. So grab one while you can...
Grong Grong was born on a whim, named for a small Australian town, that one of the members just happened to be passing through, when he got home, he decided he had to start a band, and it had to be called Grong Grong. And apparently the simple approach of asking folks "Do you want to be in a band called Grong Grong?" was enough, and soon, Grong Grong were playing shows and making records. Or at least a record, and what a record, filthy, grimey, noisy, raw, primitive, pounding, chaotic, punk as fuck, a little post punk, a little new wave, crunchy angular guitars, throbbing low slung bass, wild drumming, and big bellowed vocals drenched in reverb, the band locking into a single riff, and working it and pounding away, the guitar spiraling off into weird little tangles while the bass and drums stayed locked into their groove, and the vocals swooped all over the place, the delay sending the grunts and growls careening from speaker to speaker. Not sure how these guys ended up on AT (well, Jello was a big fan), seems like they might have been just as at home on AmRep, where most of the other bands from this scene ended up.
Hardly matters, this is some awesome classic Aussie weirdo noise punk, and it sounds as good as it ever did, and listening to this now, it's shocking how many young bands are aping these guys big time, whether they realized it or not. Swampy, bluesy, woozy, psychedelic, lurching, lumbering, sloppy and loose, but so goddamn good, and those vocals, totally pushing all those same Killdozer buttons, but these guys were way more minimal, all about mood and texture and vibe, not parts, not verses and choruses, they sort of just launched into a song and kept going until it ground to a halt, or the band collapsed into a heap only to stumble into the next track. This is THEE shit.
MPEG Stream: "Grong Grong"
MPEG Stream: "Angels & Demons"
MPEG Stream: "Club Grotesque"

LOW ON HIGH s/t (self-released) cd 8.98
Amy Davis and Jon Moritsugu are on the loose again! You might be more familiar with their combined coolness via other avenues - Amy's stylin' art and graphic design (she was a regular contributor to Paper Magazine for years and years) and Jon's ultra punk indie films (Mod Fuck Explosion, Scum Rock, Fame Whore to name a few!). Never ones to shy away from a creative whim or flight of fancy, nor ones to ever be pinned down. This time they're whippin' up an indie rock fun storm in their new band Low On High. Over the past decade they've hopped from here in SF to Hawaii to a tiny island in the Pacific Northwest and are now settled in New Mexico... all pretty chill locales, yes? But the raucous music they're makin' still sounds deeply rooted with one foot in the big city lip-glossy glitzy fashionista scenes. Moritsugu tackles the guitar while Davis plays bass and delivers most of the vocals in a druggy, woozy petulant swoon. Very DIY, free spirited, and more than a little rough around the edges, Low On High is very reminiscent of early '90s lo-fi pop rawk, and inspired by the likes of Sonic Youth, Jesus And Mary Chain and grrrl punk. Noisy distorted tunes with a candy crunch core and glamor puss accessories!
MPEG Stream: "Crush"
MPEG Stream: "C'est LA"

MAGNETIC FIELDS, THE Realism (Nonesuch) lp 21.00
Also on vinyl...
Nobody makes misery and endless longing sound better then Stephin Merritt. As it's been raining nonstop in San Francisco we've been eagerly awaiting this new Magnetic Fields album since pretty much nothing sounds better when it's gray and grim outside, than the beautifully morose pop that Merritt and his comrades create.
Realism is very much the counterpoint to the last Magnetic Fields album, Distortion, which was all plugged in, in the red, filled with fuzz, a sonic nod to the Jesus & Mary Chain. Realism goes in the opposite direction. Made completely with acoustic instruments, this is their 'baroque folk' album. In many ways it has much of the same kind of sound and style found on 69 Love Songs, the masterpiece which catapulted Magnetic Fields from indie sweethearts to full on cultural icons. Merritt is no doubt one of the best songwriters of this generation, both in the memorable lyrics he writes and the nuanced arrangements he creates. Like all great songwriters Merritt is able to create in a wide variety of styles. In the past he's made electronic pop, fuzzy lo-fi rock, ukulele stompers, and shoegaze like dreaminess. And when you see The Magnetic Fields play live its so awesome because they often change the arrangements and styles of their songs, like when they toured for Distortion they actually played all those loud rocking songs all hushed and acoustic!
Realism is another reminder that no matter what style, aesthetic or theme Merritt choses to work within he's always able to emerge with memorable and moving songs that will have remain emotionally and sonically relevant for so many years to come.
MPEG Stream: "You Must Be Out Of Your Mind"
MPEG Stream: "I Don't Know What To Say"
MPEG Stream: "Walk A Lonely Road"

MIDNIGHT PRIEST Rainha Da Magia Negra (Stormspell) cd 11.98
Most of the metal bands we've heard who sing in Portuguese are from Brazil. This band, though, actually hails from Portugal itself, the old country as it were, and appropriately keep their metal old school as well. We can imagine 'em playing shows with their countrymen Ironsword, since they're both traditional '80s styled metallers. However, whereas Ironsword sing in English, and musically pay tribute to cult heroes Manilla Road, these guys, as we said, instead sing in their native tongue, and seem most inspired by early (Di'Anno era) Iron Maiden and other NWOBHM acts (plus pre-NWOBHMers Judas Priest no doubt).
There's six triumphant tracks here on this 29-minute debut disc, nice and heavy, raw and rippin', displaying a definite knack for riffs, making good use of their twin guitar attack. The vocals are melodic but rather gruff and aggressive, coming from a fellow simply called The Priest. Everybody else in the band seems to have not only stage names but nicknames too. Like, guitarist Rod Wolf (which can't be his real name!) is also known as "The Mystical", and the allegedly named Wartank Alex also gets called "Animal", naturally enough 'cause he's the drummer. All that, plus the cartoon-like band portrait tell us these guys aren't the most serious band ever. Yet their music doesn't sound like they're fooling around, they manage to not only kick out some awesome riffage but also generate and atmosphere that can get genuinely dark and epic.
There's definitely something quite likable about this band, regardless of the language barrier. Heck, the singer wears glasses (which is pretty cool we think, since a lot of us here do too). Also, and more importantly, despite our not knowing what he's singing about, he still manages to command our attention. As do the guitars, and those we do understand!
MPEG Stream: "Rainha De Magia Negra"
MPEG Stream: "Juizo Final"

MORNING BENDERS, THE Big Echo (Rough Trade) cd 13.98
Watch out Girls (the band!) cause there's another sweet sounding Bay Area pop band we think could be the next big 'breakout' Bay Area band. Well, except for the fact that they've moved away to Brooklyn or someplace already. With Big Echo, their Rough Trade debut, The Morning Benders have created a sweeping and sensational indie pop record that brings to mind a more driving, sunshiney Grizzly Bear, The Shins at their most effervescent, and Death Cab For Cutie at their most triumphant. While there has been no shortage of bands drawing from similar influences, there is something so warm and sincere about The Morning Benders' sound. The songs never feel forced and resonate with an authentic heartfelt quality. The album brimming with totally catchy hooks, the kind that should be blasting all over commercial radio in a perfect world. If (like us) you love exquisite indie pop that stays in your head and just begs to find its way on to a mix tape for your secret crush, you can't do much better than The Morning Benders!
MPEG Stream: "Excuses"
MPEG Stream: "Pleasure Sighs"
MPEG Stream: "All Day Daylight"

MORNING BENDERS, THE Big Echo (Rough Trade) lp 13.98
Watch out Girls (the band!) cause there's another sweet sounding Bay Area pop band we think could be the next big 'breakout' Bay Area band. Well, except for the fact that they've moved away to Brooklyn or someplace already. With Big Echo, their Rough Trade debut, The Morning Benders have created a sweeping and sensational indie pop record that brings to mind a more driving, sunshiney Grizzly Bear, The Shins at their most effervescent, and Death Cab For Cutie at their most triumphant. While there has been no shortage of bands drawing from similar influences, there is something so warm and sincere about The Morning Benders' sound. The songs never feel forced and resonate with an authentic heartfelt quality. The album brimming with totally catchy hooks, the kind that should be blasting all over commercial radio in a perfect world. If (like us) you love exquisite indie pop that stays in your head and just begs to find its way on to a mix tape for your secret crush, you can't do much better than The Morning Benders!
MPEG Stream: "Excuses"
MPEG Stream: "Pleasure Sighs"
MPEG Stream: "All Day Daylight"

NONHORSE Shadow World (Upstairs) cd-r 8.98
BACK IN STOCK! But not for long, managed to get a very few of these back in, so grab one while you can...
G. Lucas Crane is the man behind the dead-eyed tape excursions he broadcasts as Nonhorse; and he's the same G. Lucas Crane who can also be found in the equally as psychedelic, but far less grim projects Woods and Vanishing Voice. It's all about the cassette for Nonhorse, how the hiss accumulates over multiple dubbings, how crappy tape heads can fuck up the sound, how the machines start, stop, rewind, and fast-forward against the tape itself. The door creaking loop that begins Shadow World is a very low-tech translation of Philip Jeck's equally low-tech turntable rhythms; and the crawling synth rhythm takes this somewhere way more phantasmagoric than anything Jeck has produced. Floating monastic vocals spiral against the agitated delivery of shortwave radio transmissions from a Christian evangelist. These kaleidoscopic revolutions haphazardly tumble in and out of the simple overlapping structures, eventually mutating into a thumbing mess of pre-recorded tinklings from synthetic bells while clarinets tumble about some drill 'n' bass breaks appropriated from Hrvatski's missing-in-action Oiseaux 96-98 album, all of which is augmented through start-and-stop strategies on the tape decks, through a chain-linked fence of delay and reverb. As a willfully confused collage of warped hiss, toxic noise, and corroded found sound, Shadow World is a throwback to the tape-trading heyday of cassette culture permeated by the likes of Solid Eye, Blackhumour, AMK, and Premature Ejaculation. You don't see this type of stuff kicking around much these days, that's for sure!
Released in several tiny editions through Upstairs, which has already sold out of all of their copies, meaning these few copies are all we will ever get!
MPEG Stream: "Shadow World"

NURSE WITH WOUND Space Music (Beta-Lactam Ring) lp 24.00
NOW ON VINYL!!!!!!
So here's a question that may not need to be answered: did Pink Floyd come up with the idea of hosting lazer shows in planetariums for Dark Side of the Moon or was it a groundswell of psychedelically minded astronomers who took up the cause independently of the band? Obviously, a planetarium would make for a fantastic venue for a psychedelically bent excursion for light and sound. Just drop a tab or pull a hit, sit back in a comfortable space surrounded by kaleidoscopic lazer effects with decent surround sound, and go for a cosmic trip. So, why not have something other than what has become a yawning standard of the planetarium soundtrack? Why not something really lysergic like Nurse With Wound?
In Melbourne, Australia, somebody's willing to explore the cosmos with something far more alien and far more challenging; thus the commission for Nurse With Wound to score a piece for the Melbourne Planetarium's Science In The Dark Series. On the whole, this is a quiet subliminal piece of music with eerie charges of electricity and echoing pools of sustained pure tones, all of which set against low hovering rumbles and deep-gasping drones. Yup, Stapleton (here working with Colin Potter and Andrew Liles) has successfully sutured together the strategies for tonal beauty from his immaculate Soliloquy To Lilith with the very special nothing music of A Missing Sense. While 95 percent of Space Music is cosmic solitude and deep-space floating for Nurse With Wound, the other 5 percent is filled with huge ruptures of exploding noise burst forth during an early interlude of the album, followed by mangled bits of alien speech. Pretty awe-inspiring as with most every Nurse With Wound record. It probably would sound pretty fucking great in a Planetarium, too!
MPEG Stream: "Extract 1"
MPEG Stream: "Extract 2"

PELICAN What We All Come To Need (Southern Lord) 2lp 26.00
NOW ON VINYL!!
We were all kinda wondering what would happen with Pelican's first record for Southern Lord, after leaving Hydra Head. Would it be more metal? More black metal? More evil? Would it be more ANYTHING? Well, the answer is yeah, it is -more- a lot of things, but weirdly enough, at least to these ears, Pelican moved in the opposite direction, more melodic, more catchy, more hooky, LESS metal, and the weird thing is, in some ways it makes the music much more lyrical, which helps when you're an instrumental band, but still, here and there it does just the opposite, the sounds seemingly screaming for vocals, thankfully, those moments are few and far between, which leaves another bad ass chunk of heavy instrumental post rock. And few do it as well as Pelican. One thing we noticed this time around is a lot more grunge, some of the riffs, the changes, sound like they could have been lifted right off some classic Sub Pop 7", and Lord knows there ain't nothing wrong with that. Makes it sound heavier too. The guitars sound amazing, thick and crunchy, the melodies pretty catchy, some subtle Sabbath-isms here and there, some serious grooves (in a cool, heavy, UNgroovy way), and the drumming sounds better than ever, solid, tight, with just the right amount of swing, and there seems to be a lot more pretty parts, more space, letting the songs breathe, and sprawl, and open up, which in turn of course makes the heavier parts sound that much heavier. The band tackled an Earth cover on the Ephemeral 12", and it sounded great, so it makes sense that we're hearing some of that same epic sweeping twang, albeit more subtly on some of the songs here.
The cool thing about Pelican these days, is that they just sound like Pelican. Sure they inhabit a scene where there's plenty of sonic overlap, but these guys are just so good, and they've really turned into ace songwriters, which is critical when you're writing all instrumentals.
So yeah, if you already dig these guys, or love heavy rock, or metallic post rock or any of that sort of stuff, odds are this will totally hit the spot, and we were gonna say that if you didn't like Pelican already, then this probably wouldn't change your mind, but the more we listen to it, the more we're beginning to think it just might!
MPEG Stream: "Glimmer"
MPEG Stream: "The Creeper"
MPEG Stream: "Ephemeral"

SHINDIG! #15 magazine 9.98
A mixture of Mojo and Ugly Things, this colorful magazine is always a nice read for those who like their music a little bit on the vintage side. On the cover this month, The Hollies! Wait, no, flip it upsidedown, it's the Ramones as the cover stars!! Also this issue: The Bosstown Sound, Popol Vuh, Stephen Stills, The Incredible String Band, reviews, news, all the usual stuff...

SHOUT OUT LOUDS Work (Merge) cd 14.98
The third full length by this Stockholm based band is the first to reach our ears... thanks to those fine folks at Merge Records. Seriously, have they ever steered us wrong? We think not!
Although the black and white band photo on the front cover made us think this was an obscure '80s Talking Heads or Camper Van Beethoven record, Shout Out Louds are a perfect fit on the label who delivered Superchunk, Destroyer, Arcade Fire, The Clientele, She & Him, and Camera Obscura among many others. If you dig pretty chiming guitar lines and sweet boy vocals, don't miss this! The album starts out with a punch then gradually mellows out over the course of the next few songs. Along the way they incorporate elements of '70s soft rock, '80s art rock, '90s college rock. Yes, that's a lot of rock rock rock, but they do dish out the pop aplenty too! Definitely for fans of New Pornographers, Death Cab For Cutie, Peter, Bjorn And John, and The Pernice Brothers!
MPEG Stream: "Fall Hard"
MPEG Stream: "Throwing Stones"

SUN RA AND HIS ASTRO INFINITY ARKESTRA Strange Strings (Saturn Records) lp 15.98
Now available on vinyl! (Sans squeaky door bonus track found on cd reissue, though.)
Strange is right! And it's not just the strings. This 1966 recording by out-jazz pioneer Sun Ra and his adventurous Astro Infinity Arkestra is strange all over. This could SO totally be a current day improv psych cd-r from some of our Finnish friends, for instance... if it weren't recorded 40 years ago by one of the foremost geniuses of 20th century American jazz (and Afro-Outer-Space art). The idea here is that alongside the horns and flutes and bass all the usual instrumentation of the Arkestra, they're improvising on a collection of completely unfamiliar instruments -- the sundry "strange strings" of the title. Odd, exotic stringed instruments possibly including: Chinese lute, "moon-guitar" (?), mandolin, banjo, koto, bandura, ukelin (a zither type instrument), and others yet to be identified. Directed only by loose gestures from Sun Ra, the band expresses themselves freely on these strange strings... and the results must rank among the weirdest and most abstract sounds in Sun Ra's vast catalog, an unhinged tangle of sputtering pluckery and string-scrape. In addition, some sort of percussion adds thunderous rumbling metallic drones (this is presumably the "lightning drum" with which Ra is also credited, along with electronic piano). It could be a sheet of metal, or even a metal musical sculpture, as this reissue's extensive and investigative liner notes postulate. Another sonic element making the proceedings even stranger is the wordless, otherworldly "space vocal" of Art Jenkins aka Thlan Aldridge.
"Worlds Approaching" starts things off with a 10+ minutes of woozy Wurlitzer, clonky horn burble, and percussive clatter. Then the shambolic strange strings orgy begins with "Strings Strange" (12:47) and continues through to side two's epic "Strange Strange" (20:53). Log drums pulse beneath the reverbed apeshit freeform freakout of strings, space vocals, and metallic crashes. Another great Ra reish.
MPEG Stream: "Strings Strange"
MPEG Stream: "Strange Strange"

SURFER BLOOD Astro Coast (Kanine) lp 15.98
NOW ON VINYL!!
Boy has this been tough to keep in stock. For weeks now, we've been trying to order enough to list, but EVERYONE was out of it (the vinyl is still AWOL, being repressed we think). Makes sense as they were another one of those super hyped, next big thing bands, but these guys happen to be one of those rare bands who might even deserve it. Check out record opener "Floating Vibes", it's like a warped garage pop surf rock hybrid of the Beach Boys and XTC, with plenty of Pavement style nineties indie rock goodness mixed in. A little Weezer too. And these guys take all those influences, and shape them into something special, definitely retro and WAY beholden to much of what came before, but really what isn't, and these guys are good enough to transform those borrowed sounds into something both warm and familiar but also weirdly original, the songs are sprawling, lots of parts, tons of harmonies, even strings and flutes. Back to the opening track, crunchy riffage gives way to warm washed out woozy loping pop, with a soaring bridge / chorus, all tangled guitar leads, and slippery chords, which in turn gives way to a cool hand clap, twangy guitar, ooooohs and aahhhhs bit of ethereal drift, before exploding into soaring psychedelic pound, and then back again.
But hell that's just one song. Check out "Swim", which pushes the same buttons that recent Smith Westerns record did, all reverbed hazy harmony vocals, warm crunchy guitars, chiming bells, a killer hook, plenty of fuzz and haze and jangle, some pretty perfect pop for sure, total Weezer / Beach Boys worship, but with some surprising little melodic tangles and some almost African sounding almost-grooves, that might even appeal to the Vampire Weekenders.
But Astro Coast is way more than its influences, or some chunk of hipster flavor-of the-moment, Pitchfork approved indie rock, much more, the record throughout remains hazy and a little psychedelic, a LOT jangly, but drifts all over the place, from hushed harmonic shimmer, to shuffling dream pop, to total surf garage crunch, to old school nineties style smart pop, all tangled guitars and clever lyrics, soaring vocals, slipping easily into gorgeous falsettos, acoustic guitars draped over big booming drums, effects swirling and swooping, all manner of subtly employed studio-as-instrument filigree, all of that and incredibly and impossibly catchy songs too, which, after listening to this non stop for the last month or so, has us convinced that these guys really should be the next big thing. Definitely a new favorite around here...
MPEG Stream: "Floating Vibes"
MPEG Stream: "Swim"
MPEG Stream: "Take It Easy"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Archive 1 (Jinya) 5cd 95.00
We have precisely ONE of these (although, we may be able to order more, eventually). So no big review, you (YOU?) either want this or you don't, several hours of archival live performances full of squealing, squeaking, squalling skronk by this Japanese improv jazz guitar legend and his New Direction Unit from the late '70s. Five separate shows, on five cds in individual slimline jewel cases packaged in a plastic sleeve/box with booklet (in Japanese): Regular Concert no.35 1977.6.2, Regular Concert no.36 1977.8.4, Another Situation First Concert 1977.9.4, Regular Concert no.39 1978.2.10, and Regular Concert no.43 1978.10.6, to use the formulations they do. Not sure what's so "Regular" about these concerts, exactly... Most of the discs/concerts consist of 2-5 lengthy pieces, the NDU improvising in various instrumental combinations, Takayanagi playing electric guitar or "gut guitar" (acoustic), others in the outfit variously on flute, clarinet, saxophone, bass, percussion. Sometimes it's the full ensemble, sometimes trios, duos, few solo tracks too. Obviously if you're a Takayanagi fan, and only if you're a Takayanagi fan, you just might be interested in this, to get some more "Mass Projection" into your life. "Gradually Projection" too! Good stuff as you'd expect, from quiet textural moodiness to utter gurgling frenzy.
Limited edition of 500 copies. And, the one we have happens to come shrinkwrapped with a free bonus dvd disc, footage of Takayanagi performing in Tokyo, 1990. (Any further copies we might order, if we even can, won't have that.)
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation 4, Another Situation First Concert 1977.9.4"
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation 1, Regular Concert no.43 1978.10.6"

TINDERSTICKS Falling Down A Mountain (4AD / Constellation) cd 17.98
Since the 2006 departure of one of the founding members, multi-instrumentalist Dickon Hinchliffe (along with longtime drummer and bassist Al Macauley and Mark Colwill), the Tindersticks' sound has shifted quite dramatically away from their trademark well-worn velvety orchestral grandeur. Some fans delighted in the new developments, while others were torn. On this album it appears they've gone the farthest afield, and we're not quite sure if the challenging shifts will send us packing. Even where you'd think there could be no chance of change there is some - that is, in the deeeep intonations of lead singer Stuart A. Staples! He's singing ascends into a slightly higher register which certainly makes for a more varied tone, but we feel it often undermines the overall impact. The songs come in a grabbag of styles - smoky jazz, a little flamenco, cowboy twang - and if that were the extent of the band's new directions, things would probably be less perturbing. But without Staples' baritone delivery it all seems to drift somewhat nebulously, lacking the potent nail-you-in-the-gut gravity of their earlier releases. Nevertheless, we simply can't turn our backs to this beloved band just yet. Might need to take this for a few more spins. It will be interesting to see if they continue along this new path on their next album, and venture beyond these seeming growing pains into altogether new terrain. So, all of you diehards, we know this review probably won't dissuade you, but we just wanted to issue a warning!
MPEG Stream: "Harmony Around The Table"
MPEG Stream: "Black Smoke"

TINDERSTICKS Falling Down A Mountain (Constellation) lp 25.00
Since the 2006 departure of one of the founding members, multi-instrumentalist Dickon Hinchliffe (along with longtime drummer and bassist Al Macauley and Mark Colwill), the Tindersticks' sound has shifted quite dramatically away from their trademark well-worn velvety orchestral grandeur. Some fans delighted in the new developments, while others were torn. On this album it appears they've gone the farthest afield, and we're not quite sure if the challenging shifts will send us packing. Even where you'd think there could be no chance of change there is some - that is, in the deeeep intonations of lead singer Stuart A. Staples! He's singing ascends into a slightly higher register which certainly makes for a more varied tone, but we feel it often undermines the overall impact. The songs come in a grabbag of styles - smoky jazz, a little flamenco, cowboy twang - and if that were the extent of the band's new directions, things would probably be less perturbing. But without Staples' baritone delivery it all seems to drift somewhat nebulously, lacking the potent nail-you-in-the-gut gravity of their earlier releases. Nevertheless, we simply can't turn our backs to this beloved band just yet. Might need to take this for a few more spins. It will be interesting to see if they continue along this new path on their next album, and venture beyond these seeming growing pains into altogether new terrain. So, all of you diehards, we know this review probably won't dissuade you, but we just wanted to issue a warning!
MPEG Stream: "Harmony Around The Table"
MPEG Stream: "Black Smoke"

WOOFAH #4 magazine 9.98
Issue 4 of this upstart mag, covering all things grime and dubstep and reggae. Definitely a godsend, considering how underrepresented grime and dubstep remains in the US. The biggest issue yet, this one features dubstepper Untold on the cover. Inside: Hessle Audio, Sci-Fi and Reggae, Newham Generals, Michael Smith: Dub Poet, UK Dubplate Houses, Tony Thorpe and loads more. As well as tons of reviews. Most of the stuff in each issue is new to us, but usually has us tracking music down by a handful of the artists featured. The only bummer is that lots of the stuff here, especially the records that get reviewed, seem nearly impossible to get here in the States, but it's still a great read, and even though these guys seem to be way ahead of the game, a lot of the stuff covered is starting to make its way over here. This way you'll be ready!

XIU XIU Dear God I Hate Myself (Kill Rock Stars) cd 16.98
Jamie Stewart. Some people love him, and some people hate him and some people REEEAAAALLYY love him. Anyone who can inspire that much passion one way or the other has some kind of gift that most do not. Or is it a curse? Anyway, Dear God, I Hate Myself (a Jamie Stewart album title that seems overdue) is most definitely a Xiu Xiu album that will make longtime fans love him that much more and dismissers keep on dismissing. Parts of it harken back to the cacaphony and sweet angst of Knife Play or Fabulous Muscles. Other tracks lean more towards straight (no pun intended) dance music ("This Too Shall Pass Away") and even a little country ("Cumberland Gap"). Through it all, though, is the excellent drum machine programming mixed with all kinds of live percussion and whisper/screamed vocals that give Xiu Xiu their unique sound. The cd version comes with a download code for two bonus tracks.
MPEG Stream: "Gray Death"
MPEG Stream: "Apple for a Brain"
MPEG Stream: "This Too Shall Pass Away (For Freddie)"

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V/A Radio Scenic Glow Volume 1 (Upstairs) cd-r 8.98
BACK IN STOCK! But not for long, managed to get a very few of these back in, so grab one while you can...
Upstairs is the cd-r imprint for nostalgic electrons and warped lo-fi esoterica run by Daniel Lapotin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never), and what's a better way to kick-start things than with a comp of the accomplices, malcontents, and hangers-on? There's a handful of artists we're familiar with (Julian Lynch, Pulse Emitter, Africa Germany, Caboladies, and of course Oneohtrix who's covering a Grouper song which sounds as weird and fucking awesome as you could imagine!) but a ton we've not got a clue about. For example, take Autre Ne Veut's '80s pop simulacrum filtered through disposable recording techniques; or the anti-aesthetics, bleepity techno of cheap synthesizers from No Fun Acid; or the suitably kosmiche zone tripping from Stellar Om Source; or the wild and woolly oscillations from Nackt Insecten. Pulse Emitter's jagged electronica maps out lunar rhythms for those smooth surfaces of synthetic melodies he's mastered in recent years. Julian Lynch wistfully taps out softened melodies sort of like an idiot savant rendition of Erik Satie with some squiggly ring modulation tossed in for good measure. Gatekeeper brings the compilation to a conclusion with murky recapitulation of early Chris & Cosey smears of shadowy electronica. There's plenty more between all of these points of interest, making for a pretty great album. It's a shame that there's only 75 copies, and Upstairs has already sold out of all of their copies...
MPEG Stream: ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER "Heavy Water"
MPEG Stream: AUTRE NE VEUT "Artimis"
MPEG Stream: GATEKEEPER "Origins"

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AMON DUDE & THE HOOPO / NUSLUX "split" 7" 9.98
APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE "Last Sunrise" (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
ARCHITEUTHIS REX "Dark As The Sea" (Utech) cd 14.98
ATOM TM "Music Is Better Than Pussy" (Rather Interesting) cd 21.00
BHATTACHARYA, DEBASHISH "O Shakuntala!" (Riverboat) cd 16.98
BLEAK HOUSE "Suspended Animation" (Buried By Time And Dust) cd/lp 11.98/25.00
BLEEKER, ALEX & THE FREAKS "s/t" (Underwater Peoples) lp 14.98
BRODERICK, PETER & MACHINEFABRIEK "Blank Grey Canvas" (Fang Bomb) cd/lp 23.00/27.00
CASH, JOHNNY "American VI: Ain't No Grave" (American) cd/lp 13.98/11.98
CRUCIFIST "Demon Haunted World" (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
DAUGHTERS "s/t" (Hydra Head) cd 14.98
DECREPITAPH "Beyond The Cursed Tomb" (Razorback) cd 10.98
DILWORTH, DIANNA "Mellodrama - The Mellotron Movie" (Bazillion Points) dvd 24.00
ELEH "Location Momentum" (Touch) cd 15.98
EPMD "Strictly Business" (Priority) cd 14.98
EUGENIUS "Oomalama & Tireless Wireless" (Fire) 2cd 23.00
FENN O'BERG "In Stereo" (Editions Mego) cd/lp 17.98/30.00
FESTERED "Flesh Perversion" (Razorback) cd 10.98
FLUXION "Perfused" (echocord) cd 16.98
FRAT DAD "Greg The Nerd / Freak In Nature" (Underwater Peoples) 7"
FURSAXA "Mycorrhizae Realm" (ATP) cd 14.98
FURUSAWA, RYOJIRO & KAN MIKAMI "Tin" (PSF) cd 22.00
GASKIN "Beyond Worlds End 80-81" (Buried By Time And Dust) lp 26.00
GONJASUFI "A Sufi and A Killer" (Warp) cd/2lp 16.98/22.00
GOSTA BERLINGS SAGA "Detta Har Hant" (Transubstans) cd 15.98
HELVETETS PORT "Exodus To Hell" (Pure Steel) cd 14.98
JAMESON RAID "Just As The Dust Has Settled" (Shadow Kingdom) cd 14.98
JASPER TX "Singing Stones" (Fang Bomb) cd 23.00
JOHNSON, TOMMY "Cool Drink Of Water Blues" (Monk) lp 30.00
KNIFE, THE (IN COLLABORATION WITH MT. SIMS & PLANNINGTOROCK) "Tomorrow, In A Year" (Rabid / Mute) 2cd 19.98
KOSS "Ancient Rain" (Mule Electronic) cd 16.98
LANDSCAPE "From The Tea-Rooms Of Mars .... To The Hell-Holes Of Uranus" (Cherry Red) cd 16.98
LAST ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC SPACE JAZZ & PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE, THE (MADLIB) "Miles Away" (Stones Throw) cd/2lp 17.98/19.98
LIARS "Sisterworld" (Mute) 2cd 21.00
LOS CAMPESINOS "Romance Is Boring" (Arts & Crafts) cd 14.98
LOVESLIESCRUSHING "Crwth (Chorus Redux)" (12k) cd 14.98
LUSTMORD "[TRANSMUTED]" (Hydra Head) 12" 10.98
MAKO SICA "Dual Horizon" (La Societe Expeditionnaire) lp
MARCH 15 "Our Love Becomes A Funeral Pyre" (Emissary) cd 10.98
MOUNT FUJI DOOM JAZZ CORPORATION "Succubus" (Ad Noiseam) cd 23.00
MUTANTES, OS "E Seus Cometas No Pais Do Baurets" (Universal) lp 17.98
NECHOCHWEN "Azimuthus To The Otherworld" (Bindrune) cd 12.98
NOTHING, CHARLIE "The Psychedelic Saxophone" (No Label) lp 17.98
NUCLEAR DEATH WISH "s/t" (self-released) cassette 5.98
OBSKURIA "Burning Sea Of Green" (World Of Sound) cd 23.00
OTTO; OR, UP WITH DEAD PEOPLE "OST" (Crippled Dick Hot Wax!) cd 17.98
PANTS, JAMES "I Live Inside An Egg" (Stones Throw) 7" 8.98
PARTCH, HARRY "Delusion Of The Fury" (Sony) 2lp 29.00
PELT "A Stone For Angus Maclise" (s/r) lp 17.98
PERRY, LEE "Ironman" (ONU) 12" 12.98
PIERCED ARROWS "Descending Shadows" (Vice) lp 16.98
QUASI "American Gong" (Kill Rock Stars) cd/lp 15.98/15.98
QUEENADREENA "Djin" (self-released) cd 16.98
RANGERS "Suburban Tours" (Olde English Spelling Bee) lp 17.98
ROGUE WAVE "Permalight" (Brushfire) cd 14.98
ROOT "The Book" (I Hate Records) cd 15.98
SAFT, JAMIE "Black Shabbis" (Tzadik) cd 16.98
SAINT VITUS "Mournful Cries" (SST) lp 12.98
SAINT VITUS "The Walking Dead" (SST) 12" 9.98
SAINT VITUS "Thirsty And Miserable" (SST) 12" 9.98
SERPENT'S KNIGHT "Silent Knight...Of Myth And Destiny" 2cd 17.98
SHE & HIM "Volume Two" (Merge) cd/lp 15.98/17.98
SPEED, GLUE & SHINKI "Eve" (Phoenix) lp 24.00
SWALLOW THE SUN "New Moon" (Spinefarm) cd 13.98
TANGERINE DREAM "Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares" (Lilith) lp 26.00
URAL UMBO "s/t" (Utech) cd 14.98
V/A "Karl Rove: Courage And Concequence" (Seismic.Wave) lp 20.00
V/A "Nigeria Afrobeat Special" (Sound Way) cd/lp 16.98/30.00
V/A "Nigeria Special: Volume 2 - Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-76" (Sound Way) cd/3lp 16.98/30.00
V/A "Psych Bites: Volume One" (Past & Present) cd 17.98
V/A "Reportage: Spela Sjalv" (Expo Norr) lp 17.98
V/A "Teenage Heaven: The Fifties Girl Group Phenomenon" (El Records / Cherry Red) cd 16.98
V/A "Wolf's At The Door: Lost Recordings From The Spirit Of The South" (Sutro Park) lp 17.98
VAINIO, MIKA / KOUHEI MATSUNAGA / SEAN BOOTH "3. Telepathics Meh In-Sect Connection" (Important Records) cd 14.98
VENOM "Black Metal" (Back On Black) 2lp 32.00
VHS HEAD "Video Club" (Skam) cd 9.98
VIDYA (PRASANT RADHAKRISHNAN) "s/t" (Lotus Music) cd 14.98
WETDOG "Frauhaus!" (Captured Tracks) cd 12.98
WHILE HEAVEN WEPT "Vast Oceans Lachrymose" (Cruz Del Sur) cd 16.98
WORLD HERITAGE, THE "Invitation To World Heritage" (Magaibutsu) dvd + cd 17.98
WRIGHT, MILTON "Spaced" (Jazzman) cd 17.98
XASTHUR "2005 Demo" (Hydra Head) cd ep 10.98

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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
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SOME SELECTED UPCOMING RELEASES

----} on the way to us right now, here real soon
Burzum "Belus" cd
v/a "Good God: Born Again Funk" lp version on Numero

----} March 16th
Jonas Reinhardt "Powers Of Audition" lp version on Kranky
v/a "Lagos Disco Inferno" cd/2lp on Academy
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
Vex'd "Cloud Seed" cd/2lp on Planet Mu
Ty Segal "Caesar" 7" on Goner
Peter Brotzmann & Pall Nilssen-Love "Woodcuts" cd on Smalltown Superjazz
Gamma Ray "To The Metal" cd
White Stripes "Under Great White Northern Lights" cd

----} March 23rd
Wooden Shjips "Vol. 2" cd/lp on Sick Thirst (or is it March 30th? we'll see...)
v/a "The T.A.M.I. Show" dvd
Michael Yonkers "Lovely Gold" lp on Drag City
Radar Brothers "Illustrated Garden" cd on Merge
She & Him "Volume Two" cd on Merge
Jack Rose & Glenn Jones "Things That We Used To Do" dvd on Strange Attractors
Double Dagger "Masks" cd on Thrill Jockey

----} March 30th
Omar Khorshid "Guitar El Chark (Guitar of the Orient)" lp on Sublime Frequencies
Dum Dum Girls "I Will Be" cd/lp on Sub Pop
Hooded Menace "Never Cross The Dead" cd on Profound Lore
Floor "Below and Beyond" 8cd box on Robotic Empire
Circus Devils "Mother Skinny" cd/lp on Happy Jack
Black Tambourine "s/t" cd/lp on Slumberland
Beirut "Lon Gisland" LP version on Pompeii
Starkey "Stars (Feat. Anneka)" 12" on Planet Mu
Galaxie 500 "Today", "This Is Our Music" and "On Fire" 2cd reissues on 20/20/20
Culted "Of Death And Ritual" cd on Relapse

----} also in March
Expo 70 "Sonic Messenger" and "Black Ohms" vinyl editions on Beta-lactam Ring
Autechre "Oversteps" cd on Warp
v/a "Cold Waves & Minimal Electronics Vol. 1" cd/2lp on Angular
Wet Dog "Frauhaus" lp on Captured Tracks

----} April 13th
Brillian Colors "Never Mine" 7" on Slumberland
Thou "Baton Rouge, You Have Much To..." 12" on Robotic Empire
Capsule "Tape + Demo + Tour + More" lp on Robotic Empire
Crazy Dreams Band "War Dream" lp on Holy Mountain

----} also in 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
Lali Puna "Our Inventions" cd/lp on Morr Music
Roky Erickson "True Love Casts Out All Evil" cd on Anti
Erykah Badu "New Amerikah, Part 2"
Growing "Pumps" cd on Vice
Sharon Jones & The Dapkings "I Learned The Hard Way" cd on Daptone
Darkthrone "Circle The Wagons" cd on Peaceville
Black Francis "Nonstoperotik"
Sylvain Chauveau "Singular Forms" cd on Type
Kayo Dot "Coyote" cd on Hydra Head
Sloath s/t lp on Riot Season
Acid Mothers Temple "In O To Infinity" cd on Important
Dead Meadow "3 Kings" cd/2lp on Xemu
Ambarchi / O'Rourke / Haino "Time Formosa" cd on Black Truffle
Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg s/t (aka "Je T'aime") cd/lp on Light In
The Attic
Ken Camden "Lethargy & Repercussions" cd/lp on Kranky
The Ex & Getachew Mekurla "Moa Anbessa" cd Terp
Thomas Fehlmann "Gute Luft : Original" cd/lp on Kompakt

----} also upcoming sooner or later or sooner or later or whenever
Jean-Pierre Massiera "Horrific Child" cd/lp reissue on Finders Keepers
The Sticks "s/t" cd/2x7" on Upset The Rhythm
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
Double Dagger "Masks" 12" on Thrill Jockey
M. Holterbach & Julia Eckhardt "Do-Undo" cd on Helen Scarsdale
Flying Lotus "Cosmograma"
Jonsi Birgisson "Go" cd on XL
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
Jonathan Coleclough "Flutter" 2cd-r on October
Johann Johannsson "And In The Endless Pause" cd/lp on Type
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
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
Barn Owl "The Conjurer" cd on Root Strata
Current 93 "BS:SO" cd on Coptic Cat
Kleenex / Liliput "s/t" 2cd+dvd on Kill Rock Stars
Mark Van Hoen "Where Is The Truth" cd/lp on City Center Offices
The Fall "Future Our Clutter"
New Pornographers "Together"
Panda Bear "Tomboy"

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Common Eider King Eider (featuring former Deerhoof member Rob Fisk!)
Raccoons
Das Blut
Hiss & Hum

Marigold Crowns
Amnesia
853 Valencia St. (Between19th & 20th)
Thursday, March 18 9:00pm $6

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"Kooks, Eccentrics and Oddballs²
California Artists

Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of documentary films profiling three exceptionally eccentric California artists. Chris Burden, the infamous performance and installation artist who explores ideas of personal (and interpersonal) danger and the taboo, Fredric Hobbs, the San Francisco creator of rolling sculpture (perhaps the first ³art car²), and musical genius and visionary Harry Partch.

Date: Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 8:00PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com
Web: http://www.oddballfilm.com/oddballftp/Eccentrics_2_PR.pdf

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Lots of love from your devoted AQ staff

Andee Cup Jim AllanIrwinScottNickSallyJonandAndrew