PSYCHIC PARAMOUNT II (No Quarter ) cd 14.98
Years and years and years ago, we first heard this band called Laddio Bolocko, who pretty much instantly became one of our favorite bands ever, and whose records became one of those aQ staples, a record we tried to always carry, and would always recommend to folks, because those guys KILLED.
Totally epic, heavy, super intricate, droned out hyper distorted, in-the-red post This Heat sort of math rock psychedelia. We described them way back as "A modern day This Heat, but with bigger amps, more lo-fi production, free-jazz scud missile saxophone, unlikely melodies, relentless rhythms, ear-ringing dynamics and a sound unlike anything you've ever heard." Sounds pretty incredible, and it was. The band called it quits, and we were heartbroken, until 2/3 of the late great LB resurfaced as a band called Psychic Paramount, who essentially ditched the sax, and cranked up EVERYTHING else. A lean and mean power trio, guitar, bass and drums, but the sound these guys conjure up sound like three times that, each track is an explosive hyper rhythmic blowout, the slips deftly from mesmerizing motorik churn, to white noise soaked freakout and back again. The opening track here doesn't bother to ease you in, instead they hurl you kicking and screaming into a chaotic swirl of loose and wild free jazz drum splatter, soaring clouds of chiming guitars, lots of low end buzz and high end skree, but then after a minute the band settle into a riff, and then BAM, they're off, a churning, chugging, mathed out, soaring hypnotic psych kraut math rock blowout, like This Heat meets Don Caballero meets Faust meets Fushitsusha, the guitars epic and so heavy, the drums somehow bashing their way through the din, like a WAY less restrained Circle, just total dronerock epicness, and then the band switch gears once again, the guitars muted, the bass sinewy, the drums so solid, a chugging noisy krautrock workout, that builds again to another even more frenzied climax, before slipping into a super intense, almost robotic groove, the drums holding down a simple rhythm, over a thick droning buzz and muted rhythmic guitar chitter, and what sounds like weird processed wheezing chords, the song gradually seeming to get more and more warped and off kilter, until it just stops, leaving a hazy contrail of layered high end harmonies...
And then it's right back into it, a bit of hushed crystalline shimmer sprawls beneath some spidery guitars and some shuffled almost jazzy sounding drums, pretty blissy and krauty for a couple minutes before a weird super distorted drum fill and then the song explodes into an impossibly blown out metallic churn, before slipping right back into that shimmery kraut groove, and so it goes, the track lurching from blissy to brutal and back again.
The rest of the record follows suit. Less about songs, and melody, more about texture, and tempo, timbre and arrangement, these are physical songs, anyone whose seen these guys play, can attest to the fact that this is about as intense as rock music gets, people gather around the band wide eyed and slackjawed as they create this very same sound live.
The record never lets up, it's almost like Mick Barr if he was raised on nineties math rock and seventies krautrock, the songs white hot blasts of intricately arranged avant math rock mesmer, even when the band seems to be doing something simple, close listening reveals, the tempos are definitely off kilter, the rhythms deceivingly intricate, and the guitar is doing the work of an army of guitars, the bass driving the songs but also adding all sorts of texture, these guys really are pretty much the only real successors to the legacy of This Heat, but they've boiled that sound into something more focused and singular, a blown out, heady psychedelia, a modern krautrock that manages to forge its own super unique, idiosyncratic path through a world of same sounds, creating a fantastically exhausting, totally exhilaratingly punishing, noise rock / math rock / post rock / krautrock hybrid, that literally sounds like nobody else.
MPEG Stream: "Intro / Sp"
MPEG Stream: "DDB"
MPEG Stream: "N6"
MPEG Stream: "Isolated"

PSYCHIC PARAMOUNT II (No Quarter ) lp 13.98
Years and years and years ago, we first heard this band called Laddio Bolocko, who pretty much instantly became one of our favorite bands ever, and whose records became one of those aQ staples, a record we tried to always carry, and would always recommend to folks, because those guys KILLED.
Totally epic, heavy, super intricate, droned out hyper distorted, in-the-red post This Heat sort of math rock psychedelia. We described them way back as "A modern day This Heat, but with bigger amps, more lo-fi production, free-jazz scud missile saxophone, unlikely melodies, relentless rhythms, ear-ringing dynamics and a sound unlike anything you've ever heard." Sounds pretty incredible, and it was. The band called it quits, and we were heartbroken, until 2/3 of the late great LB resurfaced as a band called Psychic Paramount, who essentially ditched the sax, and cranked up EVERYTHING else. A lean and mean power trio, guitar, bass and drums, but the sound these guys conjure up sound like three times that, each track is an explosive hyper rhythmic blowout, the slips deftly from mesmerizing motorik churn, to white noise soaked freakout and back again. The opening track here doesn't bother to ease you in, instead they hurl you kicking and screaming into a chaotic swirl of loose and wild free jazz drum splatter, soaring clouds of chiming guitars, lots of low end buzz and high end skree, but then after a minute the band settle into a riff, and then BAM, they're off, a churning, chugging, mathed out, soaring hypnotic psych kraut math rock blowout, like This Heat meets Don Caballero meets Faust meets Fushitsusha, the guitars epic and so heavy, the drums somehow bashing their way through the din, like a WAY less restrained Circle, just total dronerock epicness, and then the band switch gears once again, the guitars muted, the bass sinewy, the drums so solid, a chugging noisy krautrock workout, that builds again to another even more frenzied climax, before slipping into a super intense, almost robotic groove, the drums holding down a simple rhythm, over a thick droning buzz and muted rhythmic guitar chitter, and what sounds like weird processed wheezing chords, the song gradually seeming to get more and more warped and off kilter, until it just stops, leaving a hazy contrail of layered high end harmonies...
And then it's right back into it, a bit of hushed crystalline shimmer sprawls beneath some spidery guitars and some shuffled almost jazzy sounding drums, pretty blissy and krauty for a couple minutes before a weird super distorted drum fill and then the song explodes into an impossibly blown out metallic churn, before slipping right back into that shimmery kraut groove, and so it goes, the track lurching from blissy to brutal and back again.
The rest of the record follows suit. Less about songs, and melody, more about texture, and tempo, timbre and arrangement, these are physical songs, anyone whose seen these guys play, can attest to the fact that this is about as intense as rock music gets, people gather around the band wide eyed and slackjawed as they create this very same sound live.
The record never lets up, it's almost like Mick Barr if he was raised on nineties math rock and seventies krautrock, the songs white hot blasts of intricately arranged avant math rock mesmer, even when the band seems to be doing something simple, close listening reveals, the tempos are definitely off kilter, the rhythms deceivingly intricate, and the guitar is doing the work of an army of guitars, the bass driving the songs but also adding all sorts of texture, these guys really are pretty much the only real successors to the legacy of This Heat, but they've boiled that sound into something more focused and singular, a blown out, heady psychedelia, a modern krautrock that manages to forge its own super unique, idiosyncratic path through a world of same sounds, creating a fantastically exhausting, totally exhilaratingly punishing, noise rock / math rock / post rock / krautrock hybrid, that literally sounds like nobody else.
MPEG Stream: "Intro / Sp"
MPEG Stream: "DDB"
MPEG Stream: "N6"
MPEG Stream: "Isolated"

LUMERIANS Transmalinnia (Knitting Factory) cd 10.98
It's been a long time coming. After the tease of a 7" and a 12" ep, both tantalizingly KILLER, and a ton of incredible live shows, including a show stealing performance at the aQuarius records 40th anniversary party, comes this, the full length debut from SF psychedelic hypno drone psychedelic space rockers Lumerians, and it's just as good as we'd hoped and imagined. For those who've yet to hear these guys, have a look at this list of bands: Wooden Shjips, Hawkwind, Circle, Spacemen 3, Loop, Cave, Cloudland Canyon, The Heads, White Hills, Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, 3 Leafs, Mugstar. Does that look anything like your record collection? Then odds are you've just found your new favorite band. And if there's any justice in the world, these guys will get the same sort of hype and adoration that Wooden Shjips do. Not necessarily because they sound the same, they definitely don't, but they both DO explore similar territory, spaced out buzzy, fuzzy droney psychedelic rock, but where the Shjips are minimal, Lumerians are maximal, with multiple keyboards, even a percussionist, their sound more lush and layered, similarly propulsive and driving, but maybe with more of a nod to Spacemen 3 and Hawkwind, creating super mesmerizing cyclical hypnorock epics. And these tracks are indeed epic, slow building, smoldering, hypnotic, totally trancelike but still super heavy and rocking.
Opener "Burning Mirrors" pretty much sums it up, loopy low slung bass, simple motorik drumming, crunchy super distorted fuzz guitars, and thick swaths of spacey keyboards, not to mention drawled laid back vox, all appropriately reverby and echoey, these guys traffic in the sort of sound, where every song, whether 5 minutes or nearly 10, sound like live, they could go on for 20, 30, even 40 minutes, druggy, lysergic, tripped out and psychedelic, head nodding, body moving drone rock bliss.
"Black Tusk" gets all sixties, the drums shuffly and busy, the keyboards crunchy and fuzzy, lots of percussion, the bass driving everything, swirly and psychedelic and minus the killer production, and the super distorted stuttery organ buzz could be some lost psych jam from back in the day. "XuluX" is another sprawling droned out jam, that gets seriously groovy, with all sorts of heavily effected guitars, and more crunchy organs, before blissing out into some seriously swoonsome keyboard driven psychedelic drift.
And so it goes, "Atlanta Brook" definitely conjures up the spirit of Spacemen 3, the vocals a dead ringer, the hazy warped buzz the perfect prescription, but Lumerians add their own twist, infusing it with some strange rhythmic bridges, and buzzing sitar melodies, before slipping back into a washed out almost Beatles-esque outro.
"Calalini Rises" might be the heaviest track, murky and muddy, the drums locked tight, tribal and propulsive, all the other instruments loose and chaotic, a constant sonic swirl, totally spaced out and abstract, definitely a song that could have stretched out for another couple hours. But one of our favorite jams might just have to be "Longwave" which sounds like Lumerians at the wrong speed (which we presume it must be), Neu! style, the band unfurl a droney dirgey spacerock jam, slowed to a crawl, the guitars even thicker and grungier than usual, the drums lumbering, but then the vocals come in, and they're perfectly melodic and dreamy, and drift over the undulating psychedelic murk below, culminating in a gorgeously tripped out second half, with lots of rumble and whir and buzz and drone and swirl and shimmer (but be warned vinyl folks, in order to fit the whole album on a single lp, they had to speed this song back up, shortening it quite a bit, everything is essentially the same, just the murky background music is a little less murky). So good.
Seriously. If any of the above bands are your cup of tea, try spiking that tea with some Lumerians, you won't be sorry. Easily, THEE space drone psychedelic hypno rock record of the year. Drop out, and dig in!
MPEG Stream: "Burning Mirrors"
MPEG Stream: "Black Tusk"
MPEG Stream: "XuluX"
MPEG Stream: "Longwave"

LUMERIANS Transmalinnia (Knitting Factory) lp 12.98
It's been a long time coming. After the tease of a 7" and a 12" ep, both tantalizingly KILLER, and a ton of incredible live shows, including a show stealing performance at the aQuarius records 40th anniversary party, comes this, the full length debut from SF psychedelic hypno drone psychedelic space rockers Lumerians, and it's just as good as we'd hoped and imagined. For those who've yet to hear these guys, have a look at this list of bands: Wooden Shjips, Hawkwind, Circle, Spacemen 3, Loop, Cave, Cloudland Canyon, The Heads, White Hills, Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, 3 Leafs, Mugstar. Does that look anything like your record collection? Then odds are you've just found your new favorite band. And if there's any justice in the world, these guys will get the same sort of hype and adoration that Wooden Shjips do. Not necessarily because they sound the same, they definitely don't, but they both DO explore similar territory, spaced out buzzy, fuzzy droney psychedelic rock, but where the Shjips are minimal, Lumerians are maximal, with multiple keyboards, even a percussionist, their sound more lush and layered, similarly propulsive and driving, but maybe with more of a nod to Spacemen 3 and Hawkwind, creating super mesmerizing cyclical hypnorock epics. And these tracks are indeed epic, slow building, smoldering, hypnotic, totally trancelike but still super heavy and rocking.
Opener "Burning Mirrors" pretty much sums it up, loopy low slung bass, simple motorik drumming, crunchy super distorted fuzz guitars, and thick swaths of spacey keyboards, not to mention drawled laid back vox, all appropriately reverby and echoey, these guys traffic in the sort of sound, where every song, whether 5 minutes or nearly 10, sound like live, they could go on for 20, 30, even 40 minutes, druggy, lysergic, tripped out and psychedelic, head nodding, body moving drone rock bliss.
"Black Tusk" gets all sixties, the drums shuffly and busy, the keyboards crunchy and fuzzy, lots of percussion, the bass driving everything, swirly and psychedelic and minus the killer production, and the super distorted stuttery organ buzz could be some lost psych jam from back in the day. "XuluX" is another sprawling droned out jam, that gets seriously groovy, with all sorts of heavily effected guitars, and more crunchy organs, before blissing out into some seriously swoonsome keyboard driven psychedelic drift.
And so it goes, "Atlanta Brook" definitely conjures up the spirit of Spacemen 3, the vocals a dead ringer, the hazy warped buzz the perfect prescription, but Lumerians add their own twist, infusing it with some strange rhythmic bridges, and buzzing sitar melodies, before slipping back into a washed out almost Beatles-esque outro.
"Calalini Rises" might be the heaviest track, murky and muddy, the drums locked tight, tribal and propulsive, all the other instruments loose and chaotic, a constant sonic swirl, totally spaced out and abstract, definitely a song that could have stretched out for another couple hours. But one of our favorite jams might just have to be "Longwave" which sounds like Lumerians at the wrong speed (which we presume it must be), Neu! style, the band unfurl a droney dirgey spacerock jam, slowed to a crawl, the guitars even thicker and grungier than usual, the drums lumbering, but then the vocals come in, and they're perfectly melodic and dreamy, and drift over the undulating psychedelic murk below, culminating in a gorgeously tripped out second half, with lots of rumble and whir and buzz and drone and swirl and shimmer (but be warned vinyl folks, in order to fit the whole album on a single lp, they had to speed this song back up, shortening it quite a bit, everything is essentially the same, just the murky background music is a little less murky). So good.
Seriously. If any of the above bands are your cup of tea, try spiking that tea with some Lumerians, you won't be sorry. Easily, THEE space drone psychedelic hypno rock record of the year. Drop out, and dig in!
MPEG Stream: "Burning Mirrors"
MPEG Stream: "Black Tusk"
MPEG Stream: "XuluX"
MPEG Stream: "Longwave"

DEAF CENTER Owl Splinters (Type) cd 15.98
We really can't get enough of the dark, cinematic soundscapes conjured by so many of the artists on such likeminded labels as Type (UK) and Miasmah (Norway). This new release on Type by Norwegian duo Deaf Center (cellist Erik K. Skodvin and pianist Otto A. Totland) is our current fave, it's just their second full-length in six years, as clearly it takes time to craft music this moody and gorgeous, this time around produced in a proper studio, in Berlin, on analog equipment for maximum fidelity. Also the two members of Deaf Center have been busy with their own, individual projects - Skodvin, for one, is the man behind another AQ fave, Svarte Greiner, plus he also runs the Miasmah label! And if you like the "acoustic doom" of Svarte Greiner, you should also appreciate Deaf Center's evocative combination of modern classical, ambient, and electronic strains on Owl Splinters.
Atmospheric opener "Divided" sets the mood, all abstract, monastic moan and droning string-scrape, hushed and floating. Then "Time Spent" introduces sparse melody, played on pensive, pretty piano, alone in the dark. Third track "New Beginning (Tidal Darkness)" is one of subtle crackle and glitch, the music ebbing and flowing through drone build-ups and more exquisite piano reveries. Once again, moody and somber, but beautiful. And so it goes, Deaf Center getting much heavier (eventually) in the midst of the grinding epic, "The Day I Would Never Have", the album's nearly 11 minute long centerpiece (which is infinitely longer on the vinyl version, as it ends the first side with a locked groove). Dense tones resonate with great emotional presence.
Skodvin's deep cello sawing can get spiky too, as on the nervously dramatic "Animal Sacrifice", though all is soothed by the luminous fuzz of the ambient background. Another epic track appears before the end of the disc, "Close Forever Watching" being 8 minutes of glorious, massing drone shimmer - play loud!!
With its balance of delicacy and weightiness both, Deaf Center's Owl Splinters coincidentally in some respects reminds us of two other releases recommended on this week's list - the new album from Earth, and also the Klute soundtrack! The recent Ural Umbo lp highlighted here last time also comes to mind.
Essential for fans of all things Type and Miasmah, particularly (of course) Svarte Greiner, also Elegi, Jacaszek, Fjellstrom, etc. A great going to sleep album for some of us, if you're ready for some perhaps suspenseful dreams.
Please note that the vinyl version, as is often the case with Type releases, is packaged with a bonus cd, in this case containing a 46 minute reworking of the album tracks by Skodvin under his Svarte Greiner guise, entitled Twin. Why they want to deprive cd purchasers of that, we don't know.
MPEG Stream: "Time Spent"
MPEG Stream: "New Beginning (Tidal Darkness)"
MPEG Stream: "The Day I Would Never Have"
MPEG Stream: "Close Forever Watching"

DEAF CENTER Owl Splinters (Type) lp+cd 23.00
We really can't get enough of the dark, cinematic soundscapes conjured by so many of the artists on such likeminded labels as Type (UK) and Miasmah (Norway). This new release on Type by Norwegian duo Deaf Center (cellist Erik K. Skodvin and pianist Otto A. Totland) is our current fave, it's just their second full-length in six years, as clearly it takes time to craft music this moody and gorgeous, this time around produced in a proper studio, in Berlin, on analog equipment for maximum fidelity. Also the two members of Deaf Center have been busy with their own, individual projects - Skodvin, for one, is the man behind another AQ fave, Svarte Greiner, plus he also runs the Miasmah label! And if you like the "acoustic doom" of Svarte Greiner, you should also appreciate Deaf Center's evocative combination of modern classical, ambient, and electronic strains on Owl Splinters.
Atmospheric opener "Divided" sets the mood, all abstract, monastic moan and droning string-scrape, hushed and floating. Then "Time Spent" introduces sparse melody, played on pensive, pretty piano, alone in the dark. Third track "New Beginning (Tidal Darkness)" is one of subtle crackle and glitch, the music ebbing and flowing through drone build-ups and more exquisite piano reveries. Once again, moody and somber, but beautiful. And so it goes, Deaf Center getting much heavier (eventually) in the midst of the grinding epic, "The Day I Would Never Have", the album's nearly 11 minute long centerpiece (which is infinitely longer on the vinyl version, as it ends the first side with a locked groove). Dense tones resonate with great emotional presence.
Skodvin's deep cello sawing can get spiky too, as on the nervously dramatic "Animal Sacrifice", though all is soothed by the luminous fuzz of the ambient background. Another epic track appears before the end of the disc, "Close Forever Watching" being 8 minutes of glorious, massing drone shimmer - play loud!!
With its balance of delicacy and weightiness both, Deaf Center's Owl Splinters coincidentally in some respects reminds us of two other releases recommended on this week's list - the new album from Earth, and also the Klute soundtrack! The recent Ural Umbo lp highlighted here last time also comes to mind.
Essential for fans of all things Type and Miasmah, particularly (of course) Svarte Greiner, also Elegi, Jacaszek, Fjellstrom, etc. A great going to sleep album for some of us, if you're ready for some perhaps suspenseful dreams.
Please note that the vinyl version, as is often the case with Type releases, is packaged with a bonus cd, in this case containing a 46 minute reworking of the album tracks by Skodvin under his Svarte Greiner guise, entitled Twin. Why they want to deprive cd purchasers of that, we don't know.
MPEG Stream: "Time Spent"
MPEG Stream: "New Beginning (Tidal Darkness)"
MPEG Stream: "The Day I Would Never Have"
MPEG Stream: "Close Forever Watching"

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ACID WITCH Stoned (Hells Headbangers) cd 12.98
Hails to Hells Headbangers, the label is on a roll lately, bringing us long-awaited new releases by two of the most outre of AQ metal faves: Ominous Doctrines Of The Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm by black metal aberrations Inquisition (Record Of The Week last list) and this, the more simply titled Stoned, from psychedelic doomsters Acid Witch! It's their 2nd full-length, after the now out of print debut Witchtanic Hellucinations we cackled over a couple of years back. Once more, Shagrat and Slasher Dave (minus Finnish friend Lasse Pyykko, who wasn't actually the main guy in the band as it turns out) have stirred up a bubbling cauldron of tripped out, horror-loving metal that draws upon their love of old school death metal, doom, fright flicks, and drugs! They say it best themselves: "Metal, punk, comic books, and horror vhs / Nothing else to live for so you might as well obsess / Discovering books of power on the arcane and occult / Eating psilocybin leaves you feeling quite possessed" (lyrics from their song "Stoned To The Grave"). Now, we're not gonna say if we condone that lifestyle or not, but we sure do like the sick, slightly tongue in cheek music that results!! And if you can appreciate a song title like "Metal Movie Marijuana Massacre Meltdown", then you'll probably like this album and band. THAT song features another verse we've just got to quote: "Seen these movies so many times / Turn off the volume cause I know all the lines / So fucking high, just let the stereo play / But only if it's Lizzy Borden or Fastway." Sheer poetry to our ears. However, Acid Witch themselves sound a lot more underground than those '80s metal bands they mention, the Hellhammer poster and Bulldozer t-shirt in the band photo represent more likely '80s inspirations.
So, if you've heard their debut, you what to expect. After an intro of Goblin-y keyboards and looped samples, the album kicks into metallic gear with track two, "Witchfynder Finder", a song about turning the tables on Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General. It's a catchy juggernaut, sounding not unlike Cathedral or Electric Wizard (or Pykko's band Hooded Menace) riding Hawkwind's "Silver Machine". One of the many killer cuts here with skull caving riffery and fuzzed out guitars. Those Goblin-y keys return later on the eerie "Whispers In The Dark" and elsewhere... while in "Live Forever" the keyboards take on more of a Deep Purplish hue! All in all, a heavy, rockin', horror show of guttural vokills, '70s Sabbathry, and spooky-ooky atmospheres.
Their favorite holiday is obviously Halloween. October is a long way off but if you like Halloween too, Acid Witch have a treat for you right now. Buy this along with that Wooden Stake / Blizaro split also highlighted this week, and your inner psych doom freak monster will be well fed.
MPEG Stream: "Witchfynder Finder"
MPEG Stream: "Whispers In The Dark"
MPEG Stream: "Live Forever"

BANG Bullets: The First Four Albums Plus.... (Rise Above) 4cd box 49.00
All right! We're happy to report that Rise Above Relics is back in business, with an impressive new batch of proto-metal reissues including albums by Steel Mill and Necromandus... gotta get 'em all reviewed, but we're gonna start with a Bang. A box set of Bang, in fact. We've long stocked the self-released cd reissues of this early '70s American answer to Black Sabbath, but THIS is the definitive Bang reish for sure. Physically much nicer than those previous reissues, this handsome yellow box contains all 4 of Bang's full-lengths on 4 individual cds in mini-lp style gatefold sleeves, plus bonus material, and a thick (40 page) booklet stuffed with detailed liner notes and photos... and there's a Bang sticker too!
Essential for Bang fans, and that means all lovers of '70s heavy psych rock action. Here's a revamp of what we had to say about Bang before, when we reviewed each album:
Dust, Captain Beyond, Jerusalem, Toad, Pentagram, Highway Robbery, T2, Buffalo, Budgie, Blue Cheer, Lucifer's Friend...if these names mean anything to you, you're probably one of our customers who dig that heavy '70s acid rock proto-metal stuff. Whenever we find a reissue of another lost gem from the era we try to share it with you. So, here, at last... the legendary Bang, a trio from Florida (by way of Philly) circa '71-'73 who managed to crank out some Sabbath-like riffing to go with the very Ozzy-like vocals of lead singer and bassist Frank Ferrara!
Bang never got big - although they did share stages with everyone from Alice Cooper to the Allman Brothers to Chuck Berry to Funkadelic to Black Sabbath themselves, apparently had a #1 hit in Hong Kong and at one point owned their own private plane! They released three albums in their career (for a US major label in fact) plus they recorded some singles and made an entire unreleased album as well.
As we said, Bang, especially on their first self-titled album, recorded in February of '72, bore a remarkable resemblance to the Sabs, which was really unusual for their era, when heavy bands were more likely to copy Zeppelin or Purple or just be stuck in the '60s. Kinda lo-fi, but quite heavy, it delivers doomy hard rock, with a kinda Comus-y Pagan slant, that also brings to mind the most powerful early King Crimson. Like most heavy bands of the period, Bang weren't cognizant of the "metal" concept, and probably saw themselves as a pop rock group - a dark and psychedelic pop rock group to be sure - and so sometimes the hard riffing lets up to allow for some happier or more gentle fare, which is not always a bad thing anyway (this a phenomenon we discussed in our review of the Dust albums once upon a time).
Bang's second album, which followed later in '72 (groups back then didn't dilly dally with putting out one album every couple of years like today's bands) was oddly presented as two distinct side-long mini-albums, each with its own 'front' cover. Side one (the heavier) being "Mother" with side two dubbed "Bow To The King". Both sides together were not as Sabbathy as the debut perhaps, but still excellent '70s proto-metal indeed.
They then went to Hollywood in '73 to cut Bang Music, their third album. It's quite a bit more of your standard '70s rock/pop fare, not nearly as heavy as their earlier efforts. But it's nicely melodic and has a few rockin' tracks on it, like opener "Windfair".
Then we step back chronologically a couple of years for the conceptual Death Of A Country, which was Bang's never-released first album, recorded in 1971 prior to their self-titled debut. With visions of societal corruption and ecological disaster, this album's doom-filled lyrics are certainly Sabbathian, although the music really doesn't get as apocalyptically heavy as what they came up with on Bang. But still, a decent slab of downer psych-rock, more '60s hippie than '70s metal.
True heavy music connoisseurs really need this 4th disc, though, for the two of the three "lost singles" included: the tracks "Slow Down" and "Feels Nice". They're the highlights here for sure. "Slow Down" woulda fit in well on their debut, while "Feels Nice" has more of Led Zep vibe. As an additional bonus, Rise Above have included a half-hour radio interview.
Bang's slogan was always "Music Shot From Guns". Of their albums, it's the first two, Bang and Mother - Bow To The King, that definitely use the higher caliber ordnance. But the other two discs here also get off some good shots. And the whole package is a huge improvement over the band's previous official reissues that we stocked, not to mention the bootleg editions that have also circulated. More room for the art, better design, and the other goodies in the box.
One of the best unsung heavy rock acts ever, finally gets the box set they deserve. BANG!
MPEG Stream: "Lions, Christians"
MPEG Stream: "Future Shock"
MPEG Stream: "Keep On"

BARDO POND s/t (Fire) cd 17.98
We've long been a fan of Bardo Pond, but this new record definitely took a few listens to get into. The response everyone seemed to have was "this sounds really WAY out of tune", and it does, sort of. Right from the outset, the group unfurl some woozy warbly strummy twang flecked psych folk, the strings buzzing and tangling, the melodies, shifting and intertwining, the vocals sounding sort of out of sync with the music, the bassline warped and underwater sounding, the drums an abstract scatter of beats, but as that first song continues, the vocals sink into the mire, harmonica begins to wheeze, the sounds of birds (?) surface, and the guitars, gradually grow more and more intense, first smoldering, before gradually catching fire, and finally exploding, and then the band are KILLING it, a huge squall of swirling, super distorted, wild and loose and chaotic druggy droned out psych guitar freakout, the drums pounding, everything twisted and sprawling and lit from within like some sort of sonic supernova, revealing the group's true purpose, the vocals returning, now sounding perfect, multitracked and nestled within the coruscating sheets of crumbling distortion and pealing blown out leads. The sort of epic dreamlike drugged out jam you never want to end. And that's how the band introduce their latest full length, their self titled their eighth proper full length, nearly two decades into their career, and they still sound as loose and free and psychedelic and heavy as ever. If not more so.
The rest of the record follows suit, "Don't Know About You" launches into a thick crusty chunky bit of riffage, the vocals witchy and snarly, the perfect match for the group's super distorted groove, everything still wreathed in streaks of effects and guitarnoise, and like the track before it, blossoming into some seriously heady psychedelia, surprisingly melodic too, the guitar tone epic, thick and blown out, almost Kyuss-y, that same sort of fuzz and crunch, and the more we listen, the more this sounds like BP at their most songy, sure most of the record is spent unfurling epic space out mega jams, but they're wrapped around dirgey downer pop, some weird hybrid of the Stooges, the Velvets and Crazy Horse, but dosed and doused and let loose, to billow up in great clouds of heaviness, of swirling trippiness. "Sleeping" offers a little respite, all hazy acoustic guitars and warm fluttering flutes, some woozy, acid folk drift, but it's not long before the band launch into the 21 minute "Undone", a warbly slow build, backwards guitars and angelic vox, all over simple folk strum, the track gradually expanding, the drums not even entering the picture until more than halfway through, but when they do, and the guitars finally let loose, it's glorious, the vocals crooning beneath clouds of lightning bolt guitar, and jagged shards of effects drenched melody.
"Cracker Wrist" might be the heaviest of the bunch, but it starts out deceivingly dreamy, all layered drones and gauzy shimmer, but after a few minutes, the riffs come fast and furious, locked tight with the pounding drums, a mesmerizing bit of krauty drone rock heaviness, again the guitars going wild, and wrapping everything in tangles of melody and fragmented drug drenched shred. "The Stars Behind" is another ballady number, but it wouldn't be BP if it too wasn't eventually enveloped by ropy blasts of grinding guitars, and soaring sheets of blown out psych swirl, the record finally finishing off with the comparatively tame "Wayne's Tune", all warbly melodies, angular guitars, shuffling drums, no big build, no explosive catharsis, instead, just hazy and droney and dreamily druggy.
After some initial (and unfounded it seems) trepidation, this is turning out to be one of the best Bardo Pond records in ages. Killer, very metal, cover art too, all black and silver with some strange black shapes and a new spidery drippy BP metal style logo!
MPEG Stream: "Just Once"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Know About You"
MPEG Stream: "Undone"

BARWICK, JULIANNA Magic Place (Asthmatic Kitty) cd 14.98
We knew it was only a matter of time before the ethereal magic of Julianna Barwick's music would capture the attention and imagination of the underground music scene. After two utterly gorgeous self released albums, Asthmatic Kitty wisely stepped up to sign her and release this brand new stunning set of songs, which finds Barwick's sound becoming even more pristine and dreamy. Alongside Grouper, Barwick really is doing wonders to channel the ethereal magic of 4AD's sound via Dead Can Dance, This Mortal Coil, and Cocteau Twins. Magic Place wastes no time heading right for the sky, which is where Barwick's songs always reside. Daydream reflections, moon worship hymns, sun cycle observations, close your eyes and let these sounds take you wherever they may. Beyond beautiful!
MPEG Stream: "Envelop"
MPEG Stream: "Prizewinning"
MPEG Stream: "White Flag"

BARWICK, JULIANNA Magic Place (Asthmatic Kitty) lp 14.98
We knew it was only a matter of time before the ethereal magic of Julianna Barwick's music would capture the attention and imagination of the underground music scene. After two utterly gorgeous self released albums, Asthmatic Kitty wisely stepped up to sign her and release this brand new stunning set of songs, which finds Barwick's sound becoming even more pristine and dreamy. Alongside Grouper, Barwick really is doing wonders to channel the ethereal magic of 4AD's sound via Dead Can Dance, This Mortal Coil, and Cocteau Twins. Magic Place wastes no time heading right for the sky, which is where Barwick's songs always reside. Daydream reflections, moon worship hymns, sun cycle observations, close your eyes and let these sounds take you wherever they may. Beyond beautiful!
MPEG Stream: "Envelop"
MPEG Stream: "Prizewinning"
MPEG Stream: "White Flag"

BASINSKI, WILLIAM A Red Score In Tile (Streamline) cd 14.98
The tape loop that William Basinski sources on A Red Score In Tile, dates back to 1979 during that manic period in Basinski's life when he was cataloguing shortwave radio noises, bittersweet sounding moments in muzak's mood engineering, and various piano extracts - all of which ending up on tape loops in the way that a lot of people build photo collections of the events, people, and places around them. But beginning around 1998, Basinski began to transcribe those tape loops digitally, finding an immense source for his future compositions that all heavily incorporate the slow-motion, sleepwalking murkiness of those original tape loops to their fullest advantage within his elliptical hypnosis of emotive tone and drone.
He actualized A Red Score In Tile first in 2003 for a piece of vinyl issued by the Chalk / Heemann label Three Poplars; of course, it quickly went out of print. This new cd version is a slightly different mix (only in that the piece isn't split over two sides, tracking instead about 45 minutes or so).
But for that tape loop, we're told the sole source is a piano, but it could have easily come from some of the bleak incidental music that Lalo Schifrin composed on the Rhodes for Dirty Harry. It's also incredibly prescient of the blackened 'horror jazz' from Bohren & Der Club Of Gore. This loop might only be cycling through an endless repetition, but it really doesn't sound that way. An atmosphere of urban decay hangs upon these broken notes, amplified by the vaporous reverb that oozes in, through, above, and below Basinski's sound. Of course, Basinski's music has long spoken of the elegant corrosion of sound, spoken most concisely through his epic Disintegration Loops series. But where the physical act of disintegration mirrors that of the sound itself, the sonic decay of A Red Score In Tile is spellbindingly subtle, and might actually be a grand illusion sparked by Basinksi's part works and deft ability to make a simple tape loop sublime. As a result, A Red Score In Tile is a stunning disc, one that ranks very highly within Basinski's always impressive catalog of recordings. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "A Red Score In Tile"

BEE GEES 1st (Reprise) cd 8.98
Previously reissued as a super fancy and pricey expanded double cd, now available as a single disc at a nice price, and even without all the extra tracks and multiple mixes, this still remains an incredible and classic sixties pop record (heck we made the deluxe reissue a Record Of The Week!) that you oughta own...
What comes to mind when you think of The Bee Gees? Saturday Night Fever? Disco? White suits? 30 years of cheesy disco dancing to "Stayin' Alive"? The awesome(ly atrocious) film version of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? SNL's "Barry Gibb Talk Show"? Probably all of those things.
Which is too bad, 'cuz if it weren't for all that stuff, maybe you'd think instead of lush melancholy experimental pop music, incredible vocal harmonies, horns, strings, orchestras, mellotrons, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Zombies...
Some of you probably have no idea what the heck we're on about, but well before disco and Saturday Night Fever and all that, way back in 1967, the Bee Gees were crafting some of the loveliest, most compellingly mysterious pop music around. With a sound that borrowed from other bands of the time, most notably the aforementioned big three, the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Zombies, but incorporated those influences into a sound that was distinctly their own. A sound at times gorgeously classic sounding, and at others surprisingly strange and dark and experimental.
The influence of the Beatles and the Beach Boys is undeniable. The song "Please Read Me" is incredibly Beach Boys-esque, and marks the first time the group would employ falsetto vocal harmonies, obviously influenced by Brian Wilson, and which would of course become their trademark. And the cover of 1st is by the artist Klaus Voorman, who of course also designed the Beatles' Revolver. But scratch a little below the surface, and there is so much more. A musical world of dreamlike, melancholy psychedelia.
"Holiday" is a brooding and moody dirge, with haunting organ swells, and pizzicato strings, with soft horns and simple percussion, and a gorgeous vocal melody, as well as a strange and impossibly catchy bridge with simple nonsense vocals. Then there's "Red Chair, Fade Away" a dreamy, rainbow hued blast of psychedelic pop, blissed out and trippy, with tons of layered production, fuzzy guitars, jazzy horns, fluttering flute, all wrapped in a stained glass production, peppered with circusy calliopes and soaring strings.
But two of the tracks on 1st really stand out. Lovely and catchy, but so dark and emotionally intense. The first is "Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You", which begins with minor key strings over monk-like chanting background vocals, before the Strawberry Fields vocals kick in, over a shuffled rhythm and some deliriously fuzzy psych guitar, with the chanting vocals resurfacing throughout the song before it fades into a truly haunting outro, just those strings and some heavily reverbed drums that stumble into the darkness. The other is the amazingly monickered "New York Mining Disaster 1941" with it's haunting nearly a capella verses (backed up by barely audible guitar strumming WAY down in the mix), jangly guitars, throbbing simple percussion, the whole track mournful and melancholy, the minor key brightening briefly for the chorus before drifting back into haunting melancholia. The track is laced with strange funereal strings, and again the vocals are just so beautiful, lush and dreamy.
The rest of the record is just as fantastic, every song a strange gem, it's difficult to pick which ones to mention, you'll of course recognize "To Love Somebody", which while not a huge hit for them (although it did crack the top 20), has become an international pop standard, and was originally a track the band wrote for Otis Redding, but their version is better, so lush and rife with layer after layer of instrumentation, as well as some amazing melodic flourishes left off subsequent cover versions, then there's "Cucumber Castle" with its super dramatic strings, Spanish sounding trumpets, moaning cellos, and bizarre player piano background trills, all behind a main melody that is so unbelievably catchy... we could go on and on and on. Needless to say, it's difficult to not go all gushy and declare this as one of the all time greatest pop records. But what the heck, it is! Listen to this enough and you just may banish all thoughts of white suits and light up dancefloors from your head forever!
MPEG Stream: "To Love Somebody"
MPEG Stream: "Holiday"
MPEG Stream: "New York Mining Disaster 1941"

BONNIE PRINCE BILLY & THE CAIRO GANG Island Brothers (Drag City) 10" 13.98
Two stunning new songs from Bonnie Prince Billy and The Cairo Gang. "New Wonder" is a solemn and mournful tear jerker that ranks to the top of any of Will Oldham's most affecting tracks of all time and that's saying a lot! "Island Brothers" will be familiar sounding to anyone who has seen the band in the last year or so as it's become a staple of their live sets. With the profits of this record going to help in the efforts to get clean filtered water into Haiti, still struggling in the aftermath of the recent disaster, it's just further proof that Oldham is not just a class act, but still one of the best songwriters of his generation.
A must have for Oldham fans!

CAULDRON Burning Fortune (Earache) cd 8.98
Dunno if Darkthrone's Fenriz is into Cauldron or not, but we're gonna quote him here anyway: CANADIAN METAL!! Yes, the Cauldron boys are back, with the eagerly awaited Burning Fortune. As fans of the band, or anyone taking a glance at the cover image (demonic woman emerging from sports car) might guess, it's another slice of awesomely, unapologetically '80s styled retro-metal from this Toronto based trio, now consisting of Jason Decay on bass and vocals, Ian Chains on guitar, and new drummer Chris Steve. We loved Cauldron's Earache debut a couple years back, Chained To The Nite, and this is a perfect sequel. Massively melodic, whilst being moderately menacing. Nostalgic, yet fresh and energetic. Once again, catchy stuff that absolutely does not shy away from metal's former glories in the pop arena.
That's what we like so much about Cauldron - they're just about the only one, among the many current "new school of old school" metal acts, who aren't too cool to take non-ironic inspiration from the best of the long-gone glammy "hair metal" brigades, while keeping it hard and heavy at the same time. Nobody else sounds like this anymore. Sure, it can be a bit cheesy but that's how they wanna be, and that doesn't preclude 'em from conveying some real emotion. And, like they did last time with their version of Black 'N Blue's "Chains Around Heaven", they add to their old school cred with another cool cover, this time of a song by obscure Detroit horror metallers Halloween.
Admittedly, if you were to spin this and then immediately follow it with, say, some vintage Kick Axe, Helix, or Sword (just to mention a few '80s bands also from Canada), Cauldron might not quite measure up, but they come close, the main issue being that Jason Decay can't exactly hang with the likes of those classics in the vocals dep't, though his are decent enough here. And headbangers should certainly be satisfied with the shreddin' guitars (check out Ian Chains' solo spot "Unchained Assault"), along with some substantial bursts of speed now and then ("Rapid City", ferinstance).
Also cool: for some reason, Earache has continued the tradition of putting out Cauldron albums at a bargain price, this one's only $8.98, about what a cassette or lp of this would have cost if it had actually been released back in the '80s, like it sounds!
MPEG Stream: "All Or Nothing"
MPEG Stream: "Miss You To Death"
MPEG Stream: "Breaking Through"

CLARK, ALICE s/t (Mainstream Records) lp 12.98
Deep hitting soul filled burners belted out with such conviction and rounded out with jazz flourished glory. Released in 1972, this lost gem is finally getting the reissue it deserves, as fans of Northern soul and soulful female vocalists are bound to fall deeply in love with Alice Clark, if they haven't already. With arrangements and instrumentation that draws heavily from jazz in an almost space age bachelor pad kind of way, this is a record that is as much about Clark's commanding vocals as it is all the rich organs, tambourines and deep deep grooves. We're reminded a lot of the Voices Of East Harlem, The Staple Singers and Lynn Collins. That's pretty damn sweet company to be in, and Alice Clark holds her ground just fine!

CLOUD NOTHINGS s/t (Carpark) cd 14.98
So much awesome pop on this week's list, The Disciplines, Yuck, Telekinesis!, and this, the latest from Cleveland fuzz poppers Cloud Nothings. Just check out the first song "Understand At All", and odds are you'll be sold. Jangly fuzzy guitars, bubbly basslines, slightly snotty sounding vox, all sunshiney and crunchy, and but then the song slips into the chorus and it becomes transcendent, the vocals shifting to a sweet falsetto, the guitars muted, the drums holding it all together, which leads right into a cool stop start sort of proggy bit of mathiness, and then it's back to the verse, and right into that sweet sweet chorus again. The second song, "Not Important" is another winner, all super fuzzed out power pop, the vocals this time all raspy and Jawbreakery, changing the vibe of the song completely, but it's still so jangly and hooky, a little bit of mathiness, but still mostly crunch and fuzz and jangle. "Should Have" is all eighties style DIY pop, mixed with a little bit of new waviness, "Forget You All The Time" is washed out and shoegazey, reverby and hazy and dreamy, and "Nothing's Wrong" is all hyperactive nerd rock Ramones, frantic and bouncy and caffeinated, and so it goes, every song somehow totally different, the sound, the arrangement, the voice, but they all hang together pretty (im?)perfectly as a 'proper' album, a wild, slightly schizophrenic, super kinetic, ultra jangly crazy catchy, super melodic fuzz pop record we can't seem to stop listening to!
MPEG Stream: "Understand At All"
MPEG Stream: "Not Important"
MPEG Stream: "Should Have"

CLOUD NOTHINGS s/t (Carpark ) lp 15.98
So much awesome pop on this week's list, The Disciplines, Yuck, Telekinesis!, and this, the latest from Cleveland fuzz poppers Cloud Nothings. Just check out the first song "Understand At All", and odds are you'll be sold. Jangly fuzzy guitars, bubbly basslines, slightly snotty sounding vox, all sunshiney and crunchy, and but then the song slips into the chorus and it becomes transcendent, the vocals shifting to a sweet falsetto, the guitars muted, the drums holding it all together, which leads right into a cool stop start sort of proggy bit of mathiness, and then it's back to the verse, and right into that sweet sweet chorus again. The second song, "Not Important" is another winner, all super fuzzed out power pop, the vocals this time all raspy and Jawbreakery, changing the vibe of the song completely, but it's still so jangly and hooky, a little bit of mathiness, but still mostly crunch and fuzz and jangle. "Should Have" is all eighties style DIY pop, mixed with a little bit of new waviness, "Forget You All The Time" is washed out and shoegazey, reverby and hazy and dreamy, and "Nothing's Wrong" is all hyperactive nerd rock Ramones, frantic and bouncy and caffeinated, and so it goes, every song somehow totally different, the sound, the arrangement, the voice, but they all hang together pretty (im?)perfectly as a 'proper' album, a wild, slightly schizophrenic, super kinetic, ultra jangly crazy catchy, super melodic fuzz pop record we can't seem to stop listening to!
MPEG Stream: "Understand At All"
MPEG Stream: "Not Important"
MPEG Stream: "Should Have"

COOK, TONY Back To Reality (Stones Throw) cd 16.98
Discovered by James Brown while playing at a block party in Augusta, Georgia in 1973, Tony Cook was just a high school boy at the time, but even James Brown could see there was something very special about this particular boy. In fact just a few years later Brown recruited Cook to become the drummer for the JB's, a position he would hold off and on all the way until the end of James Brown's life. But beyond his playing with Brown, on his own, Cook became known for some of the most forward and fantastically fucked up left-field funk to come out of the '80s. Mixing elements of disco, funk, and space minded oddity, Cook created jams that sound like the perfect segue between Afrika Bambata and Prince.
Makes perfect sense that the Stones Throw crew would be big time fans of Cook, who heavily influenced folks like Dam-Funk and Peanut Butter Wolf. Makes sense then too, that Stones Throw would take it upon themselves to release this long overdue anthology of Cook's funky prowess.
MPEG Stream: "Heart Breaker"
MPEG Stream: "What's On Your Mind"
MPEG Stream: "On The Floor"

CRAFT SPELLS After The Moment (Captured tracks) 7" 6.98
Another blast of reverby eighties style pop from these Southern California retropoppers, this one even more beholden to the golden age of MTV than the last one. The last single we referenced modern weirdo pop outfits like Ariel Pink, Greatest Hits, Blank Dogs and the like, and while that comparison still perhaps applies, the sounds here is WAY less weird, and way more, well eighties. In fact, it's kinda uncanny how much these two tracks sounds genuinely 15+ years old. From the sound, to the song, to the vocals, the instrumentation, the production, total shimmery eighties MTV style jangle pop, it's easy to imagine seeing a video from these guys between, say the Thompson Twins and Icicle Works. Spidery melodies, bouncy basslines, electronic percussion, tinkling Cure like melodies, synths and keyboards, and some very broody Smiths like sad boy vox, and of course some female back up vocals on the choruses, the second side slips more into a sort of almost gothy eighties electro pop, but holy heck, this single is some sort of fantastic sonic time machine, and while we've doubted the sincerity of this next generation romanticizing what many of us consider to be an embarrassing decade, we have to say, these songs sound pretty darn good, and definitely had us pining for the (good?) old days of big hair, over the top videos, crazy clothes, dayglo, MTV and of course the super catchy jangly electro gloom pop that went with all that stuff...

CULT OF YOUTH s/t (Sacred Bones) cd 14.98
Normally when we're reviewing a band on Sacred Bones, we find ourselves referencing cold wave or new wave, eighties goth combos or whatever, but Cult Of Youth requires a whole new set of parameters and comparisons. Think post industrial neo-folk, think Pagan sonic rituals, think the Wicker Man soundtrack, think Comus, think Death In June, especially that last one, cuz if we had to pick someone to compare CoY (originally a home brewed one man band, now a band proper) to, it would most definitely be Death In June, the same sort of charged mix of Teutonic bombast, martial percussion, acid folk strum, and booming chantlike vox. Dark and powerful and mysterious, and in its own way a pretty perfect fit for Sacred Bones.
The new multimember incarnation of Cult Of Youth, features mainman/mastermind Sean Ragon, joined by a performance artist/director/painter/occult scholar, a machinist drummer, and a violinist, who most recently arranged strings for the newest Zola Jesus single. Sounds like an eclectic assemblage of talents, but then Cult Of Youth is a pretty eclectic proposition.
The first song sets the scene for the whole record, dense tribal drumming, cyclical and hypnotic, thick distorted bass thrum, urgently strummed acoustic guitar, pounding drums, surrounded by swirling ambience, and moody, mournful minor key violin melodies, and over the top strident prosletyzing vocals, booming and emotional. There's also flute, that flutters dreamily throughout. And while this is essentially neo-folk, there is still a dark sort of cold wavey vibe happening for sure. It's not difficult to imagine these songs recast in a different light, replace the acoustic guitars with synths, program the drums, keep the vocals, we'd be talking some awesome chilly bit of brooding dramatic goth wave, so in one way you can almost imagine this as a folky acoustic take on cold wave, similarly dark and moody, gloomy and gothy and dramatic. There's also a bit of a swampy bluesy vibe, making us think of Birthday Party, Sixteen Horsepower, Woven Hand, especially on the more upbeat numbers, the sound transformed into a rollicking bit of shuffle and strum and howl, still peppered with strange bits of industrial crunch, but sweaty and heaving and overflowing with sonic vitriol.
The slower moments might be the most powerful, like on "Casting Thorns", one of the moments where the group is most obviously channeling seventies British outfits like Comus, Pentangle, Incredible String Band and the like, swoonsome steel string strum, muted low slung bass, the violin, soaring and lyrical, the link to the rest of the record being the vocals, which are even more dramatic and emotional, cracking and wailing, totally intense and over the top, but those folkier moments are fleeting, with the sound most often slipping back into something more propulsive and bombastic, epic and majestic and yeah, Teutonic.
Fans of any of the above mentioned bands should really check out Cult Of Youth, but especially folks into industrial / neo-folk outfits, especially Death In June, but also Current 93, Der Blutharsch, Sol Invictus, Blood Axis, Von Thronstahl, Toroidh and the like. Might also hit the spot for folks who dig seventies British folk and swampy slithery apocalyptic blues, and hell, Captured Tracks obsessives too, might just find a new sound they didn't realize was right up their alley.
MPEG Stream: "New West"
MPEG Stream: "Casting Thorns"
MPEG Stream: "The Pole-Star"
MPEG Stream: "The Lamb"

CULT OF YOUTH s/t (Sacred Bones) lp 14.98
Normally when we're reviewing a band on Sacred Bones, we find ourselves referencing cold wave or new wave, eighties goth combos or whatever, but Cult Of Youth requires a whole new set of parameters and comparisons. Think post industrial neo-folk, think Pagan sonic rituals, think the Wicker Man soundtrack, think Comus, think Death In June, especially that last one, cuz if we had to pick someone to compare CoY (originally a home brewed one man band, now a band proper) to, it would most definitely be Death In June, the same sort of charged mix of Teutonic bombast, martial percussion, acid folk strum, and booming chantlike vox. Dark and powerful and mysterious, and in its own way a pretty perfect fit for Sacred Bones.
The new multimember incarnation of Cult Of Youth, features mainman/mastermind Sean Ragon, joined by a performance artist/director/painter/occult scholar, a machinist drummer, and a violinist, who most recently arranged strings for the newest Zola Jesus single. Sounds like an eclectic assemblage of talents, but then Cult Of Youth is a pretty eclectic proposition.
The first song sets the scene for the whole record, dense tribal drumming, cyclical and hypnotic, thick distorted bass thrum, urgently strummed acoustic guitar, pounding drums, surrounded by swirling ambience, and moody, mournful minor key violin melodies, and over the top strident prosletyzing vocals, booming and emotional. There's also flute, that flutters dreamily throughout. And while this is essentially neo-folk, there is still a dark sort of cold wavey vibe happening for sure. It's not difficult to imagine these songs recast in a different light, replace the acoustic guitars with synths, program the drums, keep the vocals, we'd be talking some awesome chilly bit of brooding dramatic goth wave, so in one way you can almost imagine this as a folky acoustic take on cold wave, similarly dark and moody, gloomy and gothy and dramatic. There's also a bit of a swampy bluesy vibe, making us think of Birthday Party, Sixteen Horsepower, Woven Hand, especially on the more upbeat numbers, the sound transformed into a rollicking bit of shuffle and strum and howl, still peppered with strange bits of industrial crunch, but sweaty and heaving and overflowing with sonic vitriol.
The slower moments might be the most powerful, like on "Casting Thorns", one of the moments where the group is most obviously channeling seventies British outfits like Comus, Pentangle, Incredible String Band and the like, swoonsome steel string strum, muted low slung bass, the violin, soaring and lyrical, the link to the rest of the record being the vocals, which are even more dramatic and emotional, cracking and wailing, totally intense and over the top, but those folkier moments are fleeting, with the sound most often slipping back into something more propulsive and bombastic, epic and majestic and yeah, Teutonic.
Fans of any of the above mentioned bands should really check out Cult Of Youth, but especially folks into industrial / neo-folk outfits, especially Death In June, but also Current 93, Der Blutharsch, Sol Invictus, Blood Axis, Von Thronstahl, Toroidh and the like. Might also hit the spot for folks who dig seventies British folk and swampy slithery apocalyptic blues, and hell, Captured Tracks obsessives too, might just find a new sound they didn't realize was right up their alley.
MPEG Stream: "New West"
MPEG Stream: "Casting Thorns"
MPEG Stream: "The Pole-Star"
MPEG Stream: "The Lamb"

DAUBY, YANNICK Overflows (Sonoris) cd 13.98
A French born composer now living in Taiwan, Yannick Dauby comes from the same school of concrete-centric field-recording as Eric LaCasa, Tarab, Jean-Francois Laporte, and to a lesser extent Francisco Lopez. As such, Dauby pulls his compositions together from a near constant investigation of the environment, with the chorales of frogs and cicadas situated next to the thrum and hiss of heavy industry. Where LaCasa in particular is interested in matching particular textures and frequencies into sympathetic collages of intertwined sounds from any number of sources, Dauby has more of an interest in emphasizing a divergence in his sounds, juxtaposing comparatively dissonant field recordings to force them into a dialogue. So you'll find rasping blurts of locusts buzzing above a constant hum of some unnamed high-speed electrical dynamo, which gradually fades against a backdrop of metallic clinking, that almost sounds like the ambience of an ancient blacksmithery, becoming a smart counterpoint between two forms of human innovation. Dauby's composition is one of slow evolution with his numerous passages of water (thunderstorms, streams, subterranean dripping), the din of distant traffic, various bird utterances, windstorms, and clattering squeaks and whirls from industry effortlessly moving in and out of each other. All of these field recordings originate from France and Taiwan, although Dauby is very cautious not to make either locale too obvious, even when the chatter of children intermixes with that of incessant insect noise. It makes for a great, psychogeographical listen!
MPEG Stream: "Overflows Extract 1"
MPEG Stream: "Overflows Extract 2"
MPEG Stream: "Overflows Extract 3"

DEMONOLOGISTS Sermons Of Death And Eternal Damnation (Waves Of Decay) cassette 8.98
With a name like Demonologists and a title like Sermons Of Death And Eternal Damnation, you probably already have a good idea of what sort of sonic sickness these guys have in store for you. And you'd be right.
A bleak, noisy, super distorted, atmospheric bit of blown out, crumbling, industrial doom laden trudge and lumber, the sky a black swirl of metallic crunch and shrieking feedback, what must be guitars are transformed into heaving avalanches of blacknoise, the voices (if they are voices) just add more chaos to the already confusional din, streaks of melodies and a buried slow motion propulsion drag the sound like some blackened carcass, being wheeled into the bowels of hell. Huge shards of moaning melody surface now and again, adding a strange sort of cinematic gravitas, but most of the subtle stuff is swallowed up by the harsh churning crush and pummel on the surface, heavily layered and super texture, so blown out and in the red, the tape gets overloaded, and the sound becomes strangely warm and muted before collapsing again into paroxysms of skree and scrape and howl and buzz.
It's like 10 different black metal records being played at once, and then being remixed by some Japanoise DJ's, the speeds shifting, the tempos dragging and threatening to spill into oozing black puddles of sound, this is definitely rough stuff, but like the best rough stuff, this is not just pedal masturbation or white noise punishment, although to be fair, it is punishing, there is plenty of white noise (and pink, and brown, and BLACK) and heck, there's probably some pedal abuse, but it's all whipped up into a serious speaker melting frenzy, the sort of sound that will definitely appeal to students of the school of Merzbow and Masonna, but also, folks into the noisier and more abrasive end of the black spectrum like Gnaw Their Tongues, BSBC, Aderlating, Alkerdeel, Black Mayonnaise, Grief No Absolution, Endless Humiliation, etc.
Sweet packaging, silver ink on black card stock. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, we have less than ten!

DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT Hatred For Mankind (Prosthetic) cd 14.98
We had never heard of these UK metalheads, but the gruesome Justin Bartlett art of course caught our eye, and if anything, the sounds inside live up to the grim warning of the strange ritual depicted on the cover, hooded figures surround a woman, whose baby is dragged from her by a strange goat creature, her mouth open, emitting instead of a scream a strange column of either feathers or crystals. The soundtrack to this demonic ceremony is some sort of super intense, ultra aggro, sludgey blackened downtuned death metal dirge doom pummel, the sound shifting from frenzied blasting Swedish style melodic death metal to lurching, lumbering noise drenched doom, the recording so hot and in-the-red, that the drums buzz and sizzle, the guitars so distorted they crumble from the speakers, the vocals a harsh hateful shriek, plenty of Eyehategod style feedback, long stretches of layered skree, tense and intense, the sound so impossibly heavy, not sure we've ever heard guitar SO buzz drenched and blown out, the sound brutal and intense and harrowing, but probably the coolest/weirdest aspect of this band's sound are the samples, all over the place, snippets of conversations, bits from films, sometimes draped over minimal bits of droney ambience, other times set amidst roiling churning heaviness and thus barely audible, but it definitely gives the record a strange vibe, reminding us of nineties industrial rock, but only in that one aspect, in every other way, this is some of the fiercest, most fucked up and intensely heavy death/sludge we've ever heard, the vocals sometimes slipping into an inhuman ear shredding shriek, the buzzing so intense and furious that it sometimes almost blurs into total blackdronenoise, usually slipping right back into something more riffy or dirgey, but always suffocatingly black hole heavy, and then there are those samples, which change everything. And stick around for the final track a supremely creepy outro of crumbling distorted buzz, keening feedback, layered industrial noise, and one final creepy sample. Awesome stuff. Definitely one of the most brutal records we've heard, and while too many samples definitely plague many an otherwise awesome record, somehow, this wouldn't be the same without 'em.
MPEG Stream: "Boiled Angel"
MPEG Stream: "Buried With Leeches"
MPEG Stream: "Volcanic Birth"

DREADED Working Class Death (Waves Of Decay) cassette 8.98
Debut from this mysterious doom drone industrial noise outfit, one of FIVE new releases on Waves Of Decay (along with Wicked King Wicker, Demonologists, Skin Graft, and Robe.), and the sound of Dreaded fits pretty perfectly with those others, as well as outfits like Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, Wolf Eyes, Colossloth, SUNNO))), Khanate, R.Y.N., Amort and other practitioners of the slow/low/grim black arts.
A slow build of creeping crumbling ambience opens things up, thick swirls of sludgey black drift, a caustic cloud of black ambience, shot through with slivers of buried feedback, truncated melodies, the sound slipping into hypnotic swells, threatening to explode but instead locked into a haunting, mesmerizing creep. Elsewhere electronics buzz and rumble, the sound minimal, but ominous and ever darkening, subtly cinematic, peppered with bits of industrial crunch, clipped bits of downtuned riffage, sent careening into the ether, strange tangles of tape decay stutter and corrosive low end crumble, the whole thing a sprawling, gut wrenching, soul stirring expanse of bleak, black dronedoom minimalism, blending the hushed minimal drift of all those Drone Records singles, with something far more abject and hateful. Killer stuff for sure. Absolutely recommended for any one into ANY of the above mentioned bands.
Super nice packaging, silver ink on black card stock, LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, of which we have but a handful...

DROPDEAD Discography (Armageddon) lp 14.98
If an argument had to be made for greatest modern American hardcore/grindcore band, it would be pretty tough to argue with Rhode Island's Dropdead. One of the heaviest, fastest, hardest, most pissed off and politically righteous punk rock bands EVER, devastating obliticore/blistercore/fastcore/powerviolence that KILLS, total thrashing metallic punk rock fury, beholden to classic Swedish hardcore, and old school UK D-beat, British anarcho punk and of course Japanese crust, yet somehow these guys took all those influences and wove them into something singularly epic and transcendent and about a million times better than pretty much every other punk rock band we can think of. Short, sharp blasts of blasting thrashing chaotic punk rock, the guitars grinding and chugging, the drums a furious flurry of lightning fast beats, the vox howled over the churning punk fury below, the lyrics covering everything from animal rights to pacifism, racism to religion, each record an epic onslaught micro grindpunk epics, most clocking it at less than a minute, many half that, but these guys cram as much musical and lyrical vitriol in a matter of seconds than most bands manage over the course of a whole record. Even after years of listening to metal and punk and pretty much every variation and permutation of both, black metal, doom metal, grindcore, crustcore, whatever, there's still something so pure and honest and intense about Dropdead, raw and primal and at the same time impossibly epic and emotional and personal, the sort of punk rock that was as concerned with changing minds and fighting against injustices as it was with getting the pit moving, and in the process, they somehow managed to make these 30 second blasts of sonic ultraviolence, catchy as fuck.
Any one into any sort of heavy music, who doesn't own these classic albums, is missing out big time. All three records have been reissued on vinyl for the first time in ages, their 1993 self titled debut, their 1998 second album (also confusingly self titled) and their insane and untouchable discography collection, which gathers up singles and comp tracks, as well as Dropdead stuff from splits with Rupture and Crossed Out. Hard to recommend one over any of the others, all three rule and are absolutely essential, if you can buy all three, you won't be sorry, but at least buy one, start with any of them, odds are you'll want the rest. One of our favorite bands EVER.
MPEG Stream: "Unjustified Murder"
MPEG Stream: "Doorway To Extinction"
MPEG Stream: "Strength In Your Conviction"
MPEG Stream: "Protest"

DROPDEAD s/t (1993) (Armageddon) lp 14.98
If an argument had to be made for greatest modern American hardcore/grindcore band, it would be pretty tough to argue with Rhode Island's Dropdead. One of the heaviest, fastest, hardest, most pissed off and politically righteous punk rock bands EVER, devastating obliticore/blistercore/fastcore/powerviolence that KILLS, total thrashing metallic punk rock fury, beholden to classic Swedish hardcore, and old school UK D-beat, British anarcho punk and of course Japanese crust, yet somehow these guys took all those influences and wove them into something singularly epic and transcendent and about a million times better than pretty much every other punk rock band we can think of. Short, sharp blasts of blasting thrashing chaotic punk rock, the guitars grinding and chugging, the drums a furious flurry of lightning fast beats, the vox howled over the churning punk fury below, the lyrics covering everything from animal rights to pacifism, racism to religion, each record an epic onslaught micro grindpunk epics, most clocking it at less than a minute, many half that, but these guys cram as much musical and lyrical vitriol in a matter of seconds than most bands manage over the course of a whole record. Even after years of listening to metal and punk and pretty much every variation and permutation of both, black metal, doom metal, grindcore, crustcore, whatever, there's still something so pure and honest and intense about Dropdead, raw and primal and at the same time impossibly epic and emotional and personal, the sort of punk rock that was as concerned with changing minds and fighting against injustices as it was with getting the pit moving, and in the process, they somehow managed to make these 30 second blasts of sonic ultraviolence, catchy as fuck.
Any one into any sort of heavy music, who doesn't own these classic albums, is missing out big time. All three records have been reissued on vinyl for the first time in ages, their 1993 self titled debut, their 1998 second album (also confusingly self titled) and their insane and untouchable discography collection, which gathers up singles and comp tracks, as well as Dropdead stuff from splits with Rupture and Crossed Out. Hard to recommend one over any of the others, all three rule and are absolutely essential, if you can buy all three, you won't be sorry, but at least buy one, start with any of them, odds are you'll want the rest. One of our favorite bands EVER.
MPEG Stream: "At The Cost Of An Animal"
MPEG Stream: "Hopeless"
MPEG Stream: "Bullshit Tradition"
MPEG Stream: "Sheep"
MPEG Stream: "A Nation Sleeps"

DROPDEAD s/t (1998) (Armageddon) lp 14.98
If an argument had to be made for greatest modern American hardcore/grindcore band, it would be pretty tough to argue with Rhode Island's Dropdead. One of the heaviest, fastest, hardest, most pissed off and politically righteous punk rock bands EVER, devastating obliticore/blistercore/fastcore/powerviolence that KILLS, total thrashing metallic punk rock fury, beholden to classic Swedish hardcore, and old school UK D-beat, British anarcho punk and of course Japanese crust, yet somehow these guys took all those influences and wove them into something singularly epic and transcendent and about a million times better than pretty much every other punk rock band we can think of. Short, sharp blasts of blasting thrashing chaotic punk rock, the guitars grinding and chugging, the drums a furious flurry of lightning fast beats, the vox howled over the churning punk fury below, the lyrics covering everything from animal rights to pacifism, racism to religion, each record an epic onslaught micro grindpunk epics, most clocking it at less than a minute, many half that, but these guys cram as much musical and lyrical vitriol in a matter of seconds than most bands manage over the course of a whole record. Even after years of listening to metal and punk and pretty much every variation and permutation of both, black metal, doom metal, grindcore, crustcore, whatever, there's still something so pure and honest and intense about Dropdead, raw and primal and at the same time impossibly epic and emotional and personal, the sort of punk rock that was as concerned with changing minds and fighting against injustices as it was with getting the pit moving, and in the process, they somehow managed to make these 30 second blasts of sonic ultraviolence, catchy as fuck.
Any one into any sort of heavy music, who doesn't own these classic albums, is missing out big time. All three records have been reissued on vinyl for the first time in ages, their 1993 self titled debut, their 1998 second album (also confusingly self titled) and their insane and untouchable discography collection, which gathers up singles and comp tracks, as well as Dropdead stuff from splits with Rupture and Crossed Out. Hard to recommend one over any of the others, all three rule and are absolutely essential, if you can buy all three, you won't be sorry, but at least buy one, start with any of them, odds are you'll want the rest. One of our favorite bands EVER.
MPEG Stream: "Superior"
MPEG Stream: "Bitter Fruit (The Seed)"
MPEG Stream: "Those Who We Deny"
MPEG Stream: "Tied Down For Survival"

EARTH Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light I (Southern Lord) cd 14.98
The further Earth evolves, the harder it is to believe they were once THEE progenitors of the doomdronedirgesludge sound that's so prevalent these days. They began life as a sludgey, druggy, slo-mo avant riff behemoth, no one could have imagined they would have turned into this, a dusty, twangy, deserty, moody minimal slowcore combo, with a sound that has essentially evolved into a score to some stark, spare, imaginary black and white independent film, more soundtrack, imagined or not, than proper rock band, let alone, METAL band, which is how they have been traditionally categorized. But Angels Of Darkness, like the last few Earth records before it, is most definitely not metal, not even heavy really, at least in the traditional sense, this one even in the NON traditional senses, instead, it's again dark and brooding, evocative and emotional, cinematic and soundtracky, the core sound has again been expanded to include strings, which only adds to the whole moody minimal soundtrack vibe. But hell, it still suits them, we now have enough other bands doing the whole slow and low dirge and drone thing, and if anything, Angels Of Darkness might be Earth's most full realized stab and capturing their 'new' sound. No pretenses, no strings attaching them to the old Earth, very few allusions, sonic or otherwise, to the ghost of doom past, they're even more secure on the new path they set out on years ago, and it shows, each of the long tracks here unwinds gradually, a slow, swirling smoldering bit of twang flecked slowcore, a little bit droney, the guitars spidery and crystalline, the bass and drums super minimal, the cello doing much of the heavy lifting this time around, its deep throaty buzz, the perfect compliment to the band's sun baked shimmer, and bleak drowsy moodiness. Not a huge shift in sound, but then nobody wanted that, we just wanted more, more slithery, sun dappled darkness, more summery shadowy twang, and that's what Angels Of Darkness is, more just a honing and perfecting of a sound that's already pretty perfect, and exactly what you'd want to be playing in the background as you wandered down the dusty street of some old ghost town, and a perfect fit alongside the rest of your 'Ghost Town' mix alongside Scenic, Tulsa Drone, Barn Owl, Calexico, Sixteen Horsepower, and the rest.
MPEG Stream: "Old Black"
MPEG Stream: "Father Midnight"
MPEG Stream: "Descent To The Zenith"

ELLINGTON, DUKE AND HIS ORCHESTRA Jubilee Stomp (Monk) lp 21.00
Legendary composer Duke Ellington gets the deluxe Monk Records treatment here, bringing together 17 songs recorded in 1927 and 1928, right as his success was really beginning to take off thanks to a lucrative contract with agent Irving Mills. Ellington was an incredibly prolific songwriter and served as the perfect example of a big band leader. He also helped bring his art to the attention of white Americans, leading to unprecedented fame and elevating jazz music to a level of respectability that could not be ignored within America or the rest of the world. This record captures Duke and his Orchestra performing a variety of mostly Ellington penned tunes, with a couple of other numbers as well. Listening to this stuff is exciting, as one really gets the sense of a distinctly American artist creating and drawing on a distinctly American style of art, while also demonstrating how important the contributions of African-Americans were in establishing this new identity. Another winner from Monk!

ELONKORJUU Harvest Time (Shadoks) cd 17.98
Yeah! Here's another rad reissue of early '70s proto-metal. Of special interest to us, Elonkorjuu are Finnish, in fact hailing from the same town, Pori, that later gave us AQ faves Circle!
Their ultra-collectable 1972 album Harvest Time is a heavy progressive gem, full of ripping guitar and wild organ... wailing English-language vocals, melodic moody parts, many mathy changes, and galloping riffage are also all elements of the sometimes complex Elonkorjuu equation. Although fairly heavy for the time, they also have a generally "happy" sound, one that's often hectic too, these guys obviously reveling in their music making prowess. Their fervor is infectious, this is great stuff for anyone who loves other early '70s prog-psych acts of this ilk like Trettioariga Kriget, Wishbone Ash, Cargo, Culpeper's Orchard, Murphy Blend, Steamhammer, Wind, Irish Coffee, Osage Tribe, Odmenn, Blues Addicts, Stonewall, Toad, Road, etc.
While they only recorded one more album in the late '70s, the talent and exuberance displayed on Harvest Time earned 'em (and Finland) a spot in early, obscure hard rock history, for sure. Forever underground, they even title a song here "Praise To Our Basement", wherein these young long haired hippies first had first begun jamming back in '69...
MPEG Stream: "Unfeeling"
MPEG Stream: "Future"
MPEG Stream: "Old Man's Dream"

EMBRUJO s/t (Normal) cd 17.98
Yay, a new reissue of this old fave! Glad to have it back. Here's what we said when we raved about an earlier edition:
Wow! While Brazil gets most of the attention in terms of creating some of the best South American psychedelic music, we've recently been checking out the left coast of the continent, namely Chile, and have been digging some amazing stuff. Perhaps it's the epic geographical relationship of mountains and coast in close proximity that inspires such transcendent music or perhaps it's the constant political unrest of the period that cultivated a longing for the more earthy populace-empowered past. Smooth romantic harmonies, ancient flutes and dreamy textures of jungle and nature sounds are all key variables in the sound of great Chilean psych bands like El Congreso, Congregacion, Kissing Spell (featured on the Love Peace and Poetry Latin America comp), and that latter band's later incarnation, Embrujo. While Kissing Spell was more of a mellow psych-pop confection singing songs in English as was the trend of Latin groups seeking to become more commercially viable, the decision to become Embrujo stemmed from a revolutionary stance possibly inspired by the Brazilian Tropicalia movement both politically and sonically, to write songs almost entirely in Spanish and create a dynamic sound on their own terms upping the ante on their songwriting craft and musicianship. What they add to the equation is gr-ooo-ve, driven along by fuzzy organ, simmering guitar and funky drumming, building on the traditional Chilean sound with fluid changes, solid rhythms, and like Os Mutantes, occasional wackiness. Tight hook-laden arrangements, lyrical breaks and progressive interludes are what make this sole 1972 album fetch astronomical prices amongst collectors of private press recordings. Embrujo means "bewitched" in Spanish, and we are positive you too will be captured by its spell! Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Voy Hacia El Sol"
MPEG Stream: "Corre A Los Campos"
MPEG Stream: "Petilu"

EVIL MADNESS Super Great Love (Editions Mego) lp 21.00
To look at the personnel line-up of Evil Madness, you probably wouldn't know what to expect. There's the melancholy composer Johann Johannsson with a number of acclaimed cinematic records on 4AD. There's the bleak-minded drone specialist BJ Nilsen and his long-time collaborators Stillupsteypa. And there's another Icelander dude named Petur Eyvindsson, who has some oddball releases under the name DJ Musician. Given that, the punchy discotheque grooves of Evil Madness are way out of left-field and totally great. Italo disco, minimal wave / EMB, anthemic Detroit techno circa 1988, John Carpenter's paranoiac synth arpeggiations, lots of analogue synth worship, and pre-fab electronic beats all come together underneath the stoic yet tongue-in-cheek banner of Evil Madness. We suspect that Sigtryggur from Stilluppsteypa has quite a lot to do with this one, given the electro-breaks that would occasionally slap in the face of his seriously minded crackled dronemuzik; no matter who's responsible, both sides of Super Great Love are brilliantly hedonistic mash-ups of vintage synth stabs, stupidly good anthemic electronic melodies, and plenty cybernetic Moroder sequences, spiralling upon techno, disco, and electro rhythms. Super Great Love is actually the fourth record by Evil Madness, with their other releases coming out through the poorly distributed 12 Tonar label and the dada-fetish imprint Ultra Eczema, so this album on Editions Mego should garner a broader audience for Evil Madness (they'll be releasing a cd version eventually too). Fans of Majeure, Umberto, K-X-P, and the Oneohtrix Point Never sideproject Games would be well served to check this out!

FASTEST Into The Night (self-released) cd-r 9.98
Fastest's Theme, a Record Of The Week a few lists back, was a surprise hit around here (not a surprise for everyone though, some of us knew, few would be able to resist the twisted confusional home brewed madness that is Fastest), but we sold them like crazy, and in that review we mentioned Fastest also had a handful of other records, and got a bunch of reponses from folks wanting more.
So here you go, Into The Night, not sure where it falls in the Fastest catalog, which is now up to 8 or 10 releases, but it's another one of our favorites, second only to Theme, and like Theme, the sound here is pretty idiosyncratic and difficult to describe, warbly buzzying synths, stumbling weirdly programmed drums, that seem to explode into impossibly tangled rhythmic flurries, that is when they're not locked into some warped robotic groove, the melodies are twisted as well, moody and melancholy one second, then all sunshiney the next, like the music for the final screen on some old school video game, all 8 bit bleep and bloop, underpinned by weirdly bloopy low slung bass, and those chaotic beats. And did we mention the vocals, sort of sung/spoken, Allan here thinks it sounds like rapping, and likens Fastest to mush mouthed headphone rapper Sensational, but Fastest is much more strident, his vocals urgent and dramatic, often delivered in what sounds like a growled death metal grunt, but just as often whispered or crooned, the vocals locked tight with staccato rhythms, the ominous buzzing synths, the midi guitar melodies, slipping from epic and intense and almost heavy, to fuzzy and bouncy, but more often than not somewhere right in between. In some ways, Into The Night is a bit darker than Theme, and the spastic avalanche like drum programming sounds even more out of control, which is most definitely a good thing. For more on our obsession with Fastest, check out our review of Theme elsewhere on the aQ site, but if you've yet to check out the fractured and fantastically fucked up musical stylings of this one man band, this is as good a place to start as any, and who knows, you might find yourselves needing ALL of them. We did!
Like Theme, the packaging is awesome and over the top and a bit confusional. A custom (not real) barcode right on the front cover, a cool tray card that wraps up and around the edge, the Fastest logo all sharp and heavy metal looking, notes exclaiming "digital audio compact disc" and "state of the art phonorecord", the ASCAP publishing logo/info not less than FOUR times on the back cover, a shoutout to TDK, and of course, like Theme, a production credit for someone/something named Daemaeen Hephaestus Chastical. Oh, and a cool lazer etched discface! Needless to say (but we will anyway) CRAZY RECOMMENDED.
MPEG Stream: "Mnemonic Dreams"
MPEG Stream: "Prevail"
MPEG Stream: "Effusive Feelings"
MPEG Stream: "Legend"

FELL, MARK Multistability (Raster-Noton) cd 17.98
A couple of lists back, we highlighted the Editions Mego disc UL8 by minimal techno artist Mark Fell. It was one of two solo albums from snd member Fell that were recently released more or less simultaneously. So here's the other one, via the Raster-Noton label quite appropriately, and it's another intense, experimental exercise in the controlled chaos of (ir)rhythmic variations. 17 tracks, 64 minutes of glitched out, Geiger-countery goodness. If you liked the complex, computery patterns of UL8, you'll like this too! Repetitive, seizure-threatening stuff here, a seemingly endless array of stunning, stuttering clicks, claps, ticks and kicks... it's like the distorted, digitally bent creakings of teetering, tweaked electronic architecture built by Fell from precise blueprints for perverse purposes. His constructions are varied enough, exploring both skittering texture and shuffling groove, to hold earphone interest for the duration. At times it sounds kinda like club music composed by Conlon Nancarrow for synth and typewriter. Any fan of Alva Noto, Ryoji Ikeda, etc. ought to investigate this and UL8 too if you haven't already.
MPEG Stream: "Multistability 3"
MPEG Stream: "Multistability 10-A,11"
MPEG Stream: "Multistability 9"

FLOOR Sight & Seen (Chunklet) 2dvd 17.98
Before there was Torche, there was Floor. And if you love the super hooky, impossibly heavy sludge pop of Torche, then you'd do well to investigate Floor, who were like a slightly sludgier, slightly less poppy Torche. We recently reviewed the (now sadly sold out) massive 8 cd complete Floor collection, but this might be a bit easier to digest. And hell, if you DID buy that Floor box, you're probably gonna want this too, cuz nothing here was included in that set!! And if you don't own Floor's Dove record, find it. NOW. Some of the heaviest hookiest shit EVER. Floor never made it big, and were way more unsung than they deserved, and of course, Steve Brooks went on to form Torche, but with the love and hype surrounding Torche, it was inevitable that folks would finally discover Floor, which culminated in that 8 cd set, and a couple live reunion shows last year, one of which is what's contained on the first disc in this double disc set, a massive two hour live set, split into three separate sections, each featuring a different drummer, and the songs that drummer played on. It's a pretty epic and crushing collection, blown out, downtuned, EPIC, heavy as hell and hooks galore, total blissed out sludge pop radness, and all three versions of the band DESTROY. Also included on the first disc is a short documentary/interview with the band and all three drummers, including tons of super rare old live footage and lots of photographs.
As if that weren't enough, the second disc is a data disc containing, high quality audio files of both reunion shows (not just the one from the first disc), the complete and unedited film of Floor, everything that was cut, restored to a massive 2+ hours, and a whole bunch of super rare live videos, spanning the band's entire existence, from 1993 all the way to their final shows in 2002.
LIMITED TO 700 COPIES. Housed in a super elaborate origami like silkscreened package, similar to the Harvey Milk Anthem release, a printed insert with both discs affixed to it, housed in a six panel jacket, all metallic ink on heavy textured cardstock. Nice!

GHOST Opus Eponymous (Rise Above / Metal Blade) cd 14.98
There's been so much hype about this Swedish metal outfit, before we had ever heard a note, we had heard ABOUT them, seen amazing pictures of the band playing live, the vocalist with a face painted like a skull, dressed in robes like some demonic priest, the album cover, a creepy seventies oil painting of that same vocalist, hovering demon like over an old haunted looking church, their satanic lyrics, their epic heaviness, so we were prepared for something seriously demonic and devastating, black metal or at least black-ISH metal we were assuming, so when we finally heard it, we were lured in by the sound of a church organ, so far so good, haunting and mysterious, and then the first song kicks in, thick buzzing metallic bass, pounding drums, okay, so not black metal, but heavy, fuzzed out, a little psychedelic, and then the vocals, woah, sounding a lit like Voivod weirdly enough, soaring majestically over chugging churning, and them suddenly, so POPPY, the song shifting gears, slipping into something way more melodic, replete with oooh's and aaaah's and some strange liturgical sounding crooning, some cool seventies style organs too, so it may not be what we were expecting but we were loving it, so then the next song started, and wow, even less metal, more like classic rock, seventies psych, a surprise, but fuck it, still pretty damn killer, the guitars still plenty heavy, and then the chorus, holy shit, a dead ringer for Blue Oyster Cult, total hooky pop, and it was then that we realized we were totally hooked.
C'mon, chugging satanic metal meets dark psychedelic rock meets Blue Oyster Cult? How rad is that?! The Answer is VERY. The vocals occasionally sound a bit like King Diamond, the band slipping into some Mercyful Fate-isms here and there, but a way poppier, more psychedelic, less overtly metal version, the leads are awesome. And it's pretty cool to hear actual singing and real melodies and a sort of classic psych rock formula with these explicitly Satanic lyrics.
"Death Knell" gets a little doomy, and features the refrain "Six Six Six" amongst other evil ramblings, but the song is far from fierce and heavy, instead it's trippy and broody and mysterious and haunting, the vocals wreathed in reverb and draped over muted guitars, fuzzy organs, with some cool dynamic stop/starts, as well as some tolling bells and a few definite Sabbathisms. We were sort of hoping "Prime Mover" was a Zodiac Mindwarp cover, but instead it's a pretty stellar original, droned our layered high end guitars wrap around a chugging churning riff, the bassline buzzy and ominous, again, a super dynamic arrangement, maybe one of the heaviest jams on the record, a little mathy, the guitars thick and fierce, and then the vocals come in, and the sound shifts to something more melodic and moody, drifty and creepy and psychedelic.
So yeah, don't be misled by the hype, or the satanic imagery, this isn't black metal, or really strictly metal, but if the idea of some awesomely Satanic psychedelic seventies styled heaviness, a sort of more metallic and WAY more evil and over the top classic rock, sounds like your sort of thing (and why wouldn't it?), then you'll probably love this as much as we do.
Killer packaging too, the aforementioned cover art, a sweet slipcover, and of course lyrics, so you can sing along and perform your own little musical black masses at home.
MPEG Stream: "Con Clavi Con Dio"
MPEG Stream: "Ritual"
MPEG Stream: "Satan Prayer"

HALL, MARCELLUS The First Line (Glacial Pace Recordings) lp 24.00
There's really no way to start this review without a seemingly over the top declaration. NYC's Railroad Jerk were one of the best, and sadly most unsung bands of the last 20 years. And while Railroad Jerk front man Marcellus Hall is probably better known to the world at large as an illustrator, whose done work for the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Press, Time, as well as numerous covers for novels, but for us, Hall will always be the swaggery, silver tongued frontman for the late great 'Jerk.
The sound of Railroad Jerk was feral and bluesy, super rhythmic and percussive, like a stripped down, less dumb Blues Explosion (WAY less dumb and WAY more awesome), the sort of band you might see set up on a street corner on some shady street in New York, just killing it. They reminded us a little of bands like Cop Shoot Cop, but minus the industrial heft, and in it's place, something more slithery and sexy, their sound fierce and frantic, like a gritty sort of twang flecked junkyard blues, and Hall's super distinctive voice and guitar pretty much defined their sound. Post Railroad Jerk, Hall started White Hassle, whose sound was not all that far removed from Railroad Jerk's, but since then we've heard almost nothing, until now.
The First Line is the first proper release featuring Hall and his new band The Hostages, and while his voice sounds as good as ever, the sound is much more stripped down, a sort of twang flecked Americana / folk, mostly acoustic guitar, a lot of cello, some shuffling percussion, a little slide here and there, some harmonica, but as always, it's all about Hall, his voice so rich and mellifluous, but definitely unique and distinctive, still subtly swaggery, his lyrics snarky and a little brainy, but much more romantic and heartfelt than in Railroad Jerk, the arrangements simple and spare, the sort of sound that seems like it could catapult Hall beyond the underground rock ghetto he should have ruled with Railroad Jerk, but even for those of us who call that selfsame underground rock ghetto home, this still sounds pretty fantastic, think Jay Farrar, Peter Case, David Eugene Edwards, and actually, come to thing of it, Edwards might be the most apt comparison, the same sort of fire and passion, a similarly super unique voice, a vocal style that's equal parts crooning and testifying, but unlike the apocalyptic fire and brimstone of Edwards outfit, Hall's combo is something else altogether, much more subdued, mellow and strummy, but in some ways just as intense and passionate.
Fantastic stuff, we can't get enough of Hall's voice, and while we love love love The First line, we'll never stop missing Railroad Jerk...
Super swank packaging, the cd in a fold out digipak, alongside a 44 page book of illustrations by Hall, all housed in a full color slipcover. The lp version includes a similar book, albeit in a large format 12 page version, is pressed on 180 gram vinyl, and comes with a download card.
MPEG Stream: "The First Line"
MPEG Stream: "Star Position"
MPEG Stream: "Neon, Not The Night"
MPEG Stream: "Laughing With You"

HALL, MARCELLUS The First Line (Glacial Pace Recordings) cd+book 16.98
There's really no way to start this review without a seemingly over the top declaration. NYC's Railroad Jerk were one of the best, and sadly most unsung bands of the last 20 years. And while Railroad Jerk front man Marcellus Hall is probably better known to the world at large as an illustrator, whose done work for the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Press, Time, as well as numerous covers for novels, but for us, Hall will always be the swaggery, silver tongued frontman for the late great 'Jerk.
The sound of Railroad Jerk was feral and bluesy, super rhythmic and percussive, like a stripped down, less dumb Blues Explosion (WAY less dumb and WAY more awesome), the sort of band you might see set up on a street corner on some shady street in New York, just killing it. They reminded us a little of bands like Cop Shoot Cop, but minus the industrial heft, and in it's place, something more slithery and sexy, their sound fierce and frantic, like a gritty sort of twang flecked junkyard blues, and Hall's super distinctive voice and guitar pretty much defined their sound. Post Railroad Jerk, Hall started White Hassle, whose sound was not all that far removed from Railroad Jerk's, but since then we've heard almost nothing, until now.
The First Line is the first proper release featuring Hall and his new band The Hostages, and while his voice sounds as good as ever, the sound is much more stripped down, a sort of twang flecked Americana / folk, mostly acoustic guitar, a lot of cello, some shuffling percussion, a little slide here and there, some harmonica, but as always, it's all about Hall, his voice so rich and mellifluous, but definitely unique and distinctive, still subtly swaggery, his lyrics snarky and a little brainy, but much more romantic and heartfelt than in Railroad Jerk, the arrangements simple and spare, the sort of sound that seems like it could catapult Hall beyond the underground rock ghetto he should have ruled with Railroad Jerk, but even for those of us who call that selfsame underground rock ghetto home, this still sounds pretty fantastic, think Jay Farrar, Peter Case, David Eugene Edwards, and actually, come to thing of it, Edwards might be the most apt comparison, the same sort of fire and passion, a similarly super unique voice, a vocal style that's equal parts crooning and testifying, but unlike the apocalyptic fire and brimstone of Edwards outfit, Hall's combo is something else altogether, much more subdued, mellow and strummy, but in some ways just as intense and passionate.
Fantastic stuff, we can't get enough of Hall's voice, and while we love love love The First line, we'll never stop missing Railroad Jerk...
Super swank packaging, the cd in a fold out digipak, alongside a 44 page book of illustrations by Hall, all housed in a full color slipcover. The lp version includes a similar book, albeit in a large format 12 page version, is pressed on 180 gram vinyl, and comes with a download card.
MPEG Stream: "The First Line"
MPEG Stream: "Star Position"
MPEG Stream: "Neon, Not The Night"
MPEG Stream: "Laughing With You"

HARVEY, PJ Let England Shake (Vagrant / Island) cd 14.98
Over the last decade, PJ Harvey has proven to be one of the most versatile, unpredictable and unique artists around. From polished and poppy (Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea), to lo-fi (Uh Huh Her), to raw, intimate and devastating (White Chalk), along with an amazing ongoing collaboration with John Parish. So we had no idea which side of PJ Harvey would emerge on this long awaited new full length, and that's actually now part of the fun when anticipating a new record from her. There is no question it will be great, it's just a matter of what shape of great it will be.
Let England Shake is a song cycle about England that takes its cues from battle hymns and as always Harvey's lyrics are both cryptic and complex, without being overbearing. Alongside her longtime collaborators Flood, Mick Harvey and again John Parish, this is a record that sounds like it was made by a proper band, unlike the ultra personal presentation of White Chalk. But just like everything PJ Harvey has released over the years, its an album that reveals its intimacy and emotion upon repeated listens, an album that is already getting under our skin in the best of ways.
MPEG Stream: "Let England Shake"
MPEG Stream: "The Glorious Land"
MPEG Stream: "In The Dark Places"

HAYVANLAR ALEMI Guarana Superpower (Sublime Frequencies) cd 17.98
This amazing, previously vinyl only, Sublime Frequencies release, finally available on cd!!!
Ethiopiques meets Torch Of The Mystics? Cambodian pop meets Turkish psych rock? Freaked out surf rock meets Saharan guitar music? Howabout all of the above...?
The very first release on the Sun City Girls' Sublime Frequency label from Istanbul-based instrumental psychedelic surf / space rock band Hayvanlar Alemi, their first proper album, and their first record readily available outside of Turkey.
The thing that makes this Hayvanlar Alemi record work in the context of Sublime Frequencies, is that it borrows from a super varied set of sounds, from all sorts of musics, each track here sounding like it could possibly be from some other SF release, twanged out desert psych, moody Eastern garage pop, fuzzy druggy almost krautrock style drift, a few of the tracks even sound like they could be some Sun City Girls Torch Of The Mystics B side! But somehow these guys make all those different sounds work, this whole record holds together perfectly and flows like a proper album, a super expansive and sonically rich collection of modern psychedelia, beholden to all the various musics that came before.
The sound on Guarana Superpower is definitely exotic, lush, with Eastern melodies, simple hypnotic percussion, long droning tones, looped motorik grooves, plenty of buzz, and jangle, and crunch, rhythms that veer from spare and skeletal to wild and splattery, songs drift from tranquil shimmer to meditative buzz to occasional blasts of full on chaotic freaked out in-the-red psychedelia, but even in the midst of those noisy squalls, the instrumentation is distinctly Eastern, the result some fantastical Eastern psychedelic noise rock. It's during those moments that the Torch Of The Mystics comparisons become even more apt. The record is of course rife with references to traditional Turkish folk music, Turkish classical music, sixties and seventies Turkish psych rock, as well as all the above mentioned NON Turkish sounds and influences, all filtered through a modern avant rock sensibility. There are a few tracks of surfy, bluesy garage rock stomp as well, but again, even those jams are infused with a vibe and energy that is way more Eastern than Western. So good. And such a perfect fit for Sublime Frequencies...
MPEG Stream: "Mega Lambada"
MPEG Stream: "Mavi Sepet"
MPEG Stream: "Karpuzkafa 777"
MPEG Stream: "Guve Diskosu"

HORRID RED Pink Flowers (Soft Abuse) 7" 8.98
Half of Teenage Panzerkorps comprises Horrid Red, including the Teutonic punk vocalist Bunker Wolf and the multi-instrumentalist Edmund Xavier (aka Glenn Donaldson of all things Jewelled Antler). Those familiar with Bunker Wolf's Teutonic vocal bark from Der TPK will instantly recognize it here as well, although the Horrid Red sound is a little different from Der TPK's grimy punk hypnosis, as this has got much more of a neo-goth / cold-wave vibe with springy basslines and motorik-pop rhythms butting against atonal swarms of guitar noise and morose synth atmospheres, that come together sounding a lot like Blessure Grave trying to cover "Love Will Tear Us Apart" but mixing up the bassline with a Cure song instead. Limited to 300 copies, comes with a download coupon.

HYPE WILLIAMS Find Out What Happens When People Stop Being Polite, And Start Getting Reel (De Stijl) lp 19.98
Not to be confused with the infamous music video director, THIS Hype Williams is a Euro boy/girl duo who traffic in a woozy washed out, looped and loopy lysergic dubbed out witchy electronica, like How To Dress Well crossed with The Skaters, each track, a dizzying hypnoscape of cyclical rhythms, of layered melodies, and processed vox, a sound all syrupy and sludgey and seriously lo-fi, casio-core writ downtempo dancefloor drawl, chopped and screwed, and not all that far removed from Witch Housers like oOoOO or Salem, the same sort of cough syrup soaked electro dub, all skittery and shuffly, warped and warbly, everything dragging and druggy, sloe eyed and slithery, the bass is fuzzy and buzzy but is muted and blurred beneath robotic primitive rhythms, and hazy swirls of dreamlike melody, samples are manipulated, processed, stretched and reimagined, Sade becomes an icy chunk of electro murk (not here, but on another record, HW samples aQ fave Doug Blunt, AND half of Hype Williams calls himself D. Blunt, hmmmm), elsewhere the samples are not so easy to pick out, instead they're simply shards and streaks and fragments, all woven into HW's psychedelic skitter and bleary creepy crawl.
From ominous mysterious mumbly murk, to hazy, looped dreampop drift, from twisted chaotic collaged shuffle funk to Ariel Pink style alien FM radio groove pop, all the tracks here ooze and bleed and melt before your ears into one ever shifting organic assemblage of late night, under water, doped up, drift off, zombie funk...
MPEG Stream: "Rescue Dawn"
MPEG Stream: "Blue Dream"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled"

INFINITY WINDOW Artificial Midnight (Arbor) lp 14.98
Out of print for quite a long time, Infinity Window's Artificial Midnight is now back in print. This was the first project we heard from Daniel Lopatin, who's better known as Oneohtrix Point Never. Here, he was working with Taylor Richardson, one time member of Sunburnt Hand Of The Man, although this is much closer to the classic OPN sound of liquid synth ambience and polyhedron step sequencing. The two parted ways shortly after this record came out, and well before OPN's breakthrough album Returnal. Here's what we had to say about this way back when:
Armed with a bunch of analog synths and an alliance of effects pedals, Infinity Window conjures a deep cleansing slab of new agey bliss. In the same droney vein as Emeralds, Infinity Window delve deep into the divine world of heavy synth wizardry to unveil two sides of all-encompassing aural blitzkrieg. To say their sound is thick would be a total understatement. These guys know how to lay it down heavy, but there is a lighter side to their heaviness, not really a dooomy type of heaviness, more a melodic and shimmering type of heavy that reminds us of the earlier Growing albums. Both sides build from wondrously minimal, video game-y bleeps and bloops to huge walls of trance inducing, glacial radiance. Like staring directly into the blaring sun, these tracks are celestial and huge but damaged and textured. Fuzz and noise subtly encapsulate the reverberating tones to swiftly steer away from any new-agey cheesiness.

ISOLEE Well Spent Youth (Pampa Records) cd 16.98
Rajko Muller, aka Isolee, has been one of the leading forces in smart and infectious microhouse over the last decade. His ability to merge dance floor ready beats with nuanced production has made Isolee popular with both club kids and more heady avant types. Well, Spent Youth, is the long awaited follow up to We Are Monster, and Isolee sound as precise, icy and sexy as ever. With menacing and moody undertones, Isolee unleash minimal dancefloor grooves that radiate with repetition and restraint. We thought that Kompakt would be all over Isolee by now, as they really have perfected the sound that label has become synonymous with over the years. Phenomenally chilling!
MPEG Stream: "Paloma Triste"
MPEG Stream: "Hold On"

KALACAKRA Crawling to Lhasa (Garden of Delights) lp 34.00
Now reissued on vinyl! Krautrock obscurity alert! Definitely a fave, an album deserving of its mythical, mystical reputation.
Kalacakra's Crawling To Lhasa contains eight tracks of mantric acid-folk self-released in 1972 by the apparently drugged-out duo of Claus Rauschenbach ("guitars, kongas, percussions, vocals, harmonica, slentem") and Heinz Martin ("electr. guitars, flute, piano, vibraphon, schalmi, cello, violin, synthesizer"). Their strange, hippie sense of humor and obsession with the culture of Tibet (the name Kalacakra is the Tibetan term for "wheel of time") results in some fantastically nonsensical, eastern-influenced psychedelia (nonsensical? well, that "slentem" that Claus plays is in fact a non-existent, made-up instrument!). The album begins with the dark, hypnotic "Nearby Shiras", a song about a plague-ravaged town in olden Persia, which features some totally sinister and maniacal whispered German-language vocals, reminding us a bit even of Comus. As their crawl to Lhasa continues, Kalacakra venture into zones of lovely folk-strum and raga-rock as well, before the album wraps up with a deranged and damaged blues stumble called "Tante Olga".

KLUTE / ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (MICHAEL SMALL / DAVID SHIRE) OST (Film Score Monthly) cd 17.98
Recently one of us here at Aquarius happened to rent and watch the classic psycho-sexual thriller Klute for the very first time. That noirish 1971 film stars Jane Fonda as a neurotic New York call girl being stalked by an obsessed john, and Donald Sutherland as a straight laced investigator attempting to solve a missing persons case, to which Fonda's character may hold the key.
It became apparent that not only was the movie indeed quite excellent, but so was its beautiful, sinister, sometimes groovy soundtrack, quite integral to the film's effectiveness. A quick search revealed that, yay, the Klute soundtrack is currently available on cd, released by the same label responsible for recent Record Of The Week, the 5000 Fingers Of Dr. T!
So of course we ordered it in, immediately. What with the Klute soundtrack's ominous atmospheres, occasional lush sentimentality, and also very '70s psychedelic vibes (the discotheque dancing scenes!), we know it's going to appeal to a bunch of you. Heck, much of this music's worthy of a Dario Argento giallo, and also has a passage that sounds more like an Eastern-inspired, krautrocky jam session. It was composer Michael Small's first Hollywood commission, and he innovated a more intimate, modern approach to suspense film scoring, as the very detailed liner notes explain. Ethnic instrumentation, languid jazz trumpet (leading the melancholic "Love Theme From Klute"), and acid rock guitar are all elements of this soundtrack, though what's most common to most of the twenty nine Klute cues indexed here (48'51" total time) is a shivery combination of eerie tinkling piano, sudden skittery percussion, and breathy, whispery wordless female vocals, the latter performed by singer Sally Stevens, who was also heard that same year on Lalo Schifrin's soundtrack to Dirty Harry. Those moody cuts, like "On The Roof", "Moonwall", and "Bree Followed On Street", are both quite lovely and downright creepy... play this alone late at night and we know you'll be checking to see if your doors are locked!
If you've never seen Klute, by all means do so, it's a great movie, with Fonda's performance in particular quite impressive. But whether you've seen the movie or not, the soundtrack is one of those that can be enjoyed by itself, apart from the story and visuals.
It's paired here on this two-on-one disc with the soundtrack for 1976 Watergate drama All The President's Men, composed by the great David Shire (The Conversation, The Taking Of Pelham 1-2-3). Naturally, it's also pretty good! The movie ties in with Klute as another example of paranoid seventies thriller cinema, and also shares the same director. Its soundtrack, while not quite as idiosyncratically striking as that of Klute, is certainly cool to have on this disc, offering 30 more minutes (24 tracks) of suspenseful sounds... And while not as "sexy" in subject matter as Klute, we'll note that All The Presidents Men, both film and book, contains a prime example of the cultural mainstreaming of porn in America, with "Deep Throat" famously being used as the code name for the Woodward and Bernstein's mysterious White House informant.
The label, Film Score Monthly, does their usual exceedingly expert job in presenting these two soundtracks, the extensive notes in the thick, full color illustrated cd booklet providing commentary well versed in both music theory and cinematic history. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: KLUTE "Main Title"
MPEG Stream: KLUTE "Casting Office"
MPEG Stream: KLUTE "First Disco"
MPEG Stream: KLUTE "Bree Followed On Street"
MPEG Stream: ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN "To Deep Throat I"
MPEG Stream: ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN "CREEP Sequence I"

LES RALLIZES DENUDES Great White Wonder (Phoenix) 4cd 62.00
Every time we come across a new Les Rallizes Denudes reissue, not only are we absolutely thrilled, cuz we're sort of WAY obsessed, as are many of you we're discovering, we just can't get enough of these Japanese underground legends' crazed guitar-heavy freaked out, in-the-red psychedelia, but we also begin to marvel that there even IS another Rallizes release. After all, these guys only ever had ONE single proper release, and spent very little time in the studio, so pretty much every other record is a collection of live performances, some recorded straight through, others collaged into 'proper' records, but hell, we're not complaining, these guys sound like they were made for tearing it up live. And the varying sound quality, only adds to the whole freaked out-ness, the sound crumbling, or the levels peaking and the whole band seeming to disappear in a cloud of muted buzz, before emerging and exploding into another frantic bout of wild tangled leads, or some chugging proto-metal psychedelic blues.
Great White Wonder was originally released in 2006 on the Univive label, and now it's now been reissued with a whole extra disc, the now 4cd set compiling, yep, a handful of live shows from 1974 to 1980, with lots of the same song performed at each, but in true Les Rallizes fashion, you'd never know, in fact sometimes we think the titles were just a formality, the same song will be 9 minutes on performance, 5 the next, 6 the next, super loose and high end and chaotic one performance, dark and muddy and riffy the next, murky and heavily reverbed and way more rocking the next, but that's kind of what's so magical about these guys, and what keeps most of us complaining about the inevitable overlap, cuz it all sounds so good, and it always sounds different, the arrangement, the sound quality, the tone and timbre, and listening to these 4 discs, if you edited out the breaks and between song spaces, it's easy to imagine this would flow pretty excellently as a nearly four hour super jam. And it is pretty divine, these guys are the undisputed masters, slipping from brooding, and soulful crooned balladic blues, the guitar leads super emotional and soaring and epic, to wild and loose and chaotic, the guitars impossibly frantic and furious and freaked out, the sound easily shifting between the two, a moody crooned verse will explode into freaked out psychedelic frenzy, an endless heart-of-the-sun jam will slip smoothly into a loping bit of midtempo brood. And with Les Rallizes, it's totally about the jam, sure there are songs, and there is singing, but most songs eventually (d)evolve into something much more transcendent, total epic majestic psych rock nirvana.
Fans of all things PSF, modern Japanese Psychedelia, and newer psych rock like the Heads and White Hills, odds are you're already as obsessed with these guys as we are. If you're not, well, give the sound samples a listen and try and see if you can resist...
Four cds housed in cardboard wallet style sleeves, all housed in a nice printed box, with extensive and detailed liner notes. And FYI, an eventual (and expensive) vinyl version is on the horizon as well.
MPEG Stream: "Field Of Artificial Flower"
MPEG Stream: "The Last One"
MPEG Stream: "Deeper Than The Night"
MPEG Stream: "White Waking"

LOW ANTHEM, THE Smart Flesh (Nonesuch) cd 12.98
After discovering these guys via a cd sampler in a magazine of all places, we quickly became pretty obsessed, their last record, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, becoming a fast favorite. Their sound dark, and melancholy, a sort of twangy slowcore, a moody countrified folk, the instrumentation spare, yet lush, the vocals incredible, the songs pretty much perfect.
For their new record, the group gathered in an old abandoned pasta factory, in a massive space, all wood floors and huge windows, and expanded their already expansive sonic palette, the usual rock instruments augmented by clarinet, upright bass, trumpet, harmonium, violin, cello, electrified pump organ, flugelhorn, jaw harp, trombone, re-amp, melodeon, banjo, wind chimes, omnichord, harmonica, crotales with sizzling coins (!) and flickering film (!!). Yet even with all those extra instruments, the sound remains skeletal and intimate, the band weaving softly swirling stretches of warm country shimmer, the album opener is a heart breaking mournful lament, the horns unfurling sweetly sorrowful melodies, over a dreamy balladic background, while "Apothecary Love" is more of a Dylan-y chunk of folk, rife with slippery slide, but the band do let loose, and do make full use of the increased complement of sound making devices on "Boeing 737", which sounds like Neutral Milk Hotel or Arcade Fire via Uncle Tupelo, rollicking and rocking, and epic, the sound lush and nearly orchestral, but right after, the band return to something much more minimal, a series of haunting dreamlike fuzzy twang flecked dreamfolk ballads, mostly just buzzing steel strings and vocals, the songs colored by wheezing organs and harmonicas, warbly harmoniums, lots of subtle, lush and layered buzz, the room sound too, an instrument of its own, wreathing the songs in a soft reverby haze. So lovely.
Definitely for fans of Vic Chesnutt, Jayhawks, Sparklehorse, Iron And Wine, Songs:Ohia and the like.
MPEG Stream: "Ghost Woman Blues"
MPEG Stream: "Apothecary Love"
MPEG Stream: "Love And Altar"
MPEG Stream: "Smart Flesh"

LOW ANTHEM, THE Smart Flesh (Nonesuch) lp 22.00
After discovering these guys via a cd sampler in a magazine of all places, we quickly became pretty obsessed, their last record, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, becoming a fast favorite. Their sound dark, and melancholy, a sort of twangy slowcore, a moody countrified folk, the instrumentation spare, yet lush, the vocals incredible, the songs pretty much perfect.
For their new record, the group gathered in an old abandoned pasta factory, in a massive space, all wood floors and huge windows, and expanded their already expansive sonic palette, the usual rock instruments augmented by clarinet, upright bass, trumpet, harmonium, violin, cello, electrified pump organ, flugelhorn, jaw harp, trombone, re-amp, melodeon, banjo, wind chimes, omnichord, harmonica, crotales with sizzling coins (!) and flickering film (!!). Yet even with all those extra instruments, the sound remains skeletal and intimate, the band weaving softly swirling stretches of warm country shimmer, the album opener is a heart breaking mournful lament, the horns unfurling sweetly sorrowful melodies, over a dreamy balladic background, while "Apothecary Love" is more of a Dylan-y chunk of folk, rife with slippery slide, but the band do let loose, and do make full use of the increased complement of sound making devices on "Boeing 737", which sounds like Neutral Milk Hotel or Arcade Fire via Uncle Tupelo, rollicking and rocking, and epic, the sound lush and nearly orchestral, but right after, the band return to something much more minimal, a series of haunting dreamlike fuzzy twang flecked dreamfolk ballads, mostly just buzzing steel strings and vocals, the songs colored by wheezing organs and harmonicas, warbly harmoniums, lots of subtle, lush and layered buzz, the room sound too, an instrument of its own, wreathing the songs in a soft reverby haze. So lovely.
Definitely for fans of Vic Chesnutt, Jayhawks, Sparklehorse, Iron And Wine, Songs:Ohia and the like.
MPEG Stream: "Ghost Woman Blues"
MPEG Stream: "Apothecary Love"
MPEG Stream: "Love And Altar"
MPEG Stream: "Smart Flesh"

MALACHAI Return To The Ugly Side (Double Six / Domino) cd 14.98
Last year's Ugly Side Of Love, the debut from UK sampledelic duo Malachai, was a surprise hit around here, we loved it from the second we first heard it, we just didn't realize HOW much. We ended up playing it to death, and it ranked as one of our favorites of the year, so much so that we found ourselves lamenting the fact that we didn't make it a Record Of The Week. Which it no doubt should have been, a dizzying assemblage of samples and proper instruments, woven into what sounded like some some lost seventies retro rock, proto metal, fuzzy, groovy, heavy psych jam, and barring some little bits of obviously electronic filigree, it totally could have been.
So we were super psyched to discover a new record, and while on first listen, it doesn't sound -quite- as catchy as their debut, the more we listen, the better it gets, and we're pretty sure we'll find ourselves obsessed and kicking ourselves all over again. But whatever, just don't sleep on this, so fuzzy, and heavy and groovy and goddamn good. And strange. Simultaneously warm and familiar, but also like nothing you've heard, from the super cinematic opener "Monster", a string heavy bit of dramatic ambience, with big skittery beats, and a gorgeous soaring orchestral outro, which leads directly into a heavy shuffling drum beat, laced with some hazy guitar buzz, some swirling atmospheric shimmer, and then some reverby vox, the sound again some impossible hybrid of then and now, past and present, sixties psych wrapped around looped beats, and wreathed in shimmery effects.
"Mid Antarctica (Wearin' Sandals)" is super heavy proto metal buzz, the riffs epic, the organs whirring, the bass thick, the beats big, a sort of hip hoppy groove underpinning some serious psych fuzz, occasionally breaking down into ethereal drift, but always lumbering right back into some thick churning heaviness. "Rainbows" is all hazy and reverby and echoey, with gorgeous boy girl vox, the strums muted and washed out, everything wreathed in a patina of soft focus shimmer, and so it goes, the record shifting and transforming, from hushed balladic drift, to shuffling sunshiney hippie folk, to buzzy druggy groove, to piano driven super dramatic creep, to what might be our other favorite track, "Monster" which sounds like DJ Shadow, if he were raised on sixties psych as well as hip hop, epic and bombastic, moody and broody and so good. And it just keeps getting better. The sort of 'psychedelic sixties Entroducing' vibe becomes more pronounced as the record progresses, finishing off with the twangy, woozy buzz drenched strum and shuffle of the closer "Hybernation", pepper with some unlikely boomin' system low rider bass, and yeah, we're kicking ourselves now for not making this Record Of The Week, so just figure this is an UNofficial ROTW, which means this is about as recommended as it gets...
MPEG Stream: "Monsters"
MPEG Stream: "(My) Ambulance"
MPEG Stream: "Anne"
MPEG Stream: "Let 'Em Fall"

MARTIAL CANTEREL You Today (Wierd) cd 11.98
While there are some fantastic labels crate digging for those awesomely obscure synth-wave / post-punk reissues, there's something to be said for Wierd Records in championing some of the best current practitioners of retrogarde cold-wave. It seems that at every step of Wierd's brief history, there has also been the sounds of Sean McBride, whether that be from his work in the exceptional Xeno & Oaklander or the sporadic tracks released with Three To Forgotten or his solo work as Martial Canterel. These dark-eyed synth-pop projects all share a lot of similarities in their modern romantic poetry working through the urgent marches of interwoven arpeggiation, flanging tone, spectral synth flourishes, and propulsive drum machines; and McBride's vocals carry an affected delivery with British inflections. McBride is quick to point toward his impressive collection of vintage synths and sequencers, speaking of the craftsmanship required to master these instruments. There is self-awareness of the irony in such a statement, given that so many of the great electronic bands had been accused of being less than human through their use of electronics, and McBride wholeheartedly embraces his role as a fetishist and an archivist, presenting all of his arrangements with a flawless reclamation of a forgotten future. As such, all of McBride's productions look toward the classic early new wave works of Human League, OMD, and Depeche Mode, with You Today nestling very comfortably amongst all of those references of old.
MPEG Stream: "Secret Store"
MPEG Stream: "Some Days"
MPEG Stream: "The Empty Sand"

MARTIAL CANTEREL You Today (Wierd) lp 16.98
While there are some fantastic labels crate digging for those awesomely obscure synth-wave / post-punk reissues, there's something to be said for Wierd Records in championing some of the best current practitioners of retrogarde cold-wave. It seems that at every step of Wierd's brief history, there has also been the sounds of Sean McBride, whether that be from his work in the exceptional Xeno & Oaklander or the sporadic tracks released with Three To Forgotten or his solo work as Martial Canterel. These dark-eyed synth-pop projects all share a lot of similarities in their modern romantic poetry working through the urgent marches of interwoven arpeggiation, flanging tone, spectral synth flourishes, and propulsive drum machines; and McBride's vocals carry an affected delivery with British inflections. McBride is quick to point toward his impressive collection of vintage synths and sequencers, speaking of the craftsmanship required to master these instruments. There is self-awareness of the irony in such a statement, given that so many of the great electronic bands had been accused of being less than human through their use of electronics, and McBride wholeheartedly embraces his role as a fetishist and an archivist, presenting all of his arrangements with a flawless reclamation of a forgotten future. As such, all of McBride's productions look toward the classic early new wave works of Human League, OMD, and Depeche Mode, with You Today nestling very comfortably amongst all of those references of old.
MPEG Stream: "Secret Store"
MPEG Stream: "Some Days"
MPEG Stream: "The Empty Sand"

MOGWAI Rano Pano (Sub Pop) 7" 4.98
We usually avoid online discussions about the death of the record industry, the rise of the mp3, and all that sort of stuff. We run a record store. We have no illusions about the industry, or the musical landscape. We all have iPods, and we all listen to mp3s and we all download stuff, but the thing is, we love records, we love cds, tapes, but especially the 7". So we got sucked into a discussion about the irrelevance of the 7" single, or more specifically, how 7"s lack the subcultural force they did 15 years ago. And while that may in fact be true, they do still have a force, just maybe a sub-SUB-cultural force. They remain the format of choice for first releases, a cheap way to check out a band you've only heard about (not as cheap as a download, but infinitely more satisfying), we have a handful of customers who ONLY buy 7"s, and we have to say, our love of the single has not really waned over the years. We of course wish they were cheaper, but there's something about 2 songs and a little chunk of vinyl, done right, it's about as sublime as music gets.
Which leads us to this, the latest single from long running post rockers Mogwai, and a Sub Pop single to boot, which holds a special spot in many of our hearts, that black bar across the top, the font, the Sub Pop logo, definitely sending us right back to the classic days of the Sub Pop singles club, and our beloved singles from Mudhoney and Nirvana and Afghan Whigs and the Dwarves and we could go on and on and on. Mogwai's offering features one track from their brand new (and killer) full length Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, not an obvious single in the context of the record, but here on a 7", it definitely reveals itself as THEE perfect single, not at all typically Mogwai, more fuzzy and crunchy, with a swoonsome bassline, big distorted guitars, driving and intense, but still a bit jangly, with some cool warbly synth melodies mixed in.
The B side though, which is exclusive to this hear 7", is well worth the price of admission, this one DEFINITELY classic Mogwai, big drums, twangy moody guitars, very mathy, and post rocky, layered melodies and strange chords that sound almost a little like Sonic Youth or Blonde Redhead, the verses quiet, but only compared to the big crunchy crashing distorted drum heavy choruses, the bass getting even more thick and fuzzy, the sound epic and heavy and so good, managing to sound like Young Team era Mogwai, but at the same time, sounding fresh, and not at all out of step with their new, less obviously quiet-loud-quiet-loud sound. Super awesome. And yet another kick ass single. Furthering our belief that we'll never get over our love of these little chunks of vinyl.
Comes with a download code too!

MY DISCO Little joy (Temporary Residence Limited) lp 25.00
The first we'd heard from Australia's My Disco was on their split 7" with Young Widows, their track a killer slab of dour post punk noise rock, all lope and chug and minor key guitars, which is how Little Joy starts out, all clanging riffage, low slung bass, simple propulsive drumming, mantra like vocals, a bit like a dronier spacier Interpol maybe, their sound repetitive and cyclical, peppered with jagged shards of caustic guitar crunch. But it's on the second track, "Young", where the band's unique sound really gets to blossom, after another opening blast of minor key post rock, with cascading This Heat like guitars, and pounding motorik drumming, the band eventually slip into something way more rhythmic and sinewy and mesmerizing, sounding almost like a punk rock Necks, the band unfurling an epic sprawl of minimal hypnorock, the instrumentation super restrained, more about the rhythm, and the timbre, then the melody, the sound at once heavy, rhythmic and hypnotic, reminding us of a way more abstract Circle, locked tight, peppering the looped groove with little flurries of extra drumming, super subtle bits of melodic filigree, but for the most part holding the listener in thrall with their trancelike mastery of tension and NO release. Which is how the whole record plays out, a push and pull between more traditional sounding post punk jangle and clang, and totally mesmeringly minimal droned out repetition, either on their own would certainly be pleasing enough, but the two combined, create something much more that the sum of it's parts, the rare sort of record that should appeal as much to math rockers as post punkers, or to krautrockers as much as pop kids. So good.
(Not just on vinyl, cds coming back in soon...)
MPEG Stream: "Closer"
MPEG Stream: "Young"
MPEG Stream: "Turn"

NADJA Bodycage (Broken Spine ) cd 17.98
One of the better of Nadja's many great releases, been out of print for years, finally reissued on a new label! Here's what we said about the original Profound Lore version way back on list #241:
We have a friend who has become so obsessed with the work of Nadja and its mainman Aidan Baker, that he spends way more time than is healthy trolling the internet looking of long lost 7"s and rare out of print cd-r's. It's easy to see why though. Baker's sonic explorations are as mesmerizing as they are ominous. A truly unique musical voice in a suddenly way too crowded microniche. Call it doom. Or drone. Or dirge. Or better yet deathdoomdronedirge. It's a sound we can't get enough of, the logical extension of our obsession with the drone. And while we still love to drift off to the soft shimmer of a distant rumble, when you imbue a drone with more power, and more volume, and more wattage it becomes something new, a fearsome sonic beast, whether it's a subtly snarling growl of grit and grime, or a massive undulating wave of black hole fury, a drone possessed of power becomes a glorious thing to behold. And no one has as deft a hand with the drone than Baker, and Nadja is the ultimate drone via rock band. Beyond the ultra minimalism of SUNNO))), way prettier than the filthy dirges of Moss or Monarch, Nadja are almost like some indie slowcore band but lit from within by some otherworldy source. Every track is suffused with a warm rich glow that is almost blinding, but at the same time warm and inviting. It's heavy, sure, but it's more just plain beautiful. Like staring into the sun until your eyes start playing tricks on you. Imagine listening to a sound so loud, so bright, that the synapses in your brain misfire, and your ear scrambles to make sense of this sound, and in doing so, forges all kinds of unlikely connections, subtle melodic threads, paints a lush sonic portrait. Now imagine a music that was played to already sound like that, before it even got to you. Just imagine what your mind and your ears would do with a sound like that. Some sort of unreachable aural nirvana suddenly within reach. That's the music of Nadja. It's like watching a sunset slowed down so each subtle shimmer stretches out forever, each ray of sunlight is tangled up with another, writhing in sparkling glistening knots, slowly unraveling, stretching, into endless streaks of gorgeous muted color. Imagine Jesu, but dosed to the gills on Prozac, a shiny happy Godfleshian dirge, or a My Bloody Valentine riff looped and repeated forever, underpinned by some Can drum loop at 16 rpm, or a Teenage Filmstars 45 played at 33. This is epic ultradoom metal, but with the metal replaced by soft billowy clouds of fuzzy distortion, the howling fury twisted into dreamlike tranquility, the blasting beats pulled apart and sprinkled here and there like percussive raindrops. This is as soft and pretty as a dirge-y drone can get while still retaining its inherent doomic mass. Utter and absolute loveliness drenched in a thick patina of crushing heaviness. Impossible but perfect.
MPEG Stream: "Autosomal"
MPEG Stream: "Clinodactyl"

OH SEES, THE (OCS) Grave Blockers EP (Rock Is Hell) 2 x 7" 14.98
Got one final batch of these direct from the label, last copies we'll ever see, so one final chance to grab one of these, featuring some early recorded weirdness from Mr. John Dwyer, aka OCS, aka Thee Oh Sees, long before Thee Oh Sees became a proper band, when it was just Dwyer and his four track. Originally released as a super limited 6" vinyl / 3" cd set, first in a run of 51 copies, then a couple years later in a run of 52 copies, and now finally, this is available again in a slightly more copious pressing, now a double 7", one black vinyl, one a sort of watery cola colored vinyl, housed in a screen printed cardboard box with some really sweet original Dwyer artwork, and including a printed insert, each one hand numbered (420 copies total!).
And for those familiar with the Oh Sees, and more specifically, the older stuff (specifically, the rad double cd on tUMULt), the stuff here hews way closer to that all over the map, ramshackle, home recorded sound, this isn't sweaty sixties style garage pop, nope this is a dizzying collection of eclectic home brewed sounds, from soft abstract folk, to dreamy drones, to squalls of noisy weirdness, to twisted deconstructed pop, to drugged out experimental freakouts, all fractured damaged and wonderful and so so so good.

PAPERCUTS Do What You Will / Thoughts On Hell (Sub Pop) 7" 5.50
It's been so nice to see Papercuts really mature over the years. There was no doubt at their beginning that they had the ability to craft melt worthy indie rock, but as the years have passed their sound has only gotten more warm, layered and potent. As Papercuts now join their buddy and former label head, Andy Cabic (Vetiver) as the newest recruits for Sub Pop, it feels like just the perfect time for this shift to a higher profile. No doubt these two swoon worthy songs will get compared to Grizzly Bear and Beach House, but what makes us excited about Papercuts these days is that it really is starting to feel like they are discovering how to put their own unique stamp on such a satisfying sound. Can't wait for the Sub Pop full-length about to drop!

RAINBOW ARABIA Boys And Diamonds (Kompakt) cd 15.98
So cool to see Los Angeles duo Rainbow Arabia get a release on an awesome internationally respected label, and also cool that Kompakt seems to be really branching out and releasing an album that takes a serious sonic shift into a new direction for the label. We were immediately smitten with Rainbow Arabia from when we heard their first self released album and ep a few years back. Sadly, we were never able to get them into the store, but we were quite confident they would become a band that lots of people would be hearing about soon enough.
Their first bigtime release, Boys & Diamonds, does a great job of demonstrating how RA borrow from electronica, Bollywood, Congotronics, and so much more into a totally dizzying and seductive sound that is pretty much impossible not to get swept away by. This time out there's a bit more of a moody vibe to their sound which has us imagining Fever Ray remixed by Santo Gold or M.I.A. And the M.I.A. influence is definitely noticeable on much of Rainbow Arabia's output, but on Boys And Diamonds, they've really done an exceptional job of incorporating that influence into a heavy and dreamy blend of sounds and styles. So colorful and catchy, we're going to be blasting this one for months to come! Lp comes with cd of album as well.
MPEG Stream: "Boys And Diamonds"
MPEG Stream: "Hai"
MPEG Stream: "Nothin' Gonna Be Undone"

RAINBOW ARABIA Boys And Diamonds (Kompakt) lp+cd 16.98
So cool to see Los Angeles duo Rainbow Arabia get a release on an awesome internationally respected label, and also cool that Kompakt seems to be really branching out and releasing an album that takes a serious sonic shift into a new direction for the label. We were immediately smitten with Rainbow Arabia from when we heard their first self released album and ep a few years back. Sadly, we were never able to get them into the store, but we were quite confident they would become a band that lots of people would be hearing about soon enough.
Their first bigtime release, Boys & Diamonds, does a great job of demonstrating how RA borrow from electronica, Bollywood, Congotronics, and so much more into a totally dizzying and seductive sound that is pretty much impossible not to get swept away by. This time out there's a bit more of a moody vibe to their sound which has us imagining Fever Ray remixed by Santo Gold or M.I.A. And the M.I.A. influence is definitely noticeable on much of Rainbow Arabia's output, but on Boys And Diamonds, they've really done an exceptional job of incorporating that influence into a heavy and dreamy blend of sounds and styles. So colorful and catchy, we're going to be blasting this one for months to come! Lp comes with cd of album as well.
MPEG Stream: "Boys And Diamonds"
MPEG Stream: "Hai"
MPEG Stream: "Nothin' Gonna Be Undone"

RAMAMOORTHY, T.K. Fabulous Notes And Beats Of The Indian Carnatic-Jazz (Em Records) cd 22.00
What awesomeness has EM for us this time? The Japanese reissue label rarely lets us down, digging up only the most interesting and unusual gems from long ago and far away. Recently they've brought us the "modernized" Thai music of Son Of P.M., and the spiritual bamboo flute playing of T.R. Mahalingam. Like the latter, this release is also from India, and furthermore ostensibly in the Carnatic (Southern Indian classical music) tradition, as per its truly fabulous title... but liberally mixed with Western jazz! Pretty neat, since we've heard plenty of albums doing the "jazz raga" or "Indo-jazz" thing (Don Ellis, Alice Coltrane, Joe Harriott/John Mayer, Gabor Szabo, etc.) but those are all by Western musicians looking to the East for inspiration, not the other way around. Whereas what we have here is a bit different in origin.
This album, from 1969, is an utterly gorgeous set of exotic, melodic Indo-jazz fusion masterminded by one T. K. Ramamoorthy, a prolific film composer and director. According to EM, it's the first recorded instance where serious Indian musicians delved into jazz territory, juxtaposing traditional Indian instruments and musical structures with those from jazz tradition too. Improvisation being a significant element of both styles, it was doubtless an interesting and exciting session for these musicians. It certainly is for the listener.
There's ten tracks here, and listening it's fascinating how it seems to subtly shift from the Indian and "exotic" to more familiar feeling jazz sounds, depending on what you listen for. The drummer lets loose on the traps one moment, while the zing of the strings of a sitar is heard at another, and it all works together so pleasingly, for fans of both Bollywood and Brubeck. Quite wonderful!
MPEG Stream: "Gowla"
MPEG Stream: "Ranjani"
MPEG Stream: "Rasikapriya"

RAMAMOORTHY, T.K. Fabulous Notes And Beats Of The Indian Carnatic-Jazz (Em Records) lp 29.00
What awesomeness has EM for us this time? The Japanese reissue label rarely lets us down, digging up only the most interesting and unusual gems from long ago and far away. Recently they've brought us the "modernized" Thai music of Son Of P.M., and the spiritual bamboo flute playing of T.R. Mahalingam. Like the latter, this release is also from India, and furthermore ostensibly in the Carnatic (Southern Indian classical music) tradition, as per its truly fabulous title... but liberally mixed with Western jazz! Pretty neat, since we've heard plenty of albums doing the "jazz raga" or "Indo-jazz" thing (Don Ellis, Alice Coltrane, Joe Harriott/John Mayer, Gabor Szabo, etc.) but those are all by Western musicians looking to the East for inspiration, not the other way around. Whereas what we have here is a bit different in origin.
This album, from 1969, is an utterly gorgeous set of exotic, melodic Indo-jazz fusion masterminded by one T. K. Ramamoorthy, a prolific film composer and director. According to EM, it's the first recorded instance where serious Indian musicians delved into jazz territory, juxtaposing traditional Indian instruments and musical structures with those from jazz tradition too. Improvisation being a significant element of both styles, it was doubtless an interesting and exciting session for these musicians. It certainly is for the listener.
There's ten tracks here, and listening it's fascinating how it seems to subtly shift from the Indian and "exotic" to more familiar feeling jazz sounds, depending on what you listen for. The drummer lets loose on the traps one moment, while the zing of the strings of a sitar is heard at another, and it all works together so pleasingly, for fans of both Bollywood and Brubeck. Quite wonderful!
MPEG Stream: "Gowla"
MPEG Stream: "Ranjani"
MPEG Stream: "Rasikapriya"

ROBE. Night Terror (Waves Of Decay) 2 x cassette 10.98
Two tapes, two hours, eleven tracks, a sprawling exploration of blackened sonic inner space from this masterful dronescaper, a collection of epic longform droned out drifts, gorgeous abstract fields of hushed grim ambience, the usual rumble and whir and buzz laced with what sound like horns: trumpets, trombone, who knows exactly what, but they lend a mournful, melancholy vibe to the already dark and dismally dreamlike proceedings. As does the tinkle of keyboards, barely there, the melodies ghostlike, field recordings drift in and out as well, the sound of children, or are those birds? Hard to say, as they are deftly woven into the undulating tapestry of mysterious minimal blackness. Those horns the only melody, dragging the rest of the black ambience along, a gorgeously depressive bit of funereal otherworldliness.
The sound shifts from aching abstract skeletal slowcore doomdrift, to brooding rumbling black ambience, to hushed barely there shimmer, the sounds swirling and shifting, sometimes muted and muddy, other times pulsing and throbbing, a very Tim Hecker vibe to much of this, everything faded and washed out, like some strange steampunky contraption that lets us view some alternative dystopian future, and this is the sound, the soundtrack to a land barren and bereft of life, of a planet purging and beginning again, the sound of living things withering and dying, of flesh melting from bones, of the sun dimming and the landscape turning gray with shadow and ash, a hazy, gauzy dreamlike drift into the unknowable, into the other, into nothingness. So dark and strange, murky and mysterious, weirdly and impossibly lovely...
Fantastic packaging, the two cassettes housed in a double wide tape case, with a silver on black silkscreened card stock insert, the whole thing sealed with a similarly silver and black silkscreened Japanese style obi.
LIMITED TO 70 COPIES!!! WE HAVE LESS THAN A DOZEN!!

ROOT The Revelation (Nuclear War Now!!!) cd 9.98
For years now we've been singing the praises of these weirdo Czech black metallers, fronted by the enigmatic Big Boss, a big guy with some crazy evil panda face make up and a super unique bellow. Their sound, at least in the beginning, raw and grim like classic Hellhammer and Celtic Frost, but often slowed down, more midtempo, lumbering and lurching, sometimes blasting chaotically, but more often than not, fantastically plodding, the guitars super raw, the sound lo-fi, but perfectly suited to Root occultic and cult-y sounding metal, and the truly strange vocals of Big Boss just sealing the deal, from froglike croak, to demonic croak, to raspy croon, to multitracked, almost Butthole Surfers sounding alien drawl, there's just something so mysterious and magical about these guys. Easily one of our all time favorites.
Revelation, originally recorded in 1990, is a re-recording of their Zjevni debut, with all the lyrics redone in English. And while it's been 20+ years, The Revelation still sounds just as good, and haunting, and heavy as ever. Sure it's black metal, but this is more old school classic metal, with black elements. It's more witchy and doomy and creepy and atmospheric and dirgey, which only makes the fast bits sound that much more fast, the chugging guitars and way-up-in-the-mix double kick drumming. And all the heavy parts are balanced by the multiple song intros, acoustic guitars, analog synths, weird bits of percussion, swirling atmospheres, Big Boss's strange almost liturgical sounding spoken word, each intro a little mysterious sonic ritual designed to evoke some ancient atmosphere, perfect to conjure up the next blast of stumbling buzz drenched blackness. Totally cult and totally genius.
Includes new liner notes...
MPEG Stream: "The Revelation"
MPEG Stream: "Aralyon"
MPEG Stream: "Song For Satan"

SCANTILY CLAD 3 (self-released) cd-r 9.98
The bedroom synth-rockers of Scantily Clad return with their third home-brewed communique. And as always, they deliver the lo-fi/sci-fi goods with tracks that teeter from distorted cosmic rock instrumentals to moody cinematic soundscapes.
They often pack a lot of ideas into short songs that only add to their listenability. White Noise and other fucked-up and broken electronic textures are painted on over prettily composed pieces that add a noirish sublime element to the proceedings, like lullabies for powered-down robots before they retire to obsolescence. Packaged in a homemade gatefold digipack with their usual xerox copy art inserts.
Limited to 99 copies, these most likely won't last for long. Their other two releases went out of print in a flash, so don't wait too long!
MPEG Stream: "Imaginary Wisdom Teeth"
MPEG Stream: "Fuzzy Stomach Again"
MPEG Stream: "Cromagnon Tape Forage"

SEEFEEL s/t (Warp) cd 16.98
It's been nearly 15 years since we last heard from seminal electronic shoegazers Seefeel, and nearly 18 years since their breathtaking debut Qique. During the nineties, few could touch Seefeel, their sound a glorious mash up of Stereolab, My Bloody Valentine, Autechre and Aphex Twin, warm and hypnotic, dubby and drifty, programmed beats, and swirling psychedelic textures, lush minimal female vox, industrial buzz, glitchy electronics, austere atmospheres, haunting and mysterious and otherworldly, a sound that today still sounds fresh and original and miles beyond most modern electronic outfits.
We had no idea what to expect, after such a long absence, and without Mark Van Hoen, who went on to do Locust (not THE Locust) after Seefeel. Obviously we would have loved another Qique, but at the same time, it would have been rather anticlimactic to wait all that time for more of the same, especially when we have a legion of groups doing their best Seefeel already. So it seems, the band have returned with a whole new sound, and while not ditching their old sound, it is a pretty drastic shift, right from the start, a thick, gristly bit of tangled glitch and spacey effects, giving way to a spare robotic beat, laced with distorted shards of melody, a strangely stuttery, crunchy, aggressive chunk of abstract, electrophunk, underpinned by a warm fluid bassline, and some softly swirling chordal swells, some ethereal vox, the sound gradually gaining cohesion, blossoming into a fantastically hypnotic, softly psychedelic bit of stuttery shoegaze glitch. After a brief bit of electronic buzz and shimmer, comes the record's single, released as a 10" a few months back, hazy female vox, over another super minimal beat, wrapped around some deep low end warble, all wreathed in a halo of electronic crackle, a strange alien groove, subtly warped and warbly, laced with sun dappled streaks of melody, the group once again creating their own sort of electronic shoegaze, something at once beholden to the sound they pioneered, and simultaneously sounding fresh and new, and very little like anything else.
Sci-fi lazer blasts drift over tinkling melodies and video game bleeps and bloops, thick washed out swirls of prismatic shimmer whirl around shuffling industrial rhythms, waves of warm guitar wash over skeletal beats, chiming glimmering melodies rain down like sunflakes glistening in winter sunlight, dubsteppy bass warbles wrap around jagged synths and breathy dreampop vox, the sounds crunchy and glitchy, warm and whirring, lush and layered, ever shifting soundscapes of fragmented pop and fractured abstract electronica, of fuzzed out psychedelic shoegaze, and downtempo dreamlike drift, a gorgeous collection of fantastically ethereal, ephemeral, buzzy electro bliss. Incredible.
MPEG Stream: "Dead Guitars"
MPEG Stream: "Faults"
MPEG Stream: "Rip-Run"

SEEFEEL s/t (Warp) lp 24.00
It's been nearly 15 years since we last heard from seminal electronic shoegazers Seefeel, and nearly 18 years since their breathtaking debut Qique. During the nineties, few could touch Seefeel, their sound a glorious mash up of Stereolab, My Bloody Valentine, Autechre and Aphex Twin, warm and hypnotic, dubby and drifty, programmed beats, and swirling psychedelic textures, lush minimal female vox, industrial buzz, glitchy electronics, austere atmospheres, haunting and mysterious and otherworldly, a sound that today still sounds fresh and original and miles beyond most modern electronic outfits.
We had no idea what to expect, after such a long absence, and without Mark Van Hoen, who went on to do Locust (not THE Locust) after Seefeel. Obviously we would have loved another Qique, but at the same time, it would have been rather anticlimactic to wait all that time for more of the same, especially when we have a legion of groups doing their best Seefeel already. So it seems, the band have returned with a whole new sound, and while not ditching their old sound, it is a pretty drastic shift, right from the start, a thick, gristly bit of tangled glitch and spacey effects, giving way to a spare robotic beat, laced with distorted shards of melody, a strangely stuttery, crunchy, aggressive chunk of abstract, electrophunk, underpinned by a warm fluid bassline, and some softly swirling chordal swells, some ethereal vox, the sound gradually gaining cohesion, blossoming into a fantastically hypnotic, softly psychedelic bit of stuttery shoegaze glitch. After a brief bit of electronic buzz and shimmer, comes the record's single, released as a 10" a few months back, hazy female vox, over another super minimal beat, wrapped around some deep low end warble, all wreathed in a halo of electronic crackle, a strange alien groove, subtly warped and warbly, laced with sun dappled streaks of melody, the group once again creating their own sort of electronic shoegaze, something at once beholden to the sound they pioneered, and simultaneously sounding fresh and new, and very little like anything else.
Sci-fi lazer blasts drift over tinkling melodies and video game bleeps and bloops, thick washed out swirls of prismatic shimmer whirl around shuffling industrial rhythms, waves of warm guitar wash over skeletal beats, chiming glimmering melodies rain down like sunflakes glistening in winter sunlight, dubsteppy bass warbles wrap around jagged synths and breathy dreampop vox, the sounds crunchy and glitchy, warm and whirring, lush and layered, ever shifting soundscapes of fragmented pop and fractured abstract electronica, of fuzzed out psychedelic shoegaze, and downtempo dreamlike drift, a gorgeous collection of fantastically ethereal, ephemeral, buzzy electro bliss. Incredible.
MPEG Stream: "Dead Guitars"
MPEG Stream: "Faults"
MPEG Stream: "Rip-Run"

SEGALL, TY Live In Aisle Five (Southpaw) lp 15.98
At this point we really don't need to go on and on about why we love Ty Segall so much. If you go back to all the records we've reviewed you'll get a sense of how much his raw, impassioned garage rock really moves us. With the release of his first proper live album, we can reflect on how lucky we are being right here in SF and getting so many chances to see him play, so this record is a chance for everyone else to hear what they've been missing...
Whether its a house party, a small club, or an impromptu jam, whenever Segall plays live he lays it all on the line. Being able to perfectly mix his impeccable guitar playing alongside unhinged spirit and sparks of kinetic energy.
Recorded live this past summer just down the street from aQ, at Amnesia, this is a perfect representation of the fierce power of the Ty Segall live experience. The set-list pulls from Ty's three albums as well as a brand new jam and a couple scuzzy covers of tracks by G.G. Allin and the Vibrators.
Limited to 1,000 copies, best to jump on this before its too late.

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE Alseep On The Floodplain (Drag City) lp 17.98
And lo, after several changes of the seasons, once again the musical mystic comes down from the mountain to play for the people his olden instrument of wood and wires. Meandering through meadows, pausing to serenade both man and beast, rock and flower with hushed blessings and blissful hummings. It's record number, what, 12 or 13 from Ben Chasny aka Six Organs Of Admittance. And the dust still chimes. This is the even brighter dawn after the luminous night.
Chasny is one of our very favorite practitioners of psych folk descended from the fringes of the Takoma tradition, American primitive meets Eastern acid, a la Basho and Bishop - Sir Richard being one of Chasny's compadres in Rangda, the fierce improv yang to this album's (mostly) gentle folky yin.
As befits its title, Asleep On The Floodplain is indeed a dreamy one, tickling with sweet tangles of strings (such as the acoustic guitar solo "Poppies"), shimmering with lovely drones (the harmonium laden "Brilliant Blue Sea Between Us"). With some tracks, like the album's intense side two epic "S/word And Leviathan" (over twelve minutes long) bringing all that together and more. It's esoteric, poetic in both inspiration and realization (there's post-graduate work to be done delving into the lyrical/conceptual side of these songs, instrumentals excluded, or not). Without such analysis, we know it's at least interesting, and more importantly emotive and evocative, whether Chasny is gently singing, or just caressing the strings. As always with Six Organs, we can surely say by now, recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Above A Desert I've Never Seen"
MPEG Stream: "Light Of The Light"
MPEG Stream: "S/word And Leviathan"

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE Asleep On The Floodplain (Drag City ) cd 14.98
And lo, after several changes of the seasons, once again the musical mystic comes down from the mountain to play for the people his olden instrument of wood and wires. Meandering through meadows, pausing to serenade both man and beast, rock and flower with hushed blessings and blissful hummings. It's record number, what, 12 or 13 from Ben Chasny aka Six Organs Of Admittance. And the dust still chimes. This is the even brighter dawn after the luminous night.
Chasny is one of our very favorite practitioners of psych folk descended from the fringes of the Takoma tradition, American primitive meets Eastern acid, a la Basho and Bishop - Sir Richard being one of Chasny's compadres in Rangda, the fierce improv yang to this album's (mostly) gentle folky yin.
As befits its title, Asleep On The Floodplain is indeed a dreamy one, tickling with sweet tangles of strings (such as the acoustic guitar solo "Poppies"), shimmering with lovely drones (the harmonium laden "Brilliant Blue Sea Between Us"). With some tracks, like the album's intense side two epic "S/word And Leviathan" (over twelve minutes long) bringing all that together and more. It's esoteric, poetic in both inspiration and realization (there's post-graduate work to be done delving into the lyrical/conceptual side of these songs, instrumentals excluded, or not). Without such analysis, we know it's at least interesting, and more importantly emotive and evocative, whether Chasny is gently singing, or just caressing the strings. As always with Six Organs, we can surely say by now, recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Above A Desert I've Never Seen"
MPEG Stream: "Light Of The Light"
MPEG Stream: "S/word And Leviathan"

SKIN GRAFT Cleveland Death Portrait (Waves Of Decay) cassette 8.98
Never heard of Skin Graft before (the band, not the label), but this one man noisemaker offers up some seriously and gloriously disturbing blackened noise, a sound that fits pretty comfortably alongside the others in this latest batch of grim black noisy heaviness from Waves Of Decay (Wicked King Wicker, Robe., Demonologists, Dreaded).
After along stretch of keening high end, tense and weirdly melodic, SG begins to introduce all manner of buzz and glitch and malfunctioning electronics, all bathed in reverb and delay, a strange bit of crunch and hiss and stutter laid over the siren like wail of the electronic bed. It manages to be both weirdly listenable, and sonically harrowing, some sort of soundtrack for the kind of movie most folks couldn't handle 5 minutes of, this is the sound of death, and derangement, and misery and something unknown in the dark, so tense and intense and pretty goddamn great.
The rest of the tape follows suit, SG laying down spare electronic glitchscapes, buzzing fields of black ambience, slipping deftly from hushed minimal drift to blown out ear shredding electrical storms, heaving avalanches of feedback soaked noise, to barely there bits of kosmische outer space transmission interference. Cool stuff.
Super sweet three color silkscreened, card stock insert, LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, we have a little handful of those...

SLUG GUTS Howlin' Gang (Sacred Bones) cd 13.98
With a name like Slug Guts, you might expect some ugly ultradoooooom from this band, but they express their misanthropy and disgust in another genre, as these punks Slug Guts are in fact Aussie underground garage rock wranglers, swampy and sinister in the grand tradition of Nick Cave & The Birthday Party, also sharing deviant DNA with the likes of Bird Blobs, King Snake Roost, Lubricated Goat, The Scientists, and other degenerate Down Under gutter crawlers of that ilk, from over the years...
We'd first heard 'em on their import-only debut Down On The Meat a couple years back, and are stoked that Sacred Bones have added them to their fine roster for this sophomore outing. Even if we hadn't heard of 'em before, the SB seal of approval (and the band name!) would have gotten us onboard.
Plus we love this sort of thing, being big fans of the bands mentioned above, so we're primed for Slug Guts' insidiously catchy caterwauling and late night, whiskey soaked dirgery. Perhaps not quite so noisy/nasty as Down On The Meat was, here Slug Guts show off their pop side, such as is, the record being a rollin' and tumblin', slow drunkard's stagger consisting of eerie guitar jangle, low-slung bass, and deep, drawled vocals, all bathed in loads of reverb, and menace. Opener "Howlin'" has a bit of a sinuous "Painted Black" vibe and indeed the entire album is cloaked in damnation and darkness.
MPEG Stream: "Howlin'"
MPEG Stream: "Cold Bones"
MPEG Stream: "Chrome Crucifix"

SLUG GUTS Howlin' Gang (Sacred Bones) lp 14.98
With a name like Slug Guts, you might expect some ugly ultradoooooom from this band, but they express their misanthropy and disgust in another genre, as these punks Slug Guts are in fact Aussie underground garage rock wranglers, swampy and sinister in the grand tradition of Nick Cave & The Birthday Party, also sharing deviant DNA with the likes of Bird Blobs, King Snake Roost, Lubricated Goat, The Scientists, and other degenerate Down Under gutter crawlers of that ilk, from over the years...
We'd first heard 'em on their import-only debut Down On The Meat a couple years back, and are stoked that Sacred Bones have added them to their fine roster for this sophomore outing. Even if we hadn't heard of 'em before, the SB seal of approval (and the band name!) would have gotten us onboard.
Plus we love this sort of thing, being big fans of the bands mentioned above, so we're primed for Slug Guts' insidiously catchy caterwauling and late night, whiskey soaked dirgery. Perhaps not quite so noisy/nasty as Down On The Meat was, here Slug Guts show off their pop side, such as is, the record being a rollin' and tumblin', slow drunkard's stagger consisting of eerie guitar jangle, low-slung bass, and deep, drawled vocals, all bathed in loads of reverb, and menace. Opener "Howlin'" has a bit of a sinuous "Painted Black" vibe and indeed the entire album is cloaked in damnation and darkness.
MPEG Stream: "Howlin'"
MPEG Stream: "Cold Bones"
MPEG Stream: "Chrome Crucifix"

SMITH, BESSIE Them's Graveyard Words (Monk) lp 21.00
Bessie Smith has earned immortality as The Empress Of The Blues, having been one of the first major musical superstars of the 1920s. Though the fact has been somewhat obscured over time, female singers like Smith and Ma Rainey were the first blues artists to gain widespread exposure, something that would change when Blind Lemon Jefferson hit the scene, but no one would deny this woman's supreme mastery of her craft which she honed throughout her life, from street busking to vaudeville and later stylistic shifts during the swing era. All of this was cut tragically short when Smith was killed in a car accident in 1937, but her status is secure.
The material here was all recorded in 1927, featuring Smith and pianist James P. Johnson on a few tracks and a number of ensemble pieces elsewhere. Whatever the instrumental situation was, Smith's voice cuts through everything as the focal point. Her booming voice is impossible to ignore and reaches almost unbelievable heights. And man was she LOUD! Once again, Italy's Monk label steers us in the right direction. Bravo!

SNAKE FLOWER 2 Memory Castle (Southpaw) 7" 6.98
What more can we say about Snake Flower 2's Mr. Matthew Melton, the man not only behind SF2 but the sonically similar Bare Wires, not to mention some killer solo records. The Oh Sees' John Dwyer is convinced Melton is the best songwriter in the underground garage rock scene, and perhaps beyond, and well, we're inclined to agreed. SF2's Renegade Daydream, still ranks as one of our all time faves, and the last Bare Wires is like the best chunk of classic sixties mod pop that the old Who never made. The sound here, like on other SF2 records, it total classic old school Yellow Pills style power pop. None of that lysergic weirdness, hypnogogic trippiness, lo-fi murk, or faux girl group reverby shimmer, instead, Melton and his crew just write some of the catchiest jangle pop songs around, and play them in a style, and with a sound, that manages to sound totally timeless.
Hooky, jangly, crunchy, short, sharp, urgent, some killer leads, simple drumming, jangly guitars, just total classic fuzzy garagey power pop. Lots of bands out there can make the SOUND, but few have the songs to back it up. SF2 most definitely does, and like all great singles, these 4 tracks just leave you wanting more more more...

SPACEMEN 3 Transparent Radiation (Fire) 12" 13.98
The Spacemen 3 vinyl reissue campaign continues, with the Glass Records eps now getting their due (though we're still waiting to get a hold of Take Me To The Other Side). Considering the amount of repetition in this band's catalog, many may be asking themselves whether or not they need another record with the same songs on it, and it may come down to just how obsessed you are... wait, scratch that, OF COURSE YOU NEED IT! It's awesome to have these eps available to us again individually (having been previously compiled together on cd via Taang! Records, and who knows, probably by someone else as well) because it lets you really get into the drugged out mindset of the band. Listening to these as they were intended, you can get a better idea of how Spacemen 3 established themes within their music. Rather than release mere 7" singles, they instead developed and reinterpreted certain songs on the 12" format. Which makes sense, as the band was in no rush to adhere to 3 minute pop songs if they weren't up to it. In fact, calling these "eps" is a little misleading, as the boys stretch things out to album lengths.
Transparent Radiation (last seen going for $600) is undoubtedly one of Spacemen 3's finest moments. Originally a herky jerky outsider jam by legendary Austin weirdos the Red Crayola, in the hands of Sonic and Jason the song became something undeniably greater, reaching unsurpassed heights of spiritually drugged out grandeur. If nothing else, the song is testament to the power of the electric guitar and human voice. And best of all, two versions of the song are included here, the first featuring the two singers sharing a ragged vocal harmony that sounds, well, like a couple guys trippin on some heavy shit but still holding things down like the experts they are. Next up is the complete version of "Ecstasy Symphony", which couldn't be more hypnotic with its strobing organ pulling you in deeper. No wonder they used this as their live intro. Following this is the definitive version of "Transparent Radiation" (appropriately enough, the "Flashback" version) which is so good we won't even bother trying to explain it.
Side 2 opens with the snarling "Things'll Never Be The Same", presented in complete unedited form, before going into a triumphant take on the Sun Ra / MC5 jam of "Starship", ending the record on a perfect note. Fuck yeah.

SPACEMEN 3 Walkin' With Jesus (Fire) 12" 13.98
The Spacemen 3 vinyl reissue campaign continues, with the Glass Records eps now getting their due (though we're still waiting to get a hold of Take Me To The Other Side). Considering the amount of repetition in this band's catalog, many may be asking themselves whether or not they need another record with the same songs on it, and it may come down to just how obsessed you are... wait, scratch that, OF COURSE YOU NEED IT! It's awesome to have these eps available to us again individually (having been previously compiled together on cd via Taang! Records, and who knows, probably by someone else as well) because it lets you really get into the drugged out mindset of the band. Listening to these as they were intended, you can get a better idea of how Spacemen 3 established themes within their music. Rather than release mere 7" singles, they instead developed and reinterpreted certain songs on the 12" format. Which makes sense, as the band was certainly in no rush to adhere to 3 minute pop songs if they weren't up to it. In fact, calling these "eps" is a little misleading, as the boys stretch things out to album lengths.
The Walkin' With Jesus ep kicks off with the song of the same name, which itself was an early title for the song "Sound Of Confusion", off the... uh... Sound Of Confusion ALBUM. Confusion, as we all know, being an integral part of the Spacemen 3 discography. Perhaps the most striking number here is the band's insane cover of the 13th Floor Elevator's famous ode to tripping balls-as-philosophy, "Rollercoaster". While a version of this song also appeared on Sound Of Confusion, the band's dissatisfaction with that take spurred the idea of recording the song live and stretching it out to a monolithic 17 minutes. Gotta say, the 13th Floor Elevators are a band that most band's simply shouldn't/can't cover, but Spacemen 3 earned themselves a pass, for obvious reasons, and in the end they make the song their own. Amazing. After your mind tries to piece together what the fuck just happened for 17 minutes, the mellow "Feel So Good" takes you down nice and easy. Best band (of this sort) of the '80s, no question.

SPARKLEHORSE Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot (Plain Recordings) lp + 7" 16.98
Last list we reviewed album number two from spacey folky indie rock outfit Sparklehorse, the amazing Good Morning Spider, recently reissued on vinyl, so this week, we're jumping back a few years to their incredible debut, 1995's tongue twisting Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, which even now, 16 years later, sounds as good as it did the first time we heard it. Everything we wanted indie rock to be, this was it, jangly and crunchy and fuzzy, hushed and delicate and intimate, the songs striking the perfect balance between slow singing-right-in-your-ear intimacy, rockin' summer sing-a-longs, lush ballads, twangy 'No Depression' pop and experimental musical miniatures, all infused with impossible catchiness, heart wrenching vulnerability, all just desperately beautiful.
From the delicate, wistful opener "Homecoming Queen", the mood is set, the vocals, hushed and about to crack, the music, spare and simple, but strangely lush at the same time, and in headphones, you can hear all sorts of strange barely there sonic weirdness in the background, the whole record is like that, one thing on the surface, with a whole other world just beneath.
"Weird Sisters" brings in the drums, the jangly guitar, but it's still dark, a little dour, but so catchy and hooky, and heartfelt. The whole record is just one perfect chunk of indie pop after another, "Rainmaker" is a crunchy chunk of twangy fuzz pop, with strangely effected vocals and big pounding drums, "Spirit Ditch" is another crystalline bit of strummy folky shimmer, the vocals crooned right into your ear. And so it goes, the record shifting easily between soft focus ballads and rollicking blasts of crunchy fuzzy pop, "Hammering The Cramps" with its pulsing guitars, and irresistible chorus, "Most Beautiful Widow In Town" a spare bit of breathtaking countryish strum, "Heart Of Darkness" is another dreamy bit of gauzy twang flecked soft pop, wreathed in warm slippery lap steel, and still more gorgeous vocals, then of course there's THE HIT, which was a hit for a reason, it kills, heavy, crunchy, jangly, big distorted guitars, awesome melodies, a crazy catchy main hook, dark and intense and moody, but totally rocking, with a chorus that will lodge in your head like crazy, and of course the production is strange and layered and only makes the song so much more than just a blast of kick ass indie rock.
The whole album is rife with sad, beautiful, weird moments of spacey rural folk-rock, dreamy arrangements, distorted vocals, and slivers of feedback which all add to Sparklehorse's down-to-earth melancholy and make Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot spontaneous, happy, sad, noisy, and quiet; like moments in life.
Like Good Morning Spider, absolutely essential for fans of Uncle Tupelo, Palace Brothers, Vic Chesnutt, Lambchop, Songs:Ohia, the Jayhawks, Neutral Milk Hotel and great pop in general.
This vinyl reissue includes a bonus 7-inch containing two bonus tracks: "Waiting For Nothing" and "Happy Place," plus a download card of the entire album.
MPEG Stream: "Homecoming Queen"
MPEG Stream: "Spirit Ditch"
MPEG Stream: "Hammering The Cramps"
MPEG Stream: "Heart Of Darkness"
MPEG Stream: "Someday I Will Treat You Good"

STATS Crowned (The Path Less Traveled) cd ep 5.98
Holy shit, does this RULE. This is the sort of stuff we LOVE, and miss, and wish more bands could still pull off. And these guys at least, most definitely can. Heavy, heady, intricate, proggy, instrumental old school style math rock, the bass thick and distorted and low slung and massive, the drums wild and pounding and octopoidal, the guitars crunchy and chuggy one second slithery and spidery the next, the songs constantly shifting gears, from gnarled and frenetic to spacious and epic, locking into super propulsive post rock churn, before slipping into weird tangles of melody and then back again. The band compare themselves to Keelhaul, Mahavishnu Orchestra and ALL, that last one seeming out of place until you actually hear these guys, they lace their chuggy churn and dense mathiness with super catchy little melodies that do in fact sound a little like ALL (or maybe the Descendents), although if we had to come up with some sonic references, it would probably look more like this: Don Caballero, June Of 44, Rodan, A Minor Forest, Bastro, Dazzling Killmen, Breadwinner, Crain, Rumah Sakit, yeah, you probably get an idea of what this stuff sounds like, but maybe just not how goddamn good it sounds, or how good these guys really are, check the sound samples, if it was 1995, these guys would be THEE band, catchy and heavy and hooky, with a massive Albini style production, it takes a lot to keep instrumental rock from being boring, but there's NOTHING boring about the 3 long songs on this disc, so tense and intense, intricate and complex, but not simply for complexity's sake, all the instruments busy as fuck, but not overplaying, instead, just a relentless and dizzying blast of hooky heaviness and majestic mathiness, another record we have been listening to nonstop since we got it in, and one we're probably gonna regret not making Record Of The Week... So totally great!
MPEG Stream: "Guthy Renker"
MPEG Stream: "From Before"

TELEKINESIS! 12 Desperate Straight Lines (Merge) cd 14.98
If you're not already crazy obsessed with Telekinesis! (and yeah, the exclamation mark is part of the name), listen to maybe a minute of "Dirty Thing", and we're guessing you're gonna be totally smitten. Totally perfect, hooky classic indie pop, lush, and hooky, and so goddamn good. If these guys happened 15 years ago, folks would probably be talking about them the same way they talk about Superchunk and Guided By Voices today. High praise for sure, but well deserved we think. Their debut from last year was easily one of our favorite records, the song "Coast Of Carolina" still on heavy rotation, the perfect mix of Neutral Milk Hotel, Apples In Stereo, Death Cab... just the perfect fuzzy summery pop jam, and the thing was, the record was overflowing with similar jams, as was the cdep that followed, which brings us to this one, and guess what? Yep, another record filled to the brim with still more perfect indie pop, hooky and fuzzy and jangly, but there have definitely been some changes, it's a bit less sunshiney, a little more moody, a subtle darkness wrapped around what on the surface seems like similarly sunny sounds, some more electronics, a little bit glossier, some cool weird studio tricks, but all woven into that Telekinesis! sound we so love. And if "Dirty Thing" isn't enough to convince you, try "Please Ask For Help", which infuses jangle pop with a little bit of new wavey gloom, or "50 Ways" that pairs bug crunchy distorted guitars, with hushed delicate heartfelt vocals, lilting melodies, and super emotional vocals, or "I Cannot Love You" which sounds like some sort of Pavement / Sebadoh hybrid, all bouncy bass, start stop arrangements, and another hook to die for, not to mention some proggy distorto guitars and weird effects, we could probably go track by track through the whole record, which speaks to how great ALL these songs are. Total mixtape manna, indie rock bliss, made for both soothing bitter breakups and for soundtracking hand holding dreamdates, like all the best indie rock. A new favorite for sure!
MPEG Stream: "You Turn Clear In The Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Please Ask For Help"
MPEG Stream: "Dirty Thing"

TELEKINESIS! 12 Desperate Straight Lines (Merge) lp 17.98
If you're not already crazy obsessed with Telekinesis! (and yeah, the exclamation mark is part of the name), listen to maybe a minute of "Dirty Thing", and we're guessing you're gonna be totally smitten. Totally perfect, hooky classic indie pop, lush, and hooky, and so goddamn good. If these guys happened 15 years ago, folks would probably be talking about them the same way they talk about Superchunk and Guided By Voices today. High praise for sure, but well deserved we think. Their debut from last year was easily one of our favorite records, the song "Coast Of Carolina" still on heavy rotation, the perfect mix of Neutral Milk Hotel, Apples In Stereo, Death Cab... just the perfect fuzzy summery pop jam, and the thing was, the record was overflowing with similar jams, as was the cdep that followed, which brings us to this one, and guess what? Yep, another record filled to the brim with still more perfect indie pop, hooky and fuzzy and jangly, but there have definitely been some changes, it's a bit less sunshiney, a little more moody, a subtle darkness wrapped around what on the surface seems like similarly sunny sounds, some more electronics, a little bit glossier, some cool weird studio tricks, but all woven into that Telekinesis! sound we so love. And if "Dirty Thing" isn't enough to convince you, try "Please Ask For Help", which infuses jangle pop with a little bit of new wavey gloom, or "50 Ways" that pairs bug crunchy distorted guitars, with hushed delicate heartfelt vocals, lilting melodies, and super emotional vocals, or "I Cannot Love You" which sounds like some sort of Pavement / Sebadoh hybrid, all bouncy bass, start stop arrangements, and another hook to die for, not to mention some proggy distorto guitars and weird effects, we could probably go track by track through the whole record, which speaks to how great ALL these songs are. Total mixtape manna, indie rock bliss, made for both soothing bitter breakups and for soundtracking hand holding dreamdates, like all the best indie rock. A new favorite for sure!
MPEG Stream: "You Turn Clear In The Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Please Ask For Help"
MPEG Stream: "Dirty Thing"

TOUCHABLE SOUND: A COLLECTION OF 7-INCH RECORDS FROM THE USA (Soundscreen Design) book 36.00
Album art books are a dime a dozen, but we have to admit, we love them ALL. From big books of classic Blue Note album covers, to weird collections of fucked up and freaky thrift store finds, old punk rock classics, even to imaginary record covers like Mingering Mike or the recent fake records covers book by Eye from the Boredoms. But this book. This one is really about the best one we've seen, and one that is absolutely essential for anyone whose spent the last 10, 20, even 30 years buying records. Sure some of the records collected here are obscure, but most of these are records you probably owned. Or still own. In fact, if we didn't know better, we'd think someone snuck into our house and made a book out of all our old singles. Which is why this is so cool. Lots of these are records we've been listening to for the last couple decades, some are singles we loved and lost, others are ones we always wished we had. But the focus is most definitely on the indie/punk underground. All the usual suspects, Simple Machines, AmRep, Teenbeat, Independent Project, Sub Pop... And the bands, from Deerhoof to Caroliner, Unrest to Floor, Stereolab to The Melvins, Modest Mouse to The Halo Benders, Bratmobile to Heroin, Indian Summer to Mohinder, The Orchid to Black Dice, The Olivia Tremor Control to Polvo, Hood to Tar, Prisonshake to Joan Of Arc, Shellac to Los Crudos, Lync to Jessamine, Supergrass to Sunny Day Real Estate, Slayer to Fugazi...
All the singles gorgeously photographed, spread out to really focus on the packaging, inside and out, with lots of information, about who put it out, and how they were made. So cool.
And as if that weren't enough, the book is peppered with random different sized inserted pages with different liner notes, reflections, reproductions of various inserts (like an old Sub Pop Singles Club sign up), there's a Q+A with Sam McPheeters (Born Against, Men's Recovery Project, Vermiform Records), contributions from Mike Simonetti (Troubleman) Henry Owings (Chunklet), Kristin Thompson (Simple Machines), Tom Hazelmyer (Amphetamine Reptile), Justin Pearson (The Locust) and loads more. The book is divided into region, with notes on each, a whole section for boxsets, and a whole section on Bay Area weirdos Caroliner, who deserve it what with their over the top handmade releases.
This is such a cool book. Definitely as a snapshot of the last few decades and a reminder of the importance the 7" single had on underground music, but it's also a testimonial to that classic and punkest of all formats, and the enduring power of the DIY aesthetic, of punk rock and indie rock, the look, the sound, and the spirit behind the music we love and love to listen to.
Absolutely essential for any and every music nerd you know. From the same folks who did the Higgs and Eye artbooks we've been reviewing these last few weeks.

ULTRAPHALLUS Sowberry Hagan (Riot Season) cd 17.98
Apparently full length number three from these Belgian experimental heavies, though the first thing we've heard from these guys, and it's kicking our asses big time, but then, really we shouldn't be surprised, hell, it's on Riot Season, home to Shit And Shine, Skull Defekts, Black Boned Angel, Aluk Todolo, Todd, Hey Colossus and loads of other aQ faves, and Ultraphallus fit right in, with their twisted avant doom and experimental sludge, a sort of twisted sprawling avant noise rock, that should most definitely appeal to fans of any or all of the above mentioned bands. The cool thing about Ultraphallus is that their sound is al over the place, when we were just cranking this in the store, someone thought it was Unearthly Trance, someone else though it was some nineties noise rock band, both of which could very well have been the case, instead it's a twisted, fucked up hybrid of the two, along with some creeping blackdrone ambience, some blown out ultra doom, some grinding blackened crust and whatever other fractured heaviness these guys can cook up.
The record swings wildly from black ambient noisescapery, thick clouds of swirling crumbling distorted sound, massive buzzing bass, and strange processed vox, to pounding almost Melvins-y sounding noise rock crush, heavy but hooky, with shrieked vox and some seriously catchy melodies, to mathy dirgey droned out doom, all downtuned riffage and pounding dirgey rhythms, to creepy swaggery swampy slither, sprawling and spacious, the vocals a croaked growl, the guitar sinewy, all laid over a grim black expanse of rumble and drift, to full on speaker shredding, crumbling blacknoise, to twisted free jazz drone sludge, squalls of skronking horns over clouds of cymbal sizzle and staticky hiss, to lumbering banjo (?!) flecked sludge pop, to experimental ambience, all layered drones and creepy atmospheres (with some wailed vocalizing by special guest Eugene from Oxbow), to one last jam, a haunting expanse of rumbling, shimmering dark dronemusic, laced with strange samples, stretched out into a hellish landscape of buzz and whir and creep and blur.
Awesome stuff, and most definitely a worthy addition to Riot Season's ever expanding roster of twisted and damaged heaviness.
MPEG Stream: "Pathological Freemind Verse"
MPEG Stream: "Right Models"
MPEG Stream: "River Jude"
MPEG Stream: "Indians Love Rain"

V/A Luk Thung : Classic & Obscure 78s From The Thai Countryside (Parlortone / Dust-to-Digital) lp 21.00
We recently went a little crazy for a compilation on Finders Keepers called Thai Dai, which was was more specifically, a collection of tracks from "The Heavier Side Of The Luk Thung Underground", Luk Thung being the 'country music' of Thailand, a form of pop song that is the voice of the rural community, of the disenfranchised, and thus is a powerful and important part of Thai culture, past and present. Unlike the Thai Dai collection, which explored the sound of Luk Thung tethered to heavier fuzzier rock, and a more Western sound, even going so far as to reinterpret songs by Chicago and Black Sabbath, the songs here are gathered up from obscure 78s, all from the sixties, none of them EVER available outside of Thailand before, offering a fantastic overview of the sound and the songs of the time. Sublime Frequencies and Mississippi records obsessives, anyone who loved the Molam: Thai Country Groove From Isan compilation (sadly now out of print), folks who dug the Excavated Shellac comp (also on Parlortone) odds are this is gonna hit the spot too, the sounds are lush and lovely, the vocals so emotional and distinctive, warm wheezing accordions, traditional hand drums, Latin style horns, the melodies so intoxicating, so distinctly Thai, Gamelan like rhythms, the sound percussive, and propulsive, groovy and funky, the arrangements intricate and complex complex, but still immediate, and intimate and heartfelt and joyous, even when singing about loss and struggle, the sounds seem infused with hope, joyful and exuberant.
Packaged in a gorgeous eye popping full color cover, with an extensive full color six page insert, with photos, reproductions of 78 labels, a history of Thailand, and the music and musicians featured on the compilation.

V/A Tradi-Mods Vs. Rockers (Crammed Discs) 2cd 16.98
Not sure why we had reservations about this to begin with, maybe we love the sound of Konono and Congotronics so much and hold it to an almost holy height that we were afraid of its bastardization. Luckily those fears couldn't have been more unfounded, as all the artists on this compilation, hand picked by Crammed Discs to do interpretations of various Congotronics bands like Konono No. 1 and Kasai Allstars, all do such a magnificent job of respecting the roots of the tracks they create, totally capturing the spirit of the originals while adding their own distinct flavor and vision. The track listing reads like a who's who of awesome indie music of the last several years: Animal Collective, Deerhoof, Juana Molina, Tussle, Glen Kotche, Sylvain Chauveau, Jolie Holland, Oneida, Shackleton, the Boredoms' Eye, etc.
Crammed did a really great job of curating this collection as the whole thing really flows perfectly from start to finish. Bringing you into the hypnotizing world of Congotronics through the eyes and ears of artists who have been deeply influenced by their incredible sounds.
MPEG Stream: DEERHOOF VS KASAI ALLSTARS "Travels Broaden The Mind"
MPEG Stream: EYE VS KONONO N¡1 "Konono Wa Wa Wa (Rework)"
MPEG Stream: TUSSLE VS KONONO N¡1 "Soft Crush"
MPEG Stream: OPTIMO VS KONONO N¡1 "Wumbanzanga (Rework)"

WICKED KING WICKER The Destruction Ritual (Waves Of Decay) cassette 8.98
Latest grim black slab of droned out corrosive ultradoomscapery from this East Coast one man band, a nearly 40 minute, two sided, two tracked onslaught of crumbling distortion, pulsing roiling downtuned churn, slo-mo drone-psych riffage, blackened ambient crawl and howling glacial creep, falling somewhere between the all out blacknoise brutality of Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, and the blissed out ur-drone skree of Sunroof!.
The A side is a filthy, crusty monster, but the chug and crush and rumble is infused with thick layered swaths of high end fragmented melodies, siren like pulses, a swirling tangle over a roiling black undercurrent, the strangely melodic bent gives the otherwise harsh noise a strangely orchestral feel, epic and majestic and soaring and sweeping, but still brutal and suffocatingly punishing.
The flipside is much more minimal. Muted and muddy and murky, the guitars blurred into long grimy streaks of industrial whir, blown out and super distorted, but so washed out to be almost transformed completely into a subtly propulsive dronescape, buried in the mix are some actual riffs, even a bit of rhythmic heft, and vocals too, a monstrous barely audible demonic gargle, but all wrapped in a lo-fi haze of crackling, slowly decaying sonic filth. Totally epic and hellish doomdronedirge bliss.
Housed in a super sweet three color silkscreen cover, and LIMITED TO 200 COPIES, 75 which are red, those are the ones we have, and we don't have all that many...

WINTERBLUT Von Den Pflichten Schones Zu Vernichten (Nuclear War Now!) 2lp 21.00
Last year's killer full length from this twisted German black metal horde, now reissued on vinyl, as a super deluxe double lp, and since the original record was too long for a single lp, and too short to fill up all forus sides of a double lp, this reissue features four additional tracks, recorded in 2002, and never before available on vinyl. Pressed on nice heavy wax and housed in a super striking gatefold jacket, with photos and lyrics. Here's what we had to say about the record when we first reviewed the cd version last year:
For some reason, it seems to take Winterblut about 4 years to write and record a new record, at least that's the pattern we've observed over the course of all four full lengths, and the interesting thing too, is that within that huge span of time between each record, the sound of Winterblut changes dramatically, 1999's Der 6. Danach was a fierce chunk of blazing, blasting grim Nordic style blackness, while 2003's Grund: Gelenkkunst found the band utterly transformed into a twisted, convoluted SST meets Voivod sort of black prog, and then 2007's Das Aas Aller Dinge found Winterblut returning to more traditional black metal territory, but dragging some of those post rockisms and progginess with him. So here we are ANOTHER four years later, with Von Den Pflichten Schones Zu Vernichten, and again, things have definitely changed, although right off the bat, this still definitely sounds like Winterblut (Allan named that tune within about 30 seconds of hearing this for the first time without being told what it was!!), but the sound is much more raw, and primitive, and indeed grim, the opening, a lumbering atonal midtempo trudge, the guitars jagged and abrasive, the vocals a rasped croak, the riffs woozy and trancelike, eventually the song explodes in a frenzy of blasting blackness, only to slip back into warped dirgery, and that seems to be the new Winterblut sound, veering occasionally into bursts of black intensity, but spending most of its time at a wounded crawl, the Voivodness definitely rearing its head in those parts, sounding like Dimension Hatross at 16rpm, a sort of post prog Burzumic churn, a bit doomy, quite depressive, the riffs grim and frosty, the sound sharp and brittle, super atmospheric, the atonality and gnarled chordal shifts, giving the whole record a seriously creepy fucked up vibe, which sounds incredible and seriously twisted, and is making Von Den Pflichten Schones Zu Vernichten one of our new favorite black metal records, another killer chapter, in Winterblut's very slowly expanding catalogue of black buzz miserablism. So it seems we've got 4 more to revel in WB's immersive blackness, before it's time to check in again...
MPEG Stream: "Gewollte Gewalt"
MPEG Stream: "Unheil Uber Alles"
MPEG Stream: "Weltuntergangsmaschine"

WIZAR'D, THE Pathways Into Darkness (Barbarian Wrath) cd 14.98
Now on compact disc! We listed the Buried By Time And Dust vinyl version not long ago, at the time we'd had no luck getting the cd import, but now here it is, at last... here's what we said about it before, all we'd add, after listening to it lots more since then, is that there's a definite Manilla Road influence present in the vocals, and elsewhere, on this album that we should have mentioned before...
Our favorite apostrophe'd doomsters from Down Under return! With Pathways To Darkness, their second full-length, Tasmania's most Sabbathy DIY doommongers offer up a crude, yet catchy album that posers will doubtless despise. Normal folks will find the vocals too weird and nasal, the riffs too raw and remedial. But those that don't mind their doom a little damaged and psychedelic, ought to dig this wretched and rockin', emotional and eccentric, seven song opus. Less murky than some past recordings, this is, in fact, perhaps The Wizar'd at their poppiest. Seriously, slumberously.
There's lots for the True (and Truly Demented) Doom fan to love here... The slo-mo pop of "Living Dead". The melancholic triumph of "Rainbow's End". The almost gothic epic "Frankie's Dungeon". The tearful trudge of "Some Like It Dead". The spooky, droning Hammer Horror keyboards that herald "Disease From The East"... You gotta delve in, and revel in the sheer doominess of it all, that in its own outsider, down under way, retardedly rivals Electric Wizard, Reverend Bizarre, and Saint Vitus. Folks who enjoyed the recent, ridiculous, Sabbath-centric Furze might also find this to their liking as well.
By the way, there's been a few lineup changes for The Wizar'd since their previous album from 2008, with rhythm guitarist Sir Nun Piss having left the band, causing bassist Blackie The Crimson Heretic Of A Thousand Eyes to move over to guitar, alongside vocalist and lead guitarist Ol' Rusty Vintage Wizard Master, with Iron Tyrant on drums, and new bass recruit Tangerine Dream holding down the low end (of which there's plenty). Yes, those are their stage names, and aren't they great?! (Turns out Tangerine Dream is a girl, still neat she's called that though it it were a dude we'd be even more impressed.)
Ultimately, though, even with the obvious sense of humor such names convey, we suspect that any such frivolity on the part of the The Wizar'd is part of a "sad clown" scenario, y'know? This is DOOM to the core, in the truest sense. Feel it, folks.
MPEG Stream: " Pathways Into Darkness "
MPEG Stream: "Rainbow's End "
MPEG Stream: "Some Like It Dead "

WOODEN STAKE / BLIZARO split (Razorback) cd 10.98
Well, heck this is a no-brainer, gotta be stoked by this, considering that we highlighted Wooden Stake's debut ep Vampire Plague Exorcism last list, and made Blizaro's recent full-length City Of The Living Nightmare a Record Of The Week not long before that too! Obviously, eagerly awaited, so Hail Satan it's here already - the split release that sees these horror lovin' lunatics together on one cd with exclusive new material. First up, there's the deathly, doomed-out duo Wooden Stake, one of the heaviest and gnarliest of the current wave of female fronted "occult rock" acts a la Jex Thoth and The Devil's Blood; followed by (mostly) one-man band Blizaro, who continues to channel the sinister soundtracks of Italian giallo film through a psychedelic, DIY doom metal prism. Totaling five songs, 43 minutes (two tracks, 14'44" of Wooden Stake; three tracks, 27'53" of Blizaro) this disc is a delirious dose of underground doom weirdness indeed.
Wooden Stake gallop into view with "Death Reads The Black Tarot", Vanessa Nocera's witchy wail leading the charge, somberly supported by the rumbling riffage and bashing battery of Wayne Sarantopoulos (aka drummer Elektrokutioner, of Decrepitaph, Father Befouled, and Encoffination infamy, among others). Their other offering, "The Legend Of Blood Castle" is equally grim and gruesome, the Blood Castle practically coagulating around your ears as you listen to its legend...
Then the balance of the disc is given over to the bizarre progged-out rites of Blizaro, conducted via copious quantities of lumbering bass heavy trudge, psychotic vox, and psychedelic six string freakout. The tracks "Night Fumes" and "Edgar's Blood" are both about one half maniac metal chuggery, one half ominous church organ atmospheres, with a bit more melody on the metal side of the equation with regards to the latter. And then Blizaro winds things up with the calm yet creepy synth soundscape, "Final Escape/Zombie Feast", a Moog-laden mood piece. Nice!
Limited edition release, never to be repressed, FYI.
MPEG Stream: WOODEN STAKE "The Legend Of Blood Castle"
MPEG Stream: BLIZARO "Edgar's Blood"

XEX Group Xex (Dark Entries) lp 17.98
Xex was the experimental synthpop creation of three high-school misfits living in central New Jersey during the mid-'70s, having survived their teen years of suburban boredom with plenty of drugs and eye-opening excursions to New York. Liberated by the spirit of punk, this outfit - pseudonymously known as Waw Pierogi, Thumbalina Gugielmo, and Alex Zander (later joined by Jon-Boy Diode and David Anderson) - took up the task of infusing a smarty-pants cynicism to hyper-primitive arrangements on a small assortment of synths and drum machines. No guitars whatsoever, the sound of Xex is one of skewed melodicism and incessant repetition. This combined with a typically monotone vocal sensibility put Xex in the same synthpunk orbit as The Units and Crash Course In Science. It's a very American sound, to look back upon all of these records. In Europe, the new wave and synthpop was far more self-possessed, even amongst the DIY circles, but for a certain subset in the States, the nerds had become emboldened in punk to use science and math as a spasmodic, future-shock means for nihilist poetics and cathartic release - hence, Devo, Dark Day, Nervous Gender, the aforementioned Crash Course In Science, and Xex. With the exception of Primitive Calculators and Severed Heads in Australia, there's hardly a parallel anywhere else in the world to this synthpunk sound; and Xex were certainly exceptional at it.
Group Xex was the only record they released, although the band recorded a second album but never released it (unfortunately the tapes of that second album had deteriorated beyond repair). Self-released in 1980, the album was sold pretty much exclusively in Manhattan and North Jersey, with an edition of a 1000 copies disappearing quickly. The album did get a cd reish in 1995 after Tom Smith championed the record after discovering it in the vaults at WFMU. It's a very quizzical album of purposefully simple electronic tunes played upon whipcrack drum machines and minimally percolating synths matched by the alternatinge female and male vocals, which are always thin, reedy, and metallic. Thumbalina's girly vocals bounce through the motorik synthpop ditty "Fashion Hurts" whose singsonginess is immediately countered by the unwavering robotic monotone that Pierogi presents on the cybernetic "You Think", and the grim, paranoiac poetry on "SNGA" (which stands for Soviet Nerve Gas Attack).
Another great find from the always impressive Dark Entries label! Definitely for fans of Devo and the Units. Limited to 500 copies with a great looking new wave booklet with lyrics, a band history, and some amusing tidbits thrown in for good measure.

YOUNG PRISMS Friends For Now (Kanine) cd 13.98
The long awaited debut full length from Young Prisms, a youthful SF Mission District based quartet who kick out some of the raddest psychedelic shoegaze slacker jams we've heard in ages.
Thick clouds of swirling soft focus guitar noise and churning grinding muted crunch obscure drifty indecipherable vocals, spidery guitar melodies running throughout, propulsive indie jangle wreathed in reverb, shuffling drums, loads of effects, somewhere in this swirl of shifting sounds and layered lurk pretty little pop songs, but those pop songs drag along all manner of sonic detritus in their wake, transforming the group's stripped down garage pop into something much more grand, something that sounds like Sonic Youth crossed with My Bloody Valentine, but even more blissed out and ethereal, the vocals lilting and haunting sometimes give the songs a Blonde Redhead vibe, but way more chaotic and dreamily noise drenched, and still with enough jangle and crunch that they can still hang with the cool kids (Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, etc.), and while these guys are in fact pretty dang cool, they're also still outsiders, noisier, heavier, their sound more washed out and deliriously druggy, the songs, no matter how simple or stripped down in the beginning, seem to always blossom into explosive garage psych blowouts, huge billowing clouds of gauzy hazey buzz and thick clouds of psychdrone blissdrift blur. But never completely obscuring the jangle pop underneath, Which is what makes these guys so good. We dig big time!
MPEG Stream: "Friends For Now"
MPEG Stream: "If You Want To"
MPEG Stream: "Sugar"

YOUNG PRISMS Friends For Now (Kanine) lp 14.98
The long awaited debut full length from Young Prisms, a youthful SF Mission District based quartet who kick out some of the raddest psychedelic shoegaze slacker jams we've heard in ages.
Thick clouds of swirling soft focus guitar noise and churning grinding muted crunch obscure drifty indecipherable vocals, spidery guitar melodies running throughout, propulsive indie jangle wreathed in reverb, shuffling drums, loads of effects, somewhere in this swirl of shifting sounds and layered lurk pretty little pop songs, but those pop songs drag along all manner of sonic detritus in their wake, transforming the group's stripped down garage pop into something much more grand, something that sounds like Sonic Youth crossed with My Bloody Valentine, but even more blissed out and ethereal, the vocals lilting and haunting sometimes give the songs a Blonde Redhead vibe, but way more chaotic and dreamily noise drenched, and still with enough jangle and crunch that they can still hang with the cool kids (Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, etc.), and while these guys are in fact pretty dang cool, they're also still outsiders, noisier, heavier, their sound more washed out and deliriously druggy, the songs, no matter how simple or stripped down in the beginning, seem to always blossom into explosive garage psych blowouts, huge billowing clouds of gauzy hazey buzz and thick clouds of psychdrone blissdrift blur. But never completely obscuring the jangle pop underneath, Which is what makes these guys so good. We dig big time!
MPEG Stream: "Friends For Now"
MPEG Stream: "If You Want To"
MPEG Stream: "Sugar"

YUCK s/t (Fat Possum) cd 13.98
Hard to believe these guys (and gals) are British, cuz the music they make is pretty much a dead ringer for nineties college/indie rock. Which is not a complaint at all, that's a sound we love and miss like crazy, and most of the bands who try it, can sometimes capture the sound, but rarely have the songs to go with it, but Yuck, who are indeed British, and also crazy young, have both, from the keening Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse) like vocals, to the super distorted leads a la Dinosaur Jr., to the lo-fi ramshackle sound and impossibly hooky melodies of old Pavement, all woven into something new and simultaneously not that new at all.
"Georgia" here is their big hit, and it's easy to see why, a sort of Swirlies style bit of shoegazey indie pop jangle drift, the guitars warm and fuzzy, the female vox all reverby and murky, the sound distorted and lo-fi, plenty of tambourine, and bop bop boy background vocals, jangly and hooky and so catchy, a total summer jam if there ever was one. But folks who think maybe Yuck were a one trick pony / one hit wonder are in for a serious surprise, as the record opens with a song we think is even better than "Georgia", with its fuzzed out Dinosaur guitars, and melancholy melodies, not to mention some killer super melodic leads. There's also a low slung bass heavy verse, the vocals laid back and slackery, backed up by spidery guitars, and then the chorus, a gorgeously hook filled explosion of slightly twangy sunshiney fuzz pop bliss. "The Wall" is just as good, casting the current garage rock sound of folks like Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall as something much more early nineties college rock, and "Shook Down" is all sun dapped soft focus jangle pop, with acoustic guitars, heartfelt vox and chiming melodies.
The rest of the record plays out much like you'd expect, from the strummy almost Brit pop sounding "Suicide Policeman" to the buzzy distorto pop of "Holing Out", from the moody, hazy almost Mazzy Star sounding "Suck" to the distorto dirge pop of "Rubber", it may play out like a flashback to the good old days, but Yuck definitely make that sound all their own, somehow creating something fresh and new, from a sound we can never get tired of.
So good!
MPEG Stream: "Get Away"
MPEG Stream: "The Wall"
MPEG Stream: "Shook Down"

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CLOCKCLEANER Nevermind (Fan Death Records) lp 15.98
NOW ON VINYL! Especially nice since the cd version of this 2006 album has been out of print for a while.
A while back we went apeshit over some mysterious band of musical miscreants called the Violent Students, who made an unholy din like we hadn't heard since the glory days of the Butthole Surfers. Damaged and filthy and freaked out, a druggy chaotic punk sludge mess that just totally blew our minds. We recently discovered that some of those very same Students were doing time in the band Clockcleaner so we figured we oughta check them out as well, and so glad we did! For CC, the all out chaos has been reeled in a bit and while the result is less fractured and less completely unhinged, it's still pretty demented and manic, but way more song oriented with some KILLER riffs. When we first threw this one, the first thing we thought was the Cars meet Flipper. Which pretty much describes our dream band. But the more we listened the more we felt like we were slipping back in time, to that special moment, that only lasted a few years, where the Amphetamine Reptile label could do no wrong. Clockcleaner could easily have existed right there between the God Bullies, Halo Of Flies, Lubricated Goat, King Snake Roost and all the rest. The record starts off with some weirdly eighties metal riffing, like the intro to some Ratt song, before the whiney Jello like vocals kick in, and the whole thing lurches into action with plenty of Buttholes tribal pound, Jesus Lizard groove and a decade's (the nineties) worth of Amphetamine fueled fury. Plus some amazing song titles ("Missing Dick", "Gentle Swastika", "Interview With A Black Man", "Blood Driver") and some problematic poop smeared cover art, but they had us at the Cars meet Flipper!
MPEG Stream: "Interview With A Black Man"
MPEG Stream: "Missing Dick"

DISAPPEARS Guider (Kranky) lp 14.98
Now also in stock on vinyl!!
Record #2 from Chicago's murky psychlords Disappears. The sound here isn't so much a drastic departure from the band's previous Lux album as it is a logical extension (dig the similarly minimal artwork). While being tuneful and catchy, Disappears also come off as a bit tougher than many of their contemporaries, thanks in part to Brian Case's shouty monotone (in a good way) vocals and an overall... uh, "beefiness" that many bands of this ilk are seriously lacking. Guider wraps listeners in a warm blanket of analog fuzz with the pounding krauty rhythms and hella reverb that we can't get enough of. The band locks into a groove and takes you on a pleasantly rocking journey that you can also shake your ass and swagger to. Check it out!
MPEG Stream: "Superstition"
MPEG Stream: "Halo"

HAINO, KEIJI So, Black Is Myself (Alien8) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We'll keep this brief, as we only have but 3 copies to disperse (we actually acquired twice that number, but already sold some in the store)! So act fast, Haino fans, if your collection is lacking this long out of print 1997 release, bearing one of the most straightforward of the Tokyo psych shaman's poetic album titles, which are often much lengthier and more cryptic.
This disc contains one long track (67'31") of wavering, haunted drone, its meditative mystery eventually enhanced by rattling, rustling percussion, abstract Eastern string strum, and hoarse, mumbled chant (a far cry from Haino's usual anguished shrieks). Sparse and ceremonial sounding, this is the calm side of Keiji, not amped up and/or abrasive like some of his other releases. Like we said, it's out of print, a "warehouse find" we unearthed from an undisclosed location, and according to the internet it now sells for up to $60! While even the most devoted Haino fans here find that a bit insane, it's certainly worth the price we're charging... to at least, and unfortunately ultimately at most, three of you, we're sure.
MPEG Stream: "So, Black Is Myself [excerpt 1]"
MPEG Stream: "So, Black Is Myself [excerpt 2]"

MASERATI Pyramid Of The Sun (Temporary Residence Limited) lp 15.98
NOW ON VINYL!!
We've raved about instrumental post rockers Maserati in the past, and they just keep getting better and better, while oddly enough, they seem to gradually be moving away from their early sound, which was pretty much straight ahead nineties style post rock, which we love, toward something much more synthy and krautrocky, more groovy and almost dancey, which we also love. It probably has to do with the fact that drummer Jerry Fuchs (who tragically passed away last year) also played drums for !!! (Chik Chik Chik), so it was maybe inevitable that some of that funkiness might creep into his other group, since it's Fuchs' beats that pretty much drive this Maserati, propulsive and intricate, mathy and tight, but also super fluid. The guitars follow suit, looped and effected, cascading and chiming, all of that underpinned by some serious eighties style synths, pulsing like some supercharged John Carpenter soundtrack, and that's what makes Maserati sound so good, the collision of heavy crunchy guitars, propulsive motorik krautrock, and that sort of new age/wave-y synth. That's also why Maserati sound more like Zombi or Majeure these days, albeit a way more rocking, way heavier version. And hell, who could argue with a way heavier Zombi? Not us, that's for sure.
But really, to be fair, this new record is not all that far removed from past records, as far back as their Inventions For The New Season record, we were already describing some of their music as sounding like a "coke-fuelled Circle/Tortoise/Zombi jam" or as the perfect soundtrack for "an episode of Miami Vice, like for a scene (filmed from a helicopter) of an exciting power-boat chase across a deep blue, beautiful, sunshiney sea." And that vibe is still present, only now, it's for an episode of some futuristic sci-fi noir program, and instead of a speedboat chase, it's a hovership chase, between Bladerunner like buildings, culminating in a wild shootout in some sort of futuristic space disco. Which sounds pretty dang good to us.
Recommended for fans of Majeure, Zombi, Solar Bears, and other modern spacekraut sci-fi synth explorers, but also post/math/hypno rockers like Circle, Salvatore, Parlour, K-X-P, Magyar Posse, Cave, Russian Circles, etc.
MPEG Stream: "Pyramid Of The Sun"
MPEG Stream: "We Got The System To Fight The System"
MPEG Stream: "Bye M'Friend, Goodbye"

SCIENTIST, THE Launches Dubstep Into Outer Space (Scientist Mixes) (Tectonic) 2lp 22.00
NOW ON VINYL!!
Oh man, is this a match made in heaven or what? Actually, more like a match made in outer space, or in whatever warped sonic reality dub legend Scientist calls home, a dozen killer dubstep jams, from the likes of Pinch and Kode9 and Shackleton, worked over by the master, already blissed out and skeletal, dubbed out and droney, bass heavy and skittery, Scientist takes those original jams and sends them careening into the cosmos. Much of the bass is stripped away, but the drums, oh the drums, they get the science like nobody's business, bouncing from speaker to speaker, stuttering, and hiccupping, everything wrapped in clouds of echo and delay, the original melodies pulled apart until they're just barely-there streaks of sound, the dubbiness already in full effect, gets cranked to 11, most of the vocals are buried, but little bits of vocals are doused in effects and spit into the ether, only to have them boomerang right back, dizzying and dazzling, spaced out and psychedelic, even the most minimal stripped down tracks take on new life via Scientist's golden touch, it's hard to explain just what it is he does, but you can hear it, and feel it, the sounds are more out there, or in there, the original tracks just the blueprint for the abstract work of dubbed out sonic art they were meant to become. Totally blissed out and hypnotic, and so so so good. Makes us want to hear EVERYTHING get the Scientist dub treatment, garage rock, black metal, whatever, anything and EVERYthing.
The whole thing comes packaged in an eye popping old school reggae/dub cartoon covered jacket, depicting Scientist manning multiple spacecrafts, each with a cadre of dubsteppers as his crew. Awesome!
MPEG Stream: SCIENTIST VS PINCH & EMIKA "2012 Dub"
MPEG Stream: SCIENTIST VS SHACKLETON "Hackney Marshes Dub"
MPEG Stream: SCIENTIST VS DISTANCE "Ill Kontent Dub"
MPEG Stream: SCIENTIST VS KODE 9 & SPACEAPE "Abeng Dub"

TAMARYN Led Astray, Washed Ashore (self-released) cd 9.98
NOW ON CD!!!
Released almost two years before The Waves, Led Astray Washed Ashore is a different kind of (awesome) record. It's power lies in being direct and driving: the drums are tribal, the layers of sound are starker and sparser. Though there's still a lot of nice washy reverb in places, Tamaryn's vocals are recorded without a lot of doubling or many effects. Where The Waves makes you feel like you're floating in a dream, Led Astray Washed Ashore is grounded in the close and crisp dynamic of mostly clean vocals and tom-heavy drumming. The first song, "Return to Surrender," has echoes of the darker songs of the Eurythmics. "The Unknown" is all chanting, tribal drumming, and what sounds like an organ: a cacophonous interlude between the energy of the opening track and the colder, more stark "Sarah In The Aeadrone." "Golden Song" sounds like the best song Siouxsie and The Banshees never wrote, though the sparkly guitar work is pure Rex Shelverton. "Ashore" and "Metal Beasts" continue the lyrical themes of death and water and drowning present on the entire record (including the cover). Yes! Truly, there's nothing more nourishing for a blackened soul than beautiful music about death.
MPEG Stream: "Return to Surrender"
MPEG Stream: "Sarah in the Aeadrone"
MPEG Stream: "Metal Beasts"

TIMMY'S ORGANISM Rise Of The Green Gorilla (Sacred Bones) lp 14.98
NOW ON VINYL!!
A blurry blast of noise-rock-space-garage-what-the-fuck distorto rock from this Michigan weirdo, the opening track is an in-the-red chunk of amp melting blown out Stooges style riff rock swagger, the vocals in your face, snarling and mewling, while the drums pound, and the guitars swirl and smolder, run through an arsenal of pedals, flanger, phaser, wah wah and DISTORTION, captured on a busted 4 track, totally psychedelic and maniacal and awesome!
That's only one facet of Timmy's twisted sonic Organism, a schizophrenic sound that flits from off kilter garage rock groove to damaged glam trash blooz, to gorgeously tripped out lo-fi dream pop ambience, to crusty ramshackle fuzzed out indie rock, to full on abstract pop experimentation, the whole thing constantly on the verge of collapse, little bits of perfect melody emerging from fierce squalls of noise drenched heaviness, Joe Meek like production wrapped around full on noise psych brutality, Chrome-like sci-fi space rock gives way, to drawled Jandekian reverb bedroom folk, which transforms into some sort of synthwave weirdness, before finishing off with a gorgeous bit of lush epic and majestic indie pop mood music. Weird as fuck, and all over the map, but definitely total bliss for anyone with a sweet tooth for totally cracked pop and unhinged lo-fi noise rock weirdness.
MPEG Stream: "Ugly Dream"
MPEG Stream: "Pretty Stare"
MPEG Stream: "Oafeus Clods"

TOURE, SIDI & FRIENDS Sahel Folk (Thrill Jockey) lp 15.98
Now in stock on vinyl too....
A gorgeous record of African folk music from this legendary Malian singer, documenting a series of collaborations between friends, recorded casually, field recording style, at a family member's house. Toure would meet with each friend, hang out, drink tea and choose a song the first day, then the next day, the two would record the song, giving themselves only two takes, in order to capture the energy and spontaneity of the moment. Originally, the producer intended to mix these songs with the sounds of the street and various interviews, to create a more historical document of the music, the time and the place, but once the recordings were finished, they decided the songs were too good to mess with.
And good is an understatement, the songs here are gorgeous, emotional, intimate, passionate, and quite simple, but so powerful, generally just two instruments and one or two voices, the instruments locked into looped cyclical melodies, super trancelike and hypnotic, while the vocals soar over the top. The opener is incredible, the two guitar wound into intricate harmonies and dizzying counterpoint, the vocals lush and soulful, and when the song shifts, and the guitars get even more tangled, and the second vocal comes in, it's so intense, we've listened to that first song about 20 times now.
The other collaborations are just as moving, the vocal interplay incredible, and the various permutations of dueling guitars fantastic, the sound shifting from traditional African folk, to desert blues, to something more American influenced, but all infused with Toure's spirit and style. Anyone who's been digging the various African releases on Sublime Frequencies, or any of the Tinariwen records, will definitely dig this too.
MPEG Stream: SIDI & DOURRA "Bon Koum"
MPEG Stream: SIDI & JIBA "Adema"
MPEG Stream: SIDI & YEHIYA "Djarii Ber"

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ABIGAIL "Sweet Baby Metal Slut" (Nuclear War Now!) cd 8.98
ACID MOTHER'S TEMPLE / STEARICA "Sterica Invade Acid Mothers Temple" (Homeopathic) cd 17.98
AGUATURBIA "Psychedelic Drugstore" (Relics) cd 17.98
AHMED, MAHMOUD "Ethiopiques Vol. 26" (BudaMusique) cd 15.98
AKRON / FAMILY "Cosmic Birth And Journey" (Dead Oceans) cd 14.98
AMON DUUL II "Yeti" (Liberty) lp 34.00
ANAL CUNT "Fuckin A" (Patac) cd 11.98
ANTIQUITY (GRASSLUNG) "s/t" (Ekhein) cassette 5.98
APRIL & MAY "Best Of" (Riverman) cd 16.98
ATOMIC BOMB AUDITION "Roots Into The See" (self released) lp 12.98
BAUHAUS "Crackle" (Beggars Banquet) 2lp 16.98
BICK, ANDREAS "Fire And Frost Pattern" (Gruenrekorder) cd 16.98
BIRDS OF AVALON "s/t" (Bladen Country) cd 14.98
BLACKWOLFGOAT "Dragonwizardsleeve" (Small Stone) cd 14.98
BRIGHT EYES "People's Key (First Edition)" (Saddle Creek) cd 14.98
C-UTTER / DEAD PENI "split" (Blossoming Noise) lp 19.98
CASSLE "s/t" (Shadow Kingdom) cd 13.98
CLUSTER & FARNBAUER "Live In Vienna 1980" (Important) 2cd 16.98
COHEN, TIM "Bad Blood" (Captured Tracks) 7" 10.98
COHEN, TIM "Tim Cohen's Magic Trick" (Captured Tracks) lp 16.98
CONDENADOS "A Painful Journey Into Nihil" (Shadow Kingdom) cd 13.98
CRASS "Feeding Of The 5000" (Crassical Collection) cd 19.98
DANAVA / EARTHLESS / LECHEROUS GAZE "s/t" (Kemado) lp 19.98
DARK DAY "Strange Clockwork" (self-released) cd 12.98
EARN "Lacewing" (Ekhein) cassette 5.98
EDEN ROSE "On The Way To Eden" (Lion) cd 16.98
ESG "Dance To The Best Of ESG" (Soul Jazz) 3lp 59.00
EVERYDAY LONELINESS "An Error In Judgement" (Ekhein) cassette 5.98
FASTEST "Phaeton" (self-released) cd-r 9.98
FATHER BEFOULED "Morbid Destitution of Covenant" (Relapse) cd 14.98
FEAR "The Record" (Slash / Rhino) lp 14.98
FOLKAZOID "s/t" (Sacred Bones) 12" 12.98
FRIEDBERGER, MATTHEW "Napoleonette" (Thrill Jockey) lp 11.98
FRIMPONG, K. & HIS CUBANO FIESTAS "s/t" (Continental Records) lp 17.98
GANG OF FOUR "Entertainment" (Rhino / Warner Bros.) lp 24.00
GENGRAS, M. GEDDES "Enduring Doubt" (Ekhein) cassette 5.98
GO TEAM "Rolling Blackouts" (Memphis Industries) cd/lp 14.98/15.98
GOOD ONES, THE "Kigali Y' Izahabu" (Dead Oceans) cd 14.98
GRAVE RITUAL "Euphoric Hymns From The Altar Of Death" (Razorback) cd 10.98
GRAYCEON "All We Destroy" (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
GREEN DOOR KIDS, THE "Muzikal Yooth" (Optimo Music) lp 16.98
HAMMER, JOSEPH "I Love You, Please Love Me" (Pan) lp 36.00
HARASSOR "Astral Psychosis" (Complicated Dance Steps) cassette 5.98
HARLEY, RUFUS "Bagpipe Blues" (Atlantic) lp 12.98
HELEN LUNDY TRIO, THE "s/t" (HLT Records) cd 11.98
HOLYDRUG COUPLE "The Ancient Land" (Sacred Bones) 12" 11.98
HORRIFIC CHILD "L'Etrange Mr. Whinster" (Finders Keepers) cd 26.00
INDEX "Black Album / Red Album / Yesterday & Today" (Lion Productions) 2cd 27.00
INVADERS "There's A Light There's A Way" (Fresh) cd 17.98
IRON BUTTERFLY "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (Atco) lp 12.98
KALEIDOSCOPE "s/t" (Shadoks) cd 17.98
LARD FREE "Gilbert Artman's Lard Free" (Wah-Wah) lp 30.00
MAJUTSU NO NIWA "Ecstatic Crystalization" (Musik Atlach) cd 16.98
MARATHON MAN / THE PARALLAX VIEW (MICAHEL SMALL) "OST" (Film Score Monthly) cd 17.98
MATHIEU, STEFAN "Remain" (Line) cd 14.98
MELCHIOR, DAN "Assemblage Blues" (Siltbreeze) lp 14.98
MIRROR TO MIRROR "A Personal Reality" (Arbor) cassette 5.98
MOORE, THURSTON "Solo Acoustic Vol. 5" (Win Du Select Qualitite) lp 19.98
MUDHONEY "Head On The Curb" (Sutro Park) lp 16.98
NECROMANDUS "Orexis of Death & Live" (Rise Above Records) cd 19.98
OSWALD, JOHN + 1,001 VINTAGE POP STARS "Perplexure" (Fony) lp 14.98
OUTER LIMITS RECORDINGS "$20 Bill" (True Panther) 7" 6.98
PALE SKETCHER "Seventh Heaven" (Ghoslty International) 12" 16.98
PSYCHIC REALITY "Vibrant New Age" (Not Not Fun) lp 14.98
PUCE MOMENT "Avoiding Certain Topics / Essence Of Mann e.p. / Puce Moment" (self-released) 3 x cassette 9.98
PURO INSTINCT "Headbangers In Ecstasy" (Mexican Summer) lp 16.98
QUICKSAND DREAM "Aelin - A Story About Destiny" (Planet Metal) cd 10.98
RABELAIS, AKIRA "Caduceus" (Samadhisound) cd 16.98
ROBA EL KHALIYEH "A Different View Of Darkness" (Starlight Temple Society) cd-r 5.98
RONETTES, THE "Be My Baby : The Very Best Of The Ronettes" (Legacy) cd 10.98
ROYAL THUNDER "s/t" (Relapse) cd/lp /
ROYAL TRUX "Cats And Dogs" (Drag City) lp 17.98
ROYHKA JA RATTO JA LEHTISALO "Hiekkarantaa" (Ektro) cd 14.98
RUBE WADDELL "Hobo Train (re-release)" (self-released) cd 11.98
RUBE WADDELL "Stink Bait" (self-released) cd 11.98
RUNDGREN, TODD "A Wizard, A True Star" (Get Back) lp 15.98
RUSSELL, ARTHUR & THE FLYING HEARTS FEATURING ALLAN GINSBERG "Ballad Of The Lights" (Presspop) 10" 15.98
RYKARDA PARASOL / MISTER LOVELESS "split" (Round Music) 7" 5.00
SABBAT "Sabbatrinity" (RIP Records) cd 14.98
SAXANA "OST" (B-Music / Finders Keepers) cd 16.98
SCOTT-HERON, GIL AND JAMIE XX "We're New Here" (XL) cd 13.98
SHACKLETON "Deadman" (Honest Jon's Records) 12" 12.98
SHACKLETON "Fireworks" (Honest Jon's Records) 2x12" 22.00
SHIPP, MATTHEW "Art Of The Improviser" (Thirsty Ear) 2cd 16.98
SHIVER, THE "Walpurgis" (Garden of Delights) lp 34.00
SLITS, THE "In The Beginning" (Vinyl Lovers) lp 27.00
SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE "Ball Strength" (Mexican Summer) 12" 19.98
STEEL MILL "Jewels Of The Forest" (Rise Above) cd 19.98
SUN RA "Space Probe : A Tonal View Of Times Tomorrow, Vol. 1" (Art Yard) cd 21.00
TEAMS VS. STAR SLINGER "s/t" (Mexican Summer) 12" 19.98
TORO Y MOI "Underneath The Pine" (Carpark) cd/lp 14.98/15.98
TUCKER, ALEXANDER & DECOMPOSED ORCHESTRA "Grey Onion" (Latitudes) cd/lp /16.98
TWEAK BIRD "s/t" (Volcom) lp 14.98
V/A "Black & Proud Vol. 1" (Trikont) 2lp 28.00
V/A "Cartagena! Curro Fuentes & The Big Band Combia And Descarga Sound Of Columbia 1962-72" (Soundway) cd 16.98
V/A "Cartagena! Curro Fuentes & The Big Band Combia And Descarga Sound Of Columbia 1962-72" (Soundway) 2lp 26.00
V/A "Casual Victim Pile II" (12XU) lp 14.98
V/A "Funky Chicken" (Trojan) cd 15.98
V/A "Funky Frauleins Vol.2" (Grosse Freiheit / Bureau B) cd/lp 17.98/17.98
V/A "Guitar Mood 2" (INST) lp 10.98
V/A "Nippon Girls: Japanese Pop, Beat, & Bossa Nova 1966-1970" (Big Beat International) cd 19.98
V/A "Rhythm" (Gruenrekorder) cd 16.98
V/A "Riddimentary : Diplo Selects Greensleeves" (Greensleeves) cd 12.98
VACANT LOTS "Confusion b/w Cadillac" (Mexican Summer) 7" 5.98
VESTER, HEIKE / OCEAN SOUNDS "Marine Mammals And Fish Of Lofoten And Vesteralen" (Gruenrekorder) cd 16.98
WEST COAST POP ART EXPERIMENTAL BAND "Where's My Daddy?" (Aurora) cd 17.98
WINO "Adrift" (Volcom) lp 16.98
WORK/DEATH "To The Hills Of Altadena" (Jugular Forest) cassette 5.98
XASTHUR "Portal of Sorrow" (Kemado) 2lp 22.00
YUCK "s/t" (Fat Possum) lp 14.98

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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,ÊorÊany 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 returnedÊdue 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 beÊinternational postal money orders purchased at a post office. Additional processing fees may apply.Ê

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 now
Liz Harris (Grouper) "Divide" book+dvd-r on Root Strata
Spectral Incursion "Anthology" 2cd on Stormspell
Monarch "Sortilege" limited edition tour cdep on Heathen Skulls
Vena "Nomadic" cd on Paradigms

----} March 1st
Tim Hecker "Ravedeath, 1972" lp version on Kranky
Dum Dum Girls "He Gets Me High" cdep/12" on Sub Pop
Papercuts "Fading Parade" cd/lp on Sub Pop
Blood Ceremony "Living With The Ancients" cd on Metal Blade
PJ Harvey "Let England Shake" lp version on Vagrant/Island
Subrosa "No Help For The Mighty Ones" cd on Profound Lore
Scale The Summit "Collective" cd on Prosthetic

----} March Ê8th
Marijata "This Is Marijata" lp on Academy (cd forthcoming as well)
Grails "Deep Politics" cd/lp on Temporary Residence Ltd.
Kurt Vile "Smoke Ring For My Halo" cd/lp on Matador
Dalek "Untitled" cd on Latitudes
REM "Collapse Into Now" cd on Warner Bros.

----} March 15th
Eternal Tapestry "Beyond the 4th Door" on Thrill Jockey
Higuma "Pacific Fog Dreams" lp on Root Strata
v/a "Those Shocking Shaking Days: Indonesia Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk 1970-1978" cd on Stones Throw
Mi Ami "Dolphins" on Thrill Jockey
Eleventh Dream Day "Riot Now" on Thrill Jockey
Kvelertak "s/t" cd

----} March 22nd
Dug Dugs "s/t aka Lost in the World" mini-lp sleeve cd reissue on Lion/Get On Down
Dug Dugs "Smog" mini-lp sleeve cd reissue on Lion/Get On Down

----} March 29th
Mountain Goats "All Eternals Deck" cd/lp on Merge
The Alps "Easy Action" lp on Mexican Summer
Dalek "Untitled" lp on Latitudes
Gridlink "Orphan" cd on Hydrahead
Gridlink "Orphan/Amber Grey" lp on Hydrahead

----} maybe in March
Babies "s/t" lp on Shrimper
Slough Feg, The Lord Weird "The Animal Spirits" vinyl edition on Cruz Del Sur

----} April 4th
Burzum "Fallen" cd/lp

----} April 12th
Electric Wizard "Black Masses" domestic vinyl release on Metal Blade

----} April 16th Record Store Day
Earth "Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light I" 2lp on Southern Lord
Oxbow "King Of The Jews" lp reissue on Hydra Head
Flying Lotus "Cosmogramma Alt Takes" lp on Warp
Oval/Liturgy split lp on Thrill Jockey
Prurient "Many Jewels Surround The Crown" 7" on Hydra Head
Os Mutantes "Everything Is Possible" lp version on Luaka Bop
Shuggie Otis "Inspiration Information" lp version on Luaka Bop
Steve Gunn & Ilyas Ahmed split 7" on Immune
Black Twig Pickers / Glenn Jones split lp on Thrill Jockey
Nada Surf "The Moon Is Calling" 7" on Barsuk

----} April 26th
Boris "Attention Please" cd/lp on Sargent House
Boris "Heavy Rocks" (different from the old Boris album of the same name though!!) cd/lp on Sargent House

----} also upcoming sooner or later or sooner or later or whenever
v/a "Historische Aufnahmen/Historical Recordings Vol.1" lp on Gagarin Records
Jerusalem "s/t" vinyl reissue on Vintage/Rockadrome (slightly delayed)
ONJT + "Lonely Woman" cd on Doubtmusic
ONJT + "Bells" cd on Doubtmusic
Evil Madness "Super Great Love" cd version on Editions Mego
Steel Mammoth "Radiation Funeral" lp on Ektro
Unholy Cadaver "s/t" 2lp+cd on Shadow Kingdom
Starfuckers "Metallic Diseases" lp on Holy Mountain
Loss "Despond" cd on Profound Lore
Bullet "Highway Pirates" cd on Black Lodge
Console "Herself" cd/2lp on Disko B
Mount Eerie "Song Islands Vol.2" on P.W. Everum & Sun, Ltd.
Liars "Proud Evolution" ep on Mute
Expo 70 "Black Ohms" vinyl edition on Beta-lactam Ring
The Sticks "s/t" cd/2x7" on Upset The Rhythm
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" 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
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
Rodan TBA cd/lp on Quarterstick
Swell Maps "International Rescue" clear vinyl LP reissue on Alive
Boduf Songs "Strait Gait" cd/lp on Latitudes
The Fall "Future Our Clutter"
Panda Bear "Tomboy"
Sloath s/t lp on Riot Season
Ken Camden "Lethargy & Repercussions" cd/lp on Kranky
LCD Sound System / Wooden Shjips "Drunk Girls" 7" on DFA
Nurse With Wound "Second Pirate Session" cd on United Jnana

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Lots of love from your devoted AQ staff

Andee Cup Jim AllanIrwinScottNickJonandAndrew