ALLEN, BYRON TRIO The Byron Allen Trio (ESP) cd 14.98

ALLEN, LILY Alright, Still... (Regal) cd 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's the expensive import, for those that can't wait 'til this comes out domestically, in January we believe... At the crossroads of Kylie Minogue, Bebel Gilberto, Puffy Ami Yumi and Lady Sovereign sits this lady Ms Lily Allen. What does that mean? Sleek girlish fun, of course! Have to say though that the cover art made us a bit wary. With all the bling, lightning bolts and boomboxes it looks like it fell out of the pages of Vice Magazine. This is a candy-colored, gleeful tilt-a-whirl of an album! One weird listening moment came during the intro to the eighth song. We actually were expecting her to break into a little Cat Stevens, but she didn't. The tune "Littlest Things" does seem suspiciously infused with "Wild Life"-ness. It's almost as though she removed Stevens' vocals and lyrics and dropped her own over top. That oddness aside, ya gotta stick with her 'cause the flouncin' final track "Alfie" just might be the best! Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!
MPEG Stream: "Alfie"
MPEG Stream: "Littlest Things"

ALLEN, LILY Alright, Still... (Capitol) cd 13.98
Hurrah! Now released domestically for a fraction of the import price!
At the crossroads of Kylie Minogue, Bebel Gilberto, Puffy Ami Yumi and Lady Sovereign sits this lady Ms Lily Allen. What does that mean? Sleek girlish fun, of course! Have to say though that the cover art made us a bit wary. With all the bling, lightning bolts and boomboxes it looks like it fell out of the pages of Vice Magazine. However, the anticipations of irony and obnoxiousness were unfounded. This is a candy-colored, gleeful tilt-a-whirl of an album! One weird listening moment came during the intro to the eighth song. We actually were expecting her to break into a little Cat Stevens, but she didn't. The tune "Littlest Things" does seem suspiciously infused with "Wild Life"-ness. It's almost as though she removed Stevens' vocals and lyrics and dropped her own over top. That oddness aside, ya gotta stick with her 'cause the flouncin' final track "Alfie" just might be the best! Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!
MPEG Stream: "Alfie"
MPEG Stream: "Littlest Things"

ALLEN, LILY Alright, Still... (Regal) lp 24.00
At the crossroads of Kylie Minogue, Bebel Gilberto, Puffy Ami Yumi and Lady Sovereign sits this lady Ms Lily Allen. What does that mean? Sleek girlish fun, of course! Have to say though that the cover art made us a bit wary. With all the bling, lightning bolts and boomboxes it looks like it fell out of the pages of Vice Magazine. This is a candy-colored, gleeful tilt-a-whirl of an album! One weird listening moment came during the intro to the eighth song. We actually were expecting her to break into a little Cat Stevens, but she didn't. The tune "Littlest Things" does seem suspiciously infused with "Wild Life"-ness. It's almost as though she removed Stevens' vocals and lyrics and dropped her own over top. That oddness aside, ya gotta stick with her 'cause the flouncin' final track "Alfie" just might be the best! Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!
MPEG Stream: "Alfie"
MPEG Stream: "Littlest Things"

ALLEN, RED Folkways Years 1964-1983 (Smithsonian Folkways) cd 15.98
As usual, Smithsonian-Folkways has gone all out and put together a handsome reissue. Though singer / guitarist Red Allen has remained a little known figure outside of bluegrass circles, his importance within the genre is much underscored in this collection, with Smithsonian-Folkways going as far as claiming Allen to be "one of the most important exponents of the 'high, lonesome sound.'" Red Allen could be considered part of the "second wave" of bluegrass musicians -- those that emulated the sound of the post war line up of Bill Monroe's bluegrass boys, creating the enduring concept of the genre now fondly regarded as "bluegrass." He made his professional debut as a partner with the Osborne Brothers (and important enough role for them to be billed as "The Osborne Brothers And Red Allen") in 1953 before leaving to form his own group with mandolinist Frank Wakefield. This disc includes Allen's 1964 album for Folkways "Bluegrass", plus six unreleased tracks from those sessions and several more from later albums. Some of the musicians found on these tracks include Frank Wakefield, Vassar Clements, Marty Stuart, Pete Kuykendall, Bill Keith and Curley Seckler. Comes with a 32 page booklet that contains a brief history of bluegrass and Red Allen's place in it by Jon Weisberger, a bio of Allen by Mark Yacovone (including and interview by Yacovone of banjo players Pete Kuykendall and Bill Keith) and several pages of notes on the songs included on this disc.
RealAudio clip: "Somebody Loves You, Darling"
RealAudio clip: "Are You Afraid To Die?"
RealAudio clip: "Christian Life"

ALLEN, RED & FRANK WAKEFIELD Kitchen Tapes, the (Acoustic Disc) cd 16.98
Excellent recording of longtime bluegrass collaborators Red Allen (guitar / vocals) & Frank Wakefield (mandolin / vocals) made at Red Allen's Hyattsville, Maryland home in 1963 by David Grisman. The non-studio environment for this session adds to the off the cuff, relaxed quality of these tracks. Especially wonderful is their absolutely haunting rendition of "Down In The Willow Garden." Highly recommended.

ALLEN, TONY Afro Disco Beat (Vampi Soul) 2cd 30.00
Wow! This is on fire! While Tony Allen will always be best known for being the amazing drummer in Fela Kuti's band, he is responsible for some totally great and inspired body moving music of his own. This collection collects four of his best albums onto two discs for a nonstop offering of Afro-Beat perfection! These records, which all originally came out in the 1970's, share a very similar sound and spirit to the work that Fela Kuti was doing when Allen was in his band. So it makes a lot of sense that three of them were produced by Fela. Long, stretched out passages filled with the kind of grooves that work their way right into your body and soul. While there is certainly nothing wrong with being known as the drummer in Fela's legendary group as well as more recently a member of the Damon Albern led supergroup The Good, The Bad & The Queen, we think this release could help make it plain to those who don't know already, that Tony Allen is a legend in his own right! Every time we play this in the store immediately people start asking what we're listening to moving their bodies up and down and all around. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Hustler"
MPEG Stream: "Ariya"

ALLEN, TONY Black Voices (Comet) cd 16.98

ALLEN, TONY Jealousy / Progress (Evolver) cd 16.98
Finally a domestic, single disc reissue of the first two albums Tony Allen released under his own name in 1975 and '77. Legendary drummer for Nigerian visionary Fela Kuti's band Afrika '70, Allen has often been called a co-founder of Afrobeat (along with Fela). In fact Allen's drum parts were often the only element that Fela did not pre-score. These records swing and stutter and groove and majorly kick ass, stretching themselves out often to 15 minutes or more (and you never want it to end anyway). In addition to the saxophones, trumpets, congas, bass, maracas, the extraordinary standout guitar work is very hooky to these western ears, which is mostly why I like it so much, especially on the song "Jealousy", and there are lots of drum solos, more than on the Fela records. Really great -- listen to the soundclip and know there's more where that came from. Essential to any Afrobeat collection, and also a great place to start!
RealAudio clip: "Jealousy"

ALLEN, TONY Lagos No Shaking (Honest Jon's) cd 16.98
So nice to hear a master of their craft! Even nicer when it's new material from someone who has been releasing records since the '70s and it still ranks close to the top of anything he's put out. While he will always get mentioned in the same breath as Fela Kuti (he was part of Fela's band back in the day) Tony Allen should certainly be looked upon as one of the leaders of the Afro-beat movement, not just a kick ass sideman (although he was that too!) What's so impressive is that even after all these years he still sounds passionate and filled with fire and the music totally reflects that. When we put this on for the first time we thought for sure it had to be a reissue as the sounds were as captivating and groovy as all the great '70s Afro-beat records he and Fela recorded together. But closer examination revealed it to be a brand new release and he again demonstrates that just because so many others burn out, fade, that doesn't mean he's gonna... 'cause this album is still a totally funky kick ass outing... and be sure to hang in for the closer 'cause it's the album's sole instrumental and it's totally on fire!
MPEG Stream: "Awa Na Re"
MPEG Stream: "Gbedu"

ALLEN, TONY No Accommodation / No Discrimination (Evolver) cd 16.98

ALLES WIE GROSS Vertonung (Communion) cd 13.98
Here's a project with some connections to AQ-fave band Village of Savoonga, featuring the original compositions of Munich's Michael Heilrath (Couch, Blond) written as the score for a 1920 silent film version of Hamlet. The fractured rhythms of Markus Acher (VoS, Tied and Tickled Trio, Notwist) are juxtaposed with dramatic string arrangements while tasteful post-rock styled guitar, bass and drums round out the mediatative loops.

ALLFANG MIT PFERDEKOPF Fragment 36 (Drone) 7" 9.98
We love Drone records. And their series of ultra limited, hand assembled 7"s. There's even a forthcoming 2cd on Andee's tUMULt label collecting a handful of the early long out of print 7"s. We can only ever manage to get a tiny handful of these singles since they're so limited, but when we do we try to list them, and it's definitely lucky for the tiny handful of you who are quick on the buy-it-now trigger. Some of the best drone and dark ambient music around.
Allfang Mit Pferdekopf unveil, very slowly, a super minimal shimmer and glisten, with a barely there glitch and click percussive filigree. Slightly metallic reverberations with high pitched overtones shifting and drifting. Side 2 is much thicker, and much more active, a thick crust of sonic grit over haunting industrial chimes, ringing out in a slow motion sorrowful melody, very grim and cinematic.
First edition. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES! Marbled lime green vinyl, in a hand painted abstract water color sleeve with liner notes and insert.

ALLIEN, ELLEN Fabric 34 (Fabric Records) cd 16.98
I (Sally) loooooove Ellen Allien. When I bought her album Thrills a coupla years ago, I was busting out dance moves for weeks in my bedroom that I didn't even know existed inside of me. When I'm at a dance party/club, I can catapult the DJ from all right to great (in my head) in a matter of seconds if they throw on Ellen. Her presence was a gift to collaborator Apparat on "Orchestra of Bubbles." Her music is electronic perfection as far as I'm concerned -- seemingly simple, yet complicated and hella sexy. Though all of Allien's records are incredible throughout, I've found that there are always one or two songs I could listen to on repeat for days. On Thrills it was "Magma" and "The Brain Is Lost," and on Orchestra of Bubbles I couldn't get enough of "Way Out." Following suit with Fabric 34, a remix record, "Harrowdown Hill" (Thom Yorke) alone makes this record worth every cent. Allien has achieved exactly what you hope for in a remix -- she's taken a nearly perfect song and pushed it over the edge to absolute perfection. Overall, Fabric 34 tends to be a bit more ultra-loungy than her previous works, but she manages to still throw in the special stuff that really makes her music stand out.
MPEG Stream: "The Sun Can't Compare (Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "Harrowdown Hill (Remix)"

ALLIEN, ELLEN My Parade DJ Mix (Bpitch Control) cd 15.98
This is Ellen Allien's new mix cd and she throws down some electronic dance hotties like Apparat (whose "Cheap Thrills" makes for one of the high points in this set, along with the track that follows it "Numb" by Tomas Andersson), Step Time Orchestra, and Plaid as well as tossing in a few of her own, but she stumbles near the starting gate with a track by Dr FeelX called "Relax Your Body". A deep male (we assume it's the doctor's) voice proclaims the message in the music... it is indeed to "relax your body". He also commands you to "move your body", and then continues on with some truly painful rhymes. He does his best (worst?) Schwarznegger, deadpanning aerobicize lyrics like "you may be happy / or you may be sad / don't worry about your problems / just get into the groove." Ouch. Fortunately once you've passed that track, things take a turn for the (much) better.
MPEG Stream: APPARAT "Cheap Thrills"
MPEG Stream: ANDERSSON, TOMAS "Numb"

ALLIEN, ELLEN Remix Collection (BPitch Control) cd 18.98

ALLIEN, ELLEN Thrills (BPitch Control) cd 15.98

ALLIEN, ELLEN & APPARAT Orchestra Of Bubbles (Bpitch Control) cd 15.98
There is a pensive urgency to this new collaboration between Ellen Allien and Sascha Ring (aka Apparat) that is hard to pin down. While most tracks seem prime for the dancefloor, they aren't without apprehension. It seems to come from the mutual understanding that the best tracks on a Giorgio Moroder soundtrack are the chase themes. Moodily energetic yet indescribably threatening, like trying to concentrate on a math test when you know the school bully is going to beat you up after class. The collaborative process also prevents the music from getting either too electroclash/techno house on Allien's part or too idm/glitchcore on Apparat's part, striking a nice balance between both extremes. If Giorgio Moroder did a record on Kompakt, we suspect it would sound a lot like this!
MPEG Stream: "Turbo Dreams"
MPEG Stream: "Way Out"

ALLIES, THE D-Day (Asphodel) cd 11.98
A veritable turntablist super-group featuring the likes of Invisibl Skratch Pikl A-Trak, Craze, Develop, Infamous, J-smoke & Spictakular. The Allies are here to school the world with their turntable wizardry and demonstrate how the turntable might replace the guitar.

ALLISON, DOT Afterglow (Arista) cd 14.98

ALMA Is It Me? (Blackbean & Placenta) cd 8.98
The Blackbean & Placenta label are certainly not pinning themselves down genre-wise what with artists like Reynols, Orange Cake Mix and this pretty Swedish combo Alma holding court. Gentle, folky female vocals bringing to mind a Cowboy Junkies-like flourish into three part harmonies. They're joined by subdued banjo, lap steel and flute. A very nice end-of-summer record.

ALMENDRA Intrincado Alquimia (Agradecido Discos) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

ALMURO, ANDRE Depli (Elica) cd 16.98
"Depli" marks the first CD release of the little known French composer who had spent time working with Bernard Parmigiani at INA-GRM as well as in radio aproductions with Andre Breton and Jean Genet. "The three pieces on this album span a fourteen year period of Almuró's recent musical production: 'Le Troisème Oeil' (1991) is a 28 minute dynamic and deceivingly cosmic piece for clashing and screeching electronic bodies... 'Terrae incognitae' (1978) is a 36 minute eerie and ritualistic tour-de-force for sixty-member chorus, recorded live at its animated and scandal-stirring premier in the Notre-Dame Church in Caen. 'Boomerang, Prelude' (1979) is a dark and brooding 12 minute electronic composition also performed live surrounded by iron fences and road cones, big standing mattresses and a whole tree hanging upside down."

ALOG Catch That Totem (Melektronik) cd 16.98

ALOG Duck-Rabbit (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Record number two from the acclaimed Norwegian duo. Alog's Eide and Haugan discreetly tiptoe their way through a plethora of styles, as on their debut "Red Shift Swing". "Duck-Rabbit", however, was mostly inspired by ideas and themes created through improvisations in their live performances. Complex, playful and rich in texture. Opaque freeform organic sounds, acoustic instrumentation and field recordings evolve through dsp (digital signal processing) manipulation (a la Oval) into dense, beat saturated dancefloor rhythms. Gleefully wonderful!
RealAudio clip: "Duck-Rabbit"
RealAudio clip: "Objects Began To Appear From The Future"

ALOG Miniatures (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
"Raindrops streaking down the car window music", complete with a mechanical windshield-wipers sound abstract, just like the way lines of rain water coursing across window-glass through which one is lazily viewing a passing landscape can be... that's our assessment of this new disc from Norwegian electronic 'pop' duo Alog. Minatures is their third album for Rune Grammofon, and we must say it's quite nice indeed. It's a very organic sound Alog have, each piece a shimmering, droning, rhythmic steady-state with decorative sonic, melodic embellishments.
The Alog moniker comes from a combination of digitAL and anaLOG (we're told, seems likely) so it's no surprise that one track, or part of a track, here might sound like it could only come from the inside of a computer, while another part might be an ambient field recording from nature. And 'regular' instruments (guitar, cello, etc.) are also employed, to construct these Steve Reich-like, blissful (but sometime suspensefully tense) minimalist minatures. As per the title, which was apparently inspired by Turkish minature paintings, an artform that holds to certain strict rules, one of which apparently requires that they depict "only pure radiant coloured objects configured in mysterious patterns". Which is as good as any as a description of Alog's lovely music on this album (along with our visual rain-window notion).
PS. We'll try to get the recent Phonophani album Oak Or Rock reviewed soon, that's one-half of Alog and also on Rune G., and in stock too.
MPEG Stream: "Severe Punishment And Lasting Bliss"
MPEG Stream: "St. Paul Sessions II"

ALP At Home With Alp (Soleilmoon) cd 14.98
Alp is the work of Roger Horberry also known for his participation in the ethno-ambient affairs of O Yuki Conjugate. Here, Horberry engages the far more ubiquitous sounds of boiling water, fax machines, furnaces, and other household items which emit teeny-tiny sounds lost in the excess noise of everyday life. After contact miking these objects, Horberry has amplified and processed the whirring drones into an extraterrestrial arena of reverberating washes with a particularly digital clarity. A solid deep listening project not far from Toy Bizarre or even some of the later Zoviet France recordings.

ALPERT'S, HERB TIJUANA BRASS Whipped Cream & Other Delights (Shout! Factory) cd 13.98
Had to list this. As old favorites go, they don't get much older, anyway. I was into this record when I was a little kid and my parents had a cassette (or was in an 8-track?) of it... You've probably heard it a million times. Tracks like "A Taste Of Honey" and "Whipped Cream" (written by Allen Toussaint) are imbedded in our cultural conciousness aren't they? Certainly the "racy" album-cover shot of the lady wearing all the whipped cream sure is -- Soul Asylum thought so anyway. Trumpeter Herb Alpert and his Tijunana Brass (LA studio musicans, not real Mexican mariachis) were a '60s pop sensation, and this hit 1965 album was one of Alpert's best. Oh so swank instrumental jazzed up pop, Alpert's arrangements demonstrating his knack for mixing stick-in-the-head melodies with south-of-the-border exotica. You've got your bombastic, toe-tapping numbers, your Latin-tinged party-pleasers, your lush romantic themes, and a Tijuana-ized version of "Love Potion #9".
Now, as part of a "Herb Alpert Signature Series", this classic has been reissued on cd in a digipack, all deluxe-like, complete with two bonus tracks, a booklet full of photos and liner notes, and a poster of that cover. Can't always be listening to new wave rock, glitchy electronica, droning dirge, and avant-garde jazz now can we? Dated but delightful.
MPEG Stream: "Bittersweet Samba"
MPEG Stream: "Whipped Cream"

ALPERT, HERB AND THE TIJUANA BRASS Going Places (Shout! Factory) cd 13.98
Ok, while I don't think we're gonna stock and review EVERY entry in Shout! Factory/A&M's new "Herb Alpert Signature Series", we did just list the reissue of the all-time classic Whipped Cream & Other Delights by Herb and his Tijuana Brass (and sold a bunch to some happy customers) so we'd be remiss then if we didn't also give some attention to this other classic Tijuana Brass album, Whipped Cream's follow-up Going Places. Also from 1965, this LP sported a bandolier of boppy south-of-the-border styled instrumental pop hits like "Tijuana Taxi" and "Spanish Flea" (which will ring bells with some of your for sure from its use on the old TV game show the Dating Game). Then there's the sweet "More And More Amor" and the lush va-va-va-vooom of "Mae". Also: Herb's Tijuana version of surf nugget "Walk Don't Run" alongside other familiar tunes like "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You", "Zorba The Greek" and the "3rd Man Theme". It's hard to keep a smile off the face while listening to this, really! Sunny fun from a pop world very different from today's.
MPEG Stream: "Tijuana Taxi"
MPEG Stream: "Walk Don't Run"

ALPHA Come From Heaven (Melankolic) cd 15.98
"Jazzy trip-hop" that's great for making out. The first release on Massive Attack's new label, Melankolic.

ALPHANE MOON The Echoing Grove (Camera Obscura) cd 15.98
If Roy Montgomery didn't noodle so much within his excessive delayed psychedelia and laid down very simple chords for the effects to work their magic, it would sound pretty close to what this side project of Our Glassy Azoth sounds like. Totally trippy.

ALPHANE MOON / OUR GLASSIE AZOTH Experimenting With An Amen / The Magician's Heavenly Chaos (Oggum) cd 15.98
Intense, intentional hiss and distortion masking a lovely, minimalistic folk music is what we have here. Or, on some tracks, gentle acoustic folk derived from Welsh tradition, and on others, purely piercing tones and grating electronic drones. This split release from inter-related outfits Alphane Moon and Our Glassie Azoth is haunting and gorgeous, but not for those whose ears aren't also in the mood for some isolationist noisescapes... Seemingly on the same (distorted) wavelength as fellow pastoral experimentalist Richard Youngs, the Wales-dwelling duo of Ruth and Daf are both AM and OGA (which the liner notes admit "have always naturally been mixed up"). This cd brings together previously unreleased material as well as music that has appeared before only on comps or limited vinyl releases. The first half of the disc (tracks 1-5) are the work of AM, the "folkier" of the two groups perhaps -- one of their selections is a traditional Welsh number, "Cyngor Y Biogen" ("The Magpie's Advice"), whose delicate vocals and acoustic guitar stand in contrast to the noisier textures found elsewhere... Like, on the disc's 2nd half (tracks 6-8) which is dominated by OGA's 26 minute "The Magican's Heavenly Chaos", more of an industrial, sci-fi soundscape.
MPEG Stream: ALPHANE MOON "Experimenting With An Amen"
MPEG Stream: ALPHANE MOON "Further"
MPEG Stream: OUR GLASSIE AZOTH "Isca"

ALPS, THE III (Type) cd 15.98
Already available as a super limited lp (we may still have a few left), now finally available on cd, the latest from Bay Area new-kraut-folk-age combo Alps, which finds the band sounding more high fidelity than ever, and more kraut than folk, which in both cases suits them big time.
For those new to Alps, a rundown of several members should help give you an idea of where their sound is coming from: our very own Scott Hewicker (Troll), Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp, formerly of Tussle) and Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Colophon, J.C. Ledesma). But Alps is definitely more than the sum of its parts, their sound is quite varied, expansive, even epic at times, but simultaneously, they manage to craft a sound simple and solid, based as much on rhythm and texture as on song and melody.
On past releases, Alps were a much more ramshackle concern, which at the time was definitely a big part of their sound, and thus set them firmly amongst the lo-fi cd-r drone folks scene, their sound a sort of ghostly Appalachia, mixed with longform drone music, muddy muted ambience, minimal soundscaping and plenty of lo-fi buzz and hiss much of the record mired in a corrosive murk, that only added to their dark dronelike vibe. The move to Type Records, coincides, perhaps not coincidentally, with a sonic shift, where once was abstract and low fidelity, is now rhythmic, and propulsive, looped and repetitive, and most importantly, glistening and glimmering, the sound crystal clear, and this time the dreaminess doesn't come from poor recording, it comes from the compositions, and the arrangements, and a super nice sounding recording courtesy of Phil Manley of the Champs and Trans Am. The core members of Alps also have a keen interest in new age music. Not the Deep Breakfast sort of schlock that most seem to equate with the genre, but instead more the sort of inner space, dreamy drift of Tangerine Dream, Deuter, Steve Hillage and the like. And those sounds are all over III as well.
The opener is a gorgeous looped soundscape of repetitive guitar figures, and glistening chimes, almost like a dreamfolk Steve Reich, bits of Appalachia, big buzzing synths, strummed zithers, a gorgeous melancholy melody played out over the course of five and a half minutes. The second track finds the band getting their kraut on, channeling Neu! Or Agitation Free but through a much more washed out and weary space rock, like Hawkwind gone new age. Distant drifting vocals, all manner of layered buzz, distorted guitars buried in the mix, space-y FX, very tranquil and mesmerizing. The follow up "Cloud One" finds Alps revisiting their folk roots, taking strummed acoustic guitars, and simple piano, and draping them over a woozy melody and a super spare abstract rhythm. "Trem Fantasma" is a barely there whisper of spaced out dronemusic, Gloriously wreathed in musical mystery, drifting piano, fragmented guitars, some soft sixties 'ladada' vocals, another dreamy drifter that threatens to spirit the listener away to some sun dappled green grassed knoll. "Labyrinths" is another new age / krautrock meander, washed out and shimmery, the drums the only thing keeping the rest of the song from just floating away, playful melodies, that sound like Perry and Kingsley rendered in shades of grey. The next few tracks are more abstract, sounds swooping in and out, rhythms, if there are any, buried beneath soft layers of sound, everything hushed and minimal, until album closer, "Into The Breeze", which sounds just like the title would have you imagine, breezy, soft focus, the drums, simple and stripped down, shimmering steel string guitar, that ever present piano, the melody wistful, the production hazy and a little woozy, effects swirling in the background, the drums gradually becoming more and more tripped out, before fading out completely, leaving just the guitar and the piano to drift heavenward, through a field of soft shimmer and the glistening afterglow of the sounds that came before.
The more we listen to III, the more obvious the new age-isms become, which is not a bad thing at all, it wraps the proceedings, no matter how krautrocky or folky or droney, in a sweet swirl of moonlit dreaminess, turning each song into its own sort of otherworldly mesmer.
MPEG Stream: "A Manha Na Praia"
MPEG Stream: "Hallucinations"
MPEG Stream: "Cloud One"

ALPS, THE III (Type) lp 19.98
The latest from Bay Area new-kraut-folk-age combo Alps, finds the band sounding more high fidelity than ever, and more kraut than folk, which in both cases suits them big time.
For those new to Alps, a rundown of several members should help give you an idea of where their sound is coming from: our very own Scott Hewicker (Troll), Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp, formerly of Tussle) and Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Colophon, J.C. Ledesma). But Alps is definitely more than the sum of its parts, their sound is quite varied, expansive, even epic at times, but simultaneously, they manage to craft a sound simple and solid, based as much on rhythm and texture as on song and melody.
On past releases, Alps were a much more ramshackle concern, which at the time was definitely a big part of their sound, and thus set them firmly amongst the lo-fi cd-r drone folks scene, their sound a sort of ghostly Appalachia, mixed with longform drone music, muddy muted ambience, minimal soundscaping and plenty of lo-fi buzz and hiss much of the record mired in a corrosive murk, that only added to their dark dronelike vibe. The move to Type Records, coincides, perhaps not coincidentally, with a sonic shift, where once was abstract and low fidelity, is now rhythmic, and propulsive, looped and repetitive, and most importantly, glistening and glimmering, the sound crystal clear, and this time the dreaminess doesn't come from poor recording, it comes from the compositions, and the arrangements, and a super nice sounding recording courtesy of Phil Manley of the Champs and Trans Am. The core members of Alps also have a keen interest in new age music. Not the Deep Breakfast sort of schlock that most seem to equate with the genre, but instead more the sort of inner space, dreamy drift of Tangerine Dream, Deuter, Steve Hillage and the like. And those sounds are all over III as well.
The opener is a gorgeous looped soundscape of repetitive guitar figures, and glistening chimes, almost like a dreamfolk Steve Reich, bits of Appalachia, big buzzing synths, strummed zithers, a gorgeous melancholy melody played out over the course of five and a half minutes. The second track finds the band getting their kraut on, channeling Neu! Or Agitation Free but through a much more washed out and weary space rock, like Hawkwind gone new age. Distant drifting vocals, all manner of layered buzz, distorted guitars buried in the mix, space-y FX, very tranquil and mesmerizing. The follow up "Cloud One" finds Alps revisiting their folk roots, taking strummed acoustic guitars, and simple piano, and draping them over a woozy melody and a super spare abstract rhythm. "Trem Fantasma" is a barely there whisper of spaced out dronemusic, Gloriously wreathed in musical mystery, drifting piano, fragmented guitars, some soft sixties 'ladada' vocals, another dreamy drifter that threatens to spirit the listener away to some sun dappled green grassed knoll. "Labyrinths" is another new age / krautrock meander, washed out and shimmery, the drums the only thing keeping the rest of the song from just floating away, playful melodies, that sound like Perry and Kingsley rendered in shades of grey. The next few tracks are more abstract, sounds swooping in and out, rhythms, if there are any, buried beneath soft layers of sound, everything hushed and minimal, until album closer, "Into The Breeze", which sounds just like the title would have you imagine, breezy, soft focus, the drums, simple and stripped down, shimmering steel string guitar, that ever present piano, the melody wistful, the production hazy and a little woozy, effects swirling in the background, the drums gradually becoming more and more tripped out, before fading out completely, leaving just the guitar and the piano to drift heavenward, through a field of soft shimmer and the glistening afterglow of the sounds that came before.
The more we listen to III, the more obvious the new age-isms become, which is not a bad thing at all, it wraps the proceedings, no matter how krautrocky or folky or droney, in a sweet swirl of moonlit dreaminess, turning each song into its own sort of otherworldly mesmer.
LIMITED TO ONLY 400 COPIES ON VINYL!!!!! (& the compact disc version is coming soon, but not out yet...)
MPEG Stream: "A Manha Na Praia"
MPEG Stream: "Hallucinations"
MPEG Stream: "Cloud One"

ALPS, THE Jewelt Galaxies (Root Strata) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Managed to get a handful more of these, and it looks like once these are gone, they'll be gone for good.
From the looks of the felt pen scrawled disc artwork you might be expecting some Wolf Eyes, Black Dice or Lightning Bolt sweaty dirge-noise bursts, but The Alps go in the opposite direction, offering up glistening meditative soundscapes well-suited to gazing at frosty mountain peaks such as those of their namesake. Makes more sense when you discover that The Alps are Scott Hewicker (Troll), Alexis Georgopoulos (Tussle) and Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Colophon, J.C. Ledesma), doesn't it?
Squeaky clarinets and alien flute toots melted into whirls of swish and whoosh, all laid over ominous drones and instrument hum and tape hiss. Quite beautiful. And as with many cd-r releases, quite limited!
MPEG Stream: "Tintinnabulations"

ALPS, THE Jewelt Galaxies / Spirit Shambles (Spekk) cd 17.98
Gorgeous reissue of two long out of print cd-r's from Bay Area abstract drone drift outfit The Alps, featuring AQ staffer Scott Hewicker (Troll), Alexis Georgopoulos (Tussle) and Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Colophon, J.C. Ledesma), who together weave breathtaking expanses of blissed out shimmer and glistening meditative soundscapes well-suited to gazing at frosty mountain peaks such as those of their namesake.
The Alps explore mysterious worlds of haunting folky foresty freeform loveliness, trafficking in dark dreamy wonder, disembodied strains of some lost Appalachia float weightless in a dusky forest of murky mumbly ambience, while muted guitars and stumbling tribal drumming swirl and sway amidst delicate tendrils of creepy ghostly falsetto croon and swoon. Elsewhere, deep pools of shimmering cymbal wash sparkle and glimmer, the sky above a moonlit smear of ethereal electronic effervescence, all run through with streaks of subtle melody. Squeaky clarinets and alien flute toots melt into whirls of swish and whoosh, all laid over ominous drones and instrument hum and tape hiss.
Think The Wickerman meets Jewelled Antler or Neu! played at 16rpm broadcast through a moss covered speaker on the bottom of the sea, or the sound of the Northern Lights, recorded onto a wax cylinder and played back through a shortwave radio, while a boy on a nearby rooftop hurls broken cymbals into the drained swimming pool next door, the entire thing subtly underpinned by the relentless throb and pulse of rain dripping on upended plastic garbage cans. So good.
The only drag here is that the label decided to leave off one of our favorite tracks, the final number on Spirit Shambles, fearing its lo-fi sprawl and clatter didn't fit in with the Alps' lush ambience and moonlit glimmer, which is precisely why it worked so perfectly. Oh well, to hear what we're talking about you just might have to do some internet searching or late night eBaying, but don't let that deter you from picking this up, even minus that burst of corrosive murk, you'd be hard pressed to find a lovelier batch of shambling sonic swoon...
Packaged with all new artwork in a cool, sleek oversized digipak style folder.
MPEG Stream: "Tintinnabulations"
MPEG Stream: "O Wind"
MPEG Stream: "Bird With The Crystal Plumage"

ALPS, THE Spirit Shambles (Digitalis) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SF's The Alps (featuring our very own Scott Hewicker) returns with their second full length of haunting folky foresty freeform loveliness. Featuring members of Tarentel and Tussle, the Alps traffic in dark dreamy wonder, disembodied strains of some lost Appalachia float weightless in a dusky forest of murky mumbly ambience, while muted guitars and stumbling tribal drumming swirl and sway amidst delicate tendrils of creepy ghostly falsetto croon and swoon. Elsewhere, deep pools of shimmering cymbal wash sparkle and glimmer, the sky above a moonlit smear of ethereal electronic effevescence, all run through with streaks of subtle melody. Think The Wickerman meets Jewelled Antler or Neu! played at 16rpm broadcast through a moss covered speaker on the bottom of the sea, or the sound of the Northern Lights, recorded onto a wax cylinder and played back through a shortwave radio, while a boy on a nearby rooftop hurls broken cymbals into the drained swimming pool next door, the entire thing subtly underpinned by the relentless throb and pulse of rain dripping on upended plastic garbage cans. The final track however veers into much stranger territory, but somehow still sounds very Alps. An ultra lo-fi, pagan freakout, creepy and muddy and druggy, blown out drumming, bizarre animalistic vocalisations, all seemingly captured on a hand held microcassette recorder. Weird. But very cool.
LIMITED TO ONLY 150 COPIES!!!!!
MPEG Stream: "O Wind"
MPEG Stream: "Bird With The Crystal Plumage"

ALRUNE ROD Sonet Arene 1969-72 (Sonet) 2cd 29.00

ALTAMONT Civil War Fantasy (Man's Ruin Records) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

ALTAMONT Our Darling (Man's Ruin) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Melvins drummer Dale Crover's side band, where he straps on a six string and does his southern rock, '70s stoner thing. The Altamont trio also includes a member of Acid King. Their last album had a Hendrix cover, this time they do one by the Heartbreakers, and a Mose Allison by way of The Who tune, among their retro originals.

ALTAR SHADOWS Speckledy Falcons (Todestrieb) cd 13.98
Not sure what it was about Altar Shadows that intrigued us more, the fact that they're from Lithuania, or that their record is called Speckledy Falcons. Probably a little of both, but the two taken together, well, they were virtually irresistible to the aQ weirdo black metal obsessives.
And rightfully so. Altar Shadows offer up a blend of majestic Viking tinged black metal, midtempo Burzumic buzz, traditional Lithuanian folk music, black ambience and some field recordings, burbling brooks, birdsong and other sounds of nature. A strange combination, but the band are pretty deft at assembling them into something cohesive and compelling, black and heavy, melodic and mysterious.
Many of the songs start off with field recordings, invoking the spirit of the forest, of the wilderness, which is carried through to the music, even with the riffs are buzzing blackly, they are underpinned by strummed acoustic guitars, mournful melodies, woozy waltz like tempos, often breaking down into a sort of lilting folk interlude, peppered with guitar leads, before swooping back into full buzz.
One track eschews the buzz completely, instead offering up dark brooding acoustic folk, clean crooned vocals, glistening acoustic guitars, melancholy melodies, while another blends the two, turning a folk song into a strange lurching loping blackened jam, with strange staccato drumming, and super emotive melodies, soaring leads, and growled guttural vocals. Their version of a traditional Lithuanian folk song follows a similar pattern, the guitars spread out in long streaks of downtuned buzz, the vocals a demonlike roar, but woven into a strange folky framework, big drums pounding out a rhythm over harmonized melodies, and some simple strumming, strange but quite cool.
But don't let all the folk throw you off, Altar Shadows are indeed a black metal band, who offer up some gorgeously grim black buzz, blast beats, furious riffing, it's just that their black buzz is infused with the spirit of the past, and informed by the folk music of their ancestors, which more than anything, makes their blackness all the more unique, and their sound something special. Plus, SPECKLEDY FALCONS!!!
MPEG Stream: "Margi Sakalai"
MPEG Stream: "Ant Upes Didziausios Smeletr Krantr"
MPEG Stream: "I Dar Gilesni Pragara II"

ALTER ECHO AND ERS-ONE MEET DR. ISRAEL Dubwise (Anthem Records) 7" 2.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Awesome archival release from Alter Echo and ERS-One, featuring Dr. Israel, who aQ folks might remember from his killer dubbed out Sabbath cover. But this here disc is a killer chunk of low-slung, proto-dubstep, a thick slithery dubby groove and some super filthy buzzy low end, cranked the whole store shook, gunshots and toasting here and there throughout, the whole vibe hazy and ghostly and druggy and laid back, but that bassline and the minimal rhythm is totally irresistible.
One sided single, in a plain yellow sleeve. WAY LIMITED. Only 100 copies!!!

ALTER EGO Why Not?! (Klang Elektronik) cd 16.98
Not to be confused with the Italian Alter Ego who collaborated with Philip Jeck and Gavin Bryars on the recent reinterpretation of Bryars' classic The Sinking Of The Titanic, although come to think of it, it might be pretty amazing to hear THESE guys interpret Bryars' super somber epic.
This Alter Ego is from Germany, and they tend to mine similar ground as folks like Justice and Daft Punk, that sort of high energy, dance floor destroying good time techno, lots of heavy buzzy synths, swooping squiggly melodies, bouncing infectious rhythms, fun and funny, goofy and a bit wild. Super playful and funky, but also pretty weird.
The opener sounds like a Basement Jaxx instrumental, super fuzzy and groovy, synths snarling all over the place, some awesome fuzzy melodies, but then out of nowhere the track breaks down into this weird stumbling percussive sounding rhythmic stutter, all strange pizzicato strings and arpeggiated beats, hard to explain, completely interrupts the flow, but sounds so perfect anyway, the band effortlessly slip back into, it, only to drop out and do that weird confusional breakdown a few more times. Which is precisely what makes this disc, and these guys so appealing.
All of the tracks begin with a similar template. Block rockin beats, fuzzy throbbing synths, woozy melodies, bits of dubstep, dancehall and techno, all wound up weirdly tangled electro / techno hybrids, but then things get all wonky, in a very good way, some tracks get all epic and majestic, the synths swelling into huge grandiose melodies, others fall apart into angular new wave freakouts, some sound like experimental synth jams, others end up super minimal, like some squiggly slightly tweaked take on the Kompakt sound.
On the surface, this stuff will totally hit the spot for anyone into any of the abovementioned bands, folks who want to just hit the dancefloor and get totally lost. But for those of us with an aversion to the dancefloor, but who still dig dance music, this shit is thick and heavy, layered and off kilter, weird and cool and just a bit fucked, without ever losing its groove.
MPEG Stream: "Why Not?!"
MPEG Stream: "Gary"
MPEG Stream: "Fuckingham Palace"

ALTERED STATES 6 (Zenbei) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
New album from the fab Tokyo jazz/prog/rock trio lead by Uchihashi Kazuhisa (recently profiled in Guitar Player magazine as part of a feature on Japanese avant-guitar). He and the drummer are also members of Otomo Yoshihide's Ground Zero. Weird and wiggly.

ALTERED STATES Bluffs II (Doubtmusic) cd 16.98
Avant jazz from Japan featuring guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi, who you may also know from Ground Zero and various duos, including several with Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins.

ALTERED STATES Mosaic (God Mountain) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Awesome instrumental heavy prog with an aesthetic appreciation for noise and experimentation (read: these guys aren't overly wanky or cheeseball like some prog outfits) from this Japanese trio. Featuring Ground Zero alumni Uchihashi Kazuhisa (guitar), Nasuno Mitsuro (bass) and Yoshigaki Yasuhiro (drums), this "supergroup" of sorts is recommended to anyone intetested in the Otomo Yoshihide ring of Japanese improv.

ALTERED STATES Plays Standards (Eyewill) cd 20.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Japan's Altered States, featuring guitarist Uchihashi Kazuhisa (also known for his work solo and with Otomo Yoshihides' Ground Zero, among other things), are one of our favorite undefinable, adventurous jazz/rock/prog/improv combos. Here they tackle a selection of standards, from "A Night In Tunisia" to "Mood Indigo", from "Over The Rainbow" to "Hello Dolly"! Not for those afraid of jazz, but also not for those attached to the "normal" versions of those songs...

ALTERNATIVE 3 (OST) (Lo) cd 16.98
Members of Stereolab, Add N to (x), and (the unfortunately named) Hairy Butter join forces to noodle about with their analog toys for a soundtrack to some upcoming movie I'm sure we'll hear more about.

ALU Autismenschen (C.I.P.) cd 11.98
A few months back we bellowed loudly about the impressive Berlin Super 80 DVD / CD compilation, which presented the parallel activities of the nascent German DIY film community and the incendiary musical scene which collectively qualified themselves as The Ingenious Dilletantes in the late '70s and early '80s, after a huge arts festival co-curated by Einsturzende Neubauten's Blixa Bargeld. Exasperated by the pressure cooked environment, the members of this very loose community which also included painters, performance artists, actors, etc. embraced an aesthetic of bleak nihilism often tinged with post-ironic absurdity. While not being featured on the musical program of Berlin Super 80, Alu was one of many bands mentioned in passing in that document, having played alongside the likes of Sprung Aus Den Wolken, Neubauten, and Malaria back in the day. Like many of those terminally obscure but often exceptional electro/post-punk projects that Vinyl-On-Demand has reissued in recent years, Alu set forth Frankensteinian, synth-punk and monotone grooves, upon which they chanted dead-pan German vocals sounding not too far from early SPK, Throbbing Gristle, or even Suicide. What's curious about Alu is not the fantastic sound of this, their only studio recording Autimenschen (which actually never saw the light of day back in the '80s, and only now has been discovered and released by the good people at C.I.P.), but in the fact that the two members of Alu also hailed from the obscure '70s Krautrock trio Sand. The morose hallucinations and sprawling psychedelia of Sand are a far cry from the tense, motorized bleakness of Alu; but nonetheless both Alu and Sand stand out as magnificent discoveries from their respective genres.
MPEG Stream: "Halt Dich Fest"
MPEG Stream: "Bitte Warten Sie!"
MPEG Stream: "Sie Kriegt Alles Was Sie Will"

ALUK TODOLO Descension (Public Guilt) cd 12.98
Finally, the first full length from these mysterious French post black metal krautrock alchemists. And if you think calling a band French post black metal krautrock alchemists might be overdoing it, you haven't hear Aluk Todolo.
An offshoot of black metal horde Diamatregon (who have one record on tUMULt, and another one coming soon), this trio, just guitar, bass and drums, are most definitely alchemists, working some sort of ancient magic, turning the simplest of rock band instrumentation, into something massive and mysterious, heavy and haunting, brutal and mesmerizing, repetitive and motorik. Crafting songs, that manage to be both pieces, in the classical sense, abstract and intellectual collections and arrangements of sound, subtle shadings, tonal color and timbre, harmony and dissonance, and SONGS, in the rock sense, fucking kick ass jams, that seem to go on forever, killer riffs, and relentless head nodding rhythms, like krautrock, only heavier and darker and way way blacker. Like black metal but without all the buzz and howl, stripped down to its very essence, to just mood and rhythm, ambience and propulsion.
In the review of the previous 7" we described the band's sound as: Ominous krautrock rhythms over Einsterzende style industrial clatter, some lost seventies psych rock holy grail channeled through modern post rock. Dreamy and dark and mesmerizing. Hypnotic guitar lines and simple shuffling rhythms that build into clattery propulsive jams, all clanging angular riffs and dense tangled drumming. VERY This Heat like, and reminiscent of the late great Laddio Bolocko. Some sort of dangerous and mysterious postrock / krautrock hybrid, lo-fi but thick and dense and amazingly heavy.
And the full length essentially still sounds like that, but having loosed themselves from the shackles of the way too brief 7" format, the band can take all those elements, and lay them out, an epic massive post rock, krautrock, dronerock, experimental post black metal sprawl. These are the kinds of songs and sounds that need space, and time, need to lull the listener in, to entrance, ensorcel, the rhythms are stripped down and repetitive, looped and hypnotic, simple, but surprisingly and subtly complex at the same time. It's not hard to hear other hypno rockers in Aluk Todolo's sound, Circle, Salvatore and the like, but also space rock masters of repetition, Hawkwind, The Heads, and of course krautrock legends Can and Faust. Especially Can, with their focus on the power of the rhythm, no mater how seemingly simple or plain. But more than anything, it's legendary UK experimentalists This Heat whose, haunting mysterious rhythmic influence is all over Descension.
The opening track is the heaviest, a brutal slab of in the red distorted riffage, the actual riffs barely discernible, more like a heaving mass of crumbling distortion and space rock FX, but the rhythms that frame the whole record are already in place, pounding steadily beneath the buzz and skree. A head nodding pulse underpinning the swirling distorted clouds above. A bracing and white hot burst of blackdronekrautpsych that has the speakers rattling for all of its 8+ minutes.
But that track mostly serves as an intro to the complex and moody rhythmic sprawl that makes up the other three tracks. "Burial Ground" begins with what sounds like a slowed down This Heat rhythm track synched up to the free abstract drift of legendary seventies dronepsych collective Taj Mahal Travellers. The drums unwavering, but the background constantly in flux, swaths of black buzz, brief flurries of chaotic FX, distant low end swells, haunting fragmented melodies, a gorgeous spare kraut rock jam dropped into the abyss.
"Woodchurch" is a dense wall of high end buzz, all swirling distorted hum and keening feedback, tones all tangled up, a chordal wash of tuned vacuum cleaners, a sort of Sunroof! Style urdrone, but beneath it, the simplest of bass lines, distorted and downtuned, a heartbeat like throb, only a handful of notes, just enough to tie into the even simpler drum part, just kick drum and snare, a two step tattoo, as completely mesmerizing as it us utterly simple. The background buzz, swaying and pulsing, like some massive black sea, or clouds of insects ravaging a blighted sonic landscape.
The disc closes with "Disease" which opens with an ultra heavy slide guitar, unfurling a slow motion blues riff, caked in black buzz and thick distortion, the notes left to hang, ringing out until the tones slowly transform into feedback, immediately being swallowed up by the riff right behind it. It's like Robert Johnson playing SUNNO))), and then suddenly, the sound shifts, and the band reverts to its murky trawl, a thick throbbing bass line, another Can like rhythm, guitars warm and warbly, more like a layer of wet fuzz than distinct riffing, but occasionally, bits of that opening salvo return, offering up brief blasts of speaker destroying crunch, or brief bits of grinding buzz, a sudden start that almost, but doesn't quite wake you from your soporific reverie. Near the end, the distorted slide guitar returns, and drums drop out, and the track finishes with a thick coda of pealing guitar roar and shimmering chordal droneŠ
Intense and hypnotic and heavy and fucking genius. Ritualistic sounds, both black and brilliant, pulled from the void, a mysterious and sonic netherworld. Definite contender for record of the year.
MPEG Stream: "Obedience"
MPEG Stream: "Burial Ground"