A STORM OF LIGHT Forgive Us Our Trespasses (Neurot) lp 22.00
Maybe some of you remember the awesome Primitive North split lp between Nadja and A Storm Of Light, the newish project of Josh Graham (Red Sparrows, Blood And Time, Neurosis visuals dude). Some of us neglected to take note of A Storm Of Light's debut, which we're now kicking ourselves over, because the band's latest, Forgive Us Our Trespasses, is certainly satisfying our sweet tooth for epic, metallic post rock grandiosity with a healthy dose of DOOM. Like Neurosis, ASoL takes things into sprawling psychedelic territory, but Graham's clear and powerful vocals may actually be enough for this to appeal to the non-metalheads as well. The sound here is absolutely HUGE, and the awesome/ridiculous artwork, with its collection of discarded objects, animals, and massive landforms, should give you a pretty good indication of the surreal, dreamlike qualities represented on this disc. It's pretty refreshing hearing a band bring such crushingly heavy sounds into a realm that is also very tuneful, catchy, and triumphant. Thematically, the album seems to revolve around some sort of post-industrial collapse - you know, like the one just around the corner - perfectly represented on the opening track, which features a chilling spoken word piece by Lydia Lunch accompanied by a... banjo? Yep, the "almost sea shanty-ish" arrangements we described on Primitive North prevail here as well, not that you'll be thinking of pirates (or maybe you will), it's just that the songs take on a massive, back and forth sort of sway like they are being controlled by the elements.
So yeah, maybe it took us a while to take note of these guys, but we're sure glad we did. Better late than never.
MPEG Stream: "Amber Waves Of Gray"
MPEG Stream: "Tempest"
MPEG Stream: "The Light In Their Eyes"

A STORM OF LIGHT Untitled (Latitudes / Southern) cd 14.98
The latest in the ongoing series of limited Latitudes releases comes from psychedelic doom heavies A Storm Of Light, whose most recent full length, As The Valley Of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade, we just reviewed on last week's list. ASOL is the project of Josh Graham, who is a member of epic doom sludge legends Neurosis as well as Blood And Time and Red Sparowes.
And like that full length, this is another killer batch of epic psychedelic doom jams, the guitars chugging and churning, the melodies epic and soaring, the drums a colossal pound, the vocals effected and tripped out, the sound like a swirling druggy hybrid of Neurosis, Hawkwind and Godspeed, the tracks smoldering slow burners, which sometimes erupt into full on crushing metal blowouts, but just as often, remain murky and psychedelic and droney and dirgey.
"Tempest" starts out kinda weird, with some cool lo-fi backwards guitars, some creepy whispered vox, dark dolorous piano, a staticky field of what sounds like chirping crickets, before finally exploding into a lumbering, mathy post metal workout, and their version of Joy Division's "Day Of The Lords" sounds like it could have been an ASOL original, but the big surprise is the final track, a spacey psychedelic cover of Big Black's "Kitty Empire", which definitely adds a new twist to an already ruling jam.
A handful of guests pop up too, one of the Wolves from Wolves In The Throne Room, and the legendary Lydia Lunch, among others. Packaged as usual in that distinctive Latitudes packaging. the cd in a brown and white origami style sleeve, with a red metallic foil stamp on the front, and a full color insert inside with liner notes, the lp in a black and white sleeve, with the same insert. BOTH LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES, each one hand numbered!
MPEG Stream: "Day Of The Lords"
MPEG Stream: "Vast And Endless"

A STORM OF LIGHT Untitled (Latitudes / Southern) lp 16.98
The latest in the ongoing series of limited Latitudes releases comes from psychedelic doom heavies A Storm Of Light, whose most recent full length, As The Valley Of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade, we just reviewed on last week's list. ASOL is the project of Josh Graham, who is a member of epic doom sludge legends Neurosis as well as Blood And Time and Red Sparowes.
And like that full length, this is another killer batch of epic psychedelic doom jams, the guitars chugging and churning, the melodies epic and soaring, the drums a colossal pound, the vocals effected and tripped out, the sound like a swirling druggy hybrid of Neurosis, Hawkwind and Godspeed, the tracks smoldering slow burners, which sometimes erupt into full on crushing metal blowouts, but just as often, remain murky and psychedelic and droney and dirgey.
"Tempest" starts out kinda weird, with some cool lo-fi backwards guitars, some creepy whispered vox, dark dolorous piano, a staticky field of what sounds like chirping crickets, before finally exploding into a lumbering, mathy post metal workout, and their version of Joy Division's "Day Of The Lords" sounds like it could have been an ASOL original, but the big surprise is the final track, a spacey psychedelic cover of Big Black's "Kitty Empire", which definitely adds a new twist to an already ruling jam.
A handful of guests pop up too, one of the Wolves from Wolves In The Throne Room, and the legendary Lydia Lunch, among others. Packaged as usual in that distinctive Latitudes packaging. the cd in a brown and white origami style sleeve, with a red metallic foil stamp on the front, and a full color insert inside with liner notes, the lp in a black and white sleeve, with the same insert. BOTH LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES, each one hand numbered!
MPEG Stream: "Day Of The Lords"
MPEG Stream: "Vast And Endless"

A STORM OF LIGHT / NADJA Primitive North (Robotic Empire) 2lp + cd 25.00
Not sure why we never reviewed the recent full length from A Storm Of Light, if we remember correctly, it was a pretty excellent collection of post Neurosis brooding metallic heaviness. But we can't review everything, so we'll try to make up for it with this one, which features ASoL teaming up with big time aQ faves Nadja for some seriously blissed out doom drone heaviness.
The A side features two tracks from A Storm Of Light, "Brother" and "Sister", the first, a sort of Neurosis / later period Swans hybrid, the verses a sprawling snare flecked rumble, the male vocals a deep croon, countered by more ethereal female vox, the verses crashing into an explosive chorus, huge soaring downtuned guitars, howled vocals, pounding drums, dirge-y but not doomy so much as epic, the guitar layered into thick swells, the whole thing getting almost orchestral near the end. "Sister" follows up with something a bit more mathy and lurching rhythmically, the vocals more raspy and rough, the guitars wreathed in effects, keyboards swirling and shimmering, the drums tribal and solid, the middle part features long stretches of softer drift, the arrangement almost sounds almost sea shanty-ish, albeit lumbering and heavy as fuck, super dramatic, and almost emo sounding when the two vocals harmonize near the end.
Nadja counter with a sidelong jam called "I Make From Your Eyes The Sun" which begins with warm muted backwards guitars, skittery barely there percussion, tinkling chimes, woozy sun baked melodies, lots of gauzy hiss and whir, even some piano, eventually, as it always does, the song blossoms in a slow motion supernova of sound, the guitars thick and viscous, the vocals a near whisper way down in the mix, the drums spare and simple, a gentle pop song buried beneath all manner of distortion and decay, woozy and washed out and dreamy and distant, although at one point, the ethereal guitar parts coalesce into some serious chugging, and for a short stretch the sound of Nadja gets all Godfleshed, a fierce industrial pound, beneath streaks of feedback, and undulating layers of buzz building and building and building to a warm, wonderfully warped climax, before the parts gradually slough off leaving just a minimal bit of warm whir.
The last two tracks are remixes, the first lets Nadja transform ASoL's "Brother" into something very Nadja-like, a slow, brooding build up, all deep swell and swirls of muted feedback, warped reverby guitars, bits of backwards swoop, gentle tinkling keyboards, until the MASSIVE breakdown, ultra heavy pounding crush, the guitars epic and crumbling and fierce as fuck, the drums distorted and pummeling, the drums eventually dropping out for the most part, leaving just the guitars to drone and buzz their way to the end. And finally, A Storm Of Light gets to tackle the Nadja track, and right out of the gate, they chop it up quite a bit, bumping the vocals up in the mix, muting most of the guitars except for a little industrial squall of grinding buzz, stretching it out into something less warm and woozy, but still dark and ominous, eventually letting the guitars tangle and wrangle over the roiling sea of murk below, all sort of atonal and off kilter, the drums more machinelike, finishing off with a weirdly dreamy stretch of crumbling chug.
Normally there would be a side 4, but here, that side is instead rendered unplayable by a beautiful super detailed etching. And both lps are pressed on super subtle blood red / black vinyl. And the packaging, holy shit is it over the top. The artwork is super eye popping photoshopped fantasy art with strange humanoids and polar bears and sweeping expanses of tundra and starlit skies and ruined castles, and birds and rams, it's almost silly it's so over the top but it's VERY striking. Gatefold, super thick, inside there's also a full color printed lyric sheet with liner notes AND a cd (not a cd-r) featuring all the music from the two records.
MPEG Stream: A STORM OF LIGHT "Brother"
MPEG Stream: NADJA "I Make From Your Eyes The Sun"

A STORY OF RATS Vastness & The Inverse (Translinguistic Other) lp 16.98
Latest from these Pacific Northwest doomdronedirge crushers, and it's another fantastically epic sprawl of tranced out blackness in the form of two sidelong jams, PLUS a 'reinterpretation' of the A side by Author And Punisher included with the digital download - more on that in a second.
While these guys are most definitely heavy, historically they've tempered their churning creep and abstract black ambient drift, with something much more melodic and psychedelic, never moreso than here, the A side beginning with a simple plodding, ritualistic drumbeat, which is soon joined by some dreamy sitar like buzz, swirling swaths of chordal drone, and some effected chantlike vox. Imagine a more mellow Sunroof" mixed with a little Om-ish dirgery, and then spaced out into something much more prismatic and dreamy. It's not until about half way through that things get truly doomy, the residual synthy swirls and woozy melodies remain, but in the place of that slow tribal plod, the drums have become a caveman pound, the guitars too, now corrosive and crumbling, the whole song shifting into full on doom dirge mode, but everything swathed in a hazy sun dappled dreaminess, that makes everything sound less heavy, and more hypnotic, sans the vokills, this could be some lost instrumental Nadja jam. It also reminds us of recent aQ slowcore doom faves Bell Witch.
The B side offers up a similar variation, working with the same sonic palette, but this time beginning with a softly pulsing dronescape, all distant rumbles, buried melodies, murky textures, slow soft swells of chordal thrum, which gradually gives way to a lumbering slowcore dirge, but more washed out and weary, that heavy, clean guitar chords are hung over the simple drums, the harsh vox buried way back in the mix, the result a sort of woozy, buzzy ballad, those clean vocals resurfacing again, making the whole thing sound more gloomy and gothy than metal, a sort of gloomdirge dreaminess, which here blossoms into something epic and majestic, soaring melodies, all the sounds building and building to a post rock style denouement, but again, still retaining all of the darkness of the group's doom core. The last few minutes finds the heavy guitars peeled back, and the drums dropping out, leaving just a gorgeous stretch of blissed out psych-drone drift, melodic, melancholy, and surprisingly lovely.
The accompanying download includes the songs proper of course, but also a bonus track, a reworking from Author And Punisher, who employs his arsenal of homebuilt noise makers, to at least initially, make the sound even more abstract, a sea of roiling rumbles beneath the simple drum plod, and creepy cinematic main melody, before adding some serious industrial pummel, and robotic pound to the second half, as well as a corrosive layer of crumbling buzz, culminating in an epic outro, that whips all the sounds up into a dense, tense, emotionally charged, and sonically punishing finale.
Super swank silkscreened packaging, metallic silver and grey on matte cardstock sleeves, with a download coupon obviously as well.
MPEG Stream: "Huldrefolk"
MPEG Stream: "Her Teeth Are Nil (Author & Punisher Remix)"

A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW Ashes Grammar (Mis Ojos Discos) cd 13.98
Not many bands have a sound that fits their moniker as perfectly as A Sunny Day In Glasgow. Though they hail from Pennsylvania, their lush swirling day dream shoegaze pop really evoke not only so many great Glasgow bands but also exactly how we imagine a crisp bright sunny day over there to feel like. The band's debut Scribble Mural was an out of nowhere sleeper hit of 2007, in fact it was one of our favorite records of that year. Ashes Grammar finds them upping the ante, adding even more complex elements to their already dense mix of sounds. There is definitely a really nice 4AD influence in their sound as we're always reminded a bit of the Cocteau Twins, and there are BIG nods to Loveless era My Bloody Valentine. This time out you can also hear hints of 21st century composition in their saturated colorful approach to dense avant pop. Imagine if The Swirlies and Seefeel collaborated to create some seriously shimmering blissed out pop perfection!
MPEG Stream: "Canalfish"
MPEG Stream: "Nitetime Rainbows"
MPEG Stream: "Shy"

A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW Ashes Grammar (Mis Ojos Discos) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not many bands have a sound that fits their moniker as perfectly as A Sunny Day In Glasgow. Though they hail from Pennsylvania, their lush swirling day dream shoegaze pop really evoke not only so many great Glasgow bands but also exactly how we imagine a crisp bright sunny day over there to feel like. The band's debut Scribble Mural was an out of nowhere sleeper hit of 2007, in fact it was one of our favorite records of that year. Ashes Grammar finds them upping the ante, adding even more complex elements to their already dense mix of sounds. There is definitely a really nice 4AD influence in their sound as we're always reminded a bit of the Cocteau Twins, and there are BIG nods to Loveless era My Bloody Valentine. This time out you can also hear hints of 21st century composition in their saturated colorful approach to dense avant pop. Imagine if The Swirlies and Seefeel collaborated to create some seriously shimmering blissed out pop perfection!
MPEG Stream: "Canalfish"
MPEG Stream: "Nitetime Rainbows"
MPEG Stream: "Shy"

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

A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW Scribble Mural Comic Journal (Mis Ojos Discos) cd 14.98
More divine modern shoegaze, we just can't get enough. Fergit Belle And Sebastian. Camera Obscura, who's that? There's a new yummy band in town who're giving those bands a run for the money and adding a healthy dose of shoegaze-y shimmer -- umm, but the town they're in is not actually Glasgow. Nope, these kids are a trio from Philadelphia, but Ben Daniels and his twin sisters Robin and Lauren sound remarkably authentically wooly tartan'd. From now on when you think of Scotland, you just might find yourself thinking of A Sunny Day In Glasgow. Scribble Mural Comic Journal is a swirlin' shoegazin' blissed out treat all awash with fuzzy guitars and dreamgirl vocals in the lovely tradition of Sarah and Slumberland Records. With heaping helpings of gauzy Cocteau Twins swirl and abstract deconstructed My Bloody Valentine buzz. Press 'play', curl up in a windowseat, and enjoy!
MPEG Stream: "Wake Up Pretty"
MPEG Stream: "Things Only I Can See"

A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW Scribble Mural Comic Journal (Ruined Potential) 2lp 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl, a super deluxe double lp package, both discs pressed on 180 gram vinyl, new artwork, thick textured paper, a Japanese style obi, each hand numbered and limited to 330 copies. Includes exclusive remixes, one by Ulrich Schnauss, and one by Asobi Seksu!!
More divine modern shoegaze, we just can't get enough. Fergit Belle And Sebastian. Camera Obscura, who's that? There's a new yummy band in town who're giving those bands a run for the money and adding a healthy dose of shoegaze-y shimmer -- umm, but the town they're in is not actually Glasgow. Nope, these kids are a trio from Philadelphia, but Ben Daniels and his twin sisters Robin and Lauren sound remarkably authentically wooly tartan'd. From now on when you think of Scotland, you just might find yourself thinking of A Sunny Day In Glasgow. Scribble Mural Comic Journal is a swirlin' shoegazin' blissed out treat all awash with fuzzy guitars and dreamgirl vocals in the lovely tradition of Sarah and Slumberland Records. With heaping helpings of gauzy Cocteau Twins swirl and abstract deconstructed My Bloody Valentine buzz. Press 'play', curl up in a windowseat, and enjoy!
MPEG Stream: "Wake Up Pretty"
MPEG Stream: "Things Only I Can See"

A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW You Can't Hide Your Love Forever Vol. 1 (Geographic North) 7" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This Philly band captured our hearts a couple years back with one of the best shoegaze inspired records we had heard in ages, Scribble Mural Comic Journal, an album with which we fell more and more in love with every listen. So we were excited to see that they were picked to kick off this awesome new series of 7"s put out by Geographic North, called You Can't Hide Your Love Forever, which will also feature talented folks like Tarentel, Tussle, and more! These two new songs find ASDIG in perfect form, delivering more of their swirling daydream delights that remind us of brighter sunnier Cocteau Twins. Perfect for the 7" format as this is a band who creates songs that only get better with constant listens, we've been playing this over and over! Comes on cool blue vinyl and of course pretty limited as most of these sorts of things tend to be.

A TASTE OF RA Morning Of My Life (Hapna) cd 16.98
What a way to start your day... Morning Of My Life begins with what resembles a tuning session for the woodwind section of a pit orchestra. Long, drawn out high pitched whines drill themselves deep into your cranium. Egads. Fortunately they stop, giving way to pleasingly gentle strokes of an acoustic guitar and bows slipping across violin strings. Aaah, so nice! But then it tumbles abruptly into main man Nicolai Dunger's over-emotive vocals (think: a cross between Boz Scaggs and Joe Cocker) and strange jazzy ramblings. This cd's lone 42-minute track is uneven and joltingly varied for sure, but when Dunger's takes a lighter touch, the results are all too fleeting lovely moments of absolute bliss. Definitely a head-scratcher, but not in the dreamily wonderful odd way he's done in the past. We'd recommend maybe treating yourself to his two previous self-titled releases, before venturing this-a-way. This Taste of Ra is an acquired one.
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 2"

A TASTE OF RA s/t (Hapna) cd 16.98
Also known as... Swedish soft folksy popster Nicolai Dunger! We were initially surprised to find him on the Hapna label, but after hearing just a couple of songs we see it's a perfect fit. His music under the alias A Taste Of Ra is far less conventionally structured than his (recently reissued domestically) 1999 solo album This Cloud Is Learning, and more slowly unravelling and hallucinatory. You might say, he's offering a Swedish take on the soulful bluesy avant-folk of contemporaries such as Devendra Banhart and Animal Collective. Yes, comparisons will undoubtedly be drawn, but Dunger possesses a more soft-spoken thoughtful delivery. Actually this album plays smoothly right into the new Vetiver EP which flows nicely right into the new Jim White soundtrack album (which is how we listened to those three new releases here today). Almost like a waking dream.
MPEG Stream: "Final Embrace"
MPEG Stream: "Ride Your Smile"

A TASTE OF RA s/t (II) (Hapna) cd 16.98
Whereas under his given name Nicolai Dunger makes gentle music that invariably adheres to a linear traditional pop song structure, under the moniker A Taste Of Ra he roams freely in a slightly odd, aberrant nature. This is the second installment in his A Taste Of Ra self-titled trilogy. As he meanders the pastoral landscape, he puts the squeeze on what sounds like an old accordion, slides a bow drowsily across a few strings, picks a smattering of guitar strings and sings non-verbal ribbons of la-di-da-di's and Jandek-ish moaning utterances. Neo-folk melodic passages materialize unexpectedly, and no sooner have they become apparent than they dissipate. A slowly unravelling cryptic calm. For fans of Jandek, Wooden Wand And The Vanishing Voice and Skygreen Leopards.
MPEG Stream: "Flowers, Bats And Boats"
MPEG Stream: "The Fox And The Frog"

A TORTURED SOUL Kiss Of The Thorn (Eyes Like Snow / Northern Silence) cd 11.98
A change of pace from the usual black metal grimnity we expect from the Northern Silence label (who have brought us the likes of Angmar, Alcest, Amesoeurs, Stielas Storhett, Necrofrost...) comes from Milwaukee metallers A Tortured Soul (not to be confused with another metal band called This Tortured Soul fyi). In truth, they're on a Northern Silence sub-label called Eyes Like Snow, and actually ARE pretty grim. But not in a black metal way, unless you count Mercyful Fate/King Diamond as black metal (which they were definitely considered, back in the day, due to KD's LaVeyan Satanic philosophies). This is '80s styled epic power metal, with soaring-with-the-eagles, then-tearing-them-to-shreds singing that reminds us at times of Judas Priest's Rob Halford -- or even ol' Ozzy Osbourne -- especially on this album's best track, "Not Tonight"...
Vocalist Black (that's his name) has a high falsetto attack that mixes it up with more growly-man discourse. Likewise, A Tortured Soul's music ranges from moody n' melodic to ball-crushingly heavy, from doomy plod to speedy chug, doing their damnedest to deliver on their negative, depressive moniker. For fans of KD's outfits, also Justice-era Metallica, Nevermore/Sanctuary, '90s Judas Priest, Iced Earth, maybe even Shadows Fall. All despite the looks of their very black metal seeming band logo/symbol!
MPEG Stream: "Tomorrow's Door"
MPEG Stream: "Not Tonight"

A TRIBE CALLED QUEST Midnight Marauders (Jive) cd 0.00

A TRIBE CALLED QUEST Midnight Marauders (Jive) lp 16.98

A TRIP DOWN MARKET STREET 1905 / 2005 (MX Entertainment) dvd 18.98
A San Francisco treat! Market Street is one of SF's most renowned main thoroughfares. Over a hundred years ago a gent named Jack Kuttner made a film about it appropriately titled A Trip Down Market Street. The rare pre-1906 earthquake film is a mesmerizing black and white silent cinema procession of horse and buggy carriages, automobiles, cable cars and pedestrians -- all captured through the unblinking eye of a stationary camera placed on the front of a cable car heading north on Market. A hundred years later two filmmakers Melinda Stone and Sprague Anderson made a new film which shares not only the name, but also the approach and spirit of the original. We have to say that one of the stars of this color re-creation are SF's wonderful vintage streetcars which have been acquired in recent years from cities around the world. They're always a treat to see and to ride. This dvd was produced by San Francisco's Exploratorium, and commemorates the centennial of the former, documenting the outdoor celebration and screening which took place on September 24th 2005 and compiles both of the films along with a whole lot of other Market Street inspired and related historic and newly commissioned filmworks and photographs. Although the original 1905 film was silent, both films were scored beautifully for this dvd by Beth Custer. A wonderful document!

A WILD MAN BRANDISHING AN UPROOTED TREE s/t (Supermegacorporation) cd 8.98
Geoff Soule from Fuck's solo cd is varied and subdued. Very mellowwwwwww. If you are sad that Fuck is now defunct, then here is a chance to enjoy the similar quality and charm in a whole new guise.
RealAudio clip: "Punk"
RealAudio clip: "Monkey"
RealAudio clip: "Vegas"

A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN s/t (Kranky) cd 14.98
Debut release from this duo, featuring Adam Wiltzie of aQ-beloved dronescapers Stars Of The Lid. He's teamed up with composer Dustin O'Halloran, for a suite of songs that doesn't veer to far from recent Stars Of The Lid releases, but focus on the piano as the main instrument, with the duo seeking out large spaces and grand pianos, with which to fully realize their sonic vision.
The opening track, far too humbly titled "We Played Some Open Chords", lets chords on the piano ring out, the natural reverb carrying the notes off and letting them gradually fade. The piano underpinned by some sweetly sorrowful strings, and some mournful horns, a strangely melancholy bit of modern chamber music, all laid atop Wiltzie's masterful and subtle guitar drone shimmer. The two part "Requiem For The Static King" is lush and lovely and sounds like a soundtrack, all soaring strings, dramatic melodies, the second half veering into slightly darker territory, the piano resurfacing, the strings dialed back, the guitar drones allowed to swell and shimmer, while "Minuet For A Cheap Piano" sounds to be just that, the sound slightly muted, subtly distorted, and again, wreathed in what sounds like strings but could very well be the swirl of droned out guitars, hushed and delicate and dreamlike. "Steep Hills Of Vicodin Tears" is another bit of chamber music, the strings softly swelling, the arrangement strangely rhythmic, as of the instruments were breathing, the song laced with a delicate piano melody, the mood swoonsome and melancholy.
"A Symphony Pathetique" the longest track at nearly 13 minutes, seems to be the record's centerpiece, that piano suspended in a field of gauzy dronemusic, the track is epic and gorgeous, a sprawling stretch of hushed minimal beauty, the background sounds in constant motion, shimmering and undulating, overtones loosed to drift dreamily, all the while the piano plucks out painterly melodies, and like all the best songs, we would have been happy to have this stretch out and fill up the entire rest of the disc. Instead, the song fades gradually into the ether, from which drifts "All Farewells Are Sudden", a very UN-sudden sonic farewell, all slow swirling swells, hazy ambience, and most surprising, female vocals, creating a lush lovely droney harmony with the strings, and what in lesser hands could sound maudlin, ends up sounding simply beautiful, especially with the strange addition of what seems to be field recordings, only to have the whole song gradually unfurl into a darkly moody soft focus piano coda. So gorgeous. Fans of recent Stars Of The Lid will be in heaven, and anyone into dreamy mysterious ambience, minimal melodic drones and avant chamber music will definitely find much to love here.
MPEG Stream: "We Played Some Open Chords And Rejoiced, For The Earth Had Circled The Sun Yet Another Year"
MPEG Stream: "Requiem For The Static King Part Two"
MPEG Stream: "All Farewells Are Sudden"

A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN s/t (Kranky) lp 14.98
NOW, AT LAST, ON VINYL!!!
Debut release from this duo, featuring Adam Wiltzie of aQ-beloved dronescapers Stars Of The Lid. He's teamed up with composer Dustin O'Halloran, for a suite of songs that doesn't veer to far from recent Stars Of The Lid releases, but focus on the piano as the main instrument, with the duo seeking out large spaces and grand pianos, with which to fully realize their sonic vision.
The opening track, far too humbly titled "We Played Some Open Chords", lets chords on the piano ring out, the natural reverb carrying the notes off and letting them gradually fade. The piano underpinned by some sweetly sorrowful strings, and some mournful horns, a strangely melancholy bit of modern chamber music, all laid atop Wiltzie's masterful and subtle guitar drone shimmer. The two part "Requiem For The Static King" is lush and lovely and sounds like a soundtrack, all soaring strings, dramatic melodies, the second half veering into slightly darker territory, the piano resurfacing, the strings dialed back, the guitar drones allowed to swell and shimmer, while "Minuet For A Cheap Piano" sounds to be just that, the sound slightly muted, subtly distorted, and again, wreathed in what sounds like strings but could very well be the swirl of droned out guitars, hushed and delicate and dreamlike. "Steep Hills Of Vicodin Tears" is another bit of chamber music, the strings softly swelling, the arrangement strangely rhythmic, as of the instruments were breathing, the song laced with a delicate piano melody, the mood swoonsome and melancholy.
"A Symphony Pathetique" the longest track at nearly 13 minutes, seems to be the record's centerpiece, that piano suspended in a field of gauzy dronemusic, the track is epic and gorgeous, a sprawling stretch of hushed minimal beauty, the background sounds in constant motion, shimmering and undulating, overtones loosed to drift dreamily, all the while the piano plucks out painterly melodies, and like all the best songs, we would have been happy to have this stretch out and fill up the entire rest of the disc. Instead, the song fades gradually into the ether, from which drifts "All Farewells Are Sudden", a very UN-sudden sonic farewell, all slow swirling swells, hazy ambience, and most surprising, female vocals, creating a lush lovely droney harmony with the strings, and what in lesser hands could sound maudlin, ends up sounding simply beautiful, especially with the strange addition of what seems to be field recordings, only to have the whole song gradually unfurl into a darkly moody soft focus piano coda. So gorgeous. Fans of recent Stars Of The Lid will be in heaven, and anyone into dreamy mysterious ambience, minimal melodic drones and avant chamber music will definitely find much to love here.
MPEG Stream: "We Played Some Open Chords And Rejoiced, For The Earth Had Circled The Sun Yet Another Year"
MPEG Stream: "Requiem For The Static King Part Two"
MPEG Stream: "All Farewells Are Sudden"

A, DOMINIQUE Auguri (Lithium) cd 18.98
Monsieur Dominique A est un chanteur francais fantastique et nous aimons beaucoup la musique qu'il fait. How's that? Seriously Dominique A has a beautiful, distinct voice and on Auguri it is positively enveloping. His Remue album left many breathless and his others have pretty much the same effect.

A, DOMINIQUE Remue (Lithium) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Still more awesome French pop from the Lithium label. Dark, shambling minor key laments with spoken/sung French vocals. Shimmering guitars, muted trumpets and skittering drums. (We also have three of his other records, all of them great.)

A-FRAMES 333 (S-S) 3lp 36.00

A-TRAK Enter Ralph Wiggum (Stones Throw) 7" 3.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The newest member of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz releases on 7" on Peanut Butter Wolf's local label.

A-TRAK Oh No You Didn't (Disque Primeur) cd 15.98

A.B.G.S. Erdlager (CoC) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is a reissue A.B.G.S.'s early '90s album "Erdlager." Utilizing only junked objects (i.e. steel plates, oil barrels, plastic containers) and recording only in abandoned warehouses, A.B.G.S. fits in with post-industrial niche of German guys banging on metal. Perhaps the result of Thomas Koner's post-production work, these recordings are much more subtle than that of the big egos in Einsturzende Neubauten, Test Dept, and Crash Worship. A.B.G.S. has since disbanded with some of its members forming the haunting drone ensemble Multer. Released on the label run by a fellow from Cranioclast.

A.LORDS, THE s/t (Barl Fire) 3" cd-r 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
UK cd-r label Barl Fire have yet to steer us wrong (after releases from James Blackshaw, Rameses III, Robert Horton, The North Sea and more), and it looks like this A.Lords disc will keep their winning streak going strong.
The A.Lords are a mysterious duo from the UK who paint pastoral soundscapes, using church organ, electric organ, piano, toy piano, balalaika, banjo, e-bow, dulcimer, acoustic guitar, bells, glockenspiel, clarinet and recorder. So lovely and lilting. Definitely evokes grassy fields, blue skies and cool breezes....
Simple fingerpicked acoustic guitars, field recordings of burbling streams and chirping birds, warm organ swells, and shimmering sweet ambience, ol' timey melodies, softly cinematic melancholia, sun dappled chimes and whirs all captured in a soft focus soundscape of later afternoon sun and endless summers. So nice.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. Already sold out at the label. We got a whole bunch but you can bet they'll fly out of here. Packaged in a mini 3" full color cover, housed in a thick plastic sleeve with a printed insert.
MPEG Stream: "The Dawn Chorus"
MPEG Stream: "Summerhouse"

A.M. Orla (Ikuisuus) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This has been floating around here a while, listening to it now, it's hard to understand what's taken us so long. It's so goddamn good! Could be the fact that there always seems to be about a million amazing things to try and review and not enough hours in the day, but so what, we're listing it now, and as much as we love pretty much everything Antony Milton does, this might just be one of his best.
We've said it before, we'll say it again, there's just something divine about the drone. Something completely immersive and spiritual, for some of us, it's as close as sounds can come to becoming physical entities, something not just to listen to, but tangible, touchable, sounds to climb into, to wrap around yourself, to let envelop you, to get lost in. This record is a series of drawn out drones, all sourced from the sounds of a reed organ (with some random background noise, cars and rain, mixed in) and are completely mesmerizing.
The opener alone makes this essential. Six minutes of Niblockian drift, none of that reedy bullshit, this is one huge, lush, layered swirl of sound, the various overtones pulsing and throbbing, creating all sorts of subtle rhythms and not-really-there melodies, soaring and dense, a sound so intense and warm you could almost dive in, float weightless amidst the many layers of sound, another one of those songs we talk about that could, and SHOULD, go on forever and ever...
The rest of the disc is just as dreamily drone-y, the sounds of the organ deftly shaped into varied soundscapes, rumbling murky expanses of throb and rumble, that build and build, getting more and more distorted and distressed, until we're almost in SUNNO))) territory, but much more subtle and intimate, not a pummeling as much as a delicate drift, long stretches of industrial whir, jagged shards of upper register sound are muted and chopped into mysterious super subtle rhythms, the timbre of the drone constantly shifting, from slow and low, to warm and rich to washed out and glistening, always with swirls of subtle sonic activity just below the surface. The nearly 13 minute "Some Dreams Must" is the only track that abandons the low end, for a sparkling sky full of upper register streaks, smears of feedback, all becoming more and more intense gradually becoming a beautiful Sunroof!-like cacophony. The record finishes off with a long, lazy, languorous bit of spaced out dreaminess, as much about the whir of the organ's motor as the subtle melodies and drifting firefly like harmonics floating amidst the fragile tendrils of soft sound...
MPEG Stream: "As The Rain Comes Down"
MPEG Stream: "Sky Voltage (Reeds)"

A.M.P. STUDIO Alien Registration Office (Ochre) cd 17.98
The A.M.P. Studio recordings are the solo work of Richard from Amp. Outside of the delicate drone-rock of Amp, Richard experiments with drum & bass breaks, swooping psych/space rock electronics, egyptian horns, and vaguely darkwave electronica. Still pretty dreamy stuff.

A.M.P. STUDIO Unconscious Country (Fourth Dimension) cd 16.98
The second solo album from Richard Walker of Amp features two lengthy tracks of atmospheric space-rock that venture into hazy electronic noodling with metronomic downtempo techno pulses and Roy Montgomery like improv-guitar solos.

A.R. & MACHINES Echoes From Times Of The Green Journey (Polydor) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
An anthology of the hypnotic output of this krautrock/electronica pioneer, taken from albums spanning the years 1971 to 1975. Beautiful, rhythmic stuff, way ahead of its time. For fans of Frippertronics, Cluster, Neu, Kraftwerk, Can, and (more recently) Kriedler. Not new, but we just got a few of this fantastic disc at a bargain price, so we thought we'd list it, get it while you can. We've had it before for 19 bucks and it was worth it at that price too!

A.R. KANE Complete Singles Collection (One Little Indian) 2cd 21.00
The Cliff's Notes summary of A.R. Kane often begins and ends with the brief description: "the black Jesus & Mary Chain", which wouldn't be too far off the mark, if it weren't for the gradual / unfortunate shift that Alex Ayuli and Rudy Tambala made from blustery dream-pop to house-lite electronica. This collection of all the band's singles produced outside their three albums proper maps out that history from when they began as a beautifully scalding group that most definitely deserved all the Jesus & Mary Chain / Cocteau Twins comparisons to the less than stellar end of their career when the guitars were ditched in favor of some rather tepid Euro-pop numbers. Fortunately, the best work - the earliest stuff - is all found on disc one; so you can just leave the second disc firmly planted in the package and just forget it. The first single really does embrace that JAMC model fully with Psychocandy style hurricane-shock distortion grafted onto concise post-punk tunes, and even the Bobby Gillespie snare & floor tom dum-dum beat. As A.R. Kane, Ayuli & Tambala only recorded one single for 4AD, the lush, proto-shoegaze ep "Lolita" (1987) with a rather languid dreamy-pop number entitled "Sado-Masochism Is A Must" making the sexual fetish crowd swoon with the squalls of oceanic distortion instead of the sharp sting of a whip. The opening track to the following ep "Baby Milk Snatcher" (1989) is all about blowjobs followed by the rather stiff jangle of "Sperm Travels Like Juggernaut", lending to much critical debate from the stuffy British music press.
When A.R. Kane was signed to 4AD, label boss Ivo Watts-Russell suggested that the duo collaborate with the sample-heavy dance-pop outfit Colourbox; and they produced just two tracks - one of which is featured here in the downtempo proto-MBV number "Anitina." The other track was the chart-topping floor filler "Pump Up The Volume", also ascribed to their collaborative name M/A/R/R/S. It's not featured here; but for those who grew up in the late '80s and early '90s, that track is permanently etched into your memory anyway, it being a wholly memorable darkly-disco-pop number.
By the end of 1989, A.R. Kane left the guitars behind for sure, with the dubby martial funk of "Is This It?" which cops its moves from the post-industrial outfit 23 Skidoo with plenty of spooky atmospherics and atonal cornet blurting. But after this, it's all downhill. David Byrne signed them to Luaka Bop and A.R. Kane's quality control and their aesthetic choices took a serious nose dive. Buy this for disc one (which is brilliant!) and forget about the second.
MPEG Stream: A.R. KANE "Haunting"
MPEG Stream: M/A/R/R/S "Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance) Remix"
MPEG Stream: A.R. KANE "Baby Milk Snatcher"
MPEG Stream: A.R. KANE "Up"

A.R.E. WEAPONS Street Gang (Rough Trade) cd ep 6.98
Can you say "Suicide"? The band, that is. No, this isn't a new Suicide project, but everything -- from the music to the back cover basically says "Alan Vega, I so want to be you." From the same uber-hyped NYC scene that produced the Mouldy Peaches and The Strokes.

A4KMTAC Materialsrecoveryfacility (Suitcase) cd-r 14.98
A very strange and very musty artifact from the early '90s cassette culture, right before the appetite for such a medium dwindled to absolute zero by the middle of the decade. The mustiness of the industrial tape murk experimentation found on the disc also translates into the mustiness of the artwork, which was deftly fabricated in overloaded excess by Mark Schoenberg of Yeast Culture, with its 12" x 12" oversized sleeve, manilla folder, and cd holder-thing all encrusted with multiple layers of silkscreen, gesso, and acrylic medium. There were three participants in this project, including Eric Blevins (aka A4 / allfours), Frans De Waard (here recording as Kapotte Muziek, although he's also known for too many projects to list), and Tom Cox (aka TAC, not to be confused with an Italian project with a similar acronym). Over three or four years (dates of 1991-1993 are cited with references to earlier experiments as well), numerous tapes were exchanged, but those cassettes seemed to be just one medium in a larger mail-art project which involved Xerox copies of Xerox copies, mangled postcards, and dot-matrix printed letters choked with unwieldy conceptual strategies for further investigation. This exchange was conceived to be an open source to be plundered, vandalized, crosshatched, and recycled, with the seven pieces here being one possible outcome of the whole project. As such, the various tapes got woven into art installations, live performances, and studio renderings, all of which had been re-recorded, re-recycled, and re-reworked. The results of such overlaid recordings end up as a thick industrial din of grey rumblings, interspersed with found object aktionism which aggregate occasionally toward a smashjob / Z'ev territory but mostly stay on slower nocturnal pacing. Of course, all of these events are cut-up, rearranged, interspersed with varispeed ghosts & dubs, choked in tape hiss, and obliterated through overload. The spirit harkens to musique concrete, but without any of the benefits of an arts council grant to make it into an institutional studio. This is as DIY as it gets when it comes to crusty, collage noise. By the time these three are done with everything, it all comes out as a fantastic, subterranean smear of gnarled noise akin to Chop Shop, Small Cruel Party, the aforementioned Yeast Culture, and other obscurant projects of that era. As an art object, too, this is pretty awesome; and limited to 100 copies to boot!
MPEG Stream: "Track 1"
MPEG Stream: "Track 2"
MPEG Stream: "Track 6"

AA Essential Entertainment (Softspot Music) 7" 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Debut release from this New York label and it's a doozy. A long lost post punk gem from Belgium. The band is called AA, and this, their first and only record, was originally released in 1981 and even then was limited to 900 copies. The second we heard "Suicide Fever" we knew we had to get this. More on that track in a second.
Taking cues from their contemporaries, Joy Division, the Fall, Wire, and of course their labelmates The Cultural Decay (whose reissue we reviewed her recently), the sound is total stripped down, minimal raw new wave post puck rock, jagged chiming guitars, simple motorik drumming, thick buzzing bloopy basslines, and weary heavily accented sung/spoken vocals. Simple effects warp the sound, delay, flange, reverb, echo, each track is short and sharp, one part, MAYBE two, the melodies super catchy, the songs totally mesmerizing, groovy and coldly Teutonic, but always with some strange but of melodic warmth just below the surface.
"Suicide Fever" is the jam though, sounding a little like a less sludgey, more new wave Brainbombs! Total minimal punk pop genius, with a super haunting and hooky main melody and guitar line, those vocals way up in the mix, the lyrics nihilistic and grim, delivered so jadedly, while the bass and drums are locked solid, and the guitars ring out, soaring and chiming, so great. Most definitely the 7" reissue of the year!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Each one hand numbered.

AAIMON Amen (Klangverhaeltnisse) cassette 9.98
It's easy to tell something very witch housey is going on with these guys, present are all the usual signifiers, the band name is actually spelled with a triangle instead of the first 'A' in the band name, the song titles are a mix of lower case and capital letters, as well as all manner of symbols, but the proof as they say is in the creepy, electronic gloom pop ambience, and so it is, as the band unfurls a haunting expanse of swirling ominous ambient synthscapery, before the beats kick, an awesomely distorted and blown out dream-drag groove, a little bit skitter, the beats crumbling in clouds of buzz and crackle, the opener is super epic, almost a sort of cinematic theme type vibe, you can almost imagine some backlit figures walking in slow motion through the ruins of some old Victorian ballroom. And so it goes, we're gonna stop feeling like we need to defend witch house, cuz separated from the blog hyped hipster championed genre signifier, there's very little NOT to dig about this stuff, and this tape in particular. The second track offers up a sort of decayed Portishead, a skittery slowcore downtempo creep, the vocals an almost death metal cookie monster growl, but slowed way down so it sounds even more demonic, the in-the-red synth stabs, that sound more like a malfunctioning dubstep bass wobble only add to the woozy off kilter feel. There are of course creepy angelic (demonic?) female vox, gloomy and gothy and dreamy, with later tracks almost sounding like bastardized gloom pop versions of radio ballads. For everyone into Zola Jesus, LA Vampires, Circuit Des Yeux, Esben And The Witch, as well as the usual witch house culprits like Salem, Mellow Grave and Mater Suspiria Vision. But again, unlike those outfits, Aimon deliver something more darkly dreary and fuzzy, gloom-poppy and bestially balladic.
Of course as these things always are, EXTREMELY LIMITED, includes a download coupon as well!
MPEG Stream: "Pure"
MPEG Stream: "Amen"
MPEG Stream: "Maasym"

AALIYAH s/t (Blackground) cd 17.98
Where is the "hit" on this record? It seems to be all filler, despite Timbaland's production work on several tracks and also one written by Misy Elliot. Just really generic slow jams laced with Aaliyah's pretty voice (multitracked and tweaked within an inch of its life.) Hm.

AAN Ajaton Vie (Pseudo Arcana) cd-r 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Anyone familiar with the name Aan? Well howabout Uton? Right, Uton, one of our favorite Finnish exports (among many!), and one of the least prolific, who somehow survive without releasing a cd-r every two weeks. In fact a new Uton record is a cause to celebrate around here. So we were equally excited to discover this latest release from Uton Satellite Aan, who take Uton's already blissed out tribal drift, and spaces it out even more, turning it into some gorgeous cloud of foresty drone, a gentle assemblage of various vibrating strings, and simple muffled percussion, fragmented melodies, fluttering birdlike trills, bits of acoustic guitar, bleating horns, distant droning swells, all tenuously held together, the various parts allowed to drift off, and then later resurface from amidst a cloud of glistening distant siren like wails.
Another band that definitely sounds like they're channeling legendary Japanese drone collective Taj Mahal Travellers, and one of the few who seem like they understand the spirit behind that sort of soundmaking. Music as an organic entity. As a spirit, that can not be captured, only guided. The members of Aan are shamen, coaxing the spirits from their instruments, then shaping them, guiding them, arranging them into dark dronelike shapes, capturing their essence on tape, and then letting the sounds drift apart and return to whence they came. So lovely. Another fantastic chunk of dreamy meditative forest bliss.
Beautifully packaged too, and oversized full color booklet, filled with striking tripped out black and white images, the cd housed in a pouch affixed to the inside back cover.
MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Two"

AAN Salamaa (Ikuisuus) cd-r 15.98
Strange atmospheric forest folk from Finland from the dup of Uton and Kulkija, their first meeting back in 2004 and it is a divine noise indeed!

AANAL BEEHEMOTH Forest Paranoid (Suffering Jesus Productions) cd 13.98
We know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but c'mon!!! When that book is a cd by a couple of Finnish primitive black metal weirdos called Aanal Beehemoth and said cover features one of the members getting all Nosferatu in shades of green and white under a scrawled metal logo, with a little circle in the corner that reads "In Nekro Satanik Stereo Paranoia Sound"!! And on the other side you'll see both band members in ultra creepy clown-like corpsepaint, tongues out, shooting up, next to some ransom letter text that reads "100% Ultra Misery Blackout Metal Nekropunk Psykosound", and then let's not forget the inside cover, that features again both band members, in crazy corpsepaint, their names now revealed to be Deathly Fightar and Crazy Bomber (umlauts over the vowels of course) who play respectively: Deathbeat, OD guitar, bass and BG vox (that's Deathly) and Exorcism, bass, fuzz guitar and organ (!) (that's Crazy)...
You see what we're getting at, we knew this would rule before we even threw it on, it was just a matter of HOW it would rule, and just how much. The answer of how much is easier to address, cuz it's a WHOLE FREAKING SHIT TON, that's how much it rules, but exactly how might be a bit harder to explain. Needless to say, these guys are fucked up and freaky, their blackness not so much of the blasting buzzy variety and the pounding punkish lo-fi raw and primitive variety, think Akitsa, Malveillance, Ash Pool. Ancestors, but even more punk rock, and weirdly poppy. Just check out the kick ass opener (after the ubiquitous creepy intro) "Dirty Soul", it almost sounds more like Turbonegro or Brainbombs, bounding punk rock rhythms, looped stripped down riffage, but then they paint it black and wrap it all up in tangled squiggly leads, the vocalist delivering his hellish sermons in an awesome croak / bark vokill, totally wrapped in reverb and seriously unhinged. The reverb sometimes going haywire making the vocals sound all dubbed out.
As the record goes on, the blackness recedes and these guys sound more and more punk rock, which is not a bad thing at all, the sound is maybe like Darkthrone at their punkest, but this is Finnish after all, and these guys are nuts, so tracks slip into washed out woozy ambience, guitars explode into squalls of atonal Greg Ginn-ish freakouts, fuzzy organs drift in and out giving some of the tracks a weird underground garage psych vibe (check out "Witch Hunt"), that said, there are definitely some moments of full on frenzied classic sounding blackness, it's just that more often than not those parts lead directly into something much more fucked up and off kilter and WAY bizarre.
This got released as a free download a while back, but it's way cooler to actually finally have the cd, with all its garish freaky green tinted artwork and weird scrawled lyrics, and of course with the download you would never have know that this was "recorded in stinky misery cubic helvete during period of total black morkness, mental distortion & painful agony of ghouls with the helping hands of Satan (naturally) $ Ass Lipstick, Pelvis, Onslow, under the influence of HELL!!!!".
MPEG Stream: "Forest Paranoid"
MPEG Stream: "From Aanal With Love"
MPEG Stream: "Penetrator"
MPEG Stream: "Frost In Head"

AARNI Bathos (Firedoom) cd 14.98

AARNI Tolcoth (Epidemie Records) cd 15.98

AAVIKKO Back From The Futer (Muysic For Peoples) cd 17.98
Wow! A new Aavikko full length! This just might be the year of the Aavikko. When we first slapped this aluminum disc on our system we must admit we were a little taken aback: Hi-Fi Aavikko? Could it be? For so long these Casio-crazy Finns have championed the most primitive of production aesthetics with a sound only once removed from a ring tone. But here they were in crystal clarity and using the entire spectrum of the audible sound range. Did they get a sponsorship with some big keyboard company? Sources close to Aavikko are keeping tight-lipped about the group's new cache of keyboard equipment. Okay, let's put this in perspective before we go any further: a "hi-fi" Aavikko is still "lo-fi" by most standards, so don't expect any enormous shifts in the Aavikko sound. Bigger than their production changes is perhaps their new-found love of exotica and classic space-age bachelor pad music as a launching pad for their new compositions. Andee pointed out that a lot of the tunes on Back From The Futur sound like a lo-fi Tipsy. Their retro-futurist vision also smacks mightily of Kraftwerk (vocoder makes its way into a couple songs as well), Gershon Kingsley with bubbling and arpeggiating synth lines, catchy melodies and upbeat tempos, and maybe even the soundtracks for Roger Corman sci-fi flicks. We love it!
MPEG Stream: "Una Lira Soluziona"
MPEG Stream: "Erotica"

AAVIKKO Derek (Bad Vugum / Humppa) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A whole lot has changed since we first laid our ears on this glorious slab of cinematic Finnish casiocore way back in the twentieth century. At the time Derek, the debut full length from these Finnish freaks, was released, it was just about the weirdest and coolest thing we'd ever heard. And the last few years haven't changed that one bit! What has changed is the fact that now, the whole world, at least the underground music world, have their eyes squarely on Finland's fertile music scene. Eating up anything and everything, and it's all amazing! Circle, Kemialliset Ystavat, Avarus, Anaksimandros, Paavoharju and on and on and on. But before all these bands (except for Circle) Aavikko were busy creating impossibly catchy, Eastern tinged synthesizer scores for imaginary Westerns, or Bollywood movies, or whatever crazy Finnish movie could handle being accompanied by this maniacal music. Think of it this way, the fictional filmscores of Godspeed You Black Emperor or Barry Adamson are meant to be played at 33 rpm, to capture all of the scope, space, and time of their bleak sonic imagery, right? Well supposing that is indeed true, then Aavikko's utterly absurd and gloriously frolicsome music is some alternative universe version of those filmscores meant for 33, but played at 45. Or heck, 78!! Manic twin casios wiggle out catchy tunes that could easily have sprung from the mad mind of Martin Denny, had he been composing for 60's spy thrillers. Tomi Leppanen (Aavikko's human metronome, and currently the drummer for Circle AND Pharoah Overlord) propels the casio madness with pseudo disco syncopations and hyper-active breakbeats, while second hand synths weave surprisingly lush noir soundscapes, equal parts moody cocktaily jazz, propulsive spy thriller soundtrack muzak, spastic mechanical sounding krautrock and pretty much every musical stop in between. The surprising thing is that every song, no matter what strange twist or direction it takes, is wildly fun, unbearably catchy and weird as fuck. Full of hooks and unlikely sounds, funky grooves and hauntingly playful circus music, this record is one of the greatest warm and fuzzy, feel good, psychedelic groove lounge freakout records EVER! Aavikko's original label Bad Vugum coined the term maniacal monkey jazz for Aavikko, and we're not sure we could come up with anything better!
We can't tell you how psyched we are to have this back in stock. This is one of THE essential Finnish records, definitely one of our top five Finnish records EVER. This reissue is so long overdue as Derek has been out of print practically for freaking EVER! 7 or 8 years! Until now! Plus, this reissue includes two bonus tracks from the also long (and still!) out of print Aavikko cd ep. And who can argue with MORE Aavikko?!?!
MPEG Stream: "El Cebo"
MPEG Stream: "Galaktus"
MPEG Stream: "Ostsee"

AAVIKKO Finland Group Aavikko Meets Hit Singer Kabar (Muysic For Peoples) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finnish synth pop nuts Aavikko are back! Now available for a very limited time Aavikko have teamed up with Kabar, an alleged terrorist suspect. The group met up with Kabar apparently by chance when they found themselves detained together at the Las Vegas airport in 2002. Due to a freak mix up, Kabar was released with Aavikko when they passed their security clearance. A singer in his own, mysteriously unnamed country, Kabar joined Aavikko to record one song at a Las Vegas studio. This 7" contains that track, an instant Aavikko classic, and a "Spoken Word Story" (a retelling of the crazy circumstances that led to their meeting set to music). The track, "Eye of the Leopard" is the very definition of kick ass, third world keyboard rock. Erstwhile electro-punk posers take heed, "this is the real experimental shit!" Comes pressed on beautiful, incredibly thick and heavy blue vinyl. Super limited edition, we can't stress that enough.
MPEG Stream: "Eye of the Leopard"

AAVIKKO History Of Muysic (Muysic For Peoples) cd 16.98
At long last, back in stock!! Here's our review from list 207...
Fuck. That's always a great way to start any decent review here at Aquarius. Fuck Yeah! That's even better, and certainly more appropriate for a disc we've been lusting after for so long. Aavikko is one of those elusive bands that we never seem to be able to keep in stock long enough to escape becoming a mere legend and a fading memory. The problem seems to reside in a lifetime of poor distribution and lackluster label attention. But now Aquarius has secured a direct pipeline to the band in the hopes of rectifying this shortage. Aavikko, for those who've yet to experience their magic, are easily the reigning kings of "electronic instrumental rock" (their own genre?). Hailing from Finland -- that in and of itself should be a clue -- Aavikko have honed a lo-fi electro-punk sound that's oft imitated, but never equaled. Using only cheap electric organs (most notably the Yamaha PSS Home Organ), drums and archaic analog recording technology, Aavikko compose Slavic disco, garage surf punk with rumba beats and insanely catchy pop tunes that bring to mind soundtracks to 8-bit videogames of yesteryear. History Of Muysic is an impressive collection of both no longer available Aavikko classics and unreleased tracks dating back to the group's inception in 1995. The latter includes their first rehearsal demo, outtakes from the Derek! ep sessions and their theme for the Kumman Kaa TV series (which has become one of the most popular ring tones in Finland!), among others. In the long lost and now out of print category, we're most excited by the inclusion of the eight tracks from the first, self-titled Aavikko 7". These are a veritable holy grail of primitive electronic rock and expose imitators for the slick hi-fi hucksters they really are. Probably recorded direct to cassette, you can even hear the tape drag and occasional drop outs. Fellow lovers of Bjorn Olsson will be excited by this and all analog anomalies indelibly pitted into the digital realm. All under three minutes in length, the tracks on the eponymous debut are tight and gritty pop ditties, completely trimmed of fat: the words 'overproduced' and 'Avvikko' will never be found in the same sentence but for this one. Also included on this anthology is the entire Oriental Baby CD, their collaboration with Mono Pause "Of Stomping Men", an unreleased live recording off of the beloved WFMU in NJ, their contribution to the Team Yamaha compilation and last, but in no way least, their most recent single, for the first time on CD, the amazing Eye of the Leopard with Kabar. Really folks, do yourself a favor...
MPEG Stream: "Alas Volgaa"
MPEG Stream: "Seikkailu Villi"
MPEG Stream: "Eye of the Leopard"

AAVIKKO Multi Muysic (Hawaii Sounds / Spinefarm) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
At last, we've gotten some import copies of the latest full-length from this beloved Finnish band! We'd heard rumors of its release for some time, so we were thrilled to finally track it down. At first listen, while the Casios and '80s video game noises are still in full effect, this album is much less frantic and frenetic than the Aavikko we remember -- which means, it's *still* fairly frantic and frenetic! But they're learned some new swanky, suave moves as well. Their old "maniacal monkey jazz" tag doesn't quite fit anymore (the maniacal part, anyway). Maybe they've mellowed into something sort of like a stranger, more disturbed Jimi Tenor? And much as we loved the kooky, chaotic sounds of their old Bad Vugum album "Derek", sometimes change is good and this is a smooth shift from one eccentric realm to another. Even slowed down a bit, they're still our favorite tripped-out instrumental lounge exotica group! Utter smile-inducing retro fun.
RealAudio clip: "New York - London - Siilinjarvi - Tokyo"
RealAudio clip: "Omavastuualue"

AAVIKKO Novo Atlantis (Stupido) cd 17.98
Electronic. Muysic. Finland. When we see those three words, which appear in small type on the top right corner of the cover to this album, we get pretty excited. Even when Music is spelled Muysic. ESPECIALLY when it's spelled like that. 'Cause that's means it's an Aavikko album. The mostly instrumental Finnish synthesizer/synthesizer/drums trio's new disc, Novo Atlantis, is finally here! Now, each album of theirs has always been a little bit different, but we've always loved Aavikko, from their early "maniacal monkey jazz" days as a lo-fi Casiocore band circa 1997's Derek to their more recent and polished productions of space age bachelor pad exotica like 2005's Back From The Futer.
So what's in store for listeners on Novo Atlantis? Initially we were struck by this album's even MORE electronic sound, taking Aavikko into techno-disco territory, more computery, less live band sounding. Though human metronome Tomi Leppanen (also the drummer for AQ faves Circle) is still behind the drum kit, there's plenty of purely electronic beats and rhythms on here it seems. Yet at the same time, this album also features French horn, trombone, trumpet, tuba, and even church pipe organ!! So while on one had it's all very futuristic (in a spaced out cosmic disco way), this also takes inspiration from way way back, the pre-electronic, classical music era in fact. You could call Novo Atlantis the "switched-on Bach" version of Aavikko, or more precisely, "switched-on Hoppel", Egil Hoppel allegedly being an obscure Finnish composer of the baroque period, discussed in the sleeve notes of Novo Atlantis. Supposedly he was some sort of child prodigy (he only lived 1722-1737!), an organist whose music has apparently become a major influence on Aavikko's new direction. We say allegedly and supposedly since we halfway suspect they made him him up, that he's a hoax much like those "funerary violin" fellows. Probably some quick Googling would resolve the question, but we prefer not to know for sure. If Aavikko invented him, they certainly were thorough about it - there are two purported Hoppel compositions included on the cd format as a hidden bonus track (we won't tell you how to find it, but check out our review of the most recent Agoraphobic Nosebleed disc for a clue!). And having heard those, it does seem like you can hear Hoppel's purported influence right in this disc's very first track, "Syntaksis", which definitely has an Aavikko goes classical feel, like a lot of the stuff here having shades of the "classically trained" approach of all those Moog-laden '70s prog keyboard bands a la ELP and krautrockers Novalis... But don't let that make you think this is somehow stuffy, over-serious or highbrow or whatever, nope not at all, far from it as any Aavikko fan would guess. While it's got its moody moments, most of Novo Atlantis is percolating, infectious electronic fun. Super groovy, quirky, krauty - in the Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder sense of krauty.
The album ends with what must be Aavikko's longest track ever, the 15 minutes of "Novo Atlantis II". Wow, quite an epic, with echoes of Joe Meek's "Telstar" in its melodies, and long mesmeric burbling sequencer trance-outs, something like early '80s Tangerine Dream, Wolfgang Duren, or Zombi's "Sapphire". A Lindstrom remix seems to be in order, where is it? Certainly Aavikko's new album fits nicely into the current disco craze. It also goes well with our obsession with skweee, too. Electronic muysic Finland, hooray!
MPEG Stream: "Syntaksis"
MPEG Stream: "Dies Irae Discodelico"
MPEG Stream: "Novo Atlantis II"

AAVIKKO Novo Atlantis (Stupido) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Electronic. Muysic. Finland. When we see those three words, which appear in small type on the top right corner of the cover to this album, we get pretty excited. Even when Music is spelled Muysic. ESPECIALLY when it's spelled like that. 'Cause that's means it's an Aavikko album. The mostly instrumental Finnish synthesizer/synthesizer/drums trio's new disc, Novo Atlantis, is finally here! Now, each album of theirs has always been a little bit different, but we've always loved Aavikko, from their early "maniacal monkey jazz" days as a lo-fi Casiocore band circa 1997's Derek to their more recent and polished productions of space age bachelor pad exotica like 2005's Back From The Futer.
So what's in store for listeners on Novo Atlantis? Initially we were struck by this album's even MORE electronic sound, taking Aavikko into techno-disco territory, more computery, less live band sounding. Though human metronome Tomi Leppanen (also the drummer for AQ faves Circle) is still behind the drum kit, there's plenty of purely electronic beats and rhythms on here it seems. Yet at the same time, this album also features French horn, trombone, trumpet, tuba, and even church pipe organ!! So while on one had it's all very futuristic (in a spaced out cosmic disco way), this also takes inspiration from way way back, the pre-electronic, classical music era in fact. You could call Novo Atlantis the "switched-on Bach" version of Aavikko, or more precisely, "switched-on Hoppel", Egil Hoppel allegedly being an obscure Finnish composer of the baroque period, discussed in the sleeve notes of Novo Atlantis. Supposedly he was some sort of child prodigy (he only lived 1722-1737!), an organist whose music has apparently become a major influence on Aavikko's new direction. We say allegedly and supposedly since we halfway suspect they made him him up, that he's a hoax much like those "funerary violin" fellows. Probably some quick Googling would resolve the question, but we prefer not to know for sure. If Aavikko invented him, they certainly were thorough about it - there are two purported Hoppel compositions included on the cd format as a hidden bonus track (we won't tell you how to find it, but check out our review of the most recent Agoraphobic Nosebleed disc for a clue!). And having heard those, it does seem like you can hear Hoppel's purported influence right in this disc's very first track, "Syntaksis", which definitely has an Aavikko goes classical feel, like a lot of the stuff here having shades of the "classically trained" approach of all those Moog-laden '70s prog keyboard bands a la ELP and krautrockers Novalis... But don't let that make you think this is somehow stuffy, over-serious or highbrow or whatever, nope not at all, far from it as any Aavikko fan would guess. While it's got its moody moments, most of Novo Atlantis is percolating, infectious electronic fun. Super groovy, quirky, krauty - in the Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder sense of krauty.
The album ends with what must be Aavikko's longest track ever, the 15 minutes of "Novo Atlantis II". Wow, quite an epic, with echoes of Joe Meek's "Telstar" in its melodies, and long mesmeric burbling sequencer trance-outs, something like early '80s Tangerine Dream, Wolfgang Duren, or Zombi's "Sapphire". A Lindstrom remix seems to be in order, where is it? Certainly Aavikko's new album fits nicely into the current disco craze. It also goes well with our obsession with skweee, too. Electronic muysic Finland, hooray!
MPEG Stream: "Syntaksis"
MPEG Stream: "Dies Irae Discodelico"
MPEG Stream: "Novo Atlantis II"