ATMAN FEATURING ANNA NACHER Tradition (Drunken Fish) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

ATMOSPHERE Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP's (Rhymesayers) cd 16.98
If Company Flow are the scary guys in hip hop that stand on the street corner, take drugs, mutter to themselves, sleep in cardboard boxes, think they're from space, and generally freak everyone out, then Atmosphere are CF's goofy little brothers that everyone's worried will turn out just like CF, if they're not careful.
Musically, Atmosphere are much much smoother, like Del or maybe Gang Starr. Nice and smooth and really good, but missing all the grit and nastiness and mania that makes CF so fucking awesome.
But if Company Flow is too weird for you a lot of the time (or if you just like it smooth), give this a try.

ATMOSPHERE Seven's Travels (Epitaph) cd 16.98

ATOM & HIS PACKAGE Redefining Music (Hopeless) cd 13.98
Newest record by everyone's favorite one man (and one machine!) band that sings exclusively about punk rock, and his friends, and the metric system and a bunch of other dorky crap! Yep. It's Atom and his Package. Not much has changed, except for some more metallic 'guitar work'. But if you loved the nerdy, ultra catchy, synth/punk rock of the last few AahP release, then you'll love this one. Plus he does 3 Mountain Goats covers!
Byram thinks it sounds like retarded They Might Be Giants. I think it sounds like Ween, if they were 15 years old, and listened to Slayer and straightedge. Either way, pretty funny, and pretty great. And some nifty Vermiform cover art.
RealAudio clip: "Going To Georgia"

ATOM & HIS PACKAGE Redefining Music (Hopeless) lp 9.98
Newest record by everyone's favorite one man (and one machine!) band that sings exclusively about punk rock, and his friends, and the metric system and a bunch of other dorky crap! Yep. It's Atom and his Package. Not much has changed, except for some more metallic 'guitar work'. But if you loved the nerdy, ultra catchy, synth/punk rock of the last few AahP release, then you'll love this one. Plus he does 3 Mountain Goats covers!
Byram thinks it sounds like retarded They Might Be Giants. I think it sounds like Ween, if they were 15 years old, and listened to Slayer and straightedge. Either way, pretty funny, and pretty great. And some nifty Vermiform cover art.

ATOM FEATURING TEA TIME XXX (Rather Interesting) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've all been keeping a watchful eye on Mr. Atom Heart lately. Watching bemusedly as his relocation to Chile prompted him to reinvent himself as Senor Coconut, and listening, as his techno turned to mambo, and his obsession with the indigenous music of his new home seeped into every facet of his music making. The first Senor Coconut record (out of print, it seems) was a glorious mix of Perez Prado style mambos and Squarepusherish drum programming. The Senor Coconut we listed on the last AQ list took a bizarre turn no one could have predicted, consisting of all Kraftwerk covers done Chilean style, all mambo and rhumba, barely a hint of his former Atom Heart remained. On "XXX", Atom hooks up with Chilean rapper Tea Time, for a wickedly clever record of X rated rapping (in Spanish of course) and convuluted hip hop, complete with plenty of turntablist trickery and hard disc scratching. And it's practically perfect; funny and catchy and smooth and super wicked. Tea Time's got a super smooth flow (sounding a bit like MC Solaar) and the music is just completely bizarre, lots of hiccuping loops, low end rumble, crazy scratching, and bizarre hard disc editing, making for probably one of our favorite (albeit quite odd) hip hop (Latin American glitch-rap?) records of the year, and it's easily the best Atom Heart...er...Senor Coconut record yet.
RealAudio clip: "Mis Chiquitas"

ATOM TM Son Of A Glitch (Rather Interesting) cd 21.00
Regardless of which alter ego he's embodying at the time (Senor Coconut, Datacide, Midisport, Lisa Carbon, Disk Orchestra, etc.), virtually all of Uwe Schmidt's releases have some obvious, fully realized concept behind them. Knowing that, it makes his latest Atom TM album a somewhat befuddling listen. Son Of A Glitch squishes together a seemingly random assortment of distinctly Schmidt-y IDM glitch-squidge, sample-delic outbursts and dialogue snippets. Really, we could be missing something, but it seems like his most unfocused work to date -- sounding like a grab bag of recordings of him just messing around in the studio. Still, if this is Uwe Schmidt just fuckin' around, it's still miles more entertaining and well executed than a lot of releases by his contemporaries.
MPEG Stream: "MP3"
MPEG Stream: "Being Human Boring"

ATOMBOMBPOCKETKNIFE God Save The ABPK (Southern) cd 13.98
Proving that indie rock is still alive and kicking is this Chicago quartet. While other likeminded bands have faded from the college radio dial or reconfigured or changed musical directions, Atombombpocketknife (or ABPK for short) keep that catchy, mathy rock flag a-flying on this their third full length. They've been around since '98, but those years were also spent split between assorted day jobs (tour sound engineer for other bands, social worker, website boss) and side projects. With such full schedules it's a wonder they have time to hook up for music, and perhaps that's what's kept them from progressing. Don't be mistaken, they certainly do possess the solid chops to execute their rock mission, it's just not a very challenging one for themselves or their listeners. So although many of their songs are very much in a similar melodic, emotive, and slightly angular vein, they're probably not destined to don the indie rock crown recently vacated by the great Unwound. Which is unfortunate 'cause we catch glimpses of the skills and capabilities of rock victory, but overall they fall short and register ABPK as an also-ran.

ATOMIC 7 ... en Hillbilly Caliente (Mint) cd 14.98
Back in 2002 a fine instrumental cd appeared right around the time of year nearing the holiday season. 'Twas by the band Atomic 7, 'twas called Gowns By Edith Head, and 'twas a splendid, festive (yet not holiday specific) album packed with sparkling electric guitar magic courtesy of the sweet, bespectacled gent known as Brian Connelly (formerly of Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet and occasional guitarist for Neko Case -- you can hear him on her latest live album, The Tigers Have Spoken). Well, this Toronto based trio have returned with another lively goodie! En Hillbilly Caliente's almost as big as the 19-song-long 'Gowns, clocking in at seventeen wittily titled songs. Connelly truly works wonders with his ol' six string crafting frantic gallopin' rockabilly and surf numbers, swayin' tiki lounge swooners and creepin' villain-in-the-shadows mood pieces. All with equal ease and enthusiasm. Such a fun listen! Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Bury My Foot At Wounded Mouth"
MPEG Stream: "Devil's Mittens"

ATOMIC 7 Gowns By Edith Head (Mint) cd 14.98
Aaah, how I've yearned for the magic of the Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet. Y'know the fab Torontonian trio behind the insanely catchy theme song to Kids In The Hall? Not to mention their three amazing albums in the early '90s that melded the raw sounds of surf and punk music with a truly absurd wit.
But wait, what's this I hear? Holy dewy drops of spring! This sounds remarkably like those Shadowy folks. Well, particularly that unmistakable, slinky yet blistering guitar of Mr. Brian Connelly. He's back with a new trio. A masterful guitarist with a wicked sense of humor, his sly quirks come through in each of these nineteen (!) songs. By the way, you might've also experienced his fine guitar stylings live and on record with AQ fave Ms Neko Case. Jumping genres with tireless finesse and flourish at the mere flick of guitar pick - campy tiki cocktail lounge, fiery rockabilly rave-ups, slowly smouldering western twang - Atomic 7 is where the good times are.
This will undoubtably make for a great holiday party album without all those darn season-specific lyrics. Super festive. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Her Sassy Kiss"
RealAudio clip: "Artistry In Nachos"

ATOMIC BITCHWAX, THE Spit Blood (Meteor City) 2cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
So we really liked the last few Atomic Bitchwax records. Member of Monster Magnet busts out and does a record of guitar wanker stoner rock. Sounds good. So what's wrong with the new one? Not sure exactly. It's just sort of flat. Sort of pointless. And there's some seriously bad vocals. Oh and then there's the cover of AC/DC's 'Dirty Deeds.' Bad. Well, not bad, just the same as the original. I mean sure it's fun to play, but why listen to a sort-of-the-same-version when you could just throw on the real thing. And why in god's name put it first on the record?! Anyway, if you're in need of even more stoner rock, or need a Monster Magnet fix, and your standards aren't super high, go for it, otherwise, check out 500 Ft. Of Pipe or Spiritual Beggars or Roachpowder or some of the other killer stoner metal we've listed in the past.
Does come with a bonus cd, pretty cool Meteor City label sampler, chock full of, you guessed it, stoner rock.

ATOMIC BOMB AUDITION, THE Eleven Theaters (Hector Stentor) cd 12.98
This is one awesomely confusing record. We weren't sure what to expect, but it definitely wasn't this. Bursts of grinding downtuned death metal give way to shuffling jazzy lounge music, mathy riffing morphs into prog rock workouts which give way to simple dreampop strumming. There's Super spacious slowcore, reverbed guitars and shuffling jazz drums, weird underwater melodies and funereal horns... and Pell Mell style instrumental almost surf rock with total "Wipeout" drums.
It's all a little overwhelming, and confusing, but in a good way. And unlike a lot of genre jumping outfits, none of these disparate sounds, and impossible mash ups sound at all forced. In fact, the band has such a deft hand with arrangements, that when you're listening to Eleven Theaters, it's hard to imagine that any band would NOT combine all of these styles and genres. Lilting Appalachian folk, drifts and shimmers into some angular Amrep style dirge rock, tripped out dronelike shimmer, all glistening guitars and whirling ambience, gives way to ultra lush jazzy mope rock, complete with horn section and cymbal sizzle, huge pummeling sludge rock splinters into a completely noise drenched splattery free jazz drum freakout before breaking down into soft focus ambient drift only to explode into a monstrous dirge all over again.
Maybe these guys are mostly a metal band... but it's really hard to tell. Especially after taking this all in. Definitely mind expanding, and certainly mostly for those with a very wide range of tastes, but like we said, it's hard not to love this record, every part of it, from the dreamy to the heavy, from the dark and dangerous to the goofy and absurd. Really cool.
MPEG Stream: "The Creationist"
MPEG Stream: "Wave Of Babies"
MPEG Stream: "Apocalypse Dove Song"

ATOMIC ROOSTER Death Walks Behind You... Plus (Akarma) cd 16.98
OK, last list we dealt with the Frijid Pink, now here's another important example of early proto-heaviness for us to *finally* list on our site. And they too have a funny name -- Atomic Rooster! This album, from 1971 (natch), is probably their best and most significant (though their next LP In Hearing Of is also up there too). Death Walks Behind You was the band's second album, but their first with new drummer Paul Hammond and new guitarist John DuCann (aka John Cann), who had previously played in psych outfits Andromeda, The Attack, and others. He's best known though for his stint in Atomic Rooster -- though we really wish there were decent reissues available of his and Hammond's post-AR band Hard Stuff for us to list, they're one of proto-metal's best kept secrets! But while DuCann brings a lot to this album with his guitar playing and singing, the real star of the show remains organist and main songwriter Vincent Crane, who had founded the band originally in 1969 with his former Crazy World Of Arthur Brown bandmate Carl Palmer (who split from Atomic Rooster after their debut to join up with Emerson and Lake, y'know). Vincent Crane's Hammer horror Hammond organ and piano playing has a lot to do with this record's doomy quality. Though they never took it to the extreme that Black Sabbath did, Atomic Rooster -- and this album in particular, from its title and creepy William Blake cover painting to the gloomy, yet groovy music itself -- certainly made good use of the spooky/dark/evil/occult vibe that later became a staple of the heavy metal genre. Eight bleak and bombastic tracks here, laced with lots of that good ol' "hairy funk" as DJ Andy Votel would put it. As far as heavy duty organ-based prog/psych goes, you've got to give it up to Atomic Rooster!!
NB. this new digipack reissue is called Death Walks Behind You... PLUS on account of featuring four extra bonus tracks, BBC sessions most of 'em. So, twelve tracks total. Cool!
MPEG Stream: "Death Walks Behind You"
MPEG Stream: "Tomorrow Night"

ATOMINE ELEKTRINE Nebulous (Essence Music) cd 15.98
Peter Andersson's name is not one that pops up here at Aquarius Records all that often; but his impact upon the Swedish electronic underground has been huge since the early '90s. He's been responsible for some of the more influential dark-ambient / esoteric electronic projects that made up the bulk of the early Cold Meat Industry catalogue with his pseudonyms being Raison D'Etre, Stratvm Terror, Necrophorous, and Atomine Elektrine. Strangely enough, there's another Peter Andersson who also graces Cold Meat Industry's catalogue; but wisely he adopted the moniker Lina Baby Doll to prevent any confusion when venturing into the bizarre, militant territories of Deutsch Nepal. Anyway. Atomine Elektrine is the formerly mentioned Peter Andersson, and this project nestles between kosmische electronica (e.g. Pop Ambient, Boards Of Canada, Omit, etc.) and deep-space isolationism (e.g. Lustmord, Thomas Koner, etc.). Nebulous is a remarkably well done album that doesn't seem to embrace any of the commonplace signifiers of electronica; maybe just a Chain Reaction synth pad here or there alongside the downtempo mechanoid breakbeats, constantly tumbling filter sweeps, and algorithimic arpeggiations cast in shadowy, metallic ambience.
MPEG Stream: "Transforming Space"
MPEG Stream: "In-Between Spaces"

ATRIUM MUSICAE DE MADRID Musique Arabo-Andalouse (Harmonia Mundi) cd 16.98
Ancient Hispanic-Moslem music from the Andalusian region of the Iberian peninsula, recreated with appropriately medieval atmosphere by Gregorio Paniagua's Atrium Musicae de Madrid -- the same outfit of ethno-historic musical explorers who recorded the marvellous "Musique de la Grece Antique" disc that we've sold so many of (the one where they speculatively imagined what the music of Ancient Greece was like). Detailed liner notes explain the history and structure of the music performed here, all of which is exquisite. This album was originally released on LP in 1977.

ATRIUM MUSICAE DE MADRID Musique de la Grece Antique (Harmonia Mundi) cd 11.98
FINALLY BACK IN PRINT -- and still cheap! Now in a digipak. Here's Allan's old review of this AQ-favorite, originally released on LP in 1979, now in its 2nd or 3rd Harmonia Mundi cd incarnation:
Some records come out (say, a reissue of some strange '70s psych) and there's all this anticipation because of reading about it for years, or at least seeing it in a catalog or something (kinda like AQ-list subscribers hear about a lot of new things), but many of our favorite albums were first heard (and appreciated) with no prior information or expectations. You know, the kind of thing that really grabs you partially because you DON'T know anything about it, like a thrift store LP you picked up just 'cause of the weird cover art or something (like, how some of us first encountered Bruce Haack's "Electric Lucifer" for instance).
Now, this album we didn't originally find in a thrift store record bin, there wasn't even a cover associated with it: the story is, a friend had a tape of this in his car, it was obviously some sort of old recording (taped off a scratchy LP) of what our friend was told (by the person who'd given the tape to him) was traditional Greek music. But it was quite unlike any Greek music we'd heard before, sounding more like a soundtrack to a film featuring pagan rites, very ceremonial and mysterious in nature. Unlike any "real" recording of Greek music I could imagine. Eventually (last week) we decipered the handwritten info on the cassette and after only a few minutes of research on the sometimes miraculous internet, found out not only what it was but that it had been reissued on cd! And so now we have it here at Aquarius. Nice how that worked out!
What we now know is that the concept of this recording is that it's a partially-imaginary reconstruction by an unusual Spanish world-music ensemble of what the music of ancient Greece MIGHT have sounded like, based on what little historical documentation is available regarding musical practices of the period. Each track references some papyrii or other (so the spoken and sung texts are supposedly historically accurate) and the music is played on what are assumed to be authentic types of instrumentation (including a reproduction of an hydraulic organ!). As we said, much of the music is ritual-sounding, with chanting and bells. It has quite an occult vibe. There's also tracks of beautiful, folky female vocals backed by plucks of the lyre. Add to that stirring horns, droning flutes, percussive crashes, eccentric vocal flourishes, and much more. Liner notes explain the Atrium Musicae's intentions and procedure in trying to recreate this lost music. There's a definite sense of drama, and of the weight of the ages upon those trying to bring the fragments of Greek music back to life. This disc is sometimes creepy, often lovely, always fascinating.
Although I kind of wish that this cd had the scratchy surface noise found on our friend's tape of the LP, which gave it even more of a "lost treasure" vibe (as if some ancient Greek philosopher had invented some sort of anachronistic "marble cylinder" recording technology, recently unearthed by archeologists!) it's still totally amazing!
RealAudio clip: "Anakrousis.Orestes Stasimo"
RealAudio clip: "Hymne a la Muse"
RealAudio clip: "Hymne a Nemesis"
RealAudio clip: "Pean.Papyrus Berlin 6870"

ATRIUM MUSICAE DE MADRID Tarentule-Tarentelle (Harmonia Mundi) cd 16.98

ATTACK, THE The Complete Recordings From 1967-68 (Acme Gramophone / Lion Productions) cd 15.98
The title of this disc should clue you in about what you're getting here from this relatively obscure '60s British band, known today mainly for its revolving door membership that gave 'em connections to the Marmalade, The Nice and Atomic Rooster. There's fifteen songs here, recorded for the Decca label 'round the years indicated, mostly mostly tracks from unissued singles and a few that did actually make it out (weirdly, a lot of the best tunes on here are the previously unreleased ones!). At their best, the Attack indeed attack with some excellent freakbeat -- psych with a hard edge, distorted and nicely fuzzed-out, with Kinks style proto-metal licks. At their worst, some of this is a bit on the generic side, trying for a hit. But there's something here for every lover of the '60s psych explosion, touching on twee, faux-Eastern, and the aformentioned heavier stuff. And some of the lyrics (like "Strange House") are so naively trippy they're quite amusing.
As mentioned, The Attack featured in their ranks both former and future members of Marmelade and The Nice, but I'd heard of this band only 'cause they eventually turned into Five Day Week Straw People and thence Andromeda who then gave up guitarist John DuCann to Atomic Rooster...from which he eventually split to form Hard Stuff. Now, none of those bands have we ever listed or reviewed reissues of...but I guess we should. Atomic Rooster's Death Walks Behind You is a definite classic. And I love the two Hard Stuff albums, which we sometimes have on cd, but they're never reliably in stock. So, this we're listing for two sorts of folks: the ones who are into '60s psych and are familiar with of all the bands mentioned above and were waiting for The Attack tracks to someday appear on cd (here you go!). The other sort of person we're listing this for is someone who's happy to check out some obscure '60 UK hard psych reissue they're never heard of before just 'cause we say it's pretty cool (here you go, too!). The Attack IS pretty cool, at least about 50 percent of it anyway.
MPEG Stream: "Feel Like Flying"
MPEG Stream: "Mr. Pinnodmy's Dilemma"

AU s/t (Aagoo Records) cd 11.98
Here's the eponymous debut from Portland's Au, whose multi-pronouncable name and jubilant freak-folk expressionism is authored by one Luke Wyland with a rotating crew of sodden musicians in tow. Like any self-respecting avant-freak-folk minstrel, Wyland incorporates everything and the kitchen sink into his recordings (guitars, mandolins, accordions, bongos, xylophones, and whatever was lying around for percussion), but his tunes enjoy a unique sensibility marked by his classical piano training with some hefty leanings towards Terry Riley. These bucolic songs balance between an Appalachian earnestness and Animal Collective's wide-eyed ramshackledness, all in part thanks to Wyland's pointilist clouds of charmed minimalism. With a voice that croons, cackles, and wails as the reincarnation of Brian Eno's 70s pop guise channeled into a post-Devenda Banhart persona, Wyland situates himself as the ringleader to Au's ecstatic escapades which wildly shift from rustic, pastoral atmospheres of cyclical piano flutter and saloon-swooning ditties into a frolicking bluster of cacophonic percussion, guitars, and Wyland's polydactyl piano. Rumor has it that Au's shambolic twang has caught the ear of One Little Indian, who had expressed considerable interest in signing the group. While things are probably look up for Au's future, things already look pretty damn good judging from this release.
MPEG Stream: "Boute"
MPEG Stream: "Sum"
MPEG Stream: "Death"

AU PAIRS Sense & Sensuality (Castle) cd 14.98
The world's been totally overwhelmed lately by modern practicioners of "classic new wave", with loads of groups aping Gang Of Four, A Certain Ratio, and all that, as well as less creative bands who don't even manage to extend their influences that far, instead trying to be the next Interpol or Rapture. While we've most certainly been digging Interpol, and the Rapture, and the Moving Units, if there's one thing we've learned, it's that no matter how good these bands are, the originals were so much better. In terms of songs and sound and originality and everything. One group that was a big part of the original sound but hasn't gotten nearly the attention they deserve is Au Pairs. Kurt Kobain was a huge fan, as are Greil Marcus and John Peel. And now so are we! This reissue is a couple years old, but the recent vinyl reissue reminded us that we let this slip through the cracks, and we figured some of you might be as psyched as we were to discover this amazing slab of dark and danceable new wave. Better late than never. This is the second album from Au Pairs and definitely their best, sonically referencing Gang Of Four, Mekons, Television, and even the Talking Heads. Au Pairs was one of the first groups who practiced what they preached, especially in terms of sexual equality, with a half male and half female lineup, and no obvious "front person". Featuring baffling (for the time at least) cover art adapted from a Russian minimalist and lyrics about domestic violence, menstruation, terrorism, drug addiction and all sorts of 'heavy' subjects, Au Pairs were quite the anomaly, which perhaps explains their marginal status. The music is fantastic though, lots of reverb and ambient jangle, some almost disco moments (Allan thought it sounded like Frankie Goes To Hollywood at times), angular guitars, jazzy horns, throbbing, bouncing basslines, tribal percussion and funky rhythms, with both male and female vocals. The male vocals bear an uncanny resemblance to The Alarm's Mike Peters and are the perfect foil for Lesley Woods' throaty wail. Not sure what it is about this record, but we've been listening to it nonstop. Fans of all the above mentioned bands should definitely pick this up!
MPEG Stream: "Stepping Out Of Line"
MPEG Stream: "Sex Without Stress"

AU PAIRS Sense & Sensuality ( Earmark) lp 18.98
The world's been totally overwhelmed lately by modern practicioners of "classic new wave", with loads of groups aping Gang Of Four, A Certain Ratio, and all that, as well as less creative bands who don't even manage to extend their influences that far, instead trying to be the next Interpol or Rapture. While we've most certainly been digging Interpol, and the Rapture, and the Moving Units, if there's one thing we've learned, it's that no matter how good these bands are, the originals were so much better. In terms of songs and sound and originality and everything. One group that was a big part of the original sound but hasn't gotten nearly the attention they deserve is Au Pairs. Kurt Kobain was a huge fan, as are Greil Marcus and John Peel. And now so are we! This reissue is a couple years old, but the recent vinyl reissue reminded us that we let this slip through the cracks, and we figured some of you might be as psyched as we were to discover this amazing slab of dark and danceable new wave. Better late than never. This is the second album from Au Pairs and definitely their best, sonically referencing Gang Of Four, Mekons, Television, and even the Talking Heads. Au Pairs was one of the first groups who practiced what they preached, especially in terms of sexual equality, with a half male and half female lineup, and no obvious "front person". Featuring baffling (for the time at least) cover art adapted from a Russian minimalist and lyrics about domestic violence, menstruation, terrorism, drug addiction and all sorts of 'heavy' subjects, Au Pairs were quite the anomaly, which perhaps explains their marginal status. The music is fantastic though, lots of reverb and ambient jangle, some almost disco moments (Allan thought it sounded like Frankie Goes To Hollywood at times), angular guitars, jazzy horns, throbbing, bouncing basslines, tribal percussion and funky rhythms, with both male and female vocals. The male vocals bear an uncanny resemblance to The Alarm's Mike Peters and are the perfect foil for Lesley Woods' throaty wail. Not sure what it is about this record, but we've been listening to it nonstop. Fans of all the above mentioned bands should definitely pick this up!
MPEG Stream: "Stepping Out Of Line"
MPEG Stream: "Sex Without Stress"

AUBE Blau + Rot (Aufabwegen) 7" 6.50
Brand new 7" from one of our favorite soundmakers, Japan's Aube, whose modus operandi involves utilizing a single sound source for each record. In the past he's used water, fire, even pages being torn from a bible!
This time it's not so easy to discern what the source material is. Not that it is really normally. But often the title or the artwork will hint at it, but here it's not so clear. A field of holes on a purple and red background. A drain? It sure sounds like that could be it, as the music is a muted burbling, a distant gurgle smeared into something softly percussive, a haunting underwater field of percolations and glitchy hum, going from barely there whisper to intense frenzy, to then what sounds like an airplane passing through the sky way off in the distance.
A bit of research reveals that the source material here is actually some vintage synth, but even as obvious as that sounds, in the world of Aube it sounds more like processed field recordings of a drain than an actual synthesizer!
The flipside betrays the sound source a bit more, as after a hushed start, the track transforms into a glitched out tangle of analog electronics, squiggly and chaotic, a flurry of bleeps and bloops and buzzes, glitch and hum, but all of that quickly fades into something much more tranquil, a warm static drone, bathed in an electronic rainfall, the preceding squall relegated to a place off in the distance, like sitting on an old rickety porch and watching a lighting storm dance in the sky. Nice.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, we only have a handful. Pressed on clear vinyl in full color sleeves...

AUBE Cardiac Strain (Alien8 Recordings) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

AUBE Chain[Re]Action (Blossoming Noise) cd 14.98
Yes, metal chains make the sound. Limited edition, might be gone by the time you read this sorry...

AUBE Dazzle Reflexion (Releasing Eskimo) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two new recordings from one of Japan's best noise artists (Marc's favorite). Akifumi Nakajima uses a single sound source to craft his bizarre soundscapes, heartbeats in the case of "Cardiac Strain" and florescent lamps for "Dazzle Reflexion." The textures range from ambient drones to harsh noise, and are never as random-seeming as the work of many of his contemporaries.

AUBE Infinitely Orbit (Alchemy) cd 21.00
More Good Alchemy - very extreme sounds from one of Japan's best, most conceptual noise artists.

AUBE Pages From The Book (Elsie And Jack Recordings) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The newest Aube project, this time using only a copy of The Bible as sound source material! Blasphemous crinklings and tearings? Yes, and he's mangaged to coax a sort of mechanical heartbeat out of it as well, among other noises. Of course without knowing already one could never guess that those sounds were coming from a book, let alone from the pages of The Greatest Story Ever Told--but that knowledge is an added bonus to this enjoyable listen.

AUBE Rewriting The Book (Elsie and Jack) 2cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two disc set of remixes of Aube's 1999 disc "Pages From The Book", whose source material was solely an amplified Bible! Remixers of the Greatest Story Ever Told vary in extremes from the brutal aural assaults of Merzbow, Brume, Princess Dragonmom (Warn Defever of His Name Is Alive with Davin of Time Stereo), to the dreamy dancefloor electronica of The Remote Viewer, Supermassive and Disco Operating System, and everywhere in between. Englands Hood incorporates sonic crackles of turning pages into a pop song all their own, V/VM create a rhythmic wall of noise that could easily be a dance track, if you're completely insane. Other remixers include Totemplow, Brian Lavelle, Wheaton Research, Drekka, Volcano The Bear, Sirconical, Pefkin, Vir, Flutter, Monera, Coeurl and Phosphene. 28 tracks in all! It's loud!

AUBE Seton (Manifold) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Japanese noise / experimentalist Aube (aka Akifumi Nakajima) has made his career out of manipulating a single source material into swelling collages of textural sound and droning noise. Light bulbs, water, voice, voltage controlled oscillators, steel wires, his own somatic elements (brain waves, heart beats, and lungs), and here on "Seton", stone is the source material used. At first, "Seton" begins like every other Aube recording with an increasing intensity through a series of sampled loops. Certainly nice, although nothing new. However, the last 20 minutes of the record finds Aube essentializing a minimalist techno rhythm out of that stone of his, sounding like a rougher / less clean version of early Pan Sonic or some of the recent David Kristian work. The packaging on "Seton" is pretty amazing -- two slabs of rough hewn ceramic tile hold the disc snugly inside. Be careful when removing it, as the paper sleeve which protects the disc may not be enough to prevent the hard tile from scratching the disc itself!
RealAudio clip: "No Set"

AUBE Shade Away (Art-ic Culture) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Continuing his single source material aesthetic, Aube pulls out a staple from his bag of tricks... glass. Looping samples culled from taps, cracks, and scrapes form a solid structuralist frame for closely amplified striations of glass. For the most part, Aube has left these sounds (aside from the sampled looping) alone, allowing the signature sound of glass to speak without too much external processing. Packaged in an oversized 6" x 9" paper envelope.

AUBE Solid Pressure (Blackbean & Placenta) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

AUBE Substructural Penetration 1991-1995 (Iris Light) 2cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of Japan's best (and most prolific) sound-sculptors, Aube here collects 20 tracks from various compilations and tapes, mostly on the noiser side of his ouevre. On the British label that last brought us Szeki Kurva.

AUBE Suppression Disorder (Alchemy) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Voltage Control Oscillator is the answer to the question ("what is the source of the sounds on this new Aube disc?"). Aube's stuff is always less noisy and more soundscape-y than some of his fellow Japanese noise copatriots (Mezbow, Masonna, Incapacitants, etc.) and this is no exception. Drones and tones (some quite piercing, but placed in such a way as to make the resumption of the drones all that much more soothing). Nice.

AUBE Timemind (Alchemy) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Wow! An exceptional release from Akifumi Nakajima aka Aube! While most recordings by this highly prolific artist utilize unique sound sources (water, fluorescent lamps, heartbeat, or most notoriously - an amplified Bible!), "Timemind" is a more rhythmic, one might say musical affair which involves the Firstman SQ-01 - a monophonic analogue sequence synthesizer produced in the early eighties. Psychedelic synthesizer trippiness in the vein of Klaus Schulze (the liner notes say "Timemind" is dedicated to him), Tangerine Dream, Terry Riley and Doctor Who! the second installment in Alchemy's incredibly awesome "Inner Mind" series of cosmic-psychedelica!
RealAudio clip: "Timemind/Bar 2. 1-A" III"

AUBE AND ZBIGNIEW KARKOWSKI Mutation (ERS) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A Dutch import limited to 500 copies, this piece is constructed from recordings made of the 18 foot long corridor of the Chio-In Temple in Kyoto that squeeks when walked upon. The squeeking is supposed to prevent unexpected intrusions.

AUCH Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (Force Inc.) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
New release on Force Inc. Steady four on the floor house beats and dark, compressed washes of monochromatic sounds - very much reminiscent of Thomas Brinkmann, Plastikman and most any of the releases on Chain Reaction.

AUCH Remix Tomorrow Goodbye (Force Inc.) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Excellent remix collection (based tracks from Auch's Chain Reaction style "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" album), by the happenin' electronica likes of Sutekh, Dat Politics, Goem, Auch, and others.

AUDIO LEARNING CENTER Cope Park (Vagrant) cd 14.98
So I know most of you don't remember the band Pond, which is a damn shame. We've been trying to track down copies of their sadly now out of print final album Rock Collection forever so we could list it, to no avail. It's one of the greatest weirdest pop records ever, though. And like lots of great weird records, it got them dropped from their label and most likely led to the end of the band. I always wondered how a band could make a completely brilliant record, see it overlooked and ignored and not just give up. But lucky for us these guys just won't give up. We have an amazing array of absolutely brilliant post-Pond projects: Charlie Campbell's Goldcard which we raved about a few lists back, and now the second album from Pond frontman Chris Brady's Audio Learning Center. Where Goldcard was an eccentric hodgepodge of ultrapersonal diary-like ditties, home recorded and all over the place, Audio Learning Center is definitely a band, a ROCK band. But it's unlike a lot of the rock you'll hear these days. Very similar to the final Pond record, guitars warble hypnotic little melodies before roaring riffs overtake them, retreating just as quickly leaving just delicate little melodies for Brady to sing over. And as with most bands, it's the songs, AND the voice. The songs are weird convoluted minor key prog-pop excursions, meandering dizzily from part to part but always returning to a hook that pierces your heart and sticks in your head. And Brady has such a unique voice, throaty and gravelly, but at the same time whine-y, almost cracking and straining to reach those high high notes, lending everything an intensely earnest, almost desparate cast. Think Built To Spill, the Weakerthans, Afghan Whigs, but way more rocking and hypnotic, and way more dark and angst ridden. Sure it's on Vagrant, THE emo label, and ALC does fit to a degree, but Brady's emotions and neuroses are so much deeper and more desperate than most of emo's typical girl/boy/my parents don't understand sentiments. But sonically, there's just some one-in-a-million, alchemical intangible perfection, THAT voice and THESE songs, that give this record such resonance. Hard to know how to process this stuff. Makes you want to jump around and bang your head and air guitar, but at the same time makes you want to hole up in your room, and think about everything and everyone you've lost, and try to figure out what the hell anything means. Which is exactly what makes this record, and this band so fucking great.
MPEG Stream: "The Neverwills"
MPEG Stream: "Cope Park"
MPEG Stream: "Happy Endings"

AUDIO LEARNING CENTER Friendships Often Fade Away (Vagrant) cd 14.98
What the hell is it gonna take for Chris Brady to be huge?!?! How many great records and perfect pop songs qualifies someone for super stardom?? First he fronted the criminally underrated Pond, who with their major label swansong 'Rock Collection' breathed new life into power pop or rock or whatever you want to call it, with equal parts Posies, Cracker and Built To Spill while retaining plenty of their grungy Sub Pop sound of old. Now he's back with a new band, Audio Learning Center, and a sound that is thankfully not all that far removed from the last Pond record. Maybe a little slower and more sensitive (it is on Vagrant after all, home of the Get Up Kids, Saves The Day, etc.) but still catchy, melodic, and rocking, with clever, poignant lyrics, strange arrangements and his gorgeous keening whiny boy voice, always straining to reach those notes that will make all the difference in the world. And they do. Andee's new favorite pop record.
RealAudio clip: "Favorite"
RealAudio clip: "Shell"
RealAudio clip: "Hand Me Downs"

AUDIO LEARNING CENTER Friendships Often Fade Away (Vagrant) lp 10.98
What the hell is it gonna take for Chris Brady to be huge?!?! How many great records and perfect pop songs qualifies someone for super stardom?? First he fronted the criminally underrated Pond, who with their major label swansong 'Rock Collection' breathed new life into power pop or rock or whatever you want to call it, with equal parts Posies, Cracker and Built To Spill while retaining plenty of their grungy Sub Pop sound of old. Now he's back with a new band, Audio Learning Center, and a sound that is thankfully not all that far removed from the last Pond record. Maybe a little slower and more sensitive (it is on Vagrant after all, home of the Get Up Kids, Saves The Day, etc.) but still catchy, melodic, and rocking, with clever, poignant lyrics, strange arrangements and his gorgeous keening whiny boy voice, always straining to reach those notes that will make all the difference in the world. And they do. Andee's new favorite pop record.

AUDIO OUT SEND, !GO MEXICO! AND GIBSON CUYLER (V/A) Ace of Spades Series Volume 7 - March, 2005 (E14) cd-r 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ace Of Spades is a cd-r series of live recordings showcasing the intimate acoustic music of a variety of local indie artists. The series so far boasts consistently strong performances from all participants (well played and well recorded at Mama Buzz Cafe in Oakland).
The Volume 7 - March, 2005 edition features a half dozen tunes from Audio Out Send, five from !Go Mexico! and three from Gibson Cuyler.
MPEG Stream: AUDIO OUT SEND "Rolling Heads"
MPEG Stream: !GO MEXICO! "Better To Be Used Than Alone"
MPEG Stream: GIBSON CUYLER "Wild Style"

AUDIOPAIN 1986 (Vendlus) cd 14.98
Reissues of earlier stuff by this rad thrash band.

AUDIOPAIN Contagious (Vendlus) cd 14.98
Reissues of earlier stuff by this rad thrash band.

AUDIOPAIN The Switch To Turn Off Mankind (Vendlus) cd 11.98
"Faster to death with the throttle at max / as I introduce Mr. Neck to Mr. Axe". Yeah! With lyrics like that, and a headbanging maelstrom of speedy riffs to match, this is Thrash Metal all right! But unlike a lot of today's self-professed "old school" thrash bands, Norway's Audiopain aren't primarily an exercise (however deadly) in '80s nostalgia. It's retro thrash, yeah, and they did title one of their older discs 1986, but we get the idea that they're thrashing with no regard for trends, in a more modern, blackened way, maybe 'cause they don't present themselves in formula thrash fashion (at least not on record, we don't know what they look like live). The imagery of their cd packaging isn't about spikes and leather and fists in the face. Or nuclear bombs and radiation symbols. It is dark and evil looking, signifying "extreme" metal for sure, but doesn't try to look like an old Kreator or Nuclear Assault album, y'know? It's a lot artsier than that (though not as creative as the unique packaging of their previous album for Vendlus, 2004's The Traumatizer). However, when you hit "play", you'll hear that this sure IS thrash metal, that would have given any moshpit back in the eighties quite a workout. 100 percent aggro, heads down, faster than a shark, razor-sharp, thrash-til-death metal, that will have your neck thoroughly wrecked before the 27 minutes of violently concentrated force on this six-song cd have barely begun.
And while the lyric quoted at the start of this review (from the title track) is certainly the sort of thing an Exodus or Destruction would have come up with back in the day, much of the rest of the lyrics here are way more cryptic and oblique, with seeming themes leaning towards the black metal side of things, anti-religious and evil and obviously misanthropic. You get the idea that Audiopain wishes there was indeed a Switch To Turn Off Mankind. And if we sell this to any kids, their parents will surely be looking for the switch to turn off Audiopain...
MPEG Stream: "Alliance"
MPEG Stream: "Holy Toxic"

AUDIOPAIN The Traumatizer (Vendlus) cd 14.98
A lot of the metal we trumpet here at at AQ HQ is of the weird, droney, dirgey, arty, trancey variety. Stuff that, intentionally or not, could be considered avant-garde. But we like metal that's just plain metal too, metal that's meant for headbanging not headscratching. And so it is that Norway's Audiopain (a dumb name, yes, but it's just a name) has become the current hit for AQ's metalhorde (if Andee and Allan can be considered a horde). The first thing we noticed about this release (before we even had listened to it) is that they make up for the unimaginative band name by doing something downright creative with the packaging -- the cd booklet has been sliced horizontally in thirds and then cleverly folded into an assemblage unlike anything we've seen before in a cd. So, we were curious as to what this would sound like. How 'bout some fierce, energetic, razor-blade-rifftastic thrash? With raspy screams, nasty guitars, thick bass and blasting drums, Audiopain's The Traumatizer is totally andrenalized and 'izing. It's like '80s German thrash-meisters Destruction or Kreator with more of a creepy atmosphere. That means we're also reminded of current Swedish thrashers Defleshed (but *with* guitar soloing). That means: freakin' good! And how can you not like a severe, dark, violent metal band that whose thanks list includes a "cosmic toodeloo", a "grand bag of hip hurra" and "a subliminal penguin" to various friends and family? Maybe these guys are kinda weird and arty, come to think of it. But whatever tendencies they have in that direction won't get in the way of your demin-n-leather clad pleasure center enjoying some hooky, headbanging, thrashing-mad METAL. Not overly long at six songs/34 minutes, a la Reign In Blood, but I found myself happily hitting repeat on these traumatizing tunes, over and over again.
MPEG Stream: "Believer"
MPEG Stream: "The Traumatizer"

AUDIOSLAVE Out Of Exile (Interscope) cd 15.98

AUDIOSLAVE Revelations (Epic) cd 16.98

AUDIOSLAVE s/t (Epic / Interscope) cd 15.98
Who ever said grunge was dead was wrong wrong wrong! Chris Cornell joined all of Rage Against The Machine (minus the singer) in May 2001. After some tumultous band strife they bust out with this, their first release, which brings you so back to the early 90's it's hard to believe (or understand). This has all the sludginess of Mudhoney, the murkyness of Green River and of course sounds a lot like Soundgarden. Dynamic and slick recording, with a familiar, if out of date sound. If you're sad cuz you're bored of your old grunge here's some brand new songs that sound as if they came right out of a time capsule.
RealAudio clip: "Cochise"
RealAudio clip: "Like a Stone"

AUER, JON 6 1/2 (Pattern) cd ep 9.98
The last few Posies records (and Posies related records) haven't been entirely satisfying for those of us who have been yearning for that lush, powerful, harmony-vocal-soaked pop. Both Ken and Jon have been dabbling in random solo projects, and the Posies released a sub par live record, and an acoustic record of oldies but goodies (that -was- actually quite good). So this EP comes as quite a surprise. All covers, and all transformed into lush Posies-pop. Things start off with a lovely and understated (and instrumental) version of 'Bonnie and Clyde', the Serge Gainsbourg classic. Then a Chameleons UK and a Swervedriver tune, both slowed down and blissed out. Then it gets really weird. A totally heartfelt, and completely beautiful cover of Ween's 'Baby Bitch', that almost manages to out-schmaltz the original. Next comes a Grant Hart tune that sounds custom made for the Posies treatment. The EP finishes off with an almost straight version of the Psychedelic Furs' 'Love My Way' and a softly strummed, purposely delicate version of Madonna's 'Beautiful Stranger'. This'll have to hold you over until the long-awaited-perhaps-never-to-come new Posies record.
RealAudio clip: "Baby Bitch"
RealAudio clip: "Green Eyes"
RealAudio clip: "Beautiful Stanger"

AUER, JON Songs From The Year Of Our Demise (Pattern 25) cd 14.98
Together or apart those Posies' gents Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer never fail to do a number on your pop-loving heartstrings. Wonder if it irks them that seldom is one mentioned without reference to the other or to their band for that matter (if so, we apologize for adding one more to the stack), but geez, it's pretty difficult not to do! They're all so deeply interwoven. While other bands' members usually strike out on his or her own to follow a muse that doesn't mesh with their main band, these guys' solo endeavors all inevitably end up sounding like The Posies whether or not they intended it to be so. Auer's vocals have always been the aural equivalent of a big ol' ice cream sundae. Ever so slightly smoother and fuller than Stringfellow's, but no less sweet and irresistible. That was fine and dandy when they (and we) were young pups, but how do they fare today as veteran songsmiths? Well, if Songs From The Year Of Our Demise is any indication, very very good, thank you! Auer has taken his sweet time issuing forth a solo album meticulously refining each and very facet himself (Stringfellow's been much more prolific on that side of things), but it's so worth the wait! This man is downright wizardly at composing counter melodies and vocal harmonies and they're everywhere on this labor of love. And yes, it does sound incredibly like a Posies album albeit a bit darker and more introspective, but are we complaining? Hell no! Those guys have brought us so much pop joy over the years in all of their incarnations, and we're pleased as punch that their fountain is showing no signs of stopping.
MPEG Stream: "Six Feet Under"
MPEG Stream: "Bottom Of The Bottle"