AXELROD, DAVID Songs Of Experience (Capitol) lp 11.98

AXELROD, DAVID Songs Of Innocence (Capitol) lp 11.98

AXELROD, DAVID The Edge: David Axelrod At Capitol Records 1966-1970 (Capitol) cd 16.98
So good! Axelrod founded the "black music" division of Capitol records in the '60s. During his reign at Capitol he produced amazing records by Cannonball Adderley, Lou Rawls and David McCallum. He also pretty much created the two weirdest Electric Prunes albums. What has been hardest to track down are three of his own records during that era: Songs of Experience, Songs Of Innocence, and Earth Rot. On these, Axelrod put together an orchestra of sound complete with strings, hammond organ and a super rich backbeat that's been sampled and worshiped by the likes of DJ Shadow, Madlib and Dr Dre. This collection compiles tracks from those three albums as well as a few choice cuts he produced for other artists at Captiol circa '66-'70. His sound is one that laid the foundation for the explosion in fusion which would happen in the '70s. Miles Davis always gave props to Axelrod and one could argue that he was very responsible for helping lay the foundation for a work like Bitches Brew to be born. Taking the richness of soul, the freedom of jazz, elements of classical composition and hints of rock and psych-pop Axelrod is one of the few guys who can get away with wearing sunglasses inside 'cause he was just that cool!
MPEG Stream: "Song Of Innocence"
MPEG Stream: "The Fly"

AXEMEN Nutcracker Suite (Negative Guest List) 7" 12.98

AXEMEN Peter Wang Pud (Flying Nun) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Furious '80s garage punk from Australia on the fabulous Flying Nun label.

AXEMEN Three Virgins (Siltbreeze) lp 17.98
Originally released in the eighties on legendary New Zealand label Flying Nun, the Axemen's Three Virgins remained mostly unheard by all but the most extreme of NZ underground obsessives, sort of makes sense that it would end up on Siltbreeze, whose pop roster should give you an idea of what to expect from these Axemen: Strapping Fieldhands, Guided By Voices, Sebadoh, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, to those references you could also add the Velvets, Beefheart, and even more appropriately, to these ears at least, would be seminal East Coast outsider label Shimmy Disc. The Axemen traffic in a fractured, stumbling, keening, detuned lo-fi pop, the guitars atonal, occasionally buzzy and crunchy, otherwise spidery and jangly, the songs laced with plink plonk piano, whistling, the drums strangely produced, usually buried in the mix, spidery guitar leads wrapped around warped and warbly melodies, and the vocals, seriously out there, this is a pop record after all, so it's the vocals that really drive things, the various voices seem less concerned with being in tune, and more with energy and exuberance, they're high, whiny, plaintive, sorta sad boy, but delivered with gusto, howled in places, crooned in others, the harmonies slightly off, defiantly tuneless in places, adding another bit of whatthefuck to the already cracked vibe, which is augmented further by some awesomely tripped out weirdness, that sounds in places like a more tuneful (just barely) Dead C, or some primitive tape experiment, or some warped boom box DJ collage or even like some sort of lysergic sixties psych folk, all of the various elements constantly shifting, and mutating, and getting all tangled up with each other, the sound poppy one second, droney and dirgey the next, fuzzy and psychedelic one second, detuned and demented the next, but always confusional and off kilter, a pretty brilliantly baffling slice of primo eighties NZ underground sound for sure.
Pressed on nice thick vinyl, housed in an eye popping gatefold jacker, and LIMITED TO 600 COPIES!! Includes a download coupon.
MPEG Stream: "The Dream"
MPEG Stream: "Something (The Wives of the President's Men)"
MPEG Stream: "Grudge Hill"
MPEG Stream: "Artie Shepp's Place"
MPEG Stream: "The Yeasty Mayor"

AXIS OF PERDITION, THE Deleted From The Transition Hospital (Code 666) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Deleted Scenes I: In The Hallway Of Crawling Filth"
MPEG Stream: "Pendulum Prey (Second Incarceration)"

AXIS OF PERDITION, THE Physical Illucinations In The Sewer of Xuchilbara... (Code 666) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Awesome droning avant metal. A bit industrial, a little black, very dark and creepy.

AXOLOTL Archons?/Archons! (Jyrk Collective) cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While I was listening to this the first time, I found myself literally singing along, making up words, something like "I love noise rock, I surely do" kind of facetiously, but as this record played on, I realized I actually still do. And this here slab of noise rock in particular. Dug the recent Axolotl cd and this cd-r is just as good. A swirling mess of drones and clatter and deconstructed melodies and propulsive almost rhythms and weird snatches of sonic detritus, all muddled up into a totally listenable, surprisingly catchy, really fucking good burst of avant/free/folk/noise/rock!
MPEG Stream: "Emme Ya"
MPEG Stream: "Sinthome"

AXOLOTL Chemical Theater (Gypsy Sphinx No Cat) 12" 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We totally dig local free noise one man band Axolotl, and were ready for another blast of gorgeously abstract drone, clatter and skree when we threw this on, but holy cow is this record completely something else. We had to keep checking to see what we were listening to.
Some of the elements are certainly similar, but it's way dreamier and laid back, muted and murky, subtly propulsive, it actually sounds quite a bit like Oval or Gas! Which is a VERY good thing. Slow shifting underwater drift, a looped hypnotic dreamworld, rich waves of warm sound, a totally gorgeous abstract minimal ambience. So so so good!
SUPER LIMITED! 525 COPIES. Each copy is hand numbered and has a cool paste on cover.

AXOLOTL Live (Loci) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Even though Axolotl was San Francisco based, for some reason it was always difficult for us to get many of his releases. Most were extremely limited, a few times we managed to get merely a handful before they disappeared, but for the most part they came and went before we even discovered they were out.
Axolotl may have moved away, but he also started up his own little label, concentrating on releasing various bits of sonic Axolotica. Live shows, impromptu jams, and various other recorded sonic happenings. And thankfully this time we have a direct line to the source, and we've got copies of all three titles in the first batch. All packaged in miniature dvd-style cases, with photocopied covers and some with a little xeroxed insert. And while we're not sure just how limited these are, we're fairly sure it's VERY.
Live is a collection of live recordings (duh) from all over the globe, two from London, one from Glasgow, one from Amsterdam, one from right here in San Francisco, and two live on KALX. The London shows are much noisier than normal, dense clouds of crumbling distortion, static and hiss, but as always, melodies swirl beneath the skree, the various textures changing shape constantly, dizzying, and on the very dreamy pleasant side of noisy. The Glasgow show is a rich thick fluid drone assembled from glowing layers of burnished guitar shimmer and distant choir like vocals. The first KALX show is a deep tripped out druggy swirl, voices and fragments of melodies, all spinning drowsily, the second a super percussive steel string workout that sounds like solo dulcimer or something. San Francisco is a tripped out tribal drug jam, murky percussion, a haze of high end jangle, fluttering feedback, and tiny little squalls of buzz and skree. And finally, the Amsterdam show, a long stretch of high end hiss, manipulated tape, and fuzzy warbly static, all woven into a surprisingly dreamy drone. Once again, fantastic stuff.
MPEG Stream: "London"
MPEG Stream: "Glasgow"

AXOLOTL Memory Theatre (Important) cd 14.98
Long overdue collection of out of print material from SF based free noise sound sculptor Axolotl. Collecting tracks from the Jyrk cd-r Oranur, the Spirit Of Orr cd-r Object Phantom and the more recent Gypsy Sphinx 12" Chemical Theater.
As much as we pretty much love everything Axolotl has done, and as much as we're psyched to have some of the older stuff on a real cd, this disc is worth it alone for the two tracks from the Chemical Theater 12", the first record where we noticed a distinct stylistic shift in Axolotl's sound. Here's what we had to say about those tracks:
"We had to keep checking to see what we were listening to. Some of the elements are certainly similar, but it's way dreamier and laid back, muted and murky, subtly propulsive, it actually sounds quite a bit like Oval or Gas! Which is a VERY good thing. Slow shifting underwater drift, a looped hypnotic dream world, rich waves of warm sound, a totally gorgeous abstract minimal ambience."
Sounds pretty great huh? Well, it is. And the two tracks from Chemical Theater are nearly twenty minutes long! Basically half of the 12". Including the 11+ minute glorious dreamy drone "Illiaster".
But the funny thing is, revisiting the older tracks, they are just as good somehow, sounding way more fuzzy and blown out and beautiful than we remember. And we definitely remember digging them, a lot, but they sound SO great... Thick washes of murky gritty grime, drones that twist and rumble and give way to fragmented bits of melody. Soft focus stretches of pixelated ambience, guitar strums that come apart, the notes drifting in all different directions, each note enveloped in its own little swath of buzz or fuzz, simple percussion, damaged rhythms, all wrapped in a dense fog of glowing guitar growl and fuzzed out feedback...
So recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Chemical Theater"
MPEG Stream: "Oranur"
MPEG Stream: "Lake Garden"

AXOLOTL Object Phantom (Spirit Of Orr) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

AXOLOTL Oranur (Jyrk Collective) cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MPEG Stream: "Oranur"
MPEG Stream: "Holzwege"

AXOLOTL s/t (Psych-o-path) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
First record from this mysterious troupe, and it's a good one. We heard a little from them on that recent Space Is No Place compilation, but Axolotl is the sort of band that requires a whole record to truly unwind and explore and get us to where we want to go. This is classic, minimal, creepy out-rock music, but minus most of the rock. Damaged drones constructed from warbling synths and moaning ambient flutter, garbled melodies of chopped up voices, excited strings and all sorts of minimally percussive scrabble. There are drones but this is most definitely NOT a drone record, it's far too unsettling and dynamic. The drones are just one of the many elements of Axolotl's otherworldly miasma of sonic muddle and seemingly random sound. Occasionally a machine like rrrroooaaarr emerges from the murk, but manages to remain somehow pleasingly but not at all obviously melodic (a la the Dead C) like an anvil dipped in tar and wrapped in feathers.
MPEG Stream: "track 1"
MPEG Stream: "track 3"

AXOLOTL s/t (Fuck It Tapes) cassette 9.98

AXOLOTL Telesma (Spooky Action) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not sure what happened to Axolotl, but at some point his noises got way less noisy, and everything started to sound a lot fuzzier and beautifully disoriented, almost like a few records back, the band stepped into a thick puddle of sonic quicksand, and every record they've sunk a little bit deeper, everything getting more and more fuzzed out and murky, buzzy and indistinct, until now, heck they must be neck deep, cuz everything sounds about as blissed out as can be.
Like an indie rock underground version of Mink Ink's Gas, Axolotl are now firmly in the Pop Ambient camp as far as we're concerned. Thick swirling sheets of ambience, guitars are fuzzy and drift like fat soft clouds, melodies are buried all the way at the bottom of about a million layers of grit and hum and whir, allowing us only brief glimpses, and letting occasional fragments float to the surface. Within this warm dense swirl is a pulse, a beat, a rhythm, often impossible to pick out, occasionally just loud enough to be heard over the soft din, a little like hearing a heartbeat through someone's down overcoat, a distant blurry thump, that almost just sounds like a random dynamic disturbance in the dreamlike hiss of each song's tranquil drift.
There are always a lot of amazing records vying for the coveted late night listening position, you know the perfect disc to relax to, to read along with, or best of all, to free your mind and send you drifting off into some relaxed, not-quite-sleep but dreamily blissed out headspace, and this Axolotl disc (a reissue of a super limited, out of print cd-r) has has pretty much knocked out all other contenders!
Amazingly gorgeous packaging too, a white folded over sleeve with embossed reflective silver printing, a textured pattern on the front, bold type on the back. Really striking.
MPEG Stream: "Telesma"
MPEG Stream: "Vril"

AXOLOTL Trade Ye No Mere Moneyed Art (Loci) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Even though Axolotl was San Francisco based, for some reason it was always difficult for us to get many of his releases. Most were extremely limited, a few times we managed to get merely a handful before they disappeared, but for the most part they came and went before we even discovered they were out.
Axolotl may have moved away, but he also started up his own little label, concentrating on releasing various bits of sonic Axolotica. Live shows, impromptu jams, and various other recorded sonic happenings. And thankfully this time we have a direct line to the source, and we've got copies of all three titles in the first batch. All packaged in miniature dvd-style cases, with photocopied covers and each with little xeroxed insert. And while we're not sure just how limited these are, we're fairly sure it's VERY.
Trade Ye No Mere Moneyed Art is the first release on Loci, and is everything we've come to love about Axolotl. Slow drifting mursckapes, swirls of muted percussion and disembodied guitar blur, soft edged effects, thick layers of whirring synth, crumbling bits of distortion, long static rumbles, subtly shimmering overtones, insectoid buzz, electronic glitch, and thick blown out sun dappled dreamlike drones. So nice.
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"

AXOLOTL Way Blank (Psych-O-Path) cd 13.98
A brand new full length from local noisemaker Axolotl. We've carried loads of releases from this one man band, almost all of them cd-r's and thus almost all of them now out of print. Way Blank is actually, as far as we can tell, only the second proper cd (not cd-r) release so far, and we're glad it's a real cd, cuz it's pretty awesome.
Following up the Chemical Theater 12", Axolotly continues on the road toward a fuzzier dreamier place, more Gas and M83 and Tim Hecker than Yellow Swans and Wolf Eyes.
Everything is soft and fuzzy and bathed in a warm whirring glow. The opener "Penuma" sounds like it could have been plucked right off one of the Pop Ambient collections. Buried vocals, drifting melodic murk, all wrapped in thick slow shifting layers of fuzzy glistening sonic gauze. The second track is similarly murk and indistinct, but manages to build abstract rhythms out of crumbling distorted sonic fragments, a rumbling, creaking, whirring soundscape that builds into a massive wall of pitch shifting fuzz. Pretty glorious sounding actually. Massive and dramatic and so dreamy.
The rest of the tracks are all variations on the same glorious theme, blurry indistinct smears of foggy soft focus sound, buried melodies and distant sonic shadows, everything whirling and swirling, a cloudy ambient abstract drift through a warbly world of warm colors. A gorgeous new direction for Axolotl, one we definitely hope he'll continue to explore, joining his new sonic brethren, Gas, Tim Hecker, Fennesz, Basinski, et al., as they chart meandering dreamlike journeys into unknown worlds of sound.
MPEG Stream: "Pneuma"
MPEG Stream: "Uroboros"
MPEG Stream: "Occiput"

AXOLOTL / D YELLOW SWANS / GERRITT s/t (Root Strata) lp 14.98
Managed to get a few more copies of this back in, might very well be out of print so this could be the last copies we ever see...
This long sought after, long out of print cd-r, released originally on the Jyrk label way back in 2005, is available again for a limited time -- now as a super swank, ultra limited lp from Jefre Cantu Ledesma's (Tarentel) Root Strata label.
Triple threat SF free noise cd-r tag team match up between some names you should probably know by now, Axolotl, the Yellow Swans, and Gerritt. With three times the firepower you might think that would mean three times the noise, but be prepared to be surprised! And soothed. That's right, three lengthy tracks that lean more toward the dreamy minimal drone and the shimmering sheets of sonic skree than the all out noise attack. The first track is a slowly shifting gritty electronic soundscape of hazy melody and electronic buzz and hiss, eventually building into a louder, yet no less swath of drone and glitch hiss. Track two is a bit more in your face, with rich slabs of distorted chords and warm warbly drones, with swooping melodies and electronic mosquito buzz. The final track is twenty minutes of thick churning low end grind and grumble, pulsing with some buried beat, until the whole thing explodes into a huge wall of thick electrogrit and fuzzed out feedback screech. Wow. Really nice.
Limited to 500 copies we think.
MPEG Stream: "One"

AXOLOTL / INCA ORE split (Arbor) 7" 6.98
Super limited single from these two modern masters of soft noise. The A side is from local boy Karl aka Axolotl, who over the last little while has slowly changed direction, the chaotic thick noisescapes of past records gradually becoming more and more melodic and blissed out. His half of this split continues in that direction, beginning with a brief bit of slowed down processed industrial clatter, which slowly gives way to some super blissy vocal drift. Soft swells, warm wheezing organs, bits of electronics, and disembodied vocals slowly shifting and wrapping themselves around one another. Creating strange subtle shapes and gorgeous harmonies. Lo-fi noise-rock pop ambience for sure...
Inca Ore (now also local wethinks) fills up the flipside with whispered vocals and old music box melodies, suspended in an old fashioned haze, late afternoon sun and dust motes hanging motionless in the beams of fading light. A room full of furniture untouched, old faded photos, a life forgotten. Haunting and creepy, mysterious and strangely cinematic, bits of choral fragments pepper the hushed vocals and simple melodies, sounding like it wouldn't be out of place in a Dario Argento movie.
LIMITED TO 450 COPIES, each one hand numbered, pressed on white vinyl, and packaged in thick sleeves with a photocopied insert.

AXOLOTL / MOUTHUS / SKATERS Live At KDVS (Our Mouth) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We managed to get just a handful of these super limited (and seemingly already out of print, arghh!) cd-r's documenting this particular abstract free noise summit, that took place earlier this year live on the air at KDVS in Sacramento. Featuring names you should all be familiar with by now, Axolotl, Mouthus and the Skaters. Not as noisy as one might expect, instead this is some strange ambient industrial workout, murky and muddy, lots of processed vocals, clanging percussion, and weird swells of sound, cloaked in a dense swirl of lo-fi hiss. Sounds like it could be some lost live Throbbing Gristle outtake. Thick squirming guitars, creep and crawl through a craggy soundscape of thick gritty drones and jagged streaks of feedback, while haunting vocals moan and howl above the crepuscular din.
MPEG Stream: "Live At KDVS"

AXOLOTL / THE SKATERS split (Catsup Plate) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some vinyl tag team action from these two Bay area based frenzies heavyweights. Axolotl offer up three lengthy tracks, a warped warbly hiss drenched ambient drift with distant singsongy vocals, a soft shimmery cinematic soundscapes, all soft edges, sparkling and glistening, and a crunchy super distorted blown out bliss out. All different but with a distinct certain something that ties them all together and makes them uniquely Axolotl. The Skaters counter with a side long epic, weird birdlike electronics trill and flutter, affected guitar jangles and floats dreamlike, hypnotic vocal loops, lurch and shimmy and eventually blend into a single smeary sound, the whole track dense and murky and warbly and lo-fi but as always so totally soft on the ears.
Gorgeously packaged as are all things on Catsup Plate, this time, metallic textured gold ink on a black sleeve, hand screened with a photocopied insert. SUPER LIMITED. Already out of print at the label, so we might not be able to get more unless they press more!

AXOLOTL / YELLOW SWANS / GERRIT (Jyrk) cd 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We only have a handful of these and once they're gone they're gone for good! Super limited triple threat SF free noise cd-r tag team match up between some names you should probably know by now, Axolotl, the Yellow Swans, and Gerritt. With three times the firepower you might think that would mean three times the noise, but be prepared to be surprised! And soothed. That's right, three lengthy tracks that lean more toward the dreamy minimal drone and the shimmering sheets of sonic skree than the all out noise attack. The first track is a slowly shifting gritty electronic soundscape of hazy melody and electronic buzz and hiss, eventually building into a louder, yet no less swath of drone and glitch hiss. Track two is a bit more in your face, with rich slabs of distorted chords and warm warbly drones, with swooping melodies and electronic mosquito buzz. The final track is twenty minutes of thick churning low end grind and grumble, pulsing with some buried beat, until the whole thing explodes into a huge wall of thick electrogrit and fuzzed out feedback screech. Wow. Really nice. And again, this is SUPER LIMITED!!!
MPEG Stream: "One"

AXOLOTL AND WEYES BLUHD Sciamacy (Loci) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Even though Axolotl was San Francisco based, for some reason it was always difficult for us to get many of his releases. Most were extremely limited, a few times we managed to get merely a handful before they disappeared, but for the most part they came and went before we even discovered they were out.
Axolotl may have moved away, but he also started up his own little label, concentrating on releasing various bits of sonic Axolotica. Live shows, impromptu jams, and various other recorded sonic happenings. And thankfully this time we have a direct line to the source, and we've got copies of all three titles in the first batch. All packaged in miniature dvd-style cases, with photocopied covers and some with a little xeroxed insert. And while we're not sure just how limited these are, we're fairly sure it's VERY.
The third release in the inaugural batch of Loci releases finds Axolotl teaming up with someone called Weyes Bluhd. On the first track of two, the duo create some sort of super distorted ghostly folk, where the vocals are crumbling effects drenched moans, surrounded by streaks of feedback and bursts of glitch and crunch, melodies assembled from jagged fragments of sound, all in a murky muddy soundscape of fuzzed out ambience, eventually building to a serious chunk of chaotic free psych blowout, overblown and WAY in the red.
The second track is like a shadow of the first, a whispery shimmer to the openers crunchy buzz, the vocals lonely moans, the instrumentation nothing but barely there slivers of high end shimmer, a lonely guitar drifting through the ether, the surrounding ambience fuzzy and gauzy, some serious abstract ghost town blues.
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"

AXTON, HOYT My Griffin Is Gone (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98
Wow! The Omni Recording Corporation reissues another gem in the form of this druggy 1969 West-Coast Pop-Americana masterpiece by enigmatic country legend Hoyt Axton. Son of a Nashville insider who wrote "Heartbreak Hotel" for Elvis, Axton cut his teeth in the Greenwich village folk scene, becoming better known as a songwriter than a singer, scoring a big hit for The Kingston Trio with "Greenback Dollar". But it wasn't until a little film called Easy Rider featured one of his songs, "The Pusher" performed by Steppenwolf, that Axton got his biggest break. Signed to Columbia Records, he immediately began working on My Griffin is Gone, a startling socially conscious document of drug withdrawal (LSD and pills) and war that is barely concealed under kaleidoscopic lyrics and blissful orchestral folk rock arrangements of spacey organs, soaring strings and sitar rock-outs. Like Euphoria covering Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left or Bill Fay doing The Notorious Byrd Brothers, this is full of that wistful melancholy, stunning songcraft and pointedly poetic self-examination that we love in records from this period. Not a good plan for a money-making hit record, but perfect for those great lost cult records that we can't seem to get enough of. This reissue augments the original album with 12 rare bonus tracks of demos and singles, 8 of which are previously unreleased, including his demo recording of "The Pusher". Essential for psych-roots-folk fans of all persuasions. God Damn!
MPEG Stream: "Way Before The Time of Towns"
MPEG Stream: "Kingswood Manor"
MPEG Stream: "San Fernando"
MPEG Stream: "The Pusher"

AXXESS Novels For The Moons (Medical) lp 19.98
We've been meaning to list more releases on Medical Records, one of the coolest reissue labels going these days. The label describes themselves as "Purveyors of classic synth, cosmic disco, wave (cold/new), and future music", and in the past have brought us killer reissues from Der Plan, Deutsche Wertarbeit, and Alexander Robotnick, with tons more we've yet to review (but hopefully will soon!). But we can't think of a better way to start our Medical Records review campaign than this amazing record, 1983's Novels For The Moon, by the awesomely named Axxess, aka French multimedia artist Patrick Mimran, a record whose genesis is nearly as interesting as the record itself. But before we get to that, just know that ANYone into the current crop of psych-space-synth retro-futurists, a la Zombi, Majeure, Umberto, Gatekeeper, Dylan Ettinger, Nightsatan, Blizaro, Xander Harris, Roll The Dice and all the rest, should grab one of these right now!
So, the story goes, that Mimran was working as a top executive at Lamborghini Motors (the exotic sports car / race car company), when he made this record, and originally released it on, believe it or not, Lamborghini's own record label (which had us wondering what other Lamborghini Records releases might be lurking out there?!). His music was heavily influenced by the German krautrock of the time (Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, etc.), and he even commissioned a German engineer to build him a custom synthesizer, a much more complex version of one that the same engineer had earlier designed for Tangerine Dream! And in a further connection to Tangerine Dream, Novels For The Moons was recorded with help from TD member Christopher Franke (who was also in Agitation Free). Needless to say, sonically, this Axxess album has much in common with Tangerine Dream, but also with the creepy synth soundtracks of Goblin and John Carpenter, the sounds on the record ranging from pulsing space disco, to haunting ominous synth soundtrackery, to blissed out kosmische new age, often all of those combined.
On first listen, you'll be shocked at how much the current crop of synth wranglers sound like Axxess, an artist probably most of them have never heard, but who no doubt will be immediately obsessed with, how could they not be? The tracks mesmerizing and hypnotic, sequenced melodies, pulsing rhythms, the Kraftwerk vibe HUGE in places, thick swaths of kosmische drift, swirls of new agey shimmer, much of this sounds like mysterious B-movie soundtracks, chase scenes, credit sequences, others sound like background music from some seriously tripped out seventies nature program, all of it sounds druggy and cosmic, soaring and epic and impossibly catchy, driving and pulsating, pulsing and mesmerizing, beyond the classic synth sounds, there's plenty of other craziness going on as well, strange processed vocals, intense stereo panning, even wild monkey screeches on one track, but it's all somehow woven into the whole, which most definitely works as an album proper, but whose sound slip seamlessly from dark and ominous, to playful and goofy, to intense and driving, krautrocky and blissed out one minute, groovy and darkly psychedelic the next. So totally recommended.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES! Each one hand numbered. Pressed on 180 gram yellow vinyl, housed in a reproduction of the original jacket, with a 12"x12" printed insert with liner notes including pictures of the synth used to make the record, a history of the record and its creation, and an interview with Patrick Mimran!
MPEG Stream: "Griffin's Disaster"
MPEG Stream: "Twilight Ride"
MPEG Stream: "Xylobones"
MPEG Stream: "Sad Blue Sand I"
MPEG Stream: "Owls"

AYAT Six Years Of Dormant Hatred (Moribund) cd 14.98
So, do you really need another hole in the head, I mean black metal album? Well, yes you do, you just might want this one, it's a bit different and certainly on the extreme of extreme. On the other hand, Ayat could easily be too scary for some. We were intrigued with Ayat for several reasons. 1) It's on the Moribund label, and we always at least check out their releases, 2) the band hails from of all places, BEIRUT, and 3) we read an interesting interview with them recently in the venerable Metal Maniacs magazine (which, by the way, we're sad to hear is soon to cease publication, a seriously severe loss to the metal scene we grew up with).
In their interview, Ayat make some seemingly hyperbolic statements ("Moribund couldn't refuse this; they had no choice"), but also also sound like they have intelligent reason to believe them, and express some ideas that we don't think we've ever heard a band say, such as the notion that their listeners "are the people who don't give two shits about Ayat but have a life of their own. Every now and then, we give them a gift. The musician/listener relationship should not go beyond that." They also discuss what real war is like (something they know about, that most black metal bands don't), explaining "it's getting your hands dirty, and screwing everyone around you until you convince yourself you're not such an asshole after all". Their atypical background and evident intelligence already set Ayat apart. Then you should note that the guy quoted above calls himself Filthy Fuck. And the other guy in the band is named Sadogoat. Reconciling that, taking them seriously, definitely made us want to hear their music.
And of course, what really matters IS the music. And the music here, or should we say "music", is REALLY distorted and deranged and blasting and brutal. Up there with early Anaal Nathrakh and Revenge. It almost makes you wonder, why they don't just go all the way into Merzbow or Incapacitants style total noise? But then this would lose the frantic headbanging catchiness that underpins all the blurred, buzzing, screaming chaos. Ayat's relentless raw, rawarrrrghhh sound is really kind of punk rock (like Pissed Jeans x 666!!!), but the attentive listener will also realize there's quite a bit of artistry to how these tracks are constructed. It's a complex thing cramming all this craziness and violence into what are actual, rockin' songs. Considering that the band -sounds- like they'd rather be slitting their wrists or gargling alcohol or beating you up rather than doing anything constructive.
Ayat's song titles are just lovely, like "Puking Under Radiant Moonlight (Followed By A Century Long Ejaculation)" and "Thousands Of Pissed Motherfuckers". Filthy Fuck's vocals are often barked, rasped and sputtered like a hardcore Donald Duck and it's not always possible to tell what he's singing about (which may be just as well) but we get the idea it's nihilistic, not nice.
We were -really- worried about the singer towards the climax of the first track "Ilahiya Khinzir! (All Hail Allah The Swine)", but then realized what we were hearing was a recording of pigs squealing. The album is littered with tons of weird, disturbing samples, which sometimes extend into sinister soundscapey passages... but then it's back to the blasting, soon enough. There's actually lots of surprises within these tracks. Snippets of old timey music. The occasional perfunctory guitar solo surfacing. Once in a while, there's even some clean, chantlike singing (a la Root's Big Boss), most notably on the downtempo album closer "Such A Beautiful Day! (The Exaltation Of Saint Francis)" which combines plodding, morose melody with a subtle sheen of electronic drone. Whew! Many methods to their madness here.
Be warned, as you've undoubtedly already surmised, there's religious intolerance, heck, HATRED expressed (not entirely a surprise, as they are a black metal band, usually not known as fans of organized religion, or terribly concerned about offending anyone). This band, based in Lebanon as we mentioned, is avowedly anti-Islamic. Wonder how that works out for them?
MPEG Stream: "Ilahiya Khinzir! (All Hail Allah The Swine)"
MPEG Stream: "Fornication And Murder"
MPEG Stream: "Misogyny When We Embrace"

AYERS, NIGEL / JOHN EVERALL / MICK HARRIS Mesmeric Enabling Device (Soleilmoon) cd 14.98
Outside the morphological sounds of Nocturnal Emissions, Nigel Ayers has embarked on a few collaborative projects - one with Robin Storey and Randy Grief, and this one with Mick Harris (Scorn, Lull, Painkiller), and John Everall (Sentrax Records). Collectively, the trio delves into the deepest pits of the dark ambient, pioneered by the likes of Lustmord. Sublime.

AYERS, ROY Best of Roy Ayers (Polydor) cd 12.98

AYERS, ROY Lots Of Love (Universal Sound) cd 19.98
Wow, this one's a real surprise, because as much as we're fans of jazz vibraphonist Roy Ayers' early to mid-seventies rare groove and jazz albums, his later output that we knew of, pretty much fell into cheesy disco and RnB. So when Universal Sounds re-issued this album from 1983 that we had never heard of, we were a bit wary but also highly intrigued. Released on his own independent label Uno Melodic while he was between major-label tenures with Polydor and Columbia, Lots of Love clearly shows Ayers independence as he freely explores many styles of post-disco dance music from the Afro-beat inspired "Black Family", the electro-funk of "Fast Money", and the minimal house of "Chicago", while "D.C. City" hearkens back to the simmering rare groove classics he recorded with Sylvia Striplin and Ethel Beatty. He also gets in a couple of grooving instrumentals with the vibes, showing that he never lost his chops. His best record since 1976's Everybody Loves The Sunshine!
Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Black Family"
MPEG Stream: "Fast Money"
MPEG Stream: "Chicago"

AYERS, ROY Lots Of Love (Universal Sound) 2lp 24.00
Now available on vinyl, sweet.
Wow, this one's a real surprise, because as much as we're fans of jazz vibraphonist Roy Ayers' early to mid-seventies rare groove and jazz albums, his later output that we knew of, pretty much fell into cheesy disco and RnB. So when Universal Sounds re-issued this album from 1983 that we had never heard of, we were a bit wary but also highly intrigued. Released on his own independent label Uno Melodic while he was between major-label tenures with Polydor and Columbia, Lots of Love clearly shows Ayers independence as he freely explores many styles of post-disco dance music from the Afro-beat inspired "Black Family", the electro-funk of "Fast Money", and the minimal house of "Chicago", while "D.C. City" hearkens back to the simmering rare groove classics he recorded with Sylvia Striplin and Ethel Beatty. He also gets in a couple of grooving instrumentals with the vibes, showing that he never lost his chops. His best record since 1976's Everybody Loves The Sunshine!
Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Black Family"
MPEG Stream: "Fast Money"
MPEG Stream: "Chicago"

AYLER, ALBERT Bells (ESP-Disk) lp 16.98

AYLER, ALBERT Bells/Prophecy (ESP-Disk) cd 17.98

AYLER, ALBERT Holy Ghost, Vol. 1 (Revenant) 3lp 36.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Okay, those of you Albert Ayler obsessives / vinyl collectors who felt left out by the recent release of the Ayler Holy Ghost 9cd boxset, can now rejoice, as Revenant will finally be releasing the the Holy Ghost box on vinyl, spread out over several multiple lp sets. This is volume one, and while not quite as elaborate as the totally extravagant cd box, it's still quite nice, gorgeous thick threefold gatefold cover, printed inner sleeves and clear vinyl! While we imagine only Ayler obsessives would probably need this, since many of his recordings are readily available and much cheaper, here's a brief thumbnail description of the man for the Ayler neophytes out there:
Albert Ayler was a master on the tenor sax, who decided to forget everything he had ever learned and approach his instrument in a completely different, way more spiritual way, hoping to channel the divine through his music. And goddamn if he didn't succeed. One of the most influential players and composers in the history of free jazz!
So yeah. While this may be a bit overwhelming (and pricey) for someone who has never heard Ayler, for fans of Ayler, free jazz fanatics, and vinyl obsessives, this is absolutely ESSENTIAL.

AYLER, ALBERT Holy Ghost: Rare & Unissued Recordings (1962-70) 9 CD Spirit Box (Revenant) 9cd 109.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another totally and absolutely breathtaking musical artifact from Revenant Records. This long in the works box set finally sees the light of day and is way more overwhelming than we could have hoped for, both musically and design-wise. Albert Ayler was a master on the tenor sax, who decided to forget everything he had ever learned and approach his instrument in a completely different, way more spiritual way, hoping to channel the divine through his music. And goddamn if he didn't succeed. Packaged in an ornate black plastic box cast from a hand carved original 'spirit box', the box is packed with music and material. A 208 page harbound book with essays by Amiri Baraka, Val Wilmer, and other Ayler acolytes. A photgraph of Ayler as a young man, a pressed flower, a reproduction of a sixties underground jazz zine, as well as all sorts of other flyers and Ayler related ephemera. The there's the discs. Seven discs of rare live material: the Herb Katz Quintet with Ayler, Helsinki, 1962, Albert Ayler Trio in NYC, 1964, Ayler Quartet in Copenhagen, 1964; NYC, 1967, Burton Greene Quintet with Ayler in NYC, 1966, Albert Ayler Quintet in Cleveland, Berlin & Rotterdam, all 1966, Newport, 1967, and Saint-Paul-de-Vence, 1970, Pharoah Sanders Ensemble with Ayler in NYC, 1968, Don Ayler Sextet w/ Ayler in NYC, 1969 and Albert Ayler solo in NY, 1968. Then there's two discs of interviews from 1964, 1966 and 1970 as well as an interview with Don Cherry from 1971. And finally a rehearsal disc featuring Ayler as a member of the U.S. Army Band. Wow. While this MAY be a bit overwhelming (and pricey) for someone who has never heard Ayler and is just looking for a good introduction (there are plenty of single disc releases still available), for fans of Ayler and lovers of free jazz, this is absolutely ESSENTIAL.

AYLER, ALBERT Live In Greenwich Village: Complete Impulse Recordings (Impulse) 2cd 25.00

AYLER, ALBERT Live On The Riviera (ESP-Disk) cd 14.98

AYLER, ALBERT Love Cry (Impulse) cd 14.98

AYLER, ALBERT Love Cry / The Last Album (Impulse) cd 16.98
We have a trifecta of free jazz "twofers" this week from way deep down in the Impulse catalog. Check out the reviews elsewhere on the list for Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. While the Coltrane features two of our favorite titles from her, the Ayler and Sanders releases are from albums we're less familiar with, or at least hadn't reviewed before, but have been psyched to (re-)discover. While perhaps not the best place to be introduced to these artists, these records reward those seekers of the overlooked deep cuts without the hefty collector/import price!
Love Cry from 1967 was Ayler's first release on Impulse. Like the Impulse recordings of John Coltrane, Ayler's signing to the label did not mean a shift towards commercialization, though the music is perhaps more accessible than his ESP recordings. Yet Love Cry is still a weird record. It was the last recording he made with his younger brother Donald on trumpet, before Donald was fired from the band and committed for a short time to a mental institution. So their horn interplay has a tempestuous yet strangely sullen vibe given the fact that most of the music stems from militaristic bugle calls and marches and nursery rhyme fugues. The baroque dirge quality is emphasized further with the odd inclusion of harpsichord in sometimes sallow expositions of New Orleans funeral music. Yet despite all of the chaotic atmosphere, there is a tight focus and flow.
Not sure that can be said for the other record, The Last Album from 1969. Though it wasn't technically Ayler's last ever album, it came out of the same sessions as Music Is The Healing Force, though that album was released first, plus if you really want to get technical, there were two other records released from a live concert performed a year later... Yet The Last album has the feeling of something ending, as it contains a lot of experimentation that didn't venture as far out as a lot of his other recordings. Yet the odd musical pairings continue with opener, "Untitled Duet" featuring Ayler on bagpipes cutting angular phrasing with Canned Heat guitarist, Henry Vestine. Sun Ra-like cosmic vocal excursions mark the poetic "Again Comes The Rising of The Sun" and the strange "Desert Blood", a heady dirge featuring plodding piano cascades and scattershot rhythms. Though perhaps not regarded as his best outing, paired together with Love Cry, both albums provide a shored up visionary quality of range and mystique than they would yield as single releases.
MPEG Stream: "Love Cry"
MPEG Stream: "Zion Hill"
MPEG Stream: "Again Comes The Rising of The Sun"
MPEG Stream: "All Love"

AYLER, ALBERT Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe (Impulse) cd 12.98
"Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe," something of a funk blues album, is Ayler's last studio recording. Many fans feel that after the death of John Coltrane in 1967, the two records ("New Grass" and "Music is the Healing Force") Ayler released were sell-outs, a dilution of his uncompromising (and for some, difficult) artistry in an attempt to reach a broader audience. Ayler believed that he was charged to carry the word of God to people through his music, and those two albums were attempts to do that. With decades of distance now separating listeners (who, when this recording was made, were still just beginning to reel from the freshness of Aylers free music innovation) from these recordings, this reissue serves to re-open the evaluation of the direction Ayler's music was beginning to take before his career was cut short by his still mysterious death. The tracks on "Music Is" fall into three separate categories; vocal tracks featuring the stylings of late-era Ayler collaborator / sweetheart Mary Maria as well as some crazy vocals (and bagpipes!) from Ayler himself, Coltrane-like instrumentals, and blues collaborations with Canned Heat guitarist Henry Vestine. Definitely not the stuff that earned Ayler his reputation as a free-jazz giant, but an interesting insight into the evolution of his music.
MPEG Stream: "Masonic Inborn"
MPEG Stream: "Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe"

AYLER, ALBERT Swing Low Sweet Spiritual (Klimt) lp 24.00

AYLER, ALBERT QUINTET Slug's Saloon - May 1, 1966 (Fruit Tree) 2cd 19.98

AYLER, ALBERT QUINTET Slug's Saloon: May 1, 1966 (Abraxas) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

AYSHAY Warn U (Triangle) cd ep 12.98
The two most recent records put out by ultra hip experimental electronic label Triangle, finds that label continuing to push well past the 'witch house' genre ghetto that birthed them. To be fair, the first few proper releases on Triangle, Holy Other, Clams Casino, and Balam Acab, were already a sort of POST witch house strain anyway, with some of the WH tropes retained, but with those groups upping the production big time, and ditching much of the lo-fi drag that defined the best witch house, and in the process, inventing a new electronica. Elsewhere on this week's list you'll find the new record from SF electro weirdos Water Borders, a dizzying slab of Coil worshipping electronic what the fuck genius, and then there's this, the debut from Ayshay, which also incorporates a bit of Coil into the proceedings, but there seem to be no beats at all, at least initially, channeling some sort of Cocteau Twins ethereal drift, with some processed throat singing style vocals as a bass, the only beat a buried pulse, it's pretty compelling, and darkly haunting, and beautiful for sure. The second track offers up more of the same, channeling Grouper and stripping away all that low fidelity murk and instead creating a lush layered symphony of voices, subtly twisted and tweaked, another spectral vocal bliss out, and in fact, the third track is more of the same, it's like a three part vocal song suite that acts as a sort of introduction to the final 12 minute "Nguzunguzu Megamix", which is in fact the first track with beats, and while we may have been expecting some sort of skittery drag, or murky muted low end throb, it actually plays more like some lost Muslimgauze remix, all skittery Eastern percussion, multiple drums and rhythms all tangled up, some hand claps, some serious low end, all over those ethereal vox from the first few tracks, the sound constantly shifting, the beat growing more and more block rockin as the track progresses until it finally blossoms into some almost jungle near the end, the stutter and skitter (and some BIG bass booms), perfectly woven into that strange shimmery swirl of ghostly vox. And it's those last few minutes that are the sort of warped and weird, beat heavy mystery secret weapon that some cool DJ will unleash from his sonic arsenal at just the right time and just destroy the dancefloor. So good, getting tons of play here at AQ and appropriately just in time for the Halloween season...
MPEG Stream: "Warn-U"
MPEG Stream: "Nguzunguzu Megamix"

AYSHAY Warn U (Triangle) 12" 14.98
Now availabe on vinyl!
The two most recent records put out by ultra hip experimental electronic label Triangle, finds that label continuing to push well past the 'witch house' genre ghetto that birthed them. To be fair, the first few proper releases on Triangle, Holy Other, Clams Casino, and Balam Acab, were already a sort of POST witch house strain anyway, with some of the WH tropes retained, but with those groups upping the production big time, and ditching much of the lo-fi drag that defined the best witch house, and in the process, inventing a new electronica. One of those recent releases was from SF electro weirdos Water Borders, a dizzying slab of Coil worshipping electronic what the fuck genius, and then there's this, the debut from Ayshay, which also incorporates a bit of Coil into the proceedings, but there seem to be no beats at all, at least initially, channeling some sort of Cocteau Twins ethereal drift, with some processed throat singing style vocals as a bass, the only beat a buried pulse, it's pretty compelling, and darkly haunting, and beautiful for sure. The second track offers up more of the same, channeling Grouper and stripping away all that low fidelity murk and instead creating a lush layered symphony of voices, subtly twisted and tweaked, another spectral vocal bliss out, and in fact, the third track is more of the same, it's like a three part vocal song suite that acts as a sort of introduction to the final 12 minute "Nguzunguzu Megamix", which is in fact the first track with beats, and while we may have been expecting some sort of skittery drag, or murky muted low end throb, it actually plays more like some lost Muslimgauze remix, all skittery Eastern percussion, multiple drums and rhythms all tangled up, some hand claps, some serious low end, all over those ethereal vox from the first few tracks, the sound constantly shifting, the beat growing more and more block rockin as the track progresses until it finally blossoms into some almost jungle near the end, the stutter and skitter (and some BIG bass booms), perfectly woven into that strange shimmery swirl of ghostly vox. And it's those last few minutes that are the sort of warped and weird, beat heavy mystery secret weapon that some cool DJ will unleash from his sonic arsenal at just the right time and just destroy the dancefloor.
MPEG Stream: "Warn-U"
MPEG Stream: "Nguzunguzu Megamix"

AYTHIS Doppelganger (Paradigms) cd 12.98
Latest in the ongoing series of lovingly packaged, super limited releases from UK label Paradigms, who ostensibly are a metal label, but whose releases are sonically all over the map, the gothic chamber music of Amber Asylum, the buzzing blackness of Utlagr and Throne Of Katarsis, the blessed out dream done of the Angelic Process, the psychedelic space folk of Plants, the grinding cinematic noise of Gnaw Their Tongues, the black ambient of Wraiths, the metallic post prog rock of Woburn House, the ultra doooooom of Hjarnidaudi and we could go on and on.
And we most likely will as Paradigms shows no sign of slowing down. Two new releases this time around, a disc of progged out bombastic post black metal from Italian horde Kailash, and this here chunk of dreamy wispy neo-classical ambience from a group called Aythis.
Definitely the most traditionally pretty of the Paradigms releases, Aythis practice a sort of Dead Can Dance meets Der Blutharsch style post industrial neo-classicism, sweeping epic melodies, sung spoken female vocals way down in the mix, martial percussion, angelic choral crooning, twinkling chimes, simple minor key acoustic guitar melodies, all very dark and dreamlike, melancholic and ambient, but with that relentless percussion, the muted pounding of a death march drum, but buried beneath layers of gossamer shimmer, and warm whorls of chordal buzz. Some tracks sparkle and glimmer in the sun, epic and majestic, soul bared and head held high, all washed out and blue skied, warm afternoons suffused with a rich burnished glow, others are murky crawls through barren subterranean chambers, candle light flickering, shadows dancing on blackened walls, the dirt and sand rough against your hands, the sounds rough against your ears.
Pretty and mysterious, haunting and beautiful. Definitely recommended for fans of Dead Can Dance, Arcana, Elend and the prettier side of Cold Meat Industries...
Limited to 750 copies, packaged in a mini lp style sleeve wrapped in a hand stamped brown paper outer sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "Shallow Blackout"
MPEG Stream: "Innermost Land"

AZAGHAL Codex Antitheus (Avantgarde Music) cd 14.98

AZRAEL Act III: Self & Act IV: Goat (Moribund) 2cd 14.98
Just how far into the shadows can you go? Avantgarde US black metal band Azrael attempt to answer that question by unleashing this double disc, comprising Acts III ("Self") and IV ("Goat") of their on-going journey into the void of unlight. As we've noted before, these guys are willing to wander outside of the typical black metal template, sounding much more like a moody post-rock band at times... grimly melodic, droned-out, rhythmic and spare. Elsewhere, they cough up the black metal bonafides, rasping vokills and frosty riffage and all. But still they sound something like a necro Neurosis. As longtime fans of the original nordic black metal post-rockers, Ved Buens Ende, we love this. Azrael, at home in the shadows, appreciate that darkness is often quiet, and that the seasick tension produced by repetition and dynamics can be as creepily effective as the most overtly brutal guitars and screams. Awesome!
MPEG Stream: "Obscure Ritual Initiation"
MPEG Stream: "Down Into Blood"
MPEG Stream: "Submersed"

AZRAEL Into Shadows Act I: Denial (Moribund ) cd 14.98
Another review courtesy of our black metal brother Wrest from the mighty Leviathan:
From the wastelands of the cold and frosty midwest, comes Azrael's "Into Shadows Act 1". This is the first of a two part assault, from Lord Samaiza (vocals, guitar) and Algol (vocals, basses, programming). Continuing on from "Obdurate", their first record on the now defunct Desastrious records, this duo's talents have been honed to a razors edge. Discordant melodies, dark and blackened folk, and some truly creepy acoustic shards, all buried under ritualisticÊhate howls. Azrael are monoliths, rising far above most U.S. black metal, with their cold vision of grim expression.
MPEG Stream: "Dominion Of Abysmal Crypts"
MPEG Stream: "Darkness Binds Us All"