SAN UL LIM s/t (World Psychedelia Ltd) cd 17.98
First album from 1977 by this South Korean group of three brothers who began to play together while attending their university. Apparently the three, completely disconnected from the greater Korean rock scene, were most inspired by the likes of Australian rockers AC/DC, but lacking the right equipment or technical know-how couldn't replicate their sound. Whether this is factual or not the music of San Ul Lim, it must be said, sounds absolutely nothing like AC/DC; rather, they sound a lot more like Turkish psych faves Erkin Koray, Haramiler, Mogollar, et al. In fact, the second track on this album shared a space next to some of those very Turks on the Love, Peace & Poetry: Asia collection and despite the fact that their tune had been recorded as much as ten years later than some of the others, they sound as if they could have been cut in the late 60's. San Ul Lim, while ostensibly a trio -- with the eldest brother on guitar, the youngest on drums and the middle playing bass -- either did some over-dubbing work or had another un-named member playing keyboards. Small oversight maybe, but the keyboardist has as big a role as the eldest bro when it comes to carrying the solos for the group using a broad array of synths -- a harpsichord farfisa patch being popular -- and electric pianos. On many of the groups songs it seems like they just gave the keyboardist cart blanche to just solo through the entire tune. The bass playing of the middle brother is equally spirited. Not content to merely playing his role in the rhythm section and keeping harmony going, he has a tendency to keep busy with fast moving scale fragments and melodies. It's all almost too much for the youngest on drums to keep up with at times! Definitely something that anyone who dug the HE 6 reissue reviewed recently (or the Shin Jung Hyun disc reviewed on this list) and wants to further explore the Korean '70s psych scene ought to check out for sure. Likewise if you haven't yet delved into these sounds from SK but like the other international psych sensations we've brought you before...
MPEG Stream: "Track 2"
MPEG Stream: "Track 7"
MPEG Stream: "Track 8"

RAMONES End Of The Century, The Story Of The Ramones (Rhino) dvd 23.00
Tommy, Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee, and Marky. They lived to see themselves reach iconic status. Yet, through intense inter-personal strife impacted by the eclipsing success of the musical acts that followed in their footsteps, these guys seem to have barely enjoyed anything at all. This incredibly well-made rockumentary tells the story of four kids from Forest Hills, Queens who bonded over a mutual admiration of The Stooges and found a way out of their shitty home and school-life by playing music together. It follows their early career in the 70's as The Ramones, playing gnarly Bowery-bum ridden CBGB's alongside other new acts like Television, Talking Heads and Blondie to touring through Europe and Latin America with huge sold-out gigs. Success seemed to shine on them overseas solely, while in small shitty clubs across the US, they were boo'd, jeered, laughed at or the subject of thrown bottles and cans. Simultaneously, their record sales refused to escalate as they had hoped.
The Ramones were a musical force, however. Their songs were brutal, consice and earnest. Their sound was fast, fierce and fucking impenetrable - in the vein of garagey Americana pop punk. But God dammit, you already knew that! Well, you've probably forgotten how fucking GOOD they were. You'll see some pretty amazing live footage inside this over-two-hour film. Early live shows and incredibly endearing interviews with bandmembers (save Johnny) will regenerate anyone's adoration for these boys. Their story also emphasizes the emotions involved in being a Ramone. This is a tragic but important part of who they were. For instance, of the band's original personnel, Tommy (the only one to quit pretty early on), is the only one still alive.
Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy created an inspirational legacy and this documentation does its absolute best to communicate to us their lives' work. It will award you with an awesome fight on stage, a re-telling of their experience with producer Phil Spector, priceless moments of Dee Dee's "other musical exploration", and... aw, c'mon, did you really think I'd tell you any more? I will tell you this and none more: extra features include bonus interview footage and among other things, the Marky Ramone Drum Technique! All you drummers out there will appreciate that little nugget.
By far, End Of The Century, The Story of The Ramones is not only an important addition to any rock collection, it's absolutely informative and inspirational to any musician and/or music-lover. But hey ho this baby's Region 1.

V/A World Psychedelic Classics 3: Love's A Real Thing (Luaka Bop) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's hard to argue with this one. Indeed, we're gonna do quite the opposite and make it a Record Of The Week! This collection, the third in the World Psychedelic Classics series on Luaka Bop (David Byrne's "world music" label), after an Os Mutantes collection and that incredible Shuggie Otis album, is further subtitled: "The Funky, Fuzzy Sounds Of West Africa". Stress on the funk we thinks. Yup, authentic '70s West African funk with a 'delic bent. Really really hard stuff not to like.
The dozen tracks here have got it all: Afro-centric chants, polyrhythmic percussion, James Brown style raspy yelps, wicked organ workouts, and even hard wah-wah acid fuzz jams (Ofo & The Black Company's bad-ass "Allah Wakbarr" is about the last word in that department, though we'd like to hear more). Though some come closer to the compilers' stated concept than others, all the tracks are winners, from the moody, marimba-based soundtrack theme of Manu Dibango's "Ceddo End Title" to the Cuban stylings of No. 1 de No. 1's "Guajira Van" to the percolating political space-funk of William Onyeabor's "Better Change Your Mind". And Alison simply says that "Ifa" by Tunji Oyelana and the Benders is her favorite. Probably because it sets itself apart from the other tracks by utilizing a more scrappy electronic sound to back its stripped-down politically-bent Afro-pop-style lyricism.
All the tracks come from the decade of the '70s, and the bands that recorded them hail from the West African countries of Ghana, Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Gambia, Benin, and Nigeria (but only two tracks overlap with the now-out-of-print 3cd Nigeria 70 compilation). And we think the compliers did a damn fine job, though it seems any survey of West African psych shoulda included a track by Blo, the closest thing to Cream the continent produced as far as we know. Ah well... we can hope for a second volume someday perhaps. Meanwhile, anyone who digs James Brown, Fela, Funkadelic, Orchestra Baobab, or more recent AQ reviewees Konono No. 1 and Black Merda, for instance, will certainly find that love IS a real thing when it comes to how you're gonna feel about this compilation!!
The liner notes go on about the psychedelic aspect of these bands, and while this stuff is definitely far out and groovy it's way more James Brown than brown acid. Mention of Haight-Ashbury seems a stretch, and the music of these bands has got as much or more to do with their motherland than, say, the generally more Western-derived psych we've heard from Thailand, Cambodia, or Turkey on various other comps we've carried. Then again, when you look at rock music influencing African music, you've got a full-circle phenomenon to examine. And when we reviewed the (currently unavailable) Love Peace & Poetry: African Psychedelic Music compiliation some months back, the stuff on this new comp is exactly what we felt was missing and should have been included.
In any case, proper psych or not, and with or without much fuzz, this is definitely FUNKY.
The attractive cd booklet includes notes on each track/artist, complete with color album sleeve art where available. Nicely done. Furthermore, this is an "enhanced cd", allowing those with the appropriate computer technology to witness a video of Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou Dahomey's track "Minsato Le, Mi Dayhome".
MPEG Stream: SUPER EAGLES "Love's A Real Thing"
MPEG Stream: MANU DIBANGO "Ceddo End Title"
MPEG Stream: OFO & THE BLACK COMPANY "Allah Wakbarr"

ERICKSON, ROKY I Have Always Been Here Before (Shout! Factory) 2cd 31.00
We've gotta admit it, due to this comprehensive double cd collection of songs by the legendary Roky Erickson, those of us that weren't already are now newly devout fans of his work. Sure, we always liked his hits with '60s Texas psych pioneers the 13th Floor Elevators, of course, but god DAMN. Wow. This collection touches on the best of the 13th Floor Elevators while moreso elaborating on the multitude of music Roky created afterward, solo and with his band The Aliens (among others). Of course we knew that "You're Gonna Miss Me" was a stone classic of slightly-psycho garage-psych, and that 'whup-whup-whup' electric jug sound (the 13th Floor Elevators' trademark) has also never failed to fascinate. But somehow we'd never investigated much further, thinking that perhaps the sad saga of Erickson's life (a psychedelic drug-damaged downward spiral) might be more interesting than his music. How wrong we were... disc two here is all post-1980 and a lot of it is brilliant. And of course totally weird.
Maybe you know the story of how, after the inevitable break-up of the LSD-fueled Elevators, Roky was busted for pot in 1969 and, given the choice between spending time in jail or in a mental institution, he chose the latter, claiming insanity. Doing so, however, only led him to suffer through painful shock-therapy and liquid thorazine treatments, rendering him more frail and emotionally damaged than before his admittance. Years after this "therapy", while living in a housing project in Austin, Erickson was busted for mail fraud. He had been stealing his neighbors' mail, taping it up on his apartment walls, unopened. So, you get the gist that the fellow's mental state is precarious at best, right? Add his obsession with schlocky horror films and you get songs like "I Think Up Demons" and his band being called Bleib Alien (bleib, an anagram for Bible).
So, disc one (22 tracks) starts off with a bunch of his '60s singles with The Spades and the 13th Floor Elevators, before moving on to the first of several "comebacks" in the mid-'70s. The songs that followed his institutionalization were either blissful country-type psych tunes or outer-space paranoia-laced ragers. "Starry Eyes" is one of our favorites. A beautiful, earnest, heart-felt melody and that lends loveliness to his throat-scratched lyricism. And then there's "Click Your Fingers Applauding The Play." Not really sure how he got his guitar to sound like that, but it's pretty amazing. Searing and raging with electricity. Really, there are so many amazing tracks on the first disc. Listening to 'em all, we were half-expecting the second disc to pale in comparison. BUT NO. It's totally jammin with his later-era songs, 21 of 'em. One (new) fave of ours here is the doomy "Bloody Hammer" from 1981 which totally makes us understand how that Swedish band Witchcraft was influnced by Erickson just as much as by Pentagram -- it sounds so much like it coulda been on Witchcraft's album! But even as late as '95 Erikson was releasing solid material in his inimitable style. With the same effectiveness in songwriting capability as later-era Johnny Cash, Erickson offers us "True Love Cast Out All Evil" (from 1988) among others.
Yup, this anthology is some essential stuff all right. And it's nicely packaged with liner notes that give a pretty good biographical picture of Erickson and detail the music and its players. You gotta check out the incredible assortment of photos too!
MPEG Stream: "You're Gonna Miss Me"
MPEG Stream: "Starry Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "Click Your Fingers Applauding The Play"

HAWKWIND In Search Of Space (EMI) cd 16.98
Back in stock, slightly higher price, still so worth it!!
If you need a little background on my [Andee's] current Hawkwind obsession see the review for "Doremi Fasol Latido" elsewhere on this list. Needless to say, these records are killing me. How did I mange to miss Hawkwind for all this time. All the stuff I love, stoner rock, metal, drone, drone rock (a la Circle, Salvatore) drug soaked alcohol drenced rock and roll...Hawkwind has got it in spades. Relentless fuzzed out riffs that seem to go on forever, with a rhythm section that locks into a groove and stays in it, steady to the end. This stuff doesn't just lull me to sleep, it blisses me out. I feel like I'm in a different state of mind as I sink deeper and deeper into these super rocking MC5-on-angeldust vibes. Space-y and drone-y and hypnotic and fucking magical. Fans of Circle and all that kind of hypnotic repetitive psych need to own this stuff (if you don't already)!
Originally released in 1971. This reissue contains the whole original album plus 3 bonus tracks.
MPEG Stream: "You Shouldn't Do That"
MPEG Stream: "You Know You're Only Dreaming"

HAWKWIND Space Ritual (EMI) 2cd 33.00
Back in stock, slightly higher price, still so worth it!!
Two discs of sonic mayhem beamed from space through a hazy cloud of pot smoke. Hawkwind are seriously kicking my [Andee's] ass. This is a double live disc of Hawkwind at their best (that would be Lemmy-era). Taking the studio cuts and stretching them out, twisting them all out of shape and turning them into endless jams, looping and repetetive and hypnotic. Once the rhythm section locks into their motorik groove, the rest of the band just follows, through a swirling morass of drug addled psychedlia and into another plane altogether. Never has a band made me want to get high so much. [This from a guy who's completely straight-edge.] I already almost feel high just listening, when I'm all stretched out, eyes closed, stereo turned up as loud as it'll go, my whole body vibrating from the sound, my mind drifting off. Like a faster, meaner, hippier Spacemen 3 but with better drugs, or Loop or Godflesh or Circle or any band that tries to transport you through repetition and subtle shift. Simple riffs spread out into a warm landscape of fuzz and thrum, while flutes and saxophones and tweaked wah wah guitars ride wildly atop the mayhem. So so so so good. Hawkwind make music to take drugs to make music by better than almost anyone else. This reissue contains the original live double album plus 3 bonus tracks.
MPEG Stream: "Born To Go"
MPEG Stream: "Down Through The Night "

HOLDEN, RANDY Population II (Hobbit) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally back in stock, but who knows for how long?!?!
Recently we reviewed -- and have been selling hella copies of -- the debut album by Om, the band formed by two-thirds of local revered stoner rockers Sleep. Om are just two guys, just bass and drums, dealing out the pot-fueled heaviness. Well coincidentally (?) we also just got these, the absurdly-long-awaited reissue of the truly legendary Population II album by guitarist Randy Holden, recorded in 1969 shortly after his brief but fruitful stint in San Francisco's Blue Cheer, playing only on the killer side two of that band's third album, New, Improved!
The connection? Well, as you might guess from the album's title, Population II is also a two-piece effort, just Randy on guitar (bass also on the album) and Chris Lockheed on drums (and bass pedals live). Beyond some sort of spiritual bond of two-piece heaviness, though, there's of course one major, obvious difference: Om's got NO guitar, whereas Holden's album is ALL ABOUT guitar. Heck the first track is simply called "Guitar Song". And he's a self-proclaimed 'guitar god' for a reason. On "Guitar Song" the lyrics are basically all about how he's in love with electric guitar playing, and loud. And as much as we enjoyed the Om album, Population II definitely reminds us that WE love guitar too!
Randy, with his trusty guitar and an ominous array of amp-stacks, conjures up some of the heaviest rock n' roll sounds heard on Earth up to that point in time for sure. Blue Cheer of course are a close comparison ("Fruit & Iceburgs" from side two of New, Improved! is reprised here) as well as Hendrix and Iron Butterfly...and soon enough Black Sabbath would up the ante further. But in the history of heavy, this album deserves some major recognition.
It's super trippy, doomily plodding, Randy's reedy vibrato voice calling out over the wail of his guitar. This rocks in the sludgiest sorta way for the day. And speaking of loud, you want Sunn amps? Randy's got Sunn amps! Check out the live shot on the back cover, these two assuredly blowing the roof off some San Francisco ballroom.
Not just a reissue, but actually the record's first OFFICAL, Randy Holden-approved release. And they're hand numbered and autographed by the man himself in gold marker just to make it really, really offical. Limited to 2000, pressed on 180 gram wax, this is a holy grail (or facsimile edition of a holy grail anyway) for all of you for whom "heavy" is akin to religion.

LAU NAU Kuutarha (Locust) cd 14.98
Ahh, Finland. We've said that before. Now perhaps people in Finland think about California the way we think about Finland. But of course they'd be wrong. We don't have any analog to Moomins trolling about in our forests. Whereas our fantasies about that far-off land are quite accurate. At least, judging by the ongoing gurgle of cd-rs and tapes and cds and such flowing from their fertile "free-folk" underground, from Kemialliset Ystavat to Avarus to Kiila. And recordings like Lau Nau's Kuutarha just make our fantasies of Finland more and more vivid and otherworldly. Lau Nau is Laura Naukkarinen and a few friends. She's a very lovely singer, a member of Kiila, Paivansade, and Anaksimandros. Here her melodic Finnish-language vocals are set to droneily folkish backing, making for quitely distorted lullabies. Finnophiles will agree that this could also definitely be compared to Islaja, but perhaps rawer, more broken down and abstract. And to make a Finland-California comparison, well, this could basically be a Finnish version of Jewelled Antler's Franciscan Hobbies, with Laura Naukkarien's vocals. So very very nice. (Hmm, which came first? Jewelled Antler or the these Finnish forest folk folks? Doesn't matter, it's the zeitgeist we guess!)
For some reason, we like to look at the list of instruments and non-instruments used on records like these, maybe you do to, so here goes: acoustic bass, bass recorder, five-stringed kantele, acoustic guitar, tenor recorder, violin, bamboo flute, colorful juice glasses, mortar, mandolin, witch laugh megaphone, baby's rattle, bike bells, banjo, cowbells, electric guitar, organ, willow whistle, tablas, percussion, cymbals, comb, beer cans, tamboura...
MPEG Stream: "Jos Mimulla Olis"
MPEG Stream: "Kuula"

REEKS AND THE WRECKS Knife Hits (tUMULt) cd 13.98
An old drum kit. Homemade amps. A dented old trombone. A bucket and a handful of firecrackers. The Reeks make a sound that is otherworldly. Dark and stumbling, folk-flecked basement blues. A mix of woozy slide guitar, swampy trombone, sparse and erratic percussion, tape hiss, amp buzz, shortwave interference and dark doomy brilliance. Like a ghostly, indie rock New Orleans funeral jazz band or Roland S. Howard fronting the Dead C. Haunting, mesmerizing, gorgeously raucous, dreamily creepy and absolutely unlike anything you have ever heard.
For years the Reeks played all up and down the West Coast, in basements, back porches, living rooms, pizza parlours, with only a 12" record and a battered old suitcase full of hand dubbed cassettes to their name, spreading their warm cloak of pulsing, droning creepy crawly throb over anyone lucky enough to be packed into the same sweaty space. At once jubilant and danceable, but at the same time, dark and lugubrious, ominous and somnabulent. Lovers of weird music couldn't get enough, but eventually, even dyed in the wool indie rockers began to embrace the Reeks, having perhaps found something that still smacked of their beloved indie rock, but was a little darker and a whole lot weirder than they were used to. But by then it was too late.
The release of Knife Hits is truly bittersweet. After years of recording and re-recording, mixing and remixing, when Knife Hits was finally ready to be released, and the rest of the world would finally get to hear the Reeks' amazing off kilter avant indie funeral folk, tragedy struck. Orion Satushek, Reeks mainman, guitar player, instrument builder and one of the nicest guys ever, was hit and killed by a drunk driver. The personal loss, is indescribable, a deep sting everytime we think about him, his band, his music, his friendship. And the loss to music, to the music community, is immeasurable. Years of playing, and practicing and rocking and sweating in tiny cramped basements and doing with a crappy old drum kit and a couple of homemade amps what most bands can't do with all the equipment in the world is somehow all crammed onto this single disc. These ten songs. The passion, the playfulness, the dark moodiness, the spaced out droniness, the wild sweaty chaos, the sheer joy of making an unholy racket. This record is not only a totally unique chunk of damaged outsider rock brilliance, but it's also a fitting tribute to the loss of a very special friend.
We miss you, Orion.
MPEG Stream: "Blue Ballroom"
MPEG Stream: "Mosquito Cash Diamond Gun"
MPEG Stream: "Maui Wow Wow"

BANG Bang / Mother - Bow To The King (BANGmusic.com) cd 14.98
Dunno what it is -- maybe reading Martin Popoff's encyclopedic Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal Vol. 1: The Seventies (reviewed last list) -- but we've been on a real early '70s proto-metal hard rock kick of late. And one band essential to such listening is this one, so we've restocked a bunch of this cd reissue and thought we'd give it a re-list for those who missed it before. Here's what we wrote a while back when we first listed this:
Dust, Captain Beyond, Toad, Pentagram, Highway Robbery, T2, Buffalo, Budgie, Blue Cheer, Lucifer's Friend...if these names mean anything to you, you're probably one of our customers who dig that heavy '70s acid rock proto-metal stuff. Whenever we find a reissue of another lost gem from the era we try to share it with you. So, here, at last ... the legendary Bang, a trio from Florida (by way of Philly) circa '71-'73 who managed to crank out some Sabbath-like riffing to go with the very Ozzy-like vocals of lead singer and bassist Frank Ferrara!
Bang never got big -- although they did share stages with everyone from Alice Cooper to the Allman Brothers to Chuck Berry to Funkadelic to Black Sabbath themselves, apparently had a #1 hit in Hong Kong and at one point owned their own private plane! They released three albums in their career (for a US major label in fact) plus they recorded some singles and made an entire unreleased album as well. Their entire output has now been reissued on two cds, the first of which (this one) contains their self-titled debut, recorded in February of '72, as well as their follow-up sophomore album recorded that same year in November (groups back then didn't dilly dally with putting out one album every couple of years like today's bands).
As we said, Bang, especially on their first self-titled album, bore a remarkable resemblance to the Sabs, which was really unusual for their era, when heavy bands were more likely to copy Zeppelin or Purple or just be stuck in the '60s. Kinda lo-fi, but quite heavy, "Bang" delievers doomy hard rock, with a kinda Comus-y Pagan slant, that also brings to mind the most powerful early King Crimson. Like most heavy bands of the period, Bang weren't cognizant of the "metal" concept, and probably saw themselves as a pop rock group -- a dark and pyschedelic pop rock group to be sure -- and so sometimes the hard riffing lets up to allow for some happier or more gentle fare, which is not always a bad thing anyway (this a phenomenon we discussed in our review of the Dust albums not long ago).
Bang's 2nd album was oddly presented as two distinct side-long mini-albums, each with its own 'front' cover. Side one (the heavier) being "Mother" with side two dubbed "Bow To The King". Both sides together were not as Sabbathy as the debut perhaps, but still excellent '70s proto-metal indeed.
MPEG Stream: "Lions, Christians"
MPEG Stream: "Future Shock"
MPEG Stream: "Keep On"

V/A Harmika Yab-Yum: Folk Sounds From Nepal (Sublime Frequencies) cd 14.98
By now maybe you have (or like some of us, maybe you haven't) had enough of the South East Asian pop, folk, field recordings from Sublime Frequencies. Courtesy of Robert Millis (Climax Golden Twins cohort and curator of the Leaf Music Drunks Distant Drums cd) Harmika Yab-Yum takes us on an audio journey through underserved territory. Nestled, nay sandwiched between the geographical and cultural giants of China and India, Nepal's greatest fame lies in its hosting the tallest mountain on our fair planet. It's also the only "official Hindu state in the world" according to the CIA Factbook. On Harmika Yab-Yum Millis elegantly weaves together recordings he made (apparently in 1996) of radio broadcasts, street musicians, religious cermonies, and sermons. About half of the tracks in fact are from radio, though no disc jockey banter is included, which -- whether intentional or not -- gives the recordings an even more of a feel of being totally detached from the influence of the occidental world. By and large the greatest influence on the music here is from India. Tabla percussion, flutes, pump organs, sitars, violins and drones, drones, drones make up the bulk of the instrumentation and to the untrained ear, certainly sound like the dulcet tones of Indian music. The disc starts off with a bang with a track taken from the radio which sounds like feral chanting by some crazed lunatic accompanied by drumming. This is followed by an abrupt segue into a street sermon broadcast over a distant sounding bullhorn, flutes and people talking can be heard over the sermon. For the larger part, such abrupt transitions are not the norm on Harmika Yab-Yum and the grainy, modulating songs recorded off of the airwaves blend nicely with the gritty sounds of daily life on the streets from the clanging bells of a pony train passing by to, chanting monks on Krishna day, to a snake charmer with double reed to the crashing of bands, miscellaneous percussion and other noises for a wedding procession. Very nice.
MPEG Stream: "Radio Nepal 1 / Street Sermon"
MPEG Stream: "Pony Train / Radio Nepal 3"
MPEG Stream: "Radio Nepal 7"

V/A Thai Beat A Go-Go Volume 2 (Subliminal Sounds) cd 16.98
Hot on the heels of the first volume, Subliminal Sounds has released this second collection of Thai garage beat pop go-go madness. And we have to say it's better than the first. Much better (and cheaper too). Like the first volume the tracks here are all distinct replicas of popular music from the Occident of the late sixties. Some notable covers include the King's "All Shook Up", Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'aime Moi Non Plus" and The Beatles' "Lady Madonna". What makes this collection stand out for us though is both the inclusion of a wider range of severely demented production aesthetics and a great deal more songs that, vocally, sound more Thai. The album starts off with a bang to Viparat Piengsuwan's "YoK YoK" with chipper explosive vocals that could only come from Thailand. So cute it'll make you barf. Not skipping a beat we're led into Surapon's "Ding Dong", which sounds like a seriously fucked up deconstruction of the "Surfing Bird". A little later Waipot Petsuwan's "Mia Chaa" throws a monkey wrench into our expectations with a dreamy ellyptical vocal line -- that sounds reminiscent of Mo Lam -- over an otherwise standard garage beat tune, instantly transforming it into a classic. Then, of course, there's some demented production like excessive reverb in the oddest places and a strange Thai version of the Chipmonks that'll have you spitting your lunch out your nose. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: VIPARAT PIENGSUWAN "Yok Yok (Jump)"
MPEG Stream: WAIPOT PETSUWAN "Mia Chaa (My Darling)"
MPEG Stream: SURAPON ALIAS THE FOX "Nang Maew Pee (The Ghost of Catwoman)"

DAVIS, MILES A Tribute To Jack Johnson (Sony) cd 12.98
First of all, this album is undeniably incredible. Secondly, if you don't already own this or the expensive Complete Jack Johnson Sessions, buy it. For yourself, for friends, for your stuffed animals, whatever. Make sure you have a copy around you at all times. This album, the object of cult-like fascination for decades, is now remastered and easily available once again.
Inspired by his own deep passion for the art of boxing, Miles created this soundtrack in 1970 for the documentary about legend-in-his-own-time boxer, Jack Johnson. A time change in the very first couple of measures hints that the two twenty-five minute tracks here were captured mid-jam. Musicians involved on these sessions also worked on Bitches Brew (1969) and include John McLaughlin and his soon-to-be fellow Mahavishnu Orchestra member Billy Cobham on, respectively, guitar and drums; electric bassist Michael Henderson; soprano saxist Steve Grossman; accidental walk-in Herbie Hancock on Farfisa organ; and, on the second track, "Yesternow," an uncredited Sonny Sharrock on additional electric guitar. Jimi Hendrix was also meant to be involved but sadly shuffled off his mortal coil prior to the session. Even without the Hendrix element, Tribute is by far the closest Davis ever really came to ROCK. Not your typical white pop-song/performance-driven rock of the time (for instance, The Who and other artists who joined Davis at the legendary Isle of Wight festival in 1970), but a deep, spacious jazz funk rock fusion that one would absorb introspectively rather than conjure up an immediate energized reaction. This "music" was way ahead of its time. Rock audiences of the time couldn't fully grasp Davis' electric direction here, and on the flip side, jazz audiences/critics blasted him for his deviances from classic (acoustic) jazz. It may sound a little gratuitous, but honestly it's as totally mind-blowing today as it must of been then, perhaps and hopefully now more welcomed by a broader audience. Again, we must insist you BUY THIS NOW. You will not regret it.
MPEG Stream: "Right Off"

BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL Chi Vampires (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This all time aQ fave back in stock!
The thing with Campbell Kneale's Birchville Cat Motel, is everything he puts out is great. Really. There are very few bands we can say that about. And even fewer who have such a ridiculously extensive catalog of releases. So what is it that makes one record worthy of Record of the Week status? Well, to be quite honest, almost any of the BCM records -could- be a record of the week, but every once in a while, BCM offer up something -really- special. And as much as we totally love all things Birchville and love to immerse ourselves in their (actually, his) blissed out ambient drone ragas, we can't help but love the fact that lately, BCM mainman (only man?) Campbell Kneale has developed a thing for metal, even proudly wearing a Darkthrone T on his recent US tour. Better late than never we say. The first evidence of this new found metallic leaning, was the launching of a new label (Kneale owns and operates the Celebrate Psi Phenomenon label) called Battlecruiser, a series of limited 3" cd-r's chronicling a weird sect of underground metal, mostly made by NZ noise / drone guys who had also caught the metal bug (two new Battlecruiser releases get reviewed elsewhere on this list). One of the first Battlecruiser releases was by an outfit called Black Boned Angel, which just so happened to BE Campbell Kneale, and was a massive pummelling sludgy black hole of SUNN-like dirge metal. Recently re-released on cd and reviewed again on the AQ list, everyone here could not get enough of Kneale's weird drifting almost ambient take on blackened metal. Fans of Earth and SUNN and all that sort of slow motion doom definitely found a new band to love. Little did we expect that Kneale's metal would leak on over into his main project, but it has, and we couldn't be happier. The first three tracks on Chi Vampires are classic BCM, gorgeous ambient prog, like a blissed-out take on Goblin's creepiest horror film interludes, with slowly drifting swaths of thick warm sonic swirl, sun dappled and dreamily indistinct, but also slightly ominous. Completely epic and the sort of music that either rocks you to sleep, or puts you in a trance, sending you on a trip through your inner senses, dizzying and mesmerizing. Those tracks alone could have had us pushing for a BCM record of the week, at last. But then the final track "Chi Vampires" hits, and it hits hard. Huge guitar riffs, not processed guitar drones, but ACTUAL RIFFS, bulldoze and crush all in their path, massive and intense, ultra low, and ultra heavy, with haunting heavily reverbed chanting offering the only counterpoint. This is like SUNNO))), but sped up to say 18 or 19 rpm, and with actual melodies, and the chanting, so creepy, like a drone metal ritual being performed at the bottom of a massive cavern, riffs filling the room with thick low end, making it hard to breathe, hard to see, the chanting distracting you only enough to maybe worry about escaping with your life, making it to the surface without being sucked into the blackness. The riffs eventually drift off, as the mysterious makers of these sounds trudge slowly back to the center of the earth, chanting as they go, the reverb of the cave turning the chants into indistinct vocal blurs, until they too fade into blackness, and you're left dazed, unable to move, staring into the void. So intense and haunting and heavy and utterly amazing!
MPEG Stream: "Blonde Moth Burial"
MPEG Stream: "Chi Vampires"

LIFE AQUATIC, THE (OST) (Hollywood) cd 17.98
None of us were surprised by how good this movie was. After all, we pretty much all love Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tennenbaums, and of course Rushmore. And really none of us should have been surprised by how great this soundtrack is either, since Wes Anderson movies are as much about the music as the movie itself. But somehow the soundtrack was a surprise. For the content as much as the way it was incorporated into the movie. The focus of the soundtrack has to be the gorgeous acoustic numbers by cast member Seu Jorge. There are 5 of them, and they just happen to all be Bowie covers, and are all sung in Portugeuse! I'm not a huge Bowie fan, but the minute we walked out of the theater, I was hoping that the soundtrack would have those tracks, and it did! Warm and languid, melancholy and dreamy, Jorge's tracks are absolutely beautiful, giving those classic rock and roll numbers a totally different nuance. And once you see the movie, those tracks will make even more (non)sense! But that's not all. Classic tracks by the Zombies, Joan Baez, Scott Walker, and the Stooges! The Stooges' "Search And Destroy" has always been one of those songs that makes you want to rumble -- that RIFF! -- and it's put to excellent use in the film! Plus a killer score by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh. But a discussion of The Life Aquatic would not be complete without a quick digression into "The Cheadle". Not sure how many of you saw Ocean's Eleven, but Don Cheadle played a demolitions expert, with the WORST British accent ever. FOR NO REASON! Responding to every query with "Right guvnuh!" or "Cherrio!" Arghh. So infuriating. WHY WHY WHY? So consequently, pointless and poorly-performed accents are now referred to as "The Cheadle" (others refer to it as "The Kidman"). So in Life Aquatic, Owen Wilson is the one responsible for "The Cheadle", a Southern accent that at best is superfluous, and in execution is thick and impenetrable sometimes, totally non-existent at others. But fear not, that hardly detracts from how great this film is. Owen Wilson is still cute. Bill Murray still rules. The movie is still amazing and funny. And the music is still perfect!
MPEG Stream: "Rebel Rebel"
MPEG Stream: "Rock N' Roll Suicide"
MPEG Stream: "Life On Mars?"

ONEIDA Nice / Splittin' Peaches (Ace Fu) cd 9.98
Yes. God created a new Oneida ep and it is GOOOOOD. Unearthly constructions of aural impairment deliver us once again unto the artfully murky and damaged realm of Ooooonnnneeeeiiiiiiiiiddddddaaaaaaaaaaaa. This ep psychedelically drones its way through guitar drawn melodies and distant, fuzzy, darkly dreamy vocals. "Hakuna Matata"'s 15 minutes is an entrancing ROCK monolith that forcably delivers the nearly signature-Oneida prog-psych-rock kick in the head we've grown to love. This is a must-have for all fans of this band of Oberliners and hopefully a teaser for the next full-length. Might even be the release to sway the many Oneida-doubters on the AQ staff...
MPEG Stream: "Summerland"
MPEG Stream: "Inside My Head"

V/A Ghana Soundz Vol. 2 (Sound Way) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A second volume of rare afro funk from Ghana, every bit as good as the first. 14 tracks, all from the seventies, highlight Ghana's fertile music scene and the varied influences -- from funk & soul to fusion & jazz, and even rock. Like its predecessor, Ghana Soundz 2 comes well documented with bios on the artists, archival photos and album art repros. Here's to hoping these don't go scarce again so soon.
MPEG Stream: CHRISTY AZUMA & UPPERS INTERNATIONAL "Naam"
MPEG Stream: K. FRIMPONG & VIS A VIS "Aboagyewaa"

DAVIS, MILES Miles Electric: A Different Kind Of Blue (Eagle Eye Media) dvd 21.00
You know when you buy a present for your boyfriend (or girlfriend) and it's really so you can enjoy it yourself -- also fondly called Homer Simpson gifting? Well, I have to admit my own HSG guilt, the gift being this Miles Electric dvd. Honestly, I wasn't really sure what to expect. But man, am I glad I bought it for "our" enjoyment. It's an incredible look inside later period (electric) Miles Davis. With in-depth and well-edited interviews of his Isle Of Wight era musicians (Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea) as well as Carlos Santana, and others, this documentary explains how the Electric took shape in the eyes of Miles, in the studio (with Bitches Brew) and in juxtoposition to the acoustic jazz establishment from which Miles' electricity exploded to a seriously unprepared audience.
The unfolding dramatization culminates with the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival performance by Miles and his septet before 600,000 festival-goers in its 38 minute entirety. Some extra talking head style interviews give further explanation of Miles at that time. The film itself could be critiqued at length, though its interviews render such a full story, there should be no doubt of this documentary's importance.

SILBERBART 4 Times Sound Razing (Progressive Line) cd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Silberbart's one-off LP from 1971, with its non sequitur of a bleeding silver gnome on the cover, is one of those heavy krautrock rarities spoken of in hushed tones, in record-collector tomes like Cosmic Dreams At Play ("...legendary...extreme...") and the equally authoritative Crack In The Cosmic Egg ("...excellent...schizophrenic..."). It's desirable in part 'cause it's so darn obscure, yes. But also 'cause it IS heavy. In a loose and demented, frayed and jangled, utterly freakish way. The four tracks here (long ones, with great titles demonstrating Silberbart's psychedelic illogic: "Chub Chub Cherry", "Brain Brain", "God", "Head Tear Of The Drunken Sun") are crazy quilt of distorted guitar riffing, acid-fried songwriting, and unusually frantic, strangled vocals. The band's hippie power trio psych is played with an escaped lunatic's "what's next?" abandon, making for progged-out, crooked-grinning, drug-induced weirdness that deservedly garners comparisons to early Guru Guru.
Compact disc reissues of this have always been hard to come by. But we found a small supply and thought that there had to be some AQ customers who've always been curious about 4 Times Sound Razing...it's not exactly a work of genius but it's odd enough to please a few of you we wager!
MPEG Stream: "Brain Brain"
MPEG Stream: "God"

V/A Ghana Soundz: Afro-Beat, Funk And Fusion In 70's Ghana (Sound Way) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We listed this compilation a couple years back, but unfortunately it went out of print, but thankfully Sound Way has just gotten around to reissuing it. Ghana Soundz is an impressive collection of afro-beat from Ghana's golden era. Sound Way boasts that the 14 tracks included here from the 1970's are all extremely rare and previously unreleased outside of Africa. Includes a 16 page booklet detailing the history of Ghana's music industry, bios on the artists included and photos of the original album art.
MPEG Stream: THE 3RD GENERATION BAND "Because of Money"
MPEG Stream: HONNY & THE BEES BAND "Psychedelic Woman"

LES GEORGES LENINGRAD Sur Les Traces De Black Eskimo (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98
Ahhhh ouuuuiii... Le nouveau super rockin' release from our French-Canadian friends Les Georges Leningrad. Poney, Bobo and Mingo (a trio now after losing one member through interpersonal conflict) deliver astounding electronoisepop compositions on Sur Les Traces De Black Eskimo. Groovy beats and spastic outbursts are prominent characters in the song craft they call petrochemical rock. Why they are obsessed with 'black eskimo', je ne sais pas. Mais, je t'aime, Les Georges. If you have the chance to see them live, they generously offer an award-winning show, featuring self-made costumes and an arresting stage presence. Their artwork is all done by the band members themselves and est la superbe. Check it!
MPEG Stream: "Missing Gary"
MPEG Stream: "Fifi F."

KONONO NO.1 Lubuaku (Terp) cd 18.98
We have been totally obsessed with these guys (as have the rest of you judging from how many folks have called and emailed about them and already bought a ton of copies from us before this review even was written) for at least a year if not more and until now there hasn't been a thing (other than a minute long mp3 sample available on Crammed Discs' website) which has been taunting us with the promise of a full length from these guys. So until that fabled Crammed Discs release actually comes out we've got this little nugget to tide you over. And it's no small shakes neither. Though we only learned of them recently Konono No.1 have been around for some 25 years. Hailing from Kinshasa, Congo, Konono No.1 are true African punk rock. They are real D.I.Y. Not putting on shows and printing zines, no, how about building their own instruments from found scraps and dismantled machinery and retrofitting and electrifying traditional instruments! For instance the lead musician Mingiedi Mawangu has taken his likembe (thumb piano), rigged it up to pickups (self-built from hammered parts purloined from car starter motors) and amplified it with a custom built amplifier driven by a car battery, using microphones built out of copper wire and branches. How cool is that! And the sounds these instruments produce is amazing. The likembe, with its muted gentle melodic thrum, is turned into an overdriven buzzing melodic powerhouse that sounds like nothing you've ever heard. Well, sometimes it sounds a bit like some sort of psychedelic alien fuzz guitar, but mostly it just sounds amazing and bizarre. The songs are all very melodically similar and mesh into one massive hour long jam, with wild percussion, chanted vocals, and of course the wailing Likembe. So completely amazing. Every time we play this in the store, someone buys one. Immediately.
Seven extended tracks, recorded live and released on the Ex's label Terp.
MPEG Stream: "Ditshe Tshiekutala"
MPEG Stream: "Ku Hollande"

DEEP THROAT (OST) Anthology, Part 1 & 2 (Light In The Attic) cd 13.98
We had a reissue some years back of this soundtrack but the audio was terrible (sounded like somebody had taken the soundtrack straight off the speaker of their Zenith television set). Now it comes remastered, apparently from the master tapes by the sound of it, and err.. expanded. If you've only seen or heard of one porn film it's most likely going to be Deep Throat. It was for a long time (and may still be) the highest grossing independent film ever. It's even made it into US political history in the form of the informant so named by Woodward and Bernstein during the Watergate brouhaha. Fitting then that, according to the liner notes, Richard Nixon was said to posses his own personal copy at the Whitehouse (Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. apparently also had copies). Deep Throat brought porn kicking and screaming into the mainstream. While much of the music is typical of your standard porn soundtrack: raunchy funk with loads of wah-wah guitar and peppy hammond organ, there are also plenty of atypical numbers including a laid back, let it all hang out cover of Mickey & Sylvia's "Love Is Strange". But the best track, or worst depending how you look at it, has to be the ballad "Deep Throat To You All" with breathy male vocals singing "deep throat, deeper than deep, your throat... don't row the boat, don't get your goat, that's all she wrote". It's truly truly inspired in that special way, like a classic song poem. Like those Deep Note compilations, Light In the Attic has included some of the finer parts of the movie's dialog for your enjoyment. Also included as a bonus is the soundtrack to Deep Throat's incredibly unsuccessful sequel. The music here is a pallid imitation of the original film's score, but you can take it or leave it at this price. Included is a full color booklet with a personal account on the film's impact by one viewer and an interview with Ron Jeremy on the film and its legacy.
MPEG Stream: "Bubbles"
MPEG Stream: "Deep Throat To You All"

L Holy Letters (VHF) cd 13.98
The mysterious L (actually Japanese folk-psych troubadour Hiroyuki Usui, an ex-member of both Fushitsusha and Marble Sheep) released the Holy Letters album back in 1992, as a cd + 7" set in oversized packaging, on his own Holy Castle label, only to see it fade immediately into obscurity. In the years since, the whole underground Japanese psych scene has grown in popularity, with artists such as Ghost, Acid Mothers Temple, and Nagisa Ni Te among others gaining a measure of popularity and recognition. However, L's lone recording languished in the realm of collector/fanboy rumour, unknown to most, beloved by some and sought after by others. Amongst AQers, both Andee and Allan had finally managed to track down copies of the original edition of L's Holy Letters for themselves (to the tune of $25 or so apiece, yikes!) when it was announced that the VHF label would be reissuing this modern day acid-folk holy grail domestically. This lovely digipack reissue is now here, and comes complete with not only the music from the both the original cd and 7", but also with a seven minute previously unreleased bonus track from the original sessions circa 1989-90! VHF didn't attempt to replicate the original packaging, but does provide a handsome subsitute, in the form of a cardstock sleeve housing the disc and a booklet thick with color photos and liner notes by both Hiroyuki Usui himself and devoted L fan Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance. On the cd, you get about 70 minutes in total of slowly unfolding, sparse and beautiful music, with L taking the listener on an aural trip that includes drones, field recordings, throat singing...and his own otherworldly take on bottleneck slide blues (in fact, the first track is a version of Blind Willie Johnson's "Cold Was The Ground"). There's an introspective Nick Drake feel to this, but it's more abstract and free-floating and eerie than that... Sad and shimmering, these songs/suites will have you believe that ocean waves come lapping up to L's strummed acoustic guitar, while Tibetan monks join in with ritualistic percussion and backing vocals/whispers... There's shades of a Japanese Jandek in L's charmingly atonal vocals (Chasny's gushing liner notes liken them to "a favorite uncle singing knowingly about things you will one day learn"), half-spoken, half-sung, hushed with spiritual import. Everything on here was played by L (guitars, bass, vibes, drums, organ, harmonium, etc.). In addition there's a guest cellist on one track and electric guitar on another (by Taku Sugimoto).
We really can't argue with the assesessment that VHF themselves give this: "For anyone who's into Richard Youngs, Popol Vuh, Six Organs of Admittance, Tim Buckley, acid-folk, or Japanese underground, this is an essential purchase." Of special note to Six Organs fans, actually, since Hiroyuki Usui will be releasing a record in collaboration with Six Organs sometime next year...Chasny must be in heaven! A few weeks ago we made Drag City's reissue of Ghost leader Masaki Batoh's solo cd our Record Of The Week. This belongs on the same pedestal with the best of Ghost and Batoh, so if you like those folks, please don't miss this.
MPEG Stream: "Blues Trip #2"
MPEG Stream: "Holy Letter"
MPEG Stream: "Troll"

DUNGEN Ta Det Lugnt (Subliminal Sounds) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Back in stock! There was quite a run on these recently after Pitchfork gave this a rave review...hey didn't anyone read *our* review of this some months before? Anyway, we've got a few more (at a slightly better price, the label repressed 'em and made 'em cheaper too) and here's what we said about it before: Like fellow Swede and AQ-fave Bjorn Olsson, Gustav Ejstes is a brillant timewarped melody-maker. Though, his "solo" project Dungen sounds more like a band than Olsson's albums do. Wunderkind Ejstes is certainly enamored of '60s/'70s psych-pop and his obsession has borne some fabulous fruit. This is his third album to date (the first being a vinyl-only affair we have yet to hear, the second being the now-hard-to-find Stadsvandringar cd that Allan raved about on our list two years ago). So we were pleased to hear about the release of Ta Det Lugnt. It rocks more than the last one, being brasher, with more in the way of electric guitar frenzies in a Hendrix kinda style. But otherwise it's pretty similar, with Ejstes singing his hook-filled songs in the same somewhat nasal, Swedish langage voice as before. There's jazz jamming, folk frolics, and plenty of fuzz. A retro trip indeed from searing electric rippage to spaced-out, sentimental melodicism.
MPEG Stream: "Panda"
MPEG Stream: "Ta Det Lugnt"
MPEG Stream: "Sluta Folja Efter"

BUNYAN, VASHTI Just Another Diamond Day (Di Christina Stairbuilders) cd 13.98
We're pretty damn excited that this cd is now available again, domestic and at a much cheaper price. Same album, now six bucks cheaper! Inspiration for this turn of events must certainly have something to do with Ms Bunyan turning up on Devendra Banhart's recordings recently. Without a doubt Vashti Bunyan has played a big influence on the young Banhart's song writing, and fans of Devendra should definitely take note. This record is so incredibly charming! Having been expelled from a London art school in 1964 for not narrowing her field of studies to either music or painting, Vashti Bunyan took to singing her songs on the streets of London. She eventually left the city, hitching up a cart and horse to journey across the countryside, heading for the remote Outer Hebrides islands. It wasn't long before fans tracked her down to record an album. The album was released in 1970 and disappeared in relative obscurity -- only later being sought out fanatically by record collectors. Featuring accompaniment by such notables as Robin Williamson (fiddle, mandolin, Irish Harp) of The Incredible String Band and Simon Nicol (banjo) of Fairport Convention, Robert Kirby (string and recorder arrangements) who played with Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan's music is an exquisitely delicate folk music with melodies reminiscent of hornpipes and shanties. Her clear voice is so full of innocence, and she sings so earnestly about her horse and the countryside full of hayfields and waiting for love and the simple rewards, like nice tea, that await after a long day's journey. It's so beautiful, it makes me want to dress in peasant garb (like Vashti on the cover) and forget all about the 21st century. Includes four bonus tracks recorded between 1966 and 1969, two of which were mastered direct from unreleased acetates.
MPEG Stream: "Diamond Day"
MPEG Stream: "Glow Worms"
MPEG Stream: "Where I Like To Stand"

GOLDSWORTHY, ANDY Rivers And Tides (Mediopolis) dvd 26.00
Sculptor Andy Goldworthy approaches a natural location in search of its flow or energy. He then seeks to directly respond, build upon or otherwise reflect upon that energy through a piece of sculpture, using only materials found in that natural space. His artwork transcends observation of entropy and chaos in nature as his pieces take shape from the land, are impermanent and meant to be absorbed or responded to in turn by nature, thus creating a natural flow of discourse between himself and the land. Goldsworthy notes that often "it is the very element that [he's] used in a piece that could cause it's own destruction." In taking very little or no prior study of the commissioned location prior to his arrival in the environment, Goldsworthy claims, "Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work. I need the shock of touch, the resistance of place, materials and weather, the earth as my source. Nature is in a state of change and that change is the key to understanding. Transience in my work reflects what I find in nature." This acclaimed documentary film by German film maker Thomas Riedelsheimer captures him at his home in Penpont, Scotland, and in the field (literally) making his sculptures in France, Nova Scotia and New York. It does a fine job of visually explaning the artist's process of creating his site-specific commissioned pieces and consequently, nature's reaction to them. Use of Goldsworthy's own explanation is slightly incumbering though does not ruin the film. Music by maverick composer/improviser Fred Frith -- whose Rivers And Tides soundtrack cd we already made a Record Of The Week back in 2003 -- marries itself to the meditative qualities of both Goldworthy's art and nature itself to create a truly wonderful film experience overall. A nice bonus on this DVD is extra footage presented in seven short films. Highly recommended!

HARPER, ROY Stormcock (Science Friction) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
To those of us who grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, Roy Harper might already be something of an implied legend, stuck in our adolescent memories as the name referenced in the Zeppelin III song, "Hats Off To Roy Harper". Some of us may even have noticed in the liner notes to Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here that it was Roy Harper belting out the vocals on "Have a Cigar". Sadly, for most of us from this generation we have heard very little or none of this man's own music.
Harper's life story (as raw material for some of the best songs ever written -- seriously, just surrender your ears to "Goldfish" or "Tom Tiddler's Ground") is full of drama and obsession: joining the RAF in order to escape a Christian upbringing, Harper's "legendary" self-inflicted nervous breakdown in order to get out of his military service provided the prima materia for some of his first songs (e.g. "Committed" on his debut album Sophisticated Beggar). After escaping a mental institution in order to elope with a pregnant girlfriend, Roy headed off into London where his rebellious ways got him arrested. Serving a prison sentence, he spent most of his time in the library reading and evolving his creative spirit. Following his release in 1964 he busked around North Africa and then returned to London to join the folk club scene alongside the Incredible String Band, Donovan, Joni Mitchell, Bert Jansch and Nick Drake. During the recording of his first record he hosted the vagabonds of London in his flat and sermonized, guerilla-style, to the church-goers across the street from his flat window. So Roy's records were full of such expressions of protest against religion, politics, and the countless social forces subverting individuality and the imagination of the day. With every Roy Harper record, the listener gets extensive stream-of-consciouness rants, often surreal and often quite funny, complementing the songs with a voice that is at once confounding and endearing. The spirit in Roy's songs, one complicated by fits of great joy, sadness and absurdity, where the most banal things in life are rendered the most beautiful (such as "How could you say such terrible things with a wonderful wife like yours?") still coheres as the voice of a truly singular spirit.
So...why can't we find Roy Harper sections in most record stores? After all he has dozens of albums and is still very much alive and making music. Well, a rare and wonderful thing in light of the typical artist versus the record industry scenario is that Harper has somehow managed to own all rights to his records and now distributes his material exclusively under the name Science Friction. But doesn't distribute very widely as his is but a small operation, based in Ireland. However, we've gotten in touch with Science Friction and are now happy to offer our customers, at long last, a selection of what we consider to be some of Roy's best. Starting with Stormcock!
Recorded in 1970 at Abbey Road, Stormcock is a four-song, 41 minute opus of folk-rock genius (what has been dubbed by one critic a masterpiece of its own genre, "epic progressive acoustic"). Basically, the sort of thing that, despite the current upswing in the underground of psych-tinged folky songsmithery, you just don't get to hear much these days. A rare talent, fully on display here, and without some of the confounding eclecticism and eccentrities that may make some other Harper albums take a bit more work to get into. No, this is a definite "wow" from the very first few bars of the first song, continuing solid and stellar all the way to the end of the album. Gorgeously melodic, slow and langorous, sparkling with Roy's brillant acoustic guitar playing, otherworldly arrangements, and of course his voice, phrasing and lyrics. Roy wrote all the songs and sings and plays most of the music -- there's a few additional musicans on hand at times to help flesh out Roy's sound-world, among them one S. Flavius Mercurius (aka Jimmy Page) contributing lead guitar on "The Same Old Rock", as well as the orchestral musicians employed for the magnificent album-closer "Me And My Woman".
Anyone who digs Six Organs Of Admittance or Devendra Banhart or the like owes it to themselves to experience some Roy Harper. Likewise anyone who loves the quieter, folker sides of the aforementioned Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Packaged with lyrics, art, and Roy's cryptic latter-day liner notes.
MPEG Stream: "One Man Rock And Roll Band"
MPEG Stream: "Me And My Woman"

HUXTABLES, THE s/t (self-released) cdr + dvdr + zine 5.00
Back in stock!
A synopsis of this self-titled debut by The Huxtables themselves: "In the beginning, there were two sweaters, a drum sweater and a guitar sweater. We attempted to win but lost a battle of the bands at our high school. At that point, we finally became a real family. Of course the guitar and drums are the parents and the drawings, video, bass and keyboards are the kids, uncles and aunts. On this recording, half of its songs are from a small concrete closet in Washington DC. At one point the closet was storage space for an up-right bass. We finished the album in a kitchen in Boston while in a tussle with the police. What they did to us in that kitchen forced us to become a collective notion and stop being a band. New songs are being worked out and the collective's future album will be called The Mere Pressure Of My Hand." The Huxtables are two 17 year old boys from New York who make art and music that's noisy, naive, raw and a little bit silly. But awesome and fun!
MPEG Stream: "Dragonfly Society"
MPEG Stream: "Nothing Can Stop Us Now"

HOT SNAKES Audit In Progress (Swami) cd 13.98
Hot Snakes' second release on Swami Records is finger lickin' good! Yow! Rick and John (both ex-Drive Like Jehu) have enlisted a new drummer, Mario Rubalcaba (ex-pro-skateboarder and ex-Clickitat Ikatowi) since former drummer Jason left for the Burning Brides. Hot Snakes also now feature San Diego rock luminary Gar Wood (Beehive and the Barracudas) on bass. Man this band totally kicks ass!!! What else can we say? Imagine the Godlike Drive Like Jehu, but stripped down to its garage rock bare bones, but sacrificing none of the fury or intensity or musical chops. Raw and catchy and makes you want to just jump up and down and bang your head and wiggle like crazy. The recording of Audit In Progress awesomely captures their fired-up energy and offers an accurate taste of their live show. I saw them recently here in San Francisco -- all types of new HS fans and older Jehu fans were going totally bananas. This album and their live show will kick you in your face and you'll be begging for more! Plus it's always nice when bands actually produce their own artwork instead of just stealing someone else's, or hiring some crappy graphic designer. Rick Froberg, HS's singer/illustrator/animator is an incredibly talented and respected artist in addition to being a wicked rock frontman. The last Hot Snakes record was so perfect who would have thought the ante could be upped. But upped it has been...it's been upped...well, you know what we're saying. This record rules! And this band just keeps getting better and better. Buy this now!
MPEG Stream: "Braintrust"
MPEG Stream: "Hi-Lites"

SCHNAUSS, ULRICH A Strangely Isolated Place (Domino) cd 14.98
Mr. Schnauss builds swells of swishy guitar washs, processed vocals and melting glacial keyboard lines that bring to mind the wintry, atmospheric electronic rock likes of Mum, Magyar Posse and the Notwist, not to mention Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine (particularly on tracks such as the very shoegazey "Clear Day"). A Strangely Isolated Place is super dreamy, yet beneath Schnauss' many fuzzy, effects laden blankets lie both solid melodies and programmed rhythms that keep a steady shuffling beat for you to either just bob your head to or if you feel so inclined, twirl about like you're chasing butterflies. Schnauss fits perfectly among his blissed out Domino label brethren. Fans of the abovementioned bands should definitely give Schnauss a spin. Woozy lovely goodness!
MPEG Stream: "A Letter From Home"
MPEG Stream: "Clear Day"

MR. SHOW The Complete Fourth Season (HBO) 2dvd 39.00
What will it take for us to convince you that Mr. Show is the greatest "sketch" comedy show EVER? Thimbles? Fake poo? Wyckyd Sceptre? Marilyn Monster Pizza Parlors? Probably nothing will do it at this point, you're either with us or against us. Us Mr. Show fans have to enjoy our obsession in secret (some of us here even have to sneak out of bed late at night and watch with headphones, so as not to wake our significant other who'd surely discipline such behavior). For those of you who do love Mr. Show and miss anticipating a new season every year, be sated with these final two discs. Not only will you get to relive the final ten episodes, but also enjoy some new items. Like the DVD reissues of the earlier seasons, this one has the usual hilarious commentary with Bob & David on all but one episode. Plus there's outtakes from the first three seasons, bloopers, "The Naked Improv" from a 1998 Comic Relief appearance, "The Grand Reunion" featurette and a Mr. Show Jukebox of songs from the entire series.

V/A Pick A Winner (Load) dvd + cd 22.00
YEEEEAAY. What a wonderful service Load provides, bringing awesome musicians/artists from the dregs of Providence (and elsewhere) to all of us. Those guys live there so we don't have to. Well, Load's Pick A Winner compilation cd features some of our favorite artynoisebands from Prov: La Machine (ex-Six Finger Satellite and Landed), Lightning Bolt, Forcefield, Pixeltan, Pleasurehorse and even a tiny little glistening nugget of a song from (sadly, now defunct) Thee Hydrogen Terrors. The Load artists are not your typical noise bands, mind you. They are 100 percent a pertinent cataclysm of talent and ideas. And then there's the dvd. Holy shit! It's so great to see these videos. Most of the featured artists typically use whatever they have or can use around to make totally genuine two-dimensional magic with, and to see their work transcend into pure video conjury is truly inspiring. The package even comes with a deck of cards, each specially designed by Load artists, just to show they care about you, the consumer. So buy this cd/dvd now! In fact, buy three!! (Not advised for people with heart problems.) Oh, but unfortunately Load doesn't care as much about their artists, as there is no tracklisting to tell you who is what, etc. So our mp3 samples are listed as track numbers only.
MPEG Stream: "Track 01"
MPEG Stream: "Track 05"

V/A Eccentric Soul : The Capsoul Label (Numero Group) cd 17.98
In the early 70s, the Capsoul label suffered a similar fate as Stax Records out of Memphis. Great small label, amazing artists, amazing songs -- but in the midst of a Motown big-hit explosion. Founded by Bill Moss in Columbus, Ohio, Capsoul produced some incredible soul and funk music. Musically, Moss had all the ingredients of a great label (he even wrote some of their hits) but his timing in the industry couldn't have been worse. As it was at this time, Motown had just moved to Los Angeles and was quickly growing to gigantic proportions. Sadly, Capsoul went out of business only five years after starting up. Even more sadly, when it did, all master tapes were destroyed. So the songs on this comp are actually taken from 45's gathered by the folks at Numero Group through various sources, including Ebay! Meticulously transferred, they sound totally awesome. The 19 funk and soul treasures are beautifully packaged and feature a couple cool studio photos. Extensive liner notes detail a bit of the label, its artists and historical context.
MPEG Stream: BILL MOSS "Sock It To 'Em Soul Brother"
MPEG Stream: ELIJAH & THE EBONITES "Hot Grits!!!"

SKATERS Dark Rye Bread (Nature Tape Limb) 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.

NECRONOMICON Tips Zum Selbstmord (Garden Of Delights) cd 21.00
At last, again, reissued: a masterpiece of suicidal, political Krautrock heaviosity from 1972. NECRONOMICON. Freaky then, freaky now. Psychedelic hard rock that was about as 'extreme' as it got at the time...definitely if Terrorizer magazine had existed back then, these Germans would have made the cover. Not that this extreme by today's blackened metal standards, as there's enough pretty and melodic elements included amongst the fuzz riffage to satisfy the mellower hippie types in the Necronomicon freak-scene. And, they're no Black Sabbath. Still, pretty far gone for '72. The title: How To Kill Yourself. Now that's a bad trip. The very first track, the seven-minute "Prolog", almost makes the remainder of this album superflous, as it's a full, epic encapsulation Necronomicon's heavy prog excess. Theirs is an album replete with stinging acid guitar, heady Hammond organ, and monkish chanting. Ecclisastical choirs wail over trudging, yearning guitar and organ -- shades of Magma and J.A. Caesar. It's like Amon Duul II murdering Pink Floyd and riding their animated corpses all the way to hell. Again, not in any way metal, but what you might call Wagnerian garage-psych. This was first reissued on cd some years ago by Little Wing of Refugees (with a different, generic cover). When we first got it in at Aquarius then, we were all ready to be disappointed 'cause what band ever lives up to an H.P. Lovecraft inspired name like Necronomicon? Well, Shub Niggurath did, and so do these guys. I've had a copy lurking in my cd collection for years now, and now am happy to replace it with this new edition, complete with four bonus tracks and the usual, deluxe Garden Of Delights packaging (a cd booklet thick enough to barely fit in the jewel case, full of text and full color graphics). Actually, come to think of it, who knows? With a '70s era psych import LP like this, we might have once stocked it REALLY long ago, way back in Aquarius' storied past, when it first came out on vinyl...well no, not this, the private press original was/is waaaay to rare. And too weird. Definitely an obscure but A-list kraut/psych album for those with occult tastes...
MPEG Stream: "Prolog"
MPEG Stream: "Requiem der Natur"

V/A The Third Unheard: Connecticut Hip Hop 1979-1983 (Stones Throw) cd 15.98
Hmmm... Connecticut. Known for its (I'd rather kill myself than drive through its) never-ending stretch of I-95, shitty cities and incredibly concentrated wealth. How would we have known that hip hop from CT circa '79 to '83 was so good?! Well that's where this new comp produced by Stones Throw's Egon comes in, to educate us. The old school rap jams on here are nostalgia-inducing classics even if you've never heard 'em before. One we had heard, and will forever love, is Pookey Blow's "Get Up (And Go To School)", but the selections from the likes of The Chillie 3 MCs, Rappermatical 5, Mr. Magic, Starchild and the 2nd Showdown Crew, The Outlaw Four, and others also have all the kitschy humor, casual cool, positive pride and self-assurance that makes these rare tracks just as awesome as any more famous hits of the time outta NYC. Could be considered even more so, with some sympathy points for having hailed from CT!
MPEG Stream: MR. MAGIC AND POSITIVE CHOICE BAND "2001 Kazoo's"
MPEG Stream: POOKEY BLOW "Get Up (And Go To School)"

MESHUGGAH I (Fractured Transmitter) cd 10.98
If I was in a technical death metal band, or a technical band of any sort, I think I would absolutely shit my pants every time Meshuggah released a new record. Or played live. Or even walked by me on the street. These guys are so good. And so heavy. It's really scary. Ultra precise riffing, drumming that makes the rest of us drummers wither up and run home to practice, shredding leads that sound like a quadruple neck guitar played by a four armed guitarist, and song structures that require a degree in calculus to unravel. So what do you do when you have out-tech'ed every band in the world? Well, you write a 20 minute song, that is so complex and technical, it's like the death metal version of 40 Agoraphobic Nosebleed songs strung together. But it's not just technical for technical's sake. No, this is definitely a song, granted a long song, with melodies and hooks, and catchy bits. They just all happen to be draped perilously over the churning jagged musical machinery of these Swedish shredders. So fucking good.
MPEG Stream: "I (excerpt)"

DAWN OF THE DEAD Unreleased Soundtrack Music from George A. Romero's... (Trunk) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Dawn Of The Dead is pretty much the greatest zombie movie ever made. It definitely set the standard, and EVERY walking dead movie since has basically just been a riff off the original. And of course the Goblin score was amazing, proggy, scary and occasionally silly, but always perfect in some unlikely way. But most of the REALLY scary parts weren't scored by Goblin but instead were one of over 2000 musical cues used in the film. This comp collects some of the longer cues (many were mere seconds long, that in the context of the film were perfect, but wouldn't make for good listening here) and some of the most memorable songs that weren't included in the Goblin score. Most of this stuff is creepy and scary and totally brings back all the spine tingly feelings you had the first time you saw the movie. But there are also some super dorky bits that were as much a part of the film and its subtle (or not so subtle) humor. There's the opening track "The Gonk", a goofy, bouncy ragtime / cartoon music workout, the hippy coutry folk ditty "Cause I'm A Man" played by the Electric Banana (which just happened to feature members of the Pretty Things!!). And who can forget the scene in the mall, and the weird medley of marching band / ragtime / progressive rock organ workout that accompanied it? But outside of those whimsical moments, the rest of this collection is really really intense and spooky. From creepy, slithering orchestral drones, shimmering gongs and tinkling chimes to Bernard Hermann-ish suspenseful minor key soundtrack stuff, all tense strings and foreboding DUH DUH's to scary outerspace synth sounds, reverbed and super affected to good ol' classic Halloween / Friday The Thirteenth style horror movie suspense music. So awesome!
MPEG Stream: P. LEMEL "Cosmogony Pt. 1"
MPEG Stream: E. TOWREN "Sinestre"
MPEG Stream: P. RENO "Cause I'm A Man"

BATTLES EP C (Monitor) cd ep 12.98
This is one pedigreed post-rock combo here! Battles consists of Ian Williams (Don Caballero, Storm And Stress), Tyondai Braxton (son of jazz genius Anthony and solo artist in his own right), John Stanier (Helmet, Tomahawk) and Dave Konopka (Lynx). These gents have joined forces to tangle their guitar strings, various drum implements, and electronic gadgetry into a big knot that might seem loose but is probably really tight if you were to try and unravel it. And while their compositions might be 'difficult', listening to this is not. Battles sounds like a post rock band (a la Don Cab or Lynx) playing the music of Conlon Nancarrow on Raymond Scott's Manhattan Research equipment. Or Gershon Kingsley making math rock. Weird, complex, delightful. And rather than debut with a full length, they've released two new eps in various formats. There are the five tracks of EP C cd ep, and the two-song limited Tras 12" vinyl and cd ep (the latter of which also includes a video clip).
MPEG Stream: "Hi/Lo"

POPOL VUH Affenstunde (SPV) cd 16.98
Along with composing the scores for some of Werner Herzog's greatest films, Florian Fricke was as much a musical pioneer as were his contemporaries Faust, Neu and Cluster. Unlike his contemporaries, Fricke's music is informed as much by music from arounds the world as it was rock and classical composition (in which he was schooled). Sitars, pan flutes and assorted ethnic percussion have as much a place in any given Popol Vuh album as moog synths, guitars, bass and drums. One only need look at his choice of a band name, taken from the title of a sacred Mayan text, to see where Fricke's affinities lay.
Affenstunde, recorded in 1970, was Popol Vuh's first album. The four original album tracks are a combination of dark, droning synth soundscapes, hippy drum circle-ish drum james and improvised moog keyboard workouts. Imagine if you could crunch the bubbly synth era of Tangerine Dream into their dark, early days circa Electronic Meditation and Alpha Centari. In contrast to his later works for film, Affenstunde is much more textural, intentionally devoid of any melody. As a bonus this remastered edition, like the others in this series, comes with an additional -- previously unreleased -- track from the same period. And that cover picture! Hard to resist.
MPEG Stream: "Ich Mache Einen Spiegel - Dream Part 4"
MPEG Stream: "Train Through Time"

EDLER, HANS Elektron Kukeso (Boy Wonder) cd 23.00
ONCE AGAIN, REPRESSED AND BACK IN STOCK FOR THE LAST TIME! This is the final pressing, and the last time we will be able to get these, we got a bunch, and once these are gone this will be gone forever so don't miss out!
This is definitely a weird one. And a record that no self respecting lover of strange music should be without! As soon as we were told about this record (thanks, Brian at WFMU) we suspected that this was most likely going to have to be an AQ Record Of The Week. And once we finally heard it, we knew for sure (record of the week on list #190, 6/18/04)!
Originally released in 1971, in a ridiculously limited edition on his own label, Hans Edler's Elektron Kukeso sounds to us like a lost electronic music classic, although when it first came out, it was apparently a baffling disappointment to most, since at that point Edler was known to the masses as a former teen idol, having fronted the popular Swedish '60s rock bands The Ghost Riders and We 4. And even though Edler didn't even remember this record when he was first contacted recently about reissuing it, he claims that this was the first computer programmed lp in history. Not so sure about that (what about Morton Subotnick's Silver Apples Of The Moon or Bruce Haack's Electric Lucifer?), but it IS definitely unique and way ahead of its time. A simultaneously lo-fi and high tech concoction of simple electronic melodies, pecked out on primitive synthesizers, hissing, rumbling and fluctuating in timbre and volume, creating creepy alien outerspace lullabies. Each track is a warm and fuzzy, throbbing analog swirl, an antiquated pop song vaporized into abstract clouds of white noise and pink noise, under 3 and 4 note melodies, occasionally dark and dense, but more often completely simple childlike chromatic scales, up and down, up and down, very haunting and hypnotic. But then there are the vocals. Vocals that turn an experimental electronic novelty record into a bizarre outsider pop classic. In a chant-like monotone, very liturgical sounding, and with a very limited range, Edler croons mournful minor key laments, urgent and dramatic like Jandek or Scott Walker. In fact this record sounds a bit like Brian Wilson producing a Jandek record using only one battered old analog synthesizer. Or Scott Walker backed up by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Very dreamy and psychedelic. Creepy and cool. It also reminds us a bit of old '80s New Zealand / Expressway stuff like Wreck Small Speakers On Expensive Stereos, the Terminals and the like. And whether they know it or not, Suicide and the Silver Apples apparently weren't the first (or the most original) to tread down the path of electronic pop weirdness. We're also fairly certain that Brian Eno must have heard this album once upon a time, since there are definite melodic and sonic similarities betwixt Edler and Eno. And hell, if Thurston Moore knows about this record (he offers a few superlatives on the obi) then Eno, always the musical hipster, must have this in his collection somewhere as well!
Deluxe digipak includes 7 unreleased bonus tracks, a poster, and a massive booklet with extensive liner notes and loads of photos (plenty that show Edler as a kinda creepy looking long haired mod rock and roller, in tight trousers and flowery shirts, posing in front of a bank of computer synth equipment in his space age sonic laboratory!)
MPEG Stream: "Vi Hor Ett Skrik"
MPEG Stream: "Leka Med Ord"
MPEG Stream: "Romantiken"

DEERHOOF Milk Man (Kill Rock Stars) cd 14.98
It is incredible that this prog damaged pop group from San Francisco, which thrives on simplicity, can continually create complexly playful and riddling compositions while maintaining a bashful earnestness that totally offsets any and all chances that their musical prowess and ingenuity will falter into the category of 'wank'. Through Deerhoof's ten year existence, there have been numerous changes in personnel and instrumentation, but even through these variables there is a solidarity and consistency in the songwriting that is uniquely Deerhoof. While not as wildly cacophonous and volatile as 1997's The Man The King The Girl, there has been a return of sorts here (as on last year's Apple O') to a certain looseness that had been held back on the lushly crafted Reveille. Milk Man, their sixth long player, maintains the taut rock sound perfected on Apple O' whilst introducing more sonically diverse elements to the everyday Deerhoof palette (most notably: crackling electronics, horns and/or woodwinds -- is that a flute or a pocket trumpet on "Milking"? -- synthesizers and organs, and what sounds like to these ears, a Happy Apple*?) John Deiterich and Chris Cohen's awkwardly perfect harmonizations weave into Greg Saunier's John-French-by-way-of-Keith-Moon drumb blasts, emblazoned with Satomi Matsuzaki's mesmerizing vocal ornaments on rockers like the opening title track, "That Big Orange Sun Run Over Speed Light" and "Milking". The lovely "Desaparecere" is an electronically backed number that evokes the Brazilian work of Joao and Astrud Gilberto (though the lyrics are in Spanish rather than Portuguese...). The previously released single "C", is reprised here in all its hand-clapping and falsetto glory. As beautiful and bewildering as past releases, what I think shines through most on Milk Man is its cohesive solidarity as a single album.
*for those who are curious (like Allan, who had to ask), a Happy Apple was a children's toy made by Fisher Price in the seventies. It's basically a six inch tall plastic apple with a happy face that, when shaken, makes a pretty polyphonic "chiming bells" sound. Kinda like windchimes, but muted since the elements which makes the sounds are encased in plastic. If you crack one open, you'll see that it's a simple circular design of four or five metal rods of varying length, with a pendulum-like ball in the center that hammers at them when agitated. I have a few of 'em at home, I always pick them up at flea markets. No two sound exactly alike! Anyway, there are occasional chiming sounds on this new Deerhoof record that I suspect are in fact from a Happy Apple, but I could be wrong...
MPEG Stream: "Milk Man"
MPEG Stream: "Milking"
MPEG Stream: "That Big Orange Sun"

HELDON Stand By (Cuneiform) cd 14.98
Ok, anyone into Magma and/or Moogs pay attention! A couple lists back we got our friend Loren Chasse to write some nice things about Tranzition, the latest album from cult French musician Richard Pinhas, the guy who masterminded the pioneering electronic rock act Heldon back the '70s. That made us realize: hey, we really should get some of those old Heldon records up on our website too! So if you look you'll see we already stuck a few up there with real brief reviews. However, Cuneiform happens to have just brought these two Heldon albums back into print on cd and that gives us a perfect excuse to further sing the praises of Pinhas and his band, as these are two of our faves (though all Heldon comes recommended by us), perfectly combining Pinhas' Robert Fripp guitar obsession with (what are now) vintage synth sounds into some of the best psych-prog sci-fi jamming ever.
Interface was Heldon's sixth LP, dating from 1977, and features the latter-day Heldon trio line-up of Pinhas (guitar, various Moogs, electronics), Patrick Gauthier (Moog bass and Mini-Moog) and Francois Auger (drums and synthesized percussion). Tracks like "Jet Girl" and the nearly twenty minute title cut are kinda like King Crimson meets Suicide or something.
Then there's 1979's Stand By which was Heldon's final studio outing and sees the Pinhas/Gauthier/Auger trio augmented by several additional musicians, including vocalist Klaus Blasquiz of Magma fame. The three tracks here (two of them quite lengthy) will definitely appeal to fans of Magma's "zheul" style. But the Fripp and Suicide allusions above also apply. One track is an extended space-rock opus loosely based on "Bolero"! Even judged by their covers alone, Stand By and Interface both possess a lot of the future-retro cool that's so hip nowadays, while being legitimately classic albums that anyone who digs krautrock or Circle or that kind of thing should investigate. Both discs have been reissued with two bonus live tracks apiece, by the way. So if you aren't already hip to Heldon, either or both of these would make good starting points!
MPEG Stream: "Stand By"
MPEG Stream: "Une Drole de Journee"

JARRE, JEAN-MICHEL Les Granges Brulees (OST) (Dreyfus) cd 11.98
Somewhere right now Thom Yorke is blushing, now that this 1973 soundtrack has been reissued. Well, that's our speculation anyway, 'cause the main theme sounds SO MUCH like a Radiohead song (which one, we haven't quite figured out. Not "Paranoid Android" but close.) At any rate, this was either a big inspiration to Radiohead or it's just a marvellous coincidence. You'll hear it for yourself we're sure. Thom certainly needs to hear this if he hasn't already (as we suspect). And it's not just the melody of this soundtrack's main leit motif, but the singing voice itself. A French female doing wordless ah ah ahs -- play it back to back with Radiohead and you'll swear it's Mr. Yorke's famous falsetto. But that's only part of the reason this soundtrack is so fascinating. It's also a very very early electronica effort by a young Jean-Michel Jarre, later in the '80s to become well-known as a New Age superstar famed for spectacular multi-media shows. In the seventies, though, his output could be considered credible electronica pioneering. 1977's Oxygene is a pretty cool album after all. But this was before even that, and it's way more extreme. Truly jarring electronic sound that's hard to reconcile with the idea of "background" music in film! And Les Granges Brulees was not, as far as we're aware, a horror or science fiction flick where such might make sense. As far as we can tell, this Jean Chap