MARS VOLTA Inertiatic ESP / Drunkship Of Lanterns (Picture Disc) (GSL / Erika) 12" Picture Disc 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hey Mars Volta completists! Here's another striking picture disc from these post-prog cool kids. Not the place to start if you're just getting acquainted with these fellows. Head straight for their Tremulant EP first. Limited pressing of 5000.

SWITCHBLADE s/t (Icarus / Deathwish) cd 11.98
You'd have thought there'd be a band by now called Switchblade, but these guys I think are the first we've seen here at Aquarius to use that moniker...from the name you might expect some sort of garagey rockabilly punk or somesuch, but this ain't the Stray Cats. Nope, Switchblade are a punishing metalcore trio from Sweden, who could just as easily be labeled a 'post-rock' band. First off, you'd swear this was recorded by Steve Albini (though it's not): it's got that spacious, dry, natural room sound recording quality with BIG drums. Mix that with quiet-loud dynamics and electric drone potential and you'll be wondering if this metal at all until vocals make a rare, screaming throat abuse appearance to remind you. Oh, and also 'cause when it's heavy it's, yeah, heavy! Totally hypnotic and dark...kind of like a slow, epic version of old AQ instro-metal faves Fuehler. Or some sort of Albini-produced krautrock. Or a downer Circle. Or an evil Mogwai... Shellac, Pelican and Isis would also be good reference points. While some metalcore outfits have a densely layered, hyperkinetic, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink modus operandi (i.e. Converge, Coalesce), Switchblade, with their stripped-down, mostly instrumental, repetitive-riffing approach, seem to utilize a keep-it-simple aesthetic that really works for them. There's not even any song titles, just six numbered tracks (47 minutes total) of Switchblade's sinister, soporific, satisfying music.
MPEG Stream: "01"
MPEG Stream: "03"

BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE Midnight Radio (Epistrophy) 2cd 24.00
Here's an old favorite -- a former AQ Record Of The Week in fact -- that we've been unable to get for a long time now, until just this week that is. So we thought we'd better relist it, especially since when we relisted the Ipecac reissue of Bohren's most recent album Black Earth we sold a whole bunch of copies to folks who'd missed it the first time, and this one is perhaps even more essential not to miss! So here's a portion of our review from the first time we had this:
At last, we've managed to import some copies of this fantastic 1995 album by this mysterious German instrumental band! I (Allan) discovered them via a friend in Germany (an AQ-customer who, like many others, has been so kind as to turn *us* on to stuff: it's a two-way street). I was visiting for the 1999 total solar eclipse (well, among other things; I was also in the land of schnitzel for a metal festival...) and heard a tape of this sprawling double cd set in the context of a late night, post-eclipse, wine-drinking get-together. But when I finally got a hold of the actual album some weeks later (we couldn't even find one in the local record stores, my friend had to special order it and send a copy to me in the States), I was happy to discover that it wasn't merely my memories of the wondrous eclipse that had imbued Midnight Radio with such a gorgeous sense of darkness and dread, but that it really was an amazing album!
After Midnight Radio, Bohren released Sunset Mission (later followed by Black Earth). If the now out of print Sunset Mission album was the ultimate noir-jazz soundtrack to a hypothetical first person shooter video game set in afterdark Berlin, then this aptly-titled previous double cd set, (sans saxophone, an addition to the Sunset lineup) is the perfect accompaniment to a late night autobahn death ride, cruise control on, cigarettes burning. There's even a moment, two hours or so into it, when sun starts to come up over the horizon (you'll hear what we mean when you get to the end of the second disc).
Now, we're always talking about "hypnotic" music here at AQ, but this is music for when you're *already* hypnotized, slumped near bed at home or cruising down that infinite highway at 3am, aware of only your own thoughts and the darkness all around made even more black by your headlights. (Maybe this is what some of those unexplicable people who I saw driving around during the eclipse were listening to...for two very long minutes anyway.) Heavy, heavy bass notes, glacially deployed, crushingly beautiful slow-motion guitar and dark, liquid pools of piano, with a narcotized drummer who must be passing in and out of consciousness to occasionally brush his snare and hi-hat. Midnight Radio enters into the tiny pantheon of somehow similarly intended doomy double cd sets beloved of AQ (Esoteric's Pernicious Enigma and Epistomological Despondency, Corrupted's Llenandose de Gusanos). Of course, Bohren is not at all metallic like those two outfits, but is knowing of the same gloombliss. Slow and low, and highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "3"
MPEG Stream: "5"

DMBQ (DYNAMITE MASTERS BLUES QUARTET) Esoteric Black Hair ( Fake Chapter) cd-r ep 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From Japan...DMBQ!! (Formerly known as the Dynamite Masters Blues Quartet.) Damn, did you see these guys (and gal) play last year?? If not, don't miss 'em this time, they're gonna be touring the West Coast this month (June '04). If you DID see 'em last time, of course you'll be at their shows again this time too. One of the ultimate over-the-top rock experiences... a spectacle of backbends, stagedives, sweat, awesome polyester outfits, and let's not forget heavy psych-rock chops!! An AWESOME live band -- they had rock moves I've never seen before. Are DMBQ tongue in cheek fantasy? Or totally sincere love of rock n' roll overload? Probably both. It's a blend of Hendrix and Blue Cheer played with the attitude of Guitar Wolf or the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. What The Darkness would be if they were Japanese and inspired by '70s acid riff-rock instead of '80s hair metal, perhaps. I've been a BIG fan of this band for a long time, and was always super frustrated not to be able to get any of their recent cd output to sell here at Aquarius. They're on a major label in Japan, and it's just impossible to get their discs for any reasonable price. But now, we've got this, their first and only domestic US release, a thirty minute cd-r compiling a selection of choice cuts from some of their Japanese albums. There's seven songs here, each crazier and heavier and more rockin' than the last. If you liked Boris' Heavy Rocks or Akuma No Uta albums, you'll like this!! (And Acid Mothers Temple, you'd better get out of the way.) It's too bad we can't get their 'actual' albums, but for now this will have to do, and it makes for a nice, budget priced sampler/intro to the band's brand of bellbottomed insanity. I bet some smart label will pick 'em up and we'll have more domestically released DMBQ to look forward to soon. So get this, and don't miss their shows, if you've got a rock bone in your body. They'll be debuting a new drummer on this tour (China-Mana from Shonen Knife) and tell us in an email about playing with her: "It is VERY fun! We can show you more crazy show surely. I feel we could get more EVIL musical power through her...! We are very excited." So are we!
NB. if you got the cd-r 'bootleg' that DMBQ was selling at their shows last year, be aware that Esoteric Black Hair is an *entirely* different disc.
MPEG Stream: "Smoker"
MPEG Stream: "Fellows"
MPEG Stream: "Are You Satisfied?"

MEADS OF ASPHODEL, THE Exhuming The Grave Of Yeshua (Supernal) cd 15.98
We made this Record of the Week a couple months ago, then promptly ran out of 'em -- as did their label in England, who have now pressed more copies. So here it is again, in case you missed it before. The UK's amazing, eccentric Meads Of Asphodel are back with their second, long-awaited full-length. From the get-go, this had an inside line on becoming an AQ Record of the Week -- indeed, we were so excited about its impending release that even before any of our wholesale suppliers had imports of this in stock, Andee went ahead and mail-ordered two copies from England, one for himself and one as a Christmas gift for Allan! Now, we've managed to get copies for the store to share with all of you. What's so special about the Meads Of Asphodel, besides their unusual name? Well, if you've been a long-time AQ list reader/customer maybe you'll remember how much we liked their debut, The Excommunication of Christ. Well as good as that crackpot example of medieval metal was, this new one is even more esoteric and ridiculous and incredible. As AQ's coverage of the genre has demonstrated, black metal can be a lot of different things. In the Meads of Asphodel's case, it IS many different things, all at the same time! First off, apparently nobody told them that an ostensibly black metal band shouldn't write pop songs. Sure, they are really really heavy and decidedly grim, but Meads have a pop sensibility that can't be denied. The album's second track, "God Is Rome", will have you staring at your stereo as its gruff-voiced chugging brutality gives way to an acoustic guitar lick and subsequent pop hook that is more Nirvana than necro. Not to suggest that this isn't a massively metal album. It is. Their brand of metal is like Venom mixed with Bal-Sagoth: sparkling keyboards strewn over rough-hewn riffage and pounding drums. They're also quite psychedelic (drugs involved for sure), with weird changes and spacey synths. Landing rocketships in the Middle Ages, Meads make for a creditable space rock band. Indeed, these Hawkwind obsessives do a killer Hawkwind cover ("Utopia") with two actual Hawkwind members sitting in! Other guests on this album include Mirai from another AQ fave, Japan's Sigh, one of the only other "black metal" bands on the planet as far-out as the Meads, and Vincent Crowley, somewhat infamous as an underground death metal Satanist. His presence, however cartoonish, illustrates another important point about this record. As random and spicy a goulash their music is, Meads remain a steadfastly black metal band where it most counts: in their opposition to God and religion. Indeed, unlike the majority of black metal acts whose anti-Christian, anti-clerical, pro-Satan stance is indeed just that, a stance or pose, just to conform to the standard black metal aesthetic of being "evil", Meads of Asphodel seem to take this issue more seriously. What we mean is that their lyrics are more about WHY they don't believe in God, than about how cool that makes them. So it turns out that as tongue-in-cheek as so much about them seems (from the cover pics of the band in the guise of armored knights looking rather more hapless than intimidating, to such song titles as "On Graven Images I Glide Beyond The Monstrous Gates Of Pandemonium To Face The Baptised Warriors Of Yahweh In The Skull-littered Plain Of Esdraelon") they actually have a message, if you will. Delivered quite bizarrely and confusingly of course. And that's what we like best, the confounding mixture of the serious and the silly where irony is left in the dust, replaced by question marks and half-smiles, and gleeful enjoyment of some remarkable music. This album is definitely the sort of thing that we at AQ think will both satisfy open-minded metal fans and provide a varied enough dish for folks seeking something weird on the pop/spacerock/electronic side of things. Indeed, did we mention that the aforementioned lengthy song title belongs to a ten minute epick of When-like eclecticism, that brings in techno electronica, Middle Eastern music, and even some acid-jazz organ jamming -- utterly instrumental except for samples of an utterly blasphemous nature? This is indicative in many ways of their bizarro modus operandi. Appealing in so many ways to the extremes of what we might call the AQ-aesthetic, it would have been hard *not* to make this a Record Of The Week.
MPEG Stream: "God Is Rome"
MPEG Stream: "Guts For Sale"
MPEG Stream: "Sons Of Anak Rise"

BOREDOMS Pop Tatari (Very Friendly) cd 14.98
These three Boredoms cds were last available in the States as Warner/Reprise releases -- yep, major label product! -- but they've been out of print for a few years now, not surprising considering that they are probably some of the most bizarre and fucked up sonic artifacts ever to come out on a US major. We can thank for that our pal Dave Katznelson, former Warners A&R, current Birdman bigwig. We can only imagine that his bosses at Warners were gripped by Lollapalooza fever in order to sign off on the signing of a crazy band like Japan's Boredoms! Anyway, those days are long gone. Fortunately for fans, the British label Very Friendly has at last licensed these three titles for reissue outside of Japan. (Now someone needs also to reissue their early masterpiece Soul Discharge and all will be right in the world.) So, here's one fan's (Allan's) assessment of these three examples of vintage Boredoms insanity, back when they were basically the Butthole Surfers of Japan.
1993's Pop Tatari has always been one of my favorites, following up their astonishing Soul Discharge and Wow2 releases (and thereby the third Boredoms record I ever heard, one that was eagerly anticipated as I recall...I believe I mail-ordered an import copy from Japan when it came out). And it was very nearly as good as Soul Discharge. It's classic Boredoms at their best, mashing up genres from punk to funk to reggae to metal to noise -- there's references in the songtitles to both the Ramones and the Grateful Dead (and to themselves, of course). Yet Pop Tatari is far from a chaotic mess. Applied listening to this record will really reveal that there's a method to their madness. It's kinda like the same way if you saw them play live more than once, you'd realize that their seemingly improvised, acrobatic, spazzed-out stage act was actually carefully, amazingly choreographed! Mayhem that's totally retarded and totally advanced at the same time. Yamamoto's guitar skronk is lashed to the massive groove of the band's two drummers, while the crashing waves of distorted riffola that anchor many of these 18 tracks are surfed by the unique, extreme vocals of Eye and cohorts. Every detour into whatever sort of weirdness is perfectly timed, these ADD arrangements are the work of pros. Definitely a Boredoms album not to be without, my personal pick of the three Very Friendly reissues (though all are worthy). Very Friendly has reinstated the original song titles and tracklist that were altered for the US edition.
MPEG Stream: "I Am Cola"
MPEG Stream: "Poy (Mockin' Fuzz 1)"

VEE DEE Furthur (Criminal IQ Records) cd 14.98
Huh, what's this? Vee Dee? It's got black and white, 'fucked up and photocopied' looking graphics, let's put it on...wow, some unknown punk rock outfit from decades past? The first song "Flashes Of Her" could be something by Radio Birdman, or maybe even a song off of that Simply Saucer album... Now, this other track is reminding me of the Misfits. Good stuff. What's the story? Is this something outta the pages of Black To Comm fanzine? A band from one of those Bloodstains comps? Nope, these boys are from the here and now -- Chicago to be precise -- and they sure know how to make a retro-sounding (and looking) punk record that kicks ass. They obviously must have cool record collections. But of course that by itself doesn't mean when you get up on stage you're gonna kick the jams out in a manner worthy of your heroes. However, Vee Dee rise to the occasion: they are worthy. They've got the hooks and the history books, so to speak. As you listen to this, you'll hear echoes of classic '70s and '80s punk, everything from the Buzzcocks to Crime to Black Flag. Cleveland's various underground '70s heroes are doubtless another of Vee Dee's inspirations. Lyrically, they're brave enough to sing lines like "The son of Altamont / was dancing with sister Watts" and do songs about the "TV Police" and being a "Blood Zombie" and make it work. Some of the lyrics read like your stoner 11 year old brother wrote 'em but that's rock and roll poetry ain't it? Give me a catchy song called "Kaleidoscope Death Ray" any day! Allan's new rock fave, went straight into his iPod top 20...
MPEG Stream: "Flashes Of Her"
MPEG Stream: "Undertaker"

SLOAN Action Pact (Koch / Two Minutes For Music) cd 15.98
Highly anticipated around these parts (well at least here at AQ!), this is the domestic release of the newest album from one of our favorite Canadian bands. Cup nabbed an import copy for Andee a couple of months back, so he's already more than acquainted with it. As has been the case with each Sloan album, after the first couple of listens we're initially apprehensive... not quite sure if they've successfully worked their pop rock magic again. However, by the third, fourth and fifth listen, we're hooked! Action Pact is no exception.
Sloan fans know very well how the four fellows usually split up songwriting/singing duties fairly evenly. Well, depending on who your fave Sloan member is, you may be pleased or disappointed to hear that Action Pact seems more Patrick and Chris heavy than Andrew and Jay. Can't tell you for sure 'cause all of their songs are simply credited to "Sloan", but that's what it sounds like to us.
They've got some good lines on this one (like "One thing I know about the rest of my life / I know I'll be living it in Canada"), but their lyrics can sometimes be their weak spot. Good thing they're singing in Canadian! There's a distinct almost wide-eyed innocence that surfaces in their lyric writing -- often this is a endearing, positive thing, while other times it can be a bit cringable (is that a word?!), falling in the too-clever / cheesy pun department. But it's all part and parcel of why we love Sloan so much. Goofy and fun summery jangly perfect pop, sometimes dumb, but always so damn catchy! Perfect for cruisin' in your Camaro! Sloan rule, that's just a fact.
Note: this domestic release includes a couple of dandy bonus tracks (which may even entice any of you who already got the import)!
MPEG Stream: "Gimme That"
MPEG Stream: "Rest Of My Life"

ASAHARA, MASAYO Saint Agnes Fountain (Audiolaceration) cd 16.98
The back-story on this is a good one, so let's start with that: We heard about this from a friend of ours (who shall remain nameless). So Loren came in and asked us one day if we could get an obscure album by some '70s Japanese experimental composer named Masayo Asahara. Apparently it was recently reissued on cd by a label in England... and was said to sound like Terry Riley meets Magma meets Soft Machine or something! Well THAT sure sounded interesting. So we looked it up online. Sure enough, Masayo Asahara's rare 1974 LP Saint Agnes Fountain was now available on cd. Here's what the label's website had to say about it: "A forgotten drone-prog-jazz classic from the 1970s Japanese underground...St Agnes Fountain was composed while Masayo Asahara was completing her masters degree at the University of Osaka in 1974. Asahara's doctorate concerned the music of the early American minimalists, especially LaMonte Young and Tony Conrad, and her composition reflects her involvement not only in that music, but also with the thriving Osaka free jazz scene from whose ranks this one-off band was put together specifically for this recording. Asahara also cites Faust, Soft Machine, and the Rolling Stones as influencing her work during this period. The rather curious title and artwork come via Asahara's parallel studies of mediaeval European history and pagan imagery in Protestant hymnal writing." Wow! We had to order that! Wish we could hear if first though...hmm...maybe there's a sound sample here...click here for more info it says...ok...wait, what's this?! We read: "St Agnes Fountain was composed by Martin Archer and UTT/Foster, and was recorded at Yellowarch Studio, Sheffield during 2002. This music is different from Martin's core music, and we have created Masayo in the hope of bringing a different audience into our music journey." Huh?! Turns out the whole thing is a cruel hoax! Albeit not a very deceptive one, if you did a little research. But hadn't our friend said that he'd heard of this supposed composer Masayo Asahara before? He had -- when he visited experimental/jazz musician Martin Archer in England! So, there's no such person as Masayo Asahara at all, she's merely the alter-ego Martin Archer. Apparently he only wanted to fool some of the people some of the time, in aid of making a fantasy LP come true. So, disappointed but still intrigued, we got Martin to send us a copy, thinking, it had better be good! And...it IS good! Really good. Dunno if we would have been fooled had he not revealed the truth, it certainly sounds inspired by all the stuff cited above, though the recording itself is perhaps not authentically '70s-sounding. And what we really think this sound like, is Gas gone prog. The disc begins with the track "Begin" -- twelve minutes of heavily filtered electric organ chording, endlessly building, eventually morphing into the 17+ minute "Continue"! Further into the disc, new themes and instrumentation are introduced, but the basic hypnotic concept progagates. It's a very satisfying trip, the kind of thing that you don't really realize is playing for as long as it is. It really sounds like the pulsing electronics of Wolfgang Voigt's Gas project combined with the minimalist jazz-drone of Australia's The Necks (two big AQ faves you'll note), with some detours into psych-fusion freakouts, via Hammond organ and what Martin Archer and his co-conspirators consider their tribute to "Magma's horn section". If this really WAS a long-lost Japanese LP from '74 we'd be losing our minds over it...so why not anyway? Martin Archer's fantasy has resulted in a quite fantastic musical reality on this here disc.
MPEG Stream: "Begin"
MPEG Stream: "Second Tempo"
MPEG Stream: "Third Tempo Plus Organ Solo"

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"

LES GEORGES LENINGRAD Deux Hot Dogs Moutarde Chou (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98

BORIS Absolutego (Super Low Frequency Version) (Southern Lord) 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.
Back in stock! Except... it's a cd-r now. Perhaps Southern Lord will press more actual cds in the future, but for now they're trying to meet the demand of all you Boris fanatics by at least making this available again as a professional cd-r pressing, with artwork and everything very similar to their original edition. And if you don't have it and consider yourself a connoisseur of 'heavy music' and don't already have this already, be glad for the chance even on cd-r. Here's our write-up from before:
Ok, here's one for all the AQ customers who we know are always hankering for the state-of-the-art in "drone-metal" (i.e. those who can't get enough of the likes of Earth, Melvins "Lysol", Sunn 0))), Corrupted, Esoteric, etc.). Thanks to noted label-of-doom Southern Lord, we've got the new domestic reissue of the 1996 full-length debut from this amazing Japanese band. We actually used to stock the import version back when it first came out, but never were able to get very many and it's been unavailable for a long long time. Southern Lord's new "Super Low Frequency Version" features new artwork and (doubtless much to the annoyance of the three or four people who manged to get the original import) a seven minute appropriately named bonus track, "Dronevil2". That makes this a 73 minute, two-track disc, as the title track itself is one of those rare, slow motion, maximum riff glacial drone songs that stretches out over (previously) the entire length of the cd! Heavy duty stuff indeed. It makes sense that the name Boris comes from a Melvins song. And also that one of their other albums is a collaboration with Japan's king of dark psych guitar, Keiji Haino. Recommended, doom freaks.
MPEG Stream: "Dronevil2"

BORIS Amplifier Worship (Southern Lord) cd 14.98
Second (or maybe third or fourth at this point?) Southern Lord repress. So, no gummi worm in the spine this time. Ok, here's what we said about the mighty Amplifier Worship the last time we listed it:
Good news, Boris fans. Thanks to Southern Lord, we now finally have stock again AGAIN of this masterpiece of heaviosity and former AQ-record-of-the-week by the amazing Japanese band Boris, who have become big AQ-faves over the past few years. The more-than-aptly-titled "Amplifier Worship" was their 2nd full-length release (after their mighty one-song drone-slab "Absolutego" but before the mind-blowing, semi-acoustic "Flood" and the stoner-rockin' genius of "Heavy Rocks"); it originally came out in 1998 and has been, on and off, pretty much unavailable in the US. Man's Ruin was going to release it domestically a while back, actually, but that fell through because of that label's sudden, unfortunate demise. Now our friends at Southern Lord, who made "Absolutego" available over here, have gotten around to releasing "Amplifier Worship" in the States. A happy day indeed. It's cheaper than the import, we should be able to keep it in stock for more than just a week, and, of course, it still rules!!
A good shorthand description of "Amplifier Worship" would be to say that it sounds like a cross between the low-end riffage of Boris' obvious heroes the Melvins, and the more recent, rhythmic trance experiments of their countrymen the Boredoms. Psychedelic punk metal, utterly crushing. Pretty much essential to anyone who is into "heavy"! If you like the dirgey sludge of Corrupted and Earth, as well as the more rocked-out sludge of Sleep and Melvins (circa "Ozma" and "Bullhead"), you'll love Boris! Recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Huge"
MPEG Stream: "Hama "
MPEG Stream: "Vomitself"

CROSS, DAVID It's Not Funny (Sub Pop) cd 12.98
Oh yes it is. Even the liner notes are funny ("thanks to the good folks at Sub Pop: you may know jackshit about music but you sure as hell know about pre-recorded comedy"). A new David Cross recording is cause for celebration here at Aquarius, we've all been big fans of the guy from his days on HBO's Mr. Show through his current career as Sub Pop's resident stand-up comedian, with both his Shut Up, You Fucking Baby! double cd and his more recent Let America Laugh DVD getting major thumbs up action from us here at AQ. Chances are, you're familiar with him too, so by way of introduction all we'll say is he's one funny SOB, whose often ad-libbed, profanity-laced humor really shines through in these dark times. Part of what makes Cross' act so brilliant is his regular, indie-rock sarcastic schlub guy persona...he's confronted with the same bullshit we all are, and maybe we're all thinking about stuff along the same lines, but then he manages to take things to logical yet over-the-top conclusions where suddenly he's blurting out what amounts to the truth about some totally taboo subject, whether it be just how EVIL our President is (where he imagines Bush eating little Jewish babies just to prove it), to all the evils we all are complict in just being cogs in our capitalist, consumer culture. Sexism, racism, homophobia, hypocritical 9/11 patriotism and paranoia... Cross takes aim and blows it all out of the water. Definitely not for the easily offended (like the 'good old Texas style dogfucking' segment) or for Republicans in general. (And what's Cross gonna do if Bush loses? The administration gives him so much material to work with.)
Cross can take a wee concept like "electric scissors" and really run with it, somehow relating it back to his larger critique of American society. Religion and politics too are also ripe David Cross targets, and if the Office of Homeland Security has one Least Favorite Comedian, it'd be Cross. And of course that's why the title is in fact, in a way, accurate: the 'War on Terror' isn't funny, the war in Iraq isn't funny, Bush and his cronies aren't funny, but what Cross has to say on those subjects is important to hear. If it makes us laugh, too, well that's maybe all we've got I guess. Might as well be laughing while we've still got the right. So, definitely a Record of the Week, especially considering that this will probably get played more in the store here than anything else this week!
MPEG Stream: "I've Taken A Popular Contemporary Pop..."
MPEG Stream: "My Child Is Enthralling, Especially..."
MPEG Stream: "My Immigrant Mom Talks Funny!"
MPEG Stream: "Even Though I Am In The Closet..."
MPEG Stream: "Weathermen Have Become...."

WITCHCRAFT s/t (The Music Cartel) cd 14.98
PERHAPS THEE BEST '70s-INSPIRED DOOM ALBUM EVER. Can't put it any plainer. This is sooo authentically old sounding, and sooo good. Sweden's Witchcraft have delved into the past through seemingly mystical means and come up with a masterpiece that sounds like it was recorded by some genius yet unknown downer-rock contemporary of Black Sabbath or Pentagram back in 1972. In a blindfold test, anyone into '70s heavy rock would be fooled for sure. Doomy retro-proto-metal full of heart-wrenching atmosphere, killer riffs, and melodic hooks galore. The mastermind behind Witchcraft, guitarist/vocalist Magnus Pellander, is obviously HUGELY into heavy '70s psych/prog rock. Doubtless he's got an extensive record collection with well-worn albums by Sabbath and a host of more obscure bands like Dust, Captain Beyond, November, Toad, Jerusalem, etc... But unlike so many other record collectors, instead of spending his time making want lists and grading LPs, Magnus *listened* to 'em, then went into the studio and wrote songs as good or BETTER than pretty much anything on those collector's platters. Literally, inspired stuff. As modern-day but '70s sounding records go, maybe only that Elope record we reviewed recently could compare in convincing us it was recorded thirty years ago -- imagine that album with heavier, fuzzier guitars and more melancholic vibrations. (Another one would be The Want album Southern Lord released a few years ago).
So we were super thrilled to hear that this band was putting out a full-length. And apparently other folks were too, 'cuz we've already sold a bunch of these in the store before even reviewing it! Kinda weird, since their only previous release, a 7" single paying tribute to two of Witchcraft main man Magnus Pelander's big heroes, Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators and Pentagram's Bobby Liebling, was a hard to find, import-only release (both tracks from which are included here, along with an obscure Pentagram cover making Witchcraft's love of Liebling even more obvious). On the strength of that single, though (and the few singles and compilation tracks recorded by Magnus's previous band, Norrsken), our anticipation for Witchcraft's debut album ran high. Well, as you've already gathered, we're even more thrilled to say that it more than lives up to our expectations! We had a handful of copies of the import vinyl as well, which includes a bonus track (another Pentagram cover), but those are sadly long gone now.
MPEG Stream: "No Angel Or Demon"
MPEG Stream: "I Want You To Know"

KIILA Silmat Sulkaset (Fonal) cd 17.98
Some of you will remember Kiila from their 2001 album Heartcore, a lovely disc of low-key indie rock and Circle-like loopage from a couple friends of ours in Finland. In the intervening years, Kiila has morphed a bit. Their new disc Silmat Sulkaset is quite as nice as Heartcore, even better we think as the band has both expanded into a seven-piece ensemble and simultaneous seemingly retreated into the Finnish forest where they now play achingly beautiful psychedelic folk rock, not unlike the more traditionally-influenced efforts of '70s Swedes like Arbete Och Fritid and Trad Gras Och Stenar, venturing into the improv territory of fellow Finnish forest-dwellers Kemialliset Ystavat as well. Male and female voices sing sweetly (in Finnish only -- taking our advice?) over sundry acoustic guitars, electric drones, wavering flutes, and hand percussion. Magical, melodic, mysterious. Krautrock ghosts smile on them. The USA might offer comparisons like Black Forest/Black Sea, Skygreen Leopards, Golden Hotel and Espers, but the Finnish folk element here is irreplaceable... Really really nice. Nice Fonal packaging too!
MPEG Stream: "Kelmeja"
MPEG Stream: "Kateet Linnut"
MPEG Stream: "Tapanima Aukesi Vuori"

WOLF Evil Star (Prosthetic) cd 15.98
All right! A domestic release for the new, third album from a band that's become a favorite 'round these parts, when the moon is full and we feel like howling along to some killer old school heavy metal made by hungry young Swedish heshers clad in leather and studs. Not exactly the most original band ever, but they've got something -- youthful exuberance, a garagey rock n' roll edge, maybe a sense of both irony and reverence for the masters, not to mention songwriting and playing ability -- that makes this special. Wolf ain't just another European power metal band, they've got an (evil) star quality about 'em for sure.
Their previous two albums worshipped at the altar of Iron Maiden and this one does too but I think their allegiance has tipped somewhat towards Judas Priest. Certainly we'd guess that when Wolf is rehearsing in their practice space they say "let's do our Priest number" when they want to play track two here, "American Storm"! Sounds like something off of Painkiller. Even the lyrics display excessive Halfordisms. But perhaps to demonstate some diversity they end this album with a cover of Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper"...which they commendably covert to a Wolf-sounding song, although there's other less well-known BOC tunes I'd rather have heard 'em try. And that's followed by two bonus tracks: covers of Slayer and the Ramones! But it's their own material that makes this disc such a fun slab of retro-metal mania, demonstrating a high level of energy and a knack for melody. The lead-off title track will definitely get stuck in your head, first thing. In fact, while I'm all for extended, six-minute long metal songs, I'd actually suggest that they cut a 'radio edit' of "Evil Star" on the off chance that they could have a pop hit... that'd be cool.
MPEG Stream: "Evil Star"
MPEG Stream: "American Storm"

DUMB AND THE UGLY Atmospheres of Metal (Dr Jim's) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In our experience a lot of the best (and, of course, worst) cds released end up languishing in a forgotten corner of some distributor's warehouse, or under the label owner's bed... It's quite possible for something great but obscure to get released in an edition of 1,000 and then ten years later there's still 700+ copies gathering dust in a closet somewhere. We suspect that this Dumb And The Ugly cd is an example of this (though that's just a guess, maybe it sold well and has been re-pressed). What we do know is that this came out in 1992 in Australia and we liked it then and it's still great and we somehow just got a hold of a few copies. Despite the title, this isn't a "metal" album per se. It IS quite atmospheric, its eight tracks almost alternating between sheer sinister ambience (shortwave sounds, distorted operatic singing, underwatery drones) and heavy-duty guitar riffage a la Helmet or Circle. It's lumbering thud-rock with definite weird arty dark psychedelic pretensions, successfully so. We've only got a few but presumably there's more where these came from...
MPEG Stream: "I Feel Free"
MPEG Stream: "Lazy Eight"

ORANG-UTAN s/t (Buy Or Die) cd 22.00
Here's another good 'un for you Seventies proto-metal lovin' brothers and sisters out there, being another cd reissue of a vintage slab of heavy psych rock from way back when, in the vein of Captain Beyond, Dust, Bang, Leafhound and the like... We don't know much about Orang-utan other than that this was probably their only release, a self-titled album from 1971, and they hailed from England (we think). Certainly this is a bit Zeppish in spots. A minor lost classic? Perhaps. This rocks hard and melodic with a melancholic emotional edge to many of the songs, not just the mellower ones. Great vox and riffage! 2005, digipack edition now.
MPEG Stream: "Slipping Away"
MPEG Stream: "Chocolate Piano"

CIRCLE Pori (Feldspar) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Back in stock, at long last! It's true that Circle have a lot of records, and it's tough to pick favorites among them 'cause they're all pretty great...but this one would definitely be a top choice. And it's one of the few that are still in print. But just barely, as it's been unavailable for a while due to the closing of Knitmedia who acted as the main distributor for Feldspar, the label that reissued Pori domestically a few years back. Lucky for us, Feldspar head honcho Stephanie just moved to SF and brought a stash of Pori's with her, so it looks like we'll be able to keep it in stock, at least for a little while!
1999's Pori was named after Circle's hometown in Finland whose government PAID for the recording -- ah socialism! And, like many good prog rock albums, this is a conceptual album of sorts about the Pori River in Finland and a regiment of the Finnish army who fought at that river in the Finnish War of 1808. But you'd never really guess that from listening. The sound of this disc, as with all Circle records, is based on repetition. Motifs are repeated and repeated, subtly shifting and transforming over the course of a song. Like a post rock Steve Reich or Terry Riley, a proggier Trans Am, or (of course) their '70s forefathers Can and Neu! Very hypnotic and relentlessly trance inducing. In Circle's canon, Pori hovers somewhere between the clinical precision of Andexelt and the murky krautrock throb of Zopalki. It's definitely got the classic sound of early Circle complete with their signature Gregorian chant style vocals over catchy, cyclic rock riffing and punchy rhythms. But it also has a mellow side, with hints of jazz, dubby groove, and spacey northern-lights-like synthscapes. As it has been for some time, a very highly recommended album, so get it now if you missed it before!
MPEG Stream: "Perustamisasiakiria 8.3.1558"
MPEG Stream: "Back To Pori"
MPEG Stream: "Vesitorni / Kaupunginsairaaia"

HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE The Bastard (tUMULt) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally re-pressed and available again! Here's what we had to say first time around:
Our own Andee proves himself, and his tUMULt label, to be truly dedicated to the Heaviest of Metal with this new release! Following on from prior tUMULt metal-oriented releases (the grim and trancelike black metal genius of Weakling, the blackened grind of free-jazz fans Hatewave, the noisecore assault of Burmese...), the debut full-length album from San Francisco's Hammers of Misfortune takes the Metal to an entirely new level. It's a full-on metal opera, stirring everything into the cauldron, majestic male and female vocals, acoustic guitar breaks, Maidenesque harmonies, black metal vocal rasps, headbanging riffs and classical motifs. Next to seeing them live (where the leather-clad band, a mere four-piece, belts all this out and more), "The Bastard" is serious metal fun. Black, death, power, prog, epic: it seems like almost all styles of metal are represented in Hammers' songs, which flow non-stop from one to the next in a complex 3-act saga telling a crazy fantasy tale about a cursed bastard child raised by forest-spirits, who travels into the Underworld to find the Blood-Axe and slay his father, an evil tyrant, in the name of the Chaos Godess...or something like that. If you need help figuring it out, the 24-page booklet includes the "liberetto" as well as some excellent wood-cut style illustrations -- indeed the whole thing (a digipack) is a very handsome package.
Formerly known as Unholy Cadaver, Hammers of Misfortune is the demented brainchild of local metal master John Cobbett, who also plays guitar in the cult SF "celtic epic metal" outfit The Lord Weird Slough Feg. Mike from Slough Feg is also in Hammers, playing guitar and providing the "clean" male vox. And we must mention the contribution of Janis Tanaka (ex-Stone Fox) on bass and the exellent female vocals. "The Bastard" comes across like a mixture of Cradle of Filth and Blind Guardian, or Slough Feg and Opeth, or Satyricon and Mercyful Fate: it's that eclectic, that classic, that amazing.
MPEG Stream: "The Dragon Is Summoned"
MPEG Stream: "The Bastard Sapling"
MPEG Stream: "You Should Have Slain Me"
MPEG Stream: "Sacrifice / The End"

MOGOLLAR s/t (World Psychedelia Ltd) cd 17.98
Anadolu Pop, yeah! It's no secret that for the Aquarius staff and quite a few of our customers, the rock 'n' folk of hippie-era Turkey holds a BIG attraction. We're way into all the comps and reissues that have come out in recent years documenting how back in the late '60s and early '70s Turkish youth took the Western beat and psychedelic sounds that were current at the time and melded them to traditional Turkish folk forms, with fuzz guitars and ethnic instrumentation like saz and iklig combined into an energetic, 'exotic' and exceedingly infectious hybrid pop music. And perhaps the best example of this Middle Eastern psych-rock is the band Mogollar (aka Les Mogol). We've already freaked out about the one cd of their stuff we've previously been able to stock, the Danses et Rythmes de la Turquie album from 1971. Now, the same Korean reissue label brings us another, their rare self-titled second album (also it seems from '71), and it's just as good! The first track you might recognize from the Asian installment of the Love, Peace, & Poetry series. And one of the bonus tracks is on Hava Narghile compilation, while two are amped-up versions of songs from Danses et Rhythmes. Yep, there's eight utterly kick ass bonus tracks, all from 1970 or '71 singles releases, that are a bit more rocked (and tripped) out than the somewhat folkier instrumentals on the album proper. You can hear more of an Iron Butterfly influence on a few of these...and Byram hears hints of the Beefheart rhythm section circa Mirror Man on "Behind The Dark", one of the couple English-language tracks here. Awesome, essential. As is the whole album. Languid grooves, frenzied fretting, such great atmosphere, just wonderful stuff. The cd booklet includes photos and an informative English-language essay detailing the history of the band, which is great to have (even if it doesn't tell us in what year this was released). Definitely add this to your Turkish psych-pop collection, or start one with this!!
MPEG Stream: "Hicaz Mandira"
MPEG Stream: "Karsiki Yayla"
MPEG Stream: "Behind The Dark"

MAGMA Mythes Et Legendes Volume II (Seventh) dvd 35.00
EPOK 2 has arrived!! For all Magma fans, a glorious moment indeed. Actually this moment should have occurred a month or two ago, but unfortunately the label in France accidentally sent us PAL rather than NTSC dvds, and we only just finally got the correct NTSC ones. But no matter, it was worth the wait! This is part two in the planned four-disc live dvd series documenting Christian Vander's current, amazing Magma lineup (plus some special guests from Magma days of yore) in concert doing versions of their '70s classics, for their 35th anniversary in 2005. Not sure why the heck we didn't fly to France for it, but thank god these shows were filmed for dvd -- pro shot and edited, with multiple camera angles, very intimate and exciting. The disc starts with behind-the-scenes footage of the band arriving at the venue and warming up... they joke around as they greet one another backstage but then when it's time to play... damn this gets SERIOUS.
That's right, since the material performed in the Mythes Et Legendes series was organized chronologically, this second dvd features some of their heaviest masterpieces, several utterly crucial Magma compositions from 1973 to 1976, including a 49 minute "Wurdah Itah", a 42 minute "Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh", and a 21 minute "De Futura". That's what we said. WURDAH ITAH. MEKANIK DESTRUKTIW KOMMANDOH. DE FUTURA. Damn.
Not only that, but freakin' bass maestro Jannick Top (like Vander, an old dude now but looking weirdly burly and badass in his black leather vest and shades) joins the band for "M.D.K." and his own "De Futura"! Plus he shows off with a moody, virtuoso bass solo based on a Bach piece. As if he needed to prove anything.
Basically, if you like Magma, you want, no you NEED to watch them do "De Futura" on this thing. They tear it up. Vander's in a frenzy. Top's bass playing is off the hook. The choir does some crazy shit too. Oh yeah, another old friend is on here -- vocalist Klaus Blasquiz. And by the way, unlike Epok 1, there's no horn section.
What else to say? If you're a Magma fan, you'll be happy with this as soon as you hear the music looped on the menu page, we're telling you!
Tech specs: NTSC, all-region, 2 hours and 18 minutes.

GODFLESH Streetcleaner (Earache) cd 14.98
It's weird to think that amongst the legions of fans out there who LOVE Jesu, there are probably loads of folks who don't realize that Jesu was born out of the mighty behemoth that was Godflesh. Justin Broadrick, who started off in grind pioneers Napalm Death, made a quick pitstop in Head Of David, and eventually struck out on his own in Godflesh. These days, drum machines and metal are not strange bedfellows, but back in the day, this was some seriously what-the-fuck action. Metalheads and punk rockers alike were confused, but got over it pretty quick once they realized that Godflesh might just be the heaviest fiercest thing they had ever heard. And Godflesh at their heaviest was to be found right here, on Streetcleaner, adorned with the now iconic image of crucified men on crossed in front of a cascade of burning lava (a frame from the genius movie Altered States), this record, originally releases in 1989, still sounds as fearsome as ever. And now that we have a handful of Jesu records to reference, it's easy to hear that some of the seeds that would eventually blossom into the dreamy shoegazy metallic bliss of Jesu, were present even back then, albeint buried beneath a black hole crush of churning downtuned riffage and blistering skull rattling programmed beats. Our old three sentence / 14 word review still says it best:
"One of the heaviest, scariest "metal" albums EVER. Drum machine doom death. Godflesh's best."
MPEG Stream: "Christbait Rising"
MPEG Stream: "Mighty Trust Krusher"

FAHEY, JOHN In Concert and Interviews 1969 & 1996 (Vestapol / Rounder) dvd 24.00
About ten minutes into this I came to the conclusion that I had to buy one. This is awesome. Any Fahey fan will freak out watching this dvd. The 1996 material by itself is great -- a concert at Berkeley's Freight and Salvage that maybe some of you reading this were lucky enough to attend, plus backstage interview footage wherein ol' John Fahey reveals both some of his history, and his humor. But it was the 1969 portion of this I watched first, which consists of a much more youthful, clean-shaven John Fahey guesting on some sort of guitar-oriented TV talk show, hosted by a woman who is clearly both a big fan of Fahey's playing and also somewhat bemused/confused by his musical eccentricities. She even almost scolds him for doing something that she tells her own guitar students not to do, though they determine that he had a good reason for it... Fahey proves himself to be quite a charming character, smoking a cigarette as he answers the host's questions and demonstrates his techniques, playing quite a few lovely lovely songs. It's amazing viewing for anyone already under the spell of the man's music and persona. Fans, get this!

BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE Black Earth (Ipecac) cd 17.98
We've been championing this fantastic German dirge-jazz band for years. Now Mike Patton has gotten into the act, doing a domestic release of the most recent Bohren disc, 2002's Black Earth, on his Ipecac imprint. So we have this now, instead of the import, although strangely enough it ends up that this US version is $2 MORE expensive than the one we used to stock...hmm. But if you missed it before, it's worth two bucks for the second chance to get into this great band.
What we said upon its original release: Black Earth is the dark as night new album from an old AQ fave. Is it the heaviest album on this list? It is if you understand Bohren's concept of "quiet heaviness", using their self-described "horror jazz" instrumentation of subtly-brushed drums, down-tuned double bass, sparse piano, Fender Rhodes, mellotron, and melancholic saxophone to create an atmosphere of heaviness "which is otherwise only achieved using distorted guitars and lots of noise."
Our appetite was whetted for his release by an email from Bjoern Eichstaedt (of Caacrinolas), our German friend who originally introduced us to Bohren. He described a recent Bohren concert in which the band played in a cubic room, the walls painted completely black, on a black stage, without light -- all wearing black suits. Live, they used two basses for maximum bottom end. He spoke to them afterwards and learned that black metal is their main influence, noticing also that they were all wearing t-shirts from such bands as Immortal. Yet Bohren's music is far from loud and fast. Metallic or not, it's certainly DOOM. Creeping, plodding, yet gorgeously, sleepily melodic. Each note played on the piano, each hit of the snare, carries great weight, and beauty. Their music falls like thick drops of liquid into a still, dark, black pool, rippling the surface with unknown echoes. Foreboding, and entrancing. Certainly more than deserving of this disc's black on black, skull embossed packaging.
The sultry, smoky saxophone introduced on their previous album Sunset Mission is still in evidence, though not so much as before. When it's present, it only adds to the noir-ish vibe, great for wandering the rainy streets of night-time San Francisco with this playing in your Walkman, let me tell you. And compared to Sunset Mission, this new album definitely extends Bohren's methods to further extremes: slower, moodier, dronier, lovelier: "heavier". Quite quietly heavy, indeed.
MPEG Stream: "Midnight Black Earth"
MPEG Stream: "Skeletal Remains"
MPEG Stream: "The Art Of Coffins"

BOYJAZZ In The City Tonight (Frenetic) cd 13.98
Yep, that's a dumb name. Yep, that's a drum machine. Yep, Boyjazz actually DO kick ass. Seriously, ya wanna rock? We've got a band for you here! They're called, uh, Boyjazz. Ignore their dumb name and enjoy their dumb rawk. This'll give you a buzz quicker than quaffing a six pack of Pabst. Boyjazz are a duo, consisting of Sexmouth and Supertouch (Adam and Aaron to their moms). Sexmouth sings and plays guitar and bass. Supertouch handles the production and the drum programming (although live, oddly enough, he plays real drums, but prefers to program them on record, which actually sounds great). The deal here is fuzzed out, distorted ROCK. Metal, punk, stoner, cock-rock. Simple, catchy riffage with a definite glam vibe (both '70s and '80s varieties of glam). The likes of Grand Funk, T-Rex, Sabbath, Kiss, Crue, are all no doubt influences, and we'd say that this oughta appeal to fans of The Darkness, Drunkhorse, and Andrew W.K. Not only does Sexmouth manage to actually pull off the rawk vocalisms required, he writes lotsa great clever/dumb lyrics. Sample song titles: "You + Me = Fight" and "Tuff Luv". One song, "Swedish Dates", is all about how they're gonna go over and tour Scandinavia and show the Hives & co. a thing or two. Might even be a true story someday. With very few of the dozen songs on this disc even reaching the three minute mark, you know they're all about dealing out the short, sweet, swift ass-kicking your rock needs require. F'n recommended, for when you're in the mood to hear a singer yelling "yeah!" and "all right!"
MPEG Stream: "Potfinger"
MPEG Stream: "Stank On The Halo"

NORTT Graven (Red Stream) cd 11.98
Finally available again, one of our favorite slabs of doomy black buzz. Remastered, reissued and on a new label! Here's the review from when we first got this in:
Our doomiest customer, "Rick from Thrasher", came in the other day to ask about an album he saw on www.doom-metal.com, some band called Nortt who were supposed to be amazing; so good in fact that according to that website, Nortt's label was almost justified in charging about thirty euros for their cd (an astronomical amount, like US$40)! We didn't of course have that absurdly-expensive opus, but we actually did have this, Nortt's previous album released for a much more reasonable price on a different label. And it is pretty darn good, if you're in the mood for some "Pure Depressive Black Funeral Doom Metal" as it says on the back cover. Nortt are a one-man band from Denmark in the black metal tradition (complete with corpse paint and everything), but their fuzzing, buzzing music is sloooowww and full of despairing piano intonations and distorted minor-key laments. The vocals and the guitars both sound like last breaths, dying gasps, exhalant spirits... It's a drone-hiss of massive, gothic proportions. Nortt definitely inhabit the same gloomy petrified forest as AQ-faves Skepticism!! Perhaps if you get this and it succeeds in bringing your most suicidal thoughts to the fore, you can make it through life a little longer by trying to search out that other incredibly expensive Nortt album... (By the way, that www.doom-metal.com website is pretty cool one, for doom-fans only of course, with info on hundreds of doom acts!)
MPEG Stream: "Gravfred"
MPEG Stream: "Sorgesalmen"

YOUNGS, RICHARD River Through Howling Sky (Jagjaguwar) cd 14.98
This review comes courtesy of AQ pal Loren Chasse (whom you know as a Blithe Son and Thujan), who wanted to make sure we told y'all just how amazing this record is. We would have done so, of course, but we knew Loren could maybe do it better. So here's Loren's lil' love-letter to Mr. Youngs, whom we've got a crush on too:
You may not have ever seen Richard Youngs' face on the cover of The Wire or read anything of great length on him in any of the magazines, but let this only be a testament to his persistence at being truly "experimental"’ in his craft. In a climate of Experimental Music where most artists' so-called experiments take place on their first record and become schtick from there on out, the music of Richard Youngs remains truly exciting with each release because we never know what to expect. And it's not that we really get the feeling that Youngs is trying too hard to come up with something NEW each time, each record seeming more like an attempt at translating his musical voice in some fresh way and keeping things interesting for his own enjoyment. Lately, Youngs' records on Jagjaguar have been distinguished by his lovely voice (much in the British folk tradition) but with an ever-evolving and seemingly playful take on instrumentation. Mostly, what these latest records give us are challengingly beautiful songs, often built on simple and crushing melodic phrases, lyrics sparse and mysterious, and fleshed out with incessant and often hypnotic atmospheres. This latest record, like most, is one that requires a few listens to really get inside the songs, as they are spread out over long and spacious durations. Youngs' approach on River Through Howling Sky is a bit bluesy, using mostly electric and some acoustic guitar, several drum tones, electronic effects and a constant sounding of chimes and bells that imbues these four songs with a haunting continuity, giving the record the feel of a suite, beginning on jagged edges and, fifty minutes later, ending in a somnabulic daze. We are reminded in style and a bit in sound of Keiji Haino's own jagged take on the blues, implying the genre with a particular kind of soulfulness in which the guitar wastes no time on the standard 6/8 rhythm but rather plays the role of the Delta shaman out invoking apparitions in sweltering moonlight with purposeful and sensitive eruptions. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Blossom"
MPEG Stream: "Sky Is Upon You"

LUGUBRUM De Vette Cuecken (Blood Fire Death) cd 12.98
Back in stock! A black metal highlight from a few lists back... Black metal's all right if you like saxophones. Huh? The Belgian beer-n-carrots black metallers Lugubrum, one of AQ's absolute favorite bands in the genre, are back with another diseased and disturbing album. And yes, while their general sonic mayhem is constructed (destructed?) from the usual distorted buzzing guitars, blasting drums, and vile vocalizations, there's some jazz saxophone blowin' through here too! And perhaps that's a tuba on the next song. I think maybe Lugubrum broke into the band room at their old high school... Yet for all the seemingly tongue-in-cheek silliness on display (like their avowed love of carrots, and use of banjo and alto sax) they somehow still manage to be one of the grimmest, truest, nastiest outfits out there. Really, even the saxophone on here is SCARY. And weird, they're so very weird. I don't think ordinary folks like us are really even equipped to understand music that's so primitive yet so advanced. It seems Lugubrum inhabit their own twisted, mythic world. I mean, what to make of the cover art even? There's something of the Brothers Grimm about Lugubrum. Freakish, childish yet so very dark and psychologically resonant, reaching back to ancient days and ways. Brilliant, doomy fucked up black metal that in it's own way is as avant-garde as Ved Buens Ende and as heavy and brutal as Anaal Nathrakh.
MPEG Stream: "Attractive To The Flies"
MPEG Stream: "De Vette Cuecken"

SKYGREEN LEOPARDS, THE One Thousand Bird Ceremony (Soft Abuse) cd 13.98
We often wonder...can those Jewelled Antler guys do no wrong? Naw, so far, it seems not. Once you're hooked, you're hooked, and we can't help but sing the praises of pretty much all the releases to emanate from this inspired Bay Area "collective" of nature-loving, often-improvising, uber-prolific music-lovers, whether they be cd-r releases on their own Jewelled Antler imprint or one of the many spun-off to other like-minded labels. Like this one, on Soft Abuse. It's the second album from Skygreen Leopards, the duo of Glenn Donaldson (Thuja, Mirza, The Birdtree, etc.) and Donovan Quinn (Verdure), and they sort of align with the other Jewelled Antler "pop/vocal" duos Blithe Sons (also with Donaldson) and Child Readers. But unlike those two, the Skygreen Leopards' songs are actually composed and rehearsed, less products of the moment than good ol' songcraft. Not that they went into any fancy studio to make this or anything, indeed the field recording that opens this disc situates the duo out in a pasture somewhere, seemingly serenading a bovine audience with their achingly lovely, loosely structured psych-folk-pop music. Gentle, whispy vocals sing songs with mythical lyrics, full of both melanchoic sadness and hope. Such song titles as "All Our Plagues Were Rainbows" and "Let Me Grow In Your Meadow" are good indications of what their music evokes. With a vast array of instrumentation (in common with most Jewelled Antler projects) including 6 & 12 string guitars, dulcimer, portable turntable, 5 string banjo, bouzouki, Hammond, chord organ, tamborines, mandolin, penny whistle, and echoplex, Glenn and Donovan conjure some quite beautiful nap-time music, sleepy and serene. Their songs should, obviously, be of great appeal to the whole Ptolemaic Terrascope/Broken Face crowd, with echoes of Elephant 6 (a little Olivia Tremor Control I'm hearing), early Tyrannosaurus Rex, Richard Youngs' folkier stuff. Resplendent in one of Glenn's crude but colourful collages, populated as always by mysterious bird-headed figures, One Thousand Bird Ceremony is an album that captures the la la las of fluffy clouds passing overhead, as the Skygreen Leopards say "Hello To All Your Rain" (track 7).
MPEG Stream: "Summer Alchemy"
MPEG Stream: "Walk With The Golden Cross"

FOUNTAIN, JUDSON Completely In The Dark (Innova) cd-r 14.98
We never understood why this disc was ever allowed to go out of print. Fortunately Innova finally decided to print up some more (it's still a cd-r, alas) and we're happy to have this amazing weird insane release to sell to y'all again. Here's what we said when we originally reviewed it back on list 184:
Oh man. If you are a faithful Aquarius list reader and lover of musical oddities, just stop right here, and push the buy button because you need this record. Judson Fountain was born in 1952 and was obsessed with radio dramas since he was old enough to talk. In fact as soon as he was able to talk he began doing impressions of cackling hags, wicked witches and all sorts of animals. All of which would come to play a big part in these radio dramas right here. Recorded between the ages of 17 and 22, these eight dramas are only a drop in the bucket of the hundreds of radio plays Judson wrote and performed. All of them primitive and simple, but amazingly creative and entertaining, and all featuring Judson's unique vocalizations along with his partner/foil Sandor Weisberger. But there's no way to describe them, you just have to hear them. Judson has a crazy East Coast accent, and he talks like a hyper school boy who thinks faster than he can get the words out, which you can hear in a handful of interviews preceding some of the radio dramas. Using crude sound effects and sometimes painfully deliberate plot exposition, these dramas all rely on Judson and Sandor's crazy array of voices, from Irish Brogue, to old Thai man, to teenage gangster to tuneless singing grandma, to British detective to various witches and demonic women, all with distinctly hysterical and completely bizarre cackles. The plots are all very simple, good vs. Evil, haunted houses and witches and stuff. But they are all done so sort-of-professionally and so earnestly that they're just completely irresistible. Listen to "Garbage Can From Thailand" and you'll immediately know what we mean. Judson is just so cute. And so is Sandor who introduces each drama (which he pronounces drahmmer) and also reads the credits afterwards. I've had a Judson Fountain cassette for years now thanks to AQ pal Jay Lesser so you can imagine how excited we were that some of this stuff was actually finally getting released. Our only complaint is why did Innova make it a cd-r??! It's got a professionally printed booklet and everything, so how hard would it have been to press up real cds?! It costs as much as a real cd after all. Cd-r or not, this is so good, and so funny, and so cute, and so weirdly brilliant, that it definitely needs to be in your collection!
MPEG Stream: "The Garbage Can From Thailand"
MPEG Stream: "Two Boys In A Haunted House"

NECROFROST Bloodstorms Voktes Over Hytrunghas Dunkle Necrotroner (Total Holocaust) cd 14.98
Oh, how we have been waiting for this! Finally, after years of being unavailable, both records by the mighty Necrofrost are available again. If you've been paying attention to the AQ list, you will probably recognize the name Necrofrost from citations in various reviews of damaged, demented, freaked out fucked up black metal. Striborg, Dead Reptile Shrine, Detsorgsekalf, Hidden, The One. It's pretty much impossible to talk about bizarre black metal without mentioning Necrofrost. And here's why:
Okay, we know that black metal is a serious and GRIM business. There is no place for humor or frivolity. No smiling or laughing and definitely no smirking. Just bitter bleak misanthropy. Suicidal despondency. Utter frosty misery. But absurdity is a whole 'nother story. We've championed some truly absurd/damaged/demented metal in the past, Benighted Leams, Abruptum, Vondur, and of course last week's record of the week Meads Of Asphodel. But I think Necrofrost just might take the cake. This is one of the most fucked black metal records we have ever heard. Start with the titles. The record is called Bloodstorms Voktes Over Hytrunghas Dunkle Necrotroner! Some of the song titles: "Carcass Carried By The Crawls Of Titanbats", "Me The Tundra", "Slaughtered In A Misanthropic Intent", "Nostalgia Freeze The Norse Reaper", and on and on and on. The record starts off with grunting and growling and mewling, like a legion of just birthed demons, struggling to awaken and crawling up through the murk and the mire, inexplicably accompanied by some jaunty renaissance faire minstrels! Weird. The band then launches into some buzzing stumbling, chaotic, ultra grim lo-fi black metal. Struggling blastbeats, caterwauling guitars, midtempo dirges and some truly necro grunts. But suddenly the song breaks into a bizarre acoustic/country tinged breakdown, complete with warbly wicked witch vocals shrieking and squealing above the din and later, creepy keyboards evoke some long lost Z grade horror movie, while out of tune guitars emulate some sort of scary circus music. Weird! While the core of Necrofrost's sound is definitely ultra frosty, uber grim, lo-fi black Black BLACK metal, even their metal is damaged and demented. Super spastic drumming, retarded guitar, ridiculous mixing, tape drop outs (a la Faxed Head?), vocals that threaten to overwhelm the mix and occasionally do, becoming a Merzbowian blur at full shriek, baritone chants weaving in and out of ear shredding high end blur, muffled blast beats underpin, pretty arpeggiated guitar melodies while the vocalist speak/sings a litany of evil, in his best grumpy grandma moan. There's just too much weirdness to really do this record justice in a review. You just gotta hear it. A frosty, hellish mud covered, grim chunk of brilliantly skewed outsider avant black metal!
MPEG Stream: "Carcass Carried By The Crawls Of Titan Bats"
MPEG Stream: "Me The Tundra"
MPEG Stream: "Slaughtered In A Misanthropic Intent"

OLSSON, BJORN s/t (crab) (Gravitation) cd 15.98
Whoohoo! Another Bjorn Olsson album, that always makes us happy here at Aquarius. So far the Swedish composer/multi-instrumentalist has yet to disappoint. This is his fourth album, the third in what seems to be a seafood-themed series, this one with a crab on the cover. Like his previous discs, this one begs the question: what would Bjorn Olsson do without spaghetti westerns? I don't know if we'll ever find out and that's ok. However, while the spaghetti western style whistling that was so prominent on his last album (one of the best whistling records EVER) is still present, it takes a back seat to Bjorn's guitar. This is his most guitar-centric disc to date, and it means that the melodies with which he's so marvellous seem here seem to possess a definite rock lineage. Certain tracks will seemingly contain echoes of some Beatles, Stones or Stooges song into which it seems Bjorn's guitar strum will soon coalesce, but instead his instrumentals always drift off into a looser, more droned-out zone. Yet the tunes seem so totally familiar, that's his knack. You think you kinda know these songs already, but can't quite place your finger on 'em. Brilliant, 'cause he obviously owes so much to certain other composers (Ennio Morricone!!) yet makes something that you can't really hear anywhere else than on a Bjorn Olsson album. Though, listening to this we can make tenuous connections to such disparate artists as the Sun City Girls (hints of their more garagey folk style), the desert instrumentals of Calexico, and the drone ragas of Henry Flynt. A lot of that has to do with the grimy, dusty quality of the recording. We suspect that Bjorn's tape recorder slowly falling apart, as each album he makes gets more and more lo fi -- which is a good thing! This one's got all kinds of hiss and hum and drop outs and grit that make his music all the more dream-like. Wonderful!
MPEG Stream: "track 2"
MPEG Stream: "track 8"

GNIDROLOG In Spite Of Harry's Toe-Nail (Lady Eleanore) cd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Just got a handful of this obscure prog cd reissue so we thought we'd list it. Definitely one for anyone who's dug previous AQ prog recommendations. Actually the UK's Gnidrolog kinda combine a lot of our favorite over-the-top prog moves into one elpee. You'll hear some Magma, some Van Der Graaf...King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Shub Niggurath, Osanna...even some Comus. It's crazed and hectic and bombastic, with zany Zappa'd mathematical rock n' roll raveups (complete with harp blowin'), fitted out in extreme prog fashion with cello, sax, oboe, piano, and flute. (Let's not forget the flute!! that's where the Comus and Tull comparisions come in.) From pretty, rustic folk song to unhinged dramatic vocalizations to doomy rock chords and even some super-skronky guitar noise, this 1972 LP was definitely *out there* as far as progressive rock goes. In Spite Of Harry's Toe-Nail was their debut, but this cd version includes as bonus tracks alternate versions of two from their second album Lady Lake, including the epic Wishbone Ash-ish "I Could Never Be A Soldier".
MPEG Stream: "Long Live Man Dead"
MPEG Stream: "Snails"

EIKENSKADEN 665.999 (tUMULt) cd 13.98
Andee's label tUMULt is a lot of things. From country dirge (Souled American) to avant-prog (Guapo) to experimental indie-pop (Iran). And then there's a black, leathery wing of tUMULt devoted to the art and science of black metal, with several examples drawn from the fertile local San Francisco scene (Weakling, Leviathan, Draugar) and one outlier from France (Diamatregon).
And now Eikenskaden, who also happen to hail from France. Andee and Allan here at Aquarius had been fans of Eikenskaden and related band Mystic Forest for some time, we've raved about 'em before. As it turned out, they happened to be fans of tUMULt in turn. Strange how things work out. So here's a new Eikenskaden on tUMULt! Like tUMULt's other black metal releases (or other releases, period), you can be assured that Eikenskaden is not quite the norm for its genre, which is a genre where norms are oft-perverted anyways. There's something just a little bit fucked about their approach, the extreme combo of nasty distortion and neo-classical melody perhaps?
Yup, you can say a lot about how this band (or guy, it's one dude, Mr. Stefan Kozak) revels in the wall-of-fuzz sound of Norwegian black metal primitivists like Burzum. But then he takes it and merges it with freakin' Beethoven! Not only that, but like the best metal (from Iron Maiden to Katatonia) he doesn't forget this is rock music and it's gotta have a pop element. There are simply just some great SONGS here beneath all the distortion and violence. We couldn't be happier -- not only did tUMULt get to put out an Eikenskaden album, but it lived up to all our expectations. Which means that even if you've never heard of Eikenskaden before, we'd recommend checking this out.
MPEG Stream: "Sharp Edged Iron Trees"
MPEG Stream: "Absolute Zero"

EXUMA s/t (Repertoire) cd 15.98
1970 voodoo groove, amazing.

SLANT 6 Soda Pop Rip Off (Dischord) cd 11.98
An old favorite! The DC all-girl rock trio's first and best of their two albums.

TRANS AM Liberation (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Imagine a post-rock version of The Darkness. That's kinda how Trans Am started off (hence a name like Trans Am), full of indie irony even as their instrumentals rocked pretty hard. Then, exchanging one variety of '80s kitsch for another, they evolved through a major Kraftwerk phase. Various other avenues have been explored by the band over the years, but they basically remain a Tortoise you can rock out to, or do the electric boogaloo.
Back and broadcasting from our nation's capitol with this kinda politically-themed album (judging by the titles, graphics, and the soundbites), Trans Am continue to kick out the hard-hitting, electro-wired grooves. Heavily rhythmic or synthsationally atmospheric, these 14 tracks oughta do most Trans Am fans right. However, some of the sampling perhaps should have been reconsidered: firstly, the track with President Bush plunderphonically telling the truth about the Iraq war is something we've basically all heard before on the internet, as right-on as their anti-Bush message is. And then what's with the sped-up weather report we're treated to couple songs later? Some of these tracks do sound like they need something added, but sampling isn't it. Real liberation is going to require some new ideas!
MPEG Stream: "White Rhino"
MPEG Stream: "June"

TROUBLE FUNK Live / Early Singles (2 13 61) cd 12.98
Yay, back in print (and now as a two-fer) are these two AWESOME documents of the legendary Washington DC band Trouble Funk's outtasite funkatology. Previously they were reissued as two individual cds on Hank Rollins' Infinite Zero imprint, but have been out of print for some time, so if you don't already have those versions, you'll want this. That is, if you have a rhythmic bone in yer body. Trouble Funk were prime proponents of what's known as Go-Go, a strain of funk that flourished in the DC area exclusively. Go-Go is all about the rhythm, with lots of rolling percussion being the basis for long jams that couldn't be much funkier. Indeed after parts A-B-C-and-D of the non-stop Live album (disc one) you'll be so funked out, especially if you've been behaving like the crowd on the recording, that you might have to take a nap or something before you put on disc two, Early Singles, and have to deal with the likes of "Super Grit" and "Get Down With Your Get Down". Early '80s DC Go-Go at its finest, and that's pretty fine!
MPEG Stream: "Live part A"
MPEG Stream: "Super Grit"

BRANDLMAYR, MARTIN / WERNER DAFELDECKER / STEFAN NEMETH / MARTIN SIEWERT Die Instabilitat der Symmetrie (Grob) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Vienna improv-glitch squad strikes again! From some of the same folks in the bands Radian and Trapist, including the duo responsible for the Too Beautiful To Burn disc on Erstwhile, Die Instabilität der Symmetrie (The Instability of Symmetry) is another freakin' great disc of what we might call laboratory jazz. You know, improv music where the notes played on instruments are suspended over what sounds like crackling chemical reactions and Geiger counter clicks. These four live musicians (playing guitar, double bass, lap steel, synth, drums and percussion) interact with each other and their own electronic/computer processing, creating a beautiful low-key soundscape, full of ominous doomful droning and abstract minimal melody, like gathered stormclouds sending down glitchy streaks of rain... There's a quiet, haunting beauty to much of this, with circling tones and the rattle of bells, restrained percussion sketching broken grooves. It's lulling, but beware the sudden pulsing squall of static. Definitely recommended, specifically to all into the likes of the aforementioned Radian/Trapist, Starfuckers, Supersilent, and Spring Heel Jack's Blue Series recordings. And while a brief liner note from Siewert says something academically cryptic about this being a site-specific audiovisual project, the sound on this disc is completely sufficient for home listening enjoyment!
MPEG Stream: "Part 2"
MPEG Stream: "Part 5"

TRAPIST Ballroom (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
We're currently quite enamored with the happenin' Vienna electro-acoustic improv scene -- especially when it involves the participation of two of the folks you'll find on this here Trapist album, Martin Siewart and Martin Brandlmayr. Recently we reviewed Too Beautiful To Burn, the album both Martins did together for the Erstwhile label, a simply gorgeous merging of live improv playing and electronic dronescape processing. Guitarist Siewart also appeared recently on B. Fleishmann's great "Welcome Tourist" album (contributing to that 2-cd set's second, dronier disc). In addition, drummer Brandlmayr you should know from the fractured propulsion he provides in the excellent glitch-rock instrumental outfit Radian. The Trapist trio is rounded out by Joe Williamson, an ex-pat Canadian bassist much in demand in Euro-improv circles these days.
So, what's going on here that's so great you ask? Well, maybe it's nothin' new to take live instruments and feed them into a computer, but both the playing (melodically blissful) and the editing (restrained, spacious) here are stellar. It's a sort of jazz-electronica, very lovely, with mellow moody drones and pretty details. All five tracks are quite wonderful, seemingly abstract yet focused. It's got a lot in common with Siewart & Brandlmayr's duo disc, but is much groovier, not so minimal. Like that record, the coloration of instruments like vibraphone and pedal steel bleed into an electronic, ambient field conjured by the group's synths and computer post-processing. This 2nd album from Trapist finds them on Thrill Jockey, who also put out the only US release by Radian, Rec.Intern, in 2002. There's similar musical methodology at work here -- fans of Radian will assuredly like this -- but Trapist is less 'post-rock'; more gentle, melodic, and electronica-like. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Time Axis Manipulation (part 2)"
MPEG Stream: "Observations Took Place"

RODEN, STEVE Speak No More About the Leaves (SIRR.ecords) cd 14.98
Steve Roden's Speak No more About The Leaves has been Allan's favorite going-to-sleep record of the past little while, its whispery drones reminding him distantly of everything from a deconstructed Richard Youngs to a dessicated Bohren & Der Club of Gore. There's a bunch of academic concepts and references that went into the making of this record (discussed below) but that's less important than the fact that it sounds so nice. This lovely record deserved a lovely review, so we asked our pal Loren Chasse, friend and fan of LA experimentalist Steve Roden, to take a stab at it, as follows:
Steve Roden has been given shit by the soundart world for being "experimentally incorrect". Perhaps this is because the concepts behind Roden's work are never so "conceptual"’ or self-important that they become the reason why the music is supposed to be interesting, good or enjoyable. Roden's conceptual practice seems to be more of a private strategy for going about his creative work -- for providing the compositional process with specific possibilities and limitiations -- than it is a purposeful means for earning validation from the experimental art/music world.
Take Speak No More About The Leaves...a sort of threeway meta-collaboration with composer Arnold Schoenberg and poet Stefan George in which Roden happens upon Schoenberg's use of George's verse for some lyrics to a piece of music titled "The book of the Hanging Gardens", transplants a cutting from this and cultivates a whole new life from it in his own work. The life of this record, indeed, comes so much from Roden's own mouth as he sings syllables taken from the original text and creates not so much a work of high fallutin' conceptual art as he does a beautiful song that might leave us wondering if Mr. Roden hasn't also been listening to Eyeless in Gaza somewhere along the way?
If you like the title of the record and appreciate the poetic impulses at its origins you're already on your way to liking the music. Roden's voice is extremely intimate as it sits in the edge of the speakers (seeming as if it might be coming out of the phone you forgot to hang up), chanting into the room as shining slivers of sound effervesce, chime and fall around it. It's a world you can't quite place, probably because you haven't been so small that you could ever fit inside the terrarium that contains it, yet you will intuit something comforting and familiar as you use this record as a sort of stethoscope for listening in on the processes of tiny lives taking root as old ones decay and all but disappear.
MPEG Stream: "Airria (Hanging Garden) second version"
MPEG Stream: "Speak No More About The Leaves "

BORIS Boris At Last -Feedbacker- (DIWPhalanx) cd 28.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's that time again. When AQ regulars start coming in every day like junkies looking for a fix, "Do you have it yet? C'mon man, when are you gonna get it?" And in fact, they are junkies, only they're looking for their HEAVINESS fix. That fix that only Japanese sludge/doom gods Boris can provide. We were pretty into Boris' recent Akuma No Uta cd ep, that added all sorts of sonic weirdness to their new found super-charged Stooges, stoner rock sound (a la Heavy Rocks). But some of us were still longing for a return to the glacial, slow motion doom/drone days of old: Amplifier Worship, Absolutego (sadly now out of print) even the comparatively serene Flood (Allan's favorite). And while we can't tell you this is entirely that return, it's darn close, and we'd say it's easily one of their best records yet. At Last (aka Feedbacker) is a breathtaking, 50 minute epic, split into five movements. Things start with a slow slow build, drones and rumbles and huge sheets of distorted guitars, weaving a heaving tapestry of sonic unrest, a static buzz that towers over you like an ancient stone wall, threatening to heave forward, bricks of sonic sludge crushing you beneath their suffocating weight. The big surprise though comes in the second movement as the wall of sludge dissipates into the ether, leaving a smoky hazy gauze, through which Boris emerge, as an almost-pop band, simple spare drumming, heavily reverbed shimmery chords, subtle muted wah guitar with a distant swirling backdrop of wind tunnel effects and howling feedback. Then vocalist Takeshi joins the fray with mumbled, keening sad boy vocals reminding us of Greg Dulli in his Afghan Whigs days, and then drums get all dubbed out, and suddenly everything is druggy and trippy, like the whole record was soaked in cough syrup. All the while Boris' guitar goddess Wata spits out super distorted leads, all melancholy and emotional, strings bending, feedback threatening to overwhelm the notes. The mellow parts definitely remind us of Codeine, which is a VERY good thing. Also, Windy and Carl, the Wipers a little, and even that eighties Homestead records sound. But it wouldn't be Boris if things didn't get HEAVY. And they do. Really heavy. The rest of the record is an aural tug of war between Boris' Earth/Sunn 0))) doom tendencies and their gorgeous, shimmery, druggy psychedelia. Imagine Godspeed You Black Emperor, raised on doom metal and seventies psych, and fronted by a female Hendrix! It's that fucking amazing.
MPEG Stream: "At Last Pt. 1"
MPEG Stream: "At Last Pt. 2"

BORIS Boris At Last -Feedbacker- (Conspiracy) cd