YOUNGS, RICHARD Airs of the Ear (Jagjaguwar) cd 14.98
The UK's Richard Youngs is a treasure, and his new release is a stellar one. Psychedelic, haunting, gorgeous, unique. As with his recent albums like "May" and "Making Paper" Youngs draws on British folk traditions, but here also melds his voice and acoustic guitar with electronics, for less of a minimal approach. The balance is perfect, of warm human melody and calming, sheening electronic drones, densely interwoven, or ringing out alone in the open, songs being both epic and intimate. Think of his last album "May" (a sad-song acoustic guitar and voice affair) with space-rock sound effects, adding drama and proggy intrigue. What's great is that the sci-fi mad scientist laboratory type of sounds here (theremin, ring modulator) are recognizable, but used uniquely, not ending up sounding like what they usually connote (thanks to the acoustic element perhaps). Meanwhile, the colorful, cartoony cover art looks like it was done by someone from a local high school art class, perhaps inspired by a '70s era after-school TV animation or something. But that's part of Youngs' charm, his aesthetic is wholly his own, not conforming to any hip scene, unafraid and honest. Both solo and with collaborators (notable among them Simon Wickham-Smith, Kawabata Makoto, Matthew Bower), he's created a fantastic body of work, from quirky noise improv to metallic drone to psuedo-prog to minimalist folk, his creativity and talent deserving of greater recognition (when's he going to show up on the cover of The Wire?). We'd imagine that although a lot of AQ regulars probably know Youngs, many more don't, and as this latest Youngs is certainly one of his best (of many great albums), it gets a big recommendation to all! So good, so heavenly. Also, if you liked Glenn Donaldson's Birdtree cd as much as we did, you'll definitely want this too, for Youngs is an obvious comparison/influence...
MPEG Stream: "Fire Horse Rising"
MPEG Stream: "Halifax Amore"
MPEG Stream: "Oh My Stars"

IVYTREE, THE The Sun Is The Lamp (Jewelled Antler) 3" cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The third of the first three entries in the series of 3"cd-r's from San Francisco's acclaimed Jewelled Antler collective of psychedelic/drone/avant/folks comes from The Ivytree, a solo project of one of the Jewelled Antler's chief protagonists, Glenn Donaldson (who can also be found in Thuja, The Blithe Sons, Knit Separates, The Birdtree, etc). Donaldson has publicly announced an affinity for creating different monikers to accompany the innumerable variations of his musical productions, so The Ivytree may be just one in a number of upcoming 'tree' projects from Donaldson. Certainly this little 18 minute cd-r has a lot in common with his previous 'tree disc, The Birdtree album, which has recently been reissued on the Last Visible Dog label and garnered high praise from us. Centered around a plaintive, elliptical finger-picking guitar technique which renders every note full of melancholia, "The Sun Is The Lamp" weaves in and out of harmonium drones, field recordings of birds, and Donaldson's evocative vocals. As strong as the best Richard Youngs projects that might be the closest comparison we can make, this is another fantastic recording from Jewelled Antler!
MPEG Stream: "The Withering Year"
MPEG Stream: "Lake Of Fire"

EIKENSKADEN The Last Danse (Sacral Productions) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A little while ago we gave a thumbs (and pointy spikes) up review to an album called "Green Hell" by a French black metal band known as Mystic Forest. As we mentioned then, Mystic Forest's main guy, one Stefan Kozak, has another band called Eikenskaden ("Oaken Shield") which is almost *exactly* the same. The line-up is different, but the songwriting, production, and even the graphic design bear marked similarity. Apparently Eikenskaden is the project in which Kozak blows off steam and indulges even further in ridiculous black metal concepts, and it's true that of the two bands, this one is perhaps the best, though it's a close call. "The Last Danse" is Kozak's second Eikenskaden album, and is as amazing as anything else he's done -- totally frenzied, quirky, and Burzumic, more distorted yet more melodic than you could imagine.
I was listening to this at home the other night, and my housemate thought it sounded like two things playing at the same time. The very pretty, baroque sounding keyboard lines coexist bizarrely with a hellish wash of fuzz and distortion. Raw yet extremely melodic. You can hear in Eikenskaden (and Mystic Forest) the gothic black/doom "pop" of Katatonia, as well as the neo-classical shred of Windham Hell. It's a weird combo, maybe, but it works really well. Imagine Burzum or Khold possessed by Mozart or something, with Immortal/Popeye vocal growls too. Really, it's so insanely full of reverb and distortion it's crazy -- HSShshshhHZZHZZCH!!!
Also new in stock and recommended: Mystic Forest's third album, "Waltz In the Midst of Trees" ($13.98, see review elsewhere on this list/site).
MPEG Stream: "Then I'll Erase Myself Forever"
MPEG Stream: "Lost Memories"

MELVINS 26 Songs (Ipecac) cd 17.98
Twenty-six songs! This used to be a mere ten. Yes, "26 Songs" is an expanded reissue of the out of print "10 Songs". Recorded live to 2-track in 1986 by the line-up of Buzz, Dale, and then-bassist Matt Lukin (who later defected to Mudhoney), this was indeed 10 songs from the mighty Melvins' earliest daze, when their Black Flag / Black Sabbath meld was at its most obvious, potent, raw (and fast, some of the time!). Utterly essential heaviness in other words. Did we say "mere" ten? Not really, since every one of those ten songs is forever embedded in the mind of this Melvins fan. "#2 Pencil" -- so doomy and vile a song. "Snake Appeal" -- the guys rip through what could be an old Corrosion of Conformity thrasher. "At A Crawl" -- well, that's the Melvins right there. Etc., etc. And, like Ipecac's reissue of another early Melvins classic, "Gluey Porch Treatments", there's a bunch of garage demos and alternate takes added on to make Melvins fans salivate, as you can compare multiple, grungier, faster takes on "10 Songs" songs (and some other tunes you'll recognize). The disc winds up with the drug-addled ramblings of their old pal "Hugh" as an added bonus (which means that this disc, despite the title, really features "only" 25 actual songs). It's just too bad the new cover design for this new version is so computer-done and busy and typical of recent Melvins packaging (forget the flowers, guys!). We much prefer the stylish simplicity of its earlier incarnation(s). But, the extra tracks certainly make up for our aesthetic quibbles about the graphic design!
MPEG Stream: "Easy As It Was"
MPEG Stream: "Grinding Process"
MPEG Stream: "Grinding Process [demo #2]"

L'INFONIE Vol. 333 (Tir Groupe / Mucho Gusto) 2cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This swank double cd reissues the 1972 third album from Canada's craziest new music/psychedelic rock collective, the anarchic L'Infonie which flourished from '67-'74. (Giving you some clue about their methodical madness, their other LPs were titled "Vol. 3", "Vol. 33", and "Vol. 3333", of which only the first has also been reissued on cd as yet -- we recommended it here back in '01.) Hailing from Montreal, Quebec these academic avant-garde freaks mixed classical chamber music, acid fuzz rock, weird warbling vocal babble, jazzy groove, free improv, musique concrete, prog overload, etc. etc. into a confusing, chaotic, comedic happening that should appeal equally to Terry Riley and Zappa fans. I know sometimes mentioning Zappa is the kiss of death, so don't take it the wrong way. Let's mention some other stuff this reminds us of, in part: Soft Machine Goblin New Trolls Univers Zero Faust Mahogany Brain Art Zoyd Nurse With Wound. This is pretty darn cool and weird and original, bizarrely funny sometimes and simply strange and beautiful on other occasions. Disc one is more "rock", disc two more "classical." What it all means, I don't know -- there's lotsa liner notes, but useful only to the francophones among us.
MPEG Stream: "Section 19-23"
MPEG Stream: "Ubiquital"

SPEED, GLUE & SHINKI s/t (Made In Japan Records) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sniffin & Snortin (parts 1 and 2!), Run & Hide, Bad Woman, Don't Say No, Wanna Take You Home...sound good? Those are some of the song titles on this classic women-and-drugs obsessed dumbo-rock Japanese psych album. It stars guitar whiz and massive stoner Shinki Chen (also of Foodbrain and oodles of other obscure Japanese psych outfits), bassist Masayoshi Kabe (from Food Brain too), and singing drummer Joey 'Pepe' Smith -- a Vietnam vet whom you might know from the Filipino band Juan De La Cruz, whose album "Shake Your Brains" is one of the few that tops this for sheer truly stoned rock retardation (a good thing). Too bad we can't get those in anymore. But you'll hear at least one of their tunes on this, the second SG&S album, originally released as a double LP in 1972, which we happen to like even better than their 1971 LP "Eve" though Mr. Julian Cope made that one a "record of the month" on his website Head Heritage. Anyway we have this one, not that one.
Speed, Glue & Shinki, as you might imagine from their name, were a goddamn weird, messed up, completely wacked heavy psych/blues/prog band. So messed up that this time out, guest musicans wrote (and performed?) most of it! But it doesn't matter. And even when Joey plugs in a Moog synth to do a whole LP side devoted to the Sun, Planets, Life, Moon, and Angels, this never ever remotely gets pretentious and proggy (not that we don't like proggy). It just can't. Speed Glue & Shinki are primal, so primal, too primal. At least one track hints at the Stooges, some others Zeppelin, while the rest approximates a brain-damaged James Gang. Record collector types might recall the fancy, expensive Shadoks LP reissue that was available a couple years ago for about two seconds. We were enthralled with the lovely tiger cover art and the ridiculous rock and have been hoping ever since to bring in a cd version, and at last we tracked down a few copies that we had to order from Sweden, so act fast for your Speed, Glue & Shinki fix if you think you want it.
MPEG Stream: "Red Doll"
MPEG Stream: "Song For An Angel"
MPEG Stream: "Search For Love"

GOLDEN DAWN The Art Of Dreaming (Napalm) cd 14.98
Superior black metal with raspy vocal screams, buzzing guitar, symphonic masses of sound, and an undefinable weird vibe. Long an unknown, unsung masterpiece. Austrian black metal obscurity Golden Dawn originally released "The Art Of Dreaming" in 1996 on the now-defunct Dark Matter label and it was just about impossible to find even when it was in print. It's been a favorite of Andee and Allan ever since one of the guys in Weakling turned 'em on to it a few years back, and have always wanted to track down copies to share with AQ customers. Of course we were thrilled when out of the blue, Napalm reissued (& remastered) this disc, and also -- ohmigod -- released a brand-new second Golden Dawn album, which we'll review here next time. For now, though, just bow down to this one. It's just an incredible piece of idiosyncratic metallic dark art, with majestic medieval riffs, bizarre keyboard interludes, and schizoid changes (from techno-ish jams to Magmoid choruses to gothic folk). We'd compare it to Satyricon or Cradle Of Filth maybe, it's certainly that good, but unlike anything else exactly. Solid, original black metal. Anyway, now it's got a second chance to be recognized as a classic. This reissue's got so-so new artwork (definitely not up to the amazing art and design of the original digipak release, oh well -- I think they stole that cover art and had to change it), but the tracks are the same as the original, and is thus highly recommended.
MPEG Stream: "My Confession To War"

PELICAN Untitled (Hydra Head) cd ep 8.98
Four massive tracks of instrumental heaviness here, folks. Chicago's Pelican debut with this untitled document of dirge (actually this Hydra Head version is a reissue of their self-released debut from last year). Teetering on the cusp betwixt being a melodically melancholic and rhythmically clever post-rock band and being a punishing doom metal behemoth, Pelican don't let down either side. This is HEAVY. Epic, intense, and always interesting. Slow, trancey sludge riffs and chugging rhythms are interlaced with kinda pretty melodies and sudden tempo shifts. The result is a LOUD, almost psychedelic listen that should be very satisfying to fans of similarly droney and heavy outfits like 5ive, Tarantula Hawk, Boris, Pharoah Overlord... Gore and the Melvins and Harvey Milk too.
Pelican are the kind of band that plays shows with Isis and High On Fire, and reference La Monte Young and Ash Ra Temple in interviews...i.e. our kinda band! Kudos to Hydra Head for picking 'em up, and we look forward to their upcoming full-length on that label.
MPEG Stream: "Pulse"
MPEG Stream: "Forecast For Today"

BIRDTREE, THE Orchards and Caravans (Last Visible Dog) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Birdtree is multi-instrumentalist Glenn Donaldson, whom you may know as one of the driving forces of Thuja/Blithe Sons/Franciscan Hobbies/Skygreen Leopards/The Knit Separates and myriad other manifestions of the magical, mystical Jewelled Antler "collective", those psychedelic/folk/drone/experimental/improvised San Franciscian sound lovers who keep bringing us cd-rs and sometimes real cds of their wondrous musical projects. This cd in fact was once a cd-r on the Jewelled Antler label (reviewed back on list #135), but at last now it's a *real* cd courtesy of the Last Visible Dog imprint, adorned with even more of the same stunning collage artwork as before. We sold a bunch of the original limited version, and hope to do as well with this, since many folks didn't get copies the first time around, and as we said then, this stuff is so good it needs to be heard! Donaldson's Birdtree features his expressive guitar melodies in pursuit of a pensive and melancholic atmosphere. Occasionally accompanied by fellow Mirza / Thuja member Steven R. Smith, Donaldson has created a mysterious, semi-improvised set of songs incorporating field recordings, indeterminant drones, majestic pastoral psychedelia with repetitive organ lines, bowed oud, bells, harmonium, spectral guitar riffs, and, crucially, Donaldson's distant, wistful vocals. The Birdtree is simply a gorgeous, haunting record, similar in ways to Village of Savoonga, Graeme Jefferies, Greg Weeks, and even some of the Harvester / Parson Sound recordings. And Richard Youngs, especially Richard Youngs in his folky, finger-picking, extended vocal bliss mode. It's really beautiful. While there was something nice and personal about the handmade aspect of the original cd-r, we're really glad it's back in print as a proper cd. One of our favorites from the Jewelled Antler stable, and that's saying a lot! Recommended!
RealAudio clip: "Red Midnight Raven"
RealAudio clip: "Animals Of The Summit"
RealAudio clip: "Everyone Of Us A New Leaf"
RealAudio clip: "Raven Returns / The Uppermost Forest"

FRIPP, ROBERT & THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN God Save The King (EG) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

LES RALLIZES DENUDES Le 12 Mars 1977 a Tachikawa (Over Level) 2cd 27.00
BACK IN STOCK. This Japanese psych essential, originally reviewed back on list 156, has been hard to come by for some time now but finally has been repressed or something, and we've got 'em, again!
You hear that? That echoing, droning, heavy psych jamming destroying your mind? Yep, at last, we've got 'em. Real cds, not cd-rs. Reasonably priced. More than a handful in stock (for now). The distorto-delic seventies Japanese guitar psych holy grail known as "Live '77", previously released only in an absurdly expensive, impossible to track down double cd-r edition, and in part on long-gone vinyl bootlegs, is now within your grasp (almost). This we expect to have around for more than two seconds at least, and is a comparative steal at only $25. Nicely done too, with a die cut cover revealing a blurry b&w photo of Les Rallizes Denudes guitarist Mizutani Takashi in action.
Disc one starts off exploring Les Rallizes mellow side, all sensitive and lovely, with "Enter The Mirror", but then soon explodes into sheer amplified overload, with throbbing mantric rhythms Circle fans should dig. It's a searing wash of guitars in the most far out VU, Neil Young, Fushitsusha realm, but taken way further out. Rough, raw live sound, but really all the fuzz and distortion and grit sounds just right. There's four long tracks on disc one, three looong tracks on disc two. By the time the epic 20+ minute "The Last One" on disc two marches into white noise oblivion, you -- and maybe your speakers -- will be fried.
Apparently, Takashi and co. are still out there, somewhere in Japan, making music as they have been for the past 30-odd years, but rarely leaving a recorded trace. But this 1977 live set isn't just about the only thing really available, it's also proof of their obscure genius. Next to 60's beat-psych legends the Jacks, they are maybe THE pioneering Japanese psychedelic outfit, obviously a BIG influence on today's underground Japanese psych bands, like Keiji Haino's Fushitsusha, High Rise and Mainliner, Acid Mothers Temple, Nagisa Ni Te, maybe even noiseniks Hijokaidan... All of 'em could simply be Les Rallizes tributes, really. We'd have to imagine that Keiji Haino and co. caught some Rallizes shows back in the day. So, if you like any of that stuff, you need this...and if you're the sort who buys every admittedly fine Kawabata Makoto/AMT cd or LP released every goddamn week, you have to get this just to help with the cosmic balance, man. Get 'em now, while you can!
MPEG Stream: "disc 1, track 1 (Enter The Mirror)"
MPEG Stream: "disc 1, track 3"

LUGUBRUM De Totem (Blood Fire Death) cd 12.98
LUGUBRUM. The name belongs in all-caps cuz Allan and Andee have concluded that Lugubrum are the greatest black metal band EVER. Maybe. After becoming utterly enamoured of their split with their own side project Finsternis (reviewed on list #144), the two of us ordered some of Lugubrum's self-released cds direct from Belgium, for our own collections. Such sudden, massive Lugubrum exposure proved one thing: the totality of their music, their art, their concepts -- are all beyond normal mortal understanding. We must bow down to the totally fucked Lugubrum aesthetic. Yes, they are obsessed with drinking beer and eating carrots. (Yes, we just said eating carrots -- there's a spiked carrot in their logo, their motto is "Beer Us Or Die!!!"). Yes, they make music from the bowels of Hell. Yes, they have some seemingly silly songtitles ("Midgets of Evil"? "Beard Of Disease"?) -- but with totally grim and twisted lyrics, however. Being so paradoxically silly AND serious is the sort of weirdness we truly admire.
Eventually we'll try to stock their import cds, but we're lucky that now their hard-to-find-to-say-the-least 1999 masterpiece, "De Totem" has been reissued in the USA, remastered with 2 bonus tracks! This disc demonstrates that Lugubrum excel at slow-paced trudge-trawls through the doomy mire, changing up with trancey speed blasts. The sound -- their guitars, their vocals -- is so dirty nasty filthy. Makes Anaal Nathrakh sound like freshly scrubbed choirboys. The fuckin' fuzz...fuck. Such doomed, distorted, diseased atmosphere. Frosty string bends. Noisy feedback. Anguished howls. In a word: Beautiful.
And, if that wasn't enough, with the photo sessions for the De Totem booklet, Lugubrum have invented a whole new, hitherto untried look: hillbilly black metal!!! No corpse paint, rather corncob pipes, hoedown hats, shotguns, and beards. A pet hound dog, even. And yes, they actually take it so far as to play banjo on the album! Although, what's weirder is that one of the bonus tracks seems to incorporate a Jamaican dub influence... As we said, now our favorite black metal band in the world. LUGUBRUM.
RealAudio clip: "Udder Of Death"
RealAudio clip: "De Totem "
RealAudio clip: "Reet Reel"

SILOAH s/t (Garden Of Delights) cd 21.00
Are you ready to don beads and burlap and grow out your hair and fly with the "Acid Eagle" on the "Aluminum Wind"?? If so, Siloah would love for you to join their musical quest for "Krishna's Golden Dope Shop" (yes, these phrases in quotes are all song titles from this record -- and let's not forget "Yellow Puppets Hanging In The Sky") which you can certainly do in your imagination at least by spinning this cd reissue of their self-titled LP from 1970. It's not a recent release but we were just able to get more and wanted to finally list it because it's just such a wonderful record of primitive, psychedelic Krautrock like we like it. Anyone who dug the Kalacakra album (also reissued on Garden Of Delights) or Paternoster ought to make Siloah's acquaintance! These German hippies' druggy jamming makes the original Amon Duul sound like American Idol contestants. Well, not really. But this is really wasted, lovely, LSD-damaged, communal soundmaking we can't imagine anyone could do better, ever, if at all. The Siloah vibe is eternal and unique. Mellow, mantric songs featuring hand percussion, guitar, flute, and electric bass, and high, muppety vocals singing tripped-out lyrics (as the awesome song titles already mentioned might indicate). This one's a fave of several AQ staffers, and we happen to know that it's also highly regarded by our friends in the Jewelled Antler collective who only wish they could get as high as these folks!!
MPEG Stream: "Aluminum Wind"
MPEG Stream: "Krishna's Golden Dope Shop"

BASHO-JUNGHANS, STEFFEN Rivers And Bridges (Strange Attractors Audio House) cd 14.98
49 year-old German steel-string acoustic guitar talent Steffen Basho-Junghans returns with his third cd for Portland's Strange Attractors Audio House label. His other ones, which we liked a lot too, were of a more experimental bent, all minimalist and droney and weirdly tuned, but this one takes a more traditional path hewing closer to the music of his obvious hero, the great and eccentric Robbie Basho (and to many of Basho-Junghans' past import releases). Like his guru and adopted namesake, here Basho-Junghans deftly picks out some totally beautiful, meditative and damn impressive East-meets-West 6 & 12 string guitar. (But unlike his hero, he doesn't indulge in any singing!) If you're at all into the classic Takoma school of instrumental acoustic solo guitar -- Basho, Fahey, Kottke -- you'll dig this. Really nice.
MPEG Stream: "Hear The Winds Coming"

LE SCRAWL Too Short To Ignore (Life Is Abuse) cd 10.98
Ignore the "Le", that's just a silly way to differentiate this Scrawl from the '90s US indie rock girl group. And they are VERY different. "Le" Scrawl is a schizoid grind band straight out of the German peace punk underground, doing the rapid-fire genre-mash thing. They belong in the same record bin with the likes of Naked City, Exit 13, People, Mexican Power Authority, Spazztic Blurr, Alboth!, Boredoms, and Anal Cunt (whose Seth Putnam guests vocalizes on one song here). If you're thinking that's a very '90s list of mostly avantgarde/novelty grind bands well, yes, this Scrawl stuff was recorded between 1990-1999. And we'd all but forgotten this band until the excellent Oakland label Life Is Abuse (purveyors of metallic weirdness like Tarantula Hawk and Ludicra) took it upon themselves to put together this cd, the complete Scrawl discography on one disc, essentially a deluxe, expanded version of Scrawl's "Q" album originally issued in 1995 by Germany's Ecocentric Records. Expanded in that you get the original disc's 24 tracks plus *another* 42 songs (!!) including their self-titled 1993 album, live stuff, singles, demos, and incongrous covers (De La Soul, The Exploited, Terrorizer, Chic, and the Mission Impossible theme!).
Their humorous, herky-jerky musical juxtapositions plus their totally grim punk political lyrix (that you can't understand anyway 'cause they're all gruff and screamy) equals weird, radical, action-oriented artcore. Imagine the quirky European chamber prog of a group like Etron Fou Leloublan colliding with the 20-second blast beat grindcore of a Napalm Death, or Mr. Bungle gone crusty punk, or, when the horn section kicks in, some sort of ADD Fishbone/Uz Jsme Doma hybrid playing in the midst of a Drop Dead practice session. The booklet -- chock full of photos, flyers, and discographical information -- has a 2002 note from main man Mario Anders, promising some new (Le) Scrawl material coming soon! Yikes!
RealAudio clip: "If Everything Fails"
RealAudio clip: "100 Doors"
RealAudio clip: "Dare!"
RealAudio clip: "Good Times"

FUSHITSUSHA Live II (PSF) 2cd 32.00
This, the first compact disc documentation of Japanese dark psych guitarist Keiji Haino's incredible out-rock combo Fushitsusha, is nothing short of essential. Highest recommendation.

COMUS First Utterance (Victor) cd 28.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What has to be our favorite British pagan folk psychedelic prog rock album ever (in other words, quite possibly our favorite album ever, period!) is finally available again on cd, and in a gorgeous Japanese mini-lp gatefold sleeve to boot, with the disc itself all state-of-the-art remastered, sounding great.
THIS RECORD SCARES US. Hearing it is like stumbling upon some forbidden ancient ritual that scares you to death. You stand paralyzed, too afraid to look away. Comus's singular, frightening sound and violently poetic lyrics have kept them from taking their rightful place alongside Fairport Convention, Incredible String Band, and the rest of Britain's psychedelic folk royalty.
And we don't write the words psychedelic folk royalty without a certain amount of trepidation. At first glance Comus would seem to fit squarely in the Ren-Faire camp: bongos, flute, oboe, 12-string guitar, and no drummer. But never has the whole of a band so completely defied its parts; their sound is as mesmerizing as it is repulsive. Upon the record's initial release, one British music journalist wrote that she "didn't get past the first track, which sounded like a cross between a frenzied version of the witches chorus from Macbeth, and Marc Bolan being squeezed to death." Funny thing is, that's a fairly apt description. Tales of murder, rape, insanity, and witchcraft unfold amid a swirling abyss of seething acid folk. Squalls of shamanistic wailing jut uncomfortably from serene, tranquil melodies; guttural growls battle a delicate angelic chorus, echoing the violent struggle of the lyrics. Flutes, hand drums, acoustic guitars, and a violin clamber atop one another in a chaotic melee, creating a pagan folk not unlike that of The Wicker Man soundtrack gone totally bonkers.
Although the band has been resolutely ignored by mainstream music fans, the press, and the majority of the underground, a small rabid following has kept a reverential vigil beside the corpse of Comus.
Nurse with Wound cronies Current 93 modeled their '90s sound after '70s British folk, Comus especially. They even went so far as to cover "Diana," Comus's only single, on their album Horsey. Swedish progressive black metallers Opeth have always been outspoken about their love of Comus. Their acclaimed 1998 album was called My Arms, Your Hearse, after the lyrics of "Drip Drip" (on First Utterance). And it's not surprising. This record is so powerful and frightening and totally devastating even 30 years later.
And never would I have thought that a record as old as me, with flutes and bongos fer chrissakes, could be so absolutely malevolent, both sonically and lyrically! But like I said, this record scares us. And we know you like to be scared too!
We were hoping that this new cd edition would include the two bonus tracks from from an early single that the Italian vinyl reissue included as a bonus 12", but such is not the case. Oh well. Still ranks as one of our all time favorites.
MPEG Stream: "Diana"
MPEG Stream: "Drip Drip"
MPEG Stream: "The Herald"
MPEG Stream: "Song To Comus"

FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND Made In Japan (Warner Japan) cd 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Flower Travellin' Band mania has gripped Byram and Allan and others of us here at AQ. After the success of our review of the reissues of their masterpiece Satori and their debut Anywhere, we feel we ought to keep going through the catalog of this stellar '70s Japanese heavy psych rock outfit. Those who couldn't get enough of FTB's Satori will be pleased to know that their follow-up, third release Made In Japan is nearly every bit as good. Singer Joe's voice still rings in the creepy falsetto style like Alan Bishop of the Sun City Girls singing balls out heavy metal vocals. As with their previous album, "Made In Japan" continued to fuse the heavy rock of early (contemporary, to them) Sabbath with Eastern melodies. I guess they decided after their perfect rendition of "Black Sabbath" on their first record, that such was their calling. Then again, "Heaven And Hell", the penultimate track here, is as pure a channeling of Jimi Hendrix as anything. The mellow closing track "That's All", with its koto glissandi, parallels "Part V" on Satori and like that track, it's perhaps the most overtly Eastern in tone. But it's Joe's vocal line that really kicks ass. At the end of the chorus he adds a little cadenza to his howl, extending the vocal line just beyond where one's intuitively expecting a cadence. It works so fucking well, makes me stop whatever I'm doing to listen, that I wonder why more song writers don't pull that shit more often.
MPEG Stream: "Hiroshima"
MPEG Stream: "That's All"

V/A Chains And Black Exhaust (Jones) 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! We thought these were gone for good a month ago, but we've just managed to get a few more!
Here's the soundtrack to your wildest blaxploitation-fueled fantasies, baadasssss R&B with an acid rock edge. You'll never need to ask, "Mommy, what's a funkadelic?" after this.
"Chains & Black Exhaust" is a compilation of late sixties/early seventies raw, fuzzed-out funk put together by some young, devotedly-crate-diggin' Memphis DJs, who apparently don't think we need to know what exactly we're listening too, 'cause there's no artist info, no track listing, nothing -- heck, the title of the comp appears nowhere on it, even! They give us a tantalizing but unhelpful glimpse of some original 45 labels in a photo in the cd booklet, which is otherwise illustrated with snapshots of black motorcycle club insignia. We can't imagine this lack of info is for copyright reasons, perhaps they just don't want their finds being identified & scooped by other DJs...? And unfortunately, none of us here, despite our enthusiasm for this stuff and general musical expertise, can tell you what's on here, nor did we locate a tracklist on the internet.
Oh well, whoever these mystery artists are, what's important is that they kick out the jams big time here: hard, heavy stuff full of wailing acid-psych wah wah leads, driving organ, killer grooves, and soulful vocals. It's funk verging on rock, with Black Power meets garagey rock n' roll attitude. Of course, these old singles tracks are served up with lots of lovely ol' vinyl crackle, just scratchy enough to lend that extra level of authenticity and atmosphere to the party. Highly recommended -- if you're into *early* Parliament-Funkadelic you'll dig these 16 cuts. This is one of those albums that just sells itself the second we put it on over the stereo -- even our pal DJ Z-Trip bought one instantly. Enjoyed that Peanut Butter Wolf-produced collection of unearthed funk singles? Then you'll love this one too. Right on.
We're told that *perhaps* someday this will get reissued with proper liner notes (the kind that actually tell you who is on the record at least) but that's at least a year or a year and a half off, if ever. So, we'd recommend grabbing these copies now, while you can, before they're gone, again...
RealAudio clip: BLACKROCK "Yeah Yeah"
RealAudio clip: BLACK MERDA "Cynthy Ruth"
RealAudio clip: UNKNOWN "Get High"

SUPERSILENT 6 (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
We remember when Supersilent 1-3 came out, and we were like, who the heck are these guys with a debut triple cd?? After listening to it, of course we became fast fans. And Supersilent 4 and 5, which made interesting stylistic shifts, only served to deepen our appreciation of this Norwegian quartet. Now Supersilent 6 is upon us, and it's been eagerly anticipated -- we sold a whole bunch the day we got 'em in! On this disc, Supersilent continue to creatively pursue their own unique Nordic mind-meld of improv, electronics, jazz, and what we might describe as live musique concrete. Maybe we should call it glitch-fusion? Maybe not, but there's gorgeous Frippertronics guitar one moment, breathy trumpet the next, all with electronic drones and scattered drum-beats underneath. Delicate, shimmering soundscapes build into mammoth sound-masses, still shimmering. Their music still holds a great deal of mystery, even if the band is at last getting the exposure they deserve, such as a feature in the new issue (#228) of The Wire. Others have observed that it's amazing that Supersilent's music is totally improvised and without overdubs, and we'd have to agree. Supersilent 6 is a disc thick with noise of great beauty, and comes highly recommended.
RealAudio clip: "track 1"
RealAudio clip: "track 5"

TRACTOR s/t (OZit Morpheus) cd 15.98
Tractor is the early '70s UK heavy-folk-rock duo of Jim Milne and Steve Clayton, who made two classic albums, one record under the name The Way We Live, and this one as Tractor, which was originally released in 1972 on John Peel's Dandelion label. Here it's reissued on cd as a '30th Anniversary Special Edition'. Probably the heavier of the two records, "Tractor" comes off like a combination of obscure UK folksters Tony, Caro & John (whose album reissue on Shadoks we recommended a few months ago) and heavy rock n' rollers Led Zeppelin or Budgie (or, to be obscure again, T2). Doomy fuzz guitars, conga drums, mystick lyrix, acoustic strum... This 'power duo' recorded in a bedroom studio but their sound is BIG. Anyone into either kick-ass '70s psychedelic guitar heroics or epic blissful folksy melancholia, or *both* especially, should investigate. There's one goofy blues number, but that's more than made up for by the epic, fierce "Little Girl In Yellow", a heavy rock classic if there ever was one.
Hisses and boos to the record label though, for crudding up this disc's front and back covers with little blurbs about the record (including the logos of the magazines from whence several of the blurbs were derived). What were they thinking? Save that stuff for a sticker on the shrink wrap! We're also not entirely sure that including two recordings (and photos) from the band's 2002 reunion as 'bonus' tracks was such a great idea, although the extra four demo tracks from Jim Milne, just acoustic guitar and voice, are quite nice, whenever they may be from (they don't tell us).
Unfortunately no '30th Anniversary Special Edition' of The Way We Live's "Candle For Judith" has come our way, but if it ever does we'll give you the heads up on that too.
MPEG Stream: "All Ends Up"
MPEG Stream: "The Watcher"

KINSKI Airs Above Your Station (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
One of the so-called Terrastock Nation's heaviest ass-kickers, Pacific NW "space-rock" troupe Kinski continue their levitational ascent with this new full-length. We've especially been looking forward to it ever since Sub Pop released the teaser Semaphore ep late last year, which garnered high marks from us. The so-heavy-and-wintry-majestic-that-it's-almost-black metal title track from that ep reappears here, alongside seven new cuts that both drone-on and rock-out. Lengthy epics abound, structured to begin with moody, melodic mellowness before bursting into denser action at the half-way point, and are primarily instrumentals, with the fuzz of the overdriven guitars and the wallop of the drums taking full flight. From repetitive shoegazer post-rock to experimental pop to ambient Floydian psych, Kinski never falter, always full of energy, with sheer "set the controls for the nearest black hole" gravity-multiplying heaviness never far from kicking in. With Airs, Kinski should be taking their place in the space/drone rock fandom realm next to the likes of Circle, Sonic Youth, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Subarachnoid Space, and a host of your cosmic krautrock greats of the past. Ol' Klaus would be proud.
RealAudio clip: "Schedule For Using Pillows & Beanbags"
RealAudio clip: "Your Lights Are (Out Or) Burning Badly"

FUNKADELIC Maggot Brain (Westbound) cd 17.98

IRON MAIDEN Killers (Sanctuary / Metal Is) cd 16.98
After being out of print for the last year or two, all these classic Iron Maiden titles (and a few, later, not-so-classic ones) have been reissued domestically in remastered, repackaged (big booklets of photos, artwork & lyrics, slipcovers) and cd-rom enhanced (with videos!) form. We've got Iron Maiden, Killers (that's a metal must-have sez Allan), Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, & Powerslave (those are the good ones...well okay, maybe Seventh Son of A Seventh Son also). Anyway, it's time to get rid of your old scratchy vinyl or cassette copies and pick up some of these new cds. And is it just me, or did they somehow make the cover art look even better? The cd-rom stuff is really well done, too. Up the Irons!

KOENJIHYAKKEI Live at Star Pine's Cafe (Magaibutsu) dvd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're pretty sure that anybody who owns any of Koenji Hyakkei's three studio albums is already sitting up and salivating at the prospect of acquiring this live DVD. They've never played outside of Japan as far as we know, so short of a trip to Tokyo this is about the only way you're likely to witness the masterful madness of this band live on stage. Lead by incredible drummer/composer Tatsuya Yoshida of cult Japanese spazz-prog-duo Ruins, Koenji Hyakkei are quite a bit like Ruins, but with an expanded line up -- not just bass and drums, but also (in this instance) including guitar, not one but two keyboardists, and three vocalists (female soprano, female alto, male tenor)! In this band, Yoshida and co. indulge their wildest '70s prog-rock fantasies, performing with over-the-top abandon and precision -- like an ultra-caffeinated amalgam of Magma, Area, ELP, Osanna, etc. at their most excessive. Koenji Hyakkei are insanely hyper, insanely tight, somehow combining superhuman technique with utterly catchy, complex arrangements -- and doing it live without a net. That's the thing with them, this music is simply EXCITING.
This DVD is shot with one camera, mostly framing the entire stage but with occasional close-ups. It might have been nice to have additional angles, but at least it's not MTV-style dizzy cuts, that would have been just a bit too much with this music being dizzying enough as it is. And the sound is great. The songs performed are drawn mainly from their most recent, third album, "Nivraym" and their second album, "II". The set closes with one song from their debut, too. Packaged, by the way, in a regular cd jewelcase, not a DVD box.

MYSTIC FOREST Waltz In the Midst of Trees cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
3rd and latest album from S. Kozak's Mystic Forest. If you liked their Green Hell album you'll like this. Mystic Forest is somewhat "happier" sounding than Kozak's Eikenskaden stuff, but really quite similar and thus totally wacked and excellent. See the review of Eikenskaden's The Last Danse (also on this list) for more about the Kozak sound. His classical influence is really pronounced here, not just an influence really as many of the songs are in fact "collaborations" between Kozak and Beethoven, Bach, Schubert, or Tchaikovsky! Dunno if those composers would have appreciated the violent drums and brutal distortion however. Or the gothy, fetishistic subject matter either, for that matter. But it works for us, along with the occasional French female vocals. Mystic Forest is a "Beauty and the Beast" kind of thing, and really really over the top with it too.
MPEG Stream: "Tandis Que Les Arbres Regandent"

TRAD GRAS OCH STENAR Mors Mors (1/2 Special) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yes! Maximum damaged Swedish guitar psych jamming in the house! Knowing how much we at AQ LOVE the sixties Swedish psych sounds of Parson Sound/International Harvester/Harvester/Trad Gras Och Stenar (multiple manifestations of basically the same band, whose crucial original LPs and unreleased recordings have been reissued on cd over the past couple of years, a boon to music-lovers everywhere -- see elsewhere on our website for reviews) you can imagine how excited we were to find out that TWO MORE Trad Gras Och Stenar LPs of early seventies vintage were now being reissued by new US label 1/2 Special, who indeed do a bang up job with these two discs. The booklets feature lots of photos and posters, a discography, and detailed liner notes from the band (delving into remembrance of the personal and social transformations of the hippie era). Plus, each disc's got a hefty bonus track (32 minutes on "Djungelns" and 27 on "Mors")! And of course it's the music that really makes these essential.
Influenced by Scandinavian folk music, drugs, radical politics, Terry Riley, the Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, Indian ragas, etc. this is some awesomely messed-up far-out rock music for sure. If these guys were German instead of Swedish, we'd be talking about a Krautrock legend. TGOS, as the final incarnation of group that started as Parson Sound, features a stripped-down line-up playing music that is perhaps more conventionally "rock" based than earlier formations, but definitely the heavy minimalism of Parson Sound and the Amon Duulish folked-out trippiness of Harvester remain important elements of their lugubrous sound.
"Djungelns Lag", originally issued in 1972, collects tracks recorded by TGOS on tour in Sweden and Norway during the summer and fall of 1971. You get extended dual guitar tangle and lovely sad folk laments, brief bouts of sunshiney nonsense vocals backed with acoustic guitar strum ("Dibio"), and even hippie hoedown jaw-harp jams ("Munfiol"). Wherever they wander, this is generally mellow yet moving, always measured and stately even when at its most abstract and electric.
Likewise with "Mors Mors" (a 1973 album of tracks originating on tour in Sweden and Denmark in '72), which continues with both the gentle freakiness and distorted thud. The Rolling Stone's "Last Time" gets a TGOS treatment (not quite as blasted as their take on "Satisfaction" found on their self-titled album, though) and again their originals feature plenty of what we dig: moments of ragged Haino-worthy axe attack, tripped-out Quicksilver leads, and lovely folk-drone...
So it's appropriate that both discs were reissued simultaneously, if you want one you'll want 'em both. What else can we say...well, anyone who buys Acid Mothers Temple discs ought to be sure to take some Trad Gras Och Stenar home too, that's for sure. As with all the reissues from this camp, highly recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Rocktrall"
RealAudio clip: "Klangbron"

TRAD GRAS OCH STENAR Djungelns Lag (1/2 Special) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yes! Maximum damaged Swedish guitar psych jamming in the house! Knowing how much we at AQ LOVE the sixties Swedish psych sounds of Parson Sound/International Harvester/Harvester/Trad Gras Och Stenar (multiple manifestations of basically the same band, whose crucial original LPs and unreleased recordings have been reissued on cd over the past couple of years, a boon to music-lovers everywhere -- see elsewhere on our website for reviews) you can imagine how excited we were to find out that TWO MORE Trad Gras Och Stenar LPs of early seventies vintage were now being reissued by new US label 1/2 Special, who indeed do a bang up job with these two discs. The booklets feature lots of photos and posters, a discography, and detailed liner notes from the band (delving into remembrance of the personal and social transformations of the hippie era). Plus, each disc's got a hefty bonus track (32 minutes on "Djungelns" and 27 on "Mors")! And of course it's the music that really makes these essential.
Influenced by Scandinavian folk music, drugs, radical politics, Terry Riley, the Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, Indian ragas, etc. this is some awesomely messed-up far-out rock music for sure. If these guys were German instead of Swedish, we'd be talking about a Krautrock legend. TGOS, as the final incarnation of group that started as Parson Sound, features a stripped-down line-up playing music that is perhaps more conventionally "rock" based than earlier formations, but definitely the heavy minimalism of Parson Sound and the Amon Duulish folked-out trippiness of Harvester remain important elements of their lugubrous sound.
"Djungelns Lag" ("Jungle Law" in English), originally issued in 1972, collects tracks recorded by TGOS on tour in Sweden and Norway during the summer and fall of 1971. You get extended dual guitar tangle and lovely sad folk laments, brief bouts of sunshiney nonsense vocals backed with acoustic guitar strum ("Dibio"), and even hippie hoedown jaw-harp jams ("Munfiol"). Wherever they wander, this is generally mellow yet moving, always measured and stately even when at its most abstract and electric.
Likewise with "Mors Mors" (aka "Bye Bye"), a 1973 album of tracks originating on tour in Sweden and Denmark in '72, which continues with both the gentle freakiness and distorted thud. The Rolling Stone's "Last Time" gets a TGOS treatment (not quite as blasted as their take on "Satisfaction" found on their self-titled album, though) and again their originals feature plenty of what we dig: moments of ragged Haino-worthy axe attack, tripped-out Quicksilver leads, and lovely pastoral folk-drone...
So it's appropriate that both discs were reissued simultaneously, if you want one you'll want 'em both. What else can we say...well, anyone who buys Acid Mothers Temple discs ought to be sure to take some Trad Gras Och Stenar home too, that's for sure. As with all the reissues from this camp, highly recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Var Vila"
RealAudio clip: "Munfiol"

V/A Cherrystones Rocks (Lo) cd 10.98
A very original, wonderfully varied collection of uber-rare international "psych and progressive gems" of the '60s and early '70s presented by Lo Recordings, who've always brought us the cool cutting edge modern electronica. Lo has previously also delved into the past for library music / acid funk compilations...now they go waaaay out with these bizarro rock tracks, picked by British hip hop DJ Garreth Goddard (who records as Cherrystones for the Twisted Nerve label). Obscure artists on here indeed -- we had previously only heard Brazil's Rita Lee (of Os Mutantes) and Detroit R&B hard rockers Frijid Pink (with "Crying Shame", one of their best songs). Garreth's obsessive crate-digging has paid dividends here, making this the kind of comp you've got to get 'cause you'll never find these records OR reissues. It's all groovy, psychedelic, crazed stuff. Some other names: Taiconderoga, Black Cat Bones, Klaus Doldinger, Niagara, Breakout, Mecki Mark Men, Sunbirds, The Mogol, and more. Veering from free-jazz inspired horn soloing to heavy fuzz guitar riffs to spoken beat poetry, the stuff on here is all over the place yet is freaky, funky, fried fun that really seems to belong together -- kudos to the DJ. Awesome.
RealAudio clip: PUGH "Love, Love, Love"
RealAudio clip: FRIJID PINK "Crying Shame"
RealAudio clip: ROLF AND JOACHIM KUHN AND THE MAD ROCKERS "Funny Bird"

CAACRINOLAS Caacrinolas 2: Valley of the Dead cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Cryptic and creepy, Caacrinolas is the "black metal" project of German AQ-pal Bjoern Eichstaedt and his colleague Larry Luer, both of whom more typically make music in the realms of avant-garde jazz and experimental electronics. But, inspired by the likes of Burzum and Emperor, Bjoern and Larry created Caacrinolas, whose first, cultish cd-r release "A Thousand Cries Has The Night" was much liked by AQ staff and customers. Now they're returned to terrorize us further with "Caacrinolas 2: Valley Of The Dead". Again, it's a single track, but a longer one, at 36 minutes this time. Again, it's in a limited, numbered edition of 100. The packaging is a bit fancier -- a clear dvd-sized "Super Jewel Box", with a suitably chilling black-and-white cover photo beneath a sheet of blood-red acetate. Nice (and thus, the price is a bit more than before). And again, this is a scary 'lil disc! It does seem like they maybe have less of an overt black metal concept going on this time -- they're really establishing their own style of horror soundtrack jazz vs. metal, seemingly referencing both Bohren & Der Club of Gore and Cradle of Filth, Fantomas and Morricone, Bernard Herrmann and Sigh!
This disc's journey of darkness begins with classical strings and malevolent petrodactyl squawks, seguing into a Bohren-esque, noirish jazz-drone soundscape with zombie monk vocals in the background. But sudden changes will constantly catch the listener unawares -- lurking at every turn there are bursts of jagged metalcore riffing with roiling drums, passages of doleful organ, blasts of noise and distortion, dark and droney Tangerine Dream synth-work, and, as the disc concludes, pensive, pretty piano a la David Shire's soundtrack for The Conversation. Yep, it's good! (and evil.)
RealAudio clip: "excerpt 1"
RealAudio clip: "excerpt 2"

DIAMATREGON Blasphemy For Satan (tUMUlt) cd 13.98
Diamatregon are a French black metal band who specialise in violently thrashing, ultra chaotic, on-the-verge-of-losing-control, over-saturated, super distorted and noisy, TRUE black metal. Fast and furious with the occasional midtempo breakdown and a once-in-a-while doomy dirge. But they also happen to have an amazing way with melodies, as 1000 mile an hour blasts can get pretty tedious, pretty quickly. So even though the songs sometimes sound like a black metal band being hurled down a stairway (a good thing, mind you) the songs stick in your head more than you would think possible. And the occasional midtempos, full of fuzzed out guitars and simple relentless drumming, definitely bring to mind the mighty Burzum. A thick, hyperspeed and hellish brew of harsh, inhuman howls, amp melting, overdriven guitars, thrashing drums with a lo-fi, but remarkably heavy production. They even cover the Misfits' Death Comes Ripping, turning it into a 90 second blast of sinister, speaker shredding, head banging, church burning high end brutality.
Blasphemy For Satan is eight metal thrashing mad tracks clocking in at 45 minutes.
Twenty of those minutes just happen to make up the crushing final track, an extended doom epic, equal parts, moody post rock, Sabbathy dirge, and all out noise assault, complete with bizarre samples, found sounds, and super complex arrangements, and as reminiscent of old AMREP bands as it is Norwegian black metal.
Diamatregon actually sent their cd to Andee/tUMULt because they were huge fans of the label as well as Circle and Acid Mothers Temple and lots of decidedly non metal music, and were really wanting to release their record on a not-specifically-metal label, which seems to work well with tUMUlt's good-music-is-good-music mantra and their mission to expose non-metalheads to metal, and metalheads to non-metal!
But whether you're a metalhead or not, Diamatregon spew forth some amazingly heavy, undeniably catchy, and totally intense blackened sounds.
MPEG Stream: "Blasphemy For Satan"
MPEG Stream: "October Ritual"

HAINO, KEIJI Mazu Wa Iro O Nakuso Ka (PSF) cd 16.98
The title in English, as given on the spine of this lovely package: "To Start With, Let's Remove The Colour!" This disc comes in a handsome sort of mini-lp gatefold sleeve, colored not Haino's usual black, but shades of grey -- grey being appropriate for the ghostly voices that mass in ever-layering loops over the swirling, jazzy jangle of Haino's guitar playing here. No, this is not a high-volume assault, and there's no shrieking vocals either. Rather this disc is Japanese psychedelic improvisor extraordinaire Keiji Haino's most recent foray into the realm of the mysterious, delicate, and quiet. He's heard here solo, in a mode seldom if ever before beheld: this is the home-recorded Haino, with overdubs! You can imagine him in his bedroom, earphones on, hunched over his guitar, mic, and four-track. It's a close-up, intimate scenario, the mind's eye focusing on his fingers on the guitar strings and his cryptic words whispered not far from the microphone, rather than the massive amps and flailing hair that you might envision when listening to his louder live performances with his "rock band" Fushitsusha. This is some sort of gentle, damaged, haunted, cave-dwelling blues, in the realm of (but not quite like) a Jandek or Kemialliset Ystavat. Track six (of eight), "How Did You Know? Mistaken" is the centerpiece, a half-hour opus of otherworldly genius.
This album is creepy yet comforting. Eerie and mesmerizing. And fucking amazingly beautiful. We can only hope Haino's four-track output continues -- and why just guitar? Maybe next time he'll turn to some of the many ethnic instruments that we're sure fill his chambers...
RealAudio clip: "Another..."
RealAudio clip: "Will It Fall?"

NECKS, THE Athenaeum, Homebush, Quay & Raab (Fish Of Milk) 4cd 66.00
BACK IN STOCK. Repressed, at at last. New higher price, alas. Windy's off in Vietnam and unable to contribute to our review of this, but she did leave the following simple and to the point note: "I LOVE this album."
We all do actually. Even jazz-phobic Jim has been caught blissing out to The Necks! And everyone we know seems to have at least one record by Australia's Necks, but why didn't any of them tell me how fricking great this stuff is?!?!? This is a new 4 cd set featuring 4 separate hour-long performances, and once you're familiar with their sound, you'll understand that 4 hours, in hour long chunks, is the perfect way to experience The Necks. It's sort of jazz but not exactly. Sort of 20th century classical, but not exactly. Imagine Charlemagne Palestine or Steve Reich composing for a jazz combo and you might be getting close. Or a more lively Bohren and Der Club of Gore, maybe, at times. Hypnotic shuffling jazz rhythms, skittery high hat and ride cymbals, build a skeletal foundation for throbbing monochromatic bass and chiming, cyclical piano. Repetitive, blissed out and totally hypnotic. Drummer Tony Buck we used to know from Peril and Kletka Red amongst other projects, but now we'll consider The Necks his primary claim to fame. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Homebush"

LEVIATHAN Verrater (tUMULt) 2cd 15.98
By now, pretty much every blackmetalhead who hasn't been lost in a grim and frostbitten forest for the last 5 years is well aware, and most likely a huge fan of the mighty Leviathan, which is just one man, Wrest, who along with likeminded outfits Xasthur, Draugar, Crebain and a handful of others have managed to reinvent and reinvigorate black metal in the last few years, while turning California into a land as grim and as black as the Norwegian clime that spawned the genre. But there was a time, when Leviathan hadn't released any proper records at all, outside of a handful of cassettes and home made cd-r's. This double disc collects the best bits from all of those releases and was the first glimpse many folks would get of the blackness that would come to define modern USBM. After one 'final' pressing a while back (the second), which sold out in the blink of an eye, tUMULt overlord Andee managed to convince Wrest to let him keep Verrater in print for at least a while longer, so once again, eBay be damned, Verrater is available again, for at least the immediate future, but considering how fast these are flying out of here already, who knows how long they'll last...
Here's what we had to say about Verrater the first and second times around (with some minor updates and adjustments):
Those of you who live in San Francisco may have seen or even bought some of the many self released cassettes by the mysterious one man black metal band called Leviathan. Or some of you may have seen Andee or Allan sporting their Leviathan shirts, or you may have even seen Wrest, the man behind Leviathan lurking around AQ...regardless, Leviathan is the latest and certainly one of the greatest of the Bay Area black metal bands (Ludicra, Sangre Amado, Crebain, Draugar and the godlike Weakling [both also on tUMULt], etc...) who seem to exist in some sort of vacuum here while elsewhere, band after unoriginal band keep getting signed to huge labels and hyped to death even though most of them suck.
For this release Andee and Wrest went through the 13 full length Leviathan cassettes/cd-r's (as of the release of Verrater that number had leapt to 15!) Leviathan had recorded since 1998 to compile a good overview. But they couldn't whittle it down enough so one disc became two, with the first disc being the newer stuff, and disc two being the older, raw-er material.
Verrater is pure, primitive, cult, home recorded evil. Two discs, twenty two tracks, one hundred and forty three minutes of buzzing, howling, pummelling, black metal. Think Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal, that sort of thing, but with all sorts of weird twists and sonic surprises. Yes, Leviathan is grimmer than grim metal that the frost & forest lords of Norway should bow down to, but it's also pure expression unfettered by genre restraints, although informed and inspired by them. Like Weakling, Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra, Caacrinolas, Ludicra, Potentiam, Enslaved, and some other AQ-championed black metal acts, this is not just one for fans of black metal only! It's dark, weird, noisy, disturbing art embodying one man's vision that should be heard by anyone into avantgarde, experimental, psychically and physically powerful rock music. From blasting howling fury to moody ambient blackness to off kilter weirdness to droning riffery to soul crushing heaviness. What's truly remarkable is that one man, playing all the instruments himself, and recording at home, can evoke such strong emotions and invoke such musical demons. Original, evil, hateful, misanthropic, bizarre and truly black metal.
MPEG Stream: "Courtship Of The Discarded"
MPEG Stream: "In This Slaveship"
MPEG Stream: "The Whole Of Deceit"
MPEG Stream: "Shed This Skin"

TARANTULA HAWK s/t (2nd) (Neurot Recordings) cd 14.98
Witness the return of the mighty Tarantula Hawk, the San Diego based psychedelic volume dealers whose immense self-titled debut cd we raved about two years ago. Here's their second album, somewhat confusingly also self-titled (obviously these guys don't work in record store!), which again proves them to be the masters of drone prog metal supreme. Instrumental super heavy ritual music, bass-heavy majestic murk with grinding prog rock keyboards and intense, energizing drumming, spacey stretches of ominous gloom...
Imagine the Omen soundtrack meets Neurosis, or an evil ELP into Eyehategod. Or a crust-metal take on 20th century classical? Or AQ-fave '60s Swedish drone-psych band Parson Sound on a diet of cough syrup and Celtic Frost? Further references: Boris, Corrupted, Old Man Gloom, Thrones, Magma, Ruins, Harvey Milk...you get the picture.
After getting into the first T-hawk album, and seeing them live for the first time (an amazing show at Richmond's Burnt Ramen), I remember thinking, wow, this band really should be playing that Neurosis Beyond The Pale festival, they'd blow everybody away. A year or so later -- lo and behold, the Hawk not only played the 2002 edition of Beyond the Pale, but this is on Neurot Recordings as well. 5 tracks, 74 minutes total, with the final track clocking in at a massive 49 minutes!
As good as their self-titled debut, or better, and obviously highly recommended!
RealAudio clip: "track 2"
RealAudio clip: "track 4"

KINSKI Semaphore (Sub Pop) cd ep 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's a little 23-minute ep from Pacific Northwest outfit Kinski, following up their excellent "Be Gentle With The Warm Turtle" debut on the Pacifico label. Now they're on Sub Pop, with a new album to follow in the new year. Kinski are a band who obviously love their krautrock and their Floyd, playing that space rock / post rock / psychedelic rock stuff we love too, a la Circle, Mogwai, Codeine, MBV...
"Semaphore" starts things off in the now expected Kinski manner, erupting into a warm fuzz bath for yr ears, heavy and doleful enough to almost be mistaken from some instrumental Norwegian black metal concoction at moments! The next song, "Point That Thing Somewhere Else" pops things up a bit, with a lively drum beat and some indie-rock vocals (the only singing on the disc). Following that, "The Bunnies Are Tough" gets all droney and experimental and scary. Fourth and final track "I Wouldn't Hurt A Fly" returns to the loud guitar zone for a dynamic and heavy eight-minute epic that recalls Godspeed You Black Emperor! mixed with Mogwai. We look forward to Kinski's upcoming full-length!
RealAudio clip: "Semaphore"

DRIVE LIKE JEHU Yank Crime (Swami) cd 23.00
Sometimes it's hard to believe that certain records just go out of print. I mean who would let the Conet Project go out of print, or Souled American, or the Incredible String Band. It's even weirder when the record is not old or obscure. Then it's usually some bureaucratic red tape or major label bullshit that keeps people from hearing some great record. Such is the case with the second, ultimate release from San Diego's Drive Like Jehu, originally released on Interscope in 1994. A record Allan and Andee and Jim and Sadie and Windy and quite possibly the rest of the AQ staff would rank as one of the best rock records ever! Easily as good/important as Slint's Spiderland. For those who don't know, Drive Like Jehu was fronted by John Reis of Rocket From The Crypt (who has now reissued Yank Crime on his own Swami label) and featured vocalist Rick Farr (his rock name, he's also known as Eric Froberg) who later went on with Reis to play in the Hot Snakes. Drive Like Jehu also just happened to have one of the tightest rhythm sections EVER. E V E R! Yank Crime is a tightly wound record of 'post rock' (before post rock meant watered down instrumental indie rock bullshit) with head nodding, repetitive grooves, propulsive, ultra concise drumming, and some of the most inventive guitar playing we've ever heard. All topped off with Farr's distinctive high pitched vocals (familiar to all you folks who dig the Hot Snakes). The songs are looooong and hypnotic but never boring. The band locks into totally intense, static grooves, that can go on for minutes before exploding into mayhemic bursts of controlled fury. So goddamn good. Anyone who likes the Hot Snakes MUST own this record. Drive Like Jehu is like a hyper charged, heavier, more intense and complex, MUCH BETTER Hot Snakes. Anyone who likes Feuhler or Don Cab or Slint or Engine Kid or almost any post rock will discover what all those other comers had been shooting for. This is IT. Trust us. An automatic AQ "record of the week" selection as soon as we heard it was finally being re-released -- with three bonus tracks to boot! ("Bullet Train To Vegas" and "Hand Over Fist" from their Merge label 7", and the original version of "Sinews" from a Cargo/Headhunter compilation.) So even if you have the original you might want to get this reissue for those.
RealAudio clip: "Do You Compute"
RealAudio clip: "Sinews"

KING CRIMSON Ladies Of The Road (Discipline) 2cd 19.98
"The King Crimson Collectors Club" (god, what's gotten into them?) presents: "Ladies of the Road", a double cd of live Crimson from 1971-72. While oddly enough it doesn't actually have their song "Ladies of the Road" on it, it's a powerful document of Crimson's unique insane math-rock jazz-prog from an underrated, underdocumented era and lineup of Crimson (circa their album "Islands" and the recently reissued live disc "Earthbound") that was definitely being influenced by American R&B and jazz, moreso than the classical elements prominent in the original Crim of 69-70.
Did we get the word jazz in there? This is VERY jazz, with lots of Mel Collins' saxophone all over the place, along with of course Robert Fripp's unmistakable guitar genius. The songs and improvs presented here are in part and together gorgeous, heavy, pretty, crazed, gentle, funky (!), psychedelic, smooth, noisy, intense, and (of course) schizophrenic. Speaking of which, the second disc in this set, entitled "Schizoid Men", is a mammoth edited-together collection of NOTHING BUT THE GUITAR AND SAX SOLOS from a whole bunch of live performances of "21st Century Schizoid Man"! Yes, fifty-some energetic minutes worth. As Fripp says in the liner notes: "King Crimson has often been accused of a capital offence in the annals of Prog Crime: the endless guitar solo. Who cares that prosecutors had not listened to the band? Schizoid Men is one approach to offering a plea of guilty, on the basis of manipulated evidence long after the events. Extended soloing by Mel Collins is not, in my book, any kind of crime at all. Rather, an instruction in performance by a young master." Not to mention, humble man he is, his own extended soloing... Pretty cool, actually, really way out there. We were playing it in the store, and one of our more avant-garde and drunken customers, who claims not to like Crimson, even felt compelled to buy it.
So, after last list's panning of the new 2002 Crimson effort, here's a nice (sad too, I suppose) reminder of how great (and different) they once were. Maybe Fripp ought to take a close listen... By the way, this has really good live sound, not like a shitty bootleg!
RealAudio clip: "Groon"
RealAudio clip: "The Letters "
RealAudio clip: "Schizoid Men 5"

PATTERSON, ARCHIE Eurock: European Rock And The Second Culture (Eurock Publications) book 45.00
This, my friends, is a not a book, but a tome. Over 700 pages, collecting together almost every important piece of writing that appeared in Archie Patterson's Eurock 'zine during its existence from 1973 to 1990, and more. Eurock magazine was all about prog / psych / krautrock / space rock / electronic stuff (in later years, entering into New Age territory to be sure), not just from Europe actually but from around the world. The earlier material is particularily cool 'cause Eurock's coverage of bands like Amon Duul and Can is like reading a current magazine's stuff about Godspeed You Black Emperor! or Acid Mothers Temple...it puts things then and now into perspective. There's tons of obscure lore in here to uncover -- paging through at random I found articles about Ash Ra Tempel and Area, a piece on '70s Yugoslavian rock, a recent interview with Magma's Christian Vander, a review of a 1980 Rock In Opposition festival, and even an interview with our favorite '70s Italian prog band Osanna! In addition, as a special bonus, this book includes a seven-page appreciation of Amon Duul written in 1971 (for Creem magazine) by famous rock crit Lester Bangs, that I for one have always wanted to read. Basically, this book, I mean, tome, is highly recommended to all weird kraut / psych / prog music fiends!
NB: All of this and more (excepting some new pieces and the Bangs article), I believe, is also to be found on the still-available Eurock cd-rom production "Golden Age" that we reviewed on AQ list #105 -- but we have to say that the book format is far superior for reading and browsing, though of course it lacks the multi-media content etc. I'd pick this up a lot more often than I'd pop the cd-rom into my Mac.

CATHEDRAL Forest Of Equilibrium (Earache) cd 15.98
As we said in our review of one of their more recent albums, British band Cathedral's debut was one of the heaviest slabs of doom metal heard in 1990, melding slowed-down Sabbath riffage, depressed prog-folk flutes, and ex-Napalm Death throat Lee Dorrian's gravelly vocals. A top 20 all-time doom album for sure, and one of Allan's faves particularily. This band has never made a better record, indeed, they went on to make many worse ones, before getting their doom on again for 2001's Endtyme.

YEAH YEAH YEAHS Machine (Touch & Go) cd ep 5.98
Three songs, seven minutes. Yeah Yeah Yeah's aren't messin' around. The hot-shit New Yorkers pack every minute full of gritty, high energy, lo-fi, post-glam rockn'fuckn'roll. Singer Karen O seemed to bely a little vulnerability in between shrieks on their debut e.p., but here she exudes confidence. YYY's would be an ideal band to see in someone's packed living room; too bad their lightning fast rise to fame deprives us of that experience! This single is another teaser before the release of their debut full length, expected soon-ish.
RealAudio clip: "Machine "
RealAudio clip: "Graveyard"

THUJA Suns (Emperor Jones) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While a plethora of bands have emerged from San Francisco's so-called Jewelled Antler Collective (e.g. Thuja, Blithe Sons, Knit Separates, The Birdtree, Skygreen Leopards, etc.), the number of individuals in this gaggle of Californian psychedelic improvisers is actually rather small, with the majority of 'em participating in Jewelled Antler's flagship project Thuja. Comprised of Rob Reger, Loren Chasse, and former Mirza members Glenn Donaldson and Steven R. Smith, Thuja base all of their recordings on extended improv sessions recorded in Reger's expansive warehouse space. They then edit these to extract specific atmospheres and musical quotations. Like all of their releases, "Suns" implies that these improvised actions are rituals that not only mimic the rustlings of arboreal environments but also attempt to magically invoke the forest to crack through the concrete walls of Reger's warehouse. Such metaphors of urban reclamation through natural means are far from fruity idealism, for Thuja's atmospheres speak with unspecified sadness and beauty, as anyone who has heard their previous Emperor Jones cd "Ghost Plants" knows (...or their tUMULt debut, or any of their limited edition cd-r releases on their own Jewelled Antler label, or the recent Last Visible Dog cd-r "Hills"...).
While their closest musical neighbors may be such farflung (in time and space) bands as the Taj Mahal Travellers, No Neck Blues Band, and Kemialliset Ystavat, Thuja has developed an aesthetic that is wholly unique, by adding tons of natural textural details (i.e. contact microphones scraping over rusted surfaces, shells banging against chunks of metal, twigs quietly snapping, etc.) on top of traditional instruments (guitars, harmonium, organ, and drums) in their non-traditional pursuit of the almighty drone. As yet another essential document of this pursuit, "Suns" shines brightly through the trees of Thuja's metaphorical forest. Quite amazing.
RealAudio clip: "Suns 1"
RealAudio clip: "Suns 8"

RUINS Tzomborgha (Ipecac) cd 17.98
Wow. Probably the best album from this band in a long time. And they're always really good. Still, their last two studio albums (2000's Pallaschtom and 1998's Vrresto), although amazing musically, might have actually taken their insane technicality to an almost detrimental, one-dimensional extreme, when compared to more melodic and memorable earlier Ruins classics like Burning Stone. But, with this new release, we're really excited about the Ruins again. It's got more ideas, more variety, more inventiveness, more surprises -- and of course, more of that insane technicality.
Let's pause for a quick update for those not familiar with the band: Japan's Ruins are a drums and bass prog-core duo who play crazy, complex, heavy compositions and improvisations. Both members sing operatically in a made-up language, with one of 'em riffing and soloing w/ bass and effects to put most metal guitarists to shame and the other bashing the drums in an impossibly octopus-like fashion. Totally over the top masters of riff and timing they are. They worship French prog gods Magma, and are worshipped themselves equally and deservedly by fans and bands all over -- such as Mike Patton, who's just released Tzomborgha on his Ipecac label. And if you've never heard them before, this disc is in fact a great place to start (which is saying a lot).
Tzomborgha features weird (for them, even!) vocal stylisms, psychedelic fusionscapes, truly melodic and pretty parts, improv spasticity, and even some spacey atmospheric jamming, as well as plenty of the shredding bass/drums workouts with rapidfire, mindboggling changes like you'd expect. Continuing a Ruins tradition, this disc concludes with not one but two of their infamous medleys, the subjects of which in some way sum up the Ruins' appeal: one is devoted to the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the other to Black Sabbath! The later is particularily amusing when they attempt to approximate (or parody) Ozzy's vocals... Earlier in the disc you'll also find two cover songs, one supposedly an Olivier Messiaen theme even though it sounds like a Ruins original, and the other the Shankar piece "Chittam Irangaayo", which is especially great. Indian classical music meets jazz meets the Ruins!
Tempering their complexicore excesses with a show of some diverse musical interests (along with getting a heavier bass sound that harkens back to older Ruins albums/bassists) results in this disc being the most vital in-the-studio display of their genius since, say, Hydromastgroningem back in '95 or 1993's Graviyaunosch.
Yep, Tzomborgha is definitely impressive. Think about it. These guys have been around for, like, almost 20 years!! (I believe Ruins debuted in 1985.) They're at that point in their career where their last three releases before this consisted of two live albums and a best of! Isn't that like some Blue Oyster Cult shit? Most bands like that you could write off, yet here comes Tzomborgha to kick our asses. Awesome.
RealAudio clip: "Skhanddraviza"
RealAudio clip: "Chittam Irangaayo"
RealAudio clip: "Tzomborgha"

FOO FIGHTERS One By One (RCA) 2cd 16.98
Sounds like Mr. Grohl's been hangin' out with Queens Of The Stone Age... oh, he has. Seriously though, if you dug the most recent QOTSA album "Song For The Deaf" (which we did), this newest Foo Fighters record will probably also tickle your fancy. While not as 'weird' as the Queens, the Foo Fighters here mine similar territory, playing melodic and poppy hard rock, even flirting with full on metal (but never quite going all the way). This is definitely their heaviest, "grungiest" (!) album yet, again quite like QOTSA -- though the Foos' own trademark heartbreaking pop smarts shine through as well. We've loved Grohl & Company's previous albums too, and if there's a band you're gonna have to hear on the radio and in the mall and on the plane, might as well be an ass kicking rock and roll band like the Foo Fighters and not Celine Dion or O-Town! Recommended. (The copies we've got right now come with a limited bonus DVD disc with a video & live footage, dunno how long these will last though).
RealAudio clip: "All My Life"
RealAudio clip: "Have It All"

BLOODBATH Resurrection Through Carnage (Century Media) cd 13.98
Bloodbath might sound like a generic death metal name, and that's kind of the idea. They're actually a Swedish metal supergroup paying tribute to the late 80's/early '90s death metal that they loved in their youth. Obituary, Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, Entombed, that kind of thing... Gory, grinding, blasting DEATH.
Bloodbath is made up of vocalist Michael Akerfeldt (mastermind of gods Opeth*), guitarist Anders Nystrom and bassist Jonas Renkse (both of AQ-faves Katatonia), and drummer Dan Swano (Dan Swano! he's been in a zillion bands, but we'll mention our favorites, Pan-thy-monium and Karaboudjan). They did a three-song ep a few years back, as a lark, and we never really expected a follow-up due to these dudes' busy schedules in their full-time outfits. But apparently the pleasures of unadulterated death metal beckoned irresistibly to them, and this "Resurrection" was thankfully at last spawned. And with this sort of musical braintrust, you know that Bloodbath isn't going to disappoint. Indeed they don't. Doomy, intricate, brutal, produced to perfection, and catchy in the blood-letting way that really only makes sense to death metal fans. Thanks guys!
*who have just released their eagerly anticipated new album, "Deliverance" (see nearby for our review) and we don't doubt the timing was coincidental...clever record company.
RealAudio clip: "Buried By The Dead"

SATYRICON Volcano (Capitol Norway) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yes! The new Satyricon! Black metal fans rejoice! Satyr and Frost are back with another slab of cold twisted grimness to rock you. Actually, we've had copies of this import disc for several weeks now, but held off on listing it 'cause we were hoping that a domestic release was imminent. But, alas, that does not seem to be the case. Now that these Norwegian gods are on a big major label over in Europe, there's some corporate bullshit preventing an indie from putting out "Volcano" over here. So, it's only available as an expensive import for the foreseeable future. However, we assure you that it's well worth the extra $$$ you'll pay! Satyricon have long been one of our favorite Nordic metal bands, maybe our number one fave, and "Volcano" only builds upon the artistry of their previous masterpiece "Rebel Extravaganza". This doomy, dark and violent disc is full of the usual Satyricon surprises. Voivod-dense, industrial prog-metal soundscapes built upon Frost's brutal drum battery and Satyr's throat-torn vox, precise and massive guitar riffing, and sci-fi synths. The totally rockin', almost Killing Joke-ish punk headbanger "Fuel For Hatred". Guest vocals on several tracks from Bjork-esque Norwegian electronica diva Anja Garbarek. A disc-closing, fourteen-minute epic of heaviness called "Black Lava" which boasts the amazing line: "Autumn in the air, the smell of black metal 1990-95"! Aside from the somewhat un-thrilling cover art (a snake's head), and that they allowed the label to change the album's title from the eccentric spelling "Vulcano" to the mundane "Volcano", these guys can do no wrong.
NB. we've only got five of these, and it might be a while before we can get more, so please don't cry if we tell you they're all gone already...
RealAudio clip: "Angstridden"
RealAudio clip: "Fuel For Hatred"

AGITATION FREE Malesch (Garden Of Delights) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's two long time AQ Krautrock favorites -- the first and second albums by Berlin band Agitation Free -- that have been previously available as cds on the Spalax label. But now Garden of Delights has done new reissues, which is great 'cause we love these records and we're glad of an excuse to list 'em, as we hadn't ever reviewed them before. And Garden of Delights is known for their thorough, high-quality productions. In the thick cd booklets, you get a band history essay (in English and German), collector's info on various vinyl pressings, photos, graphics, discography, and the obligatory Garden of Delights catalog (but that they've shrunk to 2 pages, to leave more room for all the Agitation Free material). Really nice. And the sound is great too of course. No bonus tracks, though, so if you've already got the Spalax versions, an upgrade to these will be mainly a visual/textual improvement.
They got their start as a hippie commune band, with ties to Guru Guru, Tangerine Dream, and Amon Duul. Their debut, "Malesch" (Arabic for "it doesn't matter, take it easy"), is a true cosmic Krautrock classic, blending the spacey psych of Pink Floyd and fellow krautrockers Ash Ra Tempel and Popul Vuh with a flair for Eastern "exoticism". Plus, in the intertwining guitars, you'll find some hints of the American West Coast psych sound (yes, even a little Grateful Dead -- but don't let that scare you off). The album was recorded in 1972 not long after the band was sent on a tour of the Middle East by the Goethe Institute, and incorporates field recordings (decades before the likes of Godspeed You Black Emperor!) from their trip: the bustle of Cairo streets, desert winds, calls to prayer, friendly airline pilots... These tapes are a key element of this record's appeal (along with their sheer talent for jamming and their synth and electronic experimentation). Oh, and some great Hammond organ sounds too. Basically, this is a fantastic album of mostly instrumental psych / drone / ethnic rock, that's generally mellow but powerful too. Whether to the Great Pyramids of Egypt (where the album cover was shot) or to inner space, "Malesch" portrays a true trip indeed. So recommended.
RealAudio clip: "You Play For Me Today"
RealAudio clip: "Ala tul"
RealAudio clip: "Pulse"
RealAudio clip: "Rucksturz"

AGITATION FREE Second (Garden Of Delights) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's two long time AQ Krautrock favorites -- the first and second albums by Berlin band Agitation Free -- that have been previously available as cds on the Spalax label. But now Garden of Delights has done new reissues, which is great 'cause we love these records and we're glad of an excuse to list 'em, as we hadn't ever reviewed them before. And Garden of Delights is known for their thorough, high-quality productions. In the thick cd booklets, you get a band history essay (in English and German), collector's info on various vinyl pressings, photos, graphics, discography, and the obligatory Garden of Delights catalog (but that they've shrunk to 2 pages, to leave more room for all the Agitation Free material). Really nice. And the sound is great too of course. No bonus tracks, though, so if you've already got the Spalax versions, an upgrade to these will be mainly a visual/textual improvement.
The ethnic influence that so defined Agitation Free's debut is not as much a factor on 1973's "Second" -- but both the West Coast style guitar jamming AND the way-out-there electronics experimentation really come to the fore. Again, mostly instrumental (one exception being the ominous, electronically treated reading of an Edgar Allen Poe poem that forms the last track, backed by gloomy Mellotron-led prog rock), psychedelic, trippy stuff, utterly gorgeous. Electronically created environmental sounds, wild and spacey