TIMES NEW VIKING Born Again Revisited (Matador) cd 13.98
The kings (and queen) of shitgaze return once again, to prove once again, that none of those wannabe noiseniks can even come close. It's not about your shitty 4-track, or your busted ass equipment, or recording onto a boombox in Mom's basement, it's about songs and hooks, the riffs and the melodies, and TNV have it all covered. The songs rule, impossibly catchy, with weary drawled indie sad boy vocals all tangled up with dreamy girl group la la la girl vocals, the guitars are crunchy and angular, the drums are blown out, in-the-red basement crunch, the keyboard is warm and warbly and wheezy, not sure if there's an actual bass, it's hard to tell since most of these tracks lean toward the trebly, and the production varies, from surprisingly clean and shimmery (on "Martin Luther King Day"), to crumbling and distorted almost everywhere else.
But again, that's all incidental to the songs, which manage to be sort of pop, sort of punk, a little new wave, a bit crusty, all wrapped around unlikely, but irresistible hooks, a few songs get super jagged and no wave-y, and the sound totally suits them, but then there are jams like "Martin Luther King Day" which sound like classic nineties indie rock, albeit a bit rougher around the edges. And the rest of the tracks fall somewhere in between, raw, blown out garage-y new wave-y pop, that easily outshines all the other shitgaze combos, as well as positioning TNV comfortably amidst a similar but parallel scene, the weirdo lo-fi new wave garage pop scene that Thee Oh Sees, Sic Alps, The Fresh & Onlys, Ty Segall and Tyvek all call home.
We LOVE this band!
MPEG Stream: "Martin Luther King Day"
MPEG Stream: "I Smell Bubblegum"
MPEG Stream: "City On Drugs"

TIMES NEW VIKING Born Again Revisited (Matador) lp 14.98
The kings (and queen) of shitgaze return once again, to prove once again, that none of those wannabe noiseniks can even come close. It's not about your shitty 4-track, or your busted ass equipment, or recording onto a boombox in Mom's basement, it's about songs and hooks, the riffs and the melodies, and TNV have it all covered. The songs rule, impossibly catchy, with weary drawled indie sad boy vocals all tangled up with dreamy girl group la la la girl vocals, the guitars are crunchy and angular, the drums are blown out, in-the-red basement crunch, the keyboard is warm and warbly and wheezy, not sure if there's an actual bass, it's hard to tell since most of these tracks lean toward the trebly, and the production varies, from surprisingly clean and shimmery (on "Martin Luther King Day"), to crumbling and distorted almost everywhere else.
But again, that's all incidental to the songs, which manage to be sort of pop, sort of punk, a little new wave, a bit crusty, all wrapped around unlikely, but irresistible hooks, a few songs get super jagged and no wave-y, and the sound totally suits them, but then there are jams like "Martin Luther King Day" which sound like classic nineties indie rock, albeit a bit rougher around the edges. And the rest of the tracks fall somewhere in between, raw, blown out garage-y new wave-y pop, that easily outshines all the other shitgaze combos, as well as positioning TNV comfortably amidst a similar but parallel scene, the weirdo lo-fi new wave garage pop scene that Thee Oh Sees, Sic Alps, The Fresh & Onlys, Ty Segall and Tyvek all call home.
We LOVE this band!
MPEG Stream: "Martin Luther King Day"
MPEG Stream: "I Smell Bubblegum"
MPEG Stream: "City On Drugs"

BIG STAR Keep An Eye On The Sky (Rhino) 4cd 78.00
If you've never heard Big Star before, and you've got $80 to burn, buy this NOW. You could probably buy the three records proper on their own for way less, but odds are, once you dig in to Big Star, you're gonna become obsessed, and want everything you can get. They're that kind of band, and these songs are just so goddamn good. Even if you're not familiar with Big Star, you are almost for sure familiar with about a million bands who owe everything they are to this legendary Southern power pop band. And we're not talking bubblegum pop, Big Star wrote dark and serious songs, emotional and super personal, able to rock with the best of them, but also able to weave gorgeous minimal intimate tales of love and loss and death. You've no doubt heard some of these songs before, even if you didn't realize it was them.
Keep An Eye On The Sky includes some of their best tracks from all three of their records, but also tacks on FIFTY TWO unreleased tracks, demos, alternate takes, live tracks, as well as the only existing film footage of the band. The packaging is deluxe and gorgeous and expansive, a huge fold out book jammed with liner notes and photos, this is a great introduction to the band for sure, and is of course absolutely ESSENTIAL if you're already a super fan. And how could you not be?! These are such seminal, lifechanging sounds, and this is such timeless music. Big Star are most definitely, one of THE all time great rock bands. Up there with the Stones, the Beatles, the Velvet Underground, Led Zeppelin. Really.
And really essential.

EMERALDS s/t (Wagon / Gneiss Things) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Drifting backwards in time from the post-noise excursions into placid meditations for guitar and synth, Emeralds have become one of the favorites here at Aquarius; and for very good reason, everything they touch seems to turn to gold. Solar Bridge was a such a tease of an introduction for us, and probably was the same for many out there entering into the swirling concoctions of electronic drone; but it has been the two albums What Happened and Allegory of Allergies that really laid the foundation for their impending greatness. Not only do they have a strong grasp on the minimalist theatrics of the drone, but also Emeralds enjoys a selective memory of what made progressive electronics and progressive rock in the late '70s and early '80s great. The pastoral colorfields of Cluster, the alienated ethos of Heldon, and the insistent arpeggiations of Achim Reichel and Ash Ra Tempel all figure heavily into Emeralds sound.
This vinyl-only, eponymous record seems to percolate and bubble with electronics, at times veering into the same Omni Magazine territory that Oneothrix Point Never has been mustering for the past year. It may not be a surprise that OPN and Emerald's guitarist Mark McGuire have collaborated in a project called Skyramps, which is as good as you might imagine. The three tracks on the first side wrangle squiggling rhythms, bleepity squelches, and bending sustained tones generated by Emeralds' two synth jockeys John Elliott and Steve Hauschildt, while McGuire dishes out his best Manuel Gottsching impression. The second side is one of the epochal, long form constructs that slows everything on the first side down to an elegant pace with watery field recordings laced throughout. Pretty fucking awesome. And no doubt somewhat limited...

MUDHONEY Superfuzz Bigmuff (Sub Pop) lp 12.98
One of our favorite seminal grunge jams now (again) on vinyl!!
This is another one of those records that is almost beyond reviewing. A record that if we found out someone we knew didn't own it, we would simply insist they buy it immediately. No questions asked. Of questions were asked, we would respond with something like "Because it's awesome!" or "It's one of the best collections of songs EVER" or more likely "JUST BUY IT! IT RULES!".
But since that doesn't work on everyone, we'll do our best to describe what is one of our favorite records EVER, and arguably the best Mudhoney release EVER. Partially because it's not a proper album, but rather a collection of single tracks. Pretty much every one a perfect chunk of slithery filthy grungy punk rock genius.
When we first discovered Mudhoney, it was because we were super obsessed with Green River, the band that vocalist/guitarist Mark Arm and guitarist Steve Turner called home before Mudhoney. Both quitting as that band leaned more and more toward glam rock and late eighties Sunset Strip rock. But to our ears, Mudhoney didn't sound all that different from Green River. Maybe a little punkier, definitely less bluesy, but from the second we first heard Mudhoney, we were in punk rock love.
A lot of it has to do with Arm's raspy croon, so raw and primal, but managing to be super melodic and versatile. He's a bit like a mop topped grunge rock Iggy Pop, wiry and writhing while spitting out insane punk rock bon mots, wailing away on his axe, bouncing maniacally around the stage. His voice is definitely the defining feature of Mudhoney, but that wouldn't mean shit if the songs weren't amazing, and they are. Punk as fuck, but way poppy, hooks galore, but all wound up in super tight riffs, wiry melodies and wild drumming, the band careening wildly one second, pounding away through some doomy dirge the next.
No amount of flowery description, no review, no matter how well written, can possibly compare to just hearing this stuff. We're so jealous of anyone who gets to hear "Touch Me I'm Sick" for the first time, or their cover of the Dicks' "Hate The Police", or the slithery "Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More". When we first heard these songs, our minds were BLOWN. Literally, we had no idea what the heck we were hearing. Punk rock. Grunge. Pop. But it was more than that. The energy, the spirit, the groove, the vibe, and holy shit THE SONGS. So with all of that to chew on, I think we're finally at a stage where we can unleash the "JUST BUY IT. IT TOTALLY RULES!!"
We get a little bummed out on reissues sometimes, thinking we have to buy a record all over again, for maybe a few extra tracks, or a dvd, or whatever, but then you have to realize, stuff like this is not necessarily for fans who already have the record, but for folks who might have somehow missed out, many of whom were maybe not even alive, or still toddlers when it first came out. So for you folks, this is absolutely a must have. Whether you're a metalhead, an emo kid, a punk rocker. Mudhoney are one of the few bands whose appeal transcends genre, and rightfully so.
MPEG Stream: "Hate The Police"
MPEG Stream: "Touch Me I'm Sick"
MPEG Stream: "Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More"
MPEG Stream: "In 'N' Out Of Grace"

MAKE A CHANGE... KILL YOURSELF s/t (Total Holocaust) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Once again, one of our all time favorite slabs of blackened and buzzing depressive black metal is BACK IN PRINT, on a new label, not sure for how long, but for anybody who somehow missed out on this the last couple times, don't blow it again. Absolutely essential!
It's very rare that a band name cuts so succinctly to the heart of what a band is all about. So perfectly encapsulating the hate and misery and blackness of the music. Thus we have Make A Change Kill... Yourself, certainly doesn't trip off the tongue, but it's not supposed to, like the music, and the sentiments behind it, nothing here is supposed to be easy, or happy or joyful. It's meant to be hard, brutal, sad, dismal, hopeless, miserable. And it is, but on such a massively grand and epic scale it's sort of breathtaking. Huge mournful minor key swirls of buzzing guitars, ultra depressive and strangely melancholy. Mostly midtempo, often trudging into downright doom, occasionally bursting into brief blasts of furious thrashing, but never for long, always settling back into a seething lurching blackened lament. Massive stretched out epics, the shortest track clocking in at 14 minutes, the longest pushing 30. Relentless double kicks beneath a black flow of downtuned Burzumic buzz, thick and rich and dense and dark, so emotional and intense, fuzz atop buzz atop blur atop whir, swaying and loping hypnotically. This takes the very best parts of Burzum and Xasthur and other blackened depressives to the next level, introducing a massive and majestic Godspeed element, as well as some incredibly catchy melodies, albeit still appropriately raw and black and grim, but they manage to float wraithlike, endlessly in your ears, in your brain, in your soul, like the ghost of a memory, a weird feeling of sadness and loss, that sticks in your head just as much as the bleak and somber melodies. Very rare for any music, let alone buzzy blurry black metal. Incredibly poignant, ambient interludes, ghostly female vocals, strange drone-y breakdowns, mysterious chimes and swells, brief glimpses of desolate soundscapes, all serving, along with the almighty BUZZ, to lead us even further down that dark path to nothingness. BLACK METAL RECORD OF THE YEAR (2005) for sure!
MPEG Stream: "Chapter One"
MPEG Stream: "Chapter Two"

PINK NOISE Graffiti Youth (Kill Shaman) lp 15.98
Record number 3 from this weirdo Canadian duo, sure it'll be a big hit with the kids into the current crop of lo-fi warble and fractured garage pop, but these guys take that sound in a much darker, and way creepier direction. Sort of new wave, kind of garage-y, even a little bit industrial, but also a whole lot fucked up and fractured, a bit of that Residents off kilter creep, all warped guitars and motorik beats, and some seriously demented vocals.
Every song is raw and blown out, but more murky and synthy than anything, the whole record wreathed in grit and hiss and filth, the vocals weirdly tangled and often doubled, the guitars melting into black puddles of hum and rumble, super fuzzy and jagged, but simultaneously muted and muddy, definitely more punk than most of those bands but filtered through the same sort of alternate universe FM radio vibe, a few of the tracks are even laced with some weird off kilter 8-bit video game sounds, which somehow manage to blend in perfectly with the rest of the sonic strangeness, stumbling drum machines, woozy ambience, twisted production, and yet, somehow, buried under all the buzz and crunch and lope and lumber, lurks some seriously catchy and irresistible lo-fi dream-doom-pop. Definitely a new favorite...

NIHILL Krach (Hydra Head) cd 16.98
This killer slab of heaviness, originally reviewed right here way back in 2007, has been out of print for a while, but the fine folks at Hydra Head have gotten the rights from the Monumentum label to unleash it once again. So for those of you who missed out on this the first time, don't blow it again, after all, it's practically impossible to not love a band that sounds like some unholy spawn of Deathspell Omega and SUNNO))), a blackened ritualistic blend of furious black metal and epic doomdrone. And while that combination in and of itself is not outrageously novel, since lots of BM record incorporate ambience and drones, it's all in the execution, and Nihill have managed to spin a sinister black web of sound that while familiar in some ways, is truly unlike anything we've heard before.
The first in a supposedly already completed trilogy of albums, Krach is a droning black beast, that begins with a short intro, a barely there bit of dark ambience, before exploding into blasting chaotic, almost industrial black metal, so intense and blown out it basically ceases being black metal and becomes some droning buzzing black noisescape, the relentless blast beats the only thing holding everything together, huge swaths of ugly buzz and furious tangled black riffing. About part way through the brutality abates, leaving a fuzzy free floating tangle of strange voices, and circusy guitar melodies, whirring drones and abstract ambience, before a black blast shatters the tranquility and we're sucked right back down into Nihill's fuzzed out hellish sonic abyss.
The rest of the record is primarily the epic, three part, 42 minute Gnosis song suite. Each movement a cinematic slab of black doomdronedrift, huge ultra distorted swells of chordal crunch, over haunting plodding percussion that sounds like it was recorded in some massive underground cathedral, these glacial sonic shifts lumber beastlike through sprawling black hole soundscapes, the various layers and drones shifting from hateful industrial pummel to gorgeous ambient shimmer and back again. Imagine a more druggy SUNNO))) but with actual percussion, some demonic propulsion driving this epic's 16 rpm engine. The trilogy is broken up by another burst of DSO style blackened chaos, a completely deranged off kilter sonic assault, but the last two movements follow, one right after the other, finishing off the record with a nearly half hour of glacial, suffocating, brutal black drift. 
Any one remotely into any of the following bands absolutely NEEDS this: SUNNO))), Deathspell Omega, Moss, Khanate, Bunkur, S.V.E.S.T., Trollmann, Tenhornedbeast, Monument Of Urns, Marzuraan, Black Boned Angel... we could go on and on and on. A new deathdoomdronedrift favorite, with the added bonus of some seriously buzzing blackness. 
And we're STILL dying for the rest of the trilogy....
MPEG Stream: "Mundus Subterreanus"
MPEG Stream: "Gnosis Pt. 1"
MPEG Stream: "Dreams Upon The Scaffold"

BEATLES, THE Beatles For Sale (2009 Stereo Remaster) (Capitol) cd 17.98
We said it about Nirvana a while back, and we'll say it about the Beatles, people who say they hate the Beatles are LYING. And if they're not lying, well, then we just feel sorry for them. We're perfectly willing to admit to Beatles oversaturation, and fair enough if you've heard enough Beatles on classic rock radio, that you never want to hear any again, but that's so unfair to a band's legacy, especially a band who wrote so many amazing songs. Take Led Zeppelin, imagine NEVER having heard them, and then getting your ears on "Stairway To Heaven" or "Immigrant Song" or "No Quarter" or "When The Levee Breaks". Your mind would be BLOWN, and you'd suddenly realize how much every metal band you ever loved owed to Zeppelin. We remember playing Neu! for a friend whose favorite band was Stereolab, she had never heard Neu! but the second the first song started, her whole idea of Stereolab changed, and in fact, if we remember correctly, she said something like "Stereolab is a total Neu! ripoff!!"...
So imagine, for a second, being super into pop music, and never having heard the Beatles, needless to say, you would be overwhelmed by their sheer genius, their utter mastery of pop music, and how much they defined the template for almost all pop to come. No band since has such a distinct and immediately recognizable sound, or such an expansive and hit filled catalog. And yeah, is this reissue campaign number 5, 6, 10? So odds are most of you have all the Beatles records, or at least the ones you like, and probably, you've had your fill of old record nerds getting all misty eyed for the Nth time, and talking about remastered sound quality and stereo versus mono.
But, we thought as long as these records are available again, nicely repackaged, and indeed (for the most part) sounding better than ever, we'd make the case for one of our favorites, a commonly dismissed, overlooked, and surprisingly depressive Beatles gem. Beatles For Sale came out in 1964 (we think), and was met with much confusion. Sure there were hits, "Eight Days A Week" was massive, "I'll Follow The Sun" has always been a favorite. But then there was record opener "No Reply", which begins as a total classic sounding, but is broken up by some seriously caustic (and almost heavy) parts, with voice on the verge of cracking, guitars distorted, and the hook, one of the Beatles' best. But our heart belongs to the second track "I'm A Loser", another total classic sounding Beatles jam, with incredible harmonies, and dark lyrics that are at odds with the song's lush sound and groovy feel, acoustic guitars, walking basslines, all sorts of melodic filigree, it's been 20 years or more since we first heard it, and not only are we still not tired of it (maybe partly cuz it NEVER gets played on the radio) but it still ranks up there with our all time favorite pop songs.
The one strange thing about Beatles For Sale, is the mix of dark brooding lush pop, and stomping rock and roll numbers. We had sort of forgotten about the more rocking tracks, cuz to be honest, when we made a tape of this way back when, and later put it on our iPod, we actually left those tracks off, not cuz they're BAD, just because they're not what made us fall in love with this record in the first place. Strip away those rockers, and this is a gorgeous, introspective, hook filled, dark and subtly depressive pop gem.
Fancy new digipak packaging, new liner notes, rare photos, a mini documentary about For Sale, and yeah, it's remastered and sounds AWESOME!
PS: we've got a bunch of the other newly reissued remastered digipacked Beatles discs in stock too, love 'em too, just happened to get extra excited to write about this one!
Oh, and if you're feeling extra splurge-y, there's also the Beatles Mono Box set which is in a league all its own (and which was at the tip-top of Cup's 2009 favorites list). The limited edition 13-disc box set contains all of their albums up to and including the White Album plus a collection of singles and eps - all in mono as they were originally produced! Unlike their stereo counterparts, the mono remasters haven't been given the modern rock treatment (i.e, everything loud). Hence, they have a stunning dynamic range, and sound a-m-a-z-i-n-g! Apart from the stereo versus mono distinctions, the recordings definitely sound different, and in many cases are actually different, as the stereo versions were often mixed at a much later date. Each of the cds is packaged in a beautiful mini replica lp jacket complete with mini replica inner sleeve to boot. Unfortunately the mono albums are not currently available individually, so this is the only way to get 'em... and only for a limited time. If you want one, we'd be happy to order one in for you!
MPEG Stream: "I'm A Loser"
MPEG Stream: "No Reply"
MPEG Stream: "I'll Follow The Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Every Little Thing"

BLACK JOKER Watch Out (Olde English Spelling Bees) lp 21.00
It's been a while since we've heard from the OTHER half of defunct noise duo the Skaters, after a slew of releases from James Ferraro comes this latest blast of rhythmic cosmic bliss from Ferraro's former partner, Spencer Clark in his latest guise as the Black Joker. Originally released as a super limited (80 copies!) cassette in Europe, this hazy gem is now available on vinyl, and still super limited...
Whereas Ferraro channels his eighties afterschool special cop show theme synthscapes through a bank of effects and a warm whirl of hiss and fuzz, Clark is more about the rhythm, two sidelong jams, each wrapped around a motorik groove, sounding like it was cobbled together from a junkyard gamelan, an amplified thumb piano (a la Konono No.1) and some bongos, locked into an endless loop, the rhythm is sent loping into swirling clouds of wheezing tones and tangled melodies, a soundscape of constantly shifting, spinning, twisting, contorting and expanding sounds, effects galore, sputtering synths, crumbling layers, all wreathed in soft noise, a blown out space psych ur-drone krautrock from another dimension. Hazy, glistening, sun baked and lysergic, mesmerizing and hypnotic, and so so good.

MORDANT MUSIC / SHACKLETON / VINDICATRIX Picking O'er The Bones (Mordant Music) cd 16.98
Not sure of what the connection is between aQ faves Shackleton, the Skull Disco label, and Mordant music really, they seem somehow interconnected, Shackleton having been a part of Mordant Music at some point maybe, doesn't really matter, all you need to know is that this disc collects all the Shackleton related releases from this era (the Mordant era?), all WAY out of print, and all seriously kick ass. In fact we've been trying to get these for ages, the first time we heard it we freaked out, proclaiming it the electronic music record of the year, or weirdo dubstap jam of the year, or some similar rave, and thus, needless to say, this disc blows us away. It has been out for a while, but we only just now managed to get enough to list. Which also means when we run out, we very ell may not be able to get more, so consider yourself warned.
So yeah, these tracks are dark and spacey, and dense and weirdly funky and groovy, the core of most of these tracks is definitely dubstep, moreso on the Shackleton tracks proper than the others. "Stalker" is spare and skeletal, with woozy synths, plenty of skittery rhythms, and some awesome rubbery squlechy bass wobble, easily a classic dubstep jam if there ever was one. "I Want To Eat You" takes the same sound and blisses it out a bit, adding a Middle Eastern tinge, channeling Muslimgauze through effects laden abstract dub. "El Din" and "El Din 2" offer up more of the same, exotic and mysterious, moody and minimal, shifting from Eastern shuffle to dark Chain Reactiony pulse and back again.
Then there are the Mordant Music tracks, which are way more techno sounding, more beat-y with chopped up melodies and soaring synths, some with thick throbbing bass warble, one with creepy electronic buzz woven into the sklittery shuffle, and then there's the record closer, "Marston Moor", a super noisy noise drenched creepfest, complete with shriekd black metal vocals buried in the mix, swirling and chaotic, with what sound like processed horns, would kill to hear a whole record of this stuff.
Finally there's two tracks from Vindicatrix, one a tripped out druggy FX-fest, vocals doused in delay and sent spinning into the ether, super minimal beats and rumbling low end buzz, a weird sort of post industrial glitchscape, while the second is a murky chunk of minimal techno dub, with haunting processed female vocals, creepy Goblin-y synths, all draped in a blurred grime-y eighties haze.
Require listening for fans of tripped out electronica, weird abstract dub(step) and damaged glitch beat minimalism.
MPEG Stream: SHACKLETON "Stalker"
MPEG Stream: SHACKLETON "I Want To Eat You"
MPEG Stream: MORDANT MUSIC "Hummdrumm"
MPEG Stream: VINDICATRIX "Private Places (RMX)"
MPEG Stream: MORDANT MUSIC "Marston Moor"

POLVO In Prism (Merge) 2lp 24.00
The reunion / reissue onslaught seems like it might never end. But when bands like Polvo decide to get back together, why would we ever want it to?
Easily one of our favorite math rock bands from the nineties, whose sound was truly unique, tangled Eastern sounding guitars, slippery riffs, complicated song structures, weary laid back vox, all wound tight into some of the catchiest, most unlikely indie rock songs ever.
We knew Polvo had gotten back together, and then we found out they were recording a brand new record, which could definitely have been a disappointment, but this is most definitely not a disappointment. Not at all. There are awesome reunion records for sure, but this isn't just an awesome *reunion* record, In Prism totally stands up to the rest of their catalog, Today's Active Lifestyles, Shapes, Exploded Drawing, only the pickiest of ears would be able to pick one of the In Prism songs out as not belonging, and only then it would probably be mostly because they didn't know it by heart like the rest of the catalog. Which is sort of the magic of Polvo, their music is so NOT typically catchy or poppy, it's obtuse, angular, off kilter, twisted, tangled, but somehow it IS both catchy and poppy. Those slithery woozy riffs get stuck in your head as hard as any radio hit pop song.
And yeah, In Prism carries on that tradition, another kick ass set of songs, hooky and heavy, warped and mathy, with a bit of a classic rock vibe going on, which we didn't really notice until someone pointed it out to us. But goddamn this stuff is awesome. Opener "Right The Relation" is perfect Polvo, with one of THOSE riffs, vocals and guitar lines getting all tangled up, and some incredible drumming. And then there's "Beggar's Bowl", the most classic Polvo track of all the jams here, with one of the best riffs ever, draped over shimmery high end guitar whir, super rad jagged start stop arrangements, hazy production, layered lush guitars, and a main hook that slays.
Anyone who loved Polvo back in the day, or who still loves Polvo (which we imagine must be everyone right?) will go nuts for In Prism, and folks into mathy, crunchy, indie post rock and have somehow never heard Polvo before, this might be an introduction to your new favorite band.
MPEG Stream: "Right The Relation"
MPEG Stream: "D.C. Trails"
MPEG Stream: "Beggar's Bowl"

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE Diary (Sub Pop) cd 11.98
It's a strange musical time lately, with pretty much every cool band we loved in the eighties and nineties reforming, many of them recording brand new albums, lots of them performing classic albums in their entirety, and while we're usually not all that psyched on the reunion thing, we have to say, we were pretty thrilled to get to see Slint, and some of us are going to see the Get Up Kids next week, and who could possibly complain about seeing the Butthole Surfers or Killdozer or Jesus Lizard? Sure, they were better back in the day, the energy is different, back then they were young and hungry and had something to prove, now they're moms and dads with jobs and many are probably doing it for the money, considering they're probably gonna make more reuniting for a few months now than they ever did in years of recording and touring.
Plus there's a whole new generation of music fanatics, who missed out on arguably some of the best music ever, many of whom love bands who wouldn't even exist if it weren't for all those bands that came before.
One reunion that folks have been clamoring for since mere moments after breaking up, is for emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate, and while it only took a decade, it looks like the band will in fact finally reunite, and tour, and yeah, we'll probably all be there, freaking out when they play the hits, and speaking of the hits, maybe more exciting than the reunion, is the deluxe reissue of SDRE's first two albums, Diary, and LP2, both absolute classics, redefining the template for modern day indie rock / emo, and like Slint, SDRE were most definitely a band that launched a million other bands. Odds are most folks have these discs already, but if for some reason you don't holy shit are you in for a treat. Heavy, mathy, emotional, catchy, totally rocking, and just absolutely incredible.
Diary, originally released back in 1994, is another one of those records that is so front loaded, you could be forgiven for owning this record and nor making it to the end. Even now, we have to fight the urge to play the first few tracks over and over and over. But fight on, cuz the second half is just as kick ass.
"Seven" and "In Circles" are probably SDRE's best known songs and for good reason, two of THEE most perfect indie rock jams ever. The guitars lines are tangled melodic, the riffs crunchy, the drums complex and pounding, the arrangements complex, with plenty of starts and stops, little bursts of manic chug, streaks of chiming shimmer, the vocals so anguished and passionate, high and reedy, but still a little rough and ragged, keening and on the verge of breaking, slipping from whisper to howl and back again, really, if you've never heard these guys, just listen to the sound samples, and if you're not immediately smitten / obsessed, then heck, we're not sure what else to do for you.
"In Circles" is the prettier half of the opening one-two punch, with that immediately recognizable looped guitar intro, before slipping into some shimmery stripped down almost slowcore, but with a fantastically soaring, epic, majestic, hands in the air, heartbreak chorus, which ranks up there as one of those all time goosebumps, hair on the back of your neck, tearjerker, air guitar, indie rock musical moments, and a testament to its power is that it has that affect EVERY time, and still does 15 years later.
So after listening to those two songs 20 or 30 times, force yourself to continue on, you won't be disappointed. "Song About An Angel" is another slow brooding drift, that has one of the coolest stop start staccato bridges ever, as catchy as any other song's chorus. "47" had it been pushed forward a little in the playing order, might have been part of that irresistible replay opening salvo, with an incredible main melody, and verses that somehow manage to be even catchier than the catchy chorus. And don't let all this poppiness and catchiness ward off you heavy music folks, all that pop is tangled up and intertwined with some serious heaviness, plenty of heft and crunch, some incredible guitar playing, wild mathy, almost metallic drumming, and again, all wound up into highly unconventional song structures.
We could go on and on and on, the rest of the record is just as awesome, there are a handful of brooding slow burners, but even those are peppered with some seriously emo blowouts, not a bad one in the bunch, it's not hard to see why we all freaked out about this band when this record first appeared, and none of its power or emotion or energy has been blunted by the passing of time. Not in the least.
The reissue features two bonus tracks, from the awesome and long gone Thief, Steal Me A Peach 7", which predated Diary by about a year, and if anything is even heavier and more dense, the perfect sort of bonus track, melding seamlessly with the album proper (and one thing we notice listening to the 7"s tracks is how much SDRE sometimes sounded like a WAY heavier, way more rocking Decemberists!). New fancy gatefold digipak packaging, with that iconic Fisher Price Little People parody artwork, featuring those conical people shaped toys, set in depressing environments, like in a kitchen with the toast burning, amidst a not so happy family, a couple sleeping far apart in their bed, in surgery, at the scene of a car accident, etc. Also includes all new liner notes and interviews with the various band members.
One complaint about the cd packaging though, the digipak comes in a slipcover, which is always cool, but the slipcover has the record title, band name, and some random text about bonus tracks and the producer, stuff that should obviously have been on a sticker but is printed over that super cool artwork, and unfortunately, you can't toss the slipcover, cuz it's the ONLY place where the track listing is printed, thankfully, the lp version does not make the same mistake...
MPEG Stream: "Seven"
MPEG Stream: "In Circles"
MPEG Stream: "47"

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE Diary (Sub Pop) 2lp 16.98
It's a strange musical time lately, with pretty much every cool band we loved in the eighties and nineties reforming, many of them recording brand new albums, lots of them performing classic albums in their entirety, and while we're usually not all that psyched on the reunion thing, we have to say, we were pretty thrilled to get to see Slint, and some of us are going to see the Get Up Kids next week, and who could possibly complain about seeing the Butthole Surfers or Killdozer or Jesus Lizard? Sure, they were better back in the day, the energy is different, back then they were young and hungry and had something to prove, now they're moms and dads with jobs and many are probably doing it for the money, considering they're probably gonna make more reuniting for a few months now than they ever did in years of recording and touring.
Plus there's a whole new generation of music fanatics, who missed out on arguably some of the best music ever, many of whom love bands who wouldn't even exist if it weren't for all those bands that came before.
One reunion that folks have been clamoring for since mere moments after breaking up, is for emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate, and while it only took a decade, it looks like the band will in fact finally reunite, and tour, and yeah, we'll probably all be there, freaking out when they play the hits, and speaking of the hits, maybe more exciting than the reunion, is the deluxe reissue of SDRE's first two albums, Diary, and LP2, both absolute classics, redefining the template for modern day indie rock / emo, and like Slint, SDRE were most definitely a band that launched a million other bands. Odds are most folks have these discs already, but if for some reason you don't holy shit are you in for a treat. Heavy, mathy, emotional, catchy, totally rocking, and just absolutely incredible.
Diary, originally released back in 1994, is another one of those records that is so front loaded, you could be forgiven for owning this record and nor making it to the end. Even now, we have to fight the urge to play the first few tracks over and over and over. But fight on, cuz the second half is just as kick ass.
"Seven" and "In Circles" are probably SDRE's best known songs and for good reason, two of THEE most perfect indie rock jams ever. The guitars lines are tangled melodic, the riffs crunchy, the drums complex and pounding, the arrangements complex, with plenty of starts and stops, little bursts of manic chug, streaks of chiming shimmer, the vocals so anguished and passionate, high and reedy, but still a little rough and ragged, keening and on the verge of breaking, slipping from whisper to howl and back again, really, if you've never heard these guys, just listen to the sound samples, and if you're not immediately smitten / obsessed, then heck, we're not sure what else to do for you.
"In Circles" is the prettier half of the opening one-two punch, with that immediately recognizable looped guitar intro, before slipping into some shimmery stripped down almost slowcore, but with a fantastically soaring, epic, majestic, hands in the air, heartbreak chorus, which ranks up there as one of those all time goosebumps, hair on the back of your neck, tearjerker, air guitar, indie rock musical moments, and a testament to its power is that it has that affect EVERY time, and still does 15 years later.
So after listening to those two songs 20 or 30 times, force yourself to continue on, you won't be disappointed. "Song About An Angel" is another slow brooding drift, that has one of the coolest stop start staccato bridges ever, as catchy as any other song's chorus. "47" had it been pushed forward a little in the playing order, might have been part of that irresistible replay opening salvo, with an incredible main melody, and verses that somehow manage to be even catchier than the catchy chorus. And don't let all this poppiness and catchiness ward off you heavy music folks, all that pop is tangled up and intertwined with some serious heaviness, plenty of heft and crunch, some incredible guitar playing, wild mathy, almost metallic drumming, and again, all wound up into highly unconventional song structures.
We could go on and on and on, the rest of the record is just as awesome, there are a handful of brooding slow burners, but even those are peppered with some seriously emo blowouts, not a bad one in the bunch, it's not hard to see why we all freaked out about this band when this record first appeared, and none of its power or emotion or energy has been blunted by the passing of time. Not in the least.
The reissue features two bonus tracks, from the awesome and long gone Thief, Steal Me A Peach 7", which predated Diary by about a year, and if anything is even heavier and more dense, the perfect sort of bonus track, melding seamlessly with the album proper (and one thing we notice listening to the 7"s tracks is how much SDRE sometimes sounded like a WAY heavier, way more rocking Decemberists!). New fancy gatefold digipak packaging, with that iconic Fisher Price Little People parody artwork, featuring those conical people shaped toys, set in depressing environments, like in a kitchen with the toast burning, amidst a not so happy family, a couple sleeping far apart in their bed, in surgery, at the scene of a car accident, etc. Also includes all new liner notes and interviews with the various band members.
One complaint about the cd packaging though, the digipak comes in a slipcover, which is always cool, but the slipcover has the record title, band name, and some random text about bonus tracks and the producer, stuff that should obviously have been on a sticker but is printed over that super cool artwork, and unfortunately, you can't toss the slipcover, cuz it's the ONLY place where the track listing is printed, thankfully, the lp version does not make the same mistake...
MPEG Stream: "Seven"
MPEG Stream: "In Circles"
MPEG Stream: "47"

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE LP2 (Sub Pop) cd 11.98
It's a strange musical time lately, with pretty much every cool band we loved in the eighties and nineties reforming, many of them recording brand new albums, lots of them performing classic albums in their entirety, and while we're usually not all that psyched on the reunion thing, we have to say, we were pretty thrilled to get to see Slint, and some of us are going to see the Get Up Kids next week, and who could possibly complain about seeing the Butthole Surfers or Killdozer or Jesus Lizard? Sure, they were better back in the day, the energy is different, back then they were young and hungry and had something to prove, now they're moms and dads with jobs and many are probably doing it for the money, considering they're probably gonna make more reuniting for a few months now than they ever did in years of recording and touring.
Plus there's a whole new generation of music fanatics, who missed out on arguably some of the best music ever, many of whom love bands who wouldn't even exist if it weren't for all those bands that came before.
One reunion that folks have been clamoring for since mere moments after breaking up, is for emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate, and while it only took a decade, it looks like the band will in fact finally reunite, and tour, and yeah, we'll probably all be there, freaking out when they play the hits, and speaking of the hits, maybe more exciting than the reunion, is the deluxe reissue of SDRE's first two albums, Diary, and LP2, both absolute classics, redefining the template for modern day indie rock / emo, and like Slint, SDRE were most definitely a band that launched a million other bands. Odds are most folks have these discs already, but if for some reason you don't holy shit are you in for a treat. Heavy, mathy, emotional, catchy, totally rocking, and just absolutely incredible.
Sunny Day Real Estate's second record, self titled, often referred to as 'the pink album' due to its simple all pink cover, as well as being known now as LP2, was released in 1995, mere months before the band broke up (for the first time), and it's easy to hear in the music, the sound is much less immediately catchy than Diary, a bit darker, a grower for sure, all the sonic elements are still present, the same spidery chiming guitars, dense complex arrangements, soaring chug heavy choruses, Jeremy Enigk's plaintive emotional wail, and hooks, they're there all right, but they sink in slowly, over repeated listens. Over the years, LP2 has become just as powerful as Diary, in some ways even more so, with its overall sound more wrought with tension and emotion, the songs more minor key and somehow more sad sounding. And thus even, maybe a bit more emo.
There are some 'hits' here too. "Theo B" is frantic, with a cool lurching tempo, weirdly angular guitars, and some seriously intense vocals. "Red Elephant", is a slow burning post rocker, with a soaring chorus, rife with chiming guitars and dense drum pound, but with a weary, worn vibe, like much of the record, a strange undercurrent of impending doom. Definitely darker than Diary, but instead of that being a weakness, it's most definitely the record's strength. "Waffle" might be our favorite track here, a meandering low end slither, all woozy bass and Slint-y guitars, a sing songy tempo, a gorgeous main melody, and some truly beautiful voice-about-to-crack vocals. Then there's "8", which sounds like it could have been plucked right off of Diary, and like the single bonus tracks on Diary, reminds us again how much SDRE sometimes sound like a super heavy emo Decemberists. The strange thing about LP2, is that it's really back heavy, with some of the best SDRE songs EVER, tucked way near the end of the record, which makes sense in a way if you consider LP2 to be a sort of continuation of Diary...
The thing is, as long as we've had these records, they seemed more like 2 halves of the same record, a sprawling concept record, one side lighter, one darker, perfectly complimenting each other, both on their own practically perfect, but combined, pretty much one of the greatest song suites in second wave emo for sure, but maybe even in indie rock history all together.
After this record, frontman Jeremy Enigk would discover Jesus and go on to record some awesome solo records, 1/2 the band would go on to play in the Foo Fighters, and the band would get back together 4 or 5 years later, and record two more SDRE records, both pretty great, but nothing really compared to the magic of this one, and Diary.
LP2 features two bonus tracks, each single B-sides, and both again, pretty kick ass, and both surprisingly dark and heavy and EPIC.
All new deluxe packaging, gatefold digipak, printed inner sleeve, and a massive booklet with all new liner notes, and an interview with the band members.
MPEG Stream: "Friday"
MPEG Stream: "Theo B"
MPEG Stream: "Red Elephant"

SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE LP2 (Sub Pop) 2lp 14.98
It's a strange musical time lately, with pretty much every cool band we loved in the eighties and nineties reforming, many of them recording brand new albums, lots of them performing classic albums in their entirety, and while we're usually not all that psyched on the reunion thing, we have to say, we were pretty thrilled to get to see Slint, and some of us are going to see the Get Up Kids next week, and who could possibly complain about seeing the Butthole Surfers or Killdozer or Jesus Lizard? Sure, they were better back in the day, the energy is different, back then they were young and hungry and had something to prove, now they're moms and dads with jobs and many are probably doing it for the money, considering they're probably gonna make more reuniting for a few months now than they ever did in years of recording and touring.
Plus there's a whole new generation of music fanatics, who missed out on arguably some of the best music ever, many of whom love bands who wouldn't even exist if it weren't for all those bands that came before.
One reunion that folks have been clamoring for since mere moments after breaking up, is for emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate, and while it only took a decade, it looks like the band will in fact finally reunite, and tour, and yeah, we'll probably all be there, freaking out when they play the hits, and speaking of the hits, maybe more exciting than the reunion, is the deluxe reissue of SDRE's first two albums, Diary, and LP2, both absolute classics, redefining the template for modern day indie rock / emo, and like Slint, SDRE were most definitely a band that launched a million other bands. Odds are most folks have these discs already, but if for some reason you don't holy shit are you in for a treat. Heavy, mathy, emotional, catchy, totally rocking, and just absolutely incredible.
Sunny Day Real Estate's second record, self titled, often referred to as 'the pink album' due to its simple all pink cover, as well as being known now as LP2, was released in 1995, mere months before the band broke up (for the first time), and it's easy to hear in the music, the sound is much less immediately catchy than Diary, a bit darker, a grower for sure, all the sonic elements are still present, the same spidery chiming guitars, dense complex arrangements, soaring chug heavy choruses, Jeremy Enigk's plaintive emotional wail, and hooks, they're there all right, but they sink in slowly, over repeated listens. Over the years, LP2 has become just as powerful as Diary, in some ways even more so, with its overall sound more wrought with tension and emotion, the songs more minor key and somehow more sad sounding. And thus even, maybe a bit more emo.
There are some 'hits' here too. "Theo B" is frantic, with a cool lurching tempo, weirdly angular guitars, and some seriously intense vocals. "Red Elephant", is a slow burning post rocker, with a soaring chorus, rife with chiming guitars and dense drum pound, but with a weary, worn vibe, like much of the record, a strange undercurrent of impending doom. Definitely darker than Diary, but instead of that being a weakness, it's most definitely the record's strength. "Waffle" might be our favorite track here, a meandering low end slither, all woozy bass and Slint-y guitars, a sing songy tempo, a gorgeous main melody, and some truly beautiful voice-about-to-crack vocals. Then there's "8", which sounds like it could have been plucked right off of Diary, and like the single bonus tracks on Diary, reminds us again how much SDRE sometimes sound like a super heavy emo Decemberists. The strange thing about LP2, is that it's really back heavy, with some of the best SDRE songs EVER, tucked way near the end of the record, which makes sense in a way if you consider LP2 to be a sort of continuation of Diary...
The thing is, as long as we've had these records, they seemed more like 2 halves of the same record, a sprawling concept record, one side lighter, one darker, perfectly complimenting each other, both on their own practically perfect, but combined, pretty much one of the greatest song suites in second wave emo for sure, but maybe even in indie rock history all together.
After this record, frontman Jeremy Enigk would discover Jesus and go on to record some awesome solo records, 1/2 the band would go on to play in the Foo Fighters, and the band would get back together 4 or 5 years later, and record two more SDRE records, both pretty great, but nothing really compared to the magic of this one, and Diary.
LP2 features two bonus tracks, each single B-sides, and both again, pretty kick ass, and both surprisingly dark and heavy and EPIC.
All new deluxe packaging, gatefold digipak, printed inner sleeve, and a massive booklet with all new liner notes, and an interview with the band members.
MPEG Stream: "Friday"
MPEG Stream: "Theo B"
MPEG Stream: "Red Elephant"

SOCIAL JUNK Born Into It (Digitalis) cd 13.98
Don't know too much about these guys (this guy?) other than the fact that they create the sort of hazy mechanical looped soundscape we can't seem to get enough of. Imagine the music of Philip Jeck, Wolf Eyes, Tim Hecker, Starving Weirdos and This Heat but all stripped down and reassembled into some abstract collage of post industrial loops, gritty lo-fi dronemusic and abstract motorik krautrock abstraction.
Hard to say what exactly these guys are using as sound sources, there is some sort of metallic percussion, super processed vocals, tons of FX, layer upon layer of fuzzy grit, grimy blurs and deeprumbles, there's a drumkit in there too, lurking below the woozy fug above, but occasionally exploding in a little burst of sizzling cymbals. There's a definite grim gothic vibe too, when the noise occasionally peels back, it reveals a moody meandering sort of doom drift, cold wave, gloom pop, all tribal and haunting and hypnotic. With warm warbly organ, weird swirling production, before the record explodes again in a sprawl of clank and clatter and crunch.
The record shifts and transforms constantly, but often finds a gorgeous washed out hypnotic sound and settles in, sticking with it for long stretches, lulling the listener into an altered state, and then yanking them out and hurling them into an avalanche of crumbling distortion and fractured truncated beats, streaks of feedback and heaving swells of muted distortion.
Even at its noisiest, Born Into It manages to be weirdly pretty and super mesmerizing, but more often than not, the noise is tamped down by thick swaths of thick whirring dreamdronedrift, and wrapped around abstract skeletal rhythms.
Super cool stuff.
MPEG Stream: "It Just Isn't The Same"
MPEG Stream: "Those Final Seconds"
MPEG Stream: "Grief"

V/A Shadow Music Of Thailand (Sublime Frequencies) cd 16.98
It's almost impossible to pick a favorite Sublime Frequencies release. Every one is amazing, mysterious, wondrous, fantastical, funky, fun, far out, in fact, we could just have a standing Record Of The Week reserved for all the Sublime Frequencies records. However, no matter how hard it is, we do in fact have favorites, and this is most definitely one. Not sure how SF decides which records to release as vinyl only, or cd only, it's definitely frustrating for the format specific fan, the vinyl is expensive, limited, and often ends up on eBay for crazy amounts of money, the cd is simple and cheaper, and most of the releases are in fact cd, most likely never to make it to vinyl. Thankfully, at least for the digitally inclined, all of the lp only releases seems to eventually make it to cd, they may make us wait, make us sweat a little, but it always happens, and it's always worth the wait. We wanted to make this Record Of The Week when it first came out on vinyl, but it seemed sad to leave out the still sizeable group of turntableless music lovers, but now it's on cd (and sadly out of print on vinyl), so here we go, another fantastic Sublime Frequencies release, and latest Aquarius Record Of The Week, Shadow Music Of Thailand!
So what is Shadow Music Of Thailand? Well, it's Thai pop heavily influenced by UK instrumental rockers The Shadows of course. More specifically it's a strain of sixties Thai guitar pop heavily influenced by Western music, rock, garage and especially surf. The guitar being the most obvious influence.
So here we have a collection of some of the most notable purveyors of "Shadow Music": The Son Of P.M., P.M. Pocket Music, P.M 7 / Jupiter and Johnny Guitar. You may have noticed the recurring P.M., well that stands for Payong Mukda, one of the most prolific composers and performers of the time and the music genius behind all of those P.M. groups.
On first listen, the Shadow Music here doesn't sound all that different than much of the Thai Pop we've heard before on other collections, and no doubt there is some overlap. But keep listening, and all sorts of strange and unique little sonic flourishes reveal themselves. Really, where else can you hear gamelan percussion with super fuzzed out ? And The Mysterions style organ and wailing surf guitar? From groovy garage rock to shimmery surf, lots of organ, and plenty of gamelan, vibraphone, xylophone, gorgeous vocals, strange harmonies, mysterious melodies, but it's those guitars, it buzzes and howls, chugs and twangs, woven into all of the songs here, creating this strange hybrid, Thai Pop, Bollywood, surf rock, blues rock, Latin, soul, all woven into a wild groovy psychedelic fuzzy funky garage folkpop that will totally hit the spot for fans of exotic grooves and wild and wonderful sounds.
Full color booklet with tons of original Thai artwork and brief liner notes.
MPEG Stream: THE SON OF P.M. "Luk Tung Klong Yao"
MPEG Stream: P.M. POCKET MUSIC "Kack Toi Mor"
MPEG Stream: JOHNNY GUITAR "Mon Du Dow"
MPEG Stream: P.M. 7 / JUPITER "Susie Wong"

V/A Siamese Soul: Thai Pop Spectacular Vol.2 1960's-1980's (Sublime Frequencies) cd 16.98
Elsewhere on this week's list you'll find a review of another Sublime Frequencies release, the Shadow Music Of Thailand, where we discuss how hard it is to pick a favorite release, cuz they're all so goddamn good.
And such is the case with this one too, a sequel of sorts to 2007's Thai Pop Spectacular 1960s-1980s, this one titled Siamese Soul, but the first one was pretty soulful as well, so we'll presume that it was just chosen as a catchy title, because this does play out like a continuation of the first part which is in no way a bad thing, in fact, we'd been hankering for more ever since that first volume.
As the loner notes discuss, Cambodian pop has gotten so much attention lately, that it seems almost criminal that Thai pop wasn't getting the same attention, which becomes even more apparent listening to Siamese Soul (as well as the first volume). In the review of the first volume we described Thai Pop as "an awesomely confusional mix of Molam, Bollywood, Ethiopian groove, funk, soul, American pop and surf rock, all tangled up into amazing shapes, and peppered with killer hooks, amazing vocalists, bizarre production techniques, but most of all amazing amazing songs." Which of course still absolutely applies. Heavy Western funk to Ethiopian sounding grooves, tripped out organ drenched fuzz rock, with creepy sexy female vox to Shadows / Ventures style surf rock, a bunch of the songs like many of the tracks on the two Molam: Thai Country Groove Sublime Frequencies comps, totally remind us of whatever Thai song the Butthole Surfers appropriated for their song "Kuntz", that distinctly Thai vocal melody is so unmistakable and unforgettable. The whole record is just so wild and fun and varied and out there, slipping easily from classic sounding pop, to mysterious folk music, to stomping funk, to twangy soundtrack sounds to smokey bar ballads, to slithery soul, to far out almost Bollywood sounding exotica, all with a distinctly Thai flavor. Funky, groovy, soulful, so so good. Check out the sound samples. Sometimes we feel words can't quite do sounds like these justice. And the more we listen to this, the more THIS one is becoming one of our favorites, and heck, we could very well have made this another Record Of The Week too!
MPEG Stream: DAW BANDON "Bong Ja Bong (Bong, Oh Bong)"
MPEG Stream: KWAN JAI & KWAN JIT SRIPRAJAN "E-Saew Tam Punha Huajai (Advice Column For Love Troubles (Part 1)"
MPEG Stream: KWAN JIT SRIPRAJAN "Panatibat (Sin No. 1: Do Not Kill)"
MPEG Stream: ROONG PETCH LAEM SING "Kob Kanong Fon (Frogs Dancing In The Rain)  "

FRESH & ONLYS, THE Grey-Eyed Girls (Woodsist) cd 13.98
By the time we had finally heard the Fresh & Onlys, there was already some sort of mania for them going on, that we found ourselves in the midst of, all their records were sold out, we couldn't get more, out of print 7"s were popping up on eBay, the sort of thing that we might expect to happen with super popular ultra hip bands, but this local band who only had a couple 7"s?? We were skeptical, until we heard 'em, then it all made sense. These guys rule. And rock. They have sort of fallen in with the new breed of noise pop lo-fi tweakers, but the Fresh & Onlys are way more about classic pop songs, their sound channeling vintage sixties pop, the early eighties LA sound, classic power pop, garage rock. The production is most definitely not lo-fi, the guitars are thick and loud and ring out, the bass throbs, the drums are simple and understated, the vocals are down in the mix, but not buried, there are plenty of harmonies, falsettos, cool little spidery guitar leads, the overall sound is just a tiny bit fuzzed out. We never noticed it before, but the band that we're most reminded of is the Leaving Trains, easily one of our favorite bands ever, criminally under appreciated for sure (Kill Tunes and Fuck are two all time stone cold classics). Tim Cohen's vocals are a dead ringer for the Leaving Trains' Falling James, and the sound too has that sort of punk rock morphed into fuzz pop sound. They also share lots of sonic elements with local pals Thee Oh Sees, that sort of washed out wall of sound classic Spector sound, plenty of fuzzy organs, strummed steel string guitars, reverby girl group back up vox, as well as some seriously garage guitar crunch all over the place. We dig BIGTIME!
MPEG Stream: "Black Coffin"
MPEG Stream: "Grey-Eyed Girl"
MPEG Stream: "No Second Guessing"
MPEG Stream: "What's His Shadow Still Doing Here?"

FRESH & ONLYS, THE Grey-Eyed Girls (Woodsist) lp 14.98
By the time we had finally heard the Fresh & Onlys, there was already some sort of mania for them going on, that we found ourselves in the midst of, all their records were sold out, we couldn't get more, out of print 7"s were popping up on eBay, the sort of thing that we might expect to happen with super popular ultra hip bands, but this local band who only had a couple 7"s?? We were skeptical, until we heard 'em, then it all made sense. These guys rule. And rock. They have sort of fallen in with the new breed of noise pop lo-fi tweakers, but the Fresh & Onlys are way more about classic pop songs, their sound channeling vintage sixties pop, the early eighties LA sound, classic power pop, garage rock. The production is most definitely not lo-fi, the guitars are thick and loud and ring out, the bass throbs, the drums are simple and understated, the vocals are down in the mix, but not buried, there are plenty of harmonies, falsettos, cool little spidery guitar leads, the overall sound is just a tiny bit fuzzed out. We never noticed it before, but the band that we're most reminded of is the Leaving Trains, easily one of our favorite bands ever, criminally under appreciated for sure (Kill Tunes and Fuck are two all time stone cold classics). Tim Cohen's vocals are a dead ringer for the Leaving Trains' Falling James, and the sound too has that sort of punk rock morphed into fuzz pop sound. They also share lots of sonic elements with local pals Thee Oh Sees, that sort of washed out wall of sound classic Spector sound, plenty of fuzzy organs, strummed steel string guitars, reverby girl group back up vox, as well as some seriously garage guitar crunch all over the place. We dig BIGTIME!
MPEG Stream: "Black Coffin"
MPEG Stream: "Grey-Eyed Girl"
MPEG Stream: "No Second Guessing"
MPEG Stream: "What's His Shadow Still Doing Here?"

POLVO In Prism (Merge) cd 14.98
The reunion / reissue onslaught seems like it might never end. But when bands like Polvo decide to get back together, why would we ever want it to?
Easily one of our favorite math rock bands from the nineties, whose sound was truly unique, tangled Eastern sounding guitars, slippery riffs, complicated song structures, weary laid back vox, all wound tight into some of the catchiest, most unlikely indie rock songs ever.
We knew Polvo had gotten back together, and then we found out they were recording a brand new record, which could definitely have been a disappointment, but this is most definitely not a disappointment. Not at all. There are awesome reunion records for sure, but this isn't just an awesome *reunion* record, In Prism totally stands up to the rest of their catalog, Today's Active Lifestyles, Shapes, Exploded Drawing, only the pickiest of ears would be able to pick one of the In Prism songs out as not belonging, and only then it would probably be mostly because they didn't know it by heart like the rest of the catalog. Which is sort of the magic of Polvo, their music is so NOT typically catchy or poppy, it's obtuse, angular, off kilter, twisted, tangled, but somehow it IS both catchy and poppy. Those slithery woozy riffs get stuck in your head as hard as any radio hit pop song.
And yeah, In Prism carries on that tradition, another kick ass set of songs, hooky and heavy, warped and mathy, with a bit of a classic rock vibe going on, which we didn't really notice until someone pointed it out to us. But goddamn this stuff is awesome. Opener "Right The Relation" is perfect Polvo, with one of THOSE riffs, vocals and guitar lines getting all tangled up, and some incredible drumming. And then there's "Beggar's Bowl", the most classic Polvo track of all the jams here, with one of the best riffs ever, draped over shimmery high end guitar whir, super rad jagged start stop arrangements, hazy production, layered lush guitars, and a main hook that slays.
Anyone who loved Polvo back in the day, or who still loves Polvo (which we imagine must be everyone right?) will go nuts for In Prism, and folks into mathy, crunchy, indie post rock and have somehow never heard Polvo before, this might be an introduction to your new favorite band.
MPEG Stream: "Right The Relation"
MPEG Stream: "D.C. Trails"
MPEG Stream: "Beggar's Bowl"

9DW / BORIS Golden Dance Classics (Catune) cd 16.98
It's been a while since we've heard from Boris, mostly because they've seemingly been touring non stop for the last few years, but it looks like finally some new music is happening, including a forthcoming split with low end sludge popppers Torche, and this, another split with a Japanese band we've never heard of called 9DW, who as far as we can tell is sonically about as far removed from Boris as any band could be. A sort of eighties cosmic disco, like a way less edgier Justice maybe. More on those tracks in a second, since odds are most aQ customers will be all over this for the two brand new Boris tracks.
But be warned, not sure if it's a general shift in sound, or they were just trying to mix it up for this split, but this is Boris like you've never heard them. The first Boris track, "Tokyo Wonder Land", in a blind listening test, everyone here, when asked who they though it was, invariably said Ariel Pink, or John Maus, yep, a warbly warped blurry lo fi alien FM radio pop, with primitive drum machine, mumbled vocals, shimmery eighties production, whirring synths, jangly reverbed guitar, buzzy rubbery cop show basslines, super woozy and trippy and WAY druggy, there are even some falsetto 'oooh's. It only really gets Boris-y briefly in the middle with a wild tangle of super distorted psychedelic leads. Woah, What the fuck? Not sure what's going on, or what happened, but we are digging it BIG time, in fact, we might go so far as to say, this is one of our favorite Boris jams in ages, as is the second track here, "Akirame Flower", which finds Boris in full on washed out bleary eared nineties shoegaze mode, My Bloody Valentine, Bailter Space, fuzz guitar, weary vox, tons of delay and reverb and effects, all smeared and blurred into a gorgeous hazy 16 Candles / Dinosaur Jr / M83 soft focus, dream jam. Fuck. Awesome.
So what the heck are Boris doing with a band like 9DW? Can't say, and can't really say, how often we'll find ourselves listening to their two tracks, groovy, slightly jazzy, a little house-y, definitely eighties, not one guy, an actual band, sounds a bit like M83 if he were to do a techno record, stir in a little Justice stomp, some post rocky skittery, looped synths, and some total eighties MTV new romantic guitar jangle, a little Shadowfax and some worrisome funkiness...
But fuck it, Boris is why you're here, and if you're an adventurous Boris fan, who won't be disappointed by the lack of fuzzed out buzzy psych rock, then two Boris jams will kick your ass something good. Dying to hear if they continue on in this direction, and give the rest of the warbly new wave noise pop outsiders a run for their warped druggy money.
MPEG Stream: 9DW "Stingray"
MPEG Stream: BORIS "Tokyo Wonder Land"

9DW / BORIS Golden Dance Classics (Catune) lp 16.98
It's been a while since we've heard from Boris, mostly because they've seemingly been touring non stop for the last few years, but it looks like finally some new music is happening, including a forthcoming split with low end sludge popppers Torche, and this, another split with a Japanese band we've never heard of called 9DW, who as far as we can tell is sonically about as far removed from Boris as any band could be. A sort of eighties cosmic disco, like a way less edgier Justice maybe. More on those tracks in a second, since odds are most aQ customers will be all over this for the two brand new Boris tracks.
But be warned, not sure if it's a general shift in sound, or they were just trying to mix it up for this split, but this is Boris like you've never heard them. The first Boris track, "Tokyo Wonder Land", in a blind listening test, everyone here, when asked who they though it was, invariably said Ariel Pink, or John Maus, yep, a warbly warped blurry lo fi alien FM radio pop, with primitive drum machine, mumbled vocals, shimmery eighties production, whirring synths, jangly reverbed guitar, buzzy rubbery cop show basslines, super woozy and trippy and WAY druggy, there are even some falsetto 'oooh's. It only really gets Boris-y briefly in the middle with a wild tangle of super distorted psychedelic leads. Woah, What the fuck? Not sure what's going on, or what happened, but we are digging it BIG time, in fact, we might go so far as to say, this is one of our favorite Boris jams in ages, as is the second track here, "Akirame Flower", which finds Boris in full on washed out bleary eared nineties shoegaze mode, My Bloody Valentine, Bailter Space, fuzz guitar, weary vox, tons of delay and reverb and effects, all smeared and blurred into a gorgeous hazy 16 Candles / Dinosaur Jr / M83 soft focus, dream jam. Fuck. Awesome.
So what the heck are Boris doing with a band like 9DW? Can't say, and can't really say, how often we'll find ourselves listening to their two tracks, groovy, slightly jazzy, a little house-y, definitely eighties, not one guy, an actual band, sounds a bit like M83 if he were to do a techno record, stir in a little Justice stomp, some post rocky skittery, looped synths, and some total eighties MTV new romantic guitar jangle, a little Shadowfax and some worrisome funkiness...
But fuck it, Boris is why you're here, and if you're an adventurous Boris fan, who won't be disappointed by the lack of fuzzed out buzzy psych rock, then two Boris jams will kick your ass something good. Dying to hear if they continue on in this direction, and give the rest of the warbly new wave noise pop outsiders a run for their warped druggy money.
MPEG Stream: 9DW "Stingray"
MPEG Stream: BORIS "Tokyo Wonder Land"

MASERATI Passages (Temporary Residence) cd 13.98
Rev it up! The Maserati boys are back with another compact disc installment of their instrumental, exceedingly rhythmic post rock, and unlike some bands who have run afoul of corporate intellectual property lawyers (Pansonic, Kleenex, Bipolaroid, etc.), they still haven't been sued by the manufacturers of the Italian sports car from whom they borrow their name (though perhaps it's also an obscure Ted Nugent lyrical reference? let's hope not). Probably the suits at the automaker Maserati's headquarters realize that this band's music is free, excellent advertising for their product!
This is definitely -driving- music, sometime a pleasant Sunday drive, sometimes a white knuckle ride over the speed limit, always propulsive, hypnotically repetitive, but dynamic as well. "Join Us, Mystic Sister" is a brief, ecstatic intro, that shines forth and then segues smoothly into "No More Sages", with its vaguely metallic, chucka-chucka guitars, motorik beats, and washes of shoegazery distortion. Other cuts venture further into purely kosmische, krautrock inspired territory, like the minimalist all-synth pulsations of "Thieves".
There's 8 tracks on this 40 minute disc, three of them remixes. However, all but two of the tracks previously appeared on limited edition, now out of print vinyl releases. The first four cuts are from Maserati's side of their 12" split with Zombi that we were never able to get enough of to list. And two of the remixes, by DFA's Tim Goldsworthy and !!!'s Justin Van Der Volgen, are from the Inventions Remixes 12". Both really dance it up, accentuating the cosmic disco vibe that Maserati already possess. The other remix, of a spacier take of this disc's "Monoliths", was done by Zombi's Steve Moore, and is exclusive to this release, as is album closer "Do You Hear The Nightbirds Calling You?". And if all that wasn't enough, this cd is further enhanced by the presence of two pretty cool Quicktime video clips. One's live, the other a cute, partly animated music video demonstrating Maserati's potential as workout music.
As always, VERY recommended for fans of Zombi, Trans Am, Circle, Salvatore, Tussle, Nisennenmondai, SF's own Jonas Reinhardt, and other likeminded coked up post rockers.
MPEG Stream: "No More Sages"
MPEG Stream: "Monoliths"

VELVET CACOON P aa opal poere pr.33 (Starlight Temple Society) cd 7.98
Two weeks ago when we made Velvet Cacoon's stellar Atropine one of our Records Of The Week, we mentioned the possibility of yet ANOTHER VC release in the not too distant future. Well here it is, way sooner than we had initially predicted.
While Atropine may have baffled some fans of this already baffling band with its total ambience and a complete absence of the blown out black metal they made their name on, it also managed to perfectly convey the drugged out isolation and dissociative bliss that has always been central to their music. Atropine is an intense piece of work, very rewarding when listened to with patience, BUT... we'd be lying if we said we didn't miss the metal. Thankfully, P aa opal poere pr.33 (good grief, what a title!) arrives right on the heels of Atropine, and more than anything, it seems to be the perfect companion piece to that previous album, delivering almost 40 minutes of murky, blissful as fuck METAL, heavy on the nautical themes that have commonly been part of Velvet Cacoon's M.O. Yet even as we write the word "METAL," we are faced with the already obvious realization that Velvet Cacoon pretty much defies any simple classification. Call it shoegaze, ambient, metal, hell, even pop... their sound is unique, and even though scores of imitators have popped up in recent years, the second we put this on we knew who we were listening to (unless they completely stole these recordings like some of their other albums supposedly...) While it does share some certain sonic similarities to the band's previous work, it would be lazy to write off P aa opal poere pr.33 as merely the successor to the band's now classic Genevieve, and here Velvet Cacoon seem to have arrived at the most realized encapsulation of their sound to date. So yes, it's REALLY fucking good. And thus also a Record Of The Week!
According to the notes, vocals here are handled by one Cain of a band called Snowfall. His style falls into a more traditional style of black metal shrieking, acting as the perfect foil to Velvet Cacoon's melodic fuzzed out dirges, but we are also fairly certain that VC mainman SGL (or "Josh" if you want to demystify things) is handling a lot of the vocal duties here. What the fuck? Whatever. The album opens with "2.", with the trademark Velvet Cacoon "dieselharp" guitar sound accompanied by a lumbering drum machine rhythm and a sound that gains momentum as it appears to bubble up from the bottom of the sea. "Claverie" is huge sounding with a nice lazy groove and a hazy narcotic feel, sort of like sleepwalking. As distant drones swirl about, the riff remains steady until changing at the 6 minute mark, with a guitar that is so sustained it almost sounds like a keyboard. The standout track here is "Marylux", with an awesome and unique riff that pretty much sounds like a psychedelic black metal sea shanty. At the same time, it gives off a sort of a '90s indie vibe. What doesn't make sense on paper, however, KILLS in reality. It's catchy, amazing, and dreamy in the sense that a band like, say, Windy and Carl is dreamy... but also "dreamy" in the way that being fucked out of your mind of psychotropic drugs is dreamy, so you really get the best of all kinds of different worlds with this song. With "Grevona", the melodies lie hidden below layers of murky guitar fuzz, everything is so hazy and distant sounding, like a slow moving ship going nowhere while the vocals float around helplessly. On "Oviamoire," a soothing riff wraps you up in its fuzzy majesty while the abject vocals croak below the surface. There is a certain spectral quality to it, all gauzy and whatnot, with krauty keyboard drones adding even more ambience to the affair. The last song on the album, "Sovarine" sways rhythmically back and forth with the vocals sounding like some sort of nefarious bottom dwelling ocean minion. Or something. While the guitars are all warm and fuzzy, the overall vibe here is of coldness and isolation. Not to belabor the point, but it's kind of like being lost at sea, though no one could have predicted it would sound this awesome. The album closes with a brief piece entitled "Flouvonne," with two voices, one male and the other female, speaking in French as the wind blows amid crackling sounds, a weird and somehow totally appropriate end to the journey.
In a music world where few mysteries truly exist, it's always nice to know that Velvet Cacoon will never be making things easy for us. Whether or not they are "true", some sort of pseudo-intellectual performance art, or maybe even a complete fucking joke, their music is never anything less than amazing. If you hated them before, it's unlikely that this album will change any of that. But for those of us who have patiently waited for the last five years wondering if P aa opal poere pr.33 would ever become a reality, you will find much to look forward to.
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "Claverie"
MPEG Stream: "Marylux"

LONESUMMER What We Were (Starlight Temple Society) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Any band that stirs up tons of shit on the net, inspiring vitriolic tirades, definitely gets us interested, whether they can back it up sonically is another thing entirely.
Velvet Cacoon might be the best example, beginning life as a supposed Eco-Fascist black metal band, who created their dense drone-y buzz with a 'diesel harp', only later revealing that they were taking the piss. But it hardly mattered, cuz the music they made was totally transcendent, their sick sense of humor and antagonism toward the rest of the black metal scene only added to their appeal. So it should come as no surprise that Lonesummer, who share a label with Velvet Cacoon, are inspiring similarly heated reactions. In their case, it's not because of any bullshit mythmaking, it's because their sound is seriously fucked up, like nothing you've ever heard. Taking inspiration from the new wave of buzzy poppy shoegazey black metal, but twisting it all up into a noise drenched, chopped and looped. barrage of beats and riffs and damaged effects and bizarre vocals, and delicate melodies and strange samples, a dizzying jumble, that for some might be total torture, but for us, and we would guess most adventurous listeners out there, What We Were might just become a fast favorite.
Obviously if you dig bands like Alcest and Lifelover and Amesoeurs, you should for sure check this out, and while Lonesummer do share some of the same sonic elements, this is SO MUCH WEIRDER.
Best to probably just go song by song, it's too varied and all over the map to really boil it down to a single descriptor.
"The Ones Who Grab My Hand, The Lost Souls" is a crushing barrage of noise, there seems to be some metal underneath the noise, but it's so obfuscated it's more like a pulse, or another layer of static, like a more rhythmic Merzbow, but laced with some hysterical shrieking vokills, before the song fragments and begins to crumble, and gets all mathy and chaotic and industrial, while underneath, some super distorted vocal jazz surfaces, scatting female vox, skittery drums, piano and bass, but all tangled up with Lonesummer's frantic crumbling buzz, so fucked up and so weird, but super cool.
The second track is more traditionally buzzy and black, but it's all relative, 3 minutes of the same muted muddy riff, programmed drum skitter, occasional demonic growl, but all smeared with hazy soft focus melodies, the whole thing blurred into a woozy mesmer, a bit like a Pop Ambient Wold. Then there's "Long Winter Way" that fills the first half of the track with delicate chiming minor key guitar, softly swaddled in reverb and delay, only to get all bleary eyed and gauzy and soft poppy and shoegazey toward the end, sounding more like Ariel Pink or John Maus than any metal we've ever heard. Backwards drums sizzle beneath loopy flurries of notes, all swirling in a cloud of soft hushed shimmer. The rest of the record is equally disparate, from lurching crushing low, blackened and super distorted, to blasting brittle black metal, all repetitive and wrapped in still more layers of fuzz and buzz and whir, to the blown out in-the-red distorto noise bliss of the title track, to the psychedelic smoldering crumble of "We All Looked So Perfect", like a music box plugged into a million distortion pedals, to the closer, a loping, super melodic slow core depressive dirge, with lovely clean guitars, howled vokills, and a shimmery vacuum cleaner buzz wrapped around everything, simultaneously ultra melodic, warmly washed out and blissfully otherworldly.
Guaranteed to piss off purists, but so is about 90 percent of the stuff we dig, but for anyone into fucked up and freaky, baffling and bizarre blackness, this might be your new favorite band.
LIMITED TO ONLY 100 COPIES!!!! Gorgeously packaged in a full color oversized 7" style sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "The Ones Who Grab My Hand, The Lost Souls"
MPEG Stream: "Lone Tree Hill"
MPEG Stream: "Long Winter Way"

HEALTH Get Color (Lovepump United) cd 14.98
Health just keep getting weirder and weirder, and thus better and better. This is record number three, and all the elements that made us fall in love with these guys are still present, feral jittery rhythms, sharp angular guitars, wild chaotic drumming, spaced out effects, a sort of fractured no wave new wave dancefloor destroying post punk, and here, on Get Color, they've reigned in their propensity for freakouts, and expanded their sound dramatically, whereas before, they were more about energy and sound and mood and texture, about beats and cool effects, and while there were pop songs buried in there, or at least fragments of pop songs, they were often pretty hard to separate from the chaos around them.
Get Color is indeed still plenty chaotic and frantic, but there definitely seems to be more of a focus on songs. Opener "In Health" is a sub two minute introductory blast, but even then the song opens up revealing some dreamy vocals and some subtle hooks. But "Die Slow" is a killer rhythmic psych pop dance jam, equal parts the Boredoms, Fischerspooner and Gang Gang Dance, super melodic, and in some alternate universe this would be as big as LCD Soundsystem. "Nice Girls", is all drum driven, with more ethereal vocals, burst of jagged crunch and squalls of effected percussion, the whole thing woozy and dreamy and super hypnotic. Some of the tracks get all new wave, with low slung Joy Division basslines jacked up and distorted, with angular post punk guitars, but still all wrapped around those frenetic beats, while others are just totally far out, like record closer "In Violet" a strange soundscape of looped, chopped, clipped synth tones, swirling shimmering high end streaks, more hushed wispy vocals, the rhythm, and the whole song really constructed from digital skips and strange glitches. So awesome, dance music for only those with a super abstract idea of what dance music is, for the rest of us, total head spinning headphone bliss!
The cd (not the vinyl, sorry) might just include one of 66 handmade tickets, each redeemable for some sort of prize, the grand prize is a three night trip to LA to hang with Health, but other prizes include care packages, posters, baby photos, crank calls, knitted scarfs, astrological readings, test pressings and who knows what else. A regular post punk new wave Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. Good luck!
MPEG Stream: "In Heat"
MPEG Stream: "Die Slow"
MPEG Stream: "Nice Girls"

YOGA Megafauna (Holy Mountain) cd 14.98
We went a little nuts for the skewed not-quite-black-metal of the oddly monickered Yoga, whose split with Ghast we reviewed a while back. Their sound not really buzzy and brutal as much as warped and twisted and blackened, more like a blurry shadow of black metal, the murky muddy underbelly of a sound more traditionally buzzy and black. Or as someone here opined, it's not black metal, but it wouldn't exist without black metal.
We'd been anxiously awaiting more, having played that split to DEATH, this full length definitely one of our most anticipated records of the year, and an inevitable Record Of The Week. The band do not disappoint. Once again, exploring all manner of spaced out otherworldliness, the blackness more implied, the buzz doused in druggy FX and wrapped around twisted streaks of fragmented pop and sprawling deconstructed dronemuisc. The core of the sound a sort of blissed out, uneasy, lo-fi dronescape, infused with fragmented riffage, pounding drum detritus, and super effected howling vox. There are definitely moments on Megafauna where Yoga begin to resemble an actual and proper metal band, but even then the sound is ragged and off kilter, effects swooping and swirling, the repetitive buzz becoming mantra like, the various strands of melody unraveling before your ears, like a live, metal, Disintegration Loop, with sounds crumbling and falling to pieces, the sound of dissolution and destruction rendered in abstract sound.
Imagine Tim Hecker or Philip Jeck, filtered through a grim black bedroom black metal aesthetic. Or better yet, Jeck in full corpse paint, hunkered over a row of black turntables, candles guttering in the evening breeze, lit from below like some hellish visage, the sounds emanating from his warped vinyl manipulations, being these: fuzzy, gauzy smears of indistinct shimmer and ghostly shadow, haunted music box missives, grim buzzscapes underpinned by heaving swells of crumbling blackness, abstruse sonic alchemy begetting bursts of almost orchestral crush, as well as long stretches of fun house mirror hum and whir, all gathered into a loose songsuite that oozes and drifts, interrupted only by the occasional squall of buzzing metal pound, either looped and frenzied sounding, or lurching and doom-ic, the drums a murky plod, the guitar slippery and shimmery, the riffs melty and viscous, the arrangements endless and lysergic, the sound washed out and shoegazey, a sort of hybridized black metal space rock trip out, that may lumber or blast or crunch, but always eventually slips back into a sound more abstract and metaphysical, psychedelic and darkly dreamy. Yeah!
MPEG Stream: "Seventh Wind"
MPEG Stream: "Flying Witch"
MPEG Stream: "Encante"
MPEG Stream: "Wagion"

FOREST CREATURE Frustrated Analogue - 7 Edits From 2009 (Blackest Rainbow) cd 16.98
Apparently, this UK duo, Ben Moon and Richard Sides, aka Forest Creature, have dabbled in all manner of noisemaking in their brief existence, creating huge crushing walls of speaker shredding brutality, or super glitched out psychedelic beat heavy crunch, or howling, live, drum driven psychnoise freakouts, and while traces of those sounds are still present, we have to say, we're pretty partial to the twisted noise captured here, a seeming distillation of those disparate sounds, into something much more refined and focused, perhaps equally varied sonically, but somehow still strangely cohesive, and epic 'song' suite, due in no small part to the editing and sequencing as the actual music making itself.
The label drops names like Black Dice, Fuck Buttons, Animal Collective, Autechre, and those all do pretty much apply, but to our ears, there seems to be much more to Forest Creature than just aping their influences, we hear the ominous cinematic synthiness of Goblin, the intense late night noir buzz of recent aQ faves D.A., the murky swirl and shimmery out-of-time new age-y drift of the recent crop of pop hypnogogists, but here, those influences, as well as a handful of purloined sounds, are all reimagined, reinterpreted and all tangled up into constantly squirming and unraveling soundscapes, that skitter from almost kraut-like mesmer, to nineties style IDM, to looped woozy minimal synth wave, to gorgeous haunting murky heroin house, but no matter what the sound, or where the songs seem to be headed, Forest Creature mold all those elements into something truly original, lush, and deep, and dark, sometime super chaotic and hyper rhythmic, other times hushed and ominous. "Edit 4" begins as a foreboding minimal slow burning drone, but eventually builds to a warped synth loop, that gets more and more crunchy and buzz, the low end billowing out like a black cloud, the effects eating away at the original loop, super intense and totally mesmerizing. "Edit 5" is all rumbling low end whir, a distant beat, buried way down in the murk, looped and skittery, hovers below a black ambience that seems to swirl and shimmer in slow motion. "Edit 3" might be the prettiest of the bunch, beginning with a skeletal high end looped rhythm, which is soon joined by some warm warbly synths way off in the distance, the rhythm remains steady, but that low end grows thicker, and buzzier, creating thick warm slabs of chordal hum, playing out a gorgeous melancholy slowcore melody, a haunting depressive slow pop crawl, run through with that skeletal skitter, until both the buzz and the beat, begin to crumble, and intensify, until the song is transformed into a noise drenched psychedelic swirl.
So awesome. And a little bit surprising coming from Blackest Rainbow, whose past releases have tended more toward groups like Jazzfinger, Barn Owl, Bong, Starving Weirdos and the like. Frustrated Analogue is some fantastically twisted, blissed out, synth heavy electronic psychedelia, repetitive, hypnotic, spaced out, warped and glitchy, drone-y and rhythmic, moody and mysterious, a dizzying melding of This Heat, Goblin, John Carpenter, old Warp Records 12"s, early Chain Reaction, modern synthdrone, early analogue synth music, and the groups we mentioned up top (Fuck Buttons, Black Dice, Animal Collective, etc.). Way way recommended. Easily one of our new favorites...
MPEG Stream: "Edit 1"
MPEG Stream: "Edit 2"
MPEG Stream: "Edit 3"

MORBID TALES Issue #6 magazine 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're happy to report that the internet has not (entirely) killed the 'zine. Blogs and websites are great, but can't really replace a good old fashioned b&w stapled xeroxed 'zine! They do seem old fashioned, though. And that vintage quality is fully embraced by this metal 'zine out of Canada, Morbid Tales, since the subject matter covered is pretty old school too. Some of the bands here are new, but they carry the torch of '80s underground metal (thrash, doom, death and NWOBHM) high. '90s cult black metal and '70s psych and prog is also not outside Morbid Tales' purview. While all 'zines are labors of love, editor Annick "Satannick" Grioux REALLY is a maniac for this music. Her enthusiasm really captures the spirit of 'zines back in the old pre-internet tape-trading days.
Interviewees, among others, include Darkthrone, Portrait, Master's Hammer, Voivod, Pagan Altar, Cauldron, The Lamp Of Thoth, Elixir, Soothsayer, and, get this, Flower Travellin' Band (who get asked about the naked chopper riding cover photo of their debut LP)!! Plus there's reviews of obscure releases and demos, metal tourist shopping guides to London, Paris, Montreal, and Prague, show reports, and other interesting tidbits, including a brief guide to "Purple Metal" aka Italian Horror Metal like Black Hole and Paul Chain.
This is Morbid Tales' biggest issue yet, 117 full size pages, plus flip it over and then there's another 13 page bonus zine all about heavy metal cooking tips entitled Hell Bent For Cooking (soon to be expanded into a book to be published by Bazillion Points we're told)! Recipes contributed by members of Anvil, Exciter, Cauldron, Trouble, The Gates Of Slumber, Countess, Ogre, Piledriver, and others. Such delicious dishes as: The Stew Of True Doom. Tomato-Garlic Hellfire Chicken. Black Pudding And Squid In It's Own Ink, With A Hashish Garnish. And then by the last few pages, the recipes have turned into drink mixes, these being metalheads after all...
Morbid Tales #6 (+ Hell Bent For Cooking) is an impressively thick tome of metal obsessiveness all in all. We only got a handful of copies (8) and won't be able to get any more, as it's SOLD OUT, so act fast if you want one.

V/A Grind Bastards 3 (Grind Freaks) cd 14.98
With a title like Grind Bastards, you can safely assume that this comp is indeed directly targeted at you, the grind bastards. And we know there are some serious grind bastards among the aQ faithful. Anyone who has gone nuts in the past for Agoraphobic Nosebleed, or Pig Destroyer, or Discordance Axis, or Last Days Of Humanity, we could go on and on and on, so yeah, dig a little deeper and discover a whole world of grind going on UNDER the underground. Grind Bastards collects some of the best Japanese grind from mostly bands you've never heard of, but NEED to.
Heavy, buzzing, blasting, frenzied, frenetic, pummeling, crushing, a dizzying swirl of metal riffage, furious blast beats, grunted cookie monster vocals, inhuman blackened shrieks, hooks all over the place, and some of the heaviest catchiest under a minute shit you'll ever hear.
Little Bastards, Magnicide, Mortalized, Butcher ABC, Cortecuellos, Brob, Mangirl, Fortitude, Bleeding Humanity, D.I.E., Kutsujoku, Deadly Spawn, Zagio Evha Dilegj and of course Unholy Grave, whose label Grind Freaks released this (and who also run the amazing all black metal and grind and doom record store Grave in Japan). Dense and dizzyingly complex, next level heaviness for sure, fast and crusty enough for punk rockers, riffy and brutal enough for metalheads, and definitely a rad grind primer for the newbies.
BTW: We also have a few copies of Grind Bastards 2, which besides totally ruling as well, just so happens to feature one of our favorite grind jams ever, a 51 second grindpop gem by Mortalized (who have 2 songs here) covering pop punkers Propaghandi.
MPEG Stream: LITTLE BASTARDS "Lie, Deceive, Steal"
MPEG Stream: MAGNICIDE "Misery Of An Existence"
MPEG Stream: MORTALIZED "Funeral Grind"
MPEG Stream: CORTECUELLOS "Don't Call Japanese Hardcore Japcore"
MPEG Stream: MANGIRL "Ghoul Gurumand"
MPEG Stream: UNHOLY GRAVE "Cruel Terror"

PAYCHECK, JOHNNY Nowhere To Run (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 16.98
Probably best known for his boss bashing hit "Take This Job And Shove It" (written by David Allan Coe!), Paycheck began life as Donald Eugene Lytle, originally performing as Donny Young, before, changing his name to Johnny Paycheck, and falling in with the outlaw country movement, along with folks like Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, etc.
In the sixties, Paycheck started his own label, Little Darlin, and released a handful of records, all pretty intense and twisted and gorgeous, and rarely heard. This killer comp collects those rare tracks, and while on first listen, this sounds like classic honky tonk country, his voice immediately recognizable, but the sounds pretty classic, listen closer, pay attention to the lyrics, and suddenly the sounds don't sound so classic, instead, they are dark, and sinister, and seriously fucked up. Or at least with a twisted sense of humor. The sticker on the cd describes Paycheck thusly: "Imagine David Lynch As A Honky Tonky Singer" which is not that far off. On the surface, everything appears normal, but just below the surface, something much more dangerous lurks. A killer. Maybe. A psycho, VERY likely. Tales of murder, suicide, death, insanity and oh yes, drinking, just have a gander at some of the song titles: "(It's A Mighty Fine Line) Between Love And Hate", "(Pardon Me) I've Got Someone To Kill", "It Won't Be Long (And I'll Be Hating You)", "There's No Easy Way To Die", "I'm A Coward", intense and spooky and menacing, but all set to killer country twang and foot stomping honky tonk.
Another winner from Omni, and like all the Omni reissues, this comes with a huge booklet, new liner notes, and tons of photos. And as always most definitely recommended.
MPEG Stream: "(It's A Mighty Thin Line) Between Love And Hate"
MPEG Stream: "(Pardon Me) I've Got Someone To Kill"
MPEG Stream: "It Won't Be Long (And I'll Be Hating You)"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Monkey With Another Monkey's Monkey"

HAPPY DAYS Happiness Stops Here... (Self Mutilation Services) cd 15.98
The return of possibly our favorite depressive black metal band going these days, the awesomely (and ironically, obviously) monickered Happy Days, who seem to keep getting better and better, and weirder and weirder with every release, and with Happiness Stops Here... we can add poppier and poppier.
Their MO remains the same, but then why fix what ain't broke? Clean minor key guitars, simple drumming, those two elements wound into a loping post rock meander, before the buzzy blackness erupts and takes over, as well as the WAY up in the mix, harsh howled vokills. It's that weird dichotomy that makes Happy Days so compelling, the music is so pretty, so darkly melodic and weirdly poppy, and those vocals, a harsh sinister croak, constantly pulling and pushing against each other. On this record more than either of the others, the melodic component is front and center, remove the vocals, and we'd be talking some seriously dreamy buzz pop, or tweak it just a bit and we'd be in Lifelover territory, as it is, it's more like a revved up Hypothermia, or a slowed down, much more raw and ragged Katatonia, when the second clean guitar comes in, and offers a super emotional melodic counterpoint, it's some seriously intense stuff.
"My Brutus" features those dueling guitars, over some cool busy drumming, and some almost melodic vocals (still harsh and raspy), the guitars chiming, the vibe almost new wavey, the main riff looped endlessly, the whole track totally hypnotic. "Letting Go" might be our favorite though. The drums and guitar locked into a woozy downtuned lumbering groove, the vocals echo-y and reverbed, deep and near spoken, until again, a second guitar swoops in and offers up an arpeggiated minor key melody that wraps itself around that original riff, before the harsh vocals explode in a frenzy of tortured misery, until the drums bust out double time, and the guitars lock into a dizzying rapid fire harmony, which is easily the high point of the record, both emotionally and musically. Super intense and so goddamn catchy.
The thing with Happy Days, was that in the beginning, their ineptness and half assedness was a huge part of their appeal, total on the verge of falling apart chaos, strange and obvious samples, lots of drum struggle, all of which -would- occasionally coalesce into some seriously dark depressive buzz, but would inevitably splinter into chaos once again. The band now are so much tighter, which generally would turn us off, we like our fucked up black metal as inept and as damaged as possible, but it suits these guys, they're still plenty loose and rough and raw, but locked into these darkly depressive pop grooves, these guys are in their element, and seemingly have no equal. Depressive black metal record of the year? Most definitely? Buzzing blackened gloom pop record of the year, maybe that too...
MPEG Stream: "Letting Go"
MPEG Stream: "Sounlose Netter I Mitt Isolatrom"
MPEG Stream: "My Brutus"

BLACK BOX, THE (Flingco) battery powered soundbox 16.98
We're not really pissed. Not really. After all, we're highlighting this aren't we? They beat us to it fair and square. And of course the fine folks at Flingco could have had no idea that WE at Aquarius, after having sold sooooo many of FM3's now famous Buddha Machine, had already thought up the idea of doing our own "Buddha Machine" style soundbox, in black, and calling it (wait for it) The Black Box. They actually did it though, we just thought about it, never actually tried to contact a factory in China to have 'em manufactured or anything. So kudos to Flingco for being the first folks out there to jump on FM3's Buddha Machine bandwagon with their own (completely different and equally cool) knock off.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Buddha Machine (hard to imagine at this point, since it seems like every AQ customer has bought at least 2, but possible), it's a little plastic battery operated gadget that plays short musical loops through a tiny speaker, though it could also be connected to headphones or a stereo. The "original" Buddha Machine was all ambient drone, meditative in nature. This Black Box is along those lines, featuring a finite (9) number of loops that you can randomly switch between by flicking a switch on the side of the thing. And it is sort of ambient too... just more DARK ambient we guess. The short, textural tracks on here come from several artists on the outskirts of the black metal scene, blackened but not at all metal, we'd say, much more mysterious... they're by folks we're already fans of from the Flingco stable. There's two loops by Wrnlrd, three by Haptic, and two by Cristal. Along with two "spoken word sound pieces" by one Annie Feldmeier Adams. We're not sure which are which (aside from Adams' two loops), but all are creepy and mesmeric, at least one particularly chaotic and mayhemic. A couple are whispery, windy, rattling drones. Another features higher pitched, wavering pulsations. One is like the tolling of an industrial-noise bell. One consists of white noise and distant clanking. And while at first we were a bit apprehensive when told that 2 of the loops were "spoken word", not to fear, those two actually really work well in this context, and are of sonic interest besides their textual content. The nasal, treated voice sounds like a mental patient, intoning lifelessly "I don't feel anything" and "Today I will not kill myself". The bummed out, mantric repetition of the latter phrase in particular is quite effective! All nine tracks are rather tinny and distorted, and, well, that's probably the idea.
Comparisons to FM3's Buddha Machine are of course inevitable. Thus: while the FM3 boxes are available in a variety of pleasing colors, this item comes only in BLACK, obviously, and is shaped rather like a cute little tombstone, rounded in a semi-circle at the top. Unlike the Buddha Machine, this is is constructed so that the speaker is on the same side as the compartment for the batteries (it takes 2 AA batteries, not included, and there's also a jack for a separate power supply), as well as the screws that hold it together. Nothing wrong with that, just a design difference. As with FM3's first Buddha Machine, you can control the volume, and skip from loop to loop, and that's it (the Buddha Machine II added pitch control, a luxury not found here). Sound-wise, this is of course a whole 'nother thing, we've already discussed the nature of the loops above. One other difference: it's cheaper!
What else to say? It's a neat little soundbox thingie. It's got weird downer sounds on it. We like it! Get one!! Oh, and it's LIMITED to just 2000 units!!
Meanwhile, OUR hypothetical Black Box was going to have actual black metal loops on it (blastbeats and screams and buzzing guitar riffs) and an inverted pentagram on the front of it too... that's quite a bit different from this, really, so who knows, it could still happen someday. But we won't be calling it the Black Box now... maybe the Satan Machine? (Nobody steal that idea or we WILL get pissed. Shoot, probably shouldn't even have mentioned it. Also don't use White Box 'cause that's apparently Flingco's planned follow up to this.). Anyway, we're happy to see the "battery powered soundbox" format take off in another direction, and we're pretty sure everyone with a Buddha Machine I or II or both will want to add this to their collection... and for those of a darker, more depressive disposition, this is definitely the soundbox for you. Move over FM3!
(Another good soundbox idea we just thought of that we'd like someone to steal: The Conet Box!! Or Numbers Station Machine.)

V/A Swedish Death Metal (Index Verlag) 3cd 21.00
Writer Daniel Ekeroth really loves death metal. Specifically SWEDISH death metal. He's Swedish, yes, and plays in a Swedish death metal band, so maybe he's biased... but we DO have to agree, there's something special about the death metal scene in Sweden, particularly back in the very early '90s when it was at its fullest flower. Sweden has bestowed upon the world some of the best in guttural growling and blasting beats, crypt-rattling riffs and of course the "Sunlight sound". We reviewed Ekeroth's encyclopedic book Swedish Death Metal a while ago. Now, here's the audio companion compilation to said book. Maybe reading a 456 page tome all about the wonders of Swedish death metal is more than you're ready for. But even if you didn't read the book (and most definitely if you DID) you might still be interested in this. Either from reading the book you'll be curious to hear the obscure bands collected here, or from listening to this you too will develop an obsession with Swedish death metal and thus need to read the book... and listen to nothing else but Swedish death metal for the foreseeable future! Don't say we didn't warn you.
Lovingly put together, this triple cd set is packed with crucial examples of the SDM phenomenon. Mostly rare demo tracks, or songs taken from vinyl-only eps... There's quite a few of the big names of course (Grave, Entombed, Dismember, At The Gates, Unleashed, etc.) but also many, many more obscure but also important bands. There's pioneering early tracks from the likes of Obscurity, Merciless, and Nihilist. Forgotten and/or underrated greats like Crematory, Afflicted, and Nirvana 2002. And, keeping death alive, the set wraps up with a couple newer bands, like genius throwbacks Repugnant!
Here's some more names either to pique your curiosity, or if you know 'em, to whet your appetite: Edge Of Sanity, General Surgery, Grotesque, Desultory, Sorcery, Carbonized, Carnage, Tiamat, Furbowl, Seance... and there's tons and tons more. 52 tracks here by 48 bands!!! And we're telling you, it's quite possible, nay probable, that the heaviest, most brutal song EVER is one of the ones included on this cd. It must be.
Disc one, covering 1986-1990 is the rawest, thrashiest stuff, exploring the cult origins of the movement, some if it super lo-fi but still crushing. What's a little tape hiss and distortion when you're listening to singing that sounds like an asthmatic cookie monster anyway? Disc two, 1989-'93, includes some all time classics, in Ekeroth's book and ours, and also delves into death/black crossover with tracks from Marduk and Dissection. And then disc three celebrates some lesser known greats, mostly covering the period 1990-1994, with a track from '98 and another from as recently as 2007 just to demonstrate that true Swedish death metal will never die.
Like we said, this is clearly a labor of love, packaged in a handsome book-like package (it looks like the book, we mean). The four-panel digipack includes a thick cd booklet with notes on each and every track by author Ekeroth, who of course was one of this release's compilers. Awesome.
MPEG Stream: NIHILIST "Abnormally Deceased"
MPEG Stream: TRIBULATION "Irrevocable Act"
MPEG Stream: ENTOMBED "But Life Goes On"
MPEG Stream: CRYPT OF KERBEROS "The Ancient War"

ARCTIC MONKEYS Humbug (Domino) cd 14.98
Not entirely sure why we never reviewed the Arctic Monkeys' Favorite Worst Nightmare, considering how much we flipped for their debut Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, that second one was good too, but here we are at record number three, Humbug, and their sound has definitely taken a strange turn. It still sounds like THEM, but it's much darker, more brooding and crunchy, less kinetic and snotty and wild. Could be lots of things, musical maturity, regular maturity (after all they were all in their teens when they recorded that first record), lots of people are blaming Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, who handled most of the production, but maybe 'blaming' is the wrong word, cuz as far as we're concerned, there's no blame to be assigned, if anything Humbug is just a grower. On first listen, nothing stood out single wise, like the first record. But then "Crying Lightning" caught our ear big time, with its big drums and fuzzy bass, and spidery guitar lines, it only took a few listens and BANG, heavy rotation. And so it went with the rest of the record, track by track, blossoming into a new favorite, the sound definitely beefier, heavier, more crunchy, that we can give Homme some credit for, but as for everything else, blame the band, at least for making another killer record of super catchy crunchy new wavey post punk pop. Dig it!
MPEG Stream: "My Propeller"
MPEG Stream: "Crying Lightning"
MPEG Stream: "Dangerous Animals"

LITURGY Renihilation (20 Buck Spin) cd 10.98
These guys sent us an lp a long while back, and somehow we totally slept on it. Not sure why, a 12" x 12" image of a cloudy sky, the sun glinting in the background, and the words "PURE TRANSCENDENTAL BLACK METAL" writ large in big black records across the front, and inside, just what the cover promised some seriously buzzing blazing blackness. It's not surprising these guys found there way to 20 Buck Spin, a pretty good fit for sure for this NY horde.
Unlike the blissed out blackened ethereal transcendentalism of the lp, back when Liturgy was a one man bedroom black metal band, Renihilation finds Liturgy expanded to a 4 piece, and the sound is much more raw and organic, still blown out and pretty blissy, goddamn soaring and epic in fact, but it sounds more like a proper rock band, although the drumming is still inhumanly fast, and the band lock into these cool, weird, and very un-black metal sounding high end trills, that only make the sound that much more mysterious and mystical. The band claim some unlikely non-metal influences, but as you get into Renihilation, it's easy to hear that there's way more going on here than Ulver or Darkthrone worship, the band slipping into lurching, almost mathy breakdowns, incredible dynamics, that almost sounds like Harvey Milk at 78rpm, the sort of stop start, sway and lumber, that only works if the band is tight as fuck.
These songs are not super long either, but they feel majestic, and sprawling, and never ending, in a good way, the guitars are frantic, the drumming relentless, the guitars seem to exist only in the upper registers, like wild psychedelic leads transformed into some sort of blackened tremolo picking, so instead of black metal, these jams almost sound like modern classical compositions, like Arvo Part composing for black metal band, when a song ends, you feel exhausted, and drained, like at the end of a long journey, but before you can even catch your breath, the band explode into action once again. And before you know it, they're locked into another high end blast of extreme tension, no let up, no slipping into acoustic interludes, it's almost like the musical version holding your breath, soaring as high and for as long as (in)humanly possible, so when the band does pause briefly, it knocks you on your ass, of when they switch gears and get all spacious and dynamic, it nearly blows your mind.
When we first got this, we only listened to it a couple times, and thought it was pretty cool, but on repeated listens it is proving itself to be truly transcendental, and unlike almost all of the other black metal out there, and is quickly becoming a contender for black metal record of the year.
MPEG Stream: "Pagan Dawn"
MPEG Stream: "Mysterium"
MPEG Stream: "Ecstatic Rite"

V/A Audio Apogee - Frequency Thirteen Records Compilation: An Anti Baroque Fieldtrip Into Aire Movement And Grey Vibration (Frequency Thirteen) 2xcd-r 9.98
It's been a while, but finally, the return of Frequency Thirteen, and TRUE SHEFFIELD BLACK PSYCHEDELIA!! Yep, in the past we've championed killer discs from Black Vomit, Ice Bound Majesty, Trolskull, Dukkha and Rape Rack, all offering up a truly twisted take on blackened heaviness, and ever since we've been dying to hear more, so this pretty much hits the spot, a massive sprawling double disc compilation, featuring tracks from most of the Frequency Thirteen roster, and as far as we know, all the tracks here are EXCLUSIVE. So if you're already a fan, and snap up F13 cd-r's whenever you see them, then you obviously need this, exclusive new music from Skultroll, Dukkha and Ice Bound Majesty, as well as a whole mess of others.
But for those new to Frequency Thirteen, it's tough to imagine a better introduction to True Sheffield Black Psychedelia. Which is a bit of a misnomer, as much of this is not from Sheffield, much of this is not necessarily black, although it's ALL psychedelic, and it's all TROOOOOOO.
Beadle, who we had never heard of before, open up the first disc with a crushing chunk of looped riffage that reminds us of a more blackened Gore, a lurching, lumbering, hypnotic crush. Which perfectly gives way to a new Dukkha jam, that sounds like classic nineties style noise rock, heavy and crunchy and weirdly melodic, with some awesomely twisted melodies and arrangements, and some wild freaked out guitaring. Brobdingnagian who you might remember from their ep on Rusty Axe spews out some noise drenched black filth, like some sort of Ildjarn Merzbow mash up. And so it goes, the whole disc a twisted, convoluted, buzzy, blasting, psychedelic sonic travelogue, with some surprises along the way. Trolskull, slow things down with their murky heroin house minimalism, buried voices, a muted pulse, swirling swaths of synth. Ice Bound Majesty offer up their fiercest filthiest blow out yet, furious and frantic, doused in effects, with programmed drums so fast it almost sounds like a chest rattling drone. Charles Dexter Ward crafts a weird sort of Dan Higgs sounding bit of ritualistic sea shanty style guitar drone, albeit crunchy and distorted, and War Ethic does some weird super murky grindy thrash, but with some skittery almost jazzy sound blastbeats, and there's more more more more. And that's just the first disc!
The second disc starts out with some super minimal sinewave shimmer courtesy of a band called Syn, before Dukkha kick shit into gear with the most awesome hypnotic looped psych jam, that would make Circle or Cave proud. In fact, it sort of sounds like a mix of the two, but with a bit more metal drumming, and some convoluted tangled arrangements, but always slipping back into super mesmerizing hypno-rock. KPTMichigan unfurl some gorgeous hazy woozy Tim Hecker like gauzy dronemusic, while Scum Also Rises (awesome name) so some strange post industrial mathy groove rock, that sounds WAY better than that description makes it sound, fat fuzzy bass, weird skittery electronics, all fuzzy and blown out. Sluglord stir up some sort of unholy blackened orchestral doom, all dense tones and deep shimmers, and the Disobedients do a sort of super minimal bedroom doom pop, and Trolskull return with some murky abstract rhythmic weirdness, that sounds a bit like a less loose Avarus, a bit more sinister and haunting and a bit krautrock too. And of course again here, there's more more more!
Easily one of our favorite labels, with a roster that should make most other labels bow their heads in shame. And this is definitely one of the few comps where you literally want to hear more from every single band. Fancy packaging too, a fold out die cut full color sleeve, jam packed with about a million inserts, liner notes, an obi... hell, just buy it, you won't be sorry. And odds are, like us, soon you too will find yourself obsessed with TRUE SHEFFIELD BLACK PSYCHEDELIA!!
MPEG Stream: BROBDINGNAGIAN "You, You Smell Like Death"
MPEG Stream: TROLSKULL "Unutterable Hideousness"
MPEG Stream: DUKKHA "Deu!"
MPEG Stream: PULSAR "Praeternational Light"

EXPLORERS Bermuda Telepaths (Not Not Fun) lp 13.98
What hath the Skaters wrought? In the wake of that group's ever expanding body of work, both as a duo and each member solo, has risen a whole movement of musicians channeling similar sounds and melding many of the same influences into that ethereal collaged anti-pop that the Skaters if not invented, popularized. A symptom of today's MySpace world, where the minute one group, or one sound, gets hyped, a million bedroom 4-trackers take it upon themselves to do something similar. See the recent lo-fi garage pop explosion for example. But heck, stealing from the bands you love is a tried and true rock and roll tradition, the key being stealing from bands YOU LOVE, not from bands that are suddenly popular and you want to be popular too. That shit is transparent. That's why in an avalanche of wannabe's there are always a few who shine, whose creativity had seemingly lain dormant just waiting for a trigger. Sometimes hearing a sound, makes you realize that someone else hears the same sort of sounds you've been hearing in your head.
This could all be bullshit, but the second we first threw on this Explorers records, we couldn't help but think of the Skaters. But like any good band, taking influence from another, it's not the sounds you steal or the ideas you borrow, it's what you do with them that counts, and the Explorers definitely do their own sort of fractured soundscapery as good as, if not even better than their forebears. Layered tangles of tones and squiggly melodies, wheezing textures and buried stumbling drumloops, a swirling soft chaos of blurred sounds smeared into streaked landscapes of broken tape deck new age, deep dense outer space buzz and washed out dream drone, the sift from sound to sound is sudden and sharp, like flipping the channel or changing the station. Imagine the sound of sound remote research station, all the machines left running, whirring in the darkness, pointed heavenward, as they sample and intercept transmissions and broadcasts from alien worlds and alternate dimensions. Gloriously tripped out and deliriously druggy. For fans of the Skaters for sure, but also anyone into weird and wonderful, freaked out and far flung sonic explorations (they don't call them Explorers for nothing apparently).
LIMITED TO 330 COPIES.

SIXTEEN (16) HORSEPOWER Secret South (Alternative Tentacles) cd+dvd 15.98
We've long been champions of Mr. David Eugene Edwards, in both of his swampy apocalyptic folk ensembles, first the late great 16 Horsepower, and then later, his more personal, and seemingly more spiritual Woven Hand. As long time readers of the aQ list know, Edwards is like a modern day revivalist, conjuring up demons and darkness, death and pestilence, but simultaneously light and hope and sometimes even redemption. With a sound that shifts from stripped down and intimate, to dense and heavy and ominously rocking, the music of Edwards is easily some of the most powerful and passionate we've heard. Woven Hand played the aQuarius SXSW showcase, and our first impression was holy shit, these guys are HEAVY. And loud. And so intense. In fact, considering how many actual metal bands and super heavy rock bands played that showcase, it's pretty remarkable that WH might still have been the heaviest band in the lineup.
Secret South is one of our favorite 16HP records, originally released way back in 2000, and out of print for AGES, this was their first record after leaving their major label, and thus seems to be infused with an extraordinary amount of anger and darkness. This record is FIERCE, the classic 16HP lineup is on fire, the vocals incredible and impassioned, the guitars raw and rough, the drumming powerful, the bass thick and enveloping, strings moaning and singing, but the magic of 16HP is how all those elements are woven together, it's difficult to imagine a mere band could evoke this sort of ominous atmosphere, this sort of dread and darkness, this is so much more than music, it's energy in sound, it's sweat and blood rendered in notes and melodies. A swampy mysterious gothic folk, but infused with elements of classic bluegrass, dramatic cabaret, plenty of doom and gloom... You can check the aQ site for other reviews where we rave on and on and on about both 16HP and Woven Hand, needless to say, both bands are all time favorites around here, and Secret South ranks right up there as one of the best by either.
Both the cd version and the lp comes with a bonus dvd featuring the whole record in 5.1 surround sound DVD audio.
MPEG Stream: "Clogger"
MPEG Stream: "Wayfaring Stranger"
MPEG Stream: "Cinder Alley"

SIXTEEN (16) HORSEPOWER Secret South (Alternative Tentacles) lp+dvd 15.98
We've long been champions of Mr. David Eugene Edwards, in both of his swampy apocalyptic folk ensembles, first the late great 16 Horsepower, and then later, his more personal, and seemingly more spiritual Woven Hand. As long time readers of the aQ list know, Edwards is like a modern day revivalist, conjuring up demons and darkness, death and pestilence, but simultaneously light and hope and sometimes even redemption. With a sound that shifts from stripped down and intimate, to dense and heavy and ominously rocking, the music of Edwards is easily some of the most powerful and passionate we've heard. Woven Hand played the aQuarius SXSW showcase, and our first impression was holy shit, these guys are HEAVY. And loud. And so intense. In fact, considering how many actual metal bands and super heavy rock bands played that showcase, it's pretty remarkable that WH might still have been the heaviest band in the lineup.
Secret South is one of our favorite 16HP records, originally released way back in 2000, and out of print for AGES, this was their first record after leaving their major label, and thus seems to be infused with an extraordinary amount of anger and darkness. This record is FIERCE, the classic 16HP lineup is on fire, the vocals incredible and impassioned, the guitars raw and rough, the drumming powerful, the bass thick and enveloping, strings moaning and singing, but the magic of 16HP is how all those elements are woven together, it's difficult to imagine a mere band could evoke this sort of ominous atmosphere, this sort of dread and darkness, this is so much more than music, it's energy in sound, it's sweat and blood rendered in notes and melodies. A swampy mysterious gothic folk, but infused with elements of classic bluegrass, dramatic cabaret, plenty of doom and gloom... You can check the aQ site for other reviews where we rave on and on and on about both 16HP and Woven Hand, needless to say, both bands are all time favorites around here, and Secret South ranks right up there as one of the best by either.
Both the cd version and the lp comes with a bonus dvd featuring the whole record in 5.1 surround sound DVD audio.
MPEG Stream: "Clogger"
MPEG Stream: "Wayfaring Stranger"
MPEG Stream: "Cinder Alley"

REATARD, JAY Watch Me Fall (Matador) lp 14.98
For whatever reason, we've never reviewed a record by Jay Reatard, which considering the hype surrounding him these days is somewhat surprising, and even though we dug his old band the Lost Sounds quite a bit, we were never all that interested in his solo stuff.
We're kind of kicking ourselves now, cuz if this new one is anything to go on, this shit is SO up our alley. Frantic, jangly, propulsive, power pop. And, yeah, garage rarely enters into it, this is total old school power pop, big guitars, killer hooks, and Reatard's high whiney vocals that have always been perfect for this sort of pop.
If we had to draw a comparison, it would be the Buzzcocks and the Cardiacs. The classic punk pop smithery of the Buzzcocks, and the frenetic high vocal-ed, almost proggy spazzpop of the Cardiacs. And at its most frenzied and caffeinated Reatard reminds us of the Toy Dolls too. Which should give you a good idea of what this stuff sounds like.
The first three tracks are a pretty perfect 1-2-3 pop punch. The first single opens up the record, "It Ain't Gonna Save Me", a total jangle pogo punk pop jam, with a stripped down verse and a soaring anthemic chorus, and a cool angelic vocal bridge that is total Cardiacs. "Before I Was Caught" sounds like it came straight off some Rhino post punk compilation, total classic old school eighties new wave pop, with a hook to die for, and awesome chiming guitars. And finally "Man Of Steel", another very Cardiacs sounding jam, but with a cool woozy guitar part, and a robotic new wave verse, skittery drums, and yet another super catchy, ever ascending chorus. Thankfully, the rest of the record is just as great. Not a stinker in the bunch. And the more we listen, the more the later tracks begin to shine, one of those discs where every track is a possible favorite. Watch Me Fall is definitely one of our biggest surprises, we listen to it DAILY, and it has us backpedalling like crazy, tracking down and checking out all those other Reatard discs we passed by the first time around...
MPEG Stream: "It Ain't Gonna Save Me"
MPEG Stream: "Before I Was Caught"
MPEG Stream: "Man Of Steel"

CATALYST Swallow Your Teeth (The Perpetual Motion Machine) cd 9.98
This killer slab of blown out noise rock ferocity, NOW ON CD!!
These guys must destroy live. Check out the picture on the sleeve, wild frenzied sweaty kids mid-mosh, a bloodied microphone, and then of course there's the music, a fucking skull crushing unholy post punk noise rock racket that manages to take all the stuff we loved about Sub Pop and AmRep and nineties noise rock and amp it all up two thousands style. A little bit of screamo, a bit of post hardcore, but really, these guys could have come straight out of 1995, cuz they just don't make shit like this anymore. Only, they do. Catalyst does, and it sounds as good as it ever did.
Heavy as fuck, catchy as fuck, wild tribal drumming, buzz drenched super distorted riffage, howled vocals, soaring choruses, plenty of mathy breakdowns, a little bit off groove, hooks galore, warped woozy guitar harmonies all tangled and melodic reminding us big time of Drive Like Jehu, and heck, they even have a song called "Lars Ulrich's 1986 Funeral (It Should Have Been You)".
We raved about their previous record Marianas Trench, which we still have a few copies of, but this one is even better, heavier, catchier... We often lament the lack of actual BANDS, y'know, bands that write songs, there's so much dronemusic, and experimental ambience, and free folk improv, and blackend buzz, and we do love all that, but sometimes nothing hits the spot like an actual rock band, pounding away on actual instruments, sweating, bleeding, leaping off the stage, rolling around on the floor, and spitting out actual songs. Of course it helps when the band is this bad ass and the songs rule this hard, so if you've been hankering for some seriously heavy post punk noise rock in your life, and who amongst us HASN'T? Well, then these guys should definitely hit the spot.
MPEG Stream: "I Hate The Future"
MPEG Stream: "Lars Ulrich's 1986 Funeral (It Should Have Been You)"
MPEG Stream: "Assholier Than Thou"

D.A. Odeon (Olde English Spelling Bee) lp 22.00
Of all the dark, drone-y, druggy synthiness that's been popping up lately (and believe us, it's a LOT), this lp from mysterious Los Angeles duo D.A. is most definitely our favorite. A heady collection of dark and dreary, lush and spaced out sci-fi synth creep that tapes into classic Goblin soundtrack music, the best John Carpenter scores, and mixes in plenty of modern lysergic lo-fi experimentation, conjuring up some of the most tense and dramatic and hypnotic sounds we've heard in ages.
Like some strange mix of Zombi and Expo '70, but with a hint of new age-y drift that makes these songs sound like they could only be the music from some lost eighties film, only the visuals could never hope to match this haunting otherworldly music.
Looped synths are looped into slow shifting swells, pulsing over a bed of softly swirling minor key tension, alien tones, blurred buzz and dense shimmery drones, shot through with moody melodies, laced with super spare abstract percussion and everything wrapped in a gauzy warmth, total kraut drone new age soundtrack bliss.
The second side changes gear toward the end, evolving into a sound akin to Godspeed meets Zombi meets SUNNO))), a thick thick buzz wrapped around twisted looped melodies and all sorts of simulated haunted forest sound effects, growing ever more harrowing, ominous and dramatic, and surprisingly, yet subtly heavy.
The flipside is much more minimal and abstract than the A side, but no less intense and mysterious. Reverbed piano is sent drifting into blackness, tons and tons of space, softly wheezing organs, deep muted tones, that distinctly eighties sounding bass pulse, long thick swirls of softly distorted synth buzz, tinkling high end tones, all of that gives way to another thick, and surprisingly heavy space synth drone, a starlit slow motion swirl, abstract, super space-y, dark and emotional, tense and INtense, it still boggles the mind that filmmakers aren't constantly on the lookout for groups like this, whose cinematic soundtrack ambience is way more compelling and original and ruling than 90 percent of the music that actually ends up in movies. But who needs the movies, best to just throw this on, close your eyes, and let these sounds ooze into your consciousness, creating a fantastical and unreal world all for you, populated with far out sights, worthy of these far out sounds.
Incredible hand silk screened, ultra thick card stock sleeves, LIMITED TO 400 COPIES, each one hand numbered.

DUCKTAILS Landscapes (Olde English Spelling Bee) lp 21.00
Ducktails is another one of those bands that went to zero to sixty in no time, in terms of releases. Before, it was a tape here, maybe a 7" there, now every week brings a new slab of Ducktails' twisted tropical pop, but hell, we're not complaining one bit.
Especially this time, as Landscapes might just be one of the strangest Ducktails record yet, The first track is what we've come to expect, and dig big time, swirling lo-fi, tropical soft fuzz pop, antiquated drum machine, warbly synths, playful woozy sun dappled melodies, plenty of tape hiss and amp buzz, definitely raw and muddy but also weirdly lush.
That, however, is just the first song, from there on out, Ducktails bounces wildly from sound to sound, all held together by a strange hard to describe thread that runs through all the songs here, keeping this from being just a mish mash of sounds and songs, and instead smearing it into a crazy yet cohesive dizzying drift through some seriously tweaked eighties retro future fuzz Ducktails dream pop. Weird buzzing Eastern sounding new age gives way to some groovy hard pop, with warped guitars, lots of flange, rad leads, like an alternative dimension instrumental lo-fi Loverboy (?), before switching gears and unfurling some looped almost African sounding warble, which then transforms into fuzzy jangly blissed out garage pop, then falsetto crooned jangle and swoon, then a bit of bluesy bedroom slow jam and finally a wicked, twisted late night infomercial soundtrack, all of the sights and sounds in Ducktails' soundworld hazy and shimmery and otherworldly and gloriously washed out.

FLAMING TUNES (GARETH WILLIAMS AND MARY CURRIE) s/t (ReR) cd 21.00
Finally one of the legendary lost This Heat related recordings gets its first proper release! Originally released as a tape in 1985, recorded by This Heat's Gareth Williams and Mary Currie and friends, shortly after Williams left This Heat, Flaming Tunes is a gorgeous, quirky collection of lo-fi experimental moody textural avant pop, originally conceived as something totally removed from the much more abrasive and rhythmic music he made in This Heat. Unavailable ever since its original cassette release, minus a bootleg which included the tape in its entirety but described it as This Heat's final demo recordings, Flaming Tunes in some ways reminds us of Charles Hayward's Camberwell Now project, in that some of the sounds are familiar and still somewhat This Heat sounding, but the record is much more vocal based, and song oriented, resulting in a sound, that while appealing to This Heat obsessives, offered a whole new window into Williams' approach to sound and songwriting, and in that, a once removed glimpse of some of the elements that helped make This Heat what it was.
The record opens with a looped piano wrapped in sizzling electronic buzz, peppered with strange bursts of sonic crunch, stuttery fragmented rhythms, not hard to see why folks believed this could be a blueprint for new This Heat material. But the second song is more of what Flaming Tunes is all about. Tunes. Sing songy weary vocals over plonked piano, squeaking horns, skittery percussion, lots of drones, plenty of tape hiss and amp buzz, definitely lo-fi, some cool synth melodies, the sound definitely reminiscent of the first two Brian Eno records or that classic Flying Nun sound, bands like the Tall Dwarfs or the Pin Group or This Kind Of Punishment or The Children's Hour or even the Dead C at their most poppy. And that's the sound that makes up most of Flaming Tunes, a hazy, gauzy, low fidelity (but strangely lush) bedroom pop, lots of piano, wreathed in reverb, warm warbly bass, occasional strings, programmed rhythms, detuned tangles of minor key guitar, plenty of jangle and chime, with intermittent forays into cool abstract experimentation, but even then, those tracks still sound a little song-y and don't at all disrupt the flow of the record. "Raindrops From Heaven", with a field recording of rainfall, insects, beneath some clattery, muted parlor skitter, or the brooding muddy piano drone of "It's Madness" with its disembodied vox and haunting creepy creaking Victorian vibe, with sampled strings and mysterious textures, before the record closes with a surprisingly Beatles-esque ballad called "Generous Moon", that sort of classic pop, rendered a little bit warped and woozy, the guitars twangy, and the background melodies a sea of whirring keyboards, locking into a looped dreamlike dirge before finally fading out.
So nice. This Heat fanatics will flip for sure, and no doubt some have tapes or bootlegs of this already, but it sounds so much better now, and comes in a super deluxe digipak, with tons of photos, artwork and liner notes. And even if you've never heard This Heat (what the hell is wrong with you?), this will still appeal to folks into twisted dark lo-fi pop.
MPEG Stream: "Another Flaming Tune"
MPEG Stream: "A To B"
MPEG Stream: "Raindrops From Heaven"

GNAW THEIR TONGUES All The Dread Magnificence Of Perversity (Crucial Blast) cd 13.98
We're running out of superlatives, not to mention overly poetic descriptions of filth and blackness and depravity, to describe this one man cinematic black doom noise outfit, but with every record, Mories, the man behind the beast, offers still more glimpses into what lurks below, or within, the sound an ever evolving cloud of black energy, rendered audible in shades of pummeling drum plod, of downtuned melting riffs, of howled and shrieked vocalizations, of Bernard Hermann like strings, all stretched and blurred and smeared and tangled into a veritable symphony of black bleak heaviness.
It's difficult to classify, as every song tends to slip seamlessly from Wolf Eyes like industrial soundscapery, to Godflesh like metal machine crunch, to lurching Abruptum like black ritual, to almost classic sounding black metal buzz, to haunting cinematic dark ambience, each of those elements fully realized, but then hurled into a black sonic vortex, where along with all the various other sounds and shapes and colors it gets mangled and tangles and spewed out on the other side as some almost living thing, a music that is at once threatening and caustic, harrowing and hateful, but also weirdly melodic and almost classical sounding, a definite case of black(ened) beauty.
For those new to the filth encrusted soundworld that is Gnaw Their Tongues, a brief survey of song titles: "My Orifices Await Ravaging", "The Stench Of Dead Horses On My Breath And The Vile Of Existence In My Hands", "The Gnostic Ritual Consumption Of Semen As Embodiment Of Wounds Teared In The Soul", the album title: All The Dread Magnificence Of Perversity, the crown of thorns / blood splattered / bondage cover art, should all give hints as to what sort of sinister sound lurks inside, but again, all of that could point to something much more puerile and simplistic, the sound of Gnaw Their Tongues is something altogether more refined, if a word like that could be applied to something this hellish, but it does sound refined, and composed, epic and majestic, for every bit of sluggish heaviness, there's another part that is hauntingly beautiful, or strangely serene, it boggles the mind how someone creates music like this, it must come from some deep, dark, black part of the soul, and while we ourselves might fear such a place in ourselves, we can't help but be enthralled and obsessed with the sort of sonic darkness that lurks in others.
WAY recommended, as with past GGT releases...
MPEG Stream: "My Orifices Await Ravaging"
MPEG Stream: "The Stench Of Dead Horses On My Breath And The Vile Of Existence In My Hands"
MPEG Stream: "The Gnostic Ritual Consumption Of Semen As Embodiment Of Wounds Teared In The Soul"

MOUNT EERIE Wind's Poem (P.W. Elverum & Sun - Creators / Destroyers Of Music) cd 14.98
If there's one thing musicians, and heck, even fans of music hate, it's a dabbler. Someone well established in one arena who decides to dabble in some other sound or scene, often 'slumming', experimenting with a sound or style that they would never integrate into their actual sound. And no one hates dabblers more than metalheads, who came up with a new name for those dabblers, POSERS.
But without a little dabbling, music would remain stagnant, genres would go on forever unchanged, or more likely would die out because everything would have been done. The key is two fold, to dabble, or experiment respectfully, and to then incorporate those borrowed sounds into something new, and original, that while heavily indebted to the new sounds, is also firmly rooted in the original sound. It would make no sense for some punk band to just switch gears and come out with a country record (although it has happened), one would question that band's integrity for sure, how serious could they have been about punk if they could just chuck it for something else without a thought? It makes more sense for that band to infuse their punk with some twang, or add some slide guitar to the thrashing howl, and already, even just describing, it sounds way more interesting.
Needless to say, we were WAY skeptical when we heard that there was a Mount Eerie 'black metal' record in the works. We were never that into Mount Eerie, or the Microphones, it took the recent collaboration with Julie Dorion to win us over, and that record remains one of our favorites. But we had been reading about Mount Eerie mainman Phil Elverum discovering Xasthur and getting the black metal bug. Which is fine, that's sort of what this store is all about after all, but there's a difference between just digging black metal, and suddenly adding black metal to your dark bedroom folk. In theory it sounds like an intriguing combination, but we remained skeptical...
Which proved to be unnecessary, cuz wow, this is a strange and beautiful beast of a record. Right from the start, the title track explodes in a squall of thick corrosive buzz, where does a folky learn to kick up a sound like that? And since BM is not his first musical language, the result is truly unique and strange, there are some lurching strange arrangements, and then of course the black metal is peeled back to reveal some soulful crooning, and the hybrid is just as cool as we hoped it might be, a mournful sad boy Sebadoh like croon, buried amidst heaving walls of crumbling buzz, that explode into furious clouds of caustic crunch, only to recede once again, revealing those sad boy vocals again, and some strange plodding drums alongside a moaning minor key main melody, and the cool thing is, Elverum's distinct melodic style, immediately recognizable since we listened to Lost Wisdom so much, is perfectly fused with the buzzy blasts and blackened atmosphere. Really really cool. And that's only the first track.
As mentioned above, the key to successful dabbling is not abandoning your original sound, since theoretically, the music you make, you make because that's the sound you hear in your head, and your heart, and Elverum continues to craft gorgeous brooding dark folk, the second track, is a wheezing organ driven drone, with hushed angelic vocals, and a haunting deeeeep drone outro, which leads right into a gorgeous reverb drenched bit of mist shrouded drift, all spidery guitars, and warm whirring distant keyboards, and more crooned vocals, all subtly sinister and harrowing, but quite beautiful.
Fear not, that opener was not just a one shot. "The Hidden Stone" is another super distorted blast of blackened heaviness, and again, the magic here is that the buzz and fuzz is wrapped around distinctly UN-black metal melodies and song structures, the result sounds like a blackened Mount Eerie, lilting and sorrowful, but simultaneously distorted and blown out. And the record continues to strike the perfect balance between drifting, droney melodiousness and blackened buzzy crush, the best moments being when the two are fused, which thankfully is most of the time.
"The Mouth Of Sky" unleashes some incredibly cool, over saturated hyper distorted guitars and what sounds like processed cymbals, weaving them into a loping dark melody, the result is a super heavy, noise drenched, metallic shoegaze-y psychedelic blow out, the sort of track we wish was about 10 times longer. "(Something)" clocks in at a little over two minutes, and is obviously an experiment, but is one of our favorite tracks, a super strange, heavily panned, crunchy, distorted rhythmic, looped dronescape which gives way to a soft, shimmery, glistening dreamscape. "Lost Wisdom Pt. 2" is another killer blast of black folk buzz, about as frenzied as any of the blackness here gets, but divided into a strange lumbering tempo, which gives the whole song a sort of seasick vibe, lurching and lumbering and so EPIC, before all the distortion is stripped away, leaving just hushed vocals, a warm distant buzz, and some muted distortion, and the immediately recognizable melody from the original "Lost Wisdom", and finally the record finishes off with a long sprawling slow motion drone-folk drift, the bed of which is all warm organ and softly strummed acoustic guitar, interrupted only briefly before a slow motion explosion of super processed cymbal shimmer, leads into a gorgeous, outro of dark dreamy Neil Young-ness, finishing off like a Mount Eerie record should, haunting, resonant, mournful and melancholy.
Not sure what else to say. It should speak volumes that we were so skeptical and so cynical, and were actually not even all that interested in hearing this, and now here we are proclaiming it our Record Of The Week. We stand before you humbled, but happy, with ears full of this strange confusional sound. Which makes sense really, as lots of our favorite metal these days is some sort of hybrid, some strange mix, or twisted take, and while we will always love the primitive blasting raw buzz of true black metal, we'll never get tired of people pushing that sound, one of our FAVORITE sounds, in new, exciting and unlikely directions. And we definitely can't think of anything less likely than indie folk and black metal...
Incredible packaging, a fold out full color oversized accordion style matte finish booklet, with frosty forest images on one side, lyrics and liner notes on the other, the band name and album title in reflective gold metallic ink.
MPEG Stream: "Wind's Dark Poem"
MPEG Stream: "Through The Trees"
MPEG Stream: "The Mouth Of Sky"
MPEG Stream: "(Something)"

MOUNT EERIE Wind's Poem (P.W. Elverum & Sun - Creators / Destroyers Of Music) 2lp 24.00
If there's one thing musicians, and heck, even fans of music hate, it's a dabbler. Someone well established in one arena who decides to dabble in some other sound or scene, often 'slumming', experimenting with a sound or style that they would never integrate into their actual sound. And no one hates dabblers more than metalheads, who came up with a new name for those dabblers, POSERS.
But without a little dabbling, music would remain stagnant, genres would go on forever unchanged, or more likely would die out because everything would have been done. The key is two fold, to dabble, or experiment respectfully, and to then incorporate those borrowed sounds into something new, and original, that while heavily indebted to the new sounds, is also firmly rooted in the original sound. It would make no sense for some punk band to just switch gears and come out with a country record (although it has happened), one would question that band's integrity for sure, how serious could they have been about punk if they could just chuck it for something else without a thought? It makes more sense for that band to infuse their punk with some twang, or add some slide guitar to the thrashing howl, and already, even just describing, it sounds way more interesting.
Needless to say, we were WAY skeptical when we heard that there was a Mount Eerie 'black metal' record in the works. We were never that into Mount Eerie, or the Microphones, it took the recent collaboration with Julie Dorion to win us over, and that record remains one of our favorites. But we had been reading about Mount Eerie mainman Phil Elverum discovering Xasthur and getting the black metal bug. Which is fine, that's sort of what this store is all about after all, but there's a difference between just digging black metal, and suddenly adding black metal to your dark bedroom folk. In theory it sounds like an intriguing combination, but we remained skeptical...
Which proved to be unnecessary, cuz wow, this is a strange and beautiful beast of a record. Right from the start, the title track explodes in a squall of thick corrosive buzz, where does a folky learn to kick up a sound like that? And since BM is not his first musical language, the result is truly unique and strange, there are some lurching strange arrangements, and then of course the black metal is peeled back to reveal some soulful crooning, and the hybrid is just as cool as we hoped it might be, a mournful sad boy Sebadoh like croon, buried amidst heaving walls of crumbling buzz, that explode into furious clouds of caustic crunch, only to recede once again, revealing those sad boy vocals again, and some strange plodding drums alongside a moaning minor key main melody, and the cool thing is, Elverum's distinct melodic style, immediately recognizable since we listened to Lost Wisdom so much, is perfectly fused with the buzzy blasts and blackened atmosphere. Really really cool. And that's only the first track.
As mentioned above, the key to successful dabbling is not abandoning your original sound, since theoretically, the music you make, you make because that's the sound you hear in your head, and your heart, and Elverum continues to craft gorgeous brooding dark folk, the second track, is a wheezing organ driven drone, with hushed angelic vocals, and a haunting deeeeep drone outro, which leads right into a gorgeous reverb drenched bit of mist shrouded drift, all spidery guitars, and warm whirring distant keyboards, and more crooned vocals, all subtly sinister and harrowing, but quite beautiful.
Fear not, that opener was not just a one shot. "The Hidden Stone" is another super distorted blast of blackened heaviness, and again, the magic here is that the buzz and fuzz is wrapped around distinctly UN-black metal melodies and song structures, the result sounds like a blackened Mount Eerie, lilting and sorrowful, but simultaneously distorted and blown out. And the record continues to strike the perfect balance between drifting, droney melodiousness and blackened buzzy crush, the best moments being when the two are fused, which thankfully is most of the time.
"The Mouth Of Sky" unleashes some incredibly cool, over saturated hyper distorted guitars and what sounds like processed cymbals, weaving them into a loping dark melody, the result is a super heavy, noise drenched, metallic shoegaze-y psychedelic blow out, the sort of track we wish was about 10 times longer. "(Something)" clocks in at a little over two minutes, and is obviously an experiment, but is one of our favorite tracks, a super strange, heavily panned, crunchy, distorted rhythmic, looped dronescape which gives way to a soft, shimmery, glistening dreamscape. "Lost Wisdom Pt. 2" is another killer blast of black folk buzz, about as frenzied as any of the blackness here gets, but divided into a strange lumbering tempo, which gives the whole song a sort of seasick vibe, lurching and lumbering and so EPIC, before all the distortion is stripped away, leaving just hushed vocals, a warm distant buzz, and some muted distortion, and the immediately recognizable melody from the original "Lost Wisdom", and finally the record finishes off with a long sprawling slow motion drone-folk drift, the bed of which is all warm organ and softly strummed acoustic guitar, interrupted only briefly before a slow motion explosion of super processed cymbal shimmer, leads into a gorgeous, outro of dark dreamy Neil Young-ness, finishing off like a Mount Eerie record should, haunting, resonant, mournful and melancholy.
Not sure what else to say. It should speak volumes that we were so skeptical and so cynical, and were actually not even all that interested in hearing this, and now here we are proclaiming it our Record Of The Week. We stand before you humbled, but happy, with ears full of this strange confusional sound. Which makes sense really, as lots of our favorite metal these days is some sort of hybrid, some strange mix, or twisted take, and while we will always love the primitive blasting raw buzz of true black metal, we'll never get tired of people pushing that sound, one of our FAVORITE sounds, in new, exciting and unlikely directions. And we definitely can't think of anything less likely than indie folk and black metal...
Incredible packaging, a fold out full color oversized accordion style matte finish booklet, with frosty forest images on one side, lyrics and liner notes on the other, the band name and album title in reflective gold metallic ink.
MPEG Stream: "Wind's Dark Poem"
MPEG Stream: "Through The Trees"
MPEG Stream: "The Mouth Of Sky"
MPEG Stream: "(Something)"