BELPHEGOR Pestapokalypse VI (Nuclear Blast) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "Belphegor - Hell's Ambassador"
MPEG Stream: "Seyn Todt In Schwartz"

BEMBEYA JAZZ NATIONAL The Syliphone Years (Sterns Africa) 2cd 24.00

BEN, JORGE Forca Bruta (Dusty Groove) cd 14.98
One of the more understated figures in Tropicalia gets one of his best but equally understated albums reissued. Forca Bruta, from 1970, didn't yield any of the hits he was known for such as "Chove Chuva", "Mas Que Nada" or "Umbabarauma", but it's still one of his best collections of songs. Backed by Trio Mocoto, who accompanied Ben through many of his biggest hits, Forca Bruta is a more mellow groover of samba soul that despite its simpler acoustic arrangements packs a powerful punch with some seriously amazing musicianship. Ben wasn't as radical a political figure as his compatriots Gilberto Gil or Caetano Veloso, but was instrumental in importing West African rhythm influences into his music which was influential in both Veloso's and Gil's musical development. Awesome reissue, highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Oba, La Vem Ela"
MPEG Stream: "Aparece Aparecida"
MPEG Stream: "O Telefone Tocou Novamente"

BEN, JORGE Forca Bruta (4 Men with Beards) lp 16.98
Now on Vinyl!!!
One of the more understated figures in Tropicalia gets one of his best but equally understated albums reissued. Forca Bruta, from 1970, didn't yield any of the hits he was known for such as "Chove Chuva", "Mas Que Nada" or "Umbabarauma", but it's still one of his best collections of songs. Backed by Trio Mocoto, who accompanied Ben through many of his biggest hits, Forca Bruta is a more mellow groover of samba soul that despite its simpler acoustic arrangements packs a powerful punch with some seriously amazing musicianship. Ben wasn't as radical a political figure as his compatriots Gilberto Gil or Caetano Veloso, but was instrumental in importing West African rhythm influences into his music which was influential in both Veloso's and Gil's musical development. Awesome reissue, highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Oba, La Vem Ela"
MPEG Stream: "Aparece Aparecida"
MPEG Stream: "O Telefone Tocou Novamente"

BEN, JORGE s/t (1969) (Dusty Groove) cd 14.98
After listing and loving and shouting from the hilltops about Caetano Veloso's, Gal Costa's and Gilberto Gil's self-titled 1969 records, we got another to add to the bunch, this stunner from Jorge Ben. Ben was more sympatico with Tropicalia than a full fledged member but he was held in high esteem by all involved including Rogerio Duprat who produced this record (And all the others mentioned above!). Unlike the Tropicalistas, he never turned his back on the traditions of samba, instead infusing it with soul, psychedelia and funk rhythms (provided by Trio Mocoto, the top shelf Brazillian rhythm section). The original version of "Pais Tropical" which was covered by Gal Costa, appears here, and the Theremin that introduces "Descobri Que Eu Sou Um Ajo" puts that track on par with Os Mutantes' best material. A beautiful revolutionary jam that will make your summer even more worthwhile!
MPEG Stream: "Criola"
MPEG Stream: "Pais Tropical"
MPEG Stream: "Descobri Que Eu Sou Um Anjo"

BENDIAN'S INTERZONE, GREGG Requiem for Jack Kirby (Atavistic) cd 14.98
Jazz composer Gregg Bendian offers up a musical tribute to legendary Marvel Comics artist Jack Kirby (1917-1994 RIP). Thus the heroic four-color Kirby artwork that adorns this disc, the liner notes from Kirby collaborators like Stan Lee, and yes, the gorgeous, cinematic music made by Bendian's Interzone: that is, Bendian (credited in Marvel-style hyberbolic fashion with "Voracious Vibing and Cataclysmic Composing"), AQ-fave Nels Cline ("Spectral Plectra"), Alex Cline ("Polymorphic Percussing"), and Joel Hamilton ("Boomtube Bassery"). The chiming, shimmering tones of Gregg's vibes and Nels' guitar dominate, making colorful yet moody music that ranges from the intimate to the swingin'ly majestic. Was Jack Kirby a jazz fan? I don't know, but he would have to be pleased with this lovely, carefully crafted tribute. One of Bendian's best releases, if just for the classic comic book artwork alone! So, a cool idea, well executed, one for Kirby/comics/Cline fans for sure.
RealAudio clip: "New Gods"

BENEATH THE LAKE Inside Passage (Glass Throat) cd 10.98
Beneath The Lake is the new ambient drone project of Nicolas Lampert, who was one third of AQ faves Noisegate, a bay area crusty, death-drone-ambient project with two records out on Andee's tUMULt label. Beneath The Lake finds Nicolas and new partner Dave Canterbury exploring similar sonic space as Noisegate did on their last full length 'Suspended Animation', but with more emphasis on the nature of sound and a much more dense and heavily layered approach. Utilising cello, guitar, pedals, processors and environmental recordings of sea lions, water, whales, wasps, wolves, owls and wind, Beneath The Lake manage to create rumbling pulsing drones that feel somehow alive, with organic thrum and cavernous shimmers, sounds slipping in and out of the sonic landscape, sparse and desolate one moment, lush and overpowering the next. Haunting and chillingly beautiful. One of our new favorite drone records.
RealAudio clip: "Water"
RealAudio clip: "Inside Passage"

BENEATH THE LAKE Silent Uprising (Glass Throat) cd 13.98
This is record number two from Beneath The Lake, whose first record from 2002, Inside The Passage, was a huge hit around these parts. BTL is made up of Nicolas Lampert, who was one half of Oakland ambient terrorists Noisegate, who released two records on Andee's tUMULt label, and Dave Canterbury who is a fixture of the noise underground performing as Wage Class Slave. Beneath The Lake is a project based on creating soundscapes combining minimal ambient music and found sounds, with an emphasis on composing the music to compliment the sounds instead of just using the sounds as a backdrop. Where their first record focused more on nature, Silent Uprising shifts the focus a bit more toward the increasing influence of the urban landscape as cities continue to encroach on nature and change the balance forever. The record begins with the clatter of trains rushing past, the receding sound of the train is soon joined by a simple strident guitar riff, accompanied by a mournful wooden recorder. The two drift and shift and slowly build in intensity. Very reminiscent of Neurosis at their most mellow, surprisingly enough. The riff shifts and twists, shadowed by the recorders melodies eventually being joined by the sound of another train and eventually being drowned out by the roar of the wheels on the tracks. The second track is a simple, gorgeously melancholy guitar melody, slowly and deliberately picked, over a bed of crackly static that could be either the sound of rain falling or the crackle of a fire, or both. The sound on Silent Uprising is much more musical than on Inside The Passage with the drone being relegated to just one of many instruments / approaches as opposed to the very dark and slow shifting all encompassing drone of the earlier record. Here, it's -that- guitar, all dark and shimmering and reverberant, and the brooding slow building melodies that creep across the sonic landscape. It sometimes almost sounds like the slow core of Low being performed in a steel mill or a rail yard, the band struggling to be heard over the sound of rain and wind and trains and passing cars. Strangely powerful and poignant. Packaged in a gorgeous oversized sleeve with breathtaking images of winter foliage and urban landscaapes, printed in all muted browns and tans. So lovely.
MPEG Stream: "Empty Highway - Highway / City / Sheep"
MPEG Stream: "Fire And Rain - Rain / Rattlesnake / Thunderstorm / Owl"

BENEATH THE MASSACRE Mechanics Of Dysfunction (Prosthetic) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "The Surface"
MPEG Stream: "Society's Disposable Son"
MPEG Stream: "The System's Failure"

BENGA Buzzin (Tempa) 12" 12.98

BENGA Comb 60s / Killers About (Planet Mu) 12" 9.98
Still more grime and dubstep madness from the only label that seems to be really bringing us the grime-y goodness we want. THAT WE NEED!! And it's another killer. Benga is a big deal in the tiny world of dubstep, but this is the first we've heard from him outside a handful of comps.
Side A is some super stripped down dubstep with BIG BIG beats that had our speakers shaking off the shelves, fuzzy blown out basslines, droning warbles in the background and some weird haunting Hitchcockian synth melodies.
The B side has some of the most killer low end we've ever heard. HUGE foundation rattling low end rumble, wrapped in thick reverb and spaced out dubby FX, like King Tubby gone grime, with cinematic pizzicato strings, like the soundtrack to some dubstep thriller. Nice!

BENGA Crunked Up (Tempa) 12" 10.98

BENGA Diary Of An Afro (Tempa) 3lp 27.00

BENGA Diary Of An Afro Warrior (Tempa) cd 17.98
Having released a superhuman amount of singles and split 12"s for Tempa, Big Apple, Planet Mu, and Hot Flush labels, Benga is most definitely one of the key figures bringing dubstep to a wider audience. That's mainly due to the UK club success of "Night", Benga's collaboration with Coki, his Tempa labelmate. The quivering nervous build-up to a massively skittery and surfy air-raid siren release cemented the producer's reputation as one to watch. Now with this full length, Benga is given room to expand the boundaries of what dubstep can be. Utilizing plaintive jazz horns, synth squelches, moody electro, warmer textures and beats that veer more towards house than genremates Burial or Kode 9, Diary of An Afro Warrior is more than a series of strung together singles but a richly complex and diverse dancefloor manifesto that is amongst the best the genre has to offer. Highly Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Night"
MPEG Stream: "B4 The Dual"
MPEG Stream: "26 Bsslines"

BENGA Newstop (Beng) cd 16.98

BENGA Southside (Southside Dubstars) 12" 13.98

BENGA The Invasion (Big Apple) 2x12" 23.00

BENGA & COKI Night (Tempa) cd 6.98
Hot single from Benga's latest!
MPEG Stream: "Night"

BENGA & WALSH / MARLOW / GRAVIOUS Split (Hot Flush) 12" 12.98

BENGA & WALSH / WALSH & KROMESTAR Military / Panik Room (Hot Flush) 12" 11.98

BENGE Twenty Systems (Expanding) cd+book 27.00
There are unfortunately, some non-musical factors that contribute to what records we choose to be our Record Of The Week. Cost is one. There have been plenty of $30, or $40, or even $50 records that we've chosen to not make ROTW just because a record like that is often well outside a lot of folks' range of affordability. Once in a while we do make an exception, but that's usually when a record is SO good we just can't say no. Another factor is availability. No matter how great a record is, if we can only ever get 5 or 10 or 20 copies, often not knowing how long it will take to get more, or if we'll be able to get more at all, then we usually choose to highlight it, or if the numbers are super small, not list it at all (which is another reason visiting aQ in person is always a good idea, there's plenty of stuff that doesn't make it onto the list!). Anyway, the point of all this, is that we have been LOVING this Benge record, and until now we've only been able to get it in dribs and drabs, 5 copies here, 2 copies there, but we finally managed to get a bunch. A bunch in this case being about 15 copies. So fair warning, this disc is AWESOME, everyone is gonna want one, so when we sell out, please be patient, we're already doing our best to get more in, it just might take a while. So quick on the trigger, or be ready to wait patiently.
And what kind of record deserves all of these disclaimers? What kind of record can we be so sure all aQ list readers will want? How about a miniature hardcover book, containing a cd with 20 tracks, each track performed on a different synthesizer, from a different year, spanning the years 1968 to 1998, a sonic roadmap of the evolution of the synthesizer, from the first commercially available synths in the late sixties, to the introduction of fully digital synthesizers in the late eighties. Each page of the book featuring a full color photo of the synthesizer used to create that track, along with a schematic of that synth, as well as liner notes all about the synthesizer, as well as how the track was created. That all still might not be enough if the music wasn't amazing, but it is. Somehow strangely cohesive, even though 20 different instruments were used, the sounds here are uniformly blissed out and dreamy, a sort of new age droney drifty washed out shimmer, peppered with beautiful melodies and occasional percussion. Did you love the recent Bogner record of the week? Do you love Tangerine Dream? Popol Vuh? That Edmond De Dyster reissue? Deuter? The William Eaton reissue on EM? Steve Hillage's Rainbow Dome Music? Any number of avant electronic dronemusic cd-r's? Then you'll love this. Or if you're just a music geek that loves these sorts of 'objects', or tech-heads who love vintage gear. Hard to really imagine anyone not digging this big time.
So beyond the book, and the photos and the liner notes and the cool packaging, the music within is truly divine, and fairly diverse, from long slow oceans of sound, swirling and shimmering and sun dappled, to space aged glitch and skitter, hum and buzz, primitive robot disco bleep and bloop, to haunting Goblin-y synthscapery, to fluttery ethereal electronica rife with crystalline melodies and simple rhythms, to super creepy and dark cinematic ambience, to playful electronic shuffles, to blown out expansive cosmic shimmerscapes and on and on.
This could very well have been a super boring demonstration style record, and granted, most of us probably would have bought it anyway for the book and the pix and the strange sounds, being the huge music geeks we are, but thankfully, even with all the extras stripped away, we'd still be left with a gorgeous, playful, pretty, blissed out, warm and shimmery, slightly ominous, dramatic and epic, bleepy and bloopy experimental space age new age ambient electronic record. Which is even better.
Needless to say, WAY recommended. Amazing packaging, a miniature hardcover book, with tons of photos and liner notes and schematics, as well as an introduction by Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner. And again, these have been tough to keep in stock, so if we run out, please be patient while we wait for more to arrive.
MPEG Stream: "1968 Moog Modular"
MPEG Stream: "1969 EMS VCS3"
MPEG Stream: "1976 Yamaha CS80"
MPEG Stream: "1980 Korg Trident"
MPEG Stream: "1983 Fairlight CMI"

BENIGHTED LEAMS Astral Tenebrion (Supernal Music) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Wow. Possibly the most fucked up, ridiculous black metal "band" ever, with their (his, actually, it's one guy) newest disc, some kind of pseudocerebral spacemetal epic with *amazing* songtitles like "Aurora of Despondence on Valles Marineris" and "Hermetically Leering As Frigid Blores Obumber" and "Sinister Demurral Estranged The Seductive Looming". Seemingly produced at home by someone probably not entirely familiar with how to work his four-track, and definitely struggling to operate his drum machine properly! Thus, so great that both Andee and Allan have purchased one. Also, recommended by Josh from the Champs.

BENIGHTED LEAMS Ferln Centesms (Supernal) cd 15.98
THE RETURN OF POSSIBLY THE MOST RETARDED BLACK METAL BAND EVER!!! That may not sound like the ideal way to start a review that's goal is to convince you just how fucking crucial this record is. But then maybe you're not familiar with Benighted Leams or our absolute, possibly-misguided worship of their last two (sadly, out of print) records. Benighted Leams is another grim, cult, one man black metal band, but that's where any similarities end. Benighted Leams are so weird and so damaged and so completely fucked it boggles the mind. On past records, the rule of the day was utter chaos, levels would fluctuate EXTREMELY, with the vocals so high in the mix they threatened to blow your speakers, the drumming would wander from almost blast beats to clumsy midtempo stumbling, guitars were a murky muddy blackened beast, riffs smeared into fuzzy rooooaaaars and the whole thing a dizzingly nightmarish blackmetal soundscape and a completely baffling trip through the a dark musical minefield. We're happy to report that very little has changed. Could have something to do with the fact that the music on Ferln Centesms was composed 7+ years ago and the lyrics written over the past 4 years. Not that the lyrics matter all that much, as the vocals this time around are buried and totally indecipherable (enough so that a few people here thought it was instrumental). This is droning buzzing, stumbling mid tempo blackness. All the songs seem to almost follow some sort of template, a minute or two of blasting buzz, then a minute or two of hushed gurgling forestdrone, and then more buzzing. Very hypnotic and repetitive. And did we mention weird? The blurb we initially read about this new record compared it to Voivod and we must admit we were pretty skeptical. However, the songs are indeed surprisingly reminiscent of classic Voivod, jagged and complex, with convoluted song structures and weird arrangements. However, to be fair, it sounds much more like some random, slightly inept garage band covering Voivod's Dimension Hatross! So, to understand Benighted Leams, imagine the weirdest 4-track oustsider metal you've ever heard, mix in a stumbling, blackened Voivod, include song titles like "The Ormod Liss Of Transuranical Nortivagations" or "Sullen Slumber Of Swooning Gloom" and a record called Ferln Centesms, include gorgeous forest-y artwork and a band photo that appears to be Mr. Leams himself captured in mid stride, running through the snow, and strangely headless (?). Wow. We LOVE this band. Some (just some) of you might too...
MPEG Stream: "The Ormod Liss Of Transuranical Nortivagations"
MPEG Stream: "Sullen Slumber Of Swooning Gloom"

BENIGHTED LEAMS Obombrid Welkins (Supernal) cd 15.98
Way back in 1999, the first time we ever heard them, we referred to Benighted Leams as "possibly the most retarded black metal band ever"! A level of dementedness and fucked up-ness by which all others would be measured. Leams mainman A.K. took umbrage, wondering why we would possibly describe his band that way, and how such a review could be expected to sell records?
Funny thing is, we sold tons and tons, Benighted Leams becoming THE sort of AQ black metal band. Gloriously damaged and demented, fucked up and oh so weird. Perhaps 'retarded' was not the ideal word choice, but we were trying to capture the essence of BL's then-sound, a sort of stumbling, struggling WTF black metal buzz. The drums were programmed and off time, often too loud, the guitars and vocals were alternately buried in the mix, and ear shreddingly loud. BUT! It was one of those perfect moments, where all of those various accidents and musical mistakes combined to create something vastly superior to its constituent parts. Still to this day, one of the greatest, weirdest, most inspired outsider bands EVER.
So here we are, almost 8 years, and a few Leams discs later, when we got word of a brand new Benighted Leams!!! Holy Shit were we excited!! A new Leams on the way. We had been hovering around the front door waiting for the mailman like kids at Christmas, when the day suddenly came and there was a big ol' package for us (and you!) from the UK, and inside we knew, lurked the new Leams!!
A lot has changed in the Benighted Leams camp -- no struggling damaged fucked up black metal stumble anymore, nope, the new Leams is thick and heavy, relentless, and HUGE sounding, like maybe it was recorded in a real studio, the guitars are massive and crunchy, the riffs killer and grim, the drums could still be programmed, but they sound much more organic, settled perfectly in the mix, a swirling, mostly midtempo blackness, with brief bursts of glorious blasting buzz. The vocals are buried, alternating with bits of found sound and purloined speeches. On first listen the untrained ear might not necessarily realize that this was Benighted Leams, but we know! There's no disguising the gloriously bizarre blackness that is Benighted leams. From the album title, Obombrid Welkins, to the song titles, "Kevin Macdonald's Theory Of Eurocentralism As A Group Evolution Strategy", "There Descends A Nauseating Dampness", "Alopaecia", to the strange but gorgeous design and layout, complete with a photo to accompany each track's lyrics (including a shot of a head obviously afflicted with "Alopaecia"), to the murky band photos (one half of BL is female apparently!), to the music! Drone drenched black metal, relentless and hypnotic, single riffs repeated over and over, simple and mournful and mesmerizing, minor key melodies tangled up in fuzzed out buzz, the vocals and samples making the songs sound ghostly and haunting.
Definitely not the weirdest Benighted Leams record, but possibly the best! As with all things Leams, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
MPEG Stream: "Kevin Macdonald's Theory Of Eurocentralism As A Group Evolution Strategy"
MPEG Stream: "Obombrid Welkins"
MPEG Stream: "The Fame Of Dead Mens Deeds"

BENNI HEMM HEMM Kajak (Morr Music) cd 17.98
German label Morr Music tosses us a curve ball with this latest addition to their roster. Benni Hemm Hemm does not make frothy dream-tronica, but something just as easy on the ears. Armed with freshly scrubbed rosy cheeks, Benni Hemm Hemm are a group of gentle indie pop folk from Iceland whose line-up expands and contracts between eleven and seventeen members. This is their second full length and it begins with what we imagined to be a highschool marching band going through their bright-eyed, glockenspiel'd paces out in a greener than green meadow. In the spring morn sunlight, their well polished horns and uplifting perky melodies simply sparkle.
MPEG Stream: "Skvavars"
MPEG Stream: "Snjor Ljos Snjor"

BENNI HEMM HEMM Kajak (Morr Music) lp 17.98
German label Morr Music tosses us a curve ball with this latest addition to their roster. Benni Hemm Hemm does not make frothy dream-tronica, but something just as easy on the ears. Armed with freshly scrubbed rosy cheeks, Benni Hemm Hemm are a group of gentle indie pop folk from Iceland whose line-up expands and contracts between eleven and seventeen members. This is their second full length and it begins with what we imagined to be a highschool marching band going through their bright-eyed, glockenspiel'd paces out in a greener than green meadow. In the spring morn sunlight, their well polished horns and uplifting perky melodies simply sparkle.
MPEG Stream: "Skvavars"
MPEG Stream: "Snjor Ljos Snjor"

BENNINK, HAN Nerve Beats (Atavistic) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A truly amazing document of a solo set performed by percussionist Han Bennink, long acknowledged as one of the founders of European improvised music. Full of exuberance, life, humor, this record scales the heights of unpredictability and variety as Bennink alternately plays unidentified pieces of metal, shimmering cymbals, tablas, rat-a-tat-tat staccato drums, clarinets, and accompanies himself with vocal warbles, muffled quacks, yells... This record is 27 years old but sounds fresher and more alive than much of what was released last week! First time on cd. Highly recommended.

BENNINK, HAN & TERRIE EX The Laughing Owl (Atavistic) cd 14.98
A Dutch duo jazz-improv skronk fest, with the peculiar sputtering engine percussion of free jazz veteran Bennink and the clattery spidery guitar skree of The Ex's Terrie Ex. Seventeen wild and woolly tracks.

BENSON, BRENDAN Lapalco (Startime International) cd 15.98
Very Apples In Stereo / Silver Sun / Sloan jubilant pop with jangly guitar melodies, and perky vocal harmonies. Benson possesses a boyish voice with a lilt that reminded me a lot of Rufus Wainwright or Jason Faulkner. Nice.
RealAudio clip: "What "
RealAudio clip: "Tiny Spark"

BENSON, BRENDAN My Old, Familiar Friend (Echo) cd 13.98

MPEG Stream: "A Whole Lot Better"
MPEG Stream: "Poised And Ready"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Wanna Talk"

BENSON, JOHN / GEORGE CHEN / BRIAN MILLER s/t (self-released) cd-r 4.98

BENUMB By Means of Upheaval (Relapse) cd 14.98

BENUMB Withering Strands of Hope (Relapse) cd 14.98
Crushing political East Bay grind from the Bay Area's masters of blazing crustcore intensity. 32 tracks. Complex and heavy, right on lyrics addressing the sad state of world affairs, and as usual, a huge comprehensive list (with contacts) of all the cool bands and labels.

BENUMB / PIG DESTROYER Split (Robotic Empire) 3" cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
West Coast vs. East Coast!! Grindcore tag team battle royale. Benumb offer up 3 tracks of grunted, growling metal/grind, with some cool strangely recorded sub-bass rumble (not sure if it's on purpose or not). The mighty Pig Destroyer spit out 7 tracks of pummelling, incredibly tight metallic grind, heavy and intense. Super distorted vocals and crushing riffs. Suypposedly them just fucking around, testing the equipment during the recording of their amazing 'Prowler...' record, but it sounds pretty serious to me. Even a blazing cover of the Dwarves' 'Fuck You Up And Get High.' 10 tracks in seven minutes. Fuck yeah!!
RealAudio clip: BENUMB "Path of the Righteous"
RealAudio clip: PIG DESTROYER "Fuck you up and Get High"
RealAudio clip: PIG DESTROYER "Black Centipede"

BENUMB / PREMONITIONS OF WAR split (Thorp) cd 10.98

BEPLER, JONATHAN Cremaster 2 (Bepler) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Glacial drones, beautifully sung songs by/about a notorious killer, thousands of buzzing bees and a death metal cameo...all are elements of this gorgeous and bizarre soundtrack to one of the weirdest and biggest budget art/film projects ever, Matthew Barney's million-dollar "Cremaster 2".
We were lucky enough to get a hold of some copies of the rare soundtrack composed by Johnathan Bepler. For the most part, Bepler layers multiple atonal church organ chords with varying effects that tweak the underlying sound. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir makes an appearance as does some digitally bent country twang. But the mindblowing highlight (both here on the cd and in the film) is the massive blastbeat provided by ex-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo as Morbid Angel's bass player and vocalist Steve Tucker sings into a phone while cloaked in bees, who also contribute much buzzing to the wall of sound.
Barney's "Cremaster" series is arguably the most important work to emerge from the artworld in the past decade. To discuss in depth Barney's convoluted symbolism and bizarre Lynch / Cronenberg / Greenaway imagery would take up far too much space even for this increasingly verbose new arrivals list, but we'll attempt a brief introduction for the uninitiated: Barney's sound / film / installation pieces are poetic and difficult allegories, centered on the growth of human sexuality and its psychological implications. "Cremaster 2" is actually the fourth in a five part series (the order went 1, 3, 5, and then 2), and is, quite crassly put, a really good dick joke. More critically put, Barney abstracts the life & times of the serial killer Gary Gilmore to portray an archetype for a pre-linguistic male figure who lacks the super-ego control over the id's proclivity for sex & violence.
Music has always played an important part in the Barney work, and Jonathan Bepler's score for "Cremaster 2" certainly does its best to support Barney's complex visual elements. If you haven't seen the film, this soundtrack will make you want to.

BEPLER, JONATHAN Cremaster 3 (Bepler) 2cd 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Without getting too much into the meta-narratives of Matthew Barney's masterpiece "Cremaster 3" which loosely has something to do with the history of Freemasons, the Guggenheim Museum, macho-minimalist Richard Serra hurling vaseline, a punk battle of the bands between Murphy's Law and Agnostic Front, video games, and multiple references to Chrysler (both the car and the building). However, we can get a little worked up about the "Cremaster 3" soundtrack composed by Jonathan Bepler (who scored the two preceding films "Cremaster 5" and "Cremaster 2.") Yes, the numerical sequencing of this series is supposed to be out of order, merely one of many convolutions of logic. As in "Cremaster 2," Bepler masterfully constructs his soundtrack out of pre-existing musical genres and recognizable codifications of sound. Gaelic bagpipes blurt a dissonant stream of polyphonic notes, theremins sadly pull a solitary croon from the ether, violins glide through sustained tones, lurid artnoir grooves further corrode Barry Adamson's dark application of be-bop, and the drones, oh the drones. Much like the Alan Splet score for David Lynch's "Eraserhead" and even some of the later Ligeti chorale pieces, Bepler dissolves all of these references into pools of droning sound which allow him to fluidly work in and out of the huge pastiche. As before, Bepler's work is totally amazing.
RealAudio clip: "Chrysler Chorale Overture"
RealAudio clip: "Initiate's Serenade"
RealAudio clip: "Crown's Overture"
RealAudio clip: "Rainbow Girls Idyll"

BEPLER, JONATHAN Cremaster 5 (BMG) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
So many folks were enthused about the soundtrack to "Cremaster 2" that we thought we should also stock the soundtrack to Matthew Barney's "Cremaster 5", from a few years back. Unlike the soundtrack to "Cremaster 2", which featured speed metal drummer Dave Lombardo and other weirdness along with the classical elements, this one (released on a mainstream classical music label) is more of a straight classical styled piece, appropriate because "Cremaster 5" was conceived as a Hungarian opera, set in various locations around Budapest. The plot is loosely based on Shakespeare's "Prospero's Book," with the Prospero character (played by Barney) split into three distinct figures each representing the Freudian trilogy of the mind: ego, super-ego, and id (named by Barney as Diva, Magician, and Giant). The object of Prospero's desire is the Queen of Chain, played by the magnetic Ursula Andress. As with everything in the "Cremaster" series, it gets a hell of a lot more complex than this description can accurately convey.
Anyway, Barney employs Jonathan Bepler (who was responsible for the incredible score of "Cremaster 2") to score quite a melodramatic, tragic opera to be performed by the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. Like all operas, you really go to "see" the opera -- not just hear it. Quite lovely for an opera, but without the context of Barney's vaseline 'n' prosthetic imagery, Bepler's music loses a great deal of power. Still Bepler/Barney fans may well want to add it to their collections.

BERAKI, TSEHAYTU Selam (Terp) 2cd 19.98
From the same label (The Ex's Terp label) that brought us the recent Konono No.1 live record, comes this amazing double cd release from legendary Eritrean singer Tsehaytu Beraki. Initially, the folks at Terp were just trying to help locate material for the Ethiopiques series, when people kept suggesting that someone should do something for Beraki, who was forced to flee from the turmoil of Eritrea and somehow ended up in Rotterdam. After some determined digging, Terrie from the Ex managed to track her down and began to discuss ideas for releasing a cd. It ended up that after years and years of performing and recording, very litte of Beraki's music had actually been recorded or released! So plans were made, and everything on these two discs was recorded in a modern state of the art studio with a handful of unlikely guests (free jazz drummer Han Bennink for one!) between 2000-2003. You'd be hard pressed to tell though, because the sound, the songs and Beraki's vocals are so perfectly timeless. Mostly performed on a krar (and occasionally a bass krar), a buzzing stringed instrument like a harp / banjo / sitar hybrid, these songs are gorgeous, with Beraki's warm, resonant vocals over a bed of buzzing strings, muted melodies, and a simple insistent and hypnotic rhythm. Every time we play this in the store someone comes up to find out what it is. Folks who dug the Ethiopiques series (especially Vol. 16) and the recent Konono No.1 will LOVE this. So beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "Atzmtom Keskisom"
MPEG Stream: "Hey Li Habelmalet"

BERAN, GRANT The Another Ones (Postmoderncore) cd-r 14.98
Any record bearing the legend: "All the music on this cd has been created using a very old record player, second hand microphones, discarded tape recorders and various bits of wire" pretty much has to be good. Well okay, maybe HAS TO is exaggerating, but at the very least that sort of description is enough to get us very intrigued.
And in this case, it is good, but at the same time nothing at all like we were expecting.
We had imagined some sort of washed out Philip Jeck style drones, or pixelated Tim Hecker-ish soundscapes, or even the sort of crackling slow decay of William Basinski's tape pieces, but instead, Grant Beran has taken old records and some junky beat up equipment and used them to create surprisingly rhythmic tracks, utilizing various cracks and pops, and skips to fashion almost-grooves, like a lo-fi DJ Shadow sort of. The opener is all fuzzy and buzzy, but with a super driving beat, a skipping record looped into a hypnotic groove, a little bit techno, a little bit hip hop, a little creepy Goblin soundtrack, and a lot fuzzed out turntable buzz. It's not hard to imagine some clever DJ adding huge beats to this and you'd have the most fucked up lo-fi dancefloor jam ever. But we don't want to exaggerate the 'dance' aspect, it's more like the soundtrack to some lost John Carpenter movie, dubbed from VHS to VHS to home stereo to microcassette recorder until it ended up sounding like this, groove and fuzzy and murky and awesome!
The second track is much more moody and atmospheric, the rhythms an afterthought, that seem to surface randomly, while the meat of the track is deep sonorous tones, throbbing and distorted, woven into some low end melody. The rest of the record is split pretty evenly between hushed whispery ambient drone, and weirdly distorted lo-fi grooves, standout's include the buzzy electro jam of "The Man In The High Castle", the cinematic krautrocky murk of "Double Star", the almost Chain Reaction dub of "Star Collector" and the droney buzz and grind of "Gleanings".
Falling somewhere between experimental turntable soundscapery and a moody cinematic DJ record, Beran has skillfully woven sonic straw into fuzzy, stuttery, groovy gold, taking turntables and dreamdrone ambience into rhythmic places until now, as far as we know completely unexplored! WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "My Own Private Tokyo"
MPEG Stream: "Sci-Fi Lullaby"
MPEG Stream: "Here At The Western World"

BERBERIAN, JOHN Expressions East (Mainstream) lp 16.98
We're lucky to get in this week not one but two mid-sixties LPs showcasing the amazing virtuosity and global grooves of master oud player John Berberian. These are beautiful 180 gram reissues on colored vinyl from Mainstream records who have been reissuing a lot of their amazing back catalog as of late. When you see the covers of Expressions East and its follow up, Oud Artistry, you can't help but think of the late fifties / early sixties "Exotica" craze with paintings of belly dancers in a modernist style and use of oriental-looking fonts. Of course this is not going to be a Hamza El Din record, but the American-born Armenian Berberian is no Martin Denny either. On these records, Berberian beguiles us with his frenetically intense jazz-like compositions occasionally featuring the haunting vocals of Bob Tashjian. Featuring an amazing band playing traditional instruments (canun, bongos, dudoog, dumbeg, def, guitar, clarinet and finger cymbals along with an array of other exotic percussion) performing mesmerizingly rhythmic tracks of Turkish, Armenian and Arabic origins. Berberian became better known for more rockish Middle Eastern projects later on in his career, but it's these early records that really showcase his masterful skills as an instrumentalist and performer. Both records are well-recommended!

BERBERIAN, JOHN Middle Eastern Rock (Acid Symposium) cd 17.98
Hey, all of you who've been digging the Middle Eastern '60s garage psych rock n' roll sounds of the "Hava Narghile" and "Turkish Delight" compilations, or that Devil's Anvil disc! We've come across another east-meets-west gem for your collection, the newly reissued "Middle Eastern Rock" from John Berberian & the Rock East Ensemble, a NYC-based outfit from the sixties that was quite a bit like fellow New Yorkers the Devil's Anvil group. Here's a quote from the original liner notes to the 1969 LP release: "Middle Eastern music and rock...two of a kind. The music of Armenia, Turkey, the Arab nations and Greece is about as nakedly emotional as you can get. The authentic music of the Middle East is the result of generations of hunger, persecution, frustration and suffering. It is explosively melodic...and incoherently mad with joy. It is filled with the heavy odor of animal magnetism. The motivations behind this music are all too familiar. They are the same very often repeated words and phrases that are used to describe the origins of the blues, of jazz and of soul. And all these kinds of closely related styles of music are the prime progenitors of the rock that we hear today." Out to prove these words true, Armenian-American band leader John Berberian's oud meets up with the acid rock guitar of Joe Beck right on the opening cut, the aptly titled "The Oud & The Fuzz". The Oud & The Fuzz!! What more do you need to hear? Well, they don't top that cut, but we do like the whole album. Berberian's band veers into jazzier territory on much of this disc, which is pretty great too. Taking a bunch of traditional Middle Eastern tunes and adapting 'em for the hip swinging young sixties crowd, these cats make some super-cool Middle Eastern jazz-flavored lounge music. This is certainly groovy belly dancing music, if not totally exotic garage psych rock n' roll like "The Oud & The Fuzz" promises. And, they do a track called "Iron Maiden"!
RealAudio clip: "The Oud & The Fuzz"
RealAudio clip: "Flying Hye"

BERBERIAN, JOHN Middle Eastern Rock (Cherry Red) cd 17.98
Now reissued again, via Cherry Red... Hey, all of you who've been digging the Middle Eastern '60s garage psych rock n' roll sounds of the "Hava Narghile" and "Turkish Delight" compilations, or that Devil's Anvil disc! We've come across another east-meets-west gem for your collection, the newly reissued "Middle Eastern Rock" from John Berberian & the Rock East Ensemble, a NYC-based outfit from the sixties that was quite a bit like fellow New Yorkers the Devil's Anvil group. Here's a quote from the original liner notes to the 1969 LP release: "Middle Eastern music and rock...two of a kind. The music of Armenia, Turkey, the Arab nations and Greece is about as nakedly emotional as you can get. The authentic music of the Middle East is the result of generations of hunger, persecution, frustration and suffering. It is explosively melodic...and incoherently mad with joy. It is filled with the heavy odor of animal magnetism. The motivations behind this music are all too familiar. They are the same very often repeated words and phrases that are used to describe the origins of the blues, of jazz and of soul. And all these kinds of closely related styles of music are the prime progenitors of the rock that we hear today." Out to prove these words true, Armenian-American band leader John Berberian's oud meets up with the acid rock guitar of Joe Beck right on the opening cut, the aptly titled "The Oud & The Fuzz". The Oud & The Fuzz!! What more do you need to hear? Well, they don't top that cut, but we do like the whole album. Berberian's band veers into jazzier territory on much of this disc, which is pretty great too. Taking a bunch of traditional Middle Eastern tunes and adapting 'em for the hip swinging young sixties crowd, these cats make some super-cool Middle Eastern jazz-flavored lounge music. This is certainly groovy belly dancing music, if not totally exotic garage psych rock n' roll like "The Oud & The Fuzz" promises. And, they do a track called "Iron Maiden"!
RealAudio clip: "The Oud & The Fuzz"
RealAudio clip: "Flying Hye"

BERBERIAN, JOHN Oud Artistry (Mainstream) lp 16.98
We're lucky to get in this week not one but two mid-sixties LPs showcasing the amazing virtuosity and global grooves of master oud player John Berberian. These are beautiful 180 gram reissues on colored vinyl from Mainstream records who have been reissuing a lot of their amazing back catalog as of late. When you see the covers of Expressions East and its follow up, Oud Artistry, you can't help but think of the late fifties / early sixties "Exotica" craze with paintings of belly dancers in a modernist style and use of oriental-looking fonts. Of course this is not going to be a Hamza El Din record, but the American-born Armenian Berberian is no Martin Denny either. On these records, Berberian beguiles us with his frenetically intense jazz-like compositions occasionally featuring the haunting vocals of Bob Tashjian. Featuring an amazing band playing traditional instruments (canun, bongos, dudoog, dumbeg, def, guitar, clarinet and finger cymbals along with an array of other exotic percussion) performing mesmerizingly rhythmic tracks of Turkish, Armenian and Arabic origins. Berberian became better known for more rockish Middle Eastern projects later on in his career, but it's these early records that really showcase his masterful skills as an instrumentalist and performer. Both records are well-recommended!

BERG SANS NIPPLE, THE Along The Quai (Team Love) cd 14.98
Tortoise-tronica! That's the one word which sprung to our mind after listening to the first few tracks on this album by this peculiarly named duo. The Berg Sans Nipple are Lori Sean Berg and Shane Aspegren, a couple of scruffy fellows who hail from France and Nebraska respectively. They take the jazz infused post-rock influence of that venerable band and funnel it through a primarily electronic focused instrument palette. Then they add some Notwist-y murmured male vocals, a little smooth soul, and the results are something fresh and new that sits just as comfily alongside Broken Social Scene and Air as it does the above mentioned Windy City veterans. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Ghost"
MPEG Stream: "Of The Sung"

BERGRAVEN Dodsvisioner (Hydra Head) cd 14.98
Hydra Head, the home to lots of AQ faves, from Isis to Pelican to Khanate, has gradually been dipping their toes into much blacker waters, reissuing the Heresi record in the US, and signing USBM hero Xasthur, and now offering up the latest full length from Sweden's melodic black metal weirdos Bergraven.
These guys are tough to describe. A deliriously unpredictable listen. Dodsvisioner is not thrashing blasting grimness, although it is grim in its own peculiar way. The tempos are mostly mid, the guitars soar and warble and rumble and emit damaged atonal melodies, more than they actually buzz. The vocals are appropriately raspy and demonic, but when they are draped across strange clean reverbed guitars, or weird circusy keyboards, or even -- stranger still for black metal -- pedal steel, they take on a whole different vibe.
The closest comparisons that come to mind are Lifelover and Katatonia, if you somehow mixed those two bands, Katatonia's moody melancholia, and Lifelover's strange off-kilter blackened pop sensibility, you'd be close, but the music of Bergraven is it's own dark weirdness entirely.
It's melodic for sure, but the melodies are strange, almost alien sounding. And the arrangements are full of space, whether it's stretches of ambience, or loping post rock, clean guitars and simple mathy drumming.
Everywhere there lurk strange haunting minor key chords, and when keyboards do join the fray, they're strange and almost new wave-y sounding. The main guitar parts are gnarled and detuned, often not distorted, but clean and reverbed, eventually giving way to some dense black chug but even then, a lot of the time they're drenched in whooshy chorus or shimmering delay. Often those bits sound a little like Joy Division, but on a malfunctioning turntable. Weird and woozy. Elsewhere the guitars get all 'blue' and moody and smoky and sound like they were purloined from some Chris Isaak tune. The vocals are hushed dramatic whispers as often as they are anguished howls. Bursts of double kick underpin loping darkwave jangle, beautiful post rock rhythms get all washed out and smeared with layers of indistinct blackness, there's so much going on, and so much of it is not at all metal, but manages to sound dark and black and intensely grim. A gloriously tangled blackened sonic web for sure.
This definitely pushes a lot of our 'fucked' metal buttons, as well as our demented black pop buttons (bet you didn't think we had those!) and the more we listen to it the further we get sucked into Bergraven's damaged metallic black pop universe...
MPEG Stream: "Doende"
MPEG Stream: "Ondkall"

BERGRAVEN Till Makabert Vasen (Hydra Head) cd 15.98
After 2007's much lauded Dodsvisioner album, Sweden's Bergraven returns with another set of odd gothic-tinged post-rocking blackness. While the music of Bergraven definitely fits well within the realm of black metal with its overall mood and spirit, Till Makabert Vasen is a hard one to pin down. Things never get insanely over-the-top metal, at least not in a typical way, instead opting to create a decidedly eerie and disconcerting atmosphere with all the tension found in the build up. The instrumentation here seems to imply an expert awareness of restraint, and how effectively it can be used for achieving a certain uneasy feeling. Not that this bears any resemblance to the Doors, but think of "The Crystal Ship" to get an idea of how negative space can be used to create a powerful sense of focus without getting all aggro. The gruff vocals are upfront and strong, sounding pretty pissed, but as they are sung in Swedish we can only assume... But they are definitely very interesting, as black metal vocals are generally known for being shrieky or bellowing, often buried in the mix as just another part of the maelstrom. Here Bergraven mainman Par Gustafsson's voice retains a surprising clarity that you simply can't ignore. While the vocals never seem to get too frantic or out of control, they retain a forcefulness that, at the heart of it all, is pretty damn metal.
Another noteworthy aspect of Bergraven's approach is the seriously impressive musicianship and the overall song structures, which are just plain weird and quite unexpected. The guitars seem to have just as much to do with '90s indie rock heroes like Drive Like Jehu or Unwound as they do with black metal, while the Slinty rhythm section keeps things moving in a winding, snakelike manner with all sorts of mathy weirdness. The songs kind of swirl within their own self-contained world, never getting too expansive or wandering, but retaining a high degree of concentration. One is reminded at times of Lifelover, or even Deathspell Omega's weirder, jazzier moments from Fas, with sour, discordant guitar chords and plodding, sometimes sparse drumming helping to set the generally unwavering vibe that keeps this one flowing evenly.
Whatever it is that Bergraven sings about, one certainly detects a sense of isolation and loneliness. The artwork features strange images of an empty chair in a forest and a man, presumably Gustafsson, sitting in a cabin in front of a fireplace with his face blurred out, making it clear that you will never know too much about the mastermind behind the music.
With Dodsvisioner, everyone seemed a bit confused that Hydra Head was venturing into such dark waters, but to us, it makes total sense. That label has always championed a unique commingling of art and metal, and it is clear that Bergraven has no problems stepping outside the norms of its genre.
MPEG Stream: "Drommen Om Undersang"
MPEG Stream: "Asketens Enda Prydnad"
MPEG Stream: "Det Andra Liket"

BERIDZE, TUSIA The Other (Max Ernst) cd 16.98

BERING, JONAS Bienfait (Kompakt) cd 17.98
Jonas Bering's "Beinfait" represents a recent strain of German experimental techno which has been jacking up the tempo of the Chain Reaction sound just above the motorik speed of the Cologne sound (i.e. Wolfgang Voigt, Michael Meyer, Modernist, etc). With the quickly paced matrix of hardly stompin' beats, Bering elicts ghostly yet soulful melodies common in Carl Craig and even a few Giorgio Moroder synth arpeggiations. Excellent headphone listening...

BERING, JONAS Sketches For The Next Season (Kompakt) cd 16.98