BERMUDA TRIANGLE SERVICE High Swan Dive (self-released) cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
At times Bermuda Triangle Service's vocalist Cynthia Wigginton sounds a lot like Carolyn Mark, Kelly Hogan, Virginia Dare and Paula Frazer. Fans of those lovely ladies just might take a shine to this new combo. They make slow candlelit country with lots of graceful fiddle playin'. Very pretty. For their debut, they've enlisted the kind assistance of Josh Housh (Catalpa Boys and Our Lady Of The Highway). An engaging debut!
MPEG Stream: "Kukui Lei"
MPEG Stream: "Pokerhuntus Was Her Name"

BERNE, TIM The Sublime And. ( Thirsty Ear) cd 16.98
There was always something cool about Tim Berne. Not sure what it is. From the first time we heard him on the Spy Vs. Spy record with John Zorn, covering Ornette Coleman double time, we were totally intrigued. John Zorn was everywhere, so why weren't we hearing about Berne? Well, apparently he's been plugging away with his Science Friction ensemble making records, and judging from this double disc live set, kicking way more ass than Zorn lately. Like Zorn, Berne seems to work primarily in a sort of post-bop context, but unlike Zorn, the shrieking, the EXTREME!, and all that stuff is kept to a minimum, and the compositions/improvs are all the better for it. Motifs are stretched out and repeated, allowing for lots of dynamics and for the players to leisurely solo and explore. Very free, but also very composed feeling. From hard bop workouts, to dreamy moody ambience and back. The guitar playing is very reminiscent of Fred Frith at times which is nice, but it's Berne who makes it all happen. Emotional and intense, melodic but really loose and free, controlled but ocassionally wild if the song calls for it. We don't know enough about jazz to really dissect Berne and this record, other than to say we really really dig it!
MPEG Stream: "Van Grundy's Retreat"

BERNOCCHI, ERALDO & HAROLD BUDD Music For 'Fragments From The Inside' (Sub Rosa) cd 14.98

BERNSTEIN, DAVID W. (EDITOR) San Francisco Tape Music Center: 1960s Counterculture And The Avant-Garde (UC Press) book+dvd 26.00
We apologize to tape music buffs near and far, but we shamefully snoozed on reviewing this awesome book about this music movement's seminal Bay Area based hub back in June of this year when it was first published. We thought that now would be a good time (what with the holiday gift-giving season just around the corner as well as the chillier stay-inside-with-a-good-book autumn and winter months) to give it a good ol' shout out! Better late than never, right?
Those already well acquainted will need no further explanation, but for those unfamiliar, in a nutshell, the San Francisco Tape Music Center was a vital cultural and educational meeting ground of adventurous pioneers in audio arts and science. The sonic explorations of composers Morton Subotnick (who performed an in-store presentation here a few years back), Steve Reich, Ramon Sender, Don Buchla, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley among others produced some of the most stunning and influential avant-garde sounds of the period in an utterly unassuming locale right here in SF. This creatively tangled web of tape-loop and tape-delay, analog synthesizers and various other electronic tentacles came into fruition back in the early '60s. These days, having been schooled by the wonderful reissued works of numerous seemingly like-minded audio renegade technicians of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (Daphne Oram, Delia Derbyshire, John Baker to name a few), we still can't help but conjure images of the electronic music artists of that decade donning lab coats with pocket protectors and bespectacled consternated gazes, but this 344-page book reveals just as much the kaleidoscopic opening of minds induced by sound (and in some cases substances). In fact, for those of you who were captivated by the revelatory glimpse of the LA counterculture in the '60s courtesy of the recent Source Family book (The Source: The Untold Story Of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa And The Source Family), this serves to some degree as a Bay Area counterpart (albeit perhaps somewhat less Hollywood tabloid scandalous). It's the first ever first-person retrospective of the SFTMC. Many a fond memory and occasionally a hair-raising tale were unearthed for this tome. Our current favorites include one involving wild escapades to keep the center afloat on a less than shoestring budget as well as a desperate search across a floor/sea of tape edit detritus to find an errant single note snippet using a dismantled reel-to-reel playback head!
An inspiring, fascinating and often entertaining document of interviews with and essays by all the key figures and more. This 322-page softcover tome is also packed with color and black & white photos, diagrams, drawings, and a comprehensive chronology. But wait, there's still more! A dvd is tucked away in the back which features video documentation from the 2004 Wow & Flutter: The San Francisco Tape Music Center, 1961-Now festival / reunion of sorts that took place in Troy, NY.
Highly recommended!

BERROCAL, JACQUE / DOMINIQUE COSTER / ROGER FERLET Musiq Musik (Fractal) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Originally released in 1973 in France by Futura Records via their SON series (which also included the wonderful "Tacet" by Jean Guerin. Futura also released otherworldly tripped-outness from the likes of Red Noise and Mahogany Brain). Recorded between '71 and '72, "Musiq Musik" saw Berrocal's introduction of his Musik Ensemble on record, combining gamelan and free jazz splendour with restraint and droneful grace. An amalgamation of eastern instrumentation (bells, Tibetan shells as well as various percussion and wind instruments), western instrumentation (just some horns), and just plain wacky instrumentation (ropes, balloons, explosives (!)), the music itself is an imaginative, lyrical journey into the landscape of the mind.

BERRY, KEITH A Strange Feather (Twenty Hertz) cd-r 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's a mystery how we managed to miss the previous recordings from the British ultra-minimalist Keith Berry, because if there's any justice in the world, he should be mentioned alongside such blue-chip drone artists as William Basinski, Thomas Koner, Bernhard Gunter, and Akira Rabelais. Yeah, his work is that good! He's got the sublimely romantic melodicism of Basinski, the glacial pacing of Koner, the hushed restraint of Gunter, and, um well, he's got a copy of Rabelais' legendary Argeiphontes Lyre software in his repertoire. But Berry is no mere aggregate of previously mined aesthetics, there's plenty to his work that speaks of his own beliefs and agendas which all draw heavily from Zen philosophies. While Berry's previous work The Golden Boat (Trente Oiseaux, 2003) and The Ear That Was Sold To The Fish (Crouton, 2005) were both exceptional releases (with the Crouton album easily being the best smelling record of 2005!), each of Berry's albums makes small adjustments that add up to an improvement and refinement of his sound; thus A Strange Feather stands out a remarkable achievement. Like all of the previously cited composers, Berry's fundamental structure is the drone supreme into which he bends field recordings, subtle instrumental arrangements, and small tactile events. Like falling snow, his dreamy work drifts with a poetic chill and tranquil hypnosis through which peripheral elements tease the listener with subtle details. It's so damn beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "A Strange Feather (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "A Strange Feather (excerpt 2)"

BERRY, KEITH The Ear That Was Sold To A Fish (Crouton) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In case such a declaration matters in the grand scheme of things, The Ear That Was Sold To A Fish is my (Jim's) Record of The Year for 2005.
That said, there is a unique facet to Keith Berry's impressionistic masterpiece that I cannot fully enjoy. You see, I have a very limited sense of smell. I've always blamed it on my pyrotechnic stunts during my college days when I would light my paintings on fire; and as grandiosely stupid as this made me look, the sensorial failings of my nose is more the result of genetics than anything I could have done to it. So when I opened the box for the first time to Keith Berry's The Ear That Was Sold To A Fish, I got a small tingle as something perfumed and pleasant drifted from the contents of the box, which contained not only a CD and booklet but also a delicate pile of dyed flower petals. Those of you who are not sensorially damaged might be able to place the scent; but I simply cannot. Regardless, Berry (with the help of the fine folks at Crouton Records) engineered an amazing feat: an album with a fragrance.
For very obvious reasons, the smell-o-rama trick is not what attracts me to the record; it's the seductively restrained compositions for quiet flickerings, muffled rumbles, and whispered reverberations that truly captured my imagination. Berry defines his work through the teachings of Zen Buddhism and Sufi poetry, striving for an artform that could "unlock the mechanisms inside one's mind that leads to enlightenment." In doing so, Berry begins with a series of unremarkable sounds which fall somewhere in the hushed white noise territories, possibly including the sound of a gentle spring shower or the empty spaces on shortwave bands. He molds these hisses, crackles, and shadows into subtle repeating forms which do, in fact, lend themselves to any number of images, metaphors, and ideas. Given that he landed his debut album on Trente Oiseaux, Berry's work falls in the lowercase school of ephemeral electronics alongside Steve Roden and Bernhard Gunter; but there is an antiquated tactility to his albums which hint at the same temporal netherworld as heard in Philip Jeck's avant-turntable melodramas.
Given the packaging constraints, The Ear That Was Sold To A Fish is strictly limited to 300 copies.
MPEG Stream: "The Sun Rays Of Another Pale Afternoon"
MPEG Stream: "Cars Keep Passing By"
MPEG Stream: "My Backward Voyage"

BERSERKER, THE Animosity (Earache) cd 16.98

MPEG Stream: "Eye For An Eye"
MPEG Stream: "Purgatory"

BERTOIA, HARRY Happy Spirit (Bertoia Studiio) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Harry Bertoia's sound sculptures developed from years of work as both a commissioned furniture maker for Knoll and as an environmental sculptor who built large scale balancing kinetic pieces, usually out of bronze. But in the 1970s, Bertoia and his son Val began experimenting with resonant properties of metal itself with huge sculptures of vertical metal shafts that were affixed to a base. They discovered that at those lengths -- some upwards of 20' -- the metal was flexible enough to sustain an extended vibration that continued to resonate within the symphony of tiny strikes with the adjoining metal rods. Thus a slight brush against one of the Bertoia sculptures would trigger a massive swell of metallic drones. Bertoia made an incredible number of recordings in the barn that housed the majority of these sculptures, and produced 11 records from his favorite recordings. "Happy Spirit" features two tracks from the first record "Bellissima / Nova." If possible, it is highly recommended to try experience the Bertoia sculputures themselves. Val Bertoia does maintain the barn where his father kept these sculptures in Bally, Pennsylania... and I (Jim) got to play with one at the Cheekwood Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. But the recordings do make for a pretty good subsitute, and this is only the second Bertoia sculpture-music cd to be released (after one on Japan's PSF label some years ago).
Unfortunately, this reissue concludes with a folk-rock song from a member of the extended Bertoia family... it's really really awful. Why is it there? Val Bertoia should know better. Consider it a non-bonus bonus track and ignore, while enjoying the rest of this lovely disc.
RealAudio clip: "Nova"

BERTOIA, HARRY Unfolding (PSF) cd 16.98

BERTONCINI, MARIO Arpe Eolie And Other Useless Things (Die Schachtel) book + cd 50.00

BERZERKER, THE Dissimulate (Earache) cd 15.98

RealAudio clip: "Massacre"
RealAudio clip: "Intro Commentary / Isolated Vocal Tracks For The Song 'Massacre'"
RealAudio clip: "Reality"

BERZERKER, THE s/t (Earache) cd 15.98
Brutal and punishing scary monster drum machine grind from down under. Crushingly heavy, noisy and super complex grind/metal along the lines of Pig Destroyer or Agoraphobic Nosebleed. Techno metal with a Carcass fixation (there's even a cover of "Incarnated Solvent Abuse" on here). Live however, the Berzerker are another beast entirely, looking much more like Slipknot than some crusty grind band, decked out in matching jumpsuits and rubber demon masks. Scary stuff. So scary apparently that their video was pulled from Aussie MTV! This is a reissue of the Berzerker's original LP on Earache!
RealAudio clip: "Massacre"
RealAudio clip: "Intro Commentary / Isolated Vocal Tracks For The Song 'Massacre'"
RealAudio clip: "Reality"

BERZERKER, THE s/t (Earache) 2cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Brutal and punishing scary monster drum machine grind from down under. Crushingly heavy, noisy and super complex grind/metal along the lines of Pig Destroyer or Agoraphobic Nosebleed. Techno metal with a Carcass fixation (there's even a cover of "Incarnated Solvent Abuse" on here). Live however, the Berzerker are another beast entirely, looking much more like Slipknot than some crusty grind band, decked out in matching jumpsuits and rubber demon masks. Scary stuff. So scary apparently that their video was pulled from Aussie MTV! This is a reissue of the Berzerker's original LP on Earache and this time comes with a bonus cd. And while the first disc -is- great, it's the bonus disc that's the real keeper here. A sort of audio behind the scenes documentary on the making of this record, with live versions of songs, demo versions, as well as sneak previews of songs on the next record. But also included are commentary tracks as well as isolated drum/vocal/guitar tracks, giving us non-Berzerker types a glimpse into the creative process that yielded the album. The commentaries are delivered in a deadpan Australian drawl, recorded with plenty of "scary" reverb and delivered over a bed of dark and creepy drones, detailing the mics and amps used, what they did with their advance money and whatever else the Berzerker wants to talk about. Then there's the isolated tracks, which are really fascinating, letting us examine the individual parts in greater detail, exposing the guitar parts as way more complex and weird than they sound in the context of the song, and the vocal parts way more insane than they sound buried in the mix (suddenly his death metal burping sounds like some sort of aboriginal chant). All of which the Berzerker explains in the preceding commentaries. Pretty funny, but also really really cool. Belive it or not, this kind of makes us wish all cds came with a bonus disc of commentaries/bonus material/etc., DVD style.
RealAudio clip: "Massacre"
RealAudio clip: "Intro Commentary / Isolated Vocal Tracks For The Song 'Massacre'"
RealAudio clip: "Reality"

BERZERKER, THE The Principles And Practices Of (Earache) dvd 24.00

BERZERKER, THE World Of Lies (Earache) cd 14.98
Aussie technogrind outfit The Berzerker offer up their latest juggernaut of death on Earache, World Of Lies. This third time around they've removed their cool Slipknot-like monster masks but their music is still plenty scary. Peppered with bad-vibes samples, these downtuned tunes are vicious vehicles for The Berserker's indecipherable vocals, with which he spits out personal, angry, emo lyrics. Most striking, though, about this band's music is the absolute blasting speed of the drumbeats. It's insane. Truly berserk indeed. Whew. And no, it's not entirely human. Unfeeling machines are involved... so The Berzerker could be compared to a hyperspeed Godflesh. They are also very much Carcass-inspired. Thus it totally belongs on Earache, reminding us of the classic old days, and should please most fans of "extreme" metal today, pushing as it does at the envelope of velocity and violence.
MPEG Stream: "Committed To Nothing"
MPEG Stream: "Burn The Evil"

BEST OF GODZILLA Original Film Soundtracks 1954-1975 (GNP / Crescendo) cd 14.98
Classic scores from classic monster movies.

BESTIAL MOCKERY Gospel of the Insane (Red Stream) cd 11.98

BESTIAL MOCKERY / FORCE OF DARKNESS Poison Of The Underground (Turanian Honour) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A little 7" blast of grim and necro, super raw, thrashing blackness. Old old old old skool brutality. As the sleeve says, Poison Of The Underground. And this is the real underground. On one side, Chilean horde Force of Darkness, on the other black thrashing Swedes Bestial Mockery. And just because this is raw and old school doesn't mean there might not be a few surprises in store.
Force Of Darkness, offer up, as the insert proclaims, an "Evil South American Black Thrash Attack", all buzzing riffs and thrashing drums, but what it doesn't tell you, is that the vocals are demented! Ultra fast tongue twisting garbled shddHSshUAHsaoaosa. Like the singer is possessed and speaking in tongues. Pretty far out. Bestial Mockery counter with, again, according to the insert, their won brand of black thrash, "Unpure, Unholy, Untight!" And it is all of those things, especially untight. A wildly thrashing slab of black brutality, wrapped in an ultra necro lo-fi production with some riffs that manage to be surprisingly catchy.
Cool, thick black and white sleeves, with printed inserts, complete with lyrics, skulls, bullet belts and more! LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, each sleeve hand numbered.

BETA BAND Heroes To Zeroes (Astralwerks) cd 16.98
Already flying out of AQ's racks, it's obvious this album needs no introduction, but in case you need one... (enormous trumpet fanfare!), TA DAH! The new Beta Band! As is often the case with highly anticipated albums, the lengthy hold-your-breath wait causes expectations and hopes to skyrocket, only to plummet with disappointment when the album fails to reach such lofty heights. From the rumble of eager enquiries from AQ customers for the last few weeks, it became clear that this might be a concern. Well, whether or not this proves to be your dilemma depends on whether Beta Band's choice of a different musical direction from past albums equals disappointment for you. So... what is this new direction? Their familiar very Pink Floyd-y grand superbong space-folk meets warm fuzzy shoegazer Brit rock a la Stone Roses. Shoegazin' is definitely back and on the rise. This album is definitely missing many of the shambolic personality traits of the Beta Band we know and love, and it definitely draws them closer to their trippy UK contemporaries such as Super Furry Animals or Spiritualized. Sound good to you?
MPEG Stream: "Assessment"
MPEG Stream: "Space"

BETA BAND Hot Shots II (Astralwerks) cd 16.98
The Beta Band are still really skilled at mixing together a total hodgepodge of sounds, from ethnic drumming to tinkling piano, dub, weird atmospherics, space age melodica, and shuffling breakbeat percussion. The Pink-Floyd-style hushed unison vocals have this epic chanting quality to them that's pretty addictive. It all adds up to somewhat original rock music for the twenty-first century, but I have to say this album isn't nearly as good as the 3 EP's release, cool Carole King and Nilsson samples notwithstanding (the Beta Band have good taste). In my opinion (presumably that's why you're reading this list, uh, right?) it unfortunately sounds a bit canned, tired and formulaic (and I'm a fan!). Or maybe it's just their "mellow" and "delicate" album.
RealAudio clip: "Won"
RealAudio clip: "Life"

BETA BAND s/t (Astralwerks) cd 15.98
This excellent Scottish (and somewhat Beck-ish) pop band return with their first full-length album, the follow-up to their unanimously-an-AQ-fave ep collection The Three EPs...while this hasn't grown on us as much as that summertime-lovely disc did, several of us did recently witness them live, putting on a great show here in San Francisco, where the new songs came across quite well, so perhaps it will yet take hold. This new album is just a bit too gimmicky to be as good as their The Three EPs, as if they don't trust themselves to simply write good songs. Of course, the Beta Band themselves have been quoted in the NME as saying they hate this new album...I suppose it's quite cute to be that humble (and good publicity?) but don't let them discourage you, make up your own mind.

BETA BAND The Best Of The Beta Band Music (Astralwerks) 2cd 17.98
Ah, throughout Beta Band's short career we've gone through phases of such love (The Three EPs) and sorta hate (their last album Heroes To Zeroes), but all in all we do still have a soft spot for these Scots and were bummed to hear of their split. The first disc is the actual 'best of' while the second disc features a recording of one of the band's final shows at Shepherds Bush Empire last year. Of course fans will have their own ideas of what were the band's best songs, so let's not get into any quibbling here, okay? Where this compilation succeeds very succinctly is in showing the band's broad and deft spectrum of genre-hopping -- from their early Beck-ish patchworked shufflin' shambles ("Dry The Rain") to their Beatles-meets-Pink Floyd period (their great "It's Not Too Beautiful" which also kicks off the live disc) to their slightly ethno-accessoried and funkified leanings to their later, slicker psych-tinged pop/rock that aligned them more with bands such as Super Furry Animals. So if you're not familiar with the Beta Band this is a pretty good overview for you to decide which, if not all, of their many faces please your ears. Actually although when taken individually each of BB's albums seems to have a very different personality and sound from one another, these songs taken from each of their cds and presented in chronological order come across as surprisingly cohesive. The comp begins with four from the above mentioned AQ fave The Three EPs, followed by two from their puzzlingly self-scorned, self-titled sophomore album, next is "To You Alone" a song that was included on 2001's Rarewerks (Astralwerks seventh anniversary compilation), then four from Hot Shots II and a closing five from their last album Heroes To Zeroes. As for the second disc, the live recordings sound terrific -- capturing the energy rush from the band and their audience. The band was in fine form this eve. A suitably vibrant farewell.
MPEG Stream: "To You Alone"
MPEG Stream: "It's Not Too Beautiful (live)"

BETA BAND The Three E.P.'s (Regal/Astralwerks) cd 16.98
The Beta Band are a quartet featuring three Scots and one Brit. Using regular rock instrumentation supplemented by trumpet, piano, jew's harp, bird calls, judicious vinyl scratching, and a weird keyboard contraption that is blown into by means of a long flexible tube, the band comes up with a sound that's, well, like Pink Floyd mixed with Tall Dwarfs if they were really into Mo'Wax. Specifically, Beta Band mix echoey vocals a la The Dark Side of the Moon with loose, tinkly percussive elements and meaty, satisfying guitar strumming, then add a layer of bass groove that's reinforced by rhythmic vocal loops. It's a sound that is at once completely original and unabashedly experimental, yet familiar and immediately accessible.
While many of the reviews of The Beta Band have compared them favorably to Beck (shorthand for saying that they've got command of a wide range of influences that they recombine into their own sound), let's get specific. They are at home with honest-to-goodness psychedelia, synths, beatboxes, sampling, exotica... the list goes on. Combine this breadth and depth of musical chops with their exquisite sense of arrangement, and you begin to see the potential of this group.
--excerpted from Windy's Bay Guardian column.
MPEG Stream: "Dry The Rain"
MPEG Stream: "Inner Meet Me"

BETHLEHEM Dictius Te Necare (Red Stream) cd 15.98
Non-deluxe, single disc edition of this German BM band's best album. By far. The singer on this record (a session vocalist no less!!) is AMAZING. It sounds like he's being stabbed to death the whole time. As heard on the Gummo soundtrack.

BETHLEHEM Dictius Te Necare (Red Stream) 2cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Deluxe edition of this German BM band's best album. By far. The singer on this record (a session vocalist no less!!) is AMAZING. It sounds like he's being stabbed to death the whole time. As heard on the Gummo soundtrack.

BETRAY THE SPECIES Sleepwalker (Can't Stop Eating) cd 11.98

BETSCH, BERTRAND BB Sides (Lithium) cd 14.98
While Bertrand Betsch's lovely previous album, La Soupe a la Grimace, was a sensitive singer songwriter affair, with heartbreakingly pretty hooks and whispered vocals, this record features the addition of 'beats' so it's a lot heavier and Bertrand rises to the occasion -- his voice is even more tortured, the guitar a bit more dissonant than before. Some of you will love the anguish, some will find his new direction distasteful, so listen to the soundclips and decide for yourself.
RealAudio clip: "La Folie des Hommes"
RealAudio clip: "J'entends plus la guitare"

BETSCH, BERTRAND La soupe a la grimace. (Lithium) cd 14.98
Wonderful! This French singer/songwriter's emotional, serious songs are delivered in a breathy, delicate manner that will DEFINITELY appeal to fans of Belle & Sebastian, although Bertrand's unique style isn't as sticky sweet. Highly recommended!

BETTER BEATLES, THE Mercy Beat (Hook or Crook) cd 11.98
A couple lists ago we had the Easy Beatles compilation... now we've got some not-so-easy Beatles! This reissue will drive some folks crazy, but we're lovin' it. Hooray for East Bay label Hook Or Crook for getting their hands on this great outsider classic out of Omaha, Nebraska circa 1981. The Better Beatles played Beatles songs with a naive and fucked up post-punk charm. While there are no shortages of Beatles covers and tribute records, none have been made that suit our bizarre tastes better than this one! With primitive electronics that sounded like they could break at any moment and a detached delivery that gives these songs a feeling somewhere between cold wave, new wave and no wave. Not far off from what The Flying Lizards were doing around this same time but much more out of the loop and less self-conscious.
It's super interesting to see how while being one of the most famous and mainstream appreciated bands of all time, the Beatles have spawned so many outsider fanatics from Daniel Johnston to Bobb Trimble. What makes The Better Beatles so damn cool is that they truly made these songs something else, it's not just novelty (though that is a factor), there is a lot of intensity in their delivery. They might have been joking about being "better" but maybe they meant it, they certainly sound like they mean it when they sing John and Paul's lyrics, which are often the only recognizable parts of the songs. We can't count the times we've had a customer in the store get reeled in by this record without even knowing that it's Beatles covers and when they find out they say something like 'I don't even like The Beatles but this is fucking cool!' and even for those of us who love the Beatles as well we can agree, this IS fucking cool!
MPEG Stream: "Penny Lane"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Down"

BETTER BEATLES, THE Mercy Beat (Hook or Crook) lp 14.98
A couple lists ago we had the Easy Beatles compilation... now we've got some not-so-easy Beatles! This reissue will drive some folks crazy, but we're lovin' it. Hooray for East Bay label Hook Or Crook for getting their hands on this great outsider classic out of Omaha, Nebraska circa 1981. The Better Beatles played Beatles songs with a naive and fucked up post-punk charm. While there are no shortages of Beatles covers and tribute records, none have been made that suit our bizarre tastes better than this one! With primitive electronics that sounded like they could break at any moment and a detached delivery that gives these songs a feeling somewhere between cold wave, new wave and no wave. Not far off from what The Flying Lizards were doing around this same time but much more out of the loop and less self-conscious.
It's super interesting to see how while being one of the most famous and mainstream appreciated bands of all time, the Beatles have spawned so many outsider fanatics from Daniel Johnston to Bobb Trimble. What makes The Better Beatles so damn cool is that they truly made these songs something else, it's not just novelty (though that is a factor), there is a lot of intensity in their delivery. They might have been joking about being "better" but maybe they meant it, they certainly sound like they mean it when they sing John and Paul's lyrics, which are often the only recognizable parts of the songs. We can't count the times we've had a customer in the store get reeled in by this record without even knowing that it's Beatles covers and when they find out they say something like 'I don't even like The Beatles but this is fucking cool!' and even for those of us who love the Beatles as well we can agree, this IS fucking cool!
MPEG Stream: "Penny Lane"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Down"

BETTY BOTOX Mmm, Betty! (Mule Musiq) cd 16.98
Betty Botox is none other than JD Twitch, one half of Scotish super-duo Optimo. Yes, they named themselves after the Liquid Liquid song of the same name, and you may remember them from the inimitable Kill the DJ series a few years back. The one that had beats and mashups of everything from Laibach to Arthur Russell to Sun City Girls to Ricardo Villalobos - in a DANCE mix! Huh?! Anyway, this disc compiles various re-edits and remixes completed by Ms. Botox himself. Whatever you do, don't get scared. Yes, this is music you can dance to, but it has mixes of fucking Hawkwind and that Italian industrial group Pankow. Remember them? This guy is digging pretty deep, and thanks to artists like this we still have some faith in dancing. Did we mention that there's even an edit of The Jellies "Jive Baby on a Saturday Night?" Well, listen in as Ms. Botox warps and rearranges this super weird, psychedelic disco trip-fest. Hell, we might even bust out our eye-liner if and when he decides to tackle Fini Tribe's bizarre cover of "I Want More" by Can. Yes, that really happened. Fans of fun, this is for you.
MPEG Stream: THE JELLIES " Jive Baby On a Saturday Night"
MPEG Stream: RESIDENTS "Diskomo"

BETWEEN THE BURIED Alaska (Victory) cd 13.98

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME Colors (Victory Records) cd 14.98

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME s/t (LifeForce) cd 14.98
There's a trend in metalcore these days to mix in super melodic, catchy parts that don't fit at all in some sort of bid to appeal to folks who can't handle their metalcore being ALL metal, or to make it onto MTV, where there's now a glut of bands who, when not pounding away in a loose approximation of death metal, sound like boy bands or super wussy indie pop. While BTBAM do have their 'sensitive' moments, they're not just stuck on as an afterthought, they are as critical to the song as the crushing riffs and howled vocals. For the most part, BTBAM are HEAVY through and through, dense and downtuned, pummellingly intense, and rhythmically super complex with obtuse time signatures, hiccupping and stuttering, stop/starts, with even the most straight ahead rhythms complicated by little off time breeches. There's definitely some Swedish influence here (In Flames etc...) but BTBAM manage to take the sound of Swedish death metal, and infuse it with the mathematic complexity of Dillinger Escape Plan and their own strange idea of songwriting, all convoluted and serpentine, and come up with something pretty original in the process. No mean feat considering metalcore's sound-alike tendencies. Songs flit from buzzing black metal to muffled crunchy brass knuckle chug, ultra low guttural death metal barks stumble through chaotic and lurching, stuttery breakdowns, blazing double kick underpins dual guitar harmonies that sound more demonic than melodic and everything is tempered by waltzy minor key melodic bridges with soaring harmony vocals. Thanks to AQ pal Metal Dave for turning us on to this!
MPEG Stream: "More Of Myself To Kill"
MPEG Stream: "Arsonist"

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME The Anatomy Of (Victory) cd 13.98

MPEG Stream: "Blackened"
MPEG Stream: "Bicycle Race"
MPEG Stream: "Three Of A Perfect Pair"

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME The Silent Circus (Victory) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Lost Perfection"
MPEG Stream: "Camilla Rhodes"

BEULAH Emma Blowgun's Last Stand (Elastic) cdep 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Aussie import cdep of new material by this beloved San Francisco indie-pop band. Lush, instantly catchy Elephant 6 style pop confidently executed ala the Apples or Olivia Tremor Control. Four songs.

BEULAH The Coast Is Never Clear (Velocette) cd 16.98
San Francisco's Beulah cruise into their third full length with a breezy '70s feel, drawing them away from their formerly much more pronounced '60s Beach Boys/Beatles leanings. They still retain a few glimmers of rollicking Elephant Six-ness, but the E6 trademark horns, keyboards and ba-da-ba singalongs brim with much more polish and confidence than many of Beulah's more ramshackle, twee E6 cousins. Their buoyant, sunny melodies flow freely from their gleaming pop fountain. A wonderful follow-up to their lovely "When Your Heartstrings Break".
RealAudio clip: "Gravity Is Bringing Us Down"
RealAudio clip: "What Will You Do When Your Suntan Fades"

BEULAH When Your Heartstrings Break (Sugar Free/Elephant Six) cd 14.98

The only local band to boast Elephant Six credentials, this is pure pop, much lighter and sweeter than the Elf Power record mentioned above, with similar Beatles / Beach Boys / Kinks influences throughout. Very very catchy.

BEULAH Yoko (Velocette) cd 14.98
The fourth full length from local darlings Beulah might just be their best album. Miles Korosky's songwriting is more remarkably mature than ever, with unpredictable chord changes and smart arrangements that convey intense emotion but executed with careful precision. This is perfect pop with a rocker edge and clearly delivered lyrics. Embellishing the usual indierock instrumentation, pedal steel, baritone and tenor saxophones all add a welcome dose of very pretty minor key sincerity. So much to like here, especially for fans of the Elephant6 bands.
MPEG Stream: "Landslide Baby"
MPEG Stream: "Me and Jesus Don't Talk Anymore"

BEULAH / CHARLES NORRIS A Good Band Is Easy To Kill (Further Down Films) dvd 14.98
If your favorite band is SF popsters Beulah and you're still nursing your heartbreak as a result of their breakup, here's a posthumous audio and video treat to brighten your day. This dvd features a documentary of the band on the road back in 2003 touring the U.S. and Canada in support of their final album Yoko, as well as a heap of bonus material (live footage of the band performing seventeen complete songs, deleted scenes, etc). One thing that this dvd reminded us about is that they (well, particularly lead singer Miles Kurosky) sure do swear a fuck of a fucking lot. You might wanna keep it away from the eyes and ears of grannies and children.

BEVIS FROND Live At The Great American Music Hall (Flydaddy) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A great live album of Nick Saloman and Company, recorded right here in SF on May 16, 1998. "This recording features no overdubbing, re-mixing, enhancement or applause from a different live album."

BEVIS FROND North Circular (Flydaddy) 2cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Nick Saloman and band's first domestic release is a double whammy of 25 songs on 2 discs. One of rock's most prolific songwriters whose quality never dips, hear his songs as they were meant to be heard, not cleaned up and prettified as on the Mary Lou Lord album.

BEVIS FROND Valedictory Songs (Rubric) cd 14.98
Nick & co. return with more psych-guitar anthems for the Terrastock Nation!

BEVIS FROND, THE Hit Squad (Rubric Records) cd 14.98
The latest from Nick Salomon and crew, aka The Bevis Frond, known by thousands as the UK's premier latter-day guitar psych band. Heroes to the Ptolemaic Terrascope crowd, these stalwarts are on to their 19th album with Hit Squad! Well, we don't want to dissuade serious fans -- you're gonna have deeper understanding of what Nick's up to here than we do -- but it's hard to not write a review that simply states what we all thought when we put this on in the store the day we got it in... At its best, it could have been bad Monster Magnet. At it's worst, it coulda been Lenny freaking Kravitz. Not what we were expecting. Sorry! There's some sort of goofy retro pop angle they're going for here we just aren't digging...
MPEG Stream: "Dragons"
MPEG Stream: "Hit Squad"

BEVIS FROND, THE London Stone (Rubric) cd 14.98
This is the first time this particular Bevis Frond album (originally released in 1992) has ever been released here in the USA, and yes, it was well worth the thirteen year wait! It comes packed with a half dozen bonus goodies making this cd a probably must-have for fans who already have the import.
Following an introductory traditional number "Stonedance", the band wastes no time, launching right into what might be the album's best song "Coming Round" (a fuzzy indie pop tune that clearly comes from the same songwriting pen that wrote the Mary Lou Lord-sung gem "Lights Are Changin'"). But mainman Nick Saloman is a multi-faceted fellow, and it's made more than apparent on London Stone. Through most of the middle songs he unfurls his serious blues and psychedelic rock guitar chops, only taking a brief breather later in the album for the soft folk number "Lord Of Nothing" and another punchy indie rock tune "And Now She's Gone".
MPEG Stream: "Coming Round"
MPEG Stream: "Lord Of Nothing"

BEWITCHED Unveiling Zion (Supernal) cd 15.98

BEYONCE B'Day (Sony) cd 16.98
Wow! It's like Beyonce read our minds. We've always had a big soft spot for her dating back to her days in Destiny's Child and absolutely LOVED about half of her last solo record. But the other half go way too ballady and schmaltzy R+B slow jam for our liking. And BAM! B'Day is all killer no filler, with the fat cut, leaving pure, full on, blood pumping, adrenaline rushing, booty shaking, dance inducing modern R+B groove done to perfection! Beyonce has been often been described as a Diana Ross for her generation and we can't say we really disagree. Her ability to churn out hit after hit, jam packed with killer beats and hook after hook leaves the rest of the hip hop ladies in the dust. With B'day she seems to be moving toward some sort of imaginary kinship with Missy Elliott, what with her new found undeniable intensity, energy and confidence. Every one of these songs (minus the long closer) keeps the intensity full throttle, no letting up, no throwaway tracks, just fierce commanding bad ass funkiness that grabs you by the hair, sends you spinning onto the dancefloor and will NOT let you go. While 99 percent of what's on commercial radio and MTV is pretty tired, stale and disposable, Beyonce continues to make hits that we'll still want to hear 20 years from now.
MPEG Stream: "Get Me Bodied"
MPEG Stream: "Kitty Kat"

BEYONCE Dangerously In Love (Columbia) cd 16.98
Okay, admit it. You loved Destiny's Child. Everybody did. Not just MTV TRL kiddies. Punk rockers, indie rockers, everybody. And whether they admit it or not, their love of DC was pretty much irony-free. And why the hell not? Like Missy Elliott, and a handful of others, Destiny's Child was taking a tired old formula and reinvigorating it. Great Songs. Amazing production. What more could you want? So this, DC frontwoman Beyonce's solo record, could've gone one of two ways: schmaltzy R+B ballads and goopy soul, or weird and wild hip hop, with big beats, crazy samples and hooks galore. Well, thankfully all signs point to the latter. At least for the first half of the record. Towards the second half things veer horribly into slowjam territory and there's a really cringeworthy spoken word 'poem', but for the first 30 minutes or so, this record is wicked. This is THE record (or half a record) to blast at full volume, with the top down, wind in your hair, summer all around. And it's obviously the perfect soundtrack to writhe around to on the dancefloor. By now, if you spend any time out among the living, you've heard the monster jam "Crazy In Love", her track with Jay-Z. But the record is chock full of tracks just as good. A funky dancehall workout with Sean Paul, a grungy, metal guitar flecked dirge with Big Boi from Outkast, a blissed out almost-slowjam with Missy Elliott and a bunch more. Maybe the most bootylicious disc so far this year. Or at least half a disc. But that half is well worth the price of admission.
MPEG Stream: "Crazy In Love"
MPEG Stream: "Baby Boy"
MPEG Stream: "Hip Hop Star"