BONNIE PRINCE BILLY & THE CAIRO GANG The Wonder Show Of The World (Palace / Drag City) cd 14.98
It's easy to take Will Oldham for granted at this point as he has become as prolific as he is talented, but when you can continually write and create such warm and wise music , well, then we're fine with the abundance of recent releases.
The Wonder Show Of The World might just be the most free flowing and affecting BPB album in a while. We're not exactly sure who/what the Cairo Gang is, but we're definitely enjoying their contribution. And we do know that long time contributor/collaborator and super talented guitarist Emmet Kelly (The Cairo Gang?) takes on a much bigger role than he has in the past. It's a way more subtle, subdued and minimal approach to production and song structure and we have to say we kind of love it this way. Sometimes the over-the-top instrumentation and full on country jams that have made up some of his recent releases takes away from the core of what makes Oldham's songwriting so intimate and special.
The Wonder Show Of The World finds Oldham getting back to that more sacred and refined sound. It's not about riffing on a certain genre (country, gospel, etc.) instead it's just about creating moving, emotional and haunting songs. At this point it's really not too far fetched to think of Oldham as possibly the closest thing to this generations Dylan, a storyteller who has found music as the best medium to share his gift of language and evoking emotion. Oldham fans are sure to love this and even those of us who had taken a little break from him are finding that this record is reeling us back into his world.
MPEG Stream: "Troublesome Houses"
MPEG Stream: "Kids"
MPEG Stream: "Go Folks, Go"

BONNIE PRINCE BILLY & THE CAIRO GANG The Wonder Show Of The World (Palace / Drag City) lp 17.98
It's easy to take Will Oldham for granted at this point as he has become as prolific as he is talented, but when you can continually write and create such warm and wise music , well, then we're fine with the abundance of recent releases.
The Wonder Show Of The World might just be the most free flowing and affecting BPB album in a while. We're not exactly sure who/what the Cairo Gang is, but we're definitely enjoying their contribution. And we do know that long time contributor/collaborator and super talented guitarist Emmet Kelly (The Cairo Gang?) takes on a much bigger role than he has in the past. It's a way more subtle, subdued and minimal approach to production and song structure and we have to say we kind of love it this way. Sometimes the over-the-top instrumentation and full on country jams that have made up some of his recent releases takes away from the core of what makes Oldham's songwriting so intimate and special.
The Wonder Show Of The World finds Oldham getting back to that more sacred and refined sound. It's not about riffing on a certain genre (country, gospel, etc.) instead it's just about creating moving, emotional and haunting songs. At this point it's really not too far fetched to think of Oldham as possibly the closest thing to this generations Dylan, a storyteller who has found music as the best medium to share his gift of language and evoking emotion. Oldham fans are sure to love this and even those of us who had taken a little break from him are finding that this record is reeling us back into his world.
MPEG Stream: "Troublesome Houses"
MPEG Stream: "Kids"
MPEG Stream: "Go Folks, Go"

BONNIE PRINCE BILLY & THE PHANTOM FAMILY HALO The Mindeater (Knitting Factory Records) cd ep 8.98

BONNY BILLY More Revery ( Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd ep 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now, given that I'm admittedly a little tired of Will Oldham, this new mini-album of his came as a delightful surprise. Oldham's rickety backporch warblings are wonderful, sure, but somehow, 2 or 3 albums worth of it is enough for me, and he's got 4 or 5 times that much output. But, if you're feeling similarly, please don't ignore this one. More Revery is a collection of *covers*, and we all know how well Will does covers. He's fucking really good at it. Just listen to his cover of Irish group Silly Wizard's "Riverboat Song" (or whatever it's called) from Palace's first 7" (that John Darnielle turned me on to oh so long ago). It's amazing; it's still my favorite track ever from him. On this record Oldham covers the beloved New Zealand group the Renderers, PJ Harvey, John Holt, Bill Withers, Tim McGraw, and John Phillips. Almost every track is a winner, filled out with piano, vibes, even some heavenly psychedelic guitar. And the tone is more upbeat and structured (as opposed to meandering) than any of his previous output. A strong release.
RealAudio clip: "Someone's Sleeping"
RealAudio clip: "A Dream of the Sea"

BONUS Gosurorri (Jyrk) 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.
We bet the guys in bonus regret their choice of band names. You know: Is this that Bonus disc? Did you get the Bonus cd? What Bonus cd? The NEW Bonus cd. WHAT BONUS CD? Hee hee. You could get a serious noise rock Who's On First going. Anyway, this is actually pretty darn fantastic, and as with all Jyrk cd-r's it seems, SUPER LIMITED, already out of print, and we have the last 30. So again, act fast if you want one of these.
Slow buliding otherworldly shimmer, the sort of gorgeously delicate drone you want to go on forever and ever. Not rumbly or subsonic, or keening high end, this is warm and rich and dense and wraps your head in a big pillow of soft shimmering sound. So lovely. Comes in a sharp looking had painted sleeve. And again, when these are gone, they are gone for good!
MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Two"

BONUS On Earth (Root Strata) cd 12.98
Finally, the first proper non-cd-r full length from these minimal dronesters and as you might expect it's more of the same, which is all we could possibly hope for. The same of course being thick coils of gloriously fuzzy drone, unfurling over the course of nine, twelve and fifteen minutes. Bonus are masters of the drone, but in their hands, the drone isn't something you just let drift, not some random sound object you create and then watch float weightlessly from your speakers. No, the drones of Bonus are living things, they have weight to them, they crackle with energy, squirming and twisting, thick frayed ropes of buzzing sound, like the sonic version of a downed electrical wire, or a hose with the water turned all the way up whipping wildly to and fro, spitting sparks, dangerous and unpredictable. The opening track is gorgeous, it's like Phill Niblock composing for heavy metal guitar, or like a SUNNO))) performance abandoned midway through, leaving just the guitars and amps to finish the show, letting gravity and temperature and air pressure determine the direction of the proceedings as much as the instruments or the volume or anything else. A strangely organic expression of distorted sound and sonic entropy. Awesome. The scond track is like a minimal stripped down version of the first, simple buzzing tones, muted and fuzzy, slowly shifting and beating against each other, a swirling static universe of colliding overtones. Like looking inside a drone, to see what makes it tick, millions of tiny Track 2's, shimmering and subtly reveberating, like microscopic little drone molecules. Track three goes even deeper, so all of those microscopic reverberations are viewed from the inside, a pulsing, throbbing, quivering forest of rapidly vibrating tendrils, trussed together into thick quivering bundles of drone, a swarming buzz, somewhere between the all out roaring buzz of the first track, and the minimal shimmer of the second. Absolutely fucking fabulous.
Totally gorgeous cover art too, Some super abstract Lichtenstein style carton art, printed in marron and black on a cool folding card stock sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Two"

BONUS s/t (Root Strata) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's hard to review a record by the mysterious Bonus without mentioning their dubious choice of band name. Did you get that Bonus disc? Um, what bonus disc? You know, the whole Who's On First thing. This has only been eclipsed by a band we heard about recently called Merch. Nuff said.
Anyway, such levity is totally out of place in a review of -this- Bonus disc, a massive roiling, churning miasma of thick malevolent, corrosive fuzzed out drones. Huge and dense and multilayered, pulsing and swelling like something alive. Like the endless lull of the surf, if the waves were made up of huge bass speakers, buzzy synths and undulating electronic osscilations. Like the clang and clatter of industrial machinery, the buzz of airplanes flying overhead, the rumbling of construction work down the block, all timestretched into a soothing, swaying, soporific drone. Think Troum covering Wolf Eyes, or Andrew Chalk plays the Throbbing Gristle songbook. Really great!
Packaged in a handmade, hand embossed, spray painted plastic sleeve. Each disc individually stamped and numbered.
LIMITED TO 150 COPIES. WE ONLY HAVE 30!
MPEG Stream: "Two"

BOO YAA TRIBE West Koasta Nostra (Sarinjay) 2cd 15.98

BOOGIE DOWN PRODUCTIONS The Best of Cold Chillin' (Cold Chillin') cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another old school hiphop collection, compiling the best of KRS-One and Scott La Rock's early BDP output, documenting the historic Bronx vs. Queens battle (on tracks like "The Bridge Is Over", the rebuttal to MC Shan's "The Bridge"). Also included: "South Bronx", "9mm Goes Bang", "Criminal Minded", "Super-Hoe", and more.

BOOK OF BLACK EARTH Horoskopus (Prosthetic) cd 14.98
Here's the Seattle band that we always confuse with Blood Of The Black Owl. I guess we need to learn to read. Anyway this is their second album, following up The Feast released on 20 Buck Spin two years ago. Again, it's a brootal, sludgey concoction of blackened 'metal of death' musick. 11 bombastically bulldozering tracks with some sort of anti-Christian, astrological agenda, or something. This is definite bad mood music, on the doomy side of death metal a la Incantation. Thick and crushing, with guttural DM vox, and much atmospheric gloom pervading the slower parts. The majestic, monstrous hell-belch that is BOBE's Horoskopus shows that these guys, several of whom used to be in a metalcore band called Teen Cthulhu, have matured into a full-grown Cthulhu! Wish we woulda seen 'em on their recent tour with Watain but we were busy working on the list that night...
MPEG Stream: "Death Of The Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Horoskripture"

BOOK OF BLACK EARTH Horoskopus (Prosthetic) lp 23.00
Now available on vinyl!
Here's the Seattle band that we always confuse with Blood Of The Black Owl. I guess we need to learn to read. Anyway this is their second album, following up The Feast released on 20 Buck Spin two years ago. Again, it's a brootal, sludgey concoction of blackened 'metal of death' musick. 11 bombastically bulldozering tracks with some sort of anti-Christian, astrological agenda, or something. This is definite bad mood music, on the doomy side of death metal a la Incantation. Thick and crushing, with guttural DM vox, and much atmospheric gloom pervading the slower parts. The majestic, monstrous hell-belch that is BOBE's Horoskopus shows that these guys, several of whom used to be in a metalcore band called Teen Cthulhu, have matured into a full-grown Cthulhu! Wish we woulda seen 'em on their recent tour with Watain but we were busy working on the list that night...
MPEG Stream: "Death Of The Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Horoskripture"

BOOK OF BLACK EARTH The Cold Testament (Prosthetic Records) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Weight Of The World"
MPEG Stream: "Cross Contamination"
MPEG Stream: "I See Demons"

BOOK OF BLACK EARTH The Feast (20 Buck Spin) cd 12.98
Blacker than black metal from 20 Buck Spin, the label best known for bringing forth a great deal of quality DOOOOOOOM to mankind from bands like Graves At Sea and Black Boned Angel. So you can imagine that any black metal they'd put out would be some heavy duty stuff... indeed as is the Book Of Black Earth, who hail from the frozen tundra of, uh, Seattle. The band features ex-members of the late, lamented Teen Cthulhu. They've shed any of the jocularity wrongly suggested by their old band's moniker, however, and have gotten even MORE brutal. It's double bass blasting death metal style aggression mixed with the grandiose, epic majesty (and keyboards) of Nordic black metal. The vocals are on the guttural, DM side of things, though with a BM rasp. And (as you might expect) some sludge-trudging doom riffs are wielded as well. Yes, it's supremely heavy, though there is a welcome amount of melody to be found amidst the screams, distortion, and drum-pummel. Yet another elite horde of warriors have joined the North American black metal army!!
MPEG Stream: "May Your God Deny You"
MPEG Stream: "Cult Machinery"

BOOK OF BLACK EARTH The Feast (Kreation) lp 14.98
Blacker than black metal from 20 Buck Spin, the label best known for bringing forth a great deal of quality DOOOOOOOM to mankind from bands like Graves At Sea and Black Boned Angel. So you can imagine that any black metal they'd put out would be some heavy duty stuff... indeed as is the Book Of Black Earth, who hail from the frozen tundra of, uh, Seattle. The band features ex-members of the late, lamented Teen Cthulhu. They've shed any of the jocularity wrongly suggested by their old band's moniker, however, and have gotten even MORE brutal. It's double bass blasting death metal style aggression mixed with the grandiose, epic majesty (and keyboards) of Nordic black metal. The vocals are on the guttural, DM side of things, though with a BM rasp. And (as you might expect) some sludge-trudging doom riffs are wielded as well. Yes, it's supremely heavy, though there is a welcome amount of melody to be found amidst the screams, distortion, and drum-pummel. Yet another elite horde of warriors have joined the North American black metal army!!
MPEG Stream: "May Your God Deny You"
MPEG Stream: "Cult Machinery"

BOOK OF LISTS, THE s/t (Scratch Recordings) cd 14.98
This new Vancouver foursome's self-titled debut is deeply inspired by the old and the new(er), equal parts '90s shoegazer and retro '60s style pop. Imagining Pulp hanging out with Swervedriver and The Jam will give you some idea of where they're comin' from. A minor distraction though that we could do without were the seemingly random vocal outbursts that pepper the second song. Yeah, it's probably supposed to be emotive, but instead it made us imagine that a sick cat had crept into the recording studio and mewed its dyspepsia into one of the microphones. Don't mean to sound harsh, but we had to press 'skip'. Apart from that one bump in the road though, there's much to dig here. The band has captured a cool balance of brood and bounce, jagged and jangle. While The Book Of Lists' debut album definitely leans heavily on the Brit rock side of things, they do inject a little unexpected New York glammy rock swagger on the album's fifth song "Moon Balloon" to good effect. Part of Vancouver's close-knit hip indie scene, The Book Of Lists' lineup features members of Radio Berlin and Destroyer, plus guests Joshua Wells and Josh Stevenson whose own resumes list participation in varied projects such as Pink Mountaintops, Jackie-O Motherfucker, and Black Mountain.
MPEG Stream: "Lost Weekend"
MPEG Stream: "Stranger"

BOOK OF SAND Destruction, Not Reformation (Paradigms) cd 12.98
First proper non cd-r release from this aQ beloved one man black metal band, makes sense that it would end up on Paradigms, whose list of releases reads like most aQ customers' record collections: Murmuure, The Angelic Process, Decrepit Spectre, Woburn House, Fog In The Shell, Gnaw Their Tongues, Hjarnidaudi, Mourner, Wraiths, Throne Of Katarsis, Titan, Utlagr... You might as well add Book Of Sand to that list.
Before Book Of Sand, there was an atmospheric doom metal duo called Light, when Light ended, half of Light became Book Of Sand and released How Beautiful To Walk Free, a cd-r that we (and lots of you) went nuts for. Not your typical buzzing blackness, but something more abstract, a churning morass of warm black shimmer and blurred abstract riffage, a swirling sonic drift that was as much black metal as it was avant abstract metallic minimalism. Destruction, Not Reformation (one of TWO Book Of Sand releases on this week's list) takes that same atypical black metal sound and pushes it even further out, creating a sort of chamber music black metal, strings and piano augment the usual guitar buzz and drum blast, creating lush almost orchestral sounding swells of blackened buzz, soaring and majestic, and much like Liturgy, the frenzied tremolo picked riffage becomes something else entirely, mesmerizing symphonic squalls of blurred melody, and while that picking is lightning fast, it's set amidst a sound that is much slower, a heaving droney creep, lumbering and lurching, and wreathed in that frenzied black buzz, a sort of transcendental ur-drone, woven into the grim black fabric of these songs. Although grim and black only scratches the surface of the sounds found here, some of the tracks are like disembodied pop songs, shoegazey and impossibly melodic, just wrapped in buzzing swirls of blackness, while others sound like folk songs burned black, the strings so lyrical and soulful and the perfect balance for the brittle buzz, and yet even at its most intense and dense and buzzy and black, the sound is still washed out and woozy, blurred and smeared and gorgeously dreamlike, the is atmospheric, ethereal, melodic and mysterious black metal, the buzz is burnished into something much smoother, the howled vokills are buried beneath layers of sound, all bleeding into each other, a super saturated sprawl of sound, blackened and buzzy, but also breathlessly beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "No Excuses For Fascist Sympathy"
MPEG Stream: "Partaking Is Collaborating"
MPEG Stream: "The Righteous Is The Enemy Of The Natural"

BOOK OF SAND How Beautiful To Walk Free (self-released) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
After conjuring up three killer discs of home brewed lo-fi blackened ultra doom as Light, the band decided to call it quits, which isn't that surprising considering their album titles: A Million Dead Beneath The Ice, Life Is Meaningless & Goes On Forever, Worse Than Anyone Would Have Expected. C'mon, a band can only sustain that level of misery and misanthropy for so long. Thankfully, one half of Light has returned with his new project, Book Of Sand, a similarly moody and murky outfit, but with a sound much more raw and black, a sea of churning blurred riffage, of buried blast beats, and hysterical shrieked vocals, not as noisy as WOLD, or as chaotic as Portal, but some smeary bleary otherworld right in between.
But it's not that simple to describe these guys, while the opener is a dizzying swirl of disembodied black metal drift, the second track sounds almost like Circle, a simple motorik beat, and locked and looped rhythm, eventually the drums shift to double kick, the guitar shift to something more atonal and minor key, the reverb drenched vokills grow more maniacal, but throughout, that krautrocky groove remains, turning the otherwise raw blackness into some sort of hypnoblack metal.
The rest of the record is a blown out blur, but one that slips from in-the-red ferocity, with soaring Liturgy like trills, to total buzz drenched white noise blow out, to tangled gnarled buzzy weirdness, to weirdly minimal lo-fi muted thrum, finally finishing off with the nearly 14 minute "When We Are Gone, The World Will Be Awash With Light", a warped sprawl of slowly mutating black metal, that sounds like it's either slowing down, or melting, the various elements becoming less and less distinct, bleeding and oozing into each other, attaining at one point an almost shoe gaze-y bliss, albeit constructed from black buzz and shards of white noise. Fucking awesome.
Just like the Light cd-r's, this one comes in a handcrafted, silkscreened sleeve, complete with Japanese style obi, but unlike the Light records, this one is a proper cd.
MPEG Stream: "Destruction, Not Reformation"
MPEG Stream: "No Flags"
MPEG Stream: "The Night And Day Will Pass Away"

BOOK OF SAND The Bees & The Butterflies (Mouth Breather) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of TWO new releases from Midwestern one man black metal band Book Of Sand, the other, a cd on Paradigms, is a gorgeous slab of washed out droney, avant droned out black metal blur, this one is a similarly abstract chunk of outsider blackness, a record made up entirely of covers, all of them old traditional folk songs, reimagined as buzzing blasting black metal songs, and as weird a concept as it may seem, it actually works quite well, the lilting melodies and sing song arrangements translate quite well, and the fact that the man behind Book Of Sand also plays violin/fiddle, it adds still another traditional folk element, mostly introducing the melody before the blackness and buzz come in, but sometimes carrying the melody throughout.
Other than the songs, the sound itself is pure black metal, the guitars buzz and the drums pound and blast, the vocals are harsh and howled, the sound is washed out and blurry, buzzy and blackened, but in this context, playing these songs, the whole thing is transformed into something totally transcendent, something dark and mysterious and strangely super emotional, the songs themselves, one a 15th century French folk song, one a traditional Appalachian folk song, one a traditional African American lullaby from the South and so on, are already so powerful, and timeless, and are imbued with such power and energy, having been played and performed for generations, sometimes centuries, but when wedded to this powerful buzzing blackness, this intense and metallic sound, they somehow become even more intense. Other black metal bands have definitely dabbled with traditional folk musics, but something about these songs, and these versions, make this seem really extra special. Haunting, and heavy, and mysterious.
Packaged in a brown yardstick sleeve, silkscreened with black ink, inside a printed cardstock insert, and a silkscreened patch, the whole thing wrapped up with twine, and yeah, VERY LIMITED!! ONLY 100 COPIES!!!
MPEG Stream: "Now The Green Blade Rises"
MPEG Stream: "Black Is The Color"
MPEG Stream: "All The Pretty Horses"

BOOK OF SAND The Face Of The Waters (Antithetic) cd 9.98
We've long been obsessed with this Midwestern one man black metal band, their twisted combination of bedroom black metal buzz and more abstract sonic experimentation, be it clean guitar drift, or violin, is exactly what we wanted to hear, there is no shortage of blasting and buzzing, and as much as we love that stuff, we also love hearing black metal pushed in new directions, and BoS definitely blazed, and continue to blaze, their own unique sonic path, so much so, that it's often been a struggle to get their records released. We were pretty thrilled when UK label Paradigms released the last Book Of Sand, and were in some way were not all that surprised to see it receive a zero percent rating on Metal Archives, cuz the music of BoS is not the sort of grim kvlt black metal that most metalheads want to hear, or would even understand if they did, and hell, this new one's not gonna further that cause at ALL.
Which of course means we LOVE it. While some more familiar tropes of black metal are present, some buzzing guitars, and some shrieking vocals, in every other way, this is barely black metal, in fact, if we had to boil it down to just a few words, we might describe it as some sort of slo-mo blackened doom-jazz. Yep. There are strings, and horns, and what drums there are tend toward more of a shuffle and skitter, and while there are some furious buzzing guitars, they're pushed WAY toward the background, transforming any identifiable black metal riffage into something more like a droning atmospheric backdrop, while in the foreground, clean guitars unfurl woozy abstract melodies, wreathed in deep buzzing strings, and a hazy cloud of Jandekian reverby shimmer. The pace is glacial, the mood is melancholy, the vibe is haunting and otherworldly, and occasionally, when the vocals drop out, and you can hear those distant guitars, there's a distinctly black metal vibe, but it strangely muted, those fast picked guitars blurred and wedded to that slo-mo jazzy shuffle, bleating horns, it's pretty strange, but fantastic too, it's definitely unlike anything you've heard, (black) metal or otherwise, moody and mysterious and definitely way too whatthefuck for most metalheads, but if you're after something twisted and dark, buzzy and abstract, a little bit jazzy and atmospheric, but still in its own way dark and sinister and blackened, then you might just end up digging this as much as we do.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!! And yeah, they're real cds, not cd-r's!
MPEG Stream: "The Face Of The Waters"
MPEG Stream: "The Waters Above And The Waters Below"
MPEG Stream: "Falling Through The Firmament"

BOOKS, THE Lost And Safe (Tomlab) cd 14.98
As The Books third full length begins it immediately offers a darker, more somber atmosphere than its two quirky, playful predecessors. The first track drifts along with a seeming frailness as though there's barely enough energy to raise a finger to a guitar string. Single notes are struck and left to hang in the air, and the already brittle spoken-sung vocals strain to reach the audible level. From there things get a little more edgy and unstable with layers of processed vocals and insistent clickety-tappity typewriter-esque rhythms, but then it all promptly subside into a more typical post-rock infused pop breeziness for the very-Pinback-ish third song "Smells Like Content". The rest of the album continues in this slow, hazy contemplativeness with occasional outbursts of rounded propulsion. Actually, Lost And Safe sounds much like something you might imagine those Bedhead brothers Matt & Bubba Kadane composing for a road movie soundtrack (if you take their film score for the documentary Hellhouse as a jumping off point). Would probably make for a fine late night of thinking, driving album... that is if your vehicle was a quiet, dimly lit room.
MPEG Stream: "A Little Longing Goes Away"
MPEG Stream: "Smells Like Content"

BOOKS, THE The Lemon Of Pink (Tomlab) cd 15.98
The follow-up to The Books' 2002 debut Thought For Food provides another dose of eclectic, playful, folky sound collages. Each track of the baker's dozen offered up on The Lemon Of Pink is a delightfully rumpled, snipped and reassembled sonic patchwork quilt of acoustic guitar, violin, banjo and lovingly embroidered samples. This time there's a distinct Asian feel to many of the tracks -- Japanese dialogue, koto-esque string plucks -- as well as more of a hushed spoken-sung vocal presence throughout than on their previous album (often very akin to Devendra Banhart). A highly enjoyable, loping, off-kilter journey.
MPEG Stream: "Tokyo"
MPEG Stream: "There Is No There"

BOOKS, THE The Lemon Of Pink (Tomlab) lp 14.98
NOW ON VINYL. The follow-up to The Books' 2002 debut Thought For Food provides another dose of ecclectic, playful, folky sound collages. Each track of the baker's dozen offered up on The Lemon Of Pink is a delightfully rumpled, snipped and reassembled sonic patchwork quilt of acoustic guitar, violin, banjo and lovingly embroidered samples. This time there's a distinct Asian feel to many of the tracks -- Japanese dialogue, koto-esque string plucks -- as well as more of a hushed spoken-sung vocal presence throughout than on their previous album (often very akin to Devendra Banhart). A highly enjoyable, loping, off-kilter journey.
MPEG Stream: "Tokyo"
MPEG Stream: "There Is No There"

BOOKS, THE The Way Out (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 14.98
After a half decade, The Books deliver their fourth full length and follow-up to Lost And Safe! Anticipation and expectations were high, and we wish we could report that our socks were knocked off, but we'll have to settle for our socks to be warmly comfy. The Way Out is definitely way more vibrant and lively than its comparatively moody predecessor, Lost And Safe. The lead-off track relies heavily on the quirkiness of vintage self-help hypnosis tape voiceovers to engage the listener, but remove those samples and you're left with a simply pleasant clitter-clatter toybox pop-tronic instrumental which would be very at home on the German Morr Music label alongside the likes of Lalipuna and Styrofoam. Moving onwards, in keeping with their unpredictable multi-genre gadabout nature, The Books then inject a welcome bit of funky juiciness and more random novelty into the proceedings, but it too seems to rely a lot on modern sound manipulation software to tweak the listeners' ears. Earlier in the decade, there weren't a whole lot of artists making this kind of music, and thus the group's patchworked quirkiness was somewhat distinct and engaging, but these days everyone and their dog has or at least knows about those programs and is making similarly spirited recordings. Simply, the mystique has faded a little, and it takes a bit more these days for folks to truly get beyond the "whoa, listen to these crazy, loopy, chopped up and processed sounds!" We don't mean to be too hard on The Books specifically, it's just an inescapable fact of modern music making. That said, if you dig that sound, and want more, this will most likely still hit the spot.
MPEG Stream: "Group Autogenics I"
MPEG Stream: "I Didn't Know That"
MPEG Stream: "A Cold Freezin' Night"

BOOKS, THE The Way Out (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 14.98
After a half decade, The Books deliver their fourth full length and follow-up to Lost And Safe! Anticipation and expectations were high, and we wish we could report that our socks were knocked off, but we'll have to settle for our socks to be warmly comfy. The Way Out is definitely way more vibrant and lively than its comparatively moody predecessor, Lost And Safe. The lead-off track relies heavily on the quirkiness of vintage self-help hypnosis tape voiceovers to engage the listener, but remove those samples and you're left with a simply pleasant clitter-clatter toybox pop-tronic instrumental which would be very at home on the German Morr Music label alongside the likes of Lalipuna and Styrofoam. Moving onwards, in keeping with their unpredictable multi-genre gadabout nature, The Books then inject a welcome bit of funky juiciness and more random novelty into the proceedings, but it too seems to rely a lot on modern sound manipulation software to tweak the listeners' ears. Earlier in the decade, there weren't a whole lot of artists making this kind of music, and thus the group's patchworked quirkiness was somewhat distinct and engaging, but these days everyone and their dog has or at least knows about those programs and is making similarly spirited recordings. Simply, the mystique has faded a little, and it takes a bit more these days for folks to truly get beyond the "whoa, listen to these crazy, loopy, chopped up and processed sounds!" We don't mean to be too hard on The Books specifically, it's just an inescapable fact of modern music making. That said, if you dig that sound, and want more, this will most likely still hit the spot.
MPEG Stream: "Group Autogenics I"
MPEG Stream: "I Didn't Know That"
MPEG Stream: "A Cold Freezin' Night"

BOOKS, THE The Way Out (Temporary Residence Ltd.) 2lp 29.00
After a half decade, The Books deliver their fourth full length and follow-up to Lost And Safe! Anticipation and expectations were high, and we wish we could report that our socks were knocked off, but we'll have to settle for our socks to be warmly comfy. The Way Out is definitely way more vibrant and lively than its comparatively moody predecessor, Lost And Safe. The lead-off track relies heavily on the quirkiness of vintage self-help hypnosis tape voiceovers to engage the listener, but remove those samples and you're left with a simply pleasant clitter-clatter toybox pop-tronic instrumental which would be very at home on the German Morr Music label alongside the likes of Lalipuna and Styrofoam. Moving onwards, in keeping with their unpredictable multi-genre gadabout nature, The Books then inject a welcome bit of funky juiciness and more random novelty into the proceedings, but it too seems to rely a lot on modern sound manipulation software to tweak the listeners' ears. Earlier in the decade, there weren't a whole lot of artists making this kind of music, and thus the group's patchworked quirkiness was somewhat distinct and engaging, but these days everyone and their dog has or at least knows about those programs and is making similarly spirited recordings. Simply, the mystique has faded a little, and it takes a bit more these days for folks to truly get beyond the "whoa, listen to these crazy, loopy, chopped up and processed sounds!" We don't mean to be too hard on The Books specifically, it's just an inescapable fact of modern music making. That said, if you dig that sound, and want more, this will most likely still hit the spot.
MPEG Stream: "Group Autogenics I"
MPEG Stream: "I Didn't Know That"
MPEG Stream: "A Cold Freezin' Night"

BOOKS, THE The Way Out (Temporary Residence Ltd.) 2lp 29.00
After a half decade, The Books deliver their fourth full length and follow-up to Lost And Safe! Anticipation and expectations were high, and we wish we could report that our socks were knocked off, but we'll have to settle for our socks to be warmly comfy. The Way Out is definitely way more vibrant and lively than its comparatively moody predecessor, Lost And Safe. The lead-off track relies heavily on the quirkiness of vintage self-help hypnosis tape voiceovers to engage the listener, but remove those samples and you're left with a simply pleasant clitter-clatter toybox pop-tronic instrumental which would be very at home on the German Morr Music label alongside the likes of Lalipuna and Styrofoam. Moving onwards, in keeping with their unpredictable multi-genre gadabout nature, The Books then inject a welcome bit of funky juiciness and more random novelty into the proceedings, but it too seems to rely a lot on modern sound manipulation software to tweak the listeners' ears. Earlier in the decade, there weren't a whole lot of artists making this kind of music, and thus the group's patchworked quirkiness was somewhat distinct and engaging, but these days everyone and their dog has or at least knows about those programs and is making similarly spirited recordings. Simply, the mystique has faded a little, and it takes a bit more these days for folks to truly get beyond the "whoa, listen to these crazy, loopy, chopped up and processed sounds!" We don't mean to be too hard on The Books specifically, it's just an inescapable fact of modern music making. That said, if you dig that sound, and want more, this will most likely still hit the spot.
MPEG Stream: "Group Autogenics I"
MPEG Stream: "I Didn't Know That"
MPEG Stream: "A Cold Freezin' Night"

BOOKS, THE The Way Out (Temporary Residence Ltd.) 2lp 29.00
After a half decade, The Books deliver their fourth full length and follow-up to Lost And Safe! Anticipation and expectations were high, and we wish we could report that our socks were knocked off, but we'll have to settle for our socks to be warmly comfy. The Way Out is definitely way more vibrant and lively than its comparatively moody predecessor. The lead-off track relies heavily on the quirkiness of vintage self-help hypnosis tape voiceovers to engage the listener, but remove those samples and you're left with a simply pleasant clitter-clatter toybox pop-tronic instrumental which would be very at home on the German Morr Music label alongside the likes of Lalipuna and Styrofoam. Moving onwards, in keeping with their unpredictable multi-genre gadabout nature, The Books then inject a welcome bit of funky juiciness and more random novelty into the proceedings, but it too seems to rely a lot on modern sound manipulation software to tweak the listeners' ears. Earlier in the decade, there weren't a whole lot of artists making this kind of music, and thus the group's patchworked quirkiness was somewhat distinct and engaging, but these days everyone and their dog has or at least knows about those programs and is making similarly spirited recordings. Simply, the mystique has faded a little, and it takes a bit more these days for folks to truly get beyond the "whoa, listen to these crazy, loopy, chopped up and processed sounds!" We don't mean to be too hard on The Books specifically, it's just an inescapable fact of modern music making. That said, if you dig that sound, and want more, this will most likely still hit the spot.
MPEG Stream: "Group Autogenics I"
MPEG Stream: "I Didn't Know That"
MPEG Stream: "A Cold Freezin' Night"

BOOKS, THE The Way Out (Temporary Residence Ltd.) 2lp 29.00
After a half decade, The Books deliver their fourth full length and follow-up to Lost And Safe! Anticipation and expectations were high, and we wish we could report that our socks were knocked off, but we'll have to settle for our socks to be warmly comfy. The Way Out is definitely way more vibrant and lively than its comparatively moody predecessor. The lead-off track relies heavily on the quirkiness of vintage self-help hypnosis tape voiceovers to engage the listener, but remove those samples and you're left with a simply pleasant clitter-clatter toybox pop-tronic instrumental which would be very at home on the German Morr Music label alongside the likes of Lalipuna and Styrofoam. Moving onwards, in keeping with their unpredictable multi-genre gadabout nature, The Books then inject a welcome bit of funky juiciness and more random novelty into the proceedings, but it too seems to rely a lot on modern sound manipulation software to tweak the listeners' ears. Earlier in the decade, there weren't a whole lot of artists making this kind of music, and thus the group's patchworked quirkiness was somewhat distinct and engaging, but these days everyone and their dog has or at least knows about those programs and is making similarly spirited recordings. Simply, the mystique has faded a little, and it takes a bit more these days for folks to truly get beyond the "whoa, listen to these crazy, loopy, chopped up and processed sounds!" We don't mean to be too hard on The Books specifically, it's just an inescapable fact of modern music making. That said, if you dig that sound, and want more, this will most likely still hit the spot.
MPEG Stream: "Group Autogenics I"
MPEG Stream: "I Didn't Know That"
MPEG Stream: "A Cold Freezin' Night"

BOOKS, THE Thought For Food (Tomlab) cd 15.98
From the very first few notes of Thoughts For Food, you get an inkling that The Books aren't going to take you on a straight ahead, sensible musical journey, and your inkling would be right! The Books may slightly puzzle with their stylistical and structural meanderings. Layering in dialogue samples and field recordings amid this laidback fray adds to the raw, roaming feel of this album. Much like their absurd titles (of the album itself as well as the songs), the music - a contorted, eccentric, folky blend based around acoustic guitars, fiddle, bass and some fragments of beats - twists, flips and folds back onto itself. Engagingly unpredictable, you never know what mood The Books will be in - solemn, frisky, or ??? Choosing excerpts for you to give you more of an idea of this release was difficult, so from the twelve songs you get a snippet from the first song (which is also the title track) and one from the tenth. If they pique your interest, well then you'll simply have to check out the complete cd to find out where they rambled to and fro in between those points.
RealAudio clip: "Enjoy your worries, you may never have them again"
RealAudio clip: "Getting the done job"

BOOM BIP Blue Eyed In The Red Room (Lex) cd 16.98
Boom Bip's third and best album to date. Hands down. Well, at least to me. Boom Bip (aka Bryan Hollan) seems to have learned from his explorations in hip-hop leaving a song-kraft that has transcended into a beautiful pop-bathed electronic wonderland. Synthy leads into songs. Composed and respected beats. Hints of analog instrumentation everywhere. It's great!
MPEG Stream: "Cimple"
MPEG Stream: "Do's And Don'ts"

BOOM BIP Corymb (Lex) cd 12.98
Abstract hip hop maestro Boom Bip returns with a lengthy EP of new tracks as well as a handful of remixes from a bunch of AQ faves. The Five originals, including two Peel Session tracks, are all lush and funky, dark and moody, sort of like DJ Shadow meets Godspeed, with gorgeously hazy atmospheres over skittery shuffling rhythms and occasional block rocking beats. The remixers include Boards Of Canada, who make their track sound like it could have been a BoC original, with warm summery swoon and a loping down tempo beat; Venetian Snares adds some subtle (for him) drill and bass and turns Buck65's formerly smooth flow into a manic, distorted tirade; Clouddead, who takes the original and stretches it into a gauzy summer afternoon stroll through soft breezy drones and barely there beats; Lali Puna, who add a smooth and shiny electronic sheen to their track; and finally Mogwai who pull their track apart into a spare and minimal whisper, drones and chimes and fractured rhythms over a shadowy trace of the original track.
MPEG Stream: "Last Walk Around Mirror Lake (Boards Of Canada Remix)"
MPEG Stream: "The Use Of Unacceptable Colours In Nature (Mogwai Remix)"

BOOM BIP Doo Doo Tones Volume 1 (Mush) 12" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

BOOM BIP From Left To Right (Lex) 12" 7.98

BOOM BIP Seed to Sun (Lex) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Excellent! Now this is the sort of stuff Mo'Wax should be putting out, this is what those yuppie lounge bars should be playing instead of fuckin' Kruder and Dorfmeister. Boom Bip may be familiar to you through his Four Tet remix and collaborations with Dose One (Them, cloudDead), but you'd be forgiven for thinking he might be on Mo'Wax -- this record's got all the trademark spacious open wide sonic vistas, echoey breakbeats, movie dialog samples, hip hop reverence, and melody galore. A different take on the whole rock meets electronica thang that only a few bands can pull off well (Fridge, Tarwater, DJ Shadow when he's sampling guitars), Boom Bip mixes space rock with electronica absolutely perfectly, and grounds it with hip hop, lest the thing get too cerebral. There are slow breakbeats, sweet chamber strings, throbbing epic bass, dubby echo, unabashedly rock-based chord progressions, and eccentric scratching. Plus lots of dynamic changes -- the record never gets boring. There's even a finishing track that makes use of Felt-like or Durutti Column-ish tinny guitar. Now, it's not a "weird" record, not even ultra challenging, but it does what it does perfectly. I am very impressed!
Oh, it must also be said that this disc has got artwork we're fairly wetting our pants over -- brown coffee cup stains on neutral cardboard, with gold foil pressed graffiti logo, and a die cut thru which shows the barcode. And then the insert incorporates the barcode stripes into all these pretty loops spelling out Boom Bip. Wow.
RealAudio clip: "Roads Must Roll"
RealAudio clip: "U R Here"
RealAudio clip: "Mannequin Hand Trapdoor I Reminder (featuring Dose One)"

BOOM BIP Seed to Sun (Lex) lp 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Excellent! Now this is the sort of stuff Mo'Wax should be putting out, this is what those yuppie lounge bars should be playing instead of fuckin' Kruder and Dorfmeister. Boom Bip may be familiar to you through his Four Tet remix and collaborations with Dose One (Them, cloudDead), but you'd be forgiven for thinking he might be on Mo'Wax -- this record's got all the trademark spacious open wide sonic vistas, echoey breakbeats, movie dialog samples, hip hop reverence, and melody galore. A different take on the whole rock meets electronica thang that only a few bands can pull off well (Fridge, Tarwater, DJ Shadow when he's sampling guitars), Boom Bip mixes space rock with electronica absolutely perfectly, and grounds it with hip hop, lest the thing get too cerebral. There are slow breakbeats, sweet chamber strings, throbbing epic bass, dubby echo, unabashedly rock-based chord progressions, and eccentric scratching. Plus lots of dynamic changes -- the record never gets boring. There's even a finishing track that makes use of Felt-like or Durutti Column-ish tinny guitar. Now, it's not a "weird" record, not even ultra challenging, but it does what it does perfectly. I am very impressed!
Oh, it must also be said that this disc has got artwork we're fairly wetting our pants over -- brown coffee cup stains on neutral cardboard, with gold foil pressed graffiti logo, and a die cut thru which shows the barcode. And then the insert incorporates the barcode stripes into all these pretty loops spelling out Boom Bip. Wow.

BOOM BIP & DOSEONE s/t (Mush Records) cd 14.98
Last year's Them record was easily one of the coolest, weirdest and most creative hip hop records we'd heard in a while. Dose One (the main mc from Them) takes it a step further out on this one, hooking up with dj Boom Bip to come up with a sort of 'free-hip-hop' record, like a cross between a poetry slam gone bad, a handful of rap records playing at once, phones and buzzers and bells gone haywire, and a particularly disorienting acid trip. A mix of freeform spoken word, erratic and non-linear beats, bizarre samples (even Van Halen makes it into the mix), lots of low-in-the-mix mumbling and muttering, and Dose Ones whiny nasal white boy drawl make this one crazy, schizophrenic, sloppy and beautiful mess.

BOONE, PAT In A Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy (Hip-O) cd 15.98
Yes it is for real - Pat Boone in leather and shades, riding a Harley, belting out a dozen heavy metal classics. The likes of Judas Priest, Metallica, Dio, Ozzy, Alice Cooper, etc. All cower trembling at the feet of Mr. Boone, who croons their tunes in amazingly hilarious and often quite catchy pop arrangements...You haven't lived until you've heard "Crazy Train" complete with swinging horns and the "choo-choos" of backing vocalists!

BOOTBLACKS s/t (Eve of the Last Migration) lp 12.98
Bootblacks are a relatively new NYC outfit mining classic 1980's post-punk and no wave, creating dramatic songs that, in their best moments, evoke Depeche Mode as much as The Birthday Party. This self-titled lp captures the group early on in their career, on the cusp of a transformation into a really great live band, one we here on the Left Coast have only managed to see twice. Strange pyramids, ever-present smoke and psychedelic lights frame really loud songs that wear their influences like a runway model wears the latest designer frock: with pride and style. Bootblacks have found moderate success in Europe, through touring there multiple times, and on the East Coast where they play constantly.
On the record itself, Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds are ever-present, especially on "Save Me Maria" which sounds, in the best possible way, like a B-side off Tender Prey. Jim Sclavunos (of the Bad Seeds / Grinderman) produced a few tracks, including one of the record's best, "The Flood". A tom-heavy beat stomps around a big fuzzy bassline and a clean vocal line. Layers of guitar lines slip in and out, building tension, until the chorus erupts with some weird backwards sounding laser-gun effects. The guitar playing throughout the entire record is excellent, full of skill and heart and hooks. Alli Pheteplace, musically the record's shining star, fluidly conjures the spirit of Rowland S. Howard and makes it her own. Melodies seem to fly effortlessly from her reverb-laden instrument. Her backing vocals on songs like "The Things We Did" and "The Flood" provide an almost sensual contrast to vocalist Ryan MacDonald's in-your-face sexual overtones. Pheteplace and MacDonald are both formerly of San Francisco's The Holy Kiss, another group that worshipped at the altar of The Birthday Party, albeit the swampier-blusier side of the band. The best track off the second half of the record is "Machina", a cacophonous rolling ride of a song. A repeating trumpet line and lyrics you can't quite understand play call and response until the chorus busts through with a perfectly complimentary marching snare beat. There's just enough noise to make the song sound fucked-up and interesting without distracting from its bass-and-drums guts.
The record is housed in a nice silver and black jacket, with some kind of sliver sticker on the back. An obi proclaims the glories of Bootblacks and provides the only information available on the outside of the sleeve. Limited to 350 copies, each one hand numbered. Also includes an mp3 download card, as well as a silk-screened patch for all you punks out there.
MPEG Stream: "The Flood"
MPEG Stream: "The Things We Did"
MPEG Stream: "Machina"

BOOTHE, KEN Everything I Own (Trojan / Sanctuary) cd 14.98

BOOTSY'S RUBBER BAND Ahh...The Name Is Bootsy, Baby (Warner Bros) lp 14.98

BORAT (OST) Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan (Atlantic) cd 16.98

MPEG Stream: FAFARE CIOCARLIA "Born To Be Wild"
MPEG Stream: BORAT "When I Buy My Wife"
MPEG Stream: KOCANI ORKESTER "Siki, Siki Baba"

BORATTO, GUI Annunciation (Kompakt) 12" 11.98

BORATTO, GUI Azzurra (Kompakt) 12" 13.98
New tracks from one of our favorite colorful electronic music makers. His 12"s tend to be a bit more techno sounding then his proper albums, but still always good stuff.

BORATTO, GUI Chromaphobia: Remixe Part One (Kompact) 12" 11.98

BORATTO, GUI Chromophobia (Kompakt) cd 15.98
We had almost given up on the current state of electronica when all of a sudden we started getting some pretty amazing electronic albums, of all different varieties in the last few months. Whether it's killer Dubstep from Boxcutter, the glitchy laptop stutter of Tuk, or Lindstrom's infectious Nordic beardo-disco, our electronic section has gotten a much needed face-lift and a serious boost of exciting energy! Now thanks to Kompakt (one of our all time favorite labels, home to the Pop Ambient series of course) we've got two more electronic gems to fall in love with. The Field's From Here We Go Sublime (also highlighted on this list) and this debut by Brazilian producer/sound architect Gui Boratto. Possessing a punch and vibrancy not usually associated with Kompakt, who are known more for their dreamy soundscapes and simple house-y pulses, Chromophobia is one of those records where the music inside matches the cover art perfectly. Rich bright colors in all sorts of pleasurable shapes, clean and smart and stylish. Proving that dance minded music doesn't need to be dumb, this has us thinking quite a bit of Double Figure era Plaid, or the perfect left-field microhouse of Isolee's We Are Monster. Throw in some rich sonic textures that had Andee thinking of Fridge for a moment, and the gorgeous sole vocal track "Beautiful Life" and you have all the right ingredients for one of the best electronic records of the year!
MPEG Stream: "Scene 1"
MPEG Stream: "Mr. Decay"
MPEG Stream: "Terminal"

BORATTO, GUI III (Kompakt) cd 16.98
It's been a pretty great month for electronica here at the store with brand new releases from our favorite artists on Kompakt. Last list we raved about new outings by The Field and Walls, and this time we get to gush about the third album by Gui Boratto. It took us a couple listens, but we now can say we deeply dig this record so much, as Boratto really strikes such vivid moods and sounds on each track. His debut album, Chromophobia has become a total classic in our books, ranking as one of our favorite electronica albums of the last decade. While we for sure liked his follow up, we would be lying now if we said it was as great as that debut. And while III might not erase the fact that Chromophobia is still our favorite, we got to say that we are getting way more into this than the last outing and remembering why we fell so hard for Boratto in the first place. And lots of that is due to a single song, "The Drill", which first showed up on the recent Total 12 comp and has to be the best thing we've heard from him. A heavy bassy low slung groove, all fuzzy and distorted, with a weird woozy synth melody and some cool handclap snares, the drums wreathed in effects, a little bit of backwards whhhhoooo, and then suddenly the bass gets even more distorted sounding crumbling and fuzzy and almost metallic, and then it does it AGAIN, getting more weirdly effected and distorted, only to slip right back into the more muted groove, and so it goes, that super catchy bassline synthgroove, constantly changing tone and timbre, the sound following suit, slipping from groovy and slithery, to super blown out and crackly, distorted and in-in-the-red, and right back to that moody sorts of housey skitter. Someone needs to make us an hour long mix of just this song, cuz we'd set out cd player on repeat and listen to nothing else.
But even beyond that track, the sounds Boratto creates have such bright colors and lush warmth, and at the same time he's also has really introduced a newfound tension into his songs, reminding us of the heyday of IDM, combining elements of folks like Plaid and Aphex Twin into something all his own!
MPEG Stream: "The Drill"
MPEG Stream: "Stems From Hell"
MPEG Stream: "Striker"
MPEG Stream: "Flying Practice"

BORATTO, GUI III (Kompakt) 2lp+cd 23.00
It's been a pretty great month for electronica here at the store with brand new releases from our favorite artists on Kompakt. Last list we raved about new outings by The Field and Walls, and this time we get to gush about the third album by Gui Boratto. It took us a couple listens, but we now can say we deeply dig this record so much, as Boratto really strikes such vivid moods and sounds on each track. His debut album, Chromophobia has become a total classic in our books, ranking as one of our favorite electronica albums of the last decade. While we for sure liked his follow up, we would be lying now if we said it was as great as that debut. And while III might not erase the fact that Chromophobia is still our favorite, we got to say that we are getting way more into this than the last outing and remembering why we fell so hard for Boratto in the first place. And lots of that is due to a single song, "The Drill", which first showed up on the recent Total 12 comp and has to be the best thing we've heard from him. A heavy bassy low slung groove, all fuzzy and distorted, with a weird woozy synth melody and some cool handclap snares, the drums wreathed in effects, a little bit of backwards whhhhoooo, and then suddenly the bass gets even more distorted sounding crumbling and fuzzy and almost metallic, and then it does it AGAIN, getting more weirdly effected and distorted, only to slip right back into the more muted groove, and so it goes, that super catchy bassline synthgroove, constantly changing tone and timbre, the sound following suit, slipping from groovy and slithery, to super blown out and crackly, distorted and in-in-the-red, and right back to that moody sorts of housey skitter. Someone needs to make us an hour long mix of just this song, cuz we'd set out cd player on repeat and listen to nothing else.
But even beyond that track, the sounds Boratto creates have such bright colors and lush warmth, and at the same time he's also has really introduced a newfound tension into his songs, reminding us of the heyday of IDM, combining elements of folks like Plaid and Aphex Twin into something all his own!
MPEG Stream: "The Drill"
MPEG Stream: "Stems From Hell"
MPEG Stream: "Striker"
MPEG Stream: "Flying Practice"

BORATTO, GUI Take My Breath Away (Kompakt) cd 15.98
Gui Boratto's debut Chromophobia helped us fall in love with electronica all over again a couple years back. It really marked a resurgence in quality and creative electronic sounds after several stagnant years. It's a record that some of us here have probably listened to more than almost any other electronic record since we first laid ears on it. The way he so effortlessly creates shapes and colors with his sounds made Chromophobia a record that kept unfolding on repeated listens, offering more and more as we fell deeper and deeper in love. The way Boratto is able to make melodic electronica sound so warm and bursting with color is exactly what had, and has, us so smitten.
So here we are two years later and the follow up to that great debut, has finally landed, it's called Take My Breath Away, and of course our expectations were kind of crazy high. We have to say now, having listened to the record several times, Boratto has indeed created another total winner! On first listen, while it sounded pretty good, we weren't totally blown away, but then we remembered how Chromophobia took a little time to grow on us and truly sink in, but once it did, we were fully addicted and totally obsessed. The same is the case for Take My Breath Away. What makes Boratto so special is his keen sense of melody, that's probably why so many folks who aren't usually that into electronica end up asking what's playing when we have this on in the store. He's able to bring song structure and rich melody to the world of techno and minimal house. There are some moments on this outing that find him leaning towards a bit more traditional techno but luckily those moments are way outnumbered by his more imaginative explorations. Songs that find themselves as at home on the dance floor as much as on a twisty turny beautiful long road trip, the music energizing, and offering up a wide array of sonic color to help you stay alert as you soak it all in.
Not many folks are able to make music that is so pleasurable for both the body and the mind but Gui Boratto has found a way, and we're tapping our toes and thinking all sorts of deep thoughts and dreamy dreams at the same time...
Available as a cd, or on double vinyl packaged with the compact disc as well.
MPEG Stream: "Colors"
MPEG Stream: "Take My Breath Away"
MPEG Stream: "Les Enfants"

BORATTO, GUI Take My Breath Away (Kompakt) 2lp+cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Gui Boratto's debut Chromophobia helped us fall in love with electronica all over again a couple years back. It really marked a resurgence in quality and creative electronic sounds after several stagnant years. It's a record that some of us here have probably listened to more than almost any other electronic record since we first laid ears on it. The way he so effortlessly creates shapes and colors with his sounds made Chromophobia a record that kept unfolding on repeated listens, offering more and more as we fell deeper and deeper in love. The way Boratto is able to make melodic electronica sound so warm and bursting with color is exactly what had, and has, us so smitten.
So here we are two years later and the follow up to that great debut, has finally landed, it's called Take My Breath Away, and of course our expectations were kind of crazy high. We have to say now, having listened to the record several times, Boratto has indeed created another total winner! On first listen, while it sounded pretty good, we weren't totally blown away, but then we remembered how Chromophobia took a little time to grow on us and truly sink in, but once it did, we were fully addicted and totally obsessed. The same is the case for Take My Breath Away. What makes Boratto so special is his keen sense of melody, that's probably why so many folks who aren't usually that into electronica end up asking what's playing when we have this on in the store. He's able to bring song structure and rich melody to the world of techno and minimal house. There are some moments on this outing that find him leaning towards a bit more traditional techno but luckily those moments are way outnumbered by his more imaginative explorations. Songs that find themselves as at home on the dance floor as much as on a twisty turny beautiful long road trip, the music energizing, and offering up a wide array of sonic color to help you stay alert as you soak it all in.
Not many folks are able to make music that is so pleasurable for both the body and the mind but Gui Boratto has found a way, and we're tapping our toes and thinking all sorts of deep thoughts and dreamy dreams at the same time...
Available as a cd, or on double vinyl packaged with the compact disc as well.
MPEG Stream: "Colors"
MPEG Stream: "Take My Breath Away"
MPEG Stream: "Les Enfants"

BORATTO, GUI Tales From The Lab (Defrag / Kompakt) 12" 11.98