BALDWIN, MATT / NICO GEORIS Year Of The Dog (Psychic Arts) cd-r 8.98
After falling so deeply in love with Matt Baldwin's recent cd-r release, Imaginary Psychology, earlier this year, we knew that this bay area guitar wizard had really come into his own, exploring exciting new terrain in reaching epic psychedelic bliss.
This new outing finds Baldwin collaborating with multi-instrumentalist Nico Georgis, as they create two long form pieces that explore a more textured and layered sort of kosmische drift. The first track, "Year Of The Dog", finds Baldwin employing guitar, guitar-synth, as well as loops and delay, while Georis contributes clavinet, Wurlitzer piano, percussion, a Prophet 600, and a MicroKorg to create a meditative movement that's like some pulsating dreamscape conjured up by Robert Fripp, Michael Rother, Ash Ra Tempel, Manuel Gottsching, and/or John Cale. It taps into a sound that folks like Mark McGuire/Emeralds, White Rainbow, Bitchin Bajas, and Arp have been exploring, but with a much more organic and warm approach.
"Juan Carlos" is the other massive track here, an improv psych-jam, that features Juan Carlos Morales Tablada on congas and percussion. It starts with a slow build that immediately entrances as its sounds are both so connected to the earth, yet do such an amazing job of taking you to another dimension. In some ways the vibe makes us think of another one of our favorite cd-r releases from this year, Eat The Earth, by fellow San Francisco psych improv masters 3 Leafs.
Hand numbered and limited to 50 copies, this one is a no brainer. Don't miss out!
MPEG Stream: "Year Of The Dog"
MPEG Stream: "Juan Carlos"

BALL LIGHTNING s/t (Jyrk) cd-r 7.98
Seems like all we have to do is blink and voila! Another batch of freaky and far out Jyrk cd-r releases materializes. We're not complaining, we're just saying is all. So here's the first of this installment's threesome, by the very mysterious Ball Lightning, who just so happens to be William Sabiston, the percussionist for Axolotl. 18 tracks in 20 minutes, brief little snippets of sound, a sound that is pretty dang tough to describe. Some weird mix of Sunburned Hand Of The Man tribalism, some skittery percussive free jazz and some sort-of-electronics, a super listenable hodge podge of rhythmic exploration. Clicking, shuffling, squeaking, pulsing, pounding mini soundscapes of glitch and click and buzz and throb and stutter and clang and clatter. This disc almost sounds like someone took a twenty minute This Heat outtake, chopped it up into minute long pieces, mixed them all up and reassembled the tape. Cool and hypnotic and very very weird.
LIMITED TO 150 COPIES. WE GOT 30 COPIES, ONCE THESE ARE GONE, THEY ARE GONE FOR GOOD, IT'S ALREADY OUT OF PRINT AT THE LABEL!
MPEG Stream: "2"
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BALLA ET SES BALLADINS The Syliphone Years (Sterns Africa) 2cd 24.00

BALROYNIGRESS Shampoo And Champagne (Kning Disk) cd 14.98
Here's another release of exceptional quality and artistry from the Kning Disk label, who have previous brought us fine disks from the disparate likes of James Blackshaw, Jerry Johansson, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Wolf Eyes, Giuseppe Ielasi & Nicola Ratti...
Subtly trippy and strangely entrancing, Balroynigress is an art-folk trio melting in the Swedish sun. We were immediately drawn to main man Erik Joer's withered, slightly druggy male vocals that alternately call to mind early Bowie and Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. His and female vocalist Elvire Soyez's hushed voices wander tremulously amid the somber, bent and broken melodies woven from acoustic guitars, synths, melodica and piano... occasionally getting their boots stuck in the slushy sludge of the gently growling bass. Despite the album's title which to us suggests fizzy cosmopolitan festivities, the ten songs that comprise this Shampoo And Champagne potion are neither bubbly nor urbane. Ungrounded and seemingly far from city lights, they flow freely between the concrete and the intangible, the conscious and the subconscious, conjuring both the deepest of longings and glimmering hallucinations. We like! May also intrigue the fans of Devendra Banhart or Andrew Douglas Rothbard.
Don't dill-dally though! This is a very limited handmade pressing of 900!
MPEG Stream: "Postlove"
MPEG Stream: "The Landlord's Love Affair"

BALTHROP, ALABAMA Your Big Plans & Our Little Town (End Up) 2cd 12.98
Not a geographic location, Balthrop, Alabama is a singer/songwriter! Joining in the band naming tradition of the likes of Boston, Chicago, Kansas et al, former Bay Area now Brooklyn based solo singer/songwriter Pascal Balthrop's latest musical moniker is a place, but a fictional one, mind you! You might know him under his previous musical alias which was simply Pascal. With a new name and new hometown come new sounds, a broader scope, instrument palette and group of musicians to accompany him. On his brand new sprawling concept double (!) cd about big city encroachment on a small town, Balthrop's acoustic songcraft is definitely still very very indebted to Jeff Mangum, John Darnielle and the Elephant 6 Collective, but the telltale signs -- such as a very distinctly emotive singing delivery combined with unabashedly blatty horns -- are a little bit more subsumed into his own realm. His lyrical storytelling is less cryptic or surreal, and the downhome-y album unfolds like an indie pop country fair stage play. Some folks have likened his new songs such as "Love To Love You" to the Hidden Cameras in its peppy exuberance. Fans of all of the abovementioned, hop aboard!
MPEG Stream: "Angel"
MPEG Stream: "Tell The Stars"

BALTYCKIE SZEPTY s/t (Plus GSM) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Members of Polish avant-hippy collective Atman (aka Magic Carpathians) are involved with this project, the title of which we think translates into English as "Baltic Whisperings". Recordings of seals swimming in the Baltic Sea are augmented with moog, guitar, woodwinds, plus various other instruments and electronics. They've created an aquatic musical document of bathing, breathing creatures and drifting, gorgeous, and sometimes sinister, shimmering soundscapes. This is the kind of "new age" music we can like. Very limited availability.

BALUSTRADE ENSEMBLE Capsules (Dynamophone) cd 13.98
An uncommonly sumptuous array of releases was just presented to us courtesy of the young music label Dynamophone. They've only been around since mid-2006, but already have a bountiful catalog of releases, and many more on the way. We think your ears will welcome them with a warm embrace. Particularly if you've been recently enjoying the aquatic drone releases on the Mystery Sea label, you might wish to check out the seemingly likeminded, but more melodically inclined Dynamophone artists. Really, the label is a treasure trove of shimmering and dewy listening delights. Delve in immediately (also see: Disinterested, Halou, Po, Pornopop, A Lily, Curium, and R/R Coseboom)!
This is the label's new release from Balustrade Ensemble, a group which features Grant Miller (also of the very different Mandible Chatter), singer/songwriter/pianist Liam Singer, and Scott Solter (whose worked with the likes of Singer, Mountain Goats, Spoon and Tarentel). Their intricate (mostly) acoustic (mostly) instrumentals are artfully woven from familiar instruments piano, guitar, cello, and pedal steel, and the less common mellotron, orchestron, claviola, and celeste. Each one seems to glimmer out through Victorian lace curtains yellowed and slightly threadbare from age, through shatters of antique crystal goblets dappled with droplets of deep red, through a flaking, clouded gilt mirror, through deep sea greens and azures. Very cinematic, in fact, the Dynamophone folks beat us to the punch at raising the darkly whimsical filmmakers the Brothers Quay as a point of reference. Very recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Glorianders"
MPEG Stream: "Incarnadine"

BAMBA, SORRY Volume One 1970-1979 (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98

BAMBA, SORRY Volume One 1970-1979 (Thrill Jockey) 2lp 21.00

BAMBHALAM Total Mixer (Freak Out) cd-r 10.98

BAMSEOM PIRATES Seoul Inferno (Misanthropic Art Productions) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Longtime readers of the aQ list and followers of Andee's tUMULt label are no doubt familiar with Pyha, whose Haunted House album still ranks as one of our favorite black metal records ever, made even more noteworthy by the fact it was created by a Korean teenager! It was a personal and intimate study (by a teenager) on loss and death, focusing on Korea's wars, the music bleak and blown out, weirdly atmospheric and hypnotic, any black metalheads out there who have yet to check it out, do yourself a favor. SO what the heck does that have to do with this new full length from Korean punk/grind duo Bamseom Pirates? Well, Mr. Pyha is all grown up, he's been in and out of the military (it's compulsory in Korea), he's engaged to be married, and he's still politically active, but his protests now come in the form of short sharp blasts of grinding punk rock. Granted, the Pyha connection might be a bit of a tenuous connection to convince metalheads to pick this up, and really, unless you're into punk rock and grindcore, odds are you're not gonna dig this. That said, there are plenty of metallic moments, and some of the grinding is wicked fierce, and as metal as anything else out there, but there's definitely a serious sense of humor running through the proceedings, and the more metallic grind numbers are outnumbered by the punk rock jams, so metalheads you have been warned, everyone else, this is pretty fucking ruling. Just bass and drums, the bass super distorted to the point that it basically sounds like a guitar, the vocals are yelped and howled and grunted and squealed, we're reminded of legendary power violence jokers Spazz as well as Japanese grinders Bathtub Shitter, all the lyrics in Korean, the booklet too, so much of the lyrical content, and any of the politics are definitely lost on non-Korean speakers, but if you're after some wild pounding punk and some seriously furious grind, with some twisted weirdness and a little bit of goofiness mixed in, this will definitely hit the spot. And if you're like us and CRAZY obsessed with Pyha to boot, well then even more reason to grab one.
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BANABILA, MICHEL / HANNES VENNIK / BOBBY Cards On The Table (Staalplaat) cd 10.98
Just like all of the productions for Fallt's "Invallid Object Series," Cards On The Table is a 3"CD that is meant to be played through the random function on your CD player. In fact, the entire process of this album revolves around chance, with the artists making their sampling decision solely on the basis of a shuffled deck of cards. So smooth jazz gets a dot-matrix printer intertwined with its soulful sax, musique concrete and '60s lounge samples are slammed together, and contemporary DSP glitch manipulations fuse with ethno electronics, simply because the cards said so. File under: surrealism to think about, not listen to.

BANANA CREW Tickles (Banana Crew) 7" 7.98
We often get mysterious packages in the mail. Sometimes a tape, or a handful of 7"s, often surprisingly, with no info whatsoever, no note, no nothing. Which in some ways is cool, nothing to go on but the music itself, and the packaging. But unfortunately, sometimes it takes us a while to listen to everything, which means once in a while, we hear something we dig, and realize we have no way of tracking the band or the label down.
So a while back, we got a little package of 7"s in the mail, and they looked amazing. Transparent vellum sleeves, clear vinyl, the word 'Tickles' printed on the front in a cool font, a weird painting/picture of a stoplight pasted on the front, and a manga style drawing of a diner on the back, with a sad lonely girl sitting by herself underneath a sign for vegetable burgers and beans. Very strange.
It wasn't until a few days ago, months and months after the 7"s showed up at the store, that someone from the band finally contacted us and gave is the lowdown. We never noticed, but printed in tiny letters on the back is the name of the band, The Banana Crew, which is apparently the name of the group, but it's not just a group, it's also a sort of arts collective, and this, "Tickles" is their first musical document. If you're anything like us, a band called Banana Crew with a record called Tickles might not have sounded all that promising, but we were pleasantly surprised to discover, the music of BC was a sort of Gary Numan / Kraftwerk style krautwave machinemusic electro pop, all fuzzy synths, shuffling snares, tinkling melodies and moody dramatic new wave vocals. A definite eighties vibe, one that positions BC amongst many other contemporary acts mining that much maligned decade, taking a sort of Daft Punk thing, stripping it way down, and slowing it down, a sci-fi retro electronic future pop that's hazy, and dreamy, and softly propulsive, definitely with a little of that Carpenter soundtrack feel, but the vocals turn it into the sort of futuristic electro pop that groups like Soft Metals, White Car, Blank Dogs, Gary War, Greatest Hits and Autre Ne Veut and the like have been exploring lately as well...

BANANA SPLITS Doin' The Banana Split (Hanna-Barbera) 7" 6.98

BANANAFISH MAGAZINE Issue #11 magazine+cd 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

BANANAFISH MAGAZINE Issue #12 magazine+cd 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hallelujah, another issue of the most esoteric music magazine out there. Neil Hamburger (hilarious tour diary), Monde Bruits, Climax Golden Twins, Iancu Dumitrescu, Sufi Mind Game, Crank Sturgeon, Stillupsteypa, etc... all featured in the mag as well as on the accompanying cd.

BANANAFISH MAGAZINE Issue #13 (Tedium House) magazine + cd 9.98
At long last, another issue of one of the most confusing and dear to our hearts 'zines around. A fat 154 pages of obfuscatory commentary and difficult interviews pertaining to some of the more obscure artists you can or can't think of, including William Winant, Nigel Bunn, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Witcyst, irr.app.(ext.), AZ, Angst Hase Pfeffer Nase, Solid Eye, Diesel Guitar, Universal Indians, and more. Plus the bonus compilation cd, with tracks by many of the same artists.

BANANAFISH MAGAZINE Issue #14 magazine+cd 10.98
Reynols (yay!), Vote Robot, Jazzfinger, Panicsville, Polar Goldie Cats, Octavian Nemescu, Margaret Murray, and many other even more obscure artists/musicians are featured either in the pages of, and/or on the bonus cd that comes with with, this latest installment of one of 'zinedoms most eccentric institutions. Paradoxically, Bananafish has always been both an enlightening and confusing read, and these new 164 pages maintain that reputation.

BANANAFISH MAGAZINE Issue #15 magazine+cd 10.98
Yay, another issue of Bananafish, repository for the weird, wonderful and noisy. We like.
"All tracks on CD are exclusive (or virtually so) and directly related to the content of the magazine: Christine Shields (interview with this issue's cover artist, the author behind surreal, dreamlike Blue Hole comic book, and banjo-player for Appalachia-influenced Grouse Mountain Skyride). Mal Sharpe (Interview with author, jazz musician, and Man-on-the-Street interviewer most well known as half of '60s prankster duo Coyle and Sharpe, whose legendary put-ons have been released on CD by the 21361 and Thirsty Ear labels). Ana-Maria Avram (translation of an interview by Costin Cazaban with Romanian acousmatic composer and Editions Modern recording artist whose uncompromising, demanding music gives heavyweights like Dumitrescu and Fernando Grillo a run for the money). Volcano the Bear (interview by Neil Campbell with this mind-expanding UK surrealist quartet whose music straddles 'a strange, ambiguous line between comforting and terrifying') mad-cow.org (interview with Dr. Thomas Pringle, webmaster of the Sperling Biomedical Foundation's site containing almost 8,000 articles on mad cow and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, prions, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, scrapie, and numerous other crimes against nature)."

BANANAFISH MAGAZINE Issue #16 (Tedium House) magazine 10.98
Latest issue of beloved confusional music magazine Bananfish, that more often that not, is the only magazine that covers mostly folks we've never heard (of). This time is no different:
Robert Dayton - Canadian extrovert comic, Halim El-Dabh - selected exerpts from Denise Seachrist's upcoming biography, Paul Winstanley- New Zealand electroacoustic improvisor, AQ fave, Swedish electroacoustician Leif Elggren, fiction by Roger Pinnell, and tons of art/reviews. As well as a cd with exclusive tracks from Leif Elggren, Lateral Agriculture Order, Repeat, July Fourth Toilet, JDP Trio, Oren Ambarchi, Canned Hamm, Rosy Parlane, Dion Workman and Halim El-Dabh/Mike Hovancsek.

BANANAFISH MAGAZINE Issue #17 (Tedium House) mag + cd 10.98
Omigod is it THAT time again? When Bananafish rears its ugly head and starts barking nonsense, fascinating nonsense about musicians you quite possibly never heard of before? Yes it is. #17 is upon us, a glorious production: 130 pages plus compact disc. In the magazine, you'll find "information" about, among others, Jazzkammer, Lara Allen, Astro, Towne Dandies, Jason McLean, and Fake Party! (see what we mean?) and lots of stuff "reviewed". On the cd, there's "music" from the All-Star Schnauzer Band, Jazzkammer, Astro, Ragtime Germs, Paul Dutton with Jaap Blonk, Koichi Makigami, Phil Minton and David Moss, and more, including two video clips! Whoo-hoo! Either you're a Bananafish addict and have to have this, or you're gonna buy it 'cause the voices in your head want something to read and listen to. Go for it.

BANANAFISH MAGAZINE Issue #18 (Tedium House) magazine + cd 10.98
Sadly, the last ever ish (so we're told) of this long-running avantgarde music n' art magazine... And it remains entertainingly dense with confusion to the last. Obscure isn't obscure until it's been celebrated (and futher obscured) in the pages of Bananafish. This final issue leaves us with info and interviews with Jim Leftwich ("experimental writer, visual poet..."), Burning Star Core ("violin/electronics/voice iconoclast"), Nelson Gastaldi ("Argentinean psych-spatial composer"), Montract ("group of beach-blanket acidheads"), and Joe Colley ("ex-Crawl Unit noise mumbler"). There's also "surreal, interdisiplinary" comics from Mecca Normal guitarist David Lester and of course pages and pages of reviews of all kinds of noisy, fucked up music -- reviews that quite often are more interesting than the music itself, we sometimes suspect. Plus the requisite bonus cd that comes with the magazine, with stuff from all the above mentioned artists, including lots of excerpts from cassettes found by Joe Colley. Ah Bananfish, we'll miss ya.

BAND OF BEES, A Free The Bees (Astralwerks) cd 17.98
A Band Of Bees have totally captured those psychedelic pop sounds of the 60's in all their full technicolor glory (think: Kinks, Byrds, Small Faces), but combined them with the ballsier guitar sounds of the 70's, and some old Stax-y soul grooves (think: Temptations, Bar-Kays, Booker T And The MGs) too! The band deftly brings together a broad array of sounds and influences from the past. They recreate them with startling accuracy and present them with a fresh enthusiasm. The results? A super feel good, all-weather album!
MPEG Stream: "These Are The Ghosts"
MPEG Stream: "Hourglass"

BAND OF BLACKY RANCHETTE, THE Still Lookin' Good To Me (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98
Howe Gelb's solo and collaborative projects produce some of the most unpredictable, erratic music around -- running the arid desert gamut from expansive, trippy soundtrack compositions to intimate rough-hewn voice'n'guitar only numbers.
This themed album seems to be one of his most casual and off the cuff gatherings of musical friends. Gelb prefaces it mysteriously with the note "It's been 20 years since the Band Of Blacky Ranchette released its first record. This is the fourth in a series." The stellar guestlist includes Neko Case, Cat Power's Chan Marshall, John Convertino and Joey Burns of Calexico, Richard Buckner, M. Ward, Grandaddy's Jason Lytle, Jon Rauhouse, Dallas Good of the Sadies and Lambchop's Kurt Wagner. Along with the regular ol' studio-recorded songs, some of these recordings were captured in more unconventional locales: Howe Gelb's home, outside the Nashville International Airport (interrupted by a state trooper!), in an unspecified location in Austin TX, as well as "somewhere in Germany". This may be seen as a "sum is less (not greater) than its parts" collaborative collection. Most appearances are so brief, you barely have a chance for them to register. If you're looking for songs more indicative of the individual guest artists, you might be disappointed. However if you're a big Howe Gelb and/or Giant Sand fan, this will probably tickle your fancy.
MPEG Stream: "Mope-A-Long Rides Again"
MPEG Stream: "My Hoo Ha"

BAND OF BLACKY RANCHETTE, THE Still Lookin' Good To Me (Thrill Jockey) lp 11.98
Howe Gelb's solo and collaborative projects produce some of the most unpredictable, erratic music around - running the arid desert gamut from expansive, trippy soundtrack compositions to intimate rough-hewn voice'n'guitar only numbers.
This themed album seems to be one of his most casual and off the cuff gatherings of musical friends. Gelb prefaces it mysteriously with the note "It's been 20 years since the Band Of Blacky Ranchette released its first record. This is the fourth in a series." The stellar guestlist includes Neko Case, Cat Power's Chan Marshall, John Convertino and Joey Burns of Calexico, Richard Buckner, M. Ward, Grandaddy's Jason Lytle, Jon Rauhouse, Dallas Good of the Sadies and Lambchop's Kurt Wagner. Along with the regular ol' studio-recorded songs, some of these recordings were captured in more unconventional locales: Howe Gelb's home, outside the Nashville International Airport (interrupted by a state trooper!), in an unspecified location in Austin TX, as well as "somewhere in Germany". This may be seen as a "sum is less (not greater) than its parts" collaborative collection. Most appearances are so brief, you barely have a chance for them to register. If you're looking for songs more indicative of the individual guest artists, you might be disappointed. However if you're a big Howe Gelb and/or Giant Sand, this will probably tickle your fancy.

BAND OF ENDLESS NOISE, THE s/t (Endless Band) cd 17.98
Polish outfit with members of the Magic Carpathians, but not nearly as droney or avant-garde as you'd expect from that, or from their name. Instead, this is lighter fare, kind of an indie-rock thing, not as psychedelic or weird as might be assumed.

BAND OF HORSES Cease To Begin (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
Unlike their last album last year Everything All The Time, Band Of Horses' sophomore full length aligns itself moreso with the buoyancy of Built To Spill, Modest Mouse, and My Morning Jacket than the slow creep of Sparklehorse and Songs:Ohia. They craft the beloved modern yelp-pop that's characterized by warm, rounded jangly pop/rock instrumentation and boyish male vocals that are cling expressively to the upper register. Wistful, autumnal tunes perfect for this time of year!
MPEG Stream: "The First Song"
MPEG Stream: "The Great Salt Lake"

BAND OF HORSES Cease To Begin (Sub Pop) lp 14.98
Unlike their last album last year Everything All The Time, Band Of Horses' sophomore full length aligns itself moreso with the buoyancy of Built To Spill, Modest Mouse, and My Morning Jacket than the slow creep of Sparklehorse and Songs:Ohia. They craft the beloved modern yelp-pop that's characterized by warm, rounded jangly pop/rock instrumentation and boyish male vocals that are cling expressively to the upper register. Wistful, autumnal tunes perfect for this time of year!
MPEG Stream: "The First Song"
MPEG Stream: "The Great Salt Lake"

BAND OF HORSES Everything All The Time (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
Fans of My Morning Jacket, Sparklehorse, Songs Ohia, and Iron And Wine, you just might have another band jockeying for your affection! Mat Brooke and Ben Bridwell, two ex-members of Seattle pop band Carissa's Weird, have regrouped in a new combo that doesn't stray too far from their former band's slow, lush sound, but takes it into more of a rural setting. Some of us (staffers and customers alike) thought they were a deadringer for My Morning Jacket -- from Bridwell's high mournful vocal delivery to the duo's balance of haunting Southern gothic ballads and rockier numbers. For a full box of tissues example of the former, check out the final song "St. Augustine". But whereas MMJ blanket their shadowy melancholic recordings in cavernous cathedral reverb, Band Of Horses apply a lighter coat -- their sun-drenched guitars countering the heavy-heartedness of the vocals. Really really really good!
MPEG Stream: "The First Song"
MPEG Stream: "St. Augustine"

BAND OF HORSES Everything All The Time (Sub Pop) lp 12.98
Fans of My Morning Jacket, Sparklehorse, Songs Ohia, and Iron And Wine, you just might have another band jockeying for your affection! Mat Brooke and Ben Bridwell, two ex-members of Seattle pop band Carissa's Weird, have regrouped in a new combo that doesn't stray too far from their former band's slow, lush sound, but takes it into more of a rural setting. Some of us (staffers and customers alike) thought they were a deadringer for My Morning Jacket -- from Bridwell's high mournful vocal delivery to the duo's balance of haunting Southern gothic ballads and rockier numbers. For a full box of tissues example of the former, check out the final song "St. Augustine". But whereas MMJ blanket their shadowy melancholic recordings in cavernous cathedral reverb, Band Of Horses apply a lighter coat -- their sun-drenched guitars countering the heavy-heartedness of the vocals. Really really really good!
MPEG Stream: "The First Song"
MPEG Stream: "St. Augustine"

BAND OF HORSES Infinite Arms (Columbia) cd 14.98
We've given favorable reviews to these guys in the past, comparing them to aQ faves like Iron & Wine, Sparklehorse, Songs Ohia, My Morning Jacket, but it wasn't until this record, that the doubters and dissenters around here were truly convinced. For some reason, Band Of Horses were a band we just didn't want to like. They're the sort of band that gets featured on NPR, and played in Starbucks and ends up as background music on House or C.S.I. or as the soundtrack to yuppie kiddie carpools, but goddamn it, this record rules. Like the above mentioned bands, they weave gorgeous lush twang flecked folk pop, that manages to be intimate and moving, catchy and oh so lush, to the above mentioned bands we might also add all the various Joe Pernice projects: Scud Mountain Boys, Big Tobacco, Pernice Brothers, Chappaquiddick Skyline, the same sort of delicate earnest vox, and warm languid post country drift.
Band Of Horses go even further, incorporating what sounds like strings, making their folk country pop hybrid even more lush and expansive, and hell the songs are just so pretty, and hooky, whether the band are unfurling delicate tapestries of hushed melody, or rocking out county punk Uncle Tupelo style, it's hard to argue with how good this stuff is. So to the haters, we were haters once too, and we're happy to have finally switched sides, cuz this record is pretty dang great....
MPEG Stream: "Factory"
MPEG Stream: "Compliments"
MPEG Stream: "Laredo"

BAND OF HORSES No Ones Gonna Love You (Sub Pop) 7" 3.98

BAND OF PAIN Reculver (Dirtier Promotions) cd 16.98
Band of Pain straddles the fence between the austere deep listening isolationism of Andrew Chalk and the nightmarish dark ambient of Lustmord. Ghastly drones creep along with microscopic textures and hypnotic pudding rhythms. Stefan Jaworzyn - of Ascension - makes a guest appearance. Very, very good.

BANG Bang / Mother - Bow To The King (BANGmusic.com) cd 14.98
Dunno what it is -- maybe reading Martin Popoff's encyclopedic Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal Vol. 1: The Seventies (reviewed last list) -- but we've been on a real early '70s proto-metal hard rock kick of late. And one band essential to such listening is this one, so we've restocked a bunch of this cd reissue and thought we'd give it a re-list for those who missed it before. Here's what we wrote a while back when we first listed this:
Dust, Captain Beyond, Toad, Pentagram, Highway Robbery, T2, Buffalo, Budgie, Blue Cheer, Lucifer's Friend...if these names mean anything to you, you're probably one of our customers who dig that heavy '70s acid rock proto-metal stuff. Whenever we find a reissue of another lost gem from the era we try to share it with you. So, here, at last ... the legendary Bang, a trio from Florida (by way of Philly) circa '71-'73 who managed to crank out some Sabbath-like riffing to go with the very Ozzy-like vocals of lead singer and bassist Frank Ferrara!
Bang never got big -- although they did share stages with everyone from Alice Cooper to the Allman Brothers to Chuck Berry to Funkadelic to Black Sabbath themselves, apparently had a #1 hit in Hong Kong and at one point owned their own private plane! They released three albums in their career (for a US major label in fact) plus they recorded some singles and made an entire unreleased album as well. Their entire output has now been reissued on two cds, the first of which (this one) contains their self-titled debut, recorded in February of '72, as well as their follow-up sophomore album recorded that same year in November (groups back then didn't dilly dally with putting out one album every couple of years like today's bands).
As we said, Bang, especially on their first self-titled album, bore a remarkable resemblance to the Sabs, which was really unusual for their era, when heavy bands were more likely to copy Zeppelin or Purple or just be stuck in the '60s. Kinda lo-fi, but quite heavy, "Bang" delievers doomy hard rock, with a kinda Comus-y Pagan slant, that also brings to mind the most powerful early King Crimson. Like most heavy bands of the period, Bang weren't cognizant of the "metal" concept, and probably saw themselves as a pop rock group -- a dark and pyschedelic pop rock group to be sure -- and so sometimes the hard riffing lets up to allow for some happier or more gentle fare, which is not always a bad thing anyway (this a phenomenon we discussed in our review of the Dust albums not long ago).
Bang's 2nd album was oddly presented as two distinct side-long mini-albums, each with its own 'front' cover. Side one (the heavier) being "Mother" with side two dubbed "Bow To The King". Both sides together were not as Sabbathy as the debut perhaps, but still excellent '70s proto-metal indeed.
MPEG Stream: "Lions, Christians"
MPEG Stream: "Future Shock"
MPEG Stream: "Keep On"

BANG Bang Music / Death Of A Country / Three Lost Singles (BANGmusic.com) cd 14.98
Recorded in Hollywood, California in 1973, "Bang Music" was quite a bit more of your standard '70s rock/pop fare, not nearly as heavy as their earlier efforts. But it's nicely melodic and has a few rockin' tracks on it, like opener "Windfair".
Then we step back chronologically a couple of years for the conceptual "Death Of A Country", which was Bang's never-released first album, recorded in 1971 prior to their self-titled debut that came out the next year. With visions of societal corruption and ecological disaster, this album's doom-filled lyrics are certainly Sabbathian, although the music really doesn't get as apocalyptically heavy as what they came up with on "Bang". But still, a decent slab of downer psych-rock, more '60s hippie than '70s metal.
True heavy music connoisseurs really need this disc, though, for the two of the three "lost singles" included: the tracks "Slow Down" and "Feels Nice". They're the highlights here for sure. "Slow Down" woulda fit in well on their debut, while "Feels Nice" has more of Led Zep vibe.
Bang's slogan was always "Music Shot From Guns". Of the two cd reissues, it's the first ("Bang / Mother - Bow To The King") that's definitely using the higher caliber ordnance. But this one also gets off some good shots.
Note, unlike cd versions you might have seen before, these aren't bootlegs -- these reissues were done by the band themselves through their website. Initally they reissued 'em as cd-rs, but now they've done real cds, professionally printed. The cd booklets have the lyrics and credits, but we'd have liked some more art, photos, notes, etc. And as 2-on-1 releases, they've scrunched the cover art for two albums into each booklet's front panel, along with using some not-so-'70s Macintosh computer fonts. So, visually these could have been better, but oh well -- it's the music that matters. And much of Bang's music should definitely stoke those into early metal a la Black Sabbath and the aforementioned obscure greats.
RealAudio clip: "Windfair"
RealAudio clip: "Slow Down"
RealAudio clip: "Future Song"

BANG Bullets: The First Four Albums Plus.... (Rise Above Relics) 4cd box 44.00
All right! We're happy to report that Rise Above Relics is back in business, with an impressive new batch of proto-metal reissues including albums by Steel Mill and Necromandus... gotta get 'em all reviewed, but we're gonna start with a Bang. A box set of Bang, in fact. We've long stocked the self-released cd reissues of this early '70s American answer to Black Sabbath, but THIS is the definitive Bang reish for sure. Physically much nicer than those previous reissues, this handsome yellow box contains all 4 of Bang's full-lengths on 4 individual cds in mini-lp style gatefold sleeves, plus bonus material, and a thick (40 page) booklet stuffed with detailed liner notes and photos... and there's a Bang sticker too!
Essential for Bang fans, and that means all lovers of '70s heavy psych rock action. Here's a revamp of what we had to say about Bang before, when we reviewed each album:
Dust, Captain Beyond, Jerusalem, Toad, Pentagram, Highway Robbery, T2, Buffalo, Budgie, Blue Cheer, Lucifer's Friend...if these names mean anything to you, you're probably one of our customers who dig that heavy '70s acid rock proto-metal stuff. Whenever we find a reissue of another lost gem from the era we try to share it with you. So, here, at last... the legendary Bang, a trio from Florida (by way of Philly) circa '71-'73 who managed to crank out some Sabbath-like riffing to go with the very Ozzy-like vocals of lead singer and bassist Frank Ferrara!
Bang never got big - although they did share stages with everyone from Alice Cooper to the Allman Brothers to Chuck Berry to Funkadelic to Black Sabbath themselves, apparently had a #1 hit in Hong Kong and at one point owned their own private plane! They released three albums in their career (for a US major label in fact) plus they recorded some singles and made an entire unreleased album as well.
As we said, Bang, especially on their first self-titled album, recorded in February of '72, bore a remarkable resemblance to the Sabs, which was really unusual for their era, when heavy bands were more likely to copy Zeppelin or Purple or just be stuck in the '60s. Kinda lo-fi, but quite heavy, it delivers doomy hard rock, with a kinda Comus-y Pagan slant, that also brings to mind the most powerful early King Crimson. Like most heavy bands of the period, Bang weren't cognizant of the "metal" concept, and probably saw themselves as a pop rock group - a dark and psychedelic pop rock group to be sure - and so sometimes the hard riffing lets up to allow for some happier or more gentle fare, which is not always a bad thing anyway (this a phenomenon we discussed in our review of the Dust albums once upon a time).
Bang's second album, which followed later in '72 (groups back then didn't dilly dally with putting out one album every couple of years like today's bands) was oddly presented as two distinct side-long mini-albums, each with its own 'front' cover. Side one (the heavier) being "Mother" with side two dubbed "Bow To The King". Both sides together were not as Sabbathy as the debut perhaps, but still excellent '70s proto-metal indeed.
They then went to Hollywood in '73 to cut Bang Music, their third album. It's quite a bit more of your standard '70s rock/pop fare, not nearly as heavy as their earlier efforts. But it's nicely melodic and has a few rockin' tracks on it, like opener "Windfair".
Then we step back chronologically a couple of years for the conceptual Death Of A Country, which was Bang's never-released first album, recorded in 1971 prior to their self-titled debut. With visions of societal corruption and ecological disaster, this album's doom-filled lyrics are certainly Sabbathian, although the music really doesn't get as apocalyptically heavy as what they came up with on Bang. But still, a decent slab of downer psych-rock, more '60s hippie than '70s metal.
True heavy music connoisseurs really need this 4th disc, though, for the two of the three "lost singles" included: the tracks "Slow Down" and "Feels Nice". They're the highlights here for sure. "Slow Down" woulda fit in well on their debut, while "Feels Nice" has more of Led Zep vibe. As an additional bonus, Rise Above have included a half-hour radio interview.
Bang's slogan was always "Music Shot From Guns". Of their albums, it's the first two, Bang and Mother - Bow To The King, that definitely use the higher caliber ordnance. But the other two discs here also get off some good shots. And the whole package is a huge improvement over the band's previous official reissues that we stocked, not to mention the bootleg editions that have also circulated. More room for the art, better design, and the other goodies in the box.
One of the best unsung heavy rock acts ever, finally gets the box set they deserve. BANG!
MPEG Stream: "Lions, Christians"
MPEG Stream: "Future Shock"
MPEG Stream: "Keep On"

BANG ON A CAN Meets Kyaw Kyaw Naing (Cantaloupe) cd 17.98

BANGO s/t (Normal Records) cd 15.98
There's definitely a couple pretty heavy, rockin' tracks with wailing guitars on this 1970 Brazilian garage psych record that should make this of interest to those of you into the whole '70s proto-metal thing (i.e. you could file this Bango next to Bang and it would make more than alphabetical sense at least insofar as those songs are concerned). That said, this is no Modulo 1000 -- another Brazilian band of similar vintage who rocked wild and heavy for the duration. No, aside from the handful of hard rockers (like the Zeppish "Rock Dream") you'll find a lot of stuff here that's not so heavy, songs that are more in the vein of '60s beat/bar/frat rock, with influences (it sounds like) from the Beatles, Steppenwolf, and Latin music -- all groovy, and a little bit goofy too. Fun, sunny, and very much of its time. Certainly, if you liked their track on the Brazilian Love Peace & Poetry comp and want to hear some more, this Bango reissue is worth checking out. Plus it can't be denied that this has some (literally) bloody great album cover art, which certainly counts for something!
MPEG Stream: "Inferno No Mundo"
MPEG Stream: "Only"

BANGOURA, ABDULAI Sigiri (Avant) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
1990 field recordings of master percussionist, balafon & kalimba player Abdulai Bangoura of Guinea. A follow-up to Avant's earlier "Drums of Death" disc.

BANGS Call And Response (Kill Rock Stars) cd 11.98
Ahhh. The Bangs are back with this cd ep of high energy, guitar riffin, punk rockin', high pitched yipping, sweet and sweaty Sleater Kinney-ish RAWK! The Bangs definitely sound like Olympia girl rock, big time. And Sleater Kinney comparisons are unavoidable; they also remind us of the Go-Go's but with a '70s rock edge. Cool stuff.
RealAudio clip: "Call And Response"
RealAudio clip: "Kinda Good"

BANGS Sweet Revenge (Kill Rock Stars) cd 12.98
This band can't help but draw numerous comparisons to other Kill Rock Stars and K Records feisty girl-fronted bands such as Bikini Kill or Bratmobile. Indeed they do sound like a younger more bubblegum-loaded incarnation of said bands, and indeed one Bangs member (Maggie Vail) is the younger sister of Bikini Kill's Toby. But y'know what? I think I've got a better point of comparison. The fifth track "Undo Everything" brings to mind one of the slower numbers on The Go-Go's self-titled album. Actually quite a lot of this record is sweetly reminiscent of Belinda, Jane and co. and we like it!

BANGS, LESTER AND THE DELINQUENTS Jook Savages On The Brazos (Moll) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Arguably the best music writer of all time, Bangs breaks out with powerful, loose-cannon garage rock that's kinda the counterpart to his prose. Recorded in Austin, Texas, in 1980, shortly before he died. Very rare German import.

BANHART, DEVENDRA Cripple Crow (XL Recordings) cd 13.98
For his latest full length, Banhart has taken a marked departure from the mystical woodland art-folk kingdom he conjured and inhabited on his first three albums. This is evident even before you hear a single note -- he opted for a Sgt. Pepper style collaged crowd photograph on the front cover rather than another of his illustrations. He's tempered his vocal delivery to a more approachable range -- this might disappoint some of his fans for whom his unmistakable 'old' voice was the thing they loved most about his music, on the other hand though it certainly has the potential to appeal to a much broader audience -- but he's ventured out stylistically in a number of directions and incorporated various different instrument combinations into the surprisingly lush arrangements with wonderful results. Take for example the second song "Santa Maria Da Feira" and the sixth "Quedateluna" which both brought to mind glimmers of a long lost Gilberto Gil album, the almost soft rock production of the third song "Heard Somebody Say", not to mention the fourth song "Long Haired Child" which possesses a primal electric guitar psychedelic bluesiness that recalls Arthur Brown's demonic '60s stomp "Fire" (albeit much less unhinged). Midway through the album, some songs crop up that are more akin to the Banhart of old such as the quirkily playful ninth tune "Some People Ride The Wave". 22 songs! Wow! So great!
MPEG Stream: "Santa Maria Da Feira"
MPEG Stream: "Long Haired Child"
MPEG Stream: "Some People Ride The Wave"

BANHART, DEVENDRA Cripple Crow (XL) 2lp 16.98
Now on vinyl with reconfigured cover art and a gatefold sleeve with eight extra tracks including the most recent reggae/afro-beat single "White Reggae Troll". Only four of the extra tracks have never been released, the rest come from the "Heard Somebody Say" and "I Feel Just Like A Child" singles. Still, that's 30 songs! The new cover art and gatefold expounds on the original Sgt. Pepper-inspired photomontage by adding tons of photos from friends as well as fans who were encouraged to submit images through Banhart's website (including our very own Scott!). Here is what we said about it the first time around:
For his latest full length, Banhart has taken a marked departure from the mystical woodland art-folk kingdom he conjured and inhabited on his first three albums. This is evident even before you hear a single note -- he opted for a Sgt. Pepper style collaged crowd photograph on the front cover rather than another of his illustrations. He's tempered his vocal delivery to a more approachable range -- this might disappoint some of his fans for whom his unmistakable 'old' voice was the thing they loved most about his music, on the other hand though it certainly has the potential to appeal to a much broader audience -- but he's ventured out stylistically in a number of directions and incorporated various different instrument combinations into the surprisingly lush arrangements with wonderful results. Take for example the second song "Santa Maria Da Feira" and the sixth "Quedateluna" which both brought to mind glimmers of a long lost Gilberto Gil album, the almost soft rock production of the third song "Heard Somebody Say" (along with title song "Cripple Crow", some of the best contemporary anti-war songs!), the Andrew Loog Oldham-sounding sitar groove of "Lazy Butterfly", not to mention the fourth song "Long Haired Child" which possesses a primal electric guitar psychedelic bluesiness that recalls Arthur Brown's demonic '60s stomp "Fire" (albeit much less unhinged). Midway through the album, some songs crop up that are more akin to the Banhart of old such as the quirkily playful ninth tune "Some People Ride The Wave". We could on and on about this! Wow! So great!
MPEG Stream: "Santa Maria Da Feira"
MPEG Stream: "Long Haired Child"
MPEG Stream: "Some People Ride The Wave"

BANHART, DEVENDRA Heard Somebody Say (XL) cd ep 3.98
Another lil' shortie from Mr. Banhart! Please note the vinyl and cd versions' track listings are not the same! The cd features the title song (taken from Devendra's most recent full length Cripple Crow) as well as two exclusive tracks not on the 7" ("Lickety Split" and "Chicken"). The 7" record features the title song plus one exclusive track not on the cdep ("La Pastorcita Perdida").
MPEG Stream: "Heard Somebody Say"
MPEG Stream: "Lickety Split"

BANHART, DEVENDRA Heard Somebody Say (XL) 7" 3.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another lil' shortie from Mr. Banhart! Please note the vinyl and cd versions' track listings are not the same! The cd features the title song (taken from Devendra's most recent full length Cripple Crow) as well as two exclusive tracks not on the 7" ("Lickety Split" and "Chicken"). The 7" record features the title song plus one exclusive track not on the cdep ("La Pastorcita Perdida").
MPEG Stream: "Heard Somebody Say"

BANHART, DEVENDRA I Feel Just Like A Child (XL) cd ep 3.98
Devendra tops off your tall glass of Cripple Crow with this 3-song ep. Wouldn't think of him as a singles kind of artist, but that's what this appears to be. Much like Sub Pop, XL Recordings have taken to releasing low-priced cd-singles shortly after the release of an artist's album. The title track also appears as the eighth song on the recently released full length. If you yourself are new to Mr. Banhart (or you want to turn a friend onto his music) this might do the trick, but keep in mind that this neo-folk troubadour's most recent more fully fleshed out and often downright rollicking music isn't really indicative of his musical output as a whole. Even with such a relatively short recording career (only 3-4 years?), his earlier (more barebones and obtuse) releases way back in 2002 are quite radically different from where he's at these days.
MPEG Stream: "I Feel Just Like A Child"
MPEG Stream: "Stewed Bark Of An Old Tree"

BANHART, DEVENDRA I Feel Just Like A Child (XL) 7" 3.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Devendra tops off your tall glass of Cripple Crow with this 3-song ep. Wouldn't think of him as a singles kind of artist, but that's what this appears to be. Much like Sub Pop, XL Recordings have taken to releasing low-priced cd and in this case 7" vinyl singles shortly after the release of an artist's album. The title track also appears as the eighth song on the recently released full length. If you yourself are new to Mr. Banhart (or you want to turn a friend onto his music) this might do the trick, but keep in mind that this neo-folk troubadour's most recent more fully fleshed out and often downright rollicking music isn't really indicative of his musical output as a whole. Even with such a relatively short recording career (only 3-4 years?), his earlier (more barebones and obtuse) releases way back in 2002 are quite radically different from where he's at these days.
MPEG Stream: "I Feel Just Like A Child"
MPEG Stream: "Stewed Bark Of An Old Tree"

BANHART, DEVENDRA Nino Rojo (Young God) cd 14.98
From the promise of a Banhartian Spring we find a Banhartian Autumn with a companion piece to Rejoicing In The Hands, Nino Rojo. This album, equally as stunning, features 16 songs assembled from 57 tracks recorded with Banhart mentor Michael Gira in Atlanta (see our review of Rejoicing for more info on the recording and production). Truly some of his most captivating and achingly beautiful songs to date with more elaborate finger-picked guitarwork and fleshed out backing vocals on songs such as the glistening "Owl Eyes" and the album closer "Electric Heart". One of our most favorite tracks, "At The Hop", is co-written by frequent Banhart collaborator Andy Cabic (Vetiver, Tussle). The enhancement of this enhanced-cd features a video for this song. Like its companion, Nino Rojo offers a Devendra Banhart with more polish, more freedom of movement and a little looser from the grip of self-awareness -- making for a more cohesive but no less eccentric and magical album.
MPEG Stream: "Wake Up, Little Sparrow"
MPEG Stream: "At The Hop"

BANHART, DEVENDRA Oh Me Oh My... (Young God) cd 14.98
Devendra Banhart -- who appears to be living his life as an indie-rock gypsy touring with whomever and squatting wherever, including a stint wowing locals here in SF -- crafts his neo-folk songs with the primitive instrumentation of voice and acoustic guitar, spanning a vast spectrum of fragmented emotions through a manic-depressive persona that can be as beautifully charming as it can be terrifyingly devastating. Michael Gira, who released this album through his Young God label, accurately described Banhart's voice with its skewed vibrato and unnerving warble as somewhere in between the magical voices of Marc Bolan, Karen Dalton, Syd Barrett, Tiny Tim, Daniel Johnston, and Nick Drake; and fortunately, Banhart uses that voice to tell a wholly unique set of stories that hold a succinct poetry. Hastily stitched from bizarre stream of consciousness associations and absurdist conditional clauses, Banhart's lyrics expand the realm of possibility into psychosexual surrealism. On occasion, Banhart's tales are anthropomorphic love songs, wistfully dreaming of archaic steam ships and the state of Michigan (yes, he pines for Michigan) with all of sexual cravings and romantic nuances of a young boy first pierced by Cupid's arrow; yet on other occasion, Banhart gnashes his teeth with such existential confusion that the targets of his epithets are blurred by his bilious rage. Within Banhart's language, reality has been realized as a swollen mass of malformed emotions compounded by the urgency that resonates within his voice.
Upon listening to this album, I've had the recurring, sinking feeling either that Banhart is destined to star in an upcoming Harmony Korine film or that he will be dead in a few years as victim of an unspecified gruesome tragedy. As I've tried and failed to assign such distinctly odd critical-doomspeak within various arguments and generalized thesis about the perception of the separation between art and life, I mention it because Banhart -- unlike any artist whom I've come across -- has been able to provoke such controversial thoughts. Far from me to wish Banhart or anybody ill-will, but true manifestations of horror defy logic and are very rare indeed. And this, gentle reader, is the real deal.
If you recall, Andee began his review of Woven Hand's album with the bold statement: "I hate to gush, but gush I must, this is my record of the year. Done deal." As for me (Jim, along with Marcy and Windy), the debut from Devendra Banhart needs to be given serious consideration as a contender for record of the year 2002.
MPEG Stream: "Animals"
MPEG Stream: "Tell Me Something"
MPEG Stream: "Cosmos And Demos"