CHANTELLS & FRIENDS Children of Jah: 1977-79 (Blood & Fire) cd 16.98

CHANTIGS Four Hats (Rodent) cd 11.98

CHANTS R&B Live 66: The Stage Door Tapes (Action) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We became huge fans of this heavy garage group from Christchurch, New Zealand after we got the reissue of their only proper album a little while back. Think a heavy, fuzzy, more primitive Monks, with more groove and less edge. This is a live recording from 1966, recorded on a shitty old tape recorder! The sound is rough and raw and a little spotty, but the energy is right on.
RealAudio clip: "Train Time"
RealAudio clip: "When I Found Out"

CHANTS R&B Stage Door Witchdoctors (Dionysus) cd 12.98
Re-issue of the output of this heavy garage group from Christchurch, New Zealand. The tracks on this cd were taken from recordings made between 1964 and 1966. Quite a nice, primitive sound -- like the Monks with more groove and less edge, and a bit more heavy fuzz.

CHAO, MANU Clandestino (Virgin) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The debut album from the former lead vocalist of the awesome, electrifying French group Mano Negra! A wonderfully refreshing and uplifting cornucopia of styles.

CHAO, MANU Esperanza (Virgin) cd 16.98
Manu Chao, former leader of the French band Mano Negra, was born in France of Spanish parents, and in recent years has spent much of his musical career in South and Central America. And as you would expect, his music is a similar stew of sounds, all of which have been simmered together so long that he's emerged with a sound all his own. This, his second solo album, is super sunny-afternoon music which will pick you up instantly and fling you around the room dancing wildly. The music's foundation is in rock, overlayed with the surrealistic silliness of another AQ fave band Os Mutantes. Yep, it's that good. You hear a psychedelic pastiche of horns and rocksteady swing, samples of people chattering, bells and buzzes, Latin rhythms and vocals in Spanish, girl backup singers, addictively catchy singsong melodies. And *no* obligatory "see how modern and stylish I am" electronic beats to mess with the integrity of the music. This is one of the sunniest, funniest, happiest, most musically adroit, most musically schizo albums released so far in 2001. It was really difficult to choose which tracks to make into soundclips, as they are all good. Highly recommended!
RealAudio clip: "Merry Blues"
RealAudio clip: "Me Gustas Tu"
RealAudio clip: "Denia"
RealAudio clip: "Mr Bobby"
RealAudio clip: "Papito"

CHAO, MANU La Radiolina (Nacional) cd 16.98
Good things come to those who wait... and wait... and wait! Manu Chao fans, your patience has been rewarded with the release of Chao's first studio album in six years! Not surprisingly, La Radiolina is wonderful, a hyper kinetic album brimming with his trademark fiery spirited fusion of styles. So irresistible, even the biggest stick in the mud will find his or her body moving involuntarily to Chao's music. La Radiolina is a busy, crowded affair whose heart pounds to a variety of impassioned Latin American rhythms. Caught in this fevered embrace are layer upon layer of electric guitars, horns, flamenco guitars, keyboards and exuberant vocals sung mostly in Spanish with a little Portuguese, French, Italian and English too. 21 tracks ranging in length from a 68 second shot of adrenaline to just over four minutes.
MPEG Stream: "Tristeza Maleza"
MPEG Stream: "Otro Mundo"

CHAO, MANU Radio Bemba Sound System (Virgin) cd 16.98
Manu Chao (formerly of French band Mano Negra) releases a lengthy live album which is even more upbeat than his albums proper, if you can believe that. And if his albums are the perfect party soundtrack, then this live record *is* a party in an of itself. I can see the lighters waving julbilantly in the stadium right now. The music's foundation is in rock, overlayed with the surrealistic silliness of another AQ fave band Os Mutantes. Yep, it's that good. You hear a psychedelic pastiche of horns and rocksteady swing, samples of people chattering, bells and buzzes, Latin rhythms, dub, hip hop, vocals in Spanish, girl backup singers, addictively catchy singsong melodies. *Super* celebratory. If you don't already have his previous albums Clandestino and Esperanza, get those first.
RealAudio clip: "Blood and Fire"
RealAudio clip: "Minha Galera"
RealAudio clip: "Radio Bemba"

CHAOS A.D. Buzz Caner (Rephlex) 3lp 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Tom Jenkinson/The Squarepusher's new project Chaos A.D. goes back to the roots of techno, bringing along some digital hardcore as a tour guide.

CHAOS MOON Languor Into Echoes, Beyond (Ars Magna Recordings) cd 11.98
From the grim frosty twilight of Tennessee, comes this amazing disc from Chaos Moon, a mysterious duo whose black metal, on first listen at least, is a thick smear of classic Norwegian buzz, but on closer listening reveals all sorts of stuff going on, a whole 'nother dark soundworld, where traditional black metal is spread out into expansive soundscapes and infused with all manner of distinctly non-black elements, resulting in a sound that is super unique while remaining troo and grim.
After reviewing so many black metal records, and sure this is probably true of any genre, but especially with black metal which has such a predescribed core sound, it gets tougher and tougher to describe the sound no matter how original it is. We often find ourselves wishing for a black metal thesaurus. A customer once emailed us to let us know that in one review we used the word 'buzz' 20 or 30 times. But what can you do, when a music's main element is the buzz, and it's how a band creates and shapes that buzz that makes it special.
So Chaos Moon, who are also obviously masters of the buzz, and this, their second disc is rife with buzz, furious washed out dense slabs of grinding guitarfuzz, shaped into alien insectoid riffs, and spread over thrashing blast beats, and some of the most awesomely anguished vocals we've heard in ages. So yeah, that would be enough for us to dig this disc, proclaim it worth owning, and give it repeated listens. But thankfully it's a lot more than that.
The core sound of black metal, that buzzing blast, is just such a perfect sound, we sometime wish a band would surface that just played one riff, with the drums locked into a looped blast beat, and remained that way, static for the length of a disc, of two discs, ten discs!! So when we talk about black metal and buzz, we're biased cuz we just love that sound, but some records truly do take that buzz and reimagine it, reinvent it. And those are the records that stand out. And while parts of this record are pure old school black metal buzz, the rest of the record, blossoms into something totally new and amazing, using that buzz as it's anchor.
The opening track is furious and fast, like older Satyricon, super dense and complex, spread out to fill up a whole disc we'd be sold big time, but even here, the songs is laced through with dense gnarled tangles of melody, and weird almost post rock sounding breakdowns, long tripped out dronescapes, seasick melodies, and some subtle but serious hooks.
But it's about halfway through where Chaos Moon transform into something entirely new, thick glistening smears of synth spread out into gauzy dreamscapes, drifting and shimmering, a constant fuzzy backdrop to the buzz and blackness above, often threatening to subsume the metal component entirely, and the two distinct melodies, engaged in some complex harmony, the rapidfire jagged guitar lines and the smooth flowing synths, somehow blending into some impossible dreamy buzzy swirl, separated by long stretches of hushed muted murmur, and barely there soft focus drones, even some cool, Godspeed like post rock interludes, the guitars a clean jangle, strings soaring, the drums loping amidst this epic sonic swoon. Even the pure black tracks are swathed in thick layers of high end synthesizer whir, and washed out whirls of minor key melody, turning what might have been just some moody melancholy black metal into glorious, super dramatic, emotional black metal epics, like Godspeed and Sigur Ros backing up Leviathan, or Immortal scoring a Coen Brothers film, or an alternate black metal score to some super intense harrowing tragedy, just gorgeous chunks of complex, cinematic black metal post rock majesty.
MPEG Stream: "De Mortalitate"
MPEG Stream: "Abstract Tongues"
MPEG Stream: "Countless Reverie In Mare"

CHAPPAQUIDDICK SKYLINE s/t (Sub Pop) cd 13.98
The new project from Joe Pernice is just as pretty as you'd expect from the former frontman of both Scud Mountain Boys and the Pernice Brothers. With ample doses of Leonard Cohen, Joe Jackson, and Elvis Costello, this is more 'orchestrated' than any of Pernice's previous work, with warm strings adding fullness to the sound. Also features a delicate New Order cover: "Leave Me Alone".

CHAPPELLE, DAVE Chapelle's Show - Season 2 (Comedy Central) dvd 35.00
What can you say about Dave Chapelle? Other than he is one funny motherfucker. Funny AND offensive, taking on sex and race and everything else that gets people all riled up! But in a way few can actually pull off. Season one of the Chapelle Show was maybe one of the funniest things we'd seen since Mr. Show, and those of us without cable have been dying for season two. We've only watched the first episode so far, but if the rest of season two is even half as funny we'll be spitting milk through our noses for weeks. Highlights of the first episode include the racial draft (we won't give away all the results but the Jews pick Lenny Kravitz!), Samuel M. Jackson beer, and how things look cooler in slow motion. The rest of the season includes the now infamous Rick James bits and LOTS more. Looked like season three was a wash with Chapelle going nuts and heading off to South Africa for some mental health care and relaxation, but it has recently come to light that maybe that was all a big 'ol joke on us and we can actually look forward to more Chapelle!
Wu Tang Financial! Diversify bitch!

CHAPPELLE. DAVE Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes [Uncensored] (Paramount) dvd 25.00
What can we say? We don't know a single person who wasn't devastated when Chappelle ditched his show and took off. And we also don't know a single person who has not been chomping at the bit for these lost episodes, the bits and pieces Chappelle filmed before freaking out. Meant to be parts of a third season, Chappelle's partner decided that it would be a damn shame if no one got to see these skits and he's right. So here you go. A handful of episodes, quite probably the last we'll ever see of Chappelle's Show. The only really good thing to come out of this, is that the new episodes are hosted by Charlie Murphy, who, if you've seen the first two seasons, pretty much gives Chappelle a run for his money EVERY time he's on screen. SO RECOMMENDED.

CHAPTERHOUSE Blood Music (Cherry Red) cd 17.98
It wasn't long ago that Cherry Red Records rescued Reading's shoegazing Chapterhouse from near obscurity by reissuing their first album. Now, they've gone and done it again with the band's markedly different sophomore effort Blood Music. Where as Whirlpool was a hybrid decidedly indebted to Spacemen 3 and bands like the Seeds, this album sees them learning and progressing, updating their sound, and moving into their own distinct sound. If the Cardigans had a male singer and made a record in the wake of the Stone Roses, this might be it. Basically, the first record was proto-shoegaze, and this, the second record, adopted some more distinctly pop leanings. If you missed out on them in the past, or you lost your original copy, you need this beautiful slab of '90s British catchiness in your life! Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Mesmerise"
MPEG Stream: "Forst"

CHAPTERHOUSE Whirlpool (Cherry Red) cd 16.98
Long overdue reissue of this shoegaze classic. Out of all the bands dubbed shoegazers in the UK in the late eighties, Stone Roses, Primal Scream, Ride, Slowdive, Swervedriver and especially My Bloody Valentine, for some reason, Chapterhouse never really received their due. Sure they sold some records, had a few hit singles, but no one spoke about Chapterhouse with the same hushed reverence as they did when name dropping Slowdive or My Bloody Valentine. Every single band since the nineties, with even the slightest hint of noisiness or spaciness never hesitates to reference MBV as a huge influence, but now that we're finally getting a chance to listen to Whirlpool again, it definitely reminds us how fucking great Chapterhouse were, and what a unique take they had on the whole spaced out bliss out shoegaze thing. Swervedriver may have been the heaviest, My Bloody Valentine the wildest, but Chapterhouse managed to be the most interesting, dipping their toes into both Stone Roses-y dance tracks, and blown out druggy psychedelia a la Swervedriver or MBV. In each instance the band made the sound their own.
The heavier tracks here, "Breather", "Treasure", "Guilt" are packed with dense squalls of heavily affected guitars, big swirls of droney ambience, all of the elements that defined the shoegazers, but Chapterhouse were much more subtle, the result sounding much more druggy and droney like Spacemen 3 (their sonic inspirations) than freaked out and wild like MBV. And when they chose to, like on "Pearl" or "Falling Down" they could whip up an ultra danceable groove, albeit still swathed in a good amount of guitar fuzz and blissy psychedelia. Either way, Chapterhouse at their core, were a pop band, and at the heart of each song was a pop song, a catchy hook, that would either get buried in a thick wash of blissy fuzz, or draped over some sort of funky groove. Either way, we love it!
This reissue includes the Whirlpool album, the Freefall ep, the Sunburst ep and the Pearl ep. Huge booklet with liner notes, band interviews, photos, original album and ep artwork and all of the lyrics printed for the first time!
MPEG Stream: "Breather"
MPEG Stream: "Pearl"
MPEG Stream: "Autosleeper"

CHARALAMBIDES A Vintage Burden (Kranky) cd 14.98

CHARALAMBIDES Ana / Kata - Lactamase Vol. 9 (Beta-Lactam Ring) 10" 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's a very limited (to 500 copies) 10" from Texas trio Charalambides, whose delicate, ghostly guitar and voice meanderings get more and more so with each release. On Ana/Kata we hear long spaces of woozy guitars weaving in and over and between themselves, then ethereal female voices quietly add themselves to the proceedings... and the queasiness factor triples. Quietly squealing guitar adds to the haunted house effect. A fractured blissout record for the very experimental-lovin' readers of our list, the type who usually confine themselves to static, glitch, and noise.
RealAudio clip: "Kata"
RealAudio clip: "Ana"

CHARALAMBIDES Being As Is (Crucial Blast) cd-r 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Our friend Adam who runs the super cool Crucial Blast label, has, for over 6 years now, been quietly (and not so quietly) putting out some of the coolest shit around. From crusty Finnish metal to droning electronica to sparse folk to brutal power electronics. This new series of cd-r's, limited to 100 copies and nicely packaged in oversized DVD cases will only be available via Aquarius records (unless you get them directly from Crucial Blast). So don't blow it...
AQ faves Charalambides contribute what has to be their quietest and most minimal collection of tunes yet. The sound takes their minimalist psych-folk a step further, exploring spaces as much as the notes that seperate them, with Christina Carter's fragile croon even more ghostlike and ethereal. She seems to be making sounds, more than singing, gentle and haunting, rich but delicate. Tom Carter's guitar is equally spare, with the notes spread out, and pucked tentatively, sounding like a Fahey record played at 5 r.p.m. Distant melodies drift lazily as stray notes wander off and get lost in the foggy ambience. Quiet, and quite gorgeous.
RealAudio clip: "One"
RealAudio clip: "Three"

CHARALAMBIDES Electricity Ghost (Wholly Other) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Oooooh. Witchy.
MPEG Stream: "Holy Electric"
MPEG Stream: "Electricity Ghost II"

CHARALAMBIDES Historic 6th Ward (Time-Lag) 2lp 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Gorgeous double lp reissue of Charalambides' amazing 'Historic 6th Ward' record, until now only available on cd. And this reissue isn't just for vinyl lovers, as the cd is long out of print -and- this lp version adds 7 extra tracks not found on the cd. Charalambides play hazy, dreamy, spaced out acid-drone folk, with ethereal female vocals, using minimal instrumentation and lots of rumbling droning ambience. Fans of Joshua, Six Organs Of Admittance, Thuja, Greg Weeks and similar psych-space-folk should not miss out. Thick vinyl, in breathtaking handmade sleeves. Super limited!!

CHARALAMBIDES Likeness (Kranky) cd 14.98

CHARALAMBIDES Market Square (Siltbreeze) 2lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Lovely Texas acid-folk-space trio (how's that for buzzwords?) who release records, tapes, and cds in small quantities that only serve to add to their allure, predictably enough. But they deserve it. Ethereal female vocals over pleasantly disturbing drone.

CHARALAMBIDES Our Bed Is Green (Kranky) 2cd 16.98
A remarkable precursor to the current fascination with all things acid-folk, Our Bed Is Green came out as a self-released 90 minute cassette back in 1992. Then a couple of years later after Charalambides earned considerable praise and adoration for the Market Street 2LP (which still ranks as their best work), the Charalambides duo of Tom and Christina Carter reissued Our Bed Is Green in a condensed version as a single cd on their Wholly Other label. Now as Kranky has undertaken a campaign to reissue the bulk of their early work, Our Bed Is Green sees the light of day once again, with all but the two covers songs featured from that cassette release. Within this sprawling set of minimally composed sketches and song fragments, the Charalambides conjure a drug-addled haze that settles gently upon their fuzz guitar psychedelic stupor, replications of early Americana folk, and post-Fahey improvisations. In their doped-up introversion, the Charalambides have always had a knack for rapturously free-falling moments rendered in slow-motion, and it's clear from Our Bed Is Green that they strongly developed this aesthetic from early on. Certainly fans of Six Organs of Admittance, Animal Collective, and the Skygreen Leopards would do well to check this out.
MPEG Stream: "Take The Pointing Finger To The Moon"
MPEG Stream: "Stuttgart"

CHARALAMBIDES Unknown Spin (Kranky) cd 14.98
Latest release from the duo of Christina and Tom Carter known to the underground psych-folk world as Charalambides. This is actually a reissue of a long out of print cd-r orignally limited to 300 copies and released on the band's own Wholly Other label. Like all of their records this is a dark and folky, primitive and ethereal, spare and gauzy chunk of psychedelic folk bliss out. So so beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "Voice Within"

CHARIZMA & PEANUT BUTTER WOLF Big Shots (Stones Throw) cd 14.98

CHARLEBOIS, ROBERT Avec Louise Forestier (Unidisc Music) cd 14.98
These Unidisc Music reissues aren't necessarily new, but they are new to us here at AQ, and we've found them to be quite intriguing and enjoyable listens. On this 1968 album it's clear that Robert Charlebois' collaborative work with Louise Forestier were just as high on dramatics (and at times as loopy) as her solo albums... if not more so. The chemistry between Quebecois artists Charlebois and Forestier is not unlike two old friends getting together to bend a musical elbow over a glass of wine (or two or three). Heck, on songs such as "C.P.R. Blues" and "Egg Generation" they get downright unhinged -- lively frolics that verge on the mad or chaotic. You also get a duet version of the song "California" which appears as a solo-sung number on Forestier's Avec Enzymes album. Great!
MPEG Stream: "C.P.R. Blues"
MPEG Stream: "Egg Generation"

CHARLES ATLAS Fabricate: Remixes Of The Album Worsted Weight (Audraglint) cd 13.98
Could Charles Atlas' wistful atmospheric music possibly be made any more airy and blissful? You betcha! Especially when put in the able hands of (the mostly likeminded) Magnetophone, Pram, Sybarite, Isan, The Telescopes, Marconi Union, Nudge, Strategy, Park Avenue Drift, Stendec, Casino Vs. Japan, Signaldrift, and Telefunken. Sooo mellow and soothing, these glistening tracks just wash right over you. Go on, unwind!
MPEG Stream: "Sun With Teeth"
MPEG Stream: "Antiphon"

CHARLES ATLAS Felt Cover (Static Caravan) cd 16.98
Local guy Charles Wyatt along with Matt Greenberg returns with a second Charles Atlas full length, this time released on the dependable Static Caravan label. Looped haunting guitar, lulling stereo-separated pulses, softly-uttered melodies, plus some minor-key atmospherics that're very "post-rock" in their wistfulness. A very quiet album where not a lot happens but that's how it was meant to be, I think -- just right for falling asleep to.
RealAudio clip: "Valdivia"

CHARLES ATLAS Social Studies: An Introduction To Charles Atlas (Howells Transmitter) cd-r 6.98
Only available here at aQ! Even if you're already well-acquainted with Charles Atlas (the band, not the bodybuilder!), you won't want to miss this 'introduction'. It's an absolutely lovely summer-melting-into-fall sort of album. Breezy but not lightweight, drifting melodic tendrils of horn, piano and organ are accented by chiming vibes. Despite the gentle chill of melancholia, the whole proceeding is warmed by lots of reverb and warbled by lots of tremolo. Sure to appeal to fans of Sea & Cake and High Llamas!
MPEG Stream: "Antiphon"
MPEG Stream: "The Snow Before Us"

CHARLES ATLAS Worsted Night (Ochre) cd 16.98
A fine new album from local darlings Charles Atlas, on UK's Ochre label who've released music by similarly dreamy outfits Windy & Carl, Fuxa, Magnetophone, Kawabata Makoto, A.M.P., etc. This is organic instrumental blissout music -- warm and human -- consisting mainly of heartbreakingly pretty arpeggiated piano and guitar chords whose gentle notes articulate themselves separately yet are moodily sustained for many seconds, a sonic tactic we've also heard wielded by Boards of Canada, but Charles Atlas is more sad and emotional. Reminds me of Sonna, Pan American, David Kilgour, and Tarentel, although Charles Atlas sets itself apart using gorgeous flourishes on warbly musical saw, quiet tinklings, female oohs and ahhs, cool trumpet, hollow ticktock clicks (a la Young Marble Giants). The chords are minor key and tension-filled yet still pastoral and hushed -- a very pleasant combination that prevents the album from becoming boring or sickly sweet. Very restrained, mature and introspective. Had enough of Boards of Canada? Give Charles Atlas' fresh take a try. Beautiful.
RealAudio clip: "Sun with Teeth"
RealAudio clip: "Antiphon"

CHARLES BRONSON Complete Discocrappy (625) 2cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two cds of off kilter, screaming fastcore. This collection is everything ever recorded by these crazy kids from Dekalb Illinois. Cd one contains 96 songs, in chronological order, from their stumbling retarded hardcore roots, to their emergence as the reigning kings of absolutely pummeling powerviolence. Disc two is all unreleased stuff, including a really long movie, that contains 30 second blasts of CB live intercut with scenes from actual Charles Bronson movies. With truly comprehensive and completely illegible packaging. Absolutely amazing. Essential for fans of Crossed Out, Man Is The Bastard, Drop Dead, etc.

CHARLES, CHRISTOPHE Undirected Dok (Ritornell) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Christophe Charles previously collaborated with Markus Popp on the Oval album "Dok," probably the most abstract piece of glitchery in the Oval catalogue. Judging from the liner notes of his new "Undirected Dok" album, Charles was probably responsible for the indeterminant nature of that Oval disc. Charles proposes his idea of 'undirected music' as a means of attaining tonal harmony through the absence of structure, a concept that references both the music of John Cage and the the fog sculptures of Nakaya Fujiko, among other things. For the most part Charles' electronic collages on "Undirected Dok" succeed in their lofty goals.
As can be expected from all releases on the Ritornelle label (experimental subsidiary of Mille Plateaux / Force Inc), Charles embraces the closed-circuit feedback logic of fellow lowercase technicians like Taylor Deupree and Coh; however, Charles escapes over-exposure to computer screen irradiation by venturing out to capture some fabulous field recordings of subterranean waterworks, bustling train stations, and children at playgrounds, which he then adds to the alienated sounds of digitial glitch processing.

CHARLES, MATTY Lonesome Lull (Ruby) 7" 3.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Local boy Matty Charles' first 7" won't, or shouldn't, be his last. Beautiful, heart rending songs sung with a voice at times silky and others gravelly. Some of the best country to come out in a while.

CHARLIE & ESDOR s/t (Mellotronen) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally got enough of these to list. It's something you're gonna DEFINITELY want to have if you're into the whole '60s/'70s Swedish psychedelic scene, Sweden's "krautrock" bands if you will. Y'know, if you like Parson Sound, Trad Gras Och Stenar, International Harvester, Arbete Och Fritid, Algarnas Tradgard, Kebnekajse, and all the other often interrelated outfits that we've been lucky enough to find reissued on cd in recent years. You can add this to that list, a brilliant collection of loping, rollicking, freaky hippie jams from the drums/sitar and guitar duo of Edmund "Charlie" Franzen and Esdor Jensen, and friends. They got their start together in 1969, and performed at the first of the free festivals in the summer of 1970 that are now an part of Swedish counterculture hippie history. They definitely must have fit right in that time and place, judging by this cd's awesome mixture of Eastern-inspired raga rock, Swedish folk troubadour music, Dylanesque ballads, and HEAVY guitar power trio acid rock.
These tracks, recorded in 1970 and '71, have languished in obscurity, mostly unreleased for the past 30-some-odd years, several of them originally meant for an abandoned album release back in the day. A few, like "Wolfs Mouth Song" (here given its original title of "Fuck The Cops"!) were released on vinyl as singles and so forth. But you were probably never gonna run across one of those rarities... so it's great to have this all on cd! And Mellotronen has presented this in a nice digipack. Isn't that a great cover shot, of Charlie's back as he beats his drum kit at one of those hippie festivals?? It would good for a Levi's ad (you can see the tag on his jeans) if they were that hip. The 32 page booklet provides plenty of photos, a history of the band, and detailed track-by-track commentary on these recordings. There's also a discography complete with full-color reproductions of album covers and single sleeves. Very very nicely done.
MPEG Stream: "Da Klagar Mina Grannar"
MPEG Stream: "Fuck The Cops"

CHARM (OST) (5 Rue Christine) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Soundtrack to the long awaited feature film by Sadie Shaw (infamous SF/Olympia underground filmmaker extraordinaire, responsible for numerous music videos and photography, mostly for the Kill Rock Stars label, guitarist in SF outfit The Lies) and Sarah Reed (also of The Lies). Features (mostly) exclusive tracks by Aisler's Set, Deerhoof, Thrones, The Need, The Lies, Concentrick, Replikants, Sarah Lund (Unwound) and Aaron Beam plus wonderful scoring by Tim Green and many more! What's most interesting about this soundtrack is most of the better-known bands' contributions are quite unindicative of their "normal" output (specifically Thrones, Replikants, Deerhoof and the exclusive Aislers Set track), but they fit the overall tone of the film and are quite beautiful on their own. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that these artists had the film in mind when composing their contributions to Charm. Quite nice!

CHARM Original Soundtrack + The Movie (5RC) cd + dvd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Charm is a gore-tastic low-budget psychologically-powered horror film made in the year 2000 by San Francisco underground moviemakers, former AQ-er Sadie Shaw and Sarah Reed (both of The Husbands). Five years later, it's finally available on dvd and cd!
The soundtrack covers a wide range of song styles. All are appropriately haunting, though they travel from classic soundtrack stuff to pulsing techno beats to spaced-out melancholia.
Some highlights are Tim Green's very classic sounding title theme; Aislers Set's Joy Division-ish rhythm on "Attraction Action Reaction"; Deerhoof's rowdy noise-fest on "Appetite"; Replikants' spacey melancholia of "Memory" sounding a lot like that Ulrich Schnauss we listed a little while back; a weird one from The Need with lots of dog barking and Carol Channingesque vocal magic; Sara Lund and Aaron Beam's appropriately titled "A Lucid Moment" which is a melodically peaceful moment before the Thrones' "The Walk" creeps up at you; Concentrick's technocratic "Dansk Floor"; The Lies' angry rock song, "Wrong Kind Of Flirt"; and again with Tim Green and his classic-film-score "Epilogue".
This movie is for fans of lo-budge emotionally-charged gore flims, its soundtrack for fans of, well, awesome soundtracks!
MPEG Stream: TIM GREEN "Main Title Theme"
MPEG Stream: AISLERS SET "Attraction Action Reaction"
MPEG Stream: THRONES "The Walk"

CHARMING HOSTESS Eat (Vaccination) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Amazing triple female harmonies laid over rapid fire fake ethnic music. For fans of Uz Jsme Doma, Sun City Girls...and Idiot Flesh, which this band basically is entirely members of (but better).

CHARMING HOSTESS Punch (ReR) cd 14.98

CHARMING HOSTESS Sarajevo Blues (Tzadik) cd 16.98
For those familiar with the SF group Charming Hostess, this follow-up to 2001's Trilectic album is an eagerly anticipated, more than welcome sight (or should we say sound?). For those unfamiliar, this is a wonderful way to acquaint yourself with Charming Hostess' vibrant trio of fiery female vocalists Jewlia Eisenberg, Marika Hughes and Cynthia Taylor. Richly infused with Balkan, Jewish and Sufi elements, their music is at once captivatingly complex, electrifyingly bold and nothing short of acrobatic. You might also know these ladies for their membership in the equally avant SF bands Idiot Flesh and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum -- some of whose members also contributed to this album.
MPEG Stream: "What Will You Remember?"
MPEG Stream: "Death Is A Job"

CHARNEL VALLEY The Dark Archives (Paragon) cd 14.98

CHARRED BELLS Broken Bells Breaks Vol. 2 (Shiranui) cd 19.98
Release from the Japanese label Shiranui, which has developed a rather unique variant of drum & bass, which employs spastic asynchronous breakbeats accompanied with austere modernist jazz overtones of bowed metal, stand-up bass, and muted horns. Not at all dissimilar to the early Spymania releases by Squarepusher, though more dissonant and less groove-based.

CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED s/t (Metal Blade) cd 14.98
Whenever we hear some pounding death metal, or blasting thrash metal, sometimes even some grim black metal, the one thing that occasionally wears on us is the non-singing vocals, whether they be gurgling cookie monster vocals, or hysterical hellish shrieks, or demonic grunts, we sometimes can't help but wonder how much cooler the band would sound with an ACTUAL singer.
So the other night we heard this blasting thrashing heaviness, which sounded pretty damn good, somewhere right between classic Maiden styled power metal, and something much more thrashy and aggressive and extreme, and then the vocals came in and we were knocked out, totally soaring classic clean metal vocals, actual singing, like Maiden or Judas Priest, which is a particularly apt comparison as the vocalist in question turned out to be none other than Tim 'Ripper' Owens, who did once front Priest, but is now fronting the awesomely titled Charred Walls Of The Damned, definitely his best gig in ages.
But there's more weirdness to the story of CWOTD... Drummer Richard Christy, who has played in a million bands, including Iced Earth, Incantation, Death, Control Denied, and the pitbull fronted death metal band Caninus(!), had pretty much given up music for comedy, and eventually ended up on the Howard Stern show, where he's become infamous for some seriously fucked up and funny prank calls. Not sure why he decided to start playing again, but he gathered a pretty stellar lineup, with Ripper Owens, bassist Steve Di Giorgio (Sadus, Death, Iced Earth, Testament, Autopsy) and guitarist Jason Suecof (Capharnaum, Evince, and umm, Crotch Duster), and the record these guys have come up with rules. That is if you're into classic metal, Dio, Maiden, Priest, imagine that sort of band, but supercharged, a little heavier, a little faster, with more insane technical shredding, but still super catchy, with epic riffing, blasting drums, that classic eighties metal sound, but updated, although only a little. We're particularly reminded of more modern power metallers like Blind Guardian, or especially Lost Horizon.
Charred Walls Of The Damned is quickly turning into a new favorite, we've never really lost our love for this stuff, and hopefully you haven't either, check out the sound samples, should only take a few seconds for you to figure out if this is for you. Majestic, dramatic, hooky, and super heavy. And thus, absolutely recommended.
Includes a bonus dvd featuring a documentary about the making of the record (which we haven't had a chance to watch yet)...
MPEG Stream: "Ghost Town"
MPEG Stream: "From The Abyss"
MPEG Stream: "Creating Our Machine"

CHARTIER, RICHARD Decisive Forms (Trente Oiseaux) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Richard Chartier's "Decisive Forms" would be a great record for cats, dogs, dolphins, baleen whales, bats, elephant seals, octopuses, grasshoppers, sea lions, harbor seals, moray eels, sharks, noctruid moths, hermit crabs, giraffes, american alligators, african crocodiles, hyaenas, elephants, black rhinos, common rats, grey pigeons, walruses, mice, drum fish, bauerbirds, chincillas, sea turtles, praying mantises, and pigmy shrews; yet this album may not neccessarily be geared for human enjoyment as almost every sound falls outside of the range of human perception. In positioning very quiet ultra-high frequencies against fluctuating passages of silence, Chartier has created an album that requires the listener to alter his/her environment for extreme quiet. A throwback to the time for Trente Oiseaux albums in which the question had to be asked, "so can you hear anything on the new Trente Oiseaux album?"

CHARTIER, RICHARD Incidence (Raster-Noton) cd 17.98
In many ways, the work of Richard Chartier is anathema to the aesthetic course embraced by Aquarius Records. It can't be tangentially connected to the expanding definitions of metal, and only liminally parallels the feral dronecore of Birchville Cat Motel and the Double Leopards. It doesn't lend itself to ridiculous ruminations on the artifice of memory and loss, or any hyperbolic rhetoric for that matter. It's hard even to call this type of work beautiful as the rigor embedded into the process is attuned to an cold sterility rather than an aspirations for aesthetic transcendence. Thus, Chartier's work simply is what it is: a pure manifestation of sound elegantly moving through time with a highly refined sensibility for the subtle transition. The simple perfection from the minimalist ethos is difficult to champion as the manifestations are hardly theatrical enough to warrant any of the marketing strategies listed above to make most people jump up and down; but here we are, announcing that Richard Chartier has crafted an exquisite album, one that may be his finest recordings to date.
Incidence is a vacuum of external references, beginning and ending with the same hissing static. Chartier plunges the album into a series of interlocking subsonic frequencies. While these frequencies were never intended to achieve the heaviosity of SUNNO))) or Earth, Chartier's understanding of psychoacoustic principles actualizes an impressively claustrophobic display of blackened tones. As Chartier introduces a simple half-step melody against these extended drone vibrations, his work opens a small referential window towards the grim isolationism of Thomas Koner or BJ Nilsen. Time manages to stand still on the best of Chartier's work, and at over an hour in length, Incidence is over before you know it. Very, very well done.
MPEG Stream: "Incidence (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Incidence (excerpt 2)"

CHARTIER, RICHARD Of Surfaces (L-NE / 12K) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ultra-minimalist composer Richard Chartier has claimed that this album "suggests an incremental process of reduction with the compositional focus placed in the space between sound and silence." It takes about 17 minutes of practical nothingness before the barely perceptible elements of nervous fizzings, slow rumbles, and microscopic events make themselves audible. Similar compositional techniques have been employed by Bernhard Gunter and Francisco Lopez to astonishingly results, yet Chartier's highly restrictive palette of purely digital tones and pings points to the fact that "Of Surfaces" is merely an academic execution of the idea of minimalism, rather than the exploration of what minimalism can say. Thus, listening to this record is not relevant to understanding it.
RealAudio clip: "Of Surfaces"

CHARTIER, RICHARD Re'Post'Postfabricated (DSP) 2cd 19.98

CHARTIER, RICHARD Retrieval 1-5 (ERS) cd 19.98
Easily the best Richard Chartier album we've come across! The DC-based ultra-minimalist has been responsible for a number of albums so reductivist in their methodology and presentation that even with headphones, it can be a strain to discern what profundities Mr. Chartier may be offering to his audience. Yet in recent years, Chartier has been shedding the minimalist hyperbole for sterilized electronica and creating some truely evocative compositions for impressionist ambience. There was his Archival 1991 and his collaboration with William Basinski which caused us to really take notice to Chartier's work as something beyond an exercise in ultra-minimalism; and now there's Retrieval 1-5. Originally meant to be released on vinyl (with only 2 pieces) in 2004, and finally released in the beginning of this year, has now been revamped for cd where it really belongs, and with three extra pieces. Basinski, Thomas Koner, Lustmord (e.g. Where The Black Stars Hang) and Keith Berry would all be reference points for the steady dronescaping that Chartier musters on these five tracks which were in fact retrieved from old analog material Chartier produced in the '90s. These beautifully rippled and hushed drones may not have the academic rigor that won Chartier the Honorable Mention for Ars Electronica, but they are far more evocative and emotionally connected than any of his earlier recordings. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Retrieval 1"
MPEG Stream: "Retrieval 4 (content / intent)"

CHARTIER, RICHARD & TAYLOR DEUPREE Specification.Fifteen (Line) cd 14.98

CHARTIER, RICHARD / BERNHARD GUNTER / STEVE RODEN For Morton Feldman (Trente Oiseaux) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Upon discovering this album on our new arrivals rack, Loren Chasse remarked "When hasn't a Bernhard Gunter album been a tribute to Morton Feldman?" It is true that over the past couple of years, the ultra-minimalist electronic composer Gunter has been paralleling Feldman's late period pieces, which centered around the slow evolution of slighly asymetrical tonal patterns for small wind-instrument ensembles. As Gunter has acquired the habit (perhaps from Feldman) of citing his influences as dedications and titles of his pieces, it was only a matter of time before "For Morton Feldman" came to fruition (after previous albums gave credit to Xenakis, Luigi Nono, Mark Rothko, etc.) Yet this album doesn't entirely speak with Gunter's voice as he has commissioned two of his closest associates, Richard Chartier and Steve Roden, to compose tributes to Feldman as well. Gunter begins the album with a processed field recording of rushing water, and adding wavering notes from a Sho - a Japanese flute which Gunter performs much like the dissonant notation that Feldman ascribed to pieces like "For Philip Guston." Richard Chartier's piece suffers from the same problem as the majority of his recordings... most of it simply can't be heard beyond muffled bass rumbles. Upon viewing the visual waveform of the material, it's clear that something is present, but operating at frequencies that our stereo can't generate / can't playback. The Steve Roden track, however, is the reason to get this tribute as his tidal fluctuation of metallic resonance with tiny, ghostly slivers of something sounding like a sitar struggling to be heard. It has to be said that none of these pieces are as challenging or as uncompromising as Morton Feldman's iconoclastic compositions; yet, strains of Feldman's austerity and muted colors run strong on this album.
RealAudio clip: RICHARD CHARTIER "How Things Change"
RealAudio clip: BERNHARD GUNTER "Fuyo No Ame (For Morton Feldman)"
RealAudio clip: STEVE RODEN "Stasis"

CHASM, THE Procession To The Infraworld (Dwell) cd 14.98
Utterly intense and interesting, weird and sinisterly, secretly melodic death metal from this heretofore unhearalded (by us, anyway) band, from Chicago by way of Mexico. Kinda avant-garde in an un-selfconscious sense, reminding us a bit of that amazing Enslaved record from earlier this year. ("Procession To the Infraworld" is also from earlier this year but we only got turned on to it recently, and now must you be too). In comparision to that really quite psychedelic and meta-metallic Enslaved album, The Chasm is certainly more firmly rooted in your usual death metal brutality (as per vocalist/guitarist Daniel Corchado previous work with America's most doomy and deathly death metal outfit, Incantation), but The Chasm's grinding is tinged with a baroque, otherworldy flavor. A great death metal record, and you won't hear that from me (Allan) very often!

RealAudio clip: "Architects of Melancholic Apocalypse"