CEPHALIC CARNAGE Mislead By Certainty (Relapse) cd 14.98
The first time we heard Cephalic Carnage was at a little club in San Francisco, and the band were easily the most insane thing we had ever seen, death metal via stoner rock, the drummer playing what sounded like a continuous drum solo, while the rest of the band spit out churning sped up stoner riffs, transformed into a lurching head spinning what the fuck chunk of outsider metal. They never quite captured that warped, druggy, damaged weirdness on record, but they definitely came close, a twisted death metal grind hybrid, with occasional drum machines, weird processed vokills, creepy samples, streaks of noise and disembodied chug, they were definitely way more outsider grind than death metal, but with every record, they seemed to shed some of that fucked up ness, which in one way was a shame, but in another was maybe unavoidable. They got better and tighter and less weird. Or did they?
On first listen, their latest, Mislead By Certainty, seemed crazily straight ahead, especially on the record opener, which was super melodic sounding Swedish style death metal, it sounded good, but it threw us for a loop, but it only took a few more minutes to realize these guys were just as fucked as ever, that song shifted over and over, eventually locking into one of the most twisted atonal freakout jams EVER, the sort of sounds that make you almost queasy, before slipping right back into some more melodic riffing.
And so it goes, the band leaping from furious blurred grind, to full on classic death metal riffage, to total NWOBHM melody, to awesomely thick and filthy dirgey doom, and the thing is, every song goes through a crazy amount of permutations, a song may go two minutes blasting relentlessly, before suddenly shifting gears and turning into some twisted glob of grinding off kilter whatthefuck only to slip right back into the song again. And let's not forget the awesome 12+ minute "Repangaea", which begins all low slung and creepy, a dirgey doomy bit of drift, there even seems to be some saxophone(!), it builds to a seriously epic blast of melodic power metal / noise rock bombast with clean vocals and a killer hook and everything, before getting all spaced out and blissy, then a little modern metal style chug and churn, before an awesomely dense slowed down death metal outro. Wow. And just so you know it's Cephalic Carnage, they follow that up and finish things off with a super intense one note grind blast, with some seriously ridiculous and sick twisted vokills. Somehow, with just one single all the way through listen, this record went from being a huge disappointment to one of our new favorite metal records. Fuck yeah!
MPEG Stream: "The Incorrigible Flame"
MPEG Stream: "Warbots A.M."
MPEG Stream: "Abraxas Of Filth"

CEPHALIC CARNAGE Xenosapien (Relapse) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Endless Cycle Of Violence"
MPEG Stream: "Ov Vicissitude"

CERBERUS SHOAL Bastion Of Itchy Preeves (North East) cd 12.98
Cerberus Shoal's newest offering is a slow, strange, earthy beauty. On each of the ten ever-shifting avant-folk songs (some quite lengthy jams), notes from the horns, flutes and mellotron (we're guessin') slink and slide hypnotically while percussion comes in the form of warm melodic wood block tapping. The ensemble singing and chanting conjured images of a pagan ritual conducted by Brian Eno. Bastion Of Itchy Preeves is a precarious balance of the dissonant and the delicate.
MPEG Stream: "Bogart The Change"
MPEG Stream: "Me And My Dead Head: Baby Gal"

CERBERUS SHOAL Chaiming The Knoblessone (Northeastindie) cd 14.98

CERBERUS SHOAL Crash My Moon Yacht (Pandemonium/NEI) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Look out, Windy's got a new favorite band, and it's Cerberus Shoal. Never mind that I'm a latecomer to the group -- "Crash My Moon Yacht" is their _fifth_ album -- it's never too late to experience the crashing beauty that is Cerberus Shoal. High time, too, as this band, who live and make music together in Portland, Maine, has been grievously overlooked throughout their career.
On such Western and ethnic instruments as bowed guitar, balalaika, flute, trumpet, dholak, woodblocks, oud, quena, radios, whistles, electric bass, hammond organ, xylophone, etc, Cerberus Shoal plays a stretched out, intense yet langurous blend of mostly-instrumental drone-rock similar to many of the bands AQ knows and loves. They're equally epic and emotional as Godspeed You Black Emperor, but less weepy. They're as careful as Tarentel, yet much more complex. As for other groups who feature ethnic instrumentation, Cerberus offers a worthy challenge: far more consistent than the spotty Sun City Girls, they don't try to wrestle their ouds, djembes and congas into pop song structures like Macha does, and they're more accessible and varied than Pelt. Without meaning to slight any of those groups, hopefully comparisons will make it clear to you just how amazing and worthy of your time this group is. Live and on record, the band displays amazing restraint -- although the stage is crowded with dozens of instruments, at any one time only 3 or 4 distinct sounds will be in play, making for any number of possible sonic combinations, all the while keeping the music simple and utterly respectful of each instrument's unique timbre. There are even parts that remind us of music as disparate as Boards of Canada and prog rock, that's how evocative it is. Very late night soundscape-y. I can't say enough good things about this band. If you've got the patience and the desire for meaningful music that's as substantive as it is lovely, Cerberus Shoal will make you so happy.
Please note that we also have in stock "Homb" (on Temporary Residence), Cerberus' breathtaking fourth album and Caleb's (Cerberus' frontman) own personal favorite.
RealAudio clip: "Changabang I"

CERBERUS SHOAL Garden Fly, Drip Eye (North East Indie) cd ep 6.98
The always-inventive Maine collective releases a two-song cd single for those who can't wait for their next album. Although Cerberus' strongest moments are its multilayered instrumental climaxes that come after several minutes of murky, evocative buildup, this ep instead forefronts their experimental girl/boy vocal quirkiness. The Thinking Fellers fans amongst us may have had enough rollicking herky jerky voice antics to last a lifetime but nonetheless you may want to check this out.
RealAudio clip: "Garden Fly"

CERBERUS SHOAL Homb ( Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 13.98
Look out, Windy's got a new favorite band, and it's Cerberus Shoal. Never mind that I'm a latecomer to the group -- "Crash My Moon Yacht" is their _fifth_ album -- it's never too late to experience the crashing beauty that is Cerberus Shoal. High time, too, as this band, who live and make music together in Portland, Maine, has been grievously overlooked throughout their career.
On such Western and ethnic instruments as bowed guitar, balalaika, flute, trumpet, dholak, woodblocks, oud, quena, radios, whistles, electric bass, hammond organ, xylophone, etc, Cerberus Shoal plays a stretched out, intense yet langurous blend of mostly-instrumental drone-rock similar to many of the bands AQ knows and loves. They're equally epic and emotional as Godspeed You Black Emperor, but less weepy. They're as careful as Tarentel, yet much more complex. As for other groups who feature ethnic instrumentation, Cerberus offers a worthy challenge: far more consistent than the spotty Sun City Girls, they don't try to wrestle their ouds, djembes and congas into pop song structures like Macha does, and they're more accessible and varied than Pelt. Without meaning to slight any of those groups, hopefully comparisons will make it clear to you just how amazing and worthy of your time this group is. Live and on record, the band displays amazing restraint -- although the stage is crowded with dozens of instruments, at any one time only 3 or 4 distinct sounds will be in play, making for any number of possible sonic combinations, all the while keeping the music simple and utterly respectful of each instrument's unique timbre. There are even parts that remind us of music as disparate as Boards of Canada and prog rock, that's how evocative it is. Very late night soundscape-y. I can't say enough good things about this band. If you've got the patience and the desire for meaningful music that's as substantive as it is lovely, Cerberus Shoal will make you so happy.
RealAudio clip: "Harvest"

CERBERUS SHOAL Mr. Boy Dog ( Temporary Residence Ltd.) 2cd 15.98
Long awaited new album from the Portland, Maine collective known as Cerberus Shoal. Their signature sound is intact: a meandering, honey-slow drive towards perfection. They'll take so long to build up to the crashing climaxes that you sometimes forget you're waitin' for 'em, and you think you're listening to some sort of cool ethnic drone record or something -- except for the decidedly rock guitar that's wandering sadly & introspectively over it all. While this double album is not as good as their Homb record, which we always have in stock, it's very lovely.
P.S.When people ask me about Cerberus Shoal, I usually quote this past review:
On such Western and ethnic instruments as bowed guitar, balalaika, flute, trumpet, dholak, woodblocks, oud, quena, radios, whistles, electric bass, hammond organ, xylophone, etc, Cerberus Shoal plays a stretched out, intense yet langurous blend of mostly-instrumental drone-rock similar to many of the bands AQ knows and loves. They're equally epic and emotional as Godspeed You Black Emperor, but less weepy. They're as careful as Tarentel, yet much more complex. As for other groups who feature ethnic instrumentation, Cerberus offers a worthy challenge: far more consistent than the spotty Sun City Girls, they don't try to wrestle their ouds, djembes and congas into pop song structures like Macha does, and they're more accessible and varied than Pelt.
RealAudio clip: "Nataraja"
RealAudio clip: "An Egypt That Does Not Exist"

CEREBRAL BALLZY s/t (Adult Swim) cd 14.98
When we first went to the South By Southwest music conference in Austin, we were sort of overwhelmed by how many bands were playing, often at the same time, and everywhere, in clubs, on street corners, in bars, in empty lots, and we were even more shocked by how many bands were playing that we had never heard of. Literally thousands. And of all of those bands, there was only really one we wanted to see. Based entirely on their name. Yep, it was these guys. Cerebral Ballzy. The worst band name ever? Hardly. The best? Maybe. Needless to say, we were never able to actually see them, so we comforted ourselves by just assuming they must be amazing, cuz how could a band name themselves that and NOT be?
Funny thing is, we had no idea what they sounded like. We were guessing some sort of angular new wave, or some sort of snotty garage rock, we imagined they must be from Brooklyn, and it seemed like Vice would be fans, but really what kind of assumptions can you realistically draw from a band name like theirs? So out of the blue, their debut record dropped, and before even hearing it, we were still more impressed, the cover sporting a sticker that proudly proclaimed "'We Hate This Band' - Pitchfork Media", the Pettibon cover art, the faded photocopied old punk flyer booklet and their 'logo', a skeleton flipping the bird, wearing a cholo style buttoned-up-to-the-top shirt and a Suicidal cap with the flipped up brim (although instead of Suicidal it says Cerebral), which did all start steering us in a more punk rock direction, which is in fact what these guys sound like, old school classic punk rock, a little skate punk, a little Hermosa Beach, a little Suicidal, but filtered through a more modern sonic aesthetic. They ARE from Brooklyn, and Vice DO dig em, but beyond that, we were way off. This is classic punk rock, snooty, snarly, swaggery, pounding, knuckle dragging, sweat soaked, bruised and bloody, short sharp blasts of crunch and pound that we imagine would most definitely get that pit roiling, but whether they meant to or not, that sound is peppered with some surprising melodies, some subtle post rockisms, a killer production, and loads of hooks, but those moments are definitely fleeting, as this is, at its core, PUNK RAWK. And we dig it.
MPEG Stream: "On The Run"
MPEG Stream: "Drug Myself Dumb"
MPEG Stream: "Sk8 All Day"
MPEG Stream: "Anthem"

CEREBRAL BALLZY s/t (Adult Swim) lp 19.98
When we first went to the South By Southwest music conference in Austin, we were sort of overwhelmed by how many bands were playing, often at the same time, and everywhere, in clubs, on street corners, in bars, in empty lots, and we were even more shocked by how many bands were playing that we had never heard of. Literally thousands. And of all of those bands, there was only really one we wanted to see. Based entirely on their name. Yep, it was these guys. Cerebral Ballzy. The worst band name ever? Hardly. The best? Maybe. Needless to say, we were never able to actually see them, so we comforted ourselves by just assuming they must be amazing, cuz how could a band name themselves that and NOT be?
Funny thing is, we had no idea what they sounded like. We were guessing some sort of angular new wave, or some sort of snotty garage rock, we imagined they must be from Brooklyn, and it seemed like Vice would be fans, but really what kind of assumptions can you realistically draw from a band name like theirs? So out of the blue, their debut record dropped, and before even hearing it, we were still more impressed, the cover sporting a sticker that proudly proclaimed "'We Hate This Band' - Pitchfork Media", the Pettibon cover art, the faded photocopied old punk flyer booklet and their 'logo', a skeleton flipping the bird, wearing a cholo style buttoned-up-to-the-top shirt and a Suicidal cap with the flipped up brim (although instead of Suicidal it says Cerebral), which did all start steering us in a more punk rock direction, which is in fact what these guys sound like, old school classic punk rock, a little skate punk, a little Hermosa Beach, a little Suicidal, but filtered through a more modern sonic aesthetic. They ARE from Brooklyn, and Vice DO dig em, but beyond that, we were way off. This is classic punk rock, snooty, snarly, swaggery, pounding, knuckle dragging, sweat soaked, bruised and bloody, short sharp blasts of crunch and pound that we imagine would most definitely get that pit roiling, but whether they meant to or not, that sound is peppered with some surprising melodies, some subtle post rockisms, a killer production, and loads of hooks, but those moments are definitely fleeting, as this is, at its core, PUNK RAWK. And we dig it.
MPEG Stream: "On The Run"
MPEG Stream: "Drug Myself Dumb"
MPEG Stream: "Sk8 All Day"
MPEG Stream: "Anthem"

CERTAIN BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT Live Berlin '98 (Manifold) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A live collision of the combined forces of Mick Harris (Scorn) and Tony Child (Surgeon) making freaky nightmare sonic landscapes.

CEU s/t (Six Degrees) cd 16.98
Now domestic! This former import-only CeU album (originally released in 2005 on the Sao Paulo based Urban Jungle label) is now available here in the States courtesy of the Six Degrees label. The lovely Brazilian singer whose full name is Maria Do Ceu Whitaker Pocas draws easy comparisons to Bebel Gilberto, and will surely appeal to her labelmate's fanbase. At once sultry and fresh-faced, CeU's breezy, smooth groove of samba, dub and electronica laced with delicious horn and percussion accompaniments evokes gorgeous, warm summer evenings. Ah yes, the calendar might proclaim that it is April, but while this soulful, chill-out album is spinning it's a steamy August night in Sao Paulo.
MPEG Stream: "Lenda"
MPEG Stream: "10 Contados"

CEX Maryland Mansions (Jade Tree) cd 14.98

CEX Oops, I Did It Again! (Tigerbeat6) cd 14.98
Oops! It's the second full length from hyperactive emo / hip-hop / IDM whizkid Rjyan Kidwell. That's right, I said emo. In addition to the fluffy pop-laced hip-hop beats and whimsical sonic landscapes, Rjyan busts out his acoustic guitar and cries out all Tim Kinsella style. Of course, as on "(You're) Off The Food Chain", this is downright silly. But on tracks like "First For Wounds" and "I Said It Knowing Full Well I Had No Intention Of Doing It", the inclusion of guitar works wonderfully, somewhat reminiscent of the latest Fourtet record or (vaguely) Arab Strap. And like most hip-hop records, we could certainly do without the silly skits. Without them, I'd put "Oops" up against the likes of Boards Of Canada or early Autechre.

CEX Role Model (Tigerbeat6) cd 12.98
From Kid 606's label comes the newest album from nineteen year old kid Cex, who you may happily file next to those other bedroom electronica madmen such as Kid 606, Lesser, and Aphex Twin. He might even be a bit too young, as the material on this disc is more like perfectly executed homework rather than a wellspring of new ideas. For fans of Aphex Twin, Autechre, Kid 606, etc. Includes a Dismemberment Plan remix!

CEX Sketchi (Temporary Residence) cd 14.98
Cex sinks knee-deep in dub and industrial sounds on his latest full length. As usual his lower brow presence on the Temporary Residence label sorta sticks out like a sore thumb amid the often lovely, atmospheric post-rock recordings that make up the majority of the label's catalog. Admittedly we've had something of a love/hate relationship with Cex over the years, but this time around y'know what? We're leaning more towards the former... well maybe at least 'like'. Heh heh. Somewhat surprisingly Sketchi's a morass of gloom and grit with not a giggle or grin in sight... except for maybe some of the song titles (such as "Waiting 4 Yankovic"!). Quite a marked departure from his past mischievous, silly releases. An oddly limited pressing of 1000.
MPEG Stream: "Damon Kvols"
MPEG Stream: "Camber Sands"

CEX Starship Galactica (555) cd 12.98
Cex certainly has some artistic talent, but "Starship Galactica" shows him to still be just a dorky kid from Baltimore. The majority of this album features what Cex does best -- Autechre / Funkstorung breakbeats with sad, romantic chords derived from both warm acoustic instruments and cold digital algorhythms. However, he inexplicably drops in skits / introductions to these tracks... one is a shout-out to his crew in Baltimore, another is a really stupid skit of a woman masturbating while Cex is getting all gung-ho about his high score on his Playstation (somehow, it's supposed to be funny), and he ends the album with a lo-fi Atom & His Package type song. It may be possible to look beyond all of this juvenile, sexually frustrated behaviour and really listen to his pretty great skittery melancholy electronica... but boy those skits make it tough.

CEX Tall, Dark, And Handcuffed (Tigerbeat6) cd 13.98
New record from the underground rock scene's Brian Austin Green (c'mon, you remember, from Beverly Hills 90210....made a rap record....it was BAD)
Let's ruin the only 'funny' bit (a skit of all things, a take off of an Eminem skit) on this otherwise dreadful album of white bread, stupid pointless hip-hop by transcribing it here:
Jeremy deVine (of Sonna and Temporary Residence) with a tone of businesslike urgency: "Hey Cex, what's up?"
Cex goofily unaware: "Hey Jeremy deVine! Good to see you! What's up?"
Jeremy: "Cex could you come in here and have a seat, please. Vanessa, shut the door."
Cex: "What's up, how's Otis (?) looking for the first week?"
Jeremy: "It would be better if you gave me nothing at all. This album is less than nothing. I can't sell this fucking record. Do you know what's happening to me out there?"
Cex: "What's the problem?"
Jeremy: "Bjork told me to go fuck myself."
Cex: "Who's Bjork?"
Jeremy: "Aquarius Records told me to shove this record up my ass. Do know what it feels like to be told to have a record shoved up your ass? I'm going to lose my fucking job over this. Do you know why Radiohead's album was so successful? They're singing about homosexuals and Vicodin. You're rhyming about dodgeball and bicycles. Have you been in my office again? Look at this desk! There's a spring busted and it's all messed up. Either change the record or it's not coming out."
Cex: "Wait. What am I supposed to do?"
Jeremy: "Get the fuck out of my office. Now."
For the record, it was Cex who was to be the recipient of record-ass-shoving, not Jeremy deVine. But Jeremy'll do.
RealAudio clip: "Gigolo Knights"
RealAudio clip: "K-12 Days Of Hell"
RealAudio clip: "Jeremy Devine"

CEX / ELECTRIC COMPANY "$" vol. 2 (Tigerbeat6) 7" 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Number two in the $ series of Tigerbeat6 singles, this one's got Baltimore's Cex and Los Angeles' Electric Company. Don't know how limited, but I wouldn't wait on these hotcakes...

CEX / VENETIAN SNARES Connected Series Volume 2 (Klangkrieg) 12" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Second in Klangkrieg's Connected series (volume one featured DJ Scud and Pthalocyanine). Baltimore's Cex reworks the unstoppable Venetian Snares (aka Aaron Funk) and vice versa. Bubbly drill'n'bass from two prolific playas in underground electronica.

CHA CHA CABARET Chez Vous (K) cd 13.98
Greetings! Your hostess Miss Lady Hand Grenade is here with her Olympia, WA friends Nikki McClure, Miranda July, Old Tyme Relijun, and a crowd of others for a grand indie pop show time. If there's one thing you can always count on with the Oly folk, it's a barrel of fun: theme shows, puppetry and music with something to say.

CHA.CY. Minicd 3-99 (Spider Records) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
3-song, 20 minute ep from a freaky avant-pop band featuring Jean-Herve Peron of Faust and Chris Karrer of Amon Duul II, two krautrock legends up to strange new tricks.

CHADBOURNE, EUGENE Ayler Undead (Grob) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Eugene Chadbourne (you know him, you love him?) teams up with two Berlin-based free jazzers for this tribute to the late great saxophonist Albert Ayler on the always interesting Grob label. Joe Williamson (Kletka Red) plays double bass, Uli Jennessen is on drums, and Herr Doktor Chadbourne handles Ayler's central role in the trio, playing acoustic and electric guitars, and his beloved banjo as well. Chadbourne (a fan of Ayler's since he first heard one of his ESP titles in the listening room of the Calgary Alberta public library, 1972) has been known to cover Ayler compositions before, but this is his first recording devoted solely to 'em. According to the liner notes, this was originally envisioned as a big band project, with lots o' horns and all, but thankfully circumstances dictated a smaller group, so that Chadbourne's string-twiddling could take center stage -- he's at his best here, playing with passion and virtuosity. Regardless of what you think of Chadbourne's other releases (he's got a lot, and some, particularily the ones with singing, are often too goofy for some of us), this one is definitely worth checking out, if you're at all into improv skronk stuff (and/or, of course, Albert Ayler). Chadbourne IS a great player, and the rest of the band isn't too shabby either. Ayler is also a fine subject for tribute, as somehow his signature combination of folky melody and outside blowing is so appropriate for a country-western-rock-jazz weirdo like Chadbourne. He puts it best in the liners: "There is no one who made music as truly psychedelic as Ayler...Ayler's music was always these strange little themes, most importantly followed by complete freaking out...[he] had a vision that I can best summarize as pretty fucking weird, and pretty fucking magnificent." Recorded live in Cologne with some overdubs recorded later at home in North Carolina. There's also two solo pieces, including the only non-Ayler composition: a wild take on "La Marseillaise" that Ayler would have been proud of. Hendrix too. Packaged with lots of text, art, and an intriguing graphic illustrating the links between Ayler and Chadbourne.
RealAudio clip: "Omega Is The Alpha"
RealAudio clip: "La Marseillaise"
RealAudio clip: "Witches & Devils"

CHADBOURNE, EUGENE Boogie With The Hook (Leo) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
European import hand delivered by the charming Mr. Chadbourne hisself. Duets with Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Charles Tyler, Volcmar Verkerk, and John Zorn.

CHADBOURNE, EUGENE Pain Pen (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.
Eugene Chadbourne (no introduction needed, we hope) is joined for a free improv freakout by downtown NYC avant jazzers Mark Dresser (bass) and Susie Ibarra (drums) as well as normally-more restrained improv guitarist Joe Morris.

CHADBOURNE, EUGENE & JIMMY CARL BLACK Pachuco Cadaver (Fireant) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Eugene brought these in himself last week. Here he teams up with the original Mothers of Invention drummer in a tribute to Captain Beefheart.

CHADBOURNE, EUGENE & JOHN ZORN In Memory of Rikki Arane (Incus) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Circa-1980 recordings from this fun pair. On Derek Bailey's improv label.

CHAIN AND THE GANG Down With Liberty...Up With Chains (K Records) cd 14.98
By this point the charismatic Ian Svenonius is most loved as a indie cultural icon, his ramblings, writings, and TV show (Soft Focus on VBTV.com) are all so undeniably entertaining and compelling. Though, we have to say we haven't been too thrilled with most of his musical output since he pulled the plug on The Make Up. But before that most of us were all pretty obsessed with his first band Nation Of Ulysses as well as the ultra short lived Cupid Car Club. His newest project Chain And The Gang is closest in aesthetic to the gospel funk of The Make Up. Lots of call and response vocals, tons of sharp witted sass, and darker take on that classic girl group sound. We'd still probably rather hear Ian shoot the shit or read his latest manifesto but this is sounding pretty darn OK to us. Not amazing by any stretch, but Ian Svenonius diehards (and we know you are out there!) will definitely want to snag this.
MPEG Stream: "Trash Talk"
MPEG Stream: "Interview With The Chain Gang"

CHAINSMOKER Guarana Planet (Bad Vugum) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another installment of Finnish madness from the brilliant and unpredictable Bad Vugum label. Chainsmoker were born from the ashes of Bad Vugum stalwarts Sweetheart, but the sound is far from Sweetheart's freaked out guitar rock. Chainsmoker are a strange mix of eighties new wave/techno (New Order, Human League), gothy cabaret (Nick Cave, Bauhaus), a little modern electro (Adult., Fischerspooner) and of course that special, undefinable Finnish touch that seems to make everything a little bit better! Check it out.
RealAudio clip: "Drop Test"
RealAudio clip: "Out Of Tranquilizers"

CHAINSMOKER Stations ( BV2 Productions) cd 16.98
Another back in stock warehouse discovery. We don't really have a warehouse, but we do have plenty of nooks and crannies and boxes and spaces that things get stashed in and sometimes forgotten, but warehouse find slips of the tongue so much easier. Anyway, for you Finnish rock folks who may have missed out on this chunk of sonic strangeness, we found a little clutch of these, and figured there were probably at least a few people who missed out on these first time around:
ATTENTION FINNISH ROCK OBSESSIVES!!! It's time for another strange missive from the Finnish combo known as Chainsmoker, a band created from the bits and pieces of Finnish legends Sweetheart. But where Sweetheart were a corrosive guitar based rock band, Chainsmoker are more of a dramatic, sort of gothic new wave band. If these guys were living in NY and going to all the right parties, getting remixed by DFA, partying with Fischerspooner, they'd be huge. Touring with the Scissor Sisters and screwing Lindsay Lohan and Ashley Simpson. But alas, they are marooned far away from the glitzy nightclubs and drugged out dancefloor kids who would be dancing and fucking and fighting the nights away to their spacey new wave techno groove rock. But there's more to it than that, these guys are Finnish after all, so it goes without saying that they have a bit of a twisted take. They incorporate morose vocals, saxophone, swirling outer space FX, Nick Cave like dramatic crooning, strummy acoustic guitars, cinematic synths, fuzz guitar, full on casiocore freakouts and pretty much anything else they can think of into their jet set, cocaine party, private jet, Studio 54, faux fur, dead of winter, NYC via Paris via Finland, Fischerspooner and Pet shop Boys in a back alley knife fight dance party!
MPEG Stream: "Red Eyeliner"
MPEG Stream: "Aluminum"
MPEG Stream: "Baby Moonshine"

CHAIRLIFT Does You Inspire You? (Kanine / Columbia) cd 13.98

MPEG Stream: "Garbage"
MPEG Stream: "Planet Health"
MPEG Stream: "Earwig Town"

CHAKACHAS Jungle Fever (Dusty Groove) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Jungle Fever"
MPEG Stream: "Eso Es El Amor"

CHALARD, JACKY Je Suis Vivant, Mais J'aipeur De Gilbert Deflez (B-Music / Finders Keepers) cd 15.98
Boy, were we looking forward to this: A strange 1974 French sci-fi based concept album that claims comparisons to both Alain Goraguer (La Planete Sauvage) and Jean-Claude Vannier (L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches, Melody Nelson), by some composer we had never heard of, Jacky Chalard, perhaps originally made under the assumed identity Gilbert Deflez (the booklet has the puzzling backstory). We were blown away by the opening number, "L'Agonie", almost fulfilling the promise of the B-Music folks' claims. But then almost all the following tracks are either spoken word, or strange radio plays in French (sort of in the same wacky spirit as Les Maledictus Sound), which we wouldn't mind normally, except the spoken stuff is on almost every track on the record, and after awhile, we want to just hear the backing music alone, because it IS so good! Occasionally, there is a French woman singing which is nice and there's a couple of Massiera-ish disco pop numbers, but overall, the narrative aspects becomes just a bit tedious. At least it's in French, though, that helps. We're sure this is a must have for some folks who dig the stranger realms of french prog-pop, but we can't recommend it as highly as La Planete Sauvage, Jean-Paul Massiera, or Jean-Claude Vannier.
MPEG Stream: "L'Agonie"
MPEG Stream: "La Collecte Des Couers"
MPEG Stream: "Si Je T'Offrais Une Branche D'Amour"
MPEG Stream: "Pollution"
MPEG Stream: "Super Man - Super Cool"

CHALARD, JACKY Je Suis Vivant, Mais J'aipeur De Gilbert Deflez (B-Music / Finders Keepers) lp 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl.
Boy, were we looking forward to this: A strange 1974 French sci-fi based concept album that claims comparisons to both Alain Goraguer (La Planete Sauvage) and Jean-Claude Vannier (L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches, Melody Nelson), by some composer we had never heard of, Jacky Chalard, perhaps originally made under the assumed identity Gilbert Deflez (the booklet has the puzzling backstory). We were blown away by the opening number, "L'Agonie", almost fulfilling the promise of the B-Music folks' claims. But then almost all the following tracks are either spoken word, or strange radio plays in French (sort of in the same wacky spirit as Les Maledictus Sound), which we wouldn't mind normally, except the spoken stuff is on almost every track on the record, and after awhile, we want to just hear the backing music alone, because it IS so good! Occasionally, there is a French woman singing which is nice and there's a couple of Massiera-ish disco pop numbers, but overall, the narrative aspects becomes just a bit tedious. At least it's in French, though, that helps. We're sure this is a must have for some folks who dig the stranger realms of french prog-pop, but we can't recommend it as highly as La Planete Sauvage, Jean-Paul Massiera, or Jean-Claude Vannier.
MPEG Stream: "L'Agonie"
MPEG Stream: "La Collecte Des Couers"
MPEG Stream: "Si Je T'Offrais Une Branche D'Amour"
MPEG Stream: "Pollution"
MPEG Stream: "Super Man - Super Cool"

CHALARD, JACKY Superman, Supercool (Cache Cache ) 12" 14.98

CHALK CIRCLE Reflection (Mississippi) lp 14.98
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT** MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
Another lost seminal punk rock classic, this one from DC's Chalk Circle, an all female punk rock band (supposedly the first to record and perform in DC), who existed for a couple years in the early eighties, and played alongside the usual DC suspects, but were definitely doing their own thing, challenging the prevailing sound and gender scene politics of the day. With a sound that would fit sonically alongside groups like the Slits, Delta 5, Lilliput, Raincoats, X-Ray Spex, Essential Logic and the like, Chalk Circle combined punk rock crunch with teenage energy, raw and urgent, frantic and frenetic, loose and ramshackle, but with some killer hooks, not so much 'punk rock' as indie pop / garage pop, this stuff would have been right at home on K Records or Kill Rock Stars in the early days.
The sound varies quite a bit (as does the recording quality), from bouncy almost danceable jangle punk, to reverby new wave, fuzzy pop-punk pound to primitive off kilter pop, bass heavy almost dubby post punk to spidery skeletal pop minimalism, laced with occasional bits of extra percussion, shouted back up vox, all held together by a super distinctive style and sound, which has us thinking there are a whole bunch of folks out there that would have loved these ladies back in the day, and anyone into the current crop of female punks: Brilliant Colors, Grass Widow, Pens, Yellow Fever, Sandwitches, etc. will probably dig this like crazy!
This lp collection gathers up various tracks from compilations, live shows, demos and unreleased tapes, and includes a big booklet with photos, press clippings and liner notes by Don Fleming (Velvet Monkeys, B.A.L.L.) whose Velvet Monkeys headlined Chalk Circle's first shows.
MPEG Stream: "Reflection"
MPEG Stream: "Uneasy Friend"
MPEG Stream: "Scrambled"
MPEG Stream: "Private Lie"

CHALK, ANDREW Blue Eyes Of The March (Faraway Press) cd 21.00
We often talk about the heaviest, the fastest, the loudest, and the most fucked-up musics, as we cram more and more letters into the word doom to express how much we love this record or that. Yet when it comes to the minimalist beatitudes crafted by the British drone engineer Andrew Chalk, our hyperbole fails us. With a humility and a reclusive demeanor, Chalk's work stands as an elegant document of what you can do when striving for anything excessive.
For years, Chalk has impressed upon us that few artists have been able to craft something as simple as a drone with such a pristine balance between impressionistic abstraction and phenomenological precision. Starting out the mid-80s recording toxic noises under the moniker Feral Confine, Chalk joined David Jackman in the seminal project Organum for a couple of melancholic recordings of acoustic minimalism. Shortly thereafter, he founded Ora with Darren Tate and Colin Potter; and more recently, Chalk and Christoph Heemann established Mirror. Nowadays, Chalk is venturing out on his own to remarkable success after a couple of beautiful recordings that he's self-released on Faraway Press. Blue Eyes Of The March is the third cd from Chalk's own label, and has been entirely crafted from piano. Given the dreamy soft-focus that Chalk has applied to the instrument, there's very little of the piano's instantly recognizable hammered attack that remains. It's as if he stretched all of the piano's strings across the bow of a Victorian cruise ship, deliberately sank it, and then recorded the sounds deep in the blackened sea off the northern coast of England. Haunted, subaquatic, and timeless, Chalk's swirling sounds spiral effortlessly into a ghostly antiquity whose references may be found in the equally elegant re-constructions of Bartok and Satie by Akira Rabelais on Eisoptrophobia, but done through analogue and not digital processes. As with his previous recordings, Chalk has spared no expense with the packaging, offering a stunning duo-toned silkscreen design upon shimmering silver paper.
MPEG Stream: "Blue Eyes of the March 1"
MPEG Stream: "Blue Eyes of the March 2"

CHALK, ANDREW Crescent (Robot) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Andrew Chalk's haunting drones (from his work with Organum and Jonathan Coleclough) have become favorites here at Aquarius. And this collection of his earliest recordings from the late '80s is no exception. The influence that Brian Eno's ambient work had upon Chalk becomes apparent with the emergence of a few fragile arrangements for piano and decidedly synthetic spacey keyboard sounds. But even at this stage in Chalk's development, his talent at constructing textural collages of bowed metal and hazy tonal reverberations is as solid here as on his recent recordings. This disc includes contributions from David Jackman (Organum) on one track and a remix from Christoph Heemann. Highly recommended.

CHALK, ANDREW East Of The Sun (Faraway Press) cd 21.00
BACK IN PRINT!!! Easily, one of the most important reissues of 2006 (available again now in 2009!), East Of The Sun available again though Andrew Chalk's own Faraway Press, complete with breathtakingly resplendent packaging. These recordings originally came out in 1994 as a cassette, released through Ora's in-house label, Ora being an early collective that revolved around Chalk, Colin Potter, and Darren Tate with occasional assistance from Jonathan Coleclough, mnortham, Lol Coxhill, and a handful of like-minded British drone enthusiasts. A few years later, the Italian label Hic Sunt Leones convinced Chalk to reissue the cassette in digital form. That CD version of East Of The Sun compressed the two sides of the cassette into a single 50 minute piece and was flushed out with some complementary dronescaping. Chalk was never happy with the Hic Sunt Leones version; and thus his reissue of the album returns to the original version found on the cassette, now gloriously remastered in its entirety. For those persnickety types, the 17 minutes or so which concluded the Hic Sunt Leones version is not here; but that is a minor loss compared to the pinnacle of drone-based minimalism found here.
Sure, Eno's ambient records On Land and Thursday Afternoon were milestones in the realm of ambient music, setting an impressionist context through which any number of the images, thoughts, and ideals could be imagined; but that strategy was perfected by Andrew Chalk on a couple of records. There was his ephemeral album Sumac in collaboration with Jonathan Coleclough, there was the first Mirror album Eye Of The Storm, and there's East Of The Sun. Very dark without becoming unbearably cold, East Of The Sun is a constant bloom of nocturnal frequencies, whose origins may be thoroughly blurred bass guitar or possibly some resonant artifact from Chalk's acoustic work in Organum. Regardless, the resultant drones drift with no beginning and no end, merely rippling, reflecting, and turning upon themselves in a perpetual, very slow motion turbulence. Leaves tumbling in autumnal twilight. Fog spilling over coastal hills. Moonlight tickling the agitated surface of a pond. Any of these organic references for meditation on simplicity to reach the sublime and the profound could easily apply to Chalk's East Of The Sun. Not just recommended, this is required listening.
MPEG Stream: "Winter Arc"
MPEG Stream: "High Water"

CHALK, ANDREW Ghost Of Nakhodka (Siren) cd 24.00
BACK IN PRINT, WITH DIFFERENT ARTWORK!!!
Here's the cd reissue of a 2009 cassette from the emissary of British dronemusik, Andrew Chalk. That cassette, like this cd version, had been released by the Japanese imprint Siren Records, although it seems that Chalk himself did all of the printing as with all of his Faraway Press productions. So, it certainly looks as lovely as it sounds. The album opens with a 22 minute abstraction of piano tones, smeared, stretched, and warbled by a process that seems more attuned to tape decay techniques than the placid smooth surfaces that have come from Chalk's recordings as of late. This has the sound more of the misty psychedelic ambient tapestries from Natural Snow Buildings or the hauntological loops of Indignant Senility. There's something very prescient about this track, as if Chalk were responding to many of the divergent streams of drone-based constructions that are happening throughout the world right now. The rest of the album is definitely a detour for Chalk, as he presents a series of sad, sodden snippets composed on guitar, koto, synth, piano, and field recordings. Unlike so many who attempts an album of gossamer, minimalist sounds, Chalk seeks the same chromatic hues through his sources. It's the same melancholy which runs through his impressionist drones that can be found in an ellipsis for untreated acoustic guitar or a melody upon cosmic-minded synth or an atypical strum upon his koto. That makes for quite a remarkable album for Mr. Chalk, once again.
MPEG Stream: "Ghost of Nakhodka"
MPEG Stream: "Three Rivers"
MPEG Stream: "Lena"
MPEG Stream: "Pillars"

CHALK, ANDREW Goldfall (Faraway Press) cd 21.00
Goldfall originally came out in late 2006 as a heavy duty slab of vinyl, swaddled in a delicate piece of tissue paper that also featured an elegant print reminiscent of Shoji screen prints. Chalk released a mere 300 copies through his Faraway Press imprint; and as with most of the tiny vinyl pressings that Chalk had done with his now defunct Mirror project with Christoph Heemann, it went out of print very quickly, with its scarcity only matched by the critical praise heaped upon it. Thankfully, Chalk has been far more willing to repress his hard to find material through Faraway Press; and Goldfall is the latest part of this reissue campaign. In contrast to the floral artwork which Chalk has replicated on the hand-screened / die-cut cardboard sleeves, Chalk's sound production within is a far darker and heavier experience. Sourced from the meandering piano interludes of Vikki Jackman, Goldfall is a dark, shadowy record of protracted reverberation and timbral rumblings. In comparison to Chalk's previous piano album Blue Eyes Of The March or to other exceptional piano abstractions (i.e. Jonathan Coleclough's Period or Brian Eno's Thursday Afternoon), Goldfall is downright ominous. Upon closer investigation into the sounds on Goldfall, the second track is a backwards remix of the first, turning the entire experience of listening to the album as a palindrome of shadows, with each darkly flecked piano tone on the second track harder to locate against the structure of the first given the droning miasma of Chalk's impeccable sound. Far from being like one of David Jackman's tiresome attempts at elongating his increasingly pointless ideas, Chalk's experiment was one to be discovered by the audience. We may have spoiled something magical about the record, or maybe not. It's still a magnificent, ominous piece of dronescaping; and you all should know that Andrew Chalk + ominous = highly recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Goldfall 1"
MPEG Stream: "Goldfall 2"

CHALK, ANDREW Goldfall (Faraway Press) lp 40.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Goldfall is Andrew Chalk's highly anticipated new vinyl-only album, released on his own Faraway Press imprint. After pretty much of all the Mirror records had been released as super limited vinyl-only editions (with a couple of those getting reissued later on cd), Chalk's recent solo endeavors have been extended droneworks that weren't suited to the LP format. He's clearly outdone himself with the packaging on this return to vinyl, as he's situated the thick slab of vinyl within a dense cardstock sleeve with a die cut opening exposing silkscreened print beneath; and he's sealed the sleeve in a delicate piece of tissue paper that also features an elegant print reminiscent of Shoji screen prints. In contrast to the floral artwork, Chalk's sound production within is a far darker and heavier experience. Sourced from the meandering piano interludes of Vikki Jackman, Goldfall is a dark, shadowy record of protracted reverberation and timbral rumblings. In comparison to Chalk's previous piano album Blue Eyes Of The March or to other exceptional piano abstractions (i.e. Jonathan Coleclough's Period or Brian Eno's Thursday Afternoon), Goldfall is downright ominous. And you all should know that Andrew Chalk + ominous = highly recommended. But you should also know that Goldfall is limited to 300 copies.

CHALK, ANDREW Over The Edges (Streamline) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is the CD reissue of Andrew Chalk's "Over The Edges" which originally came out in 1999 as a vinyl-only release in a somewhat reasonable edition of 545 copies. Having composed "Over The Edges" in a single day at Colin Potter's ICR studio using only two strings of an acoustic guitar played with an E-Bow, Chalk brings a raspy, magentic buzz to his typically sublime, drone hypnosis. Here, subharmonics undulate beneath a chorus of static guitar-string vibrations, and shimmering waves of feedback elegantly flutter throughout. Not immediately as expressive as "Sumac" or some of the Mirror recordings done with Christoph Heemann, "Over The Edges" recalls the purist minimalism of long string composers like Alvin Lucier and Ellen Fullman.
RealAudio clip: "Over The Edges 1"

CHALK, ANDREW Shadows From The Album Skies (Faraway Press) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It remains to be seen if the duo of Andrew Chalk and Christoph Heeman will ever collaborate again, after rumors surfaced describing an acrimonious falling out in the wake of an ill-conceived Mimir / Mirror performance. Sure, Mirror has certainly produced some amazing recordings; Eye Of The Storm, in particular, is an impeccable document of droned-out environmental eerieness. But in all honesty and fairness to Christoph Heemann, Andrew's solo albums are where he really shines. Yet after all of his collaborations with Organum, Ora, Jonathan Coleclough, Giancarlo Toniutti, The New Blockaders, et cetera, his solo output is woefully thin, and almost entirely out of print. Fortunately, Chalk salvaged two recent cd-rs (Shadows From The Album Skies part one and two) from terminal obscurity as they had originally been released on the Mirror imprint Three Poplars in editions of less than 100. Both of the chapters of Shadows find Chalk channelling extended guitar mantras into a beautifully rich minimalism that could easily be confused with the work of Phill Niblock or Eliane Radigue. Both tracks here are constructed from slowly revolving patterns of delicate harmonics floating around an omnipresent timbral drone, with one being considerably darker thanks to an emphasis on low-end frequencies. For all of the times that we've referenced Mr. Chalk's work in describing somebody else's dronings, it's very nice to actually hear something from the master himself. Oh yeah, all of the copies have handmade sleeves and have been signed by Chalk himself. Very highly recommended.
MPEG Stream: "1/2"
MPEG Stream: "2/2"

CHALK, ANDREW The Cable House (Faraway Press) cd 21.00
The arrival of a new Andrew Chalk album is always a cause for celebration, and now this record re-appears after a very small vinyl pressing last year. Mr. Chalk has long stood as one of our favorite drone composers over the years, beginning with his early contributions to the more placid Organum recordings, through his exemplary collaborative work in Mirror and Ora, and onto his near perfect catalogue of solo recording self-released through his Faraway Press. Through the more recent recordings Goldfall and Time Of Hayfield, the timbre of Chalk's work has brightened a bit, even as that brightening occurs between the spectrum of shadowy grey to sodden blue. Like Goldfall, The Cable House is an album sourced from piano; but where the notes on that earlier album loosely trailed amidst a gossamer web of bleary dronings, The Cable House has a considerably more purposeful set of melodic structures, pushing Chalk's work much closer into the realm of Satie's Furniture Music than ever before. Nonetheless, Chalk is masterful at extracting soft ringings of echo, restrained attack, and muted reverberations from his piano. It would be hard to imagine even someone like Eno or Basinski being able to craft something more elegant, more shimmering, more beautiful.
Like the cd, the artwork features hand printed woodblock prints.
MPEG Stream: "The Arkay Stream"
MPEG Stream: "Mgachi"
MPEG Stream: "Naybuchi"

CHALK, ANDREW The Cable House (Faraway Press) lp 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The arrival of a new Andrew Chalk album is always a cause for celebration, doubly so when it's one of his scarce productions on vinyl. Mr. Chalk has long stood as one of our favorite drone composers over the years, beginning with his early contributions to the more placid Organum recordings, through his exemplary collaborative work in Mirror and Ora, and onto his near perfect catalogue of solo recording self-released through his Faraway Press. Through the more recent recordings Goldfall and Time Of Hayfield, the timbre of Chalk's work has brightened a bit, even as that brightening occurs between the spectrum of shadowy grey to sodden blue. Like Goldfall, The Cable House is an album sourced from piano; but where the notes on that earlier album loosely trailed amidst a gossamer web of bleary dronings, The Cable House has a considerably more purposeful set of melodic structures, pushing Chalk's work much closer into the realm of Satie's Furniture Music than ever before. Nonetheless, Chalk is masterful at extracting soft ringings of echo, restrained attack, and muted reverberations from his piano. It would be hard to imagine even someone like Eno or Basinski being able to craft something more elegant, more shimmering, more beautiful.
The artwork features hand printed woodblock prints, rendering each piece just slightly different from one another. As a result of the laborious printing process, Chalk has only made 300 copies.

CHALK, ANDREW The River That Flows Into The Sand (Faraway Press) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yup, it appears that Andrew Chalk has retained the impressive workload he and Christoph Heemann had managed for their now defunct project Mirror. The River That Flows Into The Sand is the second album in as many months to emerge from Andrew Chalk's own Faraway Press. Like it's predecessor Shadows From The Album Skies, this album is a reissue of a cd-r originally released in a very small edition. However, Chalk has decided to truly develop Faraway Press into a viable cottage industry, encasing all of his work in elaborately hand-packaged constructions, that rival the original Zoviet France assemblages in terms of innovative design. How he managed to print these is a bit of a mystery, although Cup and Jim think it to be a form of decalcomania, in which an image is delicately transferred from one surface to another. Regardless, it doesn't hurt that Chalk again has produced an immaculate drone album housed within the beautiful packaging.
For many years now, the guitar has been the instrument of choice for Chalk's minimalist explorations; and here on The River, he's tightroping between the ghostly impressionism of Keiji Haino's Nijumu project from many moons ago, the narcoleptic atmospheres of Maeror Tri / Troum, the oceanic ambience of Boris' Flood, and the time-reversal qualities of Eliane Radigue. Undulations of extended sounds cascade from his guitar, occasionally rippling with beautiful half melodies. This is a a drop dead gorgeous album, and may even be better than the aforementioned Shadows From The Album Skies. We can't recommend this album enough!
MPEG Stream: "One "
MPEG Stream: "Two"
MPEG Stream: "Three"

CHALK, ANDREW The River That Flows Into The Sands II (Faraway Press) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The sequel to the River That Flows Into The Sand was originally released through Andrew Chalk's Faraway Press imprint as a super-limited edition cassette in early 2006. We never managed to get a hold of those cassettes; and it goes without saying that they disappeared before we could even blink. Thankfully, Chalk has re-released all of that material on cd, remastered by the inimitable Colin Potter. As on the first part of The River, Chalk picks up the guitar for his minimalist explorations tightroping between the ghostly impressionism of Keiji Haino's Nijiumu project from many moons ago, the narcoleptic atmospheres of Maeror Tri / Troum, the oceanic ambience of Boris' Flood, and the time-reversal qualities of Eliane Radigue, all the while putting to shame every upstart drone artist with a cd burner and an Echoplex.
Just as the first River cd meanders through five variations of the cascade sound, Chalk produces another five tracks of rippling drones on this disc. Similarly, he has packaged the disc in the dotted decalcomania which graced the first cd. The major differences can be found in the gritty, growling distortion which exists just beneath the surface of these glassine drones. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!
MPEG Stream: "The River II, track 2"
MPEG Stream: "The River II, track 4"
MPEG Stream: "The River II, track 5"

CHALK, ANDREW Time Of Hayfield (Faraway Press) cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Andrew Chalk has long been one of our favorite drone composers here at Aquarius Records (if not THE favorite!!!). Even though Mr.Chalk has been busy releasing cds in recent years, Goldfall (from early 2006) was actually the last new piece of work that this master of the drone had produced until this one, Time Of Hayfield. His work is slowly shifting toward a brightly cast sensibility, even as he continues to emply soft focus impressionism of his ringing overtones and dynamic vibrations. Again, as on Goldfall, Chalk employs the talents of Vikki Jackman on the piano as some of the source material here. The airy, ethereal ambience of Chalk's drones shimmer as if they were the reflections of the sun striking the windswept body of water of your choice. For us, it would obviously be the cold waters off the Northern California coast; but for Mr. Chalk living in the northeast of England, it's the North Sea. There's something bitingly cold about this album; but the slippery icy drones that evolve and tumble in their organic cycles enjoy a beauty so profound as to ameliorate anything threatening and hostile. A beautiful, airy, and meditative drone record.
As with all of his self-released records on Faraway Press, the packaging is as immaculate as the sounds within; but there's a twist to the packaging. Chalk printed at least six different covers, each with a replication of a pastoral painting depicting some vintage slice of British country life. All are very nice, so there's no reason to fret!
MPEG Stream: "Temperance"
MPEG Stream: "Suspended In The Air"
MPEG Stream: "A World Displaced"

CHALK, ANDREW Vega (Faraway Press) cd 21.00
BACK IN PRINT WITH NEW ARTWORK!! Sometime back in 2005, Andrew Chalk manufactured a tiny edition of what had been rumored to be the soundtrack to a self-produced film entitled Vega. When several journalists published their findings about the magnificent drones housed within that instantly out-of-print cd-r on Brainwashed.com and in The Wire, many of Chalk's die-hard fans were left disappointed at the existence of what might have been one of their favorite Andrew Chalk recordings had they ever had the opportunity to actually hear it.
While Mr. Chalk maintains a very quiet demeanor and hardly ventures into the public eye these days, he's been hard at work ensuring that his recently formed Faraway Press actually keeps up with the orders for the records that he's been recording. Vega is one such record that he so dearly wanted to re-release sooner, had it not been for the inevitability of delays. It's clear to see why delays would have been incurred on the packaging for Vega, as the original cd-r was housed in a filigree of black lace surrounding a paper sleeve, which amounted to a delicate and frustratingly time-consuming process in terms of putting together each cd-r.
As for the music within, Vega is simply stunning. Far more vaporous and free-floating than the previous solo outing The River That Flows Into The Sand and certainly more so than any of the Mirror recordings, Vega acts as an aural narcotic, sedating the listener through a constantly shifting, slow motion churn of chiming guitar drones, almost resembling the kosmische-tinged melancholia heard in the Aeolian String Ensemble's dronescaping. As bleary and amorphous as Chalk's drone-clusters are, he's always had the knack for keeping them just dissonant enough so that they do not fall into the ambient trap of background music. Sublime as ever. Recommended just like all of his other work.
MPEG Stream: "Vega 1"
MPEG Stream: "Vega 3"