CLIENTELE, THE Strange Geometry (Merge) cd 13.98
Go ahead slip this new Clientele album right in next to your Big Star and Go-Betweens albums. Strange Geometry fits like a glove, don't it? These Londoners continue merrily along on their gentle retro pop path, and that's a very good thing for them to do. Check out the mistily wistful "My Own Face Inside The Trees". Geez, band leader Alasdair Maclean has such a charming voice and great taste in art to boot... the cover features one of surrealist Paul Delvaux's train paintings from 1963! Darkly beautiful just like the music.
MPEG Stream: "Since K Got Over Me"
MPEG Stream: "My Own Face Inside The Trees"

CLIENTELE, THE Strange Geometry (Merge) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Go ahead slip this new Clientele album right in next to your Big Star and Go-Betweens albums. Strange Geometry fits like a glove, don't it? These Londoners continue merrily along on their gentle retro pop path, and that's a very good thing for them to do. Check out the mistily wistful "My Own Face Inside The Trees". Geez, band leader Alasdair Maclean has such a charming voice and great taste in art to boot... the cover features one of surrealist Paul Delvaux's train paintings from 1963! Darkly beautiful just like the music.
MPEG Stream: "Since K Got Over Me"
MPEG Stream: "My Own Face Inside The Trees"

CLIENTELE, THE The Violet Hour (Merge) cd 14.98
Right from the get-go, The Clientele's debut full length is a dizzyingly swirly trip. Hard to believe this is their first album proper! The Violet Hour is the follow-up to their excellent collection of singles, Suburban Light, which was released a couple of years ago. The highly affected drowsy vocals and woozy reverbed guitars both courtesy of Alasdair MacLean, Mark Keen's fluttering piano and James Hornsey's languid bass all keep things wonderfully reeling and quite reminiscent of '60s psychedelic pop. Often very Donovan-esque. The only thing to keep you grounded is Keen's steady tick-tock drumming. Simply put, The Violet Hour is a gorgeous listen -- a baker's dozen of softly glistening and understated songs to warm our chilly San Francisco summer eves. Oh and this cd includes bonus treats in the form of two videos! Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "The Violet Hour"
MPEG Stream: "Missing"

CLIFFORD THORNTON NEW ART ENSEMBLE Freedom & Unity (Atavistic / Unheard Music) cd 14.98

CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS 5 Cents A Piece (Abduction) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Maybe it's a good thing that the Climax Golden Twins don't put out a lot of records. That way, when one of their damaged recordings of post-everything psychedelia marred with hallucinatory sound collages does come our way, we can savor it all the more. Along comes 5 Cents A Piece, and we couldn't be happier. Yup, this is a fucking great record. Is it their best? Maybe. But it most certainly ranks as one of the musical triumphs of 2007.
In many ways, the Twins have operated on parallel tracks to their geographical / spiritual brothers from the Sun City Girls, with the Twins mining more from the underbelly of Americana than the esoterica of South-East Asian pop. But Messrs Taylor and Millis are not without an appetite for such eccentricities, as Robert Millis continues to be an occasional contributor to the always exceptional Sublime Frequencies series. That said, the Twins are no longer a duo as they had been for so many years; here, on 5 Cents A Piece they've added the talents of percussionist Dave Abramson to their lineup. His quick turns from cosmo-rock hammerfist to free-jazz tumble down the stairs to plinkering vaudevillian backbeats make for the perfect foil to the twin guitar splatter of Taylor and Millis. As much as Abramson's presence is noticed on 5 Cents A Piece, the auditory dementia of Taylor and Millis steers the album (if it can be called 'steering,' that is). At times, they throw themselves

CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS Dream Cut Short In The Mysterious Clouds (Meme) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Climax Golden Twins specialize in the avant-garde pastiche, in which the band cuts up deep drone hypnosis, Raster-esque sinewave manipulation, and improv rock fragments. Much like the early 80s mail art projects of Bladder Flast or P16.D4.

CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS Eerie Fragrance (Etude) lp 15.98
The Climax Golden Twins have always had their hands in as many cookie jars as they could; and all of the records are true adventures in sound that could include fucked-up collages of old 78s, thudding art-rock that has earned them opening spots for Sonic Youth, blissful ambience for narcoleptic art-installations, clattering urban gamelan presentations, and plenty more. Eerie Fragrance hits all of these marks and then some, having originally been released as a cassette back in 1995. The original title to the cassette was Eyeless Formation, but has been redubbed as Eerie Fragrance for the vinyl reissue. There's also a couple of extra tracks which didn't appear on the original cassette which had appeared on compilations from around the same time period.
The album quickly revolves through a collage of improvised bursts that accelerates up to an unsettled loop of a woman possibly in the midst of a breakup repeating her pleas over a turgid thrumb of static and rumbling drone which spills out of a series of peculiar squeaks and squiggles. As such, these moments have more in common with Nurse With Wound than their geographical and spiritual neighbors in the Sun City Girls; but is certainly well within the scope of CGT's esoteric collages. Noirish loops and raucous crowd noise tumble out of the beginning of the flipside, with guitar plucks that sound more like rubber bands snapping in the distant. Artifacts of tape noise and crusty debris inhabit a set of overlapping loops topped with gnarled scrapes on the guitar. Crunches of leaves and thick industrial field recordings give way to seasick wooden creakings, laughing gulls, and bellowing foghorns. As disconnected as all of these elements appear after the fact, they all work rather effortlessly in the context of this recording. Really great!
MPEG Stream: "excerpt"

CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS Highly Bred and Sweetly Tempered (North East Indie) cd 14.98
2004 release from this mysterious Northwestern band of ambient dronesters and another quite fine piece of work. Always unpredictable, and always sonically shifting, this time around, CGT have embarked on a more music based route and less a purely soundbased one. The main intruments here are sweetly reverbed piano and acoustic guitar, gently strummed and delicately finger picked. All settled in dense beds of lush ambience, whispery drones, found sounds, hazy Latin Playboys-esque guitar leads, displaced snippets of conversation, shimmering clouds of whir and hum, and even occasional brushed drumming. A very minimal, melancholic space-y post rock vibe. Fans of Godspeed, Calexico, Dirty Three and all sorts of drone-y dreamy indie drift will be in heaven!
MPEG Stream: "Dead People"
MPEG Stream: "Billy McGee McGaw"

CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS Imperial Household Orchestra (Scratch Recordings) cd 14.98
Another brilliant, corroded, and demented facet of the Climax Golden Twins is found on the reissue of their 1996 debut full-length cd. From the release of this album, it became clear that the Sun City Girls were no longer the only game in town, when it came to fucked-up deconstructions of noise-rock propulsion with South East Asian overtones and painterly freeform improvisations. In a lot of ways, this album is a slightly more focused version of the Sun City Girls' 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda, sans the Bollywood punk tunes blurted out by Alan Bishop. Yeah, it's that good!
The principle Twins (maestros Robert Millis and Jeffery Taylor) invited eight musicians to join them and producer Scott Colburn for a series of studio driven improvisations, which were in turn sculpted into this "epic masterpiece," as Colburn later quipped and to which we can certainly agree. The urban gamelan infused improvisations meander through rhythmic tinklings upon metal bells and vibraphones, which provide a queasy Martin Denny air of tropical sicknesses abundant in every buzz, rasp, and clang of the ensemble's polyphonous scatter. As much as these elements do recall the equally skittering moments of the Sun City Girls, the Climax Golden Twins growl with the best of the post-hardcore noiseniks on Blast First (e.g. Sonic Youth, Big Black, A.C. Temple, Head of David, etc.) with some volatile, Mack-truck riffage scraping across lumbering backbeats with ample amounts of amplifier mangling distortion. Fucking great, we say!
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 7"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 10"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 14"

CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS Lovely (Anomalous) cd 13.98
Of the three or four records that I've heard from The Climax Golden Twins, this idiosyncratic Seattle trio of sound experimentalists seem to re-invent themselves with each record, offering fractured field recordings, cannibalized ethno-rock (a la Sun City Girls), surgically creepy soundtracks (as in their 'Session 9' score), and now a sleepytime album of ambient pleasantries in "Lovely." According to the Twins, this album was recorded "sometime ago and then forgotten," only to resurface in a number of different forms, first as a sound accompaniment to some artwork at a Seattle gallery, then as a CD-R on Gravelvoice, who packaged the album with a pillow, and now with a more pragmatic package thanks to Anomalous Records. Like Robert Rich's Sleep Concerts, "Lovely" intends to lull its listeners to sleep; but fortunately, the Climax Golden Twins do not saturate their work with new age sentimentalism or factory pre-set synth sounds. While their methods are not entirely clear, it appears that the Climax Golden Twins use drone guitars, long stringed instruments, and tons of effects boxes looped back upon themselves to create a sweeping atmosphere not far from the Aeolian String Ensemble or Nurse With Wound's "Soliloquy For Lilith."
RealAudio clip: "Lovely"

CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS s/t (Conspiracy) lp 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Our pals at Conspiracy Records, a label/distro based in Belgium, who in the past have brought us records by Boris, Jesu, Shora and more, are this year celebrating their 10 year anniversary. A decade of amazing music. From a bedroom based punk rock label, to one of Europe's most important and influential labels and distros, all we can say is HURRAY! And HUZZAH! It's always so exciting, when a bunch of folks get together to spread the word about great music, great WEIRD music, and survive, even thrive. Such is the case with Conspiracy. And as if that weren't already enough, just knowing that some great people were selling some amazing music, those sweeties at Conspiracy have decided to share the love with us. And you.
To celebrate their 10th anniversary, they've decided to do a super limited subscription series, 12 records over 12 months, each limited to somewhere between 200-500 copies, ONLY available to series subscribers. EXCEPT, they've decided to let AQ have 20 copies of each, we're the only store with copies of these subscriber only lps, and for a brief moment, we can offer them to you, our loyal AQ customers. Needless to say we are thrilled, as the series lineup reads like a who's who of AQ faves, as well as including a handful of lesser knowns. All pressed on super thick vinyl, and packaged in killer hand screened original art sleeves. But be warned, we only got 20 of each, and we will run out fast and we will not be able to get more. When we do run out, there is a chance you can still get one from Conspiracy direct, but what that means is act fast and prepare to leave empty handed.
We knew the Climax Golden Twins were a strange lot. Their records were totally unpredictable, lovely and dreamlike one moment, damaged and demented the next. This just may be the strangest one yet. Two sides, both drastically different, each side has a mysterious etching in the runoff groove, one side says "Vintage Pulchritude", the other says "Ambient Caveman", which should have been our first clue!
The first side is a woozy assemblage of sounds, seemingly drawn from old films, bits of dialogue, snippets of music, all bizarre when taken out of context and butted up against another random bit of speech or sound. But the various snippets are deftly woven into a dreamlike surreal whole, wrapped in crystalline clouds of record crackle, tape hiss, sine waves and various other random ambient influences. Really gorgeous to listen to, but truly haunting and bizarre.
The second side starts on much more familiar CGT territory, with gentle lilting folks, melancholy melodies, left to drift through soundscapes of fuzz and hiss, distant muted percussion, thumps and shuffles, a sort of abstract freak folk that sort of just hovers and drifts. But then all of a sudden, the band launches into a fully rocked out jam, that sounds more like math metal than anything. Hard to say if it was played or sampled, but it quickly dissipates into more abstract dreaminess. But they're not done fucking with us yet. The record closes with another wild jam, this time it's a old school echoey Stoogesy garage rock stomp, raw and propulsive, super distorted and ultra rocking. Cool stuff. Definitely hard to pin down, and we always seem to be knocked for a loop, but that's exactly why we love these guys so much.
Gorgeous hand screened cover and nice thick vinyl. These two will be gone before you know it...

CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS s/t (Locations) (Fire Breathing Turtle) cd 13.98
This is a record that shouldn't be around; yet, against the odds, we have a handful of these discs in stock for the moment. The Climax Golden Twins refer to this eponymous CD as Locations although we can't find any reference to that title on the all white, embossed folding cardstock. In recent years, Robert Millis of the Twins has produced some of the finer contributions to the Sublime Frequencies series of obscure ethnomusicology, including the Phi Ta Khon DVD and the Harmika Yab Yum compilation from Tibet. And, had this 1998 collage of field recordings and shortwave radio transmissions been released in this day and age, it surely would have warranted a Sublime Frequencies release, as it fits so closely within their agenda. Yet, it remains a Climax Golden Twins production, and given CGT's radically eclectic aesthetic sensibility (Victrola 78 collages, cannibalized psychedelia, horror soundtracks, long-form dronemusik, etc.), why not call this a Climax Golden Twins record? So what we have here is an interwoven collage from unspecified locations, with some of the locales being more obvious than others. The temple gongs and bells getting banged about with jubilant indeterminance are from South-East Asia (probably being Javanese Gamelan), the deeply reverential incantations set against clouds of crickets could be from any Muslim temple in Asia, and only an etymologist could pinpoint where in the world those cicadas could be residing. Altogether, a mighty fine collage of phonography before such a term was coined.
MPEG Stream: "Track 1"
MPEG Stream: "Track 2"
MPEG Stream: "Track 3"

CLINE, NELS Chest (Little Brother) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Gorgeous guitar improv jazz meets Sonic Youthian noise from Nels' talented trio. Vinyl boasts an extra track.

CLINE, NELS Chest (Little Brother) 2lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Gorgeous guitar improv jazz meets Sonic Youthian noise from Nels' talented trio. Vinyl boasts an extra track.

CLINE, NELS Coward (Crytogramaphone) cd 17.98
We've always had much respect for Nels Cline, his guitar playing skills are undeniable for sure, but for SOME of us, it wasn't actually until this solo outing that we've been able to totally fall in love with a Nels Cline album. Coward is one of the most languid, eclectic, yet strangely and enchantingly fluid solo guitar albums we've heard in ages. While there have been no shortage of great solo guitar records lately, as good as many of them are they all tend to be quite narrow in scope. There are either the John Fahey/Takoma school followers whose records are filled with finger picked sweeping pastoral Appalachia from beginning to end, or the drone guitar records, many of which we love, but again don't show much of a range in scope or sound. It's definitely a credit to many of those artists that they stick to what they know and do it very well, but when you're Nels Cline, you know SO MUCH about the guitar and its infinite range of sonic possibilities, and Coward finds him exploring so many of those possibilities with brilliant results! Whether sprawling or rustic, melodic or deconstructed, he's found ways to create sounds and songs that are brimming with personality, mood and emotion. He's also not afraid to get all lush and beautiful, or dark and mysterious, this is most definitely a record that truly has something for almost any music lover.
We hear a spirit and adventurous streak similar to records by greats like Baden Powell, we also hear more moody elements that have us thinking of Loren Connors, as well as fractured noisy moments that could be on a Tetuzi Akiyama record, but most of all a sense of true songwriting and melodic capability with the guitar, that recalls the gorgeous guitarscapes of Roy Montgomery. Nels Cline has proven that he's not only an extremely talented musician but also an artist with a rich imagination and soulful way with sound. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Thurston County"
MPEG Stream: "The Nomad's Home"
MPEG Stream: "X Change(s)"

CLINE, NELS Destroy All Nels Cline (Atavistic) cd 14.98
AQ-fave, LA-based guitarist Nels Cline returns with a "big band" effort. Not big band in the Benny Goodman or Count Basie sense, but in group larger than his usual trio or duo format, with up to five guitarists (including Nels) tangling strings, with his brother Alex on drums, plus occasional keyboards, electric harp (courtesy of Zeena Parkins) and clarinet. G.E. Stinson, Bob Mair, Carla Bozulich, Woody Aplanalp, Wayne Peet plus the aforementioned (the usual suspects, really) all participate in destroying all Nels Cline... Which means his usual gorgeous guitar-based compositions/improvisations, somewhere on the free jazz-to-Sonic Youth spectrum. There's pure skronky-skree, and droning ambient stuff, and jazzy melodicism, and melancholic post-rock soundscapes. It's another fine Nels Cline disc indeed, at times haunting, at times stormy, always beautiful!
RealAudio clip: "As In Life"
RealAudio clip: "Progression"
RealAudio clip: "Spider Wisdom"
RealAudio clip: "Chicagoan"

CLINE, NELS The Inkling (Cryptogramophone) cd 14.98
Nice, mellow new recording from AQ-fave avant-jazz guitarist Nels Cline. Featuring Mark Dresser on bass, Zeena Parkins on harp and electric harp and Billy Mintz on drums.

CLINE, NELS / DEVIN SARNO Buried On Bunker Hill (Ground Fault) cd 11.98
This new release from AQ fave avant-guitarist Mr. Nels Cline sees him teamed up with his old compatriot Devin Sarno, the avant-bassist who records solo under the name Crib. An exploration in ambient, instrumental, percussion-free postrock, Buried On Bunker Hill is labeled as being part of the Ground Fault label's Series I, which supposedly means "quiet" experimental music as opposed to loud and noisy experimental music (it's a three-tiered system, with Series III being the extreme end of sheer power electronics noise, and Series II somewhere in the middle). But hey, a lot of that has to do with where you set the volume knob on your stereo! So don't get the idea that these abstract, presumably improvised guitar/bass duets are in any way tame, though they are quite pretty, and yes, sometimes quiet, at which points you'll recall for a moment that Nels is supposed to be a jazz guitarist. But then the volume swells to room-filling heights... These four tracks (totalling 55 minutes) are gorgeous, detailed drone works, soothing but active and dynamic. If this is 'experimental music', the experiment in question was undoubtedly a success. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Swinging London"

CLINE, NELS SINGERS Draw Breath (Cryptogramaphone) cd 16.98
We are glad to report that Nels Cline hasn't let his high profile gig as guitarist for Wilco get in the way of his prolific output. Before he got the gig with Wilco, Cline was one of the most respected avant guitarists in the country. He continues to work within the improv, jazz and avant garde worlds demonstrating that for once that you in fact can have your cake and keep it true too. Draw Breath is classic Nels Cline showing both his introspective moody playing alongside his more charged and out-jazz leanings. His group on this outing is Scott Amendola on drums, percussion & electronics, Devin Hoff on contrabass and his Wilco cohort Glenn Kotche adds some percussion and glockenspiel on one track as well. Good stuff!
MPEG Stream: "Caved In Heart"
MPEG Stream: "Recognize II"

CLINE, NELS SINGERS Initiate (Cryptogramophone) 2cd 16.98
Newest outing by the ultra talented "jazz" guitarist Nels Cline, who has played in many non-jazz acts like Evangelista and most famously Wilco. Two whole discs (one studio, one live) that go from the really subdued and pretty to totally skronkin' and rockin'. If you liked previous Nels Cline Singers outings you'll like this too - and by the way, for those new to 'em, no, there's no singing!
Once again Cline is accompanied by drummer Scott Amendola and bassist Devin Hoff, and there's also plenty of guests including Greg Saunier, David Witham, Yuka Honda, and others. From mid '70s Miles-like fusion funk to Thurston Moore style noise guitar, these two discs would be good ones to "initiate" noobs into Cline's non-indie-rock stylings, as well as being satisfying for long time fans.
MPEG Stream: "Into It"
MPEG Stream: "Fly Fly"
MPEG Stream: "Zingiber"
MPEG Stream: "Blues, Too"

CLINE, NELS SINGERS Instrumentals (Cryptogramophone) cd 15.98
No, there's no singing, and these ARE instrumentals...'The Nels Cline Singers' is just Mr. Cline's clever name for what's really the new version of his fantastic Trio. Nels on electric guitar (of course, for he is the master of that instrument), plus bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Scott Amendola, create jazz (is it?) and/or rock music that's both noisy and blissful. Some tracks are downright melodically catchy, some others work through repetition and drone. The heavy, bluesy "Lowered Boom" is a departure for Cline, showing off his Hendrix-inspired chops...other tracks dip into the languid, liquid pool of jazzier Cline fare past, as in "Lucia" where the Singers paint a gentle watercolor in sound. Then the distortion kicks in for the 15+ minute epic "Blood Drawing" that sees the trio scaling to some intense heights. Their energy level is always high, even with the moments of restraint. 'Post rock' fans should do themselves a favor and check out Mr. Cline's work, starting with this disc, and see how he and his band destroy all the indie darlings who do the quiet/loud instrumental thing... Recommended!!
RealAudio clip: "Blood Drawing"
RealAudio clip: "Cause For Concern"
RealAudio clip: "Suspended Head"

CLINE, NELS SINGERS The Giant Pin (Cryptogramophone) cd 16.98
Yay! Our pal Nels ("the world's most dangerous guitarist" sez the sticker on here, quoting Jazz Times) is back with another album from his current trio, The Nels Cline Singers, who besides guitar-danger-guy Nels, consist of bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Scott Amendola, who are also...umm...hazardous on their respective instruments. As far as avant-fusion out-guitar jazz rock whatever goes, these guys are pros. And, don't let the name fool you, this is all instrumental, the singing part is an ironic joke, eh? It's all about shut up and play your guitar (or bass, or drums, respectively). Yet all this firepower is put to the service of a greater good, or beauty we might say. Able to shift from happy bouncy jazz to flesh-ripping skronk without so much as a how d'you do, these eleven new tracks provide exactly what we expect (and love) from Cline and Co. Free jazz improv, Sonic Youthesque squall, post-rock dynamics, abstract textural experiments... And yes, it all comes together into something quite beautiful and exciting. It's been a while since I've seen 'em play (Nels seemingly always pops into the store to say hello AFTER he plays a show up here, instead of before, which means I've missed a few due to not being on the ball) and this new disc sure makes me eager to see 'em again!
MPEG Stream: "Fly Fly"
MPEG Stream: "Square King"

CLINE, NELS TRIO Silencer (Enja) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Allan's favorite Nels Cline album! Yeah, it's on Enja, it's got lots of lovely jazz on it, but there's also some noisy stuff too.

CLINE, NELS TRIO Silencer (Enja) cd 15.98
One of the great things about doing our list, is reviewing reissues of stuff we LOVE that we never got to list before. Old faves from the pre-list days. Of course, it's always tough too, when you want to explain just WHY something is so amazing and essential. When it's a record you've loved for years and years, there's a lot of pressure to do it justice. This list, for instance, you'll find our review of Oxbow's King Of The Jews, These Trails, and surely a few other old faves, this Nels Cline album most definitely among them, and its hard not to just say, in all caps, BUY THIS DAMMIT, YOU WON'T BE SORRY, IT'S THE BEST!!!
That's our feeling about this for sure. The very first Nels Cline album we came across, and the first by his Trio, originally released on Enja in 1992, out of print for ages, now finally reissued in a spiffy new digipack. Nels Cline then was an underground jazz guitarist, who has since become an alt-rock guitar guy too, playing in Wilco, and with Thurston Moore, Mike Watt, Carla Bozulich, and others, amassing a diverse and impressive discography.
Silencer is "jazz" all right, and jazz too, without the quotes. Ten tracks, epic and exquisite instrumentals, full of out-there skree and sublime beauty, performed by Nels on guitars, with Michael Prusser on drums and Mark London Sims on bass.
This album eases the listener in, beginning with a take on Gil Evans' "Las Vegas Tango" (all the other tracks are Cline compositions), that's just lovely, Cline's guitar with soft edges on it... then as the album progresses, the "dangerous" side of his playing is revealed. The soft edges remain, but there's jagged ones too. But even when things get tangled and noisy, it's gorgeous, and still swings. The trio has great chemistry, it's not just all about Cline's guitar (though he's definitely the star). Some highlights: the bumptious "Broasted" (which gets heavy/distorted enough to almost pass for a Stinking Lizaveta track!), the spacious 14+ minute "Lapsing (Part 1&2)", the subtle skronk of "Silencer", and the moody hum/hush of "Exiled" (one we think Bohren fans would appreciate)...
This came out not long after the late, great guitarist Sonny Sharrock's final, brilliant album Ask The Ages (which really needs to be reissued too!!), we'd probably just discovered him about the same time we got clued into Cline. If you like Sharrock, Cline is certainly one of his spiritual descendants, in the realm of "free" "jazz" "fusion".
Maybe 'cause it was our first Nels disc, but also 'cause it's so good, this has always been our favorite, though you can't go wrong with anything the man has ever done as far as we're concerned. So very recommended, as if you couldn't tell already.
MPEG Stream: "Mags"
MPEG Stream: "Broasted"
MPEG Stream: "Silencer"

CLINE, NELS, TRIO Ground (Krown Pocket) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Nels is Mike Watt's new guitarist. Amazing rock-jazz, jazzrock.

CLINE, NELS, TRIO Sad (Little Brother) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Nels (known to some as Geraldine Fibbers guitarist and Thurston Moore collaborator/pal, known to us as being just one of our favorite dang guitarists in the world, whether he's doing some smooth jazz number, spiky free improv noise, or beautiful dronescapes--all of which can be found on this new NCT recording, which is cause for much rejoicing round these parts) Cline rules!

CLINE, PATSY Walking and Dreaming (Masked Weasel) cd 14.98
Here's the real deal! Vintage recordings of Ms Patsy Cline! This generous serving of 23 songs from the '50s showcases her awesome voice and stylistic range beautifully. Walking And Dreaming is part of an impressive reissue series of classic old country artists from the mysterious Oakland, CA label The Masked Weasel. Also featured in the series thus far are great collections of early recordings by Willie Nelson, Buck Owens and Waylon Jennings. AQ friend and country music expert Kurt Wolff (author of the Rough Guide To Country Music, among other things) contributed the fine liner notes for each volume of the series.
MPEG Stream: "Walkin' After Midnight"
MPEG Stream: "Stop, Look And Listen"

CLINIC Bubblegum (Domino) cd 14.98
Clinic are a band who hit the scene with such a refreshing splash of perfected art-rock a decade ago and while they haven't really released anything bad, it can be argued that they did make the same record several times and the freshness that we once felt had turned a bit stale. But with Bubblegum the band seems to have injected a bit of new life and explored a broader sound palette to add to their distinctive sound. And while we can't deny that these songs sound cool there's still something that seems to be missing, that keeps us from getting too excited.
MPEG Stream: "I'm Aware"
MPEG Stream: "Freemason Waltz"

CLINIC Come Into Our Room (Domino) cd ep 6.98
While our #1 Clinic fan (Sadie) is out on the road, we're gonna try our best to give you the word on the new Clinic release in her absence. This 3-song EP's title track comes from their most recent full length Walking With Thee and is accompanied by two non-album tracks. "Circle I" is really speedy garage-punk number that's just over a minute and a half long (note: this song is not included on the vinyl version). Frantic buzzsaw guitar and Ade Blackburn's sly guy vocals. Think the Cramps meet the Violent Femmes meet Plastic Bertrand. The third song is called "Christmas" and shows the Clinic's gentler side - slowing things down considerably with its strolling pace kept in time by clip-clop woodblock. Happy holidays in May? Heck, why not?
RealAudio clip: "Circle I"
RealAudio clip: "Christmas"

CLINIC Come Into Our Room (Domino) 7" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While our #1 Clinic fan (Sadie) is out on the road, we're gonna try our best to give you the word on the new Clinic release in her absence. This 3-song EP's title track comes from their most recent full length Walking With Thee and is accompanied by two non-album tracks. "Circle I" is really speedy garage-punk number that's just over a minute and a half long (note: this song is not included on the vinyl version). Frantic buzzsaw guitar and Ade Blackburn's sly guy vocals. Think the Cramps meet the Violent Femmes meet Plastic Bertrand. The third song is called "Christmas" and shows the Clinic's gentler side - slowing things down considerably with its strolling pace kept in time by clip-clop woodblock. Happy holidays in May? Heck, why not?
RealAudio clip: "Christmas"

CLINIC Do It! (Domino) cd 14.98

CLINIC Internal Wrangler (Domino) cd 14.98
Having never really concerned myself with reading NME or Melody Maker, I'd have no idea if the hipster cliques at those two UK rags are raving about Clinic. But I'd be willing to put money (like a dollar or two) down that they are. Clinic emulates the avant-pop of The Fall but with a wavering vocalist much closer to the guy from Long Fin Killie. Potentially the second coming of the Beta Band. Import (hot hot hot).

CLINIC Three Piece (Domino) cd 13.98
Man, I am so into this band right now! This CD is a compilation featuring the tracks from the group's first three 7"s ("The Voot", "Monkey On Your Back" and "Cement Mixer" originally issued in 1997 on the Aladdins' Cave of Golf label). Clinic are four groovy boys from Liverpool that have been together for four years. They can comfortably be compared to such varied artists as The Velvet Underground, Stereolab, Can, Jesus & Mary Chain, the Stooges, and Suicide, but with their own touch of pop sensibilities. Their music is unique in that it is very rhythm dominated, and the vocals are a part of that. Instead of being about the lyrics and what they are saying, the voice is used as another percussive instrument. They also frequently use the melodica, which adds an eerie, childlike sound. Comparable to great pop of the past yet has its own sound. I wonder why they aren't as big as Radiohead.
RealAudio clip: "Evil Bill"
RealAudio clip: "Monkey On Your Back"

CLINIC Visitations (Domino) cd 14.98
Clinic will never be accused of drastically changing their sound. In fact their last few records kind of turn into a blur as it's hard to distinguish one from the other. That said they have their sound down to a science and do it very well. Visitations is another album of short concise songs that blast their way into that driving, foot stomping territory that they've become known for. Kind of like if Can were still around and had to make records for the A.D.D. generation, requiring all the songs to be around 3 minutes, catchy and to the point. We still think Clinic are a really good band, and this is by no means a bad record, it's actually pretty great, we just wish they would push themselves a bit and explore some new territory.
MPEG Stream: "Harvest (Within You)"
MPEG Stream: "Family"

CLINIC Walking With Thee (Domino) cd 14.98
Ah... at last the second full length record from this fucking amazing band from Liverpool. Driving, hectic drums, sinister vocals, Moogs, and either clarinet or melodica weave a sonic landscape of dance-y smartness, or smarty dance-ness. Obviously heavily influenced by old dub, Television, The Fall, Gang of Four, and some sweet, sweet Brit pop. But Clinic manages to take all of those influences and make something totally new and exciting. The singer sounds a lot like Thom Yorke of Radiohead, and there's a lot of the Beta Band too, in the diversity of influences yet firm grounding in indie rock. Add a solid rhythm, write some kick ass songs, and you've got Clinic. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Walking With Thee"
RealAudio clip: "Harmony"

CLINIC Walking With Thee (Domino) lp 14.98
Now available on vinyl!!
Ah... at last the second full length record from this fucking amazing band from Liverpool. Driving, hectic drums, sinister vocals, Moogs, and either clarinet or melodica weave a sonic landscape of dance-y smartness, or smarty dance-ness. Obviously heavily influenced by old dub, Television, The Fall, Gang of Four, and some sweet, sweet Brit pop. But Clinic manages to take all of those influences and make something totally new and exciting. The singer sounds a lot like Thom Yorke of Radiohead, and there's a lot of the Beta Band too, in the diversity of influences yet firm grounding in indie rock. Add a solid rhythm, write some kick ass songs, and you've got Clinic. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Walking With Thee"
RealAudio clip: "Harmony"

CLINIC Winchester Cathedral (Domino) cd 14.98
Their third full-length album, Winchester Cathedral offers a cohesion of the Clinic formula encouraging fan fidelity with their terrifically taut rhythm section (in the vein of This Heat) with North England-style folk arrangement and instrumentation and of course, Ade Blackburn's Liverpudlian-ly sexy vocals. Clinic seems to have honed their sound to a level of maturity and self-confidence that turns down a little of the art-angst heard in previous releases. Can't wait to see where they go from here!
MPEG Stream: "Country Mile"
MPEG Stream: "Circle of Fifths"

CLINTON Disco and the Halfway to Discontent (Luaka Bop/Astralwerks) cd 16.98
Tjinder Singh and Ben Ayres from Cornershop doing blippy offhanded material nobody here was impressed with. Sorry. Buyer beware.

CLIPD BEAKS Hoarse Lords (Love Pump Unlimited) cd 12.98
If we didn't know better, we might have thought this was a new release on Load. At least at first. It's got moments of jumbled atonality and sonic chaos, super distorted vocals, spastic drums, furious crunch and grind. BUT, it also has a really intense moody pop element. Sort of gothy and dark, with throbbing low slung bass, tribal drumming, and crooned super emotive vocals, often heavily effected and sent careening though thick clouds of reverb or dubbed out delay. It also sounds a bit new wave, propulsive and herky jerky, almost danceable at times. Imagine Joy Division or the Birthday Party as young noise rockers circa 2007, if they had grown up on the East Coast, were raised on noise rock and toured with Lightning Bolt and Usaisamonster. Super dramatic and dense, epic and tribalÉ
As the record progresses the pop element seeps into even the noisiest moments, sounding more and more like Duran Duran or Icicle Works yanked out of the safe confines of their new-romantic/new-wave world and thrust into some strange modern world of noise rock and post-post-dance-punk. Pretty cool.
MPEG Stream: "Melter"
MPEG Stream: "Hoarse Lords"

CLIPD BEAKS Preyers (Tigerbeat6) cd ep 10.98
A bird of a different feather has joined the formerly very electrono-art-brat-centric label Tigerbeat6. Now based in Oakland, CA these former Minnesotans' sound is one of molasses-thick, raw, churning goth-industrial and post-punk. On this their second release (their first on Tigerbeat6), Clipd Beaks are heavy on the dank gloom and murk, leaving little room for breath. A full length is promised soon. Cool stuff.
MPEG Stream: "No Horizons"
MPEG Stream: "Hash Angels"

CLIPSE Hell Hath No Fury (Re-Up Gang) cd 17.98

MPEG Stream: "Momma I'm So Sorry"
MPEG Stream: "Wamp Wamp (What It Do)"

CLIPSE Til The Casket Drops (Sony) cd 14.98
Not sure why we never listed the previous two Clipse records as they were definitely some of the best, most addictive and hard hitting hip-hop records to come out in the last decade. Combining the instantly gratifying production of modern day mainstream hip-hop while retaining an urgency and strength in vocal delivery that reminded us a lot of Rakim had his records been produced by The Neptunes. So we were way excited for 'Til The Casket Drops and while it's not terrible it just doesn't pack the same knockout punch that the previous records did. Somehow it feels a little more typical and mainstream, although there are for sure some totally fun and standout moments.
MPEG Stream: "Freedom"
MPEG Stream: "Counseling"

CLOACA Lassitude (Lone Vigil Recordings) cd 13.98
Lassitude is the very first release from the just launched UK label Lone Vigil, and is the debut of black industrial post metal doomlords Cloaca. Both the label and the band are fronted by Chris Naughton, he of doomsludge masters Atavist and neo pagan black metallers Winterfylleth, but Cloaca is a whole different beast than either of those two outfits, and while most descriptions peg Cloaca as 'experimental industrial doom', that might be a bit misleading. It might have you picturing a churning avant Godflesh or some sort of machinelike downtuned Swans, when in fact, the sound of Cloaca is much more organic, and much closer to the slow build post metal of groups like Pelican, Neurosis, Cult Of Luna, Snowblood, and Isis, the guitars lush and warm, the songs sprawling epics, with spiralling melodies, and dense tribal drumming, brooding and majestic, like a blackened Godspeed, building to explosive howled churning ultra metal blow outs, that transform into roiling chugging grooves, heavy and motorik and mesmerizing.
The songs spend much of their time drifting dreamily, spidery guitar melodies draped over loping post rock rhythms, and when they do get heavy, it's not always explosive crescendos, the band can lock into a riff and ride it out like some sort of black doom post metal Hawkwind, extended psychedelic cosmic metal jams that destroy, heaving hypnotically, thick sonic swells that churn and roil and eventually do explode into some serious heaviness, but it's not just big chords there either, the band get super dense and complex, start stop rhythms, mathy arrangements, thick and convoluted and so so heavy.
Throughout the record, Cloaca deftly flit from moody drift to soaring majesty, to metallic crush, wrapping impossibly hooky melodies and strange disembodied sampled voices around thick slabs of metallic hypnorock, a sound that's definitely hard to make your own, but these guys have definitely staked their claim on this chunk of epic brooding heaviness, that we would imagine few would be able to challenge.
Definitely essential listening for fans of Rosetta, Baroness, the Body, Grails, The Ocean, Angel Eyes, Tides, Souvenir's Young America, Mouth Of The Architect, Irepress, Indian, Conifer and other post metal alchemists...
MPEG Stream: "The Golden Path"
MPEG Stream: "Ghost Town"

CLOAK OF DISPLACEMENT F.D.K.L.S.O.M.F. (self-released) cd-r 4.50
Latest disc ov blasting lo-fi fucked up blackness from this Northwestern one man horde, another super limited self released jam (the last one was limited to 24 copies, which all came to us and all disappeared pretty much immediately). So fair warning, if you want to get your hands on this sick shit, be quick, or be very very disappointed.
No idea what F.D.K.L.S.O.M.F. stands for, but this is some super intense, super pummeling, buzz drenched, grim, kvlt, frosty, lo-fi, raw and primitive black metal skree.
Stumbling, mostly midtempo, the guitars buzz frantically, the vocals shriek wildly, the drums are chaotic and confusional, the songs don't really blast or plod, instead they seem to veer wildly, and druggily from tempo to tempo, slowing down, speeding up, this is about as raw as it gets, mostly brittle high end, guessing it's just drums and guitar, if there is a bass, it follows in the long tradition of inaudible black metal bass, but it hardly matters, this is all about the riff, and the atmosphere, and both are stellar, the riffs destroy, dense and angular and atonal, the atmosphere is definitely primitive and basement / practice space / dungeon / cave, lots of echo and reverb, and at its most frenzied it's a white noise squall, the vocals especially, but when it's not so in-the-red, it's like listening to some weird lost classic outsider black metal demo, which is pretty much what this is.
ULTRA LIMITED AGAIN, home brewed packaging, a weird little devil deer insert, all the cds in very generic, and entirely UNmetal primary colored paper sleeves. GRIM!
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 1"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 2"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 3"

CLOAK OF DISPLACEMENT Frusen Bjork Lund (self-released) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We originally discovered Cloak Of Displacement, via baffling black metallers Gargotheron, whose cd-r we went a little nuts for when we had it way back when. But it didn't take long for CoD to win us over, transforming the "Bone Awl meets Lightning Bolt" sound of Gargotheron into something filthier and blacker and doomier, a downtuned crusty blackened sprawl that seemed to ooze evil. Totally not typically black metal, or even metal really, more a chaotic stumbling super distorted electronic flecked blacknoize. Needless to say, we were down with the Cloak.
So we waited patiently, for going on two years now, and finally it's here, actually, THEY're here, two new discs from the mysterious Cloak Of Displacement, both of these are ultra limited, and we mean ULTRA, as in there are ONLY 24 COPIES!!!! That's it, and of those 24, we got TWENTY of them. So you know what that means, first 20 evil bastards to jab a gnarled claw into that add to cart button, will be feasting on CoD's grim black sonic banquet(s). And yeah, you're probably gonna want both, cuz they're both way different...
Frusen Bjork Lund is 4 tracks, nearly 50 minutes, of raw, pounding, lo-fi, filthy, fucked up and BIZARRE primitive black metal, the buzz is muted and way down in the mix, the drums are a chaotic stumble, the vocals are sick and inhuman and go from guttural growl to mix destroying caterwaul, not that the already damaged mix needs and more destroying, it's a confusional, head spinning, brittle bit of crunch and blast and howl, weird as fuck, definitely essential listening for folks (like us), who like their blackness as baffling and as unhinged as (in)humanly possible. There's warped feedback, bizarre kitchen sink percussion, sprawling non-arrangements, some killer riffing, but also some what the fuck guitar strangulation, the closing track is a stretched out Burzumic buzzscape, wreathed in hiss and amp buzz, the drums plodding, the vocals hysterical, reminiscent of Striborg, but this makes Striborg sound downright polished and stable, which is definitely saying something.
Once again, these are crazy limited, and handmade, each one comes with a hand-glued sleeve (made from the very evilest of construction papers, and in various grim shades) each with a pasted on front and back cover image, burned around the edges by the flames of hell...
MPEG Stream: "Doda Krop I Deer"
MPEG Stream: "Appel Av Natten"

CLOAK OF DISPLACEMENT Ritual (KV & GR) cd-r 6.98
It's been a while since we've heard from one man, lo-fi, outsider, doomdrone, blacknoise weirdo Cloak Of Displacement, and fans of any of the other CoD cd-r's we've raved about in the past know just what to expect, which is to NOT know what the fuck to expect. This time around, it's three tracks, all dramatically different, the first hint being the instruments listed on the sleeve: guitar, knife, drums, vocals, and POWER SAW. Hell yeah.
And the first track, the epic 21 minute "Torture Beckons Me" definitely follows through on the implied promise of sonic whatthefuck. A spaced out abstract ultra doom crawl. But instead of heaving avalanches of blown out downtuned riffage, and massive pummeling beats, the reality is way more bizarre and baffling, tons of space, occasional swells of muted guitar buzz, some SUPER abstract drum thump and plonk, and some seriously SICK vokills, super skeletal and minimal and in its own way sort of hypnotic. Like a way less harsh, way more spaced out blackened Khanate maybe? The riffs pulled so far apart they're more like occasional squalls of thrum, the track nearly free of momentum or propulsion, more an ooze or drift, the vibe ritualistic and primitive and totally fucking strange.
The second song picks up the pace, but if anything gets even WEIRDER, with some muted rhythmic riffing, lots of seriously stumbling drumming, and twisted freaked out hysterical vox that make the dude from Lifelover sound like Neil Diamond. The song weaves and wobbles drunkenly, reminding us a bit of Varghkoghargasmal or a more brain damaged Hypothermia. And finally, the saw make an appearance, the brief closing track / outro, that plays like the bloop bleep of ambient Burzum, but the whole thing is wrapped in the harsh buzz of the power saw, which is presumably being used, at least judging from the song title, in the "Disposing Of The Body".
MPEG Stream: "Torture Beckons Me"
MPEG Stream: "The Session"

CLOAK OF DISPLACEMENT This Is The Only Way (self-released) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some of you might remember Gargotheron, whose cd-r we reviewed a while back, a blurred baffling black metal horde from Arizona, whose sound was grim and raw, primitive and pummeling, spastic and hyper kinetic, octopoidal drumming, insectoid riffing, we described it as "Bone Awl meets Lightning Bolt", so what might we expect from Cloak Of Displacement, a strange ritualistic avant doom offshoot of the mighty Gargotheron? How about long expanses of processed downtuned guitar drone, gurgled distorted vocals, abstract riffage and clouds of glitch and buzz and electronic interference, brief bursts of in-the-red ultra distorted noise drenched black metal. And more fucked up weirdness. We're tempted to describe it as a black metal Faxed Head, but it's not quite so purposefully damaged, although it's plenty demented. There are stretches of almost prettiness, in the guise of sprawling low end buzz, a little Earth (circa 2), a little Khanate, a pinch of SUNNO))), but filtered though some sort of sick Abruptum like sonic ritual, in fact ritual is an apt description, as the performance was literally part of a REAL ritual, with a real live witch performing incantations and spells, at one point snipping locks of hair from the various band members while they recorded, even the packaging, sealed with wax, have been cursed, so open at your own peril!
Grim and fucked up, mysterious and abstract, definitely essential listening for ambient noise metal freeks into stuff like Abruptum, Emit and the like, but also might hit the spot for the slow and low obsessed, Khanate, SUNNO))), Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, Vulture Club and other purveyors of minimal blackened filth.
Packaged in a hand stamped black envelope, sealed with wax, hand numbered, LIMITED TO ONLY 45 COPIES! We took most of those, inside a hand written missive from Cloak Of Displacement, to YOU.
MPEG Stream: "Storm Conjuring Improvisation"
MPEG Stream: "The Dissident"

CLOAK OF DISPLACEMENT Vernal (self-released) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We originally discovered Cloak Of Displacement, via baffling black metallers Gargotheron, whose cd-r we went a little nuts for when we had it way back when. But it didn't take long for CoD to win us over, transforming the "Bone Awl meets Lightning Bolt" sound of Gargotheron into something filthier and blacker and doomier, a downtuned crusty blackened sprawl that seemed to ooze evil. Totally not typically black metal, or even metal really, more a chaotic stumbling super distorted electronic flecked blacknoize. Needless to say, we were down with the Cloak.
So we waited patiently, for going on two years now, and finally it's here, actually, THEY're here, two new discs from the mysterious Cloak Of Displacement, both of these are ultra limited, and we mean ULTRA, as in there are ONLY 24 COPIES!!!! That's it, and of those 24, we got TWENTY of them. So you know what that means, first 20 evil bastards to jab a gnarled claw into that add to cart button, will be feasting on CoD's grim black sonic banquet(s). And yeah, you're probably gonna want both, cuz they're both way different...
Vernal is all ambient, a 43 minute black ritual, that finds the man behind CoD, teamed up with two other players, one who simply wields "magick", while the other two handle guitar, keyboard and percussion. Guitars throb and drone, low end rumbles reverberate ominously, sheets of feedback undulate, layers and tones lock into a sort of Niblockian drift, super hypnotic and intense, eventually, the drone begins to fragment, pelted by FX and various shards of buzz and hum, seemingly crumbling to pieces but always coalescing back into something heavy and hypnotic, thick throbbing pulses, over shards of high end skree, bits of abstract minimal almost doom, barely there rhythms, strange processed crunch collides with lush doomdrone riffage, bursts of distorted rrrooar, strange clunks and creeps, definitely less metal and more abstract free drone weirdness.
Way recommended for sure, and not just for weirdo metalheads, dronelords and ambient explorers will find a lot to dig here too...
Once again, these are crazy limited, and handmade, each one comes with a hand-glued sleeve (made from the very evilest of construction papers, and in various grim shades) each with a pasted on front and back cover image, burned around the edges by the flames of hell...
MPEG Stream: "Vernal (excerpt)"

CLOAK OF DISPLACEMENT / BLOOD ESCUTCHEON split (KV&GR/Recs) cassette 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another release from the newly launched KV&GR/Recs label, run by weirdo black metal one man band Cloak Of Displacement. All of the releases so far (Mavra, Edasi) criminally limited, and this one is no different. LIMITED TO JUST 20 COPIES, of which, we got ALL twenty. But judging from the last batch, these will likely be gone in a flash, so don't dawdle.
Cloak Of Displacement, a long time aQ outsider black metal fave, offers up another set of twisted low fidelity blackened what the fuck, murky warbly riffs, primitive recording, stumbling damaged drumming, and some of THEE weirdest vocals ever, slipping from goofy grunt to croaking quack, the sound itself stumbling from abstract drift, to pounding dirge and back again. Occasionally within these three tracks, the sound does explode into a sort of blast, but it's a lurching lumbering blast, on the verge of total collapse, a chaotic careening black weirdness that sort of rule. Elsewhere the sound shifts to something more abstract, a sort of spaced out doom, a demented detuned creep, all warbly chords and rehearsal space drum splatter, and those creepy alien vox. Folks who loved past CoD releases will NOT be disappointed.
The flipside is taken up by another one man band, the mysterious and oddly monikered Blood Escutcheon, whose sound is more of an ambient blacknoize, riffs stretched out into layered drones, warm and whirling one second, caustic and buzzy the next. The side opens up with some dreamlike ambient drift, that slowly builds to a blowout of Merzbowian noise, infused with fragmented riffage an strange disembodied heavily effected vocals, which leads directly into a super creepy stretch of processed vocal dronemusic, a sea of hiss and static, underneath which a super processed voice drift creepily, before the sound blossoms into some blurred blown out almost Skullflowery noise, which with headphones strapped on, reveals all manner of sonic weirdness lurking below the surface, the side ending with some cool, softly distorted industrial crunch, blurred out and smeared into something much more soft focus and ambient.
And again, we only have 20 COPIES of these, and there are in fact ONLY 20 copies, so act fast.
Includes killer cover art from Blood Escutcheon mastermind Thaniel Lee. Each copy hand numbered.
MPEG Stream: CLOAK OF DISPLACEMENT "Seasoning The Lamb"
MPEG Stream: CLOAK OF DISPLACEMENT "Hymn To Eostre"
MPEG Stream: BLOOD ESCUTCHEON "Untitled"

CLOAKED LIGHT Creek (Monorail Trespassing) cassette 6.98
Crank this album all the way up at the beginning and slowly begin to back down the volume on this, lest you want to set off car alarms outside your building or trigger seismic sensors or just have this recording be way too fucking loud. On the first side of Creek, an ominous hum rises out of icy silence, following the path set forth on Kevin Drumm's unsettled ambient opus Imperial Distortion or even some of the Eliane Radigue constructs. These are sounds that could hail from field recordings of massive tanker ship engines or a bank of oscillators tuned to be as low as possible or the thrum of feedback from a bass guitar slumped over an amplifier. Very little happens in this arcing, darkly meditative offering; but that's exactly the point. The second side picks up exactly where the first left off, with a similarly oppressive tone exhibiting some minute ripples and variations on the theme. No idea who or what Cloaked Light happens to be, but he/she/they managed a cassette on Monorail Trespassing. And that always causes us to perk our ears up a bit. Limited to 125 copies.