CONGO NORVELL Abnormals Anonymous (Jetset) cd 12.98
New, noirish disc with guest vocalist Mark Eitzel!

CONGOS Heart of the Congos ( VP) cd 14.98
Consisting of falsetto vocalists Cedric Myton and Roydel Johnson together with the Upsetters, the Congos released this amazing record in 1977, recorded at Lee Perry's Black Art studio. One of the best ever. Vinyl version is the deluxe edition with 2nd lp, "The Best Of The Rest", 11 Congos tracks from '79-'99, included.
MPEG Stream: "Fisherman"
MPEG Stream: "Congoman"
MPEG Stream: "Open Up The Gate"

CONGOS Heart of the Congos (Blood & Fire) 2cd 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Consisting of falsetto vocalists Cedric Myton and Roydel Johnson together with the Upsetters, the Congos released this amazing record in 1977. This reissue comes with a second cd that includes 4 remixes, some unavailable since '77, plus a gorgeous book-type package with full color photos and commentary. Highly recommended. Thanks to beloved AQ-listmember Jonny Poynton for making us pay attention.
(From the liner notes): Heart of the Congos is together with Bob Marley and the Wailers' Natty Dread, Burning Spear's Marcus Garvey, and the Mighty Diamonds' The Right Time, a defining statement of Jamaican vocal group artistry in the 70's. By virtue of its thematic coherence, superb musicianship, beautiful vocals, it is exemplary roots music of the highest order. It is also the most perfectly-realised album to come from Lee Perry's Black Ark during the 6 years that the studio was in operation. Absolutely recommended!

CONGOS Heart of the Congos (Deluxe Edition) ( VP) 2lp 22.00
Consisting of falsetto vocalists Cedric Myton and Roydel Johnson together with the Upsetters, the Congos released this amazing record in 1977, recorded at Lee Perry's Black Art studio. One of the best ever. Vinyl version is the deluxe edition with 2nd lp, "The Best Of The Rest", 11 Congos tracks from '79-'99, included.
MPEG Stream: "Fisherman"
MPEG Stream: "Congoman"
MPEG Stream: "Open Up The Gate"

CONGOS Revival (VP) lp 13.98

CONGOS, THE The Carl Craig Edits (Honest Jon's) 12" 12.98
Pure 12" perfection! Originally released back in 2003 we're super happy this has been finally repressed! Carl Craig had just the right touch on these edits of tracks from the amazing Congos album Heart Of The Congos. This is exactly what you want in a 12", jams to be played over and over and over, Craig piecing together the already potent elements from those amazing originals into a more minimal yet totally sizzling new sound. If you don't have that Congos record yet, this could be the perfect gateway to an amazing album and if you already love that record like we do, this manages to be respectful to the originals, while taking them in totally new directions. Carl Craig proves once again that when it comes to edits and remixes, no one does it better!

CONGOS, THE & FRIENDS Fisherman Style (Blood And Fire) 2cd 17.98

MPEG Stream: BIG YOUTH "Feed A Nation"
MPEG Stream: HORACE ANDY "Love Love Love"
MPEG Stream: MAX ROMEO "Give Praises"

CONGREGACION Viene (Revista) cd 16.98
A record we've listened to on so many roadtrips through windy terrain, sun soaked mountains, and pastoral horizons. The sole lp by this Chilean group, but what an absolute magical album they created. Much like his Tropicalia counterparts in Brazil like Caetano Veloso, and Gilberto Gil, the music and lyrics of Antonio Smith, the mastermind of Congregacion, made him a big enemy of the military dictatorship of his country. Ultimately he was forced to flee from Chile. Much like Veloso and Gil, he never let that oppressive regime take away his vision of beauty.
This record is swathed in the natural sounds of birds and wind, with dreamy acoustic textures, flutes, guitars, strings and such gorgeous romantic harmonies. The sounds on Viene ease out with such a soft glow. We can just imagine the band levitating on mountaintops as they commune with the universe. It's a record we're sure many modern day dreamy music makers like Devendra Banhart, Beach House, Samara Lubelski, and Jose Gonzalez either already cite as a major influence or should listen to asap. Simply stunning!
MPEG Stream: "Sintesis De La Exitancia"
MPEG Stream: "Cuantos Que No Tienen Y Merecen"

CONGREGACION Viene... (Disco Es Cultura) lp 22.00
This all time aQ South American psych folk fave, available again, now on vinyl!!
A record we've listened to on so many roadtrips through windy terrain, sun soaked mountains, and pastoral horizons. The sole lp by this Chilean group, but what an absolute magical album they created. Much like his Tropicalia counterparts in Brazil like Caetano Veloso, and Gilberto Gil, the music and lyrics of Antonio Smith, the mastermind of Congregacion, made him a big enemy of the military dictatorship of his country. Ultimately he was forced to flee from Chile. Much like Veloso and Gil, he never let that oppressive regime take away his vision of beauty.
This record is swathed in the natural sounds of birds and wind, with dreamy acoustic textures, flutes, guitars, strings and such gorgeous romantic harmonies. The sounds on Viene ease out with such a soft glow. We can just imagine the band levitating on mountaintops as they commune with the universe. It's a record we're sure many modern day dreamy music makers like Devendra Banhart, Beach House, Samara Lubelski, and Jose Gonzalez either already cite as a major influence or should listen to asap. Simply stunning!
MPEG Stream: "Arrebol"
MPEG Stream: "Sintesis De La Exitancia"
MPEG Stream: "Cuantos Que No Tienen Y Merecen"

CONIFER Crown Fire (Important) cd 14.98
If we had to pick a favorite, out of all the post rock / math rock / post metal hordes, a sound we do admittedly dig a whole lot, and one we can't seem to get enough of, Maine's mighty Conifer would be right there at the top. Which is saying something, as up until this brand new full length, we'd only heard from them twice, their debut, and a split with Ocean. As compared to some of the other bands who have released 2, 3, 4 maybe more records in the same amount of time. The first Conifer disc was fresh when it came out, taking classic math rock and beefing it up with huge swells of Neurosis crush, but the thing with Conifer is that they never completely buried that post rock vibe, even at their most metallic, when they were slipping into full on doom territory, they hung on to those loping rhythms, those fractured melodies, and figured out a way to infuse those elements into the roiling heaviness. On the debut we were hearing Slint and Bastro and Seam as much and as often as Isis or Neurosis, probably even more so.
In that way, the sound of Conifer hasn't changed all that much, their sound is still rooted heavily in mathrock, the metal elements more adorning the postrock instead of the other way around. In fact more than ever, they sound like a nineties mathrock band supercharged and transported to the oughts. Even at their heaviest, they don't get HEAVY, as in metal heavy, they get louder, and more dynamic, more intense, the sound gets fuller and more expansive. And this time around the band we can't help but hear all over this record is Polvo. The guitar parts are all woozy and warbly and angular and sort of seasick, the opening track is the perfect example, it almost sounds like some metal band covering the opening track from Polvo's Cor Crane Secret, with its multiple parts, its liquid arrangements, the clean guitars, layered and indeed woozy, the drum part and the arrangements, loping and mathy and not a little bit groovy. We hate to go on and on about mathrock and Polvo, cuz it could all be a big ol' coincidence, but we doubt it. Every song on Crown Fire is mathy and melodic, sometimes locking into repeating figures for just a tad longer than would be comfortable for most bands, opening up and drifting through wide open spaces, all glimmering harmonics and shuffling rhythms, backwards guitars floating in a sea of muted soft drones, tripped out almost Pink Floyd action here and there, complete with space-y synths and fluttery flutes. "Into The Gauntlet" almost sounds like a heavier Codeine, a bit doomy, with a strange lurching arrangement beneath glistening sparkling chimes, and flurries of shuffling snare drum and floor tom. Hard to say what it is exactly,
as it should be with music, but regardless, this is definitely a new high for a genre that becomes more and more overpopulated every day. Whenever we find ourselves listening to one of these new post rock / metal hybrids, as much as we love metal, and we do, we find ourselves longing way more for the intricacies and arrangements and dynamics of the post rock side of the equation, it's too easy to just turn it up and let downtuned guitars chug, and Conifer prove that you can make a super heavy, super catchy, epic record, without even bothering with faux metal chug, which is something else for sure.
If that weren't enough, the record closes with the 13 minute title track, featuring Eugene from Oxbow on guest vocals (normally Conifer are instrumental). The result is pretty excellent, and finds the band, doing their best Oxbow, a sort of abstract bluesy groove, that over the course of the song gets a little bit mathier and more complex, while Eugene sing-talks, howls, mewls, wails, growls, shrieks, moans, The track is super spare until about halfway through where it dials up the metal, offering up being churning chords and pounding drummage to support Eugene's increasingly unhinged and manic vocals, the song building to a furious climax, before drifting out in a haze of whispered mutterings and fractured electronics. It's a pretty awesome track for sure, but for us, it somehow works better when taken almost as a separate record. The first 6 tracks are so perfect together, a brilliant 38 minute post-math-metallic-rock suite, which just so happens to come with an equally brilliant bonus single song, 13 minute ep, featuring Conifer backing up Oxbow's Eugene Robinson.
However you slice it, WAY recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Surface Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Cruciform Empennage"
MPEG Stream: "Crown Fire"

CONIFER Crown Fire (Important) 2lp 27.00
Available on vinyl, limited to only 500 copies, includes a massive bonus track NOT on the cd!!
If we had to pick a favorite, out of all the post rock / math rock / post metal hordes, a sound we do admittedly dig a whole lot, and one we can't seem to get enough of, Maine's mighty Conifer would be right there at the top. Which is saying something, as up until this brand new full length, we'd only heard from them twice, their debut, and a split with Ocean. As compared to some of the other bands who have released 2, 3, 4 maybe more records in the same amount of time. The first Conifer disc was fresh when it came out, taking classic math rock and beefing it up with huge swells of Neurosis crush, but the thing with Conifer is that they never completely buried that post rock vibe, even at their most metallic, when they were slipping into full on doom territory, they hung on to those loping rhythms, those fractured melodies, and figured out a way to infuse those elements into the roiling heaviness. On the debut we were hearing Slint and Bastro and Seam as much and as often as Isis or Neurosis, probably even more so.
In that way, the sound of Conifer hasn't changed all that much, their sound is still rooted heavily in mathrock, the metal elements more adorning the postrock instead of the other way around. In fact more than ever, they sound like a nineties mathrock band supercharged and transported to the oughts. Even at their heaviest, they don't get HEAVY, as in metal heavy, they get louder, and more dynamic, more intense, the sound gets fuller and more expansive. And this time around the band we can't help but hear all over this record is Polvo. The guitar parts are all woozy and warbly and angular and sort of seasick, the opening track is the perfect example, it almost sounds like some metal band covering the opening track from Polvo's Cor Crane Secret, with its multiple parts, its liquid arrangements, the clean guitars, layered and indeed woozy, the drum part and the arrangements, loping and mathy and not a little bit groovy. We hate to go on and on about mathrock and Polvo, cuz it could all be a big ol' coincidence, but we doubt it. Every song on Crown Fire is mathy and melodic, sometimes locking into repeating figures for just a tad longer than would be comfortable for most bands, opening up and drifting through wide open spaces, all glimmering harmonics and shuffling rhythms, backwards guitars floating in a sea of muted soft drones, tripped out almost Pink Floyd action here and there, complete with space-y synths and fluttery flutes. "Into The Gauntlet" almost sounds like a heavier Codeine, a bit doomy, with a strange lurching arrangement beneath glistening sparkling chimes, and flurries of shuffling snare drum and floor tom. Hard to say what it is exactly,
as it should be with music, but regardless, this is definitely a new high for a genre that becomes more and more overpopulated every day. Whenever we find ourselves listening to one of these new post rock / metal hybrids, as much as we love metal, and we do, we find ourselves longing way more for the intricacies and arrangements and dynamics of the post rock side of the equation, it's too easy to just turn it up and let downtuned guitars chug, and Conifer prove that you can make a super heavy, super catchy, epic record, without even bothering with faux metal chug, which is something else for sure.
If that weren't enough, the record closes with the 13 minute title track, featuring Eugene from Oxbow on guest vocals (normally Conifer are instrumental). The result is pretty excellent, and finds the band, doing their best Oxbow, a sort of abstract bluesy groove, that over the course of the song gets a little bit mathier and more complex, while Eugene sing-talks, howls, mewls, wails, growls, shrieks, moans, The track is super spare until about halfway through where it dials up the metal, offering up being churning chords and pounding drummage to support Eugene's increasingly unhinged and manic vocals, the song building to a furious climax, before drifting out in a haze of whispered mutterings and fractured electronics. It's a pretty awesome track for sure, but for us, it somehow works better when taken almost as a separate record. The first 6 tracks are so perfect together, a brilliant 38 minute post-math-metallic-rock suite, which just so happens to come with an equally brilliant bonus single song, 13 minute ep, featuring Conifer backing up Oxbow's Eugene Robinson.
However you slice it, WAY recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Surface Fire"
MPEG Stream: "Cruciform Empennage"
MPEG Stream: "Crown Fire"

CONIFER s/t (Not Common / Lax Wax) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Bands have been naming themselves after all manner of objects and creatures since the beginning of rock and roll. Heavy bands tending toward the mighty, the fierce or at least the very large. All manner of monsters and demons, various tigers and lions and even some sea creatures have been represented. But the largest, most imposing objects in nature have been sadly neglected as a source for inspiration and band-naming. TREES. So we have Conifer to right that wrong. And in doing so, judging from this ferocious slab of indie rock / metal sludge hypno-pummel, you'd certainly be forgiven for thinking this particular tree could take on any of the rock demons and metallic beasties that came before.
Conifer sleepily trawl through the dark recesses of post rock, taking the languorous slow burning churn of bands like Slint or Seam Or Bastro, all dark and brooding, simple and insistent, and stretching the riffs and melodies into expansive stretches of moody melancholy, swathed in Pink Floydian swoosh and whirl, before dropping the bomb. Massive downtuned guitars explode, splitting post rock atoms into clumps of corrosive riffage, peppered with raspy howls and screeching banshee melodies, sometimes gaining momentum and becoming unstoppable exercises in epic doomy drone-metal ala Neurosis or Isis, sometimes becoming glacial explorations into slow motion doom a la Khanate, and other times employing distorted ghostly computer vocals and buzzing psychedelia into Butthole Surfers-like sonic freakouts. A lot of this does definitely sound like Isis, Neurosis, Pelican or Buried At Sea, which is obviously a good thing, but more often it sounds like a doom-sludge A Minor Forest or a post rock Boris or a very metal Slint. Which is an even better thing!
MPEG Stream: "Turning Sand Into Glass"
MPEG Stream: "Albuquerque Reprise"

CONIFER / OCEAN split (Important) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's pretty hard to go wrong with two heavy hitters like Conifer and Ocean, and predictably, this split lp is about as right as it gets. It's been ages since we heard from Conifer, one of our favorites of the new breed of post rock / metal hybrids, due in no small part to the fact that they tend toward the mathy / post rock side of that sound. And if anything, on this latest track (yep, one sidelong epic) they seem to have jettisoned any sort of metal completely. Not to say it's not heavy, it most certainly is, it's just not really sludgy, or that metallic, and it suits them. Right out of the gate, they lock into a super intense, relentless propulsive krautrock groove, hypnotic, mathy, complex, unfurling a super mesmerizing jam. But things shift dramatically when the vocals kick in, the band lurch into serious Harvey Milk territory, which is a very good thing, a strange crooned vocal line over a strange convoluted rhythm. Catchy, melodic, and weirdly poppy.
But the last 10 minutes or so totally seal the deal (if it wasn't already), a super stripped down Southern style (?) kraut jam, looped riff, simple propulsive drumming, and some killer guitar harmonies that go from epic and soaring to weird and warbly, and it's all we can do to not use one of our three wishes to get that last part to go on until the end of time...
The flipside features Maine's Ocean, not to be confused with THE Ocean, these guys aren't so much a part of that post rock metal thing as they are glacial doom merchants, and here they offer up a sidelong slab of multiple o'd dooooom. Things start out as a super pretty slowcore crawl, before a black hole wall of guitars drop and it's still a slowcore crawl, just a massive crushing funeral dirge of a slowcore crawl! Plodding and epic, but still haunting and weirdly lovely, sounding a lot like a metallized Bohren & Der Club Of Gore, depressive and mournful, mysterious and haunting... The vocals are a hellish howl, the guitars grinding and buzzing, a lot of this actually sounds like some unearthed slab of nineties funeral doom, albeit with that Bohren-y prettiness mixed in.
Packaged in super swank Important Records style, this time a black and white printed sleeve inside a grey and orange silk screened vinyl outer jacket, giving it a cool sort of 3-D affect. And as you might have assumed, SUPER LIMITED, only 1000 copies...

CONJUNTO MATAMOROS With Beny More (Tumbao) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of the many incarnations of groups formed by the legendary Miguel Matamoros - who's lifetime output consists of almost 200 songs. The pairing here of Miguel's songwriting with the beautiful singing of Beny More is really a great one and possibly also a historic moment as well; as Miguel put it: "In 1945 we were contracted for Mexico and I took [Beny] along with me. He came really to be just my substitute in the vocal parts of the conjunto, but such was his ability that it cried out to be left alone so that he could perform on his own. That is to say, the conditions and situations were such that they provided him with the necessary impetus that transformed him into a star." The first eight tracks found here on this cd were recorded in Mexico City in 1945 during that engagement. The others tracks were recorded between 1946 and 1947. Besides Beny More, Conjunto Matamoros is backed up here by Ciro Rodriguez (2nd voice, maracas, claves), Rafael Cuelo (guitar, choir), Ramon Dorca (piano), Jose Macias & Jose Quintero (trumpets), Cristobal Mendive (bass), Agustin Gutierrez (bongos) and, of course, Miguel Matamoros (1st voice - tracks 9 to 17 - and guitar.)

CONJUNTO MATAMOROS W/ BENY MORE (Tumbao) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's one of Byram's Cuban music picks. Singer Beny More was one of Cuba's greatest singers (up there with Miguelito Valdes, Cascarita, & Celia Cruz) most popularly heard with Perez Prado's Orchestra. These recordings are of much slower tempo with beautiful guitar & tres guitar, piano, trumpets, percussion & bass backing B. More's vocals.

CONN, BOBBY Homeland (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
How does Bobby Conn make his retro glam rock stylings so damn perky? On Homeland, he's joined by The Glass Gypsies (who're actually his usual cohorts Monika BouBou, John McEntire as well as Nick Macri, Sledd Colby Starck and the wonderfully named Pearly Sweets), and they more than keep pace with Conn's often erratic effervescent musical adventures. Still swaggerin' in the spirit of T-Rex or Sweet, and the funk 'n' soul of Ohio Players or Kool & The Gang, but with the inclusion of song lyrics in the liner notes this time around Conn's socio-political side is brought more into view. Perhaps his past writings were just as much so, but buried under the swirling glitz of typical Conn productions who could tell?! Ample doses of falsetto, fountains of electric violins (oh so E.L.O.!), Hammond and farfisa organs. Groovy!
MPEG Stream: "We Come In Peace"
MPEG Stream: "We're Taking Over The World"

CONN, BOBBY King For A Day (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Mr. Bobby Conn straps his glam pants on for another tripped-outta-yer-mind rock'n'roll extravaganza! King For A Day starts out on a rather somber samba-tinged tone, but it doesn't take long for Conn and co. to rev their engines and launch his rock opera into full gear. We personally prefer the songs that shoot rockets of glitter and flaming guitar noodles to the ones on which Conn slows things down to love-you-down ballad croonery (kinda reminds us somewhat unpleasantly of Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet). Highlights include the adventure rock of "Sinking Ship" and the bright and buoyant Monkee-ish pop moment "Love Let Me Down". Woo hoo!
MPEG Stream: "When The Money's Gone"
MPEG Stream: "Love Let Me Down"

CONN, BOBBY On The Farm (Bec-Rec) 7" 5.98

CONN, BOBBY The Golden Age (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Bobby Conn took a year and a half to complete this third record and highly anticipated follow-up to 1998's amazing "Rise Up!". Unfortunately, Conn has decided to drop the apocalyptic / satanic glam rock persona which made his first two records so exciting and decided to continue on in the easy listening direction found on his "Llovessonngs" ep. Assisted by the wonderfully talented Monica BouBou on violin, keys and occasional vocals, Conn reinvents '70s cheese rock, disco funk and soul joined by two handfuls of Chicago's finest musicians, including Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jeb Bishop, Colby Stark, Glenn Kotche, Josh Abrams, Thymme Jones and Michael Zerang. Recorded (mostly) by Jim O'Rourke, whose "Eureka" lp is very similar, stylistically. A really nice record overall, especially in the horn and string arrangements, but falls a little short in the "Holy Shit, This Rocks!" department...
RealAudio clip: "Angels"
RealAudio clip: "Whores"

CONN, BOBBY The Golden Age (Thrill Jockey) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Bobby Conn took a year and a half to complete this third record and highly anticipated follow-up to 1998's amazing "Rise Up!". Unfortunately, Conn has decided to drop the apocalyptic / satanic glam rock persona which made his first two records so exciting and decided to continue on in the easy listening direction found on his "Llovessonngs" ep. Assisted by the wonderfully talented Monica BouBou on violin, keys and occasional vocals, Conn reinvents '70s cheese rock, disco funk and soul joined by two handfuls of Chicago's finest musicians, including Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jeb Bishop, Colby Stark, Glenn Kotche, Josh Abrams, Thymme Jones and Michael Zerang. Recorded (mostly) by Jim O'Rourke, whose "Eureka" lp is very similar, stylistically. A really nice record overall, especially in the horn and string arrangements, but falls a little short in the "Holy Shit, This Rocks!" department...

CONN, BOBBY Winners (Thrill Jockey) cd ep 8.98
Four remixes and the original version from Mr. Conn's "The Golden Age". Detroit electro sensations Adult., Magas (that's Marlon Magas -- ex Couch / Lake Of Dracula, current booty bass electro technician and co-owner of Chicago's Weekend Records and Soap), Mr. Pot Bear (who dat?) and Tortoise's John McEntire rework the FM rocker into a dancefloor stomper.

CONN, BOBBY & THE GLASS GYPSIES Live Classics Vol. 1 (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98
We can almost hear Bobby Conn shoutin' "Come on down!!!!" Much like the Price Is Right, Conn and his backing band The Glass Gypsies were recorded in front of a live studio audience for this release... and it certainly is lively! A glammy, glittery, groovy good time, but we wouldn't expect anything less from The Conn now, would we? Actually the over-lit photos on the cover could easily be mistaken for stills from the 1980 musical movie The Apple, and the music bears more than a striking resemblance too. An abundance of noodly guitar solos, falsetto, backing singers and it looks like there were costume changes too. Think a low budget, neighbourhood version of Queen, Electric Light Orchestra, P-Funk and the talent show scene in The Beaver Trilogy (the one with Crispin Glover, not Sean Penn). Super silly fun!
Note: this cd is enhanced with two trippy video clips of the show, but we have to lament, "why wasn't this a dvd!?!"
MPEG Stream: "Winners"
MPEG Stream: "Cashing Objections"

CONNAH, GRAHAM (SOUR NOTE SEVEN) Gurney to the Lincoln Center of Your Mind (Rastascan) cd 10.98
New album from somber bandleader and avant jazz pianist Graham Connah, together with the talents of Trevor Dunn, Elliot Humberto Kavee, Ben Goldberg, vocalist Jewlia Eisenberg, and others.

CONNELLY, CHRIS Lost Episodes (PlusTapes) cassette 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We pretty much have a standing order for anything that PlusTapes releases. Much like Mississippi, PlusTapes has become the sort of label folks collect, which as we've mentioned before is pretty remarkable for a label so young. But so far, almost every release we've gotten from PlusTapes has flown out of here. And like Mississippi, they've also decided to dabble in more contemporary sounds, along with their ambitious reissue campaigns. Supporting their local scene, while paying homage to the past. Such is the case with these two latest releases, both limited to 100 copies, and we got less than 20 of each.
We immediately recognized the name Chris Connelly, and you probably should too - Revolting Cocks, Ministry, remember? But we figured it couldn't be the same Chris Connelly, it just didn't make any sense, but the more we thought about it, PlusTapes is in Chicago, Chicago is where Connelly lives, well it did sort of make sense which is good cuz it is in fact the very same Chris Connelly, but this is a whole different sound altogether.
Connelly recently released a full length album called The Episodes, that was a mysterious and haunting solo effort, owing much to folks like Leonard Cohen and Scott Walker, and other dark bards, very intimate and personal and dramatic, a few of the tracks were even recorded live in a Wisconsin forest. So this tape acts as sort of an addendum to that release, but even if like us you were unfamiliar with The Episodes, this is till a pretty intense and satisfying listen. Three unreleased versions, also recorded in the woods, aggressively strummed acoustic guitars, Connelly's plaintive croon, in the background you can hear birds chirping, other folks talking, very evocative, the lyrics personal and abstract, the voice weary and weathered, sometimes almost cracking, not at all what we expected from Connelly, but then all we had to go on was his industrial past.
Also included are two live tracks, with more lush instrumentation, even vibes, and the result is even more Scott Walker-y with a hint of Morrissey, the songs definitely sound more fleshed out, but beyond the songs themselves the various players get sort of trance-y and the songs get a bit abstract, droney, hypnotic, with the players sort of going off. Features some younger Chicago indie folks as back up, and the result is something that's not hard to picture on Thrill Jockey.
We weren't sure what to expect, but ended up digging this a lot, and will now probably have to track down a copy of The Episodes too.
LIMITED TOO 100 COPIES. We have less than 20, packaged with a black and white fold out cover, each one hand stamped and hand numbered.

CONNELLY, CHRIS The Collapse of Ether (The Tapeworm) cassette 8.98
Another new tape from UK tape label The Tapeworm, this one the latest from Chris Connelly, who most folks likely remember as a member of Ministry, Revolting Cocks and others, but whose post industrial trajectory as found him recast as more of a brooding singer songwriter and sonic experimentalist. Our first glimpse of Connelly's more songsmitherly alter ego came in the form of a tape on the PlusTapes label back in 2009, a gorgeous songsuite of skeletal song sketches, recorded in the woods, just guitar and vocals, over a bed of insects and abstract ambient night sounds, his voice a warm, weary and weathered croon.
This latest effort finds Connelly in experimental mode, finally releasing a piece he's been working on for 22 years (!!). Just piano and vocals, but don't be expecting some maudlin man-at-a-piano action, no this is something altogether more warped and wonderful. The piano parts were recorded with the tapes running super fast, and then flipped backwards. Connelly, then sang over the backwards piano, at which point the tapes were slowed back down, resulting in a dark and demonic, woozy and warped landscape of churning murky chordal thrum, and vocals that are low and bellowed, and seriously creepy. The music is lush and layered and dense and dark, sans the vocals, it would be a gorgeous bit of churning ambience, but the vocals transform it into something more ritualistic and malevolent.
On the flipside, it's the same music played backwards, so the piano sounds 'correct', albeit still slowed down, but this time the vocals are backwards, and somehow, it sounds ever MORE insane, the piano a pounding ominous landscape of oozing blackened chords, the vocals a chorus of gurgling monstrous speaking in tongues.
Fucking amazing!!

CONNORS, LOREN As Roses Bow: Collected Airs 1992 - 2002 (Family Vineyard) 2cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Loren Connors has always had a special way with a guitar. An impossibly intimate rapport, the result of which is gorgeously dreamy and unlike almost any guitar music we've ever heard. Dark clouds of chordal shimmer, simple spidery melodies, experimental for sure, but not at the cost of intimacy or emotion. Connors explores some dark inner world of sadness and sorrow, melancholy and regret, his guitar practically singing, but not howling or wailing, instead crooning in slow low tones, his music like a collection of lost spirituals, unearthed, dusted off, and unfurled, allowed to hover and drift like motes of dust in the late afternoon sun. Wrapped in the soft whirring lo-fi production, and the moonlit murk of whatever space the sounds are being captured in.
This collection gathers up most of Connors' modern airs, shortform pieces inspired by classic Irish airs of the past (Irish traditionals like "Danny Boy" for instance), culled from 10 albums (8 of which are out or print).
But don't be expecting any sort of classic sounding Irish music, or recognizable traditionals, it's the spirit of the air that is more on display here, each track a gorgeous miniature. Epic, yet somehow broken down to its very melodic essence. A few tracks feature vocals, courtesy of longtime Connors collaborator Suzanne Langille, her voice deep and throaty, the perfect match for Connors' languorous melodies, but most of these tracks are instrumental, the guitar woven into spare, evocative soundscapes, where the space is just as important as the notes, the melodies drawn way out into glistening spiderwebs of sound, soft and shimmery and somnambulant, the sound of moonlight shadows, and warm breezes at dusk, the soft lapping of water on the shore of a fog shrouded lake, the whispered rustle of autumn leaves, each note a warm glowing orb, twinkling in a fuzzy expanse of muted ambience and breathless anticipation. So so so lovely.
MPEG Stream: "An Air"
MPEG Stream: "Sorrow In The House"
MPEG Stream: "Moonyean No. 7"
MPEG Stream: "Onora's Kid"

CONNORS, LOREN Night Through: Singles and Collected Works 1976-2004 (Family Vineyard) 3cd 26.00
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There are musicians who are incredibly technical and ultra proficient on their chosen instrument. Then there are others who don't have that kind of technical talent but who more than make up for it with a never ending reserve of raw emotion and deep personal expression. But rare is the performer who has both. Loren (sometimes Mazzacane) Connors is one of that rare breed. This 3-disc collection gathering bits and pieces from almost 30 years of recordings is an amazing testament to the ghostly, captivating sounds Connors has conjured up with his guitar. Unlike most guitar players Connors knows how to coax an impossibly wide range of sounds from an instrument that is usually approached from a much more singular point of view. Whether it's lurking feedback, washing in and out of his smoke filled strumming, or his more direct stripped down and totally pretty pick and strum, Connors is always challenging himself, never resting or relying on one specific sound or style. If somehow Connors is missing from your cd/record collection, and if you found yourself entranced by Earth's last outing Hex..., and perhaps you love the sounds of Tom Carter, the instrumental outings of Tom Verlaine, then for sure NEED to get some Loren Connors running through your veins and filling up your ears. Because of his prolific nature (Wow, has he ever released a ton of records and collaborated with a who's-who of underground luminaries!) this is one of those instance where a retrospective makes a lot of sense and is perfect for those of you who never knew exactly which records to start with. Now you have your answer. This one. One moment sounding like crazy psychedelic Japanese guitar jams, the next creating goose bumps with his chilling and subtle delivery, the next creating a creepy web of sound with distant off key vocals that rival Jandek in their mysterious and riveting nature, and the next laying down the ghostly sounds for a soundtrack to a film we wish would exist. Such a great journey, wandering through this moonlit collection of songs.
MPEG Stream: "Many Miles More"
MPEG Stream: "Haunted House"
MPEG Stream: "Night Through"

CONNORS, LOREN Sails (Table Of The Elements) 2cd 17.98
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CONNORS, LOREN The Departing Of A Dream (Family Vineyard) cd 14.98
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Loren (Mazzacane) Connors' newest album is solo guitar work again from this virtuosic player. The entire record is super slow and dreamlike, and the *gorgeous* guitar tone is eerily reminding me of the first track on Miles Davis' seventies jazz-fusion classic 'Get Up With It'. I think Reggie Lucas was playing the guitar with Miles, but anyway... here Loren Connors captures and distills that same guitar sound -- a slightly scratchy, very warm exploratory tone that goes wah wah wah as it trembles and whispers. Very very lovely, one of his best solo recordings that I've ever heard.
RealAudio clip: "The Departing of a Dream, part 1"

CONNORS, LOREN The Departing Of A Dream Vol. III: Juliet (Family Vineyard) cd 14.98

CONNORS, LOREN The Murder Of Joan Of Arc (Table Of The Elements) 12" 16.98
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Second in the Table Of The Elements' label series of limited, one sided clear vinyl 12"s, this time from ultra prolific guitarist Loren (formerly Mazzacane) Connors. Sublime and mesmerising, Connors' guitar is a dark cloud of distant chiming chords, shimmering reverb, and warm rich sonic swirl. Minimal but somehow completely epic, a dark cinematic dream/drone-scape. So good. Striking woodcut image silkscreened in silver ink on the clear vinyl in a clear sleeve. VERY LIMITED. So don't dawdle.

CONNORS, LOREN & ALAN LICHT In France (FBWL) cd 19.98

CONNORS, LOREN & DAVID GRUBBS Arborvitae (Hapna) cd 14.98
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Two of the most prolific, creative guitar players around, who've both built followings in the realm of the indie/avantgarde, team up at last. Such a collaboration certainly makes sense, and the results are quite what you'd expect: a real pretty, kinda melancholic, all-instrumental minimalist duet, sleepy and meandering. Loren "formery Mazzacane" Connors has a very personal style of haunting electric guitar that he of course explores here, while David Grubbs (of Gastr del Sol and much else besides) contributes his talents on both guitar and piano. Any individual, isolated moment on this disc might seem just a little too sparse and simple, but as it unfolds it rewards the listener's patience. By the time the disc has run its 34 minute course, and you can perceive the whole of Arborvitae in your mind's ear, you'll be nicely blissed out and appreciative of the aesthetic that Grubbs and Connors share here.
MPEG Stream: "Hemlock Path"

CONNORS, LOREN MAZZACANE Airs (Road Cone) cd 12.98
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CONNORS, LOREN MAZZACANE Bridge, the (Megalon Records) cd 11.98
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CONNORS, LOREN MAZZACANE In Twilight (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98
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CONNORS, LOREN MAZZACANE Portrait Of A Soul (FBWL) cd 16.98
Absolutely gorgeous guitar instrumentals from a true American genius, Loren Mazzacane Connors, who has been recording since the early 1970s. While other records of his have featured impassioned howls, this French import album's pure emotion is rendered oh so quietly in 26 short jewel-like pieces, a song suite that, as the liner notes tell, chronicle the artist's slow realization of his inability to capture the essence of another person through his music. (The cycle of songs begins with day and ends at a hopeful dawn, so perhaps all is not lost.) This is utterly deep introspection told in aching, weeping guitar lines, melodic and simple, without any sort of effects or distortion. For those of you coming at this from a "rock" angle, imagine the incredibly emotive guitarwork of Mick Turner (Dirty Three) stripped down to its bare essence. Yeah, it's that good. So highly recommended!
RealAudio clip: "Day (1)"
RealAudio clip: "Dawn (26)"

CONNORS, LOREN MAZZACANE The Daggett Years (Ecstatic Peace/Father Yod) cd 13.98
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17 tracks by cult "Venusian blues" guitarist L.M. Connors, of unaccompanied acoustic improv recorded for Daggett Records back circa '79-'80, and long out of print. Much of that material was collected for last year's limited-edition 4 cd boxset which is also now totally out of print! So, to appease fans who missed that (or the curious who weren't sure if they needed 4 cds) here's a "best-of-the-box" collection selected by Connors himself. Remastered by Jim O'Rourke.

CONNORS, LOREN MAZZACANE The Little Match Girl (Road Cone) cd 13.98
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We're happy to be graced with another lovely Loren Mazzacane Connors release. His trademark style of "Venusian blues" guitar is in fine form here, with the haunting, lonely, late-night beauty of his playing really delving into the darkness over this 37 minute disc. You can hear echoes of sometime Connors-collaborator Keiji Haino's more gentle playing, and we could also liken this to the mood evoked by AQ-faves Bohren & Der Club of Gore. Guitarist Andrew Burnes and Persian daf player Neel Murgai join in on a couple live tracks.
RealAudio clip: "The Art of the Blues pt. 2"

CONNORS, LOREN MAZZACANE / JEAN-MARC MONTERA / THURSTON MOORE / LEE RANALDO mmmr (Numero Zero Audio) cd 14.98
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CONNORS, LOREN MAZZACANE / LICHT, ALAN Hoffmann Estates (Drag City) cd 13.98
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An impressive line-up accompanies this 'duet' between Alan Licht and Loren Mazzacane Connors with production by Jim O'Rourke and contributions from Darin Gray (ex-Dazzling Killmen), Rob Mazurak (Isotope 217), Ken Vandermark, amongst others. Slow lugubrious guitar solos with minimal jazz structures.

CONNORS, LOREN MAZZACANE / SASHA FRERE-JONES Standing Upright On A Curve (Sub Rosa) cd 15.98
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CONRAD, TONY Bryant Park (Table Of The Elements) cd 16.98
An interesting idea for sure. One afternoon in October, 1969, Tony Conrad found himself in a fifth floor loft in Manhattan a couple blocks from Bryant Park, which was hosting a rally protesting the Vietnam War. The TV in his loft was blaring coverage of the protest, while the echoes from the speeches bounced through the city streets and into Conrad's apartment. Not surprisingly, he was recording the co-mingling between the mediated sounds of that protest through the TV and the diffused amplification of the live event, appearing with a subtle time-lag. Given the rather tumultuous political context of 2005 with an increasingly unpopular war abroad and an administration bungling almost every task at hand, the parallels to the context of 1969 protest should be self-evident by now.
MPEG Stream: "Bryant Park"

CONRAD, TONY Early Minimalism (Table of the Elements) 4cd 45.00
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This is a 4-cd box set with 96-page booklet and enhanced cd-rom featuring interviews, performance footage, and video scores. Includes the amazing, previously lp-only Four Violins recording from 1964 (whereas the other discs are recent compostions/recordings, featuring Jim O'Rourke on electric violin amongst other players).
(from the liner notes:)
"'History is like music - completely in the present.' In 1962 Tony Conrad's amplified strings introduced the sustained drone of just-intonation into what became known as 'minimal' music. Utilizing long durations and precise pitch, he and his collaborators forged an aggressively mesmerizing 'Dream Music' - denying the activity of composition, elaborating shared ideas of performance, and articulating the Big Bang of 'minimialism.' However, the many rehearsal and performance recordings from this period were repressed, and remain inaccessibly buried to this day.
In 1987 Conrad set out on a ten-year return expedition to the site of these entombed fragments; from them he reconstructed and regenerated the epic EARLY MINIMALISM. Reaching back through time, Tony Conrad weaves a mobile narrative over and under minimalism: making music out of history, and history out of music."

CONRAD, TONY Fantastic Glissando (Table Of The Elements) cd 16.98
It's 1969 and Tony Conrad finds himself fascinated and obsessed with the sounds of sine wave oscillators. One of the godfathers of minimalism nearside LaMonte Young, Conrad was always on the more harsh side of things then other Minimalist disciples like Terry Riley and Steve Reich. Fantastic Glissando is a series of electronic compositions that Conrad created with sine wave oscillators that he then processed through a pump counter with head gap delay. The result is an aggressive textured drone that sounds like something traveling near the speed of light. This cd reissue includes a bonus 10-minute track that was not included in the LP version. The first time we heard this in the store, it was pouring outside and by the time it ended the sun was shining...San Francisco natural occurence? Or the work of Conrad's intense hand in the sky? We're still not sure.
MPEG Stream: "Fantastic Glissando"
MPEG Stream: "Process Four Of Fantastic Glissando"

CONRAD, TONY Four Violins (1964) (Table Of The Elements) lp 16.98
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CONRAD, TONY Joan of Arc (Table Of The Elements) cd 16.98
We've never been shy in revealing our unabashed love of the drone. Not many lists go by that we aren't singing the praise of some new dark drone or any of many drone-masters like William Basinski, Philip Jeck, Andrew Chalk, etc. Andee's love of the drone even led him to release a cd compiling selections from the amazing Drone Records 7" series on cd for the first time. So of course we're in full on awe when we get to hear the pioneers of all of that dronemusic and observe the veritable birth of the drone in modern minimalism. While it's still pretty impossible to get a hold of any LaMonte Young recordings, thankfully Tony Conrad has allowed and facilitated recent unearthings of his early drone masterpieces. Joan of Arc is the score he created in 1968 for Piero Heliczer's film of the same name. While Conrad is usually associated with his intense epic drones sourced from his violin this recording found him engaged with the pump organ in a way we've never heard before. Creating a dense and murky sonic underworld that sucks you under, burying you in its rumbling waves and wrapping you tight in a thick dense cloud of drones. Avant film aficionado's may be confused by the cover art which is actually a still of Tony Conrad in Ira Cohen's legendary film of the same year, The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda (reviewed elsewhere on this list).
Never before released, this is one of Conrad's favorite recordings and is fast becoming one of ours.
MPEG Stream: "Joan Of Arc"

CONRAD, TONY / EDWARD KA-SPEL split (Beta-Lactam Ring) cd 15.98
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Certainly an odd pairing for a split release, with '60s minimalist Tony Conrad on one side, and the surrealist Edward Ka-Spel on the other. This is a release that will certainly not win over any fans from the grumpy minimalist school into liking Ka-Spel or his outfit the Legendary Pink Dots... but will certainly make LPD collectors very happy. Ka-Spel percolates a variety of somewhat silly synthetic sounds that could have been informed by Terry Riley's "In C" but conform more to Ka-Spel's fragmented lullaby approach, with all of the pseudo-goth references one would expect from a Ka-Spel / LPD release. On the flip, playing with Alexandria Gelencser on cello, Conrad sets down layers of extended intonations of abrasive violin drones. Numbered and limited to 500 copies.

CONRAD, TONY WITH FAUST Outside The Dream Syndicate - 30th Anniversary Special Edition (Table Of The Elements) 2cd 28.00
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Excellent reissue! Out of print since its release in 1972 when it went almost completely unnoticed, this album is finally available in special 30th anniversary boxed double disc format! A shorter version of it was available briefly in 1993 but this features a whole other disc of extra material.
It wasn't until after playing and performing for over ten years that the now-legendary experimental violinist Tony Conrad finally put his music down on wax. This was after his tenure as an integral member of the Theater of Eternal Music's Dream Syndicate with Lamonte Young, Marian Zazeela, John Cale, and Angus MacLise (NB: the latter two being founding members of the Velvet Underground, which got its band name from a paperback Conrad found lying in the street.) The Dream Syndicate's raison d'etre was exploring the sonic depth, meaning and sound of the almighty DRONE. A chance meeting with producer Uwe Nettelbeck resulted in an intense three-day recording session at Faust's secluded farm slash studio and it was here that Conrad finally got to breathe life into his own take on the drone. The Faust fellows supply a warm, insistent drum beat and a just as unstoppable bass throb. Both the bass *and the drum* are 'tuned' to specific notes over which Conrad lays his droning violin. And that's it. For half an hour. So great! Not boring at all -- your ears quickly become attuned to the waverings, harmonies, and other minute changes amongst the three elements. Fans of Neu, Can, Kraftwerk, and of course Faust NEED this. As does anyone into hypnotic droning rock ala AQ faves Circle, Highly recommended, definitely seminal album by one of the pioneers of drone.
RealAudio clip: "excerpt 1"
RealAudio clip: "excerpt 2"

CONRAD, TONY WITH FAUST Outside The Dream Syndicate Alive (Table Of The Elements) cd 16.98
Recorded live at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London in '95 this was the reunion of one of minimalist's great torch holders Tony Conrad along with one of experimental rocks greatest bands Faust. When they originally teamed up at a German filmmakers request, they made Outside The Dream Syndicate over three days together in 1971. A landmark record that took Conrad's affinity for building drones mixed with a rhythm section that added intense pulsations and textures to the sounds. While apparently Faust didn't really remember the recording sessions (what were they on?) they met up only two more times since the original recording to perform the piece live. This show was the third and last time they performed together and at this show they were also joined by the helping hands of Jim O'Rourke (is there a band he hasn't played with?). And wow! What an amazing show to have been at. With his La Monte Young cap on tightly, Conrad masterfully created a piece that no matter when it was produced evokes such a strong physical reaction. This is raw, building, blistering, pounding, droning brilliance! The way momentum keeps building works its way into your body and about half way into the piece you can't stop from getting completely wrapped up in it. The droning violin, the dirty percussion, the gut wrenching passion underneath and above it all! It's amazing how in these sounds you can hear so much of a handful of contemporary AQ favorites: Godspeed You Black Emperor's explosive drama, The Dirty Three at their most wild and rocking, Swans/Angels Of Light's blistering poignancy, but it all ends up seeming sorta like little league in comparison to the blood and guts that oozes out of this performance. As always Table Of The Elements appropriately package the cd with the care it deserves including some nice short conversations with Conrad and two great stickers of Conrad's face. Absolutely recommended!
MPEG Stream: "From The Side Of Man & Womankind"