CROCODILES Sleep Forever (Fat Possum) 7" 5.98
It's the middle of summer (although it doesn't feel like it here) and it seems like everyone is still trying to come up with THEE Summer Jam of the year. Wavves, with their recent King Of The Beach record, had been battling it out with Best Coast, and their hazy girl group fuzz drenched Crazy For You, for the top spot, but now here come Crocodiles, with two songs that could definitely give both a run for their money.
Unlike the rest of the current crop of garage poppers, Crocodiles haven't been churning out a 7" a month, instead, laying pretty low since their awesome Summer Of Hate record a while back (minus a recent 4 way split), but "Sleep Forever" immediately reminds us why we dug them so much in the first place, with a big fuzzy slab of sunshiney pop, that owes as much to their current fuzz pop brethren as it does to classic Britpop, a perfect fusion of earnest buzzing jangle, and soaring psychedelic classic pop. "Sleep Forever" could easily be some long lost gem from the golden era of Britpop, maybe some rare unsung B-side, if it weren't for the fact that had this been from back in the day, it would have been anything but a B-side. And as if one blast of perfect psychpop bliss wasn't enough, the flipside finds the band tackling a VERY unlikely cover, Dee-lite's "Groove Is In The Heart", starting with that immediately recognizable bassline, but before you know it, the song is transformed into a total drugged out Spacemen 3 style blowout, complete with squalls of wild tangled psych guitar crunch and fuzzgarage organs, and then before you know it, the song transforms into the Beach Boys' "California Girls", THAT classic melody wrapped around that buzzing Dee-lite bassline, and the swirling blown out organ. AWESOME.

CROCODILES Summer Of Hate (Fat Possum) cd 13.98
We weren't quite sure what to make of this record when it came in. It had all the visual components of numerous experimental and noise records (we initially assumed from the looks of the lp that it was another delightfully punishing No Fun release), but upon further inspection, we noticed the Fat Possum logo on the back, as well as some rather intriguing song titles: "I Wanna Kill", "Sleeping with the Lord", "Summer of Hate", and "Young Drugs". Yep, definitely some potential for cool, and when we finally put the Crocodiles on for a spin, we were quite pleased to be confronted with a dirty, stripped down Jesus and Mary Chain style wallop combined with bits of experimental noise, bluesy swagger, and dense shoegazey goodness. After some detective work, we discovered that this duo is from San Diego, like labelmates and recent aQ favorites Wavves, and while they don't really sound too much like Wavves, the Crocodiles seem to approach their music from a similar standpoint, reevaluating tried and true styles of rock from the past and injecting some fresh new blood into the proceedings. All the while they thankfully avoid falling into the trap of presenting themselves as some retro revival act, though they do have some mighty impressive hair.
A pleasant surprise from the folks at Fat Possum that is sure to appeal to those of you digging the lo-fi pop bliss of the aforementioned Wavves, Kurt Vile, No Age, and Crystal Stilts. Here's looking forward to the upcoming Summer of Hate.
MPEG Stream: "I Wanna Kill"
MPEG Stream: "Refuse Angels"
MPEG Stream: "Summer Of Hate"

CROCODILES Summer Of Hate (Fat Possum ) lp 14.98
We weren't quite sure what to make of this record when it came in. It had all the visual components of numerous experimental and noise records (we initially assumed from the looks of the lp that it was another delightfully punishing No Fun release), but upon further inspection, we noticed the Fat Possum logo on the back, as well as some rather intriguing song titles: "I Wanna Kill", "Sleeping with the Lord", "Summer of Hate", and "Young Drugs". Yep, definitely some potential for cool, and when we finally put the Crocodiles on for a spin, we were quite pleased to be confronted with a dirty, stripped down Jesus and Mary Chain style wallop combined with bits of experimental noise, bluesy swagger, and dense shoegazey goodness. After some detective work, we discovered that this duo is from San Diego, like labelmates and recent aQ favorites Wavves, and while they don't really sound too much like Wavves, the Crocodiles seem to approach their music from a similar standpoint, reevaluating tried and true styles of rock from the past and injecting some fresh new blood into the proceedings. All the while they thankfully avoid falling into the trap of presenting themselves as some retro revival act, though they do have some mighty impressive hair.
A pleasant surprise from the folks at Fat Possum that is sure to appeal to those of you digging the lo-fi pop bliss of the aforementioned Wavves, Kurt Vile, No Age, and Crystal Stilts. Here's looking forward to the upcoming Summer of Hate.
MPEG Stream: "I Wanna Kill"
MPEG Stream: "Refuse Angels"
MPEG Stream: "Summer Of Hate"

CROCODILES & DUM DUM GIRLS Merry Xmas, Baby (Please Don't Die) (Hell, Yes!) 7" 8.98
Yeah, we know, Christmas is over, but you can keep that Christmas spirit alive with this super limited collaborative one sided, single song 7" from the Crocodiles and Dum Dum Girls, a gorgeous, darkly dreamy, fuzzed out, echo drenched Christmas classic if there ever was one. The guitars are blown out, the drums massive, LOTS of feedback, the production total sixties wall of sound, noisy and fuzzy but warm and woozy, with dueling boy / girl vocals, some wild squalls of psychedelic guitars, and a dreamy crazy catchy chorus. Maybe a stocking stuffer for NEXT Christmas?
Either way, you better act fast, we have just SIX copies left. It was LIMITED TO 300 COPIES (each one hand numbered of course), and is already sold out and out of print. Which means you better grab one of these before they're gone, or at least try...

CROCODILES / GRAFFITI ISLAND / DUM DUM GIRLS / PENS split (Art Fag) 7" 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Bad ass 4 way split featuring some of the current crop of lo-fi garage poppers, all contributing some of the best songs we've heard from any of them.
Up first is the Crocodiles, who start things off with some lo-fi garagey dream pop filtered through some Jesus And Mary Chain fuzz and some classic eighties MTV pop, and the result is so awesome. Like the Fuzztones meets ABC meets Blank Dogs? All druggy and hazy and washed out, with rad buzzy new wave bass synths, swirly keyboards, with an amazing chorus, cleaned up this could have easily been a huge eighties hit, with one of those totally bizarre videos, with random characters playing out insanely convoluted dramas, but as it is, it's more raw and gritty, and blown out, and thus, might be one of our favorite new jams.
The Dum Dum Girls offer up more of what we love and expect from these gals, stripped down and raw, but still super poppy, a little bit K Records, a little new wave, shimmery, shuffle-y, with a looped main riff, a sort of grimey Stooges-y feel but all wrapped up with angelic vocals and some serious pop hooks. Great stuff.
The Pens track is definitely the best thing we've heard from them, a super fuzzy and distorted main riff, pretty vocals, but buried in the murk and mire, some sort of riff heavy girl pop that destroys, the swirling hooks buried under the churning chug, tangled sing songy guitar melodies draped over the top, underpinned by a muted pounding rhythm, super hypnotic and heavy and so goddamn good, the SOUND, is just so irresistible, reminds us of some rad nineties 7" of bedroom brewed lo-fi indie rock, we've literally been listening to this track over and over and over.
We had never heard of Graffiti Island, but they sound right at home with these other three bands, a more kinetic, rough and raw Beat Happening maybe? Mostly cuz of the deep sung / spoken vox, but all over some reverby guitar, one of those sixties tambourine beats and plenty of crunch and buzz and lo-fi haze. So good.

CROM Hot Sumerian Nights (Underdogma) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Crom are funny guys. Their first record, The Cocaine Wars, featured one of the best album covers EVER, a Heavy Metal Magazine style painting of a hot babe in armor, riding a huge polar bear, across a vast tundra, covered in a thick layer of snow, that once the booklet was opened, was revealed to actually be mounds of cocaine being sniffed by a mighty Viking! The new record, features the band painted in the same style as the first record, all Vikings, wearing armor, swords at their side, one flipping the bird, trudging across another snowy expanse, that this time, once the booklet opens, becomes the fluffy bedspread of a sleeping Viking, warm and cozy beneath a polar bear skin, his arm around his sleeping wench. Needless to say we were sold before we even heard a note.
And musically, these guys are pretty goofy too, tons of short short tracks, as many skits and interludes and weird sonic experiments as there are proper songs. But the key to Crom is that A. They really are funny, and the skits, while often dumb or puerile or pointless, are in fact pretty hilarious, and B. The riffs KILL. To the point of being incredibly frustrating, as each song cuts off after only a minute or two, leaving the listener wanting more. Way more. But somehow, all of those metallic fragments, and all of the fucked up silly non-musical moments, are woven into one awesomely over the top, confusional genius mess.
The sound is part black metal, part classic metal, part grind, a little Fucking Champs, some death metal, a little doom, it's obviously the work of some seriously obsessive metalheads, with seriously short attention spans, but the songs when they kick in totally destroy, from furious thrashing blackness, to grinding churning chug, to what-the-fuck metallic free for all, to total classic old school majestic metal, often all in the same song, and then there's all the snippets from movies, the bits of dialogue, the weird whispered vocals chanting 'join us', the entire track made of the sniffle of cocaine sniffing (we assume), weird epic fade-in's that fade in to nothing, some seriously Melvins-y sludge, confusional collages of samples and downtuned riffage, but none of that shit would fly if the band weren't capable of rocking like mother fuckers, which they most certainly are.
And be sure and stick around for the hidden last track, crickets, burbling brook, some distant humming, some Orc-ish growling, monks chanting, incantations, a bunch of crazy Jesus samples, and then a furious blown out lo-fi blast of chaotic metallic grind, the whole thing finishing off with one of those little chunk of music from an after school special or one of those "one to grown on" TV spots.
Hot Sumerian Nights will probably frustrate the shit out of a lot of folks, but they could be quickly won over with a polar bear, a warrior babe, a wall of amps and lots and lots of blow...
MPEG Stream: "Wee Hours Of The Snowgoat"
MPEG Stream: "Thorgrimm's Lament"
MPEG Stream: "The Lurker Within"
MPEG Stream: "Grim Grey Gods"

CROM Hot Sumerian Nights (Forest Moon Special Products) lp 12.98
NOW ON VINYL!
Crom are funny guys. Their first record, The Cocaine Wars, featured one of the best album covers EVER, a Heavy Metal Magazine style painting of a hot babe in armor, riding a huge polar bear, across a vast tundra, covered in a thick layer of snow, that once the booklet was opened, was revealed to actually be mounds of cocaine being sniffed by a mighty Viking! The new record, features the band painted in the same style as the first record, all Vikings, wearing armor, swords at their side, one flipping the bird, trudging across another snowy expanse, that this time, turns out to be the fluffy bedspread of a sleeping Viking, warm and cozy beneath a polar bear skin, his arm around his sleeping wench. Needless to say we were sold before we even heard a note.
And musically, these guys are pretty goofy too, tons of short short tracks, as many skits and interludes and weird sonic experiments as there are proper songs. But the key to Crom is that A. They really are funny, and the skits, while often dumb or puerile or pointless, are in fact pretty hilarious, and B. The riffs KILL. To the point of being incredibly frustrating, as each song cuts off after only a minute or two, leaving the listener wanting more. Way more. But somehow, all of those metallic fragments, and all of the fucked up silly non-musical moments, are woven into one awesomely over the top, confusional genius mess.
The sound is part black metal, part classic metal, part grind, a little Fucking Champs, some death metal, a little doom, it's obviously the work of some seriously obsessive metalheads, with seriously short attention spans, but the songs when they kick in totally destroy, from furious thrashing blackness, to grinding churning chug, to what-the-fuck metallic free for all, to total classic old school majestic metal, often all in the same song, and then there's all the snippets from movies, the bits of dialogue, the weird whispered vocals chanting 'join us', the entire track made of the sniffle of cocaine sniffing (we assume), weird epic fade-in's that fade in to nothing, some seriously Melvins-y sludge, confusional collages of samples and downtuned riffage, but none of that shit would fly if the band weren't capable of rocking like mother fuckers, which they most certainly are.
Hot Sumerian Nights will probably frustrate the shit out of a lot of folks, but they could be quickly won over with a polar bear, a warrior babe, a wall of amps and lots and lots of blow...
MPEG Stream: "Wee Hours Of The Snowgoat"
MPEG Stream: "Thorgrimm's Lament"
MPEG Stream: "The Lurker Within"
MPEG Stream: "Grim Grey Gods"

CROM The Cocaine Wars 1974-1989 (Pessimiser) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
L.A.'s kings of grindcore first full length (after a shitload of comps and 7"s). Heavy and noisy and totally hilarious. From the airbrushed cocaine/Conan the Barbarian 70's-van art cover, to the ridiculous between song banter (lifted from Venom and others) to the sort-of-appropriation of metal classics and 70's am radio hits that occasionally surface between bursts of all out grind, this record fucking rules. Think Crossed Out but not as slower and sloppier, or think Man Is The Bastard with a sense of humor.
Awesome.

CROM The Cocaine Wars 1974-1989 (Forest Moon) lp 16.98
This incredible slab of ridiculous heaviness, long out of print on cd, is finally available on lp, worth it to have the insane cover art all BIG, easily one of the best record covers you'll ever see, and the goofy sonic crush to back it up! Plus if you missed it before, now you've got a chance to hear it!
L.A.'s kings of grindcore first full length (after a shitload of comps and 7"s). Heavy and noisy and totally hilarious. From the airbrushed cocaine/Conan the Barbarian '70s-van art cover, to the ridiculous between song banter (lifted from Venom and others) to the sort-of-appropriation of metal classics and '70s am radio hits that occasionally surface between bursts of all out grind, this record fucking rules. Think Crossed Out but way slower and WAY sloppier, or maybe Man Is The Bastard with a sense of humor.
Awesome.

CROM-TECH s/t (Gravity) cd 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Super weird alien spazz-core, like a no-wave Drop Dead, with "skronk" level set to kill.

CROM-TECH s/t (Slowdime) 12" 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The fourth recording from this spastic guitar and drums duo, find them displaying some definite jazz leanings, and sounding more and more like Melt Banana. Short sharp songs of angular piercing guitars, strangled high pitched yelps (in a made up language of course), and epileptic drumming. Totally chaotic and abrasive and pretty darn amazing.

CROM-TECH X-Mas (Troubleman Unlimited) 7" 4.98

CROMAGNON Cave Rock (aka Orgasm) (ESP-Disk) cd 14.98
Reissued once more (like many ESP-Disks, constantly going out of and then thankfully back into print), and we are glad to have it back in our racks for sure, since this album is an all-time AQ fave and it's been gone too long. This time around, it's in a digipak with the original black & white version of the cover art, and it's been given its original title of Cave Rock instead of Orgasm. But a freaked out masterpiece by any other name...
Here's the review we first wrote about this when a previous reissued entered our collective Aquarius consciousness some years ago:
Yet another gem we somehow managed to miss, thankfully newly reissued to give us a second chance. (Well, not all of us missed it. Allan had the previously reissued version at one point, and got rid of it somehow. He just wasn't ready for it back then. Now he owns it again!) And a few of our customers have responded with the customary "Oh that record! I love that record. I've had that record for years." So for those of you, like us, managed to somehow miss it, we present to you Cromagnon.
An anomaly, even on the always far out ESP label, Cromagnon was the result of two top 40 songwriters (accustomed to producing bubblegum pop) who seemed to have completely lost their minds. I mean they must have, to produce something as wacked as this record. Austin Grasmere, Brian Elliot, and their mysterious 'Connecticut Tribe' spewed forth 50 minutes of primitive dadaist folk psych.
Chanting, tribal percussion, short wave radio, maniacal, almost black metal vocals, hysterical laughter, bagpipes all coalesce into something ridiculous and amazing.
Track one "Caledonia" sounds like a strange hybrid of Comus and In Extremo, with bagpipes, jaw harp, crickets, raspy chants and Teutonic percussion ("Caledonia" was even covered later by industrialists Test Department, and more recently by Japan's Ghost!). Later on in the record is an alternate version of "Caledonia" from the B-side of the original lp, slowed down to a third of the speed, producing an impenetrable swampy murk. "Ritual Feast of The Libido" features a groaning and moaning vocal over whirring and rumbling machinery. Then comes "Fantasy", where a faux Beach Boys intro almost convinces us that Grasmere and Elliot have returned to their bubblegum roots, that is until it devolves into a messy seven minutes of garbled laughter and clattering percussion. Today this all still seems pretty damn crazy, so back in 1968 when it was recorded it must have really freaked people out, even despite the pervasive drug culture of the time...
So for those of you who aren't already veterans of the Cromagnon experience, and definitely for those of you who were blown away by the Comus, and for everyone who is in need of a new favorite fucked record, this is it. Now, and always, a unanimous AQ fave.
MPEG Stream: "Caledonia"
MPEG Stream: "Crow Of The Black Tree"

CROMAGNON Cave Rock (aka Orgasm) (Jackpot / ESP-Disk) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now reissued on vinyl! Remastered from the original 1969 master tapes, with full-color version of the cover (and the Cave Rock, not Orgasm title). Yay!
Here's the review we first wrote about this when a previous reissued entered our collective Aquarius consciousness some years ago:
Yet another gem we somehow managed to miss, thankfully newly reissued to give us a second chance. (Well, not all of us missed it. Allan had the previously reissued version at one point, and got rid of it somehow. He just wasn't ready for it back then. Now he owns it again!) And a few of our customers have responded with the customary "Oh that record! I love that record. I've had that record for years." So for those of you, like us, managed to somehow miss it, we present to you Cromagnon.
An anomaly, even on the always far out ESP label, Cromagnon was the result of two top 40 songwriters (accustomed to producing bubblegum pop) who seemed to have completely lost their minds. I mean they must have, to produce something as wacked as this record. Austin Grasmere, Brian Elliot, and their mysterious 'Connecticut Tribe' spewed forth 50 minutes of primitive dadaist folk psych.
Chanting, tribal percussion, short wave radio, maniacal, almost black metal vocals, hysterical laughter, bagpipes all coalesce into something ridiculous and amazing.
Track one "Caledonia" sounds like a strange hybrid of Comus and In Extremo, with bagpipes, jaw harp, crickets, raspy chants and Teutonic percussion ("Caledonia" was even covered later by industrialists Test Department, and more recently by Japan's Ghost!). Later on in the record is an alternate version of "Caledonia" from the B-side of the original lp, slowed down to a third of the speed, producing an impenetrable swampy murk. "Ritual Feast of The Libido" features a groaning and moaning vocal over whirring and rumbling machinery. Then comes "Fantasy", where a faux Beach Boys intro almost convinces us that Grasmere and Elliot have returned to their bubblegum roots, that is until it devolves into a messy seven minutes of garbled laughter and clattering percussion. Today this all still seems pretty damn crazy, so back in 1968 when it was recorded it must have really freaked people out, even despite the pervasive drug culture of the time...
So for those of you who aren't already veterans of the Cromagnon experience, and definitely for those of you who were blown away by the Comus, and for everyone who is in need of a new favorite fucked record, this is it. Now, and always, a unanimous AQ fave.
MPEG Stream: "Caledonia"
MPEG Stream: "Crow Of The Black Tree"

CROMAGNON Orgasm (ESP-Disk) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yet another gem we somehow managed to miss, thankfully newly reissued to give us a second chance. (Well, not all of us missed it. Allan had the previously reissued version at one point, and got rid of it somehow. He just wasn't ready for it back then. Now he owns it again!) And a few of our customers have responded with the customary "Oh that record! I love that record. I've had that record for years." So for those of you, like us, managed to somehow miss it, we present to you Cromagnon.
An anomaly, even on the always far out ESP label, Cromagnon was the result of two top 40 songwriters (accustomed to producing bubblegum pop) who seemed to have completely lost their minds. I mean they must have, to produce something as wacked as this record. Austin Grasmere, Brian Elliot, and their mysterious 'Connecticut Tribe' spewed forth 50 minutes of primitive dada-ist folk psych.
Chanting, tribal percussion, short wave radio, maniacal, almost black metal vocals, hysterical laughter, bagpipes all coalesce into something ridiculous and amazing.
Track one "Caledonia" sounds like a strange hybrid of Comus and In Extremo, with bagpipes, jaw harp, crickets, raspy chants and teutonic percussion ("Caledonia" was even covered later by industrialists Test Department). Later on in the record is an alternate version of "Caledonia" from the b-side of the original lp, slowed down to a third of the speed, producing an impenetratable swampy murk. "Ritual Feast of The Libido" features a groaning and moaning vocal over whirring and rumbling machinery. Then comes "Fantasy", where a faux Beach Boys intro almost convinces us that Grasmere and Elliot have returned to their bubblegum roots, that is until it devolves into a messy seven minutes of garbled laughter and clattering percussion. Today this all still seems pretty damn crazy, so back in 1968 when it was recorded it must have really freaked people out, even despite the pervasive drug culture of the time...
So for those of you who aren't already veterans of the Cromagnon experience, and definitely for those of you who were blown away by the Comus, and for everyone who is in need of a new favorite fucked record, this is it. Now a unanimous AQ fave.
MPEG Stream: "Caledonia"
MPEG Stream: "First World Of Bronze"

CROMAGNON Orgasm (Get Back) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Thought we should mention that we have this slab of classic weirdness on vinyl now too... a favorite old ESP release, not a free jazz session but a freaky hippie jam that couldn't be replicated in this day and age. Here's some of what we had to say about one of the previous cd editions (and it is still in stock in that format, btw):
An anomaly, even on the always far out ESP label, Cromagnon was the result of two top 40 songwriters (accustomed to producing bubblegum pop) who seemed to have completely lost their minds. I mean they must have, to produce something as wacked as this record. Austin Grasmere, Brian Elliot, and their mysterious 'Connecticut Tribe' spewed forth 50 minutes of primitive dada-ist folk psych.
Chanting, tribal percussion, short wave radio, maniacal, almost black metal vocals, hysterical laughter, bagpipes all coalesce into something ridiculous and amazing.
Track one "Caledonia" sounds like a strange hybrid of Comus and In Extremo, with bagpipes, jaw harp, crickets, raspy chants and teutonic percussion ("Caledonia" was even covered later by industrialists Test Department). Later on in the record is an alternate version of "Caledonia" from the b-side of the original lp, slowed down to a third of the speed, producing an impenetratable swampy murk. "Ritual Feast of The Libido" features a groaning and moaning vocal over whirring and rumbling machinery. Then comes "Fantasy", where a faux Beach Boys intro almost convinces us that Grasmere and Elliot have returned to their bubblegum roots, that is until it devolves into a messy seven minutes of garbled laughter and clattering percussion. Today this all still seems pretty damn crazy, so back in 1968 when it was recorded it must have really freaked people out, even despite the pervasive drug culture of the time... definitely for those of you who were blown away by the Comus, and for everyone who is in need of a new favorite fucked record, this is it. Now a unanimous AQ fave.
MPEG Stream: "Caledonia"
MPEG Stream: "First World Of Bronze"

CRONIAN Terra (Century Media) cd 12.98
Basically Borknagar.

CRONIN, MIKAL s/t (Trouble In Mind) cd 11.98
Yay, after a brief delay, last week's Record Of The Week is now available on cd!!! (And it's now a proper cd, not a cd-r like they pressed originally, though the packaging is fairly no-frills.)
Here's what we said: Up until now, SF garage popper Mikal Cronin seemed to exist mostly as sideman, his name usually following an ampersand, which in turn seemed to typically be preceeded by the name Ty Segall. Thus most of our experiences with Cronin had been the duo of Segall & Cronin, and everything we had heard we dug, a LOT, but it was hard to tell what exactly Cronin was bringing to the table, but listening to this now, seems the answer is EVERYTHING! And as much as we love Ty Segall, we're thinking that maybe much of that garage pop magic was coming from the other side of the ampersand, cuz WOW is this record totally great. Anyone at all into the SF garage pop scene, Thee Oh Sees, the Fresh & Onlys, Ty Segall, Bare Wires, etc, will go absolutely nuts for this. And if this record doesn't immediately catapult Cronin into the spotlight, then there's something very very wrong with the world. A perfect blend of sunshiney jangle, garagey fuzz, paisley pop and noisy psychedelia. And for all the warped fuzz and reverbed drunched lo fi crunch of his peers, it seems Cronin has much more of a pure pop heart. That pure pop is however gloriously corrupted by little bits of wild flute flecked freakouts, strange horns, noise rock jams, and whatever else struck Cronin's fancy it seems, yet whatever sonic weirdness Cronin adds to the mix, it never sound gratuitous, it always sounds like an organic part of the song and the sound, and without fail, the song is crazy catchy, and the sound is fantastically lush and psychedelic and utterly ruling.
The first track manages to sum it up pretty perfectly. Starting with some dreamy Beach Boys a cappella harmonies, then some big distorted guitar crunch, pounding drums, before slipping right into some dreamy almost folky jangle, acoustic guitar strum, fuzzy bass, sweet vocal harmonies and HOOKS FOR DAYS, like the best song the Fresh & Onlys never wrote, but a little bit more twisted and a little bit more Byrds / paisley pop, but with plenty of crunch and fuzz, a little bit proggy in its arrangement, and then out of nowhere, with about a minute left, the song explodes into a double time pounding psych rock blow out, complete with jagged guitar crunch and a wild flute freakout (coutresy of John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees). We've probably listened to that song 50 times since we got this in.
But once we dug deeper, we realized that pretty much every song here is an absolute gem, "Apathy" with it's start/stop acoustic strum, wild feedback, and total classic pop hooks (reminding us melodically of The Olivia Tremor Control actually), "Green And Blue", with it's thick crunch droned out guitar buzz, dirgey drumming, thick blown out wall of sound and wild tangle of psychguitar freakout, "Get Along", which is another acoustic guitar driven chunk of practically perfect dreampop, rife with sweet harmony vox and some cool tripped out backwards psych guitar melodies, "Slow Down", a lo-fi, organ driven ballad, all stretched out drones and fuzzy reverbed vox, "Gone", another crunchy, riff heavy rocker, that should have Thee Oh Sees fans frothing at the mouth. And so it goes, the perfect mix of modern garage pop and classic indie jangle, and some of THEE best songs EVER. This week's list is chock full of contenders for pop record of the year, but if any of the other ones are gonna come out on top, this is gonna be the one to beat.
MPEG Stream: "Is It Alright?"
MPEG Stream: "Green & Blue"
MPEG Stream: "Apathy"
MPEG Stream: "Get Along"

CRONIN, MIKAL s/t (Trouble In Mind) lp 17.98
Up until now, SF garage popper Mikal Cronin seemed to exist mostly as sideman, his name usually following an ampersand, which in turn seemed to typically be preceded by the name Ty Segall. Thus most of our experiences with Cronin had been the duo of Segall & Cronin, and everything we had heard we dug, a LOT, but it was hard to tell what exactly Cronin was bringing to the table, versus Segall, but listening to this now, seems the answer is EVERYTHING! And as much as we love Ty Segall, we're thinking that maybe much of that garage pop magic was coming from the other side of the ampersand, cuz WOW is this record totally great. Anyone at all into the SF garage pop scene, Thee Oh Sees, the Fresh & Onlys, Ty Segall, Bare Wires, etc., will go absolutely nuts for this. And if this record doesn't immediately catapult Cronin into the spotlight, then there's something very very wrong with the world.
It's a perfect blend of sunshiney jangle, garagey fuzz, paisley pop and noisy psychedelia. And for all the warped fuzz and reverbed drenched lo-fi crunch of his peers, it seems Cronin has much more of a pure pop heart. That pure pop is however gloriously corrupted by little bits of wild flute flecked freakouts, strange horns, noise rock jams, and whatever else struck Cronin's fancy it seems, yet whatever sonic weirdness Cronin adds to the mix, it never sound gratuitous, it always sounds like an organic part of the song and the sound, and without fail, the song is crazy catchy, and the sound is fantastically lush and psychedelic and utterly ruling.
The first track manages to sum it up pretty perfectly. Starting with some dreamy Beach Boys a cappella harmonies, then some big distorted guitar crunch, pounding drums, before slipping right into some dreamy almost folky jangle, acoustic guitar strum, fuzzy bass, sweet vocal harmonies and HOOKS FOR DAYS, like the best song the Fresh & Onlys never wrote, but a little bit more twisted and a little bit more Byrds / paisley pop, but with plenty of crunch and fuzz, a little bit proggy in its arrangement, and then out of nowhere, with about a minute left, the song explodes into a double time pounding psych rock blow out, complete with jagged guitar crunch and a wild flute freakout (courtesy of John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees, who knew he played flute?). We've probably listened to that song 50 times since we got this in.
But once we dug deeper, we realized that pretty much every song here is an absolute gem, "Apathy" with its start/stop acoustic strum, wild feedback, and total classic pop hooks (reminding us melodically of The Olivia Tremor Control actually), "Green And Blue", with its thick crunch droned out guitar buzz, dirgey drumming, thick blown out wall of sound and wild tangle of psychguitar freakout, "Get Along", which is another acoustic guitar driven chunk of practically perfect dreampop, rife with sweet harmony vox and some cool tripped out backwards psych guitar melodies, "Slow Down", a lo-fi, organ driven ballad, all stretched out drones and fuzzy reverbed vox, "Gone", another crunchy, riff heavy rocker, that should have Thee Oh Sees fans frothing at the mouth. And so it goes, the perfect mix of modern garage pop and classic indie jangle, and some of THEE best songs EVER. This week's list is chock full of contenders for pop record of the year, but if any of the other ones are gonna come out on top, this is gonna be the one to beat.
Oh, if you're wondering if it's vinyl-only, no it's not. But we're just listing the vinyl format this week, 'cause for some weird reason, the cd version we originally received turned out to be a cd-r. However, the label has fixed that and pressed some actual, real cds, we're just waiting for them to show up. They're on the way, should be here sometime next week, so if you're a cd person, or just prefer the cheaper format, let us know and we'll put your name down for one. We'll also of course list it on our next list.
MPEG Stream: "Is It Alright?"
MPEG Stream: "Green & Blue"
MPEG Stream: "Apathy"
MPEG Stream: "Get Along"

CRONIN, MIKAL Tide (Goner) 7" 6.50
We made Mikal Cronin's debut album our Record Of The Week a while back, and still it remains one of the most listened to records in the shop. And a testament to that record's rulingness is the fact that none of us are sick of hearing it yet. That said, it doesn't mean we're not hankering for new stuff. Which is where this brand new single comes in, two new blasts of psychedelic pop bliss, the first, "Tide" is fuzzy and almost Elephant Six sounding, lush vocal harmonies, and a weird super catchy chorus that manages to stick in your head like crazy, but sound totally twisted. And there's a wicked wild psychedelic guitar solo, the production too, much like the full length, manages to be lush and expansive, but also raw and lo-fi, with some super strange choices in terms of balance and volume, in this case, that guitar solo nearly leaps out of the speaker, but somehow it still sounds perfect.
The B side is much more pure pop sounding, all fuzzy and dreamy and Beatles-esque, a killer hook, an impossible to resist melody, wild and loose, a little ramshackle, but so catchy and great. And another weird psychedelic solo that is about twice as loud as the rest of the song, but again, once you hear it, you can't imagine it any other way. How this guy remained a secret for so long we'll never know, but we're psyched the world is finally catching on. And we're psyched that we have two more MC songs to spin again and again and again...
MPEG Stream: "Tide"

CROOK, MARYROSE WITH THE RENDERERS Ghosts Of Our Vegas Lives (Tinsel Ears) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sure, a lot of people win big in Vegas, but before even hearing New Zealander Maryrose Crook's solo album, we couldn't help but be struck with the thought that the album's title only conjures thoughts of shattered dreams, drowning sorrows, fallen angels and utter bleakness. Upon hearing the music we realize that it too absolutely encapsulates all of that, but it evokes a period long before the neon lights obliterated the starry desert nights. Of course, this is all assuming that the Vegas referred to in the title is the one in Nevada. For much of Ghosts Of Our Vegas Lives, Ms Crook and The Renderers linger in smoldering folk balladry. It's a territory Crook knows and navigates well, but she stokes the flames of country rock for a couple of swaggering numbers late in the album (check out "Blood Of The Angels") also to very good effect.
MPEG Stream: "Ghosts Of Our Vegas Lives"
MPEG Stream: "Blood Of The Angels"

CROOKED The Original Score (WordSound) cd 14.98
Recently profiled in The Wire, Skiz "Spectre" Fernando and his WordSound label have released quite a few "illbient" hip hop records that we've been into here at Aquarius. This compilation highlights several of our faves from the WordSound crew: Scotty Hard, Spectre, Prince Charming, and of course rapper Sensational, among others. It's the soundtrack to Skiz's low-budget, 'student' WordSound film Crooked, which was previously available as a double with the DVD of said film. This is the better deal though, as it's 4 bucks cheaper AND you won't end up watching the decidedly tedious movie. Great soundtrack, though. This version, by the way, has 2 extra tracks but is also about eight minutes shorter, for some reason...OH WAIT, I figured it out: this disc is ENTIRELY DIFFERENT! So, forget what we said about this being a better deal, it's in fact a different deal. That was the "soundtrack", this is the "original score". Hmm. It seems that these are the tracks that were made expressly for the film, but weren't included on the soundtrack cd that came with the dvd. Unlike that disc, there's no previously available stuff on here (which was the case with several of the Sensational cuts on that one). So you gotta get both, WordSound hedz. This one's all about incidental mostly instrumental music from a dark, dubby, hiphop perspective, which is what a lot of WordSound stuff sounds like, even when it's not meant for an actual film. Artists, aside from the above mentioned, included Mentol Nomad, the dreaded Bill Laswell, Mr. Dead, and live drum n' bassers UV Ray.
RealAudio clip: SENSATIONAL "How 'Bout Some Credit"
RealAudio clip: SPECTRE "Father & Son"
RealAudio clip: MR. DEAD "Third Degree Burn"

CROOKED FINGERS Breaks In The Armor (Merge) cd 14.98

CROOKED FINGERS Breaks In The Armor (Merge) lp 17.98

CROOKED FINGERS Bring On the Snakes (Warm) cd 14.98
Also known as former Archers of Loaf-er Eric Bachmann. Here he sounds not unlike a hoarse, embittered Neil Diamond. Join him as he continues his slow ride on the bummer train. Plucking away at his battered old guitar and regaling you with tales of sorrow and pain from an empty boxcar as it creeps and lurches through the hills in the chilly evening air. Taking him farther and farther from his Archers off-kilter pop past. Faint sampled sounds and guest female vocals only add to the sombre mood. With beautiful sleeve art. All parchment-y and translucent like an old aquatic x-ray.
RealAudio clip: "Devil's Train"

CROOKED FINGERS Dignity & Shame (Merge) cd 14.98
As on his past fine releases under the moniker Crooked Fingers, album number four brings us an Eric Bachmann who still sounds a lot like a ragged Neil Diamond (particularly on songs such as the fifth track "Destroyer"), however he now seems far less depressed and on the brink of collapsing off his barstool. In fact as Dignity & Shame starts off with the gently hand-drummed and trumpet-laced song "Islero", you'd almost think you were hearing a lost Calexico instrumental or similarly that you've stepped into a Morricone-scored old western. This lone track does hint at Bachmann's potential for much more expansive atmospheric work, but as the rest of the album sticks to more standard song structures, it seems to be an isolated excursion. Sure the heavy duty aches are still present, but they're tempered by pretty things like the female vocals backing him up on the "Twilight Creeps" and "Sleep All Summer" or the spartan wisps of slide guitar on "You Must Build A Fire". Perhaps this album marks the appearance of a distant light at the end of his lengthy tunnel of melancholia? Y'know, come to think of it, while this album may win Bachmann a few new fans with it's more stable, mellow presentation, it conversely just might bum out a few old Crooked Fingers fans who've loved to ride along on his serious bummer trips. That said, we think it's sorta nice to hear a few glimmers of hope in Bachmann's music.
MPEG Stream: "Twilight Creeps"
MPEG Stream: "Sleep All Summer"

CROOKED FINGERS Dignity & Shame (Merge) lp 15.98
As on his past fine releases under the moniker Crooked Fingers, album number four brings us an Eric Bachmann who still sounds a lot like a ragged Neil Diamond (particularly on songs such as the fifth track "Destroyer"), however he now seems far less depressed and on the brink of collapsing off his barstool. In fact as Dignity & Shame starts off with the gently hand-drummed and trumpet-laced song "Islero", you'd almost think you were hearing a lost Calexico instrumental or similarly that you've stepped into a Morricone-scored old western. This lone track does hint at Bachmann's potential for much more expansive atmospheric work, but as the rest of the album sticks to more standard song structures, it seems to be an isolated excursion. Sure the heavy duty aches are still present, but they're tempered by pretty things like the female vocals backing him up on the "Twilight Creeps" and "Sleep All Summer" or the spartan wisps of slide guitar on "You Must Build A Fire". Perhaps this album marks the appearance of a distant light at the end of his lengthy tunnel of melancholia? Y'know, come to think of it, while this album may win Bachmann a few new fans with it's more stable, mellow presentation, it conversely just might bum out a few old Crooked Fingers fans who've loved to ride along on his serious bummer trips. That said, we think it's sorta nice to hear a few glimmers of hope in Bachmann's music.
MPEG Stream: "Twilight Creeps"
MPEG Stream: "Sleep All Summer"

CROOKED FINGERS Forfeit / Fortune (Red Pig) 2cd 15.98

CROOKED FINGERS Red Devil Dawn (Merge) cd 14.98
Admittedly we approached this new Crooked Fingers a bit gingerly. Really, just how far could Eric Bachmann travel down that slippery slope of bummerness? Well, from the looks of this, his third album as Crooked Fingers, it appears he's hit a bit of a ledge of hope and dusted himself off. Earlier recordings drew visions of a lone man completely embittered and beaten down. Hunched over a bar, his slumped shoulders bearing the full weight of his hopeless world as he drowned his sorrows with an endless line of whiskey shots. These days, things are brighter, much more lushly composed. Bachmann's certainly moved beyond the confines of his former bluesy twang in both musical and emotional scope. A clearer vision and broader presentation, it's almost a complete transformation. Still, his voice - warmer and softer than his former rasp - continues to resemble that of Neil Diamond, but overall this is much closer to Badly Drawn Boy or Elliott Smith. Hurrah!
RealAudio clip: "You Threw A Spark"
RealAudio clip: "Disappear"

CROOKED FINGERS Reservoir Songs (Merge) cd ep 10.98
Another all covers collection! What's the deal? Following in the recent pattern of other great bands' lead singers doing questionable solo all-covers releases (Red House Painters' Mark Kozelek, American Music Club's Mark Eitzel, et al), Archers Of Loaf-man Eric Bachmann unfurls his 5-song EP of heavy duty bummed out renditions of tavern jukebox classics by Neil Diamond, Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Springsteen, and Queen/David Bowie. So, how does it sound? Oh my, surprise! He *still* sounds like a haggard, whiskey-soaked Neil Diamond (especially on Diamond's own "Solitary Man"), but now somewhat more weary and gritty with a bit of Tom Waits in him. And on "Under Pressure", strangely enough he sounds like Springsteen. Each song is certainly well-performed with some nice plucky banjo, lap steel, cello, and euphonium, but the actual song choices are a bit, ummm, shall we say... odd. We have to ask, why oh why would he feel compelled to do something that he's gotta know he is going to be ridiculed for?
RealAudio clip: "Solitary Man"
RealAudio clip: "When U Were Mine "
RealAudio clip: "Under Pressure"

CROOKED FINGERS s/t (Warm) cd 15.98
Eric Bachmann has been sad. So sad after the demise of his former Archers of Loaf. He's been hanging out at the rock-star bar along with drunkards who have made their entire careers out of alcohol soaked ballads. Shane MacGowan and Tom Waits are there. So is Tim Foljhan and that guy from Arab Strap. That band... Drunk. Oh, and I think Nick Cave is shooting up in the bathroom with Keith Richards. Courtney Love would have been there but she's trying on Versace dresses and can't be bothered by such things. So, don't expect any quirky pop here, pull up a stool and drown your sorrows.

CROOKED JADES Seven Sisters (Crooked) cd 14.98
Seven Sisters is actually a soundtrack for a documentary film of the same name which follows the lives of seven sisters who grew up and moved away from their home in the Kentucky Appalachians during the 30's and 40's. The songs are all covers and traditional numbers that were popular during this time and arranged by the Crooked Jades. Among the tracks here are "Put My Little Shoes Away", Roscoe Holcomb's "I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again", "Cumberland Gap", "Mystery Train" (the very one popularized by E. Presley), "Pretty Polly" and much more.
RealAudio clip: "Put My Little Shoes Away"
RealAudio clip: "Moonshiner"

CROOKED JADES Shining Darkness (Jade Note Music) cd 14.98
Feels like it's been ages since we've heard from local faves, The Crooked Jades, and just when we were about to file a missing persons report, in they walk with a brand spanking new release of the darkly tinged Americana that we've been craving. Shining Darkness has a more fleshed out sound than previous Jade releases covering a lot of ground from haunting Appalachian lullabies and fiery bluegrass dust-ups to dirgy British folk, full of sweet two part male and female harmonies, fiddle, mandolin, guitar and atmospheric harmonium. So nice!
MPEG Stream: "The Marrow of A Young Girl"
MPEG Stream: "Lost In The Woods"
MPEG Stream: "Shining Darkness"

CROOKED JADES The Unfortunate Rake Vol. 2 (Copper Creek) cd 14.98
After a much too long three year recording hiatus, the Crooked Jades return with 23 new tracks. Like their previous releases, volume 2 of The Unfortunate Rake is a mix of both arrangements of traditional tunes and original compositions. For those who still haven't heard them yet, the Crooked Jades play a seamless blend of American roots music that absorbs bluegrass, country, and early string band styles with remarkable fluidity. Like their previous releases, heart rending ballads, superb vocal harmonies and high powered fiddle tunes abound here. As much as the Jades -- possibly the hardest working roots music band in the Bay Area -- excel in what's expected of a great string band (excellent instrumental breaks & vocal harmonies), it's their arrangements and choice of instrumentation that puts them over the edge. With judicious inclusion of hammond organ and piano to their growing arsenal of ukuleles, Hawaiian slide guitars, dobros, myriad banjos (tenor, banjo-uke, etc) and pedal-steel as well as the usual suspects (fiddle, guitar, string bass, mandolin), the Jades have developed a sound that's far more rich and interesting than the "olde-timey" groups they're unfortunately often lumped in with. There's even a soundtracky instrumental composed by leader Jeff Kazor which is nicely reminiscent of Penguin Cafe Orchestra's better moments -- Yellow Mercury No. 2 -- featuring Jeff on dulcimer accompanied by Richard Buckner (who again plays all over this new album as well as being credited as co-producer) on piano & ukulele and Michael Ismerio on fiddle. Highly recommended! And for those who still don't have them, we still stock the Jades first two records.
MPEG Stream: "Love Got In the Grain"
MPEG Stream: "Yellow Mercury No. 2"

CROOKED JADES Unfortunate Rake Vol. 1 (Crooked) cd 14.98
Those AQ customers who live here in SF may have seen the Crooked Jades play at the Mission's beloved Radio Valencia (R.I.P.) on Sunday nights for years. And though it's been hard to catch them live these days, we're blessed with two new releases by the group to serenade us any day of the week, any time of the day in lieu of the real thing. Drawing from old time string band, bluegrass and country influences the Crooked Jades put together a sound that's original, but never forced. With a full arsenal of guitars, dobro, hawaiian guitar, banjo (played clawhammer style), fiddle, piano, ukulele, mandolin, pedal steel guitar, string bass and even the occasional casio & moog (says so on the liner notes, but hardly noticeable) the Crooked Jades continually vary the size and style of their arrangements to accompany beautiful male and female harmonies. The Unfortunate Rake is comprised of about 50% traditional numbers and the other half equally divided between covers and originals. The album was produced (and excellently recorded at SF's Tiny Telephone) by Richard Buckner, who also sings and plays on several of the tracks including an eerie rendition of the traditional song 'Ida Red' played on piano, baritone ukulele & E-bow.
RealAudio clip: "Angel of Mercy"
RealAudio clip: "Little Painter Boy"
RealAudio clip: "Lucy Molen"

CROOKED JADES World's On Fire (Jade Note Music) cd 14.98
Another wonderful album from these veteran Bay Area craftsmen and women of old time, rootsy Americana finery! Tireless band leader Jeff Kazor once again heads the ever-changing cast of Crooked Jades, and he does so with remarkable consistency in sound and feel from one album to the next. Not only that, on the generous 15-song long World's On Fire, the band glides seamlessly between The Jades' originals and their cover versions of vintage country, Appalachian folk and bluegrass tunes, and effortlessly between rowdy bootstompers and aching heartbreakers. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Goodbye Trouble The Soul Of Man"
MPEG Stream: "Heaven's Gonna Be My Home"

CROOKED JADES, THE s/t (self-released) cd ep 9.98
In lieu of a new full length (this Fall perhaps?), the Crooked Jades have tossed us a very nice bone of an EP. Five tracks, recorded live to multitrack at SF's own Tiny Telephone in August of 2004. Of the five tracks, three are traditional arrangements and two are originals: one by Jades frontman Jeff Kazor and the other by newly added mandolin player extraordinaire Jennie Benford. For this outing the group have reigned in their broad influences and focused their labors to produce an EP that's almost strictly bluegrass, and very traditional at that. The exception is the final track "Gabriel (World's On Fire)" which is a traditional gospel tune sung by the group a cappella, but for some frantic blues acoustic guitar accompaniment. So nice.
MPEG Stream: "Black Eyed Susan"
MPEG Stream: "Carrier Bird"

CROOKED NECKS Alright Is Exactly What It Isn't (Handmade Birds) lp 17.98
Second release on Handmade Birds from this post (sort of) black metal outfit, formerly called Frail, when they were black metal only in as much as they had shrieked vokills, musically, their sound was much more in line with the Cure or Depeche Mode, dark depressive almost new wave, and wait a secondÉ that's basically true of Crooked Necks as well, after a whole record of Joy Division covers (the recently reviewed Something Must Break 12"), this brand new full length doesn't sound all that far removed, dark shimmery bass lines, lots of chiming melodies and gloom pop guitar jangle, crooned vocals, a little reverby shimmer, softly propulsive rhythms, Crooked Necks are one of those rare bands that all metalheads seem to like, even though they're not even remotely metal. It's that weird heavy metal rule that states all metalheads must like the Cure and Depeche Mode, but just applied to a more modern band, which does make sense cuz again, take those shrieked vocals away, and this record could have come out on Sacred Bones or Captured Tracks or Wierd. But hey, that's fine with us, we're merely questioning why these guys are classified as metal, black or otherwise, maybe they're not so much anymore, regardless, we love this stuff, dreamy blissed out gloom pop, the weird thing is we'd almost even like it more sans the harsh vox, then it would just be pure crystalline jangle pop, a little gloomy, a little gothy, but pretty much total pop. The vocals definitely give it an edge, and there is some cool, slightly weirder stuff going on as well, some strange production, backwards swoops an swirls, but for the most part this is just a great new wave downer pop record, that yeah, if you're an adventurous metalhead, you just might dig, and if you're a popkid, and don't mind a bit of black screech, this could definitely be a new fave.

CROOKED NECKS Something Must Break (Handmade Birds) 12" 14.98
We first heard from Crooked Necks on their split with Finnish (sort of) black metal weirdos Circle Of Ouroborus. And as CoO made their way to the new Handmade Birds label, it makes sense that Crooked Necks would too. Born of the band Frail, who we raved about a while back on the list, who essentially sounded like a black metal Cure, or more accurately, they sounded exactly like the Cure, or a similarly dour new wave band, just with black metal shrieks instead of the typical deep gothic croon. That band transformed into Crooked Necks, and while the sound didn't change all that much, the vox were dialed back a bit, and the band began to sound more and more like an actual cold/new wave band, with the occasional BM tendencies, instead of the other way around.
This brand new 12", launching Handmade Birds' new White Label series, was apparently recorded a long time ago, and was born of some unnamed tragedy, and because of that was shelved for years, only now finally seeing the light of day. The most interesting part is that it's a collection of Joy Division covers, presented pretty true to the originals, but reimagined enough to make them interesting and a bit weirder. The A side is a bit more upbeat, so much so that we had trouble realizing that it was in fact meant to play at 45rpm, but the band definitely make these their own, which really is no great feat since they sort of sounded like Joy Division to begin with, but the drum programing is creative, the strange effects add a twisted vibe, it's mostly instrumental, but then the vocals do appear, they're buried in the mix, and heavily reverbed, ominous and mysterious and dramatic. The B-side is where it gets great, the band take on "New Dawn Fades" and "The Eternal", gloomy and dirgey and darkly haunting, emotional and melancholy, "The Eternal" especially, all spaced out and abstract, there are some shrieks on the B side, but just a few, and at first it was hard to tell they were voices, it could have been some sheet of high end guitar, but instead of distracting, it simply adds more emotion and passion.
The weird thing is that these guys are beloved by metallers, and that it ended up on Handmade Birds, when it almost sounds like it could have been some unearthed rarity reissued on Dark Entries. Gorgeous, haunting stuff. Fans of gloom rock and doom pop and the various waves (cold, synth, new, etc.) will definitely dig.
LIMITED TO 250 COPIES, in plain black sleeves, with no labels, simple black and white stickers on the front and back.

CROSBY, DAVID If I Could Only Remember My Name... (Atlantic) cd 12.98
When we highlighted those Graham Nash records a while back, some of us were hoping we would soon get other records from the Crosby, Stills Nash and Young camp, especially this one, David Crosby's only solo album of the period, If I Could Only Remember My Name. It took some cajoling to bring this record in as about half the store loves this record to death while the other half, er....well, let's just say they aren't quite as enthusiastic about it. But for those of us who love it, we are glad to finally share it. When you hear people talking about the "West Coast sound", we can't think of a more archetypical record than this. Mellow, shambolic, and laid back with that Laurel Canyon sun-tripped hippie vibe, this is the most sublime and transcendental recording to come out of the vast CSN&Y catalog, and that's including the member's mother bands, The Byrds, The Hollies and Buffalo Springfield. With loose song structures, soaring and often-wordless vocal harmonies, and Dead-ish guitar meanderings (a point of contention with the haters), this record's hippie earnestness may not be for everyone. But it stands as a musical pinnacle for the contemporary folk scene, freak or otherwise, and you can hear its influence clearly on bands like Skygreen Leopards, Bright Black Morning Light and Feathers. Hands down, it's the best wake-and-bake album ever!
MPEG Stream: "Music Is Love"
MPEG Stream: "Laughing"
MPEG Stream: "Song with No Words"

CROSS, DAVID Bigger & Blackerer (Sub Pop) 2lp 24.00
Now on vinyl, if you've been waiting for it. Embossed gold-on-black gatefold cover, fancy. And it comes with a copy of the Bigger & Blackerer dvd. Some of what we said about the cd and dvd versions:
Maybe a few years ago we really had to tell you to buy a David Cross comedy album, like, talk about Mr. Show and all, explain how he's really funny and totally indie rock, is one of us and hates President Bush and all that. But now, Arrested Development (the TV show) has come and gone and you're definitely (probably) already a fan of David Cross. So we're not gonna go on for paragraphs here. Suffice to say, he's back, bigger and "blackerer" (?) and balder and more bearded, with a new album and dvd on Sub Pop, it's his first album since 2004's It's Not Funny, and (like that one) it actually of course is funny stuff indeed. Still concerned with religion, politics, drugs, consumer culture, average American stupidity, Cross hasn't mellowed out much. Fake outrage, and REAL outrage, are still both part of his show.
Along with deaf people, the TV show Intervention, Tea Partiers, Coors Light, a porno called "My Ass Is Haunted", taking a drink testing kit on a first date... this performance covers a lot of ground. There's a few moments where he pushes the non-PC/racial humor thing in uncomfortable (and maybe unfunny) ways... or are we just afraid to admit we laughed?
MPEG Stream: "That One Show About Drugs And Stuff"
MPEG Stream: "Lesson Learned"

CROSS, DAVID Bigger And Blackerer (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
Maybe a few years ago we really had to tell you to buy a David Cross comedy album, like, talk about Mr. Show and all, explain how he's really funny and totally indie rock, is one of us and hates President Bush and all that. But now, Arrested Development (the TV show) has come and gone and you're definitely (probably) already a fan of David Cross. So we're not gonna go on for paragraphs here. Suffice to say, he's back, bigger and "blackerer" (?) and balder and more bearded, with a new album and dvd on Sub Pop, it's his first album since 2004's It's Not Funny, and (like that one) it actually of course is funny stuff indeed. Still concerned with religion, politics, drugs, consumer culture, average American stupidity, Cross hasn't mellowed out much. Fake outrage, and REAL outrage, are still both part of his show.
Along with deaf people, the TV show Intervention, Tea Partiers, Coors Light, a porno called "My Ass Is Haunted", taking a drink testing kit on a first date... this performance covers a lot of ground. There's a few moments where he pushes the non-PC/racial humor thing in uncomfortable (and maybe unfunny) ways... or are we just afraid to admit we laughed?
Recorded live in Boston, the cd and dvd have similar but different tracklistings, with some bits appearing only on one format, or the other. Both are about an hour long, though the dvd does contain some extra bonus material on top of that, as dvds are wont to do (including his classic "electric scissors" routine), and includes a poster of the slightly grotesque looking cover painting.
MPEG Stream: "That One Show About Drugs And Stuff"
MPEG Stream: "Lesson Learned"

CROSS, DAVID Bigger And Blackerer (Sub Pop) dvd 14.98
Maybe a few years ago we really had to tell you to buy a David Cross comedy album, like, talk about Mr. Show and all, explain how he's really funny and totally indie rock, is one of us and hates President Bush and all that. But now, Arrested Development (the TV show) has come and gone and you're definitely (probably) already a fan of David Cross. So we're not gonna go on for paragraphs here. Suffice to say, he's back, bigger and "blackerer" (?) and balder and more bearded, with a new album and dvd on Sub Pop, it's his first album since 2004's It's Not Funny, and (like that one) it actually of course is funny stuff indeed. Still concerned with religion, politics, drugs, consumer culture, average American stupidity, Cross hasn't mellowed out much. Fake outrage, and REAL outrage, are still both part of his show.
Along with deaf people, the TV show Intervention, Tea Partiers, Coors Light, a porno called "My Ass Is Haunted", taking a drink testing kit on a first date... this performance covers a lot of ground. There's a few moments where he pushes the non-PC/racial humor thing in uncomfortable (and maybe unfunny) ways... or are we just afraid to admit we laughed?
Recorded live in Boston, the cd and dvd have similar but different tracklistings, with some bits appearing only on one format, or the other. Both are about an hour long, though the dvd does contain some extra bonus material on top of that, as dvds are wont to do (including his classic "electric scissors" routine), and includes a poster of the slightly grotesque looking cover painting.
MPEG Stream: "That One Show About Drugs And Stuff"
MPEG Stream: "Lesson Learned"

CROSS, DAVID It's Not Funny (Sub Pop) cd 12.98
Oh yes it is. Even the liner notes are funny ("thanks to the good folks at Sub Pop: you may know jackshit about music but you sure as hell know about pre-recorded comedy"). A new David Cross recording is cause for celebration here at Aquarius, we've all been big fans of the guy from his days on HBO's Mr. Show through his current career as Sub Pop's resident stand-up comedian, with both his Shut Up, You Fucking Baby! double cd and his more recent Let America Laugh DVD getting major thumbs up action from us here at AQ. Chances are, you're familiar with him too, so by way of introduction all we'll say is he's one funny SOB, whose often ad-libbed, profanity-laced humor really shines through in these dark times. Part of what makes Cross' act so brilliant is his regular, indie-rock sarcastic schlub guy persona...he's confronted with the same bullshit we all are, and maybe we're all thinking about stuff along the same lines, but then he manages to take things to logical yet over-the-top conclusions where suddenly he's blurting out what amounts to the truth about some totally taboo subject, whether it be just how EVIL our President is (where he imagines Bush eating little Jewish babies just to prove it), to all the evils we all are complict in just being cogs in our capitalist, consumer culture. Sexism, racism, homophobia, hypocritical 9/11 patriotism and paranoia... Cross takes aim and blows it all out of the water. Definitely not for the easily offended (like the 'good old Texas style dogfucking' segment) or for Republicans in general. (And what's Cross gonna do if Bush loses? The administration gives him so much material to work with.)
Cross can take a wee concept like "electric scissors" and really run with it, somehow relating it back to his larger critique of American society. Religion and politics too are also ripe David Cross targets, and if the Office of Homeland Security has one Least Favorite Comedian, it'd be Cross. And of course that's why the title is in fact, in a way, accurate: the 'War on Terror' isn't funny, the war in Iraq isn't funny, Bush and his cronies aren't funny, but what Cross has to say on those subjects is important to hear. If it makes us laugh, too, well that's maybe all we've got I guess. Might as well be laughing while we've still got the right. So, definitely a Record of the Week, especially considering that this will probably get played more in the store here than anything else this week!
MPEG Stream: "I've Taken A Popular Contemporary Pop..."
MPEG Stream: "My Child Is Enthralling, Especially..."
MPEG Stream: "My Immigrant Mom Talks Funny!"
MPEG Stream: "Even Though I Am In The Closet..."
MPEG Stream: "Weathermen Have Become...."

CROSS, DAVID Let America Laugh (Sub Pop) dvd 14.98
We love Mr. Show. And we LOVE David Cross. And we loved his double cd on Sub Pop, And now we LOVE this DVD. I threw it on only expecting to watch a little chunk of it, but we ended up watching the whole thing and laughing hysterically the whole time. It's not a concert film, in fact there's very little stand up at all, it's more like a tour video, documenting the travelling, and the fans, and the freaks, and the drunks, and the club owners and Cross's unique response to all of them. Highlights include a segment where he hands the mic to a girl in the crowd mid set so he can go take a piss, and the part where he spends an entire set talking about the asshole club owner, who then tries to kick him out after the show, while Cross draws it out as long as humanly possible, tormenting the guy. So uncomfortable. But so brilliant. The whole thing is like that, so uncomfortable it's funny!

CROSS, DAVID Shut Up, You Fucking Baby! (Sub Pop) 2cd 15.98
Funny that. We hardly ever get any comedy records to review (unless you count Sounds of American Doomsday Cults a comedy record), and on this list we've commited to two. But, unlike the Neil Hamburger record that appears a little later on in this list, Mr. Cross is actually funny. In the real, HA HA HA, as opposed to "HA HA HA" kind of funny. Though most well known for his part in the HBO series Mr. Show with Bob Odenkirk, Cross has been working hard to make people laugh / piss people off since his early days as a writer for the Ben Stiller show way back in 1992. It seems like ages since I've purchased an honest to goodness comedy album. I think the last I purchased was either Eddie Murphy's first, or the Bob & Doug McKenzie "Great White North" album. But what instantly stands out as a difference between the earlier greats and David Cross is that, where the former are cold, calculated comedy, the latter is off the cuff and loaded with improvised material. Cross, apparently in jest, remarks on the liner notes to the album that his physician requires him to get sufficiently wasted before, during and after his set. But I don't think it's entirely, if at all, in jest. I really think Cross does get snuckered before a gig. But whether he does or not, you can distinctly tell from his delivery that he hasn't worked his routine to death before hitting the stage. Which is impressive when you consider the dangers of crashing and burning on stage when you lose your focus. I won't pretend there aren't any stuttered deliveries here, or that David Cross' professionalism keeps him above the realms of sloppiness. No, there's plenty of that here. And what's more, you realize while listening to David weigh in on the Catholic Church (molesting preachers), George W. Bush, and even his native south -- he's a fucking angry man. He doesn't approach these subjects lightly, he goes in swinging his wit around like a chainsaw. Needless to say, those who are easily offended should probably pass this up. But for anyone who's enjoyed Mr. Show, this should be required listening.
RealAudio clip: "Austin Powers Saying "Yeah Baby""
RealAudio clip: "My Wife's Crazy!"
RealAudio clip: "Diarrhea Mustrache"

CROSS, SANDRA (AND VARIOUS BUFFET CAR ATTENDANTS) The MMs Bar Recordings (Trunk) cd 10.98
This one's for all you weirdo found sound and field recording obsessives out there. Not sure where this one would get filed, somewhere between the Conet Project's mysterious numbers stations, rutting red deer, the sounds of drag racing cars, the beeping of a life support system and the collections of voices of the dead via EVP recordings (all things we've stocked!), The MMs Bar Recordings captures something much more mundane, but somehow, just capturing these sounds on tape transforms those original sounds, here removed from their original context, into something strangely fascinating.
In a nutshell, these are undoctored recordings of announcements on a particular train line in the UK, recorded between 2006 and 2007, when the artist Sandra Cross was taking said train line weekly, and working on a project called "What Did You Eat Today". Funnily enough, on every train ride, the bar on the train, which served various foods and drinks would announce exactly what it was they were serving, always a slightly different announcement, always a different voice, and always at random times. So Cross became obsessed and recorded them, and Trunk Records on hearing these recordings became equally obsessed, and now it's our turn.
And it's not just the actual announcements, the sounds that surround them are equally mesmerizing, the muted rumble of the train, the murmur of voices, the static of the overhead speakers, but it is the MMs Bar announcements that are the core of this collection of recordings, and they are presented here unaltered, as they were captured, so the edits are rough, and there are long stretches with no announcements, just rumbles and whirs, and there are stretches that are a jumble of voices and announcements one after the other, the whole thing IS surprisingly mesmerizing, conjuring up memories of traveling, as well and just sonically interesting. Fans of our found sounds section will no doubt be as obsessed with this as we've become. It's like a Conet Project that makes you hungry, for Anglophiles. Needless to say, way recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 3"

CROSS, SANDRA (AND VARIOUS BUFFET CAR ATTENDANTS) The MMs Bar Recordings (Trunk) lp 19.98
This one's for all you weirdo found sound and field recording obsessives out there. Not sure where this one would get filed, somewhere between the Conet Project's mysterious numbers stations, rutting red deer, the sounds of drag racing cars, the beeping of a life support system and the collections of voices of the dead via EVP recordings (all things we've stocked!), The MMs Bar Recordings captures something much more mundane, but somehow, just capturing these sounds on tape transforms those original sounds, here removed from their original context, into something strangely fascinating.
In a nutshell, these are undoctored recordings of announcements on a particular train line in the UK, recorded between 2006 and 2007, when the artist Sandra Cross was taking said train line weekly, and working on a project called "What Did You Eat Today". Funnily enough, on every train ride, the bar on the train, which served various foods and drinks would announce exactly what it was they were serving, always a slightly different announcement, always a different voice, and always at random times. So Cross became obsessed and recorded them, and Trunk Records on hearing these recordings became equally obsessed, and now it's our turn.
And it's not just the actual announcements, the sounds that surround them are equally mesmerizing, the muted rumble of the train, the murmur of voices, the static of the overhead speakers, but it is the MMs Bar announcements that are the core of this collection of recordings, and they are presented here unaltered, as they were captured, so the edits are rough, and there are long stretches with no announcements, just rumbles and whirs, and there are stretches that are a jumble of voices and announcements one after the other, the whole thing IS surprisingly mesmerizing, conjuring up memories of traveling, as well and just sonically interesting. Fans of our found sounds section will no doubt be as obsessed with this as we've become. It's like a Conet Project that makes you hungry, for Anglophiles. Needless to say, way recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 3"

CROSSED OUT 1990-1993 (Slap A Ham) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From Encinitas, California, land of surfers, and the Navy, and of course Andee's young adulthood, comes the short lived but hugely influential Crossed Out. Progenitors of the now ubiquitous powerviolence/grindcore scene, along with Man Is The Bastard and Drop Dead, Crossed out were a howling lo-fi mess of blastbeats and mangled riffs, grunting and shrieking through 30 second songs and 12 song 7" sides. This cd collects for the first time (minus a bootleg or two) everything they ever recorded, including their splits with Man Is The Bastard and Drop Dead, as well as a bunch of live stuff. Absolutely essential.
RealAudio clip: "Practiced Hatred"
RealAudio clip: "Society"
RealAudio clip: "Suffocation"

CROSSED OUT Discography (cd) 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
26+ tracks of hate-filled, bile-spewing, ultra-pissed grind. Sounds like old Napalm Death stumbling drunkenly (but at breakneck speed) down a muddy embankment, through an impenetrable swamp, hot on your trail and ready to kill you and gut you! Probably the only grindcore band that mattered (well, them and Drop Dead).