CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND The Mirror Man Sessions (Buddha) cd 5.00
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More way out Magic Band avant-blues psych jams here, including the 19+ minute "Tarotplane" and the 15+ minute "Mirror Man". This album was recorded in '67, not long after Beefheart's debut Safe As Millk, and was finally released as Mirror Man in '71, but this version is remastered, resequenced, with quite a few previously unreleased tracks added on.
Includes liner notes detailing these recordings' complicated history.
MPEG Stream: "Tarotplane"
MPEG Stream: "Kandy Korn"

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & THE MAGIC BAND Doc At The Radar Station (Astralwerks) cd 15.98

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & THE MAGIC BAND Ice Cream For Crow (Astralwerks) cd 15.98

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND HIS MAGIC BAND Magnetic Hands (Viper) cd 19.98
Though we've seen a fair amount of Beefheart rarities being released on CD in the last several years, not much of the Magic Band's live material has turned up yet. Much of this is due to licensing restraints, I'm sure, as none of the sets were ever legitimately recorded in the first place. That anyone even had the foresight to record the Captain and crew all the way back in 1972 is pretty impressive. This collection contains 18 tracks culled from 7 different shows, all in the U.K., dating as far back as '72 on up to 1980. Those concerned about fidelity should take note however that these tracks, even the more recent, were recorded with the most primitive of equipment and no amount of mastering could fix it. For those who could give a flying fuck about fidelity and are more interested in some live and raw renditions of their favorite Beefheart tunes, this would be a handsome addition to their collection as the various lineups (there are five different throughout) are all in top form on every track. Also included is a ten page booklet containing one man's well written personal account of Captain Beefheart's impact on him and the U.K., plus information on the individual tracks and the band's different line ups.
RealAudio clip: "Grow Fins"
RealAudio clip: "Kandy Korn"

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND THE MAGIC BAND Dichotomy (Ozit Morpheus ) cd 15.98
What can we say? Ozit has put together a collection of Beefheart odds and sods spanning the 1960's and 1970's. As can be expected, the fidelity of the recordings ain't the best, but for Beefheart fans yearning for new material there really is less and less that hasn't already been compiled elsewhere at this point. And while much, if not all, of the songs here will be familiar to everyone with a fair sized collection of Captain Beefheart studio recordings, the arrangements here are often completely different and as such are an interest to those curious about the creative process that went into shaping them into their final form on LP. If all of this seems like apologist mutterings, we can't convincingly argue otherwise. But note that all the tracks here, to the best of our knowledge, haven't been released on CD until now, save for one or two tracks (can't speak for all the myriad bootleg LP collections of Beefheart rarities that have been released lo these many years).
MPEG Stream: "Sticks And Stones (Instrumental)"
MPEG Stream: "I Was A Teenage Malt Shop"

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND THE MAGIC BAND Dust Sucker (Milksafe / Ozit Morpheus) cd 15.98
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Talk of a legitimate release of the tracks on this disc has been going around for so long I all but gave up hoping it would ever be released. And then, suddenly, it's here. The bulk of the tracks on "Dust Sucker" are recordings that were intended to be released in 1976 for an album entitled "Bat Chain Puller". Instead, the album was shelved and many of the tracks were re-recorded by a later incarnation of the Magic Band for the album "Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)" in 1978, while a few others wound up on "Doc At the Radar Station" (1980) and "Ice Cream For Crow" (1982). Two of the tracks in this session -- "Seam Crooked Sam" and "Odd Jobs" -- never made it onto any album. Though the recordings used here are not the best, they are vastly superior to the many bootleg copies that have been floating around; they were taken from the master tapes that belonged to Don Van Vliet. Also included on this release are six live recordings (no indication of location) of "Bat Chain Puller", "Harry Irene", "Flavor Bud Living", "Floppy Boot Stomp", "Owed T'Alex", "My Human Gets Me Blues" and one unreleased studio recording -- "Well, Well, Well" (not to be confused with "Well" from Trout Mask Replica.)
RealAudio clip: "Bat Chain Puller"
RealAudio clip: "Seam Crooked Sam"
RealAudio clip: "Owed T'Alex (live)"

CAPTAIN BEYOND Dawn Explosion (Friday Music) cd 15.98
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Third album circa '77 from these psychedelic prog stoner heavies... Different singer, pretty much for completists though.

CAPTAIN BEYOND s/t (Capricorn) cd 5.00
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Here's an old favorite that we thought we'd list 'cause the name sometimes comes up in our reviews of present day heavy psych/stoner rock bands: LA's legendary Captain Beyond. This cd reissues their classic 1972 debut lp. Psychedelic hard rock from ex-members of both Deep Purple (their original vocalist) and Iron Butterfly. One of Allan's all-time faves, and one of the essential documents of '70s heavy hippy rock, with plenty of swaggering vocals, trippy lyrics, quirky time changes, and of course some memorable, weighty acid guitar riffs. Just don't expect Black Sabbath, as these California boys were still all about '60s stuff like flowers and beads and bellbottoms, not Satan and metal and doom. Though they do get kinda doomy on some of their astral travels.
MPEG Stream: "Mesmerization Eclipse"
MPEG Stream: "Raging River Of Fear"
MPEG Stream: "Frozen Over"

CAPTAIN BEYOND Sufficently Breathless (Capricorn) cd 5.00
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While Captain Beyond's 1972 debut was all about proggy proto-metal riffery, the group's quite different but equally classic 1973 follow-up, Sufficiently Breathless, is much less hard-edged, much more Malibu-mellow. Smoother, and spaced out. Indeed you could call it space rock, what with song titles/subjects like "Drifting In Space", "Starglow Energy" and "Distant Sun". It's a definitely trippy album, to match the very bizarre cover painting. But there's some riffage here all right too, with a bunch of the tracks, even including "Drifting In Space", having a rollicking, groovy energy to 'em. "Evil Men" kinda reminds us of Blue Oyster Cult, and also it - and a lot of the record - has a jazzy feel, with Latin percussion, a la Santana.
Our favorite track is probably the majestic and uplifting "Starglow Energy", a somewhat Floydian, New Agey hippie hypnotic bliss out. It's been a long time (since 1973, perhaps!) that an artist could do a song with a title like "Starglow Energy" and sound so sincere about it. Nope, they don't make 'em like this anymore.
So, compared to Captain Beyond's debut, the super stoned and sorta Santana-styled Sufficently Breathless isn't so much astral proto-metal, than, uh, maybe what we could call yacht-psych (?), but we still love it!
MPEG Stream: " Bright Blue Tango"
MPEG Stream: "Drifting In Space"
MPEG Stream: "Starglow Energy"

CAPTAIN FATASS s/t (Pipe City Nights) cd 11.98
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CAPTAIN FATASS Sweet Migrations (Pipe City Nights) cd 11.98
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Captain Fatass, who have been playing around town for some time now, finally recorded and released a full length album so that now there's no need to wait for their upcoming shows to listen to them. Musically they draw a lot from the musical well of SF's rock history, sounding at times a like a less uptight Camper Van Beethoven, Dieselhed (when they rock out) and even early Thinking Fellers (but with better musicianship skills.)
RealAudio clip: "Lake Charles"

CAPTURED BY ROBOTS Captured Alive! (Robotic Resistance) cd + dvd 16.98
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Listening to Captured Alive! in a musical sense is nearly impossible. That is of course if you haven't actually witnessed for yourself the incredible live performance of Captured By Robots. Luckily for all, the performance that took place right here at San Francisco's Bottom Of The Hill is not only found on the cd, but you may witness it for yourself in digital video form on the accompanying dvd. Probably the most entertaining and elaborate one-man-band ever.

CAR COMMERCIALS Prisoner Of Type (Soft Abuse) 7" 7.98
Within a few seconds, eagle eared aQ-ers will most likely recognize that struggling vocal warble, that earnest about to crack falsetto, which just happens to belong to Daniel DiMaggio, frontman of those aQ faves, punky ramshackle noise poppers Home Blitz. But Car Commercials is a whole different ball of wax, instead of the frantic frenetic bounce of Home Blitz, in Car Commercials, DiMaggio and his CC partner Dave Sutton, weave something much more intimate and personal, way more twisted and bizarre, some seriously damaged outsider bedroom folk, think Jandek, Daniel Johnston, that sort of thing, detuned guitars, sporadic percussive flourishes, strange atonal chords, tangled not quite melodic melodies, the vocals, sung spoken, whispered, yelped, it almost sounds like a Sebadoh record that was left in the sun, all warped and melted and lysergic and fucking bizarre. Guitar thrum drifts through clouds of reverb, the vocals sounding like they were recorded through busted headphones, guitar chords ring out and seem to crumble to pieces, this is some seriously whatthefuck home recorded weirdness.
The flipside cranks up the volume a bit, but everything else remains appropriately twisted and detuned and damaged, just more psychedelic and chaotic and noisy, the junkyard percussion more intense. The record finishes off with the two part "Bag Saga", maybe the most musical of the bunch, part one, a haunting moody, dirge, all distorted acoustic guitar, and wheezing keyboard, the second part, all spidery and abstract, building to an electrified sonic catharsis, all buzz and thump and croon, before crumbling to a halt.
Definitely not easy listening, harking back to the early days of DIY tape trading, where you could send away for something sight unheard, and get back a home dubbed tape that could very well blow your mind, or your speakers, or both. We dig this a lot, but then we like a lot of weird demented shit. So reservedly recommended, folks after pretty melodies and dreamy pop and pretty harmonies, steer clear, but if you're in the market for some serious home brewed 4-track cracked bedroom folk damage, then this might be for you...
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES, includes a free download...
MPEG Stream: "The Bag Saga Part I"
MPEG Stream: "Supper On The Table"

CARBONARA, ERIC Exodus Bulldornadius (Locust) cd 15.98

CARCASS Choice Cuts (Earache) cd 14.98
Ask Andee or Allan who their favorite death metal band is, ever, and while you might find them momentarily heming and hawing over Morbid Angel, what they're ultimately gonna tell you is: Carcass. The British inventors, pretty much, of both the genre of gore-core and, as their career progressed, the whole melodic death metal thing that so many Swedish bands have taken to the bank. So this new "best of" compilation comes highly recommended. It spans their career from the early days of absurd vocal extremity and misused medical terminology to their more technical and tuneful later productions. Unlike so many other cookie-cutter, cookie-monster death metal bands, these guys had personality, and most importantly, great songs. Instantly memorable stuff. This comp, selected with the input of Carcass drummer Ken Owen (who, happily, has recently recovered from a long, quite serious illness, which he discusses among other Carcass related things in an interview in the cd booket) hits on the highlights of their career of carnage. Indeed, we probably would have picked most of the same songs. So, a fine introduction to their ouvre. And for those of you already well-versed in Carcass, this comp is still a good purchase because it also includes eight tracks from two early Peel sessions! Amazing to think of it, but Carcass (along with Napalm Death) was championed early on by veteran BBC DJ John Peel. So don't be the last on your block to experience the crepitating cadaveric necroticism of Carcass!
MPEG Stream: "Corporal Jigsore Quandry"
MPEG Stream: "Crepitating Bowel Erosion (Peel Session)"
MPEG Stream: "Reek Of Puterfaction (Peel Session)"

CARCASS Heartwork (Earache) cd+dvd 16.98

MPEG Stream: "Heartwork"
MPEG Stream: "Buried Dreams"

CARCASS Necroticism - Descanting The Insalubrious (Earache) cd 13.98
Allan's favorite 'Death Metal' album (well, along with Morbid Angel's Blessed Are The Sick)! It combines the horrific rawness and insane medical lyrics of Carcass' first two albums (this was their third) with a newfound technicality and NWOBHM-derived catchiness. And they manage to make use of 'samples' in a way that doesn't suck. Definitely their masterpiece (though Andee might argue for Heartwork). Rules.

CARCASS Reek of Putrefaction (Earache) cd 16.98

CARCASS Reek of Putrifaction (Earache) cd 12.98
If you have to ask who Carcass is, stop reading right here. For those of you who know and love the sick grinding medical school death metal of Earache's finest, this collectors reissue is for you. The classic 'Reek Of Putrefaction' has been reissued on vinyl, with the original BANNED artwork, printed inner sleeve/lyrics and on BLUE wax!! No longer any need to buy this for $100 on Ebay thanks to the nice folks at Earache.

CARCASS Reek of Putrifaction (Earache) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If you have to ask who Carcass is, stop reading right here. For those of you who know and love the sick grinding medical school death metal of Earache's finest, this collectors reissue is for you. The classic 'Reek Of Putrefaction' has been reissued on vinyl, with the original BANNED artwork, printed inner sleeve/lyrics and on BLUE wax!! No longer any need to buy this for $100 on Ebay thanks to the nice folks at Earache.

CARCASS Symphonies Of Sickness (Earache) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's been a while since I'd heard this one, or looked at its decidedly gross, human meat collage cover, and boy did it bring back memories. Coming home from college in the summer of 1991, I found that a bunch of people I knew -- who weren't even metalheads -- had gone Earache-crazy. Godflesh, Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, OLD, Nocturnus, etc., and of course Carcass were all chum for their summertime sonic feeding frenzy. Longsleeve shirts via mail-order, Godflesh graffiti, road-trips to New Jersey to see Napalm Death. Good times in other words. I'm not sure what caused this strange grindcore, death metal mania to spread among my friends, but I'm sure it had something to do with the cutting edge quality of UK label Earache's releases back 'round then. 1989's "Symphonies of Sickness" would be one such example. With crazy/silly lyrics chock full of wordy, disgusting medical terminology (which you need the lyric sheet to understand, of course), blazing blast beats and the somehow catchy, but brutal guitar work of Bill Steer, this album (and its predecessor, "Reek of Putrefaction") were the ultimate in funny/gross grind at the time. The best then, the best now! (CDs still available, too.)
RealAudio clip: "Ruptured In Purulence"

CARCASS Symphonies Of Sickness (Reissue) (Earache) CD 12.98

CARCASS Symphonies Of Sickness (Special Edition cd/dvd) (Earache) cd / dvd 15.98

CARCASS The Gore Gallery of Demos (Hells Headbangers) cd 15.98
Killer gore soaked collection of rare demos from one of Allan's and Andee's favorite bands of all time!!

CARCASS Wake Up And Smell The Carcass (Earache) cd 15.98
Unreleased and rare tracks from this seminal grindcore band's ten year gore-splattered history.

CARCHESIO, EUGENE & LEIGHTON CRAIG Leaves (Naturestrip) cd 16.98
For well over twenty years now, Eugene Carchesio and Leighton Craig have been creating wayward recordings in barely-released editions on cassette and cd-r for their exploratory free-folk / semi-improvisational communions with the Australian landscape. Only recently have any of their recordings made their way across the Pacific, mostly by way of their contributions in the group Lost Domain, whose drifting, monochromatic ragas have been released by such shambolic stalwarts as Digitalis Recordings and PseudoArcana. Leaves is another such entry in their humbly spectacular wanderings; this time, it's through the exceptional Australian label Naturestrip. The easiest comparison that anyone could make to Leaves would be to The Blithe Sons and Thuja (or most any of the Jewelled Antler ensembles of sodden nature jams), where two dedicated listeners creating droning harmonics alongside the unpredictability of natural events. Carchesio and Craig often are found slumped over their battery powered keyboards, creating shimmering drone vibrations that accompany the cacophony of lorikeets, crows, cicadas, and wind in Leighton's Brisbane backyard, where these recordings were made. When the birds and insects allow it, Carchesio and Craig pick up an acoustic guitar, violin, and recorder (amongst other instruments) for some purposefully primitive arrangements pocked with dreamily psychedelic references and quietly clattered improv. Really, really nice!
MPEG Stream: "Track 1"
MPEG Stream: "Track 7"

CARDEW, CORNELIUS Chamber Music 1955-64: Apartment House (Matchless) cd 17.98
Released on AMM's Matchless label, "Chamber Music 1955-64" is a retrospective of the early compositions from the late British composer Cornelius Cardew. After studying with Stockhausen in the late '50s, Cardew quickly shifted his personal aesthetic sympathies away from Stockhausen's exactitude and towards John Cage's principles of indeterminancy. After returning to England a few years later, Cardew began experimenting with an open ended form of composition that gave an equal weight to the purity found in his beautifully annoted graphic scores, the improvisational skill of the performers, and his own aesthetic polemics. Apartment House - a British avant-garde chamber ensemble - has recently taken the task of recording a number of these early compositions, including "Solo With Accompaniment," "Three Rhythmic Pieces For Trumpet And Piano," "Autumn '60," "Material," "Secong String Trio," "Piece For Guitar," "Memories of You," and "Octet '61." Apartment House's performances of these scores splutter through indeterminant notes and perfunctory silences, but Apartment House ringleader Anton Lukoszevieze admits the quandry for such compositions: "Through performing and organising these scores, I am convinced that some of them only really 'live' when the interpreted material is welded together by the use of spontaneous improvisation."
RealAudio clip: "Solo With Accompaniment"
RealAudio clip: "Autumn 60 (version 2)"

CARDEW, CORNELIUS Four Principles On Ireland and Other Pieces (Ampersand) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The liner notes for Cardew's "Four Principles on Ireland" state that Cardew enjoyed three stylistic phases of musical development. The first phase found Cardew breaking from the canons of the Royal Academy of Music in the 1950s and collaborating with Stockhausen, until he met John Cage and began work on "The Great Learning" and started the Scratch Orchestra. His third stylistic phase found Cardew embracing the political tenets of Maoism and completely separating himself from his previous work with his manifesto "Stockhausen Serves Imperialism." Within that provocative text, Cardew adopted the belief that music should serve the masses as an uplifting muse and an educational tool, thus denying the more conceptual agendas of the avant garde. The pieces found on this disc come from this latter period, focusing upon the melodies of historical revolutionary songs. Composed solely for piano, Cardew incorporates Irish war ballads and populist Chinese songs into the music, while drawing on his earliest training at the Royal Academy where he was "a star player of Bach." These songs are incredibly playful and are certainly uplifting in their mood, but they seem somewhat of a let down in comparison to the amazing conceptual works mentioned above.

CARDEW, CORNELIUS Treatise (Hat Hut) cd 26.00
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Even though Cornelius Cardew composed this piece from 1963 - 1967, the world premier complete recording of "Treatise" did not see the light of day long after his death in 1998. That's not surprising, considering that the manuscript of the score is 193 pages long, and serves as an open ended graphical display rather than a collection of specific notations. There are no suggestions as to how many instruments should be played, or for that matter how the score should even be read. Cardew himself expressed that this score utilizes the metaphor of a vertebrae, with the musicians moving their sounds around this backbone however they see fit. For this performance, the conductor was Art Lange and the musicians included Jim O'Rourke (electronics), Jim Baker (piano), Carrie Biolo (vibes), Guillermo Gregorio (clarinet), and Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello). These musicians took all the liberties that Cardew hoped they would take with this huge free-form improvisation. Although I have to say that the idea behind this piece is much cooler than these two and a half hours of fanciful wankiness.

CARDEW, CORNELIUS We Sing For The Future! (New Albion) cd 13.98
Another collection of work from Cardew's final period of utilitarian compositions informed heavily by Maoist doctrines of Communism, "We Sing For The Future!" has been performed by pianist Frederic Rzewski, founding member of Musica Elettronica Viva. AMM's John Tilbury has some very nice things to say about the work and the perfomance, but I don't really agree. Stick with "The Great Learning" if you're looking for some amazing work from Cardew.
RealAudio clip: "We Sing For The Future! (Theme)"

CARDEW, CORNELIUS & THE SCRATCH ORCHESTRA The Great Learning (Cortical Foundation) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Cortical Foundation has been reissuing some amazing documents of avant-garde sound art from the past century, including this composition from Scratch Orchestra ringleader and AMM memeber Cornelius Cardew. This work presents three paragraphs from the much larger musical text of "The Great Learning" and is composed of sustained pipe organ tones in particularly malevolent chords, short stabs of police whistles, sheets of hammering tribal drums with human voices howling against the drums, and complex vocal choirs. All of the text that runs through the compositions are incantations from the Confucian text "The Great Learning" which lays down a basic ethical and political code. However, the recitation of these texts sounds very much like the perversions of Catholic liturgies from the black masses of the Satanic Church with an authoritative delivery, an almost Gnostic indecipherability, and a bleakly somber overtone. Cardew's intentions for using this text are to express the inherent human failings of attempting to live up to the most basic of moral codes. Despite his pairing the metaphor of failure with the distinctly sprirtual overtones in the work, Cardew may not be actually talking about spiritual collapse or the failure of religions. Rather, "The Great Learning" postulates that if there is a higher state than mankind, then it will be our goal to attempt to find a means to that state, even if that is an impossible goal. Altogether, this is an wonderful if at times terrifying work.
RealAudio clip: "Paragraph 1"

CARDEW, CORNELIUS / DAVID BEDFORD Great Learning / Two Poems... (Deutsche Grammophon) cd 16.98
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Both Cornelius Cardew and David Bedford were leading proponents of avant-garde composition in England during the '60s. Cardew's experimentation with graphical notation and a democratization of performance through improvisation were radical departures from the controlled strategies of his former mentor Karlheinz Stockhausen. His most successful realization of these ideas was the epic 7 hour composition "The Great Learning," a composition based on the set of Confucian texts of the same name which lays down a basic ethical and political code. This piece was actualized by his unprecendented Scratch Orchestra, an ensemble filled with professional and untrained musicians given simple instructions as well as the mandate to respond according to how the performance itself wanted to be performed, not by how the composer intended it to sound. "The Great Learning" comprised of 7 paragraphs, each with its own unique set of parameters. A few years back, we had offered a collection of recordings from "The Great Learning" published by the Cortical Foundation; yet, due to the continued medical situation that persists with Cortical Foundation's owner Gary Todd, that album has gone missing. However, this collection through Deutsche Grammophon includes 2 of the paragraphs (number 2 and number 7) from the same (and possibly only) session documented on the Cortical album. The recitation of these Confucian texts -- with Paragraph 2 as a tumultous drum and voice procession and Paragraph 7 as an angelic choir -- sounds very much like the perversions of Catholic liturgies from the black masses of the Satanic Church with an authoritative delivery, an almost Gnostic indecipherability, and a bleakly somber overtone. Cardew's intentions for using this text are to express the inherent human failings of attempting to live up to the most basic of moral codes. Despite his pairing the metaphor of failure with the distinctly sprirtual overtones in the work, Cardew may not be actually talking about spiritual collapse or the failure of religions. Rather, "The Great Learning" postulates that if there is a higher state to mankind, then it will be our goal to attempt to find a means to that state, even if that is an impossible goal. Later aligning himself with Maoism, Cardew's unwavering optimism for man's ability to escape the confines of oppression is most articulate within this outstanding composition.
That isn't to take anything away from David Bedford, who had been a member of Cardew's Scratch Orchestra. In his two beautiful vocal pieces, Bedford conveys a majestic impressionism of sound, drawing upon the poems of Kenneth Patchen. Where there is an undeniable tension and dischord within the Cardew pieces, there is a lightness and ephemeralism found within Bedford's. Altogether, the four pieces make for a very complementary pair of recordings.
RealAudio clip: CORNELIUS CARDEW "Paragraph 2"
RealAudio clip: DAVID BEDFORD "O Now The Drenched Land Wakes"

CARDIACS Guns (Alphabet) cd 17.98
AS OF MAY 2010, THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE TO US. SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally managed to get more of these back in! Here's what we had to say before:
We first heard about the Cardiacs from our friend Jussi From Circle. He didn't really give us much to go on, just told us to find Cardiacs records. So when I (Andee) was in England last year I looked everywhere for Cardiacs records. No stores stocked them, no one had even heard of them. Rough Trade? Nope. Record And Video Exchange? Nope. So on a whim I went into Tower Records, and whhattayaknow, the Cardiacs had their own big ol' section. So I bought 4 of the 8 records they had in stock, without even knowing what they sounded like. The guy I was staying with was not at all impressed, telling me "Nobody likes the Cardiacs". But when I finally got down to listening to them, boy was I pleasantly surprised. Somehow not at all what I expected, but that only made me like it more. It's definitely pop, but it's not pop like you or I know it, it's freaked out, complex, super dynamic, totally catchy, weird vocals, drum machines, high pitched lead vocals, carnivalesque, bombastic kick ass sort-of-power-pop. It's really hard to describe. When I brought my copy to play for people in the store, every couple of minutes someone walked up wanting to buy whatever it was we were playing. So finally, we were able to get enough copies to list and let you all get your grubby litttle paws on this demented pop goodness. Think the Pixies meets the Sweet meets the Toy Dolls meets Uz Jsme Doma meets Queen meets the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack meets XTC but more punk rock, and more prog, or something like that. With totally unlikely but irresistible melodies, squiggly guitars, circus organs, the occasional children's choir (?), drumming that is so stuttery and precise it sounds like it must be a drum machine, burbly spaced out ambient keyboards, completely fucked lyrics and amazing vocals and harmonies. It's like power-pop-prog-ska (sort of like the way Uz Jsme Doma sounded ska) punk craziness. Goes from manic and intense to throbbing and dreamy at the drop of a dime. I think this band was 'big' for a while in the UK which is why my hipster friends scoffed, but to be honest I can't understand why they're not still big, or big here too. Just a little too weird, methinks.
'Guns' is my favorite record of the bunch. Just listen to the sound sample for the song 'There's Good Cud'. One of the most perfect pop songs I've ever heard. Weird and damaged but totally catchy and fun. Sort of like the whole record. And the sample after that 'Wind And Rains Is Cold' shows the softer (but no less weird) side of the Cardiacs. Lilting pop loveliness wrapped in a warped rock framework. This record totally rules.
MPEG Stream: "There's Good Cud"
MPEG Stream: "Wind And Rains Is Cold"
MPEG Stream: "Spell With A Shell"

CARDIACS Heaven Born And Ever Bright (Alphabet) cd 17.98
AS OF MAY 2010, THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE TO US. SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's been a while since we've heard from the Cardiacs, UK's mightiest, spazz-prog pop outfit ever. No fault of theirs, it just took some organizing to get another big batch of Cardiacs discs sent over. This one's not a new one but along with Guns (now sadly out of print) and Songs For Ships And Irons it's another of our favorites.
Our pal Jussi from Circle might just be the biggest Cardiacs fan in the world (just narrowly edging us out) having subjected Andee to hours and hours of listening and viewing when he was in Finland, prompting him to undertake a secret mission when he was in the UK next, to track down and purchase ALL of the Cardiacs records. That 'all' amounted to close to 20 different titles, so he settled for 5 or 6, and loved them all. As did everyone we played them for. So, since the band has NO distribution in the states, we contacted the band directly and convinced them to send us discs, and here we are. Andee now does own every single Cardiacs record and loves every one of 'em. We listed Guns and Songs For Ships And Irons, a year or two back, both going over like gangbusters, so we figured next time we sorted out a big Cardiacs order we'd get a bunch of Heaven Born And Ever Bright.
So here we are. This one starts off with an epic, lush Queen-like (the band, not the, er, Queen) fanfare. Martial drums, thick swaths of organ and a chorus of vocals all singing praise to the band's own label The Alphabet Business Concern and then it's down to business, the business of impossible convoluted lush mini-epics. But how to describe the sound? Well when we first heard the Cardiacs we thought Toy Dolls meets Uz Jsme Doma meets Queen meets the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack meets XTC but more punk rock, and more prog. And that still pretty much hits it right on the head. Madly strummed guitars, manic drumming, a chorus of vocals, some high, some low, mainman Tim Smith handling the majority, but often sparring with one or more other vocalists, angular riffing and dense swirls of sound over bouncy rhythms, streaks of circusy keyboards, and maddeningly catchy hooks everywhere.
Totally over the top, super dramatic and wild, like every song is some demonic musical brought to life. Imagine some circle of hell, where demented musical theater freaks and prog obsessed metalheads and nerdy twee popsters are all forced to collaborate on 3 minute long musical plays for eternity. And it's been thousands of years, so everyone has gone good and mad, and this is their most recent batch. Fucking brilliant.
MPEG Stream: "The Alphabet Business Concern (Home Of Fadeless Splendour)"
MPEG Stream: "She Is Hiding Behind The Shed"
MPEG Stream: "March"

CARDIACS On Land And In The Sea (Alphabet) cd 17.98
AS OF MAY 2010, THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE TO US. SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

CARDIACS Sing To God (Alphabet) 2cd 35.00
AS OF MAY 2010, THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE TO US. SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

CARDIACS Songs For Ships And Irons (Alphabet) cd 17.98
AS OF MAY 2010, THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE TO US. SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally managed to get more of these back in! Here's what we had to say before:
We first heard about the Cardiacs from our friend Jussi From Circle. He didn't really give us much to go on, just told us to find Cardiacs records. So when I (Andee) was in England last year I looked everywhere for Cardiacs records. No stores stocked them, no one had even heard of them. Rough Trade? Nope. Record And Video Exchange? Nope. So on a whim I went into Tower Records, and whhattayaknow, the Cardiacs had their own big ol' section. So I bought 4 of the 8 records they had in stock, without even knowing what they sounded like. The guy I was staying with was not at all impressed, telling me "Nobody likes the Cardiacs". But when I finally got down to listening to them, boy was I pleasantly surprised. Somehow not at all what I expected, but that only made me like it more. It's definitely pop, but it's not pop like you or I know it, it's freaked out, complex, super dynamic, totally catchy, weird vocals, drum machines, high pitched lead vocals, carnivalesque, bombastic kick ass sort-of-power-pop. It's really hard to describe. When I brought my copy to play for people in the store, every couple of minutes someone walked up wanting to buy whatever it was we were playing. So finally, we were able to get enough copies to list and let you all get your grubby litttle paws on this demented pop goodness. Think the Pixies meets the Sweet meets the Toy Dolls meets Uz Jsme Doma meets Queen meets the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack meets XTC but more punk rock, and more prog, or something like that. With totally unlikely but irresistible melodies, squiggly guitars, circus organs, the occasional children's choir (?), drumming that is so stuttery and precise it sounds like it must be a drum machine, burbly spaced out ambient keyboards, completely fucked lyrics and amazing vocals and harmonies. It's like power-pop-prog-ska (like Uz Jsme Doma sounded ska) punk craziness. Goes from manic and intense to throbbing and dreamy at the drop of a dime. I think this band was 'big' for a while in the UK which is why my hipster friends scoffed, but to be honest I can't understand why they're not still big, or big here too. Just a little too weird, methinks.
This is my second favorite Cardiacs record ONLY because two of my favorite Cardiacs' songs are on 'Guns' (see other review). But it's easily as good as 'Guns' with its frenetic pop, completely mad vocals and brain-melting arrangements. I mean just listen to the sound samples!! You might as well buy both of them because this band is the fucked up, off-kilter, totally difficult and damaged pop band you've been looking for your whole life. I kid you not.
MPEG Stream: "Big Ship "
MPEG Stream: "Tarred And Feathered"
MPEG Stream: "Burn Your House Brown"

CARDIACS The Seaside (Alphabet) cd 17.98
AS OF MAY 2010, THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE TO US. SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

CARDIACS The Special Garage Concerts London Autumn 2003 Vol I (Alphabet) cd 17.98
AS OF MAY 2010, THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE TO US. SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
MPEG Stream: "Gibber And Twitch"
MPEG Stream: "As Cold As Can Be In An English Sea"

CARDIACS The Special Garage Concerts London Autumn 2003 Vol II (Alphabet) cd 17.98
AS OF MAY 2010, THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE TO US. SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
MPEG Stream: "Hello Mr. Sparrow"
MPEG Stream: "A Bus For The Bus On A Bus"

CARDIGANS Gran Turismo (Mercury) cd 15.98
When Yo La Tengo went to rock school in their video for "Sugarcube", they were instructed that their third album must follow the ELP Rule -- it must be double live! Well the Cardigans, in their recent matriculation into rock school, have followed a different rule for their third album -- the Radiohead Rule -- that if a band is in danger of being written off as a one-hit-wonder, they must make a third album of dark yet sugar-coated pop gems. Hence, OK Computer and now, for the Cardigans, Gran Turismo.
OK, it is unfair to compare this album to OK Computer, but the Cardigans have realized their best album of bittersweet pop songs. (Sadly, however, there are no Black Sabbath covers on this album.) An Aquarius pop fave.

CARDIGANS, THE Long Gone Before Daylight (Koch) cd + dvd 16.98
These Swedish lads n' lass are back with a new album, but they're no longer the buzz band they were a few years ago. Symptomatic of their current lower profile in the hip-parade, this record was actually released overseas long ago, last year, but is only now getting US release. Some of us here had sought out the import -- and were disappointed, initially anyway. Long Gone Before Daylight is a more "adult", sad-sounding, and basically not-as-catchy Cardigans. More generic sounding too. And very different from the electronically-bolstered sound of their previous album Gran Turismo. Definitely less sleek dream pop than before. Grown up and without the candy coating. So, ok... if you're a big fan you probably should pick this up (even those of us who got the import did, as this comes with a bonus US only track AND a bonus DVD disc of videos and live tracks!). From experience, we know that it will probably grow on you even if you don't like it that much at first. Nina Persson's voice is, ultimately, hard to resist. So lovely. (Still it would be great if she'd sing an album all in Swedish, as the English-language lyrics here are sometimes hard to take, full of hokey rhymes and cliches!) And anyone not already into the Cardigans is advised to get Gran Turismo or First Band On The Moon instead, you can check this out later once/if you're hooked. But nobody here who bought this is selling theirs back...
MPEG Stream: "And Then You Kissed Me"
MPEG Stream: "Live And Learn"

CARDIGANS, THE Super Extra Gravity (Nettwerk) cd 15.98

CARDINAL Hymns (Fire) cd 21.00
Cardinal, the duo of Eric Matthews and Richard Davies (of legendary NZ outfit the Moles), only released one record, a self titled album that came out in 1994, and while commercially it didn't make that much of a splash, it become THEE modern orchestral pop record that pretty much set the bar, a collection of songs that owed as much to the classics as it did to the indie rock of the time, dark brooding pop gems driven by strings and horns and gorgeous unlikely vocal harmonies, "You've Lost Me There" from that record still ranks as one of the greatest pop songs ever. And while both Matthews and Davies continued to make records, and some good ones at that, none of those ever approached the sublime majesty of that one record. Which is maybe why the two have reconvened almost two decades later and revived their old partnership. For those of us who spent the nineties obsessed with that record (which is most of us at aQ), and heck, let's be honest, most of the 2000's as well, the prospect of a new Cardinal record had us quivering in anticipation.
And on first listen, opening track "Northern Soul" brings us right back. Lush and lovely, haunting and dreamily jangly, acoustic guitars, chiming major key chords, those strange harmonies that so defined that first record, and Cardinal in general are still present, whether it's weird little falsettos, or that deep throaty croon mixed way in the background, it's really what gives Cardinal it's otherworldly energy. But the music here, remains fantastically rich and evocative, the trumpet, the big strummed acoustic guitar, those vocals. And while a record as good as their debut was probably too much to hope for, the record still holds up pretty well. Replacing the timelessness of their debut with a slightly more modern sheen, and with a much broader sonic palette, expanding beyond symphonic pop, giving some proper indie rock a go here and there, but for the most part, this is a pretty great second chapter in Cardinal's two decades long two album career, and it's one of those records, that definitely blossoms with repeated listens, where the initial thrill of a new Cardinal record, no matter how it sounds, is eventually replaced with a a pure and honest appreciation for this disc of catchy, off kilter, symphonic pop. The fact that it sounds like Cardinal only makes it that much better. Like that first record, WAY recommended pop fans of all stripes, but especially folks who dig the timeless pop sounds of the Zombies, the Beach Boys, (Early) Bee Gees, and more modern practitioners like Neutral Milk Hotel and the Elephant 6 stable, Jellyfish, Belle And Sebastian, Sparklehorse and the like..
MPEG Stream: "Northern Soul"
MPEG Stream: "Carbolic Smoke Ball"
MPEG Stream: "Her"
MPEG Stream: "Radio Birdman"

CARDINAL Hymns (Fire) lp 24.00
Now available on vinyl too...
Cardinal, the duo of Eric Matthews and Richard Davies (of legendary NZ outfit the Moles), only released one record, a self titled album that came out in 1994, and while commercially it didn't make that much of a splash, it become THEE modern orchestral pop record that pretty much set the bar, a collection of songs that owed as much to the classics as it did to the indie rock of the time, dark brooding pop gems driven by strings and horns and gorgeous unlikely vocal harmonies, "You've Lost Me There" from that record still ranks as one of the greatest pop songs ever. And while both Matthews and Davies continued to make records, and some good ones at that, none of those ever approached the sublime majesty of that one record. Which is maybe why the two have reconvened almost two decades later and revived their old partnership. For those of us who spent the nineties obsessed with that record (which is most of us at aQ), and heck, let's be honest, most of the 2000's as well, the prospect of a new Cardinal record had us quivering in anticipation.
And on first listen, opening track "Northern Soul" brings us right back. Lush and lovely, haunting and dreamily jangly, acoustic guitars, chiming major key chords, those strange harmonies that so defined that first record, and Cardinal in general are still present, whether it's weird little falsettos, or that deep throaty croon mixed way in the background, it's really what gives Cardinal it's otherworldly energy. But the music here, remains fantastically rich and evocative, the trumpet, the big strummed acoustic guitar, those vocals. And while a record as good as their debut was probably too much to hope for, the record still holds up pretty well. Replacing the timelessness of their debut with a slightly more modern sheen, and with a much broader sonic palette, expanding beyond symphonic pop, giving some proper indie rock a go here and there, but for the most part, this is a pretty great second chapter in Cardinal's two decades long two album career, and it's one of those records, that definitely blossoms with repeated listens, where the initial thrill of a new Cardinal record, no matter how it sounds, is eventually replaced with a a pure and honest appreciation for this disc of catchy, off kilter, symphonic pop. The fact that it sounds like Cardinal only makes it that much better. Like that first record, WAY recommended pop fans of all stripes, but especially folks who dig the timeless pop sounds of the Zombies, the Beach Boys, (Early) Bee Gees, and more modern practitioners like Neutral Milk Hotel and the Elephant 6 stable, Jellyfish, Belle And Sebastian, Sparklehorse and the like..
MPEG Stream: "Northern Soul"
MPEG Stream: "Carbolic Smoke Ball"
MPEG Stream: "Her"
MPEG Stream: "Radio Birdman"

CARDINAL s/t (Wishing Tree) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is one of those perfect pop records that happens very rarely, one in a million, like a total eclipse, or an alignment of the planets, or some rare comet, flaring brightly but briefly and then fading away. A band that put everything it had into a single set of songs and then exhausted, sat back and let those songs float free. In the case of Cardinal, those songs immediately resonated deeply with pop obsessives all over the world, but then far too quickly disappeared, with the folding of their label and the seemingly immediate disbanding of the group after the original release of this record in 1994. But here we are, more than a decade later, and if anything, these songs sound better than ever, timeless and classic, and not at all dated. This is classic pop in the tradition of the Beatles, the Bee Gees, the Beach Boys, Van Dyke Parks, the Zombies, Phil Spector, but with a distinctly modern twist. Richard Davies, half of the Cardinal core, fronted the Australian pop band the Moles, and for Cardinal contributed the raw material, the songs and the melodies, while Eric Matthews was the arranger, taking these simple and perfect pop songs, and opening them up to reveal their hidden beauty, adding strings and pianos and vocal harmonies, shine and sheen, turning simple lovely pop into lush expansive pop masterpieces! Multiple vocals swirl and intertwine in unlikely harmonies, over horns and soaring strings, gently weeping guitars, moody piano chords, and simple shuffling drumbeats. An impossible, and impossibly perfect mix of classic sixties pop, lush easy listening, indie jangle and moody balladeering. Any one who likes any sort of pop music, will be immediately and unalterably smitten by this record. Fitting somewhere between the above mentioned bands and modern pop practitioners like Neutral Milk Hotel, Zumpano, Belle And Sebastian, the Pernice Brothers, Sparklehorse, Iron And Wine, Unrest, the Decemberists and the like, Cardinal fill our souls with pop music and we float dreamily heavenward, humming right along.
Includes extensive liner notes and ELEVEN bonus tracks including demos, b-sides, out-takes and the tracks form the first, long out of print ep!
MPEG Stream: "If You Believe In Christmas Trees"
MPEG Stream: "Last Poems"
MPEG Stream: "Big Mink"
MPEG Stream: "You've Lost Me There"

CARDINALS FOLLY Such Power Is Dangerous (Shadow Kingdom) cd 14.98
Yep, this is one of those that barely needs a review, besides our thumbs up (we like it!) and a few other crucial facts of the matter: it's from Finland, it's doom metal, it's on the cult Shadow Kingdom label. And perhaps unsurprisingly, sounds a heck of a lot like the late great Finnish doomsters Reverend Bizarre. Which is not to say it's unoriginal, any more so than Rev Biz, 'cause both bands worship at the altar of old school traditional Black Sabbath derived doom. This is what they're SUPPOSED to sound like: epic and emotive, dire and depressive. The debut full-length from Cardinals Folly (cool name, we think, but shouldn't there be an apostrophe in there somewhere?) is appropriately sloooow and heavy, adorned with dramatic deep voiced vox, that for sure recall those of Albert Witchfinder. If you miss the ol' Reverend, Cardinals Folly will be right up your dark, cobblestoned alley. But not only do they have that "sound" (which they do very well), they also work in enough interesting, creative moves of their own to make this a worthy doom endeavor in its own right, too.
The album begins with an atmospheric intro track, "The Hammer Speaks", featuring a militaristic drum beat amidst distorted ambience, eventually joined by deeeep vocal intonations. A bit Current 93ish, really. That's a fine way for this to slide into the full-on amped-up doom metal of track two, the title track, oven ten minutes of slow majestic riffery, dissonant downer psych leads, loosely-strung low end bass, and more of those droning deep but melodic vocal stylings... Things speed up a bit for the chugging "Valkyries I Avenge", energy matched by maniacal laughter from the vocalist (who has his insane side, heard later in the album as well), but it's the very end of track four "The Spear Of Destiny" that got everyone in the store staring at the stereo, when they start in with some studio trickery, messing with the tape speed, for a moment making this druggily "drag", like a 45 played at 33, but even more warped and warbly. Nice!
And so it goes, seven tracks, well over an hour of rumbling heavier-than-thou true doom wretchedness from up near the Arctic, like we said, definitely for anyone into fellow Finns, Reverend Bizarre (RIP). Also Lord Vicar, Procession, Gates Of Slumber, Condenados, Garden Of Worm, The Wounded Kings, that sort of thing. You know if this is meant for you, or you for it...
MPEG Stream: "Such Power Is Dangerous!"
MPEG Stream: "Valkyries I Avenge"
MPEG Stream: "Uncharted Seas"

CARDINI, JENNIFER Feeling Strange (Kompakt) cd 15.98
Feeling Strange is a fluid mixed set from Parisian minimalist proponent Jennifer Cardini. Yes, the minimalist techno gestures abound, with plenty of bleeps, bloops, and acid squiggles grafted onto that insistent technotic pulse; but Ms. Cardini doesn't just adhere to the Detroit / Berlin axis of electronica with some very nice transitions into some Moroder-esque arpeggiating disco and leftfield electro-pop. Static, Maurizio, The Hacker, Reinhard Voigt, Apparat, and Luisine are but a few of the selections. Adorned with the Kompakt seal of approval.
MPEG Stream: STATIC "Sometimes I'm Sad For A Few Seconds"
MPEG Stream: REWORK "Love Love Love Yeah"

CARETAKER An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (History Always Favours The Winners) lp 22.00
Repressed and back in print.
Record number two from Leyland Kirby's Caretaker project, whose last record, Persistent Repetition Of Phrases, was a unanimous aQ fave, and was of course one of Wire magazine's top 10 albums of 2008, and was, and still is, one of our best sellers, and it looks like this one is likely to follow suit.
A sonic meditation on memory and loss, The Caretaker, takes old jazz records, various effects, and what sounds like a battery of old beat up Victrolas, and weaves Philip Jeck like soundscapes, but unlike Jeck, the source sounds here are not obfuscated, in fact, in some respects, The Caretaker records are almost like spectral spiritual otherworldly mix tapes, especially on this new one, which sounds like old 78s left to play in a big old auditorium, the room's reverb lovingly wreathing the music in a gauzy old timey haze, the surface noise, hiss and crackle and pop, somehow accentuated by the cavernous space. Better yet, replace the auditorium with an old abandoned mansion. Imagine the great room, animal heads on the walls, old oil paintings, a massive fireplace, charred black, old decaying rugs, all the furniture covered in white cloths, looking like ghosts, cobwebs in all the corners, the floor beneath a layer of dust, and in the corner, an old record player, lit up, its turntable spinning slowly, some old dusty record, to a room full of spirits, a sonic requiem for a time that once was, the music seeming to reflect the ever fading memories, and that's what these songs sound like, some sort of haunted house jazz, old timey seance blues, mournful melodies played on an old piano, muted trumpet, swoonsome strings, shuffling drums, a slow motion big band performing live in the ether, a spectral band playing lament after lament, dedicating it to their lost loves, and loves lost.
An Empty Bliss Beyond This World plays like some archival collection of lost 78's, but where the records' provenance is unknown, timeless music that could have come from anytime, and anywhere, the imperfections and inconsistencies as much a part of the sound as the music itself, all of that hiss and crackle a warm wreath of time-transformed-into-sound detritus, the passing of time mad physical, a sonic memorial to the past. So utterly gorgeous.
MPEG Stream: "All You're Going To Want To Do Is Get Back There"
MPEG Stream: "Moments Of Sufficient Lucidity"
MPEG Stream: "The Great Hidden Sea Of The Unconscious"
MPEG Stream: "Libet's Delay"

CARETAKER Patience (After Sebald) (History Always Favours The Winners) lp 22.00
Repressed and back in print.
Record number two from Leyland Kirby's Caretaker project, whose last record, Persistent Repetition Of Phrases, was a unanimous aQ fave, and was of course one of Wire magazine's top 10 albums of 2008, and was, and still is, one of our best sellers, and it looks like this one is likely to follow suit.
A sonic meditation on memory and loss, The Caretaker, takes old jazz records, various effects, and what sounds like a battery of old beat up Victrolas, and weaves Philip Jeck like soundscapes, but unlike Jeck, the source sounds here are not obfuscated, in fact, in some respects, The Caretaker records are almost like spectral spiritual otherworldly mix tapes, especially on this new one, which sounds like old 78s left to play in a big old auditorium, the room's reverb lovingly wreathing the music in a gauzy old timey haze, the surface noise, hiss and crackle and pop, somehow accentuated by the cavernous space. Better yet, replace the auditorium with an old abandoned mansion. Imagine the great room, animal heads on the walls, old oil paintings, a massive fireplace, charred black, old decaying rugs, all the furniture covered in white cloths, looking like ghosts, cobwebs in all the corners, the floor beneath a layer of dust, and in the corner, an old record player, lit up, its turntable spinning slowly, some old dusty record, to a room full of spirits, a sonic requiem for a time that once was, the music seeming to reflect the ever fading memories, and that's what these songs sound like, some sort of haunted house jazz, old timey seance blues, mournful melodies played on an old piano, muted trumpet, swoonsome strings, shuffling drums, a slow motion big band performing live in the ether, a spectral band playing lament after lament, dedicating it to their lost loves, and loves lost.
An Empty Bliss Beyond This World plays like some archival collection of lost 78's, but where the records' provenance is unknown, timeless music that could have come from anytime, and anywhere, the imperfections and inconsistencies as much a part of the sound as the music itself, all of that hiss and crackle a warm wreath of time-transformed-into-sound detritus, the passing of time mad physical, a sonic memorial to the past. So utterly gorgeous.
MPEG Stream: "All You're Going To Want To Do Is Get Back There"
MPEG Stream: "Moments Of Sufficient Lucidity"
MPEG Stream: "The Great Hidden Sea Of The Unconscious"
MPEG Stream: "Libet's Delay"