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"

CARTER, TOM / SCORCES Beats For The Beast (Free Porcupine Society) cd 14.98

CASH, JOHNNY At San Quentin - Legacy Edition Box Set (Columbia) 2cd+1dvd 45.00

CASH, JOHNNY AND ROSCOE HOLCOMB Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest (Shanachie) dvd 16.98

CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE / FOX PAUSE split (Stationary (Heart)) 7" 5.25
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We just got these brand new Casiotone For The Painfully Alone 7" records straight from the man himself! It's a split 7" with his pal Sara Han aka Fox Pause. His side has three of his wonderfully doleful heartache tunes with his trademark deep boyish near-spoken delivery and his comparatively spritely percolating Casiotone rhythms and melodies.
Her side has four much more peppy twee songs. She sings in the opposite end of the octave range from him. High, sugary sweetness.

CATTLE DECAPITATION / ARMATRON / TICWAR 1 The Science of Crisis (Toyo) cd 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Three-way split release, the second in this intentionally odd series on Toyo Records. SoCal grindsters Cattle Decaptitation start it off, followed by Nebraska spazzcore freaks Armatron. Finally, the disc is anchored with the approx. 20-minute long "Il Ritorno" from our very own Andee's new post- A Minor Forest band, here dubbed Ticwar 1 (making their first recorded appearance). After the fast/fun assaults of Cattle Decap. and Armatron, the Ticwar track seems (even more) glacially slow and immense. Their lengthy "Il Ritorno" composition touches upon lovely post-rock guitar strum, before lumbering into massive Sabbath / Monster Magnet inspired stoner rock riffing, the groove disrupted by Lesser-style digital glitch fuckery. Eventually it winds down into a gorgeous drone-coda. Experimental stoner rock? Post-metal? Can't wait to hear more (Andee? nudge, nudge). So, quite recommended.

CELESTIIAL / BLOOD OF THE BLACK OWL split (Worm Gear) lp 15.98
A high concept split lp from two aQ faves, two different bands, two different sounds, their bond being that of nature, both expressing their visions of the world around them, of their place, and our place amongst the living things that surround us, forests, plants, animals, insects, it's that natural force that infuses the music of both of these groups, and thus links them in such a way, that this shared 12" could almost be the work of a single entity.
The first side features a single extended track from naturalist doomlords Celestiial, their track of course begins with the sounds of birds, of water and wind, insects, a forest at dusk most likely, before from below, rises deep ominous swells, rumbling drones, distant moaning melodies, a deep dark ambience that soon gives way to a big blown out doom, but, a very spacious, spare, airy sort of doom, not heavy as much as abstract, spaced out, the guitars not crumbling and downtuned, more like chiming and ringing out, somehow weirdly processed to make them seem like they are being stretched out, moaning and then fading out, before exploding in another burst, the drums and percussion sounds industrial, the vocals howled and buried in the mix, everything strangely harmonized, sounding a bit alien, near the end the drums speed up into an almost blast beat, but the music gets more and more melodic, minor key swells keeping time with the beat, unfurling a mournful melody, until the music fades out and the track finishes as it began with deep drones and the sounds of the forest.
The flipside features a long three part track by Blood Of The Black Owl, who begin proceedings with a plodding, almost metallic dirge, but backed up by a haunting chiming high end jangle, as well as distant flute like melodies that sound distinctly Native American, the vocals howled and industrial sounding, a bit like Swans or Cop Shoot Cop. The second movement begins with birdsong, deep, slow rubbery dubbed out bass, soft ethereal reverbed vocals, very medieval sounding, until the track switches gears and transforms into something more post industrial sounding, a doomy plod but with haunting mysterious melodies. The side ends with a very tribal sort of ritualistic piece, all simple hand drums and shimmering lowend ambience, growled spoken word, very minimal and haunting, almost like some ancient rite, being captured on vinyl for the very first time.
Gorgeously packaged. Incredibly thick vinyl, thick sleeves, full color inserts, and most likely quite limited...

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

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

CHAMPS, THE / THE TIGHT BROS. FROM WAY BACK WHEN (Ace-Fu) split 7" 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

CHANNEL ONE Maxfield Avenue Breakdown: Dubs & Instrumentals (Pressure Sounds) cd 16.98
Compilation of version sides recorded by Ernest & Jo Jo Hookim at their Channel One studio during its heyday (between 1974-79). Though not always known necessarily for the innovation in their own productions (an incredible exception here being the Natty A General version which features an insane solo of car horns), they were sought out by producers all over Jamaica due to their excellent (though modest) recording gear and their golden ears, and their sound was unmistakable. Though technically a compilation, Pressure Sounds has intentionally presented the album as though Channel One were the artist (which makes sense when you consider that once the vocals have been lifted and the song reworked completely, save for the rhythm track), that being the Hookim Brothers and whatever their studio band might have consisted of at the time. Some quite familiar names can be found laying the tracks here, including Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Ossie Hibbert, Tommy McCook and more.

CHASSE, LOREN / ADAM SONDERBERG + KATHERINE YOUNG Characters At Water Margin / Speech Acts (Compost And Height) 3"cd-r 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We got a very very very few of these. It is after all limited to a mere 50 copies. Chasse completists and Jewelled Antler obsessives, as well as fans of gorgeous abstract field recordings, it's a race to see who can grab one of these before they're gone.
Chasse's piece is 10 minutes long and begins with a burst of static, but as you might imagine, that's not static at all, it's more likely a field recording of wind in branches, or water traveling over a rocky stream bed. The sound soon fades, and then rest of the track is a constantly shifting soundscape of textures and timbres, many recognizable, many not, but all of them strangely musical. Such is the magic touch Chasse has with field recordings, an alchemist who with a handful of sticks and some pebbles can conjure up a beautiful world of earthy sound.
Sonderberg is a member of the Chicago based sound-project Haptic with Steven Hess; and his half with Katherine Young is not quite as serene as Chasse's, a sound field rife with squeaks and creaks and thumps and Geiger counter like clicks, the sound shifting from spare and skeletal to thick and hissy and almost distorted, all underpinned by a weird low end almost electronic sounding thrum.
Really nice, but as mentioned above, we have VERY FEW of these, it's almost out of print, and once they are gone, we will not be able to get more.
Cool packaging too. A 3" cd-r affixed to a small block of wood, wrapped in s sheet of clear plastic, attached on one side with little nails, and velcro on the other, the liner notes a sticker beneath the plastic, each one hand numbered, LIMITED TO 50 COPIES.
MPEG Stream: LOREN CHASSE "Characters At Water Margin"
MPEG Stream: ADAM SONDERBERG + KATHERINE YOUNG "Speech Acts"

CHICKS ON SPEED/DMX KREW Smash Metal (Go Records) 2x7 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A double seven inch from the DHR electronica realms of low IQ punk fury thrown onto 808s and powerbooks. Chicks on Speed follows Cobra Killer's alienated and blatant sampling in a new wave context... DMX Krew (the same who did those cheese-ball electro cuts for Rephlex???) cranks out the punk rock songs, literally.

CHURCH STEPS / GANG WIZARD split 7" 7" 3.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This split release is between the wonderful SF-based, lo-fi melding of dreamy electronics and melancholic, sensitive boy strummery known as The Church Steps and the very mysterious group called Gang Wizard. A limited lathe-cut 7" pressing which - you may or may not know - is not the sturdiest of music formats. So we definitely recommend transferring the songs onto a more durable medium for extended listening enjoyment.

CINERAMA Disco Volante (Manifesto) cd 17.98
I'm ashamed to admit that I completely missed Cinerama's wonderful first album when it came out a couple of years ago. I will not make the same mistake twice. No way! We will forgive them for using the same title as that of Mr. Bungle's very different (but very excellent) second album. And comparisons to Dave Gedge's other band the Wedding Present? Well, in my humble opinion this is equally if not more wonderful... and I'm a huge Wedding Present fan. Mr. Gedge sings with a much more melodic Merrit (that is, the less monotone side of Magnetic Fields' Stephin) style, than his more familiar Muppet-esque (hello, Grover?) tone. And Sally Murrell's sweet voice provides the pretty counterpart. Super polished dream pop like a swirling carousel in shades of Bacharach and Morricone. Flutes, strings, french horns. Oh, I just might swoon and weep. Quite fabulous.
RealAudio clip: "Lollobrigida"

CIRCLE / MARBLE SHEEP Live: Surface / Marble Zone 2 (Metamorphos) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Split cd from AQ faves Circle and Japan's Marble Sheep, recorded in 1996 (Circle) and 1989 (Marble Sheep) and released 1998. Circle contribute a stellar live set of their perfect cyclical drone rock including a haunting and breathtaking cover version of Hank Williams' "I Saw The Light". Marble Sheep pitch in 3 early tracks (2 live, one studio demo) of spacy psychedelic drone rock, more Ash Ra Tempel than Grateful Dead (the band they get compared to most these days). Essential for fans of Circle, Faust, Ash Ra Tempel and psych/krautrock in general. We've had these for a while but we've never had enough to list until now. But that doesn't mean we won't run out soon, so if you haven't picked this up already, don't dawdle!
RealAudio clip: CIRCLE "Brilliant Colours For Bright Ideas"
RealAudio clip: CIRCLE "I Saw the Light"
RealAudio clip: MARBLE SHEEP "Good Old Marble Sheep"

CIRCLE OF OUROBORUS / SOMNIVORE Golden Blood (Anima Arctica) lp 27.00
Back in stock!!!
It's been a good long while since we've heard from aQ faves Circle Of Ouroborus, a damaged outsider blackened folk flecked post metal combo who confound in creating gorgeously fractured ritualistic soundworlds.
This latest missive is one half of a split 12" with the equally mysterious Somnivore. When we last heard from CoO, they sounded a bit like a black metal version of Jandek or the Fall, but things have definitely changed, the sound is not so lo-fi, and the sonics are definitely much improved, but without losing any of their signature damaged weirdness.
Chant like vocals, very reminiscent of older Swans, drift over dark distorted spidery guitar lines, the drums, only occasional, dubbed out and also distorted, while in the background lurk slither little minor key melodies, before in swoops a swirl of clean detuned guitars, being strummed frantically black metal style, but instead of buzzing, the sound blurs and smears into a bleary eyed wash, crooned Jandekian vocals soaked in reverb clamber over the top, and the result is something more like some ost nineties Homestead band than a black metal band. But soon CoO kick into gear and offer up the first hints of anything remotely metallic, distorted drumming, buzzing black riffs, but again, less buzzing as much as muted and muddy, the vocals crooned and dramatic, veering into Urfaust territory. Eventually, the buzz fades to a fuzzy washed out drone, that shimmers and drifts before a clean riffy buzz re-emerges accompanied by more deep crooning vocals, emitting a sort of not very black, and not very metal black metal, that seems to be CoO's specialty. Difficult to describe for sure, but we can't seem to get enough.
Somnivore take up the flipside, the first half is all crystalline clean guitar, urgently strummed, strange whispered vocals, chimes and bells, subtle percussion. All very strident and apocalyptic, like a more ominous and creepy Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat. Effects everywhere, the track eventually devolving into a swirling morass of deep drones, shifting from hushed whirs to barely there shimmer, to throbbing rumble, eventually dissipating in a cloud of delicate glimmering hush. Nice!
Gorgeous full color cover, printed full color insert, with lyrics and liner notes, and LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!!!!

CLANDESTINE BLAZE / DEATHSPELL OMEGA split (Northern Heritage) cd 15.98
Finally back in stock!
Even though one band is from France, and the other is from Finland, you couldn't ask for a more perfect pairing. This split was originally released in 2001, and only recently was repressed so we could get enough to list, unfortunately it seems to already be out of print again so the 30 or so we got will most likely be the last for a while.
Finland's Clandestine Blaze specialize in ultra primitive black metal, paying homage to Bathory, Beherit, Darkthrone and the like, with buzzy sludgy riffs, thrashing and blasting mostly, but occasionally slowing down to a near doomy crawl. Their sound a buzzing murky blur, so much so that when they're not plodding along like Celtic Frost at 16rpm their black metal bombast smears into a gloriously hypnotic blur.
Clandestine Blaze are paired up here with Deathspell Omega in (appropriately) their earlier, more raw incarantion. DSO spew forth their buzzing blackened thrash, very much like the other DSO reissues, raw and grim on the surface, but with plenty of subtle compositional and sonic irregularites right below the surface, adding a definite depth not found in lots of similar musics and a hauntingingly unlikely catchiness very rarely (if at all) found in any black metal.
So good!!
MPEG Stream: CLANDESTINE BLAZE "Will To Kill"
MPEG Stream: DEATHSPELL OMEGA "The Suicide Curse"

CLAYPIPE / PEKKO KAPPI / THE BLITHE SONS The Amazed Map (The Music Fellowship) cd 12.98
Here's the long-awaited follow up to Windswept Trees And Houses and Heat & Birds, those being the two previous, and now long out of print, "friends and family" compilations of music and field recordings (two things not mutually exclusive in the methodology of these artists for sure!) from the Jewelled Antler camp. Now that Jewelled Antler isn't the prolific cd-r label it once was (though the various members of the so-called Jewelled Antler Collective are still quite active) the Music Fellowship label has stepped in to release this new disc, as a proper cd by the way, and it's a terrific third in the "series", bringing together the fantastical sounds of three far-flung artists: Claypipe (New Zealand), Pekko Kappi (Finland), and The Blithe Sons (California). It's an "amazed map" indeed that links those people and places, all so magical from the musical standpoint as we're sure most Aquarius customers will concur. NZ/Finland/California, the current psych-folk-drone axis of awesomeness! Several tracks of nature sounds field-recorded by Tony Endless and (former AQ'er) Byram Abbot also appear here, adding some extra ecological, dronological mystery to a disc hardly lacking in such, acting as purely environmental interludes between the rather diverse yet linked-in-spirit works of the three main musical artists. First up are New Zealanders Claypipe, a duo of consisting of Antony Milton (overlord of the PseudoArcana cd-r label) and Clayton Noone (CJA, Armpit, Futurians), whose tracks here range from lo-fi almost indie-pop to droned-out experimentation. Then Pekko Kappi (Lau Nau, Paivansade) invites listeners to a campfire concert wherein he and his trusty horsehair lyre perform a wonderful set of traditional Finnish folk music, for us perhaps the highlight of this disc, itself a highlight on our list. Finally this disc's unofficial hosts, Jewelled Antler's Blithe Sons (Loren Chasse and Glenn Donaldson) wrap things up with their murky yet microscopically detailed, indoor-outdoor mix of lovely song-like drones, drone-like songs. It's the first we've heard from this collaboration since their Arm Of The Starfish cd on Family Vineyard a few years ago and we hope it's not the last.
If only Music Fellowship could also arrange to reissue on cd this disc's two cd-r prequels, which featured the likes of Avarus, Kemialliset Ystavat, Markus, Golden Hotel, Franciscan Hobbies, The Floating Birthday Children, Hala Strana, Thuja, Of, The Blithe Sons & Daughters, Child Readers, Entlang, Silt, and The Billy Crosby's amongst others! And by the way, that also reminds us -- when are all the out-of-print Jewelled Antler "Library" series of 3" cd-rs going to be compiled into a cd box set or something? We're pretty sure lots of folks are dying to get their ears on those...
MPEG Stream: CLAYPIPE "Water Fence"
MPEG Stream: PEKKO KAPPI "Yhta Kirottua Helvetin Tulikekaletta"
MPEG Stream: THE BLITHE SONS "Morning At Night"

CLOUDLAND CANYON / LICHENS Exterminating Angel (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98
This is a match that makes perfect sense. As Lichens and Cloudland Canyon have both been making some of the most compelling and rewarding crystalline soundscapes of the last few years. One long track clocking in at around a half hour "Exterminating Angel" does sound like the sum of both of these artists' parts. With the first half sounding much more like Lichens, gorgeous deep in space hazy explorations while the krautier leanings of Cloudland Canyon come into focus in the second half of the track propelling the sounds into their kosmiche orbit. Fans of mid-late '70s Tangerine Dream and early Heldon will for sure want to jump aboard this cosmic adventure.
MPEG Stream: "Babylon"

CLOUDLAND CANYON / LICHENS Exterminating Angel (Holy Mountain) lp 14.98
NOW ON VINYL!
This is a match that makes perfect sense. As Lichens and Cloudland Canyon have both been making some of the most compelling and rewarding crystalline soundscapes of the last few years. One long track clocking in at around a half hour "Exterminating Angel" does sound like the sum of both of these artists' parts. With the first half sounding much more like Lichens, gorgeous deep in space hazy explorations while the krautier leanings of Cloudland Canyon come into focus in the second half of the track propelling the sounds into their kosmiche orbit. Fans of mid-late '70s Tangerine Dream and early Heldon will for sure want to jump aboard this cosmic adventure.
MPEG Stream: "Babylon"

COCK ROBOT / KATZENMALLETS (Roger) split 7" 2.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A local no-wave gimp assault: two tracks from Cock Robot and seven (that's right, seven!!!) from Katzenmallets. Note: the sheet of plastic opti-bubbli-llusion stuff for the sleeve art is pretty neat all by itself.

COFFINS / OTESANEK s/t (Parasitic) cd 15.98
We listed the lp version of this a list or two back, another killer slow and low matchup, this time it's Japan's doom sludge crustlords Coffins, versus Philadelphia's masters of doomic ultra slow motion trudge, Otesanek, but now we've got it on cd, so for those of you sans turntable, or those who prefer your brutality digitized, now's your chance...
Coffins blow through three tracks, spending most of their time pounding out downtuned nineties Earache style crust, like Carcass or Napalm Death or Discharge only at 16rpm, thick sludgy guitars seriously scary ultra low guttural vocals, blasting chaotic drumming, with all three tracks occasionally bursting into full on furious pummeling black thrash, but those blasts usually settle right back down into more lurching and pounding brutality (with a bunch of killer old school leads tossed in as well!). They even finish off with a Goatlord cover! How cult is that?
Otesanek counter with a seriously looooooooooong stretch of 3 rpm slow motion, glacial ultra doooooooooom. Think Khanate, Bunkur, Moss, but then think slower, meaner, maybe even weirder...
Guitars roar and then ring out forever, the buzzing crumbling riffage drawn out until the next crushing blow, huge drum plods are spaced miles apart, the vocals are sick and super harsh (one of the vocalists is a woman too, both sound demonic and fucking frightening!), angular grinding guitars, occasional stumbling chaotic drum fills, haunted tortured voices way off in the distance, bits of scrape and hiss, squealing feedback, all draped over Otesanek's grim bleak sonic landscape. This is about as slow and low, harsh and hateful, crushing and brutal as ultra doom can get before it just grinds to a complete halt. Awesome.
MPEG Stream: COFFINS "Evil Infection"
MPEG Stream: OTESANEK "Narcotic Hues"

COFFINS / OTESANEK s/t (Parasitic) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yet another killer slow and low matchup, Japan's doom sludge crustlords Coffins, versus Philadelphia's masters of doomic ultra slow motion trudge, Otesanek...
Coffins blow through three tracks, spending most of their time pounding out downtuned nineties Earache style crust, like Carcass or Napalm Death or Discharge only at 16rpm, thick sludgy guitars seriously scary ultra low guttural vocals, blasting chaotic drumming, with all three tracks occasionally bursting into full on furious pummeling black thrash, but those blasts usually settle right back down into more lurching and pounding brutality (with a bunch of killer old school leads tossed in as well!). They even finish off with a Goatlord cover! How cult is that?
Otesanek counter with a sidelong stretch of 3 rpm slow motion, glacial ultra doooooooooom. Think Khanate, Bunkur, Moss, but then think slower, meaner, maybe even weirder...
Guitars roar and then ring out forever, the buzzing crumbling riffage drawn out until the next crushing blow, huge drum plods are spaced miles apart, the vocals are sick and super harsh (one of the vocalists is a woman too, both sound demonic and fucking frightening!), angular grinding guitars, occasional stumbling chaotic drum fills, haunted tortured voices way off in the distance, bits of scrape and hiss, squealing feedback, all draped over Otesanek's grim bleak sonic landscape. This is about as slow and low, harsh and hateful, crushing and brutal as ultra doom can get before it just grinds to a complete halt. Awesome.
Packaged in a super fancy, ultra thick, full color gatefold sleeve...

COFFINS / THE ARM AND SWORD OF A BASTARD GOD split (20 Buck Spin) cd 13.98
Geeze, that crusty doom label 20 Buck Spin puts out sooo much cool stuff we have trouble keeping up! Here's a split release we've had in stock since, uh, last summer, but forgot to list.
Coffins are of course the Japanese doomic death metal band that's been getting more and more popular lately (especially among the population of people wearing Celtic Frost or Autopsy shirts right at this very moment). On their half of this split, they churn out three brutal trax, including appropriately enough a Pungent Stench cover ("Bonesawer") in keeping with their old school death metal sickness. And I guess we hadn't ever looked at the credits before where it says who plays what in the band... doing so now leads to this terrible joke: Hey I didn't know You played drums for Coffins! hahaha.
On the other "side" of this, SoCal band The Arm And Sword Of A Bastard God, offer up their debut recordings, three songs of utter stoner death doom heaviness, sludgy with guttural vokills. Goes pretty well with Coffins!
Nicely packaged with rad cover art in an oversized folder thingie, a la stuff on aRCHIVE (or Half Makeshift's L'Anse Amort previous on 20 Buck Spin).
MPEG Stream: COFFINS "Mortification To Ruin"
MPEG Stream: THE ARM AND SWORD OF A BASTARD GOD "Annex Wasteland"

COIL / THE NEW BLOCKADERS / VORTEX CAMPAIGN The Melancholy Mad Tenant (Important) lp 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In the early '90s, I (Jim) remember seeing a peculiar cassette listed in the RRR catalogue for several years. It was some sort of collaboration between Coil (who I was enthralled with), The New Blockaders (who I was curious about through their work with Organum), and Vortex Campaign (who I thought had a cool name, but knew nothing about). Foolishly, I never picked up that cassette, especially since the damn thing was limited to 50 copies. Oh well. Thankfully, Important Records is doing their best Vinyl-On-Demand impersonation with a hefty reissue of an terminally obscure piece of early noise culture. There's still no background information as to the identity of Vortex Campaign, other than that they are Belgian and that they invited both Coil and The New Blockaders to collaborate on that one off cassette back in 1984. Since then, Vortex Campaign did make an appearance on the Broken Flag 5lp anthology released by Vinyl-On-Demand; but beyond that, they're still a mystery. Coil had gone on to great things in all realms of occult electronics mired in psychedelic darkness; and The New Blockaders had manifested explosive recordings of hellish noise in their pursuit of anti-art.
This lp collects the two sprawling collaborative tracks from that cassette, leaving off the solo Vortex Campaign tracks - just to make me kick myself even more for not buying that cassette back in the day. These are two complex collages of snarling loops, dragged through shit, vomit, and blood leaving a bruised and stained mess of obsessively repetitive growls, blisters, and blurts of industrial noise. The energy on these two tracks is profoundly negative, and could be easily confused with anything that Prurient or Wolf Eyes might muster in this day and age. Supposedly there was a cd version of the cassette, but that too is out of print, leaving this vinyl-only production from Important as a rare glimpse back at these recordings. Limited to 500 copies. We only got a paltry few and that's IT.

COM.A / DUPLO REMOTE split (Fat Cat) 12" 8.98

COMETS ON FIRE / MAJOR STARS Live In Europa (Plastic) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Pretty serious psychedelic showdown. Two bands, two extended tracks each, both recorded live in NYC and both at the top of their game. Major Stars ditch their dreamy, hypnotic buzz and indulge in a serious drug addled, instrument pummelling psychedelic freakout! Who though they were capable of kicking so much ass?! Think White Heaven, Musica Transonic, Les Rallizes, AMT, cranked WAY WAY up and let loose! Comets On Fire deliver a whole side of their sludgy, druggy Stooges-y psych, stumbling and flailing, kicking you in the head in full rock mode, and then tripping over you on the way to the bar for more beer. Easily one of the best bands in SF these days. This split is definitely every noise-lovin' psych nerd's wet dream. Four tracks of squealing squirming psychedlic nirvana. And to top it off: THICK VINYL and LIMITED TO 500!!

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

CONVERGE / HELLCHILD Deeper the Wound (Deathwish) cd 14.98
Split cd with Boston's Converge and Japan's Hellchild. Converge take their normal metal core sound and twist it a bit, adding weird stop-start arrangements and bizarre keyboards making for a super heavy prog workout. And then try their hand at a Depeche Mode cover! Done pretty straight, but it's cool.
Hellchild slow down their grinding metal to a more midtempo 80's thrash. One new song and a Bulldozer cover! Both bands finish up with some live tunes. Pretty great.
RealAudio clip: CONVERGE "Thaw"
RealAudio clip: HELLCHILD "1"

COOL BEANS! #15 (Cool Beans) magazine 5.95
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Our favorite f*cker, I mean, tr*cker, Matt "Cool Beans" Kelly is back with another issue of his fab 'zine. It's the Truck Truck Truckin issue, based in part on Matt's recent employment experience, though he's no longer roaming the open highway now, being back in Berkeley doing less drivin', more strivin'. So, this ish includes Matt's truck driving memoirs (July-November 2001), a CB lingo glossary, truck drawings, a trucker-themed belt buckle pictorial, and more. Being an indie-rock/punk 'zine, theres also of course some music-related interviews -- Deadbolt, Jad Fair, Daniel Johnston, Foibles -- but don't worry, most of the questions are about trucks and trucking. And it wouldn't be Cool Beans without the bonus cd, which this time features truckin' music from a bunch o' folks, including Slow Poisoners, Deadbolt, Rhythm Pigs, Unbunny, Big Red Goad, Foibles, Dan Hayes, Bush League All Stars, and others... Jad Fair does "Phantom 309"! AND Matt thoughtfully provides instructions for how best to dub the cd on to 8-track, for a more authentic trucker listening experience.

CORNER / KNOWLES / BRECHT Fluxus (Wergo) cd 19.98
"Whenever 'Fluxus' comes up, the three New York-born artists whose radio plays are collected on this CD seem to always be mentioned. They have appeared together in performances and they are also connected by their relationship to John Cage's aesthetic, working with chance operations. The intermedia artist Philip Corner pays homage to the French composer Erik Satie -- his piano piece consists of two chords. Alison Knowles' litany-like recitation of many poetic names for beans, one of the oldest 4 forms of human food, sounds like a mantra. Brecht's voice play in four languages is created by chance operations from texts by one of the great poetic and philosophical texts of Zen Buddhism, the Hsin Hsin Ming as taken down by its third Chinese patriarch, Seng Ts'an, who died in 606." Part of the Wergo Ars Acustica series.

CORRUPTED / DISCORDANCE AXIS / 324 split cd (HG Fact) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Three-way split cd featuring a new seventeen minute long song from Japan's Spanish-speaking kings of doom, Corrupted! But that's not all. American "grindcore ninja commando team" Discordance Axis, who also rate highly in the international metalcore aristocracy, open things up with some of their drumgod Dave Witte fueled blasting, before (surprisingly) drifting into an almost-silent ambient piece! That sets things up nicely for the massive entry of Corrupted's track "Bloodscape", some HEAVY sludge as expected, but one with some also surprising "post-rock" style twists we won't reveal... A tough act to follow, but less-well-known Japanese quartet 324 acquits themselves well with three noisy, thrashy, pummelling songs, including a Crumbsuckers cover! (Hail to the old school!) Happily, we were able to get a bunch of this hard-to-find Japanese import, but judging by the way Corrupted fans are (in a word: rabid), we don't think these will last long...
RealAudio clip: CORRUPTED "Bloodscape"
RealAudio clip: 324 "Terminal Chamber"

CORRUPTED / NOOTHGRUSH (Reservoir) split cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
2 songs by Japan's kings of sludgemetal Corrupted, and 3 songs by Bay Area power violence doomsters Noothgrush. Like a chainsaw trapped in molasses or something...

CORSANO, CHRIS & BEN CHASNY / PAUL METZGER split (Roaratorio) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY -- we have only 5 copies of this left in stock, and that's probably gonna be it... so act fast, five of you.
Awesome split lp of free jazz / drone folk / modern musical mystery from two different but similar in sonic spirit angles. Side one features underground free jazz wunderkind Chris Corsano (drummer for Sunburned Hand Of The Man, as well as sometime music partner of Paul Flaherty, Joe McPhee and more) teaming up with Six Organs Of Admittance's Ben Chasny again (Corsano has drummed for Six Organs in the past) for a skittery, scattery guitar versus drums duel. Guitars slither and skitter, shimmer and scrape, matching Corsano's bursts of jazzy percussive scribble almost note for note, occasionally Chasny unleashes thick swoops of chordal hum, or spray his opponent with little squalls of psychedelic freakout. It's all very mumbly and murky and very very free, Six Organs fans might be a little taken aback, but it's an awesome sixteen minutes if you can handle it.
The other side is taken up by "jazz" guitarist Paul Metzger, who plays a modified axe, cobbled together from bits of music boxes and an electric tanpura (like a fretless sitar, sort of) and the result is divine. A long slow burning raga woven from buzzing steel string drones, dense and deftly interwoven, over the top, simple Eastern melodies, that also buzz and rumble, and above it all soft crystalline chimes from the modified music boxes, adding a bit of subtle sparkle and dreamy melody to the dark and moody minor key raga-scape beneath. Really cool. Definitely for fans of Jack Rose, Pelt, James Blackshaw, Greg Malcolm, Matt Valentine and the like. 
Limited to 766 copies, with silkscreened wood covers. Beautiful!

COTTEN, ELIZABETH AND JESSE FULLER Masters Of The Country Blues (Yazoo) dvd 16.98

COUSINS OF REGGAE / MOUTHUS Split (Olde English Spelling Bee) lp 16.98
When Allan and Andee were in New York for CMJ they managed to catch Mouthus live (playing with Circle, Khanate and Coptic Light!!) and while the band were loud and the sound was thick and dense, it was hard really to get a feel for what they actually sounded like. Live, in a big room, it could have been ANY band making a huge grating noise. But on vinyl it's a whole different story. This Brooklyn Duo offer up two sidelong tracks of churning, thick and viscous freenoise, that is simultaneously corrosive and strangely soothing, long druggy dreamscapes of guitar grind and rumbling rooooaaaaar. A pretty killer chunk of cosmic free psych sludge for sure.
We had never heard Cousins Of Reggae before and figured with a name like that we were either gonna love them or loathe them. And we were pretty much figuring on loath. But surprise surprise, these Canadian noiseniks just might be our new favorite amongst the noisy elite. A huge swirling stew of abstract guitar noise, pounding percussive stomp, shrieking clouds of feedback, dirgey gut churning basslines, squiggly synths and garbled vocals buried way down in the mix. Hard to believe two guys can whip up such a glorious din. A stumbling and lurching freepsych freakout equal parts the Dead C, Harry Pussy and old Skullflower. Awesome!
Hand painted covers, each one different, LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, includes a full color insert.

COYLE & SHARPE These 2 Men Are Imposters (Sharpeworld) 3cd + dvd 32.00
Hallelujah!!! All of you folks already well-versed in the much-more-than-comedy duo of Jim Coyle and Mal Sharpe, you know this is the one you've been waiting for! If you've not yet gotten your introductory dose of their genius antics, this is a perfect place to commence your schooling. For a brief spell in the early '60s -- waaay back before everyone and his mother became acclimatized to guerrilla 'man on the street' style pranks -- these two sharp dressed gents were wreaking havoc in and around SF, blindsiding pedestrians along Market Street. Their unflinchingly methodical mischief was an effortless razor sharp blend of social criticism, surrealism and utter hilarity. Often their verbal interrogation would take on somewhat sinister and/or downright subversive undertones. Indeed, theirs was a much more refined and thought provoking mind-boggle than the recent parade of heavy on the obnoxious, gross out factor peeps such as the Jerky Boys or Jackass crew. Sure much of Coyle and Sharpe's antics may seem tame by today's standards, but simply put, their perfect balance of lightning quick wit and stoic straight-facedness has seldom been matched, let alone bested.
Released on the Sharpeworld label run by Mal Sharpe's daughter Jennifer, this fantastic four disc set comes pretty much straight from the horse's mouth... well, at least one of the two horses' mouths. Sadly Jim Coyle passed away in 1993, but in the years since his passing his cohort Mal Sharpe and their legions of diehard fans (including one Henry Rollins) have kept the Coyle & Sharpe magic alive. Sharpe compiled the proceedings here which include a Best of '63 collection recorded off the radio on New Year's Eve '63, a reissue of Coyle & Sharpe On The Loose (originally released in 1995 on Rollins' 213 label), a third cd of recently unearthed raw recording odds'n'ends with their earliest known recording from '61 plus 'Coyle & Sharpe Get Arrested' (yes, really!), and finally a dvd of the pair's 1965 pilot TV show The Imposters (the socialite dinner party and employee evaluation segments are particular viewing treats). This is truly a case of that old truism "they don't make 'em like they used to"! These 2 Men Are Imposters is a genuine treasure trove. Highly recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Record Your Stomach"
MPEG Stream: "Daring But Dead"
MPEG Stream: "114 Noises"

CRACK WE ARE ROCK / WOLF EYES My Dad's Boyfriend / Day of Hell (Fcute) 12" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Electronic art-noise soundclash representing SF and Ann Arbor. San Francisco's Crack:WAR, fresh off their tour of Japan, pump out three dark electro tracks -- Liquid Sky meets Throbbing Gristle. Ann Arbor rock deconstrucivists Wolf Eyes churn out a sidelong piece, pummeling like their previous full length effort "Dread". Limited press with generic found 12" sleeves.

CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE (OST) (Def Jam) cd 17.98
This movie's theme song by DMX is so catchy and tough and mean. I (Sadie) would buy this cd for that song alone, that is if you haven't seen the commercial so many times you're sick to death of it. The second song on the cd is by Eminem, who I swear I try to give the benefit of the doubt more than anyone else, In fact, I'm even kinda obsessed with him, but Christ. This song sounds like a parody of himself: totally flat, monotonous and still women hating (issues much, Em?). So booooring. "Go to sleep bitch die mother fucker die why are you still alive, die you nameless bitch". Ha ha, so funny...I guess. And sadly the rest goes kinda goes down hill from there. Relitively dull and nondescript hip hop. But maybe worth it for that DMX track!
RealAudio clip: DMX "Gon' Give It To Ya"
RealAudio clip: EMINEM "Go To Sleep"

CREBAIN / LEVIATHAN split (tUMULt) cd 13.98
Finally back in print and available again. The ultimate Bay Area USBM matchup, the sky turns black and the rolling hills of SF are covered in frost, as these two black metal behemoths meet up on the bloody field of battle. The brilliantly fucked up bizarre blackness of the mighty Leviathan and and the grim black buzz of Crebain. Apologies to all the folks that were forced to pay outrageous sums for this on eBay, but patience is a virtue and those patient few, shall now be rewarded....
The black cloud over sunny California grows and grows, with each addition to its dark army and each new missive from one of its elite! Black metal has found a strong foothold in this unlikely location. Xasthur, Leviathan, Draugar, Crebain and a small dark likeminded legion lurk in the shadows, far away from the fun and the sun, unleashing some of the most raw and uncompromising black metal we've ever heard.
AQ pal Wrest and his genius one man avant black metal outfit Leviathan return with what may quite possibly be his best, most intensely weird material to date. We just can't get enough of his dark and violent, totally skewed take on grim frosty black metal. And for this release he teams up with relative newcomer Ancalagon The Black and his outfit Crebain. Not quite as weird as Leviathan, Crebain channels his darkness through a more thrashing Darkthrone/Mutiilation style.
On this split, Wrest takes his ultra distorted inhuman vocals, pummelling hyperspeed blasts, and violent riffery to a whole 'nother dimension, and moves even further away from his contemporaries, both in terms of sound and concept. There are certain sonic similarities for sure, but Leviathan has such a personal and undiluted take on the black sounds that so obviously flow through is veins. For every blast beat and every buzzing riff, there's some stuttery, fucked up breakdown, or extended blissed out ambient soundscape, or rhythmic mathrock workout, or strummy clean guitar jangle, or weird production with all sorts of glitches and strange sounds. The ambient parts here are definitely some of the most beautifully creepy we've ever heard, from a metal band or otherwise. And the metal, well, by now you should know few can touch Leviathan when it comes to black metal brilliance. And the thing is, Wrest doesn't think any of this is weird. He just makes the sounds he hears in his head, and they sound right to him. And they are right, but in such a beautifully weird way. Can't wait for the upcoming full length Tentacles Of Whorror. His half of the split ends with a straight ahead and super necro cover of cult early '90s San Francisco metallers Von's "Blood Angel." Nice.
The other half of this is Crebain's first official cd release, having previously only released a super limited cd-r demo last year, and it's just as good as that demo led us to hope. This is as raw and buzzing and blazing as it gets. Where Wrest is a master of arranging, creating moods and ambience, Ancalagon is a master of the riff. An unbelievably good guitarist, these riffs are lightning fast and swarm into your ears like a plague of locusts. Thrashing and chaotic, Crebain is a furious no-nonsense metallic onslaught. Programmed drums allow the rhythms to keep up with the madness inducing riffery. Occasionally things slow down to midtempo, and then it becomes quite obvious that Crebain is actually writing catchy songs, not just an insane series of parts. Melodies and almost-groovy riffs propel loping hypnotic dirges towards their eventual obliteration via hyperspeed blasts and that blurry Crebain riffery. Fucking great.
This split is another nail in the coffin containing the corpses of the Nordic metal elite, as black metal's California contingent threatens to thaw their frosty corpses with the soul shearing rays of its black sun! Aieeee!
MPEG Stream: CREBAIN "Retribution"
MPEG Stream: CREBAIN "The Burden Of My Despair"
MPEG Stream: LEVIATHAN "Ruminating In Hatemagick"

CREBAIN / LEVIATHAN split (Anti-Xtian Terror) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Just discovered a box of these in the back room, last copies, and supposedly the final pressing of this essential slab of USBM on vinyl!
Originally released on Andee's tUMULt label in a limited run of 666 copies (of course), this grim blast of West Coast Black Metal is now available once more on vinyl! USBM heavyweights Leviathan and Crebain each offer up some of their best and blackest material (and in the case of Crebain, still some of his ONLY material, the only other releases being the demo reissued by tUMULt)
As you might have guessed, this is still incredibly limited of course, only 500 copies pressed, and as with other super limited stuff like this, only one per customer please...
The black cloud over sunny California grows and grows, with each addition to its dark army and each new missive from one of its elite! Black metal has found a strong foothold in this unlikely location. Xasthur, Leviathan, Draugar, Crebain and a small dark likeminded legion lurk in the shadows, far away from the fun and the sun, unleashing some of the most raw and uncompromising black metal we've ever heard.
AQ pal Wrest and his genius one man avant black metal outfit Leviathan returns with what may quite possibly be his best, most intensely weird material to date. We just can't get enough of his dark and violent, totally skewed take on grim frosty black metal. And for this release he teams up with relative newcomer Ancalagon The Black and his outfit Crebain. Not quite as weird as Leviathan, Crebain channels his darkness through a more thrashing Darkthrone/Mutiilation style.
On this split, Wrest takes his ultra distorted inhuman vocals, pummelling hyperspeed blasts, and violent riffery to a whole 'nother dimension, and moves even further away from his contemporaries, both in terms of sound and concept. There are certain sonic similarities for sure, but Leviathan has such a personal and undiluted take on the black sounds that so obviously flow through is veins. For every blast beat and every buzzing riff, there's some stuttery, fucked up breakdown, or extended blissed out ambient soundscape, or rhythmic mathrock workout, or strummy clean guitar jangle, or weird production with all sorts of glitches and strange sounds. The ambient parts here are definitely some of the most beautifully creepy we've ever heard, from a metal band or otherwise. And the metal, well, by now you should know few can touch Leviathan when it comes to black metal brilliance. And the thing is, Wrest doesn't think any of this is weird. He just makes the sounds he hears in his head, and they sound right to him. And they are right, but in such a beautifully weird way. His half of the split ends with a straight ahead and super necro cover of cult early '90s San Francisco metallers Von's "Blood Angel." Nice.
The other half of this is Crebain's first official release, having previously only released a super limited cd-r demo last year, and it's just as good as that demo led us to hope. This is as raw and buzzing and blazing as it gets. Where Wrest is a master of arranging, creating moods and ambience, Ancalagon is a master of the riff. An unbelievably good guitarist, these riffs are lightning fast and swarm into your ears like a plague of locusts. Thrashing and chaotic, Crebain is a furious no-nonsense metallic onslaught. Programmed drums allow the rhythms to keep up with the madness inducing riffery. Occasionally things slow down to midtempo, and then it becomes quite obvious that Crebain is actually writing catchy songs, not just an insane series of parts. Melodies and almost-groovy riffs propel loping hypnotic dirges towards their eventual obliteration via hyperspeed blasts and that blurry Crebain riffery. Fucking great.
This split is another nail in the coffin containing the corpses of the Nordic metal elite, as black metal's California contingent threatens to thaw their frosty corpses with the soul shearing rays of its black sun!
Gorgeously packaged in a super deluxe gatefold sleeve, with all new artwork, pressed on nice thick vinyl, with both Leviathan and Crebain getting their own slab of BLACK BLACK vinyl. AWESOME!
MPEG Stream: CREBAIN "Retribution"
MPEG Stream: CREBAIN "The Burden Of My Despair"
MPEG Stream: LEVIATHAN "Ruminating In Hatemagick"

CROCODILES / GRAFFITI ISLAND / DUM DUM GIRLS / PENS split (Art Fag) 7" 7.98
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.

CROSSFACE / SCHNAUZER split (Cleveland Hardcore) 7" 4.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
How can you not love a band called Schnauzer? You can't. Not. Love them! We discovered a super fucked up looking cd in a bargain bin somewhere and bought it just cuz the band was called Schnauzer, and of course it was awesome and of course we were immediately obsessed. So here's a brand new disc from these miscreants, and just so you now what we're talking about here, the cover features a mugshot of some shifty looking dude with a wicked devillock, the songs are called "Total Lunatic" and "Blasted Beyond Belief", and here's a message for the listener in the liner notes: "Do NOT attempt top contact this band. Any efforts to do so will further agitate the members of Schnauzer. If you don't like us now, you CERTAINLY won't like us should we become angry. LEAVE US ALONE." Fuck yeah! And the sound? A furious pounding metallic hardcore, a howling vocalist that sounds a bit like Fozzy The Bear from the Muppets, filthy, cruty, blown out, heavy and MEAN as a Schnauzer!
It's a split with some Cleveland band called Crossface, who are cool, NY style hardcore, short pounding and brutal, two tracks, but it hardly matters really, it's ALL ABOUT SCHNAUZER!!!!!!!!

CRUEVO / BRAINOIL Split CD (Unknown Controller / Shifty / Boredom Noise / Berserker) cd 11.98
Two local (Oakland) metal bands duke it out on this split disc, one so heavy that it took four labels to put it out. Cruevo say they play "crusty sledgehammer stoner doom" while Brainoil opt to describe themselves as a "crusty wizard sludge metal" band. Well, whatever they want to call it, both bands churn out some mighty heavy, ugly punk/metal, doubtless inspired by such bands as Buzzoven, Eyehategod, Neurosis, and High On Fire. Yet more nightmare Sabbath spawn unleashed upon the world... In case it helps in your purchasing decision, here's what t-shirts the various band members are seen wearing in the booklet photos: Assuck, Spirit Caravan, Destruction, Oakland Raiders, Weedeater (we think) and Sunn.
Extra points go to Cruevo for the Shut Up Little Man! sample introducing their half of the disc.

CRYSTAL CASTLES / HEALTH split (Lovepump United) 7" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
I don't know about you, but for the record nerds we know, every vacation is merely an excuse to check out record stores and discover weird bands and see cool shows. Sure we'll deny it, but we won't ever be allowed to forget the time Andee spent at least half of his first trip to Japan, dragging his fiancee Heather around to little hole in the wall record stores, or when Allan made record shopping a priority in Turkey...
Well, when Andee was in NYC recently, there was, surprisingly enough, a bit of record shopping, and there were two fantastic musical discoveries, the first, was a band called Holy Fuck, whose record we will get soon and feature on the list, the other, was a band called Health, whose full length we also have, but we figured this split 7" would be a good introduction.
Not exactly sure how to describe Health, they're sort of one of those awesome WTF noise rock combos, who weave wildly from sound to sound, while somehow retaining a distinct musical personality. Health, to us at least, sound like part hooky pop, new wave weirdness, Sonic Youth style indie rock soundscaping, and chaotic free noise. Not always in equal measures. The first track here is all chaotic tribal drumming and freaked out noise, angular guitars, and breathy SY style vocals, imagine some hybrid of Sonic Youth, 23 Skidoo and This Heat. Hypnotic and off kilter and so good. The other Health track is some weird eighties electro jam, with weird affected vocals, vintage synths, warm reverbed percussion and even handclaps. But somehow the two tracks sound perfect together...
The flipside is the awesomely named Crystal Castles, who are not only named after one of the coolest video games ever, they also sort of sound like a punk rock version of the Crystal Castles music. The core of their sound is full on 8 bit Nintendo core, all bleeps and bloops and buzzes, but over the top is sprawled some fierce Riot Grrl growl, plenty of distortion and crunch, with howled banshee female vocals, swathed in that weird Cher vocal effect. Weird. And then strangely, the other track removes everything BUT the video game jamz, leaving a tune that sounds like it could be music straight from some secret level in Mario Bros....
Nice thick sleeve, with creepy cover art, and pressed on super thick white vinyl.

CSIHAR, ATTILA The Beast of Attila Csihar (Southern Lord) cd 13.98
So, what does raw cult black metal and electro-techno dance music have in common? Vocalist Attila Cshihar for one. Yes, the coiled, blackened tongue of Hungary's Attila Cshihar has spat from the depths of many a cultish metal recording, and even weirder places as well. Fans know him best as the voice of Mayhem (post-Dead, pre-Maniac) on their classic De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas album. He was drafted into that Norwegian act on the basis of his experience in his band Tormentor. More recently, he's guested with the likes of Anaal Nathrakh and SUNNO))), whilst playing in his own, Rome-based band Aborym. This 'Beast Of' samples from Attila's work with all those bands and more, collecting alternate versions of previously released or as yet unreleased tracks from his archives, covering his career from 1988-2002. Some other bands you might know whose work with Attila are represented here include Emperor (a Mayhem cover) and Limbonic Art (a pretty cool "jam"). The bands we haven't heard before are some of the most interesting, like Korog and Professor Fate. Meanwhile Attila's own Plasma Pool will be a little too techno for some, but there's plenty more metal stuff on here to make up for that. The lesson you'll get from this is that Attila has a lot of charisma for a singer with such a limited "range", and is drawn to extremes -- or perhaps extremes are drawn to him. And we're talking extremes within a genre that already calls itself "extreme metal". He's got a cool voice, yes, but also is a personality, a brand if you will. The Attila Csihar stamp of approval (i.e. his presence on a record) means it's gonna be even more fucked than you already thought it was, whether it be cult old-school darkness or modern electronica-inflected stuff. Thus, this is a damn cool comp! And computer users will be happy to find a bonus 24-minute SUNNO))) mp3 on the here as well.
MPEG Stream: TORMENTOR "Trance"

CULTUS SANGUINE / SETH War Vol. III (Season of Mist) cd 16.98
Third in this series, where two Season of Mist bands (in this case Cultus Sanguine from Italy and French black metallers Seth) contribute a couple new sonsgs, cover a song by the other band, and both do a cover version of some other band's song. In this case, a Depeche Mode track!

CULVER / SEPPUKU split (At War With False Noise) cd 10.98
First proper cd release from either of these bands. Culver you may know by name, and years of limited cd-r and hard to find vinyl releases, but maybe you don't realize that Culver is in fact Lee Stokoe, who also plays in long time faves Marzuraan, as well as being a member of the most recent version of the mighty Skullflower! Holy shit, that is one serioius noise rock underground cred resume if we've ever seen one.
We listed a Culver cd-r years ago, on the now defunct Celebrate Psi Phenomenon label (we actually have 3 or 4 left, if you're interested, just ask!), but haven't really managed to get anything else in since, at least until now. For his half of the split, Stokoe offers up a 31 minute, crushing, ultra heavy, super dense DRONE, corrosive and crunchy, crumbling and bristling with energy, thick slabs of teutonic low end suspended in a field of sonic tar, it almost sounds like black metal riffs blurred into thick streaks of sound, a near static crush, that seems to heave as if at any minute the whole thing could just crumble to pieces. About halfway through the sharp edges beging to wear away, the sound growing smoother, cleaner, yet somehow ever more harrowing and ominous. The track finishing off with a long stretch of near black shimmer, all smeared and woven into ropy tendrils of rumble and hum.
Seppuku counter with something much heavier, and way more metallic, their first joint, begins with a squall of electronics, some looped industrial thrum, soon gives way to a thick cloud of swirling glitch and buzz and hum, eventually dissipating leaving some seriously glacial ultradoom, left to lumber and lurch and pound its way through nearly ten minutes of amp shredding ear drum destroying glacial crawl, monstrous vocals, caveman drums, and all sorts of strange effects and electronics swirling and whirling... So slooooow and so so heavy.
The second Seppuku jam is much more of a power electronics sort of thing, tons of crumbling distortion, heavily processed vocals, all of staitc guitar buzz, loads of feedback, the sound growing ever blacker and more frantic, a grim industrial noisescape that seems to occasionally explode into flurries of murky blown out grind, before splintering back into caustic free noise. Phew.
Some serious heaviness, and some equally serious noise. In some very saucy packaging. Very little in the way of liner notes, but page after page after page, of scantily clad and mostly bare breasted euro babes!
MPEG Stream: CULVER "Traces Of The Woman By The Lake"
MPEG Stream: SEPPUKU "Inga"

CURSIVE / EASTERN YOUTH 8 Teeth To Eat You (Better Looking) cd 11.98
An international punk rock mini-fest, this split release features four tunes each from Japanese trio Eastern Youth and Omaha, NE emo-punk boys Cursive. Consider this your preparation for their imminent U.S. tour together. Eastern Youth fares best when vocalist Hisashi Yoshino totally cuts loose - which in my opinion, he doesn't do hardly enough on these songs - 'cause when he's singing in a calmer fashion the songs tend to drag and stumble (although at times it sort of reminded me of Shudder To Think). I've noticed a prevalent and very distinct sound in the Japanese punk rock recordings I've heard to date (particularly noticeable in the guitar tone). The individual instruments/musicians sound isolated from one another. Clean and somewhat sterile, like the music production on Japanese tv variety shows. Made me think - sizeable budgets but lacking in a unified rockin' energy. Their live rage just fails to come across consistently in the recorded realm. As for Cursive, they've seldom let their fans down, and they're not gonna start now. Tim Kasher's raw, angstful voice is primed and ready as they kick out four new songs of angular punk rock aggression made even more moody by the relatively recent, highly complementary addition of cello to their standard guitar/bass/drums lineup.
RealAudio clip: "Excerpts From Various Notes Strewn Around The Bedroom Of April Connolly Feb. 24, 1997"
RealAudio clip: "Muyohnosuke"
RealAudio clip: "Bura Bura Bushi"