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 / CROOKED NECKS Ruins Of Resurrection (Cocainacopia) cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The return of weirdo Finnish black metal outsiders Circle Of Ouroborus, whose sound continues to mutate, and move well beyond the bounds of black metal. In fact, the opening track here sounds like some lost eighties minimal synth wave jam, with it's weezing keyboards, reverbed Teutonic percussion, and dual vocals, one crooned, the other spoken, all the folks who have been snapping up the vinyl reissues on Dark Entries might be surprised and converted to the way of CoO. The sound is super saturated and ultra distorted, in a way that makes it sound warm and whirling and washed out.
The follow up track is ostensibly more black metal, but it mostly just ups the tempo and wraps the guitars in a little blackened buzz, but the vocals are still cold and crooned, the sound fantastically murky, the crashing climaxes causing the sound to buckle and crumble, a propulsive bit of cold wave punkishness. The rest of CoO's half of this split follows suit, from brooding minimal crush, to loping meandery murk, the vocals atonal and bordering on Anton Maiden-ish at times, but just as often lush and gorgeously crooned, accompanied by a sound that while constantly distressed and distorted, veers from washed out brittle shimmer, to thick molasses-y mush, but always minor key and melancholy and moody, and just like all the other Circle of Ouroborus releases, twisted, and bafflingly brilliant.
Some of you probably remember the group Frail, who we described as sounding exactly like the Cure, just with harsh black metal vokills. Well Frail has transformed into Crooked Necks, and guess what? They still sound just like the Cure, new wave-y and jangly, a little dark wavey and goth poppy, the guitars chiming, the bass all Joy Divisiony, the drums propulsive and motorik, and of course the vocals, still harsh occasionally, but also, clean crooning here and there. The new sound is slightly more polished, still quite melodic, the perfect match for Circle Of Ouroborus's new more gothy cold wave-y sound. There are some heavier more black metal moments, but it's more like Lifelover style black metal pop than traditionally blasting and buzzing grimness, and the rest of Crooked Necks' sound could have been lifted straight off some goth rock / eighties new wave mix tape, The Cure, Echo And The Bunnymen, Icicle Works, if it wasn't for the vocals, these guys could be on Captured Tracks or Sacred Bones, and could be opening for Cold Cave or Blessure Grave, hell, maybe they still could be...
MPEG Stream: CIRCLE OF OUROBORUS "Ideals In Rust"
MPEG Stream: CIRCLE OF OUROBORUS "Rhythm Of The Spring"
MPEG Stream: CROOKED NECKS "Poisoning The Seed"
MPEG Stream: CROOKED NECKS "Time Of Disaster"

CIRCLE OF OUROBORUS / DROWNING THE LIGHT Moonflares (Obscure Abhorrence) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We won't get into too much detail with this one, as we managed to get just TEN of these from a supplier who had a stash tucked away, so these are probably the last copies we'll ever be able to get. The aQ faithful are no doubt by now familiar with weirdo outsider post black metal weirdos Circle Of Ouroborus, and their tracks here do not disappoint, twisted and mournful and melancholy, detuned blackened folks melded to chaotic murky black metal buzz, with plenty of indie rock jangle and stumbling lo-fi drumming, crooned dramatic vox, and a twisted eighties new wave vibe, the sounds muddy and muted and washed out, dreamy and darkly hypnotic, all three tracks are mesmerizing and awesome.
Australia's Drowning The Light counter with their somewhat more traditional black metal, raw and depressive, with soaring frenzied guitar buzz, blasting lo-fi drumming, harsh vokills, shimmering keyboard atmospheres, moody melodies, and some super strange deep crooned vox as well, the perfect blend of harsh, blackened primitivism, and epic minor key melodic black buzz. Great stuff from both bands...
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!

CIRCLE OF OUROBORUS / SOMNIVORE Golden Blood (Anima Arctica) lp 27.00
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 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!!!!!

CITAY / CLOUDLAND CANYON Tugboat / Temperature's Rising (Intercoastal Artists) 7" 7.98
For the debut release of Kip Ulhorn's (of Cloudland Canyon) new label, Intercoastal Artists, two of our faves, Citay and Cloudland Canyon, both pay tribute to one of their seminal but less obvious influences, Galaxie 500, with two amazing interpretations.
Citay's take on "Tugboat" (also featured on their last full length, Dream Get Together) begins with what is perhaps a straight forward take until the end, where Citay's baroque dual guitar lines recast the warm glowing evocative sheen of the original into a whole new majestic light.
Cloudland Canyon's lovingly lysergic version of "Temperature's Rising" begins with what sounds like a Mellotron line from another song before the familiarity of the song abruptly jumps in and takes off. Being one of Galaxie 500's faster songs, the cover serves Cloudland Canyon well as a single, that is both exploratory and concise, allowing just enough room to allow some hypno-psych flourishes, but keeping the satisfaction of a good pop song well intact.
Very limited!!! We're not sure we'll be able to get more after we run out, so act fast. Each 7" includes a uniquely designed sleeve - no two are exactly alike. Look out for future 7" releases on this label from Pocahaunted/ Eden Express, Sun Circle, and The Alps!

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"

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

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 16.98
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.

COLLINS, WILLIAM FOWLER / GOG Malpais (Utech) cd 14.98
THREE, count 'em, three new releases from Utech Records on this week's list, all of them collaborations, this one here with a sonically Southwestern focus, teaming up New Mexican soundscaper William Fowler Collins with Arizona blackdronedirgedoom outfit Gog (both big AQ faves), for some sprawling, smoldering epic black expanses of slow building glacial dirgery and blurred blacknoisedrift. Three epic jams, separated by brief sonic explorations, the longform compositions find Collins and Gog conjuring up swirling black rituals, of hazy rumble and softly churning low end thrum, the sound growing subtly more crunchy and caustic, gradually transforming from hushed ominous shimmer to thick, heaving, roiling heaviness, crumbling avalanches of smeared soft noise, wreathed in strange high end shimmers and shot through with convulsing layers and buried melodies.
"Abandonment" is a creepy bit of subterranean murk, driven by a haunting heartbeat like pulse, the swirling surrounding sounds becoming more and more active, those sounds in turn wreathed in a staticky hiss, building to a swirling psychedelic squall of blurred feedback, keening high end and dense spirals of heavy hiss, before gradually fading back out to a whisper, all the whole, that strange pulse giving the black hissy drift some glacial propulsion. The final track, a massive nearly 18 minute stunner titled "Of Ash And Wind ", begins again, with some distant rumblings, some foghorn like melodies, some groaning and creaking, and deep dark rumbles, but unlike the other three tracks, this one is not a slow build, instead, the sounds ooze and drift and congeal into a creepy pitch black bit of cinematic stasis, definitely headphones required on this one, a softly churning stretch of slow motion shimmer, a deep blackened crawl, laced with strange bits of static and industrial crunch, but those sounds so minimal that minus headphones they just bleed into the surrounding blackness.
Gorgeous stuff. A heady bit of ultra minimal ritualistic black noise / dark ambience that will sound right at home alongside the rest of your ever expanding Utech collection...
Fantastic packaging as always, this time a super intense/beautiful cover image by photographer Max Aguilera-Hellweg.
MPEG Stream: "Fire In The Valley"
MPEG Stream: "Abandonment"

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

COMADRE / GLASSES split (Bloodtown / Vitriol) 2x7" 11.98
Killer split from Bay Area screamo punks Comadre, here teamed up with European punk rockers Glasses. Both bands offer up some of their best material yet.
Comadre (whose equally badass 10" is reviewed elsewhere on this list) dial down the frenetic vibe of their 10" and go for some seriously tuneful pop songsmithery, still heavy and distorted and intense, but this time it's all about the hooks, and the hooks are huge, listening to this, it's hard to see how these guys aren't HUGE, can't imagine these guys can stay underground for much longer.
Glasses kick right back with some super aggro, ultradense, mathy metallic punk rock heaviness, wild tangled riffage, furious frenzied drumming, vitriolic vocals, all wound into 3 blasts of proggy punk metal fury, definitely need to hear more from Glasses...
Super fancy packaging, two 7"s with a 12 page booklet fixed to the inner spine of the gatefold sleeve.
MPEG Stream: COMADRE "The Sweeter the Juice"
MPEG Stream: GLASSES "Tigers"

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!!

COMUS / RAMESES III / SIMON FINN The Forum - London 28th / 29th May 2010 (self-released) 7" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
To commemorate the recent 25th anniversary Current 93 performances in London, a super limited number of these commemorative 7"s were pressed up (only 300 copies!), featuring exclusive tracks from three of the bands that performed with C93, psych drone combo Rameses III, psychedelic folk legend Simon Finn, and most excitingly, legendary seventies acid folk outfit, the mighty Comus!!
The Comus track might be what gets folks most excited, and rightfully so, a recording of the group performing "Diana" on the Melloboat, in Sweden, in 2008, their first show together after nearly 40 years!!! We tried to watch clips on YouTube, but the crowd was so amped, and howling and clapping and singing along, you could barely hear the band. Thankfully this recording is pristine, and the band sound incredible, even more woozy and carnivalesque and maniacal than they did back in the day, the player practically perfect, the vocals incredible for the many decades that have passed, definitely makes us wish we had flown over.
Rameses III contributes a gorgeous thick swath of densely layered dronemusic, very minimal, softly pulsing, rife with swirling overtones, hypnotic and raga like, really super nice.
And finally, Simon Finn unfurls some dark brooding psychedelic folk, lovely and haunting male / female vocal harmonies, over warm soft melodic swells, the sound stripped down, the arrangement minimal, the structure skeletal, but the overall feel still darkly lush and lovely.
A pretty fantastic 3 way split, we can only imagine how great the shows must have been. A gorgeous sonic artifact too, sturdy full color cover, pressed on thick colored vinyl, and again limited to only 300 copies!

CONAN / SLOMATICS split (Burning World) cd 14.98
Kick ass doom / sludge split from these two UK outfits, and in the spirit of the split, we figured we oughta do a split review as well, so Allan will tackle Conan's half, and Andee's got the Slomatics half. Allan's up first...
I just know Andee's gonna write, like, a novel about Slomatics, and to do the mighty Conan justice, I should give them an equally lengthy writeup too. Or, on the other hand, maybe I should just keep my bit short. After all, there's really not much more to say about the barbaric doom-drone metal that Conan offers up here, than we already said in our review of their 2010 cd on Aurora Borealis, Horseback Battle Hammer. To wit, "Their music is not by, nor for, wimps. Slow, low, and loud = HEAVY. Even Arnold might have had trouble bench pressing these riffs! The plodding, shuddering distortion on display here is kinda like ultradoom in the vein of Moss or Bunkur, but not quite so slow, speeding up as necessary when the crushing riffs are really ready to go in for the kill." We went on to compare 'em to Yob, the Melvins, and Corrupted, among others, as well. These 3 new tracks are in the same vein what we'd heard before from Conan, meaning bass-heavy blown-out bludgeon, though there's a subtlety here we should note as well. Their first cut, "Older Than Earth", is a six+ minute miasmic trudge. That's followed by the brief, unexpected electronic interlude of "Obsidian Sword", and then the epic "Retaliator" rounds out Conan's contribution to this disc, being an eleven and a half minute creepy-crawl that melds Conan's brawniest rumble and howl with more atmospheric synth-sizzle, kinda reminding us of Thrones. Very cool.
Now for the Slomatics half, take it away Andee...
It's been two years since we last heard from UK slo-mo heavies Slomatics, who we discovered initially via an impending split with late great prog-sludge combo Like A Kind Of Matador (whose great full length on tUMULt is still available btw), and whose full length debut was a huge hit with the doomlords (and ladies) around these parts, their sound a heaving, churning morass of murky tarpit sludge, heavily beholden to Harvey Milk, Eyehategod, Bongzilla, the Melvins of course, even Electric Wizard, thick crumblingly distorted riffage, massive tectonic drum pound, laced with little bits of melody, short stretches of mellow drift, but for the most part all about the pound and pummel. We got another taste of the Slomatics' heaviosity on a split with Seelah, their sound slightly more rocking, and a wee bit poppier, but ultimately more of the glorious dirgey same. Which brings us to this brand new split, with another band of heavy aQ faves, Conan, and while much of that Slomatics sound is intact, something has definitely changed. There's definitely a slight pop edge, which did seem to be present on past outings, but here is much more openly on display, especially on the first track "Lose The Five", which peppers the thick Sabbathy riffage, with cool harmonized melodies, and buried hooks, with the song dangerously close to sludge-pop territory at times, definitely like a murkier, less poppier Torche (which weirdly is how we described one of the tracks on the Seelah split). There's also some seriously majestic Harvey Milk like moments too, that sort of creep anthemic epicness. "Black Blizzard" find the group ditching all of the above poppiness, for some pure grimey, filthy dirgery, reverbed vocals over death march downtuned trudge, but wait, strap those headphones on, and you'll hear all manner of melody buried in the murk and the mire, not to mention some super cool dynamic stop/starts, and a crazily blown out production that gives the sound a trippy washed out vibe. Finally, Slomatics finish off the split with "Mont Ventoux", which begins all abstract and psychedelic, cards-in-spokes skitter, over off-in-the-distance drumming, then some howled reverbed vox give way to another stretch of doomic churn, this time sounding weirdly dubbed out and a little bit industrial, a bit of a Godflesh vibe all tangled up with the bands more gnarled and grinding chug. So ruling! Still hard to fathom why these guys aren't in everyone's doom/sludge pantheon...
This split sure makes sense, these two bands belong together, and well deserve the super bad ass sci-fi, mysterious warrior, snail steed, dual mooned, skull mountain cover art!
MPEG Stream: CONAN "Retaliator"
MPEG Stream: SLOMATICS "Lose The Five"

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 / DROPDEAD split (Armageddon) 7" 6.98
If you're anything like us, you saw the names of these two bands and immediately added this to your cart. Cuz really, what more do you need to know about either of these bands that you don't already? Anyone into heavy music, who isn't obsessed with either or both of these groups is missing out big time. Both now celebrating their 20 year anniversaries, and commemorating that fact with this split 7", featuring one track from each band, recorded last year. The Converge track is a killer (of course), pairing grinding blasting furious verses with an impossibly melodic / catchy refrain, that's downright poppy. DropDead counter with what they do best, a blasting, thrashing, pounding slab of political hardcore, no frills, howled vox over grinding riffage and pounding drums, furious and frenzied and somehow catchy like crazy. We imagine fans of both or either will absolutely need this, and this also works as a pretty sweet introduction to two of the most important punk rock / hardcore bands of the last two decades! Pressed on blue vinyl, includes a download coupon as well, and guessing it's also probably pretty limited.
MPEG Stream: CONVERGE "Runaway"
MPEG Stream: DROPDEAD "Paths Of Glory"

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 (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.Ê
Limited to 766 copies, with silkscreened wood covers. Beautiful!

CORTEZ / LANGUAGE OF LIGHT split (Anticlock) 12" 10.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
ATTENTION: LOVESLIESCRUSHING FANS!! We managed to get a handful of these split 12"s direct from the man himself, one side a gorgeous slab of hazy LLC style shimmer, the other an equally lovely bit of abstract guitarscaping from a new to us outfit, it's already out of print, we have a handful of copies, but they will probably not be around for long.
The Cortez side is of course Scott Cortez, the man behind Lovesliescrushing, and the sound is quite similar to much of the LLC stuff, in particular the fantastic Voirshin record, hushed and hazy, ultra minimal, a blurred lovely stretch of softly layered drones, glimmering and glistening and aquatic sounding, very much reminiscent of William Basinski, like if you locked up the tapes that were the source for this record, in 20 years, it'd be all crumbling and decayed and disintegrating.
The flipside is from a group called Language Of Light, who we've never heard until now, a good match for Cortez, similarly washed out and ethereal, but more structured, chiming guitars streaks over processed metallic shimmer, with muted hazy melodies, before the sound shifts to something much darker and ominous, a jagged processed loopscape, weirdly warped and noisy, but that quickly gives way to the final movement, more lovely guitar ambience, blurred and gauzy and otherworldly.

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

COUGH / WOUNDED KINGS An Introduction To The Black Arts (Forcefield) 12" 12.98
At first this heavy duty doom matchup seems like maybe it wouldn't work, sure both bands are technically doom, but both seem to exist on different ends of the doom-ic spectrum, with Cough spitting out a sludgier, more raw and crusty sort of Eyehategod meets Electric Wizard feedback drenched slow-mo crush, while The Wounded Kings traffic in something closer to true doom, more melodic, less sludgey, but surprisingly enough it works, both bands offering up some of their best material, a side long epic from each, Cough infusing some serious melody and some of that classic Sabbath sound into their lurching and lumbering pummel, while the Wounded Kings get a little bit sludgey themselves.
Hot on the heels of their amazing Ritual Abuse full length, reviewed here recently, Cough come up with a nearly 20 minute dirge that almost sounds like it could have been recorded during the same sessions (and maybe was?). Beginning with a slow spaced out bit of funereal doom, lots of space, even a tolling bell, the band soon launch into some caustic filthy blacksludge brutality, downtuned and malevolent, with some seriously sick vokills, all wrapped around a killer, main chugging riff, it's not until nearly half way through that the band decide to get all melodic, with some effects drenched vox, WAY up in the mix, all spacey and trippy, laced over that main riff, that seems to start swinging just a bit more, then there's some awesome psychedelic wah wah guitar leads, and we're in seriously classic true doom territory for sure, before eventually slipping back into the lugubrious sludge of the song's first half, and then finally an awesome layered feedback outro.
The Wounded Kings counter with a smoldering slow building intro, all whirring organs, downtuned chordal crush, eventually launching into a keyboard laced melodic lumber, a sound that could go either way, into shrieking blackness, or soaring epicness, some tangled swaths of wah wah guitar give us our first clue, before slipping right back into some more downtuned chug, but then finally, the vocals swoop in, and the sound is transformed into some epic Sabbathy true doom, the vocals growing more and more melodic as the track progresses, the guitars too, but before the song can explode, the track slips into a super minimal organ driven bit of psych prog, which rules, but only lasts for a minute or two before the song proper bursts back into action a fusion of the downtuned doom and that psychedelic prog, finishing off with an epic and dramatic climax before fading out, leaving a shadowy bit of tinkling piano.
MPEG Stream: COUGH "The Gates Of Madness"
MPEG Stream: THE WOUNDED KINGS "Curse Of Chains"

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-r + dvd-r 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!!
[Note: the version we stock now is a repressing, in a smaller box, the discs all cd-rs and dvd-rs instead of the manufactured discs that they were before, for some reason, unfortunately.]
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 11.98
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
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Bad ass 4 way split featuring some of the current crop of lo-fi garage poppers, all contributing some of the best songs we've heard from any of them.
Up first is the Crocodiles, who start things off with some lo-fi garagey dream pop filtered through some Jesus And Mary Chain fuzz and some classic eighties MTV pop, and the result is so awesome. Like the Fuzztones meets ABC meets Blank Dogs? All druggy and hazy and washed out, with rad buzzy new wave bass synths, swirly keyboards, with an amazing chorus, cleaned up this could have easily been a huge eighties hit, with one of those totally bizarre videos, with random characters playing out insanely convoluted dramas, but as it is, it's more raw and gritty, and blown out, and thus, might be one of our favorite new jams.
The Dum Dum Girls offer up more of what we love and expect from these gals, stripped down and raw, but still super poppy, a little bit K Records, a little new wave, shimmery, shuffle-y, with a looped main riff, a sort of grimey Stooges-y feel but all wrapped up with angelic vocals and some serious pop hooks. Great stuff.
The Pens track is definitely the best thing we've heard from them, a super fuzzy and distorted main riff, pretty vocals, but buried in the murk and mire, some sort of riff heavy girl pop that destroys, the swirling hooks buried under the churning chug, tangled sing songy guitar melodies draped over the top, underpinned by a muted pounding rhythm, super hypnotic and heavy and so goddamn good, the SOUND, is just so irresistible, reminds us of some rad nineties 7" of bedroom brewed lo-fi indie rock, we've literally been listening to this track over and over and over.
We had never heard of Graffiti Island, but they sound right at home with these other three bands, a more kinetic, rough and raw Beat Happening maybe? Mostly cuz of the deep sung / spoken vox, but all over some reverby guitar, one of those sixties tambourine beats and plenty of crunch and buzz and lo-fi haze. So good.

CROSSFACE / SCHNAUZER split (Cleveland Hardcore) 7" 3.00
**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 (Unknown Controller / Shifty / Boredom Noise / Berserker) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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"

DARSOMBRA + VARIOUS ARTISTS Nymphaea (Public Guilt) cd-r 9.98
Hopefully you already know Darsombra, seeing as we made their last Public Guilt release, Eternal Jewel, a Record Of The Week not too many moons ago. Atmospheric dark doom-drone experimentation not unlike a more sinister Expo '70 or a proggier Nadja. If you don't know 'em, get this and you'll get to know at least one of their songs really really well, in a way.
Track one here, "Nymphaea", is a head-nodding exercise in bass heavy, slow-building psychedelic instrumental throb. It starts out with plenty of distortion, and only gets heavier and more blown-out as it plods forth, adding a snakily melodic guitar line to further entrance the listener. It originally appeared as Darsombra's contribution to the "untitled" 3cd comp PG help put out last year, and now it has spawned this collection of remixes, a dozen of them, tracks 2-13!
It's pretty fascinating to hear this single song morph from track to track, 'cause they're all very different, the each remixer definitely making it their own, from blissed out vocal pop (Max Bondi & Bleeding Heart Narrative's "Hyena Amp mix") to big-beat crash-boom electro (Pulsoc's "True Love Never Dies remix") to creepy drone-noise ambience (Guilty Connector's "Dotonburi Neonnights") and that's just the first three mixes on here! Elsewhere, Ala Muerte adds eerie female voice doing Latin chant, Destructo Swarmbots strip the track down to a minimal low-end hum, The Heirs Of Rockefeller crank up the fuzz, focussing on the song's incessant hypnotic plod... all these and the rest of the remixers generally fucking with this track in many compelling and often unexpected ways. Darsombra have every reason to proudly approve what's been done with, or done to, their "Nymphaea" here. Remixers not already mentioned above also include Perfekt Teeth, Magicicada, Strotter Inst., Decimation Blvd. & Darla Hood, Blood Fountains, and le knell.
LIMITED EDITION! 250 COPIES ONLY! We only got 20! On a black cd-r in a slim, screen printed sleeve with vellum obi.
MPEG Stream: DARSOMBRA "Nymphaea"
MPEG Stream: BLOOD FOUNTAINS "Nymphaea Seance remix"
MPEG Stream: PULSOC "Nymphaea True Love Never Dies remix"
MPEG Stream: THE HEIRS OF ROCKEFELLER "Nymphaea The Drugs Won The Drug War Mix"

DAVENPORT, BART, MOORE BROTHERS AND GUESTS (V/A) Ace of Spades Series Volume 8 - April, 2005 (E14) cd-r 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ace Of Spades is a cd-r series of live recordings showcasing the intimate acoustic music of a variety of local indie artists. The series so far boasts consistently strong performances from all participants (well played and well recorded at Mama Buzz Cafe in Oakland).
Volume 8 was recorded on April 17th, and features a hearty gathering of Paul Panamarenko Band, Bart Davenport, the Moore Brothers (their four sweet songs on their very own make this well worth gettin'... you might also wanna check out their wonderful studio album Now Is The Time For Love!), Laura Weinbach, Matthew Herz, Vernal Falls and Helen Chaya.
MPEG Stream: MOORE BROTHERS "Fresh Thoughts Of You"
MPEG Stream: DAVENPORT, BART "Clara"

DEAD AS DREAMS / AURVANDIL Adrift (Tour De Garde) cassette 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What hath the mighty Weakling wrought? Surely that legendary SF black metal band spawned a legion of followers and worshippers, but few underground bands have had such a noticeable impact, spawning bands blatantly and openly paying homage to the masters.
First there was Jabladav, who began basically as a tribute, even releasing a couple records called Dead As Duck and Drunk As Duck, both references to Weakling's only album, Dead As Dreams which came out on tUMULt way back in 2000. Now there's the BAND Dead As Dreams, a USBM band who apparently loved Weakling enough to name their band after the group's seminal record. And as if that weren't enough, Dead As Dreams are paired up on this split with a band called Aurvandil, who have a song called "As Dead As Dreams". But you know, bands could do a lot worse for inspiration than Weakling, and if you ask us, and since you're reading this review you sort of are, a band could hardly do better.
So Dead As Dreams, offer up a single looooong song, carving out their own sound, which is definitely heavily influenced by Weakling, but manages to be pretty unique and most assuredly their own. The fast bits are the most Weakling inspired, with similarly hysterical shrieks, drone infused blackened riffing, relentless drumming, but then the band whip out these really awesome depressive slow parts, all mournful and a bit abstract, plodding and melancholic, with some long slow decays and awesome wailing keening high tones, that almost sound like guitar and voice harmonizing, however they do it, it's really dramatic and makes the song!
Aurvandil are from France but sound like they're from Norway, very Buzumic, gloriously buzzy, midtempo, drum machine, but not distractedly so, some awesome riffs for sure, the sound not as murky or muted as Dead As Dreams, more chaotic, but still melodic, definitely need to hear more from both these bands, but especially Dead As Dreams, we find ourselves returning to that track again and again, THAT one part burned into our brains.
Released on the always kick ass Tour De Garde label!!