FRIZZELL, LEFTY The Best of... (Rhino) cd 16.98

FRUIT BATS Spelled In Bones (Sub Pop) cd 13.98
While the last two Fruit Bats records were fairly pleasant slabs of folk flecked indie rock jangle, Spelled In Bones shows the band taking HUGE strides towards a bigger sound and better songs and a much more expansive sonic world. Described in almost every review as "the Shins meet Califone", The Fruit Bats have now managed to become more than that, definitely their own band, although the sonic referents to those two outfits certainly can't be ignored. Vocalist Eric Johnson's voice is eerily similar to the Shins' James Mercer, but where Mercer's vocals tend toward the ebullient and poptastically bombastic, the music following suit, Johnson tends toward the more melancholy occasionally slipping into a perfectly lovely falsetto, all over delicate piano and strummed minor key guitar, the jangle muted and subtle, with lap steel filigree giving the proceedings a lush, countrified feel. Spelled In Bones is modern yet completely classic sounding Pop with a capital P, draped with bits of country here and there, little bits of bedroom folk too, but all contributing to the record's perfect popiness. Songs so lilting and hooky you won't be able to get them out of your head. The sound of the Beatles is everywhere on this record for sure, but so is the sound of the Posies, the Wings, Iron And Wine, Broken Social Scene, Red Red Meat, Death Cab For Cutie, and yeah, even the Shins and Modest Mouse. So so good.
MPEG Stream: "Lives Of Crime"
MPEG Stream: "Silent Life"
MPEG Stream: "TV Waves"

FRUIT BATS Spelled In Bones (Sub Pop) lp 12.98
While the last two Fruit Bats records were fairly pleasant slabs of folk flecked indie rock jangle, Spelled In Bones shows the band taking HUGE strides towards a bigger sound and better songs and a much more expansive sonic world. Described in almost every review as "the Shins meet Califone", The Fruit Bats have now managed to become more than that, definitely their own band, although the sonic referents to those two outfits certainly can't be ignored. Vocalist Eric Johnson's voice is eerily similar to the Shins' James Mercer, but where Mercer's vocals tend toward the ebullient and poptastically bombastic, the music following suit, Johnson tends toward the more melancholy occasionally slipping into a perfectly lovely falsetto, all over delicate piano and strummed minor key guitar, the jangle muted and subtle, with lap steel filigree giving the proceedings a lush, countrified feel. Spelled In Bones is modern yet completely classic sounding Pop with a capital P, draped with bits of country here and there, little bits of bedroom folk too, but all contributing to the record's perfect popiness. Songs so lilting and hooky you won't be able to get them out of your head. The sound of the Beatles is everywhere on this record for sure, but so is the sound of the Posies, the Wings, Iron And Wine, Broken Social Scene, Red Red Meat, Death Cab For Cutie, and yeah, even the Shins and Modest Mouse. So so good.
MPEG Stream: "Lives Of Crime"
MPEG Stream: "Silent Life"
MPEG Stream: "TV Waves"

FRY, MARK Dreaming With Alice (Sunbeam Records) lp 28.00
Newly reissued on vinyl, yay.
Another amazing batch of dreamy psych-folk unearthed from the dregs of obscurity by the Sunbeam label, this lone album by Mark Fry from 1972, recorded while still a teenager, has it all. Songs about witches, a girl named Alice, lutes and flutes and mandolins, sitars, a song that unravels each verse between other songs, and even a song played entirely backwards. With a soft voice similar to Roger Rodier, whose lone album was also reissued on Sunbeam (which we also raved about!), we had only heard of Mark Fry previously through his contribution (a sadly truncated three minute version of the eight minute long "Mandolin Man") to the British edition of the Love Peace and Poetry psych compilation. Recorded in Rome and only limitedly released in Italy, it soon faded into the ether, and Fry turned to his other love, painting, in which he has had a more successful career. This reissue features two additional bonus tracks from 1975, and boasts liner notes from Fry himself telling the fascinating story of the making of this album, and beyond. Thanks Sunbeam for making this amazing album available to us again! Absolutely Recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "The Witch"
MPEG Stream: "Mandolin Man"
MPEG Stream: "Rehtorb Ym No Hcram"

FULKS, ROBBIE 13 Hillbilly Giants (Bloodshot) cd 14.98
Full length number five follows hot on the heels of number four, but unlike the dreamy poppiness of 'Couples In Trouble' with its melancholy twang and wistful sentiments, '13 Hillbilly Giants' shows Fulks returning to his position as No Depression's bad boy court jester, kicking out the jams with raucous tales of love gone wrong, bad women, even badder men, big babies and everything in between. But Fulks has the voice and the chops to back it up, keeping him from being just a joker. The songs are catchy and funny and the playing is tight as hell, with Fulks' perfect wailing vocal leaping gracefully from sensitive whisper to howling roar. Fear not, there are still moments of tenderness, but they tend to be tempered with a sly wink and tongue planted firmly in cheek. Actually, we may be overstating the playfulness of this record, when in fact, 'Couples In Trouble' was the black sheep in Fulks' canon, all misty and heartfelt, and '13 Hillbilly Greats' just finds Fulks back to his roots (when he was penning classics like 'She Took A Lot Of Pills And Died').
RealAudio clip: "I Want To Be Mama'd"
RealAudio clip: "Family Man"

FULKS, ROBBIE Couples In Trouble (Boondoogie) cd 16.98
Chicagoan Robbie Fulks, here with his fourth full length album, makes the leap from the country troubadour's lonely road to much broader horizons, as many of the songs on this album remind me of non-country folks as diverse as Nick Lowe (Fulks' voice is similarly light), the art pop arrangements of Elvis Costello, the downtrodden tone of "Nebraska"-era Bruce Springsteen, the delicacy of Sparklehorse, the brightness of Nanci Griffith, and the wine-drenched wantonness of Tom Waits. And while there is certainly a lot of country twang on the record, Fulks has matured so much that he's able to jump off into more fully realized realms of tuneful pop and epic rock, songs that sound so perfect and classic that you page thru the liner notes expecting to find out that they're covers (yet they're all written by Robbie, yay!). Kind of the same way Wilco is doing, bringing in so many influences and combining them stunningly into a singular original sound. Windy and Andee are in love with this album (and we're also HUGE fans of his first three, more straight-up-country albums, which we also carry). Recorded by Steve Albini.
RealAudio clip: "Anything for Love"
RealAudio clip: "Banks Of The Marianne"
RealAudio clip: "Mad at a Girl"

FULKS, ROBBIE Georgia Hard (Yep Roc) cd 14.98

FULKS, ROBBIE Revenge! (Yep Roc) cd 15.98
These days the appearance of skits on music albums has been pretty much constrained to the hip hop realm. True? But Robbie Fulks ain't one to follow trends, is he? Hence on his new live album we're hit with a studio recorded skit right at the get go! It all begins with what resembles an old tyme radio advertisement jingle. Y'know the ones that had a group of male singers in turn assuming different characters. The prim barbershop quartet stylings are quite a change from Fulks' slow burnin' smokehouse blues and rowdy barnburners, but the tune's lyrics uproot the well-mannered facade ("Spreading our hillbilly sound... just like a cancer! Ha!"). Fulks' music has always been a study in contrasts, bringing together the rowdy and the sober, loose ramblin' and razor sharp musicianship, the true blue rustic old country feel and his biting, black wit. This 2cd release continues on in that fashion, offering two sides of the Fulks coin -- Disc One is all electric, Disc Two is all acoustic. The actual live recordings took place one wild night in Champaign and one more subdued eve in Chicago. One yowch! moment pops up on the second disc when he inexplicably unleashes a cover of Cher's "Believe". Yikes.
MPEG Stream: "We're On The Road"
MPEG Stream: "Fixin' To Fall"

FULKS, ROBBIE Very Best Of (Bloodshot) cd 14.98

FULLER, LEVI This Murder Is A Peaceful Gathering (self-released) cd 11.98
The Seattle singing/songwriting gent known as Levi Fuller crafts somber elegant folk in league with Low, Black Heart Procession, Sixteen Horsepower, Red House Painters and Mountain Goats. Fans of any/all of those artists very well could find themselves taking quite a shine to the slow smoldering beauty of This Murder Is A Peaceful Gathering. An earth-toned tapestry of strummy acoustic guitar, sinewy electric guitar textured with unexpected percussive and atmospheric elements.
MPEG Stream: "As The Crow Flies"
MPEG Stream: "Bread"

GARRIE, NICK The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislaus (Rev-ola) cd 16.98
Another day, another rare sixties pop-psych reissue with quite a bit of collector cachet... that is also pretty darn great! First time on cd for this Eddie Vartan-produced 1969 LP, wonderfully dreamy and baroque and folky and orchestrated. Lots of languid, lazy-day la, la, la's here!
Talented, curly-haired singer-songwriter Nick Garrie was youthful, peripatetic, and quite cosmopolitan (you can tell from his lyrics, referencing all corners of Europe). He had a Scottish mother, a Russian father, and was raised in both France and England, calling Paris his home at the time this record came out. Though nowadays it gets compared to the work of Nick Drake, Billy Nichols, Peter Sarstedt, Bill Fay, and others of note, due to music biz circumstances beyond Nick's control, it immediately sank into obscurity upon initial release. But now thanks to Rev-ola it's been reissued, complete with extensive liner notes, track-by-track commentary by Nick himself, and seven bonus tracks including his fantastic and even harder to find than the LP 1968 single "Queen Of Spades" b/w "Close Your Eyes" (the B-side of which you may have already heard on the Nightmares at Toby's Shop compilation we listed last year). Great stuff for fans of UK popsike like Kaleidoscope.
MPEG Stream: "The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislaus"
MPEG Stream: "Bungles Tours"
MPEG Stream: "Queen Of Spades"

GELB, HOWE Hisser (Ow Om/V2) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From out of nowhere comes this wonderful new record from the leader of Giant Sand (who also spawned Calexico). This is dark, melancholy, stripped-down angular country. Really beautiful. Kind of like a less goofy Giant Sand. Highly recommended.

GELB, HOWE The Listener (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
You never know what to expect from Giant Sand's Howe Gelb, but if you are going to board his musical caravan, you gotta know you're in for quite a ride. Roaming the musical landscape freely, sometimes the unexpected turns he takes may leave you scratching your head. Definitely one to always follow his muse, and the results - although frequently quite puzzling - are seldom a disappointment. On the surface, many of the songs appear to be very "normal", skillfully executed smoky lounge or dinner jazz or desert twang, but allow the music to sink in a bit further and gradually those distinct Gelb nuances and eccentricities reveal themselves. They manifest as subtle details, a slightly tweaked vocal effect or texture creeping just under the surface. Like an image in a slightly distorted mirror, the music is ever-shifting (in style, tempo, instrumentation, mood), casting light into the shadows, twisting perceptions. Gelb's deeeep, sedated vocals only furthers the emotional and cerebral slip. Often very stream of consciousness, he veers off on tangents about Lou Reed (on "Felonious" and does a remarkably convincing Reed impression, we might add!), scoops lyrics from the song "Lean On Me" (on "B 4 U") and slips into an odd Hazlewood/Sinatra-esque mode (on "Torque"). Intriguing, inspiring and a listening pleasure.
RealAudio clip: "Felonious"
RealAudio clip: "Torque"

GENGHIS BLUES (OST) (Six Degrees) cd 16.98
We had this before and sold many, but it was always difficult to re-stock 'cause it was being sold by the Tuva Foundation themselves, not a record label. But sad we are no more, because it's just been re-issued on San Francisco-based "world music" label Six Degrees (home of DJ Cheb I Sabbah and Bebel Gilberto!). For those of you new to this, Genghis Blues is the soundtrack to the fabulous documentary movie (of the same name). Blind San Francisco blues musician Paul Pena travels to Tuva (Central Asia) to compete in their national throat-singing competition, a skill in which he is entirely self-taught! A funny, touching movie, and of course blessed with some great music. Lots of blues, lots of throat singing and even throat singing blues, plus some Cuban son-esque tracks.
RealAudio clip: "Sunezin Yry"
RealAudio clip: "Kargyraa Moan "

GIANT SAND Provisions (Yep Roc) cd 14.98
It's been a few years, Mr. Gelb, we've sure missed you! Your new album is absolutely wonderful, and not just because you've got Neko Case, M. Ward and Isobel Campbell on board this time around... although that definitely sweetens the deal!
Each of the thirteen songs slowly unwinds in the dusk hour shadows with the ever enigmatic Gelb occasionally bringing to mind a southwest desert sun-baked Leonard Cohen. While he definitely pulls out a few classic Giant Sand twangy eccentric yarns (particularly late in the album - "Belly Full Of Fire" and "Saturated Beyond Repair"), overall Provisions seems to be his most mellow, straightforwardly melodic and song structured work to date. Even when he drifts off into the downright cryptic and bizarre, the raw emotion and poetry of his music somehow still speaks straight to the heart. Some of the album's best moments feature are the most bare bones with just voice and piano ("Spiral"). Wow. You might recall the short lived superb collaboration that took place many years ago between Gelb, Lisa Germano, and Calexico's Joey Burns and John Convertino. OP8 was its name, and Slush was the title of their amazing album. Of any of the albums that the individual artists have released since, this new Giant Sand full length comes the closest to capturing that magic (albeit with different parties involved).
And attention all you new Calexico fans picking up the latest album from those fellow Arizonans, time for a little history lesson! Burns and Convertino were members of Giant Sand prior to forming Calexico. If you haven't checked GS out yet, you are missing out! Some early GS albums may initially seem impenetrably strange and more of an acquired taste, but you don't wanna miss this album!
Most certainly highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Without A Word "
MPEG Stream: "Increment Of Love"
MPEG Stream: "Spiral"

GILDED ROOKS, THE Scarecrow's Pockets (Out Of Round) cd 11.98
Wow! if you've a penchant for rustic melancholia richly rooted in American country folk traditions, don't miss this new SF quintet's debut album. Although these days The Gilded Rooks are a full band of five, for these recordings which were captured in Nashville, TN, the band leaders Jessy Brown and Devon Angus were backed by locals Red White Blue. From the sounds of things, they got along smashingly well. The performances are terrific!, so easy-going and relaxed, you can easily imagine that they've been playing together for years. Scarecrow's Pockets is wonderfully drowsy and withery in mood and tempo. Brown's honeyed lilt and Angus' considerably more bristly, Waits-tinged delivery play off one another beautifully. The band tastefully embellishes the core guitar, bass and drums with piano, lap steel and organ, as well as surprise appearances of bright horns and a ghostly whisper of musical saw - all while still maintaining plenty of space to allow the duo's vocals to truly take flight. Each of the dozen songs is burnished to a mellow, whisky hued glow. Very warm and inviting despite the plaintive tones. Highlights are the opening title track, "31 Pages (Of Country Music)", and the closing "Joan Of Arc Of Bernal Hill". Along with the ten originals, they transform Jules Shear's "All Through The Night" (popularized by Cyndi Lauper) into a sweet shadowy lullaby, and also do a terrific rendition of Richard Thompson's "Walkin' On A Wire". Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Scarecrow's Pockets"
MPEG Stream: "All Through The Night"
MPEG Stream: "31 Pages (Of Country Music)"

GILMORE, JIMMIE DALE Braver New World (Elektra) cd 16.98
What a voice, that of an angel. Are there angels in Buddhism, we are not sure. A long long time ago in Lubbock, Texas, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, and Jimmie Dale formed the Flatlanders, who released classic selftitled album (still available on cd). Gilmore's wiry, ethereal vocals on "Dallas" still generates chills down the collective Aquarius back, nor does this new album disappoint.

GILMORE, JIMMIE DALE Come On Back (Rounder) cd 16.98
So peppery and full of vigor! Dare we say, such a whippersnapper! Jimmie Dale Gilmore's puttin' lads a third of his age to shame. They sure could learn a thing or two from this revered country music veteran. With his unmistakable voice in top form, he sounds absolutely terrific on Come On Back. Dedicated to his father, it's a collection of his renditions of thirteen country, honky tonk, and folk classics. The pace doesn't let up until the closing track, the solemn, deeply moving "Peace In The Valley". Inspiring and wonderful!
MPEG Stream: "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down"
MPEG Stream: "Peace In The Valley"

GOAT FAMILY, THE All We Need (self-released) cd 11.98
Here's the follow-up to The Goat Family's lively debut album Unstopperable from a few years ago! Sounds like these seven fellas are still bustin' their britches with rambunctious energy and mighty fine pickin'! All We Need is jam-packed with sixteen old fashioned bluegrass and country tunes written and performed in both conventional and somewhat less conventional fashion by modern day folks fueled by ample jugs o' moonshine. Good times for sure!
MPEG Stream: "The Old Why And Why"
MPEG Stream: "Little Red Demons"

GOAT FAMILY, THE Unstopperable (self-released) cd 11.98
The Bay Area's Goat Family are sure kicking up some dust on Unstopperable. It's an off-kilter hillbilly jamboree filled with originals and covers of old classics like "Ring Of Fire", the rousing rais-a-pint "All For Me Grog" and you might recognize the number "Pick A Bale Of Cotton" from the front porch scene of the movie The Jerk!
MPEG Stream: "Dress My Soul"
MPEG Stream: "Pick A Bale Of Cotton"

GOLDEN HOTEL The Silver Wilderness (Golden Hotel) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's always a little nerve wracking listening to a friend's record. Hoping that it's good so you don't have to hem and haw and eventually say something like "Wow...really interesting" or "Wow. Great guitar sound" or some other non-committal could-be-construed-as-saying-you-like-the-record sort of thing. So it's even more intense when it's someone's -first- record. But luckily, this time, there was no need to worry, 'cause this Golden Hotel record is a gorgeous, droney, space-y, drugged out psychedelic folk record. Golden Hotel is our customer Cayce (who has appeared in several of the AQ neighborhood films, he's the bearded fellow with the dog Cowboy) and his brother Sidney who is in AQ faves Torrez. And the Torrez connection definitely shows, with shimmery guitars and warm thick atmosphere, but the female vocals of Torrez are replaced with the brothers' rough but melodic warm warbly rasps and the sound is a little less lush and a bit more buzzing and immediate (plenty of instrument buzz, lip smacking, breathing). Warm swells of thick guitar wash over shimmering high end harmonics whirling quietly in the background as gently strummed acoustic guitar underpins delicate minor key melodies. Lots of stray sounds, varied instrumentation and production fuckery augment these ultimately simple folk songs, turning them into languid, stoned epics, with simple stumbling percussion, fuzzy far-away guitar, droning buzzing harmonies, pulsing underwater bass, and dreamy blissed out ambience. Definitely influenced by/reminiscent of Greg Weeks, Six Organs Of Admittance, Charalambides, Joshua, Songs:Ohia, Herman Dune, and other current practitioners of modern psych-folk. A great surprise and a fantastic record.
RealAudio clip: "Summer, Silver Lake/The Trouble Behind Mr. Peterson's Eyes"
RealAudio clip: "Palisade"
RealAudio clip: "All My Girls Are Singing"
RealAudio clip: "Everything Dying Sings"

GOLDEN SMOG Another Fine Day (Lost Highway) cd 15.98
This super duper group stars Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum, Run Westy Run singer Kraig Johnson, and The Jayhawks' Gary Louris and Marc Perlman. It's taken the gents eight long years to get another album together. You might recall their last one the casually patchy Weird Tales came out back in 1998. Another Fine Day is their third full length, a generous fifteen song serving of Golden Smog. It starts out as pretty much by the books country rock. That's all fine and dandy enough, but on the fifth song the band throws the listener a great curve ball. "Corvette" is an unexpectedly lightning bolt of power pop (uh, we just found out that it was originally written for an actual Corvette commercial... sigh.). The vocals for this one tune sound charmingly like Guided By Voices' Robert Pollard. We hit repeat on that one a bunch of times. It's a perfect mixtape tune. The follow-up ain't no slouch either. It's a gentle psych rock number reminiscent of Bowie and Bolan that starts out with a willowy instrumental intro. Nice! From there the album continues it's pleasingly varied path from the sweet pretty pop of "Cure For This" to the considerably grittier electric guitar riffin' of "Hurricane". Despite Golden Smog being a side project for many of its members, they've assembled a very dedicated, fleshed out, un-side project-y album. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Corvette"
MPEG Stream: "Beautiful Mind"

GOWNS Red State (Cardboard) cd 11.98
Strange and shambling ode to the underbelly of the American heartland from this duo comprised of Ezra Buchla (ex- Mae Shi) and Ericka Anderson (Amps For Christ). Mixing dusty feedback squalls, damaged electronics and bummed out gospel-y folk with distorted narratives involving drugs, cataclysmic weather and self-abuse, Gowns sounds at times like a primitive Cat Power if Chan Marshall went in a much darker direction after recording Moon Pix. Red State is mournfully elegiac with a simmering intensity that is barely restrained, much like the rarely lit corners of our troubled country.
MPEG Stream: "Rope"
MPEG Stream: "Fake July"
MPEG Stream: "Advice"

GRAHAM, DAVY Folk, Blues & Beyond (Fledg'ling) cd 16.98

GRAHAM, DAVY Hat (Fledg'ling) cd 16.98

GRANDPA JONES Makes The Rafters Sing / Yodeling Hits (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98
Latest reissue from the Omni Recording Corporation, and as with most of the Omni releases, it's an odd one. But what's so odd about Grandpa Jones? A kindly older gentleman, dressed like an old time prospector, playing banjo, yodeling occasionally, playing classic old timey bluegrass, lush vocal harmonies, plenty of twang and strum, the music itself is not especially strange, just some classic country and bluegrass. Well, it's all in the way Jones BECAME a "grandpa" - before he was even 20 years old! And no, he didn't somehow sire a child at an impossibly young age who then sired a child at an equally impossibly young age. He apparently was grumpy during early morning recording sessions, which earned him the nickname Grandpa, and at some point he decided to BECOME Grandpa Jones, which entailed an old hat, some silver hair dye, a big fake mustache, and some old clothes, and voila! Grandpa Jones was born, and would then go on to record and perform for decades, until presumably, he could do away with the fake mustache and dyed grey hair, and no one would be the wiser. Although apparently he DID perform at the Grand Ole Opry, as a real grandpa, dressed up as a fake grandpa!
The story behind Grandpa Jones may be pretty far out, but the persona was in part tied to his love of old timey music, and suited his sound, playing classic bluegrass ballads, gorgeous steel string strum, intricate banjo, shuffling percussion, slippery slide, timeless tales of heartbreak and misery, farms and trains, the Wild West, Jones' vocals a warm and weathered croon, that could also yodel with the best of them.
This reissue collects two of Jones' classic albums, and tacks on various singles and B sides, and like all Omni releases, includes a massive booklet with meticulously researched liner notes and loads of photos.
MPEG Stream: "Make The Rafters Sing"
MPEG Stream: "It's Raining Here This Morning"
MPEG Stream: "I've Just Been Gone Too Long"
MPEG Stream: "Lullaby Yodel"

GRASS MAGIC s/t (Earjerk) lp 17.98
Just a list of the folks playing on this here record should have most aQ customers all in a lather: The Skaters, Glenn Donaldson (Jewelled Antler Collective, Skygreen Leopards, Blithe Sons), Clay Ruby (Burial Hex, Zodiacs, Totem), Mansfield (Bruce Carkiss, Garage Indians), Nic Stage (Davenport), Endless (Craig Microcassette System, Drunjus), Tyler Olson (Davenport), Clay Kolbinger (Math Balance Volumes, Davenport), db Pedersen (Ng Keindhiet, Three Bags Full, Rope)...
Recorded one night in 2004, in a barn, and it sounds like it. Fuzzy and warbly and creaky, these tracks were originally released as a super limited tape, and are now available as a slightly less limited lp, with an extra track from the same session, not on the tape!
You know who was there, so you probably have a rough idea of what it sounds like. Gorgeous gauzy drift and drone, lots of fuzz and crackle, everything muted and washed out, clattery percussion, chant like vocals, lots of room sound and delay, swirling FX, underneath the soft swirl of lo-fi ambience lurks some sort of rickety skeletal dronefolk, songs that are barely recognizable, threatening to fall completely apart, all wrapped up in the warm whir of the recorder, bits of feedback, electronics, and here and there some propulsive krautrock like drumming, but all muddy and blurred into something more tribal and primal. Anyone who digs any of the folks taking part, is bound to dig this A LOT.
Beautifully packaged in old lp sleeves, turned inside out and hand screened in green and brown, quite lovely and QUITE LIMITED!!!!

GREAT AUNT IDA How They Fly (Northern Electric) cd 13.98
The lovely Vancouver singer/songwriter Ida Nilsen came through town while on tour opening for The Waterboys. Why? Well, story has it that she covered one of their songs on her last album, and band leader Mike Scott caught pleasant wind of it. He also invited her to help out with the recording of their new album.
Anyhoo, Ms Ida kindly dropped off a batch of her new full length How They Fly, and it's terrific! She's buddies with many Canadian aQ faves too, particularly from the Mint Records stable of artists. Everything is warm and comforting about Great Aunt Ida's music -- her singing, the well-placed entrance of horns, a nicely recorded piano, some understated electric guitar. We can see why Mr. Scott among others have taken a shine to her music. While it's rooted in country folk, there's also glimmers of '70s West Coast soft rock and '90s indie girl pop. So nice, she just might become our new Canadian darling!
MPEG Stream: "Company You Keep"
MPEG Stream: "We Say No"

GREAT INVISIBLES, THE You Left Me Haunted (Broken Sparrow) cd-r+dvd-r 12.98
From the same label that brought us two amazing records from Hotel Alexis (aka Sidney Lindner who also played in Golden Hotel): Goliath, I'm On Your Side and The Shining Example Is Lying On The Floor, comes another captivating slab of dark moody twang.
The Great Invisibles was recorded as part of The Record Production Month, styled after the National Novel Writing Month, the challenge being to write and record a full album in 30 days. The Great Invisibles was the entry from folk / free jazz guitarist and professor of Surrealism in literature , Michael Deragon, and is a gorgeously dark and dreamy chunk of dark ambience and lilting abstract Appalachia.
Recorded on a 4 track, but surprisingly lush, these tracks are mini epics, rife with moaning minor key melancholia, strange distant rumbles and whirs, muted effects drifting in grey sonic skies, guitars that buzz and shimmer, ring out dreamily and unfurl mournful laments, the various tnagles of steel string strum, are strung within murky drifting cinematic smeas of sound, distant drifting harmonics, often over soft wheezing whirs and swirling seas of soft tape hiss. A few songs have vocals and are dark gems, sounding a bit like Califone or Red Red Meat or even Hotel Alexis, sultry and slithery, brutally beautiful back porch ballads, lovely and utterly heartbreaking.
Deragon would perform live in galleries, accompanying short films by local film makers, and this set includes a bonus dvd featuring a short film used as the visuals for the Great Invisibles first performance, from filmmaker Michael Winters, a part-time truant officer. Truly striking, mostly black and white or sepia tone (a brief bit in color), scratchy film stock, old images of factories and children, flowers, old buildings, strange shadows, dolls and leaves, strange graphics of clocks, passing landscapes, haunting masks, the whole thing quite beautiful and mysterious, and really the prefect visual accompaniment to Deragon mournful twangscapes.
The packaging is amazing as well, every single one unique, handmade by Deragon, a collaged fold over sleeve, so dense and covered with clipping and bits of paper it's almost 3-D, old newspaper clippins, drawings, blueprints, various bits of writing in pencil and pen, hand numbered, with a stapled and typed insert, the two discs affixed to the two inside panels of the gatefold. So nice.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!! When we run out we won't be able to get more.
MPEG Stream: "At Once"
MPEG Stream: "Creeper"
MPEG Stream: "Just Before Waking"
MPEG Stream: "Laughter & Grace"

GREENE, LORNE The Man (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98
Everyone remembers Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright, big boss of the Ponderosa Ranch on the TV show Bonanza. He cut a striking figure, salt and pepper hair, deep stentorian voice, broad shouldered and ruggedly handsome, so of course like most stars of the time (and really ANY time), Greene set out to be a recording star as well as a television star, and is the case with so many wouldbe rockstars, or country stars, Greene managed a few records, might have even had a hit or two, but it just wasn't in the cards. It's not really that he's a bad singer, although he does seem to slip into a more sung/spoken thing that actually belting it out, and it's not that these are bad songs, some of these jams are CRAZY catchy, it seems like maybe he was mismarketed at the time, instead of separating his singing career from his TV career, someone made the choice that Greene would be a singing cowboy, singing about the sort of stuff that Ben Cartwright might have sung about. The result being some serious (silly) kitsch, almost every song features a spoken word intro by Greene, his voice booming, reverbed, as if speaking from on high, and every song is about working on the railroad, or mining, or being in prison, or playing poker in a saloon, or a love song from a cowboy to his gal, then there's the music, fuzzy guitars, weird doo wop background vocals, gorgeous harmonies, a little bit of exotica, some goofy sound effects, some definite Morricone-isms (how could there not be, the twangy whistly Western vibe is all over these tracks obviously), and of course Greene crooning over the top, again spending much of his time sing/speaking, but when he does let loose, he almost sounds like Thurl Ravenscroft (who sang the them from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas), and at times some of these tracks even sound a bit like Screamin' Jay Hawkins, really good stuff for sure, and so fun, definite mix tape / party music, we've been playing this non stop, thankfully it doesn't quite devolve into a vanity vehicle like the William Shatner / Leonard Nimoy records. Instead it plays like some awesome, slightly cheesy, way over the top, catchy as all get out, lost country record, which it basically is.
Anyone who dug the Plantation Gold comp we made Record Of The Week a while back will WAY dig this. Another killer job from Omni, whose reissues have set a new standard, tons of photos, a long vintage interview with Greene and tons more. The Man collects two albums in their entirety, as well as a handful of tracks from several later records, a killer package for sure. Now, if only Omni would put together an Eddie Noack collection!!! One of the most amazing (and sickest) country rockabilly legends ever...
MPEG Stream: "Pop Goes The Hammer"
MPEG Stream: "End Of Track"
MPEG Stream: "Nine Pound Hammer"
MPEG Stream: "Bring On The Dancing Girls"

GREY, NICK & NICHOLAS DAVIS Les Eaux Territoriales (Milk And Moon) cd 5.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
**LAST COPIES**A dark and dreamy drift through a late night world of moonlit sound from this UK driftrock slowcore duo. Silky serpentine guitar lines, moody meandering dreaminess, hushed whispery vocals, simple brooding dark ambient swirl, disembodied melodies. So so lovely. Like your favorite Low songs, set adrift in outer space, reflecting the twinkle of distant stars, shimmering in the soft vacuum of space. So absolutely gorgeous and otherworldly.
Packaged in a hand numbered black digipak with a tiny square piece of mirror affixed to the front.
MPEG Stream: "Two"
MPEG Stream: "Three"

GRIFFITH, NANCI Clock Without Hands (Elektra) cd 17.98

GROSSMAN, STEFAN Flowers On The Wall (El / Cherry Red) cd 17.98

GRUDZIEN, PETER The Unicorn (Subliminal Sounds) 2lp 39.00
Repressed! Newly reissued on deluxe vinyl, only one album can be called the first psychedelic OUT-country record, and if it's not Peter Grudzien's The Unicorn, we can think of no other album in the universe that would accurately fit that description (well, ok The Legendary Stardust Cowboy would come close, but that's a different animal entirely). For the emphasis on "out" here refers to all connotations of that term: far out, outsider and gay. Handling all the recording, arranging and playing of the instruments over a period of 14 years from 1960-1974, The Unicorn is a strange and beautiful metaphysical concept record of love and salvation. Featuring a vast array of characters including white trash hillbilly tricks, blue-eyed queens, monkey people and of course unicorns, Grudzien's off-kilter twang is augmented by slide guitar, banjo and otherworldly tape loops of ghostly choirs, backwards effects and warm reverb. An odd and lovely record! Comes with bonus LP "The Garden of Love" containing unreleased material made from the fifties to the seventies, making this worth the steep import price.
MPEG Stream: "Queen Of All the Blue-Eyed"
MPEG Stream: "Return Of The Unicorn"

HAGGARD, MERLE Cheatin (Capitol) cd 6.98
Apparently in an effort not to be out done by Columbia / American and their Johnny Cash "Love / God / Murder" trilogy, Capitol has decided to release a quartet of themed best of compilations -- Drinkin', Hurtin', Prison & Cheatin' -- from California's own bad boy of country Merle Haggard. Unlike many of his country contemporaries Haggard actually lived much of the life he sang about: struggling to make a living, living a life of crime and finally serving a prison sentence at San Quentin before straightening out and succeeding in his musical career. Along with all the expected studio recordings of Haggard's hits there are quite a few excellent live recordings thrown in here and there to boot, and what the series lacks in documentation -- no liner notes -- and brevity (each cd clocks in at around 30 minutes a piece) it makes up for big time in price. Nope, that's not a misprint there, they are really only 6.98 each. If you don't already have a healthy collection of Merle's music why not buy all four?
RealAudio clip: "High On A Hilltop"
RealAudio clip: "It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad)"

HAGGARD, MERLE Drinkin (Capitol) cd 6.98
Apparently in an effort not to be out done by Columbia / American and their Johnny Cash "Love / God / Murder" trilogy, Capitol has decided to release a quartet of themed best of compilations -- Drinkin', Hurtin', Prison & Cheatin' -- from California's own bad boy of country Merle Haggard. Unlike many of his country contemporaries Haggard actually lived much of the life he sang about: struggling to make a living, living a life of crime and finally serving a prison sentence at San Quentin before straightening out and succeeding in his musical career. Along with all the expected studio recordings of Haggard's hits there are quite a few excellent live recordings thrown in here and there to boot, and what the series lacks in documentation -- no liner notes -- and brevity (each cd clocks in at around 30 minutes a piece) it makes up for big time in price. Nope, that's not a misprint there, they are really only 6.98 each. If you don't already have a healthy collection of Merle's music why not buy all four?
RealAudio clip: "I Threw Away The Rose"
RealAudio clip: "Who'll Buy The Wine"

HAGGARD, MERLE Hurtin (Capitol) cd 6.98
Apparently in an effort not to be out done by Columbia / American and their Johnny Cash "Love / God / Murder" trilogy, Capitol has decided to release a quartet of themed best of compilations -- Drinkin', Hurtin', Prison & Cheatin' -- from California's own bad boy of country Merle Haggard. Unlike many of his country contemporaries Haggard actually lived much of the life he sang about: struggling to make a living, living a life of crime and finally serving a prison sentence at San Quentin before straightening out and succeeding in his musical career. Along with all the expected studio recordings of Haggard's hits there are quite a few excellent live recordings thrown in here and there to boot, and what the series lacks in documentation -- no liner notes -- and brevity (each cd clocks in at around 30 minutes a piece) it makes up for big time in price. Nope, that's not a misprint there, they are really only 6.98 each. If you don't already have a healthy collection of Merle's music why not buy all four?
RealAudio clip: "Silver Wings"
RealAudio clip: "Every Fool Has A Rainbow"

HAGGARD, MERLE If I Could Only Fly (Anti) cd 17.98
Goddamn. Merle Haggard is so much cooler than you or I could ever be. I mean, he just oozes cool. Maybe even more than 'the man in black'. This record, released through Epitaph (who also recently released the Tom Waits record) is as good as any of the records he released 20 years ago, but holds up in 2000. Definitely better than hearing Johnny Cash do Tom Petty. It's rough and raw and beautiful. Sometimes playful, sometimes scary. And as always, I hope that kids who love Palace and Songs:Ohia and all that stuff, hike up their pants and give this stuff a try.

HAGGARD, MERLE Prison (Capitol) cd 6.98
Apparently in an effort not to be out done by Columbia / American and their Johnny Cash "Love / God / Murder" trilogy, Capitol has decided to release a quartet of themed best of compilations -- Drinkin', Hurtin', Prison & Cheatin' -- from California's own bad boy of country Merle Haggard. Unlike many of his country contemporaries Haggard actually lived much of the life he sang about: struggling to make a living, living a life of crime and finally serving a prison sentence at San Quentin before straightening out and succeeding in his musical career. Along with all the expected studio recordings of Haggard's hits there are quite a few excellent live recordings thrown in here and there to boot, and what the series lacks in documentation -- no liner notes -- and brevity (each cd clocks in at around 30 minutes a piece) it makes up for big time in price. Nope, that's not a misprint there, they are really only 6.98 each. If you don't already have a healthy collection of Merle's music why not buy all four?
RealAudio clip: "Mama Tried"
RealAudio clip: "Branded Man"

HAGGARD, MERLE Roots Volume 1 (Anti) cd 16.98
The Haggard resurgence continues unabated. Coming right behind those low priced compilations we previously listed, here's a brand new record. Well, sort of. It -is- a new record, and they -are- new recordings, but most of the tunes are oldies but goodies, that see Merle reaching back to the honky tonk style his career so heavily is based on. There are also three brand new Haggard originals. The rest of the tunes include a handful of Haggard's own, as well as some covers, a bunch courtesy of the legendary Lefty Frizzell.
RealAudio clip: "Take These Chains from My Heart"

HAGGARD, MERLE The Bluegrass Sessions (Hag Records) cd 15.98

HAGGARD, MERLE The Peer Sessions (Audium) cd 16.98

HALA STRANA Fielding (Last Visible Dog) 2cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This incredible double disc from Hala Strana made several of our year-end best of 2003 lists after it was first released in a super-limited edition cd-r format last year. It quickly, oh so quickly went out of print and has been highly sought after in the realm of eBay ever since. Now, at last, the not-too-long-promised reissue is here, done as a proper cd release, two cds that is. Everyone who missed it before has another chance to grab it, and of course we recommend that you do. (If you already are one of the lucky ones who DID get the original cd-r version, be aware that this new version does contain a ten-minute BONUS track...but the fancy handmade booklet of art and text included with the cd-r edition is NOT replicated here, so you do still do have a collector's item if you have that). We love the self-titled Hala Strana on Emperor Jones too, and also Hala Strana's more recent These Villages disc on Soft Abuse, so it's difficult to pick this as our favorite. But maybe it is. Here's what we said about this before, when it was a limited edition cd-r deal:
In terms of 'keywords' this review should go something like this: Hala Strana, Jewelled Antler, Thuja, Steven R. Smith, Mirza, limited edition cd-rs, Eastern European folk music. Eh? Ok, now some of you are already clicking ADD TO CART or headin' down to our store. But if all that was more-or-less gobbledygook to you, let's elaborate. Hala Strana, which you may already have encountered as an entry in the Jewelled Antler Library series of 3" cdrs, is a project of LA-based multi-instrumentalist (and multi-instrument builder) Steven R. Smith, who is a member of Jewelled Antler flagship improv psych group Thuja and a solo artist in his own right. Hala Strana is his vehicle for instrumental droned-out Eastern European folk music appreciation/interpretation, and really represents some of his finest work to date. Multitracking turns Steven R. Smith into a one-man village orchestra, playing everything from violin to optigan, bul bul tarang to gourd guitar, harpsichord to clay flowerpots! Bouzouki, cello, harmonium, percussion, etc. These songs also incorporate snippets of field recording tapes and sampled recordings of traditional music. Plus some of his Thuja cohorts also show up to help out.
Many of the tracks are based on traditional folk tunes from Hungary, Albania, Macedonia, Croatia, and other Balkan backwaters. If you've heard any of the wonderful Muszikas records, you'll understand Steven R. Smith's inspirations. His arrangements and instrumention turn 'em into total folk-psych gems, reminding us of certain krautrock bands, International Harvester, the Dirty Three, Kemialliset Ystavat, Black Forest/Black Sea, all sorts of good things. Utter old world beauty meets underground drone aesthetics = some kind of Transylvanian trance music. Really nice.
Really really nice in fact. We're so glad this is back in print!! THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
fe130pp
MPEG Stream: "Herding Slip"
MPEG Stream: "Balada Conducatorului"
MPEG Stream: "Lament"

HALA STRANA Fielding (Jewelled Antler) 2cd-r 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In terms of 'keywords' this review should go something like this: Hala Strana, Jewelled Antler, Thuja, Steven R. Smith, Mirza, limited edition cd-rs, Eastern European folk music. Eh? Ok, now some of you are already clicking ADD TO CART or headin' down to our store. But if all that was more-or-less gobbledygook to you, let's elaborate. Hala Strana, which you may already have encountered as an entry in the Jewelled Antler Library series of 3" cdrs, is a project of LA-based multi-instrumentalist (and multi-instrument builder) Steven R. Smith, who is a member of Jewelled Antler flagship improv psych group Thuja and a solo artist in his own right. Hala Strana is his vehicle for instrumental droned-out Eastern European folk music appreciation/interpretation, and really represents some of his finest work to date. Multitracking turns Steven R. Smith into a one-man village orchestra, playing everything from violin to optigan, bul bul tarang to gourd guitar, harpsichord to clay flowerpots! Bouzouki, cello, harmonium, percussion, etc. These songs also incorporate snippets of field recording tapes and sampled recordings of traditional music. Plus some of his Thuja cohorts also show up to help out.
Many of the tracks are based on traditional folk tunes from Hungary, Albania, Macedonia, Croatia, and other Balkan backwaters. If you've heard any of the wonderful Muszikas records, you'll understand Steven R. Smith's inspirations. His arrangements and instrumention turn 'em into total folk-psych gems, reminding us of certain krautrock bands, International Harvester, the Dirty Three, Kemialliset Ystavat, Black Forest/Black Sea, all sorts of good things. Utter old world beauty meets underground drone aesthetics = some kind of Transylvanian trance music. Really nice. And we're looking forward to *another* new Hala Strana disc, a cd being released on Emperor Jones next week. That one's gonna be good too. But Fielding is hard to top. After all, there's TWO discs worth of music, and a handsome, handmade lil' booklet of art and text included. Unfortunately, there's only about 25 of these still available, so act fast!
MPEG Stream: "Villages"
MPEG Stream: "Time"

HALA STRANA These Villages (Soft Abuse) cd 14.98
Every time we get in a new album from Steven R. Smith's Hala Strana it's as if we've been magically, mystically transported to one of the Olde World vistas with which he always adorns his cd covers (this one comes from the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493). He's an Eastern European influenced, drone-folk one-man-band, crafting gorgeous, mesmerizing, sometimes melancholic instrumental compositions in his home studio, incorporating sundry ethnic instruments and tapes and field recordings, in a manner quite in keeping with that of his Jewelled Antler brethren (instrument-builder Smith is an alumnus of Thuja, you might know). Only three of the songs here are authentic traditional tunes (from Latvia, Hungary, and the Caucasus), but all the rest of them also seem to derive from an ancient, far-off land of Smith's imaginings...organic, rustic, autumnal...music for meandering along a trickling stream, lazing in a meadow, peering at distant crags through a morning mist, or drinking in a ruined old tavern at night. Harmonium drones and gently plucked strings and wheezing accordion and keening hurdy gurdy (and more) are all woven by Smith into the medieval tapestry of Hala Strana's music. Ah, we love it. These Villages is Hala Strana's fourth release -- we can't say it's the best yet, only because the others were also so superlative too. Quite recommended.
MPEG Stream: "October"
MPEG Stream: "Nepdal Tarogaton"

HALA STRANA White Sleep (Soft Abuse) 7" lathe cut 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Three songs from Steven R. Smith and his Hala Strana, ultra limited lathe cut, hand numbered, only 60 copies pressed. We got FIVE.

HALL, NATE A Great River (Neurot) cd 14.98
It doesn't always work out that when frontmen from heavy bands begin to fancy themselves troubadours, ditching all the distortion and metallic bombast and laying everything bare, it's the sort of thing that in the worst case can reveal all the shortcomings that are disguised by all that volume, and all those other instruments, we've seen plenty of ultra painful unplugged sets, that were just begging to be plugged back in. But in the best cases, like this, the solo debut from Nate Hall, frontman for psychedelic heavies US Christmas, it can demonstrate just why the heavy stuff is so compelling, cuz there are actual songs lurking underneath, and a vocalist who can actually sing, and has a knack for classic songsmithery. To be fair, it's not like the singer from Cannibal Corpse making a psych folk record (oh how we want to hear that now!), since US Christmas is essentially just a supercharged cranked up more metallic version of a psych folk band anyway. And plenty of the songs here actually sound like they could easily have been retooled into proper US Christmas jams, but that doesn't take away from how good they sound. Hall's voice is a slightly raspy croon that reminds us a bit of Nikki Sudden, ragged and rough around the edges, but it's perfect for USX and perfect for these songs here. Rooted around simple strummed acoustic guitar, but wreathed in thick swaths of distorted effected psych guitars, theremin here and there, a bit of slide guitar, plenty of echo and reverb, the songs droned out and a little druggy, there's even a killer cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Kathleen", and Hall definitely makes it his own, adding some cavernous reverb, but for the most part playing it straight. Helps that it's such a great song, and Hall's got the kind of voice that can do justice to a song that was basically already perfect (not sure why Hall wasn't included on the recent three way Townes Van Zandt tribute with Scott Kelly, Steve Von Till and Wino).
But not all the tracks are so psychedelic, a handful of the songs here are even more stripped down, no electric guitars, just straight up Appalachia, steel string guitar and banjo, and those tracks kill as well.
Folks into other psych folk should check this out for sure, and heck who knows, this might be the gateway that gets you into US Christmas that gets you into other heavy stuff, it's a slippery slope, but we're all waiting for you down here at the bottom!
MPEG Stream: "The Earth In One Cell"
MPEG Stream: "Dark Star"
MPEG Stream: "Kathleen"

HALL, NATE A Great River (Neurot) lp 17.98
NOW ON VINYL!!
It doesn't always work out that when frontmen from heavy bands begin to fancy themselves troubadours, ditching all the distortion and metallic bombast and laying everything bare, it's the sort of thing that in the worst case can reveal all the shortcomings that are disguised by all that volume, and all those other instruments, we've seen plenty of ultra painful unplugged sets, that were just begging to be plugged back in. But in the best cases, like this, the solo debut from Nate Hall, frontman for psychedelic heavies US Christmas, it can demonstrate just why the heavy stuff is so compelling, cuz there are actual songs lurking underneath, and a vocalist who can actually sing, and has a knack for classic songsmithery. To be fair, it's not like the singer from Cannibal Corpse making a psych folk record (oh how we want to hear that now!), since US Christmas is essentially just a supercharged cranked up more metallic version of a psych folk band anyway. And plenty of the songs here actually sound like they could easily have been retooled into proper US Christmas jams, but that doesn't take away from how good they sound. Hall's voice is a slightly raspy croon that reminds us a bit of Nikki Sudden, ragged and rough around the edges, but it's perfect for USX and perfect for these songs here. Rooted around simple strummed acoustic guitar, but wreathed in thick swaths of distorted effected psych guitars, theremin here and there, a bit of slide guitar, plenty of echo and reverb, the songs droned out and a little druggy, there's even a killer cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Kathleen", and Hall definitely makes it his own, adding some cavernous reverb, but for the most part playing it straight. Helps that it's such a great song, and Hall's got the kind of voice that can do justice to a song that was basically already perfect (not sure why Hall wasn't included on the recent three way Townes Van Zandt tribute with Scott Kelly, Steve Von Till and Wino).
But not all the tracks are so psychedelic, a handful of the songs here are even more stripped down, no electric guitars, just straight up Appalachia, steel string guitar and banjo, and those tracks kill as well.
Folks into other psych folk should check this out for sure, and heck who knows, this might be the gateway that gets you into US Christmas that gets you into other heavy stuff, it's a slippery slope, but we're all waiting for you down here at the bottom!
MPEG Stream: "The Earth In One Cell"
MPEG Stream: "Dark Star"
MPEG Stream: "Kathleen"

HAMMOND, JOHN Wicked Grin (Pointblank) cd 16.98
New album from white blues heavyweight John Hammond that consists solely of Tom Waits covers. If Tom Waits' own endorsement of Hammond as an artist -- "John has a blacksmith's strength and rhythm and the kind of soul and precision it takes to cut diamonds or to handle snakes" -- isn't enough for you, then maybe knowing that the album was produced by Mr. Waits himself would be persuasive. Featuring a backup band consisting of Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica, Larry Taylor on bass, Stephen Hodges playing percussion, Augie Meyers on accordion and piano, and even Tom sitting in on guitar and "plucked piano" here and there, the sound of Tom Waits' best known songs have a much more smoothed out and "bluesy" quality that may suit some more than the unique abrasive eccentricity of Waits' own voice and arrangements. Personally I prefer to listen to Tom Waits' own versions of his songs, but it's a good effort anyhow.
RealAudio clip: "16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six"
RealAudio clip: "Shore Leave"

HANDSOME FAMILY In The Air (Carrot Top) cd 14.98
New album from Chicago based no depression country duo. Slow, contemplative ballads, rounded out with hollow body guitar, then steeped in smokey reverb and boomy bar room bass - the occasional guest vocal gives this cd an almost Sons of the Pioneers feel. The end result is a very authentic sounding country record (and it was all recorded on a G3... Go figure.) On Archer Prewitt's Carrot Top label.