DOOMSWORD Resound The Horn (Dragonheart) cd 21.00
Dark, epic, doom (duh) metal from Italy. "Our fate is written: Sword and shield, born to die on the battlefield" is their motto, and their songs thus focus on tales of ancient Viking and Celtic warfare. Heavy and atmospheric, with decent clean vocals (a bit like the guy from Blind Guardian) and grand, morose melodies. For fans of the likes of Candlemass, Cirith Ungol, Manowar, Manilla Road, and Solstice. Despite the inherent silliness you might attribute to heavy metal songs of swords and battle, there's something about this just seems very SERIOUS. They've created a vibe quite far from the happy fantasy power metal of countrymen Rhapsody, that's for sure!
RealAudio clip: "Shores Of Vinland"

DOOR AND THE WINDOW Detailed Twang (Overground) cd 15.98

DOORMOUSE Broken (Planet Mu) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Joining the meth-damaged contingent on Mike Paradinas' Planet Mu label alongside Venetian Snares and Hellfish & Producer, Doormouse offers a non-stop assault of digital hardcore mutations of Amen breaks smashed into those enormous 909 blastbeats common in Alec Empire's more punishing recordings. Top off the rhythmic shrapnel with an obliteration of George Michael's "Faith," dialogue from porn audition tapes, slashed-up NuMetal guitar riffs, horror film samples, and crude misogynist joke, and you've got the makings for an album of easy listening for kids with serious cases of attention deficit disorder.
RealAudio clip: "Peter B. Beautiful"

DOORMOUSE I Heart Country (Addict) 12" 14.98

DOORMOUSE Method Volume 1: The Streets of Miami (Violent Turd) 2cd 10.98

DOORMOUSE Stanley Yershonowski Presents Xylophone Jism as the Riducator ( Cock Rock Disco) cd 15.98

DOORMOUSE & VENETIAN SNARES Skelechairs (Addict Records) 12" 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Massive mashup meeting of two of electronica's noisiest motherfuckers. Doormouse gives it to us good and hard, with a sidelong blast of sliced and diced amen breaks, spastic drill and bass, showers of rhthmic shards and goofy samples. On the flip, Venetian Snares offers up a thick noisy blast of 4-on-the-floor gabber, and then gives the Doormouse side a similarly gabber makeover. Good noisy stuff!

DOPPLEREFFEKT Calabi Yau Space (Rephlex) cd 16.98
This past week was the 30th anniversary of the launch of NASA's unmanned explorer Voyager 1, and if you've ever wondered what the soundtrack would be like to floating ever further inexorably into the vastness of uncharted space, well, Dopplereffekt's Calabi Yau Space might be an imaginative approximation of the music of the spheres heard by such a void-travelling spacecraft. With this album of cosmic synth drones and muted electro beats, the mysterious entity known as Dopplereffekt (an artist related to Drexciya and numerous other equally spaced-out and deliberately anonymous projekts) now makes its debut on the Aphex Twin's Rephlex label. Featuring quasi-scientific, almost Vovoid-ian track titles like "Hyperelliptic Surfaces" and "Holomorpic n-0 Form", this atmospheric album presents an array of hypnotic, pulsing transmissions, seemingly pinging off the satellite dish looking thing on the cover, filtering down through the vector-graphics Tron-world innards of Dopplereffekt's komputorbrain. Rooted in classic Detroit techno/electro, Dopplereffekt continue to push into another dimension of ambient deep space drift, hoping perhaps for alien contact. Fans of Kraftwerk, Aphex, and John Carpenter soundtracks should make contact as well.
MPEG Stream: "Calabi Yau Space"
MPEG Stream: "Hyperelliptic Surfaces"

DOPPLEREFFEKT Calabi Yau Space (Rephlex) 2lp 19.98
This past week was the 30th anniversary of the launch of NASA's unmanned explorer Voyager 1, and if you've ever wondered what the soundtrack would be like to floating ever further inexorably into the vastness of uncharted space, well, Dopplereffekt's Calabi Yau Space might be an imaginative approximation of the music of the spheres heard by such a void-travelling spacecraft. With this album of cosmic synth drones and muted electro beats, the mysterious entity known as Dopplereffekt (an artist related to Drexciya and numerous other equally spaced-out and deliberately anonymous projekts) now makes its debut on the Aphex Twin's Rephlex label. Featuring quasi-scientific, almost Vovoid-ian track titles like "Hyperelliptic Surfaces" and "Holomorpic n-0 Form", this atmospheric album presents an array of hypnotic, pulsing transmissions, seemingly pinging off the satellite dish looking thing on the cover, filtering down through the vector-graphics Tron-world innards of Dopplereffekt's komputorbrain. Rooted in classic Detroit techno/electro, Dopplereffekt continue to push into another dimension of ambient deep space drift, hoping perhaps for alien contact. Fans of Kraftwerk, Aphex, and John Carpenter soundtracks should make contact as well.
MPEG Stream: "Calabi Yau Space"
MPEG Stream: "Hyperelliptic Surfaces"

DORAMAAR Terra Incognita (Fusetron) lp 8.98
Female trio from New Zealand.

DORGON + LAURA CROMWELL Mar (Jumbo) cd 12.98

DORGON + LAURA CROMWELL Upsidedowncross (Jumbo) cd 12.98

DORMANT Beneath The Mighty Oak (God Is Myth) cd 10.98
From the man who runs the amazing God Is Myth label, responsible for recent AQ faves like Godheadscope, Caina and Procer Veneficus, and who used to record as Uvall, comes the new 'group' Dormant, which takes the more traditional black metal sound of Uvall and abandons it almost entirely, focusing more on mood and melancholia, texture and timbre, songs as much as sonics, a sort of orchestral dark doom pop sound, run through with streaks of buzzing blackness, and plenty of dark dark ambience.
With some help from folks like Caina and Celestiial, Dormant weaves an unlikely blackened sonic brew, gloomy and dark, but strangely pretty and poppy, epic and almost orchestral at points, there are brief moments of grim buzz and blasting black fury, but they are relatively few and far between, instead most of the record drifts delicately, mournful strummed steel string guitars, moaning drones off in the distance, deep baritone, near spoken vocals. Sounding very much like Swans or Angels of Light. Even the heavier songs spend much of their time moping mournfully, shimmery clean guitar twang, reverbed soft focus riffage, sometimes eventually transforming into midtempo black metal, but still suffused with that distinctly pop element, occasionally even turning pitchblack and offering up some buzzing riffs and harsh vocals, but only briefly, usually slipping back into a lilting dreamy dark folk, or a strange loping industrial dirge, or a haunting expanse of barely there drone.
Definitely for the super adventurous blackmetalheads out there, or for darkfolk freaks who don't mind bits of buzz and blast peppering their spacey jangle, moody gothic miserablism and abstract late night drift.
The first 200 copies of this cd come housed in a hand screened digipak with an insert and a sticker. We have about a dozen of those. Once we run out, we'll have copies from the rest of the pressing, a version that comes in a DVD case instead.
MPEG Stream: "Black Ashes"
MPEG Stream: "I Am The Wind On The Horizon"
MPEG Stream: "Sighs"

DORNER, AXEL & KEVIN DRUMM s/t (erstwhile) cd 15.98
Chicago experimentalist Kevin Drumm and German trumpet player Axel Dorner team up for a series of slow, skittery electronic interludes ala Gunter Muller (with Jim O'Rourke at the controls for one session).

DOROUGH, BOB Devil May Care (Bethlehem) cd 11.98
Cult jazz pianist turned vocalist whose style jazz critic Leonard Feather deemed, "curious, nervous and attractive." This collection features a mix of Tin Pan Alley tunes, jazz standards, and originals. Reissue of the 1956 classic.

DOSE ONE Hemispheres (Anticon) cd 14.98
Dose One, of underground hip hop phenomenon the Anticon collective, here reissues his 1997 debut and it's a doozy. Filled with hiccupping beats and incredibly deft rhyming. Not doom-laden, like some other hip hop we've been enjoying (ClouDdead, Zion I), this is more fresh and not as heavy but still bass-thumping. Mr Dibbs, Mr Len (Company Flow), J Rawls, etc on the decks and behind the board.
RealAudio clip: "Bronchial Cleansing"
RealAudio clip: "Civilization"
RealAudio clip: "Spitfire"

DOSEONE Pelt book + cd 17.98
We were so psyched when we first saw this new release from Dose One, one of our favorite Anticons. A big book of poetry, stream on conciousness prose, lyrics, notebook doodling and slapdash collage with a cd of all new material. And while we have loved almost everything Anticon have done in the past, this one is definitely for completists only. The book is definitely pretty nice, but the cd is a collection of ultra personal spoken word that veers WAY too close to poetry slam territory, recorded on a what sounds like a crappy boom box, complete with the 'klunk' of the record and stop buttons. Dose One's impossible lyrical acuity and agile flow falls apart and sounds way too forced when stripped of it's usual dense sonic backdrops. But like we said, the book is pretty nice.
MPEG Stream: "The Unravelling Arm Of An Emotional Boy"

DOT [.] s/t (Blind Date) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We managed to get the last 40 or so copies of the third and (supposedly) final pressing of only 175 copies of this massive slab of Japanese heaviness. So act fast.
BORIS! CORRUPTED! EYEHATEGOD! JAPANESE DOOM SLUDGE! If those words mean anything to you, drop everything you're doing RIGHT NOW and order yourself up one of these massive slabs of earth flattening, face melting downtuned dirge. Slow slow slow like their sludgy countrymen Boris and Corrupted, Dot [.] focus less on the drone, and more on the riff, sounding much more raw and aggressive, aligning themselves a bit more with Eyehategod, Bongzilla, Grief and the rest of the US slow motion doom contingent. Huge riffs, pounding relentless drumming, hellish shrieking vocals, amps until forever, everything (even the drums?) tuned as low as they will go, a soul sucking metallic black hole of sound. Four lengthy tracks, only one of which even comes close to almost breaking the midtempo mark.
AGAIN, SUPER LIMITED!!!!! To only 175 copies, and we got about 40, most likely never to get more again. You have been warned.

DOT [.] Stay Smoke, Stay Stone (Kult Ov Nihilow) 10" 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Do these bands mean anything to you: Boris, Corrupted, Harvey Milk, The Melvins, Sunn 0))), Earth? Well, if they do, you are definitely gonna need this. One of two new releases from the amazing Kult Of Nihilow label from Finland. Dot [.] are most certainly the best Japanese doom band you've probably never heard. We even listend to one whole side of this 10" at 45 thinking that it sounded too slow at 33! Yes, they are that slow and sludgy and downtuned and fucking amazing. Impossibly heavy and relentlessly glacial.
Unfortunately, this is limited to 332 copies and we managed to get our hands on a mere 12 of those, never to get more. So you'll have to move a lot faster than these fellas if you want one of these to end up stuck to your turntable. Super thick colored vinyl, gorgeously packaged in transparent, screened sleeve!

DOTS (ATOM HEART) 10th Anniversary Box II (Rather Interesting) cd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Released back in 1994 around the same time as Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Vol 2, Dots is an album that Uwe Schmidt (aka Atom Heart, Senor Coconut) composed as a sort of futuristic elevator music. Its rounded, digitally pure tones playfully sparkle along a datastream of placid post-techno structures. In a lot of ways, Dots foreshadowed the much-ballyhooed Pop Ambient series from Kompakt, sharing a pixel-point synthesis pleasant daydreaming music. This marks the second in a reissue series of the earliest recordings from his Rather Interesting back catalogue. In addition to Dots, Schmidt also included a nearly forgotten set of recordings called BGD (shortened from Background Design), which shares more with the ambient works of his contemporaries on the Fax label at that time. Limited to 900 copies and actually signed by Atom Heart himself.
MPEG Stream: "Dots"
MPEG Stream: "Stain"

DOUBLE Palm Fronds (Catsup Plate) cd 13.98
Catsup Plate has been the label to watch these days unleashing all sorts of amazing sonic weirdness, from the Destroyer, to Campfire Songs, to Daniel Padden and more. Now comes this crazy record from the Double. Ostensibly it's a pop record, but it is so bizarre sounding and sonically all over the place that it's hard to know just what it is. The first track is like a more glitched out, fucked up Magnetic Fields, but with Stephen Merrit's vocals all roughed up and raspier. Very deadpan delivery, in a throaty baritone, over a shimmery electronic soundscape with blooping basslines, the whole while things getting glitchier and more damaged. Weird and really cool. Things sort of just get more abstract from there on out. Rumbling superdistorted washes of rumble guitar and stuttery drums, with spastic octopoidal drumming, free jazz splatter, reverbed guitar, space echo, keening melodies, and lightning storm guitars with very mournful sad boy vocals, warbly and heartfelt. Occasional squalls of all-out noise drift by, obscuring the pop sunshine and leaving chaotic ramshackle deconstructed pop in its wake. A very bizarre and unlikely blend of Morrissey, Jandek, Throbbing Gristle, Oval, Wolf Eyes, Pere Ubu and Magnetic Fields!
MPEG Stream: "Blanket On The Beach"
MPEG Stream: "A Throw Of A Ditance"

DOUBLE LEOPARDS A Hole Is True (Troubleman Unlimited) cd 11.98
The Double Leopards have become more and more prolific of late, amazingly so considering there was a time where all we could track down by these cats was a cd-r and maybe an lp. An alluring mystery for sure. The mystery is not gone though, not nearly, in fact if anything it's just being deepened by the recent spate of new recordings, each a blurry buzzy smear of abstract sound, all lovingly swaddled in that Double Leopards haze and grit. A Hole Is True, is three lengthy tracks, totaling about 40 minutes, rough, raw, fuzzy, almost industrial soundscapes, buzzing guitars, grinding distortion, throbbing feedback, all stretched into pulsing, squirming, slow shifting drones. A seemingly endless haze, dense and swirly, tangly and prickly, thick and viscous. Definitely falls square within the sonic world of Skullflower, Total, and of course the Hototogisu (Leopards' member Marcia Bassett's other band, a duo with Skullflower's Matthew Bower)!
MPEG Stream: "Inmost Light"

DOUBLE LEOPARDS A Hole Is True (Troubleman Unlimited) lp 11.98
The Double Leopards have become more and more prolific of late, amazingly so considering there was a time where all we could track down by these cats was a cd-r and maybe an lp. An alluring mystery for sure. The mystery is not gone though, not nearly, in fact if anything it's just being deepened by the recent spate of new recordings, each a blurry buzzy smear of abstract sound, all lovingly swaddled in that Double Leopards haze and grit. A Hole Is True, is three lengthy tracks, totaling about 40 minutes, rough, raw, fuzzy, almost industrial soundscapes, buzzing guitars, grinding distortion, throbbing feedback, all stretched into pulsing, squirming, slow shifting drones. A seemingly endless haze, dense and swirly, tangly and prickly, thick and viscous. Definitely falls square within the sonic world of Skullflower, Total, and of course the Hototogisu (Leopards' member Marcia Bassett's other band, a duo with Skullflower's Matthew Bower)!
MPEG Stream: "Inmost Light"

DOUBLE LEOPARDS Halve Maen (Eclipse) 2cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally available on cd!
Massive double disc opus from this mysterious drone rock ensemble. Maybe drone rock is a bit misleading as there is very little rock to be found. So let's just say drone, shall we? After numerous cd-r's and limited lps the Double Leopards return with this gorgeous and expansive low end exploration. Rumbles and hums, shimmers and thrums, this is as perfect a piece of meditative, mesmeric drone as you're ever going to find. Like all great drone records, Halve Maen is a dense, thick nebula made up of layers and layers of sound slowly shifting and unravelling, revealing new sonic details on each listen. Murky wisps of rhythm, shimmering piano, distant chimes, warm reeds, and fuzzy static all surface occasionally. As the record progresses, the minimal spaciness intensifies, gets darker and gets louder, as the misty spectral instrumentation gathers steam and takes form, with propulsive rhythms and ghostly vocals emerging from the haze. So nice. Packaged in a mini gatefold cd sleeve, perfectly reproducing the lp packaging (only smaller!).
MPEG Stream: "Sound Holes"
MPEG Stream: " Viking Blood"

DOUBLE LEOPARDS Halve Maen (Eclipse) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Massive double lp opus from this mysterious drone rock ensemble. Maybe drone rock is a bit misleading as there is very little rock to be found. So let's just say drone, shall we? After numerous cd-r's and limited lps the Double Leopards return with this gorgeous and expansive low end exploration. Rumbles and hums, shimmers and thrums, this is as perfect a piece of meditative, mesmeric drone as you're ever going to find. Like all great drone records, Halve Maen is a dense, thick nebula made up of layers and layers of sound slowly shifting and unravelling, revealing new sonic details on each listen. Murky wisps of rhythm, shimmering piano, distant chimes, warm reeds, and fuzzy static all surface occasionally. As the record progresses, the minimal spaciness intensifies, gets darker and gets louder, as the misty spectral instrumentation gathers steam and takes form, with propulsive rhythms and ghostly vocals emerging from the haze. So nice. Limited to 1000 copies. On nice thick vinyl in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "Sound Holes"
MPEG Stream: " Viking Blood"

DOUBLE LEOPARDS Out Of One, Through One, And To One (Eclipse) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Over the past couple of years, the Double Leopards have emerged as one of the premier psychedelic drone ensembles alongside such pre-cognitive / cosmic communicators as the Vibracathedral Orchestra and Skullflower (whose Matthew Bower records with Double Leopards' Marcia Bassett as the Hototogisu); yet they've only released a couple of records that never seem to stay around long enough for us to write all that much about them. Out Of One, Through One, And To One is their latest opus of murky atmospheres channelled through the aftermath of a potent drug coctail prescribed for a blood chilling, delusional numbness. The Double Leopards excel in their eternal-music mantras spiralling out of densely layered buzzsaw dronings, continuously bowed strings, corroded amplifier distortion, the perpetual odor of spilt bongs, and an ocean of fluttering delay patterns. These medicated abstractions in deep heavy monotone equal those found on their universally acclaimed debut album Halve Maen. Considering this is limited to a 1000 copies, Out Of One is not expected to be around for terribly wrong. As former AQ owner Windy was wont to say, buy now or cry later.

DOUBLE LEOPARDS Savage Summer Sun (Stop It All) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yet another blast of thick and furry drones from the awfully prolific of late Double Leopards. Two half hour tracks, recorded live. The first, in L.A. is a massive and dense buzz, like a flurry of tiny lawn mowers and leaf blowers, all tuned to the same chord, emitting a reverberating thrum, like a million bombinating insects or the sound of crashing planes, slowed down and stretched out into a dreamy blur. Or imagine your head covered in bees, then dunk your head in a tar pit and let it dry and crack in the sun. Nice. The second track, recorded live on KDVS in Davis, is a bit more spacious, at least in the beginning, but it soon erupts into another huge multi layered drone, an insectoid hum, magnified a thousandfold and broadcast through a thicket of dense trees, leaves rustling as the sound waves shake everything in their path, until the sound fades and drifts and smooths into a tranquil hum, and eventually what sounds like rain, and then what sounds like bees, and then finally a slowly fading buzz like a distant airplane. Powerful and lovely.
MPEG Stream: "One"

DOUBLE LEOPARDS Urban Concussion (Qbico) LP Picture Disc 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Won't go into too much detail since by the time you read this these will be pretty much gone, sadly. SUPER LIMITED to 350 copies, picture disc artwork by Graham Lambkin from the Shadow Ring. Two massive sides of groaning, creeping ambience and muted industrial soundscapes of rumble and drone. Quite beautiful actually. Sounds a bit like you might imagine Wolf Eyes would sound if when they first woke up in the morning (or middle of the night), a little groggy and hung over, and just rolled over, plugged in, turned on, and let loose a thick washed out, lazy, fuzzy, gritty dronescape.

DOUBLE LEOPARDS / SUNROOF! / MOUTHUS Crippled Rosebud Binding (Music Fellowship) 2lp 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A glorious, massive, free noise love-in / freak out / jam session, the 5th in a series. This volume, an ultra deluxe super limited double lp, features three of the scene's biggest movers and shakers, The Double Leopards, Sunroof! and Mouthus. Each band gets a side of vinyl and delivers just what you might expect and exactly what you want. Sunroof! offer up two tracks, each a towering wall of guitar drones, dense and blossoming with blinding light, guest guitarists include Marcia Bassett (which makes that track pretty much a Hototogisu track) and Mick Flower of the Vibracathedral Orchestra on a track called "Cortez The Killer" and no we can't tell if it's actually a Neil Young cover or not. Mouthus spend their side making lots and lots of noise, grinding industrial soundscapes of electronics and tortured guitars, the hardest of the bunch for sure. And the Double Leopards invoke mysterious gods and ancient civilizations with their murky abstract drone derived ambience, channelling Taj Mahal Travellers, Angus Maclise and Henry Flynt through their transcendental blown out otherworldly glow. But wait, that's only 3 sides, what the heck is up with side 4? Glad you asked. Side 4 features all three outfits, seven musicians, jamming together, a gloriously confusional cacophony, equal parts soft droning flutter and furious free form freakout. Awesome! The only way out of this record... is through it... Packaged in a super deluxe full color gatefold sleeve!

DOUBLE NELSON Indoor (Pandaemonium) cd 13.98
Super fucked-up, bass-heavy "post-rock" from France--if such creepy electric thud can be considered "rock" at all. At times, the vocals sound like PJ Harvey with a traechotomy. Dark, sinister, and highly unique. They really don't sound like any other band I can think of, from France or elsewhere.

DOUBLE U Falling Lanterns (Emperor Jones) cd 14.98
Until (if?) the Thinking Fellers record another album, there's the fellow San Franciscan quartet Double U filling in for them. Purposefully wacked indie-melodies with plenty of nods to the ethnomusicological damage of the Sun City Girls and recalling the golden age of San Franisco art rock (Residents, Snakefinger, and the rest of Ralph Records).

DOUBLE U White Night, Floating Anchor (Emperor Jones) cd 14.98
I like this record so much but I can't for the life of me think of how to describe them. Of course they sound A LOT like The Thinking Fellers, as every review will tell you, but I doubt they would deny that. It's when I go to describe the music I'm at a loss. It's rich and creepy, sounds like demented nursery rhymes. The vocals are unique to say the least. Ranging from little girl eeriness, whispering in your ear to booming and indecipherable. Most of the songs are groovy meandering numbers, with odd scraping, sliding, creeping sounds. and there are some carnivalesqe songs that give you the chills like a good horror movie. Odd instrumentation recorded with expertise by Tim Green at Louder Studios. Art rock that will scare you.
RealAudio clip: "Sheepo"
RealAudio clip: "White Night, Floating Anchor"

DOUBLE, THE Loose In The Air (Matador) cd 13.98
Originally conceived as a hyper intricate math rock duo a few years back, the Double decided to simplify and focus on songs and sounds, then a drummer injury forced the band to yet again rethink their sound and approach, which resulted in the modern sound of the Double, a weird glitched out, quirky pop, thick with super distorted keyboards, winsome melodies, bursts of manic rocking demarcating long stretches of dreampop and new wave warble. Now they've incorporated some of that NY hipster swagger, a la Interpol or the Strokes, but filtered it through the Double's warped musical lens, a bouncy, brooding pop, with angular spaced out guitars and deadpan vocals that sound uncannily like Stephen Malkmus from Pavement, although here they swoop wildly into a falsetto as often as they drawl laconically. Each song is a dizzying blast of kaleidoscopic post-pop, crashing and chaotic, lilting and lovely, stumbling and ramshackle assemblages of bizarre song structures and strange melodies that don't sound catchy until at least the third or fourth time you hear them, but the first two or three times they definitely sound interesting, and intriguing, and make you want to keep listening, to find that unlikely hook, buried in there somewhere. And those are always the kind of songs that stick the most in the long run.
MPEG Stream: "Up All Night"
MPEG Stream: "Idiocy"
MPEG Stream: "Icy"

DOUBLE, THE Loose In The Air (Matador) lp 11.98
Originally conceived as a hyper intricate math rock duo a few years back, the Double decided to simplify and focus on songs and sounds, then a drummer injury forced the band to yet again rethink their sound and approach, which resulted in the modern sound of the Double, a weird glitched out, quirky pop, thick with super distorted keyboards, winsome melodies, bursts of manic rocking demarcating long stretches of dreampop and new wave warble. Now they've incorporated some of that NY hipster swagger, a la Interpol or the Strokes, but filtered it through the Double's warped musical lens, a bouncy, brooding pop, with angular spaced out guitars and deadpan vocals that sound uncannily like Stephen Malkmus from Pavement, although here they swoop wildly into a falsetto as often as they drawl laconically. Each song is a dizzying blast of kaleidoscopic post-pop, crashing and chaotic, lilting and lovely, stumbling and ramshackle assemblages of bizarre song structures and strange melodies that don't sound catchy until at least the third or fourth time you hear them, but the first two or three times they definitely sound interesting, and intriguing, and make you want to keep listening, to find that unlikely hook, buried in there somewhere. And those are always the kind of songs that stick the most in the long run.
MPEG Stream: "Up All Night"
MPEG Stream: "Idiocy"
MPEG Stream: "Icy"

DOUGHER, SARAH Day One (K) cd 12.98
Ms Dougher is one busy lady, playing previously in the Lookers, and currently in the Crabs and Cadallaca as well as writing for a number of publications, and co-writing a book with Nikki McClure. This is her debut solo full length. "But wait!" you say, "didn't she have another cd out already?" Well, you might be thinking of "The Walls Ablaze" which was released very soon after "Day One". Hope that clear up any confusion. She actually also has a third called "Bluff" which we should see any day now. Yes, she certainly keeps her wry and thoughtful pen to the paper. Her bare bones singer-songwriterly folk songs are fashioned with personal and politically charged lyrics driven by a deep, strong voice much like that of Joni Mitchell or as we've said before, Carly Simon. Includes a cover of The Eagles' "Take It To The Limit".
RealAudio clip: "Hold the Bar"
RealAudio clip: "Everywhere West"

DOUGHER, SARAH The Walls Ablaze (Mr. Lady) cd 12.98
Sarah Dougher possess a voice which bears an eerily striking resemblance to that of a young Carly Simon. Almost creepily so. This is her second solo album of folk inflected melodies. Quite nice and low-key.

DOUGLAS, DAVE A Thousand Evenings (RCA) cd 15.98

DOUGLAS, DAVE Five (Soul Note) cd 15.98
Hard-to-find Italian import of this trumpeter recently heard with John Zorn's Masada. Mark Feldman on violin, plus Erik Friedlander on cello, Drew Gress and Michael Sarin. Excellent.

DOUGLAS, DAVE Moving Portrait (DIW) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

DOUGLAS, DAVE Stargazer (Arabesque Recordings) cd 15.98
"Music by and for Wayne Shorter" featuring John Zorn's Masada members trumpeter Douglas and drummer Joey Baron, along with Chris Speed, Joshua Roseman, Uri Caine, and James Genus.

DOUGLAS, DAVE The Infinite (RCA/Victor) cd 16.98
Masada's trumpeter teams up with some of Downtown NY's hardest working sidemen for six new original pieces and covers of Rufus Wainwright, Mary J. Blige and Bjork! Yeah! Feelin' it! The sssmooove sssoundsss of jazzzzzz!
RealAudio clip: "Unison (Bjork)"

DOVE s/t (self-released) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We raved about Floor's Dove album last list, so it only makes sense that we would move on to the new album from Dove, the band that followed Floor and just happens to also feature a fellow from another AQ favorite, Cavity! Equal parts the Melvins, High On Fire and Sleep, which means huge, thundering riffs, planet splitting percussion, and black hole bass, but with the unlikely addition of sweet acoustic parts, weird almost-folky clean guitar and occasional minor key post rock breakdowns. This is much more 'punk' than the Floor record. Where Floor was channelling the Beatles via Nirvana via Eyehategod, Dove takes that end result, roughs it up a bit, rolls it in broken glass and barbed wire and sends it careening down a punk rock mountain with no brakes. Occasionally Dove slow down into Floor / Cavity dirge territory, but more often than not, things quickly pick up or take some weird unpredictable turn before resuming their thrashingly hooky onsalught. Awesome.
MPEG Stream: "On A Mission"
MPEG Stream: "Goes Without Saying"
MPEG Stream: "Red King"

DOVES Some Cities (Capitol) cd 17.98
Hurrah! This is Doves' follow-up to their splendid 2002 sophomore album, The Last Broadcast. While there aren't any single songs here that pack as much of the heartstring-pullin, toe-tappin' wallop as that album's ninth tune "Pounding" (which I, Cup, was... oh who am I kidding?... *am* still totally addicted to!), Some Cities does not disappoint. In fact, come to think of it, has the trio of Jimi Goodwin, Jez and Andy Williams ever disappointed? I think not. Once again, this album will do little to stop them from being lumped together with their more famous Brit brethren Coldplay, but that's not a bad thing -- they're both pretty fabulous bands. And once again, their finely detailed, lush, earthy instrument arrangements provide the soaring grandeur while Goodwin's vocals provide the intimate closeness. That said, moody groovy songs such as the fifth "The Storm" are perfect for late night wind-downs which may also appeal to fans of such groups as Air or Massive Attack. Great!
MPEG Stream: "Snowden"
MPEG Stream: "The Storm"

DOVES The Last Broadcast (Capitol) 2cd 16.98
Only the second album from Manchester trio Doves (not to be confused with The Doves), but what a beauty it is! An ultra lush production of mellow, earthy British pop. Often quite akin to fellow Brits Coldplay especially on their slower songs with their lilting, emotive male vocals, warm piano and combined acoustic and electric guitars. The trio's compositions swell to gorgeously grand proportions with some very tastefully applied strings (as arranged by Sean O'Hagan of High Llamas), horns and woodwinds (check out "Friday's Dust", oooh!). And glistening glockenspiel too! Truly soaring and dramatic, but never excessively so. However, these fellows show they're more than capable of also kicking things up a notch or two on tracks like the solid pop of "Pounding", a super catchy number propelled by drums that certainly get their share of thumpin'. Sorta made me think "I'd like the Strokes' if they sounded more like this and less detached and indifferent." Near the close of the album, the songs - particularly the title track and "The Sulphur Man" - shift in tone subtly into something that strongly reminded us of American Music Club, in part due to the striking vocal resemblance between Mark Eitzel and Jimi Goodwin on these tracks. Also includes a bonus limited edition EP of four more gentle songs. Very very nice!
RealAudio clip: "There Goes The Fear"
RealAudio clip: "Friday's Dust"
RealAudio clip: "Pounding"
RealAudio clip: "The Sulphur Man"

DOWN II: A Bustle In Your Hedgerow (Elektra) cd 17.98
The first song on the last Down record is easily one of the best (if not THE BEST) stoner-metal/New Orleans sludge rock song ever. EVER. The rest of the record didn't stand up to the opening track, but it was still a pretty solid record of ultra heavy stoner rock groove (how could it not be with Phil "I'm In Pantera But I Have Other Interests So Don't Hold That Against Me" Anselmo's brutally melodic rasp and guys from Corrosion Of Conformity, Eyehategod, and Crowbar laying down the riffs/beats). Oddly enough, with the new Down record, although not all that sonically similar to the first, the first track knocks you flat on your ass while the rest of the record struggles to reach the same intensity. Hmm, I'm beginning to see a pattern. Again, not to say this record doesn't rock, because it does. I think we were just hoping for a whole record of 'first songs'. That said, Anselmo has such an unbelievable voice, from growly, bluesy rasp to demonic howl to melodic almost eighties metal screech that every song bristles with anger and emotion. And the production is HUGE, warm and fuzzy guitars, pounding drums and thunderous low end, like a hyper-charged Molly Hatchet or Lynyrd Skynyrd on angel dust. But unlike the first Down record, this one seems to be much more varied, with slowly droning acoustic ballads (a la Agents of Oblivion/Acid Bath) shredding blues jams, straight up stoner metal, punky work outs and even a song that sounds like something off of Nirvana's "Bleach". If you loved the last Down record you've been dreaming about this new record for years, and if you're a fan of Acid Bath, Eyehategod, Corrosion Of Conformity, Crowbar, and all that Southern doomy stoner sludge, odds are this will be blasting from your pick-up in no time, 12 pack on the seat next to you, gun rack rattling against the rear window, dead buck in back, stars and bars trailing in the wind...
RealAudio clip: "Lysergik Funeral Procession"
RealAudio clip: "There's Something On My Side"
RealAudio clip: "Beautifully Depressed"

DOWN RIVER Rememory (Out Of Round Records) cd 11.98
The local label Out of Round has been laboring quietly in the background, not calling a lot of attention to itself yet turning out record after record that are consistently of similar mood -- due to the fact that they all play on each others recordings. The homegrown label's "sound", then, is one of a grimy circus atmosphere, like Fellini's La Strada if it was set in some dusty corner of an urban American metropolis. There are lots of slowed down polkas and depressed waltz time-signatures, dour vocals, sad accoridans, and dolefully plucked guitars. Great mood music for the Tom Waits fan in all of us who feels like Waits is just too hip for his own good these days.
Check out www.outofroundrecords.com -- we carry all of their releases. For a limited time only, get an out of Round Records label sampler free with purchase of this disc.

DOWN TO EARTH APPROACH Another Intervention (Vagrant) cd 14.98

DOWNES, GRAEME Hammers And Anvils (Matador) cd 14.98
Ah, the Verlaines. One of my favorite New Zealand bands of all time. In the early nineties they made music filled with intense Wedding Present-style strumming, and wailing minor key melodies that sounded so urgent and vital. This is the solo debut of the leader of Verlaines, Graeme Downes. And while he's mellowed out a little, replacing the frenzied guitar passages with more sedate musical accompaniment, the wistful melodies are still there, and hey, without the feedback you can really hear his voice, which is so yearning, so minor-key and solemn that it reminds me first of Mark Eitzel, then of Joel Phelps and Jeff Buckley. Not the most exciting album ever, but it may sink in.
RealAudio clip: "Sunday Kickaround"
RealAudio clip: "Hammers and Anvils"

DOYLE, ARTHUR & SUNNY MURRAY Dawn Of A New Vibration (Fractal) cd 17.98
Two "outside" jazz legends in a duo together: Arthur Doyle on tenor saxophone, flute & vocals; Sunny Murray on drums. Studio recording made March, 8, 2000. Vibrate.

DOYLE, ARTHUR & SUNNY MURRAY Live at Glenn Miller Cafe (Ayler) cd 15.98
Arthur Doyle has had a fascinating career, winding through bebop, the New York ESP free jazz scene of the sixties, and No Wave when he played with the Blue Humans around 1980. He released an acclaimed album of Ayler influenced free jazz in 1978 when such music was far out of fashion in US jazz cirlces, then spent years in prison in Paris on false charges where he composed hundreds of songs anyway, and ended up making lo-fi bedroom recordings in Endicott, NY (hey, just like the much-maligned by everyone at AQ but me experimental pop weirdo Gary Wilson!). In his multi-decade career, characterized by under-recognition, he has played with everyone from Sun Ra and Pharaoh Sanders to Keiji Haino and Thurston Moore. Throughout, he has honed his uniquely raw tenor sax, flute and vocal stylings. This recording is from his 2000 European tour with drum legend Sunny Murray. Consisting of primarily just Murray and Doyle, with a bit of help from Swede Bengt Frippe Nordstrom on alto, the amount of racket conjured is pretty amazing. Just as the textures available from only sax and drums start to become repetitive and uninteresting, Doyle livens things up with simultaneous flute and vocals, at points interjecting emotive guttural vocalisations on their own. Murray starts fast and furious, but becomes more spare and textural as Doyle's intricate flute and vocal manipulations take center stage. This sounds like it would have been awesome to witness live, and it ain't half bad on record either. Another step toward deserved wider recognition for the highly interesting Arthur Doyle, although not one that challenges 1978's "Alabama Feeling" in the consensus of his best recordings.
RealAudio clip: "Spontaneous Creation Part 2"
RealAudio clip: "Spontaneous Creation Part 3"