DEVINE, RICHARD Lipswitch (Warp) cd 13.98
Florida based electronica artist Richard Devine makes an attempt to draw water at the Autechre well, but comes up a bit dry. More of a "masculine" sounding rhythm programming, lacking in the subtlety of Autechre -- no tempo changes, and very little difference in the rhythmic pattern or palette of sounds in any given piece. It's as though he has discovered the "formula" to start an Autechresque piece, but once he gets it fired up he doesn't know where to go with it.

DEVO Duty Now For The Future (Warner Brothers) lp 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

DEVO Duty Now For The Future / New Traditionalists (Virgin) cd 15.98

DEVO Live (Rhino) dvd 15.98
Whoo-hoo. Live Devo. Wait...live in 1996? Can these aged spuds still whip it like they used to back in the '70s and '80s? Well you gotta get this dvd to find out, though we can tell you we didn't not enjoy screening it, all the songs here are classics after all ("Girl U Want", "Mongoloid", "Uncontrollable Urge", "Jocko Homo" and a bunch more). Though it was a bit strange seeing 'em doing their thing in the daytime (in bright California sunshine even!) at an outdoor festival in front of a huge crowd. Most other Devo documents we've seen are more, shall we say, mediated by the band's unique, fucked aesthetic. Here they have less control over the presentation. Which reminds us, this dvd has the multiple camera angles feature. Also supposedly there's a band interview on here, but we couldn't locate it in the menu.

DEVO Live 1980 (Target Video) dualdisc cd / DVD 14.98
Spuds rejoice: it's live Devo, 1980! One of the best bands ever at the height of their powers, playing their "hit" songs to a stand-offish audience at the Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma, California. However, spuds also bewarned: with an insanely abrasive edit of scrappy video footage, it's hard to watch this baby all the way through in one sitting -- even for us die-hard fans! Despite this, and the fact that you can tell the band takes awhile to warm up on stage, when they do, holy spudboy, watch them go! A high note is their cover of "[I Can't Get No] Satisfaction". This particular performance reaffirms that it may possibly be the most amazing cover of all time. Also great performances of "Pink Pussycat", "Girl U Want" and "Freedom of Choice"... Instrument note-worthy are Bob Mothersbaugh's cloud-shaped guitar and Gerald Casale's custom bass.
This is in the dualdisc format, meaning you get the video on the dvd side of the disc, as well as an audio-only version on the cd flipside. And, as a bonus, there's footage of Dove, The Band of Love (Devo's easy listening alter-ego that a lot of Devo fans didn't seem to "get", somehow) performing three songs live, also from 1980!

DEVO Oh No It's Devo / Freedom Of Choice (Virgin) cd 15.98

DEVO Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology (Rhino) 2cd 29.00
Impressive and all-encompassing anthology of Devo (only the best band of the late 20th century!!) spanning their inception in Akron, Ohio in the mid '70s all the way through "Smoothnoodlemaps" and then some (sigh... yeah, I know, they probably could have stopped after "Oh No! It's Devo"). All in all this is a nice set though, and includes plenty of "unreleased" tracks and rare songs recorded for soundtracks throughout the years (including a song that Mark Mothersbaugh recorded for the game Interstate '82). Comes with a 50 page color booklet with a history of Devo and lots of wonderful pictures. Cool 3-D cover effect as well.

DEVO The Complete Truth About De-Evolution (Rhino Home Video) dvd 15.98
We've reviewed a bunch of fine DVD releases over these last few lists, but out of 'em all, my pick for the raddest has gotta be this Devo DVD. Of course, they're probably in my (Allan's) top five bands of all time list, so I'm somewhat biased already.
Lots of Devo fans may have seen much of this already on video tape or even laserdisc (there's several clips included here of the Devo boys explaining the virtues of the futuristic laserdisc format) but now you can see that stuff again, and more besides, on this DVD. You get the original Kent State post-graduate student film In The Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-Evolution, that started it all and introduced the world to such characters as Booji Boy and General Boy and some mighty odd and awesome pop tuneage. Then there's pretty much all of Devo's pioneering, wigged-out music videos, from Come Back Jonee and Satisfaction through Whip It and Girl U Want to Through Being Cool, Love Without Anger, and Peek-A-Boo. And more. All amazing, fairly low-budget (rubber masks galore), and completely cracked. A couple of the songs from the tail end of their recording career aren't so hot but that's a small fraction of the mostly-genius-stuff on here. Then there's the special features, which include an historic b&w video clip from the first ever Devo gig (1972!), a bonus video (Bruce Connor's Mongoloid), an interview with Devo video collaborator/instigator Chuck Statler, still photo galleries of Devo memorabilia that are so extensive you have to watch 'em in slow motion, and -- perhaps best of all -- a bonus audio commentary track for the majority of the disc done by chief Devo spuds Gerald V. Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh! That alone makes this pretty much essential to all true Devo fans, even if you already have the original stuff on video cassette. Hours of de-evolved fascination and fun await, an incredible dose of Devo philosophy, history, music and visuals.

DEVOID s/t (Grave / Grindfreaks) cd 14.98

DEVOID OF ALL MERCY Cleansac Burial / Shackled To A Corpse (Root Don Lonie For Cash) 7" lathe cut 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A long time ago, we became pretty obsessed with a record called Your Children Left With The Stranger, from weirdo outsider metal murk merchants Devoid Of All Mercy, one of a handful of releases on the now defunct Battlecruiser label, a sort-of-metal sublabel of the also now defunct legendary New Zealand boutique label Celebrate Psi Phenomenon. The weird thing was, the sound of Devoid Of All Mercy was barely metal at all, instead, it was some strange Bohren / Low style slowcore, a super minimal, skeletal post rock, that slithered and oozed and creeped, gorgeously and oh so lugubriously.
We hadn't heard a peep since, but then out of the blue, a clutch of these showed up, an ultra limited (and we mean ULTRA, as in, limited to THIRTY COPIES, of which we got half), hand cut lathe all the way from New Zealand, in a cool, transparent cover, the whole thing hazy and see through.
The record finds DOAM refining their sound even further, at low volume, we weren't sure at first if there was any sound at all, but in headphones, the record unfolded, a whispery, hushed, barely there creep, the guitars spidery and ethereal, the melodies detuned and warbly, the vocals, a demonic gurgle, but it too is almost a whisper, in the background, are footsteps and voices, and all manner of room sound, as if Mr. Devoid was just hunched over in the corner, pouring this blackened mystery onto tape, while the world just went on around him, oblivious to the delicate and haunting grimness taking place right under their noses.
Imagine a WAY less lush, WAY more abstract, WAY more metal (in spirit if not actual sound) Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore, a dark shuffling abstract anti-rock, more ambient than rock, but plenty harrowing and haunting.
Again, LIMITED TO 30 COPIES, we have LESS THAN 15!!!

DEVOID OF ALL MERCY Your Children Left With The Stranger (Battlecruiser / Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest slab of outsider underground heaviness from Campbell Kneale's "experi-metal" label Battlecruiser, a sublabel of the always mindblowing Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, which in the past has offered up such hellish atrocities as Black Boned Angel, Mirag, Mrtyu, Wardagger, Wings Of Vengeance, Wolfskull, You Should Have Slain Me, Ghoul, Ming, Cicadashrine and The Cops, so a disc from some mysterious outfit called Devoid Of All Mercy is just what we might have expected. And a record called Your Children Left With The Stranger, scary, evil, creepy, and song titles that sound like they came straight from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, "Last Ride In A Rusting Truck", "Cannibals In The Hills", "There Are No Lights In This Cabin". But what we weren't expecting was for Devoid Of All Mercy to sound like, well, like this. No blasting black buzz, no wall of acid-fried guitars, no glacial pounding sludge, no shrieking or insectoid riffing, no blast beats, no drums at all as far as we can tell. Instead, a lone guitar, picks out a haunting near-acoustic dirge, a slowed down minor key melody, wrapped in billowing clouds of black shimmer, and over the top, a super distorted, guttural vocalist, his voice a wet snarl, gurgling, growling, a strange low end demonic whisper draped over the hypnotic guitar melodies, like some black shroud wet with blood. The thing is though, it's really sort of pretty, like a super abstract minimal post rock, lilting and hypnotic, dreamy and dark, big buzzing wide open chords, arpeggiated guitars weaving expansive melodic crawls, all seemingly suspended and drifting weightless amidst a shimmering soundscape of distant buzz and whir. Minus the vocals, this would be some strange Bohren / Low hybrid, gorgeously mournful slowcore minimalism, but with those rabid snarling vocals, pretty turns into creepy, and suddenly everything sounds just that much more bleak and foreboding. And excellent! Some seriously fucked up, and ultra subdued evil! So recommended.
MPEG Stream: "There Are No Lights In This Cabin"
MPEG Stream: "Cannibals In The Hills"

DEVOTCHKA A Mad & Faithful Telling (Anti) cd 16.98
Colorado quartet Devotchka do a lively jig down the path between the tweaked baroque pop of The Arcade Fire and the nouveau Balkan gypsy stylings of Beirut and Gogol Bordello. A Mad & Faithful Telling is a beauty capturing the band at its best, brisky tempo'd and impassioned with very Adrian Belew-esque swooping vocals and sweeping horns and strings following suit. This is music that'll leave your ears fevered and your cheeks flushed!
MPEG Stream: "Along The Way"
MPEG Stream: "Transliterator"

DEVOTIONAL DUBZ Lady Dub (Devotional Dubz) 12" 15.98

DEWAR, ANDREW RAFFO Six Lines Of Transformation (Porter) cd 14.98
Porter Records strikes again. And again and again and again and again... We've been overwhelmed with releases from this one-man-run label juggernaut, we might even have to hire another person just to keep up. But until that happens, we'll just have to pick our favorites, and do our best to get them reviewed and on the list. And with all the stuff Porter keeps digging up it really is difficult to pick favorites, but this one definitely hit the spot.
Two long form pieces, both composed by a youngish composer Andrew Raffo Dewar, the first, "Six Lines Of Transformation" is a sprawling drift of deep swells, soft trills, fluttering woodwinds, dizzying melodies, haunting percussion, and plenty of space. This is a swirling soft cloud of free jazz flutter, peppered with some strange music concrete, and some almost folky melodies. Nearly a half hour, beginning tranquil and a bit droney, with the various instruments, sliding down descending scales like musical rainfall, the piece gets more and more spare until the last movement when things get really strange, and players start huffing through the mouthpieces, bits of bizarre percussion surface, buzzing drones, really cool, and pretty strange for sure.
But it's the second piece that is worth the price of admission. The title says it all, "Music For Eight Bamboo Flutes", 40 minutes of layered woodwind drone, subtly shifting tones, a slowly unfurling melody spread out over the whole 40 minutes, what sounds like crickets in the background, as if it was performed and recorded outside (maybe it was?), the piece goes from soft and breathy to dense and densely layered, tons of overtones, soft fluttery high end, swirling clouds of drones and tones shifting and shimmering, swelling to intense crescendos, then drifting back down to a hushed whir, so very simple, yet richly textured, so primitive and primeval and mesmerizing and beautiful. Absolutely essential listening for the drone inclined, and jazzbos with a thing for far out, space-y and static sounds...
MPEG Stream: "Six Lines Of Transformation 1"
MPEG Stream: "Music For Eight Bamboo Flutes 1"

DFI s/t (Honey Bear) cd 13.98
What a very strange strange sonic stew DFI have made! This self-titled album on Lance J Church' s label offers up stretches of hardcore and metal heaviness (lots of guitar riffage a la Fucking Champs), cyclical post-rock patterns and some prog-ish moments too. Tempos and styles change at the whims of this one man band, as does the sound quality -- a bit murky at times -- which may be attributed more to the fact that these fifteen songs were recorded at six different locations. Punkish shred-metal silliness that totally keeps the listener on his/her toes to the very last track -- a cover of Norwegian black metal act Ulver's "Wolf And Passion"! The track before that: a drum-machine & guitar version of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight Of The Bumblebee"! Bonus points, also, for the cool Devo "New Traditionalists" inspired artwork on the inside of the cd insert.
RealAudio clip: "Casting The Genetic Vote"
RealAudio clip: "Wolf And Passion"

DHAMAAL SF Transitions EP (Dhamaal ) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For those unfamiliar with Dhamaal SF (now abbreviated from Dhamaal Soundsystem), they're a Bay Area consortium of musicians and djs devoted to creating and promoting club music with a strong focus on Southeast Asian influences. Their lushly textured tracks are filled with sputtery frenetic breakbeats and are anchored by some deeeep dark dubby bass that's sure to stir much movin' and groovin'. This cd-r is their latest release which includes the album version of their track "Twilight Creeper" from their self-titled debut released last year ('twas definitely one of the highlights), as well as two new tracks and a remix of another album track "Z Motion". With guests Asian Dub Foundation's Dr. Das and Shiva Soundsystem!
MPEG Stream: "Bol Breaker"
MPEG Stream: "Z Motion (Shiva Soundsystem's Horn And Tusk Remix)"

DHAMAAL SOUNDSYSTEM s/t (Surya Vault) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Bay Area music collective known as Dhamaal Soundsystem encorporate the vibrant sounds and influences of Southeast Asian music into their own with impressive results. At once gracefully fluid and aggressively edgy, they skillfully blend the electronic (spine-rattlin' breakbeats, thick dubbed out synth basslines) with the acoustic (tabla, sitar, flute and occasionally vocals). If you dig the potent sounds of groups such as Asian Dub Foundation or Tabla Beat Science, definitely check out the very like-minded Dhamaal. It's a fiery, elaborate and entirely dancefloor ready debut. Great!

MPEG Stream: "Oppaari"
MPEG Stream: "Twilight Creeper"

DHOMONT, FRANCIS Frankenstein Symphony (Asphodel) cd 15.98
Modern classical composer's cut-up collage utilizing his students' pieces.

DIABATE, DJIBRIL Hawa (Terp) cd 17.98
Another gorgeous release from the Ex's Terp label, that brought us the amazing Konono No.1 live record and the Beraki double cd reviewed elsewhere on this list. Djibril Diabate is from Mali and is a master on the kora (a 21 string harp-lute) and the music he makes is unbelievably dreamy and otherworldy. Dense tangles of melodies, compex but smooth and soothing, minor key and super melodic. These are modern re-interpretations of traditional pieces, all instrumental, but based thematically on tales and stories that are centuries old. And sonically this could have been recorded 100 years ago (except for the crystal clear rcording of course). Hard to describe exactly what this sounds like, but it has a similar vibe to the recently reviewed Richard Crandell thumb piano cd. Swoonsome and twilighty, delicate but rich with harmonic overtones. It reminded some of us of a little of Christmas carols, but only if you can imagine a Christmas carol stripped to its essence, a crystalline framework of melody amd delicate filligree. So so lovely. Another cd vying for the coveted position of perfect late night / going-to-sleep record!
MPEG Stream: "Masani Cisse"
MPEG Stream: "Enkonen Sava"

DIABATE, TOUMANI Kaira (Hannibal / Rykodisc) cd 12.98

DIABATE, TOUMANI The Mande Variations (Nonesuch) cd 17.98
Simply stunning sparse and majestic sounds from one of the most talented kora players of all time! Known for his collaborations with everyone from Ali Farka Toure, to Taj Mahal and Bjork. This is Toumani by himself and his kora which he employs to make such magical and enchanting music. Toumani has that same kind of elegance and sheer transcendence that folks like John Fahey and Ravi Shankar had/have with the instruments they mastered. The Mande Variations demonstrates how Diabate has been influenced by Indian classical music, flamenco and blues as well as the Griot music of his native home of Mali. This is the kind of record that allows you to just let go of everything as the hypnotic trance of Diabate's playing takes you away to a higher dimension. The Mande Variations is reminding us of some of our favorite beautiful sound of the last few years from the likes of James Blackshaw, Debashish Bhattacharya and Lanaya. Undeniably stunning and filled with trance inducing soul!
MPEG Stream: "Si naani"
MPEG Stream: "El Nabiyouna"
MPEG Stream: "Ismael Drame"

DIABLERIE Seraphyde (Avantgarde Music) cd 14.98
Electronic beats and synths collide with majestic black metal for this dark, bombastic album from Finnish band Diablerie. Grandiose stuff, kinda like Samael, or Covenant, but weirder.
RealAudio clip: "Dystopia Show"

DIABOLI The Antichrist (Northern Heritage) cd 15.98
You know how much we love Finnish music, forest folk, drifty drones, motorik hypnorock, but there's something in particular about Finnish black metal... something so utterly distinct, something so, well Finnish. It's hard to describe, but Finnish metal bands seem to have a certain vibe that permeates their sound, whether they be super buzzing and black, or primitive and stumbling, or somewhere in between.
Beherit, Ajattara, Sargeist, Satanic Warmaster, Finntroll, Horna, Behexen, Barathrum, Clandestine Blaze, Baptism, if you're familiar at all with most of those bands you probably see what we mean. It's something sonic but not obvious. A nod to the old school, but without sounding totally dated or retro. Finnish BM is grim and buzzing and brutal and black and totally Finnish.
One of the longest running Finnish BM hordes would probably have to be Diaboli, and The Antichrist, their 6th album since 1996, has everything we've come to love about them, and Finnish black metal in general. Lots of buzz, and simple riffing, the tempo is not midtempo, but also not a furious blast, it's fast for sure, but the tempo is tempered by the melodies, the arpeggiated chords spread out over each track like some melancholy shroud. The vocals are appropriately growled, the whole sound drenched in blackness and buzz, but it's that 'Finnish thing', whatever it is, that makes them stand out.
The first track is a classic blast of old school black metal, relentless blast beats, cyclical hypnotic riffing, epic majestic melody, the whole thing wrapped in delay and reverb, a dense black cloud, the track a galloping monster, but with some hidden bits of emotion and melody lurking underneath. Mysteriously pretty but disturbingly black. And maybe that's the thing we can't put our finger on. The strange melancholy melodiousness of track 5 "Emptiness" also hints at some strange heart of gold. albeit wrapped in a tattered black musical cloak. The guitars are muted and sound almost post rock, while the drums blast along solidly beneath. Each new guitar line introduces another unlikely and surprisingly melodic element. But let's not overstate the melodic aspect, and the 'prettiness' here, even though it is present, and is a vital part of the sound, ultimately, you gotta love the buzz, the brutal blasting blackness of old school black metal. Fans of Finns like Horna, Beherit, Clandestine Blaze will definitely dig this...
MPEG Stream: "Cursed Be Thy Name"
MPEG Stream: "Malicious Satanic Vengeance"

DIABOLICAL MASQUERADE Death's Design (Avantgarde Music) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
So this is the new Diabolical Masquerade album and it actually IS an "Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" (not one of those 'soundtrack to an imaginary film' things) for a film about a man who somehow cheats death, and his mind is seperated from his body and he is forced to try and free his mind from the 'not alive' netherworld and rejoin it to his body. Sounds pretty cool. Doubt we'll ever get a chance to see it. That's too bad cause if the soundtrack is any indicator the movie might be pretty darn good, as the soundtrack ends up being probably my favorite Diabolical Masquerade record. Split into 61 tracks and 20 movements to accompany the film, the sound is still complex and keyboard-heavy melodic Swedish black metal, but this time they're accompanied by a 5 piece orchestra and incorporate lots of different sounds and moods, which probably work great in the movie, but even without the movie they make this DM's most varied and easily best record to date.
RealAudio clip: "2ND MOVEMENT"

DIAGNOSE: LEBENSGEFAHR Transformalin (Autopsy Kitchen) 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 love weirdo black ambience almost as much as we love weirdo metal. So when a member of one of our favorite damaged fucked up black metal bands, strikes out on his own and spits out a completely cracked ambient drone record, that veers wildy from fierce and freaked drug drenched delirium to gorgeous blown out bliss, we hardly need to tell you that we are ALL OVER IT.Ê
This particular slab of cracked sonic chaos comes courtesy of Nattramn, vocalist for Swedish doomic suicidal black metallers Silencer, most notable perhaps for Nattramn's outrageously over the top falsetto shrieks. Here, the vocals aren't so much the focal point, although there are plenty, and while they may not be as hysterical and harsh, they are just as bizarre. In fact this whole record is pretty strange, and if you're a fan of labelmates Stalaggh, this could easily function as Stalaggh's dreamier dronier, equally demented cousin.Ê
The disc begins with a big smear of SUNN-y downtuned guitar crawl andÊsome dizzying warped carnivalesque warble before morphing into a simple plodding throb. Gradually, that throb transforms into an Autechre meets Amon Tobin skitter, albeit much filthier and more industrial sounding. Scuzzy and crusty and grinding, all beneath a cloud of buzzed out crumbling synths, and hoarse raspy vocalizing. The next track is almost the polar opposite, aÊdreamy, wispy ambient drift, minor key melodies and strangeÊblown out whirls of frosty whir and strange, spacious, almost majestic sounding drones. LaterÊmoaning mysterious chantlike vocals are woven into a warm murmury backdrop, with muted percussion, while over the top a distorted voice intones all manner of strange prophecy. Not soon after the record shifts gear again and becomes a eerieÊneo classical slab of militaristic folk industrial, all epic and grandiose, almost like the sound from some old newsreel footage, but much more haunting and damaged sounding, a looped march, beneath thick swells of sound and that voice again, howling out invective, the various notes and chordal shimmer becoming more and more dissonant, eventually fading into aÊgrinding low end drone buzz, that hovers beneath the terrified sounds of a weeping child, and a dungeon's worth of mournful wails and creepy clatter, all wrapped in thick reverb, making it feel like wandering through some ancient keep, wreathed in fog.
As we reach the halfway point, the sound shifts again, this time an inadvertent homage to the glistening glimmer of TimÊHecker and Philip Jeck, those beautiful sounds quickly sucked into a black void, a swirling morass of dark sound and low tones, and that voice again, reverbed and distorted, the whole thing sounding like a low end Whitehouse spun lazily at 8rpm, when all of a sudden, proceedings are shockingly disrupted by a super distorted techno pulse, some sort of ultra aggro industrial pound, with shouted sloganeering and more buzzing synths,Êbefore reverting to a super distorted, glitchy, crumbly low end glacial rumble, a synth drenched SUNNO))) style crawl with bits of vocal fragments and buzzing streaks of groan and grind, until the whole thing becomes a dense roiling cloud of black ambience.
And it's still not over. Gorgeous washed out clouds ofÊgorgeous gauzy atmospheric shimmer drift in, all sepia toned and dreamlike, a long expanse of lazy blurred soft focus bliss, left to sort of float weightless before being overtaken by aÊconfusional collage of overlapping vocal snippets and out of tune, distorted piano, eventually building into a dense squall of swirling spinning sounds.
The finally, theÊepic final track, more black ambience, rife with mysterious sound samples, more disembodied vocals, distant rumbles, weird electronic FX, the whole thing building to a massive damaged doom drone, with epic sheets of keening feedback and thick washes of distorted guitar and churning industrial whir, while over the top, the most demented, damaged, drug addled vocalizing yet, like an inmate in an insane asylum ranting and raving incoherently, the sort of vocals that most certainly wouldn't be at all out of place on one of the Stalaggh records.
A seriously damaged and ultra fucked up sonic trip, as beautiful as it is baffling. In other words, AWESOME.Ê
MPEG Stream: "Transformalin"
MPEG Stream: "Flaggan Pa Halv Stang I Drommens Vastergard"
MPEG Stream: "Upon The High Horse Of Selfdestruction"

DIAGONAL s/t (Candlelight / Rise Above) cd 13.98
The other day we happened to have a used copy of a 1972 Nektar album called A Tab In the Ocean playing on the store stereo. (Nektar being a prog rocking band of Brits who had transplanted themselves into the krautrock scene of Germany in the '70s.) There was a customer in the shop who was digging it, who then said something to the effect of, "too bad they don't make music like this anymore". Of course, we were happy to inform him otherwise, that he needn't lament, and as proof we immediately directed him to this record by Diagonal that we had just installed on our New Arrivals shelf.
These guys are from Brighton, and might as well also be from the '70s, though in fact this album is their brand new, debut album, and the members of this seven-piece band are all 20-something years old. But if we played this for you and told you it was some "hairy funk" released on the Vertigo label circa '73 you just might be fooled. Diagonal display plenty of virtuosity on their various instruments, in the service of complex, programmatic song structures. There's some nice, melodic singing heard here and there, but much more in the way of long, instrumental passages, at turns moody and dramatic. Spaced out synths and jazzy organ jamming and fluttering flute (yes!) all figure into the mix, though with two guitarists and a crack rhythm section, Diagonal don't neglect to rock out upon occasion, sometimes in a fairly heavy (and precise) fashion. And as complicated as their material gets, these are indeed *songs*, not merely technical exercises for showing off their considerable chops.
They're obviously influenced by the likes of King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Genesis, Yes, Van Der Graaf Generator, and many much more obscure acts of the era (Gracious, anyone? Gnidrolog?)... but just as surely they're not unaware of today's mathrock scene (cf. Battles) though these guys do seem consciously retro, looking the part in long hair, beards, and vintage shop clothing (actually, that's not such an unusual style for kids these days, is it?).
Right on, there's been more cool modern-day prog showing up at Aquarius these past couple weeks than you can shake a Chapman Stick at! Crime In Choir, last list, and now Diagonal, well that's two anyway. (And neither use the Stick, don't get the wrong idea, as sometimes that's taking the prog thing just a little too far.)
Available on cd or as an import gatefold LP.
MPEG Stream: "Semi Permeable Men-brain"
MPEG Stream: "Cannon Misfire"

DIAGONAL s/t ( Rise Above) lp 24.00
The other day we happened to have a used copy of a 1972 Nektar album called A Tab In the Ocean playing on the store stereo. (Nektar being a prog rocking band of Brits who had transplanted themselves into the krautrock scene of Germany in the '70s.) There was a customer in the shop who was digging it, who then said something to the effect of, "too bad they don't make music like this anymore". Of course, we were happy to inform him otherwise, that he needn't lament, and as proof we immediately directed him to this record by Diagonal that we had just installed on our New Arrivals shelf.
These guys are from Brighton, and might as well also be from the '70s, though in fact this album is their brand new, debut album, and the members of this seven-piece band are all 20-something years old. But if we played this for you and told you it was some "hairy funk" released on the Vertigo label circa '73 you just might be fooled. Diagonal display plenty of virtuosity on their various instruments, in the service of complex, programmatic song structures. There's some nice, melodic singing heard here and there, but much more in the way of long, instrumental passages, at turns moody and dramatic. Spaced out synths and jazzy organ jamming and fluttering flute (yes!) all figure into the mix, though with two guitarists and a crack rhythm section, Diagonal don't neglect to rock out upon occasion, sometimes in a fairly heavy (and precise) fashion. And as complicated as their material gets, these are indeed *songs*, not merely technical exercises for showing off their considerable chops.
They're obviously influenced by the likes of King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Genesis, Yes, Van Der Graaf Generator, and many much more obscure acts of the era (Gracious, anyone? Gnidrolog?)... but just as surely they're not unaware of today's mathrock scene (cf. Battles) though these guys do seem consciously retro, looking the part in long hair, beards, and vintage shop clothing (actually, that's not such an unusual style for kids these days, is it?).
Right on, there's been more cool modern-day prog showing up at Aquarius these past couple weeks than you can shake a Chapman Stick at! Crime In Choir, last list, and now Diagonal, well that's two anyway. (And neither use the Stick, don't get the wrong idea, as sometimes that's taking the prog thing just a little too far.)
Available on cd or as an import gatefold LP.
MPEG Stream: "Semi Permeable Men-brain"
MPEG Stream: "Cannon Misfire"

DIAL 168K (Cede) cd 13.98
I (Jim) once had a mighty long list of records that I had been looking for. Or rather, it was a loosely organized jumble of folded papers where I noted what I should be digging for whenever I ventured into good record stores (i.e. Aquarius, before I started working here). One of the many things that I just could never find was the first Dial record, which I think I read about in Nick Cain's seminal Opprobrium magazine. I can't even remember what the review said, but in it Cain hit upon just the right key words to keep me looking for the record. Many moons later, an brand new album by Dial turned up here at Aquarius (although not the one I was looking for), and I can certainly see why I would have wanted to hear what this band sounded like. Dial is a collaborative effort between Jacqui Ham (formerly of Ut) and Rob Smith, with a few other NYC noise-rock types joining in. Ut came out of New York's No Wave scene, proposing an angular, post-punk jitter with guitars, squawked vocals, and drums all laboring into relatively cohesive rhythmic tunes. While Ut were never a really gritty or brutal band by No Wave standards, Dial are. Their claustrophobic drone-rock is a dense aggregate of snarling guitar scrape, electric pulsations, and a plethora of lo-fi distortion. In the No Wave spectrum, Dial come much closer to narcotic murk of Mars or a much grittier sounding Suicide. At their most cohesive, Dial make all of the Dead C references too as the drums hit propulsive slop-punk grooves only to trip down the stairs in free-noise fashion. All of these are very good things, and make 168K a very recommended album. If only I could track down the earlier ones... In due time.
MPEG Stream: "Psychotrance"
MPEG Stream: "Hey Condition"
MPEG Stream: "Hi Fi"

DIAL (NZ) s/t (Robotic Empire) cd ep 6.98
Not to be confused with the Dial from NYC, this is crazy chaotic female fronted math grind metal craziness that RULES.
MPEG Stream: "If You're Not Battling You're Dead"
MPEG Stream: "Holy Silent War"

DIAL M FOR MURDER Fiction Of Her Dreams (Tapete) cd 17.98
Here's a question that gets tossed around here more and more in recent months: Is this new or old? Given how many bands who make druggy, atmospheric ritualism could have produced those sounds in 1972 or 2009 with equal aplomb. The Amen Dunes record Dia (2009) and Warlus' Songs album (1975) make for an interesting case study. Over the past twelve months, there's been another resurgence of black clad, post-punk thanks to some of the dour Goth reissues from Sacred Bones, which fit neatly next to the spunky Joy Divisionisms of Blank Dogs and the moping, black eyeliner tunes of this weeks ROTW Soror Dolorosa. Those could also be addressed with that same question: is this old or new? In the case of the dark, moody sounds of Dial M For Murder, the answer is, as hard as it might be to believe, "new."
Citing Joy Division and the Chameleons as their references, Dial M For Murder end up in a place remarkably close to Interpol. The vocalist David Ortenlof really does come across like Interpol's Paul Banks on a good chunk of the tracks, and almost like Mark Edwards from My Dad Is Dead on the others. Musically, the dark jangliness of the guitar and the punchy basslines situates around tight drum machine programming coming across like Ratatat reworking Joy Division singles. Gothic and haunting, but propulsive and poppy, really really cool stuff for sure.
MPEG Stream: "YouCan'tHaveMe"
MPEG Stream: "OhNo!"
MPEG Stream: "There'sNothingLeftToSee"
MPEG Stream: "NYC (NowYouCare)"

DIAL M FOR MURDER Fiction Of Her Dreams (Tapete) lp 17.98
Here's a question that gets tossed around here more and more in recent months: Is this new or old? Given how many bands who make druggy, atmospheric ritualism could have produced those sounds in 1972 or 2009 with equal aplomb. The Amen Dunes record Dia (2009) and Warlus' Songs album (1975) make for an interesting case study. Over the past twelve months, there's been another resurgence of black clad, post-punk thanks to some of the dour Goth reissues from Sacred Bones, which fit neatly next to the spunky Joy Divisionisms of Blank Dogs and the moping, black eyeliner tunes of this weeks ROTW Soror Dolorosa. Those could also be addressed with that same question: is this old or new? In the case of the dark, moody sounds of Dial M For Murder, the answer is, as hard as it might be to believe, "new."
Citing Joy Division and the Chameleons as their references, Dial M For Murder end up in a place remarkably close to Interpol. The vocalist David Ortenlof really does come across like Interpol's Paul Banks on a good chunk of the tracks, and almost like Mark Edwards from My Dad Is Dead on the others. Musically, the dark jangliness of the guitar and the punchy basslines situates around tight drum machine programming coming across like Ratatat reworking Joy Division singles. Gothic and haunting, but propulsive and poppy, really really cool stuff for sure.
MPEG Stream: "YouCan'tHaveMe"
MPEG Stream: "OhNo!"
MPEG Stream: "There'sNothingLeftToSee"
MPEG Stream: "NYC (NowYouCare)"

DIALING IN Cows In Lye (Pseudo Arcana) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're still perplexed how Dialing In, AKA Reita Piecuch manages to make such a gorgeously thick guitar drenched concoction WITHOUT any guitars. Ever since her first record on Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, we've found ourselves returning to her music again and again. There's just so much to hear, and so many sounds to discover. It's definitely noise music, but a sort of noise music that we rarely encounter. Beautiful noise. Listenable noise. Mysterious noise. Thick and gritty, harsh but gently harsh. Cows In Lye continues on from where Ketalysergicmetha Mother left off. Each track a dense sonic journey rife with looped found sounds, voices and inadvertent rhythms, instruments and snippets of songs, all beautifully tangled up into absolutely breathtaking miniature worlds of sound. It's like Jeck and Basinski, Hecker and Marclay all playing at the same time. It can be that confusional, but can also be that compellingly complex.
Thick corrosive washes of crumbling sound that so distinctly resemble blown out downtuned guitars cover everything, beautiful looped melodies, strange disembodied vocals, rumbling bass lines, everything an abstract beautiful fragment doused in a crackling gritty patina. Like a supercharged, sludgier Oval, or some beautiful ambient record played on a broken old tape player, and broadcast through a set of busted up high school loudspeakers. echoing off the concrete walls until the natural reverb piles up into a whole 'nother layer of murk and hum.
We really can't think of anyone making music this weird and mysterious and so strangely beautiful.
There may be a future Dialing In release on Andee's tUMULt label, but for now luxuriate in the gorgeous soft cacophony that is Dialing In.
MPEG Stream: "He Just Fused Your Minds"
MPEG Stream: "Diamantes Call To Prayer"

DIALING IN Ketalysergicmetha Mother (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
First outing from Seattle based sound sculptor, Reita Piecuch, who weaves together thick, overblown, super saturated guitarscapes, all fuzzy and dense, with deconstructed melodies that seem to melt into each other. An ultra dreamy, smeary, looped gorgeousness, like a lo-fi version of Basinski's Disintegration Loops, if the loops were made of white hot slabs of My Bloody Valentine guitar. Or Philip Jeck with a room full of guitars instead of turntables. Lots of crackle and degradation and crumbling distortion and melodies buried in murky fuzz, pop songs smeared into loping loops of stuttering feedback soaked riffing, and guitars so distorted and white hot it feels like listening to the sun. BUT THERE ARE NO GUITARS!!! What the hell?!? So fucking good. Hands down the best cd-r we've heard all year.
SUPER LIMITED AS ALWAYS!! NOT SURE WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET MORE WHEN THESE ARE GONE!
MPEG Stream: "Babel"
MPEG Stream: "Cutting Thunder In Clouds"

DIALING IN The Islamic Bomb (Music Fellowship) lp 19.98
It's been a while since we've heard from Reita Piecuch, aka Dialing In. Everything we've heard, we have loved, as in LOVED, as in became totally obsessed with, so when we heard about this lp months ago, we couldn't wait, and had been chomping at the bit, but now it's finally here, and is as good, if not better than anything we've heard from her before.
Piecuch's travels through the Middle East resulted in some absolutely incredible field recordings, local musicians, prayers, street sounds, ambient sounds, voices, traffic, which she then transforms into even more incredible soundscapes. Warped and collaged and murky and smeared and blurry, a whole new sonic experience, which somehow never obfuscates the original sounds completely. Street sounds in Piecuch's hands becomes skittery turntablist drift, all crackly and fuzzy and looped sounding, a call to prayer is slathered in distortion and becomes a woozy blown out buzz, while in the background, a sea of murky grooves and effected street sounds sway and swirl and bleed into each other creating a strangely organic sonic backdrop.
The sound is raw and rough and in-the-red, it's a symphony of sound assembled from incredible and mysterious source material, voices, music, and all the various sonic artifacts and detritus that comes with recording on a handheld device. These manipulated and recontextualized sounds become almost pop songs, twisted into new melodies, given new life as some abstract pop flecked collage, somehow lush, for all it's low fidelity, incredibly emotional, due in part to the original sounds, but also, Piecuch's delicate and deft handling of those sounds.
The second track is the perfect example, a woman singing, praying, passionately, and emotionally, her singing draped over what sounds like super distorted guitars, the whole thing transformed into a strange glacial dirge, equal part fuzzy fractured slow motion pop and Middle Eastern folk song, white white hot, but moody and minor key and so beautiful you never want it to end.
Imagine Philip Jeck, armed with nothing but his turntables, his effects, and dubplates of all the Sublime Frequencies releases, the results broadcast through a busted old high school PA, and recorded onto a microcassette recorder, before being dubbed onto an old tape from the floor of your car, and then finally, in all it's UN-pristine glory, pressed on to thick green wax. Fucking awesome!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!

DIAMATREGON Blasphemy For Satan (tUMUlt) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Diamatregon are a French black metal band who specialise in violently thrashing, ultra chaotic, on-the-verge-of-losing-control, over-saturated, super distorted and noisy, TRUE black metal. Fast and furious with the occasional midtempo breakdown and a once-in-a-while doomy dirge. But they also happen to have an amazing way with melodies, as 1000 mile an hour blasts can get pretty tedious, pretty quickly. So even though the songs sometimes sound like a black metal band being hurled down a stairway (a good thing, mind you) the songs stick in your head more than you would think possible. And the occasional midtempos, full of fuzzed out guitars and simple relentless drumming, definitely bring to mind the mighty Burzum. A thick, hyperspeed and hellish brew of harsh, inhuman howls, amp melting, overdriven guitars, thrashing drums with a lo-fi, but remarkably heavy production. They even cover the Misfits' Death Comes Ripping, turning it into a 90 second blast of sinister, speaker shredding, head banging, church burning high end brutality.
Blasphemy For Satan is eight metal thrashing mad tracks clocking in at 45 minutes.
Twenty of those minutes just happen to make up the crushing final track, an extended doom epic, equal parts, moody post rock, Sabbathy dirge, and all out noise assault, complete with bizarre samples, found sounds, and super complex arrangements, and as reminiscent of old AMREP bands as it is Norwegian black metal.
Diamatregon actually sent their cd to Andee/tUMULt because they were huge fans of the label as well as Circle and Acid Mothers Temple and lots of decidedly non metal music, and were really wanting to release their record on a not-specifically-metal label, which seems to work well with tUMUlt's good-music-is-good-music mantra and their mission to expose non-metalheads to metal, and metalheads to non-metal!
But whether you're a metalhead or not, Diamatregon spew forth some amazingly heavy, undeniably catchy, and totally intense blackened sounds.
MPEG Stream: "Blasphemy For Satan"
MPEG Stream: "October Ritual"

DIAMATREGON Charognard (Paragon Int'l. / Agonia Productions) 7" 3.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Super limited 7" from France's Diamatregon who you may remember from their devastatingly brilliant Blasphemy For Satan record released on tUMULt last year. So while we're waiting for the next full length to drop, we have this 5 track 7" ep. The first track is a howling blasting black metal epic titled "I Drank The Blood Of The Black Snake", a totally different version of the song they recorded for Andee and Heather's wedding! Awwwww. Two more originals and two awesome covers (Carnivore and Darkthrone) fill out this slab of utter blackness. Limited to 500 copies of which we were only able to get a handful.

DIAMATREGON Crossroad (tUMULt) cd 11.98
It's hard to believe it's been almost SEVEN years since we've heard from French black metal horde Diamatregon. Their last record, Blasphemy For Satan, was an absolute beast, fucked up and frenzied, furious and insanely noisy and chaotic. Released on Andee's tUMULt label (as is this one, although the vinyl is on Paragon), Blasphemy still puts to shame most other black metal, past or present. And somehow, Crossroad, as impossible as it may seem, is poised to one up Blasphemy in almost every way.
In the preceding years, a few things in the Diamatregon camp have changed. Thankfully, the band are still the furious frenzied blackened juggernaut they always were, a band whose sound we once described as "violently thrashing, ultra chaotic, on-the-verge-of-losing-control, over-saturated, super distorted and noisy, TRUE black metal", and that definitely still applies. But Diamatregon's rhythm section has been moonlighting in both the alchemical post rock outfit Aluk Todolo, as well as in wild psychedelic combo the Gunslingers, and that has definitely influenced their sound. Not to mention that Crossroad is in fact a sort of black metal homage to the blues, the title referring to the legendary crossroads where many a musician struck a deal with the devil. And we can only assume these guys have bought into some similar sort of bargain, as Crossroad is mind blowing, still black metal at its core, full of buzzing insectoid riffing, pounding blasting beats, and raspy demonic vokills, but the arrangements are epic and convoluted and so complex, the various riffs and beats often seeming to melt into each other creating long droned out buzzscapes, the textures too are weirdly murky and washed out, tons of reverb and delay, seemingly lo-fi on the surface, but that low fidelity is just another tool in the band's extensive sonic arsenal. And then there's the blues aspect, this is after all a tribute to the blues, and close examination does in fact reveal some surprising bits of bluesiness, deftly woven into the corrosive black fabric of Diamatregon's freaked out grim buzz. A casual listen will reveal no blues at all, but strap on some headphones and let that swirling blackness swallow you whole, and suddenly the songs open up, revealing layer after layer, and within all of that buzz and rrroooar there lurks subtle blues structures.
But that's not all, the songs constantly shift gears sometimes, the guitars drop out completely, leaving just a garagey bass heavy groove, other times the guitars soar and sing, chiming and ringing out, eventually collapsing into yet another black hole of sound. Here and there the band slow things down, and get a bit depressive and Burzumy, loping and melancholic, woozy and warbly, but even within a fairly well defined sound, Diamatregon fuck it up and make it all their own, infusing warm whirring major key melodies, adding all sorts of drones and layers, the vocals a deep ominous rumble, before slipping into some post rocky clean guitar, beneath some twisted Orc-ish vox, and a jam that is total loping post rock, mathy, and minimal, a bit blackened, but it's not difficult to hear and feel the link between Diamatregon and Aluk Todolo.
The title track is the record's centerpiece, beginning with some crumbing lo-fi guitar, soon lurching into a lumbering bit of chaotic blackness, the drums WAY up in the mix, the vocals strange and strangled sounding, the guitars thick and corrosive, the sound of the whole song seeming to warp and warble, until everything drops out minus the guitars which are left to drone and rumble and reverberate, creating thick sheets of chordal buzz, so gorgeously minimal and hypnotic, eventually joined by soaring slow motion leads draped over the top, before exploding into another stretch of chaotic pounding blackness.
The final track, "He Was Not A Believer", is probably the heaviest and harshest of the bunch, a pounding relentless blackened onslaught, but even here the band infuse all sorts of melody and texture, and again, let the song break down into an abject doomic crawl, all grunted anguished voices, monstrous drum plod, warped guitar, droney moodiness, eventually getting almost Sabbathy, before slipping back into an even more frenetic black blast, and finally finishing off with a long stretch of blackened distorted crumble and ooze, that seems to slip slowly away.
Blasphemy For Satan was so extreme, so overdriven, so insanely distorted blown out, that there was really nowhere to go, but deeper, darker, weirder, and yeah, maybe bluesier. Crossroad has so much going on, it definitely plays out like grim blasting black metal, but it's so much more, a sprawling expansive experimental landscape of abstract blackness and deconstructed rock tropes, a constantly shifting soundworld of convoluted heaviness, of layered drones and crumbling abstract otherworldy ambience, at once heavy and brutal and grim, but also rhythmic and melodic, a twisted, outsider, idiosyncratic slab of fucked up and brilliant black metal, that manage to stay true and kvlt while seeming to disregard any and all sonic restrictions placed on the genre. So fucking amazing.
MPEG Stream: "Wine"
MPEG Stream: "Terror"
MPEG Stream: "Crossroad"

DIAMATREGON Crossroad (Paragon) lp 13.98
It's hard to believe it's been almost SEVEN years since we've heard from French black metal horde Diamatregon. Their last record, Blasphemy For Satan, was an absolute beast, fucked up and frenzied, furious and insanely noisy and chaotic. Released on Andee's tUMULt label (as is this one, although the vinyl is on Paragon), Blasphemy still puts to shame most other black metal, past or present. And somehow, Crossroad, as impossible as it may seem, is poised to one up Blasphemy in almost every way.
In the preceding years, a few things in the Diamatregon camp have changed. Thankfully, the band are still the furious frenzied blackened juggernaut they always were, a band whose sound we once described as "violently thrashing, ultra chaotic, on-the-verge-of-losing-control, over-saturated, super distorted and noisy, TRUE black metal", and that definitely still applies. But Diamatregon's rhythm section has been moonlighting in both the alchemical post rock outfit Aluk Todolo, as well as in wild psychedelic combo the Gunslingers, and that has definitely influenced their sound. Not to mention that Crossroad is in fact a sort of black metal homage to the blues, the title referring to the legendary crossroads where many a musician struck a deal with the devil. And we can only assume these guys have bought into some similar sort of bargain, as Crossroad is mind blowing, still black metal at its core, full of buzzing insectoid riffing, pounding blasting beats, and raspy demonic vokills, but the arrangements are epic and convoluted and so complex, the various riffs and beats often seeming to melt into each other creating long droned out buzzscapes, the textures too are weirdly murky and washed out, tons of reverb and delay, seemingly lo-fi on the surface, but that low fidelity is just another tool in the band's extensive sonic arsenal. And then there's the blues aspect, this is after all a tribute to the blues, and close examination does in fact reveal some surprising bits of bluesiness, deftly woven into the corrosive black fabric of Diamatregon's freaked out grim buzz. A casual listen will reveal no blues at all, but strap on some headphones and let that swirling blackness swallow you whole, and suddenly the songs open up, revealing layer after layer, and within all of that buzz and rrroooar there lurks subtle blues structures.
But that's not all, the songs constantly shift gears sometimes, the guitars drop out completely, leaving just a garagey bass heavy groove, other times the guitars soar and sing, chiming and ringing out, eventually collapsing into yet another black hole of sound. Here and there the band slow things down, and get a bit depressive and Burzumy, loping and melancholic, woozy and warbly, but even within a fairly well defined sound, Diamatregon fuck it up and make it all their own, infusing warm whirring major key melodies, adding all sorts of drones and layers, the vocals a deep ominous rumble, before slipping into some post rocky clean guitar, beneath some twisted Orc-ish vox, and a jam that is total loping post rock, mathy, and minimal, a bit blackened, but it's not difficult to hear and feel the link between Diamatregon and Aluk Todolo.
The title track is the record's centerpiece, beginning with some crumbing lo-fi guitar, soon lurching into a lumbering bit of chaotic blackness, the drums WAY up in the mix, the vocals strange and strangled sounding, the guitars thick and corrosive, the sound of the whole song seeming to warp and warble, until everything drops out minus the guitars which are left to drone and rumble and reverberate, creating thick sheets of chordal buzz, so gorgeously minimal and hypnotic, eventually joined by soaring slow motion leads draped over the top, before exploding into another stretch of chaotic pounding blackness.
The final track, "He Was Not A Believer", is probably the heaviest and harshest of the bunch, a pounding relentless blackened onslaught, but even here the band infuse all sorts of melody and texture, and again, let the song break down into an abject doomic crawl, all grunted anguished voices, monstrous drum plod, warped guitar, droney moodiness, eventually getting almost Sabbathy, before slipping back into an even more frenetic black blast, and finally finishing off with a long stretch of blackened distorted crumble and ooze, that seems to slip slowly away.
Blasphemy For Satan was so extreme, so overdriven, so insanely distorted blown out, that there was really nowhere to go, but deeper, darker, weirder, and yeah, maybe bluesier. Crossroad has so much going on, it definitely plays out like grim blasting black metal, but it's so much more, a sprawling expansive experimental landscape of abstract blackness and deconstructed rock tropes, a constantly shifting soundworld of convoluted heaviness, of layered drones and crumbling abstract otherworldy ambience, at once heavy and brutal and grim, but also rhythmic and melodic, a twisted, outsider, idiosyncratic slab of fucked up and brilliant black metal, that manage to stay true and kvlt while seeming to disregard any and all sonic restrictions placed on the genre. So fucking amazing.
MPEG Stream: "Wine"
MPEG Stream: "Terror"
MPEG Stream: "Crossroad"

DIAMOND HEAD Lightning To The Nations aka The White Album (Sanctuary) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Oooh. A real sharp reissue (deluxe, all-white slipcase packaging!) of this seminal NWOBHM classic. If you recognize that acronym, then you should know this album. That's New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, and this album by Diamond Head is in our NWOBHM top ten with the best of Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Venom, Angel Witch, etc. Just TRY not to bang your head to this heavy, rockin' tunage!! The seven songs on this, their ultra catchy and energetic 1981 debut, proved that the vocals of Sean Harris and the guitar riffs of Brian Tatler were a dynamite combo. "Am I Evil", "It's Electric", "Sucking My Love", "Helpless", "The Prince"...all their best stuff is right here. (Plus this disc also includes seven more tracks from early singles, etc.)
Yup, they shoulda-coulda-woulda been "the next Zeppelin", but they never fulfilled their early promise... still this album is an all-time metal essential, and also Diamond Head should get a LOT of the credit for a band plenty more folks have heard of, by the name of Metallica. Big big Diamond Head influence there. As Metallica acknowledged by covering quite a few DH songs over the years, the originals all found here. What about Diamond Head's influences? Well, Zeppelin, and definitely Thin Lizzy -- but they sound quite different to those other Thin Lizzy influenced NWOBHM giants, Iron Maiden.
Basically, if you like metal(lica) and you don't have this album... get it! This is also the best cd edition we've seen to date. Nice packaging simulating the original autographed white sleeve, remastered sound, bonus tracks, with liner notes explaining the whole DH saga...
MPEG Stream: "Lightning To The Nations"
MPEG Stream: "Am I Evil"

DIAMOND NIGHTS Once We Were Diamonds (Kemado) cd ep 5.98
Hmm. What hath The Darkness wrought? Bands that think it's ok to bust out the falsetto -- bands like Diamond Nights. To be fair, these guys are not nearly as over the top as The Darkness (whom we love by the way). And their singer's use of the higher pitch isn't any more pronounced than that of a bunch of current emo scene bands either. But, like the Darkness, the Diamond Nights guys seem to wear their retro influences proudly on their sleeves. And with a name like that, you might wonder how serious they are. Well we don't know, but we do like these five songs. You might too if you like good ol' classic rock. Track one, "Destination Diamonds", comes off like The Fucking Champs (or to be more accurate, Thin Lizzy) fronted by the guy from The Darkness. The subsequent tracks are less metal, more keyboardy and '80s new wavey really, reminding us of The Cars, Billy Idol and even Power Station! 18 minutes and 26 seconds of good times here, people.
MPEG Stream: "Destination Diamonds"
MPEG Stream: "That Girl's Attractive"

DIAMOND NIGHTS Popsicle (Kemado) cd 13.98
Damn, this has been in stock for a little while now -- some months now, in fact! -- but for some reason we didn't get around to checking it out 'til just the other day (even though we liked this band's previous ep, Once We Were Diamonds, reviewed here last year). Like we've said before, it's hard to keep up with everything... But better late than never. Everything that was cool about that ep is even cooler here on the full-length, which actually includes the two best songs from the ep, would-be/should-be hits "That Girl's Attractive" and "Destination Diamonds". If the latter track were the only thing you ever heard by Diamond Nghts you'd think they were fully trying to emulate both The Fucking Champs (and/or Thin Lizzy) and The Darkness. But DN have more tricks up their sleeves than just that -- the rest of Popsicle isn't all (ironic?) metal like that... though the adrenalized "It's A Shokka" definitely demonstrates a maybe tongue-in-cheek Judas Priest influence, and also sounds a heckuva lot like Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy". But other tracks here show that besides the Thin Lizzy and Queen albums that these guys undoubtedly love (there's no denying it), they have other influences too that aren't classic rock/metal. On tracks like "Drip Drip" (not the Comus song!) they've got a dancey '80s new wavey thing (hmm, also like Queen got into) going on. And at other moments the hooks and the vocals remind us of the White Stripes, and the chops underlying the pop make us think of 31 Knots... So while Diamond Nights can't lay claim to being the most original band ever, they're definitely talented and have managed to meld their collective influences together in some unexpected ways. Basically, this is everything that we wished the second, disappointing Darkness album would have been.
MPEG Stream: "Drip Drip"
MPEG Stream: "It's A Shokka"

DIAMOND WATCH WRISTS Ice Capped At Both Ends (Warp) cd 16.98
Scott Herren has shown over the years he's a man of many musical hats. Creating a wide range of sounds with his projects Prefuse 73, Savath & Savalas, Piano Overlord, etc. Diamond Watch Wrist finds him exploring warmly textured songs with moody and ghostly undertones. In fact this record would fit so nicely near Warp label-mates Grizzly Bear. Joined by Zach Hill of Hella on drums who plays in the most restrained and atmospheric fashion we've heard from him, Herren shows he's much more then an electronics wizard as he plays guitar, bass, pedal steel, clarinet and sings so nicely throughout the record, too. We hear the influence of late '90s lush indie bands like Bedhead and Red Stars Theory. Nice to find yet another side to Herren's multitalented musical leanings, same goes for Hill as well.
MPEG Stream: "Start Wrong"
MPEG Stream: "Onward Push Me Out"
MPEG Stream: "Taped Up Swagger (High School Version)"

DIAMOND, NEIL 12 Songs (Sony) cd 17.98
Neil Diamond at AQ??!! What is the world coming to? But before you start nodding your head and thinking the end has come, guess what? This is actually a really good record unlike anything else he's done in forever (Diamond fans just back off! No need to send us hate mail, we love Neil Diamond as much as you do, but you gotta admit it's been years since he did anything worthwhile). Thanks to the vision of Rick Rubin the world actually gets to hear Neil Diamond stripped down and raw for the first time. No multitrack schmaltzy vocal overdubs, no glossy production. Instead Rubin has actually stripped away all the bloat and corniness and gotten to the core of Neil Diamond, a performer you maybe never knew existed. At times it's almost like you're listening to Neil Diamond's take of a Giant Sand record! With a super solid cast of musicians playing on the record including the distinct organ sounds of Billy Preston, 12 Songs is not only by far the best thing Neil Diamond has maybe ever done, it's also a testament to the vision of Rick Rubin. Who else can say they've made great records with Johnny Cash, Run-DMC, Slayer and now Neil Diamond??
MPEG Stream: ""
MPEG Stream: ""

DIAMOND, NEIL Home Before Dark (Columbia) cd 14.98

DIAMONDS (OST) (Cinephile) cd 15.98
Sountrack to the 1976 film Diamonds, composed by Roy Budd.

DIANE, ALELA The Pirate's Gospel (Holocene) cd 14.98
If you adore the sounds of Be Good Tanyas and Jolie Holland, this gal is sweetly calling your name. You might already be familiar with Ms Alela Diane's captivating, earthy presence via her performances with pal Joanna Newsom.


MPEG Stream: "My Tired Feet"
MPEG Stream: "Foreign Tongue"

DIANE, ALELA To Be Still (Rough Trade) cd 13.98
While Joana Newsom is the best known export from the Nevada City/Grass Valley, California music scene, it's looking like her good pal Alela Diane has been getting a nice share of attention lately with her Rough Trade debut, To Be Still. You'd be hard pressed to find an album recorded with more warmth or richness then this one, Diane's sophomore outing. Recalling the magic of early Emmylou Harris and for sure echoing the lush arrangements and immaculate delivery of her old neighbor Joanna Newsom. With a fine cast of players including Matt Bauer and Espers percussionist Otto Hauser, these songs come pouring out with such ease and such an assured and natural warmth.
MPEG Stream: "Dry Grass & Shadows"
MPEG Stream: "The Ocean"

DIANE, ALELA To Be Still (Rough Trade) lp 15.98
While Joana Newsom is the best known export from the Nevada City/Grass Valley, California music scene, it's looking like her good pal Alela Diane has been getting a nice share of attention lately with her Rough Trade debut, To Be Still. You'd be hard pressed to find an album recorded with more warmth or richness then this one, Diane's sophomore outing. Recalling the magic of early Emmylou Harris and for sure echoing the lush arrangements and immaculate delivery of her old neighbor Joanna Newsom. With a fine cast of players including Matt Bauer and Espers percussionist Otto Hauser, these songs come pouring out with such ease and such an assured and natural warmth.
MPEG Stream: "Dry Grass & Shadows"
MPEG Stream: "The Ocean"

DIANOGAH Battle Champions (Southern) cd 13.98
Chicago's Dianogah return with their second full length (their first for Southern) of warm post-rock melodies and sporadic polyrhythms. A little more structurally complex than their previous endeavors and much more melodic (read: Not as painfully boring as their last record). The recording -- a Steve Albini original -- is absolutely amazing. Overall this is by far Dianogah's best record yet. Falls right between the first Tortoise album and Don Caballero's "What Burns Never Returns."

DIANOGAH Battle Champions (Southern) lp 10.98
Chicago's Dianogah return with their second full length (their first for Southern) of warm post-rock melodies and sporadic polyrhythms. A little more structurally complex than their previous endeavors and much more melodic (read: Not as painfully boring as their last record). The recording - a Steve Albini original - is absolutely amazing. Overall this is by far Dianogah's best record yet. Falls right between the first Tortoise album and Don Caballero's "What Burns Never Returns."