MIXMASTER MIKE Wrists of Fury (ISP Vision) videotape 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There's a disembodied cartoon wrist on cover.

MOD FUCK EXPLOSION A Film by Jon Moritsugu (Apathy Productions) dvd 14.98
We've been assured by the man himself that slowly but surely badboy indie filmmaker Jon Moritsugu's acclaimed cult films (including his most recent totally rad pair, Fame Whore and Scum Rock) will become available on dvd. Well, looks like 1994's Mod Fuck Explosion is the first to come out of the gate. If you dig ultra raw and trashy cult films then you're surely already well familiar with Moritsugu, and if you're not already acquainted... well, here's your chance to give him your undivided attention. A totally punk flick.

MOGWAI Special Moves (Rock Action) cd+dvd 21.00
We love Mogwai. And we probably always will. Their Young Team record still ranks at the very tippy top of the slow burning, slow building, quiet loud quiet LOUD, post rock ouvre, and a million bands since, trying their damnedest to do the same thing, haven't dulled or diminished that love at all. In fact if anything, all it did was enforce how genius these guys really are. And while they're in the unenviable position of having a ridiculously iconic record that all subsequent records are inevitably compared to, when one can ignore that looming sonic spectre, then all of their records rule. Intense, and emotional, epic and majestic, heavy and melodic, soundtracky and cinematic. It really is remarkable listening to Mogwai and then hearing Pelican or Isis or any of the other bands who do something similar, and while Mogwai are maybe not BETTER, they are special, and unique, with a sound that impossibly manages to sound ONLY like them.
Special Moves is a documentary / live concert film, gorgeously shot, featuring selections from throughout their entire career, from big crashing bombastic epics, to brooding moody meanders, their live sound as lush and lovely as their records proper. All black and white, stark, high contrast live footage, interspersed with shots of random people on the streets, rain swept cities, crowd shots, sound checks, empty clubs, blurred lights, close ups of fingers and strings, all very impressionistic, and it all suits the music so perfectly. It includes some bonus live footage, which looks just as good as the movie.
And there's also a soundtrack disc, featuring all the tracks from the movie and then some, more of that epic Mogwai majesty, not necessarily all that different from the recorded versions, but heck, any excuse for more Mogwai is fine by us, and some of the tracks DO get reworked a bit, but if you've been hankering for some smoldering, swelling post rock quiet/loud epicness, this should hit the spot. Also includes a bonus download of 6 more live tracks!
MPEG Stream: "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead"
MPEG Stream: "Mogwai Fear Satan"
MPEG Stream: "Like Heord"

MONKEES, THE Head (Rhino) dvd 17.98
Psychedelic, surreal, bizarre, expansive, campy, politically charged, charming, stylized, kitschy, technicolorful, captivating. Oh my god, what the heck could all of those adjectives apply to? The Monkees' Head of course! Yup, it is all of that and so much more! If you've passed on watching Head in the past because you saw The Monkees' name on it, you've been seriously missing out on a work that is *exactly* whatever you might think The Monkees and their music was, but it also reaches far beyond their scope as well as that of more shall we say 'serious' auteurs... and successfully so. Co-written and co-produced by Jack Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson, this 1968 movie continues to kick ass almost forty years after its original release. Seriously, DO NOT MISS THIS!

MOOG A Documentary Film By Hans Fjellestad (Plexifilm) dvd 24.00
Oh man! Where would we be without the Moog (pronounced MOAG, not MOOG). We wouldn't have Stereolab, or Tortoise, or E.L.P. (says Andee!) or almost any of the risk taking bands of the last thirty years. Well, we'd probably still have 'em but boy would they sound completely different. And most certainly not nearly as good! The history of Robert Moog (who is unbelievably cute and so effusive about his keyboards and the folks who play them) and the development of the synthesizer is totally fascinating, especially so for music tech nerds, but definitely fun for anyone to watch. Loads of insane footage from the sixties and seventies: Moog instructional videos, live performances, interviews, and up close examinations of the machine itself, a snarled mass of wires and knobs and plugs that look almost organic, like the inside of a human being! But it's definitely the live performances that drive the point home, showing the Moog in its element demonstrating quite easily how it managed to define and recreate the possibilities of synthesized sound! A particularly awesome clip features Gershon Kingsley (of Perrey and Kinglsey) defending the Moog against critics who at the time claimed it was a machine NOT a musical instrument, some Stereolab shot right here in SF, and of course some INSANE Keith Emerson Moog jams. Later in the film there's a brief bit on the theremin, but for the most part it's all about the moog!
Extra stuff includes deleted scenes, interviews with DJ Spooky, TIm Gane of Stereolab, Charlie Clouser of Nine Inch Nails, and more Bob Moog himself, as well as extra live footage from Money Mark, The Album Leaf, and more. Probably the most amazing extra though is a Schaefer Beer commercial, where a dude all decked out in his seventies finery, plays a wild Moog-ed up version of the Schaefer beer theme before pouring himself a tall cool one!!

MOORE, MICHAEL Fahrenheit 9/11 (Columbia) dvd 32.00
What can we say about this movie that hasn't been said already? To sum it up: Soon after the towers fell in NY, the Bush Administration let the guy who committed the worst terrorist attack on our nation basically go free, while plotting to attack a country that hadn't attacked us. They also flew his entire family out of this country and back to Saudi Arabia while thousands upon thousands of Americans were left stranded in cities, physically and emotionally frozen. Dense layers of sobering details of the Bush Administration's fuck-up-for-oil are laid out here in very clear, very broad terms for anyone and everyone to absorb, regardless of race, creed or politics. Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine) does an excellent job of making sense of it all for us. If you want the clearest, film-based explanation of what the hell has been going on with our government these last three years since 9/11 and in years leading up to it, this is a must-see. No, it's not entirely fair and balanced, but it's scary and sobering. Moore can be funny, but mostly this is frightening. Surprisingly on the expensive side, maybe the best way to purchase this is to combine dollars with your friends, family or neighbors and buy a copy to share. It's well worth the investment by also offering some powerful special features: a new scene -- homeland security, Miami style; outside Abu Ghraib Prison; an eyewitness acount from Samara, Iraq; a montage of the people of Iraq on the eve of the US invasion; an extended interview with Abdul Henderson; Lila Lipscomb at the DC premiere; Condoleeza Rice's 9/11 Commision testimony and more - all important to view and share with others before voting on November 2nd, and again thereafter for posterity's sake, giving new meaning to the phrase "never forget".

MORI, IKUE Bhima Swarga (Tzadik) dvd 30.00

MORRISON, BILL Decasia: The State Of Decay (Plexifilm) dvd 22.00
This is the most beautiful movie we have ever seen. EVER. And it is so appropriately Aquarius. Similar to how we love records buried in shortwave interference and vinyl hiss, and embrace all the crackle and pops and skips that add such depth and color to otherwise sterile recordings, Decasia takes that same tack with the visual. Compiled entirely from found film stock that had been archived and for the most part improperly stored, this is a gorgeous and meditative collage of stirring images, made even more so by the chemical reactions that threaten to overtake the images on screen, like some sort of plague or demon. Grainy and rich, the films have been affected in all sorts of beautiful ways by the elements: changing colors, stuttering frames, amorphous shapes, rotting filmstock with pure light shining through and every permutation in between. Obviously visually stunning, but equally thrilling is the score performed by the Bang On A Can Ensemble who in composing and performing this, simulated sonic decay by detuning their instruments and using prepared pianos. The result is totally haunting and absolutely mesmerising. My girlfriend's uncle showed me a film once called Alexander Nevsky by the late great Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein, an epic tale of Russian resiliance. He had gone to great lengths to find a restored copy, where both the picture and the score had been repaired and now looked and sounded as close to flawless as was possible. I finally discovered a copy for myself, but it was an early version, not restored, with all sorts of visual detritus, and the sound was really scratchy and fuzzy and often indistinct. But it was so much better than the restored version, like a lost artifact (which it sort of was) finally unearthed, a mysterious glimpse into another time, the years and years imprinted on the film like the lines on an aging face, or the green cast of tarnished copper. Decasia celebrates deterioration and disintegration in very much the same way, letting time and nature run its course and simply observing the natural beauty inherent in decay.

MOUNT EERIE Fog Movies Live (P.W. Elverum & Sun) dvd-r 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We have just 3 copies of this, left over from Record Store Day. Never listed it. Only 100 copies made. It's movies of FOG. Yes. Perfect for Mt. Eerie's music. More specifically: it's Mount Eerie recorded live in the basement of City Hall, Anacortes, Washington, at What The Heck Fest, July 20th, 2007, "set to movies of the world looking slow and beautiful in bad weather".

MR. SHOW The Complete Fourth Season (HBO) 2dvd 39.00
What will it take for us to convince you that Mr. Show is the greatest "sketch" comedy show EVER? Thimbles? Fake poo? Wyckyd Sceptre? Marilyn Monster Pizza Parlors? Probably nothing will do it at this point, you're either with us or against us. Us Mr. Show fans have to enjoy our obsession in secret (some of us here even have to sneak out of bed late at night and watch with headphones, so as not to wake our significant other who'd surely discipline such behavior). For those of you who do love Mr. Show and miss anticipating a new season every year, be sated with these final two discs. Not only will you get to relive the final ten episodes, but also enjoy some new items. Like the DVD reissues of the earlier seasons, this one has the usual hilarious commentary with Bob & David on all but one episode. Plus there's outtakes from the first three seasons, bloopers, "The Naked Improv" from a 1998 Comic Relief appearance, "The Grand Reunion" featurette and a Mr. Show Jukebox of songs from the entire series.

MR. SHOW The Complete Third Season (HBO) 2dvd 35.00
Best sketch comedy show ever. Hard to know what else to say. Everyone here has been OBSESSED with Mr. Show since it first aired on HBO years ago. To the point that some of us even spent a fortune buying crappy quality bootleg tapes on Ebay just to be able to see the show again! So we were SO EXCITED that HBO finally planned on releasing all four seasons! FUCK YEAH! A crazy mix of video and live sketch comedy starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. Cross you might recognise from his numerous guest appearances: Men In Black 2, Scary Movie 2, and about a million TV shows as well as his comedy record on Sub Pop 'Shut Up You Fucking Baby.' Mr. Show is brilliantly twisted, offensive and foul mouthed, ridiculous and unbelievably clever, obsessed with sex, drugs, rock and roll, reality police shows, old folks, streaking, British people, and of course cock rings! This is season three and features the amazing Sid And Marty Croft spoof Drugachussetts which is worth the thirty five bucks all by itself. And if you decide you are as obsessed as us, we can also order you the first and second season DVD set!

MUGSTAR Ad Marginem OST (Agitated) lp + dvd 16.98
The latest from aQ beloved psychedelic space rockers Mugstar is not a proper new album, but is instead a soundtrack to a film called Ad Marginem, Mugstar providing a brooding and moody score, their usual space-prog heaviness dialed back a bit, the group weaving lush landscapes of tribal drumming, and low slung riffage, a perfect match for the film, shot mostly in black and white, with dramatic burst of abstract color in the beginning, and at certain points throughout, Mugstar spend much of the record/film locked into a sort of hypnorock mesmer, that most fans of Circle will find immediately appealing, a single riff, looped and layered and repeated, while the group wreathes that main groove in subtle sonic colorations, the vibe is definitely post rock, or very minimal psych rock, the guitar slipping from jangle to muted chug, the drums driving and propulsive, but the whole thing tense and dramatic, a very slow build, swirling organs drifting in and out, Slint like minor key melodies, quite effective and intense, it's not until near the end of the first side, and obviously at an appropriate place in the film, that the band lets loose, exploding into a stretch of rollicking psych rock, laced with soaring leads, pounding drums, the sound fierce and heavy, before slipping right back into the more pensive sonic brooding.
The B side follows a similar pattern, spending most of its time in loping cyclical dirge mode, still minor key and moody, this time, near the films end, slipping into a long stretch of slow, hushed, near ambience, a drifty bit of psychedelic shimmer, brooding and ominous, until finally, the drums slowly creep in, the guitars build to a roar, the sound explodes into something more heavy and hypnotic, super intense and dramatic, a sort of space psych Godspeed moment, a noisy super intense sonic coda, as the film fades to black.
The film might be something you watch only once or twice, but like the best scores/soundtracks, Mugstar's music for Ad Marginem, even separated from the visuals, still sounds amazing, and essentially plays like a Mugstar record proper, albeit a slightly more mellow one, but fantastic nonetheless!

MUSEE MECANIQUE Presents The Zelinsky Collection (Musee Mechanique) dvd 16.98
Oh boy! A DVD filmed at San Francisco's famed Musee Mechanique, that fantastic collection of turn of the century penny arcade machines!! Cool. We figure that many of our customers who've bought the cds of music from the Musee that we sell (three volumes so far, you'll find 'em elsewhere on our site) haven't actually had the chance to visit the place themselves, so this is perfect. And if you HAVE been to the Musee -- especially the old Cliff House location -- you'll want this for the memories. And it'll make you want to head on down there soon enough again to visit in person, so it's double the nostagia trip (for the early 1900's, and for the last time you were there).
For those who haven't even heard of the place, basically the Musee Mechanique, now located on Pier 45 down at Fisherman's Wharf, is filled with coin-operated mechanical amusements ranging from music boxes and player-piano type contraptions (several with an orchestra's worth of sounds) to various games of skill and chance to quaint "peep shows" to fortune tellers to animated dioramas (what are called "working models") to Musee mascot Laughing Sal... all are to be found on this DVD, filmed in action, as collector/curator Edward Zelinsky takes viewers on a guided tour of the Musee's many attractions, even stopping to try his hand at the "Love Tester". Sometimes he talks about when/where/how he ended up acquiring the machine he's showing off, but just as often he just drops the quarter in and gives a "hey, wow, gee whiz" reaction just like a kid.
The documentary has its cheesy (but charming) moments -- someone gets carried away with video effects a few times, for instance -- but we're mighty pleased with it overall. It's very cool to get a glimpse at the inner workings of both the Musee and its machines. Maybe our favorite thing about this DVD is the way the camera really gets up close and personal with the "working models", taking the viewer into the scene (fire house, farm, graveyard, and our favorite, the opium den!!) in a way that you can't really experience even in person. Especially with that creepy opium den diorama, we were reminded of a Brothers Quay film or Tool video...
Ed Zelinsky passed away in 2004 (his tour was filmed when the Musee was still at the Cliff house) but his collection is in the capable hands of his son Daniel, who had been running the Musee and fixing the machines for many years already, and appears in several of the "extras" included. Total running time 68:45.

MY DEGENERATION A Film by Jon Moritsugu (Apathy) dvd 14.98
Completing our library of cult filmmaker Jon Moritsugu's flicks he's self-released on dvd (at least as of June 2011... we're sure there'll be more to come, since he's currently working on a new film!) is this early one from 1989. It was Moritsugu's first feature length freakout! Shot on 16mm, this trashy, kitschy, ultra lo-fi, truly underground film features a fictitious female rock trio, but its cast also includes a real pig's head. Super DIY, super strange, garish and fun! With music from Bongwater, Halo Of Flies, Vomit Launch, and Gov't Issue.
And while we're diggin' '80s movies about awesome punk rawk girl groups, definitely also check out Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains. A film from 1981 which often gets mentioned in the same breath as this one by indie flick aficionados. Much to Cup's delight it also finally got released on dvd a couple years ago, and we've got it in stock now too!

NADJA / AIDAN BAKER White Nights / Drone Fields (Beta-Lactam Ring) 2dvd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It used to be a list wouldn't pass with something new from Aidan Baker or his doomdrone duo Nadja, we were beginning to worry since it had been a little while now, but as if to make up for it, we now present you with this sprawling double dvd featuring SIX HOURS of music from both Nadja and Baker solo, recorded live in 2003 and 2007, accompanied by experimental visuals by more than FIFTEEN filmmakers. All housed in a gorgeous book like digpak sleeve, and accompanied by an extensive set of liner notes, with details of the performances, and the various films and filmmakers.
This is most likely not for the uninitiated, for those of you new to Baker and Nadja, who are looking to dip your toes, 6 hours of live video might not be ideal, and there are no shortage of choices, have a look elsewhere on the aQ site, so many fantastic releases from both Nadja and Baker solo, but for fans, most of whom tend toward the obsessive, this double dvd set is a mindblower. The sounds of course are incredible, the Nadja disc slips from hushed dense drone music to barely there shimmer to full bore doomic shoegaze crush, the Baker disc is much more minimal and shimmery, dark drifting dronemusic, that occasionally erupts into something noisier, but spends more of it's time hovering and glimmering, the visuals designed to match, gauzy indistinct shapes and colors, cool black and white images of undersea life, blurred landscapes and softly psychedelic collages, while the Nadja films are more varied, weird shots of colored fire, tripped out psychedelic lights, grainy super 8 footage of mysterious signs and streets, blurred black and white, super saturated lysergic shapes, occasionally intercut with footage of the band on stage hunkered over their instruments in front of the films.
The label describes this disc as "the ultimate video aquarium for the acid-minded", and that's not far off, throw this up on your big screen TV, strap on some headphones, and TRIP OUT, or just toss this in your dvd player, sans TV, and you've got a brand new 6 hour album of blissed out drone-y psychedelic shoegaze heaviness. Can't argue with that.
Region free!

NARDWUAR THE HUMAN SERVIETTE Doot Doola Doot Doo... Doot Doo! (Alternative Tentacles / Nardwuar The Human Serviette Records) 2dvd 21.00
If you have even a tiny inkling of who or what Nardwuar The Human Serviette is, you know this is a big fucking deal! For years and years, the contents of his monumental interview archive vaults have only been accessible in bits and pieces on his home-compiled VHS tapes, on his weekly college radio show in Vancouver and on brief Much Music appearances in Canada, but now finally you can take a heaping double platter home with you!!! Are you prepared? For five and a half hours worth? Well, if you're unsure as to whether you have the endurance for it, we strongly recommend that you brace/pace yourself, and don't be dissuaded. Stock up on snacks, take the phone off the hook, you'll be okay. Hell, you don't have to watch it all in one sitting, but once you get started it might be hard to stop.
Many less observant, less hardy folks might dismiss the tartan capped, high-pitched Nardwuar The Human Serviette as simply a hyperactive irritant with a microphone -- lumping him in with seemingly similar in-your-face tightly-wound personalities such as fellow Canuck Tom Green, but first (and second) impressions can be deceiving. While we have to admit many of his disarming, oft-infuriating, absurd tactics do closely resemble those of more self-aggrandizing gonzo interviewers, there's definitely something else going on with this infamous irrepressible staunch Canadian. Let's take for example his unbelievably obsessive researching skills. For each and every potential interview subject, he consistently bloodhounds out the obscurest, mundanest, yet oddly fascinating facts that effectively stop the interviewee in his/her tracks. Y'know, those little skeletons in the closet that they themselves don't even remember, and that via Nardwuar have come back to haunt them much to their glee or chagrin.
In the early days, he started out by primarily digging into the nooks and crannies of the indie music scene doing interviews for his radio show. As his own notoriety grew so did his scope, broadening to encompass the whole show biz industry. Along the way he's also delved deeper and deeper into other media related areas and points of interest (politics, self-help, tele-evangelism to name a few).
The list of people to whom he's somehow gained access is in itself nothing short of mind-blowing (over 60 interviews are featured on this dvd set and that's a mere drop in this Serviette's bucket) -- Mikhail Gorbachev, Dan Quayle, Gene Simmons, Pam Grier, Marilyn Manson, Destiny's Child, Gwar, Kelly Osborne, Slayer, Ian MacKaye, Vanilla Ice, Franz Ferdinand, Wesley Willis, David Cross, Busta Rhymes, Michael Moore, Cradle Of Filth, Blur, Henry Rollins, Thor, Ernest Angley.... And that's not even counting his multiple interview encounters with Snoop Dogg, Courtney Love and Jello Biafra over the past decade.
Clearly people love him, hate him and love to hate him, but when he suffered a brain hemmorhage a few years back, it was nothing but an outpouring of love and admiration that came his way from all walks of life. While hospitalized he received an avalanche of gifts and well-wishes (including a painting by and from David Lee Roth!), and even had to have his own bedside payphone to take all the calls that came flooding in. But now fortunately he is back on his feet wreaking havoc with this, his most comprehensive crowning glory to date. Granted it's not for everyone, but those who rise to the challenge will be duly rewarded with a thorough schooling of headscratching useful and useless facts, figures and trivia, will be thoroughly entertained along the way, and will find themselves responding with a resounding "Doot Doo!"
Also included: lots of sights and sounds of Nardwuar's bands (The Evaporators and Thee Goblins), an eye-straining 16 page boooklet, and yes of course, audio commentary!

NARDWUAR THE HUMAN SERVIETTE Welcome To My Castle! (Nardwuar / Mint) 2dvd 28.00
Time to give your eyes, ears and funny bone a workout! To prepare yourself we suggest you drop and give us twenty! Heh heh... here's the prequel to Nardwuar The Human Serviette's 2006 double dvd interview extravaganza Doot Doola Doot Doo... Doot Doo! (please see our review of that release if you need a Nardwuar tutorial). What d'ya know, it's another double dvd interview extravaganza! How does he do it?! The superhuman Canadian Nardwuar packs every nook and cranny of these dvds with wild'n'woolly entertainment. Totalling a whopping five and a half hours in running time, Welcome To My Castle! contains his two cable TV specials that he produced back in the '90s, and a plethora of interviews with such varied celebrities as Bob "Gilligan" Denver, The Monkees' Mickey Dolenz, Tommy Chong, Ron Jeremy, Timothy Leary, Cynthia Plaster Caster, Jello Biafra, Flea, Courtney Love, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Anthony Robbins, Tom Vu, former U.S. President Gerald Ford, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, and many many more! Some are total gutbusters, some are jawdroppers, some are a bit tense, and some are sublime.
Plus you also get a bunch of new vids by his band Thee Evaporators (be sure to check out their latest full length Gassy Jack And Other Tales which we've also reviewed on this here list!). Pssst, the dvds' menus and chapter titles were all hand-lettered by Cup from I Am Spoonbender!

NARGAROTH Dead-Ication (No Colours) 2dvd 15.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Only a few left...
This one is definitely for the true fans only. The grim, the troo, the obsessive. A double dvd collection designed to give the listener / viewer a glimpse into the soul and spirit of Kanwulf, the man who IS Nargaroth. Through the music of Nargaroth obviously, but also, plenty of more personal stuff, some introspective writing, and lots of Vietnam, but more on that in a second.
The first disc, is the live stuff, all shot pretty lo-fi, handheld camcorders, either from the crowd or the side of the stage, the sound super blown out and buzzy, the vocals so high in the mix they nearly swallow up the rest of the music. But the band are tight, the crowds wild, head banging, thrashing, horns held high, recorded live in Belgium, Austria, Portugal and Italy. Having listened to Nargaroth for so long, not only is it weird to see them/him performing live, but also weird to see them playing in what appears to be a school gymnasium, or a small rock club. The music of Nargaroth is so epic and sweeping and majestic, we always envisioned flaming chariots, and dark snowy forests, storm clouds and black skies, so it takes a minute to adjust to the idea that they are in fact an actual band. And even the shit sound quality doesn't detract from the fierce performances.
The second disc is where it gets weird and personal, but in doing so, makes this so much more interesting than your run of the mill music dvd. The first section is called "Dead Shoots", one subsection is marked "Private" and is a slide show of band photos, live shots, images of hills, and seas and trees and skies, plenty of candid "dudes at rock clubs" shots, LOADS of photos of Kanwulf, hanging out with other metalheads, lurking in the forest, or sitting on a station wagon in front of his parent's house, intercut with images of Kanwulf when he was in the army, or sporting Vietnam style camo, all set to some neo-classical soundtrack. But then, Kanwulf is obsessed with the Vietnam War, the last record was called Semper Fi after all, and the next section of the dvd, called "'Nam" is nothing but images from the Vietnam War set to the music of Jefferson Airplane and classical music. Weird! But pretty interesting.
The next section is called "Live Shoots" and is all clips from the various live shows on he first disc, a slideshow set to Nargaroth songs, not sure what these are for, since the other disc has all the same images LIVE, but still some cool shots.
Next up is a section called "Digital Thoughts", personal writings and thoughts from Kanwulf, on making the dvd, and on his development as a person and an artist, very cool and personal, and not at all hung up on the usual grimmer than though stuff.
The there's LOTS more Vietnam. First a section called "Swamp Thing", A sort of homemade Vietnam documentary featuring some amazing shots of the war, images of helicopters and soldiers, jungles smothered in smoke, this time set to the Doors' "The End", Hendrix and other sixties rock, with voiceover from Kanwulf (we presume) telling the story of Vietnam, and its affect on him.
In the same section, another menu leads us to another section, this one called "Vietnam", where Kanwulf writes extensively on Vietnam, his feelings on the war, and how the war influenced his thinking, feeling and music making, as well as his plans to visit Vietnam to try and understand and experience what went on.
There's also a documentary called "No Mexican Tequila Massacre", which is a short film about an aborted Mexican tour, lots of rehearsing, hanging out and drinking, smoking, some jamming, but lots of nothing going on, the guys in the practice space, changing strings, waiting for the show(s) to be confirmed, which they never are. Plus you get to see Kanwulf in BirkenstocksÉ
The final section is called "A Way" and is a surprisingly personal missive about Kanwulf's development as a person from when he started Nargaroth, moving away from hate and emptiness to become more of a real person with real feeling and emotions, scene politics be damned, not at all what you might expect from a black metal legend, but pretty refreshing and heartfelt.
The first disc will definitely appeal to true black metalheads, some awesome rare live footage, appropriately lo-fi and grim, thrashing and black, but the second disc turns this into something way weirder, and way more intimate, as Kanwulf constantly states on the dvd, this is not the sort of thing that endears him to 'the scene', sharing and feeling and honesty are not typically selling points for black metal, but then, this is far from a typical black metal dvd.
Packaged in a full color cover, with a complete discography (including shirts even!) on the flip side visible through the clear dvd case, full color booklet, with notes, and photos, and strangely the second disc seems to be a dvd-r, while the first disc is a proper factory produced dvd. All region. But, it's PAL (not NTSC) so you may only be able to view it on a computer.

NAT PWE Burma's Carnival Of Spirit Soul (Sublime Frequencies) dvd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Like the Jemaa El Fna DVD on Sublime Frequencies, the Nat Pwe DVD also contains no voice over, authoritative or not, to mis-guide you through the festivities. Instead, using the camera in the same way someone might make a field recording in the traditional auditory realm, you are led merely by the camera angles and edits chosen. As a way of background, here's what Sublime Frequencies writes about the event contained here: "In Burma, many people believe in ghost spirits called NATs. These spirits are historical figures who met tragic or violent deaths. They are said to possess the power to assist or devastate the lives of those who recognize them. A PWE is a ceremony held to appease a Nat. Pwes are arranged daily throughout Burma for many purposes including the achievement of success in business, a happy marriage, or improving one's health. A Nat is summoned through a Kadaw; the flamboyent and charismatic master of the Pwe dressed in elegant costume. The Kadaw is a spirit medium, dancer, storyteller, and magician who exposes the crowd to a living incarnation of the Nat brought forth through opening ritual and careful observance of tradition. Many of the Kadaws are male crossdressers performing the role of female Nats and the Nat culture attracts the homosexual, occult, artistically expressive and more outgoing elements of the Burmese population. Cash money is thrown and cigarettes and whiskey are hand delivered by the Kadaw to the willing faithful. Audience participants are often ecstatic, spontaneously launching into trance as the Nat spirit possesses their bodies while the melodically ornamental and thundering sound of the Nat Pwe orchestra plays on as perhaps the last, great unknown musical juggernaut existing anywhere. Each Pwe has its own mood and Nats can dictate a variety of happenings and unpredictable phenomenon. Since the 11th century, there have been 37 officially recognized Nats and every August, in the village of Taungbyon, there is a festival dedicated to two of them. This festival is one of the greatest spectacles on earth. At the peak of the Taungbyon celebration, there are dozens of very intimate venues holding continuous Pwe's for 48 hours without interruption bubbling with excitement and intensity all within the narrow alleys of bamboo shelters amidst a vibe of mysterious, electric charm. What results is the magnetic, unexplainable concoction of conservative tradition, free expression, music, dance, spirit possession, and anomolous synchronicities of Burma's Carnival Of Spirit Soul." Insane stuff. The film begins in the daytime following hundreds of pilgrims as they make their way to the event and ends late into the night after the festivities have reached a zenith of frenzied performance and audience participation. The camera wanders from tent to tent, each one containing a Kadaw, a Nat Pwe Orchestra (a completely crazed percussion ensemble about as removed from Burmese Harp music as you can get) and crammed with people making offerings (mostly pinning money to the Kadaw's head dress and blouse). There's really no way to do it justice in describing this event. If there were ever a comparison in the U.S. it would have to be like a transvestite tent revival held in a New Orleans graveyard with musical accompaniment by the Ruins. Running 85 minutes, I've found this disc also works nicely just as an audio recording. For those of you with a multi-format disc player, it makes a truly cool CD as well. While we forwarn those living overseas that this disc is NTSC, it is also region-free, so if you can handle the format you're in like Flint. Comes with an 8 page booklet of notes and photos.

NEGATIVLAND A Few of Our Favorite Things (Other Cinema) dvd 23.00
Hurrah, finally something new(ish) from Negativland!
For A Few Of Our Favorite Things, Negativland takes a similar to fellow Bay Area enigmas The Residents who released a dvd compilation a few years back which brought together the old and the new. They enlisted eighteen non-'band' member filmmakers to cut-up, collage, collaborate and create new and often very appropriate videos for a whole bunch of the group's classic recordings such as "Time Zones", "Christianity Is Stupid", "No Business", "Over The Hiccups", "U2", "Guns", "Aluminum Or Glass", "Truth In Advertising", "Freedom's Waiting", the list goes on and on! Their works have always been loaded with social and political commentary, subversion, absurdity and black humor. Why stop now? Awesome!
Oh and also included is an audio cd featuring The 180-Gs...uhhh, who?!?! The 180-Gs! Apparently they're a Detroit, MI a cappella doo-wop group who cover Negativland 'songs', but it's so bizarre a thought that we're suspicious that our leg is being pulled... hard.

NELSON, MIKE (DIRECTOR) Carnival Of Souls (Off Color) dvd 9.98
As much as we warmly welcome the commentary by Mystery Science Theatre 3000's Mike Nelson, we have to say our reception to a colorized Carnival Of Souls is nothing short of lukewarm. Who asked for it? Who thought it was a good idea? At least they were wise enough to include the original black and white version too!!

NEUROSIS A Sun That Never Sets (Relapse) dvd 19.98
Live visuals from everyone's favorite Bay Area art-punk-metal legends.

NF ORCHEST & JERRY SMITH Oxidant (Petit Mal) 3" dvd-r 6.98
A very nice pairing of East Bay improvising post-industrialists NF Orchest and the abstractionist filmmaker Jerry Smith. NF Orchest's contribution is a documentation of a live action at The Lab in San Francisco, opening for irr. app. (ext.) back in 2010. The turgid atmosphere is set through a bed of gray crumbling noises, sculpted through murky electronics and shortwave radio noises. Out of this carcinogenic haze, NF Orchest scribbles slow gestures of creepy-crawling drones and nails-on-the-chalkboard screeches from viola and prepared bicycle wheel, whilst the bed of noise detonates in a cavernous hall with a Maurizio Bianchi-like pall of ash and slumped depression working throughout the metallic scrapings. Jerry Smith's video was conceived after the performance had transpired, and he manipulated found footage to match the sounds' progression. Ghostly flickerings of light emerge from static landscapes, darkened through various masks and overlays from additional footage, prismatic refractions, and residues from grainy filmstock. A slow-motion series of watery reflections of light on water is transformed into a choreography of near calligraphic marks dancing on a black backdrop. As one of those smoldering crescendos of noise builds towards the end of this 27 minute video, arcing flares of color jump-cut back and forth next to deep blue tidal waves, spiralling mandalas, and geometric elements. Limited to something like 50 copies.

NIBLOCK, PHILL The Magic Sun (Atavistic ) dvd 14.98
We've been a huge fan of Phill Niblock for ages, the elder statesman of minimal drone, who while having composed and performed numerous pieces, only began releasing his recordings quite recently (in the overall scheme of things), choosing to wait for technology and storage / playback media to catch up, allowing Niblock to record his lengthy compositions without breaking them up into pieces. But Niblock was also a photographer and an experimental film maker. The Magic Sun, from 1966, is an amazing example of not only Niblock's unique film making, but also an abstract and appropriately off kilter look into the weird and wonderful world of Sun Ra And His Solar Arkestra. This short fifteen minute film uses a unique negative process and was composed entirely of ultra tight shots of Sun Ra and his band performing, faces, fingers, strings, sticks, a confusing but compelling visual accompaniment to Sun Ra's joyous musical cacophony. A gorgeously tripped out psychedelic abstract free-for-all in grayscale. White shapes hover and twist, eyes and fingers become comets and eclipsed suns, faces become subtle white smears across a vast expanse of black, cymbals are the rings around a black planet, the fretboard a mysterious nighttime highway, the piano keys, fence posts or streaks of chalk on a blackboard. So intense and alien and perfect. The bonus feature here is amazing as well, a slide show of rare sixties photos, accompanied by unreleaed recordings, music as well as never heard before philosophical proclamations from Sun Ra, tripped out and bizarre discussing Sun Ra himself, mythology, jazz, the band, the United States, Russia and all sorts of other spaced out wisdom. So cool!

NIGER Magic and Ecstasy in the Sahel (Sublime Frequencies) dvd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sublime Frequencies videographer Hisham Mayet strikes again! This time Hisham takes to the Sahel region of Niger to witness for ourselves a culture in resistance to environmental hazards (severe droughts) and extreme poverty, and a country that's at the cultural crossroads of Subsaharan Africa and the Middle East. Like all of Mayet's films there is no authoritative narrator to disrupt the flow, or otherwise direct our interests. Which isn't to say Mayet leaves us completely in the dark as concerns his motivations and whereabouts in shooting this footage. For that we are given ample liner notes detailing the film's unfolding in chronological order of events. The video begins in rural Dogondoutchi where Hisham documents the music of the Mawri people. Several performances are caught here of musicians playing a banjo like instrument which is simultaneously struck across the drum as it is strummed and plucked, turning the performer into a veritable one-man-band. Also taped are some amazing fiddle players using an array of instruments, each seemingly unique to its possessor. Across the river Niger, Mayet takes us to the village of Boubon to a cowry shell divination, a spirit posession ceremony, and a truly strange performance of sexual coming of age by the young girls of the village in which they taunt the boys with... Ahem! Rather "randy" dance moves. As the film progresses it moves further from acoustic / rural / animist Niger to urban / Christian / electric Niger. We're witnesses to a gospel revival meeting at a Pentacostal church combining both traditional instruments and percussion with electric bass and keyboards. Almost directly from there Mayet takes us to a dive bar to hear a beautiful pick-up band of electric guitar, bass, drums and percussion. The sound is almost like that of a punk rock Ali Farka Toure, if you can imagine that. And in the end we are taken to the compound of Bibi Ahmed to hear some very Nubian sounding trance rock, like a dronier version of Ali Hassan Kuban. Excellent!

NIRVANA Live At Reading (DGC) dvd 21.00
Nirvana were always a pretty iffy proposition live. Always sloppy and chaotic, sometimes inspiringly so, other times not so much. It wasn't always clear whether it was a drug thing, or a disdain for playing live, or being sick of the music business, but for all of the perfect pop and classic heaviness to be found on their records, live, things often devolved into total mayhem, often gloriously so. Fucking up songs, destroying drum kits, mixing in random covers, letting songs just sort of stumble to a halt, or more famously, changing the lyrics, singing in a deep baritone and hamming it up when forced to lipsync on TV, or not playing the hit the TV people were expecting, instead playing one of the super noisy thrashers. All part of what made Nirvana so cool, and so fun to watch. We had the records if we wanted to hear those songs, we'd much rather see the trainwreck that often occurred live.
This show, for all it's fucked-up-ness and weird goings on, was anything BUT a trainwreck. Widely considered to be one of the best live recordings of the band, hearing this again, all polished up definitely drives that point home. Lots of stuff from both Bleach and Nevermind, the band sound incredible, the recording does too, and even Kurt's vocals are pretty together, the crowd goes apeshit between songs, and rightfully so, witnessing a band totally hitting their stride, and for a band prone to falling apart live, just utterly destroying.
For folks who don't necessarily watch music videos, the cd should be plenty, but we'd have to recommend getting the dvd too, as there was some crazy shit going on (Kurt being rolled on stage in a wheelchair wearing a hospital gown), hilarious between song banter, some equipment destruction and other stuff worth seeing, that was edited out of the recording for the proper release.
Essential for Nirvana fans, and if you need some convincing as to the merits of Nirvana, check out some of the other reviews elsewhere on the aQ website, and we'll do our very best to convince you that Nirvana were indeed one of the best bands EVER.
MPEG Stream: "Breed"
MPEG Stream: "Drain You"
MPEG Stream: "Aneurysm"

NIRVANA Live At Reading (DGC) dvd + cd 36.00
Nirvana were always a pretty iffy proposition live. Always sloppy and chaotic, sometimes inspiringly so, other times not so much. It wasn't always clear whether it was a drug thing, or a disdain for playing live, or being sick of the music business, but for all of the perfect pop and classic heaviness to be found on their records, live, things often devolved into total mayhem, often gloriously so. Fucking up songs, destroying drum kits, mixing in random covers, letting songs just sort of stumble to a halt, or more famously, changing the lyrics, singing in a deep baritone and hamming it up when forced to lipsync on TV, or not playing the hit the TV people were expecting, instead playing one of the super noisy thrashers. All part of what made Nirvana so cool, and so fun to watch. We had the records if we wanted to hear those songs, we'd much rather see the trainwreck that often occurred live.
This show, for all it's fucked-up-ness and weird goings on, was anything BUT a trainwreck. Widely considered to be one of the best live recordings of the band, hearing this again, all polished up definitely drives that point home. Lots of stuff from both Bleach and Nevermind, the band sound incredible, the recording does too, and even Kurt's vocals are pretty together, the crowd goes apeshit between songs, and rightfully so, witnessing a band totally hitting their stride, and for a band prone to falling apart live, just utterly destroying.
For folks who don't necessarily watch music videos, the cd should be plenty, but we'd have to recommend getting the dvd too, as there was some crazy shit going on (Kurt being rolled on stage in a wheelchair wearing a hospital gown), hilarious between song banter, some equipment destruction and other stuff worth seeing, that was edited out of the recording for the proper release.
Essential for Nirvana fans, and if you need some convincing as to the merits of Nirvana, check out some of the other reviews elsewhere on the aQ website, and we'll do our very best to convince you that Nirvana were indeed one of the best bands EVER.
MPEG Stream: "Breed"
MPEG Stream: "Drain You"
MPEG Stream: "Aneurysm"

NIRVANA Live! Tonight! Sold Out! (DGC) dvd 22.00

NIRVANA With The Lights Out (DGC) 3cd+dvd 57.00
Been trying to figure out what to write about this for a while now. Every time I sit down to write it, I feel like I'm trying to write a euology for an old friend. Which should speak volumes. We knew this was coming. And man, were we excited. And it is not a disappointment in any way. If anything, it's more than we could have hoped for. See, everyone loves Nirvana. Everyone. Those of you who say you don't are just trying to be 'cool'. Sort of like the people who talk about how the Beatles suck. The Beatles did not suck. They wrote more perfect pop songs than any band in the history of rock and roll. Nirvana also don't suck. And are also responsible for some of the best songs ever. It's not cool to pretend you don't like Nirvana. Not at all. In fact, it's unbelievably UNCOOL. Why deny yourself some of the most important, visceral music of the last 15 years? Because it gets played on MTV? Because jocks blast "Smells Like Teen Spirit" after the big game? Nope, sorry. Not good enough.
Nirvana were one of those bands we could all love. Heavy enough to appeal to headbangers, raucous enough to still be punk, but equipped with a pop sense unrivalled, and thus able to whip out the most beautifu pop song in the world without a second thought -- usually sandwiched between two swirling snarling blasts of stage destroying chaotic rrroooaaaar. But that's part of what was so charming about Nirvana. Even when they were huge, they acted like you or me. Stupid jokes, smashing guitars, unlikely covers, ripped jeans and t-shirts and greasy long hair. It was like your pal or your older brother was snatched out of your suburban hellhole of a life and made a rock star. And how could you not love that (once you got over wishing it was you)? Which also goes to why it was such a blow when Kurt Cobain died. I literally cried. At the time I remember thinking "Why the fuck am I crying." I mean, it's not like he was a friend of mine or something. But he was something special. To me. To everyone I know. And Nirvana was something special. Our generation's Beatles? Maybe. But definitely the most important band of the nineties. Responsible for reshaping popular music, killing off hair metal, and giving us music that would be the soundtrack to our lives: breakups, mixtapes, road trips, broken hearts, life and death, fucking and fighting. Sounds like hyperbole but it's really not. This band was and is really important to me, and millions of other folks. Which is pretty remarkable. After the death of Cobain, and after getting over the sheer sadness and loss, one could not help but think about all the amazing music and the songs that would now never be written. Callous maybe, but the music is what made us love him/them. Their recent greatest hits disc offered us the unreleased "You Know You're Right", which was at the time the greatest thing we could've heard, a song as good as any of their others, seemingly pulled from the ether. And now we have this. A collection of what is supposedly everything. or at least everything worth releasing. And it is absolutely fantastic. I literally got all teary listening to this, and the DVD had me all choked up as well. Can't remember the last time a record did that to me.
So, what's on it? If you're like me, it hardly matters. Just knowing that it's stuffed to the gills with rare and unreleased Nirvana songs and I'm sold. If you need more than that, here goes. Don't sell back your greatest hits though, "You Know You're Right" only appears here as a solo acoustic recording from 1994. This version may not rock as hard, but it is a lot more intense and personal. The box is basically in chronological order, so disc one is definitely gonna hit the spot for those of us (like Allan) who loved Bleach the best. Demos and acoustic tracks and live on the radio, this is all Holy Grail sort of stuff. Live versions of Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" and "Moby Dick" done in suitably ramshackle chaotic Nirvana style. Live versions and demos of tracks that would show up on Bleach. But by far the most exciting tracks are the unreleased songs. "White Lace And Strange", "Help Me I'm Hungry", "Mrs. Butterworth", "Grey Goose", "Token Eastern Song" and more. Disc two has less unreleased tracks but lots of alternate versions of tracks from future records, as well as loads of b-sides (their split with the Jesus Lizard, maybe one of the best Nirvana songs ever) and covers (Wipers!) and a big ol' chunk of solo acoustic versions of classic tracks that sound even more intense and harrowing performed sans band. Disc three brings us close to the end. A handful of demos and more solo acoustic versions of songs you already know and love. Highlights include the track "Sappy" which was a secret track on a benefit compliation and was originally titled "Verse Chorus Verse" and is another of their best, curiously relegated to being hidden uncredited at the end of a random comp ("Train In Vain" anyone?). Also "Marigold", the only Nirvana song sung by Dave Grohl, an obscure b-side, that hints at Grohl's Foo Fighter future. A sweet and jangly Vaselines cover and more. The set ends with a solo acoustic version of "All Apologies" and if you hadn't gotten all emotional yet, this one will definitely do it to you.
The DVD is pretty amazing as well and adds to the whole feeling of Kurt being an old friend who passed away. Mostly home movies, the first chunk is a party / rehearsal in Krist's mom's house and features the band rocking out in a wood panelled, carpeted basement, while various rockers sit around drinking beer. Cute and sad, and funny and sort of remarkable how amazing they were as a band even so early on. The rest of the DVD is made up of various tracks filmed live in various locations, from small clubs to huge arenas. Lots of hilarious onstage banter, lots of drum kit destroying, and lots of powerfully off kilter versions of all of the best Nirvana songs.
Beautifully packaged in an oversized hardcover book, on the front an embossed metal plate featuring the band in their Sunday best, as if they were at a funeral. Or a wake. Because as sad as this is, and as much as this makes us miss someone we felt we knew as well as our best friend, and a band who meant more to us than almost any in our memory, under the circumstances, we couldn't be happier.
MPEG Stream: "Blandest (Demo 1998)"
MPEG Stream: "Token Eastern Song (Demo 1989)"
MPEG Stream: "Opinion (Solo Acoustic 1990)"
MPEG Stream: "Oh The Guilt (B Side 1992)"
MPEG Stream: "Marigold (B Side 1993)"
MPEG Stream: "You Know You're Right (Solo Acoustic 1994)"

NITSCH, HERMANN The Action Art Of Hermann Nitsch From Past To Present (Edition Kroethenhayn) dvd+cd+book 112.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MPEG Stream: "One (Excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "One (Excerpt 2)"

NOCTURNO CULTO The Misanthrope (Peaceville) dvd+cd 17.98
Ever wonder what sort of depraved and demented home movies might be the result of a prurient glimpse into the private life of Darkthrone's Nocturno Culto? Well, wonder no more. But be prepared to be disappointed, at least if all you're looking for is lots of metal and blood and mayhem. The opening scene pretty much sets the tone, a light hearted bit of ice fishing, with NC and Grutle from Enslaved, as they lay on the ice and dangle tiny little poles over a hole cut in the ice, not wearing spikes or leather, but instead the best Northface has to offer. Nocturno Culto even kisses the first fish he catches.
And so it goes, a meandering journey through the life of Nocturno Culto, sure there's plenty of metal, the score is all Darkthrone tracks (a few Aura Noir tunes here and there) and droning ambience composed by NC for the film, but it's interspersed with plenty of light hearted fun, slow sweeping images of the vast and untamed beauty of Norway, and all sorts of other random bits and pieces. Darkthrone fans will NEED this obviously, not just for the amazing rehearsal footage, with Fenriz complaining about the price of cymbals (hasn't bought a new one in 13 years) and the duo setting up in a little rec room style basement complete with flowered drapes and Iron Maiden poster, their primitive lo-fi buzz interspersed with amazing shots of them wandering through snowy forests, but for a private glimpse into a world and country that are wreathed in mystery and that most metal folks only experience filtered through black buzz or smeared corpsepaint. As fun as it is to get lost in the drama and showmanship, it's equally interesting to experience what life as a musician in Norway must be like, and how living amidst forests and fjords, snow and sky, informs the music we've come to love so much.
Besides the rehearsal footage, some of the highlights include: gorgeous footage of waterfalls and autumn forests, overlaid with ghostly images of the band, all to the strains of Darkthrone's buzzing grimness, complete with subtitles so you can finally understand the words, some hanging out with an old man who used to be a circus performer and his constantly barking dog, Aura Noir signing their recording contract, on a table in front of a wall full of nailed up antlers, followed by a very quiet repast of smoking and drinking... and playing Chinese checkers, a trip to Japan for Peter Beste's black metal photo show opening, featuring Nocturno Culto and Aaron from Iran playing a Kodo drummer video game, and crusty heartthrobs Gallhammer!!! We're even more crushed out if that were even possible. Some killer live footage as well as photo sessions, the Aura Noir record release party, backstage boredom, onstage mayhem, in a tiny club complete with those grade school acoustical tiles not more than a foot or two overhead, some footage of the downtime in the studio during the recording of Sardonic Wrath, a record label meeting, that takes place on a hillside around a campfire... and then a graveyard, and loads more. It's very abstract, a bit arty, but eminently watchable. Sometimes dark and bleak, other times sort of goofy and laid back, usually we tend to reach for the remote and skip around, but this The Misanthrope had us watching the whole thing end to end. And made us want to listen to nothing but Darkthrone!
Extras on the first disc include a gallery of stills (or not-so-stills, as the pictures tend to shift and shimmer with the aid of some strange video effect), set to some dizzying Darkthrone tuneage, some amazing old old old footage of Darkthrone, 2 killer tracks from way back, the band looking like they're all of 12 years old (which they probably are), as well as the 'video' for "Too Old Too Cold" which almost plays like a mini version of the movie, graveyards, forests, and plenty of headbanging...
Also included is a bonus second disc, a cd featuring all new music composed by NC specifically for the film, lots of rumbling crumbling dark ambience, all the haunting mood music from the movie. Spacey and abstract, creepy and shimmering, droney and dark, some of it pulsing and ethereal like some lost Tangerine Dream track, a few tracks super abstract guitarscapes, one track, a totally demented metal jam, with ultra processed guitars, tangled leads and goofy distorted vocals, but most of it is some seriously bleak and strangely lovely ambient minimalism....
Packaged in an oversized dvd style cd superjewel case with a big booklet of liner notes and photos, including one in which Darkthrone and Aura Noir are posed in the woods, snarling and brandishing what appear to be magazines and fireplace tools. Awesome.
All region, NTSC.

NOMI, KLAUS / ANDREW HORN The Nomi Song (Palm Picture) dvd 22.00
Ms Cup has long been a Klaus Nomi devotee, but -- save for his one song appearance in the Urgh! A Music War film and the now out-of-print Eclipsed: Best Of Klaus Nomi compilation -- there's never been enough documentation from back in the day to satiate any craving for this ultra stylized, provocative and enigmatic figure. So she was thrilled and a bit trepidatious to hear that a documentary was being made. After many failed attempts to go see the film in the theater, she was then delighted to hear that it was coming out on dvd. Her verdict? Superlatives galore. This fantastic documentary was made with absolute loving care and imaginative attention to detail. One of the most obvious (and unique) examples of this comes in the segments featuring the voice of Nomi's aunt. "Why just her voice?" you might ask. Well, apparently she's really camera shy, and the filmmakers came up with a novel way to present her likeness in the film. They crafted accurately detailed miniature dioramas of various locations (such as her living room with a mini slide projector and backyard with shrubbery and garden hose) in which they sat a paper doll with a picture of her face. The interview clips (each filmed in front of a very thought out, appropriate backdrop), audio and video footage sheds much light on his life and music career (including more background info about the abovementioned Urgh! appearance), totally capturing the vitality, tragedy and defiance of Nomi the individual as well as of the underground New York New Wave scene as a whole during those years. He cut such a striking, unmistakable, indelible silhouette. Unforgettable.
The dvd includes a bunch of exclusive remixes by Scissor Sisters' Ana Matronic, Richard Barone, The Moog Cookbook and Man Parrish (formerly of The Fast, Man2Man and more!)

O'ROURKE, JIM & CHRISTOPH HEEMANN Plastic Palace People Vol. 1 (Streamline) cd 14.98
Plastic Palace Alice? Let's hear it for Scott Walker, first of all; but the mad genius of baroque pop has nothing in common with the long-form stupor and granular synthesis that these stalwarts of the avant-garde produced way back in 1991. At that time, O'Rourke was a recent graduate of music school with a head full of knowledge about vangarde composition, the whole Luc Ferrari back catalogue, and an standing invitation to perform / record within Chicago's preeminent postindustrial ensemble Illusion Of Safety; and Heemann was in the process of dissolving his seminal dada-montage project H.N.A.S. The two began a correspondence that led to him travelling to Germany where they jumped into a heady collaboration in Heemann's studio. Why none of these recordings have yet to see the light of day is anybody's guess, but here's what may be the first in a series of archival recordings produced by O'Rourke and Heemann.
A buzzsaw drone gradually introduces the first of three long-form pieces of stratified minimalism. As the piece grows and blossoms, an uneasy set of harmonic overtones dominates the stage, holding a firm grasp on the psychoacoustic properties that an epic Eliane Radigue or Phill Niblock piece can achieve. The track collapses through a weird gurgling of electronics only to swell back again with a chorus of LaMonte Young inspired drone-vocalization rasped through electronics and / or coupled with sympathetic drones from a guitar, only to mutate into a spasmodic explosion of electronic granularity and sine-tone modulation. Really amazing stuff, for sure! The second track, picks up with what we'll assume to be O'Rourke's buzzing guitar drones giving way to a devilish montage of vocalized growling, suffocating gaspings for air, and other grim sound poetics that look forward simultaneously to the lupine babbling of Sudden Infant and the tortured incidental black-metal ambience of Spektr. The profound spookiness of the second track dissolves into the pools of shimmered tone and radiant beauty of the third, as something of a harbinger of where Heemann would direct the Mirror project with Andrew Chalk almost a decade later. So nice!
Again, we have to wonder why the hell did it take so long for these recordings to come out? They are simply too good to have been sitting dormant on some shelf!
MPEG Stream: "Track 1"
MPEG Stream: "Track 2"
MPEG Stream: "Track 3"

OFF THE BOULEVARD (Santo Films) dvd 13.98

OFF THE CHARTS The Song-Poem Story (Shout! Factory) dvd 21.00
We've long been a song-poem boosters around these parts. How could we not be? So innocent and inspired and brilliant. From John Trubee's legendary "Blind Man's Penis" single to those I'm Just The Other Women collections from way back and the more recent The American Song-Poem Anthology: Do You Know the Difference Between Big Wood And Brush compilation on Bar/None. For those of you who are new to song-poems, there was (and still is to a lesser extent) a whole industry of musicians (and shysters of course) that would set your poem to music for a couple hundred bucks. Probably the most well known was Rodd Keith, who has had several compilations released over the years. But the song-poem industry was definitely a subject ripe for a documentary. So finally someone went and did it. And it just so happens that it was AQ pal Jaimie Metzger! We're happy to report that the film is really really good, and so goddamn funny. And of course a little sad. Some of the highlights: Interview with Caglar Juan Singletary, a cute nerdy bespectacled young man who writes about ladies, religion, science fiction and martial arts, and is responsible for the absolutely brilliant "Non Violent Taekwando Troopers". The whole segment on Gary Forney and his son Josh and their Iowa Mountain Tour, where they play their classics "Chicken Insurrection", "Three Eyed Boy" and more, for a perplexed crowd at an RV park. This part was so brutal I literally had to walk out of the room! The interview with the man who sang and performed "Blind Man's Penis", a cute old country veteran talking about how embarassed he was, and how that song was maybe his most embarassing moment. A totally intense segment with Gene Merlino (responsible for the brilliant "Jimmy Carter Says Yes!") pulling a major power trip with his band. A serious argument ensues. So rough. Anyone who has ever played in a band will shudder with recognition. Then there's an amazing segment showing the whole process from the poem's arrival through the finished song/product. It only takes about one hour actually! All the segments with Tom Ardolino of NRBQ, the original champion of song poems, who is so damn cute and genuine and plays us all his favorite song poems. And a really poignant bit with Rodd Keith's son. An amazingly made, brilliantly researched, hilarious, sad, and totally fascinating documantary. Kudos to Jamie. And obviously all the writers and musicians. Lots of DVD bonus footage, deleted scenes, studio sessions, the Iowa Mountain Tour Live (oh man....) much of it filmed by AQ pal/regular Cayce Lindner!

OH SEES, THEE Thee Hounds Of Foggy Notion (Tomlab / Castle Face) cd + dvd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion may be a live cd / dvd set of this venerable SF outfit, but it also serves as a "best of" of sorts as well. Pulled mostly from the last four records, the point the band changed their name from OCS to its many incarnations of "Ohsees", "The Oh sees", or "Thee Ohsees", and the record titles went from numbers to quasi-absurdist phrases. Those who may shy away from live albums over fidelity issues should not fret here, as Dwyer and his cohorts are seasoned and energetic live players and hi-fidelity has never been a major concern on their studio records anyway; so there's really not a discernible distinction between live and studio sound quality. In fact, this may be just as good as a starting point into the band as any one of their studio records, which just keep getting better and better. Got to love a band that can move so effortlessly from southern garage to one of the best Shirley Collins interpretations ("Highland Wife's Lament") we've heard in awhile. Plus the dvd showcases the band's wild and wooly performances.
MPEG Stream: "Guilded Cunt"
MPEG Stream: "Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion"
MPEG Stream: "Highland Wife's Lament"

ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER Memory Vague (Root Strata) dvd-r 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never and one half of Infinity Window) has produced this bizarro DVD of visual esoterica culled from YouTube videos of '80s computer animation and straight-to-video clips with ghastly amounts of digital effects. Much of the imagery is familiar to anyone who grew up watching MTV and Night Flight in the early-to-mid '80s, although Lopatin's sources occasionally sport Cyrillic texts flashing across the screen, which may point to even more obtuse references from Russian television. Nonetheless, his aesthetic choices gravitate to those cathode ray / neon glows which seemed to grace the cover of every issue of Omni magazine and were also endemic to every single computer animation project freshly broadcast from the cable access station circa 1985. He takes snippets from these videos and loops them into mantras of a woman affectionately displaying the new fangled piece of technology known as as compact disc, an overlapping series of neon hexagons floating freely on blackened backdrop, spiral stairstepping patterns of glowing squares descending to oblivion, and an ultra-cheesy rainbow bridge wavering towards an gleaming city in the distance. There's one snippet which seems to be culled from a Hipgnosis video, although it's one we're not familiar with; but it's got many of the signatures of Hipgnosis -- a psychosexual reconfiguration of the human body (here a woman's hands seductively caress each other while water pours from above almost as if coming from the palms of her hands) and barren Dali-esque landscapes cobbled into modern architecture.
Like his Betrayed In The Octagon LP for No Fun, Lopatin constructs a soundtrack that is equal parts John Carpenter soundtrack, Richard Pinhas arppegiation, and Klaus Schulze cosmic tapestry. His glissandos of analogue synth bubble and glide with a cybernetic optimism that the world is going to be a much better place through the pursuit of technology. Lopatin does include two numbers based on samples from an '80s pop tune, sounding much like an Ariel Pink song both in its no-fi production and unsettled sentimentality.
A weird and wonderful collection! And yes, it's limited to something like 100 copies!!

OPETH Lamentations: Live At Shepherd's Bush Empire 2003 (Music For Nations) dvd 14.98

OSTROWSKI, ERIC Cyanonide (Jyrk) 3" dvd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another in the Jyrk series of ultra limited 3" dvd-r's, this one from Eric Ostrowski, who is probably best known as half of the Portland violin / guitar duo Noggin, but who also works some eye popping magic with film, hand painting the individual frames of the film, with bright colors, striking patterns, dense textures, all morphing and changing shape and color in the blink of an eye, as the film runs at normal speed, and the painted frames, blur into kaleidoscopic swirls, almost like someone combined a microscope and a kaleidoscope, and filmed the tiniest inner workings of everyday objects. Three distinct movements, the first, a continuously morphing series of colors and patterns, almost like video feedback but organic, like the different inks were sentient and interacting with each other, the second is much more geometric and plays like a Mondrian come to life, the third, more blurred colors and shifting textures.
All to the sound of Ostrowski's abstract compositions, from whirling fields of pink noise, delicate squalls of hiss and static rife with buried melodies, sort of like a soft focus Merzbow, to strange tangled string sections, looped into hypnotic intertwined patterns, to the ominous atonal thrum and cacophony of what sounds like an orchestra tuning up.
Packaged in a mini 3" plastic DVD case, with full color artwork.
LIMITED TO 90 COPIES!!!! Already out of print, these are the last copies ever...

OSWALD, JOHN Chronophotic (Ohm Editions) dvd 17.98

OUTKAST The Videos (Arista) dvd 16.98

OVAL OvalDNA (Shitkatapult) cd+dvd 21.00
Oval's 94Diskont still ranks as one of the most gorgeous, emotional and lush and lovely electronic music records we've ever heard. Oval mainman Markus Popp arranging a symphony of glitches and skipping digital sound into something impossibly organic and beautiful. For whatever reason, around the turn of the century, Popp seemingly hung it up, only to return almost a decade later with a new record, and a new sound. With this first new release, an ep called Oh, Popp offered up something that sounded like a proper rock band, gone was the pure glitch and experimental electronic collage, and in its place was something that sounded more like some strange post rock / free jazz hybrid, which weirdly enough sounded more like something that should be on Thrill Jockey. Still rife with glitch and jagged edits, but definitely a strange new direction. Next came O, which positioned itself as the perfect meeting point of this new band-like Oval, and the Oval of old, and we have to say we dug it quite a bit. And now it seems like Popp must be re-energized cuz here we are not more than a year later, with a whole new full length, and yet again, the sound has shifted, in one respect, more toward the warm liquid soundscaping of those early records, but with hint of nineties IDM in the mix, the result is a record that shifts from swirling contemplative glitched out drift, to stuttery, propulsive groove, albeit those grooves assembled from the same strange elements, resulting in a bastardized electronica, that even in that more 'groovy' state, could be no one but Oval. Popp's new sound palette continues to amaze as well, a veritable symphony of clicks and chitters, of creaks and bleeps, strange synth sounds, and what sounds like heavily processed, but proper recorded drums, warm chordal whirs, haunting melodies, lush textures, the sound brittle and crunchy one second, hushed and lush the next, with an attention to detail that's staggering, yet even as meticulously crafter and deftly assembled, the music sounds alive, and emotional, and the more we listen to it, on headphones especially, the more we're sucked in, and utterly transported.
Accompanying the cd is a second disc, a DVD, but not to be played in a DVD player, instead, loaded with extras, including videos, a ton of bonus tracks, a TV special, extensive liner notes (which are also in the booklet) from David Toop, Atsushi Sasaki, Minoru Hatanaka as well as Popp himself, not to mention a whole library of Oval sounds, which one can use to make your own OvalMusic, and there's a link in the packaging to the Shitkatapult site, where you can download OvalDNA software as well!
MPEG Stream: "Quiro (Oval Post-Ovalcommers)"
MPEG Stream: "Kasino (Pre-O)"
MPEG Stream: "Tweakk (Pre_Commers)"
MPEG Stream: "Australasia (Pre-O)"
MPEG Stream: "Credit Line (Post-O)"

OXBOW Love That's Last (Hydra Head) cd + dvd 14.98
Rock and roll as a raw nerve art form, that's the intense Oxbow aethetic... a band that dares you to listen, much less attend one of their shows. Avant garde yet drawn to swampy roots, Oxbow's approach is both intellectual and primal at the same time, these men channeling psychic and physical distress into their music, so much tension and release it's disturbing to behold... This brilliant and unique Bay Area outfit has been going strong against all odds for almost two decades now (!) and with each passing year seem to gain a wider audience, despite never ever being a part of any scene or trend. Not one that would help them, anyway. Except maybe now, that they've seemingly been accepted into the Neurosis/Isis axis of arty post-metal noisecore, releasing their last full-length An Evil Heat 4 or 5 years ago on the Neurot label and now (finally!) reappearing on Hydra Head with this cd+dvd package. Love That's Last isn't exactly the new Oxbow opus we've being waiting for, since it's not an all-new album but rather a collection, complete with commentary and lyrics in the booklet, of unreleased live cuts, improv tracks, compilation rarities, and a few "greatest hits" from their hard to find early albums. You'll certainly get a representative serving of their cathartic ugly/pretty rock action here, with all of Oxbow's characteristic Bonham beats, slide guitar skronk, droning ambience, and of course the distinctive mewling/screaming baby monster vocalizations of scary front man/fighting man Eugene Robinson. Highlights (and that's what all this is, really) range from their infamous "Insylum" duet with Marianne Faithful from 1996's Serenade In Red to the 1998 live recording "Glimmer Bird" to the prototypical expression of Oxbow anguish that is "Yoke" from their 1989 Fuckfest debut. Ten tracks in all... you too might be crying like a baby when it's over. Oxbow would be happy about that.
The DVD portion includes 5.1 mixes of a handful of Oxbow classics, plus filmmaker Christian Anthony's Oxbow documentary Music For Adults (previously available here at AQ when it was a dvd-r release) with outtakes too, AND a bunch of additional live footage of the band in Belgium and San Francisco. Here's what we said about Music For Adults before: "Now you can vicariously join Oxbow for their summer 2002 European tour. Even better than actually being there, you can enjoy their shows and tour hijinx without running any risk of Oxbow singer Eugene getting you in a headlock (and pulling down your pants, as happens to at least one unhappy Scotsman in this film). The live footage captures the Oxbow rock machine in all their twisted, bawling glory, while the 'behind-the-scenes' stuff will show you that they're actually all really nice guys!"
So, Oxbow fans NEED this. And it's obviously the first thing the prospective Oxbow fan needs to pick up as well. Hopefully that's just what's gonna happen. Recommended as always with all Oxbow product!
MPEG Stream: "Insylum"
MPEG Stream: "Is That What Sleep Looks Like?"
MPEG Stream: "Pretty Bird"

OXBOW / CHRISTIAN ANTHONY (DIRECTOR) Music For Adults: A Film About A Band Called Oxbow dvd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
You know Oxbow, our favorite cult, avant-garde, psycho-sexual hard rock outfit from right here in San Francisco? Well now thanks to filmmaker Christian Anthony, now you can vicariously join Oxbow for their summer 2002 European tour. Even better than actually being there, you can enjoy their shows and tour hijinx without running any risk of Oxbow singer Eugene getting you in a headlock (and pulling down your pants, as happens to at least one unhappy Scotsman in this film). The live footage captures the Oxbow rock machine in all their twisted, bawling glory, while the 'behind-the-scenes' stuff will show you that they're actually all really nice guys! The sound is fine for the performances, but sometimes you'll have to turn up your TV to make out the interview portions due to unavoidable background noise. It's a DVD-R, homemade production but totally pro in filmic execution. Definitely one for Oxbow fans, to tide you over until they play your town again (unlikely unless you live in SF or in Europe) and 'til their next album comes out (rumored to be a Hydrahead release in 2005). Folks unacquainted with Oxbow might be mystified, but if you've got the right stuff you might just become a fan too. Check it out...

PAN SONIC Kuvaputki (Cargo Records) dvd 15.98

PAPER RAD Taking Out The Trash (Load) dvd 14.98
Warning: NOT FOR EPILEPTICS!!! What's probably the best-yet dvd release from the Load label brings together a bunch of animations from the Paper Rad comics/video/art collective, whose hyper-kinetic, colorful aesthetic relies heavily upon what must be a mega-collection of childhood pop-culture memorabilia, y'know, stickers and stuffed animals and those plastic trolls with the dayglo hair and Muppet Babies and so forth. Animated with intense strobe-effects and eyeball-searing hues, in constantly-moving symmetrical patterns reminiscent of Eastern mandalas, these graphics are some seriously psychedelic shit. LSD for your DVD player. So awesome, yet a bit overwhelming after a while, which is why it's nice that part way along the the viewer is offered a bit of a breather in the form of a very deadpan, nonsensical narrative, wherein things slow down to examine the lives of three very odd flatmates, living in what may or may not be the middle of nuclear Armageddon. In the context of the rest of this disc, this segment almost seems "normal." Stepping up the pace again, other highlights include music vids for The Usaisamonster and Lightning Bolt side project Wizardzz, both bands whose spazzed music fits perfectly with this stuff. Highly recommended for those who'd like to try a potent dose of ocular insanity, but again, bewarned, potentially seizure-inducing!

PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC 1976 Live Mothership Connection (Mojo Working / Shout Factory) dvd 14.98
Tear the roof off the mother...

PAVEMENT Slow Century (Matador) dvd 26.00

PELICAN After The Ceiling Cracked (Hydra Head) dvd + 3" cd 17.98
For an instrumental metallic post rock combo, made up of pretty ordinary looking dudes, Pelican seem, at least compared to their peers, to spend a lot of time being filmed for dvds. Okay that may be a bit of an exaggeration, this is probably dvd number three, but three feels like a lot. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but visually, 4 dudes in jeans is not necessarily fodder for riveting visuals. With Pelican, and most bands, it has much to do with the energy of being there, the sweat and the blood, the physicality of the sound, the deafening volume. Seeing it on the screen isn't always the same. That said, we find ourselves digging Pelican live on dvd. A lot. Much of it has to do with the music, and Pelican just keep getting better, more expansive, more epic, and way less metal. Which in this case is a very good thing. Their vibe continues to draw heavily from nineties mathrock, the soaring melodies, the churning riffage, the complex arrangements, they're like Godspeed, if they released records on Touch And Go. And while their sound references much of what came before, it helps them standout from the way too crowded field of Neur-Isis clones.
So what you have here is a live set from London in 2005, as well as various performances from various locations over the last 3 or 4 years as well as various interview segments and a 'music video'. The London show looks and sounds the best, obviously it was meant to be recorded, and it's a scorcher, the sound thick and heavy, the band rocking out wildly, limbs flailing, head banging, the crowd bouncing and weaving, The songs sound as good as ever. And again, they sound less like a band that spends its time playing metal fests, and more like a band you'd see in some packed sweaty little rock club, who already sound like they should be playing somewhere bigger. They do plenty of favorites, but it's good to see them played live, given new life, and it's interesting to see the songs actually played. A whole different vibe than on headphones.
The other live stuff is good, but the sound varies wildly, as does the lighting, but it's all pretty cool. And the interview footage will convince you of what we already know from numerous Pelican visits to aQ, that besides being a pretty bad ass band, they're some of the nicest guys ever.
Also included is the video for "Autumn Into Summer", the song itself, dreamy and mathy and post rocky, only really getting slightly metal near the middle with some soaring guitar harmonies and double kick, but the video is awesome, animated, and haunting, intercut with home movies, and strange super 8 footage. In addition to that stuff, there's also a photo gallery with tons of photos from various shows and tours.
But even if you're not one for dvds, there's still a reason to pick this up. Included with the dvd is a 3" cd that contains both tracks from the recent super limited Pink Mammoth 10". The first is the title track, epic and majestic and major key, the guitars thick, a throaty roar, the drums simple and massive, heavy but pretty, a definite Jesu vibe for sure, the track occasionally blissing out into stretches of mathy nineties style indie rock, albeit way heavier and way radder. At moments things also veer into Fucking Champs territory, but for the most part we hear some gloriously bastardized and metallized version of Polvo or Pitchblende. The track ends with a super shimmery outro/coda, all swoopy and soft focus, super spare drumming, spacy FX and weird far away production... yet another argument for these guys being one of the finest purveyors of metallic post rock going. The second is a reworked and remixed blend of another couple old Pelican songs, courtesy of Mr. Prefuse 73. A fuzzy expanse of glitchy acoustic guitars, sounding like Oval mixing some super minimal folky prog track, a laid back dreamy electronic folk, that eventually builds until an almost funky rhythm kicks in, simple handclaps laid over glistening harmonics and lilting minor key guitars, more and more fuzzed out as it progresses, a blown out sheen not unlike everything was dipped in a pixelated Fennesz style gritty guitar wash.
The third track though is brand new, or at least previously unreleased as far as we know. It's another version of "Pink Mammoth", but this time Pelican is joined by the band These Arms Are Snakes, and while this version is quite similar to the original, it's much heavier, double drums, double everything, but also more blissy and washed out, with soaring vocals buried way down in the mix, the rhythm more loping, the sound way more blown out and in the red, but just as epic and dreamlike, if not more so.
As with all Hydra Head stuff, the packaging is amazing. Full color sleeve in a dvd case, thick matte paper full color oversized booklet, double disc holders, 3"cd mounted on top of the dvd, the whole thing housed in a matte slipcover, adorned with super complex blue on black amoeboid designs. Nice!

PELICAN City Of Echoes (Daymare) cd + dvd 32.00
In the overcrowded world of metallic post rock, or post metal, or whatever the heck you want to call it, there seem to be two forces constantly battling it out, Pelican and Isis. But it's hardly a battle, as both bands are friends, share a label, and share a sound too. And the interesting thing is they both seem to be developing in a similar fashion. Each band, in their own way, and at their own pace, seems to be phasing metal out of their sound. Not completely. But where Isis once sounded a LOT like Neurosis, they now sound much more like a post rock band with metal bits here and there. Expansive and epic and only heavy to balance their ultra melodic side. And while Pelican seemed to be on a serious metal bender there for a while, this new record, while indeed rife with metallic moments, finds them at their post rockiest, and we have to say it suits them.
From the opening track, with its loping minor key math rock intro, to it's downtuned metal chug middle, to a killer harmony guitar / double kick bridge, the band never go all out metal, even if it might sound like it on the surface. Sure, we're loving the occasional flurry of maniacal kick drum, and the occasional Fucking Champs like Carcass riffery, but it never completely transforms the sound into pure metal. Metal plated maybe, but regardless, it sounds amazing!
Pelican nowadays sound like the very heaviest band you loved in the nineties, come back to life, supercharged and metallized. We hear lots of Slint, Bastro, Polvo, Shellac, Don Caballero, June Of 44 and bands like that, in the riffs, the arrangements, the melodies, which is fine with us. In fact, a lot of City Of Echoes sounds like a heavier Explosions In The Sky, who obviously owe a great debt to the loud-quiet-loud math rockers of days gone by. Sure it's metal enough to hit the spot for that sensitive metalhead in need of a melodic instru-metal fix, and yeah it may be heavy, and it may be metallic, but c'mon, this is indie rock, a kick ass, heavy as fuck indie rock maybe, but still...
While they last, we have the limited Japanese import Daymare double disc version of City Of Echoes, much like the fancy version of Jesu's Conqueror we carry instead of the domestic Hydra Head version. Ultra deluxe packaging, gorgeous design, thick 6 panel digipak, spot varnish gloss on matte finish, Japanese obi, Japanese liner notes, but most importantly, a bonus dvd of the band performing live at the Knitting Factory in L.A., playing mostly new songs but a few Pelican classics like "March To The Sea". The dvd looks great, sounds great, and unlike some past performances we've seen, the band are on fire -- they've always sounded great, but they didn't always move that much, but here the band are super active on stage, jumping around, swaying, head banging, which makes it way more intense and fun to watch. And it's cool to see the new songs played live too...
MPEG Stream: "Bliss In Concrete"
MPEG Stream: "City Of Echoes"