OVAL Process (Zomba) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Import vinyl version of the newest Oval. Comes with a bonus 7" not included with its domestic counterpart. We're probably out of it already...

OVAL Systemisch (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Still stands as one of Oval's best!

OVAL Wohnton (Ata Tak) cd 14.98
The very first album by this German electronica duo, available again. If you liked their Mille Plateaux/Thrill Jockey releases, you will find more of the same lush sounds of skipping and otherwise abused cd's here, but there's also singing! It's probably good that they gave up on that, but there's still some great music on here...

OVE-NAXX Bullets From Habikino City HxCx (Soot) cd 10.98
Ove-Naxx is not only the first non-Rupture project to be released on DJ/ Rupture's Soot label, but only the second release since Rupture's debut "Gold Teeth Thief" -- almost two years ago. If you suspected that such selective behavior from Rupture would signify a high level of quality control at Soot... you would be right on the money. "Bullets From Habikino...", the work of an up and coming Japanese artist known only as Ove-Naxx (or is it actually Rupture himself under a new name as someone we know recently surmised?), is a brutally beautiful 30 minute drill and bass opus. As varied in source material as Rupture's mixes, as dark and pummelling as Scud's dancehall blowouts, and as manic as any Wobbly channel surf freakout. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Wabisabi Violence"
MPEG Stream: "Warte"

OVERSTREET, THE REV. LOUIS An Evening With The Rev. Louis Overstreet (Mississippi) lp 15.98
MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!! MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!! MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!!
The above is of course for the benefit of the legions of Mississippi obsessives, that seems to be growing with each and every release. Fans who will buy anything and everything Mississippi, whether it's blues, or gospel, or world music, whether it's African or Greek, classic New Zealand pop, or legendary underground Portland Punk. Which is totally understandable, the guys at Mississippi have great taste, and besides their incredible compilations, and unearthed rarities, they also have a knack for picking out old records that folks have been DYING to get on vinyl. But even if you're not a Mississippi obsessive, this here is well worth checking out. And may be just the disc to convert you to the cult of Mississippi...
Here we have a kick ass gospel record from 1963, originally reissued on Arhoolie, now available on Mississippi, ON VINYL. And while we're not super well versed in gospel music, we do dig what we've heard, but very little of what we've heard sounds like the Rev. Louis Overstreet. It's festive and inspirational, but at the same time it's super rocking. Most of the tracks collected here are relentless garage gospel grooves, the guitar and drums locked into killer jams, the guitar occasionally pealing off some wild licks, but for the most part offering up a jangly twangy strum, the congregation clapping in time, and hooting and hollering. The testifying is minimal, and when there are vocals, they are alternately crooned and howled, The Rev.'s voice is gritty and soulful, but even when he's singing, it's the groove, irresistible and unstoppable and most certainly inspired. It does slow down here and there, and gets all super bluesy and soulful, but for the most part, An Evening With is some seriously rollicking and rocking praise-the-Lord good time gospel rhythm and blues!
Probably would have been a lot easier to get us to go to church when we were younger if it sounded like this!

OYE, ERLEND DJ-Kicks (K7) cd 17.98
Hey kids it's Karaoke Oye! Erland's remixing and singing atop seventeen of his fave songs to house-y backing tracks including ones by The Rapture, Cornelius, Royskopp, Phoenix, Justus Kohncke and many by the man himself. He sounds more than a little bit like Jamiroquai bustin' a groove. This is very much in the same dance-y vein as his solo album from last year. Now, for those familiar with us here at AQ, you know very well our feelings about 'dance music.' Hey, don't be mistaken... sure, we like to shake our booties every now and then, just not to such faceless formulaic fodder. This cd just makes us wish he'd take a breather from the dancefloor and get back to his dreamy folk-pop bliss band Kings Of Convenience.
MPEG Stream: "Drop"
MPEG Stream: "If I Ever Feel Better"

OYE, ERLEND Unrest (Astralwerks) cd 17.98
Greet the solo album from Kings Of Convenience's singer Erlend Oye. We've had folks asking about this one for months! What was anticipated by many was the incredibly mellow lushness of KOC's Quiet Is The New Loud and/or the follow-up remix collection called Versus. Instead, this comes across somewhat disappointingly as Oye singing over fluffy 80s-ish electronic dance tracks. Imagine a quiet, sweet, folky lad singing for Erasure. Written collaboratively and recorded over a one year period in ten different cities around the globe with the likes of Prefuse 73, Schneider TM, Mr. Velcro Fastener, Metro Area's Morgan Geist, Soviet, Kompis, Minizza, Kilogram, Bjorn Torske. With that in mind, it's surprising how little distinction there is from track to track. Everything is super smooth. I have to admit though that halfway through Unrest, I was struck with the urge to revisit Quiet Is The New Loud rather than continue listening to this. It's just seems to be a more engaging setting for his voice. Nonetheless, fans of the laidback electronic danciness of groups like Aluminum Group or Kruder And Dorfmeister (or their offshoots Peace Orchestra and Tosca) might take a shine to Oye and co. Note: this domestic pressing has a bonus 'hidden' track not available on the import.
RealAudio clip: "Sheltered Life"
RealAudio clip: "Symptom Of Disease"

OZMADAWN Rise Of The Moth (Chambara) cd-r 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've been raving about krautdronedrifters Expo 70 quite a bit around these parts, and you all have been equally smitten it seems. Their blissful spaced out meditations, looped guitars and thick washes of outerspace shimmer pushing all our krautrock and doomdrone buttons.
But imagine Expo 70 with a bit more muscle, more grit, more guitars, more synths, just... MORE. A bit darker, a bit heavier, more buzz and more layers, less blissy and more propulsive. Imagine almost if you can, a more metal Expo 70, and maybe you'd end up with something like Ozmadawn.
We highlighted a disc by an SF band called Horseflesh a short while ago, a killer slab of post industrial krautdrone, channeling the German masters, but also more recent floorcore like Wolf Eyes, Yellow Swans, Skaters, etc. Well, the man behind Horseflesh just so happens to be half of the duo known as Ozmadawn, and on Rise Of The Moth, he and his partner take up from where Horseflesh left off, jettisoning some of the washed out shimmer and industrial crunch for something much more thick and corrosive, blown out and druggy, dense throbbing pulsing blasts of buzzing snarling layered krautdrone nirvana. Falling somewhere between Popol Vuh and SUNNO))), Hawkwind and Vulture Club, gloriously trance inducing outerspace hypno-heaviness. Not to say there aren't blissed out moments, there definitely are, the band unfurls super dreamy synthscapes, that drift and pulse, that feel like they trail off into forever, but those tranquil stretches always eventually seem to build into something equally hypnotic but way more fierce, soon overtaken by coruscating blackdrone guitars, and all manner of thick buzz and oscillating whir, somehow retaining the same sense of mesmer, but within a much more dense and aggressive framework. Simultaneously thick and heavy, soft and space-y, murky and metallic, drone-y and dreamy.
Packaged in cool hand screenprinted digipaks, pressed on black cd-r's, with a screen printed cardstock insert, and each with a unique 'recycled' Ozmadawn sticker.
MPEG Stream: "Entering The Atmosphere"
MPEG Stream: "Planet Forbidden"

ø (MIKA VAINIO) Kantamoinen (Sahko) cd 21.00
To be completely honest, this record was released well over a year ago; but for reasons not known to us, Kantamoinen has only now just been made available here in the US. Ø is the work of Mika Vainio, the Finnish electronic artist who hails from the techno-brutalist duo Pan Sonic and has produced some amazing solo records for Touch. It's been a very long time since Vainio has taken up the Ø moniker, best known for producing the seminal Metri album back in the mid-'90s. Where Metri was a minimalist techno masterpiece of phase shifting arpeggiations of fragile electric tones topping skeletal 808 rhythms, Kantamoinen is far closer to the albums Vainio recorded for Touch, where shivering swathes of arctic ambience and abstracted tone poems emerge from Vainio's sleepless fits of mad-scientist energy. Occasionally, Vainio grounds his plasma and gamma-ray experiments on slow-motion and very sparse electro rhythms, with little of the swagger and groove heard in the Pan Sonic drum machine attacks. Rather, the rhythm on Kantamoinen is a sleepy affair, barely holding the gravitational pull on his weightless electronics. If it weren't for all of those Touch releases in between Metri and this, Kantamoinen wouldn't make much sense at all; but in the context of Vainio's catalogue, Kantamoinen is another wonderful and weird piece of electronic music.
MPEG Stream: "Miekkakala"
MPEG Stream: "Monneista Viimeinen"

ø (MIKA VAINIO) Metri (Sahko) cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fortunately kept back in circulation with a little more regularity, this is the first (and perhaps best) album from Mika Vainio. As with his work in Pan Sonic, Vainio's techno minimalism holds a crystalline purity due to the use of several handbuilt random noise generators. Vainio situates these seemingly delicate high-end pulses within Steve Reich-esque phase shifting and then sets down rigid techno structure similar to early Plastikman or even the Profan sound of Wolfgang Voigt. Hypnotic techno achieving the drone supreme.

ø (MIKA VAINIO) Oleva (Sahko) cd 23.00
If you happen to be reading this review online and you get some unkempt bit of jibberish for the artist's name, this is Mika Vaino using his moniker of just an O with Slash through it. While the ascii may come out all screwy, we've been told that the correct pronunciation is "ohm." Anyway, Mika Vainio is the Finnish electronic genius who began recording in 1993 under this moniker with a handful of absolutely essential singles matching the equally essential Metri cd from 1994. Along with Ilpo Vaisanen, Vainio is also responsible for the equally Arctic but considerably more muscular techno project Pan Sonic (nee Panasonic). The records he's best known for embarked on a hyper minimal techno of 4/4 pulses smashing through phase-shifting patterns from his self-built synthesizers and so called "complex sound generators." Recently, the rigidity of Vainio's techno architecture has given way to slinkier grooves of variable breakbeats and plenty of excursions into electro-acoustic abstraction. As cool as his devices are, he's never been one to muster anything truly exceptional without being grounded upon rhythmic principles; and for the most part, Vainio delivers the beat. And he delivers a mighty fine album of frozen electronica. The tracks are dominated by very groovy breakbeats with pristine electronic melodies, frigid ambient gestures and descending icy tones with slinky basslines. It's certainly more captivating than Alva Noto or Ryoji Ikeda, but coming from a similar place. Vainio also offers a mighty fine cover of Pink Floyd's "Set The Controls To The Heart Of The Sun" with the vocals cast as an downer electroid riff laced with acid squiggle. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "S-Bahn"
MPEG Stream: "Set The Controls To The Heart Of The Sun"
MPEG Stream: "U-Bahn"

ø (MIKA VAINIO) Oleva (Sahko) 2lp 32.00
If you happen to be reading this review online and you get some unkempt bit of jibberish for the artist's name, this is Mika Vaino using his moniker of just an O with Slash through it. While the ascii may come out all screwy, we've been told that the correct pronunciation is "ohm." Anyway, Mika Vainio is the Finnish electronic genius who began recording in 1993 under this moniker with a handful of absolutely essential singles matching the equally essential Metri cd from 1994. Along with Ilpo Vaisanen, Vainio is also responsible for the equally Arctic but considerably more muscular techno project Pan Sonic (nee Panasonic). The records he's best known for embarked on a hyper minimal techno of 4/4 pulses smashing through phase-shifting patterns from his self-built synthesizers and so called "complex sound generators." Recently, the rigidity of Vainio's techno architecture has given way to slinkier grooves of variable breakbeats and plenty of excursions into electro-acoustic abstraction. As cool as his devices are, he's never been one to muster anything truly exceptional without being grounded upon rhythmic principles; and for the most part, Vainio delivers the beat. And he delivers a mighty fine album of frozen electronica. The tracks are dominated by very groovy breakbeats with pristine electronic melodies, frigid ambient gestures and descending icy tones with slinky basslines. It's certainly more captivating than Alva Noto or Ryoji Ikeda, but coming from a similar place. Vainio also offers a mighty fine cover of Pink Floyd's "Set The Controls To The Heart Of The Sun" with the vocals cast as an downer electroid riff laced with acid squiggle. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "S-Bahn"
MPEG Stream: "Set The Controls To The Heart Of The Sun"
MPEG Stream: "U-Bahn"

ø (MIKA VAINIO) Tulkinta (Sahko) cd 24.00
Ø is one of the many monikers of Mika Vainio, who is one of the figureheads of the Finnish techno scene, having first recorded in 1991 and forming the group Panasonic in 1993 (now referred to as Pan Sonic for obvious reasons) "Tulkinta" compiles the now impossible to find tracks off
of Sahko 001 & Sahko 002 onto CD + 6 unreleased tracks. All of the Vainio projects have involved a number of one of a kind electronic devices which generate crystalline tones and "pure dream-crackle" (according to Forced Exposure) within phase shifted Techno format, emulating the Reichian experiments within an electronica format. This is an essential listen for anyone interested in the 90s vangarde of electronica.

Ø + NOTO Mikro Makro (Raster Music) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Beautiful hyperminimal electronica between Ø (aka Mika Vainio, who is one third of Panasonic and runs the Sähkö label in Finland) doing glacial drones from his unique hand crafted tone generators, and Noto making abstract clicks and clacks much like Oval's skipping discs and gum smacking. Not to be missed!

Ø + NOTO Wohltemperiert (Raster-Noton) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While "Mikro Makro" gives the false impression that Mika Vainio (aka Ø and half of Pan Sonic) and Carsten Nicolai (Noto) actually collaborated together for that album, "Wohltemperiert" is technically the first documented collaboration between these two figureheads of the minimalist electronica pulse. Mostly recorded in the winter of 1998 during an extended stay in New York, Vainio and Nicolai did not employ any of their own gear, instead using equipment provided by their friend Lary Seven.
While both artists have made previous works that openly explored the clean schematics of archetectural forms within a crystalline techno, they have mostly done away with the archetypes of purist techno on "Wohltemperiert." It's quite possible that Nicolai has subjugated himself underneath Vainio's recent predilections for much more private procedures of coaxing little accidents out of mis-configured analogue equipment and ill-grounded cables. Much like the preceding Vainio albums "Onko" and "Kajo," "Wohltemperiert" ripples with buzzing electrical drones, twin-tone melodic vibrations, the occasional glisten of a technotic pulse, and vast extended crackles, resulting in an album that is surprisingly dark for these two. Take away much of the death / abject imagry from the industrial masterpieces by MB or SPK, and you come close to the wintery bleak atmospheres found here.
"Wohltemperiert" is a welcome diversion from the Raster-Noton sound, which has been running the risk of self-parody and self-reflexivity as of recent.
RealAudio clip: "Mur"
RealAudio clip: "Mur Ruckkehr"
RealAudio clip: "Susssonor"

PACCHU, FRICARA Stories Of The Old (Fonal) 7"+book 17.98
FINNISH MUSIC FREEKS HEADS UP!!! A brand new release from a name you may not recognize, but you definitely know some of the bands he spent time in: Avarus, Anaksimandros, Maniac's Dream...
Fricara Pacchu may have a pretty illustrious Finnish underground musical resume, but weirdly enough, he began his musical career as a rapper, though you'd be hard pressed to tell from this, his debut solo 7".
And while you can definitely hear some of the above mentioned bands in these three songs, the sound is something else entirely, much more jangly and poppy, three little chunks of druggy, dreamy psychedelic confection. The opening track has a bit of a Krautrocky groove, some Eastern sounding sitar-like buzz, and swirling clouds of trippy FX, but they're wrapped around some sunshine-y jangle, it's like Avarus playing Olivia Tremor Control. The second track is more lo-fi and druggy, a gorgeously plodding tripped out drift of woozy piano, still MORE effects, spidery guitars, all coated in morning dew and dappled with sunlight.
The flipside is a bit less poppy, a sort of noisy soft industrial, lots of smeared grind and clank, but piled atop lovely melodies and hazy ambience, and distant moaning guitars, and with a strange staticky rhythm holding it all together. It definitely reminds us of our favorite Finnish free folk, but also like the Storm Bugs or some lost recording you might hear on one of those deluxe Vinyl On Demand reissues. A gorgeous slab of damaged experimental psychpop jangle, we can hardly wait for a full length.
The packaging is extra special. Included with the full color sleeve is a thick eye popping book of Pacchu's artwork, 7" x 4", stapled but on thick matte paper, drawings, collages, photos, squiggles, snakes, motorcycles, garish colors, intricate patterns, negative images and more. Folks who dug the Glomp books of Finnish art will definitely dig this too, and the images in the booklet seem like what you might see if you closed your eyes and played the record. The perfect visual analogue for Pacchu's druggy trippy soundworld.
Funnily enough, both Allan and Andee independently reviewed this, each unaware that the other was also writing a review. Whoops. The above is Andee's, below is Allan's for comparison (turns out their duplication of effort was remarkably similar, which is as it should be we suppose!):
First off, that cover art makes this pretty hard to resist. A simple painting of a weird-looking furry cat sitting next to a daisy... with the artist's incongruously black-metal suggestive logo floating overhead. That this 3 track, 11 minute 7" is from Finland, and on the ever-reliable Fonal label, is also a good thing. Fricara Pacchu being a member of such illustrious underground Finnish outfits as Anaksimandros, Avarus, and Maniacs Dream is further reason to be interested. But the proof's really in the pudding, or in our business, the music, so let's take a listen....
First track "Bianca's Beachparty" is an uptempo, uplifting utterly psychedelic instrumental home-recorded techno-disco number that immediately makes us think BOREDOMS. Crunchy, burbling synths zig and zag over a steady, insistent rhythm. Magic. We're sold. The other two tracks, "Upsidedown Wind" and "Text-Message From Beyond", are equally cool, woozy instrumental space-outs, not quite so "techno" tho. And what's also pretty cool is the 42-page, full-color booklet of Pacchu's cartoon/comic/collage art that comes with this 7"! Lots of insane eyeball-joy to be had here. If you liked those Glomp books we've listed, you'll dig this. This 7" package is presumably limited, we have just a few and may or may not be able to get more...

PACHEKO Tryouts / Bi-Polar Bear (Lo Dubs) 12" 4.98

PADDED CELL Night Must Fall (DC Recordings) cd 22.00
Time for the noirishly groovy, '70s prog and funk infected, jazzily inflected debut full length from the UK's sinister, stylish Padded Cell. What time is that? About 2am maybe. Night must fall, indeed it must.
Those of you that picked up that excellent Milky Disco comp on Lo last year oughtta remember the track "Konkorde Lafayette", which also appears here in edited form. Padded Cell's contribution was a highlight of that comp, which also featured Studio, Sorcerer, Quiet Village and fellow DC artists The Emperor Machine, among others.
Almost entirely instrumental (there's only a couple of vocal cuts), generally dark and creepy and sometimes bleepy, Night Must Fall slow-burns through slinky, cinematic Goblinesque grooves that bring in some no-wave sax blat, and plenty of vintage analog synth zapp and bass brapp. Padded Cell certainly nods to Italo disco... and also the "disco not disco" NYC '80s downtown punk-funk scene - in fact Dennis Young of Liquid Liquid is this album's propulsive guest drummer! Imagine a spooky and suspenseful John Carpenter soundtrack gone dubby disco... Very cool, so cool in fact we had to import these directly from the label in England.
PS. we also got this on vinyl but unfortunately they all came with fairly badly bent corners...we'll try to get replacements but if you can't wait and want the wax, let us know...
MPEG Stream: "Savage Skulls"
MPEG Stream: "City Of Lies"
MPEG Stream: "Konkorde Lafayette (edit)"

PADDED CELL Night Must Fall (DC Recordings) 2lp 23.00
DC sent us new covers (the first batch were a bit bent) so now we can list the vinyl of this! Here's the highlight review we ran of the cd version last list:
Time for the noirishly groovy, '70s prog and funk infected, jazzily inflected debut full length from the UK's sinister, stylish Padded Cell. What time is that? About 2am maybe. Night must fall, indeed it must.
Those of you that picked up that excellent Milky Disco comp on Lo last year oughtta remember the track "Konkorde Lafayette", which also appears here in edited form. Padded Cell's contribution was a highlight of that comp, which also featured Studio, Sorcerer, Quiet Village and fellow DC artists The Emperor Machine, among others.
Almost entirely instrumental (there's only a couple of vocal cuts), generally dark and creepy and sometimes bleepy, Night Must Fall slow-burns through slinky, cinematic Goblinesque grooves that bring in some no-wave sax blat, and plenty of vintage analog synth zapp and bass brapp. Padded Cell certainly nods to Italo disco... and also the "disco not disco" NYC '80s downtown punk-funk scene - in fact Dennis Young of Liquid Liquid is this album's propulsive guest drummer! Imagine a spooky and suspenseful John Carpenter soundtrack gone dubby disco... Very cool, so cool in fact we had to import these directly from the label in England.
MPEG Stream: "Savage Skulls"
MPEG Stream: "City Of Lies"
MPEG Stream: "Konkorde Lafayette (edit)"

PADDED CELL Word Of Mouth (DC Recordings) 12" 11.98

PALEFACE Rinse: 05 (Rinse) cd 21.00

PAN AMERICAN The River Made No Sound (Kranky) 2lp 15.98
More soothing, minimal atmospheric washes with deeeep bass thuds from Mark Nelson (also of Labradford). We've had a number of people come in lately asking for "relaxing music", and well, if any of those folks are listening now, they can be assured that Pan American's follow-up to their lovely 360 Business/360 Bypass is the perfect sonic relief they've been seeking. Spacious and airily ambient. No guarantees, but these 55 minutes of calm might be just what you need if your day takes a stressful turn.

PAN AMERICAN / JANEK SCHAEFER (Fat Cat) 12" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
So far this series of split singles which has features nothing but gems from Gescom, V/VM, Foehn, and Third Eye Foundation strikes gold again with a split between Pan American and Janek Shaefer. Pan American is the solo project from Mark Nelson, the guitarist for Labradford, whose propensity for bleak Southern Gothic atmosphere could easily fit on a David Lynch score, complete with somber Fender Rhodes organ chords and dubbed out electronica. The Wire calls architect Janek Schaefer "Nelson's evil twin" as he develops noisy soundwashes constructed with a custom-built turntable which picks up every last speck of dust and magnifies them into percussive noise blasts.

PAN AMERICAN / KOMET / FISHEROFGOLD Personal Settings (Quatermass) cd 16.98
"Personal Setting" is a split release of electronica-dub from Pan American, Komet, and Fisherofgold. Mark Nelson has transformed his Pan American from a slightly electronic version of Labradford (Nelson's other project) into a VladislavPoleKitClaytonDelay dub outfit, with deep rolling basslines and off-rhythm synthetic organ stabs adding to Nelson's penchant for late-night moodiness. I wouldn't be surprised to see the next Pan American album on Mille Plateaux. Despite applying similarly long delays as Pan American does on his tracks, Komet (aka Raster Noton founder Frank Bretschneider) tightens things up with a rigid rhythmic structure amidst the dubbed out bleep pixelation. Fisherofgold offers the loosest abstraction of dub, with fluctuating Chain Reaction-ist metallic washes, amorphous basslines, and reversed granular synthesis.

PAN SONIC A (Mute) cd 14.98
In losing the 'A' from their name and assigned the missing letter as the title of their latest record (a OULIPO style fuck-you to the electronics giant), Pan Sonic (aka Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisainen) have certainly mellowed out, in favor of bleak minimal tones accompanying very downtempo beats. As their previous outings have been ear splitting documents of harsh phase shifting over hyperkinetic throbbing techno, A is surprisingly calm and melodic.

PAN SONIC A (Mute) 2lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In losing the 'A' from their name and assigned the missing letter as the title of their latest record (a OULIPO style fuck-you to the electronics giant), Pan Sonic (aka Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisainen) have certainly mellowed out, in favor of bleak minimal tones accompanying very downtempo beats. As their previous outings have been ear splitting documents of harsh phase shifting over hyperkinetic throbbing techno, A is surprisingly calm and melodic.

PAN SONIC Aaltopiiri (Mute/Blast First) cd 15.98
Pan Sonic -- the Finnish duo of Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen -- have taken up residency in Barcelona, which has made quite an impact upon the duo's electro-magnetic aesthetic. Their arctic and crystalline techno minimalism didn't staand a chance against the Barcelona sun. Heat and humidy have warmed up Pan Sonic's oscillators, random noise generators, and antique '80s drum machines causing them to vibrate with an almost mechanized clatter. Regardless of location, Pan Sonic is still in the business of manufacturing an alienated electrical field that is at times hostile, and at others, sublime. On "Aalthopiiri," the duo infuses stuttering grooves (more of skeletonized mid-'80s electro stomp than the spectral techno of their contemporaries like Thomas Brinkmann or Wolfgang Voigt) and tonal purism with an increasingly searing white hot / saw tooth buzz. Throughout the album, Pan Sonic terminates the rhythms to let the constant electric flux of their machines speak. These anti-rhythmic interludes specify just how unique the Pan Sonic sound has become by modulating in organically complex abstractions which thankfully lack all of the studied sterility of the Raster / Ritornell click.
Yet another triumph for the electron courtesy of Pan Sonic.

PAN SONIC B (Mute) 12" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Of course the single following their new album A must be titled B...where the album was a slow moving expanse of downtempo breakbeats and an icey sheen of minimalist bleeps, the single is an abusive techno blast with a the panzer march of a 303 setting the quick pace for buzzing electrostatic riffs. Sounds much closer to earlier Panasonic releases like Kulma and Vakio than to the newer stuff. And, it's of course great on 33 too!

PAN SONIC Katodivaihe / Cathodephase (Blast First) cd 14.98
In 2004, the Finnish tech-minimalist duo Pan Sonic unleashed Kesto, a massive 4cd boxset that encapsulated all of their ideas, one half focused on their style of augmenting minimalist techno with engine propelled noise, while the other half concerned itself more with stripping everything away resulting in sublimely still abstractions of electron orbits and cathode ray hum. Three years later, Pan Sonic have yet to match that body of work, even after they applied plenty of those strategies to their acclaimed collaboration with John Duncan; and in many ways, Katodivaiche is an impressive recapitulation of Kesto with the necessary fine-tunings and adjustments that continue to keep Pan Sonic at the forefront of contemporary electronica. The first track enjoys the company of Icelandic cellist Hildur Gudnadottir, whose languid notes counterpoint the clinical breakbeats shifting Pan Sonic's homage to Throbbing Gristle closer to contemporaries like Murcof or Polmo Polpo. While the next couple of tracks are Pan Sonic's trademarked blasts of concussive bomb noise exploding over low slung technotic grooves, Pan Sonic drops a dubstep number next, which should be the template for where South London should go next with that sound. Like the best tracks from Kode 9 and Burial, Pan Sonic focus on the physicality of stalking basslines while shifting layers of rhythm glide above effortlessly. Elsewhere, the phase shifting bleep and bloop which dominated the early Pan Sonic recordings return, perhaps in response to a series of minimalist techno singles released by Berlin's Sleeparchive who shamelessly / brilliantly appropriated the Pan Sonic / Plastikman sound. Altogether, it's a brilliant, if somewhat familiar sounding album from the masters of Finnish electronica.
MPEG Stream: "Virta 1"
MPEG Stream: "Hyonteisista"
MPEG Stream: "Lapevinmeri"

PAN SONIC Kesto (Mute) 4cd 36.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sometime in 2002, the Finnish techno-minimalists Pan Sonic embarked on an incredible world tour which took them to some truly exotic locations including Singapore, Tijuana, and Easter Island. By the time they got back to Europe, Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio was exhausted to the point of having to cancel their travels through Eastern Europe and even into Africa. Despite the fatigue, Pan Sonic managed to find their way back in the studio where they produced Kesto, a monumental 4cd set of all new material.
The first two discs show that Pan Sonic are still at the top of their game. Here, they revisit many of the rhythmic assaults that Pan Sonic unleashed on their debut album Vakio with low slung electro-breaks alternating with metronomic techno grooves set in a volatile field of blistering electricity. Where Vakio's intensity came from a psychoacoustic interplay of ice-cold tonalities, Kesto's rhythmic facets explode through stomp box distortion dynamics applied to their analog synths. The first two discs romp for over 100 minutes of aggressive incendiary electronica that's absolutely spectacular.
The final two discs of Kesto present the more introspective sides of Pan Sonic. The third disc is not dissimilar to Vainio's exquisite solo albums on Touch, as Pan Sonic suspend magnetically charged fragment against a blackened field and documents their interactions. The last disc is the weakest of the bunch offering an hour long homage to Charlemagne Palestine where they come across as a little too constrained by Palestine's static minimalism. Other homages dot the earlier discs with much greater panache, including reverential nods to Suicide, Throbbing Gristle, Bruce Gilbert, Keiji Haino, and Alvin Lucier.
Kesto will undoutably stand out as one of the best electronica albums of 2004.
MPEG Stream: "Virtamuuntaja"
MPEG Stream: "Mutaaattori"
MPEG Stream: "Rahina 3"
RealAudio clip: "Selittamaton"

PAN SONIC Kulma (Mute) cd 15.98

PAN SONIC Live 05/10/1995 in London (Jenny Divers) cd 19.98
While the previous live album from Pan Sonic was mostly comprised of sequenced elements from various Panasonic (as they were known then) and Mika Vainio recordings, this live recording seems to showcase the group generating new sounds not found on any of their records. At this time, Pan Sonic had paired down to the duo of Vainio and Ilpo Vaisainen. For this live show, they set down simple electro thud breakbeats and techno stutters distilled from the Detroit aesthetic upon which they layer crystalline tones and muffled bass tones, building grey noises and a general atmophere of being really cold. At times, this set gets fairly aggressive with an huge arppegiating beats and post-TG analog clatter, but for the most part Pan Sonic relies on their familiarity with the Arctic cold to translate electricity into rhythmic noise. Great stuff!

PAN SONIC Live NYC 1995 (Jenny Divers) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Back in 1995, Pan Sonic was known as Panasonic (before the hi-fi conglomerate felt threatened by a bunch of Finns' using their name), and was a trio comprised of Mika Vaino, Ilpo Vaisanen, and Sami Salo. These performances document the crystalline distillation of industrial-noise bruitism / hypnotic minimal techno that inspired Paul Smith of Blast First to sign Pan Sonic to his label (and thus lined them up to land on Mute here in the US). Some of the material from these performances ended up on their first album "Vakio" but also includes some of Mika Vainio's solo recordings as Ø, and thankfully some unreleased material (including one great track which sounds sort of like "Convincing People" by Throbbing Gristle - without Genesis' vocals, of course). You'll certainly have to watch the bass response from your speakers when you play this, as these recordings weigh a little too heavy on deep rumbling bass tones, which probably sounded awesome live, but will undoubtedly cause your neighbors some grief. This is packaged annoyingly in a die-cut oversized plastic card, which may be handy if you wanted to bind it in your day planner.

PAN SONIC Vakio (Mute) cd 15.98
Reissue of Panasonic's first album now features the 'legal' spelling of their name. Working with the psychoacoustic principles of phase shifting and beats generated from similar frequencies slammed against each other, Pan Sonic demonstrates the brutality of minimalist electronica.

PAN SONIC / CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE Mort Aux Vaches (Staalplaat) cd 15.98
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Sure there's a novelty to a collaborative album recorded by the figureheads from two generations of uncompromising (and at times brutal) minimalism, but this is not your garden variety resuscitation of crotchety '60s minimalism by Jim O'Rourke. When Charlemagne Palestine and Pan Sonic set organs, oscillators, and random noise generators to constantly warble for over an hour, their intentions are far from benevolent. This album of uneasy listening was commissioned by the VRPO Radio in the Netherlands and is limited to 1000 copies. If you blink, you'll probably miss it.

PAN SONIC / HAYLEY NEWMAN / DAVID CRAWFORTH Rude Mechanic (Piano) 2cd 19.98
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From the liner notes: "Rude Mechanicals were unskilled assistants used in early medical operations who performed rudimentary tasks such as restraining and muffling un-anaesthetized patients as well as catching their dismembered body parts and fluids in buckets."
Crawforth, Newman, Vainio, and Vaisanen use this motif to meld all sorts of drones, blips, bleeps, cricks, creeks, moans, and melodies from such sound artists as Bruce Gilbert, Scanner, Jimi Tenor, Kaffe Matthews, Simon Fisher Turner, Susan Stenger (Band of Susans), etc... into an extraordinarily cohesive collaborative project of pulsing noise.

PAN-AMERICAN For Waiting, For Chasing (Mosz) cd 15.98

PANACEA Brasilia (Caipirinha Music) cd 14.98
Fourth in a series from the fledgling, but well funded electronica label Caipirinha. The concept: electronica "interpretations" of, or tributes to, (mostly modernist) architects and their works. Writing about music, dancing about architecture--ack! we're dealing with both here! This fourth entry is from the terror-show junglist Panacea, who has chosen Oscar Niemeyer as his subject. Niemeyer was the architect of Brasilia, the utopian project of building a modernist captial city deep within the isolated heartland of Brazil in the 1950s. One of the features of Brasilia was a purposeful absence of pedestrian life in favor of the efficiency of the automobile, and as a result the place has obtained the stigma of being a sterile city in a country that is rich in cultural liveliness. Panacea has had a knack for (violent) alienation on his previous recordings, and this one is certain a bleak listen, but his rapid-fire junglist beat destruction isn't really deployed here. (Nor, for that matter, does this album feature any of the electro/hiphop workouts for which Panacea is also known.) Rather, he showcases a staccatic array of ping pong oscillations and eerie organ chords. By the end of the record, a few of his brutalist breaks do seep through the chlorine drenched electronics. On the whole, tho, this is Panacea sounding close to Pan Sonic. As with every other release in the series, the concept and the sound are two non-convergent trains of thought... so much so that the music really could exist without us having to know that this had anything to do with Oscar Niemeyer. Despite the the questionablity of the series concept, 'Brasilia' is an interesting twist on Panacea's electronic brutality, venturing into a more abstract realm than before. One of his best efforts in fact.

PANACEA German Engineering (Position Chrome) cd 16.98
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Distorted beats and random live samplings from our favorite techstep artist, the formerly chubby now hunky Panacea. Not one of his more focused efforts of hiphop infused techno chaos, maybe a bit too heavy on the chaos. Too much mix, not enough content I guess. Inside there are some photots of the new Panacea, all buffed out and trim. Methinks maybe he traded in his creativity and spunk with his love handles. Fans though will find stuff to like.

PANACEA Low-Profile Darkness (Force Inc./Chrome) cd 15.98
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German "dance" music just gets more and more brutal as Panacea pushes the intensity of techstep (a la Nico, Trace and Rush) to its current limit. I cannot imagine that beats can get any harder or darker, or more searingly distorted. Nor that an Izod shirt could go so well with army fatigues and a lip piercing. Highly, highly recommended. Butthole Surfers fans take note.

PANACEA Low-Profile Darkness (Force Inc./Chrome) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
German "dance" music just gets more and more brutal as Panacea pushes the intensity of techstep (a la Nico, Trace and Rush) to its current limit. I cannot imagine that beats can get any harder or darker, or more searingly distorted. Nor that an Izod shirt could go so well with army fatigues and a lip piercing. Highly, highly recommended. Butthole Surfers fans take note.

PANACEA Phoenix Metabolism (Position Chrome) cd 15.98
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As the picture on the sleeve can attest to, it is time for Panacea to claim his rightful position as the Susan Powter of electronica, while musically, his breakbeat mania turns toward hip hop and away from the simplistic brutalism of his earlier records.

PANACEA Phoenix Metabolism (Position Chrome) lp 23.00
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As the picture on the sleeve can attest to, it is time for Panacea to claim his rightful position as the Susan Powter of electronica, while musically, his breakbeat mania turns toward hip hop and away from the simplistic brutalism of his earlier records.

PANACEA Twisted Designz (Industrial Strength / Chrome) cd 15.98
Oh how we LOVE LOVE LOVE the rotund German darkstep musician Panacea. Finally, the domestic release of Panacea's second album sees the light of day (with two US-only bonus tracks absent from the import). Monstrous apocalyptic breaks and industrial noise that has been mutated far from the tropes of drum & bass that it may have transcended such a description. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for those with strong ears.

PANACEA Underground Superstardom (Position Chrome) cd 15.98
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PANACEA VS. HANAYO Hanayo In Panacea (Mille Plateaux) cd 15.98
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Not so much of the techstep brutality Panacea has been known for, rather our favorite German techno fella finds himself building heavy Wagnerian electronica for Japanese pop singer Hanayo...pretty amazing. Dunno about the "beat-up little girl" look Hanayo's got going, though.

PANJABI MC Beware (Sequence) cd 17.98
Man, why hasn't anybody made this record until now?! Boomin' MTV style big beat hip hop with Bollywood samples and vocal breaks! This is so good. A few artists have dabbled with Indian samples in the past, but none have pulled off this not-so-unlikely hybrid as perectly as Panjabi MC. Take the crazy, exotic over-the-top-ness of Indian movie soundtracks, tablas and sitars, wild vocalising, awesome male and female vocal interplay, and the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink aproach of the Bollywood soundtrack (funk and jazz and heavy metal and lounge and country and soul...) with a huge, speaker rattling production, some rough and funky hip hop, and maybe even get Jay-Z to rap on a track... and you've got a definite winner. The record is split evenly between bumping, barnstorming dance tracks and brooding, hypnotic, slow-burners. Really cool.
MPEG Stream: "Beware"
MPEG Stream: "Jogi"
MPEG Stream: "Mirza Part 2"

PANTHA DU PRINCE Black Noise (Rough Trade) cd 14.98
We first heard Pantha Du Prince last year on his excellent 12" The Splendour, and we knew we had most definitely discovered a new (to us!) important force in the word of electronica. With the release of his third full length, he seals the deal, demonstrating for sure, with every song, that he's absolutely one of the most interesting, nuanced and unique modern electronic musicians today.
Bringing such warmth and emotion to his meticulously crafted songs, we're reminded a bit of early Four Tet and the first Mum record. Delicate, and brimming with layers of warm shimmer. There are a couple tracks which feature guests, including Panda Bear on vocals for one track, but to be honest we don't think Pantha Du Prince really needs vocals at all, as his songs are already so expansive, so complete, immaculately constructed, and so so evocative, allowing the listener to process the sounds in a wide range of ways. The vocal tracks are definitely nice, and do add a bit of a pop element, but its the rest of the album that really strikes such a strong chord with us. We're always so impressed when someone is able to bring such rich nuance and mood to purely instrumental music (electronic or otherwise) and Pantha Du Prince does it so well. It's also appealing that there's really not a quick electronic sub-genre to put him in, it's not dubstep, space disco, techno, etc. In some ways it reminds us a bit of that special moment in the late '90s when folks like Four Tet, Mum, Opiate, B. Fleishmann first surfaced, adding that emotional warmth to an electronic world which had been so cold for so long. We've been listening to this on constant repeat and the more we listen the deeper we get into loving what Pantha Du Prince is all about. Definite contender for electronic record of the year!
MPEG Stream: "The Splendour"
MPEG Stream: "Im Bann"
MPEG Stream: "Behind The Stars"

PANTS, JAMES Seven Seals (Stones Throw) cd 15.98
It's apparent from Seven Seals that James Pants is one artist that does not want be pigeonholed. We already got a glimpse into his all-but-the-kitchen-sink approach towards cosmic funk on his Stones Throw debut, Welcome. But on Seven Seals, he takes us to a whole other universe, one where Vangelis gets high with Bauhaus and George Clinton while listening to Hawkwind. Seriously! And the weird thing is that it shouldn't work but it does! Pants is definitely exploring the gothier sides of new wave here with deep dour vocals but with an eye towards a dark retro-futurism and cosmic pop turbulence in the synth and rhythm treatments. Imagine Dam-Funk, Cold Cave and Neon Indian mashed together and broadcast out to a desolate planet where the atmosphere is really heavy and everything is silver, streamlined and egg-shaped and on the verge of being blown apart by cosmic forces. This is their soundtrack.
MPEG Stream: "A Chip In The Hand"
MPEG Stream: "Wormhole"
MPEG Stream: "Sky Warning"

PANTS, JAMES Welcome (Stones Throw) cd 14.98
Here at AQ have always been big supporters of most anything Stones Throw puts out. We get off on the dense, sample driven rhythms and beats from the likes of the late great J Dilla, Madlib, his brother in crime Oh No, MF Doom and the rest of the gang. They're untouchable. There's always bound to be pristine production and everything always fits in its right place, reviving forgotten gems and bringing them back to life with new meaning, new avenues of sound experimentation. They are truly in a league of their own! But one thing's for certain, they have been known to go a bit leftfield at times, straying from the vein of deep, hard hitting breaks and indie hip hop tunes, as they're mainly known for, with releases from artists like the more vintage punk driven Baron Zen, spacey funk pioneer Gary Wilson, Madlib's brokenbeat soul alias DJ Rels, and now... their latest attempt, Mr. James Pants.
Straight out of Spokane Washington, James' Stones Throw stint began as a position as a trusty intern at the office headquarters in Los Angeles, until he was finally taken in by his dream DJ, none other than label founder Peanut Butter Wolf as "the next big thing", with a long awaited offer to release an album. He's a goofy lookin' dude that seems fun to hang out with, which could easily relate to the music he produces. Actually, a friend of AQ grew up with him and he supposedly has a shitload of analog equipment in one room, and the majority of the time takes a non directional approach, simply "jamming out" improv style and once the arrangements are all melded together they blossom into an addictive psychedelic haze.
That's pretty much the gist of Welcome, it's a James Pants one man band, jam session. Full of layers upon layers of percussion, at one point it can be mistaken for various remakes of funky Fraggle Rock theme songs, the next it's drumless atmospheres of milky synthesis, and warm tones backed with random drops of spastic and muffled vocal samples, like unexpected crowd roars and yelps. He even sings/wails a bit throughout numerous songs which at times sounds like drunken howling, surprisingly fused into blissful, whispered singing and creepy vocoded melodies. Cosmic indeed, each tune is saturated with unexpected change ups and transitions. The instrumentation is a melting pot of space-y and druggy vibes, wah synths, harps, dubbed out wood blocks, and the occasional off beat guitar riffs. Picture an enhanced drum circle on Mars with guest appearances from Bootsy Collins and Tangerine Dream, far fetched, yes but listen and see for yourself. Stones Throw described it best, comparing it to '80s Soul, Electro Boogie, Early Rap, New Wave, and Post-Punk Disco, definitely one to check out!
MPEG Stream: "We're Through"
MPEG Stream: "Crystal Lite"
MPEG Stream: "Voodoo Caves"