PHIZMIZ, ERGO The Music Of Ergo Phizmiz (Mukow) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The best radio station in the world, WFMU, turned us on to young Mr. Phizmiz, a multi instrumentalist, writer, inventor, musician and all around crazy guy who makes some really weird cool music. Only 23, Ergo has already written several operas, recorded 20 albums, almost all of them unreleased, invented tons of musical instruments, created a 12 hour multi media project, done radio programs for Resonance FM and WFMU, recorded tons of soundtracks for TV and the stage as well as made hundreds of animated films and numerous sculptures and installations. Phew. So here it is. The first of those 20 albums to see the light of day. It's weird -- that's the first thing you'll notice. The opening track is a demented toy instrument cabaret, with mumbling vocals buried in the mix, wailing kazoos, warbling music box melodies and lots of maniacal shouting! The record unfolds a little more subtly after that, shifting from stuttery, hiccupping rhythms under toy xylophones and programmed beats to moody, almost Boards Of Canada-ish melancholy electronica to creepy crawly Tom Waits Swordfishtrombones-esque late night loungy murk, to strummy, whispery Brit rock balladeering. Weird but quite cool.
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "3"
MPEG Stream: "4"

PHOENECIA Brownout (Schematic) cd 14.98
The highly anticipated, long overdue, new full length from Miami, Florida's cinematic IDM duo Phoenecia was well worth the wait. Finely crafted and mood-altering, it achieves a successful melding of seeming opposites: claustrophobia and expanse. Fragmented, angular and insectile, yet oddly fluid and gorgeously mellow. Flowing from dream to nightmare seamlessly. Actually, the darker stretches of this kinetic release descends into quite similar unsettling, ominous mood-territory as that of the Nic Endo cd listed here too. Palpitating beats smoothly perforate your eardrums. Very very recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Eyebrow"
RealAudio clip: "Oriaca"
RealAudio clip: "Biorepo"
RealAudio clip: "Non-Specific Acoustic Stimulation"

PHOENECIA Odd Job Discrimination (Schematic) cd 12.98
Not to be confused with the "Odd Jobs" remix cd, this new 12" of remixes sees Florida's IDM wunderkind Phoenecia get tackled by the likes of Adult., Matmos, Prefuse 73, Dino Felipe, Otto Von Schirach, and Jeswa. Nicola of Adult. replicates the vocal samples that Phoenecia took from "Me And My Rhythm Box" (from the film soundtrack of Liquid Sky) with icy determination.
RealAudio clip: MATMOS "The Climactic Battle Scene With Rom & Josh Version"
RealAudio clip: ADULT. "Compurhythm"

PHOENECIA Odd Job Discrimination (Schematic) 12" 11.98
Not to be confused with the "Odd Jobs" remix cd, this new 12" of remixes sees Florida's IDM wunderkind Phoenecia get tackled by the likes of Adult., Matmos, Prefuse 73, Dino Felipe, Otto Von Schirach, and Jeswa. Nicola of Adult. replicates the vocal samples that Phoenecia took from "Me And My Rhythm Box" (from the film soundtrack of Liquid Sky) with icy determination.

PHOENECIA Odd Jobs (Schematic) cd 12.98
Back in stock! Seven outstanding remixes mutating Phoenecia's super-rubbery beats into even more rhythmically complex IDM from Autechre, Richard Devine, Push Button Objects, Ectomorphm Takeshi Muto, Soul Oddity (actually, this is one of their alter egos... of which they have many). A particular highlight? The awesome track utilizing samples of the song "Rhythm Box" from the film Liquid Sky. Ooooh!

PHOENIX Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glass Note) cd 14.98
You probably already heard a lot of the hype surrounding this record, and you know what? It's all totally true! Phoenix have created one of the best and most infectious pop records to come around in a very long time. We're talking start to finish every single song having hooks and melodies that sound so fucking great and are both breezy and catchy as well as so totally immaculately crafted.
This is one of those rare pop records that is both so smart and so fun. Imagine Saturdays=Youth era M83 covering the Strokes!!! Although comparisons seem a bit silly here as Phoenix have really made a super unique record, that kind of perfect summer pop jam that most bands only dream of and often spend their whole lives trying to make, only to fall flat over and over again. No matter where you are or what you're doing, when you listen to this record you're totally transported, it's a refreshing rush, the world seems sunshinier, the skies bluer, everything just sparkles and glistens. So cool and suave and slick in the best way, it's impossible to not fall in love with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. So many folks we know, who are into experimental music or electronica or other branches of more esoteric minded sounds, have just fallen head over heels for this new Phoenix record which is truly a testament to its undeniable universal appeal.
While past Phoenix records always had at least a few totally standout tracks, none of those records can possibly compare. Some of us here, pop fanatics for sure, were pretty skeptical, having not been that impressed with past record, and not believing the hype, but after hearing just the opening track, naysayers were silenced, and almost immediately transformed into rabid fans, playing this to death, in the store AND at home. Sparkling, hook laden, well produced power pop bliss. This one's gonna be a bigtime contender for pop record of the year!
MPEG Stream: "Lisztomania"
MPEG Stream: "Fences"
MPEG Stream: "Lasso"

PHOENIX Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glass Note) lp 21.00
Now available on vinyl!
You probably already heard a lot of the hype surrounding this record, and you know what? It's all totally true! Phoenix have created one of the best and most infectious pop records to come around in a very long time. We're talking start to finish every single song having hooks and melodies that sound so fucking great and are both breezy and catchy as well as so totally immaculately crafted.
This is one of those rare pop records that is both so smart and so fun. Imagine Saturdays=Youth era M83 covering the Strokes!!! Although comparisons seem a bit silly here as Phoenix have really made a super unique record, that kind of perfect summer pop jam that most bands only dream of and often spend their whole lives trying to make, only to fall flat over and over again. No matter where you are or what you're doing, when you listen to this record you're totally transported, it's a refreshing rush, the world seems sunshinier, the skies bluer, everything just sparkles and glistens. So cool and suave and slick in the best way, it's impossible to not fall in love with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. So many folks we know, who are into experimental music or electronica or other branches of more esoteric minded sounds, have just fallen head over heels for this new Phoenix record which is truly a testament to its undeniable universal appeal.
While past Phoenix records always had at least a few totally standout tracks, none of those records can possibly compare. Some of us here, pop fanatics for sure, were pretty skeptical, having not been that impressed with past record, and not believing the hype, but after hearing just the opening track, naysayers were silenced, and almost immediately transformed into rabid fans, playing this to death, in the store AND at home. Sparkling, hook laden, well produced power pop bliss. This one's gonna be a bigtime contender for pop record of the year!
MPEG Stream: "Lisztomania"
MPEG Stream: "Fences"
MPEG Stream: "Lasso"

PHONEM Ilisu (Morr Music) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Like the aforementioned Bola album Fyuti, Phonem's Ilisu represents one of the finer moments of IDM based electronica from the past couple of years. Ilisu finds Phonem remembering what made Autechre, Mu-Ziq, and Reload so special when they first hit the scene nearly a decade ago, in balancing the basic principles of harmony and rhythm within a distinctly cybernetic, sci-fi approach toward electronic music and techno in particular. Here, crystalline melodic lullabies have been cast as trembling vibrations against the gristled crunch of deconstructed hip-hop breakbeats. Easily the best thing that Morr Music has put out to date.
RealAudio clip: "Ilisu"
RealAudio clip: "Euphrates"

PHONIA Disco Operating Systems (Blanc Mange Communications) 12" 9.98
Phonia's recapitulation of IDM brings together the persistant phase-shifting & flanging of Pan Sonic with stocatic breakbeats built out of a clatter of compressed metallic percussion found on the likes of Autechre, Funkstorung, and the Schematic people.

PHONOPHANI Genetic Engineering (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
Espen Sommer Eide of Rune Grammofon-label post-rock-electronica act Alog presents his second solo disc of sampled live instruments and electronic manipulations. Mostly a non-beat-oriented mellow, moody, soupy soundscape, with gentle loops and Tarwater-ish mystery. Abstract, distorted tones and drones mesh with fragments of guitar and voice, sometimes with a Middle Eastern vibe. Nice.
RealAudio clip: "Cook Islands"
RealAudio clip: "Saltwater"
RealAudio clip: "End of All Things II"

PHOTEK Form & Function (Astralwerks) cd 17.98
Certainly a misnomer of a title, as the name of the first two Photek singles were called "Form & Function" vol 1 & 2, yet none of those tracks appear on this album. Instead, this album collects tracks from the following three singles "Water Margin", "Seventh Samurai", "UFO / Rings Around Saturn" (one of Marc's favorite 12"s ever), two new tracks, and remixes from J Majik, Digital, Peshay, Decoder, and Doc Scott. Sparse yet tense drum & bass with occasional Pharoah Sanders samples.

PHOTEK Form & Function (Astralwerks) 2lp 23.00
Certainly a misnomer of a title, as the name of the first two Photek singles were called "Form & Function" vol 1 & 2, yet none of those tracks appear on this album. Instead, this album collects tracks from the following three singles "Water Margin", "Seventh Samurai", "UFO / Rings Around Saturn" (one of Marc's favorite 12"s ever), two new tracks, and remixes from J Majik, Digital, Peshay, Decoder, and Doc Scott. Sparse yet tense drum & bass with occasional Pharoah Sanders samples.

PHOTEK Form & Function Vol. 2 (Sanctuary) cd 17.98

PHOTEK Modus Operandi (Astralwerks/Caroline) cd 15.98

PHOTEK Solaris (Astralwerks) cd 15.98
"Oh boy, new Photek!" we thought. But, sad as it is to report...there's just about NO WAY a fan of Photek is going to like this album. Sure, there's some decent moments of his dark tech-noir self, but mostly this is a bad house record, with vocals! And I'm sorry, but if this guy Photek hired is really a "legendary house singer", well...dunno about house music then. He's awful, and this record is a big, big disappointment. Painful. Maybe Virgin Megastore will do well with this. We've already got 4 or 5 used copies brought in, and that's before it even came out! Avoid.

PHTHALOCYANINE Navy Worship (Phthalo) cd 14.98
Phthalocyanine is Dimitri K. Fergadis, who also runs the Phthalo label, known as cdr label of some of the most abstract electronica to come from America. "Navy Worship", pressed as a regular cd, attains a 'somewhat improvised' feel through the spastik drum programming clustered around dark electronic noodlings that harmonically sound all 'wrong.' Pretty unbelievable stuff.

PHTHALOCYANINE No One Said You Didn't (Planet Mu) cd 14.98
Dimitri Fergadis' Phthalo label has developed from a pioneer of DIY electronica as one of the first CD-R labels into a proponent of the most forward thinking electronica that America has to offer in releasing records by the likes of Wobbly, OST, and his own Phthalocyanine project. Furthermore, he encouraged artists like Dntel and Daedelus by putting out their earliest works before they jumped into more populist waters. No One Said You Didn't is the second album that Fergadis has outsourced from Phthalo to the venerable Planet Mu, another label not especially known for its sensible take on electronica. Intentional or otherwise, Fergadis seems to take much of the metallic melodies from Mu-Ziq's Tango N' Vectif (which happens to be an early record from Mu Planet label boss Mike Paradinas); and he forces these melodic clusters onto double-time Rotterdam techno stabs of big dum-dum 909 beats and splattered electronics. As cacophonous as this might sound, this is actually the most well-rounded and enjoyable record he's produced to date!
MPEG Stream: "Living With Lightning In Your Body"
MPEG Stream: "Ethiopian Runner"

PHTHALOCYANINE Viridian EP (Phthalo) cd 12.98
Originally released on vinyl in 1995 on Plug Research and then again as a super limited CDR on Phthalo, this early work from Phthalocyanine is now available as a pressed CD! Strains of the romantic electron-pulse dreams of Aphex Twin (Polygon Window-era) are common in Dimitri's early work before heavy drum-machine-gun fire erupted on his messy and confrontational recent output.

PHTHALOCYANINE Zacks Ep (Phthalo) cd 9.98
If the Aphex Twin is too sensible a sound and Mouse On Mars is too melodic, then the mad scientist ethos of Phthalocyanine is what you are looking for. This is the electronica sound of a tooth extraction. This early Phthalo release is economically packaged without any artwork or information to distract you from enjoying the spasmodic clatter of dense walls of arrhythmic drill speed breakbeats.

PIANO MAGIC Panic Amigo - Piano Magic Remixed (Morr Music) 12" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The British outfit Piano Magic have always walked the fine line between post-rock and electronica. With this 4-track 12", they receive the remix treatment courtesy Isan, Future 3, Ensemble, and Opiate, thus demonstrating how PM might sound if they went full steam in that e-music direction. It's burbly, delicate and serene like a Boards Of Canada or To Rococo Rot record.

PIANO MAGIC Seasonally Affective 1996-2000 (Rocket Girl) 2cd 21.00
Falling somewhere between a best of and a rarities collection, "Seasonally Affective" is a diverse sampling of the Piano Magic back catalogue, capturing both the gems (i.e. their magnifciently Victorian "Low Birth Weight" album) and duds (i.e. their hopelessly pretentious "Artists' Rifles") from this melodramatically inclined outfit that specializes in an '80s ethereal revivalism hybridized with contemporary post-rock. Certainly worthwhile to get if you missed all of those super limited split singles and vinyl only releases, but if you're looking for a great Piano Magic album, "Low Birth Weight" is still their strongest release to date.
RealAudio clip: "French Mittens"
RealAudio clip: "Fun Of The Century"
RealAudio clip: "I Am The Sub-Librarian"
RealAudio clip: "Winter Sport"

PIANO MAGIC The Fun of the Ocean (Piao!) 12" ep 9.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Unanimous AQ-favorite! The next best thing to the Young Marble Giants, and that is saying a lot. Delicate, bittersweet electronica-pop that updates the aforementioned Giants with subtle dinginess reminiscent of Third Eye Foundation. This is one of the groups that beautifully bridges the ever-closing gap between indierock and electronica. We highly recommend you give this taster, or their full length, a try.

PIANO OVERLORD Singles Collection 03-05 (Money Studies) cd 13.98
Piano Overlord is a Prefuse 73 "low key 'side-project'" originally formulated by Mr. Herren as a means to pay back the Money Studies label for losing the pieces of a Diplo 7" he was intending to remix. This may be going out on a limb, but "Singles Collection" sounds a bit like Prefuse 73 done with a piano, also incorporating the more mellow elements of Savath & Savalas. Pleasant stuff. Cool milky beats, no rough edges. Womby and insular listening techno.
MPEG Stream: "Spring's Arrival"
MPEG Stream: "Recuerdas?"

PICA PICA PICA, DJ Planetary Natural Love Gas Webbin' 199999 (Comma) cd 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Huzzah! This hard to find import from '99 has now gotten somewhat better US distribution, and we're happy to have it. Osaka-based bizarre-beat DJ Pika Pika Pika is actually Eye Yamantaka, mastermind of the Boredoms. This mix cd comes housed in a translucent green jewel case overprinted with an abstract pink and orange design. The case's innards are nice too, with more of Eye's trademark colorful crazy collage art Eye's interest in both collage and sampling has been evident for a long time, from his involvement in the hiphop project Audio Sports, to his cut-up shennanigans on his noise band Hanatarash's 4 album, to the various recent heavily-studio-manipulated Boredoms releases, but here is his first ever recorded DJ set. And, unlike Hanatarash 4, on this one all samples are cleared, and clearly credited...so it's with full authority (no guessing games) that I can tell you you're gonna hear everything from minimalist composer Philip Glass to Bay Area turntablist DJ Disk to British electronica artist Twisted Science to the water drums of the Baka Forest People on Planetary Natural Love Gas Webbin' 199999! What ties it all together and makes it flow is the quirkiness of Eye's selections -- his deftness as a DJ notwithstanding, the segues are rather more playful than beat-driven. But there are plenty of beats, bubbly ones at that, it's just that they're accompanied by such weirdness that your typical club-going dancer probably couldn't deal with it. Eye is as likely to make use of the funky jazz breaks of Japanese artist Woodman as he is to throw in the sounds of the Wedell Seals from the AQ-fave Antarctica cd recorded by naturalist Douglas Quin (yay!). This weird and wonderful disc gives some interesting insight into the contents of Eye's eclectic record collection, for sure, and thus somehow can also increase our understanding of (or possibly heighten our confusion about) his work in the Boredoms, for those inclined to puzzle about such things.
RealAudio clip: "03"
RealAudio clip: "13"

PICADUB Picatone Vol. 1 (Beta Lounge Record Club) cd-r 9.98
What I (Jim) remember so strongly about my experience a few years back selling dance singles for one of San Francisco's now defunct distributors was the emphasis upon (nay, necessity of) newness, novelty, and freshness. Yet, with the basic structure of techno having remained the same for 15 years -- the steadfast whump of a basskick countered by the taut simplicity of a sampled hi-hat with some melody and / or atmosphere thrown in for variety -- I have to wonder if it would be possible to tell the difference (and I mean not just trainspot, but critically differentiate) between the relatively underground cuts of, say, Dan Bell back in 1992 or a really early Ian Pooley single with the polite post-Detroit trax from current artists like Akufen or Jetone. While it's probably not his intention to pose such questions, this debut mix disc from Philip Sherburne -- San Francisco's answer to Simon Reynolds in many ways, intelligently discussing the successes and failures of dance music through his essays and articles for various magazines -- has at least sparked those questions for me. Could those Baby Ford or Robert Hood tracks been produced in 1993 instead of 2003? Well, maybe.
Fortunately, for those who don't care for any such musicological investigations of electronica (which should be most of you!), Sherburne's Picadub mix project works very well as an example of an elegantly composed blend of minimal techno, with cuts from the aforementioned Baby Ford, Robert Hood, and Akufen, plus Thomas Brinkmann, Pantytec, DJ Abstract, Tipper, Seiji, Quizz, Pan/tone, Villalobos, Iz & Diz, Lucien N. Luciano, and Dinky. Nothing fancy, just a nice steady beat... and that's all you can ask for minimal techno.
MPEG Stream: BABY FORD "Messenger"
MPEG Stream: MASSIVE ATTACK "Special Cases (Akufen Remix)"

PIERRE, L. Touchpool (Melodic) cd 14.98
L.Pierre... haven't we seen your face before? Hmmm, you kinda look like that Scottish lad Aidan Moffat, but you're French, right? Besides, your new instrumental album sounds nothing like his band Arab Strap. So you couldn't be one and the same, could you? Ah, but you are!
Each track on Touchpool is composed primarily from processed loops and programmed rhythms (although his fellow Arab Strapper Malcolm Middleton does step in to contribute some guitar on the fourth track "Baby Breeze"), and each evokes a different hazy atmosphere which could easily be put to good use on a film soundtrack. One odd moment on the album though is the sixth song "Velbon" on which Moffat, err, Pierre (formerly Lucky Pierre by the way) seems to be solemnly prodding at the melody to "Ave Maria" but never fully launches into it (and just as strangely brings it to a rather abrupt end). Likewise, there's not a great deal of development in the course of each of the other tracks neither. They tend to gradually come into view, linger in one place for a spell, and then fades away. Some folks may find this to be haunting and hypnotic, while others might find themselves seeking more stimuli after a few minutes.
MPEG Stream: "Jim Dodge Dines At The Penguin Cafe"
MPEG Stream: "Velbon"

PIGEON FUNK Proptronix Presents... (Oni-Tor) cd 17.98

PIIRI GPU (Revised) (Vertical Form) cd 16.98
Outside of the impressive techno-minimalism of their group Pan Sonic, Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen have been developing very distinctive styles that veer considerably from their partnered work. Where Vainio has taken to the laptop generation of fractured ambience, Vaisanen has been experimenting with an interesting recombination of electronic dub built around variations of rigid rhythms which sound very much like looped samples from a '60s jazz drummer shuffling a brush suggestively across a snare head. As Piiri, Vaisanen has released a couple of brilliant 10"s on Raster Noton, but not enough material to warrant a full-length. Thus, Vertical Form has flushed out this Piiri album with a bunch of remixes by Farben, Pan American, Smyglyssna, Dual Excitor, and Phonem. As with the majority of remix albums, "GPU (Revised)" is a mixed (ha) affair, with the original Piiri track standing out easily as the best work. Pan American is probably the only remix artist who doesn't retard Ilpo's shuffling rhythms by turning them into microhouse grooves (Farben) or stupid post-irony clunkiness (Smyglyssna). Rather Pan American offers an effervescent dub with all of those rhythms processed into a glassine wash akin to Vladislav Delay.
If you're really interested in the Piiri sound, you might be better served by those hard to find Raster Noton 10"s...but they *are* hard to find.
RealAudio clip: PIIRI "Original"
RealAudio clip: PAN AMERICAN "Pan American Mix"

PIIRI GPU (Revised) (Vertical F) 2lp 16.98
Outside of the impressive techno-minimalism of their group Pan Sonic, Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen have been developing very distinctive styles that veer considerably far from their collective work. Where Vainio has taken to the laptop generation of fractured ambience, Vaisanen has been experimenting with an interesting recombination of electronic dub built around variations of rigid rhythms which sound very much like looped samples from a '60s jazz drummer shuffling a brush suggestively across a snare head. As Piiri, Vaisanen has released a couple of brilliant 10"s on Raster Noton, but not enough material to warrant a full-length. Thus, Vertical Form has flushed out this Piiri album with a bunch of remixes by Farben, Pan American, Smyglyssna, Dual Excitor, and Phonem. As with the majority of remix albums, "GPU (Revised)" is a mixed (ha) affair, with the original Piiri track standing out easily as the best work. Pan American is probably the only remix artist who doesn't retard Ilpo's shuffling rhythms by turning them into microhouse grooves (Farben) or stupid post-irony clunkiness (Smyglyssna). Rather Pan American offers an effervescent dub with all of those rhythms processed into a glassine wash akin to Vladislav Delay.
If you're really interested in the Piiri sound, you might be better served by those hard to find Raster Noton 10"s...but they *are* hard to find.

PILOTE Antenna (Certificate 18) cd 17.98
I seem to recall Pilote hailing from the German pseudo-collective which includes labels like Kitty-Yo, Kollaps, and Hausmusik, with Pilote keeping on the electronica side of things. This album for Certificate 18 wouldn't do anything to dissuade such a train of thought. With an atmosphere matching Boards of Canada's bedroom melancholia, Pilote fashions a precious sound of downtempo funky (sometimes jungly) breaks and bittersweet melodies.

PILOTE Doitnowman (Domino USA) cd 14.98
Whereas Pilote's debut release "Antenna" leaned very heavily in the direction of Boards Of Canada-ness, the second full length from this gent (aka Stuart Cullen) launches with rhythms and sounds seemingly plucked from early 90's techno. Streamlined beats, dialogue samples, and... diva vocals. This record certainly doesn't rocket to the moon, but instead hovers along soothingly. A nice balance of the soft and fluid with the sharper, sputtery bits. Includes a bonus track not available on the UK version.
RealAudio clip: "The Fourth"
RealAudio clip: "Nelson"

PIMMON Electronic Tax Return (Tigerbeat6) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Australia's Paul Gough returns with another disc of noise and glitch recorded live earlier this year. Powerful and abraisive shards of digital ruptures that cover beautiful textures and found sounds. Like sifting through dogshit to find your lost diamonds, only not so gross. The hypothetical dogshit's kinda pleasant to listen to as well. Limited to 500 copies, comes in an annoying plastic clamshell case with no artwork.

PIMMON I Left My Heart... (self-released) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We got a handful of this handmade, limited edtion Pimmon CD-R from Paul Gough himself, who has packaged it in two pieces of printed cardstock mounted together with two oversized circles of soft foam. An unusual design solution, but an effective one, nonetheless. Musically, "I Left My Heart" finds Pimmon deliberately contrasting elegant digital looped constructions with the ugliness of spluttering noise and sonic errata. The glitch is certainly present within Pimmon's work, but its application is more of the negation of sound rather than its textural addition as thousands of miniature drop-outs degraded Pimmon's chunked samples. Pimmon densely packs his computerized compositions with overlapping layers of sound, giving the impression that his music is a digitized kaleidoscope with harshly fractalized patterns and sublime rhythmic pulses moving in a complexly choreographed motion with each layer travelling at algorithmically variable speeds. It's possible that we might be able to get a couple more of these, but in all likelihood when these few copies are gone... they're gone!
RealAudio clip: "Fragment Meladique"
RealAudio clip: "Henson Park Blues"

PIMMON Waves and Particles (Meme) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In contrast to the *O record on Meme (a record of unparalleled, um, well... soundlessness), Pimmon's "Waves and Particles" actually registers quite nicely within the noisy ambient field of Aquarius. Paul Gough has recorded two albums as Pimmon, the first being a fairly well distributed CDr (though it didn't make its way over here) which garnered immediate attention from Fat Cat, Static Caravan, and Meme. It's easy to see what those avant-electronica labels found so captivating in Pimmon's work; an unholy marriage of old-school analogue sound production and intricate digitized patterns of repetitive spaces, phasing in and out of painterly dissonance.

PINCH Attack Of The Giant Killer Robot Spiders (Planet Mu) 12" 7.98

PINCH Midnight Oil (Tectonic) 12" 12.98

PINCH Pepper Spray (Planet Mu) 12" 7.98

PINCH Punisher (Planet Mu) 12" 10.98
Another new name (at least to us) in the wonderfully whacked world of grime and dubstep. Pinch are way on the super minimal end of the spectrum, constructing super spare rhythms, dubby and seriously spacious, with drifting sitar-like buzz over the top and incredibly weird croaking frog synths, weird burping bblllllaaaeeerrrrp's that have your speakers rattling and threatening to fall to pieces. Then suddenly, part way through the A side a crazy bass line drops, HUGE and thick and snarling and slithering and squirming, a gurgly, wiggly, warbly buzz, surrounded by glistening clouds of insect-like effects and and alien swooshes and bleeps. The B side takes the same track and drenches it in still more dub, making it even more loping and laid back, with strange percussive sounds mixed in, and THAT incredible bass line, but processed and pitched like crazy to sound like some sort of alien ray gun constantly firing in time with the rhythm. Awesome. Another nudge towards the dancefloor. Must... resist...

PINCH Punisher (Planet Mu) 12" 9.98

PINCH Underwater Dancehall (Tectonic) 2cd 22.00
We go on and on complaining about the dearth of grime and dubstep releases in the US, but then we end up sitting on a handful of kick ass titles that have been getting serious playtime in the shop and on our headphones. Well, as we've said before, there are only so many of us, and so so so so many records to review, so some things take longer than others. Like this double disc from Pinch. Not brand new, but easily one of our favorite dubstep discs of that last little while, and easily the darkest and most stripped down.
Split into two discs, one with vocals, one without, we definitely prefer the instrumental disc, but the vocal disc is definitely growing on us. A few tracks we could maybe do without, but for the most part still pretty kick ass. But not nearly as intense and mysterious, murky and skittery as the instrumental disc, well worth the price of admission all on its own.
Each track is super cinematic, the drums skittering and shuffling, the basslines rubbery and dubbed out, synths buzzing and warbling, shards of haunting melody drift by, what vocals do remain, are just ghostly traces and are washed out and blurred into strange streaks of sound. The sound seems to swirl and drift and wash over you, so evocative and creepy and darkly beautiful. Take "Brighter Day", the bassline almost continuous, undulating, rumbling and whirring, the drums locked into a head nodding dubbed out groove, the song anchored by this disembodied melodic fragment, that is somehow a total hook, thick slabs of buzzing synths surface here and there, backward swoops, gristly digital crunch, but for the most part it's dark and smooth, groovy and slithery, a sexy dubbed out crawl, sort of like the Tricky of old dabbling in dubstep. And the rest of the instrumental disc follows suit. Sprawling dubscapes, of fragmented stuttery rhythms, deep rib cage rattling bass, drifting ethereal melodies, lots of buzz and fuzz and rumble and whir, bits of Eastern raga, some more classic dub sounds, a bit of modern dub a la Pole, all woven into blurred bleary eared landscapes of lurch and groove. Absolutely essential.
The vocal disc is not too shabby either really, our only complaint is that the tracks are already practically perfect in their ominous minimalism, so sometimes the vocals almost seem superfluous. But even so, the vocal disc is still pretty bad ass. The opener "Punisher" is a stone cold classic, a rubbery dizzying bassline, streaks and swoops over that classic dubstub groove, totally grime-y and dubby, but also alien and abstract, the vocals a looped toast practically buried under the murk and mire. "Brighter Day", the standout from the instrumental disc, gets a vocal makeover, a super catchy sing songy toasting, that definitely changes the vibe of the song, making it much less ominous and way more poppy, but even as much as we love the instrumental version, this one is definitely still pretty great. A few of the tracks verge on the diva-like, and manage to transform the originals into something a little too croony, but there are only a couple of those, and one of them slips easily into that classic Tricky / Martina sound which is actually pretty nice. The rest of the disc just sounds like more classic modern dub, the vocals going from smooth and melodic to rough and raspy, but still underneath, the music remains gloriously slithery and skittery.
Like we said before, you could just listen to the instrumental version over and over and over (we certainly have), and we'd give this big ups just on the basis of that disc, but give the vocal disc a try to. We've been spinning that one more and more everyday. And as if we even needed to say it, WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Brighter Day (Instrumental Version)"
MPEG Stream: "Gangstaz (Instrumental Version)"
MPEG Stream: "Brighter Day ft. Juakali"
MPEG Stream: "Gangstaz ft. Juakali"

PINCH Underwater Dancehall (Instrumentals) (Multiverse Ltd.) 2lp 19.98
NOW ON VINYL!!!
We go on and on complaining about the dearth of grime and dubstep releases in the US, but then we end up sitting on a handful of kick ass titles that have been getting serious playtime in the shop and on our headphones. Well, as we've said before, there are only so many of us, and so so so so many records to review, so some things take longer than others. Like this double disc from Pinch. Not brand new, but easily one of our favorite dubstep discs of that last little while, and easily the darkest and most stripped down.
Split into two discs, one with vocals, one without, we definitely prefer the instrumental disc, but the vocal disc is definitely growing on us. A few tracks we could maybe do without, but for the most part still pretty kick ass. But not nearly as intense and mysterious, murky and skittery as the instrumental disc, well worth the price of admission all on its own.
Each track is super cinematic, the drums skittering and shuffling, the basslines rubbery and dubbed out, synths buzzing and warbling, shards of haunting melody drift by, what vocals do remain, are just ghostly traces and are washed out and blurred into strange streaks of sound. The sound seems to swirl and drift and wash over you, so evocative and creepy and darkly beautiful. Take "Brighter Day", the bassline almost continuous, undulating, rumbling and whirring, the drums locked into a head nodding dubbed out groove, the song anchored by this disembodied melodic fragment, that is somehow a total hook, thick slabs of buzzing synths surface here and there, backward swoops, gristly digital crunch, but for the most part it's dark and smooth, groovy and slithery, a sexy dubbed out crawl, sort of like the Tricky of old dabbling in dubstep. And the rest of the instrumental disc follows suit. Sprawling dubscapes, of fragmented stuttery rhythms, deep rib cage rattling bass, drifting ethereal melodies, lots of buzz and fuzz and rumble and whir, bits of Eastern raga, some more classic dub sounds, a bit of modern dub a la Pole, all woven into blurred bleary eared landscapes of lurch and groove. Absolutely essential.
The vocal disc is not too shabby either really, our only complaint is that the tracks are already practically perfect in their ominous minimalism, so sometimes the vocals almost seem superfluous. But even so, the vocal disc is still pretty bad ass. The opener "Punisher" is a stone cold classic, a rubbery dizzying bassline, streaks and swoops over that classic dubstep groove, totally grime-y and dubby, but also alien and abstract, the vocals a looped toast practically buried under the murk and mire. "Brighter Day", the standout from the instrumental disc, gets a vocal makeover, a super catchy sing songy toasting, that definitely changes the vibe of the song, making it much less ominous and way more poppy, but even as much as we love the instrumental version, this one is definitely still pretty great. A few of the tracks verge on the diva-like, and manage to transform the originals into something a little too croony, but there are only a couple of those, and one of them slips easily into that classic Tricky / Martina sound which is actually pretty nice. The rest of the disc just sounds like more classic modern dub, the vocals going from smooth and melodic to rough and raspy, but still underneath, the music remains gloriously slithery and skittery.
Like we said before, you could just listen to the instrumental version over and over and over (we certainly have), and we'd give this big ups just on the basis of that disc, but give the vocal disc a try to. We've been spinning that one more and more everyday. And as if we even needed to say it, WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Brighter Day (Instrumental Version)"
MPEG Stream: "Gangstaz (Instrumental Version)"
MPEG Stream: "Brighter Day ft. Juakali"
MPEG Stream: "Gangstaz ft. Juakali"

PINK SKULL Endless Bummer (RVNGNL) lp 16.98
It's getting harder and harder to keep track of bands these days, considering how many have either 'pink' or 'skull' in their names, so it was inevitable that a band would finally combine both. So Pink Skull, another band mining the eighties, creating their own brand of new wave, Pink Skull's is tight and smooth and controlled, with a bit more of a house-y vibe than is usual with the new breed of retro 'wave revivalists, the beats propulsive and motorik, laced with fluttery flutes, horns, little flurries of falsetto vox, all wound into a sort of New Order / PiL space disco. Throbbing new wavey basslines, all sorts of chopped up samples and stuttery percussion, a bit psychedelic here and there, groovy, funky, definitely would sound right at home on DFA, but a bit more space-y and far out, with a few tracks getting all kosmiche, like Klaus Schulze with swooshing layers synths and crystalline melodies, mostly designed for the dancefloor for sure, but varied and interesting enough to merit some late night headphone exploration.
The covers seem to be different, with alternating titles printed on the front, also comes with two big fold out posters!

PIOULARD, BENOIT Temper (Kranky) cd 14.98
Portland? This doesn't sound like Portland! Hey, this guy isn't even French! What gives?
Well, Benoit Pioulard is but a pseudonym for a young avant-folk tunesmith named Thomas Meluch, who now lives in Portland, Oregon yet grew up in Michigan. His gauzy dream-pop has much in common with those sounds that spilled out of Michigan with Windy & Carl, Fuxa, Auburn Lull, and even Veronica Lake beginning just over a decade ago. There is a decided craftsmanship that further distances his work from the shambolic affairs that dominate his current hometown, yet this album is not without its narcotic impressionism through his gauzy smears of ambience across his wistfully strummed acoustic guitar numbers. Temper is his second album released through Kranky, and that's a damn proper place for the man. Well, yes, Windy & Carl do release records through Kranky; but his work also fits along very well next to Stars Of The Lid and Labradford. The album's opening cut "Ragged Tint" is atypically urgent in its doubletimed elliptical fingerpicking which speeds past Pioulard's vocals which are sort of like mumbling Stephin Merritt if we could make that sound like a very good thing. A heartbreakingly sad glockenspiel melody tumbles into the chorus of the song, tempered with reverb and delay to match the hue of his dreamy drone-pop. The rest of the album is set at a languid pace, more in keeping with the first Iron & Wine record, complete with lo-fi bedroom recordings and sad little ditties strummed across his acoustic guitar girded with softened Boards of Canada rhythms. Each of his songs are effortless, beautiful, melancholic, and totally worth getting stuck in your head. He brackets each of his songs with softly treated field recordings made on a well-worn walkman that has never had its heads cleaned. So the rainstorms and birdsongs are cast in a mottled gray fog of thick tape hiss, which turns bleary and sad through Pioulard's treatments. As one customer who bought this record from us said, "it's too pretty not to buy!"
Ooh! The vinyl version of Temper also comes with his first album on Kranky, Precis.
MPEG Stream: "Ragged Tint"
MPEG Stream: "Ahn"
MPEG Stream: "Sweep Generator"
MPEG Stream: "Golden Grin"

PIOULARD, BENOIT Temper / Precis (Kranky) 2lp 16.98
Portland? This doesn't sound like Portland! Hey, this guy isn't even French! What gives?
Well, Benoit Pioulard is but a pseudonym for a young avant-folk tunesmith named Thomas Meluch, who now lives in Portland, Oregon yet grew up in Michigan. His gauzy dream-pop has much in common with those sounds that spilled out of Michigan with Windy & Carl, Fuxa, Auburn Lull, and even Veronica Lake beginning just over a decade ago. There is a decided craftsmanship that further distances his work from the shambolic affairs that dominate his current hometown, yet this album is not without its narcotic impressionism through his gauzy smears of ambience across his wistfully strummed acoustic guitar numbers. Temper is his second album released through Kranky, and that's a damn proper place for the man. Well, yes, Windy & Carl do release records through Kranky; but his work also fits along very well next to Stars Of The Lid and Labradford. The album's opening cut "Ragged Tint" is atypically urgent in its doubletimed elliptical fingerpicking which speeds past Pioulard's vocals which are sort of like mumbling Stephin Merritt if we could make that sound like a very good thing. A heartbreakingly sad glockenspiel melody tumbles into the chorus of the song, tempered with reverb and delay to match the hue of his dreamy drone-pop. The rest of the album is set at a languid pace, more in keeping with the first Iron & Wine record, complete with lo-fi bedroom recordings and sad little ditties strummed across his acoustic guitar girded with softened Boards of Canada rhythms. Each of his songs are effortless, beautiful, melancholic, and totally worth getting stuck in your head. He brackets each of his songs with softly treated field recordings made on a well-worn walkman that has never had its heads cleaned. So the rainstorms and birdsongs are cast in a mottled gray fog of thick tape hiss, which turns bleary and sad through Pioulard's treatments. As one customer who bought this record from us said, "it's too pretty not to buy!"
Ooh! The vinyl version of Temper also comes with his first album on Kranky, Precis.
MPEG Stream: "Ragged Tint"
MPEG Stream: "Ahn"
MPEG Stream: "Sweep Generator"
MPEG Stream: "Golden Grin"

PIPPILINA Upsquirrel (Independent) cd 12.98
What starts off sounding like a malfunctioning music box possessed by Aphex Twin soon mutates into what one would imagine a pillow fight in a video arcade would like. Look out! Ms PacMan's got Super Mario in a half-nelson! San Francisco's Pippilina (aka Astrid Meeks) has been known to make her frisky lil' twinkie tunes utilizing among other things a Gameboy and a Korg Chaos Pad. And on her full length cd, there's plenty of samplin' and sequencin' mirth and mayhem. Frivolous fun for all ages.
RealAudio clip: "Origami Pilon Hunter"
RealAudio clip: "16 Bit Torch Song"

PITA Get Off (Hapna) cd 16.98
Peter "Pita" Rehberg is one of the founding members of the Mego Record label, which has developed quite a reputation for damaged glitch electronica and smug digital sleights of hand. Get Off is Pita's fourth album and continues along the same path that his previous albums Get Down, Get Up, and Get Out all took. There's plenty of beautiful sonic vapourization of ringing bell tones and rapturously tactile layers of lush distortion which form the bulk of this 35 minute album and make clear overtures to fellow Viennese laptop maestro Fennesz. Yet, Pita does not share Fennesz' sense of mystery and beauty and is compelled to disrupt his fizzing ambience with sharp blasts of digital noise and Ussachevsky-like electronic splatter.
MPEG Stream: "Like Watching Shit On A Shelf"
MPEG Stream: "By Both"

PITA Get Out (Mego) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

PITA Get Out (Editions Mego) cd 17.98
In recent years, Peter Rehberg has been teaming up with Stephen O'Malley for the data-crunched doom of KTL; but Rehberg has began crafting atomic noise as Pita since the late '90s. His first album Seven Tons For Free won him the Ars Electronica Prize for innovation in new music in 1996; and by 1999, his second album Get Out emerged to global acclaim. After a few years absence, this classic has finally been reissued.
The album is almost entirely an exercise in laptop generated abstraction, with a ring modulation filter firmly bolted to every bit-splatter, pixelated squiggle, and jagged edge. Such DSP tricks were developed in a huge explosion of avant-garde electronics, with Pita leading the way alongside fellow Mego artist Fennesz, Ekkehard Ehlers, AGF, and Stephan Mathieu. Occasionally, Pita's fizzing digital static colludes with subtle rhythms, structures, and harmonies for some truly sublime pieces of electro-shock mantras. The bulk of the album enjoys a clownish randomness from dial twisting tomfoolery and fist-pump noise generation. This must have been an album that Autechre encountered and forced them to radically change directions, lest they become obsolete.
MPEG Stream: "3"
MPEG Stream: "6"
MPEG Stream: "7"

PITA InvalidObject Series (break) (Fallt) cd ep 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Mego boss Pita offers a wildly fluctuating digital collage for his contribution to Fallt's Invalid Object Series (a HUGE, very limited series of 3" cdeps by an international variety of well- and less-well-known electronic artists -- we've had the whole series but not in quanities that we could list. Actually we only have 3 of this Pita disc at the moment, and probably can't get more...so act fast!). This begins with a beautiful Fennesz-style digital shimmer that is blasted by a squall of Merzbow noise filtered around rhythmically structured yet tonally random bloops, sparsely situated squiggly noises, granular synthesis, and tons of fragmented cut ups.

PITCH BLACK Scarecrow / Search And Destroy (Pitch Black) 12" 11.98
A nice super tense slab of creepy minimal dubstep darkness from the appropriately named Pitch Black. The A side is stuttery skeletal dubstep workout, with a huge trash can lid distorted snare crash, skittering muted kick drums and squelchy synths way in the background, Super minimal and spare. The B side is where it gets serious. The call of a crow, some weird drifting female vocals, a super stripped down simple rhythm. The female vocals are just ethereal and drifty enough that for a second it sounds like the track might get all cheesy with some sort of diva vocals, until suddenly the track morphs into an ultra distorted, blown out, crumbling monster beat, all crackly and damaged sounding, super hot and in the red, the drifting female vocals getting buried alive beneath the wall of crashing beats. Some serious dancefloor damage for sure.