RHYTHM & SOUND W/ The Artists (Basic Channel) lp 16.98
Now available on vinyl. We've been getting these Burial Mix 10" singles in here for some time now and probably the single most asked question regarding them has been "when the hell are they going to release these all together on one record?" Well, the time has come. Rhythm & Sound created a stripped down post-Detroit techno sound reminiscent of Chain Reaction and the Stefan Betke/Pole continuum of Euro-dub artists. Unlike others though, Rhythm & Sound took it one step further and acquired the talents of some excellent modern roots vocalists like Paul St. Hilaire (Tikiman), Cornel Campbell, Shalom, The Chosen Brothers, Love Joy, Jennifer Lara and Jah Batta. Asphodel has pragmatically chosen to release the singles as two separate discs, one of the A-sides including the vocals and one of the B-side dub remixes; cuz sometimes you feel like a nut, n' sometimes you don't.
MPEG Stream: "King In My Empire"
MPEG Stream: "Jah Rule"

RHYTHM & SOUND W / JAH BATTA Music Hit You (Burial Mix) 10" 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

RHYTHM & SOUND W/ THE CHOSEN BROTHERS Mash Down Babylon (Burial Mix) 10" 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

RICHTER, MAX The Blue Notebooks (Fat Cat) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "On The Nature of Daylight"
MPEG Stream: "Shadow Journal"

RIGAS DEN ANDRE Guilty Feet No Rhythm (Flogsta Dancehall) lp 27.00
SKWEEE!

RIGAS DEN ANDRE Valla (Harmonia) 12" 15.98
SKWEEE!!!!

RIP OFF ARTIST Pet Sounds (Vertical Form) cd 16.98

RIP OFF ARTIST, THE Brain Salad Surgery (Hot Air) cd 14.98
Nope, not a single Emerson, Lake, & Palmer sample on the album. Didn't mean to get your hopes up, but The Rip Off Artist (aka Matt Haines) does pilfer from the rest of pop culture with reckless abandon, obliterating it within a cut 'n' paste / electronica mindset. This whimsical electro-glitch album has found a perfect home on Hot Air, alongside Stock, Hausen, and Walkman and People Like Us.

RIP OFF ARTIST, THE In Through The Out Door (Tigerbeat6) cd 10.98

RIP OFF ARTIST, THE Pump (Mille Plateaux) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Umpteenth record from Matt Haines and his first for Mille Plateaux. Super rigid algorithmic textures akin to the aesthetic of Schematic artists Phoenecia or Richie Devine. Skittering, frenetic rhythms whisk by your ears before you can actually process them, this music lingers in your head long after the disc has ended.

RIP-OFF ARTIST The Kids Are Alright (Quatermass) cd 16.98

RJD2 Colossus (RJ's Electrical Connection) cd 13.98

RJD2 Magnificent City Instrumentals (Decon) 2lp 16.98

RJD2 The Horror (Definitive Jux) 2cd 16.98
One of the best hip hop records of last year had to be RJD2's Dead Ringer, a wicked mix of gritty beats, seamless sonic collages, and epic cinematic soundscapes. And the track 'The Horror' was the one that set the whole thing off, a dark and soulful, horrific musical trip through seedy streets and back alleys, a noirish epic that rivaled DJ Shadow at his best. So to hold us over until the next record comes this deluxe double cd compilation of different mixes and video footage. Disc one starts off with the original track, 'The Horror' and it just reaffirms what a fucking amazing track it is. Hasn't lost any of its impact. The rest of the disc expands the sonic pallete of RJD2's nightmarish funk / soul hiphopscapes, with some minimal female vocals and tense cinematic strings, serious soulful grit and fierce funk, and loose ramshackle rhythms and dark drony dreaminess. Even if you don't have the Dead Ringer album, this disc of mixes is good enough to function on its own, no throw away remix/filler crap here. Disc 2 is a cd rom that has two live performances (as well as some interviews), one from the Bowery Ballroom in New York, the other from our very own Beta Lounge here in SF. And proves beyond any sort of doubt that RJD2's got some serious skill on the decks as well as the sampler. Also included is a 'making of' documentary chronicling the filming of 'The Horror" video (which we unfortunately don't get to see) and an animated video for "The Horror" that is really amazing looking, a fuzzed out noirish nightmare, claustrophobic and grainy. Like a cartoon gone bad! Definitely recommended, as is of course the Dead Ringer full length.
MPEG Stream: "Bus Stop Bitties"
MPEG Stream: "Ghostwriter Remix"
RealAudio clip: "The Horror"

ROBOTNICK, ALEXANDER Ce N'est Q'un Debut (Medical Records) lp 19.98
One of two amazing vinyl-only reissues on the brand new Medical Records label (the other is Record Of The Week Deutsche Wertarbeit). This one, a holy grail of sorts for all the cult disco seekers, a sexy, exuberant and at times wonderfully sleazy hybrid of Italo-disco, French electro, and Minimal Wave weirdness by the one and only Alexander Robotnick (aka Maurizio Dami).
Ce N'est Q'un Debut was released in 1984 after his first single, "Problemes D'amour" became a mega-cult hit in New York underground dance club circles a year earlier. The extended version of that track was prominently featured on the Strut label's Disco Not Disco 2 a few years back, and it fits right in with Giorgio Moroder, Bernard Fevre, Arthur Russell and other Mutant Disco aficionados as a defining dance staple of the era. This mini-lp features 6 killer tracks including the Moroderesque, "Dance Boy Dance", another popular cult single that was probably heard more in gay bathhouses than in mainstream discos due to its lurid minimal rhythms and suggestive whispered singing. Sooo good! Sweaty summer dancing begins here! Don't let this one slip away!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, each 180 gram colored vinyl and hand-numbered. We're not sure how long we'll have these, so don't wait too long. Highest Recommendation!
MPEG Stream: "Problemes D'amour"
MPEG Stream: "Dance Boy Dance"

ROBOTOBIBOK Jogging (Vytvornia) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
An odd, odd blend of jazz with drum'n'bass and a bit of post rock... from Poland! Shifting percussion, heavy doses of saxophone, spaced-out textures.

ROCKFORD KABINE Italian Music: 31 Invalid Movie Themes (Combination) cd 16.98
We knew nothing at all about this disc when it arrived. Not even sure how we ended up listening to it, but we're so so glad we did. The thing is, we get tons of stuff to listen to. Some all time AQ favorites began life as a random record that showed up in the mail, so we try to listen to everything, or as close to everything as we can. But there's so much, that just listening to random stuff that gets mailed in could be its own full time job (and before you all email wanting that job, trust us, it's not all it's cracked up to be). Inevitably stuff slips through the cracks, or we finally manage to listen to a cd months, sometimes years after it shows up.
But this one caught our eye straight away, with a super creepy cover depicting a dead woman, covered in blood, in a wide expanse of blackness, above her a head, with a hole in the forehead, and a rainbow shooting through the head onto the dead woman, all done sort of oil painting style. Immediately we thought, "Wow, that sort of looks like some Argento movie". Then we saw the title, 31 Invalid Movie Themes ­ Italian Music. Hmm. By a group called Orchestra Di Rockford Kabine. Okay, so maybe, we thought, a soundtrack to some giallo we'd never heard of. The first track seemed to confirm that, a snippet of dialogue from some Italian movie, dialogue, some buzzing creepy sci-fi synth, a panicked woman, screaming, some sort of struggleŠ
Then suddenly, we're in some sort of groovy sixties funk jam, all shuffling percussion, wah wah guitar, throbbing bass grooves, and then out of nowhere, a strangely convoluted interlude, very brief, but sort of stuttery, and then back to the groove. So now we're dying to know what movie this is from. Then the next track is some sort of stripped down electro groove, a jazzy piano vamp, lots and lots of record crackle, this couldn't be from the sixtiesŠ
And it isn't. It ends up it's a German duo called Rockford Kabine, not a person at all, not a composer, an electronic/sampling outfit who describe their sound as "acid smurf" (huh?) and whose modus operandi is crafting little cinematic pop nuggets. Like DJ Shadow doing Morricone. The various tracks are super brief, but super groovy and catchy, some are dark and ominous and ultra creepy, some are playful and exotic. Some sound like they belong in a spaghetti Western, others like they belong in a classic Italian horror film, one track even uses the sound of a pinball machine as the rhythm. Plus the whole disc is peppered with bits of dialogue from movies making it seem even more possible that these could all be little fragments from lost movie scores.
The sounds are all over the place, but manage to sound like they all belong, if not in the same film, at least in the same collection. From the aforementioned opening groover, to the smoky synth flecked mood music of "Al Signor Lorenzo N." complete with a creepy children's choir, to the exploitation cop show funk jam of "Di-Stanza", to the super distorted buzzy sixties psychedelia of "IX", to the Tom Waits via Amon Tobin stuttery junkyard percussion of "Insensato", to the muted meandering twangy western sizzle of "Italo Calvino", to the stripped down, but somehow still spooky rhythmic workout of "Zombi 3000", to the very DJ Shadow-ish creepy crawl of "Profondo Rosso" and it goes on and on. Every track is a strange little gem. Mysterious and cinematic. Each could easily be the theme from some lost film, or just a kick ass little segment from some DJ's set.
31 tracks, averaging a little more than a minute each, these tracks may not actually be from real movies, but repeated listening will have you wishing they were, or just creating the movies in your head as you listen. Fucking awesome.
MPEG Stream: "La Caccia"
MPEG Stream: "Al Signor Lorenzo N."
MPEG Stream: "IX"
MPEG Stream: "Insensato"
MPEG Stream: "Italo Calvino"
MPEG Stream: "Zombi 3000"
MPEG Stream: "Profondo Rosso"

ROCKFORD KABINE Italian Music: 31 Invalid Movie Themes (Combination) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We knew nothing at all about this disc when it arrived. Not even sure how we ended up listening to it, but we're so so glad we did. The thing is, we get tons of stuff to listen to. Some all time AQ favorites began life as a random record that showed up in the mail, so we try to listen to everything, or as close to everything as we can. But there's so much, that just listening to random stuff that gets mailed in could be its own full time job (and before you all email wanting that job, trust us, it's not all it's cracked up to be). Inevitably stuff slips through the cracks, or we finally manage to listen to a cd months, sometimes years after it shows up.
But this one caught our eye straight away, with a super creepy cover depicting a dead woman, covered in blood, in a wide expanse of blackness, above her a head, with a hole in the forehead, and a rainbow shooting through the head onto the dead woman, all done sort of oil painting style. Immediately we thought, "Wow, that sort of looks like some Argento movie". Then we saw the title, 31 Invalid Movie Themes ­ Italian Music. Hmm. By a group called Orchestra Di Rockford Kabine. Okay, so maybe, we thought, a soundtrack to some giallo we'd never heard of. The first track seemed to confirm that, a snippet of dialogue from some Italian movie, dialogue, some buzzing creepy sci-fi synth, a panicked woman, screaming, some sort of struggleŠ
Then suddenly, we're in some sort of groovy sixties funk jam, all shuffling percussion, wah wah guitar, throbbing bass grooves, and then out of nowhere, a strangely convoluted interlude, very brief, but sort of stuttery, and then back to the groove. So now we're dying to know what movie this is from. Then the next track is some sort of stripped down electro groove, a jazzy piano vamp, lots and lots of record crackle, this couldn't be from the sixtiesŠ
And it isn't. It ends up it's a German duo called Rockford Kabine, not a person at all, not a composer, an electronic/sampling outfit who describe their sound as "acid smurf" (huh?) and whose modus operandi is crafting little cinematic pop nuggets. Like DJ Shadow doing Morricone. The various tracks are super brief, but super groovy and catchy, some are dark and ominous and ultra creepy, some are playful and exotic. Some sound like they belong in a spaghetti Western, others like they belong in a classic Italian horror film, one track even uses the sound of a pinball machine as the rhythm. Plus the whole disc is peppered with bits of dialogue from movies making it seem even more possible that these could all be little fragments from lost movie scores.
The sounds are all over the place, but manage to sound like they all belong, if not in the same film, at least in the same collection. From the aforementioned opening groover, to the smoky synth flecked mood music of "Al Signor Lorenzo N." complete with a creepy children's choir, to the exploitation cop show funk jam of "Di-Stanza", to the super distorted buzzy sixties psychedelia of "IX", to the Tom Waits via Amon Tobin stuttery junkyard percussion of "Insensato", to the muted meandering twangy western sizzle of "Italo Calvino", to the stripped down, but somehow still spooky rhythmic workout of "Zombi 3000", to the very DJ Shadow-ish creepy crawl of "Profondo Rosso" and it goes on and on. Every track is a strange little gem. Mysterious and cinematic. Each could easily be the theme from some lost film, or just a kick ass little segment from some DJ's set.
31 tracks, averaging a little more than a minute each, these tracks may not actually be from real movies, but repeated listening will have you wishing they were, or just creating the movies in your head as you listen. Fucking awesome.
MPEG Stream: "La Caccia"
MPEG Stream: "Al Signor Lorenzo N."
MPEG Stream: "IX"
MPEG Stream: "Insensato"
MPEG Stream: "Italo Calvino"
MPEG Stream: "Zombi 3000"
MPEG Stream: "Profondo Rosso"

ROCKFORD KABINE Xero OST (Clockwork / Cobra) cd + dvd 19.98
We first discovered amazing German duo Rockford Kabine via their debut full length, Italian Music: 31 Invalid Movie Themes, which on the surface played like a series of micro snippets of actual Italian soundtrack music, interspersed with snippets of dialogue, brief excerpts from what we can only assume are in fact real films, the music the perfect compliment, wah wah guitars, Morricone-ish twang, smoky synths, spooky rhythmic dronescapes. It was an incredible collection of music that very well could have been soundtrack music, but was in fact an original creation, imagined music for imaginary Italian films. And we were blown away. Not soon after, the band contacted us to let us know that they were already working on a follow up, this one an ACTUAL soundtrack, to some sort of arty XXX adult film, yep, a porno, which in some weird way made sense, what with RK's ability to conjure up super sultry and sexy sounds, that draw from all sorts of different sources, their music already cinematic on its own, seemingly perfect to be wedded to visuals, and heck, when the visuals turn out to consist of sexy women, some wielding daggers, wearing World War 2 style gasmasks and leather bodysuits and well, it's tough to argue with that.
But since the soundtrack was to be available ONLY as a bonus disc with the movie itself, it required some wrangling, and contacting an actual adult film distributor down in SoCal to get our hands on copies. But we're so glad we did. Even removed from the visuals, like all great soundtrack music, Rockford Kabine's score for XERO is incredible, haunting, mysterious, groovy, funky, abstract, cinematic for sure, but also lush and experimental and moody and mysterious. The strange thing too is that the film seems quite European, almost like some Inglorious Basterds style Tarantino war pic (or maybe that's just the aforementioned gas mask get up getting to us), but the music is very Eastern, in fact all the titles seem to be in Japanese, which only adds to the mystique of Rockford Kabine's fantastic soundworld.
So we'll discuss the film in a bit, but as aQ is a record store, and this is in fact our Record Of The Week, it's probably best to discuss the soundtrack/score all on its own first. Like Italian Music before it, XERO is a series of shortish tracks, between 1 and 2 minutes, each super distinctive, with the duo conjuring up incredible mysterious moods in a manner of seconds, leaving the listener in most cases wanting more more more. And like their Italian Music, this does play out like some sort of DJ Shadow style sonic collage, still drawing from Morricone, and the Italian giallo tradition, but also from classic '70s porno music, with some funk and groove, but instead of the oft ridiculed wah wah guitar style porn kitsch, this is much more evocative, and dark, guitars are slithery, basslines low slung, undulating, bells chimes, notes drift through fields of reverb, riffs chug and churn only to dissipate in a field of chimes, spaced out drones collide with almost Tangerine Dream like synths, flutes flit and flutter, the rhythms are minimal and motorik, some tracks playing out like some krautrock groove (reminding us that Can made softcore soundtracks too, way back when), others like some lost cosmic disco. It's actually quite hard to describe XERO, there are so many different sounds and styles, and it's hard to imagine them working as a soundtrack, especially to an super stylized XXX art film, but removed from the film, the music, as varied and constantly shifting as it is, somehow plays out cohesively, like an album proper, guitar twang is laced over a minimal footstep like rhythm, organs wheeze, everything sounds softly woozy and lysergic, exotic percussion collides with gamelan like melodies, minimal hip hop beats are wrapped around stuttering loops, occasionally coalescing into some seriously fuzzy hairy funk, other times drifting into Goblin style almost new wave sounding synthscapes, acoustic guitars unfurl some Western strum, but woven in are some haunting synth melodies, even some mysterious voices, soaring strings and sorrowful piano, tense droned out ambience, skittery almost Portishead style downtempo beats, bells and chimes, all sorts of strange production, the sound sometimes crystal clear and lush and lovely, other times hazy and druggy and gorgeously washed out, a kaleidoscopic sonic journey through some imaginary world of naked women, gasmasks and daggers, weird Asian masks, furry shag rugs, a world that would have stayed imaginary had these sounds not been used to edit the film of the same name.
The film is indeed pornographic, and XXX. It's all female-on-female, there's very little actual hardcore sex though. And while it IS a porno, with no plot to speak of, it's almost more like it's about the music. Indeed, the movie was edited to the music, much like Sergio Leone used to blast Morricone's scores on the set and have the actors move to the music, so the film here is a series of impressionistic tableaus, the colors acid drenched and super saturated, long slow stripteases, even the actual sex is strangely arty and not traditionally sexy, but the strange constantly shifting images, the cool, always changing music, work together, creating something much more than a porno, in fact, the film seemed more like something the band would project behind them when they performed live, strange masks, the aforementioned rubberclad gasmasked mystery woman, another woman who looks a bit like a sexier female version of Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name, long duster, big hat, face obscured by hair, and as the back cover proclaims, "See the shocking ending the censors didn't want you to witness", and we can definitely attest to the fact that the ending is really weird, depressing and violent, and not at all sexy, but in some way, that makes this whole project more interesting, and bizarre, and pretty much perfect for Rockford Kabine's incredible soundtrack. Though of course you don't HAVE to watch it, the prudish can enjoy the soundtrack fully without reference to the visuals.
Needless to say, this is TOTALLY RECOMMENDED, but, since the soundtrack cd does in fact come with an XXX rated adult dvd, thus is required some unaccustomed legalese on our part, as follows... This is only to be purchased by adults, and by purchasing this, and/or adding it to your online shopping cart, you are hereby agreeing to these stipulations: that you are an in fact an adult, being of legal age, 18 or 21, in your legal jurisdiction to view adult oriented material that may be sexual or graphical in nature. (Local laws vary throughout the United States, so if you are not 100 percent sure of the laws applicable to you, you are advised to check before purchasing.) Further, you agree that you will not redistribute this material to anyone for which it is illegal for them to view or possess such material, nor will you permit any minor, or any person who would find this personally offensive, to view this material, and finally that you will hold harmless aQuarius recOrds, its officers, ISP, and employees, from and against any claims, liability, losses, costs, damages, or expenses (including attorney's fees) arising from you use of the images contained on the dvd. Furthermore, you will defend aQuarius recOrds against all claims of impropriety regarding your purchase of this item. Phew. We'd have put all that in small print if we could.
MPEG Stream: "Dangai"
MPEG Stream: "Hana Gin"
MPEG Stream: "Pantsu Etchi Na"
MPEG Stream: "Saigo No Kisu Wa"
MPEG Stream: "Hotto Ni Naru"
MPEG Stream: "Rorikon"
MPEG Stream: "Xero Vs.The Black Angel"

ROCKMORE, CLARA Theremin (Mississippi) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
MISSISSIPPI ALERT!!!!MISSISSIPPI ALERT!!!MISSISSIPPI ALERT!!!!!
Ok, that no doubt got your attention. However, unlike Mississippi's forays into blues, world music, and, uh, Dutch punk rock, this record (an alternately titled reissue of Rockmore's The Art Of The Theremin album) takes a surprising turn into the realm of classical music. But not just *any* classical music, no, this here record will no doubt be familiar to many aQ customers, as Lithuanian born Clara Rockmore (1911-1998) is legendary for her mastery of one of the first and strangest electronic musical instruments ever - the theremin. Even if you think you are unaware of what this unique instrument sounds like, you've definitely heard it SOMEWHERE, most likely in some cheesy sci-fi movie from the 1950s. But rather than retread the story of the theremin in general and Clara Rockmore specifically (for that you're advised to check out the amazing documentary Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey), we will just let you know that this record is completely amazing, absolutely beautiful, and probably unlike anything else you've heard before. Covering selected works from composers such as Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky, among others, Rockmore is capable of creating some of the saddest, most mournful sounds ever committed to tape. With literally every song, the theremin sounds like it is weeping out its melodies alongside its piano accompaniment, provided by Rockmore's sister Nadia Reisenberg. Soundwise, many of you will be reminded of a singing saw, or perhaps some heavily sustained bowed string instrument, but the buzzing electronic warmth of the theremin is really beyond classification. The sounds are at once familiar but also totally alien, and anyone who has actually played a theremin should be well aware of how unbelievably difficult they are to control (you don't even touch the thing!). But Rockmore was clearly cut from a different cloth altogether, and to this day she remains the undisputed master of the instrument.
Mississippi really outdid themselves with the packaging on this one, the heavy duty lp comes housed in a beautiful thick gatefold jacket with all kinds of detailed information. And we should hardly have to warn you of this record's limited availability, so don't miss out.
MPEG Stream: "Vocalise (Rachmaninoff)"
MPEG Stream: "Berceuse (Stravinsky)"
MPEG Stream: "Berceuse (Tchaikovsky)"

RODEN, STEVE Forms of Paper (12K) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

ROGER TUBESOUND ENSEMBLE Plays Just Notes (Rather Interesting) cd 16.98
Another outing from Uwe Schmidt, that incredibly prolific electronicist best known as Atom Heart but also as Senor Coconut, Los Samplers, Atom and Tea Time, Midisport, Geez 'n Gosh, Lisa Carbon, Datacide, LB, Bund Deutscher Programmierer ... and more! This time the operative word is JAZZ. In the same way that Senor Coconut fused Kraftwerk with the mambo, The Roger Tubesound Ensemble is a fine excuse to play around with "jazz". It's all very lighthearted, playful and fun. While the first tune is a pretty much straightforward Esquivel-inspired number complete with girl vocalists, tinkling piano and jazz drums, the later tracks blend in the electronics that Atom just can't stay away from. He slyly creeps in some stereo separation effects, the jazz in one ear, drum 'n bass in the other. Sometimes the schizo effect is jarring and sudden, but eventually the music finds its own level as a honest to gosh hybrid percolating happily.
RealAudio clip: "Dear Lost Listener"
RealAudio clip: "Roger's Back"

ROGUE STATE FEATURING LONE RANGER Root Of All Evil EP (R8) 12" 12.98

ROM = PARI View (Sub Rosa) cd 15.98
The debut album from this Japan-based duo is a kick ass electronica album with some very heavy influences from Aphex Twin. So much so you'd think you were listening to extra tracks produced by Richard James himself right after his Boy / Girl EP. Very Nice!

ROMANCE Bleak Memories (Noise Museum) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The new solo project from avant-ambient guitarist & programmer James Plotkin (Old/Scorn/Flux/Plotkin-Spybey/etc.). Rhythmic electronic instrumental pop (a bit techno-y like Locust), infused with weird patches of pretty piano, hissing noise and Ovalish stutter.

ROMANOWSKI Party In My Pants (Future Primitive Sound) cd 12.98

ROMANOWSKI Steady Rocking (Future Primitive Sound) cd 12.98

ROMANOWSKI / J.A. WHITEFIELD Opiated Circutry Board (Trouser Trout) cd 9.98

ROOK VALLADE s/t (Dial) 10" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A super limited lathe cut 10" (pressed by Peter King in NZ) from the man XLR8R magazine calls "the John Coltrane of techno" also known as O.S.T. Caustic metallic tones and bleak timestretched drones fight for space with the heavy clatter of drum programming which slowly dissolve into a rather sad electronica number. I could see this thing being one of those legendary releases that IDM fanatics will shell out alot of money for in about five years. Now's your chance.

ROPE It's No Fun To Compute (Geist) cd 22.00
Rope's "It's No Fun To Compute" is his second album for Alec Empire's oddball label Geist. This Berlin outfit specializes in layered electronica wackiness not unlike Blechtum from Blechdom. Digitally disfigured funk grooves, swanky French pop, stolen conversations via scanner, loopy downtempo breakbeats, tinny production techniques, and an excess of wildly shifting effects make up the majority of the knob twiddling excitement. A vast improvement over his previous record which was way too heavy on the Tortoise/post rock.

ROSENBOOM, DAVID Brainwave Music (EM Records) cd 23.00
EM Records strikes again! This time, the always-interesting Japanese (mostly) reissue label brings us a disc of pioneering experimental electronic music (a la the Barton Smith set highlighted last list) that's both obscure and unusual. What do we mean by that in this case? Well the album's title isn't any sort of metaphor. Composer/performer David Rosenboom is credited with playing "piano and brainwaves" on several of these pieces. Actually they ALL feature brainwaves, not always piano. Real live brainwaves, captured and processed electronically. It's a '70s sorta hippy/new age/sci-fi musical concept brought to fruition: bio-feedback as a tool for making electronic music! A cool idea that Rosenboom has made work -- if you're a drone-head it's great listening!! Long wavering drones, spacey-synthy-sounding, shimmery beautifully, calm and just a bit spooky. Serene, blissed-out zwooshing electronic gurgle. The piano playing is in minimalist, pulsing style, and one of the track adds drifting vocal samples, almost like thoughts reconstituted from the brainwaves themselves.
Three of the tracks here, pieces from 1971, '72, and '74, were originally released on vinyl by the Canadian label A.R.C. back in 1976. This 2006 compact disc edition adds an extra 17 minutes newly recorded just for this release. The one from '72 was recorded live at the International Carnival of Experimental Sound (ICES) in London, England, an event that must have been awesome from what little documentation we've seen or heard of it!
From the cd booklet, here's the composer's statement about what he's up to with his Brainwave Music: "Metaphors about the concurrency and succession of events in undefined spaces and the spread of energetic phenomena throughout resonant fields operate heavily in this music. Perhaps, they may lead us forward in developing of untapped sensibilities still residing deep within us. Perhaps, we will be able to conceive of an idea of resonance unbounded by our limited views of time and space and expand our appreciation of the universality of music even more."
Hmm. Something to think about. And as you're doing that, just imagine what sounds David Rosenboom could conjure if he had your brain hooked up to his bio-feedback machinery right now!
This comes in a special, extra-thick Japanese jewel case to fit the 42 page booklet we suppose. Unfortunately for us Americans, only a couple of pages of the booklet are in English, but there are plenty of cool photos, graphics, schematics, and musical scores to look at.
As with all the EM stuff we've stocked, totally recommended!
MPEG Stream: " Portable Gold And Philosopher's Stones (Music From Brains In Fours)"
MPEG Stream: "Chilean Drought"

ROSENBOOM, DAVID Future Travel (New World) cd 16.98

ROSKA s/t (Rinse) cd 17.98
One of the coolest things about the dubstep scene in the last couple years is how many different, new and exciting directions that sound has been stretched and twisted and expanded into. There has been everything from rave-step to tech-step to dark-step and even drone-step!
Roska use dubstep as an undercurrent to their totally upbeat, dancey and housey soulful sound. Sitting somewhere pretty exciting between the all out party sounds of Zomby and the more soulful and hypnotic elements of Burial. Or imagine any of our dubstep favorites infusing a touch of Lil' Louis and C+C Music Factory energy into their grooves (and we mean that in a good way!). Not sure if this will be dubbed house-step but we got to say it's a pretty awesome and refreshing sound. While so much dubstep has a very menacing, tough, ultra ominous bent, we love the feminine and R&B fueled perspective that Roska brings to the sound, all the while still having incredible beat making skills that can't be denied. In some of the more squeeching and swirling tracks we even think of what would happen if Mouse On Mars dipped their toes into the world of dubstep. A few tracks feature vocals including "I Need Love" which is one of the best, hypnotic dance tracks we've heard in ages. We think this is one of those records that not only dubstep fans will enjoy but a whole lot of other folks into the more soulful and free side of dance music as well. So damn good!
MPEG Stream: "I Need Love : Featuring Anesha"
MPEG Stream: "Time Stamp"
MPEG Stream: "Tomorrow Is Today"

ROTOSCOPE Great Curves (Jester Records) cd 14.98
Yet another baffler from Norway's Jester Records (the weird-ass label run by Garm from Ulver) who in the past have brought us Bogus Blimp, When, Esperanza, and the newer, more experimental Ulver records. This is sort of an electronica record. Sort of. Somewhere between Oval, Squarepusher, Lamb and Bjork. In fact some tracks sound like an actual Bjork songs, chopped up and spit out erratically, and occasionally in the wrong order (the delicate female vocals are actually by Rotoscope member Christine Sandtorv). The rest of the album sounds like acid jazz records, spastic drum and bass, and fusion records tossed into the wood chipper and loaded directly onto your hard drive. If this record came out on Matador or Warp or One Little Indian, people would be eating this up. But as it is, it's on a sort-of-metal label, and, well, most metalheads just don't get shit like this. But you should!
RealAudio clip: "The Bogota Sub"
RealAudio clip: "Noiserok Orkesterissa"
RealAudio clip: "Carpet Illusions"

ROVO Imago (Incidental) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
At long last we have this much-sought after Japanese title back in stock, thanks new local label Incidental who have licensed it for domestic release. Here's what we said about the import version: SF's KUSF radio station has had this Japanese band in heavy rotation for months now...what's all the fuss about? Rovo is a new group featuring violinist Katsui Yuji (of Bondage Fruit) and guitarist Yamamoto Seiichi (of Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba, etc.) as well as two drummers (one from Bondage Fruit). The mix also includes bass, synth, flute, bells, bowls, effects, etc... Rovo play a unique sort of instrumental live electronica--a percolating, jazzy blend with surprises. For instance, track three begins with the lovely, meditative use of those bells and bowls, before erupting into a repetitive techno-funk trance-out.
All that still applies to this version (although there's no bonus 3" cd like the import came with). The band is soon to be touring here as well, in July. They'll be playing in San Francisco with Live Human, which should be a good, interesting matchup. Also look for a future live release on Zorn's Tzadik label...
RealAudio clip: " Larva"

ROYKSOPP The Understanding (Astralwerks) cd 17.98
Here's the sophomore release from this Norwegian duo! Whereas their debut Melody A.M. was a relatively downtempo groovy affair, this one immediately comes across as much more pumped and primed for the dancefloor -- but we should add, not at all jarringly so. One dozen ultra sleek Euro-dance productions that mirror all the good looking folks posing with their cocktails. Want some?
MPEG Stream: "49 Percent"
MPEG Stream: "Only This Moment"

RROLAND Reflections On A Past Life As Played On The Roland Synthesizer (American Patchwork) cd 8.98
Local artist Rroland creates videogame soundtrack worthy synth-scapes with Reflections On A Past Life. These fifteen compositions proffer whimsical prog transmitted through some pretty lo-fi production. The single instrument used throughout is indeed a Roland synth. He seems to have a bit of an infatuation with Momus as per some hints on his website, but we won't hold that against him. Bring us more, Rroland!
MPEG Stream: "Frozen River"
MPEG Stream: "The Shame Village"

RUBIES FEATURING FEIST I Feel Electric (Italians Do It Better) 12" 9.98
It doesn't get much more breezy and subtly seductive then this one sided 12" by Rubies, with their pal Feist lending her sultry voice to the cause. We've been really anxious to hear Rubies, fronted by Simone Rubi who we always loved in her old band Call & Response. Much like her Call & Response cohort Daniel Judd who is now making some of the smartest and most satisfying electronic music around as Sorcerer, Rubies seems to also have a nice dreamy dance vibe going on. A little more subdued and mellow then the rest of the Italians Do It Better camp, this still fits perfectly on this label that's been doing an amazing job of creating a new legion of disco inspired sounds for this generation. While we wish there was another track on the 'b' side, the almost nine minutes of "I Feel Electric" as remixed by TieDye has been hitting the spot for summertime dancin' with glasses overflowing with bubbly, and fresh strawberries in hand. So sweet and flowing.

RUDE KID Are U Ready? (No Hats No Hoods) 12" 13.98

RUN LOLA RUN (OST) (TVT) cd 16.98
At long last the soundtrack to the indie film of the moment (Blair Witch excepted of course). Includes two songs by the lead actress Franka Potente and a bunch of remixes.

RUN RETURN Animals Are Beautiful (5MD) 7" 5.98
For those who've dug into the groovy instrumental sounds of Run Return's recent debut album Metro-North (or for those just looking for a quick samplin'), you can get your fix right here on the vinyl format! Mind you, the title track does reappear on the cd, but it is a really good one though! Imagine a chops'n'creativity meeting of Fly Pan Am and Tortoise.
MPEG Stream: "Animals Are Beautiful People"

RUN RETURN Metro-North (5MD) cd 14.98
Although this trio have been together since 1999, Metro-North is Run Return's full length debut. It features some exceptionally well done dark groovy city scene soundscapes -- a generous serving of eighteen! Each of them sound as though they were composed specifically for a rain-soaked midnight hour. Check out two of the album's best tracks -- the very Chicago post-rock sounding, jazzy glider "Sea Plane" and the perfect-for-late-night-driving thirteenth track which is also the title track of their recent 7" "Animals Are Beautiful People". Captures a chill-out mellowness but is also sonically and rhythmically active enough to keep you on your toes.
MPEG Stream: "Animals Are Beautiful People"
MPEG Stream: "Sea Plane"

RUNAWAYS Classic Tales 2lp 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If you are looking for Lita Ford or Joan Jett, sadly you have found the wrong Runaways. If you are looking for that blunted Mo'Wax-style experimental instrumental hip hop found on the label's legendary Headz compilations, then you're in luck. This outift (formerly known as RPM) combines the sharpest of breaks and witty turntable tricknology for one of 97's BEST records of this genre.

RUNAWAYS UK Classic Tales (Three*Sixty/Arcade America) cd 14.98
If you are looking for Lita Ford or Joan Jett, sadly you have found the wrong Runaways. If you are looking for that blunted Mo'Wax-style experimental instrumental tricknology found on the label's legendary Headz compilations, then you're in luck. One of the best instrumental hip hop records of 1997 has finally been re-issued here in the States. A stunning combination of the sharpest of breaks and witty turntablism, with the addition of classical guitar on a coupla tracks, for fans of the old Mo' Wax sound found on the first Headz compilation (the Runaways personnel is two guys from Mo'Wax group RPM). It's all midtempo and very accessible.

RUNAWAYS UK Progress (Three Sixty) cd 14.98
UK (duh) group follow up their almost-all instrumental hiphop classic "Classic Tales" with this new effort. Progress? Hmm, well it's no longer as unique and Mo'Wax-y, with a bunch of guest MCs this time droppin' rhymes, including Masta Ace.

RUPTURE, DJ / COM.A Shockout (Tigerbeat6) 12" 8.98

RUPTURE, DJ/ Gold Teeth Thief (Violent Turd) cd 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
At last, reissued -- as a 'real' cd (not a cd-r) and cheaper too! This debut DJ/Rupture mix disc was a big hit here at Aquarius (and elsewhere too, apparently). We'd been getting the cd-r version on /Rupture's own Soot label direct from the man himself, but those are no longer available. Kid606 stepped in and signed DJ /Rupture to his Tigerbeat6 label, with a new /Rupture set called "Minesweeper Suite" due for release on August 27th. But, in advance of that, the Kid's other label, Violent Turd, has made the "Gold Teeth Thief" set available once again. Packaged in one of those plastic clamshell cases, with nought but a sticker for artwork, this remains a budget release, but a welcome one. It's also apparently a limited edition reissue, so if you missed it before, don't sleep on it now!! Here's our original glowing review, backed up by being named one of the top 50 best albums of the year by The Wire:
This is one of the best mix cds we've ever heard. And it's not about insane turntable skills, or about that 'isn't-it-weird-and-crazy-how-I've-juxtaposed-hip-hop-and-classic-rock' gimmicky stuff or about how famous or cool the DJ is (in fact, I bet you've never even heard of DJ /Rupture, an American living in Spain). It's about his choice of songs, and how smoothly and creatively they're mixed (live on 3 turntables). This cd is just an amazing and deft mix of dance hall (traditional -and- HARD ala DJ Scud etc.), hip hop, dub and electronica. Nothing fancy just 70 minutes and 43 tracks of some of our favorite shit: Missy Elliott, Nas, DJ Scud, Barrington Levy (a different track than his contribution to the amazing 400% Dynamite compilation, but you'll recognise his oh-so-familiar 'Woah Wooah.'), Nettle, Dead Prez, Bounty Killer, Kid 606, Venetian Snares, Luciano Berio, Shabba Ranks, Non Phixion, Wu-Tang Clan, Cannibal Ox, Djivan Gasparyan, Sub Dub, John Wall, Oval, Project Pat, Muslimgauze and even Paul Simon/Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Miriam Makeba (ending all smooth and pretty with no beats at all). Wow.
MPEG Stream: "track 2"
MPEG Stream: "track 5"
MPEG Stream: "track 1"
MPEG Stream: "track 3"
MPEG Stream: "track 6"

RUPTURE, DJ/ Gold Teeth Thief (Soot) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. ORDER THE TIGERBEAT6 REISSUE INSTEAD.
This is one of the best mix cds we've ever heard. And it's not about insane turntable skills, or about that 'isn't-it-weird-and-crazy-how-I've-juxtaposed-hip-hop-and-classic-rock' gimmicky stuff or about how famous or cool the DJ is (in fact, I bet you've never even heard of DJ /Rupture, an American living in Spain). It's about his choice of songs, and how smoothly and creatively they're mixed (live on 3 turntables). This cd is just an amazing and deft mix of dance hall (traditional -and- HARD ala DJ Scud etc.), hip hop, dub and electronica. Nothing fancy just 70 minutes and 43 tracks of some of our favorite shit: Missy Elliott, Nas, DJ Scud, Barrington Levy (a different track than his contribution to the amazing 400% Dynamite compilation, but you'll recognise his oh-so-familiar 'Woah Wooah.'), Nettle, Dead Prez, Bounty Killer, Kid 606, Venetian Snares, Luciano Berio, Shabba Ranks, Non Phixion, Wu-Tang Clan, Cannibal Ox, Djivan Gasparyan, Sub Dub, John Wall, Oval, Project Pat, Muslimgauze and even Paul Simon/Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Miriam Makeba (ending all smooth and pretty with no beats at all). Wow.
Definitely an obscure, self-released item (before we got 'em direct from DJ /Rupture, Jeff actually bought one off the internet for a lot more than $9.98) but we've got a few now and a bunch more on the way from Spain next week.
RealAudio clip: "2"
RealAudio clip: "5"
RealAudio clip: "1"
RealAudio clip: "3"
RealAudio clip: "6"

RUPTURE, DJ/ Minesweeper Suite (Tigerbeat6) cd 13.98
As promised, the new DJ Rupture set is here on Tigerbeat6 and it does not disappoint. As on his last release, Gold Teeth Thief, Rupture's strong points, and this can't be emphasized enough, are combined in his great taste in a variety of musics and his smMOOOOVve mixing skills. There's also nothing ironic about his choices of source material and, maybe more importantly, he is only too happy to oblige us with the names of the cuts that he's mixing (well, most of them, presumably the ones he got permission to use). So obliging is he, that he makes the point of including label names and even URLs where applicable. So if you're curious enough you can track down all the individual cuts for yourself (which is actually a fun task to perform because you can hear what Rupture has tweaked through pitch and EQ from the sources to achieve his goals.) Unlike Gold Teeth Thief, which starts off like a stick of dynamite, Minesweeper Suite -- as I suppose its name suggests -- catches one off-guard. It begins with a pleasant track from Nubian musician Mahmoud Fadl gradually mixed in with the smooth dub sounds of J-Boogie and the two slowly pitched up together until by six minutes into the CD, Rupture has got the tempo up to a grinding pulse with all manner of breakbeats, dancehall, arabic music and hip hop weaving seamlessly in and out of the mix. In all, Minesweeper Suite is a much more ambitious undertaking than Gold Teeth Thief in that the source material that Rupture pools together for this set seems to consistently come from a wide variety of music from around the globe. Where the "world music" filled second half of his Gold Teeth Thief set may have seemed the weaker part of that disc, here it seems Rupture has increased his skills enough to throw just about anything into the mix and have it sound as if it were meant to be completely natural. Among the music sampled are Foxy Brown, dancehall from Cutty Ranks, Sade, Nina Simone, Robert Flack, Dead Prez, Djivan Gasparyan, Kid606, Cex, DOnna Summer, Wax Poetic, Dat Politics, even Cul de Sac and Borbetomagus! Quite an experience.
RealAudio clip: "track 15 excerpt"
RealAudio clip: "track 3 excerpt"
RealAudio clip: "track 12 excerpt"
RealAudio clip: "track 20 excerpt"
RealAudio clip: "track 9 excerpt"

RUPTURE, DJ/ Rude Descending A Staircase (Brooklyn Beats) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We finally got our hands on enough of these to list. The title is a nod to Marcel Duchamp's famous, scandalous painting Nude Descending A Staircase. This 7" by DJ Rupture will most definitely not raise anywhere near the frenzy that the great surrealist's work did. Two tracks that you may recognize from his incredible "Gold Teeth Thief" mix cd.