ATARI TEENAGE RIOT Revolution Action (Digital Hardcore) cdep 9.98
New 4-track ep from Alec Empire & co. Features Nic Endo's first recordings with the band, adding a brutalist barrage of white noise to the already pummelling assault of post-Rotterdam hardcore, hellish drum n' bass breaks, and the three-pronged political vocal rants of Empire, Hanin Elias and Carl Crack.

ATARI TEENAGE RIOT / ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION (Damaged Goods) split 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
New songs from ATR and AQ-favorites the Asian Dub Foundation, the hip-hop outfit's first appearance since 1995's brilliant full-length album.

ATOM FEATURING TEA TIME XXX (Rather Interesting) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've all been keeping a watchful eye on Mr. Atom Heart lately. Watching bemusedly as his relocation to Chile prompted him to reinvent himself as Senor Coconut, and listening, as his techno turned to mambo, and his obsession with the indigenous music of his new home seeped into every facet of his music making. The first Senor Coconut record (out of print, it seems) was a glorious mix of Perez Prado style mambos and Squarepusherish drum programming. The Senor Coconut we listed on the last AQ list took a bizarre turn no one could have predicted, consisting of all Kraftwerk covers done Chilean style, all mambo and rhumba, barely a hint of his former Atom Heart remained. On "XXX", Atom hooks up with Chilean rapper Tea Time, for a wickedly clever record of X rated rapping (in Spanish of course) and convuluted hip hop, complete with plenty of turntablist trickery and hard disc scratching. And it's practically perfect; funny and catchy and smooth and super wicked. Tea Time's got a super smooth flow (sounding a bit like MC Solaar) and the music is just completely bizarre, lots of hiccuping loops, low end rumble, crazy scratching, and bizarre hard disc editing, making for probably one of our favorite (albeit quite odd) hip hop (Latin American glitch-rap?) records of the year, and it's easily the best Atom Heart...er...Senor Coconut record yet.
RealAudio clip: "Mis Chiquitas"

ATOM TM Liedgut (Raster-Norton) cd 17.98

ATOM TM Music Is Better Than Pussy (Rather Interesting) cd 21.00
There is a fine line between clever and peurile. Actually the line's not all that fine. Guess which side this falls on.
MPEG Stream: "Clicktrack"
MPEG Stream: " Suck My Groove"

ATOM TM Son Of A Glitch (Rather Interesting) cd 21.00
Regardless of which alter ego he's embodying at the time (Senor Coconut, Datacide, Midisport, Lisa Carbon, Disk Orchestra, etc.), virtually all of Uwe Schmidt's releases have some obvious, fully realized concept behind them. Knowing that, it makes his latest Atom TM album a somewhat befuddling listen. Son Of A Glitch squishes together a seemingly random assortment of distinctly Schmidt-y IDM glitch-squidge, sample-delic outbursts and dialogue snippets. Really, we could be missing something, but it seems like his most unfocused work to date -- sounding like a grab bag of recordings of him just messing around in the studio. Still, if this is Uwe Schmidt just fuckin' around, it's still miles more entertaining and well executed than a lot of releases by his contemporaries.
MPEG Stream: "MP3"
MPEG Stream: "Being Human Boring"

ATOMINE ELEKTRINE Nebulous (Essence Music) cd 15.98
Peter Andersson's name is not one that pops up here at Aquarius Records all that often; but his impact upon the Swedish electronic underground has been huge since the early '90s. He's been responsible for some of the more influential dark-ambient / esoteric electronic projects that made up the bulk of the early Cold Meat Industry catalogue with his pseudonyms being Raison D'Etre, Stratvm Terror, Necrophorous, and Atomine Elektrine. Strangely enough, there's another Peter Andersson who also graces Cold Meat Industry's catalogue; but wisely he adopted the moniker Lina Baby Doll to prevent any confusion when venturing into the bizarre, militant territories of Deutsch Nepal. Anyway. Atomine Elektrine is the formerly mentioned Peter Andersson, and this project nestles between kosmische electronica (e.g. Pop Ambient, Boards Of Canada, Omit, etc.) and deep-space isolationism (e.g. Lustmord, Thomas Koner, etc.). Nebulous is a remarkably well done album that doesn't seem to embrace any of the commonplace signifiers of electronica; maybe just a Chain Reaction synth pad here or there alongside the downtempo mechanoid breakbeats, constantly tumbling filter sweeps, and algorithimic arpeggiations cast in shadowy, metallic ambience.
MPEG Stream: "Transforming Space"
MPEG Stream: "In-Between Spaces"

AUCH Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (Force Inc.) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
New release on Force Inc. Steady four on the floor house beats and dark, compressed washes of monochromatic sounds - very much reminiscent of Thomas Brinkmann, Plastikman and most any of the releases on Chain Reaction.

AUCH Remix Tomorrow Goodbye (Force Inc.) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Excellent remix collection (based tracks from Auch's Chain Reaction style "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" album), by the happenin' electronica likes of Sutekh, Dat Politics, Goem, Auch, and others.

AUFGEHOBEN Messidor (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98
Yer ears ready for a bit of a challenge? This, the fourth album from take-no-prisoners English instrumental noise-rock project Aufgehoben (nee Aufgehoben No Process) ought to be just the thing. Seven tracks, 45 minutes of crumpled, crinkly skree in the form of amp-frying distortion, chaotic falling-down-the-stairs song structures, and clattering pipe-fightin' percussion. It's "music" that's been brutally improvised and manipulated, coming out sounding something like Merzbow meets the Starfuckers. At its most extreme (which is very, and most of the time) this stuff's so in-the-red it's infrared.
This time around we're hearing less of the krauty rhythmic pummel and snatches of near-melody that characterized their earlier releases (like their last one, 2004's Anno Fauve), and more just sheer blown-out, blow-it-up loud skronky noise, or threatening-to-be loud glitchscapes of brief silences, scrapery and FX. The "small print" in the cd booklet somehwhat puzzlingly specifies the instrumentation/methodology as "paper, stone, electronics, two drums, one mono GS" and "no bass, no overdubs, no no no process", along with the usual disclaimer that Aufgehoben "accept no responsibility for health or hardware". A smart lawyer they must have... Messidor is a seriously OTT session for fans of the likes of Wolf Eyes, Shit and Shine, and Skullflower.
MPEG Stream: "Ruckfragen"
MPEG Stream: "Manotgog"

AUN Black Pyramid (Cyclic Law) cd 12.98
We've long been fans of Canadian doom/drone/dirge outfit Aun. They shared a split with French ultra doomlords Habsyll (who also released a record on Andee's tUMULt label) and we made their most recent record, VII, a Record Of The Week a while back. Which makes perfect sense, as they traffic in a perfect blend of electronic dronemusic, abstract blackened buzz and downtuned glacial sludge that we just can't seem to get enough of. VII was peppered with black metalisms as well, and featured drumming from Voivod's Away, transforming Aun's drones into something way more metal, but on Black Pyramid, Aun move away from overtly metallic soundmaking, and instead focus on creating a collection of epically abject dronescapes, that capture the same sort of intensity and soul crushing heaviness, but using a distinctly different palette. And the results are incredible. Dark, and dreary, depressive and hauntingly beautiful.
Each track here is a miniature epic, a bleak sprawl of smoldering sounds, deep shimming low end drifts beneath hazy fragmented melodies, everything blurred and smeared into slow shifting clouds of grim ambience, the tracks peppered with mysterious bits of random percussion, scrapes, creaks, chimes and buried rhythms.
The sound occasionally blossoms into thick buzzing sheets of crumbling distortion, smoldering swaths of blown out thrum, or gorgeously dreamy streaks of shoegazey melody, but just as quickly settles back down into pulsing electronic swirls, or murky expanses of blackened drift.
The record closes with the 9+ minute "Shining", which finds Aun taking that hushed minimal shimmer, and tethering it to a strange skeletal rhythm, a sort of disembodied techno throb, but more brittle and trebly, as the black swells beneath roil and churn, until eventually, thick throbbing droned out guitars, wreathed in swirling fuzz, are driven forward by a new, more propulsive, loping, lurching rhythm, the sound growing more and more intense and distorted, before finishing in a final squall of swirling FX and washed out distortion. So good. And while way less metal than the previous record, it's most definitely just as heavy, and dark, and intense.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Phoenix"
MPEG Stream: "Taurus Ten"
MPEG Stream: "Black Pyramid"

AUROBINDO Involution (Ash International) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Mark Van Hoen (Locust) appears courtesy R&S, Belgium, & Daren Seymour (Seefeel) appears courtesy Warp Records, Ltd = impeccable resumes. Check out the inner grooves = "This is what they want." & "A bony prime cut."

AUROBINDO Involution (Ash International) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Mark Van Hoen (Locust) appears courtesy R&S, Belgium, & Daren Seymour (Seefeel) appears courtesy Warp Records, Ltd = impeccable resumes. Check out the inner grooves = "This is what they want." & "A bony prime cut."

AUTECHRE (Oversteps) (Warp) cd 16.98
Long gone are the days of Autechre albums like Incunabula, Amber, and LP5 where spiralling electronic melodies tumbled upon algorithmic breakbeats with ghostly allusions to hardcore techno and hip-hop. Over the past five records (LP5 being perhaps the last Autechre album to embrace the 'classic' IDM sound), abstraction for the sake of abstraction has been the order of the day. The atonal squiggling set upon a wooden breakbeat on "Treale" is about a close as (Oversteps) comes to a classic Autechre track, but much of this album seems to be wandering without much clear intention as to what might happen next. Just a fizzing sound here, and a blobby splutter of jazzy midi-synth there. That said, at least some of us have been digging this quite a bit, not for it's Autechre-ness, but rather for the fact, that much of the weird mopey rhythms and synthy splutter, remind us of all of those fucked up weirdo guitar synth bands we're so obsessed with: Xynfonica, Shevalreq, Thursar, Gluttony, somehow, and in some weird way, the less rhythmic, more ambient tracks on (Oversteps) sound like cleaned up, less obviously fucked up versions of that outsider weirdness, which to most ears might not be a plus, but to some of us, makes this Autechre pretty cool, and weird, and we definitely find ourselves drawn to it, listening to it more often that we might have expected...
MPEG Stream: "Pt2ph8"
MPEG Stream: "Treale"
MPEG Stream: "Os Veix3"

AUTECHRE (Oversteps) ( Warp) 3lp 41.00
Also on vinyl, expensive, yes, but fancy, triple LP. We've just got one at the moment...
Long gone are the days of Autechre albums like Incunabula, Amber, and LP5 where spiralling electronic melodies tumbled upon algorithmic breakbeats with ghostly allusions to hardcore techno and hip-hop. Over the past five records (LP5 being perhaps the last Autechre album to embrace the 'classic' IDM sound), abstraction for the sake of abstraction has been the order of the day. The atonal squiggling set upon a wooden breakbeat on "Treale" is about a close as (Oversteps) comes to a classic Autechre track, but much of this album seems to be wandering without much clear intention as to what might happen next. Just a fizzing sound here, and a blobby splutter of jazzy midi-synth there. That said, at least some of us have been digging this quite a bit, not for it's Autechre-ness, but rather for the fact, that much of the weird mopey rhythms and synthy splutter, remind us of all of those fucked up weirdo guitar synth bands we're so obsessed with: Xynfonica, Shevalreq, Thursar, Gluttony, somehow, and in some weird way, the less rhythmic, more ambient tracks on (Oversteps) sound like cleaned up, less obviously fucked up versions of that outsider weirdness, which to most ears might not be a plus, but to some of us, makes this Autechre pretty cool, and weird, and we definitely find ourselves drawn to it, listening to it more often that we might have expected...
MPEG Stream: "Pt2ph8"
MPEG Stream: "Treale"
MPEG Stream: "Os Veix3"

AUTECHRE Chiastic Slide (Warp) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This isn't even remotely new, but it does happen to be perhaps the best Autechre record to date. And as it is only now being released domestically and at a decent price (it was $20 until now) we figured it was time to give this record its due. Besides being my favorite Autechre record, it is also their least melodic (which could be why I like it so much), eschewing much of their flair for sad simple little melodies in favor of crunching digital crush, with maniacally skittering breakbeats and super intense walls of digital distortion. Harsh and brittle but somehow warm and 'catchy' at the same time. Some of the melodies -do- remain, but they are buried under an avalanche of chopped up beats and angular glitch. Listening to this record, it's easy to see why these guys inspired such a massive wave of imitators. If you love any of the Autechre albums or are fans of any of the many wannabes (Funkstorung, etc...) then do yourself a favor and check this shit out.
RealAudio clip: "Chiastic Slide 1"
RealAudio clip: "Chiastic Slide 2"
RealAudio clip: "Chiastic Slide 3"

AUTECHRE Chiastic Slide (Warp) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This isn't even remotely new, but it does happen to be perhaps the best Autechre record to date. And as it is only now being released domestically and at a decent price (it was $20 until now) we figured it was time to give this record its due. Besides being my favorite Autechre record, it is also their least melodic (which could be why I like it so much), eschewing much of their flair for sad simple little melodies in favor of crunching digital crush, with maniacally skittering breakbeats and super intense walls of digital distortion. Harsh and brittle but somehow warm and 'catchy' at the same time. Some of the melodies -do- remain, but they are buried under an avalanche of chopped up beats and angular glitch. Listening to this record, it's easy to see why these guys inspired such a massive wave of imitators. If you love any of the Autechre albums or are fans of any of the many wannabes (Funkstorung, etc...) then do yourself a favor and check this shit out.

AUTECHRE Cichlisuite (Warp) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Their new, much-anticipated full length, also available as 2 separate 12"s for 8.98 each.

AUTECHRE Confield (Warp) cd 14.98
During the past few years, Autechre's work has come to mean much more than a personal aesthetic expression for Autechre themselves, as members of electronica's ivory tower (the IDM list in particular) have placed Autechre's work within a universally accepted canon of specific rhythms, melodies, and structures. Funkstorung, Richard Devine, Cex, Bannlust, Markant, Crunch, and Arovane are just a few of the artists whose work is based solely upon the worship of that Autechrist aesthetic canon. It may be up for debate if these deliberate imitations are earnest homages or hollow rip-offs. In anycase, the fact remains that a number of Autechre's albums stand amongst electronica's best. What separates Autechre from their imitators is the understanding that experimentation is a neccessary but risky procedure. Not every attempt at a complex algorithmic sequence is going to result in breathtaking rhythm, not every melody is going to be memorable. But from the anxiety of experimentation, Autechre has succeeded more often than not, and should be commended for upholding their experimental ideals.
However, "Confield" is a drastically different record for Autechre, as they have become too self-involved in making experimental art for the sake of experimentation. All of their previous records have a trace element of hip hop, as if Autechre has taken the futurism of Afrika Bambaata and Grandmaster Flash to a logical extreme of dense cybernetic spaces and whirring binary clatter. Autechre may have been predicting that hip hop wouldn't catch on to this (if at all) for quite a long time; however, the angular hip hop productions of Destiny's Child or Ludacris have indeed developed similarities to Autechre's sound. I would postulate that these similarities rather than the imitators from their own camp are what pushed Autechre towards the more experimental / less accessible forms on "Confield."
This album has almost completely done away with the bass heavy hip hop breakbeats. Instead, Autechre sublimates the rhythms to seasick fluctuations of timestretched glitches and phasing sequences. Similarly, the big romantic melodies which Autechre pioneered on their first album ("Incunabula") and revitalized on their last ("AE5") have gone missing. While the individual sounds are interesting, well-groomed pieces of digital errata, Autechre's micromanagement of the sound has made them lose sight of the bigger picture: making a good record, not just a good sound.
RealAudio clip: "Lentic Cathachresis"
RealAudio clip: "Sim Ajshel"
RealAudio clip: "VI Scose Poise"

AUTECHRE Draft 7.30 (Warp) cd 16.98
As nervous as the die-hard Star Wars fans had been about the second prequel "Attack of the Clones," the beleaguered contributors to the IDM list echoed a hushed anxiety about Autechre's seventh full album "Draft 7.30." Would it, like its predecessor, be "unlistenable noise?" Well, the answer may come as a disappointment to those who hold Autechre's "Chiastic Slide" or "Amber" as the pinnacles of contemporary electronica; but at the same time, "Draft 7.30" isn't nearly as problematic as "Confeld." During the past decade or so, Autechre had built the instantly recognizable trademark sound of fragmented breakbeats and melodic fragments that flicker between paranoia and melancholia. This sound sparked a huge number of imitators which certainly out-number the already large catalogue of work from both Autechre and their alter-ego Gescom. While it's difficult to prove their intent, it seems less and less a coincidence that Autechre would choose to abandon their trademark when so many others are replicating their ideas. While "Confeld" had been a radical departure for Autechre as a sea-sick collage of digi-static vibrations with only a modicum of success, Autechre has returned to one of their strengths on "Draft 7.30" in aligning constantly fluctating rhythms along a continuous structure. Thus, fractured electro breaks and obtuse techno ploddings spiral out from a consistent center amidst cascades of digital fuzz which is the obvious result of bending downpitched samples into the ugly parameters of digital distortion. Unfortunately, Autechre offers another mixed bag in the name of re-invention.
MPEG Stream: "Tapr"

AUTECHRE Draft 7.30 (Warp) 2lp 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As nervous as the die-hard Star Wars fans had been about the second Prequel "Attack of the Clones," the beleaguered contributers to the IDM list echoed a hushed anxiety about Autechre's seventh full album "Draft 7.30." Would it, like its predecessor, be "unlistenable noise?" Well, the answer may come as a disappointment to those who hold Autechre's "Chiastic Slide" or "Amber" as the pinnacles of contemporary electronica; but at the same time, "Draft 7.30" isn't nearly as problematic as "Confeld." During the past decade or so, Autechre had built the instantly recognizable trademark sound of fragmented breakbeats and melodic fragments that flicker between paranoia and melancholia. This sound sparked a huge number of imitators which certainly out-number the already large catalogue of work from both Autechre and their alter-ego Gescom. While it's difficult to prove their intent, it seems less and less a coincidence that Autechre would choose to abandon their trademark when so many others are replicating their ideas. While "Confeld" had been a radical departure for Autechre as a sea-sick collage of digi-static vibrations with only a modicum of success, Autechre has returned to one of their strengths on "Draft 7.30" in aligning constantly fluctating rhythms along a continuous structure. Thus, fractured electro breaks and obtuse techno ploddings spiral out from a consistant center amidst cascades of digital fuzz which is the obvious result of bending downpitched samples into the ugly parameters of digital distortion. Unfortunately, Autechre offers another mixed bag in the name of re-invention.

AUTECHRE ep7 (Nothing) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This new release from Autechre is available domestically on one cd, or split into two import-only vinyl 12"s. It's also somewhat misleadingly termed an "ep", seeing as the cd is actually pretty long. Since 1992, Autechre has been digitally redesiging the electro mainframe into terse fragmented breakbeats bearing little resemblance to the sounds of Afrika Bambaata. Hard disc skippings, flanging distortion, and other digital 'mistakes', which had been stumbled upon by all sorts of artists (Oval, Ryoji Ikeda, V/VM, etc...), have become the sources for Autechre's sound. Autechre's stuttering staccatic rhythms appear as the attempts to fuse the flesh and bone of Autechre's human bodies with their machines: blood flows as streaming digital pulses, neural synapses fire erratic distorted beats, and melody has been gradually dissolved perhaps as metaphor of the transformation of the 'human spirit' into its mechanical other.
I will admit to being excessive in my analysis of all things Autechre...but this outfit is something really special and this ep is no exception.

AUTECHRE ep7.1 (Warp) 12" 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This new release from Autechre is available domestically on one cd, or split into two import-only vinyl 12"s. It's also somewhat misleadingly termed an "ep", seeing as the cd is actually pretty long. Since 1992, Autechre has been digitally redesiging the electro mainframe into terse fragmented breakbeats bearing little resemblance to the sounds of Afrika Bambaata. Hard disc skippings, flanging distortion, and other digital 'mistakes', which had been stumbled upon by all sorts of artists (Oval, Ryoji Ikeda, V/VM, etc...), have become the sources for Autechre's sound. Autechre's stuttering staccatic rhythms appear as the attempts to fuse the flesh and bone of Autechre's human bodies with their machines: blood flows as streaming digital pulses, neural synapses fire erratic distorted beats, and melody has been gradually dissolved perhaps as metaphor of the transformation of the 'human spirit' into its mechanical other.
I will admit to being excessive in my analysis of all things Autechre...but this outfit is something really special and this ep is no exception.

AUTECHRE ep7.2 (Warp) 12" 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This new release from Autechre is available domestically on one cd, or split into two import-only vinyl 12"s. It's also somewhat misleadingly termed an "ep", seeing as the cd is actually pretty long. Since 1992, Autechre has been digitally redesiging the electro mainframe into terse fragmented breakbeats bearing little resemblance to the sounds of Afrika Bambaata. Hard disc skippings, flanging distortion, and other digital 'mistakes', which had been stumbled upon by all sorts of artists (Oval, Ryoji Ikeda, V/VM, etc...), have become the sources for Autechre's sound. Autechre's stuttering staccatic rhythms appear as the attempts to fuse the flesh and bone of Autechre's human bodies with their machines: blood flows as streaming digital pulses, neural synapses fire erratic distorted beats, and melody has been gradually dissolved perhaps as metaphor of the transformation of the 'human spirit' into its mechanical other.
I will admit to being excessive in my analysis of all things Autechre...but this outfit is something really special and this ep is no exception.

AUTECHRE EPs 1991 - 2002 (Warp) 5cd 40.00

AUTECHRE Gantz Graf (Warp) cd ep 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Somewhere amidst the nervous clattery percussive goodness that is Autechre, melody resides. Intrepid listeners will hear timestretched vocals and pure tones behind the clickety clackety headlong rush to... well where *are* they going anyway? I'm not quite sure. Um, maybe it doesn't matter. This is more quintessential Autechre, impossibly chaotic but nothing new. It sounds good, though, especially the last track where the notes tumble out so manically, competing with each other for milliseconds of space that it just becomes one big melodic wash of texture, like sand turning into glass. Very nice. Twenty minutes, three tracks.
The DVD version of this adds three video tracks, including one by the amazing Chris Cunningham for the track "Second Bad Vilbel," whose visuals can be read as one robot's nightmare of loneliness after we got to see it fall in love in the Cunningham-directed Bjork video "All is Full of Love." Staticky, color separated and full of interference, this video, along with the two others, is pretty good and makes the extra $5 worth it. Maybe.
RealAudio clip: "Cap.IV"

AUTECHRE Gantz Graf (Warp) 12" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Somewhere amidst the nervous clattery percussive goodness that is Autechre, melody resides. Intrepid listeners will hear timestretched vocals and pure tones behind the clickety clackety headlong rush to... well where *are* they going anyway? I'm not quite sure. Um, maybe it doesn't matter. This is more quintessential Autechre, impossibly chaotic but nothing new. It sounds good, though, especially the last track where the notes tumble out so manically, competing with each other for milliseconds of space that it just becomes one big melodic wash of texture, like sand turning into glass. Very nice. Twenty minutes, three tracks.
The DVD version of this adds three video tracks, including one by the amazing Chris Cunningham for the track "Second Bad Vilbel," whose visuals can be read as one robot's nightmare of loneliness after we got to see it fall in love in the Cunningham-directed Bjork video "All is Full of Love." Staticky, color separated and full of interference, this video, along with the two others, is pretty good and makes the extra $5 worth it. Maybe.

AUTECHRE Gantz Graf (Warp) dvd + cd ep 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Somewhere amidst the nervous clattery percussive goodness that is Autechre, melody resides. Intrepid listeners will hear timestretched vocals and pure tones behind the clickety clackety headlong rush to... well where *are* they going anyway? I'm not quite sure. Um, maybe it doesn't matter. This is more quintessential Autechre, impossibly chaotic but nothing new. It sounds good, though, especially the last track where the notes tumble out so manically, competing with each other for milliseconds of space that it just becomes one big melodic wash of texture, like sand turning into glass. Very nice. Twenty minutes, three tracks.
The DVD version of this adds three video tracks, including one by the amazing Chris Cunningham for the track "Second Bad Vilbel," whose visuals can be read as one robot's nightmare of loneliness after we got to see it fall in love in the Cunningham-directed Bjork video "All is Full of Love." Staticky, color separated and full of interference, this video, along with the two others, is pretty good and makes the extra $5 worth it. Maybe.

AUTECHRE Incunabula (Warp) cd 15.98

AUTECHRE Move Of Ten (Warp) cd 12.98

AUTECHRE Move Of Ten Pt.1 (Warp) 12" 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

AUTECHRE Move Of Ten Pt.2 (Warp) 12" 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

AUTECHRE Peel Sessions Volume 2 (Warp ) cd ep 7.98
This is Peel Sessions Volume 2 from the UKs masters of skitter and stutter. While not as brilliant as the last full length 'LP5' or the fantastic 'EP7' it is nonetheless pretty great. If you are new to this whole Autechre thing, start with the older 'Chiastic Slide', but if you're already a fan, this is just more of what you know (and probably love).

AUTECHRE Quarstice (Warp) cd 14.98
Yeah, somebody is probably going to tell you that Quarstice is brilliant, that this isn't like the last couple of records, which sorta sucked, and that they were wrong to try to convince you that the last couple of records were any good, but that *this* one IS really, really great. Don't be fooled. Autechre hasn't made a great album since 1998's AE5; and Quarstice again fails to live up to Autechre's potential. Here is a collection of 20 short tracks, which supposedly have some sort of revisionist take on the acid tracks and electro breaks that spawned Autechre nearly 20 years ago. Yet, there is nothing squelchy in the acid percolation, no punch to the breaks, no unsettled melodies which seemed to come out of nowhere, no passion. When there are grooves, they sound quite leaden, never venturing anyplace interesting or exciting. Unfortunately, a bit of a big yawn...
MPEG Stream: "Altibzz"
MPEG Stream: "Tankakern"
MPEG Stream: "Notwo"

AUTECHRE Quarstice (Warp) 2lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yeah, somebody is probably going to tell you that Quarstice is brilliant, that this isn't like the last couple of records, which sorta sucked, and that they were wrong to try to convince you that the last couple of records were any good, but that *this* one IS really, really great. Don't be fooled. Autechre hasn't made a great album since 1998's AE5; and Quarstice again fails to live up to Autechre's potential. Here is a collection of 20 short tracks, which supposedly have some sort of revisionist take on the acid tracks and electro breaks that spawned Autechre nearly 20 years ago. Yet, there is nothing squelchy in the acid percolation, no punch to the breaks, no unsettled melodies which seemed to come out of nowhere, no passion. When there are grooves, they sound quite leaden, never venturing anyplace interesting or exciting. Unfortunately, a bit of a big yawn...
MPEG Stream: "Altibzz"
MPEG Stream: "Tankakern"
MPEG Stream: "Notwo"

AUTECHRE s/t (LP5) (Nothing/Warp) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ever since Autechre's stellar self titled album was released a few months back on Warp, we have heard rumors of Nothing releasing this stateside. But attempts to uncover information from Nothing was met with ignorance and belligerence. OK, Nothing might be really busy promoting the aforementioned Marilyn Manson record more so than these... after all he and Trent Reznor provide the hefty sums that purchase the UK rights for Autechre, Squarepusher, and Plaid... but does that give clueless Nothing the excuse to deny information to those who are genuinely interested?
Regardless, if you haven't picked up this Autechre record by now, please do so. It may be the year's best electronica record!

AUTECHRE s/t (LP5) (Warp) lp 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Autechre's sad little melodies over angular electro breakbeats have taken on the very distinctive trait of deceleration, as the pulsing electronica speed through dystopic conduits only to hit vacuums within the digital spaces causing vertiginous slow motion freefalls. With every release Sean and Andy successfully redefine electronica while maintaining their exquisite signature. Highly recommended.

AUTECHRE Tri Repetae (Wax Trax / Warp) 2cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

AUTECHRE Untilted (Warp) cd 15.98
Sorry to say, another disappointing album from the duo responsible for so many exceptional electronic records throughout the '90s. Incunabula? Chiastic Slide? AE5? Remember those records? All absolutely brilliant. Well, the brand new eponymous album from Autechre is not much like those albums and is sort of dull dull dull: a few half assed attempts at the melodies that once seemed second nature, and drum programming that sounds more like they're trying out a whole new set of drum kicks, snares, and time-stretched fizzes with little in the way of ecstatic complexity or groove-oriented dynamism. Autechre should have taken Aphex Twin's lead, who instead of treading musical water has fallen back on the sounds that bring him joy, the old school acid breaks of his ten EP Analord series.
MPEG Stream: "LCC"
MPEG Stream: "Pro Radii"

AUTECHRE Untilted (Warp) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sorry to say, another disappointing album from the duo responsible for so many exceptional electronic records throughout the '90s. Incunabula? Chiastic Slide? AE5? Remember those records? All absolutely brilliant. Well, the brand new eponymous album from Autechre is not much like those albums and is sort of dull dull dull: a few half assed attempts at the melodies that once seemed second nature, and drum programming that sounds more like they're trying out a whole new set of drum kicks, snares, and time-stretched fizzes with little in the way of ecstatic complexity or groove-oriented dynamism. Autechre should have taken Aphex Twin's lead, who instead of treading musical water has fallen back on the sounds that bring him joy, the old school acid breaks of his ten EP Analord series.
MPEG Stream: "LCC"
MPEG Stream: "Pro Radii"

AUTECHRE / HAFLER TRIO aeo3/3hae (Die Stadt) 2cd 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Very quiet electronic wisps, distant rumblings, and hushed drones mark the beginning of the second collaboration between Autechre and The Hafler Trio. Again, The Hafler Trio's Andrew McKenzie houses his work in a beautiful, if fragile folio, much like his previous releases on Phonometrography, whom McKenzie has inexplicably ceased doing business with. Why you might ask? Has he ever needed a reason for his actions? At least, Autechre has remained on good terms with McKenzie enough to complete this twin set of recordings. After almost 16 minutes of shrouded-in-secrecy wash and whir, a short segment of randomly splattered fizzing electro-static gives evidence to one of the few sounds on either compilation that clearly hints at Autechre's signature sound, harkening to their most recent recordings Confield and Draft 7.30, but without any of Autechre's already dwindling appreciation for rhythm. In other words, you'd certainly be excused for thinking this a Mego release of laptop noise. The clicks and cuts gradually dissolve across a sea of low end acousmatic rumblings and stretches of inactivity, bringing disc one to a close. The second disc features a considerable increase in audibility, as dense reverberating swells of electric sound (e.g. h3o's Exactly As I Say) snaps to an equally beautiful passage of post-Ligetti electronic chorale music. If you're a fan of the Hafler Trio, it almost goes without saying that you'll want to pick this up; but it must be said that if you're looking for more in the way of Autechre, you won't find much of it here. As with all Hafler Trio releases, no sound samples can be made available.

AUTHOR s/t (Tectonic) cd 17.98

MPEG Stream: "Turn (feat. Ed Thomas)"

AUTISTIC DAUGHTERS Uneasy Flowers (Kranky) cd 14.98
Teeter-tottering betwixt morose indie-rock songishness and purely textural, experimental soundscapery, this avant garde and all together moody international trio, consisting of Dean Roberts (Thela, White Winged Moth), Werner Dafeldecker and Martin Brandlmayr (Radian, Trapist) brings us their second album for Kranky, following up 2004's Jealousy & Diamond. Slow and steady and suffused with low-key drama, Uneasy Flowers should satisfy anyone's yen for (again) an uneasy-feeling yet smoothly executed mix of New Zealand indie-murk free noise and European glitch-drone laptoppery. The album is pleasingly bathed in a glow of wavering distortion/feedback (shortwave static style), scattered with This Heatish percussive patterns (from Brandlmayr) and fragile vocals (from Roberts). Nice!!
MPEG Stream: "Uneasy Flowers"
MPEG Stream: "Liquid And Starch"

AUTO, SERGEJ s/t (Saas Fee) cd 15.98
Apparently Sergej Auto holds down a day job composing cartoon music in the Czech Republic. For his debut release "Auto", he's put together 13 tracks that starts out with some quaint pop-electronica a la Mouse On Mars / Jimi Tenor that eventually becomes Chain Reaction / Mike Ink style dub-house / click-hop / filter-tech / (fill in your own cute adjective for what Force Inc does). Like most stuff from the Germanic techno genre, Sergej Auto is not super innovative... but certainly effective in the deep groove department.

AUTOMATOR A Better Tomorrow (Ubiquity) cdep 8.98
With a title such as that you know the music is ferociously cool. Local boy and frequent Mo'Wax engineer/remix-savant Dan Nakamura recently broke out with this exciting ep. He says it pushes OUTward the boundaries of (american) hip hop, a very good thing to do, no? If you dig the Dr. Octagon record, then you'll like this one -- Dan along with Kool Keith are the principals on both albums.

AUTOPOESIES Live A Noir (Ritornell / 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.
Autopoesies live album was recorded during the Mille Plateaux tour that skittered across Europe in late 1999. The success of this album (in direct contrast to the rather boring debut) unwittingly calls into question the role of the 'artist' in front of his / her laptop. This record (and thus the live performance) could have simply been made by inputing abstract images into Metasynth (a program that translates visual files into sound files - perfect for manufacturing Ovalesque clickiness), while 'the artist' could be playing Tetris or downloading internet porn or walking off the stage to get a beer. Sure, Roland Barthes' 'Death of The Author' becomes an easy conceptual basis to justify such a live show, but so is 'I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I'll act like Markus Popp snapping my gum and looking bored." Maybe this rant is without merit, and maybe Autoposies had a kick ass live show. Maybe. And maybe Andee will get that helper monkey he wants so badly for the store.
With all of this said, "Live A Noir" is an exceptional album of subatomic digital glitches and white hot crackle, turbulent sonic swells and terse glacial scrape. Fits just right with your Stilluppsteypa and Noto.

AUTRE NE VEUT Body (Hippos In Tanks) 12" 11.98

AUTRE NE VEUT s/t (Olde English Spelling Bee) lp 17.98
Another awesome chunk of retro pop weirdness from Olde English Spelling Bee, this one from the truly baffling Autre Ne Veut. Unlike the rest of the current crop of John Hughes worshipping garage pop new wave revisionists, who mix their retro leanings with modern bits of rocking indie crunch or hypnogogic swirl, the music of ANV is totally removed from any modern musical movement. It definitely has that eighties soundtrack vibe, a weird minimal synth pop, with keening falsetto vox, woozy synth bass, stumbling skeletal rhythms, cheesy electronic drums, super dramatic melodies, reminding us more of Terence Trent D'Arby, Erasure, Prefab Sprout, Scritti Politti, groups like that, and it almost sounds like every track here is from a musical montage from a cheesy eighties straight to video teen movie, the kind you only see at 4am in a hotel in some godforsaken town, where everything closes at 9pm, so you're forced to stay in your room, eating food from the gas station watching whatever is on whatever janky cable channels they have at the Motel 6, and somehow you find yourself riveted. And these are the songs you somehow find stuck in your head. And that's the thing, for all of their cheesiness and retro-ness, these jams are pretty irresistible, like the theme from Beverly Hills Cop, or Breakfast Club, or Pretty In Pink, but once removed, less obviously poppy, but still crazy catchy, more synthy, more cheesy, and sort of more alien and abstract, but at the same time cooler, and weirder, rife with strangely lush vocal harmonies, washed out sci-fi synths, occasional bits of twisted effects, and some of the coolest weirdest (synth) pop songs ever.
Strange and wonderful and definitely a new favorite...

AXXESS Novels For The Moons (Medical) lp 19.98
We've been meaning to list more releases on Medical Records, one of the coolest reissue labels going these days. The label describes themselves as "Purveyors of classic synth, cosmic disco, wave (cold/new), and future music", and in the past have brought us killer reissues from Der Plan, Deutsche Wertarbeit, and Alexander Robotnick, with tons more we've yet to review (but hopefully will soon!). But we can't think of a better way to start our Medical Records review campaign than this amazing record, 1983's Novels For The Moon, by the awesomely named Axxess, aka French multimedia artist Patrick Mimran, a record whose genesis is nearly as interesting as the record itself. But before we get to that, just know that ANYone into the current crop of psych-space-synth retro-futurists, a la Zombi, Majeure, Umberto, Gatekeeper, Dylan Ettinger, Nightsatan, Blizaro, Xander Harris, Roll The Dice and all the rest, should grab one of these right now!
So, the story goes, that Mimran was working as a top executive at Lamborghini Motors (the exotic sports car / race car company), when he made this record, and originally released it on, believe it or not, Lamborghini's own record label (which had us wondering what other Lamborghini Records releases might be lurking out there?!). His music was heavily influenced by the German krautrock of the time (Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, etc.), and he even commissioned a German engineer to build him a custom synthesizer, a much more complex version of one that the same engineer had earlier designed for Tangerine Dream! And in a further connection to Tangerine Dream, Novels For The Moons was recorded with help from TD member Christopher Franke (who was also in Agitation Free). Needless to say, sonically, this Axxess album has much in common with Tangerine Dream, but also with the creepy synth soundtracks of Goblin and John Carpenter, the sounds on the record ranging from pulsing space disco, to haunting ominous synth soundtrackery, to blissed out kosmische new age, often all of those combined.
On first listen, you'll be shocked at how much the current crop of synth wranglers sound like Axxess, an artist probably most of them have never heard, but who no doubt will be immediately obsessed with, how could they not be? The tracks mesmerizing and hypnotic, sequenced melodies, pulsing rhythms, the Kraftwerk vibe HUGE in places, thick swaths of kosmische drift, swirls of new agey shimmer, much of this sounds like mysterious B-movie soundtracks, chase scenes, credit sequences, others sound like background music from some seriously tripped out seventies nature program, all of it sounds druggy and cosmic, soaring and epic and impossibly catchy, driving and pulsating, pulsing and mesmerizing, beyond the classic synth sounds, there's plenty of other craziness going on as well, strange processed vocals, intense stereo panning, even wild monkey screeches on one track, but it's all somehow woven into the whole, which most definitely works as an album proper, but whose sound slip seamlessly from dark and ominous, to playful and goofy, to intense and driving, krautrocky and blissed out one minute, groovy and darkly psychedelic the next. So totally recommended.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES! Each one hand numbered. Pressed on 180 gram yellow vinyl, housed in a reproduction of the original jacket, with a 12"x12" printed insert with liner notes including pictures of the synth used to make the record, a history of the record and its creation, and an interview with Patrick Mimran!
MPEG Stream: "Griffin's Disaster"
MPEG Stream: "Twilight Ride"
MPEG Stream: "Xylobones"
MPEG Stream: "Sad Blue Sand I"
MPEG Stream: "Owls"

AYSHAY Warn U (Triangle) cd ep 12.98
The two most recent records put out by ultra hip experimental electronic label Triangle, finds that label continuing to push well past the 'witch house' genre ghetto that birthed them. To be fair, the first few proper releases on Triangle, Holy Other, Clams Casino, and Balam Acab, were already a sort of POST witch house strain anyway, with some of the WH tropes retained, but with those groups upping the production big time, and ditching much of the lo-fi drag that defined the best witch house, and in the process, inventing a new electronica. Elsewhere on this week's list you'll find the new record from SF electro weirdos Water Borders, a dizzying slab of Coil worshipping electronic what the fuck genius, and then there's this, the debut from Ayshay, which also incorporates a bit of Coil into the proceedings, but there seem to be no beats at all, at least initially, channeling some sort of Cocteau Twins ethereal drift, with some processed throat singing style vocals as a bass, the only beat a buried pulse, it's pretty compelling, and darkly haunting, and beautiful for sure. The second track offers up more of the same, channeling Grouper and stripping away all that low fidelity murk and instead creating a lush layered symphony of voices, subtly twisted and tweaked, another spectral vocal bliss out, and in fact, the third track is more of the same, it's like a three part vocal song suite that acts as a sort of introduction to the final 12 minute "Nguzunguzu Megamix", which is in fact the first track with beats, and while we may have been expecting some sort of skittery drag, or murky muted low end throb, it actually plays more like some lost Muslimgauze remix, all skittery Eastern percussion, multiple drums and rhythms all tangled up, some hand claps, some serious low end, all over those ethereal vox from the first few tracks, the sound constantly shifting, the beat growing more and more block rockin as the track progresses until it finally blossoms into some almost jungle near the end, the stutter and skitter (and some BIG bass booms), perfectly woven into that strange shimmery swirl of ghostly vox. And it's those last few minutes that are the sort of warped and weird, beat heavy mystery secret weapon that some cool DJ will unleash from his sonic arsenal at just the right time and just destroy the dancefloor. So good, getting tons of play here at AQ and appropriately just in time for the Halloween season...
MPEG Stream: "Warn-U"
MPEG Stream: "Nguzunguzu Megamix"