(((O))) Fuego Somos, Fuego Seremos: Roars & Abstractions. (Auris Apothecary) cassette with black obsidian in velvet pouch 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
With a name like (((o))) we were pretty much imagining some SUNNO)) like rumbles and slo-mo glacial low end creep, and this Mexican drone/dirge soundscaper did not disappoint, but like everything released on Auris Apothecary, one of our new favorite labels, the over the top packaging deserves as much discussion as the music. This one comes as a black tape, wrapped in a full color fold out paper sleeve, sealed shut with a black wax seal, housed inside a black velvet bag, screen printed on both sides and sealed with a drawstring, while alongside the tape inside is also a small sealed bag containing hand broken Mexican obsidian, hand numbered too. It's a gorgeous little piece of art, which just so happens to contain some amazing sounds. Thankfully, regardless of whatever inspiration (((o))) drew from SUNNO))), the sounds here are much more varied and interesting. The tape opens with some deep drones, but are soon accompanied by some haunting female spoken word, in Spanish, before slipping into a woozy bit of soft focus psychedelic guitar, all spidery melodies, drifting in an expansed of greyed ambient shimmer. The tape twists and turns, slipping from a crumbling processed chunk of blurred noise to full on Merzbowian buzz (infused with all manner of murky melody and clattery percussion), from rumbling de-tuned tarpit riff ooze to field recording flecked blacknoise ambience, and finally to a swirling windswept chunk of pulsing, distorted rhythmic murk, all pulsing distorted swells and buried blackened melodies, weirdly hypnotic, noisy, but still impossibly pretty.
LIMITED TO 99 COPIES!!!
And here's a nifty promo video the label made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfwQh2dcBV8&
MPEG Stream: "Parte Uno"
MPEG Stream: "Parte Dos"
MPEG Stream: "Parte Tres"

(AD)VANCE(D) 24 (Substantia Innominata / Drone Records) 10" 13.98
The parenthetically inclined (ad)vance(d) is the work of Dutch sound collagist Mars Wellink, who might be better known to some as half of the equally obtuse Vance Orchestra - a project with its aesthetic roots in the European post-industrial / tapemaschinenmusik school which spawned the likes of H.N.A.S., Cranioclast, and P16.D4. Vance Orchestra produced one of the early singles for Drone Records, and now has released a 10" as part of the Drone curated series Substantia Innominata. On the first side of 24, Wellink contextualizes all sorts of very commonplace sounds (a tea-kettle whistling, toothbrushing, telephones ringing, and the roar from highway overpasses) within a claustrophobic set of tones, drones, and strange bits of electronic sequencing. At times, this track really has all of the trappings of those Atelecine recordings, although Wellink doesn't have the benefit of having Sasha Grey as a sidekick. The flipside is a much darker affair, opening with a massive thrumming tone that might have some difficulty with some lesser turntables, that steadily evolves into a series of undulations of detuned voice and rolling drones, not too far removed from where Stapleton guided Salt Marie Celeste. Atonal chirps, synthesized filter sweeps, and radiophonic blorp disperse in various directions beyond the sea-borne drones alluding more to the Daphne Oram side the equation. Wellink makes all of these references seem pretty easy in this mix. Nicely done, we must say!

(CT) PROJECT Akapella (Nemoguitt Recordings) cd 7.98
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Eleven musicians record their voices, and manipulate them with effects, samples, etc. to create an interesting assortment of songs.

(CT) PROJECT Found (Nemoguitt Recordings) cd 7.98
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Nine artists compose using only previously recorded material yielding surprisingly musical results, amid the expected clickery.

(V/A) PHIZMIZ, ERGO / XPER.XR / PEOPLE LIKE US Gongexeva (Mukow) cd-r 8.98

*0 0.000 (Mu-Label) cd 14.98
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*0 is the mathematically inclined pseudonym for Japanese puretone artist Nosei Sakata. The name of his project refers to the multiplication of anything times zero equating zero, thus giving you an idea of what is sonically in store on his fourth recording.
Sakata's first few recordings had been attempts by this Japanese artist to out-muscle Ryoji Ikeda's sine-wave and bleep constructions, with a great deal of success. Here, his minimalism achieves its purest form... With the exception of the two 1000hz sinewave test tones which bookend this recording, the tones which Sakata uses are so extreme as to be not only outside of our speaker's frequency range, but also outside the range of human (or at least my) perception. While the only two tones used are the ultrasound frequency of 20200hz and the infrasound frequency of 14hz, he does break from his harsh minimalism on one track to layer these two frequencies together. The prinicple is that when two frequencies such as these are layered together a secondary tone (somewhere smack inbetween the two at around 10000hz) should be audible. The problem is that if the speakers can't produce the frequencies, the secondary frequencies can't be heard. A noble concept, even if it doesn't really work for us puny mortals / puny stereos.

0 (MIKA VAINIO) Heijastuya (Sahko) lp 22.00

1/3 OCTAVE BAND Fading Light From Distant Suns (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We at AQ have long been fans of Campbell Kneale and his project Birchville Cat Motel who along with the Dead C, Omit, Gate and a handful of others have helped to define one of the richest free-rock-noise-drone scenes in the world. For years Kneale has been releasing cds, lps and cassettes (most of them quite limited) of noisy electronic soundscapes and gorgeous organic drones. So when we discovered Kneale also ran a label, we figured it was definitely worth checking out. And how right we were. Not only is all of the music on Celebrate Psi Phenomena amazing, but the packaging is perfectly and stunningly designed as well (quite nice considering this is a cd-r label. See our crappy cd-r packaging rants in the last three or four lists) with each cd in a plastic sleeve nestled between two sheets of old fashioned textured wallpaper, printed, and sealed with a gold star.
1/3 Octave Band's sound is a slowly unfolding haze of purposeful minor key guitar strum that dissolves into rumbling guitar shimmer and warm chordal washes of hum and fuzz and occasional electronic buzz. Buried in the gossamer layers of sound are clanging crashes, gritty throbbing and almost imperceptible melodies. 1/3 Octave Band take the bliss-out of Spacemen 3, roll it in angel dust and dip it in tar before laying down and drifting off. So nice.
RealAudio clip: "One"
RealAudio clip: "Two"

1/3 OCTAVE BAND Navigation By Light (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 11.98
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Another new jam from New Zealand's 1/3 Octave Band, courtesy of Campbell Kneale's (Birchville Cat Motel, Black Boned Angel, etc.) Celebrate Psi Phenomenon label. Packaged as always in the immediately recognizable wallpaper sleeve, this is some serious soft focus, gauzy and dreamy and free floating minimal bliss for sure.
Four tracks, 49 minutes, each track a lengthy drift through delicate worlds of subtle sound. From a barely audible whir, flecked with distant high end melodies and crystalline glimmering, to creaking cavernous murmurs, to almost industrial dronescapes, to haunting cinematic soundscapes, but with all the jagged edges worn away into smooth soft shapes. This is the music of dreams. Music from another world. The sound of wandering somnambulant through some soft space, eyes closed, mind open, and drifting heavenward.
MPEG Stream: "Magnetic South "
MPEG Stream: "Semaphore"

1/3 OCTAVE BAND Sub Lumina (Humbug) cd 16.98
More blissed out dream drone from these mysterious musical inner space explorers.

1349 RYKKINN Brown Ring Of Fury (Jester ) cd 14.98
Jester strikes again! After quite a few stellar releases by the likes of When, Ulver, Bogus Blimp, Kare Joao, Single Unit and others, this time the unpredictable (except for being predictably good) Norwegian avant-garde label Jester brings us another unknown quantity: the debut cd from something called 1349 Rykkin. Initially, this seemed like an exercise in distorted clobbering noise electronics with percussive hits and crunkly rhythms, definitely for fans of recent Merzbow and Kevin Drumm. Aggro but also varied and interesting. But, there's more -- four tracks in, the destructo stuff gives way to urban field recordings (passing cars, street sounds) and some really pretty, melancholic acoustic guitar playing in the form of "Field With Flowers In Crazy Colors", revealing Brown Ring Of Fury's sensitive side. Then the noise returns, but always, as before, with some left-field component. The penultimate track, "Best Boy", is also the album's epic centerpiece, being over 25 minutes of noise-throb akin to some ominous mechanical heartbeat, augmented with washes of spacey synth and vicious drones. Merzbow/Aube/Space Machine Japanoise territory here for sure. After that, there's a recording of some blokes in a bar on holiday (it seems) that makes for a confusing/bizarre/silly coda. Funny.
Our research reveals that this disc is the work of one guy, Bard Erik Strand Torgersen, with help from a few friends (including Jester label boss Kristoffer Rygg, aka Garm of Ulver). 1349 refers to the year the Black Plague devastated Norway, and Rykkin is the suburb of Oslo where Torgersen grew up. Apparently he's a Norwegian techno pioneer who hasn't made music for years, this is a new direction for him and certainly far from "techno" as it's normally conceived!
MPEG Stream: "Extreme Sunlight"
MPEG Stream: "Fields With Flowers In Crazy Colors"

16 BITCH PILE UP Bury Me Deep (Troniks) cd 11.98
The undead never tire and we never tire of them.
It seems 16 Bitch Pile Up don't either. This is their new zombie themed album. Sarah Bernat, Sarah Cathers and Shannon Walter's particular brand of gratings, dronings and groanings do indeed resemble the sounds one would imagine a crusty zombie would make as s/he dragged half-shorn limbs across a deserted junkyard -- snagging flaps of decomposed flesh on random rusted detritus. A horrorsome gnarl of unwashed murky experimental noise.
MPEG Stream: "They Buried The Dead Boy... But Not Deep Enough"
MPEG Stream: "The Earth Was Loose"

16-17 Early Recordings (Savage Land) 2cd 19.98
Long overdue reissue of the impossible to find early releases from Swiss extremist free jazz / outrock outfit 16-17! Because of using saxophone, 16-17 were always tagged as some kind of 'jazz' group, but if this was jazz, it was a kind of jazz no one had EVER imagined at the time, extreme and difficult listening for sure, like Borbetomagus filtered through the Swans or like a snake charmer high on PCP jamming with Prong's rhythm section. Or even a free jazz Whitehouse! 16-17 were a shrieking banshee, a pummeling behemoth, massive, ear shredding, primitive horn blasting freakout predating Zorn's extreme jazz (Painkiller et. al.) by at least seven years. This trio (saxophonist Alex Buess, drummer Knut Remond and guitarist Markus Kneubuhler) wove tight, tense grooves of pounding drums, pulsing thick ropy low end guitar throb, and atop it ,all Buess' wildly squealing, squirming, snarling sax. 16-17 sound was so intense and far out, and so much modern music can be heard in these tracks, Flying Luttenbachers, Laddio Bolocko, Aufgehoben No Process, Painkiller, a few years later and maybe Buess would be celebrating HIS 50th birthday with star studded NYC performances and multiple cd releases, but as it is, these guys remained a footnote, lurking on the periphery, making common cause with Kevin Martin's God and Alboth and the even the Digital Hardcore label, their legacy indisputable, modern music's debt unrepayable, so thanks to Savage Land we can all now genuflect before the Gods of ultra extreme hardcore free jazz post punk whatthefuck, hear where it all started, feel the same thrill folks must have felt stumbling into some dingy New York dive when 16-17 came over and toured with the Swans, and being fucking flattened by these guys.
Includes the first two albums, Self Titled (1986) and When All Else Fails (1989) as well as the ULTRA rare Hardkore & Buffbunker cassette (1984). Two discs wrapped in a cardboard slipcover. Transferred from the best available sources, digitally remastered by Weasel Walter (Flying Luttenbachers) and this is the very first time ANY of this music has been available on cd!
MPEG Stream: "Kat"
MPEG Stream: "Speech"
MPEG Stream: "Hardkore 1"

16-17 Gyatso (Savage Land) cd 14.98
WARNING: You -should- play this loud. But still, be careful! Make sure any of your easily-aggravated housemates aren't asleep. Move breakable objects out of the way. Take your heart medication. All reasonable precautions before subjecting yourself to the might of 16-17's newly reissued Gyatso.
The music of Switzerland's 16-17 has been called industrial free jazz. And it's certainly got the swarming, squealing saxophones of the most freaked out free jazz we've heard. But with its industrial/metallic elements, the BRUTAL trance-inducing grind of martial drumming and guitar chuggery, maybe "free" jazz isn't the word. How 'bout "totalitarian jazz"? When we previously highlighted the two-cd Early Recordings collection of 16-17's '80s output, we described the band as the "Gods of ultra extreme hardcore free jazz post punk whatthefuck". Ok, that's about right.
Well, Gyatso, originally released in 1994 on Kevin Martin's long gone Pathological imprint (home to Martin's projects like Techno Animal, God, and Ice, as well as crucial discs by Oxbow, Peter & Caspar Brotzmann, Terminal Cheesecake, Zeni Geva, etc.) was even more insane than the stuff on Early Recordings, being to us the pinnacle of 16-17's recorded existence. The thing is, this album takes their earlier excesses into a whole new realm, finally getting their music the heavy duty production treatment it deserved. It's about the heaviest "jazz" ever! Basically, imagine Godflesh teamed up with Peter Brotzmann (Machine Gun era) and this is about what you'd get. The aggressive, constantly-escalating tension of machine-gunning opener "Attack-Impulse" pretty much wipes the floor with all other contenders, going beyond the likes of Zorn's Painkiller or fellow Swiss maniacs Alboth! It simply kills. Having done so, for the rest of the disc 16-17 make sure you stay good and dead with an expansive onslaught of repetitive, rigid rhythms and psychedelic skree-scapes, with brassy bass drone and high-end sax skronk swimming in an ominous electronic miasma. A couple extra-noisy remixes are included at the end to wrap things up in the most extreme manner possible. (These appeared on the original version too.)
The trio responsible for making this masterwork consisted of Alex Buess (screaming saxophones and bass clarinet), Markus Kneubuhler (guitar, electronics and tapes), and the relentless Knut Remond on drums. Also, this disc features a couple very special guests: on utterly sick, thuddering bass, there's Ben "G.C." Green of (indeed) Godflesh fame. And providing electronic samples, Pathological head honcho Kevin Martin.
This essential reissue has been digitally remastered by Weasel Walter (Flying Luttenbachers), and comes with a thick booklet of extensive new liner notes based on interviews with Buess and Martin, discussing the history of the band. We were fascinated to learn that Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine was such a big fan of 16-17 that back in 1995, he actually invited Alex Buess to work with him on the (still unrealized) follow up to Loveless! Who would have guessed? Apparently Alex spent a month in the studio with MBV, without much to show for it unfortunately... though we'd be still interested to hear what they were up to..
But, it surely couldn't be anything like this, there's nothing better as far as "ultra extreme hardcore free jazz industrial" or whatever is concerned!!
MPEG Stream: "Attack-Impulse"
MPEG Stream: "The Trawler"

23 SKIDOO Coup / The Gospel Comes To New Guinea (Ronin) 12" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The seminal experimental funk outfit 23 Skidoo has finally re-released their mid-'80s single "Coup." Not long ago the Chemical Brothers sampled the funky rhythm on "Coup", but avoided giving 23 Skidoo any money by re-programming the rhythm digitally, which somehow exempted them from having to actually license the sample. Lame! (Obviously, I'm biased as I can't stand the Chemical Brothers *and* have never felt that 23 Skidoo received due credit for having created some of the most adventurous albums to come out of the '80s.)
23 Skidoo's music lies somewhere between the sonic experimentation found in the primitive electronics of early Industrial Culture (especially Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, and early Current 93) and the spartan New York funk of Liquid Liquid and ESG. 23 Skidoo themselves said it best when they defined their sound as "Urban Gamelan" (using this term to title one of their albums).
On this 12", the a-side "Coup" actually falls a little flat in relation to their preceding work, as the angular slap bass lines and punchy rhythmic stabs are far too obvious for 23 Skidoo's bizarre production. However, "The Gospel Comes To New Guinea" finds the group at their finest with a simple dark bass line driving through complex percussion and a haunted trumpet floating in the distance. This puts contemporary postrock/electronica darlings like Fridge and Four Tet to shame! DJs, please pick this up.

23 SKIDOO Seven Songs (Ronin) cd 16.98
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You may be familiar with hyperbole like "this is one of my favorite records" popping up throughout the our reviews and you may wonder if that declaration really means anything. Obviously, there are many of us who write this list with lots of opinions as to what "the best record ever" truly is. Yet, I (Jim) have tried to steer clear of hyperbole (well, most of the time), partially because my personal tastes have been known to change over time, but more importantly because nobody has made a record that is better than The Conet Project! Nevertheless, I am breaking my own self-imposed rule in stating that 23 Skidoo's "Seven Songs" is one of my favorite records ever. I feel confident in such an assessment since this record (which I first picked up seven or eight years ago) still kicks my ass almost a decade later!
While electronica darlings like Andrew Weatherall, The Chemical Brothers, and Gilles Peterson all proclaim "Coup" as the pinnacle of 23 Skidoo's catalogue, I boldly mutter "Hogwash! 'Seven Songs' is easily 23 Skidoo's best work!" 23 Skidoo recorded this album during a three day period in 1981 with production by "Tony, Terry, and David" (aka Genesis P-Orridge, Peter Christopherson, and Ken Thomas). With those three behind the mixing board, 23 Skidoo obviously enjoys a similiar spirit of sonic experimentation as invoked by the founders of Industrial Culture. Yet, 23 Skidoo also employs the death-disco of PiL, A Certain Ratio, and Gang of Four, often played on homemade junkyard instruments built to replicate Indonesian gamelan. This bizarre hybridization of styles has few if any parallels, but 23 Skidoo's eclecticism and experimentation are never so alien as to not also be funky, melodic, and infectiously catchy.
Just as Windy places Os Mutantes near the top of her musical pantheon, Andee proudly proclaims his infatuation with Hanoi Rocks, and Allan drools over all things Magma, I say that if you're at all like me, you won't be disappointed by 23 Skidoo's "Seven Songs"!
RealAudio clip: "IY"
RealAudio clip: "Porno Bass"
RealAudio clip: "Vegas el Bandito"

23 SKIDOO The Culling Is Coming (LTM) cd 17.98
Dating back to 1983, The Culling Is Coming was originally released on the L.A.Y.L.A.H. label, which also released some of the strongest work from Current 93, Coil, Laibach, and The Hafler Trio. This 23 Skidoo album stands as a notable detour from their martial rhythms fused with agitated, post-punk funk which found them lumped in with the likes of The Pop Group, Cabaret Voltaire, and Hula. One of those albums clearly based on the vinyl medium, The Culling Is Coming was split between two 23 minute sides featuring sprawling abstractions that were alternately meditative and aggressive. The first of which featured 23 Skidoo members / brothers Alex & Johnny Turnbull performing on the gamelan at the Dartington Music College, and then taking the results back into the studio to be put into a more coherent composition. While they cite the instrumentation as being Balinese, the first passage of this piece is clearly Javanese in nature with interlocking bells, kendangs, and gongs repeating a simple decending melody whilst the rhythmic structure varies in speed. Given the instrumentation, Balinese references do become evident later on; but at the same time also speak of Harry Partch's handmade percussive compositions. Over 23 minutes, this track gradually devolves into a dreamy collage of quietly resonating gongs. The second piece is a live recording at the WOMAD festival in 1982, which found Current 93's David Tibet making a guest appearance on the Tibetan trumpet. Defying the crowd who were expecting the disfigured funk found on Seven Songs, 23 Skidoo improvised around multiple tape loops, metallic percussion, and slabs of dissonant noise. The Culling Is Coming did enjoy a CD release over a decade ago, but LTM's re-issue features an equally long and confrontational track which was taken from the backing tapes that 23 Skidoo used during their 1982 tour with Cabaret Voltaire. Not for the faint of heart.
MPEG Stream: "G-2 Contemplation"
MPEG Stream: "Invocation"
MPEG Stream: "Move Back - Bite Harder"

23 SKIDOO Urban Gamelan (Ronin) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Originally released on LP back in 1984 on Illuminated Records, and only seeing a few seconds of shelf life as a cd re-issue in the early '90s, "Urban Gamelan" is the aptly named third album from 23 Skidoo, back again on cd! This British trio developed one of the most unique sounds to evolve from the UK's Industrial Culture -- which was self-consciously aware of its actions as critiques of control and power within Thatcherite society. Unlike Psychic TV and Coil who offered an aesthetic of extroverted abjection and vile transgressions (often to amazing results, mind you), 23 Skidoo embraced something like a bunker mentality, by preparing themselves with both body and mind for the possibility of a future attack, but more likely in defense of their own personal agendas. The group -- Fritz Catlin, Alex Turnbull, and Johnny Turnbull -- studied various martial arts along with the then little heard sounds of Indonesian gamelan. Unable to get a hold of a true gamelan (except for a Kendang), 23 Skidoo built their own out of scrap metal, kitchen wares, and water jugs. Their personal discipline from their martial arts training made for an easy transition in terms of mastering the fluid, yet complex rhythms that made for an excellent junkyard replication of true Indonesian gamelan.
"Urban Gamelan" finds 23 Skidoo addressing two distinct aesthetics, the first being their post-apocalyptic funk (which had been previously mapped out on their first album "Seven Songs") and the second emphatically pronouncing their faux-gamelan sound. The album in fact begins with a remix / reworking of their hit single "Coup," which has had the infamy of getting ripped off by the Chemical Brothers. Driven by counterpoints of bass and distant bursts of haunted trumpets, the first half of the album recalls some of Pop Group's dub fuckery, with an inclination for a more natural funk. 23 Skidoo then drops all of the electric instruments for an exhibition of their complete gamelan repetoire. If you ever thought that Einsturzende Neubauten or Test Dept. needed to get their groove on, then you definitely need to check out 23 Skidoo. The 23 Skidoo reissues may be some of the most important to come out this year. It will be well worth your while to check these out!!!
RealAudio clip: "F.U.G.I."
RealAudio clip: "Jalan Jalan"
RealAudio clip: "Language Dub"
RealAudio clip: "Urban Gamelan 1"

2673 / UNICORN split (Kitty Play ) cd 7.98
Everybody went nuts for that recently reviewed Unicorn cd-r and rightfully so. Easily one of the most beautiful ambient drone records in recent memory. So we figured we ought to pick up this split that was released recently as well. 2673 are a mysterious outfit, not just in name, but in sound as well. Their (or his?) three tracks are ultra simple explorations of sine waves and white noise. Two tracks of simple tones, barely audible, that subtly shift over the course of each piece. The other track is a caustic burst of jagged crumbling old fashioned NOISE. Harsh and brutal and speaker shreddingly loud. Unicorn are a little less tranquil here, but no less satisfying. Ultra minimal, expansive drones, constructed from fuzzed out melodies that sound like they could have been wrenched from an electric guitar, but are transformed into lovely muted swirls of distorted loveliness. The first and the last track are creepy and strangely harrowing, a threatening buzz beneath warm washes of distant keening high end, alien vocal melodies and rhythmic pulses of analogue fuzz. The three tracks between are barely there rumbles, thick drones stretched thin, a wispy sonic murmur, traces and barely visible outlines of songs faded and forgotten. So so nice.
MPEG Stream: 2673 "Future Pills"
MPEG Stream: UNICORN "Three Square, Two Hot"

3 LEAFS Eat The Earth (self-released) cd-r 9.98
We've been waiting for this one for a while now. The infamous, and much talked about "mushroom record" from this SF improv psychedelic space rock collective. So called, because the entire thing was conceived, created, performed AND recorded while the entire band was under the influence of magic mushrooms.
Close to 40 minutes (edited down from much more than that, although it's unclear whether it was also edited in the same state), of gorgeous, tripped out, abstract psychedelia, sprawling swirls of kosmische drift, all blurred guitars, krautrock like pulses, streaks of druggy FX, throbbing propulsive bass, equal parts total spaced out ambience, and head nodding hypnotic motorik churn, the opening track "Fahren Bei Tag", starts off with nearly 5 minutes of hazy atmospheric exploration, before the drums finally kick in, and it's another minute or two before the band lock into a serious cosmic kraut groove, but when they do, it's exultant, the pulsing bass and stripped down drumming, surrounded by gorgeous peals of fragmented melody, thick corrosive swells of undulating high end, grinding chunks of feedback drenched chordal buzz, all winding down after about 13 minutes, leading directly into a bit of super melodic Neu! worship, with some washed out swirl and shimmer and a playful meditative main melody, this time the vibe much more new age-y and drifty, sun dappled and dreamy, the warm processed guitars conjuring up a lush layered bed of rapid pulses, over which synths whir and warble, and that main melody drifts on and on.
The title track, clocking in at 13+ minutes, is definitely the record's centerpiece, a dark brooding epic, haunting and otherworldly. The rhythm skeletal and spare, the wheezing keyboards hovering amidst rubbery basslines and glitch electronics, the vibe very gothic and gloomy, but shot through with bits of melody and light, it's a slow build, but not in the traditional sense, it doesn't get louder or heavier so much as subtly more intense, totally hypnotic and mesmerizing, the core sounds soon joined by bird calls and other field recordings, strange burbling liquids (bongs perhaps?), swooping streaks of electronics and processed effects, it sounds like it could have gone on for another 13 minutes (and probably did).
The final track, is another organ driven droner, dark and dense and deep, the drums more free and skittery, everything muted and washed out, the organs doing most of the melodic heavy lifting, and much of the textural as well, the bass thick and ropy, anchoring the whole thing, keeping it from drifting off into the stratosphere. Warm and whirring, dreamily druggy and so so good.
We tend to love everything 3 Leafs does, but this might just be their best. Although we can't vouch for how it sounds when listened to on mushrooms as well. Guess we'll leave that up to some of you out there.
Featuring members of the Fresh & Onlys, Tussle, Horn Of Dagoth, Amocoma, Citay and a bunch more. And most definitely recommended for fans of Expo 70, White Hills, the Heads, Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, Bardo Pond, Eternal Tapestry, Sleepy Sun, Burnt Hills, Gnod and other practitioners of modern kraut / space / psych. And it's probably pretty dang limited too...
MPEG Stream: "Puppies On Parade"
MPEG Stream: "We Eat The Earth"

3 LEAFS Inward Sun (self-released) cd-r 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If we didn't know better we might think this was some lost psychrock gem recently discovered, dug up and put on cd for the first time. With an infectious tribal groove running throughout and a seriously drugged out vibe these five jams definitely sound like they could be from some Amon Duul rehearsal recorded on a boombox in a dirty old German garage filled with dirt, mildew, mushrooms and lots of good weed. But truth be told these are actually new sounds from a local supergroup of sorts made up of members from Horn of Dagoth, Black Fiction, Tussle and Citay. The no frills cd-r packaging and raw recording are the perfect visual analog to 3 Leafs' primitive take on deep in the woods psychedelic rock.
MPEG Stream: "El Otro Lado del Cielo"
MPEG Stream: "Baile con Redman"

3/4HADBEENELIMINATED A Year Of The Aural Gauge Operation (Hapna) cd 16.98
Oooh. Breathtaking stuff here for those who like their music to have a hazy, vague, mysterious aura, and to combine delicate indie-rock "pop" elements (moody vocals, slow-motion melody) with more experimental, fragmented structures and textures... It's the work of a four-piece outfit from Italy, who immerse their murky, mostly instrumental post-rock electro-acoustic playing in droney field recordings, blurring the boundaries, with tree frogs or crickets, and what sounds like hissing, escaping gasses, and other noises that require some imagination to describe playing an important role alongside more obvious instruments like guitars and drums and turntables. There's a definite Jewelled Antler feel, that sort of organic, wandering-in-the-woods, letting-our-ears-find-the-way songmaking process, but with more palpable tension, bringing in a bit of the percussive skitteriness of fellow Italians and Hapna labelmates Sinistri/Starfuckers. We can compare this with lots of other things we love: Radian meets Richard Youngs? Kemialliset Ysatvat teamed up with Tape? Blithe Sons, Larsen, Sigur Ros, Village Of Savoogna, Dean Roberts... we're reminded in ways of all of 'em.
A truly gorgeous album that has the potential to appeal to a lot of different tastes, finding the wonderfully, naturally imperfect intersection of song and improv and field recording drone. This being their second release (first for Hapna, who've released this in the Swedish label's usual nice slim-sleeve packaging), we're going to have to track down their previous one... just as soon as A Year Of The Aural Gauge Operation's sheer dreaminess lets go its hold on our thoughts.
MPEG Stream: "Widower"
MPEG Stream: "In Every Tree A Heartache"
MPEG Stream: "Wave Bye Bye To The King"
MPEG Stream: "Loop Recorder In The Patient With Heart Disease"

3/4HADBEENELIMINATED Oblivion (Die Schachtel) cd 17.98
With this, their fourth album, these previous AQ Record Of The Week honorees, the oddly named Italian group 3/4HadBeenEliminated, have again given us a precious glimpse into their sonic dreamworld, and we say YAY to that. Kinda wish we could stay there forever, this music has such an engaging embrace, part abstract soundscape, part gentle melodiousness, part drone, part indie-pop, definitely not too far removed from some Jewelled Antler output, with a little This Heat or Village Of Savoonga mixed in. Our idea of blissful "oblivion" indeed, these mysterious and experimental lullabies of hum, hiss, buzz.
Various instruments, field recordings, electronics, turntables, percussion, the human voice, all are utilized to create the four tracks on this tightly crafted 39 minute disc. The very first piece, the longest at 17 minutes, introduces all the ingredients... gentle vinyl crackles, looping along with shimmering swells of strings and synth. Occasional hits of a snare. Hints of piano melody, amidst equally restrained electronic glitch. Environmental noises, tape manipulations. Bringing this somehow into an avant pop orbit, there's layers of vague vocals, or even simply sometimes just the breathy suggestion of vocals, that in this sonic setting recall to us Richard Youngs and Robert Wyatt, with their ghostly fragility.
Definitely a wonderful reminder of why we've always loved this band so much, highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "track 1"
MPEG Stream: "track 3"

3/4HADBEENELIMINATED The Religious Experience (Soleilmoon) lp 33.00

3/4HADBEENELIMINATED Theology (Soleilmoon) cd 24.00
Italian avant outfit 3/4hadbeeneliminated offer up a new cd... it's a little pricey but that's 'cause they splurged on the packaging. We'll talk about that in a second, but first the music. If you've heard their previous work, like the Hapna release A Year Of The Aural Gauge Operation (an AQ Record Of The Week in 2005), you'll know to expect fractured and mysterious soundscapes, a densely textured drone-zone constructed from field recordings, record crackle, improvised acoustic instruments, radio static, fragments of piano melody, electronic treatments, whispered Italian voices, turntable scratchings, reel-to-reel tape manipulation, synthesizer sinewaves, scattered percussion, and more. That's a zone we LOVE to visit. There's two long tracks, lots to explore, all manner of curious creakings and cracklings, shifting rhythms and rumblings abounding within 3/4hadbeeneliminated's carefully crafted and/or improvised music. At times quiet and meditative, at others noisier and distorted, but always (to our ears) utterly gorgeous and compelling. Aligns quite nicely with the likes of the Jewelled Antler collective, the Finnish forest foraging of Kemialliset Ystavat, and of course others in the experimental underground Italian scene of which the members of 3/4hadbeeneliminated are a part.
As for the packaging, start with a plain cardboard box, a little over six inches square and one inch deep. Open it up and you'll find a slightly smaller hinged wooden box, each one hand-painted with wax paper decoration. Open that up and there's the cd, in a colorful fabric sleeve, with a paper insert listing the track titles (revealing each one to be a suite of sorts btw). Certainly nicer than the standard jewel case... though one slight drawback is that the cd itself is likely to be coated with a layer of dust from the wooden box, so you'll have to gently wipe it clean or you might find it skipping and glitching out (which would fit in with some of their musical methodology, actually). Indeed, this rustic, elaborate cottage industry packaging is certainly reflective of the rough-hewn, intricate mystery of their music, which deserves such unique treatment.
By the way, there's also an even more expensive new vinyl-only limited edition LP by these folks, a totally different album using these recordings as a basis for recomposition, called The Religious Experience, simultaneously released on Soleilmoon. We just a have a couple in stock right now but hopefully can get more and give it a review sometime soon, although simply we can say it's a nice companion to this...
MPEG Stream: "I Am Daughter"
MPEG Stream: "The Cradle"

4G Cloud (Erstwhile) 2cd 27.00
4G. The Four Gentleman Of The Guitar. Or maybe just Four Gentlemen. Or perhaps simply Four guitars. Or better yet, howabout just Four Guys. But however whatever you decide to make the 4 and the G stand for, just who are these four G's? All names that should be quite familiar to faithful readers of the AQ list: Keith Rowe (from AMM), Oren Ambarchi, Christian Fennesz and Toshimaru Nakamura. Hmmm, one of these fellas doesn't seem to fit. Maybe the one who performs with a no-input mixing board perhaps? Well, the 4G actually refers to these four performers who all started out as traditional guitarists before either taking their instrument in new directions or perhaps abandoning it completely, but applying many of the techniques and theories of the guitar to their new direction / instrument. So what we have here is a very unguitar guitar record. Made with guitars of course, but also plenty of electronics and laptops. A guitar-based record sans strums or licks or riffs or any recognizable guitar sounds at all. Instead Cloud is exactly what you would imagine a mix of these four artists would sound like. Fennesz's warm fuzzy clouds of disembodied guitar chords, reduced to drifing particles glinting in a late afternoon sun, Ambarchi's delicate melodicism smeared into gauzy drones, Nakamura supplys the high ends skree and the barely audible dog whistle drones, and Rowe gives us occasional scrapes and feedback squeals. All four of these distinct sounds manage blend perfectly into lengthy delicate dronescapes, with occasional sonic flares, but for the most part, just gorgeous, haunting drifting expanses of dark rumbles, warm static, and lots of floating abstract steel string effluvia. 4G performed four shows together, three of which are contained here, all quite long (20 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes) and all incredibly dense and deep, requiring close and repeated listening.
MPEG Stream: "Perfect Grass"

5/5/2000 Reflektionen Musique (Post Replica) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A long look through a dark tunnel into the cloudy past of drone explorationists 5/5/2000, a duo made up of aQ pal Nathan Berliguette, formerly of tech grind outift Creation Is Crucifixion as well as the man responsible for bringing the glorious sounds of the Arboga Teenage Riot to these shores and our ears (and for that we he will never be forgiven, er... I mean forgotten) and Travis Ryan, frontman of gore soaked death metallers Cattle Decapitation and nominee for Sexiest Vegetarian In The World. But none of that really prepares you for the sound of 5/5/2000, named for a rare planetary alignment that was supposed to signal the coming of the Antichrist. Their sounds is not technical, not grind, not metal, instead, these three extended tracks explore different facets of the drone, from soft billowy tranquil ambience to soaring space like shimmer to creaking, corrosive machinelike whir to a thick whirl like the washed out fuzz of a million vacuum cleaners to the out of focus sepia toned drift of soft edged rumble and melancholy instrumental mumble. All three tracks are gorgeous, dense drones thick with swirling reverb, fuzzy tape hiss, and all manner of fragmented melodies and layer after layer of rich warm sound. While supplies last, you'll get the special limited edition version, limited to 100, hand numbered, packaged in an oversized sparkly silver, velcro sealed cardboard sleeve, with three pins affixed to the front. After those are gone it's back to the normal jewel case version...
MPEG Stream: "There Was Never A Moment When The End Of The World Was Not Real"
MPEG Stream: "Surface Of The Sun"

5/5/2000 / PIZURLAUN split (Dioxin City) cd 11.98
This is the perfect sort of split record. Two bands who have very little in common sonically, but who both completely destroy! The first track is 5/5/2000 which is AQ pal Nathan, formerly of grind metallers Creation Is Crucifixion, and Travis who is currently in Cattle Decapitation. That pedigree doesn't really prepare you for the epic 20 minute droning soundscape this duo whipped up live a few years back. Dreamy but sinister, creepy and hypnotic, with rumbling tones, short wave broadcasts, buried melodies, and throbbing pulses, all of which occasionally erupt into swirling sheets of noise. Drone-heads will love this. I actually thought it sounded like a more brutal and satanic Kitaro record. Which may sound dubious but is in fact a great thing! Trust me. The smattering of applause at the end just makes you grateful that such an intensely powerful performance is getting heard by more than the handful of folks that actually witnessed it. And of course none of this prepares you for the utter chaotic brutality of Pizurlaun. A hyper-distorted avant-grind juggernaut. Buzzing guitars careen from speaker to speaker, while various noises and rhythms, cut out, or stutter like a skipping cd and all sorts of really affected and bizarre production turns what would have been an amzing grind metal record anyway, into a splattery, grinding metallic masterpiece. And apparently the drums tracks were made by recording real live drums, and then having a non-drummer assemble them on a computer. Which only adds to the freaked out weirdness, and utter mayhem. Like a Locust tape, that you left in your back pocket for 6 months, accidentally washed, and then taped Suffocation over. Then played it back on a malfunctioning tape player. It's that fucked sounding. And that great.
MPEG Stream: 5/5/2000 "Noch Nie Trat Das Ende Der Welt..."
MPEG Stream: PIZURLAUN "Marvel Vs. Moulinex"
MPEG Stream: PIZURLAUN "Mammon Machine"

500MG Vertical Approach (Galactic Zoo Disk / Eclipse) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Won't go into *too* much detail here since, as with most of the Eclipse lps, this probably won't be around for long. Michael Gibbons of space-drug-rockers Bardo Pond strikes out on his own, and the results are sublime. From Fahey-esque Appalachia, to buzzing throbbing droning ragas, to pulsing wall of guitar ambience. Definitely essential for Bardo fans, as well as everyone who's been digging the whole Glenn Jones / Jack Rose / Six Organs modern day guitar pickin' avant-psych-folk-hippy scene.

51717 557 (self-released) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Is it a zip code? Nope. A padlock combination? We're not quite sure, but in the case of Bay Area artist 51717's also mysteriously numerically titled debut 557, the figures add up to seven atmospheric instrumental tracks of resonant bells, bassy shoves, prickly electronics and plucked strings. Ultra Spartan chiminess is gradually overtaken by more ominous cloudy distortions. Packaged in a handmade, hand-painted gold envelope.
MPEG Stream: "Utrecht"
MPEG Stream: "Leiden"

5TURNS25 Evolution of the Human Heart (Time Released Sound) cd-r 40.00
The latest ultra limited and lovingly handmade release from SF one man label Time Released Sound. And actually, calling TRS merely a label does not at all do justice to the things he puts out. In some ways it's almost more art than music. Sure we're a record store, so we get these and think, wow, this amazing record has the most incredible packaging. But taking a step back, it's easy to imagine just the opposite, the man behind TRS is an artist, and each new 'piece' just so happens to be accompanied by a soundtrack. Either way, it's pretty impossible to resist, and pretty much every music nerd we know, has gone nuts for this stuff, and a little bit obsessed with the label, so much so that we have standing orders for ANYTHING Time Released Sound puts out (just ask, we can add you to the list).
This latest release/art object comes courtesy of a duo from the Northeast US who call themselves 5Turns25, and who specialize in a sort of electronic flecked ambient folk, reminding us a bit at times of aQ beloved Rameses III, the same sort of pastoral drift, skeletal acoustic guitars, thick undulating drones, swirls of washed out shimmer, a sort of droney drifty Appalachia at times, something much more hushed and intimate at others, the sound lush and expansive, as capable of blossoming into a rich majestic epic as floating lazy through soft clouds of whir and thrum. Some of the tracks have a sort of Avarus vibe, not so clattery or free, but a kind of foresty folk. The guitar here is the main instrument, weaving gorgeous lilting melodies, swirls of chordal hum, all over a constantly shifting bed of muted industrial sounds, hushed FX and blurred dreamlike ambience. The band records in an old barn, and the music is thus peppered with sonic evidence of their location, creaks and groans woven right into the music. Crystalline and glimmering and so lovely, which is of course reflected in the insanely elaborate and impossibly meticulously crafted packaging. Where to begin?
The cd-r itself has a full color face, and is housed in a fabric sleeve, there are two inserts, printed on thick textured paper, with strange stickers affixed in various places to interact with the printed images, with art, and liner notes, a discography, there's also a hand worked / collaged notebook page with original art, each one unique. Affixed to the notebook page are a pair of mismatched clock hands, everything housed in an oversized vellum sleeve, printed and stamped, this one featuring an elaborately cut front panel, with the images of clocks punched out of a smoked white sheet of plastic, held to the vellum sleeve by a hand printed Japanese style obi. Phew! So wonderful, sonically and visually, worth every penny!
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, we have just 15, and that's all we'll be able to get!
MPEG Stream: "Beneath The Noise"
MPEG Stream: "Money In Hand"
MPEG Stream: "Snowy Future"

6MAJIK9 Loquidiom (Ruralfaune) cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's another band who have released about a million limited cd-r's, but this is the very first one we've managed to get for the store. Australian outfit 6Majik9, sound to us like they could be from Finland. We hear lots of Avarus and Anaksimandros, Uton, but we also hear some Dead C, and more importantly a bunch of stuff we're not sure we've actually heard before.
Short tracks, each a stumbling abstract free jam, sometimes noisy and intense, other times blissy and blown out. Brief bursts of wheezing clattery folk drenched in angular detuned guitar jut up against wild free jazz space rock freakouts, complete with FX drenched guitar squalls, wild octopoidal drumming and mumbled caveman vocals. Wild tribal free for all's peppered with skronky horns and distant clatter morph into ultra minimal found soundscapes, laced with bits of barely there percussion, and distant simple strummed melodies. Elsewhere, these guys unfurl huge murky expanses of drone-y whir, draped over dark piano figures and simple jazzy horns, or create dizzying demented almost cartoon music from processed vocals, pounded piano and swirls of dense effects.
The sounds are all over the place on first listen, but there is some skewed thread of sonic logic that runs through this whole disc, and while it might not be obvious what it is, or how it actually makes these disparate sounds all work together, it does. And we like it. A lot.
Packaged in a red textured sleeve with a fancy printed insert, tied to the sleeve with twine, and containing a bit of tree bark and a very fragrant pod of some sort. An easy way to make your AQ package smell like potpourri...
LIMITED TO 93 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "3"
MPEG Stream: "4"

A s/t (Die Schachtel) cd 18.98
Previously the Die Schachtel label has brought us several very cool reissues of some very obscure '70s art/prog/avant music from Italy -- such as Luciano Cilio, Prima Materia and Insiememusicadiversa. Weird and wonderful stuff. Now, they've got a brand new band for us, not a reissue (though it totally seems to fit in with their "thing"). It's apparently the first in a new series called Zeit devoted to the current-day Italian underground, and comes from a trio calling themselves A (actually, an A with what looks a little circular diacritical mark above it, which we can't reproduce on our website easily. Maybe we should write Aa, that might be the correct way to do it. Furthermore, Wikipedia tells us that in Norwegian, Danish and Swedish it's a word meaning rivulet or stream.). They've got a lot in common with fellow Italians (and AQ faves) Larsen, 3/4hadbeeneliminated, and Sinistri/Starfuckers, playing a sort of mysterious, mostly instrumental, deconstructed, experimental post-rock music. No wonder in iTunes it comes up as genre = "unclassifiable". They're definitely carrying on the tradition established by those '70s artists Die Schachtel has documented.
The percussive beat-booming and crackling drone of the disc's longest track, the sixteen minute "Something A Long Time Ago. And There Are No Buttons Either, Because" brings to mind This Heat. There and elsewhere Aa also conjure suggestions of Village Of Savoonga, Richard Youngs, Dean Roberts, and even Bohren & Der Club Of Gore, among other good things. Additionally, we'll mention that this was mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, which isn't a bad reference point either if you've heard his music. We just can't resist this sort of semi-abstract, organic post-rock, with its rainy day piano, meandering guitar, tinkling clock-ticking textures, dreamy violin sawing, wordless (?) floaty vocals, glitchy electronics, and birdlike horn warble... all woven together gorgeously and with a sense of the dramatic. Very very nice. As is the packaging too!
By the way, the wordy song titles are all sentence fragments taken from a paragraph belonging to Mark Haddon's novel The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time.
MPEG Stream: "My Memory Is Like A Film. That Is Why"
MPEG Stream: "I Am Really Good At Remembering Things, Like The Conversation I Have Written Down In This Book, And What People Are Wearing, And What They Smelled Like, Because My Memory Has"
MPEG Stream: "A Smell Track Which Is Like A Soundtrack, And When People Ask Me To Remember Something I Can Simply"

A BROKEN CONSORT Box Of Birch (Tompkins Square) cd 14.98
A Broken Consort is only one of the monickers under which UK sound artist Richard Skelton performs, and this, Box Of Birch, only one of many releases under various guises, but the first to receive any sort of widespread release.
Skelton started a private press after the passing of his wife, who was a visual artist. She left him all sorts of unfinished works, drawings and sketches, and the purpose of the press was to release her artwork posthumously, collaborating together, her art, his music, a tribute to her memory.
But it's not just the source of this music and the story behind it that makes Box Of Birch so dark and heartfelt and bittersweet, the music itself is a gorgeous tribute to a lost love, to sorrow and remembrance, moving forward but also to never forgetting.
Haunting and lush, the 4 long tracks here are epic and orchestral, long tones, layered drones, darkly minor key melodies, a muted blissed out sort of cosmic space drift. Dark dreamlike ragas constructed from softly strummed guitars, wheezing accordions, tinkling percussion, all manner of buzzing strings woven into deep gentle sonic swells, it's at once abstract and ethereal, but also subtly song based, the tracks feel composed, as much as they feel free. Strings saw out intensely emotional melodies over having soundscapes of dark dark shimmer. The music here is not at all tranquil, not new age-y or easy listening, no these are complex, emotionally charged sounds, these songs, or pieces, throb with passion and energy, they ooze sadness and misery, but also mange to evoke hope, the long slow burning drones seems to constantly drift heavenward, glowing and glistening, a timeless expanse of rumble and whir and buzz, effulgent and everbright, shrouded in darkness for now, but the warm heart within seems to grow with every listen, in every song, an organic living progression, as the record plays, it seems inevitable that the mysterious warmth, will undoubtedly overpower the dark.
Absolutely gorgeous. Lovely artwork too. Recommended for folks into blissed out drones, deep buzzing ragas and minimal abstract space rock: Lamp Of The Universe, Sunroof!, Expo '70, Emeralds, Astral Social Club, Golden Sores, Barn Owl, etc...
MPEG Stream: "A Sundering Path"
MPEG Stream: "Weight Of Days"

A BROKEN CONSORT Box Of Birch (Tompkins Square) lp 16.98
NOW ALSO AVAILABLE ON VINYL!
A Broken Consort is only one of the monickers under which UK sound artist Richard Skelton performs, and this, Box Of Birch, only one of many releases under various guises, but the first to receive any sort of widespread release.
Skelton started a private press after the passing of his wife, who was a visual artist. She left him all sorts of unfinished works, drawings and sketches, and the purpose of the press was to release her artwork posthumously, collaborating together, her art, his music, a tribute to her memory.
But it's not just the source of this music and the story behind it that makes Box Of Birch so dark and heartfelt and bittersweet, the music itself is a gorgeous tribute to a lost love, to sorrow and remembrance, moving forward but also to never forgetting.
Haunting and lush, the 4 long tracks here are epic and orchestral, long tones, layered drones, darkly minor key melodies, a muted blissed out sort of cosmic space drift. Dark dreamlike ragas constructed from softly strummed guitars, wheezing accordions, tinkling percussion, all manner of buzzing strings woven into deep gentle sonic swells, it's at once abstract and ethereal, but also subtly song based, the tracks feel composed, as much as they feel free. Strings saw out intensely emotional melodies over having soundscapes of dark dark shimmer. The music here is not at all tranquil, not new age-y or easy listening, no these are complex, emotionally charged sounds, these songs, or pieces, throb with passion and energy, they ooze sadness and misery, but also mange to evoke hope, the long slow burning drones seems to constantly drift heavenward, glowing and glistening, a timeless expanse of rumble and whir and buzz, effulgent and everbright, shrouded in darkness for now, but the warm heart within seems to grow with every listen, in every song, an organic living progression, as the record plays, it seems inevitable that the mysterious warmth, will undoubtedly overpower the dark.
Absolutely gorgeous. Lovely artwork too. Recommended for folks into blissed out drones, deep buzzing ragas and minimal abstract space rock: Lamp Of The Universe, Sunroof!, Expo '70, Emeralds, Astral Social Club, Golden Sores, Barn Owl, etc...
MPEG Stream: "A Sundering Path"
MPEG Stream: "Weight Of Days"

A BROKEN CONSORT Crow Autumn (Tompkins Square) cd 14.98
Crow Autumn is the second record by A Broken Consort, aka Richard Skelton. He conjured up ABC as a project dedicated to his late wife who passed away in 2004, leaving a collection of sketches and photos, unfinished artwork, all of which inspired him to keep her memory alive, via posthumous collaborations, as well as various works of his own created in her memory. The last ABC record, Box Of Birch, was all blissed out drones and slow burning ragas, whereas Crow Autumn is more organic, more like an abstract assemblage of strings, a string quartet loosed from its traditional moorings perhaps. The sounds here are warm and lush, mediative and melancholic, the drone and raga elements are certainly still present, but the vibe is more acoustic, more raw and immediate and emotional, less processed and assembled.
Opening with a hushed, minimal stretch of warm washed out shimmer, the slow scrape of strings wrapped in reverb, the record quickly blossoms into a dense layered sprawl of metallic, shimmering strings, all overlapping, and slowly shifting, the overtones drifting in and out, the chords lush and intertwined, the notes occasionally spinning off into the ether, the pace is patient, and serene. At points there are distant melodies played on what sounds like a tiny piano, nearly obscured by a swirl of ethereal glimmering haze, but it seems the strings are the focal point of Crow Autumn, the tracks always seeming to gravitate toward a weightless expanse of suspended strings, plucked, scraped, bowed, the tones stretched out into warm billowy clouds, all very cinematic and dramatic, and strangely repetitive and looped sounding, so evocative of faded memory, of old photographs, of abandoned houses, of sunlight through old yellowed windows, of trees swaying in afternoon breezes, of long walks under grey skies, of sadness, loss, and longing. So beautiful, and heartfelt, and hypnotic.
Essential listening for fans of Leyland Kirby, the Caretaker, William Basinski, the Skelton solo record we reviewed a while back, the last A Broken Consort, and anyone into darkly meditative dream-drift-drone music...
MPEG Stream: "A Mercy Kill"
MPEG Stream: "Like Rain"
MPEG Stream: "Mountains Ash"

A BROKEN CONSORT Crow Autumn (Tompkins Square) lp 14.98
Crow Autumn is the second record by A Broken Consort, aka Richard Skelton. He conjured up ABC as a project dedicated to his late wife who passed away in 2004, leaving a collection of sketches and photos, unfinished artwork, all of which inspired him to keep her memory alive, via posthumous collaborations, as well as various works of his own created in her memory. The last ABC record, Box Of Birch, was all blissed out drones and slow burning ragas, whereas Crow Autumn is more organic, more like an abstract assemblage of strings, a string quartet loosed from its traditional moorings perhaps. The sounds here are warm and lush, mediative and melancholic, the drone and raga elements are certainly still present, but the vibe is more acoustic, more raw and immediate and emotional, less processed and assembled.
Opening with a hushed, minimal stretch of warm washed out shimmer, the slow scrape of strings wrapped in reverb, the record quickly blossoms into a dense layered sprawl of metallic, shimmering strings, all overlapping, and slowly shifting, the overtones drifting in and out, the chords lush and intertwined, the notes occasionally spinning off into the ether, the pace is patient, and serene. At points there are distant melodies played on what sounds like a tiny piano, nearly obscured by a swirl of ethereal glimmering haze, but it seems the strings are the focal point of Crow Autumn, the tracks always seeming to gravitate toward a weightless expanse of suspended strings, plucked, scraped, bowed, the tones stretched out into warm billowy clouds, all very cinematic and dramatic, and strangely repetitive and looped sounding, so evocative of faded memory, of old photographs, of abandoned houses, of sunlight through old yellowed windows, of trees swaying in afternoon breezes, of long walks under grey skies, of sadness, loss, and longing. So beautiful, and heartfelt, and hypnotic.
Essential listening for fans of Leyland Kirby, the Caretaker, William Basinski, the Skelton solo record we reviewed a while back, the last A Broken Consort, and anyone into darkly meditative dream-drift-drone music...
MPEG Stream: "A Mercy Kill"
MPEG Stream: "Like Rain"
MPEG Stream: "Mountains Ash"

A KOMBI Music To Drive By (Dual Plover) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As featured in the latest Bananafish magazine, this Australian artist created this cd using only the sounds made by a Volkswagen.

A QUI AVEC GABRIEL Utsuho (Tzadik) cd 16.98
a qui avec Gabriel is a young female Japanese accordion player with a strange name, who presents her debut recording on John Zorn's Tzadik label. Her playing will remind some of accordionist Theodoro Anzellotti's beautiful interpretations of Erik Satie themes, while on some tracks she's joined by a full band in rock/exotica mode (clarinet, piano, violin, drums). It's a really strange but quite lovely album, made even stranger also by the presence of guest guitarist/vocalist Keiji Haino! (The dark prince of Tokyo psych-improv-rock, y'know.) On top of that, "Utsuho" is a concept-album apparently about the journey of a soul through night-dawn-day-dusk, meeting strange weather and little cats along the way.
RealAudio clip: "Takehaya-Sayat (a blue black storm or a poet)"
RealAudio clip: "Shikku (hard to fade away)"
RealAudio clip: "Hikari No Shizuku"

A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN s/t (Kranky) cd 14.98
Debut release from this duo, featuring Adam Wiltzie of aQ-beloved dronescapers Stars Of The Lid. He's teamed up with composer Dustin O'Halloran, for a suite of songs that doesn't veer to far from recent Stars Of The Lid releases, but focus on the piano as the main instrument, with the duo seeking out large spaces and grand pianos, with which to fully realize their sonic vision.
The opening track, far too humbly titled "We Played Some Open Chords", lets chords on the piano ring out, the natural reverb carrying the notes off and letting them gradually fade. The piano underpinned by some sweetly sorrowful strings, and some mournful horns, a strangely melancholy bit of modern chamber music, all laid atop Wiltzie's masterful and subtle guitar drone shimmer. The two part "Requiem For The Static King" is lush and lovely and sounds like a soundtrack, all soaring strings, dramatic melodies, the second half veering into slightly darker territory, the piano resurfacing, the strings dialed back, the guitar drones allowed to swell and shimmer, while "Minuet For A Cheap Piano" sounds to be just that, the sound slightly muted, subtly distorted, and again, wreathed in what sounds like strings but could very well be the swirl of droned out guitars, hushed and delicate and dreamlike. "Steep Hills Of Vicodin Tears" is another bit of chamber music, the strings softly swelling, the arrangement strangely rhythmic, as of the instruments were breathing, the song laced with a delicate piano melody, the mood swoonsome and melancholy.
"A Symphony Pathetique" the longest track at nearly 13 minutes, seems to be the record's centerpiece, that piano suspended in a field of gauzy dronemusic, the track is epic and gorgeous, a sprawling stretch of hushed minimal beauty, the background sounds in constant motion, shimmering and undulating, overtones loosed to drift dreamily, all the while the piano plucks out painterly melodies, and like all the best songs, we would have been happy to have this stretch out and fill up the entire rest of the disc. Instead, the song fades gradually into the ether, from which drifts "All Farewells Are Sudden", a very UN-sudden sonic farewell, all slow swirling swells, hazy ambience, and most surprising, female vocals, creating a lush lovely droney harmony with the strings, and what in lesser hands could sound maudlin, ends up sounding simply beautiful, especially with the strange addition of what seems to be field recordings, only to have the whole song gradually unfurl into a darkly moody soft focus piano coda. So gorgeous. Fans of recent Stars Of The Lid will be in heaven, and anyone into dreamy mysterious ambience, minimal melodic drones and avant chamber music will definitely find much to love here.
MPEG Stream: "We Played Some Open Chords And Rejoiced, For The Earth Had Circled The Sun Yet Another Year"
MPEG Stream: "Requiem For The Static King Part Two"
MPEG Stream: "All Farewells Are Sudden"

A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN s/t (Kranky) lp 14.98
NOW, AT LAST, ON VINYL!!!
Debut release from this duo, featuring Adam Wiltzie of aQ-beloved dronescapers Stars Of The Lid. He's teamed up with composer Dustin O'Halloran, for a suite of songs that doesn't veer to far from recent Stars Of The Lid releases, but focus on the piano as the main instrument, with the duo seeking out large spaces and grand pianos, with which to fully realize their sonic vision.
The opening track, far too humbly titled "We Played Some Open Chords", lets chords on the piano ring out, the natural reverb carrying the notes off and letting them gradually fade. The piano underpinned by some sweetly sorrowful strings, and some mournful horns, a strangely melancholy bit of modern chamber music, all laid atop Wiltzie's masterful and subtle guitar drone shimmer. The two part "Requiem For The Static King" is lush and lovely and sounds like a soundtrack, all soaring strings, dramatic melodies, the second half veering into slightly darker territory, the piano resurfacing, the strings dialed back, the guitar drones allowed to swell and shimmer, while "Minuet For A Cheap Piano" sounds to be just that, the sound slightly muted, subtly distorted, and again, wreathed in what sounds like strings but could very well be the swirl of droned out guitars, hushed and delicate and dreamlike. "Steep Hills Of Vicodin Tears" is another bit of chamber music, the strings softly swelling, the arrangement strangely rhythmic, as of the instruments were breathing, the song laced with a delicate piano melody, the mood swoonsome and melancholy.
"A Symphony Pathetique" the longest track at nearly 13 minutes, seems to be the record's centerpiece, that piano suspended in a field of gauzy dronemusic, the track is epic and gorgeous, a sprawling stretch of hushed minimal beauty, the background sounds in constant motion, shimmering and undulating, overtones loosed to drift dreamily, all the while the piano plucks out painterly melodies, and like all the best songs, we would have been happy to have this stretch out and fill up the entire rest of the disc. Instead, the song fades gradually into the ether, from which drifts "All Farewells Are Sudden", a very UN-sudden sonic farewell, all slow swirling swells, hazy ambience, and most surprising, female vocals, creating a lush lovely droney harmony with the strings, and what in lesser hands could sound maudlin, ends up sounding simply beautiful, especially with the strange addition of what seems to be field recordings, only to have the whole song gradually unfurl into a darkly moody soft focus piano coda. So gorgeous. Fans of recent Stars Of The Lid will be in heaven, and anyone into dreamy mysterious ambience, minimal melodic drones and avant chamber music will definitely find much to love here.
MPEG Stream: "We Played Some Open Chords And Rejoiced, For The Earth Had Circled The Sun Yet Another Year"
MPEG Stream: "Requiem For The Static King Part Two"
MPEG Stream: "All Farewells Are Sudden"

A.B.G.S. Erdlager (CoC) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is a reissue A.B.G.S.'s early '90s album "Erdlager." Utilizing only junked objects (i.e. steel plates, oil barrels, plastic containers) and recording only in abandoned warehouses, A.B.G.S. fits in with post-industrial niche of German guys banging on metal. Perhaps the result of Thomas Koner's post-production work, these recordings are much more subtle than that of the big egos in Einsturzende Neubauten, Test Dept, and Crash Worship. A.B.G.S. has since disbanded with some of its members forming the haunting drone ensemble Multer. Released on the label run by a fellow from Cranioclast.

A.LORDS, THE s/t (Barl Fire) 3" cd-r 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
UK cd-r label Barl Fire have yet to steer us wrong (after releases from James Blackshaw, Rameses III, Robert Horton, The North Sea and more), and it looks like this A.Lords disc will keep their winning streak going strong.
The A.Lords are a mysterious duo from the UK who paint pastoral soundscapes, using church organ, electric organ, piano, toy piano, balalaika, banjo, e-bow, dulcimer, acoustic guitar, bells, glockenspiel, clarinet and recorder. So lovely and lilting. Definitely evokes grassy fields, blue skies and cool breezes....
Simple fingerpicked acoustic guitars, field recordings of burbling streams and chirping birds, warm organ swells, and shimmering sweet ambience, ol' timey melodies, softly cinematic melancholia, sun dappled chimes and whirs all captured in a soft focus soundscape of later afternoon sun and endless summers. So nice.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. Already sold out at the label. We got a whole bunch but you can bet they'll fly out of here. Packaged in a mini 3" full color cover, housed in a thick plastic sleeve with a printed insert.
MPEG Stream: "The Dawn Chorus"
MPEG Stream: "Summerhouse"

A.M. Orla (Ikuisuus) cd 15.98
This has been floating around here a while, listening to it now, it's hard to understand what's taken us so long. It's so goddamn good! Could be the fact that there always seems to be about a million amazing things to try and review and not enough hours in the day, but so what, we're listing it now, and as much as we love pretty much everything Antony Milton does, this might just be one of his best.ÊÊ
We've said it before, we'll say it again, there's just something divine about the drone. Something completely immersive and spiritual, for some of us, it's as close as sounds can come to becoming physical entities, something not just to listen to, but tangible, touchable, sounds to climb into, to wrap around yourself, to let envelop you, to get lost in. This record is a series of drawn out drones, all sourced from the sounds of a reed organ (with some random background noise, cars and rain, mixed in) and are completely mesmerizing.Ê
The opener alone makes this essential. Six minutes of Niblockian drift, none of that reedy bullshit, this is one huge, lush, layered swirl of sound, the various overtones pulsing and throbbing, creating all sorts of subtle rhythms and not-really-there melodies, soaring and dense, a sound so intense and warm you could almost dive in, float weightless amidst the many layers of sound, another one of those songs we talk about that could, and SHOULD, go on forever and ever...
The rest of the disc is just as dreamily drone-y, the sounds of the organ deftly shaped into varied soundscapes, rumbling murky expanses of throb and rumble, that build and build, getting more and more distorted and distressed, until we're almost in SUNNO))) territory, but much more subtle and intimate, not a pummeling as much as a delicate drift, long stretches of industrial whir, jagged shards of upper register sound are muted and chopped into mysterious super subtle rhythms, the timbre of the drone constantly shifting, from slow and low, to warm and rich to washed out and glistening, always with swirls of subtle sonic activity just below the surface. The nearly 13 minute "Some Dreams Must" is the only track that abandons the low end, for a sparkling sky full of upper register streaks, smears of feedback, all becoming more and more intense gradually becoming a beautiful Sunroof!-like cacophony. The record finishes off with a long, lazy, languorous bit of spaced out dreaminess, as much about the whir of the organ's motor as the subtle melodies and drifting firefly like harmonics floating amidst the fragile tendrils of soft sound...
MPEG Stream: "As The Rain Comes Down"
MPEG Stream: "Sky Voltage (Reeds)"

A.M.P. STUDIO Alien Registration Office (Ochre) cd 17.98
The A.M.P. Studio recordings are the solo work of Richard from Amp. Outside of the delicate drone-rock of Amp, Richard experiments with drum & bass breaks, swooping psych/space rock electronics, egyptian horns, and vaguely darkwave electronica. Still pretty dreamy stuff.

AA Essential Entertainment (Softspot Music) 7" 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Debut release from this New York label and it's a doozy. A long lost post punk gem from Belgium. The band is called AA, and this, their first and only record, was originally released in 1981 and even then was limited to 900 copies. The second we heard "Suicide Fever" we knew we had to get this. More on that track in a second.
Taking cues from their contemporaries, Joy Division, the Fall, Wire, and of course their labelmates The Cultural Decay (whose reissue we reviewed her recently), the sound is total stripped down, minimal raw new wave post puck rock, jagged chiming guitars, simple motorik drumming, thick buzzing bloopy basslines, and weary heavily accented sung/spoken vocals. Simple effects warp the sound, delay, flange, reverb, echo, each track is short and sharp, one part, MAYBE two, the melodies super catchy, the songs totally mesmerizing, groovy and coldly Teutonic, but always with some strange but of melodic warmth just below the surface.
"Suicide Fever" is the jam though, sounding a little like a less sludgey, more new wave Brainbombs! Total minimal punk pop genius, with a super haunting and hooky main melody and guitar line, those vocals way up in the mix, the lyrics nihilistic and grim, delivered so jadedly, while the bass and drums are locked solid, and the guitars ring out, soaring and chiming, so great. Most definitely the 7" reissue of the year!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Each one hand numbered.

AAIMON Amen (Klangverhaeltnisse) cassette 9.98
It's easy to tell something very witch housey is going on with these guys, present are all the usual signifiers, the band name is actually spelled with a triangle instead of the first 'A' in the band name, the song titles are a mix of lower case and capital letters, as well as all manner of symbols, but the proof as they say is in the creepy, electronic gloom pop ambience, and so it is, as the band unfurls a haunting expanse of swirling ominous ambient synthscapery, before the beats kick, an awesomely distorted and blown out dream-drag groove, a little bit skitter, the beats crumbling in clouds of buzz and crackle, the opener is super epic, almost a sort of cinematic theme type vibe, you can almost imagine some backlit figures walking in slow motion through the ruins of some old Victorian ballroom. And so it goes, we're gonna stop feeling like we need to defend witch house, cuz separated from the blog hyped hipster championed genre signifier, there's very little NOT to dig about this stuff, and this tape in particular. The second track offers up a sort of decayed Portishead, a skittery slowcore downtempo creep, the vocals an almost death metal cookie monster growl, but slowed way down so it sounds even more demonic, the in-the-red synth stabs, that sound more like a malfunctioning dubstep bass wobble only add to the woozy off kilter feel. There are of course creepy angelic (demonic?) female vox, gloomy and gothy and dreamy, with later tracks almost sounding like bastardized gloom pop versions of radio ballads. For everyone into Zola Jesus, LA Vampires, Circuit Des Yeux, Esben And The Witch, as well as the usual witch house culprits like Salem, Mellow Grave and Mater Suspiria Vision. But again, unlike those outfits, Aimon deliver something more darkly dreary and fuzzy, gloom-poppy and bestially balladic.
Of course as these things always are, EXTREMELY LIMITED, includes a download coupon as well!
MPEG Stream: "Pure"
MPEG Stream: "Amen"
MPEG Stream: "Maasym"

AAN Ajaton Vie (Pseudo Arcana) cd-r 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Anyone familiar with the name Aan? Well howabout Uton? Right, Uton, one of our favorite Finnish exports (among many!), and one of the least prolific, who somehow survive without releasing a cd-r every two weeks. In fact a new Uton record is a cause to celebrate around here. So we were equally excited to discover this latest release from Uton Satellite Aan, who take Uton's already blissed out tribal drift, and spaces it out even more, turning it into some gorgeous cloud of foresty drone, a gentle assemblage of various vibrating strings, and simple muffled percussion, fragmented melodies, fluttering birdlike trills, bits of acoustic guitar, bleating horns, distant droning swells, all tenuously held together, the various parts allowed to drift off, and then later resurface from amidst a cloud of glistening distant siren like wails.
Another band that definitely sounds like they're channeling legendary Japanese drone collective Taj Mahal Travellers, and one of the few who seem like they understand the spirit behind that sort of soundmaking. Music as an organic entity. As a spirit, that can not be captured, only guided. The members of Aan are shamen, coaxing the spirits from their instruments, then shaping them, guiding them, arranging them into dark dronelike shapes, capturing their essence on tape, and then letting the sounds drift apart and return to whence they came. So lovely. Another fantastic chunk of dreamy meditative forest bliss.
Beautifully packaged too, and oversized full color booklet, filled with striking tripped out black and white images, the cd housed in a pouch affixed to the inside back cover.
MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Two"

AAN Salamaa (Ikuisuus) cd-r 15.98
Strange atmospheric forest folk from Finland from the dup of Uton and Kulkija, their first meeting back in 2004 and it is a divine noise indeed!