SUTEKH HEXEN Larvae (Handmade Birds) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The sound of this Bay Area blackmetal / blacknoise duo-turned-trio continues to evolve, and in surprising directions on this, their latest in a flurry of extremely limited releases over the last year. Beginning life as purveyors of dense speaker shredding noise, informed by, but not necessarily sounding much like, black metal, it seemed more a case of black metal riffs buried beneath sheets of white noise and crumbling industrial detritus, and blast beats recorded on a crappy cassette tape and played back through a Walkman, and again, buried beneath a punishing wall of sound. But with every record, the sounds seem more composed, perhaps less antagonizingly harsh, with more time spent creating atmospheres and ambience, than actually buzzing and blasting, which again is the case on Larvae. The opening track, begins with 3+ minutes of shimmery ominous ambience, laced with strange insectoid clicks, the guitars, when they do surface, unfurl soft strummed streaks of chordal whir, beneath which lush swells undulate drowsily, it's at about the 4 minute mark, that the song splinters, and explodes in a dense blurred barrage of furious murky black buzz, that while heavy, is also soft focus enough that it nearly has more in common with Tim Hecker or folks like that, until the group crank up the sound once again, and it becomes full on black metal, that lasts less than a minute, and the band return to the haunting drift that opened the record, before one final time, blasting through the last two minutes, the guitars a black blur, the vocals a fierce monstrous bellow, the drums, if there are any, buried in the mix, a heaving wash of noise drenched heaviness, that manages to be massive, but still weirdly textural.
The relatively brief second track applies the group's corrosive crunch and black atmospheres to something much more dirgey and dismal, a churning industrial tinged creep, the sounds blown out and in-the-red, a tangle of black noise / white noise and industrial crush somehow sculpted into a lumbering black doom, peppered with squalls of blaring FX drenched ear shredding skree, but also underpinned by all manner of layered drones and disembodied voices.
The final track, clocks in at a whopping 15 minutes, and again, finds the band easing into it, unfurling a hushed bit of blackened dronescaping, again flecked with strange clicks and skitterings, the guitars drift in, this time sounding like some sort of Appalachia, draped over streaks of muted crumbling crunch, the song sprawling out into an epic chunk of black folk drift, tangled voices, swirls of hiss and thrum, all wreathing the steel string buzz of the acoustic guitar, until at about the ten minute mark, everything is swallowed up by an avalanche of frenzied black buzz and frantic riffing, so dense and tangled that again, sans headphones the riffs all bleed into one thick roiling cloud of sound, eventually coalescing into an almost classic metal sounding chug, a murky hypnotic dirge that churns malevolently to the record's end.
Both the cd and the lp come in super swank, and gorgeously designed packaging, the artwork abstract in all blacks and greys, with the text printed in clear spot varnish ink, designed by Sutekh Hexen member Kevin Gan Yuen and Dwid Hellion from hardcore legends Integrity. The cd is limited to 500 copies, the lp is already sold out and out of print, so these are the last vinyl copies we'll be able to get...
MPEG Stream: "Isvar Savasana"
MPEG Stream: "La Det Bli Lys"

SUTEKH HEXEN Luciform (Wands) lp 16.98
FINALLY REPRESSED!!
Finally, the debut full length from this Bay Area black metal / blacknoise duo, who in recent months have garnered a whole lot of hype, based on a flurry of killer (albeit insanely limited) releases, and a recent West Coast tour, which found the duo playing outside of the Bay Area for the first time ever. And while we've raved about everything we could get our hands on from these guys, this is definitely the band's finest moment, albeit, weirdly their least noisy. But noisiness is all relative. Cuz this is still plenty noisy, it's just compared to some of their previous releases, and their blistering liver performances, this stuff is far removed from that black metal Merzbow sonic attack that defined their early days.
Here, the noise takes a backseat to the black metal, which is actually a good thing, the riffing, and prerecorded blast beats, weaving a woozy washed out buzzscape, which on their own, would make the sound a sort of soft focus Wold, all washed out and blackly buzzy, but over this blackened foundation, the duo add heapings of noise, the vocals, processed to oblivion, sound like gouts of white hot buzz, more guitars, extra layers of blackness, it's as if the black metal core is at the center of a swirling cloud of jagged, caustic blacknoise, the two seeming to function independently for the most part, but the band create dramatic dynamics with the twisted mix, which finds, various elements dropping out, only to erupt and explode back into action moments later, or the black metal riffing getting fused to the blacknoise creating a harsh wall of sound, which just as quickly separates leaving the blast and buzz to pound furiously, shadowed by streaks of hiss and hum, the sounds dramatically stereo panned too for further twisted effect.
The stretches of ambience are darkly effective, as are the weirdly mournful clean guitar parts, the band obviously capable of creating mood and mystery, and when the buzz kicks in, none of that mood or mystery is lost, instead, it's absorbed into the frenzied black chaos which transforms the sound into something more than noise, more than black metal, it's a darkly epic, strangely textured assemblage of buzz and blast, howl and pound, the sound a living black entity, sonic chaos given form, this is the real transcendental black metal, all should be worshipping before the altar of the priests of Sutekh Hexen.
Colored vinyl.
MPEG Stream: "The Great Whore"
MPEG Stream: "In Worship, They Weep His Name"

SUTEKH HEXEN Ordo Adversarial (Wands) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This local black metal / drone-noise duo have been cranking out recordings like crazy, not that you would ever know it, as all of them were released as lavishly packaged, outrageously limited cassettes (and all in batches of something like 50 copies). Finally, the band seem to be making waves beyond the WAY underground, and a comprehensive reissue campaign is under way, as well as a whole spate of about-to-drop new releases. But THIS, this is the first recording we've been able to get from these guys to list, and fans of noise drenched blackness, and super distorted psychedelic heaviness will be in heaven (hell?). A blasting, blown out, ultraviolent blend of raw, primitive black metal buzz, dense drones, lysergic psychedelic atmosphere and caustic abrasive blacknoise, these two tracks require iron ears, a black soul and preferably some headphones to get lost in SH's bizarre black cacophony.
"Bled Thy Likeness" is a blurred and muted expanse of crackly, staticky black thrum, murky and muddy, a writhing, swirling sprawl of hazy washed out minor key riffage, laced with streaks of soaring guitars woven into a background of distorted black ambience, eventually exploding into a whitenoise drenched blast of heaving, crumbling, ultra distorted blackdrone crush, hellish shrieked vokills smeared into undulating sheets of Merzbowian buzz, all underpinned by a haunting monkish chantlike melody, adding a strange bit of melancholy mystery to the harsh hellish buzz.
"Murmur" is just as intense, a wild frenzied blown out assault of fierce and fucked up blacknoise chaos, the shrieked vox distorted and processed into another layer of furious buzz, tangled up in the frenzied berserker riffing, the whole sound a twisted, gnarled tangle of face melting, ear shredding, soul shearing fury, the song somehow blossoming part way through into something subtly more melodic, the blacknoisebuzz and grim black-blast infused with a strangely lush and warm melodic undercurrent, a deep sonic swell, rife with epic black metal majesty, but nearly suffocated by the caustic clouds of brittle buzz and in-the-red roar overhead.
LIMITED TO 400 COPIES. Super striking, thick black and white jackets, and printed on nice heavy vinyl...
MPEG Stream: "Bled Thy Likeness"
MPEG Stream: "Murmur"

SUTEKH HEXEN & ANDREW LILES Breed In Me The Darkness (Merzbild) cassette 9.98
This latest batch of tapes from local label Merz Tapes finds the label expanding and rebranding, now known as Merzbild, and no longer limiting themselves to cassettes. It is however this most recent batch of cassettes we're here to discuss. In this case, it's this collaboration between SF black metal / blacknoise outfit Sutekh Hexen, and long time Nurse With Wound collaborator Andrew Liles.
There would be a time when Liles remixing a black metal band would seem crazy, but the fact is that at this point, SH are really only tangentially black metal, as they spend much of their time weaving dense dronescapes, or sculpting bursts of feral ear splitting noise into tense and intense walls of blown out sound, granted, there's still plenty of blast and buzz, but it's often obfuscated and recontextualized. Each side of this tape seems to offer up both the original track, and then Liles' reworking. On the A side, SH unfurl a dense blurred rumble, peppered with muted bombastic thuds, and subterranean pulses, buried voices, and a tranced out sprawl of undulating layers, blacks and greys, haunting and harrowing, a sound that's bleak and abject, the perfect launching point for Liles, who takes that track and stretches it from a little under 6 minutes, to almost 18, making the focal point a haunting, reverbed piano, drifting in soft billowing clouds of what we take to be the original track, letting the occasional drum blat leap out, or spidery tendrils of industrial buzz, gnarled tangles of voices speaking in tongues, and then suddenly, at about 10 minutes in, the song is transformed into what sounds like a sort of industrial rock? Chugging metallic guitars, big drums, all over that churning Sutekh brood, there's even some psychedelic guitar leads, unclear if somehow those sounds were buried in the original track, or if Liles just went nuts and essentially turned SH, at least briefly, into a weird industrial metal band, but then suddenly, it all fades away, leaving the track to slither ominously to the end, trailing a cloud of buzzing detritus in its wake. Wow.
The flipside finds SH exploding right out of the gate with a blurred blast of black buzz, murky and swirling and dizzyingly dense, before settling into another long sprawl of black ambient drift, much more haunting, abstract and serene. And again Liles takes SH's 5 minutes and more than doubles it, the whole thing, a brooding blackened driftscape, the tones oozing and rife with what sounds like some sort of demonic chorale, a blurred black raga, laced with sheets of harsh noise, jagged shards of processed vocal hiss, building to an impossibly dense and noisy, speaker destroying crescendo, that sounds like multiple Herman Nitsch compositions playing at once, atonal, droned out, and weirdly mesmerizing, underpinned by what sounds like organ or calliope, the vibe very cinematic, the sound collapses into a cacophony of smashing bottles, before beginning the slow build again, this time to a blown out, smeary drone, seemingly constructed from the blast and buzz of the original, but here recast as something more Tim Hecker like, massive crumbling distorted swells, and granular sheets of sound rife with melodic murk, gradually collapsing into a strange stuttering digital freakout, and one final burst of smashing glass.
Super sweet packaging, printed silver-on-smoky-clear tapes, reflective silver on swirly green and black J-cards.
MPEG Stream: "We Once Walked Upon These Coals (...To Save Us From Satan's Power Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "Selling Light to Lesser Gods (He Is Risen Mix)"

SUUM CUIQUE Ascetic (Modern Love) lp 22.00
The name of this 'group' might not be familiar to you, it wasn't to us, even though this is Suum Cuique's second album. SC is in fact Miles Whittaker, whose name you also might not recognize, but he is in fact one half of aQ faves, the hauntological electronic duo Demdike Stare, but Suum Cuique, while sharing some sonic similarities with Demdike, is very much its own beast, with Whittaker recording straight from the mixing board, using only analog equipment and almost no edits or overdubs. You wouldn't necessarily be able to tell, but it does lend the sounds of Suum Cuique a sort of raw urgency and an old school primitivism that is definitely missing from Demdike records.
The record begins with a wild squall of spacey synths before slipping into a long sprawl of skittery primitive drum machine driven space kraut, wreathed in metallic shimmers. The record gradually drifts towards a more reverbed soft noise collage, peppered with rhythmic pulsations, the sounds oozing into blackened drones, abstract percussive workouts, and finally, finishing up the A side with a looped sounding stretch of hypnotic murk, al buried sine tones and rumbling crumbling whirs, sounding quite a bit like Philip Jeck.
The flipside is equally all over the map, starting off with a churning doomy electronic dirge, that gradually dissipates into an ominous ambience before transforming into some hazy hauntological dronescapery, only to splinter into a serious blast of super distorted blown out Our Love Will Destroy The World style rhythmic noisiness, all looped and layered, gnarled and tangled, only to finally fade out in a cloud of cosmic FX shimmer.
LIMITED TO 700 COPIES!!

SUZUKI JUNZO Ode To A Blue Ghost (Utech) cd 14.98
Two new Utech's this list, and that's something to be stoked about, 'cause the label rarely disappoints, if ever. This one's from Japanese guitarist Suzuki Junzo, who's played in Tokyo flashbacking psych rock bands like Overhang Party, Miminokoto, and Astral Travelling Unity, though here he's solo, just him and his guitar and the black void. Yes, it can be bleak and ominous... but pretty, calm, mesmeric, too. There's four long tracks, beginning with the 20-minute title track, inspired by bluesman Lonnie Johnson's "Blue Ghost Blues"... though again, this isn't blues. Something far darker. For the first half, it could be a folky James Blackshaw on luudes kind of thing... then it enters eerie ambient suspense soundtrack territory... before around the 12 minute mark when Junzo puts the pedal to the metal and his amp begins to howl and fry Keiji Haino style. For reals, for Rallizes. Track two, "Beyond The Yellow Clouds", is 11 minutes of dark shimmering drone bliss, segueing smoothly into the disc's shortest (8:33) but most badass track, its title a tribute to the Pink Fairies, "Shivering Larry's Last Freakout", totally monomaniacal, distortodelic, repetitive riffarma that comes across like one of Tetuzi Akiyama's brilliant/dumb "Don't Forget To Boogie" cuts mixed maybe with some NWOFHM (Circle) stuff, frantic primitive minimalist ZZ Haino in a wind tunnel action - damn! Then as a comedown, chillout, final piece, there's 13 more minutes of ghostly guitar grind, a la Ulaan Khol or Li Jianhong, "Studies For Three Broken Canes Of Dr. Dream", that lives up to its fantastic title, whatever that means. We like, but we'll be queuing up ol' Shivering Larry again in a second, that's the jam!
Utech wins again with this one - grab a copy and put on your shades and enjoy. Limited to 300 copies only. And as usual with Utech stuff, packaged in a nice oversized sleeve. The artwork's mostly black, the only image, a half-seen Junzo holding his ghostly guitar. He's NOT wearing shades, which seems strange.
MPEG Stream: "Ode To A Blue Ghost"
MPEG Stream: "Shivering Larry's Last Freakout"
MPEG Stream: "Studies For Three Broken Canes Of Dr. Dream"

SUZUKI JUNZO Pieces For Hidden Circles (Utech) cd 14.98

SUZUKI, AKIO & DAVID TOOP Breath Taking (Confront) cd 15.98
For whatever reason, the recordings of Akio Suzuki are not easy to come by. Most of the output from this visionary Japanese instrument builder and improviser have quietly emerged and quickly disappeared. So this very subtle and very delicate 2003 improvisation with David Toop from the good folks at Sound 323 in London certainly caught our attention. One of Suzuki's most well known instruments is his collection of stone flutes, and the sounds from these instruments feature prominently in this set with David Toop. These curious objects product an eerie and ancient sound whose rasping whistles and watery trills embody an earthiness that predates the nomenclature from the history of music. Suzuki matches these sounds with delicate scrapes and textures from a couple of cymbals and a handful of small rocks. Toop does his best to articulate similar gestures within the purely acoustic improv strategies of the New London Silence school which developed in parallel Bernhard Gunter / Lowercase aesthetic of very quite electro-acoustic music and out of the late period works from AMM. For better or for worse, some of Toop's elements speak of a particular time and of a particular place (e.g. London, 2003) whereas Suzuki's offerings are beautifully non-specific in their cultural references. At other times, the two spiral metallic textures and softened drones of feedback with whirring flute glissandos, which all quietly float out of periodic silences. We've been told that during one of the quieter moments in the session, a woman next door can be heard singing in the bath. But like Suzuki's previous Kogezan Koukiji of temple improvisations recorded against a backdrop of a dramatic rainstorm, we've been thwarted in hearing these sounds by the patter of a springtime rainstorm and the constant blur of traffic sounds on Valencia Street. We're pretty sure Suzuki would be okay with those interruptions.
MPEG Stream: "Breath Taking (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Breath Taking (excerpt 2)"

SUZUKI, DAISUKE D.D.D. (Idea) lp 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Daisuke Suzuki is mostly known as the proprietor of Siren Records in Japan, home to some amzing drone records from the likes of Jonathan Coleclough and Andrew Chalk (including the universally acclaimed "Sumac" album). But Daisuke has also contributed sound works on occasion to Ora (the loose collective of Chalk, Darren Tate, Colin Potter, Coleclough, and others). "D.D.D." marks Daisuke's first solo project as well as the debut release from Idea records, beginning a series of vinyl only field recording releases. The first side of this album features two recordings that Daisuke made at Zenpukuji Lake in Tokyo, where the winter ducks had been congregating, quacking, splashing, and generally being obnoxiously cute. The ducks themselves seemed to have been very interested in Daisuke's recording gear, as you hear them closing in on the microphone, bumping into it, and diving off into the lake. The second side of the album features the choral chirps and striations of late night crickets. Great care has been taken to get these recordings to be as good as they can be, and puts "D.D.D." up with the Douglas Quin and Bernie Krause field recordings. Be warned this is a super limited production, and we got the *last* five copies available.

SVALASTOG Woodwork (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
The name sure sounds like one of those Norwegian black metal bands we like so much, doesn't it? Well, Svalastog are indeed from Norway, but they're not a black metal band. Definitely not. (Though we'd love to hear what a black metal band on Rune Gramofon would be like!)
This could go under an electronica/experimental/just-a-wee-bit-folk category, we'd suppose. Svalastog (who is actually a he not a they, being one guy, Per Henrik Svalastog) has taken several traditional Norwegian folk instruments -- very old fashioned indeed, primitive even, including a ram's horn (Bukkehorn) and a cow's horn (Kuhorn, duh), and also a Norwegian zither called a Harpeleik that apparently belonged to his grandfather -- and played them into his computer, chopping and looping and processing them into glitchily rhythmic, swooping, loping electronica. The idea, to bring the sounds of the rustic Nordic past into the modern musical laboratory of bits and bytes, clicks and cuts, works pretty darn well we'd say. This is moody, mysterious, also quite lively and lovely. Given the concept behind this, we -might- have hoped for something a little -less- processed and smoothed-out, a little more obviously "outdoorsy" or ancient-sounding, than what we get here, if only this wasn't so nice and soothing the way it is!
MPEG Stream: "Mouse Tracking"
MPEG Stream: "Cow Goat Goat"

SVARTE GREINER Kappe (Type) cd 15.98
Originally only available on vinyl, now finally available on cd, another mysterious missive, broadcast as always from some dark sonic underworld, courtesy of the man known as Svarte Greiner (Erik Skodvin to his mother), following the equally haunting and mysterious Man Beard Dress lp from the end of last year.
As we've mentioned before, this is doom. But not doom as you know it. Not heavy and crushing and downtuned and distorted, instead, spectral and ghostlike, abstract and ambient, doom in vibe, intention, spirit, as much as in sound. It's not about riffs or beats, it's about mood and space and soul, and taking a cold hard look through the cracks into the crumbling wasteland that lies inside all of us.
The opening track deviates from SG's usual M.O., taking the soft blackened shimmers and distant foghorn like drones, and adding a layer of grit, a swirling skree reminiscent of Skullflower or Sunroof! Like rattling chains, or bits of rusty metal falling from decaying structures, this extra element turns acoustic doom into something far more harrowing, a soundtrack to the descent, of slick stone walls and flickering grey lights, of black clouds obscuring burning skies, everything fading to nothing as the music lowers us deeper and deeper into the abyss.
The second track is a bit less harsh, more spacious and sprawling, skeletal, soft swells of moaning minimalism drift through a wide open expanse of far away throbs, and muted pulses, ghostly voices lurk beneath the surface, the slow motion sound of decay and despair, pretty, but ominous, and sinister, and beautifully bleak.
Track three begins with another soundscape of space and soft sound, like a super abstract ambient Wolf Eyes, bits of feedback are streaked through hushed black whispers, creaking industrial whir wraps itself around desiccated barely there melodies, the sound of wandering through an empty and dead city, smashed windows like black eyes looking down from above, splintered doors like gaping mouths, the sky unleashing a cleansing rain of soft hiss, doing very little to combat the emptiness and loneliness evoked by Svarte Greiner's delicate doomic drift.
And finally, the record fades to black with the doomiest (and weirdly enough, prettiest) track of the bunch, a soft focus smear of effected black guitar shimmer, blurred into a throbbing dronescape, rife with fragmented melody and soft edged buzz, a strange and warm, almost ebullient sonic center, glowing faintly beneath the roiling lowend, a smoldering, crumbling, shadowy,and quite lovely doomdrone coda...
MPEG Stream: "Tunnel Of Love"
MPEG Stream: "Candle Light Dinner Actress"
MPEG Stream: "Last Light"

SVARTE GREINER Kappe (Type) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another super limited vinyl only missive, broadcast as always from some dark sonic underworld, courtesy of the man known as Svarte Greiner (Erik Skodvin to his mother), following the equally haunting and mysterious Man Beard Dress lp from the end of last year.
As we've mentioned before, this is doom. But not doom as you know it. Not heavy and crushing and downtuned and distorted, instead, spectral and ghostlike, abstract and ambient, doom in vibe, intention, spirit, as much as in sound. It's not about riffs or beats, it's about mood and space and soul, and taking a cold hard look through the cracks into the crumbling wasteland that lies inside all of us.
The opening track deviates from SG's usual M.O., taking the soft blackened shimmers and distant foghorn like drones, and adding a layer of grit, a swirling skree reminiscent of Skullflower or Sunroof! Like rattling chains, or bits of rusty metal falling from decaying structures, this extra element turns acoustic doom into something far more harrowing, a soundtrack to the descent, of slick stone walls and flickering grey lights, of black clouds obscuring burning skies, everything fading to nothing as the music lowers us deeper and deeper into the abyss.
The second track is a bit less harsh, more spacious and sprawling, skeletal, soft swells of moaning minimalism drift through a wide open expanse of far away throbs, and muted pulses, ghostly voices lurk beneath the surface, the slow motion sound of decay and despair, pretty, but ominous, and sinister, and beautifully bleak.
The flipside begins with another soundscape of space and soft sound, like a super abstract ambient Wolf Eyes, bits of feedback are streaked through hushed black whispers, creaking industrial whir wraps itself around desiccated barely there melodies, the sound of wandering through an empty and dead city, smashed windows like black eyes looking down from above, splintered doors like gaping mouths, the sky unleashing a cleansing rain of soft hiss, doing very little to combat the emptiness and loneliness evoked by Svarte Greiner's delicate doomic drift.
And finally, the record fades to black with the doomiest (and weirdly enough, prettiest) track of the bunch, a soft focus smear of effected black guitar shimmer, blurred into a throbbing dronescape, rife with fragmented melody and soft edged buzz, a strange and warm, almost ebullient sonic center, glowing faintly beneath the roiling lowend, a smoldering, crumbling, shadowy,and quite lovely doomdrone coda...
Beautiful full color covers, pressed on thick vinyl, and once again, WAY LIMITED!!!

SVARTE GREINER Knive (Type) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Svarte Greiner is doom. Well, sort of. Maybe acoustic doom is more like it. And this very well may be the first time we've heard a record, or an artist that perfectly captures the sound and mood of the hitherto unexplored world of acoustic doom. Svarte Greiner is the solo guise of Norwegian soundmaker Erik Skodvin, who, when he is NOT Svarte Greiner, channels his less doomy musical emotions into an outfit called Deaf Center. But the dark and doomy loveliness of Svarte Greiner is what we're most concerned with here.
And the reason for that is that the music of SG is practically perfect. It's like that sound in our heads we've been imagining for ages but had never actually heard. Until now. The sticker on the cd namedrops Earth, Angelo Badalamenti and Volcano The Bear, which sounds interesting for sure, but doesn't nearly capture how beautiful and wonderfully creepy this stuff is. Imagine the music of past AQ faves like Jasper TX, Machinefabriek, Xela, Part Timer, that crumbling, hiss drenched loveliness, but then filter it through some dreary drowsy slowcore, Bohren & Der Club Of Gore or Low, but then loop it and process it and pull it apart until it becomes even more fuzzy and hypnotic, a Basinski or Tim Hecker produced bedroom dark ambient doomfolk record from Bohren perhaps? Sounds impossible, but Knive is all that and still somehow more.
From the first track, we were totally hooked. It's like the soundtrack to some ultra abstract black and white film, unearthed and projected in all its decayed and degraded glory. Everything is shrouded in shadow, shades of black and grey, back lit and rendered soft and indistinct. The mood is minor key and ominous. Very epic and cinematic, but somehow still understated and subtle. But definitely scary. And evil. But not overtly so. The record is bathed in tape hiss and record crackle and all sorts of gorgeously textured recording inconsistencies. It's some impossible tangle of mournful slowcore, twentieth century minimalism, and creeping doomy dirge, all deconstructed into abstract and skeletal, Basinski like soundscapes. Strings scrape and squeak, in the distance drift muted percussive thumps. Each track is a droning smear of sound, peppered with bits of random sonic clatter, everything wreathed in smokey cello swells, and soft swoonsome strings. Guitars drenched in reverb offer up the slightest of melodies, riffs are unfurled and left suspended in in clouds of dreamy fuzz, allowed to slowly fade to nothingness. There are melodies, but they develop at a snail's pace, notes stretched to their breaking point, becoming miniature drones of their own, but when viewed from afar, are actually gorgeously rendered, and evoke dark feelings of despair and further define Svarte Greiner's sonic world of wonder.
Elsewhere, gristled guitar distortion is dripped onto spare expanses of late night percussion, bells and chimes reverberate over a dense sea of swirling tape hiss, ambient backdrops sometimes surface briefly, rising up through the murk, wind, footsteps, the call of crows soaring far overhead, and amidst it all, haunting female vocals that drift amidst the decayed ruins, small glimmers of light in a world of utter black, giving Knive even more of an emotional intensity. So goddamn good.
MPEG Stream: "The Boat Was My Friend"
MPEG Stream: "Ocean Out Of Wood"
MPEG Stream: "My Feet, Over There"

SVARTE GREINER Man Bird Dress (SMTG Ltd) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another fantastic document of Svarte Greiner's abstract ambient acoustic doom. Not doom in the traditional sense, but more a sort of darkly mysterious, slow motion sprawl that shares a mood and sprit with doom music, although sonically it falls more in line with the free noise limited cd-r crowd.
This super limited lp captures three long tracks, that all seem to flow together into one epic (or they would if it didn't require flipping the record over), groaning strings, splattery percussion lay out a sort of free jazz / abstract folk drift, fluttery woodwinds, bits of rumble and shimmer, all billow out into a skeletal dronemusic, spare and spacious, that builds in intensity, becoming a brooding slow burning almost post rock, culminating in a thick wash of blurred buzz and textured low end whir, heavy and hypnotic, a little psychedelic and spacey.
The flipside begins with a field recording, or what sounds like one, beneath which lurks barely audible tones, shimmery strings strange vocalizations, bleating horns, all super minimal and way off in the distance, eventually all coalescing into a placed stretch of minimal ambience, deep ominous rumbles crumble beneath glassy expanses of glassy glimmer, until finally, another thick guitar heavy drone surfaces, turning he track into a near static downtuned dirge, not metallic, more dense and layered and lush, shot through with streaks of feedback and chunks of looped buzz, crumbling and roiling and slowly fading out.
So beautiful. Definitely for fans of Aidan Baker, Xela, Acre, Tunnels, Fear Falls Burning, RST, The North Sea, and other masters of dark droning ambience. Incredible packaging too, two tone printing on heavy chipboard sleeves, LIMITED TO ONLY 300 COPIES.

SVARTE GREINER Penpals Forever (Digitalis) cassette 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest, crazy limited release from our of our favorite modern purveyor of doom-folk. A genre that seems to have been created specifically to describe the dark, mysterious moodiness this guy creates. And Penpals Forever is no different, beginning with a flurry of percussive guitar thrum, tons of reverb and buzz, a shimmering black forest of metallic shimmer and deep rumbles, all woven into what up close is a dizzying swirl of sound, but step back and the pattern is evident, a slow sprawling minor key melody, a haunting horror movie creep. A roiling black sea of huge slabs of glacial low end, that blot out the sun, swallowing the various guitars beneath it, moving like massive deathships, the shadows only allowing brief glimpses of the melody beneath. Truly ominous and cinematic. Eyes closed, these are the kind of sounds that would give the weak hearted nightmares, while the rest of us luxuriate in its thick blackened drone drenched buzz. Glorious.
LIMITED TO ONLY 150 COPIES. Sold out and out of print at the label. Packaged with a metallic silver and black insert, with metallic silver labels on the tape.

SVARTE GREINER Penpals Forever (And Ever) (Type) cd 15.98
This long out of print cassette, from one of our favorite practitioners of gorgeous and haunting grimdrone doomfolk, finally reissued on cd (and vinyl, which we listed a few weeks back). And with a whole extra chunk of unreleased music...
Penpals Forever proper begins with a flurry of percussive guitar thrum, tons of reverb and buzz, a shimmering black forest of metallic shimmer and deep rumbles, all woven into what up close is a dizzying swirl of sound, but step back and the pattern is evident, a slow sprawling minor key melody, a haunting horror movie creep. A roiling black sea of huge slabs of glacial low end, that blot out the sun, swallowing the various guitars beneath it, moving like massive deathships, the shadows only allowing brief glimpses of the melody beneath. Truly ominous and cinematic. Eyes closed, these are the kind of sounds that would give the weak hearted nightmares, while the rest of us luxuriate in its thick blackened drone drenched buzz.
The unreleased bonus tracks, which are like a whole 'nother record tacked on, are just as good as the original tape. Three long tracks, all flowing together, the first a Philip Jeck like creepscape, all woozy and otherworldly, warbly tones, warped guitar buzz, everything stretched and smeared into languorous layers, while a fog of distant melody hovers in the distance, peppered with soft focus harmonies, drifting and reflective. Which gives way to a thick heady swirl of muted fuzz and slowed down sound, like some mysterious cityscape field recording played at 16rpm and wreathed in a haze of drone and buzz. Until finally the side finishes off with another smoldering dronescape, beginning quietly, while layers of grinding distorted guitars unfurl heaving blackened whirs and rumbles over a backdrop of streaked feedback and strange sounds buried in the murk.
MPEG Stream: "A1"
MPEG Stream: "A2"

SVARTE GREINER Penpals Forever (And Ever) (Digitalis Industries) lp 19.98
This long out of print cassette, from one of our favorite practitioners of gorgeous and haunting grimdrone doomfolk, finally reissued on cd and vinyl! And with a whole extra chunk of unreleased music...
Penpals Forever proper begins with a flurry of percussive guitar thrum, tons of reverb and buzz, a shimmering black forest of metallic shimmer and deep rumbles, all woven into what up close is a dizzying swirl of sound, but step back and the pattern is evident, a slow sprawling minor key melody, a haunting horror movie creep. A roiling black sea of huge slabs of glacial low end, that blot out the sun, swallowing the various guitars beneath it, moving like massive deathships, the shadows only allowing brief glimpses of the melody beneath. Truly ominous and cinematic. Eyes closed, these are the kind of sounds that would give the weak hearted nightmares, while the rest of us luxuriate in its thick blackened drone drenched buzz.
The unreleased bonus tracks, which are like a whole 'nother record tacked on, are just as good as the original tape. Three long tracks, all flowing together, the first a Philip Jeck like creepscape, all woozy and otherworldly, warbly tones, warped guitar buzz, everything stretched and smeared into languorous layers, while a fog of distant melody hovers in the distance, peppered with soft focus harmonies, drifting and reflective. Which gives way to a thick heady swirl of muted fuzz and slowed down sound, like some mysterious cityscape field recording played at 16rpm and wreathed in a haze of drone and buzz. Until finally the side finishes off with another smoldering dronescape, beginning quietly, while layers of grinding distorted guitars unfurl heaving blackened whirs and rumbles over a backdrop of streaked feedback and strange sounds buried in the murk.
MPEG Stream: "A1"
MPEG Stream: "A2"

SVARTE GREINER Raggsokk (Type) 7" 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two more brief blasts of creepy crawly doom folk from former AQ record of the week-ers Svarte Greiner. Packaged in a plain white sleeve, with a weird cartoony ghost screen printed on the plain white label, these two tracks are just as dark and delightfully doomy as anything on the full length. Abstract low end moans, disembodied strings, a creaking abandoned sonic ship, a haunted house of sound, crumbling distortion and little bits of melody creep along through wide expanses of space. Lurching forward in slow motion doomy bursts, like Bohren with all the jazz sucked out, each song stretched out into barely discernible rhythms. It almost sounds like a recording of an orchestra tuning up, slowed waaaaaay down and stretched out into some sort of abstract acoustic classical doom. Awesome.

SVARTE GREINER Til Seters (A Room Forever) lp 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This long in the works vinyl project finally sees the light of day, and the results are more fantastic and striking, both sonically and visually, than we could ever have imagined. We'd been hearing about this series of boxed sets of vinyl records, each with one side of music, one side of field recordings, a sort of physical extension and manifestation of a long running podcast, both the podcast, and these lps, an experiment in the art of listening. Cool to now have the first few installments in stock (however briefly).
Each lp is limited to 300 copies, comes housed in an oversized box, with a gorgeous actual photographic print affixed to the cover, inside a metallic inked, letter pressed insert. You have to see them to believe them, well worth the price, as they are visually stunning, and the music is breathtaking.
Of the three initial volumes in the A Room Forever vinyl boxset series, The Svarte Greiner seems to be the one generating the most attention. Which makes perfect sense when you finally get to see, and hold and especially hear this amazing piece of sound and art.
Svarte Greiner handles both the music side, and the field recording side, the music darkly mysterious and quite lovely as always, but the field recording side a strange blend of both. More on that in a second.
The A side, begins all deep and glimmering, a lush hushed ambience, warm shimmers, softly moaning strings, distant streaks of whir and muted melody, the sound feels underwater, underground, lots of delay and reverb, mournful super minimal pizzicato melodies, low end rumble, deep and ominous and mysteriously beautiful.
The second half of the A side is super tranquil and spare, soft washes of sound drifting in and out, warm chords, fragments of reverbed melody, all very soft and sweetly hushed. Definitely not as doomy as past releases, but much more hushed and haunting.
The field recording side here is quite strange, but in a way that is endlessly appealing, beginning with a sea of crackle, of record static, hiss and pops, fuzz and buzz, while WAY beneath the surface, deep tones whir and rumble, later on, there appears much more distinctive clatter, thumps, and bumps and rattles, all the while, a dreamy dronemusic seems to drift and pulse beneath the layer of static and hum, it may be a field recording, but to our ears it's the sound of the A side of this disc, being played on a dusty old Victrola, in a garage or a workshop, while someone tinkers and shuffles about, the whole thing recorded on an old wax cylinder. A gloriously fuzzy and crackly expanse of field recorded dronemusic for sure. So excellent.
The cover photo is fantastic, an overexposed, washed out image of branches, in bright oranges and reds, looking like some sort of lava flow, the insert is gold ink on letter pressed textured black paper.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES. We got a LOT of these, but a bunch were pre-ordered and were spoken for before we even got them in, the rest are going fast, and once the batch we got is gone, we most likely will be unable to get any more...

SVARTE GREINER + ANDUIN Black River (Live) (SMTG Ltd) 7" 6.98
These two aQ faves spent several months touring together, and would finish off each show with a collaborative jam, one of which is captured here, in two parts. The first is all deep blackened shimmer, soft swells of feedback, dark rumbling pulsations, bleak and austere, laced with shards of high end melody, and softly grinding whirs. The second part is much more delicate, breathless and hushed, distant hums and keening fragmented melodies. Both sides are dark and beautiful, abstract and droney, and definitely remind us of Jasper TX and Machinefabriek. Nice stuff.
Housed in a plain black sleeve, LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!

SVARTE GREINER / LAKES OF GRASS AND GOLD Landscape Of Open Eyes (Immune) 7" 8.98
Another special limited Record Store Day release that we managed to get enough of to review and list post RSD. Aquarius faves Svarte Greiner deliver another dark gem, ominous strings woven into a sweeping cinematic soundscape, laced with plucks and scrapes, distant keening high end tones, plucked pizzicato melodies, a bit like a symphony tuning, transformed into some haunting and harrowing ambience, tense and intense, the creeping low end thrum hovering beneath clouds of cymbal shimmer and splattery percussion, all blurred and smeared into a hazy sprawl of dark sonic mesmer.
The flipside come courtesy of a band we'd never heard before, but who definitely exist in the same space as SG, which is obviously why they're sharing this 7", their sound is a lot like SG's only with much of the darkness peeled back, leaving just the hum of strings, and a minimal orchestral arrangement of plucked melodies and drifting chords, that is until the sudden surprise of a super distorted, crumbling doom riff, wrapped in a warped production, the sound is suddenly caustic and crunchy, the second 'movement' finds that riffage reigned in and transformed into a tense dronescape of rumbling metallic guitar buzz and longform Niblockian tones, all wreathed in streaks of feedback and underpinned by buried melodies and slow shimmering textures. Definitely need to hear more from these guys (this guy?).
Once again, this was a Record Store Day release, we have a tiny handful left, it's unclear whether once these are sold if we'll be able to get more, so your best bet is to act fast and grab one before they're gone!

SVETOVID Valhallan Dreams (Werewolf Promotion / Hammerbund) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We had never heard Canadian black metal horde Svetovid before, but we got this, their debut full length, from the same place we got recent BM cassette faves from Surt, Sunchariot, Gnieu, and Lascowiec, so were pretty excited to check them out, and weren't sure what to expect from the haunting acoustic folk intro, a lilting and slightly stumbling bit of Appalachian sounding fingerpicked melancholia, which lead directly into an avalanche of crumbling blackness, a swirling, whirling wall of sound, infused with a surprising amount of melody, the drums buried in the mix, the vocals a reverbed croak, but the guitars, dense and lush and layered, and while buzzy, almost more soaring and shimmery, the blackbuzz blossoming into something almost shoegazey, that minus the vox, might be something you'd hear on Starlight Temple Society. Blissed out blackened heaviness that is as poppy as it is buzzy, whether it's intentional or not, but we're digging it a LOT. And actually, maybe not all of the record is that poppy or blissed out, once we got done listening to that first track about ten times, the sound gets darker and meaner, chugging and churning, the vocals a sinister monstrous bellow, but somehow, the sound is still melodic, almost as if someone was used to the chordal structure of pop music, and was applying it to black metal, but the result is something grim and black, but warm and fuzzy and washed out, that track, not at all blasting, instead swirling and shimmery, the guitars tranced out and cyclical, the sound nearly psychedelic. We could go on and describe all the tracks here, but the sooner this review is done, the sooner we can strap on our Walkman, get away from this computer and dig in to the rest of this tape.
LIMITED TO 320 COPIES! Each one hand numbered.

SWAGGER JACK The Feral Blood Of... (Last Visible Dog) cd 9.98
Yet another backroom discovery, found a stash of this mysterious missive from someone calling themselves Swagger Jack, some sort of hillbilly drunken pirate, armed with a busted up old acoustic guitar, a jaw harp, a harmonica, maybe some busted up old keyboards, but very little else. A little digging is all it takes to discover that Swagger Jack is in fact long time aQ fave / pal Antony Milton, head honcho of killer cd-r label PseudoArcana as well as a member of various awesome groops (The Stumps, AM, The Nether Dawn, Mrtyu, Glory Fckn Sun, etc.), but as Swagger Jack, Milton is in full on hillbilly/folk/bluegrass mode, laying down simple lilting chunks of slo-mo Appalachia, lo-fi and hazy, druggy and minimal, simple steel string buzz augmented by jaw harp twang, harmonica wheeze, some minimal percussion, and a ramshackle backing of creaking, groaning whir and shimmer. The whole record sounds as if it was recorded on a rickety old porch, or in a forest clearing, like a more songy Avarus, or Tower Recordings with a backwoods hillbilly twist, some Velvet Underground druggy drift stripped down and recast as some sort of Fahey-esque dronefolk, bits of classic NZ soundmakers like Roy Montgomery, The Clean, Alastair Galbraith, and the like, woven into rickety backwoods twang flecked drone laced zoner country ballads. Pretty incredible stuff for sure, listening to this now, we're sort of surprised more folks didn't go crazy for this, and surprised that we somehow missed listing this completely, but better late than never, gorgeous stuff, and way recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Internet Cafe"
MPEG Stream: "Sculptor"
MPEG Stream: "My Good Guts"

SWANOX Dawnrunner (Not Not Fun) cassette 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Brand new tape from LA's indie headquarters, Not Not Fun, this time a debut cassette from SF's own Swanox. We've seen a couple live sets from Anthony Bourch, aka Swanox, and he's also a regular here at aQ, so we're happy to finally give this stellar, drugged-out, cosmic-pop opus a home in our humble tape case.
Dawnrunner unfolds with deep, distorted guitar ringing out into a wash of cavernous reverb, crumbling minor leads luring you further into utter darkness, sporadic riffs and low-end sizzle offer up the perfect dose of atmospheric haze. A dash of light leaks from the cavern's end as a shimmering guitar line fades in, the piece shifts from dark to light as the sounds gradually grow into a dense cloud of Popul Vuh-ish bliss. Just when we thought Dawnrunner was solely instrumental, "Through the Alders" rolls along with looong, Daniel Higgs-type vocal chants, slightly discernible lyrics buried in layers of distorted organ (sort of reminds us of the organ on the recent German Oak album we featured last list), moments of spritely flute and layers of murky droning build into a wall of weirdness until a quickly picked, uplifting guitar lead lifts over the psychedelic wash, the perfect summit to this monolithic track. While there's a hefty dose of washed out weirdness and droning decay, there's also a catchy, pop undercurrent flowing throughout, each song perfectly crafted with just the right amount of structure, falling somewhere between Night Control and Flying Saucer Attack, definitely not your run-of-the-mill home spun tape. Noisy, psychedelic and super distinct, this will no doubt satisfy your fill for far out, loner bedroom weirdness. Limited to an edition of 100, you know these will be gone in no time, so don't miss out!

SWANOX / SCRAPS OF DOGS split (Caligulan Records) cassette 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A beautiful and harrowingly dark cassette release from the mysterious new tape label, Caligulan! Based right here in not so sunny these days San Francisco, Caligulan brings the droney, woozy, doomy skull fuck sounds that make a tape head cringe with sorrowful delight!
The Swanox side is one long track, called "Forests Of Pluto", and indeed sounds like an exploration of some alien, yet wooded planet. Deep and dark doomy folk, other worldly voices emmanating from blackened caves, the sounds of ancient trees creaking in the haunted winter winds, reverb drenched guitars plunked by some wraithy wood elf of the unspoiled natural landscape of old. The sounds of Swanox on this release are both haunting and contemplative, letting the mind drift off into the spectral world of tones. Spooky and strangely beautiful music!
The Scraps Of Dogs side is also a dark beauty, but much nosier and much heavier. The first track, "Nag Hammadi" is sort of a metallic drift. The sounds of metal scraping against metal, churning and contorting itself into every changing sonic shapes. Bass tones rumble in a deathlike scree, creating beautifully distorted drones and thick swells of darkened texture. The second track, "Leave Your Body Behind", Is all fuzz and rumble. It sounds like an Orcish army on a death march, in blizzard conditions. The distorted textures undulate in a syncopated way, while more high end elements swirl around your head, like some cold blowing, northern wind. Drifting drones made up of thick fuzz and crackle, mixed up in some evil witch's cauldron, along with a few blackend frog gullets, filtered through the grimmest, most kult coffee machine you could imagine, till it fills your sonic pot with oozing nefarious soundscapes. The coffee machine of grimnity!
The packaging on this fella is beautiful! Much like the Robedoor tape featured on this list, which is also on Caligulan, The cover is adorned with a gorgeous photo of the Northern Woods. More accurately the Pacific North Western woods, where these two doomy bummers originally hail from. The inside is spraypainted to look like some far off galaxy, and there's a beautiful handmade insert to boot! Along with this tape, and the Robedoor, we got the last 10 copies of this gem, so act now or forever hold your deathlike peace!!!

SWANSON, PETE I Don't Rock At All (Three Lobed) cd 11.98
We recently listed the amazing Not The Spaces You Know, But Between Them quadruple lp box set on Three Lobed, which contained exclusive sidelong tracks from Sun City Girls, Sonic Youth, Comets On Fire, Bardo Pond, Eternal Tapestry and more (we still have a handful of copies left! but only a fewÉ), apparently folks who preordered copies direct from the label, got a little something special in their box. THIS. A brand new ep from Pete Swanson, who was one half of the late great noise/drone duo Yellow Swans, but who since then has been carving out a pretty decent niche for himself as a solo artist.
This latest disc is just about the prettiest thing we've heard from Swanson, a hazy, washed out bit of what sounds like solo guitar, or more specifically, sounds like it COULD be solo guitar, what it actually sounds like is warm lush layers of chordal shimmer, dreamy tangles of lilting melody, everything warm and sun dappled, distorted but not harsh, more sort of thick and smoldering and lush, the sound does get noisy, but again, it's the sort of dreamy noisiness we dig, a thick swirling cloud of psychedelic shimmer, all soaring guitars and whirling FX, in fact some of Swanson's playing here reminds us of legendary NZ guitarist Roy Montgomery - the same sort of hazy, brittle tone, a similarly constructed soundscape of blurred riffs and smeared melody, softly propulsive and dreamily druggy.
The final track might be our favorite, a gorgeous assemblage of keening high end tones, all woven into a darkly melodic bit of abstract, majestic drift, mournful, melancholy, but strangely and hauntingly epic, WAY too short at 9:29, would have been happy to have that track stretch out to fill up the rest of the cd. So nice.
Pretty sure this is limited to, we got a bunch direct from Swanson himself, but since most of these ended up on those boxsets, not sure how many more we'll be able to get when we run out...
MPEG Stream: "Know When To Say Wha?"
MPEG Stream: "Cocktail Champion"

SWANSON, PETE Man With Potential (Type) lp + cd 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
When Man With Potential, the latest solo record from Pete Swanson, one half of late great floorcore noise outfit Yellow Swans, first came out late last year, it sold out so fast, we never got a chance to list it, in fact we got so few copies we sold out before most of US even got to hear it, so we weren't really sure what the hubbub was all about, other than it involved 'beats'. Thankfully, it's been repressed. And thankfully, Man With Potential is nothing nearly as simple as a noise record with beats, although it is quite noisy, and is definitely the most rhythmic thing we've heard from Swanson. Opener Misery Beat unfurls a dizzying swirl of creaks and squeaks, bloops and bleeps, into a dizzying churn, the beat hear more implied, a pulsing chunk of crumbling low end dragged along in the loop, but then about three minutes in, the proper beat does in fact drop, a pounding four on the floor house music thud, pulsating beneath the glimmering field of high end skitter and dubbed out bleepage. But let's not forget that Swanson was born of the noise scene, so the track gradually builds momentum, picking up all manner of sonic detritus on the way, heaving swells of super distorted chordal crunch, keening shards of blunted noise, that chittering high end also getting louder and more distorted, until finally, the track sounds like some crazed hybrid of an electronically simulated runaway train, and the noisiest rave ever. It's pretty fantastic stuff, managing to be hypnotic and repetitive, but staying totally engaging and mesmerizing throughout. Follow up "Remote View" follows a similar pattern, this one a bit more dubbed out and woozy, the melodies more stately and melancholic, still wreathed in the same crunch and keen, the sound gristly and corrosive, but weirdly dreamy and drifty as well, sounding almost like a slightly house-ier Portishead by way of Merzbow. Elsewhere, the beat is sometimes sublimated, relegated to a heartbeat like pulse beneath thick sheets of blown out, in-the-red melodic buzz, and carefully sculpted prismatic noise, and still elsewhere, Swanson channels old school gabber through a thick haze of Our Love Will Destroy The World like soft cacophony, and still elsewhere crafts some straight up electro-pop club music, but buries it beneath an avalanche of glorious noise, strangely melodic and lush, almost shoegazey, but an awesome sort of buzz drenched blissiness. And then there's the title track, which might be the noisiest of the bunch, and sounds a bit like several record playing at once, a head spinning collision of Astral Social Club at their beat heaviest, and Our Love Will Destroy The World (again) at his loopiest, but together, it's a wild chunk of swirling psychedelic noisiness that is again surprisingly listenable, eventually blossoming into a wash of blissed out noise drenched dreaminess.
This lp comes with a bonus cd, which is NOT a digital version of Man With Potential, but is instead a whole 'nother record called Man With Garbage, which seem to be culled from the same sessions, as they display a similarly noisy beatiness, although it definitely leans more toward the noise side of the equation, the sound a bit more lo-fi and raw, but even at its noisiest, strap on the headphones and dunk your head in that roiling torrent of sound, and you'll discover all manner of muted melody fractured poppiness and swirling dreamy hooks. "Returns" is a heaving big beat almost Nadja-worthy doomic churn, while the two part, 25 minute "Challenger" is less about beats, and more about texture and timbre, flitting from full on face melting white noise, to stuttering staticky melody flecked crunch and crumble, to blurred blown out psych-noise dreaminess.
We imagine this pressing is probably limited too, so grab one before they're gone. Again!
MPEG Stream: "Misery Beat"
MPEG Stream: "Remote View"
MPEG Stream: "A&Ox0"

SWANSON, PETE Pro Style (Type) lp 19.98
BACK IN STOCK!!
The latest record from former Yellow Swan finds Pete Swanson continuing to explore/dissect/reimagine/reinvent his own mutant strain of techno. Like on his recent Man With Potential lp, the sounds here are raw and chaotic, home brewed and noisy, a lot like what you might have imagined a techno Yellow Swans might have sounded like. The framework is classic, a thumping four on the floor, but it's the setting and surroundings that makes Swanson's sound so compelling. Very much like the more beat oriented jams of Our Love Will Destroy The World, or the dancefloor experiments of Astral Social Club, Swanson seems to be coming at techno from a similarly genuine, yet sonically removed, angle, a bit of kitchen sink, mad scientist noisiness, with lots of the sounds obviously culled from an arsenal of synths and drum machines that are not all that dissimilar from what he employed in his noise making floorcore days. But Swanson has definitely proven himself, this is no mere dalliance, these jams are fierce and driving, and in a weird way, seriously funky. The title track here is a mesmerizing blast of super layered, heavily textured techno, that has SO much going on. Total maximalist techno, tangled melodies, chirping fragments of high end, thick shard of rumbling bass thrum, the sort of groove you never want to end. The VIP mix of the same song, just strips back the melody, and piles on the noise, adding even more hiss and glitch, the bassline pushed up in the mix, woozy and hypnotic, the sounds sharp and jagged, and yet the whole thing somehow still so mesmerizing and kinda catchy. The idea that you could get this sort of thing stuck in your heard, seems preposterous, until you find yourself humming these sort of melodies, hours later.
The B side is the real gem here, a sprawling expanse of minimal noisescapery, all washed out shimmer, fluttery fragmented high end melodies, and super spare skeletal skitters, everything beneath a layer of gauzy ethereal hum, the vibe way less electronic, and more sort of Jeck / Tim Hecker style soft noise ambience, the beats not so much beats, as just more texture, buried rhythms and blurred pulsations, even filling up a whole side, you'll find yourself lifting the needle and playing it again and again and again.
Saucy retro Chippendales cover art too.

SWANSON, PETE Static Space (Root Strata) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One half of former Bay Area / current Portland noise drone outfit Yellow Swans, and Jyrk label head honcho Pete Swanson unleashes the innermost desires of his distortion pedals, who were switched on and then allowed to do whatever they liked. Swanson was just on hand to direct the sound back and forth through the mixing board. The result is Static Space, and you'll be amazed at the sorts of sounds distortion pedals can make when left to their own devices. From a thick grinding, metallic slither through dense thickets of fuzzy drone and machinelike buzz, to wide open expanses of slowly shifting melodic moan and glistening shimmer, to a strangely guitar like whir that builds into a massive wall of fuzz to the final 13 minute stretch that sounds like some sort of minimal soundscape of barely there white noise whir, occasionally colored by bits of melodic feedback. Darn pretty for a couple of little metal boxes and a mixing board. But Swanson has been working the same sort of alchemy for years in the Yellow Swans, so we probably shouldn't be all that surprised. Pretty darn cool, and of course...
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!!! We will not be able to get more. Packaged in gorgeous hand made sleeves with a thick textured gold oil painting affixed to the front.
MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Two"

SWIFTER, THE s/t (The Wormhole) lp 16.98
UK tape label the Tapeworm launches their new, non-tape imprint, called The Wormhole, with two new releases, the double 7" vinyl debut of Drcarlsonalbion aka Dylan Carlson from Earth, reviewed elsewhere on this week's list, and the oddly named outfit The Swifter, a trio of piano, electronics and drums and percussion, featuring long time aQ fave BJ Nilsen manning the electronics. This record documents the group's first encounter, which took place in an old German church, and found the trio taking full advantage of the space's incredible acoustics, for a fantastic bit of dreamlike minimalism, beginning life as a creaking ship's hull, channeling Nurse With Wound's fantastic Salt Marie Celeste, but quickly letting the piano move to the fore, the sound transforming into something much more Necks like, the flurries of swirling notes reminding us of Lubomyr Melnyk, the drums a subtle background shuffle, the electronics alternately adding texture, or manipulating the sounds of the other players, but on the opening track, the sound is quite organic, minimal motorik free jazz drift, that gradually splinters into something much more rhythmic and abstract, and electronic sounding, but due to the instrumentation and the space, even the electronics sound organic.
The rest of the record explores similar territory, the piano adding most of the melodic color, while the drums and electronics supply the texture, dreamy and washed out one second, spare and skeletal the next, with some really fantastic moments throughout, the looped piano fragment and martial snare on "Neap Tide", or the No Neck Blues Band like soft cacophony on "Swallow", the record finishing off with the fantastic "Wave Guidance Allows Three", which again on the surface has a Necks like feel, but the low end piano is looped and layered and processed, creating huge dense blackened billows, churning and strangely atonal, while the drums supply a simple subtle driving rhythm underneath, before dissipating into a gorgeous glistening bliss out coda.
MPEG Stream: "End Of Capstan Bars"
MPEG Stream: "Wave Guidance Allows Three"

SWIRE, BEN From Here To There (Preservation) cd 16.98
Utterly gorgeous and meticulously crafted sounds infused with warmth and a glimmering, strangely tender vibe. Almost like a more melodic Jasper TX or Machinefabriek, Ben Swire intertwines traditional instruments with field recordings and electronics to create a totally seamless sound that has been the soundtrack to constant drifting, dazed daydreaming.
While Swire resides right here in San Francisco, it actually makes a lot of sense that this was released by the great Australian label Preservation, who have proven to have such immaculate taste in soft focus underground sounds (Eddie Marcon, Caethua, Aaron Martin, etc.). But we also think he would be a perfect fit for the roster of Root Strata, as his music really taps into a similarly perfect hazy, delicate, droney yet melodic sensibility. We hear hints of so many artists that we love like Philip Jeck, Es, The Fun Years, Part Timer, Mountains, as well as a more organic interpretation of early recordings by folks like Mum, Opiate and Markus Archer. While we are reminded of all those great artists, there is something so striking about Swire's soft touch, understated and assured with some pleasant surprises of a slightly darker nature, subtly tense and ominous, which unfold in the later half of the record. But for sure this the perfect soundtrack for staring out the window on long road trips as the scenery washes by and your mind floats away in a million different directions. So beautiful!
MPEG Stream: "Propel"
MPEG Stream: "Summer"
MPEG Stream: "Far Removed"
MPEG Stream: "Forever"

SWIRNOFF, PRESTON Maariv (Last Visible Dog) cd 9.98
Wow, Preston Swirnoff has been one busy (and versatile) bee over the last several years. From his collaborative vinyl only releases on Eclipse with Ilya Monosov, to their blown out psych-rock band The Shining Path, his avant jazz outfit, The Seesaw Ensemble and his amazing dub project Habitat Sound System, a record we were blasting all last summer. Maariv is a collection of solo works composed and performed by Swirnoff from 2004-05 only now finally seeing its much deserved moment in the sun. Using 20th century minimalism, ritual drones and early tape and electronic sound experiments as his launching pad, he's tapped into a mystical realm that can be both gorgeous and disturbing.
Each of the four pieces use a different set of instrumentation and various tape loops. The opener filled with rolling piano thunder and a delicious fog of electronics had some of our favorite AQ customers drooling as they heard it blasting from our speakers, as it recalls some of the most breathtaking work by Charlemagne Palestine. The next piece is probably the most intense and disturbing of the lot, as a room full of organs create a cacophony of sound which radiate with a scary and relentless passion. Then comes the most delicate and pretty track in the collection where Swirnoff uses a sequence that Ilya Monosov played on electric-guitar and uses a tape machine and speed control to create an otherworldly gamelan-like sound that would be right at home on a Colleen record. The album ends with a really nice nod to the kind of works that came out of the SF tape music center of the '60s as four tape machines go back and forth between speeds and pitches to create a mesmerizing mood that we could listen to forever!
Whether tapping into the power of Gyorgy Ligeti or showing an amazing range that rivals Barton Smith, Preston has created a vivid work of electroacoustic music that will most surely stand the test of time! Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Maariv 1 (For Piano & Electronics)"
MPEG Stream: "Maariv 4 (For Four Tape Machines)"
MPEG Stream: "Maariv 3 (For Electric Guitar)"
MPEG Stream: "Maariv 2 (For A Room Full Of Organs)"

SWITCHBLADE s/t [2006] (Cyclop Media) cd 15.98
Self-titled records are strange. They are definitely a statement. It's sort of like 'our record doesn't NEED a title, it speaks for itself'. We can't help but think sometimes though that it's just pure laziness. The sort of band who would forgo an album title are only a hop skip and a jump away from ditching song titles too. And then what's next, no band name? That's part of the fun, part of the magic. Part of the unique world that a band creates. Sometimes the title of a song or album is exactly what makes us want to listen to it. Along the same lines, we're often frustrated by bands who have multiple self-titled records. Quite confusing, there's the OLD self-titled one, and the NEW self-titled one. But what about these Swedish metalheads. Not one, not two, not even three self-titled records, BUT ALL FOUR of their release so far are self-titled. Even their first seven inch! And they HAVE gotten rid of song titles, opting instead for numbers. So I guess it is all about the music after all. So yeah, the music, that's why we're here, right? All we can say, is what the hell happened to Switchblade?! Something seriously scary we'd have to guess. Last time we checked in, they were one of those metallic post rock metalcore hybrids, exploring drifting loping melancholy rhythms that would explode into chugging grinding sludgy metal freakouts. They also had a strange Albini-esque vibe, big booming drums, really spacious recording.
But now. Holy shit, these guys are a whole lot scarier. A lot slower. Even heavier. It's like they discovered their inner Khanate. This is downright doooooomy. It's almost like the last Switchblade record played at 16rpm. In fact, maybe it is... Hmmm? Anyway, this has much more in common with Moss and Bunkur and Earth and Nadja and Marzuraan and Khanate, than the bands that occupied a similar sonic space as their last record, the Pelican's and Isis's and the like. The new Switchblade is a slow lumbering beast, two lengthy tracks, one 16 minutes, one almost 30 minutes, each a plodding, slow motion, glacial, dirge. Riffs are drawn out and allowed to drift and dwindle before the next riff arrives to take over. The drummer sounds like he only has one drum. And one cymbal. But both of them are really BIG and really LOUD. But unlike some of the sludgelords this disc is obviously indebted to, Switchblade keep their sound warm, and spacious. This isn't murky or muddy. It's wide open and spacious, the guitars are clear and bright, distorted sure, but more thick and heavy than downtuned and sludgy. A bit like recent discs from the Angelic Process and Nadja, a sort of beautiful sludge. the first track is the more overtly evil of the two with super creepy harsh whispered vocals, like Gollum from Lord Of The Rings, a raspy demonic growl (apparently a dude from black metallers Watain, guesting). The second shorter track, sounds a bit like a heavier version of slowcore legends Codeine, with whispery crooned vocals, drifting minor key chords, all strung along a skeletal doom plod. Haunting and malefic, but at the same times strangely delicate and introspective. A truly mysterious and utter metamorphosis. We can hardly wait to hear what their fifth self-titled release will bring...
MPEG Stream: "01."
MPEG Stream: "02."

SWORD & SANDALS Good & Plenty (Empty Cellar) lp 14.98
After a couple of live cd-rs, a tape, and numerous live shows, the energetic free music trio Sword & Sandals have decided to shed a member and soldier on as a duo. The trio for this recording was comprised of John Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees), Randy Lee Sutherland (Freak Out label) and visual artist Shaun O'Dell, and finds the threesome closing this first chapter of the band with their most layered, expansive and exciting release to date! Containing seven tracks, their normal instrumental set-up of two saxophones and a drummer is fleshed out with bells, flute, piano, bass clarinet and even a synth. Good & Plenty is definitely channeling the spirit of those BYG Actuel release from the late sixties from the likes of Don Cherry, Sun Ra or Sunny Murray. The dueling dynamic of O'Dell and Sutherland's horn interplay is not one of willful free jazz cacophony, but a means to reach a harmonic connection through disparate starting points, often sounding like the horns are worrying back and forth over the same small tonal point creating a tense movement of sound. But unlike their live shows and recordings, the horns are not always locked in battle. The overall flow of the record tempers the noisy urgent moments with quieter moody tracks of looser and more playful rhythms, sometimes ramshackle and other times more martial with strange washes of bell sounds, out of tune piano, weird bleeps, and minimal plaintive horn drones. It's one of those records where the band has finally come into their own, harnessing the ferocious energy of their live shows into something deeper and more reflective and at times quite beautiful. Limited to 300 copies, each lp comes with a download card. Highly recommended!

SWORDS & SANDALS / VHOLTZ / WOMAN'S WORTH / ETTRICK s/t (self-released) cassette 5.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SWUNG Voice And Key 1996-2006 (Pseudo Arcana) 3" cd-r 5.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Swung is New Zealand musician Zoe Drayton, and as the title would suggest, these five tracks are pieces for voice and piano recorded over the last twn years. Super sweet and incredibly intimate. The first track is solo piano, dark and dreamy, the chords ringing out, a sweetly melancholy lullaby. Track two is just the between song utterances, breaths, lip smacks, all woven into a strange soundscape, that leads into a simple piano piece recorded in a big empty room. The third track is super lo-fi, a dreamy vocal line and a barely audible pump organ, a fragmented lowercase pop song. Track 4 is a warm rich organ drone over some sort of creaking machinery, really haunting and lovely. The final track is soundscape created from chopped and manipulated song parts, mostly backwards vocals, recontextualized into a beautiful but alien little ditty.
We'd never heard of Drayton or Swung, but this lil' disc definitely has us hankering for more!
Packaged in a cool little full color 3" sleeve with a printed insert.
MPEG Stream: "Dudi"
MPEG Stream: "Shuf"

SYLVESTER ANFANG II Perzische Tapijten (The Great Pop Supplement) lp 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yet another fantastic collection of tranced out shamanistic kraut-psych from these aQ faves, the first pressing sold out in a heartbeat, and disappeared before we managed to get even a single copy. This is the second pressing, limited to just 250 copies, and while we did get a bunch, odds are we're gonna sell out quick...
Like the Latitudes record that we listed recently, Perzische Tapijten again finds these Flemish psychedelic alchemists unfurling lush expanses of raga-like shimmer, and darkly propulsive krautrock infused droney druggy mesmer, this time with a bit more of an Eastern influence. The tracks smolder and drift, the opener sends snake charmer melodies slithering through clouds of swirling effects, the vibe sun dappled and dreamy, which darkens considerably in the following track, which churns ominously, the riffage dark and minor key, the drums more plodding and menacing, some serious German Oak dirgery going on, a grim chunk of wah wah-ed bunker psych that is WAY too brief at less than 4 minutes. The rest of the record unwinds drowsily slipping between the two, droning ominously, chugging and churning, then blossoming into warm swirling swells of heady psychedelic shimmer, and drifting back again. Some of the tracks veer into even stranger territory, like "Assassijn", which anchors its sound on what sounds like one of those cheesy Casio keyboard presets, the band burying the looped skitter beneath moaning horns, fluttering synths, swirling FX, and mesmerizingly minimal drumming, but then it's right back into it with "Etherik" a gorgeous slab of Eastern psychedelic raga, busy rhythms float atop low slung sinewy basslines, while a sitar-like guitar buzzes hypnotically above. Finally, the record finishes with a darkly drone bit of softly chaotic psychedelia, sounding like something you might hear on a Sublime Frequencies comp, the sound lo-fi and a bit murky, the guitars blurring into lush smears of chordal thrum, the drums shuffling beneath, totally tranced out, and utter drone-psych bliss. Obviously totally recommended. And also recommended, that you snap one of these up before they're gone for good...
MPEG Stream: "Buikdans"
MPEG Stream: "Episch"
MPEG Stream: "Geschudde Kaarten Liegen Niet"

SYLVESTER ANFANG II s/t (Aurora Borealis) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Brand new album of electronic flecked tribal spaced out druggy free folk krautrocky weirdness from the Belgian "Funeral Folk"collective known as Sylvester Anfang (now spelled with a 'Y' instead of an 'I' for some mysterious reason) who have continued to evolve with every record.
The now out of print Satanische Vrede lp introduced us to these guys, with a garish lp sleeve featuring the band shirtless, wearing white hoods, holding goats on leashes, an image that somehow reflected the music inside disturbingly accurately. A primitive, ritualistic, orgy of abstract percussion, tripped out psychedelia, wandering free folk, some serious space rock, and a hint of something blacker and much more sinister.
This is only technically the second proper full length, but things have somehow gotten even more space-y, more druggy, more krautrocky, and thus more ROCKING. The record does start off with a strange sonic ritual, all mysterious spoken word, squiggly electronics, chaotic noise guitar backdrop, tons of effects, streaks of feedback, long swirling tendrils of whirring shimmer, but then BANG, the record launches right into "Na Regen Komt Sondvlred" mid-jam, as if someone just walked in on the band and pushed record without the band even noticing, locked as they were in full on transcendental space psych jam mode, relentless motorik skeletal beat, warm warbly low end pulse, and guitar, LOTS of guitar, distorted and wah wah'd the fuck out, flitting from moaning croonsome melodies to dense tangles of freaked out chaos, the whole sound and vibe so druggy and trippy and divine. The first band we thought of was German Oak, as this also sounds like it could have been recorded in some massive underground stone bunker, then Hawkwind, then some mix of the two, a seemingly endless mind expanding, speaker melting ur-jam, and we're only two songs in!
The two part "The Devil Always Shits In The Same Graves" is a massive twenty minute songsuite, that seriously smolders, the guitars twangy and Morricone-esque, the vocals a distorted scowly growl, the guitars spidery and sitar like, buzzing lazily, the melodies Eastern sounding, the drums laid waaaaay back, like listening to the Wooden Shjips at 16 rpm, but turned way down, for some late night bliss out. The second half is almost like a mirror of the first, but doused (dosed?) in noise and delay and distortion, a blurred lysergic Hawkwind outro rendered in effulgent streaks of buzz and fuzz, even more abstract and drone-y and space-y than the first part.
The four tracks in between cover a lot of ground, although never straying too far from that psychedelic buzz drenched krautrock that forms their core, from warm languid muted dronescapes, a thick smear of undulating effects laden warble over what sounds like a buried pop song, to still more white hot (outer) space rock dirge-ery, thick ropy basslines supporting swirling garage fuzz organs and tangles of psychguitar as well as dense clouds of malfunctioning electronics and haywire effects, to dense swells of super intense spacekrautdronegroove that could/should go on forever, to long stretches of glistening high end guitar shimmer and moaned sorrowful vocals, all wrapped in soft billows of dreamlike delay, to woozy garage kraut dirges, all detuned riffage, and pounding machinelike pulse, blurred buzz and otherworldly effects.
The whole record seems to melt together into one oozing organic meta-sound, a glorious extended space jam with a trajectory set somewhere in the distant future, a dizzying journey through innerspace, a slow burning series of sounds, fragments of the whole, sent spinning into the ether, streaked with starlight and glimmering reflectively in the muted glow of distant suns, a glorious bit of space rock, beamed to earth, into a clearing, in the middle of a forest, lit by firelight, channeled through the figures gathered there, surrounded by a stone circle that on closer inspection is revealed to be a haphazard assemblage of amplifiers, the cords running along the dirt of the clearing like black vines, the various figures hunched over, each wielding some sort of implement, their movements downright demonic in the firelight, and the sounds that come drifting out of the clearing even moreso....
Try as we might (and see above, we are obviously trying!), words hardly do these sounds justice. One of the best records of the year so far for sure...
MPEG Stream: "Satan Like Mijn Hielen"
MPEG Stream: "Na Regen Komt Sondvlred"
MPEG Stream: "The Devil Always Shits In The Same Graves Pt1"

SYLVESTER ANFANG II s/t (Aurora Borealis) 2lp 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Brand new album of electronic flecked tribal spaced out druggy free folk krautrock weirdness from the Belgian Funeral folk collective known as Sylvester Anfang (now spelled with a 'Y' instead of an 'I') who have continued to evolve with every record.
The now out of print Satanische Vrede lp introduced us to these guys, with a garish lp sleeve featuring the band shirtless, wearing white hoods, holding goats on leashes, an image that somehow reflected the music inside disturbingly accurately. A primitive, ritualistic, orgy of abstract percussion, tripped out psychedelia, wandery free folk, some serious space rock,and a hint of something blacker and much more sinister.
This is only technically the second proper full length, but things have somehow gotten even more space-y, more druggy, more krautrocky, and thus more ROCKING. The record does start off with a strange sonic ritual, all mysterious spoken word, squiggly electronics, chaotic noise guitar backdrop, tons of effects, streaks of feedback, long swirling tendrils of whirring shimmer, but then BANG, the record launches right into "Na Regen Komt Sondvlred" mid jam, as if someone just walked in on the band and pushed record without the band even noticing, locked as they were in full on transcendental space psych jam mode, relentless motorik skeletal beat, warm warbly low end pulse, and guitar, LOTS of guitar, distorted and wah wah'd the fuck out, flitting from moaning croonsome melodies to dense tangles of freaked out chaos, the whole sound and vibe so druggy and trippy and divine. The first band we thought of was German Oak, as this also sounds like it could have been recorded in some massive underground stone bunker, then Hawkwind, then some mix of the two, a seemingly endless mind expanding, speaker melting ur-jam, and we're only two songs in!
The two part "The Devil Always Shits In The Same Graves" is a massive twenty minute songsuite, that seriously smolders, the guitars twangy and Morricone-esque, the vocals a distorted scowly growl, the guitars spidery and sitar like, buzzing lazily, the melodies Eastern sounding, the drums laid waaaaay back, like listening to the Wooden Shjips at 16rpm, but turned way down, for some late night bliss out. The second half is almost like a mirror of the first, but doused in noise and delay and distortion, a blurred lysergic Hawkwind outro rendered in effulgent streaks of buzz and fuzz, even more abstract and drone-y and space-y than the first part.
The four tracks in between cover a lot of ground, although never straying too far from that psychedelic buzz drenched krautrock that forms their core, from warm languid muted dronescapes, a thick smear of undulating effects laden warble over what sounds like a buried pop song, to still more white hot (outer) space rock dirgery, thick ropy basslines supporting swirling garage fuzz organs and tangles of psychguitar as well as dense clouds of malfunctioing electronics and haywire effects, to dense swells of super intense spacekrautdronegroove that could/should go on forever, to long stretches of glistening high end guitar shimmer and moaned sorrowful vocals, all wrapped in soft billows of dreamlike delay, to woozy garage kraut dirges, all detuned riffage, and pounding machinelike pulse, blurred buzz and otherworldly effects.
The whole record seems to melt together into one oozing organic meta-sound, a glorious extended space jam with a trajectory set somewhere in the distant future, a dizzying journey through innerspace, a slow burning series of sounds, fragments of the whole, sent spinning into the ether, streaked with starlight and glimmering reflectively in the muted glow of distant suns, a glorious bit of space rock, beamed to earth, into a clearing, in the middle of a forest, lit by firelight, channeled through the figures gathered there, surrounded by a stone circle that on closer inspection is revelaed to be a haphazard assemblage of amplifiers, the cords running along the dirt of the clearing like black vines, the various figures hunched over, each wielding some sort of implement, their movements downright demonic in the firelight, and the sounds that come drifting out of the clearing even moreso....
Try as we might (and see above, we are obviously trying!), words hardly do these sounds justice. One of the best records of the year so far for sure...
MPEG Stream: "Satan Like Mijn Hielen"
MPEG Stream: "Na Regen Komt Sondvlred"
MPEG Stream: "The Devil Always Shits In The Same Graves Pt1"

SYLVESTER ANFANG II Untitled (Latitudes) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's been more than 2 years since we last heard from this Flemish free-noise post-kraut avant-psych collective, and strangely, this Latitudes session was recorded back in 2010, so while it's technically a new releases, the actual status of this drone-psych outfit is definitely in limbo. But regardless of their present state, circa 2010, Sylvester Anfang II (an homage to Amon Dull II we assume) were in fine form, culling these 35 minutes from nearly 3 hours of continuous jamming, during which the band zoned out and unfurled some gorgeous sprawling psychedelic krautrock flecked jams, jams that seemed to gradually evolve into hazy drugged out ragas, all woozy bass lines, simple motorik drumming, wheezing organs, spidery guitars, and soft hazy clouds of effects, everything blurred and smeared into gauzy expanses of minimal ritualistic drift. But the magic of SAII is that for all of their abstract drug rock exploration, they're also masters of freaked out psychedelic space rock blissout, and the tracks here are the perfect blend of both.
The opener is a loping drug-psych dirge, all tangled up in tendrils of sitar like guitar buzz and anchored by a mesmerizingly hypnotic bass groove, while the second track slows things down to a murky woozy crawl, haunting and abstract, the drumming lose and almost jazzy, the various instruments floating weightless in wide open stretches of bass thrum and echoey shimmer. the third track (all the tracks are titled "Jam 1", "Jam 2", etc.), is minimal but darkly propulsive, the tightest we've heard these guys sound, still jammy, a little bit dubby too, but dense and driving and totally hypnotic. The fourth jam, cranks up the buzz and the murk, channeling Hawkwind through some swirling King Tubby like percussion, and wrapping everything in some strange space-y synths, underneath which a buzzy garage riff churns away, the drums again loose and free, the whole song seeming to drift heavenward, and finally, the closing jam is a total space-garage stomp, sounding like some lost sixties Nuggets artifact dipped in LSD and sent spiraling into the ether, super rocking and mesmerizing, this track especially has us thinking that everyone into Carlton Melton, Wooden Shjips, White Hills, Gnod, Burnt Hills, 3 Leafs, and the like, who somehow missed out on these guys until now, will definitely find themselves adding Sylvester Anfang II to their space / kraut / psych rock pantheon.
As with all Latitudes releases, the packaging is exquisite, the cd in that immediately recognizable white on brown origami style sleeve, each one hand number, with a full color insert, the vinyl featuring the same design with an intricate die cut letterpressed jacket, both formats LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Jam 1"
MPEG Stream: "Jam 2"

SYLVESTER ANFANG II Untitled (Latitudes) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's been more than 2 years since we last heard from this Flemish free-noise post-kraut avant-psych collective, and strangely, this Latitudes session was recorded back in 2010, so while it's technically a new releases, the actual status of this drone-psych outfit is definitely in limbo. But regardless of their present state, circa 2010, Sylvester Anfang II (an homage to Amon Dull II we assume) were in fine form, culling these 35 minutes from nearly 3 hours of continuous jamming, during which the band zoned out and unfurled some gorgeous sprawling psychedelic krautrock flecked jams, jams that seemed to gradually evolve into hazy drugged out ragas, all woozy bass lines, simple motorik drumming, wheezing organs, spidery guitars, and soft hazy clouds of effects, everything blurred and smeared into gauzy expanses of minimal ritualistic drift. But the magic of SAII is that for all of their abstract drug rock exploration, they're also masters of freaked out psychedelic space rock blissout, and the tracks here are the perfect blend of both.
The opener is a loping drug-psych dirge, all tangled up in tendrils of sitar like guitar buzz and anchored by a mesmerizingly hypnotic bass groove, while the second track slows things down to a murky woozy crawl, haunting and abstract, the drumming lose and almost jazzy, the various instruments floating weightless in wide open stretches of bass thrum and echoey shimmer. the third track (all the tracks are titled "Jam 1", "Jam 2", etc.), is minimal but darkly propulsive, the tightest we've heard these guys sound, still jammy, a little bit dubby too, but dense and driving and totally hypnotic. The fourth jam, cranks up the buzz and the murk, channeling Hawkwind through some swirling King Tubby like percussion, and wrapping everything in some strange space-y synths, underneath which a buzzy garage riff churns away, the drums again loose and free, the whole song seeming to drift heavenward, and finally, the closing jam is a total space-garage stomp, sounding like some lost sixties Nuggets artifact dipped in LSD and sent spiraling into the ether, super rocking and mesmerizing, this track especially has us thinking that everyone into Carlton Melton, Wooden Shjips, White Hills, Gnod, Burnt Hills, 3 Leafs, and the like, who somehow missed out on these guys until now, will definitely find themselves adding Sylvester Anfang II to their space / kraut / psych rock pantheon.
As with all Latitudes releases, the packaging is exquisite, the cd in that immediately recognizable white on brown origami style sleeve, each one hand number, with a full color insert, the vinyl featuring the same design with an intricate die cut letterpressed jacket, both formats LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Jam 1"
MPEG Stream: "Jam 2"

SYLVIAN, DAVID Died In The Wool (Samadhisound) 2cd 15.98

SYLVIAN, DAVID Manafon (Samadhisound) cd 15.98

SYLVIAN, DAVID The Good Son Vs The Only Daughter - The Blemish Remixes (Samadhisound) cd 17.98
Such a fantastic complement (and compliment) to David Sylvian's last album Blemish (which you may or may not know was a particular fave of Andee's)! You almost wouldn't think it possible, but on many of the remixes on The Only Daughter, Sylvian's chosen remixers have stripped down the tracks to an even more stark and austere state than that of the originals -- at times giving the impression that Sylvian has gone beat poet or is having intimate tete-a-tetes with a petulant piano or lonely horn. One of the best moments on this remix collection is Readymade FC's work on "A Fire In The Forest" with its gentle crunch-crackle-chime of an old neglected musicbox. Beautiful. The impressive list of participants also includes Ryoji Ikeda, Burnt Friedman, Yoshihiro Hanno, Tatsuhiko Asano, Jan Bang, Erik Honore, Sweet Billy Pilgrim, and Akira Rabelais -- all of whom have treated Sylvian's material with the utmost respect and furthered the haunting moods and atmospheres of Blemish in a most fitting manner.
MPEG Stream: "A Fire In The Forest - Readymade FC Remix"
MPEG Stream: "Blemish - Akira Rabelais Remix"

SYNB / HSDOM s/t (Phaserprone) cd-r 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's one of those mysteriously dark, mysteriously packaged, and mysteriously produced records that we love here at aQ. It's hard to say really who is doing what on this album, which may be considered a collaboration, may be a split, may be a set of remixes, or somewhere in between. SYNB is the work of Matt Brinkmann who had a couple of releases on Load a while back as Mr. Brinkmann, of fuzzed clunk and bass, but more recently has acquired notoriety as a member of the Paper Rad comic 'n' video collective. HSDOM is the work of Jochen Hartmann, half of the mighty (if under-appreciated) UW Owl, whose deadtech rhythms and blackened noise conjure the best that SPK or Factrix had managed in their most feral and brutal period. Phaserprone states that this release features SYNB reworking HSDOM materials and HSDOM reworking SYNB's recording Black/Gold Chip, although there is very little to indicate which tracks are done by or to whom. No matter how you look at it, this album seems to follow more of the UW Owl monstrousness, and it fucking rules!
After a grim introduction of close-looped feedback pushed through subharmonic distortion pedals for a thicket of skinscraping noise, convulsive rhythms tread through a perpetually exploding minefield of analog synths and circuit bent chaos. Ash, soot, toxic rain, nuclear fallout, brimstone, and any other suitably apocalyptic residue seems to hang on every blast of electricity, whether that be the abject white noise turned black or the jacked-up beats overdriven with distortion and hotwired fuzz. Within these entirely instrumental tracks, SYNB and HSDOM offer an alternative course for where Wolf Eyes could have dramatically improved their strategies of making hellish robotic electronica.
Nicely packaged in a letterpressed cover in an edition of 200 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Track 1"
MPEG Stream: "Track 4"
MPEG Stream: "Track 5"

SZCZEPANIK, NICHOLAS Astilbe Rubra (Small Doses) cd-r 7.98
Found a small stash of these in the closet, already out of print, these are likely the last copies we'll ever see...
Another killer release from sound artist Nicholas Szczepanik, this one on Small Doses, another micro-label whose releases we just can't get enough of, every one lovingly and extravagantly packaged, which is surprising considering how limited the releases are. This one is no different, only 104 copies, housed in a gorgeous screen printed diecut fold over sleeve, with a printed insert, liner notes, and each one is hand numbered.
Szczepanik offers this release as a work in process, each track an unfinished idea, meant to be pursued and fleshed out later, but to our ears, these tracks sound perfect as they are. Deep, rich, lustrous sprawls of drone and whir and ambient shimmer. Heck there's even a track called "Shimmer", although it doesn't shimmer so much as crumble and grind and rumble. The opening track begins with a wall of soft white noise, that unfolds gradually, eventually revealing a warm chordal whir within, that stretches out into a long, dreamlike crawl. Lots of the tracks experiment with glitch and hiss and buzz, recording inconsistencies, meshed with abstract field recordings, some tracks are seriously intense, brittle, sharp and jagged, while others are murky and minimal, muted and introspective. Hard to believe these are just works in progress, but if they are, we sure can't wait to hear them when they're finished.
MPEG Stream: "Tire"
MPEG Stream: "Merci Manu & Sophie"
MPEG Stream: "Shimmer"

SZCZEPANIK, NICHOLAS Dear Dad (Basses Frequences / Goat Eater) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest release from one of our favorite dronescapers, this one super minimal and shimmery, a gorgeously hushed piece of abstract ultra personal drone music, a sort of sonic letter to Szczepanik's father, the result of a request by his father that his son write him a letter, a request that a younger Szczepanik didn't really understand and thus ignored at the time, only attempting to write that letter, in sound, recently, the result is Dear Dad, one of those rare records where minimal instrumental music manages to convey a surprising amount of emotion, no small feat, transforming childhood emotions, kept in check until adulthood, into sound, gorgeous lush droning sound, a hazy, gauzy brooding slow building buzz, that begins in complete silence, before becoming a whisper, and over the course of the next 20 minutes eventually a howl, a dense, ragged, blown out, noise drenched blast of crumbling corrosive crunch, still infused with buried melodies, but so intense, cathartic, a gorgeous sonic release, culminating in a strange bit of tangled melody, still in-the-red and blown out, but hauntingly lovely and lilting, wrapped in a constantly swirling squall of grinding buzz and glimmering caustic shimmer.
The second, shorter track is much more tranquil and serene, as if the catharsis of the first track purged any negativity, replaced regret with hope, the title "Forgive To Forget" seems to suggest as much, as does the music, a warm softly pulsing whir, all washed out, the soft focus edges eventually coming in to focus as the track progresses, the shapeless forms and indistinct streaks, becoming sweet melodies, the hushed whirs almost like soaring strings, a lush drone glowing with an inner warmth, that permeates all of the surrounding sounds, transforming sound into feeling, music into energy, notes and chords, textures and timbres into emotion. Not sure if it was the kind of letter Szczepanik's father was expecting, but it seems to be more than he could have hoped for.
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES. This is a replicated disc (not a cd-r)! Gorgeously packaged in a thick dark brown matte finish sleeve, with a printed cardstock insert, and all wrapped in a Japanese style cardstock printed obi, each with an actual stamp, every one unique.
MPEG Stream: "When I'm No Longer Afraid Of You"
MPEG Stream: "Forgive To Forget"

SZCZEPANIK, NICHOLAS Dull In Color (200mg) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two new releases from sound artist Nicholas Szczepanik, a long time aQ customer, whose releases have some how so far eluded us, until now. After a handful of super limited cd-r releases, this is in fact the first time we managed to get enough to review and list.
This one comes from 200mg, the same label that brought us the amazing Man Is The Bastard No Skull Left Unturned collection, as well as a handful of other strange dark musics. Szczepanik's disc fits pretty much perfectly, a single long track, expansive and dense, shifting from soft breathless whispery drones, to throbbing crumbling distorted dirgescapes and back again.
Utilizing contact mics, field recordings, found sounds, keyboards, samples, shortwave radio and manipulated vinyl (in particular, according to the liner notes, Neil Young's Harvest!) Szczepanik manages to transform those various elements into a singular new sound, a buzzing, glowing streak of constantly shifting shimmer. Over the course of the track, the sound dips into melodic shoe gazey blur, growling industrial whir, delicate crystalline glimmer, haunting distorted chiming, and washed out soft focus hiss, each sound, every part, melting seamlessly into the next. Super nice.
Packaged in a cool oversized silkscreened cardstock booklet with a pasted on front image, inside a simple stark printed black and white booklet packed with abstract photos of trees and foliage.
MPEG Stream: "Dull In Color"

SZCZEPANIK, NICHOLAS Please Stop Loving Me (Streamline) cd 14.98

SZCZEPANIK, NICHOLAS The Chiasmus (Basses Frequences / Sentient Recognition Archive) cd 14.98
A split release between bad ass French microlabel Basses Frequencies, and Szczepanik's own Sentient Recognition Archive label, The Chiasmus is Szczepanik's latest collection of dronology, and the first proper cd we've had (quite possible his first proper cd release entirely). We've long been fans, being the dronelords and ladies we are around these parts, and past Szczepanik joints have demonstrated a mastery of the drone, creating surprisingly lush and lustrous expanses of low end minimalism. On The Chiasmus, Szczepanik continues to move ever deeper, ever darker, five long tracks, each a different variation of drone, drifting from minimal black shift, to near Pop Ambient bliss.
Record opener is cavernous, epic, Teutonic and slow shifting, peppered at the beginning with bits of glitch and hiss, the song soon settles into an uneasy sprawl, ominous and dangerously grim, but still somehow warm and expansive and enveloping. The second track shifts gears completely, unfurling a gauzy bit of chordal shimmer, all warm and sun dappled and delicate and gauzy, gentle tranquil melodies played out over minutes instead of seconds, a little Eno for sure, as the song drifts and flutters and hovers dreamily in midair. The final three tracks hover somewhere in between, deep moaning post industrial whirs laid over dense metallic buzz, the two layers slowly seeping into one another like some blackened sonic spill, deep bell like tones ring out, their tones frozen in time and stretched out into softly undulating sheets of sound, slightly reflective and iridescent and kaleidoscopic, glimmering and glistening underneath some alien black sun, and finally, a loooooooong stretch of grinding muted buzz, spreading out in slow motion, it's black shimmer infused with streaks of melody, as if some strange black sea was slowly growing warmer and coming to life before our ears.
Fantastic, gorgeous stuff. Essential listening for the drone obsessed...
MPEG Stream: "Another End Of New"
MPEG Stream: "Temporary Inundation Of Sleep By Open Windows"