AEMAE The Helical Word (Isounderscore) cd 10.98
First record from longtime AQ pal / customer Brandon Nickell aka Aemae, two long years in the works and we dare say it was well worth the wait. A gorgeous and exquisitely crafted abstract free noise drone record. Dark and deliriously dense, a perfect amalgamation of the experimental dronework of the Hafler Trio, the sweeping skreescapes of Sunrooof! and Vibracathedral Orchestra and the abstract minimalism of Mirror or Jonathan Coleclough. As well, this has plenty of distinctly unique sonic elements. Heavily reverbed chimes and bells are smeared into a twinkling fog, slowly thickening into a dense slab of electrical impulses, woven together so tightly it resembles a buzzing ball of hornets, a throbbing thrumming drone. Strange steel drum like electronic pulses, an alien gamelan, pickes out a tranquil melody beneath swooping and blooping spaciness, sheets of industrial shuffle, scrape and rumble, leaving sparkling trails of dense and complex almost IDM skitter in their wake, albeit wrapped in thick gauzy veils of warm reverberant flutter. All stretched into distant, soft focus soundscapes of warbling whir and creaking ambience. Quite lovely and sublime!
MPEG Stream: "Walking Along Edges"
MPEG Stream: "41667"

AEMAE / ARASTOO s/t (Isounderscore) lp 14.98
A long in the works collaboration from two aQ favorites, Aemae and Arastoo. We've listed both Aemae releases, but Arastoo has been a bit more elusive, with tons of super limited vinyl and cd-r releases, of which we've only ever managed to review 3.
Well, the two have come together, to produce this, the first in a new salvo of Bay Area sound art from Aemae, aka Brandon Nickell's Isounderscore label. And a pretty fantastic start. Arastoo plays the piano, and then the two shape and mold the piano into two side long pieces, both quite impressive.
The A side is mostly straight piano all the way through, some gorgeous fluid playing, some stunning arrangements, but the two subtly shape and twist throughout, adding mysterious little music box flourishes, sudden squalls of super high end skree, but those moments are actually quite controlled, the sounds sculpted onto dog whistle melodies, and haunting upper register textures. The subtle production tweaks really only augment, creating complimentary sounds, or add bits of ambience, allowing the piano to drift and sway and unfurl its melody, seemingly oblivious to what's going on around it.
The B side however, finds the sound of the piano obliterated, transformed completely into long shimmering streaks of layered metallic reverberation, a bit industrial sounding, layers of constantly shifting whir and rumble and hiss and roar, like a choppy sonic sea, building to a buzzing crescendo before settling back down into a tranquil sea of black ambience, as the piano returns, unfurling gentle, yet ominous minor key melodies, all very creepy and cinematic, but also quite lovely.
LIMITED TO 320 COPIES. Super striking silkscreened covers, with original artwork by Arastoo.

AEOLIAN STRING ENSEMBLE Eclipse (Robot) cd 16.98
In our review of the first Aeolian String Ensemble records, we attempted to discern who or what this British conglomerate was, postulating that perhaps Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton may have been involved with the Ensemble at some point. The truth is that we still have no clue who these people are or what else they've worked on. If he contributed anything to the Ensemble, Stapleton's contributions were in all likelihood minimal. Regardless, that first Aeolian String Ensemble record Lassithi / Elysium has long been one of our favorite drone-based albums. Similarly, we can again wholeheartedly endorse the second Aeolian String Ensemble album Eclipse.
What is so striking about this album (and the Aeolian String Ensemble in general) is the single-minded approach to sound making that spans almost 20 years. Eclipse features 3 extended tracks from 1981, 1986, and 1998 respectively; and all of them share a very similar timbral quality in their melancholic, sweeping ambience rippled with generous amounts of reverb and delay. The Ensemble claims to generate everything from Aeolian Harps, which are stringed instruments designed to be excited by the wind; yet, the resulting sounds have a post-Kraut / late'70s prog-ambient sensibility closely resembling the synth and guitar driftspaces of Klaus Schulze and Popul Vuh, rather than actual aeolian harps. No matter, as their sonic poetry is utterly beautiful. Eclipse will certainly rank as one of the best drone records of 2005.
MPEG Stream: "Eclipse"
MPEG Stream: "K1"
MPEG Stream: "Espacios"

AEOLIAN STRING ENSEMBLE Lassithi Elysium (Robot) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's a little hard to say who or what the Aeolian String Ensemble is, but a few references point toward the Nurse With Wound emcampments, as Christoph Heemann takes some credit for this album (as both a contributor to the ensemble and as the cover artist), as David Kenny (longtime Nurse With Wound / Current 93 collaborator) produced and engineered the album, and as United Dairies was originally scheduled to release this album. Yet the most intriguing reference came from the Audion Pages of the Nurse With Wound site at Brainwashed (http://www.brainwashed.com/nww/words/audion.html), which pointed to Steven Stapleton himself as being the man behind the Aeolian String Ensemble. While all of these personnel details are interesting puzzles to attempt to solve, they shouldn't distract from an exceptional album!
Presumably the source material for the Aeolian String Ensemble is the aeolian harp, an antique instrument which gained popularity in the nineteenth century in English country gardens. The aeolian harp is fitted with a number of strings with different thicknesses but all tuned to the same key on top of a resonator box. Wind sets the strings in vibration in such a way that their harmonics are heard, rather than the fundamental note; thus creating an impressionistic chorus of droning sounds. From these harps and the subsequent post-production of judicious delay pedals and sustained reverb, the Ensemble coaxes some of the most beautifully immersive drones from these harps, on par with the Andrew Chalk / Jonathan Coleclough "Sumac" album, any of the Troum recordings, and the score to Tarkovsky's "Stalker." A truly fantastic album that is fortunately enjoying its second pressing!
RealAudio clip: "Elysium"
RealAudio clip: "Lassithi"

AERO-MIC'D I Think You're Great (Aero-Mic'd records) cd 7.98
Artist/Designer/Musician Wayne Smith's third outing as Aero-Mic'd (not including last years collaboration with the Sadnesses, Cloud Mama) is a family affair but not in the usual familial way. Made to coincide with a exhibition of new artworks at Queen's Nails Annex in San Francisco, I Think You're Great, includes many guest appearances from friends and local luminaries, including video artist Anne McGuire on vocals, writer Kevin Killian (intoning a series of tai chi movements on opening track "Cloud Hands"), and performer/painter Cliff Hengst, all of whom have been collaborating on each others' projects off and on for at least the past ten years. Smith is a master of mining magical significance through the filtering, manipulating and repetition of found sounds and images (celebrity, the cultic and the mundane play against each other constantly). On the title track, clocking in at over 15 minutes (an epic by Aero-mic'd standards whose songs normally clock in at under 2 minutes), he expands his sound from previous efforts by including excerpts from a live performance at the Headlands last year with William Collins from Mire on guitar and tibetan bowls and Cliff Hengst on percussion. Intermixed with the live and programmed bells and filtered guitars, Smith includes one of his signature sound pieces, "Hello", recorded by calling people randomly from the phone book and recording their standard but delightfully varied greetings. With I Think You're Great, the feeling is definitely mutual!
MPEG Stream: "Last Four Shakers"
MPEG Stream: "I Think You're Great"

AERO-MIC'D s/t (Aero-Mic'd) cd ep 7.98
From local musician Wayne Smith comes this *excellent* little slip of a 25-minute album. A record this genre-hopping might in lesser hands be a chore to listen to, but with Aero-Mic'd the first few minutes are just so good that you easily put your trust in wherever he's going to take you. It starts with echoing layers of nefarious percussion, then seamlessly moves into fucked up dub and then lots of gorgeous treated and looped guitar that sounds like the arty instrumentalism of Gastr del Sol mixed with the melodic electronica of Mouse on Mars. It also occasionally reminds us of His Name is Alive and Fennesz. Yeah, it's that good, and that fun to listen to. The arrangement and juxtaposition of the pieces is the key. With the aforementioned Gastr del Sol and Mouse on Mars leanings, plus droning layers of metallic tinny guitarness and shimmering pure, vibrating tones, this album displays so many of the general sounds and separate sub-sub-genres that the AQ-staff likes to listen to whole albums of, yet here they are compacted into short segments that build up to a perfect whole. A very good record, sez Windy, and the price is right too. (Fans of the Brian and Chris record will like this too.)
RealAudio clip: "A Flat Tax"
RealAudio clip: "Dead Ends"
RealAudio clip: "Cold Dust"

AESTHETIC MEAT FRONT Embalmer Tapes (Dissected) (Old Europa Cafe) 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.
As you probably well know by now, we here at AQ have long been fans of manipulated found sounds and field recordings -- dogs barking, ice melting, whatever -- either on their own, captured just as they were heard, or better yet, twisted and smeared into drones and soundscapes, reimagined as completely alien worlds of sound. And while the source material may not be obvious, just knowing where the sounds come from, can make the listening just that much more thrilling. And the creepier and more unlikely the source sound the better. And it sure doesn't get any creepier than this. Sure Matmos used the sounds of rhinoplasty and various other procedures to concoct their abstract electronica, but Aesthetic Meat Front used only the sounds of a corpse being embalmed for Embalmer Tapes. Every single sound, whether it's the casual whistling of the embalmer, the slow rumble of processed suction sounds or the clang of metal instruments dropped in bloody metal trays, each and every sound was captured deep in the sublevels of a funeral home, while an embalmer removed all the fluids from a corpse. Euuuw. But sonically, WOW!
Sometimes the sounds are instantly recognizable, the above mentioned whistling and clatter of surgical instruments, snippets of conversation heavy with the reverb of a small tiled room, small motorized pumps, footsteps, but more often, the sounds of suction, and the sounds of the machines pumping, are stretched out into warm whirring rumbles, or chopped up and reassembled into hissing blasts of fuzz and grrr. But mostly this is a weird warped world of drones, from dreamy and shimmery, to harsh and jagged, all imbued with the specter of mortality, life most fleeting, the great abyss, the sounds already sonically ominous and foreboding enough, but even more so on a psychological level, knowing the source of every sound, engendering a creepy dark ambient atmosphere thick with the heavy hanging shroud of death. So awesome.
SUPER LIMITED!!! WE GOT THE LAST 20 COPIES. ONCE THESE ARE GONE THEY ARE GONE FOR GOOD!
MPEG Stream: "Post Mortem Sludge"
MPEG Stream: "Sectional Injection (Is Necessary)"

AESTHETIC MEAT FRONT Temple Of Flesh (Old Europa Cafe) cd/cd-r/dvd-r 26.00
A while back we reviewed a record called Embalmer Tapes, from mysterious sonic terrorists Aesthetic Meat Front. That cd was a collection of processed sounds culled from the sounds of an actual embalming session, those sounds, scraping and suction and whatever other sorts of things go on during the process were collected and tweaked into a strange and haunting dronescape, and of course we sold out of them immediately (we actually got a handful back in if you missed out, see elsewhere on the site).
But the man behind AMF read our review and got in touch to see if we were interested in getting copies of a super limited releases celebrating the 10th anniversary of Aesthetic Meat Front. So here we have it, Temple Of Flesh a massive gathering of sights and sounds, a cd, a cd-r and a dvd-r, containing sounds and songs and sights and visuals, performances and rituals, all set to the glorious haunting soundscapes of Aesthetic Meat Front. This was limited to 180 copies world wide, we got 25 and we will NOT be able to get more.
So let's go one disc at a time. The first disc features the text from AMF's Temple Of Flesh ritual, translated into 12 languages, and then processed into a world of mysterious invocations and chants, industrial drones and dark ambience. A truly creepy, harrowing sonic journey, deep dark resonant smears of low end drift beneath martial drumming, and haunting chants, swirling snippets of sound, warbling and whirring, growled animalistic voices, bizarre ambient FX, jagged shards of industrial detritus, bursts of fuzzed out hiss and grinding slabs of rhythmic chaos, creepy chorales stretched into seasick soundscapes, disembodied voices drift and hover, snippets of found sound and conversation, all of these disparate elements woven into an epic, monstrous sonic tale of death destruction and mayhem, of blood and death and rebirth. So intense and strangely beautiful.
This limited edition version also includes a cd-r, that features tons of remixes as well as rare unreleased material. Also included is a dvd-r chronicling one of AMF's live rituals, an extensive modern primitive ritual featuring beautiful women in corsets, piercing, bloodletting, animal carcasses, suspensions, shaving, lots of blood and bodily fluids, very intense and graphic, all set to the creepy otherworldly dronescapes of Aesthetic Meat Front. Not for the squeamish or easily offended. As if that weren't enough, all three discs are packaged in a DVD style case, with full color covers, the bonus cd-r is housed in a hand numbered paper sleeve (numbered and decorated in blood!) as well as a handful of full color inserts, with photos from the rituals, text and assorted AMF related information.
SUPER LIMITED!!! Once these are gone they are gone for good....
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "3"
MPEG Stream: "4"

AETHENOR Deep In Ocean Sunk The Lamp Of Light (VHF) cd 13.98
What do you get when you cross SUNNO))), Swiss metallic post rockers Shora and UK proglords Guapo? At the very least we got your attention now don't we? Well, Aethenor is a collaboration between Stephen O'Malley (SUNNO))), Khanate, etc.) Daniel O'Sullivan from Guapo and Vincent De Roguin from Shora and sounds nothing like you might expect.
SUNNO))) might be the closest, but don't be expecting any crushing down tuned drones or slow moving sludge, instead Deep In Ocean Sunk The Lamp Of Light is a series of ambient explorations, slow moving sonic floes, very tidal sounding, thick washes of warm whir in a wide open soundscape of murky industrial percussion, and soft sonic wells, All three guys are credited, along with their usual instruments, with 'room', so as you might expect, these tracks are enormous sounding, spacious and grand, epic drifts through a dark landscape of creaking timbers and whirring wind. It's almost like a doomier version of Nurse With Wound's Salt Marie Celeste. An old rickety ship, creaking and groaning as it traverses some haunted pass, replete with moaning demons and all manner of creepy sonic incursions. And that's just the first song! The second song, another lengthy moody crawl, is super minimal, very reminiscent of seventies kraut prog like Tangerine Dream or Popol Vuh, thick keyboards that churn and slowly shift, over a backdrop of percussive clatter and keening high end melody.
The last two tracks are both around 5 minutes but somehow embody the same sort of epic spaciousness. As a pair they are a bit like the musical version of one of those paintings that from one angle shows the portrait of a person, but from a slightly different angle shows the same person as they appear in death!
The first angle is all crumbling distorted organ and tinkling music box melody over an intricate web of tape hiss, record crackle and analog synth splutter, dreamy and dark, like some sort of late night lullaby. The other deathly angle sounds like the track before it but with all the life sucked out, the warm glow dimmed, leaving a gaunt shell, the fuzzy slowly decaying, desiccated skeletal remains of a pretty song. The final few minutes offer up a super creepy haunted house melodic coda, a weird minor key music box melody over a strangely mechanical hissing rumbling rhythm. So spooky! And so nice!!!
MPEG Stream: "Untiltled 1"
MPEG Stream: "Untiltled 2"

AETHENOR Deep In Ocean Sunk The Lamp Of Light (VHF) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What do you get when you cross SUNNO))), Swiss metallic post rockers Shora and UK proglords Guapo? At the very least we got your attention now don't we? Well, Aethenor is a collaboration between Stephen O'Malley (SUNNO))), Khanate, etc.) Daniel O'Sullivan from Guapo and Vincent De Roguin from Shora and sounds nothing like you might expect.
SUNNO))) might be the closest, but don't be expecting any crushing down tuned drones or slow moving sludge, instead Deep In Ocean Sunk The Lamp Of Light is a series of ambient explorations, slow moving sonic floes, very tidal sounding, thick washes of warm whir in a wide open soundscape of murky industrial percussion, and soft sonic wells, All three guys are credited, along with their usual instruments, with 'room', so as you might expect, these tracks are enormous sounding, spacious and grand, epic drifts through a dark landscape of creaking timbers and whirring wind. It's almost like a doomier version of Nurse With Wound's Salt Marie Celeste. An old rickety ship, creaking and groaning as it traverses some haunted pass, replete with moaning demons and all manner of creepy sonic incursions. And that's just the first song! The second song, another lengthy moody crawl, is super minimal, very reminiscent of seventies kraut prog like Tangerine Dream or Popol Vuh, thick keyboards that churn and slowly shift, over a backdrop of percussive clatter and keening high end melody.
The last two tracks are both around 5 minutes but somehow embody the same sort of epic spaciousness. As a pair they are a bit like the musical version of one of those paintings that from one angle shows the portrait of a person, but from a slightly different angle shows the same person as they appear in death!
The first angle is all crumbling distorted organ and tinkling music box melody over an intricate web of tape hiss, record crackle and analog synth splutter, dreamy and dark, like some sort of late night lullaby. The other deathly angle sounds like the track before it but with all the life sucked out, the warm glow dimmed, leaving a gaunt shell, the fuzzy slowly decaying, desiccated skeletal remains of a pretty song. The final few minutes offer up a super creepy haunted house melodic coda, a weird minor key music box melody over a strangely mechanical hissing rumbling rhythm. So spooky! And so nice!!!
MPEG Stream: "Untiltled 1"
MPEG Stream: "Untiltled 2"

AFCGT s/t (Dirty Knobby) 10" 12.98
Whew! The first time we got something in from AFCGT, it was a painfully limited cd-r that exploded like a supernova and then disappeared just as quickly from the site. So, it's a damn good thing that this awesome collaboration between A Frames and the Climax Golden Twins has resulted in another batch of unbelievably good recordings. This time, it's a bit less limited, as Dirty Knobby has pressed these 8 tracks onto a 10", which should mean this thing will be around a little bit longer than the debut. The sound of AFCGT here is pretty much the same. Instrumental tunes with Mack truck rhythms, spring-loaded basslines, and giddy explosion of jagged guitar riffs that come together in what AFCGT blurts out as "New Punk." These swamp mutations of detuned Cambodian garage pop songs with an excess of stereoscopic distortion certainly have a Sun City Girls meets the Birthday vibe going on, with occasional excursions into a free noise mess of devolved noise and out of control drum fills, sort of like some of the Laddio Bollocko breakdowns. Who can complain about a Laddio Bollocko reference? Not us!

AFCGT (A FRAMES + CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS) s/t (Fire Breathing Turtle) cd-r 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Holy shit, this is fucking great! And who would have ever thought that the A Frames and the Climax Golden Twins would make a record together? And who would have imagined that it would be this fucking awesome? It's all superlatives and all expletives in describing the first collaborative production from AFCGT. The A Frames had managed to raise some eyebrows here through their post-punk appropriations of early Wire and early Fall, but the vocals had always been something of a miss for them especially on the last Sub Pop album. But in working with the AQ-endorsed Climax Golden Twins who are a band accustomed to delivering exemplary instrumentals from literally every corner of the avant-rock landscape, the A Frames have the permission to shut the hell up and let the Climax Golden Twins dump the fucking kitchen sink all over A Frames rhythmic swagger. The album opens with a tumultuous blast of glue-huffing noise-rock, sort of like a fistfight between the Butthole Surfers and the Sun City Girls. Soon after, a series of bad-ass Birthday Party / Oxbow swamp rock riffs explode with spindly space-age gamelan leads; elsewhere, the No Wave ghosts of R.L. Crutchfield-era DNA emerge with of jagged chops across the guitar pick-ups, bloodied fingers and all. Fuck, it all sounds fucking great! It's a damn shame that this thing is only limited to 50 copies! That perhaps is our only complaint.
MPEG Stream: "New Punk"
MPEG Stream: "Old Spy"
MPEG Stream: "Thug"

AFFLUX Azier St. Martin-Sur-Mer Dieppe (Edition...) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Afflux is the musique concrete collaboration between Eric La Casa, Eric Cordier, and Jean Luc Guionnet, but these folks add a unique twist to the normal electro-acoustic tricks learned from INA-GRM (i.e. Pierre Henry, Luc Ferrari, Michel Chion, etc.). This trio employs "an on-site electroacoustic device" (my guess, a laptop) to allow them to improvise with the landscape, while simultaneously recording and filtering their source material (inclement weather, faulty drainage pipes, rising tides, the resonance from long stringed instruments, the communication from a maritime navigation post, etc.). Amidst the rustling textures and swooshing environmental din, Afflux uses nearly every trick in the musique concrete book (flanging, parabolic eq-filtering, granular synthesis, razor sharp editing, stereo field spatiality, etc.) For all of its austere recordings and pristine production techniques, "Azier St. Martin-Sur-Mer Dieppe" is more of a theatrical document, capturing just one of the residues from Afflux's perfomative activity and sounding more like one of Michel Chion's laborious constructions than a live documentation.
RealAudio clip: "Aizier 23 October 1998"
RealAudio clip: "Saint Martin-sur-mer 26 October 1998"

AFFLUX Bouquetot, Autoroute A13/ Paris, Gare de Lyon/ Port-Jerome, Raffinerie (Ground Fault) cd 11.98
Afflux is the seriously minded collective of French field recordists and concrete composers including Eric Cordier, Jean-Luc Guionnet, and Eric La Casa. Their goal is to construct gestural compositions by mixing and processing field recordings as they are occuring with a number of improvisational / spontaneous events, electronic filters, amplified steel strings, and broad stereo spatialization. The first Afflux album "Azier St. Martin-Sur-Mer Dieppe" was imbued with a nautical theme, and this one keeps true to the navigation / transportation themes, focusing on the A13 motorway in Bouquetot, a train platform in Paris, and a petroleum factory in Port-Jerome. In all instances, Afflux observes and re-interprets the border space between natural (rain and wind in particular) and man-made (cars rushing by on the highway or the grinding of a train's breaking mechanism) phenomenona. Within these spaces, Afflux describes some rather dramatic conflicts, or perhaps better stated, has contextualized the experiences to heighten the drama between these two forces. Within each of the three recording contexts, Afflux articulates such crescendos of activity; typified in the incremental screeching of metal from the train accompanying a nervous factory din and the spring-loaded rattle of those amplified steel strings. This is an impressive recording and well worth checking out, far beyond the gimmick value of the live / on-site production, however, valid that technique may be.
RealAudio clip: "Bouquetot, Autoroute A13"
RealAudio clip: "Paris, Gare de Lyon"

AGATHOTHODION Traum Von Gott (E.E.E Recordings) cd-r 8.98
BACK IN STOCK!
We're beginning to think EEE is our new favorite black metal label. After last list's brilliant Light Shall Prevail, and now this disc from Agathothodion (with tons more still to review).
We're ready to convert! Convert? Oh yeah, we forgot to mention, this is WHITE metal, as in the opposite of black metal. Un-black metal. This is not satanic or hateful, instead it's hopeful and holy. But you'd never know it from listening. Agathothodion is bizarre and creepy and dark and, well, very very black sounding. And the thing is, while some of us have problems with religion being so dogmatic, this particular sonic representation of Christianity is anything but dogmatic. In fact it points out just how cookie cutter the majority of black metal really is. What we're getting at here, is this is some totally demented, freaked out, blissed out and drone-y, haunting and hypnotic ambient experimental black metal. They list their influences as GOD, JESUS CHRIST, Xasthur, Burzum, Leviathan, Isis, but they might as well have also listed Benighted Leams, Urfaust, Dead Reptile Shrine... you get what we're talking about. This stuff is fucking amazing! Traum Von Gott collects two long out of print eps, Stavkirke and Telos, and adds a bonus track)
So what the hell does it sound like?
A buzzing blackness that's spread out into a thick loping wash of blurry buzz, super dreamy, fuzzy warm midtempo black metal, soft swirls of midtempo trudge, totally hypnotic and drone-y, but it's the vocals that had us. Some sort of ancient sounding ghostlike falsetto croon. Drenched in reverb, not singing lyrics so much as just sort of moaning, and groaning. It almost sounds like the guy from Urfaust when he's 100 years old, his wheelchair pushed up to the mic, as a reedy disembodied voice drifts from his parched lips. Totally intense and creepy, definitely some of the most unique vocals we've heard. And while at first they sound completely bizarre, after a while, you really can't imagine the vocals sounding any other way. But that's not all that's strange about this band. They also break their song down into strange little post rock interludes with weird bloopy underwater bass, almost like a black metal Three Mile Pilot. But it really is the vocals, a nearly hysterical sounding completely chilling tortured cry spreading over the proceedings like a blood red fog. Almost like the sound you could imagine coming from behind a locked door in an insane asylum, that strange inmate who has been sitting in the corner for 20 years, mouth and eyes covered, but who continues to wail at all hours of the day.
Man, this is so great, pretty much all we've been listening to. We were all ready to proclaim the Light Shall Prevail record as our new favorite black metal record (the same guy behind that band too we think) but now we're not so sure. Might just be easier to begin singing the praises of white metal and proclaim EEE our new favorite label...
MPEG Stream: TRAUM VON GOTT "Endless Snowfall"
MPEG Stream: TRAUM VON GOTT "Deep Midwinter"
MPEG Stream: AGATHOTHODION "Parabole"
MPEG Stream: AGATHOTHODION "Telos"

AGENCEMENT Boxe Consonantique ( Pico) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Squeaking, scraping scraps of violin improv turned into musique concrete via magnetic tape and razorblade -- that's the specialty of Japan's Hideaki Shimada, aka Agencement. This disc contains two long, low-key, slowly unravelling tracks, one from '93 and the other from '99. Imagine the abstract avant-classical violin of someone like Malcolm Goldstein fractured further via tape splicing. This is apparently Agencement's fourth full-length release, although we've only ever seen his 1991 disc "Viosphere" (an old "Japanoise" favorite of ours, in fact). "Boxe Consonatique" may be considerably less dense and noisy than we remember "Viosphere" being, but is no less lovely.
RealAudio clip: "track two"

AGENTS DEL FUTURO Mydrone (Dielectric) cd-r 11.98
Our pal Drucifer's Dielectric label has been laying low of late, for the most part... yet Drucifer did dig this debut recording from Agents Del Futuro enough to add it to the Dielectric discog as a limited edition cd-r packaged in a colorful, collaged, oversized, silkscreened folder! ADF (a one man band, that man being local Mission-dweller Jesse Clark, a painter and percussionist) makes improvisational use of all sorts of acoustic instruments and non-instruments (some of 'em include: bike wheel, Korg 770, squeaky door, doumbek, dried seed pods, Paiste 22" symphonic gong, Turkish tea cups, marimba, radio, echoplex, harmonium, sandpaper, bass, singing bowl, drum set, piano, tuned Nepalese gongs, voicemail, billiards...) along with electronic processing and tape looping of the sounds produced, to create the 17 tracks of Mydrone. Some of it is indeed droney, other parts almost poppy... there's lotsa noisiness, fractured beats, glitchtronic sampling, some singing... all of it together kinda broken down and damaged and unpredictable. A fun lo-fi stew of soundmaking weirdness, running the gamut from dreamy to jittery, that totally fits into the Dielectric roster alongside artists like Die Elektrischen, Karen Stackpole, Gerrit, the Dielectric Minimalist All-Stars, and Brian and Chris.
MPEG Stream: "Not Fucking Printz"
MPEG Stream: "Mydrone"

AGF Delay On My Pillow (Mixer) 3" cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
On DelayOnMyPillow, AGF -- aka Antye Greie-Fuchs of Laub -- offers a digitized variation on the musique concrete tradition, in particular the psychological narratives described in Luc Ferrari's work. Just like Ferrari, Greie-Fuchs amplifies closely mic'd whispers to capture all of their lip-smacking and breathy intonation and positions those whispers right up against the speakers while tiny digital events and processed environmental recordings flutter in the background. She effectively creates an artificial stage for those vocalizations coupled with her own Bjorkish vocals, alternating between sounding charmingly intimate and downright creepy. Extending what cinematic allusions can be drawn from such a composition, Greie-Fuchs offers brief interludes of detached electro-funk, bip-hop, and post-techno acting as segues between the bulk of the work. A curious, modern-day reinterpretation of musique concrete.
MPEG Stream: "Delay On My Pillow"

AGF / DELAY Explode (AGF) cd 15.98

AGITATED RADIO PILOT / THE NETHER DAWN split (Pseudo Arcana) cd-r 14.98
Originally released as a lathe cut in a couple of ultra limited pressings (and we're talking ULTRA, as in two pressings, 50 copies each) pressed by lathe legend Peter King, thus of course gone in the blink of an eye, this little gem is now available as a cd-r to appease all you digital only folks. It's also probably limited, but thankfully not nearly so.
A split record teaming up PseudoArcana head Milton and his Nether Dawn project with Irish one man band Agitated Radio Pilot. And it's a perfect match up, each bands' sound perfectly complimenting the other's.
Agitated Radio Pilot unfurls slow growing, wheezing melancholy melodies and warm warbly atmospheres, split into 4 tracks, it sounds more like one lengthy extended pastoral drift, a lazy wander beneath leafy trees and a burnt orange late afternoon sky, laid back and blissed out. Melancholy and gauzy. The muted buzz of guitars, warbly melodies, all very hazy and indistinct.
Nether Dawn (this time accompanied by fellow NZ noisemaker James Kirk) counter with their own brand of blurry haziness. Long drawn out drones, hushed whispered vocals, smeared buzz, distant washes of distorted guitar and muted rhythmic clatter. It sounds like pop songs stretched out and pulled apart into spare skeletal stretches of somnambulant sound. Like ARP, it's all very soft focus and dreamlike. So lovely.
MPEG Stream: AGITATED RADIO PILOT "Leading A Small Ghost Home By The Hand"
MPEG Stream: THE NETHER DAWN "Under Your Night"

AGITATED RADIO PILOT / THE NETHER DAWN split (Pseudo Arcana) lathe cut lp 28.00
Ultra limited latest release from the uber prolific Antony Milton and his always genius PseudoArcana label. This time it's an ultra limited lathe cut, created of course by the lathe cut master himself, Kiwi legend Peter King. Limited to 50 copies, the initial pressing of this lp disappeared in no time, but we managed to get a tiny handful of this, the second and final pressing, and it's a doozy. Packaged in a gorgeous hand screened/painted brown paper cover with a brown paper inner sleeve and housed in a resealable plastic jacket, and the record itself clear with printed inner labels, this split teams up label head Milton and his Nether Dawn project with Irish one man band Agitated Radio Pilot. And it's a perfect match up.
Agitated Radio Pilot unfurls slow growing, wheezing melancholy melodies and warm warbly atmospheres, split into 4 tracks, it sounds more like one lengthy extended pastoral drift, a lazy wander beneath leafy trees and a burnt orange late afternoon sky, laid back and blissed out. Melancholy and gauzy. The muted buzz of guitars, warbly melodies, all very hazy and indistinct.
Nether Dawn (this time accompanied by fellow NZ noisemaker James Kirk) counter with their own brand of blurry haziness. Long drawn out drones, hushed whispered vocals, smeared buzz, distant washes of distorted guitar and muted rhythmic clatter. It sounds like pop songs stretched out and pulled apart into spare skeletal stretches of somnambulant sound. Like ARP, it's all very soft focus and dreamlike. And remember, with lathe cuts, the more you play them, the more they degrade, and the sound gets even fuzzier and blurrier and more washed out. So after a bunch of plays this might sound even better! So lovely.
Second and final pressing of 50 copies, once these are gone, we won't bee able to get more.

AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED PCP Torpedo / ANBRX (Hydra Head) 2cd 14.98
"All records should be six minutes long!! I just listened to this whole record, and it was awesome!"
- Me (Andee) ranting when I threw this on the first time.
By now, it takes a whole lot for us to give a shit about a 'remix' record. Pretty strange that one of the first remix records in ages to totally kick our asses would come from grindlords Agoraphobic Nosebleed and avant post metal label Hydra Head. But remixes aside for the moment, metalheads and grindfreaks should be thanking their lucky stars that AnB's legendary PCP Torpedo 6" has finally been released on cd. All SIX minutes of it. One of the most perfect slabs of mechanized grind metal EVER. Dense, convoluted, heavy, ridiculous, scary, blazing fast, buzzing and snarling, short and sweet. PERFECT GRIND! So it would almost be worth it for PCP on cd alone (okay, maybe $15 for 6 minutes is a bit steep, but it's soooo good!). Thankfully, PCP's 6 minutes gets rounded out by an hour long bonus disc of remixes from folks like Justin Broadrick (Jesu, Godflesh, etc.), James Plotkin (Khanate, Phantomsmasher), DJ Speedranch, Merzbow, Jansky Noise, Vinda Obmana, and a bunch more. From Plotkin's timestretched, ultradistorted industrial freakout mix, to the Godfleshy sludge and pummel of Broadrick's mix, to the skittery acid fried IDM Dev/Null mix, to Vinda Obmana's bleak wasted industrial soundscape mix, it's all totally weird and wonderful, most of it very very noisy. But what would you expect when the source material is the violent and vitriolic hate fueled fury of Agoraphobic Nosebleed?!
And then there's the packaging! HOLY SHIT. Totally deluxe double disc digipak, all in vivid yellows and reds and oranges, the front some sort of factory, with multicolored flames licking the sky as pills rain from the heavens. The inside is a dizzying blur of pills and capsules, each disc covered in tiny little flames, the six minute PCP disc a little black 3" cd embedded in a 5" plastic disc, all flickering little blue flames, the remix a 5" black disc with red flames, so completely and overwhelmingly gorgeous. Includes a black and white insert with all the liner notes and lyrics confusingly tucked amidst and within a litany of pharmecutical jargon, suggestions for dosages, various health warnings and lists of side effects. Awesome!
MPEG Stream: "Thanksgiving Day"
MPEG Stream: "Thinning The Herd"
MPEG Stream: "James Plotkin - Phantomsmasher Mix"
MPEG Stream: "Justin Broadrick - Flesh Of Jesu Mix"

AHMED, ILYAS Between Two Skies (self-released) cd-r 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another way too limited disc of lilting and lovely fingerpicked folk. Solo steel string guitar, dark and delicate. Beautiful!

AHMED, ILYAS Naqi (self-released) 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.
As much as we love cd-r's, there are times, with certain records, that they make us so frustrated. Sure part of the charm of a super limited cd-r release is that it's fleeting. Often handmade and labor intensive. So the whole project becomes ultra personal for both the artist and the listener. But some records just need to be heard by more than 50 or 100 or even 200 people. Such is the case with Ilyas Ahmed. An Aquarius customer who sent us one of his home recorded discs a while back and who completely blew us away. We've been bugging him ever since to send us more and more cd-r's (and you in turn have been bugging us like crazy to get more copies of the old discs, and keep our eyes peeled for new ones). The first four are already long gone, so we were super excited to get this new one a few days ago. And it's just as good as any of the others, if not better. Definitely stranger. Before, Ahmed offered up little snippets of some long lost forest folk. Shimmery and pastoral, lilting and so so pretty. And while much of this disc explores similar territory, overall, it's much darker, and a bit more aggressive. The opening track is sort of glam folk jam, dark super distorted steel string strum and soaring ethereal falsetto vocals. The riff is sort of grungy, dripping with distortion, but never obfuscating the urgent strumming, and leaving space for Ahmed's super dramatic wail. Had this track been played with electric guitars plugged into big amps with pounding drums, it might sounds a tiny bit like modern day Circle. Weird, bit so cool.
After that, things veer back into moire blissy folk territory, with finger picked steel string guitar, more subtle crooned vocals, simple percussion, a late night drift through an abstract drug folk dreamworld. But the last two songs bring things right back, with the guitar again drenched in reverb and distortion, a little more languid and laid back, but still a fuzzy druggy muted squall, a little bit reminiscent of Rein Sanction actually, but a bit more mellow and shimmery soft. Lazy drawled vocals over fuzzed out Mascis style riffing, all blown out but still mumbly and lo-fi with distant falsetto vocals hovering wraithlike just behind the strum and buzz. Naqi may be a dreamy free folk record, but it's got some serious teeth, a little fuzzy buzz and a fried amp patina that makes these songs sound way more druggy and psychedelic. Which is most definitely a good thing.
Each sleeve is hand designed, a unique collage on the front, album and artist hand written on the back. Includes a printed insert.
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES. Each copy hand numbered as well.
MPEG Stream: "Dirty Thinner"
MPEG Stream: "For What We See"

AHMED, ILYAS The Vertigo Of Dawn (Time-Lag) cd 15.98
Hot on the heels of the recently reviewed, way overdue, double disc reissue of two LONG out of print cd-r's, comes a brand new disc from one of our favorite music makers, Ilyas Ahmed.
In the past, Ahmed has found himself lumped in with lots of modern guitarists, of the neo-Appalachian persuasion, Blackshaw, Rose, etc. And while Ahmed can definitely fingerpick with the best of them, his records were never distinctly 'guitar' records in that same way, even though most of his songs are based around a guitar. And his prowess on the steel string was never really the focal point of those discs. Instead, he used the guitar and those bits of Appalachia, merely as elements in a much larger sonic picture. Vocals, raga like drones, horns, hand drums, each part of a lush lush expansive soundscape, which just happened to be draped across a framework of steel string shimmer, while all around that acoustic guitar, swirled strange and wondrous sounds.
The new disc, The Vertigo Of Dawn, while indeed rich with lustrous guitar, is even more far out, more psychedelic, more druggy, and manages to turn that guitar into something weird and wonderful, a hazy fuzzy ghostlike folk, otherworldly and haunting.
The record begins with a tripped out ESP style free jazz drone drift, all long tones and moaning horns, very serene and sedate and meditative, lots of space, warm whirling reverb, the horns hovering over a soft backdrop of deep rumbles and muted buzz, Eastern style melodies played out like snake charmer melodies, the whole thing very exotic and mysterious and free jazzy.
The second track begins with some aggressively strummed guitar, distorted crooned vocals, and some killer Eastern style melodies (again), it's like freak folk filtered through some Middle Eastern bazaar. The following track is more druggy and woozy, the acoustic guitar again the focal point, but surrounded on all sides by swooping backwards guitars, and ghostlike falsetto vocals. The next track is a sunshiney hippy folk jam, with simple subtle percussion, strummed minor key guitar, but wrapped around some truly haunting vocals and horns, high and drawn out, sometimes hard to tell if it's a horn or a voice, but they add a strange tension, and turn the fluttery folk into something much more intense and mysterious. The whole record is like a long strange trip for Ahmed's guitar, its gentle melodies, and simple strumming, making their way through strange song after strange song, sometimes, floating unmolested, just glimmering and glistening, while other times being buffeted by thick squalls of buzz and whirring drones, and at others, slowly pulled apart into strange minimal steel stringscapes, each note a sparkling star in a constellation of minor key melancholia, often accompanied by Ahmed's lonesome falsetto wail, wrapping protectively around the guitar's fragile shimmer. So nice.
Fans of all that neo-Appalachia stuff will definitely dig this, as will folks into the freak folk cd-r scene, but even if you're into folky psych like Six Organs Of Admittance, Steven R. Smith, Scott Tuma, and other steel string soundscapers, you might find this much to your liking...
The packaging is fantastic as well, both the lp and the cd are housed in super deluxe fabric textured gatefold sleeves, both with printed insert, the lp is on 180 gram vinyl and is limited to 750 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Golden Universe"
MPEG Stream: "Under The Singing Sea"

AHMED, ILYAS The Vertigo Of Dawn (Time-Lag) lp 26.00
Hot on the heels of the recently reviewed, way overdue, double disc reissue of two LONG out of print cd-r's, comes a brand new disc from one of our favorite music makers, Ilyas Ahmed.
In the past, Ahmed has found himself lumped in with lots of modern guitarists, of the neo-Appalachian persuasion, Blackshaw, Rose, etc. And while Ahmed can definitely fingerpick with the best of them, his records were never distinctly 'guitar' records in that same way, even though most of his songs are based around a guitar. And his prowess on the steel string was never really the focal point of those discs. Instead, he used the guitar and those bits of Appalachia, merely as elements in a much larger sonic picture. Vocals, raga like drones, horns, hand drums, each part of a lush lush expansive soundscape, which just happened to be draped across a framework of steel string shimmer, while all around that acoustic guitar, swirled strange and wondrous sounds.
The new disc, The Vertigo Of Dawn, while indeed rich with lustrous guitar, is even more far out, more psychedelic, more druggy, and manages to turn that guitar into something weird and wonderful, a hazy fuzzy ghostlike folk, otherworldly and haunting.
The record begins with a tripped out ESP style free jazz drone drift, all long tones and moaning horns, very serene and sedate and meditative, lots of space, warm whirling reverb, the horns hovering over a soft backdrop of deep rumbles and muted buzz, Eastern style melodies played out like snake charmer melodies, the whole thing very exotic and mysterious and free jazzy.
The second track begins with some aggressively strummed guitar, distorted crooned vocals, and some killer Eastern style melodies (again), it's like freak folk filtered through some Middle Eastern bazaar. The following track is more druggy and woozy, the acoustic guitar again the focal point, but surrounded on all sides by swooping backwards guitars, and ghostlike falsetto vocals. The next track is a sunshiney hippy folk jam, with simple subtle percussion, strummed minor key guitar, but wrapped around some truly haunting vocals and horns, high and drawn out, sometimes hard to tell if it's a horn or a voice, but they add a strange tension, and turn the fluttery folk into something much more intense and mysterious. The whole record is like a long strange trip for Ahmed's guitar, its gentle melodies, and simple strumming, making their way through strange song after strange song, sometimes, floating unmolested, just glimmering and glistening, while other times being buffeted by thick squalls of buzz and whirring drones, and at others, slowly pulled apart into strange minimal steel stringscapes, each note a sparkling star in a constellation of minor key melancholia, often accompanied by Ahmed's lonesome falsetto wail, wrapping protectively around the guitar's fragile shimmer. So nice.
Fans of all that neo-Appalachia stuff will definitely dig this, as will folks into the freak folk cd-r scene, but even if you're into folky psych like Six Organs Of Admittance, Steven R. Smith, Scott Tuma, and other steel string soundscapers, you might find this much to your liking...
The packaging is fantastic as well, both the lp and the cd are housed in super deluxe fabric textured gatefold sleeves, both with printed insert, the lp is on 180 gram vinyl and is limited to 750 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Golden Universe"
MPEG Stream: "Under The Singing Sea"

AHMED, ILYAS Towards The Night (self-released) cd-r 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Limited to 50 and we only have nine so once they're gone they are gone for good! Yet another self released cd-r gem comes our way. Ilyas Ahmed works his way around a guitar in a manner that would have fit right at home on the great "Wooden Guitar" comp that came out on Locust a few years back. Totally great playing that both wanders and resonates with ease and purpose. A little bit like a more loose Jack Rose with a definite Fahey influence and that early good Leo Kotke sound to boot. Something really humble and lowkey about the record that makes it sit so well too. Too bad these will be gone before you can blink, but now we know to keep our eyes out for future releases that hopefully won't be so super limited.
MPEG Stream: "Golden Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "Shumsun"

AHMED, ILYAS Yahan Aur Wahan (self-released) cd-r 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What a thrill it is to discover one of our customers quietly making music as beautiful as, if not more so, than the music we love and listen to every day! Such is the case with aQ pal Ilyas Ahmed. We listed one of his cd-r's a few weeks back, which didn't last long since we only got a handful. We also got copies of his other limited cd-r which sold out so fast we didn't get enough to list at all. Well, we didn't want to blow it again so we made sure to reserve 30 copies of this, the newest cd-r release, and again it's a breathtaking bit of beauty. Solo acoustic guitar, gentle and lilting, soft focused and dreamlike. Definitely in the spirit of John Fahey, Richard Bishop, Jack Rose and the like, but much less Appalachia, and more introspective folk. Minor key and melancholy, fingerpicked steel string guitar, candlelit and moonlit, melodies flickering like shadows, deft and smooth, but effortless and carefree. So so so so lovely!
Packaged in a cardboard sleeve, with hand screened artwork affixed to the front and back. Hand numbered, LIMITED TO 200 COPIES!
MPEG Stream: "100 Veils"
MPEG Stream: "Descend Again"

AIR CONDITIONING Dead Rails (Load) cd 14.98
Dead Rails is the second full-length from Air Conditioning, now quite at home on Load after a debut disc on Level Plane. They're from the same Allentown, PA scene as Pissed Jeans, and even (much more, whoah) noisier than those guys! They also were on a 4-way split LP we listed last time, the Tiger Tongue Pussy Cactus: Terminal Fantasies For Malefic Youth on Hospital Productions. Regarding that, we said Air Conditioning sounded like a supercharged noise rock Tim Hecker, all blown out buzz and buried melodies, and this follows suit.
Air Conditioning combine vacuum cleaner guitars with industrial-strength drum pummel for a noise rock delight, stress on the noise. Sheets of feedback shriek accompany indecipherable angst ridden punk hollers, all subsumed far below a tsunami of rumbling distortion. Although Dead Rails has its quiet, dare we say pretty side too, on the more ambient droning likes of "I Run Low". But when on the disc's final, 16+ minute track, Air Conditioning ask us to "Accept Your Paralysis", they've probably also caused said paralysis with their amped to the max geetar STATIC and mind-numbing rhythmic throb. Here, their noise rock gets almost psychedelic, like one of them Japanese bands, maybe Up-Tight or LSD-march, veering into Hijokaidan territory!
MPEG Stream: "Where To Litter / Trash Burning"
MPEG Stream: "Accept Your Paralysis / Cephalexin"

AIR CONDITIONING / VEGAS MARTYRS / COUGHS / THE NEW FLESH Tiger Tongue Pussy Cactus: Terminal Fantasies For Malefic Youth (Hospital Productions) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
An awesome 4 band pile up, the state of modern black noise, or blackened noise rock, or whatever the fuck you want to call it. This stuff is fierce and heavy and demented and so great. From the same label that brought us the primitive black metal of Malkuth (reviewed elsewhere on this list), the raw black fury of Bone Awl, those killer Akitsa reissues and a recent MB reissue, comes this killer 4 band anvil to the head. Up first is the Vegas Martyrs, featuring Hospital head honcho and Prurient mastermind Dom Fernow, and just like the recently reviewed lp, it's another gloriously blown out and beautiful slab of blackened pop flecked noise rock. In the red and on the verge of destroying your speakers, VM offer up a killer Maiden-like riff over super distorted drums, garbled FX drenched vocals, super hypnotic and repetitive, all wrapped up in a crumbling stereo killing production, finishing off with several minutes of glitchy grinding murky noise...
Up next is Air Conditioning, who sculpt their noise into something sorta pretty, huge swaths of blown out buzz over blurred buried melodies, layer upon layer upon layer, all shifting and shimmering, it almost sounds like a super charged noiserock Tim Hecker. Abrasive but surprisingly lovely. Up third is The New Flesh, show kick out the jams, ultra lo-fi style, a noisy practice space sounding garage rock sludge jam, all downtuned guitars, distorted trash can drums, and a weirdly deep voiced vocalist, who occasionally let's loose with a glass gargling screech. Dirgey, grimey, almost like some long lost Swans rehearsal tape. Finally, finishing things up are the Coughs, who weave some strange drone-y dirge with skronky sax and buzzy bass, fuzz guitar, all in short sharp bursts, creating a weirdly spacious plod, looped and cyclical, until the wild female vocals come in, and suddenly the Coughs sound like they're channeling old school Riot Grrl through new school noise. Out of nowhere comes a blast of spastic drum freakout before returning to that gorgeously relentless sludge-y pulse...
LIMITED TO 400 COPIES. Packaged in a thick black on green paper sleeve, printed inside and out, pressed on clear green vinyl.

AIR KING SOUND AutoPilot (Air King Sound) cd 5.98
Geoff Marx, Thomas Muer and Derek Greenberg are the brains behind this sound installation from '98. Just now in at Aquarius, it is constructed using three simultaneously playing cds. One containing found environmental sounds, one of beats and one of melodic and harmonic content. Each collection of sounds is fragmented and randomly mixed up by the shuffle mode of the cd players, thus creating a constantly changing sonic environment.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS Assistant to the Assistant (Parallelism) cd 12.98
Mr. Gerard Cosloy and Ms. Claire Pannell return with their third album of indie-skronk. If you and your best friend were really good at improvising on a processed guitar, an analogue synth and a drum kit after listening to DNA, Handful of Dust, and Fushitsusha, then yes, you too could be as good as Air Traffic Controllers... then again you too might be CEO of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS Existence Period (Parallelism) cd 13.98
Gerard Cosloy & Claire Pannell's improv-skronk guitar/bass duo returns with a new album, recorded live to minidisc in various downtown NYC locations. Two guest saxophonists feature on one song, but despite that the aforementioned "skronk" element has in fact been reduced a bit from previous outings--"Existence Period" seems a bit prettier than earlier Air Traffic Controllers discs. Very nice.

AIRAKSINEN, PEKKA Madam I'm Adam (Love Records) 2cd 24.00
Remember that Arktinen Hysteria compilation of '60s-'70s underground electronic/avant-garde music from far-off Finland? Pekka Airaksinen was one of the composers whose work made that comp such a great freaky blast of Arctic creativity. His career has stretched from the late sixties 'til today, from his membership in the notorious Finnish underground 'rock' outfit The Sperm to solo recordings now being released on his own cd-r imprint. This anthology makes a valiant effort to wrangle some of the best of Airaksinen's diverse and bizarre output onto one disc, and also includes a second disc of 'remixes' of his stuff by a surprising array of current sound makers, among them Nurse With Wound, Es, Simon Wickham-Smith, Mira Calix, and Curd Duca. From proto-Industrial noise to electronic beats to free jazz to massive drones, Airaksinen's work is interesting and always avant-garde. We'd actually have preferred that both discs be given over to his original recordings (how 'bout a reissue of the entire 1970 Sperm album Shh!?) rather than get the remixes, but we're not complaining, this is a cool comp and doubtless more will be forthcoming especially if the presence of the big-name remixers get folks to buy this who aren't already intrigued by the pioneering Finnish sonic weirdness on offer.
MPEG Stream: GHANDI-FREUD "Molybdene"
MPEG Stream: THE SPERM "Korvapoliklinikka Hesperia"

AIRWAY Beyond The Pink Live (Cortical Foundation) 2cd + 7" 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Of the three recent releases / discoveries from the Los Angeles Free Music Society through the Cortical Foundation, Airway's "Beyond The Pink" is the strongest, if not the most listenable. Joe Potts -- one of the more prominent players in the LAFMS -- began Airway as a plot "to subliminally program audiences behind the cover of a chaotic wall of sound." It may difficult to tell if Airway has succeeded in their subliminal programming, as I've not encountered any unusual cravings to overthrow the government or even to get a piece of fried chicken. But Airway does succeed in their wall of chaos at least on this live recording from a reunion performance of Airway on Valentine's Day 1998, with a thick noise attack that is propelled by a simple 4/4 beat and topped off with indecipherable hollers and trumpet blasts, sounding a lot a Marc Cunningham ensemble like Mars or Convulsion bastardizing a Glenn Branca guitar symphony. On that night, Potts was joined by Mike Kelley, John Duncan (who confided that it was a blast to play in Airway that night), Don Bolles, Dennis Duck, Fredrik Nilsen, and about a dozen other noisemakers. Only one of the CDs has music on it, with the other being a CD-rom with various visual ephemera and a video of the show in question. The 7" is sloppy archival recordings from the '70s and dictates the size of the well-designed, gatefold package. Limited to 700 copies.
RealAudio clip: "Beyond The Pink Live"

AIRWAY Live At Lace (Harbinger Sound) cd 14.98

AJILVSGA Gathering Of Owls (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.
Some super experimental low end doom drone minimalism from Brad Rose, who besides playing in The North Sea, Corsican Paintbrush, Jade Emperor also runs the insanely cool Digitalis label.
Up until now, most of what we've heard from Rose has been on the folky side of things, who knew he had this in him. A seriously grindingly dense churning buzzscape. Caustic and thick, huge slabs of heaving low end, layer upon layer of black hole heaviness. Dentist drill high end surfaces here and there, but overall, every track here is some sort of leap into sonic tar, struggling to breath or even hear, your ears clogged with crumbling back grit, your body pinned to the ground beneath wave after wave of slow motion blacknoise pummel.
You know if you need this. If you're into the slow, and low and HEAVY, you probably do. But this was LIMITED TO ONLY 72 COPIES. It's out of print. We have 15. Do the math.
Red cassette cases, red cassettes, cool full color sleeves on nice textured paper, each copy hand numbered.

AJILVSGA White Path / Red Path (Peasant Magik) cassette 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The fourth cassette from this East Coast minimal drone duo, half of which, as we've mentioned before, just so happens to be Brad who runs the Digitalis label.
This tape takes up right where the last one left off, a dark slowly expansive exploration of deep black minimalism, this one begins less heavy than the others, murky and mumbly, looped low end drifts out from the speakers like doomy ripples, soft pulses, distant throbs, part way through the sound gets all airy and swooshy, almost like some blackened new age. But that's just about when the sound thickens, and grows slightly more corrosive. A crumbling, grinding muted flow more soothing than heavy.
But flip the tape over, and we're back in the heavy guitar realm, with swirling streaks of buzz and pulsing effects, droned out chordal whir, intense blown out squalls of freaked out noise, dense swells of high end skree, everything warped and warbly and wrapped in damaged electronics and strange sonic glitches, an avalanche of fragmented riffage building to a Total like rrrroooaaar. Cool.
LIMITED TO ONLY 100 COPIES!!! Comes packaged in a full color fold out cardstock insert, the tape wrapped in a cassette obi, screen printed on heavy textured paper and each one hand numbered.

AJILVSGA Winter Hunt (Abandon Ship) cassette 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Third release in almost as many weeks from this relatively new drone-doom duo, half of which just so happens to be Brad Rose, Digitalis head honcho, as well as member of the North Sea, Corsican Paintbrush, Jade Emperor, the Golden Oaks and probably a few more that we're forgetting.
But don't let that fee folk pedigree fool you. This new outfit, Ajilsvga is certainly free but not folk at all. Exploring a world of near static heaviness similar to like minded folks in SUNNO))), Sunroof!, Vulture Club, Half Makeshift, but leaning toward the lugubrious sludgey ambient doom side of the slow and low spectrum.
On Winter Hunt, it's a thick squall of buzz and rumble, guitars, or organs, or synths, but mostly guitars we think, all set on stun and allowed to unfurl thick waves of thick viscous low end. A swirling morass of grinding glacial low end, sheets of crumbling distorted chordal whir, off in the distance, keening tones floating above the roiling rumbling below, a heaving heaviness, strangely soothing and meditative as much as dense and intense.
Fans of the above mentioned bands will dig this big time, as well as anyone into the low, slow and heavy, the dark, dense and drone-y.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. Package in full color two sided sleeves.

AJILVSGA / MASS ORNAMENT / THE NORTH SEA / ALMS 4way Split (Digitalis) 2 x cassette 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Holy crap is this beautiful, two cassettes in a big oversized white vinyl double tape case, like the ones that language tapes used to come in, or noise tapes after that, a 4 way split of related bands, all integral parts of the Digitalis label family. The bad news, is that this is limited to only 85 copies, and is already sold out. We got 15 of those, and once those are gone, we WILL NOT be able to get more sad to say. Another awesome record that WAY too few people will get to hear. As much as we love cool limited stuff, and special releases and all that, at some point we would probably be willing to trade more releases for more copies, good music is meant to be heard by more than a handful of folks, and if your release sells out in one hour or one day or one week, then probably you could have sold a whole lot more, and a bunch of folks are gonna miss out. But heck, you all know all that, you just want us to pipe down and tell you about this super limited double cassette so you can throw it in your cart and move on. OK, then...
Up first Ajilsvga, the doomdronedirge project of Digitalis label head honcho Brad Rose and his partner in low end crime, probably the nicest thing we've heard from them, a long stretch of crumbling rumbling droney heaviness, but all tangled up with ghostly voices, soaring soft harmonies, giving the track a definite SUNNO)) meets Arvo Part vibe. Cool. Flip the tape over and we've got 4 tracks from Mass Ornament, Rose's partner Eden, who supplies much of the artwork and is responsible for those vocals on the Ajilsvga track. MO offers up some droning drifting, brooding ominous doom folk, multi-tracked vocals over moaning low end, glistening melodies, creepy and crawly and so beautiful. Fans of Inca Ore and Grouper should for sure check this out.
Tape 2 starts out with Alms which just so happens to be the other half of Ajilsvga, and treads similar ground, big billowy low end rumbles, deep and resonant, throbbing and shimmering blackly, building in intensity, all sorts of FX join the fray, and the drone gets more and more caustic and buzzy. Good stuff. Another doomdirgedeathdrone artist to look for more from.
Flip the tape over, and it's the North Sea, Rose's long running solo project, who in the past has explored the fringes of free folk and ambient drone, but lately has been exploring the world of low end heaviness, as he does here again, offering up a seriously dense and thick dronescape, a gorgeous undulating, pulsing, heavy, slow motion tarpit drift.
Definitely amazing stuff. First come, first served, one per customer, hopefully, they'll repress it or release it on cd or something, but for now, be quick or be happy without....

AKAGO, YAMA s/t (Sewer Records) cd-3 ep 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Super limited release from the very cool Sewer Records in Sweden. This 3" cd-r deviates from Sewer's ususally harsh/noisy/brutal aesthetic and explores a dark shimmery, Eastern tinged soundscape, with creepy reverbed female vocals, warm dark rumbles, gentle ripples of swoosh and whoosh, and the occasional clang and clatter. Quite nice.
RealAudio clip: "Tokyo Bay"

AKCHOTE, NOEL / EUGENE CHADBOURNE / MARC RIBOT Lust Corner (Winter & Winter) cd 17.98
Improv guitar duets between Akchote and Ribot, and Akchote and Chadbourne (who's also responsible for some banjo and, on one song, vocals)...several Ornette Coleman compositions are essayed, and the whole thing seems to be inspired by the disturbing/erotic photography of Japan's Nobuyoshi Araki. Indeed, Lust Corner is beautifully packaged with an assortment of Araki's photos.

AKCHOTE, NOEL / ROLAND AUZET / LUC FERRARI Impro-Micro-Acoustique (Blue Chopsticks) cd 14.98
Artists and title says it all, eh?

AKIO SUZUKI Odds & Ends (Horen) 2cd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Legendary Japanese musician / inventor / instrument builder / visionary Akio Suzuki is most likely unknown to most of you. But the more we discover, and the more of his music we hear, the more it seems like everyone needs to hear / experience his genius. Those of you who bought the recently re-listed Kogezan Koukiji double cd, a gorgeous ambient happening in a temple, surrounded by rain, have heard Suzuki performing on an ancient stone flute. And while the sound and spirit of the performance captured the tone and purpose of Suzuki's life and work, he is much more than just a stone flautist. Suzuki has been performing and building and teaching for 30+ years, exploring nature and how natural sounds can be captured and then set free, how one can get lost in the sounds all around us, and how music and creation and beauty exist always and everywhere. These tracks, as the titles suggests, are bits and pieces culled from the last 3 decades and reveal a spiritual pre-cursor to the Jewelled Antler collective, modern sound art and sound art exploration. Home made echo machines create throbbing, hypnotic voicescapes, warm and soft and naturally unique. Dancers' movements are translated into hand positions on a piano creating wild and unpredictable jumbles of notes. Hand made brick walls interact with wind and weather and expose their hidden emotions as haunting tones and subtle drones. Sounds are shuffled between multiple cassette decks creating insext symphonies of high end whir and distant chirps. Long glass tubes are struck and rubbed and bowed mimicking the sound of bird calls. Multiple turntables are used as the 'plates' in a musical game of plate juggling. Microphones are placed in rolled up tubes of paper, recording the phase shifts of people moving around the room and the sounds of the papers shifting. Roughly cut bamboo flutes accompanying the sound of a distant waterfall and the songs of birds. Suzuki's music is pure and zen, dreamy and uncluttered by the rules and worries of most modern music making. The liner notes are littered with effusive adulation from folks like Jim O'rourke ("All you have to do is listen"), David Toop ("I think of Akio Suzuki as a kind of magician") Yamatsuka Eye ("Hearing this music, I remember many things, including playing in a puddle as a tiny kid") and more. Suzuki reflects fondly on the recordings and offers us a glimpse into the soul of a shaman, truly in touch with himself and the sounds the earth has to offer. If we only know how, and where, to look.
MPEG Stream: "Analapos '70"
MPEG Stream: "Als-Ob"
MPEG Stream: "Ta Yu Ta I #2"

AKITA, MASAMI & RUSSELL HASWELL Satanstornade (Warp) cd 17.98

AKITA, MASAMI & ZBIGNIEW KARKOWSKI Mazk (Tigerbeat6) cd 14.98
This is the second collaboration between Masami Akita (you know, Merzbow) and Zbigniew Karkowski, yet should not to be confused with their first record, which held the same acronymic title. While the Merzbow sound has become a beast in and of itself -- lots of furious noise, tempestuous distortion, and a predilection to inspire hyperbolic rhetoric -- Zbigniew Karkowski's aesthetic signature is a little harder to pin down, revolving mostly around experiential intensity from ongoing personal research, resulting in a varied palette of sounds. Unlike the previous collaboration which found Akita's noise relegated to a distant rumble, in favor of nervously clattering rhythms and psychoactive hi / lo frequencies, this one definitely falls clearly within Akita's realm of music making, much like his more recent output, with thick walls of incendiary noise forced into uncomfortable rhythms by repetitive drop-outs in the recordings.

AKIYAMA / SUGIMOTO / WIGET Hokou (Corpus Hermeticum) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Wow! A new release on Bruce Russell's Corpus Hermeticum label! But just who the hell are these folks? Taku Sugimoto (electric guitar) is the most well known artist in this collaboration; we've heard his beautiful mimimal guitar playing previously on records with Kevin Drumm, Gunter Muller, and Otomo Yoshihide, as well as his performances both solo and collaboratively on the wonderful compilation "The Improvisation Meeting at Bar Aoyama". Tetuzi Akiyama (acoustic and electric guitars) records with a Brazilian group called Amephone, and Bo Wiget (cello and electronics) is a Swiss sound artist.
Recorded in Tokyo in 1999, "Hokou" ("Spazieren" in Swiss or "Periodic Drift" in English) is an exercise in minimalist improvisation, full of abstract tones, deep droning cello swells and restrained guitar plucks. Really nice.

AKIYAMA, MITCHELL Mort Aux Vaches (Staalplaat) cd 21.00
We loved the dreamy yet glitchy album Small Explosions That Are Yours To Keep from earlier this year by Montreal electro-acoustic composer Mitchell Akiyama, as did quite a few of you...so here's something new from him that may be of interest. Akiyama's entry into Staalplaat's Mort Aux Vaches series of cds documenting live-on-the-air performances for the Dutch radio station VPRO. For this 44 minute recording, Akiyama digitally processed his own live guitar playing (no pre-recorded samples were utilized). What you'll hear are placid, ambient guitar melodies given a scratchy, static-y scrubbing, making this sound a bit like one of the loops from Philip Jeck's turntable, or the result of shortwave radio interference. In fact, it's kinda funny that this was meant for a radio broadcast, since any listeners not up to speed with the standards of "experimental" music-making might just think that they had really bad reception! This is mostly quite gentle, but with a bleeding edge of sonic overload that now and then builds to near-painful levels of distortion before subsiding and again letting the melancholic guitar wash and clicking rhythms soothe your ears. Really beautiful.
Packaged in a thin, folded sheet of embossed copper! Watch you don't cut yrself on it...
MPEG Stream: "untitled [excerpt]"

AKIYAMA, TETUZI Pre-Existence (Locust) cd 14.98
In 2003, Locust released the mighty fine Wooden Guitar compilation, featuring a tracks by some of the most interesting of the current crop of Fahey-inspired practicioners of folk-improv acoustic guitar: Jack Rose, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Tetuzi Akiyama, and Richard Bishop. They've since followed up that release with solo discs by Bishop and, now, Akiyama.
Akiyama, who hails from Tokyo, was responsible for the longest and perhaps most avant-garde track on the original compilation, as his guitar playing incorporates the silence and abstraction of the "onkyo" electronic improv scene happening in his hometown. Yet the dusty, folky old timeyness key to the "Wooden Guitar" concept is much in evidence as well. So, listen to Pre-Existence and let Akiyama slowly wrap his sprongy steel guitar strings 'round your head, as he plucks and strums what almost sounds like a blues for the guitar itself. There's a lot of knock knock percussive playing and lonesome sustained tones. It's maybe what John Fahey would sound like if totally slow-mo stoned on cough syrup. Of course that sounds good to us. Can't wait for more in this series!
MPEG Stream: "Atheist"
MPEG Stream: "Mystification"

AKIYAMA, TETUZI Pre-Existence ( Bo'Weavil) lp 28.00
Now on vinyl!
In 2003, Locust released the mighty fine Wooden Guitar compilation, featuring a tracks by some of the most interesting of the current crop of Fahey-inspired practitioners of folk-improv acoustic guitar: Jack Rose, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Tetuzi Akiyama, and Richard Bishop. They've since followed up that release with solo discs by Bishop and, now, Akiyama.
Akiyama, who hails from Tokyo, was responsible for the longest and perhaps most avant-garde track on the original compilation, as his guitar playing incorporates the silence and abstraction of the "onkyo" electronic improv scene happening in his hometown. Yet the dusty, folky old timeyness key to the "Wooden Guitar" concept is much in evidence as well. So, listen to Pre-Existence and let Akiyama slowly wrap his sprongy steel guitar strings 'round your head, as he plucks and strums what almost sounds like a blues for the guitar itself. There's a lot of knock knock percussive playing and lonesome sustained tones. It's maybe what John Fahey would sound like if totally slow-mo stoned on cough syrup. Of course that sounds good to us. Can't wait for more in this series!
MPEG Stream: "Atheist"
MPEG Stream: "Mystification"