DEATH UNIT + PRURIENT Terminal Cases (aRCHIVE) 2 x 3"cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A pretty serious noise rock (heavy on the noise) head to head on the mighty aRCHIVE label, responsible in the past for killer discs from the Goslings, Bardo Pond, Astral Travelling Unity, Growing, Keiji Haino, LSD-March, Nadja and Jack Rose.
Recorded live at Tonic in NYC last year, this double 3" cd set chronicles what must have been a night of serious ear damage. Up first, Death Unit, a noisy super group made up of Carlos Giffoni, dudes from Mouthus and Hair Police and Chris Corsano (what band doesn't feature Corsano at this point?), and it's mostly Corsano's show, a 20 minute blast of drum freakout, all over the place, dizzyingly complex, a furious nonstop drum solo, eventually joined by thick sheets of squealing feedback, layers of guitar buzz, strange synthy warble and what sounds like short wave interference. A brutal but surprisingly listenable sludge drone / noise rock / free jazz mash up, but again, it's all about the drums, splattery and crashing and chaotic with the various synths and guitars just wrapping the spastic rhythms in thick layers of buzz and grit.
Disc two features another 20 minute blast of caustic sound, this time from Prurient, purveyor of old school noise, a one man Whitehouse, who unleashes loads of ear shredding high end, all the sounds distorted and crumbling, some gorgeous low end drones and ultra creepy vocals, mostly whispered more than shouted, sometimes even spoken, sounding like snippets from some film. Near the end, things get even more intense, the vocals howled and the squall of electronics underneath erupting violently all around crunching grind and anguished guttural cries. The sound is so dense and heavy and noisy it almost sounds like there's some sort of industrial percussion at times.
Plus lots of crowd noise, cheers and shouting too as the show was obviously being recorded from the crowd. Just makes it weirder and more surreal...
So while this is definitely noisy, both discs are pretty listenable. Harsh enough for the noise obsessed, but just accessible enough to maybe convince some folks that maybe they do in fact like themselves a little noise now and again!
Packaged in a cool 6 panel fold out sleeve designed by Dominick Fernow aka Prurient. Mastered by James Plotkin.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES! And already almost sold out so once these are gone we probably won't be able to get more.
MPEG Stream: DEATH UNIT "Terminal Cases"
MPEG Stream: PRURIENT "Terminal Cases"

DEATHPILE G. R. (Hospital) cd 11.98

DEATHPROD 6 Track (Rune Grammofon) 10" 25.00
Ultra limited, vinyl-only 10" record collecting tracks from various sources as remixed by legendary producer and dark ambient dronelord Deathprod. It sounds like the idea here was to take the already impossibly dark and doomy originals and attempt to make them even more gloomy, murky and black. And the results are quite gloriously grim. Tracks from Nils Petter Molvaer, Murcof, Larsen and Deathprod himself get reworked into utterly bleak and dismal doomscapes, still warm and thick but equally oppressive and desolate. Cavernous slow motion rumbles, smeary black ambience, all suffused with black hole desolation and utter sonic abjection. Two of the tracks do manage to reach out from the murk, but just barely. The first, by Cloroform, is still minimal and murky but it's wrapped around a muted percussive soundscape, like an underwater slow motion pipe fight. Soft shimmery clank and clatter beneath an ocean of dark ambience. The other, another track from Nils Petter Molvaer, is dreamy and slightly more melodic with slowed down rhythms, and distant keening melodies drifting gently a slowly shifting ocean of subsonic rumbles and whispery whirs. Quite beautiful.
Minimally packaged in an all black gatefold sleeve and with an oversized 10" booklet with liner notes and lots more blackness.

DEATHPROD Box Set (Rune Grammofon) 4cd 49.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Good news, lovers of weird drone electronic experimentation -- the Deathprod box set is back (again!)! At least, for a while. Rune Grammofon has done a SECOND, limited, one-time-only (hmm?) repressing of this popular item, that first came out in 2003, was repressed in 2004, and didn't stay in print quite as long as we'd have liked either time. So here's your third chance for as long as it lasts this time. Here's the review we wrote originally of what remains definitely a big AQ fave:
Deathprod is the solo experimental audio project from Supersilent and Motorpsycho member Helge Sten of Oslo, Norway. Previously the only work by Deathprod we stocked here at Aquarius was the split cd with Biosphere on Rune Grammofon in which the two artists reworked fellow Norwegian Arne Nordheim's electronic compositions. Having enjoyed that disc very much, we were pretty excited about the mysterious looking matte black four CD box by Deathprod that arrived at our laboratory recently. If the black box was evocative enough to pique our interest, the music the music contained within surely did not betray our hopes. Working with old magnetic tape recorders, hand made delay and sundry other electronic devices, Helge Sten manipulates fragments of sound -- such as a two note melodic interval or a final orchestral cadence -- into brooding dark soundscapes, rich with overtones from feedback and often overlaid with guest performances from fellow Supersilent members. Often it is the very limitations of the equipment that Sten uses that become the sources for the beautiful timbres he produces: an oversaturated tape input, a primitive sampler that never reproduces the same note the same way twice, or the uneven decay from primitive tape delays. The tracks on these four discs were recorded between 1991 and 2000, and while some of the material was released by Sten on cassette through his own label (also titled Deathprod), much of it is previously unreleased or was super limited in number. Two tracks in particular, a six minute narration from American born Oslo resident Matt Burt and a couple tracks of an organ, vibes and drum trio not unlike Sagor & Swing stick out in this four disc set. More typical are tracks which blossom out from a single cell of an idea: one chord, or one blast of noise. At times Deathprod sounds almost like an attempt at recreating Thomas Koner's soundscapes using the audio palette of Mauricio Bianchi. On Imaginary Songs From Tristan da Cunha, Sten went so far as to record tracks on a Nagra deck, transfer them to wax cylinders and then transfer them once more to digital media. The result are authentically old and decaying tracks which are hauntingly beautiful as well. Other tracks feature deteriorating blasts of what sounds almost like a fog horn progressively decaying into grinding metal; throbbing drones and eerie female chorus -- a la Ligeti's "Lux Aeterna" from 2001 -- building with layers of feedbacky washes of sound. The four tracks that make up Sten's most recent album on the set -- Morals And Dogma -- are possibly his best works yet: icey, bleak soundscapes of drones. Any of the tracks here would make an excellent soundtrack. On "Dead People's Things", the most sorrowful of melodies is played on a Theremin over a foundation of delicate, scratchy bowing of violin and a deep bass throbbing drone. "Orgone Donor" consists of a slowly shifting chordal drone of whispy violins, harmonium and saw, with each instrument leading and then resolving the chord in turn.
MPEG Stream: "A Shortcut To the Stars"
MPEG Stream: "Reference Frequencies #8"
MPEG Stream: "Treetop Drive 3"
MPEG Stream: "Stony Beach"
MPEG Stream: "The Contraceptive Briefcase II"
MPEG Stream: "Orgone Donor"
MPEG Stream: "Cloudchamber"

DEATHPROD Imaginary Songs From Tristan Da Cunha (Rune Arkiv) cd 17.98
Deathprod is the solo experimental audio project from Supersilent and Motorpsycho member Helge Sten of Oslo, Norway. Back in 2004, we were totally blown away by the mysterious looking matte black four cd box by Deathprod. If the black box was evocative enough to pique our interest, the music contained within surely did not disappoint. Working with old magnetic tape recorders, hand made delays and sundry other electronic devices, Helge Sten manipulates fragments of sound - such as a two note melodic interval or a final orchestral cadence - into brooding dark soundscapes, rich with overtones from feedback and often overlaid with guest performances from fellow Supersilent members. Often it is the very limitations of the equipment that Sten uses that become the sources for the beautiful timbres he produces: an oversaturated tape input, a primitive sampler that never reproduces the same note the same way twice, or the uneven decay from primitive tape delays. Here, we have one of those discs from the boxset reprinted individually.
Imaginary Songs From Tristan da Cunha was Sten's graduation project from art school, inspired by the remotest inhabitated island in the world - Tristan da Cunha, located nearly 2000 miles away from the mainland. Here, Sten went so far as to record tracks on a Nagra deck, transfer them to wax cylinders and then transfer them once more to digital media. The resulting sounds are authentically old and decaying tracks which are hauntingly beautiful as well. But the bulk of this disc is comprised of the live recording of "The Contraceptive Briefcase II" with a large ensemble of vocalists who are also apparently playing glass. Sten's composition of dramatically minimalist dark loops whose phrasing is damn close to what you'd hear on Morals & Dogma, progressively decaying into grinding metal; throbbing drones and eerie female chorus - a la Ligeti's "Lux Aeterna" from 2001. Stunning.
MPEG Stream: "Burntwood"
MPEG Stream: "Boatharbour Bay"
MPEG Stream: "The Contraceptive Briefcase II"

DEATHPROD Morals and Dogma (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
It's a bit tough to recommend buying this CD... Not because we don't like it -- au contraire, we do like it lots -- but because, for a bit more moolah, you can get this CD along with three other excellent Deathprod discs by buying the box set which we're also listing this week. Apparently those three other discs are not going to be released individually, so if you do end up really digging Deathprod and want more, you'll have to buy this disc again with the box set. An abridged version of our review of the box set will thus do for this item: Deathprod is the solo experimental audio project from Supersilent and Motorpsycho member Helge Sten of Oslo, Norway. Working with old magnetic tape recorders, hand made delay and sundry other electronic devices, Helge Sten manipulates fragments of sound -- such as a two note melodic interval or a final orchestral cadence -- into brooding dark soundscapes, rich with overtones from feedback and often overlaid with guest performances from fellow Supersilent members. Often it is the very limitations of the equipment that Sten uses that become the sources for the beautiful timbres he produces: an oversaturated tape input, a primitive sampler that never reproduces the same note the same way twice, or the uneven decay from primitive tape delays. The four tracks that make up Sten's most recent album Morals And Dogma are possibly his best works yet: icey, bleak soundscapes of drones. Any of the tracks here would make an excellent soundtrack. The first, "Tron" is a shimmering plane, the source material for which sounds like short wave radio noise processed in such a way not entirely unlike John Duncan's Phantom Broadcast. On "Dead People's Things", the most sorrowful of melodies is played on theremin over a foundation of delicate, scratchy bowing of violin and a deep bass throbbing drone. "Orgone Donor" consists of a slowly shifting chordal drone of whispy violins, harmonium and saw, with each instrument leading and then resolving the chord in turn.
MPEG Stream: "Orgone Donor"
MPEG Stream: "Cloudchamber"

DEATHPROD Treetop Drive (Rune Arkiv) cd 17.98
Deathprod is the solo experimental audio project from Supersilent and Motorpsycho member Helge Sten of Oslo, Norway. Back in 2004, we were totally blown away by the mysterious looking matte black four CD box by Deathprod. If the black box was evocative enough to pique our interest, the music contained within surely did not disappoint. Working with old magnetic tape recorders, hand made delays and sundry other electronic devices, Helge Sten manipulates fragments of sound -- such as a two note melodic interval or a final orchestral cadence -- into brooding dark soundscapes, rich with overtones from feedback and often overlaid with guest performances from fellow Supersilent members. Often it is the very limitations of the equipment that Sten uses that become the sources for the beautiful timbres he produces: an oversaturated tape input, a primitive sampler that never reproduces the same note the same way twice, or the uneven decay from primitive tape delays. Here, we have one of those discs from the boxset re-printed individually.
Treetop Drive was the earliest of Deathprod's albums, originally released in 1994. Structurally, Deathprod's brooding scores are starkly minimal, with a solitary loop of a mournful note from a string quartet comprising the base for the first track of Treetop Drive. Around this base, Deathprod sweeps pallid noise and harsh acoustic scrapings, cycling around the track's central theme. It would fit a David Lynch film perfectly, with its distorted sentimentality and violent darkness. The twin note electronic bellows of the second track take the dark ambient mode of Cold Meat Industries to a reductionist strategy of a turgidly slow Terry Riley. The third track reprises those sweeping blasts of white noise from the first track around an incredibly sad melodic drone that sways in the distance. The final track revolves upon quite deep-space beacon of electronics whose darkened frequencies refract into a bleak soundscape.
MPEG Stream: "Treetop Drive 1"
MPEG Stream: "Treetop Drive 3"

DECAER PINGA U-Sound Archives #5: Green Conclusion (U-Sound) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The fifth archival document from Jackie-O Motherfucker's U-Sound series features Decaer Pinga, whose members had previously explored the nether regions of shitnoiserock as Prick Decay. The Scottish duo of Dora Doll and Dylan Nyoukis now have quieted things down a bit, well at least for this album, with some non-confrontational improvisations for erratic, lo-fi electric hums and Neil Campbell guitar flutter (who does make a guest appeance). A bit short at 22 minutes, though., but quite nice.
RealAudio clip: "Track 2"
RealAudio clip: "Track 5"

DECAYES, THE horNetZ (Mind's Ear Records) cd 22.00

DECEH Fundamental Structure (The Tapeworm) cassette 8.98
Another batch of new tapes from the UK cassette label The Tapeworm, and even less to go on background wise with many of them this time around. Deceh is apparently a duo, which counts drone combo duo among their membership (of two), which is strange since we were fairly sure that there were at least two members of Eleh. Regardless, this is some hushed, gorgeous ULTRA ULTRA minimal dronemusic. Long form dronescapes woven from Hammond organ and sruti box, or more specifically, according to the liner notes, "A close study of the harmonic composition of a Hammond organ and a sruti box with attention given to the organization of isolated frequencies and the effects of these vibrations on brain activity." Which leads us to believe, based on the near static pulsations, and at times barely audible undulations, that the brain activity in question is some sort of deep deep trance. Soft overtones, barely there slow shifting sonic colorations, at times so simple and austere it almost sounds like it's just the buzz of the tape mechanism itself, but at other times, the compositions blossom into something much more lush, and dreamily melodic. Most often hovering somewhere right in between, layered and lush, a tranquil sea of hum and thrum, underpinned by microscopic pulsations, a barely there propulsion, these lengthy inner space explorations shifting ever so gently from krautdrone new age ambient drift to pure tone sine wave shimmer. Lovely.
LIMITED TO 400 COPIES!!

DECIMATION BLVD Put Your Hand In Fire (Public Guilt) 3" cd-r 4.98
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Another in this new super limited series of 3" cd-r's from Public Guilt, who you might remember having co-released the mindblowing Untitled 3cd box set, a collection of noise music, then ended up being more music than noise (only slightly) and got us excited about noisemusic all over again.
The only time we had ever heard from Decimation Blvd, was on that very same compilation, but it's not the only time we've heard from Tradd Sanderson, who is Decimation Blvd., as he is the famed "noise choker" for the mighty Cream Abdul Babar, quite possible the best band ever with the worst name ever. Sanderson contributed lots of grind and grrrrr, skree and shriek, buzz and drone to CAB's punishing metallic post rock.
But here, Sanderson is loosed from the confines of being a backup player in a rock band, and employs an arsenal of electronics and synths, samples and guitars, and carves out a super creepy post industrial cinematic soundscape, that veers from glistening almost Oval like underwater blissout, to crumbling Skinny Puppy like ambience, to full on squalls of white noise, muted into murky whirs and peppered with electronic glitch and buried percussion, to shrieking high end chaos, finally finishing off with the very creepy closing track, HUGE, but spare pounding percussion, dense flurries of grinding electronics, thick washes of distorted whir, and a final burst of face melting sonic fury.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!! Packaged in screenprinted mini 3" foldout sleeves, orange and black ink, with a printed insert on shimmery metallic paper.
MPEG Stream: "Your Book Is Overdue"
MPEG Stream: "Put Your Hand In Fire"

DECIMUS Decimus 1 (Kelippah) lp 15.98
Decimus is the new solo project of Pat Murano, he of the No Neck Blues Band, Malkuth and K-Salvatore among other NY outsider outfits, and this is part one in the 12 part Decimus series, a vinyl lp sonic exploration into the medieval zodiac of Decimus Magus Ausonius, a Latin poet and rhetorician, we've listed part 5, and part 2, and this is part 1. They're being released on different labels, and not necessarily in the proper order. But it hardly matters, each record definitely functions just fine on its own.
Part one, were it the first you heard, definitely sets the scene quite nicely. The A side is a cacophonous chaotic barrage of fractured sound, a seriously percussive psychedelic trip out, that really could actually be a No Neck record, at least initially. Warped melting melodies wrap around strange childlike vocals, lots of clattery percussion, over heaving swells of crumbling sound, laced with sheets of high end skree, and bursts of wild rhythmic skitter. The sound seems to unravel, or perhaps blossom into wild tangles of strangely rhythmic distorted streaks only to disappear into thick swirled stretches of corrosive buzz, all flecked with glitch and squelch, very tranced out and abstract.
The B side though might be our favorite Decimus jam yet, a side long super cinematic epic, hushed late evening shimmer, what sounds like field recordings, all draped over a blurred loopscape, and all wrapped around a thick woozy, fuzzy pulse, a sort of murky kosmische, a smoldering ominous thrum, eventually joined by psychedelic spaced out synths, transforming the song into the soundtrack for some seriously fucked up alternate universe giallo, before finishing off in a glitched out glittery tangle at the end.
Awesome stuff, further convincing us that we're definitely gonna have to collect all 12!
LIMTED TO 300 COPIES, each one hand stenciled and spray painted.

DECIMUS Decimus 2 ( Planam) lp 25.00
On the last New Arrivals list, we reviewed the first record in a TWELVE lp series from a group called Decimus, which was in fact, the solo project of Pat Murano, from No Neck Blues Band, K Salvatore and Malkuth. The series, a multi part epic, based on the teachings of Decimus Magus Ausonius, a Latin poet and rhetorician. We reviewed Decimus 5 last time, Decimus 1 was also just released, but this, Decimus 2, is apparently the FIRST part in the series, and as if that weren't confusing enough, it was also the only one of the first 3 installments so far (1,2 and 5) to be released on a different label, hence the hefty price, this one's an import. And how about a description from the label: "Decimus 2Êis the first chapter of the Decimus sodality. With reluctance, we are driven into the desert rent from the sweet succor of slavery Under Malkuth we feed the senses failing to satiate the insatiable For Shimon bar Yochai Synthetic meditations on the zodiac as envisioned by Decimus Magnus Ausonius." UmÉ okay...
Like number 5, number 2 is another fantastic and totally tripped out exploration into some seriously tripped out and as yet undiscovered psychedelic realms of sound, some sort of otherworldly ritual, bird calls, croaking frogs, a series of mysterious field recordings, layered beneath tinkling chimes, and reverbed melodies, the music hushed and minimal, the tones layered into strange harmonies, down in the mix lurk crunches and crumbles, those sounds seeming to grow more murky and menacing, all of the various low end sounds, gradually transforming into deep rumbles and monster like gurgles, slowly transitioning into a warped stretch of looped mesmer, droney and druggy, layered voices and and constantly shifting pitches.
As the Decimus 2 progresses, processed guitars (?) churn and undulate, wreathed in swirling effects that sound almost like animal calls, perhaps they are animal calls processed to sound like effects, either way, the result is quite haunting, the track peppered with caustic industrial crunch, burbling electronics, the sound growing more and more fractured and far out, before finally ending, presumably, to be continued in the next installment.
Incredible stuff, anyone into No Neck, or any of the tripped out free psychedelic drone outfits should definitely check this out (and Decimus 5), odds are when all 12 are finally revealed, you might be kicking yourself for not grabbing them when you could.
LIMITED TO 250 COPIES. In fancy recycled silkscreened jackets, with heavy red inner sleeves.

DECIMUS Decimus 5 (Kelippah) lp 15.98
A heady slab of tripped out psychedelic sonic spirituality from this new project of Pat Murano, who also counts himself a member of NY free jazz / drone rock / avant hippy collective No Neck Blues Band, weirdo black metal horde Malkuth and cosmic outsider explorationists K-Salvatore. Murano continues on his own peculiar and bafflingly brilliant path, with the debut release from his solo project Decimus, the first in a high concept, 12 part (as in 12 lp) series of records based on the medieval zodiac of Decimus Magus Ausonius, a Latin poet and rhetorician.
Two side long meditations, the first begins with soft shimmering clouds of tinkling melodies, and ethereal ambience, over some haunting processed mantra like looped vox, hazy and druggy, wreathed in keening high end and lilting barely there melodies, and muted bits of abstract percussion. Eventually, FX drenched sitar like buzz surfaces, adding a whole other dimension to the trancelike drift, that buzz pulsing and stuttering percussive and slightly corrosive, the sounds growing ever more spacey and swirly, a warped dreamlike buzz that gradually decays and crumbles, the effects growing more and more chaotic, before finishing off with a brief super intense white hot sonic squall.
The second side is another slow burning musical mantra, loping, warm woozy buzz over a bed of softly roiling hiss and soft focus whir, sounding almost like Zomes or Daniel Higgs or Amps For Christ, cyclical, repetitive and mesmerizing. The dreamy drift is soon joined by a crunchy corrosive rhythm, which lurches and lumbers before transforming into a weird skeletal beat, the sound almost Middle Eastern, the low end super distorted, a deep rib cage rattling thrum, all the sounds again gradually growing more and more blurred and distorted, some freaky creepy robotic vocals only adding to the confusional cacophony, but still that initial loop/groove remains, a solid rhythmic anchor, keeping the track trancelike, while all around sounds swirl and swoop, flecks of fragmented melodies surface and are quickly swallowed up, before everything dissolves into a cloud of staticky hiss.
We already can't wait for the next 11 volumes! (we actually have the next one, Decimus 1 in stock, just ask if you want one of those too!)
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES. Housed in hand painted and hand stenciled covers.
MPEG Stream: "I (excerpt)"
MPEG Stream: "II (excerpt)"

DEEP JEW Ugliest Man / Dog Blood (Jugular Forest / Troniks) lp 14.98
Deep Jew was one of those good bands with a horrible name; and had they been born a decade earlier, these LA noiseniks would have counted amongst the numerous crustpunks touring alongside Man Is The Bastard or maybe even Corrupted throughout the '90s. Yet, as it stands, Deep Jew released a couple of things including a split single for Not Not Fun and this LP (of which we managed to dig up a few copies!) before calling it quits in 2008. But no matter how you look at it, Deep Jew's slow-motion, dirge-punk, power-violence is a force not to be taken lightly. Even if they do have a questionable name.
Five cuts of post-MITB brutalist sludge and murkscaping distortion grace the A side of Ugliest Man / Dog Blood with howling vocals, caveman bashing drum kit abuse, low-slung bass buried way way down deep, and thick guitar / amplifier pedal noise which might have something in the way of Swans-like riff if all of that distortion hadn't crumbled everything into filthy noise. The flip is a monstrous side-long car-crash captured at quarter-speed with chugging, stumbling dirgecore rhythms that lurch amidst a lock-stepped bass throb all of which tugs and / or pushes against relentlessly overblown amplifier punishment and blister-popped feedback. Silkscreened covers and limited to something like 400 copies.

DEERHOOF Holdypaws (Kill Rock Stars) cd 14.98
2nd disc on KRS by this cult San Francisco outfit. Featuring one-half of the unfortunately underappreciated and thus long-gone Nitre Pit (who were a kind of Melvins-meets-Caroliner band), Deerhoof experiment with weird, angular, noisy, pop. Slightly reminiscent of the Thinking Fellers, with female vocals, surreal lyrics, and assorted other strangeness.

DEERHOOF The Man, The King, The Girl (Kill Rock Stars) cd 14.98
Amazing blend of Caroliner sludge, and Melvins slop from this local groop. (Includes members of the late great Nitre Pit.)

DEERHUNTER Cryptograms / Fluorescent Grey (Kranky) 2lp 16.98
The popular Cryptograms record from Deerhunter is now available on vinyl as a double LP with includes their new 4-song EP Fluorescent Grey (the cd version of which is now available separately, we just got it in today so we'll give it listen and list it next time)!! But here's the review of Cryptograms if you missed it:
This band from Atlanta is sure to create quite a stir this year with Cryptograms, their sophomore release and their first outing for Kranky. Don't be expecting the usual Kranky fare with this one, as Deerhunter possess a distinct flair for taking their music in all sorts of directions. As influenced by blissed out and spacey drones as they are rocking momentum and pop sensibility, Deerhunter's kind of like an early Factory band doing covers of songs from the first couple U2 and R.E.M. records. We could see this creating the same kind of refreshing splash that Broken Social Scene did a few years back as this is a record with enough texture to reel in more experimental minded folks, but with enough sleek pizzazz and edgy rock moments to win over the indie-rock crowd. For fans of Trans Am, the sadly short-lived Beautiful Skin, and the much more earthbound late Man Or Astro-Man? Really good!

*Update: We've listened to the Fluorescent Grey EP. Here's the review we wrote for that one:
Here we have the newest EP from Atlanta based Deerhunter (which is also available on lp, along with their previous highly praised full length album Cryptograms). Deerhunter have two lines of thought diverging in their music that has and will continue to afford them acclaim from across the board. The EP's opener and namesake "Fluorescent Grey" starts out a deeply textural indie rock song trudging along with a simple piano line and nearly over-annunciated boy/girl vocals that would make their junior-high chorus director smile until he or she realizes that the subject of the song is that of a body decomposing. Halfway through the song, the structured pitter-patter converges into the psych-drone noise rock madness people raved about when first hear on the band's previous release. The EP's other tracks build in the same pattern with one only hinting at eruption, while the other's noised out bliss explodes in a way that suggests they've embraced the comparisons to Sonic Youth. The third track stands alone as the second line of thought the band seems to be toying with - experimental shoe-gaze in the style of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless saturated in all manner of ethereal noise. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Cryptograms"
MPEG Stream: "Red Ink"

DEFAULT JAMERSON I Think I'm Starting To Let Go (Diagnosis... Don't!) 3" cd-r 12.98
We found a handful of titles, maybe only 5 or 6 of each, from Aussie label DiagnosisÉ Don't! We've had these for ages, and odds are these are long gone as they were pretty limited to begin with, but for a few of you, here's your chance to grab one (or all) of these super limited 3" cd-r's.
Default Jamerson is a one man noise making machine from Australia, who crafts a lush and billowy low end, all deep whirling tones, thick speaker shredding dronemusic, even with the bass dialed all the way back, this single 20 minute track was sending seismic waves into the room, causing everything to vibrate gloriously. Lots of shifting textures, haunting melodies buried in the mix, the sound murky and muddy and underwater, woozy and warbly and totally hypnotic. Definitely bummed we slept on this. And bummed that only a handful of you will get to hear it. But what can you do? Heavy low end drone freaks should try to snag one while they can...
Packaged in thick cardstock mini 3" sleeves, with a printed (band name, label info, liner notes) Japanese style obi. And again, we only have a VERY FEW of these....
MPEG Stream: "I Think I'm Starting To Let Go (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "I Think I'm Starting To Let Go (excerpt 2)"

DEL Vampyr (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We at AQ have long been fans of Campbell Kneale and his project Birchville Cat Motel who along with the Dead C, Omit, Gate and a handful of others have helped to define one of the richest free-rock-noise-drone scenes in the world. For years Kneale has been releasing cds, lps and cassettes (most of them quite limited) of noisy electronic soundscapes and gorgeous organic drones. So when we discovered Kneale also ran a label, we figured it was definitely worth checking out. And how right we were. Not only is all of the music on Celebrate Psi Phenomena amazing, but the packaging is perfectly and stunningly designed as well (quite nice considering this is a cd-r label. See our crappy cd-r packaging rants in the last three or four lists) with each cd in a plastic sleeve nestled between two sheets of old fashioned textured wallpaper, printed, and sealed with a gold star.
This is a single hour long track, an improvised soundtrack to a 1930 Carl Dreyer film. Turkish drum, electronics, guitar and powerbook. Very spare and ambient with lots of room sound, clicks and clatter, the sound of people laughing (at the film we would imagine) and slowly shifting instrument buzz. Dark ambient guitarscapes, wistful feedback, subsonic rumble and gentle notes pulled almost imperceptibly from the guitar.
RealAudio clip: "Vampyr"

DELAY, VLADISLAV Ele (Sigma) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Release number 5 from this great new New Zealand label. Just like the first two (Rosy Parlene and Parmentier, reviewed in the last AQ-List) these are all-white packages of beautiful, minimal music.
Vladislav Delay (from Finland, a hemisphere away from the other Sigma artists physically but not musically) distills dub into faded ghosts of fragmented sound, immersing the listener in a droning deconstruction of snare, cymbal, and analog electronic sounds.

DELAY, VLADISLAV Helsinki (Max Ernst) 12" 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Thomas Brinkmann's influence on Vladislav Delay is far well beyond the fact that Brinkmann released this single on his Max Ernst label. The motorik machines that tick with clockwork precision (and a very static 'groove') are signature of Brinkmann's minimalist techno. However, Vladislav Delay (who also has a great album on the New Zealand label Sigma) does appear to be doing more with the digital metronome in sprinkling cavernous dub and frozen atmospheres, falling closer to the sound of Plastikman or some of the Chain Reaction kids.

DELETIST, THE s/t (Entartete Kunst) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Deletist (aka Bitter Pie) is a member of the SF Entartete Kunst arts collective. While conveying the group's socio-political ideas, she also makes some beautifully aquatic sounding music. Using both acoustic and electronic sources, she blends her dark processed experimentations with airier, delicate melodic lines. The latter is particularly notable on tracks like "Sans Toi" and the "The Lure Of War" in which waves of obscure/effected vocals flow in and around tapped woodblock-y rhythms, acoustic string, keyboard or harpsichord (?) sounds, programmed beats, distorted hiss and sputters. There's also a number of heavier passages that bring to mind the Cold Metal Perfection album by Atari Teenage Riot's Nic Endo. The result is a sharp, effective contrast between The Deletist's enveloping, almost-soothing tracks and her moodier, more abrasive ones.
MPEG Stream: "Sans Toi"
MPEG Stream: "The Lure Of War"

DELETIST, THE / DROWNING DOG split (Entartete Kunst) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A new split single by two artists from the Bay Area Entartete Kunst collective - a diverse group of outspoken artists who address social and political issues via word and sound. As they state it, they produce "no-field electronica, radical literature and propaganda that promotes positive social change". The Deletist offers the looming "Americans Eye Aeroplanes" filled with shadowy effected strings (note: this track also appears on her new album). On the flipside, Drowning Dog's "Crimson" is a track of sampled spoken word with an ominous backdrop of tactile drones and digital bleep.

DELPHIUM Nobody Sees The Monster In The Light Of Day... (Moloko) cd 16.98
Delphium's first recordings situated themselves along the Scorn/Ice/God axis of devastating, electronic dub fused with bleak isolationist atmospheres. The overall darkness remains for their latest album, but it's been jacked up with time-stretched drum & bass breaks, angular 8-bit bleeping, and synthetic strings manuvering through all sorts of minor chords. "Nobody Sees The Monster In The Light Of Day..." wants to be a bad-ass/industrial strength companion to things like Springheel Jack or Chemical Brothers, but doesn't quite have all of the grooves down right. A strange hybrid.

DEMDIKE STARE Elemental (Modern Love) 2cd 26.00
We would have made Demdike Stare's sprawling quadruple vinyl 12"s epic Elemental our Record Of The Week had it not been for a few things. One, the four records were released over the course of several months, two, the combined cost of all those records ended up being nearly $100, and three, we knew it was eventually gonna come out on cd. So now that the cd version is here, we can finally make this twisted hauntological epic our Record Of The Week, which is great news for everybody, EXCEPT maybe crazy completists, who will be dismayed (or perhaps perversely thrilled) to discover, that not only does the double cd version tack on a bunch of extra tracks (nearly 33 minutes worth!!), but it also features alternate versions of some of the tracks from the 12"s. So it's really up to the folks who already shelled out for all four 12" if they want to buy it all over again, but for everybody else, we can't recommend this highly enough. More on the bonus tracks at the end, but let's talk about Elemental proper first...
Elemental was probably one of the most anticipated records around here recently, the sprawling epic from hauntological duo Demdike Stare, a four part songsuite, Chrysanthe, Violetta, Rose and Iris, the duo's new sound seriously dark, much more industrial sounding, the vibe blackened, the sounds layered and way more dense.
Chrysanthe opens with "Mephisto's Lament", which is all foghorn buzz, deep whirring drones, keening high end melodic fragments, murky buried rhythms, peppered with creepy synth squelches, and when the song gets rolling, it's almost like a hauntological SUNNO))), the same sort of roiling downtuned heaviness, but here stretched into something a bit more sinister and abstract, almost like the soundtrack for some subterranean factory, all rumble and clang, all shadows and very little light. "Kommunion" is up next, a lush looped slow build, all repeated piano motifs wreathed in chanted vocals, and all blurred into fuzzy soft focus swells, the sound suddenly expanding into a blisteringly blown out in-the-red buzz, a swoonsome melody hidden in there somewhere, the sound slipping from caustic and crunchy to blurred and murky, before switching gears completely, lacing a sprawl of staticky hiss to a skeletal trip hop pulse, extra percussion provided by found sounds, clatter and crunch, atonal piano, all woven into a strange almost Art Of Noise sounding beat. Then comes "Unction", a super creepy stretch of undulating lowend, demarcated by a strange sonar ping rhythm, one that is quickly augmented by a twisted effected croaking frog skitter, and another beat seemingly assembled from the sounds of workman scraping and dragging, a crunchy noisy lurching groove, that is soon overtaken by another cloud of reverberating pianos, which finishes off the side with a coda of swirling minimal washed out thrum.
The second part, Violetta, begins with "Mnemosyne", a blissed out sun dappled bit of witch house-y skitter, all hazy and gauzy and dreamlike, until a sudden burst of clattery noisy rhythmic crunch changes everything, and then assembles itself into a strange lumbering cacophonous beat, the sound eventually underpinned by some Eastern style folk music, which drifts briefly, before that clattery beat crashes back in, now accompanied by that Eastern melody, sounding like a weirdly stuttery bit of gypsy electro. Which leads directly into "In The Wake Of Chronos", which opens with some distant mysterious melodies, some sprinkler like textures, some super minimal skeletal skitter, and some seriously deep bass thrum, the minimal drift soon peppered with short sharp bursts of metallic crunch, clipped bits of hiss and skree sculpted into a sort-of-beat, also soon joined by tinkling melodies, wreathed in echo, the sound gradually expanding, and becoming more and more lush, that beat drifting off, leaving the various other sounds to shimmer and hover ethereally over a blackened backdrop of blurred hum. And finally, Violetta finishes off with the title track, a soft cacophony of pounded piano, the chords allowed to ring out and slowly fade, all subtly warped, an ominous sort of avant classical doom, laced with little sonic squiggles, and wreathed in clouds of hiss and static, soon those little squiggles transform into beats, a wild chaotic looped rhythm, which is strangely at odds with that funereal piano, still pounding away in the background, a twisted bit of hauntological IDM, the piano subtly replaced by a hazy sprawl of synth simmer, which is left to fade out once the beat drops off, a thick swirling final movement, washed out and woozy.
Part three is Rose, and begins with a churning industrial chug, grinding through a woozy washed out haze, wreathed in a distant ethereal vocal drift, looped and mesmerizing, the sound is most definitely epic and cinematic, the sound laced with bits of clatter and crunch, and than BAM, the track is transformed into a gorgeous stretch of Middle Eastern string laden groove, all wrapped around that opening industrial rhythm, sounding like a more dense, more psychedelic Muslimgauze! The second track is more murky and dubbed out and spacey, anchored by a muted slo-mo house beat, buried in the murk, the beats wreathed in soft metallic billows, the surrounding sounds swirling dreamily, hazy melodic streaks and blurred background shimmers, clouds of tripped out drift, through which that industrial flecked rhythm soldiers druggily on.
The third track begins as a gauzy, ethereal thrum, that seems to hover wraithlike, before suddenly in drops an impossibly dense and heavy ribcage rattling bass pulse, accompanied by cool spare tabla like rhythms, that Muslimgauze vibe is definitely huge here too, a keening high end sine wave tone flutters over fragmented chunks of dubstep bass wobble, all drifting in the sonic ether.
Finally comes part four, Iris, which might be the grimmest and darkest of the bunch. Opening with buzzing cellos, and swirling blackened drones, which are soon joined by a plodding doomy rhythm, laced with streaks of prismatic feedback and hauntingly melodic harmonies, all the whole in the background, textures and layers softly swirl and undulate, the result is definitely creepy and cinematic, but also a bit blackened and industrial. The second track dials it down even further, unfurling a hushed, blurred thrum, a wash of hazy shimmer, a dubbed out murk laced with mysterious industrial percolations, reverbed clatter, and strange squelches, like a field recording of an old abandoned office building with all the air conditioners and printers and computers whirring away, a creepy disembodied hum which is soon enveloped by crunchy caustic high end, keening shards of buzz and skree, growing ever more dense and noisy. Next up some surfacing sonar pings, over a skittery, skeletal beat, shuffling through clouds of effects swirl, droned out bass warble, and more of that unidentified background shimmer, the sound is cavernous and hypnotic, the background sounds gradually solidifying into sheets of chordal whir, all wreathed in a cowl of soft buzzy sonic gauze, all the while that rhythm churns relentlessly, and that bass thrum stretches out into a strangely undulating low end drone.
Obviously, that should be more than enough to sell you on it, but folks who are after the bonus tracks will not be dissappointed, more than a half hour's worth minutes of extra music, six tracks, the first of which, "New Use For Old Circuits", opens up the set with a blast of psychedelic noise, before oozing into something much more liquid and murky, a sort of subaquatic space dub, a little bit like Chain Reaction style 'heroin house', but instead of hearing the music through a wall, we're hearing it through the thin steel walls of a submarine, stranded in the inky blackness of the deepest sea. "Shade" is a short stretch of gauzey high end shimmer, a haze of blurred melody and buried plink plonk piano, while "10th Floor Stairwell" is a fantastic chunk of thrumming low end pulsations, a minimal blackened drone that slwoly blossoms into something more tonally colorful, eventually becoming a sort of blackbuzz raga. "Metamorphosis" takes a field recording of voices and wraps it in soft swirls of static and tape hiss, soon introducing more of that impossible low end, the voices locked in a chant-like loop, while that skull rattling bass tone, pulses ominously, eventually introducing some throbbing 4 on the floor house music, but all murky and muddy, as if blasting in an upstairs apartment, just the rhythm oozing though the walls, a darkly propuslive slab of late night housemusic murk. "All This Is Ours (Sunrise)", unfurls soft swells of new age synth shimmer, a crystalline drift that soon sinks into a thick layed morass of crumbling bass-synth squelch and gradually intensifying distorted crackle, before finishing off in a squall of soft noise and sc-fi FX swirl, and finally, "We Have Already Died", strings some tribal skeletal skitter into a looped almost Muslimgauze sounding groove, all draped over an ominous sprawl of post industrial hum and layered swirls of blurred ghost-grey ambience.
Packaged much like the last Demdike Stare, in an oversized six panel digi-sleeve, with original Andy Votel artwork, mirroring the artwork from the original quadruple gatefold sleeve that housed all four 12"s...
MPEG Stream: "Mephisto's Lament"
MPEG Stream: "Kommunion"
MPEG Stream: "Mnemosyne"
MPEG Stream: "Erosion Of Mediocrity"
MPEG Stream: "Dauerlinie"
MPEG Stream: "New Use For Old Circuits"

DEMDIKE STARE Elemental 4: Iris (Modern Love) 12" 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here it is, the final installment in Demdike Stare's sprawling new hauntological epic, Elemental, split into 4 separate 12"s, the first three already sold out and out of print, as this one will be too shortly. Obviously, if you bought the first one, which came in the super deluxe Andy Votel designed quadruple gatefold sleeve, designed to hold all 4 records, you're gonna want/need this one too, but like we said with the last volume, the record do work pretty well on their own.
This fourth one, titled Iris (they're all titled after different flowers), might be the grimmest and darkest of the bunch. Opening with buzzing cellos, and swirling blackened drones, which are soon joined by a plodding doomy rhythm, laced with streaks of prismatic feedback and hauntingly melodic harmonies, all the whole in the background, textures and layers softly swirl and undulate, the result is definitely creep and cinematic, but also a bit blackened and industrial. The second track on the A side dials it down even further, unfurling a hushed, blurred thrum, a wash of hazy shimmer, a dubbed out murk laced with mysterious industrial percolations, reverbed clatter, and strange squelches, like a field recording of an old abandoned office building with all the air conditioners and printers and computers whirring away, a creepy disembodied hum which is soon enveloped by crunchy caustic high end, keening shards of buzz and skree, growing ever more dense and noisy...
The flipside introduces sonar pings, over a skittery, skeletal beat, shuffling through clouds of effects swirl, droned out bass warble, and more of that unidentified background shimmer, the sound is cavernous and hypnotic, the background sounds gradually solidifying into sheets of chordal whir, all wreathed in a cowl of soft buzzy sonic gauze, all the while that rhythm churns relentlessly, and that bass thrum stretches out into a strangely undulating low end drone.
CRAZY LIMITED of course, already sold out, so these are the last copies we'll be able to get. Comes in another Andy Votel designed sleeve, pressed on blue vinyl, and something weird this time (we didn't notice with the other records), the run out groove is on the OUTside, with the music toward the center, as if it was a 10" with extra empty groves wrapped around the circumference, etched of course with a mysterious message as well...

DEMDIKE STARE Liberation Through Hearing (Modern Love) 12" 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Part two, in Demdike Stare's planned trilogy of 12"s, a comprehensive hauntological study in sound. For those new to Demdike Stare, we tend to fall back on this succinct description: black metal dubstep, or sometimes this one: a blackened dub record on Chain Reaction. Either one should give you an idea of the sort of dark sonic energy these guys conjure up. Thick claustrophobic atmospheres, skeletal rhythms, thick throbbing bass, skittering dubbed out beats, disembodied voices, all woven into a swirling organic mass of dub flecked blacktronica, the sound seeming to grow ever darker, as evidenced here on part two, which is thematically related to the Book Of The Dead, and focuses on the space between death and rebirth. Rendered in greys and blacks, in buzz and rumble, beginning with some woozy late night Portishead style downtempo trip hop, low slung looped skitter and swell, lush swirls of cinematic strings, ghostly choirs, a softly lurching rhythmic stutter, a deep cavernous throb, sounding like a ghostly stripped down dubstep. Which gives way to heaving expanses of black tidal thrum, muted scrapings, all wound into hypnotic pulses of dark energy, laced with distant chiming melodies, a haunting, gauzey faded memory in sound, drawn from radios with dying batteries and gradually slowing turntables, a soft focus symphony of creaks and rumbles and blurred low end shimmer. The A-side finishes with a swoonsome smear of looped ambience, like a field recording of an after hours nightclub captured in a temporal loop, warm an druggy and fuzzy, strangely hypnotic and rhythmic, totally trancelike, a creeped out wasteland soundscape, mysterious and chilling, which is eventually augmented by thick slabs of corrosive low end, and heavily reverbed industrial clatter, which eventually emerges into a strange sea of crackle and hum, of warbly rhythms, chiming bells and distorted crunch, sounding a bit like Jeck spinning Pole record, abstract and spaced out and hauntingly lovely.
The B-side opens with thick streaks of ghostly mesmer, all washed out and slowly decaying, underpinned by thick swaths of dubstep style bass wobble, but muted and smoothed into soft smears of undulating blackness. Subtle skitter surfaces, as do distant voices, the sound getting more and more dubby, a bit like a Caretaker record on Chain Reaction, that sort of hazy abstract drift, but anchored to barely there beats, the buzz building to an intense coda, all the while wrapped in throbbing woofer punishing low end.
Some super stripped down rhythms are laid over a swirling ghostly backdrop of fragmented melodies and a buried house music thump, tangled and blurred strings wrap the proceedings in a veil of softened reverb and subtle echo, the almost Eastern sounding pulse and swell reminding us a bit of the late great Muslimgauze.
Finally, the record collapses into some sort of melancholic sonic reverie, a hushed ambient outro, a tranquil sea of soft swirling swells, clouds of echo and reverb, a dreamy darkness, a blackened pop ambience, laced with muted streaks of fuzz and hiss, but all gradually sinking into Demdike Stare's endless trancelike billowing blackness.
LIMITED TO 700 COPIES!!

DEMDIKE STARE Tryptych (Modern Love) 3cd 28.00
Finally, Demdike Stare's dark and dizzying, murky and mysterious hauntological black dub triptych, previously available via three separate slabs of vinyl, is now available on cd, gathered up into a single, nicely packaged triple disc set. And loaded with bonus tracks (nearly 40 minutes extra all told), which makes this pretty much a shoe-in for Record Of The Week...
Demdike Stare are one of the few bands who seem to be a unanimous aQ favorite, everyone here LOVES these guys, and judging on how many of the various lps we've sold, everyone out there does too. Which makes sense, when you consider, DS basically create a kind of black metal dubstep, or as we (and others) like to describe it, a blackened dub record on Chain Reaction. Either one should give you an idea of the sort of dark sonic energy these guys conjure up. Thick claustrophobic atmospheres, skeletal rhythms, thick throbbing bass, skittering dubbed out beats, disembodied voices, stuttering minimal sort-of-dubstep, looped and processed African folk music (??), swirling glitched out electronics, deeeep pulsing dronemusic, reverb drenched post-rock-via-techno skitter, all woven into a swirling organic mass of dub flecked blacktronica, dark and sinister and dubby, and weirdly house-y, sprawling and epic and creepy and so totally sweeping and cinematic.
The first disc, Forest Of Evil, was originally two sidelong tracks, the first starts out all deep shimmer, with a softly melodic buzz, spidery acoustic guitars, long stretches of billowy black ambience, bits of shuffly jazzy drift, peppered with thick shards of buzzy fractured dub bass and Kompakt style skitter, giving way to glistening late night techno, whirling pop ambient, and blissed out ethereal dronemusic, while the second is darkly dramatic, epic and majestic, like some lost Italian soundtrack, big drums, orchestral and ominous, looped samples, blurred melodic smears over deep pulsing bass, whirling clouds of cymbal shimmer, insectoid FX buzz, jumbled atonal melodies (hints of Bernard Herrmann), the vibe tense and haunting, with some dubstep bass buzz, that slowly dissolves into a Caretaker like outro, all layered strings wreathed in hiss and crackle, hazy and druggy and divine. The bonus track "Quiet Sky" conjures up just what the title implies, a quiet sky, but a dark, bruised midnight sky, flecked with stars, soft swirls of metallic shimmer like gauzy clouds, the song gradually developing a strange minimal hiccuppy rhythm, underpinning the deep melancholic swells, a strange almost industrial tinged bit of pop ambience.
The second disc, Liberation Through Hearing, is thematically related to the Book Of The Dead, and focuses on the space between death and rebirth. Rendered in greys and blacks, in buzz and rumble, beginning with some woozy late night Portishead style downtempo trip hop, low slung looped skitter and swell, lush swirls of cinematic strings, ghostly choirs, a softly lurching rhythmic stutter, a deep cavernous throb, sounding like a ghostly stripped down dubstep. Which gives way to heaving expanses of black tidal thrum, muted scrapings, all wound into hypnotic pulses of dark energy, laced with distant chiming melodies, a haunting, gauzey faded memory in sound, drawn from radios with dying batteries and gradually slowing turntables, a soft focus symphony of creaks and rumbles and blurred low end shimmer. The first half finishes with a swoonsome smear of looped ambience, like a field recording of an after hours nightclub captured in a temporal loop, warm and druggy and fuzzy, strangely hypnotic and rhythmic, totally trancelike, a creeped out wasteland soundscape, mysterious and chilling, which is eventually augmented by thick slabs of corrosive low end, and heavily reverbed industrial clatter, which eventually emerges into a strange sea of crackle and hum, of warbly rhythms, chiming bells and distorted crunch, sounding a bit like Jeck spinning Pole record, abstract and spaced out and hauntingly lovely.
The second half opens with thick streaks of ghostly mesmer, all washed out and slowly decaying, underpinned by thick swaths of dubstep style bass wobble, but muted and smoothed into soft smears of undulating blackness. Subtle skitter surfaces, as do distant voices, the sound getting more and more dubby, a bit like a Caretaker record on Chain Reaction, that sort of hazy abstract drift, but anchored to barely there beats, the buzz building to an intense coda, all the while wrapped in throbbing woofer punishing low end.
Some super stripped down rhythms are laid over a swirling ghostly backdrop of fragmented melodies and a buried house music thump, tangled and blurred strings wrap the proceedings in a veil of softened reverb and subtle echo, the almost Eastern sounding pulse and swell reminding us a bit of the late great Muslimgauze.
Finally, the record collapses into some sort of melancholic sonic reverie, a hushed ambient outro, a tranquil sea of soft swirling swells, clouds of echo and reverb, a dreamy darkness, a blackened bit of blurpop minimalism, laced with muted streaks of fuzz and hiss, but all gradually sinking into Demdike Stare's endless trancelike billowing blackness.
The bonus tracks on this one (3 of them, clocking in at nearly 20 minutes) continue the record's surreal sonic journey, spidery rhythms, and chiming melodies are looped and layered over a simple pulsing propulsive groove, the whole thing slightly warped and warbled, as if recorded onto an old piece of tape, and played back on some dusty old ramshackle tape player, ghostly, but surprisingly playful at first, before slipping into some seriously creepy, deeeeeep droning rumbles, wreathed in shimmering solar winds, softly billowing sheets of hiss and static, eventually shedding all of that, leaving just a thick morass of softly undulating low end, shot through with a slo-mo house music pulse, only to have the hiss and whir return, this time relegated to the background, until the track finishes surprisingly with what sounds like a bit of African style funkiness, before disappearing in a brief cloud of swirling hushed buzz.
Finally, the third disc, Voices Of Dust, unveils the Tryptych's final movement, opening with "Black Sun", a short stretch of some super minimal electronic dronemusic, all layered overtones and strange sonic shadings, which gives way to the chopped and looped and stuttery vocal driven "Hashshashin Chant" which takes tribal drums and traditional folk music vocals, and twists them all up, and tangles those elements with strange percussion, industrial buzz, the whole thing a dizzying chunk of hypno-electronic collaged psychedelic mashup weirdness, before slipping into the much murkier and minimal "Repository Of Light", which unfurls like some sort of Hawkwind-meets-Pole spaced out digi-dub drift. And so it goes, the sound flitting between impossibly realized miniature sound worlds, cinematic electronic ambience, ominously pulsing low end rumble, hazy glitchy dubbed out Jeckian smears, super blown out electronic big beat bombast, almost industrial sounding avant big band abstraction, roiling corrosive soft noise, bellowing foghorn-like melodies, warped and woozy scratchy old lp warblescapes and beyond.
The bonus tracks are the perfect, hazy, ghostly coda, the first, a warm, whispery bit of keening abstract melody and thick pulsing thrum, all very washed out and space-y and dreamlike, a constantly vibrating living thing, a throbbing organic expanse of minimal space drone psychedelic ambience, until finally, the whole disc is laid to rest with 9 minutes of heaving, glacial, metallic creep and creak, wreathed in record crackle, the final sounds unfurl like some old dusty Tim Hecker 45 spinning at 16rpm, mournful moaning melodies, buried rhythmic thumps, shimmery sitar like buzz, all hazy and smeared and lysergic and mysteriously murky, the perfect slipping-into-darkness, leaving-this-world-behind finale...
Gorgeously evocative, creepy and cinematic, abstract and otherworldly, druggy and dreamy, fantastically haunting and utterly spine tinglingly stunning. And thus, absolutely recommended.
Packaged in a super swank, oversized, hardcover book style digipak.
Matt's addendum: "Really feeling this collection of tunes these days. Love blasting this spooky dub-collage REAL loud in the shop! Thee neighbors get upset, but they need to chill cuz it has to be MASSIVE!"
MPEG Stream: "Forest Of Evil (Dusk)"
MPEG Stream: "Caged In Stammheim"
MPEG Stream: "Eurydice"
MPEG Stream: "Regolith"
MPEG Stream: "Hashashin Chant"
MPEG Stream: "Repository Of Light"
MPEG Stream: "Rain And Shame"

DEMDIKE STARE Voices Of Dust (Modern Love) 12" 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally part three in Demdike Stare's strange and wonderful hauntological black dub triptych, a logical continuation of both Forest Of Evil and Liberation Through Hearing, a sprawling twisted landscape of sound, from lurching stuttering minimal sort-of-dubstep to looped and processed African folk music (??) to swirling glitched out electronics, to throbbing pulsing deeeeeep dronemusic, to reverb drenched post-rock-via-Chain-Reaction skitter to... well wherever these cracked sonic alchemists decide to dream up.
The record opens with "Black Sun", a short stretch of some super minimal electronic dronemusic, all layered overtones and strange sonic shadings, which gives way to the chopped and looped and stuttery vocal driven "Hashshashin Chant" which takes tribal drums and traditional folk music vocals, and twists them all up, and tangling those elements with strange percussion, industrial buzz, the whole thing a dizzying chunk of hypno-electronic collaged psychedelic mashup weirdness, before slipping into the much murkier and minimal "Repository Of Light", which unfurls like some sort of Hawkwind-meets-Pole spaced out digi-dub drift.
And so it goes, the sound flitting between impossibly realized miniature sound worlds, cinematic electronic ambience, ominously pulsing low end rumble, hazy glitchy dubbed out Jeckian smears, super blown out electronic big beat bombast, almost industrial sounding avant big band abstraction, roiling corrosive soft noise, bellowing foghorn-like melodies, warped and woozy scratchy old lp warblescapes and beyond.
So gorgeously evocative, creepy and cinematic, abstract and otherworldly, druggy and dreamy, fantastically haunting and spine tinglingly stunning.
Rumor is all three lps are getting reissued as a cd box sometime next year, but the vinyl tends to disappear pretty quick, so act fast...
MPEG Stream: "Hashashin Chant"
MPEG Stream: "Repository Of Light"
MPEG Stream: "Rain And Shame"

DEMONOLOGISTS Sermons Of Death And Eternal Damnation (Waves Of Decay) cassette 8.98
With a name like Demonologists and a title like Sermons Of Death And Eternal Damnation, you probably already have a good idea of what sort of sonic sickness these guys have in store for you. And you'd be right.
A bleak, noisy, super distorted, atmospheric bit of blown out, crumbling, industrial doom laden trudge and lumber, the sky a black swirl of metallic crunch and shrieking feedback, what must be guitars are transformed into heaving avalanches of blacknoise, the voices (if they are voices) just add more chaos to the already confusional din, streaks of melodies and a buried slow motion propulsion drag the sound like some blackened carcass, being wheeled into the bowels of hell. Huge shards of moaning melody surface now and again, adding a strange sort of cinematic gravitas, but most of the subtle stuff is swallowed up by the harsh churning crush and pummel on the surface, heavily layered and super texture, so blown out and in the red, the tape gets overloaded, and the sound becomes strangely warm and muted before collapsing again into paroxysms of skree and scrape and howl and buzz.
It's like 10 different black metal records being played at once, and then being remixed by some Japanoise DJ's, the speeds shifting, the tempos dragging and threatening to spill into oozing black puddles of sound, this is definitely rough stuff, but like the best rough stuff, this is not just pedal masturbation or white noise punishment, although to be fair, it is punishing, there is plenty of white noise (and pink, and brown, and BLACK) and heck, there's probably some pedal abuse, but it's all whipped up into a serious speaker melting frenzy, the sort of sound that will definitely appeal to students of the school of Merzbow and Masonna, but also, folks into the noisier and more abrasive end of the black spectrum like Gnaw Their Tongues, BSBC, Aderlating, Alkerdeel, Black Mayonnaise, Grief No Absolution, Endless Humiliation, etc.
Sweet packaging, silver ink on black card stock. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, we have less than ten!

DEMONOLOGISTS / DEATHSTENCH Incantations In Dead Tongues (Black Goat) cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest chunk of grim blacknoise from Ohio duo Demonologists, comes in the form of this super limited split cd-r, with the mysterious Deathstench. We first heard from Demonologists on a cassette from Waves Of Decay, and we described that record as sounding like ten different black metal records all being played at once and then remixed by a Japanoise DJ. Which should tell you all you need to know, brutal, harsh, intense, black buzz brutality. On their half of this split, Demonologists start off each track with some black ambient drift or some creepy cinematic dronemusic, only to eventually explode into full on blacknoise, an avalanche of speaker shredding, ear piercing Merzbow/Masonna style fury, only in this case, buried in there somewhere are buzzing riffs and shrieked vokills, and if you can brave the first few minutes, the songs tend to open up, peeling back some of the noise, revealing all the murky weirdness inside and underneath, whether that's wild squalls of fractured effects, surprising shards of jagged melody, or just stretches of black metal buzz. Headphones seem the way to go, this is the sort of all out aural assault that in a room with regular speakers, just sounds like a vacuum cleaner symphony, but strap on those cans, and you're plunged into a blacknoise abyss, a skull caving collision between Incapacitants and Wrath Of The Weak, a whirling black buzz dervish of unparalleled proportions. Metalheads tread carefully, one must have iron ears as well as a black soul to truly survive this sonic onslaught!
Deathstench start their side off with a creepy sample and some sick, gurgling low end buzz, a churning black expanse of downtuned heaviness and murky oozing creep, the sound super distorted and on the verge of crumbling to pieces, textural and heavily layered, black and black but surprisingly listenable. Which is how these guys roll, balancing the relentless blown out pummel of Demonologists, Deathstench are a bit more subtle with their bleak, grim, abject soundscaping, creating looped landscapes of industrial whir, and buzzy black drones, of machine like rhythms buried in the sonic murk and mire, wreathed in haunting drifting melodies, and swirling black ambience, finally finishing things off with a 15+ minute horrorscape, beginning with some hushed ultra minimal shimmer, but quickly blossoming into something much more evocative and sinister, distant demonic vokills, disembodied voices, churning black low end, lots of spaced out drift, super cinematic and downright scary.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!! With full color glossy artwork!
MPEG Stream: DEMONOLOGISTS "Blood Soaked Frequencies"
MPEG Stream: DEMONOLOGISTS "Corpse Orchard"
MPEG Stream: DEATHSTENCH "Wivesblood"

DEMONS Frozen Fog (Aryan Asshole) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yet another in an almost comically long line of Wolf Eyes related project (do these guys do anything but make noise all the time?!) this one is a duo made up of Nate Young of Wolf Eyes and his similarly synth obsessed pal Steve Kenney of Werewolves, who for Demons, didn't so much as play and compose and rehearse and perform, as just let their wonky damaged malfunctioning synthesizers play themselves and then capture the results. And to be honest, it's a bit hard for us to believe this record was mostly generated by chance, it's too composed sounding, too pretty, too good actually.
Two gorgeous extended lowendscapes, dark and ominous, muted and percussive, looped and cyclical sounding, lots of bassy thrum, pulsing and creeping, streaked with high end shimmer and strange alien effects. Very dramatic and cinematic, a whirring dark ambience with all sorts of subtle melody and tonal color. The B side is similar, but shifts into the upper register, birdlike trills, swooping sweeping feedback, chimes and bells all smeared into a dreamy high end drift, very alien and otherworldly but surprisingly dreamy and lovely.
Super striking naked lady / horned hairy beast / desolate mountainscape cover art too!

DEMONS Frozen Fog (AA Records) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This dense slab of vinyl violence, now available on cd-r... Yet another in an almost comically long line of Wolf Eyes related project (do these guys do anything but make noise all the time?!) this one is a duo made up of Nate Young of Wolf Eyes and his similarly synth obsessed pal Steve Kenney of Werewolves, who for Demons, didn't so much as play and compose and rehearse and perform, as just let their wonky damaged malfunctioning synthesizers play themselves and then capture the results. And to be honest, it's a bit hard for us to believe this record was mostly generated by chance, it's too composed sounding, too pretty, too good actually.
Two gorgeous extended lowendscapes, dark and ominous, muted and percussive, looped and cyclical sounding, lots of bassy thrum, pulsing and creeping, streaked with high end shimmer and strange alien effects. Very dramatic and cinematic, a whirring dark ambience with all sorts of subtle melody and tonal color. The second half is similar, but shifts into the upper register, birdlike trills, swooping sweeping feedback, chimes and bells all smeared into a dreamy high end drift, very alien and otherworldly but surprisingly dreamy and lovely.
Super striking naked lady / horned hairy beast / desolate mountainscape cover art too!
MPEG Stream: "Frozen Fog One"
MPEG Stream: "Frozen Fog Two"

DEMONS Invisible Darkness (AA Records) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MPEG Stream: "Empty Being"
MPEG Stream: "Self Possession"

DEMONS / VERTONEN split (CIP) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

DEMOULIN, JULIEN & IA The Bay (Basses Frequences) cd 11.98
Taking inspiration from the mysteries and might of the San Francisco Bay, this collaborative effort is authored by two hitherto unknown ambient engineers. With its deep channels and strong currents, the San Francisco Bay is a principal part of the oceanographic and meteorological mechanics that give rise to the region's temperate summers and mild winters. For the most part, the weather patterns are very consistent and become invisible even to those of us who have lived here for decades. But, when those ocean and air currents push the fog bank through the Golden Gate Bridge and around the islands in the Bay, the visual impact (not to mention the physical drop in temperature) can generate responses of awe, transcendence, fear - or just the common lamentation that you forgot to bring an extra layer of clothing....
IA (aka Alex Copeland) resided in Oakland for some time, but Julien Demoulin is a Belgian artist and may have personally experienced the San Francisco Bay in his travels. The collaborative meditation on the San Francisco Bay takes the form of extended drone and dark ambient passages, which easily present themselves as sonic equivalents to the dramatic convergences of land, air, and sea. Thrumming harmonics collapse into lapping washes of soft noise, abstracted field recordings ground brightened arcs of ghostly melodies which shimmer like the flecks of sunlight that rake across the fog bank in the twilight hours, and the numerous drones take up shadowy isolationist strategies. After some 35 minutes of tone color shifting from black to grey to blue with a dreamtime pacing, Demoulin and Copeland snap into a lovely coda, which begins with a strum across an autoharp and leads into an interlude for melancholy flutes swimming in thick reverb. It's a lovely way to end the record, with all of its comparisons to Biosphere, Thomas Koner, and the Mystery Sea label.
MPEG Stream: "The Bay 1"
MPEG Stream: "The Bay 2"

DENNIS DUCK Goes Disco (Poo-Bah) cd 14.98
Awesome slab of early turntablism, from a member of the legendary LAFMS, the Los Angeles Free Music Society, a loose group of artists, writers and musicians active in the seventies and eighties. Dennis Duck, aka Mehaffey originally released this disc as a cassette tape, limited to 20 copies, each one hand decorated and signed.
So here we are almost 30 years later, and heck if this doesn't still sound amazing. Raw and simple and ultra primitive turntable manipulation, none of the techniques here are mind blowing, in fact, odds are most of them are something we all tried with our own record players at one time or another. Lots of changing the pitch, placing the record on the spindle so it wobbles up and down, placing a seven inch atop a 12" and letting the needle be bumped back every time it touched the seven inch, adjusting the anti-skating setting to cause the record to skip or the needle to jump, it all comes down to two things, the choice of records, and the random behavior of the needle and the records. The records Duck employs are fantastic, weird and wonderful, strange children's records, bizarre jazz, spoken word as well as a handful of discs that end up so fragmented and transformed it's hard to say what they were pre-fuckery. And while some of these tracks don't do a whole lot other than play at the wrong speed, or skip haphazardly, others DO, their bits and fragments looped into strange rhythms and bizarre arrangements, something weird and new and totally mesmerizing.
Our favorite track might just be the nearly 8 minute "One O'Clock Jump", a dense swirling assemblage of strange percussion, jazzy horns, sped up and skipped into incredibly complex patterns, a few minutes in it's difficult to discern the various sounds, or even remember what it is you were listening to, it sounds like some primitive lo-fi lost piece by Reich or Riley, or Lubomyr Melnyk's Wave-Lox performed on turntable instead of piano, swirling and spinning and skipping and looping and hiccuping and blurring into impossible patterns and textures. Hard to believe that it could possibly be just a turntable and a couple records, it sounds like some modern processed piece done on a computer and -treated- to sound like an old piece of vinyl. A few other lengthy tracks near the end of the disc explore similar territory, weaving dense sprawling flurries of loops and skips, and those tend to be our favorites, although the shorter ones do have their own magic, leaning more toward the brief and playful, percussively skipping little sonic vignettes between the longer stretched out skipscapes. Awesome!
Definitely for fans of Marclay, Jeck, Strotter Inst, Yoshihide, Bastien, Brinkmann, Tetriault , Gum, Saule, Cordier, Loop Orchestra, the recently listed Prehistoric Fuckin' Moron(s) and other like minded turntable tinkerers...
MPEG Stream: "Intro "
MPEG Stream: "Do The Fence"
MPEG Stream: "4xie"
MPEG Stream: "Nice Shave"

DENNIS DUCK Goes Disco (Poo-Bah) 2lp 29.00
Awesome slab of early turntablism, from a member of the legendary LAFMS, the Los Angeles Free Music Society, a loose group of artists, writers and musicians active in the seventies and eighties. Dennis Duck, aka Mehaffey originally released this disc as a cassette tape, limited to 20 copies, each one hand decorated and signed.
So here we are almost 30 years later, and heck if this doesn't still sound amazing. Raw and simple and ultra primitive turntable manipulation, none of the techniques here are mind blowing, in fact, odds are most of them are something we all tried with our own record players at one time or another. Lots of changing the pitch, placing the record on the spindle so it wobbles up and down, placing a seven inch atop a 12" and letting the needle be bumped back every time it touched the seven inch, adjusting the anti-skating setting to cause the record to skip or the needle to jump, it all comes down to two things, the choice of records, and the random behavior of the needle and the records. The records Duck employs are fantastic, weird and wonderful, strange children's records, bizarre jazz, spoken word as well as a handful of discs that end up so fragmented and transformed it's hard to say what they were pre-fuckery. And while some of these tracks don't do a whole lot other than play at the wrong speed, or skip haphazardly, others DO, their bits and fragments looped into strange rhythms and bizarre arrangements, something weird and new and totally mesmerizing.
Our favorite track might just be the nearly 8 minute "One O'Clock Jump", a dense swirling assemblage of strange percussion, jazzy horns, sped up and skipped into incredibly complex patterns, a few minutes in it's difficult to discern the various sounds, or even remember what it is you were listening to, it sounds like some primitive lo-fi lost piece by Reich or Riley, or Lubomyr Melnyk's Wave-Lox performed on turntable instead of piano, swirling and spinning and skipping and looping and hiccuping and blurring into impossible patterns and textures. Hard to believe that it could possibly be just a turntable and a couple records, it sounds like some modern processed piece done on a computer and -treated- to sound like an old piece of vinyl. A few other lengthy tracks near the end of the disc explore similar territory, weaving dense sprawling flurries of loops and skips, and those tend to be our favorites, although the shorter ones do have their own magic, leaning more toward the brief and playful, percussively skipping little sonic vignettes between the longer stretched out skipscapes. Awesome!
Definitely for fans of Marclay, Jeck, Strotter Inst, Yoshihide, Bastien, Brinkmann, Tetriault , Gum, Saule, Cordier, Loop Orchestra, the recently listed Prehistoric Fuckin' Moron(s) and other like minded turntable tinkerers...
MPEG Stream: "Intro "
MPEG Stream: "Do The Fence"
MPEG Stream: "4xie"
MPEG Stream: "Nice Shave"

DENVER'S NECK, NATE Live (Rock Is Hell) 3 x 3"cd-r 15.98
Those of you who flipped for Denver's recent insane and insanely packaged No One Is Coming To Help You deluxe screen printed lp (we have a few left!!) will most definitely want to miss out on this ULTRA limited triple 3" cd-r set of live and not live recordings. The first two discs were recorded while Denver and his 'Neck were on tour with the Dirty Three. The third disc is new studio stuff. For those of you unfamiliar with Nate Denver, imagine, every band you liked in high school, every comic book you have ever read, every fantasy movie you've ever seen featuring either dragons or wizards or both, some skateboards, a lot of heavy metal, death metal to be specific, some beautiful folk songs, spikes, elves, banjos, Nintendos and anything else you remember fondly on your convoluted path to where you are NOW, all chopped up and blended into an impossibly catchy, goofy, funny, pretty, heavy, folk metal ultraviolent goofball spazz rock mess. Denver is insanely adept at squashing all manner of unlikely sounds into a single performance, or even a single song, and make it sound perfect. Pretty songs are only pretty on the surface, but are actually subtly violent and evil and hateful and miserable, howling chaotic blasts of pummeling noise are somehow happy and joyful, filled with flowers and clouds and sunshine. Which goes a long way to explainging the charm of Nate Denver's Neck. This world where metal and folk, dragons and elves co-exist peacefully, is fun and funny, ironic but not intentionally, wild and ridiculous, but ultimately, heartfelt and insanely well crafted. Schizophrenic for sure, but in a gloriously satisfyingly demented sort of way!
Packaged in a little paper bag sealed with a giant brad, containing as well three hand screened inserts on thick textured paper. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Cough"
MPEG Stream: "Execution"
MPEG Stream: "Lunatic Of God's Creation"

DENVER'S NECK, NATE Swan Lake (Rock Is Hell) 10" 11.98
We love Nate Denver. Not only is he just about the nicest guy we've ever met, he's also utterly batshit crazy, musically at least, the stuff he comes up with is totally baffling and brilliant, often goofy and puerile, but always hilarious and impossibly catchy, or punishingly heavy. He was the frontman in the short lived weirdo metal band Dig That Body Up It's Alive (which also featured John Dwyer from Thee Oh Sees), and he played with SF noise punks Total Shutdown, he's done hip hop, folk, he's obsessed with metal, and he's a paramedic. He's also a writer, and has published at least one book, which was hilarious and touching in equal measure.
So here we have the latest musical missive from Nate Denver and his musical Neck, and it's a doozy. We figured the elaborately photoshopped cover art was a put on, it looks like an old taped up and beat up thrift store lp of Swan Lake, the ballet music, but it says Nate Denver in the same font, and Rock is Hell too, it's gorgeous, but like we said, we figured it was a goof, we flipped it over, and there's the story of Swan Lake, told in Denver's bizarre and ridiculous style, so we still weren't really sure what the music would be like. And then whattayaknow? It's Denver, and an acoustic guitar, singing the story of Swan Lake, a single repeated chord progression for the whole of the side, with Denver's delicate croon, spinning the tale of Swan Lake. And weirdly it's a fantastic listen, mesmerizing, and crazy catchy, we couldn't stop, and even now we have little turns of phrase and bits of melody sticking in our head, but after all it is Nate Denver, so when it comes time for the ultimate battle between the protagonist and Boris Smith his archenemy, Boris' lines are delivered by a full on death metal band, grinding guitars, blasting drums and guttural gurgled vox, Denver easily flitting between the two, and we won't tell you how it ends, but you can probably figure it out.
The flipside, as far as we can tell, contains the ACTUAL ballet music from Swan Lake, presumably the music that was on the original record that came with the original cover, and it's of course beautiful, and bombastic, and bears pretty much no relation to Denver's version of the events.
So totally recommended, as is pretty much everything Denver plays or writes. Comes with an insert featuring some Nate Denver artwork, and is pressed on orange vinyl and is LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!!

DENVER, NATHANIEL DRAKE (AKA NATE) Wait, You're Not A Centaur (La Mano) book / cd 14.98
We love Nate Denver. And his Neck. How could we not? He's so cool and cute and funny and nice and he's one talented motherfucker. From wielding a string-ed stick in the free skronk noise merchants Total Shutdown, to his strummy folk warblings, to his fucked up metal obsessed weirdness, to his masterful vocalizing in the now defunct Dig That Body Up It's Alive, to his weird rambling white boy hip hop, to his amazing artwork and completely demented stories, hard to resist.
So here we have Nate's latest project, a book of short stories, 50x50 stories he calls 'em, which means 50 stories, each 50 words long, accompanied by 50 drawings. The stories are awesome. From wacked and surreal, to simple and poignant, from awww shucks to what the fuck. Sweet and sour, happy and sad, usually somehow both. Nate's gorgeous and mesmerizing mini elephant artwork is all over the place too, but let's give some props to Mr. Zak Sally, formerly of slowcore legends Low, now master of the La Mano publishing house, the man who helped layout, design and print this puppy, cuz it is one beautiful looking little tome. The pages are all rough edged, printed on gorgeous thick textured paper stock. The cover is a sort of irridescent grey, with a dizzying mini elephant design printed in metallic silver ink, with built in dust jacket, and more printed metallic elephants on the end papers. And all over the book there are really funny little testimonials from Mick Turner of The Dirty Three, Mark Whiteley, the editor of Slap Skateboarding magazine, MF Grimm and Tom Araya of Slayer ("I hate this book.") as well as an introduction by Adam Jones of Tool!
As if that weren't enough, also included is a brand new Nate Denver's Neck full length album, "Ghost Alarm", packed with Denver's sweet folky ramblings, seriously funky hip hop jams, his playful white boy flow in full effect (he teams up with MF Grimm on one track!!), lots of little random snippets, Nate as a child, a botched shout out from the GZA, a killer introduction with a bunch of super stars giving Nate a shout out (see if you can figure out who's who), and all sorts of other random sonic weirdness.
Absolutely fucking amazing, looking AND sounding. All Hail Nate Denver!! And his all powerful Neck!!
MPEG Stream: "Introducing"
MPEG Stream: "Mace"
MPEG Stream: "Agony (Featuring MF Grimm)"
MPEG Stream: "Ballad Of The Bullied Demons (Extended)"
MPEG Stream: "Who?"

DER BLUTHARSCH The Philosopher's Stone (WKN) cd 25.00
The Philosopher's Stone marks the end the of ten long and productive years during which Der Blutharsch have unleashed their signature dark neo-folk upon the masses. Apocalyptic prophecies, mantras, and manifestos spewed forth from the hate-forged lips of Albin Julius, but even this must come to an end. Over the course of 8 tracks and nearly 56 minutes, long-time fans can't help but sit back and marvel at the gargantuan change between 1998's Der Sieg Des Lichtes Ist Des Lebens Heil! and the present release.
The band was considered highly innovative at its inception, but in retrospect it's easily classifiable as straight-forward neo-folk, albeit at its very finest. These days? Geez, I mean, we're hearing something like a blackened, post-industrial Loop or Jesus and Mary Chain. Or maybe even what the Birthday Party would've sounded like if they were a suicidal '70s psych group. Staccato dirges grab distorted basslines and ride them into droney psychedelia, underneath a sky of swirling guitar leads and brutal, haunting vocals. In a way, the album is heavily indebted to Death In June's old, old album The Guilty Have No Past, but on tons of heroin -- and probably a fistful of other downers and/or mood stabilizers. But through it all Julius's mantra could not be clearer. In fact, the back page of the booklet even reads in bold letters: "Uniforms are always changing, rock n' roll will stay forever." And if rock n' roll's main objective is to scare parents, or the majority of society in general, Der Blutharsch are definitely, definitely a rock band. Even though they sure as hell don't look like one. If you were to see them in the street, you'd probably try as hard as possible not to make eye contact, and maybe assume they were an extremely well-funded fascist militia of sorts. A dark and brooding, mysterious crew for sure...
The Philosopher's Stone is a fantastic cross-section of what Julius and crew are capable of producing, truly mood-altering, honestly fucked up music that completely transcends any traditional understanding of the way songs -- and albums -- work. Somewhere between a heathen liturgy and a well-produced personal catharsis, Der Blutharsch never fails to provide the listener with new experiences and forge new territory in a genre that tends to be cripplingly simplistic, predictable, and indulgent. Recommended.
As always, the packaging is incredible, the cd is in a miniature hardcover book style digipak, all glossy inks and subtle embossing, a big booklet, and super striking imagery. The lp too is extravagant, a similarly rendered glossy layout, but with a BONUS 7" with two tracks not on the cd, in a full color sleeve affixed to the inside of the gatefold.
MPEG Stream: "Philosopher's Stone IV"
MPEG Stream: "Philosopher's Stone VIII"

DER BLUTHARSCH The Philosopher's Stone (WKN) lp 39.00
The Philosopher's Stone marks the end the of ten long and productive years during which Der Blutharsch have unleashed their signature dark neo-folk upon the masses. Apocalyptic prophecies, mantras, and manifestos spewed forth from the hate-forged lips of Albin Julius, but even this must come to an end. Over the course of 8 tracks and nearly 56 minutes, long-time fans can't help but sit back and marvel at the gargantuan change between 1998's Der Sieg Des Lichtes Ist Des Lebens Heil! and the present release.
The band was considered highly innovative at its inception, but in retrospect it's easily classifiable as straight-forward neo-folk, albeit at its very finest. These days? Geez, I mean, we're hearing something like a blackened, post-industrial Loop or Jesus and Mary Chain. Or maybe even what the Birthday Party would've sounded like if they were a suicidal '70s psych group. Staccato dirges grab distorted basslines and ride them into droney psychedelia, underneath a sky of swirling guitar leads and brutal, haunting vocals. In a way, the album is heavily indebted to Death In June's old, old album The Guilty Have No Past, but on tons of heroin -- and probably a fistful of other downers and/or mood stabilizers. But through it all Julius's mantra could not be clearer. In fact, the back page of the booklet even reads in bold letters: "Uniforms are always changing, rock n' roll will stay forever." And if rock n' roll's main objective is to scare parents, or the majority of society in general, Der Blutharsch are definitely, definitely a rock band. Even though they sure as hell don't look like one. If you were to see them in the street, you'd probably try as hard as possible not to make eye contact, and maybe assume they were an extremely well-funded fascist militia of sorts. A Dark and brooding, mysterious crew for sure...
The Philosopher's Stone is a fantastic cross-section of what Julius and crew are capable of producing, truly mood-altering, honestly fucked up music that completely transcends any traditional understanding of the way songs -- and albums -- work. Somewhere between a heathen liturgy and a well-produced personal catharsis, Der Blutharsch never fails to provide the listener with new experiences and forge new territory in a genre that tends to be cripplingly simplistic, predictable, and indulgent. Recommended.
As always, the packaging is incredible, the cd is in a miniature hardcover book style digipak, all glossy inks and subtle embossing, a big booklet, and super striking imagery. The lp too is extravagant, a similarly rendered glossy layout, but with a BONUS 7" with two tracks not on the cd, in a full color sleeve affixed to the inside of the gatefold.
MPEG Stream: "Philosopher's Stone IV"
MPEG Stream: "Philosopher's Stone VIII"

DER BLUTHARSCH Time Is Thee Enemy! (Tesco) cd 17.98
Not sure why we've never listed any Der Blutharsch before. Especially considering they've been a favorite of ours for a long time. And in that whole militaristic folk / industrial scene, we much prefer Der Blutharsch (and MZ 412) over Death In June or Current 93 (at least if you ask Andee). As far as we can tell, this is DB's sixth full length and is as dark and hypnotic and intense as ever. Weaving together childrens choirs, maniacal growls, martial drumming, dark ambient drones, epic cinematic soundscapes, soaring strings, mumbled spoken word, pagan folk, found sounds, wartime propaganda soundbites, industrial rhythms, and apocalyptic / nihilistic lyrics. For those of you new to this stuff, imagine a renaissance faire, strolling minstrels the whole bit, but suddenly the sky starts to darken, shadows lengthen wrapping everything in inky blackness, the strolling minstrels slowly take on the appearance of demons, and the music loses its sunshine and cheer, becoming more and more ominous, major keys change to minor, bells toll, the men start chanting, invoking some unspeakable mystery, while the children's eyes turn black and they begin to sing as well, as if in some sort of trancelike state, the whole thing becoming less of a celebration and more some sort of ancient pagan ritual. Imagine Dead Can Dance with the vocalist from Rammstein, performing in the forest, covering the Comus record in its entirety, backed up by a military drum corps. Or imagine some impossible mixture of Current 93, Magnetic Fields, World War 2, In The Nursery, Ennio Morricone, a gypsy caravan, all the great black metal intros and all of those times you were lost and alone and afraid. It's that intense. And amazing. Allan actually thinks parts of this sound like a Hari Krishna version of Swedish drone folk outfit Parson Sound which they most definitely do at times. Time Is Thee Enemy is an epic and dark, cinematic journey through war and hell and the dark side of human nature. So recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Time Is Thee Ememy! Pt. IX"
MPEG Stream: "Time Is Thee Ememy! Pt. III"
MPEG Stream: "Time Is Thee Ememy! Pt. IV"
MPEG Stream: "Time Is Thee Ememy! Pt. V"

DER BLUTHARSCH Werkschau: 1997-2010 (Handmade Birds) 2lp 26.00
A sprawling and expansive career retrospective from seminal militaristic folk / post industrial / dark ambient outfit Der Blutharsch, whose sound, while ever shifting, has remained constant in its dark mesmer, each record, and every track, a miniature epic, harrowing and hypnotic journeys through war and hell and the dark side of human nature. Weaving together children's choirs, maniacal growls, martial drumming, dark ambient drones, epic cinematic soundscapes, soaring strings, mumbled spoken word, pagan folk, found sounds, wartime propaganda soundbites, industrial rhythms, and apocalyptic / nihilistic lyrics.
Imagine a renaissance faire, strolling minstrels the whole bit, but suddenly the sky starts to darken, shadows lengthen wrapping everything in inky blackness, the strolling minstrels slowly take on the appearance of demons, and the music loses its sunshine and cheer, becoming more and more ominous, major keys change to minor, bells toll, the men start chanting, invoking some unspeakable mystery, while the children's eyes turn black and they begin to sing as well, as if in some sort of trancelike state, the whole thing becoming less of a celebration and more some sort of ancient pagan ritual. DB take the apocalyptic folk of Death In June and fuse it to the Teutonic metallic stomp of Rammstein, wind it all up in the clattery industrial cabaret of Einsturzende Neubaten, before dousing it in the swampy fire and brimstone dirge of Sixteen Horsepower and the dramatic gothiness of Sisters Of Mercy or Bauhaus,.
Elsewhere the sound is even more dazzlingly disparate, a roiling sonic cauldron equal parts Dead Can Dance, Laibach, Comus, Current 93, Magnetic Fields, World War 2, In The Nursery, Ennio Morricone, a gypsy caravan, all the great black metal intros ever, all of those disparate elements deftly woven into something dark and delightfully dreary, creepy and sometimes truly haunting...
Der Blutharsch's music most definitely mutated and transformed over the years, the core sound still dark and droning, but the rock element much more noticeable, with a seemingly omnipresent churning low slung bass weaving a dense framework of rumbling low end, supporting doom laden soundscapes constructed from moaning cellos and martial snares, wartime sound samples and military speeches, pounding rhythms and dramatic Teutonic vocals, gypsy violin and distorted guitar. But even within this industrial doom rock framework, DB managed to inject all sorts of truly unexpected twists and turns, like some hellish take on a Morricone spaghetti western with little bits of blackened twang one moment, and like a lost track from some sixties girl group, albeit in this case, swathed in dark sonic swirls and all sorts of rhythmic interference, the next.
This later sound something like a blackened, post-industrial Loop or Jesus and Mary Chain. Or maybe even what the Birthday Party would've sounded like if they were a suicidal '70s psych group. Staccato dirges grab distorted basslines and ride them into droney psychedelia, underneath a sky of swirling guitar leads and brutal, and of course the apocalyptic prophecies, mantras, and manifestos spewed forth from the DB mastermind Albin Julius...
"Uniforms are always changing, rock n' roll will stay forever" is boldly emblazoned on a later DB release. And if rock n' roll's main objective is to scare parents, or the majority of society in general, Der Blutharsch are definitely a rock band. And really always were....
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, on 180 gram vinyl, with hand numbered inserts, housed in black and red foil stamped jackets, odds are these could very well be the only copies we ever see...

DER BLUTHARSCH When Did Wonderland End? (Tesco) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Final glorious missive from Austrian militaristic folk / post industrial / dark ambient outift Der Blutharsch. Ex members of The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud and former collaborators with Death In June, DB carved out a truly unique and musically diverse niche in a genre rife with problematic politics and unoriginal ideas. The music of Der Blutharsch was and is a seemingly impossible mix, taking the apocalyptic folk of Death In June, the Teutonic metallic stomp of Rammstein, the clattery industrial caberet of Einsturzende Neubaten, the swampy fire and brimstone dirge of Sixteen Horsepower and the dramatic gothiness of Sisters Of Mercy or Bauhaus and crafting all of those disparate elements into something dark and delightfully dreary, creepy and sometimes truly harrowing. Their sound has gone from dark ambience to industrial clatter to dramatic doom, and have now arrived at a sound that is even more difficult to describe. We once wrote that the music of DB sounded like "Dead Can Dance with the vocalist from Rammstein, performing in the forest, covering the Comus record in its entirety, backed up by a military drum corps. Or some impossible mixt of Current 93, Magnetic Fields, World War 2, In The Nursery, Ennio Morricone, a gypsy caravan and every great black metal intro ever" and that still pretty much sums it up. BUT, somehow, for their last hurrah, they've managed to sound even more bizarre and unique and all over the map. The core sound is still dark and droning, but the rock element is much more noticeable this time around, with a seemingly omnipresent churning low slung bass weaving a dense framework of rumbling low end, supporting doom laden soundscapes constructed from moaning cellos and martial snares, wartime sound samples and military speeches, pounding rhythms and dramatic teutonic vocals, gypsy violin and distorted guitar. But even within this industrial doom rock framework, DB manage to inject all sorts of really unexpected twists and turns, one track sounds like some hellish take on a Morricone spaghetti western with little bits of blackened twang, and another even sounds like a lost track from some sixties girl group, albeit in this case, swathed in dark sonic swirls and all sorts of rhythmic interference. So amazing and strange and totally mesmerizing. It's sad to think this is the last we'll hear from Der Blutharsch.
Packaged in a gorgeous all black, letter pressed sleeve, with a little sprig of edelweiss in full color, black text on a black background. Quite striking.
MPEG Stream: "When Did Wonderland End? II"
MPEG Stream: "When Did Wonderland End? III"
MPEG Stream: "When Did Wonderland End? IV"

DER BLUTHARSCH When Did Wonderland End? (Tesco) cd + dvd 25.00
Another glorious missive from Austrian militaristic folk / post industrial / dark ambient outift Der Blutharsch. Ex members of The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud and former collaborators with Death In June, DB carved out a truly unique and musically diverse niche in a genre rife with problematic politics and unoriginal ideas. The music of Der Blutharsch was and is a seemingly impossible mix, taking the apocalyptic folk of Death In June, the teutonic metallic stomp of Rammstein, the clattery industrial caberet of Einsturzende Neubaten, the swampy fire and brimstone dirge of Sixteen Horsepower and the dramatic gothiness of Sisters Of Mercy or Bauhaus and crafting all of those disparate elements into something dark and delightfully dreary, creepy and sometimes truly harrowing. Their sound has gone from dark ambience to industrial clatter to dramatic doom, and have now arrived at a sound that is even more difficult to describe. We once wrote that the music of DB sounded like "Dead Can Dance with the vocalist from Rammstein, performing in the forest, covering the Comus record in its entirety, backed up by a military drum corps. Or some impossible mixt of Current 93, Magnetic Fields, World War 2, In The Nursery, Ennio Morricone, a gypsy caravan and every great black metal intro ever" and that still pretty much sums it up. BUT, somehow, for their last hurrah, they've managed to sound even more bizarre and unique and all over the map. The core sound is still dark and droning, but the rock element is much more noticeable this time around, with a seemingly omnipresent churning low slung bass weaving a dense framework of rumbling low end, supporting doom laden soundscapes constructed from moaning cellos and martial snares, wartime sound samples and military speeches, pounding rhythms and dramatic teutonic vocals, gypsy violin and distorted guitar. But even within this industrial doom rock framework, DB manage to inject all sorts of really unexpected twists and turns, one track sounds like some hellish take on a Morricone spaghetti western with little bits of blackened twang, and another even sounds like a lost track from some sixties girl group, albeit in this case, swathed in dark sonic swirls and all sorts of rhythmic interference. So amazing and strange and totally mesmerizing. It's sad to think this is the last we'll hear from Der Blutharsch.
Packaged in a gorgeous all black, letter pressed digipak, in a black slipcover, with a little sprig of edelweiss in full color, black text on a black background. Quite striking. And for a limited time, there's also a second disc, a DVD with a really cool and creepy video for the track "So Bring Your Iron Rain Down Upon Me."
MPEG Stream: "When Did Wonderland End? II"
MPEG Stream: "When Did Wonderland End? III"
MPEG Stream: "When Did Wonderland End? IV"

DER VENTILATOR s/t (Silbing Sex) 7"+cd 8.98
Didn't know too much about this Spanish combo, but the fact that they seemed to often be described as equal parts Kraftwerk and Arab On Radar definitely piqued our interest. And once we finally heard this latest 4 song blast of electro punk crunch, we'd probably add Black Bug to the equation, the same sort of urgent punked out riot grrly rrroooaaar. But instead of BB's synthpunk howl, the sound of DV is more garagey, a sort of punky Stoogesy groove, laced with bits of electronics and peppered with dueling boy girl vocals. The opening track here, "Kill D.I.Y Idols" is itself a killer, with fuzzy bass, programmed beats, caterwauled vocals, and a bad ass main riff, the tripped out FX and minimal electronics only adding some extra weirdness. In an odd way, it reminded us a little of Burzum, the same sort of lilting electronic melodies, but here wedded to some garage punk blast. Super dynamic, with some rad stop starts. "Potential H-Bomb" is more of the same, with a postpunk groove, some cool weirdly harmonized vox, some noisy chaotic guitars, and lots of fuzzed out synth blurt. "Scrawl" applies the same sonic approach to punk folk, acoustic guitar, simple drums, off key crooning, sassy female back up vox, and occasional feedback drenched squalls of noise. Finally "Lightning Field" gets back to the warped electro punk, with thick synth buzz under some frenetic programmed beats, some bloopy spaced out melodies, crunchy guitars swirls, the whole thing pretty spaced out and psychedelic, again laced with occasional blasts of in-the-red buzz and howl, everything wreathed in alien synths and fractured FX. So killer. A bit surprised these guys (and gal) aren't way more popular. Imagine it won't stay that way for long...
Super nice packaging, thick super striking black and white sleeve, with a full color printed insert, pressed on orange vinyl, and includes a cd version of the same music on the 7"!
MPEG Stream: "Kill D.I.Y. Idols"
MPEG Stream: "Lightning Field"

DERBYSHIRE, DELIA, BRIAN HODGSON, DON HARPER Electrosonic (Glo-Spot) cd 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We had the super limited (and crazy pricey!) vinyl version of this a while back, and they flew out of here. We only have a couple left of the vinyl, but we finally got it on cd, at a slightly cheaper price, and now all you sans turntable can dig on these far out sounds!!
We all went a little gaga for those BBC Radiophonic Workshop cds, amazing collections of freaky and far out music for movies and radio and television, crafted in mad scientist like labs packed to the gills with strange sound making devices, primitive analog synths, tape machines and all manner of random electronic bric a brac. Delia Derbyshire was one of the Workshop elite, having been responsible for the Dr. Who theme as well as the Tomorrow People theme and loads of other legendary BBC songs and sounds.
This cd, is a reissue of a super limited lp, which was itself a repress of a rare and long out of print disc of library mood music released on KPM in 1972. Derbyshire and her sonic cohorts recorded the record as Electrosonic, using pseudonyms as well, to avoid any sort of complications due to their positions at the BBC. The results were of course fantastic. Moody and mysterious, wild and playful, spacey and haunting. From Goblin-esque creepy haunted house synthscapes, to freaky fuzzy funky seventies sci-fi grooves, to far out bloops and bleeps. Analog synths, jazzy upright bass, tons of primitive and not so primitive effects, all whipped into impossibly catchy and fantastical sounds and songs.
MPEG Stream: "Quest"
MPEG Stream: "The Pattern Emerges"
MPEG Stream: "Celestial Cantabile"
MPEG Stream: "The Wizard's Laboratory"