GLORIOR BELLI O Laudate Dominus (Aquilus Cruoris) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NOW ON VINYL!
(Warning: all of the copies we got are bent in one corner. Unfortunately, that's the way every copy is. The distributor got all bent copies, BUT, the cd is out of print so this is the only way to get this amazing record. We're also selling them for only a few dollars above our cost....)
We've been trying to track this down for ages after reading about Glorior Belli in Terrorizer. Assorted comparisons to Dissection and Watain and Deathspell Omega and the like had us practically foaming at the mouth. Finally after months of searching we finally managed to get a bunch of these in. The first thing we noticed was how much it looks like the Watain records, or any of the releases on N.E.D. (home to DSO, Ondskapt, Funeral Mist, etc), with a cool woodcut on the cover, arcane black and grey graphics, vaguely religious imagery, everything sort of distressed looking, as if it was taken from some long buried parchment. But what the hell, this band probably -should- be on N.E.D., it would be a perfect fit. Buzzing super technical, ultra raw blackened thrash, with darkly melodic breakdowns verging on post rock, lots of majestic riffing, and stretches of super blasting buzz! The whole thing though has a strangely melodic bent that helps it stand out from other black metal records, an almost indie-rock quality to the melodies, somehow super catchy while at the same time being suffocatingly black and grim. Quite a feat indeed. Anyone who has been digging Watain, Deathspell Omega (especially the newest one), Funeral Mist, or any of that stuff NEEDS this for sure!
MPEG Stream: "O Laudate Dominus"
MPEG Stream: "Poisoned Flesh"

GLORY FCKN SUN Spectra (Tipped Bowler Tapes) lp 16.98
There really is something about music from New Zealand. We used to think it was sort of shorthand cheapshot music journalism, comparing everything to the Dead C, and lumping all these disparate sounding bands together based entirely on locale, but dammit if the more we listen to this stuff, the more it does seem to be true. Take this Glory Fckn Sun lp, the latest chunk of sweet dreamy noise from New Zealanders Antony Milton, Ben Spiers and Simon O'Rorke. As we were listening to this, all sorts of other bands came to mind, but when we thought about it more than a second, and listened really closely, we realized that this music could not have come from anywhere else. A blind listening, and we're fairly sure, even if we couldn't name the band, we would have immediately known New Zealand.
None of that is to say this record isn't unique or its own entity, or that it sounds like everything else from NZ, it most certainly doesn't, but it does share much sonically, and texturally, and there's just something ineffable that makes the music of GFS distinctly New Zealand.
Regardless, it's a big glorious fucking soft noise explosion, beginning with soft cymbal swirls and rumbling low wend, lots of effects, and deep buried melodies. Long streaks of buzzing metallic skree skitters over bits of clatter and clang, all held in place by a field of creaking metal on metal shimmer, murky vocals swimming in swirling pools of crumbling distortion. If you need references, think of some lost record on Corpus Hermeticum in the nineties, Surface Of The Earth maybe, a softened Dead C, muted and swathed in electric crackle, the whole thing a glorious whirling abyss of sound peppered with the clank and clunk of mini pipe fights, and twisted atonal chords, chiming harmonies, all layered and spread out into gritty streaks of droning abstract, slightly noisy beauty.
Pressed on clear red vinyl, housed in a striking chipboard sleeve hand screened, two color, and of course LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!

GLORY FCKN SUN Vision Scorched (Pseudo Aracana) cd + book 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest chunk of noisy bliss from Antony Milton, head honcho of the Pseudo Arcana label, the man behind Mrtyu, the Nether Dawn and others, as well as a member of The Stumps, With Throats As Fine As Needles, Street, Claypipe and about a million others. Glory Frckn Sun finds Milton teamed up with Ben Spiers (from Empty Mirror) and improv percussionist Simon O'Rorke. The three form a phalanx of sonic solar warriors, wielding an arsenal of noisemakers including gutars, violins, electronics, percussion and gongs...
Beginning life in 2003, this disc has been over two years in the making, and sounds like it, in that it sounds like a super saturated slooooooooooow burn, the sound of the birth of a universe, a blinding glistening supernova of sound, the guitars are white hot, blinding sonic glares, that just drift in long solar flares, woven into huge expanses of constantly shifting soft drone, over the top, shimmering billows of reverberating melodies crash like waves, this is some impossible drift through alien skies, navigating black holes and clouds of whirring glimmering particles. Cacophonous squalls pepper the mostly tranquil stretches, with the occasional jagged streak of feedback or spatters of metallic percussion. The opening track is massive, a 30 minute trawl though the heart of the sun, everything melting into buzzing smears all around you. Imagine SUNNO))) of Fushitsusha set up on the surface of the sun, now imagine a field recording of those bands being consumed by fire, amps melting into thick viscous black puddles, guitar strings becoming strange serpentine shadows, flesh and bone fusing into twisted shapes before transforming into thick clouds of living sound. 
Track two sounds like the recording of whatever infernal machinery lies below the surface of the sun, the mysterious factory that keeps it burning, feeding the flames, a grinding cacophony laced with long low slow stretches of buzz and whir. The final track a gorgeous languorous outro, a bit of shuffling percussion strewn atop a long soft stretch of blown out ambience, minor key melodies buried in the murk, giving the strange sleepy shimmer a warm ominous glow. Epic, intense and beautiful.
LIMITED TO 200 COPIES. Packaged in a hand screened, cd-sized, perfect bound book, the cover, thick textured paper, very spare and striking, the booklet inside, a series of photos, graphics and diagrams of the sun, from super technical to completely abstract, the cd in a sleeve affixed to the back cover, each copy hand numbered. 
MPEG Stream: "Swells"
MPEG Stream: "Fire Thereof"

GLOVE, THE Blue Sunshine (Rhino) 2cd 25.00
Some musical pairings just make perfect sense. Case in point, Siouxsie And The Banshees' Steve Severin and The Cure's Robert Smith. Originally released in 1983, The Glove is getting the same reissue treatment as the early Cure albums which means there is an extra disc which in this case is where the magic is hidden. On the original release there were label/legality issues which kept Smith's voice from appearing on all except two tracks so a last minute singer was needed which ended up being Jeanette Landray, who was the girlfriend of The Banshees drummer Budgie. While her vocals kind of work, it's always been the kind of record that you always pictured with Smith's vintage vocals throughout. And this reissue makes that dream come true as the bonus disc is filled with demo versions on which Smith sings those very song making this reissue even more essential. Robert Smith in 1983 singing with Severin from The Banshees playing, what more could you want?
MPEG Stream: "Like An Animal (Vocal Demo)"
MPEG Stream: "A Blues In Drag (Alt Vocal Demo)"
MPEG Stream: "Sex Eye Make Up"

GLUCIFER Tender Is The Savage (Sub Pop) 2cd 12.98
Swedish shit-kickin' gasoline-fueled rock action, a la slightly-better known peers The Hellacopters. Biff Malibu (yep, they all have dumb pseudonyms) does his singing in a kinda Danzig kinda way, but the music is more like Motor City 70's proto-punk via grunge city. Bonus disc with video and some other songs.

GLUTTONY Collapse Of The Roman Republic (Liber Primus) (Hekaloth / Cyclops) cd 15.98
Fans of the damaged and deranged, the truly warped and mindbending, the freaky, fucked up and plain baffling, by now should be well acquainted with the mysterious master of the guitar synth, and his bevy of bewildering outfits, two of which we've reviewed on past AQ lists, this being the third, in what we can only imagine is some sort of insane trilogy. Xynfonica came first. A "classical" record, completely composed and performed on the guitar synthesizer. A tripped out, outsider slab of post Peter And The Wolf classical deconstructed, atonal and so so so difficult, oh and did we mention that the other part of the equation was seemingly incongruous raspy evil metal vocals? A totally not-right combination, but for those of us who dig that sort of stuff, it was pretty unbeatable. Then there was the HUGE booklet of lyrics, complete with FOOTNOTES!!!
Then came Shevalreq, part two in the "trilogy", his 'world music' record, where the same atonal angular tones and notes, the howled raspy vocals, were this time wrapped around faux tablas and various other ethnic percussion instruments. If anything, it was even more fucked and amazing. Not to mention the over the top cover art, with miniature jousting knights on horseback ON TOP OF various dat machines and other studio gear. WTF?
So while we anxiously awaited part three, we were fairly sure nothing could top Shevalreq. But oh were we wrong.
The new one is called Gluttony, the name of the record: Collapse Of The Roman Republic, another epic tale of war and death and love and betrayal, this one being his quote unquote jazz record, and fuck if it's not the most amazingly fucked up record EVER. Now in addition to the metallic rasp, the stumbling angular melodies, are lots of synthesized horn stabs, crooning synthesizers, faux vibes and marimbas, synth oboes, synth bassoons, all peppered with some serious twisted tangles of Greg Ginn-esque guitar squall, usually draped over some woozy, smoky dive bar synthjazz. It still sort of sounds like Peter And The Wolf, but it also sounds like the score for some mystery noir z-movie thriller, ripe for some sort of Sam Spade voice over, but instead you get a voice over from some growling bile spewing demon, and the tracks lope on endlessly, the melodies, maniacally off kilter, the whole thing so brilliantly baffling it's almost impossible to listen to the whole thing, but we've come close. Very very close.
Absolutely recommended, but ONLY for those who can handle stuff like this. You know who you are.
MPEG Stream: "Marius Engages The Teutons"
MPEG Stream: "Teutonic Invasion"
MPEG Stream: "Marius Engages The Cimbri"
MPEG Stream: "The Rise Of Sulla"

GNARLS BARKLEY St. Elsewhere (Downtown) cd 17.98
When we first heard of the strangely monikered Gnarls Barkley, they already had a number one hit in the UK and had the biggest downloaded single ever with the track "Crazy". Normally, we don't always pay much attention to popular hit singles, but something about the name made us curious. So we checked it out and need we say it, our minds were blown!! A stab of cool, infectious, minor key, soul-pop groove that conks you over the head with an anvil or a piano until you're seeing stars and little birdies, just like in the cartoons! Of course, when we found out Gnarls Barkley was in fact Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo (ex-Goodie Mob), it all made a bit more sense. But even with such talent, we assumed the single would be a one-off and heck, we'd be fine with that, cuz that track was just so perfect. Then, lo and behold, a full length CD shows up on our counter. Would it be just as exciting and mind blowing as the single? Hells Yes!!! St. Elsewhere is a strange and often silly pastiche of soul, pop, funk, hip hop, and gospel with nods to Wilson Pickett, Undisputed Truth, Marvin Gaye, and crazily enough Violent Femmes (they cover "Gone Daddy Gone"). But even with their influences showing bright and clear, they put it all together in their own unique crazy fun and groovy way. Less sleazy than Andre 3000's Love Below, but sipping from the same funky bottle. Expect to hear this one all summer long.
MPEG Stream: "Crazy"
MPEG Stream: "Smiley Faces"

GNARLS BARKLEY St. Elsewhere - Deluxe Edition (Downtown / Atlantic) cd+dvd 27.00
We're really getting tired of this new trend of reissuing a record after it's only been out for a few months. Drives us nuts. What's worse is that they seem to always have cool stuff that we totally want. Argh. If they could just include that stuff the first time around... Anyway, THE smash hit of the year, Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo's Gnarls Barkley gets the deluxe reissue treatment and it's a doozy, so much so that we all find ourselves wanting to buy it all over again. New super swanky packaging, with a badass 3-D lenticular cover and a HUGE booklet, but more importantly, two live tracks, one from Top Of The Pops, the other from Later With Jools Holland, and 4 videos, two of which we've seen and are completely amazing. If you're a fan, it's probably sort of essential, and if you somehow managed to not buy this yet, now's the time to get it, with all the bells and whistles! In case, you've been living in a cave or under a rock, here's what we had to say about the ubiquitous St. Elsewhere:
When we first heard of the strangely monikered Gnarls Barkley, they already had a number one hit in the UK and had the biggest downloaded single ever with the track "Crazy". Normally, we don't always pay much attention to popular hit singles, but something about the name made us curious. So we checked it out and need we say it, our minds were blown!! A stab of cool, infectious, minor key, soul-pop groove that conks you over the head with an anvil or a piano until you're seeing stars and little birdies, just like in the cartoons! Of course, when we found out Gnarls Barkley was in fact Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo (ex-Goodie Mob), it all made a bit more sense. But even with such talent, we assumed the single would be a one-off and heck, we'd be fine with that, cuz that track was just so perfect. Then, lo and behold, a full length CD shows up on our counter. Would it be just as exciting and mind blowing as the single? Hells Yes!!! St. Elsewhere is a strange and often silly pastiche of soul, pop, funk, hip hop, and gospel with nods to Wilson Pickett, Undisputed Truth, Marvin Gaye, and crazily enough Violent Femmes (they cover "Gone Daddy Gone"). But even with their influences showing bright and clear, they put it all together in their own unique crazy fun and groovy way. Less sleazy than Andre 3000's Love Below, but sipping from the same funky bottle. Expect to hear this one all summer long (actually, you should probably expect to hear this one fooooooorrreeeeeeeevvvvvvveeeeeeer!).
MPEG Stream: "Crazy"
MPEG Stream: "Smiley Faces"

GNARLS BARKLEY The Odd Couple (Atlantic) cd 17.98
Summer Jam lightning rarely strikes twice, and in the case of Gnarls Barkley fluke hit, "Crazy", they were lucky lightning struck at all. So instead of setting out for the impossible, they have made a more memorable full length without the erratic stylistic leaps and goofs of their debut. The tone is darker, but more soulful and while the upbeat jams are fewer, they have enough hooks to keep you listening and coming back. While St. Elsewhere was neurotic and bi-polar, The Odd Couple is addressing demons in a far more beguiling and groovy manner, one that gets better with each listen. Could this be therapy?
MPEG Stream: "Going On"
MPEG Stream: "Run (I'm A Natural Disaster)"
MPEG Stream: "She Knows"

GNARLS BARKLEY The Odd Couple (w/Backwards LP!) (Atlantic) 2lp 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Okay, we listed this a while back. Sure we dug it, but then someone let us in on a little secret, which was that the vinyl version of The Odd Couple came with a second lp, which was the whole record IN REVERSE! BACKWARDS!!! Faithful readers of the aQ list know how much we love backwards music, so needless to say, the vinyl version of this is ESSENTIAL. So much so that since we got the lp we pretty much ONLY listen to the backwards disc. All dizzying and slippery and swoopy and trippy and, well, gloriously backwards! But be warned, we only have a couple copies, and have had trouble getting any more than that. We just wanted to give mailorder folks a chance to grab one of these
But just in case, some tripped out backwards Gnarls Barkley isn't enough for you, well, here's what we had to say about the UN-backwards side:
Summer Jam lightning rarely strikes twice, and in the case of Gnarls Barkley fluke hit, "Crazy", they were lucky lightning struck at all. So instead of setting out for the impossible, they have made a more memorable full length without the erratic stylistic leaps and goofs of their debut. The tone is darker, but more soulful and while the upbeat jams are fewer, they have enough hooks to keep you listening and coming back. While St. Elsewhere was neurotic and bi-polar, The Odd Couple is addressing demons in a far more beguiling and groovy manner, one that gets better with each listen. Could this be therapy?
MPEG Stream: "Going On"
MPEG Stream: "Run (I'm A Natural Disaster)"
MPEG Stream: "She Knows"

GNAW This Face (Conspiracy) cd 16.98
Thee extreme / experimental / industrial metal scene has a potential new ruler here, with the doomic and disturbing debut of Gnaw. If you put this disc in your computer's iTunes, you'll see some joker has categorized their genre as "children's music". Ha, don't think so! Unless you want your kids to grow up to be like Alan Dubin, of OLD/Khanate infamy, who provides the blood curdling vokills here, ranging from throat-shredding yowls to creepy stage whispers. He's joined by former members of doomlords Burning Witch, psychfolk weirdos Enos Slaughter and cold, early '80s NYC post-punk Factory Records band Ike Yard (!) for this new project, which seems to take up where Dubin's previous bands left off, but in a direction much more deviant & eccentric.
The claustrophobic chaos of track one, "Haven Vault", ought to determine pretty quick if this is for you or not. Imagine a sped-up Khanate struggling through a windstorm, Dubin bawling wretchedly amidst the buzzing murk and the splatter of improv percussion... then distant, pretty piano notes fade in eerily, one by one... it's like Khanate meets Hazard meets Supersilent, in a nightmare. Extreme indeed, and all right with us! That leads to the next track, one that's calmer and more song-like, yet perhaps even more sinister-sounding, with Dubin's negative vibe lyrics more intelligible, everything backed by a springy-sprongy electronic rhythm. More of a tribal drumming pattern is exhibited on the deep rumble of the third song.
Each track seems to delve further and further into weirdness and woe, with drone and distortion and feedback given free range of the album. The jittery percussion effects a trance-like vibe at times, perhaps allowing Dubin's words deeper, subliminal access to your subconscious (uh oh). But as big fans of both OLD and Khanate, we're all for it, glad to now have Gnaw to push those same buttons, along with other ones we hadn't expected, like the way the singing on "Watcher" sounds almost like Eugene from Oxbow. Or how it sounds like maybe Dubin & Co. have been into some dubstep lately. Or how Gnaw's crunching head nodding heaviness is cracked like Humpty D. Yep, if you like some strange surprises in your grim glitchtronic avant-metal music, and moreover enjoy the varied vokill stylings of Mr. Dubin, you'll want Gnaw's Your Face at your place.
The Conspiracy label has released this on cd (digipack) and of course LIMITED EDITION gatefold vinyl of various colors (we've got any color you want, as long as it's black). They had to leave 2 tracks off the vinyl version, but it does come with a free mp3 download card so you can get the entire album on your computer.
MPEG Stream: "Haven Vault"
MPEG Stream: "Vacant"
MPEG Stream: "Shard"

GNAW This Face (Conspiracy) lp 15.98
Thee extreme / experimental / industrial metal scene has a potential new ruler here, with the doomic and disturbing debut of Gnaw. If you put this disc in your computer's iTunes, you'll see some joker has categorized their genre as "children's music". Ha, don't think so! Unless you want your kids to grow up to be like Alan Dubin, of OLD/Khanate infamy, who provides the blood curdling vokills here, ranging from throat-shredding yowls to creepy stage whispers. He's joined by former members of doomlords Burning Witch, psychfolk weirdos Enos Slaughter and cold, early '80s NYC post-punk Factory Records band Ike Yard (!) for this new project, which seems to take up where Dubin's previous bands left off, but in a direction much more deviant & eccentric.
The claustrophobic chaos of track one, "Haven Vault", ought to determine pretty quick if this is for you or not. Imagine a sped-up Khanate struggling through a windstorm, Dubin bawling wretchedly amidst the buzzing murk and the splatter of improv percussion... then distant, pretty piano notes fade in eerily, one by one... it's like Khanate meets Hazard meets Supersilent, in a nightmare. Extreme indeed, and all right with us! That leads to the next track, one that's calmer and more song-like, yet perhaps even more sinister-sounding, with Dubin's negative vibe lyrics more intelligible, everything backed by a springy-sprongy electronic rhythm. More of a tribal drumming pattern is exhibited on the deep rumble of the third song.
Each track seems to delve further and further into weirdness and woe, with drone and distortion and feedback given free range of the album. The jittery percussion effects a trance-like vibe at times, perhaps allowing Dubin's words deeper, subliminal access to your subconscious (uh oh). But as big fans of both OLD and Khanate, we're all for it, glad to now have Gnaw to push those same buttons, along with other ones we hadn't expected, like the way the singing on "Watcher" sounds almost like Eugene from Oxbow. Or how it sounds like maybe Dubin & Co. have been into some dubstep lately. Or how Gnaw's crunching head nodding heaviness is cracked like Humpty D. Yep, if you like some strange surprises in your grim glitchtronic avant-metal music, and moreover enjoy the varied vokill stylings of Mr. Dubin, you'll want Gnaw's Your Face at your place.
The Conspiracy label has released this on cd (digipack) and of course LIMITED EDITION gatefold vinyl of various colors (we've got any color you want, as long as it's black). They had to leave 2 tracks off the vinyl version, but it does come with a free mp3 download card so you can get the entire album on your computer.
MPEG Stream: "Haven Vault"
MPEG Stream: "Vacant"
MPEG Stream: "Shard"

GNAW THEIR TONGUES All The Dread Magnificence Of Perversity (Crucial Blast) cd 13.98
We're running out of superlatives, not to mention overly poetic descriptions of filth and blackness and depravity, to describe this one man cinematic black doom noise outfit, but with every record, Mories, the man behind the beast, offers still more glimpses into what lurks below, or within, the sound an ever evolving cloud of black energy, rendered audible in shades of pummeling drum plod, of downtuned melting riffs, of howled and shrieked vocalizations, of Bernard Hermann like strings, all stretched and blurred and smeared and tangled into a veritable symphony of black bleak heaviness.
It's difficult to classify, as every song tends to slip seamlessly from Wolf Eyes like industrial soundscapery, to Godflesh like metal machine crunch, to lurching Abruptum like black ritual, to almost classic sounding black metal buzz, to haunting cinematic dark ambience, each of those elements fully realized, but then hurled into a black sonic vortex, where along with all the various other sounds and shapes and colors it gets mangled and tangles and spewed out on the other side as some almost living thing, a music that is at once threatening and caustic, harrowing and hateful, but also weirdly melodic and almost classical sounding, a definite case of black(ened) beauty.
For those new to the filth encrusted soundworld that is Gnaw Their Tongues, a brief survey of song titles: "My Orifices Await Ravaging", "The Stench Of Dead Horses On My Breath And The Vile Of Existence In My Hands", "The Gnostic Ritual Consumption Of Semen As Embodiment Of Wounds Teared In The Soul", the album title: All The Dread Magnificence Of Perversity, the crown of thorns / blood splattered / bondage cover art, should all give hints as to what sort of sinister sound lurks inside, but again, all of that could point to something much more puerile and simplistic, the sound of Gnaw Their Tongues is something altogether more refined, if a word like that could be applied to something this hellish, but it does sound refined, and composed, epic and majestic, for every bit of sluggish heaviness, there's another part that is hauntingly beautiful, or strangely serene, it boggles the mind how someone creates music like this, it must come from some deep, dark, black part of the soul, and while we ourselves might fear such a place in ourselves, we can't help but be enthralled and obsessed with the sort of sonic darkness that lurks in others.
WAY recommended, as with past GGT releases...
MPEG Stream: "My Orifices Await Ravaging"
MPEG Stream: "The Stench Of Dead Horses On My Breath And The Vile Of Existence In My Hands"
MPEG Stream: "The Gnostic Ritual Consumption Of Semen As Embodiment Of Wounds Teared In The Soul"

GNAW THEIR TONGUES An Epiphanic Vomiting Of Blood (Crucial Blast) cd 14.98
We listed the vinyl version of this amazing chunk of sinister sonics a while back, and as you'll see below, gushed epiphanically, like a crimson fountain of black blood, all about how much this record utterly destroys. Easily our fucked-up, heavy record of the year! Finally, we have the cd version, in a fancy gatefold style mini lp sleeve, and most importantly, with a bonus track not on the vinyl!! So for those of you sans turntable, and those of you who somehow just missed out first time around, and of course those of you who, even though you bought the vinyl, NEED that extra track (and trust us you do, you need everything you can get your bloodsoaked weirdo music obsessed hands on), well here ya go:
You can definitely tell a lot about a band by the names of records and song titles. Case in point: Gnaw Their Tongues. Some song titles: "My Body is Not a Vessel, Nor a Temple. It's a Repulsive Pile of Sickness", "And There Will Be More of Your Children Dead Tomorrow", "Blood Spills Out Of Everything I Touch", "Sound the Horns, the Water is Poisoned". Some album titles: Spit at Me and Wreak Havoc on My Flesh, Preferring Human Skin Over Animal Fur, Dawn Breaks Open Like A Wound That Bleeds Afresh, Spasming and Howling, Bowels Loosening and Bladders Emptying, Vomiting, and now this, An Epiphanic Vomiting of Blood. But then what is it exactly that we can glean from these titles? That the men in Gnaw Their tongues are demented? Sick? Depraved? Probably. But where titles like this might lead one to assume the music attached to the above words would be some sort of hateful harsh white noise, or some sort of near unlistenable Whitehouse worship, the truth is, Gnaw Their Tongues is one of the few bands with an utterly distinctive and recognizable sound. There are very few bands we can think of, even amongst our favorites. You will absolutely never confuse the music of Gnaw Their Tongues with any other outfit. And conversely, you will never hear something that is not them, and assume it is, because NOTHING sounds anything like Gnaw Their Tongues.
So much so that even explaining their sound in a review is fairly difficult. The last GTT review, we resorted to a tale of hell and hellbound journeys, of total annihilation and utter destruction, of death and decay and misery, all in a bid to evoke the same sort of images and visions, thoughts and feelings that are evoked by the sounds these guys produce.
It's definitely not black metal, but it is most certainly black. If forced to describe their sound in some succinct, and non-rambling manner, it might be cinematic operatic orchestral avant industrial doom. But since we can ramble, it might be easier to dig a little deeper.
Every song is epic, like little films, sounds evoking images, evoking thoughts and emotions, horns and orchestral stabs, flutes and strings, are as much a part of the sound as guitars. Probably more so. Thick gristly slabs of buzzing low end, crawl beneath pummeling percussive plod, operatic vocals soar and wail, bits of electronic glitch and whir drift in and out, guitars are downtuned and allowed to spread like toxic oil spills, tracks are peppered with bits of dialogue, and snippets of films, found sounds and mysterious textures, occasionally, harsh hellish blackened shrieks join the fray, as do bits of dark ambience. There is plenty of space, the sound managing to be expansive and open, as well as claustrophobic and suffocating.
It's a bit like a black metal Arvo Part, scoring a lost Hitchcock thriller, so totally intense and emotional and epic, rife with nervous tension and extreme dread. Whenever the sound verges on white noise, or total implosion, the sound abates, leaving Bernard Hermann-ish strings, or some bit of cryptic dialogue, or some strange disembodied rhythm, before spilling forth again like black vomit. The layers of blasphemous sound piling up like blackened bodies, buzzy and filthy and grime-y but so composed, not really that chaotic at all, a controlled chaos perhaps, each sound painstakingly placed to help paint that blood red picture.
An impossible blend of metal, choral, industrial, electronic, ambient, drone, noise and blackness, a gorgeous, and gorgeously infernal concoction, every record, another chapter in some sick saga, hell swallowing the surface dwellers, misery and mayhem overtaking humanity, death and pestilence, the world a graveyard for humanity, such utter depravity conveyed in such epic and dementedly brilliant sounds, which is precisely why Gnaw Their Tongues is quickly becoming one of our favorite bands goingŠ
MPEG Stream: "My Body Is Not A Vessel, Nor A Temple, It's A Repulsive Pile Of Sickness"
MPEG Stream: "Teeth That Leer Like Open Graves"
MPEG Stream: "An Epiphanic Vomiting Of Blood"

GNAW THEIR TONGUES An Epiphanic Vomiting Of Blood (Senor Hernandez / Roadburn) lp 21.00
You can definitely tell a lot about a band by the names of records and song titles. Case in point: Gnaw Their Tongues. Some song titles: "My Body is Not a Vessel, Nor a Temple. It's a Repulsive Pile of Sickness", "And There Will Be More of Your Children Dead Tomorrow", "Blood Spills Out Of Everything I Touch", "Sound the Horns, the Water is Poisoned". Some album titles: Spit at Me and Wreak Havoc on My Flesh, Preferring Human Skin Over Animal Fur, Dawn Breaks Open Like A Wound That Bleeds Afresh, Spasming and Howling, Bowels Loosening and Bladders Emptying, Vomiting, and now this, An Epiphanic Vomiting of Blood. But then what is it exactly that we can glean from these titles? That the men in Gnaw Their tongues are demented? Sick? Depraved? Probably. But where titles like this might lead one to assume the music attached to the above words would be some sort of hateful harsh white noise, or some sort of near unlistenable Whitehouse worship, the truth is, Gnaw Their Tongues is one of the few bands with an utterly distinctive and recognizable sound. There are very few bands we can think of, even amongst our favorites. You will absolutely never confuse the music of Gnaw Their Tongues with any other outfit. And conversely, you will never hear something that is not them, and assume it is, because NOTHING sounds anything like Gnaw Their Tongues.
So much so that even explaining their sound in a review is fairly difficult. The last GTT review, we resorted to a tale of hell and hellbound journeys, of total annihilation and utter destruction, of death and decay and misery, all in a bid to evoke the same sort of images and visions, thoughts and feelings that are evoked by the sounds these guys produce.
It's definitely not black metal, but it is most certainly black. If forced to describe their sound in some succinct, and non-rambling manner, it might be cinematic operatic orchestral avant industrial doom. But since we can ramble, it might be easier to dig a little deeper.
Every song is epic, like little films, sounds evoking images, evoking thoughts and emotions, horns and orchestral stabs, flutes and strings, are as much a part of the sound as guitars. Probably more so. Thick gristly slabs of buzzing low end, crawl beneath pummeling percussive plod, operatic vocals soar and wail, bits of electronic glitch and whir drift in and out, guitars are downtuned and allowed to spread like toxic oil spills, tracks are peppered with bits of dialogue, and snippets of films, found sounds and mysterious textures, occasionally, harsh hellish blackened shrieks join the fray, as do bits of dark ambience. There is plenty of space, the sound managing to be expansive and open, as well as claustrophobic and suffocating.
It's a bit like a black metal Arvo Part, scoring a lost Hitchcock thriller, so totally intense and emotional and epic, rife with nervous tension and extreme dread. Whenever the sound verges on white noise, or total implosion, the sound abates, leaving Bernard Hermann-ish strings, or some bit of cryptic dialogue, or some strange disembodied rhythm, before spilling forth again like black vomit. The layers of blasphemous sound piling up like blackened bodies, buzzy and filthy and grime-y but so composed, not really that chaotic at all, a controlled chaos perhaps, each sound painstakingly placed to help paint that blood red picture.
An impossible blend of metal, choral, industrial, electronic, ambient, drone, noise and blackness, a gorgeous, and gorgeously infernal concoction, every record, another chapter in some sick saga, hell swallowing the surface dwellers, misery and mayhem overtaking humanity, death and pestilence, the world a graveyard for humanity, such utter depravity conveyed in such epic and dementedly brilliant sounds, which is precisely why Gnaw Their Tongues is quickly becoming one of our favorite bands goingŠ

GNAW THEIR TONGUES Dawn Breaks Open Like A Wound That Bleeds Afresh (Universal Tongue) 3"cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We almost missed out on this one completely. Limited to 100 copies or so, we tried to order 40 and were informed they only had a handful left. So we begged and pleaded, and the label agreed to press up 40 more copies just for us, and thus for you. Whew! Since we discovered this band we've become pretty obsessed. As have you all, judging from how quick we sell out of Gnaw records. They're heavy, they're super fucked up, it's not just black metal or sludge, it's some head spinning hybrid equal parts abstract industrial, ambient collageblasting blackness, hyperspeed grind, blackdrone, harsh and hellish, but strangely musical, their last record, the recently reviewed An Epiphanic Vomiting Of Blood (they have a knack for titles too) is pretty much a shoe in for record of the year. Have a look at that review for some serious gushing.
This 3 song ep, is GTT at their most black metal. The first two tracks, while laced with bits of orchestral grandeur, and blown out crumbling bliss, spend most of their time blasting away, but even then, there are bits of melodic flair here and there, the distortion is so thick and intense, the whole thing threatens to blur into some thick whirring drone, the opener has a killer breakdown groove, utterly majestic and epic, before flitting back to the black blast. The second track is another blackened monster, furiously thrashing and convulsing wildly, but it too is peppered with bits of glimmering effulgence, and a middle breakdown where distorted guitars are pitched up and allowed to shimmer ominously like some Bernard Hermann score, before the metal drops back in, transforming the track into a pummeling slow motion Godflesh style industrial dirge that eventually launches itself back into a furious burst of grim brutality.
The final track is the creepiest of the bunch, long drawn out synth drones, wavering ominously, wrapped in bis of whir and metallic buzz, samples distorted and effected drifting amidst the swirling black ambience, the moodiness eventually overtaken by a thick wave of white noise distortion and what sounds like voices screaming in terror, finally splintering into a hellish black frenzy.
Packaged in a mini 3" dvd-style case, with full color artwork, and pressed on a black cd-r. Limited to these 40 copies, once they're gone, might be tough to convince them to make us more again...
MPEG Stream: "Blood Drenched Altars"
MPEG Stream: "Knife... Martyr... Despair"

GNAW THEIR TONGUES Devotion (At War With False Noise) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It seems almost criminal to release something so limited by a band as hyped as these guys (or this guy) are lately. But there you go. 100 copies. Already sold out. We got almost half of them, but even just in the store they've been flying out of here. So you should know what that means by now. Thankfully, all the hype is well deserved and then some. Gnaw Their Tongues is one of the grimmest, sickest, darkest, most gloriously fucked up outfits going, mixing black ambient drones, dirgey sludge, buzzing black metal, abstract industrial, even mixing in bits of dialogue and snippets of opera and random other weirdness, the result a totally baffling and bewildering headfuck, that manages to creep the shit out of us, but somehow keep us listening over and over and over and over.
Devotion though is a departure, ditching much of the metal of past releases, as well as most of the song structure, and opts for something much more static and ambient, but no less heavy, these four tracks are thick swaths of dark torturous throb and groan, creaks and shimmers, rendered in crumbling greys and hoarse ghostlike wheezes. It's like an aural tour of some mysterious catacombs, built from skulls and rotting flesh, the bleak atmosphere rife with the sounds of strange machinery, the tortured cries of the doomed, a veritable symphony of cacophonous crashes and deafening blasts of blown out buzz, boiled down into a primordial ooze and smeared into gorgeously lush waves of corrosive grinding crush, a bristly brutal blur that slithers and undulates like a pit full of black snakes.
The packaging is appropriately grim and black and bleak, and fancy, as are most At War With False Noise releases, printed cd-r's housed in a two sided washed out black and white gatefold sleeve, decorated with goats and candles and bloodshed and naked women, tucked in an oversized A5 sized black cardstock gatefold jacket, with a barely legible black on black vellum cover, all in a plastic outer sleeve.
And again, limited to 100 copies, already out of print, blah blah blah...
MPEG Stream: "Devotion"
MPEG Stream: "Canibalis"

GNAW THEIR TONGUES Die Mutter Wahlt Das Todtenkleidchen (Universal Consciousness) cd 11.98
Two long out of print cd-r's from our favorite symphonic black doom noize combo, gets the ultra deluxe reissue treatment. Both Die Mutter Wahlt Das Todtenkleidchen, originally released on Corps-Morts (the first thing we ever heard from GTT), and Dawn Breaks Open Like A Wound That Bleeds Afresh originally released on Universal Tongue, are both represented here in full, and on top of that, there are THREE unreleased bonus tracks, so even folks who have those original cds will probably want this, not just for the bonus tracks (although that might be enough), but to have those two out of print cd-r's on a proper cd!! Gorgeous packaging too, super striking 6 panel digipak, comes with a GTT sticker too.
Not sure how we first heard about Gnaw Their Tongues, pretty sure a customer recommended them, but believe us when we say that the words Gnaw Their Tongues had barely left their lips (or maybe more accurately, the words had barely left the email and reached our cerebral cortex) and we were already smitten. How could they not rule with a name like that? The question was merely HOW they would rule, dark and creepy? Heavy and harsh? Doom? Blacknoise? Drone? Howabout all of those?! Oh yeah, it's almost like someone snuck into the AQ barracks in the middle of the night to scan our minds and see what kind of bands we dreamed about, the bands our subconscious really wished existed. 
They took all the data back to their lair, the one hidden beneath that big scary mountain, and spent years analyzing it, and creating equations, chemicals, compounds, months in an underground lab, until eventually the whole project was forgotten. 
Until years later, when a record store employee was hiking and discovered the ruins of some old, well, it looked like a fortress, maybe a lair, and decided, against all the wisdom gleaned from a million after school specials, to explore. Way down deep in the dusty recesses of this old forgotten lair, this record store feller discovered some sort of portal, rusted shut it seemed, and adorned with messages in some strange language, an alien tongue if you will, they looked like warnings, but what the heck, shit like that only happens in horror movies, so the feller went about trying to unlock the portal, and after what seemed like ages, the lock clicked, and the rusty metal swung open, and suddenly all was blackness, and dripping red, and agony and misery, and hell embodied on earth, in the form of this filthy black musick. 
That filthy black musick was in fact these two musical documents by these mysterious black beasties known as Gnaw Their Tongues. Who on Die Mutter Wahlt Das Todtenkleidchen, spew forth a caustic noxious ultradoom. A black metallized lurch and stumble, harsh, hellish vocals buried beneath an avalanche of corrosive guitar, strange alien ambience, and mechanical monster drumming. Horrible and grotesque and dizzyingly brutal, but with tiny vestiges of beauty and melody, occasionally visible through the dense black sonic fog. Stretches of distorted doom verging on the beautiful, separating gut wrenching squalls of utter black chaos. And that's just the first track. 
The second is like the first, only fast. Really fast. Like sticking your head into the middle of a lightning storm. Like Velvet Caccoon and Wold and AmacomA all playing simultaneously, at full volume, broadcast through Konono's PA, until your ears bleed, but it's not all pain and suffering, this  whirling world of sound is again strangely melodic, twisted into some almost pop like shapes, but always quickly bathed in blackness and sent spinning back into the fray. 
"29 Needles" is a step away from the end, and is some sort of industrial plod, a garish landscape of bleak brutality, sparse ultradistorted percussion, clouds of caustic whir, creepy ghostlike voices, the sort of sounds that make Wolf Eyes sound like the Carpenters. A musical death march through a world of fire and death and destruction, of keening musical misery and downtuned sonic punishment. 
Finally, the prophecy is complete with once the sounds of "Die Mutter Wahlt Das Todtenkleidchen" reach the ears of mortal man. The plants wither and the sky grows dim, our hearts beat slower and our blood begins to boil, the earth begins to crack, and slowly we sink into the depths of the underworld, and this is the sound that the end of all things makes. A lonely slowed down low end caterwaul, a rumbling whir peppered with jagged streaks of harsh noise, thick swells of coruscating sonic malevolence, storm clouds of hiss and buzz, a pounding skull splitting din from the heavens, an electrical storm that singes every nerve in your body, leaving you paralyzed, supine, blind, and mute, with only your ears ringing painfully, just barely able to make out the dying gasps of life as we know it.
Then came Dawn Breaks Open Like A Wound That Bleeds Afresh. We almost missed out on it completely. The original version limited to 100 copies or so, we tried to order 40 and were informed they only had a handful left. So we begged and pleaded, and the label agreed to press up 40 more copies just for us, and thus for you. But those were gone before we knew it. Which is why this reissue is such a godsend (satansend?) Since we first discovered this band we had become pretty obsessed. As have the aQ blacknoize minions, judging from how quick we sell out of Gnaw records. They're heavy, they're super fucked up, it's not just black metal or sludge, it's some head spinning hybrid equal parts abstract industrial, ambient collageblasting blackness, hyperspeed grind, blackdrone, harsh and hellish, but strangely musical.
Dawn Breaks Open Like A Wound That Bleeds Afresh finds GTT at their most black metal. The first two tracks, while laced with bits of orchestral grandeur, and blown out crumbling bliss, spend most of their time blasting away, but even then, there are bits of melodic flair here and there, the distortion is so thick and intense, the whole thing threatens to blur into some thick whirring drone, the opener has a killer breakdown groove, utterly majestic and epic, before flitting back to the black blast. The second track is another blackened monster, furiously thrashing and convulsing wildly, but it too is peppered with bits of glimmering effulgence, and a middle breakdown where distorted guitars are pitched up and allowed to shimmer ominously like some Bernard Hermann score, before the metal drops back in, transforming the track into a pummeling slow motion Godflesh style industrial dirge that eventually launches itself back into a furious burst of grim brutality.
The final track is the creepiest of the bunch, long drawn out synth drones, wavering ominously, wrapped in bis of whir and metallic buzz, samples distorted and effected drifting amidst the swirling black ambience, the moodiness eventually overtaken by a thick wave of white noise distortion and what sounds like voices screaming in terror, finally splintering into a hellish black frenzy.
As mentioned in the introduction to this review, in addition to the reissued tracks, this version of Die Mutter also includes three new, unreleased tracks. The first is a gorgeous post industrial orchestral crawl, heaving horns, crunching metallic percussion, guttural vocalizations, blasting beats, exotic strings, long stretches of haunting cinematic ambience, heavy and harrowing, the production fucked up and fractured, the sound woozy and wonderfully grim. The second is more of the same, a lumbering death march painted in broad swaths of majestic strings, buzz drenched guitars, all wrapped around a super spare machinelike pound, fuzzed out Goblin like synths, like a Bernard Hermann score gone haywire. And finally, the awesomely titled closer "I Am The Lord And There Is No Other; I Make The Light, I Create Darkness" (GTT definitely have a way with song and album titles), a slow burning bit of black ambient drift, distant drones, creepy keyboard shimmers, dark layered waves of low end rumble, epic swells of soundtracky creepiness, while all throughout, the track drifts through sprawling fields of mysterious creaks and groans, clatter and crunch. Occasional squalls of orchestral percussion tangle with blurred bits of otherworldly whir, all streaked with sweetly sorrowful strings. So good.
If you're new to Gnaw Their Tongues, and you're into sounds blackened and brutal and bizarre and fucked up and noisy and creepy and epic, then you couldn't find a better place to start than this, and yeah, GTT fanatics, you're definitely gonna want this, even if you have the cd-r's, as we mentioned above, this is some of the best GTT material, finally on a proper cd, but even more importantly, this would be well worth $12 even if it was just a 20 minute / 3 song ep containing only the bonus tracks.
MPEG Stream: "Leichenbergen"
MPEG Stream: "And The Waters Shall Prevail Upon The Earth"
MPEG Stream: "Blood Drenched Altars"
MPEG Stream: "Knife... Martyr... Despair"

GNAW THEIR TONGUES Die Mutter Wahlt Das Todtenkleidchen (Corps-Morts) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not sure how we first heard about Gnaw Their Tongues, pretty sure a customer recommended them, but believe us when we say that the words Gnaw Their Tongues had barely left their lips (or maybe more accurately, the words had barely left the email and reached our cerebral cortex) and we were already smitten. How could they not rule with a name like that? The question was merely HOW they would rule, dark and creepy? Heavy and harsh? Doom? Blacknoise? Drone? Howabout all of those?! Oh yeah, it's almost like someone snuck into the AQ barracks in the middle of the night to scan our minds and see what kind of bands we dreamed about, the bands our subconscious really wished existed. 
They took all the data back to their lair, the one hidden beneath that big scary mountain, and spent years analyzing it, and creating equations, chemicals, compounds, months in an underground lab, until eventually the whole project was forgotten. 
Until years later, when a record store employee was hiking and discovered the ruins of some old, well, it looked like a fortress, maybe a lair, and decided, against all the wisdom gleaned from a million after school specials, to explore. Way down deep in the dusty recesses of this old forgotten lair, this record store feller discovered some sort of portal, rusted shut it seemed, and adorned with messages in some strange language, an alien tongue if you will, they looked like warnings, but what the heck, shit like that only happens in horror movies, so the feller went about trying to unlock the portal, and after what seemed like ages, the lock clicked, and the rusty metal swung open, and suddenly all was blackness, and dripping red, and agony and misery, and hell embodied on earth, in the form of this filthy black musick. 
That filthy black musick was this, the first recorded document by these mysterious black beasties known as Gnaw Their Tongues. Who spew forth a caustic noxious ultradoom. A black metallized lurch and stumble, harsh, hellish vocals buried beneath an avalanche of corrosive guitar, strange alien ambience, and mechanical monster drumming. Horrible and grotesque and dizzyingly brutal, but with tiny vestiges of beauty and melody, occasionally visible through the dense black sonic fog. Stretches of distorted doom verging on the beautiful, separating gut wrenching squalls of utter black chaos. And that's just the first track. 
The second is like the first, only fast. Really fast. Like sticking your head into the middle of a lightning storm. Like Velvet Caccoon and Wold and Amacoma all playing simultaneously, at full volume, broadcast through Konono's PA, untiil your ears bleed, but it's not all pain and suffering, this  whirling world of sound is again strangely melodic, twisted into some almost pop like shapes, but always quickly bathed in blackness and sent spinning  back into the fray. 
"29 Needles" is a step away from the end, and is some sort of industrial plod, a garish landscape of bleak brutality, sparse ultradistorted percussion, clouds of caustic whir, creepy ghostlike voices, the sort of sounds that make Wolf Eyes sound like the Carpenters. A musical death march through a world of fire and death and destruction, of keening musical misery and downtuned sonic punishment. 
Finally, the prophecy is complete with once the sounds of "Die Mutter Wahlt Das Todtenkleidchen" reach the ears of mortal man. The plants wither and the sky grows dim, our hearts beat slower and our blood begins to boil, the earth begins to crack, and slowly we sink into the depths of the underworld, and this is the sound that the end of all things makes. A lonely slowed down low end caterwaul, a rumbling whir peppered with jagged streaks of harsh noise, thick swells of coruscating sonic malevolence, storm clouds of hiss and buzz, a pounding skull splitting din from the heavens, an electrical storm that singes every nerve in your body, leaving you paralyzed, supine, blind, and mute, with only your ears ringing painfully, just barely able to make out the dying gasps of life as we know it.
MPEG Stream: "Leichenbergen"
MPEG Stream: "And The Waters Shall Prevail Upon The Earth"

GNAW THEIR TONGUES For All Slaves A Song Of False Hope (Burning World) cd ep 13.98
Latest ep of cinematic doom dirge black ambience from this freaky one man band, and like past missives, this stuff is gorgeous, sick, confusing, heavy, fucked up, noisy, mysterious, cinematic, epic, disturbing and totally brilliant.
It's supposedly an ep, but it's almost an hour long, and for most folks an hour of this punishment is all you could take.
Check out some of our other Gnaw reviews, to read our gushing descriptions of the super evocative sound world GTT is able to conjure up, we wrote endlessly about bleak barren wastelands, charred bodies, horrific site and sounds, it's almost easier to describe the images and ideas that this music evokes that it is to describe the sounds themselves. But we'll have a go.
Imagine Abruptum scoring films and you might have a rough idea: strings soar, horns moan and bleat, industrial percussion is laced throughout, vocals are disembodied guttural howls, melodies creep through blackened soundscapes of buzz and pound, opening up into expanses of creak and clatter, laced with samples and found sounds, all floating above a sea of tense dronemusic, everything wrapped in swirling clouds of black sludge, and doomic rumbles. The clouds occasionally part, revealing some intimate moment, whether musical and dramatic, agonized wailing, or some strange dialogue, usually tangled up with some gloomy melody, some stumbling rhythm, before exploding again into a cacophonous blast of epic cinematic blacknoize.
This record doesn't deviate too much from past releases, which is just fine with us, it sounds like we're just digging deeper into the scarred psyche behind Gnaw Their Tongues, the most notable difference might be the presence of more sampled strings, and the record's closer which is a gorgeous buzzing midtempo black metal dirge, that manages to sound grim and raw, but also weirdly melodic and emotional.
GTT is one of the few bands who manages to create an absolutely unique sound, an impossible doom / black metal / ambient hybrid that fuses all of those various sounds perfectly into something that is both all and none of those. And as always, garish artwork, this time a topless woman preparing to emasculate a supine nude man, and of course song titles like "The Uncomfortable Silence In Between Beatings" and "My Womb Is Barren And I Want Revenge".
Fucked up and genius and thus absolutely recommended.
MPEG Stream: "For All Slaves A Song Of False Hope I"
MPEG Stream: "The Uncomfortable Silence In Between Beatings"
MPEG Stream: "A Fiery Deluge"

GNAW THEIR TONGUES Reeking Pained And Shuddering (Paradigms) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If for some reason you missed out on the last Gnaw Their Tongues release, a super limited cd-r now unfortunately out of print, and aren't yet as ridiculously obsessed with these guys as we are, we can get you up to speed pretty easily. Beyond the evocative name, there's the record title: Reeking Pained and Shuddering, and how about the song titles: "Blood Spills Out Of Everything I Touch", "Destroying Is Creating" or "Nihilism; Tied Up And Burning". And if you still don't have even a rough idea of what you're in for, there's always the music itself, a roiling sonic cesspool of unfettered abject brutality and buzzing murky malevolence. A sort of black metal doom noise hybrid, like Abruptum jamming with Wolf Eyes but slowed way dooooooown, dipped in tar, rolled in dirt and shoved staggering and bloody out of your speakers.
But this isn't just noisy, or heavy or brutal, each song is strangely nuanced, and manages to veer wildly all over the sonic map without losing cohesiveness, each track is like a mini epic, with movements, moods, a convoluted song structure that is tangled and serpentine but that has some alien logic.
Take the 8+ minute opening track "Blood Spills Out Of Everything I Touch", which begins with a lurching industrial plod, all lo-fi Godflesh pound and pummel, in a swirling cloud of grey fog FX, but then, the riffs take on some horror movie like cinematic ambience, somehow sounding orchestral and majestic, before falling apart into some strange shuffling skittering krautdoom, peppered with what sounds like horns, snippets of dialogue, and huge booming downtuned crashes, until everything peels back, just leaving a weird smear of rumbling drones and smeared carnival music, beneath a super creepy monologue from some film, appropriately gruesome, the music in the background looping and more and more ominous, eventually building to a near static symphony of vacuum cleaner whir, above a skeletal framework of skittery percussion, and moaning creaking collapsing-building downtuned riffage. And that's just one song.
"Utter Futility Of Creation" begins with super sinister soundtracky strings, before the hammer falls and the record resumes its monstrous lurch, but the strings never go away, they trill and soar and scrape in the background, adding super dramatic tension and furthering the idea that this record might be the soundtrack to the scariest movie ever made. Here and there the band bow out, leaving the strings to weave an ominous swirl of sonic terror and panic, the band pulsing in the background, as if waiting to pounce, again what sound like horns join the fray. It's like what Goblin might have sounded like had they grown up on a steady diet of grindcore and black metal. "Nihilism; Tied Up And Burning" begins as another chunk of lost cinematic black ambience with female operatic vocals over a dark black whirl of thrum and throb, before a grinding looped riff surfaces and the band launch into a blasting slab of black metal, but all tangled up with those haunting vocals, and bathed in a fuzz so thick it sounds like it was recorded by Tim Hecker or Christian Fennesz, but so much more harsh and harrowing. Much of the rest of the record leans toward the ambient, with the buzzing guitars washed out into dense drones, more fucked up field recordings and samples, processed vocals, whirring alien loops, howled moaned voices, but still with the occasional stretch of pounding percussion, or wall of impossibly detuned guitar, everything crumbling and filthy, frightening and seriously fucked up. Definitely one of our new favorite bands.
Some of this stuff is previously released, mostly on outrageously limited cd-r's and cassette releases, so while some of you collector fiends might have one or two of these tracks, as far as the rest of us are concerned, this fresh musical meat!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!! Housed in a white dvd case, with full color artwork and printed heavy paper insert.
MPEG Stream: "Blood Spills Out Of Everything I Touch"
MPEG Stream: "Utter Futility Of Creation"
MPEG Stream: "Nihilism; Tied Up And Burning"

GNAW THEIR TONGUES Rend Each Other Like Wild Beasts, Till Earth Shall Reek With Midnight Massacre (At War With False Noise) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What might you glean from an image of a shepherd with a ram's head cradling a baby lamb, standing amidst a flock of sheep, or what appears to be an image of Jesus or a saint or angel, also with a ram's head? What if those images were accompanied by phrases like "Rend Each Other Like Wild Beasts, Till Earth Shall Reek With Midnight Massacre", or "Then Shall They Come, Oh Master, Shrieking From Red Battlefields To People Thy Dark Realms", or "In Sullen Silence Stalks Forth Pestilence"? Well if you've been reading the aQuarius list for a while, you'd no doubt realize that this must be another filthy blackened sonic missive from our favorite master of cinematic black doom, Gnaw Their Tongues.
Three new tracks, all lengthy and dense and brutal and hellishly symphonic, we've struggled to describe the sound of GTT in the past, it's not doom, or black metal, although it incorporates bits of both, it's the strings and horns and haunting ambience, the weird samples and film clips, the strange arrangements that play out more like orchestrations than jams, that make Gnaw Their Tongues so singularly fucked up and genius.
Side one is all hellish deep drones wrapped around distant foghorns, or some sort of inhuman cries, layered atop dense rumbles and muted industrial percussion, tense, ominous, harrowing, building to a crushing cacophony, like a Godflesh record played at 16 rpm, alongside a soulful strings record playing at 8 rpm, the horns bleating and skronking and moaning beneath the heaving machinelike pound. Bursts of blasting buzzing crunch pepper the doomscape, as do super distorted harsh howls, and all manner of tangled melody, like some symphony of filth and crust, a creeping lumbering abstract soundscape, with a super haunting horror movie outro.
The 2nd side is more spacious and doomy, but no less intense, bits of backwards melody lace the stumbling pound, like some Bernard Hermann horror movie score gone haywire, all screaming strings, screaming voices, mysterious samples, all gorgeously abject, but hauntingly beautiful, the mournful horns, the dramatic stings, and the crumbling black wall of sound carrying everything forward and dragging it down to hell.
Gorgeous packaging, the aforementioned ram headed figures on the cover, with a heavy printed inner sleeve, and pressed on thick vinyl. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES. Almost out of print, these are most likely our last copies ever...
NOTE: All jackets slightly damaged, not enough to distress most folks, but anal record collectors beware!

GNAW THEIR TONGUES The Genocideal Deliverance (At War With False Noise) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The return of our favorite one man blackened noise drenched cinematic doomscape wrecking crew, with a super limited single, only 300 copies, of which we got about 40. Already sold out and out of print, so act fast if you want one of these filthy little black slabs.
And filthy they are, and heavy, and noisy, and most definitely the most metal thing we've heard from GTT to date. Two tracks, both sound cut from the same blood soaked cloth, relentless blast beats and drum machine splatter buried beneath thick oozing layers of churning downtuned black buzz, underpinned by tripped out keyboards, and some super harsh processed vokills. Occasionally moaning slabs of woozy drone surface, or the vocals become even more garbled, but the pace remains frenetic. Both sides feature a breakdown of sorts, the A side finds the sound slipping into some weird sort of soundtracky Goblin territory, all queasy synths and creepy minor key melodies, epic and cinematic, but still filthy and grimy and lo-fi, while the B-side introduces some haunting spoken word, over a dense swirl of drones and hums and buzzing, before exploding again into a guitar drenched blacknoise outro.
Awesome as always, and again, already OUT OF PRINT. These are the last copies, we, you or anyone else will ever see.

GNAW THEIR TONGUES / HALO OF THE SUN / THE ARM AND SWORD OF THE BASTARD GOD / THE SLAUGHTERED LAMB In Hoc Signo Vinces (Black Goat) cd 11.98
Killer 4 way split of extreme outsider heaviness, most folks will probably grab this for the two new Gnaw Their Tongues tracks, but will probably end up digging the other three bands nearly as much.
But since GTT might be the reason most folks are here, let's talk about those tracks first. No huge departures, just more of that same, grim, apocalyptic, industrial, cinematic doom. "Crawl" is just that, a harrowing sonic crawl, with blown out distorted drums, heaving downtuned guitars, moaning miserable melodies, hysterical shrieks, shimmering strings, dense drones, a freaked out apocalyptic soundtrack to the death of mankind. "Paleness" is more of the same, but more metal, the main riff a blurred bit of undulating buzz, the vocals insane, the drums and industrial plod, long stretches of creepy ambience, the final half of the song a dense, thick, layered bit of blackened slow motion dronemusic, that is as weirdly hypnotic as it is hellish. Definitely worth it for fans, to get those two tracks, but there's much more metallic misery to be had.
The Arm And Sword Of A Bastard God (killer name!) are a Southern California doomkult, and traffic in plodding blackened doom, minimal and murky, big guitars, pounding drums, and some sick slowed down death metal style vocals. Halo Of The Sun contribute their own bit of UK style doom-ed blackness, a frantic bit of black metal laced with wild squiggly guitar harmonies, harsh vox, a definite Cradle Of Filth vibe, weirdly melodic, but way more lo-fi and underground, the track breaks down into a lurching doomy trudge, there are even some weird processed clean vocals, but it's soon back into the dense black grind and churn. Cool stuff for sure. Definitely be into hearing more from these guys.
And last up, from LA come The Slaughtered Lamb, who also do the black doom thing, their sound way more akin to Gnaw Their Tongues, super distorted, almost industrial, the guitars crumbling and nearly formless, the vocals dripping in effects, a filthy abject sonic crawl through broken glass and bloody entrails, leading to the 26 minute closer, an sprawling bit of epic and dismal black ambience, from hushed shimmer, to distorted thrum, to black buzz creep and back again.
All four bands impress, so buy it for the Gnaw Their Tongues, but stick around for the Slaughtered Lamb!
MPEG Stream: GNAW THEIR TONGUES "Crawl"
MPEG Stream: HALO OF THE SUN "Fenriz"
MPEG Stream: THE ARM AND SWORD OF A BASTARD GOD "GutterMotherCreator"

GNAWA BAMBARA Mallem Abdenbi El Gadari (Dunya) cd 24.00

GNIDROLOG In Spite Of Harry's Toe-Nail (Lady Eleanore) cd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Just got a handful of this obscure prog cd reissue so we thought we'd list it. Definitely one for anyone who's dug previous AQ prog recommendations. Actually the UK's Gnidrolog kinda combine a lot of our favorite over-the-top prog moves into one elpee. You'll hear some Magma, some Van Der Graaf...King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Shub Niggurath, Osanna...even some Comus. It's crazed and hectic and bombastic, with zany Zappa'd mathematical rock n' roll raveups (complete with harp blowin'), fitted out in extreme prog fashion with cello, sax, oboe, piano, and flute. (Let's not forget the flute!! that's where the Comus and Tull comparisions come in.) From pretty, rustic folk song to unhinged dramatic vocalizations to doomy rock chords and even some super-skronky guitar noise, this 1972 LP was definitely *out there* as far as progressive rock goes. In Spite Of Harry's Toe-Nail was their debut, but this cd version includes as bonus tracks alternate versions of two from their second album Lady Lake, including the epic Wishbone Ash-ish "I Could Never Be A Soldier".
MPEG Stream: "Long Live Man Dead"
MPEG Stream: "Snails"

GNIDROLOG In Spite Of Harry's Toe-Nail / Lady Lake (BGO Records) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two Gnidrolog albums on one disc!

GNIDROLOG Lady Lake (Si-Wan) cd 22.00

GNOD The Crystal Pagoda (Sonic Meditations) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
You can often tell a lot about a band by the other bands they share splits with. And considering the fact that Gnod have done split time with both psychedelic space rockers White Hills, and space psych doomlords Bong, it's pretty much a no brainer. And the fact that these guys can pretty much hold their own with both says it all. And actually, the sound of Gnod does fall somewhere right between Bong and White Hills, beginning super murky and minimal, doomy and slow, the guitars abstract and space-y, fluttery flutes laced over whirring low end, the sound builds quickly to something seriously explosive, the drums pounding, lots of bagpipe like horns offering up more layers of drones, mumbled vox, distortion and noise and effects piling up until the rhythmic almost krautlike groove is buried beneath a heaving churning pile of constantly shifting and swirling sound. Pretty stellar for sure.
The second track here, another 20 minute space doom jam, is much less expansive, instead, it's a solid chunk of hypno space rock, the drums and bass locked tight, weird vocals drift in and out, swirls of space-y FX swoop down from above, the surrounding ambience is ever changing, but the rhythm keeps the song grounded, a head nodding, drug addled non-stop mesmerizing groooooove, lysergic and psychedelic but pretty stripped down compared to that opening salvo. Good stuff for sure. Anyone into the current crop of space rock explorers (like Expo 70, too, whose limited edition cassette/cd-r label put this out) will no doubt dig this BIG TIME.
MPEG Stream: "The Crystal Pagoda"
MPEG Stream: "Tony's First Disco"

GNOD The Crystal Pagoda (Sonic Meditations) 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.
You can often tell a lot about a band by the other bands they share splits with. And considering the fact that Gnod have done split time with both psychedelic space rockers White Hills, and space psych doomlords Bong, it's pretty much a no brainer. And the fact that these guys can pretty much hold their own with both says it all. And actually, the sound of Gnod does fall somewhere right between Bong and White Hills, beginning super murky and minimal, doomy and slow, the guitars abstract and space-y, fluttery flutes laced over whirring low end, the sound builds quickly to something seriously explosive, the drums pounding, lots of bagpipe like horns offering up more layers of drones, mumbled vox, distortion and noise and effects piling up until the rhythmic almost krautlike groove is buried beneath a heaving churning pile of constantly shifting and swirling sound. Pretty stellar for sure.
The second track here, another 20 minute space doom jam, is much less expansive, instead, it's a solid chunk of hypno space rock, the drums and bass locked tight, weird vocals drift in and out, swirls of space-y FX swoop down from above, the surrounding ambience is ever changing, but the rhythm keeps the song grounded, a head nodding, drug addled non-stop mesmerizing groooooove, lysergic and psychedelic but pretty stripped down compared to that opening salvo. Good stuff for sure. Anyone into the current crop of space rock explorers (like Expo 70, too, whose limited edition cassette/cd-r label put this out) will no doubt dig this BIG TIME.
MPEG Stream: "The Crystal Pagoda"
MPEG Stream: "Tony's First Disco"

GO BACK SNOWBALL Calling Zero (Fading Captain) cd 15.98
Besides being yet another in the seemingly ceaseless stream of Robert Pollard's Fading Captain Series recording projects, the most notable thing about Go Back Snowball is the warm, glowing presence of Superchunk's Mac MacCaughan. Yup, this is a collaboration between these two tireless, great musical minds. Mr. MacCaughan wrote and performed all of the music, while Mr. Pollard wrote and performed all of the vocals. Imagine what it could possibly sound like and I'll bet you'd not be far off the mark.
RealAudio clip: "Red Hot Halos"
RealAudio clip: "Throat of Throats"

GO FIND, THE Miami (Morr Music) cd 15.98
Belgium's The Go Find craft atmospheric electronic laced pop rock propelled by a driving robotic beat and warmed by mainman Dieter Sermeus' sensitive male vocals. The ten songs on their debut album Miami alternately bring to mind the sounds of The Notwist, Postal Service and New Order or perhaps a more laidback version of The Faint. This new member of the Morr Music clan is settling in quite comfortably with his labelmates Lali Puna, Ms John Soda, Styrofoam et al.
MPEG Stream: "Over The Edge"
MPEG Stream: "Summer Quest"

GO GO GALAXION Great Attractor (Hectochrome) cd 9.98
This new SF band's debut is quite immediately reminiscent of the dreamy, swirling late '90s Brit rock bands like Spiritualized or The Church - all shimmering, spacy guitars with soft shoegazer male lead vocals. But Go Go Galaxion set themselves apart from those groups with an ever-present upbeat mood that's propelled along by some considerably West Coast sunny bouncy tempos and warm vocal harmonies - maybe placing them more in line with polished pop bands like Beulah or the Posies in that regard. Nice.
RealAudio clip: "Breathe"
RealAudio clip: "Living Space"

GO HOME PRODUCTIONS Pistol Whipped (Half Inch) 12" 16.98

GO TEAM, THE Proof Of Youth (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
Whoa, what a change of direction! Rather than chewin' on pink bubblegum, The Go Team's new album might have you gnawin' on a shank of beef jerky... or some other more manly snack. The jubilant youthful glee of their 2004 debut album Thunder, Lightning, Strike has been replaced by uncharacteristic ballsy thumpin' beats and macho vocals... and Chuck D. Yes, you heard us correctly. Chuck D makes a cameo appearance on this album -- sort of like what he did on Sonic Youth's "Kool Thing" (but nowhere near as kool). We're not sure what to think of this turn of events. To be honest, it kinda harshed our giddy anticipation. Harumph.
MPEG Stream: "Grip Like A Vice"
MPEG Stream: "The Wrath Of Marcie"

GO TEAM, THE Proof Of Youth (Sub Pop) lp 14.98
Whoa, what a change of direction! Rather than chewin' on pink bubblegum, The Go Team's new album might have you gnawin' on a shank of beef jerky... or some other more manly snack. The jubilant youthful glee of their 2004 debut album Thunder, Lightning, Strike has been replaced by uncharacteristic ballsy thumpin' beats and macho vocals... and Chuck D. Yes, you heard us correctly. Chuck D makes a cameo appearance on this album -- sort of like what he did on Sonic Youth's "Kool Thing" (but nowhere near as kool). We're not sure what to think of this turn of events. To be honest, it kinda harshed our giddy anticipation. Harumph.
MPEG Stream: "Grip Like A Vice"
MPEG Stream: "The Wrath Of Marcie"

GO! TEAM, THE Thunder, Lightning, Strike (Memphis Industries / Columbia) cd 13.98
Heads up people! It's a surging candy-coated fountain of perky, ultra funky euro pop sweeping up everyone in its path! When we played it the other day, she had three customers ask about it in quick succession. Pretty darn irresistible, The Go! Team cook up lots of hyper-energetic, ass-slappin', toe-shakin' party jams! Sorta like a bubbly, brightly-hued blend of Bis and Stereototal. Sometimes you think your listening to a '60s spy movie soundtrack (particularly for a scene involving a car chase by the beach), while other times you'd swear you've stumbled upon a groovy pyjama-party-a-go-go. Something that's this jam-packed with rompin' good thrills'n'chills has just gotta be... highly recommended!!!
MPEG Stream: "Panther Dash"
MPEG Stream: "Ladyflash "

GO! TEAM, THE Thunder, Lightning, Strike (Memphis Industries) lp 14.98
NOW ON VINYL!!!!
Heads up people! It's a surging candy-coated fountain of perky, ultra funky euro pop sweeping up everyone in its path! When we played it the other day, we had three customers ask about it in quick succession. Pretty darn irresistible, The Go! Team cook up lots of hyper-energetic, ass-slappin', toe-shakin' party jams! Sorta like a bubbly, brightly-hued blend of Bis and Stereototal. Sometimes you think your listening to a '60s spy movie soundtrack (particularly for a scene involving a car chase by the beach), while other times you'd swear you've stumbled upon a groovy pyjama-party-a-go-go. Something that's this jam-packed with rompin' good thrills'n'chills has just gotta be... highly recommended!!!
MPEG Stream: "Panther Dash"
MPEG Stream: "Ladyflash "

GO, THE Whatcha Doin' (Sub Pop) cd 12.98
Revivalist 70's glam rock for fans of The Stooges or New York Dolls. On Sub Pop.

GO-BETWEENS Oceans Apart (Yep Roc) cd 14.98
It's been five years since Robert Forster and Grant McLennan reformed their beloved band, and with their latest full length Oceans Apart they show no signs of stopping. Their music is as great as ever. If you really need proof, you need only give this album a spin next to the recently re-issued early Go-Betweens classics such as 16 Lovers Lane. Although the two gents' songwriting and singing styles have always been quite different from one another (and great on their own when in solo mode), when combined the chemistry is pure pop magic. They sing from and to both the heart and mind, penning some of the most sincere, articulate and romantic pop songs around. Who else could fit Dostoyevsky's name in their lyrics? Well, maybe Robyn Hitchcock, who might be the one artist closest to them in style, depth, wit and charm. The Go-Betweens' records including this one are something you can always rely on to offer light to your darker times and places.
Note: the first pressing of this cd includes a bonus disc of six songs recorded live at the Barbican in London last year.
MPEG Stream: "No Reason To Cry"
MPEG Stream: "Darlinghurst Nights"

GO-BETWEENS, THE 16 Lovers Lane (Jetset) 2cd 21.00
It's time for much revelry, Go-Betweens fans! Jetset Records has reissued another batch of Go-Betweens albums on cd. This time it's three of the band's finest, most beloved works -- 16 Lovers Lane, Tallulah, and Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express. Perhaps it's time for you to replace your well-worn copies of these totally classic albums?! Each comes with a bonus disc overflowing with a variety of rarities and videos. Such a treat for pop music lovers! And if you've somehow yet to experience the refined splendor of the Go-Betweens music, now is the time to get with the program! Seriously folks, this band was (and is) graced with not just one, but two of the most formidable songwriting forces around, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan. Consistently head and shoulders above their comtemporaries, their unmistakable and unforgettable songs speak to both the heart and the mind, and we'd venture to say that 1988's 16 Lovers Lane does so the best of them all. It's the album they released just prior to disbanding for a decade (they reformed in '99), and they 'ended' things on a glowingly resonant high note. It's quite possibly their best work of their career (and a particular favorite of Andee's). This reissue includes videos for "Streets Of Your Town" (two versions) and "Was There Anything I Could Do?" plus ten stellar bonus tracks. Not to be missed. Sooo recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Love Goes On!"
MPEG Stream: "Wait Until June"

GO-BETWEENS, THE Before Hollywood (Circus/Jetset) 2cd 19.98
For almost a quarter of a decade, the Go-Betweens have been crafting some of the most sparkling pop songs. The songwriting duo of Robert Forster and Grant McLennan are responsible for innumerable understated, hook-filled beauties, each of them bearing the unmistakable Go-Betweens sound. So, if you're new to this great group, where do you start? Well, their most recent effort "The Friends Of Rachel Worth" (which featured the addition of Sam and Janet of Quasi to the line-up) was an absolutely glorious album, but with the recent reissues of their earlier albums... geez, the decision making's tough! Nonetheless, whichever album you choose will surely mark your entry into the rather sizeable and devout membership of Go-Betweens admirers.
Before Hollywood was their sophomore release. So very composed, confident, gentle and gentlemanly, they make songwriting seem easy. Some prime examples? The classic pop tunes "That Way" and "Cattle And Cane"... worth the price of admission alone. And voila, on the bonus disc you also get the video for the latter!
RealAudio clip: "Cattle And Cane"
RealAudio clip: "That Way"

GO-BETWEENS, THE Bright Yellow, Bright Orange (Jetset) cd 15.98
From the first note to the very last, the follow-up to The Friends Of Rachel Worth (and to the celebrated reissues of their first three albums) is quite simply more glorious, intelligent pop of the highest grade from this Australian group. Always comfortingly familiar, yet also very fresh and vibrant. Robert Forster and Grant McLennan create the finest of pop songs that are ever sweet, lush and sentimental, but never overly so. What more can be said? Legions of Go-Betweens fans already know, and those who've yet to discover them should get the lead out, goshdarnit!
MPEG Stream: "Caroline & I"
MPEG Stream: "Old Mexico"

GO-BETWEENS, THE Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express (Jetset) 2cd 21.00
It's time for much revelry, Go-Betweens fans! Jetset Records has reissued another batch of Go-Betweens albums on cd. This time it's three of the band's finest, most beloved works -- 16 Lovers Lane, Tallulah, and Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express. Perhaps it's time for you to replace your well-worn copies of these totally classic albums?! Each comes with a bonus disc overflowing with a variety of rarities and videos. Such a treat for pop music lovers! And if you've somehow yet to experience the refined splendor of the Go-Betweens music, now is the time to get with the program! Seriously folks, this band was (and is) graced with not just one, but two of the most formidable songwriting forces around, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan. Consistently head and shoulders above their comtemporaries, their unmistakable and unforgettable songs speak to both the heart and the mind.
You need look no further than the third song "The Wrong Road" from 1986's Libery Belle And The Black Diamond Express with its sweeping strings and yearning vocals, as well as the steady guitar strum canter and understated yet dreamy backing vocals of the fourth song "To Reach Me". Beautiful!
This reissue includes videos for "Spring Rain" and "Head Full Of Steam" plus eleven bonus tracks (many of them early and alternate versions). Hurrah!
MPEG Stream: "The Wrong Road"
MPEG Stream: "To Reach Me"

GO-BETWEENS, THE Spring Hill Fair (Circus/Jetset) 2cd 19.98
For almost a quarter of a decade, the Go-Betweens have been crafting some of the most sparkling pop songs. The songwriting duo of Robert Forster and Grant McLennan are responsible for innumerable understated, hook-filled beauties. Each of them bearing the unmistakable Go-Betweens sound. So, if you're new to this great group, where do you start? Their most recent effort "The Friends Of Rachel Worth" (which featured the addition of Sam and Janet of Quasi to the line-up) was an absolutely glorious album, but with the recent reissues of their earlier albums... geez, the decision making's tough! Nonetheless, whichever album you choose will surely mark your entry into the rather sizeable and devout membership of Go-Betweens admirers.
For the record, Spring Hill Fair was the third album by these Australian pop geniuses. Underrated and often overlooked, but sooo good! It was recorded in 1984 and features amazing, intelligent lyrics and uniquely beautiful guitar pop instrumentation.
RealAudio clip: "Bachelor Kisses"
RealAudio clip: "You've Never Lived"
RealAudio clip: "Part Company"

GO-BETWEENS, THE Tallulah (Jetset) 2cd 21.00
It's time for much revelry, Go-Betweens fans! Jetset Records has reissued another batch of Go-Betweens albums on cd. This time it's three of the band's finest, most beloved works -- 16 Lovers Lane, Tallulah, and Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express. Perhaps it's time for you to replace your well-worn copies of these totally classic albums?! Each comes with a bonus disc overflowing with a variety of rarities and videos. Such a treat for pop music lovers! And if you've somehow yet to experience the refined splendor of the Go-Betweens music, now is the time to get with the program! Seriously folks, this band was (and is) graced with not just one, but two of the most formidable songwriting forces around, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan. Consistently head and shoulders above their comtemporaries, their unmistakable and unforgettable songs speak to both the heart and the mind.
Tallulah, their fifth album originally released back in 1987, arguably runs a close second to 16 Lovers Lane for the band's 'best album' award. A sweet blend of guitar crunch and lushness.
This reissue includes videos for "Right Here" and "Bye Bye Pride" plus ten bonus tracks (many of them early and alternate versions). Hurrah!
MPEG Stream: "Right Here"
MPEG Stream: "A Little Romance"

GO-BETWEENS, THE That Striped Sunlight Sound (Yep Roc) dvd + cd 25.00
It's a downright pleasure to hear (and see) the enthusiasm this band still has for their music and their fans (really, so much more than many artists these days can even seem to muster a fraction of!). They've been making wonderful music individually and as a group for over a quarter of a century! Nowhere is it currently more on display than on this live Go-Betweens dvd/cd set! The dvd features a fantastic performance of theirs in Brisbane last August as well as a batch of stories as told by band leaders Grant McLennan and Robert Forster themselves the day after. As an added convenience, the cd features a 70 minute long audio recording of the show. needless to say, an awesome fan pleaser! Hats off to the Go-Betweens!
MPEG Stream: "Finding You (live)"
MPEG Stream: "The Clock (live)"

GO-BETWEENS, THE The Friends Of Rachel Worth (Jetset) cd 14.98
Upon the very first play of this cd in AQ, three (!) customers' ears immediately pricked up, then all three customers chimed in unison "new Go-Betweens?" And their ears were treated to a wonderful listening delight. On this album the Go-Betweens line-up consists of Grant McLennan, Robert Forster, Adele Pickvance, and Quasi's multi-talented Janet Weiss and Sam Coombes. Also contributing their musical talents are Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker (of Sleater-Kinney) as well as Brent Arnold and Jen Chorowhas. And a few others... Sure to please old Go-Betweens fans and certain to make them quite a few new ones as well. Beautiful, lush and earthy.
RealAudio clip: "The Clock"

GO-GO'S God Bless The Go-Go's (Universal) cd 16.98
Looking so fresh and bright, Jane, Charlotte, Kathy, Gina and Belinda return with a full new album after a series of peeks and teasers. Their wonderful go-girl harmonies and super hook pop melodies are all splendidly intact. Billie Joe from Green Day guests on a song.

GOAT FAMILY, THE All We Need (self-released) cd 11.98
Here's the follow-up to The Goat Family's lively debut album Unstopperable from a few years ago! Sounds like these seven fellas are still bustin' their britches with rambunctious energy and mighty fine pickin'! All We Need is jam-packed with sixteen old fashioned bluegrass and country tunes written and performed in both conventional and somewhat less conventional fashion by modern day folks fueled by ample jugs o' moonshine. Good times for sure!
MPEG Stream: "The Old Why And Why"
MPEG Stream: "Little Red Demons"