GALAXIE 500 On Fire (20/20/20) lp 15.98
We can't believe it's been 20 years since this trio (and their trio of albums) so gracefully touched our lives during the band's way too brief lifespan. Boy, does it make us feel old! But we can't complain too much as it's so awesome to see these three crucial records available on vinyl once again! For those who may not know, Galaxie 500 was made up of core members Damon Krukowski (drums), Naomi Yang (bass, vocals) and Dean Wareham (guitar, vocals), who are probably more well known now for the bands that formed in Galaxie 500's wake: Damon and Naomi, Luna, and Dean and Britta.
Hailing from the mid-eighties Boston college rock scene (all three attended Harvard), Galaxie 500 were very different from The Pixies and Throwing Muses, who were the more prominent Boston bands at the time, favoring slower-paced reverbed drenched songs, big in sound but played with a minimalist economy. Influenced by later period Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, Young Marble Giants and early New Order (all of whom they covered), Galaxie 500's signature dream pop sound (courtesy of producer Kramer, Bongwater frontman and head of the great Shimmy-Disc label) paved the way for both the shoegaze and slowcore scenes of the early nineties. In fact Kramer went on to produce Low's debut in 1994. After three great records for Rough Trade, Galaxie 500 parted ways less than amicably, with guitarist/vocalist Wareham unexpectedly quitting to form his own band Luna, leaving the rhythm section of Damon and Naomi to fend for themselves. While both parties went on to more successful ventures, none of them have quite replaced Galaxie 500's unparalleled pop majesty in our hearts.
On Fire was the band's 1989 follow-up to Today, and is widely considered their best album (though we love them all, and really find it hard to favor one in particular over the others). It's definitely their most varied yet most assured album. The songs have more blissed-out dynamics, without losing their understated verve. The instrumentation is augmented on a few songs by more acoustic guitar underlayers and moments of organ and even guest cameo Ralph Carney's tenor sax on "Decomposing Trees". But a noticeable standout is Naomi Yang singing on "Another Day", a soft gauzy highlight on an already stellar album. If there were any longstanding regrets about this band among fans, the big one would be we wished she got to sing more. The cover song this time goes to George Harrison's "Isn't It A Pity", a sentiment that extends way past Harrison's original intent and hovers over this band like a ghost.

GALAXIE 500 On Fire / Peel Sessions (20/20/20) 2cd 15.98
Once more with feeling! All three of Galaxie 500's classic studio albums have been affordably reissued each with a bonus disc of one of their previously released post-breakup rarities collections: Uncollected, The Peel Sessions and the live Copenhagen cd. Here's what we recently said about them:
We can't believe it's been 20 years since this trio (and their trio of albums) so gracefully touched our lives during the band's way too brief lifespan. Boy, does it make us feel old! But we can't complain too much as it's so awesome to see these three crucial records available once again! For those who may not know, Galaxie 500 was made up of core members, Damon Krukowski (drums), Naomi Yang (bass, vocals) and Dean Wareham (guitar, vocals), who are probably more well known now for the bands that formed in Galaxie 500's wake: Damon and Naomi, Luna, and Dean and Britta. Hailing from the mid-eighties Boston college rock scene (all three attended Harvard), Galaxie 500 were very different from The Pixies and Throwing Muses, who were the more prominent Boston bands at the time, favoring slower-paced reverbed drenched songs, big in sound but played with a minimalist economy. Influenced by later period Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, Young Marble Giants and early New Order (all of whom they covered), Galaxie 500's signature dream pop sound (courtesy of producer, Kramer, Bongwater frontman and head of the great Shimmy-Disc label) paved the way for both the shoegaze and slowcore scenes of the early nineties. In fact Kramer went on to produce Low's debut in 1994. After three great records for Rough Trade, Galaxie 500 parted ways less than amicably, with guitarist/vocalist Wareham unexpectedly leaving to form his own band Luna, leaving the rhythm section of Damon and Naomi to fend for themselves. While both parties went on to more successful musical ventures, none of them, at least for us, have quite replaced Galaxie 500's unparalleled pop majesty in our hearts.
On Fire was the band's 1989 follow-up to Today, and is widely considered their best album (though we love them all, and really find it hard to favor one in particular over the others). It's definitely their most varied yet most assured album. The songs have more blissed-out dynamics, without losing their understated verve. The instrumentation is augmented on a few songs by more acoustic guitar underlayers and moments of organ and even guest cameo Ralph Carney's tenor sax on "Decomposing Trees". But a noticeable standout is Naomi Yang singing on "Another Day", a soft gauzy highlight on an already stellar album. If there were any longstanding regrets about this band among fans, the big one would be we wished she got to sing more. The cover song this time goes to George Harrison's "Isn't It A Pity", a sentiment that extends way past Harrison's original intent and hovers over this band like a ghost. The cd version includes all the tracks from the Blue Thunder EP, including the stellar New Order/Joy Division cover, "Ceremony".
On Fire is paired with The Peel Sessions and the band were as dreamy as ever when they stopped by John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show for these sessions back in 1989 and 1990. These eight tracks were compiled from those two visits - the first four were recorded 10/30/90 and the second were from 09/24/89. Included are a few tasty covers of tunes by Young Marble Giants ("Final Day"), Buffy Sainte-Marie ("Moonshot"), The Sex Pistols (Submission), and another version of Jonathan Richman ("Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste") as well as four tracks from the On Fire album.
MPEG Stream: "When Will You Come Home"
MPEG Stream: "Another Day"
MPEG Stream: "Ceremony"
MPEG Stream: "Final Day"
MPEG Stream: "Moonshot"

GALAXIE 500 Peel Sessions (20 20 20) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Whoa, this really takes us back! Seminal dream pop band Galaxie 500 were as dreamy as ever when they stopped by John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show for these sessions back in 1989 and 1990. These eight tracks were compiled from those two visits -- the first four were recorded 10/30/90 and the second were from 09/24/89. Included are a few tasty covers of tunes by Young Marble Giants ("Final Days"), Buffy Sainte-Marie ("Moonshot") and Jonathan Richman("Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste").
MPEG Stream: "Final Day"
MPEG Stream: "Moonshot"

GALAXIE 500 The Portable... (RykoDisc) cd 15.98
A selection of twelve of Galaxie 500's finest recordings, gathered from their four albums and the Galaxie 500 box set... & the CD-rom track is the video of "Blue Thunder".

GALAXIE 500 This Is Our Music (RykoDisc) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We can't believe it's been 20 years since this trio (and their trio of albums) so gracefully touched our lives during the band's way too brief lifespan. Boy, does it make us feel old! But we can't complain too much as it's so awesome to see these three crucial records available once again! For those who may not know, Galaxie 500 was made up of core members, Damon Krukowski (drums), Naomi Yang (bass, vocals) and Dean Wareham (guitar, vocals), who are probably more well known now for the bands that formed in Galaxie 500's wake: Damon and Naomi, Luna, and Dean and Britta. Hailing from the mid-eighties Boston college rock scene (all three attended Harvard), Galaxie 500 were very different from The Pixies and Throwing Muses, who were the more prominent Boston bands at the time, favoring slower-paced reverbed drenched songs, big in sound but played with a minimalist economy. Influenced by later period Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, Young Marble Giants and early New Order (all of whom they covered), Galaxie 500's signature dream pop sound (courtesy of producer, Kramer, Bongwater frontman and head of the great Shimmy-Disc label) paved the way for both the shoegaze and slowcore scenes of the early nineties. In fact Kramer went on to produce Low's debut in 1994. After three great records for Rough Trade, Galaxie 500 parted ways less than amicably, with guitarist/vocalist Wareham unexpectedly leaving to form his own band Luna, leaving the rhythm section of Damon and Naomi to fend for themselves. While both parties went on to more successful musical ventures, none of them, at least for us, have quite replaced Galaxie 500's unparalleled pop majesty in our hearts.
This Is Our Music from 1990 wasn't planned as a final album, as the band seemed to be striving for larger recognition with their most accomplished and widely-received record. The opener "Fourth of July" (which was also the single) leaps out with a charge more than any of their other opening songs. Yet most of the rest of the songs are sublimely slow beautiful bummers, with more noticeable shoegazey shimmer. Of course, the centerpiece, yet again is another gorgeous cover. This time it's Yoko Ono's "Listen, The Snow Is Falling". Sung by Yang, the band expands upon a simple original with a stretched out epic instrumental climax. The final track, "King of Spain, Part Two", a kind of follow-up to the b-side of their first single, brings the band around full circle, as the song seems to drift off into the sunset. You couldn't plan a more perfect note for a band like Galaxie 500 to end on. The cd features the Fourth of July single and B-side as bonus tracks.

GALAXIE 500 This Is Our Music (20/20/20) lp 15.98
We can't believe it's been 20 years since this trio (and their trio of albums) so gracefully touched our lives during the band's way too brief lifespan. Boy, does it make us feel old! But we can't complain too much as it's so awesome to see these three crucial records available on vinyl once again! For those who may not know, Galaxie 500 was made up of core members Damon Krukowski (drums), Naomi Yang (bass, vocals) and Dean Wareham (guitar, vocals), who are probably more well known now for the bands that formed in Galaxie 500's wake: Damon and Naomi, Luna, and Dean and Britta.
Hailing from the mid-eighties Boston college rock scene (all three attended Harvard), Galaxie 500 were very different from The Pixies and Throwing Muses, who were the more prominent Boston bands at the time, favoring slower-paced reverbed drenched songs, big in sound but played with a minimalist economy. Influenced by later period Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, Young Marble Giants and early New Order (all of whom they covered), Galaxie 500's signature dream pop sound (courtesy of producer Kramer, Bongwater frontman and head of the great Shimmy-Disc label) paved the way for both the shoegaze and slowcore scenes of the early nineties. In fact Kramer went on to produce Low's debut in 1994. After three great records for Rough Trade, Galaxie 500 parted ways less than amicably, with guitarist/vocalist Wareham unexpectedly quitting to form his own band Luna, leaving the rhythm section of Damon and Naomi to fend for themselves. While both parties went on to more successful ventures, none of them have quite replaced Galaxie 500's unparalleled pop majesty in our hearts.
This Is Our Music from 1990 wasn't planned as a final album, as the band seemed to be striving for larger recognition with their most accomplished and widely-received record. The opener "Fourth of July" (which was also the single) leaps out with a charge more than any of their other opening songs. Yet most of the rest of the songs are sublimely slow beautiful bummers, with more noticeable shoegazey shimmer. Of course, the centerpiece, yet again is another gorgeous cover. This time it's Yoko Ono's "Listen, The Snow Is Falling". Sung by Yang, the band expands upon a simple original with a stretched out epic instrumental climax. The final track, "King of Spain, Part Two", a kind of follow-up to the b-side of their first single, brings the band around full circle, as the song seems to drift off into the sunset. You couldn't plan a more perfect note for a band like Galaxie 500 to end on.

GALAXIE 500 This Is Our Music / Copenhagen (20/20/20) 2cd 15.98
Once more with feeling! All three of Galaxie 500's classic studio albums have been affordably reissued each with a bonus disc of one of their previously released post-breakup rarities collections: Uncollected, The Peel Sessions and the live Copenhagen cd. Here's what we recently said about them:
We can't believe it's been 20 years since this trio (and their trio of albums) so gracefully touched our lives during the band's way too brief lifespan. Boy, does it make us feel old! But we can't complain too much as it's so awesome to see these three crucial records available once again! For those who may not know, Galaxie 500 was made up of core members, Damon Krukowski (drums), Naomi Yang (bass, vocals) and Dean Wareham (guitar, vocals), who are probably more well known now for the bands that formed in Galaxie 500's wake: Damon and Naomi, Luna, and Dean and Britta. Hailing from the mid-eighties Boston college rock scene (all three attended Harvard), Galaxie 500 were very different from The Pixies and Throwing Muses, who were the more prominent Boston bands at the time, favoring slower-paced reverbed drenched songs, big in sound but played with a minimalist economy. Influenced by later period Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, Young Marble Giants and early New Order (all of whom they covered), Galaxie 500's signature dream pop sound (courtesy of producer, Kramer, Bongwater frontman and head of the great Shimmy-Disc label) paved the way for both the shoegaze and slowcore scenes of the early nineties. In fact Kramer went on to produce Low's debut in 1994. After three great records for Rough Trade, Galaxie 500 parted ways less than amicably, with guitarist/vocalist Wareham unexpectedly leaving to form his own band Luna, leaving the rhythm section of Damon and Naomi to fend for themselves. While both parties went on to more successful musical ventures, none of them, at least for us, have quite replaced Galaxie 500's unparalleled pop majesty in our hearts.
This Is Our Music from 1990 wasn't planned as a final album, as the band seemed to be striving for larger recognition with their most accomplished and widely-received record. The opener "Fourth of July" (which was also the single) leaps out with a charge more than any of their other opening songs. Yet most of the rest of the songs are sublimely slow beautiful bummers, with more noticeable shoegazey shimmer. Of course, the centerpiece, yet again is another gorgeous cover. This time it's Yoko Ono's "Listen, The Snow Is Falling". Sung by Yang, the band expands upon a simple original with a stretched out epic instrumental climax. The final track, "King of Spain, Part Two", a kind of reprised follow-up to the B-side of their first single, brings the band around full circle, as the song seems to drift off into the sunset. You couldn't plan a more perfect note for a band like Galaxie 500 to end on. The cd features the Fourth of July single and B-side, VU's "Here She Comes Now", as bonus tracks.
Paired with This Is Our Music is the live Copenhagen disc from a performance in December 1990 recorded by the Danish National Radio. I, (Scott) saw them on this tour (their biggest but sadly their last) in support of the Cocteau Twins, and needless to say, they slayed! The proof is right here!
MPEG Stream: "Fourth of July"
MPEG Stream: "Listen, The Snow Is Falling"
MPEG Stream: "King of Spain pt. 2"
MPEG Stream: "Here She Comes Now (Live)"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste (Live)"

GALAXIE 500 Today (Rykodisc) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We can't believe it's been 20 years since this trio (and their trio of albums) so gracefully touched our lives during the band's way too brief lifespan. Boy, does it make us feel old! But we can't complain too much as it's so awesome to see these three crucial records available once again! For those who may not know, Galaxie 500 was made up of core members, Damon Krukowski (drums), Naomi Yang (bass, vocals) and Dean Wareham (guitar, vocals), who are probably more well known now for the bands that formed in Galaxie 500's wake: Damon and Naomi, Luna, and Dean and Britta. Hailing from the mid-eighties Boston college rock scene (all three attended Harvard), Galaxie 500 were very different from The Pixies and Throwing Muses, who were the more prominent Boston bands at the time, favoring slower-paced reverbed drenched songs, big in sound but played with a minimalist economy. Influenced by later period Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, Young Marble Giants and early New Order (all of whom they covered), Galaxie 500's signature dream pop sound (courtesy of producer, Kramer, Bongwater frontman and head of the great Shimmy-Disc label) paved the way for both the shoegaze and slowcore scenes of the early nineties. In fact Kramer went on to produce Low's debut in 1994. After three great records for Rough Trade, Galaxie 500 parted ways less than amicably, with guitarist/vocalist Wareham unexpectedly leaving to form his own band Luna, leaving the rhythm section of Damon and Naomi to fend for themselves. While both parties went on to more successful musical ventures, none of them, at least for us, have quite replaced Galaxie 500's unparalleled pop majesty in our hearts.
Today was Galaxie 500's 1988 debut, and it's a slow burning paean to the more unstable sides of love and patient resolve. The eliptical rhythm section smoulders and intensifies without ever fully "rocking out" while the warm guitarwork strums over the top occasionally veering into understated solos. But Wareham's forlorn low-key vocals with clever but enigmatically simple songwriting is what ties the songs together. The centerpiece of the album however is their cover of Jonathan Richman's "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste". The original version being a short, acapella, almost spoken poem, in Galaxie 500's hands, it becomes a simmering epic as they bookend the singing with forceful driving instrumental passages, sounding like something the early Velvets would have come up with. The final song, "Tugboat" was also their first single, (the cd version includes the b-side, "King of Spain" as a bonus track) and nicely sets up of what this band is all about: lonely and introspective but decisive, leading and in full control.
MPEG Stream: "Flowers"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste"
MPEG Stream: "Oblivious"

GALAXIE 500 Today (20/20/20) lp 15.98
We can't believe it's been 20 years since this trio (and their trio of albums) so gracefully touched our lives during the band's way too brief lifespan. Boy, does it make us feel old! But we can't complain too much as it's so awesome to see these three crucial records available on vinyl once again! For those who may not know, Galaxie 500 was made up of core members Damon Krukowski (drums), Naomi Yang (bass, vocals) and Dean Wareham (guitar, vocals), who are probably more well known now for the bands that formed in Galaxie 500's wake: Damon and Naomi, Luna, and Dean and Britta.
Hailing from the mid-eighties Boston college rock scene (all three attended Harvard), Galaxie 500 were very different from The Pixies and Throwing Muses, who were the more prominent Boston bands at the time, favoring slower-paced reverbed drenched songs, big in sound but played with a minimalist economy. Influenced by later period Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, Young Marble Giants and early New Order (all of whom they covered), Galaxie 500's signature dream pop sound (courtesy of producer Kramer, Bongwater frontman and head of the great Shimmy-Disc label) paved the way for both the shoegaze and slowcore scenes of the early nineties. In fact Kramer went on to produce Low's debut in 1994. After three great records for Rough Trade, Galaxie 500 parted ways less than amicably, with guitarist/vocalist Wareham unexpectedly quitting to form his own band Luna, leaving the rhythm section of Damon and Naomi to fend for themselves. While both parties went on to more successful ventures, none of them have quite replaced Galaxie 500's unparalleled pop majesty in our hearts.
Today was Galaxie 500's 1988 debut, and it's a slow burning paean to the more unstable sides of love and patient resolve. The elliptical rhythm section smolders and intensifies without ever fully "rocking out" while the warm guitar work strums over the top occasionally veering into understated solos. But Wareham's forlorn low-key vocals with clever but enigmatically simple songwriting is what ties the songs together. The centerpiece of the album however is their cover of Jonathan Richman's "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste". The original version being a short, a capella, almost spoken poem, in Galaxie 500's hands, it becomes a simmering epic as they bookend the singing with forceful driving instrumental passages, sounding like something the early Velvets would have come up with. The final song, "Tugboat" was also their first single, and nicely sets up of what this band is all about: lonely and introspective but decisive, leading and in full control.

GALAXIE 500 Today / Uncollected (20/20/20) 2cd 15.98
Once more with feeling! All three of Galaxie 500's classic studio albums have been affordably reissued each with a bonus disc of one of their previously released post-breakup rarity collections: Uncollected, The Peel Sessions and the live Copenhagen cd. Here's what we recently said about them:
We can't believe it's been 20 years since this trio (and their trio of albums) so gracefully touched our lives during the band's way too brief lifespan. Boy, does it make us feel old! But we can't complain too much as it's so awesome to see these three crucial records available once again! For those who may not know, Galaxie 500 was made up of core members Damon Krukowski (drums), Naomi Yang (bass, vocals) and Dean Wareham (guitar, vocals), who are probably more well known now for the bands that formed in Galaxie 500's wake: Damon and Naomi, Luna, and Dean and Britta.
Hailing from the mid-eighties Boston college rock scene (all three attended Harvard), Galaxie 500 were very different from The Pixies and Throwing Muses, who were the more prominent Boston bands at the time, favoring slower-paced reverbed drenched songs, big in sound but played with a minimalist economy. Influenced by later period Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, Young Marble Giants and early New Order (all of whom they covered), Galaxie 500's signature dream pop sound (courtesy of producer Kramer, Bongwater frontman and head of the great Shimmy-Disc label) paved the way for both the shoegaze and slowcore scenes of the early nineties. In fact Kramer went on to produce Low's debut in 1994. After three great records for Rough Trade, Galaxie 500 parted ways less than amicably, with guitarist/vocalist Wareham unexpectedly quitting to form his own band Luna, leaving the rhythm section of Damon and Naomi to fend for themselves. While both parties went on to more successful ventures, none of them have quite replaced Galaxie 500's unparalleled pop majesty in our hearts.
Today was Galaxie 500's 1988 debut, and it's a slow burning paean to the more unstable sides of love and patient resolve. The elliptical rhythm section smolders and intensifies without ever fully "rocking out" while the warm guitar work strums over the top occasionally veering into understated solos. But Wareham's forlorn low-key vocals with clever but enigmatically simple songwriting is what ties the songs together. The centerpiece of the album is their cover of Jonathan Richman's "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste". The original version being a short, a capella, almost spoken poem, in Galaxie 500's hands, it becomes a simmering epic as they bookend the singing with forceful driving instrumental passages, sounding like something the early Velvets would have come up with. The final song, "King of Spain" was also their first single, and nicely sets up of what this band is all about: lonely and introspective but decisive, leading and in full control.
Today is paired up with with what almost could be considered a lost record, Uncollected: Rarities and Outtakes 1987-1990. Originally compiled for the G500 box set and then released individually, it's a 14-song rarities collection that includes their loving covers of songs by Jonathan Richman (an alternate version of "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste"), Young Marble Giants ("Final Day"), The Rutles ("Cheese and Onions") and The Beatles ("Rain"), as well as nine originals not on any other album. Uncollected serves as a great overview for newcomers to the enduring, wonderful, shimmering dream pop songs of these short-lived, long-disbanded, indie rock deities.
MPEG Stream: "Flowers"
MPEG Stream: "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste"
MPEG Stream: "Oblivious"
MPEG Stream: "Final Day"
MPEG Stream: "I Can't Believe It's Me"

GALAXIE 500 Uncollected (RykoDisc) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It sure is a great season for fans of Galaxie 500! Hot on the heels of the fine double-dvd retrospective "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste: 1987-1991" comes the individual cd release of Uncollected (originally compiled for the G500 box set). It's a 14-song rarities collection that includes their loving covers of songs by Jonathan Richman, Young Marble Giants, The Rutles and The Beatles as well as the added attraction of their "Blue Thunder" video. Uncollected serves as a great overview for newcomers to the enduring, wonderful, shimmering dream pop songs of these short-lived, long-disbanded, indie rock deities.
MPEG Stream: "Final Day"
MPEG Stream: "I Can't Believe It's Me"

GALBRAITH / NEILSON / YOUNGS Belsayer (Time-Lag) lp 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Totally mind blowing collaboration between three masters of drone / raga / free / folk / noise. New Zealander Alastair Galbraith is a long time AQ fave as is the UK's Richard Youngs. Alex Neilson while not an instantly recognizable name in his own right, has played on oodles of amazing records (including some by Matt Valentine, Taurpis Tula) and you may recognize his name due to the fact that he and Mr. Youngs were the back up band for Jandek at his first ever live performance! None of that has very much to do with this, two sides of incredibly dreamy modern folk raga. Lighter than air swirls of falsetto vocals drift and shimmer, harmonies slowly shifting, all over a long slow drawn out ur-drone, constructed from buzzing steel strings, bits of percussion, warbling synthesizers, spaced out effects, electronic buzz and glitch, strummed guitars get stretched into fuzzy blurs, melodies float by in the distance, chimes tinkle and sparkle, almost the whole disc is made up of languorous, lazy stretches of dreamlike sound, EXCEPT for the opening and closing tracks on side 2, when some wild drumming is introduced, and the FX levels get pushed all the way into the red, and what was once tranquil bliss, is transformed into a snarling, chaotic super tripped out space rock.
Packaged in beautiful simple full color offset printed and debossed sleeves, with deluxe debossed inserts, LIMITED TO 900 COPIES, each insert has the record's number debossed along with of the liner notes, pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl!

GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR Cry (Emperor Jones) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The fourth solo album from New Zealander Alastair Galbraith is a stunner. Rarely has music this experimental been so ACCESSIBLE. But that's genius at work, folks, right here. "Cry" mixes pastoral folk drones with muted electric guitar outbursts, ominous organ rumblings, and Alastair's sung poetry. It's super pretty and quiet and haunting and we highly recommend it. Even if you've never heard this veteran of the Kiwi music scene's records before, this is a fine, fine place to start.
RealAudio clip: "Bellbird"

GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR Head Soup Dream/From the Empire (Crawlspace) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Limited to 200 numbered copies, this is two new instrumentals from New Zealand's respected experimentalist.

GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR Mass (Siltbreeze) lp 15.98
The return of long time fave Alastair Galbraith, and when we say long time, we mean like 20 YEARS long time! Back in the nineties, when aQuarius was in its old, tiny, under the stairs previous Noe Valley location, we were one of the few places in the US to get weird music from New Zealand. Labels like Flying Nun, Xpressway, groups like the Dead C, the 3Ds, Tall Dwarfs, This Kind Of Punishment, Bailter Space, Wreck Small Speakers On Expensive Stereos, The Chills, Pin Group, etc... and of course Galbraith, solo, and in his 'band' Handful Of Dust with Bruce Russell of the Dead C and Peter Stapleton. When we helped set up the Terrastock West festival back in 1998, Galbraith performed an incredible set, but is probably more remembered for buying an inflatable dinghy, and going rowing in the San Francisco Bay!
It's only been a few years since Galbraith's last solo album, the gorgeous Orb, which was his first in years, but we're pleased he seems to be on a more consistent release schedule, cuz as much as we love his various collaborations over the last few years (especially his Long Wires In Dark Museums series with Matt De Gennaro), it's his solo records that really hit the spot for us. Dark and mysterious, intimate and abstract, playful and bizarre, moody and melodic, flitting from perfect pop to what the fuck experimentation and back again. And on Mass it's no different. Another ultra varied collection of fracture home brewed pop experimentation, that for all it's mysterious digressions and clashing styles, somehow flows perfectly as a sprawling and gloriously confusional and cohesive album.
Backwards guitars swoop and flutter, beneath wheezing organs, mumbled vocals drift on smoldering streaks of muted feedback, abstract percussion, plucked folky melodies, field recordings and fractured effects all intersect in some weird sort of lo-fi Morricone soundtrack styled minimalism, Galbraith's beautiful croon slips dreamily around reversed steel string guitars, multitracked into lovely harmonies, thick swaths of buzz pulse and throb almost like a 4-tracked SUNNO))), pump organs groan beneath sweet sing songy vocals, before the vocals flip backwards and are draped over skeletal acoustic guitars, the layered voices creating impossibly pretty backwards harmonies, simple percussion, detuned bass buzz, tinkling lullaby like melodies, stumbling Dead C like noise rock, bleating horns, soundtracky drifts, thick undulating guitardrones, symphonies of high pitched chimes, tolling bells, constantly shifting production, most of the songs barely cracking a minute, only 7 breaking 2 minutes, little perfectly imperfect abstract pop fragments, that assembled manage to sound not at all fragmented. We're of course reminded of Finnish groups like Kemialliset, and Avarus, and Anaksimandros, a similarly ramshackle DIY vibe, but Galbraith takes that vibe, infuses it with a distinctly pop element, creating these gorgeous little sonic gems, that manage to be both pretty and poppy, mysterious and minimal at the same time. Totally beguiling and utterly irresistible.
Includes a download card as well!

GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR Mirrorwork (Emperor Jones/Trance Syndicate) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Mr. Galbraith spent two years recording these buzzing lo-fi songs onto a four-track reel-to-reel. Haunting. Those of you who loved his set at Terrastock will enjoy this cd, it sounds the closest of all his albums to what he did at that wonderful show.

GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR Morse / Gaudylight (Table Of The Elements / Xeric) cd 16.98
No, I (Jim) was not working at Aquarius when the shop was cozily tucked away in Noe Valley about a decade ago; but as an avid customer at the 24th Street shop, what I recall was the small corner of the store dedicated to all things New Zealand. Of course, somethings change (like Aquarius' location), but somethings stay the same (the fascination with the sounds and noises from that antepodean island). When I would dig through the old New Zealand section, there would be plenty of colorful pop from Flying Nun records, any number of Graeme Jeffries projects, whatever Michael Morley was doing at the time, and perhaps my favorite of the lot, Alastair Galbraith. Morse was Galbraith's first full album, released back in the early '90s on Siltbreeze after he had been stomping around the New Zealand scene and producing a couple of recordings in the bands The Rip and Plagal Grind. Nevertheless, Morse has now been reissued once again; first a few years ago through Emperor Jones and now through Table Of The Elements, with both reissues coupled with the Gaudylight 7" and now with some extra bonus material dating back to The Rip and Plagal Grind days of celebratory punkadelic rock 'n' slop. On both Morse and Gaudylight, Galbraith offers a stunning array of home-recordings, fragmented folk songs and meandering shanties as if sung by a morose / non-wacky Syd Barrett. Galbraith is the the obvious precursor to everything that fellow New Zealander Antony Milton has done (Nether Dawn, AM, etc.) in terms of conjuring a warmly intimate atmosphere for songs that are undeniably dark in theme. Galbraith grounds his loosely composed songs on acoustic guitar strum, accelerating crank organ drones, and his lilting violin melodies -- all of which attain a mottled hiss through the 4-track production. Some of the songs on Morse were recorded with the full Plagal Grind line-up, and had those tracks been released today, Galbraith would inevitably garner the acid folk tag and would be gallivanting around the globe with Devendra and Vetiver. It just shows that beautiful music can come from anywhere in the world and from anytime.
MPEG Stream: "Marcacite Lace"
MPEG Stream: "Bone Idle"
MPEG Stream: "Comic Books (with The Rip)"

GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR Orb (Nextbestway) cd 16.98
Oh Alastair, how we have missed you. Although there have been a handful of reissues, a collaboration here and there, and those incredible long wires discs, there's something magical about the strange world Galbraith is able to conjure up give a whole record to work with. A dizzying blend of folky freaky lo-fi experimental pop, handmade instruments, ambience and noise, all held together by some ineffable magic that very few possess, but some, like Galbraith have mastered and seem to unfurl effortlessly.
Orb is the first proper solo record in years and also marks the re-activation of Galbraiths Xpressway label, now called Nextbestway. And once again, we're transported to some mysterious glade, where a strange man is hunched over a small arsenal of sound making devices, and like some sort of mad scientist is assembling an endless series of perfect little sonic gems.
The opening track is so immediately warm and recognizable, with it's warped warbly organ, and Galbraith's haunting multi tracked vocals, reminding us once again, that long before Neutral Milk Hotel, Galbraith was shaping similarly powerful little spiritual pop songs, and "Here Not There" is no different. Less than two minutes, but in that brief span, he's able to lull and soothe, trip out and transport. The second track is even shorter, less than a minute, but it's a killer chunk of billowy krautrock drift that finishes in a flurry of digital skipping.
Galbraith has a sort of Guided By Voices thing going, giving us tantalizing glimpses of incredible hooks, cool moody riffs, fluttering bits of sweet folk, but then nips them in the bud, songs that could very well stretch on for hours, slip away after minutes, sometimes seconds, creating these brief magical flourishes that have us returning over and over to sample briefly, always wanting more.
Like all Galbraith discs, the sounds are disparate, but interconnected, clattery feedback drenched Dead C style noise rock, with crumbling distortion and fuzzy sheets of synth, murky detuned folk ramblings, keening scarping strings, high end skree and metallic reverberations, utterly heartbreaking perfect pop, stretches of field recordings overlaid with soft shimmery drones, wheezing organs and delicate plucked strings, thick swaths of dense guitar buzz and super distorted vocals, black metal via NZ noise rock, meandering abstract Appalachia draped over soft swells of mumble and drift, warm warbly guitar and every possible combination in between.
So lovely, so magical and so totally mysterious. Galbraith is truly a bard from beyond, a songsmith who transcends genre, perhaps even time and space. And we're so glad to have him back.
MPEG Stream: "Here Not There"
MPEG Stream: "One Direction"
MPEG Stream: "Lost"
MPEG Stream: "Bird Ghost Viola"
MPEG Stream: "Short Dream FOr Fire Organ"

GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR Rivulets (Camera Obscura) 7" 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some of the finest new material we've heard in a long while from this solo Kiwi musician, who composes beautiful songs from fragments of melody, treated voice, and guitar etc.

GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR Talisman (Table Of The Elements) cd 16.98
AQ favorite, New Zealand experimentalist Alastair Galbraith has redesigned Syd Barrett style folk/psychedelia for acoustic guitar, violin, and his voice... with lots of backwards masking, tape loops, and hints of his other project A Handful of Dust. Outstanding bedroom recordings, originally pressed on his own Next Best Way Label, and now issued through Table Of The Elements.

GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR W/ PIPP PROUD Me & Gus (Emperor Jones) 7" 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of our favorite iconoclastic New Zealanders accompanies his idol Pipp Proud, an older Aussie who writes quiet, heartfelt songs.

GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR / DEMARNIA LLOYD (Roof Bolt) 7" 3.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Both Kiwis, Alastair strums the guitar while Demarnia sings all breathy-like.

GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR / MATT DE GENNARO From The Dark (South Island) (Xeric / Table Of The Elements) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is volume two of one of our favorite records EVER, Long Wires In Dark Museums, a sound installation from a few years back where New Zealand underground legend Alastair Galbraith teamed up with American musician Matt De Gennaro and strung long metal wires, some as long as 100 feet, between the walls of the performance space, and thus proceeded to scrape and bow and coax huge reverberant drones and groans from the wires, creating huge metallic dronescapes, informed by the works of Harry Bertoia and the long string experiments of Ellen Fullman. the cool thing about these Long Wires In Dark Museums, is that when the wires are excited they don't actually produce the sound, it's the points at which the wires are affixed to the space, the vibrations run up the wall, or through the windows, turning the whole space into a natural resonator, where the architecture of the space, the shape of the rooms, the makeup of the walls determine the tone and timbre of the sound. These performances occur in utter darkness as well, so the ears become the only sense that matters.
The sounds these two, and their building of choice create is magnificent, massive, the sort of sound that not only resonates within the space, but also in our ears, in your bones. It's like the idea of bowed metal, the glorious warm sound that makes, expanded and stretched out into a sound at once so natural, but so alien, that it's impossible to not be drawn in and completely mesmerized. It almost sounds like huge violins, or a cello the size of a barn, being tuned and tinkered with. Long notes stretched out for minutes, letting the microtones and sonic subtleties gradually reveal themselves. These metallic drones shift and shimmer, each long strecth of sound full of subtle colors and layer after layer of strange texture. This is seriously deep listening. Very very recommended, as is the first volume.
MPEG Stream: "Archenar"
MPEG Stream: "Matariki"

GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR / MATT DE GENNARO Long Wires In Dark Museums (Vol. 1) (Emperor Jones) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Despite the designation as being "Volume 1," "Long Wire In Dark Museum" is the second documentation of the long thin wire music of New Zealand's multi-talented violinist Alastair Galbraith and American composer Matt De Gennaro, following their previous recording on Corpus Hermeticum (the main difference being that it was recorded in a bank, not a gallery). Galbraith and De Gennaro are simply bowing very long piano and violin wires which had been mounted throughout darkened art galleries, creating hypnotic acoustic drones that draw from Lucier's minimalist masterpiece "Music For A Long Thin Wire," though retain far more textural scrapes and dissonant overtones than found within Lucier's monotonal purity. This is a beautifully spartan album quite similar to the bowed cymbal work of Organum and Andrew Chalk.
RealAudio clip: "Autahi"

GALBRAITH, ALASTAIR AND CONSTANTINE KARLIS Radiant (Emperor Jones) cd 13.98
This is the first we've heard from Alastair Galbraith since a couple years ago, when he teamed up with Matt De Gennaro for an album of Ur-drone we absoultely loved, gorgeous bowed piano and violin strings, shimmering and shuddering. Really dreamy and mesmerising. And it seems like Galbraith is continuing even further in his trajectory away from song based forms and toward more free and abstract sound. And we couldn't be happier. While we love everything this man does, our hearts belong to the drone. For these two lengthy tracks, Galbraith teams up with fellow Kiwi legend Constantine Karlis, drummer for High Dependency Unit, to craft delicate and spidery abstract soundscapes of buzzing, scraping and keening violin, treated guitar loops, and scattered free drumming. The result is absolutely divine. Spare and spacious, the violin occsionally hints at eastern sounding ragas, playing almost-melodies, before slipping back into wavery drones, squeaky and swaying, while the huge, cavernous sounding drums are splattered throughout, sometimes a basic primal rhythm, sometimes barely-there flourishes, and sometimes a full on squall of percussive brutality. At it's free-est it's a bit like Angus Maclise or Tony Conrad backing up a free jazz drummer, when proceedings get a little more structured, you can almost imagine Damon Che of Don Caballero or...maybe even...ME (I tried to think of another drummer but Allan made me put me, Andee Connors), drumming for Lamonte Young or John Cale. So highly recommended. A new favorite late night record for the drone-prone among us.
MPEG Stream: "4 Orbits"

GALENA Through Veils (Sanity Muffin) cassette 5.98
One of two new releases on Oakland label Sanity Muffin, the other, a fantastic collection of sonic strangeness from Dutch blackened drone/dirge ambient outfit Torture Corpse, and this, some droned out blackened heaviness from Galena, the one man band of the guy behind the SM label, and it's definitely the sort of sound that pushes all our buttons. Shouldn't take more than a minute or so before you're sucked in, after some swirling ambience, a strange rifflike high end drone loops and loops, and then suddenly everything explodes in a frenzy of what can only be described as electronic black buzz, a churning bit of melody looped beneath sheets of hiss and buzz and thrum, with what sounds like a super distorted blast beat laid over the top, the result is fantastically psychedelic and hypnotic, even as the blast beat fades, and much of the buzz, the ensuing high ends shimmer and thick layered crunch continues to invoke the same sort of grim vibe, except here, Galena lays some lilting warped melodies over the top, so it almost sounds like a Philip Jeck installation gone haywire, a wild tangle of woozy synths over a thick swirl of Our Love Will Destroy The World like skree.
And that's just the first track. The rest of the tape plays out similarly though, taking riffy black metal buzz and transforming it into something much more washed out and psychedelic, the various elements seeming to ooze and bleed and melt before our ears, sometimes building to crushing cacophonies, other times smoothed out into a sort of almost Pop Ambient prismatic mesmer. A murky, drifty bit of ambient buzz and blurred blackened swirl, that definitely has us wanting to hear more.
Nice packaging, too, a thick cardstock J-card , with a xeroxed hand stamped insert.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!!

GALL, FRANCE Poupee De Son (Universal / Polydor) cd 16.98
While she sometimes gets overlooked, France Gall is one of French Pop's greatest treasures. She's been making great records from her beginnings way back in 1963 all the way to the present day. This collection draws from her early years ('63-'68) and demonstrates what French pop perfection and fun is all about. With many of these songs written and arranged by Serge Gainsbourg (of course), Gall displays an incredible talent at such a young age, evoking such playfulness, innocence, and smoking sensuality. These early years find her in full on ye-ye girl glory. Her poppiest and catchiest tracks for sure, but also showing the range in her delivery in some of her more slow and midtempo numbers which really floor us the most. These are songs with the same kind of undeniable charm that early works of Nancy Sinatra, Bridgett Bardot, and Francoise Hardy also exuded. An absolute must have for any fan of French pop, and well just great pop period!
MPEG Stream: "Poupee De Crie, Poupee De Son"
MPEG Stream: "Christiansen"
MPEG Stream: "Baby Pop"

GALLERY OF THE GROTESQUE Issue 5 magazine 9.98
From the man behind two of our favorite labels, the now defunct Starlight Temple Society, and post STS label Khrysanthoney, comes this hefty metal tome. We're discovering GOTG on issue 5, perhaps the final issue, for now at least, we're a little late to the party, not sure how we missed the first four, cuz this definitely has tons of awesome stuff in it, and seems like anyone who has been digging Oaken Throne (R.I.P.), Rape & Honey, The Convivial Hermit, Forgotten Path, not to mention the recently compiled / reissued Slayer mag as well as all the other recent (and not so recent) kick ass underground metal mags, would definitely dig this too.
Nicely laid out, the whole thing printed white on black paper (very metal), with lots of pix, and band logos, and drawings, a handful of record reviews, with reviews often separated into different categories, with different reviews for production, music and vocals, and he even reviews a bunch of his own releases. But the crux of the mag is interviews, this time around with Destruktor, Black Witchery, Nyogthaeblisz, Yosuke from Nuclear War Now!, Forgotten Woods / Joyless, Velvet Cacoon, Jon from Full Moon Productions, Nightbringer, Perversor, Ignivomous, Dead Congregation, Deiphago, John Mincemoyer, who is 1/2 of the team that produced all time aQ beloved metal zine Oaken Throne, Black Majesty, Ares Kingdom, Crimson Moon, Goatlord, Maledicere, Profanatica, Roba El-Khaliyeh, Wolfhetan, the Ajna Offensive, and finally an interview with black metal illustrator Kramer (who also plays in Grand Belial's Key and runs the musically cool but otherwise highly problematic Satanic Skinhead Propaganda label), plus probably most strangely of all, an interview with, and a bit of brutal erotica / S&M fiction from, the writer Maija, whose story is accompanied by some high school binder style pencil drawings of a woman being tied up and hung from hooks. Well the magazine IS called Gallery Of The Grotesque, after all.
For the most part, essential metal reading for sure. And it has us definitely hoping for an issue six...
Comes with a cd sampler of releases on the Hell's Headbangers label...

GALLHAMMER Gloomy Lights (Goatsucker / Diablos) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Hmmm... This band should be an easy sell, really. Start with this: DOOM. A la Hellhammer (Tom G. Warrior's adolescent pre-Celtic Frost outfit that helped pioneer death/doom metal from a basement in Switzerland back in the early eighties), Eyehategod, and maybe Corrupted too. They're Japanese (so we can make more Corrupted comparisons). And this trio consists entirely of girls. One of our distros described Gallhammer thusly: "All female Japanese Hellhammer worship Band. Not ugly girls doing ugly, ugly music!". The high-contrast black and white photo on the back cover of band members Mika Penetrator (guitar/vocals), Vivian Slaughter (bass/vocals), and Risa Reaper (drums) reveals that "not ugly" comment apparently to be correct, with some vaguely corpse-paint-like mascara adding to their sex appeal. Not that that should be the selling point. After all, listening to this, you'd have *no idea* they were female. Throaty, demonic screams belch forth amidst pummelling drum battery and distorted, feedbacking guitar. Female? Male? They don't even sound human, really. Though the emotions expressed are all too human. Nihilistic bleak hateful depressive stuff. It's raw, primitive doom that captures that Hellhammer vibe by following a similar learning curve as those guys did back in the '80s -- Gallhammer's offical bio on their website states: "Feburary 2003: We start Gallhammer" followed by "Feburary 2003: Each member start to play instrument." And then Gloomy Lights was recorded in 2004. Yep, what Gallhammer does is simple and effective: heavy, plodding music and rough, croaking vocals, with plenty of ominous ambience in the breaks and build-ups. There's eight grim and spooky tracks here culminating in the 10-minute "Color Of Coma", which features a great deal of atmospheric drone. Think Hellhammer meets Angelblood, perhaps.
Look out for a new Gallhammer album this year to be released by Peaceville.
MPEG Stream: "Crucifixion"
MPEG Stream: "Endless Nauseous Days"

GALLHAMMER Gloomy Lights (Peaceville) cd 17.98
REISSUED, in a new, deluxe edition! This was the debut from these Hellhammer worshipping Japanese ladies. (We bet they all got copies of the Only Death Is Real book reviewed elsewhere on this week's list!) This new edition of Gloomy Lights comes packaged in a fancy hardback digibook kind of thing, all white with metallic silver and black print.
And it boasts 2 rare bonus tracks, "Blossom In The Raven River" and "Lust Satan Death". Nice. Here's what we wrote about it when we first heard Gallhammer, five years ago:
Hmmm... This band should be an easy sell, really. Start with this: DOOM. A la Hellhammer (Tom G. Warrior's adolescent pre-Celtic Frost outfit that helped pioneer death/doom metal from a basement in Switzerland back in the early eighties), Eyehategod, and maybe Corrupted too. They're Japanese (so we can make more Corrupted comparisons). And this trio consists entirely of girls. One of our distros described Gallhammer thusly: "All female Japanese Hellhammer worship Band. Not ugly girls doing ugly, ugly music!". The high-contrast black and white photo on the back cover of band members Mika Penetrator (guitar/vocals), Vivian Slaughter (bass/vocals), and Risa Reaper (drums) reveals that "not ugly" comment apparently to be correct, with some vaguely corpse-paint-like mascara adding to their sex appeal. Not that that should be the selling point. After all, listening to this, you'd have *no idea* they were female. Throaty, demonic screams belch forth amidst pummelling drum battery and distorted, feedbacking guitar. Female? Male? They don't even sound human, really. Though the emotions expressed are all too human. Nihilistic bleak hateful depressive stuff. It's raw, primitive doom that captures that Hellhammer vibe by following a similar learning curve as those guys did back in the '80s - Gallhammer's offical bio on their website states: "February 2003: We start Gallhammer" followed by "Feburary 2003: Each member start to play instrument." And then Gloomy Lights was recorded in 2004. Yep, what Gallhammer does is simple and effective: heavy, plodding music and rough, croaking vocals, with plenty of ominous ambience in the breaks and build-ups. There's eight grim and spooky tracks here culminating in the 10-minute "Color Of Coma", which features a great deal of atmospheric drone. Think Hellhammer meets Angelblood, perhaps.
MPEG Stream: "Crucifixion"
MPEG Stream: "Endless Nauseous Days"

GALLHAMMER Ill Innocence (Peaceville) cd 16.98
May as well re-list the cd while we're at it (the brand new import vinyl version is being listed nearby).
Ok, hopefully all of you into dooooooooooooooooom have heeded our recommendations in the past ("best band EVER" we may have said, in a moment of infatuation) and are already well acquainted with this cult Japanese band who exude a magnificently miserable mixture of slow, atmospheric doominess and crusty black metal thrashing, inspired by the likes of Celtic Frost/Hellhammer (natch), Amebix, and Corrupted. This is their 2nd full-length studio album, following 2004's Gloomy Lights debut and last year's The Dawn Of Gallhammer demos n' live cd+dvd collection. That's the one where we busted out the Simpsons Comic Book Guy impersonation in our review, but it's this album that really seals the deal, when it comes to Gallhammer's position in the pantheon of most depressive doom bands ever, anyway. They're up there, no doubt about it, as is proved by this collection of ten tracks, each one of 'em often (but not always) a slow-motion trudge through the depths of emotional bleakness in the form of monotonously massive low-end guitar riffage, wretched cookie monster screams, and simple, gloomy melodies. Several of the song titles are quite indicative of their sound: "Long Scary Dream", "SLOG", "Ripper In The Gloom"... Many of these varied tracks feature a dynamic combination of knock-you-over-with-a-feather soft n' sad prettiness setting you up for some smash-you-with-a-hammer heaviness, or even manage both at the same time. It's the former element, this band's almost post-rock instrumental mesmeric moodiness, for which we think Gallhammer should be best noted. Not that it has any of post-rock's usual complexity, this is raw and primal and ritualistic, perfectly encapsulated by the way the stark, repetitive slowcore acoustic guitar part at the start of "Ripper In The Gloom" suddenly, shockingly gives way to a full-on punk rock assault.
It also seems possible that Gallhammer, along with their interest in underground '80s doom-crust, also shares some of the Velvet Underground fixation displayed by their contemporaries from the Japanese psych-rock scene, like LSD-march and Doodles. Heck, track one, the nearly eight minute "At The Onset Of The Age Of Despair" seems to have echoes of VU's "Venus In Furs"... If one of Gallhammer's songs wound up on a PSF Tokyo Flashback comp someday we'd be surprised, yes, but only a little. Though it sure wouldn't be a track like "Killed By The Queen" or "Blind My Eyes", two of the punked out, filthy metal blitzes on here, the latter of which throws in some uncharacteristic Melt-Banana style yelping, dogwhistle vocals along with the usual guttural grunting and growling.
Hey, we made it all the way to the end of this review without mentioning Gallhammer's major non-musical selling point... we said they're a "cult" band above, but were tempted to say "cute", as this trio just happen to all be attractive young Japanese ladies, their looks further enhanced by the tasteful application of gothy corpsepaint makeup. No this fact doesn't make Gallhammer's music sound any better (or worse) but it's, um, interesting. Happily, though, Peaceville isn't using Gallhammer's sex appeal to sell this album, there's not even any pictures of the band at all included in this classy-lookin' white-and-silver digipack. Recommended nonetheless!
MPEG Stream: "SLOG"
MPEG Stream: "Killed By The Queen"
MPEG Stream: "Ripper In The Gloom"

GALLHAMMER Ill Innocence (Peaceville) 2lp 28.00
NOW ON VINYL! We like this band so much, Allan ordered a Gallhammer poster all the way from England for Andee's Christmas present... They're totally deserving of the deluxe double gatefold import vinyl treatment. This is their most recent album, here's the review of the cd version when we first listed it last year:
Ok, hopefully all of you into dooooooooooooooooom have heeded our recommendations in the past ("best band EVER" we may have said, in a moment of infatuation) and are already well acquainted with this cult Japanese band who exude a magnificently miserable mixture of slow, atmospheric doominess and crusty black metal thrashing, inspired by the likes of Celtic Frost/Hellhammer (natch), Amebix, and Corrupted. This is their 2nd full-length studio album, following 2004's Gloomy Lights debut and last year's The Dawn Of Gallhammer demos n' live cd+dvd collection. That's the one where we busted out the Simpsons Comic Book Guy impersonation in our review, but it's this album that really seals the deal, when it comes to Gallhammer's position in the pantheon of most depressive doom bands ever, anyway. They're up there, no doubt about it, as is proved by this collection of ten tracks, each one of 'em often (but not always) a slow-motion trudge through the depths of emotional bleakness in the form of monotonously massive low-end guitar riffage, wretched cookie monster screams, and simple, gloomy melodies. Several of the song titles are quite indicative of their sound: "Long Scary Dream", "SLOG", "Ripper In The Gloom"... Many of these varied tracks feature a dynamic combination of knock-you-over-with-a-feather soft n' sad prettiness setting you up for some smash-you-with-a-hammer heaviness, or even manage both at the same time. It's the former element, this band's almost post-rock instrumental mesmeric moodiness, for which we think Gallhammer should be best noted. Not that it has any of post-rock's usual complexity, this is raw and primal and ritualistic, perfectly encapsulated by the way the stark, repetitive slowcore acoustic guitar part at the start of "Ripper In The Gloom" suddenly, shockingly gives way to a full-on punk rock assault.
It also seems possible that Gallhammer, along with their interest in underground '80s doom-crust, also shares some of the Velvet Underground fixation displayed by their contemporaries from the Japanese psych-rock scene, like LSD-march and Doodles. Heck, track one, the nearly eight minute "At The Onset Of The Age Of Despair" seems to have echoes of VU's "Venus In Furs"... If one of Gallhammer's songs wound up on a PSF Tokyo Flashback comp someday we'd be surprised, yes, but only a little. Though it sure wouldn't be a track like "Killed By The Queen" or "Blind My Eyes", two of the punked out, filthy metal blitzes on here, the latter of which throws in some uncharacteristic Melt-Banana style yelping, dogwhistle vocals along with the usual guttural grunting and growling.
Hey, we made it all the way to the end of this review without mentioning Gallhammer's major non-musical selling point... we said they're a "cult" band above, but were tempted to say "cute", as this trio just happen to all be attractive young Japanese ladies, their looks further enhanced by the tasteful application of gothy corpsepaint makeup. No this fact doesn't make Gallhammer's music sound any better (or worse) but it's, um, interesting. Happily, though, Peaceville isn't using Gallhammer's sex appeal to sell this album, there's not even any pictures of the band at all included in this classy-lookin' white-and-silver package. Recommended nonetheless!
MPEG Stream: "SLOG"
MPEG Stream: "Killed By The Queen"
MPEG Stream: "Ripper In The Gloom"

GALLHAMMER Ruin Of A Church (Peaceville) dvd 12.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Every metalhead we know has been freaking out over Hellhammer worshipping all girl crusty black metal outfit Gallhammer. And for good reason, the dew spit up a filthy sludgey blackened pound, that pays proper homage to the 'Hammer that came before. But truth be told, there is a bit of novelty to their appeal, hard to argue with three young cute Japanese girls in bullet belts and Amebix shirts, adorned in spikes and smeared black raccoon eye makeup, making this gloriously unholy racket. And we'd be lying if we didn't admit to at least a few aQ staffers having a bit of a metal girl crush on Ms. Vivian Slaughter.
Thus, those not afforded the luxury of actually seeing Gallhammer play live, have been clamoring for a live video. The music is awesome, but somehow more awesome when that harsh hellish howl is coming out of such a diminutive frontwoman, and this din is being produced by this all female trio. So here you have it, Gallhammer, performing live, like the title says in "the ruin of a church", the band set up upon the altar, in front of glowing stained glass windows, pretty striking visually for sure, and the sound is fantastic, thick and chuggy, pounding and blackened, the vocals a blasphemous presence in this house of God. BUT, the band aren't all that exciting to watch play. They don't headbang, they don't jump around or thrash wildly, and to be fair, maybe this music doesn't lend itself to that sort of action. Instead the band sort of sway back and forth, entranced, occasionally stepping to the mic to bellow hellishly (and it's revealed that both axeslingers have wails that could peel paint!). So minus any sort of extreme action, it is mesmerizing, helped along by the massive riffs and pounding rhythms, the whole band conjuring up some early eighties demons and channeling them into filthy crusty buzz.
There are plenty of extras, two other live shows, a bunch of videos (that are mostly the band rocking out live, but they rock out WAY harder for the camera), a photo gallery (!), and a band interview, but again, it's slow going as it's subtitled, and being translated, so there's plenty of waiting for questions, answers, and nothing wild or shocking, just a mellow conversation, interesting for sure, but not mind blowing.
But so what. It's GALLHAMMER!!! And for all our minor kvetching, this disc is pretty cool, and for now, as close as we're gonna get to sweating and swaying wildly in the pit at a Gallhammer show, and certainly as close as we'll ever get to actually talking to Vivian. Swooooon. So yeah, recommended.

GALLHAMMER The Dawn Of Gallhammer (Peaceville) cd + dvd 16.98
In the voice of Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons: "Best band EVER."
No, we're not actually implying an endorsement of Gallhammer by Comic Book Guy. But, IF Comic Book Guy was into old school death/black/doom metal and crusty punk (which, we'd imagine he probably isn't) -and- was really into cute Japanese girls (which, chances are, he is), then, well, Gallhammer would be one of his favorite bands. We can't help but like 'em lot ourselves. We reviewed their debut cd Gloomy Lights back on list 235, and pointed out then that while a trio of cute, Japanese girls with raccoon eyes playing in the style of '80s doom pioneers Hellhammer was an obvious high-concept selling point, from -listening- to it you sure couldn't tell they were cute or even female. But you could tell that their music was utterly grim and wretched and heavy as hell, which for us was enough to recommend it. Glacial riffs, pounding drums, atmospheric breaks, deathly croaks... raw and primitive and very effective!
We also reported that they'd gotten signed to Peaceville, who have cleverly determined that the best way to introduce Gallhammer to the masses isn't with a new album (still upcoming) but with this, a collection of demos and rehearsal tracks. Oh, and with a DVD disc of live performances. That's the clever part. Once you see vocalist/bassist Vivian Slaughter in her Celtic Frost t-shirt, staring blankly into space and grunting inhumanly into the microphone, you'll be smitten. Or watch drummer Risa Reaper thrash her kit, providing back-up screams too. Or witness guitarist Mika Penetrator (Amebix t-shirt for her) crank out the riffage whilst contributing blood-curdling vokills as well... it's all over. Is there a fan club? Where do we sign up? Seriously, though, the live footage is convincing. They're a killer band. And have a great sense of theatrics, looking so much like those spooky girls you always see in Japanese horror films with their long black hair and hollow eyes.
The DVD features 24 songs from six shows filmed at various venues in Japan between 2005 and 2006. Some are pro shot (the show at Okayama Pepper Land which is presented in its entirety) and others are more bootleggy lookin' but still perfectly acceptable. And there's also a photo gallery of stills to stimulate more fanboy drool.
Meanwhile, on the audio disc, you get twelve tracks including two exclusive demos of (brutal) brand new songs, along with rarities going back to before the Gloomy Lights album. If you've heard Gallhammer before, you know this is gonna be crushing. Far from cartoonish. If you haven't heard 'em, this a good place to enter their haunted world of misanthropic moody metal. Imagine if Unsane, Corrupted and Zeni Geva got together in a cave to make the soundtrack to some freaky J-horror flick, after listening to nothing but Tom G. Warrior's earliest output and the occasional Velvet Underground album for inspiration. Cool, eh?
MPEG Stream: "At The Onset Of The Age Of Despair"
MPEG Stream: "Beyond The Hate Red"

GALLHAMMER The End (Peaceville) cd 17.98
This ultra kvlt (and, we must admit, quite kvte!) all-girl Japanese band who play the blackened "metal of death" in a most dirgey and crusty stylee, inspired by (no duh) '80s death/doom pioneers Hellhammer, have returned after 4 years with a new album - titled with some finality The End, though let's hope it ain't. If you're an AQ customer with a pulse, at all into the doomy and dank, you're probably already a Gallhammer fan and are 'adding to cart' as we speak. If at all hesitant, the abysmal buzz and clank of going nowhere not so fast opener "The End" ought to convince you! With that title track out of the way, the Gallhammer gals (now the duo of bassist/vocalist Vivian Slaughter & drummer Risa Reaper, former guitarist Mika Penetrator having left after 2007's Ill Innocence) pick up the pace a bit on the next even more brutal number "Rubbish CG202" (one of several weird, partly numeric song titles on the album, btw), and vary between a flashing stroboscopic throb and molasses creepy crawl throughout this disc, the rhythms more a function of fluctuation in the overlaying distortion field than anything else. The vokills vary too, from rasping guttural anguish to some disturbing yelps (on "Aberration") and even almost actual singing (on "Sober").
The truth is, Gallhammer aren't really so much a metal band, as they are purveyors of nihilistic noise rock, having as much or more in common with the likes of Kevin Drumm, Wolf Eyes, Prurient, Sister Iodine, Aufgehoben No Process, Brainbombs, etc. as they do with the aforementioned Hellhammer, and other old school metal/punk artists whose T-shirts they're often seen wearing, like Amebix. The final cut, the ten+ minute "108=7/T-NA" is perhaps the weirdest, most WTF?, featuring some frightening saxophone textures, played by Ms. Slaughter... but don't worry, this is neither smooth nor jazz!! Just more grinding terror, the end of The End going to the utter extreme of experimental yet primitive doomdrone metal. Damn. We're falling in love with Gallhammer all over again.
MPEG Stream: "The End"
MPEG Stream: "Rubbish CG 202"
MPEG Stream: "Aberration"

GALLO, VINCENT Recordings Of Music For Film (Warp) cd 17.98
While writing a recent review about his favorite group King Crimson (!), Vincent Gallo allowed himself the indulgence of a viperous tangential rant against Harmony Korine: "When a mini-dwarf rich kid from Nashville like Harmony Korine flies first class and moves to New York City's Soho in his 'plush safe' apartment, running around town quoting Godard with lines like, 'Fuck the bourgeois', it's insincere, it's calculated, it's unoriginal, and it's the worst thing in the world, 'trendy'. He already knows that he and his boring girlfriend Connecticut Chloe Sevigny are going to be on the cover of 'The Face'. He knows he'll get his run at The Angelica and be hip in Japan. But no one will ever make an important film because they saw 'Gummo' or 'Donkey Boy'." (http://www.vincentgallo.com/writing/KingCrimson.html) The irony of such a statement is that many of Gallo's critics have uttered very similar attacks against him. In a lot of ways, Gallo brings it upon himself with the public display of a blunt persona that is crass, misogynistic, and brutally ugly. Yet amidst these horrible aspects of humanity, Gallo's facade cracks with wondrous displays of romantic dreams that sing the praises of 'pretty girls,' Genet-like love stories borne out of abjection, and the ephemeral magic of his musical constructions. How much of this dichotomy falls under the category of artistic calculation and how much of it is a hyper-dramatization of Gallo's polarization of human characteristics -- both positive and negative.
Of course, Vincent Gallo doesn't give a fuck what you or I may think about his art, as he's already convinced that's he a genius. I (Jim) enjoyed the grim artistry of "Buffalo 66" but was initially skeptical of his music, as a passing fancy for dilettante who somehow managed to convince Warp Records to sign him. Yet, in setting my pre-conceptions aside and actually listening to his previously published "When" (a bit of a sleeper hit among several of us here at Aquarius) and now "Recordings Of Music For Film," Vincent Gallo is a musician whose talent is not easy to dismiss as a cultural fluke. Like "When," his film scores to "Buffalo 66," "The Way It Is," "Downtown 81" and "If You Feel Froggy, Jump" are delicate, bittersweet wisps of song fragments, with ghostly guitar strumming that recalls late '80s Jandek, Gallo's Chet Baker-like voice, passing flourishes from a clarinet or a melodica, and very little else. What is most impressive is the consistency between all of these recordings despite the 15 years between "Buffalo 66" and "The Way It Is," whose scores make up the majority of this album. Regardless, it ends up being beautiful, no matter what opinion you may hold about Vincent Gallo.
RealAudio clip: "Her Smell Theme"
RealAudio clip: "The Girl Of Her Dreams"
RealAudio clip: "Six Laughs Once Happy"
RealAudio clip: "Lonely Boy"
RealAudio clip: "A Somewhere Place"

GALLO, VINCENT When (Warp) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While it's probably true that the reason this album got released on hip UK electronica label Warp is that Vincent "Buffalo 66" Gallo is a famous guy, that doesn't mean it's a bad album. Some folks here at Aquarius wanted to assume that, but repeated listenings have made even the worst AQ Gallo-skeptics willing to admit that it's not bad. And some of us (Allan, for one), think it's pretty great. After all, there's a reason why the guy is famous, and it has to do with (aside from his striking good looks) the fact that he's talented. So forget your knee jerk reactions to his celebrity status and consider the possibility that unlike most actors-turned-musicians, he's managed to make some nice music. All right all right, what does it sound like? Well, it's NOT the full on prog rock opus that some of us were hoping Gallo's overt Yes obsession would produce, but it's a lovely, lonely singer-songwriter effort (with, indeed, echoes of the mellow pop psychedelia found on early King Crimson LPs). Introspective and quiet, having just a few sonic elements per song: a whispered vocal here, a xylophone there, some wistful piano and strummed guitar there, a fragmented drum beat here. A near-ambient, melancholic, almost-folky disc full of heartbreak and longing (well, it seems that way, not that we've studied the lyrics closely as yet). There's no more of anything (vocals, beats) than is absolutely necessary (which argues well for Gallo's genuine artistry) (well, except for some shameless courting of his famous friends like the filthy rich party girl Paris Hilton who's namedropped in the first track's title). The vocals make this kinda sound like what Smog or Jandek would sound like if they recorded for Warp. We're also reminded of Tarwater and even Chet Baker. Worth checking out, after all!
RealAudio clip: "When"
RealAudio clip: "Was"

GALLON DRUNK Fire Music (Sweet Nothing) cd 16.98

GALWAD Y MYNYDD s/t (Finders Keepers) cd 23.00

GALWAD Y MYNYDD s/t (Finders Keepers) lp 30.00

GAMA BOMB Citizen Brain (Earache) cd 16.98
Everything we've read about these Brits says thrash, thrash, thrash, and lists Nuclear Assault and Sodom as possible comparisons. Hmm, not untrue, but we're also hearing some weird, super-fun frat party version of early Slayer and Metallica. Lyrically, it's all beer and thrash. Yeah! Song titles like " Zombie Blood Nightmare," "Sentenced to Thrash," and "In the Court of General Zod" kinda say it all. Okay, maybe the most distinctive moment is on "Zombi Brew," on which they talk about "beer and brains." Yes, it's a zombie party where they're getting all "I love you, man!" and eyeballing people's brains. The band also encourages listeners to "put on your bullet belt, time to thrash like it's 1986." They're putting it out there. You're either into it, or you're not. But if you are, this is pretty fucking awesome! Includes bonus DVD while supplies last, haven't watched it yet, probably lots of gore and/or beer being spilled.
MPEG Stream: "Zombi Brew"
MPEG Stream: "Sentenced to Thrash"

GAMA, VICTOR Pangeia Instrumentos (Rephlex) cd 16.98

GAME OF DEATH (JOHN BARRY) OST (Dagored) lp 15.98
Now reissued on vinyl, John "James Bond" Barry's score to this ill-fated Bruce Lee Kung Fu flick. You know, the one were he takes on Chuck Norris. Probably best known as the movie that was shelved when Bruce Lee died. Finally released in 1978 with someone else filling in for Lee, they kept a handful of the original scenes with Lee as a selling point for what would otherwise have been a commercially unsucessful movie. And the soundtrack also helps! The music is classic Barry, alternately soaring and triumphant, tense and suspenseful. Also features an awesome six minute track called "Stick Fight" which is just that, six minutes of fight sounds complete with Lee's legendary vocalisations! Good stuff, up there with Lalo Schifrin's soundtrack to Enter The Dragon.

GAME OF DEATH / NIGHT GAMES (OST) (Silva) cd 16.98
This is a collection of two of John Barry's most unlikely scores. The first is for Bruce Lee's Game of Death. You know, the one were he takes on Chuck Norris. Probably best known as the movie that was shelved when Bruce Lee died. Finally released with a new star, they kept a handful of the original scenes with Lee as a selling point for a then otherwise unsellable movie. The music is classic Barry, alternately soaring and triumphant, tense and suspenseful. Also features an awesome 6 minute track called 'Stick Fight' which is just that, 6 minutes of fight sounds complete with Lee's legendary vocalisations! Good stuff. The second film, Night Games is even stranger. A "sex fantasy" that was apparently a massive flop. Barry's tracks are treacly and bittersweet, with occasional jaunty strings and choral passages. Nice stuff as well. Definitely makes me want to see Game Of Death again, but also I'm now dying to see Night Games!
MPEG Stream: "Main Title / Set Fight With Chuck Norris"
MPEG Stream: "Three Motorcycles / Stick Fight With Santo"

GAMELAN SON OF LION Metal Notes (Locust) cd 14.98
We're certainly fans of this long running New York collective Gamelan Son Of Lion, a modern gamelan ensemble who, so inspired by traditional Indonesian music, built their own gamelans from juice cans and oil barrels, creating a sound at once distinctly gamelan like, but at the same time strangely alien.
This cd reissue, which we should have reviewed a while back, unearths a 20 year old cassette and is a prime example of this group's ingenious way with primitive sound. Simple and childlike, ultra minimal and totally hypnotic, GSOL weave expansive soundscapes of metallic clatter and lush shimmering drone, sometimes the gamelan sounds like tiny music boxes, other times it sounds like Konono No.1 style amplified thumb pianos, and occasionally it also sounds like some East Village hippy drum jam (which it sort of was), but it's never less than totally captivating. Percussive and rhythmic, but simultaneously fluttery and ambient, the various struck metals offering up incredibly textured overtones that smear and blur into glistening pools of sound, while all manner of bell like chimes and dense tangles of metallic melodies dance amidst the droney drift.
Often mentioned in the same breath as folks like Morton Feldman, La Monte Young and Tony Conrad, this is most definitely modern minimalism, but at the same time it sounds surprisingly modern, predating the current crop of freenoise /ambient-drone underground outfits by 20 some years. It also reminds us a bit of abstract sonic pioneers like the Taj Mahal Travellers and AMM, who share a similar penchant for epic spaciousness and drifting rhythmic ambience.
MPEG Stream: "Gamelan NEA"
MPEG Stream: "Either.Or - Or/Either"

GAMELAN SON OF LION The Complete Gamelan In The New World (Locust) 2cd 17.98
Dunno if we can keep up with all the cool stuff that Locust has been putting out lately, but we'll try. And we definitely need to let you know about this one. This here double cd set is a remastered reissue of the contents of two obsure and out of print Folkways LPs from the early '70s that documented the activities of NYC's Gamelan Son Of Lion. That's right, this Gamelan wasn't from Indonesia, instead they were a bunch of long-haired, bearded American avant-gardists, among them Fluxus composer Philip Corner. Wasn't one of the Sun City Girls quoted recently in The Wire as saying the last thing he wanted to hear was white people playing a gamelan in a traditional manner? Well he'd probably be happy with this group. As much as by the ethnic musics of the East, this group seemed to be inspired by minimalism and Morton Feldman. Unlike "real" gamelan music I've heard, this isn't nearly so dense and rhythmic. It's rather more slow and spacious. Simple, even. But the resonating metal sounds are incredibly lovely. Our resident gamelan musician, Byram, didn't care for it as much...but then he gets to play with a gamelan quite often. And probably if you had your own gamelan (a home-made one like the Son of Lion folks built, with grapefruit juice cans and the like) you could come up with music a lot like the compositions heard here. But I don't, so I found this to be totally gorgeous and mesmerizing...
MPEG Stream: "In Scrolls Of Leaves"
MPEG Stream: "Gamelan II"

GAMES Everything Is Working (Hippos In Tanks) 7" 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We heard about this single back at the On Land festival, where Daniel Lopatin awed the packed house with his polygon planes of synth as Oneohtrix Point Never. Lopatin brought a handful of the Games single, which was being rumored to be his hip-hop excursion. Well, now that we've gotten a hold of this; it's not quite hip-hop, and not even the abstracted witch-house / chillwave variant of screwed hip-hop from the likes of Salem and oOoOO. Lopatin and his Games partner Joel Ford apply loops of muffled robot-speak vocals, dopey-eyed slow-jam rhythms, and Lopatin's trademarked '80s computer as utopian object iconography. The Ariel Pink-ish false starts through the sampled guitar jangle, and the Max Headroom skipped disc jitter make this unmistakably Lopatin (especially from those hard to find KGB Man tapes) and strangely believable as a wintery mixtape staple for beleaguered COBOL programmers and the robots who love them.

GAMES That We Can Play (Hippos In Tanks) 12" 11.98
The duo known as Games presented themselves as chillwave mutants on the Everything Is Working 7" which came and went a couple months back, but this long EP / short LP (depending on how you wanna look at these six tracks) proves that Games is an entity existing between a number of dichotomies: Now vs. Then, East vs. West, ironically uncool (thus making it cool) vs. unfashionably gauche, etc. It shouldn't be a surprise then that half of Games is the sci-fi trickster Daniel Lopatin, who's better known as Oneohtrix Point Never. There's plenty of the Lopatin infatuation with polygon melodies, allusions to Russian technocracy, and dreamtime slippages into the forgotten futures of the past; but Lopatin's partner, Joel Ford, brings a mash-up aesthetic of Italo-Disco sensuality, mid-'80s Fairlight sampling mimesis, and plenty of trashy Euro-pop tropes. Unlike Lopatin's Oneohtrix project which seeks to capture a sound which never existed in the '80s but is an extract of a bleary selective memory from all of the data that's been left behind, Games is far more concise in what it's referencing - the mid-'80s synthpop / tropes of bands like Animotion and Ministry. No, we don't mean the "Jesus Built My Hot-Rod" era of Ministry, but the period that Mr. Jourgensen seems to want to forget: the swooning romanticism of With Sympathy and the cross-pollinated electronica album Twitch. The track "Strawberry Sky" is a Top 10 single that should have been released in 1986, with a magnificently catchy vocal chorus delivered by Laurel Chartow atop faux-flute synth pads, darkly washed electronic arpeggiations, thumped drum machines, and a coked-up production sensibility. The auto-tuned vocal utterances that drive "Shadows In Bloom" compliment an acid flashback of an arrangement seemingly lifted from one of Bel Biv Devoe's skittered grooves. Couple that with all of the new wave synths, and it's a downright awesome track! The Gatekeeper Remix of "Strawberry Sky" steps up the Ministry / Twitch references with more of a cybernetic flare to the punchy EBM rhythms and American Anglophilia. Recommended.

GAMMELSAETER, RUNHILL Amplicon (Utech) cd 16.98
She of Thorr's Hammer fame!

GANDALF 2 (Sundazed) cd 15.98
Unreleased archival stuff from New Jersey '60s psych outfit Gandalf...unfortunately while their actual album (also reissued on Sundazed) is a classic, this disc doesn't hold a candle... don't bother.