GANDALF s/t (Sundazed) cd 17.98
Tolkien fans, be warned -- this sixties psych pop group from New Jersey was only hastily dubbed "Gandalf" mere weeks before their debut was recorded in 1967. As Mike "Ugly Things" Stax' liner notes say (with perhaps some unnecessary scorn for the inhabitants of Middle Earth): "The group's name is actually a misnomer; although full of magic, the Gandalf record is thankfully free of wizards and hobbits." Previous to their Gandalf incarnation, the band was called the Rahgoos, named, believe it or not, after the Ragu brand of spaghetti sauce! (The liner notes again: "What was needed was a new, more 'with it' name." So they chose Ragu? What?) Whatever the name, though, the band's lone LP, now reissued by Sundazed, is pretty darn great, with gentle, melancholy singing, hypnotic piano and Hammond B3, and plenty of psychedelic tape echo courtesy of a piece of equipment (the Binson Echorec) that the band had acquired soon before the recording sessions and used to great effect, ahem.
Gandalf is especially known (to those in the know, that is, who speak of them in hushed whispers we'd imagine) for their amazing, dark, psychedelic version of the old standard "Golden Earrings" with which they open the disc. Along with that cover, they also interpret several songs by Tim Hardin as well as Eden Ahbez's famed "Nature Boy". But they had a fine songwriter in the band as well, Peter Sando, and his "Can You Travel In The Dark Alone" equals the spooky effect they achieved with "Golden Earrings", while Sando's album-closing "I Watch The Moon" rocks out a bit more with some tasty fuzz guitar -- which you'll also hear in their "Nature Boy", for one!
As long lost, forgotten '60s psych gems go, this is the real deal, not baseless hype based merely on how much some ponytailed psych collector was willing to pay for an original vinyl copy. Sundazed gets our thanks once again!
RealAudio clip: "Golden Earrings"
RealAudio clip: "Hang On To A Dream"
RealAudio clip: "Can You Travel In the Dark Alone"
RealAudio clip: "Nature Boy"

GANDALF s/t (Sundazed) lp 25.00
Now on vinyl! Tolkien fans, be warned -- this sixties psych pop group from New Jersey was only hastily dubbed "Gandalf" mere weeks before their debut was recorded in 1967. As Mike "Ugly Things" Stax' liner notes say (with perhaps some unnecessary scorn for the inhabitants of Middle Earth): "The group's name is actually a misnomer; although full of magic, the Gandalf record is thankfully free of wizards and hobbits." Previous to their Gandalf incarnation, the band was called the Rahgoos, named, believe it or not, after the Ragu brand of spaghetti sauce! (The liner notes again: "What was needed was a new, more 'with it' name." So they chose Ragu? What?) Whatever the name, though, the band's lone LP, now reissued by Sundazed, is pretty darn great, with gentle, melancholy singing, hypnotic piano and Hammond B3, and plenty of psychedelic tape echo courtesy of a piece of equipment (the Binson Echorec) that the band had acquired soon before the recording sessions and used to great effect, ahem.
Gandalf is especially known (to those in the know, that is, who speak of them in hushed whispers we'd imagine) for their amazing, dark, psychedelic version of the old standard "Golden Earrings" with which they open the disc. Along with that cover, they also interpret several songs by Tim Hardin as well as Eden Ahbez's famed "Nature Boy". But they had a fine songwriter in the band as well, Peter Sando, and his "Can You Travel In The Dark Alone" equals the spooky effect they achieved with "Golden Earrings", while Sando's album-closing "I Watch The Moon" rocks out a bit more with some tasty fuzz guitar -- which you'll also hear in their "Nature Boy", for one!
As long lost, forgotten '60s psych gems go, this is the real deal, not baseless hype based merely on how much some ponytailed psych collector was willing to pay for an original vinyl copy. Sundazed gets our thanks once again!

GANDALF THE GREY The Grey Wizard Am I (Gear Fab) cd 14.98

GANE, TIM & O'HAGEN, SEAN La Vie D'Artiste (OST) (Too Pure) 2cd 13.98
Stereolab and High Llamas fans know well the atmosphere sculpting talents of Tim Gane and Sean O'Hagen. So it is no surprise that together they make wonderfully enveloping mood music for film. Gane and O'Hagen have composed a swoonsome beauty of a soundtrack to the film La Vie D'Artiste. Lots of fleeting glimpses and glimmers of their main bands' best features -- smooth jazzy horns, retro electronic escapades, cascading vibes and woodwinds, lite kraut-y loopiness, et al -- performed with a lovely panache. Sure to please followers of both bands.
MPEG Stream: "La Vie D'Artiste (generique)"
MPEG Stream: "Cora Prend La Fuite (alternate mix)"

GANG GANG DANCE Eye Contact (4AD) cd 14.98
Get out your candles, incense, tarot cards and fog machine, it's time for a brand new hypnotizing, psychedelic outing from Gang Gang Dance. So rad how this group continues to evolve and expand their sound, yet keep their original kaleidoscopic vision intact. Eye Contact picks up where Saint Dymphna left off, infusing a blast of downtown late night culture into a mind altering blend of sounds and styles. With some members of White Magic contributing this time out (Tim Koh, Doug Shaw), this recording really finds GGD melding all of their influences and varied sounds to full capacity. Sometimes dancey, sometimes with a warped '80s vibe, sometimes crafting a spell that haunts and seduces at the same time. And all of the time creating a world that Malcolm McLaren would have been drooling all over. It's become annoying to talk about music in terms of being postmodern, but GGD really are one of the best examples of a group who have excelled in bringing so many forms of music and influences altogether and not only deconstructing them but also honoring and celebrating them. This is the sound of NOW!
MPEG Stream: "Glass Jar"
MPEG Stream: "MindKilla"
MPEG Stream: "Sacer"

GANG GANG DANCE Eye Contact (4AD) 2lp 22.00
Get out your candles, incense, tarot cards and fog machine, it's time for a brand new hypnotizing, psychedelic outing from Gang Gang Dance. So rad how this group continues to evolve and expand their sound, yet keep their original kaleidoscopic vision intact. Eye Contact picks up where Saint Dymphna left off, infusing a blast of downtown late night culture into a mind altering blend of sounds and styles. With some members of White Magic contributing this time out (Tim Koh, Doug Shaw), this recording really finds GGD melding all of their influences and varied sounds to full capacity. Sometimes dancey, sometimes with a warped '80s vibe, sometimes crafting a spell that haunts and seduces at the same time. And all of the time creating a world that Malcolm McLaren would have been drooling all over. It's become annoying to talk about music in terms of being postmodern, but GGD really are one of the best examples of a group who have excelled in bringing so many forms of music and influences altogether and not only deconstructing them but also honoring and celebrating them. This is the sound of NOW!
MPEG Stream: "Glass Jar"
MPEG Stream: "MindKilla"
MPEG Stream: "Sacer"

GANG GANG DANCE Glass Jar (4AD) 12" 10.98
Awesome new 12" from GGD.

GANG GANG DANCE God's Money (Social Registry) cd 14.98
We ended up digging the last GGD, even though it took us a little while to get into. And we're guessing this new one might also take us a little while. Not because it's a bad record, it's just... weird. But weird in a way we don't always find appealing right off the bat. The first record set up the sound: a chaotic almost dancey mix of hypnotic drum circle clatter, off kilter This Heat-ish rhythmic propulsion, scattered snatches of jazzy piano, almost circusy melodies, burping low end and all sorts of other sounds. The sound on this record is quite similar, if not a bit more refined. And definitely a bit busier. Like they had this band, and then had all their friends over, and had each friend add the one thing they really loved, whether it was those weird new age pan pipe flutes, or brittle music boxes, or Copshootcop junkyard percussion or any one of a million things that makes this record such a scattered, albeit joyous mess. But the maker or breaker here is the vocals. Very childlike and heavily affected, a bit like the vocalist from Deerhoof mixed with Laurie Anderson or Diamanda Galas, swooping and wailing and mumbling and back to wailing, all in the space of a single track. Very haunting and strange, but a definite acquired taste. This record is at its best when it sort of blisses out and becomes an expansive abstract sound field, all glittering and spacious. Because the music here definitely hits all the right buttons, woozy and drone-y, skittery and playful, sometimes ominous and aggressive, sometimes joyful and resplendent in all its post-funk splendor, but then the vocals kick in and you're either sold or you're not. Listen to the sound samples and you make the call.
MPEG Stream: "Egowar"
MPEG Stream: "Before My Voice Fails"

GANG GANG DANCE Hillulah (Social Registry) cd ep 9.98
Man, that last record we got from Gang Gang Dance was great! Hopefully some of you had a chance to see them live this summer for a mesmerizing, other-worldly performance. On Hillulah, they bring us several great live recordings from 2003 and early 2004 cut together to create a 33 minute-long audio document of noisy soundscapes that delve into the more raucous feel of the band from that time. It seems that since then, they've nicely lifted off into some sort of ethereal otherness.
As a bonus, Hillulah's "enhancement" contains 30 minutes of video footage! With this nice little document, Gang Gang Dance continues to impress.
MPEG Stream: "Stanton St./Knitting Factory 10/24/03"
MPEG Stream: "North Six 5/04/03"

GANG GANG DANCE Kamakura (Latitudes) cd 14.98
We can't think of a better match for the Latitudes series than Gang Gang Dance. As the New York genre blurring group has been one of the most consistently creative and risk taking bands to emerge in the last decade. We've been so excited with their evolution over the years and this new 15 minute track finds them expanding on ideas of multi culture/multi genre jamming in a way that feels like an awesome updated version of what Brian Eno & David Byrne were doing on My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, or what some rad amalgamation of Arto Lindsey, Cabaret Voltaire, Black Dice and Malcolm Mclaren might sound like.
The track starts out with a hypnotizing mix of psychedelic electronics swirling, pulsating and keeping us in a sparkling trance. It then breaks into a grime influenced breakdown as urgent and powerful as it is colorful and danceable. Damn they pack a lot into these 15 minutes, what a fucking epic song!
MPEG Stream: "Amorphous History (Closing Seen)"

GANG GANG DANCE Kamakura (Latitudes) lp 16.98
We can't think of a better match for the Latitudes series than Gang Gang Dance. As the New York genre blurring group has been one of the most consistently creative and risk taking bands to emerge in the last decade. We've been so excited with their evolution over the years and this new 15 minute track finds them expanding on ideas of multi culture/multi genre jamming in a way that feels like an awesome updated version of what Brian Eno & David Byrne were doing on My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, or what some rad amalgamation of Arto Lindsey, Cabaret Voltaire, Black Dice and Malcolm Mclaren might sound like.
The track starts out with a hypnotizing mix of psychedelic electronics swirling, pulsating and keeping us in a sparkling trance. It then breaks into a grime influenced breakdown as urgent and powerful as it is colorful and danceable. Damn they pack a lot into these 15 minutes, what a fucking epic song!
MPEG Stream: "Amorphous History (Closing Seen)"

GANG GANG DANCE Rawwar (The Social Registry) cd ep 11.98
Over the years Gang Gang Dance have proven to be one of the more adventurous and interesting bands to emerge from the NYC/Brooklyn scene. Since their last full length they've been busy cultivating their sound, DJing and being active members of the late-night-night-club scene. Rawwar is a three song ep which finds them continuing to grow and explore. The first song is a pretty perfect blast of fused sonics that somehow manages to sound like Siouxsie meeting M.I.A. at a super warped late night rave. The second track is a swirling instrumental that offers up a slightly more beautiful sound than what we got on God's Money and the 11+ minute closer is just how you wished trip hop sounded now, had it continued to evolve. Their journey continues to excite us and this will keep us pretty satisfied until they unleash their next full length offering.
MPEG Stream: "Nicoman"
MPEG Stream: "The Earthquake That Frees Prisioners"

GANG GANG DANCE Rawwar (The Social Registry) 12" 11.98
Now available on vinyl! Here's our review of the cdep when we first listed it a while back:
Over the years Gang Gang Dance have proven to be one of the more adventurous and interesting bands to emerge from the NYC/Brooklyn scene. Since their last full length they've been busy cultivating their sound, DJing and being active members of the late-night-night-club scene. Rawwar is a three song ep which finds them continuing to grow and explore. The first song is a pretty perfect blast of fused sonics that somehow manages to sound like Siouxsie meeting M.I.A. at a super warped late night rave. The second track is a swirling instrumental that offers up a slightly more beautiful sound than what we got on God's Money and the 11+ minute closer is just how you wished trip hop sounded now, had it continued to evolve. Their journey continues to excite us and this will keep us pretty satisfied until they unleash their next full length offering.
MPEG Stream: "Nicoman"
MPEG Stream: "The Earthquake That Frees Prisioners"

GANG GANG DANCE Retina Riddim (The Social Registry) cd + dvd 15.98
After their last great record, God's Money, we've been increasingly excited to see where Gang Gang Dance might head next. One of the few bands who managed to transcend all the hype of the Brooklyn/NYC city scene of the last few years and who have proven to be purveyors of continually interesting, challenging and rewarding sounds. Retina Riddim isn't the proper follow up to God's Money but instead a multimedia project which includes a dvd that GGD member Brian DeGraw created matching psychedelic images to a great blending of the bands past records & live recordings. The cd is one twenty-four minute track which incorporates everything from violins, to air horns, and even distorted beats, all melded together to create a wonderful cacophony of sound. Very cool!
MPEG Stream: "Retina Riddim"

GANG GANG DANCE s/t (Fusetron) cd 14.98
Boy this is a weird one. A sloppy but strangely compelling mess of random spastic percussion, strangely jazzy piano, ambient affected guitar spinning wildly into oblivion, and creepy falsetto voices howling, whooping and sometime spitting out sing-songy sort-of nursery rhymes. But what does it sound like, all of those disparate elements jammed together into one band. Howsabout the No Neck Blues Bands jamming with the Teletubbies in a haunted house? Or maybe Diamanda Galas as a young girl, invoking musical demons with the help of Sunburned Hand of The Man? Or even a battle of the band between Deerhoof, Dave Brubeck and Acid Mothers Temple all jamming simultaneously. While this is definitely werid and wooly and wild, Gang Gang Dance are at their best toward the end of each of these lengthy tracks when things sort of bliss out and become a warbling, woozy tinkling outer space ambience.
MPEG Stream: "One"

GANG GANG DANCE s/t (Fusetron) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Boy this is a weird one. A sloppy but strangely compelling mess of random spastic percussion, strangely jazzy piano, ambient affected guitar spinning wildly into oblivion, and creepy falsetto voices howling, whooping and sometime spitting out sing-songy sort-of nursery rhymes. But what does it sound like, all of those disparate elements jammed together into one band. Howsabout the No Neck Blues Bands jamming with the Teletubbies in a haunted house? Or maybe Diamanda Galas as a young girl, invoking musical demons with the help of Sunburned Hand of The Man? Or even a battle of the band between Deerhoof, Dave Brubeck and Acid Mothers Temple all jamming simultaneously. While this is definitely werid and wooly and wild, Gang Gang Dance are at their best toward the end of each of these lengthy tracks when things sort of bliss out and become a warbling, woozy tinkling outer space ambience.
MPEG Stream: "One"

GANG GANG DANCE Saint Dymphna (The Social Registry) cd 14.98
Over the course of several years Gang Gang Dance have made the evolution from totally whacked out and hard to describe collage of sound weirdness to slowly injecting more structure and carving out actual songs while still keeping an aura of mystique and playful experimentation in their sound.
Saint Dymphna pushes their evolution with even more structure and a kind of hypercolor sheen providing a psychedelic soundtrack that sounds a bit like Kate Bush performing at an all night psychedelic rave. Its evident that for the first time in fully realized form the band is really embracing the last word of its moniker, making music for the kind of late night dance parties we'd love to frequent. Maybe it's some of the band members' strong involvement in late night culture as DJ's and partiers over the last few years that has helped shape this exciting shift in their sound. You can tell they've been listening to lots of the most interesting dance music around as there are healthy hints of Bhangra that pop in and out of the songs on Saint Dymphna as well as a more nuanced take on what lots of the Italians Do It Better camp (Chromatics, Glass Candy) have been up to lately. But what made us originally fall in love with Gang Gang Dance is still present, their true sense of adventure and a fearless ability to merge influences that usually seem so disparate, into a seamless whole. Not many other bands could have a record with a song that sounds so much like the mostly swirly moments of My Bloody Valentine ("Vacuum") followed by a song with Tinchy Stryder on the mic for a track that would be at home on M.I.A's latest. That is the true beauty of Gang Gang Dance, they really understand how to blend and merge color and sound to create something that can takes on its own life. We've just begun to immerse ourselves in this record and so far we are loving the ride, and we have a feeling that this one will be on nonstop play in the weeks and months to come!
MPEG Stream: "Bebey"
MPEG Stream: "Vacuum"
MPEG Stream: "House Jam"

GANG GANG DANCE Saint Dymphna (The Social Registry) lp 14.98
This big time aQ fave, and highlight from last list, now available on lp!!!
Over the course of several years Gang Gang Dance have made the evolution from totally whacked out and hard to describe collage of sound weirdness to slowly injecting more structure and carving out actual songs while still keeping an aura of mystique and playful experimentation in their sound.
Saint Dymphna pushes their evolution with even more structure and a kind of hypercolor sheen providing a psychedelic soundtrack that sounds a bit like Kate Bush performing at an all night psychedelic rave. Its evident that for the first time in fully realized form the band is really embracing the last word of its moniker, making music for the kind of late night dance parties we'd love to frequent. Maybe it's some of the band members' strong involvement in late night culture as DJ's and partiers over the last few years that has helped shape this exciting shift in their sound. You can tell they've been listening to lots of the most interesting dance music around as there are healthy hints of Bhangra that pop in and out of the songs on Saint Dymphna as well as a more nuanced take on what lots of the Italians Do It Better camp (Chromatics, Glass Candy) have been up to lately. But what made us originally fall in love with Gang Gang Dance is still present, their true sense of adventure and a fearless ability to merge influences that usually seem so disparate, into a seamless whole. Not many other bands could have a record with a song that sounds so much like the mostly swirly moments of My Bloody Valentine ("Vacuum") followed by a song with Tinchy Stryder on the mic for a track that would be at home on M.I.A's latest. That is the true beauty of Gang Gang Dance, they really understand how to blend and merge color and sound to create something that can takes on its own life. We've just begun to immerse ourselves in this record and so far we are loving the ride, and we have a feeling that this one will be on nonstop play in the weeks and months to come!
MPEG Stream: "Bebey"
MPEG Stream: "Vacuum"
MPEG Stream: "House Jam"

GANG OF FOUR Entertainment (Rhino / Warner Bros.) lp 24.00
NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL, ONCE AGAIN!!!
The roots of Gang of Four can be traced back to 1976, but from opposite ends of the globe. In their native England during that year, The Sex Pistols, The Damned, and The Clash dropped the bomb that was punk whose shockwaves can still be felt to this day through music, literature, art, politics, fashion, etc. In China also in 1976, a renegade faction of communists staged a leadership coup after the death of Mao Zedong, holding out for 10 days and calling themselves the Gang of Four. Back in England a year later, a punk band began as four art students from Leeds appropriated not only the name but also the insistance upon bold ideological stances from those Maoist revolutionaries. After achieving considerable success with their debut Damaged Goods EP on the remarkably prescient Fast Productions (who also signed The Mekons early on as well), Gang of Four landed a deal with EMI which resulted in Entertainment. This album - like Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures and the first three Wire albums - transformed punk with its ingenious marriage of intelligence, angst, politics, and aesthetics, and has not been improved upon since, despite the best efforts from a crowd of post-punk revivalists (i.e. The Rapture, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, etc.).
Gang of Four were Andy Gill, Jon King, Dave Allen, and Hugo Burnham; well at least for Entertainment and the two follow up records. Entertainment's politics have been at the center of most of the reviews you'll find praising this record, but those politics wouldn't have been heard had Gang of Four not been a fucking tight band, with Gill's rapid fire guitar arpeggios, Allen's agitated funk-punk basslines, and Burnham's explosive post-disco rhythms. Every thing that has been written about Gang of Four in the past is true, especially from those kind people at Pitchfork who sneered at the end of their review of Entertainment that "anyone who says it's played out is a douchebag." Truer words have not been spoken.
MPEG Stream: "Damaged Goods"
MPEG Stream: "At Home He's A Tourist"
MPEG Stream: "Anthrax"

GANG OF FOUR Entertainment! (Warner) cd 17.98
The roots of Gang of Four can be traced back to 1976, but from opposite ends of the globe. In their native England during that year, The Sex Pistols, The Damned, and The Clash dropped the bomb that was punk whose shockwaves can still be felt to this day through music, literature, art, politics, fashion, etc. In China also in 1976, a renegade faction of communists staged a leadership coup after the death of Mao Zedong, holding out for 10 days and calling themselves the Gang of Four. Back in England a year later, a punk band began as four art students from Leeds appropriated not only the name but also the insistance upon bold ideological stances from those Maoist revolutionaries. After achieving considerable success with their debut Damaged Goods EP on the remarkably prescient Fast Productions (who also signed The Mekons early on as well), Gang of Four landed a deal with EMI which resulted in Entertainment. This album -- like Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures and the first three Wire albums -- transformed punk with its ingenious marriage of intelligence, angst, politics, and aesthetics, and has not been improved upon since, despite the best efforts from the current crowd of post-punk revivalists (i.e. The Rapture, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, etc.).
Gang of Four were Andy Gill, Jon King, Dave Allen, and Hugo Burnham; well at least for Entertainment and the two follow up records. Entertainment's politics have been at the center of most of the reviews you'll find praising this record, but those politics wouldn't have been heard had Gang of Four not been a fucking tight band, with Gill's rapid fire guitar arppeggios, Allen's agitated funk-punk basslines, and Burnham's explosive post-disco rhythms. Every thing that has been written about Gang of Four in the past is true, especially from those kind people at Pitchfork who sneered at the end of their review of Entertainment that "anyone who says it's played out is a douchebag." Truer words have not been spoken.
MPEG Stream: "Damaged Goods"
MPEG Stream: "At Home He's A Tourist"
MPEG Stream: "Anthrax"

GANG OF FOUR Return The Gift (V2) cd 15.98
There's no real clear answer to why this album was recorded or even released. It's not that it's bad; actually these recently recorded versions of a bunch of Gang of Four classics are pretty darn good. "Damaged Goods," "Anthrax," "To Hell With Poverty," and "At Home He's A Tourist" are just as aggressive, punchy, and groovy as the originals. Especially since Gang of Four just reissued their masterpiece Entertainment, there's not much justification for the album. But if you need to hear Entertainment and a whole bunch of the later singles redone with the benefit of a pristine digital recording, look no further!
MPEG Stream: "I Love A Man In A Uniform"
MPEG Stream: "To Hell With Poverty"

GANG OF FOUR Solid Gold & Another Day / Another Dollar (EMI) cd 14.98

GANG WIZARD Byzantine Headache (Load) cd 14.98
Noisy, experimental rock band Gang Wizard hadn't ever really interested us much before, but we gave this new album a listen nonetheless and to our surprise, for the first eight minutes, we were captivated... rhythmic, spare, lo-fi shambling weirdness that was remarkably listenable! But, from then on the going gets a bit rougher... it's clear they used the word "headache" in the title for a reason. Intrigued, though, ended up enjoying this varied disc's more cacophonous parts as well. Heck we like throbbing distorto-jams, screamy noise, and bits that sound like beginner guitarist Allan practicing (he'll try to perfect "Soft Crust From 00" before his next guitar lesson) just as much as the next record store. Ok, maybe there's a tad too much screaming ("The Pretty Ape" is just a little taxing). So although the way the singer howls it out on "When The Song Begins" reminds us of Eugene from Oxbow, we'd have to say that the vocals aren't our favorite element of Gang Wizard, we're more into their prettier, abstract Starfuckers-ish soundscaping, and give this the thumbs up for that. Load lovin' noise rock fans ought to be pleased. As will be people who desire cd artwork which appears to be a famous Vietnam war photo melded with a notorious National Lampoon magazine cover...
MPEG Stream: "Another Misplayed Endgame"
MPEG Stream: "When The Song Begins"

GANG WIZARD El Cortez Buy Y' A Drink (Black Bean & Placenta) cd 11.98

GANG WIZARD Jeckyll Loves Hyde (Ecstatic Peace) lp 13.98

GANG WIZARD Lemonade Folly (DNT) 7" 4.50

GANG WIZARD Live In Paris (Abandon Ship) 3"cd-r 4.50
Latest from these fucked up noise makers. A sort of collective, every record a brain melting brew of whooped howling vocals, angular distorted guitars and chaotic percussion, this live set no different. 18 minutes but with about twice that crammed in somehow. Dense and destructive, a screaming whirling skree filled fury.
It's not hard to imagine a stage full of squirming sweaty bodies, judging from the crowd sounds in the more minimal parts, it sounds like the folks on stage just might outnumber the folks in the crowd.
The drums are a stumbling tribal pound, the vocals shriek and howl, moan and wail, the guitars go from sheets of acidic buzz, to tangled, damaged lurch, feedback everywhere, impossible to tell if the shrieks are part of the music, or the crowd getting swept up in the band's pure joy and making such an intense and ear shredding racket. In the red, blown out, crumbling, damaged, distorted post-post-post punk verging on complete musical collapse. The band slip into serious grooves here and there, but never for long, always seeming to be barely holding it together, the band gleefully letting it fall to pieces, rolling around in the shattered song structures and fragmented melodies, only deigning to try and reel it all in if they feel the fuck like it, and thankfully they rarely do.
A gloriously chaotic and challenging free for all. Recommended for the iron eared and and the noise obsessed.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. Package in full color two sided mini dvd style sleeve.

GANG WIZARD & FRIENDS FOREVER split (Deathbombarc) cd 13.98

GANGER Canopy (Merge) cdep 9.98
Scottish group who recently toured with Mogwai but sound VERY MUCH like Tortoise, only less arty and more accessible. Good!

GANGER Hammock Style (Merge) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Neo Kraut, bass heavy grooves from this British emsemble that sound like a propulsive, non adult-contemporary version of Tortoise.

GANGLIANS Blood on the Sand (Captured) 7" 7.98
Once again, Captured Tracks demonstrates why they are quickly turning into one of the only labels that matters, a practically perfect record of kick ass punk and pop and new wave, and every possible permutation in between. Just over the last few months they've given us records by Grass Widow, The Beets, Blank Dogs, Gary War, Roman Soldiers, Teenage Panzercorps, Woods and now this, latest chunk of summery surfy gloom pop from the Ganglians.
Taking up right where their most recent full length left off, these two tracks offer up more of that slightly new wave-y, very Beach Boys influenced, reverby fuzz pop, the A side lays down some wild wipeout drumming, those Wilson brothers style vocal harmonies, plenty of fuzz and buzz, a irresistible sing along chorus, and just a tinge of gothic brood, which adds just a tinge of darkness, somehow without taking away from the song's summer afternoon haze.
The B side is just more of the same, some serious garage goth surf pop, with even more of a Beach Boys vibe, lots of falsetto vox, and like the first track, the whole thing all warm and washed out and dreamy and summery.

GANGLIANS Monster Head Room (Woodsist) cd 13.98
Though it's been surprisingly cold here in San Francisco as of late, things are starting to warm up nicely, and if we needed any reminder that summertime is IN EFFECT, Ganglians' Monster Head Room does just the trick. This Sacramento group's lo-fi but somewhat orchestral approach to making bouncy, feel good pop is perfect for this weather, with a playful experimental side (check out the cool sound collage of "The Void" and the field recordings used in "To June") and breezy Beach Boys-esque harmonies blending expertly into the mix almost like another instrument altogether. Even at their more "out there" moments, Ganglians' songs are firmly in the pop realm and will no doubt appeal to fans of Animal Collective, good old '90s indie rock, and even the current crop of Shitgazers. There are plenty of mellow folky moments, but the band is not afraid to rock out either, like on the pounding, white hot "100 Years". Throughout it all, Ganglians have created a shimmering set of densely layered pop gems that we can't get enough of. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Lost Words"
MPEG Stream: "The Void"
MPEG Stream: "100 Years"

GANGLIANS Monster Head Room (Weird Forest) lp+7" 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now also in stock on vinyl, with a bonus 7" too! Though it's been surprisingly cold here in San Francisco as of late, things are starting to warm up nicely, and if we needed any reminder that summertime is IN EFFECT, Ganglians' Monster Head Room does just the trick. This Sacramento group's lo-fi but somewhat orchestral approach to making bouncy, feel good pop is perfect for this weather, with a playful experimental side (check out the cool sound collage of "The Void" and the field recordings used in "To June") and breezy Beach Boys-esque harmonies blending expertly into the mix almost like another instrument altogether. Even at their more "out there" moments, Ganglians' songs are firmly in the pop realm and will no doubt appeal to fans of Animal Collective, good old 90s indie rock, and even the current crop of Shitgazers. There are plenty of mellow folky moments, but the band is not afraid to rock out either, like on the pounding, white hot "100 Years". Throughout it all, Ganglians have created a shimmering set of densely layered pop gems that we can't get enough of. Recommended!
While they last, the lp version comes with an Eat Skull 7", yep, NOT a Ganglians 7", an EAT SKULL 7"!
MPEG Stream: "Lost Words"
MPEG Stream: "The Void"
MPEG Stream: "100 Years"

GANGLIANS Still Living (Lefse) cd 13.98
It's been almost two years since we last heard from these Sacramento fuzz poppers, and we're happy to report that very little has changed. The last record, Monster Head Room, arrived right at the beginning of summer '09, and we reveled in its Beach Boys harmonies, surf rock jangle, and psychedelic garage hooks, but we also pointed out their tendency for experimentation, and their occasional hints of gothic brood. But this time around it's all pop all the time, their sound even more sunshiney and summery, we're hearing way more of groups like the Drums and Soft Pack that the usual garage rock fuzz poppers we compared them to before.
As we've seen pointed out in other reviews, the sound definitely touches on classic NZ Flying Nun pop, and that classic nineties shoegaze slowcore, but where past records felt ramshackle and a little home brewed, this time around, they sound like a real band, with real songs, poised for something bigger than just playing the local dive every Friday night. And while some folks will find that disappointing, we can't help but love the new songs, and the new more polished sound, we actually hear a lot of Fresh & Onlys, that same sort of classic pop songsmithery, songs like "California Cousins" are total sunshine summer beach jams, right down to the chiming melodies and VERY Beach Boys arrangements, while tracks like "Faster" are snarly and swaggery, with fuzzed out guitars and pounding drums, with a nod to the Ganglians of old, but most of the songs here fall somewhere right in between. Which as far as we're concerned is perfect. Hooky, and fuzzy, dreamy and jangly, poppy and pretty dang perfect, maybe their best yet, and quickly becoming our new favorite summer record, even in these waning days of the season.
MPEG Stream: "Drop The Act"
MPEG Stream: "That's What I Want"
MPEG Stream: "Evil Weave"
MPEG Stream: "Sleep"

GANGLIANS Still Living (Lefse) lp 16.98
Now here on vinyl too!!
It's been almost two years since we last heard from these Sacramento fuzz poppers, and we're happy to report that very little has changed. The last record, Monster Head Room, arrived right at the beginning of summer '09, and we reveled in its Beach Boys harmonies, surf rock jangle, and psychedelic garage hooks, but we also pointed out their tendency for experimentation, and their occasional hints of gothic brood. But this time around it's all pop all the time, their sound even more sunshiney and summery, we're hearing way more of groups like the Drums and Soft Pack that the usual garage rock fuzz poppers we compared them to before.
As we've seen pointed out in other reviews, the sound definitely touches on classic NZ Flying Nun pop, and that classic nineties shoegaze slowcore, but where past records felt ramshackle and a little home brewed, this time around, they sound like a real band, with real songs, poised for something bigger than just playing the local dive every Friday night. And while some folks will find that disappointing, we can't help but love the new songs, and the new more polished sound, we actually hear a lot of Fresh & Onlys, that same sort of classic pop songsmithery, songs like "California Cousins" are total sunshine summer beach jams, right down to the chiming melodies and VERY Beach Boys arrangements, while tracks like "Faster" are snarly and swaggery, with fuzzed out guitars and pounding drums, with a nod to the Ganglians of old, but most of the songs here fall somewhere right in between. Which as far as we're concerned is perfect. Hooky, and fuzzy, dreamy and jangly, poppy and pretty dang perfect, maybe their best yet, and quickly becoming our new favorite summer record, even in these waning days of the season.
MPEG Stream: "Drop The Act"
MPEG Stream: "That's What I Want"
MPEG Stream: "Evil Weave"
MPEG Stream: "Sleep"

GANGRENATOR Tales From A Thousand Graves (Apocalyptic Empire) cd 8.98
You kinda know what you're getting into with a band name like Gangrenator, and a title like Tales From A Thousand Graves, not to mention the eye popping cover art, some sort of demonic battle between a feather headed monster (that looks a bit like Iron Maiden's Eddie), and a huge muscled and horned behemoth, surrounded by rainbow colored skulls, blue faced yetis, and sword wielding Viking skull demons, okay, maybe you don't know -exactly- what you're getting into, but it's a safe bet, it's gonna be heavy and brutal. Which Gangrenator's debut indeed is, a blasting thrashing grinding onslaught of howled, glass gargling vokills, that sound a bit like a way meaner and blackened Lemmy; churning downtuned riffage; and some seriously chaotic skull caving programmed drum damage. A swirling frantic avalanche of grinding death metal / metallic grind, depending on the track, some jams are furious metal blow outs, complete with wild howling guitar leads; others are gnarled blasts of tangled grind freakout, super complex arrangements and some serious metal chops all wound into a crusty blackened crush.
Make sense really as these just aren't any grinders, these guys have a serious metal pedigree: Dodheimsgard, Decrepit Spectre and Code among others, big time aQ faves, but here, ditching their avant metal leanings and getting filthy, indulging in some serious downtuned caveman pound and pummel, and we're digging it big time.
MPEG Stream: "Taste The Skull"
MPEG Stream: "Irradiated Renegades"
MPEG Stream: "Dr. Mangler"

GANGSTA RAP COLORING BOOK (Last Gasp) coloring book 8.95
All your favorite gangsta rap icons here lovingly rendered in black and white, and ready for your magic markers, crayons, and colored pencils. Pretty funny and a sure hit novelty item that is probably only available for a limited time. Now all gussied up with way more rapperss, a full color cover, nicer paper stock, and some extra notes and things...

GANJA KRU New Frontiers e.p. (Parousia) cd 17.98
2nd cd of jungle from this kru lead by DJ's Zinc and Hype.

GAP BAND Greatest Hits (PolyGram) cd 6.98
Ten booty-shaking disco funk hits for a bargain price! Includes "Steppin' (Out)", "Humpin'", "Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)", and the incredible P-Funk worship of "I Don't Believe You Want To Get Up And Dance (Oops)". There's a couple of smooth soul ballads as well, but for the most part this is dancefloor dynamite. A damn good excuse to have a party.

GAPING MAW Two Improvisations (aRCHIVE) cd 9.98

MPEG Stream: "Nervous Center"

GARADAMA 1 (Alchemy) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Garadama is a hitherto unknown to us, super heavy metallic rock trio from Japan, making their debut on Osaka's Alchemy label (home to albums by Hijo Kaidan, Merzbow, Masonna, Angel 'In Heavy Syrup among others). They're not unlike a more modern-sounding version of prior Alchemy recording artists and retro '70s psych heavies Subvert Blaze (which makes sense, since we just figured out that this is the new band of the guitarist/singer of Subvert Blaze). Less obscurely, Garadama specialize in Sabbathy riff-doom, with every song managing to remind us of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man", no bad thing. A FIEND IS LIVING IN MY BRAIN!!! (That's one of their song titles, and I believe it...) For fans of Boris, EyeHateGod, Zeni Geva, and the abovementioned!
Note we said: for fans of Boris.
RealAudio clip: "A Fiend Is Living In My Brain"
RealAudio clip: "The Sun Rises"

GARADAMA II (Fiend's Shrine) cd 21.00
A couple years ago, all the Boris / Corrupted / Eyehategod / Zeni Geva fans here at AQ were pleased to discover the debut cd from this band Garadama, released on the Osaka based, eclectic noise/psych label Alchemy. Super heavy riffage, distorted fuzzed out walls of DOOOOM guitar, crashing into your brain with the force of a frantic fiend (as per their song "A Fiend Is Living In My Brain"). Great stuff for everyone into the HEAVY (and no surprise, seeing as how the band featured the former singer/guitarist from the very Sabbatherian outfit Subvert Blaze). So, we've been waiting, and had begun to wonder what had happened to them. Well, suddenly and thankfully, we've got import copies of their brand new second album, as you can tell by the title. Again it's an onslaught of monster dirge crunch distorto sludge, swinging from Sabbathy groove to spooky, droning ambience... plus a dose of that special Japanese weirdness we love. Tracks like "Dogma" parts 1 and 2 are ultra-spooky and almost black metal, while the band display their rockin' side on the likes of the riffy "Who Does Try To Kill A Man?".
The album is not over-long, but their doom is deep, and we're sure Garadama would hold their own in any contest with countryfolk Green Machine and Boris... We should mention also that the nasally strangled doom vocals and the twistedness of their heaviness here reminds Andee of old faves Alice Donut! Recommended, doom fanatics.
MPEG Stream: "Dragon's Shrine"
MPEG Stream: "Soliloquy"

GARBAREK, ANJA Smiling & Waving (Virgin Norway) cd 28.00
The daughter of ECM Jazz gent Jan Garbarek follows in her papa's footsteps but chooses to take a different musical path. Slowly sinking into an ultra-lush, shadowy sweetness. Wispy vocals with shades of Stina Nordenstam, the Cardigans, and a bit of Bjork. Ms Garbarek gets some producing and arranging assistance from Mark Hollis of Talk Talk, percussion by Steve Jansen (Japan/Rain Tree Crow), additional vocals by Robert Wyatt, as well as string accompaniment in the form of the London Session Orchestra. If you liked the Emiliana Torrini that we listed a while ago, turn your ears this-a-way. Elaborately layered lounge lullabies tweaked with glitches and samples. Regretably a bit price-y due to its import-only-ness.
RealAudio clip: "Spin The Context"
RealAudio clip: "The Diver"

GARCIA, RUSS Fantastica: Music From Outer Space (Basta) cd 21.00
Despite the over saturation of lounge and exotica reissues (especially the glut that surfaced a few years back), we never tire of those stereophonic space age bachelor pad sounds, especially of course when they are all about outer space: Frank Comstock's Music From Outer Space, Ferrante and Teicher's Sound Blast!, John Hill's 6 Moons of Jupiter, Esquivel's Other Worlds, Other Sounds, and now added to the list is Russ Garcia's 1958 sci-fi epic, Fantastica: Music From Outer Space. First time reissued on cd, the music takes on a fantastic rocket journey and imagines what the planets as well as their inhabitants would sound like through tracks such as "The Lost Souls of Saturn", "The Monsters of Jupiter", and "Water Creatures of Astra". Using a full orchestra with some specially designed electronic effects, the most amazing sounds come from the experimental analog recording techniques and mundane objects used as instruments: a vibrating knife blade off the edge of a table, blowing a straw into gelatin water, moving a microphone around a gong etc., and then speeding up, reversing or slowing down those recorded sounds, so they sound like rippling lava, magnetic fields, or an army of blobular menacing creatures! Why this wasn't reissued during the lounge exotica resurgence is a mystery because it's totally amazing and beautiful and at times dark and mysterious. A masterpiece of the genre that is well worth the trip!
MPEG Stream: "Water Creatures of Astra"
MPEG Stream: "Volcanos of Mercury"
MPEG Stream: "Frozen Neptune"

GARDEN OF WORM s/t (Shadow Kingdom) cd 14.98
Two words: Finland, Doom. Think Reverend Bizarre style doom, specifically. That's where this Finnish band is coming from, on their debut full length for the Shadow Kingdom label (who remind us, in a handwritten note: "Shadow Kingdom always puts out unique metal"). Garden Of Worm, a trio that includes two members of post rock prog metallers Blueprint Human Being, whom you'll remember from their Paradigms release, aren't so unique that they don't remind us of those aforementioned fellow Finns Reverend Bizarre (RIP), with deep, declamatory vocals and heavy Sabbathy riffage, but they do have their own way of doing the doom thing, the guitar parts having a sometimes urgent, eerily off-kilter psychedelic post rock edge to 'em (reminding us of the genius of the late great Ved Buens Ende at times), with post rock loud-soft dynamics factoring into the songwriting as well, Garden Of Worm being blissfully dreamy and/or utterly crushing depending on just where you drop the (virtual) needle on a track like "Psychic Wolves". Elsewhere, experimental droneworks veer right into raging headbanging fare (specifically, towards the end of one of this disc's several epics, "The Black Clouds"). And one of the tracks here, "Rays Of Heaven", is entirely a placid, all-acoustic instrumental. Yet as post- and prog- as they can be, GoW are first and foremost a trudging traditional doom metal band, conjuring up the old school likes of The Obsessed (with a smidge of a Pentagram-y riff mixed in) on "The Ceremony", for instance. A band that's melodic, emotive, intelligent, maybe we'd even call them "psychological", what with some of the lyrics. But all in all to sum 'em up, with another word that's none of those, nor doom, nor Finland: there's something GLORIOUS about this band. Gloomy but grandly glorious. Recommended, especially if you like Reverend Bizarre, The Obsessed, Apostle Of Solitude, Fall Of The Idols...
Very nice b&w Justin Bartlett cover art, too, by the way! (Presumably that's a PSYCHIC wolf.)
MPEG Stream: "Spirits Of The Dead"
MPEG Stream: "The Ceremony"
MPEG Stream: "The Black Clouds "

GARDEN SOUND Black Summit (Digitalis) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What do you get when you mix two parts Barn Owl and two parts Eternal Tapestry? Pretty much just what you'd expect, which is this here lp, 4 looooong tracks from a group called Garden Sound (not to be confused with, uh, Soundgarden), which is in fact equal parts Barn Owl and Eternal Tapestry and offer up a sound that balances right between the brooding twang flecked post rock drift of the former, and the blown out psychedelia of the latter.
The first song sounds almost like Barn Owl solo, a dark dronescape, all desert and twangy, moody EARTH-y shimmer, spidery melodies, almost like one of those slow building epics, but instead of building it just sort of drifts and hovers, there's some minimal percussion, and some extra psychedelic swirl that hints at E-Tap's involvement, but it's not until the second song, that the partnership equals out, with a massive, thunderous superdistorted doomdronedirge, big crashing drums, blurred guitars smeared into black streaks, buried barely there vocals, peppered with occasional squalls of full on psychedelic freakout.
The flipside starts out like the A side, a smoldering minimal raga, buzzing guitars, simple tribal rhythms, hazy and dreamy and definitely mesmerizing. And like the A side, the second track finds the two groups going all out, but this time, it's something way more spare and abstract, still heavy, and doomy, but the drum crashes are spread way out, less a rhythm, than a sort of textural punctuation, the guitars peal and rumble and buzz, streaks of feedback everywhere, a plodding, spaced out stretch of minimal dronedoom drift.
SUPER LIMITED!! We have less than 20 copies, and once those are gone, then this will be gone for good...

GARDEN STATE (OST) (Sony) cd 13.98
While none of us here at AQ have seen the movie thus far, we sure do like a bunch of the artists who grace this soundtrack -- The Shins ("New Slang" and "Caring Is Creepy" - one song from each of their two albums), Nick Drake ("One Of These Things First" originally from his album Bryter Layter), Iron & Wine (their excellent cover version of SubPop labelmates Postal Service's song "Such Great Heights" which also appeared on the PS's ep of the same name)! That's the up-side of this compilation. The down-side is that, as you can see, they're all previously released songs. Dagnabbit! In case you didn't already guess, many of the songs are of that teen-movie-perfect mopey sensitive boy variety. Also included are Coldplay, Zero7, Thievery Corporation, Colin Hay (psst... in case you didn't know, he's the ex-lead singer for Men At Work), Cary Brothers, Remy Zero, Frou Frou, the very Jewel-sounding Bonnie Somerville and some duo called Simon & Garfunkel.
MPEG Stream: REMY ZERO "Fair"
MPEG Stream: THIEVERY CORPORATION "Lebanese Blonde"

GARDENIA AZUL Musica Tropical (Rio Vista) cd 15.98
The gorgeous soaring voice of Kathy Elzey graces this collection of twelve tropicalia songs by this Elk Grove, CA trio. "Who is Ms Elzey?" you may ask. Well, she's noneother than the mother of Rose Melberg (Softies, Go Sailor, Tiger Trap, Gaze)! And we can clearly hear that the joy of singing runs in the family. If you attended Ladyfest in Olympia, WA last year, you may have been lucky enough to see Rose and Kathy perform together. Quite magical. In Gardenia Azul, she sings completely in Spanish and is accompanied by Ray Elzey on backing vocals, guitar, bass, requinto and pedal steel, and percussionist Cary Avery (who has also played with the likes of Cal Tjader and Jose Feliciano). Although they have been performing for many years, this is their first album --- and quite a beautiful one at that. And although this cd is mainly only available at their live shows, we are fortunate to have them here at AQ. Hurrah!

GARDINER, BORIS Every Nigger Is A Star (Jazzman) cd 17.98

GARDINER, BORIS Every Nigger Is A Star (Jazzman) lp 28.00