HARVEY, MICK One Man's Treasure (Mute) cd 15.98

HARVEY, PJ 4-Track Demos (Island) cd 10.98

HARVEY, PJ Dry (Indigo / Too Pure) cd 16.98

HARVEY, PJ Is This Desire (Island) cd 16.98
Even more mellow than To Bring You My Love. Please note that we usually have all of PJ's albums in stock, just ask!

HARVEY, PJ Let England Shake (Vagrant / Island) cd 15.98
Over the last decade, PJ Harvey has proven to be one of the most versatile, unpredictable and unique artists around. From polished and poppy (Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea), to lo-fi (Uh Huh Her), to raw, intimate and devastating (White Chalk), along with an amazing ongoing collaboration with John Parish. So we had no idea which side of PJ Harvey would emerge on this long awaited new full length, and that's actually now part of the fun when anticipating a new record from her. There is no question it will be great, it's just a matter of what shape of great it will be.
Let England Shake is a song cycle about England that takes its cues from battle hymns and as always Harvey's lyrics are both cryptic and complex, without being overbearing. Alongside her longtime collaborators Flood, Mick Harvey and again John Parish, this is a record that sounds like it was made by a proper band, unlike the ultra personal presentation of White Chalk. But just like everything PJ Harvey has released over the years, its an album that reveals its intimacy and emotion upon repeated listens, an album that is already getting under our skin in the best of ways.
MPEG Stream: "Let England Shake"
MPEG Stream: "The Glorious Land"
MPEG Stream: "In The Dark Places"

HARVEY, PJ Let England Shake (Vagrant / Island) lp 17.98
NOW ON VINYL!! (In case you missed it on our Vinyl A-M inbetween list last week...)
Over the last decade, PJ Harvey has proven to be one of the most versatile, unpredictable and unique artists around. From polished and poppy (Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea), to lo-fi (Uh Huh Her), to raw, intimate and devastating (White Chalk), along with an amazing ongoing collaboration with John Parish. So we had no idea which side of PJ Harvey would emerge on this long awaited new full length, and that's actually now part of the fun when anticipating a new record from her. There is no question it will be great, it's just a matter of what shape of great it will be.
Let England Shake is a song cycle about England that takes its cues from battle hymns and as always Harvey's lyrics are both cryptic and complex, without being overbearing. Alongside her longtime collaborators Flood, Mick Harvey and again John Parish, this is a record that sounds like it was made by a proper band, unlike the ultra personal presentation of White Chalk. But just like everything PJ Harvey has released over the years, its an album that reveals its intimacy and emotion upon repeated listens, an album that is already getting under our skin in the best of ways.
MPEG Stream: "Let England Shake"
MPEG Stream: "The Glorious Land"
MPEG Stream: "In The Dark Places"

HARVEY, PJ Rid Of Me (Island) cd 11.98

HARVEY, PJ Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea (Island) cd 16.98
PJ Harvey's highly anticipated new album marks somewhat of a change in her trademark intense style of rock music. Here she softens her edges; there's less growl and abrasive angst... yet in a way it's still her most rockin' record since 1993's Albini-produced "Rid of Me". She's really SINGING on "Stories...", her signature wailing sounding like a more loquacious Chrissie Hynde, like Courtney Love without the snideness, like Patti Smith without the doomsaying. The instrumental accompaniment is pleasantly tight and heavy. Bad Seeds veteran Mick Harvey supplies bass and percussion, PJ Harvey-band veteran Rob Ellis drums, and Radiohead's Thom Yorke guest vocalises on three tracks. It's different, but I like it a lot (not everyone will, though).
RealAudio clip: "Good Fortune"
RealAudio clip: "You Said Something"

HARVEY, PJ The Peel Sessions 1991-2004 (Island) cd 15.98
On the BBC website, there's a John Peel quote "I just want to hear something I haven't heard before". Wonderful words to live by! And few artists truly fit that bill like Ms Polly Jean Harvey. Although she recorded nine Peel Sessions over the years, this collection of eleven songs personally chosen by Ms Harvey revisits just four of them, but damn, they are a potent few! Hearing her singing "Sheela-Na-Gig" is not only a total blast from the past, but it continues to be an inspiration today. Such brutal rawness and emotional grit is so seldom heard in popular music. The volatility of these live recordings reminds us just how fierce an artist she was in the early '90s. And the songs! Oh the songs! This is cathartic, beautiful music that confronts the listener, lifts you up, and shoves you back into your seat. Both moving and arresting. The album closes with a stunning rendition of "You Come Through" the lone nonofficial Peel Session track which was recorded at a tribute concert six weeks after Peel's death.
MPEG Stream: "Sheela-Na-Gig"
MPEG Stream: "You Come Through"

HARVEY, PJ To Bring You My Love (Island) cd 16.98

HARVEY, PJ Uh Huh Her (Universal) cd 15.98
The highly anticipated sixth full length (not including her 1993 4-Track Demos) from Ms Polly Jean features the ever-enigmatic artist not only singing, but also playing all of the instruments except the drums (which spurred Andee to half-jokingly note, "that's because drums are the hardest instrument!"). While that in itself is impressive, it's less admirable when other areas suffer. In the case of Uh Huh Her, it's Harvey's vocal performance and her usually razor-sharp focus that seem oddly not quite 'there'. Yes, she mellowed out long ago, but even when she was in sultry ballad mode there was an undeniable spark to her delivery. While it seems like she was going for raw and back to basics in both production and performance, the results are uncharacteristically dull. She even strangely ventures into what could be described as trilly Ani Difranco-esque territory on the song "Shame" and atonal Kim Gordon-ness on "Who The Fuck?" The stronger moments of Uh Huh Her seem like mere echoes of old P.J., and they come off lackluster and somewhat redundant when held up to her other feverishly passionate albums.
MPEG Stream: "Shame"
MPEG Stream: "You Come Through"

HARVEY, PJ White Chalk (Universal Island) cd 15.98
The mighty chameleon PJ Harvey returns! In a characteristically bold and predictably unpredictable move, her eighth studio album reveals a new, very different persona. When we heard that White Chalk was going to be composed of primarily just her voice accompanied mostly by (her new instrument!) piano. These stark, delicate arrangements are achingly beautiful, immensely moving and unlike anything she's done before. Harvey's newfound voice flitters in a startling higher register, and the effect is precariously brittle and on the brink. Yet, longtime Harvey fans will still recognize the persisting raw nerves and distressed undercurrents of her music. As always, she's a bundle of seeming contradictions -- fragile and strong, pure and tarnished, simple and complex, vulnerable and bold. Awesome.
MPEG Stream: "Grow Grow Grow"
MPEG Stream: "When Under Ether"
MPEG Stream: "The Piano"

HARVEY, PJ White Chalk (Island) lp 17.98
NOW ON VINYL!!! The mighty chameleon PJ Harvey returns! In a characteristically bold and predictably unpredictable move, her eighth studio album reveals a new, very different persona. When we heard that White Chalk was going to be composed of primarily just her voice accompanied mostly by (her new instrument!) piano, we were anticipating (some admittedly with trepidation) a sort of Tori Amos transformation. Our fears were allayed as soon as we hit 'play', but y'know what? We might even predict that there'll be a few converts in the Amos fan club. These stark, delicate arrangements are achingly beautiful, immensely moving and unlike anything she's done before. Harvey's newfound voice flitters in a startling higher register, and the effect is precariously brittle and on the brink. Yet, longtime Harvey fans will still recognize the persisting raw nerves and distressed undercurrents of her music. As always, she's a bundle of seeming contradictions -- fragile and strong, pure and tarnished, simple and complex, vulnerable and bold. Awesome.
MPEG Stream: "Grow Grow Grow"
MPEG Stream: "When Under Ether"
MPEG Stream: "The Piano"

HARVEY, PJ & JOHN PARISH A Woman A Man Walked By (Island) cd 16.98
It almost doesn't seem right to review a PJ Harvey record so soon after it has been released. She makes such rich and emotionally layered albums, which often require repeated listening to truly fall in love with, but then you know you'll spend a lifetime with them.
Her last outing, White Chalk, found her ditching the guitar and using piano as her main instrument, singing in a higher register and creating her most challenging album yet, filled with a haunting sense of devastation and beauty. It's a record that brings tears and stops us in our tracks everytime we hear it.
Pairing up with longtime collaborator John Parish for their second full on co-written album together, A Woman A Man Walked By really works as an album displaying the full spectrum of PJ Harvey's abilities. There are the full on enraged rockers, the delicate eerie serenades, the darkly romantic and sinister ballads, all the sounds Harvey has explored manage to be present at different times during the album, while still working as a complete and linked songsuite, a truly coherent journey from start to finish. Parish's playing is immaculate, laying down an intricate insturmental backdrop that allows Harvey's voice to soar with emotion yet also giving enough nuance so that the songs are able to open up and breathe. While the record has only been out a couple weeks, some of us have managed to already get in practically a lifetime of listens, as it's not left our stereo since it came out. PJ Harvey's work demands that you as a listener invest some time and energy and emotion and goddamn you are paid back tenfold when you do. Totally stunning!
MPEG Stream: "Black Hearted Love"
MPEG Stream: "Leaving California"
MPEG Stream: "Pig Will Not"

HARVIST He Who Rises (God Is Myth) 3"cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is volume two in God Is Myth's 3" cd-r series paying homage to the late great H.P Lovecraft. The first came courtesy of UK experimental black metal outfit Caina, this, the second comes via Appalachian heathen metal horde Harvist. Based, according to the label website, on awakening/conjuring of the "Outer Gods": Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath and Cthulhu (who is actually one of the Great Old Ones, according to our resident Lovecraft Mythos expert Allan). So what does that sound like? Well for Harvist, that sounds like relentlessly pounding black buzz, thick washes of overblown guitars, chugging downtuned riffs, killer blast beats and some seriously anguished howls. Also plenty of grunts and "uuuh"s. Wrest from Leviathan might call this "goat metal", but it's fast and black and furious, heavy and epic.
The first two tracks a straight ahead grim frosty old skool black metal. Raw and brutal. The third track adds keyboards and tolling bells, and is more melodic and moody, but it's track 4 that pushes this over the edge, an 'actual' Chaos Magic Ritual dedicated to the awakening of the essence of Cthulhu!! Lots of ambient sound, what could be surf (but also sounds like cars driving by), whispering wind, massive rumbling drones and of course, creepy processed vocals, reciting the unholy incantation to summon the mighty Cthulhu! Pretty weird. But the perfect tribute to the genius and legacy of Lovecraft.
Awesome cover painting of Cthulhu, and each disc includes an insert with information on Lovecraft as well as a killer creepy portrait.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. We only got 15 and it's already out of print from the label so once these are gone we will not be able to get more.
MPEG Stream: "He Who Rises From The Deep"
MPEG Stream: "Rites Of The Outer Gods"

HARWOOD, CHRIS Nice To Meet Miss Christine (Finders Keepers) cd 21.00
The latest Finders-Keepers release is no doubt a curiosity. While we loved all the previous releases, from the symphonic-psych of Jean-Claude Vannier to Stanley Myers' Sitting Target soundtrack, this reissue of vocalist Chris Harwood's sole album from 1970 (including 4 unreleased tracks) is not as easy to love. She -is- backed by an awesome band, which includes members of Yes, King Crimson, The Strawbs, Spencer Davis Group and Rainbow, but working through Prog-y jazz breaks, pomp rock and early fusion, it's clear the band is the selling point, as Harwood's vocal ability is not as strong a match. She sounds like Julie Driscoll when it works, and Christine McVie or Linda McCartney when it doesn't. Meet Miss Christine does have some strong songs, which we could definitely see included on some Andy Votel mix or something, but as a full record it doesn't entirely satisfy. On the other hand, we know that lots of folks, collectors and DJs and so forth, are sure to be thrilled that this got a nice Finders Keepers reissue, and maybe more of this album will start clicking with us eventually too.
MPEG Stream: "Hear What I Have to Say"
MPEG Stream: "Never Knew What Love Was"
MPEG Stream: "When I Come Home"

HARWOOD, CHRIS Nice To Meet Miss Christine (Akarma) cd 16.98

HASEGAWA-SHIZUO Gene Packs (PSF) cd 22.00
Here's some Japanese avant-garde drone improv on the PSF label. This duo (Hirotomo Hasegawa and Shizu Uchida, the latter a former member of Nijimu with Keiji Haino) utilize bass and vocals alongside a couple traditional Japanese instruments, the single string koto and the double-reed wind instrument called the "hichiriki". They're also both credited with what the liner notes call "roop", which we're guessing might actually supposed to say "loop", a reference to electronic looping n' effects. It's a very abstract soundworld they create with these tools for sure, as the unedited live performance from Tokyo's U.F.O. Club in June 2005 documented on this disc demonstrates. The first two of the three tracks here are the shortest (9:43 and 5:33 in length respectively) and are full of eerie, squeaky spaciousness... quiet high end squeals and cries and lots of silence. Music for the more "onkyo" inclined. But when the lengthy (27:36) third track kicks in, a lot more dense textures are added to Hasegawa-Shizuo's sonic brew, and this is what fans of organic psychedelic drone-out stuff should tune in for.
MPEG Stream: "Rot And Comfort"
MPEG Stream: "Adios"

HASEGAWA-SHIZUO Lift (Utech) cd 14.98
New on Utech! Mysterious, presumably improvised raw drone ritual from this Japanese duo, who have a least a couple previous releases on the PSF and Tiliqua labels. Actually, the fine print found on the inside of the oversized sleeve says "this recording is the result of unedited improvisation", so there you go. What instruments were used, if any, it doesn't disclose, though... anything from sticks and pebbles to guitars and electronic synths, we'd guess. There's only one track on this disc, 43 minutes in length. It starts off in near-silence, for the first ten minutes or so it seems like maybe nothing's really going to happen, perhaps all Hirotomo Hasegawa and Uchida Shizuo are going to just do is some sparse clicking and tapping, and then they'll quietly sneak off and leave you sitting there with headphones on, 15 bucks poorer. But never fear, that's the warm up, getting the listener in the appropriately meditative mindset, calm and attentive and expectant, for hushed wavering drones to eventually well up and imbue the disc (and listener) with haunting vibrations. Drone, clink, rustle... it's abstract & atmospheric, staying pretty quiet, except for when a buzzing airplane engine sort of drone comes in, and out... There's much dark, stark rumble, close-mic'd clatter, sudden echoing events in eerie emptiness. It's well worth letting yourself drift into the microscopic mystery of Hasegawa-Shizuo's intimate improv soundscapery, especially if you have an affinity for the more experimental side of Keiji Haino, say, and also "onkyo" music, as this seems a bit like a blend of both.
And as it turns out, according Utech's website, the Shizuo half of this duo was in fact "a long-term member of Haino's Nijiumu medieval dream-drone unit", while Hasegawa, for his part, previously "was the lead singer of seminal early eighties Japanese punk/hardcore group Aburadako (Greasy Octopus)". Well, dunno about the latter, this seems quite far from any hardcore Greasy Octopus punk, but the Nijiumu connection makes sense! Ltd. to 500 copies by the way...
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 2"
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 3"

HASEGAWA-SHIZUO Songs Of An Umbilical Cord (Tiliqua) lp 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Album number two from this Japanese improv drone duo, featuring Hirotomo Hasegawa and Shizu Uchida, who weave their wonderfully abstract soundworld from bass, vocals, single string koto and a double-reed wind instrument called the "hichiriki". Much like their debut cd on PSF, record number two is epic and sparse, dark and mysteriously haunting. Two side long tracks, culled from live improvisations with no overdubs, two sides of the record, two sides of this band's split personality.
Side one is a barely there creep through wide open space, space space and more space. Peppered with occasional bits of reedy skronk and low end flutter, these little sonic disturbances drift in a black expanse. The first half of the side in fact is almost nothing. So minimal it requires seriously deep listening to take it in. Soon however the bass surfaces offering a distant abstract drone, that sort of weaves in and out of the audible world, giving the reed and the spare vocals something to orbit, however tenuously.
Side two finds the band in a much more psychedelic Ur-drone state of mind, channeling the spirit of the Taj Mahal Travellers. The sound is still spacious, just not so empty, the skronk toned down to a reedy Eastern melody, sprawled out over a slowly shifting back drop of churning, roiling low end rumble and throb. A living sound like the universe slowly folding in on itself. Reverb wrapped around slow low melodies, all tangled up in the snake charmer sound of the hichiriki, a sound that seems to unfurl as if it might go on forever. So gorgeous.
Vinyl only. LIMITED TO 400 COPIES! We have a handful but will NOT be able to get more. Pressed on nice thick vinyl, packaged in a super thick, gorgeously printed sleeve, with a Japanese style obi!

HASH JAR TEMPO Under Glass (Drunken Fish) cd 13.98
It has been a well documented means of working... getting stoned to make music, that is. Hash Jar Tempo (the collaborative effort between Bardo Pond and Roy Montgomery) implemented the method on their first album to terrible improv/jam results. Under Glass, fortunately, DOES work as they mapped out simple structures before firing up the bong. Sad melodies glide repetitively under glassy walls of feedback. Dude.

HASH JAR TEMPO Well Oiled (Drunken Fish) cd 13.98
Roy Montgomery and Bardo Pond!

HASKELL, JIMMY AND HIS ORCHESTRA Count Down! (EM Records) cd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We listed this a while back, but then discovered that it's now been officially re-released in a much more deluxe version by one of our new favorite labels, Japanese reissue label EM records (who also did the Moolah and the Symphony Of The Birds discs we reviewed recently). This is an absolute all time space-age bachelor pad music kitschy classic for sure. Count Down! -- originally released in 1959 -- is a rock and roll visit to outerspace. Take your standard 1950's boogie woogie, throw a ton of echo, reverb, theremin and other strange sounds at it and you have Jimmie Haskell. Pre-dating Joe Meek's I Hear A New World by just one year, it's hard to believe the two didn't have a late night brainstorming session together. The two share a similar production aesthetic -- double speed vocals, extreme EQ-ing & compression -- and an off-kilter melodic sensibility. Wacky and wonderful!
As with all EM releases, very nicely done with lots of liner notes (unfortunately almost all in Japanese, though) as well as photos, the original artwork, repros of both the front and back covers and loads more!
MPEG Stream: "Weightless Blues"
MPEG Stream: "Rockin' In the Orbit"
MPEG Stream: "We Get Messages"

HASSELVANDER, JOE Road Kill / Lady Killer (Rock Saviour Records) cd 10.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Pentagram man in sleaze metal shocker! Big hair, bullet belt, snakeskin boots. Sometimes (all the time) you just can't beat good ol' skool heavy metal, '80s style! This reissue is just that, authentic underground '80s metal, recorded circa '84 and '86, capturing the party time sleazy rock vibe of the big hair era, but with an extra doom twist, so while arena Ozzy is one influence, Witchfinder General is another. And Pentagram, definitely Pentagram. That's 'cause this Joe Hasselvander fella is best known as the longtime drummer for those American doom metal legends. (His other claim to fame: since the late '80s, he's also been the drummer for NWOBHM stalwarts Raven.) He was a member of Pentagram for years and years (until recently), in particular a crucial member of the band when they were but a duo, he and wizened vocalist Bobby Liebling together creating Pentagram's comeback classics Review Your Choices (1999) and Sub-Basement (2000), Hasselvander playing not only drums but guitar and bass as well on those albums, as well as penning a good portion of the material! (Reissues of which are back in stock this list by the way.)
So, anyone into Pentagram should be curious about the solo material Hasselvander recorded back in the '80s, and your curiosity will be rewarded if you pick up this disc... it rocks! And demonstrates again that he's a talented multi-instrumentalist, metal songwriter, and a pretty decent singer as well.
It's basic, heavy, fun stuff that's stick-in-your-head catchy. Track 4, "Loud Enough", was echoing 'round my brain for days after first spinning this - you know when you start thinking of a song, your humming it without knowing it, but can't figure out what it is? Listening to as much music as we do here at AQ, that happens now and then, and it took a while before I was able to identify the chorus occupying my mind as being from that song, and this disc.
There's 16 tracks total on this disc, consisting of the Lady Killer lp from 1984 and the Roadkill sessions from '86. Plus, there's two bonus tracks. One's a live recording circa 1979 from another Hasselvander band, Overlord. And then another a live track, "The Ghoul", performed by Death Row (aka Pentagram) from 1982, with Bobby L. on vox of course, another reason for Penta-fans to get this.
The Roadkill material comes first on the disc, probably a good thing 'cause it sounds much better - though all of this has raw sound quality, the budget production of Ladykiller material is especially fuzzed and frazzed with distortion, sounding more like a demo than Roadkill does, even though Roadkill was a demo (later issued on vinyl in the late '90s), while Ladykiller was an actual release in '84.
Apparently Lady Killer was originally intended as an exploito-metal project, supposedly to be an all-girl band a la Girlschool. But when the female singer hired for the session failed to show up, Joe had to sing instead, with no prior vocal experience. He also played all instruments except lead guitar. Universally panned upon release, it's got a bit of a cult status now... but the Road Kill material is stronger, Joe's vocals much improved (since he had a chance to practice 'em) consisting of 8 demo tracks, six by Joe and two by former Pentagram guitarist Victor Griffin. Songs from Road Kill like "Back Door Man" and "Under The Gun" seem like they could have been hits... in the '80s anyway. Kinda like early Twisted Sister, early Motley Crue, or early W.A.S.P (with that extra doomy vibe already mentioned). Heavy and hooky, meat and potatoes American metal, nothing too high falutin', but with tons of underground '80s metal atmosphere.
This is packaged with a thick cd booklet full of lyrics, liner notes from Joe, and vintage photos (including an unbelievably wasted lookin' pic of the now-deceased guy who played guitar on Roadkill, Jay Smith). Recommended to all heshers and headbangers!!
MPEG Stream: "Under The Gun"
MPEG Stream: "Loud Enough"
MPEG Stream: "I'm Alright"

HASSLES You've Got Me Hummin (Razor & Tie) cd 15.98
'60s pop-psych reissue of the two albums by these Long Island teenagers best known for having budding songwriting genius Billy Joel in their ranks! Not as over the top as Billy's subsequent proto-metal project Atilla, this still has some of his wild keyboard playing and plenty of charming, trippy tunes.

HASUNUMA, SHUTA OK Bamboo (Western Vinyl) cd 14.98
OK Bamboo begins with lithe melodic movements of piano delicately textured with soft stutter and glitch. Made us envision a milky complected android awaking with an itch to drowsily scratch. Then this android opens her mouth briefly to yawn-murmur-sing a few mysterious words before diving into the green-blue waves to frolic with some remarkably lifelike animatronic sea creatures. Aaaah, maybe you'll trip out to it differently than we did, but we hope you get an inkling of Hasunuma's distinctly Japanese dream-tronica.
MPEG Stream: "OK Bamboo"
MPEG Stream: "Sunny Day In Saginomiya"

HASUNUMA, SHUTA s/t (Western Vinyl) cd 14.98
The musical equivalent of a young leaf drifting along on a slow flowing brook. Shuta Hasunuma's music is as minimal yet richly expressive as a haiku -- stirring a collective "ahhhh" from all within earshot. Each track is composed from tiny fragments of field recordings that he captured in both rural and urban Japanese environments. Meditative. Contemplative. Beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "Green Repair"
MPEG Stream: "Morning Fanfare"

HASWELL, RUSSELL Live Salvage 1997 - 2000 (Mego) cd 18.98
Collected works (live, as the title states) from the man behind OR Records (responsible for a slew of excellent experimental / electronic discs from artists like Zbigniew Karkowski, Francisco Lopez, Farmer's Manual, CD_Slopper, etc.). You might recognize Haswell's name as he's remixed Merzbow (Scumtron) and Thurston Moore (Root) as well as collaborated with the former on a 12" put out a few years ago on Mego (now out-of-print, soon to be reissued by Meme on CD). The Akita connection alone should give you an indication of what Haswell has in store on this album: brutally aggressive laptop harshtronics, huge slabs of noise of the non-digital persuasion with a knowing nod toward Akita-san himself. Nice. Cover photo by Wolfgang Tillmans to go along with an acknowledgment list that's hip as fuck.

HAT The Demise Of Mankind (Antichristian Front / Abyss) cd 14.98
One of the joys of metal records, black metal records in particular, is unravelling the mystery of the logo, because even the most logo savvy among us has stumbled across a label that was just too gnarled to decode. So we were pretty excited by this record, part of the mystery lay in the fact that it was a black logo, on a nearly black background, but the logo itself was also super complex, each letter, a branch spouting hundreds of tiny tendrils, the letterforms mere bulky blurs, only three letters though, so we gave it a try, and seemed to suss it out, but figured it couldn't be right. That's an H, and the next letter looks like an A, and the third and final letter is... a... T? So that spells HAT? This thrashing blackened grim horde spewing this awesome frosty Nordic buzz is called Hat? Then we were imagining a huge corpsepainted creature growling into a microphone "Weeeeeee are calllllled.... HAT". Pretty funny. We're fairly sure Hat must be Norwegian for hate or something similar, and the band probably never thought about the meaning in English, but we can't help but be ticked by a buzzing blast like this being perpetrated by a band called Hat.
Chapeau themed monicker aside, this band is seriously fierce and grim, slipping from total classic old school style Nordic blasting blackness, a la Satyricon, Immortal, Emperor, to more midtempo blackened grooves like Khold. Some of the songs are laced with recordings of clanking chains, trudging footsteps (on the way to the gallows it sounds like), explosions and gunfire, but the music is plenty violent and furious all on its own. The guitar sound is incredible, thick and ultra buzzy, the vocals are sick and harsh and hellish. the drumming simple but powerful, the melodies epic, the song structures not super complex, instead super buzzy and hypnotic. Seriously excellent classic Norwegian blackness, by the grim kvlt horde known simply as... HAT.
MPEG Stream: "Guds Skitne Avkom"
MPEG Stream: "Eternal Damnation Of The Soul"
MPEG Stream: "Schadenfreude"

HATAKEYAMA, CHIHEI Minima Moralia (Kranky) cd 14.98
Japanese laptop jockey Chihei Hatakeyama has flattened the source material of guitar and vibraphone into the tasteful ambient construction found on Minima Moralia, dreamy drones dotted with fizzing digital pixelations. There's none of the attack and rhythm that might pinpoint Hatakeyama's source material; instead he produces warm, dreamy drifts of ringing tones and velvety buzzings that locate the album in the realm of Eno's ambience (in terms of composition) and Kompakt's beloved Pop Ambient series (in terms of warmth via use of analogue / digital dialoguing). Very pleasant listening.
MPEG Stream: "Bonfire On The Field"
MPEG Stream: "Starlight Reflecting On The Surface Of The River"

HATCHA & BENGA 10 Tons Heavy (Planet Mu) 12" 9.98

HATCHA & KROMESTAR 3000 (Aphex Recordings) 12" 11.98

HATCHA VS. KROMESTAR Brothers Grim (Eight FX) 2x12" 24.00

HATCHET Awaiting Evil (Metal Blade) cd 13.98
The current retro thrash renaissance of course has its practitioners here in the Bay Area. Of course, 'cause the Bay Area in the '80s was thrash ground zero what with Metallica and Exodus and Heathen and all, and, well, history repeats itself. The North Bay young 'uns known as Hatchet are up for riding the retro thrash rocket as high as they can go (so far, getting signed to iconic label Metal Blade on the strength of the tracks they'd posted to their MySpace page!).
With mile-a-minute neck wrecking riffage, blasting battery, and snarling, sometimes screeching vox (spitting lyrics about angels of death and marching dead and stuff like that), Hatchet sure sound like the real deal, no (pardon the pun) hack job. Dunno how they would have fared vs. the Big Four back in the day, but amidst the legions of retro thrashers popping up left and right in the metal underground right now they more than hold their own. A rapid fire mix of technicality, melody, attitude, and horror-flick fun.
Nostalgic good times all right, nothing more, nothing less, but cooler in our book than boring death metal band number 71,523 that until recently was standard issue in the American underground metal scene. If you want originality, well grab the Slayer and Megadeth and Testament albums that Hatchet so obviously grew up on...
MPEG Stream: "Frozen Hell"
MPEG Stream: "Frailty Of The Flesh"

HATE FOREST Battlefields (Supernal Music) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

HATE FOREST Battlefields (Supernal Music) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "With Fire And Iron"
MPEG Stream: "Our Fading Horizons"

HATE FOREST Nietzscheism (Supernal Music) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not sure how it happened, but somehow we've never reviewed any Hate Forest records. Which is surprising since all of the AQ metalheads LOVE Hate Forest. How could we not? They hail from a pretty amazing Ukrainian metal scene, and feature members from a bunch of other bands we dig: Drudkh, Dark Ages, Astrofaes, Nokturnal Mortum. Got your attention now do we?! The sad thing is as of recently Hate Forest have decided to call it a day. Some of the HF folks have a new band called Blood Of Kingu which we'll of course track down as soon as it's out, but just because the band is gone, are any of their records any less amazing.
We'll try to list all of them eventually, but we'll start with Nietzscheism, which is kind of a greatest hits, a collection of 7"s, compiling material from Resistance (2004), Darkness (2000), Blood And Fire (2001) and Ritual (2001).
The disc starts off unexpectedly with a Carl Orff piece that had Kerry feeling like she just had her heart torn out in some Indiana Jones movie, which we imagine was probably the intended effect. An epic, majestic, super dramatic intro to a song cycle that is all of those things, albeit much much blacker!
Fans of Drudkh and Nokturnal Mortum will have some idea of what to expect from these Ukrainian black metal warriors, a relentless and furious blackened attack, a buzzing blackness rife with incredible riffs, simple blasting beats, deep growled demonic vocals, a weird blend of black shriek and death gurgle, all violently tangled up into a pummeling, crushing black metal majesty. There are brief stretches of midtempo Burzumic buzz, loping sea sick rhythms and mournful melodies, amidst the grim black brutality, and there's even a track that hints at the weirdness Nokturnal Mortum would later turn into entire records, simple martial percussion, sounds of the forest, crickets, owls, crackling fire, whispering wind, creepy affected spoken vocals, but those moments are merely brief respites, glimmers of false hope, single rays of light amidst a sky of roiling stormclouds, fleeting glimpses of dronelike buzz between huge swaths of hateful Satanic black brutality. So fucking awesome!!!
MPEG Stream: "Annihilation"
MPEG Stream: "The Wood Brothers"

HATE FOREST Purity (Supernal Music) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We realized a list or two back, that we had somehow managed to make it to list 200-and-something without ever listing any records by Ukrainian black metal horde Hate Forest. Which obviously needed to be rectified since pretty much all the metal inclined folks we know LOVE Hate Forest. So we listed Nietzscheism, a sort of greatest hits, with the intention of digging in to their catalog, and giving all the AQ list metalheads a chance to pick up some of these amazing discs.
So here we have Purity, recorded back in 2002, another perfectly frosty, relentlessly buzzing slab of intense and furious black metal. Just like all of their other records, the sound of Hate Forest here is not fancy or fucked or convoluted or complex, just simple, ultra aggressive, ultra fast, grim and chilly, the perfect sonic representation of the snow cloaked Ukrainian forest. A blast of blurry black metal that over the course of the album spreads out into a thick black drone, a bleak mesmerizing whir, thick with buried melodies and growled demonic howls. A thick squirming blackness that swallows you whole and leaves you shivering and alone, praying for death, as the oppressive black hole heaviness crushes you into the frozen ground.
MPEG Stream: "Domination"
MPEG Stream: "Elder Race"

HATE FOREST Scythia (Supernal Music) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "Scythia"
MPEG Stream: "Shining Abyss"

HATE FOREST Sorrow (Supernal Music) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We realized a list or two back, that we had somehow managed to make it to list 200-and-something without ever listing any records by Ukrainian black metal horde Hate Forest. Which obviously needed to be rectified since pretty much all the metal inclined folks we know LOVE Hate Forest. So we listed Nietzscheism, a sort of greatest hits, with the intention of digging in to their catalog, and giving all the AQ list metalheads a chance to pick up some of these amazing discs.
So here we have Sorrow, Hate Forest's most recent and final full length, and besides being a seriously dense and buzz drenched slab of blackness, it has one of the most amazing covers ever, a barren mountainside covered in leafless dead trees, the sort of photo you can stare at and get lost in, which is exactly the sort of black web these guys weave.
Sharing members with Drudkh, Dark Ages, Astrofaes, Nokturnal Mortum and probably every black metal band in the Ukraine, the now defunct Hate Forest offered up a relentless buzzsaw blast of white hot lightning fast black metal, blast beats all over the place, a near static wall of fuzz, riffs so serpentine and furiously fast, they almost become a solid black buzz. Melodies surface here and there but only briefly, quickly swallowed up by the churning downtuned whirl of whirring furious brutality.
Nothing subtle, or even that weird, no intricate tempos or convoluted song structures, this is pure cult grim blackness, a million miles an hour, a buzzing black bullet aimed straight for the depths of hell. So fast and relentless, that it becomes so hypnotic and dronelike that you almost can't help but drift into a glorious black dreamstate. Awesome.
Includes a big booklet with more breathtaking photos of snow covered mountains, rushing rivers, forests and fjords.
MPEG Stream: "Cold Of The Grave"
MPEG Stream: "Fullmoon"

HATE FOREST The Most Ancient Ones (Supernal Music) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "To The Thickets And Swamps"
MPEG Stream: "The Most Ancient Ones"

HATEBEAK / LONGMONT POTION CASTLE split (Reptilian) 7" 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Managed to get a few more of these back in (random copies on "birdshit" colored vinyl (a sort of swirly grey)!!
It had to happen. And of course, the minute we heard that it actually had happened, we knew we had to have it. A death metal band... with a PARROT on lead vocals!!! How completely and stupidly brilliant! We love it! And so will you. The music is furious and blasting death metal, grinding riffs, pounding drums and crushing bass. Only, the usual cookie monster grunts are replaced by the evil squawks of Waldo the parrot. And Waldo does a pretty decent job, offering lots of unintelligable grunts and growls and other birdlike vocalisations. Our pal Brian at WFMU tried to get Hatebeak to perform on his show, but apparently Waldo can't really handle loud sounds (death metal included) and records his 'vocals' separately, so Hatebeak will sadly remain a studio only project. The artwork is pretty inspired as well. They appropriate Judas Priest's Screaming For Vengeance metallic bird cover, change Hatebreed's logo just a litle bit (and include a little bird-hatching-from-an-egg graphic) and title their side of the split Beak Of Putrefaction (a play on Carcass' Reek Of Putrefaction). Awesome! And there's a rumoured upcoming split with a band called Caninus fronted by a dog! We kid you not.
The other side of the split comes courtesy of AQ fave crank calling phenom Longmont Potion Castle, who instead of his usual phone prank schtick, offers up two "metal interludes", all instrumental blasts of blazing noodly metal! The perfect compliment to Hatebeak. And he's also sampled at the beginning of the Hatebeak side. Maybe the best split 7" of all time although the more recent Hatebeak / Caninus split might definitely give this a run for its money!

HATEFUL ABANDON Famine (Or Into The Bellies Of Worms) (Todestrieb) cd 14.98
What a difference a name makes, oh ok, and an extra member. The UK's Abandon, formerly a tortured suicidal black metal one man outfit, has changed their name to Hateful Abandon, added a fella called Swine to the lineup, and the result is really strange and unexpected.
Abandon, before the name change, trafficked in a super harsh and hateful black metal along the lines of Xasthur or Leviathan, buzzing riffs, deep depressive blackness, laced with hysterical shrieking vocals. But on Famine, gone is ALL of the buzz, and much of the vocal hysteria, in its place, something equally depressive, but sonically completely removed from the black metal of its former incarnation. The sound here is all clean guitars and simple loping drums, deep moody basslines, more gloom and goth than blast and buzz. Joy Division is the obvious reference. The occasional blackened shriek being the only reminder that this band was once grim and harsh. But hell, c'mon, the sound doesn't need to be grim and harsh for the vibe to be. and the vibe here is definitely grim and bleak, and sorrowful and depressive. Much like the recently reviewed Frail cassette, that matched up black metal vox with Cure-ish eighties new wave, Hateful Abandon subtly infuse a bit of blackness into what would otherwise be just a slab of gloomy miserablist gothic slowcore. Which would be fine with us of course, but the mix is pretty bizarre, and the result is pretty excellent. Guitars chime and ring out, melodies unfurl lugubriously, the bass is serpentine and soporific, the drums more keeping time than driving the songs, the vocals, lazily drawled, from soft sad boy croon, to deep gothy bellow, to demonic shriek, often in the same song, but the shrieking is in fact kept to a minimum, relying much more on the gloomier less harsh vocals, which definitely makes this something dark and brooding and moody and melancholic, not even remotely heavy, which means this is only for truly adventurous and open minded metalheads, or for the rest of you, who like it dark and creepy and haunting and hypnotic, and might not mind the occasional hellish howl with your doomy dreary dirges...
MPEG Stream: "Rats Whisper Murder"
MPEG Stream: "Diamond Spine"

HATEFUL ABANDON Move (Todestrieb) cd 14.98
Record number two from this hateful harsh suicidal black metal band turned dark gothy gloom wave outfit, and the band continue to shed the black vestiges of their past incarnation, moving ever toward a more purely darkwave pop sound, and like on their debut, Famine (Or Into The Bellies Of Worms), the sound here is all warm muted buzz, propulsive drum pound, low slung slithery basslines, all woven into a droned out darkly psychedelic chunk of sweet sonic miserablism, the vocals this time a bit more strident in places, and powerful, making this sound more like Killing Joke than anything. Although the deep dramatic croon from the first record remains, and seems to be again channeling Andrew Eldridge from Sisters Of Mercy. There are also long droned out tones, that sound like horns, but could be guitars or synths, the effect is the same, adding a sort of mournful funeral quality, which is balanced by the chiming melodies, and the almost Cure-like songcraft, although it's more like Cure filtered through Circle, as the tracks have a looped krautrock like mesmer to them, hypnotic and trancelike.
Some of the tracks are peppered with weird squelchy synths and electronics, adding a weird spaciness to the proceedings, but for the most part, the sound here is a dark, driving minimal gloom pop, with the guitars occasionally slipping into an almost metallic chug, but tending more toward the angular crunch of echo drenched jangle, there are samples too, but really with music like this, it's all abut the bass and drums, that sort of Joy Division foundation that's in full effect here, and is dark and driving and dreamily depressive, mournful and melancholic, Hateful Abandon like the darker grittier version of Nuit Noire gloom pop offshoot Soror Dolorosa, and really anyone who dug that (did anyone not?) will love this too!
Released on the always kick ass UK label Todestrieb.
MPEG Stream: "The Way It Ends"
MPEG Stream: "Human Clockwork"
MPEG Stream: "The Lost"

HATER The 2nd (Burn Burn Burn) cd 11.98

HATEWAVE s/t (tUMULt) cd 11.98
The latest in killing technology from our very own Andee's tUMULt label! This is the first (and last) release from Chicago's metal mercenaries Hatewave. Completely crushing math/speed/avant/noise/metal/grind.
Hatewave's musical bloodbath is equal parts death metal, free jazz, grindcore, no-wave and pure noise. Furiously brutal, two guitar and drums (no bass!) attack, whirling riffs, bursts of white noise, calculus-style time changes, frantic blast beats, and a barely-under-the-surface free-jazz obsession all coalesce into some of the most insane, lightning speed, technical black metal/grind bombast ever. Featuring ex-Chicago / current SF scene fixture and metal/jazz obsessive, drummer Weasel Walter (Flying Luttenbachers, Lake of Dracula, To Live and Shave in L.A.). Originally this was a limited LP-only release -- this cd version adds 3 bonus tracks from their 1997 demo! The LP (and at the time, soon to be released cd) was banned by some squeamish distributors for its somewhat gory cover art and controversial lyrics, all of which are still present in their throat hacked, head smashed, blood soaked glory!
MPEG Stream: "Desire To Kill"
MPEG Stream: "Slit the Catholic Throat"
MPEG Stream: "Bleed for Me"

HATEWAVE s/t (Up Jumps The Devil) lp 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
First release from this Chicago powerhouse. Ten songs of insane math/speed/avant/noise/metal/grind. Whirling riffs collide with obtuse time changes, shrieking howls are obliterated by careening blast beats, ultra precise rhythms disintegrate into waves of entropic dissonance. Featuring Chicago scene fixture Weasel Walter on the drums (Lake of Dracula, Flying Luttenbachers, etc.). Overtly disturbing gore photos and a non gory but equally disturbing band photo complete the very "underground metal" packaging scheme of this cult vinyl-only release.

HATEWAVE Sexual Healing 2 (Apop) cd 12.98
Before Hatewave became a grinding mathy metal juggernaut (with a killer record on tUMULt), they were, well, THIS. Something much more fucked up and damaged. Retarded and demented. Still sort of metal, but way more lo-fi and noisy, splattery confusional and bizarre.
Before Weasel Walter was in the band, they were fronted by the mysterious and brilliantly demented Nondor Nevai. As the liner notes to this archival release so eloquently state: "Fuck metal." And indeed, most metalheads, even ones who dug the twisted blackmathgrind of the tUMULt recording, will find this stuff too tweaked and twisted.
The guitars are muddy smears, not so much riffing as spewing gouts of buzz and fuzz, gnarled melodies and sheets of lo-fi crumbling distortion, the drums, if they are real drums, are an avalanche of thuds, of splattery skittery chaos, the vocals howled and moaned and shrieked, this is some seriously fucked up stuff.
Probably the closest comparison would be Faxed Head. In fact, twice when we were listening to this, people came up and asked us if it was Faxed Head. But even compared to Faxed Head this stuff is grimier, more mental, a sick onslaught of furious relentless pound and grind and grunt and stumble and what-the-fuck.
Definitely might be too much for all but the strangest and most adventurous metalheads, but noiseniks and grind freaks and anyone into utter aural insanity should just go ahead and dig in.
Also be warned: super gnarly, somewhat problematic cover art, inside and out, nudity, blood, violation, and some awesomely shitty layout!
Recommended, but only for the sick, chosen few.
MPEG Stream: "Hate Your Guts"
MPEG Stream: "I Need You (My Vodun Goat)"
MPEG Stream: "Shitlist"

HATFIELD, JULIANA Made In China (Ye Olde Records) cd 15.98
Both in her band the Blake Babies and as a solo artist, Juliana Hatfield's always had a bit of raunch in her girlishness, but on her latest full length she takes on a considerably harder, grittier rock sound with a few bluesy moments. Made In China offers up heavy chunks of electric guitars, noodly solos, distorted vocal effects. Nonetheless she still sounds like a perennial petulant teen.
MPEG Stream: "New Waif"
MPEG Stream: "Going Blonde"

HATRED s/t (Ultra Eczema) lp 25.00
Hatred is another Wolf Eyes side project, this time, it's Nate Young of Wolf Eyes along with his special lady Alivia Zyvich, and if this record is any indication, the Young/Zyvich household must be one
The disc begins with what sounds like some ultra lo-fi Ryoji Ikeda style minimalism, with piercing high end tones and barely audible low end pulses, all woven into mysterious minimal harmonies and slowly shifting microscopic textures, before launching into a dense loopscape of what sounds like snatches of other songs, short sharp samples, chopped and sped up, distorted and bathed in effects, transformed into a glitchy hiccuping hiss-scape peppered with little bursts of sizzling percussion. But most of the record is taken up by a looooooong burbling swampy low end smear of sound, extended stretches of squelchy keyboard electronic grit and looped fuzz, with haunting distant bells shimmering way in the background. It sounds a bit like Italian creep-prog outfit Goblin being held underwater in the bathtub, or a super damaged noise rock record on Kompakt. Awesome.
Packaged in a MASSIVE fold out, thick paper poster, the outside adorned with black and orange monster faces, snarling and grimacing in a field of sloppy cross hatching and chicken scratch, inside, and eyeball melting monster head rendered in that sort of 3D without the glasses green and red, that moves every time you look at it and makes your eyes ACHE!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!! Already out of print and sold out at the label so these are the last copies ever...