ILLA J Yancey Boys (Delicious Vinyl) cd 15.98
The death of his older brother J Dilla, had a huge impact on Illa J. In fact it was what made him grab a mic and become a hip-hop artist. After J Dilla's sad passing, his little brother dropped out of college and began a mission to continue his brother's musical legacy. While J Dilla was all about production and beats, Illa J was attracted to the microphone and had his heart set on becoming an MC. Smartly he went right to the source and used some of his brother's unused early productions as the musical bed over which he raps and sings. At its best this is some melty smooth and satisfying hip-hop, but there are some serious misfires as well. While we still think Illa J has yet to totally find his voice there is still plenty of promise to be found here.
MPEG Stream: "Timeless"
MPEG Stream: "Showtime"

ILLUMINATI CDEP1 (Planet Sounds) cd 8.98
More fringe electronica from the UK. Seems to be quite a healthy electronic music scene over there. How come we only hear from Scanner and Spooky and Pita and Fennesz ad infinitum when there's so much more to draw from? Guess these guys (like AQ faves Fflint central) aren't quite cool enough for the Wire or Ars Electronica. Hardly matters. This stuff is so good it's only a matter of time before Mego has to actually work to put out good records instead of just recycling the same crap over and over. From sputtering, spasming electronic free for alls to earpiercing and ribcage rattling rumbles and squeals to brutal headphone-shredding digital skree to overloading-sampler-malfunction rhythmic crunch, this stuff is fierce and intense and right on. My favorite track though is the oddball track two, a dreamy wash of moody reverbed guitars and skittering hard-panned squelches and squiggles, sounding a bit like Boards Of Canada on horse tranquilizers. Nice.
RealAudio clip: "Winter.Fire"
RealAudio clip: "Argenteum.Astrum"

ILLUMINATI CDEP2 (Planet Sounds) cd-r 8.98
Installment number two from this mysterious UK electronic outfit, who as we have stated before) is part of the underground electronic scene that no one seems to be taking notice of. EP2 takes up where EP1 left off, pulsing buzzing hiss over squealing instruments and distant melodies, pounding video game big beats over buzzes and bleeps and blips, creepy rumbly ambience, spacey drones and hypnotic pulses, and a super spare 10 minute final track of minimal blips and clicks, pulses and whirrs that are occasionally overtaken by insectoid buzz and gorgeous minor key synth washes.
RealAudio clip: "Midget Germs"
RealAudio clip: "Argenteum Atavism"

ILLUMINATI Ocean Almanac (Lotta Continua) cd 9.98

ILLUSION OF SAFETY Historical (Staalplaat) cd 15.98
While this album came out way back in the early 90's, Illusion Of Safety's "Historical" is a great album to see what a 19 year-old kid from Chicago named Jim O'Rourke did to keep himself busy. At the time of this recording the revolving door membership of Illusion Of Safety also included Dan Burke (the mainstay for IOS) and Thymme Jones (later of You Fantastic, Brise Glace, and a handful of other Chicago no-wave revivalist groups). "Historical" opens and closes with blasts of industrial strength plunderphonics, recontextualizing Public Enemy, Simm City, Slayer, and big band horn blasts into synthetic rhythms. But the reason to get the album is for the 45 minutes or so of dark harsh droning reminiscent of the best work of John Duncan. Go ahead I dare you to buy it to play right after Jim O'Rourke's "Eureka".

ILLUSION OF SAFETY In Opposition To Our Acceleration (Die Stadt) cd 17.98
Back in the early '90s, a 19 year old kid made his first mark upon music as "the guitarist from Illusion Of Safety." That kid then went on to produce a couple of interesting records amongst his huge catalogue of sonic eccentricities, always seeming to be in the right place at the right time. It's unfortunate that Jim O'Rourke (the kid in question) would become the darling of the alt.rock and electronica circuits, while most of his fans would slight Illusion Of Safety as a second rate Industrial act. While the comparison between O'Rourke's pop-dork persona and Illusion Of Safety's explorations into sonic phenomonology is like apples and oranges, the overall quality of this Illusion of Safety album is completely superior to O'Rourke's adequate Mego album and to his dreadful "Insignificant." As this comparison may be falling apart while I write this, I'll end on the note that a bad orange will always suck next to a good apple!
Anyway, Dan Burke founded Illusion of Safety in the mid '80s as a schizophrenic continuation of Industrial Culture as a theatrical means of exposing the cracks within culture and human nature. It is true that a good number of the early Illusion Of Safety albums haven't aged all that well (including a number that O'Rourke worked on!); but Burke and his rotating core of collaborators certainly learned what worked (manipulated field recordings and disturbed ambience) and what didn't (grim media sound bites and hamfisted electro-shock rhythms). "In Opposition To Our Acceleration" finds a matured Illusion Of Safety deftly constructing psycholological tense atmospheres from amplified electrical currents, found sounds, microtonal guitar pluckery, and unnerving drones. The pinnacle of the album occurs during a collage from the chinese water torture of a very slow leak dripping into a bucket, alongside a distant choral chant and some nervous sustained tones. A few of the tracks do vector off into the MAX / MSP territory of timestretching samples and glitch fragmentation, but fits nicely into the textural potency of the album as a whole. Along with "Cancer" and "Probe", "In Opposition To Our Acceleration" is one of the best Illusion Of Safety albums.
RealAudio clip: "Stillpoint"
RealAudio clip: "2.15.96 Live In Evanston, WNUR"
RealAudio clip: "4.26.01 Live In Hamburg"

ILLUSION OF SAFETY In Session (Waystyx) cd 17.98
The first proper record from Illusion Of Safety in well over 5 years emerges from the Russian label Waystyx, meaning that this will not be around for long and will not be easy for us to track down once these are gone. Just a caveat before we launch into the, um, virtues of this exercise in muscular electronics and brainmelting dronescaping. Illusion Of Safety began well over two decades ago, firmly embracing the death factory imagery and psychological tension that came through the work of Throbbing Gristle, John Duncan, and The Hafler Trio. While the grizzly subjects of torture and sexual violence have dissolved over time, Illusion Of Safety's interest in unsettled soundscapes, collages, and electronic walls of noise remain as powerful as ever. Illusion Of Safety has always been a revolving door project centered around Chicago's Dan Burke; and In Session finds Burke alone at the helms of Illusion Of Safety, concocting a dizzying series of arcing electroshock compositions filled with intense dynamics and rapid crescendos of incremental noise quickly nosediving into subharmonic tones and microtonal squiggles, with plenty of slow building elements in between. The piercing drones that dominate the Illusion Of Safety palette are matched with crumbled textures from electronic circuits on the verge of collapse (see Wolf Eyes, Carlos Giffoni) and contact microphone agitation (see Tarab, Eric La Casa, Loren Chasse, etc.). There's one track of grim psychedelic arpeggiations which sounds as if Prurient were attempting a Terry Riley piece, with bad intentions running through the phase shifting loops. Totally fantastic, if not totally disquieting!
MPEG Stream: "Revealing The Process"
MPEG Stream: "Waiting Room"
MPEG Stream: "Fragile"

ILLUSION OF SAFETY More Violence and Geography (Die Stadt) cd 14.98
With nothing to go on but my memory, I remember there being an interview with Illusion of Safety in a 1989 or 1990 Option magazine in which IOS frontman Dan Burke admitted that his fanboy infatuation with Throbbing Gristle (especially seeing them play live in 1981) was the catalyst to begin Illusion of Safety. After a number of cassette only releases, Illusion Of Safety's first LP was "More Violence and Geography" released originally on Burke's Complacency Records in 1988 in conjunction with RRRecords. While I've not heard the album until now, the references to Throbbing Gristle still hold true and may actually serve the band better due to an increasing historical awareness of the continuum of Industrial music. Considering that 'Industrial' music in 1988 meant Ministry, Front 242, and Skinny Puppy, Illusion of Safety's revisitation to TG's snarling noise, wicked humor, and predilection of morbid theme was relatively novel. With smatterings of militant drum machine stomps, dissonant dive-bomb guitar noise, scraping metal, and media cut-ups revealing disturbing narratives about political torture, mass murders, insanity, and other socially deviant themes, Illusion of Safety crafted an unnerving album firmly planted in the traditions of the Industrial pioneers (TG, SPK, Monte Cazzaza, etc.). Jim O'Rourke trainspotters should take heed, although he was a member of IOS, as he wasn't at the time of the recording of "More Violence and Geography," whose line up included Burke, Mark Klein, Mark Sorensen, Mitch Enderle, and Chris Block.
RealAudio clip: "Dead Girl And The Man"
RealAudio clip: "Fade-n-die"

ILLUSION OF SAFETY Odds (self-released) cd-r 12.98
A very rare document indeed, but somehow we managed to get a hold a very limited number of this tour-only cd-r originally released back in 2001. This is a collection of unreleased tracks from the seminal post-industrial and horror drone act Illusion Of Safety. The opening number finds IOS figurehead Dan Burke improvising with the violinist Theresa Marin Nakra, as the melancholic sweeps across the strings gets mangled through Burke's electronic synthesis and shortwave static. It ends up sounding like a much looser version of the Machinefabriek / Jasper TX filmic soundscape sound that we love so much. Elsewhere, Burke revisits a track from one of the early IOS cassettes, stretching out the pastoral if plastic ambience of his synthetic strings into a terrifying blur of unsettled distortion and post-Fennesz pixelated drone. Illusion Of Safety offers similar early examples of digital synthesis, including a soundtrack for an art installation of thickly collaged car horns, looking back to the maddening sound design of traffic jams from Jean-Luc Goddard's "Weekend." Limited to 200 copies of which we've got the final few copies.
MPEG Stream: "Live In Lowell"
MPEG Stream: "Paradise (is) Unlivable"

ILLUSION OF SAFETY Sedation & Quell (C.I.P.) 10" 11.98
Just a few weeks ago, we openly wondered where Illusion Of Safety had been for the past few years. Well, it turns out that Dan Burke (the principal director of the ensemble at the moment) has entered a renewed period of activity now that IoS is 25 years old. This milestone has not softened the psychologically dark currents of one of America's finest producers of post-industrial abstraction and silence-plus-noise sound construction. Sedation & Quell is the first of many releases slated for 2008, being a vinyl-only release pressed on translucent gold vinyl.
Sedation bristles with low end frequencies capable of delivering catatonic states. Vinyl crackling and warm swathes of radio hiss billow out of the deep deep deep dronings, and huge oceanic swells of growling frequencies offer a lethargic rhythm to this dark ambient opus. On Quell, a brusque crunch of electronic malfunction is followed by a steady hypnosis of rumbling drones which in turn are engulfed by a wash of hiss and white noise. While it's not the aggressiveness of Prurient or Merzbow that Illusion Of Safety is going for, there is a malevolent strain to this production, as if Machinefabriek were to gingerly steer towards power electronics ever so slightly. Very well done!

ILLUSION OF SAFETY The Need To Now (Experimedia) cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
2008 marks the 25th year for Illusion Of Safety. Once an ensemble of misanthropic electron engineers, Illusion Of Safety has effectively reduced itself down to a single member in Dan Burke who has arrived at the silver anniversary with some of his best work produced throughout the sprawling Illusion Of Safety catalogue. There was the Quell & Sedition 10", the In Session cd, and now this small edition cd-r, all of which are exemplary versions of the Illusion Of Safety signature sound for psychologically challenging compositions. The Need To Now is more of a blackened cosmic headspace music, with all of the psychedelic flourishes that burst out of Klaus Schulze or Expo '70 turned towards something much much darker and much more brooding. There is oblivion in front of you when you are floating alone in outer space, and Burke presents that sublime fiction replete with wonder and horror. For all of the bleak subtext of the album, Burke keeps things very subtle preferring to focus on the minimalist dronesmear ruptured with occasional detours. The shadow and vacuum of Illusion Of Safety's aerosolized drone always has something ominous just outside of earshot, something lurking the corners of those corroded metal tones and already eerie passages of sci-fi incidental music slowed way the hell down. Illusion Of Safety breaks up the long-form drones with tense glitch workouts that could be an extract from a CoH production, with all sorts of misfired squiggles, poorly grounded bursts of electricity, and erratic charged samples; but unsettled ambience overcomes each of these crescendo like a creeping suffocating fog of toxic gas. It's an austere and powerful record, in spite of the many subtle twists and turns. Fucking incredible is what The Need To Now is. Limited to a mere 150 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Temporary Amnesia"
MPEG Stream: "A Purpose"
MPEG Stream: "Remember"

ILLUSION OF SAFETY Time Remaining (Ossonossos) cd 21.00
Illusion Of Safety's Time Remaining was released back in 2003 by the small British imprint Ossonossos. Some five years later, we finally managed to get a hold of some copies; and it remains to be seen, if we'll be able to get more. Now that the scarcity issue has been broached, we must now regale you with the virtues and vices of this record. Illusion Of Safety is the post-industrial project centered around Dan Burke, who has often recruited some fellow Chicagoan misanthropes and avant-garde technophiles to propagate his soundscapes which parallel those of the Hafler Trio, John Duncan, Stilluppsteypa, and Lustmord. There could also be a claim for IOS as a precedent to the fuzzbound digismear of artists like Machinefabriek and Tim Hecker, albeit with Illusion Of Safety producing a much darker, more malevolent body of work.
Time Remaining operates something like a horror soundtrack with a bristling introduction of electo-shock noise, mechanical chugs, and Tesla coil bursts, all tightly wound into a precise collage of bloodcurdling intensity. Illusion Of Safety reprises this electric volatility at the conclusion of the album, that may or may not be an homage to their 1993 album Historical, which essentially used the same strategy. In between these two brackets of pierced sound, Illusion Of Safety fabricates equally dark, but far more subtle atmospheres of shadowy hiss, blurry drone, and fluttered recordings of urban decay. Here is actually where Burke's strength really lies, and if David Lynch weren't already so good at sound design, he would want to look to Dan Burke to score his films.
It's a bit unfortunate that we've not stocked more work by Illusion Of Safety, but it's better late than never to get into this exceptional album.
MPEG Stream: "Time Remaining"
MPEG Stream: "Surface Tension"
MPEG Stream: "Squirrel Cage"

ILLUSION OF SAFETY / THOMAS KONER Untitled (Die Stadt) 7" 11.98
Another limited edition split single from Die Stadt, this time featuring Chicago's stalwart post-Industrial ensemble Illusion Of Safety and Germany's dronecore specialist Thomas Koner. Illusion Of Safety takes a confrontationist approach by opening their condensed program with a jarring clatter of fragmented film-noir orchestrations that are roughly broken into a nervous drone. Koner's approach is far more subtle, gently pushing forward a sublime drone and allowing it to fade into silence. Limited to 400 copies.

ILOUS & DECUYPER s/t (Lion) cd 16.98
Lovely lovely lovely. Originally released way back in the magical musical year of 1971, on the French label Flamophone, the sole album by the youthful hippie duo of Bernard Ilous and Patrice Decuyper is just that, lovely. And pretty darn obscure. Amazing how reissue labels like Lion can dig up such things, as good as this elegant piece of psych-tinged, pastoral pop, replete with lush vocal harmonies, careful arrangements, and gorgeous melodies! So who were Ilous & Decuyper? Beatles-fan Ilous was already an accomplished professional composer, with a desire to at last sing his own songs rather than just write for the French pop stars of the day. He teamed up with likeminded folk guitarist Patrice Decuyper, and via a "confrontational" collaborative song-writing process that highlighted the emotional content of their music, this album was created. Doubtless the symphonic, sophisticated sound of Ilous & Decuyper's record wouldn't have been possible, except that luckily they had off-hours access to a big league, 16-track recording studio -- and spent, like, a year making this album, playing almost everything themselves and finding creative ways to do so.
We can't conclude this review without mentioning their amazing cover of "Eleonor [sic] Rigby", a wonderful, almost-hard-to-recognize-but-not-really reinterpretation of that famous Lennon/McCartney tune. Beatles fans Ilous & Decuyper were indeed, though for every part of this album that sounds Beatlesy, there's also parts that sound as much like CSN&Y, or Led Zeppelin, or Ennio Morricone, or the Bee Gees, or some sort of psychedelicized, Francophone variety of "yacht rock"!
As we've come to expect from reissues associated with Lion Productions, not only is this a pretty great, totally obscure treasure, but they've made sure to include copious liner notes and complete lyrics in the thick cd booklet. And there's also two bonus tracks from a post-album single. Quite nice indeed.
MPEG Stream: "Eleonor Rigby"
MPEG Stream: "Cyclothymie"

IMAHORI TSUNEO YOSHIDA TATSUYA Dots (Doubtmusic) cd 16.98
Japan's Ruins are/were a bass and drums prog-spazz duo lead by octopoidal drummer Tatsuya Yoshida. Ruins have been longtime faves 'round here for their manic precision and complex catchiness, kind of a cross between Melt-Banana and Magma, played by a two-piece. Hopefully, you know all about Ruins already. And if you're a fan, then you're reading the right review!
Goddamn, if you thought that Ruins were crazy... believe it or not, Yoshida's latest duo project has upped the ante quite a bit. Teaming with guitarist Imahori Tsueno, and further augmented by computer processing, this takes Yoshida's brand of frenzied prog palpitations into hyperdrive. Considering what we know Yoshida can do live with no overdubs (and even all by himself) it's positively dangerous to allow him and his collaborator to crank up the craziness with technology. Yet the Doubtmusic label has allowed them to do it, twice -- this is their second disc. As you may recall, we already raved about the first one, Territory, last year. This one is equally awesome, if you're at all inclined towards this sort of technical musical mania. It will leave you breathless, staring at your stereo, jaw on floor. There's 17 tracks, ranging from one minute four seconds to eight minutes fifty seconds. All of 'em action packed, constructed through a partially improvised creative process that incorporates malfunctioning video game sounds one nano second, virtuoso jazz fusion licks the next... kecak-like vocal parts, blasting rhythms, heavy guitar rippage. And there's also artificial speed manipulations, pitch shifting, and jump-cut electronic edits -- yeah just when you thought it couldn't get any more dense or intense, it's like they flip a switch and suddenly achieve superhuman levels of prog rock performance (beyond even what the Ruins are known for!).
It's not all speedy spasmodicism, as they also delve into some momentary moody, much calmer atmospherics... always ready to turn a corner into utter ADD insanity, however. While still always retaining a knack for ear-catching riffage, as per the Ruins at their best. And this IS the most Ruins-y thing we've heard in a while!! Of course. Boy this makes us happy.
MPEG Stream: "Quantum"
MPEG Stream: "Expiry"
MPEG Stream: "Gene"

IMAHORI TSUNEO YOSHIDA TATSUYA Territory (Doubtmusic) cd 16.98
Jeepers. Could Tatsuya Yoshida of Japan's Ruins make his music even MORE hyperkinetic and choppy and rapidfire and precise??? I mean, he already holds the undisputed "King of Japanese Crazy Prog Rock Composition" crown doesn't he? Even when performing live just by himself with no overdubs, which we've seen him do, he does more playing/drumming/singing on multiple instruments than a whole concert hall full of Berklee grads, AND his music is as catchy as it is chaotic and complex. So, team him up with another equally amazing/absurd musician, and give 'em both a computer assist and then you've got some serious insanity -- and that's what this is. Yoshida (drums, darbuka, voice, devices) in a "Japanese hyper duet" with Imahori Tsuneo (guitars, devices) who was a founding member in the eighties of experimental prog-fusion outfit Tipographica and currently has a career in the field of anime and PS2 videogame soundtracks. Their collaborative process consisted of "composition and improvisation; and file exchange, overdubbing, and extensive editing on computer." That computer probably blew a few fuses along the way. This Territory disc is sorta like the intense Magmoid prog of Ruins meets the electronic metallic complexities of James Ploktin's Phantomsmasher project. A blender on high stuffed with stabbing shards of guitar, plentiful percussion, video game FX, vocal babble, jazz licks, blissful synths, and even some campfire country ("Autonomy"). Several of the 17 tracks here, while not entirely "calm", are definitely interludes that allow the listener can catch their breath, although in most cases these relaxed moments soon give way to an outburst of frantic action.
Any Ruins fan should be pleased, particularly since there hasn't been a Ruins release in quite a while (we're not even sure if Yoshida's got a bass player for that band anymore, hasn't he been performing as "Ruins Alone"?). Though of course he has been keeping busy with a variety of other collaborations and projects like Acid Mothers Temple SWR, Sekkutusu Jean, Korekyojinn and Koenjihyakkei, and now this excellent piece of work, another new direction for the Ruins style of sound...
By the way, it's also the latest release from doubtmusic (the great, relatively new Japanese label, whose releases we've reviewed already include two crucial Masayuki Takayanagi reissues and several Otomo Yoshihide efforts, among them his Out To Lunch album), chalk another one up for them!
MPEG Stream: "Irritation"
MPEG Stream: "EST"
MPEG Stream: "Ferrichrome"

IMAI KAZUO TRIO Blood (Doubtmusic) cd + dvd 29.00
Maybe not your typical jazz trio, this Japanese group. Not that we'd expect anything typical from the Doubtmusic label. Bandleader Imai Kazuo (of Marginal Consort) plays amplified acoustic guitar, Suzuki Manabu is credited with electronics, and the third member of the trio, Ito Atsuhiro, performs on something called an "optron". As near as we can tell, that unusual instrument is a homebuilt device resembling a florescent tube light fixture. In fact, it IS a florescent light fixture, with some modifications.
Kazuo's "controllable instrument" the guitar handles the orthodox musical content here, playing some lovely, recognizable melodies and jazzy chords, though he switches to sudden atonal outbursts of frantic skronk sometimes too. But it's the other two members of the trio who really bring the noise and nothing but, the "uncontrollable" electronics and optron outputting a varied, often quite cacophonous improvised barrage of buzzings and cracklings and feedback, all fritzed and glitched like malfunctioning mad scientist laboratory equipment! It can be calm, as with their version of avant composer/vocalist Annette Peacock's "Nothing Ever Was, Anyway" that features Imai picking out slow, sparse notes on his guitar amidst near-ambient hum and static from Ito's optron and what sounds a lot like video-arcade machine sounds emulated by Suzuki's electronics.
But at (many) points, this gets pretty intensely dense with distortion and noisiness. Definitely a crossover from straight jazz into full-on, Hijokaidan or Merzbow style Japanese noise territory, as on the totally freaked out title track, another composition by Annette Peacock. These guys are REALLY into Peacock, there's in fact four of her pieces on the cd, alongside tunes originally by Cole Porter, Thelonious Monk, Lee Konitz, Georges Brassens, and even J.S. Bach! The inclusion of several well-known standards serves to make this seem even noisier, yet also more accessible at the same time. For instance, Cole Porter's "So In Love" sounds like you're hearing it via a shortwave radio transmission, with heavy hissing atmospheric interference.
Not surprisingly, it turns out that the 54 year old Imai had been a student of the late great guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi, who pioneered some of the noisiest jazz ever but also performed traditional stuff too. (In the '70s, Imai briefly played with Takayanagi's New Directions Unit - and also the Taj Mahal Travellers and East Bionic Symphonia too!). So if Imai were to "play pretty" it makes sense he would do so in a context such as this.
And, packaged along with the cd in the thick, gatefold miniature LP style sleeve, there's also a 40-minute dvd disc included here too, wherein you can see the optron in action, intermittently blinking brightly in Ito's lap as it makes its strange sounds. In close up shots, it's as if the trio is performing amidst flashes of lightning. The dvd features alternate takes of a couple of the tracks from the cd, as well as three Imai originals and yet another composition by Annette Peacock. As with the cd, this material was recorded live in the GOK Sound studio... some of the tracks in front of a studio audience, all of whom are politely acknowledged by name on the sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "Sarabande"
MPEG Stream: "Blood"
MPEG Stream: "Well You Needn't"

IMBROCO Are You My Lionkiller? (Deep Elm) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Loud... quiet... loud. Aah yes, a style of indie rock that will never never go away. And Imbroco perform it with vigor and ample emoting. A 6-song ep that would make any Get Up Kids or old Superchunk fan bob their head with glee.

IMITATION ELECTRIC PIANO Blow It Up Blow It Down Kick It 'Til It Bleeds (Drag City) cd 14.98
While known most for being the bass player in Stereolab, Simon Johns carries some other plates as well. Including his band Imitation Electric Piano, who follow up their debut full length from a few years back with an album that's quite different then that instrumental affair. This time out he recruited the breezy English folk vocal stylings of Mary Hampton. With her sweet summertime-flowers in her hair delivery it ends up sounding like how you would imagine Stereolab doing Pentangle covers might sound like. Bright and peppy as it rolls in green grass on a shimmering sunny afternoon.
MPEG Stream: "Leave Her Johnny"
MPEG Stream: "Tension"

IMITATION ELECTRIC PIANO s/t (Drag City) cd 10.98
Innocuous instrumental playfulness courtesy of Simon Johns who has released material as Clearspot on Stereolab's label Duophonic (and who is currently the 'Lab's bassist). Sounds exactly as you'd think it would -- bubbly and harmless. Fans of Broadcast may like this, but it's not nearly as good.

IMITATION ELECTRIC PIANO Trinity Neon (Drag City) cd 14.98
... is the band led by Mr. Simon Johns. His musical resume boast the fact that he played bass on Stereolab's Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night album, and there are definite shades of the 'Lab here as well as Aluminum Group and the Sea & Cake. This is some delightfully pretty, smooth post rock with light, jazzy moments that sound strongly influenced by composer Kryzstof Komeda (known for among other things, his film soundtracks to Roman Polanski's Cul De Sac, Rosemary's Baby, Knife In The Water). Strolling along at a spritely step, the oft-arpeggiated organ, harpsichord and yes, electric piano melodies and gentle pulses cycle over and over as muted horns and the odd strum from an electric guitar step in every now and then to break the repetition. Steady goes the rhythm section with rounded bass lines and light hi-hat taps while soothing vocals very akin to Sam Prekop of the aforementioned Sea & Cake pop in for a visit every so often.
MPEG Stream: "King's Evil"
MPEG Stream: "It Sounds Like A Party"

IMMACULATE MACHINE Fables (Mint) cd 16.98
No sophomore slump for this terrific band of Canucks with genuine familial ties to The New Pornographers. Lead singer and keyboardist Kathryn Calder has certainly honed her craft touring and recording with her Uncle Carl's band. She's certainly come into her own since her band's debut Ones And Zeros only a couple of years ago. As a whole unit Immaculate Machine have advanced in leaps and bounds, bursting with confidence and a healthy dose of spunkiness. Where it is perhaps most noticeable is in the vocal department. Calder sings ever so sweet'n'strong, while Brooke Gallupe's voice has developed into a remarkably deep and smoothly expressive charmer that at times draws comparisons to Jarvis Cocker (as opposed to the drollness of Stephin Merritt on the last album). On Fables, they've tempered the brooding with the bright-eyed, the perky with the pensive. It's at once punchy and slouchy, sorta like a female-fronted Strokes. A great summer in the city album!
MPEG Stream: "Jarhand"
MPEG Stream: "Roman Statues"

IMMACULATE MACHINE High On Jackson Hill (Mint Records) cd 14.98
Since their beginnings, Immaculate Machine have been most known as the band starring Kathryn Calder, the sweet-voiced niece and fellow New Pornographers bandmate of Mr. Carl Newman. But these days singer/guitarist Brooke Gallupe has stepped into center stage and is shining brightly! He is clearly more firmly in the driver's seat on the band's most recent recordings. High On Jackson Hill finds them channelling equal parts New Pornographers (on songs such as "Thank Me Later") and T. Rex (on songs such as "He's A Biter") with ample nods to '70s West coast classic rock too. That said, don't miss the starkly contrasting lovely "You Destroyer", a low-key, folksy Calder-sung song that glows with its own luminous sweetness. A well-crafted treat!
Psst, we've also just gotten in a few other new and new-to-us titles on this fine Vancouver indie label by The Awkward Stage, Buttless Chaps, The Pack A.D. and Neko Case's early band Maow!
MPEG Stream: "Thank Me Later"
RealAudio clip: "You Destroyer"
MPEG Stream: "He's A Biter"

IMMACULATE MACHINE Ones and Zeros (Mint) cd 13.98
This young Canadian band has been tagged with the selling point that lead vocalist Kathryn Calder is the long-lost niece of New Pornographers' Carl Newman, and that she sings and tours with that band -- a wise move on her uncle's part 'cause she's mighty talented. A great way to get a lot of attention from Canadian pop-loving folks, that's for sure! That said, Immaculate Machine's music sounds nothing like those dear NPs and stands on its own merits. Indeed, the Victoria, BC trio have set the bar high on their first outting and they've done so with such solid songwriting and an ease and composure that so many bands' many times their age haven't been able to grasp. Their fully fleshed out arrangements bring together the hard'n'crunchy and soft'n'pretty. Although the core of their sound is indisputably pop, it's a pop of a different flavour. More feverish and punchy. The first song has a retro feel that brings to mind their labelmates The Organ. In fact in keeping with the family theme here, imagine them as a peppier cousin of said band. On the other hand the male lead vocals on the fourth song "Phone No." are a deadringer for Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields. Overall, their sound recalls the early edgy energy of '70s/'80s British bands such as XTC and Gang Of Four, but not the trademark sounds of either of those bands which have been plundered and regurgitated to death recently by many other young bands. A remarkably robust debut!
MPEG Stream: "Two Places"
MPEG Stream: "Phone No. "

IMMENSE Death To The Gremlins (Fat Cat) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fat Cat's successes with their series of electronica split 12"s hasn't necessarily translated in their forays into avant-rock. This Immense 7" is quite a bit better than their other avant-rock release: the a-side is a steady building piece of rock hypnosis sort of like a sax solo fronting Stereolab's "Emperor Tomato Catchup", the b-side is a sad yet beautiful guitar and piano composition sort of like the Texas melancholia by 26 (or later 37).

IMMORTAL At The Heart Of The Winter (Osmose) cd 13.98
The return of Immortal!!! These frosty warriors may have hung up their spiked gauntlets, but their legacy still looms large. Easily one of our favorite black metal hordes EVER, these records have been frustratingly tough to keep in stock over the years. Thankfully, they've all been reissued, in all their frostbitten black blurred glory!
At The Heart Of Winter is from way back in 1999, but is one of the later albums by these blizzard beasts. You might be disappointed by the lack of blurred blast beats and blazing Arctic riffs but you certainly won't be disappointed with the results of these corpsepainted Norwegians' last photo shoot! A newfound obsession with pro wrestling and a new, very large and perpetually shirtless drummer (sporting a black metal belly girdle!) make this cd great to look at, but it's actually a great listen as well. As mentioned, gone is the speed of their previous effort Blizzard Beasts --in it's place is a stripped-down, more midtempo, straight-ahead heavy metal sound. Better, more professional production than in the past, plus catchier riffs combined with stumbling, propulsive drumming make this a record that Andee and Allan both love (while big Immortal fan Josh from The Champs votes this as the *worst* metal album of the year--go figure).
Note: in the years since this album came out (1999) ol' Josh has had a change of heart and now admits that it's a pretty good record! And Allan rates it as his favorite Immortal opus ever. Andee places it at number two, right behind the classic Blizzard Beasts!
MPEG Stream: "Withstand The Fall Of Time"
MPEG Stream: "Tragedies Blows At Horizon"

IMMORTAL At The Heart Of Winter (Osmose) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl for a limited time! Along with almost all the other albums in the Immortal discography -- we're missing only Battles In The North ('cause the shipment to our supplier arrived damaged) and Sons Of Northern Darkness ('cause it wasn't released by Osmose). Like the rest, this At The Heart Of Winter vinyl edition comes packaged in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve, with new photos and design. Here's what we had to say about the cd back when it came out:
You might be disappointed by the lack of blurred blast beats and blazing Arctic riffs but you certainly won't be disappointed with the results of these corpsepainted Norwegians' last photo shoot! A newfound obsession with pro wrestling and a new, very large and perpetually shirtless drummer (sporting a black metal belly girdle!) make this cd great to look at, but it's actually a great listen as well. As mentioned, gone is the speed of their last effort Blizzard Beasts --in it's place is a stripped-down, more midtempo, straight-ahead heavy metal sound. Better, more professional production than in the past, plus catchier riffs combined with stumbling, propulsive drumming make this a record that Andee and Allan both love (while big Immortal fan Josh from The Champs and Weakling votes this as the *worst* metal album of the year--go figure).
Note: in the years since this album came out (1999) ol' Josh has had a change of heart and now admits that it's a pretty good record! And Allan rates it his favorite Immortal opus ever.

IMMORTAL Battles In The North (Osmose) cd 13.98
The final installment in the recent long overdue campaign of Immortal reissues (the rest of which we reviewed a few lists back).
The return of Immortal!!! These frosty warriors may have hung up their spiked gauntlets, but their legacy still looms large. Easily one of our favorite black metal hordes EVER, these records have been frustratingly tough to keep in stock over the years. Thankfully, they've all been reissued, in all their frostbitten black blurred glory!
As we've said before, you just can't go wrong with Immortal. It's like a big cold hug. For grim black metalheads that is! Everyone has their favorite Immortal. The raw early records, the slow more melodic later releases... and while we definitely love both, our hearts were originally captured by the brief two album black blizzard of buzz that was Blizzard Beasts (1997) and this here slab of frosty grimness Battles In The North. Originally released in 1995, BITN was the record that found Immortal finally unleashing their inner frost giant, from the album art, images of the band members crouching in the snow in full corpse paint with their instruments, to the much more explicit themes of winter and frost and blizzards and ice and snow, to the much frostier sound, a black metal white out, flurries of impossibly fast drumming, blinding swirls of buzzing riffage, the raspy winterdemon like vocals, Battles In The North is fastfastfast, a buzzy blinding blur, brief moments of folky guitar or droney ambience surface here and there, but for the most part this is a black metal avalanche, a huge white wall of black sound. Blizzard Beasts would up the fast and frosty ante a couple years later, but Battles In The North remains a pure and primal explosion of gloriously ultragrim Northern darkness!
MPEG Stream: "Battles In The North"
MPEG Stream: "Throned By Blackstorms"
MPEG Stream: "Grim And Frostbitten Kingdoms"

IMMORTAL Battles in The North (Osmose) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl for a limited time! Packaged in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve, with new photos and design.

IMMORTAL Blizzard Beasts (Osmose) cd 13.98
The return of Immortal!!! These frosty warriors may have hung up their spiked gauntlets, but their legacy still looms large. Easily one of our favorite black metal hordes EVER, these records have been frustratingly tough to keep in stock over the years. Thankfully, they've all been reissued, in all their frostbitten black blurred glory!
This is absolutely the best Immortal record (sez Andee!) and easily one of the most important and most essential black metal releases ever. Released in 1997, Blizzard Beasts find Immortal hovering between the total grim primitive chaos of their earlier records and the sharp tight black metal majesty of their later releases, which kind of makes sense when you realize this is their final record as Blizzard Beasts, after this they would proceed to slow down, write longer songs, massive midtempo epics filled with classic metal riffing as well as more traditional metal song structures. It's almost as if they knew this was their last hurrah, so they went all out, made the tempos faster, the arrangements more complex, the guitars that much more buzzy and blown out, the vocals as inhuman as humanly possible, without losing their uncanny knack for hiding hooks amidst all that black buzz, or their distinctly classic Norwegian sound. The ultimate blast of forsty, wintery black metal, a furiously frigid barrage, an amazingly trance-inducing, complex blur of drums, rasping howls and icicle guitars, stopping and starting but at never less than 100mph! So totally amazing. Up there for sure with Burzum's Filosefem and Darkthrone's Transylvanian Hunger as far as absolutely essential black metal is concerned.
MPEG Stream: "Blizzard Beast"
MPEG Stream: "Nebular Ravens Winter"
MPEG Stream: "Frostdemonstorm"

IMMORTAL Blizzard Beasts (Osmose) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl for a limited time! Packaged in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve, with new photos and design. Here's what we had to say about the cd (not a lot, but believe us, it's quite possibly our very favorite Immortal record): Highly-regarded Black Metal band (weirdly enough, Steve Albini's favorite) unleash their latest frigid barrage, an amazingly trance-inducing, complex blur of drums, rasping howls and icicle guitars, stopping and starting but at never less than 100mph. Their best album yet (as of 1997) and certainly their most Morbid Angel.

IMMORTAL Damned In Black (Osmose) cd 13.98
The return of Immortal!!! These frosty warriors may have hung up their spiked gauntlets, but their legacy still looms large. Easily one of our favorite black metal hordes EVER, these records have been frustratingly tough to keep in stock over the years. Thankfully, they've all been reissued, in all their frostbitten black blurred glory!
Damned In Black was originally released in 2000, and was the second to last release before the band called it quits. Immortal, by the time Damned In Black was released, were THE elder black metal statesmen, true members of the Norwegian black metal elite, Abbath (not as in "please take..."!) on guitars and Popeye vox, big ol' drummer Horgh, and new guy Iscariah on bass, (with the sidelined Demonaz still writing lyrics) return after their groundbreaking "At The Heart of Winter", the disc that slowed down (a bit) the previously way FAAASSSTTT tempos characteristic of their speedy-demon classics "Battles In The North" and "Blizzard Beasts" and added more melody, more trad metal riffing, and mo' better production courtesy of Peter Tagtgren & his Abyss studio. "Damned In Black" follows the "Winter" blueprint, being kind of like a "At The Heart of Winter Part II" but without the amusing wanna-be WWF wrestler band photos that garnered so much attention/ridicule last time around. And while the title might suggest some sort of Satanic theme, the Immortal boys stick with their personal mythology of a frosty Northern dimension full of ice, wind, and cold. Immortal fans everywhere (even the ones here in San Francisco who got dissed by the band when they didn't show up to play and went to Mexico instead) should put on some mittens and enjoy this evil icecapade. AGAIN!
MPEG Stream: "Triumph"
MPEG Stream: "Damned In Black"

IMMORTAL Damned In Black (Osmose) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl for a limited time! Packaged in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve, with new photos and design. Here's what we had to say about the cd:
The new Immortal has arrived. True members of the Norwegian black metal elite, Abbath (not as in "please take..."!) on guitars and Popeye vox, big ol' drummer Horgh, and new guy Iscariah on bass, (with the sidelined Demonaz still writing lyrics) come back atcha a year after their groundbreaking At The Heart of Winter, the disc that slowed down (a bit) the previously way FAAASSSTTT tempos characteristic of their speedy-demon classics Battles In The North and Blizzard Beasts and added more melody, more trad metal riffing, and mo' better production courtesy of Peter Tagtgren & his Abyss studio. Damned In Black follows the Winter blueprint, being kind of like a At The Heart of Winter Part II but without the amusing wanna-be WWF wrestler band photos that garnered so much attention/ridicule last time around. And while the title might suggest some sort of Satanic theme, the Immortal boys stick with their personal mythology of a frosty Northern dimension full of ice, wind, and cold. Immortal fans everywhere (even the ones here in San Francisco who got dissed by the band when they didn't show up to play and went to Mexico instead) should put on some mittens and enjoy this evil icecapade.

IMMORTAL Damned In Black (boxed version) (Osmose Productions) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Remember back on list #90 when we first got "Damned In Black" in, and we said that someday we'd be seeing some sort of 'boxed' import version but didn't know if it would be worth the wait and the bucks. Well here it is. Seeing as it doesn't cost much more, maybe it is worth it if these guys are your favorite frostdemons. You get the jewelcase version of the album (digipaks are all gone now anyway) snugly concealed inside a handsome cardboard box with artwork (a hellish cover painting) not to be found elsewhere. Otherwise, it's the same, no extra tracks or other goodies or anything. In case you missed the description before, here's a condensed version: True members of the Norwegian black metal elite, Immortal come back atcha a year after their groundbreaking "At The Heart of Winter", the disc that slowed down (a bit) the previously way FAAASSSTTT tempos characteristic of their speedy-demon classics "Battles In The North" and "Blizzard Beasts" and added more melody, more trad metal riffing, and mo' better production courtesy of Peter Tagtgren & his Abyss studio. "Damned In Black" follows the "Winter" blueprint. And while the title might suggest some sort of Satanic theme, the Immortal boys stick with their personal mythology of a frosty Northern dimension full of ice, wind, and cold. Immortal fans everywhere should put on some mittens and enjoy this evil icecapade.

IMMORTAL Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism (Osmose) cd 13.98
The return of Immortal!!! These frosty warriors may have hung up their spiked gauntlets, but their legacy still looms large. Easily one of our favorite black metal hordes EVER, these records have been frustratingly tough to keep in stock over the years. Thankfully, they've all been reissued, in all their frostbitten black blurred glory!
The legendary debut from Norway's masters of black winter darkness, lords of their mysterious frostbitten kingdom, originally released way back in 1992 (hard to believe it's been 15 years!) Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism is one of the essential cornerstones of Norwegian black metal. A buzzing snarling blur of forsty buzz guitars, galloping ice cold blast beats and winter wind banshee howls, this is Immortal at their most primitive, taking their love of Bathory and upping the intensity, the complexity and the overall blackness. Evoking the heart of the forest, pale faced demons riding black fiery-hooved horses up from the pits of hell to lay waste to all in their path. The sound is thick and viscoous, raw and blown out, a swirling dizzying blast of black metal brilliance, that over the course of their career, Immortal would sharpen and hone, but never was it more primal and more perfect than on their debut.
MPEG Stream: "The Call Of The Wintermoon"
MPEG Stream: "Cryptic Winterstorms"

IMMORTAL Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism (Osmose) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl for a limited time! Packaged in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve, with new photos and design. We never listed the cd before (it came out before we did reviews, let alone black metal reviews) but fans should know it, and that's who'll be interested in Immortal vinyl anyway. This was their very first album from '92, so probably their rawest, but still all about the winter wonderland that Immortal devoted their career to mythologizing.

IMMORTAL Pure Holocaust (Osmose) cd 13.98
The return of Immortal!!! These frosty warriors may have hung up their spiked gauntlets, but their legacy still looms large. Easily one of our favorite black metal hordes EVER, these records have been frustratingly tough to keep in stock over the years. Thankfully, they've all been reissued, in all their frostbitten black blurred glory!
Pure Holocaust was Immortal's second album (from 1993) and is classic old school Norwegian black metal all the way. Grim and frosty, buzzy and blurry. A furious black juggernaut, equal parts Bathory, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Emperor, Burzum, but with their own uniquely wintery spin on that blackened fury, growled demonic old man vocals (hinting at the Immortal Popeye growl that would feature heavily on future releases), buzzing riffs, with hauntinly majestic melodies, furious pummeling drums, everything wrapped in a thick blanket of winter chill, not sure how they did it, but the record is just so evocative of the frozen north, midnights in the forest, wolves baying at the moon.
We used to not be so into the early Immortal records, but going back we're reminded just how massive and intense and evil and amazing these records really are!
MPEG Stream: "Unsilent Storms In The North Abyss"
MPEG Stream: "Frozen By Icewinds"

IMMORTAL Pure Holocaust (Osmose) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl for a limited time! Packaged in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve, with new photos and design. We never listed the cd before (it came out before we did reviews, let alone black metal reviews) but fans should know it, and that's who'll be interested in Immortal vinyl anyway. This was their second album (from 1993) and is classic old school Norwegian black metal all the way. Grim and frosty!

IMMORTAL Sons Of Northern Darkness (Nuclear Blast) cd 14.98
From the cold frozen north (Norway) comes this, the latest cd from one of our favorite corpse-painted bands ever, Immortal. It's their seventh album but their first for new, big-time label Nuclear Blast, so expectations are high. And "Sons Of Northern Darkness" delivers, in fine Immortal fashion. It's got the unmistakable Popeye-gone-metal vocal stylings of guitarist Abbath, who rasps out the frostbitten fantasy lyrics penned by their former guitarist, the crippled Demonaz, all backed by a blizzard of drums from hefty skinbeater Horgh.
Followers of Immortal's career know that they began as your basic, howling at the moon, primitive blasting black metal outfit. They quickly developed a reputation as the fastest band out there, reaching a peak of pure speed with the classic "Battles In The North". Unable to top that, they did an album of Morbid Angel worship, the hectic "Blizzard Beasts"...and then Demonaz left the band, unable to play guitar due to "arm disease". Regrouping, Immortal shifted in a newly melodic, heavy-metal-riff oriented direction, releasing the brilliant "At The Heart of Winter". Some old fans (Josh from The Fucking Champs, you know who you are) were disappointed that the songs wasn't as fast, and the production not as "necro" (i.e. bad) as before, but the drums still blazed and the better production (courtesy of Peter Tagtgren's Abyss Studio) combined with their improved song-craft made for a true masterpiece. They followed that up with "At The Heart of Winter Part II" (actual title: "Damned In Black"), and now here we are with what is essentially part three, "Sons Of Northern Darkness". No, it doesn't top "At The Heart of Winter" but it's indeed more of the same quality Immortal, totally satisfying! While their blasting abilities are still incredible, this disc is perhaps at its best on the slower songs, like "Tyrants". Cold, cold stuff. There's even a song about Antarctica!
Immortal. Sometimes, there's nothing better.
RealAudio clip: "One By One"
RealAudio clip: "Tyrants"

IMMORTAL Sons Of Northern Darkness - Deluxe Edition (Nuclear Blast) cd + dvd 14.98
The return of Immortal!!! These frosty warriors may have hung up their spiked gauntlets, but their legacy still looms large. Easily one of our favorite black metal hordes EVER, these records have been frustratingly tough to keep in stock over the years. Thankfully, they've all been reissued, in all their frostbitten black blurred glory!
Finally, this, the final Immortal album, from 2002, gets the deluxe reissue treatment, now with a bonus DVD!
From the cold frozen north (Norway) comes this, the very last (R.I.P.) cd from one of our favorite corpse-painted bands ever, Immortal. It's their seventh album but their first (and sadly last) for new, big-time label Nuclear Blast, so expectations were indeed high. And Sons Of Northern Darkness delivers, in fine Immortal fashion. It's got the unmistakable Popeye-gone-metal vocal stylings of guitarist Abbath, who rasps out the frostbitten fantasy lyrics penned by their former guitarist, the crippled Demonaz, all backed by a blizzard of drums from hefty skinbeater Horgh.
Followers of Immortal's career know that they began as your basic, howling at the moon, primitive blasting black metal outfit. They quickly developed a reputation as the fastest band out there, reaching a peak of pure speed with the classic Battles In The North. Unable to top that, they did an album of Morbid Angel worship, the hectic Blizzard Beasts...and then Demonaz left the band, unable to play guitar due to "arm disease". Regrouping, Immortal shifted in a newly melodic, heavy-metal-riff oriented direction, releasing the brilliant At The Heart of Winter. Some old fans (Josh from The Fucking Champs, you know who you are) were disappointed that the songs wasn't as fast, and the production not as "necro" as before, but the drums still blazed and the better production (courtesy of Peter Tagtgren's Abyss Studio) combined with their improved song-craft made for a true masterpiece. They followed that up with At The Heart of Winter Part II (actual title: Damned In Black), and now here we are with what is essentially part three, Sons Of Northern Darkness. No, it doesn't top At The Heart of Winter but it's indeed more of the same quality Immortal, totally satisfying! While their blasting abilities are still incredible, this disc is perhaps at its best on the slower songs, like "Tyrants". Cold, cold stuff. There's even a song about Antarctica! The DVD captures an entire live show recorded in 2003 live at BB Kings Club in New York, filmed with a camcorder, this is raw and fuzzy footage, but the sound is good and there's plenty of corpepaint and windmilling hair, and that unmistakable Immortal frostbitten black metal blur. Immortal. Sometimes, there's nothing better.
MPEG Stream: "Sons Of Northern Darkness"
MPEG Stream: "Tyrants"

IMO BROTHERS Ije Love / Journey of Love (Original Music) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If you're looking for some punchy high life to dance you butt off to, then the Imo Brothers' Eastern Nigerian recipe is for you. Though recorded in the early 80's, the authenticity is still here and the good track lengths will attest to a healthy workout!

IMP, THE #2 (Jack Chick) newspaper 5.00
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Daniel K. Raeburn constructs each issue of The Imp in the style of its profiled comics author. Thus far there are issues devoted to Dan Clowes (Eightball), Chris Ware (Acme novelty Library), and now Jack Chick. Haw haw haw! The Jack Chick issue looks just like a slightly larger version of the Chick tracts, those little pro-Jesus comic books you see everywhere. At over four hundred million of them sold to date, they're worth examining... As The Imp points out on page 1: "People who dismiss hate literature offhand are going to miss the point of this tribute to Chick, which is that hate literature reveals not only its own corruption but the sick society that hatched it. ... Like the Protestant zealots who colonized and raped this country, Chick tracts and the violence in them are as American as apple pie." Comes with a 30-page dictionary of the world according to Chick, and an account of an intense 'interview' with the reclusive author. Super cool.

IMP, THE #3 (Chris Ware) newspaper 4.00
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By constructing The Imp in the style of each profiled comics author, Daniel K. Raeburn's publication pays tribute in the most loving fashion. For example, the Chris Ware issue is called The Smartest Cartoonist on Earth, a variation on Ware's own Acme Novelty Library, the main story of which chronicles the weird inner life of Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth. (We always try to carry issues of Acme Novelty Library, so ask if you're interested -- they're amazing.) Fully in keeping with Ware's oldfashioned style, The Imp #3 is a fold out 20 page newspaper printed on sturdy, cream colored paper. Features extremely lengthy interview with Ware, lots and lots of drawings and comics, much analysis of Acme's content and themes, and a full color insert with comics ABOUT Ware by such fans as Archer Prewitt, Terry Laban, and Jessica Abel. Such a beautiful object!

IMPACT ALL STARS Forward the Bass: Dub From Randy's 1972-1975 (Blood & Fire) cd 16.98

IMPALED Choice Cuts (Deathvomit / Necropolis) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Rare, demo, whatever tracks collection from this Bay Area "shit metal" band, local favorites for their excellent Carcass-inspired riffage.

IMPALED Death After Life (Century Media) cd 14.98
Everybody's favorite Oakland-based Carcass-worshipping death metallers Impaled are back, with another bloody slab of gore, this time under the auspices of the Century Media label -- a step up from previous label Deathvomit, we think. They also seem to have dropped the shit schtick. They're less fecal, more foresnic this time around. Musically, they continue to improve as well, and although you can't accuse 'em of being the most original band ever, at least they are true to their roots and at this point must be the world's leading "medical metal" outfit (followed closely by the County Medical Examiners), proudly keeping the Carcass legacy alive -- they even NAME their guitar solos a la Carcass!
Interestingly, Death After Life was produced by Trey Spruance of Mr. Bungle/Secret Chiefs 3, who also makes some instrumental contributions, and handles the string arrangements!! Also new on (fret)board: guitarist Jason Kocol who a few of you might know as the collaborator of Steven Schultz in Puny Humans and Stalin Claus Superstar!
MPEG Stream: "Gutless"
MPEG Stream: "Medical Waste"

IMPALED Mondo Medicale (Deathvomit / Necropolis) cd 12.98
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Local gorecore heroes Impaled (Ludicra bassist Ross Sewage's *other* band) vomit forth another gnarly dose of their death metal medicine. It's definitely the cure for those wasting away from a lack of Carcass in their diets -- Carcass, y'know, being the UK grindcore greats who Impaled ape so well. Nothing wrong with that, we love Carcass as much as Impaled do. Well, maybe almost as much, 'cause we didn't actually start a band to try and emulate the razorsharp riffing and sickening lyrics of those Brits. But Impaled have other influences as well, to be fair: Italian splatter cinema and, um, shit. (We didn't say they were *wide-ranging* influences...) Anyway, this Impaled is a good 'un, go get it you death grind freaks!
RealAudio clip: "The Worms Crawl In"

IMPALED The Dead Shall Dead Remain (Deathvomit / Necropolis) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Bay Area's finest...shit-metal band? Their brethren Exhumed had cover art featuring bloody butchery in the kitchen, now Impaled (with ex-Exhumed guys) come along with even more disgusting cover art illustrating gory toilet follies. What's next, carnage in the rec room? Or the den? Anyway, Impaled play fast, fierce death-grind with titles like "Immaculate Defecation" and "Faecal Rites".

IMPALED NAZARENE Absense of War Does Not Mean Peace (Osmose Productions) cd 14.98
We gave up on Impaled Nazarene a long time ago, once they made the switch from evil nasty goat-raping black metal to pseudo-industrial ROCK AND ROLL!! Well, the sound is still kind of rock and roll, maybe a little less industrial, and with a fair amount of black metal sprinkled on top. Definitely sounds super clinical, as if all the guitars and drums were sampled and put together in pro tools. Super slick and tight with some awesome guitar work, thanks in part to the addition of Children Of Bodom's insane guitar player. But over all, the sound is still more just super charged rock and roll in metal's clothing. Catchy and melodic and pretty simple. An okay record, but nothing near what they were once capable of.
RealAudio clip: "Absence Of War"
RealAudio clip: "The Lost Art Of Goat Sacrificing"

IMPALED NAZARENE Nihil (Osmose) cd 17.98
Now featuring the shred-master fella from Children of Bodom on lead guitar, this Finnish "Nuclear Cybersex Black Metal" band returns, in much better form than on their rather weak, too-punk prior effort "Rapture". Slower and doomier by IN standards (but still fast and furious by most anyone else's), "Nihil" again makes IN a scary proposition.