BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE Dolores (Ipecac) cd 16.98
Imagine a blackened, funereal dooooooom band like Skepticism or Nortt morphed into the jazz idiom (after having kissed a frog, or some fairytale scenario like that), playing their slow, sad music in a smoky Berlin jazz club. The sound is jazz (electric piano, organ, vibes, sax, double bass, trap kit...) but the feeling is doom. That's our usual shorthand for describing the unique music made by longtime AQ fave, Germany's Bohren & Der Club Of Gore. Here at last is their eagerly anticipated 5th album, Dolores (not named after the San Francisco street near us, presumably). If you're fans like we are, you know what to expect, it's just as ponderously "heavy" as a "jazz" band can be. No, not loud, not harsh, not noisy. The opposite of all that. Rather, whisper-quiet, glacially slow, and spacious, with sparse snare hits keeping time like a wound-down clock ticking off the eternity between 2 minutes to midnight and the witching hour itself. Doomsday so slowly arrives on a velvety bed of somnolent deep bass notes, and the cool slinky tones of vintage Fender Rhodes. Cymbals shiver in a dark haze of ambient drones near to silence. Several of the songs are infused with the warmth of tenor or baritone sax breathes gorgeous expiring breaths. It's all so sad and woeful and achingly beautiful, Bohren nodding off, their fragile melodies trickling like tears, and by the end you may find you have shed a few too.
This newest Bohren differs mainly from their previous Ipecac outing Geisterfaust by being composed of somewhat shorter, sweeter tracks, ten in all, in about an hour. But it is, again, an-ever-more-perfected example of why Bohren is one of our all time favorite bands, especially at twilight and late at night...
MPEG Stream: "Staub"
MPEG Stream: "Orgelblut"
MPEG Stream: "Still am Tresen"

BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE Dolores (PIAS Recordings) 2lp 42.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
FINALLY AVAILABLE ON (IMPORT) VINYL!
Imagine a blackened, funereal dooooooom band like Skepticism or Nortt morphed into the jazz idiom (after having kissed a frog, or some fairytale scenario like that), playing their slow, sad music in a smoky Berlin jazz club. The sound is jazz (electric piano, organ, vibes, sax, double bass, trap kit...) but the feeling is doom. That's our usual shorthand for describing the unique music made by longtime AQ fave, Germany's Bohren & Der Club Of Gore. Here at last is their eagerly anticipated 5th album, Dolores (not named after the San Francisco street near us, presumably). If you're fans like we are, you know what to expect, it's just as ponderously "heavy" as a "jazz" band can be. No, not loud, not harsh, not noisy. The opposite of all that. Rather, whisper-quiet, glacially slow, and spacious, with sparse snare hits keeping time like a wound-down clock ticking off the eternity between 2 minutes to midnight and the witching hour itself. Doomsday so slowly arrives on a velvety bed of somnolent deep bass notes, and the cool slinky tones of vintage Fender Rhodes. Cymbals shiver in a dark haze of ambient drones near to silence. Several of the songs are infused with the warmth of tenor or baritone sax breathes gorgeous expiring breaths. It's all so sad and woeful and achingly beautiful, Bohren nodding off, their fragile melodies trickling like tears, and by the end you may find you have shed a few too.
This newest Bohren differs mainly from their previous Ipecac outing Geisterfaust by being composed of somewhat shorter, sweeter tracks, ten in all, in about an hour. But it is, again, an-ever-more-perfected example of why Bohren is one of our all time favorite bands, especially at twilight and late at night...
MPEG Stream: "Staub"
MPEG Stream: "Orgelblut"
MPEG Stream: "Still am Tresen"

BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE Dolores (Hydra Head) 2lp 21.00
FINALLY AVAILABLE ON VINYL, DOMESTICALLY! (Thanks, Hydra Head!)
Imagine a blackened, funereal dooooooom band like Skepticism or Nortt morphed into the jazz idiom (after having kissed a frog, or some fairytale scenario like that), playing their slow, sad music in a smoky Berlin jazz club. The sound is jazz (electric piano, organ, vibes, sax, double bass, trap kit...) but the feeling is doom. That's our usual shorthand for describing the unique music made by longtime AQ fave, Germany's Bohren & Der Club Of Gore. Here at last is their eagerly anticipated 5th album, Dolores (not named after the San Francisco street near us, presumably). If you're fans like we are, you know what to expect, it's just as ponderously "heavy" as a "jazz" band can be. No, not loud, not harsh, not noisy. The opposite of all that. Rather, whisper-quiet, glacially slow, and spacious, with sparse snare hits keeping time like a wound-down clock ticking off the eternity between 2 minutes to midnight and the witching hour itself. Doomsday so slowly arrives on a velvety bed of somnolent deep bass notes, and the cool slinky tones of vintage Fender Rhodes. Cymbals shiver in a dark haze of ambient drones near to silence. Several of the songs are infused with the warmth of tenor or baritone sax breathes gorgeous expiring breaths. It's all so sad and woeful and achingly beautiful, Bohren nodding off, their fragile melodies trickling like tears, and by the end you may find you have shed a few too.
This newest Bohren differs mainly from their previous Ipecac outing Geisterfaust by being composed of somewhat shorter, sweeter tracks, ten in all, in about an hour. But it is, again, an-ever-more-perfected example of why Bohren is one of our all time favorite bands, especially at twilight and late at night...
We only have black vinyl!
MPEG Stream: "Staub"
MPEG Stream: "Orgelblut"
MPEG Stream: "Still am Tresen"

BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE Geisterfaust (Wonder) cd 16.98
Not metal -- not remotely. So why did they get written up in Terrorizer magazine? Well this German four-piece isn't exactly a jazz band either, even though they utilize such instruments as Fender Rhodes electric piano, vibraphone, double bass, and saxophone. No, they're actually really really heavy though it's always hard to explain how something this quiet and this pretty can be "heavy". But you'll feel it when you hear it. Their special brand of Teutonic, minimalist, noir-jazz influenced "heaviness" is not to be denied. And so it makes sense that they like grim black metal and that people who like grim black metal like them. A very special band, certainly unknowable to some, but very well liked 'round here. So we were pretty excited to hear that the release of this new album Geisterfaust ("Ghostfist") was impending. And it does not disappoint. Five tracks for the five fingers of the Ghostfist (skeletally represented in the cd digipak). Almost one full hour.
Thusly, a Bohren album cannot be properly absorbed in little snippets. The time frame within which their compositions work is not conducive to quick scans or distracting environments -- even the shortest of the five tracks here isn't much less than eight minutes in length, and the opening track "Zeigefinger" is a 20+ minute experience. So, when I got my copy of this (oooh) I took it home and drew the curtains, lit the candles (well, ok I didn't really light any candles, but could have), and assumed a relaxed pose in order to let the music of Geisterfaust infiltrate my consciousness. Which it did. At Bohren's usual glacial pace, which utterly starts to alter one's perception of time. The long songs are endless...then over. Eternity telescoped. So spare and melodious. Like magnified drops of rainwater, falling on the petals of a shivering flower. The vast space of Bohren's music makes the listener concentrate, and gives each and every note (a vibraphone chime, perhaps, surrounded by a nimbus of a gentle cymbal-strike's shimmer) extra weight and meaning. The Bohren aesthetic certainly holds that less is more. Even though there's guests -- a tuba player and a choir, even -- augmenting the basic Bohren quartet on several of these tracks, you're never overwhelmed with sound, but with silence. And the sheer *subsonics* that a band with two bassists can generate. Geisterfaust flows exquisitely, the listener's pulse rate slowing. Calm. Cool. Bliss. Stupor. So gorgeous, soo heavy. There we go again. This IS heavy. You'll see.
Basically it's like some utterly slow crushing doom band (the Melvins at their most monolithic -- Khanate -- Caspar Brotzmann Massaker -- Corrupted -- Gore) with their instrumentation transposed into the "jazz" realm. The snare only brushed. The distorted electric guitar replaced with the tinkle of a Rhodes piano. Notes not riffs. Played like a dirge, with hints of drone, sombre and sad, but beautiful. There's only a smidgen of saxophone (dreaded by some) that is brought in only at the very end of the last very track, one that is almost speedy by Bohren standards, to act as the light at end of the tunnel, the sun's rays just over the horizon...
Our friend Bjoern in Germany (of Caacrinolas), who first turned Allan and thus AQ on to Bohren five or six years ago, emailed excitedly about the release this new album (that's often when we hear from Bjoern, actually!). Here's a quote from his email: "...fucking amazing!!! Better probably than anything they have done before! You need this for AQ!!! It will sell zillions of copies!" Well of course. As a follow up to the Ipecac-released Black Earth, this is an even greater triumph. Brilliant.
MPEG Stream: "Daumen"
MPEG Stream: "Kleiner Finger"

BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE Gore Motel (Epistrophy) cd 16.98
And, along with the long-awaited "Midnight Radio", we've also managed to import some copies of another Bohren & Der Club of Gore disc, their debut from 1994. Just like their other two albums, it's instrumental soundtracky stuff: dark, stark, slow-moving, and lovely. For those who crave comparisons, this is like a super-dirgey version of Scenic. Music for a dark-night campfire out on the plains of Mordor. Slow and beautiful, relying heavily on the ultra-heavy subsonics of the bass and the eerie wavering tones of the organ. Instead of the more appropriate late-night urban photography found on their two other albums, Bohren puzzles us with their packaging of this (Bruce Lee on the cover? A logo that incorporates an upsidedown cross and the number of the beast?). Are they being serious? Well, the music certainly sounds serious. Very atmospheric and evocative, indeed chilling. Get "Midnight Radio" first, then this and their newer disc "Sunset Mission".
MPEG Stream: "Sabbat Schwarzer Highway"
MPEG Stream: "Die Fulci Nummer"

BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE Gore Motel (Epistrophy) 2lp 39.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is nice. For all you Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore fans (or at least 19 of you, as that's how many of these we were able to get), we've got a deluxe vinyl pressing, the first time ever on LP for this, the debut album from the AQ fave German instrumental dirge-jazz group. The import price is helped out by the fact that this comes in a black box with "BOHREN" stamped in silver on the lid, and within the box you not only will find two slabs of vinyl weighted down with their magnificent music, but also tucked in with those there's sundry printed ephemera of apparent Bohren-related interest (b&w art and text, mainly in German). The Gore Motel album was first released on cd back in 1994. When we discovered Borhen a few years after that and got their discs for the store, we wrote the following about this album: "...dark, stark, slow-moving, and lovely. For those who crave comparisons, this is like a super-dirgey version of Scenic. Music for a dark-night campfire out on the plains of Mordor. Slow and beautiful, relying heavily on the ultra-heavy subsonics of the bass and the eerie wavering tones of the organ...Very atmospheric and evocative, indeed chilling."
Of course, this is a very limited, numbered pressing (300 copies!) and, to repeat, we only received a handful. First come, first served on this one.
MPEG Stream: "Sabbat Schwarzer Highway"
MPEG Stream: "Die Fulci Nummer"

BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE Midnight Radio (Epistrophy) 2cd 24.00
Here's an old favorite -- a former AQ Record Of The Week in fact -- that we've been unable to get for a long time now, until just this week that is. So we thought we'd better relist it, especially since when we relisted the Ipecac reissue of Bohren's most recent album Black Earth we sold a whole bunch of copies to folks who'd missed it the first time, and this one is perhaps even more essential not to miss! So here's a portion of our review from the first time we had this:
At last, we've managed to import some copies of this fantastic 1995 album by this mysterious German instrumental band! I (Allan) discovered them via a friend in Germany (an AQ-customer who, like many others, has been so kind as to turn *us* on to stuff: it's a two-way street). I was visiting for the 1999 total solar eclipse (well, among other things; I was also in the land of schnitzel for a metal festival...) and heard a tape of this sprawling double cd set in the context of a late night, post-eclipse, wine-drinking get-together. But when I finally got a hold of the actual album some weeks later (we couldn't even find one in the local record stores, my friend had to special order it and send a copy to me in the States), I was happy to discover that it wasn't merely my memories of the wondrous eclipse that had imbued Midnight Radio with such a gorgeous sense of darkness and dread, but that it really was an amazing album!
After Midnight Radio, Bohren released Sunset Mission (later followed by Black Earth). If the now out of print Sunset Mission album was the ultimate noir-jazz soundtrack to a hypothetical first person shooter video game set in afterdark Berlin, then this aptly-titled previous double cd set, (sans saxophone, an addition to the Sunset lineup) is the perfect accompaniment to a late night autobahn death ride, cruise control on, cigarettes burning. There's even a moment, two hours or so into it, when sun starts to come up over the horizon (you'll hear what we mean when you get to the end of the second disc).
Now, we're always talking about "hypnotic" music here at AQ, but this is music for when you're *already* hypnotized, slumped near bed at home or cruising down that infinite highway at 3am, aware of only your own thoughts and the darkness all around made even more black by your headlights. (Maybe this is what some of those unexplicable people who I saw driving around during the eclipse were listening to...for two very long minutes anyway.) Heavy, heavy bass notes, glacially deployed, crushingly beautiful slow-motion guitar and dark, liquid pools of piano, with a narcotized drummer who must be passing in and out of consciousness to occasionally brush his snare and hi-hat. Midnight Radio enters into the tiny pantheon of somehow similarly intended doomy double cd sets beloved of AQ (Esoteric's Pernicious Enigma and Epistomological Despondency, Corrupted's Llenandose de Gusanos). Of course, Bohren is not at all metallic like those two outfits, but is knowing of the same gloombliss. Slow and low, and highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "3"
MPEG Stream: "5"

BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE Mitleid Lady (Latitudes 0:11) (Southern / Latitudes) 12" 14.98
FINALLY AVAILABLE ON VINYL!!
Long rumored, long awaited, Bohren and Der Club Of Gore's installment in Southern UK's limited edition Latitudes series is, finally, here!! While the Latitudes series has included a disparate selection of interesting artists, including AQ faves like Circle, Shit & Shine, Grails, and now Bohren. You'd think they were asking US who they should put out! Certainly if they HAD asked us, we'd have said Bohren, we're (as you probably know) huge fans, we're still in awe of the live show they played in San Francisco a few months back, also something that we didn't ever think we'd see. The stage was in total darkness except for small lights shining from directly above each musician, one bassist, one keyboardist, and another who played keys, bass, and sax as necessary. And while it was unfortunate that there was no drummer (for some reason he couldn't travel with the band) their usual slow tempo meant that the keyboardist could "play" sampled drums fairly effectively, though doubtless it would probably have been even better had the actual drummer been there (however, one of our friends who was at the show didn't even realize there was no live drummer present, due to the darkness, and the fact that the glowing Bohren skull-head logo in the center of the stage looked like it was on a bass drum head!). Their music was so beautiful, and sooooo heavy. Literally one of the HEAVIEST performances we've ever witnessed, SO MUCH BASS it was insane. And remember, they're essentially a jazz group.
So, we like Bohren. You like Bohren (or if you haven't heard 'em, may we suggest their most recent album, Dolores?). And so we're both excited that this is here. Heck, we've been waiting for it for a while. Apparently the Latitudes folks like to get people all in a tizzy by announcing things YEARS in advance of the actual release. As a result, Bohren fans have been asking about this one, since, well back when Barack Obama was still an unknown community organizer, it seems. We had sorta given up hope of ever actually seeing it come out, assuming it was a figment of someone at Southern's overactive imagination. But then what do you know, out of the blue, with no warning, here they are. We got ALL the copies we're gonna be able to get, and good luck finding it elsewhere. So act fast if you want one.
Here's the lowdown: Like the previous Latitudes volume, from White Magic, this is an ep, just one song in fact, and while Bohren have been known to make some looooong songs, this one is "only" 10 and a half minutes in length. But of course what with Bohren's typical mesmeric glacial pace and soporific atmospheres, when "Mitleid Lady" is playing it's as if time has stopped, anyway... the bass frequencies throbbing gently, the sparse snick...snick...snick of the drummer's high hat, the dulcet liquid tones of electric piano melodically meandering... eventually the merest suggestion of a sweet whisper of smoky saxophone... ahhh the unique slo-mo "jazz" of Bohren is utterly entrancing as usual. This track was recorded back 2006 (we said it was long awaited), after their Geisterfaust record and before the more recent Dolores, and sounds like it could easily have found a place on either album. But having it here on its own record is actually rather nice, as a "concentrated" (not really) dose of Bohren's special sound to savor.
Like all the Latitudes lps, packaged in that instantly recognizable black and white diecut 12" sleeve, and yeah, totally limited...
MPEG Stream: "Mitleid Lady"

BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE Sunset Mission (Wonder) cd 16.98
BACK IN STOCK! The second repressing of this AQ fave... here's what we said last time it came back into print...
After being out of print for almost FIVE years, Bohren's third album Sunset Mission finally gets re-released this time in a spiffy digipak!
Back when we first listed this (the first Bohren we'd managed to get a hold of for the store), this is what we said: Allan discovered Bohren on a trip to Germany in 1999, with their '95 double-cd Midnight Radio, an amazing extended late-night autobahn driving soundscape, slow, low, instrumental "lounge" music, utterly perfect for a mesmerizing midnight listen. Sunset Mission, their third album, was originally released in 2000 and is similar to Midnight Radio, more overtly "jazzy" perhaps, with the addition of smokey tenor saxophone to their piano/drums/bass lineup. Their original US distributor (electronica/techno label Studio K-7) labeled this ambient, but that's far from the mark. From the song titles ("Prowler", "On Demon Wings", "Black City Skyline", "Darkstalker") to the packaging (photos of nighttime Berlin and dangerous weaponry) to the music (a downtempo film noir soundtrack like the slowest, dirgiest Melvins played by Morphine, darker than Photek, moody and gorgeous) this is the nightmare "ambience" of a nowhere jazz-lounge you'll never leave alive.
By now, Bohren & Der Club Of Gore are a firm AQ favorite, with their recent album Geisterfaust sure to show up in a lot our our customers' year 2005 top-ten lists. Meanwhile Bohren's Black Earth, Gore Motel and Midnight Radio have always been steady sellers, so it's nice to have Sunset Mission back in the racks as well! Of the Bohren discography, Sunset Mission seems to be the jazziest (if indeed it's appropriate to use that term), definitely with the most sax of any of 'em, perhaps coming closest to its follow-up Black Earth in sound.
MPEG Stream: "Prowler"
MPEG Stream: "On Demon Wings"

BOLLANI, STEFANO Piano Solo (ECM) cd 22.00
Bbbb-oo-rrr-ing.

BORBETOMAGUS Barbed Wire Maggots (Agaric) cd 15.98
Wow, Barbed Wire Maggots? Your filthiest black metal band would be proud of an album title like that. And this is from a record originally released back in 1983, the fourth long-player from what has become an outside/noise/skronk/free "jazz" institution, the one and only Borbetomagus! If you know Borbetomagus, you know what to expect: the frightening caterwaul of two saxophones and an electric guitar. Two long tracks (formerly vinyl sides) worth. Screeching and scratching and searing and sizzling. So it ain't black metal but it ain't easy listening either. No sirree. Imagine every "nasty" noise ever made by the horns of Coltrane or Ayler, times two, aided and abetted by a likeminded guitarist. Upset elephants and vaccum cleaners and rusty hinges and faulty connections have nothing on this. Unlike some of their later, even denser recordings, it's not always full-on cacophony but even the quieter, "jazzier" parts have a mood of menace, of impending mayhem. And if you've never heard Borbetomagus, but are curious, this cd reissue will provide a crash course in their brand of extreme improv. Not for everyone...
MPEG Stream: "track 2"

BORBETOMAGUS Live In Allentown (Agaric) cd 14.98
There's two types of people in this world. People who like Borbetomagus, and those who don't. Probably there's many more of the latter. But for the former, each and every Borbetomagus album is pretty much a must have. Kinda the same way with the likes of Merzbow and Jandek, many of whose fans are doubtless shared.
So, for whom it may concern: here's a new album from the notorious New York wall of noise sax/sax/guitar improv trio! Well, not exactly new, this is actually a reissue (first time on cd) of a cassette originally released back in 1986, now including an entire bonus 22 minute second set, live in Allentown, Pennsylvania (home to renowned fantasy artist Boris Vallejo we just happened to randomly learn today as well).
The usual Borbeto-trio of Sauter/Dietrich/Miller is augmented here by the bass of Adam Nodelman and the electronics of Scott Legrath, as if they needed more noise-making help! Apparently this was upon the occasion of a "3rd annual Halloween extravaganza" 10/29/86 and in the pictures everyone's wearing weird masks and stuff.
The boasted-of "killer" sound is indeed pretty much so, every bit of sax blurt and guitar skree is ear-piercingly present and accounted for. Scary. As is the way with Borbetomagus, their squealing squall of sonic intensity shall soon send the appropriate sort of listener into rapturous trance. Stress on "appropriate" (see paragraph one).
MPEG Stream: "First Set"
MPEG Stream: "Second Set"

BORBETOMAGUS Songs Our Mother Taught Us (Agaric) cd 14.98
It's been a while, but Borbetomagus is back! This upstate New York sax/sax/guitar trio has been making ears bleed with their extreme free improv skronk for years, but haven't put out a record for a little while, so we all were eager to subject (what are now) our ear-nubs to this. Recorded live at The 13th Note in Glasgow and at The Spitz in London back in 1999, the three tracks on "Songs Our Mother Taught Us" are prime Borbeto. What do we mean? How 'bout the never-ending ecstatic death-cry of a million screaming meemies as they plunge into the abysssss...? Take any crazy, noisy free jazz you've heard (minus the drums, but with extra feedback), multiply it by a thousand, and voila. We dare you to turn it up. Saxophonists Jim Sauter and Don Dietrich lock horns (literally) while Donald Miller's guitar grinds away in the lower registers, the trio together manufacturing a dense wash of drone-skree that will pleasantly numb your brain, if you're partial to this kind of noise/jazz/noise. Beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "Aftershock"

BOSTIC, EARL Let's Ball Tonight (Rev-Ola / Cherry Red) cd 15.98

BOX Studio 1 (Rune Grammofon) cd 17.98
We just love it when a plan comes together. Somebody thought it would be a good idea for these three Norwegians and one American to form a band and knock out some killer electric avant jazz improv jams. And indeed it was! Of course, just WHO these Norwegians and American were made a big difference: Box consists of guitarist Raoul Bjorkenheim (Scorch Trio and a million other projects over the years), bassist Trevor Dunn (Fantomas, Secret Chiefs 3, Mr. Bungle, etc. etc.), drummer Morgan Agren (Mats//Morgan Band), and on electronics & keyboards, Stale Storlokken (Supersilent, Humcrush). None of 'em novices at acting and reacting as interesting sound-makers in diverse contexts.
The first track, "Untitled 9", is the longest, at 17 minutes, and pretty much says "Shred". Loud and clear. If you liked the Scorch Trio's scorching disc on Rune Grammofon, you'll probably dig this too. And the remaining five tracks here are also worthy, offering up plenty more moody bass burble, glitchy synth textures, threatening electric guitar, and percussive percolation. And though the disc is entitled Studio 1, we should note that this was all improvised live to analog tape with no overdubs or edits. Just pure badass instrumental interplay from four dudes who know what they're doin'.
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 9"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 13"

BOYKIN, DAVID OUTET Evidence Of Life On Other Planets Vol.2 (BOXmedia) cd 14.98

BOYKINS, RONNIE The Will Come, Is Now (ESP Disk) cd 14.98
I, Andee, was shopping for a present for my soon to be father-in-law, who is a huge jazz head, just like me, and I thought it would be cool to get him some lps to go with his brand new turntable, but as we sat in my room listening to records trying to decide what he would or wouldn't like, it seemed my taste/collection was a bit on the way-out/free/abrasive side compared to his, especially many of my favorite ESP reissues. That is until we threw on this recently reissued Boykins disc. While retaining the free-skree-skronk that I love so much about ESP, "The Will Come, Is Now" reins it all in a bit, wrapping Boykins' freak-out tendencies in a warm rich blanket of almost traditional bop/post-bop and really accessible-without-being-cheesy melodies. As much as I am digging ALL the recent ESP reissues, this is the one I find myself throwing on more and more often!
RealAudio clip: "The Will Come, Is Now"
RealAudio clip: "Starlight At the Wonder Inn"

BRAND, DOLLAR African Piano (ECM) cd 16.98

BRAXTON, ANTHONY 12 + 1tet (Victoriaville) (Victo) cd 15.98

BRAXTON, ANTHONY 3 Compositions Of New Jazz (Delmark) cd 11.98

BRAXTON, ANTHONY Actuel Sessions (Fuel 2000) cd 12.98

RealAudio clip: "The Light On The Dalta"
RealAudio clip: "Simple Like"

BRAXTON, ANTHONY For Alto (Delmark) cd 16.98

BRAXTON, ANTHONY Quartet (GTM) 2006 (Important) 4cd 30.00

BRAXTON, ANTHONY s/t (BYG / Actuel) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The first of two Anthony Braxton albums released in the BYG/Actuel series. Recorded at the Studio Saravah in Paris on September 10, 1969, featuring Leo Smith (trumpet), Leroy Jenkins (violin) and Steve McCall (drums). Pressed on 180 gram vinyl, original artwork is restored on a beautiful gatefold sleeve, with pics of a movie-star handsome young Braxton. Vinyl only. (Oh, and it's not really self-titled, but we can't figure out a way to type Braxton's symbolic notation.)

BRAXTON, ANTHONY Saxophone Improvisation Series F (America) 2cd 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
WOW. And do we mean WOW!! Fifteen classic free jazz records from the late sixties / early seventies, long out of print, finally getting the ULTRA deluxe reissue treatment. Incredibly limited, these will probably be out of print before you know it.
Comes in a gorgeous diecut fullcover three panel sleeve, with new artwork, as well as a huge booklet with the original album sleeve notes, new liner notes in french and english as well as a bunch of cool photos. So nice!

BRAXTON, ANTHONY Solo Live At Gasthof Heidelberg Loppem 2005 (Kunsthalle Lophem) 4cd 60.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Completely mindblowing live 4 disc set from Anthony Braxton recorded in 2005. We got these direct from the label, only got 5 or 6 and once they are gone we won't be able to get more. they're a bit pricey, but the packaging is super nice, and it is 4 discs after all, of Braxton performing solo, running the sonic gamut from gorgeous and soulful to demented and ultra challenging. 
It's hard to know what to say really about Anthony Braxton and his music. Sure he's a genius, and yeah he's probably completely insane, he's collaborated with Wolf Eyes which is something very few jazz legends would probably do, but his music, no matter how confounding, or how delicate and lovely, is pretty much always totally and utterly mindblowing. But by now, most of you know all that. And if not, for chrissakes pick this set up and immerse yourself in 4 hours of dizzying brilliance.
Solo Live At Gasthof Heidelberg Loppem 2005 is a massive 8 panel, 4 tray-ed digipak, with all the song titles rendered complex magic markered squiggles and little black arrows and numbers, each classified numerically as well. It's always been unclear the taxonomy Braxton uses to classify and catalogue his pieces, but it almost doesn't matter, it only adds to the magic and mystery, and it's all about the music anyway, and the music here is divine. Very low on the difficulty meter, most of the tracks here are lovely and lyrical, long drawn out notes, the sound lush and lustrous, the melodies alternatingly emotional and playful, dark and melancholy. This is absolutely essential for Braxton obsessives, but would also make a pretty nice introduction for folks who have yet to explore the Braxton and his expansive catalog. Way recommended either way.
MPEG Stream: "Candy"
MPEG Stream: "Comp No. 307a"
MPEG Stream: "Violets For My Furs"

BRAXTON, ANTHONY This Time (Actuel / Sunspots) cd 17.98

BRAXTON, ANTHONY Trio (Victoriaville) 2007 (Victo) cd 15.98
Saxophonist and composer (and professor) Anthony Braxton always blows our minds. Sometimes with his out-there jazz music. Sometimes just with his rather weird conceptual ideas. Of course, the two are closely related.
This album got us right from the cover picture. What the fuck is that thing he's playing? We've never seen a saxophone that big. It's gotta be like five feet long. And then there's an even bigger one (the mother?) sitting behind him. Wow.
On top of that, this disc, with Braxton's Diamond Curtain Wall Trio (sounds vaguely like some acid folk or "floorcore" band we'd be selling cd-rs or cassette tapes by), features Braxton not only playing oversized saxes but also doing live electronics via a laptop computer! Intriguing at the very least. So, of two recent Victo discs to come out of Braxton's performances at the 2007 Victoriaville new music festival (the other with a "12+1tet"), we've chosen to review this one. It's a single hour-long piece (""Composition 323c", the title being a drawing of a spiral intersected with a dashed line, joining a pink circle and a orange half-circle, with another dashed line branching off diagonally terminating in a blue circle, accompanied by the equation (40-B) with a vertical line and a Q under the 40... yeah that's way we love Braxton so much!).
Despite the size of the saxes, this starts off all quiet-like. Braxton's bleats and blurbles respectfully leaving space for the electric guitar of Mary Halvorson and the various horns (cornet, bugle, trombone, trumpets, etc.) played by Taylor Ho Bynum. Together they weave a tangled web of sound, sometimes calm, sometimes frantic, full of bumble-bee flights of horn blurt balanced between melody and out-and-out skree. The guitar and electronics add further cross-currents of texture, a vibrating sheen of drone sometimes surfacing as the band tiptoes around melodies. And when Braxton wants to blow in the bass frequencies, those bigass horns allow him to belch out a bowel-shaking rumble all right! You'd probably have to take a music theory and/or mystic philosophy class to figure out what's going on here and why, compositionally speaking, but even for casual fans of Braxton's eccentric jazz it's a varied hour to enjoy.
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 2"

BRAXTON, ANTHONY & SCOTT ROSENBERG Compositions / Improvisations 2000 (Barely Auditable) cd 14.98

BRAXTON, ANTHONY / MILFORD GRAVES / WILLIAM PARKER Beyond Quantum (Tzadik) cd 15.98

BRAXTON, ANTHONY W/ ALEX HORWITZ Four Compositions (Duets) 2000 (CIMP) cd 16.98
Imagine Neil Hamburger backed up by a drunk Albert Ayler. Imagine the worst comedian you've ever seen competing for your attention with an avant jazz musician in the same room. Imagine a 10 minute comedy sketch based on the assumption that DVD stands for digital -versatile- disc ("I mean, I imagine the DVD wearing a dress and singing a song or painting a picture" or something like that) all to the strains of atonal horns.
I mean, we're well aware that there's a healthy chunk of Aquarius customers that scan our lists specifically for things we describe as 'fucked' or 'ridiculous' or 'bizarre' or even just 'stupid'. Well, you're in for it now. You have been warned.
Anthony Braxton, much revered performer/composer/improviser, in yet another incomprehensible collaborative epiphany, has finally teamed up with...a stand up comedian. It's true. And of course, it wouldn't be true improvisation if the comedian weren't improvising as well, so what we're left with, is a series of skronks and squeals, and a series of witty (read: fucking stupid) riffs on newspaper headlines that are NOT FUNNY. REALLY NOT FUNNY.
I don't mean Neil Hamburger not funny, I mean plain old bad not funny...unbearably painful. So painful in fact that our own Andee qualifies this as a must own!!
RealAudio clip: "Composition No.281"

BRETZEL KILLING MACHINE Verdichtungen (1996-1998) (no label) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Very interesting cd-r release from this German experimental jazz-rock group, led by Mr. Bungle fan and super-creative keyboardist Bjoern Eichstaedt. Guitar, tapes, percussion, double bass, various effects, voices, saxophone, flute, electric cello and more are used by the band and guests to form intriguing, warped soundscapes, seemingly inspired by horror films. Bretzel Killing Machine would fit right in to the avant-garde downtown NYC Knitting Factory scene. Cool.
RealAudio clip: "Thick Brown Air"

BROTHER AH Move Ever Onward (Ikef) cd 14.98
This is a long lost classic (originally released in 1975) from ex-Sun Ra band member Brother Ah, and features a 25 piece ensemble and a vast array of exotic instruments such as shakuhachi flute, gong, space beam (?!), koto, pan flute, french horn, sitar, kiti kup (?!), tabla, oboe, shawn (?!), as well as various vocalists chanting, singing, shouting, and pre-recorded nature sounds. Sound far out? Well, it is, even by Sun Ra standards. Starting out with an Eastern-tinged spaced out raga, with buzzing sitars and subtle percussion underneath spoken word, then to a dreamy flute-flecked jazz number with Ethel Merman-ish operatic vocals over the top, on to funky African percussion workouts to chanted almost liturgical sounding afro-jazz-pop....Weird but definitely cool. For VERY adventurous fans of afro-rock as well as fans of Sun Ra and that sort of out-there-jazz.
RealAudio clip: "Track one"

BROTHER AH Move Ever Onward (Ikef) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We listed the cd version last time, now we have vinyl too! ... This is a long lost classic (originally released in 1975) from ex-Sun Ra band member Brother Ah, and features a 25 piece ensemble and a vast array of exotic instruments such as shakuhachi flute, gong, space beam (?!), koto, pan flute, french horn, sitar, kiti kup (?!), tabla, oboe, shawn (?!), as well as various vocalists chanting, singing, shouting, and pre-recorded nature sounds. Sound far out? Well, it is, even by Sun Ra standards. Starting out with an Eastern-tinged spaced out raga, with buzzing sitars and subtle percussion underneath spoken word, then to a dreamy flute-flecked jazz number with Ethel Merman-ish operatic vocals over the top, on to funky African percussion workouts to chanted almost liturgical sounding afro-jazz-pop....Weird but definitely cool. For VERY adventurous fans of afro-rock as well as fans of Sun Ra and that sort of out-there-jazz.
RealAudio clip: "Track one"

BROTHER AH Sound Awareness (Ikef) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ex-Sun Ra band member and musical visionary Brother Ah created a world even farther out than Sun Ra's if you can believe that. This early seventies classic features two extended numbers, the first a dreamy, spacy, psychedelic soundscape with heavily reverbed, chanted vocals, and heavily affected nature sounds. Dark and drone-y and completely overpowering. As tripped out as anything Acid Mothers Temple or any other modern psych band has attempted. The second, a spare, rhythmic, super free, clattery No Neck Blues Band-ish hippy jam, with thundering percussion, howling horns, and bells and chimes and hand drums that slowly develops into a throbbing, jazz rock revival complete with celebrated drummer Max Roach testifying to the glory of LOVE while an enthusiastic crowd cheers him on as gongs and shouts and thrumming bass lines get more and more feverish, climaxing in a furious eruption of wild percussion. Way, way out there. Not for the faint of heart, but definitely for fans of Sun Ra, No Neck Blues Band, and all sorts of out rock/free jazz.
RealAudio clip: "Introduction"
RealAudio clip: "Rap"

BROTHER AH Sound Awareness (Ikef) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We listed the cd version last time, now we have vinyl too! ... Ex-Sun Ra band member and musical visionary Brother Ah created a world even farther out than Sun Ra's if you can believe that. This early seventies classic features two extended numbers, the first a dreamy, spacy, psychedelic soundscape with heavily reverbed, chanted vocals, and heavily affected nature sounds. Dark and drone-y and completely overpowering. As tripped out as anything Acid Mothers Temple or any other modern psych band has attempted. The second, a spare, rhythmic, super free, clattery No Neck Blues Band-ish hippy jam, with thundering percussion, howling horns, and bells and chimes and hand drums that slowly develops into a throbbing, jazz rock revival complete with celebrated drummer Max Roach testifying to the glory of LOVE while an enthusiastic crowd cheers him on as gongs and shouts and thrumming bass lines get more and more feverish, climaxing in a furious eruption of wild percussion. Way, way out there. Not for the faint of heart, but definitely for fans of Sun Ra, No Neck Blues Band, and all sorts of out rock/free jazz.
RealAudio clip: "Introduction"
RealAudio clip: "Rap"

BROTHER AH & THE SOUNDS OF AWARENESS Key To Nowhere (Ikef) cd 14.98
"The third in Ikef's series of Brother Ah re-releases brings his privately issued LP Key To Nowhere back to center stage. Like our previous two titles, Sound Awareness and Move Ever Onward, Key To Nowhere continues the musical search through global rhythms, tight grooves and an absolutely brilliant rendition of the traditional 'Motherless Child' that has had DJs and Jazz fanatics alike climbing the walls to obtain a copy of this gem."

BROTHERHOOD OF BREATH Travelling Somewhere (Cuneiform) cd 13.98

BROTZMANN / UUSKYLA / FRIIS NIELSON Live at Nefertiti (Ayler) cd 15.98
Legendary european avant-jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzman is still pummelling audiences, as this recording from upstart free jazz label Ayler Records documents. The trio pulls off some intense, dextrous improv, although I just can't hang with the electric bass- it's wanky sound distracts from the overall visceral impact.
RealAudio clip: "Off Sight"
RealAudio clip: "Nidhog 1"

BROTZMANN / VAN HOVE / BENNINK Balls (Atavistic) cd 14.98
"Archive FMP Edition" via Atavistic's Unheard Music Series of this classic Euro-free-jazz blow-out starring pianist Fred Van Hove, mad percussionist Han Bennink, and tenor sax terror Peter Brotzmann. The fourteen minute title track, a Brotzmann "composition", starts off quietly before erupting into mayhemic sax chatter, piano note-scatter, percussion clatter, and even some weird vocal patter. The rest of the album follows suit, the "free-action" of this soon-to-be legendary improv power trio taking no prisoners. All three players could -- and do -- fill solo albums with energetic, interesting art, so the combined youthful musical fervor of the three of 'em is something to behold, on this, their debut trio recording (and only the second FMP label release ever). The tracks on "Balls" are fierce yet tightly wound, making strong statements, no messing around, even as they explore a wide range of sounds, and even silences.
The four tracks from the original, long-out-of-print 1970 LP (remastered from the original tapes, packaged in a careful facsimile of the original LP design) are joined on this cd reissue by two untitled, previously unissued tracks cut by the trio in the same era, an exciting bonus indeed.
RealAudio clip: "Balls"
RealAudio clip: "Filet Americain"

BROTZMANN CHICAGO OCTET/TENTET (Okka) 3cd 27.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Live and studio material recorded in Chicago by German free-improv saxophone legend Peter Brotzmann and a cast of notables (including Ken Vandermark, Mars Williams, Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang, Kent Kessler, Mats Gustafsson, Fred Lonberg-Holm and others). Highly varied & all quite excellent.

BROTZMANN GROUP, PETER Fuck De Boere (Atavistic / Unheard Music Series) cd 14.98
Featured here are two previously unreleased recordings from the Frankfurt Jazz Festival in 1968 and 1970. The first track is an alternate version of Brotz's classic attack "Machine Gun", as performed by a nine piece instead of the octet featured on the FMP record. Recorded three months before the Machine Gun record, this is free music in its purest form, and surprisingly not as aggressive as the future studio recordings. Inherently chaotic, yet there is an incredible amount of restraint and beautiful moments not unlike those of Sun Ra's Arkestra. The second piece, recorded in 1970, is a another monster altogether. A ten piece featuring Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Evan Parker, Willem Breuker and Fred van Hove! "Fuck de Boere" is a thirty-six minute onslaught, a bit more cacophonic and aggressive than "Machine Gun". A fun tidbit from the liner notes: "'No, no... I don't say that, no I can't...' So he didn't. The announcer of the German Jazz Festival in Frankfurt 1970, he didn't want to say 'Fuck'."
Definitely a must for any free jazz junkie, these two lost artifacts were lovingly recovered by the fine folks at Atavistic.

BROTZMANN TRIO, THE PETER For Adolphe Sax (Atavistic / Unheard Music Series) cd 14.98
Legendary free jazz giant's first record, remastered and available for the first time on cd! Originally released in 1967 on Brotzmann's BRO label, he is joined by bassist Peter Kowald and Sven-Ake Johansson on percussion. This remastered version also tacks on a bonus cut featuring pianist Fred Van Hove. Raw and edgy, though not as demanding and brutal as Brotzmann's subsequent "Nipples" and "Machine Gun".
RealAudio clip: "For Adolphe Sax"
RealAudio clip: "Sanity"

BROTZMANN, PETER Born Broke (Atavistic) 2cd 21.00

BROTZMANN, PETER & HAN BENNINK Schwarzwaldfahrt (Atavistic / Unheard Music Series) 2cd 21.00
Who doesn't love Peter Brotzmann and/or Han Bennink? If you're into skronky European free jazz craziness that is. Saxophonist Brotzmann is a hard-blowin' legend, and Han Bennink is not only a percussion whiz but also a strong "pro" argument in the whole does-humor-belong-in-music? debate. Teamed up here on this expanded (meaning there's a whole bonus disc with ten previously unreleased tracks!) reissue of what those in the know, know as the 1977 Bro-Ben Black Forest recordings, Brotzmann and Bennink actually did the Jewelled Antler natureboy thing here and took their instruments out into the forest to improvise amid the trees and birds and small curious animals. Along with a supply of bread and wine they toted with them an assortment of clarinets and saxophones, a banjo, a viola, some toys, birdcalls, cymbals, and suchlike sundry instruments -- Han had to make do without his customary drum kit, playing instead on tree trunks and rocks with branches and stones. Their free music got all that much freer for being loosed in the great outdoors, and these Black Forest sessions certainly brought forth all the wildman whimsy you'd expect from this duo. In some ways a precursor to the field recording aesthetic practiced today by the Jewelled Antler gang and all those Finnish free-freak-forest-folk outfits we all love, Schwarzwaldfahrt is replete with the gurgling sounds of water, birds twittering, primal yelps from Han and/or Peter, and other things you wouldn't normally hear in more "civilized" jazz recording. At one point, Han pounds (or splashes) out a stacatto rhythm on the surface of a stream or pond, and you can for sure tell how much fun they were having! So much, that they recorded a lot more music/sound than they could release at the time. They had to edit down their tapes to just one LP's worth of material for the original edition of this on FMP, but now Atavistic's Unheard Music Series has given them two whole compact discs to fill up, and it's a joy.
MPEG Stream: "NR.7"
MPEG Stream: "NR.8"
MPEG Stream: "NR.9"

BROTZMANN, PETER / KEIJI HAINO / SHOJI HANO Shadows (DIW Records) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Year 2000 improv meeting betwixt European free-jazz titan Brotzmann (reeds) and Japanese improv veterans Haino (guitar) and Hano (percussion).

BROTZMANN, PETER / MANGELSDORFF / SOMMER Pica Pica (Atavistic) cd 14.98

BROTZMANN, PETER / PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE / MATS GUSTAFSSON The Fat Is Gone (Smalltown Superjazz) cd 16.98

BROTZMANN, PETER / SHOJI HANO Funny Rat (Improvised Music From Japan) cd 17.98
To fans of energetic-improv-free-jazz-type music, neither of these guys should need an introduction. (If you DO need an introduction, there's probably other discs that would be better to start with.) Drummer Hano and sax-blaster Brotzmann have collaborated on many occasions -- this newly-released recording actually dates from 1991, it's a full concert from a live tour the duo did in Japan that year, previously only released on cassette by Hano. 72 wailin' minutes, turbulent yet elegant.
MPEG Stream: "Snake And Sheep"

BROTZMANN, PETER OCTET Complete Machine Gun Sessions (Atavistic Archive FMP Edition) cd 15.98
Never was a title better chosen. The juttering salvo of massed horns that opens this record is machinegunnery indeed. Legendary hardblowing German free jazz saxophonist Peter Brotzmann is still around today taking names and kicking ass, but he's perhaps best known for this album from 1968, a recording that embodies all the radical turmoil of that year, remaining a powerful statement of energy, anger, & freedom even today. For '68, this was among the ultimate in "extreme" music, regardless of genre. The amplified antics of most rock bands (with the possible exception of free jazz aficionados the MC5) couldn't touch it. Of course, we're ignoring the subtleties of this music in stressing that. But if the extremity hooks you in, that's fine. And it's certainly true that Machine Gun was the spiritual ancestor to such modern noisy-jazz-industrial acts as 16-17, Borbetomagus, and John Zorn's Painkiller. Apparently "Machine Gun" was Don Cherry's nickname for Brotzmann, and the album Machine Gun is basically Brotzmann times 8, he got a whole band who could play at his level of ferocious intensity, a screaming, skronking collective improv blowout, but one that's directed, organized into a killing machine of concentrated force when necessary, or subsides, chests heaving, into still-clattering lulls of relative calm and abstract beauty at other times.
The Peter Brotzmann Octet responsible for Machine Gun was really an all-star lineup, many musicians still well-known in the realm of European free jazz: Willem Breuker (tenor sax, bass clarinet), Evan Parker (tenor sax), Fred Van Hove (piano), Peter Kowald (bass), Buschi Niebergall (bass), Han Bennink (drums), and Sven-Ake Johansson (drums). That's some lineup. If you're familiar with those folks, chances are you've already heard this album, but if not, well it's one to get. And while it's been in print as an import cd on Free Music Productions (FMP) for some years, it hasn't always been easy to find. So it's great that it now takes a well deserved place in the Atavistic Unheard Music Series as a domestic cd release, and even better that they've added a bunch of bonus tracks to it! Extra alternate takes, and the only recorded LIVE version of "Machine Gun", from the '68 Frankfurt Jazz Fest. Plus there's new liner notes from Unheard guru John Corbett.
MPEG Stream: "Machine Gun (Second Take)"
MPEG Stream: "Responsible (Second Take)"