LORN Towards The Abyss Of Disease (Eerie Art) 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 Italian black metal horde Lorn specialize in COLD BLACK METAL. It says so right there on the record cover. And indeed, Towards The Abyss Of Disease, their second full length, is cold. Freezing cold. Frosty and grim as all good black metal should be. But Lorn offer up something unexpected. Ridiculously catchy songs. And yeah, we talk about black metal bands being catchy all the time. Weird hooks buried under vast swaths of black fuzz. But Lorn, whether purposeful or not, outdo them all, managing to inject some impossibly catchy melodies into the chorus (and sometimes the verses too) of each of these six black hymns. And we mean stuck in your head like crazy. Humming it for the next week. That sort of thing. It doesn't really take away from the band's grim evil atmosphere, but what it does do is add a weird haunting hooky melancholy that is not often found in COLD BLACK METAL bands. The opening salvo, the title track, is a buzzing midtempo burzumic blast, but when the chorus drops, the guitars lock into a haunting minor key sing song melody that is equal parts lullaby and long lost classic pop song. Granted, it's buried under a mile of buzzing prickly spike encrusted fuzz, but that's exactly what makes these songs stand out. The impossible alliance between hooky pop catchiness and cold grim blackness. The blackness rules of course, the surface of every track is a barren wasteland of black buzz, thrashing percussive pound and growled demonic screech, but the catchiness lurks just below the surface, barely audible through a storm of swirling blackness and ultra distorted blown out fuzz. But it informs all the sounds around it, giving Lorn a truly creepy (and catchy sound) that with close listening unfolds like some hellish black flower. So awesome!
MPEG Stream: "Towards The Abyss Of Disease"
MPEG Stream: "Watching The Landscapes Of Silent Nothing"
MPEG Stream: "Trolls. Hordes. Axes."

LORNA DOOM The Diabolical EP (Corleone) cd ep 10.98
Ahh, the Body. One of our favorite crushing sludge behemoths. Purveyors of pulverizing brutality. Khanate, Moss, Corrupted, all sonic brethren of the mighty metallic monsters known as the Body.
So what might you think if you heard that two of the guys from The body had a side project called Lorna Doom? Well, you'd probably be thinking the same thing we were. Fuck yeah! The Body, Lorna DOOM. How could we not be psyched?! Okay, well what if we told you Lorna Doom was in fact The Body's HIP-HOP side project? Then what? Run screaming? Or would you still be intrigued? Maybe more than intrigued, maybe kind of excited? Well we were, and we still are, cuz this is pretty fucking dope.
Woven together from simple drum machine beats, weird post rock guitar lines, jazzy horns, bizarre samples, and AWESOME loops (the first track is made from a loop of Rob Base's ("it Takes Two"!) and of course some bad ass white boy rapping. At first we were sort of thrown for a loop. But the more we listened to this, the more we dug it. Not hard to see these guys rocking the mic and holding their own alongside the big boys. Funky and funny, but not joke-y at all. This disc had us reimagining Eminem's movie 8 Mile, but recast with these two bearded indie rock metal dudes in the part of Rabbit (or Rabbits I guess), how fucking awesome would that be?
Anyway, not necessarily for fans of the Body, although we are and we dig this a lot. Regardless, some seriously solid, funky, outsider, homemade hip hop. Cool stuff for sure.
MPEG Stream: "Doom Is In The Room"
MPEG Stream: "Clash Of The Titans"

LOS ABANDONED Mixtape (Vapor) cd 14.98
Let's keep the electricity of the summer months goin' a little longer, shall we? We here in SF have had some deliciously warm sunshiney days this week, and now we've got some tunes to go along with the blue skies and high spirits... Los Abandoned's debut album Mixtape! Its hard rockin' pop is delivered with big crunchy guitars and a truckload of sass and attitude much like Elastica, The Breeders and Metric, but with a notable difference. Their vocals are all sung in a mish-mash of English and Spanish! It can be a bit confusing if you like to sing along, but it also makes for some pretty entertaining misheard lyrics too.
MPEG Stream: "Stalk U"
MPEG Stream: "A La Mode"

LOS AMIGOS INVISIBLES Arepa 3000 (Luaka Bop) cd 16.98

LOS AMIGOS INVISIBLES Superpop Venezuela (Gozadera) cd 16.98
Despite this band's name, Los Amigos Invisibles most definitely make their presence felt with their latest album. Chock full of tireless Latin jazz beats, electronic frolics, swoon-croon male vocals and ample nods to '80s funk and disco, Superpop Venezuela has 'party' all over it! Pretty much every one of these seventeen songs is infused with an irresistable force that pulls you onto the dancefloor. After about a half dozen playful, sexy, rump-bumpers they insert a gentler, breezy cocktail-sippin' number "A Una Mujer" to cool down your fevered brow... but it'll still keep your top a-tapping. Then it's right back into the peppery festivities which include an unabashedly kooky tune called "Caramelo Y Chocolate"... those are some super silly vocals! Really, this band very well might be able to singlehandedly stretch the balmy summer nights long into the autumn months! Not at all surprisingly this was produced by Dimitri From Paris who himself possesses the know-how to not only get a party started but keep it rollin' into the wee hours.
MPEG Stream: "Miss Venezuela"
MPEG Stream: "Caramelo Y Chocolate"

LOS ANGELES FREE MUSIC SOCIETY Blorp Esette Collector's Edition (Transparency) 4cd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As if the 10cd box set previously released by Organ of Corti was not enough, the Transparency label now reissues another 4 discs of material from this semi-legendary, decidedly anti-rock, '70s pseudo-collective. Fortunately, this release is a lot easier on the wallet than that previous box set was. Taking Captain Beefheart's destruction of the song to the outsider art extreme of non-musicality, the members of the LAMFS experiment with noise, broken instruments, and juvenile behavior. Tracks from Smegma, Christian Death (!!?--yeah, it's good!), Rick Potts, Henry Kaiser, etc.

LOS BICHOS 1991-1988 (Munster) 2cd 29.00
Yes, you read that correctly. The title for this two cd set is 1991-1988! Munster Records and Los Bichos are taking a few liberties with chronology and wanna take you back in time. And what a wild ride it is!
We have to admit that we're totally new to this long-lost, mysterious punk band from Spain, but we gather from this release that they clearly had a strange swagger all their own. Hmmm, kind of Birthday Party meets Os Mutantes?! Sure wish we'd witnessed them back in the day. If you happen to be familiar with them, you might find yourself jumpin' for joy at the thought of hearing tunes from not only their albums Bitter Pink, My Deaf Pink Love and Color Hits, but also a heap of previously unreleased material. Thirty six tracks total packaged in a hardcover book-style package. Included is a 76-page book filled with tons of historic notes and photos.
MPEG Stream: "Poxy Poxy"
MPEG Stream: "Mice From Hell"

LOS CAMPESINOS! Romance Is Boring (Arts & Crafts) cd 14.98
We tried to fight it. We wanted to hate Los Campesinos! (exclamation point part of the name btw), and we tried our hardest, all the hype, the blog love, their extreme cuteness, the mandatory exclamation point, the fact that the band members all take the last name Campesinos (a la the Ramones), on the surface, barring the music, they seemed like a band we would hate. But we're big enough to admit when we're wrong, and so, here goes: we were wrong.
This Welsh troop of quirky pop kids are pretty dang great, we can't speak to past records, although odds are we'll be digging into those now too, but this record is fantastic. Weirdo pop, jangly and playful at its core, but rife with strange electronics, bizarre production, surprising horns, tinkling chimes, even glockesnpiel, but those quirky elements can't detract from how awesome and awesomely catchy these songs are. Equal parts Belle And Sebastien, Superchunk, Pavement and old Yoyo and Kill Rock Stars groups like Crayon, Nuzzle, the Cannanes, Some Velvet Sidewalk and the like. Exuberant and fun fun fun. Weird instrumentation, boy / girl vocals, crazy HOOKS everywhere, sing-alongs, goofy smart lyrics, crunchy and jangly and so goddamn catchy, and fun, did we say fun. Okay! We're sorry, we love these guys and gals, and we love this record, and you probably will too.
MPEG Stream: "In Media Res"
MPEG Stream: "There Are Listed Buildings"
MPEG Stream: "Romance Is Boring"

LOS CAMPESINOS! Romance Is Boring (Arts & Crafts) lp 24.00
We tried to fight it. We wanted to hate Los Campesinos! (exclamation point part of the name btw), and we tried our hardest, all the hype, the blog love, their extreme cuteness, the mandatory exclamation point, the fact that the band members all take the last name Campesinos (a la the Ramones), on the surface, barring the music, they seemed like a band we would hate. But we're big enough to admit when we're wrong, and so, here goes: we were wrong.
This Welsh troop of quirky pop kids are pretty dang great, we can't speak to past records, although odds are we'll be digging into those now too, but this record is fantastic. Weirdo pop, jangly and playful at its core, but rife with strange electronics, bizarre production, surprising horns, tinkling chimes, even glockesnpiel, but those quirky elements can't detract from how awesome and awesomely catchy these songs are. Equal parts Belle And Sebastien, Superchunk, Pavement and old Yoyo and Kill Rock Stars groups like Crayon, Nuzzle, the Cannanes, Some Velvet Sidewalk and the like. Exuberant and fun fun fun. Weird instrumentation, boy / girl vocals, crazy HOOKS everywhere, sing-alongs, goofy smart lyrics, crunchy and jangly and so goddamn catchy, and fun, did we say fun. Okay! We're sorry, we love these guys and gals, and we love this record, and you probably will too.
MPEG Stream: "In Media Res"
MPEG Stream: "There Are Listed Buildings"
MPEG Stream: "Romance Is Boring"

LOS HOLY'S Sueno Sicodelico (PlusTapes) cassette 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
All right! Two of our favorite things, weird limited cassette tapes, and amazing psychedelic and garage music from all over the world. Plustapes is a new cassette only label, specializing, in... well, limited tapes and obscure international psych and garage music!!!
Their first release is a doozy, and it's darn near criminal that it's limited to only 100 copies. The debut from Peru's Los Holy's, who just happen to count as a member a fella who would go on to play in another aQ fave Peruvian psych act, Tarkus. But unlike the heaviness of Tarkus, Los Holy's trafficked more in a fuzzy surfy garage music, thick with effects, a mix of the Ventures and Joe Meek. A few tracks are dead ringers for Meek jams, and still others sound like Ventures outtakes, but Los Holy's definitely add their own spin. There's plenty of fuzz, these all instrumental jams slip from groovy kitchy garage rock, to super psyched out and fuzzed out under water sounding surf music, often a mix of the two, all slathered in Farfisa organs, moaning Theremins, swirling bloops and bleeps, primitive delays and echo effects, tons of reverb, all packed into kick ass super catchy psychedelic sixties surf garage jams, surprisingly heavy and tripped out for the time (mid '60s), really awesome.
Essential for anyone into super obscure, super far out sixties psych, especially, from South America, a la groups like Tarkus, Traffic Sound, and Los Nuevos Shain's.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, Each one hand numbered, clear red cassettes in full color sleeves. ONE PER CUSTOMER!!!

LOS LOBOS Colossal Head (Warner Bros) cd 14.98
Fans of Kiko, proceed. Fans of Latin Playboys, proceed with caution.

LOS LOBOS The Town And The City (Hollywood) cd 16.98

LOS MOCKERS Complete Recordings (Munster Records) cd 14.98

LOS NATAS Corsario Negro (Small Stone) cd 15.98
Now known as *Los* Natas rather than just plain Natas (to avoid confusion with the hiphop group of the same name?), this excellent Argentinian stoner rock outfit are back at last with a follow-up to their highly regarded (around AQ anyway) 1999 album Ciudad de Brahman (which is sadly out of print now, as it was released by the now defunct Man's Ruin label -- at the time we proclaimed it one of said label's best releases ever). An atmospheric Kyuss flavor is still present, but they've really developed from their humble beginnings into a powerful and original band. Harking back to lost wonders of obscure 1970s Latin American heavy psych, the Los Natas trio's music is heavy, rumbling stuff with stretches of spacey, almost jazz improv, acoustic breaks, and of course Spanish language vocals... They rock out on tracks like "Lei Motive" (with some unexpected almost boogie-woogie piano dropping into the middle of the song) and get all abstract and avantgarde on gently droning, drugged out trips like "Planeta Solitario". Recorded in Argentina by SF's own master of heaviness Billy Anderson (producer for Neurosis, High On Fire, Cathedral, Melvins, etc.), this is definitely one of the best heavy, psychedelic rock releases of the year thus far! (PS look out for another upcoming Los Natas disc to be released on Jussi of Circle's Ektro label someday.)
RealAudio clip: "El Cono Del Encono"
RealAudio clip: "Lei Motive"
RealAudio clip: "Corsario Negro"

LOS NATAS El Hombre Montana (Small Stone) cd 15.98
Attentive Aquarius customers probably already know Argentina's Los Natas as a band that, over their career to date, have recorded riffy Kyuss-inspired albums for seminal stoner rock label Man's Ruin (RIP) -and- also released proggy, droned-out space rock experiments for Circle's Ektro imprint, in all cases solidifying our Los Natas fandom here at AQ. Not that the stylistic distance 'tween the Man's Ruin and Ektro albums is that much of a stretch -- certainly not for these guys, who have become masters at making modern psychedelic hard rock that harks back to the druggy daze of '70s krautrock and their own South American hippie heroes, as much as it does the "desert rock" of Kyuss.
Well, we're glad to report that Los Natas are back and bringin' it with this, their latest album, the long-awaited, full-on follow-up to their previous Small Stone release Corsario Negro from back in 2002. They've definitely got the stoner rock rolling here, El Hombre Montana being on the more metallic side of the Los Natas equation, super heavy and percussively driving and seemingly haunted by the spirit of Black Sabbath in the guitar crunch department. Full of fuzz and distortion, these songs spiral in intensity -- lots of wild acid rawk GUITAR bursting out all over the place -- but also find room for some gruff vocal melodies (all songs sung in Spanish only). There's even a track of lovely, acoustic campfire folk. So we'd say that this is a stoner-rock-en-Espanol album with broad appeal to people into the likes of, say, Six Organs of Admittance, Comets On Fire, The Heads, and Boris.
Indeed, while Stateside these guys have their fans (we know quite a few AQ regulars are into 'em), they still don't have quite the profile of another AQ fave, Japan's Boris. And while Los Natas don't -quite- ever go to the extremes of heaviness and weirdness as Boris sometimes do, both bands occupy a lot of the same middle ground in the '70s inspired psychedelic hard rock realm, so we'd like to point out that there's not reason why anyone who loved Boris' Akuma No Uta, or Pink, or (especially) Heavy Rocks shouldn't also thrill to the music of Los Natas!
MPEG Stream: "El Bolsero"
MPEG Stream: "La Ciervo"

LOS NATAS Munchen Sessions (Elektrohasch) 2cd 26.00
For fans of Argentina's heavy psych stoner rock overlords Los Natas, we've FINALLY managed to snag enuff copies of this sprawling live-in-the-studio double cd to list... These Munchen Sessions were, as you might expect from the title, recorded in Munich, Germany, in 2003. With the tape rolling courtesy of Electrohasch head honcho (and Colour Haze guitarist) Stefan Koglek, who also makes a guest appearance on one track, the Los Natas guys took this opportunity to jam out on material both new and old; hints of their heroes Black Sabbath (or is that a Bang riff we're hearing??) seem to surface amongst themes fans will recognize from past Los Natas efforts like Corsario Negro. The two discs bear two long tracks apiece, song suites really, each the appoximate length of a vinyl album side, wandering through all kinds of moods both heavy and mellow...basically progged-out in the same laidback way as the amazing Toba-Trance volumes Los Natas released a while back on Circle's Ektro label. Though Los Natas started their career off as (pretty killer) Kyuss klones, their interest in/influence from '70s psych and krautrock like Agitation Free has become more evident over the years, and we'd say that folks into the likes of Pharaoh Overlord and the heavier Acid Mother Temple material who haven't yet heard Los Natas need to check 'em out, and there's plenty to check out here!
MPEG Stream: "13"
MPEG Stream: "Tomaiten (Jamm Aleman)"

LOS NATAS Nuevo Orden De La Libertad (Small Stone) cd 14.98
Flailing long hair, jamming guitar solos, and gruff vocals (in Spanish). Weirdly looming desert cacti with electric instruments. Astral drug trips to the tops of holy mountains. Thick clouds of marijuana smoke forming into the shapes of totemic birds and animals. Campfire acoustic ceremony. And utter, utter HEAVINESS. Oh yeah, these guys from way down south in Argentina are one of our favorite "stoner rock" bands ever. We sound stoned just talking about 'em.
We've been fans of Los Natas for around ten years now, ever since we heard their 2nd album, Ciudad De Brahman, released in 1999 by thee primo purveyors of stoner rock, Man's Ruin, now defunct. In a world of approximately 1,257,523 Kyuss clones (about half of 'em from Sweden, according to the most recent data we have available), Los Natas stood out as particularly excellent example of the Kyuss style desert rock thing, fat guitar tone and all. And then, they took that sound and went all wonderfully weird with it, releasing a couple "Toba-Trance" discs of folk-flecked, pot-headed, spaced-out '70s sounding progginess on the Finnish label Ektro, run by another AQ fave band, Circle. And yet they also managed to get even heavier and more aggressively metallic elsewhere on other albums, like Corsario Negro and Le Hombre Montana. It's been three long years since we last heard from 'em, and wow, this new one could be their best yet!
As displayed by the fierce urgency of the storming, spiraling, and very metal instrumental "David Y Goliath" to then the hushed and lovely contemplative string-pluck of "Bienvenidos" that immediately follows it, El Nuevo Orden De La Libertad provides everything we want from these South American fuzzfreaks. It's loud, pounding and grinding, sooo heavy and rockin', yet with many memorable, melodic moments. And their interest in sprawling spaced out krautrocky improvs hasn't exactly abated, with detours into a nod-zone of blissful piano/acoustic guitar interplay (on final track "Dos Horses" ferinstance, that reminds us of Circle's Miljard) and stuff like that, as Los Natas wander about a mystic desertscape, dreaming and destroying with drug-fueled fervor.
We've said it before, and we'll say it again. As much as we love Japan's Boris, there's no reason that this equally heavy and psychedelic band shouldn't be as adulated.
MPEG Stream: "El Nuevo Orden De La Libertad"
MPEG Stream: "Hombre De Metal"
MPEG Stream: "Dos Horses"

LOS NATAS Toba-Trance (Ektro) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Argentina's Los Natas were once a Kyuss clone (and a good one) but now they're really come into their own. First they impressed us with last year's mighty rockin' Corsario Negro opus (second in our personal Stoner Rock Of The Year estimation only to Heavy Rocks from Japan's Boris, maybe even tied with 'em), now they branch out further with this psychedelic "trance" album released on Jussi of Circle's Ektro label. And they fit right in with the likes of Ektro labelmates Circle and Acid Mothers Temple. The Los Natas trio has emerged from the pot haze of their Buenos Aires "Death Studios" to unfurl the banner of Toba-Trance, a mostly instrumental (though we like the brief vocal "hoo hoo" bit in the middle of track 2) laid-back spacey exploratory opus that's not really "heavy" in the way we were expecting. The metal part of the stoner rock equation is mostly missing. Rather, the acoustic guitars and Latin flavored jazz improv elements of the druggier, more atmospheric tracks found on Corsario Negro set the standard here. Droney, melodic, extended (three tracks, fifty-two minutes total)...this is a very nice lil' trip. Guitarist Sergio Chotsourian channels his '70s heroes with some lengthy psych solos. Flutes and South American Indian instruments also show up in the mix. Immediate references might be Circle's stoner-rock side-project Pharoah Overlord, or the lighter side of Boris's semi-acoustic Flood. Byram's thinking of Grateful Dead jams (and we know Jussi loves the Greatful Dead) but this is as much Agitation Free or some other Krautrock hippy stuff. What it definitely is, is spacerock, mostly mellow and quite pretty, mesmerizing and intricate, great going-to-bed-at-night music. As we said, it never gets really heavy, though there's some riffier moments throughout and distorted noisiness that kicks in towards the end of track three, not loud but satisfying nonetheless. The more we listen, the more we like. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Que Rico..."
MPEG Stream: "Die Possime"

LOS NATAS Toba-Trance II (Ektro) cd 14.98
Argentinian stoner rock heroes Los Natas are a band that definitely seems to have shifted their allegiance from the all-too-common-inspiration Kyuss to the real ancient old stuff, getting really into Pink Floyd and the Greatful Dead and all their own '70s South American psychedelic forebears (obscure bands we gringos don't even know about). You can still hear the Kyuss in 'em, but filtered through an original Latin American/psych record collector creativity. Los Natas' last two records have been great -- both the harder-rockin' Corsario Negro and the spacier, mellower, mostly instrumental Toba-Trance. Now comes Toba-Trance II! While it reprises many of the elements of the first Toba-Trance (ending even with a live version of "Que Rico..." from that album), in parts this sequel seems way proggier. Hard prog. With flutes. Squawking fucked up horn bleats. Serious riffage. Especially on the eleven-minute "Tracion En El Arrocero" which we could imagine as music for some sort of medieval asskicker procession. That's not the lengthiest track on here, either: the 15 minute "Humo de Marihuana" is a genuine spaghetti western epic. Of course it wouldn't be Toba-Trance (or Los Natas) without hippy percussion and limpid, liquid bass undulations, mellow stoned spaced out maaaann. And mention must be made of the Flamenco stylings and psychedelic soloing of guitarist Sergio -- he smokes! Gently beautiful and meltingly mesmeric, the Latin American answer to Pharaoh Overlord or Ghost perhaps. And it's as beautifully packaged as the first Toba-Trance -- great looking graphics, Ektro!
MPEG Stream: "Traicion En El Arrocero"
MPEG Stream: "La Sepa"

LOS NEGRITOS Speed-Merengue Mega-Mix (Rather Interesting) cd 21.00
Oh, Senor Coconut we can never get enough of you and all your sneaky alter egos. He just unleashed his homage to Yellow Magic Orchestra a couple lists back and when summertime rolls around his effervescent fun party sounds always hit the spot. Los Negritos is supposedly the work of Los Sampler's, a Chilean percussion group that Atom Heart aka Senor Coconut claims to have discovered. But we are still betting that at the end of the day this is all the work of the imaginative, playful mind of Senor Coconut himself. His frantic choppity-chop arrangements of electronics and abundant samples are pretty unmistakable... and pretty darn irresistible. Tweaked horns and synth sounds jump about the itchy-glitchy and yes verrry speedy merengue beats as highly processed vocals make often indecipherable exclamations. Never fails to delight in the most heart-racing and spastic way!
MPEG Stream: "Merenguito"
MPEG Stream: "Disco Rigido"

LOS NUEVOS SHAIN'S Singles 1969-1970 (Repsychled) cd 15.98
Along with the Tarkus album highlighted on this week's list, we've got more vintage Peruvian psych rock for you here -- a disc featuring rare and unreleased singles tracks circa 1969-1970 from Los Nuevos Shain's, the band formed by Enrique "Pico" Ego Aguirre, who had been the guitarist from garage rock legends Los Shain's (natch). Getting into the heavier sounds comin' out contemporaneously from England and California, Los Nuevos Shain's put their own stamp on covers of songs by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Cream, the Jefferson Airplane, Spirit, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and even Black Sabbath -- for us, it's their version of Sabbath's "Wicked World" that makes this a must have! Had to buy it just for that, to add to our collection of early daze Sabbath covers. (This puts 'em in the company of South Africa's Suck and Japan's Flower Travellin' Band to achieve the distinction of having recorded a Sabbath song way back when.)
Not to give you the idea that this is all that hard rockin' or heavy (for that, look to Pico's subsequent band Pax, reviewed elsewhere on our site). Sure, he does give the ol' fuzz and wah-wah pedals a bit of a stomp, though. Heck they do "Purple Haze". But this also has lots of dreamy poppiness on it too, and we're also quite taken by the boppy loopiness of the track "Guau Guau A Go Go", which features barking dogs in the mix! Basically, a trip to a paisley-painted Peruvian garage, some 37 years ago, to hear an enthusiastic band do a fun run-through of some familiar and not-so-familiar sixties tunes plus a few originals. And by the way, the music on this cd was taken from the master tapes (you know it, 'cause the booklet in this digipack features color photos of the original reels and tape boxes with handwritten labels!). Cool.
MPEG Stream: "Guau Guau A Go Go"
MPEG Stream: "Wicked World"

LOS OLIDADOS Listen to This (Alternative Tentacles) cd 10.98

LOS SALVAJES Sus Singles Y EPs En La Voz De Su Amo (1965-1969) (Rama Lama) 2cd 28.00

LOS SAMPLER'S Descarga Mecano (Hot Air) 7" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
I don't really believe Atom Heart when he says that he 'discovered' this South American Electronic Percussion Band. I mean it really sounds just like his Senor Coconut records. Liar, er, clever marketer or not, this is pretty nice. More crunchy reinterpretations of Latin mambos on lowgrade samplers... Everyone who bought a Senor Coconut will love this! Economics-wise, go for the full-length first.

LOS SAMPLER'S Descargas (Rather Interesting) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another Atom Heart caper of electronic tom-foolery, that we brought in after being captivated by his Senor Coconut stuff. Though keeping with the Latin/Mambo theme of his Senor Coconut moniker the result is not the same smooth, literal interpretations as his Kraftwerk covers. On this disk Perez Prado and other Latin classics (as well as unknowns) receive plastic surgery from Atom Heart using only the digital equivalents of a rusty machete and a propane torch. The result (purporting to be an actual Chilean band called Los Sampler's, produced by Atom) is like a Rancho Relaxo All-Stars spin off for Mego Recordings.

LOS STRAITJACKETS WITH THE PONTANI SISTERS AND KAISER GEORGE Twist Party! (Yep Roc) cd+dvd 23.00
Oh my goodness! This is one whale of a good time! It goes without saying that if only Kevin Bacon had had this new Los Straitjackets album back in his Footloose days... well, the world would be a very different and far better place. In no time, this cd/dvd set will have you impressing the gang with your newfound fancy footwork and good taste in tunes. The cd offers up a baker's dozen of Los Straitjackets' primo Lucha Libre wrestlin' masked originals and a trio of covers. Very faithful to their '60s surf garage forefathers and pretty hot stuff unto itself, especially with the Pontani Sisters and Kaiser George spicing things up. Now add the dvd on which the burlesque-alicious Sisters put you through the snazzy steps of a very thorough dance class. Shimmy! Shake! Twist!
MPEG Stream: "Twistin' Gorilla"
MPEG Stream: "Mad Scientwist"

LOS SUPER ELEGANTES Channelizing Paradise (LSE) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Quirky, fun, eclectic pop that brings to mind the playful, sassy female and droll male vocal interplay of groups like the B52's, StereoTotal (similarly multi-lingual albeit less sleekly cosmopolitan), and even the Human League (particularly on the song "Forever"). Their instrumentation runs the gamut: slinky violins, mariachi trumpets, lush synths, oompah-pah brass. In fact, funnily enough, the final track called "Western" made me think it was Oktoberfest! A rollicking good time.
RealAudio clip: "Forever"
RealAudio clip: "The Waves"
RealAudio clip: "Western"

LOSCIL Endless Falls (Kranky) cd 14.98
With all the Deerhunter/Atlas Sound/Jonas Reinhardt business we've been hearing from Kranky lately, we were starting to think they forgot about the rad, beautiful ambient music that defined the label's sound. Needless to say we were relieved and quite pleased to hear another gorgeous release of serene ambient wash from the Chicago label, this time from Vancouver electronic dream-ambient outfit Loscil. Whose last few records have been big time faves around here. Picture the crisp, laptop crush of Fennesz woven into the melodic soundworlds of maybe Emeralds or anything on the Miasmah label. Lush string tones rise and give way to radiating synth lines, minimal passages recall the solitude of winter or the calmness of a rainy SF afternoon (actually the album opens with a sample of pouring rain!), the kind of thing that leaves us completely entranced but never bored. The kind of dream harbor we'd love to set sail into, swelling tones of melodic shimmer cast a blissful daze over the oceanic horizon as deep pulsing, minimal rhythms plod and turn under blankets of radiating bliss. So gorgeous and completely recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Endless Falls"
MPEG Stream: "Estuarine"
MPEG Stream: "Shallow Water Blackout"

LOSCIL Endless Falls (Kranky) 2lp 17.98
With all the Deerhunter/Atlas Sound/Jonas Reinhardt business we've been hearing from Kranky lately, we were starting to think they forgot about the rad, beautiful ambient music that defined the label's sound. Needless to say we were relieved and quite pleased to hear another gorgeous release of serene ambient wash from the Chicago label, this time from Vancouver electronic dream-ambient outfit Loscil. Whose last few records have been big time faves around here. Picture the crisp, laptop crush of Fennesz woven into the melodic soundworlds of maybe Emeralds or anything on the Miasmah label. Lush string tones rise and give way to radiating synth lines, minimal passages recall the solitude of winter or the calmness of a rainy SF afternoon (actually the album opens with a sample of pouring rain!), the kind of thing that leaves us completely entranced but never bored. The kind of dream harbor we'd love to set sail into, swelling tones of melodic shimmer cast a blissful daze over the oceanic horizon as deep pulsing, minimal rhythms plod and turn under blankets of radiating bliss. So gorgeous and completely recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Endless Falls"
MPEG Stream: "Estuarine"
MPEG Stream: "Shallow Water Blackout"

LOSCIL Plume (Kranky) cd 14.98
Slowly but surely Scott Morgan (aka Loscil) is building a really nice collection of subtly crafted daydream electronic recordings. Recalling the more ambient outings of Brian Eno, Loscil are so good at letting the listener linger, wander, and float in space, as they the music mixes pop ambience with minimalist electronic drones. Kind of like playing Keith Fullerton Whitman's Playthroughs record beneath the latest outing from Klimek. This will appeal to both the brain and the the body for sure. Nice stuff!
MPEG Stream: "Rorschach"
MPEG Stream: "Bellows"

LOSCIL Submers (Kranky) cd 14.98
The second full length from Loscil (aka Scott Morgan) doesn't sonically stray from the dreamy, hypnotic path he began with his debut, Triplepoint, but it does come with a theme - submarines. Apart from the song titles which are the names of submarines (eg. Kursk, Triton, and Argonaut), there is definitely a languid deepsea feel to his music. Slowly swellling and enveloping sometimes to the edge of claustrophobic, the layers of echoing pulses, translucent drone washes and subtle hints at melody combine for an overall serene listening experience. Close your eyes and visions of such antiquated colossal vessels drifting through the shadowy depths easily emerge. Lovely!
RealAudio clip: "Kursk"

LOSCIL Triplepoint (Kranky) cd 14.98
Scott Morgan has spent his fair share of time in a number of notable Vancouver pop outfits. For instance, most recently he's played in Destroyer (with former New Pornographer Dan Bejar) and with retro-popsters The Battles, but neither revealed even a hint of this decidedly ambient electronic persona. The first glimpse I ever had of Loscil was on the "Vancouver Special" compilation. His contribution was a reworking of the Destroyer song "Merci". His second surfacing is this album which finds its home in the welcome nest of Kranky Records. Subtle, ethereal dreamscapes perfect for rainy days like those in his hometown. Very nice!

LOSIN STREAKS, TH' Beg, Steal Or Borrow (DDR) 7" 3.98

LOSIN STREAKS, TH' Sounds Of Violence (Slovenly) cd 11.98
A few months ago, a buddy of mine and I (Allan) went out to a neighborhood club to see some bands for the first time. One we'd been told was a pretty good '60-ish garage style outfit. Worth checking out. The other we'd never heard of, but you never know. The first band (the one we went to see and whom shall remain nameless) was...ok. We were sitting here, nursing our beers, thinking...pretty good. Yeah, they're doing the sixties garagey thing pretty well. They had the look, the suits, the haircuts, the vintage gear. But we were, ultimately, yawning. Guess it was getting late (it was a weeknight). So we thought we might split when they were done, we'd had our dose of rock for the evening. But, then we though we'd just stick around and see if the second band was any good too. You know, give 'em a chance, maybe check out a song or two. Well this is how it went down: within about ten seconds of their first song, we were out of our chairs and standing as close to the stage as we could get. Utterly electrified. That's when we realized, that the first band wasn't remotely good at all. These guys -- Th' Losin Streaks -- simply blew 'em away, and did what a good band should do -- make you forget that you've gotta get up in the morning, are tired and have had enough beer. They were doing the same retro sixties thing as the first band, but so much more PUNK. This is what rock n' roll is supposed to be. Total high energy mayhem. Amazing showmanship. This is what it must have been like way back when, when bands had to compete, playing for hours in a sweaty dive in the bad part of town or at a crazy frat party where if you didn't rock the house you got beaten with baseball bats (or given wedgies or something, I don't know, I'm speculating). You had to kick ass. Well Th' Losin Streaks take that tradition to heart. Nothing but 100 percent (or more) ass kickin' is what we witnessed. They weren't even past their second song when one of the guitarists was standing on the drum kit. And the other guitarist, a true maniac, was dropping our jaws with his bizarre stage antics. He was good -- even when soloing with just one hand while striking crazy poses and pointing with the other. He's got some moves, that guy! And let's not forget the drummer, a hard hitter who kept it all together and even did a great job singing one of the songs. If I'd been in the opening band and saw all this, I'd have thought about giving up and doing something else with my life.
Ok, what does all this mean to you? 1) if you live in Northern California, go see 'em!! They're from Sacramento (being former members of The Troublemakers, I believe) and I'd imagine live to play live. In fact, they're gonna be playing around the block from Aquarius at the 12 Galaxies on Friday, the 12th of November.
2) they have a record, Sounds Of Violence. It's not gonna destroy you like their show will (although if you play it really loud, get really drunk, and use it as the soundtrack to watching some Hong Kong kung fu classic on a black-and-white TV you might come close to having as good a time as seeing 'em live) but it's pretty darn good, delivering their fuzz-laden Nuggets style punk to your home in fine fashion. And there's even a Guess Who cover. Th' Losin' Streaks prove you don't have to go all the way to Detroit for the garage-rock goods, that's for sure. They're such a rad band I'll even forgive 'em for unnecessarily abbreviating The to Th'!
MPEG Stream: "Beg, Steal or Borrow"
MPEG Stream: "Hate"

LOSIN STREAKS, TH' Sounds Of Violence (Slovenly) lp 9.98
A few months ago, a buddy of mine and I (Allan) went out to a neighborhood club to see some bands for the first time. One we'd been told was a pretty good '60-ish garage style outfit. Worth checking out. The other we'd never heard of, but you never know. The first band (the one we went to see and whom shall remain nameless) was...ok. We were sitting here, nursing our beers, thinking...pretty good. Yeah, they're doing the sixties garagey thing pretty well. They had the look, the suits, the haircuts, the vintage gear. But we were, ultimately, yawning. Guess it was getting late (it was a weeknight). So we thought we might split when they were done, we'd had our dose of rock for the evening. But, then we though we'd just stick around and see if the second band was any good too. You know, give 'em a chance, maybe check out a song or two. Well this is how it went down: within about ten seconds of their first song, we were out of our chairs and standing as close to the stage as we could get. Utterly electrified. That's when we realized, that the first band wasn't remotely good at all. These guys -- Th' Losin Streaks -- simply blew 'em away, and did what a good band should do -- make you forget that you've gotta get up in the morning, are tired and have had enough beer. They were doing the same retro sixties thing as the first band, but so much more PUNK. This is what rock n' roll is supposed to be. Total high energy mayhem. Amazing showmanship. This is what it must have been like way back when, when bands had to compete, playing for hours in a sweaty dive in the bad part of town or at a crazy frat party where if you didn't rock the house you got beaten with baseball bats (or given wedgies or something, I don't know, I'm speculating). You had to kick ass. Well Th' Losin Streaks take that tradition to heart. Nothing but 100 percent (or more) ass kickin' is what we witnessed. They weren't even past their second song when one of the guitarists was standing on the drum kit. And the other guitarist, a true maniac, was dropping our jaws with his bizarre stage antics. He was good -- even when soloing with just one hand while striking crazy poses and pointing with the other. He's got some moves, that guy! And let's not forget the drummer, a hard hitter who kept it all together and even did a great job singing one of the songs. If I'd been in the opening band and saw all this, I'd have thought about giving up and doing something else with my life.
Ok, what does all this mean to you? 1) if you live in Northern California, go see 'em!! They're from Sacramento (being former members of The Troublemakers, I believe) and I'd imagine live to play live. In fact, they're gonna be playing around the block from Aquarius at the 12 Galaxies on Friday, the 12th of November.
2) they have a record, Sounds Of Violence. It's not gonna destroy you like their show will (although if you play it really loud, get really drunk, and use it as the soundtrack to watching some Hong Kong kung fu classic on a black-and-white TV you might come close to having as good a time as seeing 'em live) but it's pretty darn good, delivering their fuzz-laden Nuggets style punk to your home in fine fashion. And there's even a Guess Who cover. Th' Losin' Streaks prove you don't have to go all the way to Detroit for the garage-rock goods, that's for sure. They're such a rad band I'll even forgive 'em for unnecessarily abbreviating The to Th'!
MPEG Stream: "Beg, Steal or Borrow"
MPEG Stream: "Hate"

LOSS Despond (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
Despond marks the very first proper full length from these Nashville funereal doomlords (whose frontman also plays in doom outfit Mourner, whose most recent record came out on Paradigms a short while back), after a whole mess of splits and demos, and if ever there was a record that captured the true spirit of depressive ultradoom, it's Despond. Epic musical miserablism, the sound HUGE, the production massive, but the sound is only part of it, the mood, the atmosphere. Song after song, with titles like "Open Veins To A Curtain Closed" and "Silent And Completely Overcome" and "Cut Up, Depressed And Alone", peppered with haunting bits of spoken word, recorded as if the speaker were sitting alone in their room, in the dark, contemplating the end. It's seriously grim and powerful stuff, and the gorgeously varied music reflects that, by exploring different shades of dark, this is not all churning, roiling black sludge, it's way more nuanced than that, just check out the opener "Open Veins To A Curtain Closed", which begins with just gristly gurgly vocals over big plodding drums, the effect truly harrowing, before the guitars come crashing in, and briefly, the track is a plodding sprawl of broken souled doooooom, but then the downtuned dirge peels away, leaving just spidery clean guitars, shuffling drums, woozy wandering super melodic basslines, strangely psychedelic, much of the song is spent in this haunting ethereal drift, before finally, the song slips back into churning chugging, guttural voiced black heaviness, loping and melancholy, but peppered with brief blasts of grinding metallic crush, only to finally unwind with a lumbering stretch of surprisingly melodic, but still crushingly mournful dirgery. And that's just the first song. The rest of the record plays out similarly, the melodic component a real surprise, with the band seemingly more beholden to classic doom like My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, than the ultra doom sludge that followed, with much of the music on Despond sounding downright poppy, still dark, and dreary, and depressive, but the melodies are surprisingly catchy, a timeless melancholy woven into a more modern funeral doom framework, but it makes for a much more satisfying listen.
That said, the band do get seriously slo-mo sludgey, like on "Shallow Pulse", where they wed some more melodic guitar lines to some tarpit black ooze riffage, the vocals gurgling over the top, the drums pounding out a Neanderthal plod, or on "Silent And Completely Alone", which begins all clean vocaled, which might have you scratching your head, until the song slips right back into the roiling black abyss, and back into a blurred black doomsludge drift, but with the addition of those clean vocals, adds a whole other element to the song, and the sound, and while perhaps taking away from the pure grimnity for some, to us, it only makes the music that much more emotional, and makes that song quite possibly our favorite.
There are also some mysterious interludes, gorgeous ambient experimentation, thick Tim Hecker like crumbling doomscapes, creepy reverbed piano drive drifts, even a gorgeous, mostly clean choral sounding guitar/organ/chanted vox closer, but those only add to the overall vibe, the doomed soul, black hearted, and yeah, despondent atmosphere, the whole record a fantastically tense push and pull between collapsing black hole ultra doom and a more melodic classic dreary miserablism.
MPEG Stream: "Open Veins To A Curtain Closed"
MPEG Stream: "Cut Up, Depressed And Alone"
MPEG Stream: "An Ill Body Seats My Sinking Sight"

LOSS Life Without Hope... Death Without Reason (Deathgasm) cd 10.98
This is some truly dark and depressive doom, from the name of the band, Loss, to the cover image, a headshot of a man being hung, to the song titles like "Cut-up, Depressed And Alone" and "Conceptual Funerealism Into The FInal Act (Of Being)", to the inner sleeve image, a huge razor blade, to the lyrics: "And these wounds of mine will never fucking heal, all that's left is loneliness, there's nothing left to feel". Woah, really bleak and harsh and lonely and miserable, which is what makes the music such a strange surprise. You might expect some impossibly downtuned slow motion sludge, or some blackened midtempo buzz, but instead, what you get is closer to bands like Katatonia or Paramecium or My Dying Bride than Esoteric or Moss. Sure it's slow, and heavy, but it's also strangely melodic. VERY melodic in fact, melancholy and minor key, a plodding, miserable prettiness. Distorted melodies swirl and swoop and keen mournfully beside vocals so low and demonic they almost sound like snarling wild animal. Long stretches of clean guitar moodiness, slow and sorrowful, before the guitars creep up and launch into another melodic dirge. That's what makes Loss so compelling, the musical tug of war between the pretty sad melodies and the buzzy black sludge. The last two tracks are live, one is a 10 minute version of Katatonia's "Brave" which sounds perfect, like it could be a Loss original, and demonstrates the huge sonic influence Katatonia has obviously had on these guys, they're joined by Imperial from Krieg on vocals (with a really funny intro, in a thick Tennessee drawl, the vocalist from Loss announces: "We've got our guest vocalist, he drove all the way down here from fuckin' New Jersey, welcome to the stage, Imperial from the fucking black metal cult Krieg..."). The last track is also live (and comes complete with another goofy song introduction) and is the fastest and blackest track here, pummeling double kick, and buzzing riffs swirl into full on black metal before slowing down and spreading back out out into more of that depressive melodic doom. So fucking good...
MPEG Stream: "Cut-up, Depressed And Alone"
MPEG Stream: "Conceptual Funerealism Into The FInal Act (Of Being)"

LOST DOMAIN Drunken Sailor (Negative Guest List) 7" 12.98
Another single from Australia's Negative Guest List label. We had reviewed some records by The Lost Domain over the years, mostly way way back, but this is the first we've heard from them in a while, and actually we're not even sure if they're still an active concern, considering the material here is from way back in 1999. The A side here seems like a bit of a goof. A cover of that standard "Drunken Sailor", which actually sounds like it was played by drunken sailors, stumbling and skronky and free form, lots of feedback and buzz, the whole thing on the verge of collapse. But like the Blank Realm 7" reviewed elsewhere on this week's list, the real gem is on the flipside, where the Lost Domain get their Dead C on, unfurling a sprawling miasma of clang and clatter, buzz and skree, that classic nineties NZ noise rock sound (even though they're from Australia), echo drenched, full on free rock abstraction, wild loose drumming, loads of space, buzz and rumble everywhere, the sound lo-fi and cloaked in tape hiss and amp buzz, a glorious chunk of dreamy noisiness that's over way too soon!

LOST DOMAIN Palace (Pseudo Arcana) cd 13.98
This is somehow the first record by The Lost Domain we've listed, even though we've been digging their music for a while now. You may have heard some Lost Domain on the killer Gold Leaf Branches compilation a while back, and this is more of the same, long expanses of non-ambient ambience. Delicate layers of raga like buzz, gentle distant drones and lots and lots of space. This sounds like some sort of alien temple music. You can imagine some strange structure on a rocky outcropping on some distant planet, inside mysterious hooded figures kneel in prayer, a gorgeous spacious meditative drone drifting like insence smoke through the temple. This is so lovely and thick with strange sonic subtleties. Music for fading into sleep, or slowly emerging from a dream world. Definitely the perfect music to lull you into a trancelike state and allow your soul to come loose from your body and drift off into other dimensions. So nice.
MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Two"

LOST DOMAIN, THE Sailor, Home From The Sea (Digitalis) cd 12.98

MPEG Stream: "At Sea The Storm"
MPEG Stream: "Leagues"

LOST DOMAIN, THE White Man At The Door (Digitalis) cd 12.98

MPEG Stream: "Boll Weevil"
MPEG Stream: "Pearline"

LOST GOAT Beware Of Chupacabras 7" 3.98

LOST GOAT Equator (Man's Ruin) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

LOST GOAT Equator (Man's Ruin) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

LOST GOAT The Dirty Ones (Tee Pee Records) cd 13.98
New one (getting better) from this popular San Francisco hard rock trio. Not 'stoner rock', not 'punk', not 'metal', not 'grunge'...not exactly. Loud guitars, tough girl vocals, lots of attitude and rock action. Members of Amber Asylum show up to add strings to one song, and Leadbelly and Buffy Sainte-Marie both get covered.
RealAudio clip: "Rat Masters of the Icky Path"

LOST GOAT Trapped on Earth (Life is Abuse/In Search Of) cd 11.98
Finally, on cd. Digipak in fact. One of San Francisco's most popular hard rock verging on metal by way of grunge groups... They're no Sir Lord Baltimore, but it ain't the seventies no more either.

LOST GOAT Trapped on Earth (In Search Of/Life Is Abuse) lp 8.98
Popular local hard rock/metal act's debut lp. The girls in the band will get mad at you if you tell them they remind you of something like L7, so stick to the Black Sabbath comparisons no matter how inappropriate.

LOST HORIZON A Flame To The Ground Beneath (Music For Nations) cd 16.98
Nope, nothing to do with the 1930's book/movie about Shangri La. This Lost Horizon is a different sort of paradise, one for fans of over-the-top European power metal. A troupe of buff Swedes in body paint and capes, galloping musically across the galaxy, with soaring vocals, shredding lead guitar, and sci-fi keyboard coloration. This is their second full-length, which sees two new band members, Equilibrian Epicurius (responsible for "string romanticism...translation for mortals: guitars") and Perspicacious Protector (playing the "soulhealing euphoria generators...translation for mortals: synthesizers"), joining the crew of Transcendental Protagonist, Preternatural Transmorgifyer, Ethereal Magnanimus, and Cosmic Antagonist. These comic-book names might sound tongue in cheek, but we think these guys are actually pretty serious in their view of heavy metal music as being a ruling, spiritual force in the universe. Certainly they're channeling something beyond most mortals... And, there's even a song -- eleven minutes long -- about the movie Highlander, of course called "Highlander (The One)"!
Cheesy in *such* a good way. Even more melodic (and a bit mellower) than their debut, this definitely gets thumbs up from Andee and Allan, and Cup's a fan of their names/conceptualization/packaging. It's a transdimensional revelation (translation for mortals: pure ridiculous power metal genius).
RealAudio clip: "Lost In The Depths Of Me"

LOST HORIZON Awakening the World (Koch / Music For Nations) cd 15.98
Much debate has occurred between the metalheads here at AQ because of this cd. Originally, we saw an ad for this record in a magazine, and knew, by the cover alone, that this was going to be the best 'power metal' record ever. Hell, maybe the best record ever, period. And I (Andee) still maybe believe that. Allan, the non-believer, and one whose seemingly arbitrary likes and dislikes continue to baffle me, might be slowly coming around... We shall see.
Let's start with the cover (and the ad we saw): four post apocalyptic Mad Max-ish war-painted metal warriors strut purposefully through the clouds above some sort of battlefield, where blindfolded human puppets are controlled by humanoids with the heads of pigs, vultures, and what appear to be badgers. The back of the cd of course shows our metallic heroes in complete control, with the animal-headed humans chained up and being whipped mercilessly by the members of Lost Horizon.
Then there's the band members names and their Lost Horizon duties: Cosmic Antagonist: "Orchestrating of thunder and seismic harmonising." Ethereal Magnanimus: "Laments of the souls and primal victorious warrior cries." Preternatural Transmogrifyer: "Keeping of the Universe's pulse and taming of chaos." Transcendental Protagonist: "Poesy of spiritual enlightenment, the entire string romanticism, soul healing euphoria generators."
And for those confused by all this, each band member has an 'earthshape' which is apparently their real name, and a 'translation for mortals', i.e. "Keeping of the Universe's pulse and taming of chaos" means -drums- to us mortals.
So if you're anything like me, you're sold already, who cares what it sounds like?
Well happily enough, this is some of the most kick ass power metal we've heard in a while. Blazing fast Iron Maiden/In Flames/Blind Guardian style epic and over the top power metal. The difference here being the extreme catchiness of the songs, the complete silliness of the band, and some really cool and quite bizarre arrangements. So for those of you already into power metal and classic eighties metal, this is a must have, and for those of you who aren't sure and are looking to try something like this, I can't think of a better place to start than Lost Horizon. They're from Sweden, if it matters -- although I think they'd prefer we thought they came from some metallic universe beyond.
RealAudio clip: "Heart of Storm"
RealAudio clip: "Sworn In The Metal Wind"

LOST IN TRANSLATION (VARIOUS ARTISTS SOUNDTRACK) (Emperor Norton) cd 16.98
If you're buying this for the four new Kevin Shields tracks, don't bother. Face it, I says to myself, My Bloody Valentine is no more and Kevin will never make Loveless again. Meanwhile we should not be encouraging mediocrity.
As for the other 11 tracks on this soundtrack to the Sofia Coppola film, there's only one by a Japanese artist even though the film is set in Japan; French band Phoenix do a decent Squeeze imitation; Squarepusher shows us his sensitive side; highly anticipated new stuff by pop-genius Roger Manning turns out to be merely moody soundtrack filler; Bill Murray croons a supposed-to-be-unlistenable version of Bryan Ferry's "More Than This"; you probably already know the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Just Like Honey" (and if you don't, pick up a $2.99 used LP of their entire debut instead of this soundtrack); and the rest of it is pretty forgettable.
MPEG Stream: "City Girl"
MPEG Stream: "Are You Awake"