LANDING Sphere (K) cd 14.98
Landing's third album, Sphere, spills out sky-gazing psychospheric pop songs with guitar harmonics, e-bows and layers of sustained effects. So pleasant and meditative, we accidently had it playing in the store here almost three times in a row before someone realized. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Fluency Of Colors"
MPEG Stream: "Gravitational"

LANDING Tour ep (Vast Arc Hues) cd ep 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

LANDSTRUMM, NEIL Kids Wake Up / Harlem Shoot Me (Planet Mu) 12" 9.98
Planet Mu continues to shower us with all sorts of killer grime and dubstep. This latest chunk comes from Neil Landstrumm, who offers up two sides of dubbed out block rocking bleeping buzzing groove. Side A rocks a totally hypnotic, skeletal rhythm, beneath some Beverly Hills Cop synth bass, huge bursts of distorted grinding grit and lots of strange jungly (as in THE jungle, not jungle) electronic FX. The B side is all super blown out space age skitter, with thick swirls of synthy fuzz and bleeping and blooping outer space effects, as well as some twisting buzzy basslines. Like the soundtrack to some futuristic outer space adventure movie. Shit like this makes some of us wish we weren't so deathly afraid of the dancefloor.

LANDSTRUMM, NEIL Lord For £39 (Planet Mu) cd 14.98
So far we've only reviewed a single 12" from Mr. Neil Landstrumm, which is weird cuz we've been pretty nuts for his fractured electronica, especially his last record Restaurant Of Assassins, which melded drill and bass, old school jungle, electro skitter, and video game sounds into something totally tweaked and fucking kickass.
This new one follows the same template for the most part, but with a bit more focus on dubstep this time around, which is fine with us, as Landstrumm's take on dubstep us pretty demented to say the least. The opener is a dubbed out low slung jam, complete with deep reverberating bass, eighties Goblin-y Knight Rider synths, cinematic strings, and chopped up and processed vocals. A sound falling somewhere between Richard D. James and Venetian Snares, but a bit more dubbed out. The second track has 'Krunk' in the title, but if anything it's even more dubby and stripped down than the opener, the main melody a whirring grinding bass synth, and some playful bleeps and bloops, the rhythm stuttery and skittery.
Dubstep really is the cornerstone for the whole disc, that wavery bass buzz anchoring most of the songs, but it's what Landstrumm adds to the mix that makes things so cracked, whether it's a barrage of malfunctioning video game glitchery, haunting orchestral 8-bit swells, Miami bass handclaps and slithery fuzzy keyboard stabs, super blown out rumbling low end rumbles, whatever it is, it all gets tangled up with whatever dubbed out bass heavy groove Landstrumm has assembled mad scientist style, from stuttery loops, old drum machines, analogue synths, bass guitars, and lots and lots of video games. Might be our favorite dubstep record of the year, if it wasn't so unlike most other dubstep records...
MPEG Stream: "Transmission"
MPEG Stream: "Easter Krunk Power"
MPEG Stream: "Shit Daddy Bass"

LANEGAN, MARK Field Songs (Sub Pop) cd 15.98
Fifth solo album from Ex-Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan and he just keeps getting better. Dark and smoky, evocative and atmospheric. Slow, whiskey soaked ballads with a country tinge. With a beautifully dreamy and washed out (but still crystal clear) production, melancholy and so beautiful. With a handful of guests: Mike Johnson (longtime Lanegan collaborator), Ben Shepherd (Soundgarden), Brett Netson (Built To Spill), and Duff McKagan (Guns and Roses!?).
RealAudio clip: "Fix"
RealAudio clip: "One Way Street"
RealAudio clip: "Resurrection Song"

LANEGAN, MARK I'll Take Care Of You (Sub Pop) cd 14.98
Absolutely breathtaking new record from the ex-Screaming Trees' vocalist performing an entire album of covers (by Fred Neil, Buck Owens, O.V. Wright, Tim Hardin, Leaving Trains, The Gun Club, ...). Dark and languid and completely captivating, from one of the best voices in rock (as per the gospel of Andee who actually is pining for a world devoid of vocalists). Fans of Calexico, Scenic, and perhaps Low should give this one a try.

LANEGAN, MARK I'll Take Care Of You (Sub Pop) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Absolutely breathtaking new record from the ex-Screaming Trees' vocalist performing an entire album of covers (by Fred Neil, Buck Owens, O.V. Wright, Tim Hardin, Leaving Trains, The Gun Club, ...). Dark and languid and completely captivating, from one of the best voices in rock (as per the gospel of Andee who actually is pining for a world devoid of vocalists). Fans of Calexico, Scenic, and perhaps Low should give this one a try.

LANEGAN, MARK BAND Bubblegum (Beggar's Banquet) cd 13.98
Mr. Lanegan sure invited all his buddies to be in his Mark Lanegan Band. Just check this roster out: Joshua Homme and Nick Oliveri (Queen Of The Stone Age), PJ Harvey, Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan (Guns'n Roses/Velvet Revolver), Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs and Twilight Singers), Dean Ween and Chris Goss (Masters Of Reality)! Pretty hot shit! And whether rocked up (as on the album's first single "Sideways In Reverse") or slow'n'smouldering (check out "Wedding Dress"), the overall results are absolutely smokin'. The only wrinkles in the album are minor ones. First, Harvey's vocal performance on the second song "Hit The City" seems oddly detached, almost as if her backing vocals were an afterthought with her singing along over a finished recording. Their duet on "Come To Me" fares much much better. More troublesome are the occasional way-out-of-place soul diva background vocals that also marred earlier Twilight Singers records, and seem like some weird requisite big budget addition when an artist makes the shift from hyped indie veteran to hyped major label hopeful. That said, Bubblegum reveals Lanegan's broadest scope to date, encorporating elements from all the stages of his lengthy career (early trippy grunge-y rock to funereal dirge-twang). Throughout the fifteen songs, his unmistakable deep smoky rasp of a voice is in particular top form. Awesome!
MPEG Stream: "Sideways In Reverse"
MPEG Stream: "Come To Me"

LANER, BRAD Neighbor Singing (Hometapes) cd 14.98
Recently we've been getting caught up on a few releases that slipped under our radar! There's so much great music coming out all the time. try as we might, it's darn near impossible to keep and eye and ear on everything!
Brad Laner cruises down yet another musical avenue on this his self-titled solo debut. He got his
electronic itch scratched under the moniker Electric Company and prior to that he got his drone rock on in the awesome early '90s LA noise pop band Medicine. Now he's getting all cozy in a delirious psych pop dream. Very very retro '60s and Brian Wilsonesque, Neighbor Singing could easily be mistaken for a long lost Olivia Tremor Control album... an absolute treasure in our opinion!
MPEG Stream: "Find Out"
MPEG Stream: "Lovely World"

LANG, K.D. Hymns of the 49th Parallel (Nonesuch) cd 17.98
Hymns Of The 49th Parallel marks the return of k.d. lang! Golly, it seems like a whole 'nother lifetime since steadfast Canadian Stompin' Tom Connors serenaded her with his song "Lady k.d. lang"! As we recall, one of the lyrics was something like "she jumps around like a 'rang-ee-tan, lady k.d. lang!" Well, it's probably safe to say that her monkeying around days have long been packed snuggly away with her funky cat eye glasses and thrift shop garb. And yet after all these years of living in L.A. her Canadian-ness still shines through.
With the utmost respect and love, she reinterprets the songs of her fellow Canadian music luminaries Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Ron Sexsmith, Jane Siberry, and Bruce Cockburn... but somewhat disappointingly no Stompin' Tom! Despite the unquestionable powerhouse quality of her voice, her renditions are remarkably low-key, intimate and suitably unflashy with warm, bare bones arrangements (often just piano, some with strings). Two particular stand-outs are "The Valley" originally by the equally amazing in her own right Ms Jane Siberry and "Fallen" originally by the equally amazing in his own right Mr. Ron Sexsmith. That said, as with her last few albums, this definitely falls into the adult contemporary territory. So, if you happen to have an aversion to such ultra smoothness, consider yourself forewarned.
MPEG Stream: "The Valley"
MPEG Stream: "Fallen"

LANG, K.D. Watershed (Nonesuch) cd 16.98

LANGENUS, COLIN Living With The Rock (Corleone) cd 13.98
Solo nuttiness from one of the members of USAISAMONSTER. Got the same noise rock and spazz and damaged folk stuff going on, but goofier, allowing for what amounts to rap music on at least one track. A good time was had by Colin putting this together that much is evident!

LANGFORD, JON All The Fame Of Lofty Deeds (Bloodshot) cd 11.98
Here's a solo release from the man behind so many fine Chicago based alt-country rock combos (such as the Pine Valley Cosmonauts and the Waco Brothers... oh yes, and he's a Mekon too)! Of course, no Jon Langford project is ever truly 'solo' though, 'cause he's surrounded by so many wonderfully talented musical friends always ready and willing to chip in an instrument or a vocal. On All The Fame Of Lofty Deeds, he's joined by his Pine Valley Cosmonauts on a couple tunes, as well as frequent Neko Case bassist Tom Ray and Hillbilly Lovechild (featuring drummer-about-town Brian Doherty who has played with the likes of They Might Be Giants, Frank Black and XTC) on a couple others. An ever-engaging frontman Langford sure doesn't disappoint this time out, kicking out eleven hoarse and ragged cow-punk tunes. He ably brings together the caustic and the comic in his lamenting / lambasting lyrics on songs such as "The Country Is Young".
MPEG Stream: "The Fame Of Lofty Deeds"
MPEG Stream: "The Country Is Young"

LANGHORNE SLIM & THE WAR EAGLES s/t (Kemado) cd 14.98
Fans of Beirut and Arcade Fire, imagine the uplifting spirited energies of both those bands taken out to the dusky country plains for a spell. If that sounds delightfully intriguing to you, then maybe you should lend this band your ear. Langhorne Slim & The War Eagles. Frontman Sean Scolnick's untethered, outpouring-of-emotion vocals are a close kin to the abovementioned bands', but they're also in turn quite reminiscent of Neil Young, John Fogerty and Van Morrison. If he looks and sounds a tad bit familiar to you, it may be because you've spotted him over the years touring with the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. It's by no means a stretch to suggest that if you dig them, you'll probably find much to love with Langhorne Slim, and vice versa!
MPEG Stream: "Restless"
MPEG Stream: "Diamonds And Gold"

LANGHORNE, BRUCE The Hired Hand (OST) (Blast First (petite)) cd 13.98
This long time AQ fave has once again been re-pressed, this time with new artwork and in a digipak. Not sure why this keeps going out of print, but if you missed it before, don't blow it this time. We loved it so much we made it record of the week, and were barely able to keep it in stock. Not sure how long it will be around this time either, considering it's habit of constantly going out of print, so dig it while you can!
We weren't really sure what to expect with this one. A lost soundtrack from 1971 (a magic year for music, just ask Allan) to a movie none of us had ever heard of, directed by and starring Peter Fonda. Could go either way. But the second we threw it on, we knew this was IT! A dark and languorous abstract country psych folk gem. Seriously. Hearing this for the first time, you'd be forgiven for guessing it was Scott Tuma, Souled American, Califone, Golden Hotel, Thuja, Woven Hand or some totally obscure cd-r on some little tiny label from some mysterious band of psychedelic country folk minstrels. Slow and mournful, delicate and dreamy, acoustic guitars, farfisa organs, harmonicas and an echoplex. Spare and skeletal, mini epics of melancholic twang. Imagine if Sergio Leone had Ennio Morricone assemble a band cobbled together from members of the Jewelled Antler Collective, the No Neck Blues Band and Souled American to score one of his Westerns. Definitely recommended if you dig any of the folks mentioned above (including Morricone). And if like most of us, you've been digging all sorts of those obscure so-called "new weird America" outfits, maybe it's about time we all dug into some "OLD weird America."
And by the way, now we HAVE seen the film (it was re-released on DVD not too long ago) and it's GREAT!
MPEG Stream: "Opening"
MPEG Stream: "Leaving Del Norte"
MPEG Stream: "Riding Through The Rain"

LANGILLE, SUSAN & LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS 1987-1989 (Secretly Canadian) cd 13.98

LANGLEY SCHOOLS MUSIC PROJECT, THE Innocence and Despair (Bar None) cd 16.98
Rural Canadian schoolkids ages 9-12, sixty of 'em, singing pop hits like "Space Oddity", "Good Vibrations", "I'm Into Something Good", and "Band On The Run", backed by shimmering, gamelan like percussion and sparse rock instrumentation??
Yes! And of course it's Irwin Chusid (of "In The Key of Z" fame, a specialist in "outsider" music) who's responsible for getting these 1976-77 recordings finally issued on cd for our enjoyment. Apparently these kids had a somewhat unorthodox music teacher, who, tapping into his student's musical enthusiasm, arranged and captured this amateur outpouring of charmingly naive genius...lovely yet fucked up. And funny. Yet so heartfelt and innocent. Over the course of these nineteen earnest tracks, you'll either lose your mind or fall in love with the Langley Schools Music Project. Genius or not, certainly Paul McCartney, the Beach Boys, Bowie, the Bay City Rollers, Fleetwood Mac, the Carpenters, the Eagles, Barry Manilow, etc. never sounded so...odd. "Lo-fi Spectorian majesty" indeed. It's like an all-Shaggs orchestra playing AM radio covers. We have to agree with John Zorn's cover sticker blurb: "Touches the heart in a way no other music ever has, or could." So terrible, yet so brilliant. Never intended for release (it was originally pressed as a limited double 12" for the kids and their families) but now the 2-track tape reels have been remastered, and this cd, with a detailed 16-page booklet featuring super cute photos of the kids, has been unleashed on the world! Great Christmas gift material, if we may be so bold. The more we listen to this, the more amazed we are. Can't wait for a reunion tour! Summing it up, here's some words from the music teacher himself: "I knew virtually nothing about conventional music education, and didn't know how to teach singing. Above all, I knew nothing of what children's music was supposed to be. But the kids had a grasp of what they liked: emotion, drama, and making music as a group. Whether the results were good, bad, in tune or out was no big deal -- they had elan. This was not the way music was traditionally taught. But then I never liked conventional 'children's music,' which is condescending and ignores the reality of children's lives, which can be dark and scary. These children hated 'cute.' They cherished songs that evoked loneliness and sadness." --Hans Fenger, Langley music supervisor/arranger.
An ever enduring all time aQ favorite for sure!
RealAudio clip: "Space Oddity"
RealAudio clip: "Desperado"
RealAudio clip: "Rhiannon"

LANGLIE, MIKE Twink (Dyspepsidisc) cd + book 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Beloved AQ customer Mike Langlie has put together this picture book and cd, which at first glance/listen would appear to be just a cute children's book. But as the cd progresses, the music, all playful and bouncy, becomes slightly sinister, and when coupled with the wide-eyed innocence of the bunny in the book, it takes on all sorts of possible nastier connotations. We're sure that Mike wasn't intending for this to be scary, but the tone and timbre of the toy piano (the main instrument here) is just naturally sort of haunting. 'Twink' (not to be confused with the psychedelic/krautrock Twink) is 25 tracks of playful, silly, catchy, creepy, fun, wild and truly bizarre little ditties, utilising toy piano, accordion, autoharp, banjo, bird whistles, cello, electric guitar, keyboards, finger cymbals, flute, giggle stick, gong, homemade drums, hurdy-gurdy, marbles, musical saw, optigon, organ, pling plong, rattles, rhythm machines, see 'n say, squeaky toys, theremin, viola, violin, water glasses, and xylophone. Occasionally it sounds like Boards Of Canada played by 6 year olds, sometimes demented circus music, sometimes like theme music from some scary cartoon, but always, unlike anything you've ever heard before. And the book is great too. Simple bold drawings in mostly girl pink and boy blue, telling the simple tale of the toy piano playing bunny (who is perhaps responsible for the tunes on the cd). Super cool and really really unique!
RealAudio clip: "Track 1"
RealAudio clip: "Track 2"
RealAudio clip: "Track 3"

LANGTRY As Upon The Road Thereto (Soft Abuse) cd 13.98
Here's a solo record from the guy from Iron & Wine. Huh? No, NOT Sam Beam but another fellow, Patrick McKinney, who plays with Sam in I&W live. And also apparently opened the last I&W tour doing his solo stuff as "Langtry". As Upon The Road Thereto is just Patrick and his guitar, and falls into the ever-expanding category of "fake Fahey" records. You know, the John Fahey-influenced avant-folk instrumental acoustic guitar stuff that everybody from Jack Rose to Ben Chasny to Glenn Jones to Stephen Basho-Junghans is doing. Langtry is pretty good at it too. You might guess he's got more of a rock than roots background by his playing, although he could probably convince us he was a back-porch bluesman or Appalachian banjo-picker in another life.
MPEG Stream: "Billy Bowlegs Blues"
MPEG Stream: "Hobojangle"

LANGUAGE COMPUTER Mouse Back Riding (Q'mass) cd 14.98

LANGUIS If We Ever Make It Back (Zeal Records) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Limited edition Belgian import! Ambient electronic sounds of the delicate, soothing kind. The one drawback to this lovely milky-vinyl 7" that I found is the same as with Languis' last single... it's far too short a medium to fully immerse yourself in the music. Nonetheless if you're in need of a brief moment of calm, this might be for you.

LANGUIS Last Frequency Presets (Simball Sound) cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Languis' second album "Last Frequency Presets" pleasantly falls into the blissed-out IDM camp quite literally spawned from Boards Of Canada's "Music Has The Right To Children." A tactile assembly of downer digital sound elemenst to be filed next to Markant, Morr Music, Styrofoam, and even Safety Scissors.
RealAudio clip: "Pieces Of Objects"
RealAudio clip: "Living In The Street Of Fangs"

LANGUIS Simball Sounds (Simball Sound) cd 9.98
Quite a nice chill room mood. This is the debut album of ultra mellow ambient grooviness from Languis - the Los Angeles-based electronic duo originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

LANGUIS Soft Music (Simball Sound) 7" 2.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Three tracks of dark, subdued electronic murmurings. Gently lulling. Ambient music of the pretty kind that ideally would stretch on much longer than the limited length of a 7".

LANGUIS Unithematic (Simball) cd 11.98
The third album from Los Angeles-based duo Languis sees them pursuing a new direction of sorts. It seems they've shifted their focus to incorporate much more defined, conventional song structures into their electronic realm. Much less fragmented than their previous works, but not completely abandoning the abstract. Chiming instrumental and subtle vocal melodies are nudged forward with pretty pulsing tones and prickly textures woven throughout. The much more present piano, voice and guitar on this release convey an almost post-rock feel. Actually if you like Tristeza and other mellow - verging on new age-y - ambient pop/post rock, pick this release from their trio of full lengths.
RealAudio clip: "Clusters"

LANNON, N. Chemical Friends (Badman) cd 13.98
Lots of folks have been requesting this super dreamy and soothing debut from N. Lannon, and whenever we play it in the store it's guaranteed that a handful of customers will ask what it is. On the surface Chemical Friends seems to be a fairly straightforward acoustic singer/songwriter affair however there's ever so subtle details that shift Lannon's music slightly off the beaten path. There's absolutely nothing heavy nor intrusive about the album. It's all the softest, prettiest wispy melodies and whispery singing. Very vaporous and atmospheric with hushed acoustic guitar, layered vocals and an occasional gentle programmed pulsing beat. Lannon's vocal delivery seems warmly familiar recalling the heartfelt ache of the late Elliott Smith. Some customers even mistook this to be Elliott Smith's forthcoming posthumous album (psst, it's actually set for release in November). It all makes for an overall picture that suggests a spacey folk pop distant cousin of Simon And Garfunkel (or their present-day kindred spirits Kings of Convenience for that matter), the abovementioned Smith and Pink Floyd. Very nice!
MPEG Stream: "Hollow Heart"
MPEG Stream: "Fortune Cookie"

LANNON, NYLES Pressure (Badman) cd 13.98
You might recognize Mr. Nyles Lannon from his time in Bay Area band Film School or as his laptoppin' folktronic alter ego n.lannon. When we'd play Chemical Friends (his 2004 debut album as a solo artist) in the store, it was frequently mistaken for a posthumous Elliott Smith release. Pressure is his second solo album. Far darker and heavier in mood, it will undoubtedly draw comparisons once again to the late singer/songwriter as well as bringing to mind the textured melodic qualities of Grizzly Bear and the sharp songwriting of fellow San Franciscan Kelly Stoltz. Pressure is a really strong album, without a dud in the batch. Subdued, withered and heartrending, but still very dreamy.
MPEG Stream: "Slipping"
MPEG Stream: "Hesitation"

LANSING-DREIDEN D.I. By D.D. (Remixes) (self-released) cd 8.98
There are remix records, and then there are remix records! We got kind of burnt out on the whole remix thing. Sort of seemed like a big exercise in back patting friend rock name recognition. And 90 percent of the time the remix did NOTHING to improve on the original. And most of the time the remix record doesn't happen because two bands realize how totally perfect they are together and how amazing it would be if they collaborated, it's usually because that's just what you do, make a remix record.
With Lansing-Dreiden, it's a bit easier to understand the idea behind a remix record. They are a sort of collective after all. And they aren't just a band, they are artists and performers, as involved in painting, installations and design as they are in music. Plus for D.I. By D.D. they just handed over the whole record to a DJ pal of theirs and let him go nuts.
We're also usually wary of a rock band that gets the hip hop remix treatment. There are some serious Linkin Park "oof"-style ramifications. Especially when rapping is involved. The outcome is rarely rosy. However, the music of Lansing-Dreiden is pretty well suited to be chopped up and looped into laid back DJ Shadow style beatscapes. Their sort of new wave-y eighties art rock, is full of sweeping synths and funky rhythms, lots of weird textures and cool arrangements.
So the end result, D.I. By D.D. is actually fantastic. It's the sort of thing that should be blasting in dark hipster clubs in NYC and L.A. and San Francisco. Groovy and mysterious, sort of old skool, but with some modern flavor. A little bit of rapping, but mostly instrumental, minus the snippets of original L-D vocals. But here's the rub, listening to D.I. By D.D. you wouldn't necessarily even realize that the source material was all some cool NY new wave art rock band. It just sounds really good. It's a lot more exciting if you already dig Lansing-Dreiden and are able to pick out the bits and pieces and see how they fit into someone else's groovy vision. That said, even if you could care less about L-D, but were just looking for some super cool, dark, new wavy, Entroducing-style laid back hip hop flecked dance music, then by all means this will totally hit the spot.
So basically you can't really go wrong, open minded fans of the band will definitely dig this. Folks into stuff like DJ Shadow, Prefuse 73, UNKLE will also probably like this a lot. SO unless you hate the band, and hate any sort of dance music, check it out!!
MPEG Stream: "Shake-Up"
MPEG Stream: "Lil' Sad Joint"
MPEG Stream: "Titties"

LANSING-DREIDEN The Dividing Island (Kemado) cd 14.98
At first we weren't sure what to make of this band, with their awkward name, their super spare black and white artwork, their well crafted mystery, a seemingly complete lack of any sort of pertinent information, no photos, no real liner notes, no mention of individual band members. All very alluring most certainly. We had heard them described as "dreamy space rock... with a psychedelic metal twist" which definitely sounds good. And as some sort of heavy metal / new wave hybrid, which as good as -that- sounds, it most definitely seems like something that would work better in theory than in practice. In actuality, Lansing-Dreiden are neither of those, and end up being way more interesting than any of that would have led us to believe.
Lansing-Dreiden are not just a band either, no, they're a sort of arts collective: musicians, sculptors, artists, writers, film makers, replete with the requisite gallery showings, Artforum writeups, film premiers and rock shows. The lines between each of these disciplines are so blurry they might as well not exist. Their vibe, both visually and sonically is warm and washed out, a gauzy soft focus shapshot of pop culture past, the sound on The Dividing Island is both dizzyingly bizarre and dreamily overwhelming, a pastiche of all sorts of disparate pop elements, loads of instantly recognizable hooks, sweet harmony vocals, squiggly synths, horns, soft whispery crooning, bi arena rock drums, jangling guitars, huge sheets of fuzzy reverb, hand claps, cheesy electronic drums, It's almost like it's 1985 and we're watching MTV in some alternate universe. This is definitely some sort of (old) new wave, no trace of metal to be found (well mostly, more on that in a minute), no space rock really either, although there is plenty of spaced out trippiness. But even with bits of spaciness, and some space rock swirl here and there, that stuff is just window dressing for L-D's passion, which seems to be cracked eighties pop. Lansing-Dreiden is some sort of weird musical time machine, skipping lazily from 1982 to 1985 to 1989 and back again. Where Ariel Pink took seventies AM radio, and turned it into his own disheveled, cracked demented pop vision, Lansing-Dreiden instead take eighties FM radio and classic eighties MTV and gives them their own warm and warped, precious and polished spin. Imagine a hip NY art rock band channeling everything you loved and loathed about ABC, Style Council, Talk Talk, Spandau Ballet, the Fixx, Kajagoogoo, Thompson Twins, Culture Club, Fun Boy Three, Naked Eyes, Psychedelic Furs, The Call, Modern English, etc. There are some moments where the band dips its toes into the more rollicking contemporary NY new wave redux sound of bands like Interpol and the Strokes, and there are stretches of moody near ambient post rock, but for the most part this is a dead ringer for some lost eighties 'classic'. Mix tapes, John Cusack, Say Anything, Breakfast Club, it's like our teenage years revisited, albeit with a slightly more twisted and sinister bent.
There may seemingly be nary a trace of any metal on The Dividing Island, but best stick around for the final track, metallically titled "Dethroning The Optimyth", quite possibly the greatest (only) song ever to mix eighties MTV pop and crushing death metal! As much as we dig the rest of the record, we almost wish the whole record sounded like "Dethroning The Optimyth", although to be totally honest, the thought of a whole album of eighties pop death metal is almost too much to bear! Pounding double bass drumming, and chugging downtuned riffs collide with soft sweetly swoony pop, soaring synthesizers, airy breathless vocals, like laying on your bed, beneath your Kiss and Slayer posters, listening to your favorite metal record while your sister is in the next room BLASTING the soundtrack to the Breakfast Club through your thin walls. SO weird but SO COOL!
Comes in a gorgeously designed black and white cardboard sleeve that opens like a gatefold, the inside a series of alternating black and white triangles, and then the gatefold opens again with two more triangular panels, one black and and one white, all very austere and mysterious looking.
MPEG Stream: "Dividing Island"
MPEG Stream: "Cement To Stone"
MPEG Stream: "A Line You Can Cross"
MPEG Stream: "Dethroning The Optimyth"

LANTERNA Desert Ocean (Jemez Mountain) cd 13.98
Hmmm, Desert Ocean... yes, exactly. The title of Lanterna's fifth full length hits the nail on the head for what this instrumental music evokes. If this were a film there'd be plenty of gradually panning shots of drifting dunes and undulating waves - in black and white of course and probably some in slow motion too. Sand and water as far as the eye can see. The glint of sunlight in the ripples. The haze of heat rising off in the distance. The mystery of what lurks beneath the surface of the ever-changing landscapes. Translation: Spartan guitarwork effected with long reverb, gently swaying tempos, a soft tap on a woodblock. Haunting and beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "Fog"
MPEG Stream: "Surf"

LANTERNA Sands (Badman) cd 13.98
Sands is mellow driving music or faux soundtrack, instrumental, spacious, with reverby guitar. Starts off a bit like what one could expect if the Edge (of U2) were to release a solo album of "infinite guitar" and then heads straight downhill from there. I swear more and more indie-post rockers out there are cutting tracks with the hopes of having some advertising agency pick it up for commercial use. Just put on "Fields" and listen. You can almost hear the announcer touting that with the freedom of America's lowest APR financing, there's no reason for anyone to pass up on the new 2003 Dodge Durango.
RealAudio clip: "Windward"
RealAudio clip: "Fields"

LAPLAND WALKS (JEROME CHEVEREAU, THIERRY GAULTIER, JEAN C. ROCHE) Lapland Walks (Balades En Laponie) (Sittelle) cd 17.98

LAPLANTINE, ANNE Nordheim (Gooom Disques) cd 15.98

LAPORTE, JEAN-FRANCOIS Mantra (Metamkine) 3" cd 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
When one of our friends told us about this little cd containing an experimental piece using the sounds of a Zamboni, we got very very excited. A Zamboni! (That's that unusual machine that resurfaces the ice in hockey rinks.) Upon hearing it, we were even more thrilled, 'cause it's an amazing 20 minute drone work! And practically everyone who works here has bought one by now...
This cute 3" cd, released through Metamkine's esteemed 'Cinema Pour L'Oreille' series of electro-acoustics and musique concrete, contains one track, "Mantra", which opens with a trio of motors starting up and emitting a gentle purr. As these engines warm up and shift through various perfunctory cycles, a wide spectrum of metallic vibrations slowly spins through the stereo field. While it would be nice to believe that these movements coincide with a Zamboni circling a really nice binaural microphone, it's more likely that Laporte exercised his artistic license with a judicious use of crossfading and stereo panning upon his field recordings. As the disc draws near its end, it sounds as if a screw or bolt is loosened by the vibrations and two pieces of metal begin a clamorous bell-ringing arrhythmia. When these motors finally are shut down, those pieces of metal still resonate for a beautifully sustained coda.
Back to the Zamboni issue: we'd been told by 'reliable' informants (Loren Chasse who heard about it from Ferarra Pan who heard it on Scot Jenerik's radio show) that the source material for Jean-Francois Laporte's "Mantra" was a Zamboni. As the liner-notes (all in French mind you) indicate that Laporte incorporated the sound of an air compressor from an ice-skating rink, it didn't rule out the possibility that indeed that air compressor could belong to a Zamboni, but it didn't actually say anything about Zambonis. (Are they even called Zambonis in France, anyway?) As you can tell, we Aquarians like the Zamboni and would really like to believe that the Zamboni was responsible for this album. Thus, we contacted the label, who merely sent us an English translation of the original liner notes, which again stated the source material to be an air compressor. Thus, we are left to ponder the quandary: is it or is it not a Zamboni?
Putting this grand existential question aside and the true origin of the source material out of sight for the moment, what's true is that Laporte has indeed sculpted one of the most compelling drone compositions that we've encountered in quite some time. For loyal readers of these lists, that's no idle comment as artists like Oragnum, Jonathan Coleclough, Mirror, John Duncan, and Francisco Lopez still rank highly for us in the pantheon of dronescapers. Not only as working model but also as a something of belief system, Jean-Francoise Laporte applies the ideals of the mantra to the urban landscape. To him, the hypnotic audio elements of refrigerators, motorcycle engines, and in this case the Zamboni / air compressor rise above their mundane properties to become something that can be meditated upon and hold transcendent properties.
A very, very nice recording, Zamboni or not. Even if you don't normally buy all the weird, droney experimental stuff we recommend, you might want to take a chance and try this out. After all, it's only 20 minutes out of your day and eight bucks. And, maybe it's a Zamboni!
RealAudio clip: "Mantra (Excerpt 1)"
RealAudio clip: "Mantra (Excerpt 2)"
RealAudio clip: "Mantra (Excerpt 3)"

LAPORTE, JEAN-FRANCOIS Soundmatters (23five) cd 14.98
Those artists, musicians, misanthropes, and just plain weirdos who not only exist musically on the fringes but have planted their entire existence on the edge have long been the greatest inspirations of Aquarius Records. For proof, you could scroll through oddball recordings that have earned the honor of Aquarius Record Of The Week. There was the Finnish sound artist Terje Isungset who crafted not just one album, but two from untreated percussive instruments entirely made of ice. Hans Edler thrilled us with his 1970s transformation from teen idol into short-circuited electronic composer. The protracted ululations of the profoundly cracked Elizabeth Clare Prophet and the Church Universal and Triumphant were as transcendent as anything that Lamonte Young had to offer, yet also had that creepy cult of personality vibe to boot. And who could forget Kathy McGinty? But one of the earliest recordings that truly made our collective jaw drop was the 3" cd from French-Canadian composer Jean-Francois Laporte called Mantra. Here was a mighty fine 20 minute composition of delicious vibrations, rattles, mechanical hum, and industrial drones that came with a particularly alluring back story: the source material to Mantra was a Zamboni -- the unusual machine only found at hockey rinks responsible for resurfacing its ice.
The one catch to Laporte's Zamboni sourced masterpiece was that we could never verify that a Zamboni was the actual source material. We heard from 'reliable sources' that Mantra is the sound of a Zamboni; and we wanted so desperately to believe that this was the case, just because the Zamboni is such an amazing and eccentric beast of industrial engineering. Before this turns into a dialectic on epistemology, we here at Aquarius discovered that we had been duped by a couple of mischievous DJs on KPFA without the knowledge or consent of Jean-Francois Laporte. It turns out that Laporte used nothing but a common air-compressor in composing Mantra. This factual unveiling should not in any way take away from the splendor of that piece. Here's what we had to say about Mantra many moons ago:
"Mantra opens with a trio of motors starting up and emitting a gentle purr. As these engines warm up and shift through various perfunctory cycles, a wide spectrum of metallic vibrations slowly spins through the stereo field. After a marvelous set of transitions between drones, there is the rattling sound as if a screw or bolt had been loosened by the vibrations, with two pieces of metal beginning a clamorous bell-ringing arrhythmia. When these motors finally are shut down, those pieces of metal still resonate for a beautifully sustained coda."
That 3" cd came out almost a decade ago, became a classic, and went out of print. Thankfully, 23five Incorporated has rescued Mantra from the dustbin by issuing the first major compendium of Laporte's work in the form of Soundmatters. While we've already sung the praises of Mantra, the remainder of Soundmatters is well worth investigating on its own. The opening track "Electro-Prana" is a pristine set of field recordings of a wind that ripped through Montreal, when the city was silenced by a winter time blackout. It's a pure, chilling sound of whistling wind overtaking the urban landscape. The next piece is the only digitally rendered composition on Soundmatters, yet Laporte brings his intuitive expressionism to a series of spiraling drones that easily rival those of your favorite minimalist (e.g. Niblock, Chalk, Hafler Trio, Xenakis, etc.). For those of you who have had the pleasure of experiencing Laporte's live concerts, the third piece will certainly be familiar. He's built an instrument with a series of car horns and elongated trumpet bells attached to an air compressor with each of the valves controlled by foot pedals. This instrument can generate infinitely sustainable, blaring drones from each of the horns; and Laporte craftily layers these sounds for incredible, dynamic results. Well, for this recording, Laporte lugged this instrument into the hull of a giant cargo ship and recorded this composition using the massive reverb of that space and the results are simply jaw-dropping. Imagine the most Nordic bellow from a Wagner symphony stretched out into its melancholic, raw sound and allowed to decay in space and time. Wow!
Following this is the aforementioned Mantra; and then Soundmatters' final piece which explores a quiet, yet thoroughly rich harmonic tapestry produced by a quartet of saxophones that could be Laporte's imagined summit between Evan Parker and Morton Feldman with rasping breaths of sound breaking across a silent event horizon with the ghostly energy of subatomic particles flickering and dissolving in a cloud chamber before amassing into a delirious swarm of Tony Conrad-esque acoustic dissonance. It's all utterly magnificent and one of finest collections of 'serious' composition that we've come across.
MPEG Stream: "Electro-Prana"
MPEG Stream: "Boule qui roule..."
MPEG Stream: "Danse le ventre du dragon"
MPEG Stream: "Mantra"

LAPPETITES, THE Before The Libretto (Quecksilber) cd 15.98
Before the Libretto is like some sort of neo-futuristic pseudo-Pagan ritual in which these four women from four countries (Elaine Radigue (France), Kaffe Matthews (UK), Ryoko Kuwajima (Japan), and AGF (Germany) hold hands (or connect laptops) and invoke the forces of nature....but instead of the earth and wind and sea answering the call, a bunch of little aliens show up and start dancing a jig. No one knows what the hell is going on, but it's pretty awesome all the same. Part operatic play, part experimental poetry, glistening, organic, feminine, and weird. Ryoko Kuwajima sounds a bit like Tujiko Noriko....wafting in and out with spoken bits and scraps of private song. Whenever it strikes her fancy, while the others weave a playful prickly and peculiar musical bed for all of the strange vocalisations. Very hard to describe what's going on, totally alien sounding but at the same time, so inviting you just want to touch and fold and feel and try to figure out what the heck is going on. The sounds are gentle, but not soft, crunchy, but not hard, like diving into a swiming pool full of autumn leaves, then running through the forest naked. The separate parts sound a little like puzzle pieces forced into the wrong places, a curious hodgepodge of ill fitting pieces, but together thay have some strange poetry, it's what makes this all sound so charming. The parts and pieces and sonic fragments don't mesh, but somehow....that's what makes it work. The cover is quite striking as well, a creepy fleshy tongue flower that inspires lot of "hmms" and "eeews" from customers when it's in the 'Now Playing' slot on our counter. Highly recommended, a curious and curiously appealing record.
MPEG Stream: "My Within"
MPEG Stream: "Disaster"
MPEG Stream: "Funeral"

LAPSE / CHRIS LEO / OCTALAPSE Insound Tour Support No. 7 (Insound) cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Three projects fronted by Chris Leo on one limited cd. His solo work features sonic guitars, bizarre samples, and loops. As The Lapse, Chris joins former Blonde Redhead member Toko, and closes this four track cd by hooking up with hip hop beatmeister Dalek as Octalapse.

LAPSE, THE Heaven Ain't Happenin' (Southern) cd 13.98
Angular yet catchy arrangements attempt to capture the loose, schizophrenic nature of this rock duo, composed of Chris from the Van Pelt and Toko, ex-Blonde Redhead. Kind of like Sonic Youth at practice when all of a sudden the electricity goes out. Simple, urgent, and intense but without the wall of feedback. It's good.

LARD FREE Gilbert Artman's Lard Free (Spalax) cd 14.98
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LARD FREE I'm Around Midnight (Spalax) cd 14.98
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LARD FREE III (Spalax) cd 14.98

LARD FREE Unnamed (Spalax) cd 15.98
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LARD FREE Unnamed (Captain Trip) cd 25.00

LARSEN HMKE (Important) cd 10.98
HMKE is a brief 4 track EP from the Italian post-rock collective Larsen, who earned a considerable amount of notoriety for their stunt in flying Michael Gira over to Italy to produce their record, all the while remaining hidden behind a curtain...supposedly. Last year, Larsen continued to be enigmatic with Play, an album of audio alchemy transforming Autechre's electronic melodies into hypnotic, drone-rock epics to amazing effect. Thanks to a poorly worded press-release from the label, it's sort of hard to tell if this is a precursor to an upcoming Lustmord / Larsen collaborative project; or if that collaboration is merely a one-off to appear sometime in the future. We'll shrug our shoulders and simply enjoy this fractured gem of dark, dark, dark drone-rock hypnosis, augmented by some choice remixes. The first track is a remix from the Norwegian audio-virologist Deathprod, who drags the already turgid sounds of Larsen into grim hum of blackened ice. Next up is a new track, which may or may not have something to do with that aforementioned Lustmord collaboration; it's a buzzing dirge of circling bass, guitar, and electronics caught in a downward spiral, much like their material on their earlier recordings. For the last two tracks, Larsen enlisted the remixing talents of dark ambient noodler Oragami Galaktika.
MPEG Stream: "M"
MPEG Stream: "H (Deathprod Mix)"

LARSEN La Fever Lit (Important) cd 14.98
Gone are the days when Larsen would hire Michael Gira to produce one of their claustrophobic albums under suspiciously odd circumstances. After 13 years in existence, the Italian post-rock collective has emerged as a champion of cinematic pop on La Fever Lit, sharing a sound that has more in common now a days with Sigur Ros than with the Swans. Sure, the band's sound on La Fever Lit persists in their hypnotizing arrangements for cyclical rhythms buttressing slow-burning crescendos of guitars and electronics, but the moodiness and abject urgency which marked their earlier recordings have been supplanted with an opulence, majesty, and a celebratory nature with occasional detours back into the bittersweet. On a handful of the tracks, Larsen's usually instrumental pieces have been augmented with vocals by Annie Anxiety, the one time member of Crass and contributor to Current 93, who presents herself as a detached diva singing torch songs of urban decay, which is well suited for Larsen's sweeping overtures.
MPEG Stream: "Tu Ark"
MPEG Stream: "Lefrak City Limits"

LARSEN LLL (Important) lp 27.00

LARSEN MUSM (Enterruption) 2lp 17.98

LARSEN Play (Important) cd 13.98
The first album from Italy's Larsen was shrouded in mystery, literally they would have had us believe, as it (Rever) came accompanied by the unlikely story that it was recorded with the band concealed behind a screen, producer Michael Gira never actually ever laying eyes on the bandmembers, as they played in concealment and he twiddled the knobs in the studio on his side of the screen. Probably not a true story, but a good one! This new disc comes with a (somewhat) more plausible narrative: apparently Larsen, in preparing for their next record, decided to improvise, just as an exercise, around a bunch of their favorite melodies from tracks by British glitchtronica masters Autechre. In doing so, they eventually came up with their own material, tracks that weren't literally "covers" or in any way direct interpretations of Autechre songs, but were nonetheless heavily influenced and inspired by Autechre's songwriting -- again, in terms of melodies, not the glitchy science of the Autechre duo's stuttering beats. But along with Autechre, their label also cites Einsturzende Neubauten, Six Organs of Admittance, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Godspeed You Black Emperor and Gira's Swans as possible influences, and those references seem equally likely to our ears, especially since Larsen's ritualistic, repetitive post-rock doesn't sound remotely like Autechre. Well wait a sec...it does...remotely. By casting such gentle "Autechre-ish" melodies in the context of such completely different instrumentation (guitar, drums, bass, harmonium, xylophone, accordion, keyboards, cello, violin...) and arrangement, Larsen's Play highlights just how melodic Autechre are, something perhaps obscured by the skittering electronic component of their own music. Autechre issues aside, Larsen sure do still sound mysterious. And Play perhaps surpasses what we thought was a pretty brilliant debut (an AQ record of the week, almost exactly three years ago). As with Rever, Play is a largely instrumental, slowly unfolding, mesmerizing, multi-part epic of both tranquility and power, anchored in hypnotic drum-grooves and bathed in delicate instrumental textures. However inspired, it's Larsen that has done the hard work here of constructing such a moody monument.
MPEG Stream: "C"
MPEG Stream: "E"

LARSEN Rever (Young God) cd 13.98
The story of how this record came to be is almost impossible to believe, yet Michael Gira (Angels of Light / Swans) seems like a reliable enough source that it could in fact be true. Beginning sometime last year, Gira started receiving a series of arcane CD-Rs from the Italian collective / hermetic cult that simply labeled themselves as Larsen. The music within was a diverse collection of sounds that in Gira's words included "a whispered song, accompanied by a distant accordion, as if playing in the next room, or a drone of unknown origin, or a short burst of percussive chaos -- sometimes just a single sound or noise, a scraping sound, as if someone were slowly etching a piece of rusted metal with a blade of some sort, or the sound of saliva working in the mouth." The last package that he received did not include a CD-R, but a handsome amount of money, a plane ticket to Italy, and a request for his presence to produce an album for Larsen. Intrigued by the music he had heard up until then, Gira took Larsen up on their offer. Once in Italy, Gira was never allowed to see the band who had situated themselves in the recording studio behind a screen. He described their actions as often emerging as if part of some ceremonial rite, but the liturgical music for these rites have all of the trappings of a band who are far more interested in Sonic Youth than the archetypes of ceremonial musics. Hypnotic, interlocking math rock grooves pulse from forceful minor-key guitar chords, counterpointed with accordions, trumpet blurts, mechanical tape whirrings, tectonic rumbles, and other incredibly rich textural elements. The resulting album is a stunning collection of tense musical constructions that have been gilded with a fragile sadness, recalling the likes of recent Unwound, Blonde Redhead, Ulan Bator (another exceptional band produced by Michael Gira), and bits of This Heat and fellow weirdo Italians the Starfuckers.
The one qualm with the album is on how the record ends. It has been a longstanding belief of mine that Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation" should have ended with the graceful haze of "Hyperstation" and done away with the unnecessary exclamation of "Eliminator, Jr." Similarly, Larsen ends "Rever" badly, as a beautifully repetitive groove simply cuts out, making you wonder if California is returning to the days of rolling blackouts. If only every record had one thing wrong with it instead of eighty-eleven problems, and in spite of that one misgiving, this is one of the best records we have heard in quite a while.
RealAudio clip: "Akin"
RealAudio clip: "Finger Number 6"
RealAudio clip: "Impro 2"
RealAudio clip: "Maya"
RealAudio clip: "Radial"

LARSEN Seies (Important) cd 14.98
Larsen is an enigmatic post-rock ensemble who have been responsible for some interesting conceptual projects all of which have been immaculately executed. For their highly acclaimed album Rever, the ensemble hired Michael Gira (Swans, Angels of Light) as the producer, but never allowed him to actually see the band as they played behind a curtain. Larsen followed this album with a breathtaking record reconstructing the melodic phrasing of Autechre through their own repetitive patterns for guitar, bass, vibraphone, accordion, and drums. Seies doesn't enjoy any of the conceptual agendas of the previous record; or rather if there are any concepts to the record, Larsen has shrouded them from their audience. The hymnal post-rock hypnosis from the previous records is certainly present, conjuring a spaghetti western swagger heard in the more bad-ass Morricone soundtracks. In these looping dirges, Larsen also call to mind the desolate soundtracks composed by Calla and some of the late period work of Swans; this is especially true for the tracks in which former Swans singer Jarboe appears! There's guest appearances a plenty on Seies as Current 93's cellist Julia Kent appears on some early tracks, and the dark ambient overlord Lustmord conjures his own black clouds on some of the later cuts.
MPEG Stream: "The Snow"
MPEG Stream: "Mother"
MPEG Stream: "Marzia"