ALBOTH/RUINS/MOLECULES/BELLY BUTTON/MUG (Pandemonium) 7" 3.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
R: Hyper kinetic bass/drums prog.
M: Bay Area jazz prog.
A: Swiss Young Gods style arty bombast.
BB: Noisey post rock.
M: Jazzy art brut funk rock.

ALIAS & EHREN Lillian (Anticon) cd 14.98
Despite what I am about to say, this is indeed an ultra groovy dream of an album and is well worth picking up. Really! It is unfortunate that these associations do tend to cloud the listening experience, but even without being much of a TV watcher I have to say that this new collaboration between Alias and his little brother Ehren (particularly the fifth track) really reminded us of that (albeit great) Aphex Twin track that was used in a bank commercial... alas! What distinguishes Alias & Ehren from Richard D. James here though is that they direct their spotlight to the sounds of saxophones for the melodic elements in their music. Overall, they're sound is more in line with the likes of Jimmy Tamborello (Dntel, Postal Service), Canada's Caribou, or the artists on the German pretty pop-tronic label Morr Music. Breezy and blissful, but not unexpectedly with a little more rhythm and bass presence.
MPEG Stream: "Back & Forth "
MPEG Stream: "Miso Stomp"

ALICE DONUT Freaks In Love (Howler / Alternative Tentacles) 2cd+dvd 23.00
With the release of Freaks In Love, from weirdo New York noise rockers Alice Donut, we realized we had never reviewed a single Alice Donut record. Ever. Most likely because most of them predated the list, but even so, that's no excuse, considering Alice Donut are one of our favorite bands EVER. And we know, it's a little like crying wolf, constantly trumpeting bands and releases as being the best ever, but we have loved, and been borderline obsessed with these guys for almost 25 years, playing every single record to death, seeing them live every time they played in San Francisco, and since they were on Alternative Tentacles, and played here so much, for a while, we just assumed they were an SF band, which really they might as well have been, cuz they were, and are, just the right amount of freaky and heavy, noisy and catchy, and are responsible for some of our favorite jams of the eighties and nineties, and many a mixtape has included at least one AD jam, often their kick ass cover of "War Pigs" with the vocals replaced by TROMBONE!
Anyway, recently a documentary about the band came out, and is presented here along with a two disc sort of greatest hits, which for the uninitiated, might just blow your mind, some of the finest weirdo rock EVER. And not just weird, but catchy as fuck to boot. Just check out the samples below for "Egg", and "Mrs Hayes", and "Dorothy", and of course the best titled song ever: "The Son Of A Disgruntled X-Postal Worker Reflects On His Life While Getting Stoned In The Parking Lot Of A Winn Dixie Listening To Metallica". Frontman Tomas Antona has one of the weirdest, coolest voices ever, and the songs, so twisted and weirdly hooky, this stuff sounds as weird and wonderful now as it did the first time we heard it. And while this 'greatest hits' is missing some of our favorites, odds are if you end up digging this, it won't be by half measures, and you'll find yourself tracking down all the records anyway.
But the real reason for this release is the documentary, which is actually super entertaining, we even watched it with someone who knew nothing really about Alice Donut, and not only dug the movie, but ended up wanting all the records afterwards. It's a pretty standard rock doc, notable for being super fun to watch, even though there were no deaths, or drugs, or overdoses, as dramatic as it got, was people getting kicked out of the band or tours getting fucked up, but all the band members are super cute and likable, and that only makes the music that much cooler.
The packaging is super sweet too, a weird oversized digipak, with a strange fold out triple disc holder, as well as a massive full color booklet, with liner notes and lyrics, and every available surface adorned with Antona's awesomely disturbing illustrations.
MPEG Stream: "Egg"
MPEG Stream: "Mother Of Christ"
MPEG Stream: "Dorothy"
MPEG Stream: "Mrs. Hayes"

ALPS, THE Easy Action (Mexican Summer) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest from these sunshiney new age krautfolk drifters, a trio featuring our very own Scott Hewicker, along with Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Root Strata) and Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp), The Alps' Easy Action is record number five if you're keeping track, although it's not in fact exactly a proper full length, instead, it's a bit of a collaged inbetweener, a gorgeous, surprisingly noisy at times, druggy and deliriously delightful hodgepodge assembled from various sources, old tapes from past sessions, unused takes from their last record Le Voyage, a handful of new recordings, as well as various other sounds, all meticulously assembled in the studio into a pretty fantastic record.
As mentioned above, the sound here is not nearly as laid back and soft focus as Le Voyage. That record definitely found the band in full on meandering mode, the guitars were jangly, the rhythms subtle and minimal, when there were rhythms, the noise was kept to a minimum, it was all about tone and timbre, ambience and atmosphere, the propulsion seemingly an afterthought, the band happy to let the songs drift lazily, but if a rhythm did surface, the band would just let that rhythm guide them, until it eventually wound down, leaving the band to drift ever onward. But here, the sound is actually a bit fierce, and a little dark. The opener starts with a cloud of swirling textures and hushed effects, muted melodies, and little flecks of buzz and glitch, but it's not long before a black cloud of grinding distortion and hissing electronics threaten to swallow up the other sounds, the song is transformed into a swirling bit of soft noise chaos, culminating in a strange stuttery glitched out finale. Wow. As if that weren't enough, the second track too delivers some powerful drumming, laid over some tangled steel string guitar, and some buzzing psychedelic guitar, a guitar that gets wilder and noisier as the track progresses before everything drops out leaving just the guitar unwinding a swirling cloud of FX heavy freakout.
And so it goes, "Pink Orange" is more of a interlude, a looped bit of processed guitar, but then "For Isabel" drifts in with its seventies folk guitar, but then suddenly glitches out, as some strange bits of studio buzz swoop in, the gorgeous looped guitar figure wreathed in a cloud of hiss and buzz, and rapidly expanding crunch, good stuff for sure, just surprisingly intense.
"Loves Of A Blonde" is a sprawling bit of abstract droney drift, some steel string buzz, some muted percussion, more crunchy distorted guitar noise, a sort of abstract raga, underpinned by dark piano chords, everything wreathed in gristly bits of static, eventually, all the noise fading out, leaving just some sitar like buzz and some echoey piano, the prettiest stretch on the record thus far. The title track dabbles in some dub, adding a little reggae inflection to a loping slo-mo krautrock groove, the guitars warm and shimmery, the bass sinewy and melodic, but even here, the band lay a thick bit of crunchy, lo-fi guitar fuzz over the otherwise tranquil proceedings, which we quite like, and definitely adds a needed edge to the otherwise placid drift underneath.
The rest of the record unwinds similarly, with the band taking the more serene and melodic elements and fusing them to strange studio misfires, and random, but fantastic bits of noisiness, tinkling looped melodies, that seems to fluctuate wildly within a field of hyperactive static, transforming a shimmery sleepy loop into a mysterious bit of crumbling crunch. They take a break on the hushed and crystal clear solo guitar outing "Reflections For Peter Green", only to slip right back into it with the nearly 10 minute "Instant Light" which was previously released on the super limited Root Strata cd-r A Path Through The Sun), a track that builds slowly, lush steel string strums drifting beneath whirling bits of distant ambience, definitely channeling the spirit of Le Voyage, but the band pile on some lush, effulgent guitar buzz, and some keening layered guitardrones, filling the sky with warm sonic streaks, while underneath the sound continues to drift along melodically, a practically perfect balance between the dreamy old and the more abrasive new, before finishing off with a brief 2 minute swirl of whirling, swirling, blurred and smeared, echo drenched new age shimmer. So good. And a bit of a sonic surprise. Which has us wondering if their next proper studio full length will find the band incorporating some of this new found, more 'difficult' audio experimentation. We sure hope so!
Super limited, and packaged in a super elaborate fold out psychedelic pyramid sleeve, designed by artist Tauba Auerbach, that is easily one of the coolest things we've seen.
Includes a download code as well.
MPEG Stream: "Today & Tomorrow"
MPEG Stream: "Spray"
MPEG Stream: "Pink Orange"
MPEG Stream: "Easy Action"
MPEG Stream: "Until Tomorrow"

ALPS, THE III (Type) cd 15.98
Already available as a super limited lp (we may still have a few left), now finally available on cd, the latest from Bay Area new-kraut-folk-age combo Alps, which finds the band sounding moreÊhigh fidelity than ever, and more kraut than folk, which in both cases suits them big time.
For those new to Alps, a rundown of several members should help give you an idea of where their sound is coming from: our very own Scott Hewicker (Troll), Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp, formerly of Tussle) and Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Colophon, J.C. Ledesma). But Alps is definitely more than the sum of its parts, their sound is quite varied, expansive, even epic at times, but simultaneously, they manage to craft a sound simple and solid, based as much on rhythm and texture as on song and melody.
On past releases, Alps were a much more ramshackle concern, which at the time was definitely a big part of their sound, and thus set them firmly amongst the lo-fi cd-r drone folks scene, their sound a sort of ghostly Appalachia, mixed with longform drone music, muddy muted ambience, minimal soundscaping and plenty of lo-fi buzz and hiss much of the record mired in a corrosive murk, that only added to their dark dronelike vibe. The move to Type Records, coincides, perhaps not coincidentally, with a sonic shift, where once was abstract and low fidelity, is now rhythmic, and propulsive, looped and repetitive, and most importantly, glistening and glimmering, the sound crystal clear, and this time the dreaminess doesn't come from poor recording, it comes from the compositions, and the arrangements, and a super nice sounding recording courtesy of Phil Manley of the Champs and Trans Am. The core members of Alps also have a keen interest in new age music. Not the Deep Breakfast sort of schlock that most seem to equate with the genre, but instead more the sort of inner space, dreamy drift of Tangerine Dream, Deuter, Steve Hillage and the like. And those sounds are all over III as well.
The opener is a gorgeous looped soundscape of repetitive guitar figures, and glistening chimes, almost like a dreamfolk Steve Reich, bits of Appalachia, big buzzing synths, strummed zithers, a gorgeous melancholy melody played out over the course of five and a half minutes. The second track finds the band getting their kraut on, channeling Neu! Or Agitation Free but through a much more washed out and weary space rock, like Hawkwind gone new age. Distant drifting vocals, all manner of layered buzz, distorted guitars buried in the mix, space-y FX, very tranquil and mesmerizing. The follow up "Cloud One" finds Alps revisiting their folk roots, taking strummed acoustic guitars, and simple piano, and draping them over a woozy melody and a super spare abstract rhythm. "Trem Fantasma" is a barely there whisper of spaced out dronemusic, Gloriously wreathed in musical mystery, drifting piano, fragmented guitars, some soft sixties 'ladada' vocals, another dreamy drifter that threatens to spirit the listener away to some sun dappled green grassed knoll. "Labyrinths" is another new age / krautrock meander, washed out and shimmery, the drums the only thing keeping the rest of the song from just floating away, playful melodies, that sound like Perry and Kingsley rendered in shades of grey. The next few tracks are more abstract, sounds swooping in and out, rhythms, if there are any, buried beneath soft layers of sound, everything hushed and minimal, until album closer, "Into The Breeze", which sounds just like the title would have you imagine, breezy, soft focus, the drums, simple and stripped down, shimmering steel string guitar, that ever present piano, the melody wistful, the production hazy and a little woozy, effects swirling in the background, the drums gradually becoming more and more tripped out, before fading out completely, leaving just the guitar and the piano to drift heavenward, through a field of soft shimmer and the glistening afterglow of the sounds that came before.
The more we listen to III, the more obvious the new age-isms become, which is not a bad thing at all, it wraps the proceedings, no matter how krautrocky or folky or droney, in a sweet swirl of moonlit dreaminess, turning each song into its own sort of otherworldly mesmer.
MPEG Stream: "A Manha Na Praia"
MPEG Stream: "Hallucinations"
MPEG Stream: "Cloud One"

ALPS, THE III (Type) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The latest from Bay Area new-kraut-folk-age combo Alps, finds the band sounding moreÊhigh fidelity than ever, and more kraut than folk, which in both cases suits them big time.
For those new to Alps, a rundown of several members should help give you an idea of where their sound is coming from: our very own Scott Hewicker (Troll), Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp, formerly of Tussle) and Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Colophon, J.C. Ledesma). But Alps is definitely more than the sum of its parts, their sound is quite varied, expansive, even epic at times, but simultaneously, they manage to craft a sound simple and solid, based as much on rhythm and texture as on song and melody.
On past releases, Alps were a much more ramshackle concern, which at the time was definitely a big part of their sound, and thus set them firmly amongst the lo-fi cd-r drone folks scene, their sound a sort of ghostly Appalachia, mixed with longform drone music, muddy muted ambience, minimal soundscaping and plenty of lo-fi buzz and hiss much of the record mired in a corrosive murk, that only added to their dark dronelike vibe. The move to Type Records, coincides, perhaps not coincidentally, with a sonic shift, where once was abstract and low fidelity, is now rhythmic, and propulsive, looped and repetitive, and most importantly, glistening and glimmering, the sound crystal clear, and this time the dreaminess doesn't come from poor recording, it comes from the compositions, and the arrangements, and a super nice sounding recording courtesy of Phil Manley of the Champs and Trans Am. The core members of Alps also have a keen interest in new age music. Not the Deep Breakfast sort of schlock that most seem to equate with the genre, but instead more the sort of inner space, dreamy drift of Tangerine Dream, Deuter, Steve Hillage and the like. And those sounds are all over III as well.
The opener is a gorgeous looped soundscape of repetitive guitar figures, and glistening chimes, almost like a dreamfolk Steve Reich, bits of Appalachia, big buzzing synths, strummed zithers, a gorgeous melancholy melody played out over the course of five and a half minutes. The second track finds the band getting their kraut on, channeling Neu! Or Agitation Free but through a much more washed out and weary space rock, like Hawkwind gone new age. Distant drifting vocals, all manner of layered buzz, distorted guitars buried in the mix, space-y FX, very tranquil and mesmerizing. The follow up "Cloud One" finds Alps revisiting their folk roots, taking strummed acoustic guitars, and simple piano, and draping them over a woozy melody and a super spare abstract rhythm. "Trem Fantasma" is a barely there whisper of spaced out dronemusic, Gloriously wreathed in musical mystery, drifting piano, fragmented guitars, some soft sixties 'ladada' vocals, another dreamy drifter that threatens to spirit the listener away to some sun dappled green grassed knoll. "Labyrinths" is another new age / krautrock meander, washed out and shimmery, the drums the only thing keeping the rest of the song from just floating away, playful melodies, that sound like Perry and Kingsley rendered in shades of grey. The next few tracks are more abstract, sounds swooping in and out, rhythms, if there are any, buried beneath soft layers of sound, everything hushed and minimal, until album closer, "Into The Breeze", which sounds just like the title would have you imagine, breezy, soft focus, the drums, simple and stripped down, shimmering steel string guitar, that ever present piano, the melody wistful, the production hazy and a little woozy, effects swirling in the background, the drums gradually becoming more and more tripped out, before fading out completely, leaving just the guitar and the piano to drift heavenward, through a field of soft shimmer and the glistening afterglow of the sounds that came before.
The more we listen to III, the more obvious the new age-isms become, which is not a bad thing at all, it wraps the proceedings, no matter how krautrocky or folky or droney, in a sweet swirl of moonlit dreaminess, turning each song into its own sort of otherworldly mesmer.
LIMITED TO ONLY 400 COPIES ON VINYL!!!!! (& the compact disc version is coming soon, but not out yet...)
MPEG Stream: "A Manha Na Praia"
MPEG Stream: "Hallucinations"
MPEG Stream: "Cloud One"

ALPS, THE Jewelt Galaxies (Root Strata) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Managed to get a handful more of these, and it looks like once these are gone, they'll be gone for good.
From the looks of the felt pen scrawled disc artwork you might be expecting some Wolf Eyes, Black Dice or Lightning Bolt sweaty dirge-noise bursts, but The Alps go in the opposite direction, offering up glistening meditative soundscapes well-suited to gazing at frosty mountain peaks such as those of their namesake. Makes more sense when you discover that The Alps are Scott Hewicker (Troll), Alexis Georgopoulos (Tussle) and Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Colophon, J.C. Ledesma), doesn't it?
Squeaky clarinets and alien flute toots melted into whirls of swish and whoosh, all laid over ominous drones and instrument hum and tape hiss. Quite beautiful. And as with many cd-r releases, quite limited!
MPEG Stream: "Tintinnabulations"

ALPS, THE Jewelt Galaxies / Spirit Shambles (Spekk) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Gorgeous reissue of two long out of print cd-r's from Bay Area abstract drone drift outfit The Alps, featuring AQ staffer Scott Hewicker (Troll), Alexis Georgopoulos (Tussle) and Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Colophon, J.C. Ledesma), who together weave breathtaking expanses of blissed out shimmer and glistening meditative soundscapes well-suited to gazing at frosty mountain peaks such as those of their namesake.
The Alps explore mysterious worlds of haunting folky foresty freeform loveliness, trafficking in dark dreamy wonder, disembodied strains of some lost Appalachia float weightless in a dusky forest of murky mumbly ambience, while muted guitars and stumbling tribal drumming swirl and sway amidst delicate tendrils of creepy ghostly falsetto croon and swoon. Elsewhere, deep pools of shimmering cymbal wash sparkle and glimmer, the sky above a moonlit smear of ethereal electronic effervescence, all run through with streaks of subtle melody. Squeaky clarinets and alien flute toots melt into whirls of swish and whoosh, all laid over ominous drones and instrument hum and tape hiss.
Think The Wickerman meets Jewelled Antler or Neu! played at 16rpm broadcast through a moss covered speaker on the bottom of the sea, or the sound of the Northern Lights, recorded onto a wax cylinder and played back through a shortwave radio, while a boy on a nearby rooftop hurls broken cymbals into the drained swimming pool next door, the entire thing subtly underpinned by the relentless throb and pulse of rain dripping on upended plastic garbage cans. So good.
The only drag here is that the label decided to leave off one of our favorite tracks, the final number on Spirit Shambles, fearing its lo-fi sprawl and clatter didn't fit in with the Alps' lush ambience and moonlit glimmer, which is precisely why it worked so perfectly. Oh well, to hear what we're talking about you just might have to do some internet searching or late night eBaying, but don't let that deter you from picking this up, even minus that burst of corrosive murk, you'd be hard pressed to find a lovelier batch of shambling sonic swoon...
Packaged with all new artwork in a cool, sleek oversized digipak style folder.
MPEG Stream: "Tintinnabulations"
MPEG Stream: "O Wind"
MPEG Stream: "Bird With The Crystal Plumage"

ALPS, THE Le Voyage (Type) cd 15.98
Full length number four from these Bay Area kosmische krautfolk visionaries, the sound on Le Voyage (aka IV) the perfect extension of the soundworld they created on 2008's III, and perhaps their most fully realized record thus far, as the band have developed from lo-fi drone and ramshackle free folk, abstract Appalachia and dreamy dronemusic, to something much more measured and sonically subtle, still consisting of many of the same basic elements, yet somehow more haunting and delicate, and occasionally exploring heavier more rhythmic territory.
Part of this new expanded sound is the fact that the core trio, our very own Scott Hewicker (Troll), Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp, formerly of Tussle) and Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Colophon, J.C. Ledesma), is augmented by some serious guests, who contribute tamboura, pedal steel, bass guitar and field recordings to the already impressive (and occasionally baffling) list of sonic implements: palm guitar, 12 string acoustic guitar, Moogerfooger delay, mountain drums, electric clouds, Mini Moog synthesizer, falling piano, symphony space, radiophonic synthesizer, parabolic guitar, memory man, desert guitar, melted glass guitar and more.
But don't let the bizarre instrumentation mislead, the sound here is definitely abstract and 'out there', but perhaps not as much as that list might lead you to believe. Those instruments, subtly wielded, result in something dreamy and divine, rhythmic, propulsive, and totally mesmerizing.
The record begins with some crystalline Appalachian guitar, warm and sun dappled, underpinned by upper register shimmers, bits of piano, super minimal percussion, and some gorgeous pedal steel that gives the track a sweeping, wide open space vibe, the musical equivalent of laying in knee high grass, watching the clouds drift by in a cobalt blue sky. After a brief bit of jumbled psychedelic samplage, voices, horn fanfares, explosions, dinner party strings, applause, running water and random swirling FX drenched, the band get seriously krauty, with some stripped down tribal drumming, muted squalls of wah guitar, definitely dark and brooding, but as the track progresses, and various instruments join the fray, loping bass, steel string strum, all manner of melody, the track begins to glow, a smoldering almost space rock sounding work out, that sets its sights for the heart of the sun, but instead settles back to earth in a brief stretch of piano flecked drone, before launching into the next track, a dreamy slice of classic sounding psychedelic pop, all spare drumming, and chiming acoustic guitar, not to mention some rubbery basslines and more delicate piano, the second half of the track decidedly less propulsive and more washed out rainy day contemplative.
After another brief respite, soundtracked by a warped collage of shortwave buzz, reverbed horns, electronic glitches, swirls of hiss and grit and a brief flurry of marital snares, "Saturno Contro" commences, a lazy, lugubrious bit of dour acoustic dreampop, laced with tinkling chimes, moaning strings, softly cinematic and quite lovely.
Which leads into the records closing salvo, a three track, 20 minute fugue, that is the record's climax for sure, beginning with "Black Mountain", a piano laced buzzing raga, a gorgeous sprawling slow burn, that builds to something slightly more rhythmic, a sort of brooding chamber folk, bookended by field recordings of crickets, as if the track was merely the soundtrack for an early evening stroll through the forest. The title track is up next, a lush, loping chunk of hypnorock slowcore krautdrone drift, the drums simple and skeletal, the other instruments subtly urgent, the tone tense and intense, like the final few minutes of some space rock epic, stripped way down, slowed way down and stretched way out, still psychedelic and space-y, but more earthbound, the sound of night and day viewed in time lapse, flowers opening to the sun, and then folding back up to shut out the dark, the shadows rushing across the ground, the sky and ever shifting prismatic expanse, dark and emotional and gorgeous, eventually fading into the buzzing final track, another hazy druggy raga, thick layered buzz wrapped around a simple propulsive bassline, the song building bit time, the drums crashing, the various tones and sounds seeming to blossom like miniature supernovas, the various elements bleeding into one another, a lush cloud of swirling buzzing bliss, that could go on forever, but instead, crumbles into a fractured dubby outro before blinking out completely.
A perfectly realized hybrid of krautrock, new age, raga, Appalachia, dronefolk, an ever shifting expanse of cinematic sound, a pop music redefined and reinterpreted as something much more esoteric, hauntingly beautiful, and darkly mysterious.
MPEG Stream: "Drop In"
MPEG Stream: "Crossing The Sands"
MPEG Stream: "Le Voyage"
MPEG Stream: "Telepathe"

ALPS, THE Le Voyage (Type) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Full length number four from these Bay Area kosmische krautfolk visionaries, the sound on Le Voyage (aka IV) the perfect extension of the soundworld they created on 2008's III, and perhaps their most fully realized record thus far, as the band have developed from lo-fi drone and ramshackle free folk, abstract Appalachia and dreamy dronemusic, to something much more measured and sonically subtle, still consisting of many of the same basic elements, yet somehow more haunting and delicate, and occasionally exploring heavier more rhythmic territory.
Part of this new expanded sound is the fact that the core trio, our very own Scott Hewicker (Troll), Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp, formerly of Tussle) and Jefre Cantu (Tarentel, Colophon, J.C. Ledesma), is augmented by some serious guests, who contribute tamboura, pedal steel, bass guitar and field recordings to the already impressive (and occasionally baffling) list of sonic implements: palm guitar, 12 string acoustic guitar, Moogerfooger delay, mountain drums, electric clouds, Mini Moog synthesizer, falling piano, symphony space, radiophonic synthesizer, parabolic guitar, memory man, desert guitar, melted glass guitar and more.
But don't let the bizarre instrumentation mislead, the sound here is definitely abstract and 'out there', but perhaps not as much as that list might lead you to believe. Those instruments, subtly wielded, result in something dreamy and divine, rhythmic, propulsive, and totally mesmerizing.
The record begins with some crystalline Appalachian guitar, warm and sun dappled, underpinned by upper register shimmers, bits of piano, super minimal percussion, and some gorgeous pedal steel that gives the track a sweeping, wide open space vibe, the musical equivalent of laying in knee high grass, watching the clouds drift by in a cobalt blue sky. After a brief bit of jumbled psychedelic samplage, voices, horn fanfares, explosions, dinner party strings, applause, running water and random swirling FX drenched, the band get seriously krauty, with some stripped down tribal drumming, muted squalls of wah guitar, definitely dark and brooding, but as the track progresses, and various instruments join the fray, loping bass, steel string strum, all manner of melody, the track begins to glow, a smoldering almost space rock sounding work out, that sets its sights for the heart of the sun, but instead settles back to earth in a brief stretch of piano flecked drone, before launching into the next track, a dreamy slice of classic sounding psychedelic pop, all spare drumming, and chiming acoustic guitar, not to mention some rubbery basslines and more delicate piano, the second half of the track decidedly less propulsive and more washed out rainy day contemplative.
After another brief respite, soundtracked by a warped collage of shortwave buzz, reverbed horns, electronic glitches, swirls of hiss and grit and a brief flurry of marital snares, "Saturno Contro" commences, a lazy, lugubrious bit of dour acoustic dreampop, laced with tinkling chimes, moaning strings, softly cinematic and quite lovely.
Which leads into the records closing salvo, a three track, 20 minute fugue, that is the record's climax for sure, beginning with "Black Mountain", a piano laced buzzing raga, a gorgeous sprawling slow burn, that builds to something slightly more rhythmic, a sort of brooding chamber folk, bookended by field recordings of crickets, as if the track was merely the soundtrack for an early evening stroll through the forest. The title track is up next, a lush, loping chunk of hypnorock slowcore krautdrone drift, the drums simple and skeletal, the other instruments subtly urgent, the tone tense and intense, like the final few minutes of some space rock epic, stripped way down, slowed way down and stretched way out, still psychedelic and space-y, but more earthbound, the sound of night and day viewed in time lapse, flowers opening to the sun, and then folding back up to shut out the dark, the shadows rushing across the ground, the sky and ever shifting prismatic expanse, dark and emotional and gorgeous, eventually fading into the buzzing final track, another hazy druggy raga, thick layered buzz wrapped around a simple propulsive bassline, the song building bit time, the drums crashing, the various tones and sounds seeming to blossom like miniature supernovas, the various elements bleeding into one another, a lush cloud of swirling buzzing bliss, that could go on forever, but instead, crumbles into a fractured dubby outro before blinking out completely.
A perfectly realized hybrid of krautrock, new age, raga, Appalachia, dronefolk, an ever shifting expanse of cinematic sound, a pop music redefined and reinterpreted as something much more esoteric, hauntingly beautiful, and darkly mysterious.
MPEG Stream: "Drop In"
MPEG Stream: "Crossing The Sands"
MPEG Stream: "Le Voyage"
MPEG Stream: "Telepathe"

ALPS, THE Spirit Shambles (Digitalis) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SF's The Alps (featuring our very own Scott Hewicker) returns with their second full length of haunting folky foresty freeform loveliness. Featuring members of Tarentel and Tussle, the Alps traffic in dark dreamy wonder, disembodied strains of some lost Appalachia float weightless in a dusky forest of murky mumbly ambience, while muted guitars and stumbling tribal drumming swirl and sway amidst delicate tendrils of creepy ghostly falsetto croon and swoon. Elsewhere, deep pools of shimmering cymbal wash sparkle and glimmer, the sky above a moonlit smear of ethereal electronic effevescence, all run through with streaks of subtle melody. Think The Wickerman meets Jewelled Antler or Neu! played at 16rpm broadcast through a moss covered speaker on the bottom of the sea, or the sound of the Northern Lights, recorded onto a wax cylinder and played back through a shortwave radio, while a boy on a nearby rooftop hurls broken cymbals into the drained swimming pool next door, the entire thing subtly underpinned by the relentless throb and pulse of rain dripping on upended plastic garbage cans. The final track however veers into much stranger territory, but somehow still sounds very Alps. An ultra lo-fi, pagan freakout, creepy and muddy and druggy, blown out drumming, bizarre animalistic vocalisations, all seemingly captured on a hand held microcassette recorder. Weird. But very cool.
LIMITED TO ONLY 150 COPIES!!!!!
MPEG Stream: "O Wind"
MPEG Stream: "Bird With The Crystal Plumage"

AMBER ASYLUM Frozen In Amber (Neurot) cd 14.98
Reissue of the debut cd from this atmospheric local group, that uses classical chamber music instrumentation to create dark, beautiful sounds akin to a black metal Rachel's. Black metal? Well, this was originally released this by Elfenblut, an imprint of now defunct British label Misanthropy, famous as the home of Burzum! And, for further "heavy" credentials, we should mention that band leader Kris Force has played with both Neurosis and Swans. This was previously only an import, and now boasts three bonus tracks exclusive to this new version!

AMBER ASYLUM Garden Of Love (Paradigms) cd 12.98
We've been out of stock on this for a while, but just got restocked on Paradigms stuff, so another chance if you missed out before!
Originally released as a super limited 10", local moody metallic chamber ensemble Amber Asylum's latest Garden Of Love is now available on cd, again limited, this time to 750 copies, packaged in a mini lp style sleeve wrapped in a hand stamped brown paper outer sleeve, and includes the previously unreleased bonus track "Serenade" available only on this here cd. Four brand new tracks that take Amber Asylum's gothic strings and vocals sound even further out, having now expanded their lineup to include former members of The Gault and SF black metal legends Weakling. The opening track is quite possibly the best thing we've heard from them, a brooding dramatic soundscape of intensely moody strings, and anguished melodies. Locked in by simple almost programmed sounding rhythms with haunting operatic vocals drifting ghostlike through the mix. Sounds a bit like Skepticism with a string section, and you know that is a very good thing. The second track heads into almost Goblin territory at points with super aggressive pizzicato strings, bows sawing away at the strings emitting truly ominous melodies. The rest of the record is far more tranquil, expansive, romantic, epic, melancholic yet hopeful, with delicate crystalline piano figures, very subtle strings and sweetly plaintive vocals. So nice.
MPEG Stream: "Garden Of Love"
MPEG Stream: "Autonomy Suite"

AMBER ASYLUM Garden of Love, Autonomy Suite, Still Point (Bio-Fidelic) 10" 9.98
First we've heard from local moody metallic chamber ensemble Amber Asylum in quite some time. Rumor is there have been label problems, but you'd never know it from this amazing self released 10" (other than it being, um, self released). Three brand new tracks that take Amber Asylum's gothic strings and vocals soun even further out, having now expanded their lineup to include former members of the Gault and SF black metal legends Weakling. The opening track is quite possibly the best thing we've heard from them, a brooding dramatic soundscape of intensely moody strings, and anguished melodies. Locked in by simple almost programmed sounding rhythms with haunting operatic vocals drifting ghostlike through the mix. Sounds a bit like Skepticism with a string section, and you know that is a very good thing. The second track heads into almost Goblin territory at points with super aggressive pizzicato strings, bows sawing away at the strings emitting truly ominous melodies. Side B clocks in at a little over 12 minutes, and is far more tranquil, an expansive, romantic epic, melancholic yet hopeful, with delicate crystalline piano figures, very subtle strings and sweetly plaintive vocals. So nice. Available only on limited edition 10" vinyl!

AMBER ASYLUM Songs of Sex and Death (Release) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ignore the new age blurbs on the back of this cd, this is a beautiful piece of Morricone-style dark cinematic bliss from San Francisco violinist/vocalist Kris Force, featuring a revolving cast of guests, including John from A Minor Forest.

AMBER ASYLUM Still Point (Profound Lore) cd 12.98
Esteemed chamber music goddess Kris Force returns with what is quite possibly her most stark compositions to date. She's joined by some of the Bay Area's finest and most beloved of the indie metal and rock community including John Cobbett (Hammers Of Misfortune, Ludicra), Jackie Perez-Gratz (Grayceon), Tim Green (The Fucking Champs, Concentrick), Lorraine Rath (The Gault), and Sarah Schaffer (The Gault, Weakling). Still Point begins with three songs that slowly drift in on droning strings (violin, viola and cello) and ghostly choral vocals. From there the gothic proceedings build gradually with the entrance of minimal piano, guitar, flute, trumpet and percussion. As always, absolutely haunting and stunningly gorgeous!
MPEG Stream: "In The Still Point He Remains"
MPEG Stream: "Black Phoebe"
MPEG Stream: "The Summation"

AMBER ASYLUM The Natural Philosophy of Love (Release) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
2nd album (and domestic full-length debut) of atmospheric chamber music from this acclaimed San Francisco band, sort of the goth-metal answer to Rachel's. Not that this sounds metal at all, it just seems to be the eerie classical music thing that appeals equally to Satanic Black Metallers, "dark ambient" aficionados, and so forth - and the group's association with Neurosis adds to their metal cred.

AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB Engine (Warner) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
AMC's first 2 albums finally reissued on disc. This is Engine, the 2nd one. You still see Engine around in used LP bins, but Restless Stranger is really rare. I guess that's how Warner Bros justifies the price.

AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB Love Songs For Patriots (Merge) cd 13.98
It's been just shy of a decade since this beloved Bay Area band parted ways with members pursuing various solo endeavors (most notably mainman Mark Eitzel) but the legions of patient American Music Club fans will surely extend a warm welcome to this, the group's reunion album, and it doesn't disappoint. Love Songs For Patriots is a suitably somber, burnished work that smoothly picks up where the band left off back in 1995. That means you can expect a consistently high standard of songcraft and musicianship on par with the likes of Robyn Hitchcock, mid-career Elvis Costello, and Red House Painters' Mark Kozelek. Really, the only thing that seems a bit out of place is the first song. It has a smoky, almost cabaret feel, but after that things settle into more familiar AMC achingly earnest, downbeat kind of mood.
MPEG Stream: "Love Is"
MPEG Stream: "Song Of The Rats Leaving The Sinking Ship"

AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB Love Songs For Patriots (Devil In The Woods) 2lp 17.98
Now on vinyl! It's been just shy of a decade since this beloved Bay Area band parted ways with members pursuing various solo endeavors (most notably mainman Mark Eitzel) but the legions of patient American Music Club fans will surely extend a warm welcome to this, the group's reunion album, and it doesn't disappoint. Love Songs For Patriots is a suitably somber, burnished work that smoothly picks up where the band left off back in 1995. That means you can expect a consistently high standard of songcraft and musicianship on par with the likes of Robyn Hitchcock, mid-career Elvis Costello, and Red House Painters' Mark Kozelek. Really, the only thing that seems a bit out of place is the first song. It has a smoky, almost cabaret feel, but after that things settle into more familiar AMC achingly earnest, downbeat kind of mood.
MPEG Stream: "Love Is"
MPEG Stream: "Song Of The Rats Leaving The Sinking Ship"

AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB The Restless Stranger (Warner) cd 15.98
AMC's first 2 albums finally reissued on disc. This is Restless Stranger, the first one. You still see Engine around in used LP bins, but Restless Stranger is really rare. I guess that's how Warner Bros justifies the price.

AMOCOMA Go To Hell (self-released) cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The first thing that struck us about this debut release from Amocoma, a mysterious black metal horde from right here in San Francisco, was the cover art, a child-like pen and ink drawing of a pile of heads, but instead of being bloody or gory or horrific, they're sort of more cartoonish, like a whole slew of stick figures were decapitated, their heads tossed in a huge pile, beneath the scrawled band logo, wreathed in clouds of smeared ink. We were definitely intrigued. AndÊif anything, once inside, we were even moreso...
Amocoma traffic in an ultra lo-fi, muddy murky blackness. It's definitely black metal, there is plenty of buzz and blast and howled vocals, but at the same time it's sort of stumbling and noise rocky, it's probably a little of both, but it's all rendered nearly indistinct by the incredibly FX drenched lo-fi production.Ê
Beginning with dreamy swirls of soft focus harmonics and distant rumbles, it doesn't take long for the band to lurch into action, a simple hypnotic riff, looped over andÊover, almost sounding more like a bass than a guitar, and not so heavy as it is trancelike. The drums are mechanical and repetitive, the vocals are howled and swathed in reverb, spread out over the proceedings like a black cloud, so much so that at times they just sound like another layer of buzz. And the more you listen, the more pretty it sounds, sure it's raw and harsh, but the melody is so hypnotic, and the swirling clouds of distortion and reverb give everything a sort of soft focus shimmer.Ê
We're definitely reminded of WOLD, in the sense that these little fragmented pop songs, are rendered black and buzzy by the application of super saturated distortion, tape hiss and amp buzz, reverb and delay, so even at its heaviest, it's washed out and abstract, and downright dreamy. The drone element is through the roof, and it's impossible not to hear Tim Hecker or Machinefabriek or any one of those masters of smeary dreamlike sound. At some points things get super psychedelic, like halfway through "Small Dark Sea That Was A Body" where the guitar drops out, leaving just the drums, to sort of pulse and putter in a wide open expanse of soft swirl, while drifting above are all manner of glistening guitar harmonics, spacey FX sparkles, and warm warbly melodic hum.Ê
Damaged and dreamy, freaked out and fucked, one of our new favorite slabs of black beauty for sure...Ê
MPEG Stream: "Cowards Live Forever"
MPEG Stream: "Small Dark Sea That Was A Body"
MPEG Stream: "These Are Your Chocies...Darkness"

AMY & KAREN Play 15 "Old Time" Quality Tunes & Songs (self-released) cd 14.98
...and they play 'em so well! These two ladies have definitely captured that ol' homey country sound on their debut album with a barebones acoustic assembly of banjo, fiddle, guitar and voice. They cover the likes of The Carter Family, Bruce Springsteen, Woody Guthrie among others and a couple of traditional numbers as well. Lovingly packaged in a screenprinted cardboard sleeve too! For fans of Freakwater, Virginia Dare, Trailer Bride.
MPEG Stream: "Christmas Eve"
MPEG Stream: "Nebraska"

ANDERSON, BRUCE Bresson (Petit Mal Music) 3" cd-r 5.98
A mighty fine collection of improvisorial acoustic guitar solos from Bruce Anderson of MX-80 fame. That said, Anderson's solo guitar work is miles away from the sharp, incessant cacophony of the mutant-punk of MX-80 from back in the day. It's more of a Loren Mazzacane Connors feel, but played on an acoustic guitar with classical tunings. Or perhaps as our regular customer Monte opined, "sounds like Derek Bailey, if he learned to play melodically." Yeah, that's it! Anyway, with the quiet, rather ascetic nature of these recordings, we're guessing that the reference in the title is to Robert Bresson, the new wave French film director. The dulcet plucks and slow deliberate pacing of Anderson's work would certainly make for a complementary soundtrack to any number of Bresson's films even with their noted lack of musical accompaniments. Lovely stuff, and limited to just 75 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Bresson"

ANDERSON, BRUCE The Inherent Beauty Of Hopelessness (self-released) cd 9.98
Bruce Anderson is best known as the guitarist / frontman for Bay Area seminal avant-punk band MX-80, whose records back in the early '80s situated themselves on the suitably angular Ralph Records - home to The Residents, Snake Finger, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Tuxedomoon, etc. This 2008 composition - possibly just released, possibly never distributed until now - is a long-form, multi-tracked acoustic guitar exploration. Upon first listen, Fahey, Loren Mazzacane Connors, and Tom Carter seem the obvious references for these lilting elliptical arrangements; but as the piece develops, Anderson is insistent on hitting purposefully sharp notes, which atonally register thanks to his panned stereo distribution of layered tracks. As result, The Inherent Beauty Of Hopelessness begins to mutate into a Jandekian aesthetic of warped raga-blues, as if the Jandek standard "European Jewel" found itself tempered and elongated into a quiet, 40-minute epic.
MPEG Stream: "The Inherent Beauty Of Hopelessness"

ANGEL HAIR Pregnant With The Senior Class (Gravity) cd 9.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Everything this band ever recorded, before they became the celebrated VSS.

ANNA, DJ Live At The Den Of Iniquity (Beta Lounge) cd-r 9.98

ANNIHILATION TIME III: Tales Of The Ancient Age (Tee Pee) cd 13.98
Grab a brew, it's Annihilation Time! This is their third album (duh) but their first for Tee Pee (and thus the first we've heard, even though they're from right over in the East Bay... must mean we're more stoner rock than punk). The standard issue spiel about AT is that, as you might have guessed from their name, they're big time Black Flag and Bl'ast! fans, crossing over into the retro-thrash movement, with some classic '70s cock rock moves a la KISS or Thin Lizzy thrown in. Think fellow retro rockin' Oaklanders Drunkhorse, but more punk and skater-ly.
So, do such blurbs tell the truth? And if so, does this supposed hybrid of Deep Purple and D.R.I. sound better on paper than on your stereo? Well check out the twin guitar leads towards the end of track 2, "About To Snap", there's shades of Iron Maiden's Smith/Murray right there, and you'll find plenty more in the way of tasty '70s/'80s metallic guitar action elsewhere on the disc, usually smack in the midst of some much more basic, punk styled riffage... while their music ain't rocket science, it is definitely some good times rock n' roll. Not the second coming of anybody, but still a neat mix of elements, glorious guitar harmonies coexisting with hoarse punk rock vox... even if it's hard to know if we're supposed to be pogoing or headbanging. It can't quite approach the shreddingness of their live shows, but it's fun nonetheless.
MPEG Stream: "About To Snap"
MPEG Stream: "Jonestown"
MPEG Stream: "Bad Luck"

ANNIHILATION TIME III: Tales Of The Ancient Age (Tee Pee) lp 14.98
Finally got this in on wax...
Grab a brew, it's Annihilation Time! This is their third album (duh) but their first for Tee Pee (and thus the first we've heard, even though they're from right over in the East Bay... must mean we're more stoner rock than punk). The standard issue spiel about AT is that, as you might have guessed from their name, they're big time Black Flag and Bl'ast! fans, crossing over into the retro-thrash movement, with some classic '70s cock rock moves a la KISS or Thin Lizzy thrown in. Think fellow retro rockin' Oaklanders Drunkhorse, but more punk and skater-ly.
So, do such blurbs tell the truth? And if so, does this supposed hybrid of Deep Purple and D.R.I. sound better on paper than on your stereo? Well check out the twin guitar leads towards the end of track 2, "About To Snap", there's shades of Iron Maiden's Smith/Murray right there, and you'll find plenty more in the way of tasty '70s/'80s metallic guitar action elsewhere on the disc, usually smack in the midst of some much more basic, punk styled riffage... while their music ain't rocket science, it is definitely some good times rock n' roll. Not the second coming of anybody, but still a neat mix of elements, glorious guitar harmonies coexisting with hoarse punk rock vox... even if it's hard to know if we're supposed to be pogoing or headbanging. It can't quite approach the shreddingness of their live shows, but it's fun nonetheless.
MPEG Stream: "About To Snap"
MPEG Stream: "Jonestown"
MPEG Stream: "Bad Luck"

ANTIMATTER Reset (Resipiscent) cd 11.98
Antimatter is the work of Bay Area sound artist Xopher Davidson, whose intense, psychoacoustically challenging compositions earn noble comparisons to fellow Northern Californians like Scott Arford, R.H.Y. Yau, Michael Gendreau, and Joe Colley. Furthermore, Davidson has worked extensively with Zbigniew Karkowski, generating gnarled maelstroms of digital grit and volcanic noise on a handful of albums and live performances. Reset is Antimatter's first album in close to 6 years, after he released a couple of albums on the now defunct Asphodel label. It begins with a nasty low-end throb from phased oscillators, obsolete synthesizers, and integral-logic feedback systems, whose generative tension is heightened through metallic slashes and electrical bursts of white noise static. The vigor of Davidson's grim electronics dissolves on the curiously beautiful ambient construction "Sea Of Tranquility," whose vaporous atmospherics recall more of the mesmerism of Tim Hecker and Leyland Kirby emerging out of queasy sick tones and vibrational splutter. The next track "Sverdlovsk-45" was named for a Soviet secret city that enriched uranium throughout the Cold War, and it has all of the claustrophobic industrial metaphors one would expect through the belching hiss and churning centrifuge actions. The crumbling noises glow once again with a spectral beauty found on the aforementioned "Sea Of Tranquility" by the end of the record. Even so, this album is one for those keen on The Hafler Trio and John Duncan, especially since neither of those two have released anything in quite a while.
MPEG Stream: "Cloud Of Possibility"
MPEG Stream: "Sea Of Tranquility"
MPEG Stream: "Sverdlovsk-45"
MPEG Stream: "Time Projection Chamber"

ANTLERAND Branches (Sound Family) cd 11.98
The lead off track on this cd is so wintry you can almost see your breath while it's playing! Branches is the new album from Oregon band Antlerand, and it's a fine introduction. While they initially appear to be treading shimmering sonic ground that's already been well worn by the post rock likes of Mogwai and Sigur Ros, it soon becomes apparent that they're combining it with intelligent pop sensibilities akin to sensitive, smart pop folks Bright Eyes, Arcade Fire and Destroyer... and they're doing it exceptionally well. Chamber strings and horns join the sinewy electric guitars that just might send chills down your spine. Piano, stuttery electronics and chimes pretty things up, as do the sweet female vocals on songs such as "Maybe We're Still Running" and "Make Nothing Happen" which further the comparisons to Bright Eyes when Jenny Lewis is accompanying Conor Oberst. This is simply lovely!
MPEG Stream: "Rows Of Unbending Lines"
MPEG Stream: "Maybe We're Still Running"

ANVIL CHORUS The Killing Sun (Rockadrome) cd 12.98
Not to be confused with Anvil! Though, right now, maybe they'd like to be. This Bay Area metal band, is another from the '80s that had even less success than those now famous Canucks. Much less. Back in the day, Anvil Chorus never managed to get signed, and released only demos and singles, never an album - until now. It wasn't 'cause they weren't good, in fact, they were commonly known as "the Bay Area's best unsigned metal band". It was more due to mere bad luck. And maybe 'cause their music crossed too many genre lines, from NWOBHM power, to party time LA pop metal, to progressive wank, to speed metal tech. Who knows. But it's cool that they got back together, got back in the studio, and FINALLY have released their debut album, via the Rockadrome label (who've been blessing us with some awesome proto-metal reissues lately, you should recall). Anyone who digs '80s metal ought to check this out. There's certainly plenty of shred. And don't worry, most of these songs are ones demoed back in the day and thus have that "only in the '80s" authenticity to 'em, although they're newly recorded.
Criticisms? Well, Anvil Chorus do have a tendency to a bit of cheesiness, mainly due to overuse of keyboards, that's their weak spot taste-wise. And they've probably only grown in "adulthood", towards such prog-metal pitfalls, also evinced by the awful album cover. Cheesy, yeah. Still, even their cheese can be kinda enjoyable, so this is just a warning to those who can't handle a whiff of it. Their song "European" for instance, might be too poppy for some, but it's ultimately pretty good, a classy track, though we prefer it when they're killing us with the equally classy "Deadly Weapons"! Anyway, among the 12 songs here there's lots to make folks into heavy, riffy, rippin' bands like Riot, Armored Saint, and Metal Church happy... along with pleasing the Queensryche fans that their cheesier prog side indulges. So check it out, it's some Bay Area heavy metal history come back to life (they even played a show the other night!). Oh, and making amends for the cover art, the cd booklet includes lyrics, vintage photos of the band in action in the '80s, and a band history/appreciation by local metal celeb Ron Quintana.
MPEG Stream: "Deadly Weapons"
MPEG Stream: "Blue Flames"
MPEG Stream: "Phase To Phase"

APOTHECARY HYMNS Trowel And Era (Locust) cd 14.98
We've carried a 7" by this one man band (Mr. Alex Stimmel formerly of Court & Spark) for about a year, and we've been wonderin' when he was gonna grace our ears with more 'Hymns. Well, that time is now. Trowel And Era is his debut full length filled with music quite fitting for overcast (but not gloomy!), laidback afternoons. It's considerably more polished and expansive than the pair of intimate, low-key songs on the introductory single.
Electric guitars slink like a cat stretching its limbs after stirring from a nap. An assortment of other stringed instruments are delicately plucked and strummed. The inclusion of soft glockenspiel, flute, kalimba, and autoharp glisten up the impressive psych-folk proceedings. The second song actually brought to mind Pink Floyd at a Ren Faire (particularly in the vocal department), and as the album progresses those visions get even more vividly so.
Psst, the song "The Marigold" from the above mentioned 7"s b-side makes a reappearance here.
MPEG Stream: "The Father"
MPEG Stream: "Watching The Bay (A Sailor Song)"

APPLESAUCER s/t (Toadaphile) cd 13.98
SF's Applesaucer rev up their popmobile, and cruise along with a confident bounce and energy akin to early Weezer, but with also a bit of '70s balladry thrown into the mix. Slightly quirky, well-crafted retro power pop with bright vocal harmonies, punchy drumming, and full'n'feisty guitar and keyboard interplay.

APPRECIATION Healing The Father Wound (OnOnSwitch) cd-r 9.98
Whoahh man. San Francisco's own Appreciation is a writhing force in belted sheets, surrounded by mountainous abstractions and shrouded in fog! Now, usually with a band like this, their involved and award-winning art-school-typisch live show would totally rule over any recording. BUT NO. Healing The Father Wound is awesome!!! Partially self-recorded at a band member's house, partially at Louder Studio by engineer Tim Green (The Fucking Champs), this four song ep cd-r is their totally freaked-out psychedelic, metallic, noisy space-jam... and if you've never seen/heard 'em before, it's not what you think. It's more kid in under-roos with a sheet tied around his head, light saber in hand than anything more organized or fully constructed n' polished. But anyway, yeah -- it's all self-made and awesome sounding! That said, we must gush a tiny bit about this cd for one more reason: the packaging is all hand-made featuring artwork by the band's drummer, Bert Bergen, who silkscreened and sewed each cd sleeve by hand!! And if you have the chance to see them live, the experience is equally as rewarding as this recording. I mean, who wants to just go see a stilted band stand up on stage playing their "songs", anyway? A weird band that crosses the trying-to-be-weird barrier into genuine weirdness, where so many others have failed. Seriously, go see 'em live sometime, and tell us that hand painted volcano stage sets and the fact that no one in the band will ever rise above a crouch the whole time they're playing isn't amazing. Very limited... grab it while you can.
MPEG Stream: "Track One"

AQUARIUS BUTTONS 2 x 1" buttons 1.00
Hey, we just got another batch of AQ buttons made up...
Spread the word! Show the world your true aQ colors! COOL COOL COOL aQ buttons, now in 6 different vibrant color combinations. 5 new color combos (blue on pink, red on dark grey, dark blue on blue, orange on black, and yellowish green on dark green) and a popular one we had previously (brown on yellow).
TWO FOR $1!!! Colors are random, but buy enough and you'll be guaranteed to get 'em all! And of course all feature our spiffy James Gang style logo!! So stylish!

ARFORD, SCOTT / RANDY H.Y. YAU / MICHAEL NINE 7HZ (Auscultare Research) cd 9.98
Operating in the legendary Cyclone warehouse space near Hunter's Point in San Francisco, 7hz has functioned as one of the few SF venues that is exclusively dedicated to experimental sound art, and also has served as the live / work spaces (in the truest sense of the term) for Scott Arford (aka Radiosonde), Randy Yau (23five), and Michael Nine (aka Death Squad). During the fall of 2002, 7hz took their show on the road, as Arford, Yau, and Nine embarked on a European tour. This disc is essentially the tour support album, offering an exclusive sampling of each artist's work. Arford's sonic reconstitutions of video static have made for stunning audio / visual performances (almost unheard of in the visually sterile realm of laptop composition). Here, his contributions spit forth digitally corrosive bits of static and noise (which resemble remote control / shortwave detritus) along mechanized grids. Altogether, Arford's tracks resemble the pained electric noise of those collaborations between Zbigniew Karkowski and Pita Rehberg. Yau defines his work as an "action concrete," in which recordings of impromptu vocal outbursts have been dissected and reanimated through a number of electro-acoustic techniques, often sounding like a mutation of Robert Ashley's classic "Automatic Writing" with far more jarring and confrontational results. Michael Nine's work comes out of the Whitehouse / Con-Dom approach of primitive noise assaults as transgressive theater. All in all, an excellent introduction to these San Francisco artists.
RealAudio clip: SCOTT ARFORD "Zero Point"
RealAudio clip: RANDY YAU "Praemonere"
RealAudio clip: MICHAEL NINE "5150"

ARKANSAW MAN s/t (Radium / Table Of The Elements) cd ep 12.98
An amazing lost artpunk artifact from the early eighties San Francisco punk rock scene, and we're talking really lost, as no one we know had even heard of these guys, but from the very first note we were smitten.
The opener is a super spare and spacious bit of post punk dub, subtly groovy, a throbbing new wave bass line, sounding like Gang Of Four or Interpol slowed waaaaaaaaay down, a simple krautrock beat peppered with handclaps, some dissonant guitar clang and a bit of moody post rock strum and jangle, with the occasional huge dissonant wash of atonal horns. Dark and creepy and almost danceable at times, that is if your dance of choice is some sort of zombie shuffle.
The other three tracks are not nearly as spare, but have the same sort of angular clang and low slung groove, the vocals sort of sung spoken, the rhythms loping and tribal, guitar harmonics ringing out, bits of angular riffage, vocals very reminiscent of Slint actually, laconic and buried way down in the mix. Stumblingly propulsive, the mix occasionally engulfed by some weird low end swell and some damaged electronics, the whole thing lurching and lumbering amidst a swirl of off kilter guitars and dubbed out ambience, it's sort of like Gang Of Four mixed with Slint mixed with This Heat. Which, we hardly need to tell you, is a very good thing indeed.
MPEG Stream: "The Ballroom"
MPEG Stream: "Angels / Aliens"

ARNOLD, CHRIS Dark Out (self-released) dvd 9.98
Dark Out is a dvd by indie filmmaker Chris Arnold, and the 45-minute film features the music of many fond, familiar SF faces... Jolie Holland, Sonny Smith, Mark Growden, Sean Hayes, Ara Anderson, Virgil Shaw and Mark Eitzel to name a few. Certainly worth getting for the music alone which fits well with the visuals, a contemplative, grainy, black and white film shot in the yes, dark depths of night.

ART LESSING The Plastic Couch (self-released) cd-r 9.98
Bay Area sound artist Art Lessing is one prolific d.i.y. fellow. Each year without fail he releases at least one cd-r of his living room recorded aural creations, and we've got his latest one. His musical roamings know no boundaries freewheelin' from neo-folk rambles ("Plastic Couch") to buzzy space rock ("Badly") to hazy contemplative minimal guitar resonance ("Tinkle Star") to Ween-ish pitch-shifted fuckery ("Moe The Slow"). Likewise, his battery of instruments includes many unconventional homemade implements. Ooooeeee, this is a strange one and it draws customer queries each time it's played in the store.
MPEG Stream: "Badly"
MPEG Stream: "Moe The Slow"

ART MUSEUMS Dancing With A Hole In Your Heart (Slumberland) 7" 3.98
Local art pop outfit Art Museums know that a really great pop song can and maybe should be less then two minutes long, yet still be filled with so much punchy sonic style and flare. With "Dancing With A Hole In Your Heart" they have crafted one of the best 88 second pop songs we have heard in ages. It makes us think of early Magnetic Fields covering The Vaselines, in other words pure pop perfection!
The other two songs are no slouches either, in fact they are as strong as anything that was on their great full length debut, Rough Frame. This makes us excited for what a new album would sound like, as they seem to only be getting better with time... except we think maybe they just broke up, if so, bummer!

ART MUSEUMS Rough Frame (Woodsist) cd 13.98
Sometimes it's easy to take the musicians who live in our city for granted. We see them around all the time, lots of them shop in the store, so the mystique and mystery that you usually have with bands from far away doesn't really exist. So when we found out that our pal Glenn Donaldson (Skygreen Leopards, Thuja, Blithe Sons) and Joseph Alper (Skygreen Leopards, Whysp) had begun a new off-kilter pop project we were thinking, "cool we're sure it's going to be good", but holy fuck, once we actually put it on we realized it was GREAT! And if we didn't know the folks involved it's the kind of listening experience that would have sent us right to the Internet to Google all the names of the players involved, to figure out who the hell these guys were, and even more importantly, what year this weird pop record was actually from!!
Art Museums use primitive 4-track recording techniques with equally rudimentary drum machines which serve as the perfect tools for their totally endearing, catchy yet understated songs that sounds so innocent and carefree and definitely harken back to the classic C86 days.... For sure looking to The Television Personalities and such as HUGE influences, but borrowing and paying homage to their pop forebears in such an incredibly fresh and vibrant way. These are the kind of songs that just keep growing on you and getting further and further under your skin on repeated listens. Like the best Chris Knox songs or if The Shins went way lo-fi and covered early Guided By Voices. Or Belle and Sebastian getting their XTC on, in like a lone lazy afternoon. Art Museums have created that rare recording, a pop album that is smart and rewarding yet also just so damn fun to listen to. An absolute must have!
MPEG Stream: "We Can't Handle It"
MPEG Stream: "Rough Frame"
MPEG Stream: "So Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore"

ART MUSEUMS Rough Frame (Woodsist) lp 14.98
Sometimes it's easy to take the musicians who live in our city for granted. We see them around all the time, lots of them shop in the store, so the mystique and mystery that you usually have with bands from far away doesn't really exist. So when we found out that our pal Glenn Donaldson (Skygreen Leopards, Thuja, Blithe Sons) and Joseph Alper (Skygreen Leopards, Whysp) had begun a new off-kilter pop project we were thinking, "cool we're sure it's going to be good", but holy fuck, once we actually put it on we realized it was GREAT! And if we didn't know the folks involved it's the kind of listening experience that would have sent us right to the Internet to Google all the names of the players involved, to figure out who the hell these guys were, and even more importantly, what year this weird pop record was actually from!!
Art Museums use primitive 4-track recording techniques with equally rudimentary drum machines which serve as the perfect tools for their totally endearing, catchy yet understated songs that sounds so innocent and carefree and definitely harken back to the classic C86 days.... For sure looking to The Television Personalities and such as HUGE influences, but borrowing and paying homage to their pop forebears in such an incredibly fresh and vibrant way. These are the kind of songs that just keep growing on you and getting further and further under your skin on repeated listens. Like the best Chris Knox songs or if The Shins went way lo-fi and covered early Guided By Voices. Or Belle and Sebastian getting their XTC on, in like a lone lazy afternoon. Art Museums have created that rare recording, a pop album that is smart and rewarding yet also just so damn fun to listen to. An absolute must have!
MPEG Stream: "We Can't Handle It"
MPEG Stream: "Rough Frame"
MPEG Stream: "So Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore"

ART MUSEUMS S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G. (Dulc-I-Tone) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Of all the lo-fi left-field pop records that have come out in the last few years, the debut by Art Museums really has stayed with us and remained so satisfying listen after listen. So were stoked to get two brand new tracks. We actually got to hear the A side several months ago when we first saw the awesome video, directed by former AQer Kerry McLaughlin. That song, "S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G." is a quick blast of C-86 inspired glory. The B side "Feel Like Dreams" is more of a warm burner somewhere between The Chills and Television Personalities. We've been flipping it over and over as both songs have already gotten deep under our skin. So good!

ARTIFACT SHORE / LINEDOTSTAR Landscape Removal (Interference Shift) cd 9.98
Landscape Removal is a split release between Minneapolis band Artifact Shore and Bay Area solo artist Linedotstar. You get four tracks apiece. Be forewarned, the pale green blue hued cover doesn't really offer any indication of the sounds contained within. The cd begins with a blast of abrasive industrial noise from the former. Artifact Shore's four tracks are propelled by a stormy rhythmic undercurrent and bristly effected angstful male vocals. Linedotstar's aural offerings are considerably more gentle composed of stuttery electronics, guitar samples, airy drones and wispy melodies. Quite a contrast of dark and light, imposing solid masses and soothing vaporous ephemera.
MPEG Stream: ARTIFACT SHORE "The Taken"
MPEG Stream: LINEDOTSTAR "Ascension"

ARTIFICIUM SANGUIS Ye Olde Demo Taype (self-released) cd-r 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This first release from local black metal horde Artificium Sanguine was a pleasant surprise. Well, as pleasant as a spiked gauntlet to the gut can be. We were a little skeptical with such a joke-y title, after all, how grim could it be? Well, pretty grim actually. Very lo-fi, and buzzy and hyper blown out, this recording manages to capture the fury and majesty we've witnessed Artificium Sanguis struggle to exude live. Which isn't surprising, since black metal has never really existed as a live experience anyway. It's all about the home recorded misanthropy, spread by word of mouth, cd-r and tape trading, and Ye Olde Demo Taype (I chuckle/cringe even typing it) follows in well worn frosty footprints. While not quite as fucked up and dementedly genius as San Franciso black metal legends Weakling or any of the local scene's current one man bands (Leviathan, Crebain, Draugar, etc.), this is pretty fierce and dark, channelling the spirt of Bathory and Celtic Frost through classic Norwegian black metal and into something properly head banging and soul crushing.
MPEG Stream: "Unholiness Night"

ASHLEY, GREG Medicine Fuck Dream (Birdman) lp 10.98
Now, several years after this was released on cd, here's vinyl! What we said about the cd release: Medicine Fuck Dream is the debut recording for the Texan expatriate Greg Ashley, who now calls Oakland his home. With the current roster of multi-faceted psychedelia spread throughout Northern California (i.e. Jewelled Antler, Six Organs Of Admittance, Kelly Stoltz, etc.), the East Bay seems well suited to Ashley's druggist songwriting. Yup, the whole album seems to be cast in a fog of pot smoke; but, Ashley's craft is in pulling together a great range of influences from the haze and turning it into his own. Big Star stands strong in his pantheon, as does the Opal / Mazzy Star sound of dreamy troubaour folk. A couple of the tracks reflect Syd Barrett's flair for the stumblingly comical, but always cast under the doped-to-oblivion spell of Spacemen 3. Ashley's fluttering whisper of a voice may not be the finest in the world, but his eccentric production with massive Joe Meek reverb bathing some of his tracks and fizzling tape hiss on the others, more than makes up for what he lacks on that front. A great debut!
MPEG Stream: "Mona Rider"
MPEG Stream: "Deep Deep Down"

ASHLEY, GREG Painted Garden (Birdman) cd 13.98
Greg Ashley has a sound and knack for songwriting that's wise way beyond his years. His records with his excellent band The Gris Gris and his debut solo outing a few years back prove his ability to write songs that are both smart and trippy, rocking and subdued. He's been compared to Roky Erickson, who casts a mighty long shadow, yet one of Ashley's greatest strengths is how he always makes it sound so easy. There is an effortless and natural grace to the way Ashley's songs are delivered that never feels forced or calculated, but instead sounds like they've been locked in some deep vault for decades just waiting for someone to discover. Painted Garden reveals a more acoustic and seductive side to Ashley's songwriting, demonstrating that there are other ways to achieve psychedelic states without relying exclusively on freakouts and feedback. Painted Garden is filled with elegant songs that should definitely appeal to fans of Vetiver and Yo La Tengo. Ashley is by no means a one trick pony though, his willingness to explore different sides of his songwriting persona is something we can't help but love. "Sailing With Bobby" has such a wonderful and dizzying melody, it immediately made us think of Sonic Youth's "Little Trouble Girl". We think it's safe to say that no matter what the current trend in the indie music scene might be (freak folk, psych rock, indie pop, etc.) Ashley will continue to make music his own way, transcending all the hype and thriving for a long time to come!
MPEG Stream: "Song From Limestone County"
MPEG Stream: "Sailing With Bobby"
MPEG Stream: "Medication #5"

ASHLEY, GREG Painted Garden (Birdman) lp 10.98
Greg Ashley has a sound and knack for songwriting that's wise way beyond his years. His records with his excellent band The Gris Gris and his debut solo outing a few years back prove his ability to write songs that are both smart and trippy, rocking and subdued. He's been compared to Roky Erickson, who casts a mighty long shadow, yet one of Ashley's greatest strengths is how he always makes it sound so easy. There is an effortless and natural grace to the way Ashley's songs are delivered that never feels forced or calculated, but instead sounds like they've been locked in some deep vault for decades just waiting for someone to discover. Painted Garden reveals a more acoustic and seductive side to Ashley's songwriting, demonstrating that there are other ways to achieve psychedelic states without relying exclusively on freakouts and feedback. Painted Garden is filled with elegant songs that should definitely appeal to fans of Vetiver and Yo La Tengo. Ashley is by no means a one trick pony though, his willingness to explore different sides of his songwriting persona is something we can't help but love. "Sailing With Bobby" has such a wonderful and dizzying melody, it immediately made us think of Sonic Youth's "Little Trouble Girl". We think it's safe to say that no matter what the current trend in the indie music scene might be (freak folk, psych rock, indie pop, etc.) Ashley will continue to make music his own way, transcending all the hype and thriving for a long time to come!
MPEG Stream: "Song From Limestone County"
MPEG Stream: "Sailing With Bobby"
MPEG Stream: "Medication #5"

ASHLEY, GREG Requiem Mass and Other Experiments (Birdman) cd 14.98
We're beginning to consider Greg Ashley to be one of the most underrated musical minds of the past decade. Whether with his band The Gris Gris or on his own great solo recordings, Ashley has demonstrated so much versatility and creativity in conjuring up the most sublime psychedelic sounds. Requiem Mass And Other Experiments is an instrumental outing that finds Ashley crafting a powerful work that evokes the dramatic and kaleidoscopic side of Ennio Morricone, the winding prog odysseys of Bo Hansson and the more cinematic moments of Pink Floyd, like on More and Obscured By Clouds. But Ashley has a distinct and instantly recognizable guitar sound and knows his way around swirling melodies, so that the sound becomes totally his own. And even beyond his own instrumental prowess, Ashley is able to set all of those other elements in such a warm and intimate sound. It's no surprise that so many Bay Area bands are turning to him to record their records, because he really does understand the beauty of analog warmth and is uniquely able to capture a timeless quality in overall sound. While it's a sprawling, pastoral and haunting ride, what makes Requiem Mass And Other Experiments such a satisfying listen is the way in which Ashley also understands restraint and constantly displays such exquisite taste. Its paced so well and ends before you want it to, which in our book is always a good thing, because then you want to go on the ride again and again instead of burning out on an overstretched vision. So good!
MPEG Stream: "Requiem Mass - Part II"
MPEG Stream: "Monolith"
MPEG Stream: "Symmetric Juggling"