MILTNER, KRISTIN Grains (Praemedia) cd 11.98
Kristin Miltner is one of many very talented electronic musicians from the Bay Area who has gone through Mills College with a deft understanding of Max/MSP language and how to apply that understanding to a post-techno framework of electronica. While she has collaborated in a couple of other recorded projects, Grains stands as her solo debut, and it's quite a gem of twinkling glitch-based electronica and crunchy rhythmic skitter. Fragmenting tiny snippets of her own voice and splicing it all back together with all of the digital threads exposed, Miltner builds looping melodies that hold the same languid sensibility found on those beloved Colleen records, but with the additional pixel smear patina from the likes of Tim Hecker and Fennesz. Using these melodies as the building blocks to her pop-song length pieces, Miltner stacks these sounds with increasing density and jagged drum machines, all the while maintaining the basic tune of the melody. Grains emerges as a short and sweet reprisal of the classic Autechre use of melody with plenty of technological tricks up its sleeve to keep it charming, fresh, and unique. Very nicely done.
MPEG Stream: "Grains Need Water And Sunlight"
MPEG Stream: "Stunned Light"

MIMIC AND THE MODEL VOLUME 1 (Mimic and the Model) 12" 5.98
The first in a new series of minimalist electronica following the tropes of the Basic Channel aesthetic with minimal information, exquisite skeletal bleeps & blips that fade in and out of structural sequencing, and a high degree of anonymity (though we will tell you this is S.F. electronica wizard Kit Clayton). Very nice!

MITS, THE A Better Day (self-released) cd 9.98
The Mits are a Bay Area combo with lots of crunchy guitars and feisty girl vocals... very much in the grand ol' Lookout! Records tradition of energetic East Bay / Gilman Street punk pop.
MPEG Stream: "Number One"
MPEG Stream: "Out Of My Mind"

MIXMASTER MIKE Anti-Theft Device (Asphodel) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The sexy mustachioed Invisible Skratch Pikl, and now Beastie Boys DJ, breaks out with this excellent full length. As Oliver Wang rightly points out in the SF Bay Guardian, this record is worlds apart from the recent Shiggerfragger Skratch Piklz cd, which featured multi-turntable improvisations. Anti-Theft Device is more tightly composed, never lets up for a second -- it's clear that the Mix Master worked really hard on this record... and has come up with a full on car-stereo-worthy beatbox classic. Refreshingly free of "filler", and most of us here think it is much better than the Beastie Boys record. Lastly, the CD booklet folds out into a mini-poster.

MIXMASTER MIKE Anti-Theft Device (Asphodel) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The sexy mustachioed Invisible Skratch Pikl, and now Beastie Boys DJ, breaks out with this excellent full length. As Oliver Wang rightly points out in the SF Bay Guardian, this record is worlds apart from the recent Shiggerfragger Skratch Piklz cd, which featured multi-turntable improvisations. Anti-Theft Device is more tightly composed, never lets up for a second -- it's clear that the Mix Master worked really hard on this record... and has come up with a full on car-stereo-worthy beatbox classic. Refreshingly free of "filler", and most of us here think it is much better than the Beastie Boys record. Lastly, the CD booklet folds out into a mini-poster.

MIXMASTER MIKE Suprize Packidge (Asphodel) 12" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of the very best, dynamic and exciting pieces from Mike's recent Anti Theft Device album, "Suprize Packidge" utilizes a cool sample from "The Taking of Pelham 123", and is here presented in its original form plus a remix by the ubiquitous Automator (we mean that in a nice way, Dan). Also included are three other pieces, at a very budget price for the cd format. You can't go wrong.

MIXMASTER MIKE Suprize Packidge (Asphodel) cdep 3.98
One of the very best, dynamic and exciting pieces from Mike's recent Anti Theft Device album, "Suprize Packidge" utilizes a cool sample from "The Taking of Pelham 123", and is here presented in its original form plus a remix by The Ubiquitous Automator (we mean that in a nice way, Dan). Also included are three other pieces, at a very budget price for the cd format. You can't go wrong.

MIXMASTER MIKE Valuemeal 12 Inch Combo Deluxe (Asphodel) 12" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
3 turntablist pieces from the sexiest Skratch Pikl.

MIXMASTER MIKE Wrists of Fury (ISP Vision) videotape 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There's a disembodied cartoon wrist on cover.

MON COUSIN BELGE Quelle Horreur (World Famous in San Francisco) cd 14.98
Over the last couple years San Francisco's Mon Cousin Belge have earned quite the reputation for their raucous, theatrical and dazzling live performances. And in a city that's got such a great history for campy, subversive and wonderfully queer art and music it's actually kind of sad to say that it's becoming more rare to find a really good charged and dazzling homo-rock band around these parts lately. Luckily Mon Cousin Belge have been filling that void quite nicely. With a sound equally influenced by glam-rock, torch songs and the sparkling seedy side of high octane pop, Quelle Horreur is an action packed flamboyant and proud album that fits perfectly in any record collection containing the soundtrack to Hedwig & The Angry Inch, Ziggy Stardust era Bowie, Sparks, B-52's and Nina Hagen. With song titles like "Tweaker Bitch", "Sodomy" and "Pigdog" and the trashy chops to back it all up, someone really needs to get this in the hands of John Cameron Mitchell and John Waters as this could be their new favorite band!
MPEG Stream: "Unicycle"
MPEG Stream: "Sodomy"
MPEG Stream: "The Crossing"

MONO PAUSE Peeping Through The Listen Hole (Electro Motive Records) lp 10.98
Brand new lp by East Bay's Mono Pause. Taking cues from the early days of Thinking Fellers and Sun City Girls then building on it, Mono Pause's compositions range from off kilter ethno-prankster-rock, to seemingly semi-German classic psych, to improv skronk. The multitude of such musical tangents are at times discreet and others brilliantly blended. Quite good.

MONO PAUSE / AAVIKKO El Cebo / Of Stomping Men (Seeland) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Split between east-bay ethno-rockers Mono Pause and Icelandic organ power-trio Aavikko, with each band covering the other's work. Mono Pause takes a mighty fine stab at "El Cebo", slowing down the tempo and filling out the arrangement with guitar, ud (mandolin? other ethnic-lute-thingy?), whacked synths, drums, bass, trumpet and more. After a Kraftwerk style vocoder intro, Aavikko, for their part, do almost the opposite with their arrangement of their chosen Mono Pause tune: stripping it down to fit their organ, organ and drum format and speeding up the tempo to a lively jaunt. Very purdy cover art on this Seeland release, makes it worth the slightly steep 7" price. We wonder if Seeland has designs on possibly reissuing some of that out of print Aavikko stuff.
RealAudio clip: MONO PAUSE "El Cebo"
RealAudio clip: AAVIKKO "Of Stomping Men"

MONOLITH, THE Here Comes... (self-released) cd 12.98
Brand new band from our own backyard brings us 9 impeccable pop songs. Their debut album, "Here Comes The Monolith" sounds more like the work of a seasoned rock mainstay than a rookie's first time at bat. The Monolith successfully harken the sounds of Cheap Trick, Beatles, E.L.O., Big Star and more recently, The New Pornographers. The latter probably most noticeably distinguished by the silky vocal harmonies present in every song. Superbly crafted pop arrangements with heart-snagging hooks, bridges & choruses filled with horn sections and strings are merely the icing on the cake. The cherry on the top is the gorgeous production that is so often sadly lacking from debut releases. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "10 X Infinity"
MPEG Stream: "Ruby"

MONOLITH, THE Meet You At The Monolith (self-released) cd 11.98
Oh the yummy pop power of The Monolith! They continue to dish it out in heaping spoonfuls on this their second album. This terrific Bay Area foursome take the standard pop band instrumentation of vocals, guitar, bass and drums, and plush it up so nicely with horns, keyboards and strings. The Monolith sound is alternately reminiscent of Quasi, Apples In Stereo, Big Star, Beatles, Beach Boys, maybe even a bit of Bread too -- y'know, all the best popsters! Bright, bouncy, harmony filled sweetness. Meet you there? You bet!
MPEG Stream: "Fallout Sunset"
MPEG Stream: "Sunday Keeps Returning"

MONOSHOCK Runnin' Ape-Like From The Backwards Superman: 1989 - 1995 (S-S) cd 13.98
A massive scuzzy, sloppy, fuzzed out, psychedelic, deleriously damaged blast of spaced out garage rock from the (not so) legendary Monoshock. This collection gathers up all the singles, compilation tracks and demos from this criminally under appreciated band. Overblown, and lo-fi, stumblingly brilliant, psych rock jams of the highest order. All chaos guitar and splattery drums, howled vocals, and a surprisng amount of hooks buried under all the fuzz and grit and blown speaker detritus. Think Hawkwind played by the Stooges, recorded on a boombox. They even cover the Hawkwind classic "Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke)".
MPEG Stream: "Primitive Zippo"
MPEG Stream: "Change That Riff"

MORNING SPY Subsequent Light (self-released) cd 9.98
Here's the debut album from this SF sweet sunny group. The male and female lead singers take turns charming the listener with their very dissimilar singing styles. It actually sounds like two completely different bands. The male sung songs sound a lot like Destroyer or Mountain Goats. Very folky and wistful. In sharp contrast, the female sung tunes are much more toothsome 'n' perky. Very much like K Records' Pacific Northwest-y lo-fi pop. It'll be interesting to see on future recordings if either one ends up becoming the dominant sound of the band or if they continue to keep things as markedly split personality.
MPEG Stream: "I Am The Time"
MPEG Stream: "Hey Kirsten"

MORNING SPY The Silver Age (Keep) cd 9.98
If you recall Morning Spy's debut cd Subsequent Light from 2004, you may remember this SF band having something of a split personality (with each side defined mostly by boy versus girl vocals and folksy versus pop styles)... and they still do, although as we predicted, they're leaning more heavily to one side these days (psst, it's the boy-sung side). For those who're unfamiliar with this bright'n'breezy band, here's the lowdown: when the fella sings (on songs such as "Ask Us To Dance"), Morning Spy sound totally like a fine hybrid of Luna and Destroyer (albeit minus Dan Bejar's tweaked lyrics). When the gal sings it's a much more pastel-hued pop affair a la K Records' International Pop Underground circa 1992. A great sophomore release!
MPEG Stream: "Ask Us To Dance"
MPEG Stream: "Voices And Vigils"

MOST, THE Welcome To The Breakfast Show (self-released) cd-r 4.98

MOTH WRANGLERS Never Mind the Context (Magnetic) cd 12.98
The debut full length from the Moth Wranglers, otherwise known as AQ-pal Chris Xefos (ex-King Missile) and LD Beghtol (Flare, and also one of the four vocalists from the Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs box). They have made a polished mellow record in a variety of styles -- downer lounge exotica country rock. With guests Stephen Merritt and Claudia Gonson (Magnetic Fields), Ken Stringfellow (The Posies), and members of Loud Family, Camper Van Beethoven, Klezmatics, etc.
RealAudio clip: "Miss Fire"
RealAudio clip: "I Never Will Marry"

MR. BUNGLE California (Warner) cd 14.98
Certainly music doesn't get any more brilliant, epic, meticulous, and retarded than this. Really. Absolutely unbelievably genius musicianship, twisted imagination and craft. Always recommended!

MR. HAGEMAN Twin Smooth Snouts (Starlight Furniture Company) cd 14.98
a.k.a.. Brian of the Thinking Fellers.

MR. HAGEMAN Twin Smooth Snouts (Starlight Furniture Company) lp 9.98
a.k.a. Brian of the Thinking Fellers.

MUDSUCKERS s/t (Important) cd 14.98
Wow. We just did the math, and the four members of Mudsuckers, Pete and Gabe from the Yellow Swans, Tom Carter from Charalambides, and Robert Horton, have between the four of them, released over 27,000 cd-r's. Or at least it seems like it. We're not complaining though (okay, maybe we are a little since we seem to constantly be scrambling to get all of these guys' records reviewed) 'cuz pretty much everything we've heard, we've dug, a lot. The Mudsuckers sounds a bit like an extension of the Yellow Swans, so any YS obsessive who have been hankering might do well to grab this right now. Horton and Carter seem to have dived right in, contributing their own bits of thick murky sound to the melee, the first half of the disc is dense with thick swirls of muddy guitar grrr, blown out synth, and lots of Crash Worshiping drum damage, about midway through, the sound is stretched out, still murky and muddy, but much more glistening and sparkly, hiss and fuzz and buzz and whir all shined up real pretty and let loose to drift dreamily. The second to last track features some tortured Jandekian guitar, whose angular riffing gradually melts into thick pools of dirgey drone. The final 16 minute closer, is a slow building wall of N.O.I.S.E., starting out delicate and dark, but growing into a hissy beast, but close listening reveals all sorts of melodic action and rhythmic shuffling beneath the surface of the Mudsuckers' roiling and caustic sonic sea. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Endocrine Disrupters"
MPEG Stream: "Here Comes The Mud Dragons"

MUMMIES, THE Death By Unga Bunga (Estrus) cd 14.98
Punked-out garage stomp done by three fellas wrapped in bandages. Do you gotta be good when you've got a gimmick like that? Well, I guess they think so, that is if your idea of good is the same as theirs -- crazy raw manic distorto rawk with song titles like "Die!" and "Food, Sickles & Girls". Lo-fi, low-brow, and proud. They never cross that line into truly absurd avant-garde mayhem a la Guitar Wolf, they're just a little too vulgar and frat-house for that. But their brand of sickness is still gonna always sound good with a beer cracked. This disc collects 22 or so tracks taken from rare out-of-print 7" vinyl, dug up from the Mummies' Daly City, CA tomb for your pleasure.
MPEG Stream: "Your Love"
MPEG Stream: "(Doin') The Kirk"

MUONS s/t (Muons) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Local group notable for their inspired use of electric dulcimer and lute alongside the drums, guitar and tambourine. The Muons have been making music for years already, and it's nice to finally have a record to listen to. The tone is of warmth and yearning with an underlayer of sweetly droning psych guitar, chiming tambourine, and delicately murmured vocals. Fans of Belle and Sebastian and depressed folk troubadours of earlier eras such as The Incredible String Band will enjoy this.
RealAudio clip: "The Green Man"
RealAudio clip: "Fishes"

MUONS The Well At Land's End (Jewelled Antler) 3" cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
All right, now you can stop worrying -- we didn't forget about it, here's number 9 in the Jewelled Antler Library series of 3" cdrs. It's a disc from SF's Muons, not a Jewelled Antler band per se, but in those guys' orbit. There's five songs here, just under twenty minutes of fragile, psychedelic folk recorded live, where they really shine. Inspired by traditional British folk music, but made soooo minimal and spacey that they've been called the "Bernhard Gunter of space-folk", the Muons make forlorn lullabys for adults. For this performance, the Muons were just the duo of Greg Bianchini and Rickey Reneau. Greg, who has played with Jewelled Antler acts Franciscan Hobbies, Thuja and Blithe Sons, is an gifted instrument maker, and on this recording plays a home-built 14-string electric lute as well as sings. Rickey plays an electric dulcimer, probably also built by Greg. Greg's languid strumming and melancholic vocals seem to drift out of the smoke and mist of another era, and could be from a lost UK psych-folk comp, although this is so slow and sad and desolate that no hippy could have made it -- they'd be too bummed out. We're also reminded of some Galaxie 500, or old NZ stuff like the Chills. Certainly this is a bit different than much else in the Library series -- it's got to be the most 'composed' set of songs found on any of these 3" discs. But we think JA fans will like it, a lot. It has a 'flowers in the rain' vibe that's just lovely. And the loveliness extends to the paintings Greg did for the 3" cover. Very nice.
MPEG Stream: "Green Man"

MUSEE MECANIQUE Presents The Zelinsky Collection (Musee Mechanique) dvd 16.98
Oh boy! A DVD filmed at San Francisco's famed Musee Mechanique, that fantastic collection of turn of the century penny arcade machines!! Cool. We figure that many of our customers who've bought the cds of music from the Musee that we sell (three volumes so far, you'll find 'em elsewhere on our site) haven't actually had the chance to visit the place themselves, so this is perfect. And if you HAVE been to the Musee -- especially the old Cliff House location -- you'll want this for the memories. And it'll make you want to head on down there soon enough again to visit in person, so it's double the nostagia trip (for the early 1900's, and for the last time you were there).
For those who haven't even heard of the place, basically the Musee Mechanique, now located on Pier 45 down at Fisherman's Wharf, is filled with coin-operated mechanical amusements ranging from music boxes and player-piano type contraptions (several with an orchestra's worth of sounds) to various games of skill and chance to quaint "peep shows" to fortune tellers to animated dioramas (what are called "working models") to Musee mascot Laughing Sal... all are to be found on this DVD, filmed in action, as collector/curator Edward Zelinsky takes viewers on a guided tour of the Musee's many attractions, even stopping to try his hand at the "Love Tester". Sometimes he talks about when/where/how he ended up acquiring the machine he's showing off, but just as often he just drops the quarter in and gives a "hey, wow, gee whiz" reaction just like a kid.
The documentary has its cheesy (but charming) moments -- someone gets carried away with video effects a few times, for instance -- but we're mighty pleased with it overall. It's very cool to get a glimpse at the inner workings of both the Musee and its machines. Maybe our favorite thing about this DVD is the way the camera really gets up close and personal with the "working models", taking the viewer into the scene (fire house, farm, graveyard, and our favorite, the opium den!!) in a way that you can't really experience even in person. Especially with that creepy opium den diorama, we were reminded of a Brothers Quay film or Tool video...
Ed Zelinsky passed away in 2004 (his tour was filmed when the Musee was still at the Cliff house) but his collection is in the capable hands of his son Daniel, who had been running the Musee and fixing the machines for many years already, and appears in several of the "extras" included. Total running time 68:45.

MUSEE MECANIQUE The Zelinsky Collection Volume 1 (Mechanical Museum) cd 14.98
Long, long ago we stocked an LP of recordings from San Francisco's own Cliff House-based Musee Mechanique. Sadly this album went out of print a few years back, leaving many sad customers who'd found out about it too late. Well weep no longer, as AQ now has an all new disc (the first of several, we're told) of recordings made of the machines at the museum.
The Musee Mechanique, for those who've never been, is a hands-on museum of early penny arcade machines (some over a century old) kept in their original working order for the public's enjoyment by the determined work of curator Edward Galland Zelinsky. Every time we have visitors from out of town, we take' em here. Stereoscopic peep shows, moralising fortune tellers, old baseball game machines, nickelodeons, prisoner art made out of toothpicks, music boxes, player pianos, "test your strength" challenges, animated dioramas, and more are constantly kept in tune -- it's both historic and entertaining. (Including everyone's favorite -- Laughing Sal, a larger than life size doll who just laughs and laughs and laughs. Wonderful.) The 27 tracks found here are all new recordings of the various machines (mostly player pianos playing assorted rags), captured after museum hours, so it's free of unwanted tourist chatter (although they nicely left the sounds of the coins falling into the slot as lead ins to each track.)
RealAudio clip: "Cancione"
RealAudio clip: "Laughing Sal"
RealAudio clip: "Roses From The South"

MUSEE MECANIQUE The Zelinsky Collection Volume 2 (Mechanical Museum) cd 14.98
The Musee Mecanique at San Francisco's historic Cliff House is one of our favorite things in the whole city. We *always* take visitors from out of town there, and they always love it. The Musee is a collection of antique coin-operated arcade machines, lovingly restored and cared for, including animated dioramas ("The Opium Den" is a favorite), crank-operated racing games, mechanical strength-testing devices, boxing and baseball games, fortune tellers, and many automated musical instruments (player pianos, music boxes, and the like), which fill the place with great old ragtime tunes. They've been recording the machines (complete with the sound of coins dropping in to start 'em) and have plans to release a whole series of cds documenting this delightful old-timey music. Volume One came out last year (and we sold quite a few), and now we've got Volume Two! Yay! These 27 tracks are similar to the stuff on the first volume, perhaps "more bouncy" though. And the famous Laughing Sal (the giant, manaically whooping automaton who dominates the entrance to the Musee) makes another appearance, closing out the disc with one of her always-disturbing outbursts of hilarity... A nice way to keep some of the spirit of the Musee Mecanique in your home, and to help support their preservation endeavors!
RealAudio clip: "Dizzy Fingers"
RealAudio clip: "Don't Give Up the Ship"
RealAudio clip: "Goofus"
RealAudio clip: "Piano Roll Blues"
RealAudio clip: "Temptation"

MUSEE MECANIQUE The Zelinsky Collection Volume 3 (Mechanical Museum) cd 14.98
Everyone here at Aquarius was SO happy and relieved when the Musee Mechanique -- that wonderful place full of antique penny-aracade machines that's one of our favorite San Francisco cultural/fun spots -- found a new home at Fisherman's Wharf. Previously it had been a highlight to a trip out to the historic Cliff House next door to the ruined Sutro Baths up above Ocean Beach, but the Park Service decided the Cliff House needed a renovation and gave the Musee an eviction notice. Thankfully, rather than close up, they managed to make a move down to the Wharf, which while not as picturesque a location, still seems to have worked out well for 'em. You'll now find the Musee at pier 45, shed A, right alongside the Jeremiah O'Brien and that WWII submarine. Not only did the Musee find a new home, but now they've released a third volume of recordings documenting the player-piano-roll operated mechanical musical contraptions you'll find there. Vols. 1 and 2 were hits here at AQ and with good reason. Vol. 3 picks up where they left off, featuring more of the music made by their collection of lovingly preserved orchestras-in-a-box from decades and decades ago. For the first time ever, the machine pictured on the cover, the huge and impressive "Englehardth", finally appears in all its sonic glory on disc, as they finally got it fully restored into working order.
As with the other volumes, these are excellent recordings and each track starts with the coin drop, a nice touch. Musically, you can expect lotsa charming old timey tunes with titles like "Maurice's Irresistable Tango", "Grandpa's Spells", "There's A Shanti In Old Shantitown" and "My Song Of The Nile". Some you'll recognize, some won't be so familiar. All are quite quaint to modern ears, yet lively and spirited. There's 27 musical tracks here, from jaunty foot tappers to romantic melodies -- and then as always, the Musee's mascot, Laughing Sal, wraps things up with her disturbingly forced, truly hysterical laughter. Next best thing to actually visiting the Musee Mechanique, which we highly recommend.
MPEG Stream: "Maurice's Irresistable Tango"
MPEG Stream: "You Tell Me Your Dreams And I'll Tell You Mine"
MPEG Stream: "Grandpa's Spells"
MPEG Stream: "My Song Of The Nile"

MUTE SOCIALITE More Popular Than Presidents And Generals (Delphine Knormal Musik) cd 11.98
Mute Socialite are a new aural maelstrom featuring Bay Area avant music vets Moe! Staiano, Ava Mendoza, Alec Karim and Shayna Dunkleman. Don't even attempt to define this new group's sound by the words in their moniker. They are anything but mute, and we wouldn't consider theirs to be the most social of musics. It's like a sonic blow to the solar plexus that then proceeds to march on odd time signatures upon your fallen form. The dozen pieces deliver plenty of mighty post-punk churn, no wave spasm and math rock count-that-shit! At once fiercely precise and wildly chaotic. Blistering.
MPEG Stream: "Dirt Never Burns"
MPEG Stream: "A Quiet Execution"

MUTE SOCIALITE More Popular Than Presidents And Generals (Delphine Knormal Musik) lp 14.98
Mute Socialite are a new aural maelstrom featuring Bay Area avant music vets Moe! Staiano, Ava Mendoza, Alec Karim and Shayna Dunkleman. Don't even attempt to define this new group's sound by the words in their moniker. They are anything but mute, and we wouldn't consider theirs to be the most social of musics. It's like a sonic blow to the solar plexus that then proceeds to march on odd time signatures upon your fallen form. The dozen pieces deliver plenty of mighty post-punk churn, no wave spasm and math rock count-that-shit! At once fiercely precise and wildly chaotic. Blistering.
MPEG Stream: "Dirt Never Burns"
MPEG Stream: "A Quiet Execution"

MUTILATED MANNEQUINS Lordship And Bondage (self-released) cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Lordship And Bondage is filled with images of the most garish of theatrics, tattered velvet drapes and torn gowns stained with red wine and smeared rouge. Like an errant banshee, Mannequin Lamar's affected, operatic vocals hold unstable court over the erratic gothmetal assembly. One dozen mean and dirty cabaret indulgences primarily driven by an industrial rock stomp. Imagine if Klaus Nomi were an overwrought goth fronting Marilyn Manson's band. You may find yourself asking "Are these guys from Florida or SF's Mission District?" 
It seems that something is keeping me from enjoying the 'Mannequins intended pursuits, however. Hindered by an overt self-awareness? A forced eccentricity? Not unlike spotting an immaculately coiffed and perfumed dandy in a full tailored suit strolling proudly down the street, but as your eyes drink in this vision they fall to his feet and are disappointed to find the most scuffed, unkempt boots - promising, but the image is marred. Cover art features the same Man Ray photograph that John Zorn chose for his 1993 album, Radio.
MPEG Stream: "What Have I Become?"
MPEG Stream: "Grieving And Glamour"

MX-80 I've Seen Enough (Atavistic) cd 14.98
Classic Bay Area band.

MY COUNTRY OF ILLUSION American Dreamlife (Fire Museum) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

NACHIKETA Good Night Persimmon (ESO) cd-r 4.98
Our (and perhaps your) introduction to the Bay Area artist Nachiketa comes in the form of a 52 minute instrumental track titled Good Night Persimmon. Nachiketa takes us through gentle, hushed passages that ebb and flow with string plucks, lulling drones and an occasional mist of staticky flutters. Calming loveliness.
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"

NAKAMURA, GOH Daylight Savings (self-released) cd-r 9.98
This is the debut release for Bay Area troubadour Goh Nakamura. He draws from the no frills, sensitive singer/songwriter inkwell... ultra heartfelt and barebones, much like that of Elliott Smith's early albums. The ache is palpable in each of the eleven songs on Daylight Savings. Impressive.
MPEG Stream: "At Ease"
MPEG Stream: "Highway Flowers"

NEEDLE THRASHERS Vol 4 (Dirt Style) lp 11.98
The fourth volume released by the Skratch Piklz, more beats and breaks for scratching.

NEGATIVLAND Dick Vaughn's Moribund Music of The '70s (Over The Edge Vol. 4 (Seeland) 2cd 16.98
DICK VAUGHN IS DEAD! But that's old news by now. Moribund Music of the '70s is volume four in Negativland's Over The Edge series of live radio broadcasts. In this installment, Richard Lyons' (a.k.a Dick Vaughn) vainly attempts to be the first to cash in on '70s nostalgia by producing his own commercial radio format nostalgia show -- in 1984. By culling old PSA spots, radio advertisements and music from the seventies and presenting them together with the live phone-in participation of the usual suspects: both regular Over the Edge contributors and unwitting first time listeners, Dick attempts to bring the dead back to life. Over the course of the evening mishaps and disaster befall the poor Dick Vaughn, who is verbally abused by his listeners: spouting obscenities, threatening to commit suicide, slashing all the tires on the cars outside KPFA, slashing the tires on the bus (when Dick replies that he takes public transit), blowing up the KPFA transmitter and sawing down the KPFB antenna. By the end of the show an audibly depressed Vaughn admits the show has been a failure and that he invested "six months" of his life in it with the hope that it would have, should it have been successful, landed him a $40,000 year job at a commercial radio station. In the end, instead of sharing in the fame and riches that so many one hit wonders achieved, Dick only shares in their statistically disproportionate mode of death: in the cabin of an airliner as it plummets towards earth. Along with all the material originally released on cassette by SST there's a deluge of additional material on these two discs including: the 70's nostalgia prototype show that Dick first attempted in 1983, The California Superstation, Roy Storey's Sports Hour (where a hapless talk radio sports jock is repeatedly prank called by listeners), Ringo Is Dead (where the radio audience of KPFA is led to believe that the drummer for the Beatles has died of an overdose), a Post-Moribund Pre-mortum, and an excerpt of Negativland's 1993 show at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall performing Hell-Bound Plane, the funeral of Dick Vaughn and more. Fans of the music of the seventies will be disappointed to hear that they won't get much more than intros and outros of their favorite tunes; the show being presented in "air-check" format where the tape recorder is only concerned with those moments when the disk jockey's microphone is turned on. It's a monstrous joke!
RealAudio clip: "Celebrity Wives Quiz, More Idle Threats, People Are Talking, etc."
RealAudio clip: "Introduction, Witness For the Documentation, Disclaimers and Floaters, etc."

NEGATIVLAND Escape From Noise (Seeland) cd 14.98

NEGATIVLAND Starting Line, the (Seeland) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Volume 1 1/2 of Seeland's Over The Edge series (so named for the weekly radio show produced by Negativland on KPFA) originally recorded in 1985. On this (single) disc Richard Lyons, aka Dick Goodbody, hosts an auto trivia show with both complete sincerity and expert detail. It's probably the most amazing piece of radio theater since the zenith of the Firesign Theater's semi-improvised comedy antics during the seventies. You'll hear callers attempt to stump Dick with questions about their classic cars. You'll hear the Weatherman go head to head with Contra Costa County's top radio trivia whiz Daryl Garrison where callers abuse them with their trivia questions and much more. Though the idea of an "auto-trivia" show may seem pedestrian to some it is perhaps in spite of this that somehow the show works and is quite funny. It's like tuning into an AM radio show in the middle of the night after taking several tabs of acid. The performance is dry, so dry in fact that several participating callers don't appear to realize that the show is a joke. As a bonus to this CD edition you get a "Dick's Auto Hive" key chain, and a fold out full page advertisement for the Auto Hive from a faked Contra Costa Times page circa 1985. Also included on this disc is the "Rototiller Singalong"; thirty five minutes of madness, the highlight of which is a five minute segment at the end where David, the Weatherman, presents a stereo recording he made of his neighbor rototilling his backyard!
RealAudio clip: "Auto Trivia: Cool Cars, Cheaper Cheese, Limousines of Pope John Paul VII, etc."
RealAudio clip: "Pure Full Stereo Rototiller and So Long"

NEGATIVLAND Willsaphone Stupid Show, the (Seeland) 2cd 15.98
Volume 6 in Negativland's Over The Edge series (so named for the weekly radio show produced by Negativland on KPFA). This volume is dedicated to David Wills -- aka The Weatherman -- and his obsession with field recording, most notably his fixation with recording his family. Don Joyce and David produced several shows on Over The Edge dedicated to David and his tapes and then distilled it down to these two discs. Beginning with a recording of David with his first tape recorder as a young wippersnapper and continuing with all the various tapes he made through his youth, adolescence, and on into adulthood. One of the principle subjects of David's recordings are Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with his family. In David's house, where he lived with his parents up until they passed away, he had both his room and the kitchen wired for sound so that he could play tapes of his mom and grandmother talking while making thanksgiving dinner as they made thanksgiving dinner a year later, or two years, or five... etc. The two then remark on the previous years as David continues to record them and talk back to them. The result is a really bizarre, non-linear ongoing conversation. Interspersed throughout these two discs of David's audio history are sections where listeners to the show call up and query Mr Wills for help with their cable TV repair, radio and electronics problems, ask questions about home cleaning and participate in the "Fake Bacon & Electronic Music" hotline.
RealAudio clip: "I'm A Vegetable, Wired Up House, Steamin' Mad At Dirt, etc"
RealAudio clip: "Fuck You, Tough Darts, Jingle Bells, etc"

NERVEBOX Drawn (Nervous Noise) cd 11.98
On their debut album -- a fully fleshed out rock production -- SF band Nervebox reveal many facets of their musical personality including a flair for the somber and the dramatic. Oddly enough on initial in-store play, Drawn swiftly drew comparisons to such diverse artists such as Arcadia (remember that project by Duran Duran's Simon LeBon and Nick Rhodes? check out "Out Of Line" which also hinted at shades of Portishead's pace and mood), early REM (on "All For The Best") or David Sylvian back in Japan days. And Nervebox certainly do traverse the vast rock terrain freely and confidently although they do tend to keep returning to the deep emotiveness of Japan/David Sylvian. Synths swoop and howl like menacing ravens on one song, decisively-picked guitar drives another, then suddenly you're immersed in a eerie carnivalesque rock number ("Monkey"). Nervebox keeps you on your toes.
MPEG Stream: "Out Of Line"
MPEG Stream: "Monkey"

NETMEN s/t (Folding) cassette 8.98
Yet another limited edition release from Mike Donovan's Folding cassette-only label. This one's considerably longer in running time than any of the recent batch, and it features early improvised recordings by John Dwyer (guitar) and Brian Gibson (drums) aka The Netmen. Noisy and rhythmic and weird and pretty wonderful. Just what you'd expect from the mad musical minds of Gibson and Dwyer.
Super limited!

NEUNG PHAK Fucking USA (Abduction) 7" 8.98
If Dengue Fever is an homage to the sort of band you might see in a clean well lit Cambodian bar, classy and melodic, with sweet pop vocals, then Neung Phak is a tribute to the sort of band you'd go to see around the corner from the nice clubs, down the alley, enter through the back, sitting in the gloom, in a cracked vinyl booth, letting the wild Southeast Asian pop rock wash your cares away. Neung Phak, aka Oakland's Monopause, have become masters of whatever SE Asian musics they decide to tackle be it Thai, Laotian, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, or Cambodian, made possible by the band's adept interpretations, but more importantly the band's vocalists Diana Hayes and Joi Po Dee, who are Thai and Laotian.
Side A is the title track, "Fucking USA", a vintage pop rock tune, big band arrangements, horns, fuzzy psychedelic guitars, with the only bit of vocals in English, being the shouted "Fucking USA!!" Catchy and fun, and so genuine sounding it sounds like it came straight off one of those Sublime Frequencies discs. We can imagine this will be a hit... overseas anyway.
The B side features two tracks recorded live for the radio, the first was immediately familiar, due in no small part to its frequent instore play, as it's a track from Neung Phak's full length, "Tui Tui Tui" with it's super catchy, totally recognizable chorus over a lush big band arrangement, with warm horns, understated guitars and shuffling drums. Originally performed by Yim Yamsupan, and quite possibly one of our favorite Southeast Asian pop songs EVER. The second track is a slowed down version of the title track, with the title changed to "Far King USA" for radio play, the whole thing a lugubrious, moody croon, with mournful piano, haunting vocals, somber and minor key.
Pressed on super thick vinyl and packaged in a thick full color sleeve, with hilarious (and perhaps problematic) cover art!
Limited to 300 copies.

NEUNG PHAK (MONO PAUSE) s/t (Abduction) cd 14.98
Of course the first thing that will unfortunately happen for Neung Phak (a.k.a. Mono Pause) are the inevitable comparisons to Dengue Fever. And to come to their defence (and we're devout fans of Dengue Fever as well) Neung Phak have not only began working on these tracks prior to Dengue Fever's inception, but the music of the two bands are apples and oranges. Neung Phak (literal Thai translation of Mono Pause) is a new line-up and musical direction for the East Bay experimental music veterans Mono Pause. Featuring Diana Hayes and Joi Po Dee on vocals (Thai and Lao respectively) and some cameo appearances from Sun City Girl Alan Bishop, Neung Phak have done their homework when it comes to pop music of SE Asia. Less a fusion of styles, as seems to be the general trend with occidental ethno-pop bands, than a thoroughly researched compilation of SE Asian pop music genres, with each individual track being an excellently re-created execution of a particular idiom; be it Thai, Laotian, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Cambodian or Khmer. The album kicks off with "Hired By The King" an excellent toe-tapping mo lam like track (a Neung Phak original) with superb kaen (the ubiquitous mouth organ of the region) playing by Erik Gergis and accompanied by electric bass, electric guitar (picked like a mandolin or oud would be) and percussion (a track later on in the disc "Fired By The King" is similar, though featuring an out of tune bass line that's apparently popular in many of the originals). In stark contrast what follows is a cover of a Thai country pop tune from 1998, an adorably cute up-beat number featuring percussive nasal vocals ("Tui, Tui, Tui") by Diana Hayes. Still keeping the pace going, the group continues with a couple Cambodian Rocks-esque numbers that are probably as close to Dengue Fever as you'll hear Neung Phak get; the first track being a Khmer hit from the 80's and the second a Cambodian ballad featuring Alan Bishop on she-male vocals. In addition to these songs, the group has actually recreated portions of radio dramas from Vietnam and Laotian theatrical mo lam, the latter is an absolute noise freak out and not over-embellished at all according to sources. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Hired By the King"
MPEG Stream: "Low Tide"
MPEG Stream: "Morlam Pee Bah"

NEUROSIS A Sun That Never Sets (Relapse) cd 16.98
The new, eagerly awaited full-length from the Bay Area's biggest metal band -- whoops, are they really a metal band anymore? They really haven't embraced that tag for a while now, if ever, being more artsy and tribal and droney and avantgarde than what most folks think "metal" is anyway (although we know there ARE lots of metal bands just as weird and innovative). Regardless of the terminology, Neurosis has also always been wayyy heavy. This new disc doesn't exactly lack heaviness, but also seems heavily influenced by some of the acts that Neurosis will be sharing the stage with at their Beyond The Pale festival this weekend: Michael (Swans) Gira, Zoviet France, Tarentel, Amber Asylum... It's a kinder, gentler Neurosis. There's less screaming (and more Gira/Tom Wait-ish singing), more quiet post-rock moments, less of the out-and-out metallic pummel to overload your senses than found on classics like "Enemy of the Sun". But it's still dark and plodding...
RealAudio clip: "The Tide"
RealAudio clip: "Watchfire"

NEUROSIS A Sun That Never Sets (Relapse) dvd 19.98
Live visuals from everyone's favorite Bay Area art-punk-metal legends.

NEUROSIS Enemy Of The Sun (Neurot) cd 14.98
Another reissue, the album after 'Souls At Zero', which if anything only got heavier and trancier. I, Andee, personally think that if you're going to own just one Neurosis album, THIS is it. Come in and Allan and I will leg wrestle to decide which one you should buy.

NEUROSIS Given To The Rising (Neurot) cd 14.98
New albums from old faves come and go, but when you say, there's a new Neurosis, we sit up and pay attention. Like contemporaries the Melvins, they've reached an iconic, utterly influential status at this point in their long career -- and yet still keep making rad, relevant albums that keep pushing their now archetypal sound further. Pioneers who keep on pioneering, getting better and better, even as hordes of other bands copy them and try to keep up. The word on the street was that Given To The Rising was a "return to the heavy" for Neurosis, not like they ever really left. But yes, this is HEAVY. We can't say (like we did about A Sun That Never Sets) that is is a "kinder, gentler" Neurosis. Not at all. The riffs will slay you, the vocals are fierce, yet the scope (musical, emotional) of this disc is impressively broad... The proggy, psychedelic, post-rock and (dare we say) gloom-pop melodic elements that run like a dark thread through their discography are present on these ten tracks, mostly all of epic lengths (as usual). Harrowing power. Depressive beauty. Ritual rumble. Alienated lyrics. Soft-loud dynamics. Droning space-outs. All utterly "owned" by the Neurosis crew. This band just levels everything and everyone in their path!
This is one that will satisfy old school Neurosis fans and yet would be a perfect first-time Neurosis experience too. For instance -- although we can't imagine this is too likely! -- if there are any Jesu fans out there who haven't ever heard Neurosis, do yourself a favor and pick this up pronto!! Arguably their best album since 1999's classic Times Of Grace.
PS while supplies last, we've got a bonus dvd that comes with the cd... oh and also there WILL be a vinyl pressing, but it's not out yet.
MPEG Stream: "Given To The Rising"
MPEG Stream: "Fear And Sickness"
MPEG Stream: "Water Is Not Enough"