OCS 3 (Yik Yak) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ah, the sweeter side of John Dwyer. It's always been a struggle for Dwyer, between his sweat soaked spazz rock, club smashing, instrument battering side (Landed, Pink And Brown, Coachwhips) and his lonely boy, mix tape, bedroom, acoustic and sensitive side (OCS). Well it appears, that for the time being at least, with the end of the Coachwhips, OCS is Dwyer's main focus. Dr. Jeckel has regained control and banished Mr Hyde to wait patiently in the dakness....
Like the first OCS record, released on Andee's tUMULt label, this is a massive, beuatifully packaged double disc collection of beautifully ramshackle, intimate and home recorded lo-fi indie bedroom folk. However, unlike the tUMULt release, where disc two was a clattery, crunchy, crashing NOISE record, both discs here are chock full of simple strummed guitars, echoey percussiony, big empty room rhythmic clatter, distant distorted melancholy melodies, haunting reverby electric guitar, quavery falsetto vocals, drowsily affected jangle shuffling snare drums and hazy atmospheres....all occasionally peppered with swooping stuttering psych rock space effects, chirping birds, and creaking rattling soundmakers of all kinds. For fans of Sentridoh, Shrimper and all things 4-track, lo-fi, jangley, shuffley and strummy! The lp is is the OCS '3' record only, you gotta buy the double cd to get both '3' and '4'!
MPEG Stream: "If I Had A Reason"
MPEG Stream: "Second Date"
MPEG Stream: "The Pool"

OCS s/t (tUMULt) 2cd 16.98
Who would have thought that the man behind the club destroying thud rock of now defunct Pink And Brown, the sweaty, hyper chaotic garage stomp of the also now defunt Coachwhips, the minimal metallic crush of the long buried Dig That Body Up It's Alive and the no longer with us hardcore faux-homo-house of Zeigenbock Kopf actually had a soft and sensitive side?? Well, he does, and has chosen to drop all the above mentione musical endeavors to focus all of his musical energy on the mysteriously monickered OCS.
The ubiquitous John Dwyer, for it is he, offers up two discs of home recorded madness, culled from random tapes/performances over the past couple of years, and damn if this isn't an unexpected surprise. Vascillating wildy between introspective, spaced out downer folk and gritty, hissing free noise crunch, OCS is a massive and unpredicatable ride through one man's damaged musical psyche.
Disc One, 34 Reasons Why Life Goes On Without You, or the "acoustic disc" as we like to call it, is made up mostly of solo guitar, recorded in random locations around San Francisco, so the gentle strumming and dexterous fingerpicking is often barely obscuring passing cars, slamming doors, hollered instructions to other players, and noisy housemates, adding another sonic layer to the already thick brew. Think: a seriously fucked up Fahey, armed with a four track, a casio, and an old beat up guitar. Think: an old Folkways 45 being played on a Fisher Price turntable and run through a bank of cheap effects. Gorgeous and shambolic, meandering and lovely, dark and unpredictable. The acoustic passages are constantly doing battle with an array of sonic intrusions, random snippets of found sound, bursts of angry buzz, tape drop out, random ambient happenings, malfunctioning casios, and distorted crooning. Mysteriously compelling.
Disc two, 18 Reasons To Love Your Hater To Death, or the "noise disc" as we like to call it, is a much more challenging affair, channelling the spirts of Borbetamagus, Skullflower, Albert Ayler, Throbbing Gristle and 100 years of NOISE into a shifting sonic noisescape of harsh squealing feedback, gorgeously gauzy and shimmery drones, ear piercing sine waves, distorted low end rumbles, huge washes of effected guitars, rhythmic pulses, darkly muted ambience, subtle barely-there melodies, inhuman vocalisations, massive Merzbow-ian walls of pummel, hyper minimal music concrete, alien lullabies and dreamy stretches of stygian gloom punctuated by bursts of hiss and hum. Intensely beautiful and challenging.
Ah, the many moods of John Dwyer, stepping outside the realm of costume rock and drunken swagger to lay bare a sensitive, if still sometimes quite noisy, soul.
MPEG Stream: "Reason 1 Why Life Goes On Without You"
MPEG Stream: "Reason 2 Why Life Goes On Without You"
MPEG Stream: "Reason 1 To Love Your Hater To Death"
MPEG Stream: "Reason 2 To Love Your Hater To Death"

OCS (OH SEES) Get Stoved (4) (KSR) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

OCS VS. CAROLINER At Aquarius Records, S.F. (Narnack) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, MAINLY BECAUSE IT WAS AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE! HEE HEE! SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Handsomely packaged in a hand linocut printed jockstrap cover, OCS vs Caroliner is probably not what you would imagine. This isn't a remix collaboration between John Dwyer and Grux, but a fight (recorded surreptitiously by another Aquarius customer on their minidisc recorder) between the two battling over flyer space on the event board.
MPEG Stream: "Cardboard Pants"
MPEG Stream: "Giant Pocket"
MPEG Stream: "Highwater Pageboy"

OCTIS Ocrilim (Troubleman Unlimited) cd 11.98
Fretboard brainiac Mick Barr (of Orthrelm, Crom-Tech, Quix*o*tic, and Octis) is back with a new album from his solo manifestation Octis (and is also now living here in San Francisco, playing in the Flying Luttenbachers). Ocrilim is one 33 minute track of squiggly quasi-metallic guitar and drum machine. Electro-shock therapy too expensive? Try this! A tinny drone jabbed and jarred with manic outbursts of hyper spazz guitar, with which the drum machine can barely keep up. It's, in a word, maddening. And of course we love it.
MPEG Stream: "Ocrilim [excerpt 1]"
MPEG Stream: "Ocrilim [excerpt 2]"

OCTOMUTT Hot Stove (Drizzoletto Music) cd 14.98
Octomutt swiftly follow up their recent Pretty Side album with this pipin' Hot Stove. When the second song (the album's title track) kicked in, we imediately noticed the vocal presence and anticipated that the album was going to be quite a lively (almost feisty) affair in comparison to its considerably more gentle instrumental predecessor. Just check out that tune's thumpin' churn! The rest of the album however settles into a more loping, folky blues pace. As usual, the SF duo's fantastic musicianship is in full bloom as they spin their latest quirky musical yarns. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Hot Stove"
MPEG Stream: "Marlene Dietrich Singing Lili Marlene"

OCTOMUTT Pretty Side (Drizzoletto Music) cd 5.98
Fine veteran SF musicians Ted Savarese and Ashley Adams refuse to follow flavor of the day trends, instead they continue to follow their own muse. This time their song selection weighs heavy on respectful cover versions which might involve sweet lullabies, old tyme waltzes, old movie and show tunes (for instance, the theme from the 1960's Tammy series which starred Debbie Reynolds) and/or outbreaks of jazz -- all beautifully performed with loving care. The entirely instrumental Pretty Side is much less obviously trippy and offkilter than their previous self titled album or Savarese's other project Drizzoletto, but it's no less whimsical. Their intimate arrangements of guitar, bass, accordion and trumpet might remind you of a bygone era when things moved at a much slower pace.
MPEG Stream: "Tammy"
MPEG Stream: "The Way You Look Tonight"

OCTOMUTT s/t (self-released) cd 5.98
Another project from the folks who brought us the quirky Drizzoletto Live At KXLU disc a short time ago. Octomutt are Ted Savarese and Ashley Adams and they weave meandering guitars and slinking loops with an easygoing anchor of standup bass. There's a definite down home, earthy feel to Octomutt's music -- seeming very casual and off the cuff -- however an occasional detour into more trippy, eccentric territory is certainly not out of the question. They're joined on the final track "Monkey And The Dolphin" by Drizzoletto co-hort and man about town Ralph Carney (tenor saxophone, flute and bongos).
MPEG Stream: "I Been Thinkin'"
MPEG Stream: "Monkey and the Dolphin"

ODD NOSDAM Burner (Anticon) cd 14.98

ODESSA (CHEN) One Room Palace (self-released) cd 12.98
Very lovely! Odessa Chen is quite a one-woman band, composing, singing and performing nearly all of the instruments for this, her debut album. Her voice soars gracefully from childlike whisper to haunting wail to crystal clear heights over the dramatic waves of guitars, keyboards, strings and percussion. Charles Denison provides backing vocals on the fifth song "Fringe" making for a nice earthy counterpoint. The atmosphere is filled with heartache and yearning. Definitely for fans of the impassioned voices of Tori Amos or Sarah McLachlan.
MPEG Stream: "Where Heaven Should Be"
MPEG Stream: "Fringe"

OF The Awful Cloud (Jyrk) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The last we heard from Loren Chasse's Of project (not to be confused with the similarly monickered duo Ov, featuring Chasse and his wife, our very own Christine) was on a cd and a cd-r released about the same time way back in the beginning of 2005. This latest disc is sort of similar to those two Of releases, in that they are a bit noisier, a bit more aggressive than Chasse's usual nature based ethereality. But on The Awful Cloud, Chasse has mixed up his darkest and heaviest and most active material to date, pushing even the boundaries of the already more belligerent Of. The opening track is like some sort of abstract free jazz being performed by black eyed demons in some fiery pit, filled with broken old drum kits and random bits of metal, a clanging, clattering, shuffling primitive percussive ritual, while all around these rhythmic freakouts hover Awful Clouds of corrosive feedback, warm whirls of fuzzy organ, a thick miasma of drones and whirs, incredibly dark and ominous and fierce. Who knew Mr. Chasse had it in him! The rest of the record is not nearly so prickly and abrasive, but the darkness and dread is equally as pervasive, just more subtly so. A dense roiling mix of organs and bells and vibrating strings and collaged found sounds, from shimmery soundscapes of keening hiss, simple melodies buzzing into reedy drones, to the cavernous dark ambience of the near 20 minute third track, some sort of slowed down guitar crumble, trudging glacially forward like some slithery black beast, surrounded by wreaths of warm pulsing chords and disembodied musicbox melodies, to the dreamlike expanse of the final track, gently picked guitar suspended in a thick gauzy lattice of muted organ and distant subterranean rumble. So lovely, but so so dark. Highly recommended!!
Packaged in a handscreened sleeve with a photocopied insert.
LIMITED TO 150 COPIES. WE GOT ABOUT 30 (we ordered 50!)!!
MPEG Stream: "The Uglich Bell"
MPEG Stream: "Human Absence"

OF (LOREN CHASSE) Rocks Will Open (Digitalis) cd 13.98
Back in stock! But, without the bonus limited edition Morphological Echo cassette that accompanied the first 100 copies. So you're bummed if you didn't order one earlier. Still, the cd without the tape is well worth getting, so don't cry too much, slowpokes. Here's our review:
Nowadays the words Jewelled Antler are so widely known in underground outrock circles, that all we have to do really is just mention the name and y'all know we're talking about some seriously awesome sprawling nature-y goodness. It's true, the Jewelled Antler crew have been high on the sound worship, rural psychedelic trip for over a decade, with no signs of coming down. Between the recent Porter box set and several other discs released earlier this year on Nature Strip and the Helen Scarsdale Agency, Loren Chasse has established himself as a sort of mystical elder in the Jeweled Antler community. Recording/performing with Thuja, Kyrgyz, and The Blithe Sons (to name a few) and working as a SF public school teacher, its amazing Chasse ever has time to sleep, let alone record all of these effing remarkable collections of minimal innerspatial sound!
Recorded between 2005 and 2007, Rocks Will Open is a sonic escape across coastal worlds, through secret doorways beneath tree stumps and into iridescent waves of shimmering prismatic dust. And not your average list of instruments in the liner notes either: dulcimer, gravel, sand, stones, and khaen (a Southeast Asian mouth harp!) to name a few! The opening / title track starts things off with creeping dulcimer melodies, methodical plucks and strums over earthen textures, sonic topsoil moving and shifting on its own. "Trail of Hornfel", track two, is a dark drift, a choir of possessed singing bowls howling from the bowels of a partially submerged seaside cavern. Chasse has has perfected an organically rich sound all his own, recordings that sound more like he has somehow cast spells on each instrument, conjuring sounds and textures through divination and sorcery, channeling the pulse of the natural world. "The Paper Raft" is deep and somber, the earth splits open and melancholic passages of deep bowed tones swell dramatically and narrate the fall of Western civilization, a rarely visited shadowy realm for Chasse. But actually, all of Rocks Will Open has a mysterious haunting unsettling beauty sewn into its fabric, illiciting the kinds of feeling evoked by leafless trees in snow, or a blazing campfire flickering in a suffocatingly black nightscape, or like being quietly captivated by a towering tsunami seconds before it swallows you whole. A contemplative experience that unfolds and blooms with every listen as sounds hidden in the woodwork reveal themselves, this could easily be our favorite solo record from Chasse. Rocks Will Open is totally necessary for fans of Peter Wright, Tim Hecker, Gregg Kowolsky and anything Jewelled Antler (obviously). So if you know what's good for you, do not miss out on this super incredible release.
MPEG Stream: "Trail of Hornfel"
MPEG Stream: "The Paper Raft"

OF (LOREN CHASSE) Rocks Will Open / Morphological Echo (Digitalis) cd + cassette 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Nowadays the words Jewelled Antler are so widely known in underground outrock circles, that all we have to do really is just mention the name and y'all know we're talking about some seriously awesome sprawling nature-y goodness. It's true, the Jewelled Antler crew have been high on the sound worship, rural psychedelic trip for over a decade, with no signs of coming down. Between the recent Porter box set and several other discs released earlier this year on Nature Strip and the Helen Scarsdale Agency, Loren Chasse has established himself as a sort of mystical elder in the Jeweled Antler community. Recording/performing with Thuja, Kyrgyz, and The Blithe Sons (to name a few) and working as a SF public school teacher, its amazing Chasse ever has time to sleep, let alone record all of these effing remarkable collections of minimal innerspatial sound!
Rocks Will Open is Chasse's latest, brought to us by Digitalis in an ultra limited arts and crafts edition of 100!! Yes we said limited! While the disc is being released in a larger pressing of 500, the first 100 copies (which we got 30 of!) come with a mind blowing exclusive tape called Morphological Echo! Yes! Basically a whole extra record!!
Recorded between 2005 and 2007, Rocks Will Open is a sonic escape across coastal worlds, through secret doorways beneath tree stumps and into iridescent waves of shimmering prismatic dust. And not your average list of instruments in the liner notes either: dulcimer, gravel, sand, stones, and khaen (a Southeast Asian mouth harp!) to name a few! The opening / title track starts things off with creeping dulcimer melodies, methodical plucks and strums over earthen textures, sonic topsoil moving and shifting on its own. "Trail of Hornfel", track two, is a dark drift, a choir of possessed singing bowls howling from the bowels of a partially submerged seaside cavern. Chasse has has perfected an organically rich sound all his own, recordings that sound more like he has somehow cast spells on each instrument, conjuring sounds and textures through divination and sorcery, channeling the pulse of the natural world. "The Paper Raft" is deep and somber, the earth splits open and melancholic passages of deep bowed tones swell dramatically and narrate the fall of Western civilization, a rarely visited shadowy realm for Chasse. But actually, all of Rocks Will Open has a mysterious haunting unsettling beauty sewn into its fabric, illiciting the kinds of feeling evoked by leafless trees in snow, or a blazing campfire flickering in a suffocatingly black nightscape, or like being quietly captivated by a towering tsunami seconds before it swallows you whole. A contemplative experience that unfolds and blooms with every listen as sounds hidden in the woodwork reveal themselves, this could easily be our favorite solo record from Chasse. Rocks Will Open is totally necessary for fans of Peter Wright, Tim Hecker, Gregg Kowolsky and anything Jewelled Antler (obviously). So if you know what's good for you, do not miss out on this super incredible release AND the special limited edition cassette that comes along with it!! Once we run out of the limited version with the tape, which will most likely be sooner rather than later, folks who order Rocks Will Open will then get the cheaper tape-less cd version.
MPEG Stream: "Trail of Hornfel"
MPEG Stream: "The Paper Raft"

OF (LOREN CHASSE) The Buried Stream (Jewelled Antler) cd 13.98
Yeah we know, here at Aquarius Records it's always Jewelled Antler this, Jewelled Antler that. They're our friends, we're big fans, and we wax enthusastic about all the great music they make all the time (heck there's at least one other Jewelled Antler item on this very list). And we know a lot of you out there are equally enamoured of the Jewelled Antler thing. If that's you -- and like us, make sure to get EVERY Jewelled Antler related release that comes out -- then you can pretty much stop reading this right now and just buy this darn disc, you need it / want it / must buy it. But if you're more of the casual Jewelled Antler fan, or not yet familiar with their stuff but curious, then, well, we'll say pretty much the same thing, just buy it! Yep, that's because this new Of opus is one that we'll be pointing Jewelled Antler novices to as a true JA essential (and not just 'cause its in print and on cd, as opposed to being one of their many out of print cd-rs, although that helps). Of is the "instrumental" solo project of JA linchpin Loren Chasse, whom you may also know from such sonic congregates as Thuja, Blithe Sons, Child Readers, Coelecanth, and Id Battery among others. He's done other solo recordings under the L.Chasse name but as Of he takes his textural, field recording approach and makes it into something more overtly, hauntingly musical, something like a one-man Thuja, his ear exploring both the wilds of the woods and the sounds he could conjure on his own with an array of instruments and objects. Allan immediately recognized (with nostalgia) the field recordings of Pennsylvanian night-time buzzings incorporated in the track "Glowing Prints". Such sounds of nature merge perfectly with Chasse's own darkened drones, percussive textures, distorted strum, shimmering tones from bells and bowls, wheezing harmonium, etc. It's music to drift off to sleep to, to dream strange dreams and then awake immersed in sound, wondering where and what you are. Utterly utterly beautiful. What a darn great second Of album! (fyi: the first, The Infant Paths, originally a cd-r, is to be reissued soon on cd as well!)
MPEG Stream: "Underground Cloud"
MPEG Stream: "Axes"

OF (LOREN CHASSE) The Infant Paths (Jewelled Antler) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Oooh this is good. Haunting, gentle, abstract-seeming but musically very pretty stuff, in the vein of the best folk/drone from Tower Recordings and Kemialliset Ystavat, Popul Vuh and Brian Eno. Perhaps you've heard the Atrium Musicae "Musique de la Grece Antique" disc? This too sounds like imaginary ancient music, maybe made by wood-spirits before the dawn of man. An elemental, atmospheric sonic ritual. Of is the new solo project of AQ-pal Loren Chasse. You might know him from Thuja, Id Battery, Blithe Sons, Child Readers, Coelacanth, numerous other "Jewelled Antler" projects... There was an Of track on Jewelled Antler's Heat & Birds compilation, and this cd-r is the debut full-length release from Of, dedicated to Loren's grandmother who passed away recently. Now maybe you're wondering, doesn't Loren already record solo as under his own name, putting out stuff like that great Hedge of Nerves cd on Anomalous, so what's with this Of moniker? Well, with Of, Loren takes the field recording / experimental sound collage ideas that he brought to Id Battery and his previous solo projects and brings it into a live-recorded, improvised *musical* context, where --this is important-- in addition to minidisc and contact mic, he's also playing more traditional sorts of musical instruments. Kinda like a one-man Thuja, or Blithe Sons or Child Readers. There's guitar, oud, bells, harp, pipes, whistles, bowed wires, harmonium, drumkit, and a 150 year old mellodion (pump organ) employed here, plus the usual assortment of rocks, sticks, and other natural debris that Loren "plays". Also to be heard is record crackle from an old Victrola, and recordings of wind and water made by his mother on her sailboat. All lovingly lo-fi home (and outdoors -- in California, Maryland, and Pennsylvania) recorded and mixed with handheld tape recorder, mindisc, and computer. Sleepy, dark, and meditative, "The Infant Paths" is a perfect example of the Jewelled Antler aesthetic, a musical methodology where lapping water sounds complement harmonium drones and carefully plucked guitar strings; tinkling bells and crackling branches accompany simple, fragile melodies found on broken organ keyboards; where nature and the environment are musical collaborators with poetic souls like Mr. Chasse.
Unlike Blithe Sons or Child Readers, this is all instrumental -- nope, you won't hear any vocals from Loren here, the only singing is done by birds. Someone else (Richard Youngs, Greg Weeks, the Blithe Sons themselves) might have been tempted to sing over these tracks, but they're plenty magical without any wispy vocals or lyrical content. Dense and detailed, suitable for your own dreams and reveries. Wow. We knew he had it in him, but still we're impressed. One of our favorite releases by Mr. Chasse yet!
MPEG Stream: "The Lamp Shell Path"
MPEG Stream: "Theodolites And Chains"
MPEG Stream: "Torus At The Sunrise Turn "

OF (LOREN CHASSE) The Quartz Pond (Jewelled Antler) cd-r 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not only did Thuja's Loren Chasse so very recently grace us with a phenomenal full-length cd from his solo project Of (reviewed last list), he has also now just brought in a handful of these Of cd-rs he originally produced to sell on Thuja's December jaunt to a festival in Scotland. Maybe 12 bucks might seem just a little pricey for a 25 minute cd-r, but Loren's made 'em look really nice (each one with an individual leaf-rubbing and handwritten credits) and more importantly, the music makes it well worth it. The first, five minute track begins with some pleasantly harsh distortion before settling into a soothing drone, Chasse weaving together both field recordings and his own instrumental improvisations into one seamless, organic whole. This is but the warm-up for the other, twenty-minute track on here that's an exquisite late-night humid dreamscape that you won't want to wake up from, which makes hypnotic use of what I think could be frog croakings but also sound a lot like a ticking clock... Needless to say, any and all Of fans need this, and as well it's recommended to all of you into nocturnal, eternal nature-boy drone!
MPEG Stream: "The Quartz Pond pt. 1"

OF (LOREN CHASSE) The Sun & Earth Together (Ultra Hard Gel) cd 12.98
Loren Chasse, one of the chief swamis of the collective Jewelled Antler sound through such projects as Thuja, Blithe Sons, Child Readers, Franciscan Hobbies, Ov, and too many more to list (boy, they used to crank out those cd-rs!), records solo under the moniker Of (the similarly named Ov being the duo of Chasse with his wife and AQ-employee Christine, full disclosure). Simply put, we love Of (and Ov), of course... and are always happy when Chasse takes some time away from his other activities (the somewhat less musical of which being his day job as a public school teacher) to craft a new Of album, a phantom tendril from his own personal dreamworld reaching through our shared reality to caress our ears and cause imaginary crystals to glow softly somewhere within that part of our minds attuned to such blissful vibrations. Not to make this sound like any sort of New Age fluff though, as while as ethereal and meditative as this is, Chasse always incorporates some primitive grit into his work, his music full of feedback hiss, quiet distortion, ambient elemental field recordings of nature, the magnified rubbings of rocks and plants, objects close to the ground, part of the earth, illuminated (and given shadow too) by the radiation of a far-off, flaming star.
The music of The Sun and Earth Together is akin to a slowly turning mobile, as if it were giving off drones and tones as well as glinting with color and the reflections of light. As light shimmers, so does this music. As light dims, it dims too. The abstract sculptural shapes of this imagined mobile move in beautiful indeterminate patterns, much as the sounds Chasse conjures from disparate sources* as cymbalom and stones, autoharp and voice, bells and bowls, guitar and zither all drift delicately, and droningly, in phosphorescent clouds and constellations. This disc clocks in at 51 minutes, consisting of four tracks, each one longer than the last, from the three minute opener "Ignimbrites" to the 26 minute closing title track. All composed of tingling, whispered layers of lo-fi loveliness, gentle and graceful and ultimately glorious.
*we're guessing on some of these...
MPEG Stream: "Archangelic Curtain"
MPEG Stream: "Ignimbrites"
MPEG Stream: "Vog Rings"

OH SEES, THE Sucks Blood (Castle Face) cd 13.98
John Dwyer has been a busy bee as of late. His great new free jazz outfit Swords & Sandals has been playing fiery short sets all around town. He's started his own record label, Castle Face and his first release on the label is his latest Oh Sees (OCS) record which just might be the best one yet! Produced by Kelly Stoltz, Sucks Blood has a wonderful focus that gets stoney, blurry and all bleary and sunsoaked yet the songs still feel so well crafted and the record so perfectly paced. The opening track finds Dwyer reconstructing his garage rock roots with a smokin' lo-fi burner that would make Roky Erickson proud. As the record moves on there is an intoxicating hazy moodiness that emanates so effortlessly from every track start to finish. We love how timeless this record sounds and feels. It's doesn't at all feel like a part of any current trend or scene. Instead it sounds like someone locked up in their room with a window half open as sun, clouds and wind mingle in the sky and songs grow and blossom organically. With no one to please but himself, you get the feeling that Dwyer was able to totally relax and make exactly the record he's been wanting to make for ages. We've already been listening to this in our headphones as we walk through the city, on those afternoons made for wandering aimlessly just to see where you might end up, and this is the perfect soundtrack for sure. Whether laying in the grass, or sitting on the porch, or staying in bed till late in the afternoon, this is the perfect sounds for being busy doing nothing. So totally nice!
MPEG Stream: "It Killed Mom"
MPEG Stream: "You Make Me Sick, Oh Yeah"
MPEG Stream: "Ship"

OH SEES, THE The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In (Castle Face / Tomlab) cd 16.98
The Oh Sees have changed a lot since they were the OCS. Back then, Oh Sees frontman John Dwyer had his Coachwhips, a wild sweat soaked, garage stomp party, furious and frenzied, throbbing and in-the-red, so OCS was the outlet for Dwyer to explore the other sides of his multiple musical personality. The debut OCS record (released on tUMULt) was two discs, one of mostly solo acoustic guitar, a super intimate bedroom folk, all dusty and crackly, warm and super intimate, bits of damaged Casio, warbly old vinyl, damaged FX, lovingly crafted into some sort of heartfelt lo-fi sonic loveletter. The other disc was more noisy, super abstract, blown out blasts of free jazz weirdness, drones and rumbles, howling feedback, white noise, pink noise, and every color in between. OCS 2, 3 and 4 followed a similar pattern, a sort of lonely lo-fi homebrewed indie folk, off kilter and melancholy, wistful, damaged and dreamy.
But with the dissolution of the Coachwhips, came a name change for OCS, now The Ohsees, or sometimes The Oh Sees, a change in sound, and a transformation into a full band.
While not as freaked out and furious as the Coachwhips, the Oh Sees new record sounds more like the long lost CW's than any of Dwyer's records since. Garage-y jangle, shuffling drums, the vocals distorted, the songs simple and stripped down, but the big difference is that here Dwyer splits the vocals with bandmate Brigid Dawson, the result is truly endearing harmonies, with Dwyer often the wailing counterpoint to Dawson's sweet angelic croon. And songs that sometimes sound like alien versions of that classic Phil Spector girl group sound. But at its heart, the sound is still fuzzy and buzzy and skeletal, groovy and garage rocky, wouldn't be hard to imagine this disc on In The Red, or see these guys on tour with the Dirtbombs or the Country Teasers or the Husbands. (Bonus points for having a song about aQ pal and local artist extraordinaire Maria Forde!)
Weird too that it's out on Tomlab, it IS blissy and fuzzy and poppy, but not nearly as much as everything else on Tomlab, which is why it's only -through- Tomlab and is really on Dwyer's just launched Castle Face labelŠ
Big booklet, with lyrics, and kick ass eye popping artwork on the front and back!
MPEG Stream: "Block Of Ice"
MPEG Stream: "Visit Colonel"
MPEG Stream: "Maria Stacks"

OH SEES, THE The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In (Castle Face / Tomlab) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NOW ON VINYL!
The Oh Sees have changed a lot since they were the OCS. Back then, Oh Sees frontman John Dwyer had his Coachwhips, a wild sweat soaked, garage stomp party, furious and frenzied, throbbing and in-the-red, so OCS was the outlet for Dwyer to explore the other sides of his multiple musical personality. The debut OCS record (released on tUMULt) was two discs, one of mostly solo acoustic guitar, a super intimate bedroom folk, all dusty and crackly, warm and super intimate, bits of damaged Casio, warbly old vinyl, damaged FX, lovingly crafted into some sort of heartfelt lo-fi sonic loveletter. The other disc was more noisy, super abstract, blown out blasts of free jazz weirdness, drones and rumbles, howling feedback, white noise, pink noise, and every color in between. OCS 2, 3 and 4 followed a similar pattern, a sort of lonely lo-fi homebrewed indie folk, off kilter and melancholy, wistful, damaged and dreamy.
But with the dissolution of the Coachwhips, came a name change for OCS, now The Ohsees, or sometimes The Oh Sees, a change in sound, and a transformation into a full band.
While not as freaked out and furious as the Coachwhips, the Oh Sees new record sounds more like the long lost CW's than any of Dwyer's records since. Garage-y jangle, shuffling drums, the vocals distorted, the songs simple and stripped down, but the big difference is that here Dwyer splits the vocals with bandmate Brigid Dawson, the result is truly endearing harmonies, with Dwyer often the wailing counterpoint to Dawson's sweet angelic croon. And songs that sometimes sound like alien versions of that classic Phil Spector girl group sound. But at its heart, the sound is still fuzzy and buzzy and skeletal, groovy and garage rocky, wouldn't be hard to imagine this disc on In The Red, or see these guys on tour with the Dirtbombs or the Country Teasers or the Husbands. (Bonus points for having a song about aQ pal and local artist extraordinaire Maria Forde!)
Weird too that it's out on Tomlab, it IS blissy and fuzzy and poppy, but not nearly as much as everything else on Tomlab, which is why it's only -through- Tomlab and is really on Dwyer's just launched Castle Face labelŠ
Big booklet, with lyrics, and kick ass eye popping artwork on the front and back!
MPEG Stream: "Block Of Ice"
MPEG Stream: "Visit Colonel"
MPEG Stream: "Maria Stacks"

OH SEES, THE (OCS) Grave Blockers EP (Rock Is Hell) 6"vinyl + 3"cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We listed this a couple years ago, and of course since it was limited to only 51 copies, it disappeared almost immediately. There was a second pressing, that one limited to 52 copies, those disappeared before we could get ANY, but the label discovered another 10 copies, and let us have them. It goes without saying that these are almost for sure the last copies EVER.
Ohsees is the new spelling for OCS which is the one and only John Dwyer (Coachwhips, Pink And Brown, Dig That Body Up It's Alive, etc.) and features a 6" lathe cut, with two tracks recorded in NY, and a teensy little 3" cd-r featuring 6 tracks recorded at home. Ohsees are a strange bunch, and this set is no different, from soft abstract folk, to dreamy drones, to squalls of noisy weirdness, all fractured and wonderful and so good. Packaged in an oversized grey and black gatefold sleeve, rad Dwyer art on the outside, liner notes on the inside, 3" cd in one plastic pocket, the 6" lathe cut in another, each one hand numbered. And just like before, these will be gone before you can blink. Sorry.

OH SEES, THE (OCS) The Cool Death Of Island Raiders (Narnack) cd 14.98
No doubt about it, Mr. John Dwyer is one prolific man. His currently most active endeavor is The Ohsees (aka OCS), and whether intentionally or not, it is very of the moment, and one of Dwyer's best. His partner in crime is local artist and musician Patrick Mullins. At times The Cool Death Of Island Raiders sounds like a dronier and even more stoned Ariel Pink... which we've been diggin' heavily. The album's title reminds us of those afterschool adventures we made up when we were kids, and the music is a lot like children's songs in a demented playground complete with occasional birds chirping.
Lots of shimmery cymbal and tambourine washes, off-kilter strummed guitar and unexpected visits from occlusive noise clouds, while through those clouds emerges layers of tweaked falsetto vocals. The somewhat goofily menacing back cover photo capture the album's mood pretty accurately, slightly unsettling verging on creepy but with a sense of humor at work as well. Produced by Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio fame the album is paced really well and shows that Dwyer's still got plenty up his sleeves. Oh and like all the OCS records, put on your headphones for an optimal listening experience.
MPEG Stream: "Cool Death"
MPEG Stream: "The Dumb Drums"

OH SEES, THE (OCS) The Cool Death Of Island Raiders (Narnack) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
No doubt about it, Mr. John Dwyer is one prolific man. His currently most active endeavor is The Ohsees (aka OCS), and whether intentionally or not, it is very of the moment, and one of Dwyer's best. His partner in crime is local artist and musician Patrick Mullins. At times The Cool Death Of Island Raiders sounds like a dronier and even more stoned Ariel Pink... which we've been diggin' heavily. The album's title reminds us of those afterschool adventures we made up when we were kids, and the music is a lot like children's songs in a demented playground complete with occasional birds chirping.
Lots of shimmery cymbal and tambourine washes, off-kilter strummed guitar and unexpected visits from occlusive noise clouds, while through those clouds emerges layers of tweaked falsetto vocals. The somewhat goofily menacing back cover photo capture the album's mood pretty accurately, slightly unsettling verging on creepy but with a sense of humor at work as well. Produced by Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio fame the album is paced really well and shows that Dwyer's still got plenty up his sleeves. Oh and like all the OCS records, put on your headphones for an optimal listening experience.
MPEG Stream: "Cool Death"
MPEG Stream: "The Dumb Drums"

OH SEES, THEE Help (In The Red) cd 13.98
Listening to Help, it's almost impossible to hear anything but mere traces of the chaotic noise rock path John Dwyer followed to make it to Thee Oh Sees (aka OCS, and Ohsees), but it's that noisy past, and penchant for musical shit stirring, that informs the jangly garage pop on Help, and transforms the band's jangle and shuffle and pound into near perfect buzzy fuzzy catchy retro pop, and makes it easily the best Oh Sees record yet. And a definite contended for (garage) pop record of the year.
Most of us were introduced to Dwyer via his two piece noise rock costume rock combo Pink And Brown (after brief stints in some well known Providence outfits), but unlike most of the costumed joke bands at the time, P&B offered some serious songsmithery along with the unhinged live shows and audience baiting. A brief stint drumming for SF grindlords Burmese led directly into the band that brought Dwyer to worldwide attention, the Coachwhips. Arguably one of the best live bands around, the Coachwhips made up for what they lacked in actual songs with sweat and alcohol soaked performances, utter chaos, and sometimes literally, ultra destructive houseshows. Coachwhips shows were all about the energy, the vibe, jumping around, flailing wildly, getting wrecked and having a blast. Sometimes though, that energy was difficult to translate to home listening. Take away the sweaty throng and the deafening volume and, well why would you want to do that?
And so came the Oh Sees, originally called OCS, and a double cd release on Andee's tUMULt label a few years back, essentially a solo record, one disc of folky fluttery lo-fi twang flecked pop, another of corrosive textured noise experiments, which ended up being, for many of us, one of our favorite post Pink And Brown Dwyer documents. OCS transformed into The Oh Sees and became a real band, and seemed poised to follow in the sonic footsteps of the Coachwhips, stripped down garage rock, super lo-fi, lost of brittle high end, yelped distorted vocals, tribal drumming, but there was definitely something more, more refined, more catchy, more timeless sounding, something much more than garage rock, a sound that reminded us of sixties girl groups, of Phil Spector productions, raw and primal, but lush and expansive and catchy. But that catchy lush side of the Oh Sees remained hidden beneath squalls of tweeter abuse and fractured effects, a wall of fuzz and buzz more than an actual wall of sound. Until now.
Help finds the band making their first record for garage rock stalwarts In The Red, which is ironic as this is Thee Oh Sees' least typically garage rock record yet. Instead, the sound is total pop, plucked fresh from a time capsule buried in the sixties, the guitars jangle as much as crunch, lots of reverb, the vocals wreathed in a haze of delay, lots of female vox, the choruses are lush, the drums are still tribal, but much more measured, often quite spare, the arrangements though are anything but classic, sometimes getting super abstract, but never losing their catchiness, sometimes adding all sorts of extra distorted overload, but just as quickly slipping into something smooth and groovy. Minus the weird moments and the fucked up productions, some of these songs do really sound like they were just transported forward four decades.
"Meat Step Lively" starts off all Cramps-y, with a fuzzy grinding main riff, simple pounding rhythm, but adds some awesome female vocals and background 'ooooohs', some spidery lead guitars, and coolest of all breaks it down with about a minute to go into a swinging sixties smoke-y jazzy flute flecked groove. "The Turn Around" is a minute of blown out drum damage and fractured effects, but wrapped around a sing songy main riff, and some cool distorted and reverbed vox, in total Guided By Voices fashion, they truncate what could have been the jam of the record, and launch into "Can You See", which is all slithery and washed out, with angelic background vocals, shuffling drums, and a cool dreamy bridge, but the whole thing still manages to sound ominous and intense and weirdly sexy.
The record closes with "Peanut Butter Oven", which we first heard on the recent (and sadly now out of print) Awesome Vistas 12", and it's obvious why this was the single, it definitely is THE jam of the record, with it's simple stripped down jangle, workmanlike drum beat, and soaring minor key strings, and let's not forget the gorgeous harmony vocals draped over the singing strings and that irresistible main riff.
And so it goes, every track here is a gem, each one offers up something new, some twisted take on that classic sixties garage rock sound, but it's that sound revved up and filtered through Dwyer's gloriously cracked pop sensibilities, bathed in buzz and fuzz or stripped way down and left shimmery and crystalline, sometimes wrapped in HUGE hooks or allowed to simmer and slither, the catchiness subtle yet so irresistible, and unlike past efforts, even at its noisiest, the noise element seems more an organic part of the sound, and is often shaped into something barely recognizable as noisy.
We knew Dwyer and company had it in them, and now they've proven it, BIG TIME. Dying to see what they come up with next, if they could possibly one up this here disc, but hell, for now, Help has us way satisfied. And records like these are exactly why they invented that repeat button on your cd player. Folks with turntable will just have to get up and flip the record over and over and over, again and again and again.
WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Meat Step Lively"
MPEG Stream: "Ruby Go Home"
MPEG Stream: "Rainbow"

OH SEES, THEE Help (In The Red) lp 10.98
Listening to Help, it's almost impossible to hear anything but mere traces of the chaotic noise rock path John Dwyer followed to make it to Thee Oh Sees (aka OCS, and Ohsees), but it's that noisy past, and penchant for musical shit stirring, that informs the jangly garage pop on Help, and transforms the band's jangle and shuffle and pound into near perfect buzzy fuzzy catchy retro pop, and makes it easily the best Oh Sees record yet. And a definite contended for (garage) pop record of the year.
Most of us were introduced to Dwyer via his two piece noise rock costume rock combo Pink And Brown (after brief stints in some well known Providence outfits), but unlike most of the costumed joke bands at the time, P&B offered some serious songsmithery along with the unhinged live shows and audience baiting. A brief stint drumming for SF grindlords Burmese led directly into the band that brought Dwyer to worldwide attention, the Coachwhips. Arguably one of the best live bands around, the Coachwhips made up for what they lacked in actual songs with sweat and alcohol soaked performances, utter chaos, and sometimes literally, ultra destructive houseshows. Coachwhips shows were all about the energy, the vibe, jumping around, flailing wildly, getting wrecked and having a blast. Sometimes though, that energy was difficult to translate to home listening. Take away the sweaty throng and the deafening volume and, well why would you want to do that?
And so came the Oh Sees, originally called OCS, and a double cd release on Andee's tUMULt label a few years back, essentially a solo record, one disc of folky fluttery lo-fi twang flecked pop, another of corrosive textured noise experiments, which ended up being, for many of us, one of our favorite post Pink And Brown Dwyer documents. OCS transformed into The Oh Sees and became a real band, and seemed poised to follow in the sonic footsteps of the Coachwhips, stripped down garage rock, super lo-fi, lost of brittle high end, yelped distorted vocals, tribal drumming, but there was definitely something more, more refined, more catchy, more timeless sounding, something much more than garage rock, a sound that reminded us of sixties girl groups, of Phil Spector productions, raw and primal, but lush and expansive and catchy. But that catchy lush side of the Oh Sees remained hidden beneath squalls of tweeter abuse and fractured effects, a wall of fuzz and buzz more than an actual wall of sound. Until now.
Help finds the band making their first record for garage rock stalwarts In The Red, which is ironic as this is Thee Oh Sees' least typically garage rock record yet. Instead, the sound is total pop, plucked fresh from a time capsule buried in the sixties, the guitars jangle as much as crunch, lots of reverb, the vocals wreathed in a haze of delay, lots of female vox, the choruses are lush, the drums are still tribal, but much more measured, often quite spare, the arrangements though are anything but classic, sometimes getting super abstract, but never losing their catchiness, sometimes adding all sorts of extra distorted overload, but just as quickly slipping into something smooth and groovy. Minus the weird moments and the fucked up productions, some of these songs do really sound like they were just transported forward four decades.
"Meat Step Lively" starts off all Cramps-y, with a fuzzy grinding main riff, simple pounding rhythm, but adds some awesome female vocals and background 'ooooohs', some spidery lead guitars, and coolest of all breaks it down with about a minute to go into a swinging sixties smoke-y jazzy flute flecked groove. "The Turn Around" is a minute of blown out drum damage and fractured effects, but wrapped around a sing songy main riff, and some cool distorted and reverbed vox, in total Guided By Voices fashion, they truncate what could have been the jam of the record, and launch into "Can You See", which is all slithery and washed out, with angelic background vocals, shuffling drums, and a cool dreamy bridge, but the whole thing still manages to sound ominous and intense and weirdly sexy.
The record closes with "Peanut Butter Oven", which we first heard on the recent (and sadly now out of print) Awesome Vistas 12", and it's obvious why this was the single, it definitely is THE jam of the record, with it's simple stripped down jangle, workmanlike drum beat, and soaring minor key strings, and let's not forget the gorgeous harmony vocals draped over the singing strings and that irresistible main riff.
And so it goes, every track here is a gem, each one offers up something new, some twisted take on that classic sixties garage rock sound, but it's that sound revved up and filtered through Dwyer's gloriously cracked pop sensibilities, bathed in buzz and fuzz or stripped way down and left shimmery and crystalline, sometimes wrapped in HUGE hooks or allowed to simmer and slither, the catchiness subtle yet so irresistible, and unlike past efforts, even at its noisiest, the noise element seems more an organic part of the sound, and is often shaped into something barely recognizable as noisy.
We knew Dwyer and company had it in them, and now they've proven it, BIG TIME. Dying to see what they come up with next, if they could possibly one up this here disc, but hell, for now, Help has us way satisfied. And records like these are exactly why they invented that repeat button on your cd player. Folks with turntable will just have to get up and flip the record over and over and over, again and again and again.
WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Meat Step Lively"
MPEG Stream: "Ruby Go Home"
MPEG Stream: "Rainbow"

OH SEES, THEE Peanut Butter Oven EP (Awesome Vistas) 12" 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We'll not get too in depth in this review because this puppy is super limited, and they'll most likely be gone before you know it, but this ep from the ever prolific Thee Oh Sees is another solid release on Chris Johanson's Aw

ove their full lengths, Thee Oh Sees really kick out the jams on their shorter format releases. Four songs, all really killer (and they sound really awesome at both speeds!, as we accidentally found out), full of that sixties big beat cavernous murky wall of feedback pop that we love. "Kingsmeat" is all melancholy Farfisa over upbeat rhythms and ringing feedback tones before turning up the Bo Diddley pace for "The Freak Was Clean". "Quadrospazzed" speaks for itself as the real hard-hitting burner here before the almost shoe-gazy "Kids In Cars" winds us down quite nicely. Remember, these are super limited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH SEES, THEE Thee Hounds Of Foggy Notion (Tomlab / Castle Face) cd + dvd 19.98
Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion may be a live cd / dvd set of this venerable SF outfit, but it also serves as a "best of" of sorts as well. Pulled mostly from the last four records, the point the band changed their name from OCS to its many incarnations of "Ohsees", "The Oh sees", or "Thee Ohsees", and the record titles went from numbers to quasi-absurdist phrases. Those who may shy away from live albums over fidelity issues should not fret here, as Dwyer and his cohorts are seasoned and energetic live players and hi-fidelity has never been a major concern on their studio records anyway; so there's really not a discernible distinction between live and studio sound quality. In fact, this may be just as good as a starting point into the band as any one of their studio records, which just keep getting better and better. Got to love a band that can move so effortlessly from southern garage to one of the best Shirley Collins interpretations ("Highland Wife's Lament") we've heard in awhile. Plus the dvd showcases the band's wild and wooly performances.
MPEG Stream: "Guilded Cunt"
MPEG Stream: "Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion"
MPEG Stream: "Highland Wife's Lament"

OH SEES, THEE Tidal Wave (Woodsist) 7" 5.98
When you're on...you're on...and if you are The Oh Sees these days, you ARE ON FUCKING FIRE!!! Seriously we haven't seen a band hit a sizzling stride like Thee Oh Sees are currently experiencing in AGES. So we welcome the tidal wave (yes, we went there) of releases from them in the last year with totally open and eager ears. Their newest album Help, an aQ Record Of The Week recently, will most likely find it's way on to many of our year end favorites list, we can't stop listening to it! So it should come as little surprise that these two new non-album tracks are also totally perfect, ultra catchy blasts of pure garage pop genius! It's actually such a perfect time for Thee Oh Sees to be cutting singles as they seem able to continually whip up memorable, endearing and super kick ass songs, which will hopefully mean more singles to come!
Makes perfect sense that Tidal Wave was released on Woodsist and the full length came out on In The Red, as both of those labels sounds lately, perhaps owe a sonic debt to the blown out magic Jon Dwyer has been blasting out for the last decade. Get one while you can!

OH SEES, THEE Zork's Tape Bruise (Kill Shaman) lp+cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's been raining Oh Sees around here lately, culminating in their most recent record Help being an aQ Record Of The Week. And here we are a couple weeks later, and whattayaknow, another new Oh Sees, although this is not quite a new record, instead it's a collection of odds and ends, home recorded experiments and unused songs, demos and that sort of stuff. We were warned that it was harsh and noisy and it sort of is, but some of these songs RULE, in fact, the more we listen to this, the more it might begin to give Help a run for its money as our favorite Oh Sees record.
A constantly shifting swirl of super lo-fi effects, dubbed out rhythms, pounding in the red garage rock jams, falsetto vocals, everything delayed, reverbed and blown the fuck out, feedback, warped buzz, clatter and clang, processed alien vox, angular riffage, flutes, jazzy grooves, all tangled up into a constantly shifting hodge podge of sonic lo-fi garage pop detritus, but, and it is indeed a big BUT, within all that wild freaking out and experimentation, are some seriously catchy tunes, only made all the cooler by all the noise and chaos, a bit like the old Iran records, total pure pop, doused in sonic chaos. Needless to say, if you're a fan, this is another essential release. And we have the last 20 copies, though it is being repressed sometime soon, so when we run out, it won't be long before we get more.
PLUS, this lp only release comes with a cd too, a compilation of singles, songs from splits and compilations as well as some unreleased stuff as well, so all the Peanut Butter Oven songs, the songs from the split with the Intelligence and more more more!

OH SEES, THEE / THE INTELLIGENCE s/t (Mt. St. Mtn.) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sounds like our buddy, Thee Ohsees mastermind and man about town Jon Dwyer, has fallen in love all over again with the sound of raw garage rock. The last Ohsees album was way more punchy and rocking than previous releases, and now this split finds Dwyer sounding almost as fierce as he did in his Coachwhips days! Yet, he's still managed to find awesome ways to add a little something extra n' arty to that Ohsees sound.
The two Ohsees songs end before you know it but they're so good and infectious that we've just been playing them over and over and over.
Meanwhile, The Intelligence make a great foil for Thee Ohsees as they know a thing or two about how much more rad garage rock sounds when it's doused in reverb, crumbling keyboards and lo-fi vocals. Lars Finberg, the mastermind of The Intelligence (and a former member of the A-Frames) has had a bunch of records on In The Red which makes perfect sense as they have become THE label for bands with true raw garage spirit. Their three songs on this split, including a Vulvettes cover are such perfect blasts of haunting and infectious lo-fi garage rock ass kickery.
Features awesome artwork by Jay Howell and Joe Roberts and is already out of print at the label so you better act fast if you want one of these.

OH SEES, THEE / TY SEGALL split (Castle Face) 7" 5.98
Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall cover each other on this brand new smokin' seven inch. We really don't need to say anything more. Anyone who's been listening to the current wave of charged, blown out garage pop these days knows that these are two of the most potent forces in the game. Thee Oh Sees are coming off what we think may be one of the best records of the year, Help, and Ty Segall's debut was one of our favorites of '08. So rad to hear them tackle each other's songs. Thee Oh Sees do "The Drag" with a deep-in-the-void reverb filled flair that suits the song so well. Ty does "Maria Stacks" from The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In, a song which might just be Andee's favorite Oh Sees jam, not just cuz it's hooky and catchy, but it also immortalizes AQ pal and amazing artist/zine-maker Maria Forde. Ty finds a way to make the song a bit more lo-fi and fucked up sounding while still holding on to the great melody that makes the original stick like it does. Pretty much a no-brainer, best grab one of these while you can!

OLD GRANDAD Hocus Corpus (Double Down) cd 12.98
Hocus Corpus really threw us for an unexpected loop! This sure ain't the Old Grandad of, errr, old! The most noticeable revamp of this veteran Bay Area metal band is in the vocals department. They're incorporating multiple styles that range from very Voivod-y to British goth to the good ol' death metally growl we expect from 'em. We think fans of this band will like this though.

OLD GRANDAD The Last Upper (MIA) cd 11.98

OLIVEGARDEN, THE When You're Here, You're Family (Jewelled Antler) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, MAINLY BECAUSE IT WAS AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE! HEE HEE! SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Glenn Donaldson (of Thuja, Blithe Sons, Skygreen Leopards, The Birdtree, The Ivytree, etc.) brings us yet another cd-r of his wondrous folk-improv-field-recording, this time, the instruments were dragged to Stonestown Galleria, where the band set up in the bar of popular Italian eatery. So along with gently plucked guitars, and plaintive warbling vocals, and simple childlike percussion, you can also hear the sounds of tinkling glasses, families dining, cell phones ringing and all sorts of other sonic urban detritus. The highlight is probably the 30 minute final track "All You Can Eat Breadsticks", a slowly shifting soundscape of mastication, clinking silverware and piping hot loaves!
MPEG Stream: "All You Can Eat Breadsticks (excerpt)"

OLY A Hot Hooray (Lo5) cd-r 8.98
This Oly is one gal and she makes some lo-fi sweetie-tronica. A Hot Hooray is her debut release and despite its title, it's far from boisterous. It is light and perky though -- so maybe imagine a shy cheerleader's "Hooray!" That said, the third track "Intro Pieces, Parts, Puzzles - Swallow" with its wistful female vocals and slight abrasiveness brought to mind the recent stuff from Tujiko Noriko (Blurred In My Mirror) as well as Solex. Overall, methinks Oly would fit in very comfily on a show bill (or mixtape) with Casiotone For The Painfully Alone. Earnest, twee twinkliness composed in a bedroom setting amid a mountain of electronic keyboards.
MPEG Stream: "Intro Pieces, Parts, Puzzles - Swallow"
MPEG Stream: "No Money Fun"

OM Conference Of The Birds (Holy Mountain) cd 14.98
OM....OM... OM . . . O M . . . .
Their debut last year, Variations On A Theme, was heralded by many as the second coming of Sabbathy stoner/doom legends Sleep. No surprise, considering that Om consists of two thirds of Sleep, and pretty much sounds like two thirds of Sleep too. Same low-end bass (Al Cisneros), thundering drums (Chris Hakius), and druggy, chant-like vocals (Al again, stepping up to the mic). All that's missing is the guitar (Sleep guitarist Matt Pike is busy with High On Fire right now). We gave that album the thumbs up, won over by the psychedelic trance-like heaviness of their jams and their mantrically soothing yet (to us) unintentionally amusing singing, which made us giggle 'cause it just never let up, delivering endless deadpan lyrics of cosmic hippy nonsense in a zoned-out monotone. We don't want to say it was so bad it was good, 'cause it really wasn't bad, but there was some of that kind of bad/good alchemy going on. And we ended up lovin' it.
And of course, the resemblance to old faves Sleep helped too.
Now Al and Chris are back with the second Om opus. It's simultaneously a heckuva lot like their debut but even better somehow. Productionwise, yes. And also perhaps 'cause while the two-piece line-up on Variations sounded like Sleep without the guitar, and maybe (heck, definitely) would have been even better with a guitarist, now they've made that lack of guitar seem more the ways things should be, by getting more and more hushed and spacious and mimimal here, thereby making it seem like just bass and drums is enough, not like something's missing. They've made a virtue out of a necessity, realizing that by really adopting a "less is more" aesthetic they'd be playing to their strength. And it works. Listen to it straight through (you'll want to... it's two tracks, about 33 minutes) and you'll find it quite floatational, even without chemical assistance. This riff-repetitive spaceout drone dirge drug is all you need. And Al's lyrics remain occultic, obtuse and slightly absurd, giving this the effect of a hypnosis tape meant to help build your vocabulary (along with heightening your conciousness). He uses such everyday words as "clesiast", "epison", "aurican", "tunnement", and "agurate". It's heavy rock that requires a heavy dictionary to decipher!
So if you liked the first OM, you'll love this. And if you weren't sure before, definitely check this one out. As with their first album, file with Sleep's Jerusalem, Electric Wizard's Supercoven, and UFOmammut's Godlike Snake.
OM....OM... OM . . . O M . . . .
MPEG Stream: "At Giza"
MPEG Stream: "Flight Of The Eagle"

OM Conference Of The Birds (Holy Mountain) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK! (Repressed)
NOW ON VINYL!
OM....OM... OM . . . O M . . . .
Their debut last year, Variations On A Theme, was heralded by many as the second coming of Sabbathy stoner/doom legends Sleep. No surprise, considering that Om consists of two thirds of Sleep, and pretty much sounds like two thirds of Sleep too. Same low-end bass (Al Cisneros), thundering drums (Chris Hakius), and druggy, chant-like vocals (Al again, stepping up to the mic). All that's missing is the guitar (Sleep guitarist Matt Pike is busy with High On Fire right now). We gave that album the thumbs up, won over by the psychedelic trance-like heaviness of their jams and their mantrically soothing yet (to us) unintentionally amusing singing, which made us giggle 'cause it just never let up, delivering endless deadpan lyrics of cosmic hippy nonsense in a zoned-out monotone. We don't want to say it was so bad it was good, 'cause it really wasn't bad, but there was some of that kind of bad/good alchemy going on. And we ended up lovin' it.
And of course, the resemblance to old faves Sleep helped too.
Now Al and Chris are back with the second Om opus. It's simultaneously a heckuva lot like their debut but even better somehow. Productionwise, yes. And also perhaps 'cause while the two-piece line-up on Variations sounded like Sleep without the guitar, and maybe (heck, definitely) would have been even better with a guitarist, now they've made that lack of guitar seem more the ways things should be, by getting more and more hushed and spacious and mimimal here, thereby making it seem like just bass and drums is enough, not like something's missing. They've made a virtue out of a necessity, realizing that by really adopting a "less is more" aesthetic they'd be playing to their strength. And it works. Listen to it straight through (you'll want to... it's two tracks, about 33 minutes) and you'll find it quite floatational, even without chemical assistance. This riff-repetitive spaceout drone dirge drug is all you need. And Al's lyrics remain occultic, obtuse and slightly absurd, giving this the effect of a hypnosis tape meant to help build your vocabulary (along with heightening your conciousness). He uses such everyday words as "clesiast", "epison", "aurican", "tunnement", and "agurate". It's heavy rock that requires a heavy dictionary to decipher!
So if you liked the first OM, you'll love this. And if you weren't sure before, definitely check this one out. As with their first album, file with Sleep's Jerusalem, Electric Wizard's Supercoven, and UFOmammut's Godlike Snake.
OM....OM... OM . . . O M . . . .
MPEG Stream: "At Giza"
MPEG Stream: "Flight Of The Eagle"

OM Conference Of The Birds (Japanese edition) (Leaf Hound) cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We just scored a handful of copies of the Japanese import edition of the most recent release from psych-drone-trance lords Om, which features a BONUS TRACK not on the domestic version, but which can be found on the ULTRA limited split Six Organs Of Admittance / Om 7" on Holy Mountain that comes out next week (7/11/06)!! Here's what we had to say about Conference Of The Birds first time around:
OM....OM... OM . . . O M . . . .
Their debut last year, Variations On A Theme, was heralded by many as the second coming of Sabbathy stoner/doom legends Sleep. No surprise, considering that Om consists of two thirds of Sleep, and pretty much sounds like two thirds of Sleep too. Same low-end bass (Al Cisneros), thundering drums (Chris Hakius), and druggy, chant-like vocals (Al again, stepping up to the mic). All that's missing is the guitar (Sleep guitarist Matt Pike is busy with High On Fire right now). We gave that album the thumbs up, won over by the psychedelic trance-like heaviness of their jams and their mantrically soothing yet (to us) unintentionally amusing singing, which made us giggle 'cause it just never let up, delivering endless deadpan lyrics of cosmic hippy nonsense in a zoned-out monotone. We don't want to say it was so bad it was good, 'cause it really wasn't bad, but there was some of that kind of bad/good alchemy going on. And we ended up lovin' it.
And of course, the resemblance to old faves Sleep helped too.
Now Al and Chris are back with the second Om opus. It's simultaneously a heckuva lot like their debut but even better somehow. Productionwise, yes. And also perhaps 'cause while the two-piece line-up on Variations sounded like Sleep without the guitar, and maybe (heck, definitely) would have been even better with a guitarist, now they've made that lack of guitar seem more the ways things should be, by getting more and more hushed and spacious and mimimal here, thereby making it seem like just bass and drums is enough, not like something's missing. They've made a virtue out of a necessity, realizing that by really adopting a "less is more" aesthetic they'd be playing to their strength. And it works. Listen to it straight through (you'll want to... it's two tracks, about 33 minutes) and you'll find it quite floatational, even without chemical assistance. This riff-repetitive spaceout drone dirge drug is all you need. And Al's lyrics remain occultic, obtuse and slightly absurd, giving this the effect of a hypnosis tape meant to help build your vocabulary (along with heightening your conciousness). He uses such everyday words as "clesiast", "epison", "aurican", "tunnement", and "agurate". It's heavy rock that requires a heavy dictionary to decipher!
So if you liked the first OM, you'll love this. And if you weren't sure before, definitely check this one out. As with their first album, file with Sleep's Jerusalem, Electric Wizard's Supercoven, and UFOmammut's Godlike Snake.
OM....OM... OM . . . O M . . . .
MPEG Stream: "At Giza"
MPEG Stream: "Flight Of The Eagle"

OM Pilgrimage (Southern Lord) cd 15.98
The mighty return of the transcendental RIFF! The third Om record! By now the methods and purpose of their ultra heavy music of the spheres is clear. The music on this album, much like the first two, is stripped to its essence. Bass and drums churning out super hypnotic heaviness and repetitive chant-like vocals creating a cyclical whorl of trance-rock divinity.
With a lot of new releases from bands we love, change in sound and development of style is important, Om seem to operate with different principles than the average rock and roll outfit. The consistency of their sound lends itself to the eternal nature of the music, as if all three of their records are really just movements in some expansive, cosmic symphony. Within Om's canon, change is felt like the passing of time without the aid of a clock or calendar, existing in the infinite void. And what an ass kicking void it is! The riffs and rhythms on Pilgrimage are certainly just as good as those on either of their previous releases, which means amazingly heavy and heady slabs of stoned out ROCK!
The record starts off with the title track, which is an expansive slow burner. Mesmeric and spiritual, soft spoken vocals and a propulsive tom and tambourine beat. The riffs on this track, as well as the bulk of Om's material, have a certain eastern quality, like some strange Sabbath-raga meld, and they go on forever and ever, taking the listener on some sort of mystic celestial voyage. By track two, "Unitive Knowledge Of The Godhead", the fuzzed out bass distortion kicks in, and the sound gets HEAVY! This Sleep-like heavitude continues into the 11 plus minute "Bhima's Theme", by which point in the album the listener is more than likely completely transfixed, eyes a-glaze with the eternal riff burned into their brain. The last song on the album is "Pilgrimage (Reprise)", which makes for a very circular experience, like when listening to the album all the way through, time disintegrates and 32 minutes seems like a split second or a week or an eternity! Heavy, mannnn...
Possibly one of the most distinctive things about Pilgrimage is the recording itself. This album sounds fucking great! We mean, for a band that just consists of bass guitar and drums, you could not pick a better engineer than Mr. Steve Albini, whose forte has always been the rhythm section, and he completely nailed the sound! It's warm and cavernous, and completely swallows the listener whole.
So, if you are in tune with the amaranthine vibes of Om's two previous records, you will most certainly appreciate this one as a continuation on the path towards the essence of musical anima mundi!
RIFF TO ETERNITY!
MPEG Stream: "Pilgrimage"
MPEG Stream: "Bhima's Theme"

OM Pilgrimage (Southern Lord) lp 14.98
NOW AVAILABLE ON (LIMITED, BLACK) VINYL!!
The mighty return of the transcendental RIFF! The third Om record! By now the methods and purpose of their ultra heavy music of the spheres is clear. The music on this album, much like the first two, is stripped to its essence. Bass and drums churning out super hypnotic heaviness and repetitive chant-like vocals creating a cyclical whorl of trance-rock divinity.
With a lot of new releases from bands we love, change in sound and development of style is important, Om seem to operate with different principles than the average rock and roll outfit. The consistency of their sound lends itself to the eternal nature of the music, as if all three of their records are really just movements in some expansive, cosmic symphony. Within Om's canon, change is felt like the passing of time without the aid of a clock or calendar, existing in the infinite void. And what an ass kicking void it is! The riffs and rhythms on Pilgrimage are certainly just as good as those on either of their previous releases, which means amazingly heavy and heady slabs of stoned out ROCK!
The record starts off with the title track, which is an expansive slow burner. Mesmeric and spiritual, soft spoken vocals and a propulsive tom and tambourine beat. The riffs on this track, as well as the bulk of Om's material, have a certain eastern quality, like some strange Sabbath-raga meld, and they go on forever and ever, taking the listener on some sort of mystic celestial voyage. By track two, "Unitive Knowledge Of The Godhead", the fuzzed out bass distortion kicks in, and the sound gets HEAVY! This Sleep-like heavitude continues into the 11 plus minute "Bhima's Theme", by which point in the album the listener is more than likely completely transfixed, eyes a-glaze with the eternal riff burned into their brain. The last song on the album is "Pilgrimage (Reprise)", which makes for a very circular experience, like when listening to the album all the way through, time disintegrates and 32 minutes seems like a split second or a week or an eternity! Heavy, mannnn...
Possibly one of the most distinctive things about Pilgrimage is the recording itself. This album sounds fucking great! We mean, for a band that just consists of bass guitar and drums, you could not pick a better engineer than Mr. Steve Albini, whose forte has always been the rhythm section, and he completely nailed the sound! It's warm and cavernous, and completely swallows the listener whole.
So, if you are in tune with the amaranthine vibes of Om's two previous records, you will most certainly appreciate this one as a continuation on the path towards the essence of musical anima mundi!
RIFF TO ETERNITY!
MPEG Stream: "Pilgrimage"
MPEG Stream: "Bhima's Theme"

OM Variations On A Theme (Holy Mountain) cd 14.98
Have you been missing Sleep? No, not your forty winks, we mean the mighty stoner metal behemoth that was San Jose's Sabbath n' sweet leaf worshippers Sleep. The endlessly repetitive riffs, the swinging molasses sludge jams, the massive, mantric starscapes of drugged-out space rock drone and dirge? Yeah, we've been missing Sleep too. They broke up after their magnum opus, the one-hour/one-song album Jerusalem (aka Dopesmoker), members eventally resurfacing in The Sabians and High On Fire. And now Om, the closest thing to the Jerusalem of olde! So if High On Fire's loud and speedy Motorheaded heaviness hasn't quite been giving you that same Sleepy feeling, then here's -another- post-Sleep outfit that might just do the trick.
First get rid of the guitars ('cause this is just Sleep's rhythm section, bassist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Hakius). All they really need is a drum kit, a bass guitar and about 10,000 watts of amplification. Then set the controls for the heart of the sun, and ride all the way there seemingly on a single churning, hypnotic mesmerizing riff, stretched over three long tracks. A super distorted, fuzzed out magic carpet ride into oblivion. The main difference between Sleep and Om (besides the lack of guitar) are the vocals by Al Cisneros. Lots of vocals. And not screaming or growly, we're talking clean, chanting, trance-like vocals, WAY up in the mix. Well, they do sound a bit like the singing in Sleep, just way more prominent. It may be the single thing that keeps folks from getting into Om. But the vocals definitely grow on you, and the laconic sort of slurry sing song-y delivery just further enhances Om's druggy mesmerism. Al's stiffly delivered, endless nasal incantations are in fact now being imitated by the staffers here at Aquarius in our everyday conversations. They definitely give the whole thing a definite Hawkwind / Pink Floyd vibe, which is a VERY good thing. This is most definitely not 'metal', although metalheads will probably dig it. Electric Wizard fans especially! This is relentlessly riff heavy, ultra repetitive, simple, spaced out, hippy drug rock of the highest order. Musically it almost sounds like a Lightning Bolt record played at 16rpm, that effortless bass / drum interplay slowed down to a loping lumber, a slow motion slither, a creepy crawl. Head nodding music for head bangers. A swirling, fuzzy, spacy, mesmerizing, drone rock trip! No wonder ol' Julian Cope wrote it up as a record of the month on his great Head Heritage website...
MPEG Stream: "Kapila's Theme"
MPEG Stream: "Annapurna"

OM Variations On A Theme (Holy Mountain) lp 15.98
Now available on vinyl! We know a lot of you have been waitin' for it...
Have you been missing Sleep? No, not your forty winks, we mean the mighty stoner metal behemoth that was San Jose's Sabbath n' sweet leaf worshippers Sleep. The endlessly repetitive riffs, the swinging molasses sludge jams, the massive, mantric starscapes of drugged-out space rock drone and dirge? Yeah, we've been missing Sleep too. They broke up after their magnum opus, the one-hour/one-song album Jerusalem (aka Dopesmoker), members eventally resurfacing in The Sabians and High On Fire. And now Om, the closest thing to the Jerusalem of olde! So if High On Fire's loud and speedy Motorheaded heaviness hasn't quite been giving you that same Sleepy feeling, then here's -another- post-Sleep outfit that might just do the trick.
First get rid of the guitars ('cause this is just Sleep's rhythm section, bassist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Hakius). All they really need is a drum kit, a bass guitar and about 10,000 watts of amplification. Then set the controls for the heart of the sun, and ride all the way there seemingly on a single churning, hypnotic mesmerizing riff, stretched over three long tracks. A super distorted, fuzzed out magic carpet ride into oblivion. The main difference between Sleep and Om (besides the lack of guitar) are the vocals by Al Cisneros. Lots of vocals. And not screaming or growly, we're talking clean, chanting, trance-like vocals, WAY up in the mix. Well, they do sound a bit like the singing in Sleep, just way more prominent. It may be the single thing that keeps folks from getting into Om. But the vocals definitely grow on you, and the laconic sort of slurry sing song-y delivery just further enhances Om's druggy mesmerism. Al's stiffly delivered, endless nasal incantations are in fact now being imitated by the staffers here at Aquarius in our everyday conversations. They definitely give the whole thing a definite Hawkwind / Pink Floyd vibe, which is a VERY good thing. This is most definitely not 'metal', although metalheads will probably dig it. Electric Wizard fans especially! This is relentlessly riff heavy, ultra repetitive, simple, spaced out, hippy drug rock of the highest order. Musically it almost sounds like a Lightning Bolt record played at 16rpm, that effortless bass / drum interplay slowed down to a loping lumber, a slow motion slither, a creepy crawl. Head nodding music for head bangers. A swirling, fuzzy, spacy, mesmerizing, drone rock trip! No wonder ol' Julian Cope wrote it up as a record of the month on his great Head Heritage website...
MPEG Stream: "Kapila's Theme"
MPEG Stream: "Annapurna"

OM Variations On A Theme (clear vinyl) (Holy Mountain) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NOW ON CLEAR VINYL! When the first pressing of vinyl sold out, Holy Mountain decided to repress on clear wax. Nice. Here's our review of the music, which remains available on cd too:
Have you been missing Sleep? No, not your forty winks, we mean the mighty stoner metal behemoth that was San Jose's Sabbath n' sweet leaf worshippers Sleep. The endlessly repetitive riffs, the swinging molasses sludge jams, the massive, mantric starscapes of drugged-out space rock drone and dirge? Yeah, we've been missing Sleep too. They broke up after their magnum opus, the one-hour/one-song album Jerusalem (aka Dopesmoker), members eventally resurfacing in The Sabians and High On Fire. And now Om, the closest thing to the Jerusalem of olde! So if High On Fire's loud and speedy Motorheaded heaviness hasn't quite been giving you that same Sleepy feeling, then here's -another- post-Sleep outfit that might just do the trick.
First get rid of the guitars ('cause this is just Sleep's rhythm section, bassist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Hakius). All they really need is a drum kit, a bass guitar and about 10,000 watts of amplification. Then set the controls for the heart of the sun, and ride all the way there seemingly on a single churning, hypnotic mesmerizing riff, stretched over three long tracks. A super distorted, fuzzed out magic carpet ride into oblivion. The main difference between Sleep and Om (besides the lack of guitar) are the vocals by Al Cisneros. Lots of vocals. And not screaming or growly, we're talking clean, chanting, trance-like vocals, WAY up in the mix. Well, they do sound a bit like the singing in Sleep, just way more prominent. It may be the single thing that keeps folks from getting into Om. But the vocals definitely grow on you, and the laconic sort of slurry sing song-y delivery just further enhances Om's druggy mesmerism. Al's stiffly delivered, endless nasal incantations are in fact now being imitated by the staffers here at Aquarius in our everyday conversations. They definitely give the whole thing a definite Hawkwind / Pink Floyd vibe, which is a VERY good thing. This is most definitely not 'metal', although metalheads will probably dig it. Electric Wizard fans especially! This is relentlessly riff heavy, ultra repetitive, simple, spaced out, hippy drug rock of the highest order. Musically it almost sounds like a Lightning Bolt record played at 16rpm, that effortless bass / drum interplay slowed down to a loping lumber, a slow motion slither, a creepy crawl. Head nodding music for head bangers. A swirling, fuzzy, spacy, mesmerizing, drone rock trip! No wonder ol' Julian Cope wrote it up as a record of the month on his great Head Heritage website...
MPEG Stream: "Kapila's Theme"
MPEG Stream: "Annapurna"

ON THE SPEAKERS s/t (17 Reasons / Universal) cd ep 6.98
Creeper Lagoon fans can take some comfort that after a brief break, former singer guitarist Ian Sefchick of their fave band has gone on to make more poppy goodness in On The Speakers. Following a similar path to that of his former band in more ways than one, Sefchick's new combo released this EP on the lil' indie label 17 Reasons last year only to have it re-released shortly thereafter on major label Universal. Not surprisingly, On The Speakers sound bears more than a striking resemblance to the Creeper Lagoon template of catchy clever guitar indie rock. Each of these six songs come complete with soaring choruses, boyish vocals, winking lyrics and swelling teen movie soundtrack fuzzy distorted guitars.
MPEG Stream: "Could I Be Right"

ONCE AND FUTURE HERDS, THE Lion-Colored Hills (Pseudo Arcana) 3" cd-r 8.98
The Once And Future Herds brings together two overlapping Jewelled Antler duos: The Blithe Sons (Glenn Donaldson and Loren Chasse) and the Skygreen Leopards (Glenn Donaldson and Donovan Quinn). The material on this five song, 18-minute lil' 3" cd-r released by our friends PseudoArcana in New Zealand finds Glenn, Loren and Donovan relaxing back at the ranch (literally, this was recorded on a hillside out at Borges Ranch State Park) after a hard day of wrangling field recordings. As Jewelled Antler efforts go, this leans in a country-folk direction, more strummy and structured than is sometimes the case, with guit-fiddle to the fore and vocals that, at times, remind us of a muffled, mumbled Devendra Banhart. But all the weird, textural nature ambience you'd expect is also fully in the mix. It's really really nice and all you Jewelled Antler fanatics need to jump on it now, as we only have a dozen in stock of this limited release.
MPEG Stream: "Ranch Raga"

ONE MILE NORTH / COLOPHON / THE WIND-UP BIRD Conduction. Convection. Radiation. (Music Fellowship) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Although this cd is credited to the individual talents of three artists -- Colophon aka Jefre Cantu of Tarentel, the guitar and synthesizer duo 1 Mile North and The Wind-Up Bird aka multi-instrumentalist Joe Grimm -- you really can't tell where one ends and the other begins. Indeed, Conduction. Convection. Radiation. as a whole is a cohesive, near-seamless work. Very spacious, drifting and atmospheric, the first three tracks are by 1 Mile North, and the following three are by Colophon. Gauzy drones cloud the skies with occasional austere guitar melodies coming in and out of focus. The latter four tracks are by The Wind-Up Bird and they're crafted from delicate elements such as violin strings that softly wheeze, and piano keys that sound as if they're being struck as if by random raindrops. Beautiful and haunting.
MPEG Stream: COLOPHON "Texas Heat"
MPEG Stream: THE WIND-UP BIRD "Violin & Trumpet"

ONE UMBRELLA Solve (Tell-All) cd 7.98
Does this One Umbrella possess special powers a la Mary Poppins? Not quite sure, but we can say that they are a duo from Austin, TX whose members have suitably unconventional, enchanting names Quebron and Novella, and whose soundscapes just might set you adrift. Their 23 minute long debut floats in from the outer space wing of the new SF label Tell-All Records. Layers of drones ebb and flow, while gentle and not so gentle digital glitches, pulses and hisses provide the more insistent elements along with an occasional unexpected pretty piano melodic line. Sooo dreamy.
MPEG Stream: "ITXITXX"
MPEG Stream: "XESTYL"

ORANGER New Comes And Goes (Eenie Meenie) cd 13.98
SF's Oranger continue to spread the love around, dishing out their generous offerings of sunbeam-bright tunes on a different label each time. Here, they've popped up on Eenie Meenie Records. Following up last year's 2cd Shutdown The Sun on Jackpine Records, New Comes And Goes' buoyant baker's dozen is once again sure to please Oranger's fans as well as those of fellow West Coast noise-poppers The Posies and Beulah. More polished, but still retaining a bit of the rough-around-the-edges, mischievous charm that characterised Shutdown and the album that came before it Quietvibrationland (released in 2000 on former Pavementer Scott Kannberg's label Amazing Grease). The album runs the gamut from bubblegum heights to more 'serious' mid-tempo downers, and we have to say that we do prefer the songs on which the band keep the mood upbeat and the energy high. That's when they shine the brightest (at least we think so). A side note: the album cover and font choice seem a little incongruous though, bringing to mind wee hours Euro dance punk festivities rather than a California beach-destined convertible on a scorchin' summer afternoon (which is what we associate this band's music with).
MPEG Stream: "Crooked In The Weird Of The Catacombs"
MPEG Stream: "Sukiyaki"

ORANGER Shutdown The Sun (Jackpine) 2cd 14.98
With the final shows of popsters Beulah looming on the horizon, waste no time wonderin' who's gonna slip their tootsies into their fine shoes and be the new Cinderella of the Bay Area pop ball. 'Cause while Beulah were soaking up a good deal of the city's pop spotlight over the past few years, their pop brethren Oranger were quietly honing their songcraft. The results? A shining album reminiscent of the great pop of the Posies, Olivia Tremor Control, Apples In Stereo, Beulah and yes of course the Beatles and Beach Boys. On this new cd (that comes with bonus disc of fine rare goodies!), Oranger have really come into their own, revealing an impressive range -- able to funk it up, lounge it down or twang it all around, and still maintain their shiny playful pop foundations. Heaps of delightful vocal harmonies, infectious hooks and fully fleshed out arrangements.
MPEG Stream: "Going Under"
MPEG Stream: "Bluest Glass Eye Sea"

ORANJ SYMPHONETTE Plays Mancini (Gramavision/Rykodisc) cd 14.98
4 local guys have fun messin' with Henry Mancini. Ralph Carney. Joe Gore. Matt Brubeck and Scott Amendola. "Eccentric." "Quirky."