MOON DUO Mazes (Sacred Bones) 2cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Moon Duo return with their second proper full length, and if you needed any further proof of their masterful grasp of fuzzed out hypnotic grooves, well, look no further. It's almost as if Moon Duo set out to link every one of their records together as one gigantic pulsating trip into your mind, and Mazes takes you further in. Mazes. Hmm. Like the magic eye cover for their Catch As Catch Can single, the eyeball warping artwork seems to be a perfect visual accompaniment to the awesome brain-melting confusion of the music itself.
Kicking off with "Seer", the duo conjure the hazy underwater sound they've utilized before with a rhythm that walks the line between spaced out acid rock and minimal electro grooves with some of the clearest Moon Duo vocals to date. "Mazes" offers a slight departure from the usual murk, sounding poppy and jangly in the vein of other San Francisco popsmiths like the Fresh And Onlys or the Mantles. It rides out with a sort of pre-1965 surf rock feel that makes this a perfect jam for your next sun baked road trip. "Scars" shifts the mood into darker terrain like some fractured Suicide / Doors hybrid. The heavy vibrato keeps things percolating while the organ occasionally shifts into a spooky little interlude recalling Kraftwerk's "The Model". The song also strangely makes us think of Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild", an association which is taken to the next logical step with the aggressive "Fallout". The album concludes with "Goners", a midtempo jam that makes it feel like you are walking into the perfect fadeout to an album which will remain playing in your head nonstop for quite some time.
So far Moon Duo has never let us down, and while we're at it, we should mention the following: Ahem. For a SUPREMELY LIMITED TIME we will have these on both formats with a CRAZY limited bonus cd featuring remixes from an aQ worthy list of names including Sonic Boom, Psychic Ills, Cave, Purling Hiss, Gary War, and the unknown to us Eagle Boston covering the song "Mazes". That's some heady company for sure, and the bonus disc begins with Moon Duo spiritual forefather Sonic Boom's take on "Scars", which is given some ambient distance with the handclaps brought to the center while the song carries on below the surface. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS. Psychic Ills' remix of "Seer" is given a rad sitar melody over the skeletal rearrangement while the simple shaker percussion helps further the feeling of listening to this in some opium den in the middle of the desert. aQ favorites Cave are up next with the "Organ Desert Mix" for "Run Around" which aptly lives up to its title by injecting blasts of lazer guided synth squall and holding a heavy 4-on-the-floor beat while also retaining its strange bluesy feel. Of course, before too long things take off into space and, shit, it sounds GOOD. Purling Hiss tackles "In The Sun", which immediately announces itself as the standout on this sucker, opening with abstracted noise and the stand alone vocals, before launching itself sleazily into the troposphere with a merciless drum pound and insane wah abuse. FUCK YEAH! "When You Cut" finds Gary War running the duo through some pitch shifted weirdness hanging murkily under a crisp drumbeat, providing the weirdest reinterpretation here, like a bad acid trip in a good way. Sonic Boom returns to the controls for "Fallout", transmitting the song from some far off region in space. Not sure who this Eagle Boston thing is, but their hypercharged female sung cover of "Mazes" finds the band perfectly at home on the aQ shelf alongside groups like Mugstar, Bardo Pond, Lumerians, and all the rest. In fact, with a slight amount of hesitation, we might add that more than one aQ staffer thought the remix record was just as good as the album itself... So recommended we probably don't even have to bother telling you to get this now since you know how much you'll regret it when this bonus disc ends up on eBay...
MPEG Stream: "Seer"
MPEG Stream: "Mazes"
MPEG Stream: "Scars"

MOON DUO Mazes (Sacred Bones) lp 19.98
Moon Duo return with their second proper full length, and if you needed any further proof of their masterful grasp of fuzzed out hypnotic grooves, well, look no further. It's almost as if Moon Duo set out to link every one of their records together as one gigantic pulsating trip into your mind, and Mazes takes you further in. Mazes. Hmm. Like the magic eye cover for their Catch As Catch Can single, the eyeball warping artwork seems to be a perfect visual accompaniment to the awesome brain-melting confusion of the music itself.
Kicking off with "Seer", the duo conjure the hazy underwater sound they've utilized before with a rhythm that walks the line between spaced out acid rock and minimal electro grooves with some of the clearest Moon Duo vocals to date. "Mazes" offers a slight departure from the usual murk, sounding poppy and jangly in the vein of other San Francisco popsmiths like the Fresh And Onlys or the Mantles. It rides out with a sort of pre-1965 surf rock feel that makes this a perfect jam for your next sun baked road trip. "Scars" shifts the mood into darker terrain like some fractured Suicide / Doors hybrid. The heavy vibrato keeps things percolating while the organ occasionally shifts into a spooky little interlude recalling Kraftwerk's "The Model". The song also strangely makes us think of Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild", an association which is taken to the next logical step with the aggressive "Fallout". The album concludes with "Goners", a midtempo jam that makes it feel like you are walking into the perfect fadeout to an album which will remain playing in your head nonstop for quite some time. Moon Duo have never let us down, and it doesn't seem that'll change anytime soon...
MPEG Stream: "Seer"
MPEG Stream: "Mazes"
MPEG Stream: "Scars"

MOON DUO Mazes (Sacred Bones) 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.
Moon Duo return with their second proper full length, and if you needed any further proof of their masterful grasp of fuzzed out hypnotic grooves, well, look no further. It's almost as if Moon Duo set out to link every one of their records together as one gigantic pulsating trip into your mind, and Mazes takes you further in. Mazes. Hmm. Like the magic eye cover for their Catch As Catch Can single, the eyeball warping artwork seems to be a perfect visual accompaniment to the awesome brain-melting confusion of the music itself.
Kicking off with "Seer", the duo conjure the hazy underwater sound they've utilized before with a rhythm that walks the line between spaced out acid rock and minimal electro grooves with some of the clearest Moon Duo vocals to date. "Mazes" offers a slight departure from the usual murk, sounding poppy and jangly in the vein of other San Francisco popsmiths like the Fresh And Onlys or the Mantles. It rides out with a sort of pre-1965 surf rock feel that makes this a perfect jam for your next sun baked road trip. "Scars" shifts the mood into darker terrain like some fractured Suicide / Doors hybrid. The heavy vibrato keeps things percolating while the organ occasionally shifts into a spooky little interlude recalling Kraftwerk's "The Model". The song also strangely makes us think of Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild", an association which is taken to the next logical step with the aggressive "Fallout". The album concludes with "Goners", a midtempo jam that makes it feel like you are walking into the perfect fadeout to an album which will remain playing in your head nonstop for quite some time.
So far Moon Duo has never let us down, and while we're at it, we should mention the following: Ahem. For a SUPREMELY LIMITED TIME we will have these on both formats with a CRAZY limited bonus cd featuring remixes from an aQ worthy list of names including Sonic Boom, Psychic Ills, Cave, Purling Hiss, Gary War, and the unknown to us Eagle Boston covering the song "Mazes". That's some heady company for sure, and the bonus disc begins with Moon Duo spiritual forefather Sonic Boom's take on "Scars", which is given some ambient distance with the handclaps brought to the center while the song carries on below the surface. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS. Psychic Ills' remix of "Seer" is given a rad sitar melody over the skeletal rearrangement while the simple shaker percussion helps further the feeling of listening to this in some opium den in the middle of the desert. aQ favorites Cave are up next with the "Organ Desert Mix" for "Run Around" which aptly lives up to its title by injecting blasts of lazer guided synth squall and holding a heavy 4-on-the-floor beat while also retaining its strange bluesy feel. Of course, before too long things take off into space and, shit, it sounds GOOD. Purling Hiss tackles "In The Sun", which immediately announces itself as the standout on this sucker, opening with abstracted noise and the stand alone vocals, before launching itself sleazily into the troposphere with a merciless drum pound and insane wah abuse. FUCK YEAH! "When You Cut" finds Gary War running the duo through some pitch shifted weirdness hanging murkily under a crisp drumbeat, providing the weirdest reinterpretation here, like a bad acid trip in a good way. Sonic Boom returns to the controls for "Fallout", transmitting the song from some far off region in space. Not sure who this Eagle Boston thing is, but their hypercharged female sung cover of "Mazes" finds the band perfectly at home on the aQ shelf alongside groups like Mugstar, Bardo Pond, Lumerians, and all the rest. In fact, with a slight amount of hesitation, we might add that more than one aQ staffer thought the remix record was just as good as the album itself... So recommended we probably don't even have to bother telling you to get this now since you know how much you'll regret it when this bonus disc ends up on eBay...
MPEG Stream: "Seer"
MPEG Stream: "Mazes"
MPEG Stream: "Scars"

MOON DUO Silver Bells / Winter (Holy Mountain) 7" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Just in! 2nd pressing, now on red instead of green vinyl! If you've still got the holiday spirit, and haven't grabbed one yet, now's your chance before they're gone again...
Along with the recently reissued 12" of holiday faves by Wooden Shjips, WS mainman Ripley Johnson gets similarly festive with his WS offshoot spacekraut combo Moon Duo, which finds Johnson and his partner Sanae Yamada tackling one Christmas classic, and another obscure winter themed cover.
Up first is "Silver Bells", which we had heard described as "Silver Bells meets Silver Machine", but barring the swirls of reverb and the echo-ey vox, the band play it pretty straight, offering up one of the poppiest bounciest jams we've heard from these two. The perfect hazy blur of wasted Christmas cheer for sure.
The flipside finds the band tackling a fairly obscure Rolling Stones track, titled appropriately enough, "Winter", from the Stones' Goats Head Soup record, no one here remembers what the original sounds like exactly (the label describes it accurately as a 'deep cut'), but in the Moon Duo's hands it just becomes another gorgeously washed out smear of spidery glistening guitars, whirling gauzy keyboards, and tripped out reverbed vocal mumbles, all drifting in a wastedly warbly haze, that reminds us way more of the Velvets than the Stones.
A little spacey, a little krautrocky, a little dream poppy, a little Christmasy, but as always, droning and druggy and divine...
MPEG Stream: "Silver Bells"

MOON DUO / BITCHIN' BAJAS Fresh Hair / Bopper's Hat (Permanent Records) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MOONBELL Figurine (self-released) cd ep 6.98
Is 'Moon' the new 'Wolf' or 'Skull'?, could be, as lately some of our favorite records have been coming from bands like Moon Duo, Moon Unit and The Soft Moon. Now we get to add Moonbell to the awesome list of psych driven moon moniker bands that we've been digging. We'd been having a lot of folks asking us about this band before we heard them, seems folks around town knew that this was a great new San Francisco band to take notice of. With a sound equally influenced by shoegaze and drugged out rock, Moonbell sound exists in some really awesome place right between Spacemen 3 and early Ride, Swervedriver, and Chapterhouse. Lilting vocals, soaring and dazed guitars all in a smoky vapor of entrancement. Such a great debut!
MPEG Stream: "Figurine"
MPEG Stream: "Nostalgia For The Future"

MOONBELL s/t (Loglady) lp 15.98
We sorta flipped for these local shoegazers when we first heard their Figurine ep a while back, and had been anxiously waiting for a full length ever since, and now that it's here, we're happy to report that it more than fulfills the promise of those first four songs, the hazy drug rock of that debut even more lush and lustrous this time around, the production cranked way up, the guitars thick and layered and lustrous, the vocals reverbed and echo drenched, Moonbell's 4AD shimmer wreathed in a gauzey otherworldly blur, still obviously beholden to nineties shoegazers like Ride, Swervedriver, Medicine and of course the godfathers of slow-mo drug rock Spacemen 3, but taking the sound and adding their own twist, the ethereal female vocals and the buzzing guitars a heady mix, and when wedded to a lumbering skeletal beat, the sound becomes a blissed out psychedelic slowcore dreampop, while on other tracks, the group up the tempo and crank the FX and send pinwheels of smeared melody and chiming guitars into the ether.
Our favorites definitely tend to be the slower jams, the group locked into mesmerizing hypnorock grooves, pulsing and pulsating through billowing clouds of wild guitar tangle beneath thick crumbling chordal swells, minor key and melancholic, the sounds swirling drowsily in epic expanses of glimmering sonic bliss, culminating in the chiming shimmerpop of closer "White Light", which infuses the group's sound with long streaks of thick layerd buzz and shards of crumbling distortion, all underpinned by a soft almost lullaby like melody. Gorgeous stuff.
Includes a download coupon (and there may also be a cd version we'll be able to get too).
MPEG Stream: "Parallel"
MPEG Stream: "StillMotion"
MPEG Stream: "Nothing Less"

MOORE BROTHERS, THE / VNC split (Brick Factory) 7" 3.99
The Bros. do "Fishes With Faces", VNC do "Harm Guitar".

MORNING BENDERS, THE Big Echo (Rough Trade) cd 13.98
Watch out Girls (the band!) cause there's another sweet sounding Bay Area pop band we think could be the next big 'breakout' Bay Area band. Well, except for the fact that they've moved away to Brooklyn or someplace already. With Big Echo, their Rough Trade debut, The Morning Benders have created a sweeping and sensational indie pop record that brings to mind a more driving, sunshiney Grizzly Bear, The Shins at their most effervescent, and Death Cab For Cutie at their most triumphant. While there has been no shortage of bands drawing from similar influences, there is something so warm and sincere about The Morning Benders' sound. The songs never feel forced and resonate with an authentic heartfelt quality. The album brimming with totally catchy hooks, the kind that should be blasting all over commercial radio in a perfect world. If (like us) you love exquisite indie pop that stays in your head and just begs to find its way on to a mix tape for your secret crush, you can't do much better than The Morning Benders!
MPEG Stream: "Excuses"
MPEG Stream: "Pleasure Sighs"
MPEG Stream: "All Day Daylight"

MORNING BENDERS, THE Big Echo (Rough Trade) lp 13.98
Watch out Girls (the band!) cause there's another sweet sounding Bay Area pop band we think could be the next big 'breakout' Bay Area band. Well, except for the fact that they've moved away to Brooklyn or someplace already. With Big Echo, their Rough Trade debut, The Morning Benders have created a sweeping and sensational indie pop record that brings to mind a more driving, sunshiney Grizzly Bear, The Shins at their most effervescent, and Death Cab For Cutie at their most triumphant. While there has been no shortage of bands drawing from similar influences, there is something so warm and sincere about The Morning Benders' sound. The songs never feel forced and resonate with an authentic heartfelt quality. The album brimming with totally catchy hooks, the kind that should be blasting all over commercial radio in a perfect world. If (like us) you love exquisite indie pop that stays in your head and just begs to find its way on to a mix tape for your secret crush, you can't do much better than The Morning Benders!
MPEG Stream: "Excuses"
MPEG Stream: "Pleasure Sighs"
MPEG Stream: "All Day Daylight"

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 Stephin 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"

MOUNT VICIOUS Don't Be A Baby, Come And Get It (Seismic Wave) cd 9.98
Mount Vicious certainly have a lot of fun. Their live shows feature (count 'em) three guitar players, one of whom (Conan) usually rips his shirt off and throws his guitar down to more easily interact with the crowd. The other two often play back to back, axe necks bobbing in unison. Really, with song titles like "Steroid Unicorn," "Wherewolf," and "We Enjoy Fucking (To This Music)" how can YOU not have fun listening (or maybe fucking?) to this music? Mount Vicious features Conan Neutron and Chris Bolig of local loudnicks Replicator and Alli Pheteplace of The Holy Kiss, both of which are now, sadly, defunct. Mount Vicious plays a more straightforward (a.k.a. fistpumping) brand of hard rock than either of those two outfits, well utilizing the technique of the harmonized guitar solo. Conan sounds surprisingly like a Misfits-era Glenn Danzig, with a little Mike Patton thrown in for good measure. Listen to this record at high volume.
MPEG Stream: "Da Proposition"
MPEG Stream: "Princess of the Brodeo"
MPEG Stream: "Steroid Unicorn"

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
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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"

MURDER IN THE FRONT ROW (OIMOEN, HARALD & BRIAN LEW) (Bazillion Points) book 39.95
Subtitle: "Shots From The Bay Area Thrash Metal Epicenter". From the same folks who brought us the lavish Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries tome, and Thomas Gabriel Fischer's Only Death Is Real, comes another treat for any dedicated headbanger. A 272 page hardcover photo book with over 400 early pics of such Bay Area (and Cali) thrash metal legends as Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Possessed, Slayer, Death Angel, Possessed, Testament, Vio-Lence, Suicidal Tendencies, and many many more, often several of 'em all together in the same photo. Color and black and white shots, live in action on stage, from the mosh pit, at parties, or ragin' out on the streets. Lotsa long hair, denim jackets, sleeveless t-shirts, beers, sneers and smiles.
Love the shots of Cliff Burton always lookin' badass (and the rest of Metallica all baby-faced). And the one of Lars smashing a Men At Work album on a parking meter. In addition to this treasure trove of rare photos documenting this legendary scene, there's also personal reminiscences of the Bay Area Thrash heyday from a bunch of the movement's key participants, including members of Exodus, Testament, and Vio-lence, as well as zinester/scenester/namer-of-Metallica/radio DJ Ron Quintana, and of course the two fearless photographers who captured on film all the frenzied fast fun times found here. Essay titles include: "I Washed Dishes For Metallica" and "Thirty Years Ago, Music Sucked" (but then there was thrash)...
Good times!! Definitely a nostaglia-fest for anyone who was here back in the day, and hopefully inspiration for young 'uns looking at it now...

MURDER MURDER Blood Face (Special Nerd Records) cd-r ep 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MUSCLE DRUM Fog Hag (Break Up) lp + cd 13.98
Fog Hag is a brilliant slab of psychedelic pop music from Bronze frontman Rob Spector. Anyone who has seen Bronze's live performances over the last few years knows that they are one of the most hypnotic and engaging live acts in the Bay Area. They combine mastery of minimal instrumentation and dance beats with a little bit of costuming and a sense of humor. Their debut full length comes out this August on RVNG. Except for maybe the costumes, these elements are all present on Muscle Drum's Fog Hag, which sometimes sounds like the Beach Boys via Thee Oh Sees and sometimes uncannily conjures Crispin Glover via Barnes and Barnes. The album opens with a few tracks that feature tons of jangly guitar and muted synths riding around minimal or no percussion, vocal harmonies and reverb washes weaving the songs together deftly. Spector's vocal delivery is consistent in its open earnestness, and is never pretentious or showy. Halfway through the first side, just as "St. Christopher" shows off the record's synthier elements and "Sashay" introduces a drum machine, you might notice that there's something a bit weird about these songs, something OFF. Once you get to "Public Transportation", your suspicions are confirmed: never has the failed quest for a burrito been so hilariously combined with the phrase "tight-wads". This is not a "novelty" record or a "comedy" record, and never tries to be funny. That's why it succeeds. The B side contains more well-crafted psychedelic jangle-pop, a track that starts off sounding almost like death metal, and lots of gratuitous echoplex usage. The songs are sequenced well, however, so that the weirder ones flow out of and into the rest of the record without the overall mood being sacrificed or sounding unbalanced. Much like Type records has been doing lately, this first LP on the San Francisco based Break Up label comes with a CD of a completely different record ("The Early Drum Catches the Snare" also by Muscle Drum, though Fog Hag is the stronger of the two). Limited to 500 copies, do not miss out on this record. Be sure to play it at 45 and not 33 1/3 or you might have a completely different experience!
MPEG Stream: "Compromise"
MPEG Stream: "Sashay"
MPEG Stream: "Half Eye"

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"

MUSIKA, MICHAEL Spells (self-released) cd 9.98
We get so many records submitted to us for consideration, and like we've said before we really do listen to everything that comes our way (though it does sometimes take us forever!) and it's always worth it because of gems like this. We haven't heard a pop record with this much ambition, depth and dynamic range of sound in a long, long time. Michael Musika has a really unique approach to crafting not only songs but an overall feeling that flows throughout the album. With interludes filled with beautiful bells and dreamy vibes which cast an interesting spell, and then proper songs which tap into a side of quirky, orchestral pop that you just don't hear done that often or this well, these days. Taking elements of Emmit Rhodes, Biff Rose, and Van Dyke Parks, San Francisco's Micheal Musika has created his own world of cinematic pop glory.
MPEG Stream: "Translating The Bird's Song"
MPEG Stream: "A Song Is Swallowed By A Fish"
MPEG Stream: "The Clever Thief Hides Inside The Clock"
MPEG Stream: "Playing The Violin With Broken Strings"

MUTE SOCIALITE Cheap Clocks (Dephine Knormal Musik) 7" 4.98

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'sÊaffected, 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?"Ê
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.

MYRMYR Fire Star (Under The Spire) lp 22.00
With the new Myrmyr album we'll be briefer than we would like to be because it's incredibly good, but super limited. We have 10 copies and only 250 have been made, so we're not sure we can get more, so act fast! The stunning vinyl debut of these two former Mills College music grads, Marielle Jakobsons (Date Palms, Darwinsbitch) and Agnes Szelag, was recorded during a snowstorm on Shasta Mountain. We were smitten with their first release, The Amber Sea, and here on Fire Star, they have honed down their focus of post-classical orchestrations into a more finely textured array of nuance and mood. It's hard to tell who is doing what. It sometimes sounds like there are a dozen players performing, or it could be a lavish manipulation of tape loops and electronics, but the effect is quite beautiful. Starting out with plucked strings and bell tones that eventually melt feverishly into intense drones that smolder and swell revealing hidden passages of lush orchestrations that slip seamlessly in and out of the aural field. Four tracks of gorgeous mesmerizing beauty. Don't Hesitate!

MYRMYR The Amber Sea (Digitalis) cd 12.98
Not to be confused with the field recordist Murmer or the improv-drone Murmur or even the dubstep Murmur, this Myrmyr hails from Oakland and features Marielle Jakobsons (aka Darwinsbitch) and Agnes Szelag. Together they present fragmented orchestrations of post-classical arrangements alongside minimalist avant-folk gestures and a restrained use of electronics. Strings of all sorts are central to Myrmyr, whether that be cello, violin, cymbalon, harp, or ukulele, as they compose elongated passages which billow out of a cinematic post-classical sensibility and blossom into occasional shanty arrangements which allude to Baltic folk traditions. In moving between the more academic aspects and more folk stylizations, Myrmyr also incorporate male and female vocals into their arrangements. The occasional use of clanking bells and playful clatter of objects does offer some parallels to a few of a more abstract elements of the Finnish freakfolk community, but more often than not, Myrmyr's studied compositions glide more towards the work of Hildur Gudnadottir and Max Richter, rather than Lau Nau. Very nicely done!
MPEG Stream: "Jurata"
MPEG Stream: "First Seed"
MPEG Stream: "The Sea Returns"

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"

NANOS OPERETTA Those Not In Our Circle Are Blind To Our Venture (Three Drops Of Blood) cd 11.98

NEEDLE THRASHERS Vol 4 (Dirt Style) 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 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"

NERO ORDER The Tower (self-released) cd-r 11.98
Long in the works debut full length from these SF heavies, four songs, 54 minutes, a sprawling collection of lurching lumbering, trudging post metal apocalyptic, swampy emo dirgery. And we don't mean emo in the mall punk sense, no we're talking, earnest and intense, epic and EMOTIONAL, the vocals specifically, a wild, nearly unhinged caterwaul, dramatic and occasionally over the top, sounding a bit like a harsher Daniel Higgs (and when it does, the band almost sounds like a metal Lungfish!), or a more metal David Yow, a little like the guy from NoMeansNo oddly enough, or even a more manic Michael Gira, with an intense, snarling delivery, actually sung too, not of that gurgle and shriek, and those real vocals add pathos and intensity to the already swaggery, slithery doomy crush underneath.
Equal parts math metal, post metal and doom metal, these guys unfurl epic sun baked expanses of totally epic doom blues brutality, churning heaviness that slips from gnarled Birthday Party like scumrock to soaring slow building Neurosis style pummel, the guitars drifting from jangle to roar, from shimmer do droned out and blackened, often in the same song. Long stretches of hypnotic cyclical riffing give way to bursts of chaotic metal psych jams, give way to swampy noise rock strut, eventually returning to the lumbering downtuned heaviness that seems to be the band's core, but those vocals soar above it all, tortured and patently UNmetal, helping transform this post metal avant doom into something truly unique. Features guest vocals from Eugene Robinson of Oxbow!
LIMITED to 100 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Signs Of Five"
MPEG Stream: "Every Pillar And It's Crumbling"

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
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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.