MAXIMO PARK Quicken The Heart (Warp) cd 15.98
No point in being coy or beating around the bush. Might as well come right out and fess up (as if the aQ list faithful didn't already know). We LOVE this band, ever since the Apply Some Pressure cdep released way back in 2005, and every record since. Sure, A Certain Trigger might be their best record, but we dug Our Earthly Pleasures BIG time. It was definitely a grower, but it didn't take long for it to end up a daily play. Same thing with Quicken The Heart, at first we weren't sure what to think, we're always sort of hoping that MP will return to the hyper caffeinated Interpol meets XTC sound of that first record and come up with another song that rivals the impossibly kinetic hook filled jam that is "Apply Some Pressure", but just like with Our Earthly Pleasures, after a few listens we no longer found ourselves wishing for that sound of old, we just let these new songs wash over us, and with every listen they blossom more and more, and now at least half of the songs here rank as some of our favorite MP jams. Jangly new wavey guitars, propulsive drumming, buzzy synths, and killer vocals, amazing melodies, and hooks galore. There's only bum in the bunch, and weirdly enough it's the first single, hearing that before the record showed up had us a bit worried, but now that it's here, we just skip that song (and heck, even that one is growing on us) and play the shit out of the rest of the record. Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys, Nine Black Alps, we love all those bands, but there's just something about Maximo Park that makes them our favorite.
We get so spoiled working in a record store, we know what records are coming out months before they do, and we sometimes get them a few days ahead of time, it does make you less excited, how you were as a teenager, but every time there's a new Maximo Park record, we find ourselves counting the days, and then heading to work on that Tuesday knowing that it'll show up sometime that day. That's a cool feeling, one we miss for sure, and one that is evoked by a surprisingly few bands. Needless to say, this record rules, if you're in the market for some smart, angular, new wave-y pop, you couldn't do much better than Quicken The Heart.
MPEG Stream: "Wraithlike"
MPEG Stream: "The Kids Are Sick Again"
MPEG Stream: "A Cloud Of Mystery"

MAXIMUM JOY Station MXJY (Victor) cd 42.00
During a brief three years in the early '80s, Y Records enjoyed a roster of amazingly funky, post-punk groups that included The Pop Group, The Slits, Shriekback, Pigbag, and bafflingly enough Diamanda Galas (not taking on the typical guise of the label, mind you). Maximum Joy was another outstanding entry from Y Records, having been formed by Tony Wrafter after the dissolution of the agit-pop punk ensemble Glaxo Babies. Wrafter recruited vocalist Janine Rainforth, another Glaxo Baby in Charlie Llewellin, and the Pop Group's John Waddington. After a couple of singles, the band released Station MXJY under the production thumb of Adrian Sherwood. His dub inflected engineering worked perfectly to render Maximum Joy's jaunty punk-funk tunes as a sunny doppleganger of The Pop Group. Amidst Sherwood's tape echo and delay workouts, the band adventurously march through a taut rhythm section that tightropes between a militant funk and a doleful rocksteady swagger, while chicken scratch guitars map out the simple song structures and saxophone solos splatter across the stereo. It's a very good thing that this record has been reissued (complete with four excellent bonus tracks), as Maximum Joy were clearly a talented bunch who might have been forgotten otherwise. It's just unfortunate that Station MXJY is only available as an expensive Japanese import. Ouch!
MPEG Stream: "Dancing On My Boomerang"
MPEG Stream: "Do It Today"
MPEG Stream: "Stretch"

MAXIMUM JOY Unlimited (1979-1983) (Crippled Dick Hot Wax) cd 16.98

MAXIMUM ROCK AND ROLL Issue #281 magazine 4.00
Once again, the punk rock newsprint bible returns jam packed with, well, loads and loads of PUNK ROCK!! But this time we get a piece on all time AQ faves Redd Kross, with an extensive history of the Redd Kross early years!! Woo hoo!! Also, Swedish scene report, Blackpool, UK scene report, and tons of bands we've never heard of: Italy's Out With A Bang, Derek Lyn Plastic, We March from Ohio, Alan Milman, Rat Traps from Tennessee, the Scarred, Gilbert Switzer, killer classic Japanese hardcore photos, another excerpt from Lance Hahn's (J-Church) upcoming book on the crusty Anarcho scene, this time the Blood Robots, stories from New Orleans part 3 plus book reviews, record reviews, punk rock news, tone of columns and more more more!

MAXIMUM ROCK N ROLL MAGAZINE Issue #280 magazine 4.00
Another jam packed issue of THE punk rock rag. Dense with bands you've never heard of, scene reports from places you've never been, and ads for hundreds of records you didn't even know existed. A killer little chunk of newsprint that keeps punk rockers around the globe connected!
This month, scene report for Asheville, North Carolina, Spanish punk rockers the Webelos, Danish punx Hjertestop, an excerpt from a book in the works about the anarcho/crust scene, this time focusing on The APF Brigade, the Desperate Bicycles, more reports from New Orleans, pix from the Southkore Fest in Chicago, Texan punk rock photographer Bill Daniel, Swedish hardcore outfit Svartenbrandt, an interview with Disconvenience, the Rosenbombs, Up The Voltage as well as tons and tons of book reviews, record reviews, movie reviews, letters, news and columns!!

MAXIMUM ROCK'N'ROLL MAGAZINE Issue #276 - May 2006 magazine 5.00
Newest issue of this long running Bay Area punk rock institution. Still newsprint, still punk as fuck. This issue is appropriately the "Is Business Killing Punk Rock?" issue! With a huge article (just part one mind you) on DIY punk rock and the imortance of independence, with contributions from punk labels like Jade Tree, G7 Welcoming Commitee, Dr. Strange, 625, Havoc, Dischord and more. And of course loads of interviews with a bunch of bands / artists / writers we've never heard of: Soviet Valves (AUS), Suburban Death Machine (US), Frustrations (US), George Hurchulla, author of Going Underground: American Punk 1979-1992, as well as a bunch of cool excerpts from a forthcoming book by AQ pal and J-Church frontman Lance Hahn about Crass and all those anarcho bands, this time around, Icon A.D. and Dominant Patri, also a Vitamin X tour diary and finally an article about now defunct NY club ABC NO RIO.
And as always tons of book reviews, movie reviews, record reviews (only punk rock, and only independent labels), loads of letters, a bunch of columns (including a very metal one by former AQ mailorder monkey Elliott), punk rock news, scene reports (Greece, Czech Republic) and lots more.

MAXIMUM ROCK'N'ROLL MAGAZINE Issue #277 magazine 4.00
Another blast of punk as fuck-ness from this Bay Area bastion of punk and DIY. This month, part two of the article Business And Punk Rock with contributions from the folks who run Fat Wreck Chords, Ebullition, Sound Idea, Razorcake, Give Praise and a bunch more, scene report: Poland with a list of loads of Polish bands, interviews with and articles about The Lawrence Arms, Imperial Leather, Magrudergrind, Boom Boom Kid (don't worry, we haven't heard of most of the bands featured in MRR either!), part two of the Vitamin X tour diary. tons and tons of columns, including one by former mailorder master Elliott, lots of letters, news, politics, book reviews, record reviews and MORE!

MAXIMUM ROCK'N'ROLL MAGAZINE Issue #279 magazine 4.00
Latest issue of the punk rock bible. This time around, on the cover: Mika Miko (?), inside: The Fall, Cardiac Arrest, Digger & The Pussycats, Massmord, Insect Warfare, The Four Slicks, The Fallout, PAWNS, punk rock news, scene reports for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, a Swedish scene report, tons and tons of columns, including one by former mailorder master Elliott, lots of letters, news, politics, book reviews, record reviews and MORE!

MAYA Y (Discalcula) 10" 12.98
Ms Maya (pronounced May-ah) is a dear friend of Edison Woods' Julia Frodahl, and the two artists definitely are of kindred spirit albeit the former is a bit more heady, mystical and dusky than the latter. On the front cover she may bear a strikingly waifish resemblance to actress Mia Farrow, but her vocal delivery is strongly reminiscent of Kendra Smith, Rose McDowell and perhaps Carla Bozulich, particularly when she's singing the lower octave layers of her multi-tracked vocals. Y is comprised of four ethereal numbers steeped in shadowy somber atmospheres. String and piano tendrils wind gracely around her voice. Utterly captivating. The music may be slow creeping, but you should act fast because this release is limited to 500!

MAYBE MONDAY Saturn's Finger (Buzz-Records) cd 15.98
A new improv trio starring Fred Frith (avant-guitarist extraordinaire!), Larry Ochs (from SF's much-lauded Rova Saxophone Quartet), and Miya Masaoka (the Bay Area's most adventurous improvising koto player--some may remember her performance with a hive of bees not long ago). Three long tracks of careful musical interaction that delves into the quiet and beautiful as well as the difficult and noisy. Anyone who saw this trio perform at SF's Great American Music Hall a few weeks back will know that all the players really delve into their respective bags of tricks: Ochs both blowing lovely melodies and squawking violence, Masaoka both coaxing soothing drones and plucking chaos, Frith both fooling with little noises and grinding out immense ones...a tour de force of improv abilities.

MAYDAY Old Blood (Saddle Creek) cd 13.98
A surprisingly subdued direction for Ted Stevens' new project called Mayday. "Who is Ted Stevens?" you might ask. Well, you may better know him as the guitarist for considerably more aggressive emo-princes Cursive as well as the vocalist for Lullaby For The Working Class. Or you might've spotted him on the road with labelmates Bright Eyes. You might have also noticed the positive trend lately with members of the Nebraska / Saddle Creek Records family, of everyone helping everyone else out. Case in point? Look no further than this very album! There's plenty of familiar faces on Old Blood, some of which include the lovely Azure Ray, mister melancholia himself Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst, and some of Stevens' former Lullaby bandmates. This here's some fine, solemn and mature songwriting, check out the shadowy, dramatic beauty of "Captain". Might appeal to fans of Scott Walker or the Tindersticks (although Mr. Stevens' voice doesn't quite reach the deep deep theatrical depths of Stuart Staples').
RealAudio clip: "Captain"

MAYER, MICHAEL Immer 2 (Kompact) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: SOMEONE ELSE "Ploosh"
MPEG Stream: JESSE SOMFAY "Lying In A Bed Of Myst"

MAYER, MICHAEL Neuhouse (Kompakt) cd 17.98

MAYER, MICHAEL Touch (Kompakt) cd 15.98

MAYER, NATHANIEL I Want Love And Affection Not The House Of Correction (Vampi Soul) cd 17.98

MAYER, NATHANIEL Why Don't You Give It To Me! (Alive) lp 16.98
Finally available on vinyl!
Damn. Not only was this here disc cooked up by a badass, totally STONED sounding R&B infused greasy garage rock n' roll band from Deeeetroit, featuring members of heavy hitters like the Black Keys (guitarist Dan Auerbach), Dirtbombs (bassist Troy Gregory), Outrageous Cherry (guitarist Matthew Smith), and the Sights (drummer Dave Shettler) but check the top billing - there's a bona fide, veteran black soul singer fronting this combo, maybe you've heard of him, maybe you haven't, but he was the real deal, Nathaniel Mayer. He had his first hit single, "Village Of Love", in the Top 40 back in 1962. We've had (but haven't yet reviewed) a pretty cool anthology of his '60s stuff, I Want Love And Affection, Not The House Of Correction. But that certainly didn't prepare us for this. Don't call it a comeback, this is something else altogether. Ol' Mayer didn't sound like this back in the sixties. We mean, yeah, this IS retro, but also totally something that could only be made now, the unlikely meeting of a versatile, veteran voice and young 'uns who grew up worshipping the Stoogesy rock action, who bring a fresh dose of fuzz and loose, laidback druggy psych to the proceedings that's pretty special.
Even more special though, is Mayer's marvelously ragged, hoarse voice. Weary and burnished with time - you can hear every one of his 64 years. Yet he's also totally in command of it, butter smooth one moment, croakingly gruff the next, belting out the James Brown style "owwwws!" like he coined the phrase. Yeah, the man can sing. And lyrically, he's all about sex and desire. Beggin' his girl. "Why Don't You Give It To Me?" Sometimes, "Doin' It" (which is a nearly 9-minute, wasted wild wahwah'd jam). In keeping with Mayer's phlegmy voice, the whole album is wrapped in a lo-fi murk, adding to the battered, bluesy, psychedelic mood. One that we might compare to some of the more soulful obscurities on that ol' Chains And Black Exhaust comp. The 1995 solo album by LSD casualty and former Funkadelic, Tawl Ross comes to mind as well.
And we'll remind you ('cause you DO read his site, right?) that this was Julian Cope's Head Heritage Record of the Month back in May.
Sadly, Mayer has passed away since this album first came out (it's a 2007 release, now here on vinyl), but there's a pretty cool posthumous album called Why Won't You Let Me Be Black that's just been released as well that we'll be reviewing soon on an upcoming list.
MPEG Stream: "White Dress"
MPEG Stream: "Everywhere"

MAYER, NATHANIEL Why Don't You Give It To Me? (Alive) cd 15.98
Damn. Not only was this here disc cooked up by a badass, totally STONED sounding R&B infused greasy garage rock n' roll band from Deeeetroit, featuring members of heavy hitters like the Black Keys (guitarist Dan Auerbach), Dirtbombs (bassist Troy Gregory), Outrageous Cherry (guitarist Matthew Smith), and the Sights (drummer Dave Shettler) but check the top billing - there's a bona fide, veteran black soul singer fronting this combo, maybe you've heard of him, maybe you haven't, but he's the real deal, Nathaniel Mayer. He had his first hit single, "Village Of Love", in the Top 40 back in 1962. We've had (but haven't yet reviewed) a pretty cool anthology of his '60s stuff, I Want Love And Affection, Not The House Of Correction. But we that certainly didn't prepare us for this. Don't call it a comeback, this is something else altogether. Ol' Mayer didn't sound like this back in the sixties. We mean, yeah, this IS retro, but also totally something that could only be made now, the unlikely meeting of a versatile, veteran voice and young 'uns who grew up worshipping the Stoogesy rock action, who bring a fresh dose of fuzz and loose, laidback druggy psych to the proceedings that's pretty special.
Even more special though, is Mayer's marvelously ragged, hoarse voice. Weary and burnished with time - you can hear every one of his 64 years. Yet he's also totally in command of it, butter smooth one moment, croakingly gruff the next, belting out the James Brown style "owwwws!" like he coined the phrase. Yeah, the man can sing. And lyrically, he's all about sex and desire. Beggin' his girl. "Why Don't You Give It To Me?" Sometimes, "Doin' It" (which is a nearly 9-minute, wasted wild wahwah'd jam). In keeping with Mayer's phlegmy voice, the whole album is wrapped in a lo-fi murk, adding to the battered, bluesy, psychedelic mood. One that we might compare to some of the more soulful obscurities on that ol' Chains And Black Exhaust comp. The 1995 solo album by LSD casualty and former Funkadelic, Tawl Ross comes to mind as well.
And we'll remind you ('cause you DO read his site, right?) that this was Julian Cope's Head Heritage Record of the Month back in May. This is actually a 2007 release (hey better to list it now than never) so maybe there'll be another one soon from Mayer and the boys, but we don't really know, since it was reported Mayer suffered a stroke earlier this year. Hope he's doing ok.
MPEG Stream: "White Dress"
MPEG Stream: "Everywhere"

MAYER, NATHANIEL Why Won't You Let Me Be Black? (Alive) cd 15.98
A while back, Alive Records released Why Don't You Give It To Me?, a pretty darn badass slab of psychedelic R&B garage funk fronted by Detroit soul singing sixties legend Nathaniel Mayer. It was the man's "comeback album" of sorts, and definitely helped introduce him to a new generation of fans. The combination of his charismatic, age-burnished voice with the super stoned and sometimes Stoogesy jamming of his much younger band (featuring members of such acts as the Black Keys and the Dirtbombs) was pretty darn killer. Sadly, Mayer suffered a stroke last year and eventually passed away at the not so ripe old age of 64. But it's good to know that up until then, he was pretty darn active, doin' his music, touring and recording and finding an eager audience. We're also now glad to learn that a lot more was recorded at the sessions that produced Why Don't You Give It To Me? than could fit on that one record, and now here's a posthumous second volume of modern day shack shaking Nathaniel Mayer soul singing rockin' and rollin' action! If you liked WDYGITM? then you'll also dig WWYLMBB? It consists of eight tracks, six electric numbers from those sessions plus two "unplugged" radio performances full of bluesy strum. The disc starts off surprisingly mellow, with the slow jam "Dreams Come True", Mayer's ragged voice to the fore. A voice that couldn't come from a younger man, that's for sure, but is also still quite supple and expressive. Pretty soon thereafter the fuzz kicks in, this disc featuring its share of thwomping electric muzz, that sort of thing reaching its zenith perhaps on the penultimate track "The Puddle", wherein Mayer sings about just how high he is. Again, we're sad that Mr. Mayer is no longer with us, but happy that these recordings (and maybe more to come) exist to allow us to enjoy his raw soul talent eternally (or, at least for our lifetimes).
MPEG Stream: "Mr. Tax Man"
MPEG Stream: "You Are The One"
MPEG Stream: "The Puddle"

MAYET, HISHAM Musical Brotherhoods From The Trans-Saharan Highway (Sublime Frequencies) dvd 22.00
The latest in the ever expanding Sublime Frequencies collection of audio and video sonic treasures from around the world. This most recent dvd focuses on "ancient mystical brotherhoods' in Morocco, small groups of stringed instruments and drums, players managing to create intense and intensely emotional sounds and songs, that range from dark and simple, sweetly contemplative, to fierce and fiery and jubilant, explosive and over the top.
As always, the scenery and setting is as breathtaking as the music., lots of amazing shots of Morocco, crumbling buildings, bustling harbors, cobblestone streets, vast deserts, winding highways, cozy apartments and most importantly, bustling street markets, lit by fires and lamplight, a huge after dark celebration, story telling, eating, socializing but most importantly making music...
Small lantern lit clusters of people gather around old record players, home made amplifiers, rusty old speakers, strange (to our eyes) stringed instruments, all manner of drums and percussion, the crowd eager to bask in this amazing music, and just as often to participate, whether it be as another drummer, a singer, a dancer or even just as an onlooker.
The music, is a stripped down blues, the buzzing strings, the gorgeous hypnotic melodies, looped and cyclical, so hypnotic and catchy, the vocals soulful and impassioned, from solo crooning to strange harmonies, to chanting, and lots of festive sing alongs. The focus is the buzzing strings and the pounding drums, and there are plenty of both, but there are also buzzing snake charmer style horns, wild dancing, costumes, and of course the usual outdoor crowd sounds, folks talking and laughing, cars driving past. It's so much like wandering through Morocco, it's amazing. And sonically, WOW. The rhythms and the melodies, a constant barrage of groove and drone, simple percussive thumps and shuffles, haunting melodies, huge tribal drum jams and of course some incredible riffing.
Our favorite segments feature what appears to be a traditional banjo, but electrified and plugged into a rusty old handmade amplifier, turning the banjo into an awesome buzzing sitar like beast, emitting intense almost metallic chunks of incendiary riffing, raw and emotional, super distorted and intense, underpinning the wailing vocals and dense drumming.
As awesome as this is to watch, the sounds themselves are plenty, so even after a few viewings, you'll end up listening to this dvd over and over. Fans of the sadly out of print Group Inerane lp, also on Sublime Frequencies, as much of the music here has that same feral blues buzz and dark looped riffing.

MAYET, HISHAM Palace Of The Winds (Sublime Frequencies) dvd 22.00
Pretty much everything we've heard on Sublime Frequencies has totally blown us away, the music so emotional and passionate, and in many ways so alien, sounding like nothing we've heard before. It's a music that transports us, fills our minds with images of the musicians, of their homes, the clubs, of all these places we've never been, the people, the children, their families, the instruments, we can't help but imagine this music as it's being made. Thankfully, the fine folks at SF have also been releasing dvd's, allowing us to see these musicians performing, recording, each dvd focusing on a region or a style of music, and every one breathtaking, whether it's the impossible expanse of the desert, the gorgeous landscape, the houses and town squares, experiencing late night markets, wild parties, impromptu performances, crazy jams, we've never been anything less than enthralled and blown away by these documents. And this one is no different.
Shot over two years, Mayet travelled all over Africa, specifically Southern Morocco and the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott, no narrative, just a dreamlike journey across vast expanses of land, long stretches of ragged road, amazing buildings, and ruins, into people's homes, and public spaces for (sometimes private) performances with some amazing groups, in particular aQ faves Group Doueh, whose two songs are dramatically different, one is at home, and features a man on guitar, and a woman on drum and vocals, the two reclining in what appears to be their living room, the second, is an actual performance, in a club, packed with women in the most dazzling clothing, Technicolor and elaborate, a huge video screen playing videos, and the band just chilling on a couch against the wall jamming, while some of the ladies dance. So awesome!
So much amazing music, lots of it by groups we hadn't heard until now, but need to hear more from, so much to see, to take in, sometimes it's just the ambient sounds, the people, the cars, daily life, other times those scenes of daily life are set to music, but the real magic comes from being transported right into someone's home and getting to sit right in front of the players and experience the sound, as it's being created. Magical.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES. All region.

MAYFAIR SET, THE Young One (Captured Tracks / Woodsist) cd 12.98
The Mayfair Set sound exactly how you would imagine a band made up of members of Blank Dogs and Dum Dum Girls would sound, AWESOME!
Equal parts gloomy retro cold wave and that reverbed sixties girl group sound, two great tastes for sure, the sound washed out and murky, the boy vocals buried beneath angular jangle guitar and simple drumming, the female vox all shimmery in the background on some tracks, way up front in the others, with the boy vox drifting off in the distance, brooding moody verses and soaring choruses, gothy cold wave basslines, lilting and sing songy jangle gives way to driving woozy gloom pop, the guitar lines are spidery and skeletal, the distorted drumming skitters and stumbles, locking into simple propulsive rhythms, holding things together, white the dueling girl / boy vocals drive most of these songs, surrounded by shimmering clouds of glitchy effects, warm whirring keyboards, the sound warm and washed out and dreamy, another one of those records that gets played like crazy every single day. No better recommendation than that! And the fact that's members of Blank Dogs and Dum Dum Girls...
MPEG Stream: "Already Warm"
MPEG Stream: "Desert Fun"
MPEG Stream: "Junked!"

MAYFIELD, CURTIS Curtis (Rhino) cd 12.98
If you don't own this, hopefully this review will convince you to pick it up RIGHT NOW! This is one of the most amazing, soulful, emotionally rich, politically charged, well crafted and musically dynamic albums of all time! His first solo record after leaving The Impressions, simply titled Curtis, was released in 1970 and it still blows us away and gives us chills all these years later.
Mayfield is a true musical genius, not only blessed with one of the greatest voices of all time but also such an incredible songwriter and arranger. The songs on Curtis are filled with lush instrumentation, swirling strings, soulful horns, and deep hitting percussion. And the songs are bold and brave, inspired by the Civil Rights movement and not afraid to speak out against the injustices (still) plaguing this country. But what makes this album so fucking special is that it managed to be both strong and breezy, charged and mellow, poignant and chilling.
We've been playing this in the store so much lately and everytime, customers always know that it's Curtis Mayfield but they usually assume it's a greatest hits collection and are stunned to find out it's an actual album. It's one of those rare albums packed with songs that could have been the best single ever ("Move On Up", "Give It Up", "We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue" are all on this album!) and what's amazing is that the other songs on the record are just as good and maybe even better! It's not surprising that this record has been sampled by loads of folks including EPMD, NWA, Tupac, and Pete Rock, just to name a few. This Rhino reissue adds nine bonus tracks which are all worth having. This is one of those truly special albums that we could, and have listened to hundreds of times, and yet never get sick of, always feeling something and taking something away from the album with each repeated listen. Music for the spirit and soul. A true masterpiece!
MPEG Stream: "Other Side Of Town"
MPEG Stream: "Wild And Free"
MPEG Stream: "Power To The People (Demo)"

MAYFIELD, CURTIS Sweet Exorcist (Curtom) lp 14.98

MAYHEM Dawn Of The Black Hearts digipak cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Warning: extremely graphic cover photo of their singer, not long after his rather messy shotgun suicide. Besides that, and the performance of equally dead guitarist Euronymous (who perhaps snapped said photo after sampling some delectable brain, or so he bragged), this live album has renditions of Venom and Celtic Frost classics to recommend it.

MAYHEM Grand Declaration of War (Necropolis/Season Of Mist) cd 14.98
It's here, the first full-length studio recording from these Norwegian black metal legends in years! This is the notorious band that at one point featured black metal martyr Euronymous in its ranks, along with vocalist Dead. Both are, of course, dead now--you can read all about it in "Lords Of Chaos" if you haven't already. But all this murder and suicide didn't stop these guys. Whirlwind drummer/black metal pin up guy Hellhammer and bassist Necrobutcher, along with early Mayhem vocalist the Marylin Mason-ish Maniac and new guitarist Blasphemer soldier on, with a new, more death metal, more extreme, more technical sound. "Grand Declaration of War" simply kills. While Maniac's semi-spoken, semi-pretentious vocal style takes a little getting used to, and some trip hop beats crop up on the more experimental second half of this disc, for the most part this is some very intense, melodic, heavy black metal similar to the intricate attack and evil atmosphere of the late great Dissection (not that Mayhem needed any more help in the evil atmosphere department).

MAYHEM Ordo Ad Chao (Seasons Of Mist) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Wall Of Water"
MPEG Stream: "Great Work Of Ages"

MAYHEM U.S. Legions (Renegade) cd 14.98
Live stuff recently recorded in Europe and the U.S. by this seminal black metal act. Knowing perhaps that they have perhaps already released too many live albums (granted, some are boots, which isn't their fault), some value is added by the inclusion of a half-dozen or so "preproduction" tracks (i.e. demos) from their "Grand Declaration of War" opus. A fan's disc, therefore. And besides, you can't have too many "live" versions of their stolen from Conrad Schnitzler opening theme music, "Sylvester Anfang", can you?

MAYHEM Wolf's Lair Abyss (Misanthropy) 12" 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of Nordic black metal's most legendary, infamous bands returns with a brutal recording featuring new members replacing various deceased ones. Euronymous (R.I.P.) would be proud, though perhaps not happy that his band is now on the same label that releases the albums of that guy that killed him...

MAYHEM Wolf's Lair Abyss (Misanthropy) cdep 13.98
One of Nordic black metal's most legendary, infamous bands returns with a brutal recording featuring new members replacing various deceased ones. Euronymous (R.I.P.) would be proud, though perhaps not happy that his band is now on the same label that releases the albums of that guy that killed him...

MAYHEM / MEADS OF ASPHODEL, THE Freezing Moon, Carnage / Jihad (Supernal) cd 15.98

MAYPOLE The Real (Anopheles) lp 22.00
"An ambitious, 50 minute feast of tight harmonies, powerful arrangements, fluid improvisation, and flat out great songs, that serves as a touchstone for twin guitar-driven, west coast styled psychedelia, soaring power pop, and blistering hard rock. The stature of Maypole has been muddied by the previous CD reissues, but this LP edition gets it right. Featuring state of the art remastering and pressing, a high quality full color "tip on" jacket featuring original artwork, and a full color insert loaded with lyrics, photos, and complete historical notes by Maypole founder, Dennis Tobell, this is the closest to 'classic psychedelia' Anopheles Records has delved in to date."

MAYTALS Monkey Man + Bonus Tracks (Trojan) cd 14.98

MAYYORS Deads e.p. (self-released) 12" 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
People have been freaking out about the Mayyors for ages now. Before we had even heard them, we knew we HAD to hear them, cuz that's what everyone we knew was telling us. Then we were lucky enough to get them to play our South By Southwest showcase, and whattayaknow? Everyone was right. They destroyed, wild and punk rock, and a little new wave, and s upper distorted and weirdly poppy, pretty much exactly what we could have hoped for. One person we knew even flew from another state JUST to see the Mayyors, and managed to see them play 8 or 9 times. And loved every single minute of it.
We got a bunch of these 12"s a while back, and they sold out in a heartbeat, before we could even get it reviewed. We got a few more, but then those too were gone in a flash. So the band finally repressed another batch, so now here's your chance, however fleeting to snag one of these 4 song 45 rpm 12"s, same as the first pressing, but now in plain white stamped sleeves, instead of the first pressing's gross dirt covered jackets, but it's the sound that matters, and the sound here is ferocious. Snotty, snarly, fuzzy, punky, noisy, catchy, druggy, crumbling ultra distorted guitars, wild pounding drums, yowled effected vox, tons of feedback, FX all over the place and THICK corrosive buzzing bass that drives EVERYTHING. Imagine maybe a poppier, less fucked up more new wave Rusted Shut, that same sort of chaotic noise rock, that while druggy, manages to be a bit tighter and a whole lot less on the verge of total collapse, while remaining awesomely chaotic.
The final track might be our favorite, the same sort of revved up Brainbombs style dirge, supercharged, and eventually growing more and more and more distorted and in-the-red, culminating in what might just be the raddest post-Buttholes drug rock noise guitar freakout EVER.
We did get a ton of these, but they'll probably go quick, and the band did say they would press more if this pressing sold out, but it could mean a bit of a wait if you don't grab one now.

MAZES s/t (Parasol) cd 14.98
Mazes are Edward Anderson and Caroline Donovan (aka two prominent members of those dandy Chicagoans The 1900s, a band who caught our ear and wouldn't let go!) plus their pal Charles D'Autremont. Together they've crafted some sweet lilting pop that's not too distant from their main band's lush psych-tinged pop sounds, and that also recalls the glory days of the Elephant Six Collective. Recorded over the course of four years in various apartments and studios, the album definitely feels homespun with a warm off the cuff 'gathering of friends' kind of immediacy. Some terrific, uplifting vocal performances! Yet at the same time the dense, elaborate arrangements also suggest much revisiting, layering on and tweaking of details over the years. Fans of The Minders, Yo La Tengo and Belle & Sebastian, don't miss!
MPEG Stream: "Manual Systems"
MPEG Stream: "Cat State Comity"
MPEG Stream: "Love To Lay"

MAZK Sound Pressure Level (Or) cd 14.98
After years of silence, Zbigniew Karkowski (former Hafler Trio collaborator) joins Masami Akita (of Merzbow, who knows nothing about years of silence) for 55 minutes of signature Merzbow noise processed into heavy chugging pulses and brutal psycho-acoustic drones...not for the faint of heart.

MAZUREK, ROB Sweet & Vicious Like Frankenstein (Mego) cd 16.98

MAZZY STAR Among My Swan (Capitol) cd 15.98

MAZZY STAR So Tonight That I Might See (Capitol) cd 16.98

MB (BIANCHI, MAURIZIO) Archeo MB 2 (EEs'T / Alga Marghan) 5cd 77.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, BUT THE DISCS ARE AVAILABLE AS INDIVIDUAL VOLUMES.
Looking back at the manic output of Maurizio Bianchi (MB) with dozens of private edition LPs and cassettes from 1979 - 1984, it is arguable that his catalogue of 'pre-apocalyptic' industrialisms is an aural diary of psychological distress on par with someone like Jandek. Bianchi's work reveals the existential crisis of a frustrated nihilist whose explorations of cultural, religious, and semiotic collapse brought him closer to God.
In 1984, Maurizio Bianchi released his last album and dropped out of sight. From what little contact he kept with his musical past, a myth circulated that he became a Jehovah's Witness, which appeared to be an absurd fate for this practitioner of negativity. However, this myth revealed itself as fact when he resurfaced in 1998 to release two ephemeral yet wholly uninteresting new age records filled with gilded spiritual imagery. At this time, Bianchi began remastering his earliest work and reissuing these albums through Alga Marghan. "Archeo MB 2" is the second set of reissues from the MB archives, collected as a 5cd set with the albums "Das Testament," "Endometrio," "Carcinosi," and "The Plain Truth," and "Armaghedon." Where the first set is a violent display of neurotic vibrations and deadly electronics, the second is relatively dreamy, albeit retaining the sonic qualities of erratic vertigo and shadowy hallucinations. His suffocating experiments with primitive synths, delay pedals, turntables, and tape machines collapsed in on themselves with an electrocuted obliteration of sound. Out of the ashes of such early albums as "Symphony for a Genocide" and "Neuro Habitat," Bianchi allowed for a structuralism with tentative rhythms and melodies to rise out of the blackened grit on the work found in "Archeo MB 2." Each of the albums found on this box set are available individually; however, the box set features extra artwork (including a really dorky photograph of Bianchi in a red sweater), and a handful of Bianchi's cryptic music critiques. Of all of the dronescapes, noise attacks, and electronic warbles that Aquarius has lavished with critical hyperbole, MB remains at the top of the list in terms of innovation and actualization of metaphor and intent.
RealAudio clip: "Carcinosi"
RealAudio clip: "The Plain Truth"

MB (BIANCHI, MAURIZIO) Armaghedon (EEs'T / Alga Marghan) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"The end of parabolic absurdity..." is the final quote from the encyclopaedic set of MB (Maurizio Bianchi) reissues. "Armaghedon" was the soundtrack to a film produced / directed by Bianchi. Although Bianchi released this as one of his private edition LPs, "Armaghedon" found limited distribution; furthermore, the majority of the pressings were destroyed for "obscure reasons," leaving only about 100 copies in existance.
In Bianchi's take on the final epistomological battle of good and evil, the remnant material world is very cold place shivering beneath a thick ever growing chunk of ice with only slivers of heavenly light penetrating the frigid mass. In this metaphoric environment, Bianchi's electronics warble within the multiple delay attacks that dominate his preceeding albums, but with a coloring that resembles a glistening blue / green rather than the coal blacks / greys that came before. "Armaghedon" is also the only album to feature Bianchi's voice and could draw connections to the eerier drone work of Angus MacLise.

MB (BIANCHI, MAURIZIO) Bacterie (Taalem) 3"-cdr 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There's a novel concept behind this 3"cd-r series released by Taalem: they make 'em to order and they keep 'em in print as long as people want 'em. Wow! Not limited?!? Who woulda thunk?! This French label has produced a couple dozen of these releases, with the first to come across our plate being by Maurizio Bianchi (aka MB). This Italian industrial pioneer had been in hibernation for well over a decade, after his initial infamy was solidified in the early '80s by his ghastly recordings of frozen power electronics augmented by nightmarish allegorical references to genocide, cancer, and Armageddon. Since 2003 or 2004, he's returned to this style of noise sculpting with extraordinary results and an equally impressive work ethic, releasing countless numbers of collaborations, MP3 only albums, and albums of all lengths and sizes. For Bacterie, he's crammed this 3" CD with an impressive blast of noxious vibrations blackened through densely layering and unwell intentions. He's returned to the form last heard on the Endometrio / Carcinosi diptych. Brilliant.
MPEG Stream: "Bacterie"

MB (BIANCHI, MAURIZIO) Carcinosi (EEs'T / Alga Marghan) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If there is one MB record to own, it's "Carcinosi" - the synthesis of the divebomb synth squallor found on his early work like "Symphony for a Genocide" and the frigid drone exasperation of his finale "Armaghedon." Originally released in 1983 as a private edition of 400 copies, "Carcinosi" is part two of his dyptic of "bionic music" along side "Endometrio." The metaphors of cancer mutating within a technologized body parallel a text in which Bianchi refer to this work as a warning of another Auschwitz. Bianchi's "Carcinosi" masterfully actualizes his grim metaphors with a mesmeric carousel of dark fractures of muted noise and disorienting synthetic pulsations smothered in a heavily satuated wall of delay.

MB (BIANCHI, MAURIZIO) Das Testament (EEs'T / Alga Marghan) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
MB (Maurizio Bianchi) originally released "Das Testament" as a private edition of 300 copies in 1983. Bianchi starts off this album with cold black chops of tape splices and gritty electronic squeals that discharge in a mass of delay. These bleak bursts of noise retain the raw negative energy of MB's first recordings, but gradually an accumulated drone engulfs the primitive musique conrete techniques with an oppressive numbness. Bianchi also included an 30 minute excerpt from his first and only MB concert. With his own abstract verbage, Bianchi describes this album as "knowledge culminating in a deconsecration of germinative interrelation - to remember reddish scientific thaw. External cyclotron frequency is washing the minaturization of wavemeter pestilence." Scientific thaw and wavemeter pestilence, indeed!

MB (BIANCHI, MAURIZIO) Endometrio (EEs'T / Alga Marghan) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Endometrio" was originally issued as a private edition of 400 copies in 1983 and presents what MB (Maurizio Bianchi) qualified as "bionic music" which shifted MB further from the contemporary industrial bruitism of SPK and Whitehouse. Though primitive electronics and tape synthesis, MB sets up a metaphoric arena for biological warfare on a microscopic level upon which "Endometrio" bares witness to millions of death rattles from bacteria massacred by viral panzer divisions. To anthropomorphize the basic life of these single-celled bodies is to elicit horrific apocalyptic metaphors, which he elaborated as "volatility of thalassochemistry removal to dishevel the faculty of reason's aggravation." Doom & gloom aside, this is the pinnacle of MB's obsessive mastery of electronic de-composition.

MB (BIANCHI, MAURIZIO) Mectpyo Bacterium (EEs'T / Alga Marghan) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In the liner notes, a smug Maurizio Bianchi (aka MB) included a quote from Genesis P-Orridge who described MB's early 80's industrial noise records as 'boring, meaningless, pathetic'. I'd agree with MB in claiming that Gen was jealous, as MB was able to construct brutal hallucinatory recordings of electronic noise that offer metaphors of microscopic anyeurisms which collapse the body from within. Bleak chilling drones that are reminiscent of Conrad Schnitzler's most neurotic, Nurse With Wound's most droning, and Whitehouse's least annoying. MB's very prolific career in the early 80's with a more than a dozen records was cut short in 1984 at which time he joined a monastary.
Some of my favourite 'noise' records that have been gratefully reissued, thus sparing me from shelling out the $120.00 that I've seen the vinyl editions of these records going for!

MB (BIANCHI, MAURIZIO) Mectpyo Box (E'Est) 10cd box 250.00
Since around 2004, the Italian industrial composer Maurizio Bianchi has unleashed an impossible stream of recordings, often in collaboration with electronics musicians all over the world but unfortunately with spotty results. There are plenty of reasons why any label and / or artist would jump at the chance to release and / or record something, anything by Mr. Bianchi; and this 10cd boxset of his seminal recordings from the early '80s defines them all. This actually marks the second reissue campaign for these recordings, some of which originally appeared on Sterile Records and Broken Flag; but many of which had been self-published on Bianchi's own imprint. Bianchi - who simply recorded at the time as MB - had infamously been released through William Bennett's Come Organisation, who had recontextualized Bianchi's recordings of grim mechanoid drones with Nazi speeches spliced on top and changed his nom de plume to Leibstandarte SS MB... all without Bianchi's consent. Numerous cassettes, plenty of compilation appearances, and 10 lps marked this very prolific period in the early '80s for Bianchi, whereby he issued forth brutal, hallucinatory blasts of electronic noise and grinding rhythms of hand-cut tape noise and overblown synthetic distortion. These were the blackened, nihilist version of Conrad Schnitzler, Cluster, and Klaus Schulze as filtered through the industrial ethos of Throbbing Gristle and Whitehouse.
But by 1984, Bianchi just stopped. There were innumerable rumors about his departure from the music community. Some said, he had become a monk. Some said, he was crippled in an accident. But the truth of the matter was that he dedicated himself to his faith as a Jehovah's Witness. His distance only heightened the mythology about this artist and increased the cultural cache of those early recordings. Hence, the necessity for this boxset.
Here, you will find those ten LPs - Symphony For A Genocide, Menses, Neuro Habitat / Moerter Under Uns, Regel, Mectpyo Bakterium, Das Testament, Endometrio, Carcinosi, The Plain Truth, and Armagheddon - each released with plenty of bonus tracks from any number of those various compilation tracks. And for those of you who had picked up the two 5lp anthologies of MB's work on Vinyl On Demand, we don't think there's any overlap between this box set and those collections.
The first records are violent display of neurotic vibrations and deadly electronics, the second is relatively dreamy, albeit retaining the sonic qualities of erratic vertigo and shadowy hallucinations. His suffocating experiments with primitive synths, delay pedals, turntables, and tape machines collapsed in on themselves with an electrocuted obliteration of sound. Out of the ashes of such early albums as Symphony for a Genocide and Neuro Habitat, Bianchi allowed for a structuralism with tentative rhythms and melodies to rise out of the blackened grit on the work found on Endometrio and The Plain Truth. Each of the albums found on this box set are available individually; however, the box set features additional artwork, plenty of bonus tracks not on the original lps (but still the same from the first reissue campaign), and a handful of Bianchi's cryptic music critiques. Of all of the dronescapes, noise attacks, and electronic warbles that Aquarius has lavished with critical hyperbole, MB remains at the top of the list in terms of innovation and actualization of metaphor and intent.
MPEG Stream: "Endometrio Secondo Ciclo"
MPEG Stream: "The Plain Truth : M.B. 55 T.D. 56"
MPEG Stream: "Symphony For A Genocide : Treblinka"
MPEG Stream: "Morder Unter Uns"

MB (BIANCHI, MAURIZIO) Menses (EEs'T / Alga Marghan) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In the liner notes, a smug Maurizio Bianchi (aka MB) included a quote from Genesis P-Orridge who described MB's early 80's industrial noise records as 'boring, meaningless, pathetic'. I'd agree with MB in claiming that Gen was jealous, as MB was able to construct brutal hallucinatory recordings of electronic noise that offer metaphors of microscopic anyeurisms which collapse the body from within. Bleak chilling drones that are reminiscent of Conrad Schnitzler's most neurotic, Nurse With Wound's most droning, and Whitehouse's least annoying. MB's very prolific career in the early 80's with a more than a dozen records was cut short in 1984 at which time he joined a monastary.
Some of my favourite 'noise' records that have been gratefully reissued, thus sparing me from shelling out the $120.00 that I've seen the vinyl editions of these records going for!

MB (BIANCHI, MAURIZIO) Neuro Habitat (EEs'T / Alga Marghan) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In the liner notes, a smug Maurizio Bianchi (aka MB) included a quote from Genesis P-Orridge who described MB's early 80's industrial noise records as 'boring, meaningless, pathetic'. I'd agree with MB in claiming that Gen was jealous, as MB was able to construct brutal hallucinatory recordings of electronic noise that offer metaphors of microscopic anyeurisms which collapse the body from within. Bleak chilling drones that are reminiscent of Conrad Schnitzler's most neurotic, Nurse With Wound's most droning, and Whitehouse's least annoying. MB's very prolific career in the early 80's with a more than a dozen records was cut short in 1984 at which time he joined a monastary.
Some of my favourite 'noise' records that have been gratefully reissued, thus sparing me from shelling out the $120.00 that I've seen the vinyl editions of these records going for!

MB (BIANCHI, MAURIZIO) Regel (EEs'T / Alga Marghan) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In the liner notes, a smug Maurizio Bianchi (aka MB) included a quote from Genesis P-Orridge who described MB's early 80's industrial noise records as 'boring, meaningless, pathetic'. I'd agree with MB in claiming that Gen was jealous, as MB was able to construct brutal hallucinatory recordings of electronic noise that offer metaphors of microscopic anyeurisms which collapse the body from within. Bleak chilling drones that are reminiscent of Conrad Schnitzler's most neurotic, Nurse With Wound's most droning, and Whitehouse's least annoying. MB's very prolific career in the early 80's with a more than a dozen records was cut short in 1984 at which time he joined a monastary.
Some of my favourite 'noise' records that have been gratefully reissued, thus sparing me from shelling out the $120.00 that I've seen the vinyl editions of these records going for!

MB (BIANCHI, MAURIZIO) Symphony for a Genocide (EEs'T / Alga Marghan) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In the liner notes, a smug Maurizio Bianchi (aka MB) included a quote from Genesis P-Orridge who described MB's early 80's industrial noise records as 'boring, meaningless, pathetic'. I'd agree with MB in claiming that Gen was jealous, as MB was able to construct brutal hallucinatory recordings of electronic noise that offer metaphors of microscopic anyeurisms which collapse the body from within. Bleak chilling drones that are reminiscent of Conrad Schnitzler's most neurotic, Nurse With Wound's most droning, and Whitehouse's least annoying. MB's very prolific career in the early 80's with a more than a dozen records was cut short in 1984 at which time he joined a monastary.
Some of my favourite 'noise' records that have been gratefully reissued, thus sparing me from shelling out the $120.00 that I've seen the vinyl editions of these records going for!