MANN, AIMEE The Forgotten Arm (SuperEgo Records) cd 16.98
Mann fanns (tee hee, sorry!), here's another gem to add to your garland of Aimee. Never anything fancy nor flashy, but what she does, she does exceptionally well. Adored by critics and fans alike, she just quietly goes about her business of making wonderful, heartrending albums. She's such a fine storyteller with an unmistakable calm (and calming) voice, few can articulates the empty ache of loss and neglect with the eloquence that she does. The only criticisms that really arise with regard to her work is that there can be a sameyness to it all. While some might call it 'predictable', just as many others surely call it 'reliable'. Her latest album certainly takes not drastic detours, but it's different in that its lyrics are linked thematically. The twelve songs follow a bleak narrative string about the fictional life a substance addicted boxer. Perhaps one of her most heady and heavy works to date -- somehow both dark and luminous at the same time. She makes listening to tales of absolutely heartbreaking hopelessness an enjoyable experience. How does she do it?? Produced by Joe Henry.
MPEG Stream: "Going Through The Motions"
MPEG Stream: "I Can't Help You Anymore"

MANN, JAKE Daytime Ghost (Crossbill Records) cd 10.98
Here's the debut solo album by singer/songwriter Jake Mann formerly of Bay Area band The Zim-Zims (you might recall he stepped out on his own for the cdr release Solo Electric EP). If you dig indie rock'n'pop, this gent's your ears' new best buddy! The super fuzzed out guitar lines on songs like "Satellite In Bloomington" could easily be mistaken for something comin' from Sam Coombes and Quasi. Mann keeps his pop tunes' buoyancy weighted down by minor chords and charming hushed vocals. Later in the album, "Mudflat" perks things up a bit, offering sounds akin to the bright, slightly tweaked pop of Olivia Tremor Control. Nicely varied, low-key popcraft.
MPEG Stream: "Satellite In Bloomington"
MPEG Stream: "Mudflat"

MANN, JAKE Daytime Ghost: Out-takes & Remixes (Crossbill) cd ep 5.98

MANN, JAKE Solo Electric EP (self-released) cd-r 5.98
Jake Mann is a member of Bay Area indie rock band Zim-Zims, but occasionally he's been known to step out on his own to do a little solo action... just him and his trusty electric guitar. His mellow croon is pretty darn reminiscent of Pat Fish from the late 80s/early 90s awesome Brits The Jazz Butcher. This six-song cd-r gives the shut-ins and out-of-towners a chance to hear him all by his lonesome, and preps our ears for his forthcoming full length later this summer. To end your listening experience on an up-note, we might recommend you press 'stop' after the fifth song 'cause right after that Mann does what we wish no one would do... he covers "I Can't Wait" by Nu Shooz.
MPEG Stream: "Sleeping In The Dawn"
MPEG Stream: "Go Where You Are"

MANNING, BARBARA 1212 (Matador) cd 12.98
Another winner from Babs, this time accompanied by John Covertino and Joey Burns of Giant Sand and Calexico. The first four tracks comprise a sublime song-suite wherein she plays with homonyms "arson" and "our son," to stunning effect. Covers include songs by Richard Thompson, Bevis Frond, and the Deviants. The last song is an extended, fun Neu! ripoff. Highly recommended!

MANNING, BARBARA 1212 (Matador) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another winner from Babs, this time accompanied by John Convertino and Joey Burns of Giant Sand and Calexico. The first four tracks comprise a sublime song-suite wherein she plays with homonyms "arson" and "our son," to stunning effect. Covers include songs by Richard Thompson, Bevis Frond, and the Deviants. The last song is an extended, fun Neu! ripoff. Highly recommended!

MANNING, BARBARA In New Zealand (Communion) cd 12.98
While touring with cohorts John Convertino and Joey Burns (both of Calexico), Barbara Manning spent some time recording with New Zealand luminaries, David Kilgour of the Clean, David Mitchell and Denise Roughan of the 3D's, Chris Knox, Graeme Roughan of the Verlaines, and the Renderers. The resulting album is a brooding yet gentle collection of tales of fatalistic love.

MANNING, BARBARA In New Zealand (Communion) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While touring with cohorts John Convertino and Joey Burns (both of Calexico), Barbara Manning spent some time recording with New Zealand luminaries, David Kilgour of the Clean, David Mitchell and Denise Roughan of the 3D's, Chris Knox, Graeme Roughan of the Verlaines, and the Renderers. The resulting album is a brooding yet gentle collection of tales of fatalistic love.

MANNING, BARBARA Super Scissors (Rainfall Records) 3cd 23.00
Lately I Keep Scissors... One Perfect Green Blanket... do these phrases conjure warm fuzzies in your pop luvvin' heart? They do? Then you know that they're the titles of two early albums by the lovely one-time Bay Area songstress Barbara Manning. The former was her debut album originally released in 1988 and the latter was a collection of compilation and flexidisc tracks which came out in 1991 (both on the Heyday indie record label). And you might also like to know that today's a happy day 'cause they've been remastered and reissued along with a third cd of previously unreleased material.
They simply don't make indie pop like this any more. Unassuming, sweet and smart poignant songs in league with those of singer/songwriters Grant McLennan, David Kilgour, Lois Maffeo, and Lida Husik.
The three discs are packaged together in a box with a booklet filled with snapshots, reviews and personal accounts from a bunch of her friends. Snuggle up.
MPEG Stream: "Talk All Night"
MPEG Stream: "Sympathy Wreath"

MANNING, BARBARA Under One Roof Singles and Oddities (Innerstate) cd 14.98
Collection of 4-track demos, compilation contributions, 7"s and otherwise rare tracks dating back to 1986 and extending up to 2000.

MANNING, BARBARA & THE GO-LUCKYS You Should Know By Now (Innerstate) cd 14.98
The prolific pop mistress Barbara Manning is back for another go-round with the Go-Luckys. Ten tunes of jangling guitars, her ever-young and sprightly voice and a ghostly flight here and there of musical saw. All the low-key prettiness we've come to expect from Ms Manning but with a bit more bounce this time out. Very much along the lines of fellow wonderful singer/songwriters Lida Husik, Rose Melberg, and Lois.

MANNING, BARBARA & THE GO-LUCKYS! Homeless is Where the Heart is (Naive) cdep 14.98
Ms. Manning may have left the Bay Area and now sings songs about homelessness, but her heart is still in the right place and she's still writing lovely, emotional songs with her new (Italian?) bandmates. Nice import ep (six songs) in slipcase with foldout artwork.

MANOLO Y RAMON El Duo Dinámico en Londres : El Album De 1970 (Rama Lama) cd 24.00

MANOWAR Battle Hymns (Silver Edition) (Metal Blade) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is the very first attack (circa 1982) from these ultra-campy (but great!) he-man metallers, now remastered and reissued in time for their 20th anniversary. There's many classic tracks to be found here, including theme song "Manowar", "Fast Taker", "Dark Avenger" (with Orson Welles narration!), and a solo-bass-only cover of Rossini's "William Tell Overture". The 20-page booklet's got the lyrics, photos (of naked chicks, lots of amps, and the band with Orson Welles, that sort of thing) and extensive liner notes too, giving the whole early history of the band. In the beginning Manowar (featuring ex-Dictators guitarist Ross The Boss) was heavily influenced by KISS, you'll hear that here. Essential, over the top, hyperbolic metal (other, even more crucial Manowar recommendations: "Hail To England" and "Sign Of The Hammer", hopefully both getting "Silver Edition" treatment someday too)! Hyperbolic? Let us quote the note from Manowar found on the back of the cd booklet: "Beware: It is quite possible that this CD may cause your sound system to blow up. Let it die with honor. Fuck the World, Hail And Kill."
RealAudio clip: "Manowar"

MANOWAR Warriors Of The World (Metal Blade) cd 16.98
It's really hard to tell if Manowar are in on their own joke or not. These four guys have spent the last two decades trying to live out a Conan the Barbarian meets Spinal Tap fantasy, and are probably the most self-referential metal band ever -- most of their songs are essentially about metal and/or Manowar and/or their fans!. Really, they have more lyrics about themselves than your most braggadocious rap MC! In addition to their over the top metal rhetoric, they boast string-snapping piccolo bass solos, muscles, loincloths, cheesy symphonic ballads, and their very own arms-clasped overhead "sign of the hammer" symbol for fans to make at shows. None more metal, none more silly. But, they certainly know what they're doing. While they might be considered a novelty at best, has-beens at worst in their native USA, they're a big deal in Europe, South America, and elsewhere. An arena-sized big deal. And even here, they have their fans -- they've played twice in San Francisco in recent years, the last time with Immortal a few weeks back, and boy do they get a rabid response! People come out of the woodwork to raise the sign of the hammer, let me tell you. And Manowar's relative lack of success stateside doesn't stop them from doing a bizarre, if patriotic, "American Trilogy" on this release, a medley of "Dixie", "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", and a traditional prayer for the war dead. Apparently this is intended as a tribute to Elvis Presley, who performed the same Civil War themed medley at his live shows! How ridiculous is that? They MUST know it. But they do it anyway, which is what's so great about these campy metal masters. All hail Joey Demaio & Co.! And, more serious-minded metal fans will find that there's actually some awesomely punishing stuff on here (hard-charging battle hymns like "Hand Of Doom", "House Of Death" and "Fight Until We Die"), and Eric Adam's voice rules whatever you think of the absurd lyrics (which you'd better like!). They'll never let on if it's all tongue in cheek, and that's the way it should be. Otherwise how could you get the tingle of "metal patrotism" that anthems like "Warriors of the World United" somehow generate? This is their first studio album in six years, at least as good as the last one...and while I can't really think of a compelling reason for someone to buy this who doesn't already have a few other Manowar discs, I'd certainly recommend it to fans, 'cause they do it for you and have never let you down. But if you've yet to be convinced of Manowar's might, you certainly could start here and work your way back through their catalog (which will be good for a few laughs at least) or go get their 1984 masterpiece "Hail To England".
RealAudio clip: "House Of Death"
RealAudio clip: "Warriors Of The World United"

MANSBESTFRIEND (SOLE) Poly.Sci.187 (Anticon) cd 14.98
Poly.Sci.187? Hmmm, instead of political science, we get the impression that the lesson Mansbestfriend (aka Sole) is teachin' on this cd is that this is what DJ Shadow's album after Endtroducing -should- have sounded like. It's a lush, but somewhat lo-fi, sample laden instrumental doom hop collage. Alternately bleary and bracing. Pretty fucking great...
MPEG Stream: "High Noon And Sobered"
MPEG Stream: "Allieverwanted"

MANSET, GERARD La Mort D'Orion (World Psychedelia Ltd.) cd 17.98
Last year one of our favorite reissues came in the form of the strong and passionate voice of Gerard Manset. A French mastermind musician who has been crafting iconoclastic and lush sounds since the late '60s. The release we first heard last year titled 1968 quickly became an AQ favorite and made us think of Manset as a French incarnation of Caetano Veloso. We went from barely knowing anything about Manset to wanting to try to find out as much as we could about him, as that release reeled us in so strongly with its elegant and charged melodies.
La Mort D'Orion was recorded a couple years after that release in 1970 and finds Manset in a much more avant setting, but with equally stunning results. Created as one multi-part suite, the record is filled with strings, the music moving from small scale moments to sweeping epics, beautiful melodies everywhere, all colored with rich instrumentation and of course there's Manset's elegant voice.
This is the perfect antidote to fluffy ye-ye pop. With La Mort D'Orion, Manset created a piece of challenging and brooding symphonic pop akin to the best work created by the likes of Robert Wyatt, Scott Walker and Franco Battiato. Accented with shots of prog, psychedelia and modern classical, Manset displays his amazing ability to pull together a wide range of elements in creating such a monumental and rewarding piece of music. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "La mort d'Orion: 2. La mort d'Orion"
MPEG Stream: "Ils"
MPEG Stream: "La mort d'Orion: 3. Oů l'horizon prend fin"

MANSET, GERARD 1968 (Xenon) cd 11.98
Gerard Manset is an underground French treasure, recording records since the late '60s but always avoiding the public spotlight, refusing to do interviews, appear on TV or play any of the other silly games often required to attain mainstream success. With a totally seductive voice, and lush arrangements that are as powerful as they are beautiful, this album recorded during the student riots in Paris in 1968 has become one of those discs we can't stop listening to! There is an urgency and passion in these songs rarely heard in modern music. Manset has the same kind of presence and elegance as folks like Serge Gainsbourg, Caetano Veloso, Michel Polnareff and Scott Walker. This is not ye-ye fluffy French pop. Don't get us wrong we love that stuff, but what makes Manset so damn great is how his songs are so melodic and catchy while also being so sensual and impassioned. Totally smart arrangements that will appeal to both psych and pop lovers. We recently learned that Manset has an extensive back-catalog and we can't wait to start getting our hands on as much of it as possible, but until then let's all get swept up in 1968!
MPEG Stream: "Animal On Est Mal"
MPEG Stream: "L'Arc En Ciel"

MANSON, CHARLES Sings (ESP-Disk) cd 14.98
Back in print and back in stock!
Poor misunderstood Charlie Manson. Visionary, musician, troubadour, murderer. Wait, one of those things he is not. Murderer. That's right, let's not forget that Manson committed no murders himself, it was his 'Family' that did 'em. Which of course insured that these recordings would be both way more infamous than they would be otherwise, but at the same time would be poison to any one who agreed to release them. Recorded a couple years before the Tate-LaBianca murders, these recordings have a rich convoluted history: it was rumored that the intended victim of the murders was in fact a record producer that rejected this record, and every producer approached to release them later recieved death threats, and it was later proven that much more succesful musicians than Manson had been targeted for assasination! Phew. You'd never know it listening to this album. In fact, in a blind listening test, you'd be hard pressed to pick this out as the work of a soon to be incarcerated cult leader / mass murderer. Reverb drenched beatniky psychedelic freekfolk, sort of hippy and trippy but really pretty great. And Manson's voice is really nice, a little rough, a little raw, but warm and rich. The tracks range from gorgeous lilting dream folk to tripped out beatnik jams, to sixties psych rock, complete with bongos, acoustic guitar, strange clattery percussion, noodly electric leads, all with lots of delay and reverb giving the whole thing a rich shimmery vibe. Not all that surprising as Manson was BIG into music. Read any of the Brian Wilson / Beach Boys bios, and you'll find the Boys spending a great deal of time hanging with Manson, who seemed to always be a fixture at big Beach Boys bashes, and threw wild parties at his desert hideaway Spahn Ranch. And indie rockers have been obsessed with Manson Sings for years, always talking it up as a lost folk gem and sometimes even covering Manson's songs (the Lemonheads do a killer (sorry) version of "Home Is Where You're Happy").
Fans of the current crop of indie hippy forest folk, like Devendra, Feathers, Wooden Wand, Fursaxa and the like should realize, if they don't already, and whether they like it or not, that they have a freak folk father figure in the form of one Charles Manson...
MPEG Stream: "Look At Your Game Girl"
MPEG Stream: "Mechanical Man"
MPEG Stream: "Home Is Where You're Happy"

MANSON, CHARLES The Summer Of Hate - The '67 Sessions (Arte Lupo) cd 15.98
We reviewed the Charles Manson Sings disc on ESP a while back, and everyone kinda freaked out. We couldn't keep 'em in stock. Cuz beyond being a psycho, and a cult leader, and the mastermind behind a handful of gruesome killings, he was also some sort of musical visionary, a damaged folk troubador, obsessed with music, and with becoming an actual musician like his pals in the Beach Boys, his songs were dark and brooding, but strangely beautiful, haunting, intimate and personal. He had a really unique voice to, throaty and velvety smooth, like a raspier Nick Drake. 
This set of songs was recorded after just getting out of a prison stretch in the '60s, almost a year before he recorded his first and only proper album, and another year before the Tate / Labianca murders that would seal his place in history forever. 
The sound is rough and raw and lo-fi, but only adds to the strange power of these songs and performances. We described the recordings on Sings as "reverb drenched beatniky psychedelic freekfolk" and while there is some of that here, the sound here is much more stripped down and traditional sounding. Barebones and simple, it's all about Manson's voice and the guitar, and both sound divine. Moody and melancholy, slightly hippy, dark and thoughtful and really intense and pretty. Sure serial killer obsessives will be all over this, especially because most of the tracks have Manson going off on weird little rants after or before each song, stories, jokes, philosophies, usually delivered with a self conscious giggle, snippets of conversation with the guy recording these sessions or whoever else happens to be in the room. There's even a three minute interview included. It's definitely a bit creepy, especially knowing how everything would end up. 
But the music, taken on its own, is still super powerful, some gorgeously raw chunks of raw acoustic folk. Fans of classic stuff like Nick Drake, Townes Van Zandt, Bill Fay, as well as folks into Banhart, Vetiver, Espers, Fursaxa, Wooden Wand and any of the more song oriented modern freakfolks will definitely dig this like crazy, and probably oughta pick up the ESP disc as well...
MPEG Stream: "Devil Man"
MPEG Stream: "True Love You Will Find"
MPEG Stream: "She Done Turned Me In"

MANSON, JEFFREY Dozing in The Abandoned Gunnery (Recolote Music) cd-r 9.98
Jeffrey Manson is a new indie folk troubadour from right here in SF. This lo-fi home recorded album is filled with rootsy, rough hewn tunes which seems very much inspired by the earnest heart baring voice of Jeff Mangum. Best listened to in the great outdoors, far from the roar of the city. Dozing In The Abandoned Gunnery was released on the new indie label Recolote Music whose roster already includes a number of other likeminded homespun Bay Area artists such as Chinatown Bakeries, Ryan Stively & His Poison Band, and Port O'Brien. They release mostly limited run cdrs in lovingly handmade packaging.
MPEG Stream: "Commanding Eye"
MPEG Stream: "Corn Husk Head"

MANSON, MARILYN Holywood (Nothing) cd 16.98
Like it or not, Marilyn Manson has become a prophet for the white teenage disenfranchised, preaching all sorts of ill-conceived / anti-establishment messages against the existence of God, the authority of family, school, or state, and anything that the right wing of mainstream America would qualify as morally upstanding. It would be another thing if Marilyn Manson the prophet could actually incite revolutionary thought or action, rather than highly theatrical shock tactics, but he doesn't. Marilyn Manson is pure entertainment, and there's no way that he could deny that.
I think it's a stretch to discuss Manson within the discourse of the Gothic, simply because in my opinion, he fails to invoke terror or horror (except in the minds of the right wing -- but what doesn't startle them?). It would be far more repulsive, abject, and grotesque if all of the things which Manson professes to worship were done within a belief system which attempted to understand the nature of God and of divine punishment. Then the damnation which he has already put upon his head would actually mean something.
Without any guiding belief system or agenda of existential questioning, Marilyn Manson is nothing but a run of the mill Relativist, which -- while antithetical to Christianity -- does not make Manson a Satanist or the Anti-Christ.
Musically is where Manson has the better chance of success -- and yeah, it's pretty catchy -- sorta like a pop grindcore version of Adam Ant. Lead single "Disposable Teens" is a carbon copy of "Beautiful People". But no, it's certainly not scary.

MANSON, MARILYN Mechanical Animals (Nothing) cd 15.98
I really wonder how much the goth subculture will be altered by this album, as very little of the doom & gloom found on previous Marilyn Manson releases is present. Nonetheless, his / their new visual aesthetics of anthropomorphic plasticity (which is not too far from a Photoshop version of Matthew Barney's weird prosthetic fusions with goats, sheep, fish, etc...) recall the electro glam posturing of Gary Numan and are matched by the new wave electro on the album.

MANTECA Ritmo Y Sabor (EM) lp 24.00
Our hands down favorite reissue label for far-flung exotica, Japan's EM Records, not only has a new amazing release, but has also finally made the big leap to vinyl!! (Actually, they'd done a few lps before, but this release is vinyl ONLY). And what better choice for a vinyl reissue than this rare mid-'70s slab of Afro-Cuban percussive funk madness by Cuban master "bongosero", Lazaro Pla, or as he was better known to the world, Manteca! Eight relentlessly heavy bass-driven grooves featuring Manteca's organic percussive excursions that range from almost modernist compositions of repetitively shifting layers of driving rhythms to deep salsa jams and afro-cuban FUNK. Imagine Tussle with a Cuban rhythm section or Konono No. 1 with a limber funky bass player, or even one of the best Beastie Boys instrumentals from back in the day. Having performed with many legendary Cuban combos including Ernesto Lecuona's Cuban Boys, Manteca's recorded output as leader and featured soloist have been quite rare. Beautiful and dazzling with a no-frills production that acknowledges the traditional roots of Cuban music but with a forward thinking progressive edge. So Awesome! And DJs, get on it, you've got your new secret weapon right here.
MPEG Stream: "Afro Funky"
MPEG Stream: "Abacua"
MPEG Stream: "Gozando El Timbal"

MANTERA Same Here (Invisible) cd 14.98
The prolific Mick Harris (Scorn, Painkiller) and an Italian guy (different from the Overload Lady one) as a collaborator...

MANTLES, THE Burden Walk With Me (Dulc-i-tone) 7" 4.98

MANTRONIK, KURTIS I Sing the Body Electro (Oxygen) cd 14.98
The genius behind Mantronix is back with kick-ass beats and breaks--bringing together the disjointed electro he helped pioneer with the sonds of new school hip-hop and electronica.

MANTRONIX Mantronix: The Album (Warlock) cd 13.98

MANTRONIX That's My Beat (Soul Jazz) cd 21.00
Compiled by legendary musician / producer / remixer Kurtis Mantronik, this is a collection of tracks from the late '70s and early '80s, all of which he considers not only super influential on his own work, but also typical of the groundbreaking dance / hip hop / electro / disco / house music being made in New York at this time. If you're a fan of ESG or any of the music on the two "Disco not Disco" comps, you're gonna love this too. It's a fantastic collection of tracks covering everyone from Art of Noise to Yellow Magic Orchestra, Visage, Yello and T-La Rock. More than easily standing up to today's scrutiny, none of the tracks sound dated in a bad way at all. Another great comp from Soul Jazz, the London store/label that brought us the In the Beginning There Was Rhythm comp, the 100-400% Dynamite collections, etc. Highly recommended!
RealAudio clip: FUNKY 4 PLUS 1 "That's the Joint"
RealAudio clip: YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA "Computer Games"
RealAudio clip: VISAGE "Pleasure Boys"

MAOGOJIATA s/t (self-released) cd ep 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
With a name that's quite a mouthful, this new SF band bursts forth with more than an earful of complex pop smarts. Imagine a right-on blend of Archer Prewitt, Thingy and Built To Spill (recently though, they were witnessed in kick-ass live mode adding a considerable dose of angstful energy much like BTS' Doug Martsch's old band Tree People)! Piqued your interest? Indeed! Making smooth and swift shifts from incredibly pretty lilting melodies to intricate mathy rhythm terrain and back again, the four individuals craftily flesh out the Maogojiata sound. Buoyant acoustic and crunchy electric guitars weave around the tight rhythm section's twists and turns while vocals swoop from high emotive wail like that of New Pornographers' Carl Newman to a soft, boyishness reminiscent of Sea & Cake's Sam Prekop. A very refreshing debut!
MPEG Stream: "The Spark"
MPEG Stream: "1983"

MAOW The Unforgiving Sounds Of... (Mint) cd 16.98
Attention Neko Case fans!!!
After a couple of tour drumming stints with her Vancouver pals Cub got her feet wet and got her music wheel spinning, Ms Case launched her own ass-kickin' girl trio with two other awesome ladies C.C. Hammond and Tobey Black. This was years before The Boyfriends! Hammond, Black and Case were originally known as Meow, but there was apparently another band who'd already laid claim to that moniker, so Maow it was! Kept their fans in stitches... no, not from their fierce kick-boxing skills but moreso from their hilarious rough'n'tumble stage banter and garb, unforgettable press photos, and blisteringly catchy garage pop tunes. Released in 1996 on Mint Records, The Unforgiving Sounds Of Maow was their only album, and a fleetingly short one at that - clocking in 14 songs in just over twenty minutes! A little bit country and a little bit rock'n'roll, but there ain't no chance of these naughty hellions being mistaken for Donny and Marie. You definitely don't wanna miss "Ms Lefevre"! Come and get it, fans and funseekers!
Psst, we've also just gotten in a few other new and new-to-us titles on this fine Vancouver indie label by The Awkward Stage, Buttless Chaps and Immaculate Machine!
MPEG Stream: "Ms Lefevre"
MPEG Stream: "Mean Mean Man"

MAOZ, EYAL Edom (Tzadik) cd 15.98

MAP OF WYOMING Trouble Is (Blue Rose) cd 11.98

MAPFUMO, THOMAS Chimurenga Forever: Best of Thomas Mapfumo (Hemisphere) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From Zimbabwe.

MAPFUMO, THOMAS & THE ACID BAND Hokoyo! (Water) cd 15.98
Known as the Lion of Zimbabwe, Thomas Mapfuno is one of the most popular African musicians and next to Fela Kuti, one of the most politically outspoken. Leading a string of bands from the sixties to the eighties, Mapfumo is probably best known for creating and popularizing a form of African music called "Chimurenga" (meaning "struggle") that took its roots from the traditional rural Shona music of his upbringing but fusing it to Western rock instrumentation and styles. This mainly involved transcribing the sounds of the mbira to the electric guitar and singing in the Shona language instead of English. This also helped to disguise the inflammatory anti-government sentiments of his songs, but not for long. Wrongly imprisoned and his music banned from state controlled radio, the government couldn't stop his music being played in the discos and there was enough protest to warrant his eventual release. Having helped oust the government with the installation of free elections, Mapfumo helped Mugabe come to power only to later sing out against him and be forced to flee to America where he currently lives.
Hokoyo! (Watch Out!) from 1979, recorded with the Acid Band for this one time release, was Mapfumo's first outing musically and introduced the Chimurenga style after recording music for years influenced by Western pop music. It's also what made the government censor his music and throw him into the prison camps without charge. The Chimurenga vibe is definitely laid back, having more in common with Jamaican reggae than Kuti's Afro-funk extrapolations. Not as forceful as much political music can be, but like Brazil's Tropicalia movement, the power is in its popularity and giving the people their own voice!
MPEG Stream: "Hokoyo"
MPEG Stream: "Chengeta Va Bereki"

MAPFUMO, THOMAS & THE BLACKS UNLIMITED Gwindingwi Rine Shumba (Water) cd 15.98
Known as the Lion of Zimbabwe, Thomas Mapfuno is one of the most popular African musicians and next to Fela Kuti, one of the most politically outspoken. Leading a string of bands from the sixties to the eighties, Mapfumo is probably best known for creating and popularizing a form of African music called "Chimurenga" (meaning "struggle") that took its roots from the traditional rural Shona music of his upbringing but fusing it to Western rock instrumentation and styles. This mainly involved transcribing the sounds of the mbira to the electric guitar and singing in the Shona language instead of English. This also helped to disguise the inflammatory anti-government sentiments of his songs, but not for long. Wrongly imprisoned and his music banned from state controlled radio, the government couldn't stop his music being played in the discos and there was enough protest to warrant his eventual release. Having helped oust the government with the installation of free elections, Mapfumo helped Mugabe come to power only to later sing out against him and be forced to flee to America where he currently lives.
Gwindingwi Rine Shumba ("Lion In The Bush") from 1980 was released the same year that Free Elections took place and it's with the band that Mapfumo has remained with the longest. The first song "Shumba" is the stunner with a melancholy amplified mbira sound. The Chimurenga feel is definitely laid back, having more in common with Jamaican reggae than Kuti's Afro-funk extrapolations. Not as forceful as much political music can be, but like Brazil's Tropicalia movement, the power is in its popularity and giving the people their own voice!
MPEG Stream: "Shumba"
MPEG Stream: "Zimbabwe Yevatema"

MAPSTATION Distance Told Me Things To Be Said (Scape) cd 16.98

MAPSTATION Sleep, Engine Sleep (Staubgold) cd 13.98
Mapstation is the work of Stefan Schneider - better known for his work in To Rococo Rot. Using a lot of gurgling electronics and sampled live instrumentation, Mapstation sounds like a rock band trying to pull off what Oval does live, but realizing their mistake half way through the process and turning back to the laptop. Mellow almost noirish electronica melodies that aren't too far from the early Tarwater albums. But, if you've never heard To Rococo Rot's stunning albums, we suggest you start with them first instead of Mapstation.

MAQUILADORA WITH KAWABATA MAKOTO Kiss Over (Acid Mothers Temple) 2cd 21.00
We previously heard from San Diego indie rural-psychsters Maquiladora on the Acid Mothers Temple n' friends 3cd compilation Do Whatever You Want a while back. Now here's a Japanese import cd featuring them jamming with the Acid Mothers Temple's number one guru, guitarist Kawabata Makoto (and also ex-AMTer Cotton Casino). Over these two discs is sprawlingly spread a lot of lovely, drifting, droning, gentle, largely instrumental cosmic bliss with a slight desert-sunset, country-psych feel (hints of Maquiladora's rootsy roots come through with some plantive home-on-the-range harmonica that appears alongside the less rustic instrumentation of analog synth, glissando guitar, Hammond organ, piano, vibraphone, etc.). Maybe it's due to Makoto's usual magic, but this is surely good enough that now we'll definitely have to check out Maquiladora's own couple of previous records! Real nice, mellow, moody.
MPEG Stream: "Sound Is Over"
MPEG Stream: "UFO Goozu"

MAR The Silence (Ring Road) cd 10.98
Although they didn't start out that way, for this album, the musical entity that goes by the name Mar has become a mini super group of glistening glacial proportions. Its central figure is one Mr. Kyle Reidy originally from Arkansas, but its guest membership here includes Jimmy Lavalle of The Album Leaf and Mum's Samuli Kosminen. Recorded at Syrland Studios in Iceland (that would be Sigur Ros' studio!), The Silence is a drowsy drifting affair with whispery male vocals that not unsurprisingly nestles in perfectly with the Lavalle and Kosminen's main projects. Reidy mines the aching emotional depths with such a delicate touch countered with a grand regality that has become the trademark of Icelandic bands -- articulating both the monumental and the minute, the mighty and the frail in single sweeping elegant gestures. Guess it goes without saying that we'd highly recommend this to fans of Mum and The Album Leaf (and probably Sigur Ros too)... and/or folks who like their music to seek out the heartstrings in a most shimmery fashion. Lovely!
MPEG Stream: "Silence"
MPEG Stream: "Bows"

MARAH Kids In Philly (Artemis) cd 15.98

MARANHA, DAVID Piano Suspenso (Sonoris) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A single, one hour and twelve minute track by Portuguese composer David Maranha, performed live in New York in 1998. Using only a grand piano, four electric motors and a violin bow, Maranha "excites" the strings from within the piano to produce a beautiful, continuous drone that subtly shifts in emphasized overtones. The motors -- small, garden variety, electric motors -- are placed on the ends of microphone stands with what appear to be small brushes affixed to their business ends and set over the strings. Maranha adjusts the dynamics and pitches by the amount of pressure the motors apply to the strings and slowly moving the locations of the motors to the strings. On top of this Maranha adds various bowing techniques to augment the overall color. All in all this is an excellent cd, reminiscent of Coleclough & Chalk's "Sumac" or the works of Troum and other dronologists. Highly recommended.

MARAVICH s/t (self-released) cassette 3.00
First we've heard from these drifting ambient drone dudes from Ohio, but we're definitely digging it. Ultra minimal swells of sound. Dark and shimmery, distant melodic fragments glistening, everything a lugubrious creep. Haunting and mysterious, but soft focus and delicate. There's a definitely Stars Of The Lid vibe, the sort of endless expanses of rolling oceanic swells, as well as a bit of Growing at their most blissed out and dreamlike. 
The sound of Maravich is an active ambience, with reverbed guitars shimmering over metallic buzz, throbbing and pulsing, smeared with bits of delay, creating subtle rhythms, and constantly shifting textures. If they had a drummer, you could almost imagine some of these tracks, turning into lopingly propulsive post rock grooves, but instead, they remain in the realm of drift and shimmer, the two guitars reflecting off the other, creating lush harmonies and plenty of ethereal Fripp and Eno like interplay. So nice. 

MARAX 1. The Pleasure In Grieving (Crucial Blast) 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.
Our friend Adam who runs the super cool Crucial Blast label, has, for over 6 years now, been quietly (and not so quietly) putting out some of the coolest shit around. From crusty Finnish metal to droning electronica to sparse folk to brutal power electronics. This new series of cd-r's, limited to 100 copies and nicely packaged in oversized DVD cases will only be available via Aquarius records (unless you get them directly from Crucial Blast). So don't blow it...
Marax, named for an asthma medication, is the long running experimental electronic project of one Eric Crowe. For Crucial Blast, Crowe decided to do an expansive project focused on death and dying. 12 cd-rs released monthly for a year. LIMITED TO ONLY 25 COPIES each and hand numbered. This is volume one in the series and is very dark and grim. A gritty, noisy and completely intense drone record. One of the best we've heard in a while actually. Very reminscent of Organum, Lustmord and that sort of thing. Funereal washes of chest-rattling low end and ear-scraping grit and dreamy (as in bad dreams) walls of monstrous thrum. Really great. And I'm sure if you want, we can get Adam at Crucial Blast to hook you up with all 12. But let us know quick.
RealAudio clip: "The Pleasure In Grieving 1"
RealAudio clip: "The Pleasure In Grieving 2"

MARAX 2. Pass Away Into Heaven (Crucial Blast) 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.
Our friend Adam who runs the super cool Crucial Blast label, has, for over 6 years now, been quietly (and not so quietly) putting out some of the coolest shit around. From crusty Finnish metal to droning electronica to sparse folk to brutal power electronics. This new series of cd-r's, limited to 100 copies and nicely packaged in oversized DVD cases will only be available via Aquarius records (unless you get them directly from Crucial Blast). So don't blow it...
This is volume two in Marax's 'For The Love Of Death' series of super limited cd-r's (LIMITED TO 25) thematically focused on death and dying. Where the first volume was slow brning drones ala Lustmord or Organum, volume two takes that drone and adds even more grit and static, with the resulting sound, much more akin to turnatablist Philip Jeck. But where Jeck's gritty soundscapes are dreamy and pastoral, Marax uses the antiquated sound to invoke memories of the long dead and times best forgotten. A dark and doomy trip down memory lane. Kind of like an Organum wax cylinder played on a decrepit old gramaphone with occasional anguished howls in the distance. Melodies surface but soon deteriorate into a wash of grit and grime. When the vocals come in it sort of sounds like Burzum played at 15 r.p.m. transmitted through tin can and twines. So fucked up and creepy and great. And as I said before, I'm sure if you want, we can get Adam at Crucial Blast to hook you up with all 12. But let us know quick.
RealAudio clip: "Pass Away Into Heaven 2"
RealAudio clip: "Pass Away Into Heaven 3"

MARAX 3. Taphophile (Crucial Blast) 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.
As we mentioned on the last list, our friend Adam runs the super cool Crucial Blast label, and has, for over 6 years now, been quietly (and not so quietly) putting out some of the coolest shit around. From crusty Finnish metal to droning electronica to sparse folk to brutal power electronics. This new series of cd-r's, limited to 100 copies and nicely packaged in oversized DVD cases will only be available via Aquarius records (unless you get them directly from Crucial Blast). So don't blow it...
This is volume THREE in Marax's 'For The Love Of Death' series of super limited cd-r's (LIMITED TO 25) thematically focused on death and dying. Where the first volume was slow burning drones ala Lustmord or Organum, and the second volume was griity and granular like a Philip Jeck record, Voulme three pulls it back a little toward a much more ambient excursion. Distant rumbles like passing traffic heard from underwater, with barely audible digital skitter and analog hiss, and occasional far-away feedback. Super minimal, but quite nice. This one would definitely appeal to fans of Bernhard Gunter and John Hudak.
As we mentioned before, I'm sure we can get Adam at Crucial Blast to hook you up with all 12. But let us know quick.
RealAudio clip: "Strange How The Dead Bleed Part 2"
RealAudio clip: "Suttee Part 2"

MARAX 4. The Dead Don't Care (Crucial Blast) 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.
As we mentioned on the last list, our friend Adam runs the super cool Crucial Blast label, and has, for over 6 years now, been quietly (and not so quietly) putting out some of the coolest shit around. From crusty Finnish metal to droning electronica to sparse folk to brutal power electronics. This new series of cd-r's, limited to 100 copies and nicely packaged in oversized DVD cases will only be available via Aquarius records (unless you get them directly from Crucial Blast). So don't blow it...
This is volume FOUR in Marax's 'For The Love Of Death' series of super limited cd-r's (LIMITED TO 25) thematically focused on death and dying. Volume four is quite similar to volume three, with distant rumbles and faraway shimmers, gently panning from speaker to speaker, a hypnotic slow motion pulse, that is joined for the last ten minutes by what sounds like a train crossing signal way off in the distance. Another hyper minimal and very appealing installment in this awesome series (all this one clocks in at a quite short 16 minutes, good thing it's only 5.98).
As we mentioned before, I'm sure we can get Adam at Crucial Blast to hook you up with all 12. But let us know quick.
RealAudio clip: "Distant But Deafening Screams"
RealAudio clip: "The Fires Burn Cold"

MARBLE, MATT An Image And Its Dilution (Onomato) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Recorded in New Orleans in 2005, the week the Hurricane hit, this is an intense and super moving field recording from musician, composer and sound artist Matt Marble. Plenty of street sounds, musicians, bicycle bells, voices over loud speakers, whipping wind, foot steps, drums, rushing water, a 21 minute wander through the streets on NOLA, finishing with a strange coda of long high end drones laid over the rumble of cars and the whir of the storm. Very haunting and emotional.
The other two shorter tracks, feature an interview with a Gulf Coast family, radio playing in the background, and various family drama playing out, and a street singer doing an Otis Redding classic and engaging his captive audience.
It's all beautifully recorded, and not only sonically appealing, but a riveting brief glimpse into lives touched by tragedy.
Packaged in cool hand assembled sleeves, hand stamped, with a photocopied insert, and a phot pasted to the front. Originally limited to 90 copies, this is obviously WAY sold out, and these are thus the last copies ever...
MPEG Stream: "One"

MARBLE, MATT Chiasmata (Onomato) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yet another new release from one of our new favorite cd-r labels, Portland's Onomato, run by the guys in Ghosting!
Matt Marble is a composer, a researcher, a student of Speech And Hearing Science, and he's also the co-editor for sound art magazine FO A RM. He spends much of his time composing for large ensembles and "non-musicians". Chiasmata, like many of his works, was created using processed field recordings and hand built instruments.
The first track begins with 5 minutes of upper register shimmer, like rainfall transformed into bells, a ringing chiming high end drone, that gradually dissipates into an ultra minimal low end drift, before breaking down even further, into a barely audible, seemingly unaltered field recording, insects, leaves, wind. The second track, part two, begins where the first track ended, a microscopic world of insectoid scrape and skitter, distant chimes, all manner of found sound. Eventually, a subtle drone begins to materialize, a barely their uneven buzzing, soon some sort of looped vocal moan appears, and suddenly for the last few minutes, the sound builds to its most active, a warm thick drone, wrapped around a dense clatter of rattle and chime before just as abruptly, it disappears. Nice!
Packaged in hand printed covers with a full color photo affixed to each, photocopied insert and all housed in a heavy vinyl sleeve.
LIMITED TO 90 COPIES, WE GOT ABOUT 20. ONCE THEY'RE GONE THEY ARE GONE FOR GOOD.
MPEG Stream: "Chiasmata 1"
MPEG Stream: "Chiasmata 2"

MARBLEBOG Csendhajnal (Turanian Honor) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
MARBLEBOG!! BACK IN STOCK!!
What's in a name? Well, when the name of your band is Marblebog, and the name of your record is Csendhajnal, pretty much everything is in the name. We were sold before we'd even laid ears on it. But we're happy to report, the dark sorrowful sounds within more than live up to the bizarre monicker.
Marblebog specialize in that super fuzzy mournful black metal, midtempos and blurry hypnotic guitars, every track a slowly swinging seasick waltz, so completely droning and mesmerizing. The metal buried within churning clouds of thick murky ambience. The guitars not always sharp and jagged and buzzing, but sometimes just distant grumbles and whirs, buried beneath dense swirls of swooshing Tangerine Dream synths, while the drums sort of plod along waaaaaaaay back in the murk. And the vocals, woah, some of the most anguished, tortured, howling, damned-soul sort of howls we've ever heard, think Weakling, Silencer, Bethlehem, Sterbend, a near hysterical shrieking. But in Marblebog the vocals sound almost out of place, making them that much more harrowing and depressive. Imagine a lonely overgrown graveyard, weeds, flowers, ivy tangled in the bars of the wrought iron gates, the sky a dim grey, overcast, pregnant with the possibility of storm, the sound is not wind or birds or passing cars, instead it's a depressive dirge, not harsh or super aggressive, not even really buzzing, more a thick blanket of grey fuzz smothering everything in gorgeously miserable murkiness, then right in the middle of the graveyard, a mysterious figure is pushing his way through the dirt, a rotting creature of the night, crawling up from the grave, emitting a fowl hellish shriek of utter and absolute terror, while thick tendrils of graveyard mist swirl up around him, the vocals a glaring and harrowing blight on the otherwise peaceful (yet still dark and depressing) world of the dead.
The vocal-less tracks on Csendhajnal are downright lovely, slow, meandering synthscapes, of low end melodic miserablism, and slow drifting dark shimmer, like a more ambient Skepticism or Burzum, some haunting, otherworldly new age dooooom. But even the more properly metal tracks here are imbued with the same sort of new age dreaminess and slow motion, end of the world doominess. So awesome.
This disc collects the debut cd (from back in 2003) from this Hungarian horde and tacks on a whole bunch of killer extra tracks including the Nostalgic Moods In Grimwoods demo from 2002, the Arhat promo from 2002, and the rehearsal track "Hatefullmoon" from 2003, most of which were released as super limited tapes and/or splits. Killer cover art too!!!
SUPER LIMITED! 555 copies, each disc hand numbered!
MPEG Stream: "The Breath Of Emptiness"
MPEG Stream: "A Broken Circle"
MPEG Stream: "Eternal Silence Within"