NEWHART, BOB Something Like This: The Anthology (Warner Archives) cd 21.00

NEWMAN, A.C. The Slow Wonder (Matador) cd 12.98
New Pornographers (and former Zumpano) bandleader Carl Newman strikes out on his own with a new solo album, though you'd hardly know it wasn't just a new New Pornographers record when you slap it on. And we say this with the utmost esteem -- this man wears some huge songwriting shoes. Probably most distinguishable from the New Pornographers sound is the slower tempo on most of the tracks here, and maybe just a teeny bit less bouncy on the tunes with faster tempos. Like his work with Zumpano, and more recently The New Pornographers, Newman is not only the consummate songwriter, but arranger as well. His penchant for extracting the history of 70's pop and finessing it into his own sound is truly remarkable. Where others may come in with a cleaver and coarsely chop away with musical references and irony filled homages, Newman subtly infuses his work such that you find yourself constantly asking "what band is this reminding me of?" (almost the same effect that Bjorn Olsson's instrumental nuggets seem to have on us). Though if there's one group that we can definitely point to and say confidently that Mr. Newman has been listening to a great deal it's ELO -- throughout, Newman uses the trademark high choruses (we were even convinced that Ms. Neko Case had snuck into a recording session or two). So in lieu of the next New Pornographers (or that fabled lost third Zumpano record), we can highly recommend this tight, fat free collection of clean, wholesome, kick-ass rock n' roll to be your summer soundtrack.
MPEG Stream: "Miracle Drug"
MPEG Stream: "On The Table"
MPEG Stream: "Better Than Most"

NEWSOM, JOANNA And The Ys Street Band (Drag City) cd ep 12.98
Joanna Newsom's follow-up to last year's acclaimed musical epic Ys gives us a lighter glimpse into how she has transcribed Van Dyke Park's heady-yet-playful orchestrations into use for her current touring band (the jokingly-monikered "YS Street Band").
The three songs here ‹one new, and two reworked from past releases, all beginning with the letter C, for some reason, ‹ are accompanied by banjo, accordion, guitar, drums and a musical saw. The new song, "Colleen", is "Katie Cruel" by way of "Riverdance", a Celtic-tinged jig about a woman who has seemed to have forgotten her mysterious past. It's the kind of song-story that would have easily fit on Ys, if she didn't already have "Monkey and Bear". Revisiting "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie" from The Milk-eyed Mender for a third time (counting the version on her first self-released demo, Walnut Whales), Newsom thankfully doesn't add too much dressing to its spare arrangement except for the inclusion of well-placed vocal accompaniments. But the price of admission is all about her reworking of Cosmia , the final (and shortest) track from Ys. On that album the song with its heavy orchestrations served as the soaring climax. Here she nearly doubles its length and by substituting the string section for banjo and musical saw makes it airier and more expansive, allowing the band to break free for a bit and kick it up some without losing any of the song's emotional weight. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Colleen"
MPEG Stream: "Cosmia"

NEWSOM, JOANNA And The Ys Street Band (Drag City) 12" 12.98
Also on vinyl. Joanna Newsom's follow-up to last year's acclaimed musical epic Ys gives us a lighter glimpse into how she has transcribed Van Dyke Park's heady-yet-playful orchestrations into use for her current touring band (the jokingly-monikered "YS Street Band").
The three songs here ‹one new, and two reworked from past releases, all beginning with the letter C, for some reason, ‹ are accompanied by banjo, accordion, guitar, drums and a musical saw. The new song, "Colleen", is "Katie Cruel" by way of "Riverdance", a Celtic-tinged jig about a woman who has seemed to have forgotten her mysterious past. It's the kind of song-story that would have easily fit on Ys, if she didn't already have "Monkey and Bear". Revisiting "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie" from The Milk-eyed Mender for a third time (counting the version on her first self-released demo, Walnut Whales), Newsom thankfully doesn't add too much dressing to its spare arrangement except for the inclusion of well-placed vocal accompaniments. But the price of admission is all about her reworking of Cosmia , the final (and shortest) track from Ys. On that album the song with its heavy orchestrations served as the soaring climax. Here she nearly doubles its length and by substituting the string section for banjo and musical saw makes it airier and more expansive, allowing the band to break free for a bit and kick it up some without losing any of the song's emotional weight. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Colleen"
MPEG Stream: "Cosmia"

NEWSOM, JOANNA Sprout And The Bean (Drag City) cd ep 5.98
Everybody who loves San Francisco fairytale folk singer/harpist Joanna Newsom raise your hands -- we know there's a lot of you out there! We want your attention 'cause this lil' cd is a special treat for fans. It's got one previously unreleased Newsom track "What We Have Known", plus "Sprout And The Bean" taken from her smash hit (well, 'round these parts it seems anyway) album The Milk-Eyed Mender! And, better yet even, this also includes a video for said track! Obviously, it's single for fans only, but we imagine quite a few you won't be able to resist...
MPEG Stream: "Sprout And The Bean"

NEWSOM, JOANNA The Milk-Eyed Mender (Drag City) cd 14.98
Imagine this scene... as the lights dim a lone figure creeps into the spotlight, it's Bjork! and she's singing the song "It's A Hard Knock Life" from the Broadway musical Annie. Not such a farfetched thought when you think of how much Bjork seems to love Broadway productions, but on The Milk-Eyed Mender it isn't Bjork in the spotlight, it's SF sweetheart Joanna Newsom. Indeed, her voice bears much more than a passing resemblance to that of the Icelandic deity. Its childlike qualities are matched by some equally childlike wonky keyboards in one track, and the general twee simplicity of her music overall. One customer of ours offered the following description of Newsom: "the lovechild of Bjork and the Incredible String Band's Robin Williamson, born in Moominland."
This is the big-time Drag City debut for Ms. Newsom, who's homemade cd-rs we've carried in the past (from which some of this material is drawn, re-recorded). We'll freely admit that her rather cutesy, affected sub-Bjork-ish vocal style may be an acquired taste; it seems that seeing her perform in person makes a big difference, as everyone we know who has attended one of Joanna's solo shows has been entranced and enthused. Heck I think some of 'em fell in love. And love it or hate it, this album really IS all about her singing -- her voice and lyrics -- backed pretty much only by the angelic pluck/strum of her harp. Harp? That's right, Newsom is a classical harpist, whom you may already have heard on the Nervous Cop disc with the drummers from Deerhoof and Hella. This is much different than that, of course. It's Newsom's own thing...simple, folky music, her little-girl vocal stylings, and otherworldly, fairytale persona... something we suspect a lot of people will end up liking, once (if?) attuned to it. After all, "true beauty is difficult but rewarding" says the same customer quoted above.
MPEG Stream: "Sprout And The Bean"
MPEG Stream: "Sadie"

NEWSOM, JOANNA The Milk-eyed Mender (Drag City) lp 14.98
Imagine this scene... as the lights dim a lone figure creeps into the spotlight, it's Bjork! and she's singing the song "It's A Hard Knock Life" from the Broadway musical Annie. Not such a farfetched thought when you think of how much Bjork seems to love Broadway productions, but on The Milk-Eyed Mender it isn't Bjork in the spotlight, it's SF sweetheart Joanna Newsom. Indeed, her voice bears much more than a passing resemblance to that of the Icelandic deity. Its childlike qualities are matched by some equally childlike wonky keyboards in one track, and the general twee simplicity of her music overall. One customer of ours offered the following description of Newsom: "the lovechild of Bjork and the Incredible String Band's Robin Williamson, born in Moominland."
This is the big-time Drag City debut for Ms. Newsom, who's homemade cd-rs we've carried in the past (from which some of this material is drawn, re-recorded). We'll freely admit that her rather cutesy, affected sub-Bjork-ish vocal style may be an acquired taste; it seems that seeing her perform in person makes a big difference, as everyone we know who has attended one of Joanna's solo shows has been entranced and enthused. Heck I think some of 'em fell in love. And love it or hate it, this album really IS all about her singing -- her voice and lyrics -- backed pretty much only by the angelic pluck/strum of her harp. Harp? That's right, Newsom is a classical harpist, whom you may already have heard on the Nervous Cop disc with the drummers from Deerhoof and Hella. This is much different than that, of course. It's Newsom's own thing...simple, folky music, her little-girl vocal stylings, and otherworldly, fairytale persona... something we suspect a lot of people will end up liking, once (if?) attuned to it. After all, "true beauty is difficult but rewarding" says the same customer quoted above.
MPEG Stream: "Sprout And The Bean"
MPEG Stream: "Sadie"

NEWSOM, JOANNA Ys (Drag City) cd 14.98
One of the most anticipated releases this year, Joanna Newsom's second full length Ys (fyi: apparently pronounced 'ease', not 'wise') probably needs no introduction. Before we all drown in the river of salivation, perhaps we should just ring the supper bell and holler, "Come 'n' get it!"
Have you been hearing the rather loud murmurs about how Joanna Newsom is telling all that -- contrary to all of the press portraits of her resembling an Appalachian woodland waif -- she is not simply a folk songstress? Us too, and well, on an initial couple of listens to Ys, it does seem to be true. Yes, she has reinvented herself, somewhat aggressively distancing herself from the young indie folk scene that she helped spawn. It appears all that lingers from The Milk-Eyed Mender is her trusty harp, though even it claims less of the spotlight. Ys most definitely shows much artistic growth and aspiration with a far broader creative scope and production sense. Really, if there's any question that Newsom (and her label Drag City) are goin' for the serious artiste cred, you need look no further than the big gun support and chaperoning courtesy of top shelf luminaries Van Dyke Parks, Steve Albini and Jim O'Rourke. Not unexpectedly, THEY do amazing work on this album. It's stunningly beautiful. With a supporting cast like that, Newsom was clearly afforded full freedom to focus on realizing her vision. But what is that vision? We're not being completely facetious when we suggest two words -- Kate Bush. Heck, she's certainly already captivated the imagination of a similarly obsessive adoring fanbase as Ms Bush's, and maybe just as many naysayers. The mere mention of either artist's name triggers immediate passionate love/hate reactions. Her overall presentation seems so directly inspired by the venerable artist's own eccentric dramatics that you'd almost expect her to break out into "Babooshka" at any moment! Speaking of which with regards to the vocal department, the Kate and Joanna fans around here have likened her pixie-esque singing on this album to Kate Bush as a child minstrel (mind you, the non-Kate and Joanna fans might rephrase that less kindly as Kate Bush as a squeeze toy). Regardless, this is quite the ambitious work. In each of the five lengthy tracks (the longest is 16 minutes!), she unveils her lyrics in theatrical, highly literary fashion. It's still the storybook stuff of romantic fairy tales and whimsical fables, but it's set far less in nature than the rural hued Milk Eyed Mender. It evokes fantastic jewel-toned interiors, stages, salons, tea rooms. At once, dainty and sumptuous. The album defies expectations in wonderful, enchanting ways.
MPEG Stream: "Emily "
MPEG Stream: "Cosmia"

NEWSOM, JOANNA Ys (Drag City) 2lp 21.00
One of the most anticipated releases this year, Joanna Newsom's second full length Ys (fyi: apparently pronounced 'ease', not 'wise') probably needs no introduction. Before we all drown in the river of salivation, perhaps we should just ring the supper bell and holler, "Come 'n' get it!"
Have you been hearing the rather loud murmurs about how Joanna Newsom is telling all that -- contrary to all of the press portraits of her resembling an Appalachian woodland waif -- she is not simply a folk songstress? Us too, and well, on an initial couple of listens to Ys, it does seem to be true. Yes, she has reinvented herself, somewhat aggressively distancing herself from the young indie folk scene that she helped spawn. It appears all that lingers from The Milk-Eyed Mender is her trusty harp, though even it claims less of the spotlight. Ys most definitely shows much artistic growth and aspiration with a far broader creative scope and production sense. Really, if there's any question that Newsom (and her label Drag City) is goin' for the serious artiste cred, you need look no further than the big gun support and chaperoning courtesy of top shelf luminaries Van Dyke Parks, Steve Albini and Jim O'Rourke. Not unexpectedly, THEY do amazing work on this album. It's stunningly beautiful. With a supporting cast like that, Newsom was clearly afforded full freedom to focus on realizing her vision. But what is that vision? We're not being completely facetious when we suggest two words -- Kate Bush. Heck, she's certainly already captivated the imagination of a similarly obsessive adoring fanbase as Ms Bush's, and maybe just as many naysayers. The mere mention of either artist's name triggers immediate passionate love/hate reactions. Her overall presentation seems so directly inspired by the venerable artist's own eccentric dramatics that you'd almost expect her to break out into "Babooshka" at any moment! Speaking of which with regards to the vocal department, the Kate and Joanna fans around here have likened her pixie-esque singing on this album to Kate Bush as a child minstrel (mind you, the non-Kate and Joanna fans might rephrase that less kindly as Kate Bush as a squeeze toy). Regardless, this is quite the ambitious work. In each of the five lengthy tracks (the longest is 16 minutes!), she unveils her lyrics in theatrical, highly literary fashion. It's still the storybook stuff of romantic fairy tales and whimsical fables, but it's set far less in nature than the rural hued Milk Eyed Mender. It evokes fantastic jewel-toned interiors, stages, salons, tea rooms. At once, dainty and sumptuous. The album defies expectations in wonderful, enchanting ways.
MPEG Stream: "Emily "
MPEG Stream: "Cosmia"

NEXT LIFE Electric Violence (Cock Rock Disco) cd 15.98
Electronic "nintendo metal" from Norway.

NF ORCHEST Parasite / Cleanse (Breaking Wheel) cd-r 6.98
NF Orchest is a Bay Area electro-acoustic / noisenik / improv trio centered around the activities of Angela Hsu, Andrew Way, and James Kaiser. While Hsu has connections with Mills College, Way and Kaiser have performed extensively around the Bay Area as French Radio with Bruce Anderson; Kaiser also records solo under the moniker Petit Mal. Bowed metals, damaged turntables, tumbled rocks, screeched violin pushed through squawk boxes, and the improbabilities of feedback all come together in the density of raw sound of NF Orchest that reflects the same interest in acoustic sonology as heard in Organum and Tony Conrad. Couple those influences with a eagerness to set off depth-charge rumbles, subterranean detonations, and Skaters-esque lo-fi dissonance, NF Orchest adds a particular noise-junk malice that is all their own. Yup, this is a super limited CD-R release of two live sessions recorded in July, 2005. Only 104 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Parasite"
MPEG Stream: "Cleanse"

NI HAO! Gorgeous (Tzadik) cd 15.98
Featuring the singer from Limited Express (Has Gone?), Ni Hao! is an all-girl Japanese art-rock trio: two on bass, one on drums, all of 'em on vocals. Lots and lots of vocals, in complex arrangements. The whole shebang is quite energetic and precise, and should appeal to fans of Limited Express and Ex-Girl. Includes a spirited cover of the Ramones' "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" and also three bonus computer-only video interview clips with each of the band members (in Japanese with English subtitles).
MPEG Stream: "Laila"

NIBLOCK, PHILL Disseminate (Mode) cd 16.98
Phill Niblock is the god of drones! All these other experimental musicians and "dronologists" are like little kids with kazoos when put up against Niblock and his amazing compositions. It's only in the last few years that his works have found their way onto recordings so his reputation is finally, albeit slowly catching up with other more prolific modern composers. And here's a new disc to illustrate our point. The first track is a gorgeous thrum, performed by a 60 piece orchestra reading a traditional score, with no post-recording manipulations. The sound is very haunting and a bit Gregorian sounding. Absolutely mesmerising. The second track features contrabass flute, contrabass saxophone, contrabass tuba all pre-recorded, with the samples later re-assembled with ProTools. The sounds weren't altered but the assembly of the different pieces changed the sound. Consequently, this piece is sonically less organic and more electronic / clinical sounding, even though the source sounds are traditional instruments. The final piece is another traditionally composed and performed piece for viola, cello, bass clarinet, soprano sax, flute and trombone and is an unwavering multi-tonal thrum, rich and layered, slowly shifting as the microtones try to settle into position, sounding quite a bit at times like modern dronesters Sunroof! and Vibracathedral Orchestra.
MPEG Stream: "Kontradictionaries"

NIBLOCK, PHILL Four Full Flutes (Experimental Intermedia) cd 15.98
One of flute-drone master Niblock's best, in fan Andee's opinion.

NIBLOCK, PHILL G2, 44+ / X2 (Moikai) cd 14.98
Seems like Jim O'Rourke keeps sticking his grubby little paws where they're not needed. Tortoise? Stereolab? Mirror? Sonic Youth? Phill Niblock?!?!?!? Good thing he doesn't think Aquarius is cool enough otherwise that bunny-suited dork would be ringing you up at the cash register!! Maybe that's a little mean, but it does seem, where hipness goes, O'Rourke will follow. And in this case, at least, we can't really complain since it means we are treated to one more amazing Phill Niblock record. Niblock who has been active for 20+ years, but had never recorded due to his distaste for the process and the resulting less-than-adequate and timeless document, has recently seen more and more of his work seeing the light of day thanks to better recording and a medium (cds) with more room for longer duration pieces. Niblock also runs the XL label that has been focusing on twentieth century composers specialising in extended drones. On G2, 44+/X2, Niblock has composed an extended piece for multi-tracked guitar. The first version features guitar samples from Rafael Toral, Robert Poss, Susan Stenger and David First. The second version features the same 24 track mix as the first version, but with Kevin Drumm, Lee Ranaldo, Robert Poss, Alan Licht and Thurston Moore adding 2 live parts each. The results are stunning. Version one warm and ALIVE, a swelling, throbbing, beating wall of thick guitars, feedback and chords, all layered into one massive otherworldy drone. The second version is quite similar, but even more dense, with the extra guitars adding more low end rumble and a dizzying array of ultra-subtle harmonics. When the record ends, it's like a vacuum in your skull. It almost physically hurts when the music stops, as if you were floating on a rich, thick bed of sound and suddenly it was yanked out from under you and you find yourself laying on the cold hard ground. Nothing to do but push play again, sit back and let the guitars lift you toward the sky. SO GOOD!!
RealAudio clip: "Guitar Too, For Four - Toral Version"

NIBLOCK, PHILL Music By (Experimental Intermedia) cd 14.98

NIBLOCK, PHILL The Magic Sun (Atavistic) dvd 14.98
We've been a huge fan of Phill Niblock for ages, the elder statesman of minimal drone, who while having composed and performed numerous pieces, only began releasing his recordings quite recently (in the overall scheme of things), choosing to wait for technology and storage / playback media to catch up, allowing Niblock to record his lengthy compositions without breaking them up into pieces. But Niblock was also a photographer and an experimental film maker. The Magic Sun, from 1966, is an amazing example of not only Niblock's unique film making, but also an abstract and appropriately off kilter look into the weird and wonderful world of Sun Ra And His Solar Arkestra. This short fifteen minute film uses a unique negative process and was composed entirely of ultra tight shots of Sun Ra and his band performing, faces, fingers, strings, sticks, a confusing but compelling visual accompaniment to Sun Ra's joyous musical cacophony. A gorgeously tripped out psychedelic abstract free-for-all in grayscale. White shapes hover and twist, eyes and fingers become comets and eclipsed suns, faces become subtle white smears across a vast expanse of black, cymbals are the rings around a black planet, the fretboard a mysterious nighttime highway, the piano keys, fence posts or streaks of chalk on a blackboard. So intense and alien and perfect. The bonus feature here is amazing as well, a slide show of rare sixties photos, accompanied by unreleaed recordings, music as well as never heard before philosophical proclamations from Sun Ra, tripped out and bizarre discussing Sun Ra himself, mythology, jazz, the band, the United States, Russia and all sorts of other spaced out wisdom. So cool!

NIBLOCK, PHILL Touch Food (Touch) 2cd 17.98
We were joking a couple days ago about Phill Niblock, or it could of been Tony Conrad (Or Angus Maclise or any of those folks) about how great it must be having over the course of your entire 30 or 40 year career to have played only 4 or 5 notes. Obviously it's not as simple as that. Niblock is one of the few modern composers that can hold your attention for an hour or more with the judicious use of a single note. Like Reich and Riley, Niblock harnesses the natural properties of sound letting the sound do much of the work, shifting slowly, beating intermittantly, always shimmering and occasionally throbbing as notes nestle close to each other, sometimes sliding into place perfectly, other times finding a strange resistance and audibly working to fit in, resulting in all these subtle shifts. This is glacial and static, warm and thick and totally mesmerising. Touch Food also seems, to me at least, to be Niblock's most melodically complex set of pieces. The melodies here manage to be fairly prominent, even though they are stretched to their limit and obfuscated by the thick wash of sound. This is heady, heavy stuff. Heavy enough in fact that all you dirge-ists (tm) who are into Earth and Sunn 0))) and stuff like that may find that Niblock is your gateway drug, opening up the door to Maclise, Flynt, Cale and beyond. And of course, fans of modern drone, Sunroof!, Birchville Cat Motel, Skullflower, Vibracathedral Orchestra should definitely pick this up! His best record since Four Full Flutes!
MPEG Stream: "Sweet Potato"

NIBLOCK, PHILL Touch Three (Touch) 3cd 24.00
"No rhythm. No melody. No bullshit."
Thus read the caption in Niblock's recent feature in the UK's Wire magazine. And we couldn't have summed it up better ourselves.
Three is Niblock's third release on Touch and most definitely his most ambitious. Three discs, every piece 20 to thirty minutes in length, each composed using the recordings of a single instrument. Be it sax, or cello, or viola, Niblock has the performer play extended notes, 15 to 30 seconds, he later removes extraneous sounds, breathing, etc. and then subtly shifts the sounds to create microtones, and microtones are exactly what is so magical about Niblock's work. Small subtle shifts, glacial movements that over the course of a twenty minute piece cause nearly imperceptible alterations, an ultra minimal flux that reveal all sorts of gorgeous subtleties. These pieces are massive, monolithic, grand explorations of sound, that require close listening, and close listening results in untold rewards, the beauty is secretive, revealing itself slowly and in tiny tiny increments, but it allows these pieces to grow and hover dreamlike, wrapping your head in a sound that feels alive, filling your ears with a thick, practically viscous drone, so intense, that when it finally stops, it feels like you've been yanked suddenly back from the abyss. This is truly powerful minimalism, at once simple and spare, but also dense with microscopic color and incredibly subtle shadings.
Niblock has been composing and subtly influencing many of his more well known peers since the late sixties, lurking on the fringes of academia and underground avant composition for years, having only started to document and release his compositions relatively recently, with the advent of the compact disc, a medium much more well suited to long from pieces, and he has rapidly and rightfully take his place amongst the minimalist hierarchy. With every new Niblock release, especially one as epic as like Touch Three, we find ourselves longing for Niblock to take his drones even further, exploring DVD audio and hours long live performances. These are the kinds of pieces, the sorts of sounds, that given enough time and space, could continue to grown and expand and blossom, revealing completely new worlds of sound. And we can't wait!
MPEG Stream: "Harm "
MPEG Stream: "Sethwork"
MPEG Stream: "Lucid Sea"

NIBLOCK, PHILL Touch Works, For Hurdy Gurdy and Voice (Touch) cd 16.98
Phill Niblock is a minimalist contemporary of LaMonte Young, Charlemagne Palestine, and Tony Conrad, yet has been seemingly overlooked, minus a few avant rock footnotes from the likes of Glenn Branca, Sonic Youth, and Band of Susans. In the liner notes, essayist Kyle Gann offers an unconvincing argument as to the reason for his relative obscurity, claiming that Niblock's work is too challenging, compared to his minimalist brothers... Well, Niblock's approach is certainly more complex than Young's static explorations of fundamental pitches or Conrad's scraping antagonism toward traditional intonation, but more challenging? I think "more interesting" is a better read of Gann's thesis. While them's fightin' words in the quick-to-slander political world of NYC '60s minimalism, Niblock's "Touch Works, For Hurdy Gurdy and Voice" is certainly a formidable album that stands firmly on its own merits, without Aquarius adding any fuel to the fire.
The first piece "Hurdy Hurry" is an extended drone, based on samples of Jim O'Rourke and his hurdy gurdy. Niblock begins the piece simply enough with a single sustained whir of the wooden machine, but thickens the mix with multi-tracked layers of more hurdy gurdy drones tuned to specific pitches. The result is a glistening audio kaleidoscope of rich ambers, oranges, and blood reds.
The two versions of "A Y U (aka As Yet Untitled)" are based upon a similar multi-tracked technique as before, but based upon recordings of baritone vocalist Thomas Buckner. These two tracks have a nasally warble to them, sounding similar to the circular breathing of Tuvan throat singers. While sonically similar, the first version is open and diffuse, and the second is lumbering and forceful.
As with all Touch releases, Jon Wozencroft offers his usual amazing design sensibility to an amazing piece of minimalist composition.
RealAudio clip: "A Y U (part one)"
RealAudio clip: "Hurdy Hurry"

NIBLOCK, PHILL YPGPN (XI) 2cd 14.98

NIBO con.duct (Raster-Noton) cd 14.98
A perfect fit for Raster-Noton, Nibo is the moniker of a Japanese audio-visual artist who has been articulating sound through mathematically tight digital-click repetitions and pure sinewave tones, that end up sounding virtually identical to the post-techno rhythmic tendencies of Alva Noto, Ryoji Ikeda, and to a lesser extent Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio.
RealAudio clip: "Track 3"

NICEKITTY 3-Song EP (self-released) cd-r 4.98

NICHOLS, MIKE, & ELAINE MAY An Evening With... (Mercury) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
4 selections from their 1960 improvised performances on Broadway. The comic duo would often ask the audience for an opening line or a topic to maintain the integrity toward their improvisation. Often quite funny, often scathing, always entertaining.

NICHOLS, MIKE, & ELAINE MAY Examine Doctors (Mercury) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Examine Doctors is an outgrowth of their weekly comic appearances on the NBC radio's Monitor show in 1962. This is an unedited tape of a Monitor work session, with all of the ideas and situations occuring spontaneously and the dialogue entirely improvised. The NBC producer at that time suggested that the pair do a spot on doctors, to which Mike responded "you can't do anything funny about doctors." Black humor and ironic situations that have an engaging intelligence not at all dissimilar to Woody Allen.

NICHOLS, MIKE, & ELAINE MAY Improvisations to Music (Mercury) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A third reissue of Mike & Elaine's improvisational skills finds them in cahoots with pianist Marty Rubenstein, who created a variety of music to suggest different moods. Mike & Elaine would spontaneously create scenes to fit each musical interlude. No scripts... no rehearsals...

NICO Chelsea Girl (PolyGram) cd 12.98

NICO Desertshore (Warner Archives (Reprise)) cd 12.98
Now in stock on cd! Not new, but there was a recent vinyl reissue that Marcy loved, so we figured we ought to list the cd version too. Here's what she said about the LP:
This is a send-shivers-up-your-spine record, and I mean that in a couple ways -- it all depends on where you stand opinion wise in regards to Nico's talent, in or out of the context of the Velvet Underground. I personally beleive that Nico is an artist of some great depth, as evidenced by this immeasurably cold and beautiful record from the ultimate ice queen. On "Desertshore," originally released in 1970, the primary instrumentation is Nico's harmonium, with additional backing from John Cale. The harmonium, Cale's viola, and Nico's distinctive voice blend to create multiple layers of incredibly dark, extended, buzzing drones. The overall picture is mysterious and bleak; it's not only my favorite Nico record, but also one of the best post-Velvets records by any former members.
RealAudio clip: "All That Is My Own"
RealAudio clip: "Janitor Of Lunacy"

NICO Desertshore (4 Men With Beards) lp 15.98
This is a send-shivers-up-your-spine record, and I mean that in a couple ways -- it all depends on where you stand opinion wise in regards to Nico's talent, in or out of the context of the Velvet Underground. I personally beleive that Nico is an artist of some depth, as evidenced by this immeasurably cold and beautiful record from the ultimate ice queen. On "Desertshore," originally released in 1970 and now repressed on vinyl by the good people at 4 Men With Beards, the primary instrumentation is Nico's harmonium, with additional backing from John Cale. The harmonium, Cale's viola, and Nico's distinctive voice blend to create multiple layers of incredibly dark, extended, buzzing drones. The overall picture is mysterious and bleak; it's not only my favorite Nico record, but also one of the best post-Velvets records by any former members.

NICO Marble Index (Elektra) cd 12.98

NICO The Marble Index (Sundazed) lp 21.00

NICO FIDENCO Black Emanuelle's Groove (Dagored) cd 14.98
More of that classic porn-funk soundtrack music people just can't get enough of. Pictures, too.

NICO FIDENCO Black Emanuelle's Groove (Abraxas) cd 14.98
Music from the soundtracks of the Emanuelle movies, mostly Emanuelle Nera. Liner notes and nudie pix.

NICO FIDENCO Black Emanuelle's Groove (Abraxas) lp 13.98
Music from the soundtracks of the Emanuelle movies, mostly Emanuelle Nera. Liner notes and nudie pix.

NICOLAI, BRUNO 100,000 Dollari Per Ringo cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We all love Morricone's western soundtracks. Fistful Of Dollars, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, For A Few Dollars More. They are all so evocative and gorgeous, able to stand comfortably on their own removed from the films they are so inexorably linked to, which can't be said for most soundtracks. Don't know a whole lot about Bruno Nicolai, but either he owes a huge debt to Morricone, or Morricone has a secret influence....100,000 Dollari Per Ringo has all the sights and sounds and smells (well the sounds at least) we've come to expect from an Italian western soundtrack, soaring strings, lonely harmonica, whistles and gently strummed guitars, bellowing almost-operatic male vocals. But there's just something about this particular collection that moves me in a way no other Italian soundtrack has, Morricone or otherwise. I don't know about you, but I rarely listen to a whole soundtrack all the way through there are usually specific parts or songs that I want to hear. But with 100,00 Dollari, it flows so perfectly I end up listening to the whole thing all the time, sometimes forgetting what I'm listening to, and having to check, because it doesn't always sound like an 'Italian Western'. Which is part of what makes it so great. Vocal tracks, sleepy, dusky instrumentals, and roaring, bombastic epics all balanced and sequenced perfectly. It helps that the opening track, Ringo Come To Fight, is one of the greatest 'cowboy vocal songs' EVER with gorgeous sorrowful vocals and a gorgeous arrangement. And track two, Sfida Eroica, is THE most kick ass song ever. Seriously. Makes me want to leap out the window and join the shootout in progress across the street in the saloon, rescue my lady from the jail, leap on my horse and ride into the desert, not before I retrieve the sack of gold, my trusty sidekick and my dog Ringo. It's like the soundtrack equivalent of a song that makes you HAVE TO air guitar or air drum. And the rest of the soundtrack kicks holy ass as well. Morricone fans obviously need this, but there's stuff on here that would appeal to fans of Godspeed, Calexico, Lanterna and dreamy, twangy rock in general. Give it a try.
RealAudio clip: "Sfida Eroica"
RealAudio clip: "Ringo Come To Fight"
RealAudio clip: "Repressione Violenta"
RealAudio clip: "Tumulti"

NID Plate Tectonics (Aufabwegen) cd 16.98
This big time aQ fave, out of stock for ages, finally available again!
While not new, we only just discovered NID, and our discovery came about in a very random manner, considering various related works were right under our nose. We listed a killer 4 way split 12" a while back called One Man Drone, and our favorite track from the spit was a piece by a group called B(degree)Tong. We later discovered that the man behind B(degree)Tong was previously a member of German experimental sound-collective NID. But what we did not know was that NID was sometimes also known as Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim, a group who had various releases on the Drone Records label, one of which is included on the recent tUMULt collection of out of print Drone singles.
So now it's sort of come full circle and we have this, the only proper full length recording (as far as we know) from the group NID, aka Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim and it's pretty amazing. Pretty bizarre too, but then with a (sometime) name like Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim, what else would you expect?
Three looooooooong tracks. Each an epic, incredibly varied soundworld, blending found sounds and field recordings with drones and intense blasts of layered sound. The opener begins with a muted cacophony of birds and crickets, before disappearing into a roiling black cloud of rumbling low end and distant droning guitar buzz. It almost sounds like sticking your head out of a speeding car, the wind whipping by and causing all sorts of distortions, but blurred into an impressively massive wall of sound. Within all this whipping sonic wind and rumbling whirs, are strange bits of percussion, the clang and bang of metal on metal, shakers and simple rhythms, they drift briefly in the eye of the storm, before the drone drops again, even more furious than before, until it fades out amidst the dreamy shimmer of female vocals and haunting minor key melodic buzz. Really intense and strangely beautiful.
The second track is another deep cavernous roar. A bit smoother than the previous number, but not for long, bit of metallic buzz surface amidst the undulating rumbles, with some serious dynamic spikes, some of which sound like brief bursts of SUNNO 0))), and others are even lower and more aggressive bits of low end exploration. There are bits of static and random buzz here and there, but mostly it's black and dark, a massive growling beast, slowly uncoiling into a monster that blocks out the sun. Near the end of the track, the darkness abates and in its place is a strange skipping stuttering snippet of music, wrapped in hazy distortion and looped into a mesmerizing rhythm, repeated over and over and over, gradually crumbling and becoming more and more distorted before erupting into a final burst of chest rattling low end, finally slowing down and sputtering to a halt.
The final track is over twenty minutes and is the most melodic of the bunch. Beginning with a looped cycle of xylophone melody, over a throbbing low end pulse and streaks of keening distant guitar and bits of operatic female vocals. Very ominous and mysterious sounding. When suddenly everything stops, and there's a guy with a British accent ranting over someone ransacking a kitchen, breaking glass, clanging cutlery, and suddenly it's gone, and we're back in some new dronescape, a mumbled voice looped into a haunting mantra, beneath distant thunder like rumbles, and little blurs of high end melody, indistinct, but gradually building in intensity. The drones drift away leaving birds and voices, and some strange bits of hiss and skree, before transforming into a plodding doomdrone beast. A simple stretched out rhythm over cavernous thrums and the sound of subway cars, everything pulsing and throbbing, a bizarre bit of dark collage, that manages to be strangely musical and completely hypnotic.
An amazingly weird record, and absolutely essential listening for the drone obsessed, which we would assume should be most of you...
MPEG Stream: "Mid-Atlantic Rift"
MPEG Stream: "Earth's Crust"

NIFLHEIM Neurasthenie (Sepulchral Productions) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sepulchral is turning out to be one of our new favorite black metal labels, bringing us the blackened noise from the new grim frostbitten North, Canada that is, with the folk flecked Metal Noir Quebecois of Forteresse, the grim depressive buzz of Sombres Forets, and now this, the latest from doombuzz merchants Niflheim, whose latest is a sorrowful trawl through the dourest of human emotions, rendered in shades of black and grey, minor key melodies and miserablist plod, anguished wails and bleak buzz. 
Neurasthenie, which means "a mental deviance which causes intense grief", in French, is a pretty apt title for Niflheim's latest, a slow burning, plodding, meandering chunk of harsh melancholia. The opening tracks is quite lovely, a simple slowcore drift, all clean guitar, sorrowful melodies, with some buzz draped over the top here and there merely as an afterthought, and a classical sort of outro, which leads into "The Cold Wind Of My Breath Is Always Blowing" (great title!) a gorgeous doomic plod, simple and sad, drenched in blown out crumbling distortion, strangely pretty as well as being harsh and hateful, think Nortt and Xasthur and the like, and these guys sound right at home in those hallowed halls of musical misery. 
But the next track is something completely different, a haunting abstract slice of cinematic ambience, chunks of distorted guitar drifting in an expanse of shimmer and buzz, vocals super distorted sprawled out over the top like some black storm cloud, simple sad melodies, glistening guitar harmonics, eventually transforming into more depressive doom. 
The rest of the record drifts back and forth between the two: spare, abstract guitar ambience, spacey swirling somber slowcore, dreamy instrumental minimalism, and buzz drenched blackness, crushing slow motion plod, depressive dirge, sometimes blending the two into something truly chilling and creepy, heavy and beautifully depressing. 
The band have changed their name to Gris, since we got first got this in, so there's a slight chance that when we run out, the restocked version will be under the name Gris, but fear not, it will be the same miserably brilliant blackness inside....
MPEG Stream: "Le Neurasthenique"
MPEG Stream: "The Cold Wind Of My Breath Is Always Blowing"
MPEG Stream: "Lueur d'Ombre"

NIG-HEIST (Drag City) 2cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Perhaps the less said, the better...reissued shock rock from '84, Black Flag compadres. Cd includes bonus live disc!

NIG-HEIST (Drag City) lp 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Perhaps the less said, the better...reissued shock rock from '84, Black Flag compadres. Cd includes bonus live disc!

NIGEL PEPPERCOCK The New Way (Life Is Abuse) cd 10.98
This silly local metal band, featuring members or ex-members of Fuckface, Dystopia and other Bay Area punk and grind outfits, shows us the way with their debut. Notorious for their (ironic?) usage of 1970's homoerotic imagery in flyers and now, on this release -- though that really doesn't relate to the music in particular. They call it sci-fi sex rock, and I guess that's a good (as any) description for their music. The guitars and drums are definitely in a hardcore or metal style, as are the screamy vox (with lotsa "fuck" and "whore" in the lyrics), but the pomp keyboards are as new wave as they are black metal. The songs are about things like drugs, robot girlfriends, and even "OJ's Wild Ride" (some topical humor kinda past its sell by date, there). Several are intended as parodies of various underground punk genres. Definitely kinda stupid, but lots of people like stupid stuff like this. Fun for fans of the Dwarves, the Accused, Antiseen, Crom, uh, and of course Rick the Desert Dick! (The star of several of the photos you'll find and enjoy in this cd package.)
RealAudio clip: "Cherry 2000"

NIGEL PEPPERCOCK The New Way (Life Is Abuse) lp 8.98
This silly local metal band, featuring members or ex-members of Fuckface, Dystopia and other Bay Area punk and grind outfits, shows us the way with their debut. Notorious for their (ironic?) usage of 1970's homoerotic imagery in flyers and now, on this release -- though that really doesn't relate to the music in particular. They call it sci-fi sex rock, and I guess that's a good (as any) description for their music. The guitars and drums are definitely in a hardcore or metal style, as are the screamy vox (with lotsa "fuck" and "whore" in the lyrics), but the pomp keyboards are as new wave as they are black metal. The songs are about things like drugs, robot girlfriends, and even "OJ's Wild Ride" (some topical humor kinda past its sell by date, there). Several are intended as parodies of various underground punk genres. Definitely kinda stupid, but lots of people like stupid stuff like this. Fun for fans of the Dwarves, the Accused, Antiseen, Crom, uh, and of course Rick the Desert Dick! (The star of several of the photos you'll find and enjoy in this cd package.)

NIGER Magic and Ecstasy in the Sahel (Sublime Frequencies) dvd 22.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sublime Frequencies videographer Hisham Mayet strikes again! This time Hisham takes to the Sahel region of Niger to witness for ourselves a culture in resistance to environmental hazards (severe droughts) and extreme poverty, and a country that's at the cultural crossroads of Subsaharan Africa and the Middle East. Like all of Mayet's films there is no authoritative narrator to disrupt the flow, or otherwise direct our interests. Which isn't to say Mayet leaves us completely in the dark as concerns his motivations and whereabouts in shooting this footage. For that we are given ample liner notes detailing the film's unfolding in chronological order of events. The video begins in rural Dogondoutchi where Hisham documents the music of the Mawri people. Several performances are caught here of musicians playing a banjo like instrument which is simultaneously struck across the drum as it is strummed and plucked, turning the performer into a veritable one-man-band. Also taped are some amazing fiddle players using an array of instruments, each seemingly unique to its possessor. Across the river Niger, Mayet takes us to the village of Boubon to a cowry shell divination, a spirit posession ceremony, and a truly strange performance of sexual coming of age by the young girls of the village in which they taunt the boys with... Ahem! Rather "randy" dance moves. As the film progresses it moves further from acoustic / rural / animist Niger to urban / Christian / electric Niger. We're witnesses to a gospel revival meeting at a Pentacostal church combining both traditional instruments and percussion with electric bass and keyboards. Almost directly from there Mayet takes us to a dive bar to hear a beautiful pick-up band of electric guitar, bass, drums and percussion. The sound is almost like that of a punk rock Ali Farka Toure, if you can imagine that. And in the end we are taken to the compound of Bibi Ahmed to hear some very Nubian sounding trance rock, like a dronier version of Ali Hassan Kuban. Excellent!

NIGHT IN GALES Nailwork (Nuclear Blast) cd 14.98
Germany's answer to the "new wave of Swedish melodic death metal" (bands like In Flames, Dark Tranquility, Soilwork, etc.) is the oddly named Night In Gales, and this is their third album. Razorsharp and ripping, good stuff indeed in that vein. And they venture into Carnival In Coal territory with an almost unrecognizable cover of Alannah Myles' early '90s MTV hit "Black Velvet"!

NIGHT IN GALES Necrodynamics (Massacre) cd 16.98
Germany's Night In Gales return with their fourth album. This time out, they've added an '80s Bay Area thrash/Metallica element to the melodic death metal sound that their previous releases shared with so many popular Swedish bands like In Flames and Soilwork. Fast, intense songs with truly "sung" vocals are the rippin', rockin' result.

NIGHT MARCHERS, THE See You In Magic (Vagrant / Swami) cd 14.98
It was a sad day when The Hot Snakes called it a day, after delivering three of the most impassioned and fiery rock albums of this decade. So we were super excited when we learned that 3/4 of the band had come back together (minus vocalist Rick Froberg) to form a new band called the Night Marchers. With John Reis taking lead vocal duties this really does sound and feel like a mix of the melodic qualities of Rocket From The Crypt and the more driving and charged elements of Hot Snakes. We can't stop listening to the first half of this record filled with burners that made us remember why we fell so hard in love with Reis in all of his incarnations in the first place (Drive Like Jehu, Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes, etc). While there are a couple slower middle of the road tracks towards the end that don't quite do it for us, when the songs are on fire, this is still one damn fine rock n' roll album not to be missed.
MPEG Stream: "In Dead Sleep (I Snore ZZZZ)"
MPEG Stream: "Total Bloodbath"

NIGHT SUN Mournin' (Second Battle) cd 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yet another amazing discovery in the realms of unheralded heaviness from the '70s. Krautrockers Night Sun released this, their only album, back in 1972, and probably the only heavier sounds produced on earth that year were produced by Black Sabbath (and, hopefully, some other as-yet-unknowns). Seriously. If anything's "proto-metal", this sure is. Deep Purple (the keyboards and high-pitched vox) meets Sabbath style DOOM guitars. These guys must have been gobbling both amphetamines and downers 'cause the disc goes to both extremes of doom-paced creepy crawls *and* manic prog-spazz riff, uh, mania. '70s proto-metal to file alongside Buffalo, Toad, Leafhound, Captain Beyond, Blues Creation, and early Pentagram. Why Night Sun aren't huge cult heroes we don't know...
RealAudio clip: "Slush Pan Man"
RealAudio clip: "Got A Bone Of My Own"
RealAudio clip: "Plastic Shotgun"

NIGHT WOUNDS Allergic To Heat (Corleone) cd 10.98
East Coast weirdo rock label Corleone gets a West Coast blood transfusion, but the results sound just as Providence damaged as anything actually raised and bred in Rhode Island. Best known around these parts as the label that brought us the rubber encased, supremely damaged metallic onslaught that was Throne Of Blood (and rest assured we have been hassling the label constantly for a repress), Corleone offer up this latest blast of off kilter propulsive noise rock drone jam groove that fits pretty cozily amidst their like minded but opposite coasted noisemaking brethren.
Night Wounds have all the right ingredients, angular scrape and skree guitar, chaotic but strangely funky drums, blown out bass, strangled almost new wave vocals, even a saxophone that manages to skronk and kick ass and not sound at all cheesy (which is quite a feat, apologies to Gerry Rafferty). The cool thing about Night Wounds is they almost sound like they could be some forward thinking no wave/new wave band from back in the day. A killer blend of Crispy Ambulance, James White And The Contortions (due mostly to the sax and the damaged jazz vibe), Pylon, and a handful of others whose names escape us right now. All tangled up with bursts of nineties style mathy complexity, stretched out hypnotic grooves, and squalls of noisy chaos.
Imagine if Factory Records had continued on, it's not difficult to imagine that Night Wounds might have embodied "The Factory Sound" circa 2007. A weirdly catchy, super groovy, damaged and demented, gloom infused tribal workout, alternatingly woozy and weird, freaky and funky, as likely to send the dancefloor into a herky jerky frenzy as it is to make the pit explode in a sloppy sweaty tangle of limbs.
MPEG Stream: "Allergic To Heat"
MPEG Stream: "Less Dead"

NIGHTBRINGER / TEMPLE OF NOT Rex Ex Ordine Throni (Full Moon Productions) cd 11.98
What better way to find a band to release a split with than to just pick a band that features essentially the same members? Such is the case with this two way split between buzzing black hordes Nightbringer and ritualistic dark ambient ensemble Temple Of Not. Most bands would probably just combine the two, and have a black metal band with long drone passages, or vice versa, but these are two entirely different sonic entities, and both are amazing. Hailing from Colorado, these groups were brought to our attention by Wrest from Leviathan, who is VERY selective about the metal he listens to, so much so that when he repeatedly sang (growled?) the praises of both these bands we knew we had to check it out.
Nightbringer buzz darkly through a thick black void, with loping midtempo tempos over furiously fast riffing, and some completely insane drumming, not just blast beats, but wild fills and strange unlikely rhythms. Occasionally the band slows down, at which point the music takes on a creepy majestic air, like court music for some hellish black temple, but it's not long before the band bursts back into full speed blackness. Super atmospheric with bizarre blasts of hyper speed buzz as well as stretches of dense droning riffage. Heavy and dense and evil. These guys definitely wouldn't sound out of place on NED alongside Deathspell and Antaeus.
Nightbringer's occultic ambient alter ego Temple Of Not is just as dark and heavy, but realizes their evil through drone not buzz, with two lengthy glacial crawls, thick soundscapes of whirring rumble and dreamlike shimmer. But be prepared, this is not normal ambient music. Part way through the first track, the song is disrupted by huge speaker shredding bursts of what sounds like a garbled black metal transmission from an alternate universe, repeated over and over building into a strange fuzzed out super distorted rhythm before drifting off again, allowing the song to wind down into blackness. The second ToN track is even more spare, but still haunting and ominous, disembodied vocals drift above a slowly shifting, layered landscape of throb and thrum, warble and whir, guitars and synths intertwined and tangled up in a slow drift skyward, the last few minutes punctuated by a simple distant pulse-like distant drum beat. Very primal and ritualistic. And the perfect compliment to Nightbringer's hellborne onslaught.
Recommended by AQ and Wrest endorsed!! You know what that means...
MPEG Stream: NIGHTBRINGER "The Void"
MPEG Stream: NIGHTBRINGER "Mors Philosphorum"
MPEG Stream: TEMPLE OF NOT "Temple Of Not"

NIGHTBRINGER / TEMPLE OF NOT Rex Ex Ordine Throni (Forever Plagued) lp 11.98
What better way to find a band to release a split with than to just pick a band that features essentially the same members? Such is the case with this two way split between buzzing black horder Nightbringer and ritualistic dark ambient ensemble Temple Of Not. Most bands would probably just combine the two, and have a black metal band with long drone passages, or vice versa, but these are two entirely different sonic entities, and both are amazing. Hailing from Colorado, these groups were brought to our attention by Wrest from Leviathan, who is VERY selective about the metal he listens to, so much so that when he repeatedly sang (growled?) the praises of both these bands we knew we had to check it out.
Nightbringer buzz darkly through a thick black void, with loping midtempo tempos over furiously fast riffing, and some completely insane drumming, not just blast beats, but wild fills and strange unlikely rhythms. Occasionally the band slows down, at which point the music takes on a creepy majestic air, like court music for some hellish black temple, but it's not long before the band bursts back into full speed blackness. Super atmospheric with bizarre blasts of hyper speed buzz as well as stretches of dense droning riffage. Heavy and dense and evil. These guys definitely wouldn't sound out of place on NED alongside Deathspell and Antaeus.
Nightbringer's occultic ambient alter ego Temple Of Not is just as dark and heavy, but realizes their evil through drone not buzz, with two lengthy glacial crawls, thick soundscapes of whirring rumble and dreamlike shimmer. But be prepared, this is not normal ambient music. Part way through the first track, the song is disrupted by huge speaker shredding bursts of what sounds like a garbled black metal transmission from an alternate universe, repeated over and over building into a strange fuzzed out super distorted rhythm before drifting off again, allowing the song to wind down into blackness. The second ToN track is even more spare, but still haunting and ominous, disembodied vocals drift above a slowly shifting, layered landscape of throb and thrum, warble and whir, guitars and synths intertwined and tangled up in a slow drift skyward, the last few minutes punctuated by a simple distant pulse-like distant drum beat. Very primal and ritualistic. And the perfect compliment to Nightbringer's hellborne onslaught.
Recommended by AQ and Wrest endorsed!! You know what that means...
MPEG Stream: NIGHTBRINGER "The Void"
MPEG Stream: NIGHTBRINGER "Mors Philosphorum"
MPEG Stream: TEMPLE OF NOT "Temple Of Not"

NIGHTFIST The Epic (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 9.98
What do you get when you mix a bunch of high school kids, the Champs, Dungeons And Dragons, Hammerfall, stadium rock, a record collection filled with black metal, and ridiculous instrumental prowess? Nightfist of course. These kids are like a power metal Champs, spewing forth galloping, rollicking melodic majestic instru-metal, complete with Maiden-ish duelling guitars, squiggly guitar solos, wicked double bass drumming, silly song titles, ridiculous opening/closing narrations and thankfully less irony than you might think, despite being released on Temporary Residence, not usually the home of Euro-styled metal mania.
MPEG Stream: "Chapter 1: The Hero's Overture"
MPEG Stream: "Chapter 2: Acidrainfuckhell"