ONMUTU MECHANICKS Nocturne (Echocord) cd 16.98
The latest release on Echochord comes from the oddly monickered Onmutu Mechanicks, aka the Scottish techno producer Arne Weinberg. Where Weinberg's regular gig is more melodic, traditional techno, Onmutu Mechanicks exists for his more dubbed out ambient explorations, which of course sounds right up our alley, and it is.
Fans of other stuff on Echochord (Quantec, Rod Modell) as well as stuff like Pole, Echospace, Deepchord, Kompakt's more minimal less housey sounds and well as the more Pop Ambient stuff, will definitely dig this, skeletal skitters careen back and forth over deep billows of dubbed out synth, low slung bass throbs pulse beneath strange bits of industrial crunch, while barely there melodies wrap themselves around the slow drifting murk, many of the tracks take that house music throb as their core, but bury it under layers of whir and shimmer, sending extra peripheral beats bouncing around from speaker to speaker before letting them sink back into the swirling sonic miasma, other tracks ditch the beats entirely, their looped synths and processed effects creating their own rhythms, while still others take chilled out late night techno and strip it way down, the soundtrack to some futuristic after hours nightclub, or a wander through some post apocalyptic future world. Another fantastic chunk of sonic bliss to add to the recent spate of killer minimal techno and abstract rhythmic electronica releases from Actress, Glitterbug, Pantha Du Prince, Clubroot, Vex'd, Klimek...
MPEG Stream: "Catatonic"
MPEG Stream: "Aspiring To Aspire"
MPEG Stream: "Across The Styx"

ONNA Katawa (PSF) cd 17.98
Man, it took a while - a REALLY long while - but we finally got enough of these suckers to list. By now, many of you are familiar with Japan's amazing Onna, whose self-titled anthology on Holy Mountain turned many a head not all that long ago (we made it Record Of The Week). Though they first emerged in the early 1980s, the band was clearly carrying on a psychedelic tradition in the vein of many of their countrymen from the previous decade. But even calling Onna a "Japanese psych" band doesn't describe just how strange and awesome this band is. Katawa was released in 2007, and though the sound is drastically different from the band's catchy first single, this is still clearly Onna, which always operated under the leadership of guitarist/singer Keizo Miyanishi. The same unsettling themes still seem to be present - the cover here being quite similar to the anthology but not so grotesque this time around - with the hallucinatory lyrics printed in both Japanese and English... so if you were wondering what Onna might be singing about, wonder no more. The lyrics work perfectly for these songs, pained and sexually deviant laments performed with just acoustic guitars, voice, and lots of feedback. The results are creepy, poetic, and just plain weird at times, tending to focus on lost love, nightmarish delusions, and a general sense of hopelessness.
Opener "Salamadra Salamander (The Three Sisters)", which you might remember from the comp, is 13 minutes of rhythmically strummed acoustic guitar and wandering vocals with a dose of electric feedback shrieking above in the atmosphere. Mournful as hell and spacious sounding, it is also murky and ultra depressive, droning on in a sort of Jandek way with lyrics focusing on, um, the narrator's three penises... Damn. The total weirdness here could have come from any time within the last 45 years or so, but it also stands as a definite legacy of Les Rallizes Denudes, especially in the vocal department, as Miyanishi shifts from low moans to high pitched wails. "The Prophet (After Pushkin)", which sounds like it may have been recorded in a live setting, features a discordant acoustic guitar strummed with a heavy hand and bursts of controlled feedback that surface and recede like an earsplitting sonic wave. The song is sort of sour sounding, but also kind of pretty in its own miserable way, with lines like, "Tormented, I stumbled through a gloomy waste". With a super atonal and out of tune guitar adding a sparse, strangely piano-like sound, "Estelle's Making Herself Up" comes off like a Japanese version of the blues that gives a nice glimpse into someone's sad, demented soul. You almost feel like you're spying on Miyanishi as the sounds of a chair shifting gives things a strangely intimate feel. The mood so far is shaken up a bit on the next number, "Silver Dove", with upbeat, folky strumming and lyrics that seem a little more hopeful, but still reeeally fucking weird. "Morning Blues (Moaning Song)", sounds a bit like '60s proto-punks Godz on a bummer before the album closes with "Bamboo Otoko," where a scarlet beast comes around and crushes Miyanishi's balls. So, by now you should probably know whether or not this one's for you. Hardly the easiest stuff to digest, but patience yields some amazing results for the adventurous listener. Nice gatefold mini-lp style sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "Salamandra Salamander (The Three Sisters)"
MPEG Stream: "Silver Dove"
MPEG Stream: "Bamboo Otoko"

ONNA s/t (Holy Mountain) cd 14.98
Tons of folks were sufficiently wowed by Onna's lone 1983 7", thankfully reissued from oblivion and drooled over a few lists back. There was just something about Onna, we couldn't quite put our finger on it, but that record was just so mysterious, a completely mesmerizing slice of lost history. Out of nowhere came this highly evocative work of melancholy psych rock with pulsing drum machines and floating Japanese vocals, sounding like nothing else you might hear from 1983, or 2009 for that matter. Adding to the confusion was almost zero information about Onna, leading listeners to make their conclusions free from any tangible facts. That changes with the arrival of this mindblowing 10 song retrospective, but just barely.
Included are the two tracks from the 7", with an additional song from the same sessions, some live material featuring the guitar skills of a very young Michio Kurihara (White Heaven/Ghost, frequent Boris collaborator), as well as outtakes plus one song from the album Katawa, recorded in 2007.
Though we were relying on the minimal information found on the 7" when we reviewed it, and listed the group as a duo, Onna was in fact the brainchild of Keizo Miyanishi, a noted Japanese Manga artist who also held a highly iconoclastic outlook on rock music, influenced by the usual suspects like the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, and the New York Dolls. Even then, these groups only serve as the most basic starting point for Onna's sound, and Miyanishi's detached yet somewhat nihilistic liner notes lead to more questions than answers. Said notes include awesomely vague anecdotes like "[The tour] was packed with enough incidents; nothing was easy. Enough weird shit happened to fill a book. . . I will say that around the time we returned, I received aggressively threatening telephone messages," (with none of these things actually described), and "It was around this period that I began to lose my concept of time." Hey, we'll take it, as timelessness certainly applies to Onna's musical approach.
For folks without turntables, or anyone who missed our review of the 7" or anyone who just happens to want the cd version as well as the vinyl, the two tracks from the 7" are worth the price of admission alone. The most obvious point of reference soundwise would be legendary psych/noise enigma Les Rallizes Denudes, especially in the vocal department. This is a very good thing for anyone who loves those somewhat lazy, partially detached, Japanese sung vocals of groups like LRD and LSD-March. The use of a drum machine keeps these songs pulsing like a mechanical heartbeat, which when combined with the fairly free form guitars, definitely gives this record its own vibe. The first track begins with a meditative two chord lament before noisy, white hot guitar squalls begin creeping about in the distance as simple and repetitive bass lines keep the foundation strong and focused. The second track introduces catchy psych guitar chords with a machine modified quasi girl group drumbeat, the bass again holding things down nice and steady. The heavily reverberated strummed guitars bubble about as fake cymbal explosions recede and return over and over again, until the prolonged fade to black.
"Were You To Become A Mother", the 7" outtake, flows pretty similarly to the other songs from that session. It is certainly just as awesome, with warm bass and a super bouncy drum machine which works in perfect contrast to the somewhat ominous nature of the melody. Above it all are Miyanishi's mournful vocals, which give the impression of being lost in the darkness of the song itself.
Next up are the outtakes from Katawa. Oddly enough, the liner notes are dated to 1999, ending with the seemingly definitive proclamation that "Onna lies here, dead." But as mentioned earlier, Katawa dates to 2007, and with three songs appearing from that time, you are confusingly forced to reevaluate everything you just read and wonder what the current status is on Onna. Anyway, enough rambling, you all really want to know what these songs sound like... Strangely enough, not much like the single in any way. The honest truth is that liking the 7" may not necessarily mean you will go crazy over the rest of this stuff. It is difficult listening, but in the most rewarding way. First off, there is no drum machine; there are no drums at all. In place of the scorching fuzz guitar on the single are percussively strummed acoustic guitars, sometimes kind of folky, sometimes bluesier. Miyanishi's voice is noticeably deeper, sounding weathered and more vulnerable after 24 more years of living. The unifying thread between these songs and the single is their overwhelming sadness, but in place of the drum machine's mechanical precision is Miyanishi's internalized sense of rhythm. Unlike the ever present density on the 7", these songs are able to convey a sense of loneliness and pain through all the open space on the recording. Strangest off all, however, is how hypnotic they manage to be. As crazy as it may sound, the result is similar to that of a drone record, not in your typical way with sustained electric guitars screaming through tons of amplification, but more so in its focus and repetition. It is hardly the kind of music you'll want to play at your next keg bash, but what the songs lack in accessibility and structure, they more than make up for in genuine emotion.
Like the 7", the live tracks also date to 1983, but they are also drum-free and super minimalist. There is a weird hum that may come from the recording, or possibly from the room itself. Either way, it works its way into the songs just like the instruments, adding a nice creepy atmosphere to the proceedings. Discordant slide guitars and piano are accompanied by heavily sustained fuzz guitar, as Miyanishi delivers another wrenching vocal performance. At various points, as Kurihara whips up squalls of feedback-laden psych guitar, you assume the plucked acoustic guitars will be overtaken by noise, but Miyanishi keeps his focus and never falters from the tone he sets. After the final live track, there is some sparse and uncomfortable clapping, then silence, as the audience was no doubt wondering what the hell they just witnessed. You might even react the same way.
Accompanying the album are a few photos of the androgynous looking band members and some examples of Miyanishi's astounding, grotesquely erotic art. These images seem just as integral to Onna as their music, but unless you speak Japanese, you will probably be left scratching your head. There is no doubt that Onna created some challenging music, but what you get out of this album depends on how much you are willing to put into the listening experience. There may be no easy answers, but some things are better left as is, and in the end Onna's music is powerful enough to live on, in spite of its obscurity.
MPEG Stream: "Cortigiana Dal Velo"
MPEG Stream: "Were You To Become A Mother"
MPEG Stream: "The Swan Song"
MPEG Stream: "Salamandra, Salander (The Three Sisters)"

ONNA s/t (Holy Mountain / Tlon Uqbar) 7" 6.98
Certainly one of the best things about working at a record store is coming across new bands that give you that undefinable, but very real feeling in your stomach where you can't imagine having ever gone on without THIS band. Even better is discovering something from the distant past (not too distant in this case), something whose existence could have eluded you forever had good fortune not smiled down in the form of a reissue.
Onna were the Japanese duo of Keizou Miyanishi and Mafuyu Hiroki, whose 1983 7" has thankfully been rescued from obscurity by the mighty Holy Mountain label, and has been blowing minds left and right here at aQ. One of the coolest things about this record is just how surprising and unexpected it all was, the whole "1983" part in particular. With a nod to the past but no doubt out of place in the early 80s, Onna were without question inhabiting a world of their own. The most obvious point of reference soundwise would be legendary psych/noise enigma Les Rallizes Denudes, especially in the vocal department. This is a very good thing for anyone who loves those somewhat lazy, partially detached, Japanese sung vocals of groups like LRD and LSD-March.
The use of a drum machine keeps these two songs pulsing like a mechanical heartbeat, which when combined with the fairly free form guitars, definitely gives this record its own vibe. Side 1 begins with a meditative two chord lament before noisy, white hot guitar squalls begin creeping about in the distance as simple and repetitive bass lines keep the foundation strong and focused. The second track introduces catchy psych guitar chords with a machine modified quasi-girl group drumbeat, the bass again holding things down nice and steady. The heavily reverberated strummed guitars bubble about as fake cymbal explosions recede and return over and over again, until a prolonged fadeout is replaced by a locked groove note that keeps this record spinning endlessly, just as it should.
The lack of information on Onna only adds to the mystery (and just a note, they are not affiliated with those other Japanese psych monsters Christine 23 Onna). PSF has issued an album by the group called Katawa, which we will definitely be paying close attention to after this 7". Until then, the only things we have to judge the duo by are the perplexing ugly/beautiful cover featuring an androgynous female figure lying naked on a bed (is she sick and decaying? is she just hanging out in bed? waiting for a lover?), and more importantly, their music, which we cannot recommend highly enough. Seriously, how many 7" singles would receive this much of a write up? You know this one is a winner.
PS for the non-turntable-havin' folks, apparently these tracks are also to appear on an upcoming cd collection Holy Mountain's putting out with other Onna stuff...

ONNA-KODOMO Syuuka (Charnel Music) cd 12.98
Japanese female dream-rock trio, of violin and bass and voice, as last heard on the Tokyo Flashback Vol. 4 and Land of the Rising Noise Vol. 2 compilations. Ethereal atmosphere from a group who, as Jim puts it: "drifts in and out of aural existence with a haunting array of delicate tonalities."

ONO, YOKO Blueprint for a Sunrise (Capitol) cd 16.98
Well, Yoko Ono's always generated love-her or hate-her responses, and this new disc sure is no letdown in that department! For the Yoko Ono lovers at AQ (Allan, for instance), it offers some prime '70s style Yoko screech, proving that even at 68 years old she's still capable of stirring up a storm -- she's still got it. And for the folks here in the anti-Yoko camp (Andee, for one) she still has "it" as well (he's begging me to turn this off as I write this...) So, let's address this review to the Yoko fans, since the unconverted aren't going to be convinced. Ok, there's some cringe-worthy moments (too-simple moon/june style rhymes, the almost-always-a-bad-move reggae beat used on one track) but overall it's a great sounding, emotionally intense, catchy, eclectic disc, ranging from Talking Heads-ish funky pop to psycho-dramatic avant electronica. Her trademark primal scream vocals are still in full effect -- there's a lengthy live version of "Mulberry" that's fucking brutal! She sings "nice" too, on the disc's more pop moments. (Ok, Andee, I'll turn it off now...)
RealAudio clip: "I Want You To Remember Me "B""
RealAudio clip: "Soul Got Out Of The Box"
RealAudio clip: "I Remember Everything"

ONO, YOKO Fly (Ryko) 2cd 21.00
Love her or hate her, Yoko Ono is the rare kind of artist that is hard to be indifferent about. There are those of us who love nearly everything she does, and there are at least one of us here who can't stand her at all (though perplexingly, that said person is a HUGE fan of Harry Pussy whose singer's vocal style is wholly copped from Yoko's, so go figure.). While this is not a new reissue, we recently found out it was still available, and if you were ever going to buy only one Yoko Ono release, this is definitely the one!
This double album, Fly, released in 1971 after the concurrently released Plastic Ono Band solo debut lps with husband John Lennon is a widely varied but creatively inspired affair with an amazing back-up band (featuring Ringo Starr and Klaus Voorman) that covers both straight-ahead rock numbers as well as mind-melting experimental realms. The sixteen minute proto-krautrock groover "Mind Train" is a definite highlight, sounding like Yoko fronting Can or Faust, but this disc also covers tender acoustic pieces, outsider blues, femme folk, fluxus noise experiments, as well as her trademark howling scream jams, some full throttle noise, others more restrained inner turmoil. But for all its variation, it flows together like a complete piece that grossly engages and vulnerably assaults in equal measure. Probably not for everyone, but highly recommended nonetheless!
MPEG Stream: "Mind Train"
MPEG Stream: "Hirake"
MPEG Stream: "O Wind"

ONO, YOKO Open Your Box (Astralwerks) cd 14.98
What's this? Another collection of remixes from Yoko Ono already?! You're darn tootin' right! But whereas Yes I Am A Witch (released February 2007) enlisted the very varied and very 'now' cool cats (i.e, Peaches, Antony and the Johnsons, Flaming Lips, Le Tigre, Polyphonic Spree, and Cat Power) to do new remixes and reworkings of Ono's music, Open Your Box (released April 2007) compiles her previously released dancefloor smash remix 12"s. In case you're unacquainted, these remixes are far more NYC house, techno and disco scene oriented (a scene that has celebrated and embraced Ono and her music over the years), and feature the likes of Orange Factory, Basement Jaxx, Danny Tenaglia, Felix Da Housecat, DJ Dan and Pet Shop Boys. Sure some of them are pretty dated, but it's terrific to have and hear all of these tracks together. Throughout the two releases, much love and reverence and fun flow freely, and in the case of Open Your Box also much giddy clubland nostalgia. Yes.
MPEG Stream: "Walking On Thin Ice (Pet Shop Boys Electro Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "Open Your Box (Orange Factory Club Mix)"

ONO, YOKO Plastic Ono Band (Ryko) cd 15.98

ONO, YOKO Yes I'm A Witch (Astralwerks) cd 15.98
We can't help but love Yoko Ono. I mean c'mon, who else at her age could rock those face-blocking shades and look so incomparably awesome? Plus, apart from some really schmaltzy songs (i.e. "Children Power") she has recorded, arguably more often then not, some pretty damn amazing music (Plastic Ono Band, Fly, Feeling the Space, Season of Glass). Here, she enlists the help of a wide array of indie-music collaborators including Peaches, Antony and the Johnsons, Flaming Lips, Le Tigre, Polyphonic Spree, and Cat Power, who each chose a song from her back catalog and were given access to the multi-track masters to rework them how they wished. Most of the songs come from Ono's more songwriter-ly albums (Double Fantasy, Season of Glass, It's Alright, and Approximately Infinite Universe), with most of the artists keeping Ono's vocal tracks intact. Only Flaming Lips ventured further back and used vocals from "Cambridge 1969" one of John and Yoko's first performative collaborations of screeching shrieks and distorted feedback. Personally, we wished there were more songs selected from that period, better yet being done by artists of our choosing (c'mon, Circle re-doing "Mind Train"? You know you want to hear that!!). At first scan, this seemed like the type of hip remix compilation we dread, the kind which inevitably takes both artist and re-mixer down a notch by needlessly updating old songs through dated trip-hop, trance, or house idioms (she's done it before, more than once, even -- hence our wariness). Thankfully that isn't the case here. Most of the artists breathe new life into the songs through restraint rather than bombast, coming to a halfway point that is neither entirely Ono's nor her collaborators. Cat Power creates a duet with piano on "Revelations". Porcupine Tree deemphasizes the slow burn of "Death of Samantha" with acoustic guitar and atmospheric washes. Jason Pierce from Spiritualized takes the disco out of "Walking On Thin Ice" and gives it something more majestic and much colder. Even the electro and dance-ier tracks submitted by Peaches, Le Tigre, Shitake Monkey and Blow-up don't disappoint as you would expect but contribute a nice flow to the more subdued moments. All in all a surprising listen, and according to the Astralwerks website, this is not the end of it. Another Ono remix album is on the way later this year! Now, if they'd only reissue Fly (hint, hint).
MPEG Stream: "Revelations (w/Cat Power)"
MPEG Stream: "Walking On Thin Ice (w/ Spiritualized)"
MPEG Stream: "Cambridge 1969/2007 (w/ Flaming Lips)"

ONO, YOKO / IMA Rising Remixes (Capitol) cdep 11.98
Remixers make each song sound like themselves: Cibo Matto, the ABA Allstars (Adam Yauch aka MCA, Mario Caldato Jr, Cibo Matto and Sean Ono Lennon), Ween, Tricky, and Thurston Moore, who features in his remix Masonna, Incapacitants, CCCC, Hanatarash, Aube, Monde Bruits, Gerogerigegege, Keiji Haino. There are also some cd-rom-able additional trax.

ONO, YOKO / JOHN LENNON Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (Ryko) cd 15.98

ONO, YOKO / KIM GORDON / THURSTON MOORE Yokokimthurston (Chimera) cd 15.98
Depending on where you stand with Yoko Ono and Sonic Youth's avant explorations, this is either a dream come true or a nightmare collaboration. It sounds exactly like what you would imagine. Extended vocal freakouts, chiming detuned arpeggiations, blithe detached whispered murmurs, ritualistic vocalized koans, distorted feedback squalls and even some right wing slamming poetry in the round. But besides that last part, it rarely comes off as indulgent as we feared, and the fact that it was recorded in a day, gives the pieces an urgency and vitality that would have been lost had it been more composed. Yokokimthurston definitely would have made a great installment in the group's SYR experimental series, and as a part of that series might have felt more substantial, and been granted more of a musical gravitas. As it stands in most music press this record is being treated more as Yoko acting as some therapeutic arbitration for Kim and Thurston to work out their post-marriage musical relationship. Please! As if the three of them didn't have anything better to do. Disregard the hype (or lack of) and check it out, it's definitely pretty great!
MPEG Stream: "Mirror Mirror"
MPEG Stream: "Let's Get There"

ONO, YOKO PLASTIC ONO BAND Between My Head And The Sky (Chimera) cd 14.98
Oh Yoko! After all these years and all you've gone through, you still manage to have such dynamic energy and such a magnetic spirit. Who else at 76 years of age could make a record that pretty much blows away all the stuff made by folks in the supposed 'prime' of their lives.
With Between My Head And The Sky, Ono has done just that, this is maybe one of the most rewarding, immediate and satisfying albums in her expansive back catalog. Sounding so totally modern yet so totally Yoko at the same time. With an awesome band behind her featuring Cornelius (!) and the amazing drummer from his band Yuko Araki, as well as cellist Erik Friedlander, saxophonist Daniel Carter, Yuka Honda from Cibo Matto, Yoko's son Sean Lennon, and a few other great musical minds.
While they all help to create beautiful layers of sound and incredible grooves to each of these songs, it's Yoko's compositions and of course idiosyncratic delivery that pushes these songs into another realm. This is a record that perfectly blends Ono's more "out" and cosmic tendencies with her astute awareness of presence and nature and our surroundings, ranging from the charged and manic to the sweet and organic.
We know that folks tend to have quite strong opinions of Ono, with some of us at the store falling decidedly and staunchly on both sides of that divide, but a true testament to how great this record is, was when we were playing it in the store the other day, a customer asked what it was, when we told him he looked so surprised and told us he always assumed he didn't like her music, but that this was in fact a disc he would end up listening to over and over. For those of us here who are way way in the pro/in-love-with Yoko side of the equation, this is simply an amazing reconfirmation of why she is one of the most striking, sincere and creative forces of nature to live in our lifetime. Along with folks like Ornette Coleman and Asha Bhosle she is a constant reminder that growing old has nothing to do with losing spirit or soul, quite the opposite. So what will you be doing when you're 76??!!
MPEG Stream: "Waiting For The D Train"
MPEG Stream: "The Sun Is Down!"
MPEG Stream: "Healing"

ONO, YOKO PLASTIC ONO BAND Between My Head And The Sky (Chimera) 2lp 24.00
Now in stock on vinyl too!
Oh Yoko! After all these years and all you've gone through, you still manage to have such dynamic energy and such a magnetic spirit. Who else at 76 years of age could make a record that pretty much blows away all the stuff made by folks in the supposed 'prime' of their lives.
With Between My Head And The Sky, Ono has done just that, this is maybe one of the most rewarding, immediate and satisfying albums in her expansive back catalog. Sounding so totally modern yet so totally Yoko at the same time. With an awesome band behind her featuring Cornelius (!) and the amazing drummer from his band Yuko Araki, as well as cellist Erik Friedlander, saxophonist Daniel Carter, Yuka Honda from Cibo Matto, Yoko's son Sean Lennon, and a few other great musical minds.
While they all help to create beautiful layers of sound and incredible grooves to each of these songs, it's Yoko's compositions and of course idiosyncratic delivery that pushes these songs into another realm. This is a record that perfectly blends Ono's more "out" and cosmic tendencies with her astute awareness of presence and nature and our surroundings, ranging from the charged and manic to the sweet and organic.
We know that folks tend to have quite strong opinions of Ono, with some of us at the store falling decidedly and staunchly on both sides of that divide, but a true testament to how great this record is, was when we were playing it in the store the other day, a customer asked what it was, when we told him he looked so surprised and told us he always assumed he didn't like her music, but that this was in fact a disc he would end up listening to over and over. For those of us here who are way way in the pro/in-love-with Yoko side of the equation, this is simply an amazing reconfirmation of why she is one of the most striking, sincere and creative forces of nature to live in our lifetime. Along with folks like Ornette Coleman and Asha Bhosle she is a constant reminder that growing old has nothing to do with losing spirit or soul, quite the opposite. So what will you be doing when you're 76??!!
MPEG Stream: "Waiting For The D Train"
MPEG Stream: "The Sun Is Down!"
MPEG Stream: "Healing"

ONODERA, YUI Entropy (Trumn) cd 21.00
Plenty of artists we love have mustered beautiful, droney compositions through the act of decay. Look no further than the AQ favorites from William Basinski's sublime Disintegration Loops, the crumbling digitalia of Tim Hecker, and even our own Jim Haynes has his special rusting techniques with sound and image. So when it comes to an album called Entropy which comes from the Japanese drone 'n' field recordist Yui Onodera, we have to wonder how it measures up.
We gotta say this is a beautiful piece of grey-smeared ambience, but we're scratching our head over how this sounds like the world falling apart. This would be a perfect rainy day, contemplative soundtrack, but not exactly a meditation on entropy. Well, maybe except for the Loren Chasse-like crumbling of soil, pebbles, and leaves on the untitled second track which quietly tumbles into a series of evolving loops that blur into a sleep-inducing drone of oceanic waves and shimmering tones. The way this track progresses is how the entire record is situated -- a very calm, sedate, yet hypnotizing collection of drones and tones that float out of stacked guitars and processed field recordings. The fourth track is pure drone bliss straight out of the Chalk / Coleclough axis of smeared dronemaking precision; and the sixth has more of a Popul Vuh two-note melody oozing out of Onodera's shoegazing guitar chords, which have been filtered, layered, re-recorded, layered again, echoed, reverbed, and back again. Onodera has produced some great recordings for Mystery Sea and And/OAR, but this one was actually something he released back in 2005 through his Critical Path imprint. Even if this doesn't inspire the idea of entropy for us, Onodera has still made a fantastic and beautiful drone record here. Check it out!
MPEG Stream: "Track 2"
MPEG Stream: "Track 4"
MPEG Stream: "Track 6"

ONODERA, YUI Suisei (And/OAR) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not much information to present about who Yui Onodera is. Nor is there anything in the way of a conceptual framework to guide one through this album beyond its sources from "environmental sound and pump organ." Not that it really matters anyway, as Suisei is a gorgeous album of darkly textured drones with parallels to Thomas Koner's isolationist compositions or Keith Berry's precious deconstructions. Wind, rain, and water all make themselves known in the collection of field recordings, as does the pump organ, which reveals itself in harmonic sustained tones with a spectral timbre (e.g. Niblock, Radigue, Chalk, etc.). During a particular enigmatic episode, wooden creaks and sodden groans duet with a motorized persistant soft-grind, giving the impression that some unscrupulous machine is quietly compacting sinews, meat, and bone. Strangely, it never sounds macabre or unsettlingly grotesque; rather, these crunching textures situate humbly next to a hypnotic wash of compressed static and melancholic shadowy drone, which sublimely shift into a slippery crescendo of grey massed sound. Very, very well done!
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"

ONRA 1.0.8 (Bo Bun / Favorite Recordings) lp 22.00
Like a lot of you, we flipped for Chinoiseries, a killer collection of sample heavy jams from French-Vietnamese producer Onra, the sources for which were all culled from old records scored while crate digging in Asia, the result was a dizzying barrage of beat driven almost Bollywood craziness, folk music, opera, classical, pop, chopped and looped and wrapped around funky beats, transformed into crazy catchy crackly grooves. We were psyched to discover there was more Onra out there, although this is not so much an album proper as it is a sort of beats and breaks record, and it's not new material, it's archival (check the date as title), but even so, all the breaks here KILL! The song titles are pretty self explanatory: "Porn", "Hit The Bong", "Dirty Loop", "Disco", and as you might imagine, those tracks do in fact sound like the title suggest, but not exactly. Onra definitely has a knack for twisting up sounds and making them weird and warped. Vocals are clipped and layered, collaged and recontextualized, lots of wah guitar, breathy exhalations, plenty of sci-fi synths, bloopy bleepy electro-funk, electronic squelch wrapped around passionate porno moans, bubbling bong sounds over woozy grooves, blasts of disco skitter, much of the record definitely falling into a sort of psychedelic / fuzzed out, almost Blaxploitation sort of vibe/sound, with a bunch of the tracks getting all RZA like, one in particular with fuzzy flutes, squiggly effects and a gaggle of giggling girls. So cool!

ONRA Chinoiseries (Baked Goods) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Back in print, and back in stock!!
Every crate digger worth their salt has come upon the Asian record dilemma. Records (often Chinese) that look so awesome and full of promise with their mysterious photography, strange graphics and humorous English misspellings, only to be underwhelmed by the most boring, pedestrian and oft-times sickly sweet music contained within. But what's a cratedigger to do when they are actually IN Asia and have to wade through stacks upon stacks of such records knowing they can only bring home a tiny batch? That's the dilemma the French-Vietnamese producer Onra found himself in on a trip to Vietnam where scouring through various flea markets, he picked up a stack of promising but highly worn records. Like the best of recent instrumental hip-hop records by J Dilla, Madlib (especially his Beat Konducta Indian series), and Oh No processed through the radio collage filters of Sublime Frequencies, Onra was able to mine pure gold from the scratchy sounds he collected abroad. Bits of operatic theater, odd sixties easy-listening covers, traditional flute and string ensembles, love songs and obscure soundtracks chopped into loops and grooves with all the rough crackle and sheen kept in tact. Soooo Awesome!!!!
MPEG Stream: "I Wanna Go Back"
MPEG Stream: "Dark Sea"
MPEG Stream: "Here Come The Flutes"
MPEG Stream: "The Vallee of Love"

ONRA Chinoiseries (Favorite Recordings) 2lp 26.00
Yes, finally, now on vinyl!! Here's what we wrote about the now-out-of print cd edition on Baked Goods we highlighted back in 2009:
Every crate digger worth their salt has come upon the Asian record dilemma. Records (often Chinese) that look so awesome and full of promise with their mysterious photography, strange graphics and humorous English misspellings, only to be underwhelmed by the most boring, pedestrian and oft-times sickly sweet music contained within. But what's a cratedigger to do when they are actually IN Asia and have to wade through stacks upon stacks of such records knowing they can only bring home a tiny batch? That's the dilemma the French-Vietnamese producer Onra found himself in on a trip to Vietnam where scouring through various flea markets, he picked up a stack of promising but highly worn records. Like the best of recent instrumental hip-hop records by J Dilla, Madlib (especially his Beat Konducta Indian series), and Oh No processed through the radio collage filters of Sublime Frequencies, Onra was able to mine pure gold from the scratchy sounds he collected abroad. Bits of operatic theater, odd sixties easy-listening covers, traditional flute and string ensembles, love songs and obscure soundtracks chopped into loops and grooves with all the rough crackle and sheen kept in tact. Soooo Awesome!!!!
MPEG Stream: "I Wanna Go Back"
MPEG Stream: "Dark Sea"
MPEG Stream: "Here Come The Flutes"
MPEG Stream: "The Vallee of Love"

OOIOO (Time Bomb) cd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We had the lp version ($7.98) on our last list, but here's the expensive (but amazingly beautiful) import debut cd of Yoshimi P-We's new all-girl band, a fun combo of Boredoms-punk chaos and more DJ-oriented groove.

OOIOO (Kill Rock Stars) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While the Boredoms weirdly and wonderfully work out their new psychedelic rock (rock?) jams-kick, Yoshimi P-We (Boredoms drummer/vocalist/trumpeter) takes her all-girl ensemble OOIOO down similiar paths as previous Boredoms records with this groove-infused avant-vaudvillian punk, with a slant towards the poppier electronica-era rock of Buffalo Daughter and even some hints of Devo. Updates the sound of her stranger-than-Boredoms solo singles.

OOIOO (Time Bomb) lp 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yoshimi P-We (Boredoms/UFO or Die/Free Kitten) has a side-project, the all female rock group with a name that's apparently pronounced "oh oh eye oh oh." Kind of a development from her crazy solo singles on Ecstatic Peace. Julie Cafritz and Eye Yamantaka put in guest appearances.

OOIOO Armonico Hewa (Thrill Jockey) cd 16.98
Oh, OOIOO! No one makes spazzed out splashes of sonic color with more energy and spirit than you. While Yoshimi will always be best known for being a member of The Boredoms and the inspiration for a Flaming Lips album (Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots) we think her output with her band OOIOO over the years definitely stands on its own. Able to meld psychedelia into an infectious and dizzying pulsation of sound, OOIOO give us more of what we love with Armonico Hewa, which sonically falls somewhere between the circular and lysergic sounds of our favorite OOIOO record Gold & Green and the more tribal and repetitive groove of their last outing, Taiga.
So many folks have taken ingredients from OOIOO and gotten lots of mileage and attention out of it, for instance, we can't help but think that Gang Gang Dance owe much of their sound and visual aesthetic to OOIOO. Herky, jerky and no-wave, rich with the spirit and energy of vintage Plastic Ono Band. Folks who love OOIOO and Yoshimi will of course love this to death, but we also think this will totally hit the spot for Boredoms fans who miss the varied sound of records like Super AE. Also, be sure to see OOIOO live if they come anywhere close to you as they are for sure one of our favorite live bands around.
MPEG Stream: "SOL"
MPEG Stream: "ULDA"
MPEG Stream: "NIN NA YAMA"

OOIOO Armonico Hewa (Thrill Jockey) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Oh, OOIOO! No one makes spazzed out splashes of sonic color with more energy and spirit than you. While Yoshimi will always be best known for being a member of The Boredoms and the inspiration for a Flaming Lips album (Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots) we think her output with her band OOIOO over the years definitely stands on its own. Able to meld psychedelia into an infectious and dizzying pulsation of sound, OOIOO give us more of what we love with Armonico Hewa, which sonically falls somewhere between the circular and lysergic sounds of our favorite OOIOO record Gold & Green and the more tribal and repetitive groove of their last outing, Taiga.
So many folks have taken ingredients from OOIOO and gotten lots of mileage and attention out of it, for instance, we can't help but think that Gang Gang Dance owe much of their sound and visual aesthetic to OOIOO. Herky, jerky and no-wave, rich with the spirit and energy of vintage Plastic Ono Band. Folks who love OOIOO and Yoshimi will of course love this to death, but we also think this will totally hit the spot for Boredoms fans who miss the varied sound of records like Super AE. Also, be sure to see OOIOO live if they come anywhere close to you as they are for sure one of our favorite live bands around.
MPEG Stream: "SOL"
MPEG Stream: "ULDA"
MPEG Stream: "NIN NA YAMA"

OOIOO Eye Remix (Thrill Jockey) cd ep 5.98
We have always loved Yoshimi, whether she's bashing the skins in the Boredoms, hanging out with Kim Gordon in Free Kitten or kicking up a serious ruckus in OOIOO, her main love these days. Hot of the heels of their latest outing Taiga comes this scorching remix e.p. courtesy of Yoshimi's Boredoms cohort Eye Yamatsuka. He takes the Roberto De Simone inspired standout tracks Uma and Umo and turns them into hot flashes of an African influenced late night rave that we wish we could be at. The other two tracks are the original versions from Taiga.
MPEG Stream: "Eye Mix 1"
MPEG Stream: "Eye Mix 2"

OOIOO Eye Remix (Thrill Jockey) lp 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Also on vinyl. We have always loved Yoshimi, whether she's bashing the skins in the Boredoms, hanging out with Kim Gordon in Free Kitten or kicking up a serious ruckus in OOIOO, her main love these days. Hot of the heels of their latest outing Taiga comes this scorching remix e.p. courtesy of Yoshimi's Boredoms cohort Eye Yamatsuka. He takes the Roberto De Simone inspired standout tracks Uma and Umo and turns them into hot flashes of an African influenced late night rave that we wish we could be at. The other two tracks are the original versions from Taiga.
MPEG Stream: "Eye Mix 1"
MPEG Stream: "Eye Mix 2"

OOIOO Feather Float (Birdman) cd 13.98
This is the second album from Osaka's OOIOO (say it with us: "oh-oh-eye-oh-oh"), an all female quartet led by Yoshimi (of the Boredoms, UFO or Die, Free Kitten, etc.) More melodic than their first outing, while heavier than last year's Green and Gold, Feather Float recalls early Rough Trade bands like the Raincoats and the Slits as well as Kraut pioneers Neu! Imagine all of this fused with the heavy percussiveness and electronic sensibilities of recent Boredoms recordings -- OOIOO are very aware of their influences, yet sound immensely fresh and original. Lisa Frank style cover art wonderfully rendered by Yoshimi, herself (a prolific textile and print artist as well!) Originally released in 1999 on Shock City in Japan, it is now finally available to us at a reasonable price, thanks to the fine folks at Birdman! If you liked their 2000 release, "Green & Gold" (still only an import release, although Birdman will get around to that one eventually), then you should get this one too.
RealAudio clip: "Ah Yeah / Switch On"
RealAudio clip: "Asozan"

OOIOO Gold & Green (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98
This came out about five years ago as an expensive Japanese import -- now at last it's been released domestically at a much more affordable price. Thanks Thrill Jockey! Here's what we said about it before:
This is the third album from OOIOO (say "oh oh eye oh oh"), the Osaka based, all-female quartet masterminded by Yoshimi P-We (drummer/trumpeter/vocalist for the Boredoms, et al.) At times playful and childlike, Gold and Green abandons the grating, no-wave dissonance of earlier albums for a more textural, atmospheric and melodic experience. "Mountain Book" (which seems to be the musical accompaniment to the lovely artwork for this record) is the beautiful standout track on which they are joined by many guests including Seiichi Yamamoto (Boredoms), Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto) and even Sean Lennon: epic, hypnotic, dreamy psychedelia with piano, dulcimer, and tabla.
This Thrill Jockey version lovingly re-creates the original release's stunning packaging, a gatefold complete with a booklet of children's psychedelic fantasy artwork by Yoshimi herself!
MPEG Stream: "Mountain Book"
MPEG Stream: "Grow Sound Tree"

OOIOO Gold and Green (Shock City/Polystar) cd 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is the third album from OOIOO (say "oh oh eye oh oh"), the Osaka based, all-female quartet masterminded by Yoshimi P-We (drummer/trumpeter/vocalist for the Boredoms, et al.) At times playful and childlike, "Gold and Green" abandons the grating, no-wave dissonance of earlier albums for a more textural, atmospheric and melodic experience. "Mountain Book" (which seems to be the musical accompaniment to the lovely artwork for this record) is the beautiful standout track on which they are joined by many guests including Seiichi Yamamoto (Boredoms), Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto) and even Sean Lennon: epic, hypnotic, dreamy psychedelia with piano, dulcimer, and tabla. As expected with any Shock City release, this comes in a stunning package, a gatefold complete with a booklet of children's psychedelic fantasy artwork by Yoshimi herself! You can expect a domestic release of this (sans the amazing packaging) someday in 2001 or 2002, perhaps...
RealAudio clip: "Mountain Book"
RealAudio clip: "Grow Sound Tree"

OOIOO Kila Kila Kila (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98

OOIOO Taiga (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98
There's a palpable aura of giddy excitement whenever Yoshimi from The Boredoms unleashes a new OOIOO record. We've loved Yoshimi as long as we can remember. Ever since we first heard the Boredoms. OOIOO's last album "Gold & Green" is a perennial store favorite. And Taiga finds Yoshima and company reconnecting to that same primal spazzy sound while building all sorts of wild and chaotic momentum. Scrappy, peppy, unrelenting. Like being in some insane Japanese pep rally! Off kilter melodies, unique rhythms, pulsating percussion and so much blindingly brilliant musical color. Yoshimi talks a lot in interviews about how much color plays a role in her music making, and that usually when she makes a record she will tell her band about the kind of colors she is trying to create. This time out the beautiful and curious cover gives the listener a clue as to the sounds and colors contained within. Intriguing splashes of silver, black, red and pink all over the place. Yu can almost feel your ears filling up with all those different colors. While far away from San Francisco their kinship in sound to Deerhoof is uncanny, especially on this outing. Yoshimi sounds as feisty as ever even recalling Brigitte Fontaine at her most wild and free. Another wonderful, playful and creative gem from OOIOO.
MPEG Stream: "UJA"
MPEG Stream: "UMA"

OOOOO s/t (Tri Angle) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Killer 'witch house' 12", now available on cd!!!
Dig the creepy cover, the extended claw like arms extended above a shadowy shawled woman, the whole image hazy and ghostly, and inside, strange electronic ghostly minimal dream pop that is the perfect soundtrack for that image, and for a lost world of similar sights, of blood red moons, of creatures in the dark, of low lit mysterious after hours underground gatherings, welcome to Witch House. No doubt most folks have already heard something about this new movement/genre, a twisted sample heavy dark minimal electronic music, which may have begun life as a witchy sort of house music, but has blossomed into a whole cadre of bands, make spooky, and evocative, and darkly lovely music. Most of these sounds released on limited tapes or cd-rs or as free downloads, the bands all named with strange option-control heavy keyboard characters, little black triangles, underscores, tiny crosses, jumbles of &'s and *'s, even OOOOO is written oOoOO, and who knows how it's pronounced. We could list some of the other bands, but it's probably just as easy to set your font for Zapf Dingbats and peck away at random!
But for all the secrecy and purposeful obfuscation, when you finally get your ears on this stuff, it is indeed, pretty fantastic. Woozy, warped, haunting, hypnotic, mysterious, dark, retro, futuristic, minimal, electronic, sampled, looped, depending on the group, it could be some sort of bewitching IDM shuffle, or some horror movie sampling bit of plunderphonia, or in the case of oOoOO, a gorgeous chunk of electronica flecked otherworldly dream pop. Skeletal and shoegazey, a soft pop cold wave wreathed in a ghostly haze, like Cocteau Twins or Slowdive but chopped & screwed. There's a little of that eighties sci-fi synth soundtrack stuff that's so popular right now, but somehow here it sounds more genuine, more a part of the admittedly twisted whole. Swirling effects, spectral ambience, atmospheric synth shimmer, occasionally slipping into some dark and sinister propulsive kraut disco, vocals clipped and looped into clouds of psychedelic soft noise, other times, the sound drifts more toward eighties MTV style yacht rock, but again, dubbed out, slowed down and wrapped in a blurred gauze, and throughout it all, the wispy angelic wraithlike female vocals, ethereal and ephemeral, a dreamy sonic thread that holds it all together.
Gorgeous stuff for sure. Anyone into all that hypnogogic pop stuff, or tripped out lo-fi cold wave, as well as folks like Zola Jesus, Nite Jewel, or even Beach House and other shoegazey dreampoppers, here's something just a bit darker, and a bit more out there, for when you're wandering the streets at night, or holed up in your house, lights out, candles lit and emotions dark, needing something pretty and poppy still, but infinitely more murky and mysterious.

OOOOO s/t (Tri Angle) 12" 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Dig the creepy cover, the extended claw like arms extended above a shadowy shawled woman, the whole image hazy and ghostly, and inside, strange electronic ghostly minimal dream pop that is the perfect soundtrack for that image, and for a lost world of similar sights, of blood red moons, of creatures in the dark, of low lit mysterious after hours underground gatherings, welcome to Witch House. No doubt most folks have already heard something about this new movement/genre, a twisted sample heavy dark minimal electronic music, which may have begun life as a witchy sort of house music, but has blossomed into a whole cadre of bands, make spooky, and evocative, and darkly lovely music. Most of these sounds released on limited tapes or cd-rs or as free downloads, the bands all named with strange option-control heavy keyboard characters, little black triangles, underscores, tiny crosses, jumbles of &'s and *'s, even OOOOO is written oOoOO, and who knows how it's pronounced. We could list some of the other bands, but it's probably just as easy to set your font for Zapf Dingbats and peck away at random!
But for all the secrecy and purposeful obfuscation, when you finally get your ears on this stuff, it is indeed, pretty fantastic. Woozy, warped, haunting, hypnotic, mysterious, dark, retro, futuristic, minimal, electronic, sampled, looped, depending on the group, it could be some sort of bewitching IDM shuffle, or some horror movie sampling bit of plunderphonia, or in the case of oOoOO, a gorgeous chunk of electronica flecked otherworldly dream pop. Skeletal and shoegazey, a soft pop cold wave wreathed in a ghostly haze, like Cocteau Twins or Slowdive but chopped & screwed. There's a little of that eighties sci-fi synth soundtrack stuff that's so popular right now, but somehow here it sounds more genuine, more a part of the admittedly twisted whole. Swirling effects, spectral ambience, atmospheric synth shimmer, occasionally slipping into some dark and sinister propulsive kraut disco, vocals clipped and looped into clouds of psychedelic soft noise, other times, the sound drifts more toward eighties MTV style yacht rock, but again, dubbed out, slowed down and wrapped in a blurred gauze, and throughout it all, the wispy angelic wraithlike female vocals, ethereal and ephemeral, a dreamy sonic thread that holds it all together.
Gorgeous stuff for sure. Anyone into all that hypnogogic pop stuff, or tripped out lo-fi cold wave, as well as folks like Zola Jesus, Nite Jewel, or even Beach House and other shoegazey dreampoppers, here's something just a bit darker, and a bit more out there, for when you're wandering the streets at night, or holed up in your house, lights out, candles lit and emotions dark, needing something pretty and poppy still, but infinitely more murky and mysterious.

OOPS, THEE Happy Charlie EP (Slovenly) cd ep 12.98
Initially we were mostly intrigued by this new ep from Italian punx Thee Oops, cuz the six year old daughter of a friend of ours, has a band called the Oops, where she and her same aged friend, each sit at a drum kit, and try to hit all the drums without hitting the cymbals, and every time they do, they both shout "OOPS!"
This record is by no means as cute as that, but then what really could be? Instead, these guys have tacked on an extra E and delivered 10 short sharp blasts of furious, catchy as fuck punk rock, nothing twisted or weird or experimental, just three chords, pounding drums, yowled vox, and hooks galore. Like all the best punk rock, these songs are essentially pop songs, super charged, revved up and let loose. Opener "1994" has been stuck in our head for weeks, even after only a handful of listens, and the more we listen to this (ten songs in a little over 12 minutes, so it's a lot!), the more it's true of pretty much every song here. Wild little squalls of lead guitar, crazy catchy choruses, some kick ass riffs, the songs flitting from anthemic singalongs to crunchy almost metallic punk to J-Church / Jawbreaker style pop punk to fuzzy midtempo UK punk rock to Toy Dolls style hyper pop. They even do a Beastie Boys cover (as in old punk rock BB!!). So great!
Vinyl folks, fyi, this will be coming out as a double 7" sometime soon.
MPEG Stream: "1994"
MPEG Stream: "Happy Charlie"
MPEG Stream: "Global Warming"
MPEG Stream: "Hope You Die Tonight"

OOPS, THEE Happy Charlie EP (Slovenly) 2x7" 12.98
Here's the vinyl version! Initially we were mostly intrigued by this new ep from Italian punx Thee Oops, cuz the six year old daughter of a friend of ours, has a band called the Oops, where she and her same aged friend, each sit at a drum kit, and try to hit all the drums without hitting the cymbals, and every time they do, they both shout "OOPS!"
This record is by no means as cute as that, but then what really could be? Instead, these guys have tacked on an extra E and delivered 10 short sharp blasts of furious, catchy as fuck punk rock, nothing twisted or weird or experimental, just three chords, pounding drums, yowled vox, and hooks galore. Like all the best punk rock, these songs are essentially pop songs, super charged, revved up and let loose. Opener "1994" has been stuck in our head for weeks, even after only a handful of listens, and the more we listen to this (ten songs in a little over 12 minutes, so it's a lot!), the more it's true of pretty much every song here. Wild little squalls of lead guitar, crazy catchy choruses, some kick ass riffs, the songs flitting from anthemic singalongs to crunchy almost metallic punk to J-Church / Jawbreaker style pop punk to fuzzy midtempo UK punk rock to Toy Dolls style hyper pop. They even do a Beastie Boys cover (as in old punk rock BB!!). So great!
MPEG Stream: "1994"
MPEG Stream: "Happy Charlie"
MPEG Stream: "Global Warming"
MPEG Stream: "Hope You Die Tonight"

OOSTERLYNCK, BAUDOUIN 1975-1978 (Metaphon) 4cd-box 90.00

OP8 Slush (Thirsty Ear) cd 15.98
Attention all Calexico, Giant Sand, and Lisa Germano fans! In case you missed it the first time around, the collaboration between those fine artists has been re-issued. Yessiree, and those jubilant cheers you may be hearing are undoubtably coming from Cup. Why? Well, 'cause it's one of her absolute most favorite albums ever. Not just another Giant Sand side project. No! It's a magical one-time combination of John Convertino, Joey Burns, Howe Gelb AND Lisa Germano. The beautiful rich twang we've grown to know and love from the gents' main projects (Calexico and Giant Sand) is most definitely in full glorious bloom here. Combine it with Ms Germano's off-kilter, melancholic vocal delivery and you've got yourself one very special album. Odd textures and noises creep in to keep the slow bittersweet melodies company. Originally released in 1997, these eleven moody, heartswelling 'n' handwringing songs never ever fail to break Cup's heart (especially tracks #3 and #5). Beautiful downer music. Includes a breathy, slow-winding world-weary duet between Germano and Gelb covering Lee Hazlewood's "Sand". Damn fine listening. Sooo very very recommended.
RealAudio clip: "If I Think Of Love"
RealAudio clip: "It's A Rainbow"

OPAQUE Crude Energy And Then Dinner Scenes (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A new name in the Celebrate Psi Phenomenon stable, this Scottish outfit manage to take the low tuned, tectonic guitar rumble of Earth / Sunn 0))) / etc., rev it up a little, add some melody and make it sort of rock, in a seasick, lurching through six inches of tar, being crushed beneath a black sky sort of way. And that's only the first track. Track two is a dizzying expanse of creaking machinery, dubby guitars, reverb and echo all over the place, some seriously overblown, guitar soaked dark ambience. Track three manages to mix the two together. The guitars are still there, fuzzing and buzzing and squriming like downed electrical wires, but they're spitting sparks from beneath a warm ocean of thick chords and muted feedback, melodic and drifting dreamily, a bit like Sunroof! or Vibracathedral Orchestra. Really nice. Fans of the Earth / Sunn 0))) / Corrupted / dirgedronedoom axis will NEED this for track one, but drone freeks will find the whole thing essential listening. SUPER LIMITED AS ALWAYS!! NOT SURE WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET MORE WHEN THESE ARE GONE!
MPEG Stream: "What Monsters Continue Their Lives In My Depths"

OPEN CITY Birth Of Cruel (Thin Wrist) cd 14.98
Three extended tracks of improvised free-form avant-noise drone from this LA outfit. Imagine the Dead C, slowly crumbling from the inside out, all vestiges of 'rock' and 'composition' are now a viscous puddle in front of your speakers, leaving just a splattery, skeletal clattery clank of a record. A huge cavernous space, a player in each corner, sending pipes and guitars and drum sticks and plectrums careening across the floor, raising an unholy, but pretty damn pleasing racket.
MPEG Stream: "One"

OPEN CITY Birth Of Cruel (Thin Wrist) lp 14.98
Three extended tracks of improvised free-form avant-noise drone from this LA outfit. Imagine the Dead C, slowly crumbling from the inside out, all vestiges of 'rock' and 'composition' are now a viscous puddle in front of your speakers, leaving just a splattery, skeletal clattery clank of a record. A huge cavernous space, a player in each corner, sending pipes and guitars and drum sticks and plectrums careening across the floor, raising an unholy, but pretty damn pleasing racket.
MPEG Stream: "One"

OPEN CITY L.A. We Revise Your Neglect (Thin Wrist) lp 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Los Angeles duo of Doug Russell and Peter Kolovos has expanded their lineup as well as sonic capacities with newcomer Andrew Maxwell, formerly of SF's Caroliner. With this second lp, Open City has abandoned the haze of a pure sonic assault for a more rigid and dynamic "free" approach. Audiophile vinyl housed in a beautiful heavy duty gatefold sleeve and limited to 500 copies.

OPEN CITY s/t (Thin Wrist) lp 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The debut lp from Los Angeles-based duo of Doug Russell and Peter Kolovos (they have since expanded into a trio). Two sidelong pieces of Branca informed sonic dissolution, both recorded live in 1997. Handsomely packaged in a heavy duty gatefold sleeve in an edition of 500.

OPEN HAND The Dream (Trustkill) cd 14.98

OPEN HAND You And Me (Trustkill) cd 14.98
The first thing you notice is the amazing die-cut artwork. Orange and red overlapping circles each with target like concentric inner circles, cut to resemble a fuzzy washed out mountainscape of orbs and spheres, with the tray card cut so the cd nestles perfectly into one of the valleys. So nice. The second thing you notice, or the first thing you notice once you throw this in the player, is how compltely KICK ASS this record is. This is literally all we've been listening to the last few weeks! We always talk about Queens Of The Stone Age as being this guilty pleasure we all seem to have. But what's so guilty about liking them? They rock, have great catchy songs, the remnants of that huge sun baked Kyuss fuzz guitar. What's not to love? Well, it could be our aversion to the whole MTV / VH1, dating or not dating Brody Dalle?, People Magazine / US Magazine, Dave Grohl killing time, supergroup, more crooning than rocking, not really about the music anymore?, corporate rock element. Yeah, could be.
So what if there was a band of young guys, who put out a record on punk / metalcore label Trustkill, and who took all of the stuff that made QOTSA so great, but turned that stuff inside out, and added all sorts of other disparate elements, turning what could have been just a decent QOTSA rip off into one of the coolest, catchiest rock records of the year?! Well, we'd probably make it record of the week and gush like giddy music nerds. So let us commence gushing, shall we?
Imagine huge fuzz guitars, unfurling super rocking Kyuss / Rocket From The Crypt / Burning Brides sort of stoner garage pop riffs, sometimes langorous and lysergic, sometimes so heavy and intense it's almost impossible to not air guitar! One track in particular, "The Kaleidoscope" has perhaps one of the best riffs EVER (sez Andee and Jason) an impossibly God-like Kyuss / Sabbath fusion, that gets everyone in the store nodding along like Wayne And Garth in Wayne's World. So we've got the riffs, now we go to the vocals, which go from breathy falsetto, to growly indie whine, to howled rock wail, with plenty of occasional female vocals, sometimes employed in surprisingly unorthadox ways giving a couple of the songs a really bizarre edge. Hard to describe, you just have to hear it.
But this is not just about rocking, as much as we wouldn't mind that at all. No, there's lots of weird wonderful pop experimentation all over, from loping bass driven Pinback-ish lullabies, droning brooding minor key dirges reminiscent of the Deftones or maybe Tool, some Sonic Youth-y skree and textural weirdness, even some moody electronic miserablism that has Depeche Mode worship written all over it. It all works so well together somehow, heavy and head banging, dreamy and blissed out. Can't believe this band isn't HUGE. But we're secretly a little glad they aren't. For now at least. The sticker on the front insists that You And Me "obliterates the boundaries between indie rock, stoner rock, metal, emo and garage." Before we heard it we were pretty sure that was some serious label hyperbole, but now we're not so sure. Open Hand take all that stuff and more, wrapping everything around some of the best pop songs we've heard in ages and comes up with a record that hasn't stopped kicking our ass since we got it. Record of the week is always a tricky proposition, we try to make it something out of the ordinary, something mysterious and weird, maybe something hard to find or impossible to get or maybe just overlooked, but once in a while, those things don't seem to matter as much as the simple fact that a record gets played over and over and over over, every day, all day, here AND at home, on our computers, in our iPod's, with no end in sight, that speaks volumes. And sure, maybe you can catch their video on MTV once in a while, or maybe hear them on the radio, but that's not a bad thing at all. If only everything on the radio or on MTV was this good. The world would be a much better (and most likely much stranger) place!
MPEG Stream: "Pure Concentrated Evil"
MPEG Stream: "Her Song"
MPEG Stream: "Tough Girl"
MPEG Stream: "The Kaleidoscope"

OPEN MIND, THE s/t (Sunbeam) cd 16.98
In their vigilant unearthing of one-off psych and folk obscurities, the Sunbeam label has been one of our favorite reissue labels even if their catalog can sometimes be hit and miss. Their vision, however is remarkably consistent, never reissuing a rare record just for the sake of it being rare, and making a practice of working with the original artists whenever possible to put together these reissues, like this one, a 1969 British psych rock rarity by The Open Mind, who were a mop-topped gang of guys from the paisley era. They liked to stroll on the harder, rockier side of the '60s psych-pop street, and this album contains a few gems for sure, *especially* the first of the four bonus tracks included, their truly great single "Magic Potion". That's the one for which they'll really be remembered (and it can be found on the Speaking My Mind: New Rubble Volume 2 compilation as well). It was also later covered by '90s space rock band Sundial. In additition, this reish includes the full complement of liner notes and vintage photos.
MPEG Stream: "Horses And Chariots"
MPEG Stream: "Cast A Spell"
MPEG Stream: "Magic Potion"

OPEN MIND, THE s/t (Sunbeam) lp 24.00
Now reissued on vinyl!
In their vigilant unearthing of one-off psych and folk obscurities, the Sunbeam label has been one of our favorite reissue labels even if their catalog can sometimes be hit and miss. Their vision, however is remarkably consistent, never reissuing a rare record just for the sake of it being rare, and making a practice of working with the original artists whenever possible to put together these reissues, like this one, a 1969 British psych rock rarity by The Open Mind, who were a mop-topped gang of guys from the paisley era. They liked to stroll on the harder, rockier side of the '60s psych-pop street, and this album contains a few gems for sure, *especially* the first of the four bonus tracks included, their truly great single "Magic Potion". That's the one for which they'll really be remembered (and it can be found on the Speaking My Mind: New Rubble Volume 2 compilation as well). It was also later covered by '90s space rock band Sundial. We think some proto-metal fans might dig it too!
MPEG Stream: "Horses And Chariots"
MPEG Stream: "Cast A Spell"
MPEG Stream: "Magic Potion"

OPER AXIONE NAFTA Cavuru (Siltbreeze) lp 13.98

OPERATIVE Ramp / Pulse (Ecstacy) 12" 14.98
We first heard Operative (a.ka. Scott Goodwin of Bonus) at the Root Strata curated music festival, On Land, last September here at San Francisco's Cafe Du Nord. Expecting to hear some piercing long-form drone meditation, we were pleasantly surprised that Goodwin was joined by two live drummers for a set of exuberant and organic minimal house workouts that were a welcome change of tone from much of the beautiful but exhausting roster of introspective drone experimentation that had been happening throughout the day.
Likewise, we're keen on this 12". "Ramp" begins with a slow-rising siren tone that continually elevates in pitch. As it's countered by other rising tones in a sort of Charlemagne Palestine-ish way, the drums and steady bass tones kick in taking the track to an urgent futuristic thriller as scored by Giorgio Moroder kind of territory. "Pulse" is more organic, taking warm rhythmic synth loops and looping them on top of each other to a pulsating and hypnotic 4/4 rhythm. So good!
This 12" marking Operative's debut comes courtesy of Honey Owens' (Valet, Jackie-O Motherfucker) new label for left-field techno, Ecstacy. Look out for her Miracles Club 12" on a future list!
MPEG Stream: "Ramp"
MPEG Stream: "Pulse"

OPERATOR: GENERATOR Polar Fleet (Man's Ruin) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
New on Man's Ruin. Operator: Generator are the Bay Area's answer to Kyuss. Groovy doomy swinging stoner rock. Not quite as heavy though, O:G sit somewhere right between Kyuss and Queens of the Stoneage. Warm fuzzy guitars, reverb drenched vocals, and a rhythm section that spits out prime chunks of seventies groove.
RealAudio clip: "Equinox Planetarium"