OPETH My Arms Your Hearse (Displeased) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now on vinyl. Third & perhaps best (yet) album from this Swedish band worshipped the world over for its combination of heavy death/black metal and epic progrock (i.e. they're no strangers to ten-minute plus song lengths). Note title derived from a Comus lyric!

OPETH My Arms, Your Hearse (Century Black) cd 10.98
Third & perhaps best (yet) album from this Swedish band worshipped the world over for its combination of heavy death/black metal and epic progrock (i.e. they're no strangers to ten-minute plus song lengths). Note title derived from a Comus lyric!

OPETH Orchid (Century Black) cd 14.98

OPETH Still Life (Peaceville) cd 16.98
People have been waiting for this record like it was the new Star Wars movie or something. And, why not? After all, their last record, 'My Arms, Your Hearse', was a masterpiece. Probably the best mix of black metal, '70s progrock, and just plain awesome songwriting; riffs, melodies, power, that record had it all. Now the new album is finally here, and it too seems destined for similar acclaim. The basic formula remains, a complex, oh-so-skilled mixture of might and beauty. Like all Opeth releases to date, this one will take a little time to digest! Impressive. And, needless to say, definitely better than that lame Star Wars movie!

OPETH The Roundhouse Tapes (Peaceville) 2cd 16.98

OPETH Watershed (Collector's Edition) (Roadrunner) 2cd 23.00
Fancy packaging edition.

OPHIBRE Phase Plane Cake Decorator (Songs From Under The Floorboards / Intransitive) cd-r 13.98
Boston's Ophibre (aka Benjamin Rossingol) has been releasing tiny editions of cassettes, cd-rs, and at least one reel-to-reel tape for the past five or six years. His work often revels in forgotten / obsolete technologies whose artifacts and residues become the source material for his crusty drones, abraded noise, and splattered musique concrete constructions; he couples those sounds with a dry blackhumor that falls somewhere between GX Jupitter-Larsen and George Macunias. This album, released on Intransitive's new series of hyper-limited cd-rs, draws from Rossignol's experience with an MRI machine while he was participating in a few medical studies to help pay the bills. As the giant powerful magnetic spun around him, Rossignol found himself hearing a complementary series of harmonic tones that didn't appear to be originating form the MRI. He wasn't sure if those sounds were hallucinatory or if they were some peculiar acoustic phenomenon that he had discovered. Here, he's attempting to replicate that experience through configurations of controlled feedback, synth overdrive, and dead-eyed noise. The first track is a screeching rasp of magnetic noise, particle accelerated vibration, and hurricane fury, that's well-suited to the likes of Birchville Cat Motel and Hototogisu; but after this 15 minute blast of noise, Ophibre's sublime, yet gritty dronescaping takes over with mirrored tones and hazy echoes that appear like the tracers from a bad drug reaction, flickering upon his murky immersions. All things that we dig in our dronemusik! Limited to 100 copies.
MPEG Stream: "Phase Plane Cake Decorator "
MPEG Stream: "Blue Starter"
MPEG Stream: ""I Thought You Would Never Ask..." "

OPHIDIAN FOREST I: Redbad (Ziekte) cd 11.98
Sometimes you can tell what you're gonna get just by an album cover. Rarely is that more true than with metal records, and the stern looking bearded dude with the winged helmet on the cover of I: Redbad is a pretty good indication of what lies inside - furious, overblown pagan black metal that buzzes and rages like a fucking war. Ophidian Forest is a trio with members stationed in the Netherlands, Croatia, and right here in San Francisco - imagine that. They conceive their music through file swapping online, and the liner notes explain that the three band members have never communicated through phone and wouldn't even recognize each other in person. So how are the results so amazing? Dark forces are surely at work with this one, not only is the music way more "natural" (not to mention totally awesome) than you might expect from such a lack of formal communication, but it may even work in the group's favor; with nothing to focus on except the creation of thrashing metallic glory with an extra heaping of mythological nihilism, the project has taken on a greater meaning than if it would have been defined in the traditional sense of what a band should be. Obviously these three are connected on some higher plane in the realm of black metal, because I: Redbad is a perfectly realized vision, a take no prisoners onslaught of filth and transcendental power. It's also a well thought out concept record focusing on the life and times of the Frisian King Redbad (c. 680-719), who in true metal fashion resisted the Christian onslaught of the Merovingian dynasty while maintaining the pagan ways of his people, who lived near the North Sea extending along the borders of the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark.
But this is hardly just for you history buffs out there. The guitars remain firmly in the red, the drums keep things blasting relentlessly, and the atmospheric keyboards add a nice touch of otherworldly ambience. And then of course, you get the singer's hateful, distorted screeches, adding a nice witchy element to the affair. Things are as filthy as you could hope for in a metal band, but the songs are also so punky and catchy that you might be surprised to find these sticking in your head for quite some time. To top things off, the band members all look like nefarious forest dwelling wizards, which certainly adds to the mystical vibe they have effortlessly obtained. One can only hope these guys keep up with the collaborations, because this stuff definitely covers everything we love about our black metal.
MPEG Stream: "A Herald On Silver Wings"
MPEG Stream: "Savage Day Rising"
MPEG Stream: "Shamanic Visions"

OPHIDIAN FOREST Plains (Favonian) cd 10.98
Record number two from this intercontinental pagan black metal horde, and like their first record a pretty impressive feat, considering the drums were recorded in California, the guitars and basses captured in Croatia, and the keyboards laid down in the Netherlands, but somehow, all of the elements came together to form this epic, sprawling, super complex, super frenzied collection of blackened grimnity, and indeed epic it is. As well as strangely melodic, the pagan element more pronounced this time around, and the keyboards higher in the mix, as well as some seemingly way more intricate, almost mathy arrangements, but other than that, the blown out heaviness and frosty blackness that defined the first record are in full effect. The first track makes that abundantly clear as it explodes with some Scandinavian style buzz, and a little pagan melody, a frantic soaring bit of black metal majesty, peppered with stuttery start stop breakdowns, but always slipping smoothly right back into more blasting insectoid buzz.
Throughout the record, the vocals are garbled and monstrous and harsh, the drums dense and pummeling, the keyboards ethereal and unobtrusive, but adding lots of atmosphere and subtle melody, the tracks are expansive and almost proggy, the riffing super tranced out and droney, in fact, lots of the parts seem to blur into a sort of droned out psychedelia, cyclical, repetitive and totally hypnotic. The vibe somehow manages to be raw and crusty as well, and a little punky, hooks and melodies woven deftly into parts that would otherwise be more like black blurs, the result is some surprising catchiness, alongside some super intense black brutality, and lots of unexpected and seriously -A- typical black metal elements: ultra twisted and convoluted drum parts, lush layered guitars, some gnarled off kilter riffage, warped keyboard melodies, all wound up with the more traditionally blackened elements into a constantly evolving, ever shifting, dizzying barrage of awesome twisted blackness.
LIMITED TO 400 COPIES. Comes housed in a half sized dvd style clamshell case, with a metallic silver printed cover, and an insert with lyrics/liner notes.
[And don't miss the secret hidden track, a super cool, weridly poppy black metal jam that we were convinced had to be a cover...]
MPEG Stream: "Fenrir"
MPEG Stream: "The Eagle"
MPEG Stream: "The Frozen Plains"

OPHIUCUS s/t (Lion Productions) cd 16.98
Lion Productions brings us another super obscure psych/prog reish that's pretty darn cool. France, 1972: the dawning of Ophicus, an astrologically inclined band staffed by some serious musicians from the French rock/pop scene, including a former member of Zoo. They certainly had a lot of promise, this debut album of theirs being a gorgeous and eclectic (and sometimes experimental) stylistic mix, encompassing everything from lilting acoustic folk to lush symphonic pop to raw backporch blues to heavy fuzz acid rockin' grooviness (Francais Metal de Proto ooh la la!). Sublime string orchestration, lovely vocal arrangements, and memorable melodies contribute to the wonderful moody atmosphere that pervades this album despite its diversity.
There's a lot to like here. This disc's 20 tracks include eight bonus cuts taken from a unreleased second album, among them several English language versions of songs from the debut meant for international release. And Lion (as is typical of them) provides a fairly hefty cd booklet into the bargain, full of photos, lyrics, and brand new liner notes from the band themselves, including commentaries on each track (for example: "'Darbouka' was meant to silently convey the feeling of oppression and the impossibility of expressing where it comes from"). If you liked the previous Lion reissues from France (Classical M, Ilous & Decuyper) you definitely should check out Ophicus, likewise if you've been digging that Pop Made In France comp we highlighted recently.
MPEG Stream: "Prenez, Donnez"
MPEG Stream: "Darbouka"
MPEG Stream: "Ne Cherche Plus"

OPHIUCUS s/t (Wah Wah) lp 30.00
Another Wah Wah vinyl reissue of something Lion reissued on cd previously, here's the review we wrote then (note this lp lacks the bonus tracks Lion were able to squeeze onto the cd):
Lion Productions brings us another super obscure psych/prog reish that's pretty darn cool. France, 1972: the dawning of Ophicus, an astrologically inclined band staffed by some serious musicians from the French rock/pop scene, including a former member of Zoo. They certainly had a lot of promise, this debut album of theirs being a gorgeous and eclectic (and sometimes experimental) stylistic mix, encompassing everything from lilting acoustic folk to lush symphonic pop to raw backporch blues to heavy fuzz acid rockin' grooviness (Francais Metal de Proto ooh la la!). Sublime string orchestration, lovely vocal arrangements, and memorable melodies contribute to the wonderful moody atmosphere that pervades this album despite its diversity.
If you like other French psych stuff we've reviewed, like Classical M and Ilous & Decuyper, you definitely should check out Ophicus.
MPEG Stream: "Prenez, Donnez"
MPEG Stream: "Darbouka"
MPEG Stream: "Ne Cherche Plus"

OPHTHALAMIA A Long Journey (Necropolis) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now, it's difficult to believe that the same guys responsible for the absurd Vondur are also involved with the much more serious, epic, doomy black metal of Ophthalamia, but they are. A Long Journey" is a re-recording of the band's debut from several years back, original titled A Journey In Darkness... improved production and more capable band members being the main differences.
The Vondur and Opthalamia albums also represent It's last efforts in black metal, as he recently quit all his bands (these two plus War and Abruptum), sold all his black metal paraphernalia (midget-sized chainmail anyone?) and moved away from Sweden...

OPHTHALAMIA Via Dolorosa (Peaceville) cd 13.98
A nice reissue of this cult classic Swedish black metal album, another one of those things that it seems that we should have reviewed when it first came out, but didn't, probably 'cause back in 1995 the AQ "list" was just getting started. And we were also only just then getting into the black metal as well, come to think of it. But we did love this album, and still do. It's especially majestic, melodic, quite unusual black metal, on the slower side, with epic progressive atmospheres reminding us of early Opeth perhaps, and also Dissection, with which this band has some connection. The winding guitar lines are what stands out for us, as played by none other than the infamous "It", also a key member of Abruptum, Vondur, and War. Unlike those other band of Its, this isn't so primitive and noisy. It's more about the guitar, which weeps melancholically over martial but sorta jazzy drumming, playing insidiously catchy, sorta folky riffs that are woven into doomy, sorrowful, and sinuous compositions. What we really like is when it gets kind of frantic, as in the middle of "Slowly Passing The Frostlands/A Winterland's Tear" (all the songs have the two-part names, by the way), all twisted and tangled, and the song starts to sound a heck of a lot like a Black Flag instrumental or something from one of Greg Ginn's first two Gone albums!!
Raspy vokills and weird whispers factor into the mix as well, along with a "practice space" production vibe, making this sound more black metal than it might otherwise, given that the herky-jerky, never ending guitar riffage also sounds more like rollicking '70s heavy rock on occasion. Making sure there's no question about it (and It) being black metal, though, if the band's medieval/gothic/ridiculous painted portraits weren't enough, along with their pedigrees in other bands (Abruptum, Marduk, Pan-Thy-Monium, Swordmaster, etc.) this ends with a bonus track (as did the original cd), that's a cover of the great "Deathcrush" by Mayhem.
Ophthalamia made several albums, but this - their second, strangest, and we think most memorable - is our favorite, and also one of our favorites among Its entire discography. Glad it's back in print, a great reminder of all the fantastic, original albums we were discovering back in the '90s coming from the Scandinavian metal scene...
MPEG Stream: "Black As Sin, Pale As Death/Autumn Whispers"
MPEG Stream: "Slowly Passing The Frostlands/A Winterland's Tear"

OPIATE Possible (Vertical F) 12" 9.98
During the past four or five years, the Raster Noton label has developed a very precise aesthetic or language of the electronic glitch within in a post-techno context. While artists like Goem and Taylor Deupree have taken the Raster Noton vocabulary of utopian purity and clinical sterility as an endgame of overly conceptualized minimalism, Raster Noton has recognized the folly of completely dehumanizing art, and has been returning to the elemental musical systems of harmonies and melodies, albeit with incredibly subtle applications. While examples of such are easy to find in the latest work from Raster bossman Carsten Nicolai (aka Noto and Alva Noto), the reconnection with melody is most pronounced in the work of Raster's newest associate Opiate, the solo project of Danish glitch-dub artist Thomas Knack. "Possible" -- released through the increasingly interesting Vertical Form label -- quietly bristles with a digital clickery that Opiate filters into delicate electro-glitch grooves, complete with whirring textural filters and a profoundly delicate use of ghostly melodies which correspond nicely to the work that Opiate did for Bjork's "Vespertine" album.

OPIATE Sometimes (Morr Music) cd ep 13.98
Well versed in the spatial relations of digi-dub techniques and a whimsical approach to IDM melody & rhythm, the Danish electronica artist Opiate (aka Thomas Knak) has nestled himself right in between Boards Of Canada and Pole. Released on the label Morr specializes in the electronica-pop hybrids of Lali Puna, Ms. John Soda, and other Notwist related projects, "Sometimes" politely follows the productions that Knak offered on a couple of the tracks on Bjork's "Vespertine." These 6 concise tracks of subtle programming skitter and fragmented melodies strike the balance between opposites (space vs. density, slow vs. fast, harmony vs. dissonance, etc.) with a mathematical precision. Nice.
MPEG Stream: "Amstel"

OPIATE While You Were Sleeping (April) cd 14.98
With pretty little electronic bells, pretty little electronic melodies, and pretty little electronic rhythms, Opiate has crafted a pretty little record in "While You Were Sleeping." Denmark's Thomas Knak (aka Opiate) has had the good fortune to work with such electronica luminaries as Bjork and Carsten Nicolai, with his own work falling squarely in between those two distinct aesthetics, bringing a wide-eyed and wondrous sense of melody to the clinical sterility of the Raster glitch 'n' pulse. "While You Were Sleeping" appears to be a collection of oddities, collaborations, and compilation tracks that Opiate produced during the past couple of years. If you never read the liner notes, you would probably never know that this was a compilation as Opiate's sound is so uniformly solid that an album of ephemera even sounds pretty good all the way through. Opiate's success hinges upon the interplay between stuttering, often oddly timed electronica rhythms and the perpetually minor-key melodies. For the most part, the album pulls off a moodiness similar to Boards of Canada's "Music Has The Right To Children" or Autechre's "Amber;" although Opiate's child-like lego-beats and melodic plinkiness can be a little overly cute. But that's never stopped the legions of Boards of Canada fans.
RealAudio clip: "Srain"
RealAudio clip: "Dromte Mig En Drom"

OPIUM JUKEBOX Bhangra Bloody Bhangra: A Tribute To Black Sabbath (Underground Inc.) cd 15.98
What hath the popularity of The Osbournes wrought? Music for the weirdest nightclub you've never been to, apparently. Opium Jukebox is actually Martin Atkins of Killing Joke -- Opium Jukebox seems to be his project for doing trancey techno cover versions of rock music. He's already done a Sex Pistols tribute, an alt-rock one with Nirvana and Jane's Addiction tunes, and has a Rolling Stones tribute in the pipeline. None of which much interest us...but THIS does. He's roped in a sitar player and dug up some vocal samples ("courtesy some dodgy market place in the Far East") to do a "Bhangra" style album of Black Sabbath covers!! Yep, a blend of traditional Indian instrumentation and modern electronic synth and beats making essentially instrumental and 'exotic' (but mostly recognizable, if you know your Sabbath) versions of the likes of "Iron Man" and "War Pigs". For some reason they've neglected "Sweet Leaf", which seems odd 'cause this has a definite hookah-suckin' vibe -- most of the synth effects sound like bong hits, even. It's super-cheesy, but how can you resist? We couldn't. While we would certainly recommend the artistry and atmosphere of Rondellus' Latinized early music style Sabbath-chants above "Bhangra Bloody Bhangra", there's still a place on our shelves next to that AQ-fave Rondellus "Sabbatum" disc for this. It's a worthwhile novelty for sure. Wonder why it exists, but listen and enjoy (or at least, confuse your friends). Track list: Supernaut, Iron Man, Heaven & Hell, N.I.B., Paranoid, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Snowblind, Embryo, War Pigs, Suicide Solution (hey that's a solo Ozzy song, not a Sabbath one!), and Supernaut again.
And as we later discovered, if you dig this, check out the Opium Jukebox Sex Pistols record which is done in a similar style, sitars and all.
RealAudio clip: "Iron Man"
RealAudio clip: "N.I.B."

OPIUM WARLORDS Live At Colonia Dignidad (Cobra) cd 17.98
We made The Puritan our Record Of The Week a couple lists back, the twisted ultra doom project of Reverend Bizarre's S.A. Hynninen, aka Albert Witchfinder, and that record was indeed twisted and doomy, crushing and slow, warped and mysterious, a little bit gothy and dramatic, a lot bit pummeling downtuned crush. So now we have Opium Warlords, Hynninen's most recent project, which we would have made our record of the week as well if it was a bit easier to get, cuz holy shit, it's like an even more fucked up Puritan, the slow parts are slower, the croony gothy parts, are, well, MORE. It's a creepy crawly burning, sprawling avant doom juggernaut, equal parts classic doom a la My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, Japanese sludge a la Corrupted, Boris, Solar Anus, and strange minimal prog, but it's WAY poppier too, and pretty, so much so, that we often forget what we're listening to, seventies British prog? Peter Hammill? Sounds strange, and it definitely is, but even in true doom outfit Reverend Bizarre, Hynninen and his crew were way weirder than your average doom band. And the thing with Opium Warlords, is at first it just seemed slow and weird, but it totally blossoms, the more melodic songs revealing themselves as epic and catchy, well crafted avant prog. Or something.
The record opens in full on doom mode, big crashing chords ring out, lots of space, the vocals a mewling croon that goes from growl to falsetto, as the track plods along for 8+ minutes, lurching along doomily, yet melodically, before slipping into the second track, a super spacious skeletal drift, that sounds more like Bohren than Boris, before finally stumbling into full on doomsludge, harsh howled vocals, and strange twisted melodies, until the record shifts gears entirely.
The next two songs, nearly 22 minutes, is a smoldering dark cabaret, guitars distorted and spidery, with Hynninen really singing, dramatic and emotional, it almost sounds like some long lost dark krautrock ballad, no drums, minus the occasional rumbling percussion off in the distance, just a warm drift of lush chords, and minor key melodies, really gorgeous, and timeless sounding.
Which gives way to another bout of doomic pummel, but again surprisingly melodic, all instrumental this time, just the guitars churning, the drums pounding, all wound into a tense chunk of doom pop heaviness.
The next track gets all Eastern with some layered guitars, and abstract percussion, heavy for sure, but also a bit raga like, with a strange mix, big bass thrums way up in the mix, the song eventually transforming into a convoluted math metal workout, which gives way to yet another chunk of more classic sounding doom. Slooooow, and spare, harsh growled almost falsetto vocals, over the pounding drums and big distorted chords left to ring out, heavy and slow, but still really pretty...
The final proper track, is all muted bass strum, jangly clean guitar, total dreamy pop vocals over the top, eventually growing more and more rocking, before finishing off in a tangle of almost Champs sounding guitar harmonies and then 30 seconds of feedback and amp buzz.
The whole thing put to bed by the 5 second closing track, a brief burst of pounding grunted furious grind metal. Phew.
Baffling. Brilliant. Even the booklet is utterly confusional. Packed with random text, strange doodles, diagrams, there's even a fragment of one of his papers from grade school, plus the record is NOT live, and it's unclear if this is a band, or if Hynninen plays everything himself, the artwork is super striking, very pink, and on the back, Hynninen offers up this description of Opium Warlords' self described "Black Gobi Desert Rock", which just may render the above review moot:
"A ritual of jet-black sonic occultism inside an imaginary subterranean temple. A mental trip to the minimalist galaxies of suffocatingly slow and heavy nekroambiences. A ground-breaking bi-polar exploration. A droner's delight and headbanger's holiday. A rave of deranged militarist dance beats. A celebration of psychosexual isolation. Essential and easy-to-listen-to fear music for unbalanced and self-hating youth. Kutu-vibrations for sweatshirt-sporting rillirillos. A message "from beyond". Uncontrolled emotional outbursts to cheer up those with the long faces. Something just for you, who "have heard it all" and "really could not care less". Quality time for a suicidal inner-space astrodoomonaut."
MPEG Stream: "I. Soon Be Here, Prince Of Sleep"
MPEG Stream: "II. Return To The Source"
MPEG Stream: "III. Let It Pour, Let It Pour"

OPIUM WARLORDS Live At Colonia Dignidad (Cobra) lp 29.00
We made The Puritan our Record Of The Week a couple lists back, the twisted ultra doom project of Reverend Bizarre's S.A. Hynninen, aka Albert Witchfinder, and that record was indeed twisted and doomy, crushing and slow, warped and mysterious, a little bit gothy and dramatic, a lot bit pummeling downtuned crush. So now we have Opium Warlords, Hynninen's most recent project, which we would have made our record of the week as well if it was a bit easier to get, cuz holy shit, it's like an even more fucked up Puritan, the slow parts are slower, the croony gothy parts, are, well, MORE. It's a creepy crawly burning, sprawling avant doom juggernaut, equal parts classic doom a la My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, Japanese sludge a la Corrupted, Boris, Solar Anus, and strange minimal prog, but it's WAY poppier too, and pretty, so much so, that we often forget what we're listening to, seventies British prog? Peter Hammill? Sounds strange, and it definitely is, but even in true doom outfit Reverend Bizarre, Hynninen and his crew were way weirder than your average doom band. And the thing with Opium Warlords, is at first it just seemed slow and weird, but it totally blossoms, the more melodic songs revealing themselves as epic and catchy, well crafted avant prog. Or something.
The record opens in full on doom mode, big crashing chords ring out, lots of space, the vocals a mewling croon that goes from growl to falsetto, as the track plods along for 8+ minutes, lurching along doomily, yet melodically, before slipping into the second track, a super spacious skeletal drift, that sounds more like Bohren than Boris, before finally stumbling into full on doomsludge, harsh howled vocals, and strange twisted melodies, until the record shifts gears entirely.
The next two songs, nearly 22 minutes, is a smoldering dark cabaret, guitars distorted and spidery, with Hynninen really singing, dramatic and emotional, it almost sounds like some long lost dark krautrock ballad, no drums, minus the occasional rumbling percussion off in the distance, just a warm drift of lush chords, and minor key melodies, really gorgeous, and timeless sounding.
Which gives way to another bout of doomic pummel, but again surprisingly melodic, all instrumental this time, just the guitars churning, the drums pounding, all wound into a tense chunk of doom pop heaviness.
The next track gets all Eastern with some layered guitars, and abstract percussion, heavy for sure, but also a bit raga like, with a strange mix, big bass thrums way up in the mix, the song eventually transforming into a convoluted math metal workout, which gives way to yet another chunk of more classic sounding doom. Slooooow, and spare, harsh growled almost falsetto vocals, over the pounding drums and big distorted chords left to ring out, heavy and slow, but still really pretty...
The final proper track, is all muted bass strum, jangly clean guitar, total dreamy pop vocals over the top, eventually growing more and more rocking, before finishing off in a tangle of almost Champs sounding guitar harmonies and then 30 seconds of feedback and amp buzz.
The whole thing put to bed by the 5 second closing track, a brief burst of pounding grunted furious grind metal. Phew.
Baffling. Brilliant. Even the booklet is utterly confusional. Packed with random text, strange doodles, diagrams, there's even a fragment of one of his papers from grade school, plus the record is NOT live, and it's unclear if this is a band, or if Hynninen plays everything himself, the artwork is super striking, very pink, and on the back, Hynninen offers up this description of Opium Warlords' self described "Black Gobi Desert Rock", which just may render the above review moot:
"A ritual of jet-black sonic occultism inside an imaginary subterranean temple. A mental trip to the minimalist galaxies of suffocatingly slow and heavy nekroambiences. A ground-breaking bi-polar exploration. A droner's delight and headbanger's holiday. A rave of deranged militarist dance beats. A celebration of psychosexual isolation. Essential and easy-to-listen-to fear music for unbalanced and self-hating youth. Kutu-vibrations for sweatshirt-sporting rillirillos. A message "from beyond". Uncontrolled emotional outbursts to cheer up those with the long faces. Something just for you, who "have heard it all" and "really could not care less". Quality time for a suicidal inner-space astrodoomonaut."
MPEG Stream: "I. Soon Be Here, Prince Of Sleep"
MPEG Stream: "II. Return To The Source"
MPEG Stream: "III. Let It Pour, Let It Pour"

OPTICAL*8 Gender (God Mountain) cd 19.98
We just did an order directly with Japanese avant-garde rock/jazz label God Mountain and picked up some old favorites, this being one of 'em. Optical*8 is (was?) the project of keyboardist/producer (and God Mountain head honcho) Hoppy Kamiyama, doing material ranging from downtown NPC avant-jazz to rock/funk fusion. But this disc from 1994 is a bit different than their others, and is our favorite by far. Here Hoppy is joined by the great Otomo Yoshihide on turntables and guitar, Friction's Reck on bass, and drummer Masafumi Minato. Together they create four thick slabs (tracks) of flangey distorted drone-rock with ethnic touches, unlike anything else. Praxis meets Skullflower?? It's a super heavy, psychedelic 'free-rock' exercise that makes it into Allan's personal top five of Otomo Yoshihide related-releases. ('High Fidelity' style, I, Allan, am compelled to list the other four: Ground Zero's first one, Ground Zero "Plays Standards", Ground Zero "Consume Red", I.S.O. "Gravity Clock", and, um, and the first Peril disc. Shoot, that's five. Arghh...) Anyway, this is a good one, seven years old but still great.
RealAudio clip: "Dispossable Heroes Do 'Lunch'"
RealAudio clip: "Dare To Be 'Uncool'"

OPTIGANALLY YOURS Exclusively Talentmaker! (Absolutely Kosher) cd 14.98
Optiganally Yours is the duo of Rob Crow (Thingy, Heavy Vegetable, Pinback) and Pea Hicks (the curator of the ludicrous Lucas & Friends album). Rob Crow's quirky and complex popcore vocal harmonies dreamily float behind Hicks' exotica devices; the Chilton Talentmaker, the Vako Orchetrston, and the Knickerbocker Bell Organ. No Optigans were used or destroyed in the making of this album.

OPTIMO Fabric 52 (Fabric) cd 17.98
Uptempo blazing jammers selected by Optimo.

OPTIMO Psyche Out (Eskimo Recordings) cd 16.98
Raver Techno DJs like their psych music too! That's the idea with this disc, wherein two edgy Scottish DJs who spin as Optimo (JG Wilkes and JD Twitch are their names), present a mix of spaced-out grooves from the past and present, some danceable, some towards the "chill-out" side of things. Everything from old school freak rock like Silver Apples' "Oscillations" and Hawkwind's "Hash Cake '77" to club trax like "Acid Thunder (Fast Eddie Mix)" and a Carl Craig remix of Throbbing Gristle... It's pretty varied, actually, mashing the Chambers Brothers' psychedelic R&B anthem "Time Has Come Today" right next to "Johnny Cash" by Scottish indie-rockers the Sons & Daughters, for instance. However, bewarned a lot of this is pretty house-y and electro-y, maybe not for someone normally shies away from dance music (though who knows, maybe you'll find you like some of it -- and it could cross-over the other way too). It's not clear to us what makes a bunch of this so "psychedelic" after all.
But then we thought of this: Nanjo Asahito, bassist for Japanese garage psych acts High Rise and Mainliner, told us once that, for breakfast, he preferred sausage to bacon because sausage was "more psychedelic"... we think what he meant (aside from a joke) is that sausage is mix of things, and that a mix is always more psychedelic... well there you go. Ingredients in Psyche Out's sausage include, besides the aforementioned: Delia Gonzalez and Gavin Russom, Vapourspace, The Stranglers, Acid Test, The Temptations, Sinnamon, Herbie Hancock, Simple Minds, Systeme Imaginique, Dinosaur, Dorau/Kohncke, Sweet Exorcist, Mr. Fingers, Chris and Cosey, Damien Donato, Koenig Cylinders, Hole In One, The Step, and Skatt Bros.
MPEG Stream: DELIA GONZALEZ AND GAVIN RUSSOM "Rise (DFA Mix) [w/ a little Silver Apples too!]"
MPEG Stream: DORAU/KOHNCKE "Durch Die Nacht (Geiger Mix)"

OPTIMO Walkabout (Endless Flight) cd 16.98
Now this is the kind of DJ mix cd we like! Optimo (a pair of Glaswegian DJs, though only one of 'em is responsible for this release) have already proved, with mixes like last year's Psyche Out, that they can throw down some proto-industrial or psychedelic rock tracks into a seamless set of mainly modern electronic dance stuff and make it work just fine, perking our ears up for sure. On this disc, Optimo start off with some vintage Throbbing Gristle from TG's 1979 debut LP, then skipping years (but not changing gears, that much) follow it with a recent cut by Kompakt artist Grungerman (aka Wolfgang Voigt). And so it goes. An eclectic, eccentric mix indeed. Other artists on here include: Suicide, Herbert, Black Dice, Marc Houle, Like A Tim, Godsy, Databrain, Leny Dee & Nicolai Vorkapich, 6K, Shane Berry, and Eventell and Metaboman. And Finland is represented by both Pan Sonic and Philius. At about the halfway point, Optimo even manage to include something by Japanese psych-heavies Boris! "My Machine" off of Pink, which though fuzzed-out and beat-less, somehow segues smoothly betwixt the much more dance-friendly tracks found to either end of it. Maybe the only unintentional glitch in the program is the track by Thomas Brinkmann -- though y'know we love him, his "Momomexico" included here is a bit of a party-pooper, unless a voice intoning "Mexico... Mexico... Mexico..." is your idea of a dancefloor filler. But once past that repetitious voice bit, it's a good 'un. And really, the idea isn't really that you're gonna put this on to dance to, is it? That's the question with a lot of electronic "dance" music we sell I suppose. Maybe drive, work out, jog, something like that though.
And as techno-y and house-y as a lot of this is, there's a healthy amount of grinding droning experimental bzzzz everywhere on here too. We imagine that at an Optimo night in Glasgow, there's probably people dancing, but just as many sitting there nodding their heads, spacing out. If you're like us, you might pick this up 'cause of the names you know and as a result get introduced to some cool stuff you wouldn't otherwise have heard. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: LIKE A TIM "Aibe Stracie"
MPEG Stream: EVENTELL AND METABOMAN "Control A Zoid"

OPTO 2nd (Hobbyind) cd 17.98

MPEG Stream: "04:34 a.m."
MPEG Stream: "10:45 a.m."

ORA Amalgam (Edition VI) 2lp 28.00
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Ora's rotating core of musicians has at times featured AQ favorites Andrew Chalk and Jonathan Coleclough, but here Ora's ringleader Darren Tate has employed Colin Potter's aeolian strings and the extensive field recordings of Michael Northam to marvelous results. The rich details of cold soil crackle, damp rocks dripping water, and wind rustling though decaying leaves situate within a thick tonal droning haziness. In spite of Coleclough's and Chalk's absence this is a remarkable album that matches its beautiful packaging (two pieces of clear vinyl obscuring close up photographs of a marsh).

ORA Aureum (Streamline) 2lp 23.00
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Andrew Chalk and Darren Tate formed Ora well over a decade ago and have released numerous self-released cassettes and limited cd-r editions of their mysterious ambience and delicate textures. In working with such prolific collaborators as Jonathan Coleclough, Lol Coxhill, Colin Potter, Daisuke Suzuki, and Michael Northam, Ora has masterfully collected a wunderkammer of drones. Each of Ora's mesmerisms possess an elegant antiquity that eeriely display a sense of history but have little context as to an origin or insight into the placement of one sound to another. Just as a 17th Century historical aesthetician would arrange heliotropes, alchemical machines, hermetic documents, and taxidemy specimens in a manner that emphasized the beauty of the object, Ora intuitively develops their slow building drones out of aqueous field recordings, undefined magnetic fluctuations, aeolian strings, and Chalk's resonant bells, gongs, and metal.
"Aureum" is a double LP collection of the rarities found on their self-released cassettes / cd-rs and showcases the three distinct facets of the Ora, which parallel the distinct personalities which went into the project, specifically Chalk, Tate, and studio wizard Colin Potter (whose ICR studio was the recording site for all of the Ora sessions). Tate's aesthetic favors the textures, especially crackly field recordings. Chalk prefers the extended metallic tone float of various resonnating objects, and Potter tends to blur everything into a sweeping haze. Absolutely beautiful.

ORA Final (ICR) cd 16.98
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Many moons ago, Darren Tate and Andrew Chalk found their way to Colin Potter's IC Studios, where the three initiated the humble yet eccentric drone project Ora, with occasional help from the likes of Jonathan Coleclough, Daisuke Suzuki, MNortham, and Lol Coxhill. The majority of the Ora releases have been small editions of CD-Rs following in the tradition of the UK underground cassette culture, where artists would simply release things themselves whenever the albums were finished and without having to adhere to the timetable of a record label. The obvious disadvantage in Ora's case is that their limited nature discouraged many from ever discovering the beautiful sounds found on Ora's odd CD-Rs. Fortunately, Ora has compiled several anthologies from those CD-Rs, the first being the Streamline 2LP "Aureum" (which has unfortunately received the same fate of the CD-Rs and has gone out of print), and more recently, the "Final" CD released on Colin Potter's ICR label.
With Darren continuing on as Monos, Andrew working in Mirror, and Colin busy engineering / collaborating with Nurse With Wound, Current 93, Monos, and dozens of other projects, Ora has ceased to be, and "Final" is probably the last Ora document to be released. Culled mostly from the CD-Rs "Live," "Distances," and "New Movements In G," this anthology does also include a couple of unreleased tracks. As the more recent Monos and Mirror recordings reflect, Ora's specialty has been the construction of the opiated drone that implores a sort-of calmness but at the same time actively confronts the listener with its sound rather than floating to the back as aural wallpaper. Built from field recordings, bowed metals, and various electronics, Ora situates their drones within a wide spectrum of textures -- ranging from the sporadic use of angular blurts from Lol Coxhill's sax and accompanying dense scrapes like a huge boulder getting pushed across a concrete floor, to tiny fluctuations from flutes and sitars. "Final" stands as yet another exceptional record from this small aesthetic circle of UK drone artists.
RealAudio clip: "Distances"
RealAudio clip: "New Movement In G"
RealAudio clip: "Roses?"

ORA Morgendammerung (Die Stadt) 10" 21.00
Morgendammerung is another posthumous release form the drone ensemble Ora, which consisted of Darren Tate, Colin Potter, and Andrew Chalk with occasional contributions from Lol Coxhill, Jonathan Coleclough, mnortham, and Daisuke Suzuki. Both of the extended tracks from Morgendammerung originate from the long out of print cd-r New Movements In G, originally released on Darren Tate's own Gnome Records back in 1998. Vapor trails of cold watery field recordings nestle into the hushed sounds of Ora's enigmatic rituals of quiet gong and bell interplay. While Coxhill supposedly contributed some sax work on one of the two tracks, it's impossible to tell as Ora's trio of producers superbly abstracted all of the sounds into these monoliths of quivering drones. It should be noted that neither of these tracks had been reissued on the two Ora retrospectives Final and After The Rainfall. Limited to 400 copies.

ORA Rosea (Hic Sunt Leones) cd 17.98
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The inscription for Ora's "Rosea" states that this music is "full of Elves and Gnomes" and those of you familiar with the little things in life that we here at Aquarius love, you know that gnomes and elves fit right in (last list's "Ancient Forest of Elves" anyone?). Although the notes on the back, provided by the usually tight lipped recluses Andrew Chalk and Jonathan Coleclough, share none of the valuable insight into the music of gnome and elves that the inscription implied. Anyway, Ora is the textural drone collective that features Darren Tate, Lol Coxhill, Colin Potter (Nurse With Wound), as well as the aforementioned Chalk & Coleclough. This 94-95 record's loosely structured field recordings of geese and what Byram thinks sounds like someone rolling around on a couch with contact mics taped to their latex t-shirt coalesce into signature patterns of sound that fade in and out of delicate drones. Texturally, Ora has always been quite adventurous, and "Rosea" is no exception. Limited to 500 copies.

ORAM, DAPHNE Oramics (Paradigm) 2cd 28.00
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Wow, What a nice and welcome surprise for early electronic music fans! This 2cd anthology is the first re-issued work from one of the most important and unsung heroes of electronic music, Daphne Oram, co-founder of the BBC Radiophonic workshop. Beginning her career in the forties with the BBC as a "music balancer" (an arduous task of syncing recorded taped music with a live performance feed so that broadcasts would remain uninterrupted in case of war-time blackouts), Oram spent most of her nights fascinated with synthetic sounds and experimenting with oscillators and tape machines, as well as composing unperformed orchestral works and sound pieces for film and play commissions. Promoted to music studio manager, she campaigned for the BBC to provide electronic music facilities for composing music and sound effects using electronic music and musique concrete techniques for use in its programming which led to the founding of the Radiophonic workshop in early 1958. However, her desires to compose music and further her studies and development of synthetic music theory, caused her to leave the BBC a year later. Working off two grants from the Gulbenkian foundation in the 1960's, and supplementing her income through advertising work, she developed her most unique contribution, the Oramics composition machine and the drawn sound technique, an elaborate mechanism that allowed her to create pure sound through the transcription of drawn lines. For being the first woman to direct an electronic music studio as well as the first woman to design and construct an electronic music instrument, her legacy remains largely unnoticed in this male-dominated field. She lectured extensively and wrote one of the most philosophical books on electronic music, called An Individual Note of Music, continuing her developments with early Apple computers until a series of two strokes forced her to retire. She died in 2003. Culled from an extensive archive of compositional pieces, film and play commissions, early sound experiments with the Oramics machine, and advertising jingles, this anthology covers material from the late fifties to the early seventies. Fans of Delia Derbyshire, Raymond Scott and early electronic music enthusiasts of all sorts will find lots to love here. Highly Recommended!!!!
MPEG Stream: "Birds Of Parallax"
MPEG Stream: "Lego Builds It"
MPEG Stream: "Snow"
MPEG Stream: "Fanfare Of Graphs"

ORAM, DAPHNE Oramics (Young Americans) 4lp 50.00
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This long time aQ fave, now available on vinyl, as a super deluxe 4lp set!! Especially nice since the previous double cd edition is long gone.
Wow, What a nice and welcome surprise for early electronic music fans! This anthology is the first re-issued work from one of the most important and unsung heroes of electronic music, Daphne Oram, co-founder of the BBC Radiophonic workshop. Beginning her career in the forties with the BBC as a "music balancer" (an arduous task of syncing recorded taped music with a live performance feed so that broadcasts would remain uninterrupted in case of war-time blackouts), Oram spent most of her nights fascinated with synthetic sounds and experimenting with oscillators and tape machines, as well as composing unperformed orchestral works and sound pieces for film and play commissions. Promoted to music studio manager, she campaigned for the BBC to provide electronic music facilities for composing music and sound effects using electronic music and musique concrete techniques for use in its programming which led to the founding of the Radiophonic workshop in early 1958. However, her desires to compose music and further her studies and development of synthetic music theory, caused her to leave the BBC a year later. Working off two grants from the Gulbenkian foundation in the 1960's, and supplementing her income through advertising work, she developed her most unique contribution, the Oramics composition machine and the drawn sound technique, an elaborate mechanism that allowed her to create pure sound through the transcription of drawn lines. For being the first woman to direct an electronic music studio as well as the first woman to design and construct an electronic music instrument, her legacy remains largely unnoticed in this male-dominated field. She lectured extensively and wrote one of the most philosophical books on electronic music, called An Individual Note of Music, continuing her developments with early Apple computers until a series of two strokes forced her to retire. She died in 2003. Culled from an extensive archive of compositional pieces, film and play commissions, early sound experiments with the Oramics machine, and advertising jingles, this anthology covers material from the late fifties to the early seventies. Fans of Delia Derbyshire, Raymond Scott and early electronic music enthusiasts of all sorts will find lots to love here. Highly Recommended!!!!
MPEG Stream: "Birds Of Parallax"
MPEG Stream: "Lego Builds It"
MPEG Stream: "Snow"
MPEG Stream: "Fanfare Of Graphs"

ORAM, DAPHNE The Oram Tapes Volume One (Young Americans) 4lp 52.00
Perhaps the only bright side to the passing of one of the most ambitious but relatively unsung figures in early electronic music, is that the archives of hundreds of reels of unreleased recordings of sound experiments, tape compositions, field recordings, cinematic sound effects andÊMusique Concrete are just starting to be released to a wider audience. Young Americans did a stellar job with the first Daphne Oram vinyl overview, Oramics, which was a retrospective of her long and varied career from her time as a wartime radio technician to becoming an electronic instrument pioneer and founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Now that her invention, The "Oramics" machine (the first electronic musical instrument designed and built by a woman), has gone on display at the Science Museum in London, Daphne Oram's legacy is finally moving into its rightful place. This deluxe 4lp compilation is the first in a planned series of releases that dig deep into Oram's vast recording archive. Painstakingly compiled and restored from over 400 tapes and mastered at Dubplates & Mastering, The Oram Tapes Volume One features 46 previously unheard recordings cut at 45 rpm for deeper sound quality. While most of the pieces are short, they show a darker and more layered compositional style than what one may be used to from the bigger names of The Radiophonic Workshop. While the typical Workshop compositional bloops and bleeps were often steeped in a science fiction futurity, Oram was more often concerned with the mystery and science of sound composition, and the place where the sounds of machines and nature overlapped. That is probably why her effects reel for the film 2001 sounds more like haunted insects and cathedral-like atmospherics rather than say, robotic whirrs and laser-like phasing. There is a thoughtful and cerebral consideration in her compositions that allows us to imagine and nearly inhabit the world she is building in sound. Quite stunning!

ORANG-UTAN s/t (Buy Or Die) cd 22.00
Here's another good 'un for you Seventies proto-metal lovin' brothers and sisters out there, being another cd reissue of a vintage slab of heavy psych rock from way back when, in the vein of Captain Beyond, Dust, Bang, Leafhound and the like... We don't know much about Orang-utan other than that this was probably their only release, a self-titled album from 1971, and they hailed from England (we think). Certainly this is a bit Zeppish in spots. A minor lost classic? Perhaps. This rocks hard and melodic with a melancholic emotional edge to many of the songs, not just the mellower ones. Great vox and riffage! 2005, digipack edition now.
MPEG Stream: "Slipping Away"
MPEG Stream: "Chocolate Piano"

ORANGE BICYCLE Hyacinth Threads (Edsel) 2cd 19.98
Two cds packed full of the happy, trippy sounds of the '60s. You know what I'm talkin' about... the Beach Boys and the Mamas & Papas. Ah yes, super sunny, uplifting and just a little bit tweaked were this obscure late-'60s British pop group. Clocking in at a total of 33 tracks, this just might be all the Orange Bicycle you'll ever need!

ORANGE CAKE MIX A Shadow Of Eclipse & Other Phases Of The Moon (Blackbean & Placenta) cd 11.98
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ORANGE CAKE MIX Lovecloud and Secret Tape (Blackbean & Placenta) cd 12.98
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Epic, jangly pop, made amazingly enough, by one guy. For fans of GBV, East River Pipe, and Roger McGuinn. Really nice. Pick this up quick, before twenty more OCM releases come out and you forget about this one...

ORANGE CAKE MIX Microcosmic Wonderland (Audio Information Phenomena) cd 8.98
More midtempo loungey pop gems from the extremely prolific James Rao.

ORANGE CAKE MIX Microcosmic Wonderland (Audio Information Phenomena) 10" 7.98
More midtempo loungey pop gems from the extremely prolific James Rao.

ORANGE GLASS s/t (self-released) cd-r 9.98
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What is it about Nova Scotia and pop music? Has one place produced so much great indie pop music in the last 20+ years? Ever? We don't think so. Sloan, Eric's Trip, Hardship Post, Super Friendz, The Inbreds, Thrush Hermit, Jale, The Memories Attack... And that Halifax sound, while hard to describe exactly, is immediately recognizable by the pop savvy, but even if you've never heard any of those bands (and if you haven't, well hell, get on it!), if you love the rocking jangle of nineties indie pop, if you grew up listening to records on Sub Pop, and K, and Kill Rock Stars, and love big crunchy riffs, even bigger hooks, gloriously lo-fi production, keening sad boy vox, lyrics about love and girls and heartbreak, then you need to do some digging, and why not start here, with this collection of tracks from long defunct indie rockers Orange Glass.
Now we consider ourselves pretty big fans of all those bands, Andee even released the most recent record by The Memories Attack, which happens to feature a member of Eric's Trip AND Mr. Ron Bates, a longtime aQ customer, and frontman for the late great Orange Glass. How did we not know about OG. Everything about them screams BAND WE WOULD HAVE LOVED AND OBSESSED OVER AND PUT ON EVERY MIXTAPE!! But better late than never.
None of the Orange Glass records are available anymore, but Bates recently decided to put together a compilation, of album tracks, singles, compilation tracks, unreleased recordings, to pass out to his friends, we convinced him to let us have 20 of the 50 he made, so odds are once these are gone, they are gone for good. So don't miss out, you'll be sorry.
There's a definite sonic link to Eric's Trip, and of course the Memories Attack, from hissy lo-fi 4 track bedroom folk, to rambunctious crashing power pop, fuzzy guitars, wild drumming, and of course hooks hooks hooks, another one of those bands that should have been huge, or if not huge, at least as popular as all the above mentioned outfits. The sound quality varies greatly from super raw demo rehearsal space sound, to full on studio shine, but nothing can disguise how fun and catchy and amazing these songs are, and Orange Glass were, and for those with an indie rock heart, you may have just discovered a new favorite that by all rights should have been an old favorite too.
Super nice silver metallic covers, inside liner notes on where all the tracks comes from, each one hand numbered, LIMITED TO 50 COPIES!!!
MPEG Stream: "Preoccupied"
MPEG Stream: "Saturn And The Moon"
MPEG Stream: "Wait A Day"
MPEG Stream: "Knock Wood"
MPEG Stream: "Cosmic Pilot"

ORANGE GOBLIN Coup De Grace (The Music Cartel) cd 14.98
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We want to like this British stoner rock band, really we do, but despite their hard-rockin, heavy ways we really just can't get into 'em that much. But, they're ok. This, their third or fourth album (see, we just don't care) is produced by one guy from Kyuss and has another, their singer, doing guest vocals on two songs. But (to their credit, perhaps) they don't sound like those oft-cloned desert rockers. No, "Coup De Grace" is more of a shit-kickin' motorcycle-ridin' rawk affair with gruff vocals and cowboy boots. More nu-grunge for the '00s. We can't really say what if anything is wrong with this, but it's just not grabbing anyone here at the moment, sorry. Maybe we need to hear it at a party or something. Stoner rock types should check out the audio clip for yourselves and see what you think.
RealAudio clip: "Whiskey Leech"

ORANGE GOBLIN Thieving From The House Of God (The Music Cartel) cd 14.98
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ORANGE GOBLIN Time Travelling Blues (The Music Cartel) cd 14.98
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The newest from these retro-'70s English stoner groove merchants, fixated on motorcycles and mushrooms and similar good things. Heavy, similar to Sheavy, ready to party. Plus there's lots of blissful spaced out grooves to relax to after the party as well.

ORANGE JUICE The Glasgow School (Domino) cd 15.98
Scottish pop fans, here's something you don't want to miss... especially if you missed 'em the first time around over two decades ago! These highly influential Scots finally receive a long-overdue, respectful retrospective compilation. Edwyn Collins, Steven Daly, James Kirk and David McClymont's distinct combination of sugary sweet jangle pop sensibilities with a wry wit and sharp tongue definitely made an impression on the young hearts and minds of bands such as Belle & Sebastian (on the sticker affixed to the shrinkwrap, Stuart Murdoch is quoted voicing his deep reverence), Heavenly and The Pastels, let alone more recent upstarts such as Arcade Fire and Franz Ferdinand (Alex Kapranos' devotion is also noted on the abovementioned sticker).
For The Glasgow School, Domino Records has unearthed the band's first four singles (originally released on indie label Postcard Records) along with eleven songs recorded in 1981 which were originally intended to be their debut album Ostrich Churchyard which was also to be released on Postcard. That never came to pass, and the album would in turn be rerecorded and renamed You Can't Hide Your Love Forever and released on Polydor in 1982. Ostrich Churchyard was eventually released in 1992. Also included are two previously unreleased songs -- "Blokes On 45" from a Peel Session and a raucous cover of The Ramones' "I Don't Care" from a pre-Orange Juice rehearsal tape when they went by the moniker the Nu-Sonics.
Beautifully packaged like a hardcover book with an introduction and song-by-song liner notes by Steven Daly as well as a scattering of live and candid snapshots. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Falling And Laughing"
MPEG Stream: "Breakfast Time"

ORANGE SUNSHINE Bullseye Of Being (Leaf Hound) cd 16.98
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Orange Sunshine are a freaky, fuzzed-out power trio from Holland who really really wish they existed in San Francisco circa 1969. Their sound, their graphics, even their name is inspired by heavy Frisco sixties legends Blue Cheer (Orange Sunshine being another "brand" of LSD). They just were in the USA on tour, and we saw 'em live a few weeks back at the Hemlock. Their singing drummer was definitely the star of the show. Long haired, bearded, totally hippified, he was a wild man, pulling crazy faces the whole time he was playing. It seemed quite likely that his number one drummer hero growing up was Animal from The Muppets. Coming to San Francisco to play their Blue Cheer-y music, they took it as far as they could -- even doin' their own version of "Summertime Blues"!!
This new album of theirs (don't believe where it says on the back cover that it was recorded in 1970, that's more fantasy on their part, though they do their best to make that claim almost seem likely) makes us think Acid Mothers Temple crossed with Blue Cheer. Not too hard to imagine, eh? This disc's opener, the 15 and a half minute "Ruler Of The Universe" leans towards the AMT side of that equation, being a spacey, faux Eastern sitar and tablas raga meets flying saucer lift-off sort of epic. Following that, the three minutes of "Speed" sizzle nicely. Then we get a fairly faithful cover of Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love". They just couldn't resist cranking out Jack Bruce's (not Eric Clapton's) most famous riff themselves we guess. Nothing wrong with that, but we liked how on their earlier Love=Acid, Space=Hell album they picked things to cover that actual '60s heavy rock bands would have done, like stuff by Bo Diddley. Still it's cool hearing it given the Blue Cheer, we mean Orange Sunshine treatment. Next up, "Demonize" (or is it "Demon's Eye"?) is a blown-out, wailin' stomper that wouldn't have been out of place on Vincebus Eruptum -- although it's actually a Deep Purple cover. And then the album comes to a fuzzy finale with another Blue Cheerish number entitled "Balls Knockin'". Turns out that's the only track here that's NOT a cover. Though we've never heard of the bands that did "Speed" and "Ruler Of The Universe" before: Ron Allen Light Show and Terry Brooke's Strange, respectively. Kinda makes up for the obviousness of the Cream choice. Seems like these guys really DO live in their own drugged-out, time-looped 1968-1971 universe and it's real nice of them to let us join 'em for the authentic acid rock experience now and then!
MPEG Stream: "Balls Knockin'"
MPEG Stream: "Ruler Of The Universe"

ORANGE TWIN Field Works Volume One (Orange Twin) cd 13.98
Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum travelled to Bulgaria in August of 2000 and came back with this aural document of the Koprivshtitsa Festival. Impossibly high female voices arch over droning pipes and strings, at times in a chorus like chattering, and at times just one solo voice wailing bravely above all else. Male singers and manic strings explode into folk songs, full of energy and swing. The feel of this record is very on-the-street and raw, like the Sun City Girls' recordings made in SE Asia, or the "Ho! Roady Music from Vietnam" disc we love so much, yet the recording quality is surprisingly clean and crisp (i.e. you won't be disappointed). Mangum contributes some minimal layering and processing on a computer.
RealAudio clip: "(excerpt)"

ORANGER New Comes And Goes (Eenie Meenie) cd 13.98
SF's Oranger continue to spread the love around, dishing out their generous offerings of sunbeam-bright tunes on a different label each time. Here, they've popped up on Eenie Meenie Records. Following up last year's 2cd Shutdown The Sun on Jackpine Records, New Comes And Goes' buoyant baker's dozen is once again sure to please Oranger's fans as well as those of fellow West Coast noise-poppers The Posies and Beulah. More polished, but still retaining a bit of the rough-around-the-edges, mischievous charm that characterised Shutdown and the album that came before it Quietvibrationland (released in 2000 on former Pavementer Scott Kannberg's label Amazing Grease). The album runs the gamut from bubblegum heights to more 'serious' mid-tempo downers, and we have to say that we do prefer the songs on which the band keep the mood upbeat and the energy high. That's when they shine the brightest (at least we think so). A side note: the album cover and font choice seem a little incongruous though, bringing to mind wee hours Euro dance punk festivities rather than a California beach-destined convertible on a scorchin' summer afternoon (which is what we associate this band's music with).
MPEG Stream: "Crooked In The Weird Of The Catacombs"
MPEG Stream: "Sukiyaki"

ORANGER Quietvibrationland (Amazing Grease) cd 14.98
These SF super-pop boys bring us a new full length full of, yes, very Beach Boys-influenced shining tunes, but they've polished this album up into something all their own. With nods to the rest of their Elephant 6 comrades. Glorious vocal harmonies soar. Buoyant melodies bounce along seemingly without a care in the world. Well-written, well-crafted and well-performed. For fans of Olivia Tremor Control, the Posies, Sloan.

ORANGER Shutdown The Sun (Jackpine) 2cd 14.98
With the final shows of popsters Beulah looming on the horizon, waste no time wonderin' who's gonna slip their tootsies into their fine shoes and be the new Cinderella of the Bay Area pop ball. 'Cause while Beulah were soaking up a good deal of the city's pop spotlight over the past few years, their pop brethren Oranger were quietly honing their songcraft. The results? A shining album reminiscent of the great pop of the Posies, Olivia Tremor Control, Apples In Stereo, Beulah and yes of course the Beatles and Beach Boys. On this new cd (that comes with bonus disc of fine rare goodies!), Oranger have really come into their own, revealing an impressive range -- able to funk it up, lounge it down or twang it all around, and still maintain their shiny playful pop foundations. Heaps of delightful vocal harmonies, infectious hooks and fully fleshed out arrangements.
MPEG Stream: "Going Under"
MPEG Stream: "Bluest Glass Eye Sea"

ORANJ SYMPHONETTE Plays Mancini (Gramavision/Rykodisc) cd 14.98
4 local guys have fun messin' with Henry Mancini. Ralph Carney. Joe Gore. Matt Brubeck and Scott Amendola. "Eccentric." "Quirky."