OUTER SPACE Pyramids On Mars (Wagon) Cassette 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

OUTERDRIVE Hallucinations (Mar/ino) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In the same limited (to 150 copies) edition series as the Kawabata Makoto disc reviewed last list, comes this improvised psychedelic excursion by Gravitar guitarist Geoff Walker and friends. It was recorded live "in 'The Roosevelt National Forest' on a beautiful sunny day under the influence of abnormally high amounts of hallucinogens", or so we're told -- certainly the drug part is believable, as this is very much in the mold of '70s cosmic krautrock jamming (a la Ash Ra Tempel, Agitation Free) with lots of spacey effects. Mellow, flowing, pretty much the definition of "trippy"! Nice.
RealAudio clip: "Side Show"

OUTKAST Aquemini (LaFace) cd 16.98

OUTKAST Big Boi & Dre Present (LaFace) cd 16.98
Yep, it's true. A greatest hits record. Right off the bat, we should tell you to just get all the records, cause they're all great. But if for some reason you've been living in a cave or on the moon, then by all means get your grubby mitts on this puppy and expose yourself to the wonderful, funny, funky world of OUTKAST. All the hits are here: 'Rosa Parks', 'Ms. Jackson', 'Aquemini', 'Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik' and more. Also includes three brand new tracks!!

OUTKAST Idlewild (La Face) cd 16.98
Hi De Hi De Hi De Ho! Outkast finally return, and in full Juke-Joint mode. Employing Tin Pan Alley quirks, marching bands, and swing-era rhythms and melding them all to hip hop beats, Idlewild may not be the return to the Dirty South sound that some folks were hoping for but it sure is fun. While still more solo than together, Andre 3000 and Big Boi have a yin/yang working dynamic that supports the flow of the record nicely. Though some songs are performed together, there are no overt distractions of inconsistency. There are a lot of interludes and skits we could do without, but that makes more sense with such a multimedia-blitzed soundtrack concept. We look forward to the next time they get back together for a proper studio record (if they do one, that is!). But we sure are fine listening to "Morris Brown" in the meanwhile...
MPEG Stream: "Mighty "O""
MPEG Stream: "Peaches"
MPEG Stream: "Morris Brown"
MPEG Stream: "Mutron Angel"

OUTKAST Speakerboxxx / The Love Below (Arista) 2cd 22.00
Hard to know what to say about this new Outkast record. We all pretty much love Outkast, and their total disdain for what's hip or cool in hip hop circles. Weirdly dressed, wildly inventive musically, with videos that are tough to beat, they pretty much stood out like a big beautiful funky sore thumb. So while we weren't necessarily surprised by ther decision to release a double cd, basically 2 solo records, we were a bit surprised by the records themselves. 'The Love Below' is Andre 3000's joint and is basically a smooth R+B slow jam ala Prince or Billy Ocean or Luther Vandross, but with a healthy does of Ween. Yep, that's right, Ween. Ridiculously silly lyrics and goofy goofy love songs. Byram posited that this is what Ween SHOULD sound be doing. Ultra slick, incredibly smooth, well produced jamz....with lyrics like "I know you like to think your shit don't stank, but lean a little closer and see that roses really smell like boo-boo-boo, boo-boo-boo." So your call. Fun. Definitely funny. Soulful and funky, but really really dorky and goofy. Now Big Boi's disc sounds way more like the Outkast we know and love, in fact, it really does seem like an Outkast record. Big beats, weirdly inventive arrangements, crazy raps, and wickedly catchy choruses. Just consider 'The Love Below' a bonus disc of slow jams to do with what you will. Boo-boo-boo. Boo-boo-boo.
MPEG Stream: "Roses"
MPEG Stream: "Flip Flop Rock"

OUTKAST Stankonia (Arista) cd 16.98
Long anticipated release of the new Outkast, the group that comes closest to recreating George Clinton's Mothership in all its funk glory, as heard through the new century's hip hop paradigm. There's a lot going on, including interesting sampling choices, unison singing a la Parliament, and looped silliness to keep the groove going. If you've been listening to K-MEL or the various hip-hop equivalents around the country, then you've most definitely heard Outkast's "Ms. Jackson" on heavy rotation for the last several weeks. It's certainly a track worthy of all that play; I still find myself singing the chorus at random moments throughout the day. Everytime we listen to this record we find more to like about it; like Prince if he'd been as "out there" as we wished he'd been. And for all you Erykah Badu fans out there, she makes a cameo here.
RealAudio clip: "Xplosion"
RealAudio clip: "B.O.B."

OUTKAST Stankonia (Arista) 2lp 14.98
Long anticipated release of the new Outkast, the group that comes closest to recreating George Clinton's Mothership in all its funk glory, as heard through the new century's hip hop paradigm. There's a lot going on, including interesting sampling choices, unison singing a la Parliament, and looped silliness to keep the groove going. If you've been listening to K-MEL or the various hip-hop equivalents around the country, then you've most definitely heard Outkast's "Ms. Jackson" on heavy rotation for the last several weeks. It's certainly a track worthy of all that play; I still find myself singing the chorus at random moments throughout the day. Everytime we listen to this record we find more to like about it; like Prince if he'd been as "out there" as we wished he'd been. And for all you Erykah Badu fans out there, she makes a cameo here.

OUTKAST The Videos (Arista) dvd 16.98

OUTLAW ORDER Dragging Down The Enforcer (Season Of Mist) cd 16.98

OUTLAW ORDER Legalize Crime (Southern Lord) 7" 3.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is just what you might expect (and certainly hope for) from a band made up of five, that's right, FIVE members of sorely missed Southern doom sludge legends Eyehategod. The only difference this time around is the occasional burst of speed, like EHG, if they were chasing their cough syrup/heroin with a case of Red Bull. Crushing, pummelling, shrieking, howling, grinding metallic sludge. So good.

OUTSIDERS CQ (Pseudonym Records) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
'60s Dutch rockers The Outsiders (not the reportedly inferior American band of the same name) produced an album -- "CQ" -- that's beloved by collectors and critics, but never really got the recognition that it deserved outside of that very narrow market. Hopefully, this new CD reissue of that 1968 album will garner them a wider audience, especially in light of current interest in lost classics of the period (cf. the "Nuggets II" boxset, which does feature the Outsiders, though nothing from this album). "CQ" is kind of a concept album describing multiple perspectives of an unrequited romance, with the father of the girl disapproving of the boy in the scenario. The Outsiders show considerable favor to the plight of the jilted boy in the story, which ends with that protagonist snapping in psychotic violence. Fortunately, The Outsiders spent just as much time composing an economical psych / garage / beat-punk score as they did on the story itself; thus, each track is a solid pop entry of jangly melodies and punchy basslines, occasionally repeating leitmotifs somewhat like the Leaves / Standells version of "Hey Joe" or Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. Certainly worth checking out.
RealAudio clip: "Misfit"
RealAudio clip: "C.Q."

OUTSIDERS, THE CQ (Jackpot ) lp 23.00
Cool, our friends at Jackpot made a good choice here to do a vinyl reissue of this 1968 gem by sixties Dutch rockers The Outsiders, an album beloved by many collectors, critics, and us...
It's kind of a concept album describing multiple perspectives of an unrequited romance, with the father of the girl disapproving of the boy in the scenario. However, The Outsiders, being boys themselves, show considerable favor to the plight of the jilted boy in the story, which ends with that protagonist snapping in psychotic violence. Fortunately, The Outsiders spent just as much time composing an economical psych / garage / beat-punk score as they did on the story itself; thus, each track is a solid pop entry of jangly melodies and punchy basslines, occasionally repeating leitmotifs somewhat like the Leaves / Standells version of "Hey Joe" or Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd. The concept album element also puts us in mind of SF Sorrow by the Pretty Things. And anyone into other Nederbeat bands like Q65 and The Motions ought to like this too. Certainly worth checking out!
Limited edition, deluxe gatefold vinyl-only reissue, with silver foil cover artwork as per the original, and liner notes from Mike Stax of Ugly Things, including a recent interview with The Outsiders' lead guitarist Ronnie Splinter.
MPEG Stream: "Misfit"
MPEG Stream: "C.Q."
MPEG Stream: "Doctor"

OV Noctilucent Valleys (Soft Abuse) cd 14.98
Another Of, or rather, Ov album from AQ fave/friend Loren Chasse, known to most of you as one of main movers in the Jewelled Antler cd-r psych folk scene. His solo project Of has turned into Ov now that he's been joined by his wife, who is also probably known to a lot of you as Christine, the person who used to be in charge of all the mailorder correspondence shenanigans here at Aquarius! Small world, eh? She also has long-time Jewelled Antler credentials, was formerly a member of Skygreen Leopards, and currently jams with Whysp. And like we said in our review of the debut Ov cd-r that came out on Jewelled Antler last year, if you're a mailorder customer it couldn't hurt to make her happy by ordering one of these... just kidding, really she's very professional. But, we DO recommend it anyway to all you folks into droning, drifting, field recording/psych/improv stuff in the Jewelled Antler vein, of course. Noctilucent Valleys carries on the slowly-moving kinetic sculpture sound of its predecessor The Moon Is Down, sleepy, darkly dreamy, glimmering (that's the radiated, glow-in-the-dark "noctilucent" part) and chiming and rumbling. Some moments achieve a disorienting dissonance that brings to mind some old Simon Wickham-Smith / Richard Youngs collaborations... which one of this couple gets to be RY and which is SW-S we wonder? Or maybe we shouldn't. And as well, Loren Chasse admits to indulging in some heavy Fripp/Eno worship here, and indeed we can hear the entrancement of Evening Star as filtered through the lo-fi, home-recorded, Jewelled Antler aesthetic on some of these nine tracks... so nice, if you're in the mood for these moody abstract glacial instrumental (what instruments??) lullabies. Kudos to Soft Abuse for putting this out (so it didn't have to be a cd-r like the debut) but we must make one minor complaint: the one page cd "booklet" (not a booklet), though adorned with nice artwork, is just a bit flimsy, y'know. Whereas this music is much more substantial in nature.
MPEG Stream: "Bone Of The Bone Scholar / Moon Of The Moon Scholar"
MPEG Stream: "Soul Of Swan"

OV The Moon Is Down (Jewelled Antler) cd-r 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is a monumental occasion, the return of Jewelled Antler, after a seriously lengthy hiatus. This is the first Jewelled Antler cd since the last Of record, The Quartz Pond, way back at the beginning of 2005. It also marks the debut of newly married duo Ov, which just so happens to be sound artist Loren Chasse (Thuja, Blithe Sons, Child Readers, Coelacanth, Of, etc.), and former aQer Christine Boepple (Whysp, Skygreen Leopards Skyband, Kyrgyz, etc.). You know that whole 'beautiful music together' thing, but wow is that the case with The Moon Is Down. The first two tracks are lengthy abstract soundscapes of bells and chimes and gongs and percussion. The amazing thing is that the final result doesn't necessarily sound all that percussive, instead Chasse and Boepple manage to smooth the sounds into a dreamy billowy fog, with tinkling bells, reverberating chimes, it's like floating through a slowed down sculpture garden, huge pieces of metal slowly swinging, and gently rubbing up against each other, sending soft ringing tones to float softly across the gauzy landscape like dry leaves on a summer breeze, underpinned by slow low end pulses, smears of glistening shimmer and a constellation of glimmering tinkles. There are lilting guitars too, but plucked and strummed so sparely, they almost just sound like more chimes.
The record shifts gears after that, drifting from one dreamlike sound to another, a rich and exotic tribal landscape, huge swells of crystalline fuzz beneath fluttering flute melodies, primitive shakers and hand drums, and what sounds like forest sounds, drifting in and out of the mix, a world of alien lullabies, super distorted melodies over warm warbling woodwinds and textural percussion that sounds more like the crinkle of plastic, a gentle stream of fuzzy organ, buzzing harmonica, plink plonk guitar melody, pocket full of coins jangle, all bathed in a soft focus shimmer and some Eno-esque melodic ambience constructed from a dense assemblage of notes and tones, rich and oversaturated with tonal color, delicate minimal guitar strum and a mesmerizingly reedy hypnotic high end flute melody hovering in the background.
The final track is mostly made up of field recordings when the pair were on a trip to Germany, they were strolling through the quiet streets when suddenly the town's church bells began ringing, more and more, from every direction, a glorious cacophony, here there is a brief interlude part way through, a wheezing organ breathing out a fuzzy melancholy melody, but it quickly drifts away, leaving the record to fade out with just the distant pealing of bells. Wow!
Packaged in a beautiful hand printed sleeve, a strange angular crystalscape on the front, a mysterious symbol on the back, each sleeve with a different color ink and different colored paper. Includes an insert with liner notes and an image of some mysterious multi horned instrument on the other. As with most things like this, SUPER LIMITED!!!
MPEG Stream: "The Chambers Of The Hand"
MPEG Stream: "Spiritual Magnetism"
MPEG Stream: "Devoted Realms"

OV HELL The Underworld Regime (Prosthetic) cd 15.98
After a protracted legal battle over the name Gorgoroth, various members went their separate ways, with Infernus keeping the Gorgoroth name, and recently releasing a decent slab of black metal under that moniker. Meanwhile former Gorgoroth guitarist King Ov Hell and vocalist Gaahl went on to form the oddly named God Seed, but before the duo could release a record, that band fell apart, resulting in the formation of this group right here, Ov Hell, which finds King (now sans the Ov Hell) teamed up with Dimmu Borgir vocalist Shagrath, along with a pretty serious supporting cast: Frost from Satyricon, Ice Dale of Enslaved and Teloch of Nidingr and 1349! But initial reports had been grim (and not in a good way), with a pretty much across the board dismissal of the new record. So we were prepared for the worst, which could be why we find ourselves digging this so much.
It's not groundbreaking or revolutionary (then again little black metal is), but it's also not terrible, in fact, it's pretty dang good, and not that far removed from what you might expect from the various contributors. Plenty of the record is blasting blackness, all furious beats and insectoid buzzing, and Shagrath's demonic vokills, but the record is surprisingly varied, with some cool warped dirgier numbers, with strange samples, and tangled spidery guitars, some definite grooves, gnarled riffing, epic melodies, all under a seriously glossy modern production, and every song that seems to be on the surface some sort of a throwaway black metal by the numbers jam, has a lot more going on than meets the ear, and there's plenty of awesomely twisted, blasting and brutal tracks that stand up pretty well to any of the bands in Ov Hell's pedigree. It takes a few listens, definitely, and if you were hoping for some sort of return to classic Gorgoroth, you'll probably be disappointed, but every spin we dig this more and more...
MPEG Stream: "Devil's Harlot"
MPEG Stream: "Post Modern Sadist"
MPEG Stream: "Hill Norge"

OVAL Commers (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Arrrgh. My cd player is STILL skipping. 5 years later!

OVAL Diskont (Thrill Jockey) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some of the most beautifully pure and emotional electronica we have ever heard, kind of like a more digitally-"clean" Labradford, if you need a comparison, and also like Carl Stone and Cluster, but composed entirely on the computer. WAY BETTER THAN THEIR PREVIOUS ALBUMS. This is the one. And if you already have the German import, know that both the cd and lp of this domestic version have 2 extra (very good) songs, plus the lp has an extra 12" with remixes by Jim O'Rourke, Scanner, Mouse on Mars, and Christian Vogel. As close to new age as we will ever come. Highly, highly recommended.

OVAL Diskont (Thrill Jockey) 2lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some of the most beautifully pure and emotional electronica we have ever heard, kind of like a more digitally-"clean" Labradford, if you need a comparison, and also like Carl Stone and Cluster, but composed entirely on the computer. WAY BETTER THAN THEIR PREVIOUS ALBUMS. This is the one. And if you already have the German import, know that both the cd and lp of this domestic version have 2 extra (very good) songs, plus the lp has an extra 12" with remixes by Jim O'Rourke, Scanner, Mouse on Mars, and Christian Vogel. As close to new age as we will ever come. Highly, highly recommended.

OVAL O (Thrill Jockey) 2cd 17.98
Just months after Oval's recent Oh 12", Markus Popp's first release in more than a decade, comes this, the similarly titled O, a sprawling, nearly sixty track, double disc, which continues on right where Oh left off. In fact, listening to O now, it sounds like most likely all of these tracks were recorded during the same session. They certainly have the same feel. A strange hybrid of past and present Oval, the cd skipping liquid glitchery of classic records like Diskont and Systemisch, and the new, more organic, 'real instrument' Oval. The main instrument sounds like a steel string guitar, sampled and chopped up and fed into the computer and spit out in strange gnarled glitchy shards. When we reviewed the 12", we mentioned that the new Oval sounded a bit like Michael Hedges or Derek Bailey all chopped up and computerized, which still holds true, but that's probably a bit reductionist. As Popp obviously has a keen ear and a deft hand at assembling digital errata into weirdly dreamy popmusik. The opening suite of songs perfectly encapsulates the new Oval sound, while setting the stage for the two discs to come. In "Panorama", over soft shimmery, warm and languid melodic swells, Popp flings flurries of grinding glitched melody, little spurts of melodic tangles, jagged and looped, their echoes and ripples allowed to ring out, as the first track progresses, the background shimmer seems to dissipate as the foreground glitchery becomes more and more clipped, the shimmer only returning briefly alongside the glitch, like a hazy shadow. "Ah!" is a loping bit of looped guitar tapping, while all around, soft steaks of gauzy electronics drift and swirl and swoop, and then in come real drums, another new addition, less present than on the 12", but here, evoking the same sort of post rock vibe, a little bit Tortoise, a little Stereolab, especially with its little swaths of melody and female vocal sounding "Ah"s. On the surface, it's a sweet bit of electronic post rock confection, but there's always so much going on, layer upon layer, little bits of glitch, little shards of melody, mysterious effects, but all perfectly placed. The result, some modern electro space pop, that sounds incredible. "Shhh" takes the same sort of approach but instead crafts the same elements into a hushed lullaby, the tones muted, the track laced with bits of keening metallic high end, drifting over a softly looped bit of mesmer. "Glossy" is another bit of electronic post rock, the big booming drums, shuffling beneath a cloud of constantly shifting notes and tones, clipped and skittery and stuttery, a scattershot spray of electronic sound draped over a minimal rhythmic backdrop.
And so it goes, for nearly 60 more songs, most 2 minutes or shorter, many clocking in closer to 30 seconds, all sounding like they were cut from the same sonic cloth, or maybe more accurately, they all sound like micro-movements of the much larger, sprawling epic whole, the electronic post rock symphony that is O, separated into tiny parts, miniature separate segments, every one its own little fragment of electronic avant pop, but all of those parts (maybe not so) loosely connected into Popp's grand masterwork, a whole that is perhaps easier to absorb broken down into its constituent parts, or perhaps not, maybe this is in fact a collection of mini-tracks, the sounds broken down into commercial length segments designed for the modern attention span, but who really knows the method to Popp's madness, all we really know is that O is deliriously delightful, mysterious and playful, and totally fantastic.
The vinyl includes extra tracks NOT on the cd (as well as a digital download of all the cd version tracks).
MPEG Stream: "Panorama"
MPEG Stream: "Ah!"
MPEG Stream: "Shhh"
MPEG Stream: "I Love Musik"
MPEG Stream: "Dynamo"
MPEG Stream: "Emocor"

OVAL O (Thrill Jockey) 2lp 17.98
Just months after Oval's recent Oh 12", Markus Popp's first release in more than a decade, comes this, the similarly titled O, a sprawling, nearly sixty track, double disc, which continues on right where Oh left off. In fact, listening to O now, it sounds like most likely all of these tracks were recorded during the same session. They certainly have the same feel. A strange hybrid of past and present Oval, the cd skipping liquid glitchery of classic records like Diskont and Systemisch, and the new, more organic, 'real instrument' Oval. The main instrument sounds like a steel string guitar, sampled and chopped up and fed into the computer and spit out in strange gnarled glitchy shards. When we reviewed the 12", we mentioned that the new Oval sounded a bit like Michael Hedges or Derek Bailey all chopped up and computerized, which still holds true, but that's probably a bit reductionist. As Popp obviously has a keen ear and a deft hand at assembling digital errata into weirdly dreamy popmusik. The opening suite of songs perfectly encapsulates the new Oval sound, while setting the stage for the two discs to come. In "Panorama", over soft shimmery, warm and languid melodic swells, Popp flings flurries of grinding glitched melody, little spurts of melodic tangles, jagged and looped, their echoes and ripples allowed to ring out, as the first track progresses, the background shimmer seems to dissipate as the foreground glitchery becomes more and more clipped, the shimmer only returning briefly alongside the glitch, like a hazy shadow. "Ah!" is a loping bit of looped guitar tapping, while all around, soft steaks of gauzy electronics drift and swirl and swoop, and then in come real drums, another new addition, less present than on the 12", but here, evoking the same sort of post rock vibe, a little bit Tortoise, a little Stereolab, especially with its little swaths of melody and female vocal sounding "Ah"s. On the surface, it's a sweet bit of electronic post rock confection, but there's always so much going on, layer upon layer, little bits of glitch, little shards of melody, mysterious effects, but all perfectly placed. The result, some modern electro space pop, that sounds incredible. "Shhh" takes the same sort of approach but instead crafts the same elements into a hushed lullaby, the tones muted, the track laced with bits of keening metallic high end, drifting over a softly looped bit of mesmer. "Glossy" is another bit of electronic post rock, the big booming drums, shuffling beneath a cloud of constantly shifting notes and tones, clipped and skittery and stuttery, a scattershot spray of electronic sound draped over a minimal rhythmic backdrop.
And so it goes, for nearly 60 more songs, most 2 minutes or shorter, many clocking in closer to 30 seconds, all sounding like they were cut from the same sonic cloth, or maybe more accurately, they all sound like micro-movements of the much larger, sprawling epic whole, the electronic post rock symphony that is O, separated into tiny parts, miniature separate segments, every one its own little fragment of electronic avant pop, but all of those parts (maybe not so) loosely connected into Popp's grand masterwork, a whole that is perhaps easier to absorb broken down into its constituent parts, or perhaps not, maybe this is in fact a collection of mini-tracks, the sounds broken down into commercial length segments designed for the modern attention span, but who really knows the method to Popp's madness, all we really know is that O is deliriously delightful, mysterious and playful, and totally fantastic.
The vinyl includes extra tracks NOT on the cd (as well as a digital download of all the cd version tracks).
MPEG Stream: "Panorama"
MPEG Stream: "Ah!"
MPEG Stream: "Shhh"
MPEG Stream: "I Love Musik"
MPEG Stream: "Dynamo"
MPEG Stream: "Emocor"

OVAL Oh (Thrill Jockey) 12" 13.98
It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since the last Oval record, even longer since Oval's Diskont record, which was and always will be an all time aQ favorite, with its gorgeously languid underwater ambience, burbling dreamily, washed out and so totally mesmerizing, all created from skipping cds, and Oval mastermind Markuss Popp's meticulously handcrafted soft AND hardware. But Oh is a whole other musical beast entirely. Right out of the gate, it sounds more like a band like Tortoise than Oval, big loud, REAL drums, spread out over what sounds like guitar harmonics, as well as a very Oval sounding lush landscape of shimmer and whir in the background, but the point is, it sounds like a band, some kind of electronic avant post rock band. And it's not just the sound, it's the process that has changed, gone are the days of expensive computers and one of a kind plug-ins and software, all of Oh, and the forthcoming double cd, was created on a stock cheapo PC computer, using regular old software anyone could buy, with Popp playing all the instruments, and creating, in his own words, 'real' music for the first time, after years of dissecting and pulling apart sounds, and the results are pretty incredible.
Folks looking for more of that classic Oval sound might definitely be disappointed, but will more likely be pleasantly surprised. Imagine Tortoise, or maybe Battles, fed into a computer, and then reprogrammed, the drums still propulsive, but more scattered and skittery and abstract, almost like post rock free jazz, while guitars aren't strummed so much as allowed to ring out, chime, and all around, various bits of electronics and strange processing transform this new 'rock' Oval into something as unique and original as the Oval we've always loved.
The A-side is made up of longer, more song-like tracks, while the B-side is a bunch of super short snippets, but short and long alike, these songs are all about melody, and rhythm, and harmony, where as old Oval was more about mood and texture, for as abstract as these new tracks are, they are definitely more 'musical', the A-side playing out like some super far out post rock band, the B-side more like some avant solo guitarist, whose guitar is super processed and transformed into something beautifully alien, and subtly electronic, without losing the sense of the organic, the sound of a proper instrument. The shorter tracks, while melodic, are also very percussive and buzzy, almost like a computerized Michael Hedges / Derek Bailey hybrid, effortlessly slipping from tangled scrape and crunch to softly hazy fuzz to heavily processed almost-folk.
It's all definitely a big change for sure, but those old Oval records are pretty much perfect, and impossible to improve upon we think, and these new sounds, these new SONGS, are just as exciting, albeit in their own, obtuse and idiosyncratic, 2010, post 'rock', post glitch, post-Oval fashion.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES, cool fancy jackets with a paste on front image (featuring a still from that birds and guitars installation at the Tate Museum in London), and comes with a download coupon as well...

OVAL OvalDNA (Shitkatapult) cd+dvd 21.00
Oval's 94Diskont still ranks as one of the most gorgeous, emotional and lush and lovely electronic music records we've ever heard. Oval mainman Markus Popp arranging a symphony of glitches and skipping digital sound into something impossibly organic and beautiful. For whatever reason, around the turn of the century, Popp seemingly hung it up, only to return almost a decade later with a new record, and a new sound. With this first new release, an ep called Oh, Popp offered up something that sounded like a proper rock band, gone was the pure glitch and experimental electronic collage, and in its place was something that sounded more like some strange post rock / free jazz hybrid, which weirdly enough sounded more like something that should be on Thrill Jockey. Still rife with glitch and jagged edits, but definitely a strange new direction. Next came O, which positioned itself as the perfect meeting point of this new band-like Oval, and the Oval of old, and we have to say we dug it quite a bit. And now it seems like Popp must be re-energized cuz here we are not more than a year later, with a whole new full length, and yet again, the sound has shifted, in one respect, more toward the warm liquid soundscaping of those early records, but with hint of nineties IDM in the mix, the result is a record that shifts from swirling contemplative glitched out drift, to stuttery, propulsive groove, albeit those grooves assembled from the same strange elements, resulting in a bastardized electronica, that even in that more 'groovy' state, could be no one but Oval. Popp's new sound palette continues to amaze as well, a veritable symphony of clicks and chitters, of creaks and bleeps, strange synth sounds, and what sounds like heavily processed, but proper recorded drums, warm chordal whirs, haunting melodies, lush textures, the sound brittle and crunchy one second, hushed and lush the next, with an attention to detail that's staggering, yet even as meticulously crafter and deftly assembled, the music sounds alive, and emotional, and the more we listen to it, on headphones especially, the more we're sucked in, and utterly transported.
Accompanying the cd is a second disc, a DVD, but not to be played in a DVD player, instead, loaded with extras, including videos, a ton of bonus tracks, a TV special, extensive liner notes (which are also in the booklet) from David Toop, Atsushi Sasaki, Minoru Hatanaka as well as Popp himself, not to mention a whole library of Oval sounds, which one can use to make your own OvalMusic, and there's a link in the packaging to the Shitkatapult site, where you can download OvalDNA software as well!
MPEG Stream: "Quiro (Oval Post-Ovalcommers)"
MPEG Stream: "Kasino (Pre-O)"
MPEG Stream: "Tweakk (Pre_Commers)"
MPEG Stream: "Australasia (Pre-O)"
MPEG Stream: "Credit Line (Post-O)"

OVAL Pre/Commers (Tokuma) cd 30.00
Lovely-looking new Oval disc, the Japanese import version of what will be released domestically on Thrill Jockey sometime in 2001. However, this appears to have 4 Japan-only bonus tracks, in addition to the 8 listed on the package. The sounds? More of noted German technojerk Markus Popp's digital glitchworks, as he processes elements of his own output from '96-'99. Solid work.
RealAudio clip: "Superscalar"

OVAL Process (Tokuma) cd 31.00
In the honored tradition of giving credit where credit is due, we must mention that regular AQ customer Richard Ross was apparently instrumental in designing the software that is the basis of Markus Popp's multi-media installation as well as the new Oval record. "Ovalprocess" repesents the innovative software design of Ross and Popp as well as the basis of Oval's new 'Ovalprocess' sound installations. The installation invites the public to manipulate sound terminals in the "Ovalprocess" application, rendering the exhibit a customizable workstation, which Popp will reportedly be taking on tour. The sample-set utilized by Popp has a harsher grit and a more difficult agenda than some of Oval's recent output. Gone are the burbling underwater murmurs, and in their place, scratchy grit and stuttery clicks and cuts.
This is actually the Japanese import version of "Ovalprocess" which features 4 tracks not to be found on the upcoming Thrill Jockey release (June 20).

OVAL Process (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98
Woops! Somehow the domestic version of Oval's new album slipped through the cracks in our iBook. Have no fear, "Process" domestic is here and on top of that, the cd is a bit of an enigma. Check it out: the import version of Process has 15 tracks and the total running time comes to 60:57; the domestic version however, has 11 tracks, but runs 74:00.

OVAL Process (Thrill Jockey) lp 9.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Woops! Somehow the domestic version of Oval's new album slipped through the cracks in our iBook. Have no fear, "Process" domestic is here.

OVAL Process (Zomba) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Import vinyl version of the newest Oval. Comes with a bonus 7" not included with its domestic counterpart. We're probably out of it already...

OVAL Systemisch (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Still stands as one of Oval's best!

OVAL Wohnton (Ata Tak) cd 14.98
The very first album by this German electronica duo, available again. If you liked their Mille Plateaux/Thrill Jockey releases, you will find more of the same lush sounds of skipping and otherwise abused cd's here, but there's also singing! It's probably good that they gave up on that, but there's still some great music on here...

OVAL / LITURGY split (Thrill Jockey) lp 16.98
An odd matchup indeed. We weren't sure whether this was a joining of convenience, since both bands are now labelmates, or if it went deeper than that, considering the two groups are sort of iconoclasts, Markus Popp and his Oval project constantly reinventing himself and following his own idiosyncratic path, and Liturgy, whose 'transcendental black metal' has been known to ruffle a few feathers, and whose frontman Hunter Hunt-Hendrix has been outspoken in his academic/spiritual approach to black metal, which seems to be at odds with the true grim hordes, not to mention his distinctly UN black metal pretty boy appearance. Regardless, these two definitely make a good team, at least in terms of splitting a record. We were secretly hoping this was in fact a collaboration, but this is the next best thing.
Popp's Oval has definitely moved on from those beloved skipping cd underwater dronescapes we love so much, his return heralded a move toward manipulating acoustic instrumentation, and the tracks here continue in that direction. The main song here is a sort of glitchy electronic flecked post rock, sounding a bit like a more warped and abstract Tortoise, all manner of squiggles and squelches tangled up into the loping rhythm and melancholic strum, the result blissed out and melodic. The following three tracks are brief bits of experimentation, solo guitar it seems, processed buzz, transformed into distinct melodies that sound less like guitars and more like thumb piano or gamelan.
Liturgy subvert all expectations and come out with some seriously chugging churning math rock, repetitive and droney, looped and mesmerizing, it's pretty compelling, a sound we love, and these guys nail it, it's not until about halfway through that any black metal riffing comes in, but instead of launching into it, the track slips into something way more minimal, a haunting, pulsing electronic ambience, so gorgeous and hushed, until FINALLY, the song does explode into that soaring and majestic transcendental black metal we love so much, but even here, the blasting is kept to a minimum, the rhythms more midtempo, seemingly a sonic extension of the math rock opening. Great stuff. Definitely has us chomping at the bit for the new full length, and hoping for more of this transcendental math rock!
This too was a Record Store Day release, and thus was extremely limited, so not sure if we can get more once this batch sells out. Includes a download coupon as well.
MPEG Stream: OVAL "Kreak"
MPEG Stream: LITURGY "Untitled"

OVAL LANGUAGE, THE Tapes Singles And Remixes (Monochrome Vision) cd 13.98
There doesn't seem to be any useful information about The Oval Language to be found. What we can say is that this German duo has been making a peculiar brand of dada noise and aktionist concrete since the '80s and they have a really shitty website which indicates that they occasionally play some German noise festivals. But nothing is at all indicative of how fucked up The Oval Language is. Much of this would have fit alongside any number of thoroughly damaged cassette compilations circa 1987 on Broken Flag or Bain Total alongside Controlled Bleeding, Etant Donnes, Le Syndicat, and Merzbow. Their din is distinctly lo-fi with swarms of accumulated tape noise and overdriven distortion running throughout the recordings. The first 8 tracks on this disc were rescued from old tapes, which may or may not have been released back in the day (like we said, there's no information about this project anywhere), with the first tracks taking after Neubauten in thrashing some unfortunate pieces of metal and wood in a big warehouse. Then comes a rather sickening piece of garbled microphone digestion that may or may not have been influenced by the likes of Otto Muhler or Sudden Infant with gross-out lurches and heaves of ipecac-induced vocalizations amidst tape machinations of metal on metal squalor. Full-throttle noise explosions come afterwards, all shrouded in the obliterated tape-deck miasma that was a signature of many industrial-noise musicians from the '80s. Very well done we might add!
The last 8 tracks are remixes by the underground German noise musician Guido Hubner (aka Das Synthetische Mishgewebe), and while of the wooden plonks and metallic crashes seem similar to those on The Oval Languages original recordings, there's no information as to whether these remixes are from those tracks or from other tapes that were so murky and fucked up that they needed somebody to completely rework the material. As such Hubner does a commendable job in keeping to the spirit of those earlier tracks, with lots of tapedeck start and stop jitteriness and mumbling bumps in the night. The main difference Hubner adds to these noises is found in his abrasive use of crashing loop techniques. Even though Monochrome Vision did include some liner notes in Russian and English about the group, little of it is of interest and none of it offers context as to where The Oval Language operated or why they did what they did. It's a mystery... granted a very fucked-up and noisy mystery. Limited stock.
MPEG Stream: "Tapes 00:09:38"
MPEG Stream: "Tapes 00:07:16"
MPEG Stream: "Remix 00:03:27"
MPEG Stream: "Remix 00:07:03"

OVALKI Cobol (Bad Vugum) cd 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Three former members of Circle got back together to explore dark industrial grooves that clearly refer to their work with the earlier incarnation of Circle with expressive jazz flares throughout the screeching breaks and throbbing guitars.

OVALKI Entfernen Tragen (Bad Vugum) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
These ex-members of Finnish AQ-faves Circle (and one of the guys from Tiermes) present their first full-length recording on the always weird and wonderful Bad Vugum label. This is (mostly) instrumental jazzy-rock hypnosis; repetitive, groovy, sparse. For the most part, rather downtempo, but with the occasional energetic saxophone-inspired outburst. Ovalki conjure up a somewhat noirish, psychedelic mood. Allan is especially addicted to track five, the dubby eight-minute "Medicine of Young Astronauts". Definitely for fans of Circle! Potentially for fans of Tortoise, Stereolab, Ui, Aavikko, and Can...recommended!

OVE-NAXX Bullets From Habikino City HxCx (Soot) cd 10.98
Ove-Naxx is not only the first non-Rupture project to be released on DJ/ Rupture's Soot label, but only the second release since Rupture's debut "Gold Teeth Thief" -- almost two years ago. If you suspected that such selective behavior from Rupture would signify a high level of quality control at Soot... you would be right on the money. "Bullets From Habikino...", the work of an up and coming Japanese artist known only as Ove-Naxx (or is it actually Rupture himself under a new name as someone we know recently surmised?), is a brutally beautiful 30 minute drill and bass opus. As varied in source material as Rupture's mixes, as dark and pummelling as Scud's dancehall blowouts, and as manic as any Wobbly channel surf freakout. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Wabisabi Violence"
MPEG Stream: "Warte"

OVENS Beau Goes To The Hospital EP (Riisk) cd ep 8.98
Found a stash of these in the classic, might be the last copies we see for a while...
We were super psyched how crazy people went for the Ovens, whose debut full length (which crammed together 44 songs and THREE actual albums onto one disc) released earlier this year on tUMULt was easily the pop record of the year, if not EVER. These guys are total geniuses, spitting out song after song, usually a minute or less, often MUCH less, each jammed with hooks and melodies and goofy lyrics and shredding leads and pounding drums that most bands would kill for. We compared them to some impossible mix of Weezer, the Beatles, the Melvins, the Fucking Champs and Guided By Voices, and while that might capture their essence, what they do is so much more than the sum of their influences.
This 10 song 15 minute ep, recorded way back in 2003 (when they were still called the Peels), is raw and rough around the edges, much punker, but is still rife with incredible songwriting, some kick ass guitar shreddery, ridiculously catchy hooks, and those same gorgeous instrumental interludes, lyrics about how the songs sound better in their heads, getting wasted, sleeping, dying, puking and all sorts of gloriously mundane stuff. They're definitely still a pop band, but back then, their punkishness really shone through, with some of the punkest jams reminding us of the Dwarves at their poppiest, balancing their more strummy Beatles-esque moments, the two sides of the band constantly battling for supremacy, neither winning, more often than not resulting in a wild ultra chaotic falling apart draw.
The band hate this record, but fuck it, there are some awesome jams here, and anyone who bought the tUMULt full length will most likely dig this one too.
We can definitely get all hyperbolic and gushing when we're super into something, nothing wrong with that, so with that disclaimer out of the way, we can once again proclaim that these guys just might be one of our favorite local bands. Here's hoping the rest of the country, the world and the universe catch on soon.
MPEG Stream: "Hypocrites"
MPEG Stream: "Puke In The Sink"
MPEG Stream: "Mooch"
MPEG Stream: "Peels Get Wasted In Bruno"

OVENS s/t (tUMULt) cd 11.98
Where to even start? Within seconds of first hearing these guys, they pretty much became our favorite local band, fuck it, favorite band period (sez Andee). Shredding hook jammed pop blasts, most less than a minute long, many of those 30 seconds and under, but each one packed with some of the catchiest most timeless sounding pop you've ever heard. Weezer meets the Beatles meets the Beach Boys meets old Bee Gees meets Guided By Voices meets the Fucking Champs, super rocking, punky here and there, metal once in a while, but always total pure pop genius, with lyrics about doing drugs, getting fired, falling down the stairs, getting hurt, how much they suck and how their songs all sound the same, doing more drugs, all delivered by a vocalist that sounds uncannily like the skinny John from They Might Be Giants! Acoustic guitars, wild shredding leads, buzzing distorted chug, warm wheezing keyboards, fluttery flutes, incredible harmonies, and HOOKS like you wouldn't believe. These guys accomplish more in 30 seconds than most pop bands can pull off over the course of a full album. And they accomplish more in these 44 songs than most bands manage in their whole careers.
Check out the first sound sample, the ultimate one-two-three-four-five power pop punch, pretty much the absolutely perfect opening salvo, five songs in less than five minutes, we've listened to that 5 song chunk about a million times. It destroys. Check it out. We'll wait.....
But don't stop there, the rest of the record is pretty much just as kick ass. Some songs are hushed and dreamy, others are pounding and super rocking, some soar majestically, others are wildly metallic freakouts, Iron Maiden-y guitar harmonies wrap around weird Melvins like falsetto vocals, summery folky strums drift over calliope like keyboards, crunchy guitars unfurl jangly jams, while the vocals drawl lazily over the top. So many different sounds and styles but all totally perfectly fused into the Ovens' weirdly perfect pop world.
The band have been recording for years, full length after full length, and minus a super short run release a few years back, the songs just sat there, until the band had a backlog of 5 full albums. Former aQ-er Matt from Wildildlife was always talking them up and when we finally managed to get some music from those guys, well shit, we were bowled over. And Andee especially, knew the world needed to hear this stuff. So this debut cd features 3 of the 5 albums jammed onto one disc. 44 Songs, every one a total hook filled gem. Live the band are as likely to kick out a cover of the Bee Gee's "Holiday" as they are some old Melvins jam. They manage to sound heavy and crunchy, but also delicate and folky, often those two sides colliding in a burst of total freaking mad genius popsmithery. If there was any justice in the world these guys would be HUGE. Every song here is as good if not better than any Weezer song, and they pull it off in half the time. The lyrics are hilarious, deadpan, self deprecating, clever and snarky, the musicianship is totally stellar, especially the guitars, the arrangements are unique, sometimes super unexpected but somehow they never take way from the song or the hook, and every curveball they throw manages to sound more catchy than off kilter. We could gush and gush, and go on and on about how pop bands like this are such a rarity, but man, how these guys went so long without blowing up, still boggles the mind. So now's the time. These guys rule. They have a new record. They're going on tour. And we're so psyched to see these guys kick out the jams at our SXSW showcase this year. They're loud and fun, and funny and catchy and heavy and super rocking, and these are some of the catchiest most kick ass songs you will ever hear. EVER!
MPEG Stream: "Fired From The Vogue Pt. 1 / Fired From The Vogue Pt. 2 / Same Shit Different Day / PCP Song / Everything's The Same"
MPEG Stream: "Movin' On"
MPEG Stream: "I Can't Hang"
MPEG Stream: "Running In Place"
MPEG Stream: "Castillejo Scene"

OVENS s/t (8 songs) (Catholic Guilt) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ovens just might be the most underappreciated best band in SF. Although that looks like it could maybe be about to change. The various members live in different cities now, and only really play about once a year, but at their most recent show, a few weeks back, HUNDREDS of people showed up, and went NUTS, there was a pit, and crowd surfing, in a tiny little hole in the wall club. Which might have you thinking these guys are some sort of heavy punk rock band, when in fact, they're a pop band. An amazing incredible pop band, whose songs routinely clock in at about the 30 second mark, and whose lyrics are mostly about getting drunk, getting high, getting fired or getting hurt. We joke that if their songs were longer and weren't all about drugs, they would be THEE most popular band in the land. And we believe it. Their sound like some impossible mix of Weezer, Guided By Voices, The Beatles, Thin Lizzy (who they covered at that show), Teenage Fanclub, old Bee Gees (who they also occasionally cover) and the Fucking Champs. Total hook filled pop, with killer dual guitar harmonies, shredding leads, amazing hooks, like the sort of hooks most bands would KILL for, but these guys toss out hooks like that in 20 second songs and simply move on to the NEXT killer hook. Hell, our own Andee loved Ovens so much he put out their debut full length (much more raving about these guys in that review elsewhere on the aQ site, and heck, if you don't have that yet, you should buy it NOW).
This latest blast of perfect pop is just that, perfect. Nine songs in 8 minutes, the longest song 1:59, the shortest :34, the band kicking out feedback drenched fuzzy power pop one second, lilting Beatles-esque ballad the next, a dreamy acoustic guitarscape leads right into a woozy chunk of nineties style indie rock, but with those guitar harmonies, that kill, and then it's right into another perfect chunk of miniature pop, in the amount of time it's taken to write this review, we've listened to the whole single 3 times in a row, and the thing is, now that the review's almost done, doesn't mean we have any intention of stopping.
Easily one of our favorite local bands, heck, local or not, these guys are incredible! And if you get a chance to see one of their rare (and usually brief, not to mention littered with eighties hardcore covers, although at that most recent show, they covered Leeway!!) performances, don't blow it, if there's any justice in the world, these guys will be HUGE, and the world will be humming along to their jams, 30 seconds at a time!!
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Old Friends"
MPEG Stream: "Let You Down"
MPEG Stream: "Losin' It"
MPEG Stream: "Millbrae Belongs To Me"

OVERHANG PARTY Complete Studio Recordings (Important) 4cd 33.00
Finally, the complete studio recordings of this legendary Japanese psych band, available all together, at an affordable price, and including a handful of bonus tracks, as well as their unreleased final recording session - which means even all you folks who already have these records, just might need to buy them again!
Formed in the early nineties, and originally featured on several early PSF Tokyo Flashback compilations, Overhang Party mainman Fukuoka Rinji (who also runs the Pataphysique label, which originally released most of the band's recordings) continued to make records until the early 2000's, with a handful of releases over the years (Overhang Party 1, 2 and 4 are included here, 3 was live), the ever shifting lineup of Overhang Party featuring members of Fushitsusha, LSD March, Kousokuya, High Rise, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, which should most definitely give the uninitiated an idea of Overhang Party's sound. Which is incredibly varied, from tripped out psychedelic abstractions, to full bore heavy psych freakouts.
Overhang Party's 1993 debut, starts out all spacey and minimal, scattered percussion, abstract string scrape, strange blurred melodies, distorted croons, weird animal sounds, and wild blurts of drum splatter, before launching into a dense noisy guitarnoise freeform blowout, swirling clouds of grinding, howling heaviness, laced with wild loose drumming, mostly buried in the mix, the sound more Sunroof! or Skullflower than Fushitsusha, but the next track finds Overhang Party firmly in Les Rallizes Denudes, smoldering psychedelic balladry, wailed vocals, woozy swirls of guitar thrum, simple propulsive drumming, and of course some guitar freakout, but also some hushed drift, replete with falsetto vox! The rest of one splits the difference between freak out and dramatic broody ballad, the bonus track, a 14 minute epic recorded live on KFJC in 1999, a gorgeous tranced out psychguitar blowout!
The second record, originally released the next year, starts out all riffy, and immediately launches into some heady psychedeia, that's not that far removed from classic Hawkwind, chugging, churning, soaring and epic, the vocals much more polished and pronounced, and of course plenty of heart-of-the-sun guitar shreddery. The whole of two tends toward the riffier, more melodic, more polished, but also more rocking, almost all the tracks smoldering slow building space-psych epics, culminating in some fierce mega guitar jams, with one track slipping into something more pastoral and dreamy, while the bonus track here, another live track, is like a more melodic version of the album songs proper, jangly and dreamy and lilting, but with some crunchy riffs, dramatic vox, and some spiraling tangled super distorted leads. A definitely Les Rallizes feel for sure.
For disc three, we skip ahead to 1996's Overhang Party IV, since three is a live disc, and these are the complete STUDIO recordings. IV starts off with piano, pounding away in a squall of guitar shred and cymbal shimmer, the sound immediately launching into something distinctly proggy, sounding a lot like seventies prog, but with some extra guitar, in fact, a LOT of extra guitar, which is what transforms prog into heavy psych, the song mostly one part, that builds and builds and builds. But much of IV tends toward the proggy, "Barcelona" barely getting psychedelic, but then when we get to "The The Ship Sank" which while still more moody and melodic and proggy, is seriously majestic, and heavy, the guitars distort and howl, sounding like some sort of slow burn post rock intro, expanded to a droned out epic. "Winter Lovers" gets downright Hawkwindy, before slipping right into the soaring psychedelic prog-pop of "Mirror". "G House Blues" is the live bonus track from the first disc, and in the studio, it's somehow way more abstract, a heaving wall of layered guitars, buzzing and distorted, swirling textures, pretty free form and avant, total experimental guitar freakout bliss for sure. The bonus track is total Stooges / Hawkwind heaviness, all chugging riffs, and wild wah wah guitar shred, and super dramatic soaring vox. Maybe the heaviest jam here.
The holy grail of this set though might be the final disc, the group's last ever recordings, previously unreleased, done between 2003 and 2005. The opener is all acoustic guitar and woozy bass, dreamy jangle, and keening melodies, a seriously classic rock vibe here, softly crooned vocals, a minimal amount of psyche guitar, more a sort of dreamy laid back drift. In fact the awesomely titled "Wolf, Scorpion, Earth Fang" we sort of expected to be a scorcher, especially with its buzzing guitar intro, but instead it's another psychedelic ballad, albeit one with plenty of psych guitar. It's not really until "Pyramid", that things get really rolling, a dirgey slab of buzzing heaviness, more dramatic vox, over wah guitar, and pounding drums, swirling and VERY psychedelic. "Marseille" is another broody ballad, but one that features some wild shredding psych guitar freakout, and again, has a serious Les Rallizes feel. "Who Are You" is a woozy dramatic dirge, rife with keening melodies, awkward English vox, and yeah, plenty more buzzing howling guitars. The bonus track "Duo Improvisation", is just what it sounds like, guitars and drums, freeform, spaced out and spacious, the drums jazzy and free, the guitar emotional and intense, would have loved if this jam went on for another 30 minutes, but as it is, it's a seriously potent six minutes.
So great. And perfect timing what with the recent spate of Les Rallizes reissues. Anyone who has been obsessing over that group, owes it to themselves to check these guys out. You will not be disappointed.
Most definitely essential listening for fans of Fushitsusha, Flower Travellin' Band, Taj Mahal Travellers, LSD March, Kousokuya, Les Rallizes Denudes, Miminokoto, High Rise, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Magical Power Mako, and even Acid Mothers Temple.
Comes in a deluxe TEN panel fold out color coordinated digipak, not much in the way of liner notes, but there is a booklet, with credits for each record, as well as lyrics.
MPEG Stream: "Twins Of Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Bass Oscillation"
MPEG Stream: "My Blue Heaven"
MPEG Stream: "Then The Ship Sank"
MPEG Stream: "Mirror"
MPEG Stream: "Pyramid"

OVERHANG PARTY Otherside of (Pataphysique) 2cd+7" 43.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This underground Tokyo psych rock ensemble presents an extensive and expensive but freakin' great live document, recorded at shows from '95 to '99, including two tracks from their 1999 US tour that for some reason they couldn't fit on either of the two cds in the package but had to press on 7" vinyl, also included! Limited, numbered, all that. We only have a couple and when they're gone, we're pretty sure they're really gone for good. Overhang Party is a guitar duo augmented with guests like Tokyo underground superstar psych guitarist Michio Kurihara (ex-White Heaven, now of Ghost) and former Fushitsusha drummer Ikurou Takahashi. They produce gorgeous psychedelic guitar freakout storms to match those from your most stoned Neil Young fantasy. Fans of that sort of thing, and those already into the PSF-documented "Tokyo Flashback" scene (High Rise, Fushistusha, Marble Sheep, Shizuka, etc.) should serious consider lightening their wallets for this item! First come, first served.

OVERSTREET, THE REV. LOUIS An Evening With The Rev. Louis Overstreet (Mississippi) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!! MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!! MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT!!
The above is of course for the benefit of the legions of Mississippi obsessives, that seems to be growing with each and every release. Fans who will buy anything and everything Mississippi, whether it's blues, or gospel, or world music, whether it's African or Greek, classic New Zealand pop, or legendary underground Portland Punk. Which is totally understandable, the guys at Mississippi have great taste, and besides their incredible compilations, and unearthed rarities, they also have a knack for picking out old records that folks have been DYING to get on vinyl. But even if you're not a Mississippi obsessive, this here is well worth checking out. And may be just the disc to convert you to the cult of Mississippi...
Here we have a kick ass gospel record from 1963, originally reissued on Arhoolie, now available on Mississippi, ON VINYL. And while we're not super well versed in gospel music, we do dig what we've heard, but very little of what we've heard sounds like the Rev. Louis Overstreet. It's festive and inspirational, but at the same time it's super rocking. Most of the tracks collected here are relentless garage gospel grooves, the guitar and drums locked into killer jams, the guitar occasionally pealing off some wild licks, but for the most part offering up a jangly twangy strum, the congregation clapping in time, and hooting and hollering. The testifying is minimal, and when there are vocals, they are alternately crooned and howled, The Rev.'s voice is gritty and soulful, but even when he's singing, it's the groove, irresistible and unstoppable and most certainly inspired. It does slow down here and there, and gets all super bluesy and soulful, but for the most part, An Evening With is some seriously rollicking and rocking praise-the-Lord good time gospel rhythm and blues!
Probably would have been a lot easier to get us to go to church when we were younger if it sounded like this!

OVERTON BERRY ENSEMBLE, THE s/t (Tobe Productions) cd 16.98

OVO Miastenia (Load) cd 14.98
Italian duo OvO is a band that we think a select crowd of AQ-customers will totally appreciate. But...don't look at that awful cover. Oooh, what were they thinking? Well the (sorta) little-girl voice of OvO's singer Stefania does perhaps explain the little-girl drawing on the cover (which she drew). As does the Load label's often willfully 'ugly' aesthetic. But where that illustration is sort of twee, cringe-inducing cutesiness, Stefania's voice is far from cutesy! It's a rabid, wretched little girl we're talking about. Her yelping shriek has been compared to both a squeaky toy and a wheezing dog dying by folks here at AQ. Basically, if you hate the extended high-pitched babble of Yoko Ono, stay away! Nerve-grating for sure. We don't know how she does it. Must need a lot of lozenges.
Meanwhile, OvO's music ranges from chaotic punk frenzy to plodding, art-rock dirge. In addition to the unusual, extreme vocals, OvO also uses/abuses cello, for extra droning ambience. They're hard to compare to anybody, but we'll throw out these names: the aforementioned Yoko Ono, Load labelmates Noxagt, Double Nelson, Oxbow, and Khanate. Or maybe a twisted, primitive, Japanoise version of Devil Doll ('cause they're Italian and sorta theatrical sounding). Definitely not always (ever?) easy listening, but strangely fascinating. For us, it's the endurance-testing 20 minute title track that makes this a keeper. A torturous trudge with throaty rasping and heavy doomy death-knell drums and guitar. Oppressive. Depressive. Feedback hell gargle. Very much in the vein of Corrupted and Khanate. But with witchy Yoko vox! Like we said, the select few will love it.
MPEG Stream: "Miastenia"
MPEG Stream: "VooDoo"
MPEG Stream: "Anime Morte"

OVO Miastenia (Load) lp 11.98
Italian duo OvO is a band that we think a select crowd of AQ-customers will totally appreciate. But...don't look at that awful cover. Oooh, what were they thinking? Well the (sorta) little-girl voice of OvO's singer Stefania does perhaps explain the little-girl drawing on the cover (which she drew). As does the Load label's often willfully 'ugly' aesthetic. But where that illustration is sort of twee, cringe-inducing cutesiness, Stefania's voice is far from cutesy! It's a rabid, wretched little girl we're talking about. Her yelping shriek has been compared to both a squeaky toy and a wheezing dog dying by folks here at AQ. Basically, if you hate the extended high-pitched babble of Yoko Ono, stay away! Nerve-grating for sure. We don't know how she does it. Must need a lot of lozenges.
Meanwhile, OvO's music ranges from chaotic punk frenzy to plodding, art-rock dirge. In addition to the unusual, extreme vocals, OvO also uses/abuses cello, for extra droning ambience. They're hard to compare to anybody, but we'll throw out these names: the aforementioned Yoko Ono, Load labelmates Noxagt, Double Nelson, Oxbow, and Khanate. Or maybe a twisted, primitive, Japanoise version of Devil Doll ('cause they're Italian and sorta theatrical sounding). Definitely not always (ever?) easy listening, but strangely fascinating. For us, it's the endurance-testing 20 minute title track that makes this a keeper. A torturous trudge with throaty rasping and heavy doomy death-knell drums and guitar. Oppressive. Depressive. Feedback hell gargle. Very much in the vein of Corrupted and Khanate. But with witchy Yoko vox! Like we said, the select few will love it.
MPEG Stream: "Miastenia"
MPEG Stream: "VooDoo"
MPEG Stream: "Anime Morte"

OVRO Horizontal / Vertical (Drone Records) 7" 9.98
New on Drone Records! Ovro is a Finnish woman who has recorded a handful of dark, dark, dark electronic albums for the steel-eyed Some Place Else label. Her contribution to the Drone series curated by Stefan Knappe of Troum, features two tracks of underwater percolations and bubblings, not all of that far removed from the geothermal vent recordings that Jakob Kirkegaard presented through Touch a while back. On top of these thick, churning, low-end rumbles, Ovro musters an unsettled chorus of scraped guitars and found object manipulation that pushes what otherwise could have been a clinical investigation into geologic sound towards the sound esoterica of Cranioclast, Coil, and irr. app. (ext.). As with all Drone singles, this is limited to 300 copies; and for this edition, Ovro has hand mounted photo negatives to the covers.
MPEG Stream: "Horizontal"
MPEG Stream: "Vertical"

OVSKUM Atto I - Atto II (Insikt) cassette 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We don't know too much about this strange Italian black metal band other than we fucking LOVE them. One of our new favorite BM outfits for sure. This is no ordinary buzzing black metal, although it does buzz and is most definitely BM, Ovskum, do some sort of midtempo, near ambient blackened plod. The guitars are huge and thick and seem to be crumbling into pieces, the drums are a midtempo trudge or a relentless martial march, the riffing is sometimes sludgy and thick, other times, angular and jangly, often both, a swirling slithering low end beneath keening upper register guitar skree and howled vocals. It's almost weird to call these guys black metal, they sound more like some super chaotic ambient noise rock, or spacey black sludge, or dreamy noise rock doom, all definitely fit... melodies are angular and obtuse, the drumming is sort of stumbly and simple, but the sound is HUGE, thick and swirling, raw and atmospheric, guitars are gnarled and convoluted, bits of melody and keening droneguitar are whispy streaks above the roiling fury below, some tracks forego the drums completely, and become these haunting abstract riffscapes, drifting and throbbing and crawling along malevolently... it's all so intense and dark and so so so good. No cds yet as far as we know, so needless to say both this and the s/t cassette are absolutely essential.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!

OVSKUM Atto III (Obscure Origins) lp 17.98
Finally, the first proper vinyl release from mysterious Italian avant black metal horde Ovskum, presented by the just launched Obscure Origins label. Atto III is the first in an Ovskum reissue campaign that will hopefully also include a cd on Andee's tUMULt label.
Bu for now, let's just revel in the blackened musikal actions that make up this amazing collection of haunting and otherworldly blackness. We don't know all that much about Ovskum, but one thing we do know is that we fucking LOVE them. One of our favorite BM outfits for sure. For the uninitiated, this is no ordinary buzzing black metal, although it does buzz and is most definitely BM, Ovskum, conjure up some sort of midtempo, near ambient blackened plod. The guitars are huge and thick and seem to be crumbling into pieces, the drums are a midtempo trudge or a relentless martial march, the riffing is sometimes sludgy and thick, other times, angular and jangly, often both, a swirling slithering low end beneath keening upper register guitar skree and howled vocals. It's almost weird to call these guys black metal, they sound more like some super chaotic ambient noise rock, or spacey black sludge, or dreamy noise rock doom, all definitely fit... melodies are angular and obtuse, the drumming is sort of stumbly and simple, but the sound is HUGE, thick and swirling, raw and atmospheric, guitars are gnarled and convoluted, bits of melody and keening droneguitar are whispy streaks above the roiling fury below, some tracks forego the drums completely, and become these haunting abstract riffscapes, drifting and throbbing and crawling along malevolently... it's all so intense and dark and so so so good.
This deluxe vinyl version, comes in a plain black sleeve with a sticker on the front of the jacket, as well as a front cover insert, along with a massive printed booklet of original artwork from Morte404, the mysterious woman whose creepy line drawings have accompanied all the Ovskum releases. III collects all four actions from the 2006 s/t tape on Insikt as well as a track from Ovskum's split with Necrolust.
LIMITED TO 490 COPIES!!!

OVSKUM Atto III (Northern Sky Productions) cassette 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

OVSKUM s/t (Insikt) (Insikt) cassette 4.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We don't know too much about this strange Italian black metal band other than we fucking LOVE them. One of our new favorite BM outfits for sure. This is no ordinary buzzing black metal, although it does buzz and is most definitely BM, Ovskum, do some sort of midtempo, near ambient blackened plod. The guitars are huge and thick and seem to be crumbling into pieces, the drums are a midtempo trudge or a relentless martial march, the riffing is sometimes sludgy and thick, other times, angular and jangly, often both, a swirling slithering low end beneath keening upper register guitar skree and howled vocals. It's almost weird to call these guys black metal, they sound more like some super chaotic ambient noise rock, or spacey black sludge, or dreamy noise rock doom, all definitely fit... melodies are angular and obtuse, the drumming is sort of stumbly and simple, but the sound is HUGE, thick and swirling, raw and atmospheric, guitars are gnarled and convoluted, bits of melody and keening droneguitar are whispy streaks above the roiling fury below, some tracks forego the drums completely, and become these haunting abstract riffscapes, drifting and throbbing and crawling along malevolently... it's all so intense and dark and so so so good. No cds yet as far as we know, so needless to say both this and the Atto I - Atto II cassette are absolutely essential.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!

OVSKUM s/t (Raging Bloodlust) (Raging Bloodlust) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While we wait patiently for the long awaited first proper lp release (reissuing some of the previous cassettes) from Italy's obscure black metallers Ovskum, coming soon on the newly launched Obscure Origins label, we're graced, or cursed perhaps by what is essentially a new full length from these masters of mysterious blackened mood music. Four tracks, nearly 40 minutes, of a sound that really can hardly be compared to any other black metal groups. A gorgeously blackened languid doom, abject and miserable and suicidal, but also hauntingly pretty, the guitars clean, seemingly floating over a bed of buzz, tangled minor key melodies, the drums a barely there pound, the whole sound so weary and woozy, the vocals appropriately anguished and howled, but way back in the mix, it's the guitars that weave the magic here, lots of harmonics, spare almost post rock guitar lines, the sound not so much loping as sort of slowed down and dragging, like listening to Make A Change Kill Yourself, with someone pressing the finger down on the vinyl, lethargic and warbly, black, and sorrowful, and haunting and almost otherworldly. A bit like a less distinctly doomy Skepticism, or maybe like a black metal Mazzy Star or something. That same sort of gauzy shoegazey quality, but not the way most bands use that quality to get all blissy, Ovskum take that sound somewhere much more abstract and dark, a truly creepy, haunting, mopey blackened slowcore. So fucking great.