OCEAN Here Where Nothing Grows (Important) cd 14.98
This band from Portland, Maine is the latest to lumber into the realm of the uber-heavy. Now, don't confuse 'em with the band called THE Ocean, from Germany, whose uber-heavy Fluxion album we listed not too long ago. Although you certainly could confuse them, as uber-heaviness has its hallmarks. Indeed, this line from our review of The Ocean's cd actually describes this Ocean quite well, as well: "The basic sound will be familiar for sure, massive guitars, pounding drums, propulsive, relentless riffing, blissed out, post rock parts that build and build and build into huge squalls of gargantuan guitarnoise, throbbing and pulsing, minor key and epic." Yep, another one of those bands, here we go again. Just how much single-riff repetition and down-tuned sludge trudge can we take? Quite a lot, really! Ocean's Here Where Nothing Grows debut consists of three long songs, each one an ultra-slow doomful dirge ridden with gutturally growled vocal angst. Yet, there's a sorta melodic post rock thread running through this, for a sound somewhere betwixt Corrupted and Isis. You could file this alongside the likes of Buried At Sea, Mare, Indian, Pelican, Tides, Yob and Conifer, too. If you're a fan of all that sort of stuff you'll like this. It's nothing you haven't heard before but it's exactly what you like. Extreme sludge, but droning and artful enough to catch the ears of a non-metal label like Important... and on the more soothing side of the sludge spectrum, not so nasty and harrowing as something like Khanate, Bunkur or Graves At Sea. We'll admit that this took a little while to seep in, but as the waves of this Ocean wash over you, you'll happily sink beneath its depths (sorry, it's hard to avoid such aquatic metaphors with these guys, as you'll see the cover sticker blurb writer also found).
MPEG Stream: "Salt"

OCEAN Here Where Nothing Grows (Important) 2lp 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available as a SUPER LIMITED, ultra deluxe double lp. Packaged in a gorgeous black on black embossed, textured sleeve, pressed on 200 gram vinyl, limited to 500 copies. Also includes a side long live bonus track!
This band from Portland, Maine is the latest to lumber into the realm of the uber-heavy. Now, don't confuse 'em with the band called THE Ocean, from Germany, whose uber-heavy Fluxion album we listed not too long ago. Although you certainly could confuse them, as uber-heaviness has its hallmarks. Indeed, this line from our review of The Ocean's cd actually describes this Ocean quite well, as well: "The basic sound will be familiar for sure, massive guitars, pounding drums, propulsive, relentless riffing, blissed out, post rock parts that build and build and build into huge squalls of gargantuan guitarnoise, throbbing and pulsing, minor key and epic." Yep, another one of those bands, here we go again. Just how much single-riff repetition and down-tuned sludge trudge can we take? Quite a lot, really! Ocean's Here Where Nothing Grows debut consists of three long songs, each one an ultra-slow doomful dirge ridden with gutturally growled vocal angst. Yet, there's a sorta melodic post rock thread running through this, for a sound somewhere betwixt Corrupted and Isis. You could file this alongside the likes of Buried At Sea, Mare, Indian, Pelican, Tides, Yob and Conifer, too. If you're a fan of all that sort of stuff you'll like this. It's nothing you haven't heard before but it's exactly what you like. Extreme sludge, but droning and artful enough to catch the ears of a non-metal label like Important... and on the more soothing side of the sludge spectrum, not so nasty and harrowing as something like Khanate, Bunkur or Graves At Sea. We'll admit that this took a little while to seep in, but as the waves of this Ocean wash over you, you'll happily sink beneath its depths (sorry, it's hard to avoid such aquatic metaphors with these guys, as you'll see the cover sticker blurb writer also found).
MPEG Stream: "Salt"

OCEAN Pantheon Of The Lesser (Important Records) cd 14.98
When talking about this band Ocean, there's always an obvious temptation to liken their music to giant waves crashing upon the shore, which we shall indeed succumb to here. 'Cause of their name, which they share with another heavy band, The Ocean from Germany (this Ocean is the one from the coastal city of Portland, Maine) and 'cause of their massive, relentlessly cycling sound. Large rocks, over the aeons, would easily be turned to tiny grains of sand, by the action of Ocean. Even within the limit of the running time of a compact disc, Ocean surely hints at such power. Over the course of these two loooooong tracks here (35:50 and 23:04), Ocean's repetitive riffs and percussive detonations surge and crest, washing in and out with regularity and ponderous force, slowwwww and steady, building up almost imperceptibly. Beautiful to our ears, or to those of anyone else equally as enamored by crushing, moody, majestic sludge-metal!
The anguished vocals, guttural gasps, oftimes like gasses escaping from a subterranean crypt, or (a more appropriate analogy) the final cries of drowning men from a sinking ship intermingled with the bellowings of some leviathan of the depths, put us in mind of the ultra-doooom of Khanate, as do the varied levels of carefully sculpted feedback and distortion. There is some guest singing (in Japanese, we believe) from Yoshiko Ohara of fellow doombringers Bloody Panda on the first track, but even her cleanly-sung lamentation eventually gives way to "vokill" style throat-abuse.
During much of her turn at the mic, as well as at other junctures on this disc, (the) Ocean calms and quiets, yet the listener remains adrift at sea. Doomed to drown, sinking down into into the stillness of the deeps, an undersea abyss where of course the darkness and pressure make this even heavier! Not so good for actual shipwreck victims, but metaphorically excellent for those of us into this sort of music - a combination of dirgey funereal doom and loud/soft post rock prettiness, truly elegant -and- extreme. If you liked Ocean's earlier effort for Important (Here Where Nothing Grows), and/or the likes of Bloody Panda, Conifer, Lesbian, Khanate, Thou, Pelican, etc., this is probably for you! And we must also mention the packaging; a white digipack, with text and engraving-style artwork in metallic silver ink. Very classy-looking.
MPEG Stream: "The Beacon"
MPEG Stream: "Of The Lesser"

OCEAN, THE Aeolian (Metal Blade) cd 14.98
This is THE Ocean, not to be confused with Portland, Maine's Ocean, just Ocean. While Ocean is pretty darn heavy, The Ocean out heavy them in a way that seems impossible. THE Ocean is a German eight piece (that's right, EIGHT piece) now calling themselves the Ocean Collective. Lots of guitars, multiple vocalists, upping the heaviness quotient exponentially. The world, or at least our little underground rock corner of it, has gone nuts for this new metal / post rock hybrid, so much so that there's even a documentary in the works (which, if the footage makes the final cut, will feature Andee and Allan opining on all things metal and post rock). And we have to say we're digging it all too, Isis, Pelican, Cult Of Luna, Conifer, Minsk, each band doing their own version of that hybrid, adding their own unique particulars.... We seem to lean a bit toward the more metallic end of the spectrum (big surprise there) and the Ocean are right there at the extreme metal end, more a full on crushing metal band, with a bit of post rock weirdness mixed in insted of the other way around. This is massive pummeling extreme metallic brutality. The Ocean's riffs are huge, we mean HUGE, swirling and snarling, downtuned and so so so heavy. Pounding near industrial drums, and a phalanx of vocalists including Coalesce's Sean Ingram, mean this is a fucking shitstorm, in the best possible way. Everything we loved about their last record, Fluxion, is here, but expanded, heavier parts are heavier, weird parts are weirder (including some truly haunting German film music interspersed here and there). The basic formula is the same, massive crushing teutonic sludge / death metal, with all manner of post rockisms tossed in, blissy ambient interludes, grooved out rhythmic breakdowns, there are definitely hints of Isis, Neurosis, Dimmu Borgir, even Rammstein, as well as nods to more dramatic outrock outifts like Godspeed and Mogwai. But Aeolian is just so much more complicated and multilayered, convoluted and complex, dizzyingly so. One of the coolest, weirdest, heaviest metal records so far this year for sure.
MPEG Stream: "The City In The Sea"
MPEG Stream: "Austerity"

OCEAN, THE Fluxion (Throne) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
With everyone freaking out about Isis, Pelican, Neurosis, Cult Of Luna, and all things massively and epically metal, all churning riffs and pounding majesty, it's hard to believe that most people have never heard, or even heard of German outfit The Ocean. Because in some ways, hard as it may seem to believe, they've almost managed to sonically outdo their obvious influences. The basic sound will be familiar for sure, massive guitars, pounding drums, propulsive, relentless riffing, blissed out, post rock parts that build and build and build into huge squalls of gargantuan guitarnoise, throbbing and pulsing, minor key and epic. But, in the case of The Ocean, they manage to add all sort of extra weirdness and not-so-subtle nuance than really makes Fluxion stand out. The presence of a full on string section (as well as some clarinets and other decidedly non rock instruments) is the first thing, which obviously lends the whole thing a much more stately, mournful feel, making them sound at times like a heavy metal Godspeed You Black Emperor. There's also a whole bunch of melodic flourishes scattered throughout, just here and there, that make what could be standard metal riffs become something a little bit out of the ordinary. The order of the day though is definitely metallic pummel, growled gutteral vocals over ultra thick Teutonic riffs, their German-ness shines through a bit in those instances, reminding us a bit of Rammstein, and when the keyboards kick in, there's definitely some Dimmu Borgir going on. And there is definitely a black metal vibe throughout, although it's bent and twisted to fit into The Ocean's moody metal framework. But the sound is so much more expansive and epic than most black metal, or most metal in general, especially when the guitars bliss out a bit, and strings are soaring, guitars picking out arpeggiated minor key melodies, everything eventually erupting into full on metallic bombast. And even in the midst of TOTAL METAL, the melodies are still moody and intense, the riffing is weird and the overal vibe is super dramatic and ultra intense. Fans of the 'new mood metal', a la Pelican, Isis, Cult Of Luna, as well as fans of the new metallic post rock (Conifer, Tides, Mouth Of The Architect, etc.) will be totally blown away!
Some of the most amazing packaging we've seen, a multi panel digipak, depicting a huge shcool of fish, with the band name and random spatters printed in a glossy varnish. The gatefold is a huge two panel spread of dead gutted fish, and inside all the liner notes and lyrics are printed glossy black on matte black. Wow!
MPEG Stream: "Nazca"
MPEG Stream: "The Human Stain"
MPEG Stream: "Comfort Zones"

OCEAN, THE Fluxion / Aeolian (Throne) 3lp 35.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Both amazing releases from Germany's The Ocean, last year's Fluxion, and the brand new Aeolian, now available on vinyl, a super limited triple lp set which includes each one of the three lps in a different color, packaged in a gorgeous silver inked 8mm-spine gatefold jacket, with a full color fold-out poster. Limited to 472 copies, already out of print, we have about 30 so act fast.
Here's what we think about Aeolian:
This is THE Ocean, not to be confused with Portland, Maine's Ocean, just Ocean. While Ocean is pretty darn heavy, The Ocean out heavy them in a way that seems impossible. THE Ocean is a German eight piece (that's right, EIGHT piece) now calling themselves the Ocean Collective. Lots of guitars, multiple vocalists, upping the heaviness quotient exponentially. The world, or at least our little underground rock corner of it, has gone nuts for this new metal / post rock hybrid, so much so that there's even a documentary in the works (featuring Andee and Allan opining on all things metal and post rock). And we have to say we're digging it all too, Isis, Pelican, Cult Of Luna, Conifer, Minsk, each band doing their own version of that hybrid, adding their own unique particulars.... We seem to lean a bit toward the more metallic end of the spectrum (big surprise there) and the Ocean are right there at the extreme metal end, more a full on crushing metal band, with a bit of post rock weirdness mixed in insted of the other way around. This is massive pummeling extreme metallic brutality. The Ocean's riffs are huge, we mean HUGE, swirling and snarling, downtuned and so so so heavy. Pounding near industrial drums, and a phalanx of vocalists including Coalesce's Sean Ingram, mean this is a fucking shitstorm, in the best possible way. Everything we loved about their last record, Fluxion is here, but expanded, heavier parts are heavier, weird parts are weirder (including some truly haunting German film music interspersed here and there). The basic formula is the same, massive crushing teutonic sludge / death metal, with all manner of post rockisms tossed in, blissy ambient interludes, grooved out rhythmic breakdowns, there are definitely hints of Isis, Neurosis, Dimmu Borgir, even Rammstein, as well as nods to more dramatic outrock outifts like Godspeed and Mogwai. But Aeolian is just so much more complicated and multilayered, convoluted and complex, dizzyingly so. One of the coolest, weirdest, heaviest metal records so far this year for sure.
And here's what we had to say about Fluxion:
With everyone freaking out about Isis, Pelican, Neurosis, Cult Of Luna, and all things massively and epically metal, all churning riffs and pounding majesty, it's hard to believe that most people have never heard, or even heard of German outfit The Ocean. Because in some ways, hard as it may seem to believe, they've almost managed to sonically outdo their obvious influences. The basic sound will be familiar for sure, massive guitars, pounding drums, propulsive, relentless riffing, blissed out, post rock parts that build and build and build into huge squalls of gargantuan guitarnoise, throbbing and pulsing, minor key and epic. But, in the case of The Ocean, they manage to add all sort of extra weirdness and not-so-subtle nuance than really makes Fluxion stand out. The presence of a full on string section (as well as some clarinets and other decidedly non rock instruments) is the first thing, which obviously lends the whole thing a much more stately, mournful feel, making them sound at times like a heavy metal Godspeed You Black Emperor. There's also a whole bunch of melodic flourishes scattered throughout, just here and there, that make what could be standard metal riffs become something a little bit out of the ordinary. The order of the day though is definitely metallic pummel, growled gutteral vocals over ultra thick Teutonic riffs, their German-ness shines through a bit in those instances, reminding us a bit of Rammstein, and when the keyboards kick in, there's definitely some Dimmu Borgir going on. And there is definitely a black metal vibe throughout, although it's bent and twisted to fit into The Ocean's moody metal framework. But the sound is so much more expansive and epic than most black metal, or most metal in general, especially when the guitars bliss out a bit, and strings are soaring, guitars picking out arpeggiated minor key melodies, everything eventually erupting into full on metallic bombast. And even in the midst of TOTAL METAL, the melodies are still moody and intense, the riffing is weird and the overal vibe is super dramatic and ultra intense. Fans of the 'new mood metal', a la Pelican, Isis, Cult Of Luna, as well as fans of the new metallic post rock (Conifer, Tides, Mouth Of The Architect, etc.) will be totally blown away!
MPEG Stream: "The City In The Sea"
MPEG Stream: "Austerity"

OCEAN, THE Monument / Fork Lashing Eye (43rd Parallel) lp 14.98

OCEAN, THE Precambrian (Metal Blade) 2cd 14.98
Germany's THE Ocean, not to be confused with Ocean from the US, have always been a pretty impressive proposition, their soaring epic post Godspeed Neur-Isis style metallic grind, their phalanx of guitarists, their triple vocal attack, the fact that they're a sort of musical commune, but more importantly, the sound they make is MASSIVE, thick and churning and so so so so HEAVY. It boggles the mind how a band can sound this heavy, on record even, we fear for the brave souls that subject themselves to this sort of crushing brutality live.
A lot has changed in The Ocean camp since 2006's Aeolian. Where that record was moody and nuanced, majestic and cinematic, Precambrian is much more immediate, more furious and intense, the guitars downtuned and crunchy, even heavier than before, the vocals a metal howl, bordering on hardcore bark. The drums swinging wildly from monstrous pound to lightning fast blast beats. And the compositions, holy shit! Mathy and complex and convoluted, Much grindier than before, relentless and maniacal. But wait! That's only the first half of Precambrian. Ultra high concept, separated into two discs (or three lps), the first disc, if we're going by the cd (nicely designed as a 3" cd embedded in a 5" plastic disc) is short and sharp and fast and furious and is the first movement. But the second disc (the third and fourth lp) is much more of the Ocean we're used to. Beginning with some abstract clean guitar shimmering in an expanse of distant drones and mournful melodies, quickly shifting into some mathy post rock, all noodly melodies and jagged harmonies, some seriously dark riffing, even some clean vocals, piano, strings, this is epic shit, wound around gnarled bursts of furious intensity. The record is super strange, shifting from almost gypsy sounding folk, with moaning fiddles, and chime like melodies, to dens chunks of Neurosis style sludge, from expansive shoegaze-y bliss outs to full on Eyehategod howl and chug, tripped out almost-jazz to straight up chamber music, and back to punishing ultra heaviness.
Makes no sense to us that The Ocean guys are not as huge as Isis or Pelican or Neurosis. And if you dig any of those bands you owe it to yourself to get into these guys. The cd comes in a double jewel case, one normal 5" disc, one 3" disc in a 5" plastic disc, with multiple booklets, packed with lyrics and woodcut illustrations. Wow.
But if any record was one for the vinyl nerds it's THIS ONE. So over the top. A triple lp, gatefold, the whole thing black on black, with silver and white ink, spot varnish flourishes, diecut front and back with amoeboid shapes so the inner sleeves are visible, metallic ink on matte black inserts feature lyrics and illustrations, each lp a different color, orange, dark swirled red and swirled grey. LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES. Holy shit!!! It weighs a ton, and is so beautiful and damn if it wouldn't be worth buying just for the packaging. Thankfully the record is definitely worthy of the packaging. WAY recommended. ESPECIALLY the limited vinyl!
MPEG Stream: "Hadean - The Long March Of The Yes-Man"
MPEG Stream: "Eoarchaean - The Great Void"
MPEG Stream: "Palaeoarchaean - Man And The Sea"

OCEAN, THE Precambrian (Throne / Garden Of Exile) 3lp 45.00
Germany's THE Ocean, not to be confused with Ocean from the US, have always been a pretty impressive proposition, their soaring epic post Godspeed Neur-Isis style metallic grind, their phalanx of guitarists, their triple vocal attack, the fact that they're a sort of musical commune, but more importantly, the sound they make is MASSIVE, thick and churning and so so so so HEAVY. It boggles the mind how a band can sound this heavy, on record even, we fear for the brave souls that subject themselves to this sort of crushing brutality live.
A lot has changed in The Ocean camp since 2006's Aeolian. Where that record was moody and nuanced, majestic and cinematic, Precambrian is much more immediate, more furious and intense, the guitars downtuned and crunchy, even heavier than before, the vocals a metal howl, bordering on hardcore bark. The drums swinging wildly from monstrous pound to lightning fast blast beats. And the compositions, holy shit! Mathy and complex and convoluted, Much grindier than before, relentless and maniacal. But wait! That's only the first half of Precambrian. Ultra high concept, separated into two discs (or three lps), the first disc, if we're going by the cd (nicely designed as a 3" cd embedded in a 5" plastic disc) is short and sharp and fast and furious and is the first movement. But the second disc (the third and fourth lp) is much more of the Ocean we're used to. Beginning with some abstract clean guitar shimmering in an expanse of distant drones and mournful melodies, quickly shifting into some mathy post rock, all noodly melodies and jagged harmonies, some seriously dark riffing, even some clean vocals, piano, strings, this is epic shit, wound around gnarled bursts of furious intensity. The record is super strange, shifting from almost gypsy sounding folk, with moaning fiddles, and chime like melodies, to dens chunks of Neurosis style sludge, from expansive shoegaze-y bliss outs to full on Eyehategod howl and chug, tripped out almost-jazz to straight up chamber music, and back to punishing ultra heaviness.
Makes no sense to us that The Ocean guys are not as huge as Isis or Pelican or Neurosis. And if you dig any of those bands you owe it to yourself to get into these guys. The cd comes in a double jewel case, one normal 5"s disc, one 3" disc in a 5" plastic disc, with multiple booklets, packed with lyrics and woodcut illustrations. Wow.
But if any record was one for the vinyl nerds it's THIS ONE. So over the top. A triple lp, gatefold, the whole thing black on black, with silver and white ink, spot varnish flourishes, diecut front and back with amoeboid shapes so the inner sleeves are visible, metallic ink on matte black inserts feature lyrics and illustrations, each lp a different color, orange, dark swirled red and swirled grey. LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES. Holy shit!!! It weighs a ton, and is so beautiful and damn if it wouldn't be worth buying just for the packaging. Thankfully the record is definitely worthy of the packaging. WAY recommended. ESPECIALLY the limited vinyl!
MPEG Stream: "Hadean - The Long March Of The Yes-Man"
MPEG Stream: "Eoarchaean - The Great Void"
MPEG Stream: "Palaeoarchaean - Man And The Sea"

OCEAN, THE / BURST split (Garden Of Exile) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Super limited split between these two heavyweights. In this corner, Burst, with their Meshuggah-like stop start riffing, super precise and machinelike, downtuned guitar chugs like pipes to the side of the head, all getting more and more tangled until it's a dizzying metallic swirl. There's also some weird warped melodies, the guitars and vocals doing something bizarre together, making it sound like the record is warped or something. Cool. And in the other corner, Germany's Ocean, not to be confused with THE Ocean, a massive metallic collective, who tone back the metal just a bit this time around and explore some post rock weirdness. Serene stretches of sweet blissed out prettiness, finger picked guitars and angelic female vocals, before a monstrous sledgehammer groove kicks in, all HUGE riff and harsh demonic vocals. Killer!
Packaged in a gorgeous fold out sleeve designed by Seldon Hunt and pressed on blue vinyl. Super limited and we only got a few.

OCEANS OF SILVER AND BLOOD Live At Cafe OTO (Confront) cd-r 9.98
Oceans Of Silver And Blood is an awesomely unexpected collaboration between Joachim Nordwall and Mark Wastell. The Swedish half (i.e. Nordwall) is one of the members of The Skull Defekts and the Alvars Orchestra; he also runs the exceptional label Ideal Recordings. The Englishman (Wastell) is a preeminent improviser of longform tones and disgorged acoustic drones; and he runs the highly impressive Sound 323 shop / label out of London. With Nordwall on a modular synth and Wastell on his 32" gong (I guess it's technically a tam-tam), the two broadcast sheets of heavy, heavy deep-wave minimalism. At first, Nordwall's synth produces an ominous throb of dark oscillating electrical pulses, matched with thrumbing acoustic drones from that massive gong of Wastell. Their trajectory glides into a hushed din echoing with Wastell's slow and rhythmic chiming of his gong, but gradually they couple the paranoiac sound design of analogue synthesis with the reflective, yet dark shimmer of the gong. When Wastell drops what seems to be a small motor onto the surface of his gong, the darkened drone explodes with an metallic squeal. Imagine the Jean-Francois Laporte vibration studies of what we thought to be a Zamboni remixed by Deathprod. Great stuff and limited to 200 copies!
MPEG Stream: "Live At Cafe OTO"

OCEANSIZE Effloresce (Beggars Banquet) cd 10.98

OCHS, MAX Hooray For Another Day (Tompkins Square) cd 14.98
The sticker on the shrink-wrap for this Max Ochs cd says it all: Cousin of Phil Ochs. Poet. Schoolmate of John Fahey and Robbie Basho. Friend of Mississippi John Hurt and Skip James. Social Activist. Takoma and Fonotone Guitarist. Composer of "Imaginational Anthem". That last one seems to bear the most weight as it exemplifies Ochs influence on the Tompkins Square label as they have named three volumes of solo guitar anthologies after his song. But he is also a kind of poster boy for the label that has spent much of the last few years digging through the cracks of the solo guitar genre to find those who should have been more renowned. Hopefully this collection, most of it newly recorded, will shine a brighter light on this semi-obscure figure. Inspired by deep eastern ragas and dense open blues forms, Ochs was more of a writer and performer than a studio musician, so he doesn't have as deep a discography as his contemporaries, John Fahey and Robbie Basho. But the recordings here are stellar and on a par with the best of the genre. There are also a few examples of his poetry, including one about his cousin, folksinger Phil Ochs, who succumbed to drugs and suicide way too young, adding a tinge of heartbreak to this amazing collection.
MPEG Stream: "Hooray For Another Day"
MPEG Stream: "Imaginational Anthem"
MPEG Stream: "Phil"

OCRILIM Annwn (Hydra Head) cd 14.98
Winsome pop melodies that gently caress the ear, relaxed and lovely--WHOOPS. N-n-n-n-nnoo, wrong review. Anybody familiar with insectoid, techy guitar playing of Mick Barr (of Ocrilim, Orthrelm, Octis, and Crom Tech fame) knows that we had to be pulling your collective leg with the beginning of this paragraph. Not a chance in heck that Ocrilim's latest release, on Hydra Head, would be anything less than a completely nerve-wracking, possibly aggravating, virtuoso six string mindfuck. And is it ever. Unique as well, 'cause nothin' else sounds quite like this. It's insane ear candy for those of us who like the concept (put forth in a previous Mick Barr review on the AQ site) of Ygnwie playing Metal Machine Music!
Divvyed up into seven parts, the all-instrumental Annwn is a tour-de-force of repetitive yet complex high-end trill, incorporating spiralling sixteenth note fretboard frenzies that burrow into your skull like a trepanist's drill. These trance-inducing pieces are all long ones, upwards of ten minutes or more, most of 'em, and take that time to build into truly grandiose symphonics, that (if the listener can, um, hear the forest for the trees) are indeed melodic, if not poppy. Never before has anything so trebly also sounded so majestic! Barr's swarming sounds somehow hint at John Williams' Star Wars/Death Star theme music... and very much makes us think, Black Metal. It's not, but comes pretty close indeed. And in fact, if this WAS a black metal band, we'd be all, "best/most fucked black metal of the year so far." Albeit one that's all-guitar (consisting entirely of the notes, noise, and drone that Barr can call forth from his mystic, multitracked axe), no vocals or drums or drum machine or nothin'.... and owes as much to no-wave and minimalism and 20th c. classical.
MPEG Stream: "Part 2"
MPEG Stream: "Part 6"

OCRILIM Anoint (I & Ear) cd 13.98
Ol' Crazy Fingers (not really what they call him) Mick Barr is baaack. He of Orthrelm, Octis, Crom Tech, etcetera fame, a true fretboard wizard for the punkish underground avant-core set. If Lightning Bolt were Metallica, Mick Barr'd be Yngwie. Or something like that... y'know, it's hard to make a lot of sense when your brain is being subjected to the bumblebee chamber metal sounds of Ocrilm, so cut us a break. This latest Mick Barr masterpiece is a solo project, all three of its overdubbed Gibson SG guitar tracks laid down by Mick hisself in a maddening density of notes and harmonies, droning sheets and shards of sound. This is massive, and maniacal. Anoint is a seven-part composition for excited strings, a one-man Glenn Branca-esque guitar symphony done shred style. A beautiful, beautiful thing... though you can imagine it being recorded, and listened to, in the confines of a padded cell!
MPEG Stream: "Anoint pt. 1"
MPEG Stream: "Anoint pt. 7"

OCS 2 (Narnack) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Record number two from SF scene kingpin John Dwyer's (Coach Whips, Zeigenbock Kopf, Hospitals, ex-Pink And Brown, ex-Burmese etc.) solo bedroom project OCS. The first OCS record released on tUMULt a couple years back (and still available!) was a big ol' double disc collection split right down the middle, one disc of sweet acoustic musings, and one disc of ear splitting noisy chaos. Well, for record number two Dwyer's abrasive Mr. Hyde is tucked safely away, and we are presented with his sweeter, gentler Dr. Jeckyll. 2 is a ramshackle collection of stumbling, sloppy Appalachia, Sentridoh-ish introspective mumbling jangle, and rickety 4-track folk. Dreamy and sleepy, rambling and sun dappled. Tape hiss, and amplifier buzz, snippets of found sound, and buried-in-the-mix sing-songy vocals augment ragged meandering ragas, droning acoustic dirges, and all manner of indie-rock/bedroom-folk detritus.
MPEG Stream: "Mike D"
MPEG Stream: "Banjo Sold For Rent"
MPEG Stream: "Killed Yourself"

OCS 3 (Yik Yak) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ah, the sweeter side of John Dwyer. It's always been a struggle for Dwyer, between his sweat soaked spazz rock, club smashing, instrument battering side (Landed, Pink And Brown, Coachwhips) and his lonely boy, mix tape, bedroom, acoustic and sensitive side (OCS). Well it appears, that for the time being at least, with the end of the Coachwhips, OCS is Dwyer's main focus. Dr. Jeckel has regained control and banished Mr Hyde to wait patiently in the dakness....
Like the first OCS record, released on Andee's tUMULt label, this is a massive, beuatifully packaged double disc collection of beautifully ramshackle, intimate and home recorded lo-fi indie bedroom folk. However, unlike the tUMULt release, where disc two was a clattery, crunchy, crashing NOISE record, both discs here are chock full of simple strummed guitars, echoey percussiony, big empty room rhythmic clatter, distant distorted melancholy melodies, haunting reverby electric guitar, quavery falsetto vocals, drowsily affected jangle shuffling snare drums and hazy atmospheres....all occasionally peppered with swooping stuttering psych rock space effects, chirping birds, and creaking rattling soundmakers of all kinds. For fans of Sentridoh, Shrimper and all things 4-track, lo-fi, jangley, shuffley and strummy! The lp is is the OCS '3' record only, you gotta buy the double cd to get both '3' and '4'!
MPEG Stream: "If I Had A Reason"
MPEG Stream: "Second Date"
MPEG Stream: "The Pool"

OCS 3 & 4 (Narnack) 2cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ah, the sweeter side of John Dwyer. It's always been a struggle for Dwyer, between his sweat soaked spazz rock, club smashing, instrument battering side (Landed, Pink And Brown, Coachwhips) and his lonely boy, mix tape, bedroom, acoustic and sensitive side (OCS). Well it appears, that for the time being at least, with the end of the Coachwhips, OCS is Dwyer's main focus. Dr. Jeckel has regained control and banished Mr Hyde to wait patiently in the dakness....
Like the first OCS record, released on Andee's tUMULt label, this is a massive, beuatifully packaged double disc collection of beautifully ramshackle, intimate and home recorded lo-fi indie bedroom folk. However, unlike the tUMULt release, where disc two was a clattery, crunchy, crashing NOISE record, both discs here are chock full of simple strummed guitars, echoey percussiony, big empty room rhythmic clatter, distant distorted melancholy melodies, haunting reverby electric guitar, quavery falsetto vocals, drowsily affected jangle shuffling snare drums and hazy atmospheres....all occasionally peppered with swooping stuttering psych rock space effects, chirping birds, and creaking rattling soundmakers of all kinds. For fans of Sentridoh, Shrimper and all things 4-track, lo-fi, jangley, shuffley and strummy!
MPEG Stream: "If I Had A Reason"
MPEG Stream: "Second Date"
MPEG Stream: "The Pool"

OCS s/t (tUMULt) 2cd 16.98
Who would have thought that the man behind the club destroying thud rock of now defunct Pink And Brown, the sweaty, hyper chaotic garage stomp of the also now defunt Coachwhips, the minimal metallic crush of the long buried Dig That Body Up It's Alive and the no longer with us hardcore faux-homo-house of Zeigenbock Kopf actually had a soft and sensitive side?? Well, he does, and has chosen to drop all the above mentione musical endeavors to focus all of his musical energy on the mysteriously monickered OCS.
The ubiquitous John Dwyer, for it is he, offers up two discs of home recorded madness, culled from random tapes/performances over the past couple of years, and damn if this isn't an unexpected surprise. Vascillating wildy between introspective, spaced out downer folk and gritty, hissing free noise crunch, OCS is a massive and unpredicatable ride through one man's damaged musical psyche.
Disc One, 34 Reasons Why Life Goes On Without You, or the "acoustic disc" as we like to call it, is made up mostly of solo guitar, recorded in random locations around San Francisco, so the gentle strumming and dexterous fingerpicking is often barely obscuring passing cars, slamming doors, hollered instructions to other players, and noisy housemates, adding another sonic layer to the already thick brew. Think: a seriously fucked up Fahey, armed with a four track, a casio, and an old beat up guitar. Think: an old Folkways 45 being played on a Fisher Price turntable and run through a bank of cheap effects. Gorgeous and shambolic, meandering and lovely, dark and unpredictable. The acoustic passages are constantly doing battle with an array of sonic intrusions, random snippets of found sound, bursts of angry buzz, tape drop out, random ambient happenings, malfunctioning casios, and distorted crooning. Mysteriously compelling.
Disc two, 18 Reasons To Love Your Hater To Death, or the "noise disc" as we like to call it, is a much more challenging affair, channelling the spirts of Borbetamagus, Skullflower, Albert Ayler, Throbbing Gristle and 100 years of NOISE into a shifting sonic noisescape of harsh squealing feedback, gorgeously gauzy and shimmery drones, ear piercing sine waves, distorted low end rumbles, huge washes of effected guitars, rhythmic pulses, darkly muted ambience, subtle barely-there melodies, inhuman vocalisations, massive Merzbow-ian walls of pummel, hyper minimal music concrete, alien lullabies and dreamy stretches of stygian gloom punctuated by bursts of hiss and hum. Intensely beautiful and challenging.
Ah, the many moods of John Dwyer, stepping outside the realm of costume rock and drunken swagger to lay bare a sensitive, if still sometimes quite noisy, soul.
MPEG Stream: "Reason 1 Why Life Goes On Without You"
MPEG Stream: "Reason 2 Why Life Goes On Without You"
MPEG Stream: "Reason 1 To Love Your Hater To Death"
MPEG Stream: "Reason 2 To Love Your Hater To Death"

OCS (OH SEES) Get Stoved (4) (KSR) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

OCS VS. CAROLINER At Aquarius Records, S.F. (Narnack) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, MAINLY BECAUSE IT WAS AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE! HEE HEE! SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Handsomely packaged in a hand linocut printed jockstrap cover, OCS vs Caroliner is probably not what you would imagine. This isn't a remix collaboration between John Dwyer and Grux, but a fight (recorded surreptitiously by another Aquarius customer on their minidisc recorder) between the two battling over flyer space on the event board.
MPEG Stream: "Cardboard Pants"
MPEG Stream: "Giant Pocket"
MPEG Stream: "Highwater Pageboy"

OCSID Opening Sweep (Ash International) cd 15.98
Ocsid is a performative collective between Swedish residents C.M. von Hausswolff, Jean-Louis Huhta, and Graham Lewis (from Wire -- no, he's not Swedish, but he does live there, hence the resident qualification). Anyway, this recording is the first 75 minutes from a performance recorded late 1999 in Bavaria. The beginning of the album starts with gritty deep drones that sound like they were culled from various air ducts, water pipes, or furnaces, sounding very much like Phauss -- the early, underappreciated outfit for von Hausswolff. "Opening Sweep" moves through some misfired CD players before getting to a collage of Mika Vainio, SND, and what sounds like excerpts from Raymond Scott's "Manhattan Research Inc."

OCTAGON Artisans Of Cruelty (Autopsy Kitchen) cd 13.98

MPEG Stream: "With Hate"
MPEG Stream: "Teachings In Cruelty"

OCTINOMOS Fuckhole Armageddon (Baphomet / Necropolis) cd 14.98
Expect nihilistic, misanthropic one-man-band black metal on this album, the follow-up to his brilliant, raw, and catchy Welcome To My Planet opus. Fuckhole Armageddon is fast & tinny the way it's supposed to be, as Mr. Octinomos gets a really good droning buzz going over which he plays some majestic melodies. There's some breaks with clean vocals thrown in as well. Good stuff to fill that Nordic black metal need. And you've got to admit, he might have come up with the ultimate ridiculous over the top evil album title. One disappointment: track 5, "Wipeout", isn't a cover.

OCTIS Mithring (Rock Is Hell) lathe cut 5" record 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
5" lathe cut of that skronky skree we love so much. Limited to 50 copies or something insane like that. We only got a handful.

OCTIS Mithring II (Rock Is Hell) lathe cut 5" record 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Part II of the mighty Mithring cycle from screeching skronk and skree mongers Octis. Impossibly convoluted and gloriously obtuse. Utterly and completely fucking RULING!!!
The bad news is, of course, that this spiffy 5" lathe cut is ultra limited to only 50 copies, of which we were allotted about 5!! So fastest 5 get 'em, the rest of you will just have to struggle along through the rest of your miserable lives with that gaping Octis shaped hole in your heart...

OCTIS Mithring III (Rock Is Hell) lathe cut 5" record 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Part III of the mighty Mithring cycle from screeching skronk and skree mongers Octis. Impossibly convoluted and gloriously obtuse. Utterly and completely fucking RULING!!!
The bad news is, of course, that this spiffy 5" lathe cut is ultra limited to only 50 copies, of which we were allotted about 5!! So fastest 5 get 'em, the rest of you will just have to struggle along through the rest of your miserable lives with that gaping Octis shaped hole in your heart...

OCTIS Ocrilim (Troubleman Unlimited) cd 11.98
Fretboard brainiac Mick Barr (of Orthrelm, Crom-Tech, Quix*o*tic, and Octis) is back with a new album from his solo manifestation Octis (and is also now living here in San Francisco, playing in the Flying Luttenbachers). Ocrilim is one 33 minute track of squiggly quasi-metallic guitar and drum machine. Electro-shock therapy too expensive? Try this! A tinny drone jabbed and jarred with manic outbursts of hyper spazz guitar, with which the drum machine can barely keep up. It's, in a word, maddening. And of course we love it.
MPEG Stream: "Ocrilim [excerpt 1]"
MPEG Stream: "Ocrilim [excerpt 2]"

OCTIS Uppragn Srilimia Ixio Or Ocrilm Nollfithes Mrithixyl (Peterbilt) 2cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Solo project of Mick Barr, formerly of DC superheroes CROM TECH! Octis is the polar opposite of Mick's other current band, Orthrelm, which wields lengthy pummeling epics. Octis is seventy two tracks of lightning fast lo-fi speed metal guitar solos backed by a drum machine set at 380 bpm. Released on Guy Picciotto's Peterbilt label, this comes packaged on two five inch business card style cds. Ridiculous and fucking insane.
RealAudio clip: "Untitled"

OCTIS / CHILD ABUSE split (Forge) 7" 3.98
Punishing split. One half insane technical freakout, one half chaotic noise damage. You figure out which is which...

OCTOBER COUNTRY s/t (Rev-Ola) cd 14.98
Michael Lloyd, the creative force behind October Country, might be more familiar to some AQ customers as a member of the legendary West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. While OC is not nearly as drug addled and far out as the WCPAEB, their sunshine-y, shimmery soft pop, equal parts Beach Boys, Beatles and Byrds, is still flecked with hints of lysergic psychedelia and brief glimpses of jangly trippiness.
Lloyd was a musical prodigy: publishing deal at age thirteen, composed the soundtrack for Spielberg's first short film, played in a group called the New Dimensions as well as the WCPAEB. Through some random circumstances he began writing songs for the newly christened October Country (after a song he wrote, they were formerly the Last Two) and eventually became their primary songwriter and a sort of de facto band member.
The sound is light and breezy, sunny and care free. Think the Free Design, the Hollies, the aforementioned three B's. All bubby bouncy bass, jangly guitar, playfully honking horns, occasional sweeping strings, and lots of glorious harmonies.
Definitely not a 'weird' record at all, just a really awesome lost pop classic!
MPEG Stream: "October Country"
MPEG Stream: "Painted Sky"

OCTOMUTT Hot Stove (Drizzoletto Music) cd 14.98
Octomutt swiftly follow up their recent Pretty Side album with this pipin' Hot Stove. When the second song (the album's title track) kicked in, we imediately noticed the vocal presence and anticipated that the album was going to be quite a lively (almost feisty) affair in comparison to its considerably more gentle instrumental predecessor. Just check out that tune's thumpin' churn! The rest of the album however settles into a more loping, folky blues pace. As usual, the SF duo's fantastic musicianship is in full bloom as they spin their latest quirky musical yarns. Nice!
MPEG Stream: "Hot Stove"
MPEG Stream: "Marlene Dietrich Singing Lili Marlene"

OCTOMUTT Pretty Side (Drizzoletto Music) cd 5.98
Fine veteran SF musicians Ted Savarese and Ashley Adams refuse to follow flavor of the day trends, instead they continue to follow their own muse. This time their song selection weighs heavy on respectful cover versions which might involve sweet lullabies, old tyme waltzes, old movie and show tunes (for instance, the theme from the 1960's Tammy series which starred Debbie Reynolds) and/or outbreaks of jazz -- all beautifully performed with loving care. The entirely instrumental Pretty Side is much less obviously trippy and offkilter than their previous self titled album or Savarese's other project Drizzoletto, but it's no less whimsical. Their intimate arrangements of guitar, bass, accordion and trumpet might remind you of a bygone era when things moved at a much slower pace.
MPEG Stream: "Tammy"
MPEG Stream: "The Way You Look Tonight"

OCTOMUTT s/t (self-released) cd 5.98
Another project from the folks who brought us the quirky Drizzoletto Live At KXLU disc a short time ago. Octomutt are Ted Savarese and Ashley Adams and they weave meandering guitars and slinking loops with an easygoing anchor of standup bass. There's a definite down home, earthy feel to Octomutt's music -- seeming very casual and off the cuff -- however an occasional detour into more trippy, eccentric territory is certainly not out of the question. They're joined on the final track "Monkey And The Dolphin" by Drizzoletto co-hort and man about town Ralph Carney (tenor saxophone, flute and bongos).
MPEG Stream: "I Been Thinkin'"
MPEG Stream: "Monkey and the Dolphin"

OCTOPUS Restless Night: The Complete Pop-Psych Sessions 1967-1971 (Rev-ola) cd 16.98
Reissue of obscure British pop-psych band from the early seventies. Sounds like a perfect mix between The Pretty Things and The Beatles, so if you dug the Aerovons, or Truck, you might want to check this out too. Contains their lone 1971 album, Restless Night, and ten bonus tracks, including a dead on cover of The Beatles "I Am The Walrus".

OCTOPUS PROJECT + BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW, THE The House Of Apples And Eyeballs (Graveface) cd 11.98
Whoa, the mixed bag of words that make up not only the groups' band names but also the album's title sure reflect the mixed bag that is the music! Each track is radically different from the next. It's almost as though you're listening to a compilation. A little bit of everything. if you dug Black Moth Super Rainbow all on their own with their album Dandelion Gum, then you're gonna keep the love alive with The House of Apples and Eyeballs, their collaboration with The Octopus Project.
Squiggly synth tentacles wrap their suckers around the lite funky grooviness. Clitter clatter percussive sounds both from a drum kit and a drum machine, softly strummed guitar chords, and spacey vocoded vocals are chopped up, tumbled together and baked in the summer sun. Tweaked, fluffy wooziness. If your town still has a rollerskating rink, they should have this playing non-stop!
MPEG Stream: "Marshmallow Window"
MPEG Stream: "All The Friends You Can Eat"

OCTOPUS PROJECT, THE Hello, Avalanche (Peek A Boo Industries) cd 13.98

ODAL Zornes Heimat (Black Devastation / RB) lp 22.00

ODD CLOUDS Deceiving Illusion (Not Not Fun) lp 17.98
It's on Not Not Fun, so we were sort of expecting something a bit noisier and heavier, but instead, Odd Clouds traffic in some sort of fractured stoner folk, stumbling shambolic space rock, skittery and skeletal, lysergic and lethargic, some seriously druggy weirdness.
The opening track is a rickety campfire crawl, with some almost black metal sounding vocals, growling and gurgling, beneath some scraped guitars, some simple drumming, everything detuned and melty sounding, tribal and ritualistic, almost sounds like some cool Avarus / Abruptum mashup, also sounds strangely medieval. The second track introduces horns, the guitars get more pronounced and driving, but the vibe is no less fractured and chaotic, if anything, when the horns come in, Odd Clouds begin to resemble late great Northwestern outfit Reeks And The Wrecks, whose sole record (released on tUMULt) channeled the same sort of drunken druggy sprawl.
The record dips into krautrock and space rock, but even in those moments the band tend to ramble and wander, we hear hints of No Neck and Sunburned Hand Of The Man, free and flowing and abstract, but dark and sinister, the drums usually offering up splatters of percussion instead of rhythm, everything hovering in a haze of reverb and delay, playful melodies surface here and there, often only to be swallowed whole by those creepy vox, the horns add a strange jazzy vibe once in a while, but just as often bleat and moan and just make the proceedings sound that much more haunting and otherworldly. Really really rad, a nice surprise for sure, and WAY recommended

ODD CLOUDS / WIGWAM split (Arbor) cassette / 3" cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We only got three or four of these so tape nerds and noise rock nerds will want to jump on this fast. Limited to 100 copies and packaged in a cool oversized full color two sided old school plastic tape case, like the kind that might have house some language tape or something. It's pretty bad ass looking.
Inside, it's two Michigan noisemakers, Odd Clouds and Wigwam. Odd Clouds offer up a dense cloud of tribal electronic psychnoise, thick and drifting, like some damaged collision between the Skaters and the Yellow Swans, while Wigwam present us with their own brand of noisiness, a murky Wolf Eyes-ian expanse of grinding muddy rumble and slithery black ambience, with bits of industrial clatter and electronic fuckery here and there.
Also includes a bonus 3" cd-r with a 15 minute jam from Odd Clouds, more of the same, massive roiling dreamy expanses of blown out sound and electronic weirdness. packaged in a hand painted mini sleeve, and stuck inside the plastic tape case with the cassette.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. We have 4 or 5 and there will be no more once these are gone...

ODD NOSDAM Burner (Anticon) cd 14.98

ODD NOSDAM Plan 9 (Mush) cd 14.98
Reissue of the debut cassette only release from Odd Nosdam, the man responsible for the music on the amazing cLOUDEAD records. 55 short and sweet tracks of abstract hip hop sound art: unfinished rhythms, bizarre sound collages, super distorted song fragments, scratchy drum loops and tons of good stuff, all recorded on a battered set up of junky garage sale/flea market recording equipment. For fans of Anticon, cLOUDEAD, Atmosphere, Aesop Rock and the like.
RealAudio clip: "One"
RealAudio clip: "Three"
RealAudio clip: "Five"

ODD NOSDAM Your American Bonus (Anticon) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A gorgeous and dreamy ten minute slab of hypnotic blissed out hip hop. Lazy loping beats, vocal snippets, fuzzed out casios, huge head nodding rhythms, some purloined horns, a little jungle skitter, all chopped and cut and sliced and diced. Limited to 1000 hand numbered copies.

ODESSA (CHEN) One Room Palace (self-released) cd 12.98
Very lovely! Odessa Chen is quite a one-woman band, composing, singing and performing nearly all of the instruments for this, her debut album. Her voice soars gracefully from childlike whisper to haunting wail to crystal clear heights over the dramatic waves of guitars, keyboards, strings and percussion. Charles Denison provides backing vocals on the fifth song "Fringe" making for a nice earthy counterpoint. The atmosphere is filled with heartache and yearning. Definitely for fans of the impassioned voices of Tori Amos or Sarah McLachlan.
MPEG Stream: "Where Heaven Should Be"
MPEG Stream: "Fringe"

ODIOUS MORTEM Cryptic Implosion (Willowtip) cd 14.98

OF The Awful Cloud (Jyrk) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The last we heard from Loren Chasse's Of project (not to be confused with the similarly monickered duo Ov, featuring Chasse and his wife, our very own Christine) was on a cd and a cd-r released about the same time way back in the beginning of 2005. This latest disc is sort of similar to those two Of releases, in that they are a bit noisier, a bit more aggressive than Chasse's usual nature based ethereality. But on The Awful Cloud, Chasse has mixed up his darkest and heaviest and most active material to date, pushing even the boundaries of the already more belligerent Of. The opening track is like some sort of abstract free jazz being performed by black eyed demons in some fiery pit, filled with broken old drum kits and random bits of metal, a clanging, clattering, shuffling primitive percussive ritual, while all around these rhythmic freakouts hover Awful Clouds of corrosive feedback, warm whirls of fuzzy organ, a thick miasma of drones and whirs, incredibly dark and ominous and fierce. Who knew Mr. Chasse had it in him! The rest of the record is not nearly so prickly and abrasive, but the darkness and dread is equally as pervasive, just more subtly so. A dense roiling mix of organs and bells and vibrating strings and collaged found sounds, from shimmery soundscapes of keening hiss, simple melodies buzzing into reedy drones, to the cavernous dark ambience of the near 20 minute third track, some sort of slowed down guitar crumble, trudging glacially forward like some slithery black beast, surrounded by wreaths of warm pulsing chords and disembodied musicbox melodies, to the dreamlike expanse of the final track, gently picked guitar suspended in a thick gauzy lattice of muted organ and distant subterranean rumble. So lovely, but so so dark. Highly recommended!!
Packaged in a handscreened sleeve with a photocopied insert.
LIMITED TO 150 COPIES. WE GOT ABOUT 30 (we ordered 50!)!!
MPEG Stream: "The Uglich Bell"
MPEG Stream: "Human Absence"

OF (LOREN CHASSE) Rocks Will Open (Digitalis) cd 13.98
Back in stock! But, without the bonus limited edition Morphological Echo cassette that accompanied the first 100 copies. So you're bummed if you didn't order one earlier. Still, the cd without the tape is well worth getting, so don't cry too much, slowpokes. Here's our review:
Nowadays the words Jewelled Antler are so widely known in underground outrock circles, that all we have to do really is just mention the name and y'all know we're talking about some seriously awesome sprawling nature-y goodness. It's true, the Jewelled Antler crew have been high on the sound worship, rural psychedelic trip for over a decade, with no signs of coming down. Between the recent Porter box set and several other discs released earlier this year on Nature Strip and the Helen Scarsdale Agency, Loren Chasse has established himself as a sort of mystical elder in the Jeweled Antler community. Recording/performing with Thuja, Kyrgyz, and The Blithe Sons (to name a few) and working as a SF public school teacher, its amazing Chasse ever has time to sleep, let alone record all of these effing remarkable collections of minimal innerspatial sound!
Recorded between 2005 and 2007, Rocks Will Open is a sonic escape across coastal worlds, through secret doorways beneath tree stumps and into iridescent waves of shimmering prismatic dust. And not your average list of instruments in the liner notes either: dulcimer, gravel, sand, stones, and khaen (a Southeast Asian mouth harp!) to name a few! The opening / title track starts things off with creeping dulcimer melodies, methodical plucks and strums over earthen textures, sonic topsoil moving and shifting on its own. "Trail of Hornfel", track two, is a dark drift, a choir of possessed singing bowls howling from the bowels of a partially submerged seaside cavern. Chasse has has perfected an organically rich sound all his own, recordings that sound more like he has somehow cast spells on each instrument, conjuring sounds and textures through divination and sorcery, channeling the pulse of the natural world. "The Paper Raft" is deep and somber, the earth splits open and melancholic passages of deep bowed tones swell dramatically and narrate the fall of Western civilization, a rarely visited shadowy realm for Chasse. But actually, all of Rocks Will Open has a mysterious haunting unsettling beauty sewn into its fabric, illiciting the kinds of feeling evoked by leafless trees in snow, or a blazing campfire flickering in a suffocatingly black nightscape, or like being quietly captivated by a towering tsunami seconds before it swallows you whole. A contemplative experience that unfolds and blooms with every listen as sounds hidden in the woodwork reveal themselves, this could easily be our favorite solo record from Chasse. Rocks Will Open is totally necessary for fans of Peter Wright, Tim Hecker, Gregg Kowolsky and anything Jewelled Antler (obviously). So if you know what's good for you, do not miss out on this super incredible release.
MPEG Stream: "Trail of Hornfel"
MPEG Stream: "The Paper Raft"

OF (LOREN CHASSE) Rocks Will Open / Morphological Echo (Digitalis) cd + cassette 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Nowadays the words Jewelled Antler are so widely known in underground outrock circles, that all we have to do really is just mention the name and y'all know we're talking about some seriously awesome sprawling nature-y goodness. It's true, the Jewelled Antler crew have been high on the sound worship, rural psychedelic trip for over a decade, with no signs of coming down. Between the recent Porter box set and several other discs released earlier this year on Nature Strip and the Helen Scarsdale Agency, Loren Chasse has established himself as a sort of mystical elder in the Jeweled Antler community. Recording/performing with Thuja, Kyrgyz, and The Blithe Sons (to name a few) and working as a SF public school teacher, its amazing Chasse ever has time to sleep, let alone record all of these effing remarkable collections of minimal innerspatial sound!
Rocks Will Open is Chasse's latest, brought to us by Digitalis in an ultra limited arts and crafts edition of 100!! Yes we said limited! While the disc is being released in a larger pressing of 500, the first 100 copies (which we got 30 of!) come with a mind blowing exclusive tape called Morphological Echo! Yes! Basically a whole extra record!!
Recorded between 2005 and 2007, Rocks Will Open is a sonic escape across coastal worlds, through secret doorways beneath tree stumps and into iridescent waves of shimmering prismatic dust. And not your average list of instruments in the liner notes either: dulcimer, gravel, sand, stones, and khaen (a Southeast Asian mouth harp!) to name a few! The opening / title track starts things off with creeping dulcimer melodies, methodical plucks and strums over earthen textures, sonic topsoil moving and shifting on its own. "Trail of Hornfel", track two, is a dark drift, a choir of possessed singing bowls howling from the bowels of a partially submerged seaside cavern. Chasse has has perfected an organically rich sound all his own, recordings that sound more like he has somehow cast spells on each instrument, conjuring sounds and textures through divination and sorcery, channeling the pulse of the natural world. "The Paper Raft" is deep and somber, the earth splits open and melancholic passages of deep bowed tones swell dramatically and narrate the fall of Western civilization, a rarely visited shadowy realm for Chasse. But actually, all of Rocks Will Open has a mysterious haunting unsettling beauty sewn into its fabric, illiciting the kinds of feeling evoked by leafless trees in snow, or a blazing campfire flickering in a suffocatingly black nightscape, or like being quietly captivated by a towering tsunami seconds before it swallows you whole. A contemplative experience that unfolds and blooms with every listen as sounds hidden in the woodwork reveal themselves, this could easily be our favorite solo record from Chasse. Rocks Will Open is totally necessary for fans of Peter Wright, Tim Hecker, Gregg Kowolsky and anything Jewelled Antler (obviously). So if you know what's good for you, do not miss out on this super incredible release AND the special limited edition cassette that comes along with it!! Once we run out of the limited version with the tape, which will most likely be sooner rather than later, folks who order Rocks Will Open will then get the cheaper tape-less cd version.
MPEG Stream: "Trail of Hornfel"
MPEG Stream: "The Paper Raft"

OF (LOREN CHASSE) The Buried Stream (Jewelled Antler) cd 13.98
Yeah we know, here at Aquarius Records it's always Jewelled Antler this, Jewelled Antler that. They're our friends, we're big fans, and we wax enthusastic about all the great music they make all the time (heck there's at least one other Jewelled Antler item on this very list). And we know a lot of you out there are equally enamoured of the Jewelled Antler thing. If that's you -- and like us, make sure to get EVERY Jewelled Antler related release that comes out -- then you can pretty much stop reading this right now and just buy this darn disc, you need it / want it / must buy it. But if you're more of the casual Jewelled Antler fan, or not yet familiar with their stuff but curious, then, well, we'll say pretty much the same thing, just buy it! Yep, that's because this new Of opus is one that we'll be pointing Jewelled Antler novices to as a true JA essential (and not just 'cause its in print and on cd, as opposed to being one of their many out of print cd-rs, although that helps). Of is the "instrumental" solo project of JA linchpin Loren Chasse, whom you may also know from such sonic congregates as Thuja, Blithe Sons, Child Readers, Coelecanth, and Id Battery among others. He's done other solo recordings under the L.Chasse name but as Of he takes his textural, field recording approach and makes it into something more overtly, hauntingly musical, something like a one-man Thuja, his ear exploring both the wilds of the woods and the sounds he could conjure on his own with an array of instruments and objects. Allan immediately recognized (with nostalgia) the field recordings of Pennsylvanian night-time buzzings incorporated in the track "Glowing Prints". Such sounds of nature merge perfectly with Chasse's own darkened drones, percussive textures, distorted strum, shimmering tones from bells and bowls, wheezing harmonium, etc. It's music to drift off to sleep to, to dream strange dreams and then awake immersed in sound, wondering where and what you are. Utterly utterly beautiful. What a darn great second Of album! (fyi: the first, The Infant Paths, originally a cd-r, is to be reissued soon on cd as well!)
MPEG Stream: "Underground Cloud"
MPEG Stream: "Axes"

OF (LOREN CHASSE) The Infant Paths (Jewelled Antler) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Oooh this is good. Haunting, gentle, abstract-seeming but musically very pretty stuff, in the vein of the best folk/drone from Tower Recordings and Kemialliset Ystavat, Popul Vuh and Brian Eno. Perhaps you've heard the Atrium Musicae "Musique de la Grece Antique" disc? This too sounds like imaginary ancient music, maybe made by wood-spirits before the dawn of man. An elemental, atmospheric sonic ritual. Of is the new solo project of AQ-pal Loren Chasse. You might know him from Thuja, Id Battery, Blithe Sons, Child Readers, Coelacanth, numerous other "Jewelled Antler" projects... There was an Of track on Jewelled Antler's Heat & Birds compilation, and this cd-r is the debut full-length release from Of, dedicated to Loren's grandmother who passed away recently. Now maybe you're wondering, doesn't Loren already record solo as under his own name, putting out stuff like that great Hedge of Nerves cd on Anomalous, so what's with this Of moniker? Well, with Of, Loren takes the field recording / experimental sound collage ideas that he brought to Id Battery and his previous solo projects and brings it into a live-recorded, improvised *musical* context, where --this is important-- in addition to minidisc and contact mic, he's also playing more traditional sorts of musical instruments. Kinda like a one-man Thuja, or Blithe Sons or Child Readers. There's guitar, oud, bells, harp, pipes, whistles, bowed wires, harmonium, drumkit, and a 150 year old mellodion (pump organ) employed here, plus the usual assortment of rocks, sticks, and other natural debris that Loren "plays". Also to be heard is record crackle from an old Victrola, and recordings of wind and water made by his mother on her sailboat. All lovingly lo-fi home (and outdoors -- in California, Maryland, and Pennsylvania) recorded and mixed with handheld tape recorder, mindisc, and computer. Sleepy, dark, and meditative, "The Infant Paths" is a perfect example of the Jewelled Antler aesthetic, a musical methodology where lapping water sounds complement harmonium drones and carefully plucked guitar strings; tinkling bells and crackling branches accompany simple, fragile melodies found on broken organ keyboards; where nature and the environment are musical collaborators with poetic souls like Mr. Chasse.
Unlike Blithe Sons or Child Readers, this is all instrumental -- nope, you won't hear any vocals from Loren here, the only singing is done by birds. Someone else (Richard Youngs, Greg Weeks, the Blithe Sons themselves) might have been tempted to sing over these tracks, but they're plenty magical without any wispy vocals or lyrical content. Dense and detailed, suitable for your own dreams and reveries. Wow. We knew he had it in him, but still we're impressed. One of our favorite releases by Mr. Chasse yet!
MPEG Stream: "The Lamp Shell Path"
MPEG Stream: "Theodolites And Chains"
MPEG Stream: "Torus At The Sunrise Turn "