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.

ODEM Rape Your God And Pray For Reprieve (Daemon Worship Productions) cd 13.98

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

ODLUND, CHRISTINE Phenomena (Ideal) cd 14.98
More of an installation artist, who delights in the play between the psychedelic and the clinical, Christine Odlund proves to be quite talented when it comes to her own darkened electro-acoustic composition, holding her own next to the likes of Thomas Koner, Matt Shoemaker, and BJ Nilsen. Throughout her catalogue of installations, video, and sound, Odlund has been interested in simulating synaesthesia, the neurological phenomena of the transposition of one sensorial experience with another - in other words, the ability to 'see' sound or 'hear' touch. Odlund's installations feature overblown projections of microscopic organisms displayed in dazzling hyperdelic colors and hung against jet black environments; and her sound work is a like-minded chimera, although it's much heavier, darker, and blacker. Low-end modulating tones pool around a flattened hiss to start the record, setting a suitably grim, dark-ambient vibe. Squeaking metals echo in the distance, as the morass of blackened sound builds to a shadowy crescendo of dark noise. Slow loops and theremin-like swells of tone offer an oceanic interlude that leads into a crackling collage of VLF recordings, electro-static bristlings, insect choruses, and various crunchings that sound like a massive amplification of an army of beetles. Two shortened tracks of percolating computer music sequences and electronic algorithms break up Odlund's abstracted drone, crunch, and hiss which return in fine effect by the end of the album. Very nicely done.
MPEG Stream: "Mycelium Of A Lawyers Wig"
MPEG Stream: "Magnetosphere"
MPEG Stream: "Meeting In Albertville"

ODMENN s/t (Shadoks Music) cd 17.98
More rad psych rock reissue action here, courtesy of the Shadoks label. Their latest batch of cds delve into the prog rock past of a place known for interesting music (and volcanoes, and fairies), Iceland! Svanfridur, Trubrot, and this one, Odmenn, which we're reviewing first 'cause it's one we'd heard before, we already knew we loved it, and it's possibly the heaviest of the bunch. Poppy too, though, these songs are syncopated, swinging ear candy for those into what DJ Andy Votel over at Finders Keepers likes to call "hairy funk". The band formed in 1966, and after several years spent perfecting their groovy and rather heavy progressive blues rock, this record was to be their only full-length release. A double album, 15 tracks, originally released in 1970. All but one of the songs sung in their native Icelandic.
It's a joy, full of irresistibly loping grooves, fuzzy riffage, gentle folky parts, wild guitar solos, and lyrics pertinent to political protest and hippy ideals (so we're told, not understanding Icelandic), yeaaah! There's beautiful, blissed out melodies ("Kaerleikur") and sheer freaked out acid rock excess (the 20 minute, side-long album-ender "Frelsi") and lots of groovy stuff in between. Well, not in between those particular two tracks, as they follow one another, but in between those extremes, across the whole disc, we mean.
We'd recommend Odmenn to fans of other killer Scandinavian psychedelia such as Moses (another recent Shadoks reish), Baby Grandmothers, Mecki Mark Men, and, latterly, Dungen. And it comes with extensive liner notes, as well as vintage photos and graphics, in the thick cd booklet. Very cool.
MPEG Stream: "Betri Heimur"
MPEG Stream: "Eg Vil Pig"
MPEG Stream: "Saga Pjodar"

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 "

OF (LOREN CHASSE) The Quartz Pond (Jewelled Antler) cd-r 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not only did Thuja's Loren Chasse so very recently grace us with a phenomenal full-length cd from his solo project Of (reviewed last list), he has also now just brought in a handful of these Of cd-rs he originally produced to sell on Thuja's December jaunt to a festival in Scotland. Maybe 12 bucks might seem just a little pricey for a 25 minute cd-r, but Loren's made 'em look really nice (each one with an individual leaf-rubbing and handwritten credits) and more importantly, the music makes it well worth it. The first, five minute track begins with some pleasantly harsh distortion before settling into a soothing drone, Chasse weaving together both field recordings and his own instrumental improvisations into one seamless, organic whole. This is but the warm-up for the other, twenty-minute track on here that's an exquisite late-night humid dreamscape that you won't want to wake up from, which makes hypnotic use of what I think could be frog croakings but also sound a lot like a ticking clock... Needless to say, any and all Of fans need this, and as well it's recommended to all of you into nocturnal, eternal nature-boy drone!
MPEG Stream: "The Quartz Pond pt. 1"

OF (LOREN CHASSE) The Sun & Earth Together (Ultra Hard Gel) cd 12.98
Loren Chasse, one of the chief swamis of the collective Jewelled Antler sound through such projects as Thuja, Blithe Sons, Child Readers, Franciscan Hobbies, Ov, and too many more to list (boy, they used to crank out those cd-rs!), records solo under the moniker Of (the similarly named Ov being the duo of Chasse with his wife and AQ-employee Christine, full disclosure). Simply put, we love Of (and Ov), of course... and are always happy when Chasse takes some time away from his other activities (the somewhat less musical of which being his day job as a public school teacher) to craft a new Of album, a phantom tendril from his own personal dreamworld reaching through our shared reality to caress our ears and cause imaginary crystals to glow softly somewhere within that part of our minds attuned to such blissful vibrations. Not to make this sound like any sort of New Age fluff though, as while as ethereal and meditative as this is, Chasse always incorporates some primitive grit into his work, his music full of feedback hiss, quiet distortion, ambient elemental field recordings of nature, the magnified rubbings of rocks and plants, objects close to the ground, part of the earth, illuminated (and given shadow too) by the radiation of a far-off, flaming star.
The music of The Sun and Earth Together is akin to a slowly turning mobile, as if it were giving off drones and tones as well as glinting with color and the reflections of light. As light shimmers, so does this music. As light dims, it dims too. The abstract sculptural shapes of this imagined mobile move in beautiful indeterminate patterns, much as the sounds Chasse conjures from disparate sources* as cymbalom and stones, autoharp and voice, bells and bowls, guitar and zither all drift delicately, and droningly, in phosphorescent clouds and constellations. This disc clocks in at 51 minutes, consisting of four tracks, each one longer than the last, from the three minute opener "Ignimbrites" to the 26 minute closing title track. All composed of tingling, whispered layers of lo-fi loveliness, gentle and graceful and ultimately glorious.
*we're guessing on some of these...
MPEG Stream: "Archangelic Curtain"
MPEG Stream: "Ignimbrites"
MPEG Stream: "Vog Rings"

OF / GREG DAVIS split (Ache) 7" 6.98
Brand new Of full length coming on the next list, but while we're waiting, we managed to get a few more of this amazing split with Of and Greg Davis! Two sides of home brewed minimalism. Of, aka Loren Chasse (Thuja, Coelacanth, etc) takes a slight detour into a dark mysterious world of disembodied free folk. Some sort of country music, deconstructed, just whisps and afterimages left to drift wraithlike. It's like the skeleton of a banjo, was left to wander aimlessly along some lonely seashore, the sound of the surf a shimmery hiss, the banjo's footsteps a spacious barely there twang. All under a murky grey sky, soft melodies like warm breezes.
Greg Davis counters with a swirl of zinging strings, a complex web melodies, the harps' shimmering strings intertwined and overlapping, all over the distant soft splashing of water. Almost like an orchestra made up entirely of harps, performing playfully in a giant bathtub. With the harps tangled sonics being subtly glitched up and processed, making the end result all the more dense and dreamy.

OF MONTREAL Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse (Kindercore) cd 14.98
More candy-coated lo-fi Beatles-esque pop chews from Kevin Barnes and friends (some of which are fellow Elephant 6ers Julian Koster, Scott Spillane, and Eric Harris). A super earnest and tweeee theme album of sorts with some unexpected, interesting and odd segues of circus-iness and pianos. The cd packaging includes a cd booklet of elaborate, very Byrds-esque, swirly, rainbow felt-pen illustrations to accompany 14 of the 22 tracks, as well as a fold-out lyric sheet. It seems Mr. Barnes has found his pace, comfortably and confidently filling the E6 boots left empty by the Olivia Tremor Control. Plus if you stick around 'til the 13th track you'll get a little bit of storytime too. Rollicking and fun.

OF MONTREAL Early Four Track Recordings (Kindercore) cd 13.98
Kevin Barnes recorded these songs on a four track before moving to Athens, GA, to fall in with the super talented and inspiring Elephant 6 posse of popsters (Neutral Milk, Olivia Tremor, Apples etc). Much better than most musicians' four track "early" stuff I can think of, this release sports lush melodies, honest-to-gosh songs you can tell he labored over, and heartstraining sensitivity a la Neutral Milk Hotel. Luckily the charmingly lo-fi production doesn't get in the way, but adds to the light, bedroom quality of the record. Pretty, plaintive and sincere. It might be a little too sweet for some folks (in the past they've triggered definite swoons from some listeners and decisive spit from others), so listen to the sound clips first. Bonus weirdness: all songs named after Dustin Hoffman ("Dustin Hoffman Needs a Bath," "Dustin Hoffman Eats the Soap," "Dustin Hoffman's Wife Makes a Sarcastic Remark, Cuts the Head Off a Duck, Places It Where the Tub Was and Begins to Groan," etc).
RealAudio clip: "Dustin Hoffman Thinks About Eating the Soap"
RealAudio clip: "Dusitn Hoffman Needs a Bath"

OF MONTREAL False Priest (Polyvinyl) cd 14.98

OF MONTREAL False Priest (Polyvinyl) lp 22.00

OF MONTREAL Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Polyvinyl) cd 16.98
If you've followed the evolution of ex-Elephant 6-ers Of Montreal it won't come as a total surprise when you hear the spazzed out sugar-pop songs that make up this new outing. Over the years they've slowly shed their Elephant 6 roots and dipped their feet into more dramatic and charismatic waters. Their last outing Sunlandic Twins was chalk full of instantly catchy dance floor gems. And with Hissing Fauna they've sort of turned into Sparks playing at a teenage dance party! And this is sure to be a hit with all the kids, and for good reason, it took a while but the indie rockers finally learned how to shake their asses and make music that demanded such movement.
MPEG Stream: "Suffer For Fashion"
MPEG Stream: "Gronlandic Edit"

OF MONTREAL Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Polyvinyl) 2lp 19.98
If you've followed the evolution of ex-Elephant 6-ers Of Montreal it won't come as a total surprise when you hear the spazzed out sugar-pop songs that make up this new outing. Over the years they've slowly shed their Elephant 6 roots and dipped their feet into more dramatic and charismatic waters. Their last outing Sunlandic Twins was chalk full of instantly catchy dance floor gems. And with Hissing Fauna they've sort of turned into Sparks playing at a teenage dance party! And this is sure to be a hit with all the kids, and for good reason, it took a while but the indie rockers finally learned how to shake their asses and make music that demanded such movement.
MPEG Stream: "Suffer For Fashion"
MPEG Stream: "Gronlandic Edit"

OF MONTREAL Satanic Panic In The Attic (Polyvinyl) cd 13.98
Many of the Elephant 6 Collective members have been resurfacing as of late. Not only have the wonderful Olivia Tremor Control's exploratory pop albums been reissued, but many of the bands in the E6's second tier are stepping forward with new albums! Of Montreal are one of those bands. In the E6 family, Of Montreal have always been sorta like OTC's younger less adventurous, more toothsome brother. This time around on Satanic Panic In The Attic, it sounds like Kevin Barnes and co. have taken it easy on the cookie jar and explored a wider palette of musical styles (than the usual E6 folk, psychedelic and pop). Indeed, this just may be their most focused and least obtuse album to date. Fear not though dear fans of their trippy pop sound, it's still very much in bloom with moments of pure psychedeli-twee (just check out their songtitles and lyrics)!
MPEG Stream: "Erroneous Escape Into Erik Eckles"
MPEG Stream: "Vegan In Furs"

OF MONTREAL Skeletal Lamping (Polyvinyl Record Co.) cd 15.98
Of Montreal sure have come a long way in the decade since their birth. While they began life as the next generation torch carriers for the Elephant 6 scene, their sound has evolved into their own very distinct, eclectic and ambitious colorful pop music that's not afraid to shake asses and lay on lots of dramatic sass in the process. Skeletal Lamping finds them continuing their Sparks like take on grandiose and multipart pop suites with all songs bleeding into each other as Kevin Barnes sings boldly about his sexual desires and curiosities. Barnes for sure sounds like someone who needs to be at the center of attention at all times and his lyrics can often sound like they should be coming from someone half his age but as long as he keeps creating such entertaining and creative pop then we can live with that. And the packaging on both the cd and vinyl is as colorful, elaborate and compelling as the sounds contained inside.
MPEG Stream: "For Our Elegant Caste"
RealAudio clip: "Nonpareil Of Favor"
MPEG Stream: "Plastis Wafers"

OF MONTREAL Skeletal Lamping (Polyvinyl Record Co.) 2lp 29.00
Of Montreal sure have come a long way in the decade since their birth. While they began life as the next generation torch carriers for the Elephant 6 scene, their sound has evolved into their own very distinct, eclectic and ambitious colorful pop music that's not afraid to shake asses and lay on lots of dramatic sass in the process. Skeletal Lamping finds them continuing their Sparks like take on grandiose and multipart pop suites with all songs bleeding into each other as Kevin Barnes sings boldly about his sexual desires and curiosities. Barnes for sure sounds like someone who needs to be at the center of attention at all times and his lyrics can often sound like they should be coming from someone half his age but as long as he keeps creating such entertaining and creative pop then we can live with that. And the packaging on both the cd and vinyl is as colorful, elaborate and compelling as the sounds contained inside.
MPEG Stream: "For Our Elegant Caste"
RealAudio clip: "Nonpareil Of Favor"
MPEG Stream: "Plastis Wafers"

OF MONTREAL The Sunlandic Twins (Polyvinyl) cd 13.98
Nice to see that some branches of the Elephant 6 Collective are still bearing pretty blossoms and juicy pop fruit. In addition to the debut from A Hawk And A Hacksaw (the solo project from Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeremy Barnes), stalwart E6ers Of Montreal have released a new album. While those Apples In Stereo folks remain on hiatus, Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes has kept the flame aglow on their Brian Wilson torch, assuming the E6 pop helm with plentiful ability and enthusiasm. Amid the tilt-a-whirl glee of their predominantly sweet, jangle perkiness, the band doesn't shy away from funking things up (on the third and seventh songs), strange-ing things up (on the twelveth track) or diversifying in other ways. Much like on their previous album Satanic Panic In The Attic, they've continued to keep their musical scope set to 'panoramic view' with heavy doses of piano, thick synthesizer textures, dance-y beats, soaring near-operatic vocal grandeur and ultra wordy song titles. Sometimes however it can be almost too heavyhanded, threatening to topple and crush the more delicate aspects of the band. Definitely check out the two brief song samples though, but keep in mind that they can't really do the breadth of the Sunlandic Twins album justice.
MPEG Stream: "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games "
MPEG Stream: "The Repudiated Immortals "

OF MONTREAL The Sunlandic Twins (Polyvinyl) lp 13.98
Ahh yes vinyl fans! We do have this new Of Montreal on LP toooo!
Nice to see that some branches of the Elephant 6 Collective are still bearing pretty blossoms and juicy pop fruit. In addition to the debut from A Hawk And A Hacksaw (the solo project from Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeremy Barnes), stalwart E6ers Of Montreal have released a new album. While those Apples In Stereo folks remain on hiatus, Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes has kept the flame aglow on their Brian Wilson torch, assuming the E6 pop helm with plentiful ability and enthusiasm. Amid the tilt-a-whirl glee of their predominantly sweet, jangle perkiness, the band doesn't shy away from funking things up (on the third and seventh songs), strange-ing things up (on the twelveth track) or diversifying in other ways. Much like on their previous album Satanic Panic In The Attic, they've continued to keep their musical scope set to 'panoramic view' with heavy doses of piano, thick synthesizer textures, dance-y beats, soaring near-operatic vocal grandeur and ultra wordy song titles. Sometimes however it can be almost too heavyhanded, threatening to topple and crush the more delicate aspects of the band. Definitely check out the two brief song samples though, but keep in mind that they can't really do the breadth of the Sunlandic Twins album justice.
MPEG Stream: "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games "
MPEG Stream: "The Repudiated Immortals "

OFARIM, ESTHER In London (Bureau B) cd 16.98

OFEGE Try And Love (Acadamy) cd 15.98
Recorded in Nigeria in 1973, the members of Ofege were only in high school when they made this album, but damn! In any battle of the bands competition our money would for sure be on these guys! Infused with a really keen sense of melody as well as nice fuzzy guitar sounds, great drumming and catchy vocals, this is truly a lost Afro-rock gem! We first heard Ofege on the African volume of the Love Peace & Poetry series and then on the great Sound Way compilation Nigeria Rock Special, and if you are like us and can't get enough of those special sounds that were pouring out of Nigeria in the '70s, Ofege will surely hit the spot! We're reminded a bit of that great Chrissy Zebby Tembo reissue we freaked out about last year. Heavily influenced by Western rock of the time, lots of great wah wah jams and that fuzzy guitar sound we never get tired of. Pretty amazing that these guys ranged in age from 15-17 when they made this as it sounds so confident and accomplished.
MPEG Stream: "Nobody Fails"
MPEG Stream: "Ofege"
MPEG Stream: "You Say No"

OFEGE Try And Love (Acadamy) lp 19.98
Recorded in Nigeria in 1973, the members of Ofege were only in high school when they made this album, but damn! In any battle of the bands competition our money would for sure be on these guys! Infused with a really keen sense of melody as well as nice fuzzy guitar sounds, great drumming and catchy vocals, this is truly a lost Afro-rock gem! We first heard Ofege on the African volume of the Love Peace & Poetry series and then on the great Sound Way compilation Nigeria Rock Special, and if you are like us and can't get enough of those special sounds that were pouring out of Nigeria in the '70s, Ofege will surely hit the spot! We're reminded a bit of that great Chrissy Zebby Tembo reissue we freaked out about last year. Heavily influenced by Western rock of the time, lots of great wah wah jams and that fuzzy guitar sound we never get tired of. Pretty amazing that these guys ranged in age from 15-17 when they made this as it sounds so confident and accomplished.
MPEG Stream: "Nobody Fails"
MPEG Stream: "Ofege"
MPEG Stream: "You Say No"

OFERMOD Mysterion Tes Anomias (Norma Evangelium Diaboli) cd ep 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MPEG Stream: "Mysterion Tes Anomias"
MPEG Stream: "Chained To Redemption"

OFERMOD Tiamtu (Ajna) cd 15.98

OFF THE CHARTS The Song-Poem Story (Shout! Factory) dvd 21.00
We've long been a song-poem boosters around these parts. How could we not be? So innocent and inspired and brilliant. From John Trubee's legendary "Blind Man's Penis" single to those I'm Just The Other Women collections from way back and the more recent The American Song-Poem Anthology: Do You Know the Difference Between Big Wood And Brush compilation on Bar/None. For those of you who are new to song-poems, there was (and still is to a lesser extent) a whole industry of musicians (and shysters of course) that would set your poem to music for a couple hundred bucks. Probably the most well known was Rodd Keith, who has had several compilations released over the years. But the song-poem industry was definitely a subject ripe for a documentary. So finally someone went and did it. And it just so happens that it was AQ pal Jaimie Metzger! We're happy to report that the film is really really good, and so goddamn funny. And of course a little sad. Some of the highlights: Interview with Caglar Juan Singletary, a cute nerdy bespectacled young man who writes about ladies, religion, science fiction and martial arts, and is responsible for the absolutely brilliant "Non Violent Taekwando Troopers". The whole segment on Gary Forney and his son Josh and their Iowa Mountain Tour, where they play their classics "Chicken Insurrection", "Three Eyed Boy" and more, for a perplexed crowd at an RV park. This part was so brutal I literally had to walk out of the room! The interview with the man who sang and performed "Blind Man's Penis", a cute old country veteran talking about how embarassed he was, and how that song was maybe his most embarassing moment. A totally intense segment with Gene Merlino (responsible for the brilliant "Jimmy Carter Says Yes!") pulling a major power trip with his band. A serious argument ensues. So rough. Anyone who has ever played in a band will shudder with recognition. Then there's an amazing segment showing the whole process from the poem's arrival through the finished song/product. It only takes about one hour actually! All the segments with Tom Ardolino of NRBQ, the original champion of song poems, who is so damn cute and genuine and plays us all his favorite song poems. And a really poignant bit with Rodd Keith's son. An amazingly made, brilliantly researched, hilarious, sad, and totally fascinating documantary. Kudos to Jamie. And obviously all the writers and musicians. Lots of DVD bonus footage, deleted scenes, studio sessions, the Iowa Mountain Tour Live (oh man....) much of it filmed by AQ pal/regular Cayce Lindner!

OFF! First Four EPs (Vice) cd 14.98
Everyone's always saying they just don't make punk rock like they used to, and for the most part that's pretty much true. But, these guys do. Really. Just like the old days. In fact, if you didn't know better, you might find yourself wondering what old SST 7" this is playing, or thinking it must be produced by Spot, assuming they're probably from Hermosa Beach, pretty sure we saw them open for Black Flag, the record probably has cover art by Raymond PettibonÉ well ONE of those is true (the cover art), even though this record sounds like they ALL must be.
Off! is most definitely a punk rock super group, Keith Morris (Circle Jerks, Black Flag) on vocals, Steven McDonald (Redd Kross) on bass, Mario Rubalcaba (Earthless, Clickitat Ikitawi, etc) on drums, and Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides) on guitar. Sort of an unlikely lineup, but you'll only think that until you hear these guys play. Blasting, hooky, three chord old school hardcore / punk rock, 16 songs in 18 minutes, originally released as four 7" singles, these songs are short and sharp and are dead ringers for all the bands we loved back in the day. Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Redd Kross, Fear, the Germs, listening to these totally brings all that right back, Morris' distinctive yowl (sounding more and more like Jello Biafra), those killer riffs, the pounding propulsive drumming, the lo-fi production, and the songs, simple but catchy as hell. The jams KILL.
Awesome Pettibon cover art just seals the deal. It's been THIRTY years since the Decline Of Western Civilization came out and introduced punk rock to a whole new audience, and Western civilization is still in decline, and this shit still sounds better than most of the music released over the last three decades...
MPEG Stream: "Black Thoughts"
MPEG Stream: "Poison City"
MPEG Stream: "Panic Attack"
MPEG Stream: "Fuck People"

OFFERBLOD s/t (E.E.E. Recordings) cd-r 8.98
A long overdue review of this insane and brutal chunk of Swedish UNblack metal. We've had this in stock for ages andÉ wait! What? Swedish? Yeah, you heard correctly, you thick the Christian unblack metal movement was only happening right here in the US of A. Nope there are Christian black metal bands all over the world. It just so happens that the hub of all things UNblack is stateside, E.E.E., who have been unleashing a never ending torrent of gloriously fucked up and totally demented UNblackness with no end in sight.
So Offerblod share not only an ideology with their US brethren, but also a truly fucked up sound. Hard to describe. It's definitely lo-fi, outrageously so, but it's also blown out, super distorted, in the red, some tracks are so muddy and murky, the riffs sound like a underwater rumble, the drums barely able to penetrate the muted buzz, other tracks are super brittle and high end, the cymbal wash a cloud of high end hiss, swallowing up all the sounds around it. The combination of Offerblod's raw primitive black buzz, and the insanely erratic, but totally crucial-to-their-fucked-sound production, makes this one of the coolest, weirdest and definitely one of our favorite black metal records of the year.
Fans of Bone Awl, Akitsa, Ash Pool, Ancestors and other practitioners of ultra buzzy raw blackness will definitely dig! Packaged in a plain black digipak, with pasted on front cover image and printed black and white insert.
MPEG Stream: "Drick Mitt Blod Och Lev Forevigt"
MPEG Stream: "Manskligt Avtrade"

OFFERING A Fiieh (Seventh) cd 17.98
Christian Vander's post-Magma "jazz" project, along the lines of Alice Coltrane's or Pharoah Sanders' 70s stuff mixed with his drumming in Magma. Fantastic. Vander comments: "3rd album of Offering and a decisive new step in my evolution. For the very first time, I apply my theories: don't dream, be aware of reality, don't lose yourself in the maze of intellectual endless sentences; Dig profoundly to learn how to go higher but with your feet still on the ground. It's a key-album, which announces what will be my next albums."

OFFERING Coffret Box-Set (Seventh) 4cd 49.00
Offering is Magma mastermind Christian Vander's '70s style cosmic jazz meets Magma outfit, and this box set collects their four albums and additionally includes a half-hour bonus track. Thumbs up from Allan the Magma maniac.

OFFERING III - IV (Seventh) cd 17.98

OFFSPRING Conspiracy of One (Columbia) cd 16.98
New Offspring. You've heard it on the radio, I guess. They gave away a million dollars to a fourteen year old girl who downloaded their single. That was nice of them.

OGRE Plague Of The Planet (Shadow Kingdom) cd 13.98
Over the top, '70s worshipping B-movie sci-fi stoner rock? Yes indeedy. You gotta give 'em props for this. Whacked out heavies Ogre from up in Maine - who we already liked for their riff rockin' retro-proto-doom-metal on such previous albums as Dawn Of The Proto-man and Seven Hells - have upped the ante with this new release, totally progging it up with a concept album consisting of just one long song (that's right, one track, but it's over 37 minutes long)! Although it's programmed as one track on the cd, it consists of eleven seamlessly segueing parts, including "II: End-Days", "IV: Queen Of Gasoline", "VIII: Battle At Doom Capital", and "XI: Dawn Of The Proto-man". To be sure, after a few listens, we're still not quite ready or able to summarize the narrative here, but we get the idea that it has something to do with a post-apocalyptic scenario involving environmental catastrophy, gasoline rationing and rampaging dog-men? It's all very Flash Gordon, campy and comic book-y (hence the Kirby-esqe cover artwork) with an underground comix '70s Heavy Metal magazine vibe.
Musically, at various points, and for various reasons, this reminds us of King Crimson, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Queen, Jesus Christ Superstar, and, let's see, Steamhammer's Speech (at about the 27 minute mark). Among other things... The storytelling aspect also might appeal to fans of Hammers Of Misfortune's The Bastard and Slough Feg's Traveller (which also features dog-men), though Ogre isn't at all power metal.
Vocally, Ogre are as always eccentric and expressive, the singer sounding sorta Ozzy-ish, but really dramatic, rising into unhinged screams. He's a bit Mike Patton-y, too (circa The Real Thing?). Once again, we have to say that the vocals here will make it or break it for a lot of folks. Well, that and the whole uber-prog concept deal. Yup, Plague Of The Planet is a love it or hate it proposition for sure. We happen to love it, and say kudos to them for going for it like this. And there's no question that the rollicking riffage on offer is gonna be a positive for anybody who likes, you know, heavy music. (Heavy this is, several members of Ogre also now having joined the new lineup of cult doomsters Blood Farmers by the way.)
This was originally released last year on the Japanese stoner/doom label Leaf Hound, who have unfortunately since folded. Thankfully, Shadow Kingdom in the USA has picked up this disc for domestic reissue.
MPEG Stream: "Plague Of The Planet excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Plague Of The Planet excerpt 2"

OGRE Seven Hells (Leaf Hound) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's one of the latest two releases from Japan's super stoner Leaf Hound label (home to the likes of Church Of Misery and Sonic Flower). Orange Sunshine (also reviewed this list) are Dutch, and these guys, Ogre, are Americans (hailing from Portland, Maine to be precise). Leaf Hound apparently appreciated the promise of Ogre's self-released debut from a few years ago and made a good bet in putting out this even better sophomore effort. The guitars are thick and heavy, the rhythms rollicking. This is a heavy duty, '70s influenced steamroller stoner riff-rock righteousness. Damn. We can't imagine too many objections to this from those who love kick ass retro-proto-metal... except that the wildly expressive vocals might take some getting used to. They can be slightly pinched and definitely over-the-top, like a camp(ier) version of Ozzy Osbourne, sometimes breaking into a twang or dipping into a growl, but we think that works just great and personality-wise gives these guys just a bit more of lock on the "weird" which we're pretty sure is OK with them.
Clearly, their influences are doom metal classics like Sabbath and Saint Vitus, with hints of cult acts like Manilla Road and Blood Farmers (whose Eli Brown mastered this album). And a dash of Monster Magnet too. That means loads of psychedelic metal heaviness, played with a rabid sense of abandon but also plenty of sure-handed finesse. We're loving it. What else to say? Well we should also mention that they do a killer cover of Pentagram's "Review Your Choices". And that the track "Sperm Whale" includes a full-on drum solo. And oh yeah, Andee's especially thrilled that Ogre wrote a song here based on his favorite "adult" sci-fi novel, The Gas by Charles Platt, a notoriously violent and pornographic book first published in 1968. Sweet. Now that's rock and roll.
MPEG Stream: "Dogmen (Of Planet Earth)"
MPEG Stream: "Soldier Of Misfortune"

OH NO Dr. No's Ethiopium (Disruption Productions) cd 16.98
Madlib's super talented younger brother Oh No has been doing a great job as the ambassador of '60s & '70s international psychedelia to the hip-hop world, liberally sampling all sorts of aQ faves, Turkish psych, Mediterranean pop, whatever struck his fancy, so Dr. No's Ethiopium should really come as no surprise, a whole record sampled and inspired by rare '60s and '70s Ethiopian soul, jazz, funk, folk and psychedelic rock, all chopped up and recontextualized into brief little snippets of bad ass Ethiopian groove, wreathed in record crackle, peppered with pops and clicks, adding a warm timeless texture to these jams, some are just straight ahead sampled, others are rearranged into lurching, stuttering rhythms, the basslines woozy and funky, horns wailing, the vocals often left intact, but just as often all mixed up, flipped backwards, woven together to create strange hiccupping vocal layers, the sound ranges from soulful ballads, to pounding jazz funk, to cinematic string laden drama, to swirling Ethiopian folk transformed into something way more buzzy and bouncy, some jams synth swaddled, others warped and warbly, the bass cranked up all over the place, you can almost imagine the Wu-Tang swooping in for a verse or too, these brief jams are just so groovy and heady and funky and kick ass.
Hands down THEE mix of the year!!!
MPEG Stream: "Madness"
MPEG Stream: "Ox Therapy"
MPEG Stream: "Louder"
MPEG Stream: "Fuego Tribe"

OH NO Dr. No's Ethiopium (Disruption Productions) 2lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl!
Madlib's super talented younger brother Oh No has been doing a great job as the ambassador of '60s & '70s international psychedelia to the hip-hop world, liberally sampling all sorts of aQ faves, Turkish psych, Mediterranean pop, whatever struck his fancy, so Dr. No's Ethiopium should really come as no surprise, a whole record sampled and inspired by rare '60s and '70s Ethiopian soul, jazz, funk, folk and psychedelic rock, all chopped up and recontextualized into brief little snippets of bad ass Ethiopian groove, wreathed in record crackle, peppered with pops and clicks, adding a warm timeless texture to these jams, some are just straight ahead sampled, others are rearranged into lurching, stuttering rhythms, the basslines woozy and funky, horns wailing, the vocals often left intact, but just as often all mixed up, flipped backwards, woven together to create strange hiccupping vocal layers, the sound ranges from soulful ballads, to pounding jazz funk, to cinematic string laden drama, to swirling Ethiopian folk transformed into something way more buzzy and bouncy, some jams synth swaddled, others warped and warbly, the bass cranked up all over the place, you can almost imagine the Wu-Tang swooping in for a verse or too, these brief jams are just so groovy and heady and funky and kick ass.
Hands down THEE mix of the year!!!
MPEG Stream: "Madness"
MPEG Stream: "Ox Therapy"
MPEG Stream: "Louder"
MPEG Stream: "Fuego Tribe"