PHANTASM Wreckage (Deep Six Records) cd 8.98
Reissue of their '87 six-song demo plus 9 tracks from a live show that recorded that same year. Phantasm, if you don't remember, was the band of ex-Hirax vocalist Katon W. DePena and ex-Metallica bassist (pre-Cliff!) Ron McGoveny. The demo tracks feature drum god Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel, Old Man's Child, Death, etc.). Thrash!!

PHANTOM FAMILY HALO, THE The Legend Of Black Six (Roller Rink Rampage) lp 14.98
The label describes The Phantom Family Halo as sounding like Alice Copper, Black Sabbath, Tangerine Dream and Marc Bolan, or Scott Walker fronting Roxy Music. Phew, it's hard not to think this might be the best record EVER given that description. And while this is pretty darn good, it's not quite all that.
The first thing we actually thought when we heard this was Black Mountain. The same sort of seventies hard rocking hippy groove thing going on. Drawled vocals, fuzzy guitars, lazy and laid back, stoned and wasted. But PFH add a healthy dose of spacey synths, drifting new wave ambience, and a bit of a glam swagger to their seventies groove.
It never gets all that HEAVY, and we hear very little Black Sabbath if any at all, but we DO in fact hear PLENTY of T-Rex and Roxy Music, dramatic crooning over swirling glammy grooves and shuffling in the pocket percussion. Definitely the perfect fix for your seventies glittery hard rock stoned groove addiction.
The weirdest thing about this group is definitely the membership/pedigree though. One member is also in a Venom style metal band called Dead Child along with Dave Pajo, as well as drumming for an outfit with a forthcoming Siltbreeze release. While another member was a touring member of the reunited Slint and just happens to be Brian McMahan's (of Slint) little brother.
Super limited. Hand silkscreened. Vinyl-only first edition.

PHANTOM LIMB & TETUZI AKIYAMA Hot Ginger (aRCHIVE) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
East meets West, two electric guitars meet two organs, a fuzzed out rumbling abstract epic. Phantom Limb just so happens to be 1/2 of Brooklyn noise terrorists PeeEssEye (PSI) who met up with legendary Japanese axeman Tetuzi Akiyama to jam and hang out and the result was this 30 minutes slab of divine droning drift.
Starting out with super spare clatter and rumble, the quartet quickly up the ante, the swirling buzz transforming into huge grinding walls of guitar crumble and amp frying crunch. But this is no simple guitars-against-amps Sunn-drenched dirge. No things get way more interesting. As the guitars start unfurling strange little riffs, repeating and slowly shifting, the organs releasing dense clouds of chordal warmth and ear piercing sine wave skree, everything swaying and shimmering as various internal components twist and transform, gorgeous melancholy melodies appear here and there, haunting angular licks surface, as do strange squeaks and creaks, all the while, a huge soft focus swirl of sound wraps it's fuzzy tendrils around everything. This is definitely noisy, but it's that thick sort of super listenable noise, soothing and dreamlike, more dense and droning than harsh, all the sharp edges rubbed smooth, still explosive and intense and LOUD as hell, but surprisingly blissed out and so subtly serene.
SUPER LIMITED!! ONLY 500 COPIES! We got a bunch but they won't last long...
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"

PHANTOM LIMB + BISON s/t (Utech) cd-r 10.98
BACK IN STOCK! Probably last copies ever...
We first discovered Phantom Limb on the now out of print collaboration with Japanese guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama released on aRCHIVE a few months back. Phantom Limb aka one half of East Coast noisemakers PeeEssEye, brought to the table a cacophony of whirring organs and grinding guitars, a blown out expanse of buzzing drone and strange swirling guitar ambience.
For this disc, Phantom Limb have teamed up with Bison, who as far as we can tell plays contrabass clarinet, and between the two 'outfits' manage to creep and crawl through two half hour slabs of far out drift and roar. the first track see's and saw's back and forth between, blissful tranquility, minimal synthesizer buzz, warm chordal whir and huge grinding slabs of angular low end scrape and squeal, spending more time in the soft than the loud, but the loud bits are extra loud to make up for it.
The second track is one long drone, that works its way through various textures and timbres, it's here that you can really discern the presence of a clarinet, but just barely, this is no free jazz skronk fest, instead, it's a sort of Niblockish war of overtones, slabs of sound beating against one another as tones gradually shift and subtly interact. Dense and deep, layers continually being added and transformed, other layers constantly being peeled away revealing some other strange subtle sonic alchemy underneath. Nice.
Limited to 200, each disc hand numbered.
Packaged in a cool card stock sleeve with printed sticker with liner notes and artwork.
MPEG Stream: "Get Out! You Mental Horsepill!"
MPEG Stream: "Phantom Limb &, When Standing By Itself, Means And Bison"

PHANTOM LIMBS Displacement (Alternative Tentacles) cd 12.98
An endless tangle of arpeggiated wheezing organ spurts. Bristling guitar chords grapple with the keyboard mayhem. A primal thump on a skeletal drumkit. Testy male vocals (and some female ones too on the third song "Wrenches And Spoons") sneer, slur and spit out the lyrics. Much creeping, brooding and scowling ensue as the Phantom Limbs' second full length Displacement launches its festering ghoulish assault. Not quite as hyperly confrontational and spastic as their Applied Ignorance debut album, but definitely still draws a great deal of lifeblood from the seminal synth-punk band the Screamers. At one moment you're trapped inside a haunted funhouse long after closing time, the next you're lost deep in the dankest catacombs, and the next you're scrambling to keep step in their three-legged funereal march. Whether intentional or not, this is just in time for Halloween.
MPEG Stream: "Wrenches And Spoons"
MPEG Stream: "Turtle Doves"

PHANTOM LIMBS Random Hymns (Gold Standard Laboratories) cd ep 8.98
Do you hear that din? There's an evil circus brewing up a storm in the bat cave and its name is Phantom Limbs. Yup, they're back with a new EP on their totally appropriate new label home, Gold Standard Laboratories. Still spewin' the ultra convulso-vocals atop churning thick synth lines and a primal stompin' rhythm section. The Limbs' Random Hymns get even more chaotic on the fourth track. With its chopped up dialogue samples (including some from American Movie), gimp-style vocals and overall aggressive dissonance, "Jackalope Rising" takes the listener into what is perhaps the band's most fucked-up and bizarre territory to date. Pretty darn rad.
MPEG Stream: "Topanga Canyon Torture"
MPEG Stream: "Jackalope Rising"

PHANTOM LIMBS, THE Applied Ignorance (Alternative Tentacles) cd 13.98
A hellish new-wave circus. The Screamers meets the Butthole Surfers? No, it's not as good that would be, but Oakland's Phantom Limbs are pretty cool, with interesting and freakish vocals over carnival organ punk. Entertaining live too. With Jello Biafra's hero worship of the Screamers well-documented (his soon-to-be-released recent collaboration with I Am Spoonbender on the Screamers 'Eva Braun' will show this to be self-evident), you can see why he put this out on Alternative Tentacles. The cover art could be better, but 1982 in the best way.
RealAudio clip: "Piss on Them Lightly"
RealAudio clip: "Unhinged Face"

PHANTOM PATIENT Songs From Downstairs (Entartete Kunst) cd 9.98
Strange hip hop from Glasgow, and not just because it's from Glasgow! Slow, unsettling and slightly mutant with one part electro-ness, a hefty dose of goth, dialogue samples, sub-bass and laid-back keyboards.

PHANTOM SURFERS The Phantom Surfers and Dick Dale (Crown) cd 13.98
It may look like a collaboration, but is actually a tribute.

PHANTOM SURFERS The Phantom Surfers and Dick Dale (Crown) lp 8.98
It may look like a collaboration, but is actually a tribute.

PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH Beard of Lightning (Off) cd 14.98
If only we all commanded the sort of indie rock power that Robert Pollard does. He wishes aloud for the chance to sing for eighties art-jazz-punk rockers Phantom Tollbooth and -Poof!- The band erase all the vocals from their definitive album Power Toy, and present it to Pollard, so he can sing and rewrite all the vocals and melodies. Now why you would feel compelled to do that to a record that you already loved, just the way it is, is a whole other question and I'm sure the answer involves the mighty EGO in some way. But I digress. Power Toy was an awesome record of murky, college art rock infused with some skronky jazzy bits and some punk rock aggression. They sort of hovered somewhere between the Homestead / Touch And Go Midwest punk rock scene (Husker Du, Killdozer, etc.) and the NY art rock world (Bongwater, King Missle, Shimmy Disc) and featured Dave Rick who did time in Yo La Tengo way back as well as guesting in lots of NY bands at the time. So what does Pollard bring to the table? Lots of familiar melodies, that scruffy, almost-fake-British accent he does so well, and a pretty interesting take on a record most people have probably never heard. Being that I love the orginal, it's harder for me to get into the Pollard-ized version, but for folks who haven't, or for folks who are GBV completists, this is just a really cool art/pop/punk/rock record and is just the next eclectic step in Pollard's unpredictable artistic path. And hopefully this will kick someone's ass to reissue the proper version of Power Toy. And in case anyone's listening, Andee would really like to play the drums on Bastro's 'Sing The Troubled Beast' and would really like to sing on The Frogs' 'It's Only Right And Natural'! Now we wait....
MPEG Stream: "Mascara Snakes"
MPEG Stream: "Atom Bomb Professor"

PHANTOMSMASHER s/t (Ipecac) cd 17.98
Perhaps you remember (and/or have in your cd collection) the Atomsmasher cd released by Hydra Head last year? Lead by avant/ambient guitarist James Plotkin (formerly of weird Earache metal band OLD), and featuring drum god Dave Witte (Human Remains/Discordance Axis/Melt Banana/etc.), with processed "AudioMulch" vocals from DJ Speedranch, Atomsmasher got a pretty enthusiastic recommendation from us at the time, as a unique blend of live (but inhumanly played) drums, avant-noise-sampling guitar, and computer-created chaos. Grindcore electronica?
Well, after a ridiculous legal wrangle with some uptight, clueless pop band that apparently had the rights to the name Atomsmasher (and absurdly accused this Atomsmasher of intentionally 'stealing' it), the Plotkin/Witte/Speedranch project changed their moniker to Phantomsmasher. (I think they should have just called themselves Atomsmashersmasher.) Now they've come out with a new cd, on Mike Patton's Ipecac label. At first listen we weren't sure, and thought maybe the original Atomsmasher cd was superior. This one seemed a bit too...post rock. Not quite like Tortoise or Gastr del Sol though, more metallic (but by no means actually metal) and aggro, kinda like Don Cab. Witte's drumming sounds more real, less computerized than before. There's still insane blasting parts, but also some more straight-ahead boom bap. And Plotkin's thick bass slabs get almost funky. From the get go (track one, "Bishop Hopping"), with Speedranch's weirdly child-like Mulched vocals, it reminded us of a Ruins or Hella record, but thrown in a blender on "high". Cool, but not nearly as out-and-out insanely intense as the noisefest of their first album, though still pretty nuts. But things get more interesting as the Phantomsmasher disc goes along. The chaos coalesces into something more like actual songs, not totally random rhythms and noise-eruptions. In its own, densely complex, distorted, and noisy way, it's kinda catchy! Definitely different from the debut, but they've chosen a worthwhile direction to explore.
RealAudio clip: "Bishop Hopping"
RealAudio clip: "Halibut Jones"
RealAudio clip: "Digit Dirt"

PHANTOMSMASHER (FORMERLY ATOMSMASHER) s/t (Hydra Head) cd 13.98
When you first see the Atomsmasher lineup: James Plotkin (ex-OLD), Dave Witte (Discordance Axis, Human Remains) and Speedranch (of '& Jansky Noise' infamy as well as contributor of vocals to the first Venetian Snares record), you might be thinking this would be the most insane metal record ever. And maybe you'd be half right. While this -is- extreme, -and- insane, there is not a riff in sight. Instead Atomsmasher is an unholy mix of super processed, super distorted spastic sort-of-grindcore, sputtering malfunctioning electronica and howling indecipherable shrieks and howls. James Plotkin turns his guitar into some sort of bizarre sampler, spitting out slabs of sound and walls of screech, rarely resorting to playing his guitar like a guitar (to be expected from his ambient improv projects of recent years, post-OLD). Speedranch contributes a litany of caterwauls that are so heavily processed they often sound like another guitar, or even more drums?! And then there's Dave Witte, quite possibly one of the best and fastest drummers around. And this to me is the only bummer about Atomsmasher. It seems like Witte's considerable drum talent is wasted, in that all his parts are distorted and triggered and chopped up and filtered and processed to the point that he sounds like a drum machine anyway. I'm nitpicking though. So think equal parts DHR, V/VM, and Drop Dead. A jawdroppingly complex and ridiculously experimental slab of metallic electronic weirdness. Definitely Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Caught In Your Orbit"
RealAudio clip: "Phantom Smasher"
RealAudio clip: "Someone Is Trying To Kill Me"

PHARAOH OVERLORD #1 (Ektro) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
At last, back in stock (although supplies are limited)! Here's our review of the debut Pharaoh Overlord album, from way back on list 113...
The other day a mail order customer called up and ordered Finnish post-rockers Circle's tUMULt release "Andexelt" (soon to be repressed BTW), and also "Ciudad de Brahman" by Argentinean stoner-rock outfit Natas. I immediately suggested that he also get a copy of this debut cd by Pharaoh Overlord, which, being the "stoner rock" project of Circle's Jussi Lehtisalo, is pretty much a perfect cross between the hypnotic riff-repetition and rhythmic pulse of Circle and the super heavy stoner vibe of Kyuss-worshippers Natas! Jussi describes this project (which also includes the guitarist from Bad Vugum band Sweetheart) as being "Hypno-improv-stoner-rock from Finland (file under Psychedelic)" and we'd have to agree, that's the honest truth. It's VERY psychedelic in the most head-noddinest of ways, really not that far removed from the heavier Circle output, but with more of a stoner sensibility that should definitely appeal to fans of Kyuss and the like. The jams on here also hark back to '70s greats like Pink Floyd and Ash Ra Tempel. It's all instrumental, all mesmerizing, totally great. Everytime we play it in the store people ask what it is, it's that good. Definitely if you're already a sucker for anything Circle (like us!) you'll want it, and stoner/space rock fans should also be very very happy with this disc. Oh, and yes, it's called Pharaoh Overlord, how cool is that?
MPEG Stream: "Landslide Non Stop"
MPEG Stream: "Mystery Shopper"

PHARAOH OVERLORD #3 (Riot Season) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Whoo-hoo! Hypnotic as ever, here's the third studio album (and fourth disc overall counting the live Battle Of The Axehammer) from Circle's so-called (by us) "stoner rock" side-project. Well now we'd have to say that stoner rock tag is a bit inaccurate, an oversimplication. I mean, we were kinda hoping they'd always stay "heavy" but I think that they're not so much "the stoner rock version of Circle" now, than they are simply a stripped down, instrumental Circle with more psych guitar action. Very very krauty. This actually actually sounds a lot like Salvatore, as much as Circle, for that matter. Which is most definitely a good thing!
Stacked up alongside the rest of Pharaoh Overlord's albums, it's not so dark as II, not so fried and blown-out as Battle, and probably comes closest to #1. And it's definitely something stoners are still gonna dig, but while they do heavy it up riff-wise sometimes, the psych aspect is laid-back and mellow just as much. Can you imagine the vibe of that last Dead Meadow mixed with a Circle style rhythmic pulse? This is all about tracks like opener "Test Flight", a druggy ten minute psych-jam, or track three, an epic, but almost funkily tight number called "Laivius 17", that builds up over 13 minutes and 13 seconds, getting more and more psych-guitar-skronked until it snaps -- into track four, "Autobahn", nothing but a droning, distorted guitar-burn solo. It's ten minutes but I wouldn't mind it for a whole album! That then swivels into the tick-tock, low-key groove of "Octagon". Very Can, that one. And on it goes... If only Pharaoh Overlord/Circle could come up with a way to make their cds automatically repeat when they reach the end, that would utterly satisfy the Circle aesthetic. Of course, you, the listener, will probably want to hit play again, but that's assuming you're not too zoned out to move your arm.
MPEG Stream: "Test Flight"
MPEG Stream: "Laivaus 17"
MPEG Stream: "Autobahn"

PHARAOH OVERLORD #4 (Ektro) cd 14.98
BACK IN PRINT! And we're so happy! If you missed this, get it NOW.
Another one to file under "NWOFHM"! New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal. That's Pharaoh Overlord/Circle bassist Jussi's little joke. Only now it's gone waaaaay beyond joking. Or to another level of joke anyway. What we're saying, is that this fourth Pharaoh Overlord opus is a headbanger's delight, for real. Sure, Pharaoh Overlord were already supposed to be the "heavy" Circle side project, and they were, but not like this. This ain't mere 'stoner rock', this doesn't sound anything like Kyuss anymore. Instead, they've adopted chugging speed metal riffage that could be from an Accept album circa 1984, lashed it to their usual repetitive krautrocky rhythms, unleashed some very metal vocals, and gone entirely over to the dark side (which, by the way, is the title of one of our favorite tracks here, the album-ending 8+ minute instrumental epic that just drives a mean riff into your brain like the spiked fist thru the face of the skull in the cd booklet!!). They even snuck a little umlaut in over the 2nd 'o' in 'Overlord' on the spine of this cd.
Circle (and Pharaoh Overlord at this point have pretty much the exact same lineup as Circle, it's basically the same band) have dropped big hints about their love of metal before -- making references in their graphics and in their music, with many tracks on such albums as Sunrise and Tulikoira being pretty darn metal, as we've noted before -- but here they go whole hog. They sound less like a spacerock band who want to give a nod to metal with a riff here and there, than like a really weird actual metal band! It's rifftastic, hypnotic biker metal with a strange psychedelic side to it. And best of all -- it works! It's a high concept success (and as we mentioned, they've been seemingly high on this concept before, but never have been this tight with it). The unpredictable predictability of any Circle or Circle-related album, their basic kraut-inspired, "circular" formula, stands up to and indeed seems to embrace this metallic obsession. The tick-tock percussion and cyclical riffs just wind up tension, even as they entrance the listener, making this so very heavy and ominous in a way that maybe no other metal band would or could explore but they'd have to appreciate. AMAZING!!
Can Jussi and Co. get any more metal than this? Well soon we'll see when we get the upcoming Circle cdep Earthworm which features Bruce Duff from '80s alt-metal band Jesters Of Destiny on vocals! Supposed to be pretty darn heavy. Stay tuned.
MPEG Stream: "Now We Know"
MPEG Stream: "Demons In The Rising Sun"

PHARAOH OVERLORD #4 (Conspiracy) lp 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Our pals at Conspiracy Records, a label/distro based in Belgium, who in the past have brought us records by Boris, Jesu, Shora and more, turned 10 years old in 2006. A decade of amazing music. From a bedroom based punk rock label, to one of Europe's most important and influential labels and distros, all we can say is HURRAY! And HUZZAH! It's always so exciting, when a bunch of folks get together to spread the word about great music, great WEIRD music, and survive, even thrive. Such is the case with Conspiracy. And as if that weren't already enough, just knowing that some great people were selling some amazing music, those sweeties at Conspiracy have decided to share the love with us. And you.
To celebrate their 10th anniversary, they've decided to do a super limited subscription series, 12 records over 12 months, each limited to somewhere between 200-500 copies, ONLY available to series subscribers. EXCEPT, they've decided to let AQ have 20 copies of each, we're the only store with copies of these subscriber only lps, and for a brief moment, we can offer them to you, our loyal AQ customers. Needless to say we are thrilled, as the series lineup reads like a who's who of AQ faves, as well as including a handful of lesser knowns. All pressed on super thick vinyl, and packaged in killer hand screened original art sleeves. But be warned, we only got 20 of each, and we will run out fast and we will not be able to get more. When we do run out, there is a chance you can still get one from Conspiracy direct, but what that means is act fast and prepare to leave empty handed. This latest batch happens to be vinyl versions of stuff we've had on cd already, things by bands/artists that we LOVE and are stoked to have on vinyl now: Tim Hecker, Wolf Eyes/Grey Daturas, and this one, Pharaoh Overlord's #4!
Another one to file under "NWOFHM"! New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal. That's Pharaoh Overlord/Circle bassist Jussi's little joke. Only now it's gone waaaaay beyond joking. Or to another level of joke anyway. What we're saying, is that this fourth Pharaoh Overlord opus is a headbanger's delight, for real. Sure, Pharaoh Overlord were already supposed to be the "heavy" Circle side project, and they were, but not like this. This ain't mere 'stoner rock', this doesn't sound anything like Kyuss anymore. Instead, they've adopted chugging speed metal riffage that could be from an Accept album circa 1984, lashed it to their usual repetitive krautrocky rhythms, unleashed some very metal vocals, and gone entirely over to the dark side (which, by the way, is the title of one of our favorite tracks here, the album-ending 8+ minute instrumental epic that just drives a mean riff into your brain like the spiked fist thru the face of the skull on the record's cover!!). They even snuck a little umlaut in over the 2nd 'o' in 'Overlord' too!
Circle (and Pharaoh Overlord at this point have pretty much the exact same lineup as Circle, it's basically the same band) have dropped big hints about their love of metal before -- making references in their graphics and in their music, with many tracks on such albums as Sunrise and Tulikoira being pretty darn metal, as we've noted before -- but here they go whole hog. They sound less like a spacerock band who want to give a nod to metal with a riff here and there, than like a really weird actual metal band! It's rifftastic, hypnotic biker metal with a strange psychedelic side to it. And best of all -- it works! It's a high concept success (and as we mentioned, they've been seemingly high on this concept before, but never have been this tight with it). The unpredictable predictability of any Circle or Circle-related album, their basic kraut-inspired, "circular" formula, stands up to and indeed seems to embrace this metallic obsession. The tick-tock percussion and cyclical riffs just wind up tension, even as they entrance the listener, making this so very heavy and ominous in a way that maybe no other metal band would or could explore but they'd have to appreciate. AMAZING!!
MPEG Stream: "Now We Know"
MPEG Stream: "Demons In The Rising Sun"

PHARAOH OVERLORD II (No Quarter) cd 13.98
Yay. Pharaoh Overlord is the all-instrumental so-called "stoner rock" side project of our favorite Finns, Circle. Now they're back, with the aptly titled "II", and a new line-up that's apparently all members of Circle. Interestingly, while Circle themselves went kinda metal with "Sunrise", Pharaoh Overlord seem to have have mellowed out. Well not quite, as track 4 amps up the riffs a bit. But you'd be hard pressed to call this "stoner rock" anymore. It's more like a really relaxed Circle, still "heavy" but in a way that has less to do with being loud than being low (a bit like them other AQ-faves Bohren and Der Club Of Gore). Repetitive trance-inducing space rock, all deep, rumbling, and spacious. A real nod-scene. Metronomyic drums, meandering guitars, six long tracks of minimal, mellow menace. Even darker and dubbier than their first album. Definitely dubbier. But still totally psychedelic. Goes well with the disc Argentine stoner rockers Los Natas recorded for Circle's label Ektro, "Toba-Trance". And Circle fans will of course be pleased -- we're reminded of Circle's "Paint It Black" cover... Lovingly packaged courtesy of No Quarter, a label also responsible for some excellent releases from the likes of Earth and Laddio Bollocko.
MPEG Stream: "August"
MPEG Stream: "Skyline"

PHARAOH OVERLORD Live In Suomi Finland (Vivo) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Bow down, people. Just bow down. If extended, repetitive, droned-out krauty stoner prog a la Circle is your thing, then this disc definitely for you, surprise surprise. Sheer hypnosis. Utterly mesmeric. Sounds sooooooooooooo gooooooooooood. It's hard to think of these guys as just a band, the music here seems produced by some organic force. It's a living thing really. A throbbing monster of an album.
Just like their sister band Circle, of which they're all members, Finnish psychsters Pharaoh Overlord have built a discography (they're up to six albums now, counting this one) that somehow maintains a core identity yet always does something different each time out. They started off with the stoner rock riff mantras of #1, then went to the mostly subdued noirishness of II, followed that with the live-and-raw Battle Of The Axehammer, then came back with the krautrockingly Circle-like diversions of #3, all before delving into the absurdly headbanging metallisms of #4 that even added vocals to their previously instrumental lineup. So, now what? What next? A second live album, this time called Live In Suomi Finland, recorded in Helsinki in May of 2006. On it the regular Pharaoh Overlord lineup of Jussi, Tomi and Janne is augmented by two more Finnish friends, and special guest Hans Joachim Irmler of legendary krautrockers Faust! His electric organ grind here adds an extra dose of distorted drone to the proceedings.
Of the two live PO discs this is definitely the best sounding. It's not as raw and blown-out as Battle Of The Axehammer, it's got better fidelity, but if anything it's even heavier!! Perhaps its the additional "remixing" credited to Irmler, whatever magic he worked in later in the Faust studio definitely makes this more than "just" a live album.
There's five tracks here, though it's a very continuously flowing disc... starting with the infectious riffery of "Black Horse" (which has appeared previously only in another live version on Battle Of The Axehammer), followed by two totally new tracks, "Tutankharmony" and "Zero Gravity" that relax the volume and mood a bit with a sense of smokey, improv mystery. Then they launch into "Skyline", the heaviest cut from II, before winding up / blowing out with a quarter-hour rendition #1's "Mangrove". An incredible 50+ minutes all told. Boy, we wish we'd been there! Too bad SF-Helsinki flights aren't quick or cheap...
MPEG Stream: "Mangrove"
MPEG Stream: "Zero Gravity"

PHARAOH OVERLORD The Battle Of The Axehammer (Live) (Last Visible Dog) cd 12.98
The wonderfully named Pharaoh Overlord, as you hopefully know already, is the instrumental psychedelic "stoner rock" side project of Circle's Jussi Lehtisalo and friends. The repetitive pulse of Circle jacked into some amped up, blown out Kyuss-worthy riffage. Needless to say, awesome stuff.
Here comes these Finnish freaks' third album, and it's more like their spacey rockin' debut than the more experimental, mellow menace of Pharaoh Overlord II. It's a live record, with versions of two songs from their 1st album and one from their 2nd, plus two new compositions (also rendered live). And the nature of this music means that live may well be superior to studio, due to the element of psychedelic improv exploration at play and the energy being projected. And the speaker shredding "production" as well. Certainly in comparison to their first album, let alone the second, this is somewhat heavier and rawer, a real mantric beat-down from what could be a jackbooted, Iggy-less Stooges, jamming until the drugs run out. A rumbling, bashing, single-minded beast. Not unlike Skullflower's Exquisite Fucking Boredom. The live sound is gritty, super-sludgy, with a bit of that Doktor Kettu murk. Like one big throbbing distorto gland. A Julian Cope wet dream wethinks. Five tracks stretched out over almost one hour. They're marching towards oblivion and you'll be happy to fall in line. Hup hup. The applause from the live audience that ends each track is almost bizarre, not simply because it seems that such outbursts of positivity would have been preemptively silenced by the relentless negatory doom-throb of this music, but also because it doesn't even seem like there should be an audience at all. Pharaoh Overlord should be playing this music high on a mesa somewhere in a blasted desert, heard only by ugly, heavy-lidded lizards.
Nice title by the way. The Battle of the Axehammer??? Yeah! Great cover art too.
MPEG Stream: "Mystery Shopper"
MPEG Stream: "Black Horse"

PHARCYDE Plain Rap (Edel) cd 16.98
Latest from these Cali non-gangsta-rappers is a laid back and jazzy affair, advanced hiphop stuff for fans of Del and the Roots (whose Blackthought guests on one track).
RealAudio clip: "Trust"

PHAROAHE MONCH Desire (Universal / Motown) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Desire"
MPEG Stream: "Body Baby"

PHAZM Antebellum Death 'N' Roll (Osmose Productions) cd+dvd 13.98

PHAZM Hate At First Seed (Osmose) cd 11.98
A band that loves black metal, Motorhead, and thinks that killer trees are cool?? French death n' roll juggernaut Phazm is just such a band. Rampaging trees (like the Ents from Lord of the Rings) menace fleeing humans on the disc's cover art, and in such songs as "Vicious Seed" and "Forest Recipe". It's kinda like Godzilla but with giant, malevolent trees instead of a big lizard. A bit silly, though environmentalists should approve. But the trees vs. humanity theme (one done very differently by Hammers Of Misfortune on The Bastard) shouldn't necessarily be what sells you on this anyway (or not). That'd be the music -- loud n' blackly, blastingly metallic, with pumelling drums, nasty guitars and gruff, raw vox, but with passages of melody as well, and a good helping of midpaced rock n' roll catchiness in the riff dep't. Almost like a black metal Kiss. And there's also an excellent and not entirely incongrous (even though it's not about trees) Motorhead cover here, a greatly gargled n' grinded version of "Dogs" from Motorhead's Rock N' Roll album, which serves to perfectly wrap up this debut blast of aggro-arboreal, black metal RAWK!
Includes a cd-rom low-budget video clip for one song.
MPEG Stream: "What A Wonderful Death"
MPEG Stream: "Loneliness"

PHELPS, JOEL R. Alita Aleta (Monkeyshot) 7" 3.99
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Finally another Joel Phelps release to tide us over until his next full length. Ex-Silkworm guitarist/vocalist/songwriter has got the most heartbreaking voice this side of Elliot Smith and Eitzel. Includes a gorgeous cover of Tom T. Hall's "Spokane Motel Blues". Can anyone recommend a good Tom T. Hall record for me to start with?

PHELPS, JOEL R. Warm Springs Night (El Recordo) cd 12.98
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Ex-Silkworm guitarist's haunting solo album drips with emotion. For fans of Mark Eitzel.

PHELPS, JOEL R. / DOWNER TRIO 3 (Pacifico) 12.98
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The third post-Silkworm album from AQ-favorite Joel R. Phelps is an introspective, heart-breaking record for fans of Elliot Smith or Rex, yes it is that good!

PHELPS, JOEL R. / DOWNER TRIO s/t (Pacifico) cd 8.98
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Joel (ex of Silkworm) has the kind of voice that breaks your heart no matter what he's singing about. A new 5-song (with an unlisted sixth track!) ep of beautiful sad songs, including a bare bones piano-and-voice version of the Clash's "Guns of Brixton."

PHELPS, JOEL R. L. Black Bird (Pacifico) cd 12.98
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This record marks a strange turn in the career of one Joel Phelps, seeing as we were all under the impression that he quit Silkworm because he was tired of 'rocking', but this record really rocks, sounding a lot like the old Silkworm records that didn't suck ('Libertine' & 'In the West'), replacing the delicate folk of the Downer Trio with a wailing blustery rock not heard from Joel (or Silkworm for that matter) for years.

PHELPS, JOEL RL & DOWNER TRIO Inland Empires (Moneyshot) cd 8.98
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It took until today for me to realize how similar indie rock crooner Joel Phelps (formerly of Silkworm, now of Downer Trio) can sound to country singer Iris DeMent -- there's something achingly gorgeous in the way both singers will s-t-r-e-t-c-h out a vowel until it twists upon itself painfully. Here Phelps delivers one plainly gorgeous original (which appears to be about the premature death of his sister) amidst six covers: two songs by the aforementioned angel-voiced DeMent, plus tracks by Fleetwood Mac, Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, and the Go-Betweens. This is one of those quiet, simple, very very subtle singer-songwriter records that will creep under your skin if you let it -- and it doesn't matter that he didn't write all the songs because Joel's delivery redefines each one (indeed, fans of the covered artists will love this record, as will worshippers of Elliot Smith and Will Oldham). With acoustic guitar, piano, and occasional understated percussion. Absolutely lovely and highly recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Songbird (Christine McVie)"
RealAudio clip: "Apology Accepted (Forster/McLennan)"
RealAudio clip: "Our Mother the Mountain (Townes Van Zandt)"

PHELPS, JOEL RL & THE DOWNER TRIO Customs (Moneyshot) cd 13.98
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Let's be honest. Joel Phelps was the best thing about Silkworm. Nothing against the other guys, they're all great musicians. But Phelps was the magic ingredient. His aching anguished wail, and ultra miserable, pensively bittersweet songwriting turned an indie rock band into something so much more. We loved old Silkworm, but when one of Joel's songs would come on, it would seriously bring us to the edge of tears. So fucking brutal and intense and emotional and just so goddamn good. So while it was a sad day for Silkworm when he left, we didn't have to wait long for Joel to strike out on his own and form his appropriately monickered Downer Trio. Most of Phelps's records have had severely limited lifespans falling out of print almost as soon as people could discover them. Which is a huge shame as Phelps is definitely one of the most important, and possibly least well known songwriters today. But that HAS to change soon, as Phelps has the most heart rending, soul stirring voice this side of the late Elliott Smith. But unlike Smith's whispery rasp, Phelps has a HUGE voice, a wailing almost falsetto, that is rough around the edges and only gets rougher when he belts it out, threatening to crack, but always right on. His band in the past has woven delicate, twangy moody indie rock janglescapes to back him up, and still does some of the time, but quite often on Customs, the Downer Trio have their amps on 10 and the sound is loud and raucous, but no less emotional and intense. Still minor key, still pained and dripping with gorgeous miserablism. Each song is an exercise in tension, building and building, chugging guitars and minor key melodies with Phelps vocals sending shivers down your already goosebump covered spine. If only all 'indie rock' was this intense and perfect!
For a limited time, comes with a bonus disc featuring two extra originals and three covers, "Pink Frost" (The Chills), "24 Hours" (Joy Division) and "Right Now" (Townes Van Zandt).
MPEG Stream: "From Up Here"
MPEG Stream: "Be First"
MPEG Stream: "Lamplighter"

PHEROMONE Disparlure (Corpus Hermeticum) cd 16.98
This is the first release from the French Trio Pheromone, released on Bruce Russell's Corpus Hermeticum label. This trio makes spare and expansive soundscapes using guitar, hurdy gurdy, electronics, contact mics and various electro-acoustic devices. This single piece (tracked as 2 tracks) was recorded live and mixed by Eric La Casa and Pierre-Henri Thiebaut at home. The band sets up in the corners of the room and surrounds the audience, while enveloping them in an abstract cloud of stuttering samples, rhythmic pulses, clicks and scrapes, hums and whirs, buzz and skree, strum and clatter that all seemingly follow some mysterious and non linear-narrative. Gorgeously difficult.
RealAudio clip: "One"

PHEW s/t (Pass) cd 30.00
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PHI TA KHON Ghost Of Isan: Thailand's Psychedelic Ghost Festival (Sublime Frequencies) dvd 22.00
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It starts with an old man firing a rusty old shotgun into the sky, and from that point on, it's a dizzying three days of festivities, music, dancing, and lots and lots of drinking. Oh and quite a few giant phalluses. A local medium deems what day to begin, and on that day the three day festival of Phi Ta Khon commences, a tribute to ghosts and demons, which occurs at the beginning of the rainy season, and is meant to ensure healthy and bountiful crops. Like all the Sublime Frequencies DVD's it's a fascinating and overwhelming experience. A new world, a completely wild and wonderful celebration, a community banded together, dancing and singing and drinking toward a common goal. And it definitely feels like you are right there. Houses and people, animals, foliage, musicians, parades and processions. And rice wine. A whole section is dedicated to Isan's liquor of choice, and the Phi Ta Khon festival does indeed involve much drinking. Pretty much every stage of the festival is marked by ritualistic imbibing of spirits. Which might go to explaining why it's such a crazy three days.
Another important part of the festival is the creation of incredibly elaborate masks, so intricate and amazing, beautiful and creepy. A dizzying array, from long fanged demons, to mysterious winged bird creatures, to super colorful, kabuki style headdresses. Part of the festival used to involve tossing the masks into the river at the end of the festival, but folk art collectors would fish the mask out of the river to sell them, so now they are saved to be used again, or the mask makers sell the masks themselves.
And the phalluses. Everywhere. Puppets, masks, staffs, all in the shape of giant vividly painted members. It is supposedly good luck to touch the wooden members. They provide comic relief and encourage licentious behavior.
It's totally mind blowing to experience another culture's customs so immersively. For many of us who might never get a chance to visit Thailand, these dvd's are amazing tools, helping us to learn about, understand and enjoy the art and music and culture and magic of other peoples. It's also amazing to note how little violence and aggression there is even with three days of nonstop drinking. Hard to imagine something like that ever happening here without at least one fight or someone getting shot.
The dvd comes with a bonus short film, Spirit House, a video tour of various Spirit Houses filmed over repeated visits to Thailand. Spirit Houses are a bit like our graveyards but so much more colorful and intricate. Supposedly these houses are home to departed loved ones and guardian spirits and are decorated as such, bright colors, multiple levels, lots of windows and doors, small statues, shapes and images, a gorgeous brief glimpse into the spirit world. With haunting musical accompaniment by the Climax Golden Twins.
Finally, the accompanying music is fantastic, it's Molam, which was featured in a previous installment of the Sublime Frequencies cd series, a glorious lively festive music, characterized by lilting almost yodelled male / female vocals, mouth organ, performing traditional Thai songs, often arranged for modern instruments, but still closely connected to the past (Butthole Surfers lifted a Molam classic for their song "Kuntz" on Locust Abortion Technician).
Absolutely amazing. And of course very recommended. As is the Molam: Thai Country Groove From Isan cd which we also stock!

PHILEMON ARTHUR AND THE DUNG Musikens Historia Del 1 Och 2 (Silence) cd 17.98

PHILEMON ARTHUR AND THE DUNG The Very Pest Of (Silence) cd 17.98

PHILIPS, BARRE & IMAI KAZUO Play 'Em As They Fall (Eyewill) cd 20.00
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Japan's Imai Kazuo, an improvising guitarist/electronics experimentalist who was a member of both the legendary psych group Taj Mahal Travellers and the equally legendary free jazz unit New Direction (led by Masayuki Takayangi), teams up here with respected European double-bass improv maestro Barre Phillips, who has played with everyone from Louis Armstrong to Albert Ayler to Peter Brotzmann. Here's another great collaboration for the both of 'em.

PHILLIPS, BRITTA & DEAN WAREHAM L'Avventura (JetSet) cd 16.98
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Not at all surprisingly, this full length collaboration between Luna's mainman Dean Wareham and Luna's bassist Britta Phillips is a feather-soft dreamy affair. Very much in the tradition of pairings such as Gainsbourg/Birkin or Sinatra/Hazlewood, and yet overall, it's not really all that dissimilar to that of their main band -- if perhaps with an increased air of sophistication and filled with a few more swirling string and keyboard arrangements. They take turns delivering drowsy droll (Wareham) and wispy cooed (Phillips) lead vocals, occasionally hooking up for a lovely duet or two and covering songs by Buffy Sainte-Marie ("Moonshot"), The Doors ("Indian Summer") and Madonna ("I Deserve It"). Produced by Tony Visconti no less!
MPEG Stream: "Moonshot"
MPEG Stream: "Knives From Bavaria"

PHILLIPS, DAVE IIIII (Ground Fault) cd 11.98
Dave Phillips began his musical career when he was 17, co-founding the hardcore extremists Fear of God in 1987. As Fear of God developed into Switzerland's answer to Napalm Death or Carcass, Phillips began to see that their faster, shorter, noisier approaches to grindcore were merely a springboard for more psychologically challenging and physically demanding artforms. Soon after Fear of God's demise in 1989, he met up with Rudolf Eb.er of Runzelstirn & Gurglestock and joined the actionist Schimpfluch-Gruppe which has followed the traditions of abjection and transgression as dictated by the Viennese Aktionists (i.e. Hermann Nitsch, Gunter Brus, Otto Muhl, etc.). In performances punctuated with short sharp bursts of noise, the Schimpfluch-Gruppe quite literally plays with vomit, blood, and all of the fluids from bodily orifices. If it sounds juvenile, it is; but both Phillips and Eb.er also manage to make their gross-out sessions numbingly effective manifestations of the nether regions of the human psyche. Along with the official Schimpfluch-Gruppe actions, Phillips has performed with Sudden Infant, PK, and Ohne which had received a considerable amount of acclaim with their Mego debut of electrocutionist musique concrete.
On IIIII, Phillips recorded work proves to be just as absurdist, nihilistic, and nauseating as his performances. The noise comes quite sporadically, and when it does, Phillips clobbers you over the head with volatile sick tones and splattered distortion; but the bulk of IIIII waits with a tense silence until wooden hammerings, demonic growlings, blister-pricked ruptures, and unsettling screams shatter the empty spaces. As a result, Phillips' work is far more nervewrecking that maximalists like Merzbow or The New Blockaders. Even if you have a stomach strong enough for R.H.Y. Yau and Runzelstirn & Gurglestock, Phillips makes for very difficult listening.
MPEG Stream: "st"
MPEG Stream: "emf"
MPEG Stream: "on"

PHILLIPS, DAVE & R.H.Y. YAU Illusion Is A Natural Condition (Auscultare) cd 12.98
Five years in the making, Illusion Is a Natural Condition brings together two of the finest noise artists the world has ever witnessed. Sure, Merzbow and Hijokaidan can hit you with their molten sounds of psychedelic excess; but San Francisco's Randy Yau and Switzerland's Dave Phillips achieve their tempestous recordings through a violent dichotomy between silence and sound. This sharp contrast effectively puts you on edge throughout the listening experience, as you never know when the next attack is going to arrive. In any given track, Yau and Phillips pack together recordings of their gutteral screams and dribbling gurgles of one of the actionists shoving something down his throat that just doesn't belong there. Occasionally, the sound of flies circle around the sickened vocalizations, as if investigating a hospital patient with a sucking chest wound. Pigs squeal. Demons roar. All of these sounds are compressed into track rarely longer than a minute, punctured by extended silences and ruptured by terse blasts of motorized noise and absurdly rendered ultra-violence that would bring joy (or is that pain?) to die-hard Wolf Eyes' fans. Recommended noise for those with a very strong stomach.
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 16"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 20"

PHILLIPS, ESTHER Alone Again, Naturally (Reel Music) cd 14.98
Reel Music keeps churning out the underrated soul gems! Along with the Yvonne Fair (reviewed elsewhere on this list), we've got Esther Phillips' second album for Creed Taylor's Kudu label released in 1972. Phillip's had a hard-living life and that deep hurt shows in every note. With a smokey nasally voice that recalls Dinah Washington and sometimes Nina Simone, Phillips had unbelievable vocal talent with forays into jazz, blues, disco and even country. But her versatility made her difficult to market and most of her early records met with varied success. Plus her constant battles with drug addictions that began in her teen years took such a toll on her life that she was dead before 50. But she found some success later in her life for the five records she recorded for the Kudu label in the seventies. These featured stellar session players such as Ron Carter, Bernard Purdie, Maceo Parker and Eric Gale. Her seasoned experience after stints in rehab, reverberate throughout the proceedings, making every emotive note truly felt. Her first record From A Whisper To A Scream is perhaps our favorite (And we hope that gets reissued too!) with its devastating cover of Gil Scott Heron's "Home Is Where The Hatred Is". But Alone Again Naturally is perhaps the least known to us, though it garnered her a second Grammy nomination. Released for the first time on cd, it starts out with Bill Withers' stalwart soul-funk classic "Use Me" and covers much sultry and smokey soulful ground including songs by Aretha Franklin, Gilbert O'Sullivan (the title track, natch), Eddie Floyd, and Big Joe Turner. We're very glad to see this underrated soul singer get some much due recognition!
MPEG Stream: "Use Me"
MPEG Stream: "Let's Move & Groove"
MPEG Stream: "Alone Again, Naturally"

PHILLIPS, WASHINGTON I Was Born To Preach The Gospel (Yazoo) cd 16.98
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PHILLIPS, WASHINGTON The Key To The Kingdom (Yazoo) cd 16.98
A short while back we reviewed an lp from legendary bluesman Washington Phillips, called What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?, released on the amazing vinyl reissue label Mississippi. As much as we love vinyl, we know a lot of folks out there don't have record players, so thankfully, all of the tracks on that Mississippi lp, are also contained on this here cd, and then some! The lp featured 12 tracks, this cd collects all 16 recordings from Phillips, his entire recorded output, and as a bonus, you also get 4 tracks of early religious music from Mamie And A.C Forehand (Forehand had a track on another recent Mississippi comp called Fight On, Your Time Ain't Long). Here's what we had to say about Phillips when we reviewed the lp:
Very little is know about Phillips, other than he was from Texas and only ever recorded sixteen songs. That's it. Sixteen songs, all of them totally gorgeous and mysterious. Phillips vocals are intense and world weary, but it's the accompaniment that really stands out.
The cover shows an illustration of Phillips playing what looks like a toy piano, but the sound is stranger than a toy piano, much higher and more resonant, chiming and tinkling, like little bells, like Christmas carols, a sort of joyous effulgent sparkling shimmer. The liner notes suggest that it may or may not be a Dolceola, an extinct late nineteenth / early twentieth century instrument that looks like a hybrid of a toy piano and a zither. But as there is only one confirmed recording of the Dolceola, on a Leadbelly track from the forties, it's hard to prove just what Phillips' instrument could be. According to a 1961 interview with Frank Walker, who recorded Washington Phillips, the instrument Phillips used was homemade and was something "nobody on earth could use except him". Online sources speculate that it could be a fretless zither or a phonoharp. Whatever it is, it sounds somewhere between a hammered dulcimer, a spinet (baby harpsichord) and an ice cream truck (minus the sound system), all beneath a warm fuzzy patina of dusty crackle. The notes tumble and twinkle while Phillips weaves them seamlessly into a warm glowing backdrop for his testifying, creating a gorgeous and haunting angelic gospel blues, that is truly unique.
MPEG Stream: "Lift Him Up That's All"
MPEG Stream: "Paul And Silas In Jail"
MPEG Stream: "Mother's Last Word To Her Son"
MPEG Stream: "The Church Needs Good Deacons"

PHILLIPS, WASHINGTON What Are They Doing In Heaven Today? (Mississippi) lp 10.98
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Another awesome archival release from the folks at Mississippi records. Not only is their catalog slowly being re-pressed, but there are a whole slew of new releases, the first being this collection from the enigmatic Washington Phillips.
Very little is know about Phillips, other than he was from Texas and only ever recorded sixteen songs. That's it. Sixteen songs. Twelve of which are here, all of them totally gorgeous and mysterious. Phillips vocals are intense and world weary, but it's the accompaniment that really stands out.
The cover shows an illustration of Phillips playing what looks like a toy piano, but the sound is stranger than a toy piano, much higher and more resonant, chiming and tinkling, like little bells, like Christmas carols, a sort of joyous effulgent sparkling shimmer. The liner notes suggest that it may or may not be a Dolceola, an extinct late nineteenth / early twentieth century instrument that looks like a hybrid of a toy piano and a zither. But as there is only one confirmed recording of the Dolceola, on a Leadbelly track from the forties, it's hard to prove just what Phillips' instrument could be. According to a 1961 interview with Frank Walker, who recorded Washington Phillips, the instrument Phillips used was homemade and was something "nobody on earth could use except him". Online sources speculate that it could be a fretless zither or a phonoharp. Whatever it is, it sounds somewhere between a hammered dulcimer, a spinet (baby harpsichord) and an ice cream truck (minus the sound system), all beneath a warm fuzzy patina of dusty crackle. The notes tumble and twinkle while Phillips weaves them seamlessly into a warm glowing backdrop for his testifying, creating a gorgeous and haunting angelic gospel blues, that is truly unique.
As always, pressed on thick vinyl, housed in a gorgeously screened jacket, includes an insert on thick textured paper, with very minimal liner notes (appropriately enough) on one side, and and on the other an ad for the Dolceola out of some old time catalog. Cool!

PHILOSOPHER'S STONE Apparatus (Kranky) cd 13.98
The second album from Gareth Mitchell (ex-Amp) of hermetic guitar alchemy on which the quiet guitarist toiled for over 9 months to master the drone rock equivalent to Raster's blip bleep minimalism. A much more successful piece than his previous outings.

PHILUS Tetra (Sahko) cd 24.00
One of the many pseudonyms for Mika Vainio (Pan Sonic, Ø, Tekonivel, etc) is Philus, which is his outlet for a very clinical display of pure electronic pulses which he intended to parallel the charged signifiers of hospital life support equipment within an electronica framework. Another excellent release in the Finnish label Sahko.

PHIZMIZ, ERGO Frithden (Mukow) cd-r 5.98
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A new brief blast of bizarre brilliance from AQ pal Ergo Phizmiz. The centerpiece of this EP is an Ergo-ized version of a song by another AQ favorite, People Like Us. The already silly, and chopped up musical metaverse of People Like Us gets even more sliced and diced, stuttering and hiccupping, like an outer space, junglized, countrified and funkified dose of acid fried exotica. The other two tracks continue in the demented exotica vein, with carnivalesque loops, kazoo melodies, burping faux horns, cricket like rhythms, and clankety clattery almost industrial chimes and percussion that mutate into slippery slide guitar and woozy melodiousness. Good stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Ursula Fahrt Ski (Ergo Phizmiz Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "Gently Bently Beneath the Waby Wabes (edit)"

PHIZMIZ, ERGO The Music Of Ergo Phizmiz (Mukow) cd-r 8.98
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The best radio station in the world, WFMU, turned us on to young Mr. Phizmiz, a multi instrumentalist, writer, inventor, musician and all around crazy guy who makes some really weird cool music. Only 23, Ergo has already written several operas, recorded 20 albums, almost all of them unreleased, invented tons of musical instruments, created a 12 hour multi media project, done radio programs for Resonance FM and WFMU, recorded tons of soundtracks for TV and the stage as well as made hundreds of animated films and numerous sculptures and installations. Phew. So here it is. The first of those 20 albums to see the light of day. It's weird -- that's the first thing you'll notice. The opening track is a demented toy instrument cabaret, with mumbling vocals buried in the mix, wailing kazoos, warbling music box melodies and lots of maniacal shouting! The record unfolds a little more subtly after that, shifting from stuttery, hiccupping rhythms under toy xylophones and programmed beats to moody, almost Boards Of Canada-ish melancholy electronica to creepy crawly Tom Waits Swordfishtrombones-esque late night loungy murk, to strummy, whispery Brit rock balladeering. Weird but quite cool.
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "3"
MPEG Stream: "4"

PHIZMIZ, ERGO The System Of A Down Sessions Vol. 1 (Mukow) cd 8.98
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The return of the truly genius and truly wild and weird Ergo Phizmiz. You may have read about him in the most recent issue of the Wire. Or you may have picked up one of his cd-r's that we listed here in the past, including a disc of interpretations of The The songs. Well, if you dug that one here's another one for you. Tweaked and twisted versions of songs by nu metallers System Of A Down! Fear not, the songs are barely recognizable, in fact a couple of times it made us laugh out loud these "versions" were so bizarre. Jungle rhythms, soaring soundtrack strings, skipping exotica records, creepy holiday music, and bleating trombones are smeared wildly over sliced and diced chunks of the original songs. Sounds like something that would be right at home on Tigerbeat 6 or Violent Turd.
MPEG Stream: "Chop Sue Me"
MPEG Stream: "Fucked Kirkus"

PHOAMING EDISON Sold! To the 2nd Highest Grady (Dark Beloved Cloud) cd 11.98
Solo work from a member of Uncle Wiggly.