PORTAL Outre (Profound Lore) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Record number two from these mysterious Australian technical death metal weirdoes, whose sound, as we mentioned in our review of their debut, Seepia, is anything but traditional death metal, instead, the grunted vocals and crushing downtuned riffs and all the traditional death metal tropes are completely subverted, tangled and mangled into damaged and demented squalls of chaotic blackened noize, having plenty in common with a band like labelmates Wold, as well as old school DM legends like Gorguts, Suffocation or ImmolationÉ
The sound on Outre is a murky buzz drenched sonic swamp, riffs buzz and blast, but are so doused in effects, so dripping with muddy distortion, they appear to be nothing but droning streaks of downtuned sound, until once in a while when they surface to chug briefly, offering up some brief dynamics before being swallowed up again by the band's relentless blur. The vocals are a subsonic demonic gurgle, barking, howling, growling and mewling, but again, so buried in fuzz and hiss, it just sounds like another layer of black buzz. The melodies are dark and twisted, like some vile black weed, the production is dense and thick, the sound druggy and seasick, warped and warbly, the whole thing sounding a little like some cross breeding experiment gone wrong. Gorguts, Wold, Black Flag, Faxed Head, all melted down and heated up and then poured into your cd player, a similarly noxious downtuned buzz oozes from your speakers, a distillation of Portal's convoluted and cracked take on death metal, a sound black enough to be black metal, noisy enough to be noise, and fucked up enough to be, well to be anything this fucked up sounding.
Strange swaths of synth, atonal detuned guitars, simple industrial plods, monstrous slow motion doom, blasts of speaker shredding ultranoise, billowing black ambience all pepper the proceedings, but at its heart, the sound of Outre is most definitely blasting brutal death metal, but the sort of death metal we always wanna hear, warped and twisted and damaged and filthy and crusty and noisy and buzzing and blackened and doomy and completely fucked.
Packaged in a super deluxe mini gatefold jacket with printed inner sleeve, and including super intense band photos, each band member (Aphotic Mote, The Curator and Horror Illogium) wearing a black hood (or what appears to be a mangled witches hat pulled all the way over the face), all standing in front of an old piano, each photo faded and sepia tone, one wielding a violin, the other clutching what appears to be the horn from a Victrola, the third empty handed, but with a noose hanging from his neck. Weird.
MPEG Stream: "Abysmill"
MPEG Stream: "Heirships"
MPEG Stream: "Sourlows"

PORTAL Outre (Profound Lore) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
For a limited time, available on vinyl, packaged in a deluxe gatefold sleeve...
Record number two from these mysterious Australian technical death metal weirdoes, whose sound, as we mentioned in our review of their debut, Seepia, is anything but traditional death metal, instead, the grunted vocals and crushing downtuned riffs and all the traditional death metal tropes are completely subverted, tangled and mangled into damaged and demented squalls of chaotic blackened noize, having plenty in common with a band like labelmates Wold, as well as old school DM legends like Gorguts, Suffocation or ImmolationÉ
The sound on Outre is a murky buzz drenched sonic swamp, riffs buzz and blast, but are so doused in effects, so dripping with muddy distortion, they appear to be nothing but droning streaks of downtuned sound, until once in a while when they surface to chug briefly, offering up some brief dynamics before being swallowed up again by the band's relentless blur. The vocals are a subsonic demonic gurgle, barking, howling, growling and mewling, but again, so buried in fuzz and hiss, it just sounds like another layer of black buzz. The melodies are dark and twisted, like some vile black weed, the production is dense and thick, the sound druggy and seasick, warped and warbly, the whole thing sounding a little like some cross breeding experiment gone wrong. Gorguts, WOLD, Black Flag, Faxed Head, all melted down and heated up and then poured into your cd player, a similarly noxious downtuned buzz oozes from your speakers, a distillation of Portal's convoluted and cracked take on death metal, a sound black enough to be black metal, noisy enough to be noise, and fucked up enough to be, well to be anything this fucked up sounding.
Strange swaths of synth, atonal detuned guitars, simple industrial plods, monstrous slow motion doom, blasts of speaker shredding ultranoise, billowing black ambience all pepper the proceedings, but at its heart, the sound of Outre is most definitely blasting brutal death metal, but the sort of death metal we always wanna hear, warped and twisted and damaged and filthy and crusty and noisy and buzzing and blackened and doomy and completely fucked.
Packaged in a super deluxe mini gatefold jacket with printed inner sleeve, and including super intense band photos, each band member (Aphotic Mote, The Curator and Horror Illogium) wearing a black hood (or what appears to be a mangled witches hat pulled all the way over the face), all standing in front of an old piano, each photo faded and sepia tone, one wielding a violin, the other clutching what appears to be the horn from a Victrola, the third empty handed, but with a noose hanging from his neck. Weird.
MPEG Stream: "Abysmill"
MPEG Stream: "Heirships"
MPEG Stream: "Sourlows"

PORTAL Seepia (Profound Lore) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Gorgeous and long overdue reissue of this out of print death metal classic from Australia. But don't let the words death metal throw you. We're not huge fans of straight up death metal either. But this is anything but straight up. In fact this is most definitely one of the weirdest, most damaged death metal records we have ever heard. From the same label that brought us the truly bizarre WOLD record from a few lists back, this is sort of along the same lines as the no-wave death metal of Gorguts' classic Obscura record, Portal takes traditional death metal and douses it in chaotic noise, twisting the arrangements into serpentine blurs, so fast and furious that it almost becomes a buzzy blurry drone, any faster and it would be a full on noise record, like Total or Skullflower playing death metal maybe. But then on top of that, replace all the standard downtuned DM riffs with impossibly manic squiggly Black Flag like riffing, sounding quite a bit like little metal spiders running up and down the neck of the guitars. Riffs and squeals of feedback shooting out like bolts of lightning, the drumming impossibly complex and blasting away beneath the churning ocean of writhing riffs, the vocals just another squirming barely discernible presence amidst the super distorted tangle of metallic riffing and blasting drums. Sometimes all the disparate sounds lock into weird metallic stuttering loops, buzzing and repeating hypnotically. And every once in a while the metal dissipates into gorgeous, gauzy, ambient drones, whirring and shimmering, like old machinery and black and white films, backwards loops, strange pitch shifts and gritty industrial percussion, a dizzying swirl of abstract sound, very reminiscent of Jeck or Basinski, but those respites are brief and are soon swallowed up by further waves of Portal's confounding crush.
Packaged in a gorgeous gatefold mini lp sleeve, with striking glossy filigree on the front cover, a printed inner sleeve and booklet with lyrics / liner notes.
MPEG Stream: "Glumurphonel"
MPEG Stream: "Tempis Fugit"

PORTAL Seepia (Crush Until Madness) picture disc lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK, and now that the cd version of this grim twisted Canadian death metal oddity is out of print, this here picture disc is the only available version. It's a super striking picture disc housed in a nice thick full color sleeve. And of course, like most things of this ilk, somewhat limited. Here're what we had to say about Seepia when we reviewed the cd:
Gorgeous and long overdue reissue of this out of print death metal classic from Australia. But don't let the words death metal throw you. We're not huge fans of straight up death metal either. But this is anything but straight up. In fact this is most definitely one of the weirdest, most damaged death metal records we have ever heard. From the same label that brought us the truly bizarre WOLD record from a few lists back, this is sort of along the same lines as the no-wave death metal of Gorguts' classic Obscura record, Portal takes traditional death metal and douses it in chaotic noise, twisting the arrangements into serpentine blurs, so fast and furious that it almost becomes a buzzy blurry drone, any faster and it would be a full on noise record, like Total or Skullflower playing death metal maybe. But then on top of that, replace all the standard downtuned DM riffs with impossibly manic squiggly Black Flag like riffing, sounding quite a bit like little metal spiders running up and down the neck of the guitars. Riffs and squeals of feedback shooting out like bolts of lightning, the drumming impossibly complex and blasting away beneath the churning ocean of writhing riffs, the vocals just another squirming barely discernible presence amidst the super distorted tangle of metallic riffing and blasting drums. Sometimes all the disparate sounds lock into weird metallic stuttering loops, buzzing and repeating hypnotically. And every once in a while the metal dissipates into gorgeous, gauzy, ambient drones, whirring and shimmering, like old machinery and black and white films, backwards loops, strange pitch shifts and gritty industrial percussion, a dizzying swirl of abstract sound, very reminiscent of Jeck or Basinski, but those respites are brief and are soon swallowed up by further waves of Portal's confounding crush.
MPEG Stream: "Glumurphonel"
MPEG Stream: "Tempis Fugit"

PORTAL Swarth (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
Death metal weirdos Portal return with another blast of incomprehensible sonic destruction, an avant garde, sepia tinged nightmare that perfectly indicates how appropriate a name like "Portal" is for a group like this. It's like stepping into another world - in this case, Australia, home to all kinds of unprecedented and bizarre metal groups like dISEMBOWELMENT, Halo, and Nekrasov. Simply put, Portal are fucking weird. Not only that, they are intense, and while no one will mistake this for anything other than scary as hell metal, the insane song structures and bizarre instrumentation - harsh and totally unique riffing, cyclonic drumming, and super guttural death growls (the only sort of "normal" thing about the group, but in this context they still sound pretty much unlike anything else) - are something different altogether. It's like whoever is playing guitar decided, after completely mastering his craft, to throw out all knowledge of standard guitar chords and build the band's sound off of hithero unknown chords that are sour, sludgey, and just completely fucking out there. One wonders just how the hell the band remembers where they are going, but somehow they get there like only they can. The overall sound on Swarth, and pretty much all of Portal's releases, is like a buzzing insect caught in a torrential downpour on the moon, or in some parallel dimension... or something. If you haven't figured it out yet, it's pretty hard to pin this stuff down, which is certainly a quality we appreciate in a genre plagued with formulaic ripoffs. So take comfort in the fact that there is hardly anything you could have ever anticipated in a metal group and go from there. It might just change the way you look at things - ESPECIALLY death metal!
MPEG Stream: "Swarth"
MPEG Stream: "Larvae"
MPEG Stream: "Illoomorpheme"

PORTAL Swarth ( Hells Headbangers) 2lp 38.00
NOW, AT LAST, ON VINYL!!!
Death metal weirdos Portal return with another blast of incomprehensible sonic destruction, an avant garde, sepia tinged nightmare that perfectly indicates how appropriate a name like "Portal" is for a group like this. It's like stepping into another world - in this case, Australia, home to all kinds of unprecedented and bizarre metal groups like dISEMBOWELMENT, Halo, and Nekrasov. Simply put, Portal are fucking weird. Not only that, they are intense, and while no one will mistake this for anything other than scary as hell metal, the insane song structures and bizarre instrumentation - harsh and totally unique riffing, cyclonic drumming, and super guttural death growls (the only sort of "normal" thing about the group, but in this context they still sound pretty much unlike anything else) - are something different altogether. It's like whoever is playing guitar decided, after completely mastering his craft, to throw out all knowledge of standard guitar chords and build the band's sound off of hithero unknown chords that are sour, sludgey, and just completely fucking out there. One wonders just how the hell the band remembers where they are going, but somehow they get there like only they can. The overall sound on Swarth, and pretty much all of Portal's releases, is like a buzzing insect caught in a torrential downpour on the moon, or in some parallel dimension... or something. If you haven't figured it out yet, it's pretty hard to pin this stuff down, which is certainly a quality we appreciate in a genre plagued with formulaic ripoffs. So take comfort in the fact that there is hardly anything you could have ever anticipated in a metal group and go from there. It might just change the way you look at things - ESPECIALLY death metal!
MPEG Stream: "Swarth"
MPEG Stream: "Larvae"
MPEG Stream: "Illoomorpheme"

PORTASTATIC Autumn Was A Lark (Merge) cd ep 11.98
You just never know what to expect from Mac McCaughan's Portastatic project. He's taken it through playful numbers based around keyboards, samples and programmed beats, some respectful '60s Tropicalia inspired excursions and film soundtracks. Yet, he quite often brings it all back to sweet, breezy guitar-driven pop that evokes the glow of a summer evening sunset and draws Portastatic closer to Superchunk territory. Autumn Was A Lark is the newest release, and although this appears to be a five song EP, it actually boasts fourteen songs total. That's right folks, you get eight bonus live on the radio acoustic performances). The band tackles covers of songs by Bruce Springsteen ("Bobby Jean" and "Growin' Up"), Ronnie Lane ("One For The Road") and Badfinger ("Baby Blue") with great aplomb, and offers up an alternate version of "In The Lines" (the original appears on their last album) as well as a punchy new song called "Autumn Got Dark". If you enjoyed Summer Of The Shark, scoop this goodie up too. It's sure to please!
MPEG Stream: "Autumn Got Dark"
MPEG Stream: "Baby Blue"

PORTASTATIC Be Still Please (Merge) cd 14.98
Oh Mac McCaughan, we will always have the softest spot for you and the remarkable pop gems you never run out of. From the heyday of Superchunk, to the fine label you run, to the way you helped put Chapel Hill on the musical map, to the way you always come through with that perfect song that we will undoubtedly have stuck in our heads for months to come. Be Still Please is a pretty great representation of the current state of Mac's song writing. From the all out catchy rock of "Sour Shores" and "I'm In Love With Arthur Dove" (contender for song of the year!), to the multi instrumentation and more somber grown up sentiments of "Black Buttons" and "Song For A Clock." Last week when Mac's buddy Ira Kaplan from Yo La Tengo did a guest DJ spot at KUSF all his selections came from older records from the 50's 60's and 70's, while his last selection was the sole contemporary track and it was the closer from this album, proving that what makes Mac such a great songwriter is exactly how and why he has created such an impressive catalog of timeless pop gems.
MPEG Stream: "I'm In Love (With Arthur Dove)"
MPEG Stream: "Song For A Clock"

PORTASTATIC Bright Ideas (Merge) cd 14.98
Mac McCaughan reins in his Portastatic project even closer to his main band Superchunk's sound. It seems he just can't keep the power pop out of the mix, and y'know what? We don't mind one bit 'cause despite his being adept at many other musical styles, he's a master of energetic pop. While some other veteran popsters' recent releases have elicited groans of "ho hum more of the same?" That's definitely not the case with Bright Ideas. Somehow at his hands, it's always fresh'n'new, and never seems tired or reheated. On past Portastatic releases he's dabbled with Tropicalia, jazz and electronics, and he does occasionally toss things up a bit on this album. Check out the breezy sixth song "Truckstop Cassettes". The super-duper Bright Ideas highlight though is the song that follows it, "The Soft Rewind". It's McCaughan in absolute top form, and seems tailor-made for your friends' mixtapes... let alone your own repeat listens. Great stuff!
MPEG Stream: "Truckstop Cassettes"
MPEG Stream: "The Soft Rewind"

PORTASTATIC Del Mel, De Mel‹o (Merge) cdep 9.99
Born of his compulsive love for Tropicalia, that distinctly Brazilian take on '60s psychedelia that Aquarius also loves, Mac of Superchunk has recorded 5 of his most favorite pieces made famous by Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, and Os Mutantes. Although we feared the worst, actually it's not bad at all. Very pleasant. And another thing we like to see -- there are very detailed credits so that Tropicalia newcomers may seek out the original versions. Plus it's a hoot to hear the voice of Superchunk singing in Portugese!

PORTASTATIC Looking For Leonard (OST) (Merge) cd 14.98
Mac McCaughan of Superchunk and Merge Records composed a bright little soundtrack for what is probably a bright little indie film. Portastatic has always been his bedroom side project and while at times that has resulted in wonderfully inventive stuff played out on synths and samplers, this time any originality has been subsumed under the need for innocuous background music that helps the film along. Nice but non-essential.
RealAudio clip: "Stumbling Music"

PORTASTATIC Original Film Score For Who Loves The Sun (Merge) cd 14.98
Diehard Portastatic fans might experience a few glimmers of recognition when they hear this score that the band did for For Who Loves The Sun, an indie film by Matt Bissonnette (this is the second time they've worked with Bissonnette, previously they did the soundtrack for his 2002 film Looking For Leonard). For the most part though if no one told you the name of the artist you probably couldn't tell. There aren't any big tell-tale signs such as vocals to give it away. What you would know though is that this is one fine piece of soundtrack work. The twenty two lush instrumentals (ranging from 32 seconds to just under three minutes long) feature an elegant blend of fluttery oboe, trillsome flute, warm piano and strings. Breezily pleasant and unobtrusive incidental music. Sure sounds like Mac MacCaughan has been studying his collection of Henry Mancini and George Gershwin film scores!
MPEG Stream: "The Search For Daniel"
MPEG Stream: "Snake Music"

PORTASTATIC Slow Note From a Sinking Ship (Merge) cd 14.98

PORTASTATIC Slow Note From a Sinking Ship (Merge) lp 10.98

PORTASTATIC Some Small History (Merge) 2cd 14.98
Mac McCaughan is really one of indie rock's true heroes. First there was his band Superchunk that helped define indie rock and helped put Chapel Hill on the map in the '90s. Then there's the label he runs, Merge, who have put out incredibly influential records by everyone from Magnetic Fields to Neutral Milk Hotel to the Arcade Fire. And then there's his so-called side band Portastatic who actually have been more active and prolific then Superchunk have in recent years. In many ways Portastatic served as his outlet for sketches and stripped down songs that maybe weren't meant for Superchunk yet still had his trademark vocal and guitar sound. This two disc set compiles a slew of singles, b-sides, demos and covers. We have to say while it's sort of an uneven collection there are some total gems on here, especially the covers, hearing Mac do The Undertones "Teenage Kicks" and Hot Chip's "And I Was A Boy From School" makes it all worth it. And despite a few tracks that cold have been left in the vaults, there are some total classic sounding Portastatic jams making this a must have for all bigtime Mac fans.
MPEG Stream: "Trajectory"
MPEG Stream: "Power Supply"
MPEG Stream: "And I Was A Boy From School"

PORTASTATIC The Nature of Sap (Merge) cd 12.98
Mac of Superchunk's latest solo foray finds him playing more and more with looped beats and playful keyboard doodlings.

PORTASTATIC The Nature of Sap (Merge) lp 8.98
Mac of Superchunk's latest solo foray finds him playing more and more with looped beats and playful keyboard doodlings.

PORTASTATIC The Summer of the Shark (Merge) cd 14.98
There it is again, Mac McCaughan's unmistakable sweet boyish voice! His new Portastatic album is filled with the loveliest, breeziest pop warmth. One dozen super pretty and lovingly crafted tunes with slip-slidin' guitars, violin accents and female vocals courtesy of Ms Janet Weiss (Quasi, Sleater-Kinney) on the album's opening song and highlight "Oh Come Down". Aaaah, delightful! And to top it all off, there's a petal pink watercolor painting on the cover by Mac, as well as a little flower painting in the cd insert by Yo La Tengo's Georgia Hubley. Hurrah!
MPEG Stream: "Oh Come Down"
MPEG Stream: "Clay Cakes"

PORTASTATIC FEAT. KEN VANDERMARK AND TIM MULVENNA The Perfect Little Door (Merge) cd 10.98
Mac McCaughan must never have a moments rest! The blazing batons in his successful juggling act? To name just a few: running the fab indie label Merge Records, leading the supremo-pop outfit Superchunk as well as assorted side projects, and composing film soundtracks. This particular incarnation of his main side project Portastatic was assembled for the Noise-Pop Fest in Chicago earlier this year. Mac is joined by improv saxophonist Ken Vandermark and percussionist Tim Mulvenna. Of the five tracks on this EP, one is new, one is a live performance, one is a Vandermark composition, and two older Portastatic songs get reworked - "When You Crashed" from 1995 and "Had" from their splendidly titled '94 release "I Hope Your Heart Is Not Brittle". Crisp and bittersweet performances as captured by Steve Albini. Please note: absent from these recordings are the Tropicalia influenced sounds of his last two Portastatic releases. Limited pressing of 2500.
RealAudio clip: "Hey Salty"

PORTER RICKS Biokinetics (Type) cd 16.98
Recently reissued on vinyl (which sadly, went quickly out of print), now available again on cd!!
Techno is a genre of self-quotation and unrepentant appropriation, always looking in the rearview mirror at what just happened to predict what will be the hot-shit trend on the dancefloor tomorrow. So to be able to trace an entire strain within techno's taxonomy to a specific record is quite rare. The 1996 album Biokinetics by Porter Ricks is one such record, setting the stage for pretty much every electronic artist who would flock to the banner of Chain Reaction through a stylized hypnotic, narcotizing techno haunted with deep atmospherics, dub murkiness, and subaquatic allusions. Porter Ricks was the duo of Andy Mellwig and Thomas Koner, who pursued "techno as a nautical sound experience." By the time the first Porter Ricks single emerged in '96, Koner had already developed his signature isolationist approach to slow-motion sound-design blustering with arctic metaphors through the dronemuzik classics of Nunatak Gongamur (1990) and Permafrost (1993). So when Koner began exploring techno with Mellwig, the approach to techno was less about 64-bar measures and more about constructing an evolving atmosphere girded to quintessentially German techno engineering that could be taken for a sonic portrait of tidal flows, map coordinates, sonar blips, and the vastness of the deep blue sea.
Biokinetics opens with the magnificent "Port Gentil" whose steady techno pulse coalesces through overlapping patterns from muffled pulsations of white noise and distant locomotive rhythms, later topped by a radiant metallic drone. The somatic oscillations of "Biokinetics 1" hardly makes for a techno track at all despite the insistent rhythms, but the eerie heartpulse dub of "Biokinetics 2" takes an isolationist reproach to everything adding its own desolate pulse and some subterranean reverb. Granulated hiss and slippery drone shimmer blossom through the final tracks "Nautical Nuba" and "Nautical Zone" that look forward to what Wolfgang Voigt would produce on his seminal Gas albums Zauberberg and Konigsforst. It sounded awesome in 1996, and it sounds awesome today.
MPEG Stream: "Port Gentil"
MPEG Stream: "Biokinetics 2"
MPEG Stream: "Nautical Zone"

PORTER RICKS Biokinetics (Type) 2lp 27.00
BACK IN PRINT!!! THIS TIME ON BLUE TRANSPARENT VINYL (or so we've been told, didn't open 'em)...
Techno is a genre of self-quotation and unrepentant appropriation, always looking in the rearview mirror at what just happened to predict what will be the hot-shit trend on the dancefloor tomorrow. So to be able to trace an entire strain within techno's taxonomy to a specific record is quite rare. The 1996 album Biokinetics by Porter Ricks is one such record, setting the stage for pretty much every electronic artist who would flock to the banner of Chain Reaction through a stylized hypnotic, narcotizing techno haunted with deep atmospherics, dub murkiness, and subaquatic allusions. Porter Ricks was the duo of Andy Mellwig and Thomas Koner, who pursued "techno as a nautical sound experience." By the time the first Porter Ricks single emerged in '96, Koner had already developed his signature isolationist approach to slow-motion sound-design blustering with arctic metaphors through the dronemuzik classics of Nunatak Gongamur (1990) and Permafrost (1993). So when Koner began exploring techno with Mellwig, the approach to techno was less about 64-bar measures and more about constructing an evolving atmosphere girded to quintessentially German techno engineering that could be taken for a sonic portrait of tidal flows, map coordinates, sonar blips, and the vastness of the deep blue sea.
Biokinetics opens with the magnificent "Port Gentil" whose steady techno pulse coalesces through overlapping patterns from muffled pulsations of white noise and distant locomotive rhythms, later topped by a radiant metallic drone. The somatic oscillations of "Biokinetics 1" hardly makes for a techno track at all despite the insistent rhythms, but the eerie heartpulse dub of "Biokinetics 2" takes an isolationist reproach to everything adding its own desolate pulse and some subterranean reverb. Granulated hiss and slippery drone shimmer blossom through the final tracks "Nautical Nuba" and "Nautical Zone" that look forward to what Wolfgang Voigt would produce on his seminal Gas albums Zauberberg and Konigsforst. It sounded awesome in 1996, and it sounds awesome today.
MPEG Stream: "Port Gentil"
MPEG Stream: "Biokinetics 2"
MPEG Stream: "Nautical Zone"

PORTER RICKS : TECHNO ANIMAL Symbiotic (Force Inc. ) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Symbiotic" is a split release between stalwart bleak technicians Porter Ricks and Techno Animal, in which the tracks of each are presented in alternating fashion. While Porter Ricks has made the best Chain Reaction records for the label, Thomas Koner and Andy Melweg have moved away from the heroin house aethestic for a sound that complements the oppressively dark hip hop futurism of Techno Animal. Surprisingly cohesive for an album that could easily fall apart in lesser hands.

PORTER RICKS : TECHNO ANIMAL Symbiotic (Force Inc. ) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Symbiotic" is a split release between stalwart bleak technicians Porter Ricks and Techno Animal, in which the tracks of each are presented in alternating fashion. While Porter Ricks has made the best Chain Reaction records for the label, Thomas Koner and Andy Melweg have moved away from the heroin house aethestic for a sound that complements the oppressively dark hip hop futurism of Techno Animal. Surprisingly cohesive for an album that could easily fall apart in lesser hands.

PORTISHEAD Chase The Tear (XL) 12" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This song has been floating around for a couple years now, but it's so fucking cool to get it on wax along with an awesome remix as well. "Chase The Tear" may be the most uptempo and potentially dancefloor ready track we've ever heard from Portishead, without losing any of the sensuality and seduction that is always at the core of their songs.
The song was originally released as on online only benefit for Amnesty International (and proceeds from this 12" will be going to AI as well!)
It's one of the most exhilarating tracks the group has ever made, it's a total kraut-synth show stopper! The remix/cover version by Doldrums on the B side is fucking cool too.
NOTE for mailorder customers, if you're considering ordering this: Unfortunately this week's shipment from Matador/4AD/XL arrived today with one corner of every single piece of vinyl in the box slightly bent, argh. So, don't order this now if you're super anal about such things. We'll get replacements next week. Folks buying this in person in the shop, of course, can see for themselves if they mind the bent corner or not. Sorry!

PORTISHEAD Dummy (London) cd 16.98
A brilliant, compelling album.

PORTISHEAD Machine Gun (Mercury) 12" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

PORTISHEAD Portishead (London) cd 16.98

PORTISHEAD Roseland NYC Live (London) cd 15.98
A lush and breathtaking live document of Portishead's amazing live performances. Gorgeous versions of all of the favourites backed by a full string section with oboes, flugel horns, trumpets, saxophones, flutes, trombones, Geoff Barrows' economic turntablism, and Beth Gibbons' spirited vocals.

PORTISHEAD Third (Mercury) cd 15.98
It seems a bit strange to spend very much time writing about the new Portishead. Since by now, odds are you're probably sick to death of hearing about it. Sure we all loved Portishead back in the day, they were one of those rare 'electronic' bands whose appeal knew no boundaries, metalheads, moms, indie kids, the sound of Portishead was dark and sexy and mysterious, sinister and ominous, dark and rife with crackle and buzz. Perfect drugged out late night bliss out music, their strange way of creating sound and composing music, recording their own samples on to vinyl and then spinning and scratching those samples to create new textures, made for a totally unique sound.
So what does a band do after taking almost a decade off? Do they return with a record that sounds just like the last one, which is probably what most folks want, or do they return radically altered? With a sound bold and brash, reinventing the sound they themselves invented in the first place.
On first listen, Third definitely sounds like the latter, but with repeated listening, the record slowly and subtly begins to slip toward the former. Which most definitely speaks to the magic of Portishead, and the new record, which at once embraces the old sound, while turning it into something new. More than past outings, Third is dirty, out of tune, atonal, noisy, chaotic, urgent, sure past records had all that crackle and buzz and fuzz, but those elements were carefully placed, and kept well within line. Third sounds much more, well, loose for lack of a better word, like actual musicians, feeling each other out, maybe even improvising. Less like a studio concoction and more like a real live band. And the sound suits them. And makes for a record at once warm and familiar, but also alien, sort of 'rocking' and rife with WTF? moments.
Take the opener, "Silence", which begins with some sort of radio broadcast, which gives way to a killer loping breakbeat, immediately the fastest tempo Portishead have ever explored, strings swoop in, the sound raw and urgent, almost like the chase scene from some spy movie, gorgeous distorted chiming guitar harmonics ring out, until finally the track slows down, and slithers sexily, the vocals a sexy sultry croon, but it's not long before the track kicks back into the haunting and tense, string laden cinematic jam that opened the track.
Then there's "Hunter", which begins like classic Portishead, all smokey and late night sounding, soft muted reverbed guitars, a lush gauzy production, the vocals ethereal and ghostly, but even here, a few seconds in, the song is interrupted by a super distorted crumbling guitar chord that halts things in their tracks, before fading out, and allowing the song to resume. The a few minutes later, a strange noodly synth freakoutsurfaces, again derailing the song's slow motion groove, but It just sounds perfect. It doesn't at all sound like random weirdness for random weirdness' sake. The first time is jarring, the second time, you find yourself waiting for those parts, even humming along as if they were as crucial to the song as the main melody or the vocals, and the thing is, they are.
Near the end lurks the single, "Machine Gun", with its very machine gun like rhythm, herky jerky, stuttery and not at all fluid, reminiscent of Art Of Noise, the vocals sweetly soaring over this jagged rhythmscape below, which only really varies part way through when the original machine gun drums are replaced by BIGGER, more distorted drums, and wrapped in strange moaning horns (or maybe synths), only to shift once again moments later becoming more electronic, the beats awash in strange FX and metallic buzz. It's so unlikely, that it makes perfect sense as the first single. If you can embrace that strange rhythm, that relentless and very un-Portishead like sound, then the rest of the record will make perfect sense, unfolding in front of you, revealing both the warm familiar sounds missed, and the new, bizarre sonic elements never even imagined
All over the record, the band confounds and confuses, gloriously, the brooding whispery "Small" shifts gears partway through and transforms into a fuzzy organ drenched krautjam, "Deep Water" is a straight up old timey folk song, the vocals and strings soaked in fuzzy ambience (and reminding us a bit of vocalist Gibbons' post Portishead project Rustin Man), "We Carry On" is a sort of atonal Stereolab style jam, relentless percussion, thick swaths of synth, very repetitive and hypnotic, "The Rip" is part whispery folky flutter, part synthy electro buzz, every track here offers some sort of surprise, whether it's the song itself, or some little sonic strangeness lurking within, but never is the song or the sound sacrificed, each track is perfect in its own beautifully twisted way, catchy but never obviously so, groovy, but often convoluted and fractured, it's a difficult record to explain for sure, which is perhaps why so much ink has been spilled, and while we may be sick of reading about it, we sure are finding it nearly impossible to imagine ever getting sick of listening to it, which is precisely why it's one of our Records Of The Week.
MPEG Stream: "Silence"
MPEG Stream: "Hunter"
MPEG Stream: "Machine Gun"

PORTISHEAD Third (Mercury) 2lp 14.98
Now available on vinyl (for a minute or two anyway)!
It seems a bit strange to spend very much time writing about the new Portishead. Since by now, odds are you're probably sick to death of hearing about it. Sure we all loved Portishead back in the day, they were one of those rare 'electronic' bands whose appeal knew no boundaries, metalheads, moms, indie kids, the sound of Portishead was dark and sexy and mysterious, sinister and ominous, dark and rife with crackle and buzz. Perfect drugged out late night bliss out music, their strange way of creating sound and composing music, recording their own samples on to vinyl and then spinning and scratching those samples to create new textures, made for a totally unique sound.
So what does a band do after taking almost a decade off? Do they return with a record that sounds just like the last one, which is probably what most folks want, or do they return radically altered? With a sound bold and brash, reinventing the sound they themselves invented in the first place.
On first listen, Third definitely sounds like the latter, but with repeated listening, the record slowly and subtly begins to slip toward the former. Which most definitely speaks to the magic of Portishead, and the new record, which at once embraces the old sound, while turning it into something new. More than past outings, Third is dirty, out of tune, atonal, noisy, chaotic, urgent, sure past records had all that crackle and buzz and fuzz, but those elements were carefully placed, and kept well within line. Third sounds much more, well, loose for lack of a better word, like actual musicians, feeling each other out, maybe even improvising. Less like a studio concoction and more like a real live band. And the sound suits them. And makes for a record at once warm and familiar, but also alien, sort of 'rocking' and rife with WTF? moments.
Take the opener, "Silence", which begins with some sort of radio broadcast, which gives way to a killer loping breakbeat, immediately the fastest tempo Portishead have ever explored, strings swoop in, the sound raw and urgent, almost like the chase scene from some spy movie, gorgeous distorted chiming guitar harmonics ring out, until finally the track slows down, and slithers sexily, the vocals a sexy sultry croon, but it's not long before the track kicks back into the haunting and tense, string laden cinematic jam that opened the track.
Then there's "Hunter", which begins like classic Portishead, all smokey and late night sounding, soft muted reverbed guitars, a lush gauzy production, the vocals ethereal and ghostly, but even here, a few seconds in, the song is interrupted by a super distorted crumbling guitar chord that halts things in their tracks, before fading out, and allowing the song to resume. The a few minutes later, a strange noodly synth freakoutsurfaces, again derailing the song's slow motion groove, but It just sounds perfect. It doesn't at all sound like random weirdness for random weirdness' sake. The first time is jarring, the second time, you find yourself waiting for those parts, even humming along as if they were as crucial to the song as the main melody or the vocals, and the thing is, they are.
Near the end lurks the single, "Machine Gun", with its very machine gun like rhythm, herky jerky, stuttery and not at all fluid, reminiscent of Art Of Noise, the vocals sweetly soaring over this jagged rhythmscape below, which only really varies part way through when the original machine gun drums are replaced by BIGGER, more distorted drums, and wrapped in strange moaning horns (or maybe synths), only to shift once again moments later becoming more electronic, the beats awash in strange FX and metallic buzz. It's so unlikely, that it makes perfect sense as the first single. If you can embrace that strange rhythm, that relentless and very un-Portishead like sound, then the rest of the record will make perfect sense, unfolding in front of you, revealing both the warm familiar sounds missed, and the new, bizarre sonic elements never even imagined
All over the record, the band confounds and confuses, gloriously, the brooding whispery "Small" shifts gears partway through and transforms into a fuzzy organ drenched krautjam, "Deep Water" is a straight up old timey folk song, the vocals and strings soaked in fuzzy ambience (and reminding us a bit of vocalist Gibbons' post Portishead project Rustin Man), "We Carry On" is a sort of atonal Stereolab style jam, relentless percussion, thick swaths of synth, very repetitive and hypnotic, "The Rip" is part whispery folky flutter, part synthy electro buzz, every track here offers some sort of surprise, whether it's the song itself, or some little sonic strangeness lurking within, but never is the song or the sound sacrificed, each track is perfect in its own beautifully twisted way, catchy but never obviously so, groovy, but often convoluted and fractured, it's a difficult record to explain for sure, which is perhaps why so much ink has been spilled, and while we may be sick of reading about it, we sure are finding it nearly impossible to imagine ever getting sick of listening to it, which is precisely why it's one of our Records Of The Week.
MPEG Stream: "Silence"
MPEG Stream: "Hunter"
MPEG Stream: "Machine Gun"

PORTLAND BIKE ENSEMBLE Live In Japan - 2006 (Olde English Spelling Bee) lp 17.98
Killer live record from this Northwestern trio who play bicycles. Not play ON bicycles mind you. But actually play bikes, as musical instruments. Plucking spokes, bowing rims, striking frames, scraping seat posts, every part is played, the result a gloriously cacophonous symphony of clatter and clang. Imagine a stage, with punk rockers seated on stools behind upturned bikes, positioned like harps or cellos, the players poised with sticks and bows, or bare handed, ready to coax all manner of sounds from those bicycles. It's a pretty amazing sight, and the sound is pretty kick ass as well.
Captured live in Japan, this set features all sort of re-CYCLE-d sounds, buzzes, clicks, scrapes, whirs, hisses, grinding crunches, singing steel, bits of rhythm, sometimes it sounds like a pipefight, other times like some super abstract music concrete, and still other times, something magical happens and the metal seems to sing, high clear bell like tones, growling groaning low end, woven into the otherwise clattery clangy softly abrasive soundscapes. Pretty fantastic, like a reimagining of old school industrial music, transformed into something more akin to clattery free folk or weird free noise. Super cool stuff.
Beautiful paste on sleeves, LIMITED TO 200 COPIES, each one hand numbered.

PORTLAND BIKE ENSEMBLE s/t (Olde English Spelling Bee) lp 17.98
Most of us here at AQ are avid cyclists, in fact Andee's ladyfriend even owns her own bike shop. San Francisco is a great place to ride bikes. But apparently Portland is even better. And not only do they ride bikes, but they play them as well. The Portland Bike Ensemble, flip their bikes upside down, attach contact mics, plug into amps and go to town! A strange and wonderful world of clicks and scrapes, moans and creaks, a percussive wonderland, metal bits are struck and rubbed, bowed and plucked, spokes are played like a metal harp, frames are rung like bells, a gorgeously abstract junkyard percussion cyclescape.
This lp collects the Ensemble's first two performances, as well as a side long track originally released on a super limited Jyrk cd-r (so limited in fact that we never got any). LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Each one is hand painted and includes a photocopied insert with liner notes and stuff.

PORTLANDIA Season One (IFC) dvd 14.98

PORTRAIT Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae (Metal Blade) cd 17.98
This Swedish band's self-titled 2008 debut was hailed by us as one of the best - and blackest, in the Satanic sense - efforts of the New Wave Of Old School Heavy Metal (bands like Enforcer, Cauldron, In Solitude, and RAM). Now back for their second strike, on new, bigger label Metal Blade, Portrait have produced another excellent, occult album of Mercyful Fate/King Diamond influenced metal mania. The 8 evil, and mostly epic tracks on Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae (we'll expect to see a posting about this title on that "Heavy Latin" blog sometime soon, eh) are once again raging, ripping, riffy speedsters replete with paint-peeling vocals, Satanic subject matter, shredding solos, and sinister melodies... Glorious!
Intricate, energetic, and proudly retro, down to the silver cd face and old school Metal Blade bloody axe logo, Portrait aren't just for killing happy power metal poseurs, but are just the thing to put on (instead of most modern black metal) when you're burning the black candles for a night of devil worship, and would like to get some air guitar practice in at the same time.
By the way, if you liked the rightfully hyped Ghost's Opus Eponymous, but want something a bit more METAL, the much less poppy Portrait is the answer, cranking up the KD falsetto screams whilst dialing down the BOC to zero.
Allan's addendum: Did I mention that the songs on this album are all really long? Well that means, though I liked it right away, it took a few listens to *really* sink in - and I've discovered that with repeated spins, more and more cool parts keep revealing themselves. Right now I'm particularly stoked on the uber-rockin' part that the band break into about halfway through track five, "Darkness Forever"... so good!! Hopefully they'll come and play here soon like their brethren in In Solitude recently did.
MPEG Stream: "Infinite Descension"
MPEG Stream: "Darkness Forever"
MPEG Stream: "Der Todesking"

PORTRAIT s/t (Holycaust) cd 13.98
Recently we've been chuffed to review some great new releases by what we might call New Wave Of Old School Heavy Metal bands, such as Cauldron and Enforcer. And there was that Heavy Metal Killers comp on Earache recently too, which included those two bands, and these guys, Portrait from Sweden. All young bands doing metal like it was meant to be, back in the day. Portrait certainly deliver tons of speedy energy, galloping riffage, evil atmospheres. Melody too. And of course, no cookie monster vocals! Although singer Philip Svennefelt sometimes switches to gruff rasps, he really loves to break into a wailing witchy falsetto a la King Diamond... so Mercyful Fate seems to be a BIG influence here. Mercyful Fate were, along with Venom, one of the '80s originators of black metal, before the church burning Norwegian types took over, and Portrait's fixation on occultic, Satanic themes (song titles include "Hell", "Bow Unto The Devil", and "Beware The Demons") fits the bill. Totally black metal, that is if the '90s never happened. Not to mention that the picture of guitarist Christian Lindell makes him look positively demon-possessed himself, despite his first name. Eyes wide, and mouth a rictus grin, his expression really sums up why Portrait is so appealing, nay, compelling. It's not just the songs and the sound, it's the spirit. The sinister spirit of their influences - Mercyful Fate, and Satan! So while this is fannishly '80s, it's more than that. Not simplistic - their compositions are often quite long (over nine minutes in the case of "The Adversary") with lots of interesting, dynamically intertwined parts, well paced and put together - and not shallow. They channel the ancient spirit with ripping reverence.
Now reissued domestically, this album originally came out last year in a limited die hard edition on Germany's Iron Kodex label, who also just brought us the new vinyl from AQ faves Slough Feg, who could be considered charter members of the NWOOSHM (nuh-whoosh-um), since they've been at it for a while!
One final note: don't you think Portrait is an odd name for a metal band? But actually, according to the Encyclopedia Metallum, they're not the only Portrait around. Hmm. They've just got to find a metal band named Landscape to tour with! (Another search of the Encyclopedia Metallum DID turn up one Landscape, and they're from Sweden, but defunct... oh well.)
MPEG Stream: "Consecration "
MPEG Stream: "Hell"

PORTRAITS s/t (Important) lp 17.98
Deeeeeeep spiritually-charged drones from this supergroup of Bay Area heavy experimentalists. You are going to want to just hammer the "Add To Cart" button when we list all the members involved: folks from Barn Owl, Date Palms, Tarentel, En, Higuma and The Alps! The Root Strata All-Stars, basically, though this is on Important. Three tracks, the first, "D" is a side long affair, delving into the most harmonically aligned keys of the western scale utilizing both electric and acoustic instruments including violin, harmonium, tamboura, koto, sine wave oscillator, bass clarinet, tapes, shruti box and electric guitar in rich layered tones and frequencies. Side 2 begins with the all vocal meditation, "Sa" reminding us of David Hykes and The Harmonic Choir's cathedral amplified minimalist hymns before unleashing the deepest and heaviest track here, "Gong", which focuses on the shifting and shimmering metallic reverberations of the titular instrument. A beautifully honed study of harmony and frequency within a wonderfully attuned collective and collaborative spirit.
Housed in a hand screened heavy stock foldover jacket. LIMITED TO 500 copies, so act fast!

PORTUONDO, OMARA Flor de Amor (World Circuit / Nonesuch) cd 17.98
Absolutely gorgeous! For those already familiar with the wonderful timeless Cuban sounds of the Buena Vista Social Club, a new album by BVSC's grande dame Omara Portuondo is certainly a welcome sight. She possesses an incredibly potent, elegant voice that elevates any song to soaring new heights, and all of the fourteen songs here more than prove this point. Each note and phrase -- both vocal and instrumental-- is alive with smoky vitality. Okay, 'nuf gushin'! 'Nuf said! Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Tabu"
MPEG Stream: "Flor De Amor"

POSEHN, BRIAN Live In: Nerd Rage (Relapse) cd 12.98
First comedy record from our favorite Mr. Show Sideman and self professed metal nerd Brian Posehn. Embarassing tales of sex (or lack of), life as a teenage metalhead as well as lots of swearing and silliness. PLUS, two songs featuring Posehn on vocals, one with Titannica from Mr. Show, the other, with the obviously named Posehn, both featuring members of Anthrax, Armored Saint and White Zombie.

POSIES At Least, At Last (Not Lame) 4cd box 45.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
With some of the most atrocious cover art ever (think: promotional giveaway at a kitchen cleaner convention with too many fonts and an unhealthy obsession with photoshop) and woeful lack of publicity we've seen in a while, the long awaited Posies box manages to shine and surprise. Four cds worth of outtakes and live tracks by most bands would be...um...unneccesary to say the least, but almost all the tracks in this box are great. From unreleased gems, to alternate versions, to different demos (ken's vs. jon's) of some of your favorite songs, it's amazing to trace the development of the Posies super polished super complex pop, as well as kind of shocking to hear how mature and almost 'finished' some of the early demos were. While, i'm sure only Posies completists will buy this, most fans of pop music (indie and otherwise) might discover a new favorite band.

POSIES Every Kind Of Light (Ryko) cd 15.98
We've been sitting on this one for a while, not sure why really 'cause we're some of the biggest Posies fans around! Well, co-Posie Jon Auer's solo album reminded us of just how much we love them, and gave a us a kick in the pants to show it. Apologies for our tardiness, fellas. Every Kind Of Light is a total return to stellar form for this Seattle pop duo. The combined forces of Auer and Ken Stringfellow are pretty damn hard to beat. Heart-melting vocal harmonies? You betcha. Sweetheart sentimental lyrics? Uh huh. Utterly infectious hooks? Hell yeah. So damn deliriously good! We could gush on, but why? Just get these songs into your ears, and hear for yourself. We command you... please.
Psst, there's an even newer album on the horizon slated for the end of June. Can't wait!
MPEG Stream: "It's Great To Be Here Again!"
MPEG Stream: "Conversations"
MPEG Stream: "All In A Day's Work"

POSIES Failure (PopLlama) cd 15.98

POSIES In Case You Didn't Feel Like Plugging In (Casa) cd 13.98
When the familiar wonderful chiming vocal harmonies of Ken Stringfellow and Jonathan Auer fell silent a few years back, the pop world fell a quite a few shades paler, but now the Posies are back! Their return comes as quite a surprise to many, but a very, very pleasing one nonetheless. Some of us here are quite giddy about the whole matter to say the least! The first we heard of this rejoining of two brilliant pop forces was when the AQ phone rang a couple of months ago with an offering of a Posies in-store performance in August. Still, we were a bit unsure and puzzled. But now we're happy to know it is definitely true. On this cd, they approach their songs (newer and older) live at the Showbox in Seattle, seated and armed with acoustic guitars. And the oldies sound wonderful --- included among them one of my all-time favourites "I May Hate You Sometimes" from their first full-length. As this is a live recording all the expected crowd noise is intact (though not too intrusive on the music), but it is clear that the Posies are among old friends and fans with moments of singing along and loving cheers.

POSIES Nice Cheekbones And A Ph.D. (Houston Party) cd 11.98
So very glad they're back! And while it's pretty obvious these boys like to rock out live (often at the expense of their glorious vocal harmonies), it is a welcome toning and paring down of the Posies sound that greets us on this EP. Showing the magic pop chemistry Jon and Ken conjure up when they just sit down with their guitars and play. Four new Posie gems and one David Crosby cover. Recorded in Barcelona and Seattle.

POSIES, THE Blood / Candy (Rykodisc) cd 15.98
There's something a little strange about Posies records. And we noticed the same thing about Sloan records weirdly enough. Two of our all time favorite bands for sure. But as excited as we always are for a new record by either, inevitably, when it does finally show up, we're always a bit disappointed, sometimes more than a bit, convinced that maybe that's it, the band is past their prime, done for. And we'll keep the record, just cuz we like the older records so much. It's that same loyalty that compels us to keep listening, and then, without fail, something mysterious happens, and the record, in both cases, Sloan and Posies, begins to grow on us, begins to sound better and better, blossoming, and revealing itself as another great pop record, one that does in fact fit with all the other releases. And then invariably we find ourselves listening to those records incessantly, which we're beginning to think is the magic of both Sloan and the Posies, the difference between spitting out some immediately catchy pop pap, and crafting something deeper and more complex, that does require multiple listens and does eventually end up being catchier in the long run, and certainly becomes the sort of record that we never tire of, unlike some of those hook filled sweet pop jams that we listen to over and over but tire of quickly.
So yeah, we were SO excited for a new Posies record, and experienced the exact same phenomenon described above. In the case of Blood/Candy though, there might be more to it, the fact that the first three tracks feature guests, none of which we'd heard of, but apparently each notable enough to merit mention in parenthesis after the song title. It's not that those songs were bad, they just didn't grab us, could it be that it was the Posies watered down by guest vocalists? Although to be fair, their vocal contributions are not all the noticeable. But if you skip those three tracks, and start the record on the third track, "So Caroline", suddenly, it works, and from there to the end, it's total classic Posies, it still took a few listens, but we can't stop now, from soft focus dreamy soft pop, to crunchy big guitar power pop, the songs split as always between the group's two distinctive vocalists/songwriters, Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer, hooks galore, lush arrangements, incredible harmonies, another great Posies record! And once you've played tracks three to eleven to death, then head back to those first three tracks, and guess what? Yep, they start to sound great too.
So yeah, Posies fans, you're obviously already gonna want this, and for newbies, while we might recommend Frosting On The Beater or Dear 23 or Amazing Disgrace first, this would not be a bad place to start either (although we'd still recommend starting with track three!). Classic power pop for sure, folks into Jellyfish, The Rollo Treadway, Sloan, Silver Sun, The Stereo and the like should already be WAY into the Posies, but if not, you should probably just get this, and the rest of their records too!
MPEG Stream: "So Caroline"
MPEG Stream: "Take Care Of Yourself"
MPEG Stream: "Cleopatra Street"
MPEG Stream: "Notion 99"

POSIES, THE Blood / Candy (Rykodisc) lp 22.00
There's something a little strange about Posies records. And we noticed the same thing about Sloan records weirdly enough. Two of our all time favorite bands for sure. But as excited as we always are for a new record by either, inevitably, when it does finally show up, we're always a bit disappointed, sometimes more than a bit, convinced that maybe that's it, the band is past their prime, done for. And we'll keep the record, just cuz we like the older records so much. It's that same loyalty that compels us to keep listening, and then, without fail, something mysterious happens, and the record, in both cases, Sloan and Posies, begins to grow on us, begins to sound better and better, blossoming, and revealing itself as another great pop record, one that does in fact fit with all the other releases. And then invariably we find ourselves listening to those records incessantly, which we're beginning to think is the magic of both Sloan and the Posies, the difference between spitting out some immediately catchy pop pap, and crafting something deeper and more complex, that does require multiple listens and does eventually end up being catchier in the long run, and certainly becomes the sort of record that we never tire of, unlike some of those hook filled sweet pop jams that we listen to over and over but tire of quickly.
So yeah, we were SO excited for a new Posies record, and experienced the exact same phenomenon described above. In the case of Blood/Candy though, there might be more to it, the fact that the first three tracks feature guests, none of which we'd heard of, but apparently each notable enough to merit mention in parenthesis after the song title. It's not that those songs were bad, they just didn't grab us, could it be that it was the Posies watered down by guest vocalists? Although to be fair, their vocal contributions are not all the noticeable. But if you skip those three tracks, and start the record on the third track, "So Caroline", suddenly, it works, and from there to the end, it's total classic Posies, it still took a few listens, but we can't stop now, from soft focus dreamy soft pop, to crunchy big guitar power pop, the songs split as always between the group's two distinctive vocalists/songwriters, Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer, hooks galore, lush arrangements, incredible harmonies, another great Posies record! And once you've played tracks three to eleven to death, then head back to those first three tracks, and guess what? Yep, they start to sound great too.
So yeah, Posies fans, you're obviously already gonna want this, and for newbies, while we might recommend Frosting On The Beater or Dear 23 or Amazing Disgrace first, this would not be a bad place to start either (although we'd still recommend starting with track three!). Classic power pop for sure, folks into Jellyfish, The Rollo Treadway, Sloan, Silver Sun, The Stereo and the like should already be WAY into the Posies, but if not, you should probably just get this, and the rest of their records too!
MPEG Stream: "So Caroline"
MPEG Stream: "Take Care Of Yourself"
MPEG Stream: "Cleopatra Street"
MPEG Stream: "Notion 99"

POSITIVE KNOWLEDGE Another Day's Journey (Music & Arts) cd 14.98
Oluyemi Thomas: Bass clarinet, C-melody, soprano saxophones, bamboo flute & percussion.

Ijeoma Thomas: Poetic vocals and percussion.

Roberto de Haven: Percussion.

POSSESSED Exploration (Rise Above Relics) cd 17.98
First things first, this Possessed has nothing to do with the '80s Bay Area metal band of the same name. No, this Possessed hails from even further back in time, the early '70s to be precise. And that leads us to say this: oh man, if we only had a time machine! Sure we'd go back and kill Hitler's parents and buy Google stock and all that... but our time machine day dream today is dominated by a flyer reproduced in the cd booklet to this release, advertising a month's worth of "progressive concerts" upcoming at a venue, somewhere in England, featuring performances by T2, Judus [sic] Priest, Israel's Jericho Jones, Thin Lizzy and this very band, Possessed. Good grief. We'd have been very very broke blokes back then, spending our last dime, I mean, farthing, on going out to such shows! What a time for hairy, heavy proto-metal awesomeness!
Thinking along those lines, Cathedral vocalist Lee Dorrian *has* built a time machine of sorts, though -- his label Rise Above now has an archival/reissue imprint called Rise Above Relics, dedicated to unearthing the heavy sounds of the past for them to be heard again today. This Possessed album (along with Luv Machine, also reviewed) is one of the first releases and we've gotta say they've dug up a gem, hitherto unknown to us.
Possessed, who you'd think might be some sort of occultic, Comusy folk band from the name and the Art Nouveau, Aubrey Beardsley style cover art, actually play a kinda proggy, kinda glammy hard rock that definitely bears some resemblance to aspects of Led Zeppelin. Just coincidence that Possessed's singer and guitarist, the India-born Vernon Pereira, had been in the original lineup of an outfit called The Band Of Joy, which also included Zeps-to-be Robert Plant and John Bonham? In any case, Possessed's most notable attributes would have to be the sinuous, crunchy riffing of guitarist Pereira, and also his Plant-like lead vocals. Furthermore, the band's spiralingly complex and bombastic songwriting ventures into the variety of "funk" displayed by Led Zeppelin on such songs as "Trampled Underfoot". Then there's the acoustic break of "Exploration Pt. II", also very Zeppish to be sure, though besides Zep, we'd compare this to Thin Lizzy and also to obscurities like Hard Stuff and even AQ faves Zolar X!
Despite being so worthy, Possessed never released an album, though they did record one in 1971 that, due to label disinterest, was shelved (until now, this is it). Sadly, three key band members, including Pereira, died in a motorway accident in 1976 ("Driver of Pop Group Death Van Dozed Off" reads the headline to one of the vintage newspaper clippings reproduced in the cd booklet), bringing a tragic end to the hopes and history of Possessed. The '70s rock star glory experienced by their chums in Led Zeppelin was never to be for this ill-fated band, though things could have, should have, turned out much differently, as at the time of the accident, they were on the verge at last of a major record deal. And they were supposedly slated to play shows in the USA with the Sex Pistols, bizarrely enough. Of course, that never happened.
So we're left with Exploration, while not the best unreleased album of the era ever (Jacula? Bedemon? Sproton Layer?), definitely a pretty darn cool one. It's a bit raw sounding, maybe a still a work in progress with some of the riffing rather similar in a couple of the songs, but it's definitely something that fans of both Led Zep and all the early '70s hard rock rarities we love should investigate! Nicely packaged with a fat, 20 page booklet full of notes and photos, slipcased to boot.
MPEG Stream: "The Love That You Gave"
MPEG Stream: "Darkness, Darkness"

POSSESSED Exploration (Rise Above Relics) lp + 7" 27.00
Now on vinyl!! And with a bonus 7" single!
First things first, this Possessed has nothing to do with the '80s Bay Area metal band of the same name. No, this Possessed hails from even further back in time, the early '70s to be precise. And that leads us to say this: oh man, if we only had a time machine! Sure we'd go back and kill Hitler's parents and buy Google stock and all that... but our time machine day dream today is dominated by a flyer reproduced in the cd booklet to this release, advertising a month's worth of "progressive concerts" upcoming at a venue, somewhere in England, featuring performances by T2, Judus [sic] Priest, Israel's Jericho Jones, Thin Lizzy and this very band, Possessed. Good grief. We'd have been very very broke blokes back then, spending our last dime, I mean, farthing, on going out to such shows! What a time for hairy, heavy proto-metal awesomeness!
Thinking along those lines, Cathedral vocalist Lee Dorrian *has* built a time machine of sorts, though -- his label Rise Above now has an archival/reissue imprint called Rise Above Relics, dedicated to unearthing the heavy sounds of the past for them to be heard again today. This Possessed album (along with Luv Machine, also reviewed) is one of the first releases and we've gotta say they've dug up a gem, hitherto unknown to us.
Possessed, who you'd think might be some sort of occultic, Comusy folk band from the name and the Art Nouveau, Aubrey Beardsley style cover art, actually play a kinda proggy, kinda glammy hard rock that definitely bears some resemblance to aspects of Led Zeppelin. Just coincidence that Possessed's singer and guitarist, the India-born Vernon Pereira, had been in the original lineup of an outfit called The Band Of Joy, which also included Zeps-to-be Robert Plant and John Bonham? In any case, Possessed's most notable attributes would have to be the sinuous, crunchy riffing of guitarist Pereira, and also his Plant-like lead vocals. Furthermore, the band's spiralingly complex and bombastic songwriting ventures into the variety of "funk" displayed by Led Zeppelin on such songs as "Trampled Underfoot". Then there's the acoustic break of "Exploration Pt. II", also very Zeppish to be sure, though besides Zep, we'd compare this to Thin Lizzy and also to obscurities like Hard Stuff and even AQ faves Zolar X!
Despite being so worthy, Possessed never released an album, though they did record one in 1971 that, due to label disinterest, was shelved (until now, this is it). Sadly, three key band members, including Pereira, died in a motorway accident in 1976 ("Driver of Pop Group Death Van Dozed Off" reads the headline to one of the vintage newspaper clippings reproduced in the cd booklet), bringing a tragic end to the hopes and history of Possessed. The '70s rock star glory experienced by their chums in Led Zeppelin was never to be for this ill-fated band, though things could have, should have, turned out much differently, as at the time of the accident, they were on the verge at last of a major record deal. And they were supposedly slated to play shows in the USA with the Sex Pistols, bizarrely enough. Of course, that never happened.
So we're left with Exploration, while not the best unreleased album of the era ever (Jacula? Bedemon? Sproton Layer?), definitely a pretty darn cool one. It's a bit raw sounding, maybe a still a work in progress with some of the riffing rather similar in a couple of the songs, but it's definitely something that fans of both Led Zep and all the early '70s hard rock rarities we love should investigate! Nicely packaged too with tones of notes and photos.
Also includes a super limited 7", a replica of Possessed's ultra rare Zella Studios demo single!!!
MPEG Stream: "The Love That You Gave"
MPEG Stream: "Darkness, Darkness"

POSTAL SERVICE Give Up (Sub Pop) 2lp 15.98
Now, at long last, this extremely popular album is available on vinyl! Indie darlings Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello and Benjamin Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie join forces in The Postal Service. Apparently these collaborations did indeed take shape via tapes mailed back and forth between the two. Each track is subtle variation of the following: bashfully boyish vocals, chiming music box melodies and soft jangly guitars that play off one another over a simple thumping or clicking programmed beat. Gibbard sings oh so sweetly in his melted ice cream voice while Tamborello delivers the delightfully pretty electronics and bounding rhythms. Just what you might expect from a project starring these two fellows. Plus there's an added aural delight here and there in the form of lovely vocals by Jen Wood and Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis. It's easy to draw comparisons to Kings Of Convenience vocalist Erlend Oye's new solo album which also sets a gentle male voice -- more familiarly heard with soft guitars and drums - singing atop light electronic dancey tracks. However unlike Oye's Unrest on which music and voice sound somewhat detached from each other, Postal Service's Give Up has a wonderful chemistry that swirls everything together perfectly. Recommended!
Includes an extra lp filled with remixes, and b-sides.

MPEG Stream: "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight"
MPEG Stream: "Nothing Better"

POSTAL SERVICE Such Great Heights (Sub Pop) cd ep 3.98
This four song introductory ep offers barely a peep of Postal Service's effervescent crushworthy tunes. Ah, such a sweet peep it is! A perfect accessory to their full length that's out now too. Definitely see the full album review for all the PS nitty gritty, but in particular regards to this ep, the title track is an instantly catchy gem that's sure to find its way onto friends' mixtapes everywhere. The second half is actually PS songs performed by two other bands - fellow Sub Poppers The Shins and Iron And Wine. The brief encounter ends with Iron And Wine's drowsy acoustic rendition of "Such Great Heights". And y'know what? This lil' cd is worth picking up for that track alone. Beautiful! Each version is strong on its own and great in contract to one another. Recommended!
RealAudio clip: POSTAL SERVICE "Such Great Heights 1 "
RealAudio clip: IRON AND WINE "Such Great Heights 4"