PARTON, DOLLY Little Sparrow (Sugar Hill) cd 16.98
The timeless songbird of country music again explores her bluegrass roots. Employing many of the bluegrass stars on her previous album The Grass is Blue, Dolly tackles some standards ("I Get a Kick Out of You", "I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby", and her own "Down from Dover") and eight self-penned originals. Some country, some bluegrass. Alison Kraus again guests as harmony vocalist. And Dolly's not above letting the musicians display their talents without her voice in the forefront, like the smoking mandolin solo on "I Get a Kick Out of You." Wonderful and strong!
RealAudio clip: "I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby"
RealAudio clip: "Mountain Angel"
RealAudio clip: "Marry Me"

PARTON, DOLLY Mission Chapel Memories: 1971-1975 (Raven) cd 22.00
Oh Dolly! How we love you so. And how could we not. Dolly is like the wise, fun and sassy aunt we wish we all had. Someone who tells it like it is but never lets the hardships of life take away her spirit or sass. Mission Chapel Memories is without a doubt the greatest collection of Dolly's songs in a brief yet totally special moment of her musical career (1971-1975). During this prolific era she released eight albums as well as four duet collections with her mentor the late great Porter Wagoner. From classic songs you might know like "Coat Of Many Colors", "The Bargain Store" and "Jolene" to more obscure Dolly tracks that just might become your new favorites, as well as some secret weapons / devastating tracks for the next mix you make like "Loneliness Found Me", "Comes And Goes" and "When Someone Wants To Leave." This is Dolly at her most pure and raw. Proving that well before she became a huge pop star and cultural icon, she was responsible for writing, singing and playing some of the most sad, striking and salt of the earth country songs ever recorded. What makes Dolly so amazing and important is how truly universal her songs and sentiments are. No one else could draw as diverse of a fan base and loyal following as Dolly. From country music enthusiasts and southern baptists to punkers and queer activists everyone can relate and grasp onto the magic of Dolly. In recent years folks like the White Stripes, The Gossip and Jenny Hoyston have helped champion Dolly's music, exposing it to a new generation that maybe would have missed out on some truly amazing songs. And if you've been looking for that one document that really captures Dolly's music in its full glory this is the one to have!
MPEG Stream: "Bargain Store"
MPEG Stream: "When Someone Wants To Leave"
MPEG Stream: "Love Is Only As Strong (As Your Weakest Moment)"

PARTON, DOLLY The Grass is Blue (Sugar Hill) cd 16.98
Wow! After 40 years-and-counting, Dolly Parton releases her very first all-bluegrass recording. For this she chose some of the best bluegrass musicians in the world, including Sam Bush (founder of New Grass Revival and, according to No Depression magazine, "generally considered one of the top three bluegrass mandolin players in the world"), dobro player Jerry Douglas ("acknowledged to be the best in the world"), fiddler Stuart Duncan, guitarist Bryan Sutton and banjoist Jim Mills (both ex-Ricky Skaggs band), along with the angelvoiced Alison Krauss and Patty Loveless as backup singers. Alternately growling, yowling, and crooning her own originals and covers of Hazel Dickens, Blackfoot, Lester Flatt, the Louvin Brothers, and Johnny Cash, this is Dolly at her best -- without slick, deadening prodcution values that's cost many a country album its vitality and life. If you thought Alison Krauss' last record was a little too watered-down-commercial and you already have all the Freakwater albums, then this record is for you.

PARTON, DOLLY Those Were The Days (Sugar Hill) cd 17.98
We were thinkin' about Ms Dolly the other day, and how much we love her The Grass Is Green album and admire her spirit. Much like Charo, she's often described (or dismissed) as cartoonish and ahem, larger than life (heck, there's no question that they're both fully aware of this fact, and ahem, maximize it!). And also much like Charo, she's got indisputable chops. Hmmm, we will give the edge to Ms Dolly though 'cause she's got Dollywood! She just keeps kickin' butt year after year and keeps ya guessin'. Here she sings the oldies -- so many dear songs that we recall from our childhood! And she's invited the original singers to join her. A sweet, moving concept, lovingly realized.
MPEG Stream: "Those Were The Days"
MPEG Stream: "Both Sides Now"

PARTRIDGE, ANDY & HAROLD BUDD Through the Hill (Hannibal) cd 16.98
This long out of print Partridge/Budd collaboration has been reissued with different cover art, more liner notes (offering an account of how these two unlikely musical bedfellows came to meet and how these recordings came to be) and a bonus track! For those unfamiliar with the album from its original release back in 1994 and those who might be expecting more of a pop presence considering the intelligent hook-writing talents of XTC's frontman Partridge, you'll soon discover that this album sounds nothing like XTC and everything like Harold Budd. The seventeen tracks are divided into seven sections -- Prelude, Geography, Interlude, Structures, Interlude, Artifacts and Postlude. Meditative soundscapes with occasional spoken word segments (actually Partridge's poetry as read aloud by Budd). Shimmery percussive washes weighted by solemn piano and guitar lines, analog synthesizer textures and cycles played out on Indian and African bells. Elegant and beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "The Place Of Odd Glances"
MPEG Stream: "Mantle Of Peacock Bones"

PARTS OF SPEECH Collider (self-released) cd 11.98

PARTY MONSTER Original Soundtrack (TVT) cd 17.98

PARTY OF HELICOPTERS Mt. Forever (Troubleman Unlimited) cd 10.98
This band is supposed to sound like a combination of My Bloody Valentine and Iron Maiden. Intriguing, no? But, while I can hear the MBV (the vocals), and the Maiden (it's not entirely hype; one track at least really does seem to cop some licks from Maiden circa "Killers"), there's also a more ordinary pop punk sound at play here. No offense meant, but the combo of MBV, Iron Maiden, and J-Church is a wee bit less intriguing than just the former two. Definitely ok emo-punk-whatever with some math rock slightly metallic leanings, for folks who find the Champs too hard and want somebody singing about something...is that too mean? This WAS enjoyable, but perhaps a little let down by their own hype.

PARTY OF HELICOPTERS Please Believe It (Velocette) cd 10.98
With this, the post-rock pop band Party of Helicopters' third album, some of us here at AQ can be considered fans for sure, as we've gotten more and more into 'em over their last couple releases. The original hype line on 'em -- My Bloody Valentine meets Iron Maiden -- was just too good to be true, and the inevitable disappointment took its toll. But we must admit, there is a kernel of truth to that description... These Ohio boys play a sort of emo/punk/pop hybrid with twisty guitar lines, hints of classic metal riffing, noisy shoegazer textures, and Pixies-ish catchiness. Musically their powerful guitars are mathy and a bit metally, kinda like post-hardcore outits The Great Unravelling and Universal Order Of Armaggedon, but with different, higher, breathy, near falsetto vocals. Not higher in an '80s metal way, though, it's more like you could imagine the vocals emanating from a tiny, precious perfumed box with a sensitive boy singer inside. We're reminded a bit of some San Diego bands -- the pop vocal arrangements of Rob Crow's Heavy Vegetable with the muscle and sinew of Drive Like Jehu's guitars, and the complexity of both bands. Very cool.
MPEG Stream: "The Good Punk"
MPEG Stream: "Cover Me"

PARTY OF HELICOPTERS, THE Space... And How Sweet It Was (Troubleman Unlimited) 2cd 14.98
The Party Of Helicopters bring you emo at its most intense. The first disc of their double whammy reminded me quite a bit of the awesome, early '90s Pacific Northwest group who called themselves Treepeople (Doug Martsch's band prior to Built To Spill). Blending aggressive, angstful male vocals with some pretty catchy, twisting guitar licks. The second disc offers up a trippy, ten minute long opening track with a wall of guitar washes that brings their occasional comparisons to My Bloody Valentine much more into focus. Layer upon layer of cyclical vocals over rounds of edgy, driving guitar riffs. An impressive sequel to their debut two years ago, Mt. Forever.
RealAudio clip: "Crawling"
RealAudio clip: "The Conquering"

PARTYLINE Girls With Glasses (Retard Disco) cd ep 8.98
Uhh, is the name of the record label telling us sumthin'? Dunno, but one thing's for sure, the hyperactive, prolific gal Allison Wolfe just can't sit still. She's got so many musical projects past and present, it's hard to keep track of 'em all -- Bratmobile, Cold Cold Hearts, Deep Lust, Da Hawney Troof, and the list goes on! Not to mention that they're usually three-piecers. Her bands have all been dead set on raisin' the indie grrrrl roof. So it comes as no surprise that her latest outing Partyline continues to stir up a raucous garage rawk racket. Musicianship and finesse be damned! Such is the case with their debut EP Girls With Glasses and its half dozen super lo-fi, rudimentary bashed out on guitar, bass and drums tunes.
MPEG Stream: "Unsafe At Any Speed"
MPEG Stream: "Nuthaus"

PASCAL Hello My Name Is (Uvulittle) cd 9.98
About a couple of years ago, a cd-r was dropped off here at Aquarius for consignment consideration. We liked what we heard and swiftly emailed the mysterious Pascal to bring us a bunch. Alas, there was no response. But just the other day, who should walk though our door? Pascal... with a completed cd in hand! Seems he wanted to make sure everything was just right. So at long last, we now have the elusive album in stock with a full digipak. The music is just as we recall - raw acoustic folk songs with reverb-y highly emotive vocals, ramshackle percussion, and strummy guitars. At times his top-of-his-lungs delivery is strikingly similar to that of AQ fave Jeff Mangum. To be frank, some customers and staffers even found the resemblance a bit unsettling. Nevertheless, Pascal has his own stories to tell/sing. Check out the lovely "You'll Pick My Name". Lend him your ear!
RealAudio clip: "Mr. Jenkins"
RealAudio clip: "You'll Pick My Name"

PASS INTO SILENCE Calm Like A Millpond (Kompakt) cd 16.98

PASSAGE Forcefield Kids (Anticon) cd 14.98

PASSARANI, MARCO 6 katun (Nature Records) cd 22.00

PASSIONISTAS, THE God's Boat (New & Used Records) cd 12.98
A big sticker on the shrinkwrap announces that this cd was produced by Kelley Stoltz! But keep in mind though that doesn't mean The Passionistas' music is gonna sound like Kelley's. Nope, their debut album God's Boat falls into the quirky indie rock barrel of monkeys that recalls late '80s early 90s college rock. Y'know, the kind that wore dress ties with t-shirts. We might even guess that the vocals were being sung by Brak (y'know, of Space Ghost Coast To Coast)! Is that a good or bad thing? You decide! The Passionistas' loopy, light-hearted playfulness also finds its way into the album artwork which features American flag killer whales and a kimono wearing band member (the other two members opted for the more traditional indie rock hoodie and torn jeans ensemble). Loose, laidback and chock full of nuts. 15 songs in all.
MPEG Stream: "God's Boat"
MPEG Stream: "Silver Spurs"

PASTELS Illuminati (Up) cd 13.98
The beloved Scottish pop band gets the star remix treatment from My Bloody Valentine (who contribute 2 tracks), Stereolab, Mouse on Mars, Kid Loco, Cornelius, Third Eye Foundation, Make*Up, Jim O'Rourke, To Rococo Rot, John McEntire of Tortoise, etc. It's an uneven collection that's much more mellow and minimalist than we had anticipated for a tribute to such a rockin' twee group, but still good listening.

PASTELS The Last Great Wilderness (Geographic) cd 12.98
This is indeed a new Pastels album, but it's almost unrecognizably so! That might be due to the fact that it is a soundtrack for the film The Last Great Wilderness. Truly, most of the music here more closely resemble that of any number of jazzy post-rock, and yes, soundtrack-composing combos from Chicago. muted horns, delicate chimes, vocal sighs, subdued bass, plucked guitar notes. This is the case up until the sixth song. That's because the song in question is these earnest, lo-fi Scots' previously released cover of Sly And The Family Stone's "Everybody Is A Star" with dear Katrina singing ever so sweetly. The only other vocal song is the saucy closing number "I Picked A Flower" by The Nu Forest who are in fact the Pastels fronted by the fabulous Jarvis Cocker of Pulp in his ultra-swank croon mode. Film unseen, this does make for a lovely bliss-out listening experience though not necessarily a distinctly Pastels' one.
MPEG Stream: "Dark Vincente"
MPEG Stream: "I Picked A Flower"

PASTELS Yoga (Up) cd ep 7.98
Scottish pop simply doesn't get much softer and twee. On this lil' EP they cover Some Velvet Sidewalk's "Boardwalkin", offer two versions of "Yoga" (one is the album version from Mobile Safari) and and additional track called "Winter Olympic Glory" which I found to be the highlight of this release. Dreamy!

PATAPHONIE Le Matin Blanc (Gazul/Musea) cd 17.98
Some heavy, mostly instrumental French prog-rock from '78, newly reissued. A generally spooky atmosphere with moments of prettiness, with influences ranging from jazz to classical to (of course!) fellow French jazz-classical progsters Magma... This reissue includes over thirty minutes of live material. Not up there with Magma, Heldon, or Shub Niggurath, but still some second-tier stuff worth checking out for fans of that genre/scene.

PATERAS / BAXTER / BROWN Ataxia (Synaesthesia) cd 16.98
"After last year's Synaesthesia release Coagulate with Robin Fox, and several tracks on his Tzadik debut Mutant Theatre, pianist Anthony Pateras reveals further evidence of his improvising skills on Ataxia, more dazzling proof that the New Music scene in Australia - especially Melbourne - is going from strength to strength. he's joined by percussionist Sean Baxter(Bucketrider, Lazy, Western Grey), one of a growing band of hands-on junk percussionists, and guitarist David Brown, aka Candlesnuffer, in six riotously colourful tracks ranging from the delictae sonic haiku of "Maladroit" to stochastic freakout - Xenakis would have loved the end of "St/chi". While improvising pianists since Burton Greene have been delving inside the instrument in search of new sonarities, very few have explored the prepared piano with much rigour - john tilbury being one - but Paters's piano, as the album photography makes abundantly clear, is stuffed to the limit with rubber, cardboard, screws, coins and crocodile clips, making him sound like a veritable one-man gamelan. It's a truism to say that Bali and Java are as accessible to Aussies today as Blackpool was to Manchester cotton workers 100 years ago.
Should Globalisation one day go beyond exporting Big Mac's, and the indigenous populations of those islands ever move into free improv, it might just sound something like this. The spicy stir-fry of New Complexity and exotic percussion clatter bears more relation to Richard Barrett's "Negatives" - recorded, as it happens, in melbourne ten years ago - than it does to any other recent trend in improv. Coming at this music from directions as diverse as extreme noise meltdown and post-Darmdtadt composition, Brown, Pateras and Baxter have served up one of the year's crunchiest and tastiest dishes so far." - Dan Warburton, The Wire

PATERNOSTER s/t (Green Tree) cd 19.98
This has been a longtime favorite around these parts but was always impossible to keep in stock. So finally we get a chance to relist it for everybody who may have blinked and missed it the first time around. Now reissued in a spiffy digipak and at a significantly lower price!
One of the saddest records ever made. Prime krautrock (from Austria), circa 1972, what goths would have listened too had there been goths back then. Complete with full-blown psychedelic guitar freakouts, coupled with somber church-like organ and a vocalist who sounds on the verge of tears throughout the album. Oh so sad. Here's the lyrics from their song "Blind Children": 'Rotten eyeballs feet between/Hanging down the cheese machine/Hew it strew it do it too/Say it slay it just to do/Try to call yourself on the phone/Surely you are not at home/Sweep the swept floor once again/Stab yourself and feel the pain/Then stand and watch the speed/Clean your eyeballs wash your feet/Listen and repeat'. Or from "Stop These Lines": 'Morning peace dusty air/Clean your teeth comb your hair/Dressed in clothes you always wear/Go to work I won't be there/Lunchtime snackbar eating chips/Ketchup's running down your lips/Deadeyed waiters selling bibs/Which you have to fix with clips/Sitting waiting find an end/Meaningless with no comment/Is this life in your own hand/People are like grains of sand/Pick up streets and pull down skylines/Ravish women blast the mines/Burn the whiskies spill the wines/Find beginnings stop these lines'.
A most melancholic, wonderful record, and it's too bad that it's the sort of thing usually relegated to the prog/psych collectors' corner (y'know, because of the distribution and press that this sort of reissue gets). More people (people without ponytails and huge record collections) should get to hear this. So, even though it's not a really new reissue at all, we ordered a bunch to turn people on to. It's an odd, but excellent, hidden treasure!
MPEG Stream: "Realization"
MPEG Stream: "Stop These Lines"
MPEG Stream: "Blind Children"
MPEG Stream: "The Pope Is Wrong"

PATERSON, MARY-ANNE Me (Sunbeam) cd 16.98
More rare '70s folk from the folks at Sunbeam who brought us the great Roger Rodier (reviewed elsewhere on this list) and Fresh Maggots reissues. Mary-Anne Patterson's sole album is claimed to be one of the rarest records of its time, and after reading her story, it's no wonder. Patterson, daughter and granddaughter of famous Scottish painters, was a drama teacher (and hobbyist guitar player), who had a dream of opening an art centre for children. After a friend with music connections suggested that she cut a record to raise funds to build it, she quickly got a record deal and put together this album using local street musicians as her backing group. But reluctant to play the star and promote the record, the album sank without a trace, along with her dream. The songs here, mostly traditional, are very pretty, with a nice echo-y quality on the voice, guitar and flute accompaniments running through the entire production. The standout track is her version of "Black Girl", a Leadbelly standard, that devolves into a hippie tribal voice and flute freak out. This is a beautiful and overdue peek into the Scottish end of the '60s Folk Revival. For fans of Sandy Denny, Pentangle, and Josephine Foster.
MPEG Stream: "Love Has Gone"
MPEG Stream: "The Jute Mill Song"
MPEG Stream: "Black Girl"

PATHAK, PANDIT ASHOK Ancient Court Raga Traditions: The Pathak Gharana Dhrupad Ragas On Sitar (World Arbiter) cd 16.98

PATHOLOGIST Re-regugitation Over Fuckin' Pathological Splatter (Leviathan) cd 13.98

PATTERN, THE Immediately (Lookout) cd ep 7.98
Trashy retro-rock guitars back up former PeeChees vocalist and Lookout! Records' wheeler'n'dealer Chris Applegren's trademark bratty boy nasal howling. Live, they're a lively flailing rock'n'roll party, but on record they've yet to capture that energy. Instead they come across as a rather anemic teen garage channelling of the motor city's finest. While their live shows undoubtedly win them new fans wherever they go, it's open to question whether their records do likewise. Time to revisit the originals, MC5 and the Stooges, who took care of business so thoroughly over thirty years ago.
RealAudio clip: "Breakfast"

PATTERN, THE Real Feelness (Lookout) cd 14.98
In the year of the Strokes and the Vines and the Hives, here is our own local 'where the hell did they come from' wonders. They played the Reading festival, are huge in Europe and are on the lips of all in the hipster retro know. They have that 70's New York / Detroit sleaze rock sound, with the snotty vocals and the relatively rad guitar sound. Apparently influenced by Richard Hell, The Stooges etc. but with a soul flare. All veterans of rock, coming from the likes of The Peechees (vocalist Christopher), Heart of Snow (drummer Scott), Saint James Infirmary (guitarist Jason), Nuisance (guitarist Andy) and The Cuts. Cool.
RealAudio clip: "Fragile Awareness"
RealAudio clip: "Nothing Of Value"

PATTERSON, ARCHIE Eurock: European Rock And The Second Culture (Eurock Publications) book 45.00
This, my friends, is a not a book, but a tome. Over 700 pages, collecting together almost every important piece of writing that appeared in Archie Patterson's Eurock 'zine during its existence from 1973 to 1990, and more. Eurock magazine was all about prog / psych / krautrock / space rock / electronic stuff (in later years, entering into New Age territory to be sure), not just from Europe actually but from around the world. The earlier material is particularily cool 'cause Eurock's coverage of bands like Amon Duul and Can is like reading a current magazine's stuff about Godspeed You Black Emperor! or Acid Mothers Temple...it puts things then and now into perspective. There's tons of obscure lore in here to uncover -- paging through at random I found articles about Ash Ra Tempel and Area, a piece on '70s Yugoslavian rock, a recent interview with Magma's Christian Vander, a review of a 1980 Rock In Opposition festival, and even an interview with our favorite '70s Italian prog band Osanna! In addition, as a special bonus, this book includes a seven-page appreciation of Amon Duul written in 1971 (for Creem magazine) by famous rock crit Lester Bangs, that I for one have always wanted to read. Basically, this book, I mean, tome, is highly recommended to all weird kraut / psych / prog music fiends!
NB: All of this and more (excepting some new pieces and the Bangs article), I believe, is also to be found on the still-available Eurock cd-rom production "Golden Age" that we reviewed on AQ list #105 -- but we have to say that the book format is far superior for reading and browsing, though of course it lacks the multi-media content etc. I'd pick this up a lot more often than I'd pop the cd-rom into my Mac.

PATTERSON, BEN A Fluxus Elegy (Alga Marghen) lp 26.00

PATTERSON, BEN Liverpool Soundworks Volume One (Audio Research Editions) cd 17.98

PATTERSON, BEN Liverpool Soundworks Volume Two (Audio Research Editions) cd 17.98

PATTON, CHARLEY Screamin' And Hollerin' The Blues: The Worlds Of Charley Patton (Revenant) 7cd 160.00
This is seriously one of the most amazing packages we've ever seen. And lucky for us the music easily lives up to the breathtaking packaging. This is the ultimate Charley Patton collection, finally giving props to the man who was tearing it up when Robert Johnson was still a kiddie. 5 discs of every issued and unissued track by Patton and his sessionmates Son House, Willie Brown, Louise Johnson, Henry 'Son' Sims, Bertha Lee, Delta Big Four, Buddy Boy Hawkins, Edith North Johnson as well as talent scout HC Speir. Disc 6 is Pattons contemporaries: Ma Rainey, Howlin' Wolf, Poor Boy Lofton, Kid Bailey, Walter Rhodes, Rube Lacy, Blind Joe Reynolds, Tommy Johnson, and Pops Staples. Disc 7 is all interviews with Pattons associates: Staples, Wolf, Speir, and Booker Miller. Also included is a 128 page book John Fahey wrote about Patton in 1970, as well as liner notes from Fahey, and a host of blues scholars, lyrics, full size reproductions of 6 original 1929 ads, a full set of 78 record label stickers and tons more. But it's the packaging that'll knock your socks off. A huge green fabric 78rpm-style hardcover (something like 14" x 11") slipcase, complete with a pocket for Fahey's book, and all 7 cds mounted on faux 10"s, in old fashioned 10 inch sleeves, which along with the liner notes are all bound on one side just like old multple set 78s. So unbelievably nice. For those unfamiliar, Patton was one of the founders of Mississippi Delta blues. With a palpable anger just below the surface, Patton combined gruff gravelly vocals, heavy handed guitar style, amazing bottleneck slide, and lyrics made up on the spot, into some of the most important music in our history.
RealAudio clip: CHARLEY PATTON "Pony Blues"
RealAudio clip: CHARLEY PATTON "A Spoonful Blues"
RealAudio clip: CHARLIE PATTON "Down The Dirt Road Blues"
RealAudio clip: SON HOUSE "County Farm Blues"
RealAudio clip: UNKOWN CONVICT "Blues"

PATTON, CHARLIE King of the Delta Blues (Yazoo) cd 16.98

PATTON, CHARLIE Primeval Blues, Rags, and Gospel Songs (Yazoo) cd 16.98
Those who own the Charley Patton "Screamin' And Hollerin' The Blues" box set on Revenant can probably skip this, as you got all these tracks already... But maybe you should read along anyway. For this collection producer Richard Nevins searched far & wee for the best extant copies of Patton 78's and made an esthetic decision not to gouge away at the original recordings so much with the audio restoration software that's been all the rage with reissues of early recordings of late (as in for the last ten or so years.) For those of you who couldn't shovel out the dough for Revenant's definitive collection, Primeval Rags... is a great substitution writ small. Almost any 23 tracks by Patton would have been a fine anthology, as there's hardly a track ever recorded of him was anything less than stellar. This is the man after all that the legendary Robert Johnson -- along with myriad other blues and bluegrass musicians alike -- could name as the biggest influence on his playing. They just don't make singing voices like this anymore. Both soft and subtle and powerful enough to knock the doors off your barn and bottleneck guitar playing that will have you sobbing out of pure respect.
MPEG Stream: "Revenue Man Blues"
MPEG Stream: "Troubles Bout My Mother"

PATTON, MIKE Adult Themes for Voice (Tzadik) cd 16.98
Like chilling in the greyhound station listening to Aphex Twin through a shitty boombox... Only it's some guy sitting in a hotel room at 4 in the morning screaming into a 4-track.

PATTON, MIKE Pranzo Oltranzista (Tzadik) cd 15.98
Mr. Bungle/Faith No More vocalist Patton's debut as composer, following his previous solo Tzadik noise-fest. On this record, he is joined by John Zorn, Eric Friedlander, Marc Ribot and William Winant, for a Naked City-esque bash!

PATTON, MIKE / X-ECUTIONERS General Patton Vs. X-ecutioners (Ipecac) cd 15.98

PAUL NEWMAN Machine Is Not Broken (My Pal God) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
After a couple of Trance Syndicate releases, Paul Newman (the band whose bassist's name is also Paul Newman) follows the humid instrumental post-rock done Texas style from Winsdor For The Derby or Bedhead.

PAUL NEWMAN Re-Issue (My Pal God) cd 12.98

PAUL NEWMAN This Is How It Is Lost (Emperor Jones) cd 13.98

PAUL NICE, DJ 14 Cold Blooded Breaks (Super Break Records) lp 11.98
DJ Paul Nice's battle breaks for fearless turntablist DJs.

PAUL, SEAN The Trinity (VP) cd 17.98

PAVEMENT Brighten The Corners (Matador) cd 10.98
We wasted much time rolling round the floor laughing at Cory Brown's Pavement 'review', that we thought we'd get some use out if it by reprinting here: "Well, there was this one Lollapalooza show we did, I think it was the middle of the tour, and Bob was getting out of control, as he tends to do. He just started going off, dancing crazily around the stage yelling 'Cacahuate!' Which means peanut in Mexican. Then he got pissed that the kids were moshing to 'Cut Your Hair' for, like, the umpteenth time, so he decided to moon the audience. Just then, some kid threw a tangerine at the stage and it got caught right between his cheeks. That was cool."

PAVEMENT Brighten The Corners (Matador) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We wasted much time rolling round the floor laughing at Cory Brown's Pavement 'review', that we thought we'd get some use out if it by reprinting here: "Well, there was this one Lollapalooza show we did, I think it was the middle of the tour, and Bob was getting out of control, as he tends to do. He just started going off, dancing crazily around the stage yelling 'Cacahuate!' Which means peanut in Mexican. Then he got pissed that the kids were moshing to 'Cut Your Hair' for, like, the umpteenth time, so he decided to moon the audience. Just then, some kid threw a tangerine at the stage and it got caught right between his cheeks. That was cool."

PAVEMENT Crooked Rain Crooked Rain (Matador) 2cd 15.98
It's kind of sad when we hear stuff played to death, no matter how good it is, we find ourselves never wanting to hear it again. That's definitely the curse of commercial radio. I mean, can you imagine if you had never heard Led Zeppelin, or AC/DC or even "Freebird". How totally psyched you'd be. You would have your ass kicked on a daily basis. The same sort of thing happened with nineties indie rock. It was a time unmatched since, with band after band crafting perfect, clever jangly pop songs, but after a while, all it would have taken was hearing "Cut Your Hair" one more time to drive us into a psychotic rage. But given a little distance, and then given the chance to revisit arguably one of the finest moments in indie rock, one can't help but be blown away once again. Westing By Musket And Sextant may have been Pavement's experimental artrock masterpiece, and Slanted And Enchanted was THE ONE, the record that launched whatever you want to call it, indie rock, nineties college rock, slacker rock. But we all know that Crooked Rain was their finest moment. Where their sloppy chaotic need-to-annoy roots perfectly meshed with brilliant song writing, clever and witty lyrics and perect pop instrumentation. Lo-fi only in attitude, Crooked Rain was a solid 10. A perfect indie pop masterpiece. Shambolic and always on the verge of collapse but still so utterly without equal. No filler to be found. Or if there was filler, it was so good that you couldn't imagine the record without it. And then of course there was "Cut Your Hair", maybe the best indie rock song ever, with it's ridiculously catchy melody, ooh ooh vocals and snarky Stone Temple Pilots bashing lyrics.
So here we are ten years later and you know what? It's just as good as you remember. And the icing on the double cd reissue cake is nine single b-sides, two compilation tracks including Andee's favorite Pavement song ever "Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence", a sort-of heartfelt ode to R.E.M. featuring the unforgettably funny (but right on) refrain: "TIME AFTER TIME WAS MY LEAST FAVORITE SONG!!" and a whole frickin' disc of unreleased tracks recorded during the Crooked Rain sessions. Twenty one new (to us at least) tracks plus a Peel session (R.I.P. John Peel) from 1994.
So do yourself a favor and pick this up, and maybe also Guided By Voices' Bee Thousand and revisit indie rock's golden years and come to the somewhat shocking realisation, much like we did, that nothing has even come close since then.
MPEG Stream: "Silence Kit"
MPEG Stream: "Elevate Me Later"
MPEG Stream: "Stop Breathin'"
MPEG Stream: "Unfair"
MPEG Stream: "Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence"

PAVEMENT Major League (Matador) cd 4.98
Hey Stephen, do you remember when you didn't take your indie rock super stardom for granted? When you liked Beefheart? What the fuck happened? Why do you have to write such crappy adult contemporary rock songs now?

PAVEMENT Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Reduxe (Matador) cd 17.98
As much as I've whined and moaned about Pavement's last few albums being, in my opinion, less than wonderful, no one can dispute the fact that Slanted & Enchanted is one fucking great record. If you have never heard Pavement's full length debut, stop reading right now. Just buy it. It's like the zenith of indie rock. It could be the only indie rock record you own and you would still have the best of the genre. (And if you disagree, my friend Andee will beat you up.) The songs are so satisfyingly melodic yet delivered all fractured and suffused with a lackadaisical sort of ironic stance. Which was at one point cool, remember?
Anyway, what we have here is a deluxe double disc reissue for the price of a single disc. In addition to the entire Slanted & Enchanted album, you get: several tracks from the Slanted session, a John Peel octet of tunes, the Watery Domestic ep, tracks from the Watery session, and an entire live show! A total of 48 tracks, 23 of which are previously unreleased.
The accompanying booklet is full of juicy tidbits from Matador label guys Chris Lombard and Gerard Cosloy, Drag City founder Dan Koretzky (both labels wanted to release it), their booker, and the band itself. So essential.
RealAudio clip: "Summer Babe"
RealAudio clip: "Baptist Blacktick"

PAVEMENT Slanted And Enchanted (Matador) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

PAVEMENT Slow Century (Matador) dvd 26.00

PAVEMENT Spit On A Stranger (Matador) 7" 3.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Features four tracks not to be found anywhere else (but only one, different from those on the cd, on the 7").