JOY DIVISION Closer (Qwest) cd 12.98

JOY DIVISION Les Bains Douches (Dynamic) cd 16.98

JOY DIVISION Les Bains Douches (Get Back) 2lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Legit live recordings from the vaults of Factory Records. Disc one is comprised of one night at Les Baines Douches in Paris, 1979. Intended for radio broadcast, this quality recording does well to capture the raw, vibrant energy of Joy Division at the peak of their powers. Disc two combines live tracks recorded the following year in Amsterdam and Eindoven. Packaged in a sturdy gatefold jacket with liner notes by Factory Records head Anthony Wilson. Sixteen tracks, three nights and two heavy slabs of blue vinyl. Ah, we remember when we were young...

JOY DIVISION Preston 28 February 1980 (Dynamic) cd 16.98

JOY DIVISION Substance (Factory / Warner) cd 12.98

JOY DIVISION Unknown Pleasures (Factory / Warner) cd 12.98

JOY ZIPPER s/t (Bar None) cd 14.98
Imagine this scene: the Elephant 6 Collective are having a lil' summertime picnic in the park (yes, the Olivias, Apples, Of Montreal... heck, they're all there). The trio known as Joy Zipper peek out from behind a nearby tree and break out into song. Upon hearing the sweet popness, the E6 gang invite them over and lovely cozy melodies ensue. Dreamy guitar and keyboards. Youthful boy/girl vocals. Moments of quirky twists. Fans of the Apples in Stereo, Death Cab For Cutie or Elliott Smith, take note. If this is any indication, each and every time we've played this in the store we've received multiple inquiries asking who this pop wonder is. Cup says "Yeah!"

JOYCE The Essential Joyce 1970-1996 (Mr. Bongo) cd 15.98
In the last edition of the Wire, while listening to records for the Invisible Jukebox, Stereolab mistook Joyce for AQ-favorites Os Mutantes. Like Os Mutantes, this brazillian songstress fuses american psychadelia with traditional Brazillian folk music and ends up sounding like a folkier, more soothing Os Mutantes.

JOYCE The Essential Joyce 1970-1996 (Mr. Bongo) lp 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In the last edition of the Wire, while listening to records for the Invisible Jukebox, Stereolab mistook Joyce for AQ-favorites Os Mutantes. Like Os Mutantes, this brazillian songstress fuses american psychedelia with traditional Brazillian folk music and ends up sounding like a folkier, more soothing Os Mutantes.

JOYNER, SIMON Beautiful Losers: Singles And Compilation Tracks 1994-1999 (Jagjaguwar) cd 16.98
Somewhere in the company of Bob Dylan, John Darnielle and Daniel Johnston sits the quirky folk of Nebraskan Simon Joyner. This cd gathers together a heap of his long-gone tunes (offered in non-chronological order). Some are genuine lo-fi folk treasures, while others... well, let's just say, some things are best left in the vaults. Such is the case with the fourth song "Jeff Engel Rules" which is horribly disfigured by a gawdawfully out of tune violin. Yikes. That song does serve a purpose though. It makes you appreciate the next somber song "Don't Begrudge A Man His Funeral" all the more. Twenty one intimate bare-boned weepers, most of them acoustic, so very fitting for these drizzly days.
MPEG Stream: "Jeff Engel Rules"
MPEG Stream: "Burn Rubber"

JOYNER, SIMON Heaven's Gate (Brinkman) cd 14.98
Acoustic guitar and sparse instrumentation, plus quietly dissonant vocals a la Dylan, from this British member of the Shrimper/lo-fi nation.

JOYNER, SIMON Hotel Lives (Truckstop) cd 14.98
Beloved Omaha, Nebraska native singer-songwriter combines the best elements of Leonard Cohen poetry and pacing, Nick Cave's simply drawn drama and lush, lazy instrumentation. For fans Vic Chestnut and Bob Dylan.
RealAudio clip: "hotel suite"
RealAudio clip: "blue hammer"

JOYNER, SIMON Lost With The Lights On (Jagjaguwar) cd 12.98
Simon Joyner finds a new home at Jagjaguwar, and it's more than fitting. For instance, the label is also home to hushed heartfelt Canadian folk chanteuse Julie Doiron... oooh, perhaps a duet could be arranged?! Simply put, Lost With The Lights On is comprised of eight of his trademark downer spartan folk story-songs. Definitely a man of consistency, you may find yourself noticing that he often used the same waltzing tempo. Makes you kinda wonder if each time he records a new album he's recycling his backing tracks from previous ones! Nonetheless, his voice is in top weary, bleary-eyed form, and the earthy instrumental backdrop supports and echoes the weight of his folk melancholia. A prime example of this is the second song "Evening Song To Sally". Surely will not disappoint his longtime fans! And we should also note that for those unfamiliar with his music, if you've enjoyed the fine albums by such artists as Arab Strap's Malcolm Middleton, Crooked Fingers or the above-mentioned Ms Doiron, you very well should lend Mr. Joyner your ear.
MPEG Stream: "Evening Song To Sally"
MPEG Stream: "Blue"

JOYNER, SIMON Room Temperature (One Hour Records) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More heartfelt folksy singer songwriter material from the beloved Simon Joyner, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and sounding like a sweet cousin to Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt and Vic Chestnutt, with the fragile upper-ranges-but-not-quite-falsetto-delivery of Daniel Johnston.
RealAudio clip: "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line"
RealAudio clip: "Ruby Slippers"

JOYNER, SIMON Skeleton Blues (Jagjaguar) cd 13.98
The singer/songwriter brethren is a sizable lot, and we've definitely all got our personal faves. This fellow has pleased our ears plenty over the years -- evolving from late '90s lo-fi troubadour to today's lush, earthy and comparatively hi-fi wonder. He's drawn many a comparison to Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt, Mark Eitzel and Bob Dylan, and these reference points continue to fit. On Skeleton Blues however, his voice sounds more weathered and wryly akin to Robyn Hitchcock. Which is by no means a bad thing... just a little unexpected for those familiar with his older recordings. A fine album nonetheless!
MPEG Stream: "Open Window Blues"
MPEG Stream: "Answer Night"

JOYNER, SIMON The Christine EP (Secretly Canadian) cd 7.98
From the heir to Eitzel and Cohen. Sad sad songs. When is the rest of the world going to catch on?

JOYNER, SIMON The Christine EP (Secretly Canadian) lp 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From the heir to Eitzel and Cohen. Sad sad songs. When is the rest of the world going to catch on?

JOYNER, SIMON Yesterday, Tommorrow, and In Between (Sing, Eunchs!) 2cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Elliott Smith does not have to be the only folk troubadour of the '90s... Not when Simon Joyner can follow in Leonard Cohen's footsteps of sad crooner songs and heart breaking melodies.

JPT SCARE BAND Sleeping Sickness (Monster) cd 14.98

JR EWING Ride Paranoia (GSL) cd 13.98
Apart from their moniker, there's nary a hint of the '80s TV show Dallas in JR Ewing's music. They are in fact an aggressive quintet from Oslo, Norway whose second album has found a perfect home on Gold Standard Laboratories. Hard rockin' chunks of crunchy guitars, pounding bass and drums with scream-sung vocals. Amid all the thrashing, there hides a hook or two which made me think of a heavier more abrasive Hives. However, these guys are far more hardcore than garage punk, and they've got a trick or two of their own up their sleeves which occasionally take shape via the addition of electronics and noise detailing. While nudging at the boundaries of hardcore, Ride Paranoia just might take out an eye or cause blistering on tender eardrums.
MPEG Stream: "Repetition Is Failure"
MPEG Stream: "An Introduction To..."

JUAN DE LA CRUZ Himig Natin (Vicor) cd 15.98
Some time ago we raved about a disc entitled Shake Your Brains by a real-deal '70s stoner rock band from the Phillipines called the Juan Dela Cruz band. Turns out that disc, now long-gone and out of print, was actually a compilation of tracks taken from the Juan Dela Cruz albums Himig Natin and Maskara, which we discovered have just recently been reissued in their native land. Our mission was clear, and now we've managed to track down copies of both discs from a Phillipine supplier. They're supposedly "digitally remastered" but suffer from no-frills packaging, though, without much in the way of a booklet (pet peeve #493 strikes again) and chintzy "now on cd!" graphics marring the cover art repro. Still, these are the only way to acquire the most killer stuff by these obscure heavy rock legends. Here's some of what we said about that Shake Your Brains disc if you missed it:
"Juan De La Cruz (a band, not a man, so it's filed under "J") was a hard-rock powerhouse powertrio from the Phillippines. If you're hip to other obscurites from the era, imagine a cross between Buffalo and Los Dug Dug's! Totally rocked out bluesy stoner jams, with brilliantly fucked sex and party obsessed lyrics ("get drunk all day, get down all night", "I'll just wait for you down in the alley / and I'll show you how it can be"). And guitarist Wally Gonzales has got his acid-psych leads down, man! It's not clear who's singing (it might be the drummer, who previously played in the equally primal Japanese psychrock band Speed, Glue, & Shinki) but whoever it is, he's got the perfect delivery for this stuff, which includes one of our all-time favorite garage-psych songs, "I Wanna Say Yeah" -- perhaps the ultimate rock n' roll song title/lyric *EVER*. I mean, yeah! None of today's punks, stoners, or garage revivalists can touch that."
That Shake Your Brains disc consisted of ten songs -- taking four of Himig Natin's nine tracks and six of Masakara's dozen -- about half of each. And probably the better half of each, we have to say. But some stuff not selected that you'll find on these albums is just as good, and besides which you can't get Shake Your Brains anymore. So if you want to hear "Beep Beep" and "I Wanna Say Yeah" and "Shake Your Brains" you've gotta get these two discs!
Himig Natin came out originally in 1973 and features, as both albums do, the line-up of Wally Gonzales (guitar), Mike Hanopol (bass), and Joseph Smith (drums, acoustic guitar). It's got the aforementioned "I Wanna Say Yeah" and the song with the "down in the alley" lyrics, "Take You Home" (also recorded by Speed Glue & Shinki), among other highlights. Some cuts are on the bluesier side, they do one Chuck Berry song ("Round And Round"), and another one's a Greatful Dead cover! It's a rollicking version of "Big Boss Man", not being a Deadhead I don't know if that's an obscure cover or not, and I also wouldn't have guessed it was a Dead song either. The album winds up with the rather pretty title track, wherein Smith's acoustic comes into play.
MPEG Stream: "Take You Home"
MPEG Stream: "I Wanna Say Yeah"

JUAN DE LA CRUZ Maskara (Vicor) cd 15.98
Some time ago we raved about a disc entitled Shake Your Brains by a real-deal '70s stoner rock band from the Phillipines called the Juan Dela Cruz band. Turns out that disc, now long-gone and out of print, was actually a compilation of tracks taken from the Juan Dela Cruz albums Himig Natin and Maskara, which we discovered have just recently been reissued in their native land. Our mission was clear, and now we've managed to track down copies of both discs from a Phillipine supplier. They're supposedly "digitally remastered" but suffer from no-frills packaging, though, without much in the way of a booklet (pet peeve #493 strikes again) and chintzy "now on cd!" graphics marring the cover art repro. Still, these are the only way to acquire the most killer stuff by these obscure heavy rock legends. Here's some of what we said about that Shake Your Brains disc if you missed it:
"Juan De La Cruz (a band, not a man, so it's filed under "J") was a hard-rock powerhouse powertrio from the Phillippines. If you're hip to other obscurites from the era, imagine a cross between Buffalo and Los Dug Dug's! Totally rocked out bluesy stoner jams, with brilliantly fucked sex and party obsessed lyrics ("get drunk all day, get down all night", "I'll just wait for you down in the alley / and I'll show you how it can be"). And guitarist Wally Gonzales has got his acid-psych leads down, man! It's not clear who's singing (it might be the drummer, who previously played in the equally primal Japanese psychrock band Speed, Glue, & Shinki) but whoever it is, he's got the perfect delivery for this stuff, which includes one of our all-time favorite garage-psych songs, "I Wanna Say Yeah" -- perhaps the ultimate rock n' roll song title/lyric *EVER*. I mean, yeah! None of today's punks, stoners, or garage revivalists can touch that."
That Shake Your Brains disc consisted of ten songs -- taking four of Himig Natin's nine tracks and six of Masakara's dozen -- about half of each. And probably the better half of each, we have to say. But some stuff not selected that you'll find on these albums is just as good, and besides which you can't get Shake Your Brains anymore. So if you want to hear "Beep Beep" and "I Wanna Say Yeah" and "Shake Your Brains" you've gotta get these two discs!
The title of 1974's Masakara might possibly relate in some way to the sleeve photo of the band in facepaint... So cool. They mellow out on a few of the tracks, but mostly these are heavy duty rockers! A few highlights: "Pinoy Blues", "Nadapa Sa Arina", "Beep Beep", "We Love You", "Palengke", and "Pagod Sa Pahinga" -- a lot more Tagalog language lyrics/titles here than on the previous album. And no covers this time, as far as we know.
MPEG Stream: "Beep Beep"
MPEG Stream: "Rak En Roll Sa Mundo"

JUAN DE LA CRUZ Shake Your Brains (Crystal Emporium) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Juan De La Cruz (a band, not a man, so it's filed under "J") was a hard-rock powerhouse powertrio from the Phillippines who flourished in the nineteen seventies. If you're hip to other obscurites from the era, imagine a cross between Buffalo and Los Dug Dug's! This bootleg-looking disc reissues one of their earliest albums (no date given, sorry, but we'd guess '71 or so), and it's a killer. Totally rocked out bluesy stoner jams, with brilliantly fucked sex and party obsessed lyrics ("get drunk all day, get down all night", "I'll just wait for you down in the alley / and I'll show you how it can be"). And guitarist Wally Gonzales has got his acid-psych leads down, man! It's not clear who's singing (it might be the drummer, an American who previously played in the equally primal Japanese psychrock band Speed, Glue, & Shinki) but whoever it is, he's got the perfect delivery for this stuff, which includes one of our all-time favorite garage-psych songs, "I Wanna Say Yeah" -- perhaps the ultimate rock n' roll song title/lyric *EVER*. I mean, yeah! None of today's punks, stoners, or garage revivalists can touch that. (Although, parts of this album *do* remind us a bit of Drunk Horse!)
We'll soon have another Juan de la Cruz reissue, a 1970 recording called "Up In Arms" that Shadoks is putting out real soon. Apparently it's got a ton of unreleased live stuff on it, can't wait!
RealAudio clip: "I Wanna Say Yeah"
RealAudio clip: "Shake Your Brains"

JUAN DE LA CRUZ BAND Up In Arms (Shadoks Music) cd 14.98
Here's that other Juan de la Cruz reissue we promised last list in our review of their "Shake Your Brains" album. "Up In Arms" was the band's debut from 1971. Like "Shake Your Brains" this is psychedelic hard rock, but it's a bit more psych, and less hard, than that album. On "Shake Your Brains" the band was stripped down to a power trio, but here they're augmented with piano, organ, sax, and flute, instrumentation that brings in some jazzier, trippier sounds than the basic garagey heaviness found on "Shake Your Brains". The liner notes tell us that the band was one of the Philippines's biggest, partially thanks to their performance in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Cultural Center of the Philippines! That led to them gigging at that same Cultural Center with the Philippine National Philharmonic! Wow. It's a little hard to imagine that their brand of bluesy, heavy-duty hippie rock really meshed well with a symphony orchestra (doing songs like "Mystery Roach" and "Requiem For A Head"?), but I guess Deep Purple was an inspiration. Anyway, "Up In Arms" has got some fine acid-rock jams, as well as mellower psych-pop moments. Which are nice, if not exactly what we were hoping for. BUT, the bonus tracks that occupy the entire second half of this hour-long disc (tracks 7 through 12) are quite a bit heavier. Recorded "live and in concert", the Juan de la Cruz Band kicks out the jams on a bunch of Tagalog-language cuts including several from the "Shake Your Brains" LP. No info is provided as to where or when this live stuff was recorded, but it all sounds great, and is totally rockin'.
RealAudio clip: "Requiem For A Head"
RealAudio clip: "Sarap Ng Buhay"

JUCIFER I Name You Destroyer (Velocette) cd 14.98
Jucifer made me woozy. Not a bad thing! When it started with delicate female vocals over shoegazer psychedelia, I thought "one part My Bloody Valentine, one part Lush, one part Veruca Salt", but that didn't last too long. Add "five parts Melvins". The breathy female vox soon meet ballsy thick fuzz guitars. Pretty damn rockin'... and it all gets progressively more so. By the fourth song ("Queen B"), the heavy duty nutbusters have been unleashed, although they pretty things up again later, always keeping you guessing as to when the crushing riffs will come in. If you've been paying attention (unlike me) you'd have been expecting this from our review of Jucifer's previous effort, "The Lambs EP". To recap: Jucifer are a massively-amped two-piece from Georgia or someplace, with a frenzied, hard-hitting male drummer and a heavier-than-thou female guitarist, who also handles the singing, a blend of beastly and beautiful that is this duo's forte. "Death Pop" they call it. The 15 tracks here vary the predominant drums/guitar brutality with some hypnotic keyboard atmospheres and effects. Boris meets the Breeders?
RealAudio clip: "Amplifier "
RealAudio clip: "Queen B"
RealAudio clip: "Little Fever"

JUCIFER If Thine Enemy Hunger (Relapse) cd 14.98
Sweet southern shoegazer stoner dirge metal?? Well it makes lots of sense here. It's been two years since this band's last release, the (excellent) ep War Bird. A long wait but worth it, as Jucifer have become one of our go-to bands for music that's both punishingly heavy yet also thoroughly laced with indie-pop prettiness, and this new one does not disappoint on either score. For those of you that need the intro, these fuzzed-out faves of ours are a male/female two-piece from Georgia (home to Harvey Milk as well, and we imagine some sort of kinship), the guy on drums and the gal on guitar and vox, pushing more air than most five-piece bands, amp on 11, crushingly heavy but with enough spaciousness in the mix to allow for the lady's lovely, breathy vocals to soar over her doomier than thou riffage. She can also manage some stressed out banshee screams when necessary. We've always compared Jucifer to an unholy mixture of the Melvins and the Breeders and that holds true here on If Thine Enemy Hunger, their first album for diverse metal label Relapse. And we're not sure why we never thought of it before, maybe it's more noticeable on this album, but listening to this we're thinking Nirvana Nirvana Nirvana, it's very In Utero sounding at times!! Which we can't help but like. Some of it's just that catchy, and that moody. Just in time for the current AQ grunge obsession! (Though this is more like a stripped down, alt-rock Boris than a grunge band, we should note). We're in love.
MPEG Stream: "She Ties The Deep"
MPEG Stream: "Lucky Ones Burn"

JUCIFER If Thine Enemy Hunger (Relapse) lp 16.98
Sweet southern shoegazer stoner dirge metal?? Well it makes lots of sense here. It's been two years since this band's last release, the (excellent) ep War Bird. A long wait but worth it, as Jucifer have become one of our go-to bands for music that's both punishingly heavy yet also thoroughly laced with indie-pop prettiness, and this new one does not disappoint on either score. For those of you that need the intro, these fuzzed-out faves of ours are a male/female two-piece from Georgia (home to Harvey Milk as well, and we imagine some sort of kinship), the guy on drums and the gal on guitar and vox, pushing more air than most five-piece bands, amp on 11, crushingly heavy but with enough spaciousness in the mix to allow for the lady's lovely, breathy vocals to soar over her doomier than thou riffage. She can also manage some stressed out banshee screams when necessary. We've always compared Jucifer to an unholy mixture of the Melvins and the Breeders and that holds true here on If Thine Enemy Hunger, their first album for diverse metal label Relapse. And we're not sure why we never thought of it before, maybe it's more noticeable on this album, but listening to this we're thinking Nirvana Nirvana Nirvana, it's very In Utero sounding at times!! Which we can't help but like. Some of it's just that catchy, and that moody. Just in time for the current AQ grunge obsession! (Though this is more like a stripped down, alt-rock Boris than a grunge band, we should note). We're in love.
MPEG Stream: "She Ties The Deep"
MPEG Stream: "Lucky Ones Burn"

JUCIFER L'Autrichienne (Relapse) cd 14.98
Just about the last thing we'd expect from this boy/girl Southern doom-dirge duo (and sometimes shoegazing indie-pop pair) is a concept album about the French Revolution. But with tracks like "Fall Of The Bastille" and "Procession A La Guillotine" that's what you get here, though!!
The 21 tracks here veer wildly from thrashing hardcore (with rabid vokills) one moment, to grungy rock riffage graced with blissed out female vocals (some in French) the next... There's a hushed acoustic interlude or three, and vast tracts of crushing glacial doooooooom as well. From track to track, this is all over the place, you'll never know quite what to expect next. It's eccentric, ambitious, sorta schizo, and heck we're impressed. More importantly, entertained, 'cause even with all the variety, Jucifer fans (such as ourselves) can count on this 66 minutes of music to include plenty of the band's usual distorto-sludge amp worshiping heavy rockin' heaviness a la Boris, as well as plenty of guitarist Amber Valentine's lovely, breathy melodic vox, the other crucial element of the unusual but effective Jucifer formula. It's sorta like you've got the Melvins playing loud on the stereo in one corner of your room, while you're also listening to Mirah or Mary Timony singing sweetly on your iPod headphones. And again, on top of that, it's about the French Revolution. Way to go Jucifer, really threw us for a loop. Vive La Revolution!
MPEG Stream: "To Earth"
MPEG Stream: "L'Autrichienne"
MPEG Stream: "The Mountain"

JUCIFER The Lambs EP (Velocette) cd ep 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Terrible name, let's get that out of the way. The band says they wanted something that was both sweet (juice) and sinister (Lucifer), but it wasn't a good idea -- try saying it aloud. Jew-cifer? Whoops. And whether people will mistake them for anti-semites or not, it's still a dumb-sounding name. But, a bad name does not a bad band make, at least in this case. The Jucifer concept, in a nutshell: they're a two-piece with one crazy guy bashing the drum kit, and one rather attractive girl cranking out metallic, Melvins-worthy riffs on the guitar. She's also the singer, capable of both Breeders-ish breathy melody and harsh screaming. Throw in some ominous piano to fill the lulls between the massive guitar sonics and drum bashing, and you've got a definite winner for fans of all things heavy and dirgey and unusual. It's like a female-fronted shoegazer outfit amped up to heavy metal levels. 4 songs, 20 minutes.
RealAudio clip: "Lambs"

JUCIFER War Bird (Velocette) cd ep 5.98
Yay, a new EP from this AQ fave, a guitar/drums girl/boy two-piece who produce massive MELVINSy heaviness and then caress said heaviness with breathy, beautiful female vocals, as if trying to soothe a wild beast of their own creation. She even sings in French on one track. As we've come to expect from 'em, War Bird is indeed lumbering, distorted, droning dirge-metal blessed with some quiet/mellow interludes as the band occasionally stops to smell the flowers before trampling them underfoot. From surging to soporific, there's six songs here including one acoustic country-folk anomaly -- about 23 minutes of music in total -- plus an additional 46 minute track that's a field recording of (mainly) crickets! Presumably, recorded in their backyard in Georgia. Thus, a 69 minute ep!
MPEG Stream: "Ides Of Light"
MPEG Stream: "Seth"

JUD JUD No Tolerance for Instruments (Scehmatics) 7" 3.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Once you realize this amazing single is totally acapella, the title finally makes sense! Jud Jud do stunningly perfect straight-edge punk/grindcore/emo -- except that every cymbal crash, every wail of guitar feedback, every single note is done acapella! Must be heard to be believed! This is their second single. Now if only they would do a covers album...

JUD JUD X-the demos-X (No Idea) 7" 3.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Probably one of the funniest records we have ever heard, this is a parody of early 80's straight edge complete with tour posters of Jud Jud headlining over Minor Threat, Seven Seconds, and Uniform Choice and a heartfelt mention of friendships and motivation and dreams becoming reality and the importance of their lyrics. Only Jud Jud's lyrics go a bit like this: JUD JUD JAH, JUD JUD JUD, JUD JUD JAH, TSSS TSSS TSSSSS, JUD JUD EEEEEEE, JUD JUD EEEEEE, JUD JAAAAAAAAA, JUD JUD, JUD JUD JAAAAAAAA, JUD JUD JUD, WAH NAH, JUD JUD JUD, WAH NAH, JUD JUD JUD, NING NING NING, JUD JUD, DIGGA DIGGA DIGGA, JUD JUD, EEEEEEEE, DUJ DUJ, DIGGA DIGGA DIGGA, JUD JUD JUD, JUD JUD, BBBDDDTLUM PPPPP, BBBDDDTLUM PPPP, JUD JUD JUD, DUJ DUJ, EEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU, JUD JUD. And that's it--no guitars, no drums. Yep, that's right. Exactly like every straight edge single you've ever heard, only it's A CAPELLA! Even the 'feedback' whines are a capella! Excellent and hilarious.

JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES Abraca A Tristeza (Vanguard Squad) cd 9.98
Bay Area band Judith And Holofernes take traditional Portuguese fado music and give it a gentle twist. Gracefully picked guitar flourishes are accompanied by male and female vocals that actually bring to mind those of Low's Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker (particularly on their last album The Great Destroyer). In fact, at times, Judith And Holofernes seem to be not so distant rural cousins of those somber slowcore faves. Pressing the comparisons even closer, electric guitar drones thicken the album's atmosphere and give the proceedings a bit more gravity. May we recommend that Abraca A Tristeza be listened to by candlelight? Yes! Enjoy these moody beauties as they glimmer in and out of the shadows.
MPEG Stream: "Euphoria Fades"
MPEG Stream: "Flattering Inaccuracy Of Memory"

JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES Abraca A Tristeza (Vanguard Squad) lp 9.98
Bay Area band Judith And Holofernes take traditional Portuguese fado music and give it a gentle twist. Gracefully picked guitar flourishes are accompanied by male and female vocals that actually bring to mind those of Low's Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker (particularly on their last album The Great Destroyer). In fact, at times, Judith And Holofernes seem to be not so distant rural cousins of those somber slowcore faves. Pressing the comparisons even closer, electric guitar drones thicken the album's atmosphere and give the proceedings a bit more gravity. May we recommend that Abraca A Tristeza be listened to by candlelight? Yes! Enjoy these moody beauties as they glimmer in and out of the shadows.
MPEG Stream: "Euphoria Fades"
MPEG Stream: "Flattering Inaccuracy Of Memory"

JUKEBOXER In the Food Chain (Absolutely Kosher) cd 13.98
With a bandname like that, you might be expecting a power pop trio or some other energetic upbeat combo, but no! This new addition to the ever-growing, wide-ranging Absolutely Kosher label family (Wrens, Xiu Xiu, Mountain Goats, Frog Eyes, Court & Spark et al) is a subdued, contemplative earthy ensemble. Their music suggests more so an antique wind-up musicbox than an electric jukebox. Quite akin to recent neo-folksters such as Joanna Newsom, Vetiver and Faun Fables. They make the kind of airy, enchanting music that draws you near, you'll want/need to lean in close to catch every hushed, chiming note and drifting seraphim vocal. So pretty!
MPEG Stream: "Terrestrial"
MPEG Stream: "House Burning Down"

JULIE MITTENS, THE s/t (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98
Glorious fuzzed out howl, rather dark and desolate despite the warm and fuzzy sounding name. Well maybe fuzzy is right, the guitars certainly are... This is the first cd release (after some obscure limited edition vinyl and cd-r action) from this Dutch improvisational "free rock" power trio. It's no surprise that they've found a home on the Holy Mountain label, alongside the likes of Suishou No Fune, Zodiacs, Lichens, La Otracina, and the Davis Redford Triad, amongst others. It's definitely some Holy Mountain sounding shit! Mega-massive distorted whale call guitar explorations, displaying density and intensity on par with Japanese units like Keiji Haino's Fushitsusha. There's four lengthy tracks here, 66 minutes total time, studio-recorded but presumably live without overdubs, each one of them deserving of a serious "whew!" when finished. The wind-tunnel of feedback from the amplifier abusing guitarist is ably supported by the bassist's clouds of low-end tones and the percussionist's jazz-worthy, freely fractured drum kit hits, in a moody, never too busy interplay of paradoxically controlled chaos. It's channelled volume and energy, boring a hole in your skull through your ears to the part of your brain where you imagine John Coltrane's sheets of sound, stretched out and slowed down and ground up, electrified for guitar strings instead of sax... Whew! We like.
MPEG Stream: "December 12, 2006 #1"
MPEG Stream: "December 12, 2006 #2"

JULY s/t (Aftermath) cd 17.98
First cd issue of what is reportedly a highly sought after record of UK psychedelic rock. The singer's got a nice Skip Spence strain in his voice, and there's a lot of sitar on top of the more traditional instrumentation, and the winsome harmonies are sweet. Other than that, it's pretty good but not mindblowing so we're recommending it only to hardcore psych freaks who already have all the Kinks records, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental band reissues, etc. You know who you are.
RealAudio clip: "Jolly Mary"
RealAudio clip: "Hallo to Me"

JULY s/t (Rev-Ola) cd 17.98
July is one of a myriad of UK psych bands to come out of the paisley maelstrom of the post-Sgt. Pepper's London psych scene in the late sixties. One who would still remain a minor footnote if they had never made this brilliant and amazing debut album. It's a highly collectible psych artifact for good reason. It's awesome!!!!!!!! We've been playing it nearly non-stop since we got it, and it's pretty much an across the board store favorite.
Starting out years earlier as the Tomcats (amongst many other line-up changes and band names that defined the hectic scene back in the day) and influenced by the same wave of American R&B that bands like the Stones and Spencer Davis Group were, they soon realized the London scene was too crowded for them and headed off to the France and Spain for a couple of years to tighten their chops. When they came back in 1968, the sound and scene had changed once again from R&B to full on flowery acid-psych. Armed with good songs and well-rehearsed from touring, they quickly snagged a record deal and used the studio to augment their songs with all manner of gimmickry such as phasing, delays and tape-loops and far-out instrumentation of sitars, tablas, and African percussion.
The band quickly cut one of the finest examples of acid-y psych pop to come out of the era, an engaging mix of lysergic dreaminess and lo-fi garage rock urgency. The only thing was, none of the members really liked the result. (Unlike us!) Certain choices like the "ugly" cover art and band name (changed to July to coincide with the album's release?!) were taken out of the band's control, and some members felt the studio gimmickry being used was far too gimmicky. At the time when so many bands like The Pretty Things, Pink Floyd, and Kaleidoscope were making stronger inroads with the psych sound and scene, July couldn't figure out what it should do with itself, and cutting only one more single (featured here among the bonus tracks), called it a day. Tragic! Listening to this today, you can hear its influence through bands like Olivia Tremor Control, early Guided By Voices, and Jennifer Gentle. If you have loved UK pop-psych albums such as Tangerine Dream by Kaleidoscope, S.F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things, and Pink Floyd's Pipers at The Gates of Dawn, July's self-titled debut will be one more jewel in that acid pop crown. So totally recommended.
NB. another July album called The Second of July of previous unissued recordings from 1967 exists as well, and hopefully also will be reissued by Rev-Ola.
MPEG Stream: "Jolly Mary"
MPEG Stream: "I See"
MPEG Stream: "Friendly Man"

JUMALHAMARA Slaughter The Messenger (Hammer-Of-Hate) cd ep 10.98
We've gotten to a really weird place in our music obsession, as evidenced by the fact that sometimes a recommendation against, is almost stronger than a recommendation FOR. Sounds weird but it's true. We have friends at other stores, who will tell us something is terrible, they hated it, but then will add "you might like it though." And the weird thing is, they're usually right (that we'll like it). We've developed such a taste for the bizarre, it's sometimes hard to tell if something is bad, or so fucked up it's genius.
However, one of those friends recommended against buying this very record, very vehemently in fact. Hard to recall, but it was something along the lines of it not being very metal and being all jangly and wussy. Fair enough. But they are from Finland, and they do have a song called "Discover The Pigtail"! Those two pieces of critical info were enough to overrule our friend's warning, and we're so glad they were.
This latest ep from Finnish black metal, psychedelic post rock horde Jumalhamara is AMAZING. Three songs, all on the long side, with a sound that is pretty difficult to pin down. It is easy to see why someone questing for serious black metal grimness might be disappointed. The record begins with the sound of children, laughing, playing, and what sounds like oinking pigs, a field recording of some village, until the band ROAR into action, pounding out a fierce blast of blackened buzz, grinding and intensely heavy, but it literally only lasts for about 10 seconds, then the band drifts off into some washed out hippy psych territory, all crooned reverbed vocals, lazy sun baked melodies, simple hand drums, slippery minimal bass, streaks of dubbed out distorted guitar, but for the most part, this is almost like some blackened Finnish Grateful Dead. Near the end there's even some fuzzy organ, the guitars get a bit heavier, the vocals moaning and chant-like, but it never really explodes, just gets thicker and more dense, while still seeming jammy and druggy. So awesome. Almost like a slightly heavier, way more fucked up black metal version of the recent Dead Man record.
"Discover The Pigtail" begins with glistening harmonics, which are soon joined by some strange off kilter drumming, tangled riffing and howled vocals, the cool thing about this track is that those harmonics never go away, so even as the band slithers and sprawls, spewing out a sort of buzzy blackness, the glistening shimmer totally shines through, diluting the heaviness, turning what might be something raw and heavy into something way more bizarre and trippy, at times it almost sounds like two records playing simultaneously, they drift in an out of sync, all very dizzying and gloriously tweaked.
The final track is the briefest of the bunch, and begins as a grinding gnarled and blackened doomic dirge, but not typically sludgy and murky, instead it's super dense and layered, the drums doing much more than pounding away, stumbling and skittering, beneath streaks of high end guitar, and chugging blown out riffage, the cymbals sizzling, the whole track recorded super hot and in the red, blasting and pounding and twisting until it fades out.
Definitely not really black metal, more like some sort of twisted doom-ed post rock avant psych, but still plenty heavy and really fucking great!
MPEG Stream: "The Swing"
MPEG Stream: "Discover The Pigtail"

JUNE OF 44 Anahata (Quarterstick) cd 13.98
Veering drastically from their Slintishly Rodanic past, Anahata heads for Fugazi country, with new markedly off key vocals, and some pseudo-ethno percussion. Immersed in the insulated world of indie rock, where a pedigree is everything, and everyone is an ego stroking yesman, there is no one to tell JO44, that they are not breaking new ground, they are slowly becoming less and less unique, and that Doug Scharin is not Stewart Copeland. A lot of people I know like this record, but if June of 44 for you (like me) were merely one of many bands, trying desperately to fill the void left by the demise of Slint/Rodan/Bastro, then this record will surely disappoint. Oh yeah. their usually sublime packaging has been replaced by the bad-rock-band-collage normally reserved for bands like Foghat or UFO.

JUNE OF 44 Four Great Points (Quarterstick) cd 13.98
Taking up where The Anatomy of Sharks left off, Four Great Points is probably the best June of 44 yet. The singing and the songs are better, and toward the end of the record they wander further into (for them) unexplored territory, incorporating moog, samples, spoken word, and meandering soundscapes.

JUNE OF 44 Four Great Points (Quarterstick) lp 10.98
Taking up where The Anatomy of Sharks left off, Four Great Points is probably the best June of 44 yet. The singing and the songs are better, and toward the end of the record they wander further into (for them) unexplored territory, incorporating moog, samples, spoken word, and meandering soundscapes.

JUNE OF 44 In The Fishtank (Konkurrent) cd 10.98
Following the Tortoise/The Ex collaboration, here's the newest installment in Konkurrent's "Fishtank" series. Recorded in February 1999 while on tour in Europe, here are six exclusive tracks of June of 44's unique jazz/post-rock experiments. The liner notes suggest that this is the "missing link" between their albums "Four Great Points" and "Anahata".

JUNE OF 44 In The Fishtank (Konkurrent) lp 7.98
Following the Tortoise/The Ex collaboration, here's the newest installment in Konkurrent's "Fishtank" series. Recorded in February 1999 while on tour in Europe, here are six exclusive tracks of June of 44's unique jazz/post-rock experiments. The liner notes suggest that this is the "missing link" between their albums "Four Great Points" and "Anahata".

JUNE OF 44 The Anatomy Of Sharks (Quarterstick) cd 8.98
New three-song ep from these post-rockers®. Maybe more experimental and stretched-out than before, with the drummer Doug Scharin bringing in some dub concepts from his band Him.

JUNE OF 44 The Anatomy Of Sharks (Quarterstick) 12" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
New three-song ep from these post-rockers®. Maybe more experimental and stretched-out than before, with the drummer Doug Scharin bringing in some dub concepts from his band Him.

JUNE OF 44 Tropics & Meridians (Quarterstick) cd 15.98

JUNEAU (Ba Da Bing!) cd 12.98
El Bobo at Revolver Distribution aptly describes the record thusly: "A primarily improvised series of musical events charted by two guitars and some drums that refreshingly doesn't suck for a change. Layers of droning noise and weaved interplay that drifts well between minimalist passages and soaring grand sound abstractions. A nice fill in the void between Dead C and the Ash Ra Temple." From Boston.

JUNIOR BOYS So This Is Goodbye (Domino) cd 14.98
Hailing from the cold climate of Ontario, Canada, Junior Boys are back with their second full length to add some warm sleek soul to the too often cold and icy dance floor. This is is how you always wished the Pet Shop Boys sounded. With his irresistibly smooth vocal stylings Jeremy Greenspan perfectly lays that laid back inviting voice atop synths, guitar, bass, drums and a laptop, creating a fully realized electronic pop sound. While so many others playing so called electro-pop are smothered in irony and look-at-us-we're-so-hip garb it's so refreshing to listen to the Junior Boys as they mean what they play and do it so so well. If you miss the magic of early Depeche Mode and Japan records this could be a welcome addition to your collection. The kind of sounds that you want to hear after a long night out, it not only keeps the beat on the dance floor, but when you finally get home, it slows things down and lets unwind as you take off your dance shoes and sink into some new romantic dreams. So nice!
MPEG Stream: "In The Morning"
MPEG Stream: "So This Is Goodbye"

JUNIOR PANTHERS s/t (Get Lost) cd 14.98
Sweet, sunny pop has the power to brighten a day! Those jangle'n'crunch guitars. Those mellow, uplifting vocal harmonies. Listening to this album sure stirred flashes of familiarity. While the Junior Panthers certainly brings to mind the beloved power pop beauty of Big Star or their disciples Velvet Crush, Teenage Fanclub, Matthew Sweet, there was something else that rang even closer to home. It wasn't until the thirteenth song began that I knew for certain that I'd heard this band (or some other incarnation of them) before. The song in question is "Defy Your Radio" (there's two versions of it, the second radio edit version doesn't appear numerically on the cd player counter, but rest assured it's there) and you may recall our enthusiastic review of it when it appeared on SF band The Damsels' debut release a little over a year ago. Yes, that band has transformed into the Junior Panthers. That song was a stand-out on that cdep, and it's definitely a highlight here as well. As for the rest of the album, there's eleven more songs filled with energetic pop smarts. A solid 'debut'!
RealAudio clip: "Defy Your Radio"
RealAudio clip: "California"