HIGGS, DANIEL "BELTESHAZZAR" Metempsychotic Memories (Holy Mountain) cd 14.98
We'd be happy if Daniel Higgs would put out a new album every month. Every week, even. His songs can be long (up to 14 minutes on this disc's "Love Abides") but eventually they do end and we always want more more more. Because they are totally entrancing, his raw "Appalachian raga" folk picking style wending and winding while he chants his mystic lyrics repetitively, warbling with the outsider intensity of a Charles Manson... a dramatic delivery that eccentrically enhances the weird wisdom of his words, worth absorbing for their imagery even when their import is not immediately understandable. Well though he's not THAT prolific we're happy to have this new disc on Holy Mountain already, following Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot on Thrill Jockey earlier this year.
Metempsychotic Melodies (whatever that means, it seems like a good title for this!!) starts off with a stark and skillful instrumental, "Universal Salutation", which we're told was "recorded aboard the Starship Weep-For-Lucifer". Again, we believe it, that somehow makes sense. That leads into the aforementioned "Love Abides", an extended mantra for voice and banjo (in fact, banjo is the main instrument throughout), wherein Higgs sings lines like "Love is the secret seam between waking and dream / love is a breath that bears a boundless scream" and offers up further thoughts from his personal gnosis of love, notions guaranteed to never be repeated in any other "love song" ever!! Such as: "Love, like a basilisk hatched in the nest of a dove / love's got a bible it hides in the folds of a cloud" and "Love is your name when your name has fallen away / love tends the last dawning of the last day"...
As if allowing an interlude to let all that sink in, the third track "Leontocephaline Rhapsody" is a loping, psychedelic instrumental, a gentle jam densely droning and alive with electricity. Then comes the fourth and final song, "All Cherished Things", another display of Higgs' druggy, fascinating poetry. "There's a pearl in your head / the head between your double-head / it's flashing blue and red - hear it sing". He goes on to touch upon some favored themes, Christ, Krishna, coitus, his own dead body, love... Lyrics like "The skull at the foot of the cross is my own" could be creepy, or pretentious, as could be Higgs' unique vocal stylings, but no, not as far as we're concerned. Ok, maybe it is a bit creepy. He's on a wavelength that works (for him -- maybe no one else could pull this off). If Higgs had a cult, we'd seriously consider joining it...truly a treasure of the US indie rock scene, and one of the realest deals in the "acid folk" underground. We'll be spinning this highly recommended album with ceremonial regularity as it takes its honored place in our collection of his music, and of course our anticipation of his next set of shamanic sermons remains high.
MPEG Stream: "All Cherished Things"
MPEG Stream: "Universal Salutation"
MPEG Stream: "Love Abides"

HIGGS, DANIEL "BELTESHAZZAR" Metempsychotic Memories (Holy Mountain) lp 14.98
We'd be happy if Daniel Higgs would put out a new album every month. Every week, even. His songs can be long (up to 14 minutes on this disc's "Love Abides") but eventually they do end and we always want more more more. Because they are totally entrancing, his raw "Appalachian raga" folk picking style wending and winding while he chants his mystic lyrics repetitively, warbling with the outsider intensity of a Charles Manson... a dramatic delivery that eccentrically enhances the weird wisdom of his words, worth absorbing for their imagery even when their import is not immediately understandable. Well though he's not THAT prolific we're happy to have this new disc on Holy Mountain already, following Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot on Thrill Jockey earlier this year.
Metempsychotic Melodies (whatever that means, it seems like a good title for this!!) starts off with a stark and skillful instrumental, "Universal Salutation", which we're told was "recorded aboard the Starship Weep-For-Lucifer". Again, we believe it, that somehow makes sense. That leads into the aforementioned "Love Abides", an extended mantra for voice and banjo (in fact, banjo is the main instrument throughout), wherein Higgs sings lines like "Love is the secret seam between waking and dream / love is a breath that bears a boundless scream" and offers up further thoughts from his personal gnosis of love, notions guaranteed to never be repeated in any other "love song" ever!! Such as: "Love, like a basilisk hatched in the nest of a dove / love's got a bible it hides in the folds of a cloud" and "Love is your name when your name has fallen away / love tends the last dawning of the last day"...
As if allowing an interlude to let all that sink in, the third track "Leontocephaline Rhapsody" is a loping, psychedelic instrumental, a gentle jam densely droning and alive with electricity. Then comes the fourth and final song, "All Cherished Things", another display of Higgs' druggy, fascinating poetry. "There's a pearl in your head / the head between your double-head / it's flashing blue and red - hear it sing". He goes on to touch upon some favored themes, Christ, Krishna, coitus, his own dead body, love... Lyrics like "The skull at the foot of the cross is my own" could be creepy, or pretentious, as could be Higgs' unique vocal stylings, but no, not as far as we're concerned. Ok, maybe it is a bit creepy. He's on a wavelength that works (for him -- maybe no one else could pull this off). If Higgs had a cult, we'd seriously consider joining it...truly a treasure of the US indie rock scene, and one of the realest deals in the "acid folk" underground. We'll be spinning this highly recommended album with ceremonial regularity as it takes its honored place in our collection of his music, and of course our anticipation of his next set of shamanic sermons remains high.
MPEG Stream: "All Cherished Things"
MPEG Stream: "Universal Salutation"
MPEG Stream: "Love Abides"

HIGGS, DANIEL (A.I.U.) Ancestral Songs (Holy Mountain) cd 15.98
Daniel Higgs is a very strange man. Or maybe we should say, Daniel (Arcus Incus Ululat) Higgs, Interdimensional Song-Seamstress, is a very strange man. His artwork is amazing and bizarre, Spock ears and eye-balled Christmas trees, emaciated figures riding strange hellish beasts, an amazing personal mythology represented as a menagerie of impossible and impossibly beautiful figures and beasts. His music seems to somehow embody the same mystery, a world that Higgs inhabits simultaneously to his presence in our own. That must be the only thing that can truly explain the man and his music. That he walks around, one foot in our world, of people places and things, the other in some kaleidoscopic world where sounds are tasted and sights are smelled, a synesthetic wonderland, that when translated and brought over to our plain of existence, appears distorted, twisted, haunting and hard to fathom. But at the same time imbued with some otherworldly warmth and a beauty that while alien, represents a higher state, maybe unreachable here. That is Higgs' gift. He is a traveler and a troubadour. He allows us to see visions, to hear musical mysteries. Through paintings, drawings, tattoos and especially music. From the moment we first heard his 'rock' band Lungfish we were smitten. Actually, the very first time we heard Lungfish was in a record store in another town, years ago. Our first thought was "What the hell is this?" But after several more songs, we were compelled to sheepishly approach the counter and ask the clerk what was playing. We bought it, and loved it. And maybe that's the magic of Higgs' music. It's esoteric and not always approachable. It takes some trust, a leap of faith, some sonic daring. But that faith is always repaid many times over. Outside of Lungfish, Higgs also plays in the Pupils along with his Lungfish bandmate Asa, a more intimate stripped down version of his rock band. The same cyclical riffs and chant like vocals, but all acoustic, and sparsely arranged. There is also his amazing sort-of Appalachian solo guitar work, and his very very strange solo Jew's harp recordings.
This disc is Higgs' first proper solo release and manages to tie up all his disparate sonic threads into one big gorgeous Gordian knot.
Several tracks sound like they could have come straight off the Pupils record. Simple, haunting acoustic guitar riffs, repeated and repeated until they becomes totally hypnotic, mantra like, with Higgs' gorgeous vocals over the top, a mix of old timey sea shanty and folk standard. The rest drift dreamily from sound to sound, like a sonic journey through the soul of the man. Gorgeous tangles of banjo or some banjo-like instrument drift amidst field recordings of birds (knowing Higgs it may have been actually recorded right there in the woods, although he has been known to travel with a portable recorder to capture whatever strikes his fancy) a steel string buzz, that wanders from near traditional sounding Appalachian twang to some sort of jaunty Celtic melody to brief melodic flurries, impossibly buzzy and blurry. Thick swaths of buzzing guitar swirl and squirm, doomy, melancholy melodies spread out over a machine like whir, sounding like a guitar being played like a bagpipe. While over the top drifts tiny tangles of steel string picking all drenched in strange FX and allowed to twist and distort, sounding almost the way a Jew's harp does when you change the shape of your mouth. And as if pre-ordained (which it most likely was), out comes the Jew's harp, but it sounds like no Jew's harp you've ever heard. Super brittle and distorted, like some sort of metallic marimba, or a Konono outtake broadcast via shortwave and played through a crappy transistor radio. A gorgeous buzzy abstract hoedown. Finally, the record winds up (most definitely not down) with a thick swirl of super lo-fi psych guitar freakout, the chords and notes bent and twisted, pitches slipping back and forth, overtones subtly shifting, notes colliding and exploding into little bursts of jagged buzz before settling back into a droning hypnotic thrum. Like some alien jig, if aliens had a practice space full of strangely tuned guitars and really loud amps with blown speakers. And again, it sounds like somehow Higgs figured out a way to hold the guitar up to his mouth and play it like a Jew's harp, the sounds changing shape as much as tone, a warm and fuzzed out smear of distorted buzz that washes over you, as does this whole sonic scripture, like a shower of rich wet soil and sparkling uncut diamonds.
MPEG Stream: "Living In The Kingdom Of Death"
MPEG Stream: "Thy Chosen Bride"

HIGGS, DANIEL (A.I.U.) Ancestral Songs (Holy Mountain) lp 15.98
Daniel Higgs is a very strange man. Or maybe we should say, Daniel (Arcus Incus Ululat) Higgs, Interdimensional Song-Seamstress, is a very strange man. His artwork is amazing and bizarre, Spock ears and eye-balled Christmas trees, emaciated figures riding strange hellish beasts, an amazing personal mythology represented as a menagerie of impossible and impossibly beautiful figures and beasts. His music seems to somehow embody the same mystery, a world that Higgs inhabits simultaneously to his presence in our own. That must be the only thing that can truly explain the man and his music. That he walks around, one foot in our world, of people places and things, the other in some kaleidoscopic world where sounds are tasted and sights are smelled, a synesthetic wonderland, that when translated and brought over to our plain of existence, appears distorted, twisted, haunting and hard to fathom. But at the same time imbued with some otherworldly warmth and a beauty that while alien, represents a higher state, maybe unreachable here. That is Higgs' gift. He is a traveler and a troubadour. He allows us to see visions, to hear musical mysteries. Through paintings, drawings, tattoos and especially music. From the moment we first heard his 'rock' band Lungfish we were smitten. Actually, the very first time we heard Lungfish was in a record store in another town, years ago. Our first thought was "What the hell is this?" But after several more songs, we were compelled to sheepishly approach the counter and ask the clerk what was playing. We bought it, and loved it. And maybe that's the magic of Higgs' music. It's esoteric and not always approachable. It takes some trust, a leap of faith, some sonic daring. But that faith is always repaid many times over. Outside of Lungfish, Higgs also plays in the Pupils along with his Lungfish bandmate Asa, a more intimate stripped down version of his rock band. The same cyclical riffs and chant like vocals, but all acoustic, and sparsely arranged. There is also his amazing sort-of Appalachian solo guitar work, and his very very strange solo Jew's harp recordings.
This disc is Higgs' first proper solo release and manages to tie up all his disparate sonic threads into one big gorgeous Gordian knot.
Several tracks sound like they could have come straight off the Pupils record. Simple, haunting acoustic guitar riffs, repeated and repeated until they becomes totally hypnotic, mantra like, with Higgs' gorgeous vocals over the top, a mix of old timey sea shanty and folk standard. The rest drift dreamily from sound to sound, like a sonic journey through the soul of the man. Gorgeous tangles of banjo or some banjo-like instrument drift amidst field recordings of birds (knowing Higgs it may have been actually recorded right there in the woods, although he has been known to travel with a portable recorder to capture whatever strikes his fancy) a steel string buzz, that wanders from near traditional sounding Appalachian twang to some sort of jaunty Celtic melody to brief melodic flurries, impossibly buzzy and blurry. Thick swaths of buzzing guitar swirl and squirm, doomy, melancholy melodies spread out over a machine like whir, sounding like a guitar being played like a bagpipe. While over the top drifts tiny tangles of steel string picking all drenched in strange FX and allowed to twist and distort, sounding almost the way a Jew's harp does when you change the shape of your mouth. And as if pre-ordained (which it most likely was), out comes the Jew's harp, but it sounds like no Jew's harp you've ever heard. Super brittle and distorted, like some sort of metallic marimba, or a Konono outtake broadcast via shortwave and played through a crappy transistor radio. A gorgeous buzzy abstract hoedown. Finally, the record winds up (most definitely not down) with a thick swirl of super lo-fi psych guitar freakout, the chords and notes bent and twisted, pitches slipping back and forth, overtones subtly shifting, notes colliding and exploding into little bursts of jagged buzz before settling back into a droning hypnotic thrum. Like some alien jig, if aliens had a practice space full of strangely tuned guitars and really loud amps with blown speakers. And again, it sounds like somehow Higgs figured out a way to hold the guitar up to his mouth and play it like a Jew's harp, the sounds changing shape as much as tone, a warm and fuzzed out smear of distorted buzz that washes over you, as does this whole sonic scripture, like a shower of rich wet soil and sparkling uncut diamonds.
MPEG Stream: "Living In The Kingdom Of Death"
MPEG Stream: "Thy Chosen Bride"

HIGGS, DANIEL A.I.U. Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot (Thrill Jockey) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The return of our favorite modern day shamen, Mr. Daniel Arcus Incus Ululat Higgs, maybe better known to some of you as Dan Higgs, the vocalist for the mighty Lungfish, or perhaps Higgs, the world renowned tattoo artist (now retired). A man who wears many hats: vocalist, painter, tattoo artist, poet, guitarist, master of the Jew's Harp, and who knows what else. We made Higgs' last full length Ancestral Songs record of the week last year, and since this one is just as good, if not better, we figured it deserved the same honor. 
Truly one of the few modern day troubadours, Higgs is a mysterious traveling man, he'll occasionally show up at the store, looking as dapper and disheveled as ever, with tales of various explorations or experiences. The last time he stopped by, he had a little hand held tape recorder, and he had just returned from India, where he spent the whole time recording street musicians and crowds and animals and anything else that struck his fancy. 
His music has the same quality, a sort of restless rootlessness, that is at once warm and familiar, but strangely alien and indescribable. On Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot, Higgs manages to weave all of his disparate sonic interests together into one seamless whole. Buzzing raga guitars, strange lo-fi field recordings, Jew's harp, all in varying states of fidelity, but the recording, the sound quality, the location and the background noise are as much a part of the music as the music itself. 
Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot begins with a burst of static, like a strong wind on a microphone, before Higgs' guitar begins to buzz like some snake charming ritual, an Eastern tinged Appalachia, a rustic raga, the string buzzing, lots of distortion and shifting overtones creating all sorts of glorious tonal color. Ragged and ramshackle but completely mesmerizing. The second track is a dizzying seasick assemblage of wheezing harmonium and pounded chimes, atonal melodies and streaks of feedback, eventually fading out and leaving just Higgs' guitar to buzz and shimmer, a sprawling sun balked stretch of gorgeously pastoral Appalachia. "Spectral Hues" is a stuttering collage of manipulated tones, using just the record and stop buttons on a tape player, a primitive swirl of tones, transformed into a haunting melody, each note separated by the weird swoop and bbbzzzzt of the button being depressed. The title track is Higgs in full on electric guitar mode, or at least what sounds like an electric guitar, wailing and howling chaotically, unfurling some sort of old time jig, before again fading into a 'nother steel string workout, this one distinctly Indian sounding, a dense tangled raga, the notes overlapping and the strings' buzz smearing the sounds into thick swaths of sonic blur. "Creation Moan" is another tripped out psychguitar freakout. A buzzing overdriven squall of tangled upper register skree and low end rumble, what sounds like some traditional folk song transformed into snarling, squirming, grinding crumbling distorted buzz. And finally the nine minute final track, a swirling ambient  drift, running water, some finger picked guitar, that suddenly winks out, leaving a wavering buzzscape, above which Higgs' Jew's Harp weaves haunting alien melodies, sometimes buzzing and reverberating, other times, speaking in tongues as Higgs sings into it. So haunting and unlike anything we've ever heard. Yet at the same time so strangely soothing, meditative and dreamlike.
It's always such a joy to step into Higgs' world, like traveling through the looking glass, or falling down the rabbit hole, and on the other side, in the mysterious world Higgs calls home, a world which we can only visit, and even in visiting, only see what hovers on the surface, we wander wide eyed and open eared, trying to take in everything we can before the record ends and we are pulled back into home, where we wait patiently for our next visit...
MPEG Stream: "Luminous Carcass Ornament"
MPEG Stream: "Cocoon On The Cross"
MPEG Stream: "Spectral Hues"

HIGGS, DANIEL A.I.U. Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot (Thrill Jockey) book + cd 15.98
The return of our favorite modern day shamen, Mr. Daniel Arcus Incus Ululat Higgs, maybe better known to some of you as Dan Higgs, the vocalist for the mighty Lungfish, or perhaps Higgs, the world renowned tattoo artist (now retired). A man who wears many hats: vocalist, painter, tattoo artist, poet, guitarist, master of the Jew's Harp, and who knows what else. We made Higgs' last full length Ancestral Songs record of the week last year, and since this one is just as good, if not better, we figured it deserved the same honor. 
Truly one of the few modern day troubadours, Higgs is a mysterious traveling man, he'll occasionally show up at the store, looking as dapper and disheveled as ever, with tales of various explorations or experiences. The last time he stopped by, he had a little hand held tape recorder, and he had just returned from India, where he spent the whole time recording street musicians and crowds and animals and anything else that struck his fancy. 
His music has the same quality, a sort of restless rootlessness, that is at once warm and familiar, but strangely alien and indescribable. On Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot, Higgs manages to weave all of his disparate sonic interests together into one seamless whole. Buzzing raga guitars, strange lo-fi field recordings, Jew's harp, all in varying states of fidelity, but the recording, the sound quality, the location and the background noise are as much a part of the music as the music itself. 
Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot begins with a burst of static, like a strong wind on a microphone, before Higgs' guitar begins to buzz like some snake charming ritual, an Eastern tinged Appalachia, a rustic raga, the string buzzing, lots of distortion and shifting overtones creating all sorts of glorious tonal color. Ragged and ramshackle but completely mesmerizing. The second track is a dizzying seasick assemblage of wheezing harmonium and pounded chimes, atonal melodies and streaks of feedback, eventually fading out and leaving just Higgs' guitar to buzz and shimmer, a sprawling sun balked stretch of gorgeously pastoral Appalachia. "Spectral Hues" is a stuttering collage of manipulated tones, using just the record and stop buttons on a tape player, a primitive swirl of tones, transformed into a haunting melody, each note separated by the weird swoop and bbbzzzzt of the button being depressed. The title track is Higgs in full on electric guitar mode, or at least what sounds like an electric guitar, wailing and howling chaotically, unfurling some sort of old time jig, before again fading into a 'nother steel string workout, this one distinctly Indian sounding, a dense tangled raga, the notes overlapping and the strings' buzz smearing the sounds into thick swaths of sonic blur. "Creation Moan" is another tripped out psychguitar freakout. A buzzing overdriven squall of tangled upper register skree and low end rumble, what sounds like some traditional folk song transformed into snarling, squirming, grinding crumbling distorted buzz. And finally the nine minute final track, a swirling ambient  drift, running water, some finger picked guitar, that suddenly winks out, leaving a wavering buzzscape, above which Higgs' Jew's Harp weaves haunting alien melodies, sometimes buzzing and reverberating, other times, speaking in tongues as Higgs sings into it. So haunting and unlike anything we've ever heard. Yet at the same time so strangely soothing, meditative and dreamlike.
It's always such a joy to step into Higgs' world, like traveling through the looking glass, or falling down the rabbit hole, and on the other side, in the mysterious world Higgs calls home, a world which we can only visit, and even in visiting, only see what hovers on the surface, we wander wide eyed and open eared, trying to take in everything we can before the record ends and we are pulled back into home, where we wait patiently for our next visit...
As if that weren't enough, the cd version comes with a full color hardcover book of Higgs' paintings and 'poetry', a series of cryptic acrostics to be more accurate. The Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot series of paintings are all, like most of Higgs' work, strange and wondrous, here the focus is on enigmatic amorphous shapes, vividly colored, with all manner of textures and designs, stripes, polka dots, some of the shapes look like whales or fish, others like mushrooms, eyeballs, amoebas, shapeless heads, each filled with symbols, colors and patterns. The accompanying acrostics are cryptic and it's difficult to determine if they are related to the paintings they are beside, MUSIC, BIRDS, MIND, EDEN, PEACE, EMBRYO, BELOVED, COITUS... all offering up mysterious pearls of wisdom like "Always braid your silver serpents" or "Existence manifests between ravenous yellow orbs". 
The perfect visual accompaniment to Higgs' raw and primitive musical rituals...
MPEG Stream: "Luminous Carcass Ornament"
MPEG Stream: "Cocoon On The Cross"
MPEG Stream: "Spectral Hues"

HIGH DEPENDENCY UNIT / DIE! DIE! DIE! split (Shoot The Freak) 7" 4.98

HIGH LLAMAS Beet, Maize, & Corn (Drag City) cd 14.98
Whoa! We always knew the High Llamas could craft soothing, dulcet sounds in fine fashion, but on Beet, Maize & Corn their pleasantly mellow stylings have mutated into Lawrence Welk-esque choral arrangements. Really! You can almost see the gents and ladies swaying in time to these candlelit orchestral numbers. The glorious horns and strings seem genuinely from another era. Quite remarkable and very very different from all that has come before in the High Llamas body of work. Not sure yet if it's our cup of Earl Grey... perhaps you might wish to take a sip for yourself.
MPEG Stream: "The Click And The Fizz"
MPEG Stream: "Holly Hills"

HIGH LLAMAS Buzzle Bee (Drag City) cd 14.98
The newest High Llamas album brings a bushel of musical pleasantries. Delving into a little different, more electronic territory from where they've ventured in the past, but sounding very very familiar at the same time. Perhaps, very much along the lines of Laetitia Sadier's (of Stereolab) lulling lalala's, or slow tinges of tiki cocktail-drenched exotica? Chiming vibes, reverb-y vibrato-y guitar and a scattering of blippy bleeps. Turn that bubble machine on, and float away.

HIGH LLAMAS Can Cladders (Drag City) cd 14.98
Ladies and gentlemen, may we decant a new High Llamas album for your listening enjoyment? Ah yes, you can almost hear the tinkling of silverware on fine bone china as the dinner plates are cleared away at the supper club, and the elegant guests settle in for their after dinner mints, waltzing and musical performance. The follow-up to 2003's Beet, Maize & Corn, Can Cladders features more immaculately groomed, glorious orchestral pop from the golden quill of Sean O'Hagan that tiptoes delicately along the outskirts of Lawrence Welk's well manicured topiaried hedges (well, we don't know for sure that Mr. Welk had hedges let alone topiaried ones, but we can dream can't we?). We've always thought the High Llamas' presence on the Drag City label to be somewhat incongruous alongside the likes of Neil Michael Hagerty, Weird War, Brother JT, Neil Hamburger, U.S. Maple, and the Fucking Champs. But hey, don't we all need something a little soft'n'pretty every so often?! This is downright easy listening that's possibly just as palatable to the grannies as it is to the kids. Don't forget your doilies!
MPEG Stream: "Sailing Bells"
MPEG Stream: "Bacaroo"

HIGH LLAMAS Can Cladders (Drag City) lp 14.98
Ladies and gentlemen, may we decant a new High Llamas album for your listening enjoyment? Ah yes, you can almost hear the tinkling of silverware on fine bone china as the dinner plates are cleared away at the supper club, and the elegant guests settle in for their after dinner mints, waltzing and musical performance. The follow-up to 2003's Beet, Maize & Corn, Can Cladders features more immaculately groomed, glorious orchestral pop from the golden quill of Sean O'Hagan that tiptoes delicately along the outskirts of Lawrence Welk's well manicured topiaried hedges (well, we don't know for sure that Mr. Welk had hedges let alone topiaried ones, but we can dream can't we?). We've always thought the High Llamas' presence on the Drag City label to be somewhat incongruous alongside the likes of Neil Michael Hagerty, Weird War, Brother JT, Neil Hamburger, U.S. Maple, and the Fucking Champs. But hey, don't we all need something a little soft'n'pretty every so often?! This is downright easy listening that's possibly just as palatable to the grannies as it is to the kids. Don't forget your doilies!
MPEG Stream: "Sailing Bells"
MPEG Stream: "Bacaroo"

HIGH LLAMAS Cold and Bouncy (V2) cd 12.98
The band's new album Cold and Bouncy is even more full of blips and bleeps than the recent Hawaii. It's their most fully realized record and coincidentally the most Stereolabesque (but still delicate where Stereolab never are), bringing them closer to the final step in their eventual progression towards actually becoming Stereolab.

HIGH LLAMAS Lollo Rosso (V2) cd 10.98
Excellent collection of remixes by Mouse on Mars, Cornelius, Kid Loco, Jim O'Rourke, Stock, Hausen and Walkman, Schneider TM (of Kreidler) and one they remixed themselves. This is really really good, simple, pleasant electronica that will please beginners and advanced folk alike.

HIGH LLAMAS Retrospective, Rarities, and Instrumentals (V2) 2cd 17.98
The title is pretty self-explanatory... this is a super comprehensive double whammy of High Llamas splendor - ranging from the absolutely blissful Beach Boys-y harmonious tunes to that which teeters precariously on the border to your parents' finely executed, yet docile dinner music. The first disc compiles select tracks from their glistening pop albums Santa Barbara ('92), Gideon Gaye ('95), Hawaii ('96), Cold & Bouncy ('98), and Snowbug ('99). The second disc which contains the rare tracks is a particular delight for fans. Really, who doesn't like to discover some unheard gems of their favorite band? Many of the sweepingly beautiful instrumentals seem plucked straight out of the score of some '60s jetsetter flick. Heck, you might wanna make this your perfect soundtrack to a long evening spent sipping Shirley Temples and gently swaying with your sweetie.
MPEG Stream: "It Might As Well Be Dumbo"
MPEG Stream: "Beachy Bunch"

HIGH LLAMAS Santa Barbara (V2) cd 12.98
Santa Barbara, billed as the High Llama's "lost" 1992 album, is closest to their debut Gideon Gaye in its overt Steely Dan worship. It's great.

HIGH LLAMAS Snowbug (V2) cd 11.98

HIGH ON FIRE Death Is This Communion (Relapse) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
FINAL VINYL, BACK IN STOCK.
The fire yet burns. Guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike's three-piece pissed-off stoner metal juggernaut presents their fourth album, and while we can't say we were disappointed or anything (you get what you've come to expect from HoF), neither were we super blown away either, really. Though we never would have predicted it a few years ago, to our minds it would seem that Pike's former bandmates from seminal stoned-on-Sabbath dopesmokers Sleep are up to something a little more interesting at this juncture, in their outfit Om. Or, we're just more in the mood for Om's brand of mystical, minimal weirdness rather than the more bloodyminded bludgeon being beaten into our skulls by High On Fire. But if that's what you want, look no further. Death Is The Communion delivers the goods: Wardrums pound. Lemmylike vocals gargle forth and froth. Clenched fist riffage rakes your flesh. Yeah!
And, as the album bulldozers along, some diversity is to be had, from majestic keyboard melancholia and somber guitar soloing to surprisingly introspective, un-metally acoustic guitar interludes. So, another fine HoF outing. And by the way, bassist Joe Preston is gone, High On Fire just another notch on his bedpost of one-night-stands-in-bands (as per his stints with Earth and the Melvins). His replacement, Jeff Matz of Zeke.
MPEG Stream: "Death Is This Communion"
MPEG Stream: "DII"

HIGH ON FIRE Death Is This Communion (deluxe) (Relapse) cd + dvd 16.98
The fire yet burns. Guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike's three-piece pissed-off stoner metal juggernaut presents their fourth album, and while we can't say we were disappointed or anything (you get what you've come to expect from HoF), neither were we super blown away either, really. Though we never would have predicted it a few years ago, to our minds it would seem that Pike's former bandmates from seminal stoned-on-Sabbath dopesmokers Sleep are up to something a little more interesting at this juncture, in their outfit Om. Or, we're just more in the mood for Om's brand of mystical, minimal weirdness rather than the more bloodyminded bludgeon being beaten into our skulls by High On Fire. But if that's what you want, look no further. Death Is The Communion delivers the goods: Wardrums pound. Lemmylike vocals gargle forth and froth. Clenched fist riffage rakes your flesh. Yeah!
And, as the album bulldozers along, the mood gets more somber, and some diversity is to be had, from majestic, morose keyboard melancholia to surprisingly introspective, un-metally acoustic guitar interludes. So, another fine HoF outing. And by the way, bassist Joe Preston is gone, High On Fire just another notch on his bedpost of one-night-stands-in-bands (as per his stints with Earth and the Melvins). His replacement, Jeff Matz of Zeke.
And by the way, this edition comes with a bonus DVD disc featuring 40 minutes of in-the-studio footage n' stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Death Is This Communion"
MPEG Stream: "DII"

HIGH RISE Desperado (PSF) cd 16.98
Japanese psych-noiserock power trio.

HIGH RISE Dispersion (Squealer) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The unexpected domestic reissue of this classic PSF album of psychguitar overload from this Japanese combo. This one follows "II" and is also quite good. NB. "Dispersion retains its 8 page booklet, but much of the Japanese text has been replaced with an extensive interview with bassist Asahito Nanjo, which originally appeared in Opprobrium magazine."

HIGH RISE Dispersion (PSF) cd 16.98
Classic PSF album of psychguitar overload from this Japanese combo. This one follows "II" and is also quite good.

HIGH RISE Dispersion (Squealer) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The unexpected domestic reissues of this classic PSF albums of psychguitar overload from this Japanese combo. First time on vinyl, and although the incredibly bad job Squealer did on the packaging is already causing much horror/laughter among those that have seen it, the vinyl itself is quite nice.

HIGH RISE II (PSF) cd 16.98
The domestic Squealer reissue of this classic PSF album of psychguitar overload from this Japanese combo is out of print, so here's the PSF one, again - at a better price than we used to have it for, yay! One of the essential High Rise documents.

HIGH RISE II (Squealer) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The unexpected domestic reissues of this classic PSF album of psychguitar overload from this Japanese combo (on tour in the US for the first time ever right about now!). First time on vinyl, and although the incredibly bad job Squealer did on the packaging is already causing much horror/laughter among those that have seen it, the vinyl itself is quite nice.

HIGH RISE Live (Squealer) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The unexpected domestic reissue of this classic PSF album of psychguitar overload from this Japanese combo. Another one of the essential High Rise documents.

HIGH RISE Live (PSF) cd 16.98
Another one of the essential High Rise documents.

HIGH RISE Psychedelic Speed Freaks '84-'85 (Time Bomb) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Japanese mondo guitar fuzz legends High Rise offer up some stuff from the vaults, about a half hour of LOUD and DISTORTED rock at a bargain price.

HIGH RISE Psychedelic Speed Freaks '84-'85 (Time Bomb) 12" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Japanese mondo guitar fuzz legends High Rise offer up some stuff from the vaults, about a half hour of LOUD and DISTORTED rock at a bargain price.

HIGH TIDE s/t (Eclectic Discs) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
New, nice reissues -- in slip covers, with bonus tracks and all the fixin's -- of these two (the only two) original classic High Tide albums. Previous cd reissues were hard to come by so it's even nicer to have these readily available. High Tide were a band at the intersection of psych-pop, prog, and acid rock. A great mix of the proggy, folky -- and HEAVY. For 1969, when their debut Sea Shanties was released, they were one of the heaviest bands around. Heavy due to the monster FUZZ guitar slashings of ax hero Tony Hill (formerly a member of Ugly Things magazine's favorite band, The Misunderstood), who also contributed vocals, sounding a bit like a British Jim Morrison. And High Tide had something else to keep them from being just another English blues rock power trio (a la Cream) -- their music was given an extra edge by the impassioned violin playing of fourth member Simon Hill, who went on to play with the Third Ear Band, Hawkwind and David Bowie.
Both Sea Shanties and the band's self-titled 1970 follow-up feature sinuous side-length songs, shades of light and dark, melodies both regal and rustic, and awesome instrumental interplay betwixt guitar and violin. These two albums are about equally great, and come recommended to anyone into the heavier side of '60s/'70s psych who hasn't yet had the pleasure of hearing 'em! File with The Dark, T2, Groundhogs, Socrates Drank The Conium, Clear Blue Sky, Fraction, and other early-daze proto-metal of the more psych-prog persuasion.
These reissues have copious liner notes, vintage photos, and vast expanses of unreleased bonus tracks -- Sea Shanties featuring five of 'em (two demo cuts and three songs that didn't make the album, including the eleven and a half minute long "The Great Universal Protection Racket"), High Tide with four, again two alternate takes and two unreleased efforts (among them an even longer, nearly 16 minute take on "The Great Universal Protection Racket"), all well worth hearing.
MPEG Stream: "Blankman Cries Again"
MPEG Stream: "Saneonymous"

HIGH TIDE Sea Shanties (Eclectic Discs) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
New, nice reissues -- in slip covers, with bonus tracks and all the fixin's -- of these two (the only two) original classic High Tide albums. Previous cd reissues were hard to come by so it's even nicer to have these readily available. High Tide were a band at the intersection of psych-pop, prog, and acid rock. A great mix of the proggy, folky -- and HEAVY. For 1969, when their debut Sea Shanties was released, they were one of the heaviest bands around. Heavy due to the monster FUZZ guitar slashings of ax hero Tony Hill (formerly a member of Ugly Things magazine's favorite band, The Misunderstood), who also contributed vocals, sounding a bit like a British Jim Morrison. And High Tide had something else to keep them from being just another English blues rock power trio (a la Cream) -- their music was given an extra edge by the impassioned violin playing of fourth member Simon Hill, who went on to play with the Third Ear Band, Hawkwind and David Bowie.
Both Sea Shanties and the band's self-titled 1970 follow-up feature sinuous side-length songs, shades of light and dark, melodies both regal and rustic, and awesome instrumental interplay betwixt guitar and violin. These two albums are about equally great, and come recommended to anyone into the heavier side of '60s/'70s psych who hasn't yet had the pleasure of hearing 'em! File with The Dark, T2, Groundhogs, Socrates Drank The Conium, Clear Blue Sky, Fraction, and other early-daze proto-metal of the more psych-prog persuasion.
These reissues have copious liner notes, vintage photos, and vast expanses of unreleased bonus tracks -- Sea Shanties featuring five of 'em (two demo cuts and three songs that didn't make the album, including the eleven and a half minute long "The Great Universal Protection Racket"), High Tide with four, again two alternate takes and two unreleased efforts (among them an even longer, nearly 16 minute take on "The Great Universal Protection Racket"), all well worth hearing.
MPEG Stream: " Futilist's Lament"
MPEG Stream: "Death Warmed Up"

HIGH TIDE Sea Shanties (Sundazed) lp 21.00
Now reissued on vinyl, and a good thing 'cause the cd reissues have gone out of print.
High Tide were a band at the intersection of psych-pop, prog, and acid rock. A great mix of the proggy, folky - and HEAVY. For 1969, when their debut Sea Shanties was released, they were one of the heaviest bands around. Heavy due to the monster FUZZ guitar slashings of ax hero Tony Hill (formerly a member of Ugly Things magazine's favorite band, The Misunderstood), who also contributed vocals, sounding a bit like a British Jim Morrison. And High Tide had something else to keep them from being just another English blues rock power trio (a la Cream) - their music was given an extra edge by the impassioned violin playing of fourth member Simon Hill, who went on to play with the Third Ear Band, Hawkwind and David Bowie.
Both Sea Shanties and the band's self-titled 1970 follow-up feature sinuous side-length songs, shades of light and dark, melodies both regal and rustic, and awesome instrumental interplay betwixt guitar and violin. These two albums are about equally great, and come recommended to anyone into the heavier side of '60s/'70s psych who hasn't yet had the pleasure of hearing 'em! File with The Dark, T2, Groundhogs, Socrates Drank The Conium, Clear Blue Sky, Fraction, and other early-daze proto-metal of the more psych-prog persuasion.
MPEG Stream: " Futilist's Lament"
MPEG Stream: "Death Warmed Up"

HIGUMA Haze Velley (Root Strata) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Wholly enveloping, river soaked, fog piercing drone. Barn Owl's Evan Caminiti and a previously unknown-to-us artist named Lisa McGee collaborate to bring forth cathartic ruminations in the form of ghostly guitar, softly sparring vocals, various percussive devices and an unnamable, innumerable catalog of various other instruments. The collaboration was a live improvisational affair, which the liner notes claim was recorded "in the valley." The appropriately and cleverly named album, Haze Valley, name checks one of our own neighborhoods here in San Francisco, Hayes Valley. Anyone who checked out and enjoyed any of the releases by Cloaks, White Rainbow (particularly the more sedate side), Barn Owl (obviously), or La Monte Young will be pleased with what they'll find here. Make no mistake about it, this is definitive dronemusic. While it is beautiful and has some structured elements, this is for the true trippers. Those looking for hummable hooks and such may find more satisfaction looking elsewhere, but for an immersive, spiritual headphones experience, this is your destination. It is also worth noting that the cover art was made by Evan, and its burgeoning crystal pyramid couldn't be more lovely or more perfectly suited to the sounds found herein. Drone freaks beware, this could easily take over your stereo.
LIMITED TO ONLY 100 COPIES!!! These are the only ones we'll ever have...
MPEG Stream: "Crimson Cloud Ascension"
MPEG Stream: "Winter Bloom"

HIJK The Pen And The Letter (HIJK Music) cd 10.98
The Brit band ABC started the alphabet monikering back in the 80s. Now, Bay Area young'uns HIJK pick it up a few letters down the line. This ain't no schoolhouse rock nor retro new wave business though. HIJK make emo indie pop that intially lures you in with their gentle boyish Death Cab Gibbard-y vocals, but then gives the proceedings a jolt when the tunes shatter into noise bursts. Cool stuff.

HILL, JOHN 6 Moons Of Jupiter (Finders Keepers) cd 23.00
We knew John Hill as producer of the stunning folk funk lps of Susan Christie and Margo Guryan, but this concept record is where his producing genius is on full display: an epic electronic space jazz composition featuring Susan Christie, Jimmy Valerio, Gerry Mulligan and Walter Sear. Based on a poem by Ian Michaels called "I Am The Storm of Dawn" that suggests life on Earth originated on one of the six moons of Jupiter, Europa (the only other place in the solar system with water and ice), the 6 Moons of Jupiter features Susan Christie reciting the poem with Moogy electronic drones, cellos,  delayed flutes, and percussion. While we're not always huge fans of spoken word, somehow it works here, adding some serious tripped out drugginess to the already pretty far out proceedings. 
According to the liner notes, this was the first part of a proposed 13 piece concept performance, with each piece written in a distinctly different style, somehow combining poetry, electronic technology, classical, jazz and of course 'space rock' (quotes required!) Not sure sure how that would have panned out had they stuck to the plan, especially since it seems that for this first volume they jammed all that stuff together, into one single awesomely mind melting sonic hodgepodge. 
The tracks range from shimmery free jazzscapes, all abstract percussion and buzzing raga like drones, haunting and mysterious, to full on groovy keyboard drenched space-y garage jams, complete with fluttering flute, wheezing organs, creepy chanted vocals, and wailing psych leads, to strange off kilter chamber music, heavy with reverb and long lonesome tones, to pounding sixties style stomp, but all twisted up around jazzy horns, and jaunty Springtime shuffles, to haunting solo strings, dour melancholic melodies over buried soft buzz, to total acid wah guitars, laced with creepy pizzicato strings and warbly rubbery funhouse melodies. Mix in Christie's deadpan spoken word and this becomes a serious jazzy groovy musical mindfuck. And you know what that means. BUY IT!
MPEG Stream: "Europa"
MPEG Stream: "Amalthea"
MPEG Stream: "Io"

HILL, ZACH Astrological Straits (Ipecac) cd 16.98
Hella drummer solo album.

HILL, ZACH & HOLY SMOKES Masculine Drugs - Destroying Yourself Is Too Accessible (Suicide Squeeze) book + cd 17.98
Okay fans of Hella and their musical buddies, here's something a little different for y'all! Zach Hill (the drummer for that Sacramento math rock band as well as Nervous Cop and Team Sleep among others), has corralled the likes of Pinback's Rob Crow and the Flying Luttenbachers' Jonathon Hischke for his Zach Hill & The Holy Smokes album Masculine Drugs, on which much dissonant noise fuckery ensues. One of its highlights is certainly the fifth song "Getting In The Head Of Your Galaxy" which offers some trademark Crow vocals and melodicism amid the cacaphony. But Hill didn't stop there! He also wrote and illustrated a paperback book called Destroying Yourself Is Too Accessible: Old Children's Ramblings For The New And Improved Child And Hypocritically Desterous Hippy to accompany the cd. Each page (of which there are 138) features an abstract pen'n'ink drawing along with a brief (1-3 sentences) entry. The cd lives in a plastic pocket at the back of the book.
MPEG Stream: "Getting In The Head Of Your Galaxy"
MPEG Stream: "Bad Circulation"

HILL, ZACH & MICK BARR Shred Earthship (5RC) cd 14.98
Zach Hill is one busy man. Besides constantly touring and releasing records with his duo Hella he also somehow found time to make records with Greg from Deerhoof (Nervous Cop), Rob Crow (The Ladies) and now he's teamed up with the relentless guitar outbursts of Mick Barr (Orthrelm, Octis, Quixotic) for an album that never lets up, brutal intensity from start to finish. Hill's frantic drumming is the perfect backdrop for Barr's impossibly over the top guitar freakouts. Barr has become one of our favorite guitar players in recent years. His ability to full on rip and never let up has held us in thrall with a iron gloved grip. This is the kind of record that makes you want to drink 8000 cups of coffee and finish your life's to-do list in one fell swoop, no rest, no sleep, no mercy!!!! This is the sound of relentless spirit at its most triumphant. Like Glen Branca on a dirty diet of speed, teamed up with a scrappy drummer making the sort of sounds that put most math rock to shame. This is advanced calculus metal for unrelenting students. One of our customers said it best while listening to this "Whoa the Voltron of shredders!" We couldn't have said it better ourselves.
MPEG Stream: "Floats"
MPEG Stream: "Lakes In Space"

HILL, ZACH + MICK BARR ZH/MB Volume 2 (Rock Is Hell) lp 22.00
Who could possibly be a match for Mick Barr's (Crom-Tech, Orthrelm, Octis, Ocrilm) insane avant sci-fi guitar shredding? We would have thought no one... But it makes sense, that the only true match for Barr's fretboard wiggery would be Zach Hill, a sort of Yngwie Malmsteen of the drum kit. A spastic octopoidal drum freak, who can cram a million more beats into a song than the busiest drummer you can think of. Not sure why no one thought of getting these guys together sooner. Their first meeting took place on last year's Shred Earthship, and now we have ZH/MB Volume 2.
And the results, much like on Shred Earthship are just what you would have expected. A mind blowing, ear shredding, speaker melting squiggle and noodle shredfest. Dense squalls of wildly dueling drum splatter and guitar freakout. Often note for note. Is it free jazz? Is it avant metal? Is it outrageous instrumental wankery? Well yeah, it sort of is, ALL of those. Ultra complex, incredibly convoluted, might be a stretch to call these songs, instead they seem to be exercises in instrumental dexterity, each one an over the top psychedelic metal freakout that has the listener panting and about to pass out after only thirty seconds, lord knows how these guys can keep it up for a whole record. The opener is the jazziest, due in no small part to some surprisingly melodic sax, but after that, it's one on one, drums vs. guitar, each wrapped around the other in some sort of insane ultimate fighting chokehold, a non stop barrage of notes and beats... imagine that someone had been collecting every note ever played, and every drum beat, and just piling them up in a huge dumpster, they're tiny, they don't take up that much room, but a trillion, or a million billion trillion, have that dumpster just about full. Now imagine being strapped down to a huge slab of black concrete, with strange metallic implements holding your ears wide open, then imagine that entire dumpster being upended and all of those notes and beats showering down on you like some sort of musical avalanche or metallic hailstorm. Sound good? Well then, my friend, this is indeed the record for you...
Packaged in killer white cloud on bright yellow sleeves, most are on black vinyl, a few are on yellow, so you might just get lucky. But don't ask, we said: YOU. MIGHT. GET. LUCKY.
Limited to 303 copies!!! We got a handful, and will NOT be able to get more.

HILLAGE, STEVE Rainbow Dome Musick (Caroline) cd 15.98
Like Robert Fripp and Manuel Gottsching, the UK's Steve Hillage is a stellar guitarist who came out of the prog era (Arzachel, Khan, Gong) to mine his own unique cosmic territory that could be the blueprint for latter day ambient techno. His amazing guitar work on Gong's Radio Invisible trilogy, especially the epically spacious "You", was just the first stepping stone toward this 1979 avant-new age masterpiece, Rainbow Dome Musick, originally recorded for an on-site installation at an actual Rainbow Dome in London.
While it must have been -really- an experience inside the Dome, it's even now a fantastic listen at home on headphones. Two 20-minute, side-long tracks built from the sequenced filtering of guitars, piano, synths and bells, that organically glide from phased rhythmic passages to expansive cloud-like washes of sound. It's definitely much more ambient than Hillage's other albums up to that point, but as blissed out and new agey as it is, with the sounds of gurgling water (starting side one) and shimmering drones, you won't forget he's a killer electric guitarist either. Obviously, a heavy influence on The Orb, who later collaborated with Hillage, after they met in an club where to Hillage's surprise, Alex Patterson of the Orb was spinning Rainbow Dome Musick in the chill-out lounge, so the story goes! Another essential entry of cosmic proto-new age sounds for fans of Fripp and Eno, Cluster, Ariel Kalma, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Eberhard Schoener and Ashra. We recently got into this album, ordered it for the store on cd, and heartily recommend it - though it seems to sell itself anyway when people see the cover, something about that hypnotic vibrating rainbow dome image...
MPEG Stream: "Four Ever Rainbow"
MPEG Stream: "Garden of Paradise"

HILMARSSON, HILMAR ORN & SIGUR ROS Angels Of The Universe (Fat Cat) cd 12.98
We're really happy that this is back in print, originally released back in 2001 this was the score to the Icelandic film Englar Alheimisins (Angels Of The Universe). Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson is an amazing composer whose brooding, moody and elegant post-classical sounds evokes such a dark and heavenly cinematic quality. He has collaborated over the years with the likes of Current 93, The Hafler Trio and Psychic TV. It makes so much sense that he enlisted Sigur Ros to join him for this score. Don't be expecting a Sigur Ros record though, as this really is the brainchild of Hilmarsson, but you can still hear the band's sound very clearly on a few of the tracks, hints of Sigur Ros' distinctive dark and dreamy sounds. Elegant and lush, with a haunting quality that's made this a favorite of ours for those late rainy nights and somber afternoons.
MPEG Stream: "Journey to the Underworld"
MPEG Stream: "Bium Bium Bambalo"
MPEG Stream: "Degradation"

HIM 5/6 In Dub (After Hours / Bubblecore) cd 10.98
Percussionist / drummer Doug Scharin's talents are such that he's found equally comfortable homes with the sublime indie rock slow-core of Rex, and the twisted, weed-happy Brooklyn-based WordSound collective, hybrid home of forward-thinking hiphop, dub, 'n turntablism typified by Sensational, Spectre, Hawd Gangstuh Rappuhs, etc. And now it appears clear that Scharin has done his homework and listened to the entire Ethiopiques series of early-1970s recordings -- especially the jazz-tinged volume 4 -- 'cos two of the three lengthy tracks on this disc end up displaying Scharin's millenial take on the beloved Ethio-aesthetic, and on Afro-funk in general as typified by Fela Kuti and Tony Allen. The record's got groove. What's really nice is that each piece begins without a hint of the Afro-influence, instead displaying shimmering atmospherics and dubbed-out delicately croaking electronica that then subtly changes into something utterly different. It's the elegant transformations that make this record good. I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "five (excerpt 1)"
RealAudio clip: "five (excerpt 2)"

HIM Egg (Southern) cd 12.98
Doug Scharin, percussionist for Brooklyn's Rex. Comes in the most unimpressive Thingmaker sleeve yet. But wait, it's good! Groovy "dub" played on a wide variety of traditional "ethnic" instruments, percussion from S. Asia etc.

HIM Many In High Places Are Not Well (Bubblecore) cd 14.98
Have you ever opened a can of sliced pineapples, or tuna, and it smelled really bad? And you immediately knew something was terrible wrong? Well, clearly, things do not bode well for Him if there's an unpleasant olfactory metaphor to describe the "Many In High Places Are Not Well" album. Doug Scharin, once responsible for the mightly percussive pummel behind downer-core legends Codeine, has been orchestrating the post-rock ensemble Him during the past decade and unfortunately devolving into a sub-rate Bill Laswell. Now with "Many In High Places Are Not Well," Him emerges with an indeterminant "world music" feel: a dash of Afro-beat, a pinch of Brazillian jazz, and a Hawaiian slide guitar thrown in for the sake of diversity. The result is terminally bland music that has all of the global specificity of the Gypsy Kings. "Many In High Places Are Not Well" should go down as one the utter low points to the once vibrant Chicago post-rock community that spawned Tortoise and their ilk.
MPEG Stream: "Many In High Places"

HIM New Features (Bubble Core) cd 13.98
Very well executed, but somewhat bland contemporary jazz grooves from the seemingly relentless percussionist Doug Scharin (former member of Codeine, Rex, June of 44). While Him's previous effort 5/6 In Dub was a very good, short and sweet take on a sort of millenial Afro-funk sound (albeit filtered through a white guy in Brooklyn), this record stretches out the grooves into unneccessarily long (like 9 - 18 minutes!) wanky sessions that sound uninspired whereas the action coulda been packed into five interesting minutes. Still, fans of Miles Davis' really mellowed out fusion jazz material might like this. And fans of Tortoise' last album too.
RealAudio clip: "Sea Level"

HIM New Features (Bubble Core) lp 14.98
Very well executed, but somewhat bland contemporary jazz grooves from the seemingly relentless percussionist Doug Scharin (former member of Codeine, Rex, June of 44). While Him's previous effort 5/6 In Dub was a very good, short and sweet take on a sort of millenial Afro-funk sound (albeit filtered through a white guy in Brooklyn), this record stretches out the grooves into unneccessarily long (like 9 - 18 minutes!) wanky sessions that sound uninspired whereas the action coulda been packed into five interesting minutes. Still, fans of Miles Davis' really mellowed out fusion jazz material might like this. And fans of Tortoise' last album too.

HIM Our Point Of Departure (Perishable) cd 14.98
Doug Scharin.

HIM/THE DYLAN GROUP (Bubble Core) split cd 11.98
Dub/Tortoise-y stylings. Him is the drummer of Rex by the way.

HINDLE, JAMES WILLIAM s/t (Badman) cd 13.98
Dark and lilting acoustic pop ala Red House Painters. No surprise as he is a friend of Mark Kozelek's, plays Kozelek's guitars, the record is produced by the same guy who produced the last Red House Painters record, and Hindle made his debut on Kozelek's recent tribute to John Denver. But all that said, there are some differences. Hindle has a high, crystalline voice, almost fey at timesand the instrumentation is sparse, often just an acoustic guitar. There's a gorgeous cover of the Bee Gees' 'I Started A Joke' and a great vesrson of Glen Campbell's 'Less Of Me'. Guests include Paula Frazer from Tarnation and Tim Mooney from American Music Club. And features photography by bad boy filmmaker Harmony Korine. Really pretty nice.
RealAudio clip: "I Started A Joke"
RealAudio clip: "Remember My Markings"

HINT Wu Wei (Pandemonium) cd 13.98
This is one of the most amazing new bands we have heard in a while, and they're from France! This is Hint's second album and it's a bit more varied than last year's ultra pummeling and quite brilliant Dys. On Wu Wei, the punishing brute rock is stretched and twisted, advancing from huge thunderous dirges to sampler/turntable-heavy 'musique concrete' (hey, that's a french word) to soaring cinematic soundscapes. This band destroys so many other bands with their amazing versatility, musicianship and sheer breadth of scope.

HINT/UNSANE (Pandemonium) 7" 3.99
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
U: NY 'core noise rock/metal.
H: Hypnotic and rythmic drone rock ala Circle. Easily the best, perhaps the only, noise rock song featuring Tuvan throat singing.