GARNEAU, CHRIS Music For Tourists (Absolutely Kosher) cd 13.98
Another unassuming, slightly off-kilter singer/songwriter joins the strong stable of artists at the Absolutely Kosher camp. Chris Garneau is his name and Music For Tourists is his debut album -- a baker's dozen folk pop tunes played out mostly on piano and guitar augmented by strings. Sweet and hushed, Garneau's boyish vocals seem to pursue the sensitive intimacy of the late Elliott Smith. The album as a whole has an underlying bedroom recorded feel, but with a fully fleshed out lush production afforded these days via the now easily accessible, user friendly recording technology. Pleasant lo-fi pop recorded with hi-fi capabilities.
MPEG Stream: "Relief"
MPEG Stream: "So Far"

GARNER, SUE Shadyside (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Sue Garner possesses one of those lovely voices that flows along so warm and smooth, but with a tendency to suddenly swoop up all high'n'lilting or slink down low to a dry, almost spoken delivery. With the varied tempos and styles of her third solo album Shadyside, her music brings to mind a melding of Joni Mitchell, Sally Timms and Ani Difranco - full of heart and presence. The lyrics of four of these songs are actually previously existing poems written by Fay Hart (who also penned a song for one of Garner's former bands The Shams). She invited a number of her talented musician friends to help flesh out the songs - namely husband Rick Brown (with whom she recorded as Run On), Marc Ribot, Jim O'Rourke, and Yo La Tengo's James McNew. The result is a dramatic, diverse musical backdrop with bass clarinet, bass harmonica, kalimba, organ, accordion, electric piano and an array of percussion joining the assembled guitars, bass and drums.
RealAudio clip: "Don't Still The Flicker"
RealAudio clip: "Handful Of Grapes"

GARRIE, NICK The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislaus (Rev-ola) cd 16.98
Another day, another rare sixties pop-psych reissue with quite a bit of collector cachet... that is also pretty darn great! First time on cd for this Eddie Vartan-produced 1969 LP, wonderfully dreamy and baroque and folky and orchestrated. Lots of languid, lazy-day la, la, la's here!
Talented, curly-haired singer-songwriter Nick Garrie was youthful, peripatetic, and quite cosmopolitan (you can tell from his lyrics, referencing all corners of Europe). He had a Scottish mother, a Russian father, and was raised in both France and England, calling Paris his home at the time this record came out. Though nowadays it gets compared to the work of Nick Drake, Billy Nichols, Peter Sarstedt, Bill Fay, and others of note, due to music biz circumstances beyond Nick's control, it immediately sank into obscurity upon initial release. But now thanks to Rev-ola it's been reissued, complete with extensive liner notes, track-by-track commentary by Nick himself, and seven bonus tracks including his fantastic and even harder to find than the LP 1968 single "Queen Of Spades" b/w "Close Your Eyes" (the B-side of which you may have already heard on the Nightmares at Toby's Shop compilation we listed last year). Great stuff for fans of UK popsike like Kaleidoscope.
MPEG Stream: "The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislaus"
MPEG Stream: "Bungles Tours"
MPEG Stream: "Queen Of Spades"

GARY WAR Galactic Citizens (Captured Tracks) lp 14.98
The attack of the killer outsider jams continues! One thing the recent crop of left of center damaged pop deconstructionists have in common is their rapid fire release schedule. Seems like everytime we come up for air there's a new slab of wax from Blank Dogs, Ariel Pink, Kurt Vile and now Gary War. But we ain't complaining one bit cause we've loving it. And so far, everything we've heard from Gary War has KILLED, and these six brand new tracks are no exception. While Ariel Pink has made clear his love of and inspiration from R. Stevie Moore, it seems that for Gary War his true influence is Joe Meek, as evidenced by GW's tripped out production and bubbling/collapsing electronics.
Those elements are fused with some seriously strange skewed pop and has us imagining what it might have sounded like if Meek lived long enough to have produced fucked up new wave albums. Of all the current warped pop peddlers Gary War really does feel in sound and spirit closest to John Maus, as they both use really primitive electronics to help achieve their otherworldly approach to pop gone wrong, so damn right!
FYI the copies we got (and all the ones at our distributor too) are all just a tiny little bit dinged on the corners, sorry, them's the breaks.

GARY WAR Horribles Parade (Sacred Bones) lp 16.98
Gary War definitely found a perfect home for his tweaked and twisted pop, right next to the best of recent outsider pop deconstructionists like Ariel Pink, Kurt Vile, John Maus, Blank Dogs, etc. With his latest lp he carefully stretches his already compelling sound into even more tripped out directions, some gorgeously bizarre, warped catchy, electronics melded with ultra fucked up pop that sound like they really belong on some sort of amazing Ariel Pink/John Maus collaboration. While his last records oozed with residues of '70s psychedelia, Horribles Parade almost sounds like an amazing deconstruction of new-wave gone way weird. Like if someone got a hold of old master tapes from Devo, the Units and Gary Numan and doused them mysterious liquids, messed with the speed a bit, and played it all back on an old analog reel to reel through shitty speakers in the room next door. Deliciously delirious.

GARY WAR Horribles Parade / Galactic Citizens (Sacred Bones) cd 13.98
Finally, now on cd!!! With hella bonus tracks...
Gary War definitely found a perfect home for his tweaked and twisted pop, right next to the best of recent outsider pop deconstructionists like Ariel Pink, Kurt Vile, John Maus, Blank Dogs, etc. With his latest lp he carefully stretches his already compelling sound into even more tripped out directions, some gorgeously bizarre, warped catchy, electronics melded with ultra fucked up pop that sound like they really belong on some sort of amazing Ariel Pink/John Maus collaboration. While his last records oozed with residues of '70s psychedelia, Horribles Parade almost sounds like an amazing deconstruction of new-wave gone way weird. Like if someone got a hold of old master tapes from Devo, the Units and Gary Numan and doused them mysterious liquids, messed with the speed a bit, and played it all back on an old analog reel to reel through shitty speakers in the room next door. Deliciously delirious.
There's been seven bonus tracks added to this cd version, including "Anhedonic Man," previously released as a one-sided single, as well as the entire Galactic Citizens 12" ep, about which we wrote the following:
The attack of the killer outsider jams continues! One thing the recent crop of left of center damaged pop deconstructionists have in common is their rapid fire release schedule. Seems like everytime we come up for air there's a new slab of wax from Blank Dogs, Ariel Pink, Kurt Vile and now Gary War. But we ain't complaining one bit cause we've loving it. And so far, everything we've heard from Gary War has KILLED, and these six brand new tracks are no exception. While Ariel Pink has made clear his love of and inspiration from R. Stevie Moore, it seems that for Gary War his true influence is Joe Meek, as evidenced by GW's tripped out production and bubbling/collapsing electronics.
Those elements are fused with some seriously strange skewed pop and has us imagining what it might have sounded like if Meek lived long enough to have produced fucked up new wave albums. Of all the current warped pop peddlers Gary War really does feel in sound and spirit closest to John Maus, as they both use really primitive electronics to help achieve their otherworldly approach to pop gone wrong, so damn right!
MPEG Stream: "Highspeed Drift"
MPEG Stream: "Sold Out"
MPEG Stream: "Everynight"

GARY WAR Jared's Lot (Spectrum Spools) cd 16.98
We've long been fans of these outsider noise pop weirdos, they even played our very first AQ/WFMU showcase at South By Southwest, but wow has their sound changed since then. Our pal Anthony described this new record WAY more succinctly and accurately than we ever could:
"Expertly performed, extremely difficult clash between pop inclinations and punk ideals sent through a completely synthetic, inhuman aesthetic. If you sent the Wipers early albums through the most intuitive state-of-the-art midi processor you might end up with something like this, simultaneously baroque and sterile, and very catchy at times. When the option is to zig or zag Gary War will always zap!"
And while to our ears, at times Gary War sounds like a whole different band, there are definitely plenty of moments that harken to the GW of old, but right from the outset, Jared's Lot seems to establish a new sonic era with record opener "Thousand Yard Star" unfurling a spaced out psychedelic synthscape that seems to owe more to John Carpenter and Goblin, or more recently Umberto and the like, than Ariel Pink or John Maus, who were so obviously GW's sonic brethren in the past. But this new sound definitely suits them, "Thousand Yard Star" playing out like the soundtrack to some ridiculous, low budget seventies sci-fi epic, all pulsing sequenced synth throb and shuffling Autobahn rhythms, with wild swirling effects and seriously tweaked vox. "Advancements In Disguise" takes that psychedelic synth sound and weds it to some fractured outsider pop, everything doused in space age shimmer, and driven by those percolating synth pulses, the vocals effected and pitch shifted, layered and warped into a dizzying alien chorus, the song driving and propulsive one second, tripped out and almost kosmische the next. It's like some sort of synth heavy outsider garagekraut cold wave, slipping easily from twisted lo-fi pop to prismatic electro bliss out, everything wreathed in swoops of bloops and bleeps and clouds of shimmery outer space psychedelic synth swirl, the best moments are tracks like "Pleading For Annihilation", where the band actually rock, all pounding drums and distorted electric guitars, woven into GW's tripped out galactic synth pop, crunchy buzz butted up against dizzying blasts of arpeggiated synth melodies, those two disparate elements gradually merging into some of the most kick ass kosmische whatthefuck tripped out electronic space pop EVER.
MPEG Stream: "Thousand Yard Stare"
MPEG Stream: "Advancements In Disgust"
MPEG Stream: "Superlifter"
MPEG Stream: "Pleading For Anihilation"

GARY WAR Jared's Lot (Spectrum Spools) lp 22.00
We've long been fans of these outsider noise pop weirdos, they even played our very first AQ/WFMU showcase at South By Southwest, but wow has their sound changed since then. Our pal Anthony described this new record WAY more succinctly and accurately than we ever could:
"Expertly performed, extremely difficult clash between pop inclinations and punk ideals sent through a completely synthetic, inhuman aesthetic. If you sent the Wipers early albums through the most intuitive state-of-the-art midi processor you might end up with something like this, simultaneously baroque and sterile, and very catchy at times. When the option is to zig or zag Gary War will always zap!"
And while to our ears, at times Gary War sounds like a whole different band, there are definitely plenty of moments that harken to the GW of old, but right from the outset, Jared's Lot seems to establish a new sonic era with record opener "Thousand Yard Star" unfurling a spaced out psychedelic synthscape that seems to owe more to John Carpenter and Goblin, or more recently Umberto and the like, than Ariel Pink or John Maus, who were so obviously GW's sonic brethren in the past. But this new sound definitely suits them, "Thousand Yard Star" playing out like the soundtrack to some ridiculous, low budget seventies sci-fi epic, all pulsing sequenced synth throb and shuffling Autobahn rhythms, with wild swirling effects and seriously tweaked vox. "Advancements In Disguise" takes that psychedelic synth sound and weds it to some fractured outsider pop, everything doused in space age shimmer, and driven by those percolating synth pulses, the vocals effected and pitch shifted, layered and warped into a dizzying alien chorus, the song driving and propulsive one second, tripped out and almost kosmische the next. It's like some sort of synth heavy outsider garagekraut cold wave, slipping easily from twisted lo-fi pop to prismatic electro bliss out, everything wreathed in swoops of bloops and bleeps and clouds of shimmery outer space psychedelic synth swirl, the best moments are tracks like "Pleading For Annihilation", where the band actually rock, all pounding drums and distorted electric guitars, woven into GW's tripped out galactic synth pop, crunchy buzz butted up against dizzying blasts of arpeggiated synth melodies, those two disparate elements gradually merging into some of the most kick ass kosmische whatthefuck tripped out electronic space pop EVER.
MPEG Stream: "Thousand Yard Stare"
MPEG Stream: "Advancements In Disgust"
MPEG Stream: "Superlifter"
MPEG Stream: "Pleading For Anihilation"

GARY WAR New Raytheonport (Shdwply / Disaro) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The last couple years have been pretty great when it comes to outsider, DIY pop delights. John Maus, Ariel Pink and Night Control have made brilliant records as fucked up as they are catchy and hooky. You can add Gary War to the list of those twisted popsmiths and eccentric songwriters. This lp is filled with haunting and mysterious pop songs that are as melty and tripped out and fucked up as they are catchy and hummable. There's some serious Syd Barrett worship going on too all over New Raytheonport, but wow is it channeled so totally right on. Pop songs drenched in cough syrup that take you on a blurry and hallucinogenic voyage, the fractured sound become the perfect soundtrack for warped daydreams and drifting off into a million different dimensions. But while others groups that are influenced by folks like Syd Barret and Roky Erickson end up sounding like nostalgia acts wishing they were born decades earlier, Gary War's sound is quite timeless, and weirdly futuristic sometimes. Ariel Pink actually gets a mastering credit on the record and for sure much of the sonic scope of the album would sound right at home on any of the Haunted Graffiti albums, but there is also something so rainbow hued and prismatic and kaleidoscopically damaged about these songs that gives Gary War a unique and far out sound of his own. And it was just a matter of time before someone gave the Alan Parsons Project track "Eye In The Sky" a good outsider facelift!
We heard that Gary War is going to collaborate with Blank Dogs on a new project called Roman Soldiers and we're pretty much already signed up to join the Roman Soldiers fanclub, without even hearing a note! And we might as well proclaim ourselves charter members of the Gary War fanclub too now, can't wait to see the band rock our SXSW showcase next week! Highly recommended!

GARY WAR Police Water (Sacred Bones) cd ep 10.98
Latest from these damaged art pop deconstructionists, a brief blast of retro new wave garage pop weirdness, beginning with the very Ariel Pink-ish "Born Of Light" , which begins with a smear of ambient whirs and random clatter before the pulsing synths and swirling sci-fi effects swoop in, supporting some weirdly processed vox and an old school eighties electro drum machine beat. Which definitely sets the scene for Police Water, the whole thing sounding like an experimental eighties science fiction straight to video soundtrack, composed by Joe Meek, but performed by some forgotten new wave band, recorded on an old boombox, and played back through a busted Leslie speaker, long stretches of swirling effects give way to trippy synthscapes and woozy electro pop, the sound muted and hazy and washed out, as if it was dubbed straight off the VHS tape, groovy and a little dance-y, like a fractured lo-fi pop version of that recent Majeure record, where that record was sleek and polished, evoking futuristic landscapes, Police Water evokes an alternate future, one much more bizarre and broken down, via this crumbling ramshackle off kilter future-retro pop score. As always, so awesome, and so confusionally genius. Definitely on the weirder side of the current crop of Carpenter style synthscapery, and just a twisted weirdo popwave record in its own right.
The cd includes two bonus mixes!!
MPEG Stream: "Born Of Light"
MPEG Stream: "On Its Head"
MPEG Stream: "Grounds For Termination"

GARY WAR Reality Protest (Sacred Bones) 7" 5.50
Another awesome slab of lo-fi intergalactic warped pop from Gary War. Seems like each of his releases keeps getting more damaged, drugged out, and space-y. This new single is brimming with hissing tape, changing speeds, acid drenched keyboards, and GW's distorted and enchanting vocals. Both songs sound like being trapped in some long gone 80's arcade game with all the wires and sockets disconnected creating all these weird glitches, pitch shifts, crumbling loops, electronic buzz, but somehow all wrapped around some insanely warped and catchy garage pop. While it might be frustrating for GW to always be lumped in with his pals Ariel Pink and John Maus, those comparisons are inevitable. But with Ariel Pink about to make his big 4AD debut with much higher production value, it might be up to Gary Way to carry the flame for totally fractured and fried outsider pop.

GARY WAR Zontag / Don't Go Out Tonight (Sacred Bones ) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've been hearing all sorts of great things about the mysterious Gary War. We always hear him mentioned in the same breath as Ariel Pink and John Maus, who just so happened to produce the Gary War full length. And for sure those brilliant outsiders are a good reference point for the kind of warped bedroom pop that Gary War conjures up. Lo-fi and warbly, these songs almost sound like several great bizarre pop songs playing at once. If you've been digging folks like the aforementioned Ariel Pink, John Maus and Night Control then we're pretty sure Gary War will be your next favorite. This 7" is the perfect taster for the also kick ass full length reviewed elsewhere on this list. You definitely need BOTH!

GARY WAR Zontag / Don't Go Out Tonight (Care In The Community Recordings) 7" 12.98
One of the first records we ever heard from this warped pop weirdo, back in print and available again!! Here's what we had to say as we discovered Gary War for the first time way back in 2009...
We've been hearing all sorts of great things about the mysterious Gary War. We always hear him mentioned in the same breath as Ariel Pink and John Maus, who just so happened to produce the Gary War full length. And for sure those brilliant outsiders are a good reference point for the kind of warped bedroom pop that Gary War conjures up. Lo-fi and warbly, these songs almost sound like several great bizarre pop songs playing at once. If you've been digging folks like the aforementioned Ariel Pink, John Maus and Night Control then we're pretty sure Gary War will be your next favorite!

GAS Compressed Gas (Siltbreeze) 7" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Awesome archival release from this rad New Zealand garage psych combo, recorded in the late nineties, this is THE SHIT. Super lo-fi recording, trash can drums, tangled guitar buzz, cool squiggly melodies, scowly drawled vox, dirgey, jangly, filthy, doomy, a bit gothic, super dramatic, weird synth squiggles on one of the tracks, sonically, some of this reminds us of the Celibate Rifles, and you can definitely hear some Pere Ubu, and plenty of classic Nuggets style jangle and fuzz, but with a sound that manages to be murky, moody and weirdly (and subtly) noisy. Killer stuff. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES.

GASENETA Sooner Or Later (PSF) cd 17.98
Not remotely new (the catalog number for this is PSF-17, it was released some years ago) but something that we thought we'd get a few of and list 'cause we were doing an order with the PSF label in Tokyo and hadn't ever reviewed this cult classic before. Anyone into the speedfreak psychedelic acid punk of flagship PSF band High Rise (or Mainliner, or Musica Transonic, etc.) ought to check out Gaseneta, a Japanese combo from the late '70s who helped pioneer that sound (and were later covered by High Rise). This disc contains archival recordings mostly from 1978, all of 'em ultra distorted, in-the-red recordings of a band simply destroying, sonically wrecking the place. We mean, if you thought Boris kicked out the noisy jams on Pink... well this is a whole 'nother kettle of raw fish of course, way punker than Pink, but of potential interest to Boris fans wanting to check out their antecedents. There's eleven energetic tracks on Sooner Or Later, bursting with skronky guitar solos (Black Flag style) and the spittle of guttural vox, backed by urgent bashing rhythms. Four of 'em are live recordings, which are especially lo-fi but since you should be playing this LOUD anyway that just adds to the effect. Way cool.
MPEG Stream: "track 1"
MPEG Stream: "track 3"

GASTR DEL SOL Camofleur (Drag City) cd 12.98
Why do I keep thinking Terry Gross is going to do a special on these guys soon? Very very appealing fragmented post rock post everything that wears influences on sleeve (Fahey, bluegrass etc). It doesn't hold together all that well but then again that's always kind of been the point with Gastr del Sol. Recommended!

GASTR DEL SOL Camofleur (Drag City) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Why do I keep thinking Terry Gross is going to do a special on these guys soon? Very very appealing fragmented post rock post everything that wears influences on sleeve (Fahey, bluegrass etc). It doesn't hold together all that well but then again that's always kind of been the point with Gastr del Sol. Recommended!

GASTR DEL SOL Crookt, Crakt, Or Fly (Drag City) cd 14.98

GASTR DEL SOL Mirror Repair (Drag City) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

GASTR DEL SOL The Harp Factory on Lake Street (Table of the Elements) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

GASTR DEL SOL The Serpentine Similar (Dexter's Cigar) 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 first, long-out-of-print Gastr album, pre-Jim O'Rourke, reissued! the most Bastro-ish and brilliant.

GASTR DEL SOL The Serpentine Similar (Dexter's Cigar) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The first, long-out-of-print Gastr album, pre-Jim O'Rourke, reissued! the most Bastro-ish and brilliant.

GASTR DEL SOL Twenty Songs Less (Minority) 7" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's a band we haven't heard from in ages, and to be honest, one we honestly thought we might not ever hear from again. O'Rourke is in Sonic Youth, Grubbs has his own stuff going on, but back in the day, Gastr Del Sol were a post rock beast. Born of the mighty Bastro, they took that muscled math rock and twisted it all up into something much artier and more avant garde, and we LOVED it. Heck, we still do. So it's awesome to hear this blast from the past. Not actually a new record, this is a fancy new reissue of a long out of print 7", and boy it sounds as good as ever.
Beginning with a blast of old skool post rock, strummed angular acoustic guitar and complex drumming, before giving way to a mellow mathy folk, which quickly crumbles into strange melodic fragments, almost sounding like a Gastr Del Sol track proper, chopped up and put together in some random order. Nice.
The flipside starts off again, with a blast of post rock fury, aggressive acoustic guitar riffing and some seriously chaotic math rock drum freak out, before blissing out into a droney drift, complete with strange field recordings of children laughing and playing before fading out into a slow shimmer, all muted electronics and reverbed piano. So nice.
Packaged in a thick vinyl sleeve with a full color sleeve, pressed on clear vinyl with a full color center label. Simple, stark and striking.

GASTR DEL SOL Upgrade & Afterlife (Drag City) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

GATE A Republic Of Sadness (Ba Da Bing) lp 14.98
The first new Gate music in over a decade! Michael Morely aka Gate, may be more well known for his work in legendary New Zealand noiserockers the Dead C, but he's been making Gate records just as long, and they've all been pretty much stone cold classics, The Dew Line is one of THE most unsung, underappreciated weirdo outsider pop records EVER, Golden is ostensibly a noise record, but manages to harness noise into something much more beautiful and listenable and lovely. And now we have A Republic Of Sadness, that like all Gate records, is tough to describe, but impossible to resist. A strange swirling assemblage of lush guitar textures, of Jeckian turntable loops, of crooned lo-fi bedroom pop, of skittery IDM style beats, all woven into dark, woozy, abstract electronic drone pop, or minimal dreamfolk electronica.
The opener "Forever" is totally gorgeous, built atop a scratchy turntable loop, that Basinski like backdrop repeats endlessly, drifting in its cloud of crackle and pop, while all around it other loops sway and swell, a simple stripped down beat, shuffles and skitters, and Morely unfurls a distorted dreamy croon, it's like Gas meets Jeck meets Basinski meets The Caretaker meets Sentridoh. When the vocals drop out, and the loop just repeats endlessly, it's utterly trancelike and mesmerizing. "All" starts out with soft swaths of synth, before a weird clattery lo-fi distorted beat lurches into action, thick rumbling bass underpins the sound, and in come Morely's creepy distorted mumbled vocals, a bit like a Strotter Inst / Gas remix fronted by Jandek, mysterious, mournful, intimate, part way through, a strange lumbering low end wheeze adds a strange counterpoint, and like the track before, the non essentials are jettisoned, and the layered loopscape plays out hypnotically.
The rest of the record constructs similarly twisted bits of lo-fi electronica, woven into skittery dreamscapes, and muted minimal grooves, slipping from the almost funky wah wah guitars and low slung depressive basslines of "Desert", sounding like some home brewed DIY Interpol, to the almost M83 bliss out of "Wilderness" with its fuzzy shoegaze guitardrone, and creaking almost industrial sounding rhythms, all beneath some sun dappled buzzy synths and twisted mush mouthed crooning, to the deconstructed trip hop of "Freak", a stuttery effects drenched rhythm shuffles beneath some super distorted looped guitar crunch, and finally to the nearly 10 minute closer "Trees", with its blown out metalgaze guitar smolder, its booming skeletal big beat rhythm, more moaning vox, a throbbing synth bassline, a sort of lo-fi bedroom brewed cold wave, until about halfway through, when the drums drop out, and all that's left is a gorgeous pulsing synthscape, that will have fans of Oneohtrix and Emeralds and other outer spacesynth krautdrone explorers frothing for sure.
Includes a download card.

GATE Damned Revolutions (Ultramarine) lp 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

GATE s/t (Poon Village) cd 12.98
Michael Morley, Zeena Parkins, Lee Ranaldo. Live in Boston. Features Poon Village's always-breathtaking packaging.

GATE The Dew Line (Table Of The Elements) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Originally released way back in 1994, and reissued again a few years back, Gate's The Dew Line always seemed to disappear before we could get enough copies to list. Which was a shame as it still ranks as one of our favorite discs. A mesmerizing noise-pop-drone jem from the Dead C's Michael Morley, an improbable mix of NZ noise whir and skree, minimal drifting drone and lilting indie pop. Think the Dead C at their very poppiest, crossed with Sentridoh at its most minimal and rawÉ
Gate's Golden record was one of our favorite 'noise' records ever, and we do hear a lot of that Golden noise in this chunk of damaged deconstructed pop. Long drawn out expanses of crumbling guitars, buried-in-the-mix sad boy vocals, all very raw and lo-fi, but strangely lush and heavy in that way only blownout bedroom recordings seem to sound. It's a little like Lou Barlow if he was raised on Throbbing Gristle and Suicide instead of indie rock. Guitar jangles transformed into thick sprawling atonal riffage, verse chorus verse transformed into verse verse verse, and the vocals adding a strange sweet sadness.
Dense clouds of electronic glitch and amp buzz, the riffs more textural than melodic, long stretches of whirring lo-fi organ, mournful and almost funereal, strange haunting minimal percussion, drifting alien FX, disembodied guitars unfurling crunchy textures and barely there melodies. Many of the tracks are vocal-less haunting guitarscapes, riffs and layers, looped and repetitive, extended into grinding washed out mantras. Cyclical and gorgeously hypnotic. Which makes the tracks with vocals sound all the more poppy. Especially "Have Not", which is essentially a single, super catchy, languid distorted guitar riff, looped and cyclical, minor key, sounding a bit like a slowed down drum-less Rein Sanction, with drawled Neil Young / Dinosaur Jr. style double tracked vocals, laid back, emotive, and hauntingly monotone. Nearly 13 minutes long, a single riff, a subtly changing vocal line, but it's just so mysterious, sad and perfect, the whole record could easily have been a 70 minute version of this track only and we would have been just as happyÉ
But then we would have missed out on the melancholy minimalism of "Needed All Words", a lonely vocal line, drifting above a glacial sea of organ drone and fractured effects, or the looped stuttering industrial buzzscape of the title track, or the divine washed out crumbling grind of "Triphammer", the final song, which manages to turn 3 minutes of abstract distorted riffage, into a dense chunk of dark moodiness.
Way recommended. This disc is old enough that for many of you, we're probably already preaching to the converted, but if you missed out on this, here's one more chance to sink deep into Morley's mysterious musical miserablsim.
And be warned, while we finally managed to get a bunch of these, it took forever, so if or when we do run out, please be prepared to be patient, since it could take a while to get more.
MPEG Stream: "Millions"
MPEG Stream: "Needed All Words"
MPEG Stream: "Have Not"

GATE The Dew Line (MIE) 2lp 34.00
A long while back we listed this on cd, easily one of our favorite noise-rock / noise-pop records ever, a mesmerizing noise-pop-drone gem from the Dead C's Michael Morley, an improbable mix of NZ noise whir and skree, minimal drifting drone and lilting indie pop. Think the Dead C at their very poppiest, crossed with Sentridoh at its most minimal and raw, a slab of lush, sculpted melody-infused indie rock rendered as something much more abstract and avant, but with a core that's pure pop genius. Originally released way back in 1994, and reissued again on cd a few years ago, we're not sure this has ever been on vinyl before, at least until now. And this new version, besides being remastered and packaged in a swank heavy gatefold jacket, also tacks on FIVE bonus tracks, all of which sound like they could have been included with the original version, and make this well worth buying again, even for those of us who already own an extremely well worn digital version. And if you've never heard the Dew Line before, you are in for a serious, perhaps life altering, sonic treatÉ
Gate's Golden record, a singles collection, was one of our favorite 'noise' records ever, and we do hear a lot of that Golden 'noise' in this chunk of damaged deconstructed pop. Long drawn out expanses of crumbling guitars, buried-in-the-mix sad boy vocals, all very raw and lo-fi, but strangely lush and heavy in that way only blown out bedroom recordings seem to sound. It's a little like Lou Barlow if he was raised on Throbbing Gristle and Suicide instead of indie rock. Guitar jangles transformed into thick sprawling atonal riffage, verse chorus verse transformed into verse verse verse, and the vocals adding a strange sweet sadness.
Dense clouds of electronic glitch and amp buzz seem to surround everything on The Dew Line, the riffs more textural than melodic, long stretches of whirring lo-fi organ, mournful and almost funereal, strange haunting minimal percussion, drifting alien FX, disembodied guitars unfurling crunchy textures and barely there melodies. Many of the tracks are vocal-less haunting guitarscapes, riffs and layers, looped and repetitive, extended into grinding washed out mantras. Cyclical and gorgeously hypnotic. Which makes the tracks with vocals sound all the more poppy.
Especially "Have Not", which is essentially a single, super catchy, languid distorted guitar riff, looped and cyclical, minor key, sounding a bit like a slowed down drum-less Rein Sanction, with drawled Neil Young / Dinosaur Jr. style double tracked vocals, laid back, emotive, and hauntingly monotone. Nearly 13 minutes long, a single riff, a subtly changing vocal line, but it's just so mysterious, sad and perfect, the whole record could easily have been a 70 minute version of this track only and we would have been just as happyÉ
But then we would have missed out on the melancholy minimalism of "Needed All Words", a lonely vocal line, drifting above a glacial sea of organ drone and fractured effects, or the looped stuttering industrial buzzscape of the title track, or the divine washed out crumbling grind of "Triphammer", the final song, which manages to turn 3 minutes of abstract distorted riffage, into a dense chunk of dark moodiness.
And even sans the newly added bonus tracks, this would still be absolutely required listening and a shoe-in for Record Of The Week, but the nearly twenty minutes of extra stuff only seals the deal. There's "Sunshine", a crunchy, distorted chunk of detuned dirgery, the vocals plaintive, and way up in the mix, the drums stumbling, the guitars thick and corrosive, the whole thing sounding like some live Sonic Youth B-side, while "Ives" is a sprawling expanse of churning rhythmic murk, laced with streaks of electronics, wild squalls of psych-noise guitar, all dragged along by a seriously 'rawk' riff, although that riff is buried beneath an avalanche of noise and skree. "Sadness Sings" is another one of those impossibly noise drenched guitar heavy indie rock/noise pop dirge, like a looser more abstract take on the above mentioned "Have Not", the same sort of sad boy bedroom broodiness, which is pushed even further on "Bitcher", which slows it waaaaay down, adds a little Jandek-y outsider detuned warble, but Morley delivers some sweetly crooned vox, which balance the surrounding sounds, which seem to be melting, a warped drone-pop dirge, heavy on the flanger, and the crumbling dying-battery distortion, and then finally, the awesomely titled "Tuba Is Funny", a brief bit of effects drenched field recorded acoustic guitar driven balladry, that would have sounded out of place on some old Sentridoh record.
Obviously, WAY recommended. This record is old enough that for many of you, we're probably already preaching to the converted, but those extra tracks are some serious music nerd buried treasure, and the record sounds incredible, and again, if you're one of those people who somehow managed to miss out on this entirely, here's one more chance to sink deep into Morley's mysterious musical miserablsim.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES! Housed in a super swank heavy gatefold jacket!
MPEG Stream: "Millions"
MPEG Stream: "Needed All Words"
MPEG Stream: "Have Not"
MPEG Stream: "Sadness Sings [Bonus]"
MPEG Stream: "Bitcher [Bonus]"

GATE The Lavender Head (Hell's Half Halo) 2lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Mistakenly labelled Gate's 'techno record' by an unnamed party, this is Dead C guitarist Michael Morley's first computer generated album. While most computer programmers are trapped within the crystal purity of digital sounds, Morley's penchant for a fidelity below the standards of lo-fi has saved his 'techno record' from sounding like one. Lazy looping soundtracks for dirgy guitars and sloppy synths. Only about 1/2 of it has got 'beats', and they are pleasant.

GATE The Mono Lake (Table Of The Elements) cd 16.98
Michael Morley of NZ's Dead C's newest solo, in a similar style. Ends with a fine noisy cover of "Jennifer" from Faust IV.

GATEKEEPER Giza (Merok) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yet another band trafficking in creepy electronic Carpenter / Goblin / Zombi style Euro-horror retro futuristic soundtrackery, and like those others, Gatekeeper definitely have their own spin on it, with a sound way more danceable, and with loads more samples, adding to the whole cinematic vibe, the opening track alone pretty much sums it up, the revving of a motorcycle engine, pulsing electronics, symphonic stabs, samples of a terrorized woman, from some seventies horror flick most likely, the sound a driving propulsive fusion of old school techno, and electronic krautrock, laced with cheesy electronic drums, swirling spaced out effects, fuzzy bass, and buzzing synths, deep creepy vox add to the drama and tension, it's pretty impossible not to envision some futuristic chase scene or some occultic ritual gone wrong and the resulting pursuit through the forest. Total techno electro-kraut futurist kosmische sci-fi new wave.
The rest of the tracks follow suit, with big pulsing slabs of buzzing synth, fuzzy eighties basslines, programmed drums, new agey ambience, loads of samples, strange voices and sound effects, but unlike the others, the sound of Gatekeeper seems to be more dramatic, more intense, with the songs often building to seriously epic and freaked out climaxes, but just as often locking into mesmerizing minimal electro grooves, but always slightly ominous, haunting, otherworldly and seriously dramatic and cinematic. Think Majeure, Innercity, Oneohtrix, Nightsatan, Umberto but somehow more over the top. Which of course means WAY recommended.

GATES, REBECCA Ruby Series (Badman) cd 13.98
Rebecca Gates was previously in The Spinanes from Portland, Oregon. She has since moved to Chicago and created this album, her first "solo" recording, with the help of John McEntire (of Tortoise and the Sea and Cake), Noel Kupersmith (of The Chicago Underground Quartet), and Brian Deck (of Califone, Red Red Meat and Modest Mouse), among others. Her songs vary from sweet folk to more driving songs, but always led by her vocal swagger and languorous guitar strum and backed by that Chicago post-rock sound (i.e. lots of marimba and adult-contemporary use of electronica breakbeats).
RealAudio clip: "Lure And Cast"

GAULT, THE Even As All Before Us (Amortout) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally back in stock!! It's been a bit of an ordeal too. The original pressing on Flood The Earth was defective, so we managed to get a bunch that the band had pressed themselves and listed those a while back, unfortunately those quickly ran out and tons of folks missed out. Now after a brief spell of unavailability, we finally managed to get copies of the European version, identical to the original version, only this time released solely by Amortout, the label run by the guys in Diamatregon! Phew, a lot of trouble maybe, but well worth it we think once you hear the dark brooding beauty that is the Gault. Here's what we had to say first time around:
By now everyone should be familiar with SF black metal legends Weakling. A brief existence, a handful of shows, and a single amazing record (released on Andee's tUMULt label, we should mention). Members of Weakling played in and/or went on to play in Amber Asylum, the Champs, Drunk Horse, Asunder, Sangre Amado, Saros and the short lived but now totally cult blackened gothic doom outfit The Gault. Recorded way back in 1999 by Tim Green, The Gault's Even As All Before Us languished for years before the band finally agreed on a mix and a label, and now five years later this mighty slab of depressive doom finally sees the light of day. Some of you may be wondering why we're only getting around to reviewing this now, since it was released a few months ago... and, the entire first pressing is already sold out. So what's the deal? Well, bad news for any of you who already picked up a copy somewhere else. The ENTIRE first pressing was, in fact, defective. But not defective enough apparently for the label to care, as they refused to repress it and continued to sell the defective copies anyway. To our ears though, the harsh digital glitches inadvertently inserted between every track totally detracted from the gorgeously bleak and harrowing ambience. So the band took it upon themselves to have corrected copies pressed themselves, and thus we finally have the Gault record the way it was meant to be heard. Imagine those Weakling riffs, slowed down and wrapped in dense '80s-ish reverb, smeared and stretched into serpentine minor key melodies, throbbing and pulsing and slithering through midtempo dronescapes of shimmering guitar buzz, creeping basslines, ghostlike female vocals, crashing steady drumming all cloaked in a rich blackened haze, suffocating and claustrophobic, but somehow completely epic at the same time. Think a black metal Joy Division and you might be close, due in no small part to vocalist Ed Kunakemakorn's distinctive wail. Equal parts Ian Curtis, Interpol's Paul Banks and weirdly enough, Dutch weirdo black metallers Urfaust, a soaring mournful croon, rich and velvety and quite haunting. Each track is a twisting complex doomscape of fuzzed out drones, pounding downtuned riffage, swirling psychedelic ambience, slow motion crawl and creep, building and building into massive black swells. A gorgeously creepy collection of heaving, lurching, dark and delicate, doomy and dense epics. So emotional and so totally and completely intense!
MPEG Stream: "Obliscence"
MPEG Stream: "Bright White Blind"

GAULT, THE Even As All Before Us (Van) 2lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl! Deluxe, double lp in a gatefold sleeve with a patch!!!
Here's what we had to say about this AQ fave:
By now everyone should be familiar with SF black metal legends Weakling. A brief existence, a handful of shows, and a single amazing record (released on Andee's tUMULt label, we should mention). Members of Weakling played in and/or went on to play in Amber Asylum, the Champs, Drunk Horse, Asunder, Sangre Amado, Saros and the short lived but now totally cult blackened gothic doom outfit The Gault. Recorded way back in 1999 by Tim Green, The Gault's Even As All Before Us languished for years before the band finally agreed on a mix and a label, and now five years later this mighty slab of depressive doom finally sees the light of day.
Imagine those Weakling riffs, slowed down and wrapped in dense '80s-ish reverb, smeared and stretched into serpentine minor key melodies, throbbing and pulsing and slithering through midtempo dronescapes of shimmering guitar buzz, creeping basslines, ghostlike female vocals, crashing steady drumming all cloaked in a rich blackened haze, suffocating and claustrophobic, but somehow completely epic at the same time. Think a black metal Joy Division and you might be close, due in no small part to vocalist Ed Kunakemakorn's distinctive wail. Equal parts Ian Curtis, Interpol's Paul Banks and weirdly enough, Dutch weirdo black metallers Urfaust, a soaring mournful croon, rich and velvety and quite haunting. Each track is a twisting complex doomscape of fuzzed out drones, pounding downtuned riffage, swirling psychedelic ambience, slow motion crawl and creep, building and building into massive black swells. A gorgeously creepy collection of heaving, lurching, dark and delicate, doomy and dense epics. So emotional and so totally and completely intense!
MPEG Stream: "Obliscence"
MPEG Stream: "Bright White Blind"

GAUNTLET HAIR My Christ (Dead Oceans) 7" 5.98

GAUNTLET HAIR Out...Don't (Mexican Summer) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
After a handful of super limited tracks, including a now out of print 7", this here is the first record from these guys we've managed to get for the store, and it's a doozy. Gauntlet Hair are a duo from Colorado, who specialize in distorted jangly bombastic pop, falling somewhere between Animal Collective and The Big Pink, stirring in some programmed beats, some moody noisepop jangle into their hypnotic, soaring druggy psych pop crunch.
This new single will most likely have folks finally freaking out over these guys, not only is it on the uber hip Mexican Summer label, but it totally rules, definitely owing a huge debt to Animal Collective, with tribal rhythms, jagged bits of guitar crunch, and dramatic reverbed vox, but here, that stuff is augmented by handclaps, programmed beats, epic Big Country like guitar jangle, super distorted drums, effects drenched vocals that swing wildly from speaker to speaker, a thick gorgeously gauzy production, not to mention hooks galore, the chorus super catchy, as are the verses, the song a slow build to a super distorted blown out psychedelic noise pop climax. Definitely a new fave, and these two jams have us hankering big time for the forthcoming full length.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Out...Don't"

GAUNTLET HAIR s/t (Dead Oceans) cd 13.98
Gauntlet Hair's OutÉ Don't single on Mexican Summer might just be the best slab of post Animal Collective pop we've heard. Certainly our favorite. If any band spawned a million wannabes, it's Animal Collective, but few of those wannabes managed to take that sound and make it their own, unlike this duo from Colorado, who somehow feel more like a band that just happens to share some of the same influences, more than a band who wants to be AC. That single was pretty much prefect, a barrage of echo drenched noise pop, super reverbed soaring vocals, tribal rhythms, programmed beats, weird convoluted, almost proggy arrangements, hand claps, tripped out production, crazy hooks, fuzzy bass, chiming crystalline guitars, all of that stuff is still present here on the full length, the band expanding their sound to be even more hazy and druggy and dreamy, from the opening track, the blissfully propulsive "Keep Time", whose sound is so dense and layered that it takes headphones to hear everything that's going on, all the weird bits of skitter, the subtle harmonies, the music sounds like one of those photos when you shoot right into the sun, all shimmering sunspots and prismatic glimmer, this is total alien summer dream pop, and the more we listen to it, the less it seems to have any connection to the Animal Collective. "Top Bunk" wraps spiraling melodies around a dirgey groove, the multiple vocals all tangled up, the main riff twisted and swirly, the song like some sonic popsicle melting in the sun, warm and sweet, gorgeously warped and woozily washed out, "Mop It Up" adds some heft to the sound the vocals effortlessly slipping into a dreamy falsetto, a driving big beat, and some thick ropy basslines underneath soaring Big Country like guitars, all blurred and smeared into another stretch of sun dappled psychedelic outsider poppiness that we can't get enough of. Thankfully there's plenty more where that came from. New pop fave big time!
MPEG Stream: "Keep Time"
MPEG Stream: "Top Bunk"
MPEG Stream: "Mop It Up"

GAUNTLET HAIR s/t (Dead Oceans) lp 14.98
Gauntlet Hair's OutÉ Don't single on Mexican Summer might just be the best slab of post Animal Collective pop we've heard. Certainly our favorite. If any band spawned a million wannabes, it's Animal Collective, but few of those wannabes managed to take that sound and make it their own, unlike this duo from Colorado, who somehow feel more like a band that just happens to share some of the same influences, more than a band who wants to be AC. That single was pretty much prefect, a barrage of echo drenched noise pop, super reverbed soaring vocals, tribal rhythms, programmed beats, weird convoluted, almost proggy arrangements, hand claps, tripped out production, crazy hooks, fuzzy bass, chiming crystalline guitars, all of that stuff is still present here on the full length, the band expanding their sound to be even more hazy and druggy and dreamy, from the opening track, the blissfully propulsive "Keep Time", whose sound is so dense and layered that it takes headphones to hear everything that's going on, all the weird bits of skitter, the subtle harmonies, the music sounds like one of those photos when you shoot right into the sun, all shimmering sunspots and prismatic glimmer, this is total alien summer dream pop, and the more we listen to it, the less it seems to have any connection to the Animal Collective. "Top Bunk" wraps spiraling melodies around a dirgey groove, the multiple vocals all tangled up, the main riff twisted and swirly, the song like some sonic popsicle melting in the sun, warm and sweet, gorgeously warped and woozily washed out, "Mop It Up" adds some heft to the sound the vocals effortlessly slipping into a dreamy falsetto, a driving big beat, and some thick ropy basslines underneath soaring Big Country like guitars, all blurred and smeared into another stretch of sun dappled psychedelic outsider poppiness that we can't get enough of. Thankfully there's plenty more where that came from. New pop fave big time!
MPEG Stream: "Keep Time"
MPEG Stream: "Top Bunk"
MPEG Stream: "Mop It Up"

GAUZE Fuckheads / Equalizing Distort lp 17.98
Some of us at aQ have been going through a little bit of a Japanese crust phase, listening to lots of Lip Cream, Gloom, Confuse, GISM and of course Gauze, when what should show up but this lp reissue of both of Gauze's first two records, their 1984 debut 12" ep Fuckheads, and the 1986 follow up Equalizing Distort. Both brimming with furious chaotic metallic crust punk fury, grinding buzzing guitars, strange flanged riffage, all sorts of sound effects, seriously fucked up almost experimental production, wild tribal drumming, yelped vox, thick super distorted bass, weird squiggly atonal leads, all wound into churning, pounding blasts of frantic hardcore mayhem, with shouted almost sing along choruses ("THRASH THRASH THRASH") and some downright poppiness popping up here and there. But for the most part, this is some fierce as fuck frenzied Japanese hardcore crust punk genius, that sounds just as good now as it did nearly three decades ago!!
Includes a two sided 12" x 12" insert, photos on one side, a lyric sheer, in both English and Japanese on the other.
MPEG Stream: "Love Song"
MPEG Stream: "Power"
MPEG Stream: "Fuckhead"
MPEG Stream: "Pressing On"
MPEG Stream: "Crash The Pose"

GAY BEAST Disrobics (DNT) lp 9.98

GAY CAT PARK Synthetic Woman (Medical Records) lp 21.00
Yet another weird and wonderful archival release from cold/synth/new wave reissue label Medical Records, who over the last few months have given us a killer Record Of the Week in the form of the Lou Champagne System, as well as amazing releases from Axxess (another ROTW), Dalek I and Guyer's Connection. This latest blast from the past comes from a pair of Italian teenagers who recorded these tracks when they were between the ages of 14 and 16, one of which, "I'm A Vocoder" became a huge club hit. And that track, which somehow we had never heard before is well worth the price of admission alone. A pulsing synth-kraut groove, primitive drum machine, then some very Kraftwerk like melodies, and when the vocals come in, even MORE Kraftwerk worship, heavily accented English, delivered in a robotic sing-song, totally catchy, super fun and while not exactly 'funky', but definitely groovy, and motorik, and hypnotic. We had to listen to that track 4 or 5 times before we could move on, but then going back to the opener "GCP", it's almost as cool, a brooding synth-drone intro with vocals courtesy of a Speak & Spell, the perfect lead in to "I'm A Vocoder" for sure.
"My Love Is Electronic" cranks up the tempo a bit, with more intricate drum programming, and tangled synth melodies, not to mention more of those robotic vox, which is even more impressive when you realize these guys were using toy-like keyboards modified into makeshift synths, which is what gives this such a cool DIY vibe.
"A Bunch Of Flowers" is a way more melodic take on the electronic pop of groups like Depeche Mode, the sound fuzzy and gorgeous gristly, while "Mr. Do Re Me" is total eighties synth pop a la Yaz, as is "Bit Of Charm", poppy and synthy, with dramatic heartfelt vox and shimmering synths. The title track returns to the Kraftwerk like kraut-homage of the opening tracks, droned out and hypnotic, pulsing and mesmerizingly robotic, and finally, "Television" finishes things off with what sounds like a slowed down version of the "Axel F Theme", but with almost operatic female vox, soaring and dreamy and wonderfully retro-poppy.
Great stuff, as usual from Medical. LIMITED TO 650 COPIES. Each one hand numbered.
MPEG Stream: "I'm A Vocoder"
MPEG Stream: "My Love Is Electronic"
MPEG Stream: "A Bunch Of Flowers"
MPEG Stream: "Synthetic Woman"

GAY WITCH ABORTION Maverick (Learning Curve) cd 8.98
We first heard the awesomely monikered Gay Witch Abortion on a killer 4 way split we reviewed recently called A Butcher's Waltz, which teamed up this duo with some other aQ faves including Skoal Kodiak, Seawhores and Power Take Off. But for as much as we dug those other outfits, Gay Witch Abortion definitely stole the show, more than living up to the hype, which was a relief as we'd been hearing how great they were for ages.
So here now is the debut full length from these guys, hot on the heels of their collaboration with AmRep head honcho Tom Hazelmeyer, which should come as no surprise cuz GWA definitely sound like they'd be right at home on AmRep, channelling a little Lightning Bolt, reminding us a bit of recent aQ faves Wizard Rifle too, these guys take that bass (guitar?) / drum duo thing and make it their own, their sound more a sort of blown out fuzz drenched heavy rock stoner prog thing, wild chaotic drumming under dense buzzing riffage, the guitar weirdly processed so it almost sounds electronic, their might be keyboards too, but it sounds more like the guitar/bass is run through some seriously fucked up FX, the sound constantly peppered with bits of buzz and hum, little glitches, swirls of hiss and crackle, the songs locking into dense looped mesmer, before slipping into songs proper, the vocals clean and crooned, when there are vocals, but more often these two are like a cobra and a mongoose, a wild squirming sonic tangle, a gnarled, writhing metallic noise rock that flits from droned out dirge to frantic hyperspeed punkprog and back again in the blink of an eye, all that and the group never shies away from weirdness either, peppering these blasts of acrobatic noise rockery with bits of twangy dirgery rife with whistled melodies, or stretches of Torche like fuzz pop, tripped out super distorted psychedelic drones, and even some cool experimental electronic noisiness.
Super intense sweat soaked math metal spazz punk stoner prog heaviness that will definitely hit the spot for anyone who digs Lightning Bolt and other like minded outfits, or really anyone into heavy, dense, noise rock aktion!!
The cd version comes with a Learning Curve beer cozy!!
MPEG Stream: "Down With Giants"
MPEG Stream: "Stain On The Floor"
MPEG Stream: "Scythian Skulls"
MPEG Stream: "Asleep In The Dirt"

GAY WITCH ABORTION Maverick (Learning Curve) lp 13.98
We first heard the awesomely monikered Gay Witch Abortion on a killer 4 way split we reviewed recently called A Butcher's Waltz, which teamed up this duo with some other aQ faves including Skoal Kodiak, Seawhores and Power Take Off. But for as much as we dug those other outfits, Gay Witch Abortion definitely stole the show, more than living up to the hype, which was a relief as we'd been hearing how great they were for ages.
So here now is the debut full length from these guys, hot on the heels of their collaboration with AmRep head honcho Tom Hazelmeyer, which should come as no surprise cuz GWA definitely sound like they'd be right at home on AmRep, channelling a little Lightning Bolt, reminding us a bit of recent aQ faves Wizard Rifle too, these guys take that bass (guitar?) / drum duo thing and make it their own, their sound more a sort of blown out fuzz drenched heavy rock stoner prog thing, wild chaotic drumming under dense buzzing riffage, the guitar weirdly processed so it almost sounds electronic, their might be keyboards too, but it sounds more like the guitar/bass is run through some seriously fucked up FX, the sound constantly peppered with bits of buzz and hum, little glitches, swirls of hiss and crackle, the songs locking into dense looped mesmer, before slipping into songs proper, the vocals clean and crooned, when there are vocals, but more often these two are like a cobra and a mongoose, a wild squirming sonic tangle, a gnarled, writhing metallic noise rock that flits from droned out dirge to frantic hyperspeed punkprog and back again in the blink of an eye, all that and the group never shies away from weirdness either, peppering these blasts of acrobatic noise rockery with bits of twangy dirgery rife with whistled melodies, or stretches of Torche like fuzz pop, tripped out super distorted psychedelic drones, and even some cool experimental electronic noisiness.
Super intense sweat soaked math metal spazz punk stoner prog heaviness that will definitely hit the spot for anyone who digs Lightning Bolt and other like minded outfits, or really anyone into heavy, dense, noise rock aktion!!
The cd version comes with a Learning Curve beer cozy!!
MPEG Stream: "Down With Giants"
MPEG Stream: "Stain On The Floor"
MPEG Stream: "Scythian Skulls"
MPEG Stream: "Asleep In The Dirt"

GAY WITCH ABORTION Opportunistic Smokescreen Behavior (Learning Curve) lp 13.98
With a name like Gay Witch Abortion, and some awesomely aberrant cover art, featuring a twisted collage of children and teeth, and huge harelips and organs, and song titles like "Prison Charm", "Gun Mad Mountain Folk" and "Prison Charm", most bands would have a tough time living up to the sort of sonic expectations those non-musical elements seem to promise, but once again this duo delivers. Delivers a twisted, hyper rhythmic, noise rock, that more than ever seems to have a bit of a new wave vibe. The opener "Cult Chimera", after a long stretch of abstract noise and buzz, explodes into what sounds like a super charged Devo, with a little bit of No Means No, and that's some seriously unfuckwithable band math for sure. In our review of their Maverick record we also compared them to Lightning Bolt and Wizard Rifle too, and those still fit for sure. But this time around, there's some serious poppiness going on amidst all the twisted sonic fuckery. Check out "Hornet Japonica", which features some ridiculous mathed out drumming, wild dexterous bass playing, the band lurching and leaping from part to part, if it was any other band we'd think they were showing off, but that sort of twisted what the fuck freak outs are just part of what these guys do.
"Prison Charm" even adds a little bluesiness to the proceedings, sounding a bit like a more melodic Killdozer, which too is not a bad thing at all, the song flitting from vocal driven grooviness, to tangled mathy freakouts, to furious rhythmic churn. All of the density and musical mathiness that defined Maverick, is still present, in full force, but is most definitely tempered by this new found pop side, that makes for some awesomely confusional radness, that ultimately sounds like no other band we can think of. New wave noise rock math prog punk, or something. These guys seem like they must be amazing live, although there's so much going on, it's hard to imagine two people could pull it off, regardless, if you're in the market for some seriously twisted, densely rhythmic, weirdly catchy, heavy as fuck, new wave noise rock weirdness, then this is pretty much IT.
WAY recommended. Comes in an eye popping full color gatefold sleeve, and includes a download coupon to boot!
MPEG Stream: "Cult Chimera"
MPEG Stream: "Hornet Japonica"
MPEG Stream: "Prison Charm"

GAY, THE You Know The Rules (Mint) cd 13.98
What's the deal with Canadian bands? All too frequently you find a fine band from up north has gone and made a truly odd and questionable decision -- cover art, band name, whathaveyou -- that messes with the whole picture. It's almost like they're willfully trying to make things harder for themselves. Case in point, this new band, The Gay. Contrary to what almost everyone who has encountered the band's moniker has thought, they are not a joke band! And contrary to their long, sullen faces on the album cover, their music is decidedly upbeat and sunny (i.e. gay). They are in fact another Vancouver supergroup of sorts starring Tobey Black (former bandmate of Neko Case in the feisty girl trio Maow) Keith Parry (Scratch Records head honcho and former member of the awesome rock battalion Superconductor), Sara Lapsley (formerly of Superconductor's female counterpart Kreviss), Maija Martin and CoCo Culbertson (of sweet-twang combo Tennessee Twin). So introductions aside, let's get down to the music of You Know The Rules. It's a spritely sugar-pop blend with all members taking turns on lead and backing vocals - sorta like the Partridge Family inviting Fleetwood Mac and the Throwing Muses over for a pajama party. Swingin' sing-a-long harmonies, snappy drumbeats, playful interplay between the guitars, keyboards, accordion, piano, and bass. Produced by their New Pornographer pal Kurt Dahle.
MPEG Stream: "Critics"
MPEG Stream: "Palace"

GAYE, MARVIN I Want You (Rareties Edition) (Universal) cd 13.98

GAZE Mitsumeru (K) cd 13.98
The dreamy debut from this Vancouver sugar girl-pop trio. Features the notable presence of Ms Softie Rose Melberg behind the drumkit! Yes, super-sweet pop melodies sure to make your molars tingle and your heart go all a-flutter. For the girly-girl in us all. Sigh.

GAZE Shake The Pounce (K) cd 13.98
If Miko, Megan and Rose (yes, of Softies, Tiger Trap, etc) were to craft a knit version of their music, it'd most definitely be the loveliest of warm fuzzy sweaters. The angora kind with crocheted blossoms and mother of pearl buttons. Alternately romping and dreamy. If you like any music from Amelia Fletcher (Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, Marine Research) or Rose Melberg (see above), Gaze will surely please.

GEISHA Mondo Dell' Orrore (Crucial Blast) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "How To Kill A Career"
MPEG Stream: "Accidents"