HEAVY HAWAII s/t (Art Fag) 12" 14.98

HEAVY TIMES Jacker (HoZac) cd 12.98
We had never heard (of!) these Chicago noise poppers before, but heck, their new record is on Hozac, home to the Wax Idols (reviewed elsewhere on this week's list), as well as Black Bug, Fungi Girls, Puffy Areolas, Smith Westerns, Woven Bones, Super Wild Horses and loads more, so we had good reason to expect this might be right up our alley, and guess what? It most definitely is, fuzzed out jagged guitar noise pop, equal parts classic Pixies style pop and new fangled lo-fi scuzz pop garage rock, the guitar slipping from chiming and melodic to raw and crunchy, the vocals also melodic but still rough and raw, with some crazy killer hooks, just check out the opener "Motionless Drift", 100 seconds of buzz and jangle that you won't be able to get out of your head. But then there's tracks like "Future City", which is all synthy and fuzzy, and a little bit eighties new wave pop, but revved up a bit, and transformed into something just a bit noise poppier. The title track is a minute long blast of twang flecked fuzz pop bliss, with some super hooky guitar melodies and a sing-along chorus to die for. There's definitely a Ramones vibe too, maybe some Misfits too, and a gloomy vibe that has us thinking the Wipers, and Crystal Stilts, many of the songs barely cracking the minute mark, most not making it to two, which is plenty of time for these guys to pound and buzz and howl their hearts out, a heady hybrid of post punk, gloom pop and punk rock, that any fans of the above mentioned groups will most likely flip for. Definite contender for pop record of the year, another record we want to keep listening to instead of all the other things we're supposed to be reviewing.
MPEG Stream: "Motionless Drift"
MPEG Stream: "Future City"
MPEG Stream: "Jacker"

HEAVY TIMES Jacker (HoZac) lp 14.98
We had never heard (of!) these Chicago noise poppers before, but heck, their new record is on Hozac, home to the Wax Idols (reviewed elsewhere on this week's list), as well as Black Bug, Fungi Girls, Puffy Areolas, Smith Westerns, Woven Bones, Super Wild Horses and loads more, so we had good reason to expect this might be right up our alley, and guess what? It most definitely is, fuzzed out jagged guitar noise pop, equal parts classic Pixies style pop and new fangled lo-fi scuzz pop garage rock, the guitar slipping from chiming and melodic to raw and crunchy, the vocals also melodic but still rough and raw, with some crazy killer hooks, just check out the opener "Motionless Drift", 100 seconds of buzz and jangle that you won't be able to get out of your head. But then there's tracks like "Future City", which is all synthy and fuzzy, and a little bit eighties new wave pop, but revved up a bit, and transformed into something just a bit noise poppier. The title track is a minute long blast of twang flecked fuzz pop bliss, with some super hooky guitar melodies and a sing-along chorus to die for. There's definitely a Ramones vibe too, maybe some Misfits too, and a gloomy vibe that has us thinking the Wipers, and Crystal Stilts, many of the songs barely cracking the minute mark, most not making it to two, which is plenty of time for these guys to pound and buzz and howl their hearts out, a heady hybrid of post punk, gloom pop and punk rock, that any fans of the above mentioned groups will most likely flip for. Definite contender for pop record of the year, another record we want to keep listening to instead of all the other things we're supposed to be reviewing.
MPEG Stream: "Motionless Drift"
MPEG Stream: "Future City"
MPEG Stream: "Jacker"

HEAVY VEGETABLE Mondo Aqua Kitty (Cargo/Headhunter) cd 14.98
Another one of the world's most amazing bands that somehow always seems to be overlooked and underappreciated. A complete collection of 28 songs from singles, compilation tracks, unreleased songs and studio embarassments, most clocking-in at about a minute and a half. Each contain unbelievable harmonies, ridiculous time-changes, baffling musical prowess, stupidly profound lyrics and head-splitting pop hooks.

HEAVY VEGETABLE The Amazing Undersea Adventures of Aqua Kitty and Friends (Headhunter) cd 14.98

HEAVY WINGED Feel Inside (aRCHIVE) cd 14.98
We talk about records being heavy, and blown out, and in the red, and super distorted, and being the sort of weird music freaks we are, we're constantly on the hunt for that one record that trumps all others and out heavies and out distorts them all. THE most distorted and THE most blown out and THE HEAVIEST. And every once in a while, a new record does come along, and climbs atop the pile of bloodied and bruised bodies that made up the previous heaviest most distorted bands, and stand tall, prepared to defend the crown with axes held high and an avalanche of drums ready to drop like a ton of bricks on all comers. We'd be hard pressed to find another band that more deserves to sit atop that pile, at least for a while, than bicoastal masters of the psychmetal blowout, Heavy Winged. Now based both in Portland and Brooklyn, these guys just keep getting heavier and heavier, more and more intense and fucked up sounding. We went nuts for their recent Blacc Lust record, but if anything Feel Inside is even better. They are not metal, so comparisons to groups like SUNNO))) and the like would mean nothing. Heavy Winged are basically a psychedelic rock band, who for whatever reason, decided being loud just wasn't enough, and being distorted wasn't enough, and writing songs wasn't enough, so the band gradually transformed into some insane psychedelic noise rock behemoth, creating 10, 20, even 30 minutes soundscapes of repetitive pummel, drums pounding relentlessly, the guitars spewing white hot psych, a gorgeously hypnotic heavy heavy heavy crush. If you can imagine Les Rallizes Denudes and White Heaven crossed with Circle and Can, but mixed by Wolf Eyes and Merzbow, you wouldn't even be close.
The three tracks here begin white hot and only get hotter, sometimes locking into a groove, but more often then not, burying the groove under blistering squalls of feedback and crumbling distortion, the drums played with baseball bats instead of sticks, the whole band shoved down a mile long flight of stairs, deftly turning their chaotic tumble into some sort of psychedelic rock, but the sort of psychrock that has about as much in common with psych than it does with rock. This is freaked out, spaced out, ultra damaged, utterly gorgeous, ear drum destroying, face melting free psych heaviness.
The final track is the standout here, letting lots of space in, the drums doing some complicated dance in an epic expanse of sizzling feedback, and white hot streaks of guitar skree, damaged effects squiggle wildly, chunks of riffs fly off in all directions only to be swallowed by clouds of buzz and rrrooooaaar, there's even the occasional gorgeous warm chordal swells and creepy melodies, but it's the drums driving instead of the guitar, the whole thing surprisingly pretty and melancholy, although you have to brave a mile of prickly fuzz and explosive amp punishment to get there, but then the journey is always the best part...
Another gorgeously and extravagantly packaged release from aRCHIVE, this one comes in a six panel gatefold, decorated with angular designs in shades of black and brown and white, but that six panel gatefold is housed in another 6 panel gatefold, that one printed on vellum, so the various designs mesh into something completely new, the cd affixed to a nub on the middle panel of the inside gatefold.
LIMITED TO 600 COPIES. We probably will NOT be able to get more once these are gone...
MPEG Stream: "The Frozen Darkness"
MPEG Stream: "The Tangled White"

HEAVY WINGED Fields Within Fields (Three Lobed) lp+cd 22.00
Dronepsych trio Heavy Winged are definitely HEAVY, and have been getting moreso with every release, consistently unleashing thick blackened sprawls of psychedelic dronerock, churning guitars, and pounding tribal drumming, all wound into extended heart of a black sun freakouts / blowouts that manages to be textural and hypnotic while still being weirdly free and abstract, slipping from riffy crunch to total balls out free form heaviness.
These two new tracks find these guys pushing it about as far as it can go, ditching conventional song structure almost entirely (not that they were ever THAT songy to begin with), the A-side is all "Among The Maeori" and sounds like a supercharged, less pop Dead C, the drums a continuous anti-rhythm, almost more textural than rhythmic, while the guitars do very unguitar like things, weaving thick undulating layers of woozy drone, laced with soaring distant high end tones, the whole track seeming to pulse and throb, eventually those high end tones, leads perhaps, are transformed into dense atonal tangles, while the drums explode in a frenzy of freaked out tribal pound, up until that point everything was tight and muted and muffled but at this point the track explodes and the band stumbled into some lumbering avant doom, super in-the-red, like some space rock jam slowed way down and wreathed in buzz and skree and crunch, some seriously supreme heaviness.
The B-side, "The Hum Of The Universe", begins with a huge downtuned crash, only to fade out, leaving a strange haunting buzz (either bowed bass or viola), until the band begins a super spare, spacious doomic trudge, the drums MASSIVE, the buzzing drones getting louder and more intense, the background hum and thrum billowing like black sonic smoke, the lurching abstract slowcore doom, not heavy so much as thick and dense, the guitars layered into black hole streaks of pulsing sound, the drums a demonic throb, the various background tendrils, druggy and psychedelic, impossibly heavy and atmospheric at the same time, it's only 17 minutes, but these are the sort of sounds that surround and suffocate, you get lost and emerge on the other side, feeling exhausted and exhilarated, trancelike tripped out psych space doom drone bliss for sure!
The first batch of lps include a bonus disc, an actual cd (not a cd-r) called Infinite In Every Direction, which features another nearly 40 minutes of heavy psych jams, recorded live in the studio, the first an extended slab of psychedelic kosmische krautdrone featuring Dave W. from White Hills, the second a full bore heavy rock jam, that is way less doom and atmosphere, and way more crushing, a relentless heavy Hawkwind blackpsych drugrock freakout, that RULES...
LIMITED TO 994 COPIES, includes a download coupon, and while they last, the lps are paired with the above mentioned bonus disc (Infinite In Every Direction), which itself is limited to 434 copies, so grab one of these quick!

HEAVY WINGED On The Marble Cliffs (Trensmat) cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

HEAVY WINGED Shaking, Waking (Aurora Borealis) lp 21.00
Two more sidelong tracks from these masters of metallic psychedelic and blown out krautnoise bliss. And as always it's a glorious earful.
The first side starts out all woozy and contemplative, spaced out, but somehow already epic, doused in distortion and feedback, the band build the sound into a dense tangle of muted riffs, murky and washed out, bleary and buzzy, they stretch it out, total trancerock for sure, before eventually blissing out into deep swells of smeared and streaked feedback and warm crystalline shimmer, finally exploding into some full on chaotic supernova psychnoise. But even at it's most freaked out, the sound is still warm and enveloping, all the jagged edges smoothed off, creating a mysterious cloud of sound that manages to be both heavy and intense, laid back and serene.
The second side offers up more of the same, but with the introduction of some dizzying machinelike chugging, draped over long strands of drifty cinematic whir, peppered with bits of spare percussive skitter, all very looped and hypnotic and very very krautrocky. Gradually, the sound expands into a fiery ball of chaotic drummage, wild steaks of psychedelic guitar skywriting and a thick, drone-y, sprawling looped churn that unfurls gradually to the end of the side.
Impossibly both heavy and dreamlike, as if the band we're playing full bore, amps to 11, but we're listening from the room next door, our ear pressed to the wall, or the sound being projected through loudspeakers inside a massive fogbank. Similar to how Skepticism turned doom into something more murky and choral then downtuned and depressive, Heavy Winged continue to drag their psychedelic krautrock through some underwater otherworld, the result something still psychedelic and heavy, but also truly transcendent.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES. Pressed on heavy transparent grey vinyl, in super thick full color sleeves.

HEAVY WINGED Spreading Center (Release The Bats) cd 14.98

HEAVY WINGED Sunspotted (Type) cd 16.98
Yet another blast of blown out psychedelic guitar rock from this East Coast space-psych trio, who in the past have given us extended slabs of doomy heaviness, of kraut flecked psychedelic grooves, of motorik in the red hypnorock, and often some mix of the three, but the opening few minutes of Sunspotted had us thinking the band had abandoned all that, as it's a furious, super rocking, ultra propulsive almost mathy post rock blow out, the drums frantic and frenetic, the guitars chiming and distorted the bass thick and heavy and DENSE, the band flinging themselves headlong into what has to be the most rocking blast of freaked out crunch and soar that we've ever heard from these guys, the sound is epic, lush, so heavy, definitely a step up from past muddier murkier outings, and it suits them, that first blast goes on for ages, and we didn't really want it to ever end. But about 4 minutes in, the song seems to collapse, leaving a wreckage of drum skitter, and atonal guitar strum, not to mention sheets of feedback, the band settle down into a weirdo bit of spare drift, the guitars atonal and angular, the drums splattery and abstract, with weird bursts of electronic crunch, only to finally settle into a weird woozy lumber, the guitars rubbery and all twisted up, the drums a caveman plod, everything still wreathed in sheets of buzz and feedback, the doom eventually dissipating, leaving a sky full of tangled high end guitar skree, peppered with chiming guitar chords, and spare drum crashes, growing more and more abstract, before fading out completely.
Holy shit! So free and loose and wild, but still so tight and composed sounding, easily the coolest stuff we've heard from these guys, and hell, we're only halfway through.
The second track is even longer (clocking in at close to 25 minutes), and begins with less of a bang, but it doesn't take these guys long to get things going, with some crumbling distortion, some throbbing downtuned riffage, some churning low end crush, a whirling, swirling dronescape of roiling dirge-y guitar rumble, which after close to 10 minutes gives way to some squealing feedback drenched dirgery, the band pounding, and lumbering, a weird sort of spaced out Sunroof!-y almost doom, that grows gradually more blissed out and hypnotic, while remaining super abstract and drifty, the band slip into a strange meandery lope, the guitars shimmery and layered and washed out and sort of dreamy, the drums laid back and loose, the sound hazy and hypnotic, never coalescing into anything rocking, instead, playing out like more of a decompressing wind down from the first track, gorgeously minimal, and understated, textural and surprisingly lovely.
MPEG Stream: "Breathe Life"
MPEG Stream: "Vapor Trails"

HEAVY WINGED Sunspotted (Type) lp 19.98
Yet another blast of blown out psychedelic guitar rock from this East Coast space-psych trio, who in the past have given us extended slabs of doomy heaviness, of kraut flecked psychedelic grooves, of motorik in the red hypnorock, and often some mix of the three, but the opening few minutes of Sunspotted had us thinking the band had abandoned all that, as it's a furious, super rocking, ultra propulsive almost mathy post rock blow out, the drums frantic and frenetic, the guitars chiming and distorted the bass thick and heavy and DENSE, the band flinging themselves headlong into what has to be the most rocking blast of freaked out crunch and soar that we've ever heard from these guys, the sound is epic, lush, so heavy, definitely a step up from past muddier murkier outings, and it suits them, that first blast goes on for ages, and we didn't really want it to ever end. But about 4 minutes in, the song seems to collapse, leaving a wreckage of drum skitter, and atonal guitar strum, not to mention sheets of feedback, the band settle down into a weirdo bit of spare drift, the guitars atonal and angular, the drums splattery and abstract, with weird bursts of electronic crunch, only to finally settle into a weird woozy lumber, the guitars rubbery and all twisted up, the drums a caveman plod, everything still wreathed in sheets of buzz and feedback, the doom eventually dissipating, leaving a sky full of tangled high end guitar skree, peppered with chiming guitar chords, and spare drum crashes, growing more and more abstract, before fading out completely.
Holy shit! So free and loose and wild, but still so tight and composed sounding, easily the coolest stuff we've heard from these guys, and hell, we're only halfway through.
The second track is even longer (clocking in at close to 25 minutes), and begins with less of a bang, but it doesn't take these guys long to get things going, with some crumbling distortion, some throbbing downtuned riffage, some churning low end crush, a whirling, swirling dronescape of roiling dirge-y guitar rumble, which after close to 10 minutes gives way to some squealing feedback drenched dirgery, the band pounding, and lumbering, a weird sort of spaced out Sunroof!-y almost doom, that grows gradually more blissed out and hypnotic, while remaining super abstract and drifty, the band slip into a strange meandery lope, the guitars shimmery and layered and washed out and sort of dreamy, the drums laid back and loose, the sound hazy and hypnotic, never coalescing into anything rocking, instead, playing out like more of a decompressing wind down from the first track, gorgeously minimal, and understated, textural and surprisingly lovely.
MPEG Stream: "Breathe Life"
MPEG Stream: "Vapor Trails"

HEAVY WINGED We Grow (Not Not Fun) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
First proper non cd-r full length from these Brooklyn space psych noisemakers (as far as we can tell) and it kills. In past reviews we described Heavy WInged as some blown out super distorted bastardized mix of the Dead C, Loop, Spacemen 3, Hawkwind, My Bloody Valentine, White Hills, Burnt Hills and whatever other freaked out drug drenched psychnoise rockers we could think of, and we're happy to report that very little has changed, the biggest difference, especially with bands like Heavy WInged, is they thrive given enough space, so two tracks, one to a side, and these guys fucking destroy. They're a trio, guitar, bass and drums, but it seems impossible that all of this glorious noise could come from just three people. Both tracks are improvised, but constantly lock into killer grooves, the guitars coalescing into bad ass riffs, the drums switching from splattery chaos to motorik pulse in the blink of an eye, it's pretty amazing.
Side one begins all spaced out with layers of drifting guitars, a throbbing low end pulse, and over the top, super processed squiggly leads, draped over a chugging riff, everything all tangled up into a thick wall of fuzzy blown out sound. When the drums finally kick in, they don't so much 'rock' as emulate the guitars, all spastic and splattery and shuffling. But about halfway through, the band settles into a super saturated psychedelic space rock groove, relentless and throbbing, but everything still bathed in a druggy haze of fuzzed out guitarnoise. The second track taking up all of side 2, follows a similar sonic path, but instead of turning into a space rock jam, it becomes more of a midtempo krautrock groove, the drums constant and simple, the bass locked in with the drums, but the guitar all over the place, laying thick sheets of fuzz and skree everywhere, an ear shredding cloud of keening feedback and amp destroying buzz.
Super nice thick sleeve, with printed hand numbered insert and sticker on the front, pressed on swirled clear blue vinyl.
LIMITED TO 450 COPIES!!

HEAVY WINGED / WINDY & CARL Monolith: Earth (Music Fellowship) lp + cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Less a split, than a sort of adjustable collaboration, Monolith: Earth is the first in a series of single sided lps, where two bands are paired together, and each contributes a single mono track, one track stereo left, the other stereo right, so depending on how the listener dials it in, he or she can listen to just one of the bands' tracks, or some easily adjusted blend of the two. Thankfully, the lp comes with a cd featuring stereo version of both the tracks, as well as an extra track or two.
For the first volume, the to bands are pretty stellar choices, dreamdrone duo Windy & Carl, and distorto psych rock trio Heavy Winged. For this experiment to really work, without turning into a sonic clusterfuck, one or both of the bands has to be the ambient half, and Windy & Carl are more than happy to take on that role, their track being a slow burning shimmer, all processed and effected guitars, smeared and blurred into long smeary streaks, layered and woven into subtle soft melodies and warm gauzy expanses, there's some buzz buried way down in the mix, but for the most part it's all glorious drone and drift.
Heavy Winged take on the other role, which is not that different from their usual sound, super blown out distorted guitars, pounding drums, super lo-fi and high end, the guitars not riffing so much as offering up thick sheets of sound and dense squalls of feedback and psychdrone freakout. Which suits the concept perfectly, as it's basically like two drones wrapped around each other, leaving the drums to meander and skitter and do what they will. Perfectly happy to listen to each track on its own, but they do sound pretty badass together, and the picture disc image spinning round and round is quite mesmerizing.
The extra track on the cd is an actual collaboration, or seems to be as far as we can tell, but ends up sounding more like a Heavy Winged track with some extra texture and ambience, as HW's super blown out distorted heaviness overwhelms the Windy & Carl's shimmery sounds, but with the picture disc, you can control the levels, creating quite possibly one of the few instances where Windy & Carl sonically overwhelm Heavy Winged!
We only have a dozen of these, the label was sold out, we got all the copies the band had too, so once these are gone, that's probably it...

HEAVY, THE Great Vengeance and Furious Fire (Counter) cd 14.98

HEAVY, THE Great Vengeance and Furious Fire (Counter) lp 22.00

HEBDEN, KIERAN AND STEVE REID NYC (Domino) cd 15.98
We've been big fans of the previous collaborative efforts between Kieren Hebden (Four Tet) and legendary free jazz drummer Steve Reid, but NYC demonstrates the two truly finding their own pulsating and exciting outer groove. This isn't fusion or jazz, instead it really sounds like two musical innovators reaching out into each other's orbits and succeeding in making something wholly new.
NYC was recorded right in the heart of New York City over just a couple days and both the city and the urgency shines through as these tracks play like some amazing version of Liquid Liquid performing live at the Village Vanguard. We almost want to send copies of this to some of our favorite rhythmic and percussion fueled bands like Tussle, Mi Ami, !!!, Lemonade and Trans Am, for a shot of fresh inspiration. Hot off the heels of Hebden's recent collaboration with Sunburned Hand Of The Man and a dazzling stripped down and drugged out Four Tet ep he's really sounding like he's on top of his game lately and Reid keeps proving that getting older has hardly dimmed his soul and passion as his percussive skills have never sounded more alive and full of fire. Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Lyman Place"
MPEG Stream: "Arrival"
MPEG Stream: "Departure"

HECKER, MAXIMILLIAN Lady Sleep (Kitty-Yo) cd 16.98
On his third full length, the spotlight is fully on Maximillian Hecker's voice. It brings to mind a drowsy Joe Pernice or David Gates from Bread. Y'know, it's that sort of voice that just starts the hearts a-melting as soon as he opens his mouth. Hecker's backed by the full elegant pop assemblage of piano, strings... soooo lovely! Lady Sleep captures the deep ache of lovelorn yearning and loss. It's a box o' tissues listen. He'll probably also draw many comparisons to the grand swooping likes of Radiohead or Coldplay, and fans of those bands (particularly the latter) would do well to check Hecker out. The only song that steps outside of the hushed beauty comes late in Lady Sleep. "Yeah, Eventually She Goes" is the tenth of the album's eleven songs, and it jars with it's sudden barrage of guitars which push it into that tired ol' quiet/loud camp. Really, it's somewhat disappointing, coming across more as a Radiohead knock-off that this album could've done without. That said, setting that brief exception aside, we can say this album is absolutely haunting and heartbreaking.
MPEG Stream: "Birch"
MPEG Stream: "Help Me"

HECKER, TIM My Love Is Rotten To The Core (Substractif) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is either totally fucking stupid, or absolutely brilliant. Like a lot of records we love, it's really tough to tell sometimes. And we do love this record. The last Hecker record was one of our favorite post-Oval cd-manipulation/glitch record ever. Dense, thick soundscapes made up of damaged, manipulated and chopped up discs. 'My Love...' follows the same modus operandi, only this time all of the source material is Van Halen. That's right, Van Halen. Your first clue was the pen and ink sketch of David Lee Roth on the cd cover, your second clue is the Van Halen-lyric title 'My Love Is Rotten To The Core'. And of course if you know Van Halen, it's easy to pick out the riffs that surface in bits and pieces amidst all the stutter/shuffling/skipping/skittering. The record itself is gorgeous. Super dense, with the VH guitars lending themelves perfectly to being manipulated into thick slabs of SOUND, shifting ever so slightly, changing the ebullient VH party melodies into stretched out minor key dirges. The songs are separated by collages of VH interviews and radio snippets. We're tempted to dismiss this record as a silly gimmick, with all the clever allusions to Van Halen (without ever actually fessing up to stealing all the songs): the between song collages, the song titles and the cover art! It would've been way more intense and effective to just let the music speak for itself (like COH's metal album 'Iron') because the music, in Hecker's hands, becomes a wholly unique and original sound. But maybe Tim Hecker just really loves Van Halen and this is the best way he knows how to show it!! Either way, this is definitely one of the most fun and creative, and fucked glitch/drone/cut-up/plunderphonic records of the year.
RealAudio clip: "Introducing Carl Cocks"
RealAudio clip: "Sammy Loves Eddie Hates David"
RealAudio clip: "Hello Detroit"

HEDAYAT, DASHIELL Obsolete (Mantra Mantra) cd 21.00
What do you get when you take members of Gong, William Burroughs, Robert Wyatt's 5 year old son Sam and probably some pretty amazing drugs and mix 'em all up? The answer is THIS, Obsolete, a lost psych/prog masterpiece from 1971. Dashiell Hedayat's second record found him recruiting Daevid Allen and Gillie Smith from Gong to round out the lineup of his band, and began work on what would turn out to be a crazy twisty and turny cosmic psych/prog epic, from start to finish. There are moments of structure and actual fleshed out songs and melodies but there are also of course a non stop litany of amazing outbursts, squeaks, rantings, yells, and cutups. But what makes the record so great is how it can go from manic acid soaked freakout to stunning beauty in the blink of an eye. There are guest appearances from William S. Burroughs, the the cooing of Sam Wyatt (Robert's son who was 5 years old at the time), but ultimately this record is fueled by the great pairing of Gong and Hedayat, whose vocals run the spectrum from beautifully sung, to subtly spoken to wild and deranged.
The LP was originally released on the legendary avant-garde label Shandar, an amazing label out of France in the '70s who put out records by folks like Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, Stockhausen, Steve Reich, Sunny Murray, Pandit Pran Nath, Cecil Taylor, and more. Obsolete is such a perfect snapshot of early 70's free rock exploration. There are moments that are confusing, moments that are absurd, moments that are HEAVY and moments that are utterly profound. Hedayat sums it up perfectly in the original liner notes: "This record must be played as loud as possible, must be heard as stoned as impossible..." And whether or not you are actually taking his words to heart, when you listen to Obsolete, it's pretty impossible not to feel like you're on some kind of wonderful and deranged trip. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Cielo Drive"
MPEG Stream: "Long Song For Zelda"

HEDVIG MOLLESTAD TRIO Shoot! (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
We're liking this Nordic notion of 'jazz fusion', all right. The heavy duty debut from the Hedvig Mollestad Trio comes to us from Norway's Rune Grammofon label, who specialize in such things - the 'death jazz' of Supersilent, for instance, and also the likes of Scorch Trio, Ultralyd, and Bushman's Revenge - the latter of whom even covered Motorhead on their latest disc. Well, not to be outdone, the Hedvig Mollestad Trio cover the Melvins, here! That ought to give you an idea of where they're coming from, jazz-wise.
These guys - actually, two gals and one guy, on electric guitar, bass and drums, respectively - are a skronky power trio who rip it up instrumentally, their tunes twisty, turny, and full of distortion and feedback. In other words, they rock, rollercoaster style, reminding us of AQ instrumental faves Stinking Lizaveta at times, and eponymous guitarist Hedvig Mollestad has a dash of Nels Cline in her playing.
Though the band members are all jazz-trained musicians, their brand of fusion is heavy on the grungy rock side of the equation, though they tone it down for the moody meanders of "Doom's Lair" and "The Valley" amongst a few mellower moments. Not to be counted among those moments, of course, is that Melvins cover (the chunky, rockin' "Blood Witch" from A Senile Animal), the only song here to feature vocals.
All in all, this is catchy stuff, as far as noisy noodling jazzrock goes! Recorded live in the studio with minimal overdubs, capturing a lot of raw energy and jaunty glee indeed. Available as a digipack cd, or on lp w/ download code.
MPEG Stream: "Gun And The E-Kid"
MPEG Stream: "Ashes"
MPEG Stream: "For The Air"

HEDVIG MOLLESTAD TRIO Shoot! (Rune Grammofon) lp 24.00
We're liking this Nordic notion of 'jazz fusion', all right. The heavy duty debut from the Hedvig Mollestad Trio comes to us from Norway's Rune Grammofon label, who specialize in such things - the 'death jazz' of Supersilent, for instance, and also the likes of Scorch Trio, Ultralyd, and Bushman's Revenge - the latter of whom even covered Motorhead on their latest disc. Well, not to be outdone, the Hedvig Mollestad Trio cover the Melvins, here! That ought to give you an idea of where they're coming from, jazz-wise.
These guys - actually, two gals and one guy, on electric guitar, bass and drums, respectively - are a skronky power trio who rip it up instrumentally, their tunes twisty, turny, and full of distortion and feedback. In other words, they rock, rollercoaster style, reminding us of AQ instrumental faves Stinking Lizaveta at times, and eponymous guitarist Hedvig Mollestad has a dash of Nels Cline in her playing.
Though the band members are all jazz-trained musicians, their brand of fusion is heavy on the grungy rock side of the equation, though they tone it down for the moody meanders of "Doom's Lair" and "The Valley" amongst a few mellower moments. Not to be counted among those moments, of course, is that Melvins cover (the chunky, rockin' "Blood Witch" from A Senile Animal), the only song here to feature vocals.
All in all, this is catchy stuff, as far as noisy noodling jazzrock goes! Recorded live in the studio with minimal overdubs, capturing a lot of raw energy and jaunty glee indeed. Available as a digipack cd, or on lp w/ download code.
MPEG Stream: "Gun And The E-Kid"
MPEG Stream: "Ashes"
MPEG Stream: "For The Air"

HEITKOTTER, DAVID STEPHEN Heitkotter (Time-Lag) lp 33.00

HELDON Allez Teia (Cuneiform) cd 14.98
2nd album from this seminal French electronic rock act lead by Richard Pinhas (Guitars, ARP, VCS 3, Mellotron and tapes). With Pinhas on this record is
Georges Grunblatt (Mellotron, Guitar and ARP). Features the Pinhas composition "In The Wake Of King Fripp" -- tells you his big influence, don't it?

HELDON Allez Teia (Wah Wah) lp + 7" 30.00

HELDON Electronique Guerilla (Wah Wah) lp + 7" 30.00

HELDON I/III: Electronique Guerilla / "It's Always Rock 'n' Roll" (Cuneiform) 2cd 24.00
The first and third Heldons as one double cd.

HELDON Interface (Cuneiform) cd 15.98
Ok, anyone into Magma and/or Moogs pay attention! A couple lists back we got our friend Loren Chasse to write some nice things about Tranzition, the latest album from cult French musician Richard Pinhas, the guy who masterminded the pioneering electronic rock act Heldon back the '70s. That made us realize: hey, we really should get some of those old Heldon records up on our website too! So if you look you'll see we already stuck a few up there with real brief reviews. However, Cuneiform happens to have just brought these two Heldon albums back into print on cd and that gives us a perfect excuse to further sing the praises of Pinhas and his band, as these are two of our faves (though all Heldon comes recommended by us), perfectly combining Pinhas' Robert Fripp guitar obsession with (what are now) vintage synth sounds into some of the best psych-prog sci-fi jamming ever.
Interface was Heldon's sixth LP, dating from 1977, and features the latter-day Heldon trio line-up of Pinhas (guitar, various Moogs, electronics), Patrick Gauthier (Moog bass and Mini-Moog) and Francois Auger (drums and synthesized percussion). Tracks like "Jet Girl" and the nearly twenty minute title cut are kinda like King Crimson meets Suicide or something.
Then there's 1979's Stand By which was Heldon's final studio outing and sees the Pinhas/Gauthier/Auger trio augmented by several additional musicians, including vocalist Klaus Blasquiz of Magma fame. The three tracks here (two of them quite lengthy) will definitely appeal to fans of Magma's "zheul" style. But the Fripp and Suicide allusions above also apply. One track is an extended space-rock opus loosely based on "Bolero"! Even judged by their covers alone, Stand By and Interface both possess a lot of the future-retro cool that's so hip nowadays, while being legitimately classic albums that anyone who digs krautrock or Circle or that kind of thing should investigate. Both discs have been reissued with two bonus live tracks apiece, by the way. So if you aren't already hip to Heldon, either or both of these would make good starting points!
MPEG Stream: "Jet Girl"
MPEG Stream: "Interface - Live (Part 2)"

HELDON IV: Agneta Nilsson (Cuneiform) cd 14.98
Fourth album (of course) from Heldon. Great cover, great album.

HELDON Live 1975-1979 Live Electronik Guerilla Well And Alive In France (Captain Trip) 3cd 44.00
This triple cd set in a fat ol' jewel case combines two previous Captain Trip releases of rare live Heldon material that we'd previously reviewed -- those were the Live Elektronik Guerilla: Paris 1975-1976 cd and Well and Alive: Live in Nancy 1979 2cd. It's a lot cheaper to get 'em both together in this 3cd package, though you're missing out on the miniature lp style sleeves.
Here's a conglom of our reviews of the two:
The disc that collects the 1975-'76 live recordings consists (in contrast to the rhythmically precise spaciness of the later '79 material) of looser, stoned, rockin' jamming. Indeed. Of course, still pretty darn spacey. This wasn't recorded by electronic robots by any means. Sounds more like mellow Hendrix-digging freaks doing drugs and getting off on droning acid rock guitar. We can't exactly argue with that, though. Be warned that sound-quality-wise, this is fairly hissy and lo-fi. Not a pristine studio recording, that's for sure -- but it really works with all the fuzz, effects, and feedback, akin to a Rallizes boot. Still, not the place to start if you're utterly new to Heldon.
Then on to the two discs from '79...what a difference a few years made! The '79 stuff kicks so much precision ass. Awesome! On the first disc, the band effortlessly locks into hypnotic rhythmically complex cycles driven by Francois Auger's incredibly tight yet dexterous drumming. Some stretches are austere, atmospheric and almost soothing, while others possess a mysterious dark force that'll thrust you back in you seat, and still others' synthed-out spaciness might have you tripping your pants off. Mind-melting. The second disc is less kinetic, more along the lines of frontman Richard Pinhas' later solo guitar and synthesizer drone explorations (think: more Tangerine Dream, less King Crimson).
Please note: be forewarned that the recording quality is less than stellar (somewhat murky at times), but also keep in mind that these are previously unreleased tracks. Personally we feel the pros outweigh the cons in this situation, but of course you'll have to decide for yourself.
If you're new to this group, allow us to simply proclaim: late '70s Heldon = psych-prog / electronic rock at its finest. Prior to entering the live Heldon arena, we'd highly recommended checking out 1977's Interface and 1979's Stand-By. Fierce, menacing and propulsive.
MPEG Stream: "1984 Apres Cosmic C'Etait"
MPEG Stream: "Track Of Cocaine"
MPEG Stream: "Heldon UFO War Machine"
MPEG Stream: "Red Line Target"

HELDON Live Elektronik Guerilla: Paris 1975-1976 (Captain Trip) cd 25.00
OK, all you dedicated fans of the French synth prog act Heldon, here's the other live document of Richard Pinhas' band recently released by the Japanese label Captain Trip, alluded to in our review last list of the double cd Well and Alive: Live in Nancy 1979. We mentioned that while the 1979 set was both rhythmically precise and wonderfully spacey, this single-disc collection of earlier live recordings from the 1975-'76 era consisted of looser, stoned, rockin' jamming. Indeed. Of course, still pretty darn spacey. This wasn't recorded by electronic robots by any means. Sounds more like mellow Hendrix-digging freaks doing drugs and getting off on droning acid rock guitar. We can't exactly argue with that, though.
Be warned that sound-quality-wise, this is fairly hissy and lo-fi. Not a pristine studio recording, that's for sure -- but it really works with all the fuzz, effects, and feedback, akin to a Rallizes boot. Still, not the place to start if you're utterly new to Heldon.
52 minutes, seven previously unreleased tracks, limited to 1000 copies, packaged in a nice Japanese mini LP styled sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "1984 Apres Cosmic C'Etait"
MPEG Stream: "Track Of Cocaine"

HELDON Stand By (Cuneiform) cd 14.98
Ok, anyone into Magma and/or Moogs pay attention! A couple lists back we got our friend Loren Chasse to write some nice things about Tranzition, the latest album from cult French musician Richard Pinhas, the guy who masterminded the pioneering electronic rock act Heldon back the '70s. That made us realize: hey, we really should get some of those old Heldon records up on our website too! So if you look you'll see we already stuck a few up there with real brief reviews. However, Cuneiform happens to have just brought these two Heldon albums back into print on cd and that gives us a perfect excuse to further sing the praises of Pinhas and his band, as these are two of our faves (though all Heldon comes recommended by us), perfectly combining Pinhas' Robert Fripp guitar obsession with (what are now) vintage synth sounds into some of the best psych-prog sci-fi jamming ever.
Interface was Heldon's sixth LP, dating from 1977, and features the latter-day Heldon trio line-up of Pinhas (guitar, various Moogs, electronics), Patrick Gauthier (Moog bass and Mini-Moog) and Francois Auger (drums and synthesized percussion). Tracks like "Jet Girl" and the nearly twenty minute title cut are kinda like King Crimson meets Suicide or something.
Then there's 1979's Stand By which was Heldon's final studio outing and sees the Pinhas/Gauthier/Auger trio augmented by several additional musicians, including vocalist Klaus Blasquiz of Magma fame. The three tracks here (two of them quite lengthy) will definitely appeal to fans of Magma's "zheul" style. But the Fripp and Suicide allusions above also apply. One track is an extended space-rock opus loosely based on "Bolero"! Even judged by their covers alone, Stand By and Interface both possess a lot of the future-retro cool that's so hip nowadays, while being legitimately classic albums that anyone who digs krautrock or Circle or that kind of thing should investigate. Both discs have been reissued with two bonus live tracks apiece, by the way. So if you aren't already hip to Heldon, either or both of these would make good starting points!
MPEG Stream: "Stand By"
MPEG Stream: "Une Drole de Journee"

HELDON Un Reve Sans Consequence Speciale (Cuneiform) cd 14.98
From 1976, the 5th album by Richard Pinhas's classic band. This one's super dark and dense, Magma gone industrial? Proto-industrial French electronic rock anyway. With 2 bonus live tracks. Heldon on this recording features bassist Janick Top (Magma).

HELDON Well And Alive: Live In Nancy 1979 (Captain Trip) 2cd 33.00
What a difference a few years made! Of the two live Heldon albums that we just got in, this one from '79 kicks so much precision ass (while the other from '75-76 is looser, more straight-forward jam rock). Awesome! On the first disc, the band effortlessly locks into hypnotic rhythmically complex cycles driven by Francois Auger's incredibly tight yet dextrous drumming. Some stretches are austere, atmospheric and almost soothing, while others possess a mysterious dark force that'll thrust you back in you seat, and still others' synthed-out spaciness might have you tripping your pants off. Mind-melting. The second disc is less kinetic, more along the lines of frontman Richard Pinhas' later solo guitar and synthesizer drone explorations (think: more Tangerine Dream, less King Crimson). Please note: be forewarned that the recording quality is less than stellar (somewhat murky at times), but also keep in mind that these are previously unreleased tracks. Personally we feel the pros outweigh the cons in this situation, but of course you'll have to decide for yourself.
If you're new to this group, allow us to simply proclaim: late '70s Heldon = psych-prog / electronic rock at its finest. Prior to entering the live Heldon arena, we'd highly recommended checking out 1977's Interface and 1979's Stand-By. Fierce, menacing and propulsive. Limited to 1000!
MPEG Stream: "Heldon UFO War Machine"
MPEG Stream: "Red Line Target"

HELEN LUNDY TRIO, THE s/t (HLT Records) cd 11.98

HELIOS Ayres (Type) cd 14.98
Oh yes, we're always happy to discover something new from Keith Kenniff! He's the Boston based gent behind the postrocktronic gauzy gazes of Goldmund and Helios. Whenever a new customer asks for something relaxing, meditative, massage-suitable, of course we'll first say "Brian Eno", but chances are we'll then steer them in Kenniff's direction. We've just received the latter's third album (as well as a new Goldmund album titled Two Point Decimation too... yeesh, does this guy ever sleep?). It's definitely got a few new twists and takes on his usual light-touch instrumental approach. For one thing, Ayres features Kenniff utilizing his voice as another sound source -- murmuring, whispering and otherwise haunting the proceedings in dreamy, shimmer-shiver fashion. As well, the half dozen tracks seem to materialize and form slightly more solid presences than the drifting, shifting layered ambience of past releases. May be quite appealing to those who love Mum and The Album Leaf. Psst, included is a cover version of "In Heaven", the awesome Lady In The Radiator song from the soundtrack of David Lynch's cult classic Eraserhead!
MPEG Stream: "Woods And Gives Away"
MPEG Stream: "Signed I Will You Well"

HELIOS Caesura (Type) cd 15.98
You can't always judge a record by its cover. But after one look at the cover of Caesura, disc number four from Boston's Helios, we could pretty much tell this would be a wondrous escape into some heavenly realm of ambient goodness. Between the latest Grouper release and the cosmic psychedelia of the recent Alps disc, Type seems to have tapped into some infinite well of dream pop specialists. And Helios is one of the most outstanding members of this cast of dream weavers. Boston's Keith Kenniff, the man behind Helios, has crafted an album of delicate, gorgeous compositions shrouded in winter's haze. Light and somber guitar passages stepping along side sparse electronic beats and percussion to create a lush wreath of pop ambiance. Unlike some pop ambient records that too easily meander into the dreary corners of space, Caesura remains anchored to earth. Invoking images of quiet pines and blissful isolation, there's a captivating relationship between the more industrial, electronic backbone of the record and the droning, organic melodies that hover above. Caesura is the perfect soundtrack for gazing out at the morning fog on lonely winter mornings. Need we say much else?
MPEG Stream: "Hope Valley Hill"
MPEG Stream: "A Mountain of Ice"

HELIOS Caesura (Type) lp 19.98
You can't always judge a record by its cover. But after one look at the cover of Caesura, disc number four from Boston's Helios, we could pretty much tell this would be a wondrous escape into some heavenly realm of ambient goodness. Between the latest Grouper release and the cosmic psychedelia of the recent Alps disc, Type seems to have tapped into some infinite well of dream pop specialists. And Helios is one of the most outstanding members of this cast of dream weavers. Boston's Keith Kenniff, the man behind Helios, has crafted an album of delicate, gorgeous compositions shrouded in winter's haze. Light and somber guitar passages stepping along side sparse electronic beats and percussion to create a lush wreath of pop ambiance. Unlike some pop ambient records that too easily meander into the dreary corners of space, Caesura remains anchored to earth. Invoking images of quiet pines and blissful isolation, there's a captivating relationship between the more industrial, electronic backbone of the record and the droning, organic melodies that hover above. Caesura is the perfect soundtrack for gazing out at the morning fog on lonely winter mornings. Need we say much else?
MPEG Stream: "Hope Valley Hill"
MPEG Stream: "A Mountain of Ice"

HELIOS Eingya (Type) cd 15.98
For his second release under the moniker Helios Keith Kenniff (also of Goldmund) has crafted pretty gauzy post-rock instrumentals from feathery melodic wisps of guitar, keyboards and electronics set atop soothing dronescapes. Imagine an album filled with solely the hushed, delicate atmospheric passages of artists such as Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Mum, Album Leaf, and many artists on the Temporary Residence label. Really really lovely. A blissed out soother.
MPEG Stream: "First Dream Called Ocean"
MPEG Stream: " The Toy Garden"

HELIUM No Guitars (Matador) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

HELIUM No Guitars (Matador) 12" 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

HELIUM The Magic City (Matador) cd 13.98
With the addition of Polvo bassist Ash Bowie, Mary Timony and the rest of Helium turn to agitated bittersweet music that's been compared to everyone from Pink Floyd to T-Rex. An improvement over their other recent releases.

HELIUM The Magic City (Matador) lp 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
With the addition of Polvo bassist Ash Bowie, Mary Timony and the rest of Helium turn to agitated bittersweet music that's been compared to everyone from Pink Floyd to T-Rex. An improvement over their other recent releases.

HELL PREACHERS INC. Supreme Psychedelic Underground (Axis) cd 17.98
Great group name, and an album title that really says it all! This mysterious 1968 exploito-psych album of disputed provenance, newly reissued on cd, lives up to its Supreme Psychedelic Underground billing, all right. It's really doesn't even matter if it's the pseudonymic work of a young Deep Purple, as some Purple fans are convinced. Others will tell you that while maybe the guitar neck wringing sounds a lot like Blackmore, and the bombastic organ pounding sounds a lot like Lord, it's not them - instead, it's dudes from krautrock proto-metallers Lucifers Friend! Which as far as we're concerned is an equally appealing theory. We don't know what to believe, are they or aren't they? You decide, we'll just groove to these crazy sounds, man. With wild organ and wah wah guitar up the wazoo, the tracks here range from instrumental freakouts ("Time Race") to novelty tribal weirdness ("We Like The White Man") to baroque prog hoedowns ("Courante") to, well, there's all sorts of swingin' acid rock action here folks! A few faves to mention would be the Eastern-tinged "Shalom", which is infused with all kinds of weird noises and sound FX as well, the super groovy shake-and-shimmy "Let Me Shoot You", and definitely the awesomely Bo Diddley-ish "Turn Turn", probably what would be this record's hit, if it had one.
It's interesting that these days, actually, we've kinda gotten to the point where it almost makes more sense to say that a '60s psych artifact like this one was "ahead of its time" and compare it to today's crop of psychedelic freeks, instead of the other way around. Certainly there's moments here, when the pulsating, wailing sounds get really far out, that we could think for a second we were listening to, say, a Sun Araw album. At other times, of course, it's VERY "of its times", and that's rad (in a kitschy way) too. The jarringly tripped out "Spy In Space" could only have been made in the '60s we're pretty sure, woah.
Certainly fans of MK1 Deep Purple ought to check this out, even though the theory that it's a German studio project, featuring ex-members of beat groups The Rattles and The German Bonds (who would eventually form Lucifer's Friend) seems fairly likely to be the correct one, since those very same folks cut another similar exploito-psych album under the "band" name Bokaj Retsiem around the very same time. That album was simply titled Psychedelic Underground, so maybe they thought they did an even better job as Hell Preachers, Inc.!
MPEG Stream: "Time Race 1"
MPEG Stream: "Shalom"
MPEG Stream: "Turn Turn"

HELL, RICHARD Spurts: The Richard Hell Story (Rhino / Warner) cd 16.98

HELL, RICHARD Time (Matador) cd 15.98
A double disc set for the price of one from the inimitable Richard Hell, founding member of New York-style punk in the '70s with the bands Television, the Heartbreakers, and the Voidoids. The first disc is a reissue of the formerly cassette-only ROIR release R.I.P., and contains live stuff, outtakes, demos, all of which Hell thought deserving to be included here. There's Heartbreakers and Voidoids rarities here. Some of it is wonderful but I have to say that other tracks just do not stand the test of time.
Disc two is a document of a few live shows, including one that took place in England on an ill-fated tour with the Clash. Hell calls this performance one of the most aggressive he'd ever given, but the recording quality is terrible throughout the live disc, and I don't really get why he chose to release it. Liner notes are extensive, with song by song recounts written by Hell himself, and lots of photos.
RealAudio clip: "Love Comes in Spurts"
RealAudio clip: "Time"

HELL, RICHARD & THE VOIDOIDS Blank Generation (Warner Bros) cd 12.98

HELLA Acoustics (5 Rue Christine) cd 8.98
You wouldn't think that a band revisiting their past would make us fall in love with them all over again but that is precisely the case with this new ep from Hella. Acoustics finds Hella reworking some of their early songs but this time done all acoustic! Hella + acoustic? "Huh? What? How?", you might be asking yourself, but the answer is a huge big colorful YES!!!
We have to admit we were getting a little cold on the whole Hella thing, but with Acoustics they have totally regained our attention and recaptured our hearts, with their intricate spazzy convoluted prog laid totally bare (err... well acoustic at least). Hard to imagine Hella acoustic, but it's pretty darn cool, maybe like Gastr Del Sol on a steady diet of crystal meth and cocaine, or a more manic Cheval De Frise. While it's easy to sound crazed and weird and spastic with amps turned to eleven and feedback busting out of every speaker, it's a whole lot harder to maintain that same sort of intensity with no electricity at all. That's what separates Hella from so much of the spazzy pack. Sure anyone can freak out hidden behind huge amps and silly costumes, but only the truly talented and demented can knock your block off with an all acoustic record. We think someone should slip a copy of this to Tom Waits as Hella in this incarnation would make the perfect backing band for his next record. OK, Lightning Bolt, Wolf Eyes, Black Dice -- the gauntlet has been thrown down... can you get it up up when the power is out? Hella sure as hell can! So totally recommended!
MPEG Stream: "1-800-Ghost Dance"
MPEG Stream: "Welcome To The Jungle Baby, Your Gunna Live!"

HELLA Bitches Ain't Shit But Good People (Suicide Squeeze) cd ep 8.98
At last, this ep is now out on cd (but out of print on 12" vinyl). The Sacramento twosome known for a million riffs a minute and insane drumming brings some electronic video-game beats to the party before tearing into some incredibly dense noise prog fulla widdly guitar solos and clattering drums. Like Orthrelm and Lightning Bolt (who they sound even more like here, perhaps due to the production), Hella turn two people into a finely honed instrument of sonic destruction. While the drumming never lets up its multilayered, frantic pace, the guitar (augmented here and there by keyboard) takes Hella's sound from This Heat precision to all out noise and into more accessible song territory on the fourth and last track, which features vocals, a first for the band!
MPEG Stream: "Bitches Ain't Shit But Good People"

HELLA Bitches Ain't Shit But Good People (Suicide Squeeze) 12" 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A new 12" on nice marble vinyl. The band known for a million riffs a minute and insane drumming brings some electronic beats to the party before tearing into some incredibly dense noise prog. Like Lightning Bolt and Orthrelm, Hella turn two people into a finely honed instrument of sonic destruction.
While the drumming never lets up its multilayered, frantic pace, the guitar (augmented here and there by keyboard) takes Hella's sound from This Heat precision to all out noise and into more accessible song territory on the last track, which features vocals, a first for the band.